A/N: I had this idea where Harry had a twin sister who was blonde, but I wasn't feeling it. I know, not another Twins-Who-Lived story on top of Darkest Before the Hope and Ever Know, but I was actually hoping to make a different sister for Harry to have.
I like to point out that there is a flower called Mayflower which is also known as epigaea repens or trailing arbutus. Or if you want, think of May as may blossom, which is a species of flowering hawthorn.
I have decided to delete the other chapters so I can rewrite them and make them better, especially with the name change.
Not OC/Draco Malfoy and not OC/One of the Weasley twins.
The face-claim to Mayflower "May" is Charli XCX.
Chapter 1: The Disappearing Glass Act
"They'll take what you've got,
What you've got to give,
An empire, a trial by fire,
There are liars, lighting funeral pyres."
Hollywood Undead – Glory
The twins turned to face their horrible, nasty aunt and uncle, and looked at each other. Madison knew what to do. She grabbed Harrison and ran into the welcoming night. Anything would be better than living with Petunia and Vernon. Living with their friendly aunt, who they just met, was
BANG
May jumped up from her cot, dropping her pencil, and winced when there was another bang on the shed.
"Get up!" Her aunt, Petunia, demanded. "Up!"
May put her composition notebook and pencil in her pillowcase and stood up. She ran her hands through her wavy black hair to get the tangles out.
"Are you up yet?" Aunt Petunia demanded through the shed door. It sounded like she was trying to be loud enough for May to hear, but low enough as to not arouse suspicion from the neighbours over the fact that a ten-year-old girl was sleeping in the shed.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia. I'm already up." May replied as she pulled down at the black knee-length leggings to hide the three scars on her left knee and stood up.
She had gotten the scars last year when she was being chased by Dudley and she somehow accidentally put her knee right through a glass pane. She got in trouble for that, because she should've known better than putting her knee right through glass panes, despite Dudley chasing her. May liked to think that she was smart enough not to go round putting her knees through glass panes.
The shed door was unlocked and pulled open. May blinked at the sudden light and rubbed her eyes.
"Good," Aunt Petunia said. "I want you to get started on the food and don't you dare let it burn. I want everything perfect for Dudder's special day."
May grimaced at the reminder of her cousin, Dudley's, birthday. She had dressed in a white shirt and a light blue denim skirt to celebrate it, even though she knew that she was just going to be hauled off to Mrs Figg's house. "Yes, Aunt Petunia."
Her aunt had bought May clothes which were second-hand, while Harry, May's twin brother, wore Dudley's hand-me-downs. May thought it was unfair getting second-hand clothes while Harry got Dudley's old clothes, which included school uniforms.
With that, Aunt Petunia led May out of the shed and into the house.
The shed was where May slept when she was being punished. She was often punished because Dudley ruins her clothes and she retaliates by pranking Dudley. The Dursleys always sided with Dudley, because they believed May was ruining her clothes on purpose. After all, they gave her the clothes out of the goodness of their hearts, and that was how she repaid them?
"Brush your hair!" May's uncle, Vernon, ordered, when he saw her.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," May said as she looked at the table. She didn't own a brush, so she couldn't exactly brush her hair. It was strange, she owned second-hand clothes, but not hair-care products.
The table had a pile of presents on it. It looked like Dudley got the new computer that he wanted, a second television, and a racing bike. She wasn't sure why Dudley wanted a racing bike, since he hated exercise. The only exercise he did was punch people, Harry was Dudley's favourite punch-bag, while Dudley pushed, shoved, pinched, and pulled her hair. Piers Polkiss was the one that had no problem with punching or kicking her, since he punches her in the stomach, arms, and legs. Maybe that was because she always kicked him in the shins with her boots on.
May got the eggs and bacon out, before going to the stove to get started on making breakfast. She was feeling jealous over the fact that she never even had a proper gift. She had once gotten a toothbrush that had looked used when she was five and a used, cracked Tupperware container with no lid when she was six. The Tupperware container and used toothbrush still haunts her nightmares.
She hated how Dudley had parents that loved and spoiled him, while her parents were dead. They had died in a car accident that her and Harry survived when they were babies. When she forced herself to think back to the accident, she remembered green light. She wasn't sure where the green light even came from, considering how many science books she read and questions she had asked her teachers when class was let out.
"Be careful, girl!" Aunt Petunia shouted, smacking the back of May's hands with a wooden spoon. The eggs were beginning to brown and Aunt Petunia scooped the eggs onto a plate.
She winced as Aunt Petunia smacked the spoon on her hands again. "Sorry, Aunt Petunia. My thoughts tend to get away with me."
"Tend to the bacon," Aunt Petunia ordered. "And don't let it burn or you'll be stuck in the shed for five more months."
May went to the bacon as Aunt Petunia went to the hallway that was connected to the kitchen. A minute later, Aunt Petunia came back and watched May.
"Bring me my coffee, girl," Uncle Vernon ordered.
May went over to get coffee for her uncle and was pouring a mug for him when there was thumping sounds out in the hall. It sounded like Dudley was running up and down the stairs as he shouted, "Get up, Potter! We're going to the zoo!"
There was repeated thumping so May guessed that he was jumping up and down the stairs, before it sounded like Dudley ran the rest of the way down. She was heading back to the stove when Dudley burst in and shoved her out of the way, ordering, "Get out of my way, Ship!"
May stumbled and fell to the ground as Dudley made a beeline to the presents. He was intercepted by Aunt Petunia, who proceeded to sing about how it was Dudley's birthday.
Dudley was an overweight boy, with a large, pink face and thick, blond hair with watery blue eyes. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley was a baby angel, Harry often said that Dudley looks like a pig in a wig, but May always called him a furry gerbil.
May hated being called Ship almost as much as she hated her full name, which was Mayflower. She was called Ship because of the Mayflower ship that sailed out to America in 1620. Apparently mayflower was also a flower from America and Europe, so for some reason, her parents just had to name her Mayflower. She guessed her parents didn't think things through when they named her Mayflower. They obviously didn't think of the mocking that she would receive when she got to school.
Harry walked in and was instantly at May's side. He helped her up, asking, "Are you okay, May?"
May groaned as she got to her feet. She whispered, "He is definitely getting dirt in his bed tonight."
"May…" Harry warned. He was often the recipient of Dudley's wrath whenever Dudley got pranked by May.
"The food!" May shouted and they went over to the stove to continue making food.
May looked at Harry as he went to work on the eggs. He had messy black hair that stuck up in the back and green eyes. He had a lightning bolt scar over his right eyebrow that he had received in the car accident. He wore round glasses that was held together by Sellotape because Dudley punched him on the nose a lot.
She had black hair that couldn't decide if it wanted to be curly, wavy, or straight. She had hazel eyes. She kind of wanted her brother's green eyes, but she knew that it couldn't be helped.
May remembered asking Aunt Petunia about the scar, but Aunt Petunia had pressed her lips together and said, "Don't ask questions."
"Don't ask questions," was one of the rules of living in the Dursley household. The other rule was, "If one Potter got in trouble, the other was in trouble too." It was unfair, but that was what life was like at Number Four.
It was unfair that Dudley got two bedrooms while Harry slept in the cupboard under the stairs, while May slept in the living room or the shed, which she was forced to sleep in when she was in trouble, which was often. It was unfair that there was lots of pictures of Dudley while there wasn't any of the Potter twins and it was unfair that Dudley was showered with gifts while the Potter twins was given, what basically amounted to, rubbish. It was unfair that May got second-hand clothes and Harry got hand-me-downs.
"How many are there?" demanded Dudley, slamming his hands on the table.
"Thirty-six," stated Uncle Vernon proudly. "I counted them myself."
"As if that's an accomplishment?" May whispered as Harry made plates for him and her.
"Thirty-six?" shouted Dudley incredulously. "But that's two less than last year!" His face was going red.
May stepped towards the kitchen door, ready to run to the cupboard, in case Dudley decided to flip the table over, again, while in the middle of his tantrum throwing.
"Well, some of them are a bit bigger than last year's," Uncle Vernon said trying to please Dudley.
"I don't care how big they are!" shouted Dudley, his face red.
Aunt Petunia ran over to Dudley, "Here's what we'll do. We'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that Popkin? Two more presents? Is that all right?"
Harry grabbed May's arm and led her to the kitchen peninsula so they can eat. May rolled her eyes as she grabbed a slice of bacon.
"So, I'll have thirty…thirty…" Dudley started.
"Thirty-nine," May piped up. Harry elbowed her in the ribs.
"Oh," Dudley replied sitting down. He grabbed the nearest present, "All right then."
Uncle Vernon chuckled and ruffled Dudley's hair. Uncle Vernon chuckled, "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!"
May pretended to gag which got a chuckle out of Harry.
The telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it, while the Potters and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley, who was gloatingly, unwrapping a racing bike, a cine-camera, a remote-control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games, and a video recorder. He was ripping the wrapping paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came in, looking mad and worried.
"Bad news, Vernon," Aunt Petunia started. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head in the twins' direction.
Dudley's mouth dropped open in horror and the twins looked right at each other. May was trying and failing to hide a grin that was forming.
Mrs Figg was an old lady who lived down the street. Every year on Dudley's birthday, the Potters always got stuck being baby-sat by Mrs Figg. The house smelled like cabbage and Mrs Figg always made them look at pictures of previous owned cats.
"Now what?" asked Aunt Petunia, looking at the twins, as if they had intentionally broken Mrs Figg's leg.
"What?" wailed Dudley. "They're not coming! They're not allowed to come! Figure out something! They'll just ruin everything!"
"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested looking panicked.
"Don't be silly, Vernon," said Aunt Petunia. "She hates them."
Well, we hate her too, May thought bitterly.
"What about, what's-her-name, your friend – Yvonne?" Vernon asked now looking worried and panicked.
"On holiday in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia. She was looking like she was fretting over where she can dump them.
"How about the library?" May asked.
"And have to pay for property damage?" snapped Aunt Petunia.
"Do something!" wailed Dudley. "They weren't invited! They're not allowed to come!"
"We're trying, Dudders," said Uncle Vernon.
"You could just leave us here," Harry chimed in.
May almost face-planted the island peninsula at that. There was no way that the Dursleys were going to leave them alone, especially because of May's pranking behaviour towards Dudley. And the fact that somehow they'll 'ruin' something.
Aunt Petunia grimaced and snarled, "And come back and find the house in ruins?"
May glared at Aunt Petunia, "We're not going destroy any of your property." The vase and lamp breaking was Dudley's fault, because Dudley had thrown a vase at May, but she ducked at the right moment, so the vase hit the lamp, and both broke. May got blamed for ducking at the last minute.
Harry said, "We're not going to blow up the house."
"I suppose we could take them to the zoo, and leave them in the car," Aunt Petunia said slowly to Uncle Vernon.
"That car's new," Uncle Vernon stated. "They're not sitting in it alone. They'll tear it up, anyway."
It was obvious that the twins were being ignored.
"Does he think that we're going to blow up the car?" May asked Harry. Besides that, the idea of them being locked in the car didn't sound like a good idea anyway.
Before Harry could reply, Dudley started wailing louder. May rolled her eyes. Dudley hasn't cried in years, but when he scrunches up his face and wails, Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon gives him what he wanted.
"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry," Aunt Petunia cried running over to hug him. "Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!"
"I-I…d-don't…w-want…t-them…t-t-to come!" Dudley wailed, between fake sobs.
"Oh, brother," May muttered disgusted.
"T-they a-always sp-spoil everything!" Dudley wailed, and gave the twins a nasty grin right between his mother's arms.
The doorbell rang, which May barely heard over Dudley's fake wailing.
"Oh, Good Lord," Aunt Petunia said. "You, girl, go answer the door."
May went to answer it. It was Piers Polkiss, who was scrawny and had a face like a rat. He was standing there with his mother. He usually held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley punched them.
"Hello, Mrs Polkiss," May said smiling at Piers's mother. She looked at Piers and scowled at him. She snarled, "Piers."
"Mayflower," Piers replied in a cold tone. He intentionally uses her full name to irritate her.
May was sure that Piers hadn't quite forgiven her for her using her bony knee to knee him in the stomach when he tried to punch Harry. Good. She looked at Mrs Polkiss, "They're in the kitchen. As you can tell by Dudley's wailing."
Mrs Polkiss said, "I hope you have a fun day at the zoo."
May almost snorted at that, but said bye to Mrs Polkiss, who turned and left. After closing the door, Piers shoved May out of the way and punched her in the stomach, making her double over, gasping for breath.
"Revenge, brat," Piers whispered at her and walked away to the kitchen. The wailing stopped at once when he entered.
May glared at the door and knew that he made the number two spot on her revenge list. The only ones on it were Dudley, Piers, and the other members of Dudley's gang: Malcolm, Gordon, and Dennis.
Harry walked out and was at May's side. "What did he do to you, May?"
"He punched me in the stomach," May said straightening up after getting her breath back. "I'll be okay. I just have to plan my revenge on him."
"You know that just makes them target you more," Harry said.
"Better me than you," May pointed out. "I can handle whatever they throw at me."
"So can I, but I prefer my sister in one piece than in pieces," Harry said.
"What are they doing anyway?" May asked.
"Looking for someone to watch us," Harry said.
"Oh," replied May.
They sat on the couch, to wait for whoever was going to babysit them.
"I wonder who's going to watch us," Harry said.
May shrugged, "I don't know. Could be one of Uncle Vernon's coworkers."
Harry scoffed, "As if he wants to drop us off on them. I doubt that they know we exist."
"True," May admitted.
Thirty minutes later, May and Harry followed the Dursleys and Piers out to the car. May couldn't believe their luck. They were going to the zoo! When Harry opened the door, Uncle Vernon slammed it shut on them, and pinned the twins to the car. He pointed the key threatening at them, "I'm warning you two. I'm warning you both, now," he stuck his face close to theirs. "Any funny business, anything at all," he looked at Harry, "You'll be in that cupboard," he looked at May, "and you'll be in that shed," he looked the both of them, "'til Christmas."
"We're not going to do anything," stated Harry, "honestly…"
May nodded, "Yeah, things…just happen…like m—"
Harry elbowed her and May kept quiet.
Uncle Vernon narrowed his eyes at her before gruffly ordering, "Get in the car."
May almost said the dreaded word, 'magic.' The word was forbidden in the household for some reason. That was something that May always wanted to ask about, but she knew that she would get either a pile of chores dropped on her or a longer grounding time. She got in the second backseat of the van and Harry sat next to her, far away from Dudley and Piers, who reached round and pinched her leg. She kicked his arm in retaliation, "I hope I leave a bruise."
Piers punched her leg and May got ready to kick him again.
"Stop," Harry muttered to her. "Don't want to get in trouble for ruining Dudley's birthday."
So May endured Piers pinching and punching her legs, while Uncle Vernon complained. He complained about: people at work, the twins, the council, the twins, the bank, and the twins; right now he was complaining about motorbikes, because one overtook them.
"…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," Uncle Vernon ranted.
"We have dreams about motorbikes. They're usually flying," Harry said.
May lurched forward in her seat as Uncle Vernon slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of them. Uncle Vernon turned around, his face beat red, and shouted at the twins, "Motorbikes don't fly!"
Dudley and Piers sniggered, before Piers resumed his punching and pinching.
"We know that they don't," Harry stated loudly. "It's only dreams."
Piers must've gotten bored with pinching and punching May's legs, because he started snapping May's leg with her leggings. He pulled the legging and released it, making it snap against her leg.
After the tenth time that Piers did that, they were finally at the zoo, where Dudley and Piers hopped out of the van to run off to the entrance, with Aunt Petunia following after them.
Uncle Vernon turned to face the twins as they got ready to exit the car. In a menacing voice, he warned them, "Remember – any funny business…"
Harry nodded as May swallowed, "Yes, Uncle Vernon."
"Yes, sir," Harry muttered, before they hurried to the entrance. Aunt Petunia, Dudley, and Piers were waiting in line to the ice cream van.
"Of course Dudley goes to the nearest food source," May whispered to Harry.
"If we're stuck in the middle of nowhere, I'll take him with me," Harry whispered. "He knows where food is at."
May nodded and they went to the line, standing behind Uncle Vernon. They made sure to stand a little ways away, to avoid looking like they were with them, just what the Dursleys always liked.
After Uncle Vernon bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams, the woman noticed the Potter twins. She smiled a them and asked, "And what do you two dears want?"
May opened her mouth to speak, but Uncle Vernon quickly said, "They'll each have a lemon ice lolly."
The woman looked momentarily confused and got the twins the lemon ice lollies. May thanked the woman before the Dursleys and Potters continued on. Dudley kept making obnoxious slurping noises as he devoured his chocolate ice cream and May was tempted to slap it out of his hands, but she decided that she wanted to leave the shed eventually and move back in the living room. It would be worth getting tipped out of her cot by Dudley every morning.
She wasn't a fan of lemons and she didn't want to waste the money that Uncle Vernon so kindly spent on them by throwing it away, she passed it to Harry who took it, while he ate his lolly.
"It's not that bad," Harry said to her.
"I'm not even going to try it," May replied.
"Suit yourself," replied Harry as they walked along the exhibits.
Dudley went in a pattern of which animals he wanted to see. They were at a gorilla exhibit, watching a gorilla scratch its head.
"It looks like Dudley," May said.
"Except it's not blond," Harry said.
May laughed at that, which made Piers decide to ram his shoulder into May's, causing her to stumble back into the guardrail.
Harry narrowed his eyes at Piers and stepped towards the retreating boy. May grabbed Harry's arm as Dudley and Piers laughed while they led Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia away.
"Harry, don't," May said.
"Why not?" demanded Harry. "He punched you in the stomach, punched and pinched your legs, snapped your leggings, and shoved you into the guardrail. Why not?"
"I'll get revenge on him later," May said. "It's not worth the punishment for ruining Dudley's 'special day'."
"Promise me that you'll let me in on this revenge plan?" asked Harry.
"Promise," responded May. "Once I come up with a revenge plan."
Harry rolled his eyes and they caught up to their relatives and Piers.
A little while later, Dudley wailed, "I want food!"
"When doesn't he want food?" Harry whispered to May, who giggled.
With that they went to one of the zoo restaurants, where Harry and May ended up with the cheapest burgers on the menu. May got small chips to go with hers, so she split it with Harry.
She wasn't exactly starved, since the Dursleys gave her a little bit more food than Harry, because they didn't want to attract to much attention by having a underdeveloped girl around them, especially if the school noticed. May was thankful that the Dursleys wanted to have a 'normal' outlook. She wasn't sure why they wanted to appear 'normal' but she knew how they felt about questions, so she settled for wondering instead.
She was pulled out of her thoughts with Piers kicking her knee under the table, causing her to jump up, bumping into the table. She attracted nasty glares from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, and got snickered at courtesy of Dudley. She forced a smile at them, and she got kicked in her other knee, who she knew came from Dudley. She got kicked in the shin by Piers, so she crossed her legs on the bench. She knew her legs were going to be bruised the next day.
"I want ice cream," Dudley demanded slamming his fists on the table after they finished eating.
Harry and May looked at each other. May wondered if she could pretend that she wasn't with the the Dursleys.
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia went to get it. It left Dudley and Piers to throw used napkins at the Potters.
"Stop it!" May demanded trying not to attract more attention. Her warning didn't work because Dudley threw a chip at her, which hit her in the eye.
"Dudley!" Harry warned standing up to glare at Dudley.
"Harry," May hissed. Harry must've had enough of Dudley and Piers bullying May.
Dudley pretended to shiver in mock fear, "What are you going to do?"
May grabbed at Harry's arm and tried to pull him down, "Harry. I'll handle it."
"What are you going to do, Mayflower?" Piers taunted.
May started to threaten, "Make you regret that you were ever—"
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon returned with a large knickerbocker glory for Dudley and an ice cream cone for Piers.
Dudley glanced at his knickerbocker glory and wailed, "It's not large enough!"
"We'll go get you a new one," Aunt Petunia said. She set the knickerbocker glory in front of May and Harry before walking away with Uncle Vernon again.
"Why are you two here anyway?" Piers sneered. "Did no one want you?"
"Obviously," Dudley said.
"Must be hard knowing that your mum puts up with you, knowing that no one wanted you," May replied in mock sympathy. "Tell her that I feel sorry for her."
"At least I have a mother," Piers replied.
May stood up and held her spoon threateningly at him. "Say that one more time, you imbecile."
"Or what?" Piers taunted, "At least I have a mother and wasn't placed on the doorstep like you two."
Harry had to hold May around the waist as she tried to throw herself over the table to attack Piers. She had dropped her spoon.
"Let me at him!" May said, wiggling to try and get out of Harry's grip. "Let me at him! I swear I don't need a spoon to gouge out his eyes! I'll use my pinkies!"
"May!" Harry warned her, "They're going to be back at any minute."
May tensed up and the Potters sat down on the bench right as their relatives showed up.
They all smiled and pretended that everything was okay. May wasn't sure if they had bought the innocent act, but the Dursleys didn't give the twins suspicious looks.
"I want to go to the reptile house," Dudley stated after lunch was over. "I want to see the cobras."
"And I want to see pythons," Piers added.
The two led the way to the reptile house.
"All of which are bigger than their IQ's," May muttered.
Harry laughed at that.
Despite the incident at the zoo restaurant, they were starting to feel like they were having a good day. Dudley went to the nearest tank and pressed his nose to the glass.
May and Harry glanced at each other, both trying to hide their laughter. They caught up to Dudley and Piers, who were looking at the largest snake. May looked at the plaque, which said it was a Brazilian Boa Constructor and that it was bred in the zoo. May looked at the boa constructor that looked like it was asleep.
"Make it move," Dudley whined at Uncle Vernon.
"It's asleep," Harry snapped at Dudley.
Uncle Vernon ignored Harry and tapped on the glass. The snake didn't wake up.
"Do it again," Dudley ordered and Uncle Vernon knocked on the glass with his knuckles, but the snake didn't budge.
"This is boring," Dudley moaned and shuffled away.
"Maybe it died of boredom," May said to Harry before walking away to look at some other reptiles. She found some garter snakes in a tank and looked at a snake slither over a stone. She imagined putting a snake in Dudley's bed or putting the snake down the back of Piers's shirt and she couldn't help but smirk at the thought of getting revenge. She could just imagine the look of horror on Piers's face if a snake slithered over him.
"Dudley! Mr Dursley! Come and look at this snake! You won't believe what it's doing!" Piers's deafening shout echoing in the reptile house. May winced at the obnoxious shout, all thoughts of revenge coming to a halt.
"Out of my way, Ship!" Dudley ordered shoving May out of the way to waddle over to Piers. May stumbled into the tank, her scarred knee hitting it, and winced when the scars gave an unpleasant tingle.
Dudley pushed Harry to the side, making him fall to the ground.
May felt her face heat up in anger and made fists as she glared at Piers and Dudley. She blinked when Dudley fell face-forward into the tank with the boa constructor. Piers jumped back screaming.
That's when all hell broke loose because something brown slithered out of the tank. It was the Brazilian boa constructor!
Everyone started screaming and running for the exits. May didn't want to go near the boa constrictor and mentally apologized to Harry before screaming and running towards a different exit.
She felt a meaty hand grab her arm, which made her scream even louder, which didn't draw any attention.
"Quiet, girl!" Uncle Vernon snapped.
That made May scream even more out of terror, but she quieted down when he glared at her. She was led over to Harry, who Uncle Vernon grabbed by the back of his collar.
Uncle Vernon hauled the Potters over to where Aunt Petunia was, who was pounding the snake tank and screaming about getting Dudley out of it, as Dudley, who was soaking wet, hit the tank as well.
May couldn't help but laugh at the sight, ignoring the growl her uncle gave her. The sight was even better than her revenge ideas. Public humiliation was excellent revenge. Harry gave May a look and she stopped laughing realising that they were already pushing their luck.
Aunt Petunia glared at the Potters and May felt sick. She knew that they were going to get punished, even though it wasn't their fault. Right? Uncle Vernon hauled the twins outside of the reptile house and tossed them down onto a bench. He bent his face close to theirs and spoke through gritted teeth, "Stay. Put. No more funny business or you two will be locked up 'til you're seventeen." With that, he went back in the reptile house, leaving the twins to sit on the bench.
"You missed it," Harry said breathlessly.
"Missed what?" asked May.
Harry told her about how the snake was nodding its head when Harry spoke to it, how it pointed its tail at the placard when Harry asked where it came from, and when Harry asked if the snake had ever been to Brazil, the snake shook its head.
May thought it was very odd for the snake to react like that. That didn't seem to be in their nature. "Maybe it didn't understand you and it just happened to be a coincidence."
"What is that thing you said about coincidences?" asked Harry.
"Don't throw that back in my face," May said. She always said that she didn't believe in coincidences, because nothing can happen like that. It was something that she thought of since strange happenings kept following the twins round.
One incident involved Harry running from Dudley and his gang, and somehow ended up on the school roof. Harry and May had gotten in trouble for that. Harry for climbing school buildings and May got in trouble for helping Harry climb onto the building, despite the fact that she had been in the library at the time. The Dursleys didn't want to hear that and locked her in the shed. After all, when one Potter got in trouble, the other was too.
One other incident was that Dudley had ripped a hole in the backside of May's skirt at school, so she hid in a toilet stall, terrified about getting humiliated, when suddenly the hole somehow repaired itself, good as new. She wasn't entirely sure how that happened, but she hadn't told anyone about that.
There was the time that Aunt Petunia tried forcing Harry into a hideous brown jumper with orange bobbles, but with every tug, the jumper kept shrinking to the point it could've fit a hand puppet.
Last year, on Dudley's birthday, Aunt Marge had brought her favourite dog, Ripper, with her, and Harry accidentally trodden on Ripper's tail, which caused the dog to chase Harry up a tree. Aunt Marge hadn't called Ripper off and May was so angry that fireworks erupted in the sky over Number Four. The sudden noise had terrified Ripper enough, that he crouched down, which gave May plenty of time to call Harry to run inside the house, so Harry did. May and Harry had gotten in trouble for that incident, despite the fact that May was in the house at the time, so there was no way she could have set the fireworks off. However, with Harry, it could've been possible, but she knew that Harry didn't light or have any fireworks.
Deep down, May knew that there was a possibility that they were responsible for the strange occurrences, but she had no clue how or why they happened.
Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley emerged from the reptile house. Dudley had blankets and towels around him, along with his parents' arms. He was stuttering and shivering, but May was sure that it was all an act, because he sneered at them as he passed by. The keeper of the reptile house and Piers followed after. May and Harry followed after the Dursleys and Piers heading to the manager's office.
They spent an hour inside the office, where Dudley and Piers gibbered . The zoo director had made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong sweet tea, while apologizing repeatedly over the incident. He offered them free year-round tickets, but May knew that the Dursleys were never going to allow them to return. In fact, May thought it would be a miracle that they'll be let out of the house after what happened.
When they got back in the car, Dudley started complaining, "It tried to bite my leg off when I fell in the tank."
Piers said, "It tried to squeeze me to death." He snapped May's leggings.
"Stop it," May hissed at him.
Piers punched May's leg in return.
"Hey!" snapped Harry.
Piers reached over and started flicking Harry's ear. He spoke, "You were talking to it, right?"
May almost shrank back when she noticed that Uncle Vernon's face turned an unhealthy shade of purple. She grabbed Harry's arm, knowing that they were definitely going to get in huge trouble.
After dropping Piers off, who gave May one last legging snap, Uncle Vernon started sputtering at them incoherently. May thought it was a record. Uncle Vernon usually reacted like that when May pranks Dudley.
When they got to Number Four, Aunt Petunia and Dudley, who was still wrapped in a blanket, hurried inside.
Uncle Vernon dragged the twins out, grabbed a hold of the back of Harry's collar and grabbed May's ear. He dragged them inside and shoved them against the railing of the stairs. His face was red as he looked at the twins, "I demand an explanation. Now!"
"I don't know what happened," Harry stated. "Honest."
Uncle Vernon looked at May, who responded, "I don't know. It was probably a malfunction of some kind."
Harry nodded, "Yeah. It probably was."
"What do you think happened?" May asked, "That the glass disappeared on its own?"
"Yeah, like magic?" Harry added.
That was the wrong thing to say because Uncle Vernon opened the cupboard under the stairs and shoved both the twins in the cupboard, before slamming the door. The grate to the cupboard opened and, Uncle Vernon, in a menacing voice, hissed, "There's no such thing as magic." The grate closed and the two were left in the cupboard under the stairs. Again.
"Do you think it'll be like this forever, May?" asked Harry, sitting down on his cot.
"No," said May. "Once we're of age, we're out of here."
"Where will we go?" asked Harry.
"Far away from here," May stated.
"Obviously," said Harry.
May laid down on Harry's cot, "What do you think is good? Leaves or mud in their beds?"
"Leaves," said Harry. "If you dragged mud inside, they'll have a fit and make us clean it up and that'll take hours to clean up, especially when Dudley decides to trek more mud inside and we'll be the ones cleaning it up."
"Sounds good," responded May.
It was a few hours later when Aunt Petunia opened the cupboard and dragged May to the shed.