2

The Vanishing Glass

Ten years had almost passed since that fateful night and yet Number Four Privet Drive remained relatively unchanged. The photographs on the walls were the main distinction that time had moved forward. The pictures once depicting a chubby baby had been replaced with a rather robust boy who sat proudly in his Sunday best smiling at the camera. Upon entering the house, one would never guess two more children lived in the home as well, for not one picture contained evidence that the family was no longer the threesome they had once been all those years ago.

But alas Harry and Emily Potter were still living with their relatives on the rather quiet street and their Aunt Petunia was on her way to wake them up. Unluckily for the twins their Aunt's voice was the first sound they heard every morning.

"Wake up!" she shrieked banging on the door to their room.

Emily who had spent most of her night awake lying sleepless next to her brother attempted to shake the boy. All she received in reply was a groan, holding her breath Emily waited for her Aunt to yell at them again but it seemed her footsteps were already retreating towards the kitchen. It wasn't but a second more until the sound of banging pots, no doubt purposefully smashed together in an attempt to wake the twins up faster, reached their little room.

Putting a hand to her head Emily squeezed her eyes shut, her head had been throbbing and she wished there was a way to make it stop.

"Does she have to do that every morning?" Harry complained pushing himself to sit upright. Stretching out he looked down at his sister who was still holding her abdomen with one hand and her head with the other.

"If you would start waking up earlier I doubt she would need to." Harry rolled his eyes at his twin but didn't argue her point.

Emily sighed as she rubbed her sore ribs, her eyes finally wanted to drift shut but she wouldn't be able to get any more sleep until she had finished her morning chores. The night had held little sleep for her, if not for her pain the haunting images that continued to plague her kept her awake. Last night she swore she had seen the face of a man with shoulder length black hair, he had looked torn as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. Was it her imagination or was the man talking about finding a rat? Something told her she should recognize this man, that he meant something to her past but that was silly. After all, the only life she knew was here with the Dursleys.

Their aunt was back and demanding to know if they were awake, Emily turned to look at her twin who was rubbing his eyes as he finally put on his glasses. "Almost ready," she called as her brother groaned.

"None of that!" Petunia shrieked through the door having obviously heard Harry. "Do you understand what day it is? You will not ruin my Dudder's birthday, now get out here and cook breakfast!"

Emily twisted her torso slightly in an effort to push herself up and earned a shooting pain through her body. Moaning she tried to ignore the discomfort as she sat upright.

"Excuse me?" clearly Aunt Petunia had heard her. Luckily for the twins she didn't wait around and once again she could be heard in the kitchen.

Harry was careful not to bump his sister knowing she was currently hurt. Emily thankfully accepted the dress her twin passed her and the pair began dressing with a rare ease for such a tight space. The twins had this part of their routine down. Though they both worried a day would come when they no longer could successfully manage to not bump the other, having gotten close already to outgrowing the small space in which they slept. The cupboard under the stairs offered little room for growing children and since that was where the twins had slept for the past ten years it was an increasing worry for them as they doubted their 'family' was much inclined to allow them a new room.

Hurrying into the kitchen knowing the consequences if they took too much more time, the twins set to work on breakfast. From the kitchen, the pair could see the dining room which had been filled with gifts for Dudley's birthday.

Rolling her eyes Emily grabbed the bacon from the fridge, whatever Dudley wished for he received. She would never understand the reasoning on why though, since half the gifts his parents purchased couldn't be used by the spoiled boy due to his extreme size. Dudley was the kind of boy who favored food and little exercise. The only time he lifted a hand other than to shovel food in his mouth was to throw a punch. Of course it was too much to ask that those punches be thrown in a fair fight. Dudley's targets were mainly Emily and Harry and while he would never be able to catch them he had friends who weren't afraid to chase them down for him.

It was no big feat to catch the twins really, since they were rather small for their age. Harry, while taller than his sister, was still on the shorter end of the boys in school and Emily certainly was the most petite girl in their year. Their rather small figures were only accentuated by the clothing the pair were forced to wear. Harry was only given Dudley's hand me downs while Emily was a bit luckier and without another girl besides her aunt in the house her clothes were purchased from the local second-hand shop.

Harry though small, was rather handsome looking for his young age, with his unruly black hair and bright green eyes. The color was slightly dimmed by the old circular glasses the boy had to wear. Harry's smile charmed him out of trouble with most of the teachers in school when Dudley's gang attempted to set him up. Emily on the other hand had dark wavy brunette hair that had auburn highlights running through it. Her eyesight unlike her brother's was 20/20 and her eyes a sparkling brown.

Despite that most found them quite good looking for their ages the twins hated their appearances, there's just not much to love when you are underfed and forced to wear clothes that make you feel ridiculous. Emily did feel guilty at times for feeling so unlucky when her brother had it far worse in her opinion, his glasses were held together by tape from all the times Dudley had broken them punching him in the face and his scar lay on his forehead for all to see while hers could be hidden on her shoulder.

Harry secretly loved his scar, it was one of the few things that he knew Dudley envied. He had even heard him asking his mom once why Harry got to have the cool lightning bolt on his head and not him. It had been one of the few times he had seen Aunt Petunia get angry with her son. Her face turned red and she smacked him with the towel in her hand.

"Hush! You know better than to ask such things," she snipped before turning her back on her son.

"But Mum! The kids at school said it looked cool and I want one too!" Dudley whined.

"Would you like us to also die in a car crash like those drunkards and leave you to an orphanage?" That had quickly shut Dudley up who shook his head no. "Good now get out and if I ever hear you speaking of this again you will not be getting that new bike you wanted!"

Dudley had needed no further incentive, he ran out the door and never brought up the subject again but Harry caught his cousin staring enviously at his scar from time to time and it made him smile. It was nice to know there was at least one thing that made him special that was denied to the spoiled boy.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen and before he had even settled down at the table he began his usual routine of berating the twins for their appearance. "Boy, fix your hair! Girl, put yours up! Do you think I enjoy finding your hair in my food?"

Uncle Vernon had long believed Harry's hair was messy by his own doing and demanded it be cut and kept at an appropriately short length. He especially hated it when Emily wore hers down and as a force of habit her hair was often in a messy bun. It was a small form of rebellion on her part as her uncle often looked at her in distaste but he obviously thought it wasn't worth the fight to tell her to put it up in a tidier fashion.

Dudley finally entered the kitchen his mother fussing behind him as he made his way towards the closest pile of gifts. Petunia kept reaching out to straighten her son's clothing and dusting invisible strands of fabric from his shoulders. In the woman's eyes, her son was nothing short of perfect and his attire needed to fit into that perfection. Emily for her part found her cousin to more aptly be along the lines of an overstuffed pig. Harry said Emily was being cruel to the pigs of the world and perhaps he was correct but it never did change the image of her cousin in her mind.

As Emily and Harry set the Dursley's breakfast on the table Dudley seemed to be attempting to count the gifts, his finger moving before it would freeze and go back to the beginning. The twins shared a look as they moved back to the kitchen counter where they were instructed to remain during meals.

"How many are there?" Dudley finally asked as he shoved a piece of bacon into his mouth.

Uncle Vernon puffed up his chest and smiled at his son, "Thirty-seven."

Dudley looked outrage at the statement and Vernon looked confused, "Last year there were thirty-eight! Why aren't there that many this year?!"

Emily started eyeing the plates the twins had set on the table, Dudley was about to work himself up into one of his usual tantrums. She was praying to whoever would listen that she wouldn't have to remake the breakfast as often happened when her cousin was upset. Her focus never left the plate of bacon as Dudley swung his arm and barely missed tossing it from the table, Emily needed to lie down and the sooner this breakfast was over the closer she would be to achieving that goal.

Her worry was for naught though as her Aunt Petunia quickly stepped in unwilling to have her son upset for more than a few seconds on his birthday. She soothed the boy by offering to buy him two more presents while they were on their usual birthday outing.

Dudley's face turned from outrage to puzzled as he attempted to do the math. He mumbled, staring at his fingers trying to work out the correct number before looking up at his mother who for her part seemed to have no idea her son was struggling to add the numbers together.

"Thirty-nine," Emily finally interjected, tired of waiting for someone to figure out what the boy wanted.

Aunt Petunia shot a look at Emily for daring to speak but she pretended not to notice staring at the wall where the china cabinet was located instead. Emily wasn't sorry for speaking out of turn, Dudley had quickly sat back down at finally having his answer and had pulled some gifts towards himself to start opening. The crisis had been adverted.

Uncle Vernon didn't even appear phased by the almost incident, instead he seemed pleased by his son's behavior. "That's my boy! He's just like me, don't you agree Tunia?"

Petunia nodded smiling at her husband and settling back in to enjoy her breakfast when the phone rang forcing her to stand up to answer it instead. The twins were not allowed to answer the phone, half of the people calling had no idea the twins even existed and it would just lead to unwanted questions if a child who wasn't their perfect Dudders answered the phone.

Petunia quickly left the room, always cautious of being too close to the twins. It didn't take her long till she returned looking rather angry. Her glare was focused on the twins and Emily knew whatever was coming they were about to be blamed for.

Turning to Vernon Petunia sniffed, "Mrs. Figg has broken her leg."

Vernon grunted waving his fork to acknowledge the statement but obviously not understanding that his wife was upset.

"Vernon."

Looking up the man swallowed his mouthful and shrugged. He didn't see the problem; the old woman had broken her leg that didn't change anything.

"Mrs. Figg insists she cannot take them," Petunia gestured sharply with her head in the twins' direction.

Dudley looked instantly shocked, he even dropped his fork ready to protest but Emily couldn't have cared about his reaction any longer, her heart dropped. Mrs. Figg was the old cat lady who lived just down the street from Number Four. She watched Emily and Harry whenever the Dursleys went out as a family. Emily didn't particularly like it there but it was better than Uncle Vernon's sister Marge who seemed to think the twins were nothing more than animals, often gifting them dog treats when she arrived. At least Mrs. Figg saw the twins as children and allowed them to their own devices which meant today Emily would be allowed to lay down for however long she desired.

A sharp pain drew Emily's attention, looking over she noticed Harry nodding towards their Aunt and Uncle. His eyes gave away his excitement, he hated Mrs. Figg's house and any prospect to avoid going there she knew he would take.

"There's always Marge," Vernon offered and Emily watched the excitement dim in her brother's eyes. "She could watch the them."

"We couldn't ask her to do that without Dudley being here."

Vernon nodded, "I doubt she would agree to it anyway."

"We could stay here," Harry offered and Emily had to suppress an eye roll. By asking to stay it guaranteed their Aunt and Uncle would do the exact opposite. If there was even an inkling that a decision would make the twins happy the plans would suddenly change.

Aunt Petunia did not appreciate the interruption and Emily decided it was best that she and her brother returned to their cupboard. Grabbing Harry by the arm she dragged him out of the kitchen and carefully climbed onto their small bed before shutting the door.

"Why are we in here?" Harry asked rubbing his arm as he settled in next to his sister. "I wanted to hear that."

"Yes, well you made sure they won't be leaving us here alone so you can check that off your list of possibilities," Emily swore her brother looked slightly happy at the thought, grabbing her side as she made to lie down she continued, "It's better we're here."

Harry dropped his head at the reminder of his sister's pain and nodded, "How are you feeling?"

"It would help if my head stopped pounding," Emily groaned as she heard a plate crash back in the kitchen.

Harry looked back at the wall in the direction of the sound, "What do you think is making him this upset?"

"I don't know, maybe he didn't like one of the gifts."

"Do you think it has to do with us?"

"I don't know," Emily answered trying to adjust herself on the little mattress. "Whatever is making him upset, you can bet it will stop when they cave."

It wasn't long before the twins heard the doorbell ring and their Aunt was rapping at their door for them to get into the lounge. The twins slowly moved into the sitting room and waited by the sofa, neither one comfortable with sitting down. Moments later they were joined by Piers Polkiss, one of Dudley's best friends and a part of his little gang. The group was feared by many of the younger kids in the area because the gang often enjoyed beating them up.

Piers turned towards Emily and winked, he had decided that girls no longer had cooties and made it his goal to annoy Emily into kissing him. He had not succeeded in his attempt but it was clear the boy had no plans to give up any time soon.

In an odd twist, Emily and Harry were going to the zoo with the Dursleys and Piers. Emily was not thrilled but by the slightly guilty look on her brother's face she could tell he was thrilled about the decision. Sighing Emily couldn't completely begrudge him the excitement but she needed to be resting not walking around a zoo. She highly doubted that if her Aunt and Uncle were forced to pay for their entrance to the zoo she wouldn't be allowed to sit on a bench somewhere close to the entrance while everyone else wandered around.

Uncle Vernon was quick to give the twins their usual warning before they went anywhere, if anything unnatural happened the pair would live to regret it. To be fair odd things did tend to occur around the twins but it wasn't as if they were trying to make it happen. Well that might not be entirely true Emily thought, there certainly seemed to be something different about her and Harry. The things that happened around them were never exactly normal and it was almost as if whatever was occurring was reacting to their very wish.

Harry had regrown his hair overnight after their Aunt had sheered him almost bald on Vernon's request. Harry had gone to bed upset because they had school the next day and the twins already were teased enough. When the pair woke the next morning, Harry didn't believe Emily when she tried to tell him that his hair looked like their Aunt had never touched it. He quickly started believing her the second Aunt Petunia started screeching about their freakish natures.

Emily's biggest clue that perhaps it was the twins causing some of the havoc, came when she was being chased by Dudley's gang. She had been running out of space as she ran around a corner and thought about the safety of her little room. She turned quickly to check on her pursuers and the next thing she knew she was safe in her cupboard.

Her feeling of safety was short lived. The Dursleys had received a panicked phone call from the school stating Emily had disappeared. Her Aunt had found her hiding in the cupboard a few hours later. She had been severely punished by a very purple looking Vernon and then locked in the cupboard for her behavior. She had tried to explain herself but even the truth sounded crazy to her.

Emily had attempted to replicate the action a few times, she wasn't always successful but when she was she was careful to return to the school yard before break was over. Harry has insisted she stop trying, so as not to get into trouble but without telling his sister he had made his own attempts to control whatever this power was. He couldn't disappear like Emily but he had in anger one day wished the teacher's hair blue and before he knew it the woman was running out of the room to a bathroom and the class was dying of laughter. Luckily for him no one could blame him as he had never moved from his desk.

As they drove Emily was too busy trying to make Piers stop putting his hand on her thigh to pay attention to her uncle's ramblings. Vernon was always complaining about something, usually it was about her and Harry but at the moment it had something to do with motorcycles from the little she heard.

Emily wanted to smack Piers but she couldn't hit the boy in the car with her Aunt and Uncle so close. Piers could easily get her in trouble and he was well aware of that fact. Emily kept trying to move her leg over but it forced her to twist her body which caused pain to shoot through her body. Sighing she had no idea how she had ended up between the door and Piers, usually Harry was sat right next to her but he was currently on the opposite end of the backseat bench. Emily had a feeling she had been set up by Dudley and his friend.

Drawn from her battle with Piers, Vernon's yelling instantly caught her attention and luckily for her, distracted her current foe. It seemed Harry had mentioned a dream they both seemed to have from time to time about a flying motorcycle. What was Harry thinking to mention that to their Uncle? Harry knew perfectly well that Vernon disliked things that did not fall into his perfect idea of ordinary and acceptable behavior. Flying motorcycles would only be seen as unnatural by their Uncle. The twins weren't even allowed to watch cartoons because of the abnormal things the characters did in them and their Uncle's fear it make give the twins freakish ideas.

Vernon was calmed by Petunia as the group pulled into the parking lot. The zoo was extremely busy that day and Emily couldn't bring herself to enjoy the rare trip out. Her thoughts kept drifting back to her dark cupboard, she willed her body to heal as best she could but it only brought her slight relief. Harry on the other hand was clearly excited and awed. He was happily eating a lemon ice pop as he pointed out animals that reminded him of Dudley, quietly of course, in his own attempt to raise his sister's spirits.

Overall Emily supposed the morning hadn't been too bad despite the pain she was still in. She found Harry's little comments amusing and it was interesting to watch the people around her. Piers for his part had been so excited about the animals that he and Dudley kept far ahead of the twins leaving Emily free to stroll without worry. Just to be safe though she made sure to stay far enough behind the boys figuring the less they saw of her the less likely Piers would remember it had been hours since his last attempt at bothering her.

When the group finally approached the reptile house Emily swore she could hear soft mumbling from inside, that had an edge of a hiss to it. Looking over at her brother, Emily noticed he seemed to be hearing it as well if the confused look on his face was anything to go by. Dudley and Piers heard nothing and quickly took off in an attempt to find the largest snake on display.

Once they had found what they were looking for the two boys pounded as hard as they could against the glass. Dudley demanded his father try but even Uncle Vernon's large fists couldn't rouse the reptile from its rest. Emily could barely take it anymore, though her side was not as bad as she expected it would be after being on her feet for so long, her head was beginning to pound. The reptile house was filled with so much chatter. Leaning against the now abandoned tank, her cousin had lost interest with, Emily closed her eyes for a moment.

"Shut up," she hissed quietly trying not to be heard speaking by her Uncle who wasn't too terribly far away from her. She heard a tap on the glass close to her head and she turned to see the snake staring straight at her. "Can you understand me?"

"Yessss…" the snake's head seemed to nod.

Emily looked towards her brother to see if he was close enough to hear. His eyes were wide as he stepped closer to her and asked, "Do you often speak to people here?"

The snake shook its head before hissing out a, "No."

"Do you have a name?" Emily asked still leaning slightly on the glass.

"The humansss call me Issshtar…"

"What are you two doing?" Piers asked as he came up behind Emily who instantly froze.

Instead of going for her, the boy looked into the glass tank and noticed the snake was awake and looking at the twins. He turned around and called out to Dudley and Vernon to come and see the snake. Dudley immediately came in between Emily and Piers knocking her to the floor. Emily felt the air leave her and the pain in her ribs started to flare once again. Grabbing at her ribs she felt anger course through her, that stupid pig! Glaring at Dudley whose face was pressed up against the glass, she wished him harm. Within seconds Dudley was suddenly falling forward and flailing to stop himself from ending up next to the snake. The glass in front of the huge tank had vanished.

Piers shrieked like a little girl as Ishtar raised her body up and began to slither out of her once cage. She seemed to pause and glance over at Emily, it was as if she sensed Emily's anger and she snapped at the terrified boy's feet. Harry merely took a step away and stared at the snake as she slithered towards his sister, a smile crossing his face momentarily as Piers ran as fast as he could out of the reptile house. Emily swore Ishtar winked at her as she slithered past and out the same way Piers had just disappeared from.

The escape of Ishtar had sent the zoo into a frenzy. The snake keepers had been sent to try and track her down. Emily highly doubted they would ever see the snake again. The zoo kept apologizing as they wrapped Piers and Dudley in blankets, the pair refused to go back into the reptile house so the workers had gone back in alone to examine the tank and try to understand exactly what had happened to the glass.

Emily and Harry did their best to stay out of view of their relatives. Emily knew she must have caused it somehow and that punishment was a guarantee but the longer she could put it off the better. She still hadn't healed from the night before. Maybe tomorrow they would just leave her in the cupboard, in the peace and dark to rest. She knew she wouldn't be able to go to school if she had another punishment. She healed far faster than normal people she assumed but it was never instant.

The drive home was agonizing, Emily who was in pain and fearing more stared out the car window in an attempt to tune out the extremely exaggerated tales Piers and Dudley were telling about their encounter with the snake. She felt Pier's hand reach out and rest on her thigh. Shoving it off, Piers turned and gave her a smile which told her she was about to regret her previous action.

"You know, now that I think about it, I saw Emily talking to the snake before Dudley fell into the tank. I think she was the one to wake it up!"

Emily shrank back in her seat and tried to ignore the eyes of her Uncle that she could feel boring into her from the rearview mirror. She really dreaded reaching the house now, as Piers satisfied with himself turned towards Dudley and started discussing what they were going to tell the rest of their class come Monday.

When they got back to Number Four tensions were high in the house. Until Piers left Emily and Harry were safe as their Uncle could not be seen to punish them with him around. Piers may have been a cruel boy but Emily doubted even he thought his words would earn her more than a tongue lashing.

Piers finally left after a small dinner had been eaten. Petunia instructed the twins to head to their cupboard as Vernon headed for his alcohol cabinet. Eventually Emily and Harry came to the conclusion that their Uncle must have been too drunk to come back for them, he was probably passed out by now.

Emily really didn't care why her Uncle never came just that it gave her time to rest. She didn't know if her body could take another beating so soon after last night and having the injury jostled when Dudley knocked her to the ground earlier. She tried very hard to avoid punishments but her brother wasn't always so careful. It hadn't taken her long after the beatings started to realize her Uncle went a bit easier on her than Harry so she often allowed herself to take the blame for his actions and bring the majority of the punishments on herself. That's not to say she was completely guiltless just she tended to have more caution in her actions then his sometimes-brash nature. Tonight though, it would have been difficult to get through and she doubted Harry could take a punishment like this alone, Vernon had been far too worked up for one twin to be enough to release all his anger on.

As Emily laid in the dark, her brother having fallen asleep, she thought over the past ten years, at least what she could remember. Living with the Dursleys was exhausting and she often found herself wishing she could recall a time when her parents were alive. She liked to image that they had loved her and Harry, that they had lots of friends and had looked at them the way she often found her Aunt Petunia staring at her little Dudders. Sometimes if she focused hard enough she could see a bright green light and hear a woman pleading. She couldn't exactly make out the words the woman was saying but she thought perhaps it was during the car crash that killed her parents. Where the green light came from she was unsure but it was something she supposed.

Perhaps, she thought, the man from her dreams the night before played somewhere in the picture but tonight she was simply too tired to think on it any longer. She needed rest because come Monday she would have to return to school and face the ridicule that always awaited the twins. It was well known by most students that Emily and Harry were disliked by Dudley's gang. The strange Potter twins, the orphans forced to live on the charity of their relatives found no reprieve with the students as nobody liked to disagree with Dudley or his gang.