An: Second chapter already! I haven't gotten much feedback for this story but I do have the entire thing planned out so it's going to happen whether y'all like it or not.
However feedback would be greatly appreciated! Id love to hear what you guys would want to happen or if there was a particular direction you'd like it to go!
Remember, a writer is only as good as her fans.
But without further ado here is the second chapter!
"Parsletongue"
"Normal Speak"
Deduction 2:
The remainder of the day came and went and before Harry knew it, it was time to go to the zoo.
Now usually Harry would have picked somewhere else to go for his birthday, nothing TOO elaborate but somewhere cool enough to make it fun. But this year the zoo had a new snake exhibit that he was just dying to see.
Hence why the Lopez's had a very hyper child in the back seat talking a mile a minute about all the facts that he knew about coral snakes that he read about the night before.
They had left around 10:30 and arrived at the zoo at around 11:20, the new snake exhibit didn't open until 12:30, so Harry dragged his parents around the entire zoo, pointing out all the animals he knew and asking Ray or Nila about the ones he didn't.
It had continued on like that for about thirty minutes, Harry asking a question, Ray answering it, usually with a bizarre and unrealistic answer.
Then the incident occurred.
About 10 minutes before the exhibit opened, Harry had asked his parents if he could get some ice cream, they had (obviously) agreed, lining up with their adoptive son at a little ice cream stand behind a very large family.
And by large we mean fat.
But Harry was a polite little boy, and even though he noticed that the family looked eerily familiar, he had decided not to dwell on it, choosing instead to turn to his mother and talk more about the coral snake, chattering about its venom, how it got confused with the king snake and how some of them didn't come in the traditional black, red and yellow coloring. Then he heard it.
"Hey Dudley, isn't that Potter?"
"Hey you're RIGHT Piers! It IS Potter! Let's 'say' hi!"
The next thing Harry knew he was being spun around by his shoulders, there was a sharp pain in his nose and he was on the ground.
The world spun around him and he felt disoriented and sick. He was almost certain his glasses were broken if the stinging in his cheeks were anything to go by. He also vaguely heard his mother and father screaming at someone.
"Oh dear god!" Yelled Nila, immediately going to Harry's side to assess the damage done to him.
"What the hell is wrong with your child?!" Ray snapped, whirling around to confront the main problem, the kid's parents.
Ray had taken one look at the parents and their kids and knew exactly what the problem was, a low growl escaped the Hispanic as he went from slumping over to his full height of 6'3, glaring down at the Dursleys.
"Control your child Dursley. We don't need little punks like him terrorizing this zoo. This is a FAMILY FRIENDLY place." He growled, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Oh I should have known it was YOUR son that would have punched my sweet little Harry." Came the dangerously calm voice of Nila Lopez, who had removed the shards of glass from Harry's cheek and had picked up the weakly protesting 10 year old into her arms.
Vernon Dursley, who had been steadily growing angrier with the situation, was currently as purple as an eggplant and looked more like a bruised tomato than a human being.
His wife was no better, looking as if she had drunk an entire pitcher of lemon juice.
Dudley and Piers (Dudley's mousy best friend) looked like the cat that had gotten the cream.
"How DARE you make such a horrible assumption about my precious little Duddy," Petunia sneered, nose in the air and looking down at the odd family, which only made her look like a deformed giraffe. "The little… FREAK must have provoked him somehow."
That was obviously the wrong thing to say because one second Nila was in front of the creepy woman and the next she was across the small plaza and explaining the situation to a security guard.
Who immediately walked over to the confronting families and demanded that if the Dursley's didn't apologize and keep at least 10 feet away from the Lopezs at all times, they would be escorted out of the zoo.
Naturally this caused a totally fake tantrum from Dudley, who cried and screamed about how Harry ruined everything, even when he wasn't living with them.
Nonetheless, Vernon, red faced and steaming like a locomotive, forced Dudley to apologize and then went on their way, not wanting to look any worse than they already did.
As the Lopez's watched the family waddle/trot away, Nila set Harry down and gave him a mischievous smile.
"Looked even fatter now didn't they?" She asked, making her son giggle maniacally.
"Yeah they did." Croaked Harry, giving his mom a bruised smile, "can we go see the snakes now?"
Nila frowned and shared a look with Ray.
"… All right angel, but after the exhibit we're going straight home, how much can you see?" Ray asked, crouching down besides the short 10 year old.
"I can see enough that I won't have to lean in the tank dad!"
"Well if you say so…" Ray began, grinning and whipping the boy up and onto his shoulders. "Let's go then!"
Harry squealed in delight and held onto his father for dear life, allowing the man to race off to the Reptile House with Nila hot on their heels.
Once inside, Ray set Harry down so the boy could have the best experience with his favorite reptiles. And boy did he.
The ravenette ran around the room, looking at all the snakes behind glass, drinking in and memorizing all the information given to him in a single instance, of course he knew all the information on the snakes in the Reptile House already, but it was always nice to have a refresher… Not that he needed it of course.
They were just in time for the new session with the coral snakes by the time Harry had made a run through of the House, and he was vibrating and bouncing on his heels by the time they were in front of the presenter.
Said woman smiled at them and raised the long coral snake for all to see. Harry noticed that the snake seemed to preen at the attention it was given, especially if it was screams of fright. The screams annoyed Harry and gave him a headache, why on earth would you come to an exhibit about coral snakes if you were afraid of the bloody things?!
"We should start out by telling you all that these coral snakes are specially bred to be without venom…" The lady began.
And just like that Harry didn't care anymore. His interest flew straight out the window with the announcement. They weren't coral snakes if they didn't have their venom! They were just king snakes with the colors in the correct order.
He'd be lying if he said he didn't tune in when he heard new information however.
When the exhibit was over, his parents and he were making one last trip around the Reptile House before they went home.
"What did you think of the presentation angel?" Nila questioned.
"I liked it! I mean, I was really disappointed when they said that the coral snakes weren't venomous, but other than that it was really good! Really informative!" Said Harry, his hands moving to gesture along with his words.
"Were you able to commit it all to memory?" Ray teased, already knowing the answer.
"'Course dad! Who do you think I am?" He said, puffing his chest up in mock self-importance.
The family's little teasing fest was drawn to a close when he heard an all too familiar voice hissing at the snakes.
"Come on move!" Harry heard, wincing when he heard loud pounding following the words.
As they drew closer, Harry glared.
Dudley was harassing one of his favorite snakes, a large boa constrictor whose breed was from Brazil. Eventually the great walrus finally got bored of the sleeping snake and moved away from it.
Harry then took its place, sighing in annoyance as he looked upon the poor creature.
"I feel for you," he began, not realizing that his parents were looking at him in concern, "I really do, that guy can be a handful right? I should know, I lived with him for the better part of 6 years."
Harry was then very startled when the snake lifted its head up.
"I get that all the time. Humansss, they jussst don't know when to quit." Said the snake.
"You… You're talking!" He exclaimed, then dropped his voice so that no one could tell.
"Well of course I am, do you think our hissing isss jussst nonsssensse?"
"Well… if you all can talk, why am I just hearing you?"
"I wouldn't know hatchling, I wasss bred in captivity remember?"
"Ah right… do you ever wonder what Brazil is like?"
"All the time hatchling… Sssay, you're a ssspeaker, won't you help me get out of here?"
"Yeah! But, how?"
"Vanish the glassss."
"That's impossible."
"Have you ever tried?"
"Well, no…"
"Then how do you know it isss?"
"Mm, you make a good point…. All right I'll try."
The snake bowed his head in thanks and looked at Harry with curiosity. Harry on the other hand glared at the glass and tried to concentrate.
At least that is until he was shoved unceremoniously onto the floor.
Dazed, he looked up at the mass of fat that suddenly surrounded his vision as Dudley began harassing the snake with renewed vigor, trying to get him to do stuff. This made Harry angry and he glowered at Dudley, wishing SOMETHING would happen to him.
Next thing he knew the fat walrus fell head first into the habitat and Harry was left staring in undisguised amusement and disbelief.
"Thanksss." Came a familiar hiss as the constrictor slunk out of its cage and began moving around, hissing and striking at anyone who came to close when people began to panic.
"Any time!" Harry called out after it, grinning from ear to ear.
A grin that only got more creepy and malicious when Dudley tried to climb out of the habitat only to find the glass firmly in place once more.
The raven just couldn't hide his mirth anymore and began to laugh loud and hard at Dudley's very genuine cries of distress. He was very glad that he was on the floor still, because he would have ended up there anyway with how hard he was laughing.
"BOY!" Came the roar and Harry stopped laughing immediately.
Visions of pain and horror began swimming in his mind as he registered that roar, screams filled his ears but no one was screaming. The screams terrified him and his head began to throb, he wasn't supposed to be remembering this.
Vernon came at Harry with his fist raised, forgetting that they were in public and that Harry wasn't his ward anymore. He was just about to bring the fist down on the boys head when he stopped just a hair away.
Harry had locked eyes with Vernon.
But they weren't the striking emerald green anymore.
In the place of color sat white pupils, surrounded by black.
The boy looked like a demon, and when he grinned, Vernon stumbled back in fright and babbled nonsense, pointing and looking around, hoping that someone else saw what he saw.
But when he looked back, the devilish vision was gone, and in its place was a frightened and cowering, perfectly normal Harry Potter, clinging to his mother as if his life depended on it.
"Dursley." Came the dangerously low voice, and Vernon turned eyes to look upon a furious Ray. "He is not your ward anymore. That is MY son, and you will NEVER hurt him again. If I ever see you anywhere near him with that disgusting pig hoof raised, intending to hurt him, I will have your ass thrown in jail so fast that your neck will snap from spinning so much."
"Ray, don't swear in front of Harry." Nila said, but didn't say a word against the course of action her husband just took.
"Let's go Vainilla*, before I do something I regret."
Harry and Nila agreed and began to leave when Vernon decided to dig himself a deeper grave.
"That boy is a freak! A demon! He showed me a vision of hell and trapped my Dudley in that tank!" The whale screeched.
Ray began to turn, but was stopped by Harry's hand on his shoulder.
"It's not worth it dad." He said, exhaustion written all over his face.
Ray gave a nod and they continued on their way.
On their way home, Ray swore a lot in Spanish.
Of course Harry didn't mind, or care for that matter, he was thinking more of what happened in the Reptile House.
He had almost remembered something, something that had to do with the memory gap he had. The gap started some odd weeks before he was adopted by Ray and Nila, and ended the day the Dursley investigation happened.
And try as he might he just… COULDN'T remember what happened.
He could remember everything else, including his real parents' death, which is why he was hoping that letter was real, because it would explain so, so much.
His eidetic memory allowed him to remember everything, hell even the name and appearance of that homeless man they passed about a week ago.
But he just couldn't remember that week.
Something told him he didn't WANT to remember that week.
Harry was still lost in thought when Ray pulled into the parking lot of a pet store.
"Uh… This isn't home." He said, blinking owlishly.
"No it's not kiddo… Frankly, your mom and I wanted to wait a little longer before we did this, but you've been through so much mierda today that I just wanted you to have SOMETHING good on your early birthday." Ray said, wincing as Nila smacked him on the arm.
"Don't swear honey… Now come on angel, I think it's about time we bought you that snake that you wanted."
And just like that, every worry Harry had about that week was gone.
It had taken a while and a lot of trial and error for Harry to FINALLY pick a pet snake.
The store clerk had wanted to start the boy off with a simple garden snake or ball python, something generally easy for a beginner to take care of, but Harry had assured him that he could, and would, take care of any snake that he was given.
And so began the long and arduous journey for the perfect pet.
Eventually Harry had found him.
The clerk had introduced the raven to the king snakes, and Harry felt an immediate attraction for one
A pitch black Mexican King snake.
The clerk had looked rather nervous, still adamantly saying that king snakes weren't good for a beginner and it wasn't until Harry had listed off everything he would need and knew about taking care of a king snake that the clerk finally allowed it.
Ray and Nila both agreed he was a very beautiful snake, and then Ray and Harry began discussing how cool it would be to feed him.
Nila stayed out of that conversation with a small groan of disgust.
Once they paid for the snake and enough supplies to last them a while, along with some rats and a bit of advice to set the snake out in the backyard when he got used to them, the Lopezs and Harry left the store.
"What are you going to name him kiddo?"
"Hmm… I don't know… Do you have a name?" He asked the snake, all in jest.
At least until he answered Harry.
"I wasn't given a name before I wasss taken from my mother." He hissed.
Harry had almost jumped out of the car in fright. He hadn't been expecting that. Which was odd, considering he had been talking to a boa just a couple hours prior.
"Oh that's awful… Hmmm, how about… Cain?"
"Cain? That's an odd name." Said Nila.
"Oddly fitting you mean." Chirped Ray.
"I like that name… I will be Cain from now on."
"Cain it is!" Harry said, grinning at the snake, "I'm Harry, Cain! We're gonna be GREAT friends!"
When the family finally got home, everyone was thoroughly exhausted and it was dark out.
They had set up Cain's tank in Harry's room and he and Ray left the snake a rat to eat after Cain informed Harry he was hungry. The two males watched in morbid fascination as he devoured the rat whole.
"You two are gross." Nila said from the doorway, pointedly not looking at Cain.
"We're men Vainilla! Doing gross things is in our nature!" Ray teased, picking up Harry and launching him onto the bed. "Bed time kiddo."
"Can't I stay up a little longer?" Harry asked, yawning midway through the sentence. "'M not sleepy…"
"Sure you aren't angel… Listen, Harry, we're really sorry that everything took a sour note today, we'll make it up to you on your real birthday okay?" Ray said, concern written all over his face.
"Yes we will. I'll also take you to go get new glasses tomorrow, god only knows how much you needed new ones anyway." Nila stated, smiling kindly at her son.
"It's okay mum, dad. I had a lot of fun today, even if seeing my aunt, uncle and cousin spoiled it a little." Harry said, smiling at his parents.
The couple grinned down at their son and took turns kissing his forehead before tucking him in.
"Sleep well angel." They chorused, smiling at the slurred response.
The door shut behind them, but Harry was already fast asleep.
AN: I'm actually Hispanic so I know what I'm saying, but here's the translation
Vainilla: Spanish for 'vanilla' and Nila's nickname. Pronounced Vai-knee-YA
Mierda: Spanish for shit. Pronounced Mi-ye-r-da
