Declaration: I do not own Harry potter or any of its characters
J. K Rowling is a great author
The Vanishing Glass
The vanishing glass started Frank
"What is that?" asked Sirius
"Well if you shut up then maybe you will find out, yes?"
"yes Lily" he mumbled
"Nearly 10 years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step but privet drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tiny front gardens and lit up the brass number 4 on the Dursley's front door; it crept onto their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that news report about the owls.
"Well they must have a boring life, having everything the same all the time. You would just get sick of it" complained James.
"yeah well, Petunia isn't much for change" said Lily
"only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time has passed. Ten years ago there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different coloured bobble hats – but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a roundabout at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house too.
"Well that's good maybe someone came and took him away from them Muggles" exclaimed James
"Yeah, me, maybe ... as I am his godfather" said Sirius smugly looking at Remus
"Shut it pads you don't know that yet"
Yet Harry potter was still there, asleep at the moment but not for long. His aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.
"Yeah. I can just imagine that now" said Lily
"That bad?" asked Alice
"you have no idea"
"Up! Get up! Now" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. "up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker. He rolled on to his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it.
"That wasn't a dream Harry!" Sirius yelled at the book
"Sirius he can't hear you" said Remus
"I don't care" he said grumpily
He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before. His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded. "Nearly" said Harry. "well get a move on. I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect for Duddy's birthday"
"She's making him cook? ... he's ten years old for Merlin sake ... Petunia how could you" sighed lily
"its ok Lils, we're gonna change the future remember. She is not getting anywhere near our son" James growled.
Lily just smiled at him, he smiled back. Severus was glaring at him.
Harry groaned. "what did you say" his aunt snapped through the door. "nothing, nothing" Dudley's birthday, how could he forget. Harry slowly got out of bed and started looking for a pair of socks. He found a pair under his bed, and after pulling a spider off one of them. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stair was full of them and that is where he slept.
"How could she. First making him cook at the age of 10 and then making him sleep under the stairs. What did he ever do to her?" Lily complained.
"Don't worry about it Lily, Petunia was always a horrible person. He probably didn't even do anything to her, this is all her doing." Soothed Severus.
"I guess you're right but she still shouldn't be doing this to him. He is just a child"
"can I carry on reading" Frank asked politely
"oh, yes. Sorry Frank go ahead" Lily apologised
When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's presents. It looked as though Dudley got the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.
"what would that thing do with a bike exactly" said Sirius
"do you even know what one is Sirius" asked lily
"yes, I do take muggle studies you know" mumbles Sirius
Alice and Lily just shared a look
Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry.
"Touch my son – and I'll hit you right back you bloody moron" growled James
"how could she just let her son treat him like that" asked Lily
"Well he obviously learnt it from somewhere, so I'm guessing the dad" said Alice
But he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.
"Thank god" exclaimed lily
Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were Dudleys old clothes and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees and black hair and bright green eyes.
"well at least he got something from both of us. My hair and your gorgeous eyes" James said
Lily blushed "god forbid it if he should ever get your hair James. He will never get it done properly."
"what's wrong with my hair?"
"well, its a curse"
"a curse?"
"lets not get on to the topic of his hair please" said Remus
"okay ... I can carry on now yeah?" asked frank. He nodded.
He wore round glasses held together with a lot of cello-tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
Sirius, Remus and James growled at this.
The only thing Harry liked about his appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had it as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his aunt Petunia was how he had got it. "in the car crash when your parents died" she said "and don't ask questions".
"she told him we died in a car crash" Lily cried
"its ridiculous" said Remus "how could you die in a car crash?"
"I wouldn't allow it" said Sirius
"thanks pads I knew you loved me" shouted James
"Nah. I love lily more" he said laughing
"Hey!"
Don't ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursley's. Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. "comb your hair" he barked by way of a morning greeting.
"it's not going to work" he said smug
"this is your fault James" said lily
"what is"
"giving our son your hair, now he cant even brush it"
About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.
James looked smug and lily just sighed
Harry was frying the eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick fat head. Aunt petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel –
"that's not what baby angels look like" said Regulus
"no your right" said Sirius
Harry often said he looked like a pig in a wig.
Here they all burst out laughing except Severus and Regulus who just smirked.
Harry put the plates of eggs and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.
"thirty-six" he said looking up to his mother and father " that is two less than last year" "darling you haven't counted aunt Marge's present see, its here under the big one from mummy and daddy"
"what a spoilt brat" spat James
"I know and I bet Harry doesn't even get 1 present from them" said Sirius
"he better" growled lily narrowing her eyes dangerously.
'keep reading frank' mouthed Remus
"all right thirty-seven then" said Dudley going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.
"good boy"
"he isn't a dog Sirius" scolded lily
"Hey! What's wrong with dogs like?"
"nothing" said lily confused
James and Remus who were snickering waved a hand for Frank to continue to read
Aunt petunia obviously scented danger too, because she said quickly " and we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"
"popkin?" Sirius asked, laughing out loud with James and Regulus
"Merlin Petunia, the poor boy" said Lily
"Hey! Don't pity him he's horrible" said James loudly
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly "so I'll have thirty ... thirty ..." "thirty-nine sweetums" said aunt petunia
"how thick can ya get, just add two on. Bloody hell" said James
"James!"
"yes Lils?"
"stop swearing! ... keep reading please Frank"
"oh" Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "all right then" uncle Vernon chuckled. "little tyke, wants his money's worth, just like his father. Ata boy Dudley" he ruffled Dudley's hair. At that moment the telephone rang and aunt petunia went to answer it while Harry and uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a cine-camera, a remote control aeroplane, 16 new computer games and a video recorder. He was wrapping off the paper of a gold wristwatch when aunt petunia came back from the telephone, looking both angry and worried.
"bad news Vernon" she said " Mrs. Figg's broke her leg . she cant take him" she jerked her head in Harry's direction.
"take him?" Lily growled
Dudley's mouth fell open in horror but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend, out for the day, adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg's a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg's made him look at photograph's of all the cats she'd ever owned.
"poor boy" said Lily
"yeah. No one liked cats. They are horrible" cried Sirius
"What is wrong with cats?" asked Alice
James and Remus just laughed at Sirius while Sirius looked outraged.
"cats are like ... well ... they are horrible ok" he stuttered
"okay ..."
"anyway ...
"now what?" said aunt petunia looking furiously at Harry, as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg broke her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr paws and Tufty again.
"Harry!" lily shouted
"come on Lily, lighten up, he might get to go" said James
"he gets this from you he does" lily glared at him. He just shook his head.
"we could phone Marge" Uncle Vernon suggested. "don't be silly Vernon, she hates the boy" the Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. "what about what's her name, your friend – Yvonne?" "on holiday in Majorca" snapped aunt petunia "you could always leave me here" Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on the TV for a change and maybe have a go on Dudley's computer)
"nice try kid but it isn't gonna work" moaned Sirius
"he's like a Slytherin" put in Regulus
"he is not" shouted James
"what's wrong with Slytherins?" asked Severus
"what's right with them" shouted James and Sirius at the same time
"continue reading Frank, before they get into a hug argument about what house is better" said lily
"which is obviously Gryffindor" said Sirius smugly
"read!"
Aunt petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. "and come back to find the house in ruins" she snarled. "i wont blow up the house" harry said but they weren't listening. "i suppose we could take him to the zoo" said aunt petunia slowly "and leave him in the car ..." "thats a new car, he's not sitting in it alone" Dudley began to cry loudly, in fact he wasn't really crying, it's been years since he really cried, but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.
Lily huffed.
"Dinky duddyums, don't cry, mummy wont let him spoil your special day" she said flinging her arms around him. "i ... don't ... want ... him ... t-t-to come !" Dudley yelled between huge pretend sobs. "he always spoils everything". He shot Harry a nasty grin in the gab in his mothers arms.
"well prongs, it looks as if he needs to go down on the list" said Sirius
"list? What list?" asked Alice curiously
"we have a list of people we are going to prank" said Sirius nodding his head excitedly "and this little ... well i would call him little, but he is definitely going down on it"
"as well as petunia and Vernon pads" James added in
"oh yes, cannot forget them" he replied with a huge grin on his face.
Just then the doorbell rang – "oh, good lord, they're here" aunt petunia said frantically, and a moment later Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy, with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who help people's arms behind there back while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.
"I bet he did" grumbled lily
Half an hour later, Harry who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with piers and Dudley on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life.
"my son hasn't even been to the zoo?" lily asked outraged
"don't worry lily, we will take him there" soothed James
Lily just nodded distractedly.
His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they had left uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside. "I'm warning you" he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's. "I'm warning you know boy – any funny business anything at all and you will be in that cupboard now until Christmas." "I'm not going to do anything" said Harry "honest" but uncle Vernon didn't believe him, no one ever did.
The problem was, strange things did often happen around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. Once, aunt petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors, and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his fringe which she had let to 'hide that horrible scare'. Dudley had laughed himself silly at harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next morning, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and cello-taped glasses.
"yeah, no one gets rid of our hair that easily" laughed James
"don't i know it" said Sirius then burst out laughing
"oh shut up" snapped James while scowling at Sirius.
"come on you have to admit that it was funny"
"no it wasn't"
"it was a little James" said Remus
"your meant to be the responsible one" he cried
"doesn't mean i cant laugh at something that is funny though" he came back with
"exactly!" Sirius bellowed
"what happened that's so funny then?" asked lily and
"nothing" shouted James as Sirius was about to talk
"carry on frank" James said calmly
And so he did with a amused smile on his face.
Next morning however, he had got up to find his hair exactly as it had been before aunt petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.
"I can't believe her, she knows its accidental magic and she is telling him off for it when she knows he cant control it" said lily
Another time, aunt petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange bobbles). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a glove puppet but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt petunia decided it must have shrunk in the wash, and to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the school roof. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's there he was sitting on the chimney.
"he must be really powerful to be able to do that" commented Remus
"really?" asked lily
"yeah"
James and lily looked proud and smiled at each other.
The Dursley's had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he tried to do (as he shouted at Vernon through the locked door on the cupboard) was jump behind the bins outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed the wind must have caught him mid-jump.
"he Apparated" said Sirius
"he could have flew" said James
"he couldn't have done either, he wont know how" lily said and then dismissed both of them to get frank to continue to read on.
But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with piers and Dudley to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, Mrs. Figg's or his cupboard. While he drove, uncle Vernon complained to aunt petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning it was motorbikes.
"hey! There is nothing wrong with motorbikes" said Sirius loudly
"shut up black" snapped lily. Sirius just mumbled something no one could catch.
" ... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums" he said as a motorbike overtook them. "i had a dream about a motorbike" he said remembering "it was flying" uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at harry, his face like a giant beetroot with a moustache. "MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!". Dudley and piers snickered.
"yes because that was hilarious" lily said sarcastically
"I know they don't" said Harry "it was only a dream"
"no Harry!" Sirius yelled suddenly and stood up "it was real! Don't think it wasn't"
Lily and Alice looked at each other and just shook their heads.
"don't worry padfoot ... just sit down and we can carry on reading yeah?" James asked calmly.
Sirius sat down and slowly nodded and then his face split into a huge grin.
"my god he's mental" Alice whispered to lily. Lily just nodded trying not to laugh.
But he wished he hadn't said anything. If it was one thing the Dursley's hated even more than his asking questions, it was talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.
Lily just shook her head thinking of her sister.
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then because the smiling lady in the van asked if Harry wanted anything before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice lolly. It wasn't bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching it's head and looking remarkably like Dudley except it wasn't blond.
Here the three marauders burst out laughing.
Harry had the best morning he had in a long time. He was careful enough to walk apart from the
Dursley's so that Dudley and piers who were starting to get bored of the animals, by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back into their favourite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his Knickerbockers glory wasn't big enough, uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.
"oh how nice of him" James said sarcastically.
"I know, I bet they didn't even buy him any food" Sirius spat
Harry felt, afterwards, he should have known it was too good to last.
Everyone groaned here.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in here, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobra's and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a dustbin – but in that moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was asleep.
Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. "make it move" he whined to his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. "do it again" Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon wrapped on the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
"the poor snake" cried lily
"don't worry lily, its just a snake – plus he's asleep, nothing will happen" James said
"this is boring" Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except people drumming their fingers on the grass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was aunt petunia hammering on the door to wake you up – at least he got to visit the rest of the house. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised it's head until it's eyes were on level with Harry's.
It winked.
Silence followed the sudden sentence Frank had spoke, until finally Severus broke it.
"winked? Are you sure that's what it says?"
"of course I'm sure" said Frank "look" and he handed the book to Severus. He suddenly frowned and passed the book back.
"maybe we need to carry on reading for now"
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.
"what! Why would he wink back?" shouted Sirius
The snake jerked its head upwards towards uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: I get that all the time.
"I know" Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him "it must be really annoying"
"he's talking to the snake" lily shrieked
"how? No one in my family are parseltongues" James asked
"dunno but I thought only people from the Slytherin line could do it" Sirius asked looking at Regulus and Severus.
"well that's what I thought too" said Severus
"maybe we were wrong" said Regulus
"lets just carry on for now murmured frank
The snake nodded vigorously.
"where do you come from anyway?" Harry asked.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. boa constrictor, brazil. "was it nice there?" the boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: this specimen was bred in the zoo. "oh i see – so you have never been to brazil?". As the snake shook his head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY!, MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT ITS DOING!" Dudley came waddling towards as fast as he could. "out of the way you!" he said punching Harry in the ribs.
"you bast-" Sirius yelled but lily cut him off
"Sirius will you watch your language, Merlin"
"sorry but i agree with padfoot, lily-flower" said James
"I also agree, no one hits my baby, but say it in a nicer term next time and don't call me that James" she snapped
"Aw!, you called me James" he cooed
She just groaned so frank carried on reading.
Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What happened next, happened so fast no one saw how it happened. One second piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.
At this point Sirius was bouncing in his seat with excitement.
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.
And the snake slid swiftly passed him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said "brazil here I come ... thanksss amigo"
"wow" said Sirius
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "but the glass" he kept saying " where did the glass go?" the zoo director himself made aunt petunia a cup of strong sweet tea, while he apologised over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling him how it had nearly bitten his leg off and piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.
"Idiots" mumbled lily
"what was that lily pet?" asked Sirius innocently
"nothing" she replied
He just smirked and carried on listening to Frank read.
But worst of all, for Harry at least, was piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you Harry" uncle Vernon waited until piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He managed to say "Go – cupboard – stay – no meals"
"he better feed him or I swear to Merlin when I get my hands on petunia next she's gonna wish she was never born" lily growled.
James and Sirius raised their eyebrows as they have never seen her like this (except to James), Remus was shaking his head and Severus nodding his head in agreement as he didn't like her either.
Before he collapsed into a chair and aunt petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was, and he couldn't be sure that the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking into the kitchen to get some food.
"see, true marauder there" said Sirius proudly to James, who smiled back at him
Lily groaned. And everyone except the two Slytherins laughed at her.
He'd lived with the Dursley's almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in the car crash.
At this point lily and James sighed, while everyone else looked sad.
Sometimes, when he his memory during long hours in his cupboard he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.
"he remembers that" whispered lily
Silence was all that followed. You could have heard a pin drop. So frank decided to continue.
This, he supposed was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.
At this point lily looked like she was about to cry. James put an arm around her for comfort and nodded to frank.
His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course, he was forbidden to ask questions. There was no photographs of them in the house. When he was younger Harry had dreamed of some unknown relation to come and take him away, but it never happened; the Dursley's were his only family.
"where are we?" Sirius shouted and pointed at Remus.
Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seems to know him. Very strange strangers they were too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with aunt petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if Harry knew the man, aunt petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him on a bus once. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day then walked away without another word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish when Harry tried to get a better look.
At school Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated the odd Harry potter in his baggy clothes and broken glasses and nobody liked to disagree with Dudleys gang.
"there, thats the end of that chapter" stated frank
"right" said lily "who wants to read next"
"I will" Severus answered
"okay here" and frank chucked him the book
"okay ... "the letters from no one" ... he started.