章节_17

to go. was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock

like that? and (two mio go) what was that funny g

he r into the sea?

oo go and hed be eleven. thirty seds... twenty

... ten... nine -- maybe hed wake dudley up, just to annoy him --

three... two... one...

boom.

the whole shack shivered and harry sat bht, staring

at the door. someoside, knoe in.

chapter four

the keeper of the keys

boom. they kno. dudley jerked awake. ”wheres the

?” he said stupidly.

there was a crash behind them and une skidding

into the room. he was holding a rifle in his hands -- now they knew

what had beehin package he had brought with them.

”whos there?” he shouted. ”i warn you -- im armed!”

there ause. then --

smash!

the door was hit with such force that it swus

hih a deafening ded flat on the floor.

a giant of a man was standing in the doorway. his face was

almost pletely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild,

ta you ake out his eyes, glinting like black

beetles uhe hair.

the giant squeezed his way iooping so that his

head just brushed the g. he bent dowhe door,

a easily bae. the he storm

outside dropped a little. he turo look at them all.

”t make us a cup o tea, could yeh? its not been an

easy journey...”

he strode over to the sofa where dudley sat frozen with fear.

”budge up, yeh great lump,” said the stranger.

dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was

g, terrified, behind un.

”an heres harry!” said the giant.

harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy fad saw

that the beetle eyes were kled in a smile.

”las time i saw you, you was only a baby,” said the giant. ”yeh

look a lot like yet dad, but yehve got yet moms eyes.”

unade a funny rasping noise.

i demand that you leave at o!” he said. ”y

aering!”

”ah, shut up, dursley, yeh great pruhe giant; he

reached over the back of the sun out of uncle

vernons hao a knot as easily as if it had been

made of rubber, ao a er of the room.

unade another funny noise, like a mouse being

trodden on.

”anyway -- harry,” said the giant, turning his ba the

dursleys, ”a very happy birthday to yeh. got summat fer yeh here --

i mighta sat on it at some point, but itll taste all right.”

from a of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly

squashed box. harry opeh trembling fingers. inside was a

large, sticky chocolate cake y birthday harry written on

it in green ig.

harry looked up at the giao say thank you, but the

wot lost oo his mouth, and what he said instead was,

”who are you?”

the giant chuckled.

”true, i havent introduced meself. rubeus hagrid, keeper of

keys and grounds at hogwarts.”

he held out an enormous hand and shook harrys whole arm.

”what about that tea then, eh?” he said, rubbing his hands

together. ”id not say stronger if yehve got it,

mind.”

his eyes fell oe with the shriveled chip bags in

it aed. he bent dowhe fireplace; they t see

what he was doing but when he drew bad later, there was

a r fire there. it filled the hut with flig

light and harry felt the warmth wash over him as though hed sunk

into a hot bath.

the giant sat ba the sofa, which sagged under his

weight, aaking all sorts of things out of the pockets of

his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker,

a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid

that he took a swig from bef to make tea. soo

was full of the sound and smell of si