Disclaimer: This is J.K. Rowling's story. Not mine. Don't sue or I'll...bite you.

"DUDLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The shriek emanated from upstairs, waking Harry Potter up at the same time that his Aunt Petunia knocked on his door sharply to wake him up. Dudley had gotten into Carry's room again...and from the sound of it she wasn't what one would call happy about it. Amazing really, that Carry with her silver-blonde hair and endless gray eyes could make her cousin cower in fear when Harry, who was bigger than his twin, was more often than not the one cowering when it came to Dudley and his gang. Carry was a delicate, fragile ten-year-old girl but when she got mad, their overweight cousin cowered before her wrath.

Harry felt rather than heard Dudley running down the stairs to escape Carry. She followed him, shrieking in anger the whole way. Carry, unlike her brother, was favored by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, simply because she was a baby girl and so adorable when she'd come to them. Harry had been more of an obligation. The twins weren't identical. The only thing that they had in common was the jagged lightning-shaped scar running down their foreheads. Souvenirs from the car crash that had killed their parents, Lily and James Potter.

Meanwhile, Aunt Petunia was back outside of Harry's door, "Are you up yet?!" She screeched.

"Nearly!" he cried.

"Well get a move on! I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, everything must be absolutely PERFECT for Duddy's birthday!" Harry groaned loudly.

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped.

"Nothing, Nothing..." Dudley's birthday...how could he have forgotten? Harry slowly got out of bed.



Dudley and Carry burst into the kitchen, one after the other, both shrieking. He in fear and she in rage...They both stopped short at the sight of the presents, just long enough to take in the sight, then they were off again. From the looks of it, Dudley had gotten the new computer that he'd wanted. Not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Though, why Dudley wanted a racing bike, was a mystery to Carry. What was clear to the ten-year-old was that her cousin had sent her eight-week-old kitten, Sakura, cowering under her bed again, and that he was going to pay for it.

Petunia and Vernon had gotten the kitten at Carry's request, sort of an early birthday present. She'd begged and pleaded and, in the end, had worked for Sakura's keep. It was quite comical, really, the 4'2 young girl with long silver-blonde hair and deep gray eyes could have easily been overpowered by her older, stronger, fatter cousin. Instead, he was the one cowering for all he was worth, while she chased him angrily. Carry finally cornered the trembling Dudley and put her hands on her slender, well-shaped hips.

"DON'T YOU DARE COME NEAR SAKURA! EVER AGAIN! SHE'LL BE UNDER MY BED FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE AT THIS RATE! YOU SCARE THE STUFFING OUT OF HER EVERY TIME YOU COME NEAR HER!!!" The ten- year-old punched her cousin in the chest and walked into the kitchen to sit down, watching her brother work. "Here..." she interjected when he started having trouble with the bacon, "Let me help."

Their Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen and glimpsed Harry, "Comb your hair!" He barked, fiercely. But that did no good. Harry's hair grew like that naturally...all over the place. Carry had never had that problem. Her silky hair had never been a nuisance to her, perhaps because she kept it so healthy, but in any case it did exactly what she wanted it to. Most of the time it was down over her slender, delicate shoulders. While she looked like a porcelain figurine, Carry was tough. She was forever getting in fights at school when the other kids tried to act like they were better than her. She'd actually been in more fights than even Dudley and his gang combined. And she was a loner, much like Harry. Carry had never really been one to hang out with anyone. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she was different from everyone. It wasn't really a tangible thing...it was just a sensed distant thing. Carry Potter was different from anyone else in their grade, even her twin.

Dudley finished counting his presents and turned to glare at his parents. "Thirty-six..." His face turned into an unpleasant distortion of a pig's snout. "Two less than next year."

"Darling" His mother soothed quickly, "You haven't counted your Auntie Marge's present. See? Here it is under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."

"Alright, thirty-seven then." Dudley was growing rather red in the face and the twins, who could sense a Dudley tantrum from miles away, began stuffing their food into their mouths.

"And we'll buy you another TWO presents at the store. How does that sound? Two more?" Evidently, Aunt Petunia wasn't as dumb as she looked.

"Alright..." Dudley conceded. "Then I'll have thirty...thirty..."

"Thirty-Nine." Carry supplied helpfully.

"Thirty-Nine." Dudley agreed. Then he grabbed the nearest parcel.

Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth. Just like his father. 'Atta boy." He ruffled Dudley's hair.

The phone rang at that moment and Aunt Petunia moved to answer it while Harry, Carry 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 of 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, Carry looked up at her aunt interestedly and Harry wore a fearfully hopeful expression. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him, Carry, 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. He hated it there, claiming that the house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.

Harry and Carry exchanged excited glances as their Aunt and Uncle talked about what to do with him for the day. Both adults were giving Harry looks of loathing, as if it were his fault. Dudley began pretending to cry and, just as Carry was getting tired of it and taking a step towards him, the doorbell rang and Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother as the door opened. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

Half an hour later they were on their way to the zoo...with Harry. Petunia and Vernon hadn't been able to decide on what to do with him so they'd agreed to take him with them. Before they'd left, however, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside, presumably to warn him.

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 favorite subjects. On this particular morning, however, it was motorcycles.

"...Roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums." He growled as a motorcycle overtook them

Harry spoke up, unwisely, in Carry's opinion, "I had a dream about a motorcycle." He commented. "It was flying."

Uncle Vernon very nearly crashed into the car ahead of them. He turned right around in his seat and bellowed in Harry's face. "MOTORCYCLED DON'T FLY!"

Dudley and Piers Sniggered. Carry was sitting between them, however, and they both found that the next thing they knew there was an elbow in their guts and they were gasping for air.

Harry once again spoke up. "I know they don't. It was only a dream."

It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley, Piers, and Carry 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. Carry giggled as she and Harry watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, minus the blonde hair.

After lunch, they all 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 wined at his father, Causing Carry to elbow him in the side angrily. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't move.

"Do it again." Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

Carry stood back with Harry as they watched the snake. After about five seconds the snake opened its eyes and looked at the twins. Then it did a VERY extraordinary thing. It WINKED!

The twins stared. Then they glanced around to see if anyone was watching. When no one was, the kids winked too. The snake jerked his head at Uncle Vernon and Dudley. Plainly saying "I get that all the time."

Carry giggled and Harry murmured, "I know." He looked at Carry.

She tilted her head to the side and said gently, "It must be quite annoying." The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry chimed. The snake pointed to the sign next to the glass that said 'Boa Constrictor, Brazil.'

"Was it particularly nice there?" Carry asked. A second point to the sign and the twins read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "I see."

"So you've never been to Brazil?" Harry asked.

As the snake shook its head, a deafening shriek filled the twins' ears. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you." He snapped, punching Harry in the ribs. Harry, caught by surprise, fell to the floor. What came next came so quickly that nobody saw how it happened. One second Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next they were leaping back with howls of Horror, where Carry's sturdy fists were waiting for them.



Carry waited in her room for the Dursleys to go to sleep. Until then, she couldn't risk helping Harry sneak out for food. They'd lived with the Dursleys for almost all of their lives. Nearly ten years, in fact. Neither could remember the crash that had killed their parents...but both agreed on a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain in their foreheads.

What Carry hadn't told her twin was that she remembered one other thing. A cruel, twisting laugh...then everything went dark. She'd always been plagued with nightmares of a strong- looking person wielding a stick advancing towards her and whispering some words. She could never understand the words...she just knew that they were somehow important. With the words came the blinding green light...and then she woke up. Carry shuddered as she thought of the prospects of another nightmare. However, she settled in to sleep later that night anyways, pushing her fears aside for a time when she had time to dwell on them.

Carry Potter knew one thing above all others. She was alone in the world. Nobody could understand her...nor could they know about her hidden thoughts. Nobody...



Stardust's Rambling: Hey All. In this one I'm going to do it this way. Now, all of you understand that the original characters aren't mine. Nor is most of the storyline. Carry Potter is a completely new character. A manifestation from the past Journey to Hogwarts stories. Now, don't go jumping to conclusions You can bet on who she is all you want. You won't know until you read Journey to Hogwarts: Griffen's Legacy; Episode three. Mistaken Identities. Also, I apologize for the abrupt ending to "Duel of the Magicks." That's one that I never really got into. This one, however, is of my own favorite character. I'm going to try to throw in so many twists and turns that you'll not know where to turn in the end, except to the next chapter. This one is going to be by far the longest story that I'll have written. As you can already tell, I'm going by the books. I'll continue to do this until the end of the fourth book, at which time my own plot will take hold and you'll get a twist of my imagination further than just the twisting of the lovely Goddess, J.K Rowling's stories. Ms. Rowling, please don't sue. I'm not making any money off of this, nor do I wish to. All of the money's yours, my dear. And for those of you tapping the review button right now...I love you.