It was the first week of July, an ordinary summer day for most of the United Kingdom especially for the house on Privet Drive in Little Whinging. Hot and humid but enjoyable all the same for the children that were now out of school and with their families. Some were even vacationing in other parts of the world as they went and saw knew places. For a certain part of the population they were staying at home as an excitement and anticipation that was normally felt by small children the night before Christmas was growing and no one wanted to miss their letter.
Not that it was likely they would, these letters after all were sent by owl and as long as certain charms or protections weren't used than owls were just as likely to get the post to its intended recipient just as quickly and accurately as any other form of post. Still those families with children that were near their eleventh birthday preferred not to travel at this time of the year. There was no set date but everyone of them knew that any day now letters would go out. Families with kids that were the proper age were in communication with each other waiting for the first one to receive their letter that would signal that it had started. That their children had been chosen to attend the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the United Kingdom and perhaps in the entire world.
For those with out any magical relatives the coming letters would be a complete surprise a member of the school's faculty would have to come out to explain how gifted their child was and how they could support their child's entry into a society and world that had existed for millennia and successfully spent the last several centuries in secrecy. A world of wonders and horrors, dreams and nightmares, magic and monsters, a Wizarding World.
It was a normal day for one Dudley Dursley.
My birthday had been last week, for which my parents had given me two dozen gifts, and only a few of them were broken. Pretty good I had to admit, and I had already set them aside for my parents to wrap up and give to Harry for his Birthday at the end of July. Mom and Dad firmly of the opinion that was as good as my cousin deserved. I didn't know why my parents both hated Harry and still kept him around the house, even as a servant. It was just one of those grown up things that Mom and Dad told me not to think about so I didn't.
Besides I rather liked the idea of having a servant growing up. Made me feel like I was a lord from a storybook when I realized I had someone waiting on us that no one else I knew at school did. Plus at this point in my life it was getting harder and harder to tell which of the two made better food. Harry was pretty good at making breakfast foods while Mom made better dinners. Harry was getting old enough that sometimes I thought Mom would start handing off that responsibility to my cousin soon as well. Over the course of our time living together I could say with certainty that Harry was good at two things if only in the safety of my own thoughts, making good food and being a fast runner.
I could attest to the second fact from personal experience because Harry attended the same school as me and during recess or after school sometimes my friends and I would chase after Harry. I'd been doing this for years and when we caught up with him we'd shove him for a little bit, call him some names and then gone on our way. Only two years ago he started running so fast and gotten so good at hiding that he got away more times than he was caught. This last year he got away every time except twice when I found himself near the panting boy. The first time I was confused because as big boned as I am, I tended to be in the back of the pack of boys chasing Harry and somehow I'd gotten ahead of everyone.
The second time I'd ended up on the roof of the school with Harry which had been utterly terrifying. I have a natural aversion to great heights and they had needed to send up the fire department to get me back down. After that incident, I'd decided to stop the Chasing Harry game because I had no idea how I'd gotten up there and no desire to repeat the incident. I hadn't gotten in any trouble with Mom and Dad though, for some reason they just blamed it all on Harry, like they blamed him for every weird thing that happened around the house and called him a disgusting freak and told him to stay away from their perfect son.
It was all rather strange but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. My birthday had also been rather strange because Harry had talked to one of the snakes during our trip to the zoo. On the top five list of freaky things that Harry has ever done if not the freakiest because Harry had done something to make the glass disappear and the snake was now on the loose. There were all sorts of sightings being told on the news but wherever the snake had gone it didn't appear that anyone had caught it yet. I was so frightened I even ended falling back into the snake's habitat. For a second it had even looked like the glass was back and I was trapped in there and then just as inexplicably the glass was gone and Mom had pulled me out and said she'd never let me go. She did eventually but I appreciated the thought and Harry had received another grounding not to leave the inside of the house except to do yard work.
It was an ordinary day for me, Harry had made a large and rather delicious breakfast for all of us and the bell rang signifying the post had arrived. Dad was to busy looking over the crossword in the local paper and Mom didn't want to get out of her chair as she was watching the television play in the other room. Some gardening show about how it was the perfect time to plant this sort of flower. I was eating so I was firmly decided not to get up and allow it to get even a bit cooler before it went into my mouth. That left Harry to go get the mail.
Harry was back in only moments but he looked uncharacteristically distracted as he put the usual junk mail in the trash and placed the magazines by Mom's plate and the bills by Dad's plate. Surprisingly though there were two letters left. The envelopes looked rather old, instead of the crisp white envelopes that I was used to seeing. I wanted to grab the both of them and see what they were when Harry handed one over to me. The lettering was fancy, so unlike the blocky letters I was used to seeing.
Mr D Dursley
The Second Biggest Bedroom
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
I was about to tear the envelope open when Dad said, "Rare to see you with a letter Harry. Be sure to check for Letter Bombs."
Dad laughed like he was joking but I really didn't want to get blown up. I scooted my chair a couple inches away from Harry who was looking over his own envelope before finally opening it with a butter knife. I held my breath but thankfully nothing exploded or anything weird happened. Yet. I still took some quick glances around me just to make sure everything was in order before returning my attention back to the one addressed to me. Harry's letter was safe that probably meant mine was as well. Right?
[] Just read Harry's letter over his shoulder
[] Throw it away
[] Have Dad check the envelope for letter bombs
[] Give the envelope to Mom
[] Write-in?