Mentality

No. 3

Excitement

June 23rd, 1991

With a bang and a crash, Harry Potter was awoken from one of his most restless of sleeps. Of course it was a given, by now. His nights usually consisted of dreams; dreams of blood splatters, eerie silences, and flashes of colors and screams. Such vague, yet gruesome things he saw at night.

Of course, after that... he always dreamed of flying. The feeling of freedom and recklessness that came with floating through the air at break-neck speeds... it was awe-inspiring. It broke through the anguish, and allowed him to feel safe, if only in rest.

"Boy!" A deep voice bellowed from outside of his cupboard. "Get up and make some bacon for Dudders' birthday!"

With a grunt, Harry slowly opened the door to his safe haven. It wouldn't do for them to see his glum expression, so he quickly made his way to the kitchen to cook Dudley's food.

While making no sense to any other person why a mother would allow a child to handle a task such as that, it never made Harry blink an emerald eye. He was used to the slave treatment by now, and thought that it was the least he could do for the family. It was the only way he could cope.

Quickly finishing up frying the bacon, he took out a large plate and loaded it up with the greasy pork, using a fork to pick up whatever didn't fall onto the flatware.

Washing the dishes, Harry walked to his cupboard - after stealing a strip or two - and waited for when his appearance was necessary.

A shrill voice called for him to wash up for the arrival of Aunt Marjorie. Just thinking of the ghastly older woman made Harry's face scrunch up. If the Dursleys were bad, she was a villain; especially when she brought that stupid bulldog of hers. Harry felt himself grimace as he recalled a few years prior, when the older woman's dog chased him up a tree. Of course, Dudley had a great laugh at his dilemma.

Shaking off the memories, he made haste. The raven-haired boy rushed up the stairs, and through the door of the bathroom. After showering, Harry used the small piece of cloth of a towel he was allowed to dry himself off.

Though the clothes the Dursleys made him wear never fit him, being several sizes too big for his skinny frame - as they were Dudley's old hand-me-downs, as well - it wasn't like Harry was able to complain about them. The one time he had said anything about it, Uncle Vernon had made sure he understood his place. He still remembered the shame he felt after that brutal spanking and the pain in his bum. At least Dudley had stopped making snide remarks about that particular incident.

As he walked down the stairs towards the living room, he heard the familiar, infuriating voice announce the arrival of Aunt Marge.

When he arrived, Aunt Petunia just looked at him with a subtle curl of the lip, motioning for him to sit down "like a civilized person". Of course, Marge chimed in with a familiar rendition of how could he ever know what that is, he's a heathen?

Harry just crossed his arms defensively over his chest, and watched Dudley open up his enormous amount of presents.

"Thirty-six..." he muttered, looking up at his family with a scowl fixed on his pampered face."That's two less than last year."

Aunt Petunia froze in place, wracking her brain for a reasonable explanation. Then when she spotted a lone present on the floor underneath small pieces of ripped wrapping paper, Dudley was appeased.

That is until, "But Mummy, that's still less than last year by one!"

Harry watched on indifferently as his Aunts and Uncle tried to make Dudley understand that they would buy two more later on at the zoo.

He couldn't even being to contemplate how his cousin could complain about that. A couple years ago, Harry was given a bag of dog biscuits by Aunt Marge, while her precious "Neffy-Poo" got a toy robot. Really, what a prat.

When the party was over, Harry was told to clean up the living room while the Dursleys discussed what they were doing later on that day.

When a telephone rung and Aunt Petunia went to go answer it, Harry was just picking up the last bit of paper scraps. It took all he had not to fall over when he heard her shrill voice screech, "What do you mean you've broken a leg and cannot babysit the boy?"

With a muttered goodbye, Petunia called him into the kitchen. "Looks like you're going with us to the zoo, boy. Put on your shoes."

When Harry reemerged from his cupboard, Dudley was allowing alligator tears to cascade down his huge cheeks, unsteadily asking why Harry had to come ruin his birthday.

With a hurried goodbye from Aunt Marge, who smirked at Harry's obvious discomfort from being so totally out of his element, along with an exchanged sympathizing look with his other aunt and uncle, she left for her own home.

Though they didn't want to allow it, his aunt and uncle grudgingly accepted the fact that Harry was to come to the zoo with them. And unsurprisingly, Dudley stopped his fit when his friend Piers Polkiss came to carpool.

As was customary, Piers squinted at Harry's bespectacled face and asked who he was. And, like what was customary, Dudley replied that Harry was his strange cousin.

What was sad was the fact that Piers wasn't kidding in the least. Kids tended to ignore Harry at school, and frequently forgot who he was due to his poor health. He didn't go to school several times a month, and nobody ever questioned it.

《--•--•--•--•--•--•--•--》

Sitting in the back seat of the car was never pleasant, and made even more so with the presence of Piers. Being nothing more than a monkey mimicking his surroundings, the idiot chose to partake in Dudley's incessant poking's and prodding's of Harry.

When the car came to a halt in the parking lot of the zoo, Harry had to try his best to keep his excitement hidden from the rest of his group. They would find some way to ruin the experience for him otherwise.

When Dudley complained of the heat at the entrance, Aunt Petunia stopped in front of a vendor. Dudley proclaimed he wanted a large chocolate ice cream, to which Piers voiced his agreement.

Before they could leave, the woman managing the cart asked him what he would like. With a pinch, Aunt Petunia prevented him from answering and bought him the cheapest thing on the cart's menu, a lemon ice lolly. Despite his instincts telling him to behave otherwise, Harry enjoyed the first cold-ice he'd ever had before with a visible relish.

It was when they were walking towards the reptile house that Harry noticed something that made him stop in his tracks, before Uncle Vernon clipped him behind the ear and told him to get a move on.

He'd known that the dreams he'd had, while not being normal, had a certain edge to them. It was with a sad gleam to his eyes that he wished a poorly old woman rest in the afterlife. After all, she would be dying tomorrow. At least it would be peacefully in her sleep.

Shaking his head from the freakishness that had consumed him momentarily, Harry made sure to keep up the pace.

While Harry was amazed and fascinated from the many types of snakes and lizards in the exhibit, Dudley was busy complaining about how they weren't moving and just lying there, basking in the sun.

Harry followed Dudley to a boa constrictor's cage. Although, after tapping on the glass for a few moments, the older boy had grown and left, Harry chose to stay behind. That's when he heard someone ask him what his name was.

Turning his head sharply, Harry didn't see where the voice could possibly come from. The closest to him was a little girl and Dudley, and neither sounded like the voice.

Looking back at the snake, Harry caught his breath when its tongue flicked out and he heard the voice ask what his name was again.

"Harry, Harry Potter," he calmly stated, watching for the Dursleys or Piers out of the corner of his eye. When he assured himself that neither of them were anywhere near the constrictor, Harry struck up a conversation with the snake.

"Where are you from?" Harry asked the constrictor calmly, sleeved arms leaning over the plaque that identified the snake.

"Brazil," the snake raised its head, flicking its tongue out between hisses. "I am waiting to go back. The two-leg walkersss have been talking about it. I am sssupposssed to go tonight."

"Well, it wasss niccce to meet you," Harry replied, using a finger to push up his eyeglasses.

Piers took that moment to take Dudley by the arm and point at the snake. Excitedly, Dudley jogged to the snake's location, pushing Harry out of the way and onto the floor.

Despite what happened next, Harry felt he would never regret longing for Dudley to be humiliated, for once.

Having effectively pushed the smaller boy out of the way, Dudley grinned at the snake. Pointing a chubby finger towards the protective glass, he tried to prod at the glass again to gain the snake's attention. However, instead of hitting the solid surface, all Dudley touched was air. Losing balance, the boy fell face-first... directly in front of the snake.

With a sharp hiss, the snake playfully flicked its tongue at Dudley, causing the small whale to whimper and scramble away as fast as humanly possible from the large reptile.

Harry could've sworn he'd seen the snake wink as the rest of the visitors of the zoo screamed bloody murder.

"Brazil, here I come. Thanksss, amigo!"

Cursing, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia took Dudley and Piers by their arms. Harry ran after them, adrenaline pumping through his veins during his little adventure.

When they got to the car, Dudley was hysterically whimpering that he'd somehow broken his leg, while Piers blamed Harry for the entire incident, claiming that he was talking to the snake.

All Harry knew was that he was looking forward to regretting the self-satisfied smirk he'd cracked during the car ride back to Number 4 Privet Drive.