CHAPTER TWO
“I know,” Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn’t
sure the snake could hear him. “It must be really annoying.”
The snake nodded vigorously.
“Where do you come from, anyway?” Harry asked.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry
peered at it.
Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
“Was it nice there?”
The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry
read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. “Oh, I see — so you’ve
never been to Brazil?”
As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry
made both of them jump. “DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME
AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON’T BELIEVE
WHAT IT’S DOING!”
Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.
“Out of the way, you,” he said, punching Harry in the ribs.
Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What
came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one
second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass,
the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor’s
tank had 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 the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low,
hissing voice said, “Brazil, here I come. . . . Thanksss, amigo.”
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
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