The front door of Privet Drive, number four was yanked open and then slammed shut. Harry Potter, age eight, had just been about to climb out of his cupboard under the stairs. Upon hearing the door slam however, he hastily retreated into his dark sanctuary. Harry heard his uncle stomp from the front door, past the cupboard, and into the kitchen where Harry's aunt was making dinner.
"What's wrong, Vernon?" Harry heard her ask.
"What's Wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong, Petunia, the damn company is wrong!" Although Harry had needed to strain his ears to hear his aunt's voice, he had no trouble hearing his uncle's. The sheer made Harry grateful he had not gotten out of his cupboard. He could just imagine how purple Uncle Vernon's face was at the moment.
"What did the company get wrong?" asked Aunt Petunia. She seemed resigned to be shouted at by her husband despite her lack of fault in whatever had gotten him so upset.
"They're sending me to Washington!" This statement was met with silence. Aunt Petunia seemed to be trying to find a polite way to say that a business trip was not a good reason for shouting.
"For how long?" she finally asked. This seemed to be the question Uncle Vernon had been searching for, because he spoke more quietly, but his tone still contained the same outrage as before.
"Forever. The boss said I could either leave the company or move to Washington and work in the American Grunnings office!" After he said this, Aunt Petunia spluttered quietly, before joining in on insulting the company. Harry stopped paying attention though, he was too busy thinking moving to the United States.
Almost three months later, Harry was carefully wrapping plates in packing paper. It was almost midnight, and all of Privet Drive was silent. The small boy wrapped each of the dishes as quietly as he could, cringing at how loud the paper rustles when it was crinkled. His relatives were all asleep. They had gone to bed early, leaving the rest of the packing for Harry to do.
The box of plates was full. Harry winced when the tape screeched as it was pulled away from the roll. It would not do to wake his uncle, Vernon. The horrible sound was over quickly though. Harry sighed and sat down on the floor, his back against the wall. The spotless kitchen was empty except for the stacks of boxes. All the furniture had already been shipped. Looking around at the bare house, Harry tried to decide how he felt about moving. It wasn't as if he was leaving behind any friends. Maybe he'd have a better chance of making friends across the Atlantic. A mix of emotions welled up in Harry's chest. The most prominent: hope.
There was only one more place that needed packing: Harry's cupboard. As Harry opened it he felt a little sad leaving his only safe haven. After all, his relatives had never come into the cupboard. They were all too big.
Harry neatly stacked all his clothes in the bottom of a new box, leaving one set out for the plane tomorrow. Harry examined every inch of his cupboard looking for anything he might have missed. The only other thing that needed packing was the cot he slept on along with the tattered blanket and pillow, which Harry would put in the box in the morning. Lying down, Harry turned the light off, whispering goodbye to the only home he had ever known as he did so.
Albus Dumbledore looked up at his ward detector for Privet Drive from where he was sitting at his desk. It kept flashing red, before going back to green, as if it couldn't make up its mind whether the wards were failing or not. Getting up, he examined it closely through his oddly shaped spectacles. It flashed red, and began sounding an alarm, the signal that Harry Potter was in danger, but a split second later returned to green. Frowning, Dumbledore tapped the fire alarm like instrument with his wand. The light remained green. Dumbledore rubbed his eyes, looked at the clock, and decided to go to bed. With a flick of his wand the lights in his office went out. Some of the portraits mumbled a goodnight as the headmaster of Hogwarts left the room. Meanwhile, the light in the ward detector went out completely.