I never did get a chance to thank you all for the reviews you gave the first chapter...not the first chapter before this, but the one I replaced...yeah, well, thank you!!!! I had to switch it, though. Enjoy! Things will start becoming shorter and shorter, I think, just to tell you.
HP
Harry glared angrily in the direction of his Uncle Vernon. He really did hate him.
Whenever Dudley didn't want to do something, Harry had to do it. It was just the little things – clearing the table, getting a glass of water for Aunt Petunia, feeding the gerbil – but still. They all added up and in the end it was like several very large and tedious jobs that he really didn't want to do either.
But he had to do it. He had no choice. They fed him, gave him a cupboard to sleep in and allowed him to go to school. It was Aunt Petunia who had changed his diapers when he was young, and Uncle Vernon who had bought him the few toys he had. He remembered this very well – they liked to remind him every few hours.
He trudged into the front room with a frustrated sigh and looked for the mail his uncle had told him to go and 'fetch.' Honestly, was he some sort of dog? They certainly treated him so.
Not for the first time in the past few years, Harry wondered what it would have been like if his parents hadn't gotten into a car crash…or at least if he had had some decent relatives.
He picked up the mail and flipped through curiously. He liked to sometimes check what his aunt and uncle were going to receive before they got it. Perhaps he could reply to one of Aunt Marge's letters before Aunt Petunia began welcoming her graciously into the house for another weekend's stay.
Wouldn't she be surprised?
His hands suddenly stopped as he hit a rather odd sort of paper. He looked the material over carefully. It was odd, yellow, and seemingly rather weatherworn, as though it hadn't come via truck, but by someone running for miles with it held up high in the air. He flipped it over to look at the back, where there was a large, red, seal covering the lip of the envelope. It said…
"Boy! What's taking so long?"
Quickly he slipped the letter into his hand-me-down jeans pocket. He made his way back into the kitchen and set the rest of the mail on the table.
"Here you are." He said.
Uncle Vernon glared in his direction a little longer than he normally would have, and then averted his attention to the bills.
A few moments passed, and, when Dudley opened his mouth to speak, Uncle Vernon suddenly said, "So, boy, you're turning eleven in a few weeks?"
"Yes." Harry said curiously. They never mentioned his birthday before hand. What was so different that year?
His uncle grunted and looked at Aunt Petunia.
HP
Harry had completely forgotten about the letter until he went to change into his pyjamas that night. He checked the pockets for anything he might of found outside that day and left neglected, and, sure enough, touch the rough paper he had been examining earlier.
Making sure the door was locked, he turned the envelope over in his hand and lay back on his sheets, half naked. His eyes were once again drawn to the great, wax patch in the middle of the paper, and could just read out the letters…H-O-G-W-A-R-T-S. Hog warts? What the hell?
Confused, he turned it over once more, determined to find out who had sent this. It was obviously someone important – no one used seals anymore.
Unfortunately, though, Harry found no return address. Disappointed at the thought that it might just be some sort of fancy invitation for Aunt Petunia, his eyes flickered over the centre writing…
He had to do a double take.
Harry Potter
He took his glasses off and tried to read it again, but, quite obviously, couldn't, and so decided to just open it up and see what sort of prank this was. Surely it was from one of Dudley's friends?
He stopped just as his fingers brushed up against the seal, though. If he needed to, would he be able to seal it again without ruining the shape of the wax?…Probably, he hoped, or he could take it off and just lick it shut. Yes, that would work perfectly…or, if it didn't...he'd figure something out.
With practised hands, Harry opened the letter without ripping any edges. He pulled the paper from inside, and began reading...
When he was done, he read it again.
And again.
And again.
He read it over until every letter had burned its way into his memory. It was the most convincing prank he had ever received - if indeed it was a prank. But was it? It would have to be...it just didn't make sense...but it did!
He looked at the front of the envelope once more.
The Cupboard Beneath the Stairs, it said. Dudley's friends didn't know he slept under the stairs. Aunt Petunia let him sleep in the spare room whenever they came over, so that their parents wouldn't find out. They slept over so often, though, that Harry wondered why she didn't just let him keep it.
So then it couldn't be Dudley's friends...
Harry rolled off the bed and decided to do something rather daring, even for him:
Confront the Dursleys.
HP
"You what?!" Uncle Vernon's half asleep look immediately fell away.
"I received a letter from-"
"No!" his face flared red, "No, you did not receive a letter! There were no letters to you that I saw!"
"Yes, I know. I put the letter in the room after I saw it was mine." Harry lied.
Aunt Petunia watched them from the bed, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Uncle Vernon stood with the door wide open, but his hand was at the ready to slam it shut at any time. Harry stood just a little away - he didn't want to get whacked in the face if his uncle did decide to close it.
"Anyway," he said quickly, " I was wondering if you knew who it was from? See, it says here...'Hogwarts,' but I didn't know who...so I thought..." he was fumbling with the letter, trying to pull it out from the envelope once more.
"H-hogwarts?" Uncle Vernon squeaked feebly. Harry saw his face pale considerably at he glanced at his wife, whose mouth was open in shock.
A little exchange went through the two of them silently.
"Great!" Harry smiled and shifted contentedly, "So you know them?"
The door slammed shut two inches from his nose.
HP
A few days later found Harry all alone at the zoo, the Dursleys all gone off a few cages down to check out the other reptiles. Dudley was bored of snakes.
Leaning his head tiredly on the railing, Harry reminisced on the 'conversations' Uncle Vernon had had with him the past few times they had talked. He seemed quite determined to remind Harry that there was no such thing as magic, and that things like that went through the mail all the time. He told him not to go outside after dark (not that he was allowed to, anyway), and explained to him what a stalker was, and that some stranger had probably been following him for awhile, and was trying to lure him out to a secluded spot so that he could kidnap him for a ransom.
Had Harry believed any of this, though, he would have been over with the Dursleys looking at the chameleons. But he wasn't, of course. No, he was leaning over the railing quite a ways away, with his forehead pressed up against the glass of a…(he glanced over at the sign) Brazilian adder's cage.
He looked over at the snake wearily, who was staring back at him with a rather similar expression.
"I know how you feel, buddy." He said with a slight smile.
The snake suddenly shot its head up, staring at him with a suddenly anxious look.
"You can speak!"
It took a moment for Harry to register the fact that it was the snake that had said this.
"Oh Merlin, yes! You can speak!"
"Wha-?" Harry gaped stupidly.
"Finally! Someone to hear my pleas! Get me out! Please, sweet boy, get me the hell out of here!"
Recovering quickly, Harry glared at the snake.
"How are you talking?"
It looked at him with an expression that made him feel stupid.
"The same way you are, wizard - the language of the snakes. You, my dear wizard, are a Parseltongue."
"You sure know a lot for being bred in captivity." his glare intensified.
"And you little, for being what you are."
They stood there for a while, staring each other down, when Harry suddenly broke into a very large grin.
"Have you ever heard of a place called Hogwarts?"
The snake hissed slightly, and rested his head on the rock below him.
"I'll tell you all about Hogwarts, if you let me out of this damned prison."
"Deal!" Harry exclaimed, "But you go first."
"Okay…well,"
And the snake ranted on for a very long time, Harry stopping him every once in a while for a question or two. He learned about everything he had never known: wizards and witches, Quidditch, wands, magical creatures, Hogwarts, classes, curses, laws, charmed candy, purebloods, squibs, half bloods, giants, how the wizards hid everything from the 'muggles', and what was going on with the magical half of the world as of late.
"Nothing really interesting has been happening lately, what with the fall of Nagini's master a while back…"
"Nagini's master?" Harry interrupted, "Who's that?"
The snake gave him a look.
"Voldemort…a very famous dark wizard…went bad a long time ago…everyone was afraid to say his name…beautiful snake, he has…beautiful, I tell you…"
"'Was'?" Harry urged, "What happened to him?"
"Well, you know how it goes," the snake yawned, "He heard that there was some boy – don't remember his name – that was going to grow up to be even more powerful than him, so, of course, he went after him…killed his family…he seemed to like doing that, killing. Anyways, yes, he went to kill the boy, too, but when he shot the curse, something happened that no one could explain. You see, Voldemort vanished, and the boy got off with nothing but a scratch to his forehead." He slithered around slightly, "Or that's what I heard, anyway. Aren't we getting a little off topic? I mean, I really could use a-"
Suddenly, a great big booming voice called from nowhere, "Where the bloody hell have you been, boy?!"
Harry turned to see a very angry Uncle Vernon puffing back at him.
"Looking at the snakes." He said, with an obvious gesture to the Brazilian adder.
"And what have I been telling you for the past few days?"
"I'm perfectly able to take care of myself, thank you very much." Harry growled indignantly.
Dudley laughed evilly from beside him.
"I think we should lock him up in the cupboard for a few days!" he declared loudly, leaning on the glass to the cage.
Uncle Vernon nodded appreciatively.
Harry glared intensely over at his spoiled cousin, willing someone to just come over and whack him hard in the head with something solid, or push him into the fountain, or kick his fat ass through the glass, or…or…anything.
And suddenly the glass didn't even exist.
Dudley fell over into the nasty swamp water beside the rock that the snake was resting on. The adder jumped up in glee, suddenly, and began making its way out of the cage. It slithered as fast as it could away, stopping only to whisper a quick, 'thankss' to Harry, and vanished out of the reptile house. Dudley stood up quickly, but couldn't stay standing with all the slippery moss beneath his feet.
Harry tried to hide his laughter, he really did, but a smile still made its way onto his face.
"BOY!"
The next few days Harry spent in his cupboard.
ITB
Okay, so that's my next chapter! Hope it was alright – don't worry, he'll meet Draco soon, by the way. So…review! Bye!