GROWING UP WITH THE DURSLEYS 2

He was ripping the paper off a gold wrist watch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried."Bad news, Vernon''she said". mrs.figg broke her legs.she can't take him.''she jerked her head in Harry's direction, Dudley's mouth fell open in horror,but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to Adventure parks, hamburger restaurants,or the movies Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg,a mad old lady who lived two street away. Harry hated it there the whole house smelled like cabbage and Mrs.figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she had ever owned.'' Now what? said aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he had planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs.figg had broke her legs,but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had looked at Tibbles,snowy,Mr paws and Tufty again.''we could phone Marge''Uncle Vernon suggested.'' Don't be silly, Vernon she hates the boy.''The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this,as though he wasn't there or rather,as though he was something very nasty that they couldn't understand , like a slug.what about what's --her--name, your friend ....... Yvonne?''On vacation in Mojorca,''Snapped Aunt Petunia.''You could just leave me here,''Harry put in hopefully (he had be able toward what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer). Aunt Petunia looked as though she had just swallowed a lemon.''she snarled". I won't blow up the house,'' said Harry, but they weren't listening. ''I suppose we could take him to the zoo,'' Said Aunt Petunia slowly,''and leave him in the car ........ 'That car's new he's not sitting in it alone!!.... Dudley began to cry loundly. In fact,he wasn't really crying,it had been a year since he had really cried..but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.'' Dinky Duddy dums don't cry, mummy won't let him spoil your special day.she cried, flinging her arms around him"I.... don't.... want.... him....to come! "Dudley yelled between huge,pretend sobs.He always spoils everything!He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.just then, the door bell rang...oh, good lord they are here! ''Said Aunt Petunia fractically and moment later, Dudley's best friend,piers poikiss walked in with his mother.

Piers was a scrawry boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arm behind their backs while. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.Half an hour later, Harry who couldn't believe his luck,piers and Dudley on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they had left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.''I am warning you now,boy...any funny business, anything at all ... and you will be in that capboard from now until christmas.'' I am not going to do anything."Said Harry, honestly...but Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did. The problem was strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.Once Aunt Petunia, tried of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all,had taken a pair of kitchen scissor and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left'' To hide that horrible scar.''Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry,who spent a sleepless night imagining school the nextday, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and trapped glasses. Next morning, however he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off he had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly. Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revoiting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls)...The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smallest it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet ,but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. On the other hand ,he had gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens . Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when,as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress talking them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he had tried to do was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors.it was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry.what he wanted before they could hurry him away ,they bought him a cheap lemon ice Pop .it wasn't bad, either Harry thought licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching it's head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond. Harry had the best morning he had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dursley and piers,who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fell back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickers booker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. Harry felt , afterwards that he should have known it was all too good to last. 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 sort of lizards and Snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone . Dudley and piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man- crushing

python.