Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.

"talking"

'thoughts'

'written words'

Chapter 3: Hippos and Boas

Very little at Number 4, Privet Drive had changed since that fateful evening nearly ten years ago. Vernon Dursley still went to work on drills every morning, Petunia Dursley still spied on all of her neighbours through her hedges for topics to gossip about, and Dudley Dursley still screamed at and kicked his mother for sweets.

In fact, the only indicator that any time had passed at all was the photos on the wall. Ten years ago, there were many pictures of a baby Dudley Dursley, which to an outsider would look more like a large pink beach ball with different colour hats. Now, there were pictures of a very large boy performing numerous activities with his mother and father or on his own.

The Dursleys were quiet proud of their son, for he was perfectly normal. Nothing strange ever happened around Dudley, which was exactly how the Dursleys wished their lives could be. For the Dursleys had a secret, a horrible, dark secret, and their worst fear was that someone would discover this secret and think that they were abnormal.

In fact, one part of the Dursleys' 'secret' was waking up at this very moment, marking the beginning of a legacy.

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Journey Potter woke up with a very foreboding feeling. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was storming outside, which in fact she didn't mind at all since she loved the rain. And it had nothing to do with the fact that she had somehow fallen off the bed in the middle of the night, which happened quite often since she was forced to share a bed with her brother so it didn't really bother her.

No, the reason that Journey Potter was dreading facing the day was because she knew something bad was going to happen, just how she knew that her Aunt Petunia would soon be coming to Dudley's second bedroom to wake her and her brother, Harry.

Knowing that there was nothing she could do about either of her feelings, Journey picked herself off the floor and headed to the cracked, floor-length mirror that was leaning against the opposite wall. Carefully avoiding any stray broken toys that she and her brother had yet to move or dispose of, Journey sat down on the wobbly chair that was by the mirror and looked into the largest unbroken piece. Tired green eyes stared back at her, and her freckles looked even more pronounced on her pale skin than normal. 'Must be my lack of sleep,' Journey thought as she ran a hand through her fiery, red hair, 'well it looks more like a rats nest right now as opposed to anything that resembles hair...'

With that thought in mind, Journey looked over to the hairbrush that was on the desk several feet away and concentrated. For several moments nothing happened, but then Journey felt something start to build up within her. The hairbrush started to twitch and when the feeling had built up within her to the point where it stretched down to her left hand, Journey pulled-

WHACK! The brush smacked into her hand and Journey smiled as she began to brush her hair slowly. Calling objects was definitely Harry's expertise, but Journey would not give up until she could do it. Now, Journey was almost as good as Harry, they could call almost any object to them (provided it wasn't too heavy), but Harry was faster than her. Journey didn't let this deter her and slowly but surely, she was improving.

This was why the rest of their family hated Harry and Journey. Well, it wasn't this particular reason as Journey was sure that if Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon ever found out that they could control their 'freakishness' they'd get a good thrashing. Even so, the Dursleys hated the twins because they were different.

It started when Harry was four. Dudley had been playing with several toys that were laid around him, while Harry and Journey were forced to sit there and watch. One of the toys that Dudley was playing with was one that he had stolen from Harry, who had gotten it for free when they had been walking through the mall earlier that day. Harry had been crying because Dudley had punched him to get it and Journey was trying to comfort him. All the while Dudley sat there laughing and playing, which made Journey really mad.

What happened next surprised everyone. One second Dudley was holding Harry's toy, and the next he was holding a giant centipede. Dudley started at it blankly for a second, not quite comprehending what had just happened, but when the centipede started to move, Dudley screamed.

That was the first time that the Dursleys locked Harry and Journey in the cupboard as a punishment, and certainly not the last, but Journey didn't care. She now knew why the Dursleys hated her and her brother, because they could do things, things that weren't normal.

And do things they did. Over the course of the years many strange things had happened around the Potter twins. When Aunt Petunia had cut off all of Harry's hair when he was six, that night he cried himself to sleep in Journey's arms, knowing that the next day he would be even more made fun of than usual. The next day, Harry's hair had completely grown back. Both Harry and Journey got a week in the cupboard for this.

Another time, Dudley and his gang had been chasing Journey around the playground while they were on break (Harry was inside helping a teacher), when all of a sudden, a rock in front of Journey turned into a large, brown dog and started chasing Dudley. The teachers could not explain how the dog got on the grounds, but no one could prove that Journey had done anything so she wasn't punished.

Many other strange things had happened over the years. A particularly horrid sweater that had once been Dudley's had shrunk when Aunt Petunia had tried to force Harry to wear it to the point where it wouldn't fit a hand puppet. Aunt Petunia just assumed that it had shrunk in the wash so there was no punishment that time. There was a punishment when Harry had somehow ended up on the school roof when Dudley's gang was chasing him, which was as much a surprise to him as it was to everyone else. Harry and Journey had been locked in the cupboard for a month for that.

It wasn't until they were eight that Journey proposed they should maybe learn how to control it. After several days of no success, Harry finally got results. The small toy soldier (filched from Dudley's second bedroom) that Harry had been trying to make float, rose two inches off the ground. He was extremely drained afterwards, but he didn't care. They finally had proof to go along with what Journey knew all along; the Dursleys hated them because they were different. It took Journey a week to accomplish the same task as Harry, but she didn't care because she knew that she would have more trouble with this than Harry.

Journey didn't know how she knew things, just that she did. Harry thought maybe it was strong intuition, something that they had read about in the library. Journey was inclined to agree with him, but at the same time couldn't shake the feeling that it was something… more.

Whatever it was, it proved to be invaluable. When they were seven, Journey overheard some of the neighbours talking about the horrible clothes her and Harry always had to wear. Journey knew that it was a good idea to tell Aunt Petunia what she had heard as she hated being gossiped about almost as much, if not more than she hated anything abnormal, and she wasn't disappointed. Later that day when Journey told Aunt Petunia that some of the neighbours were gossiping about how it was strange that Harry and Journey had to wear such abnormal clothes when the rest of the Dursleys had nice normal clothes, Aunt Petunia went as white as a sheet and sent Journey to her cupboard. The next day, Aunt Petunia took Harry and Journey to a second hand clothes shop and bought them several outfits each.

Journey used this tactic three more times, with varying degrees of success. When Journey was eight she told Aunt Petunia that some of the neighbours had been talking about how unnaturally small and skinny they were, and that no child should be that small, regardless of their genes. That very evening, Aunt Petunia gave Harry and Journey much more food than they had been used to (a slice of toast each). It was filled with all the foods that Vernon and Dudley hated (mostly vegetables), and was much smaller than either of their portions, but since their portions were huge the twins didn't really care. On their plate for that one meal was more than what they usually got in a whole day. Every day after that Aunt Petunia gave them full meals of mostly vegetables, and made sure they were seen carrying lunches to school.

When Harry and Journey were nine, Journey decided to test her luck. Both times she had attempted to make life better for her and Harry, she knew it would work, but this time she wasn't sure if she knew or not. Deciding to try her luck, Journey went to Harry one day after he had finished making dinner and began talking in a voice loud enough for Aunt Petunia (who was setting the table) to hear. She told him how she had overheard the neighbours talking about how they never see either of us doing any activities, which just wasn't normal. She also told him about how their teacher thought it was strange that they couldn't go on the class trip to the beach because they didn't know how to swim. Her teacher also told her that all normal kids should know how to swim and that it was weird that Aunt Petunia had never signed them up for lessons. Aunt Petunia hurriedly sent them upstairs after dinner without any remarks

Nothing changed in the Dursley household for several weeks, and Journey began to think that she had failed, but two months later she had been proven wrong. One evening Aunt Petunia visited Harry and Journey in the cupboard and told them that she had signed them up at a local rec center for an hour every Wednesday and two hours every Saturday. The only reason they were going was because one of Vernon's client's wife worked there and was able to give them a big discount.

It was the best thing that had ever happened to Journey and Harry at that point. The facility had a swimming pool, gymnastic hall, dance studios, a dojo, two gymnasiums, and even an outdoor area with a football (soccer) field, a basketball court and a running track. There were also several other rooms, like a workout room full of weights, but they never went into those rooms. The instructors taught them different things each week. Wednesdays alternated between swimming and gymnastics lessons, which were both great fun. Journey found that she was better at swimming than Harry, just as he was better than her at gymnastics. On Saturdays, they had either tae kwon do or dance lessons, which alternated between jazz, hip hop, ballet and even occasionally tried out formal dances just for fun. Both Harry and Journey liked working in the dojo, and were equally matched. In the studios, Journey excelled at ballet and the formal dances, while Harry found he didn't really excel at any of the dance styles, but liked jazz and hip hop the best because the instructors would occasionally let him throw in some gymnastic moves. After they finished their first lesson, they had an outside lesson. They would first have to run around the track a few times for warm up, and then they would either play football or basketball. Harry turned out to be an amazing striker and was decent at goalie, while Journey was just as talented as a midfield or striker. Neither one of them liked playing basketball since they were both horrible at it, and they always dreaded when they would be playing it.

By far the best part about being able to go to the rec centre was being able to go to the library that was located between one of the gymnasiums and swimming pool. Any day they wanted (when they didn't have chores to do), they could go to the library and read to their hearts content. At first they read only fiction books, but soon they began to read anything they could get their hands on, even if it was several years too advanced for them and they couldn't quite understand it.

The last time Journey tried to change anything when she was ten, she nearly failed. Journey had just begun to talk to her Aunt Petunia when Uncle Vernon had walked into the room. Journey knew she was treading into dangerous waters, but knew that it was worth the risk. She told her Aunt how Harry and her were getting really cramped in the cupboard. Uncle Vernon had gone really red in the face and started ranting about how they were ungrateful brats who didn't appreciate them when they had done so much for them. Journey knew that she wouldn't get another chance so she pushed on, pleading her case to her Aunt. She told her how all of Dudley's friends knew about the cupboard, and that it was only a matter of time before one of them let it slip to their parents, who would gossip about how strange that was.

Aunt Petunia looked thoughtful and even Uncle Vernon paused in his rant to think about that, before grabbing her by the scruff of the neck and throwing her into the cupboard with Harry and locking them in. They stayed in the cupboard for several days, before Aunt Petunia finally opened the cupboard. She said that they could move into Dudley's second bedroom on several conditions. Firstly, it would still be Dudley's second bedroom, meaning he could keep putting broken and unwanted toys in it. Second, they had to complete a huge list of chores by the end of the week, which included cleaning the entire garage, attic and back shed, among other things. Finally, there was to be no unnaturalness for the rest of the year, or they would be moved right back to the cupboard.

Harry and Journey agreed quickly to all conditions, even though they knew that they would be breaking the last one, not that Aunt Petunia had to know that. Dudley put up a big fuss (understatement of the century) but when his mother told him that he could still use the room, he quieted down some. The room was small and only contained one bed, but neither Harry nor Journey complained since it was like a mansion compared to their cupboard which they had been sharing for as long as they could remember, so sharing a bed didn't really seem that bad.

Other than those minor changes, life in number four remained the same for Harry and Journey. They still had to get lower marks than Dudley or they would get punished for 'cheating' and Dudley's gang still chased them around and beat them up. They still had to cook all the meals, do the gardening (well, Harry did the gardening, after Journey's first attempt where she completely destroyed the rosebushes Harry refused to let her do it), do the laundry, clean all the rooms in the house besides Dudley's and the master bedroom, and any other tasks that were thought up. Harry and Journey still practiced their strange ability, they just had much more room, and objects, to work with.

"UP!"

Journey was startled out of her thoughts by Aunt Petunia's shrill voice screeching behind the door. Harry jumped and fell out of bed, causing her to snicker. Harry glared at her from his place on the floor, but the effect was lost when he yawned.

Aunt Petunia rapped on the door, "Get up… NOW!"

Journey listened as her Aunt's footsteps faded down the stairs. She sighed and tossed Harry some clothes from his drawer, before grabbing her own. As they got dressed she said to him, "I have a feeling today is going to be a bad day."

Harry looked at her sharply. He knew not to ignore her feelings, even when they were bad feelings. Harry was about to say something when their Aunt was back outside the door saying, "aren't you up yet? Breakfast needs to be made, and don't either of you dare let it burn! I want everything to be absolutely perfect for my Dudleykins birthday."

Harry groaned as she walked away and asked hopefully, "maybe you're just having that feeling because it's Dudley's birthday?"

Journey thought for a moment then shook her head sadly, "no," she said slowly, "it's more than that, but I think they may be connected somehow."

Harry shrugged as he put on his taped-together glasses, "well I guess we can't really do anything about it then, no sense dwelling about it." With that he walked over to the door and opened it, turning to wait for her.

Journey sighed. She wished she could be as carefree about her feelings as he could. 'Maybe it's because he doesn't constantly have it hanging over him like I do and he can put it out of his mind,' she thought, 'any other time hardly anything bothers me, yet I can never push this aside.' Deciding to think more on it later, Journey followed Harry out of their room and shut the door behind her.

When they walked into the kitchen, Journey immediately noticed all of Dudley's presents on the table…or rather where she assumed the table to be considering she couldn't even see it under the mini mountain also known as Dudley's presents. 'Looks like he got everything he wanted,' Journey observed, 'although why Dudley would want a racing bike is beyond me…I wonder if it will hold his weight now considering he looks like a baby hippo…'

Supressing a snort at the mental image of the bike collapsing when Dudley sat on it, Journey set to work frying the bacon while Harry started making toast. Between the two of them, they were able to finish making breakfast and setting the table (somehow finding room around all of the presents) just as Dudley and Uncle Vernon walked in.

You could clearly see that Vernon and Dudley were related. Uncle Vernon was a very large man with virtually no neck, and made up for it by having a very large moustache. Dudley looked very similar to Vernon, just without the moustache. He too had very little neck, and had the same watery blue eyes and pink face of his father. He had thick blonde hair that sat on top of his fat head, which he got from his mother who was also blonde. That was the only similarity he shared with his mother, as she was very thin and had almost twice the normal amount of neck, which she used to her advantage in her quest to discover every secret the neighbours had.

Journey and Harry couldn't be any more different from the Dursleys even if they tried. Both were very thin (although not nearly as thin as they were before they started eating healthy) and were slightly small for their age. They had the same thin face (Journey had a smattering of freckles on hers but Harry didn't) and knobbly knees. Their bright-green eyes, looked identical at first glance, but when she was seven Journey noticed that hers had small flecks of silver in them whereas Harry's didn't. They both had unruly hair that drove Aunt Petunia crazy, but Harry's was black and very short, whereas Journey's was fiery red and fell to her mid-back in messy curls.

The one other thing that separated them, was that Harry had a lightning bolt-shaped cut on his forehead (which he thought was pretty cool). When they asked Aunt Petunia how he got it, she told them it was from the car crash his parents died from and not to ask questions (one of the first of many rules that were a part of living with the Dursleys). Both Harry and Journey knew she was lying, Harry because he could remember that night and Journey because she just knew.

Journey was brought out of her thoughts about Harry's near-photographic memory by Dudley jumping up and down in happiness (or trying to), which caused the whole table to shake until he stopped. Dudley's eyes lit up in glee at the sight of all his presents, before they narrowed. Journey began to eat as Dudley started counting all his presents. When he had counted them all, he rounded on Aunt Petunia and said, "There's only thirty-six, that's two less than last year."

Petunia smoothed his hair, "you missed the one from Auntie Marge. It's under the big one that Mummy and Daddy bought you."

Dudley started going red in the face. Harry and Journey both looked at each other and had the same thought, 'oh no,' before simultaneously they turned and began to eat as fast as possible in case Dudley decided to flip the table over in his rage.

Aunt Petunia seemed to sense the danger as well, because she said quickly in a sweet voice, "and as a surprise, when we go out, we're going to buy you two more presents. How's that pumpkin? Two presents."

Dudley thought for a moment, and both Harry and Journey thought that it looked like extremely hard work for him. 'Probably is,' Journey thought, 'considering all the thinking he's ever had to do is figure out which kid he can bully into letting him cheat off of them.'

After a long moment Dudley said, "so… I'll have… thirty, uh… thirty…"

Journey nearly choked on her bacon as she supressed a laugh, 'looks like he has the intelligence of a hippo too, who would've guessed.'

But Aunt Petunia didn't seem to care as she said, "Thirty-nine, sweetums, thirty-nine."

Dudley thought about it some more ('Maybe I should call the government and tell them their failed experiment in crossing a hippo and a boy is located in our house,' Journey thought) before he nodded to himself and said, "okay," before he sat down ('…on second thought, maybe I should tell them that tremors have been felt in Privet Drive and they should send earthquake specialists to Surrey…').

Harry and Journey shared a look when Dudley began to open his presents, and to their shock completely ignoring the food. 'Huh, so he does have the self-control to not eat when there is food in front of him?' Journey thought incredulously, 'who would've thought.'

Uncle Vernon chuckled after he finished swallowing his food and ruffled Dudley's hair. "Attaboy Dudley! Want your money's worth just like your dad."

Journey shared a disgusted look with Harry as the phone rang. Aunt Petunia rushed to get it, and came back several minutes later with a very disappointed look on her face. She turned to her husband, "I've got bad news Vernon," she glanced at Dudley who was opening his new computer, "Mrs. Figg just called. She broke her leg so she can't take them."

Dudley stopped his present-opening rampage to gasp in horror, while Harry and Journey both sat up a little straighter. Every year, Dudley got to go somewhere exciting for his birthday from adventure parks to cinemas, and every year Harry and Journey had to stay with old Mrs. Figg who lived several streets away with her many cats. Her house smelt kind of like old cabbage and they were forced to look at pictures of all the cats she's ever owned. Journey didn't mind so much since she loves cats and got to play with them for a bit, but Harry hated it.

Aunt Petunia looked furious. "What should we do now?" she asked, before glaring at the twins (who immediately went back to eating) as if they had set it up. 'Even I wouldn't plan a prank like that,' thought Journey, 'and I put clear glue on our third grade teacher's seat which ripped her skirt when she stood up.'

Journey felt a little sorry for Mrs. Figg, but she knew Harry probably couldn't bring himself to feel bad for her when he wouldn't have to sit though hours of looking at photos of Snowy and Tibbles for another whole year.

Vernon thought about it. "We could always phone my sister," he suggested.

"Vernon, don't be silly," scolded Petunia, "she hates them."

Journey scowled to her plate. She hated when the Dursleys-or anyone for that matter-talked about her or Harry like they weren't there. Unfortunately, the Dursleys often spoke like that when they were talking about the twins. If the Dursleys did acknowledge the twins, they talked about them as if they were something really stupid and disgusting that couldn't understand a word they were saying, like a snail or something. 'Obviously,' thought Journey bitterly, 'they've never seen their son…he's about as stupid and disgusting as they get.'

Vernon started grasping at straws, "What about your one friend… uh… Yvonne?"

"She's on holidays till the end of the week," Aunt Petunia snapped at him,

Surprisingly, it was Harry who spoke next. "You could leave us here," he suggested only slightly hopefully.

Even before she looked at Aunt Petunia Journey knew that they would never be allowed, and she didn't even need her ability to know things to figure it out.

When she looked at Aunt Petunia, she nearly laughed at her facial expression. It looked like she had swallowed something awfully sour and unpleasant. "Of course," she snarled at Harry, "and when we come home to see the house in ruins? I don't think so."

Harry looked indignant. "We won't blow up the house," he protested. 'Don't be so sure brother dearest, I wouldn't mind causing a little havoc in the Dursleys 'perfect' lives…'

Her expression turned thoughtful as she ignored him and said, "We could … take them with us to the zoo … and … leave them in the car …"

Uncle Vernon immediately shot the idea down, "Absolutely not. The car is brand new! I'm not going to let them sit in by themselves."

Journey rolled her eyes when Dudley began to cry loudly. 'Really?' Journey thought as she ignored Aunt Petunia trying to comfort her son's fake tears, 'one stupid prank gone wrong causing all the seats in the old car to turn purple, and we're never allowed near the car unsupervised. That is so unfair.'

The doorbell rang, bringing Journey back to the present. She heard her Aunt Petunia begin to panic, and not a moment later Dudley's best friend ('more like head crony,' thought Journey), Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was even scrawnier than Harry or Journey and he reminded her of a rat. He would usually hold back someone's arms behind their backs while Dudley would punch them in the face. As soon as Dudley saw his friend, he stopped crying at once.

Journey and Harry ended up sharing a seat half an hour later on the drive to the zoo since there wasn't enough room in the car for everyone. Harry couldn't keep the grin off of his face he was so excited to visit the zoo for the first time ever, but Journey couldn't bring herself to share the excitement. She felt especially apprehensive with the stern warning Uncle Vernon had given them when they couldn't think of anything else to do with them.

While on the way there, Journey began to feel some of Harry's optimism rub off on her. Even when Uncle Vernon started going on and on about how he hated motorcycles.

Of course, Harry had an amazing ability to speak without thinking at the most inopportune moments, and today happened to be one of those days. "I had a dream about a motorcycle," he said as if he had just remembered, "it was flying."

Journey watched, amused, as Uncle Vernon almost crashed into the car in front as he slammed on the brakes so he could roar at Harry, "MOTORCYCLES DO NOT FLY!"

Dudley and Piers sniggered, as if Harry getting yelled at was the most amusing thing they'd ever seen. Journey almost laughed as well, but because she thought Uncle Vernon's face looked like a giant swelled tomato with a bristly moustache.

"I know that they don't fly," Harry said half-heartedly, "it was just a dream."

Journey knew that Harry wished he hadn't said anything, but Journey found the whole situation hilarious. She thought it was great fun to watch Uncle Vernon's face change different colours in his varying stages of anger, and she could always tell when to push and when not to because of it. Journey also knew that the fastest way to get his face from slightly pink (his normal colour), to tomato red (Anger Level 6) was to mention something that was unnatural or freakish, since the thing that the Dursleys hated even more than gossip, was when Harry or Journey talked about anything behaving in a way that it shouldn't. 'Gee I wonder why,' thought Journey sarcastically, 'are they afraid we'll get ideas? … well they're probably right on that account … for once.'

Considering the storm they had last night, Saturday morning was very sunny. It seemed like every family in the surrounding area had decided to come to the zoo so it was rather crowded. When the Dursleys had bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams and the twins ended up getting a cheap lemon ice lolly when the Dursleys couldn't escape the smiling woman fast enough. It actually didn't taste that bad, and Journey had a good laugh when Harry said that one of the gorillas scratching its head looked an awful lot like Dudley and that if it had blonde hair they would look like twins.

Journey even forgot about the foreboding feeling she had that morning when they reached the lion exhibit. The lions woke up from their nap when she approached them (way after Dudley and Piers who were starting to get bored and might take the opportunity to have a go at her and Harry), and rubbed their heads against the glass as if they wanted her to pet them.

Journey and Harry even got to finish the rest of Dudley's Knickerbocker glory for lunch when he complained that it wasn't big enough and got another one. It was a big improvement from the olive-infested, soggy crouton salad that she and Harry had to share.

Both Harry and Journey realized afterwards that they should have taken Journey's intuition more seriously.

After Dudley finally finished his second Knickerbocker glory, everyone headed to the reptile house. It was rather dark, with windows along the walls on the one side. In the exhibits, numerous snakes and reptiles lazed about. There were poisonous cobras, rattlesnakes, and gigantic pythons, along with lizards from the size of Journey's hand, to the size of Journey herself. Dudley wasted no time finding the biggest snake in the reptile house. Harry looked at in awe and whispered to Journey about how it could probably wrap itself twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crush it to the size of a dustbin. 'Now there's an idea …'

Dudley was disappointed with when he waited for several moments for the snake to move with his nose pressed up against the glass. 'Wow Dudley,' Journey thought, 'not only have you found the biggest snake in the reptile house, you also found the laziest ... seems like you found your soul mate.'

Dudley tried to get his father to make the snake move, but it wouldn't move even after he rapped his knuckles on it a few times. Dudley quickly grew bored ('once again Dudley is showing the world that he still has the attention span of a two year old,' Journey whispered to Harry who snickered) and moved onto another exhibit with Piers.

Harry and Journey both stayed and watched the snake, which was really quiet impressive. Journey felt sorry for it, having to stay locked up all the time and having people like Dudley bang on the glass all day even though it clearly says on a nearby sign not to.

They had been watching the snake for several minutes when it suddenly opened its eyes. Very slowly, it raised its head up until it was eye level with Harry … and it winked.

Harry and Journey shared a startled glance, before quickly looking around to make sure no one was watching.

As the snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley before making a shrug like expression (which looked rather odd on a snake), Journey's foreboding feeling returned with a vengeance. She looked around as Harry began to talk to the snake, when she realized that he wasn't even talking.

Harry was hissing at the snake. And from the nods the snake was giving, he seemed to understand what Harry was saying. Journey was so shocked from hearing her brother converse with a snake in apparently its own language that she didn't notice Piers look over at them. She did notice however, when he began to start shouting, making all three of them jump.

"DUDLEY COME LOOK AT THIS! MR. DURSLEY! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT THIS SNAKE IS DOING!" Piers shouted at the top of his lungs.

Dudley waddled his way over as fast as he could.

"Get out of the way freak," he said, punching Harry in the side before Journey could react. Harry fell to the floor from the unexpected attack and glared up at Dudley. The next few seconds happened so fast no one could figure out what happened – one second, Piers and Dudley were squashing their faces against the glass trying to get a closer look at the snake, and the next, they were falling into the small pond that was in the exhibit.

Journey rubbed her ears from the high-pitched scream and watched as the boa constrictor began uncoiling itself at lightning speed and slithering out of the exhibit and onto the floor. People who saw this began to scream in terror and run for the exits. The snake snapped playfully at Dudley and Piers' feet as it passed over them, but Journey didn't bother trying to move away when it came near her, she knew that the snake wouldn't attack her.

The snake slithered past Harry, who was still on the ground. She guessed it said something to him because Harry's delighted expression at Dudley's misfortune turned into one of shock.

The zookeeper in charge of the reptile house was in shock when he saw the glass was missing. He kept on asking where the glass went, but no one knew the answer.

The zoo director met with Aunt Petunia to offer her some sweet tea while apologizing over and over. Once they had been fished from the exhibit, the zoo director also gave large blankets to Dudley and Piers, who seemed to be in shock as they couldn't say anything. As they began the drive home, Dudley and Piers improved to the point where they could only stutter pitifully, but towards the end they started telling outrageous stories about how the snake had nearly killed them. 'As if the snake would ever want to eat something like you Dudley,' Journey thought viciously. The worst part of the trip, was when Piers asked Harry about him talking to it. Journey knew everything was going to go downhill even before Piers opened his mouth and when Piers left the house and Uncle Vernon rounded on her and Harry, she wasn't disappointed.

Uncle Vernon's face turned a very interesting shade of red-purple (Anger Level 8) when he ordered Journey and Harry to Dudley's second bedroom with no meals before collapsing into a chair. Journey didn't stick around to watch Aunt Petunia to grab him a large brandy, but dragged Harry upstairs.

Journey would question Harry later about talking to the snake, but for now neither of them felt like talking. They would wait until the Dursleys were asleep before they would head down to the kitchen and sneak some food into their room and hide it under the lose floorboard.

Journey wished that she could get away from the Dursleys, her and Harry. Ten miserable years they had lived with them, since their parents had died in the 'car crash'. Harry remembered the night their parents died, so they knew it wasn't really a car crash that killed their parents. They knew that there was a whole other world out there, their parents' world. They used to wish that they had family in that world that would come and get them, or that a friend of their parents would rescue them from the Dursleys, but no one ever did. She knew that people on the streets knew Harry, even if they weren't always obvious like the man who had come up and shaken his hand in the shop that one time. 'But if so many people know us,' Journey wondered bitterly, 'how come no one has checked up on us? If anyone spent five minutes watching the Dursleys, they would realize we were mistreated here … yet they leave us here to suffer for ten long, miserable years.'

Journey knew that one day she and Harry were going to leave Privet Drive, 'and I can't wait …'

The one thing Journey didn't know, was that that day was much closer than she could ever imagine…

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amethystdreamstar: Well, there is chapter number three. I want to explain a few things in this chapter.

First, Journey doesn't know everything that goes on around her. She can get really strong feelings, like a gut instinct, about what she should do, and it is always right, the problem is how she interprets these feelings. She didn't wake up knowing that a boa constrictor would escape and they'd be locked up as punishment, just that something unfortunate would happen, so it's not really a big advantage … yet.

Second, some people will probably think that Aunt Petunia would never do any of the things she did in this chapter. I (obviously) disagree. I think that Petunia's fear of gossip and anything abnormal is so strong, she'd do almost anything to have people think they were a perfectly normal family. That being said I also know that she'd probably never sign the twins up for any type of class, but I got creative a little bit. I figured that if several situations lined themselves up perfectly, such as a) Petunia's fear of being gossiped about and fear of the abnormal, b) the Vernon's client didn't really like Vernon and figured his niece and nephew weren't treated really well so he talked to his wife, who was able to get a really good deal, c) random chance that Petunia heard a story about kids drowning since they couldn't swim and their guardians were blamed. I think that if these factors all came together, Petunia would sign them up for swimming lessons. She didn't know that the lady who gave her the deal she would slip them into other classes to experience opportunities they otherwise would never have gotten. You guys might think it's farfetched, but I think it could happen …

Next thing, Harry and Journey's 'abilities' don't make them all powerful, and I tried to convey that they have to work very hard to accomplish even the simplest of tasks like summoning. The only reason they can do so much is because they had been practicing for years.

Finally, I'd like to thank my 2 reviewers, even if the first review was only to tell me that I spelt 'Privet' drive wrong. My friends and I have always pronounced it as 'private' for some reason, and I think somewhere along the line the spelling changed in my head :P As soon judecube called me out on it though, is started pronouncing it as 'privet' in my head. Weird.

I'd like to thank MarkerBarker78 for giving me such a positive review. Getting such a nice review really made my day (even if I don't entirely believe that my story is that good). I couldn't write about what you asked in this chapter, but it will be in this story, or one of its future sequels.

Please review if you guys liked my story (and even if you want to criticize it). Positive reviews make my day and make me want to write more, and criticism well, it upsets me a bit at first (who doesn't get upset after they are criticized) but then it pushes me to write better :]

Oh and one more thing, this chapter followed really closely to the book. The next few chapters will probably be the same, but then it will start to spin off. (Sorry there was so much I just wanted to make sure that no one got confused :S )