The year was now 1991, and the Dursley family seemed to get bigger, even if the house didn't. With the arrivals of Michael in 1986 and Jasmin in 1988, Vernon and Petunia wondered if they should keep Nicholas with them.
If anything, they had no right to keep Nicholas, as he was older than he initially claimed to be. There was also the matter of him not being able to go to school and the other children shamelessly making fun of him. The other adults shunned him and refused to hire him to work a job. So, there was no reason for Nicholas to stay with the Dursleys.
But we'll leave that story for later.
It was Dudley's 11th birthday; he had begged his parents to take him to the London Zoo for months. Vernon and Petunia couldn't say no to the fat boy, so they decided to gather the whole family and go. Harry, Jonathan, Adrian, Agnes, and Nick were also going.
Before they left, Vernon had thought about taking the Evans and Mobley children. While Ginger and Twila were treated well, Robbie, Louise, Felix, and David weren't. Vernon decided to invite them on the trip, if only to get them out of the house and away from their mother.
"Absolutely not!" Lee had snapped when the request was made. He was sitting in the couch watching TV while the children were at the kitchen table, reading. (Louise once again refused to sit with the girls; she was standing in a corner of the room writing lines as punishment for defying Mary.)
"And why not?" Petunia inquired.
"Well," said Lee, "the kids have a lot of chores to do today…"
"Now, Carlyle," Petunia started, "you know the kids shouldn't have to do chores and be little servants to the Mobley twins..."
"But they're all a bunch of worthless freaks!" Lee complained.
"Because your wife treats them as if they're worthless freaks," said Petunia. "I can't think of the last time when Harry was allowed to see his cousins..."
"Which was when he blew up the plate of cookies last year and Mary told him not to come back," said Lee. "Did you know that?"
"So, the old harpy finally cracked and banned Harry from your house without informing me about the incident?" said Petunia angrily. "We'll see about this!"
"What are you going to do?" Lee cried out.
"You're letting the kids go to the zoo and spending the night with us," said Petunia. "And I believe you should pack their things and leave this place immediately."
"You're telling me that I should take the children and leave my wife?" Lee cried out. Petunia nodded. "Are you insane?"
"Well, insane is allowing you to live in an unsafe environment with a nagging and controlling woman and not being able to leave the house or get a job," said Vernon. "Petunia and I knew that Mary was trouble when you introduced her to us in 1981, but now we know what she's really like. She's a gold-digging bitch who only married you for your inheritance..."
"Which you're withholding from me," Lee snapped.
"But you have to leave her and save yourself from her," said Petunia. "If you can't save yourself, then you can't do anything for the children."
"But I know it's wrong to leave a marriage when things are going wrong," Lee protested. "Besides, Mary's pregnant again, as it were, and I can't leave her, not even to keep myself or the children safe. She needs me..."
"But she doesn't love you or the children," said Petunia. "I've told you this for many years, Carlyle; Mary Lewis is a cruel woman who kept you prisoner in your own house and refused to let you leave the house, not even to get a job!"
"So, we're back to that again?" said Lee. "What is it that you want?"
"I want you to for once in your pathetic wasted life, listen to me," said Petunia angrily. "You used to be the strong one, not taking any crap from anyone. Now, you're nothing but a useless pathetic yes-man. It's like I've lost my brother along with the rest of my family."
No one responded for a long time; even Louise looked up from her lines and stared at her aunt. Vernon whispered a few words into Petunia's ear and she nodded.
Finally, Lee cracked. "You're right, Petunia," he said. "I should have known that you were right all along. But I know it's too late to save me, especially when she's having another baby and I need to take care of her."
"Don't worry about the other children," said Petunia. "Vernon and I are taking everyone to the beach for Harry's birthday and that's when you can plan their escape. We can't let her win, especially since the children are becoming as socially isolated as she is."
"Indeed," said Lee. He reached out and blew a whistle; the whistle was used to get the children's attention whenever something important was happening. Now, something important was indeed happening.
Lee said, "Children, pack your things; you're staying with your aunt and uncle for a while."
"Really, dad?" Robbie cried out. "You mean, we have to stay with Harry Potter, who mom thinks is a freak?"
"Yes, you have to stay with Harry, even if your mother thinks Harry is a freak," said Petunia. "I don't know what your mother is telling you, but Harry is the only cousin you have who is magic, and you must respect him."
"Yeah right," Twila snapped as Ginger shook her head.
"I'll respect him when pigs fly," Louise snapped.
"And when Harry decides to stop playing with magic," said Robbie. Petunia glared at him. "I'm serious, Aunt Petunia," he said. "Magic is bad and people who play with magic are bad. Mom says that if you play with magic, the evil spirits will come and drag you to a dark and terrible place, where demons will laugh at you and you'll be whipped by balrogs for the next 10,000 years."
"Well, I think your mother is messed up if she makes a claim like that," said Vernon.
"But, we're special," Louise began, but Lee said to her, "You're going to the zoo, and not another word of complaining, Marie Louise. Now get your things."
Vernon went into the house and gathered the children as Lee said, "You do realize that Mary will kill you if she finds out that the children aren't in the house."
"I'll deal with Mary," said Petunia. "You just have to deal with getting out of that house. You never should have came here and I never should have pushed you into coming here in the first place. We'll see you once we're back from the zoo."
Lee nodded, but there would be no promises made, not as far as Mary was concerned.495Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12PbJPCBoc
Within a few hours, the large family was enjoying their visit at the zoo. Especially excited were the Evans children, as they had never seen the world outside their house, nor had Robbie or Louise saw the inside of a classroom or a school. Harry acted like a tour guide, showing the Evans siblings around the place like it was Hollywood. That irked Agnes to no end.495Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bPX3yLWx2
Now the kids were at the snake exhibit. Agnes was afraid of snakes as a small child (because she had seen a snake eating a rat in her mother's garden), but when Nicholas insisted on joining the other boys, she grew mad and stormed in. There, she saw Harry, Robbie, Jonathan, and Dudley, along with Nicholas, staring at a huge snake. Suddenly, the snake seemed to move. It crawled out of its glass encasement and slithered across the room.
Agnes screamed and fled from the exhibit, with Nicholas following her. Vernon heard her and ran into the exhibit, shocked to see scores of people fleeing from the place. There were also four boys standing near an empty snake encasement, laughing at poor Agnes' predicament and refusing to help her. Vernon turned to them and said, "All right, boys, what happened here?"
"Nothing really, except for the snake asked me to help it escape," Harry said innocently as he stared at his uncle in fear.
At this, Jonathan and Dudley laughed, with Dudley saying, "I always knew you were weird, Harry, but this is way too silly. Snakes don't talk."
"You're right, Dudley. Snakes don't talk," said Harry. "But for some reason I don't understand, that snake decided to talk to me."
Robbie glared at Harry, saying, "You're about to go down the same dark road of evil your parents went on if you don't cut that magic out. Mom will have your head for that."
Vernon frowned, then snatched the children and left the place. "Vernon, what's going on?" Petunia asked as soon as she had seen them.
"It's your brother, that's what" Vernon snapped, "and we're going to deal with him."
"I thought we already dealt with him," said Petunia. "Why are we dealing with him again?"
"It's not Lee, per se, but it's his wife that takes the blame for everything Harry has done," said Vernon. "She's the reason Harry's magic is starting to manifest early."
"You mean, when Harry made the cookies explode and blew up the movie screen and did those other things, it was because of our mother?" Louise cried out in fear.
"Yes," said Vernon. "I always knew your mother was a witch, but had I known that she'd get to Harry using her evil magic, I would have gotten him away from her earlier."
"And she would have fought you tooth and nail to take Harry away from us," said Petunia.
"So Aunt Mary's the reason why...I'm magic?" said Harry.
"Harry's magic?" Dudley cried out.
"Yes," said Petunia, "and we're going to deal with your aunt. Now, come along, children."
When they got home later that day, Vernon pounded on the door. "Evans!" he shouted as he continued to pound on the door. When Lee got to the door, Petunia yelled, "You've corrupted our nephew!"
"Who, Robbie?" Lee quipped.
"No, Harry!" said Vernon.
"What's going on here?" Lee cried out.
"It's already bad enough your wife practically enslaved your own children and spoiled those Mobley twins," said Petunia, "but we will NOT have you telling Harry it's OK for him to play with snakes."
"Harry was playing with snakes?" Lee cried out. "When did that happen?"
"Harry was talking to snakes when we were at the zoo," Robbie cried out. "He's as magic as his evil parents and they abandoned him."
"He needs a good beating," Louise snapped.
"Now, kids," said Vernon, "nobody's getting a spanking, not even if they deserve one. Harry's parents aren't evil; that's what your mother has been lying to you about."
"I see," said Mary as she came to the door with an angry look on her face. "I shall punish the children for this. They should know better than to listen to Harry."
"You will do nothing," Petunia snarled as she glared at Mary. "But you can explain a few things to us."
"What's going on here? What are you talking about?" Mary snapped.
"It's about the children," said Petunia as she glared at Mary. "Word on the street is you've been beating them and keeping them and their father under lock and key."
"That is not true!" Mary yelled. "Lee keeps the kids at home because we don't want them to be brainwashed by the lies the establishment seems fit to tell them. But as for you, Petunia, I wonder if you're planning to open an orphan home with all the orphans you seem to keep adopting."
Vernon laughed as he ushered the children into his house. "You think we're running an orphan home? You must be kidding! We only have four orphans in the house, if that's any indication that we're raising orphans."
"It doesn't matter," said Mary. "You can keep those other orphans; I don't mind them. But I want that Harry Potter to go away and never come back!"
"Really?" said Petunia. "Why should he have to leave?"
"That boy is nothing but trouble," Mary snapped. "You know he came from a wizard and a witch. Don't believe me? I know these things. You should have left him with his own kind and be done with it."
"Indeed we should have left him in the wizarding world," said Vernon. "But what are we going to do with him when his magic becomes too powerful to contain? No orphanage is willing to take in magical children, and to ask someone else to raise him is asking for a death sentence. Do you think you can handle him?"
"Are you suggesting that I keep an eye on him myself?" said Mary. "Do you really want me to deal with Harry?"
"We should," said Lee, "if but to curb the magic in him that seems to be growing more and more powerful by the second, according to our children. I'm sure that sending him to stay with us for a few weeks will get rid of that magic in an instant."
"Very well," said Petunia. "Harry will stay with you if the children stay with us. They need to learn the meaning of childhood and not to slave all day in the house or being forced to sit in a corner and read books. I'm sure they will teach the others how to do their chores properly. We shall see."
Harry found himself frowning as he faced his uncle and aunt, knowing that the time was coming for him to learn how to control his sudden outbursts of magic or be sent to an orphanage. As far as he knew, life in an orphanage would have been so much better than what he was about to go through...495Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpTw9rx5Ug
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