A/N: Quick reminder that this chapter is in Harriet's POV
Also; Disclaimer - EVERYTHING sadly belongs to JK Rowling

It was a warm, sunny day and the zoo was crawling with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams, and then because the smiling lady in the van asked me what I wanted, the bought me a cheap bubble-gum ice lolly. It wasn't half bad, and it turned my tongue blue, which was quite funny.

I had the best few of hours I'd had in a long time. The animals were amazing – I'd never seen any of them in real life, but Piers and Dudley, who had both been to the zoo before, were soon bored. I was wary of walking too close to them, in case they reverted to their favourite hobby of hitting me, or, for Piers, hitting on me. I know – ew. After a show in what was called the amphitheatre (in which the cute guy who worked at the zoo called me up to the front as an 'assistant' and winked at me), we went to the zoo restaurant. Dudley and Piers got a knickerbocker glory each, but when Dudley, on complaining about the size of his, received a new one, I was allowed to finish his first one.

I should've known it was too good to last.

After lunch, we went to the reptile house. It was cold and dark, but the snakes and lizards were all pretty cool. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and man-eating pythons. They quickly located the biggest snake in the place, an enormous boa constrictor that was long enough to have wrapped its body around Uncle Vernon's car twice, and about as thick as Uncle Vernon's arm. However, 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 disdainfully at the sleeping snake.

"Make it move, Dad," he whined, as his father rapped on the glass. The snake gave no sign of waking up.

"Do it again," Dudley said. Uncle Vernon did it again, but there was no response from the reptile.

"This is boring. Come on, Piers." The two boys shuffled away, staring longingly at the snake.

I moved in front of the tank and stared at it intently. I wouldn't have been remotely surprised if it had dies of boredom; its only company was stupid people – did someone say Dudley or Vernon - drumming their fingers on the glass, trying to disturb it all day long.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, it raised its head so it was on the same level as mine. It winked at me.

I stared. I looked around quickly, to see if anyone, Dudley and Piers in particular, was watching. No one was, so I winked back. Yes, I winked at a snake. Sue me.

The snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon, Piers and Dudley, and then raised its eyes to the ceiling, as if to say: I get that all the time.

"I know. Must be really annoying," I murmured, leaning down on the rail. I wasn't quite sure the snake could hear me.

It must have been able to, though, because it nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from anyway?"

The snake pointed its tail at a sign next to the glass. It said: Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?" I asked.

The snake pointed at the sign again, so I read further: This particular specimen was bred in the zoo.

"Oh… S-so you've never seen Brazil?"

As the snake shook its head, I heard Piers shout, "DUDLEY! LOOK AT THE SNAKE!" before running up beside me and pressing his nose and hands up against the glass. Dudley came waddling up and shoved me aside, and I fell onto the concrete. I glared at Dudley, though he wasn't looking at me. I didn't quite see what happened next, but all I knew for sure was that one moment, the glass was there and Piers and Dudley were leaning up against it, and the next, the glass was gone and they'd fallen over the rail and into the water. The snake simply ignored them; it slithered over the rail and onto the floor. But as it passed me, I could've sworn it said, "Thankssss, amiga."

"A-anytime," I replied in shock as the snake slid away and people ran around screaming. It was quite a funny sight, to be honest. At least, until I saw Uncle Vernon glaring at me – if looks could kill, I'd have been a goner.

The keeper of the reptile house was in utter shock.

"But the glass," he kept saying in disbelief, "where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself made Aunt and Uncle Vernon tea as he apologised over and over. Piers and Dudley, who I'd say were traumatized, were shivering despite the number of blankets wrapped around their shoulders. All the way home, Aunt kept chanting, "It's all right. It's all right," as she stroked Dudley's hair in the back seat, meaning I had to sit up front with Uncle Vernon. You could physically feel the tension.

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out the house before starting on me. He grabbed me by the hair (which really hurt, might I add) and demanded an explanation.

"I don't know!" I yelled as he yanked on my hair, "I swear I don't know! One minute the glass was there, and then it was gone! It was like magic!"

He shoved me into the cupboard and slammed the door shut. I heard the lock click as he said, "There's no such thing as magic."

Next chapter should be up in about a week or two. I'm off school for Christmas so that should mean (a) more chances for writing and (b) more new chapters for you guys (*yayy*)