Time for chapter two! I'm having a lot more fun with this than I thought I would. It gives me an excuse to reread Harry Potter after all!

Please review! I would love some criticism to better improve this story!

(Also there's an author note down below for whoever is interested)

Enjoy!


A tiny boy lay awake in his miserable excuse for a bed, staring at the ceiling to his tiny room under the stairs with his bright green eyes.

He could hear his housemates moving around already, his aunt's tittering steps and his uncle's thudding steps. Her annoying chirps and snaps, his bellows and muttering. He sighed quietly, reluctant to leave the cramped space they had given him.

"Vernon darling, do make sure Duddlykins is getting ready to go out. I know he wants to sleep but we really must start getting ready!"

"Of course Petunia."

As much as he hated the small cupboard under the stairs, he hated the people waiting outside his small slice of peace. Vernon and Petunia were no real family of his he felt. He held no love for these people.

"Up! Get up!" Petunia began rapping on the door with a bony hand, and Harry rolled his eyes. Her screeching meant nothing to him. He simply looked over to the door and waited for her to explain why she was 'waking him up'.

Harry was used to yelling and screaming being what woke him. He stopped expecting peace and rest long ago. He knew that getting restful sleep was unrealistic. He didn't have the chance to relax, sleep was simply a way to recharge and escape the Dursleys for a while.

"Now! Aren't you up yet?!" Harry took a deep breath, as ready to face them as he could be.

"Yes Aunt Petunia. I'm up." He called out to her through the cupboard door.

After listening to his aunt screech and hiss about getting ready for Dudley's birthday, and how he was expected to make everything perfect for it he sighed in defeat and prepared himself for the day, dressing and putting on his old glasses that the Dursleys bought him years ago. They were broken in several places and taped up in an attempt to get more use out of them, but honestly Harry was just happy that Vernon even got them for him in the first place.

Walking briskly past his aunt, Harry went right to the kitchen where he prepared breakfast for the others. He ignored Petunia and Vernon's worrying and chatting about the 'beloved birthday boy' and his 'special day' in favour of thinking over the dream he had that night. It was an odd one, though he found himself often repeating it.

The idea of flying motorcycles and talking cats filled his mind and distracted Harry from the blaring fact that there was no sign he even lived in the home aside from the contents of his cupboard. Pictures of a fat, blond boy littered the home, but none of himself. Regardless of his affections-or lack there of- for the family who reluctantly housed him, it still hurt to be reminded of just how unwanted he was in this home.

"Comb your hair!" Vernon suddenly barked, glaring at Harry for a moment before returning his attention to the newspaper in his hands. Harry rolled his eyes and ignored his uncle. He could complain all he wanted- Harry's hair did whatever it pleased and listened to no one- it was much braver than Harry himself.

"Yes uncle Vernon." He called, knowing that nodding and agreeing to whatever fell from their mouths was safer for him than anything else, though he often had to be careful to calm himself before opening his mouth.

"Mummy? Daddy?"

"Diddykins!"

"Good morning my boy!"

Dudley entered the room then- a miniature Vernon and twice as insufferable. Harry held in a groan when the blond boy started howling about his inadequate amount of presents. Truly this boy didn't understand anything about not being a prat. But Harry held back his comments, not wanting to be punched again by his cousin. He never had to worry about his aunt and uncle hitting him anymore, something always stopped them from following through when they made to strike them. They just starved him or made him work instead. Unfortunately for Harry however, Dudley held no qualms about physical assault and often made Harry his personal punching bag. At home, school, didn't matter.

"I got more last tiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!" Dudley wailed. "You h-h-h-HATE ME!"

"Oh Duddlykins no! Mummy and Daddy don't hate you!"

"Not even a little bit! You're such a good lad, how could we ever hate you?"

"Oh my little Darling boy, how about we do this-"

Petunia and Vernon gushed over their son, attempting to calm the boy who was pretending to wail in sorrow. Harry rolled his eyes, shoveling food in his mouth quickly before his cousin decided to take it out on him. Dudley didn't even have any tears on his face. The entire ordeal was a farce! How could his aunt and uncle not notice? They never seemed to notice when Harry cried, so was it just that they were bad with tears? Harry shook his head slightly. Even he wouldn't be so stupid as to believe that. They probably just don't care to notice. With both boys not just Harry.

Eventually the two managed to calm Dudley with promises of two additional presents when the phone rang. Petunia answered it quickly, but her smile quickly dropped into a scowl as she angrily chirped to whoever the poor caller was. He looked away, setting his curiosity to the side and quickly eating his breakfast. The fact that he managed to eat so long undisturbed was rare and he wasn't going to question it or throw it away just to see who she was talking to. Harry knew Petunia would stomp over to Vernon and tell him anyway, so why bother rushing in if he could just listen in later.

"Broke your leg? But can't you-yes I realise that you must be busy with that, but we have plans and-oh it's just a leg! Do you really need time to yourself? It's not like he'll go anywhere!-of course. Fine. Have a good day."

Petunia slammed the phone on the receiver, stomping over to Vernon just as Harry predicted she would, and jerked her head in Harry's direction. Apparently the old woman who they usually pawned him off onto was unavailable. Harry almost felt bad for the woman, Miss Figg, but then he remembered her forcing him to listen to her stories about her cats the last time he was left there and no longer had such feelings.

The two argued over what to do with Harry, and between Dudley's fake sobs and wails and the doorbell ringing they reluctantly came to a decision that Harry was able to appreciate, even if it made his family miserable- Harry would be joining them to the zoo.

...

For once Harry was actually smiling, sitting excitedly in the back of the Dursley's new car with Dudley and Dudley's best friend from school. They two openly spoke of their distaste for Harry and his presence, but the smallest boy couldn't bring himself to care at all about their moaning and groaning. Their complaints didn't matter, their insults weren't listened to, and their punches didn't hurt. Not even his Uncle Vernon's threats of starvation and beatings should Harry ruin this occasion in any way shape or form could dampen his mood. It's not like the threats were anything special anyway. The very least Vernon could have done was spice up the ones Harry was so used to for an event such as this! Starvation was nothing to Harry anymore, he was used to hardly eating at this point, and as for the beatings, his uncle wouldn't dare hurt him physically. He wasn't sure why of course, they had no problems with any other kind of mistreatment, but he knew that the most they would do is allow Dudley to have a go at Harry. This didn't bother him much either, as he could always outrun his much larger cousin or even better outsmart him at times.

This was his first time to the zoo after all! Well, one could argue it was his first time anywhere special to be honest. The Dursleys his Harry even more than Dudley his sweets or his grades. Nothing could ruin this day, not Dudley, not Vernon, not Petunia and certainly not any of those strange occurrences that often plagued Harry.

So far the day was going wonderfully, and Harry was jubilant. The Dursleys has -reluctantly- purchased an ice cream for Harry at the zoo, and at another point even allowed him to finish one of Dudley's desserts! He followed them closely through the Zoo and quietly admired the many animals with awe. At one point The Dursleys had stopped in front of a large exhibit with giraffes and elephants and Harry, shocked at how similar the animals were to Petunia and Vernon respectively, vowed to himself to try and accompany the Dursleys on their outings more often. As ghastly as they were, the places they went were fun and exciting.

After lunch is when it all went downhill. Harry wasn't quite sure what he was expecting. He should have known that things would go wrong. As they always do.

The group had ventured into the reptile house, and were eagerly looking at all the lizards and snakes when they came across a huge snake. The biggest in the house, and Dudley was beyond ecstatic. Or at least he was at first. When the magnificent snake refused to move at his demand and his father's rapping on the glass, Dudley had promptly given up on the snake, storming off in a huff with Vernon close behind.

Harry glared at them as they left the area, and turned to the snake. It's coils glistened a lovely shade of brown that Harry imagined helped with blending into the foliage and branches in the exhibit. Harry oddly found himself jealous of this ability, but shook it off. He sighed and told the snake that he was sorry about his family, despite the fact that he knew it wouldn't understand. However that's when the surprises began. To his utter delight the snake rose up eye to eye with Harry, and began to roll it's eyes and shake her head. As if exclaiming that it was used to the annoying attention.

Harry smiled and began to chat to the boa constrictor, asking it about where it came from among other things when Dudley's friend shouted from behind him, prompting Dudley to rush over and roughly shove Harry to the floor to look at the snake. The boa tried to peer past its enclosure to see Harry, as of checking to see if the boy was alright. Harry turned a harsh glare onto the boys, wishing he could get them back for the attack, but knowing there was nothing he could do against the two bigger and stronger boys.

Suddenly the glass that separated the Boa and the two onlooking boys vanished, without a trace. The snake took advantage of the missing barrier and quickly lurched forward, out of the tank. It practically grinned at Harry, tongue slipping out a moment as if tasting freedom.

"Brazil here I come!" It declared in a hissing voice that Harry couldn't believe he was actually hearing. Perhaps he'd finally gone mad? Did Dudley hit him in the head one too many times? He'd go to a doctor to check but was certain the Dursley's wouldn't bother taking him to see one in the first place. He stared wide eyed at the snake, mouth hanging open. "Thanksssss boy. Good luck with your own cage." The snake bowed it's head to him before slithering away as quickly as it could, albeit taking a moment here and there to lurch out and frighten zoo-goers and letting out a hissy laugh.

While Harry was quite glad with the Boa's escape and thoroughly amazed by the talking snake-and a little concerned for his mental health- as he sat in his cupboard hungry he almost wished it never happened. Vernon had taken no time in punishing Harry for the impossible act, even though Harry had nothing to do with it.

Harry sighed, his stomach growling urgently. These punishments came as no surprise, and The young boy was nearly used to it by now, but he still hated being starved. Being used to something didn't make it any less unpleasant. At least let him do something to deserve the punishment! It's not his fault the glass vanished! How could he even do it?! It was like it vanished by magic! But of course telling Uncle Vernon that didn't lessen the punishment at all. Ten long miserable years on this punishment hadn't made the punishment any better. It only made him better at dealing with the punishments and learning how to bare with them. Harry used to dream of being saved, of leaving the Dursleys cruelty and finding a family that loves him. However like so many other things the Dursleys destroyed that dream. Harry knew it wasn't realistic.

No one was coming to save him. No one cared about the tiny boy with outrageous black hair who lived under the stairs in the Dursley's home. No one cared about Harry Potter.


This chapter feels so fuckin short it's driving me crazy. I feel like the others I'm workin on go one forever but then this is just like 'meh'. I swear I spent a good deal writing this chapter miserable. Making Harry suffer isn't fun. I don't like doing it to my own characters but Harry isn't mine, so I have no room to decide anything really. His past is what makes him who he is.

Anywho, I'm thinking about having someone adopt Harry. I kinda implied it with McGonagall in chapter one already.

If Harry were Gryffindor I'd automatically assume McGonagall or The Weasley family, but in Slytherin that friendship won't develop.

So I'm thinking of taking a poll!

Who do you guys think he should be adopted by?

Note: it wouldn't be prevalent for a while, maybe really just book two, but I'd have to start developing the connection between Parent and Child so I need to decide on it soon.

McGonagall?

Snape?

Malfoy family? (Though being Draco's adoptive brother would be upsetting. It is a Drarry story after all!)

Someone else completely?

Tell me in the comments/reviews please!