Drip, drip, drip, drip. Harry couldn't sleep. The Dursleys, his only remaining relatives, had recently remodeled the house and had fixed all of the plumbing in the house except for one room; Harry's room. Supposedly they had "run out of money to cover the bill" This was rubbish Harry knew, for a week after remodeling the house, they had bought Dudley, his cousin, a new Nintendo for maintaining his perfect C average. Harry looked at the clock on his bedside table. Its red-orange numbers flashed the time. 7:15. 'May as well get up,' he thought to himself. Sleepily he pushed aside his comforter and slid out of bed. Hedwig, his pet owl, flew in through the window. In her mouth she held a mouse and tied to her leg was a package covered in Harry's friend Ron Weasley's messy scrawl. Hedwig settled herself on the windowsill and began to preen her snowy down. Harry padded across the rough wooden floor and began to untie the package from the owl's leg. She stopped preening long enough to nip him playfully on ht ear. Giggling slightly, he gave her a pat and settled onto his bed to open the package. He read the letter tied to it first:

DEAR HARRY, HOW ARE YOU? I HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAY WENT WELL. I AM INCREDIBLY SORRY ABOUT THE CANDLE.

Harry quickly recalled the event. He had opened a package containing, among other things, a birthday cake and candles. The latter were labeled with a letter explaining to light only one specific candle. Naturally, the boy did as he was instructed. It immediately exploded and gave his room a smell that unpleasantly resembled that of a rotten cabbage. His relatives still regarded his room as being "unclean", though the smell had dissipated.

I'VE SENT YOU A SMALL BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT. SEE YOU SEPTEMBER FIRST. RON