A/N: I apologize for throwing in another Girl-Who-Lives story. I was hoping to sort of shake things up a little with this one. Hopefully it's not to OOC.

Elizabeth Gillies is the face-claim for Hailey Potter.

When the sun rose, Hailey Potter was still asleep in the cupboard under the stairs, but not for very long.

"Get up! Now!" Aunt Petunia shouted. Hailey woke up with a start at the interruption of her dream. Petunia rapped on the door one more. "Up!" She screeched one more time and Hailey heard her aunt walk into the kitchen. There was a clang as Aunt Petunia put the frying pan on the stove.

Hailey rolled over onto her back and thought about her dream, which involved a lot of strange green light.

"Are you up yet?" Aunt Petunia demanded.

"Nearly," Hailey replied, rolling her eyes at her aunt's demanding tone.

"Hurry up. I want you to look after the bacon and don't you dare let it burn. I want everything perfect for Duddy's birthday." Hailey groaned. "What did you say?" Her aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing…" Hailey replied. She wasn't sure how she managed to forget Dudley's birthday since it was constantly thrown in her face by her aunt, uncle, and cousin. She sat up on her bed and started looking for her socks. The only new articles of clothing she gets was underwear and training bras; while the rest was from second-hand clothing stores. Aunt Petunia would bring home bags full of clothing and Hailey had to look through them to find clothes that actually fit her. It was because Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn't want to look odd if Hailey walked around wearing Dudley's large old boy clothing, even though some of his clothes ended up in her cupboard.

Hailey found her socks and pulled a spider off of it. Bugs didn't bother her, like they did to some of the girls at school, since her cupboard was full of them and that was where she slept.

She got dressed, putting on one of the nicer looking skirts with minimum suspicious looking stains and her favourite light blue shirt, that served as her pajama top. She ran her fingers through her hair to get some of the tangles out and moved her bangs a little to the side to get them out of her eyes. Petunia would've gotten mad if she didn't look presentable for Dudley's day and would've made her change clothes until her aunt deemed her presentable enough to get out of the cupboard. She opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

She was greeted by a long line of pictures of her cousin on the wall, from when he was a baby up to his recent age. Some might wonder why there weren't any pictures of her, but that was a different story that she doesn't want to get into. She went down the hall and into the kitchen.

She saw that the table was nearly hidden by presents and saw that it looked like Dudley had gotten the new computer that he wanted, a new television, and a racing bike. She wasn't sure why Dudley wanted the racing bike since he hated exercise — unless one counts punching people as exercise. Luckily, she wasn't one of Dudley's punching bags, but he did pull her hair, pinch her, and push and shove her when his parents weren't looking. Sometimes Dudley and his gang chased after her, but they couldn't catch her, since she was very fast and she often hid in the girls' lavatory and the school library to wait them out, because they didn't dare go in there. It didn't take long for them to get bored of waiting and left to find another victim.

Maybe it had something to do with living in a cupboard, but she was thin and small for her age. She had knobby knees, a narrow face with a slightly pointed chin. Her dark auburn hair went down to her elbows and she had grayish hazel eyes. The only thing that she even liked about her appearance was her hair and the thin lightning bolt scar on her forehead which was to be kept hidden by her bangs. She had gotten the scar in the car crash that had killed her parents from what her aunt had told her.

Uncle Vernon had entered the kitchen right as Hailey was turning the bacon over. In greeting, Vernon said, "Brush your hair!"

About once a week, Vernon would look over the newspaper to shout at Hailey that she needed to brush her hair, even though she doesn't own a brush. She must have had more haircuts than every girl her age because she would get a haircut to get shorter hair so her aunt and uncle wouldn't buy her any hair care products. For some reason, her hair would grow back to the same elbow length in an hour.

Hailey was frying eggs by the time Dudley walked in with his mother. Dudley had a large pink face, no neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often says that he looks like an angel while Hailey often says that he looks like a pig wearing a wig.

She set the plate of eggs and bacon on the table, which was hard since there wasn't much room with Dudley's presents in the way.

Dudley was counting the presents and his face fell, "Thirty-six." He looked up at his parents. "That's two less than last year."

Hailey was a little surprised over the fact that Dudley managed to do the math like that.

"You haven't counted Aunt Marge's present. See, it's here hiding under this big one from mummy and daddy," Petunia said.

"All right, thirty-seven then," Dudley said, going red in the face.

Hailey could see that Dudley was going to have a fit, started wolfing down her bacon just in case Dudley decided to flip the table over.

Petunia saw the danger coming, said, "We'll buy another two presents while we're out today. How's that? Two more presents?"

Dudley thought for a moment and said, slowly, "So, I'll have thirty…thirty…" He looked at Hailey and pointed at her, "You! How much is that?"

"Thirty-nine. You'll have thirty-nine presents," Hailey said, nearly bitter. She never received a present before unless one counts getting a pen from Dudley's drill company once a year as a present and she never received that on her birthday or Christmas.

"Oh," Dudley said, sitting down heavily, and grabbing the nearest present, "All right."

Uncle Vernon chuckled and ruffled Dudley's hair. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy."

At that moment, the telephone rang and Petunia told Hailey to wash the dishes and went to go answer it. Hailey went to scrub the frying pan as Dudley unwrapped a racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping off the wrapping paper on a wristwatch when Petunia walked in, looking angry.

"Bad news, Vernon." Petunia said, "Mrs Figg has broken her leg and she can't take her." She jerked her head in Hailey's direction.

Dudley's mouth dropped in horror and Hailey nearly dropped the frying pan in shock, while her heart sped up. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents take him and one of Dudley's friends out to the amusement park, hamburger places, or to the movies for the day. Every year she was left behind with Mrs Figg, who was a mad old lady who lived two streets away. She hated it there because the whole house smelt like boiled cabbage and Mrs Figg made her look at photographs of all the cats she ever owned. Hailey knew that she should feel sorry for Mrs Figg, but at least it was a whole year before she had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws, and Tufty again.

Petunia asked, "Now what?" She looked furiously at Hailey as though she planned it.

Uncle Vernon suggested, "We can always phone Marge."

"Don't be silly. Marge hates the girl," Petunia snapped.

The reason why Marge hated Hailey wasn't really her fault, but she got blamed anyway. When she was around five, one of Marge's dogs was chasing after her and somehow, the dog's fur turned blue, and Marge hated her ever since. She set the frying pan on the dish rack to dry and picked up a plate to wash.

"What about what's-her-name…Yvonne?" Vernon asked.

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Petunia.

Hailey was trying to figure out a way to voice her thoughts on being left behind. She needed to tread carefully on the subject. She needed to figure out a way to plant the idea in their head before they decide to leave her with someone else.

Dudley said, "Or you could leave her here." Hailey looked at him, nearly dropping the plate because Dudley said that. She knew that it was because Dudley didn't want her to intrude on his special birthday, but wanting her to stay behind?

Aunt Petunia turned to her son to say, "And find the place in ruins?"

The Potter girl almost rolled her eyes. "I won't blow up the house." She did want to stay behind so that she would be able to watch what she wanted to watch, maybe even play a game on Dudley's computer, or catch up on a book without getting interrupted.

"I suppose we can take her with us to the zoo." Aunt Petunia said, "And leave her in the car."

Hailey looked over her shoulder at her aunt and thought, as if I won't blow up the car, too? She went back to scrubbing a plate.

"The car's new," Vernon said, "I won't have her sit in it alone."

Dudley began to cry, but Hailey knew he was faking it since he hadn't cried in a long time. She knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, he'll get anything he wanted.

Petunia went to go comfort Dudley who was still wailing. "I…don't…want…her…t-t-to…come! She…always…sp-spoils…everything!"

Hailey choose to ignore that comment as she poured more soap on the sponge she was using, knowing that she was better off keeping her back turned towards them. The doorbell rang and Petunia went to go answer it. The next thing Hailey knew, someone pulled on her hair and she yelped in surprise, nearly dropping the plate she was holding.

She glanced over to see Piers's mother leave the kitchen and looked at Piers himself. He was a scrawny boy and had a face that reminded Hailey of a rat. He always held other people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. She hated Piers as much as she hated Dudley, who had stopped crying at once.

There was no further argument made on Hailey's arrangement. When they got to the car, Vernon had taken her to the side. "There would be no funny business or you won't have any meals for a week." Hailey nodded and Vernon told her to get in the car.

She ended up sitting between Piers and Dudley. Piers kept pinching her, punching her arm, digging his sharp elbow in her ribs, and grabbing her bra-strap and releasing it. At school, other girls had constantly teased her over Piers's relentless teasing by saying that he fancied her. Hailey knew that it was because Piers enjoyed Dudley's reactions whenever Piers tormented her.

When they got to the zoo, Dudley had pushed many families out of his way so he can get to the entrance where a lady was selling ice cream.

Leave it to Dudley to find the nearest food source, she thought as she followed after her family and Piers.

The Dursleys bought large chocolate ice cream cones for Dudley and Piers, but before they could hurry away, the lady asked what Hailey wanted and before the Potter girl could even give the lady her choice, Vernon got her a cheap lemon ice pop.

It's not that bad, she thought as she licked the lemon ice pop, while watching a gorilla scratch its head. It looks like Dudley, she grinned. She should've known better to smile because Piers walked over and yanked on her hair. She screamed in surprise and dropped her lemon ice pop. Some adults had looked over to see what was going on.

"Let's keep moving," Petunia said, ushering her niece along. Hailey knew that it was because her aunt just wanted to avoid having her make another scene.

They went to different exhibits in a pattern of what Dudley wanted to see instead of going in a zigzag route like what most families probably did.

Hailey's favourite exhibit must have been the polar bears and she felt a tingle when she overheard her aunt telling Dudley that it was Grandmother Evans's favourite animal. At least it was something to make her feel a little closer to the family she never really knew.

She was starting to feel like she was having a good day. She made sure to stand a little farther away and next to Aunt Petunia in case Dudley and Piers got bored and decide to shove her back and forth between them, with their shoulders.

For lunch, they ate at the zoo restaurant and Hailey ended up with the cheapest hamburger on the menu. When Dudley threw a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Hailey tried to pretend that she wasn't with the people with the tantrum throwing boy. She wasn't sure if it worked, but it didn't hurt to try anyway. She rolled her eyes when Uncle Vernon got Dudley another knickerbocker glory, but she was surprised when she was allowed to finish the first one.

After eating, the boys wanted to go to the reptile house. At first, Hailey refused to go in there, but Aunt Petunia had to drag her in there before she made another scene.

It was cool and dark in the reptile house, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all kinds of lizards and snakes crawled and slithered over bits of wood and stone. When she looked around, she realized she had nothing to be scared off since the reptiles were in glass tanks.

Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick man-crushing pythons. Dudley found the largest snake in the place, which could've wrapped its body around Vernon's car and crush into a rubbish can lid, but it looked like it was sleeping.

Hailey leaned over to take a look but backed away, when she realized she was standing a little to close to Piers.

"Make it move," Dudley whined to his father. Vernon tapped on the glass, but it didn't budge. "Do it again." Dudley ordered and Vernon tapped on the glass with his knuckles, but the snake didn't bother. "This is boring," Dudley stated and went to look at a different snake.

The Dursleys and Piers followed after him, but Hailey stayed where she was. She read the placard seeing that snake was a Brazilian Boa Constrictor who was bred in the zoo.

She looked at the glistening, brown coils and wouldn't be surprised if the poor thing was dead instead of asleep. She certainly would if her only company was people drumming on the glass. She thought that living in a glass tank would've been worse than living in the cupboard where her aunt pounded on the door to wake her up. At least she was allowed to visit the rest of the house, go outside, and even go to Mrs Figg's house.

The boa constrictor suddenly opened its eyes and Hailey looked back at the magnificent creature. It slowly raised its head and winked at her.

She blinked a few times, did I just see that? She looked around and saw that no one was watching her. She looked back at the boa constrictor and winked back at it. The snake jerked its head to Dudley and Uncle Vernon, and then looked at Hailey.

"I get that all the time," the snake's expression seemed to say.

"I bet," she murmured at the glass. "It must get really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously and Hailey looked at the placard again. "I bet you would really love to go to Brazil, huh?" The snake nodded again.

"Dudley! Mr Dursely! Come and look at this snake! You won't believe what its doing!" Piers shouted, causing her and the snake to jump.

Dudley went waddling to the boa constrictor's tank as fast as he can. "Move it!" He shoved Hailey to the side and she hit the ground. She winced as her palms and knee scratched against the cement. She looked at her scrapped palms and looked up because Dudley and Piers started howling in horror.

She looked over to see what they screaming about, when she saw that it looked like the front glass of the boa constrictor's tank was missing along with the boa constrictor. The snake slithered by Hailey and she jumped up to get away from it. She backed away from the snake in horror, but it just slithered right by her.

She could've sworn she heard it hiss, "Brazil, here I come. Thanksss, Amiga," as it went by. She couldn't see where it went as the patrons of the reptile house ran to the exit screaming in horror.

Her heart was beating rapidly, as she looked for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, Dudley even Piers, but she couldn't find either of them. She finally saw Piers running to the exit, but she noticed that something brown was following after him. Someone roughly grabbed her upper arm and started to drag her to the exit. She was about ready to start kicking and screaming, but she saw that it was Uncle Vernon dragging her away, while the keeper of the reptile house was repeating, "what happened to the glass?"

In the main officer, the zoo director had made Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon strong tea, and his assistant had gotten biscuits for the kids, but Petunia and Vernon gave the biscuits to Piers and Dudley, who obnoxiously ate them in front of Hailey.

The zoo director apologized over and over for the boa constrictor incident. Piers and Dudley proceeded to pretend to stutter and mumble over the incident as soon as they finished eating the biscuits. The zoo director gave them all year round tickets, but Hailey didn't bother saying anything about it, because she knew that someone else in Dudley's gang would get their grubby paws on hers.

Thirty minutes later, they were back in the Dursley's car, with Hailey between Piers and Dudley, again.

"The snake nearly bit my leg off." Dudley complained to his parents and Hailey rolled her eyes.

"It nearly squeezed me to death," Piers whined.

Hailey may have rolled her eyes even harder and pointed out, "Actually, it bit playfully at your heels." She suddenly took two elbows to her ribs courtesy of Dudley and Piers. Dudley used his forearm to push Hailey to Piers, who used his forearm to push her back to Dudley. They two switched tactics and decided to sandwich her instead, using their shoulders to press her against each other.

"Interesting," Piers said, "since you were the one that was talking to it."

Hailey was trying to wiggle out from between them. "As if I caused the glass to disappear? It's not my fault that it disappeared like magic." She realized she used the "M" word which was forbidden in the Dursley household and she glanced at her uncle who was, surprisingly, calm.

After they dropped Piers off, who gave one last pinch to Hailey's ribs; Uncle Vernon started speaking incoherently, until they got to Number 4 Privet Drive. Hailey was rubbing her ribs when Vernon managed to say to her, "you—cupboard—now—no meals!"

Aunt Petunia grabbed Hailey by her upper arm and dragged her to the cupboard. Petunia shoved Hailey in there, closed the door, and closed the slot, driving her into darkness.

She sat on her bed in darkness for a few minutes, rubbing her ribs and trying to figure out why her aunt and uncle hated the word "magic". The slot opened up again and Vernon looked at her through it. He had calmed down enough to say menacingly to her, "There's no such thing as magic." He closed the slot again, putting the Potter girl in darkness again.

A/N: I tried to keep it as close to canon as I can, but in future chapters, it would be different, but I hope to keep it as close to the book as I possibly can. I figured that the Dursleys would treat her a little differently since she's a girl and all, with Dudley not hitting her, but still finding ways to bully her.