Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their niece and nephew on the front step, the twins started, and harry and Samantha both braced themselves for all that everyone was going to find out.
, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. 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. 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 –
Many snickered, while Samantha outright laughed.
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.
'Social suicide' many thought 'no wonder the kids a brat.'
The room held no sign at all that other children lived in the house, too.
"Why not?" Remus asked, getting a bad feeling in his gut. Harry quickly made up an excuse
"We never liked having our pictures taken."
Snape sneered, Potter would never not love his fame, he was just like his father.
Yet Harry and Samantha Potter were still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.
Snape winced, and almost felt sorry for the brat, almost.
"Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.
"Give him a minute!" Ginny huffed, glaring at the book, and Samantha smiled, if they didn't get together she was going to be very shocked.
"Up!" she screeched. 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, while Samantha rolled onto his chest, still out cold
Many cooed at the thought, especially girls, while Samantha blushed dark red, that, was defiantly going to ruin her reputation
And tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it.
Sirius puffed out his chest again, glad that Harry remembered his motorcycle.
He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before, and vaguely remembered that Samantha had once said she had a dream about watching a flying motorcycle. His aunt was back outside the door.
"Give him a break!" Ginny yelled, outraged at Harry's rude awakening.
The twins shared a look with Ron, and they complained about their Mother waking them up.
"Are you up yet?" she demanded.
"Nearly," said Harry.
"Almost" Samantha mumbled, not even cracking open an eye.
"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 while Samantha grumbled, knowing that she'd have to stay outside all day on his birthday after breakfast.
"Outside?" Molly asked, she was starting to get attached to this Samantha girl, and really liked her.
Harry and Samantha shared looks; they both knew that she couldn't stay in the house because she wouldn't let them take her lighter away.
"Never mind that, they made you cook?" Hermione shouted, looking more than a little outraged.
"I like to cook" harry quickly explained "its fun."
'That's not what she asked, mate" Ron interjected "when did you start cooking?"
Harry looked at the table and muttered "I don't know, around the time I could reach over the stove with a stool I suppose."
Many shouted, and after many explosions from Dumbledore's wand, they finally calmed down enough to continue.
"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.
"Nothing, nothing..." Dudley's birthday - how could they have forgotten?
"We tried our hardest too" Samantha muttered, and Mad-eye caught her saying his. 'So she is the girl who lived' he thought 'interesting.'
Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks, making sure to face the door while Samantha put on her shirt and baggy pants (for she only wore light shorts and an undershirt to bed). He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on, throwing the other pair to Samantha.
Ron shuddered, and wondered why they didn't mind the spiders
Harry and Samantha were used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs were full of them,
"What does that have to do with anything?" Molly asked, and Samantha winced, this wasn't going to go well
And that was where they slept.
The twins stopped reading to stare at the book in horror. Remus was snarling in anger at the Dursley's, while Sirius had stood up in attack form and was growling at the book, no doubt being exceptionally angry at the Dursley's. Hermione had moved to sit next to Harry and held his hand tightly, while Harry had been trying to hold Sirius back so he could seek comfort in his warmth. Samantha hid in the far back, making sure to go unnoticed.
Dumbledore was completely shocked, Minerva was furious and Snape was double shocked, not liking the parallels between the brat and himself.
Everyone else was sitting, their mouths opened in shocked, as they could never see that actually happening to the Harry Potter. Some people, like Hannah Abbot, saw that this made Harry human, and not some celebrity, and felt pity for the guy, while others, like Malfoy, stared at the book in pure shock, not believing it
When they were dressed they went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents.
"Spoiled brat" echoed throughout the hall, and anyone who hadn't said it aloud was thinking it.
It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to the siblings, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody.
Many glared at the book, knowing what was coming next.
Dudley's favorite punching bags were Harry and Samantha,
Many growled, while some hissed.
- But he couldn't often catch them. They didn't look it, but they were very fast. Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry and Samantha had always been small and skinny for their age.
"Not all that's the cupboard, Pup" Sirius said, and harry smiled, happy to know more on his parents.
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, While Samantha took on uncle Vernon's clothes, cutting them up with scissors and trying them back so they almost fit her, but always looked like a mess
"Did they ever buy you two anything?" Ron asked, and wasn't very surprised by the shake of the head no.
Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes, while Samantha had brown eyes and short black hair, with bangs covering one eye. This eye was blind, from one of the few times Uncle Vernon was physical for something.
"Blind?" Ron asked, looking over at Samantha. He knew she wore bangs and brown eyes, so there was a good chance it was her, but he had no clue that she was blind in one eye.
Harry wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
Many growled, and wanted to know why Samantha was blind, and frustrated that there was no answer.
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.
"Mate, you used to like it?" Ron asked, in shock
Harry shrugged "I didn't know what it meant back then."
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," she had said.
Everyone's temper flared, how could anyone lie to children like that?
Samantha seriously doubted it was a car crash, because she believed that if a shard of glass had hit his head, he wouldn't be alive.
People nodded, good, someone thought of this.
"And don't ask questions." Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
The ravenclaws had never looked more scandalized until then.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
"Comb your hair! Get away from our food!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
Many grimaced, it seemed that the dursley's didn't like Samantha much, even less than harry from what they'd read.
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. Uncle Vernon hated Samantha more than harry, so she spent most of her time outside, roaming the neighborhood.
More growls, hisses, and snarls. Who forced someone outside all the time? Everyone needed sun, but that is too much!
Harry was frying eggs and Samantha was making the toast 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 –
Everyone snorted, something was obviously wrong with them.
Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig, while Samantha used more colorful language to describe him, something that often got her smacked.
Many laughed at this, but some (who'd listened all the way through the sentence) frowned, that girl seemed to go through a lot
Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Samantha sat in the back of the room, careful not to meet anyone's eyes. 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."
"I don't even get that much" Malfoy grumbled, disgusted that a mere muggle got more than him.
"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," said Dudley, 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 Samantha ate even faster than he did, careful to get as much as she could while leaving plenty for Harry.
"Don't choke Harry!" Molly called
"Mrs. Weasley, this was years ago!" Harry replied.
Molly blushed, looked embarrassed.
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? Two more presents. Is that all right''
"Is she really bargaining with him?" Hermione asked
"Yup" Harry replied
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."
A few Ravenclaws fainted at this, and Hermione looked close to doing so.
"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.
"Someone needs to get him glasses" Samantha muttered "he obviously has something wrong with his eyesight."
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.
Professor Burbadge quickly wrote these down, and decided to have a class on them later.
"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them."
"Them?' Hermione whispered, deadly silent "they have names, now use them."
Samantha privately pitied the Dursley's, they were going to be lucky to survive by the time this was done.
She jerked her head in Harry's direction. Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap and Samantha looked up. 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 and Samantha were 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. Samantha was not a person who pitied often, so she just shrugged in response. Harry knew she liked Mrs. Figg, at least enough to think about her for a moment about her and the cats.
Molly frowned, just what did that mean? Many seemed to have the same sentiment
Many believed Samantha to be apathetic, but that wasn't the case. Samantha hated it when people cared for her; it hurt her more than anything else could. She hated it when people liked her, and she could give nothing in turn.
Samantha nodded, harry hit the nail on the head on that.
Many frowned, a child should want to be loved, not push others away because of it.
"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry and Samantha as though they'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 it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. Samantha just looked at harry, not particularly caring about either choice.
Albus frowned, was this why she couldn't perform light magic? Is this why she is a grey magic user?
"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.
"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates them."
"Feelings mutual" Harry replied
"Is that the one you?" Ron asked, trying to hold in his laughter
"Yup" he replied, and watched as Ron fell over laughing, gaining many a strange look.
The Dursleys often spoke about Harry and Samantha like this, as though they weren't there - or rather, as though they were something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.
Many growls rang through the hall, and harry groaned, hating the pitying looks on his back
"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, and Samantha could draw or join him). Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.
"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.
"Nice try Harry" Samantha muttered "but they aren't going to agree."
"I suppose we could take them to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave them in the car..."
"Illegal!" Hermione screeched, glaring at the book.
"That car's new, there not sitting in it alone..."
Samantha gave a small snort, and mumbled to harry "how can we be alone when there'd be two of us in one place?" Harry shrugged, he had no answer.
Many nodded at the logic, while others laughed at how stupid Vernon was
Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother give him anything he wanted.
Malfoy grimaced at the muggle using a tactic he himself used, unsure if he felt angry for the muggle or for himself for being like the muggle.
"Dinky Duddydums, -
Here, the whole Hall laughed out loud at the nickname
- don't cry, Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"When is it not a special day for him?" Samantha muttered, not even putting up the energy to glare
Many frowned, was Samantha depressed?
"I... don't... want... them... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "they always sp- spoil everything!"
Samantha rolled her eyes; Dudley had never had anything ruined before because his parents practically worshiped him. Harry never had anything to ruin, it was all taken away, talk about unfair?
He shot Harry and Samantha a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. Just then, the doorbell rang –
"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, whom happened to have a crush on Samantha due to the fact she never put up enough energy to fight back.
Many frowned, a user if they'd ever heard of one.
He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. Peter smiled at Samantha and said "hello dearie" and reached for a kiss, something Samantha lazily dodged-
There were many raised eyes; you can lazily dodge someone trying to kiss you?
And Harry watched with slight irritation as Samantha was grabbed by hand by Peter and led to the car.
Many faked-vomited, how could someone stand that?
Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers, Dudley, and a bored Samantha, on the way to the zoo for the first time in there lifes. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with them, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry and Samantha aside.
"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, while Smantha grabbed his arm, "I'm warning you now, boy, thing, - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."
Molly frowned, who called there niece 'thing'? Arthur nodded to himself, he was going to ask Molly if harry and this Samantha girl could stay with them permanently.
Samantha watched the interaction with slight interest. She liked living with the Gnomes; they were funny people to be around.
Umbridge was smiling, there was a good possibility that with these books they could not only unearth Potter's lies, they could also manage to squeeze a law of legal muggle hunting into place yet.
"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly.."
"I'm not allowed to live inside anyway" Samantha droned.
But Uncle Vernon didn't believe them. No one ever did. The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and Samantha and it was just no good telling the Dursleys they didn't make it happen.
Everyone leaned forward, excited to hear about their accidental magic.
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."
During all of this, Uncle Vernon had to lock Samantha outside because she somehow managed to make all the animals in the neighborhood attack.
Many frowned; Samantha sounded a lot like a more relaxed version of Snape.
Snape was noticing the similarities between the two of them, and remembered that once Dumbledore had said that he was a father. He quickly shook his head, it wasn't possible.
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. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.
There was a standing ovation at this.
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. While Samantha was forced to sleep in the yard as much as possible, to make sure she didn't 'kill anybody'.
If someone had been outside the great hall, they would have had to imagine a beast that could rival Fluffy and eat grawp.
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. But Samantha was for setting it aflame.
Many hissed at how unfair it all was
On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.
"How in the bloody hell did you get up there mate?" Ron asked, frowning
"One word" Samantha replied "magic."
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. He remembered fondly Samantha's face as she stared at where he was, not yelling, giving him a questioning look.
The great hall all laughed as one, imagining someone trying to keep their yells in and still transfer what they were thinking.
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 while Samantha watched from the corner)—
Hermione snarled, she hated the thought of how they were treated, she wanted to help. She glanced at Samantha, was she still depressed? Did she still not like kindness? Could she help? Or would she make it worse? There were too many questions roaring in her mind, and she decided to ask afterwards.
- was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump. But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers (who was too busy trying to seduce Samantha anyway) 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 and Samantha, the council, Harry and Samantha, the bank, and Harry and Samantha were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.
Fred raised his eye brows "it wasn't you two for once?"
"It's a miracle Gred!" George replied.
"... 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."
Samantha gave him a look of 'why didn't you tell me?' and kicked his shins, a sign that he'd done something that was going to get them yelled at again.
"Sign?" Siruis asked, frowning as he looked at Harry
"We made up a language of bumps, prods, pokes, and soft kicks" Harry replied "so we could talk without arousing there suspicion."
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:
"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.
Samantha rested her head on his shoulder so he would relax.
Molly cooed, and Samantha blushed 'there goes my reputation for uncaring' she thought too herself 'right out the window.'
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursley's bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry and Samantha what they wanted before they could hurry them away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop and a small strawberry cone.
Samantha licked her lips slightly, she loved Strawberries, she just wished she could have more of them.
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. Harry knew that Samantha knew what he was thinking by the mirth in her eyes as she stared at it.
Moody watched Samantha with even more interest, was she telepathic?
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time and he could tell Samantha was having fun as well.
Many frowned; the zoo shouldn't be more fun than hanging with family
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, while Samantha was forced to hold hands with Piers.
Siuris and Remus growled, they were going to kill that brat. Nobody should be forced to hold hands with someone they didn't even like.
They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry and Samantha were allowed to finish the first.
"Allowed, why how generous of them" Ginny deadpanned
"It was very good" Harry quickly amended "very tasty."
Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last, and Samantha agreed wholeheartedly.
Hermione and Ron groaned, what did harry do now? Samantha smiled at them, she was happy that Harry had someone to look out for him; she glanced at Siruis and Remus, and mentally decided that they were good people from what she'd seen so far. She wished she could be closer to Harry, but she had to hide, as a secret weapon. She gave an inaudible sigh, she hated that the only thing she was useful for was as a weapon, not as a teenage girl.
After lunch they went to the reptile house.
The people who knew that harry was a parseltoungue nodded; now they understood. Siruis and Remus looked around the room in confusion, what were they nodding about?
Samantha sighed; this was going to be a long chapter, specially with how the people were going to react. She looked around, then looked back to the front, making sure to never linger on one face too long.
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 Samantha drew pictures of the lizards, Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon
"Wow" Ron muttered, awed "that is one big snake."
Many laughed, and the twins yelled "we will corrupt you yet!"
- 's car and crushed it into a trash can
"Oh" Ron mumbled, now disappointed "I suppose that's good too"
Samantha noticed they famous Weasley blush overtaking his features.
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.
"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
"did he just order uncle Vernon?" Samantha asked Harry "man, what a brat"
"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. 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. Samantha looked at the snake, and wondered silently why it was couped up, didn't these people understand that some animals should be free?
Many women held back tears, while the men looked quite ready to try to kill the Dursley's for making a girl think that way.
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.
Siruis, understanding immediately because of his Black heritage, turned on Harry and asked "are you a parselmouth?"
Harry gave a shy nod, then went to hide behind Hermione, not wanting to hear the hatred that might come from his voice. Remus and Siruis nodded and silently agreed, they were going to talk to harry after this.
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. Samantha, who had been watching this silent conversation, started drawing right next to harry, to block him from view.
Samantha nodded, she would always protect harry as much as possible, even though he didn't need it anymore.
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."
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?"
"Was it warm?" Samantha asked, trying to join the conversation
"This is just a normal boy and girl talking to snake situation, nothing to see here!" Fred yelled
"Blimey, Harry, how could you not realize how strange that was?" George asked
Harry shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know either.
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.
"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs, then pushing Samantha down.
Many boys growled, how could he hit a girl? Did he have no knowledge of the boy code? Or was he just that much of an arse-hole?
Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor, with Samantha landing on top. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened
Moody grumbled, Constant Villangance people! The girl seemed to know about what happened, because she whispered something into Potter's ear and he nodded slightly in turn, so softly his magical eye barley caught it. That girl would be an amazing Aurour someday.
- one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.
Everyone (sans Harry and Samantha) leaned forward, anxious to hear about what happened.
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished, Samantha watched with wide eyes as it slithered across the floor.
They recived a standing ovation for what they had done, causing Umbridge and Snape to frown, the potter brat didn't need to have a bigger ego, thank you!
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 because he did say it" Harry drawled, and Ginny looked thoughtful, a good snake, who'd a thunk that?
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" 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.
"Drama queens" rang through the hall
But worst of all, for Harry and Samantha at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"
Hermione growled, this muggle was a horrible person.
Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry and Samantha. 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.
"No meals!" Madam Pomfrey screeched "no wonder you're so thin!"
Harry winced, it was Samantha who ate the least, she should be checked up on. But they'd want to know where all the scars and burns came from, and Harry doubted that she would tell them the truth
Harry and Samantha lay in his dark cupboard much later curled up with Samantha laying on his chest, wishing they had a watch. They didn't know what time it was and they couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, they couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
"So you had practice, did you brat!" Snape sneered
Samantha looked up form the way back and mumbled "pot…. Kettle…. Black…. Need I go on?" fortunately, no one heard her
they'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as they could remember, ever since they'd been a babies and their parents had died in that car crash.
"Died in a car crash" Remus scoffed "James was the best driver I ever knew."
Samantha smiled, happy to know something about her step-father.
They couldn't remember being in the car when their parents had died. Sometimes, when they strained there memories during long hours in there cupboard, they came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain onto harry's forehead and Samantha's back.
"You remember that?" Molly asked harry, eyes showing Horror and pity
"That and much more" harry mumbled
This, they supposed, was the crash, though they couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. they couldn't remember their parents at all. their aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course they were forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. When they had been younger, Harry and Samantha dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were their only family.
"Not true" Samantha mumbled "we have many people who care now; we don't have to worry anymore."
Harry, who'd heard, nodded. She was right, but he would never be able to become a carefree child, that was something he just couldn't manage.
Yet sometimes they 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, Samantha, and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them all 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. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look, leaving Samantha frustrated and Harry confused.
"No one was supposed to bother you" Albus said, frowning "you location was to be kept hidden."
"I bet you Peter had something to do with that" Samantha whispered to harry, who nodded, bloody rat.
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. Samantha sealed her fate by sticking to her brother, something most siblings would never do.
'I always will' Samantha thought to herself 'he's the most important person in my life after all, except maybe…' she looked at Fred and George for a moment, before mentally shaking herself 'there harry's adopted brothers' she chasiated herself 'you can't love them, no matter what. Get a grip.'
"who wants to read next?" the twins asked, and Professor Mcgonagall raised her hand, and the book levitated to her
"Chapter 3" she read "letters from no one."