Chapter 1: Visit to the Zoo
Ten year old Leila Potter's emerald eyes suddenly flashed open. Her breathing was ragged as she tightly clutched the thin blanket that covered her. She closed her eyes slowly to try and settle herself down, but her thoughts returned to her dreams. More specifically, one dream in particular. A recurring dream. A dream that always ended with a woman's scream and a bright flash of green light. That dream always ended the same and it scared her because she wasn't sure what it meant. Although, she wasn't alone with the plague of that awful dream. No, her twin brother Harry also frequently had the same dream and he didn't understand it any better than she did. Not that Leila actually expected him to. She was often labeled the brighter of the twins...the more insightful one. Not to say that Harry was a dolt, despite his sister often affectionately referring to him as such.
After a yawn, Leila opened her eyes once more and attempted to stretch her arms. Her arms were stopped short by the walls of the narrow broom cupboard under the stairs which the Potter twins called their bedroom. Well, technically the Dursleys called it a bedroom...but Leila knew better than to refer to its actual status in front of them. The cupboard had enough space to fit one twin-sized bed, which Harry and Leila were forced to share for as long as either of them could remember. It was purely out of the goodness of their hearts that the Dursleys allowed their freakish niece and nephew any space at all in their so-called normal home. Some might find it odd that Dudley claimed two bedrooms for himself while the twins were relegated to a broom cupboard. But Leila had long ago given up questioning its fairness. It was what it was.
Leila slowly sat up and pushed several strands of her dark wavy hair from her face before she looked down at the other end of the bed near her feet. Through the small cracks of light pouring in from the grate on the door, Leila could see a mess of dark hair poking out from underneath the pile of ratty blankets. Blankets they had of course been graciously allowed to use. Relief flooded through Leila's body as she sighed. Relief over the fact that she hadn't awakened her brother because of her dream. She was glad that he got to sleep in a little longer. It was too often that she woke him up over something like this and too often he was forced to play the role of overprotective older brother. Harry was only twenty-three minutes older than her, but sometimes it felt like those twenty-three minutes were actually twenty-three years. Harry took his responsibility for Leila very seriously...too seriously, Leila couldn't help but wonder at times.
Harry was all Leila really had left...at least who she considered worth having left. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley despised her and Harry. Not that it mattered much to the Dursleys, but the Potter twins despised them right back. It was a vicious cycle of despising, which sadly wasn't limited to number four Privet Drive. School was often even worse than home was. The Potter twins didn't have any friends besides each other. This was because Dudley bullied any soul that dare even talk to or show a simple kindness to either Harry or Leila. But Dudley wasn't the only one causing trouble at school. Once, a teacher had tried to befriend the Potter twins, and she gave them biscuits after school. When Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon caught wind of the situation, they marched down to the school and had the poor teacher fired. So needless to say, the Potter twins were alone in a world that seemed to want nothing to do with them.
Jealousy often plagued Leila when she saw people with their happy families; children with parents who loved them. She didn't have parents...at least not anymore. According to Aunt Petunia, her parents, James and Lily Potter had died in a car crash when the twins were only a year old. And then the Potter twins lived unhappily ever after with the Dursleys. That was the life she knew. Aunt Petunia never talked about their parents. When she was younger, Leila had tried to broach the subject, but it had been a terribly unpleasant experience that Leila was loathe to repeat. So, she didn't.
It was all quite miserable and honestly, Leila had a hard time thinking back to a time when she had been genuinely happy. It was probably the last time she and Harry had been forced to go over to Mrs Figg's house. Mrs Figg was an odd little old lady who lived down the street and, despite her oddities, she was probably the one person who was actually decent to the Potter twins. Although, she seemed nicer when she was sure the Dursleys wouldn't find out and if the Dursleys happened to find out, the woman wouldn't acknowledge the twins for weeks. It wasn't Mrs Figg that Leila was overly fond of. It was the woman's cats Leila liked. Despite the fact that her brother despised cats, Leila often felt that Mrs Figg's cats were her only friends in the world. Friends she could talk to, who weren't intimidated by Dudley nor would they tattle on her.
With a sigh, Leila fell back against her flat and musty-smelling pillow, which caused the bed to shake. Surprisingly, Harry remained fast asleep. Leila curled her toes and then uncurled them. It was only a matter of time before Aunt Petunia's sharp screech filled their broom cupboard and the twins would be forced to start the day. Just as Leila predicted, a few minutes later, the padding of footsteps upstairs could be heard drawing nearer to the stairs. Then down the stairs they went, causing the stairs to shake and dust to fly loose onto the Potter twins. Leila closed her eyes and counted down. Five...four...three...two...one...which was immediately followed by a firm rap on the door before they were greeted by Aunt Petunia's shrill voice, "Up! Both of you up! Now!"
Aunt Petunia rapped once more which made Harry nearly fly out of bed. Though Leila couldn't see anything, the sound of him hitting his head against the stairs was enough to make her cringe. Leila reached and pulled the cord to the single dangling light bulb in their cupboard. She then scooted across the bed to where her brother sat holding his forehead with his hands. Examining his face, she noticed his lightning bolt scar peeking out from underneath his cupped hands. Aunt Petunia always said that he got the scar because of the car crash, but Leila found her explanation rather peculiar because she didn't have any scars like that. In fact, as far as she knew, she had remained unharmed that night; but then again, she knew better than to go poking her nose where it ought not to be.
"Close your eyes, Leils," Harry whispered gently.
Leila straightened her stance a little, defying his command. "I'll be fine," she commented.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Harry looked at her pointedly, giving her a moment to change her mind before he removed his hands from his head. Several droplets of blood slid down his forehead before he wiped them away.
Leila could feel her stomach begin to churn. She couldn't stand the sight of blood and she really should have listened to Harry. She thought she should have outgrown her reaction to the sight of blood by now, especially given how many times she or Harry had been bloodied-up on Dudley's account. But it seemed like every time she tried to be brave she was knocked two steps backward into her cowardice. Covering her eyes with her hands, Leila turned away from her brother as the sounds of Aunt Petunia in the kitchen came from outside the cupboard. "I deserve a big fat I told you so."
"Well, you won't hear it from me," Harry said. Leila could hear him reach under the bed for something. A few moments later he spoke again, "You can look now, Leila."
With her hands still covering her face, she angled herself toward her brother. The slowly, Leila widened the small gap between her fingers to find her brother pressing one of his hand-me-down, oversized t-shirts from Dudley against his forehead. After breathing a sigh of relief, she removed her hands from her eyes. "Sorry," Leila muttered the apology to her brother as Aunt Petunia's footsteps seemed to draw nearer.
Harry looked at his sister sympathetically. He didn't like how she beat herself up over every little thing whether it was her fault or not. So, he decided to change the subject to try and cheer her up. "You'll never guess what dream I had last night." A goofy grin spread over his face as Leila looked at him curiously. "The one about a flying motorcycle."
Leila's eyes widened. She looked to the door in slight terror and then back to Harry before her hands flew to her brother's mouth. She remained quiet for a moment before whispering, "Aunt Petunia's on the other side of the door. You remember the last time don't you?" Leila still held her brother's mouth and raised an eyebrow at him.
Harry simply nodded his head. Last time Harry mentioned something about a flying motorcycle they were grounded and not allowed to leave their cupboard. Which was especially dreadful during the summer months when they were actually allowed outside to get some fresh air. Leila pulled her hands away from Harry's mouth, but motioned an index finger in front of her mouth for Harry to remain quiet. She leaned toward the door just as the footsteps on the other side seemed to retreat back to the kitchen.
"That was a close one," Leila breathed a sigh of relief. "You really need to be more careful."
Harry simply shrugged his shoulders and Leila pursed her lips. Harry always seemed to roll with the punches. Leila was often too paranoid in fear over impending punches that she never actually reached them. Sometimes, she wished she were more like Harry. With a sigh, Leila crawled back across the bed and snuggled close to her brother. "So, a flying motorcycle, huh?" Leila whispered with a grin on her face. She did want to hear his story and since Aunt Petunia was gone, they should be safe.
The older Potter twin was no more than a few sentences into his dream when Aunt Petunia was outside their cupboard door once again barking orders at them. At first, Aunt Petunia's reappearance startled Leila and she curled closer to Harry. But as the woman began giving instructions from the other side of the cupboard, Leila began to mockingly imitate the woman. She would never dare do such a thing in front of Aunt Petunia out of fear of punishment, but right now she couldn't be seen. Harry found it hard to keep from laughing, so he gently smacked his sister's arm to get her to stop. It sometimes bothered Harry that Leila seemed to act one way in front of their aunt and uncle and another way behind their backs, but he dared not tell her.
"Well, get a move on," Aunt Petunia hissed. "I need one of you to look after the bacon and don't you dare burn it. Everything needs to be perfect for Dudder's special day."
There was a moment of silence as Harry motioned with his head for Leila to go but she vehemently shook her head. "Oh no! There's only one of us that doesn't burn bacon and it isn't me."
"That's because you're too scared to go anywhere near the pan," Harry muttered to himself as he crawled across the bed toward the door.
"What was that?" Aunt Petunia reprimanded.
Harry looked over his shoulder at his sister who sat there with her eyes wide before they both responded, "Nothing," simultaneously. Leila gulped, fearing the worst, but Harry just stayed there on his hands and knees waiting to see if Aunt Petunia was going to push the issue.
Both twins were rather relieved to hear the sound of Aunt Petunia's footsteps walking back to the kitchen. Although it wasn't much relief because they still had to suffer through today being Dudley's birthday. It wasn't exactly their favourite day of the year. Often times, they had to listen to Dudley complain about his presents or he considered the day even more of an excuse to pick on the twins. The only small solace came when they were shipped off to Mrs Figg's when the Dursleys went on their birthday outing. While sometimes Leila was jealous of the places Dudley got to go for his birthday, she knew that she was better off being far away from wherever they went.
Finally moving once again, Harry reached under the bed to grab a pair of socks. Out of nowhere Leila started screaming "Get it off! Get it off!" Harry immediately pulled himself right side up before he crawled over to his sister who had backed herself into the corner of the cupboard with her hands over her head in defense.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked as he examined for something wrong with his sister. Leila was inconsolable and not very helpful as she only repeated for him to get it off. Leila's screams made Aunt Petunia begin to holler, which didn't make the situation any easier. It was then that he spotted the culprit: a little spider that had crawled onto Leila. Harry reached over and picked the little guy off Leila. "It's gone," was all he said.
"The bloody thing was attacking me," Leila said breathing heavily. She was terrified of spiders, along with plenty of other things.
Holding the spider between his fingers, Harry looked to it and then to Leila. "He just wanted a hug."
Leila threw Harry's pillow at him, which caused him to chuckle before he reached down and grabbed the pair of socks he had meant to take earlier. Both twins quickly dressed for the day. Harry changed into Dudley's hand-me-downs, while Leila changed into old-fashioned girls clothing. Not to be mistaken, Leila's wardrobe hadn't been given to her by the Dursleys. No, Mrs Figg managed to sneak some clothes into her rucksack the last time she visited. Even if the fashions were out of date, Leila was thankful to be wearing them instead of Dudley's hand-me-downs which looked even worse on her than they did on Harry.
When both twins were dressed, Harry opened the door to their cupboard. Leila quickly bolted from the cupboard, careful that she didn't have any more run-ins with other spiders. Harry was right behind her before they took a hard left into the kitchen which was piled high with presents. The twins were no more than a step into the kitchen when Aunt Petunia started snapping toward the stove as she hissed angrily about the screaming which would probably make Dudder's grumpy on his birthday. Without any other arguments, Harry walked over to the stove and started cooking the bacon as Leila set the table without being asked. She knew that she wasn't going to get a thank you from Aunt Petunia, but the less of Aunt Petunia's shrill voice they had to hear, the better.
The last plate was set on the table when Uncle Vernon walked into the kitchen looking rather grumpy. He muttered something about screaming before he plopped himself onto a chair, trapping Leila. Uncle Vernon was a man who was probably three or four times the size of a normal man his age and he was every bit as nasty as his wife and son were. Leila pushed in a chair to try and get away, when Uncle Vernon's clubbed hand grabbed Leila's wrist. "Clean under those nails, girl," he hissed before he barked at Harry, "Comb your hair, boy."
Leila attempted to pull her hand away, but Uncle Vernon seemed to tighten his grip on her wrist. "You'll do as you're told in my house." Fear filled Leila's eyes as she met her uncle's gaze. She could feel herself beginning to shake as he narrowed his eyes before motioning toward the sink with his head. He wanted her to wash her hands...now. Leila quickly nodded her head and then he released her so that she could walk over to the sink. But Leila didn't walk, she ran. Unlike her brother, she feared the consequences the Dursleys could impose and she normally did as they asked right away.
By the time Leila had finished washing and scrubbing her hands until not a speck of dirt appeared under her nails, Harry had moved on to frying the eggs. As Leila dried her hands on a dishtowel, Aunt Petunia walked Dudley into the kitchen covering his eyes to keep him from peeking at his presents. Dudley took after his father as far as body structure went and standing beside either of the Potter twins made him look even larger. Dudley walked with his hands out in front of him ready to snatch the first present he came into contact with.
Leaning against the kitchen peninsula, Leila watched as Aunt Petunia stopped Dudley in the middle of the kitchen before she removed her hands from his chubby face. Aunt Petunia beamed as Dudley scanned the room which was piled high with presents and photographs of him. With a look of disgust, he met Leila's gaze, but Leila could tell that she wasn't the cause of his disgust...this time. Leila turned toward Harry apprehensively. Neither of them were psychic, but both twins could predict what was about to happen next.
"How many are there?" Dudley questioned with a scrutinizing gaze as he looked around the room once more.
"Thirty-six!" Uncle Vernon exclaimed, clearly quite proud of what he was able to provide for his son. He then smiled in Dudley's direction before adding, "I counted them myself."
Dudley's face contorted once more as he slammed his hands down on the table causing the dishes to rattle. "Thirty-six? But last year-last year I had thirty-seven!"
"Well, some of them are quite a bit bigger this year." It was obvious that Uncle Vernon was trying to appease his son, but even Leila knew that wasn't going to work.
"I don't care how big they are!"
Leila could see Dudley physically shaking with anger. They had spoiled him so terribly that all Dudley ever wanted was more than he had. Honestly, sometimes Dudley make the Potter twins look like saints...not that Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon ever saw it that way.
Not wanting her son to get any angrier, Aunt Petunia wrapped her arms around Dudley before she said, "And we'll buy you two more presents when we're out today." She then kissed her son's cheek. "How's that popkin? Two more presents?"
"So then I'll have thirty-thirty-" Dudley was clearly struggling with the math. Leila whispered the answer under her breath, having been able to calculate the arithmetic in her head. Knowing that she would know the answer, Dudley narrowed his eyes at her and demanded the answer. "You. How many is that?"
Leila straightened her stance and bit her lip for a moment. For years she had been doing Dudley's math for him. He would steal her homework at night or copy off her test during class. The Potter girl looked to Aunt Petunia, who nodded her head for Leila to answer the question. With a sigh Leila answered, "Thirty-eight. Thirty-six plus two equals thirty-eight."
"Thirty-eight presents, sweetums," Aunt Petunia said rather cheerfully as she rubbed her son's shoulders and rubbed her cheek against his. "Doesn't that sound wonderful?"
Clearly thinking wasn't Dudley's strong suit, because he had to think for a moment before he dumbly nodded his head. Aunt Petunia then took him by the hand and walked him over to the kitchen table. He plopped down onto one of the chairs. Almost immediately, he began tearing into his presents. A racing bike, a video camera, a remote control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR were a few of the presents Dudley managed to unwrap. He hardly even looked at what he received before diving in for another present.
Leila knew better than to be jealous of her cousin, but she couldn't help but be jealous. She had never received that many presents total in her near eleven years of life. Not to mention that she hardly ever received anything decent. The best present she ever got was a pen from Grunnings, the place where Uncle Vernon worked. Usually, presents from the Dursleys included Dudley's smelly clothes or things they had taken from the neighbour's trash. The Potter twins weren't even good enough for Dudley's old broken toys. No, those were stored in Dudley's second bedroom and never touched again.
The phone rang and Aunt Petunia took the call in the other room. Leila wanted to eavesdrop on the conversation, but with Uncle Vernon carefully watching her, she opted instead to wash the pan Harry had finished using. Leila scoured the pan as Harry stood beside her with his arms folded across his chest as he watched Dudley mess around with some of his presents. When Aunt Petunia returned, she had a grave expression on her face. "Bad news, Vernon. Mrs Figg has broken her leg and she can't possibly take them."
Them. That's all they were. Them.
There was a moment of silence before chaos erupted. Dudley began shouting his dismay over the situation. Aunt Petunia tried to calm him as Uncle Vernon appeared to mull the situation over, clearly trying to figure a way out of their tight bind. "We could phone Marge?" he suggested.
Leila cringed at the thought. Aunt Marge hated them...despised them...no, she loathed them. Not to mention that she swore she would never watch the two of them after last time, which was completely Harry's fault, by the way. Thankfully, Aunt Petunia came to the same conclusion...well, except the Harry part. Their aunt probably didn't know that part.
"What about what's-her-name...your friend...Yvonne, is it?" Uncle Vernon suggested in desperation.
"She's on vacation in Majorca," Aunt Petunia snapped as if this was something Vernon should have known...nor should he have ever suggested such a thing as imposing her friends with the twins.
In the corner of her eye, Leila watched Harry take a step toward them before suggesting, "You could leave us here."
Leila tightly closed her eyes and shook her head. That was never going work. Clearly her brother didn't realize the careful and calculated process one must take to approach the Dursleys. Despite the fact that she was only ten...almost eleven, Leila knew that one had to make them think they had thought of the idea first. And judging from the look on Aunt Petunia's face, she was never going to agree to leave the twins behind now.
But Harry didn't understand his aunt's expression and he pushed the issue once more. Aunt Petunia then snarled something about finding the house in ruins if the twins were left unattended. While their aunt might have a point, it wasn't their fault things happened that neither of them could explain. They just happened. After a rather heated discussion between the Dursleys, it was decided that the Potter twins had to come along. This was mostly due to the fact that Piers Polkiss had shown up and had given them no time to find any other arrangement.
The first thing Piers did when he walked in was tug at one of Leila's braids. It made Dudley laugh, so Piers then yanked on the other one. Leila then hid behind Harry, using him as a shield between herself and Piers. She hated Piers probably even more than she hated Dudley...and she hated her cousin quite a bit. Once, the Potter twins had been dragged along to one of Piers' birthday parties and the boy pushed her off the pier. She had almost drowned in the bloody ocean because of that prat. Because of that event, Leila developed a fear of vast bodies of water...and drowning. So, she only hoped Dudley's birthday excursion didn't involve swimming.
As they headed outside to the car, Aunt Petunia tried to keep things upbeat for Dudley as Uncle Vernon pulled the Potter twins aside. He narrowed his eyes before he hissed, "I'm warning you two now. Any funny business, any at all, and you two won't have any meals for a week." Leila gulped before looking over to Harry who stared straight ahead over Uncle Vernon's shoulder. Without waiting for a response from the twins, Vernon gruffly said, "Get in."
The Potter twins climbed into the car and they were off to the zoo. Leila was stuck sitting between Piers and Harry. As per usual, Piers annoyed Leila: punching her arm, pulling on her braid, and other nasty things. Her classmates often teased Leila over Piers' incessant teasing of her, claiming that he fancied her; but she knew that he only did it because he liked the reaction he got from Dudley. Leila tried her best to ignore Piers and his antics, but by the end of the trip, she was practically seated on Harry's lap in her attempts to get away from the awful boy.
Once they were finally inside the zoo, they found many families crowded inside. Dudley pushed his way through the people and everyone else followed after him as he led them to a lady selling ice cream treats from a van at the entrance. The lady gave Dudley and Piers chocolate ice cream cones which they immediately began to devour. Before Uncle Vernon could get a price on the ice cream, the woman turned toward Harry and Leila and asked what they wanted. Leila looked up to Uncle Vernon, wondering how he was going to handle the situation. He looked rather perturbed, but reluctantly, he bought each of the twins a cheap lemon ice pop. Leila knew he didn't buy them because he wanted to. No, he bought the twins the treats because he wanted to appear normal to the lady. It was one of the few times in her life Leila was grateful the Dursleys tried so hard to be normal.
They didn't see the zoo in any sane fashion. No, they went in order of what Dudley wanted to see first, second, third, and so on. Leila enjoyed getting to see the animals, as she had only seen many of them in textbooks before, but also found herself watching the families. It made her jealous to see parents laughing with their children. To see parents hug or kiss their children. To see parents hold their child's hand so that they didn't get lost. It made her jealous to see the love between a parent and their child...something Leila had no recollection of ever experiencing. So, Leila reached for Harry's hand and held onto it. Harry looked at her oddly for a moment, but he didn't say anything. He just let his sister hold his hand.
When they came to the gorillas, Dudley and Piers pretended to fight like the animals in the cage. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and those around them found this highly amusing. Harry turned toward his sister and whispered, "Dudley actually looks like one of 'em."
Leila snorted at her brother's remark. Then out of nowhere, Piers came out of nowhere and yanked hard on one of Leila's braids. The Potter girl screamed in surprise which only made Piers and Dudley laugh harder. Even the crowd around them seemed to be joining in their laughter. But Leila was actually thankful when Aunt Petunia suggested that they keep moving to see more animals. Again, it wasn't because she actually wanted to actually see the animals. It was because Aunt Petunia feared some sort of scene that Leila could cause.
The koala exhibit was probably Leila's favourite. Not only was it her favourite animal, but she overheard Aunt Petunia tell Dudley that the koala had also been Grandmother Evans' favourite too. For once, Leila actually felt a connection to one of her relatives, despite the fact that Grandmother Evans was no longer living. Even Piers Polkiss and his hair-pulling antics couldn't ruin the joy the connection gave her.
After a morning that both Harry and Leila quite enjoyed, they ate lunch at the zoo restaurant. The twins were allowed to order something decent; cheap, but decent because once again, the Dursleys wanted to appear normal. And when Dudley threw one of his tantrums because there wasn't enough ice cream in his knickerbockers glory, Uncle Vernon let the twins finish what was left of the first one after ordering Dudley a new one. Leila couldn't remember the last time the Dursleys seemed so kind to them. Today seemed like one of the best days she'd had in a long time, but one should know better to think such things because that's when things usually start to go wrong. And things were about to go terribly wrong for the Potter twins.
When they had finished eating, the group headed to the reptile house. Just as they were about to step inside the building, Leila stopped suddenly and shook her head. She knew what kinds of things that building housed. Things much worse and even more terrifying than an already horrifying spider. She preferred to not give herself nightmares, so she opted to sit outside on the bench and wait. Harry tried to pull her inside with him because he didn't want to be left alone with the Dursleys and Piers, but Leila flat-out refused to go inside.
Leila could tell that Harry wasn't really happy with her as he went inside and she sat on the bench, but she knew her brother would get over it. For almost twenty minutes Leila sat outside contentedly swinging her legs and watching the families nearby. Some of the kids actually waved at her and Leila couldn't help but wave back. Leila sat there until Harry came running out of the building. She stood, thinking that they were going to leave, but Harry grabbed her hand and exclaimed breathlessly, "Leila, you gotta see this!"
"See what?" Leila groaned as Harry started to tug her arm.
"Just c'mon."
"Harry, I don't want to."
"Leila, you'll be fine," Harry groaned as he managed to make her budge a few inches. "I promise."
"But Harry, I said…" But Harry refused to listen to his sister's argument. Instead, he managed to get her moving before he dragged her inside the reptile house. As Harry led her through the doors inside, Leila shut her eyes because she didn't want to see the exhibits.
When Harry came to a halt, Leila's momentum caused her to fall forward into her brother which then caused her to fall backwards onto the floor. Feeling rather annoyed, Leila picked herself up and dusted the sand from her clothes as Harry took several steps closer to the Brazilian Boa Constrictor exhibit. Harry motioned for his sister to come closer but she firmly shook her head at the notion. So instead of moving closer to the exhibit, she stubbornly took several steps backward and stood there with her arms folded across her chest.
"Fine, watch from there then," Harry said before he turned back around to face the creepy looking snake.
"I'm waiting," Leila retorted rather impatiently trying to mask how uncomfortable she felt.
Leila kept her eyes focused on her brother, but whatever it was he wanted to show her, he didn't get to because Dudley pushed him out of the way. Dudley pressed his grubby hands and face against the glass as Harry glared at him from the floor. That was when everything seemed to go wrong. One minute the glass was there. The next...it was gone. Leila wasn't sure how it happened, but when the glass disappeared Dudley fell headfirst into the water of the display. Her cousin's tumble surprised her, but the large boa constrictor on the loose terrified her. Leila screamed as she watched the snake slither close to Harry. For a moment, Leila thought the snake was going to eat her brother. Not wanting to witness that, Leila closed her eyes and began to run in the opposite direction. She knew she should help him, but she just couldn't.
Bumping into people as she ran with her eyes closed, Leila eventually found herself pushed to the floor once more. Leila's eyes opened as the sound of Aunt Petunia's shrill screams. The sight she witnessed was shocking, but also quite amusing to a ten year old: the glass for the exhibit had returned and Dudley was on display inside. For a moment, Leila forgot about the snake as she watched Dudley and Aunt Petunia both pound franticly on the glass from opposite sides. It wasn't until she heard Harry's laughter that she remembered the snake.
Apparently the snake hadn't eaten Harry because he was sitting several yards away from her laughing. Leila then looked for the snake, but it must have slithered away because it wasn't in the building and there were shrieks and screams outside. She wanted to be angry at her brother for dragging her into this mess, but the sight of Dudley on display was too entertaining. How often does one get to see their nasty cousin in such a predicament? Almost never. But the amusement was short lived when Uncle Vernon yanked Leila up by her ear before walking a few feet and grabbing Harry by the collar of his shirt. He was clearly angry, but Leila didn't understand why he was so angry at them. What happened couldn't possibly be their fault...right?
Harry and Leila sat outside on the bench for twenty minutes before Dudley finally emerged from the reptile house draped with several blankets and towels. While he might have been partly traumatized, it was clear that Dudley was escalating the situation further on purpose. All because he liked the attention. Dudley walked between his parents, who both had their arms wrapped around him as Piers and the director of the zoo accompanied them as well.
The director brought all of them to his office where they stayed for over an hour as he attempted to calm Aunt Petunia's nerves. The man brought tea for the adults and biscuits for the children. Uncle Vernon was quick to intervene before the tray of biscuits even made its way to the Potter twins. So Piers and Dudley got the entire tray to themselves. Leila bit her bottom lip in frustration and crossed her arms. She didn't understand why Uncle Vernon was acting so foul toward them. The only thing she could rationalize was that nothing ever managed to make sense with the Dursleys as far as the Potters were concerned.
Leila sat quietly beside Harry, with her head resting on his shoulder as they continued to wait. Just when things seemed to be settled, Uncle Vernon would start up again about suing the zoo for what had happened. The director would then respond trying to appease the Dursleys. The man even went so far as to offer them all free memberships for a year. All of them. Leila sighed. She knew that even if Uncle Vernon did accept the offer that there was no way she and Harry were ever going to be allowed back. Their uncle was more likely to sell the tickets than to ever let the Potter twins make use of them.
When it was finally time to go home, Dudley was allowed to sit in the front seat while Aunt Petunia took his spot in the back. The woman turned a blind eye toward Piers, who continued his favourite sport of poking and prodding Leila. The only comfort Leila could find was when Harry reached for her hand and held onto it during Piers' attack.
Uncle Vernon remained surprisingly calm...until Piers was home. Once Piers was out of the car, Uncle Vernon waved at Mrs Polkiss with a fake smile on his face as he pulled away. Then the tirade began. Most of it didn't require the Potter twins to speak. They just had to listen and occasionally nod or shake their heads as Vernon watched them through the rearview mirror. But once they got home, all bets were off.
The Potter twins were barely out of the car before Uncle Vernon snaked his hands around each of them and dragged them inside the house. Aunt Petunia followed behind them coddling Dudley. Once inside, Aunt Petunia and Dudley went straight upstairs while the others remained in the hall. Leila swallowed hard as she tightly clung to Harry's arm. Uncle Vernon looked absolutely livid as he hissed, "I demand an explanation at once!"
Leila wrapped her hands tighter around Harry's arm. He recognized that he was going to have to be the one to answer so he stood a little straighter before answering, "I don't know what happened. Honest."
Uncle Vernon's gaze then turned toward Leila and his eyes narrowed even more. Leila just shrugged her shoulders, unable to vocalize a response because she was so intimidated. Her uncle reached to grab her when Harry forced Leila behind him, to protect her and responded, "One minute the glass was there and then it was gone. It was like magic."
Those weren't the right words to say. The twins watched as Uncle Vernon's eyes grew wild. Harry's grip on his sister tightened as they watched their uncle shake, too angry for words. He swung open the door to their cupboard. First, he pushed Harry inside. Leila came tumbling next, smacking her head on the door frame. Tears stung her eyes as Harry pulled her further inside before Uncle Vernon literally shut the door on her. Seconds after she was safely on the bed, crying softly, the door slammed shut and Uncle Vernon locked it from the outside. Harry's arms wrapped tightly around his sister and she clung to him as she started to cry.
Suddenly, the grate opened. Uncle Vernon's beady eyes were visible through the slits. "There's no such thing as magic!" he hissed venomously before slamming the grate shut once again.
And then there was darkness in the cupboard under the stairs.
Author's Note: And here's the official "first" chapter! Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me in writing this! It really means a lot to me. The response I've already gotten is almost overwhelming. Thanks to Renny Autumn for beta-ing this chapter. Normally, I will respond to reviews at the end of every chapter, but I will forego this chapter and do the next one. I am going to try my best to update once a week, especially since I am a few chapters ahead, but please understand that sometimes life gets in the way.
There are edits, videos, and answers to questions on Leila's blog leilapotter on tumblr. :)
