1
“Darling, wake up love, it’s Dudley’s birthday. We’re leaving for the zoo straight after breakfast so get dressed.”
Rosalia Lillian Potter woke up to her aunt Petunia’s voice and her knuckles softly knocking on her bedroom door. She smiled before sitting up and pulling her warm duvet off of her body. “Good morning aunt Petunia, I’ll be down in a moment.” She spoke, before hearing the matriarch of her household step away from her door, across the hall, and down the stairs.
Standing up and looking out the window, the “ten almost eleven” year old girl noticed that it was already quite sunny outside but a glance at the thermometer on her window told her that it was only 11° so she decided on wearing a green cotton jumper and a pair of black leggings. She ran into the bathroom that was thankfully connected to her room, rushing to brush her hair and teeth, changing her clothes after her hair was pulled back into two basic plaits.
Leaving her bedroom, she goes downstairs and joins her family in the kitchen, where her uncle Vernon was barking orders to her twin brother Harry. For as long as she could remember, her and Harry had lived with the Dursley family. When the pair were four years old and getting ready to begin at their respective primary schools, their aunt Petunia- their mothers’ only sibling- sat them down told them that both of their parents were killed as a result of a terrible car crash that happened when they were toddlers. At the time, of course, neither of which knew what exactly that bit of information meant, however it gave them an answer as to why their last name was different to Dudley’s, as well as something to tell people when they asked why they lived with their aunt and uncle.
Ever since Rosalia was a little girl, she had always been the favorite. Well, in comparison to her brother she was the favorite- nobody could ever top their cousin in their aunt and uncle’s eyes. Petunia and Vernon, at least on occasion acted and actually treated her as though she really was their daughter, especially in social circumstances. And subsequently, as they already had a son- Harry was treated more like a nuisance than a family member. An inconvenience. Rosalia had her own large bedroom- and she always had. Harry, however, slept in the cupboard under the stairs that was more fit as a cozy hide-away for a cat, that was on regular occasions locked during the night. Harry only ever acquired Dudley’s old hand-me-down and way-too-big for him clothes, while Rosalia never wanted for any new clothing and was always getting new and expensive outfits. Rosalia was enrolled in a nearby all girls independent school, while Harry’s dump of a school was quite far and- due to Petunia and Vernon needing to get both Dudley and Rose to school on time- he had to take the public coach on several different routes.
The girl genuinely felt pity for the boy. It wasn’t that she necessarily felt sorry for him, it was more so that she just felt that the situation he was in was unfortunate. She never knew why it was that Harry was treated the way he was, and when they were younger she tried her hardest to help him. She would sneak him extra food, maybe do a chore or two that were supposed to be his, once she even tried to buy him a new outfit using her allowance and every single time she was punished- usually a month or two’s grounding. When they were nearing seven years old, she even let him practice his manners while she pretended to be their aunt, all to try and scheme their way into at least treating Harry decently. Shortly after that plan failed, she entirely gave up all her attempts to help Harry because he refused to attempt to help himself.
Rose smiled and wished everyone a small ‘good morning’ making sure to also add a ‘happy birthday’ in Dudley’s direction. Grabbing her plate of breakfast and sitting down at the table, she watched as Dudley’s presents were revealed to him and he inevitably and predictably starts bitching about that fact that there happened to only be thirty-six, while last year he’d had thirty-eight, however he actually fucking had thirty-seven because he’d miscounted-
Rosalia didn’t like her cousin. She didn’t exactly dislike her cousin, but she didn’t like him either. She merely tolerated him, and she believed that he was a spoiled brat-but he’d have a moment here and there while it was just the two of them where he’d been somewhat pleasant. Harry, however, did everything he could to avoid Dudley.
“You said we were leaving right after breakfast? When is Piers going to arrive?” Rosalia asked, knowing that Dudley’s best friend would certainly be coming over for “his big day”.
“He should be here soon, unfortunately Mrs. Figg is sick and isn’t able to watch Harry so he has to come with us- and he better not mess the day up.” Aunt Petunia spoke to Rose for the first part of the phrase before sternly turning her attention towards Harry and holding her pointer finger up in a threatening manner.
“Oh, alright then,” She began, lightly smiling at Harry in acknowledgement for this being the first time he was allowed to do something with the rest of them, “Wait will we all fit in the car?” She then realized that there were only three seats in the back of their car and there were now four children going.
“Certainly, Harry will sit in a seat and Dudley will sit in his lap.”
Well then.
***
“Move!”
After Piers’ arrival at the Dursley home, and the drive to the zoo in which Rosalia offered to just sit on her brother’s lap ‘so Dudley can have a safe seat’, the six of them were all in the reptile exhibit, where Dudley and Piers thought it appropriate to yell at a clearly sleeping snake, as well as bang their fists on the glass enclosure.
“Mummy he’s boring.” Dudley finally sighs, turning around and walking away with his parents and Piers following him, leaving the two Potter children standing there alone.
“Are you having a nice time?” Rose asks her brother quietly after a few silent minutes.
“I suppose so.” He responded unconvincingly, staring at the Boa who had conveniently started slithering around the moment the other four had left. “Do you ever think about why they hate me so much?”
“Sometimes, Harry.”
What the girl had wanted to say was somewhere along the lines of ‘well you could try harder’ but she thought that maybe it wasn’t the right moment.
“What about you? How do you feel? All day every day these ugly people press their faces against your home and bother you, meanwhile there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Rosalia snapped her head up in curiosity, only to realize that her brother surprisingly wasn’t speaking to her, but he was speaking to the snake. Even more surprisingly the snake perches at Harry’s word, before it began to move around it eventually catches the attention of Dudley.
“Mummy he’s moving!” Dudley yells once again, running up to shove Harry to the floor and slam his body against the glass, only, curiously the glass that was once there- was no longer. Instead of the impact of Dudley’s body against the glass, he flips over the railing and falls straight into the small pond that was inside the enclosure. It was only a moment before the snake was slithering out of the cage and thanking Harry, who was still on the floor.
The girl looks around at the screaming people all around her, before looking back at the enclosure where Dudley was now- once again curiously- trapped behind the panel of glass.