Snake Whisperer

Later that day Harry was experiencing something he never thought he would experience, going to a zoo. The Dursley's had wanted to go to the zoo for Dudley's birthday, they had tried to leave Harry with a baby sitter but were unable to find one, even batty old Miss Figg was unavailable to look after him. Which meant that they had reluctantly taken Harry with them, Dudley was acting as if it had somehow ruined his entire birthday beyond repair while both of his parents were looking at Harry like it was his fault.

Harry had suggested them simply going on their own and leaving him at home but Uncle Vernon had quickly shut that idea down, it seemed that he thought if he left Harry alone in the house then he would return to it being on fire or upside down or something else.

During their time at the zoo Harry had simply silently followed the Dursley's around, he of course found the animals very interesting. His favorite so far was the tiger that had surprised Dudley, it was sat behind some glass and Dudley had tried to get it to move, only to end up irritating it enough to get it to roar at him. Dudley had been taken by surprise and stumbled back, knocking over his own mother. It took a considerable amount of effort to stop Harry from laughing at that but he had pulled it off, barely.

In a way Harry felt sad for these animals, locked away in cages, unable to be free. But then again, Harry had seen meerkats and red pandas that had more freedom, space to move, food and friends than he did. So in a way he was rather jealous of these animals.

Half an hour later they were in the reptile house, Dudley seemed very excited. Harry had heard that some snakes could eat entire cows, he wondered if he could get away with 'gently nudging' Dudley towards one of the bigger snakes. The reptile house had a distinct smell to it, far different from the rest of the zoo, all the reptiles were behind glass cases with the insides designed to look like their homes in the wild.

Harry found the turtles to be interesting, if a bit inactive. He saw a few lizards as well but for the most part he saw snake after snake after snake. Not that Harry had a problem with that, he rather liked looking at them. Some of them were even hard to spot because they blended in with their environment, which Harry often wished he could do.

Eventually the family stopped by a glass case with a particularly impressive looking snake on the other side. It was a black snake, about three to four meters long, with blue eyes, it was currently sleeping on a rock and not moving at all. Dudley seemed to find it interesting enough as he pushed his own face against the glass, Harry rather hoped that the snake didn't wake up, waking up to any of the Dursley's was not a pleasant experience. Harry was reading the sign next to the cage.

Apparently this snake was born in captivity, it also mentioned some interesting facts like how long it was and the fact that snakes had eyelids, but the eyelids are transparent and covers the eyeball so snakes never have to blink.

"Make it move." Dudley ordered.

"Move." Vernon tapped the glass repeatedly.

"Move!" Dudley copied his actions, but instead of using a single finger like Vernon had, he chose to use his entire fat fist. Harry, decided it was probably best to nip this in the bud as soon as possible before the idiot ended up disturbing everyone.

"He's asleep," Harry pointed out, he didn't know if that was true but he didn't really care at the moment. "snakes have thin eyelids so it looks like they don't have any." Harry couldn't help but add.

"He's boring." Dudley huffed before walking over to a different glass case while Vernon and Petunia left in a different direction to look at something else.

"I'm sorry about him," Harry apologized to the snake who had appeared to have woken up, or at the very least started paying attention to Harry. "he doesn't understand what it's like," Harry sighed. "staying in the same place day after day and watching people look at you and judge you." Harry said, not really expecting a reaction from this snake. Which is why he was very surprised when it suddenly nodded its head at him. "Whoa, can you hear me?" Breathed Harry, he was about to brush it off as an odd event when the snake nodded again. "Cool," Harry grinned. "I've never spoken to a snake before. W...what about you? Do you speak to people often?" The snake shook its head. "I don't really blame you." Harry replied.

"Mummy! Dad! Come here!" Harry heard Dudley say just before he felt himself get hit to the ground, he looked up and saw Dudley leaning against the glass, pressing his big hands and face against it. "You won't believe what this snake is doing!" Dudley added. Harry was far from amused by Dudley's actions, and he was even less amused by the fact that the fat idiot just hit him for no reason.

What happened next was something that Harry would always remember, the glass suddenly disappeared and Dudley fell headfirst into the cage, Harry heard the sound of splashing so assumed that Dudley had landed in the water section of the snake's home. Speaking of the snake, a few moments later Harry saw it climb out the cage before sliding until it was in front of him. Harry couldn't help but gulp when he looked at the snake. It was still just as impressive up close, only about ten times more scarier.

The snake slithered close to him, it brought its head closer to Harry's. Harry closed his eyes, believing it was about to bite him. A second later Harry felt something brush against his face, he just knew it was the snake's tongue. Harry tried desperately to stay still, to not move, hoping that the snake would just leave him alone.

"I will find you later, two legs." Harry heard a female voice just before he stopped feeling the snake, he heard some screams behind him and opened his eyes and saw that it had gone. He looked back only to see people running away, more than likely from the snake. Harry's head snapped back forward when he heard Dudley's voice.

"Mum! Mummy!" Dudley cried as he was pressed against the glass, this time from inside the cage. Apparently, the glass had come back when Harry wasn't paying attention. At that moment Harry's Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon arrived, his Aunt Petunia had taken one look at Dudley stuck in the snake cage before letting out a horrified and ear deafening scream.

"My darling boy!" She screamed as she rushed to the glass, she kept screaming while Dudley kept crying. It was a rather amusing sight and Harry was unable to stop himself from letting out a small laugh. Though he immediately regretted it because Uncle Vernon had locked eyes with him, at that moment Harry knew that his Uncle Vernon was going to blame him for this.