Chapter 2 – Snake
Nearly ten years had passed since the day Harry and Laura were left on their aunt and uncle's doorstep, but there was no evidence suggesting they were living there.
"Up!" Their Aunt Petunia screeched, making the first noise of the day. "Get up! Now!"
Harry opened his eyes and saw his sister watching him. Her hair and eyes were grey from exhaustion. It had been his turn to sleep last night, since both of them couldn't sleep at the same time. The cupboard under the stairs in which they slept was simply too small.
She smiled tiredly at him, handed him a pair of socks and his glasses and put on her glasses and a black wig. There wasn't much she could do for her eyes, but hopefully no one would notice.
"You get any sleep last night?" he asked.
"A little," Laura responded. "I think I got about an hou-"
"Are you up yet?" interrupted Aunt Petunia.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia," said Laura tiredly, and left the cupboard.
"Tend to the bacon, but don't you dare let it burn. I want everything to be perfect for Duddy's birthday."
The two of them went into the kitchen, were Dudley was counting his presents.
The phone rang while they were in the middle of breakfast. Aunt Petunia answered the phone as Dudley opened half of his presents. When she returned, she had a scowl on her face.
"Bad news, Vernon. Mrs. Figg broke her leg. "She can't take them while we go to the zoo."
Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, and he pretended to cry. "I… don't… want… them… t-t-to come!"
"Don't worry Duddy-kins! We won't let them ruin your special day!"
Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss walked in with his mom. He stopped pretending to cry immediately.
A half hour later, Harry and Laura were sitting in the back of the car. Before they had gotten in, Uncle Vernon had pulled them aside and warned them against any "funny business".
The thing was, weird things often happened around the twins. Like the time that Harry had seemingly vanished and then turned up on the chimney of the school's roof. Or the time where all of the food in the cafeteria started to chase Dudley when he was teasing Laura.
But they were determined that nothing would go wrong today. That was, until Harry remembered his dream.
"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Uncle Vernon yelled.
Dudley and Piers sniggered.
"I know," Harry muttered. "It was just a dream." But Laura could tell that he wished he hadn't said anything. There was nothing Uncle Vernon hated more than imagination.
At the zoo later that afternoon, the six of them headed over to the Reptile House.
Laura was looking at a Komodo Dragon when she heard screams coming from the other side of the Reptile House. She printed over toward the screams to find everyone running towards the exits, and a huge snake was slithering out of the door.
Dudley was inside of a glass case in which she assumed the snake had previously been in, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had their faces and hands pressed up against the glass.
Laura walked over to Harry, who was sitting on the floor several feet away, laughing.
"What did you do?" she whispered to Harry.
"I have no idea…" Harry trailed off and his smile faltered as he caught Uncle Vernon's glare.
On the ride home, Dudley and Piers had changed the story so that to anyone who listened, Harry had told the snake to bite their legs off. They dropped Piers off, and had barely reached home when Uncle Vernon exploded.
"YOU!" He bellowed, grabbing Harry by the arm. "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY SON, YOU…"
"Go to your cupboard, Laura." Aunt Petunia whispered. Laura ran in and closed the door. She heard her Uncle screaming at Harry through the closed door and locked door. She sighed. They had long since given up hope that someone would come and rescue them, but it was at times like this that she couldn't stop praying.