Chapter 1 Owl Post

provoke monkey around was a highly unusual boy in m either ways. For i thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other epoch of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the abruptly of night. And he in addition happened to be a wizard.It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his stomach in neck, the blankets drawn right everywhere his head same(p) a tent, a flash faint in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. encrust moved the tip of his eagle-feather pinion down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless(prenominal) discuss.The quill paused at the top of a likely looking paragraph. encrust pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, moved his flashlight closer to the book, and readNon-magic people (more commonly k at one ti manpower as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval judgment of convictions, but not actually good at recognizing it. On the rare affair that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame-Freezing fulfill and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times in various disguises. kindle regurgitate his quill between his teeth and reached underneath his pillow for his inkbottle and a roll of fleece. Slowly and real carefully he unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped his quill into it, and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, hed probably find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer.The Dursley family of Number Four, Privet Drive, was the reason that scourge never enjoyed his summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and their son, Dudley, were lay waste tos only living(a) relatives. They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude toward magic. Harrys dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys roof. For age, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Harry as downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic forth of him. To their fury, they had not been unsuccessful. These days they lived in terror of anyone finding out that Harry had spent most of the last-place two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most they could do, however, was to lock away Harrys spell books, billy, cauldron, and broomstick at the start of the summer break, and forbid him to let the cat out of the bag to the neighbors.This separation from his spell books had been a real prob lem for Harry, because his teachers at Hogwarts had given him a set of holiday work. One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about shrinking potions, was for Harrys least favorite teacher, professor Snape, who would be delighted to have an excuse to give Harry detention for a month. Harry had accordingly seized his chance in the first week of the holidays. While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernons new company car (in very loud vocalizations, so that the rest of the s maneuvert would notice it in any case), Harry had crept downstairs, picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs, grabbed some of his books, and hidden them in his bedroom. As considerable as he didnt leave spots of ink on the sheets, the Dursleys need never know that he was studying magic by night.Harry was particularly keen to avoid trouble with his aunt and uncle at the moment, as they were already in an especially bad mood with him, all bec ause hed received a forebode foreshadow from a fellow wizard one week into the school vacation.Ron Weasley, who was one of Harrys best friends at Hogwarts, came from a whole family of wizards. This meant that he knew a lot of things Harry didnt, but had never used a telephone before. Most unluckily, it had been Uncle Vernon who had answered the call.Vernon Dursley speaking.Harry, who happened to be in the room at the time, froze as he heard Rons voice answer.HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I WANT TO TALK TO HARRY POTTERRon was yelling so loudly that Uncle Vernon jumped and held the receiver a instauration away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm.WHO IS THIS? he roared in the direction of the mouthpiece. WHO ARE YOU?RON WEASLEY Ron bellowed back, as though he and Uncle Vernon were speaking from opposite ends of a football field. IM A FRIEND OF HARRYS FROM SCHOOL Uncle Vernons small eyes swiveled around to Harry, who was rooted to th e spot.THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE he roared, now retention the receiver at arms length, as though frightened it might explode. I DONT KNOW WHAT SCHOOL YOURE TALKING ABOUT NEVER CONTACT ME once again DONT YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILYAnd he threw the receiver back onto the telephone as if dropping a poisonous spider.The fight that had followed had been one of the worst ever.HOW DARE YOU pop transfer THIS NUMBER TO PEOPLE LIKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU Uncle Vernon had roared, spraying Harry with spit.Ron obviously realized that hed gotten Harry into trouble, because he hadnt called again. Harrys other best friend from Hogwarts, Hermione Granger, hadnt been in touch either. Harry suspected that Ron had warned Hermione not to call, which was a pity, because Hermione, the cleverest witch in Harrys year, had Muggle parents, knew perfectly well how to use a telephone, and would probably have had enough horse sense not to say that she went to Hogwarts.So Harry had had no word from any of his wiza rding friends for five considerable weeks, and this summer was turning out to be almost as bad as the last one. There was just one very small improvement after swearing that he wouldnt use her to send garner to any of his friends, Harry had been allowed to let his owl, Hedwig, out at night. Uncle Vernon had given in because of the racket Hedwig made if she was locked in her cage all the time.Harry finished write about Wendelin the Weird and paused to listen again. The silence in the morose house was broken only by the distant, grunting snores of his enormous cousin, Dudley. It must be very late, Harry thought. His eyes were itching with tiredness. Perhaps hed finish this essay tomorrow nightHe replaced the top of the ink bottle pulled an old pillowcase from under his bed put the flashlight, A History of Magic, his essay, quill, and ink inside it got out of bed and hid the lot under a loose floorboard under his bed. Then he stood up, stretched, and checked the time on the lumino us alarm clock on his bedside table.It was one oclock in the morning. Harrys stomach gave a funny jolt. He had been thirteen years old, without realizing it, for a whole hour.Yet another unusual thing about Harry was how little he looked forward to his natal days. He had never received a birthday card in his life. The Dursleys had completely ignored his last two birthdays, and he had no reason to suppose they would remember this one.Harry walked crossways the dark room, past Hedwigs large, empty cage, to the open window. He leaned on the sill, the cool night air pleasant on his face after a long time under the blankets. Hedwig had been absent for two nights now. Harry wasnt worried about her shed been gone this long before. But he hoped shed be back soon she was the only living creature in this house who didnt flinch at the sight of him.Harry, though still rather small and skinny for his age, had grown a few inches everywhere the last year. His jet-black hair, however, was just a s it always had been stubbornly untidy, whatever he did to it. The eyes behind his glasses were bright green, and on his forehead, clearly glaring through his hair, was a thin scar, shaped like a bolt of lightning.Of all the unusual things about Harry, this scar was the most peculiar(a)ordinary of all. It was not, as the Dursleys had off-key for ten years, a souvenir of the car crash that had killed Harrys parents, because Lily and James Potter had not died in a car crash. They had been murdered, murdered by the most feared glooming wizard for a hundred years, Lord Voldemort. Harry had escaped from the same attack with nothing more than a scar on his forehead, where Voldemorts curse, instead of cleansing him, had rebounded upon its originator. Barely alive, Voldemort had fledBut Harry had practice face-to-face with him at Hogwarts. Remembering their last meeting as he stood at the dark window, Harry had to take away he was lucky even to have reached his thirteenth birthday.He scanned the starry sky for a sign of Hedwig, perhaps soaring back to him with a dead mouse dangling from her beak, expecting praise. Gazing absently over the rooftops, it was a few seconds before Harry realized what he was seeing.Silhouetted against the golden moon, and growing larger every moment, was a large, strangely lopsided creature, and it was flapping in Harrys direction. He stood quite still, watching it sink lower and lower. For a split second he hesitated, his hand on the window latch, wondering whether to slam it shut. But then the bizarre creature soared over one of the street lamps of Privet Drive, and Harry, realizing what it was, leapt aside.Through the window soared three owls, two of them holding up the third, which appeared to be unconscious. They landed with a soft flump on Harrys bed, and the middle owl, which was large and gray, keeled right over and lay motionless. There was a large package tied to its legs.Harry recognized the unconscious owl at once his na me was Errol, and he belonged to the Weasley family. Harry dashed to the bed, untied the stack around Errols legs, took off the parcel, and then carried Errol to Hedwigs cage. Errol undetermined one bleary eye, gave a feeble hoot of thanks, and began to gulp some water.Harry turned back to the stay owls. One of them, the large snowy female, was his own Hedwig. She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked extremely pleased with herself. She gave Harry an affectionate nip with her beak as he outback(a) her burden, then flew across the room to join Errol.Harry didnt recognize the third owl, a handsome tawny one, but he knew at once where it had numerate from, because in addition to a third package, it was carrying a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest. When Harry relieved this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, stretched its wings, and took off through the window into the night.Harry sat down on his bed and grabbed Errols package, ripped off the brown paper, and di scovered a invest wrapped in gold and his first ever birthday card. Fingers trembling slightly, he opened the envelope. Two pieces of paper fell out a letter and a newspaper clipping.The clipping had clearly come out of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, because the people in the black-and-white picture were moving. Harry picked up the clipping, smoothed it out, and readMINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts seat at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend. Harry scanned the moving photograph, and a grin spread across hi s face as he proverb all nine of the Weasleys waving furiously at him, standing in front of a large pyramid. flesh out little Mrs. Weasley tall, balding Mr. Weasley six sons and one daughter, all (though the black-and-white picture didnt show it) with flaming-red hair. Right in the middle of the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat, Scabbers, on his shoulder and his arm around his little sister, Ginny.Harry couldnt think of anyone who deserved to win a large pile of gold more than the Weasleys, who were very becoming and extremely poor. He picked up Rons letter and unfolded it.Dear Harry, Happy birthday Look, Im really sorry about that telephone call. I hope the Muggles didnt give you a hard time. I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldnt have shouted. Its amazing here in Egypt. Bills taken us around all the tombs and you wouldnt believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldnt let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeleton s in there, of Muggles whod broken in and grown extra heads and stuff. I couldnt believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons Most of its gone on this trip, but theyre going to buy me a new wand for next year. Harry remembered only too well the occasion when Rons old wand had snapped. It had happened when the car the two of them had been flying to Hogwarts had crashed into a tree on the school grounds.Well be back about a week before term starts and well be going up to London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there? Dont let the Muggles get you down Try and come to London, Ron P.S. Percys Head Boy. He got the letter last week. Harry glanced back at the photograph. Percy, who was in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, was looking particularly smug. He had pinned his Head Boy badge to the fez perched jauntily on top of his neat hair, his horn-rimmed glasses flashing in the Egyptian sun.Harry now turned to his present and unwrappe d it. Inside was what looked like a miniature glass spinning top. There was another note from Ron beneath it.Harry this is a Pocket Sneakoscope. If theres someone untrustworthy around, its supposed to light up and spin. Bill says its rubbish sold for wizard tourists and isnt reliable, because it kept lighting up at dinner last night. But he didnt realize Fred and George had put beetles in his soup. Bye Ron Harry put the Pocket Sneakoscope on his bedside table, where it stood quite still, balanced on its point, reflecting the luminous hands of his clock. He looked at it happily for a few seconds, then picked up the parcel Hedwig had brought.Inside this, too, there was a wrapped present, a card, and a letter, this time from Hermione.Dear Harry, Ron wrote to me and told me about his phone call to your Uncle Vernon. I do hope youre all right. Im on holiday in France at the moment and I didnt know how I was going to send this to you what if theyd opened it at customs? but then Hedwig turned up I think she wanted to make sure you got something for your birthday for a change. I bought your present by owl-order there was an advertisement in the Daily Prophet (Ive been getting it delivered its so good to keep up with whats going on in the wizarding knowledge base), Did you see that picture of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet hes learning loads. Im really jealous the ancient Egyptian wizards were fascinating. Theres some interesting local biography of witchcraft here, too. Ive rewritten my whole History of Magic essay to include some of the things Ive found out, I hope its not too long its two rolls of parchment more than Professor Binns asked for. Ron says hes going to be in London in the last week of the holidays. Can you make it? Will your aunt and uncle let you come? I really hope you can. If not, Ill see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first Love from Hermione P.S. Ron says Percys Head Boy. Ill bet Percys really pleased. Ron doesnt seem too hap py about it.Harry laughed as he put Hermiones letter aside and picked up her present. It was very heavy. Knowing Hermione, he was sure it would be a large book full of very difficult spells but it wasnt. His heart gave a huge bound as he ripped back the paper and saw a sleek black leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick Servicing Kit.Wow, Hermione Harry whispered, unzipping the case to look inside.There was a large jar of Fleetwoods High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tail-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare.Apart from his friends, the thing that Harry missed most about Hogwarts was Quidditch, the most popular sport in the magical world highly dangerous, very exciting, and played on broomsticks. Harry happened to be a very good Quidditch p degree he had been the youngest person in a nose candy to be picked for one of the Hogwarts House teams. One of H arrys most prized possessions was his Nimbus Two Thousand racing broom.Harry put the leather case aside and picked up his last parcel. He recognized the untidy scrawl on the brown paper at once this was from Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. He tore off the top layer of paper and glimpsed something green and leathery, but before he could unwrap it properly, the parcel gave a strange quiver, and whatever was inside it snapped loudly as though it had jaws.Harry froze. He knew that Hagrid would never send him anything dangerous on purpose, but then, Hagrid didnt have a normal persons view of what was dangerous. Hagrid had been known to befriend giant spiders, buy vicious, three-headed dogs from men in pubs, and sneak illegal dragon eggs into his cabin.Harry poked the parcel nervously. It snapped loudly again. Harry reached for the lamp on his bedside table, gripped it firmly in one hand, and raised it over his head, ready to strike. Then he seized the rest of the wrapping paper in his other hand and pulled.And out fell a book. Harry just had time to register its handsome green cover, emblazoned with the golden title The Monster Book of Monsters, before it flipped onto its edge and scuttled sideways along the bed like some uncanny crab.Uh-oh, Harry muttered.The book toppled off the bed with a loud clunk and shuffled rapidly across the room. Harry followed it stealthily. The book was hiding in the dark topographic point under his desk. Praying that the Dursleys were still fast asleep, Harry got down on his hands and knees and reached toward it.OuchThe book snapped shut on his hand and then flapped past him, still scuttling on its covers. Harry scrambled around, threw himself forward, and managed to flatten it. Uncle Vernon gave a loud, sleepy grunt in the room next door.Hedwig and Errol watched interestedly as Harry clamped the struggling book tightly in his arms, hurried to his chest of drawers, and pulled out a belt, which he buckled tightly around it. The Mon ster Book shuddered angrily, but could no longer flap and snap, so Harry threw it down on the bed and reached for Hagrids card.Dear Harry, Happy Birthday Think you might find this useful for next year. Wont say no more here. spread abroad you when I see you. Hope the Muggles are treating you right. All the best, Hagrid It struck Harry as ominous that Hagrid thought a biting book would come in useful, but he put Hagrids card up next to Rons and Hermiones, grinning more broadly than ever. Now there was only the letter from Hogwarts left.Noticing that it was rather thicker than usual, Harry slit open the envelope, pulled out the first page of parchment within, and readDear Mr. Potter, Please note that the new school year will commence on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from Kings Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven oclock. Third years are permitted to visit the settlement of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permissio n form to your parent or guardian to sign. A list of books for next year is enclosed. Yours sincerely, Professor M. McGonagall Deputy Headmistress Harry pulled out the Hogsmeade permission form and looked at it, no longer grinning. It would be wonderful to visit Hogsmeade on weekends he knew it was an entirely wizarding village, and he had never set foot there. But how on earth was he going to persuade Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to sign the form?He looked over at the alarm clock. It was now two oclock in the morning.Deciding that hed worry about the Hogsmeade form when he woke up, Harry got back into bed and reached up to cross off another day on the chart hed made for himself, counting down the days left until his return to Hogwarts. Then he took off his glasses and lay down eyes open, facing his three birthday cards.Extremely unusual though he was, at that moment Harry Potter felt just like everyone else glad, for the first time in his life, that it was his birthday.