Rohini Potter was a troublesome kid. Smart? Yes. A good student? Pretty much, math aside. Always looking for trouble? Undoubtedly so. There wasn't a single week since they found Harry and her on their front step that the Dursleys spent without a call from school.

The truth was, she did it partly because she enjoyed taking some risks (the number of time she broke a bone was astonishing), but mostly because as long as the Dursleys' attention was on her, they will forget about Harry. Harry who lived in a cupboard under the stairs. Harry, who would sometimes spend days without a proper meal, Rohini having to discreetly bring him pieces of bread and cheese when Uncle Vernon wasn't looking.

It's not that Rohini was treated well herself; just like her brother, she had to do all the housework for the Dursleys and never had the chance to celebrate their birthday properly. But at least she had a real bedroom and Dudley never hit her, though it was probably because the only time he had tried, she had bite him so hard he had kept the mark for a month.

Another detail was that unlike Harry, there was a single picture of her at age 5 on the mantelpiece, surrounded by a hundred portraits of her cousin. When they were guests for dinner however, the picture was put back into one of the kitchen drawer and the twins will have to pretend they didn't exist, hiding in their respective bedroom.

Xxx

It was Harry who woke her up that morning, knocking three times before entering her bedroom as she didn't answer. Rohini was many things, but a morning person wasn't one of them. Harry opened her curtains to let the sun light inside, but she only groaned and hid her head under her pillow. She heard him chuckle before he gently shook her shoulder.

"Wake up, it's already nine!" He said, and Rohini mumbled something into her mattress. "What?"

"I said, it's your turn to cook breakfast." She repeated, throwing her pillow at her brother before sitting. Since they were old enough to hold a pan and cook bacons, the twins took turn to make the Dursleys' breakfast.

"It's Dudley's birthday, we're going to the zoo." Harry explained and Rohini quickly glance at the calendar above her bed before letting out a long sigh. Dudley's birthday – how could she have forgotten? Already, she could hear him shouting at them to hurry up and before she could get out of bed, Aunt Petunia was standing at her doorstep like a vulture with her chin high and her lips pinched.

"You are still in bed? Get up and get dressed! And you-"she said towards Harry, "Get out and do something about your hair!"

"Yes Aunt Petunia." The two Potters answered in unison with an evident lack of enthusiasm. As her aunt slapped the door shut behind her and Harry, Rohini slipped out of her bed and looked around to see if she had any clothes she could wear again before throwing them into the dirty laundry pile.

If Harry was forced to wear Dudley's old clothes which made him look even skinnier and smaller that he was, Rohini found herself wearing ugly cardigans and bland skirts that belonged to Aunt Petunia. She only possessed one pair of blue jeans that should have ended up in a bin a long time ago and that she choose to wear that day

When she was done she went down into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents and she bitterly thought that he got more gifts in one day that Harry and her combined in almost ten years.

"Dudley got a racing bike." Harry told her, pointing at the gift next to the couch. Rohini snorted.

"Why? The poor thing will break as soon as he sits on it." She pointed out, mimicking Dudley falling on his butt and making Harry smile discreetly. If it wasn't for their clothes and the funny looking scar on Harry's forehead, there truly was no way to tell who was who since Rohini cut her hair a week ago. When she had seen the result, Aunt Petunia had shriek like a Harpy and locked her in her room for the rest of the day. Otherwise, she was just as skinny as Harry with a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes but an inch taller than him. It was just an inch, but still.

"Why are we going to the zoo, too?" Rohini asked and her Uncle threw her a nasty glance; one of the first things they had been taught was: never ask questions if you want to stay out of trouble. It's Aunt Petunia who answered her with a disapproval look at Rohini's pants.

"Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take you." Mrs. Figg was a crazy old cat lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it here but Rohini somehow found her quite nice, though the smell of cabbage and the fact they had to look at her cats' pictures the whole day wasn't so cool. At least, she made them cookies and let them watch TV.

Judging by Dudley's face, he must have fake tears to make sure the two siblings will not come but to Rohini's surprise, it hadn't work this time. It felt like a victory of some kind. Spending a whole day with the Dursleys was quite awful, but at least they were going to the zoo for the first time in their life.

Xxx

Half an hour later they were sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Dudley taking half the space. Before they had gotten into the car, Uncle Vernon had grabbed them by the arms and pulled them aside, pointing one of his fat fingers at them.

"I'm warning you two," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now,—any funny business, anything at all—and you'll not have a single meal for a week. And you," he turned to Rohini, "will do Dudley's homework until Christmas."

"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…". Rohini just shrugged, staring at a magpie on the roof for she knew Uncle Vernon wouldn't believe them anyway.

The problem was, strange things often happened around them; Once, Aunt Petunia had took the scissors and cut Harry's hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.

Another time, Dudley had been chasing after Harry and Rohini was too far away to stop him but as she shouted "Stop!" Dudley had tripped and rolled like a balloon across the field even though the ground was perfectly flat.

The most surprising case must have been when Dudley's gang where chasing them and the twins had somehow ended up on the school's roof. Rohini was always prompt to climb trees, yes, but even she had no idea how they had ended up so high especially since Harry himself wasn't a climber. The headmistress, furious, had expulsed them for the rest of the week but it was nothing next to their uncle's wrath that day.

Xxx

It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. Rohini took Harry's hand and squeezed it hard; she often felt pretty uncomfortable and nervous when surrounded by people. The Dursleys bought Dudley a large chocolate ice cream at the entrance and Harry was able to get a lemon ice cream thanks to the lady in the van who had spotted him before the Dursleys could hide him. Rohini only asked for a strawberry chewing-gum for she knew how Aunt Petunia hated seeing "ladies eating like cows".

Harry seemed to be having the time of his life, a bright smile on his face as a little monkey stared at him with his huge eyes. They were careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys who were happy to pretend they weren't here together. Rohini was less enthusiastic; she made a few jokes about how the gorillas looked like Dudley, but was quiet otherwise, trying to avoid bumping into visitors.

That's when they reached the reptile house; it was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. There were tropical sounds coming from the loudspeakers and fake vines climbing towards the ceiling. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Rohini felt calmer there and finally dropped Harry's hand to rest her forehead against the glass separating the crowd from a huge snake asleep on a stone. Dudley pushed her with his elbow to stare at the animal with a stupid grin on his face.

"Make it move," he ordered at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley said. His dad rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

"Can't you just leave him alone, you crétin?" Rohini snapped, using a French word she had learnt in class for she knew neither Dudley nor his parents spoke French.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned before leaving.

Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. "He must be dying of boredom." He said in a low voice and Rohini nodded. "Can you imagine having people disturbing you all day long like that?"

"I guess it feels the same as when Uncle Vernon knocks at our door until we wake up." Rohini suggested. "Thought at least we can escape the house to go to school and visit Miss Figg."

"Hardly better." Harry said and they were getting ready to move to another tank when something odd happened; the snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head… and winked at them.

"Holy-!" Rohini said, taking a step backward, eyes opened wide. "Have you seen that?"

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, and then raised its eyes to the ceiling. The twins exchanged a shocked glance before kneeling in front of the tank to be at the same eye level as the reptile.

"Can you hear us?" Harry asked and to their surprised, the snake nodded.

"Wow, Harry! He can understand us!" Rohini said, before asking "Do you have a name? Where are you from?"

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass that read 'Boa Constrictor, Brazil. This specimen was bred in the zoo'.

"Oh, you don't even have a name…" Rohini said before the moment was wasted by Dudley.

"MUM, DAD, LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Their cousin shouted before pushing the twins away. Colliding together, the Potters clenched their teeth and threw him a nasty glance.

That's when the accident happened: one second Dudley was slapping the glass with his hands, the next he was screaming inside the tank after falling into the water. The glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had simply vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. As for the twins, they just stared with their mouths opened in a silent "Oh!".

As the snake slid off the tank, he stopped and seemed to smile at the two siblings as he hissed a "Thanksssss…" to which Harry answered "You're welcome." And left. A sudden screech announced that Aunt Petunia was near and soon every Dursleys were screaming in terror for Dudley was stuck inside the tank as the glass had magically returned right after the snake's escape.

Rohini couldn't hold back a sudden burst of laugher, and Harry himself smiled before a nasty glance from their Uncle sobered them up.

"You- Wait for us to be back!" He threatened before his attention went to the security members trying to calm them as one of the team members get inside the tank to pick up a shocked and soaked Dudley. The Zoo owners were absolutely devastated to learn about what had happened and offered Aunt Petunia a cup of tea and a glass of whisky for Uncle Vernon As well as a free entrance ticket to use another time.

Xxx

Back to the house, Uncle Vernon was as red as a beet and so angry he could hardly speak as he threw Harry inside the cupboard and locked the door before grabbing Rohini by the arm and pushing her into the stairs. "You will not leave this room until I've decided so!" He shouted before locking her up inside her bedroom. Rohini tried to force the handle, in vain. Furious, she kicked the door and hissed at the pain that ran through her toes before throwing herself on her bed and shouting into her pillow.

Curse the Dursleys! She'd lived with them for almost ten years now, ten miserable years ever since Lily and James Potter had died in a car accident that had somehow left Harry with his scar but didn't left a single one on Rohini. The only thing she could recall in relation to the crash was an odd green flash of light and the screams of her mother. The nightmares woke her up sometimes, shaking and covered in sweat.

It was obvious that Aunt Petunia hated her deceased sister for there was not a single picture of Lily in the house, the same way there wasn't a single picture of Harry in the living room. Asking questions about their parents was forbidden too and Rohini remembered a particularly violent dispute with her Aunt about it one day. In the end, the only person she could really consider a family member was Harry.

They had no friends at school either; once a girl named Marie had tried to befriend them, but Dudley and his gang had harassed her until she couldn't see the twins without bursting in tears. Worse, it seemed that the more years passed, the more people joined their cousin into his bullying sessions.

Yes, the Potters truly were alone against the rest of the world.

Xxx

Rohini wasn't allowed to leave her bedroom for the next four hours until she threatened Aunt Petunia to pee in her pants if she didn't open the door. It was a disgusting tactic, yes, but efficient. Dinner was quiet that evening, Dudley still too shocked to speak and his parents too furious to do anything but threw nasty glances at Rohini. Once again, Harry wasn't allowed to share their meal and Rohini discreetly unlocked her brother's door before going to bed so he would be able to sneak out into the kitchen at night.

She couldn't sleep that night, the whole afternoon playing in her head again and again. How did the glass vanish for a few seconds? It was simply impossible. But then again, it was probably impossible for two babies to survive a car crash without a single scratch (well, almost in Harry's case) and yet here they were. Finally she fell asleep, but not for long; for the second time of the week, Rohini woke up in sweat and crying as she remembered a flash of green light and her mother's screams.

Picking up a walkie-talkie she hid under her bed, Rohini called her brother's name. Harry must be deep asleep for he didn't answer. Rohini put the radio back and looked at the numbers on her alarm: it was now 02:02 am.

"Make a wish…" She mumbled to herself before closing her eyes. She wished for Harry and her to be far, far away from Privet Drive and also for them to get the best presents for their tenth birthday. Of course, both wishes were impossible but again, impossible things seemed to be the Potters' lot.

As she fell asleep once more, Rohini thought she heard the distant hoot of an owl.