knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him.

This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want

Dudley mixing with a child like that.

 

When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts,

there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and

mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley

hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped

away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.

 

None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.

 

At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on

the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now

having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled

Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number

four's drive.

 

It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something

peculiar -- a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what

he had seen -- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby

cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.

What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr.

Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove

around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now