Avacyn Lily Potter

The Zoo

(Avacyn's POV)

10 and 1/2 years later

I woke up to Aunt Petunia screaming "Up! Get up! Now!" and banging on our door, Harry shook me as Petunia screamed "Up!" she walked toward the kitchen he said, "I had a dream that had a flying motorcycle in it." I said "Uh, if it flew it better be flying us to a better house." she was back at our door and said "Are you up yet?" he said "Nearly," she said "Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." We groaned and she snapped What did you say?" I said "Nothing, nothing..." she walked away and I sighed. Harry tossed me a pair of socks to put on as he found his, once we were dressed we walked down to the kitchen the table was covered in gifts for the birthday boy. 

Harry flipped a piece of bacon as uncle Vernon came in and barked out "Comb your hair!" I was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel... Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. He was a spoiled brat, and he hates Harry and me. As Harry put plates on the table Dudley, who was counting his presents when suddenly his face fell and he was pissed. He said, "Thirty-six, That's two less than last year." She said "Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy." his face went red as he said "All right, thirty-seven then," Harry and I could see a tantrum coming so he quickly put his arm across my body and pushed me back in case he flipped the table again. Petunia noticed too as she quickly said "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, Popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" he slowly said "So I'll have thirty... thirty..." "Thirty-nine, sweetums," she supplied for him. He said "Oh. All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" the phone rang so Petunia went to answer it, and when she came back and said "Bad news, Vernon, Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head in our direction. Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but my heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, we were left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. We hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made us look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. Petunia said "Now what?" she looked furiously at us as though we'd planned this. Uncle Vernon said "We could phone Marge," she said "Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the twins." he said "What about what's-her-name, your friend... Yvonne?" she snapped "On vacation in Majorca," Harry said "You could just leave us here," she said, "And come back and find the house in ruins!" I said "We won't blow up the house," they ignored me as she slowly said, "I suppose we could take them to the zoo, and leave them in the car..." Vernon said, "That car's new, they're not sitting in it alone..." Dudley began to fake cry and his mom said "Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mommy won't let the twins spoil your special day!" she wrapped her arms around him. Dudley said "I... don't... want... them... t-t-to come! They always sp-spoil everything!" the doorbell rang and she said, "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" Piers Polkiss walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

Half an hour later, I was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Harry, Piers, and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in my life. Vernon and Petunia hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with us, but before we'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken us aside and said "I'm warning you, I'm warning you now, boy... any funny business, anything at all... and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." Harry said, "I'm not going to do anything, honestly..." It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. They bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry and me what we wanted before they could hurry us away, they bought us each a cheap lemon ice pop. We had the best morning we'd had in a long time. We were careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting us. We ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one, and Harry and I were allowed to finish the first.

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. He whined to his father "Make it move," Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. Dudley demanded "Do it again," Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass but the snake just snoozed on. Dudley moaned "This is boring," before walking away. Harry and I moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with us. It winked. I said "Uh Harry?" he said, "Yeah, I saw it, Ava." 

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave us a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time." Harry quietly said "I know, It must be really annoying." the snake nodded and I said, "Where do you come from, anyway?" The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Boa Constrictor, Brazil. Harry said "Was it nice there?" he jabbed his tail again and I read This specimen was bred in the zoo. I said, "Oh, I see... so you've never been to Brazil?" As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made all three of us jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Dudley came waddling toward us as fast as he could, he said "Out of the way, you," and punched me n the ribs. I fell backward and Harry caught me as we both fell to the concrete. 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 leaped back with howls of horror. 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 us, I could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanks, amigos." The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass, where did the glass go?" As far as I had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time we were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for us at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "The twins were talking to it, weren't you, Harry, Avacyn?" Once we got home Uncle Vernon said "Go... cupboard... stay... no meals," Harry grabbed my hand and dragged us to our cupboard and we lay on the bed we shared.