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Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking
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around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the
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bundle of blankets on the step of number four.
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"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish
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of his cloak, he was gone.
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A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and
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tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect
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astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his
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blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside
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him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was
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famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs.
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Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk
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bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and
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pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very
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moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up
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their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy
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who lived!"
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CHAPTER TWO
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THE VANISHING GLASS
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Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find
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their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at
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all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass
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number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living
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room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when
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Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the
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photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.
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Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a
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large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets -- but Dudley
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Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large
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blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a
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computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.
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The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.
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Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for
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long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made
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the first noise of the day.
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"Up! Get up! Now!"
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Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.
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"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then
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the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his
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back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a
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good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny
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feeling he'd had the same dream before.
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His aunt was back outside the door.
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"Are you up yet?" she demanded.
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"Nearly," said Harry.
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"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you
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dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."
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Harry groaned.
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"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.
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"Nothing, nothing..."
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Dudley's birthday -- how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out
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of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and,
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after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to
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spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and
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that was where he slept.
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When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table
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was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as
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though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the
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second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a
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racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated
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exercise -- unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's
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favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry
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didn't look it, but he was very fast.
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Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry
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had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and
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skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes
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of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry
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had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He
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wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of
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all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry
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liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that
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was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could
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remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt
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Petunia was how he had gotten it.
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"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask
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questions."
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Don't ask questions -- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the
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Dursleys.
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Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
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"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
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About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and
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shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts
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than the rest of the boys in his class put
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together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way --
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all over the place.
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Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his
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mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face,
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not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay
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smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley
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looked like a baby angel -- Harry often said that Dudley looked like a
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pig in a wig.
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Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult
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as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents.
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His face fell.
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"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two
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less than last year."
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"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here
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under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."
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"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.
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Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down
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