Nearly ten years had passed since I was dropped off at the hospital into my mom's arms. My mother was an American nurse that had been visiting the UK at the time. She had no idea what to do with me so she adopted me and took me back home with her. She has raised me in a small town, and I had just finished elementary school. My mom decided that a trip to the UK was a perfect way to celebrate before I went to middle school.

I had just got off the plane and I could already hear the gossip about my hair. Ever since I could remember my hair has always been brown with bright blue streaks. I thought it looked pretty cool, but others couldn't believe my mom would let me have those in my hair. I shrugged it off and continued to the luggage claim with my mom. "You excited?" she asked me. I nodded with a smile. We soon gathered everything and were off towards the St. Ermin's hotel.

After getting settled in the hotel, we headed towards the zoo nearby, and I had a blast. We finally reached the reptile house after exploring the rest of the zoo. I quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around a car and crush it easily - but at the moment it was fast asleep. I stood there intently watching it.

Soon a very fat boy with blonde hair that made me thing of a pig in a wig came in. He was quickly followed by two boys about his age, a woman, and a man he greatly resembled. The boy soon found the snake I was looking at and shoved me out of the way. The boy stood with his nose pressed against the glass. "Make it move," he whined at the man. The man tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't move. "Do it again," the boy ordered. The man rapped the glass with his knuckles, but the snake stayed fast asleep. "This is boring," the boy moaned and he shuffled away.

Another boy moved closer to the tank as did I. "I wonder where the words 'excuse me' went," I said. The boy laughed at me. He had jet black hair that was very messy. He also had emerald green eyes with broken round glasses. I stuck my hand out and said," I'm Zoe'." He shook my hand. "I'm Harry."

"Nice to meet you Harry." We both turned back towards the glass to see the snake had opened his eyes and was slowly raising his head to where it was eye level with mine and Harry's. It winked. The snake jerked it head towards the man and the boy, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave us a look that said quite plainly: I get that all the time. "I know," Harry murmured through the glass. "It must be really annoying." The snake nodded vigorously. "Where do you come from, anyways," I asked. The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. I peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil. "Was it nice there?" I questioned. The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and I read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh I see."

"So you've never been to Brazil?" Harry asked this time. As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind us made the three of us jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" The boy, who I now knew was named Dudley, came waddling towards us as fast as he could. "Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs and knocking him into me. Caught by surprised, we both fell hard on the concrete floor. Anger filled me for Dudley and his friend. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened – one second, Dudley and his friend were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they leapt back with howls of horrors.

We both sat up and I gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People were screaming and exiting. As the snake slid swiftly past us, I could hear a low, hissing voice say, "Brazil here I come… Thanksss, amigosss." The keeper of the reptile house finally arrived and was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" My mother quickly grabbed my hand and dragged me to the car. "Zoe' what happened?" she asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "Oh no don't give me the shoulder shrug, I want an answer." I sighed.

"I don't know what happened, Mom. One second the glass was there, the next it was gone. It was like magic," I answered.

"There is no such thing as magic," was my mother's last comment on the subject.