Hello Readers,

This is a new story I've come up since it looks like I'll have to start from scratch on my other stories. My laptop has died and with it everything I had up to date. Moving on though I thought of a new idea and this is just the preview for the story. Its a little background on my idea so you'll have some understanding of what's going on but not much. Now this preview does blend my ideas with the actual novel done by J.K. Rowling. I don't own or make any profit from this.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

Hidden Jokers

Preview: White Joker [The Beginning]

Nearly seven years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. Seven years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, and the sporting events they went to. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.

Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her voice that woke him.

"Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped softly on the door again.

"Up!" she whispered harshly. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before. His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded anxious as she tried to stop her hands from shaking. It wouldn't go well for her if Vernon knew she let Harry sleep in again.

"Nearly," said Harry, he glance up to see her checking the stairs. He felt bad for his Aunty, Vernon was cruel to him but even more so to her.

"Well, get a move on, look after the bacon. And don't let it burn, everything has to be perfect on Dudley's birthday." Harry groaned. Petunia grimace but gave her nephew a small sincere smile. Harry didn't know it yet but Petunia had been planning a surprise for him ever since Vernon mentioned his boy's birthday.

Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept. When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. "Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting and waited for Harry to put down the frying pan. Petunia was out of the room so she couldn't protect him as Vernon smacked him around a few times before shouting at Harry to get back to the food. Although she did try to be in the same room as him all the time.

Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with Petunia trailing behind him, her hands still shaking. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. The boy looked nothing like Aunty Tunie, then again Dudley wasn't her son.

Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.

"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his father. "That's two less than last year."

"You haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Daddy." Aunt Petunia said softly. If Dudley was upset then Vernon would get upset and she didn't want Vernon upset.

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.

Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And he'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, Dudley? Two more presents. Is that alright?" Petunia appeared sweet and concerned towards Dudley but Harry knew she was scared. She just said Vernon would do something, Vernon didn't like doing things.

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty...thirty..."

"Thirty-nine, Dudley," said Aunt Petunia.

Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them.

While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.

"...roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. He complained about them the whole ride while Dudley and his friend snickered every time Polkiss would punch him in the arm.

It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Vernon bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.

Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his Knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. "Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.

It winked.

Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?"

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see-so you've never been to Brazil?" As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.

What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened-one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said,

"Brazil, here I come...Thanksss, amigo." The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. Petunia stared in shock, she knew she didn't inherit any magical aptitude but she could have swore that snake just spoke. What snapped her out of her state of shock was not the keeper of the reptile house but the way Vernon gripped her arm. She would have bruises come tomorrow.

"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again to Vernon. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"

Although Harry knew he was going to get it from Vernon later he was happy that he and Aunty Tunie were dropped off at the Grocery store while Vernon took Dudley to get his other presents. As soon as Vernon was out of sight with the boys Petunia grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the car. Harry stared at her as the drove back to Number 4 Privet Drive, he was too scared to ask anything. Aunty Tunie was only allowed to use the car when Vernon told her she could and today she had keys so they could put the food in the trunk.

"Hurry Harry, we don't have much time. Help me with the trunk from the attic." Petunia said and ran towards the house. When they got inside she ran up the stairs followed closely behind by Harry. The attic which was normally overflowing with items Aunty said were theirs was empty, only one heavily engraved wooden trunk remained.

"Aunty Tunie?" Harry questioned. She smiled at him and grabbed a handle at the side and Harry copied her.

"I'll explain after okay, we just have to be quick." She stated as the carried it down the attic stairs. First they stopped at her and Vernon's room, she opened the truck and started throwing things into it. Harry was amazed, it was almost as if everything was shirking to the size of a doll's in it. Petunia closed the lid and they brought it down the stairs to Harry's cupboard which wasn't looking so bad now that he seen how his Aunty had been sleeping. Harry threw all his things in the trunk too before they carried it out to the car together.

Petunia stopped at a gas station to bring it back to the level Vernon had it at before the parked in the same spot at the shopping center. Petunia and Harry pulled the trunk out from the back of the car and each held onto a handle after Tunie close the car trunk lid.

"Come on Harry," she said happily. He didn't understand why she was happy but he was happy she was happy, even if they would get in trouble later.

They carried the trunk over to an area of cabs and put the trunk in the back of one before getting in. Petunia gave the driver in the front an address Harry had never heard of before. The ride was long so long in fact that Harry fell asleep. He woke up to his Aunt running her fingers through his hair, she had done that since he was three. They came to a stop at a place that didn't look like anyone had live in for years. The driver was kind enough to carry the trunk for them to the door before leaving, then again Petunia tipped the man very well.

"Come on Harry," She said squeezing his hand.

"The trunk," Harry said and turned around to grabbed it once they were through the door, but it was gone. He looked back at his Aunt and walked with her towards a fireplace. Next to the fireplace a little ways off was a old grandfather clock which still ticked with the time. Harry's eyes widened, it was almost morning.

"We need to get back Vernon will be angry," Harry said tugging at the side of the shirt. He didn't want to watch the fat man hit her. He always covered her body in bruises.

"We're not going back Harry," She said calmly. "Never again will we go back there."

Then they heard a popping sounding. A creature that Harry had never seen before appeared from thin air.

"Mrs. Dursley, I is Quinn Head House Elf to the House of Potter. Quinn is so glad the Masters are back." The House Elf said with what they could both tell was tears of joy.

"I'm not sure what happened Quinn, my memories are hazy but we need a safe place to stay and a lawyer I think." Petunia said to the creature.

Quinn frowned at first, clearly something was wrong with what Aunt Petunia said but then she smiled. "Of course, Quinn will take you the House of Potter stay and although the House of Potter no longer has contacts, Quinn can help the Mistress." She said happily, "Quinn has sister who works for an Ancient Atlantis House. Quinn will write her sister for help, pleases the Mistress."

"Of course, we need all the help we can get. I know somethings wrong but I can't figure out what." Petunia said.

Quinn nodded her head rapidly making her ears flap. "Quinn do bestest. If Masters take Quinn's hands can leave."

Harry followed after his Aunt and took one of the creatures hands cautiously. This was the start of a new life, and with a pop they were gone.

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So you interested yet? Write me a comment tell me what you think even if it's to bash me for not updating other stories. Really it's not like I don't want to write I just lost what I had so ... now I need to figure out each story's mojo and what I was doing with it.