Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him -- in fact, they didn't speak to him at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.
Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic. His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.
On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.
"Er -- Uncle Vernon?"
Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.
"Er -- I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to -- to go to Hogwarts."
Uncle Vernon grunted again.
"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"
Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.
"Thank you."
He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.
"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"
Harry didn't say anything.
"Where is this school, anyway?"
"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.
"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.
His aunt and uncle stared.
"Platform what?"
"Nine and three-quarters."
"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."
"It's on my ticket."
"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."
"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.
"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."
哈利在杜斯利家的最后一個月并不有趣。的確,達(dá)德里因害怕哈利,現(xiàn)在甚至不敢與他同處一室了,而帕尤尼亞姨媽和維能姨丈也不再把哈利鎖在壁櫥里了,他們也沒有強(qiáng)迫哈利干活或者對他呼呼喝喝的。——其實(shí),他們壓根兒就沒再跟他說過話。他們對哈利是既憤慨又恐懼,因而不得不對他視而不見。盡管這種待遇與之前相比已是大有改善,但過不多久就已經(jīng)顯得十分沉悶了。
哈利寸步不離房間,終日與他的貓頭鷹朋友的為伴。他給它取名叫海維,這名字是從一本叫《魔法探究》的書里來的。哈利總愛躺在床上,捧著他那些引人入勝的教科書津津有味地看到深夜,而海維則喜歡在打開的窗戶上飛進(jìn)飛出。幸好帕尤尼亞姨媽再沒進(jìn)來打掃,不然她要是發(fā)現(xiàn)海維經(jīng)常將死老鼠叨進(jìn)屋就麻煩了。每晚臨睡前,哈利總要在親手釘在墻上的那張紙上鉤去過去的一天,心中期盼著九月一日早日來臨。
八月三十一日,哈利覺得最好還是將第二天要去國王大道車站一事告知姨媽、姨丈,便來到客廳里。此時,姨媽一家人正在看電視上的問答游戲。哈利只咳嗽了一聲以引起他們的注意,達(dá)德里便嚇得尖叫著跑開了。
"呢……維能姨丈……"
維能哼了一聲作為回應(yīng)。
"呃……我明天得去國王大道車站——坐車到霍格瓦徹。"維能又哼了一聲。
"你能開車送我去嗎?"
又一聲哼哼,哈利以為姨丈答應(yīng)了,"謝謝。"哈利正要上樓回房時,維能這才開腔:"坐火車去魔法學(xué)院真有意思,難道飛毯都穿洞了嗎?"哈利無言以對。
"那么,這學(xué)校在哪兒呢?""我不知道。"哈利脫口而出,這才意識到自己也不知道學(xué)校的地址。他從口袋里拿出哈格力給他的車票,讀道:"我要在十一點(diǎn)整從九又四分之三站臺上車。"姨媽、姨丈面面相覷:"什么站臺?""九又四分之三。"
"別胡扯!根本就沒有什么叫做九又四分之三的站臺。"維能大聲道。
"它明明印在我的車票上嘛。"
"真是瞎說,"維能不以為然,"你真是瘋得夠可以的了。明天你就知道了,走著瞧吧。行,我們帶你去國王大道。要不是我們明天也要去倫敦,我才不會傻到自找麻煩呢。""你們?yōu)槭裁匆惗啬兀?span lang="EN-US">"哈利想盡量保持氣氛的融洽。
"送達(dá)德里去醫(yī)院!"維能姨丈咆哮道,"就是為了在送他去斯麥爾丁之前除去那該死的尾巴!"