The Vanishing Glass

 Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling

, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No Money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

2 – The Vanishing Glass

"This sounds like accidental magic," Lily said. Everyone could tell from the large grin on her face that she was excited to learn about her son in any way.

“Powerful accidental magic at that; only a few children ever manage to vanish things. It tends to stick to summoning and banishing things across the room or their magic kicking in to save their lives." McGonagall said.

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.

"That certainly sounds like Petunia," Severus said.

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 what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bobble hats

“I so wish I could see that!” Sirius said laughing, but was cut off from more by a bright white flash. When the light vanished they saw that Moody and Hermione were already up and had their wands gripped tightly in hand. The two quickly scanned the room and finally realized that the only difference was a stack of pictures on the table. Making sure they were safe first, Hermione picked them up. With a small smile she handed them to Sirius, who after seeing them started laughing, and they were quickly passed around the room.

Moody leaned over to Hermione and whispered in her ear. “Good Constant Vigilance Granger. You must have been taught well.”  Hermione nodded and gave a small smile at the compliment to Harry, and Moody himself.

 – but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large, blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a roundabout 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.

“Where’s Harry?” Lily asked worried.

“Did someone come get him?” James asked quietly.

“If Harry’s not there why are we still reading about them?” Remus asked confused. These questions were all aimed towards Hermione but she just gave a small shake of her head and motioned for Frank to continue reading.

Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long.

His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

“That’s a horrible way to wake up!” Lily exclaimed.

“I think it kinda sounds like mother. What about you Siri?” Regulus said, and in reply got a smile and nod from Sirius.

Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker.

He rolled on to his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.

"He must have an extraordinary memory if he can relive it as a dream." McGonagall said.

His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," said Harry.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

“They made him cook!” Lily shrieked.

“Harry said that he started cooking at the age of seven, but out of everything it was his favorite.” Hermione said, trying not only to calm the room, but to keep herself from becoming angry. Harry had told her almost everything that happened at the Dursley’s but she knew it would still be hard to hear about it all. 

Harry groaned.

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.

“He didn’t say anything! Give him time to wake up!” James said angrily towards the book.

“James, you know you are talking to a book right?” Remus told him. This made James grumble under his breath and Sirius to bust out laughing.

"Nothing, nothing …"

Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on.

Hermione sighed when she realized what was coming.  This was not going to be pretty.

Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

“WHAT! HE SLEPT UNDER A CUPBOARD! HOW DARE THEM!” Lily screamed, her face turning a bright red that even the Weasleys couldn’t manage.  Most people in the room were yelling, astonished at the revelation.

Hermione leaned over to Severus and said “Not exactly what you would think from James Potter’s spawn, huh?”

Severus gave her a seething look before angrily whispering back. “I’m sure that he is still an arrogant, shellfish brat, and a bully. Just like his father is.” Hermione’s anger flared at this. How dare he say that! He didn't even know him!  Hermione was contemplating hexing him when she heard Frank cough loudly and start to read again.

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 got the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.

“I will explain later to you guys.” Lily said to the purebloods around her.

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.

“That better not be Harry!” Remus said angrily with a harsh growl.

Dudley's favorite punch-bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.

Hermione laughed at this understatement. When the others in the room looked at her she explained, “Harry is more than fast. It is insane when he runs, like you can barely see him. I still have trouble keeping up with him.”

“Good!” Alice said happy that the fat lard of a boy had trouble catching Harry.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.

“That might be half true. Considering that James and I have always been rather tall and petite. If he was short he didn’t get it from us.” Lily said with a sad tinge in her voice.

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.

“Did they ever buy him something new?” Remus asked looking at Hermione, who gave a shake of her head no.  This only added to the thick air in the room.

Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair and bright-green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.

Several growls could be heard at that.

The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which 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 got it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."

“She told him we died in a car crash! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I never would have thought that she hated me that much.” Lily said with tears streaming down her face.

Don't ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.

"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.

“Won’t work!” everyone who is familiar with the Potter hair says.

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.

"I've heard that the Potters had been cursed to have untamable hair. Neither cutting, brushing or growing it out will be helpful,” Minerva said.

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.

“Nice one.” Sirius said laughing. “Looks like he got your sense of humor Prongs.”

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."

“He gets thirty-six presents and complains about it! I have never heard of such a big brat!” Lily exclaimed, and everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, its here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."

"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.

“Don’t choke,” Lily said worriedly.

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?"

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty … thirty …"

“He can’t even count!” Remus said surprised, and disgusted.

"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled.

"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.

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 cine-camera, a remote-control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games and a video recorder. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone, looking both angry and worried.

"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! Use it.” Regulus said, surprising almost everyone. Sirius and Hermione knew though why he was acting as he did.

Dudley's mouth fell open in horror but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. 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.

“That’s horrible!” Sirius exclaimed.

“What did you say Mr. Black? For a moment there I thought you insulted cats.” McGonagall said with a stern, angry voice with her lips thin.

“No…nothing, cats are wonderful, amazing creatures; beautiful too.” Sirius said with a frightened look in his eye.  

"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.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

“Please don’t! That woman is a horrible, fat pig.” Lily shrieked.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."

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 about what's-her-name, your friend – Yvonne?"

"On holiday in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"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).

Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.

“She always looks like that.” Severus said.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

“Harry wouldn’t blow up the house!”  Alice said.

"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 …"

“He’s not a dog! That could kill him!” Lily said angrily.

"That car's new; he's not sitting in it alone …"

Hermione could hear a deep feral growl coming from cross the room.

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.

"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

"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.

“Brat!” Many people called out.

Just then, the doorbell rang – "Oh, Good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically – and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers is a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

“If you can’t cry in front of your friends then they’re not real friends.” James said.

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. 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.

"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."

“He better not! That’s child abuse!” Lily screamed. James reached up and pulled her back down to the couch and started to rub circles on her back.

"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly …"

But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.

The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.

"Mrs. Dursley should well know that it is accidental magic and Harry has no control over it," McGonagall said.

Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barber's 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 fringe, which she left "to hide that horrible scar". Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and Sellotaped glasses.

Severus caught himself thinking that this might be even worse than the clothes he had had to wear, especially since the Dursleys clearly had the money to afford better clothes.

Next morning, however, he had got up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.

James and Sirius started cheering, and yelling about awesome Potter hair.

 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.

But this stopped their cheering, and brought back the grave mood from before.

Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange bobbles). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a glove 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.

“

Good!” Frank and Alice said.

On the other hand, he'd got 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.

“He apperated! Full grown adults have trouble, but a young boy. That’s amazing!” McGonagall said stunned.  The others in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

The Dursleys 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 bins outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.

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.

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 motorbikes.

“I’m going to guess he doesn’t like Harry.” Regulus joked.

"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorbike overtook them.

"I had a dream about a motorbike," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."

“Harry! Use your brain I know you’ve got.” Lily said to the book, but nobody wanted to point it out to her in fear of having to face her wrath.

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 beetroot with a moustache, "MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!"

“Yes they do!” Sirius said, in a voice quiet like that of a young kid arguing.

Dudley and Piers sniggered.

"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."

But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.

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 and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice lolly. It wasn't bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head and looking remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.

“That’s an insult to all gorillas everywhere.” Alice said in a serious voice.

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 Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunch-time, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his Knickerbocker glory wasn't big enough, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.

Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all too good to last.

“Oh no! What happened?” Lily asked.

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in here, 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 and Piers 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 Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a dustbin – but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

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.

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 itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up – at least he got to visit the rest of the house.

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 towards 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."

“Is he talking to a snake?” Frank asked.

“That’s a little creepy.” Sirius said.

“What I want to know is, how is he talking to a snake?” Alice said.

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."

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, 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!"

Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.

“Stupid pig!” James said.

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.

“That is very powerful accidental magic.” McGonagall said.

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 on to the floor – people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come … Thanksss, amigo."

“Aww, a polite snake. How sweet!” Alice cooed, which caused her to receive a few odd looks.

“Ya, don’t see that very often huh.” Sirius said quietly to James and Remus.

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 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 was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.

But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"

“You just had to say something, now Harry is going to be in trouble.” Lily cried.

 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," before he collapsed into a chair and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.

“How dare he. That’s my son, and I can’t believe Petunia just let him do it.” Lily said with tears rolling down her face.

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 Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.

“He shouldn’t have to sneak around for food.” Hermione hissed shooting an angry look at Dumbledore.

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 and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.

“He remembers that. Poor Harry.” Alice said.

 This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.

When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.

“Why didn’t Sirius or I come for him? Why would we just leave him their when we know how horrible Petunia and Vernon are?” Remus asked the room, but no one, except Hermione, had an answer.

“And if you two couldn’t why didn’t Frank and I. I am his godmother for Merlin’s sake.” Alice said.

“How do you know you’re the godmother? This hasn’t happened yet.” Regulus asked.

“Sixth year Alice and I made an agreement to name each other godmother of our first child. We have been best friends since we meet in first year, so we felt it was only right.” Lily explained. Alice stood up and walked over to Lily and gave her a hug. Hermione could tell they really were best friends, sisters.

Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) 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 furiously if he knew the man, 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. 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.

“That’s rude.” Frank said.

“Ya, and they probably made Harry think he was going crazy.” Remus said.

At school, Harry had no one. 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.

“That’s the end of the chapter. Who wants to read next?” Frank said.

“I will.” Remus said before taking the book from Frank. “Chapter three. The Letters from No One.”