Chapter 2: School, Friends, and Life
When Harry started school he made a friend named Aidan, who was the only guy not afraid of Dudley so he and Harry became best friends quickly. Everyone else stayed as far away from Harry as they could since they knew he was Dudley's favorite punching bag and they didn't want to get hit too. One day when Harry and Aidan were outrunning Dudley and his gang as usual, they went to jump behind some trash cans on the side of the school, Harry somehow found himself on the top of the school building with no idea how he got there. He got a week in his cupboard with no food for that, even though he couldn't explain how he'd gotten there.
The only thing he was happy about in school was that he had a best friend and he was smarter than Dudley ever would be. Harry got A's and B's in school on everything while Dudley usually got C's and D's, Vernon wasn't happy about this fact so if Harry talked about his good grades to them he got sent to his cupboard for the rest of the day. Harry learned quickly not to ask the Dursleys any questions, especially ones about his parents, or to brag about his grades because he'd just get punished for it. All Harry knew about his parents was they had met at school, ran off and got married, had him, and then gone and got in a car crash landing the Dursleys with him and giving Harry a lightning bolt scar on the right side of his forehead.
Harry was very skinny; he had knobby knees, and wore clothes 3 times too big for him because he had to wear Dudley's old clothes. He had a thin face, untidy black hair that never lay flat, and striking emerald green eyes. He never got presents on his birthdays and had to watch his spoiled rotten cousin get everything he wanted, he hated his life for the most part.
On Dudley's 11th birthday, Dudley and his best friend Piers Polkiss were going to the zoo; Harry was supposed to be going over to Mrs. Figgs' house because he was never allowed to go to Dudley's birthdays. Dudley had a huge pile of presents on the table when they all walked into the kitchen, when he complained that he had one less than last year Petunia quickly said they'd buy him two more when they were out today to stop the tantrum that was coming. When the phone rang Petunia went to go answer it and came back all worried looking, "What is it dear?" Vernon asked and she replied "Mrs. Figg broke her leg and can't take him." "What about your friend Yvonne?" Vernon asked, "She's vacationing in Majorca." Petunia answered "Ah I see, well Marge hates the boy so she wouldn't take him." Vernon said more to himself than anyone else. "I suppose we'll just have to take him with us and leave him in the car." Petunia said, "No way, that cars brand new, I don't want to come back and find him ruining it." Vernon yelled.
"You could leave me here." Harry suggested with hope, "And come back to find our house on fire? I don't think so boy." Vernon retorted. "I don't want him to go!" Dudley started crying, making Harry roll his eyes. "We won't let him spoil your day Dudley, I promise," Vernon said while glaring at Harry. When the doorbell rang Harry had to go get it and lead Piers and his mother into the kitchen, that's when Dudley stopped his whining relieving Harry of his head ache that had been coming on. Ten minutes later Harry was in the back seat of the car on his way to the zoo with Dudley and Piers. When they got there Vernon bought Dudley and Piers a big chocolate ice-cream and had to buy Harry a cheap lemon pop since the lady asked Harry before he could get shoved away.
They had seen half the animals by lunchtime and when Dudley started complaining about there not being enough ice-cream on his Knickerbockers Glory, he was bought another one and Harry got to finish the first. That's when the day became too good to last. Dudley went into the reptile house looking for the largest and most dangerous snake there, which he easily found in the back sleeping in its cage. He told his dad to make it move and Vernon knocked on the glass "Move." He had said aloud and when Dudley demanded it again, he knocked even harder and yelled, "MOVE!" the snake remained unmoving and Dudley wandered off.
Harry moved in front of the cage and watched it slowly raise its head and wink, this startled Harry so he looked around to see if anyone else was watching, they weren't. So Harry winked at the snake, the snake pointed his head at Dudley and Vernon and raised his eyes as if to say "I get that all the time." Harry said "I bet but they don't understand what it's like lying there day after day, watching people press their big ugly faces in at you." The snake nodded in agreement, "So where are you from?" Harry asked the snake and it pointed its head at the sign Boa Constrictor, Brazil it read, "Ah so did you like it in Brazil?" He asked and it pointed his head at the sign again so Harry read on, Bred in Captivity and Harry understood. "Oh, I never knew my parents either." Harry told the snake, but that's when Piers yelled from behind Harry "DUDLEY, MR. DURSLEY COME SEE WHAT THIS SNAKE IS DOING!"
Dudley waddled his fat arse over and shoved Harry in the ribs making him fall to the ground. Harry was mad and was glaring at Dudley and Piers when somehow the glass to the snake's cage disappeared and both boys jumped back in horror. The snake unwrapped itself very quickly and right before it slivered away it turned to Harry and said "Brazil here I come…Thankssss Amigo." Harry replied, "Anytime," ad then watched the snake slither off while everyone else screamed. They were rushed to the car and though Harry saw it only snap at their heels playfully Dudley and Piers were saying how it had nearly bit off their legs by the time they reached the car.
When Piers was gone Vernon turned on Harry, "What happened?" Vernon demanded, "I swear I don't know one minute the glass was there and the next it was gone, it was like magic." Harry pleaded. "There's no such thing as magic!" Vernon yelled while roughly shoving Harry into his cupboard and locking it. "You don't get meals for a week." Vernon mentioned through the vents and then walked off to find Dudley.
Lorraine had fit right into the orphanage because it was all girls; she was the only girl her age that didn't have a room mate until her 6th birthday. Miss Samantha came in and told her that they had just gotten a new girl her age and that she'd be her roommate. Lorraine was happy so she waited impatiently until they came back. "This is Lorelei, I hope you two become good friends," Miss Samantha said and then walked out leaving the girls alone to talk. "Hi my name is Lorraine Lily Potter," Lorraine said. "Mine's Lorelei Leann Porter." Lorelei said "Cool our names are really close, I'm Lorraine, your Lorelei, both our middle names start with L and my last name is Potter and yours is Porter." Lorraine said and Lorelei laughed in agreement.
"So how did you end up here?" Lorelei asked, "My parents died when I was one in a car crash leaving me with this," Lorraine answered while lifting up her bangs to reveal her lightning bolt scar. "Wow, I'm sorry." Lorelei answered, "Its ok, I'm ok with it now, so how about you, how'd you end up here?" Lorraine asked. "It's a sad story, I'm sure you don't want to hear it." Lorelei answered "I'm a good listener," Lorraine reassured while smiling. "Ok but you asked for it, my parents died in a plane crash, when I was one, on their way back from an international meeting, they were business people. My mom's best friend Leann, she's how I got my middle name, adopted me and took care of me up until a year ago, that's when it happened." Lorelei paused, "What happened?" Lorraine inquired.
"Leann and I were taking a walk around 9 o' clock like we did every night and we decided to go through the park for a change, and two guys walked up out of no where and started hassling us. One of them grabbed me and held me there while covering my mouth so I couldn't scream and the other grabbed my aunt and forced her to the ground, he ripped off her shorts. He held her down and raped her and they forced me to watch, I cried the whole time. Then they beat us within an inch of death and left us there, they walked off laughing and I crawled over to her to hold her hand. When I heard someone coming I started screaming for help, they came running over and saw us, the woman helped Leann get her shorts back on and then they rushed us to the hospital."
"Leann died right after we got there but they managed to save me, after weeks in the hospital I was finally patched up enough to leave but then I had no where to go. The family that rescued us decided to become my foster parents because they could not have their own children, but before they could fully adopt me I was taken away to another foster home. I've been switched around foster homes for this whole year until no one wanted to be my foster parents so I was dropped off here." Lorelei finished sadly. "That is the saddest story I've ever heard!" Lorraine said emotionally, "How did you ever get over that?" she added. "Well I kept having nightmares and all of my foster parents told me they'd get rid of me if I didn't get over it so I forced myself to, but they would get rid of me anyway." Lorelei said.
"That's horrible!" Lorraine said and gave her new room mate a hug. "Yeah but I'm over it now so don't worry." Lorelei mumbled into her shoulder. "Well I know something that will make you feel better," Lorraine said excitedly "What's that?" Lorelei asked. "Well every time there's a birthday, that birthday girl gets to pick out a movie for everyone to watch and today is my birthday." Lorraine said happily. "Really? Today's my birthday too." Lorelei said and both girls laughed. That's when Miss Samantha walked in and said, "Come on girls, it is movie time." And both girls followed her to the TV room.
"Alright everyone today is Lorraine's birthday and she gets to pick out the movie to watch." Miss Samantha said loud enough so everyone could hear. "Miss Samantha, it's Lorelei's birthday too" Lorraine pointed out, "Ok then I guess you both get to decide on a movie together." She replied. Both girls looked at the movies and picked out Matilda to watch since no one had seen it yet. The movie was popped in and all the girls sat and watched it together and then they went to the dining room for lunch and then there was cake and everyone wished them happy birthday.
Lorraine was very skinny but well nourished unlike Harry so she had a normal sized body just smaller than other girls her age. Her face was a bit more round like Lily's had been and she also had her mother's striking emerald green eyes. Her hair was black like her father's but had natural auburn highlights courtesy of her mother who had auburn hair, her hair was to the small of her back and it was wavy like her mothers had been until it was wet and then it stuck out in odd places like her father's had. Ever since the day they had all watched Matilda she had started tying her hair up with a ribbon like Matilda because she had become Lorraine's idol, she loved the idea of a little girl being able to do magic and obviously she had the lightning bolt scar on her forehead. Lorelei was a little taller than Lorraine, she was paler and had very thin and shiny strawberry blonde hair that was in constant curls to the small of her back and she also started wearing her hair in ribbons like Matilda. Her face was a little more round than Lorraine's but it fit her because her hair framed her face. She had very bright sapphire blue eyes and little freckles that crossed her nose.
The next day was school and Lorelei had been placed in Lorraine's class so they became best friends very quickly. One day both girls had been getting chased by some of the boys at school and when the boys caught up they spooked them and both girls somehow ended on top of the swing set. When Miss Samantha was informed of this both girls had to try to explain, neither of them know how they got there, they only knew they had been holding hands and running for the play set next to the swings. Miss Samantha saw how confused the girls were so she told them to stay inside for playtime at the orphanage for the next week. Both girls agreed that it was punishment enough and then went to the orphanage library to find some books to read during their punishments.
After that reading became both girls' favorite hobbies and they read religiously as often as they could and by the time they were 10 they had read every book in the orphanage library. They then started going over to the London Public library during their free time, which luckily for them was right across from the orphanage. Both girls became A students at school, so they were the top two students in class. They were two of the smartest kids in the orphanage and could outsmart half of the older girls, which made Miss Samantha giggle. She had become very proud of them and she loved how much they read, she herself was an avid reader like them.
So on their 11th birthday, she had bought them 5 books each, neither girl had read those books and they were told not to tell anyone that Miss Samantha had bought them something. Both girls agreed to her terms and then decided that neither of them would read those books until their next school year. They had no idea someone was coming to change their lives.
