New chapter! Thanks for all the support!
x
Close to noon, Dudley returned to Number 4, Privet Drive.
"My goodness, my baby! Why are you only getting back now? We need to hurry!" Petúnia said the moment she saw him, immediately sending him to change his clothes.
They rushed out of the house and piled into Valter's brand-new car, the family of four heading quickly toward the zoo.
The Dursleys lived a considerable distance away; even by car, it took at least an hour and a half to get there.
Harry was visibly excited the entire way. He had genuinely been looking forward to the trip — the last time he'd gone out for fun had been around this same time the previous year.
With the bright sunshine and it being the weekend, the zoo was more crowded than expected. Families were everywhere.
Especially at the entrance, where it was shoulder to shoulder. Before even seeing any animals, they were already surrounded by a herd of two-legged ones.
Once inside, Valter bought each of the boys an ice cream. Dudley got the most expensive one — chocolate. Harry received the cheapest — lemon.
Dudley claimed he didn't feel like chocolate and swapped with Harry.
In truth, chocolate was his favorite flavor.
Petúnia opened her mouth as if to say something but didn't. She even stopped her husband from interfering. In the end, watching the two boys walking side by side, she shook her head with a resigned sigh.
They looked so much alike… just like she and Lily had when they were little.
But even the closest sisters can end up strangers to each other.
Their paths had always been different.
...
In the bird section, they were told peacocks would be on display that day. After waiting quite a while, however, they didn't see a single feather. Instead, they spotted a white owl hidden among the leaves, looking somewhat dazed, fast asleep.
"Look at it… it looks so silly. Kind of dumb," Harry commented, pointing.
Owls are nocturnal carnivores — small birds of prey that sleep during the day and hunt at night. It was perfectly natural for it to be asleep in broad daylight. Who knew what was different about wizarding owls, since they supposedly slept at night?
A sudden thought crossed Dudley's mind.
"Harry, would you like to have an owl someday?"
"Are you kidding?" Harry shook his head vigorously. "I'd rather have a carrier pigeon."
...
In the mammal section, the lions and tigers weren't particularly impressive. Fat and lazy, they lay around yawning, barely willing to move. Dudley even found himself thinking that with a well-timed slide tackle, he could probably kick one like a football.
There were no pandas.
There were no pandas.
There were no pandas.
Important things deserve to be said three times — there wasn't a single giant panda in the entire park. That left Dudley slightly disappointed.
That feeling faded when he stopped in front of a gorilla scratching its head behind the glass. The animal seemed to mistake him for one of its own and began making gestures from the other side, as if trying to communicate — something along the lines of: "How did you get out? Come help me!"
Physically, Dudley looked even more solid than an average gorilla. With his well-built frame and defined muscles, the resemblance wasn't entirely off.
Seeing Dudley gesture back in an exaggerated, comical way made Harry burst into laughter.
Dudley's birthday was always the happiest day of the year for Harry — happier even than his own. After all, only Dudley remembered Harry's birthday, and only Dudley ever gave him a present.
...
Since they hadn't eaten lunch, Valter was growing impatient from hunger. They stopped for a quick bite inside the park. Valter had a hot dog and a soda; Petúnia had some fries; Dudley and Harry both had burgers.
Afterward, they headed to the reptile house.
The interior was cold and dim, filled with crawling creatures.
There were large spiders, giant centipedes, lizards, and snakes — cold-blooded animals of all kinds.
Dudley didn't particularly like it there. Compared to cold, slick reptiles, he preferred furry creatures. Even the gorilla outside was better than this.
Harry, on the other hand, seemed especially interested. One moment he was staring at a tarantula baring its venomous fangs, the next he was pressed up against the glass, studying a chameleon that looked even more vacant than the owl.
But the most numerous exhibits were the snakes — venomous and non-venomous alike, carefully separated.
Dudley noticed that Harry was far more interested in the snakes than in the lizards. He was leaning close to the glass of the largest enclosure, which housed an enormous brown python, and whispered:
"Hey… mate."
To an outsider, it looked like a child talking to himself.
But Dudley knew they were genuinely conversing.
Young Harry didn't yet understand how extraordinary he was. He assumed lots of people could do this.
But this ability belonged to him alone.
"Witnessed Parseltongue: Acquired Magical Creature Language LV0."
The system's pleasant notification sounded in Dudley's ears.
"Not bad," he whistled softly, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
This was the real reason he had made sure to come to the zoo — not just because Harry had a task to complete.
Witness-type rewards like this were rare. Including this one, Dudley had only received two so far. The previous one had granted him the LV5 ability called "Iron Mountain Impact."
Now he had obtained Magical Creature Language LV0.
Judging by the name, Dudley concluded it referred to the animals of the magical world — meaning he would be able to communicate with magical creatures in the future.
Whether it was LV0 didn't matter. All skills started there. The fact that it appeared in his ability list meant it could be leveled up through experience.
Still, it would have been nice if it were a more direct magical ability. Well… Magical Creature Language… that counted, didn't it?
...
Suddenly, a sharp scream echoed through the reptile house.
The glass in front of the python had vanished.
The snake rapidly uncoiled its body, slid out of the enclosure, and dropped onto the floor.
In an instant, screams and shouts filled the air. People turned and ran, terrified of being caught by the massive serpent. The entire reptile house descended into chaos.
When the python passed by Harry, it paused noticeably. It turned its head and, in an almost human gesture, nodded at him. Its forked tongue flicked out, producing a soft hissing sound.
It felt like a farewell.
As if it weren't a snake at all, but a person.
Before the staff could arrive, it slithered through the crowd and disappeared, a stark contrast to the sluggish creature that had lain motionless in its enclosure earlier.
No one knew whether the zoo eventually recaptured it. Not long afterward, a man who identified himself as the park's manager came to apologize to the visitors.
And so Dudley's birthday passed — filled with commotion, but without real danger.
x
x
x
If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to add it to your library and drop some Power Stones.
Your support really helps the novel grow!