It was firstly a suspicion. As soon as he had made his way across to get a good look at the black chimpanzee, who at the moment had been sitting silently on the earth floor playing with its fingernails, it sent an odd look over and scurried into action. As a crowd began to form, watching its brilliant gymnastic movements as it swung from branch to branch of its artificial obstacle course, Harry began to wonder, but it was only at the back of his mind and he thought nothing of it. Dudley and Piers stayed for the next fifteen minutes, oblivious. His aunt and uncle were equally engrossed, but making scathing comments at the grotesque specimens. Harry had finally moved away, having had enough, was straying off to the next exhibit when the chimps had stopped and resumed a docile pose, absent-mindedly scratching their heads.
But it still wasn't anything until they had reached the Indochina exhibit. Here, Harry had been fixated on a singular chameleon, staring intently at its brown skin while it stood motionless in the cover of a large rock. Then slowly, but surely as his gaze wandered across its length and down towards its tail, its skin changed, replaced to a shade precisely the color of his own staring eyes. Thankfully no one was with him at the time, and while he stayed a bit longer to marvel at the familiar green, as soon as he was out of sight he shot back a glance at the cage, and saw that the thing was all dull brown again. Shaking his head in a momentary disbelief, he had joined the rest of them again trying hard to keep a normal expression. He wondered if he was becoming paranoid, or simply seeing connections from coincidences, but strange things had always happened to him in his life. The difference was, here they were not so dramatic or evidently obvious, here only he noticed what he could do and what he could affect. It was like a secret power, as if now he had a measure of control over his "reactions," so to speak. Of course it was better this way than if he were to alarm people, or do things that he might regret later, and be punished and constantly criticized.
But yet there was more. A peacock waddled energetically, back and forth, the full length of its space, with its feathers spread fully out, to the astonishment of the crowd, which began to chatter animatedly, snapping photographs frantically and jostling each other for position. Then a hive of termites burst into activity as he walked past and noticed it. It was bewildering. And then a pair of hippopotamus rose out of the water in front of his eyes, presumably they had been asleep, rearing their ugly head out of the water, they began to bathe themselves.
Needless to say, Dudley and Piers were soon in high spirits, chatting incoherently, and making constant use of such words as, "unbelievable!", and "hell yeah", or "the animals sure know who's boss. This is the coolest birthday ever," as they watched a baby black bear dance on its hind legs to the shock of the trainer who nearly dropped his hoop and bottle.
He realized that he had an affect on them all, and felt suddenly afraid and apprehensive. What was this connection he had with living creatures then? He didn't exactly want them to obey him like this. It felt somehow wrong that he could affect then, impose his will upon them as if they were mindless and without independence. And what was the purpose of all this? To agitate them for the entertainment of the crowd? It all felt so meaningless and malevolent to Harry and yet he couldn't help but want to test and experiment with his powers. He tried underwater mammals such as dolphins who seemed strangely immune, who did not change but swam only at a slightly quicker pace. Carnivores on the other hand were dangerous. A prowling siberian tiger had nearly mauled the keeper who had tried to feed it, before being tasered into unconsciousness.
But while watching a pair of coyotes, Harry concentrated with his mind harder than before, meeting their eyes with a fixed, unbroken stare, which he had found was the most effective way of utilizing his powers. But he felt drawn to them this time also, as if he knew somehow that he was the coyote, something inside of him was somehow in tune with their innermost spirit and mind. They were all together in one nature of soul, voice, and instinct. Then with a sudden gusto, the pair turned to each other and, he watched with fascination, as they began to mate in a frenzy. He had somehow known what they were going to do, had known that they were going to do it, had known what it was that they were doing, even though to his bare unfocused eyes, the thrust had seemed unfamiliar, alien, but all at once natural and deeply moving. As he started, a larger pack came his way, drawn to his presence, and each had chosen a partner and had assumed the mating position. Then he could smell the excitement, the raw, unbridled lust permeated the air, that filled the atmosphere with an intensely charged, powerful aura of desire as well as affection. He blushed slightly and watched mesmerized by the sight.
Piers and Dudley were behind him now, guffawing and snorting like maniacs, as they struggled to stay upright, slapping each other's backs, halfway through mirth and Harry somehow knew, halfway through embarrassment; until Aunt Petunia scurried them all away in utter horror and disapproval. And although Uncle Vernon did have a glance with a sort of morbid gravity at the disgusting scene, they still hadn't suspected him. Maybe this time he would be able to make it all the way through without them noticing. But what eventually tried, stretched, and made them realize their suspicions would occur at the snake house.
It was nearing the end of the business day, a half hour remained before the zoo would close, Dudley and Piers now tired out from observing the hyperactive animals, were waiting in line with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon for ice cream cones. Harry had wandered off slightly on his own, but was still firmly in their line of sight with his back turned against them. He was staring at a species of snake that the exhibit sign showed as a Coronella austriaca, or a common smooth snake, native in this country. Uncoiled it would have been only sixty centimeters long, but right now it was sleeping, and what fascinated Harry most was the fact that it was not currently reacting to him at all, but remained at rest, totally oblivious to his stare. This was rather different, its behavior, demeanor did not seem deferential in the slightest.
Then it opened its eyes and its head rose steadily to meet him. He was crouched in front of the glass cage. He reflected on the general misery of zoo animals, deprived of their natural habitat, forced into display for insensitive people that would just try to disturb it, just like he had done of course. He smiled bitterly and felt disgusted with himself. But as he began to think active thoughts, the snake reacted in an unexpected manner; it blinked in apparent recognition and nodded its head at him. Harry did not know what to make of this gesture, it seemed to mark him as an equal and he merely nodded back in a dumbfounded fashion.
It winked at him again. And then from pure instinct, Harry winked back. The snake trailed back and forth the cage, circling it as it slithered around. And then Harry almost shouted out loud in shock as the snake, the snake was actually talking to him in plain words! If it weren't for the events of that day, he wouldn't have believed it. But as it was, he decided to respond, leaning his head closer, in a rasp whisper, "Are you speaking to me?"
The snake nodded but seemed in distress.
"You want to get out of there?"
She nodded again.
"I can't say I blame you. I mean I'm locked in quite a lot too, but at least I can get out on some days like this."
The snake resumed its motions frantically.
"Were you born here, I mean in the zoo?"
"Oh you were caught just after you were born. How about your mother? Is she- she's dead. I see. Well that's really tough luck. I never knew my parents either. I guess we're one of a same kind you could say."
"Well there's nothing I can really do for you, you know. I can't just get you out of here... I can? But that's impossible, what do you mean? Yeah I know a lot of strange stuff happens to me but I can't just will stuff to happen-"
But as he had just spoken the last word, and felt a strange sort of sympathy for this little creature, the glass vanished. Harry fell back in shock, and glanced rapidly behind him, but the Dursleys were still occupied with the ice cream truck. The smooth snake had slithered right out of its now non-existent cage.
"Uh listen, I guess I'll get you out then. Yeah you had better get in here." Harry had unzipped his shoulder bag, and though it was a tight fit, she had managed to squeeze her way through, tucked in closely, coiled together. "I know its uncomfortable, but you've got to stay hidden until we're out of the zoo at least. I'll let you out when the coast is clear." He spoke to it and zipped the bag close, leaving a quite a bit of room for air and trudged off after the Dursleys. The bag was surprisingly heavy. Nothing was out of place so far as they followed the milling crowd out of the zoo. They exited the gates nonchalantly, and entered the parking lot. As they stood outside Uncle Vernon's car, and as he fished for his keys, Harry fumbled the zipper of his bag and mentally thought, "Now!"
The snake revealed itself and slithered with surprising speed away from the group. But just as it was about to enter the underbelly of the car, Dudley reacted in hysterical fashion.
"DAD! DAD IT'S A SNAKE ! IT'S A REAL LIVE SNAKE! Underneath your car, I saw it go underneath your car! It must have followed us from the zoo!" Piers followed him and the two of them backed away from the car shrieking at the top of their lungs. Uncle Vernon waddled forward to his car furiously, was bending down on his knees to survey the cowering snake, and then with a savage kick, he struck its head and sent it flying ten feet away. Aunt Petunia gasped in horror. Dudley shouted, "Yeah get it dad!" But Uncle Vernon was now staring at him and he knew then with a deepening sense of dread, that they had finally connected the dots of this peculiar day.