Harry had been waiting all week for Sunday. Never before had he been so excited for the opportunity to do yard work. Of course, he wasn't actually looking forward to the yard work but instead the opportunity to use his treasures to create something new! He had decided on a bird and fox, but he wasn't too sure about which one to do first. If he created a bird then he could have his little green men ride the bird into a far away land. And if he makes a fox then it could be his sneaky little friend. Harry remembers reading a book about a fox that was afraid to make friends because the bunnies were scared of him, but he then got courage and was able to show the bunnies that he wasn't scary. Harry desperately wanted more friends and if he makes a fox then maybe it could teach him how to make friends.
Looking at his two blocks, Harry thought back to the book that Violet gave him. It said that the first step was to draw on his block. It would help him to know where to carve and to know how big to make everything. Harry used a stolen pencil to draw on the wood. It was awkwardly shaped and Harry had to pause to think. He was supposed to draw on each side of the block what the fox looked like. Harry had to think about the shape of the tail and what direction the fox looked like. Also, the fox would look kinda weird from the top and the bottom. The bottom would mostly be his belly and legs, but the top was a bit of a shapeless blob.
The block for the bird was a bit easier. Harry wouldn't carve legs but instead let the bird be sitting. Having the wings spread out would look cooler but all of the beginner books had the wings tucked. Harry figured that maybe it would be better to listen to the book and then try out different things from there. The bird was definitely very round in all ways.
Harry finished the outlines on the wood and sat back. He double checked his work and knew that he had to go back to yard work. If Harry spent too much time in the shed then the Dursleys might be suspicious. He grabbed the shears and went to the rose bush. It was pokey and Harry thought that he hurt the bush as much as the bush hurt him. As long as they left evenly matched, Harry was happy. The bush was definitely one of the meanest plants in the garden. The garden had many flowers from petunias to lilies to roses to hydrangeas. Harry only knew the names of the flowers because of the seed packets that they came from. Harry loved reading the packets because they had so much information. It said when to water them and how much sun they should receive. Though the packets didn't say how mean the plants were.
After pruning the bushes, Harry slowly started to de-weed. Harry kept working until he saw Aunt Petunia cross the window. She stared at him for a couple of minutes, probably waiting for Harry to mess up. After she got bored, she left and Harry went to the shed again.
Harry was going to carve the bird. It was easier and Harry knew what birds looked like. He saw them all of the time but Harry had never seen a fox in person. He grabbed one of the knives. It had a thicker blade than the other one and the book said it was for larger details. Harry put the knife against the edge of the block and sliced the corner off. The blocks were from the kit and so were softer than most woods. The blade glided across and created a thin shaving. Harry had peeled carrots and he couldn't help but compare the slices. They were long and thin. Harry went to another corner and he repeated the action.
Again and again, Harry drew the blade and ran it against the wood. Very quickly Harry had a pile of shaving in the corner. Harry felt so happy that he was starting, but he realized that he needed to figure out what to do with the shavings. It was okay at the start but if Harry continued like this then the Dursleys would find out. Harry decided to solve that issue later. For now, Harry kept slicing. A few minutes passed and Harry felt that the knife wasn't as smooth as it was in the beginning. Harry pulled the knife back and pressed it against the wood, but instead of gliding it got stuck. Harry pushed a little harder and it wouldn't move. He added a bit more pressure and the knife jerked. It cut through the wood and then cut into Harry's finger. Stunned, Harry pulled his finger back and watched the blood well up.
Harry wasn't sure what happened but tried again and again. Most of his cuts were going just fine but every now and then it would get stuck and Harry would either cut himself or barely dodge the blade.
After five cuts, Harry put the knife down. Clearly Harry was missing something because the book didn't say that he was going to get hurt this much. The wood looked more like an oval shape than it did before so Harry was still pleased with his progress. Harry looked at his hands to make sure that he was holding it like the book said to. Harry was pretty sure that he was right but he decided that he would be done for the day. He needs to double check with the book about why his knife wasn't working quite well.
By the time that Harry finished gardening, it was past dinner. Harry had spent so much time carving away that it took longer than normal to finish his chores. Gently knocking on the door, Harry prepared himself for the consequences.
A shadow appeared in the back door window and the door was flung upon by his Aunt. "You dreadful boy! You took too long to finish gardening so you'll be given no supper." She reached out and grabbed him by his arm. Pulling him, Aunt Petunia took him to his cupboard. "You better think twice the next time that you think about lollygagging outside."
The snap of the locks made Harry shrink a bit. Aunt Petunia was angry. Harry didn't think that he would be allowed to go to the library with Dudley and Piers tomorrow.
Morning came and his cupboard door opened with it. It was once again time for breakfast. Cooking breakfast gave Harry the opportunity to think about ways to go to the library. Maybe if he was seen by Ms. Polkiss then she will take Harry with her. Of course, that might make Aunt Petunia mad.
Harry ended up deciding on making sure that Ms. Polkiss saw him. Harry didn't care if he angered Aunt Petunia, he needed to go to the library.
Making breakfast was done on autopilot. It was an easy enough thing. The tricky part was making breakfast while watching Dudley. Harry didn't know when the Polkiss' would arrive but he knew that Dudley would get more and more excited when the time nears. Of course, Harry also couldn't let anyone else know that he was watching Dudley because he would also get in trouble for that. By the time that the clock reached 11, Dudley was visibly tapping his leg and checking the clock every five minutes. Dudley's impatience was rubbing off on Harry and he couldn't help but scrub faster.
The clock read 11:30 and the doorbell rang. Harry quickly tossed the rag and went in the direction to his cupboard.
Aunt Petunia was halfway to the door and Dudley had already swung it open. The door banged against the door stopper and Harry turned to his Aunt, "I'm done with my chores, Aunt Petunia."
Internally filled with glee, Harry could see Ms. Polkiss' eyes on him.
"Hey Piers! Are you ready for another day at the park?"
Ms. Polkiss waved to them and Piers had replied with an affirmative. The two boys ran to the care and Ms. Polkiss asked Aunt Petunia, "If he is done with his chores then he should tag along again. It was fine last week."
Turning her back to Ms. Polkiss, Petunia turned to Harry and narrowed her eyes on him. Her face was full of irritation but her voice was neutral, "Alright, Harry you can go, just remember to behave."
Harry knew that the consequences of his actions were going to be steep but he knew that it would be worth it.
"Thank you! I will make sure to behave." Harry waved and walked out the door. Ms. Polkiss smiled at him.
"So, I take it that you want to go back to the library again?" Harry's nod was so strong that it nearly made him look like a bobble head. "Great! I can definitely arrange that."
The trip to the library flew by and Harry didn't think twice about the two boys with him. Harry was going to the library!
The actions and words of last week were nearly identical and before Harry knew it, he was running up to the library. Opening the doors, Harry could see Violet at the same desk as she was at last week.
"Hello, Harry. It's nice to see you back here. Did the book help you?'
"Yes! It helped a lot. I don't think I could have figured out the mystery without your help. Even though the mystery has been solved, I still have some more questions. Is it possible for me to read the book again, Miss Violet?"
She smiled at his words, "Of course. This is a public library which means you can come here and read that book as many times as you would like. If your parents get you a library card then you can even take the book home."
Harry already knew this but he still nodded at her words. "I would just like to read it for now."
Violet walked to the same shelf as before and passed it to Harry. "It will be the same as last time. You can read the book and then when you are done then please give it to me at the desk, okay? Also, if you have any questions then feel free to ask me. I probably will not know the answer but I can definitely help you find the answer."
Harry felt a warm feeling at her words. Violet walked away and Harry once again opened the book. The book was just like he remembered it. Harry went over the pages that he had already read. Harry was holding the tools correctly and he was cutting in the correct direction so his cuts were because of that. Turning to the next section, it was titled "Maintenance of Tools". It was in this section that Harry figured out what his problem was. His knife was getting dulled by the repeated cuts and he needed to sharpen it so it would continue to cut easily! The kit that he found had more than the knives but Harry had ignored most of the other things. It had a small box filled with a green rectangle and a flat beige rectangle. The rectangle was called a strop and Harry was supposed to use it to sharpen the knife.
The book helped identify what he was supposed to do but the pictures about how to sharpen a knife were a bit weird. It looked like the book skipped steps or maybe Harry wasn't understanding them. He bit his lip and looked at Miss Violet. She said that Harry could ask her for help but he was very nervous. Usually when an adult told Harry that he could ask questions, they eventually got tired of his questions or mad that he was asking things that were apparently obvious. Harry kept reading the book in the hopes that the future pages would help him understand. 30 pages later, Harry realized that he would have to ask for help or risk ruining his knives. He wasn't ready to ruin his treasures so he closed the book and went up to Miss Violet's desk. She had been typing on her computer at a fast rate when she caught sight of him. She immediately turned herself to Harry and focused on him.
"Do you have a question for me Harry?"
Harry stepped from one foot to another. He couldn't look her in the eye, "Um… Miss Violet, is there a better way to find out how to whittle." He opened the book to the section about 'Maintenance of Tools'. "This section talks about using a …stro-strop to sharpen a knife. The pictures aren't very good for figuring out how to use one." The stutter over a new word nearly made Violet chuckle but she didn't want to discourage him.
"When it comes to learning new techniques, books can be a bit difficult to learn from. Now normally you need a library card to access the internet, but I can log-in for you so you can watch a video about using a strop."
She walked to a computer, logged in, and looked up 'using a strop'. Harry watched the video quietly. This was so much better than reading about it!
"Thank you for the video. That was much better than the book. The book is still good! But I think this was easier." Harry wanted to make sure that Miss Violet knew that he liked the book but that the video was very helpful.
Now that Harry knew about sharpening his knives while working, Harry thought about what he was going to do next. He wanted to continue working on his bird but while reading ahead in his book, Harry found out different ways to make cuts and notch marks. He was beginning to think that he should follow the very first tutorial in the book. He was going to make a wand before his bird. But before he could make a wand from a stick, Harry knew that he was going to have to research what a wand looks like. He hands the whittling book to Miss Violet and asks for a book about magic.