"Sssssss...fffoolisssh human…" - Parseltongue speech
…
When we first started living there, the Dursleys were in an uproar. They wanted to get rid of us and they probably would have left us on the streets if it wasn't for the fear of the neighbors finding us and asking questions about the m-word…magic.
To them, magic was worse than anything else that they could think of, for it violated and ruined all of their prized 'normalcy' and their perfectly 'normal' life.
They actually wanted to put us in an orphanage and I agreed with them. I'd rather have Harry and myself living with strangers than with them, as long as I always could keep an eye on him and protect him. They started making plans and calling several different orphanages. I noticed that they all were at least several miles away from their house and I approved wholeheartedly. I was looking forward to us leaving in a week or so, but then he came. Bumbling Dumbledore.
"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Petunia growled in rage when she answered the ringing of the doorbell to her precious house.
"Why I'm just here to see little Harry and Azalea Potter and to ask you some questions." Dumbledore cheerfully responded with a twinkle in his eyes. "Now will you let me in or will you make me stand out here where all of your…neighbors…can see me?" He continued with a touch of frost emerging in his tone.
Petunia reluctantly let him in and lead him to her kitchen where she served tea. Vernon was out for his job, Dudley was upstairs in his crib having his mid-afternoon nap, and Harry and I were playing with each other in the corner of the living room just a few feet away from the kitchen. I slowed down playing patty-cake with Harry so I could hear the conversation better. Perhaps Dumbledore was taking us away to be with Sirius? I was really miffed that he hadn't kept us when he had found us.
"Ah I see that Harry and Azalea are getting along nicely in your home." Dumbledore complimented Petunia.
Petunia growled, "Why did you send them to us? I know that Lily would have never allowed it; she knows how much I despise magic and that I won't take care of her brats. They'd be better off in an orphanage, away from my family."
Dumbledore smiled as he sipped his tea and it was a smile that sent a chill down my spine. I suddenly realized that the side of him I saw whenever he visited my parents, the cheerful elderly grandfather persona he affected, wasn't the true Dumbledore. It was just a mask. I also realized that Petunia had naïvely let a powerful wizard into her home and we were defenseless against him. Petunia stiffened as she realized the same thing. This was not going to go well. Not well at all.
"Petunia, Petunia, I know this and I still insist that you look after them and you will find that all of your arrangements to put them in an orphanage have been canceled. If you try the same thing again or any other attempts to place Lily's children anywhere not in your home, you will be stopped and I will make sure you never even think of doing it again."
I dropped my hands in shock. Harry started playing by himself and a nearby red toy truck.
Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eye as he continued, "I assure you that I have ways to keep updated on your care for the children and I encourage you to watch over them personally. It is much better to undergo one's duty willingly rather than to be forced into it. Trust me, it will be the more pleasant for the both of us if you cooperate with me."
Petunia whimpered in fear under Dumbledore's cold fury. "Now I understand that you shouldn't be expected to care for the children without some…compensation." He continued.
A flash of greed appeared in Petunia's eyes, "What do you have to offer?" She asked. It was plain on her face that if she was going to have to care for us, then she was going to drain us for all we were worth. Not if I have anything to say about it!
"Every month, three hundred Galleons will be withdrawn from the trust fund set up for their care and delivered to you. It should be the equivalent of 1,500 pounds for you and don't worry about the government getting suspicious of your new-found wealth. It will be marked as money from their parent's legacy to support Harry and Azalea. Speaking conservatively, it should be no more than about a thousand to feed and clothe them both. I don't expect you to do much more than to give them a home here and you can do whatever you want with the rest of the money."
His voice became even colder and hard as iron, "However, you must stay in this home. I know that Vernon has the chance for a promotion, but if he takes it, then he will insist on moving and you must stay in this house for the wards to work for the children's protection…and yours. After all, the people who killed Lily may come after you as well, for revenge. If you stay, another hundred Galleons or five hundred pounds will be given to you every month."
"I will send you letters every so often on how I expect you to care for them and I will receive replies telling me of their progress."
"Now I wish you a pleasant day, my dear Petunia and I hope you will make sure to never mention anything about magic to them. After all, we can't have them getting ideas and being disruptive around your home," Dumbledore cheerfully spoke and if it wasn't for the conversation they just had, I could have believed that he was innocent of even the slightest wrongdoing.
He glanced at us and I forced myself to continue playing with Harry to make him think that we were just two little kids too young to even remember this conversation or his visit.
After he left and Petunia prepared to explain to Vernon what they were going to do about Dumbledore's subtle threat, I looked at Harry's innocent face and resolved to protect Harry to the best of my abilities for something told me that we had worse problems than Voldemort to deal with.
Years later
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining warmly with the cool breeze balancing the warm temperature. Almost everyone was out of the house, kids playing around, adults sitting and talking outside, watching their kids with a fond expression on their faces. Yes, everyone was enjoying the nice holiday, by either sleeping in or playing outside.
Everyone but us; Harry James Potter and me, Azalea Lily Potter.
We were nice kids who did well in school and for all the teachers knew, we were the same at home. However, because of all the bad rumors about us the Dursleys told the neighbors, nobody ever got near us to be friends and with us always wearing Dudley's huge hand-me-downs, nobody even thought about changing their first impressions of us, only whispering when they saw us and crossing the street to get away from us.
At home, the Dursleys ignored us after Dumbledore's visit and put up with us reluctantly. It could have been worse, Vernon or Petunia could have abused us, but I think that they were too scared to do anything more than insult us. I supposed that it could have led to some severe mental and emotional abuse in the future if it was just one of us against all of the hatred that the Dursleys heaped on us daily (me thinks that was Dumbledore's plan), but we had each other to support and cheer up. We had each other's backs!
Dudley on the other hand, who had no idea about magic, gleefully saw it as a chance to hit us without his parents doing a thing about it to stop him. It would have been fine if he stuck to bugging only me, but when he pushed Harry down a couple of stairs when we were six, he was in BIG trouble.
After I checked over Harry to be sure that he was fine while Dudley ran away cackling in joy for hurting the 'freaks', I felt a cold rage burn deep inside me and planned revenge. After all, it was a dish best served cold.
"Hey Dudley," I called out behind him the following day. I had decided that Dudley wouldn't understand anything more subtle than a direct confrontation.
"What freak?" He retorted.
"You know that your parents call us freaks and that they took us in after our parents were killed in a car crash, right?" That was the lie that they had told the three of us and I understood that they didn't want to tell Dudley anything about magic.
"Yeah so?" He grumbled back.
I smiled and said, "Have you ever thought that maybe there was something suspicious about how your parents are scared of ever mentioning my parents' death; of how they are scared of Harry and me?"
"Huh? What are you talking about? Mommy and Dad are not scared of you." Dudley replied confused.
"You didn't notice how they never stay in the same room as Harry or me? How they never talk to us and how they always give us a wide space when they walk around us?" I cheerfully responded with a wide grin on my face that made me look like a grinning loon.
Dudley thought over this and blustered, "Well I don't care! You two don't scare me!" It was obvious that he was scared and nervous as he thought about his parents' behavior. After all, this was his daddy and mommy, they could fix anything and nothing scared them. Oh you foolish boy, someone was going to have his world broken around him.
I coldly smiled, "Well, I don't care want you think about me or do to me, but Dudley, you hurt Harry and if you did it again…I'll make you stop from ever doing it again."
Dudley was shocked at the tone in my voice and his jaw was hanging down as he stood looking in surprise at me for being so angry.
"Oh yeah, by the way…BOO!" I hollered at Dudley who shrieked and fell backwards…down the flight of stairs leading to the first floor, the same stairs that he pushed Harry down yesterday.
He made a loud noise tumbling down and when he got to the bottom, Petunia was running to his side asking if he was okay, her poor ickle Diddykins. Dudley looked up past Petunia's shoulder at me. I mouthed to him, 'I'll do worse if you tell.'
Dudley stammered, "I-I just tripped d-down the sta-stairs, I'm fine Mom."
I smiled at him and ran away before Petunia could look up and see me. Dudley left Harry alone after that.
Most people don't remember things when they were babies, but unlike them I was born as intelligent as an adult even if I didn't have the same knowledge. Because my mind is older than my body, I remembered everything. And I mean everything. My brain probably made more room in my head or something and I developed perfect recall.
I have no idea why I remember events so perfectly, but then again I don't know why I had a previous life or why I knew a Harry in both lives.
My memory is not the same as eidetic memory. It's limited to remembering anything that I focus on. I don't remember everything about an experience I've had, but if I focus on committing something to memory, then I'll always be able to review the event. That means I can remember a scene going on in front of me like the conversation between Dumbledore and Petunia (I'm never forgetting that!), but stuff like traffic sounds and other background noise that I ignore, I forget. I also forget about stuff like a normal dinner with the Dursleys, because I consider it unimportant to remember. I suppose that it's good for my sanity, so I wouldn't be driven crazy by remembering irrelevant details and the Dursleys being so annoying and rude. I don't care if you're eating in the privacy of your home, you shouldn't fart and burp during dinnertime. Ewww…
It's really useful and I'm happy for it, since I can remember every experience I've ever had with Harry and I can keep my goals in mind when possibly dealing with Voldemort and Dumbledore.
Unfortunately, it makes school work even more boring than it already is. As a kid who's smart as an adult, I'm almost insane with boredom. I'd learn something in a few minutes and the teacher would spend the rest of the week trying to teach the same thing to the other kids. The only good part of it was that I got to tutor Harry and he's pretty bright, so he's able to keep up with me in how quick I learned the material as long as I helped him a little.
Either way, I started reading advanced material in classes while everybody paid attention to the teachers. The teachers tried to make me do what everyone else did, but I was having none of that and after I consistently outperformed everyone else in the class while seemingly never studying the class material, they left me alone to read by myself.
One teacher tried to have me moved up several grades, but I didn't want to leave Harry alone. The Dursleys also quickly put a stop to any nosy teachers by using Vernon's connections with the school principal.
By fourth grade or when I was ten, I was studying college-level physics and other college-level stuff such as multivariate calculus, cognitive science, and quantum mechanics, but I'm struggling with understanding quantum physics. Electrons are so confusing! Although I suppose if it's natural for it to act like little balls (matter) and waves (energy), then my perception of it acting like a ball in a billiards game around an atom should be the unnatural idea if it doesn't reflect the true state reality…never mind, I'm getting off track. You see how bored I get in elementary school if I rather study quantum physics than my multiplication tables?
Harry has a fairly good grounding in these areas too, although he prefers to read about history and literature. He's also pretty good in art classes, the only subject where I do worse than everyone else. I don't care about painting! The only good thing about it is that Harry likes it.
I'm fascinated by science and I wanted to know how the universe and things around me work so I could learn how magic and science relate to each other. Also, I knew that as a kid, I could learn things at an extraordinary pace and I had only a limited amount of time for me to learn things so quickly. Kids are practically a sponge for information, because of their high degree of neuroplasticity (go Google it or something). I took advantage of 'sponge-powers' to learn three extra languages to my English; French, German, and Gaelic.
I picked up French really easily by walking through the neighborhood and listening to the people around me. There were plenty of people who spoke French in Surrey. German was directly taught in school and when I had a choice in my courses for which foreign language to learn, I choose it over the commonly picked Spanish course. I took even longer to absorb German than I did learning how to speak French. I guess that's a point in favor of picking up a language naturally over rote drills and tests. Gaelic was the most interesting language to learn, but I picked it up in a very unusual way.
I was curious when I saw someone wearing robes entering Mrs. Figgs' house from the Dursleys' backyard one day. So I snuck over to listen in through an open window and at the time, I was six and Harry was asleep for a nap.
I couldn't understand too much of what they said at first since they spoke both in English and Gaelic, switching between both languages, but I made out an important word "…Dumbledore …" That was enough for me to come back every day for the following three months and eventually picked up enough to learn that she was helping Dumbledore through some organization called the Order of the Phoenix whatever that meant.
I never trusted her after that.
She was a darn useful language tutor, though.
Harry and I spent our formative years growing up in a home of people who disliked us and in a neighborhood of people indifferent to how the Dursleys treated us due to the Dursleys being a 'shining pillar of the community'. Bah, Hitler was elected to a position of authority by people who thought he was a 'pillar of the community' too. Maybe Dumbledore did something to the neighborhood? Nah, I'm betting on the fact that the Dursleys never hit us and that they treated us nicely enough out of the house.
I made sure that Harry was fed well and that he'd learn everything I wanted him to know. He loved the science I taught him and picked up French and Gaelic quickly when I made a game out of it by only talking to him in those languages and giving him a candy treat I snuck from Dudley when he got what I was saying. Oddly enough, he struggled to learn German in school, probably, because I know the best way to teach him something. I also made sure that we both got plenty of exercise so we would grow up strong and flexible.
What's the point of being an adult in a kid's body if you are not going to grow up to your fullest potential? We also have to deal with two Dark wizards after us, so we need to be prepared!
We did all of the chores around the house and I got a job of a sorts at a bakery shop nearby and while the Dursleys take some of my pay, I was secretly keeping most of the money. I also got to take for Harry some free samples as a treat.
I was planning on a birthday treat for Harry's eleventh birthday in a few weeks with the money I was secretly keeping.
"Yes! All done!" I exclaimed with a triumphed expression. If it wasn't for the slight perfectionism I had acquired from the Dursley's various chores, I would never be able to tolerate cleaning this awful toilet to finish the chore.
I threw away the dirty and used toilet cleaning brush, and the cleaning gloves I used for protection and to stay clean. I quickly walked down the stairs, to get Petunia as fast as I could so Harry would be let out. Where you say? Well… I found her in the kitchen preparing lunch.
"Aunt Petunia, I'm done." I said in an indifferent tone. I never did like calling her aunt. For all I care, we aren't related.
She just sneered, nodded and got back to her work putting away the dishes from dinner. I didn't even pay attention to the sneer as I ran for the cupboard under the stairs. I unlocked it as fast as I could and tried to stay calm. No matter how many times this happened, I never did get used to staying away from my Harry. I'm slightly less obsessed about being near him than how I was when we were younger. Slightly.
As I opened it I saw a huddled little form shaking, head dropped between knees and wrapped up with his arms. I frowned a little at the sight. He never liked being alone in a cramped and dark place, almost nobody would. I immediately got in and wrapped my arms around him. It never did stop to amaze me how much smaller he was compared to me. He was a bit shorter and thinner than me, but that was probably because of all the moving around I did and how girls grow faster than boys. I hope that was true, or else the Dursleys were going to pay once we were out of their house.
When he felt me hugging him to me, he instantly clung to me and stopped shaking. He sniffed a few times, breathed out a shaky breath and then stopped crying.
"Missed you..." He mumbled, voice muffled because of his face buried in my shirt. I smiled, tightened my hold of him and replied.
"Missed you too, Harry..."
We went to sleep curled up and holding each other.
The next day, I woke up inside the tight cupboard holding my brother close. I groggily opened my eyes, pulling my head up and wacked my head on the ceiling of the cupboard. I moaned while holding my head with my left hand and wondered about what had woken me up so early and painfully.
"Up!" A familiar voice shrieked outside the tiny room, tapping hard on the door. "WAKE UP! It's Dudders' birthday today and I want EVERYTHING perfect!" Right, the shrieking banshee.
I heard her heels clicking on the floor as she went away and I groaned, letting my head fall down the pillow again. I heard another set of heavy footsteps running down the stairs, laughing all the while. I groaned again. Stupid bratty Dudders…
"Come on; let's get up before she gets back, Zal." A soft voice whispered in my ear. Harry must have been woken up by the shrieking banshee. Who wouldn't... the whole neighborhood must have heard her.
I mumbled, "I told you not to call me Zal."
Harry chuckled, "You love it when I call you Zal, it's when others call you Zal that you hate it."
As we both got up, me holding Harry's head down so he wouldn't hit it like I just did, I yawned as I opened the door, stretching as I got out. I held out my hand to Harry as he yawned cutely, looking like a huggable teddy bear. He took it gratefully and got out.
We walked together with our hands clasped and saw a lot of presents all around the living-room, but continued to the kitchen. As Harry prepared Petunia and Vernon's breakfast, full of greasy unhealthy food (yuck!), I went to the fridge and took a seat to reach the top of the inside, where only healthy food was. Because of the extra work I do, I had enough money to buy food of our own; the hard part was hiding it in the back of the top self so that the Dursleys wouldn't take it away or eat it themselves. They didn't care about what we were eating as long as there was enough for them. Spoiled pigs.
As I prepared mine, Harry's, and Dudley's food, ours being the healthier and tastier breakfast than Dudley's, (Dudley thinks that the junk food I give him is the better deal) I saw Vernon come in and sit heavily on the now squeaking chair. Poor chair...
"Where's my food!" He demanded angrily, hitting the table with his fist. Poor table...
"Almost done, sir." Harry answered mechanically. I hated it when Harry had to act like a servant to Vernon, but we put up with it to avoid trouble. Poor us…
After breakfast and the ripping of the presents were done, Petunia finished talking on the phone and put it down. She sighed.
"That was Mrs. Figg, the next door neighbor. She can't take them." I wondered if something in the magic world had happened.
After that we were somehow on our way to our first trip to the zoo. I checked outside of the car window for flying pigs. Nope, no pigs covered in radioactive acid.
As everyone got ready to get into the car, including Dudley's friend Piers, who had arrived to the house half an hour ago, I saw Vernon walking towards us, the familiar yet strange color of purple on his large face, who then grabbed us aside roughly.
"I'm warning you, you brats. Any funny business, any at all... And you'll be locked up in that cupboard of yours till Christmas!" Really, all I noticed was him not saying anything about us being apart so I didn't really care.
"We won't do anything, won't we Harry?" I said sweetly with a smile on my face. I wouldn't want Harry to get into trouble and hurt by Vernon. Ahem…caught by Vernon and get in trouble. His punishments only apply if we were caught. Today I had something special planned in mind when I heard that we were going to the zoo today.
Harry just nodded. He never was one for talking when it came to the Dursleys, though his expressive face was already enough, at least for me.
It was a long drive, with Dudley and Piers, who had an uncanny resemblance to a rat, poking fun at us and whining all the way that we would ruin Dudley's birthday. As I tried ignoring the annoying noise they were making, I was watching Harry looking out of the window, his expression excited and his eyes taking in everything he saw.
We never really were allowed outside a lot, and even then only near Privet Drive.
As we got out of the car and walked to the entrance, Dudley immediately ran—astonishing, I know—to the ice cream stand.
Vernon bought him the largest and most unhealthy looking ice cream, of course and when the nice lady in the van asked what Harry and I wanted, the Dursleys were forced to buy us some too.
We got the cheapest ones there, but I still thought the lemon-flavor was pretty good as I stood watching Harry looking at a gorilla scratching his head, looking like he was thinking of an inside joke.
Of course, as his—overprotective and obsess…er…possessive?—twin sister that knew everything about him, I had a pretty good idea of what it was. And I admit it was pretty accurate. Now if only the gorilla was blond…
The image made me snort, which startled Harry and made him look at me. When he saw me laughing, he understood, smirked, and joined in chuckling quietly with quick looks at Dudley and the gorilla.
When it was nearing lunch-time, we finally got to the place I was looking forward to.
The Reptile House.
I still remembered when I heard a snake talking when I was a baby and I was still unsure if all wizards and witches could. I was pretty sure that Harry could too, as he had started cooing cutely and everything when the snake talked. Or maybe he was just fascinated by the sight of it.
In any case, I decided to test that theory today. I hoped that we wouldn't look too weird trying to talk to a snake.
Dudley and Piers had immediately tracked down the biggest and most dangerous reptile creature when we got in. Vernon and Petunia tried catching up to them, not wanting them get lost.
But Dudley's excitement went out as fast as a light. The big snake, who I might add could probably have curled around Uncle Vernon's car twice and crushed it into a trashcan, wasn't moving. And no matter how many times he banged on the glass around it or screamed at it, it wasn't moving even an inch, which I could have applauded it for, as Dudley could probably make a monk who made a vow to silence lose his temper just to scream at him. And I still think Harry was underestimating our dear unwanted cousin's talent when he suggested the angry monk in one of our many conversations about the Dursleys.
'Little' Dudley turn to his dad and whined, "Make him move!" Well more like demanded.
Harry was looking at the snake in pity as Vernon tapped the glass harder and harder each time. But it still didn't make the snake move. Dudley had enough it seemed and waddled away mournfully.
Harry immediately grabbed my hand and moved to where Dudley was a moment ago.
"He must be feeling awful…" Harry sighed sadly as he watched the snake. "All alone and trapped in a tank with people watching and annoying him all day."
I nodded in agreement and felt Harry drop his head on my shoulder. I threaded my fingers in his hair gently and he sighed contently. I forgot all about the test I was going to do until Harry talked in a hissing voice.
"We're sorry for how our cousin acted. He's like that all the time."
Though my brother probably wasn't expecting a reply, the snake opened his eyes, moved his head slowly up, winked and then somehow managed to look like he was saying 'I get that all the time' with an eye-roll. Well... that almost answered my question. Now to see Harry's reaction…
Harry's eyes had widened and he quickly turned to me, probably to make sure he hadn't imagined that or that he wasn't turning crazy. I just smiled gently and turned my head only slightly to the snake, as to look like I was actually talking to Harry for those who saw us.
"Where do you come from?" I whispered silently, knowing that the snake would hear anyway. The snake jabbed its tail slightly to the sign next to the tank and both Harry and I read what was written there.
"Brazil?" This time Harry was the one doing the talking. "Do you miss it?"
It jabbed its tail to the sign again. It read: This specimen was bred in captivity.
"What's your name?"
"Nagi."
Harry rolled his eyes at me, "This is another thing to do with our magic?"
"Yep, and I wasn't sure but I wanted to test out if we could talk to snakes before I told you. I remembered doing it like once as a baby and couldn't be sure if it was a daydream or not."
Harry nodded and went back to talking to Nagi, "This is the coolest superpower ever!" This time, I was the one to roll my eyes. Boys, they love wriggling insects and reptiles.
Harry already knew about our magic and what really happened to our parents. Car crash my foot! I had promised to never keep a secret from him and told him the first time he did accidental magic. He was hysterical when he regrew his hair after Petunia gave him a haircut that left him practically bald and thought maybe the Dursleys' accusations of him being a freak were true. I prompt set him straight about his magic and told him that if anyone called him a freak, then they were the freak to hurt anyone else like that.
He completely believed me. I finally told him about magic and he accepted it just like that without calling me a liar. Yes, he believed in the existence of magic which defied every known law of science that we had been studying like crazy loons for the past few years, just because he had total faith in me always telling him the truth. The talking snake and fast-growing hair might have helped a little.
Ah…Harry truly is the most amazing person in the world. And he was mine.
Mine…
What a wonderful feeling that word brought me…ah er…let's go back to the snake.
It felt like we were playing twenty questions as Harry and I took turns asking the snake different questions.
Of course, the happy moment just had to be ruined by the one and only, Dudley 'Blond Gorilla' Dursley and his side-kick Piers 'Rat Face'…whatever his last name was.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
Though we did get our revenge almost as soon as Dudley came waddling at us as fast as he could, once again which wasn't much, mind you, while Piers was screaming.
Somehow—I'm still sure was Harry's accidental magic, but Harry later says that it was probably me as I was annoyed at them for interrupting—the front glass of the snake's tank vanished as Dudley was leaning on it, and of course Dudley fell right in. The great snake slithered out of tank and I heard it faintly say:
"Thanksss, amigoss... Brazzil here I come..."
Though all the trouble we got afterwards was troublesome, I still thought it was worth it as Harry and I snickered silently in the cupboard afterwards.
It was July and the same as always, living with the Dursleys.
Both Harry and I were awake and were on our way to the kitchen, our hands clasped together as always, Harry yawning and rubbing his eyes with his free hand.
He looked so adorable I could eat him! Mm…yummy Harry.
I was giggling and he looked at me confused, making him even more adorable. When he saw me looking at him, he immediately blushed and looked down at his feet when he figured out why I was giggling.
He always did know me well... and vice-versa of course.
As we got in to the kitchen, we both immediately took a hold of our noses. The awful smell was coming from the sink Petunia was working on with some clothes.
She heard us from behind and turned to us, sneering when she saw us as was the usual occurrence.
"You're finally here, start working on the breakfast," She said haughtily, going back to her work when she deemed that she had sneered her anger at us enough, probably. "I'll soon be done with your school uniforms."
I knew that no matter what we said we'd still be wearing those rags to school.
"Oh," Harry mumbled. "I didn't know they had to be so…wet." I snorted quietly as I prepared the Dursleys' and our breakfast.
"Don't be ridiculous," I wanted to hiss at her when she turned her sneering face to Harry alone. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes grey for you. When I'm finished, they will look exactly like everyone else's uniforms at Smeltings." Ugh, don't remind me, we were going to the same secondary school as Dudley. Oh what a joy the next seven years will be.
As Vernon and Dudley came in to the kitchen, looking like overweight walruses, and sat heavily to their chairs, I was done with their food and put it down the table. I knew they would already be half done when I came back with mine and Harry's so I wasn't surprised when it was true.
When the mail arrives, "Dudley, get the mail," Vernon said distractedly as he ate.
"Make those two get it, dad!" Dudley whined back.
"You two, get the mail." And my thoughts of Dudley getting the mail when pigs with wings fly disappeared. The pigs looked remarkably like the male Dursleys...
To not get any trouble, I dragged Harry away from there immediately; knowing him well enough to know what he would have said in my defense if we stayed there a second more. He can be so sweet standing up for me, but three irate Dursleys were not what I wanted to deal with in the morning.
I picked up the letters from the floor next to the door, giving Harry all the regular letters. As I sorted through them, I froze when I came to two very weird letters…
Letters to Harry and me.
I quickly hid Harry's and my mail in the cupboard through the crack between the door and floor as I walked back with Harry giving me a quizzical look. I could almost hear his thoughts, who would ever write to us?
Sometimes, when he had nightmare about our parents, I would tell him stories of when we were young, how they looked and felt about us and everything.
In any case, while I was able to explain to him that his accidental magic wasn't anything weird and in some cases comfort him when he thought that what the Dursley's said was true and that he really was a freak, I knew that there was a world of magic out there and after the long years of isolation from magic, it was coming for us. I hope we were ready for it.
"Harry," I whispered to his ear as we sat in the cupboard staring at the envelopes, my arms wrapped around his neck, his back leaning against me. "I have to tell you something, something important. More important than our magic."
"Mm? You know you can tell me anything, Zal... no matter what." He whispered soothingly back. As always, he had noticed my fears.
And so I began. I told him everything…not just about magic. About me. While I didn't know much myself, I told him what I still faintly remember about my past life and why I was so demanding with our school work and exercises growing up. Even my worries about Dumbledore's conversation with Petunia and with him being the headmaster of Hogwarts, I told it all for Harry to know.
He just nodded, sighed or just showed that he listened all the way through. He never said a word. He always knew that I was too mature for our age and the Dursleys' whispers about how much like a grown-up I was, how it was unnatural. I only had having told him about our magic, every child loves to hear about having magical powers, but not every child is ready to hear about how their kid sister may really be their grown-up sister. That and I wasn't ready before to share the burden of worry for our lives.
I told him how I felt when I first heard him, saw him at our birth…how I found out about magic, being able to talk to snakes…Sirius, Remus, and Peter and their secrets…I didn't leave out anything and I finally came to the part I was dreading the most.
Of how we got our scars…
When I finally finished telling him everything, it had felt like hours had gone and we slept almost immediately, holding each other tight—which I can't tell you how relieved I was about, fearing he would hate me, as silly that was in hindsight—with tear marks on both of our cheeks from recalling our parents deaths at the hands of the red-eyed wizard.
Both of our dreams were filled with the same nightmare...
"James, no!"... "I love you. Always..."
...blocking the view with her back... voice filled with malice and evil...
"Ssstep away... let you live." ... "Sssuit yourself..." "Please! ... Not my children... kill me!"
Ugly green light directed at her... pale face and still body of our beloved mother...
"Avada Kedavra!"
…
Author's Notes-Whoa, that was a rather dramatic ending to this chapter. Anyway, in the next chapter is when Harry and Zal are going to become a part of the Wizarding World and that means we are finally going to see some magic! The snake doesn't count.
I swear that everything Azalea does is almost exactly what I would do in her shoes. As a kid, you are almost infinitely adaptable and can master anything your try to learn. How else do you explain prodigies?
Anyway I just wanted to say that I have read many twin Harry fan fics and there are a lot that are just basically a rewrite of the Harry Potter series with a twin included, but the addition of a twin doesn't even change anything about the storyline. I will guarantee that starting next chapter that will not be happening. Besides, Zal's not your ordinary Girl-Who-Lived, I already know who she was in her past life and that's a major secret coming out in…hmm, I'm not sure if I should tell or not. Heh, heh…