It was a miserable morning at Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging. Or at least it was a miserable morning for those who weren't Harry Potter, although the day would soon get worse for him. Today was the day that Number 4 was practically assaulted by letters, letters that brought considerable unhappiness to Mr and Mrs Dursley, letters from Hogwarts.
"We're going away! Far away! Where they can't find us!" was a bellow that was heard by everyone, even by the neighbours. Those same neighbours were treated to a most welcome sight, the rear end of the Dursleys' car, leaving at speed packed with far too much luggage for this to be a simple outing.
Poor Harry Potter, was not even remotely as happy as he was two hours ago. Two hours ago, when he had in his hand a letter addressed to him, something that was quite remarkable on it's own. Then to have that letter taken from him, as well as all the others and then packed roughly into a car by the Dursleys as they made their hasty retreat was contributing to his dark mood. The constant whining of his cousin that had been non stop for the whole journey was also grating on his nerves. "But I don't want to leave!" "Where are we going?" " I'm hungry" just being a few of the more recurring lines during this ordeal.
Of couse once Mr. and Mrs. Dursley conceded to some of poor Duddykins whinging and got him a terribly unhealthy amount of junk food, Harry was given a ham sandwich, that was sold at a discounted price with an approaching Best Before date. And so Harry ate nothing for the 5 hours of travel that was still to come. After 7 hours of monotonous journeying, the Dursleys stopped at a motel, to refresh for the 2 or so hours of travel to come the following day. The Dursleys rented two rooms one for them, as the parents and one for their son and Harry.
That sleepimg arrangement saw Dudley being able to express his displeasure at having to leave his home, in the form of Harrys' now black eye and Harry now to sleep in front of the door, on the floor, because Dudley would never want Harry to have the comfort of a bed.
Harry was mulling over how poorly his day had gone, as opposed to his morning that saw him bursting with glee at finally holding one of the mysterious letters, letters that he would never see again. Letters that could have had something... anything to get him away from the Dursleys... maybe someone from his real family, a long lost relative? maybe they were... his musings were disturbed by the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He had this feeling, something had entered the motel... he could feel it.
It was then that he heard a rattling breathing. a rasping intake and exhale of breath, a sound that would haunt his nightmares until the day he died. All at once the door was thrown open and all Harry saw a flash of light as the door cracked against his skull. Then the world went black.