FicWad

Harry took in a slow, steady breath and gazed out his window to see the sun peeking in the sky. His eyelids closed for a moment before opening to an entirely different scenery. The vast sea greeted him as he stood on its remote sandy shores, far from watching eyes. Barely a second later and his surroundings changed again to a ledge on a mountain top.

'Brilliant,' he thought to himself as he once again returned to his room.

Apparition had never been easier. There was no loud crack nor the sensation of being sucked through a tube, and any disorientation that was associated with this method of transportation was gone. As long as he had a clear destination in mind, his body seemed to just fade away without any feeling of displacement at all. It was strange, but he certainly had no complaints; it was just so easy.

Now, if only the same could be said about transfiguration. Despite his efforts, the ability to do any transfiguration was definitely gone. No matter how hard he tried, nothing would work. Harry was not happy about that, but he would live with it.

Glancing at the clock, he noticed there was still a few hours left until his family awoke. His eyes lighted with anticipation as he remembered their plan for the day.

Today was his filth birthday.

o-O-o

Bruce smiled in amusement as he watched his brother squirmed in the seat of the car. He could tell Adrian was barely holding back his excitement as they drove on their way to the zoo to celebrate the little boy's birthday.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the new lion exhibit," their father said as they waited at a red light.

His interest perked up. "Were they caught from the wild? Mrs. Jenkins says that all lions come from the safari."

"Actually, they're transferred here from a Russian zoo," mother revealed. "A male and two females, I believe."

If possible, Adrian became a little more excited at that. He tried not to rolls his eyes at the simplest things that could entertain his brother. Sometimes Adrian could be very mature for his age while at other times he was just like any kid; Bruce was quite used to it by now.

Once at the zoo, it became apparent that they were not the only ones there who wanted to see the new animals. The whole place was packed to its capacity that there was hardly any elbow room to move around. Each of the elder Waynes held on to their children as they pushed their way through.

Bruce didn't know how they did it, but their family managed to insert themselves right into the thick of it. Everywhere he looked, there were other children with their own families crowding around different cages and taking plenty of pictures.

"Can we get closer to the giraffes? Or maybe the camels?" Adrian asked quickly as they passed the flamingo enclosure.

"I don't think they'll allow us to get any closer than this," their mother explained, frowning behind a large group that refused to move.

"How about we go over there?" father pointed at a building with a painted lizard above its entrance. In mutual agreement, they swiftly tried to navigate to their new destination.

The reptile exhibit was just as busy, but people were moving in and out quickly so he didn't mind as much. Bruce soon released his mother's hand as he tried to look further in.

"Thomas!"

His parents looked over as a man he recognised to be his father's colleague came over.

"Ben, I didn't think you would come today," father called out.

As his parents talked with the man, he noticed that Adrian was no longer with them. Bruce quickly looked over the mingling crowd and spotted his brother standing before a glass enclosure. Adrian seemed to be gazing thoughtfully at an animal, not noticing anything else around him.

He left the adults to their discussion, trying to walk towards his brother. As Bruce got closer, he was able to see that it was a very long, green snake behind the glass. Glancing at the sign, the description revealed it to be a python over 14 feet in length that was captured from the wild. He looked back at his brother and wondered what was so interesting about the serpent that captivated Adrian so.

He soon settled himself beside the smaller boy. "You look so serious staring at that snake."

Adrian blinked up in surprise before blushing, having been caught drifting off into his own little world again. "Well, it's because - you know, it's so big and... yeah," his brother finished lamely, cringing slightly at the explanation.

Bruce nodded empathetically, trying to reassure him. "Yeah, big things are always cooler."

They both looked at one another for a second before chuckling softly at their own silliness.

"Okay, I'm done staring now," Adrian said with a smile. "Let's go see if we can get dad to help us feed the goats next."

"If we're lucky, maybe we can convince mom to let us feed the wolves also," he added cheerfully, though not really serious about the suggestion.

Adrian gave him a look. "I don't think she'll allow that, especially not after your attempts at feeding the foxes near the manor."

A sigh escaped him. "I know, but I can still hope."

Before Bruce could say any more, screams erupted around them. It startled him, and he watched as Adrian's body went rigid at once.

"The animals! They escaped from their cages!" a man was shouting. "All the animals are free!"

He immediately grabbed hold of Adrian as people ran to get out of the building. His eyes roamed in search of their parents, but they were impossible to find as everyone rushed forward.

"Hold on, Adrian!" he yelled, gripping his brother's hand as bodies pushed against them.

The wave of people forced them to move along, and they had no choice but to follow and try not to get trampled over. Out of no where, someone shoved roughly against him, causing him to trip. Bruce quickly recovered only to realised that he had released his brother's hand. He stood his ground despite the still moving crowd, trying to see where Adrian was.

"Adrian!" he cried out, but it was no use. "Adrian!"

Bruce ran through the crowd, trying to search for the familiar shape of his brother. Horror soon settled in his stomach as time passed, and he couldn't find him anywhere. Adrian was no longer there - he was gone.

He shouldn't have let go! If only Bruce had held on tighter, then they wouldn't have been separated. He had to find him - find his little brother before something bad happened. Bruce quickly dashed back to where they were together last, praying that Adrian would be all right.

o-O-o

A crowd of panicking and hysterical muggles was definitely not in his plan for a fun day at the zoo. Neither was being shoved and corralled like a cattle in a mass of moving bodies. Least of all because of a mishap with the cages that left all the animals running amok. Nope, not what he had expected at all.

After a few minutes of this horrendous treatment, Harry decided to apparate away since the people surrounding him were too preoccupied to notice if he disappeared out of thin air - that and he couldn't stand another moment of being pushed around like a quaffle. A second later, he instantly appeared behind a leafy shrub that was near the reptile exhibit, hoping to catch sight of his family on where he last saw them.

It was completely silent and void of people as he stepped out to get a better look. He walked further away, trying to sense the auras of his family. Feeling no one around that he recognised, Harry was about to cast a locating spell until a noise stopped him. It came from his far left.

What met his eyes was the large form of a gorilla... a male gorilla with long, strong limbs that could easily crush small children like him. He knew some animals had escaped from their cages, but that information didn't really register until now. Knowing something and actually witnessing it was completely different, which was why the gorilla's appearance shocked him so.

He stilled his movements as the primate slowly approached him. Harry was about to apparate away until he noticed the security cameras on the nearest building and a few more on top of the lamp posts. And just his luck, the cameras had a view of the whole area where he and the gorilla was having this lovely meeting.

Having no other choice but to disable the device, he swiftly used a severing charm to cut the wires that were attached to the camera's side. The red light on the camera flickered off, indicating it was no longer working. Harry was about to cut the next one until the light glowed red again on the first camera. Brows bent in confusion, he repeated this with two other cameras, but it ended in the same way: the red lights turned back on and were still recording.

'What kind of muggle technology is this?' he thought irritably, squinting his eyes to read the tiny label on the camera.

Wayne Enterprise.

He blinked dumbly at that. Well, bugger him - Harry should really start paying attention to what his family's company was actually doing. Short of blasting the device to pieces, he didn't have any other way to disable the cameras without drawing suspicion. Now that he thought it over, it would be too much of a coincidence if all the security cameras malfunctioned with him being the last thing recorded.

Directing his attention back to the gorilla, he was relieved to see it stopped at a safe enough distance away. Strangely, the primate was sitting on the ground, head tilting to one side as it regarded him with clear eyes. It didn't seem aggressive or dangerous at the moment. Perhaps apparition wasn't necessary at all.

He took a few steps back, and the primate continued to gaze at him intently, as if it was the first time it had seen a human... how odd. Feeling no hostility from its aura and very intrigued himself, Harry decided to try something he'd been meaning to do for a while now: legilimency on an animal.

In hindsight, it would have been more prudent to just walk away and find his family already since they were no doubt searching for him. However, a part of him was really curious to see what would happen... yeah, a little peek wouldn't hurt anyone.

With that decided, Harry cautiously looked into the gorilla's eyes. 'Legilimens.'

If the difference between a human's and an animal's mind wasn't apparent before, it was now. There were no coherent words or any order to the thoughts at all - mostly just images and emotions. He felt the gorilla's wonder and inquisitiveness in being able to explore outside. He then saw memories of a lush jungle before it dissolved into images of people. Faces were fading in and out until one stuck to the forefront: his.

He sensed the gorilla's interest in his presence and its confusion on why he smelled different than other humans. That revelation gave him pause. Was it true? Was his scent not normal then? Other questions soon arose as he pondered this information, wondering if his magic had anything to do with it.

Having explored enough, he was about to pull out from the mind and finally leave to find his family. That was the plan until another emotion surfaced, showing the gorilla's desire to follow him once he actually left. Well, that would be highly inconvenient.

Since that was the last thing Harry wanted, he tried to send over images of the gorilla remaining where it was or returning to its enclosure instead of following him. He wasn't certain if this would work or not because he had only ever tried this with other people. This method of communication was very tricky when he first attempted it from an obscure tome on mind magic. It mentioned that with enough practice, a wizard could be able to mentally speak to another person, but Harry had yet to manage that.

The large primate shook its head, as if to dislodge something. It then stared at him with knowing eyes, as if he just revealed something it knew from the start. They continued to gaze at one another until the gorilla got up and turned away. Watching the gorilla's form disappear behind a building, he was surprised that it actually worked.

Harry grinned in satisfaction. That wasn't bad at all.