Stay - Theodore Nott

Chapter 2

After lunch, they went to the reptile house. 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 trash can — 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, and Kirra felt a sudden urge to push her uncle's fat finger away from the glass. Her eyes flickered between the man and the poor snake behind the glass before she turned to look at the ground in attempt to calm herself

"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. Kirra and Harry shared a look before they moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake.

They 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 they 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 and Kirra's. It winked. Harry and Kirra stared at the snake and then looked at each other to see if they were imagining it, but from the look on the other twin's face, they knew that the other had seen it too.

Then they looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. They looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry and Kirra a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."

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

"It must be really annoying. I am so sorry that you have to go through that every day, I can't even begin to imagine how difficult that must be for you" Kirra continued, obviously feeling very sorry for the snake. It almost seemed like the snake smiled at her as it nodded its head vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry and Kirra both asked. The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. The twins peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?" Kirra asked the snake softly. The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Kirra read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo.

"Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?" Kirra asked sadly, feeling an intense sense of sympathy for the snake in front of her. As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry and Kirra 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 toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs and pushed Kirra, she almost fell to the floor though Piers seemed to have grabbed her in his sweaty hands just in time. Harry however was not as 'fortunate', as he was caught by surprise and fell hard on the concrete floor.

Kirra internally gagged and quickly pushed herself away from Piers grip, suddering at the thought and feeling of the dirty boys filthy fingers over her freckled and pale skin.