章节_2

ight, though people dow did; they

pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. most

of them had never see nighttime. mr. dursley,

hoerfeal, owl-free m. he yelled at

five different people. he made several important telephone calls

a more. he was in a very good mood until lunchtime,

whe hed stretch his legs and walk across the road to

buy himself a bun from the bakery.

hed fotten all about the people in til he passed

a group of them he bakers. he eyed them angrily as he

passed. he didnt know why, but they made him uhis bunch were

whisperioo, and he t see a siing

tin. it was on his ast them, g a large doughnut

in a bag, that he caught a fehat they were saying.

”the potters, thats right, thats what i heard yes, their

son, harry”

mr. dursley stopped dead. fear flooded him. he looked back

at the whisperers as if he wao say somethi

thought better of it.

he dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office,

s his seot to disturb him, seized his telephone,

and had almost finished dialing his home number when he ged

his mihe receiver bad stroked his mustache,

thinking... no, he was being stupid. potter wasnt suusual

name. he was sure there were lots of people called potter who had a

son called harry. e to think of it, he wasnt even sure his nephew

was called harry. hed he boy. it might have been

harvey. or harold. there oint in w mrs. dursley;

she always got so upset at aioer. he didnt

blame her -- if hed had a sister like that... but all the same,

those people in cloaks...

he found it a lot harder to trate on drills that afternoon

ahe building at five oclock, he was still so

worried that he walked straight i outside the door.

”sruhe tiny old man stumbled and almost

fell. it was a few ser. dursley realized that the man

was weari cloak. he did all upset at being

almost khe grourary, his face split into

a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby

stare, ”dont be sorry, my dear sir, f could upset me

today! rejoice, for you-know-who has go! even muggles

like yourself should be g, this happy, happy day!”

and the old man hugged mr. dursley around the middle and

walked off.

mr. dursley stood rooted to the spot. he had been hugged by

a plete strahought he had been called a muggle,

whatever that was. he was rattled. he hurried to his d set

off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never

hoped before, because he didnt approve of imagination.

as he pulled into the driveway of he first thing

he saw -- and it didnt improve his mood -- was the tabby cat hed

spotted that m. it was now sitting on his garden wall. he was

sure it was the same o had the same markings around its eyes.

”shoo!” said mr. dursley loudly. the t move. it just

gave him a stern look. was this normal cat behavior? mr. dursley

worying to pull himself together, he let himself into the

house. he was still determio mention anything to his wife.

mrs. dursley had had a nial day. she told him over

dinner all about mrs. doors problems with her daughter and

how dudley had learned a neont!”). mr. dursley tried

to aally. when dudley had been put to bed, he went into the

living room ich the last report on the evening news:

”and finally, bird-watchers everyorted that the

nations owls have been behaving very unusually today. although

owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight,

there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every

direrise. experts are uo explain why the owls

have suddeheir sleepihe er allowed

himself a grin. ”most mysterious. and o jim m

with the weather. going to be any more showers of owls tonight, jim?”