The Vanishing Glass
It has been nearly ten years since the Dentleys woke to find their nephew on the front step. That and the birth of Deacon were the only notable things to change on Privet Drive. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and made the brass Number Four shine on the Dentleys' front door. It then crept into their living room, looking almost exactly the same as it was the night Nicholas saw the news report about the owls and shooting stars.
The only sign that showed that time had passed was the photos on the mantelpiece. Ten years ago, the only photos were of Patty and Nicholas at their wedding and honeymoon. Now there were photos of the two along with two boys. One being their son and the other being their nephew.
Speaking of the latter, he was asleep in his bedroom until he heard knocking on his bedroom door. Blinking his eyes open, he looked and saw his aunt peeking her head in.
"Morning, dear. Breakfast is ready." She told him. Arthur was trying to focus on what she said as he tried to recollect the dream he had, which involved a flying motorbike. He could've sworn he had that dream before.
"Come on, Arthur, I made bacon sandwiches for you." She enticed him to properly wake up. It worked as he shot up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He loved bacon sandwiches so much.
"I'm up." He said.
"Then get a move on, we want to get to the zoo as soon as possible." Patty said, making him remember that they planned a trip to the zoo for the last few weeks.
Arthur got out of bed as Patty closed the door and went back downstairs. Arthur wore a plain grey shirt and black pyjama bottoms. He stood out because of his rather untidy jet black hair, green eyes and the lightning bolt shaped scar of his forehead.
When he asked his aunt how he got the scar, the only response he got was that he got it from the car crash that killed his parents.
Regardless, he made his way to the table that was next to the kitchen. The table had plates of breakfast foods and there were both apple and orange juice. Patty was still in the kitchen, cleaning something up.
He sat where the plate with bacon sandwiches was. There was also sausages and scrambled eggs. He poured a glass of apple juice when Nicholas and Deacon entered and sat at the table as well. Nicholas now looks like an entirely different person since he has indeed lost weight and wants to maintain that.
Deacon, despite being a year younger than Arthur, was taller and slimmer than his cousin and had more proper and short cut brown hair with blue eyes.
"Dad said we're going to the zoo today." Deacon said as Patty joined them at the table and Arthur just started devouring his bacon sandwiches.
"That's right. We've finally got the time to all go to the zoo finally." Patty said, spreading butter on a slice of toast.
"Trust me, it's nice to finally have time off from work for the next few days." Nicholas stated before taking a bite out of a sausage.
"As long as we go to the Reptile House." Arthur said. For as long as he could remember, Arthur had a real liking for lions, wolves and snakes. He didn't know why, he just liked them the most.
"Of course." Patty chuckled.
The four continued having their breakfast and once they were done, they all rushed to get dressed and go to the zoo.
Within twenty minutes, the four all got dressed and made their way to the car.
Arthur was about to enter the car when his uncle grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face him.
"Now, I know I'm gonna sound harsh but can you try to avoid getting unnecessary attention?" He asked his nephew, not in a stern tone, but in a concerned tone.
"I'll try. But I can't control what happens, can I?" He replied. This was because many strange things happened around Arthur that can't be explained.
One time, Patty decided to try and cut and tidy up his hair, thinking that he looked unkempt. So she did that but then the next day, his hair grew back to exactly as it was before, shocking him and his aunt. She just decided to just leave it be.
Another time, he and Deacon were playing at a park and when Deacon pushed him, Arthur slipped and fell. The height he fell would have broken a bone or two but somehow he wasn't hurt. Instead, he somehow bounced off the ground as though it was a trampoline. Deacon apologised while also asking how he did that. But Arthur didn't know.
Then there was that time when Arthur was being chased by the school bully, a blonde oaf, as well as his gang. He wanted to find somewhere to avoid them when he ended up on top of the roof of a maths class. This got him into some trouble with the headmistress as she sent an angry letter to his aunt and uncle, who demanded an explanation. Once he told his side of the story, they let it slide.
As Nicholas drove them all to the zoo, he was talking to his wife about how he nearly got into an accident with a motorbike the previous week, it reminded Arthur of his dream.
"I actually had a dream about a motorbike. It was flying." He informed everyone. This caused his aunt and uncle to look at each other with an odd look and Deacon shrugged, not really liking motorbikes that much.
That left an awkward atmosphere in the car.
It was a really sunny Saturday and the zoo was already crowded with families. At the entrance, everyone got their own ice creams. Arthur had vanilla and chocolate ice cream. They went through the zoo, looking at animals like a gorilla that scratched its head and watching a couple of elephants having a shower, which they all found cute.
When lunchtime came around, Arthur had some chips with ketchup as he wanted something small and basic.
They continued on through the rest of the zoo, with them reaching the Reptile House last.
It was cool and dark, the only source of light being the lit windows along the walls. Behind all the glass are a whole myriad of lizards and snakes crawling and/or slithering over wood and stone.
Because he was the most excited about being there, he was allowed to explore on his own, knowing he can take care of himself. He was walking to where the snakes were when he saw the blonde oaf bully from his school. He stood, nose pressed against the glass, looking at a brown coiled snake.
Arthur hid to make sure that the bully didn't see him and when he saw him move on, being bored with the snake, Arthur went to that tank/enclosure, seeing that it belonged to a Boa Constrictor from Brazil.
He felt bad for the reptile, thinking it would've died from boredom due to it having company with rather annoying and stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass to disturb it non stop.
But then to his surprise, the snake opened its beady eyes. It then slowly raised its head until it was eye level with Arthur and then it winked.
Arthur's eyes widened in shock. He then looked over his shoulders to see if anyone was watching, and seeing that no one was, he winked back at the snake.
The snake then jerked its head towards the blonde oaf and raised its eyes to the ceiling, saying: I get that all the time.
"Yeah, that must be really annoying. If only you lived in Brazil where you can be free from all of that." Arthur said, feeling sympathy. The snake nodded in agreement before jabbing its tail at the sign.
Arthur looked where the tail pointed to, seeing that the snake was bred in the zoo.
"Sorry about that." He apologised, feeling worse for the snake.
"Mommy! Dad! Come here!" A voice shouted from behind him and got shoved to the ground to the left.
"You won't believe what this snake is doing!" The voice shouted once more. Arthur looked to see it was the blonde oaf and felt a surge of anger in him. The oaf stood and was pressed up against the glass when it suddenly disappeared and he fell into the tank/enclosure. The snake then slithered out and landed next to Arthur.
"Brazil, here I come… thanksss, amigo." The snake said in a low, hissing voice before continuing on, making people in the Reptile House scream and run for the exits.
Arthur went on to find his relatives, who were in the back.
"What's going on?" His uncle asked him, having heard the screaming.
"A snake went loose." Arthur said, not going into detail about what happened. This of course made them all shocked and without a word, they made their way out, walking past the tank/enclosure the snake left. There, the blonde oaf was still in there because the glass was back and he screamed for his parents, who both screamed back.
Once the family made it back home, they all sat in the living room and both Nicholas and Patty looked at Arthur with a serious look on their faces.
"What exactly happened, Arthur?" They requested.
"Yeah, why was Big D locked up? Was he a new addition to the zoo?" Deacon jokes, which worked as everyone chuckled.
Eventually, Arthur explained in detail how it all happened, even how the snake talked. While Deacon jokes, saying that snakes don't talk, Patty and Nicholas looked at each other again with that same look they had on the way to the zoo. Arthur was getting worried about what that look meant.
"Am I in trouble?" He asked them, concerned. They were silent for a second before they sighed.
"No, if anything that bully got what he deserved." Patty assured him.
"And we've accepted that no matter what, things will happen." Nicholas added.
This made Arthur feel better and shortly after he went back to his bedroom to read a book.
Arthur lived with his relatives for nearly ten years. Ten years full of love and care, ever since he was a baby and his parents had died in a car crash. Though he always suspected that wasn't the case. Not only did he not believe that but he recollected a strange vision of a blinding green light which accompanied a burning pain on his forehead where the scar was.
He never remembered his parents at all. His aunt and uncle talked very little of them, as though thinking of them was painful for them, especially his aunt, so he rarely brought them up in conversation. There weren't even photos of his parents in the house.
Also, there were instances when really odd strangers seemed to have known him. One such instance was when he was with Patty and Deacon, out shopping. A tiny man in a violet top hat bowed to him. Arthur asked his aunt if he knew the man, but she didn't answer. Another instance had a wild looking old woman dressed in green waving merrily at him on a bus and a bald man in a really long purple coat shook his hand in the street the other day before walking away without a word.
The oddest thing about these people is that they all seemed to have vanished when Arthur tried to get a second look.
At school, Arthur had no one other than Deacon. This was because of the blonde oaf and his gang bullying him, therefore no one disagreeing with the bullies, and the fact that odd things happened to him.
He just didn't really feel at home despite having loving relatives.
For those that have both watched the films and read the books, you'll know who that blonde oaf is.
SpiritChannelerJosh: I didn't want the first chapter to be a literal copy and paste from the book, so I worded it all differently.
B.E.A.T.N: Thanks for your kind words.
RonaldM40196867: He'll be different compared to Harry in numerous way, including what his weakness is, which will come into play come Order of the Phoenix.