Dudley's birthday -- how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed

and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling

a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the

cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

 

When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost

hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had

gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the

racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as

Dudley was very fat and hated exercise -- unless of course it involved punching

somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch

him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.

 

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had

always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier

than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and

Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly

knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together

with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the

nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar

on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long

as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his

Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.