The vanishing glass The vanishing glass
The next ten years passed by with hardly any outward change at Privet Drive. The front gardens were still tidy, the brass number four on the Dursleys' house was still polished regularly, and the only thing that had changed in the living room of the house were the photos on the mantle. Ten years ago they had been of two proud parents, and a rather chubby young boy. Now, there were photos that displayed the various triumphs parents like to photograph that offer proof their child has accomplished various milestones. There was no sign that any other children lived in the house.
Yet they were there, both of them awake and waiting for their Aunt Petunia to let them out of their room. One of their chores in the morning was to make breakfast, and that was what they were waiting for. If left to his own devices, Harry might perhaps have slept in, however, his younger brother Leon was an early riser, and disgustingly cheerful in the mornings too. Harry suspected he did it because he got a kick out of teasing his older brother before he was fully awake in the mornings, but he never called Leon on it. Once in the kitchen, Harry and Leon immediately fell into a rhythm they had perfected years ago, moving smoothly around each other as they prepared breakfast. Unusually, their Aunt Petunia hovered in the kitchen, fussing about and constricting their morning banter to a few secret hand signs and smiles. It wasn't until she began fussing about the bacon burning that Harry was reminded that today was their cousin Dudley's birthday.
Harry and Dudley didn't get along very well. Harry thought Dudley was a spoiled brat, and Dudley thought Harry was a weirdo who was too protective of his freak brother. In the manner of children who instinctively understand threats they can't explain, Dudley knew to fear Leon Potter. However, his attempts to explain his unreasoning fear to his parents were misunderstood. While it had been obvious to Petunia and Vernon Dursley that Harry was an unusual freak with the same abilities his parents had, as far as they were aware, Leon Potter had never once displayed the same freakishness. They had tried to stamp the freakishness out of Harry Potter, but it had not worked. And Leon Potter, who was normal as could be, as far as they could tell, didn't seem to understand just how unnatural his brother really was. Leon adored Harry, and instead of looking up to Dudley, as they hoped more and more that he would as the years passed and he seemed normal (if obviously very intelligent, which Petunia claimed must come from her side of the family), he had simply stuck to Harry more closely. Still, Vernon Dursley tried. When Harry had been given chores, Leon had declared he would help. It was a delicate balance for the Dursleys, trying to save Leon while knowing that his freak of brother would break his heart, like Lily had broken Petunia's, when he turned eleven. While Vernon approved, in his own manner, of Leon Potter, it fell to Petunia most often to reach out to him. This was hard for her, as in the depths of her heart she had her own reservations about just how normal her youngest nephew was.
"Leon, where is your present for Dudley?" she asked. "Why don't you get it, and give it to Dudley at breakfast? You spent such a long time considering what to get him, so I'm sure he'll like it!"
Leon looked at her and smiled. "I hope so, Aunt Petunia. Harry and I did spend so long deciding." He said. "I'll get it as soon as I've finished setting the table."
Petunia smiled at him, and then scowled at Harry, who was watching them carefully. "Don't burn the bacon, boy!" she snapped, feeling frazzled and already worrying about Dudley's special day running smoothly. So much could go wrong.
That day, they all went to the zoo for Dudley's birthday. Even Harry had to come, because the old lady who usually took care of him had broken her leg. Usually Petunia used the story that Harry had been grounded for some reason. While some in the neighborhood thought Harry was a bit of a troublemaker, others, thanks to Leon's insistence that his brother help him in his efforts to have pocket money from odd jobs around the street, thought of him as a bright young boy with a bit of mischief in him. Harry was quite excited to be going to the zoo, and Leon shared his happiness. While Dudley and his friend rushed around and tried to out-brag each other, Leon and Harry quietly followed in their wake, trying to take in all the interesting sights. They chatted comfortably to one another, and carefully read the plaques of information on the animals they saw.
When they got to the building with the snakes in it, the trouble began. Dudley and his friend, Piers, were getting a bit tired. They wanted to see something exciting, but the snakes were just lazing about. When Dudley complained to his father, Vernon tried tapping on the glass of one enclosure, but nothing happened, so Dudley moved on, scoffing loudly to his friend to hide his disappointment. Harry and Leon, following behind Mr. Dursley, stopped to look at the snake Dudley had complained was boring. It was then that Harry did something unusual. He began to talk to the snake. Leon was not too surprised to hear his brother hissing at a snake. He was surprised to see it respond rather like a summons though, as if it really understood. He was so surprised, that when Dudley came rushing up and making a fuss, he didn't step in straight away. Dudley pushed Harry, and Leon watched as Harry lost his temper. Suddenly the glass to the snake enclosure vanished, and the snake was free.
Dudley immediately began to panic. He nearly fell into the enclosure, but Leon, with Pier's help, managed to stop that. Finishing his conversation with the snake had distracted Harry, but now that it was free, he looked around for Leon. Leon was busy glaring at him, while attempting to stop their cousin from tattling to their Aunt and Uncle. However, the screams of all the other people in the snake house when they noticed that a snake was free were quite the distraction. As soon as Leon knew he had his brother's attention, he checked their surroundings again. He quickly noticed that the glass that had vanished had reappeared. Leon immediately began exclaiming about how lucky they all were that the crazy snake had simply escaped, and not attacked them. Harry immediately caught on, and backed him up. Dudley tried to insist that the glass had vanished, but Leon simply told him that he was being ridiculous, and that obviously he had been so afraid when the snake snapped at him that he had been seeing things. Dudley, remembering how weird the snake had been, immediately began making a high pitched sound of distress, which was convenient in that by the time Dudley was able to form coherent words and sentences again, Leon had already given an explanation involving no magic that sounded quite reasonable. Harry backed him up, and Piers, who was very confused, agreed simply because he didn't have any other reasonable explanation. While Vernon and Petunia were dubious, Piers seemed to settle it for them. Deciding it had been the zoo's fault and shoddy maintenance that was responsible for her son's trauma, Petunia Dursley was soon on the warpath. The zoo director himself plied her with sweet, strong tea while he apologized profusely. When they got home that night, Vernon locked Harry up in the closet when they got home because he claimed Harry had been disrespectful to him, but other than that, the night passed peacefully enough.
The next day, when Leon spoke to Harry about it as he handed over bread and a bit of steak that he'd snuck away from dinner, he told him that he'd been speaking like a snake. Harry insisted that Leon was wrong, that Harry had been speaking English, but Leon was not convinced.
"I heard you. It wasn't English." Leon insisted. But Harry would have none of that. Neither of them mentioned that the glass at the front of the enclosure had vanished, and then reappeared. Magic was a secret they didn't often discuss, and now was a very unsafe time to do so. If they were caught, their punishment would be severe. The Dursleys were still a little shaken from the Zoo incident, and inclined to punish the boys for any little thing they could think of. Every day Harry was locked in the cupboard, and mostly it was only Leon's offerings of stolen food that he had to eat. Leon himself was also a bit shaken. Harry speaking to the snake reminded him of Sasuke and Orochimaru and their snake summons contracts. As far as he was aware, Harry hadn't made a contract with a snake summons. In fact, he didn't even know if they existed here. However, the fact that Harry could speak to snakes remained. And Harry didn't want to acknowledge it. Between Harry's insistence on ignoring what had happened, and the memories that had stirred because of the incident, Leon sleep, never entirely free of night time terrors, became even more broken, and he grew snappish and cross because he was tired.
It didn't take Leon long to figure out that Harry was afraid. Leon didn't know what to do about Harry's fears, but they were just one more problem to deal with during a time that seemed filled with problems. Something was going to happen soon, he could just feel it. So he did what had always worked for him, which was to confront the fear. Leon turned to the library and he went and got as many books on snakes as he could. Then he read them to Harry. He showed him pictures and quoted famous herpetologists and overloaded Harry's brain on information about snakes until Harry finally gave up in disgust and started reading them himself in self-defense. They read about snake charmers from India and dangerous wildlife specialists in Australia. By the time Leon managed to get some documentary videos from the library, claiming he was doing a summer time holiday project, to watch, the summer holidays had already started. Vernon and Petunia were no longer jumping on the littlest thing either boy did wrong, Leon's sleeping pattern had returned to usual, and although Harry was still unreasonably silent on what had happened at the zoo, Leon could overlook that. Of course, now that their troubles seemed to be over, or at least settled for the time being, something had to happen.
It started with the letter of course. After the first one, which he'd stupidly taken into the kitchen with him, where of course Dudley had seen it. He'd then made such a fuss that Uncle Vernon had noticed and then Harry no longer had the letter. It served him right, Leon told him, that if he was stupid enough to try to read such an obviously strange letter addressed to him in front of the Dursleys that they took it from him. Hopefully, Leon told him crossly, when Harry had complained once too often for him to tolerate any longer that day, it would teach him to be more careful in the future. His skin was itchy, and that odd feeling was stronger than ever. Something was happening, he felt. Like a static charge in the air, the feeling grew. Something was about to change. Leon couldn't articulate the feeling very well, and his attempts to explain to Harry had been frustrating for them both. Harry was insisting Leon was imagining things, and Leon couldn't even tell his brother with certainty that he was wrong.
As the week passed, Harry attempted numerous ways to get a letter. Leon watched, but didn't bother to help Harry, even when he asked. The letters made him uneasy, and if his brother was going to be so difficult, then he wasn't going to make things any easier. They had a fight about it, and now they were hardly talking at all. Still, by the end of the week, with the entire household on edge, and Vernon seemingly loosing his mind, Leon was inclined to make amends with Harry. Time, he felt, was running out. What would happen when it did, he had no idea, but the thought of something, anything happening, while they were on the outs, terrified him. Unfortunately, by this time Vernon's mental breakdown seemed to include taking the family to a small island in the middle of nowhere, and it was late before Leon and Harry could talk without any of the Dursleys overhearing, since they were now still asleep.
"I'm sorry Harry." Leon blurted out, when it was safe to talk. "I know things aren't the best between us right now, but…" here he trailed off, struggling to put his feelings into words for Harry.
Harry smiled at him. "We're brothers Leon, even when we fight. It's ok. Don't worry so much."
Leon scowled at him, but inside he was relieved. Harry had managed, once again, to express what he struggled to say, and to understand him when he could hardly understand himself. They would be alright, his brother and him. "So." He said. "I got you something, for your birthday."
Harry looked at him in surprise. "Really? It's my birthday already?" he asked in astonishment. Leon smiled at him, relieved.
"Yeah, it is." He said archly. "Imagine that. Another year older, and still you're surprised. Doesn't say much about your mental capacity does it?" Harry scowled, and swiped his hand at Leon, who ducked, and smirked at his brother.
"So, where's this gift of mine?" Harry demanded. Leon laughed, and and got the gift he'd swiped during the week out of the jacket he'd kept it safely hidden in.
"Here it is. I knew you wanted one." He said, as he handed the letter over to his brother. Harry looked at him in pleased surprise. Harry knew how Leon felt about the letters, and it pleased him that his brother would do this for him, despite his own feelings. He smiled happily at Leon, and started to open the letter.
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