The fairy godmother walks back into the room with a sad smile on her face. It draws the attention from the now clean table. As everyone's head turns to her, the fairy godmother motions for them all to calm down and listen. She sits down and says
"It turns out that the children were expecting this to happen" she says.
"Wait what!" Adam yells. "How did they know and how do you know"
"They left a note for us to read" she says and pulls out a note. "Well actually, they left a note for you lot" godmother motions to Ben, Audrey, Lonnie, Doug and Chad. She gives them the note and they go to a corner together. Ben reads it out to them all. It says
Dear Ben, Audrey, Lonnie, Doug, Jane and Chad
I know this whole ordeal will be a shock to you but we needed you to realise what went on in our childhood. Something terrible happened to us and we couldn't keep our secret any longer. You may have noticed large number of villains in Mal's memories but we assure you that they are not a threat. Well, not all of them but you may know that depending on when you find them. Jay, Carlos and Evies memories have also been included so you may see some of them too. Please stay calm and we are so sorry about keeping this from all of you.
Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos
The group share a look and sit down. At least they expected this to happen but it doesn't explain how it happened. Hopefully what their friends said was true, that the villains weren't a threat. They had no time to discuss this as the next memory was being played.
The scene of number four Privet drive was the same as it was before those ten years ago. The sun rises of the four bedroom house and the stairs begin to shake inside the house. A large girl runs down the stairs and stops. She paces back up the stairs and begins to jump. Underneath those very stairs, spiders begin to fall onto a young girl. The girl, mal pulls the spider off her socks. After all she is used to spiders. The cupboard under the stairs was full of them and that's where she slept.
Wand flew up without a second thought. Screams and shouts of anger and worry are heard as belle looks at her husband with tears. Ben had punched the wall which was now sporting a new hole in it. Audrey, Jane and Lonnie where looking on in horror and Doug and chad where trying to hold ben back. Queen Leah was staring at her daughter and her husband who were shocked. How could someone hurt a child like that? The majority of people had the same thoughts.
Mal steps out of the cupboard only to be pushed back in by Diana who was too occupied with her thought to even notice. Rubbing the back of her head, Mal makes it to the living room to be shouted at by her aunt petunia.
"Breakfast! And don't burn it or it will be the last thing you will do girl!"
Growls can be heard and everyone notices the likeness between Adam's and the beast he once was. He swore that those days where gone but maybe it was always there.
Mal does as she was asked and Diana starts to count her presents as it was her birthday. As she gets to the end a horror struck child turns to look at her parents and screams
"36! 36! But last year I had 37!" Diana screams unhappily
"Well darling, some are a bit bigger than the others" her father tries to explain whilst clicking his fingers at Mal, who looked on with jealousy to bring him coffee and his breakfast.
"I don't care how big they are!" she screams in reply.
"Well pumpkin, when we go out today how about we get you two more presents. How does that sound?"
"How could they condone such behaviour" Ariel mutters.
Mal watches as her aunt pinches Diana's cheeks and shoots mal a glare. She quickly sets down three heaping plates of bacon, sausages, eggs and beans to her relatives and goes back into the kitchen. Left out for her is a single small apple and a glass of water. She scoffs the lot and ducks out of the room, trying to get away from her horrid family.
"Their starving her!" Philip yells, taking everyone by surprise. He had always given mal a wide birth, out of shame more than anything because after all, he had murdered her mother.
"Vernon, bad news. She can't take her" aunt petunia says motioning to the door that mal was hiding next to. Uncle Vernon glares at the door, as if he wished that the door would splinter and disappear so that he could shout at her a bit more.
"Freak! Get in here" uncle Vernon shouts and mal wonders into the room with her eyes down.
"Mrs Fig can't take her because she's broken her leg" aunt petunia says angrily as if it was Mals fault. Mal looks down and tries to hide a smile. She didn't hate Mrs Fig really but she was glad that she could go another year without having to see whiskers, snuffles and Mr snuffles again.
"You could just leave me here" Mal whispers, looking at her shoes. If she got to stay then she could eat some more, maybe read in the living room or even have a go at Diana's computer.
Belle looks on sadly. Mal as such an outgoing person, always up for a challenge but this frightened young girl was a shell of herself. Oh how those Dursley's would pay!
"What? And come home to a blown up house. I don't think so" Aunt Petunia hisses.
"I wouldn't blow up the house" Mal mumbles but as usual, she is ignored.
"We could take her and leave her in the car" aunt petunia suggests after thinking about it.
"No that car is brand new" Uncle Vernon says slowly as if the process of thinking was difficult for him. Then again, maybe it was.
"She is not a dog" Lonnie growls making chad move away from her in a state of fear.
And that's how Mal found herself waiting outside, about to go to the zoo for the first time. Diana and her friend Patty where going too and she defiantly wanted to keep away from then. Just as she was about to get in the car, Uncle Vernon grabbed her hand and growled
"Im warning you girl. Any funny business and no meals for a week!" and then pushed Mal towards the door. She hit her head against it but didn't react at her Uncles cruel smirk. She kept her head down and got in the car. After all, survival was key in the Dursley household.
The memory fades and everyone lets out a deep breath that they didn't know they were holding. To treat a child like that. Ben was furious to say the least. His girlfriend was treated like that for nearly a decade. How had no one noticed? And where were Jay, Evie and Carlos? Hopefully they would turn up soon and get mal out of there. He just hoped that Mal wouldn't be with these people for too long.