Shouting, Snakes, and Silent Rage
The Vanishing Glass
“Why is there glass that's vanishing?” Dorcas asked.
Marlene looked at her with a grin, “Maybe it’s magic.”
The Ravenclaw stuck her tongue out at the other girl and turned away, smiling to herself.
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. > < the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls.
“That’s actually kind of creepy,” Frank Longbottom said.
“Yeah, I don't see how so little could change in ten years,” Alice agreed.
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
Sirius, along with many others, burst out laughing at this pronouncement. He wished he could see one of these pictures.
— 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. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.
“Does that mean that Harry doesn't live there anymore,” Sirius hoped.
Remus looked at him sadly, “as much as I wish that was the case, I doubt we would be hearing about their house if it were.”
“But he should be living with us.”
Remus went a bit red at that, but Sirius continued without noticing.
“He should be raised by the Marauders, not a couple of magic-hating muggles.”
Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His AuntPetunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.
Lily cringed at the thought, her sister’s voice made her want to claw her ears off in the morning sometimes.
“Up! Get up! Now!”
Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.
“Up!” she screeched.
Dorea and Charlus were pissed. No child should be waken up like that, and certainly not their grandson.
Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound > < motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he’d had the same dream before.
Several people in the Hall frowned, he shouldn't be able to remember anything that far back.
His aunt was back outside the door.
“Are you up yet?” she demanded. > < I want everything perfect on Duddy’s birthday.”
“He’s much too young to be cooking!” Molly exclaimed. She looked scandalized at the thought of a child being forced to cook by himself at the age.
Harry groaned.
“What did you say?” his aunt snapped through the door. > < and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on.
Regulus shuddered slightly. He hated spiders, Kreacher always got rid of them as fast as possible, but it felt like they would always find Regulus. He didn't know where they kept coming from, some were as big as tarantulas.
Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,
Most looked confused. “Does he spend time in the cupboard often?” Arthur asked, a bit confused.
and that was where he slept.
A second of silence was followed by shrieks of outrage. Students from every table were furious. Lily was staring at the book in her hands like it was the offender that made her son sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. Suddenly, the book caught fire. She didn't drop it, the fire wasn't hurting her. The flames from the candles seemed to grow larger as well.
“Miss Evans!” Professor McGonagall shouted in an attempt to snap her out of her trance.
James got up from his seat quickly to sit behind her. He grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear, “He’s fine. Nothing bad is going to happen this time around. You're scaring the younger students.”
After a moment, Lily blinked, and the fire died out. She looked around a little confused, “I- uh- I'm sorry. I don't know what happened.” She looked down to see the book in her hand still in perfect condition.
“That’s alright,” her Head of House said, “Just keep reading.”
The spiders had scared him when he was younger, they gave him nightmares. His aunt Petunia had shouted at him when he woke up afraid, so now, Harry was much more used to the little arachnids.
“Dumb bitch,” Sirius muttered. His mother always had a similar reaction to Regulus’ fear of spiders. His brother would often hide in his room when he was younger, when he still looked up to Sirius.
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.
“I'm assuming such trinkets cost quite a bit of money?” Narcissa said, directing her comment toward Lily.
The Gryffindor girl nodded, more upset than ever at her sister.
Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course, it involved punching somebody.
“He better not say what I think he's going to say,” James muttered dangerously.
Dudley’s favorite punching bag was Harry,
“Worthless little git,” Peter said, angry for a boy he'd never met.
but he couldn’t often catch him. Harry didn’t look it, but he was very fast, which came in handy when living with the Dursleys.
Dorea seethed dangerously at that last comment.
Perhaps it had something to do with living 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 all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley’s, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.
“How could someone raise a child like that,” Alice said, having hoped to have children of her own one day.
Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
Remus growled. Someone better teach that kid a lesson, because Remus couldn't time travel and do it himself.
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. 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. “And don’t ask questions.”
“She did not just lie to that child's face about how his parents died,” Mary was pissed. How did Lily live with her?
Don’t ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
“How is he meant to learn anything?” Professor Flitwick asked, appearing scandalized.
“I don't think they want him to,” Professor Cadence replied scathingly.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon
Marlene stuck her tongue out at the book, having developed an extreme dislike for the muggles.
“Comb your hair!” he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
Charlus laughed spitefully. The hair that ran through the Potter bloodline was impossible to tame without magical interference, not that there was much that could take care of it magically either.
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.
Lily smiled, thinking that would be absolutely adorable. She could imagine fussing over it every day. Now that she thought about it, James’ hair was the same way, but that was completely different. On James, it was annoying, not cute in the slightest.
Severus looked at Lily. She had a dreamy sort of look on her face for a second. He didn't know what she was thinking about, but maybe she was thinking about how much happier things would be if she married someone besides Potter.
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.
Most of the students in the hall laughed at Harry's inner monologue. “Lily, your kid is a menace,” Frank laughed.
Molly had been surprised that the shouting hadn't woken up Bill, she was a bit more surprised that the laughing did. The little boy stirred in his mother's arms. He yawned and looked up around the Hall. The little redhead decided to start grabbing at his mother's hair in his tired stupor.
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.”
“Who the hell gets that many presents for their birthday?” Rudolphus Lestrange said.
“Darling, you haven’t counted Auntie Marge’s present, see, it’s here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy.”
“Someone needs to discipline that child,” Amos Diggory said. “My future children would never act like that.”
“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.
Professor McGonagall was suddenly struck with a horrifying thought, what if this child was a wizard? It was very unlikely, but the idea sent shivers up her spine.
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”
Narcissa looked ready to blow up. How could anyone just give in to such an awful brat?
Micah Greengrass looked at the book in disgust. This was just further proof that muggles were pathetic to him. They treated their child like a pampered prince and left their nephew, a wizard from a powerful bloodline, shut up in a cupboard. Muggles always reacted badly to magic, it would be better to cut off interaction with them.
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally, he said slowly, “So I’ll have thirty...thirty...”
“I'm not surprised he can't do basic math,” Molly Weasley said, disappointed at how this boy was raised.
“Thirty-nine, sweetums,” said Aunt Petunia.
“Oh.” Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. “All right then.”
Many of the teachers were appalled. They were glad none of their students behaved like this disturbingly dimwitted child.
Harry often marveled at how incredibly stupid Dudley was. He often made Harry do his homework, but the teachers never suspected anything. The reason for this being that he often made bad marks so he didn't make better grades than Dudley, which was expressly forbidden.
Many students and teaches alike were horrified. They couldn't imagine someone being forced to make bad grades and pretend they were dumb.
Uncle Vernon chuckled.
“Little tyke wants his money’s worth, just like his father. ’Atta boy, Dudley!” He ruffled Dudley’s hair.
“Your little tyke makes me want to stab my eyes out with a hot poker,” Rabastan Lestrange muttered.
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.
Many muggle-borns were absolutely astonished at the boy’s presents. The spoiled, spiteful brat was worse than any of the kids they knew when growing up.
“Bad news, Vernon,” she said. “Mrs. Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take him.” She jerked her head in Harry’s direction.
“He has a name!” James said.
Dudley’s mouth fell open in horror, but Harry’s heart gave a leap.
Lily narrowed her eyes. He shouldn't be happy when people get injured.
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. 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.
Sirius shuddered at the thought. A crazy old lady, cats, and cabbage! He’d probably break her leg himself to get away.
She was kind enough, but her raving sometimes scared Harry. The was one of the main reasons they always sent him over there. There were a few other places they could've sent Harry, but they didn't trust him enough around someone who wasn't a little batty.
James couldn't think straight. If Harry wasn't living with those muggles, he could go and visit his and Lily’s friends. Assuming those friends were still around to visit.
“Now what?” said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he’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.
A few people laughed, but most were angry at how they were treating their nephew.
“We could phone Marge,” Uncle Vernon suggested.
Lily crinkled her nose distastefully. She'd met the woman once, and once was enough.
“Don’t be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.”
“Sounds like she's got bad taste in people then,” Sirius said.
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
“What’s wrong with slugs?” Pandora asked.
“What about what’s-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?”
Lily was unfortunate enough to know that bitch too.
“On vacation in Majorca,” snapped Aunt Petunia.
“Why does everyone always go to Majorca?” Dorcas asked. That's where all her friends went on vacation.
“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). It was also a chance to eat something different for a change, so long as it wasn't something the Dursleys would notice went missing.
The expression on Lily’s face had Arthur grab the book from her before she could light it on fire again. Although, most of the people around him had a similar dangerous look. He continued to read where she left off.
Aunt Petunia looked as though she’d just swallowed a lemon, or at least more so than usual.
No one laughed, they were too upset to properly register the insult.
“And come back and find the house in ruins?” she snarled.
Sirius had taken to mocking Petunia at this point. It was quite funny but seemed to be irritating his parents.
“I won’t blow up the house,” said Harry, but they weren’t listening.
“I suppose we could take him to the zoo,” said Aunt Petunia slowly, “…and leave him in the car.
“I will beat that spiteful, old bitch.” Remus said.
“Mr. Lupin! Watch your mouth.”
Remus muttered something McGonagall didn't hear and turned away.
“That car’s new, he’s not sitting in it alone.…”
“Yes,” Mary said. “Because the car means more than the child.”
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 would give him anything he wanted.
“So like Malfoy?” Bellatrix smirked.
“I act nothing like that!”
She was twirling her hair with her wand. “Yes, of course, you don't,” she drawled.
“Dinky Duddydums, don’t cry, Mummy won’t let him spoil your special day!” she cried, flinging her arms around him.
The entire hall burst out laughing.
“I'm sorry, what did she just call him?” Micah Greengrass asked.
“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.
“Gonna shoot him something,” James muttered threateningly.
Just then, the doorbell rang — “Oh, good Lord, they’re here!” said Aunt Petunia frantically > < 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 looked incredibly insulted at this boy being compared to a rat, while Alice muttered something about not being able to cry in front of friends.
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.
“I'm going to take him to the zoo all the time!” James said. “As soon as I figure out what a zoo is!”
Remus sighed, “Like a menagerie, James.”
“Ohhh, okay gotcha”
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.
Lily’s eyes narrowed as Arthur read.
“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.”
Sirius got a dark look in his eyes and mentally filed this instance away. He wasn't a bad person, but he’d commit murder for the Potter’s.
“I’m not going to do anything,” said Harry, “honestly…”
But Uncle Vernon didn’t believe him. No one ever did.
Lily found this so heartbreaking. If Harry was born in the future, he would grow up loved and trusted.
The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn’t make them happen.
“Accidental magic,” Rudolphus said quietly.
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, > < 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.
“She locked my grandson up in a cupboard for a week?” Dorea said calmly. No matter how neutral her tone was, those nearby shifted away in fear. The air around them crackled with magic.
Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley’s (brown with orange puff balls).
Mary looked like she might be ill at the thought.
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.
“I should hope not,” Narcissa seethed. “Accidental magic is something to be celebrated, not punished.”
Only nearby Slytherins heard her comment, and most of them privately agreed.
He’d also ended up quite badly injured on one occasion when Dudley had punched Harry and broke his glasses, or at least, he thought they'd broken. But his glasses had been fine, so Dudley continued to hit him until they stayed that way.
Arthur stopped reading.
Lily Evans looked to be in a homicidal rage. Her son would never live with her sister. She didn't care if she had to threaten, murder, or resurrect herself from the dead, but come hell or high water, no one was ever going to lay their hands on a child of hers.
Most of the students and near every professor had similar looks of fury. Arthur Weasley had to clear his throat and steady himself before continuing.
On the other hand, he’d gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. 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.
It was mostly only the adults who registered that Harry Potter accidentally apparated as a child. The astonishing feat of magic was nearly unheard of at that age. However, those who knew Lily Evans as a young child knew that accidental flight was a common enough occurrence for her, so flight was a more likely option.
The Dursley’s 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 trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.
A few people laughed, but soon received nasty looks and shut their mouths.
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.
“Please tell me he didn't just jinx it,” James pleaded.
Sirius gave his friend a look and shook his head, “Sorry mate, but I think he did.”
The young chaser groaned in defeat.
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. This morning, it was motorcycles.
Sirius looked affronted. He quite liked motorcycles and couldn't find a thing wrong with them.
“…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums,” he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.
Remus couldn't help but imagine Sirius on a motorcycle acting like a degenerate. He actually thought it'd be quite cute.
“I had a dream about a motorcycle,” said Harry, remembering suddenly. “It was flying.”
“It's like the kid is trying to get locked up,” a kid from the Hufflepuff table whispered incredulously.
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!”
“Not yet,” Sirius grinned like a madman.
Dudley and Piers sniggered.
“I know they're children, but it'd be so fun to hurt them.”
“I know they don’t,” said Harry. “It was only a dream.”
Lily smiled to herself. Not quite, she thought.
But he wished he hadn’t said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys > < they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.
“This book is giving me some dangerous ideas,” Remus bit out.
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 > < they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn’t blond.
The Marauders all burst into peals of laughter. James’ son indeed.
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 > < enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first, especially since it had started to melt and run.
“He should've been given his own!”
Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.
“Ah, there it is,” James sighed dejectedly. He’d been expecting that line.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. The place brought Harry a strange sort of comfort. > < and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn’t look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.
He’d do well in our common room during the winter, Rabastan mused.
Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.
Bellatrix fought the urge to stick her tongue out. She was a lady of House Black, no matter how vile that muggle child was.
“Make it move,” he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn’t budge.
“I'm about to make you move off a cliff,” Dorcas muttered.
“Do it again,” Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
Pandora frowned. That poor, sweet snake. It never did anything to anyone.
“This is boring,” Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.
Quite a few Ravenclaw students looked affronted. A zoo could be a very educational place.
Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn’t have been > < Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.
Lily wasn't sure if she should cry or hit someone something with a large, heavy object.
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry’s.
“Huh,” Peter said. “That seems a bit odd for a snake.”
It winked, which was odd because Harry was pretty sure snakes didn't have eyelids.
“Yeah, no,” Remus said. “That's weird as shit.”
Sirius muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “swearwolf.”
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.
Lily couldn't help but laugh. This whole book had been awful so far, and hearing that paragraph felt like a cool breeze on a boiling day.
James smiled. Lily’s laugh was so bright and clear, it was so calming as uplifting.
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.”
What the hell?
“I know,” Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn’t sure the snake could hear him. “It must be really annoying.”
“Is he talking to the snake?” James whisper yelled.
“I think so,” Alice whispered back.
The snake nodded vigorously.
“This is weird. Like weirder than the weird sisters kind of weird,” he said. His friends all nodded in agreement.
“Where do you come from, anyway?” Harry asked, not having registered that he was talking to a snake.
“Is my grandson a parselmouth? Charlus Potter asked.
No one answered.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
The Slytherins regarded the book with interest. This boy would make a fine addition to their house.
“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?”
“This has got to be the strangest conversation I've ever heard,” Marlene said.
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!”
Sneers and eye-rolls met the paragraph. The readers were so done with Dursley’s and Piers at this point.
Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.
People couldn't help but chuckle at the image.
“Out of the way, you,” he said, punching Harry in the ribs. 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.
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. This would hopefully be interesting.
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor’s tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.
Students all across the Hall were laughing. Even some of the Slytherins were, though they'd deny it if you ever said anything of the sort.
As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, “Brazil, here I come.… Thanksss, amigo.”
There was no doubt of Harry’s abilities now. He spoke the language of snakes. The Potter’s hail from India, where the ability is more common, but there’s never been any trace of it in the Potter bloodline as far as anyone knows.
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
“But the glass,” he kept saying, “where did the glass go?”
”Where everything goes, I'd imagine,” Pandora said mistily.
The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. > < Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.
“Pity it didn't,” Bellatrix pouted. She thought the muggles could all do with being put down. Narcissa shot her a look and she straightened up again. They were in public, it was entirely improper to say such things.
But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, “Harry was talking to it, weren’t you, Harry?”
“I’m going to murder a child,” Dorcas said pleasantly. Marlene grinned along with her, planning to join in on the fun.
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,”
“Did he just say what I think he said?” Dorea said slowly. Her voice was a dangerous calm.
“Yes, my love,” her husband said, already compiling a mental list of every horrid thing these people did to their grandson.
before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
Remus looked disgusted for a minute. He hated the vile smell of strong alcohols.
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 Dursley’s were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn’t risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
This crossed a line for nearly everyone in the room. Harry had already proven to be a nice kid and these awful people were starving him.
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 > < he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.
Many people in the room looked concerned for the young boy. That was such a traumatic memory, and he didn't even understand it.
This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn’t imagine where all the green light > < There were no photographs of them in the house.
Lily tried to look as if this didn't bother her, she failed.
When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened;
Sirius looked genuinely hurt at this. He knew he must be dead, because he would never let James’ son live in such a house. The Potter’s were family to him.
the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) > < 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.
Frank snorted, “That sounds a bit like my mum.
“Maybe it is,” Peter joked.
It was meant to be a joke, but Frank adopted a look of horror that had his friends roaring with laughter.
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.
McGonagall muttered something about reckless behavior and shook her head.
At school, Harry had no one but a friend in the the year below him. Her name was Rhian, and she lived just down the road. The Dursleys didn't like her very much, so he wasn't supposed to hang out with her. The only reason she didn't get beat up for being friends with Harry, was because Piers had a crush on her.
Lily and James both smiled. Harry had a friend to talk to, someone besides the Dursleys to be around.
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.
An unfortunate tone to end the chapter on, but at least it was over. Arthur looked up from the book and asked for a volunteer to read next.
With a smile most fabricated, Bellatrix Black raised her hand.