At number 4 Privet Drive lived the very normal Mr. and Mrs. Dursley.

Mr. Dursley is a Director of a firm called Grunnings who make drills. 

The Dursleys have a small son called Dudley, “probably one of the finest boys anywhere”.

The Dursleys were happy for they considered they had everything they could ever want. The only blot in their world was the fact that they were related to the Potters, Mrs. Potter being Mrs. Dursley’s sister.  The Potters had a small son too, but the Dursleys had never seen him.

“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 ’’ a large tawny owl fluttered past the window.”

The Dursleys did not know that this was not going to be a normal day.  The first sign was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive reading a map. Mr. Dursley put this down to a trick of the light and got back to thinking about drills on his way to work. On his way, he noticed people dressed in cloaks, but put this down to a new fashion trend.

In his office, he had his back to the window so didn’t notice owl after owl flying overhead.

At lunch time, he went to the bakers and happened to hear some of these cloaked people talking about the Potters, but again Mr. Dursley eventually dismissed this, as Potter was quite a common name. However, there was a slight seed of doubt in Mr. Dursley’s mind.

On his way home, he stumbled into a small man in a violet cloak and apologized profusely. The small cloaked man responded, “Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!  Even muggles like you should be celebrating.” Dursley looked puzzled. He had never been called a muggle before. He returned home and the tabby cat was now sat on the wall of his garden.

Unlike Mr. Dursley, Mrs. Dursley had had a nice normal day.

Mr. Dursley watched the news where it was revealed that owls had been seen all over the country and there had been a downpour of shooting stars.  Dursley put together the owls, shooting stars and mysterious people in cloaks and their whisperings about Potters, and decided to ask his wife Petunia if she had heard from her sister. Petunia was horrified, so Dursley dropped the subject.

In bed, Petunia fell asleep quickly, but Dursley was troubled.

Outside, the cat still sat on the wall. 

At the end of Privet Drive, a cloaked man appeared.  His name was Albus Dumbledore. Using a Put-outer he extinguished all the streetlights and approached the cat.  The cat turned into a woman called Professor McGonagall. The two agree that the celebrations have got out of hand and that even the muggles have noticed that something strange is going on.

The shooting stars were blamed on Dedalus Diggle down in Kent.

Apparently, You-Know-Who whose real name is Voldemort had killed Lily and James Potter as he had killed many before, but he could not kill their young child, Harry, and his power was broken and he was gone.  This is astonishing news, and they are not clear how Harry had survived.

Harry is to be brought here to be looked after by the Dursleys, his only other relatives.

Harry Potter is in the care of Hagrid who drops out of the sky on a huge motorbike. Hagrid was “almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide ’’ so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face.”

Dumbledore took Harry from Hagrid and placed him on the doorstep with a letter.  Harry Potter lay rolled up in his blankets, not knowing that he was special, and that he would be famous.  He would be wakened by Mrs. Dursley’s screams in the morning.