A/N: Hello everyone. This is revised version. Hope the changes i had made makes it a better read. If there are issues still, let me know. And yes, thanks to Scooter for proof-reading this one. Currently, he is not my beta, but he did suggest me these changes a long time back.
Birthday
"HARRY! Get up! Open the door, you idiot!"
Harry rubbed his eyes. Why the hell is he shouting in the morning? Harry wondered as he got up and opened the door. There stood Dudley, red in face, hands on his hips.
"What do you want? Why are you shouting so early in the morning?" demanded Harry.
"Early? Goodness! Did you see the clock?" said Dudley, looking incredulously at his cousin.
"What? It's just ... just ... WHAT! Its 9 o'clock? Blimey, how did I sleep so late?" asked Harry, looking disbelievingly at the clock on his bed-side stool.
"Thanks heavens! Lightning finally struck."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing. Now, don't you think you've forgotten something? And that you need to apologise?"
"Forgotten? I ... er … don't … think ... so. Is there? Let me think," said Harry, thinking hard. What can it be? Now, I … hmm ... I did promise ... oh my GOD! "I am so sorry, Dudley. I don't know how I forgot. Blimey! I am a real idiot. I am sorry Dudley"
"Ok, ok. Apologise and I might forgive you," said Dudley, grinning and sitting on the edge of Harry's bed.
"I promise Dudley, I swear, I will ... I will definitely come with you tomorrow to the park ... I must have doze--"
"What! I can't believe you, I just can't believe you. Is that all you have forgotten?" asked Dudley, his temper rising.
"Ah ... er ... yes … I … I mean is there someth--"
"Fine, then. If you don't remember, then I have nothing else to say. I am sorry to disturb your sleep. GOOD-NIGHT." With this, Dudley stormed out of the room, leaving a bewildered Harry.
"It's ok, Duddykins. Harry might have forgotten," said Petunia, trying to calm Dudley, "Vernon?"
"There is no need to make a big deal out of it," said Vernon, with a tone of finality.
"Good morning, Mom and you too, Duddykins," said Harry, grinning, entering the kitchen.
"DON'T call me Duddykins!" roared Dudley, "and seriously, Mom, don't you think I have outgrown all these names. I am eleven now, after all." Turning to Harry, he added, "So what if our intelligent Mr. Harry Dursley can't remember that. After all, it will take too much space in that ruddy brain of his, remembering. My. Birthday."
"Oh! It's just your birthday that I forgot? Thank god! You had me sacred upstairs, Dudley," sighed Harry, chuckling to himself, "Happy birth--"
"JUST MY BIRTHDAY?" barked Dudley, "So it doesn't matter to you, right? Why then should you be bothered, if I tell you, that your PRECIOUS sleep cost me a picnic." Feeling hurt, Dudley got up to get out of the kitchen.
"Hey, Duddykins, you really think I would forget your birthday?"
Dudley turned, although there were tears glistening in his eyes, he looked confused.
"Happy birthday, Duddykins." Throwing his arms around Dudley, Harry whispered in his ear, "Your gift is waiting for you, outside, in the garden."
Even before Harry could finish his sentence, Dudley ran outside, shouting, "Don't call me Duddykins."
And there in the middle of the garden was a big packet covered with a silky cloth and tied with a ribbon around it. Dudley ran to it and removed the cloth. He couldn't believe his eyes. There, in the cage, asleep, was a beautiful, if you can call it beautiful, baby eagle.
"Like it?"
Dudley turned to find his mom, dad and brother standing in the doorway. He ran to Harry and hugged him, "It's wonderful. I always wanted an eagle as a pet. But how did you manage to convince Mom and Dad to buy it?"
"Harry did not tell us. He bought it himself. He kept his present a surprise. This is the first we've seen of it. We are as surprised as you," answered Vernon. Slowly he added, "I don't think that's a nice gift, Harry. You should have asked us."
"But you will allow him to keep it, wont you? I will tell him how to take care of it. I also bought a book about eagles for Dudley. It's … it's beautiful," reasoned Harry, hopeful that his pocket money and efforts that had gone into finding the eagle won't go waste.
"C'mon Vernon. Harry has spent all his savings. You can't break your sons' hearts, can you? And certainly not on the birthday of one of them?" put in Petunia, hopefully.
"Ok! What can a poor man say when all of his family stands against him," laughed Vernon, "Get ready all of you now. I hope you have not forgotten our trip to the zoo, Harry?"
"We are going to ZOO?" shrieked Dudley
"Yes, I asked Dad to change the plans, so that I can tease you a bit," grinned Harry.
"You……."
But before Dudley could catch on, Harry had dashed off inside the house. Dudley ran after him. Vernon shouted something about betting ready soon after both of them.
Soon all the Dursleys were seated in the car, heading towards the zoo. Today was Dudley's birthday; he was older of the two sons of Mr. Vernon Dursley and Mrs. Petunia Dursley.
Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. Dudley had blond hair and a nice built, whereas Harry was skinny with black hair which needed more haircuts than any other boy in his class; he wore glasses and had a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.
"You got that scar in an accident, when you were one year old. We were coming back from the clinic where we had gone to get you treated up for the flu. And don't ask anything again about that accident. It scares me," Petunia had answered.
Not wanting to hurt her, Harry had never asked her about the scar again. But Dudley had found a way to make fun of this scar. He called it the window to Harry's brain and whenever Harry took a bit of time to understand something, Dudley would say, 'Lightning finally struck.'
All in all, Harry was a happy boy, living with a happy family. But strange things did happen to Harry, be it his ever-growing hair or being found on his school's roof after being chased by his schoolmates who wanted to prank him. However, anything strange around Harry, even if it was just Harry's dreams, deeply disturbed his parents, even if they were dreams. So both Harry and Dudley had reached an
agreement not to mention anything if they could avoid it. Dudley took care that no one could prank his little brother. He was, after all, the big guy in the school.
"Have you thought of a name for that eagle," asked Petunia.
"Well, I can suggest one. How about Duddykins?" grinned Harry.
"Cut the crap, Harry," said Dudley, punching Harry softly on his back, "I have not been able to think of any name yet, Mom. Suggest something for me, Dad.
Thinking hard, Vernon replied, "How about Drill?"
"Seriously Vernon, you need a break from drills. All you can think of is drills all through the day. I hope you don't start calling me Drilly one day." said Petunia with gritted teeth.
Controlling his laughter, Harry put in, "It's a female. Think of a girly name, or should I ask Tracy for help?"
"Who is Tracy?" asked Petunia.
"No one, Mom," "Dudley's girlfriend," Both Dudley and Harry said together.
"What? I did not understand what either of you said. One at a time."
"I s-said no … no one Mom. I m-mean she is my class m-mate." stammered Dudley glaring at Harry, who rolled his eyes at him.
"I guess we can call her Lily. What do you say, Dudley?" offered Harry.
"NO" both Petunia and Vernon answered together, so loudly that it made both Harry and Dudley jump in their seats.
"Here we are … the zoo. C'mon now, fast." said Vernon, before anyone could ask any questions.
It was a very sunny Saturday, and the zoo was crowded with families. At the entrance, Dursleys bought Dudley and Harry large chocolate ice creams. Dudley and Harry had the best time in a long time. They both were roaming around, looking at animals and discussing which name would suit Dudley's pet eagle. They ate in the zoo restaurant and had more ice cream.
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 Harry 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 their 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. "Shall I name my eagle cobra?" he winked at Harry.
"Make it move, Dad." Just few steps from Dudley and Harry, stood Piers Polkiss, Dudley's classmate, who was a bully in school and was also Dudley and Harry's common enemy.
Mr. Polkiss tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.
"Do it again," Piers ordered. Mr. Polkiss rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
'"This is boring," Piers moaned. He shuffled away.
"Big fat Piers," whispered Dudley in Harry's ear, "Best we stay away from him today. I don't want him to spoil our day." With that, Dudley moved back to the cobra that Vernon and Petunia were looking at.
Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom -– no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.
It winked.
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.
The snake jerked its head toward Mr. Polkiss and Piers, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: I get that all the time.
"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."
The snake nodded vigorously.
"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
"Was it nice there?"
The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: 'This specimen was bred in the zoo.'
"Oh, I see -– so you've never been to Brazil?"
As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DAD! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
Piers, who had seen everything from a distance till now, came waddling towards them as fast he could.
"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened. One second, Piers and Mr. Polkiss were leaning right up close to the glass, and the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.
Harry sat up and gasped; 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 him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come ... Thanksss, amigo."
Dudley came running to him, "Are you alright? Thank God the snake did not do anything to you. That moron is going to pay for that," muttered Dudley and glaring at Piers, "I would have loved to see that cobra squeeze him to death"
Harry saw his mom and dad help Piers and Mr. Polkiss to their feet. They too were shocked by the whole incident. Petunia and Vernon, finding their sons unhurt, decided to leave for home.
Once they were in the car and Petunia had finished fussing over her sons, Harry said, "You know, Dad, that snake was happy to leave the zoo. It must have been awful there for him."
"And how do you know that, dear bro?" demanded Dudley
"He thanked me before leaving, thinking I freed him. I heard it"
Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front of them. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"
"DAD!" Dudley yelled back, shocked.
"I mean we were kind of talking before that pig-hea … I mean Piers knocked me down to the ground. It was not exactly that he was saying something, but he could understand me. And when the glass vanished, he slithered past me saying thanks and that he is going to Brazil. He was happy," answered Harry, also looking a bit confused.
Judging by the horrified looks on the faces of their parents, Harry and Dudley decided it best to remain quiet for the rest of the journey. They were dropped at a pizza house for dinner, while Petunia and Vernon excused themselves for a walk in the nearby park.
"What do you reckon made Mum and Dad so shocked?" asked Harry, still looking for a reason.
"I guess, you saying that you heard that cobra saying thanks to you comes under the DISTURBING-OUR-PARENTS category, but don't they have brains? Obviously, you just confused that snake's hissing with thanks."
"But I did hear that snake saying thanks to me."
"See Harry, I don't know why Mum and Dad go weird when something strange happens around you or you say something ridiculous. Remember the time you mentioned dreams about flying motorcycle or blinding green light. But I guess it would be better if you don't mention anything of it again in front of them. They will get mad again. And I don't want mad parents at the time of my admission at Smeltings."
Soon Petunia and Vernon came back from their walk and silence fell around them. They were quiet on the way home. When they reached home, Harry decided to break the silence before going to his room, "I am sorry Mom and Dad. I must have been out of my mind to think I could hear a snake talk. I'm sorry I made you feel bad."
"It's ok, darling; we just got a bit upset"
"Bit?" snapped Dudley, screwing his face up, "you call that bit? You ruined my birthday dinner. You know what? I think you two need to grow up a bit. You reacted too much to a silly thing."
"Off you go to bed. Both of you" said Petunia and before her temper could rise again, both of them dashed upstairs.