Magnolia woke up with a crick in her neck, which, when you slept in a linen closet, was not a rare occasion. As she got out of bed (a sleeping bag on the floor, really), she wound her neck slowly and softly so as not to hurt herself more, but to stretch the muscles in her neck which had been put under stress. She could only imagine that her twin brother Harry, who slept in a cupboard, woke up feeling the same way.

This wasn't the only thing they shared in common.

They had the same certain way of finding trouble. Both of them often needed to run from Dudley - their cousin, who had ungenerously provided them with all of their clothes by virtue of outgrowing his own. Dudley also had a gaggle of wannabe gang members following him around in and out of school, and they had to climb trees, run miles, even ended up on the roof of the school cafeteria once trying to run from them. They didn't dare tell an teacher. They weren't well liked in school for their same way of making odd things happen, like having the class hamster suddenly appear on Harry's desk, or Magnolia's special case of having the red ink in her pen turn black.

They had the same clothes - Aunt Petunia, who did the laundry (lest the twins ruin their precious clothes), often confused one twin's oversized shirt for the others. They shared all clothes except for their glasses - both wearing round, metal ones. Harry's were in the shape of a circle and tied together with Sellotape, while Magnolia's were in ovals and.. not.

They had the same bright green eyes. They often wondered which of their parents they'd inherited them from, but didn't dare ask their aunt, their mothers sister, such a thing. She would only get upset and irritated, and their Uncle Vernon was always there to make sure they learned well and good to not irritate either of them.

Most uniquely, they had matching scars. Lightning-like streaks of slightly paler skin going across Magnolia's left arm, and Harry's right, scrawling over the side of their neck, through their scalp and across their forehead. They had gotten them in the car crash that killed their parents. Dudley and his gang made sure they knew how absolutely freakish this attribute was.

" Do you think your parents knew how freakish you were at birth, and couldn't handle it anymore?" He once asked them with a nasty grin . Harry went uncharacteristically pale, and Magnolia had turned so red her face matched her hair. She screeched at Dudley to not dare talk about their parents, threw a rock at him so he could get a matching scar as well and 'see what it was like'. She had gotten locked in her closet for two weeks for that. The sun had never shone brighter than on the day she was released. Oddly enough, the rock had simply bounced off his head, though it had been heavy and sharp. This was lucky, as the Dursleys would never house her again had she succeeded in harming their 'precious boy'.

After that, all was quiet for a few months, until Dudley's birthday, today. She obediently prepared the dinner Aunt Petunia planned for him, massaging her neck whenever she had a spare moment outside of her aunts glare. Then Dudley woke up, demanded more presents, and was promptly promised more after his visit to the zoo. Harry, who woke up to their aunts screeching and had prepared the scrambled eggs and bacon, and Magnolia were both readily prepared to spend their day at Mrs Figgs, an older woman with a plethora of cats, who's house smelled like steamed sprouts. But, to their families uproar and rage, she had broken her leg, and couldn't manage taking care of the twins that day, or any other any time soon.

" We'll just have to take them with us," Aunt Petunia decided after much speculation.

Dudley had never looked as stupid as he did when he pretended to cry. Magnolia rolled her eyes and Harry gave her a muted, knowing look. They ate quicker, as Dudley was not so mild as to not flip the table covered with presents around in 'emotion'. But his best mate, Piers Polkiss was at the door, and the newly-eleven year old boy stopped his weeping noises immediately.

If Aunt Petunia ever noticed her son was acting, she didn't seem to mind the excuse to baby him further.

" They're not coming with us, are they?" Piers asked with a look of disgust.

" Have to. No one else wants them," Dudley replied, smirking at the two.

Uncle Vernon gave them a talking to just outside the car.

" I'm warning you two," he hissed. " You'd better behave well in shape, or you'll be in your rooms for a week."

Magnolia wanted to tell him he had some nerve calling her closet a room, but Harry spoke first.

" We won't do anything," he said. " We promise." Magnolia nodded.

" It'll be like we aren't there," she added.

But no matter how many times they insisted they would not cause trouble, trouble would always come.

This time, it was in the form of a snake.

It was only after Dudley waddled away from the exhibit that they took the time to walk over and approach the constrictor. It had been hard to miss - Dudley was rapping at the glass with his knuckles, and yelling at it to wake up, move, do something.

The snake looked at Harry and Magnolia, then rolled its eyes, like, I get that all the time

" I know," Harry mumbled. " It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

" Where do you come from, anyway?"

The snake prodded at the little sign next to the glass with it's tail.

Boa Constrictor, Brazil

This specimen was bred in the zoo

" Blimey, I bet you wish you were there now," Magnolia said. " Nice, warm, big place."

Harry nodded. So did the snake.

Magnolia frowned. She was certain snakes didn't know English, but here it was before her, replying to them as if it wasn't, you know, a snake. " Harry, do you think the snake - "

" DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'TBELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came waddling at them as fast as he could.

" Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry to the side while Piers shoved Magnolia to the other. They fell hard onto the concrete floor.

What happened next happened so fast no one saw how it happened. One moment, Dudley was pressing his face into the glass, and the next, his head was stuck in the container. He leapt back with a howl of horror.

Harry and Magnolia sat up, wondering what was going on. They didn't have to for long, for just after Dudley had cried bloody murder, the great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People within the reptile house screamed and started running for the exit.

As the snake slipped past them, the twins looked at eachother with wide eyes. They'd both heard the same thing suddenly- From the snake.

In a low, hissing voice, it said, Brazil, here I come. thanks, amigos

Harry looked at her with wide eyes. " Magnolia, do you think - "

" I know, Harry."

The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley spoke in babbles, with vague recollections, shaking like leaves. As far as Harry and Magnolia 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. But worst of all, because of course it would turn out this way, was Piers calming down enough to say,

" You two freaks were talking to it, weren't you?"

Uncle Vernon was purple with rage, contained from a long drive of ten minutes to take Piers home, before his gaze found Harry and Magnolia. He grabbed the girl so hard she felt his grip to her bone, and presumably, Harry felt this pain as well. He threw her into her closet.

" Stay - No meals," he sputtered out, before doing the same to Harry in his cupboard, and so began the longest punishment the ten - nearly eleven - year old twins had faced so far.

this is ro, thanks so much for reading! i've wanted to write something fun harry potter related for a while, and now i'm finally working on it! this is inspired by gryffindorgirl347 on here, my favorite fanfiction writer when i was just a little potterhead in middle school! now i'm 21 and i'm so excited to breathe life into this au like she did! thanks again for checking this out