Years have passed since Petunia was woken by her husbands' screaming and arguing about a new baby in the house, but Privet Drive had changed very little. Although time had changed, and Dudley and Abigail were no longer babies Petunia loved them every bit as much. There were photographs on the mantle of the fireplace that showed a family of four growing up. Most of the pictures of Abigail held no traces of her Uncle. It was no secret that Vernon did not truly care for Abigail but dealt with her for his wife and son who adored her.
It was early morning at the end of June when her cousin Dudley came and woke her up. "Abby wake up were going to the zoo today," said Dudley excitedly. Abigail mumbled she was not a morning person and didn't want to start now. "Come on I want to go after breakfast." Just then Mrs. Dursley came in an ushered Dudley downstairs, so she could wake her niece up. Petunia knew from over the years Abigail had gained her sisters ability to want to sleep all day. She ripped the sheets back out of Abigail's reach.
"Dudley! I told you I don't want to get up!"
Just then she opened her eyes to see her Aunt smiling at her with her hands folded. Abigail turned red since she didn't realize that her aunt had just seen her less than lady like. "Good morning Abigail," Petunia smirked. "Morning Auntie…" she mumbled. "Why don't you put on your denim skirt and green blouse." Petunia left and went downstairs to finish making breakfast.
Upon entering the kitchen/ dining room she was greeted with an over flow of presents. Dudley had taken it upon himself to find out how many each of them got. Although they were roughly a month apart Aunt Petunia had always tried to have their birthday celebration on the same day in the beginning of July. Every morning since Abigail could remember she would come down for breakfast and her aunt cooking at the stove and her Uncle sitting at the table completely ignoring her and pretending she didn't exist. One thing her Uncle hated was questions. When Abigail was three she asked the only person in the room. That person happened to be Vernon. When she was curious about her parents she asked him, and he got angry at her and started yelling at her until Petunia came running into the room.
That was years ago and today was their birthday party. As Abigail sat across from her uncle he continued to read the newspaper and ignore her. Since this was normal she didn't feel uneasy about it anymore. "Dudley come sit down it is time for breakfast," called Petunia. She placed four plates of food on the table. As the four sat eating Dudley was telling her how many presents there were.
"There is thirty-seven presents Abby," Dudley smiled at his cousin making her smile back. "And I bet the majority of them are for you from your Aunt Marge." If there was one thing worse than Vernon and it was his sister Marge. Marge made it obvious that she hated Abigail just as much as she disliked Marge.
Just then the phone rang. Dudley and Abigail raced to get the phone, but Petunia beat them to it. "Dursley residence." As Petunia was on the phone both Dudley and Abigail decided to open their presents. As they were ripping through present after present they got everything they wanted and more. Dudley got a VCR and computer games while Abigail got some barbie dolls and a new scooter.
"Bad news Abigail, Emily is sick and won't be joining us for the zoo. Dudley stopped ripping through paper to look at Abigail. Although Abigail got along in school she did not have very many friends because she had said before she always felt like she didn't belong and the look on her face was enough to say she was sad. "It's alright Aunt Petunia is Piers still coming?"
As if on cue the doorbell rang and as Vernon opened the door Piers came running in. The two boys chatted excitedly about going to the zoo. Twenty minutes later they all piled into the car. Abigail's Uncle pulled her aside telling her no funny business, but the thing was funny things always happened around her. She had asked her aunt once why it happened, and Petunia didn't have a straight answer for her. Once Petunia had bought this ugly sweater for Abigail and when she tried to put it on her it kept shrinking until Petunia had said she must have bought the wrong size, but Abigail didn't believe her.
It was a warm Sunday morning and the zoo was quiet. Dudley, Piers, and Abigail got fudge bars at the entrance. All morning the kids went from attraction to attraction. As lunch time approached they ate at the zoo pizzeria. After they had pepperoni pizza for lunch they headed into the reptile room. Dudley and Piers were sticking their noses against the glass. Piers who was banging on it was making Dudley laugh. Abigail didn't know what happened one second, she was angry at Piers for banging on the glass the next he was falling into the snake cage.
The second it happened Dudley screamed, and Vernon came running as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. Even though she was at least two cages down when Vernon saw that Piers was in the cage he turned on Abigail so fast she backed up into the cement wall. "What happened Potter!" "I don't know one minute the glass was there and then it was gone. It was like magic."
One thing that Uncle Vernon hated was when anyone used the word Magic. Abigail had never understood it but picked it up quickly when she used to pretend that she was a fairy and he would get so angry at her. Vernon ushered the entire group out as quickly as he could. He acted like the entire world had heard Abigail say magic. On the drive home Abigail thought of how out of all the birthday parties she shared with Dudley this one had been the worst.