Chapter 2: A Trip to the Zoo

Ten years later, the house at #4 Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. As the sun swept over the street, Harry Potter began to wake up. Opening his mismatched eyes, he automatically checked over his brother Tom. Seeing nothing awry, Harry unfolded his body from the lotus position that he habitually slept in so Tom could stretch out more on the tiny cot they shared in the cupboard under the stairs. He yawned and ruffled his unruly, shoulder-length black hair. Opening the small door, Harry stepped into the front hall to fully stretch out. Harry had shot upwards in the past 2 years, so he now stood at 5'6", a full foot taller than his twin, and had a slightly emaciated looking frame and sunken cheeks. His nose had the distinctive look of one that has been broken at least twice. He had a nice tan from doing all the gardening and other outside chores. Stretching one leanly muscled arm back into the cupboard, Harry snatched up some clothes before closing the door so that Tom could sleep longer. He quickly used the washroom and changed. Dudley's cast-off clothing looked ridiculous on Harry, being both too big and too short. Tossing his night clothes back into the cupboard, Harry went into the kitchen. As long as Harry had breakfast ready for the Dursleys, Aunt Petunia would let Tom sleep.

Unfortunately, Tom's sleep was destined to be interrupted today. Dudley Dursley never let anyone sleep in on his birthday. He thundered down the stairs like a herd of rhinoceros, insuring that Tom was awake.

By the time Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley entered the kitchen, Harry had platters of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hot cakes, porridge, and muffins set out on the counter with plates for them to fill and try to fit onto the table with all of Dudley's presents. He made as much food as he possibly could so that there might be more leftovers for Tom and him. Only once had Harry tried hiding some of the food he cooked, on the twins fourth birthday. That was the first time Uncle Vernon broke a bone while punishing him. Unfortunately, Dudley knew that the twins got any leftovers and so ate as much as he possibly could, with the end result being that he was almost as wide as he was tall.

As Dudley shoveled food down his gullet, he ripped open his presents, including a computer, a second television, a racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. As he was opening up a gold wristwatch, Aunt Petunia came back from talking on the phone.

"Bad news, Vernon. Arabella broke her leg tripping over one of her cats, she can't take the brats. Now what are we going to do?"

"We could call Marge."

"Don't be ridiculous, Vernon, she hates them."

"Mummy, they're going to ruin my birthday!" Dudley wailed with fake tears filling his eyes.

"Don't worry my Duddikins, those nasty boys won't be allowed to ruin your birthday. I won't let them!" Aunt Petunia assured him, flinging her arms around him as far as she could.

"Harry, what's going on?" Tom questioned.

"Hang on a sec, Tom, I'll be right there," Harry answered.

Harry and Tom had discovered this ability to communicate telepathically when they were six. One day after school, Tom hid in the cupboard crying and wouldn't let Harry in. In desperation Harry instinctually "threw" his mind towards his twin, and surprisingly, Tom answered. The shock of the communication brought Tom out, and they spent the next week experimenting with the limits of their telepathy. They found out that they could communicate no matter how far apart they were, and actually had to work out how to block their thoughts. Once they discovered this ability, they had a hard time turning it off. Harry also found out that the reason Tom was crying was because some kids at school were teasing him about his ill-fitting clothes. That night Harry took needle and thread from his Aunt Petunia's sewing kit and spent the night trying to alter Tom's clothes to fit better. He fell asleep amongst the clothing and sewing supplies, disappointed that he wasn't able to figure out how to fix them. Yet somehow, when he woke up to his Aunt Petunia's screeching, the clothes were all perfectly fitted for Tom. Uncle Vernon broke Harry's right arm during his punishment for stealing the needle and thread and his 'ingratitude' for the clothes the twins were given. On the plus side, Harry became ambidextrous.

When it was decided that the twins would have to come along to the zoo, Harry went to tell Tom. Tom was waiting in the cupboard for Harry. With his scant 4'6" height, Tom was small for his age, but thanks to Harry's efforts to give Tom enough food-to his own detriment-Tom had a good weight for his height. Though he had black hair like Harry, his only came down to the bottoms of his ears, and he worked hard to make it as unruly as his brother's. His eyes were the same as Harry's, with the left one sapphire blue and the right one emerald green. They stood out starkly against his pale skin, and he lacked his twin's musculature since Harry did all the more strenuous chores.

Harry folded himself down to sit next to Tom on their cot. "It looks like we get a little treat Tom. Mrs. Figg broke her leg and can't take us today. There is no other option; we get to go to the zoo today."

Tom broke into a grin. "That's great Harry! I've always wanted to go to the zoo!"

A dark shadow eclipsed the light from the open cupboard door. Uncle Vernon leaned into the cupboard. "Listen up, you two. This is Dudley's birthday, and you are not to mess it up. Any of your funny business, and you'll be locked in here for two weeks," he snarled, before stalking off to rejoin Dudley and Petunia.

Once Dudley's friend Piers Polkiss arrived, the group loaded into the minivan and headed off to the zoo. The twins had a wonderful time. They got lemon ices when the ice cream lady asked what they wanted before Uncle Vernon could hustle them away, and eating at a restaurant was a very rare treat. After lunch, however, Dudley and Piers started to get bored. Harry made sure to keep Tom right next to him so that if they decided to have a little fun beating on the twins, Harry could take the attention off of Tom. Over the years, Harry had always stepped between Tom and any sort of physical harm. Dudley and his gang were the ones that had broken his nose twice. The one time Uncle Vernon had tried to physically punish Tom the way he did Harry was when they were two. The twins didn't remember it, and Uncle Vernon had blocked the memory of being flung across the room when Harry clapped and then flung his hands apart, but Vernon never tried to hurt Tom again. Harry took the brunt of all punishments, even for the time Tom ended up on top of the school's library when Harry told him to run from Dudley's gang one day.

The next exhibit they went to was the reptile house. The cool exterior was nice and refreshing after the heat outside. Dudley and Piers had found the biggest snake in there, of course, a boa constrictor. Luckily it was the first enclosure in there so they didn't have to strain themselves looking. Dudley was rapping on the glass and making faces at the snake, trying to get it to move. "This is boring," Dudley moaned, and dragged Piers off to see the poisonous frogs.

"That's rich coming from Dudley. He's not exactly the most exhilarating presence to be around himself," Tom hissed at the snake. The snake slowly lifted his head, followed by a foot of his body, so that he was even with Tom's face. "Are you talking to me?" it hissed.

"Can you hear me?" Tom incredulously asked.

"I think the more important question here, boss, is you can hear me?" the boa replied.

"Harry, get over here! I can talk to this snake!"

Harry rushed over and, glancing at the snake, hissed, "What are you talking about Tom? Snakes don't talk."

"And yet, somehow, it seems that I do. Man oh man. Who'd a thought it, two human children able to speak the noble tongue of the snake. We haven't had a speaker since that crazy guy snuffed it ten years ago. Yo Frank, Tony, check out these two mooks. We gotta coupla speakers here."

Two green pythons lifted their heads in the next tank. "You for real Benny? We got coupla new bosses? We'll pass the word. Oi, Joey! Listen to this!"

The hissing of the snakes spread around the room. Several people looked vaguely disturbed and left quickly due to the sudden activity of the previously quiescent reptiles. Harry and Tom noticed that all of the snakes talked with accents like the New Jersey mafia.

"Dudley, Mr. Dursley, you gotta see what this snake is doing!" Piers suddenly bellowed from behind them.

"Move it, freak," Dudley said as he waddled over, shoving Harry so hard into Tom that they both fell down, and then pressing his nose up to the glass at the snake that was now hissing profanities at him. In a flash, the glass disappeared, and Dudley tumbled into the river in the enclosure. The boa wasted no time taking advantage of this opportunity, and coiled once around Dudley before exiting its cage. Dudley promptly passed out from fright, most likely thankful that the water he landed in hid the fact that he had just pissed his pants.

"I owe you one, Boss. My fellow snakes will hear the good news that two young speakers have revealed themselves to us. There will be much rejoicing," the boa bowed to Harry, and then Tom, before making its sinuous way out of the reptile house.

"Hey, yo, yous two think you could get the rest of us out?" shouted one of the pythons.

Without thinking about it, Harry clapped his hands once before bunching the fingertips of his right hand together and blowing across them, opening his hand wide at the same time. Instantly the glass for all the other snake enclosures disappeared, and the snakes quickly started to file out, all of them stopping to bow to the twins and express their gratitude. Several mentioned going to the bosses to help spread the news of the 'new bosses'.

"Wow," Harry and Tom said as one.

The ride home was tense and silent. Dudley sat shivering wrapped in a blanket the zoo director had given him(while muttering about damn animal rights activists), and Uncle Vernon was biting his tongue and turning purple as he restrained himself from yelling while Piers was still with them. They arrived home, and right before Piers left, he casually turned to Mr. Dursley and said, "Harry and Tom were talking to the snake. I saw them." He then cast a malicious look at the twins and left.

Uncle Vernon turned to the boys, almost apoplectic with fury. "You, boy, get to your cupboard," he snarled at Tom. Tom cast a worried look at Harry before scurrying away. Any hint of disobedience from Tom would make it that much worse for Harry. He would get out the meager medical supplies he had squirreled away over the years and be ready for when Uncle Vernon would throw Harry into the cupboard under the stairs.

Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry by the scruff of his neck and dragged him up to the attic. He flung Harry to the floor before unleashing a flurry of hits and kicks on the unprotected boy, screaming out random disjointed derogatory words. Harry counted himself lucky that he only heard one crack of a bone snapping, his left ankle. When Uncle Vernon's fury was spent, he grabbed Harry's arm and took him back downstairs to throw into the cupboard, locking the door after him. Tom silently began treating Harry's wounds, silently so the Dursleys wouldn't hear and find out about the little medical kit the twins had. Harry was so used to pain; he barely even flinched when Tom set his ankle.

The twins were good at making up stories about Harry's injuries. They knew that if anyone suspected the amount of abuse that happened in the Dursley household, they would be taken away and most likely would be separated. So Harry took the beatings, and Tom fixed him as best he could, and anyone who cared to ask would be regaled with wild tales of Harry's adventures climbing trees, fording streams, and playing with puppies. And they didn't expect anything to ever change.

Telepathy in bold

Parseltongue in italics