"Emma wake up." Harry said gently waking up his sister.
"It's morning already?" Emma said sitting up. The sound of clicking followed after her almost sick sounding voice. Emma was a year younger the Harry and was considerably underfed just cause she was a girl. To be honest Emma got a third of what Harry got to eat.
"Yeah. I'll get started on breakfast while you get dressed." Harry said leaving the small little cupboard under the stairs and she started to get dressed. For as long as she can remember she had always been with her aunt and uncle. Well except for when they went on trips then the two would have to stay with Mrs. Figg, a woman who lived two streets away. She was mad old woman who makes us look at pictures of her cats. Emma pushed the useless glasses over her silver eyes. She didn't know why she needed to wear them. She had a feeling it was because of the scar that ran across her eyes. She was blind as a bat and similar to a bat in other ways too by clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth she could see what was going on around her. Except it was blue.
"You done?" Came Harry's gentle voice.
"Yeah." Emma said opening the door and going to work on breakfast. she saw the makings for eggs and bacon and quickly started flipping the eggs Harry had cracked. Then Placing the bacon on the pan to start cooking she turned to see Aunt Petunia looking down at her
"Why haven't you started wrapping Dudley's presents?" She said gesturing to the thirty seven presents on the table. "I am going to have to take away your meals for the day if those presents aren't done in five minutes." She said in her high pitched voice as she pushed Emma towards the table.
Emma started wrapping right away only stoping to flip the bacon and take the eggs off. "Come on I can't miss any more meals. I am half dead already. Come on Emma you can do better. And IF you don't. Who knows what she will do?" She thought to herself.
Sure enough five minutes later Aunt Petunia came in to see Emma finishing the thirty fifth present. "Not done are you?" She said "Thats it no more meals today." She said. Then her face twisted into a smile as she grabbed the scissors laying on the table. "Maybe this will teach you to finish something when I tell you to." She said as she dragged the scissors point across the palm of poor Emma's hand. The twisted woman smiled as she saw the tears run down her face. "Now finish the presents before Dudley wakes up or we will see about your other other hand." She said before turning and leaving to kick on the cupboard door to get harry.
Emma finished the last present as Harry came out. He instantly realized what happened but couldn't do anything for Dudley entered the kitchen.
"Keep away from my presents" Dudley said pushing the two across the room. They both quickly stood up as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon came into the kitchen. They smiled as they saw Dudley count the presents he had gotten.
"Thirty six thats two less then last year." Said Dudley obviously about to get into one of his fits.
"Darling you haven't counted Aunt Marge's present here under Mommy and Daddy's." Said Aunt Petunia Quickly.
"Alright Thirty seven thats still less then last year." Said Dudley his face turning red.
"And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" Said a nervous Aunt Petunia. She had, had to by five more presents last year because he hadn't thought thirty one was enough.
"Then I'll have I'll have…" Dudley said trying to do the simple addition in is head.
"Thirty nine sweetums." Aunt Petunia said.
"Oh." Dudley said "Alright then." Aunt Petunia smiled when he said that.
"Little tyke just wants hid moneys worth. Just like his father." Said Uncle Vernon Just now looking up from his plate of bacon and eggs.
Just then the phone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer while Harry Uncle Vernon and I watched Dudley unwrap his presents. He got a racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games and a was ripping my hardly worked on wrapping from a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking at the same time both angry and worried.
"Bad news Vernon." She said "Mrs. Figg has broken her leg. She can't take them." She said looking at us as if we were the reason Mrs. Figg had broken her leg.
Dudley started to look upset, but Harry and Emma's hearts gave a leap. Every year Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would take Dudley somewhere with one of his friends and we would always stay with Mrs. Figg.
"What are we to do?" Said Aunt Petunia
"We could Phone Marge." Said Uncle Vernon.
"Don't be silly Vernon Marge hates them."
"What about whats-her-name, your friend— Yvonne?"
"On vacation in Majorica,"
"You could just leave us here." Said Harry positioning himself in front of his sister. He did this often because they knew the way to punish him, was to hurt Emma.
"And come back to see the house in Ruins." Aunt petunia snarled
"We wont blow up the house." Said Harry but they had stopped listening.
"I suppose we could take them to the zoo and leave them in the car." Said Aunt Petunia slowly.
"That cars new they aren't sitting in it alone…." Uncle Vernon snapped back.
Dudley began to start a fit. It wasn't crying it was just him pinching up his face and wailing. He actually hadn't cried in years because this did the same thing. It got his mother to throw her arms around Dudley and do whatever he wanted her to do. It did the trick.
"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy wont let him spoil your special day." She said throwing her arms around his neck.
"I…. don't….. want…. them… t-t-to come!" Dudley wailed between his pretend sobs.
Just then the doorbell rang and Aunt Petunia rushed to open the door. A second later Peir Polkiss, Dudley's best friend, stepped into the kitchen. Peir was often the one holding people back while Dudley hit them. They mostly picked on Emma which resulted in her coughing up blood at night.
Half an Hour later the siblings were siting squished together in the seat, heading to the zoo for the first time in our lives. Of course before they left they had received the no nonsense talk from Uncle Vernon.
In the car Uncle Vernon was complaining to Aunt Petunia. He did this often. Today his subject was motorcycles. "….roaring along like maniacs the young hoodlums." Uncle Vernon ranted.
"I had a dream about a motorcycle." Said Harry. Emma looked a him in surprise and he realized she had, had the same dream. "It was flying."
"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Yelled Uncle Vernon almost crashing into the car in front.
"I know they don't it was only a dream." Said harry.
It was sunny and warm at the zoo and it was crowded with family's. We walked up to a little cart of what I guessed to be an ice cream cart.
"I will have a chocolate ice cream." Said Dudley.
"I will have the same." Said Peirs.
"And what would you two like?" The woman asked the other two children of the group..
"He will have a Lemon Ice pop." Said Aunt Petunia after spotting the cheapest thing to buy.
"And you little Miss?"
"I am Lactose intolerant." Emma said sweetly to the woman at the cart. She gave me a smile. This wasn't actually true. Aunt Petunia had just never allowed Emma to have anything that cost's more then she wanted to spend. Emma always though this was because Aunt petunia had to buy some different
"Alright then that will be 5 pounds." Said the woman turning to Aunt Petunia.
After Paying we went to see the animals. At about noon Dudley and Peirs got bored and we went to eat at the zoo restaurant. I wasn't allowed to get anything because of my punishment so I just watched as Harry ate Dudley's first Knickerbocker Glory. After lunch we went to the reptile house.
Once entering the reptile house Dudley and Peirs went to find the largest snake but quickly got bored because it didn't move.
"Dad make it move." Dudley said already annoyed.
Uncle Vernon knocked on the glass. "Move you old bugger." He said. After a while later Dudley and Peirs moved on to the next snake.
"Sorry about them." Harry said as they walked up to the enclosure.
"They don't know what it's like." Emma said.
"It happens all the time." The snake answered. The two sibling looked at each other.
"I didn't know you could talk to humans."
"I didn't know you could talk to snake's." The snake said.
"Where do you come from?" Harry asked. The snake nodded it's head to a sign next to the enclosure. It read:
Boa Constrictor
Brazil
"Was it nice in brazil?" Emma asked. The Boa Constrictor nodded his head again towards the sign.
Born in Captivity
"Oh I see…" She said.
"So you've never been to brazil?" Harry said
"Harry that's rude." He looked at the ground.
"Sorry Emma."
" DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY!" Came a deafening scream from behind the two. " 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," Dudley said pushing harry over and hitting Emma right on the ribs. She already knew she would be coughing blood sometime today. But Harry. Harry felt such a surge of anger towards Dudley that the glass that the fat boy had pressed him self against disappeared.
Dudley and Peirs jumped back howling at the snake as it crawled out of it's enclosure and towards Emma. The snake lifted his head towards her. "Will you keep me?" He asked, Emma nodded and because everyone was fussing over Dudley only Harry saw as the snake slithered up Emma's sleeve and 'dissapeared'
"The two of you are in so much trouble!" Uncle Vernon practically screamed at them. " NO MEALS FOR A WEEK! GET IN THE CUPBOARD!" The two siblings to afraid to find out what would happen if they didn't, went right into the cupboard were there so called Uncle locked them up.
The two lay in there dark cupboard that night. Emma had fallen asleep curled against harry but Harry lay awake.
"I wish I had a watch." He murmered to himself. If he had then Harry could know when they could sneak to the kitchen for some food. He couldn't know when they where asleep or not.
He and Emma had lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, al as he could remember, ever since he's been a baby and his parents had died in the car crash. Although neither Harry or Emma could remember the car crash. Although sometimes when Harry strained to remember he saw a blinding green flash and a burning pain on his forehead. He had just supposed this was the crash but neither him nor Emma, who he had shared his memory with, could find out what the green light was. He couldn't remember his parents at all. There aunt and uncle never spoke of them., there were no photographs in the house.
Although Sometimes harry felt as if the strangers on the street knew him. Strange Strangers they were. A tiny man in a Violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia Dudley and Emma. Aunt petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild looking old woman dressed in all green had waved merrily at him on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had shaken Harry's hand and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing was that they seemed to vanish once he or Emma tried to get a closer look.
At school, Harry had no one except his sister a grade below him and the same went with Emma. Everybody knew Dudley and his gang hated the two of them and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.