Daisy was woken up early on the morning of June 23rd 1991, to loud banging followed by shouting. Her mother was yelling something at her cousin, while her brother stomp down the stairs - today happened to be his birthday. It was going to be an interesting day. Daisy was nine years old soon to be ten in July and was the youngest in the Dursley household and arguably as spoiled as her brother but didn't find enjoyment out of bullying and teasing their cousin, Harry. Daisy loved Harry, it was like having another older brother except he was nice and didn't steal her dolls or make fun of her when Petunia dressed her up in frilly dresses and tied bows into her hair. When given permission Harry would play with her and even join her tea parties - sadly the last year her parents seemed to be harder on Harry, they were sending him to his room (if you could really call it that) more often than not and he was being left at home during outings more and more. Daisy really missed Harry on those outings because at least she'd have someone to talk to, she loved her brother dearly but he didn't want to play or talk to her that much especially when they always seemed bring Piers anytime they went anywhere.
Daisy was just finished changing into the dress her mother had left out for her the night before when she heard her brother yell from the kitchen. "Thirty-six?! That's two less than last year" Yes. Today was going to be a very interesting day.
"Good morning Pumpkin," Vernon Dursley greeted his daughter as she walked into the kitchen. She was very petite compared to her brother and even Harry for that matter. She had blonde hair that she got from her mother and much to her parents surprise (and to their disgust) vivid green eyes that matched her cousins. Despite the differences in their hair many people had mistaken Daisy and Harry for siblings rather than her and Dudley.
"Good morning Daddy," she replied with a smile sitting down at the table. "Happy Birthday Dudders."
Dudley just grinned at her as he begun to open his presents. Petunia who was on the phone when Daisy walked in hung up and turned to look at the table with an angry expression. "Bad news Vernon. Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."
She jerked her head in Harry's direction which caused Daisy to frown. She didn't understand why her parents treated him so poorly when they were full of nothing but love towards her and Dudley. Harry has never been allowed to come with them on Dudley's birthday and was always left behind with Mrs. Figg, Daisy didn't mind her, she was nice and allowed her to pet her cats whenever she was over there. Harry on the other hand hated it there and complained it smelled of cabbages.
"Now what?" said Petunia as she glared at Harry.
"We could phone Marge," Vernon suggested. The made Daisy cringe. If she thought her parents hated Harry she wasn't entirely sure what she'd called when it came to her Aunt Marge. Even she felt uncomfortable when her Aunt even so much as looked at Harry.
"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy." They always spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there.
"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"
"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Petunia.
"You could just leave me here," Harry said hopefully.
Petunia looked as though she had smelled something awful.
"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.
"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.
"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car…"
"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…."
Daisy rolled her eyes as her brother started to wailed loudly. He was an awful fake cryer and yet their mother ate it up and bent to his every will.
"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry. Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"I…. don't…. want…. him…. t-t-to come," Dudley yelled between grossly pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot a smirk over his mother's shoulder at Harry.
"It can't be that bad," Daisy said quietly earning herself three separate glares and a half hearted smile from her cousin. Just then, the doorbell rang.
"Oh, good Lord, they're here!" Petunia exclaimed letting go of Dudley and straightening herself out. A moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Daisy, a genuinely nice girl, hated Piers Polkiss with a passion. He was the one friend of Dudley's that was just downright mean to her. It was one thing for her brother to tease her but even he had his moments of brotherly love whereas Piers has never once said or done anything nice to her.
Not even an hour later they were getting into the car and on their way to the zoo. As Daisy climbed into the middle of the front seat her father pulled Harry to the side and gave him a stern talking to. Apparently her parents thought Harry caused strange things to happen and would even punish him for said impossible things by forcing him to stay in his cupboard under the stairs.
When they arrived at the zoo Dudley immediately ran to the ice cream stand dragging Piers along, demanding his parents to buy them something. Dudley and Piers decided on chocolate ice cream, while Daisy choose vanilla - it was her favourite after all. Even Harry was allowed to have an lemon ice pop, Daisy was grateful for the woman in the stand or else she knew Harry would have been "forgotten". It had been a good morning since they had step foot in the zoo, no one was yelling or picking on, Harry and Daisy got to someone to hang out with instead of having to follow around her brother and his stupid friend. They hung back from the rest of the family as to not upset her parents or become the target of Dudley's interest.
Even lunch had gone smoother than expected despite one of Dudley's tantrums. They had gone to the zoo's restaurant and neither Vernon nor Petunia paid Harry any mind letting him choose his own meal for once and even giving him Dudley's first dessert when it was deemed unacceptable by his highness himself. After lunch they proceeded to the reptile house although it was Daisy's least favourite place. She wasn't very fond of snakes or lizards. Dudley was immediately attracted to the largest snake in the place. It was twice the size of a car and although it wasn't moving just the look of it was making Daisy uncomfortable.
"Make it move," Dudley whined to his father. Vernon rapped on the glass, but the snake wasn't fazed.
"This is boring," he moaned moving on to the next enclosure.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Harry asked Daisy looking at the snake Dudley was just bothering. She grimaced and shook her head.
"They freak me out to be honest."
As they stood there staring into the tank the snake started to open it's eyes and very slowly raised its head until it was eye level with the cousins. If Daisy was crazy she would have been convinced it winked of them. Harry and her shared a look before looking back at the snake.
The snake then jerked its head in the direction of her father and brother and looked as though it rolled its eyes. Daisy stared at her cousin as he began hissing at the snake. Was she going crazy? Was Harry joking or actually trying to communicate with the reptile. Perhaps she was feeling ill. A shout from behind her pulled Daisy out of her head looking away from Harry.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME HERE AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING."
Dudley ran over to them, Daisy stepped out of the way just as her brother punched Harry out of the way causing him to fall to the floor. Daisy glared at her brother, there was no reason for him to be so aggressive and the last thing she remembered thinking was that she wished he could somehow fall into the tank and the next thing she knew the glass had vanished and the snake had pretended to strike at Dudley and is friend before slithering off.
The aftermath was the worst part, not only were the boys in hysterics but so was Petunia. The zoo director had come and apologized profusely all while the keeper of the reptile house kept mumbling to himself, "but the glass… where did it go…"
The ride home was filled with stories about how Dudley and Piers had almost faced death. While the snake had barely gone near then, Dudley was claiming it almost bit his leg off and Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. Once the boys calmed down enough Piers piped up from the back, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you Harry?"
Daisy had convinced herself that none of the Harry stuff had happened, but judging by the look on her father's face she knew this didn't mean well for Harry. "Don't be silly Piers, Harry was talking to me, didn't you see I was standing there too?"
Vernon didn't say a word until Piers was gone and by then he was so red, he looked like he was about to explode and in a way he did. He was so angry words were barely coming to him. From what Daisy understood he had managed to tell Harry to stay in his cupboard with no meals.
After an hour of letting him calm down in his chair in the living room, Daisy climbed up into his lap and hugged him.
"Daddy, why are you so mad at Harry?"
"That blasted boy knows what he did, and he deserved to be punished."
"Daddy. I'm nine and even I know it's not possible to talk to animals. Besides even if Harry could somehow talked to snakes, he's just a boy. It's not like he was the reason the glass went away."
Vernon sighed. He knew to her and even the boy his reaction was unfair. But Vernon knew what the boy was and even if they didn't understand he knew he was responsible. They tried their best to make him normal and to ignore the signs but it was becoming extraordinarily difficult.
"Please just go to your room Daisy, you're just a child."
Her lip trembled as she made her way up to her bedroom. He may not have yelled at her but Daisy couldn't help feel like she was in trouble also. She had been sent to her room many times but never by her father. She felt hurt that he didn't want her around and it didn't help she was already upset that Harry was being punished for something he couldn't have possibly done.
That night, Daisy didn't even bother going downstairs for dinner and stayed in bed as she cried herself to sleep.