A/N: When I previously published this chapter, I had a question as to what tarantulas had to do with snakes. I have never been to the London Zoo before, nor most others, but the ones I have been to have all kept their reptiles, amphibians, and other creepy-crawlies in the same building, often right across from the larger exhibits. My thinking for Dudley is that he would want to get at any of these creatures, whether that be a snake, spider, or poisonous frog.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would have been a very intelligent one year old.

Chapter 2: Ten Years Later

POV: Lily Ann

Lily Ann Potter was nervous. It was her cousin Dudley's birthday and she had no idea if he would like his present; Aunt Petunia wouldn't. Gathering towards herself all the various flowers she had been collecting, Lily Ann tucked them gently into the tin and hid it under the hedge in the garden. She didn't know why she was being so secretive – they were only flowers – but somehow she knew that Aunt Petunia wouldn't approve of what she was using them for. She never seemed to like the abnormal.

Running inside, Lily Ann quickly knocked on her brother's door under the stairs and whispered through the crack, "Hurry. They'll be getting up soon and then all hell will be let loose if you're still in there."

She heard a mumbled reply and she darted upstairs into her bedroom before anyone could see that we she was up and about. She scrunched her brow in thought as she wondered why she and Harry were treated so differently. She wasn't supposed to be up before Dudley, who never was up before nine when he didn't need to be, but Harry wasn't supposed to be in bed after Aunt Petunia had risen, which was never later than seven. Lily Ann had the bedroom next to Dudley's, but Harry only had the cupboard under the stairs.

It wasn't like there weren't enough bedrooms at number four, Privet Drive. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon shared a room, which was across from Dudley's room. Lily Ann had the smallest room, which was across from the spare bedroom that few people ever entered. Lily Ann often wondered why Harry couldn't stay there, but the idea was always side swept because they "needed to have room in case visitors came." Uncle Vernon's sister occasionally endured a few days there, though she never stayed long because she couldn't stand to be away from her dogs.

Even Dudley treated her differently. Dudley treated her like a sister and beat up anyone who teased her. Harry on the other hand found himself being Dudley's personal punching bag if he couldn't get away fast enough. Lily Ann couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Hearing the screeching of Aunt Petunia coming from downstairs, Lily Ann knew that Harry had ignored her warning and gone back to sleep and she grinned to herself, forgetting her previous thoughts.


POV: Dudley

Dudley was getting bored. At first looking at some of the big powerful animals like the lion and bear had made him feel strong, but as they passed the penguin exhibit and it had been a while since they had passed any dangerous animals, he and Piers began to throw small stones at the animals to see how they would react. However now they were in the reptile house and there was glass that made it impossible to get anything.

Shame. He had really wanted to at least set a tarantula on his cousin.

Barely glancing at the smaller snakes and creatures, Dudley soon found the large and mighty python. He smirked at it, thinking about how much fun it would be to wrestle with it. Obviously he would win. The snake didn't even have arms.

Dudley's fantasies soon died as it became very evident of how very boring snakes were. They didn't even move; even the gorillas had done that. Turning away from the exhibit, Dudley went to whine at his mother that he wanted some ice cream.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dudley thought he saw Harry in front of the exhibit he had just left. Was he… talking to the snake? Smirking, Dudley had just turned to Piers to signal to him that Harry Hunting had begun when he saw it. The snake was raising its head, looking at Harry, probably wondering how tasteless someone so skinny must be. But it was moving.

"Get out of the way," Dudley demanded, punching Harry in the stomach. What happened next, Dudley had no idea. But somehow or another, he found himself soaking wet, laying in the exhibit as the snake hissed at Harry and slithered out, amidst screaming by all nearby patrons. But when Dudley tried to escape like the python, he found glass instead of air.


POV: Lily Ann

Lily Ann Potter had to wait hours before Aunt Petunia would let Dudley out of her sight. He was still jittering like crazy and Uncle Vernon was shouting about suing the zoo, the glass company, the zoo, and everyone else he could think of blaming. She was a lot less sure about herself and her gift.

When Dudley had fallen into that snake exhibit, Aunt Petunia kept throwing glares not only at Harry, which sort of made sense because she and Uncle Vernon blamed everything on him, but also at her. Maybe she knew about her secret.

Sitting in Dudley's room with the door shut tight, Lily Ann pulled out the tin that she had been saving and handed it to him.

Glancing warily at her, he opened the tin and saw the lily blossoms that she had collected. Dudley asked, "What's this?"

Nervously, Lily Ann spoke. "Well, I didn't know what to get you for your birthday and so I thought that I'd share with you a secret. Something I haven't even told Harry. Hold out your hand."

He did so, and she put one of the flowers in his hand and then blew on it. Slowly, the petals opened and closed as if night and day had passed all at once. Dudley watched in shock for a moment, and then looked up at Lily Ann, who was watching him closely.

As his eyes clouded, Lily Ann suddenly knew she had made the wrong choice.

"You're a freak. You and your brother. It's not normal. You're not normal." He tore the flowers into tiny pieces and thrust the tin back at her. "Freak."

He pushed her out of the room and she stood there looking at her tin, the remains of her flowers already beginning to curl. Tears finally began to trickle out of her green eyes as she wondered if he was right.

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HiddenReaderNinja out. :)