Ron obviously realized that he'd gotten Harry into trouble, because he
hadn't called again. Harry's other best friend from Hogwarts, Hermione
Granger, hadn't been in touch either. Harry suspected that Ron had
warned Hermione not to call, which was a pity, because Hermione, the
cleverest witch in Harry's year, had Muggle parents, knew perfectly well
how to use a telephone, and would probably have had enough sense not to
say that she went to Hogwarts.

So Harry had had no word from any of his wizarding friends for five long
weeks, and this summer was turning out to be almost as bad as the last
one. There was just one very small improvement -- after swearing that he
wouldn't use her to send letters to any of his friends, Harry had been
allowed to let his owl, Hedwig, out at night. Uncle Vernon had given in
because of the racket Hedwig made if she was locked in her cage all the
time.

Through the window soared three owls, two of them holding up the third,
which appeared to be unconscious. They landed with a soft flump on
Harry's bed, and the middle owl, which was large and gray, keeled right
over and lay motionless. There was a large package tied to its legs.

Harry recognized the unconscious owl at once -- his name was Errol, and
he belonged to the Weasley family. Harry dashed to the bed, untied the
cords around Errol's legs, took off the parcel, and then carried Errol
to Hedwig's cage. Errol opened one bleary eye, gave a feeble hoot of
thanks, and began to gulp some water.

Harry turned back to the remaining owls. One of them, the large snowy
female, was his own Hedwig. She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked
extremely pleased with herself. She gave Harry an affectionate nip with
her beak as he removed her burden, then flew across the room to join
Errol.

Harry didn't recognize the third owl, a handsome tawny one, but he knew
at once where it had come from, because in addition to a third package,
it was carrying a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest. When Harry relieved
this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, stretched
its wings, and took off through the window into the night.

Harry sat down on his bed and grabbed Errol's package, ripped off the
brown paper, and discovered a present wrapped in gold, and his first
ever birthday card. Fingers trembling slightly, he opened the envelope.
Two pieces of paper fell out -- a letter and a newspaper clipping.

The clipping had clearly come out of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily
Prophet, because the people in the black-and-white picture were moving.
Harry picked up the clipping, smoothed it out, and read:

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE

Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the
Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon
Draw.

A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the
gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as
a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."

The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the
start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley
children currently attend.

Harry scanned the moving photograph, and a grin spread across his face
as he saw all nine of the Weasleys waving furiously at him, standing in
front of a large pyramid. Plump little Mrs. Weasley; tail, balding Mr.
Weasley; six sons; and one daughter, all (though the black-and-white
picture didn't show it) with flaming-red hair. Right in the middle of
the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat, Scabbers, on
his shoulder and his arm around his little sister, Ginny.

Harry couldn't think of anyone who deserved to win a large pile of gold
more than the Weasleys, who were very nice and extremely poor. He picked
up Ron's letter and unfolded it.

Dear Harry,

Happy birthday!

Look, I' really sorry about that telephone call. I hope the Muggles
didn't give you a hard time. I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldn't
have shouted.

It's amazing here in Egypt. Bill's taken us around all the tombs and you
wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant
skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and
stuff.

I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred
galleons! Most of it's gone on this trip, but they're going to buy me a
new wand for next year.

Harry remembered only too well the occasion when Ron's old wand had
snapped. It had happened when the car the two of them had been flying to
Hogwarts had crashed into a tree on the school grounds.

We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to
London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you
there?

Don't let the Muggles get you down!

Try and come to London,

Ron

P.S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week.

Harry glanced back at the photograph. Percy, who was in his seventh and
final year at Hogwarts, was looking particularly smug. He had pinned his
Head Boy badge to the fez perched jauntily on top of his neat hair, his
horn-rimmed glasses flashing in the Egyptian sun.

Harry now turned to his present and unwrapped it. Inside was what looked
like a miniature glass spinning top. There was another note from Ron
beneath it.

Harry -- this is a Pocket Sneakoscope. If there's someone untrustworthy
around, it's supposed to light up and spin. Bill says it's rubbish sold
for wizard tourists and isn't reliable, because it kept lighting up at
dinner last night. But he didn't realize Fred and George had put beetles
in his soup.

Bye --

Ron

Harry put the Pocket Sneakoscope on his bedside table, where it stood
quite still, balanced on its point, reflecting the luminous hands of his
clock. He looked at it happily for a few seconds, then picked up the
parcel Hedwig had brought.

Inside this, too, there was a wrapped present, a card, and a letter,
this time from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

Ron wrote to me and told me about his phone call to your Uncle Vernon. I
do hope you're all right.

I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know how I was going
to send this to you -- what if they'd opened it at customs? -- but then
Hedwig turned up! I think she wanted to make sure you got something for
your birthday for a change. I bought your present by owl-order; there
was an advertisement in the Daily Prophet (I've been getting it
delivered; it's so good to keep up with what's going on in the wizarding
world), Did you see that picture of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet
he's learning loads. I'm really jealous -- the ancient Egyptian wizards
were fascinating.

There's some interesting local history of witchcraft here, too. I've
rewritten my whole History of Magic essay to include some of the things
I've found out, I hope it's not too long -- it's two rolls of parchment
more than Professor Binns asked for.

Ron says he's going to be in London in the last week of the holidays.
Can you make it? Will your aunt and uncle let you come? I really hope
you can. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September
first!

Love from Hermione

P.S. Ron says Percy's Head Boy. I'll bet Percy's really pleased Ron
doesn't seem too happy about it

Harry laughed as he put Herrmone's letter aside and picked up her
present. It was very heavy. Knowing Hermione, he was sure it would be a
large book full of very difficult spells -- but it wasn't. His heart
gave a huge bound as he ripped back the paper and saw a sleek black
leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick
Servicing Kit.

"Wow, Hermione!" Harry whispered, unzipping the case to look inside.

There was a large jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair
of gleaming silver Tall-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on
your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself
Broomcare.