The sound of series of stern knocks on the cupboard door made Emma Potter jerk upright, only to hit her head against the low ceiling. She fell back, massaging her forehead, hoping to ease the pain.

"Get up!" At her aunt's snappy voice, her brother, Harry Potter, flew upright ﴾lucky enough not to hit his head﴿ as Aunt Petunia Dursley smacks her hand against the door of the cupboard along with a one word command, "Now!"

Emma stared up at the ceiling for several more seconds before turning her head to look at her brother who was gazing at her gently. "Good morning," He said softly, giving her a small smile.

"Morning Harry," She responded, still rubbing her forehead then pulled her hand away as she returned her brother's smile.

"Are you up yet?" Their Aunt's footsteps dissolved down the hall after she had spoken. Emma reached down underneath her bed where she stored all of her things: Books, clothes, and food she had smuggled out of the kitchen when she could. She grabbed a pair of humungous black socks from under her bed before crawling out from under the covers. She pulled on her right sock as her brother pulled a spider off of his pair of white socks, equally as big as hers.

Suddenly there is a loud thumping sound as someone came running down the stairs. Suddenly it went silent then the footsteps picked up again. Right above their heads, they could hear someone jumping up and down on the step, sending a shower of wood dust on top of the siblings.

"Dudley," Emma sounded furious as she tried to brush all of the wood dust out of her hair.

Dudley's voice was loud as he called out, "Wake up, cousins! We're going to the zoo!"

Emma scrambled to her feet and followed her brother to the door which he was trying to open. She heard Dudley laugh as he thudded down the stairs and she saw him running towards the kitchen. Harry was suddenly knocked back into her and the door closed, hitting him roughly in the head as Dudley shut it loudly and charged past.

Harry let out a loud groan as he pushed the door open again. Emma followed him out then shut the door firmly behind her.

Aunt Petunia was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. As soon as she spotted Dudley, she hurried over to him, planting a kiss on his forehead, she exclaimed, "Oh, here he is! The birthday boy!"

Uncle Vernon Dursley was sitting at the kitchen table, his face hidden behind his newspaper. He was a large man who had wisps of hair on his head while he had a thick, bushy mustache that moved as he talked, sighed, sighed and ate.

"Happy birthday, son," Uncle Vernon said through a sigh.

Petunia and Dudley were giggling when Harry and Emma entered the kitchen. Both were dressed in clothes that were way too big for them. They've many similarity given that they are siblings, the both of them have bright green eyes and black hair. Harry was scrawny, wear round glasses and have an unusual lightning shaped scar in his forehead. While Emma had long black soft hair, a skin as pale as snow and no glasses. Her forehead looked completely normal, no scar at all.

"Why don't you two stop standing there like little idiots and be useful?" Aunt Petunia snapped. "Harry, tend to the eggs!"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Harry said.

Harry walked over to the stove where he took hold of the pan's handle while Emma opened the fridge to retrieve the packs of bacon they kept in there. As Emma stared at the microwave, her thoughts went back to her parents as it always seemed to.

The siblings had been told their mum and dad had been killed in a car crash but Emma wasn't quite convinced.

For one thing, Aunt Petunia hated questions. So Emma was led to thinking her Aunt knew more than she was telling.

For another, strange things kept happening to Harry and Emma, although they didn't know how they happened. For instance, Aunt Petunia had grown tired of Harry's hair and chopped it all off. Emma had spent all night comforting her brother because he was scared about what the others at school would think. The next morning however, his hair was exactly the same as the day before. And when Emma was eight, she had somehow heal a swallow that had broken wing with less than five minutes or so when she just touch it. So far, the weirdest thing that had happened was when she and Harry were being chased by Dudley's gang. The both of them had to hide behind the bins outside the kitchen doors but ended up on the roof.

Aunt Petunia was still busy gushing over Dudley. "I want everything to be perfect for my Dudley's special day!" She kissed him again on the head.

"Hurry up! Bring my coffee, girl!"

Hearing that, she carefully lifted his coffee cup and handed it to her uncle whitout a word said from her, not receiving a thank you as she did so.

Petunia led Dudley over to the family room where there were mounds of presents.

"How many are there?" Dudley asked stupidly.

"Thirty‐six," Uncle Vernon spoke as he took a sip of his coffee. "Counted 'em myself."

Everyone in the room jumped as Dudley shouted, "Thirty‐six?! But last year I got thirty seven!"

Uncle Vernon was the one who caught himself first. "Yes, well, some of them are quite a lot bigger than last year."

Emma helped her brother bring the plates of food over to the table. Once they took their seat, they glanced towards each other then began to gulp down their food before Dudley could flip the table.

"I don't care how big they are!" Dudley raged.

Aunt Petunia seemed to sense the danger because she hastily added, Now, now, now, this is what we're going to do," She said gently as she guided Dudley towards the table. "Is that when we go out we're going to buy you two new presents. How's that pumpkin?"

Dudley sniffed. "Then I'll have...then I'll have..."

"Thirty‐eight," Harry said before he took a bite of egg. His answer earned him a glare from Uncle Vernon.

"Shut up!" He snapped at him that just make Harry lower his head.

The telephone rang in the other room and Aunt Petunia got to her feet to go answer it. They heard her speaking softly and very fast into the phone then returned; a worried look pasted on her face.

"Bad news Vernon," She said as though Emma and Harry didn't exist. They were used to that. "Mrs. Figg can't take them," She jerked her head towards Emma and Harry who shared an excited look. Every single year, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, Dudley and one of Dudley's friends went to the zoo while they left Emma and Harry at an old lady's house across the street. Mrs. Figg was nice but all she ever did was feed them chocolate cake that tasted like sand and show them pictures of her cats. Emma, who loved cats, was even sick of them.

In the end, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon couldn't find anywhere for Emma and Harry to go ﴾Harry suggested they stay home but Aunt Petunia's answer made it sound like they would burn the house down﴿ so they decided totake the siblings with them. Right before they got into the car, Uncle Vernon pulled them aside.

"I'm warning you now, boy, girl," He said furiously, Emma want to turn away but decided against it instead she just stare at her Uncle with a blank face. "Any funny business, any at all and you two won't have any meals for a week." Both Emma and Harry nodded. "Get in," He shoved them towards the car, ending their little pep talk.

At the Zoo, the first place Dudley wanted to visit was the Reptile House. Once they were there, Dudley had no problem finding the biggest snake in the entire place.

"Make it move," He whined to Uncle Vernon who tapped loudly on the glass. The snake didn't move a muscle.

"Move." said Uncle Vernon.

"Move!" Repeated Dudley, impatiently.

"Maybe he's asleep and doesn't want to be woken up," Harry suggested.

"He's boring," Dudley decided at last and waddled off to go and take a look at some turtles where Aunt Petunia and his friend was standing with Uncle Vernon following.

The both of them approached the glass now that their Uncle and Cousin weren't there, hogging all the space. "Sorry about them, they don't understand what it's like, lying there day after day watching people press their ugly faces in on you," Harry said softly. Emma jumped as a strange hissing sound came from her brother, exactly like a snake's hiss. "H‐Harry?" Emma whispered lowly, worried that he was being possessed or something. Harry looked at her and she touched his shoulder gently. "Are you okay?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" Emma didn't speak as she stared in astonishment, the snake opened one eye and raised its self off the ground, staring straight at them.

Harry let out more horrible hissing sounds and Emma felt panic rise in her. What was wrong with her brother?

The snake nodded its head and slithered up to the glass. She must be hallucinating.

Emma opened up her mouth to say something else about her brother's sanity but Dudley interrupted her.

"Mummy, Dad, come here!" He shouted, running towards them. "You wont' believe what this snake is doing!" He shoved Harry and Emma to the side.

Emma let out a small yelp as the concrete floor scraped her knees. Harry who both annoyed and worried about his little sister turn his face to Dudley and his face contorted in anger.

"Ahhhhh!" Emma couldn't believe her eyes as Dudley suddenly fell inside the snake habitat. The glass had just...vanished!

Emma stared as the snake slithered out of his habitat ﴾which Dudley was struggling to stand in﴿ and was sliding past her and her brother.

Harry spoke in the weird hissing noise again as Emma was too astounded to speak at all.

"Snake! Ahh!" People were screaming all around the Reptile House as the snake slithered towards the door.

Turning their attention back to the snake habitat, Dudley had finally gotten to his feet and was about to step out of the habitat when the glass suddenly appeared once more, trapping him inside. The corner of Emma's mouth curved a little while Harry smiled wide, trying not to laugh.

"Mum! Mummy! Help me!" Dudley howled, his words slightly muffled through the glass.

"My Darling boy!" Aunt Petunia panicked, slamming the palms of her hand against the glass. "How did you get in there? Who did this? How did you get in there? Is there a snake?" Aunt Petunia was frantic with fear while Uncle Vernon loomed over Emma and Harry who were still sitting on the floor; as soon as they saw their Uncle's expression, their smiles faded from their faces.

"Its all right sweetheart," Aunt Petunia was saying as they rushed into the house. Dudley was wrapped up in a baby blue towel. He was still soaking wet and he looked like he was going to catch a cold, not that Emma really minded though.

As soon as the door shut, Uncle Vernon turned on them. "What happened?" He demanded furiously, giving Harry and Emma a hard glare.

"We swear, we don't know!" Harry protested and Uncle Vernon's expression seemed to become even more furious.

"One moment the glass was there then it was gone, It was like magic!" Harry added desperately. In response, Uncle Vernon took hold of the siblings' collars of their several‐sizes‐too‐large shirts and began to drag them towards their cupboard under the stairs.

He pushed them roughly inside. Harry fell onto his bed and Emma tripped over her brother's legs and fell onto hers. Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut and spoke through the vent on the door, "There's no such thing as magic," Then slid it firmly shut.