The car continued to drive and came to the outskirts of a big city, stopping in front of a dark and gloomy hotel. The hotel was in poor condition. The room did not receive sunlight and seemed dark and damp. There was also some pungent odor in the air. It smells like disinfectant.
The group stayed for one night, got up the next day, and prepared to have something to eat at the hotel before continuing on the road.
At this time, the proprietress of the hotel came over
"Excuse me, is there a gentleman named Harry Potter among you? The front desk received about a hundred letters like this." As she said this, she took out one of them, and everyone saw that it was written with green ink. Address: Mr. Harry Potter, Room 17, Railway View Hotel, Cokeworth
Harry was a little surprised and was about to reach out to pick it up
"I'll get the letter!" Vernon held Harry down, stood up and walked out with the landlady.
Vehicles on the road again
"We'd better go home, dear." Aunt Petunia's timid voice broke the silence and she looked at her husband.
But Vernon didn't seem to hear her at all. Silence returned to the car. No one dared to say anything, not even Dudley.
After a long journey, the car reached the end of the road, a coast. Uncle Vernon got out of the car, locked the car, and disappeared.
There was a strong wind in the sky and it started to rain.
In the car, Harry was thinking about how Ivy would give him a gift tomorrow. Dudley was sobbing because there was no TV to watch. Aunt Petunia was looking out the window looking for her husband. The three of them each had their own concerns.
After a while, Uncle Vernon came back, smiling and holding a slender package in his hand.
"Honey, what's that in your hand?"
no answer
"The weather forecast says there will be a storm tonight!" He was very excited, as if what was falling from the sky was money instead of rain.
"And a kind person is willing to lend us shelter from the rain!" He pointed to a huge rock on the sea. There was a shabby house on the rock that creaked in the cold wind, and it felt like it would collapse at any time.
“Really nice place”
————
It's almost midnight, 16 Bakers Street
Ivy has already made Harry's gift, put it in a delicate and small gift box, and gave it to "Cake" with a letter.
The round cake is Ivey's owl, a Siberian eagle owl, less than 2 years old, with a body length of about 83 cm. Its ear feathers are long and prominent, clustered and extending in the horizontal direction. Most of its feathers are yellowish brown. It has black spots and vertical stripes. The iris is golden yellow.
The round cake was a birthday gift from Eileen last year. He looks quite cute, but he doesn't look very smart.
"Yuanbing, this is a very important gift, you can't lose it!" Yuanbing twisted his neck, tilted his head and looked at the owner with big eyes.
"That's right! You should be able to find Harry. I also let you meet him. The owls in this world should be very psychic!" Ivy muttered to the round cake.
The little guy might have been annoyed by the chanting, so he flapped his wings twice and hit Ivy's hand.
"Hey! What's your attitude?" He slapped his round head hard twice.
"Go, don't get lost, I'll give you something delicious when I come back." Ivy opened the window. Yuanbing looked back at him and called out, then turned and flew away.
Ivey silently picked up a wooden upright trumpet and started playing it, not knowing what he was thinking.
On the table blocked by the round cake, a letter was opened and placed there:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster:Albus Dumbledore
(President of the International Confederation of Wizards...Chief Magician)
Dear Mr. Shafiq:
We are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed is a list of required books and equipment.
The semester is scheduled to start on September 1st. We will be waiting for your owl to bring your reply before July 31st.
vice principal
Minerva McGonagall
————
Late at night, Harry tossed and turned, and Dudley's snoring made him unable to sleep. He looked at Dudley's hand on the edge of the sofa. There was a watch on his chubby wrist. The luminous dial told Harry that he would be there in ten minutes.
Turned eleven years old.
The time was approaching minute by minute, and Harry was a little expectant and a little worried. After all, he didn't know where he was now, and he was worried about whether Ivy could find him.
Suddenly, Harry heard an unknown "crack" sound outside the house. He looked at his watch.
"There are still 5 minutes left. I hope it's not the sound of the roof being blown off by the wind."
With three minutes left, the crunching sound seemed to be getting closer.
"One minute left, fifty seconds - 30 seconds - 10 seconds." As his birthday approached, Harry stared at the door, as if someone was about to come in.
"Boom!" I don't know if it was a knock on the door or a banging on the door.
"Where are the cannons set off!" Dudley was woken up and said drowsily.
"Boom! Boom" sounded twice in succession. At this moment, there was movement from behind. It was Uncle Vernon, who stumbled in with a double-barreled shotgun.
"Who is outside the door! - I'm warning you - I have a gun in my hand." Perhaps the warning had an effect, and the door became quiet.
"Crack!" The door fell from the door frame and hit the ground with a deafening sound.
In front of the door, a burly man stood there. He was nearly three meters tall and nearly two meters wide. From a distance, he looked like a wall.
His face was almost hidden by long unkempt hair and a thick tangled beard, but you could still see the dark and shiny eyes like black beetles beneath the hair.
Without the door blocking it, a raging storm swept in, making the already cold room even worse. Harry could no longer feel his feet.
The giant hunched his back and squeezed into the house. He picked up the door with a "bang" and easily inserted the door into the door frame. The sound of the storm subsided and he turned to look at everyone.
"I want you to leave immediately! Sir, this is private property!" Vernon raised his gun and said to the giant.
The giant walked towards him
"What are you doing! Don't come here - just stand still!" Vernon said with a stern expression.
The giant ignored his warning and stood in front of him, using the manual version of "Expelliarmus" - reaching out and bending the barrel of his gun
"Shut up! Dursley! You old scoundrel"
The giant turned to Dudley and said, "Last time I saw you, you were just a baby, Harry."
"I didn't expect to grow so big in a blink of an eye, especially here. It's even bigger than I thought," the giant said, patting his belly.
"I-I'm not Harry" Dudley trembled.
Harry walked out on his own initiative
"I am Harry, Harry Potter"
"Of course it's you, oh! I have something else," he said, taking out a squashed box from behind. "Anyway, I wish you a happy birthday first, Harry."
Harry opened the box. It was a pink cream cake with green sugar syrup spelling out on it: Happy Birthday Harry. Although there were typos, don't pay too much attention to it, after all, Hagrid had not finished school.
At this time, there was a neighing sound outside the window, and a large owl flew in.
"These damn things——" Hagrid glared at Vernon, making him swallow the rest of his words.
The round cake flew to Harry and stretched out his right leg to hand him a gift box. Harry opened the gift box in surprise, and inside there was a wood-carved photo frame and a letter.
"Hey, Harry, happy birthday! This is the gift I prepared for you. You may not know what it is now, and that's okay - I guarantee you will thank me later. This is definitely the best birthday gift.
!”
"Also, do you remember what I said before? Good times are coming, Harry! Are you ready to face a new life? The people who can answer the things I promised to tell you have arrived. I will not say anything in this letter.
Say no more, see you at Hogwarts. Bye, Harry."
Harry put down the envelope. There were too many elements in it that he couldn't understand.
He picked up the photo frame. Three people were engraved on it:
The one in the middle is Harry, as he looks now. On the left is a middle-aged man. He wears glasses and his hair is messy, as if he doesn't take care of it often. He is wearing a striped sweater and a bow tie, looking forward and smiling.
He bent slightly and put his hand on Harry's right shoulder.
On the right is a beautiful lady. She is wearing a windbreaker and has long shawl hair. She is looking at Harry, stroking his hair with her hands, and the corners of her mouth are slightly raised. The three of them are leaning on each other, forming a circle.