Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.

 

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with

lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and

snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and

Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons.

Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its

body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can -- but at

the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

 

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening

brown coils.

 

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but

the snake didn't budge.

 

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his

knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

 

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.

 

Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't

have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself -- no company except stupid

people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It

was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt