Attack Of The Snake
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had
woken up to find
their nephew on the front step, but Little
Whinging had hardly changed at
all. In one of the large box
houses, lined one after the other, a young boy of nearly eleven woke
up.
"Piers," he heard his mother calling from the other room. "Piers, you had better get ready, you have to go to your little friend's birthday party."
"I know that mummy!" Piers called back, and began searching his drawers for socks. He had been having a dream, hadn't he? Yeah, he remembered, he was dreaming he had grown up and was bigger than all the other boys in school. It had been a great dream.
He looked into the mirror suddenly – nope, his dream had come true, yet. He was still regular scrawny rat-faced Piers Polkiss. Well, no matter, today he was going to have fun. He was going to the zoo with his best friend Dudley Dursley. He had been so happy when Dudley invited him to go, Dudley's parents would always take him on some extragavent trip for his birthday, and it was considered an honor in their school to get to be the person Dudley brought along.
He went downstairs, getting a big kiss on the forehead from his mother, and quietly ate some cereal. He stared excitedly at the clock, come nine o'clock he would be going to number four Privet Drive, and next stop would be the zoo.
When eight forty-five came, his mother told him to get in the car. He quickly picked up the wrapped present for Dudley, some video cassettes of movies he knew Dudley liked. He wanted to make sure to get Dudley a present he would like. It had taken him a lot of work to become Dudley's best friend, most of which involved strict loyalty to him. Whatever Dudley wanted, Piers would do. It was simple really, Dudley was the biggest, toughest boy in his year. Being his friend meant that none of the other boys could pick on him, it was his only way to be popular.
As he walked into the garage, he saw his prized possession lying next to his parents' car, Piers' top of the line racing bike. It was the only thing he was proud of, the only thing he had that no one else he knew had. He could see all the other kids envious faces as he rode this beauty down the street, even Dudley who so often bragged about all the great toys he had, didn't have a bike like this one!
Soon, he and his mother arrived at Dudley's house, which Piers liked because it had a bigger backyard than his but for some reason Dudley didn't usually bring friends over. His mother rang the doorbell and Piers waited, hoping that Dudley would like his present. Mrs. Dursley answered the door, she seemed bothered by something but in a second put on a huge smile.
"Why, hello Elizabeth. How are you Piers?"
"Good morning Mrs. Dursley," said Piers, just as his mother had instructed.
"It's so nice to see you again Petunia," said his mother, "You really have a lovely home."
"Oh thank you, and I just adore those earrings," said Mrs Dursley. "Do come in."
Piers loved Dudley's mom, she made the best cookies in the world and he couldn't wait to taste the birthday cake she had made. They followed her through the hall into the kitchen, where he saw Dudley surrounded by presents and looking quite upset.
"Spot of tea, Liz?" asked Petunia.
"Thank you, but I have to be going," Piers' mother answered and left.
"Well now," said Mr. Dursley not smiling, "me and mummy have to some…things to discuss now Dudley, so run along and play with your friend until we're ready to go."
That's when Piers noticed Harry Potter standing in the far off side of the room. It was strange seeing him here, at school Dudley and Harry were so distant and different that Piers often forgot that they were cousins and lived together. But Piers didn't have time to think about Harry, because he and Dudley raced upstairs to his room.
"Here's your present, by the why," said Piers handing it over to Dudley.
"Thanks, I'll open it later," said Dudley tossing it aside. "So, guess what I got?"
Piers could see Dudley's eyes glowing, like he was trying to contain glee. "What?"
"A racing bike." Piers breathed in quickly, "A nice new racing bike, just like your. No, better."
"That's…" Piers began. He was at a lost for words. His bike was all he had! "…Wonderful, Dud. We'll have to go riding together sometime."
"Yeah, right," said Dudley, as though he found that unlikely.
Piers and Dudley spent the next half-hour playing Dudley's new video games, when they heard Mr Dursley calling them downstairs.
"Well, everything's all set," he said, "You two can get into the car. Oh, and, er Dudley, your cousin will be coming too."
Dudley's lips tightened. He, Dudley, Mr Dursley and Harry all walked together to the car in the driveway. He and Dudley got into the back seat, while Mr Durlsey and Harry stayed outside for a moment.
"I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-THEY'RE-MAKING-HIM-COME!" said Dudley.
"Who?"
"HARRY!
"Well, what's the big deal anyway?" As soon as he said it he regretted it, he knew Dudley hated Harry, as Piers had often held Harry's arms behind his back as Dudley punched him.
"I hate that boy," said Dudley.
"Why?"
"Why? WHY!" said Dudley, said angrily (though Piers suspected Dudley really didn't know why). "He's just so…annoying, and weird, and a freak! I mean, well…" Dudley leaned in and whispered, "He just does strange things."
"Like what?"
"Don't be daft! You were there with me when Harry flew onto the roof!"
"You mean when he climbed up the chimney?"
"No, you saw it with your own eyes. Didn't you? I just told the headmistress that to get the prick in trouble. One minute we were chasing him, the next he was on the roof. And that's not all, one time my mother gave him a haircut, and the next day his hair was back to normal! And you were there when he turned the teacher's wig blue!"
"You…you're just trying to scare me Dudley," said Piers. "Harry Potter couldn't hurt anyone. He's too boring."
"You wouldn't be saying that if he started turning things of yours blue. I'm telling you, Harry is just weird. My parents know it, they just don't talk about it. But I know they're hiding a secret from me."
"Yeah right Dudley," said Piers rolling his eyes. Why was Dudley acting so stupid today?
Mr Dursley and Harry came into the car, neither of them saying a word. Soon Mrs Dursley came out of the house and they were on their way. Harry was sitting next to Piers, so he had to make his best act to seem like he wanted nothing to do with Harry. Truth was he really didn't care that much about Harry, he didn't like him, but he certainly didn't hate him. Dudley did though, and that was all that mattered.
As the were driving along, Piers saw a cool looking motorcycle through the window and looked at it in awe as it overtook them.
"…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," Mr Dursley muttered.
"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry suddenly. "It was flying."
Piers' body fell forward as Mr Dursley stepped
on the breaks, almost crashing 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!"
Piers was slightly shocked by this, Harry looked as though he regretted openning his mouth. Dudley started snickering loudly so he went along.
"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."
When they finally arrived at the zoo, Dudley's parents bought the two of them large chocolate ice cream. They went to see a gorilla first, Harry always standing some way apart from them. He was a strange boy, Piers thought.
By noon Piers and Dudley were starting to get bored. Looking at animals hadn't been nearly as exciting as he had expected, and Dudley looked tired of walking so much. Why couldn't they have gone to an adventure park like he had gone last year with Jordan?
At lunchtime they went to the zoo restaurant and he and Dudley both ordered the knickerbocker glory. Piers was happily enjoying it, when he saw Dudley looking closely at him.
"Yours has more ice cream than mine has!" said Dudley.
"You serious?" said Piers.
"Yes! That's not fair! The two of us ordered the same thing, it's not fair that you have more ice cream than me!"
"Dudders…" began Mrs Dursley.
"Get me another one and make sure that one has the right amount of ice cream."
"Oh fine," said Mrs Dursley. "Finish his off boy, we're not going to buy you any lunch."
Harry happily obliged.
"So, where do you boys want to go next?" asked Mr Dursley after they had finished eating.
"The reptile house!" said Dudley and Piers at once, huge grins on their faces.
"I wanna see the huge poisonous cobras!" said Dudley.
"Yeah, and those thick, man-crushing pythons!" said Piers.
For some reason, Piers looked over at Harry now. When Dudley's father had said "you boys" he thought he meant all three of them, and he wondered why Harry wasn't giving his opinion.
As soon as they had reached the cool, dark reptile house, all other thoughts had escaped him. The esortment of creepy deadly things behind the the glass cages was too incredible to ignore. He ran along with Dudley to see the Boa Constrictor. He looked in at it, but it was just lying there, sleeping.
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. They all shuffled away, except for Harry.
Piers and Dudley went and looked at the other lizard and snakes, but they proved to be just as boring as the boa constrictor. Piers turned around to see if the boa had woken up yet, where he saw Harry and the snake staring directly into each others eyes. Harry was saying something, it sounded like he was hissing. The snake rose up in it's cage and shook its head up and down.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS
SNAKE! YOU
WON'T BELIEVE
WHAT IT'S DOING!" he cried.
Piers ran up to the snake, Dudley waddling over as fast as he could.
"Out of the way, you," said Dudley,
punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by
surprise, Harry fell hard on
the concrete 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 leapt back with
howls of
horror.
The glass that seperated the public from the snake habitat was gone. It had completely disappeared. The snake began uncoiling itself rapidly, Piers and Dudley screamed as did several people who running for the exits.
Piers could feel the snake against his legs. Oh god, no, he had heard of this. It was going to wrap around him and squeeze him to death. He struggled quickly to get of the snakes grip, but it was holding on to him too strongly – or perhaps he was simply too scared to move his legs. Finally he found the strength to jump back, the snake was gone and was leaving out the front door.
"But the glass," said one of the keepers who had gotten there while Piers was being attacked, "where did the glass go?"
"Oh, my ickle Dudikins," wailed Mrs Dursley, wrapping her arms around her son as tight as any boa constrictor, "are you all right?"
"It tried to bite me mum! It nearly bit my leg off!"
"How could you let this happen!" shouted Mr Dursley to the reptile house keeper. "How can you let these animals run wild!"
"Sir, sir, I'm sorry…" he babbled. Mrs Dursley was now crying. "Please, hold on, I better get the director."
The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup
of strong, sweet tea
while he apologized over and over again. They
left right after this, Piers and Dudley were still too shocked at
their narrow flight from death, that they could barely talk.
On the car ride home, Piers suddenly remembered
something, and said, "Harry was talking to it, weren't
you,
Harry?"
Piers thought he saw Mr Dursley flinch slightly from behind the wheel, and Harry's eyes suddenly widened. Nobody said anything else on the car ride home. When they got back to the Dursley's, Petunia wrapped up a piece of the chocolate cake she had made and gave it to Piers and called his mother to come pick him up.
Piers waited in the doorway until his mother's car came into view. He was very disappointed, there was supposed to be a big party, and now it was all cancelled – all because of the snake.
As he walked up to the car, he thought he could
hear Dudley's dad's voice shouting from inside. He couldn't
stop thinking about everything that had happened today, what Dudley
had said, the vanishing glass, and Harry Potter talking to a snake.
He was strange, and now all he wanted was to solve this mystery. But
that would mean talking to Harry, which wasn't going to happen.
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.
