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Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.
This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
‘Don’t be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!’
‘No,’ she said sharply. ‘Why?’ ‘Funny stuff on the news,’ Mr Dursley mumbled. ‘Owls … shooting stars … and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today …’
‘Well, I just thought … maybe … it was something to do with … you know … her lot.’
‘Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.’
They’re the only family he has left now.’
‘I would trust Hagrid with my life,’ said Dumbledore.
Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground.
‘To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!’
Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel – Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.
He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorbikes.
blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.
‘Daddy’s gone mad, hasn’t he?’
‘Harry – yer a wizard.’
‘A Muggle,’ said Hagrid. ‘It’s what we call non-magic folk like them. An’ it’s your bad luck you grew up in a family o’ the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on.’
‘CAR CRASH!’ roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. ‘How could a car crash kill Lily an’ James Potter? It’s an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin’ his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!’
Voldemort.’
One o’ the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore’s the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of.
No one ever lived after he decided ter kill ’em, no one except you, an’ he’d killed some o’ the best witches an’ wizards of the age – the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts – an’ you was only a baby, an’ you lived.’
‘Most of us reckon he’s still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. ’Cause somethin’ about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin’ goin’ on that night he hadn’t counted on – I dunno what it was, no one does – but somethin’ about you stumped him, all right.’
‘See?’ said Hagrid. ‘Harry Potter, not a wizard – you wait, you’ll be right famous at Hogwarts.’
grateful if yeh didn’t mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts,’ he said. ‘I’m – er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin’.
Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe – ’cept maybe Hogwarts.
Enter, stranger, but take heed Of what awaits the sin of greed, For those who take, but do not earn, Must pay most dearly in their turn, So if you seek beneath our floors A treasure that was never yours, Thief, you have been warned, beware Of finding more than treasure there.
‘You have your mother’s eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work.’
‘Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it – it’s really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course.’
‘I remember every wand I’ve ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar.’
‘Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings.’
‘Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it,’ said the other twin. ‘Once –’ ‘Or twice –’ ‘A minute –’ ‘All summer –’
‘I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don’t you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school.’
Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch.
Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.
‘Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it,’
‘I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks,’ he said coolly.
while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts.
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn’t simply open on to the heavens.
‘Oh, you may not think I’m pretty, But don’t judge on what you see, I’ll eat myself if you can find A smarter hat than me. You can keep your bowlers black, Your top hats sleek and tall, For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat And I can cap them all. There’s nothing hidden in your head The Sorting Hat can’t see, So try me on and I will tell you Where you ought to be. You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart; You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil; Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you’ve a ready mind, Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind; Or perhaps in Slytherin You’ll make your real friends, Those cunning folk use any means To achieve their ends. So put me on! Don’t be afraid! And don’t get in a flap! You’re in safe hands (though I have none) For I’m a Thinking Cap!’
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. ‘GRYFFINDOR!’ shouted the hat. Ron groaned.
I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
‘Me dad’s a Muggle. Mam didn’t tell him she was a witch ’til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him.’
Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn’t want to – everyone knows he’s after Quirrell’s job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape.’
third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.’
I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death
‘But first-years never – you must be the youngest house player in about –’ ‘– a century,’
‘I hope you’re pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled.
‘Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know.’
But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
