Harry and Alexa Potter

The Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter 1

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Alexa Potter awoke to the sound of her plump cousin banging the doors of her cupboard.

"Wake up, runt! It's my birthday, you do as I say!" He screamed, demandingly. He was quite the spoiled little brat. His parents, her aunt and uncle, insisted on treating him like a king. While they ignored her and her twin, Harry. They were a year older than their cousin, his name was Dudley. Dudley Dursley.

He was quite a large little boy, stuck up, conceited and bratty. He was going into a private school for boys, his parents thought he deserved the best. Dudley even had two rooms, one of which used to be Harry and Alexa's. But by the time Dudley reached the age of one, the Dursleys decided he needed extra room for all of his things. Dudley always got what he wanted, and treated everyone around him like dirt.

Alexa climbed out of her cupboard under the sink, rubbing her head from the headache she was developing from the sound of Dudley's voice. She heard Dudley now stomping on the stairs, yelling at Harry. Ever since they were two years old, Alexa lived under the sink, and Harry lived in the broom closet under the stairs. The amount of space was equal, exept Alexa always had to worry about a leak in the pipes, and Harry had to deal with the constant footsteps that brought down dust every time someone walked up or down the stairs. Dudley made the extra effort to loosen some pipes and walk heavily.

At a young age, Harry and Alexa had learned to stick by each other. Whenever their aunt, uncle, or their cousin was being harsh or cruel, they would always be there for the other. They would make up games and wish each other a happy birthday. Ever since Alexa was about four years old, she was plagued by nightmares of car crashes and bright flashes of lights. She would crawl out of her cupboard in the middle of the night and run to Harry. She stopped coming when they were about eight, partly because she learned not to be afraid and partly because they wouldn't both fit comfortably in the broom closet.

Harry appeared in the kitchen in Dudley's baggy old clothes that hung off of him like rags. He had round, black, thick rimmed glasses that were always taped together. His unkempt black hair was in his bright green eyes, he tried brushing it out of his face, but it never worked. Harry was always quiet, and did as Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon told him to. He did get angry, but he held his tongue for the most part. He didn't much care for punishment.

Alexa, on the other hand, was the opposite. She always wore her emotions on her sleeve, and treated everyone with whatever the amount of respect she thought they deserved. She wasn't afraid to stick it to her aunt and uncle, and wasn't afraid to put Dudley in his place. She didn't care if she didn't eat for a week, as long as she stood up for herself and her brother when he didn't do it himself. She had long, dark red hair and dark green eyes, due to the flecks of brown in them. She also donned baggy clothing, but she wouldn't even fit into Dudley's old clothes, so she wore free clothes that had been donated to charity. Petunia and Vernon would be damned if they had to spend a penny on the two.

"Morning, Harry." Alexa sighed, she always hated Dudley's birthdays. He acted even more holier-than-thou than usual.

"Morning." Harry replied, as the two began making breakfast as they usually did. Harry made the eggs, Alexa got tired of burning herself. She was barely tall enough to see over the stove. She was quite short for being ten, and Harry was a good three inches or so taller than her. They were both quite skinny and Harry was lanky.

Alexa made the toast, standing on her tip toes to reach the toaster on the back of the counter. She stopped using a chair to reach a few years ago, just to spite the fact that she could do it.

The Dursleys filed into the kitchen, just as Harry was finished with the bacon and eggs and Alexa was setting the table. On another table in the room, there were at least three dozen presents wrapped and stacked high. Vernon was reading the morning paper, Petunia sat down across from him, and Dudley was counting his presents. Alexa poured Vernon and Petunia coffee, and Dudley a glass of milk. Harry served the bacon and eggs onto the plate as Alexa buttered the toast.

"There are only thirty two presents here! Last year I had thirty four!" Dudley roared, knocking over some of the presents off of the table.

"We know Dudley dear; we'll make it up to you. How about going to the zoo?" Petunia said, trying to calm her son down.

"The Zoo? Fine!" Dudley glared, and Vernon grunted at the thought of spending the day with a bunch of animals.

After breakfast, the five of them crammed into Vernon's old rusty car. Alexa and Harry were squished by Dudley's bulk. They weren't used to going places; they were usually left at home. But today Dudley decided he wanted to torture the two with the tigers.

They arrived at the London zoo and Dudley raced off towards the snakes den. He immediately pounded on the glass clearly marked to not to do so, shouting, "Move! Make him move!"

"He's sleeping!" Alexa shouted at him.

"Stop pestering the poor thing." Harry told him, glaring.

"Whatever, the thing is just as worthless as the two of you are." Dudley told them, before walking off to go bother another reptile. Alexa and Harry looked sympathetically at the snake being held captive.

"Don't worry, you're not alone. We know what its like not to be wanted." Harry said to the snake. It lifted its head and tilted it to the side.

"Can you understand us?" Alexa whispered, the snake seemed to be nodding its head. The twins exchanged a confused look but then they heard Vernon shouting at them to come on. Dudley came over to them and knocked Harry over.

"MOVE! He's moving, look!" He shouted, and started pounding on the glass. Harry and Alexa were telling him to leave the snake alone, when suddenly the glass disappeared and Dudley toppled in, as the snake came out. Alexa helped Harry up and the snake slithered away.

"What did you two do? What have I told you about this funny business!" Vernon shouted at the twins.

"It wasn't us, honest! Seriously, how can you expect us to remove a piece of glass without anyone noticing?" Alexa snapped back at him.

"I think its time to leave." Petunia added.

"We haven't even seen the tigers yet!" Dudley whined, refusing to go.

"We're leaving!" Vernon ordered. Grudgingly, Dudley went, but let his father know he;d be sorry for leaving early.

Later that night, Alexa and Harry were sitting in the broom closet under the stairs.

"What do you think that was?" Harry inquired.

"I don't know, I felt really sorry for the snake, you were angry and the glass was just gone…" Alexa trailed off, equally confused as her brother.

"Weird." Was all Harry could say. Alexa nodded and pulled out and old scrap book she took without Aunt Petunia noticing, it was filled with newspaper clippings about a London public bus hitting innocent pedestrians. It was also filled with pictures of their aunt as a child, and another little girl with red hair and green eyes. The twins always knew they were different and sometimes things happened around them that they weren't even trying to do, but they didn't know why.