Chapter 1: Missed Opportunities

Ten years passed since that fateful Halloween night when Leo and Harry had been delivered to their Aunt and Uncle. From the outside of Number 4, Privet Drive, it seemed as though no time had passed. The lawn was still manicured to perfection, the interior of the house kept immaculate due to the woman of the house's compulsive need to clean everything. The only thing to show the passage of time was the numerous photos of Dudley Dursley throughout the years. Some were taken with his parents, and one or two were taken with his Aunt Marge. But, if you looked closely at a few of the photos, you could see another blonde haired boy peeking his head out from various rooms and corners, just as the picture had been taken. There were not, however, any other signs that yet another boy lived there.

Yet Harry Potter was still there, crammed into the little cupboard alongside the only blood relative who actually cared about him. Leo's head rested near his cousin's feet, soft snores escaped his mouth as he lay half-curled in the fetal position in the same manner he normally slept in. He had started this practice early on in life, wanting to give Harry as much room as he could, despite the fact that he was much larger than the boy.

Despite the fact that they were exactly the same age, Leo had always been big for his size. He was tall - taller than Harry and Dudley both - but still retained the same thinness as the green-eyed boy. His shoulders, however, were slightly broader, though not to the extent that someone would say he should play American football. With his blonde hair and blue-grey eyes, Leo fit right in the rest of the Dursleys. A fact which irked him greatly.

He had once gone out and bought some hair dye, hoping to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, due to his already light-colored hair, the red dye ended up turning out more pink than anything. The Dursleys were shocked and appalled at the change - the word 'freak' was thrown around a lot - prompting Leo to embrace the color and say 'real men wear pink.' Since then, he had taken to stealing the Dursleys clothes and soaking them in pink dyes. The downside of this was the severe punishments. The upside was that he got 'new' clothes and was able to embarrass the Dursleys by wearing pink out in public.

At the moment, Leo was reminiscing in his dreams about one such incident when a loud rapping on the cupboard door sounded and Aunt Petunia's shrill voice was heard. Leo's head shot up, banging on the underside of the stairs and eliciting a stream of muttered curses from the boy. Harry awoke as well, wearing a bemused expression on his face as their Aunt banged on the door again.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," Harry replied, drowning out Leo's 'no'.

"Well, get a move on, I want you two to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn. I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

Harry and Leo groaned simultaneously.

"What did you say?" their Aunt snapped.

They both mumbled 'nothing' and listened to their Aunt walk away. At that point, Harry turned his green eyes to Leo's blue-grey ones and asked, "Did you remember that Dudley's birthday was today?"

"Surprises me every year," Leo shrugged. "Mostly because I'm shocked he hasn't keeled over from heart disease."

Harry released a snort of laughter before reaching under their shared mattress and retrieving a pair of socks whilst Leo retrieved a pink tie-dye shirt. The dark-haired boy was the first to exit the cupboard with his cousin not far behind him. Leo opted to tend to the bacon, humming a tune to himself as Harry began taking out plates and setting them on what little was left of the table. Leo spared the table a glance, snickering to himself as he spotted the small red box-shaped present among the pile before turning back the bacon, making sure it was slathered in grease.

Privately, Leo was hoping that the Dursleys would eat so much greasy bacon that they'd have a collective heart attack. That way, he and Harry could go to a much better place. Like an orphanage. Or under the local bridge. Really, any place was better than the Dursleys. Except for Uncle Marge's. Leo suppressed an involuntary shudder as he thought of Uncle Vernon's sister. Her mustache makes me so confused.

At that moment, Uncle Vernon entered the room, barking at Harry to comb his hair before turning to Leo and saying, "Change your shirt, boy!"

"I will. When you buy me a new one," Leo replied, a cheeky grin on his face as Vernon's face turned bright red.

Leo watched with bated breath as Uncle Vernon inhaled and exhaled slowly before grabbing the newspaper off the table and beginning to read. With a sigh of mingled amusement and disappointment, Leo turned back to his bacon, scooting over a bit to give Harry room to work on the eggs. The Dursleys had been like that for as long as Leo could remember. They never raised a hand against Leo – nor Harry, if Leo happened to be nearby – preferring instead to force chores upon him or lock him in the cupboard.

Uncle Vernon had only resorted to corporal punishment once but was stopped by Aunt Petunia before his hand ever made contact with Leo's rear. Petunia had taken her husband aside, whispering frantically in his ear, all the while casting fearful looks in Leo's direction. After a moment, Vernon's face paled as a panicked expression appeared on his features. From then on, Leo had decided to test the boundaries of the little line the Dursleys refused to cross. It wasn't that he wanted to get beat, he was merely curious how much it would take to truly infuriate the man and cause him to lash out.

Dudley, however, did not receive the memo that Leo was essentially untouchable. In Year 1, Leo had caught Dudley and his newly-formed group of morons picking on poor Harry during recess. The blonde, of course, intervened and the clever quips on his part and the stupid grunts on Dudley's eventually devolved into a full-blown brawl. Dudley's friends had hopped in and, by the end of it, Leo was sporting a busted lip, torn clothes, and a few bite marks on his arms. Dudley sported a black eye and bloody nose whilst his friends were covered in various bruises while Piers Polkiss held onto his broken nose from where Leo had elbowed it.

Leo had proven that, despite the odds, he was a scrappy fellow who wouldn't hesitate to stand up to an army to protect his favorite cousin. What's more, Dudley had a sit-down with his parents and was gently instructed to leave Leo alone. That doesn't mean he listened. The two got in fights many times to the point where they were put in separate classes, lunches, and recess times in order to prevent anything more than a nose from being broken.

As though his reminiscing had conjured the baby whale, Dudley appeared in the kitchen, closely followed by his mother. The boy immediately set to counting his presents while Harry distributed the eggs and bacon onto the table. Leo merely leaned against the counter, munching on a piece of bacon idly and carefully folding extra pieces into a paper towel to save for later.

"Thirty-six," Dudley finally said, looking at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

Quite frankly, I'm amazed you know what 'two' is, much less all the numbers that come after it. Leo mused, giving Harry a lopsided smile when the boy made eye contact with him. In an effort to soothe the boy, Aunt Petunia informed him that he had missed a present, bringing the total up to thirty-seven. Honestly, you could've told him he miscounted and we could avoid the whole situation. Not like he'd figure it out. Leo suppressed a roll of his eyes as Petunia promised he could get two more presents while they were out.

With the problem solved, Dudley proceeded to open his presents whilst Aunt Petunia answered the phone. He pulled out a video camera – something Leo decided he'd knick later – a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, a VCR, and a racing bike. Quite frankly, Leo was perplexed about how Dudley would be able to ride the bike with all that blubber dragging him on the ground. He was saved from thinking about it further when Dudley reached for the little red box, prepared to unwrap and open it. Leo leaned forward slightly, eagerness and mischief twinkling in his eyes in equal measure. Unfortunately, before Dudley could finish opening it, 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 them." She jerked her head at each of the non-Dursleys.

"Hmm, tragic," Leo mumbled, crossing his arms over the front of him. "Hope she gets better."

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boys."

Quite sure she hates everything that isn't fat and/or edible.

"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.

Where even is Majorca?

"You could just leave us here," Harry put in hopefully.

Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"I won't blow up the house," Harry objected.

"I might," Leo raised a hand, receiving looks from everyone in the kitchen.

"I suppose we could take them to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly. "... and leave them in the car..."

"That car's new, they're not sitting in it alone..."

Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried, unless you counted all those times Leo made him cry - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.

"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

Leo snorted with laughter, managing to cover it up as a cough at the last moment. I'll have to remember to call him that around his friends. Along with the crying bit. God, I wish I had that camera right now. The boy's blue-grey eyes settled on the object hidden amongst the pile of wrapping paper.

"I... don't... want... them... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "They always sp- spoil everything!"

Fair enough. Leo shrugged, well aware that he'd most likely try to find some way to ruin Dudley's perfect day. 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, prompting Dudley to stop pretending to cry at once.

Piers walked into the kitchen confidently, his expression falling at the sight of Leo. The blonde gave a wiggle of his fingers and an evil grin, prompting Piers to clutch his nose and dash back into the hallway. Half an hour later, Black and Potter were sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in their lives. Their aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with them, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry and Leo aside.

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, prompting Leo to pull the boy away slightly "I'm warning you now, boys - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry. "Honestly."

"I make no promises," Leo shrugged, grabbing Harry by the arm and dragging him into the car before Uncle Vernon could yell at them.

He squeezed himself between Harry and Dudley, leaving Harry to sit next to Piers. Fortunately, Piers was smart enough to not start anything with Leo in the same vicinity as him. Not only had the boy broken his nose, but he could also take a boy as large as Dudley in a fight with no assistance and even manage to win.

While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things, Leo noticed. It appeared to him that Uncle Vernon was never happy unless he was complaining about someone – him and/or Harry – or something. Leo firmly believed that he should speak to a professional, as there was something not quite right with the man's thinking if the thing that made him happy was disparaging others. Although given one of Leo's favorite pastimes was making fun of and embarrassing the Dursleys, the boy didn't think he was one to talk.

"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," the fat man was grumbling, as a motorcycle overtook them.

"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."

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 mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

Dudley and Piers snickered.

"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."

"Dunno about that, Harry," Leo replied in an even tone. "If you drove a motorcycle off a tall cliff, it might fly for a bit before falling." He turned to Dudley, raising an eyebrow. "Wanna give it a go, Dinky Duddydums?"

Dudley clenched his fists and glared at the boy, missing Piers' snort of laughter. Leo smiled back brightly, knowing the miniature whale wouldn't do anything while his parents were in the car. Finally, the large boy gave a huff before turning to stare out the window whilst Leo turned to his more delightful cousin and nudged him, receiving a grateful smile in return.

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 and Leo what they wanted before they could hurry them away, they bought them each a cheap lemon ice pop. Chocolate would've been better. Leo lamented, having not had the stuff in what felt like – and probably was – years. He stopped beside Harry, watching a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't quite so flabby.

Leo noticed that Harry seemed to be having the time of his life as they walked around the zoo, and he found that he didn't have much to complain about. He enjoyed seeing the animals – particularly the wolves, whom he oddly felt a bizarre sort of kinship with – and talking to them. Not that the animals could talk back. It wasn't that Leo could hear them talk to him, it was more along the lines that he could sort of...understand them. Sort of like how one person understood another when they used sign language. He'd always had a connection with animals that made him feel different. Not a bad sort of different, but one that he felt he couldn't talk about with Harry, out of fear the boy would think him some sort of freak for being able to understand animals.

He didn't mind being called a freak by the Dursleys – he quite enjoyed it, honestly – but he didn't think he'd be able to handle being called one by Harry.

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 before shuffling away.

Harry and Leo moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. Lucky bastard. Leo huffed. Gets to sleep the day away, get fed, and is capable of eating/killing anyone who annoys it too much... Granted, it probably sucks being stuck in there day in and day out.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Leo and Harry's.

It winked.

The boys stared. They shared a glance before looking around quickly to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. Harry looked back at the snake and winked too whilst Leo gave a polite wave. The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling.

It gave the boys a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."

"Tell me about it," Leo snorted.

"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.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. The boys peered at it.

Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Did you eat many people there?" Leo inquired curiously.

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and the boys 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 the boys 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. Luckily, Leo caught the boy by the arm before he could land on the hard floor. 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 leaped back with howls of horror.

Harry and Leo both 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 him, Leo heard him hiss, and interpreted it as the snake's way of saying 'thanks'.

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 Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Leo 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. Leo was lamenting both of the missed opportunities. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry and Leo were talking to it, weren't you?"

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry and Leo. 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.

Leo lay in the dark cupboard beside his cousin 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.

They'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as they could remember, ever since they'd been babies and Harry's parents and Leo's mum had died in that car crash. Leo couldn't remember being in the car when his mum had died. What bothered him the most, however, was not that his mum and Harry's parents had died, it was that his dad had abandoned him.

He'd heard the story from Aunt Petunia – although, given the source, there wasn't much he actually believed – who told him that his father was a drug addict and a drunk who left not long after he was born. Knowing that one of your parents was dead and wasn't coming back was one thing, knowing that one of them didn't stick around and was still out there, not bothering to look for you was another.

Leo had often wondered why his father had left. Did he not want to be a father? Was he unprepared? Did he know Leo was some sort of freak?... Did he hate him? Leo turned to the side, facing the wall as he rubbed a stray tear from his eye. One thing was certain: Harry was definitely the luckier of the two.

Little did he know, Harry was thinking the same thing about him.