AN: We hope you liked the first chapter and to all readers we hope you will stick aroundd for more because wwithin the nex few chapters things will be derailed from the origonal storyline to our AU. And please leave us reviews because we want to know what you think of our work and a warning to all flamers...all flamers will be useed to fuel both the Salamanders and the Floo Network! We hope you enjoy the story guys and gals!
Chapter 1- The Snake That Got Away (Happy Birthday, Diddykins)
June 30, 1996, 4 Privet Drive, Whinging 7 a.m.
It had now been nearly 10 years since that morning that Petunia had opened the front door to find a baby sleeping on the steps. Not much had changed during that time. The sun still rose in the mornings, filling the living room with its light. The sun still set in the evening, giving an orange glow to the dining room. The yards were still meticulously manicured. The car still parked in front of the house.
Inside the house, there was also very little change. The pictures around the house no longer showed a pink beachball wearing different types and colors of bonnets. Now, the pictures showed pictures of a fat boy in different poses, and doing various activities. There were the school pictures of Dudley trying to look angelic, and a picture of Dudley riding a bike for the first time. There was a picture of Dudley and Vernon playing a computer game together, and there was one of Dudley with Petunia's arms wrapped around him with a proud look on her face. In all these pictures, Dudley looked like a bigger version of his baby pictures. He was now a big and very stout boy who looked like a bigger pink beach ball with his straight blonde hair combed straight down on either side of his face. Of course, there were no pictures of Harry. Matter of fact, there was no sign that Harry lived there at all.
It was on one sunny morning that Harry was rudely awakened by a banging on his cupboard door. "Up! Get up! Now!" his Aunt Petunia said in her shrill voice. She gave one more bang on the door, then walked away. Harry laid there for a few minutes, trying to get his bearings. He had been having such a good dream, too. He had dreamed that he was on a flying motorcycle. He had this feeling that he had dreamed it once before.
Harry sighed, then sat up to put his glasses on, then started looking for a pair of socks. He finally found a pair under his bed, then after picking a spider off it, he started putting them on. After getting that task done, he looked in the little cracked mirror above the bed.
Harry was a pale, skinny boy of almost 11 years old. His dark hair had a bad habit of growing in all directions, which got him in trouble all the time. It wasn't as if he purposely went about looking as if he didn't comb his hair, but Uncle Vernon never let a week go by without saying that he needed another haircut. Just below his bangs, he had (what in his opinion was the coolest thing about his looks) a scar on his forehead that was shaped like a lightening bolt. His aunt told him one day, when he asked, that it was caused by the car crash that killed his parents. (Another good way to get into trouble was to ask too many questions. This was something that Harry figured out very quickly, and avoided if at all possible.) Behind his round, taped up glasses, (The taped up glasses being caused by Dudley hitting Harry in the face) Harry had emerald green eyes. Harry didn't know how tall or short his parents were, so he didn't know if he was short and skinny because of them, or if it was because he was locked in the closet so much of the time.
"Are you up yet?" Aunt Petunia yelled. "Yes." Harry answered. "Well get a move on! I need you to watch the bacon and eggs! This is Dudley's big day, and I don't want breakfast ruined!"Aunt Petunia shrilled. Harry groaned to himself. He had forgotten that this was Dudley's birthday. So much for a nice, hopefully quiet day!
Harry stood up after putting his trainers on, then walked out of the cupboard under the stairs and stepped into the kitchen. The kitchen table was covered with gifts of all sizes, shapes and colors. Harry could see that Dudley had gotten the computer that he wanted. He could also see the racing bike sitting behind the table. Why Dudley had wanted a racing bike was beyond him. Dudley never liked anything to do with exercise, unless it had to do with his favorite game of "Wallop Harry". Harry just shook his head, then proceeded to walk over to the stove and started making sure breakfast was cooked just right.
Uncle Vernon walked in a couple minutes later and grumbled "Comb your hair." as way of greeting, then sat down and waited for Harry to pour him some coffee. When Aunt Petunia walked back in, she had her arm around Dudley and stood there proudly as Dudley counted his gifts. "I only count 36!" Dudley whined. "I got 38 last year!" Uncle Vernon pulled out another small gift, and said," You missed this one from your aunt Marge." "O.K., that makes 37." Dudley's face started to turn red.
Afraid of a Dudley tantrum, Harry quickly served up the eggs and bacon, then sat down and started eating his bacon. He never knew if Dudley was going to pitch the table over or not. Aunt Petunia, looking a little nervous, quickly reassured her son. "While we are out later, we can always pick you up 2 more presents! That will mean that you will have 39!" Dudley thought about it a second, then, shrugging his shoulders, sat down to open his presents and eat his breakfast.
It was while Dudley was opening his 16 computer games that the phone rang. Aunt Petunia went to the kitchen to answer it. A couple minutes later, she came back out looking a little angry. "Vernon, we have a bit of a problem. That Batty Mrs. Figg broke her leg, so she won't be able to watch him today." Uncle Vernon gave Harry a dirty look, as if he was at fault. "Well, is there anyone else who can watch him?" (Harry was used to his aunt and uncle talking about him as if he wasn't there, so he didn't take offense.) "No, there is no one available. Your sister, Marge, can't stand the sight of him, and my best friend, Patricia, is vacationing in Majorca."
At the point, Harry could see the possibilities. "I could always stay here by myself. No one need know that I'm alone." Uncle Vernon looked at Harry with narrowed eyes. "And probably blow up the place, I expect! I'm afraid that there's nothing for it. We are going to have to take him with." At those words, Dudley screwed up his plump face and started acting like he was crying. (He had not actually shed any real tears in years.) Aunt Petunia ran over and put her arms around Dudley, and told him," There, there, Diddykins. Mummy won't let that boy ruin your day!" Dudley looked under his mom's arm with a gleeful look at Harry and started blubbering "B-b-but I d-d-don't wa-want h-h-him to c-c-come!"
About that time, the doorbell rang, and Uncle Vernon announced that Dudley's friend Piers Polkiss and his mother were there. Dudley immediately stopped crying, and went over to his friend and started making plans of how they could make Harry's life hell for getting to go that day. Piers was a tall, lanky boy with mousy brown hair, who looked like he was all elbows and knees. He was the one who usually held Harry down while Dudley beat the tar out of him.
A half-hour later, Harry, not believing his luck, was sitting in the back seat of the car on the way to the zoo. (it was the first time in a long time that he had not been either at school, in his cupboard or at Mrs. Figg's house, which strongly smelled of boiled cabbage and cat.) Before they had left the house, though, Uncle Vernon had cornered him in the living room, shoving his big purple face in Harry's, and told him, "Just so you know, any funny business, and you will be extremely sorry. You might end up wishing to be in the cupboard until Christmas!
Harry looked at him. "I'll be good." he said. Uncle Vernon didn't look like he believed him, though. The truth was, nobody believed him whenever something happened, like the time his aunt had gotten tired of him coming back from getting a haircut looking like he had never been. She grabbed him by the arm into the kitchen and took a pair of sewing scissors to his hair, until he was almost bald. (except his bangs, which she left to cover his scar)
After spending the rest of the day being laughed at by Dudley and his friends, and fearing how bad it was going to be at school, where he was teased for wearing Dudley's old, baggy clothes, Harry went to bed and stayed awake all night, knowing he was going to be teased badly the next day. The next day, to Harry's (and his aunt and uncle's) surprise, his hair had grown back in just as long and thick as it had before the awful haircut. He got a month in the cupboard for that one, even though he argued that he didn't know how his hair had grown so fast.
There was also the time that Harry had been running from Dudley and all his friends at school. One second, he was jumping behind the garbage can, the next, he was on the roof of the kitchen, hugging the chimney. That time, he was sent home early with a note letting his aunt and uncle know that he was not allowed in school for a week for climbing the buildings. No matter how much he protested, Harry was severely "taken to task" (as his uncle calls it) and not allowed out of the cupboard for the week.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Uncle Vernon's voice. "A bloody menace they are, motorcyclists! Always coming up behind you, and turning right in front of you like they are daring you to plow into them!" Harry's uncle had a lot of things that he liked to complain about. Amongst his favorite subjects to complain about were: Harry, people at work, Harry, the economy, Harry, his boss, Harry, financial institutions, and of course, Harry.
"Last night, I dreamed that I was on a flying motorcycle!" Harry said. Uncle Vernon turned around, and told him, "There is not such a thing as a bloody flying motorcycle." "I know." said Harry. "I only said I dreamed it." "Too right, there's no such thing!" Uncle Vernon looked through the rear view at Harry, probably trying to see if Harry was lying about agreeing with him. Harry regretted even bringing up the dream. This was another thing that his aunt and uncle didn't want to talk about. They didn't care if something happened in a dream or in a cartoon. If an object or person acted unusual or abnormally in any way, they didn't want to talk about it.
An hour later, they pulled into the zoo parking lot. It was a hot and sunny Saturday, so the first thing that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did was buy large chocolate ice cream cones for Dudley and Piers. Because the lady selling the ice cream noticed Harry before they could get him away, they bought him a lemon ice pop. Harry didn't care that he didn't get the same though. He much preferred the lemon ice to chocolate, anyway, he thought as he watched a gorilla that looked like Dudley (except without the blonde hair) scratch its head.
Harry had the best morning in a long time. He walked a little separate from the Dursleys after noticing that Dudley and Piers were getting bored with the animals. He was afraid of them going back to their usual game of beating him up. At lunch, they ate in the restaraunt in the zoo. When Dudley had a fit because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream so his dad bought him another, Harry got to finish the first one. Harry should have known that he was having too much fun. His happiness didn't come free.
After lunch, they had gone to the reptile house. Of course, Dudley whined about how hot it was in there, and the fact that the snakes and lizards didn't seem to be moving much. When they got to a glass cage with a huge boa constrictor, Dudley got excited. This was something he liked. When the snake seemed to be sleeping, Dudley started rapping his knuckles on the glass trying to make the snake move. When he wasn't successful, he looked at his dad and whined, "Make it move, Dad!" Uncle Vernon rapped hard on the glass and yelled "Move!" several times. When that didn't work, Dudley walked away saying "This is boring!" then proceeded to bang on the glass of the next cage.
Harry stood there by the boa, just looking at it relaxing. Suddenly, the boa opened its eyes, looked at Harry and winked. Harry was startled, and asked it "Did you just wink at me?" the snake nodded its head "yes". "Can you understand me?" Again the snake nodded its head. "It must be annoying, laying there day after day, with people looking at you all the time and banging on your cage like that. I should know. That happens to me all the time, too." The snake just looked at him. Harry read the sign in the cage. "So, you're a Brazilian Boa Constrictor. Do you have any family? What's it like in Brazil?" The boa moved its tail and pointed at the bottom. "Oh, born in captivity. So you don't know your family. Me neither."
At that moment, it seemed that Dudley had looked over at the boa again. "Hey Piers! You won't believe what this snake is doing!" he said as he punched Harry in the face, knocking him down. It was while Dudley and Piers were leaning on the glass, looking in that the glass somehow disappeared! The snake slithered past them, taking a little nip at their heels as he passed. As he slithered past Harry, he could have sworn he heard the snake say "Gracias amigo! Buenos Aires, here I come!"
He sat there on the ground, smiling for a couple minutes, while pandemonium surrounded him. The other two boys had fallen in the water in the tank when the glass had disappeared, so they were standing there, crying about being cold. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were standing there, yelling that they were going to sue, while the zoo director kept insisting that he didn't know how the glass had disappeared. It was during this commotion that Uncle Vernon looked at Harry with a suspicious look. Harry quickly swallowed his smile, but it was too late.
When they got home from the zoo, Uncle Vernon just looked at Harry and told him to sit. Harry was made to sit there while they waited for Mrs. Polkiss to get there to pick up Piers. Aunt Petunia fussed over the two wet boys, giving them blankets and hot tea for a short while. As soon as Piers and his mother left, Uncle Vernon whipped off his belt and told Harry to stand up.
Uncle Vernon started beating Harry with the belt while demanding to know what had happened at the snake cage. Every time Harry told him "I don't know!", the beating would start again. This went on for a half hour before Harry finally said, "I really don't know what happened! One second the glass was there, the next, it was gone! It was just like magic!" His Uncle Vernon hit him for a couple more seconds, while Dudley stood there shouting abuses at Harry and mocking him, as Harry tried to move around to avoid the blows. Finally, purple faced, Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry by the hair and dragged him to his cupboard, threw him in and hissed "There's No Such Thing As Magic!" as he was locking the cupboard door.
