(aha, you perfect little genius!)

Harry was startled awake as he suddenly heard his aunt's incessant knocking. What was it this time? Fumbling around the tiny closet for his glasses, the smells of breakfast undoubtable being cooked by his twin snapped him to his senses.

It was Dudley's birthday.

Harry moaned and fell back on the hard little bed he had. This was one of the worst days of the year for him and his sister. It was sheer luck that him and Nichole were being taken to the Zoo, and Dudley was still whining about it.

Dragging his feet out of bed, he stood and attempted to stretch, but due to the limited space he only succeeded in banging his head on one of the wooden shelves. Mumbling grumpily, he walked out of the little cupboard under the stairs and dragged his feet along the soft carpet as he walked towards the kitchen.

Pausing for a moment to count the number of presents Dudley would recieve, his face became grave as he hurried into the kitchen. "Eat fast and retreat, the prat got two less presants than last year." He breathed to his sister as he passed her, making absolutely sure their Aunt Petunia wouldn't overhear as he busied himself helping his twin.

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((Not as perfect as you XD AND LOL!! I said toast instead of bread.....))

Nichole hadn't dared look up from frying the bacon as her brother finally managed to emerge from their room, but her stomach dropped at the grave news he brought with him. "Scratch that, just make breakfast for them and run" she whispered back as she reached across him in order to put a couple pieces of bread in the toaster, her ears perked as she hoped her cousin didn't wake up any time soon. She was fine with missing a meal, it wasn't like it was uncommon for the Potter twins, for it was just a normal part of life for them, especially on days like this.

Nichole knew that her and her brother were neglected by their aunt and uncle, proven by both their skinny forms and baggy cloths, but they hadn't known anything else since both there parents had died in a car crash when they were only babies. So this life they had grown accustom to was normal for them, and she knew she cherished the love of her brother all the more for it, since he was the only bright part in her life, and she was immensely protective of him.

Just as they were almost finished with the preparation of breakfast, she heard the dreaded thumping footsteps of a heavyset male walking down the stairs, and she held her breath as she prayed it wasn't her horrid cousin, they were almost done for goodness sakes! She looked up fearfully only to allow a silent sigh of relief when she saw it was only her Uncle Vernon stomping his way to the kitchen table and demanding food.

Quickly grabbing the pan, she walked up to the fattest man she had ever seen, rivaled only by her cousin, and carefully began to dish him a heaping plate of food. "Hurry up!" He snapped at her before adding "Where's my coffee girl!?" in his always demanding tone. Internally she quickly went to the brewing pot of coffee and poured him a cup before bringing it over to him and retreating, knowing better than to expect even a simple 'Thank You'. As soon as she entered the kitchen, Aunt Petunia shooed them off to their room, and not needing any more encouragement, she practically ran back to the cupboard.

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Harry followed his sister in haste, his stomach having grown used to skipping meals for the sake of avoiding bodily harm. As soon was the twin ten year olds were closed up in their tiny cupboard of a room, Harry wrapped his arms tightly around Nichole.

It was how practically everyday started, being awakened and forced to cook and clean for their retched family, and the first chance he could without being yelled at, Harry would give his sister a warm and loving hug. It was a little bright spot in the otherwise bleak and dreary morning. Harry simply couldn't imagine life without the love of his sister.

"How long do you think until Dudley starts whining over the two missing presants? And by whining I mean screaming." He asked, trying to keep his tone light and joking, just he just couldn't knowing the blunt of their cousin's rage would go to them... him mostly.

It infuriated him sometimes, his aunt and uncle taught Dudley to never hit a girl and then turned around and said his precious sister didn't count. Of course she bloody counted! Either way, Harry took it upon himself to take most of the rage of their incredably fat cousin on himself.

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Nichole sighed softly as she relaxed into the welcoming arms of her brother, wrapping her own around him in return. "I don't know Harry, but we will find out soon" she said gently as the collar of her baggy shirt slipped over one shoulder, but she didn't really care at this point. "And later we will find out how mad he really is" she added, shuddering slightly at the thought. She knew that her brother always took the brunt of Dudley's daily beatings for her, and even if her wounds were bad, his were always worse. The worse part was that they weren't only beaten by the youngest Dursley, but also the eldest one, not to mention that Aunt Petunia always had a good time smacking her around for the littlest mistakes.

Her body suddenly tensed as she heard the unmistakable sound of Dudley's door opening and slamming shut, flinching as the elephant like child thundered down the stairs, causing the dust particles above them to fall, covering her and Harry, making her sneeze quietly. She then heard Aunt Petunia welcoming her son into the living room, gushing over how it was her sons birthday while she waited tensely for the unavoidable hissyfit that was bound to happen.

Sure enough, not a minute later, she clearly heard Dudley ask how many were there, then her Uncle Vernon respond with "Thirty six, I counted them myself" like he thought that would please his son to no end. She only had to wait about half a second for Dudley's angry outburst "Thirty-six! But last year, last year I had thirty-seven!"
Of course Uncle Vernon tried to defend himself with "But some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year..."
Dudley was having none of it though and said "I don't care how big they are!" Then she heard the softer voice of Aunt Petunia trying to calm her son, probably promising him some more gifts or something like that.

Looking at her brother, she rolled her brown eyes, shaking her head at how pitiful their cousin sounded. Se wanted the greedy gluten to spend a day in there shoes, see how he liked it.

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Harry sighed and ran a hand through his messy brown hair to dislodge the dust particals, quickly brushing his bangs down to cover the scar on his forehead his aunt profusely despised.

To get his sister's mind off of their raging cousin, he grinned brightlu and sat on the edge of the little cot they shared. "I had a wonderful dream last night." He informed her, his mind already racing through the details.

It really wasn't all that much, but it was a distraction from real life, which made him happy enough. "You were in it." He added, shifting over on the bed to offer Nichole a spot to sit beside him, holding his arm out as though to invite her to lean against him as he talked.

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Nichole smiled at her brother's brilliant attempt to distract her from what was going on, and she couldn't fight the small smile that turned the corner of her lips as she went to the spot Harry had made for her, leaning into his arms as attempted to get comfy on the hard cot. Raising her hands, she gently carded them through her long red hair, so much like her deceased mothers, to remove the remaining dust from the thick locks.

"Ok Harry, tell me about this dream of yours that just happened to involve me" she demanded playfully, reaching up to push his bangs off his forehead again. She happened to like his scar that was identical to the one under her jaw, just below her ear, even though she knew her aunt hated it. She liked it so much because it was something they shared, she felt it connected them in more ways than she could explain.

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Harry grinned at her teasing, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she pushed his bangs out of his eyes. Glancing towards the door as though one of their family members would barge in on them as he spoke, he cautiously began his tale, listening for sounds of their family.

"We were riding on a motorcycle, with someone I couldn't recognize. But you want to know the best part?" He asked with a grin, glancing around and dropping his voice considerably to a whisper before continuing withiut an answer from his sister.

"We were flying! On the motorcycle!"

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Nichole smiled brightly as she listened to her brother's dream, making sure to keep one ear on the door in case one of the Dersley's were eavesdropping on there conversation, If they ever heard her brother talking about magic, they would beat them both black and blue until they passed out, all the while telling them that there was no such thing as magic. "We were flying, were we? On a motorcycle?" she asked with a giggle, then shaking her head. "But that's impossible Harry, Motorcycles don't fly" she added playfully.

Honestly she was glad that Harry was still dreaming of magical things, since everyone needed a little magic in their life, especially them. They were both forced to grow up too fast, they were still children even now, and if Harry could still dream of Magic even though he was beaten for even saying the word, that showed how strong he really was.

"What else happened in your dream?" She asked curiously, wanting to know all the detail because she was already liking what she heard.

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"You say it so much nicer than uncle Vernon." Harry chuckled softly, covering his mouth with a very baggy sleeve to muffle his laughing. If the Dursley's knew that him and Nichole were enjoyimg themselves, they'd put a stop to it.

"It was a lot of flying really. We landed towards the end, and too more people came." He said, grinning again. "This old man with the longest white beard ever, and this woman with square glasses and her hair up in a bun." He informed before his grin faded and a very concentraited look overtook his face.

"Come to think of it... I don't think it was a proper dream at all. Like those dreams you sometimes get, about mum and dad... I think it might be a memory." He said, honestly believing his own words despite how absolutely crazy they were.

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Nichole gave Harry and incredulous look, her brother actually seemed to believe that his dream held some truth to it, and sure, she did have the occasional dream about being held in the loving arms of her mother, but that definitely wasn't the same as a flying motorcycle. "You really think that was a memory? But you know as well as I do that magic doesn't exist, and flying motorcycles sound pretty magical to me" she pointed out with a smile, wanting desperately to believe he was right, but not wanting to get her hopes up for something she would just get beaten for later.

She suddenly jumped as she heard the pounding footsteps of someone walking past their little closet door, wiping the small smile completely off her face as she waited for someone to open the door and demand that her and Harry do something, but let out a relieved breath when the footsteps continued up the stairs into Dudley's room. It was probably just him going and getting ready for the zoo, which meant that their quiet time was soon going to be interrupted.

Turning back to her brother, she looked up at her him with pleading eyes. "What else happened in your dre- erm memory?" she asked in a hushed voice, wanting to hear all she could about this magical place her brother had seen before they were subjected to the Dursley's demands once again.

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"I know, but it just seemed so real." Harry sighed, shaking his head lightly. He wanted so desperately to believe in magic, after all living with his family he needed it, but he knew as well as Nichole that any mention of magic would get them both beaten within the second. He couldn't understand why his aunt and uncle hated magic so much, just as he couldn't understand why they would never tell the young twins of their deceased parents.

As he heard the heavy footsteps coming their way, Harry tensed and clutched his sister tighter in a protective reflex, though as his cousin merely passed overhead, he relaxed, happy that it had not been someone coming to yell at them for the sake of them getting yelled at... again, though he knew their peace would soon be gone.

Harry's brow furrowed as he tried to remember the last few moments of the precious memory-dream, though there wasn't much. "The three people were talking to each other, I can't remember what they were saying, but I remember them saying out parents' names... then I was staring up at the stars, and I woke up." He informed slowly, looking over at his sister as though she could gain any more meaning from it than he had.

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Nichole pondered over what she had just heard from her brother, her brown eyes narrowing in concentration. Maybe what her brother dreamed had been a memory, but also a dream. He could have been dreaming about the night their parents died, but his imagination just added in the flying motorcycle part. "Hmmm, that could very well have been a memory of after our parents died" she said softly, "But maybe your imagination wanted a bit of fun so it added in the motorcycle?" she offered as an explanation, trying to think of this logically.

Despite having been raised and neglected by the Dursley's, she was actually a pretty smart girl. She had learned to read from a early age by sneaking some of her aunts cook books into their room, and she was very good at writing, which she usually practiced by writing with the dust that always covered the floor of their room. She wished that her and Harry had been allowed to go to school, but she had managed to teach her brother what she had learned herself.

Hearing footsteps once again approach their tiny room, she flinched when they stopped in front of their door. Immediately pulling out of the safety of her brother's arms, she scooted to the opposite side of the small cot. It would do them no good if one of the Dursley's found them comforting each other, and would most likely result in punishment. The door flung open to reveal the pinched up face of Aunt Petunia, who glared hatefully at both of them. "It's time to go to the zoo you ungrateful brats" she spat out before slamming the door shut and stomping away.

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"At least I have an imagination, you're far too logical." Harry teased, though he was secretly grateful for his sister's view on things. Without her logical thinking bringing him back to reality, he'd get into much, much more trouble by the Dursley's. Besides, her intelligence was probably the only reason he had ever learned how to read and write, not that his aunt and uncle could ever find that out.

Harry winced as his Aunt Petunia came in and yelled at them. He was used to it, yes, but he was partially blind, not deaf. When her footsteps had safely faded he let out a cough he had been holding in from the stirred up dust and shrugged to his sister. "Come on, let's embrace this taste of freedom before they change their minds and cuff us to the bed." He sighed as he gave his sister one last hug and stood.

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Nichole hugged her brother back tightly before standing up and cautiously sticking her head out of the room, her eyes flicking around warily for any signs of her distraught cousin lurking about. When she didn't spot him, she quickly grabbed her shoes from in their room and softly padded to the front door before slipping outside to wait for the rest of the family, putting on her shoes as it was now safe to do so. The Dursley's never allowed them to put their shoes where they did, instead ordering to take them off and on outside of the house and carry them back inside.

Looking around, she went to sit on a the pathed driveway, knowing that if she sat on the grass she would be scolded for ruining their perfect yard with her filth. Looking up at her brother, she gently patted a spot next to her with a small smile, knowing that it would probably take Dudley at least twenty minutes to get ready, so they had time to just relax and enjoy the sunshine for a bit.

Looking across the road, she brightened when she saw the shape of Ms. Figg's standing in her window waving at them, and she happily waved back. Mis. Figg's was actually the only neighbor that didn't believe the preposterous story about her and Harry being child delinquents that the Dursley;s made up to explain why the Potter twins were living with them, even if she was a little crazy.

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Harry smiled and waved to Ms. Figg as he noticed her, half wishing that the Dursley's would had left them with her. He knew they wouldn't, in their eye's the mistreated and malnourished twins would enjoy it too much.

Sitting beside Nichole, he couldn't completely relax as he was too busy listening for Dudley to come running - if that was really the word to define the mid paced waddling their cousin did - out of the house and attack him unprovoked.

"It's nice to be out in the sun without having to tend those flowerbeds out back." Harry sighed softly, enjoying the sun on his face and the soft breeze the gently pushed his hair back. He hated working outside in the heat of the day like he was sometimes forced to, even more than he hated being Dudley's personal punching bag.

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