Disclaimer: The work of art that is the book and all the characters that it lists are all property of J.K. Rowling, so please don't sue us.
A/N: Welcome to the second chapter of our story, sorry it took so long, but we are both struggling university students who are scrambling to make the grade. Thank you to all that reviewed, it was that that spurred us on to finish this chapter soo soon. And now without further adieu, Enjoy!
Lives in Ink: Chapter 2
Breakfast that morning was a tense affair. James was still refusing to even look at Sirius which meant isolation from the entire group. Rumors about the supposed Marauder split were spreading around the Great Hall like wildfire. Even the Slytherins were talking about it at their table where one Severus Snape rolled his eyes at the news sweeping the school.
"Pathetic," he muttered under his breath.
Over at the Gryffindor table things were much worse, Sirius looked about ready to cry while the other boys kept shooting him sympathetic looks but not quite meeting each others eye. Lily seemed to be doing some serious thinking and avoided looking at anyone. Even when a bunch of her friends called her over to sit with them upon entrance to the Great Hall she acted as if she didn't hear them and sat down with the remaining Marauders. That seemed to cause the rumors to spread even more. What was Head Girl Lily doing sitting with the Marauders? Why wasn't James sitting with them? What had happened between the Head Boy and Girl to make each of them abandon their friends?
Finally after 15 painful minutes of everyone pretending to be too absorbed in their breakfasts Lily spoke.
"Meet me upstairs in 10 minutes, I suggest we continue in the Boys Dormitory so that we're not overheard,"
"But where are you going?" asked Remus with a look that could only be described as mild amazement on his face.
"To get the last member of our party," she answered before departing.
Remus with complete understanding on what she was going to do quickly rounded up Peter and Sirius and had them out of the Great Hall in 2 minutes flat.
Lily quickly but quietly made her way towards James who was sitting by himself at the far end of the Gryffindor table and took a seat across from him. James looked up as soon as she sat down clearly looking surprised to see her there.
"I'm kind of surprised to see myself here too actually," she said responding to his silent question via his look "But after everything we just read about it shouldn't surprise you that much that I'm not ashamed to be seen with you,"
James snorted but didn't say anything.
"But I didn't come here to discuss what this means for us and how it changes my reputation, I came over here to find out with you were going to join us in reading the next chapter of the book,"
"Of course," James responded immediately "I want to find out what happened to my son…" He looked down with a slight blush. "…our son,"
Lily smiled slightly and got up to leave just as James did the same thing. The last thing the people in the Great Hall saw was James Potter and Lily Evans walking out of the Great Hall side by side.
James and Lily entered into the seclusion of the boy's dormitory to find the others spread out about the room each in some form of nervous activity. Remus and Peter were sitting in their four posters, the book lying between them and both looked up as soon as the other two entered. Sirius however looked up only briefly from him position on his four poster, he looked about ready to say something but one look from James kept him quiet making him flinch as if he had been struck. The two settled down, James doing so rather stiffly, on his four poster.
"So Peter's volunteered to read the next chapter is that alright with every one?" Remus said tentatively. James took a deep breath and nodded
"Let see what happened to my son…" he said solemnly.
Peter nodded and picked up the book, clearing his throat noisily.
CHAPTER TWO
THE VANISHING GLASS
"Interesting chapter title" Remus said. "Looks like Harry does some accidental magic"
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.
Lily tensed slightly at the mentions that they were still talking about Privet Drive, and while she didn't say anything she did cast a worried look towards James to judge his reaction, only to be confronted with his stony expression.
The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' 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-colored bonnets –
"Wow such a charming child…" Sirius said in a feeble attempt to break the tension. His efforts were for not though when he gained no reaction.
but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.
Lily looked saddened and envious "Just think these are all things we'll never get to do with Harry…" James nodded sadly before motioning for Peter to continue.
The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.
Everyone took in a sharp intake of breath at this point and all eyes that were not focused on the book but seemed to be focused on James and his reactions.
Yet Harry Potter was still there,
"James…I—"
"Sirius...He's still there." James said calmly, the icy edge to his voice seem to cut Sirius to the bone.
" I know… I know, I don't know why I haven't got him I—"
"You gave me your word Sirius." It was as if James had struck him with a blunt object, and the force of those angry words left Sirius nearly in tears as he scrambled to apologize again only to be spared a response by Remus.
"James be fair for all we know Sirius could have been kill—" Remus tried to reason, but James silenced him with a glare, made all the more chilling by the fire in his hazel eyes.
"And where were you Remus or you Peter!. My son has been stuck with muggles that have probably treated him like scum and yet none of you went to get him when Lily and I couldn't." Remus glared back at these words.
"That's not fair James; you know why I couldn't be there. And for all we know Peter could be dead, as could Sirius, hell I could be too, you're accusing us of something that we might not have any control over!"
" But Sirius was mentioned. He was there, he gave his motorbike to Hagrid. Why didn't he just take Harry then."
"James you know what my temper is like!" Sirius pleaded. "I would have gone after the bastards you know that! What would you really expect me to do after finding you murdered!?"
" I would have expected you to keep your word!" Watching the turmoil that Sirius was going through was enough for Lily as she reached out and placed a tentative hand on James' shoulder.
"James…" He turned and locked eyes with her and she could see all the pain that lay behind his hazel irises, to see that his friends might have betrayed their word cut him deep and she truly then understood what was possibly his worst fear. "Think about this logically for a minute…I don't like the situation anymore then you do, but it's not their fault…I'm sure they tried their best. If there's one thing I seen from you lot for the past 7 years it's that your friendship is the most important bond you have. Do you really think for a moment that Sirius or Remus or even Peter would turn on you now? That they would willingly betray you like that?" Her words seemed to reach past his anger. She had a point and while he didn't like the situation that his son was left in, He was being irrational. At that thought he looked up at her and nodded. She smiled at him kindly and some of the tension seemed to melt from his shoulders.
"James believe me… by this time I must be either dead or in Azkaban…because nothing else short of those could have kept me away for this long,"
"I know and I'm sorry Padfoot, I guess I let my temper get the best of me. I was just worried about my son,"
"I get that Prongs, I'm worried about him too…"
"We're all worried about him James," interrupted Remus "I don't want to think about what these muggles have done to him,"
"Well let's find out, I've got the book in my hand," Peter said all set to continue reading.
"In a minute Pete, first I need to apologize to you and Remus for acting the way I did,"
"Its ok mate, we get it," Remus said with a smile.
"Yeah it's fine now…"
"And I also need to thank Lily," James interrupted turning to look at her directly missing the mumbles from Peter about how he could of stopped his temper if he wanted to. "I don't know how you did it but you made me see reason, reason that was clearly right in front of my face the whole time,"
"Don't mention it," Lily said with a smile "although you're kind of Slytherin like when you're angry," she teased.
"Shut up and let us get on with it," he said to her with mock anger and hurt. She just giggled and nodded for Peter to keep reading missing the slight glare he gave her.
asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.
"Up! Get up! Now!"
"I don't approve of the way you're waking up my son Petunia," Lily said icily
Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.
"Up!" she screeched.
"What the hell is her problem?" asked Sirius, everyone just shrugged but James and Lily both looked very annoyed.
Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.
"You have," said Remus wisely "but it wasn't a dream,"
His aunt was back outside the door.
"Man she's persistent isn't she" James said crossly.
"Are you up yet?" she demanded.
"Maybe if you were nice about it he would listen to you and do as you asked," Sirius was clearly beyond annoyed at this point but there was also a twinge of guilt in his voice.
"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."
"See now you shouldn't have said that, because if he's anything like me I would just burn it on purpose" James smirked.
"I suggest you start being nicer to my son Petunia or else," Lily said stiffly
Harry groaned.
"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.
"Nothing, nothing..."
"Aww Come on son stand up to her a bit! You don't have to always do as your told!" James said. The others nodded their approval.
Dudley's birthday -- how could he have forgotten? 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. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.
"What!?" screeched Lily completely outraged "you…you…Petunia you are so dead!"
"Dead doesn't begin to cover it," James yelled looking furious and shooting daggers at the book.
While this was going on no one seemed to notice Sirius as he made his way out of the room arguing with himself how he didn't deserve to be in the room since it was his fault that Harry was where he was. He would have succeeded in his silent escape if right as he reached the door; James hadn't looked up from the book to see him exit and followed after him telling everyone to hold on a second.
James caught up with Sirius right outside the dormitory before he was able to descend down the stairs.
"Padfoot…" James called out tentatively "Where are you going,"
"I don't know, outside maybe," Sirius shrugged refusing to meet James' eye.
"Why don't you want to find out what happened to Harry?" Sirius mumbled something but James wasn't able to hear it. "What was that I missed it?"
"I don't deserve to find out!" Sirius yelled suddenly "I messed up! I'm the reason Harry's there and sleeping in a cupboard!"
"Sirius…"
"I don't know what happened, I promised to be there, I gave my word but when you needed me the most I'm a no show! I don't deserve to find out what happens to your son, I don't deserve to be anywhere near your son!" At this a few tears did escape Sirius' eye but he brushed them back quickly.
"That's not true," James said harshly "You do very much deserve to not only find out about my son but to be there for him. Harry's going to need his godfather, Uncle Padfoot to teach him about the finer things in life,"
"But how if I'm not there I'm probably dead…"
"I don't think you are. I don't know but I have the feeling that you're still there somewhere,"
"So what're you saying that I'm in Azkaban? I did say that the only things that would keep me away were…"
"Death or Azkaban, I know. But what could you possibly have done to get yourself landed in Azkaban, you're dead set against the Dark Arts because of your family,"
"Unless my temper got the better of me again," said Sirius glumly
"Perhaps so if that's the case I'm sure its justified. But you've learned to control your temper a lot this past year. But either way let's stop worrying over it and just enjoy finding out about Harry,"
"Ok…I really am sorry Prongs,"
"I know Padfoot, but I know that you would never do anything to hurt me or my family, hell you are my family,"
"Yeah I am," Sirius said with a small smile, the first smile to grace his face since before James stormed out of the common room.
"So do we have a truce? You stop feeling guilty and I'll stop subconsciously blaming you?"
"Truce," The two brothers briefly embraced before heading back into the dormitory where everyone was silently waiting for them and seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. It wasn't until James cleared his throat that everyone snapped back to reality.
"Everything alright?" Lily asked.
"Everything's fine," Sirius smiled as him and James took their seats again.
When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.
"Second television? What 11 year old needs 2 televisions?" asked Lily flabbergasted.
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.
"Why don't I like the sound of that," muttered Remus.
Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry,
"That little bastard, Petunia you keep that ball of lard that you call a son away from my boy!" yelled Lily.
but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.
"That's my boy," smiled James proudly.
Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.
"No you're just like your father…" Sirius said snickering
"Hey!"
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.
"My son is reduced to wearing hand-me-downs?"
"Come on Prongs hand-me-downs are quite common in most families,"
"Not in my family they aren't Moony, especially not those that once belonged to a whale,"
"True,"
Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes.
"So let me get this straight," Sirius said "He's a Prongs look alike with Lily's lovely eyes,"
"Remember Black, flattery will get you everywhere," said batting her eyes jokingly.
Sirius smiled only to be hit in the head with a pillow as it sailed across the room.
"Stop flirting with my wife,"
"You're not married yet," Sirius was once again hit with a pillow this time it came from Lily's direction.
"In your dreams Black…then again if I ever find out you're dreaming like that…" Sirius gulped.
He wore round glasses
"Ugh he may have my eyes but he's got your horrible eyesight,"
"Sadly it's genetic, just like the famous Potter charm," James said with a wink. Lily just rolled her eyes.
held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
Everyone glared at the book for a moment.
The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.
"In the car crash when your parents died,"
"WHAT?!" screamed Lily.
"Is that even possible?" asked Sirius looking confused.
"I don't think so Padfoot, wizards are smarter than that just look at the Knight bus," said Peter. James didn't say anything but you could tell he was not amused by the notion.
she had said. "And don't ask questions."
"He'll ask them if he wants to," snapped Sirius
Don't ask questions -- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the
Dursleys.
"What do you mean by quiet?" asked James suddenly feeling very protective.
"How can life be quiet with a wizard in the house?" questioned Sirius.
"Maybe he's a squib," said Peter absently.
"No son of mine is a squib!" shouted Lily before James even had a chance to open his mouth.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
"He can't help it! It grows that way!" James said defensively as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Sure it does Prongs, you just keep telling yourself that," Remus said with a smirk to which James maturely responded by sticking his tongue out at him.
About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut.
"Wouldn't do any good," muttered James
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.
"Told ya," James smirked while the others just rolled their eyes.
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 head.
"That's attractive," smirked Sirius
"At least you're not related to that…thing. That's supposed to be my nephew," Lily said disgusted.
"Thank Merlin I'm only related to him by marriage," James said for which Lily smacked him.
Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel -- Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.
"That's my boy," James smiled proudly.
Harry put the 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 last year."
"Brat,"
"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here
under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."
"What kind of eleven year old calls their parents 'Mommy and Daddy'?" Sirius asked chuckling lightly
"Well what did you call your parents at that age?"
"You don't want to know Evans," Lily looked like she was going to comment but one look at Sirius' face kept her silent.
"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.
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 all right''
"Sure…reward the fat brat for bad behaviour…we all know that works out well in the end," muttered Remus sarcastically.
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.
The whole group erupted into laughter.
Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."
"Don't hurt yourself," Sirius said in between convulsions.
"What kind of eleven year old can't add 7 and 2?" Remus asked bewildered.
"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.
"You needed your 'Mommy' to tell you the answer? Tell me stupidity isn't contagious,"
"Why do you ask Lily?"
"Because if so our son is doomed,"
"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."
Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.
"Apparently stupidity does run in your family Evans,"
"Shut it Black, that came from the Dursley side not the Evans side,"
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 video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.
"Can you say spoiled?" asked Remus
"What eleven year old needs that much stuff?" asked Lily shocked "Petunia how could you do this to your son?"
He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.
"What did the down payment on Dudley's new country fall through?" Sirius joked.
"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.
"He has a name," snapped James.
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 restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind
"What?" James said outraged "My son not good enough to spend a day in your presence?"
"Look at it this way Prongs, if they had taken him out more often he may of turned out looking like Dudley,"
"Good point Padfoot," James said wrinkling his nose in disgust.
with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.
"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. 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.
"Cause that sounds about as fun as spending the weekend with Filch" Sirius drawled.
"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.
"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."
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.
Everyone glared at the book while James and Lily sat back silently fuming.
"What about what's-her-name, your friend -- Yvonne?"
"On vacation 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).
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.
"Or you could blow up their house…" Sirius said innocently.
"Somehow I don't think that would help matters Padfoot." Moony said with a sigh
"No, but it would make the rest of us feel better…" James said smirking
"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..."
"Oi! Isn't that like Child abuse or something?" James said annoyed.
"Something tells me that they don't care." Lily said bitterly
"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."
Dudley began to cry loudly. 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.
"Merlin! This kid is a spoiled brat!" Peter said, screwing up his face is a look of disgust, the other nodded their agreement.
"Dinky Duddydums—
The boys broke out into bails of laughter while Lily snickered behind her hand.
don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"You mean her arms actually fit?" Sirius said evilly while still chuckling.
"I can't believe she's actually falling for this! I mean how stupid does someone have to be to no notice that their son is playing them like a fiddle…" James said snickering.
"Well Petunia never was the fastest broom in the shed" Lily said with a smirk.
"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.
"I'll show you spoiling things kid if you keep it up…" James said as he itched to take his wand.
"What are you going to do Prongs? Hex a book?"
"I'll think of something Moony, I'll think of something…"
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.
"Hey don't insult the rats," Peter said defensively. The boys all simultaneously looked at Peter and smirked while Lily looked as if they had all grown another head.
He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.
Everyone rolled their eyes in shear disgust.
Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley,
"And you call that luck?" Sirius said raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life.
"Oh well when you put it that way then I guess…"
"I don't know, is it really worth the trade off?"
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 funny business, anything at all -- and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."
"'Funny Business'? What do you mean by 'Funny Business' ?"
"I think he means magic Pete," said Remus calmly, he seemed taken back by Peter's sudden outburst.
"He should be proud to be in the presence of a wizard, especially one that seems willing to put up with his attitude!" Peter clearly was outraged at this point; the others just stared and let him rant. "Muggles think they are so great. I don't understand why your son has just put him in his place Prongs,"
"'Put him in his place? What do you mean by that Peter?" asked James clearly confused.
"Err…what I meant was why doesn't Harry stand up for himself?" Peter quickly tried to cover up his mistake, "Why does he allow the muggles to push him around just because he's magical?"
"They're probably scared of him or something Peter," Lily said softly "Muggles are scared of things they don't understand, and most muggles believe magic to be make believe,"
"Besides think of it this way Pete, Harry probably doesn't even know he's a wizard for one, and two he's probably been taught to fear them," Sirius said solemnly while Lily let out a strangled cry. "I'm sorry Lily but it makes sense, they treat him like dirt, worse than dirt actually so he's probably afraid of upsetting them and getting locked in his cupboard so he tries his best to please them,"
"But it isn't right!" yelled Peter clearly not letting this go "He's a wizard he shouldn't have to…"
"It has nothing to do with him being a wizard and them being muggles," James stepped in "he shouldn't be treated this way regardless of his heritage. He's a human being not an animal," James added bitterly. Peter didn't comment but didn't seem to be satisfied with James' response. After a few minutes of silence Peter continued reading.
"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly..
But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.
The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.
"Probably because you did make them happen," said James
Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers 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 bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar."
"I'll bet it didn't do any good," laughed Sirius
"Welcome to the famous Potter hair," James said with a mock salute "it bends to no scissors,"
Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry,
"So let me get this straight the 'Pig in a wig' is laughing at Harry?" Sirius chuckled "he's one to talk,"
who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.
"Told you so," James smirked.
He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.
"What are you punishing him for? He didn't do it on purpose!" Peter shouted outraged "If you didn't cut it so stupid then it wouldn't have grown back!"
"Easy Pete it's just a hair cut," Remus said "but even still a week in a cupboard is a little harsh,"
"To be locked in a cupboard at all is too harsh," James fumed.
Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) –
"Eww," everyone was disgusted at the thought.
"But perfect for the pig," smirked Sirius
The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.
"Nicely done Harry," smiled Lily
Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.
"Trust me we're relieved too," James smiled.
On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.
"How the hell did he get there?" Lily asked bewildered.
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.
"Merlin's beard Prongs your son just apparated! That's quite an accomplishment for someone his age," Remus said astonished "some of us here can't even do that yet," he smirked looking over at Sirius.
"Hey! Not my fault I left part of an eyebrow behind,"
"Could have been worse, could of left part of your brain behind," James smirked
"Are you sure he didn't?" asked Lily. Sirius indignantly replied by sticking his tongue out at her.
The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard)
Everyone grumbled angrily.
was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.
"Not quite," Sirius smirked.
"Maybe you should try that on your next test Padfoot,"
"Shut up Prongs!"
But today, nothing was going to go wrong.
"You just had to say that didn't you Harry," Remus sighed.
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 things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects.
"I think he likes to complain about Harry,"
"Really Padfoot whatever gave you that impression?" James asked sarcastically
"Just a feeling is all,"
This morning, it was motorcycles.
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with motorcycles, especially flying ones," Sirius said with a grin.
"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.
"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."
"It wasn't a dream, that was real," Sirius said
"Even still he probably shouldn't have said that," Lily looked slightly worried.
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front.
"Watch where you're going you great lump!" shouted Peter.
He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache:
"That's an interesting mental image," James smirked
"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"
"That's what you think," Sirius said with a wink.
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 his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon -- they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.
"But dangerous ideas are fun," pouted Sirius
"Maybe for you Black but for Harry they have nasty consequences," Lily snapped.
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 what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.
Everybody laughed.
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was 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 lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him.
James let out a low grumble but otherwise didn't comment.
They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.
"Well that was nice of you," James muttered sarcastically.
Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.
They all looked apprehensive but didn't say anything.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.
"The Slytherin's would feel at home there," Sirius smirked.
"Not all Slytherin's are bad Black," snapped Lily "What if I told you that the sorting hat wanted to put me into Slytherin? Would that change how you think of me?"
"No…" Sirius seemed to hesitate before continuing "What if I told you that I almost was a Slytherin, just the like the rest of my family would that change how you think of me?"
"Of course not, I knew that your brother was in Slytherin but I didn't know that it was a family thing,"
"Yeah, that whole bloody lot of them were in Slytherin, the whole lot of them are dark wizards, I'm the only sane one,"
James opened his mouth to comment but one look from Lily stopped him dead. Lily and Sirius shared a small smile before nodding for Peter to continue.
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 trash can -- 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.
"Eww! I'd pretend to be asleep too just so I didn't have to look at that," Sirius said looking disgusted.
"Agreed," muttered James
"Make it move," he whined at his father.
"Brat,"
Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.
"Do it again," Dudley ordered.
"Do it yourself you lazy pig!" Sirius yelled.
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; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.
James and Lily seemed to be seething at this comment but otherwise said nothing.
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.
It winked.
Sirius seemed slightly alarmed that this point, the others looking at him curiously.
"What's the matter Padfoot?"
"Doesn't it concern you a little bit that your son is interacting with a snake?"
"No, wizards interact with animals all the time,"
"Not with snakes they don't,"
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 toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its 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.
"Just as I feared," said Sirius with slight apprehension in his voice.
"Feared? Feared what Sirius?" James asked with concern, he seemed on the edge of panic. Lily put her hand on his arm and this seemed to calm him a bit.
"Prongs…your son is a parselmouth,"
"A parselmouth?"
"It means he can talk to snakes James," Lily said quietly "But what's so bad about that Sirius?" she immediately turned to look at him instead.
"It's considered to be dark magic, the last known parselmouth was Salazar Slytherin himself,"
"It's a Slytherin trait?" James asked weakly.
Sirius nodded "it's a very rare gift the Slytherin line valued if I remember correctly. My mother tried to teach Regulus and I everything to was to know about the Slytherins before we started Hogwarts," Sirius added the last part bitterly.
Remus sighed and rolled his eyes "Listen just cause Harry can talk to snakes doesn't make him evil, I mean come on, sure Slytherin could do it, I'll bet other wizards in history could too. It doesn't automatically make the speaker a bad person."
"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. "Oh, I see -- so you've never been to Brazil?"
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!"
"Crap,"
Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.
"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.
"Hey! Harry was there first!" yelled Peter while the others just seethed.
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.
"Sounds like your son did a little accidental magic there Prongs," Sirius chuckled.
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.
"That explains the chapter title," Remus smiled.
The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto 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."
"Sounds like the snake's not that bad," Lily said with a smile
"All snakes are bad," Sirius muttered.
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"
"Muggles," Peter rolled his eyes. Lily looked over at him with a slight glare.
The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley 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.
"We wish," muttered James
But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"
"Bugger!" they all swore.
Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak.
"Hey! It's not his fault!" James said indignantly. "If your whale of a son hadn't hit him! None of this would have happened!"
He managed to say, "Go -- cupboard -- stay -- no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
"Because we all know that alcohol solves everything," Remus muttered sarcastically.
"That sentence had better have been only an exaggeration…" Lily said threateningly, "Cause if not Petunia is going to be so dead…."
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.
"Sounds like they couldn't squish all the marauder out of him," Sirius smiled weakly.
He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years,
"Hey, that means that Harry will be getting ready to go to Hogwarts soon!" Remus said.
as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died.
"That because there was no car crash!" Lily said annoyed. "Besides… I don't even think James knows how to drive…"
"That's what you think…." James muttered
"Driving cars is a little bit different then riding on a broom Prongs…" Remus smirked
"If Sirius can learn to ride a motorcycle, then sure to Merlin I can learn to drive a damn car safely!"
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my driving!"
"Says the guy who crashed his broom into the teachers stands…"
"Shut it Moony!"
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 burn- ing pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from.
"Well I guess we know what Voldie used to kill you..." Sirius said solemnly to Lily and James "not that there was much doubt in the first place…" All traces of jokes were gone from his young face.
He couldn't remember his parents at all. 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.
"He doesn't even know what we look like." Lily said looking close to tears, James looked at the sadly and reached out to put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.
When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.
"James…I'm so sorry—"
"Sirius, we've been through this…please just let it go."
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 to 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 actually 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.
"Well he is famous in our world…it's understandable that people would want to meet him." Peter said.
"Famous for something he does remember and probably won't want." Lily snapped bitterly, "Honestly what kind of life is that, to be known for surviving when your family didn't. No one would want that…"
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.
Everyone was silent, each in deep thought about the information they had learned.
"Well," Remus said quietly. "That was thoroughly depressing.."
"Yeah, so shall we continue? Cause honestly the next chapter can't be anymore depressing then this one." James said.