Here's the first chapter of Annus Mirabilis-I hope you enjoy it! You'll notice little letters (i..ii...iii) in parentheses to indicate where I directly quoted something from the book. (FF wouldn't keep it in the same format as I had it in Word, unfortunately) Sometimes it's not exactly the same given the circumstance, but they're direct quotes where I literally typed out sentences word for word. And you'll also notice a bunch of citation and copyright info at the bottom of the document-that's because I'm super paranoid and want to make sure I don't get sued. I'm a poor college student and have no money to hire a lawyer, so I'm covering all the bases on this. :p
Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone. Anything that you recognize belongs to the genius of J.-I'm just borrowing for entertainment purposes.
Madeline Potter had woken up long before her brother. In the cramped space below the stairs, she had heard each and every clip-clopping step her aunt made down the stairs as the woman worked her way toward the kitchen. Madeline glanced at over at Harry who, at the moment, was sleeping on his back, faintly snoring and drooling from the corner of his mouth. Her lips twitched into a fond smile and she reached out a hand to brush away the messy black fringe from his forehead. Despite the close and often uncomfortable quarters the twins were forced to share, Madeline found herself cherishing the moments when she could simply watch her brother sleep, peaceful after a long day of putting up with the taunts and jeers of their family and peers. Enjoying the extra warmth during the long winter months did not hurt either.
"Up! Get up! Now!"(i)
Harry woke with a startled snort. Madeline snickered to herself as their aunt rapped on the cupboard door again.
"Get up!" she squawked and stomped back into the kitchen. They heard her fiddling with pots and pans, probably getting out the skillet for the breakfast bacon. (Their cousin, Dudley, had a great love for all that was pork and was known to demand bacon for various meals of the day.)
Harry tiredly scrubbed his face with a hand, his bleary eyes glassy and coated with sleep. With his other hand, he dazedly smacked around on the shelf above them, feeling around blindly for his glasses. Puffs of dust shot up and twirled around lazily in the air before raining down on him, Madeline, and their pillows.
"Ugh, Harry, stop! Hang on, I'll get them. You're getting dust everywhere," she said. Propping herself up on her elbow, Madeline quickly spotted his glasses not even an inch away from his hand. She huffed quietly to herself. Boys—they could never find anything.
"Do we have to get up?" he mumbled, accepting his glasses from his sister with a silent nod of thanks. "I was having a good dream. At least, I think it was a good one. There was a flying motorcycle in it."
"Didn't you have a dream like that before? You mentioned it once, I think."
Harry opened his mouth to respond when their aunt made another appearance, pounding on their door and demanding to know if they had woken up yet. Her brother rolled his eyes at her and made a face while Madeline responded with a softly sarcastic "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 to be perfect for Duddy's birthday."(ii)
Hearing this, the twins groaned, eliciting a snappish response from their aunt. When she finally clomped away, the two sat up and began shuffling around for clothes in their tiny space. The cupboard was barely big enough for the small bed that the twins had to share, which meant that there was no room for any sort of wardrobe or bureau to store their clothes. Under the bed was a large plastic box containing everything from Harry's oversized jeans and mismatched socks to Madeline's training bras and worn t-shirts.
After a bit of squabbling—"Hey, that's MY sock!" "No, that's yours over there!"—the two were able to get dressed in short order.
"I can't believe we forgot it was Dudley's birthday," Madeline said, struggling to undo a rather large knot in her shoelace.
"I can't believe you care that we forgot it was Dudley's birthday," replied Harry. He watched his sister wrestle with her shoe for a moment longer before rolling his eyes and taking it from her.
"Well, if we hadn't, we could have been more prepared for Aunt Petunia's wake-up call."
"C'mon, Maddie, she wakes us up like that almost everyday. It's nothing new," he said, giving her back her shoe sans knot.
Maddie sighed. "I guess you're right."
Both fully dressed, the two made their way down the hall to the kitchen. Entering the room, Maddie had to stare incredulously at the table. One could almost believe the mountain of presents was floating in midair of its own volition; the table couldn't be seen under the bulk of wrapping paper and ribbons. She shouldn't have been surprised—Harry certainly wasn't, if his face was anything to go by—but the sheer amount of stuff the Dursleys gave their only son was something Maddie could never get over. Especially when there was so much that she and her brother went without. It really was not fair.
"Looks like Dudley got the new computer he wanted," Harry muttered to her. "And the second T.V., and the bike."
"He'll probably have someone run us over with it," she mumbled back. "It's not like he'll use it. Dudley's so fat he can't even see his ankles."
Harry snickered appreciatively. It really was true, he thought. Dudley hated exercise of any kind—unless, of course, it involved beating him and his twin up. Looking over at his sister, he noticed, not for the first time, just how tiny and frail she appeared. With her shabby, secondhand clothes, Madeline looked more like a street urchin than the pretty ten-year-old girl he knew she could be. Her long red hair was in its customary braid, hanging down over her shoulder, and her big bright hazel eyes drew attention away from the smattering of freckles across her nose. Harry eyed the thin scar on her neck and reached up to touch his own. They had gotten them in the car accident that had taken their parents, according to his Aunt Petunia, but where his took the form of a bolt of lightning, hers was more crescent shaped—like the moon.
As he contemplated his sister's appearance, he noticed Uncle Vernon come into the room from his spot by the stove. The bacon sizzled cheerfully in greeting. It's mocking me. I know it is.
"Comb your hair," he barked(iii), before plopping down at the breakfast nook. "And you, wash your face!"
Maddie mumbled something in response as she continued to put down place settings for breakfast. She caught his eye and made a face. Harry shook his head and turned his attention back to the bacon. Uncle Vernon always made comments about his hair and how it needed to be combed or cut. Nothing really ever helped though— his hair was always all over the place no matter what he did or what product he used or how often he cut it. And Maddie… Well, Uncle Vernon must have something against her freckles. Probably thinks they'll wash off if she scrubs at them hard enough.
Dudley waddled into the kitchen as Maddie finished setting the table, which was particularly hard this morning with all of his junk taking up so much space. Harry caught her eye again as he was cooking the eggs and mouthed "pig in a wig"(iv) at her. It was all she could do not to burst out into uncontrollable giggles. He often commented on how they seemed to live in a zoo, what with their aunt looking like a horse and their uncle a walrus. It was only fitting that their son should resemble swine more than an eleven-year-old boy.
As Harry came over to the table with the bacon and eggs, Dudley counted his presents and, apparently unsatisfied, started to complain about how much fewer there were from last year. Maddie and her brother exchanged glances and subtly began to eat faster. No one knew what could be flying through the air during one of their cousin's temper tantrums and Heaven knew that she didn't want her breakfast to be included. When Aunt Petunia managed to diffuse the situation, however, by bribing Dudley with more presents, Maddie figured it was safe enough to stop scarfing down her food.
The telephone rang and, while their aunt went to answer it, Maddie, her brother, and her uncle watched as Dudley unwrapped present after present after present. She was afraid the disgust was showing on her face when Aunt Petunia came back to the table looking rather upset. Mrs. Figg, their neighbor, had apparently broken her leg and was unable to watch over the twins. Maddie and her brother caught each other's eye for the fourth time that morning, anticipation shining in their eyes. While she endured it with more grace than her brother, both twins had no desire to venture over to the Figg household that smelled like produce and contained more cats than they really cared to know.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon argued about what to do with the both of them, knowing Dudley wouldn't want them to come on his birthday trip but also unwilling to leave them in the house alone together as Harry hopefully suggested. It soon became apparent as the Dursleys went through their list of acquaintances that Maddie and Harry would just have to accompany the family, as well as Dudley's friend Piers Polkiss, to the zoo. They just couldn't think of anything else to do with them. When everyone reached the car, Uncle Vernon took them both aside and glared down at them, his bushy moustache twitching angrily.
"I'm warning you," he said, putting his large purple face right up close to theirs. "I'm warning you now—any funny business, anything at all—and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."(v)
"We'll be on our best behavior," Maddie promised. "Really, we will."
Uncle Vernon snorted with apparent distrust and shuffled over to the car. Aunt Petunia, Dudley, and Piers were already seated inside by the time Harry and his sister followed after their uncle. Maddie glanced into the back seat only to realize that, with Dudley's great bulk and his friend in the middle seat, there was hardly any room for one person, never mind two. She voiced her concern to her aunt and uncle, the latter of whom just snorted impatiently and demanded they get in.
"Sit on someone's lap for all I care, but just get inside!"
Dudley immediately protested. "She's not sitting on my lap!"
"She can sit on mine," Piers offered, an oily smile on his rat-like face. "I wouldn't mind."
Maddie stared at her brother in alarm, clutching his hand in a vice grip. Harry rolled his eyes and squeezed into the only remaining seat, pulling his sister down on top of him. She sighed in relief, but scooted as far away from Piers as she could when she noticed him leering at her. Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back into his chest, grinning at her happily. This was the first time they would be going to the zoo in their entire lives and Maddie could see that he was really looking forward to it. Squeezing his hand, she smiled back at him. She was excited too.
They reached the zoo with very little trouble—Uncle Vernon only yelled at Harry once, and that was for mentioning the flying motorcycle in his dream—and soon joined the throng of people milling about the entrance of the zoo. Harry was ecstatic as he licked the lemon ice pop his uncle bought for him and his sister to share. It was the most enjoyable time he could remember having with his family, aside from Maddie. Walking apart from the others, he could almost pretend that he and his sister were alone, enjoying the animals they saw as they wandered through the zoo. It really was the best day he could remember in a long time.
Of course, as all good things, the morning soon came to a rather unfortunate end. The trouble all started when they came to the reptile house and Dudley demanded to see the snakes. As was his wont, their cousin ran up to the largest and, in his opinion, the best snake in the entire exhibit. His excitement dwindled when he noticed the thing was in a dead sleep and, with his face smashed against the glass, demanded that his father make it move. Despite all his attempts, however, Uncle Vernon could not get the snake to move or even wake up. Having decided that that particular attraction was unworthy of his time, Dudley toddled away.
Maddie and her brother lingered before the glass. She looked at the shining scales with fascination, observing the long coils draped along the various rocks littering the bottom of the exhibit. Harry seemed to be pondering over the serpent as well, his eyes flickering over it and everything else that lay behind the glass.
"He's got it worse, " he said, reaching out to touch the window. "This is even more cramped than our cupboard. And even we get to move about the house if we really felt like it."
"Yeah," Maddie agreed. "At least it's only Aunt Petunia who pounds on our door. The poor guy probably gets hundreds of people tapping on the glass each day."
As if it heard them, the snake opened its eyes. They watched in quiet excitement and awe as it raised its head until its eyes were level with their own. And then it winked at them. Maddie's eyes popped open in shock, blatantly staring at the serpent and wondering if she really saw what she thought she had. Harry, on the other hand, looked around to see if anyone was watching. Seeing no one glancing in their direction, he looked back at the snake and winked as well. The both of them stood there a while talking to the snake, when a shout came from behind them.
"COME QUICK! COME QUICK! LOOK AT THE SNAKE! LOOK AT WHAT IT'S DOING! IT'S UNBELIEVEABLE!"
Maddie and Harry were suddenly pushed to the ground as Dudley and Piers stuck their faces up against the glass. In the next instant they heard the two boys scream in terror. The twins looked up to see that not only had the glass of the boa constrictor's exhibit had disappeared, but both Dudley and his friend hand managed to fall in. The snake was coiling across the floor and people all around the reptile house were screaming and rushing to get out. Looking back at the snake's tank, Maddie noticed that the glass had suddenly reappeared and that both boys were now stuck inside, squealing and rapping at the glass. She was so caught up that she almost missed the quiet hissing.
"Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigosss."(vi)
After that it was all a blur of activity. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were inconsolable while the boys were blubbering behind the glass. It took almost two hours to get them out. All the while, the Potter twins were simply numb, unable to believe what had just happened. Soon enough they were all piling out of the car and into the Dursley household. Throughout the ride, Dudley and Piers had been ranting and raving about how they could have died while Aunt Petunia made weak, sympathetic noises. Piers, however, had pulled together enough to mention that Harry and Maddie had been talking to the snake during the entire episode. Needless to say, Uncle Vernon was livid. Maddie was never so relieved to be able to return to the cupboard unscathed.
"How in the world did we get blamed for this?" Maddie wondered later as she and her brother lay side by side on their bed. "It doesn't make any sense!"
Harry made a rude noise. "It never needed to make sense before, Maddie. Remember all the other things they've punished us for, even though we clearly couldn't have done it? All those weird things that we just couldn't explain?"
"Like the time Dudley kept shoving mud in my face and then he suddenly sank into the ground up to his waist?"
"Or the time Aunt Petunia cut my hair so short that I almost had no more hair left, but it grew back the next day?"
"Oh! Or the time at school when Piers tried to kiss me and found himself hanging from the swing set by his ankles?"
Harry laughed. "I forgot about that! I should have made you sit on his lap today, huh?"
"Shut up!"
That's it for the first chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you all think!
~X~
Text copyright © 1997 by J.K. Rowling
i Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.; Chapter 2, pg. 19
ii "…."; Chapter 2, pg. 19
iii "…."; Chapter 2, pg. 20
iv "…"; Chapter 2, pg. 21
v "…"; Chapter 2, pg. 24
vi "…"; Chapter 2, pg. 28