I know, I know. Why haven't I updated sooner? I have been pretty busy these past few days, so I haven't updated in like what, 3 days? But anyways, I'm so happy with you guys! 4 Reviews on the new chapter! Woot Woot. Here's a loooong chapter now =). Btw, I will be replying to EACH reviewer personally. So look forward to it!
*EDIT*. Yes, I'll be revising some chapters a little bit, because of the mistakes reviewers tell me I have. I'm wondering if anyone could beta this for me?
Privet Drive had hardly changed at all in nearly 10 years. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls.
Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets -- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. Occasionally, with him would be a pale red-head girl with hazel eyes. In these pictures, however, Dudley Dursley looked apprehensive, even scared.
And Holly Potter was there, asleep in the bedroom up the stairs. Her Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.
"Up! Get up! Now!"
Holly woke with a start. She heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. She rolled onto her back and tried to remember the dream she had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it, and what else? Holly frowned, trying to remember. She had a funny feeling she'd had the same dream before.
Her aunt was back outside the door.
"Are you up yet?" she demanded.
"Nearly," said Holly.
"Well, hurry, Holly, I want you to look after the bacon today. It's Dudder's birthday today."
Holly groaned.
"Hurry!" Her aunt said.
Dudley's birthday -- how could she have forgotten? Holly got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. She found a pair on her bed and put them on.
When she was dressed she went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Holly, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise -- unless of course it involved punching somebody. But then again, Holly had scolded and beaten it out of him by the time she was 10. Holly didn't look it, but she was very fast.
Holly studied herself in the mirror. Her long red hair was wavy, and her bangs were brushed to one side. Her fawn shaped hazel eyes gazed curiously back at her. The only thing she didn't like about her appearance was the curious mark on her arm.
"Where had I gotten it?" She had asked.
"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."
Don't ask questions -- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Holly was turning over the bacon.
"Make my eggs!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
Holly was frying 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 -- Holly often said that Dudley looked like a pig because he ate so much.
Holly put the plates of egg 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 at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."
"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."
"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Holly, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, sighed impatiently. "Dudley Dursley. How. Many. Times. Does. This. Happen. A. Year. Some kids in Africa don't even have a single one, you prat."
Dudley looked startled. It had been a while since Holly had scolded him. He bowed his head meekly.
Aunt Petunia frowned at Holly. "Anyways, we'll buy you two more presents, Diddykins."
Uncle Vernon just stared at Holly uncomprehendingly, as if trying to figure out how she had tamed Dudley.
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.
"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."
Uncle Vernon chuckled appreciatively.
At that moment the kettle started whistling and Aunt Petunia went to turn the fire off while Holly and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back.
"Does she have to come too?" Dudley whined, pointing at Holly. Holly's mouth dropped open. "What? Why shouldn't I come?"
"Because it's my special birthday!" He grumped. "Other kids get to play laser tag."
"Oh Didders!" Aunt Petunia sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you next year."
Just then, the doorbell rang -- "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia 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. Piers nodded at Holly respectively.
Half an hour later, Holly was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley. Something had been strange this morning, though. Aunt Petunia had taken her aside. "Don't you do anything today," she had said.
"I don't do anything," Holly had protested. But Aunt Petunia hadn't believed her. No one ever did.
The problem was, strange things often happened with Holly and she really couldn't understand why.
Once, Holly had been swinging with Dudley in the park, closely supervised by Aunt Petunia. Holly had felt herself slip off the swing, and somehow, by instinct, raise her arms and glide gracefully, like a trapeze artist, to the ground. She had landed so lightly, she hadn't felt the impact. And the swing had been impossibly high too. Aunt Petunia had shrieked and Dudley had stared at her as if she was a mutant.
Another time, in school, she had to make a Mother's Day gift for Aunt Petunia. They had to stick flowers onto a sign that said, "Thank you!" Holly had held hers in her hand and the flowers began to open and close. When she had given the present, she found Aunt Petunia in a dead faint on the ground, the sign next to her with the flowers still opening and closing.
On the other hand, she'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. She was running away from someone who looked to be insane, because that person was muttering about "The Dark Lord", or whatever, and she had been running into the bushes when suddenly she found herself on the rooftop. She supposed the wind had caught her in mid- jump.
The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Holly's Headmistress telling them Holly had been climbing school buildings. They had grounded her, and as much as she tried to explain it wasn't HER fault, they didn't listen.
But today, nothing was going to go wrong, she was sure.
While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, the council, and the bank, were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.
"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.
I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Holly, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and said in a voice was force calm, "Motorcycles. Don't. Fly." Dudley and Piers sniggered, until Holly gave them a death glare.
I know they don't," said Holly. "It was only a dream."
But she wished she hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than her asking questions, it was her talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon -- they seemed to think she might get dangerous
ideas.
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley, Piers, and Holly large chocolate ice creams at the entrance. It was really good, Holly thought as she watched a gorilla that looked remarkably like Dudley except it wasn't blonde. Holly had a wonderful morning.
They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and then Piers and Holly requested another one too.
Holly felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, 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 cobras 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 trash can -- but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.
Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.
"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.
"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.
Holly moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. She wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Holly's.
It winked.
Holly stared. Then she looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. She looked back at the snake and winked, too.
The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Holly a look that said quite plainly:
"I get that all the time.
"I know," Holly murmured through the glass, though she wasn't sure the snake could hear her. "It must be really annoying."
The snake nodded vigorously.
"Where do you come from, anyway?" Holly asked.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Holly peered at it.
Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
"Was it nice there?"
The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Holly read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see -- so you've never been to Brazil?"
As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Holly made both of them jump.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could, but suddenly, a tall, muscular kid, who went by the name as Kid Kingsley from their school shoved Holly aside.
"Out of the way, you," he said. Caught by surprise, Holly fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened -- one second, Kid Kingsley was leaning right up close to the glass, the next, he had fallen into the Boa Constrictor's domain.
Holly 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.
As the snake slid swiftly past her, Holly could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come.... Thanksss, amigo."
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 Mrs. Kingsley a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley stared at Holly in horror.
Petunia Evans Dursley was in shock. She quickly bustled the three of them out of there, and they all went home. No one wanted to talk to Holly after that. And Holly, alone in her bedroom, suddenly had a strange thought. "Am I special?" Little did she know.
Hey! Long enough for you guys ;)? Anyways, anyone notices the last name of the kid who bullied Holly? K-I-N-G-S-L-E-Y. There's a reason. Look forward to the next chapter, and review! 5 reviews please.
