Harry Potter was at the zoo. For any other child this wouldn't be a big deal but to be standing outside the zoo with his relatives and Dudley's was something he could have only dreamed of. Normally when they went anywhere, he was sent to Mrs Figg's house but she had broken her legs tripping over one of her cats and couldn't watch Harry.

Of course. Harry was blamed for this and though he couldn't understand the logic behind the accusation, he knew nothing he would say would change his relatives mind.

They hadn't even stepped into the zoo and already he'd gotten an ice lolly when they'd taken Dudley and Piers for a treat. While Dudley complained about how his wasn't big enough, Harry enjoyed his treat in peace. It was the best thing he had tasted and he savoured the taste for as long as it lasted.

"I want no funny business while we're in here, got it, boy," Vernon Dursley sneered towards his nephew. Though Harry had no idea what 'funny' business his uncle was always referring to, he still felt himself nod.

But he knew that if anything were to happen, it wasn't his fault; strange things just happened around Harry and there wasn't anything he could do about it. Things like his hair growing inches overnight after a terrible haircut to winding up on the school roof while running from his cousin and friends. He had no idea how these things had happened but he was punished as though they had been done on purpose.

The fact that they got mad at Harry for the strangest things and refused to answer his questions on anything made him wonder what they were trying to keep from him. He felt like the answer was right in front of his nose but he just couldn't wrap his brain around it.

The zoo was large but uneventful. They would occasionally pass large groups of children as they travelled between exhibits. It wasn't until they got to the reptile exhibit that Dudley and Piers finally began to show something other than boredom. Piers had taken to making weird noises at the displays while Dudley pressed his fat face to display glass to get closer looks at the dangerous creatures.

Harry made his way to a display with a large boa constrictor and watched the large snake sleep; letting his thoughts drift to what he was going to do for the rest of the summer and for once let himself think about how much he was looking forward to going to a school separate from Dudley. He didn't even care that it was a school for delinquents.

"MOVE!"

The sudden banging beside Harry's head startled him out of his thoughts. Dudley was banging the glass in a pathetic attempt to get the snakes attention. The snake opened its eyes, glanced around the exhibit and simply nestled closer to the heat lamp. Unimpressed by this display, Dudley stormed off to bug some other creature.

"Sorry about him. But I'm sure you're used to that by now," Harry muttered absently to the snake; unaware that his words had captured the snake's attention and that the snake was now etching closer to the window. "People pressing their ugly faces to the glass and making sounds. Do you ever get tired of it?"

When the snake nodded, Harry found himself shocked. He hadn't been expecting a response from a snake. It had to be a coincidence.

"Can you hear me?"

Once again the snake nodded and Harry felt his pulse pick up. The snake could hear him and it understood what he was saying. He knew snakes were smart but this was smarter than he could have imagined.

"I've never spoken to a snake before. Do you speak with people often?" Harry asked and felt his eyes widen just a bit when the snake shake its head in response.

Glancing around, Harry found a sign that gave information about the snake and where it came from.

"You're from Brazil? Was it nice there? Did you miss your family?"

The snake once again shook its head and pointed its tail towards another sign that explained how the snake was bred in captivity.

"Yeah, I never knew my family either. Do you..."

"Hey! Look what the snake's doing!" Dudley cried as he waddled towards the exhibit, pushing Harry to the floor as hard as he could so he could press his fat face directly in front of the snake. Harry felt bad for the snake, being stuck behind the glass while his pig cousin and Piers made faces at the snake and tapped the glass causing the snakes eyes to twitch.

Suddenly the glass disappeared and Dudley and Piers lost their balance and fell into the exhibit. Harry was barely able to keep from laughing as Dudley and Piers shuffled away from the snake. But they didn't really need to worry because the snake was too busy taking the opportunity to escape to be concerned with the ugly boys who had fallen into the little pool of water in the exhibit.

"Brazzzil here I commme," Harry heard the snake exclaim as it slithered away, playfully snapping its teeth at anyone it passed. Harry let out a chuckle before turning to see how his cousin and Piers were doing only to discover that the glass had reappeared and the boys were once again pressing their ugly faces against it but from the inside this time.

Harry started laughing once again and kept laughing as he watched his aunt trying to comfort the boys and try to figure out how they got stuck in there in the first place. Harry's laughter didn't stop until he saw the look his uncle was giving him; he was in big trouble and once again he was sure he hadn't done anything. He just hoped the joy of seeing his cousin stuck behind there was going to be worth the beating he was going to get that night.

That night Harry got the worst beating he'd ever received and he finally decided he was fed up with this treatment. He now had a black eye, a split lip and a bruise along his jaw. He wasn't going to put up with being beat, belittled and lied to about such important things and he needed to be around people who wouldn't call him a freak and beat him over things he couldn't control. He didn't know where he was going but he knew he was getting away from his 'loving' relatives. I think I'd be better off being raised by the monkeys in the zoo. At least they were more intelligent than the Dursleys.

After his relatives went to sleep, he gathered the money he had earned over the years doing odd chores for the neighbours and was pleased to say he had more than anyone his age. He threw that in his oversized pants pocket and gathered the few things he owned and left the house so quietly that he knew he had not been heard. From outside, he could hear his Uncle's snoring and his cousin's TV blaring. Harry rolled his eyes at his cousin for sleeping with his TV so loud and made his way down the street.

As Harry walked he became increasingly aware of the fact that he didn't know where he was even going but he knew anywhere was better than with his family.

As he passed one house, he could see a man rocking a screaming, crying baby and he wondered if his parents ever did that with him before they died. Did his parents rock him to sleep when he cried? Did they hug him and sing to him? Did they love him and give him toys? Harry wondered again what it was like to be in a family that wanted him and did their best to make sure he was happy and healthy.

As Harry curled up for a night inside the jungle gym at school, he began to think of his aunt's face when she realised that she was going to have to cook their own breakfast and make Dudley's lunch for herself. Harry smirked as he thought about the look on her face when she had to clean her own house do her own gardening instead of depending on a ten-year-old to do her housework. As he fell asleep he smiled as he realised that his relatives would no longer be able to beat him or call him a freak. He was absolutely never going back and nothing was going to make him.

"Hey, kid? What do you think you're doing here at six o'clock in the morning? You have a real shiner there, did you get in a fight?"

When Harry woke up to find himself facing the janitor, he thought quickly with something to say that wouldn't get him sent back to his relatives.

"I'll go back home now Mr Polkins."

As Harry scrambled away, he heard the man mutter about kids and how he wished he had taken another job while he had the chance.

As Harry began walking, he noticed a man in unusual robes, almost like a dress, watching him carefully. It was almost like the man was studying him and he was watching him with a gleam of familiarity in his eyes but Harry had never met this person before. It was obvious the man was observing Harry's bruise covered face. The look on his face was mixed with a look between anger and disbelief. Despite the distance, Harry could make out what looked to be a sneer on the man's pale face.

A few seconds after spotting the man, a man with long, pale hair and similar but more lavish clothing, appeared beside the first man. He wore a similar but less intense expression on his face and like the first man, he appeared to be studying Harry. Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes, the logical part of his brain was having trouble processing the site. Where had that man come from because he hadn't been there a few seconds ago, had he? He was having trouble seeing properly anyway, so he assumed maybe he missed the man.

But one thing was clear, they were coming right to him. It was obvious it was him they were approaching because they were staring directly at him. It was almost as though they had been looking for him. Were they police officers? Had the Durlseys called them when they realised he was missing? Harry doubted this but it was the only explanation his mind could come up with.

When they got closer, Harry could hear them softly whispering to each other. Suddenly, one of them bent down until he was eye level with Harry; Harry not expecting this stranger to do this felt a slight urge to run but for some reason decided against it.

"Mr Potter, may I inquire as to where you received your injuries?"

The man with the pale skin and the black hair stared into Harry's eyes and Harry was overwhelmed with the oddest feeling that the man could see right through him; it was probably just nerves but he felt the oddest feeling in his mind, it was almost like he wasn't the only one in his own. The thought seemed so weird but it was the only way he could describe the sensation. Just as he was starting to worry about whether or not he was going mad, the feeling stopped.

"How do you know my name?" Harry asked, trying not to squirm uncomfortably at the frankness of the question or the lingering odd feeling in the back of his mind. Hopefully, the man would forget he had asked.

"I was a friend of your mother. Now, your injuries, how did you receive them?" The man seemed persistent on finding out how Harry received his bruises and it made Harry wonder what the man knew. He knew his relatives didn't like when people got suspicious, but Harry being a boy made it easier for them to say things like 'he get's in scraps with other boys' and nobody bats an eye.

What caught Harry's attention was the fact that these men actually appeared like they cared and he could see what looked like actual concern in their eyes. Most people think he's a delinquent, so when he shows up with bruises and cuts they always go for the conclusion that he'd been in a fight or something. Nobody ever suspects his saint-like relatives; only the best kinds of people would take in a criminally insane boy and treat him like one of their own. It made Harry sick the way his relatives spoke about him and how many people actually had believed them; especially when he was little. But he knew he had to give these men the same lines.

"I got in a fight. You should see the other guy," Harry began in the way his relatives had taught him early on, including bragging about the condition of 'the other guy'. It made it sound like Harry fought often, so nobody questioned it when he showed up with bruises all the time. Harry often wondered why people were stupid enough to believe it because anyone who knew Harry personally would know that Harry wasn't a violent person and that he often took smarter more resourceful means to deal with his problems. He was smart enough to know that punching someone in the face wouldn't solve anything.

"Indeed and do you take me for a fool Mr Potter? Those handprints on your throat are much too large to have come from any child much less any of the snivelling creatures in this neighbourhood," the man paused briefly to take a breath and calm himself before he spoke again. "Allow me to start over. I am Severus Snape and this is my... friend Lucius Malfoy and we became notified that you have decided that your relatives care is unacceptable and by the sight of you, I am compelled to agree with your assessment. With that being said, I am offering you the option to be raised in a setting more fitting a wizard of your status."

Harry stared at Severus for a moment before the confusion settled in. He had no idea what this man was talking about. A wizard of his status? Was this man trying to be deliberately confusing?

"I'm sorry, what's a wizard?"

The question seemed to cause both men's faces to tighten with anger and Harry wished he could take back the question but it was too late.

"Surely your relatives explained what you are, what your parents were," Lucius spoke carefully.

Harry had been told that he was a bastard and his parents were drunks. When he told Lucius and Severus this, they both appeared to be furious but upon seeing the terrified expression on Harry's face, Lucius quickly kneeled before the boy and put an assuring hand on his shoulder.

Harry, who had never experienced this before found himself smiling at the interaction he'd only seen his relatives share with Dudley. But he was also hesitant about why someone he'd just met was doing this. Harry decided he would be careful around these unknown men until he was sure they were safe... and not likely to return him to his relatives.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm... we are mad at your relatives. Their treatment of you is deplorable and the fact that couldn't be bothered to tell you about your magical heritage only makes it worse," Lucius told Harry in a comforting tone. Though the man's expression was soft, Harry could tell he was still angry.

"They told me that there was no such thing as magic," Harry said sadly, his bruises throbbed angrily as he remembered his beating yesterday. It was as though they were reminding him what happened when that word was used. "That magic is a bad word."

The men shared a look before turning to face Harry with expressions the child couldn't identify. Clearly, his answer had done nothing to make them less angry; if anything it just added fuel to the fire.

"I can assure you, Harry, that magic is very much real and if you come with us, we can show you."

Harry knew he shouldn't go with strangers but he felt in his gut that he could trust Lucius and Severus and besides, wherever they were taking him couldn't be worse than staying with the Dursleys. Harry looked at Lucius Malfoy's outstretched hand and decided that these men knew something about why his family hated him so much and going with them was the best way to get answers.

Harry nodded and took hold of the man's hand and suddenly, his gut felt like it was being sucked into a straw and just like that, the three of them disappeared from the street completely.