This is a work of fanfiction based on the characters and world created by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series. All characters, places, and most magical elements belong to J.K. Rowling and the respective copyright holders. I do not own any of the original material, and this work is purely for fun and not for profit.
This fanfiction is a reinterpretation of the original story where there is virtually no conflict whatsoever and the relationships between the characters are wholesome and full of love. The content is intended for entertainment purposes only.
Chapter 2 The Vanishing Glass
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their beloved nephew on the front step, 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 their treasured baby boy, but Dudley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a healthy, happy young boy riding his first bicycle next to Harry, on a carousel at the fair with Harry, playing a computer game with Harry and Mr. Dursley, and the two of them being hugged and kissed by Mrs. Dursley. On the outside looking in, aside from the difference of hair color, a person would think that Mrs. Dursley had had twins.
Harry Potter lay sleeping peacefully, smiling as all was right with the world. His Aunt Petunia began moving around first that morning and her sweet, loving voice was the first sound of the day.
"Harry dear? Are you up already?"
Harry gently awoke. He yawned, stretched, then got up and opened the door.
Harry heard the wonderful sound of bacon sizzling in the frying pan on the stove. He took a deep breath in through his nose. He remembered 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.
"Did you sleep okay?" Mrs. Dursley asked lovingly.
"I did, how about you?" Harry replied.
"Very well thanks. You slept in today, usually you're up so early!"
"I had trouble falling asleep because I was so excited for today."
"Ah, I see. Well I hope you're ready for a great day, birthday boy! Would you mind tending the bacon for me? I have a couple more things to get ready. I always tend to overcook it anyway, but you have the magic touch." Mrs. Dursley said with a smile.
"No problem." Harry smiled back.
His and Dudley's birthday — the best day of the year, well, this and Christmas. Harry felt a spider crawling on his leg and he gently kicked it off. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.
Mrs. Dursley noticed this.
"More spiders? I really worry about you sleeping in there. You've got a perfectly good bedroom upstairs. I keep telling you to use it for more than just playing with Dudley!"
"I just really like it down there, and without my bedding having to take up space I have so much more room to play with Dudley!"
There was just no talking him out of it, and if it made him happy, that was really all that mattered. He deserved happiness. She could do that much for him. And for her…
The table was almost hidden beneath all of their birthday presents. Harry wondered if a couple of the big boxes were the computers he and Dudley had asked for. And the new television and racing bikes. It was going to be an amazing haul today! He and Dudley had dreamed of racing each other on racing bikes every since they found out about them. He and Dudley both loved to exercise. They also loved to break up fights between the other kids in the neighborhood. They wouldn't suffer any squabbles and certainly would never let any tussles turn into a fistfight. The other kids in the neighborhood really looked up to Harry and Dudley, wishing they could get along with their own siblings as well as Harry and Dudley did. Siblings seemed to fight all the time, but Harry and Dudley didn't.
Perhaps it had something to do with sleeping in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because he insisted on wearing the same clothes as Dudley, who was a little bit bigger than he was. He was just stubborn that way. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times he and Dudley had broken them wrestling. He had a new pair in his cupboard of course but he never wore them. He needed to be ready at any time. Yes, he was stubborn that way. The thing Harry liked most about his appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his mother Petunia (Mrs. Dursley) was how he had gotten it.
"When you were just starting to walk you got loose and fell down the stairs," she had said. "Make sure you stay close to me and listen to what I say. I don't want you hurting yourself. I love you too much to let anything like that happen to you again."
I love you too much… Harry had noticed whenever his mother talked about how much she loved him, there was always a kind of sense of sadness about it, that, and her desire to protect him seemed, not that much mind you, but still a little bit different from how she treated Dudley. He never quite understood it.
His father Vernon (Mr. Dursley) entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
"Mmm that smells good. Happy birthday, son!" He beamed, putting a hand on his shoulder and trying to smooth his hair down. "Your hair is getting long! Why don't you comb it for your mother? I'm sure she'd like that."
"Ah okay, thank you, I haven't looked in the mirror yet." Harry chuckled.
Harry had to be careful about his hair. It seemed almost once a week he 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. He tended to stop fighting it.
Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with their mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a nice, handsome face, chiseled jaw, brilliant blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his perfectly well-proportioned head. Their mother often said he looked like a young angel — and Harry was inclined to agree with her.
Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which proved to be difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley counted the presents. His face lit up.
"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two more than last year! We're gonna go bankrupt!"
"And you haven't even counted Auntie Marge's presents, see, they're here under these big ones from Mummy and Daddy."
"Oh my! Thirty-eight then!" said Dudley, going red in the face. There were always an even number of presents, half for Dudley and half for Harry but Dudley always enjoyed counting the total amount. They never really thought about whose toys were whose, they both played with them after all.
Harry could see tears welling up in Dudley's eyes from happiness so he quickly chimed in with "Eat up you guys, the bacon tastes best when it's warm!"
Their mother Petunia, being a bit devious as she was, also chimed in and told the two of them, "And we'll buy you both another two presents while we're out today. How's that? Two more presents. Would that be alright?"
At this point even Harry felt like crying. They were surely the luckiest boys in the world. Dudley started crying. After a moment he finally said, "What did we do to deserve you guys? So, that'll be thirty-nine presents!"
"Forty, sweetums," said their mother Petunia.
Dudley sat down and picked up his fork. "I know, I was just testing you!"
Their father Vernon chuckled.
"Little tyke's always keeping us on our toes, just like I used to do with my parents. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.
At that moment the telephone rang and Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Dudley unwrapped the racing bikes, the video cameras, the remote control airplanes, sixteen new computer games, and even a VCR! They were both ripping the paper off their gold wristwatches when Petunia came back from the telephone looking very happy and excited.
"Good news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's got her cast off and she's walking around and dancing and praising the Lord! We'll have to go see her later." She looked in Harry's direction. "Would you like to go see her, Harry?"
Dudley's face lit up with joy and Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on their birthday, their parents took them and their friends out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. And afterward, every year, Harry and Dudley would go see sweet Mrs. Figg, a sweet old woman who lived two streets away. Harry loved it there. The whole house smelled of delicious food and Mrs. Figg was always showing them photographs of all the interesting places she had been and people she had met. Harry hoped he could travel like she did one day.
"That's exciting, she's been so down since her skiing accident a few months ago so it'll be nice to see her back to her usual self!" said Petunia, looking lovingly at Harry almost as if he had been the one who healed her. Harry wondered if he actually did have something to do with it. He'd been keeping her in his prayers every night and even had dreams where he was magically fusing her bones back together, making them stronger than before. He was almost sad he wouldn't have to go feed Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty every day anymore.
"Have you talked to Marge recently?" Vernon asked.
"Of course, Vernon, we play bridge every Tuesday."
The Dursleys were always good about checking on their friends often. They truly were a pillar of the community. They always made a point of including Harry and Dudley, too, so they were comfortable talking with anyone.
"And Yvonne?"
"Of course dear, she's on vacation in Majorca, we actually just got a postcard from her. She's having a wonderful time." Petunia smiled, handing Vernon the postcard.
Vernon read the postcard. "How nice. So happy for her." He handed the card to Harry.
"I hope I can travel with Dudley to these nice places one day, just me and him." Harry really enjoyed the idea of being grown up enough to travel all over the world with Dudley, just the two of them. He was so excited to watch something funny on their new television and have a go at some of their new games.
Petunia looked a bit sad.
"And leave your dear old Mum and Dad here all by their lonesome? We want to have fun too, you know! And what if something happened to the two of you?"
"We won't get into any trouble, I promise." Harry said.
"I trust you, it's strangers I don't trust. But we're bringing you boys up to be able to take care of yourselves. When that day comes, I'll believe in you and trust the Lord to bring you home safe." She smiled, not looking forward to the day when her little birds fly the nest.
"I suppose it's almost time to go to the zoo!" said Petunia, "and in the new car!"
"Yes, the new car needs to be driven, I can hear it asking me to take it for a ride!"
Dudley began to laugh loudly. He always did this when he got very excited.
Petunia perked up, energized. "It won't be long now!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"I'm so excited! Thank you guys so much for being the bestest parents ever!" Dudley said. "You guys always make every day so much fun! Isn't that right, Harry?" He beamed at Harry.
Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, my, they're here!" said Petunia happily — and a moment later, Harry and Dudley's best friend in the whole world, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a small boy with a face like a supermodel. He was usually the first kid in the neighborhood to help you up if you ever fell off your bike or tripped on the playground. Dudley lit up at once.
Half an hour later, Harry, who still after all these years couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of their parents' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His parents hadn't been able to take them before. Just before they set out, Vernon had taken Harry aside.
"Are you excited?" he had asked, coming in close, "just be careful not to get too excited, you know how sometimes funny things can happen when you get too excited."
"I know, Daddy," said Harry, "I promise."
Funny things did tend to happen when Harry got overly stimulated. He did need to be careful sometimes. He often wondered if it wasn't him who'd made them happen.
Once, Petunia, tired of Harry's hair growing so fast and wild, asked him if she could give him a buzz cut. He agreed, in fact he wanted her to shave it bald but she refused. Dudley laughed himself silly at Harry's haircut and insisted he be next. Harry spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was complimented for his clothes, taped glasses, and fresh cut. The next morning however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Petunia had buzzed it off. They all just laughed about it the next day, and they stopped worrying about it. His hair simply had a mind of its own. It did trouble him a little though why he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.
Another time, Petunia had been trying to see if an old sweater Harry liked might fit him (it was brown with orange puff balls). She kept telling him it was too small but he kept insisting she try. As she struggled as gently as she could to get it on, the larger it seemed to become, until finally it came down and fit him perfectly, which was funny because it had been so small you could have sworn it would have only fit a hand puppet, and certainly not Harry. Petunia said it was because the fabric was so old, that it had extra "give" to it. Harry was very happy. It was still his favorite sweater. He was actually wearing it today.
On another occasion, he'd gotten into a bit of trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley and their friends had been playing hide and seek and they teased Harry for how easy he was to find, when as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a concerned letter from Harry's headmistress telling them she knew that "boys would be boys" but Harry should take care not to climb school buildings as it was dangerous. His parents weren't too upset with him but really all he'd tried to do 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 funny was going to happen. He wanted his day with his best friends Dudley and Piers to be as much fun as possible, whether that be playing in the cupboard, his playroom, or Mrs. Figg's wonderfully smelling house.
While he drove, Vernon gushed about his love for Petunia. He loved to write poetry and compose ballads about her, her smile, the way she always makes the best of things, what a wonderful mother she is to their two amazing children… He also loved to talk highly of Harry and Dudley, how smart they are, how much the world is going to love them, how lucky their wives will be to have them… He spoke of his love for the Lord, how thankful he was for everything he had dominion over in his life, how hopeful he was that humanity would overcome their wickedness, that world peace was coming "any day now" and how excited he was for the day the Lord would return to wipe away the tears from every face, and how there would be no more sickness or death. He truly walked with the Lord every day and Harry hoped he could be as full of the joy of the Lord as him one day.
"…any day now I tell you, it just makes sense! Why anyone would pick up a weapon in anger I'll never know…" he said as he turned off the news on the radio. A motorcycle slowly passed them on the highway. "Do you see that, Harry? Ain't she beautiful?"
"Oh wow, it is, Daddy! Come to think of it, I had a dream about a motorcycle last night," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."
"Would that I had one of those! Imagine, me, soaring through the sky, looking down on all the little people having to sit in morning traffic!" He waved down at them smiling.
Harry, Dudley, and Piers laughed.
"You're so funny, Daddy!" Dudley said.
He was glad he remembered. Vernon was always interested in hearing Harry's fanciful dreams; he was always encouraging Harry's imagination and curiosity. He would say his favorite thing in the world was to explain how things worked to the boys to see their faces light up in wonder. "Boys with good imaginations grow up to be wonderful inventors!" he would often say.
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was lively with happy families. The Dursleys bought Harry, Dudley, and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van insisted there had been a mix up with her shipment of treats, she gave them free lemon ice pops. It was actually pretty good, Harry thought even though he didn't consider himself a "lemon" kind of person.
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to keep up with everyone so he wouldn't make Petunia worry. She didn't like it if he ever strayed too far. The zoo itself had not even gotten boring by lunch time. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley, Harry, and Piers exclaimed how much they loved their knickerbocker glories, Vernon bought them all another one, this time with extra ice-cream on top!
Harry felt, afterward, that it was probably the best day of his life.
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, Harry, and Piers all 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 Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.
The three boys stood with their noses pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.
"Wicked!" They all said at the same time.
"It could crush ten men without even the effort it would take to yawn and yet it seems so gentle and peaceful laying there," remarked Piers.
"Wow, let's be careful not to disturb him," said Dudley.
Dudley and Piers walked 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 — living in a small tank with no company except the frightened children who came by, screamed at the sight of it and ran off. He would love to keep it in his cupboard and let it have fun playing with him and Dudley all day every day.
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.
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.
The snake jerked its head toward Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:
"You've got a nice family there."
"I know," Harry said through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "I'm very lucky."
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 seeming to show no interest in ever leaving its tank, Harry heard a little gasp and then Piers said, "Dudley! Mr. Dursley! Come and look at the boa constrictor! This is amazing!"
Dudley and Piers rejoined Harry.
"Wow! How did you get him to approach you like that? He's actually quite cute, I wish I could pet him!" What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, the three of them were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they were very surprised to see that it was almost as if there had never been any glass there at all!
Harry gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake bowed its head showing that it was ready to receive pets. There was no way the three of them were going to pass this opportunity up. They all reached out and lovingly stroked this gentle serpent. Other people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. The snake was unbothered. He had never been shown affection like this before and was loving it.
After a while, they backed away and Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Thanksss, amigos."
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 Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. The three boys could only laugh and talk about how cool it was, how they couldn't wait to tell everyone at school and how they were pretty sure this would catapult them to being the coolest kids in the entire school. Petunia told the zoo director that it was quite alright, there was no harm done and the boys were certainly no worse for wear. By the time they were all back in Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had the power to bite a man's leg clean off, Piers told them how it could swallow an entire horse, and Harry told them how it would win in a fight against a rhinoceros! When they all calmed down, Piers said, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"
When they got home after getting those promised two more presents (VHS collections of their two favorite shows), having stopped by and having a really fun time with Mrs. Figg, and after they said goodbye to Piers they all had a delicious steak dinner. Afterward they sat down together and watched a really funny show on television while they sipped root beer floats.
Harry lay in his warm, cozy cupboard much later, looking at his new gold wristwatch. It was only 8:15PM. He was feeling tired but he couldn't be sure if he didn't want another helping of steak. It was so good. He ended up going for it.
He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten amazing, happy years, as long as he could remember, ever since he was a baby, and as far as Harry knew he'd lived there his entire life. He couldn't remember having a different set of parents. After all, the Dursleys had raised him as their own, never telling him the truth that they weren't his real parents and that Dudley wasn't his real brother. He was theirs, and that was all there was to it. Sometimes, late at night, he would have a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was merely some strange recurring dream. He didn't remember his real parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he didn't know enough to even ask questions about them. There were no photographs of them in the house.
Yes, the Dursleys were the only family he ever knew. Oddly though, sometimes he thought 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 Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry if he knew the man, Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking 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.
At school, Harry was friends with everyone. He just assumed this extended to everyone in the community as well. And everyone knew that Harry and Dudley's gang were the coolest kids in the school, or at least they would, especially after the day they had today.