"Not my boys, not them, please not them!"
"Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside now."
"Not my babies, please no, take me, kill me instead-"
"This is my last warning-"
"No! Please . . . have mercy . . . have mercy . . . Not Harry! Not Danny! Please- I'll do anything-"
"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"
The green light flashed around the room and she dropped like her husband.
Petunia Dursley was having the most wonderful morning. Her husband, Vernon, had a very important meeting this morning, one that could get him promoted. It was a big opportunity, and Petunia was sure he would get it. Her dear son, Dudley, had also said his first word that morning. Although it was during one of his temper-tantrums, he had definitely said "No". Yes, she thought it was a lovely start to her day.
That is, until she opened the front door to get the morning paper. As soon as she stepped outside, she caught sight of a large basket with two crying lumps and a letter on the blanket.
She scowled, looked around to be sure no one was watching, and pulled the basket inside. She didn't want the nosey neighbors to think anything abnormal was happening.
Petunia picked up the envelope and opened it. Dudley was probably still playing upstairs in his bedroom, so he wouldn't need anything for at least ten minutes. Her husband was in his meeting now. It looked to her that she would have to take care of this problem on her own.
Once she had finished reading the note, her face looked as though a skunk had just died on her living room carpet.
She picked up the basket and placed it into the coat cupboard under the stairs, placing all of the extra boxes and coats in the kitchen. Hearing her dear son crying in his playroom, she threw the awful letter on the kitchen counter. She would have to deal with her husband when he got home.
Seven years later, Harry and Danny Potter were both awoken by loud banging and dust falling on their bed.
Simultaneously, the boys groaned softly before cracking an eye and peering at each other.
"Which do you think?" Asked one of the twins.
"Breakfast for Harry, laundry for Danny." The other replied.
They weren't completely sure which boy possessed which name. They were too similar in too many aspects, regardless. Since learning they were indeed two separate people, they had chosen who got each name. They would likely never know for sure, but really, they had a fifty/fifty chance at guessing.
While they could be separate people, they often thought of themselves as a single soul.
In many moments, they could practically meld themselves together. They usually did when they wanted to confuse someone. It made them feel more connected with the other, which only helped in their confusion tactic.
They sighed and closed their eyes for a few moments before they were forced to get up to do their respective chores.
As if on cue, a booming voice yelled through the vent of the cupboard. "Get up, you ungrateful brats! You should be working! We are too good to you bastards. Petunia! Could you give those freaks their jobs?" Vernon bellowed even in his normal voice.
The boys heard a key unlock the cupboard door as they finished pulling on their old t-shirts.
"Daniel, you're on laundry this morning. The basket is in the living room. Harry, you're making breakfast. Dudley has friends coming over for lunch, so you will both make lunch. Don't screw it up." The horse faced woman they called Aunt Petunia had the same disgusted look she always seemed to wear around them.
"Yes Aunt Petunia." The boys chorused.
The morning went by too quickly for the Potter boys, as they had been dreading the arrival of Dudley's friends.
Any friends of his were automatically enemies of the twins. They had taken to chasing the two helpless boys when no adults were around. They called it Potter hunting.
A long time ago, the twins tried to fight back. They had tried actually fighting instead of running at first. When that didn't work, they tried to tell their teacher. Unfortunately, the teacher hadn't cared in the slightest, just saying the 'boys will be boys'.
Finally, they had tried splitting up to try and confuse the bullies, which turned out to be an awful idea after the second time when one of the weaker bullies had gone after one of the twins and the rest had followed the other. They had beaten Harry into unconsciousness first, as he was the one they all followed, then found Danny by following the one tailing him. Danny had gotten a broken arm during that fight. It had been the worst beating they had gotten from their peers.
Fortunately, about a year before that incident, the twins had met Siena.
Siena was an Adder. She had been quite informative, and continued to help them learn even now.
They had always been able to speak to snakes. On the days when that the Potter boys were forced to work outside all day they had often spoken to the snakes hiding in Petunia's flower bed, and frequently used it to secretly converse with each other. They spoke to each other in the mysterious snake language that no one else seemed to understand whenever they didn't want to be heard. That trend had started when Vernon had heard them talking outside and beaten them both with the shovels they had been using.
Harry and Danny remembered how Siena had found them. She had been searching for her dinner at the time. There was an unexpected abundance of her favorite type of salamander in their neighborhood.
That day, they had experienced one of the more painful punishments. Having badly bruised stomachs, chests, and backs apparently didn't excuse them from their chores.
Danny had asked Harry how much longer he thought they'd have to stay out here using the snake language when Siena passed through a nearby bush. She had been quite surprised as she watched Harry respond in her native tongue. She had approached them, figuring that her meal could wait.
Within the next year, she had told the boys that they were both wizards, humans able to manipulate magic, and had already taught them everything she knew of the magical world, which wasn't much. Still, she told them more than their relatives ever did.
The doorbell rang, signaling that certain pain had arrived. The Potter boys hurried to finish the sandwiches before the others got in. Just as they scurried through the living room, the door from the hall burst open. The twins heard the yells coming from the kitchen while they hid in their cupboard. Hopefully, Petunia would forget about them and they wouldn't be forced out while the other boys were around.
It was two years later that they each got a letter in the mail one morning. It was again Harry's turn to cook breakfast and Danny's to do laundry. Harry got sent to get the mail and met Danny at the door as he had picked it up.
They flipped through the letters, as they had been doing for the entire summer. One of the last things Siena had told them before she passed away three months back was that they should be expecting the wizarding world to contact them soon.
A yell from their uncle for Harry to hurry up brought them back to the present. Danny then spotted the letters at the back of the pile and took them before watching Harry walk back into the kitchen. Danny hastily shoved the letters under the sheet on their 'bed' before returning to laundry. They'd have to figure out what to do that night once the Dursleys were asleep.
As there was no way to avoid it, they had decided to confront their uncle about the letters. It would have to be before the morning post and after the sausages. He tended to be easier to negotiate in that time frame.
They had to be sure to do it on a day that Dudley was out, so there would be less chance of a massive blow up. Petunia would need to be in the room, but she always was, so that wasn't a huge concern.
All of those requirements were met a few days later, and their plan put into action. They finished their small tasks quickly and stood near the doorway to the living room, well out of their relatives' reach and in position for a quick escape. They were going to try for the confusion method.
"Uncle Vernon, we've received a pair of letters from Hogwarts and would like to attend classes there," one of the boys said.
"No cost to you, and we would be away for most of the year," the other boy said.
"And it would be for several years. After that, we won't bother you again."
"Just have to drop us off in London, and the school will do the rest." They spoke faster, as it seemed their uncle had realized what they were talking about.
"We'll even ask if we can stay at the school all the time."
"And you might never have to see us again," they finished together. They had executed their routine perfectly, but the purplish hue of their uncle's face was discouraging.
Then he smiled.