Twinzel

Letters

It wasn't long before someone knocked loudly on our cupboard, snappping me and my brother from our thoughts. "Get your lazy asses out of there, freaks!" Aunt Petunia screeched. Harry let out a sigh before he untangled his limbs from me, staggering out of the cupboard. I quickly followed him, my gaze on the floor as we stood there somewhat awkwardly. "You two delinquents are going to the zoo with us, for Dudley's birthday. You're lucky the old hag broke her leg!" Uncle Vernon explained as a sour looking Dudley wobbled out of the house and to the car. Harry and I shot each other a bright smile, glad we didn't have to stay with the old cat lady that babysitted us every once in a while. Aunt Petunia and Dudley were already in the car as we walked to it. Harry opened the door, but Uncle Vernon held his arm out and blocked the way. His sweaty, fat face leaned to us. "You better behave. If I see any tricks, you'll get no food for a week!" He threatened before sitting in the car. We knew what he meant. The abnormal, special things we could do, were forbidden. I climbed in the back of the car, Harry soon after. As soon as we closed the door, our Uncle sped off to the zoo. The car ride was quiet, both Harry and I lost in our thoughts as we glanced out of the window. "I want to see the lions first!" Dudley suddenly yelled, jumping from the car and running off. I arched an eyebrow up in shock. Both that we already arrived, and that Dudley ran. I heard Harry snicker and I immidiately knew he thought the same. We leaped out of the car and strode after our Aunt and Uncle. It took hours for Dudley and Uncle Vernon to walk the zoo, each of them demanding a break from walking every few minutes. Frankly, I was more agitated than anything. At the seventh pause in 20 minutes, I dragged Harry away and went to the reptile exhibition. "Thank God you saved us." Harry muttered, earning a quick grin from me. We ended up infront of a glass cage, eyeing a sleeping snake. "He's beautiful.." I whispered, just loud enough for Harry to hear. "Yeah." He agreed without hesitation, both of us fascinated by the snakes colourful scales. "Look, Dad. Look!" Dudley yelled suddenly, pressing his fat face smugly against the glass. The snake didn't bother to move. "Move, ugly. Move! Daaaaddd!" Dudley whined, Uncle Vernon thumping the glass repeatedly. Dudley groaned as the snake remained still, soon bored and moving on. Harry and I sighed and turned back to the glass. "Sorry about that." Harry started, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, he's just an idiotic kid." I added, scowling at nothing in particular. The snake stirred before lifting its head, winking at us. "Did it just-...." Harry muttered. "Wink?" I finished, my jaw dropping. "You can understand us?" My brother tried again, gawking as the snake nodded. My eyes scanned over its information card before flickering back to its head. "What was it like, in Brasil? Do you miss your family?" I ask softly. The snake hissed urgently before nodding towards the sign. "Oh." Harry and I muttered at the same time. In small letters, it read 'bred in captivity.' "We're caged too." Harry added after a comfortable silence. I nodded my head in agreement. "Look! Its moving!" Dudley hollered, bumping my brother and I unto the floor. I grunt as I land rather harshly, my right hand on my lower back. My twin and I glare at our Cousin, anger welling up inside of us. In the blink of an eye, the glass disappears and Dudley falls head first into the snake exhibition. The huge snake itself slithers out and hisses a 'thank you' at us. "No problem." We chorussed with identical grins as the snake left. "FREAKS!" Uncle Vernon screamed at us, pointing one fat, accusing finger at us. I shuddered, my green eyes widening comically wide. Oh boy, we are in trouble. The car drive home was hectic. Uncle Vernon was shouting profanities at us with a red face. Aunt Petunia was cooing Dudley. And Dudley was wrapped in a blanket, his clothes and pride soaked. I was silent, watching this all unfold with curious, green eyes. Harry on the other hand, was loudly defending our innocense and throwing insults right back at our Uncle. His right hand was firmly holding my left hand, giving a comforting squeeze every now and then. Yes, Harry was the most fearless of the both of us. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have him. But back to the present. Which is 5 days after the zoo incident. True to his word, Uncle Vernon has not given us any food. Luckily, I am a pretty good pick pocketeer and thief, so I snatched food or fruit with me to the cupboard and shared equally with Harry. We also noticed our Uncle's growing insanity due to the ridiculous amount of letters that came in, for us. We tried to tell him that the letters would stop if we read one, but he wasn't having any of it. "I feel like those letters will be a new beginning, Harry.." I told him softly while we shared a banana in our cupboard. Harry hummed in agreement, swallowing down a piece of the banana. "I think so too." Today was Sunday. Uncle Vernon let me and my brother out to make their breakfast. "What is so special about Sunday?" Our Uncle suddenly asked. Harry and I shared a look. "No mail.." He eventually muttered. "Yes, no God damned mail! No owls! No freakin' letters!" Uncle Vernon exclaimed in excitement. As if on cue, the fire place started rumbling mysteriously. I tilted my head to the side, narrowing my eyes at it right before hundreds of letters soared through it, filling up the entire room. "I got one!" Harry yelled as he grabbed my hand, dragging me after him as we ran from a furious Uncle Vernon. But neither of us succeeded, our hands soon robbed from the letters they held seconds before. We both glared heatedly at our Uncle as he screamed at the top of his lungs. "That's it! We're LEAVING!"