Chapter 4: The Vanishing Glass
"Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass." "Accidental magic?" Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded with a grin. Then he stopped. "I set the snake free because I'm Parselmouth." he thought.
Nearly ten 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 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
Everybody laughed
— 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. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.
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 that made the first noise of the day.
"Up! Get up! Now!"
Both Lilys winced. That was NOT the first thing you wanted to hear in the morning.
Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.
"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.
"It wasn't a dream Harry." Hermione said. "I know that now."
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 on Duddy's birthday."
Harry groaned.
"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.
"Nothing, nothing…"
Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider
Ron shivered.
Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them
"What does that have to do with anything?" Neville asked. Harry internally cringed. He got ready for the explosion.
and that was where he slept.
"WHAT?" everyone shouted. Even though Jessica and Aria had already read the book, they were fuming. "A CUPBOARD?" Hermione screamed. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US!" she screamed. "It never really came up." he said. Ron looked absolutley murderous. "Fred? George?" he said. His twin brothers who had been angrily planning on things to do to the Dursleys, looked up at him. "Count me in on whatever your planning." The twins nodded. "Can we just read please?" Harry asked Aria desperatly. She nodded.
When he was dressed he 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.
"Spoiled little git." Ron muttered.
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.
"He better not mean you." Ginny said still seething about the cupboard.
Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry,
Everybody growled.
but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.
"At least theres that." Dean said.
Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.
"No that's just the Potter genes."
He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,
"James." adult and teen Lily, Sirius, and Remus said.
and bright green eyes.
"Lily." adult and teen James, Sirius, Remus.
He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
Cue the growls.
The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.
Half the people in the room turned to him shocked. "You actually liked your scar?" Hermione asked. Harry shrugged. ''Before I knew what it was it was pretty cool."
He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.
"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.
"THEY DIDN'T EVEN TELL YOU HOW YOUR PARENTS DIED?" Hermione and Ginny shrieked. Even dreamy Luna Lovegood had lost her dreamy look and was angry.
Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
"How will you learn if you don't ask questions?" Hermione asked. "I think the point was they didn't want me to learn." teen Harry said.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
"Won't work." both sets of Marauders, all four Harrys, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins chorused.
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 grinned and ruffled Harrys hair. "Dad! As if it wan't bad enough!" he moaned trying to fix it.
Harry 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,
Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.
Everybody laughed. The twins high-fived teen Harry.
Harry 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."
"That spoiled little pig." "Brat." "Git."was muttered from around the room. Aria and Jessica were muttering things that are not appropiate to write down.
"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."
"Why are they indulging him? It'll just make the situation worse," teen Remus pointed out.
"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.
"Smart." Ron said.
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?"
"Don't make it worse!" Hermione said.
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"
Everyone stared at the book in schock. "He can't even add 37+2?" Neville asked.
"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.
"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. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.
"Don't encourage him!" Cho yelled.
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 video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.
"What?" all the purebloods asked. "Muggle stuff." Hermione said.
He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.
"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."
She jerked her head in Harry's direction.
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, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.
"Feel bad for you mate." Fred said. Aria was irritated with the interruptions seeing as they were barely halfway through the chapter.
"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.
"How could he have planned this?" Neville and Luan asked, them looked at eachother in surprise. Neville blushed and looked away from her.
Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken 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.
"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.
"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."
"Feelings mutal." teen Harry muttured. Aria glared at him and he moved closer to Ron who snickerd.
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.
Growls were heard.
"What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"
"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.
"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).
"Nice try, not gonna work." teen Sirius said shaking his head.
Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.
"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.
"He won't blow up the house!" Ginny said.
"I won't blow up the house," said Harry,
"Aww Harrykins and Gin-Gin think alike!" George said. Ginny and Harry blushed. "Don't call me Harrykins/Gin-Gin!" they said at the same time. George smirked. Everyone who read the book, and older Harry also smirked.
but they weren't listening.
"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…"
"He's not a dog!" Hermione said. Sirius looked offeneded, but didn't say anything.
"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…"
"Oh yes, the cars more important than my best mate!" Ron said angrily.
Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.
"Brat," everyone hissed.
"Dinky Duddydums,
Everyone roared with laughter at the ridiculous nickname.
don't cry, mummy won't let him ruin your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"They fit?" teen Sirius said. Harry laughed. "It was just his neck, but it seemed like a pretty hard job." Everyone snorted.
"I...don't...want...him...t-t-to...come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.
"That boy is absolutely selfish...you hardly got to go anywhere," teen Lily said .
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. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their back while Dudley hit them.
Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.
"Yes, because darling Dinky Duddydums can't cry in front of his big, tough friends," Fred said sarcastically. Everyone laughed.
Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck,
"What luck?" Hermione and the Weasleys snorted. Harry glared at them.
Was sitting in the back of the Dursleys car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life.
Everyone looked sad at this, except Harry of course.
His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.
"I'm warning you," he said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's,
"Run for cover!" Fred and George shouted. Everyone laughed at their antics.
"I'm warning you now, boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."
Everybody glared so hard at the book, Harry thought it would burst into flames.
"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry. "Honestly..."
But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.
"We believe you now, Harry!" the D.A. shouted.
"Thanks, guys," Harry said.
The problem was, strange things often happened 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 left "to hide that horrible scar."
"That's not gonna work!" Both James and Sirius's sing-songed.
Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.
Everybody looked sad or angry at this.
Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.
"Brilliant!" many people laughed.
He had been given a week in his cupboard for this,
Everyone growled at the horrible punishment.
even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.
Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).
Everyone looked revolted. Harry shuddered. "That thing was disgusting."
The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.
Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.
"Good." teen Lily said.
On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. 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.
"You apparated," everyone said in awe. I don't think so...I think I flew," Harry said slowly. "That is still very impressive magic, how old were you when this happened Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked. "Er...Seven or eight I think." Everyone gaped at him. "Not even some grown wizards and witches can do that." Dumbledore said. Harry blushed.
The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard)
Everybody glared at the book, Harry thought it would explode from the intensity of the glares.
was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.
Everybody laughed. "Harry you may be skinny, but not that skinny." Ron said. "Again, I was seven or eight, I didn't know what had happened, and I didn't know about magic." Harry said.
It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.
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 motorcycles.
"Is it just me, or does this Muggle like complaining about Harry?" Fred asked. Aria glared at him.
"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.
"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."
Everybody face-palmed. "Nice Harry." Zacharias sneered at him. "Idiot." Everybody else in the room glared at him. Aria took her fathers wand and pointed it straight at the boys face. "Shut up, unless you want a nice nose job." she said. His eyes widened and he backed off. Aria sat down, handed back her fathers wand, picked up the book, and read again. Teen Harry shot her a grateful smile, which she returned.
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"
"Yes they do!" both Sirius's yelled.
Dudley and Piers sniggered.
"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."
But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his 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 he might get dangerous ideas.
"Nope, he comes up with them all on his own," Neville said.
"Hey!" all Harrys yelled.
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 had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.
"It wasn't bad either." said Harry before anybody could get mad.
It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head that looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.
Everybody laughed. "Now I feel bad, for insulting the poor gorilla." teen Harry said. Everybody laughed harder. "Why can't you be funny all the time Harry?" Fred asked.
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him.
Everybody growled.
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 Harry was allowed to finish the first.
Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.
"And now something's going to go wrong," Ron said.
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.
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 stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass 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.
"Your comparing your life to a snakes." Hannah Abbot said. Harry shrugged. "I think it makes sense." came Lunas dreamy voice. "The snake is locked in a tank, with zoo goers annoying and tormenting him, and Harry is locked in a cupboard-" she looked mad as she said this, which was strange seeing as she was normally so calm "and his realtives torment and annoy him."
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.
It winked.
"Huh?" some people said.
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.
The snake jerked its head toward 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."
The snake nodded vigorously.
"Your talking to a snake?" teen James asked him. "Wait-your a Parselmouth?" Harry nodded. James looked shocked, but he smiled. "Your my son, I don't care, I will always be proud of you, no matter what." Harry smiled at the teen version of his father.
"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've never been to Brazil?"
As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry 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.
"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. .
"Keep your porky hands off him!" many people shouted.
What came 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.
"What happened?" everyone asked eagerly (except the people who knew.)
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.
Silence for a moment "BRILLIANT!" Fred and George shouted and everyone dissolved into laughter. "That too is advanced magic Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.
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 him, Harry 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?"
"It vanished." Fred said. "WITH MAGIC!" he and his twin yelled. People sitting near them covered their ears. Jessica and Aria who were close punched them each on the shoulder. "Ow! Bloody hell!" they both yelled. The girls sat down with smirks.
The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized 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 them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.
"Those over exaggerating idiots!" Luna said, shocking everybody in the room.
But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?".
"Shut up you rat faced prat!" Hermione exclaimed.
Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
"NO MEALS?" everybody exploded. "HOW DARE PETUNIA STARVE MY SON!" teen Lily shrieked. "They didn't exactly starve-" "DIDN'T STARVE YOU, YOUR PRACTICALLY ANOREXIC!" she yelled. "I'm not anorexic!" "Just, please let me read." Aria said.
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 the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
Fred and George high-fived teen Harry.
He'd lived with the Dursleys 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 that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained 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.
"You remember?" Dumbledore asked quietly, not meeting Harry's eyes.
"Yes," Harry said, a little irritated that Dumbledore still wouldn't meet his eyes.
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.
Many girls were crying and some boys looked close to it. Imagine living ten years without knowing anything about your parents. Neville felt very bad for Harry. He never knew what his parents even looked like! Neville at least heard about them, and saw pictures, and got to visit them, even if they didn't recognize him.
His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.
"I have pictures now, thanks to Hagrid." teen Harry said, smiling.
When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened;
"Yeah, because Sirius was falsely accused of murder and Lupin's got his furry little problem," Harry muttered to his friends.
the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed 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 he 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 once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.
"Apparation Potter." sneered Smith. Aria, Jessica, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna all glared at him. He recoilded. Damn those girls were scary.
At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.
Everybody looked down sadly. "That's the end of the chapter." Aria said. "Who wants to read?" "I do!" Hermione said. Aria handed her the book. "Chapter 3: Letters From No One."