The Twin Potters Adventure

Page 6

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Continuation Page

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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.
    "This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.
    You pulled Harry close to the front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. You wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself—no company expect stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse then having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was aunt petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least you got to visit the rest of the house.
    the snake suddenly opened it's beady eyes. Slowly, it raised it's head until it's eyes were on a level with you and Harry (as your both the same height).
    it winked.
    Harry stared as you held his hand tighter. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake holding your hand tightly as well before winking back.
    the snake jerked it's head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised it's eyes to the ceiling. It gave you both a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time"
    "I know," Harry mumbled through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." You say.
     The snake nodded vigorously.
    "Where do you come from, anyways?" Harry asked.
    the snake jabbed it's tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
    boa constrictor, Brazil.
    "Was it nice there?" You asked.
    the boa constrictor jabbed it's tail at the sign again and you an Harry read on: this specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh I see—so you've never been to Brazil?"
    as the snake shook it's head, a deafening shout behind your backs made off of you jump. "DUDLEY!, MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
    Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.
    "Out of the way, you" he said punching you in the ribs instead of Harry, as you jumped in just in time. Caught by surprise though, you and Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened —one second, piers and Dudley we're leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back howls of horror.
    you and 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 stared running for the exits.
    as the snake slid swiftly pasted you both, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said,
"Brazil, here I come....thanksss, amigo."
    The keeper of the reptile house was I 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 swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for you and Harry at least, was piers calming down enough to say. "Harry and Y/n was talking to it, weren't you, Harry"
    uncle Vernon waited until piers was safely out of the house before starting on you. 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.

You and Harry laid in the dark cupboard much later, wishing either one of you had a watch. Harry didn't know what time it was a d you couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, you both couldn't risk sneaking into the kitchen for food.
    the potter's have lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as you both could remember, ever since you or harry been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. Harry couldn't remember being in the car when your parents had died. Sometimes, when either of you strained their memories during long hours in the cupboard, you came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, you supposed, was the crash, though you couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. Harry and you couldn't remember your parents at all. Your 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 Harry and you were younger, you'd had dreamed and dreamed of some  unknown relation coming to take you both away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were your only family. Yet sometimes you thought (or maybe hope) 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 and Dudley. After asking Harry or you furiously if either of you knew the man, aunt petunia had rushed them out of the of the shop without buying anything. A wild—looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at you both once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had shake both of your hands 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 either you or harry tried to get a closer look.
    at school, you both had no one but each other. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd potter twins in his babby old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.

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