Marley Potter Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on this dark and dreary night at Number four on Privet Drive, except for the two children situated on a rickety bed inside a cramped, dark, and damp cupboard under the stairs. The names Harry and Marley Potter were well known in every Wizarding household, famous even for the destruction of a dark wizard, hell bent on upholding the virtues of blood purity. Harry is soundly sleeping, his unruly dark curls cover his scar given to him by the dark wizard. Being the first born, he was significantly larger than his twin, Marley and continues this trend. The young girl next to him twitches and jerks. Her uneven auburn locks fling themselves as she turns her head. Marley jolts up and wipes at her sweaty face. Harry stirs besides her and puts on his glasses. With one hand on her chest she attempts to slow her breathing.

"What's wrong?" Harry asks, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Snakes." Marley breathes.
"You saw snakes in your dream?" Harry clarifies.
" We are going to the zoo tomorrow."
"I know, but I just have a feeling, something big is going to happen and change everything." Marley rubs her temples.
"Do you know what's supposed to happen?" Harry asks.
"It was blurry but a snake escaped." Marley lays back down.
"So we'll just stick together." Harry takes his glasses off to go back to sleep.
"Harry." Marley pokes his arm.

"Yes, Marls." Harry lays back down.
" One day we'll be far away from this place, and they'll be sorry."
"Marls…" Harry sighs.
"I mean it, once we move out, I'm never speaking to them again."
"Marls…" Harry repeats.
"I'll make them sorry, once I'm rich."
"Marls, go to sleep." Harry says.
"Good night, Harry." Marley says taking her blanket and turning away from him.
"Good night, Marley." Harry shifts over. Marley yawns, lets her eyes close and drift off to sleep.


"Get up!" Petunia bangs on the cupboard door, " Now!"
"We're going to the zoo!" Dudley jumps on the stairs.

Dust begins to fall from the ceiling covering the two waking children. They change and come out of the cupboard. Marley wipes off her ill-fitting glasses with her olive green shirt. She puts them on and continues to the kitchen with Harry.

"Everything will be perfect for Dudley's special day." Petunia says squeezing his cheeks.

Marley takes over cooking the bacon and eggs.

"Coffee boy!" Vernon barks at Harry.

Harry pours the coffee as Dudley begins to whine about the number of the presents. Marley plates the breakfast on the table. She stands near Harry picking at the sleeve of her jumper. Breakfast goes by silently with little pleasantries as the Dursley's never made it a habit to be pleasant people. Before getting into the car, Vernon looks over the two small children. "I'm warning you two now, any funny business, any at all, and you won't have any meals for a week." Marley gulps, she remembers those types of punishments. When she started having those dreams of things that were going to happen, Marley used to tell teachers or even Petunia. The first punishment was no food for either of them for three days. She hated getting Harry in trouble. He didn't do anything and she didn't want him to hate her. The two climb in the car and a short while later they pull up to the Zoo's entrance to the reptile room. Iguanas lazily lay in the warmth of the heater in the enclosure. Snakes of all sorts and sizes lay mostly sleeping after a nice meal, in their enclosures. So far so good, everyone is inside. Dudley, Harry, and Marley stand in front of one snake's enclosure. Vernon stands behind Dudley flanked by his wife.

"Make it more!" Dudley shouted.
"Move!" Vernon taps the glass with his knuckle.
"It's sleeping." Harry says.
"They do that, a lot." Marley adds.
"He's boring." Dudley walks off leaving the twins staring at the snake.
"Hi, Mr. Snake." Marley addresses him.
"Sorry about him, he doesn't know what it's like lying there day after day watching people press their ugly faces in on you." Harry says.

Marley notices something odd about the snake's body language, as though he's listening to Harry and grabs his shoulder.

"What?" Harry looks towards her away from the snake.
"Say something else to the snake." Marley points back to it. Harry turns back to the snake and sees it wink. "Can you hear me?"

The snake nods and Marley's eyes move from the snake to Harry.

"Never talked to a snake before. Do you talk to people often?" The snake shakes its head.

Marley looks around to see no one else finding this exchange odd. Every other adult is looking over the children, the zookeepers are giving tours on the other side of the building.

"Was it nice in Burma? Do you miss your family?"
"Harry, he.." Marley points towards the bred in captivity sign.
"Oh, I see. That's us as well. We never knew our parents." Harry explains to the snake.
"Mummy Dad, come here." Dudley says rushing the exhibit.

He shoves Harry hard into Marley and the two of them fall. Dudley leans forward against the glass to get a better look. Marley looks over at Harry and sees his face grow into one of concentration. The glass in front of Dudley vanishes and he falls over the safety rail into the small pond portion of the enclosure. He smiles over at Marley as she helps him up and brushes herself off. The snake slithers over the safety rail stopping once by Harry and then crawling off. The screams of patrons follow as he goes off enjoying his new freedom.

"Are you alright?" Marley asks.
"Yeah," Harry nods, " You?"
"It will bruise, but I'm okay." Marley shrugs.

The glass seals around Dudley, trapping him in the empty enclosure.

"Dudley!" Petunia yells.


The ride home was quiet except for Dudley's whimpering. Marley looked at Harry and nods. This was it, the dream. Harry and Marley were going to be kicked out; she just knew it. Perhaps she and Harry could find a big cardboard box to sleep in for a few nights if the weather is nice. Petunia walks Dudley inside wrapped inside a thick blanket. Vernon grabs the two children by the back of their heads and shoves them inside.

" What happened?" He asks, pulling their hair.
"I swear I don't know." Harry says.
"We didn't do anything." Marley adds, eyes wet with tears.
"The glass was there, then not." Harry explains.
"Like magic." Marley adds.

Vernon shoves the two into the cupboard, slams the door, and locks it. Marley tries to blink away the tears that were formed but more keep falling.

"Marls…" Harry trails off.
"When I'm grown," Marley wipes away her tears with her sleeves," I'm going to beat up Uncle Vernon."
"Marls."
"I'll make him regret hurting us, or taking away meals, or treating us like servants." Marley adds.
"Let me see the bruise." Harry asks, holding a hand out for her elbow.

Marley shows Harry her forearm. A large purple spot covers her elbow. She winces when Harry bends her arm.

"There's not much in here to help but." Harry settles on a scarf and ties it around her arm.

He takes the pillow off the bed and places it under her arm. Marley opens her mouth to thank him but closes it at the last minute and decides to hug him. Harry hugs her back resting his chin on top of her head.

"I guess I was wrong about my dream. A snake escaped but..I was sure things were going to change for us…" She admits.
"It's okay, I still wouldn't bet against you." Harry smiles.

Marley lays down with a sigh and Harry lays beside her.

"I guess what happened at the zoo constitutes funny business, right?" She asks.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, Marls."
"It's okay, Harry. Wasn't hungry anyway." Marley takes the blanket from her side of the bed, wraps herself into a cocoon and leans her head against the wall.