Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, spells, potions, or anything else from the Harry Potter series. Natalie Potter is my own brainchild, though.
A/N: I'm taking a break from Star Trek. I realize that I have to learn more about the actual universe before starting a multi-chaptered story on it. So, my favorite fandom before I got into sci-fi is next! Go Harry Potter! Yippee!
Natalie Potter was miserable. It was the only way to describe the way she felt at the moment- the mid-afternoon heat was relentless, beating down hard on her bare arms and making tendrils of her red locks stick to her forehead with sweat.
It had been more than an hour since Aunt Petunia had ordered her to go pick weeds, and Natalie was quickly growing tired of the work; her stomach rumbled and Natalie realized she hadn't had anything to eat or drink the whole day aside from a stolen pear and the small amount of juice provided from that. Her twin brother, Harry, had been working nearly as long and twice as hard mowing the lawn. After school, this kind of work seemed even more grueling.
Scowling and wiping away her hair from her forehead, Natalie plucked the weeds more violently and viciously than was necessary. Horrible, Aunt Petunia was- and so was Uncle Vernon, for that matter. But of course, Natalie would never voice it out loud unless provoked by the horsey-faced woman or the walrus-like man. And even in that circumstance, the result would be her attending to more than just weeds as punishment. The bathrooms, the laundry, and cooking the meals all by herself was less appealing than just picking weeds, and so she resigned herself to the task with vigor in hopes of getting it done quicker.
Once the last weed was plucked and the grass was cut down to a more reasonable level, Natalie looked over to her brother and motioned with her head for him to sit down with her on the bench just a few feet away. He grinned and sat down while she set out her worn deck of cards to build a card house.
"Dudley's birthday is tomorrow," Natalie grumbled as she carefully arranged the first triangle. "It looks like we're going to Mrs. Figg's again."
Harry nodded, his messy, jet-black locks swaying with the motion. "Maybe we'll be able to stay home this time." He suggested hopefully, shrugging.
Although they were twins, Natalie and Harry barely looked the part. Natalie's hair was a fiery red, and her button nose differed greatly from her brother's longer one. There was a thin, hook-shaped scar, barely visible on the left side of her forehead, and her facial features were much softer and rounder than Harry's. They both, however, had the same skinny, hungry look of children that weren't properly taken care of; that, and bright, almond-shaped emerald eyes. Harry had black hair, with more pointed features and a thin, lightning-bolt shaped scar on the right side of his forehead.
It was nearing evening by the time they had placed the last card, when the back door suddenly slammed open, and Aunt Petunia stood there, hands on her hips, glaring at them, her bony frame shaking with anger. "What do you two think you're doing?! Girl, come in here right this instant and wash the dishes! Boy, vacuum the sitting room!" She shot them her dirtiest look. "Probably haven't done anything for hours…"
Natalie scowled at her aunt, but began packing away her cards. She and Harry walked, single-file, back into the house. Right before Natalie entered, Aunt Petunia grabbed the back of her overalls.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia?" Natalie droned robotically.
"Give me those cards," Aunt Petunia glared down at her. "Just so you and your brother don't go taking breaks again when there are chores to be done!"
Natalie stared up at her aunt, her lips parted slightly in disbelief. "You can't take away my cards!"
Aunt Petunia's bony features twisted farther into anger. "Yes I can! Hand them over, Girl, or you'll be sorry!" She spat. Natalie grit her teeth and dug her cards out of her overalls pocket, slapping them as hard as she dared into the awaiting palm of her aunt's hand.
"I swear, one of these days…" Natalie grumbled angrily, stomping into the house and toward the sink to wash dishes. Aunt Petunia closed the back door and clutched a hand to her chest almost theatrically at the sight of Natalie's trailing of dirt on her pristine kitchen tile.
"GIRL! CLEAN THIS MESS UP NOW!
"Well, what do you want me to do first?!"
"DON'T GET SMART WITH ME OR YOUR UNCLE WILL BE HEARING ABOUT THIS!"
Natalie scowled and wordlessly got the broom to sweep up the dry dirt. It took longer than she thought it would because Harry had left some also, and it took about more than an hour to do all of the dishes. The summer light faded slowly from the kitchen window. Before her aunt could order her to do anything else, Natalie booked it out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and up a retractable ladder to the Dursley's tiny attic- the space in which she slept- to get away from her horrible aunt. She undressed and slipped under her thin cover.
Dudley, her and Harry's cousin, didn't have to do any dishes, or mow any lawns, or pluck any weeds or even flush the toilet after himself; he was just that pampered. Natalie frowned and shifted in her small cot to get more comfortable, contemplating for the millionth time what life would be like if she were not someone's personal chore slave. She couldn't wait until she could grow up already and be old enough to move far away from this miserable, cookie-cutter house and its oppressive inhabitants. Harry would come, too, and they could live the rest of their lives without the stinkin' Dursleys. Her eyelids drifted shut, and she welcomed the warm darkness of sleep.
She awoke from her strange dream of bright, green light and a… flying motorcycle…
A loud rapping on the trapdoor of the attic made her sigh tiredly. Natalie quickly dressed while her aunt screeched away at her to get up.
"Hurry up and make the eggs, and don't you dare let anything burn! I want everything perfect for Duddy's birthday!" Oh, joy. The day had finally came.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Natalie droned loud enough for her aunt to hear. Natalie opened up the trapdoor and climbed carefully down the ladder. It shook with every step down its wooden rungs, but she made it down and pushed it back up with ease. She stopped by the bathroom, but eventually made it downstairs and into the kitchen to help her brother make breakfast. He was tending to the bacon tiredly, his movements just short of sluggish, as was the usual morning behavior for sane people. Natalie guessed that she probably looked the same.
She gathered her ingredients and pan and began to fry some eggs beside her brother near the stove.
"Jolly good morning, isn't it?" She whispered to him, so that their Uncle (who was at the table behind them next to Aunt Petunia) wouldn't hear. Harry's shoulders shook with silent laughter, and they finished up the breakfast and placed it on the table, hurrying to take their share before Dudley got to it. Their oh-so-delightful cousin, at the moment, was busy counting his numerous presents.
"Thirty-six," Dudley pouted. "That's two less than last year."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" Natalie mumbled angrily. Fortunately, neither her aunt nor uncle heard.
Aunt Petunia was quick to mollify her son. "Darling, you haven't counted Aunt Marge's present, see, it's under that big one form Mummy and Daddy!" She consoled.
"Alright, thirty-seven then!" His fat face was quickly becoming flushed with red. Natalie raised an eyebrow at her brother, who had started wolfing his bacon down faster in anticipation of the table being thrown over in a temper tantrum.
Aunt Petunia had obviously sensed a fit coming on, too, because she added quickly, "And we'll buy you two more while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents, is that alright?"
"Then I'll have thirty… thirty…" Natalie held in her scoff when she saw how hard her cousin was struggling over the simple addition.
"Thirty-nine, sweetums." Said Aunt Petunia.
"Oh. Alright, then." Dudley plopped down in his chair to open the parcel nearest to him.
"Atta-boy, Dudley! Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father!" Uncle Vernon praised proudly, reaching over to ruffle Dudley's blonde hair.
Natalie watched her brother mirror her own frown while Dudley unwrapped all thirty-seven of his presents, including a racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. The phone rang, and Aunt Petunia got up to answer it while Dudley ripped open the paper to a new, gold wristwatch. Natalie watched as her aunt's expression soured at the news she was receiving over the phone.
"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's leg is broken; she can't take them." Natalie narrowed her eyes when her aunt threw them a nasty look- as if they told Mrs. Figg to break her leg…
Natalie did, however, take some satisfaction in the horrified face of Dudley. Maybe this year, they'd be able to go with the Dursleys out to wherever they went with Dudley and a friend of his. Usually, Natalie and Harry would be sent to Mrs. Figg during Dudley's birthday. Mrs. Figg was a cat lady that lived in the neighborhood, and Natalie was indeed sad that she had broken her leg, but that didn't mean she wasn't happy to know that it would be a while before she saw Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws and Tufty again.
"We could phone Marge." Uncle Vernon suggested.
"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates them." Aunt Petunia shot down the idea.
"What about your friend? What's her name- Yvonne?"
"On vacation in Majorca." Aunt Petunia snapped.
"Maybe you could just leave us here?" Harry proposed, and Natalie arched an eyebrow at him. Did he honestly expect that to work? Natalie certainly didn't, after seeing the look on her aunt's face that looked like she had just swallowed a lemon.
"And come back to find the house in ruins?" Aunt Petunia snarled at him, and Natalie grit her teeth at the hostile tone taken with him for an honest and convenient suggestion- even if it wasn't that smart, considering the light in which the Dursleys saw her and her twin.
"We wouldn't blow up the house…" Harry mumbled, but Natalie doubted anyone heard him but herself. Nobody did really listen to them, even when they were telling the truth or trying to defend themselves.
"I suppose we could take them with us to the zoo," Aunt Petunia spoke slowly, pondering. "And leave them in the car…"
"That car's new, we aren't leaving them alone in it…" Uncle Vernon scowled. Dudley screwed his face up and began to wail loudly, managing to work up some crocodile tears- as he was wont to do when he feared he wouldn't get his way. Aunt Petunia hurried over and wrapped her arms around her son, an amazing feat to say the least.
"Don't cry, Dinky-Duddyums! Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!"
"But I d-don't want them t-to come!" He whined tearfully. "They a-always ruin e-everything!" Natalie resisted the urge to flip Dudley a rude hand gesture when he shot a nasty grin at them through the gap of Aunt Petunia's arms.
The doorbell rang, and Aunt Petunia scrambled to go answer it. "Oh Lord, they're here!"
When she left, Natalie mumbled to Harry quietly. "Did you have an odd dream, too?"
"Yeah. Flying motorcycle?" He quirked an eyebrow, fighting a bemused smile.
Natalie snickered, nodding. "Flying motorcycle."
"What are you two so happy about?" Uncle Vernon sneered at them, and Dudley (who had cleared all remnants of the fake tears from his eyes) stared at them with his piggy little eyes, frowning.
"Nothing." Natalie deadpanned, her pokerface overwhelmingly convincing. Their two relatives gave her and Harry withering looks before Aunt Petunia came back with Piers Polkiss.
Piers was a thin boy, almost as thin as them, but much more cared for. His face bore great resemblance to that of a rat's, and Natalie made it a point to that out to him every time he tried to tease her or Harry about their secondhand clothes. Natalie openly scowled at him as he passed them to sit by Dudley. He stuck out his tongue at her. Natalie was grateful that they were soon in the car going to the zoo, because being in the back seat meant that she wouldn't have to look at his sneering rat face.
She was also excited that they got to go to the zoo at all. Harry was just as ecstatic, and together, they happily discussed what kind of animals they were likely to see.
Surely, nothing bad could happen during such a fortuitous turn of events?
The car ride to the zoo went better than either of the Potters could have expected, except for a couple of things hampering their happy mood.
Uncle Vernon had taken them both aside and warned them about the consequences of them trying any "funny business" while at the zoo. Natalie had struggled not to cross her arms and roll her eyes, but Harry just nodded and tried to remain blank-faced.
The "funny business" that Uncle Vernon spoke of wasn't something that Natalie or Harry could control. The problem was, strange things happened to them that they couldn't explain and it was just no use telling the Dursleys that they didn't intentionally make them happen.
Once, Aunt Petunia had taken it upon herself to cut Harry's hair, since the barber didn't seem to be doing his job. With a pair of kitchen scissors, she had sheared off all of Harry's hair apart form his bangs to, quote, "hide that horrible scar". Dudley had laughed himself silly, but Natalie tried to make Harry felt better about it. It turned out she didn't have to, however, because the next morning Harry's hair was in the same state as it had been before his shoddy hair cut. He had gotten a week in the cupboard, even though her hadn't made it grow back by himself... had he?
And then, when they had visited the small playground on the corner of Privet Drive and Wisteria Walk, a seven-year-old Natalie had been swinging on the swings. She swung higher and higher, until she jumped, and then drifted down slower than gravity should have allowed. Almost as if she had been flying. She had only been hoping she didn't crash land, but she had gotten a week in the attic for something she hadn't even realized she did.
Those incidents aside, they hoped that this visit would go smoothly.
About halfway to the zoo, Uncle Vernon was complaining loudly (as usual) about something or other. The object of his insults drifted over to motorcycles as one cut them off on the highway.
"...roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums!" Their uncle fumed, red-faced.
Then, Harry said, "I had a dream about a motorcycle," Natalie had face-palmed. Where was her brother's common sense? "It was flying." Way to twist the knife, Harry, Natalie thought grimly.
The car lurched as their uncle slammed his foot on the brake and just barely avoided hitting the car in front of them. He turned, face even more red and eyes glaring.
"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" He yelled, spittle flying and making him look, for all the world, like a giant beet with a bushy moustache.
"He knows they don't," Natalie defended her brother. "It was just a dream, right, Harry?" Her brother nodded vigorously, regretting his slip of tongue. She shot Piers and Dudley dirty looks when they started sniggering, but they only returned them. Rolling her eyes, Natalie sat back in the back seat and stayed silent with her twin until they reached the zoo.
It was probably the best morning either of them had had in a long time. Their aunt and uncle had stopped by the icecream truck and ordered Piers and Dudley large, chocolate icecreams, and Harry and Natalie two cheap, lemon ice pops because the kind lady in the truck had asked before the Dursleys could usher them away. Harry pointed out to Natalie that a gorilla that they passed looked remarkably like Dudley, and they laughed together and had a good time while staying a few feet back from the Dursleys the entire way.
Then, they arrived at the reptile house.
Various kinds of snakes and lizards were on display behind large, glass windows. The lights were dimmed so as not to cause the creatures any discomfort, and the air was moist and warm. Dudley had went straight up to a window that displayed a slumbering Boa Constrictor- the largest snake in the whole place.
He made Uncle Vernon rap on the window a couple of times to wake it up, until he got bored with the lack of movement and shuffled away.
Natalie led Harry over to the window, and they watched the snake empathetically. They, too, didn't like being caged back and oppressed at the Dursleys, and could empathize with the restricting feeling. Then, their eyes widened in wonder and curiosity as its head rose from its body of thick, green coils.
It winked.
Natalie exchanged a bemused look with her brother and they looked around to make sure they weren't being watched, before turning back, and winking at it. She felt silly, and wondered if Harry felt silly, too, winking at a snake...
But then, the snake turned its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley and raised its eyes to the ceiling in a look that plainly said, I get that all of the time.
Natalie smiled ruefully at it, nonverbally trying to convey her regrets of the behavior of her relatives. "I know," Harry murmured next to her. "It must be really annoying."
The snake nodded vigorously. Natalie, curious, asked, "Where do you come from, anyway?"
The snake jabbed its tail toward a sign that read, Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
"Was it nice there?" Harry asked. The snake gestured with its tail toward the sign again, and they read on. This specimen was bred in the zoo.
"Oh, so you've never been to Brazil?" Natalie asked, still curious. Then, a voice behind them yelled unexpectedly and deafeningly.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THE SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
Dudley came waddling over, and shoved Harry to get a better view of the window. "Out of the way, you." Harry fell hard to the concrete floor, and Natalie felt a rush of anger at the blatant rudeness of her cousin toward her twin as she helped him up. Two horrified howls briefly stopped the cogs of her brain from coming up with a violent revenge, and her and Harry looked up to see the glass window had disappeared from the front of the tank.
People screamed and fled as the snake uncoiled and slithered out of its prison. "Brazil, here I come! Thankssssss amigossssss." It hissed at them as it passed by them. Natalie nodded, and Harry waved, even though they had no idea how they had anything to do with the glass disappearing.
The keeper of the reptile house kept spluttering in shock, "But the glass! Where did the glass go?"
The zoo director himself poured Aunt Petunia a strong, sweet cup of tea while repeatedly apologizing. Piers and Dudley gibbered away; Dudley was recounting how the snake almost bit his leg off, and Piers swore it had tried to squeeze him to death. Natalie exchanged a look with Harry and they both remembered how the snake had only snapped playfully at their heels as it passed.
They were finally in the car and headed back to Privet Drive, and Piers calmed down enough to say, "Harry and Natalie were talking to it, weren't you guys?" Natalie glared at him menacingly, but he only shrugged.
When they had dropped off Piers and were finally back at the house, Uncle Vernon rounded on them, red-faced and shaking with barely-contained anger, and managed to say, "Go- cupboard, attic- no meals," before he collapsed in a chair, and Aunt Petunia ran to get him a large brandy.
Natalie's mouth quirked upward bitterly, and she squeezed Harry's hand briefly before heading up the stairs to the attic.
A/N: What'd you think? Bad? Good? Review! I take all kinds of response! Let me know and I'll continue!