Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I do not own.

June 23rd, 1991

"Up! Get up! Now!" The shrill screech of Petunia Dursley awoke Harry Potter, accompanied by her fist banging on the small door of the broom cupboard. 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 on his mattress on the floor 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.

His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" She demanded.

"Nearly."

"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." Harry groaned. "What did you say?" His aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing..." Dudley's birthday... how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. After pulling a spider off one of them, he put them on. He was used to spiders; the cupboard was full of them. On the shelves that surrounded them, half of them were filled with cleaning supplies and old, broken things. The rest he used for his own possessions, like the too big, hand-me-down clothes from Dudley and the few toys he was allowed to keep himself 'quiet and busy', mostly things Dudley didn't want. Behind all of that, he kept his most important possessions, the things he didn't want anyone else to find. His tin of toy soldiers he enacted little battles with. His little box of Lego's he could build castles with. His favorite book, The Polar Express, which was given to him by his best friend.

Serena Larkin was his best, and only friend, at school. She always seemed to have candy, or half a sandwich or a second muffin to share with him. He just felt bad he never had anything to share with her. She lived just down the street, with her mother and younger sister. Sometimes, when the Dursley's didn't want to deal with him, they dumped him with them. Those were the best days; Ms. Larkin was an excellent cook and Harry never tired of beating Serena at board games or getting beaten at the same thing by Serena's sister, Caitlyn.

When Harry 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. 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. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. 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. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.

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 got it.

"In the car crash when your parents died." She had said. "And don't ask questions." 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 a morning greeting. About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. 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.

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. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel. Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.

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 concluded, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."

"All right, thirty-seven then." Dudley said, 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 sensed 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?"

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly:

"So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."

"Thirty-nine, sweetums."

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" Uncle Vernon chuckled as 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 video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. 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. 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 restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind 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?" Aunt Petunia demanded, 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 that it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.

"We could phone Marge." Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy." The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like that, as though he wasn't there. Or, rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.

"I could go to the Larkin's." Harry piped up, trying not to sound too happy about it. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia glared at him for a moment, debating it.

"Well, it's better than bringing him along." Aunt Petunia finally gave in and Harry fought off a smile.

Within a few minutes, Dudley's friend arrived and Harry was sent off to walk to the Larkin house. It was only three four houses away, painted a lavender color as opposed to the dull grey of the rest of the houses. Harry walked up to the porch and knocked on the dark purple door.

It swung open within seconds and Ms. Larkin stood there. She was a tall woman, with dark skin and curly brown hair. She was wearing, as usual, a nice blouse, slacks and heels. Harry usually felt under dressed when he went to her house. But, despite her professional attire, she smiled warmly and welcomed him inside. She didn't ask why he was there but instead told him that Serena was up in her bedroom and that he could go right up.

The wall opposite of the staircase railing was covered in framed pictures. They were mostly of Serena and Caitlyn over the years. Harry had never seen any other family members at their house or heard Serena talk of any beyond her father, who had died shortly after Caitlyn was born. No pictures of him were hung on the wall and Harry had gotten the impression early on that, whether the girls wanted to talk about their father or not, Ms. Larkin avoided the subject at all times.

Harry jogged up the stairs and, once on the second floor, made a beeline for the back bedroom. He knocked on the barely closed door for politeness and was greeted with an immediate 'come in'. He nudged open the door and slipped inside.

Serena looked up and surprise, then a smile, flashed across her face.

"Harry! I thought you were mum. What are you doing here so early?" She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, her pet rat resting on her knee, as she sketched in a notebook. Harry jumped onto her bed next to her, barely remembering to keep his muddy shoes off the bed. The entire family tended to be neat-freaks of sorts. Even though Serena was only a few months older than Harry himself at eleven, she dressed similar to her mother, just in brighter colors. That day it was a white top, skinny jeans and a teal blazer jacket. All three girls were almost up-tight, curt in public and the head their classes or work stations.

"It's Dudley-kins birthday." That was all Harry needed to say to earn a nod of understanding. Serena was in their school year and had encountered Dudley many times. She knew just how awful the entire family could be, though Harry kept most of it to himself. This was the girl who had sobbed all the way home from school after seeing a stray cat limping into an alley because it was just so sad. Her pet rat, Monet, was merely an old, nine-toed rat she'd found in the backyard and decided to care for. Harry didn't need her crying over the every-day happenings of the Dursley household. It made him uncomfortable to have her crying next to him.

"Well, that just means you get to stay here all day!" Serena reminded him with a smile. She collected Monet in her arms, cradling him against her chest, and stood to go look at her shelf of board games. "What do you want to play first?"

The morning was spent lying stomach-down on Serena's carpeted floor, making their way through her collection of games. She managed to beat Harry at Candy Land and Uno but lost three consecutive times at Risk. It was towards the end of the third game, which Caitlyn had joined and helped Harry beat her sister for the sole purpose of then turning it around and playing against him one-on-one, that Ms. Larkin came into the room.

"It's a lovely day outside. Shouldn't you kids be out playing?" It was more of an order than a suggestion.

"But, mum, we're having such fun in here avoiding all sunlight and social interactions." Caitlyn informed her, the nearly ten year old having already mastered her own brand of dry humor. Ms. Larkin rolled her eyes and went to sit on the edge of Serena's bed next to her eldest daughter, who was back to sketching as she waited for Caitlyn and Harry to finish their game.

"Why don't we all go out for the day?" Ms. Larkin suggested and the three kids perked up at the idea.

"Where?"

"Where does everyone want to go? The park-?" Serena shook her head quickly; she wasn't much of a physical person and wouldn't run in her shiny ballet flats if her life depended on it. "An art gallery-." Caitlyn shook her head, black curls spilling down around her face. She was pretty much the opposite of her sister. "The zoo-."

"Oh, yes!" Serena was bouncing up and down now at the prospect of animals. Caitlyn shrugged and everyone looked to Harry, who smiled.

"Sure."

"Alright, get your coats and we'll go."

Ms. Larkin was right; it was a very nice day. A lot of other families seemed to have the same idea, as the zoo was crowded. Ms. Larkin bought them ice creams at the entrance before she paid their admission fees. She only worked as a waitress but Serena said her grandparents on both sides had left them a sum of money. Harry had the feeling the waitressing job was more of a hobby than to earn money and found himself wondering frequently why they lived in the neighborhood they did as opposed to some place grander.

They walked around as a group for a while as they finished their ice creams, but then Ms. Larkin agreed to let Harry and Serena off on their own while she and Caitlyn went another way. She told them to meet up with her at the zoo restaurant in an hour for lunch and then Harry and Serena were free.

Harry let Serena drag him around the small animal exhibits and then into the petting zoo for a while before he brought her into the cool, dark reptile house to get out of the sun. Serena wasn't fond of snakes; it might have had something to do with their diets and her love for rodents.

Serena went to see the lizards while Harry looked around at the snakes. He stopped at a cage for a large python, which looked as though it might die of boredom. Harry could understand that. 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.

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.

Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't; Serena was reading the information on the chameleon in the corner. Harry looked back at the snake and winked too.

"It must be really boring." Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. 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.

"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.

"Harry, what're you doing here?! What's that snake doing?" Dudley came waddling over as fast as he could and Harry frowned; he hadn't realized that the zoo would be Dudley's birthday destination or he never would've come. "Move, you." Dudley punched Harry in the ribs and, 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 fallen straight through as if there were no glass there at all. The two boys landed in the water of the cage with shrieks as the snake slithered out past them.

People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. Harry sat up as gasped as the snake slithered towards him. Then a hand was on his arm, trying to tug him up. Serena looked to be in complete shock, but she stayed with him as he got himself to his feet again.

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?"

Vernon and Petunia ran over to the cage, but the glass had appeared once again. Petunia screamed and pounded on the glass as Dudley cried inside. Vernon started looking around for the culprit, but Serena and Harry were already rounding the corner of the exit and disappearing from his line of sight. They hurried a little way away from the reptile house to be sure and then ducked behind a bench to catch their breath.

"What happened?" Serena gasped, brown eyes wide and dark olive skin seeming to pale a bit.

"I dunno know." Harry admitted, just as surprised as she was. She stared at him for a long moment and then looked over the back of the bench.

"Come on. Let's find mum." She grabbed his hand and they hurried off again.