By lunchtime, Dudley and Piers had grown tired of looking at the animals at the zoo, and Dudley was ready for lunch. He ordered a huge knickerbocker glory, which he consumed in the same manner that a killer whale swallows a baby seal.
"Let's go to the reptile house," Dudley demanded as soon as he had finished, and Vernon, Petunia, Dudley, Piers and Harry made their way into the dark building, where lizards crawled and snakes slithered. Harry was reading the informative placards next to the habitats with interest, but Dudley idly walked from one reptile to the next. What he really wanted to see was the biggest snake in the building, a stunningly enormous boa constrictor.
When Dudley got to the boa's habitat, the huge animal was fast asleep. Dudley wondered why the zookeepers were letting it sleep. His father had paid good money for tickets to the zoo and the biggest attraction was asleep.
"Make it do something!" Dudley demanded. His father obeyed instantly, rapping loudly on the glass. The snake didn't even move its head. Vernon moved on, but Dudley kept looking at the snake, as if staring at it would make it move.
"Come on, Dudley," Piers said. "Maybe it's been drugged or something."
Dudley headed after his father, who was looking at a cobra that was flicking its tongue and spreading its hood. Dudley sighed. A cobra wasn't as exciting as a boa constrictor, but at least it was moving.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
Dudley jumped. Piers was bellowing at the top of his lungs; turning around, Dudley saw that his friend was still looking at the boa constrictor—and so was Harry. Dudley rushed (as well as he could) to the habitat. He got there just in time to see the snake wink at Harry. Wait…snakes don't wink…do they?
Dudley went to rap on the glass, but his hand only hit air.
The glass had vanished.
xXx
After the uproar had calmed down, Mr. Dursley hustled everyone out of the reptile house, out of the zoo, and into the car. He was still jabbering, and Mrs. Dursley was still pale, despite the tea that the head of the reptile house had given her.
Piers looked maliciously at Harry and said aloud, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?" Dudley grinned. Harry shrank back, for Mr. Dursley was turning a brilliant shade of purple.
xXx
"Finally out of detention, Harry?" Dudley sneered at his cousin. Harry didn't answer him or even take notice, which annoyed Dudley very much. If Harry so much as spoke angrily to his cousin, Dudley could go running to Vernon or Petunia to tell them that Harry was "being mean". Then Harry would get in trouble. Dudley liked seeing Harry get into trouble, which was why he was disappointed that Harry now was able to roam the house again, after being kept in his cupboard for months after the snake incident.
The incident of the vanishing glass had been so confounding and bizarre that the Dursleys had made themselves believe the most logical explanation that they could come up with—that it had been an elaborate trick by the zookeepers—the glass panel had been retracted via mechanics, as a sort of joke on the visitors. It was a careless joke, though. The dangerous snake had escaped. Yes, that was what had happened. Glass didn't just vanish into thin air.
Dudley pursued Harry, waving a letter in his face. "I got admitted to Smeltings," he said smugly. "You're only going to Stonewall High. They stuff people's heads in the toilets at Stonewall. Did you want to practice?"
"No, thanks," Harry said "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it—it might be sick."
Then he rushed off, leaving Dudley very confused. Whatever did Harry mean? Had Harry just insulted him? Yes, he had! Dudley thought about running to report this to his parents, but he was upstairs and they were downstairs, and that wasn't worth the effort. But the next time his git of a cousin said anything…
The next morning, Dudley tried on his new Smeltings Private School uniform, to his parents' pride and delight. He enjoyed the attention, but was aware that Harry, hanging in the background, was watching the scene trying not to laugh. Oh well, Harry was just jealous because Dudley had been accepted into Vernon's old private school and he hadn't.
"Get the mail, Harry," Mr. Dursley was saying. When Harry refused, Dudley tried to whack him with his Smelting's stick, but Harry dodged out of the way. The latter quickly returned, carrying the mail, and, in his other hand-clutching a small ivory envelope.
"Harry's got something!" Dudley shouted, laughing in delight when Harry turned pale; Mr. Dursley tore the envelope from his nephew's hand and glanced at the envelope. Without further ado, ripped open the envelope and took out the letter. A moment later, he turned red.
Everything after that was a blur; Mr. Dursley was showing the letter to his wife, who paled in shock; Harry and Dudley fought to see the letter, and, somehow, Harry had been given Dudley's second room.
What happened within the next week confused everyone, especially Dudley. The letters had just kept coming—via owl, through the mail slot, down the chimney—until at last Mr. Dursley had hustled everyone into the car. He drove miles to a remote, dingy motel. Even Dudley didn't dare to ask what his father was trying to do.
The letters had even come to the motel, and before Dudley's small mind could process it, he, his parents, and his awful cousin were sitting in a damp shack on a tall rock, high above the ocean.
"I want to go back to watch television!"
"I'm hungry!"
"Just leave Harry here, then we can go home without being bothered!"
None of Dudley's whining seemed to have any effect on his father except to make him angrier. So, after a miserable 'meal' of tinned tomatoes and crisps, Dudley fell asleep under a moldy blanket.
BOOM!
Dudley was jolted out of sleep as if dynamite had exploded under him.
"Where's the cannon?" he yelled.
There was another crashing sound, the door fell in, and a huge form was standing in the doorway, looking like a shadow against the gloomy ocean fog.