CHAPTER TWO: THE VANISHING GLASS.
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.
"I hope that means Harry isn't there," Sirius said.
"Why would it mean that, Black?" Severus asked.
"Because I'd have corrupted him enough to make him wreck havoc there. Duh!" Sirius exclaimed.
Luna frowned slightly. How would they react when they learned of her dad's treatment there?
The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls.
"I'm not surprised," Lily muttered, "Tuney always did hate changes."
Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets –
"Bonnets?" Prongs snickered.
"There's probably pictures of your son in them as well, Potter," Regulus said, smirking. James stared at him, horrified, as Sirius and Remus began to laugh.
but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.
"No one cares about him! Where's Harry?" Sirius said, praying, 'Please let him be living with me!'
The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long.
"I'm confused," Sirius said. "How aren't there any signs that he lives there?"
"Maybe he doesn't destroy everything in his path, unlike you," Regulus suggested.
His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.
"That must be torture," Lily moaned.
"Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. "Up!" she screeched.
"I'm surprised he isn't deaf if that's what he hears every day," Severus said.
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 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.
"That's because it actually happened, Harry!" Sirius said.
"You do know you're talking to a book, right, Paddy?" Prongs asked.
"No," Sirius said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm talking to Harry."
His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded.
"Why no, I'm not!" Remus said sarcastically.
"Nearly, " said Harry.
"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.
"They're making him cook! He's only ten! "Lily shouted.
"Lils, calm down!" James ordered.
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM ABOUT THIS!" Lily fumed. James chuckled nervously; he hated being in Lily's line of fire.
"I don't like it, but it's the future! We can stop it from happening! Don't you see..." In truth, James was furious, but he was trying to calm Lily down enough so they could continue to read. It worked, though Lily's face was still red.
"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.
"Nothing, nothing..."
"Sounds like me with mother," Sirius stated.
"Oh no," Regulus said, "That sounds like ME when I say something. You just start screaming."
"True, true," Sirius said in a mocking thoughtful voice.
Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.
"WHAT!" Lily screamed, but she could barely be heard over the three Marauders. They were shouting profanities at the book. Everyone, including Luna, were glaring at the book in Remus' hands. Moony fidgeted slightly under so many heavy glares.
"My son sleeps in a cupboard," James snarled.
"I'm going to kill your sister, Lily," not Sirius but surprisingly Severus, growled.
"They have no right…" Remus hissed.
When he 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.
"Spoiled brat," Sirius coughed. Everyone nodded vehemently, still angry.
Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise –
"That sounds like Dursley senior," Prongs said.
"Agreed, Prongs," Sirius said.
unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry,
"That's despicable," Lily spat, "And Tuney does nothing to stop it?"
Luna wanted to answer the question, in fact, she wanted to tell them the entire story. She knew it was a bad idea, though. Most of the Ministry had been working on how exactly to make this meeting work and the future be changed for the better that she knew she must follow what had to happen.
It was her role to let them read the books and stop any fights. She couldn't reveal extra knowledge. So, in truth, it was much easier to not speak at all.
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.
"Now that's the Potter genes coming through," Sirius said with a grin. It faded though, "I wonder where I'm at? I should at least be there to threaten the Dursley douches into treating Harry well."
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.
Lily's face started to grow red, and sensing the bottled up anger, James put an arm around her.
Harry had a thin face,
"Prongs," Sirius coughed.
knobby knees,
"Prongs," Sirius coughed again.
black hair,
"Prongs."
"Shut up, Sirius!" Lily reprimanded, still slightly amused.
and bright green eyes.
"Lily!" Sirius cheered. Lily rolled her eyes at his antics.
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.
"Aw, Prongs," Sirius whined, "He doesn't like what you look like."
"Really?" James said, looking mildly annoyed, "Imagine what he would think if he met you."
"He would love me just as much as you do, Prongs," Sirius assured him.
"Sorry, Paddy. I don't roll like that. Evans, here, is the only one for me."
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 had gotten it. "In the car crash when your parents died, "
"He doesn't know how you died," Moony said softly.
"I doubt he knows about magic, growing up with my sister," Lily said, tearful over the fate of her son. She knew what it was like having to bear her sister.
she had said. "And don't ask questions. "Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
"That's just wrong. And pathetic. And idiotic," Severus said.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. "Comb your hair!"
"The curse of the Potter hair," James said, shaking his head but smirking all the same.
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.
"Just like his old man," Pads said fondly.
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.
"That sounds like something Lily would say," Severus noted. James glared at Snape, jealous at him ever being close to Lily.
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 said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year. "
"Tuney! This is too much!" Lily growled. Regulus muttered,
"What do you expect from a filthy muggle?" And for once, Sirius didn't rebuke him.
"Darling,
"You're a spoiled brat and shouldn't have any presents!" Sirius declared. Everyone cracked smiles at that but were still angry over Prongs Jr.'s treatment.
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, " said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry,
"Who is much more awesome than his cousin," Regulus said, causing everyone to stare at him. "What?" he demanded, "I have a sense of humor, too, you know!" James stared at him in shock,
"Merlin, you sounded like Padfoot." Luna looked at Regulus thoughtfully; maybe he wasn't as different from Sirius as she had believed him to be.
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 scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin?
"Popkin," James snorted. Everyone else began snickering at the ridiculous nickname.
"Tuney comes up with the worst nicknames…" Lily said. Then she turned to Severus with a teasing smile on her face,
"Isn't that right, Sevviekins?" All three Marauders and Regulus busted out laughing at Severus' expression. Severus growled in response,
"That girl is an idiot."
"You've called her things, too, Severus," Lily reminded him.
"Not nice things," he pointed out, "And definitely not things you can repeat in front of children." He eyed Sirius and James as he said that.
"Oi! Are you calling us children!" Sirius asked. Severus glowered at him for a moment before saying,
"Children should be seen not heard."
"So you won't be talking, Severus?" Regulus said, smirking.
"Coming from the youngest in the room," Severus said, his lip twitching as the argument became more friendly, and he took it up with his house-mate.
"Coming from the most mature in the room!" Regulus said pompously, mockingly puffing out his chest. At this point, the Marauders were beginning to chuckle. Even, Lily was holding in a fit of giggles at their clowning around.
Two more presents. Is that all right'' Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.
"That does sound like something you'd think, Lily," James said, grinning slightly.
Finally he said slowly,
"So I'll have thirty... Thirty... "
"Can't even count, the bloody idiot!" Remus exclaimed, getting shocked looks from the others for his swearing.
"Thirty-nine, sweetums, " said Aunt Petunia.
"Oh. " Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then. "Uncle Vernon chuckled.
"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.
"Are they really…" Lily began, her face growing red once more. Remus started reading before she could say anything else.
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, " she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him. " She jerked her head in Harry's direction.
"I can't believe they won't even say his name…" Lily muttered
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.
Sirius growled as he heard that.
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.
"Merlin's pants! That's really weird!" Regulus said, surprised.
"I hate cats!" Sirius whined.
"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.
"I CAN't BELIEVE MY SISTER HATES ME ENOUGH TO TAKE IT OUT ON MY SON!" Lily screamed. James, who was trying to hold in his own anger, pulled her into a hug. Lily pushed him away, still seething.
"JUST GET OVER IT ALREADY!" Lily yelled frustrated by the book. James, whose ears were beginning to ring; Lily could yell really loud, did the only thing he could think of to make her quiet down. He kissed her, full on the lips. Lily made a surprised sound and backed away. Then she yelled,
"JAMES POTTER! DID YOU JUST KISS ME?" Nobody but Regulus noticed how pale Severus had gone.
"First of many, Lily Potter," James said with a sly wink. Lily frowned at the reminder that Harry wasn't just her son. How in Merlin's name did that happen?
Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself 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 this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.
"Or like something with the same IQ as Dudley," Regulus said, grinning slightly.
"Those – those…" Lily said furiously, trying to find an insult worthy of the Dursleys.
"Those repulsive, idiotic, ugly bastards?" Severus suggested. She nodded.
"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"
"On vacation in Majorca, " snapped Aunt Petunia.
"You could just leave me here, " Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).
All three Marauders growled at Harry's mistreatment.
Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.
"Interesting mental picture, there," Sirius said with a grin.
"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.
"I won't blow up the house, " said Harry, but they weren't listening.
"Of course," Severus said, "why would they ever listen to something worthwhile
"I suppose we could take him to the zoo, " said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... And leave him in the car... "
"My son is not a dog!" James said furiously.
"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone... "Dudley began to cry loudly.
"Brat!" Regulus exclaimed.
"I've never met such a dunderhead," Severus sneered.
"I dunno, Sev. Sirius is a pretty big dunderhead," Regulus said, faking a thoughtful tone.
"Oi!"
In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried -but he knew that ifhe screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.
"I take back my last statement. He is a bigger dunderhead than Sirius-" Regulus began
"Thank you," Sirius said sarcastically.
"Although, it is pretty close," Regulus finished.
"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"We are pranking your family, Lily!" James exclaimed. Sirius and Remus grinned wickedly. Lily nodded in assent.
"I... Don't... Want... Him... T-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.
"Git!" Sirius said.
"We know, we know," Remus said, annoyed with all of the interruptions.
Just then, the doorbell rang –
"What's a doorbell?" James asked.
"Unbelievable," Remus said shaking his head.
"What?" James exclaimed, confused.
"You took muggle studies. It's one of the first things we studied!"
"Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat.
"Don't insult rats like that!" Sirius said furiously.
"What?" Lily asked, confused by Sirius' anger.
"Seriously, Lily, you should know better than to try and decipher anything my brother says by now," Regulus said with a grin. He himself had found out about them being Animagi in his fifth year, due to a late night walk by the lake. It had happened to be a full moon, and he had seen James, Sirius, and Peter transform. James sent him a look that very clearly asked if he knew. Regulus nodded in confirmation, and James looked absolutely shocked. He thought no one other than the Marauders knew about that.
He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life.
"What's a zoo?" Sirius asked. No one that knew bothered to answer, and Remus continued to read.
His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside. "I'm warning you, " he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas. "
"They better not be serious," Lily said threateningly.
"Of course not, I'm Sirius," Sirius said, faking hurt. Everyone groaned at the pun.
"He'll be at Hogwarts, Lily," Remus said with a calming smile.
"I'm not going to do anything, " said Harry, "honestly.
But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did. The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.
"Petunia knows about accidental magic," Lil hissed through clenched teeth.
"But she's scared of it, Lily," Severus said, "Remember all the things I did to her when she insulted me." Lily snorted.
"I'm not saying she didn't deserve it, but the falling branch was slightly harsh."
"I want to hear this story," Regulus said, smirking.
"You aren't going to, so shut up," Severus said. He didn't want to give the MAraudes any idea of how to insult him.
Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar. " Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.
James nervously ran a hand through his hair. Sirius noticed and whispered to Remus,
"Now we know what to threaten him with."
Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.
"Yes! Go Potter hair," James yelled, grinning.
"Shut up, Potter," Severus said immediately. Remus read before an argument could begin.
Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) - The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.
"What!" Sirius exclaimed, "Harry can fly!" Regulus raised an eyebrow at his brother while Severus said,
"Lily could, too. She used to jump off of swing sets." Lily smiled, slightly embarrassed as everyone tried to imagine the head girl and prefect jumping off of a swing set.
Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.
The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.
"That's a pathetic explanation," Severus said, shaking his head.
But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.
While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects.
"Seems like Harry's just as annoying as his father," Sirius said, ruffling James' hair.
"Oi!" James said, trying to rearrange his hair. Needless to say, it didn't work.
This morning, it was motorcycles. "... Roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums, " he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. I had a dream about a motorcycle, " said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying. "
"That proves it," Sirius said suddenly, "Harry's got his father's brains."
"Shut up, Padfoot!" James said, smacking Sirius in the shoulder.
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache,
"I love your son's metaphors, Lily," Regulus said, grinning widely. Lily was slightly confused that Regulus, who was both a Slytherin and a firm believer in pureblood supremacy, was talking to her, a muggleborn, but didn't show it.
"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Dudley and Piers sniggered.
"I know they don't, " said Harry. "It was only a dream. "
But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.
"they're trying to stop him from being a wizard," Regulus said slowly.
"that's not going to work," Sirius said, shaking his head.
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families.
The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.
"At least he got something," James said weakly, trying to keep Lily's temper in check. She frowned but did calm down slightly.
It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.
"That's Lily's personality there," Remus said.
"Why?" Sirius asked, "They can both be insulting, Moony."
"Because Prongs wouldn't be able to think of something that smart," Remus said. James faked a stern, McGonagall-like look but couldn't stop the grin from growing on his face.
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbockers glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.
"Yep! Potter's mess everything up!" Sirius said with a smirk. James smacked Sirius in the head.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons.
"Yuck. I hate snakes," Regulus said. Everyone stared at him open-mouthed. "What?" he said defensively.
"That's a bit strange coming from the Slytherin Death Eater," Sirius said. Everyone's eyes widened. Sirius and Severus were the only ones who knew he was a Death Eater.
"Sirius!" Regulus hissed. James was the first to recover.
"You're a Death Eater! Why are you here, then? Why did you bring him?" he directed the last question at Luna. She answered calmly,
"He deserves to be here. Just keep reading." Remus did.
Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trashcan - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.
"Make it move, " he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.
"That's just rude," Remus said.
"You're defending a snake," Sirius said slowly. Remus didn't answer.
"Do it again, " Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. "This is boring, " Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.
"That's a good way to put it," Remus said thoughtfully, wondering why Harry understood that so well.
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.
"Ah," Remus thought as this answered his last question. Everyone else, excluding Severus, looked murderous at the reminder of Harry's home life.
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.
"What?" Regulus said incredulously. His eyes met Sirius, and he could see the same question reflected in his brother's eyes. He couldn't be a parselmouth.
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.
"That's just weird," Regulus said.
"How'd the snake wink? They don't have eyelids." Remus said slowly.
The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time.
"I know, " Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying. "
"Our son is a parselmouth," James said, gaping slightly. Lily was frowning, too. It just didn't make sense.
"Paddy," Prongs whispered, "What if he's in Slytherin?" It was unbelievable, inconceivable, to think that a Potter could be in Slytherin. Then again, Parseltongue was clearly a Slytherin trait. Sirius stared at him in disbelief before declaring,
"No way!"
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.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.
"Why does Harry compare all of them to animals?" Regulus asked, grinning slightly. Everyone else chuckled.
"Out of the way, you, " he said, punching Harry in the ribs.
"Don't punch my son," Lily and James growled before looking at each other in surprise.
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 leapt back with howls of horror.
"Accidental magic!" Sirius sang loudly. Remus, whom was sitting next to him, covered his ears and smacked him with the book, saying,
"You prat! That was right in my ear!"
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.
"Go Harry!" James said.
"We should do something like that one day," Sirius whispered to the other Marauders present.
The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo. "
"That's really strange," Remus said, looking slightly disgusted at the thought of a snake talking to his best friends' son.
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
"But the glass, " he kept saying, "Where did the glass go?"
"That's great!" James said, laughing. Everyone else soon joined in.
The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.
"They're such drama queens!" Regulus said, earning himself a laugh from the Marauders.
But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"
"Oh no," Lily groaned, "Tuney's going to hate that!"
Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say,
"Go - cupboard - stay - no meals, " before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
"THEY CANNOT STARVE MY SON!" Lily screamed suddenly, causing everyone to wince slightly.
"Lils, calm down," Remus said. She took a few deep breaths as Remus continued.
Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
"I wonder where the invisibility cloak is," James muttered, but Lily heard him.
"What?" she demanded sharply. James paled. She was a prefect and head girl and certainly would not hesitate to hand it in.
"Nothing," he declared quickly. She glared at him suspiciously, but she didn't say anything else.
He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash.
Everyone growled at the reminder of the lies Harry had been told.
He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.
"Did he survive the -?" Regulus said. Shocked, everyone glanced around at each other.
"How – how is that possible?" Remus asked. There was no answer.
This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.
Lily's eyes once more welled up with tears. James pulled her closer, his face looking around the room, shocked. It was impossible, but no, it would really happen. His son would grow up in a house far worse than he could ever imagine.
His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.
"That disgusting, foul, whale-sized man! How DARE he and Petunia keep these things from our son!" Lily screamed. James, who was still just as angry, grinned foolishly as Lily finally recognized Harry as their son.
When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away,
"Like me!" Sirius exclaimed, "Where am I? Prongs is my family. Lily noted Regulus' visible wince as Sirius so blatantly stated it.
"Or me," Remus added. "Even though I have some… interesting circumstances… I should still at least visit!"
but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.
A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word.
"That would freak me out, too," Remus said.
The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.
"Disapparation," Regulus said, stating the obvious.
At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.
"That's repulsive," Remus said in a shocked voice. He knew how to value friendship, and the fact that it could be controlled so easily was almost horrifying to him.
"We have to change this!" James declared. Sirius turned to Luna and asked,
"That is why we're reading this, right? This is so we can change the future." Luna nodded once and said,
"The time in which I live took a lot of innocent lives to create. I'm here to prevent the deaths."
"Who dies?" Remus asked, pale. Luna only said,
"Read the books to find out."
"Wait!" Severus said, "You're from the future?" Luna nodded in confirmation.
"That's bloody brilliant!" Regulus and Sirius exclaimed at the same time. Then they turned to each other, shocked. They sat like that for a moment, gaping. Then everyone, even Severus, began to laugh.
"Who wants to read now?" Luna asked. Lily answered,
"I will." She grabbed the book from Remus and read,
"The Letters From No One."