To Fix The Past
Warnings: There may be cursing, and if you haven't read any of the books there are spoilers…obviously. And seriously…if you haven't…where the hell have you been? There is also going to be bashing of certain characters…but not for a while yet.
Pongs…you know what to do!
Prongs: If Loopy Looney Charny owned any of this, she would have made it so Sirius, Fred, Tonks, Remus, Dobby and a whole lot of others didn't die. She also would have made sure that the final battle didn't end so anti-climatically.
"Sooo… who is going to read next?" Fate asked the group.
There was a pause, and since no one seemed to be stepping up, Lucius said…
"I will."
Remus handed him the book.
"The next chapter is…"
Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass
"The Vanishing Glass" Lucius read the next chapter title.
"What does that mean?" Peter asked.
"Well…" Remus started.
"Harry is probably going to do some accidental magic that involves a piece of glass vanishing."
"Right" Peter said, nodding firmly.
The majority of the room just rolled their eyes at his stupidity.
Harry, on the other hand, was finding it difficult to not murder the rat on the spot, he was also worried about what his parents and godfathers, both honorary and not, would think about him after this..
Hermione, seeing this, grabbed his hand quickly, instantly calming him down and giving him silent support.
Lucius cleared his throat and started to read.
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken on up to find their nephew on the front step,
"So Harry should be getting his Hogwarts letter soon!" Lily said enthusiastically, and this caused grins to come on the majority of the room's faces.
Draco was the exception, he still thinks that Harry is treated like royalty…well, he is about to find out how wrong he is.
but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursley's front door; it crept into their living-room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bobble hats – but Dudley Dursley
"Hehe…he's a beach ball." Sirius giggled.
This caused the rest of the room to giggle as well. Even the Slytherins.
was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large, blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a roundabout at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house too.
"Where are you Harry?" James asked, worry shining in his eyes.
Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.
"Poor you." Lily and Severus sympathised.
"Up! Get up! Now!"
Harry woke up with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.
"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking towards the kitchen and the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker. He rolled on to his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one.
"That's good." Alice said happily. She loved waking up from happy dreams.
It seems her smile, or thoughts, or both were contagious, because soon, the entire room was grinning.
There had been a flying motorbike in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.
"No Prongslete, you have lived it before." Sirius said.
His aunt was back outside the door.
"Are you up yet?" she demanded.
"Nearly," said Harry.
"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."
There was a choked round of laughter in the room, after hearing Dudley's nick name.
"He is definitely going to have mental problems." Remus said, wiping a tear from his eye, whilst everyone else could only nod in agreement.
Harry grinned, when he remembered some of the other nick names for Dudley that would be coming up.
Harry groaned.
'What did you say?' his aunt snapped through the door.
'Nothing, nothing…'
Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten?
"You didn't forget, you purposefully repressed the mere idea of it." Hermione said.
Another round of 'Know-it-all' went around the room.
"She's right you know." Lily said, with Severus and Nacrissa nodding along.
Everyone else just rolled there eyes.
Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on.
"Why were there spiders on your socks mate?" Ron asked, shivering at the memory of his spider teddy.
Fred and George grinned at the memory.
Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.
"WHAT???!!!!" was yelled by everyone, excluding Fate and Harry.
Harry sunk down in his chair.
"I am going to kill my sister!" Lily fumed.
"Not if I do it first." James raged.
Everyone else were in various stages of rage.
Once they all calmed down, Draco walked over to Harry, held out his hand and said…
"Sorry for all that I did to you back then, but I thought you were treated like royalty by your family. I sincerely regret it. I hope you will accept my apology, and we can start over."
He waited with baited breath, as Harry's piercing emerald eyes, stared into his grey ones. Those eyes always made him shiver.
Suddenly, Harry took his hand and said…
"Hi, my name is Harry Potter. Nice to meet you."
Draco grinned.
"Draco Malfoy, pleasure is all mine."
Everyone, except two fuming red-heads were smiling happily at the rival-turned-friends.
When he was dressed he went down the hall to the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had got the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – unless of course it involved punching somebody.
"Bullying git." Severus muttered.
Dudley's favourite punch-bag was Harry,
A growl was heard through the room.
but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.
"How did you get so fast? Prongsy ain't fast unless he's on a broom." Sirius questioned.
"True" Remus commented.
"That would be from me." Lily said, looking faintly annoyed.
"You know, his mother, the other half of his gene pool."
"OH" Sirius and Peter said.
Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.
"That would have to be true, I was an average weight and fairly tall at your age. And I can remember Lily too, she was and is perfect in absolutely everything." James trailed off dreamily.
Lily looked at him with amusement, then said..
"Yeah, I wasn't short for my age at all."
He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.
This caused several persons in the room to curse so violently, that it would have made a sailor blush.
Harry had a thin face,
"Lily's" Severus commented.
knobbly knees,
"James' Dad." Frank said
black hair
"Every Potter male" All pure-blood or half-blood in the room said.
and bright-green eyes.
"Mine and my many-time great-grandmother's" Lily replied, smiling happily.
"In fact…" she continued thoughtfully,
"Yours are more jewel like in appearance than mine." There were nods of agreement from everyone in the room.
He wore round glasses
"You got the Potter sight…poor you." James commented.
"When you get to Hogwarts, go to Madam Pomfrey, ask for your eyes to be fixed, and she will do it straight away." He continued.
"It has already happened da…" Harry started to say then turned to face his dad and said…
"She can do that?"
"Yes… my father didn't see fit to tell me until the beginning of sixth year, now I just have to be bothered to go get it done and lay in the hospital wing for a month." He replied.
Both James and Harry shuddered.
"I think I will pass." Harry muttered.
held together with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
"How is your nose still straight?" asked Severus, who had a crooked nose from all the time it was broken by his father.
"Dunno." Harry replied off-handily.
The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightening.
"That is not going to last long." Ginny said.
He had it as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had got it.
'In the car crash when your parents died,'
"Car crash?" was repeated by everyone in the room, very faintly, not believing that is how Harry though his parents had died.
she had said. 'And don't ask questions.'
"Is that why you don't ask questions in class?" Hermione asked him in a whisper.
"I…don't…know…" He replied.
Don't ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
'Comb your hair!' he barked, by way of morning greeting.
"Not gonna work…" All the marauders said in a sing-song voice.
All the others from 1976 were sympathising with Harry for getting the Potter hair.
"Told you it just grew that way Ron, Hermione." Harry told them.
They just rolled their eyes.
About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut.
"He just said to comb it, not cut it." Tonks said. She was now sporting Golden blond waves, and ocean blue eyes.
"No, that was the day before." Harry replied.
Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.
There were sympathetic sounds made all around the room, except James who was just grinning proudly.
Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large, pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes and thick, blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat neck. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel – Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.
There was a roar of laughter in the room, after they heard this.
"Harry –" Fred started.
"Why –" George continued.
"Didn't –"
"You –"
"Tell-"
"Us?" They finished together.
"I was kind of busy in my Hogwarts years." He told them.
"Aah." The said in understanding.
Harry put plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.
'Thirty-six,' he said, looking up at his mother and father. 'That's two less than lat year.'
"36?" was the one thing repeated around the room.
"That kid gets more presents than me." Regulus said."
"Yeah…and he's the favourite." Sirius put in, only to receive a glare in return.
"He gets more presents than me." Lucius said, which was also said by James, Nacrissa and Draco.
'Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under the big one from Mummy and Daddy.'
'All right, thirty-seven then,' said Dudley, going red in the face.
Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.
Remus looked at Harry after the wolfing comment.
Harry just shrugged in reply…
"I like wolves." He told Remus quietly.
Remus grinned at that.
Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too, because she said quickly, 'And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that alright?'
"Petunia…don't spoil him anymore!" Lily raged.
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, 'So I'll have thirty…thirty…'
'Thirty-nine, sweetums,' said Aunt Petunia.
"He can't even add two to 37?" Severus asked incredulously.
"I'm sure even Pettigrew could do that" Lucius continued.
"Yeah…HEY!" Peter shouted.
"Point proven." Was all that Lucius said in reply. He really didn't like the rat.
The people form '95 and '99 all snickered at this.
'Oh.' Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel.
'All right then.'
Uncle Vernon chuckled.
'Little tyke
"Little?" Frank asked uncertainly, causing another round of laughter in the room.
wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!' He ruffled Dudley's hair.
At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a cine-camera, a remote control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games and a video camera.
"It would take to long to explain." Harry said, before Hermione could start explaining.
Hermione looked at Harry, but settled down, a pout now firmly in place.
He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.
'Bad news, Vernon,' she said. 'Mrs Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him.' She jerked her head in Harry's direction.
Dudley's mouth fell open in horror but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The hole house smelt of cabbage
Several people shuddered at this.
and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.
Sirius whimpered at this, causing people to look at him, but he firmly ignored them.
'Now what?' Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.
"She probably thought so." Ron said.
Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty again.
Several people snorted at the names the cats had.
'We could phone Marge,' Uncle Vernon suggested.
'Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.'
"Hate her too." Harry said with a glare.
The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.
'What about what's-her-name, your friend – Yvonne?'
"They are still friends?" Severus asked.
"Apparently" Lily said, just as amazed as Severus.
'On holiday in Majorca,' snapped Aunt Petunia.
'You could just leave me here,' Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).
"Nice try pup." Sirius commented.
"What did you call me?" Harry asked
"Pup? I don't hav…" Sirius started.
"No…I like it."
Sirius and Harry grinned at each other, whilst those who didn't know about the Animagus thing, looked on confused, and those who did, looked on happily.
Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.
'And come back and find the house in ruins?' she snarled.
'I won't blow up the house,' said Harry, but they weren't listening.
"You should! Just to annoy her." Regulus said.
'I suppose we could take him to the zoo,' said Aunt Petunia slowly, '…and leave him in the car…'
"Don't you dare!" Lily snarled.
'That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…'
Dudley began to cry loudly.
"Baby." Nacrissa said casually.
In fact, he wasn't really crying, it had been years since he'd really cried, but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.
"Brat." Fred and George said.
'Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!' she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"He still called her mummy?" Lucius asked incredulously.
'I … don't … want … him … t-t-to come!' Dudley yelled between huge pretend sobs. 'He always sp-spoils everything!' He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.
A rather animalistic growl came from Remus at this point.
Just then, the doorbell rang – 'Oh, Good Lord, they're here!' said Aunt Petunia frantically – and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.
"Not cool to cry in front of your friends?" Severus sneered.
Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.
'I'm warning you,' he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, 'I'm warning you now, boy – any finny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.'
"Don't you dare you fat tub of lard…" Lily snarled, James growling in approval of the statement.
Sirius leaned over to Remus and muttered…
"Didn't know stags could growl." They both chuckled quietly.
'I'm not going to do anything,' said Harry, 'honestly …'
But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.
Harry looked at Ron, Hermione and Ginny at this point.
They all looked appropriately sheepish.
The problem was, strange things often happen around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.
Once, Aunt Petunia, tiered of Harry coming back form the barber's looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his fringe, which she left 'to hide that horrible scar'.
"Bitch" Regulus stated.
Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and sellotaped glasses. Next morning, however, he had got up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia sheared it off.
'Harry…why didn't you tell me you are a metamorphagus?" Tonks asked
"Because I'm not…am I?" Harry said, and then asked.
"Yes. Focus on changing one of your features." She instructed.
He did, and a few seconds later, his hair was green and gold.
Everyone clapped.
Harry opened his eyes, conjured a mirror, and decided to leave his hair that way.
"Please continue Lucius."
He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he tried to explain he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.
Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange bobbles).
All the girls, Harry, Lucius, Draco and Sirius shuddered at this.
The harder she tried to pull it over his head. The smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a glove puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.
"You know…"Harry commented thoughtfully.
"She never punished me unless someone else saw what happened too."
Several people grew thoughtful at this.
On the other hand, he'd got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.
"What were you doing there?" Lil asked, whilst James and Sirius high-fived.
"Just listen" He commented
Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.
"You apparated?" Draco, Frank, Alice, Severus and Lucius all asked faintly.
"You know, I think I did." Harry said happily.
The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he tried to do (as he shouted to his Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big bins outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.
Hermione snorted at this. He really was very naive.
But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard or Mrs Figg's cabbage-smelling living-room.
While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about thins: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects.
"I think he is trying to tell us something" Fred said to George.
"I think you are right Gred."
This morning, it was motorbikes.
Sirius sighed happily at the memory of hid motorbike.
'… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums,'
"Yes! I am a hoodlum!" Sirius shouted enthusiastically, causing Remus, James and Harry to grin. Even Nacrissa and Regulus had a small smile for their brother/cousin.
"You always were Black." Severus sneered.
he said, as a motorbike overtook them.
'I had a dream about a motorbike,' said Harry, remembering suddenly. 'It was flying.'
"Idiot." Regulus and Hermione said at the same time, Regulus banged his head on the table, whilst Hermione hit Harry on the head.
'Hey…watch it with the violence!" he shouted.
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beetroot with a moustache, 'MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!'
"That's what you think…" Lucius said, smiling nastily.
Dudley and Piers sniggered.
'I know they don't,' said Harry. 'It was only a dream.'
But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.
'Padfoot…"
"Yes Prongs?"
"We need to watch some cartoons." He said simply.
Sirius nodded in agreement, and so did the twins and Harry.
"I recommend the Simpsons" Hermione told them, grinning mischievously.
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice lolly.
"They are really nice." Harry, Hermione, Lily and James all said.
Everyone looked at James.
"What? My parents took me to London zoo a few years back."
It wasn't bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head and looking remarkably like Dudley, except it wasn't blond.
"Don't insult the poor gorilla." Alice and Tonks said.
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He had been careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunch-time, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him.
"Smart." Frank said.
"Very Slytherin" Lucius continued.
Harry just grinned.
They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory wasn't big enough, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.
Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all to good to last.
"You really should have Harry" Ron said, with Hermione, Ginny, Tonks and the Twins nodding in agreement.
"I know…" he said sadly.
After lunch they went to the reptile house.
The Slytherins and Potters grinned.
It was cool and dark in here, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood or stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a dustbin – but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.
Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.
Ron shivered.
"Harry it sounds like you like the snake and think it is pretty." He said.
"Well I do, and it really was a beautiful snake. All snakes are." He replied.
'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. He shuffled away.
Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up
"How so?" Remus asked
"I got to visit the rest of the house."
"True."
– at leat he got to visit the rest of the house.
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on level with Harry's.
It winked.
There were a few comprehending gasps around the room.
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. he looked back at the snake and winked too.
The snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised it eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: 'I get that all the time.'
'I know,' Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. 'It must be really annoying.'
The snake nodded vigorously.
'Where do you come from, anyway?' Harry asked.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
'Was it nice there?'
the boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo.
"So…you're a parseltounge?" Regulus asked.
"Yessss." Harry said in said language.
The Slytherins, Lily, James, Frank, Alice, Sirius and Remus all looked at him in awe.
It was a beautiful language.
Harry grinned, happy to see he was accepted.
He wondered why he could still speak parseltounge, when it should have disappeared after the horcrux was destroyed. He and Hermione had researched for ages, but couldn't find anything, they put it down to just a fluke.
'Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?'
"What a stupid question" Ron said. He hated how Harry still got all this attention.
as the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. 'DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!'
Everyone groaned.
Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.
'Out of the way, you,' he said, punching Harry in his 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.
"Hey!" Remus said offended, he ignored the curious gazes.
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.
"That is really impressive." Frank said.
Harry just blushed and looked at the table, causing Hermione to roll her eyes.
The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out on the floor – people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.
As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, 'Brazil, here I come … Thanksss, amigo.'
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
'But the glass,' he kept saying, 'where did the glass go?'
the zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong sweet tea while he apologised over and over again. Piers and Dudley were could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, 'Harry was talking to it, weren't you Harry?'
"Oh great" Severus groaned.
uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, 'Go – cupboard – stay – no meals,'
"He can't do that!" Lily said outraged.
James had a very vicious gleam in his eyes.
Everyone else had looks of horror on their faces.
Even Ron and Hermione, never knew how bad it was for Harry.
Harry just looked down at the table.
before he collapsed into a chair and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
"Aah! A marauder in the making!" Sirius said, whilst James and Remus grinned proudly.
He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, al long as he could remember, ever since he was a baby and his parents had died in that car crash.
Everyone looked at the table sadly.
He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain in his forehead.
"The Avada Kedavra" Regulus whispered in awe.
All those from '76 were in various states of awe and shock.
Harry just blushed a sunk further in his seat.
This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.
Lily and James both gave him a tearful hug at this.
His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.
When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.
"Where are you guys?" James demanded of his three friends.
"I wish I knew!" Sirius said frustrated, Remus looked frustrated too.
Peter looked, well hungry.
Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed t him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.
There was some laughs at this.
Harry just started muttering angrily about all the attention he got/gets.
At school, Harry had no one. 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.
"That's the end of Chapter two." Lucius said.
"Oh! I want to read next!" Tonks said.
He handed the book to Tonks, who made herself comfortable, and changed her hair to white and wispy, her eyes a pale blue, made her skin seem pale and wrinkly and conjured a pair of small golden reading glasses, and placed them on. She looked like an old story teller.
The Twins, Harry, and three of the Marauders, shared mischievous looks.
Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, the table had vanished, as had the chairs, Tonks' chair however became a high backed chair with arms (like those story-teller ones) and everyone was sitting cross legged in front of her, on the floor, with a lolly pop, chocolate-chip cookies and a glass of chocolate milk each in front of them tonks had some on a table next to her. They all also had a blanket that had something they represented on it.
James had a stag grazing in a forest clearing.
Remus had a large wolf howling at the full moon.
Sirius had a grim like dog chasing its tail.
Peter had a rat eating some cheese.
Lucius had a silver snake gazing idly up from the blanket, every now and then, it would stick out its tongue.
Nacrissa had a dove, flying serenely over a lake.
Severus had a cauldron, with a potion brewing in it.
Regulus had some books in a library being put away, or the pages turning on a table every now and then, with a snitch flying around.
Lily had a field of different colored lilies, swaying gently in a breeze.
Frank had a lion pouncing around playfully.
Alice had some of her favorite gum laying in a bowl in the Gryffindor common room, with a fire going and some marshmallows, and steaming cups of hot chocolate sitting around, whilst snow fell outside the window.
Fred had a store of joke products, with a beaters bat and a firebolt leaning against a counter. You could also see a door where feint flashes of light crept through the gap underneath. The door read, 'Experimental Products'
George had one exactly the same.
Tonks had one with a wolf running around happily with a bunny that was continually changing color.
Draco had an emerald green and grayish-silver snake, laying in a room in front of a lit fireplace, gazing idly at a book in front of it.
Hermione had a library full of books, taking them off of shelves putting them back, and there was what appeared to be three animal, crowded around a table in the distance, with books flying back and forth from them, but you couldn't see what they were.
Ron had a quidditch pitch, with a ferret riding a broom at the keepers post.
Ginny had a scene with a quidditch pitch and lake surrounded by colorful flowers, and there was a weasel running around.
Harry'
S had to be the most beautiful of all. It was a large clearing in a forest, that had ancient, tall trees surrounding it. There was a lake towards the back, not a single ripple in it, with a trickling water fall down one end of it. There was a stag, large wolf, a grim-like dog, a tiger, two foxes, an owl, a raven, a dove, an eagle, a panther, a lion, a snow leopard, a small dragon, a rabbit (that changed color), two snakes, and a tabby cat, all surrounding a beautiful ebony phoenix, that seemed to have a tinge of red on it, with piercing emerald eyes, and a white lightning bolt on one of the wings. There was a large grandfather clock to one side, that had a time turner hanging on the pendulum, and to the other side was what appear to be a tapestry sown with a golden thread. It was truly awe inspiring.
All the blankets were moving.
Everyone looked around, and as one, burst out laughing.
Fate had a mischievous smirk on her face.
'This is going really well…' she thought, as she finished examining her the group.
She settled down, sucking her golden lolly pop, and holding her own blanket that had a tapestry on it, that seemed to be sown with a golden thread.
She waved her hand idly, sending a blanket that held a large grandfather clock, with a time turner hanging on the pendulum, to he best friend.
Author's Babble:
Heyy!
Did you enjoy the chapter? Yes? No? maybe? I don't know? Can you please repeat the question? Well, did you? Hehe, sorry. ~sheepish grin goes here~
Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but I have to get the energy to type up the actual chapter from the book, to do this. My back is aching because of this. I started writing/typing this at like 8:30 am this morning, had an hour break for lunch and started again and it is now 4:00 pm.
Yep, that's right! You better love me!
The thing with the blankets, a lot of it just came to me. If you want to know why I chose something for one of the people, let me know, and I'll tell ya!
Anyway, I'm gonna go now, cya!
Ciao for now…
xx
written on 09-05-2009
posted on 11-05-2009