The Vanishing Glass

It had been nearly ten years since the Dursleys had found their nephew and niece on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The pictures inside the house did show that Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby. What those pictures didn't show was the fact that the house had two other inhabitants.

On that night, almost ten years ago, three odd looking people had left two babies at the front step of number four. And now, they were almost eleven years old. At this very moment, they are asleep. That is until –

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Harry and Hope woke up instantly. The shrill voice of their aunt was hard to sleep through.

"Up!" she screeched. "Too bad", Hope thought, it had been such a nice dream. Something with a flying motorbike. While she was trying to remember it, the dream started to slip her mind, as dreams often do.

Lost in thoughts she couldn't hear what her aunt was saying, but she did hear her brother groan. "What is it?", she asked. "It's Dudley's birthday today."

He looked at her in despair, and she too, could feel her heart sink.

They got dressed and started working on the breakfast. Harry bacon. Hope eggs. Dudley seemed to have gotten everything he wanted. Over thirty presents were stacking up the living room. Including a new racing bike.

Uncle Vernon entered the scene. He greeted Harry by yelling at him to comb his hair. He didn't greet even bothered to greet Hope.

Harry's hair was always a mess. It was black and it grew quite fast. Hers was bright red and long. It had a tendency to curl up, but instead it was always tangled. They were both small and skinny, and they shared the same eyes and a scar on their head, but that was as far as the resemblances went. Considering they were twins they were quite different to each other. She had ginger hair, his was black. Hope was a bit taller than her brother and she didn't wear spectacles. She had some freckles, Harry had none. But they were undeniably brother and sister.

The weirdest thing about them is definitely their scar. A lightning bolt, on their forehead. She knew Harry thought it was kind of cool, but she had always thought of it as a sad reminder of the fact that their parents had died in a car crash, and somehow she and her brother had survived. That is one of the very few things she and Harry knew about their parents, since the Dursleys weren't keen on them asking questions.

Hope looked up from her eggs and saw her cousin come in the kitchen. He was counting his presents. She could almost hear him thinking. That much of an effort it must take.

Aunt Petunia could only just avoid a huge tantrum by promising her son some more presents. As unfair as it may be, Hope stopped taking notice. It only made her miserable.

The phone rang and Aunt Petunia left the kitchen while Dudley was in the midst of unpacking his presents. He was just unwrapping the paper of a gold wristwatch – she was pretty sure Dudley still had major problems with reading the hour – when Aunt Petunia walked in again.

She could hardly believe what she heard. Mrs. Figg had broken her leg! This meant no smelly house or looking at old photographs of her cats. While the Dursleys were trying to come up with solutions, she could only look at her brother and smile. Another year without Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty. When she heard her uncle mention Aunt Marge, her smile disappeared immediately, but luckily enough Aunt Petunia wasn't too keen on that either. Harry suggested to stay here alone, but she knew they wouldn't let them. Harry and Uncle Vernon started arguing, Dudley joined the tumult by crying loudly. Hope couldn't believe Aunt Petunia still bought those fake tears.

But when the doorbell rang, Dudley magically stopped crying and Piers Polkiss arrived. Dudley's best friend, and second greatest enemy to Harry and Hope. Unable to continue arguing the Dursleys decided that the best decision was to bring them both to the zoo. Hope was absolutely delighted. She and her brother's lifes only consisted of school, and Privet Drive number four, but not today. It couldn't even bother her that Uncle Vernon was ranting about motorbikes the entire drive towards the zoo.

"I had a dream about a motorbike.", Harry said.

"Me too. It was flying", continued Hope.

"MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!", Uncle Vernon seemed.

"I know they don't. It was only a dream", muttered Hope, but the damage had already been done. The Dursleys didn't like anything acting in a way it shouldn't. They probably thought it was dangerous or something.

Still, that morning was one of the best ones she could remember. She and Harry carefully avoided Dudley and Piers, both got a lemon ice lolly, and could share Dudley's leftover knickerbocker glory.

After lunch, they went to the reptile house. Dudley immediately went towards the biggest snake in there and started knocking on the glass like an idiot. When he realized the snake wasn't going to do anything – it was sleeping – he left.

She and Harry both went to the tank. She felt sorry for the snake. It had it way worse than she had. And then something extraordinary happened. The snake winked.

She looked at her brother in anticipation, but he looked just as dazzled. They both looked back at the snake, which was now giving them a look that clearly said 'I get that all the time'. She felt really stupid doing so, but she couldn't help but murmuring back.

"I know. It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.

The snake directed its tail towards a sign that said: 'Boa Constrictor, Brazil – This specimen was bred in the zoo.'

Harry, who clearly hadn't read that last part yet, asked "Was it nice there?"

Hope tried stepping onto her brother's foot since she thought that might be an insensitive comment, but the snake simply jabbed its tail at the sign again. Finally Harry got it.

"Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?" her brother asked. The snake shook its head, and apparently Piers saw so, 'cause he started yelling after Dudley. Dudley walked straight towards them, pushing them both on the ground, and then all of a sudden, the glass vanished. The snake climbed out of its prison and slithered towards the exits. She could clearly hear a low, hissing voice say "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigos". She looked at her brother again, and searched for an explanation, but she couldn't find one.

Their visit to the zoo ended rapidly. Everybody seemed in a state of shock during the ride back home. Eventually, Piers calmed down just enough to say, "Harry and Hope were talking to it, weren't you?"

Back Home, Uncle Vernon was so furious the only thing he managed to say was 'Go – cupboard – stay – no meals.' They didn't need him to tell them twice. They ran off towards their cupboard and waited. But neither of them had a watch, so they couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep. And until they were, they couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.

So they just lay there in their cupboard. Too afraid to even talk out loud. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. And every time the Dursleys would be unreasonably mad at them. Those were the times she missed having her parents most. She didn't have a single memory from them, neither did Harry. Maybe there was one, a blinding green light, immediately followed by an unexplainable burning pain on her, and Harry's forehead. It might have been the green light from the car crash, but it didn't feel like it was. She wish she knew, but in this house, questions were forbidden.

She and Harry used to fantasize together of an unknown relative who would take them away, but such a thing never happened. However, every now and then, very odd looking people looked at them intensely, shook their hands and then left, or even bowed to them, in the middle of the street. And when they got over that shock and tried to have a better look at those strangers, they were nowhere to be found.

They were very much alone. At school they didn't have any friends. Dudley made sure of that. At least they always had each other.