Harry Waits for Midnight and His Birthday Surprise

PAGES: 44-45

On the night before his birthday, Harry lies awake in the freezing, dilapidated shack, counting down the minutes to midnight. As the storm rages outside, he reflects on the possibility that the letters—and whoever sent them—might still find him. When the clock strikes twelve, he feels a strange mix of dread and hope. Then, with a sudden, thunderous boom, the silence is shattered, marking the arrival of a mysterious visitor. Harry sits up, heart pounding, wondering what lies beyond the door and if this might be the start of something that will change his life forever.

[PAGE 45]

wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.

The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn’t sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley’s snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley’s watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he’d be eleven in ten minutes’ time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.

Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn’t going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he’d be able to steal one somehow.

Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?

One minute to go and he’d be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty... ten... nine—maybe he’d wake Dudley up, just to annoy him—three... two... one...

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.