OMG! I uploaded the wrong story chapter. Extremely sorry, everyone!

Chapter 4

The Letter

Raoul ate nothing for supper except for a small slice of ham for the trapdoor incident. He had tried to explain to his uncle that he truly didn't know what happened, but it was no good. He also earned being locked up in the cupboard for a long period of time, let out once a day to go to the bathroom, and once at night. For food, he got whatever could fit under the door, mostly slabs of meat and bread. Danny found much amusement in banging on his door loudly for many minutes, bragging about a great lunch or dinner. Raoul could nearly taste the described food in his mouth as he heard his stomach growl.

When the door to the cupboard was finally unlocked, it was only weeks before he was about to head back to school, and a new one at that. It didn't excite him, though, since he decided the rules would become stricter, and with all these strange things happening, he decided he'd be expelled within days.

Also on the day the cupboard was unlocked, he received something strange. It all started with an argument about who should check the mail.

"Good morning, Danny," Uncle Victor had greeted his son in the kitchen. He was sitting down, eating a stack of pancakes with butter and maple syrup. On the contrast, Raoul was across from him, eating a pancake with none of the toppings. "Before you sit down, how about you check the mail."

"Oh, do I have to? Why can't Raoul do it?" he complained.

"Okay then, he'll check it." After taking the last bite of his pancake, Raoul got up and walked out of the house. He went to the mailbox at the end of the driveway, and opened it. There were only two things in it; a bill and a letter addressed to him. He never got mail, and this one was especially peculiar. On the front of the envelop, it read:

Mr. R. de Chagny

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

44 Privet Lane

Little Whinging

Surrey

How would anyone know all of this? And who on Earth would write to me? he wondered. He flipped it over, and saw a coat of arms. It had four symbols: a lion, a snake, a badger, and an eagle. They all surrounded a large H. He was about to open it when he heard Victor's screaming. "What's taking so long?"

After closing the mailbox, he ran up to the house and handed the bill to Victor. Then, he sat down again and began to open the letter, but before he could rip much of the top off, Danny noticed it. "Dad! Look! He got a letter!"

"A letter?" Victor exclaimed, looking up from his bill. "From whom?"

"I don't know, but he has a letter!" Danny said again, snatching the letter from his hands.

"Hey, give that back!" Raoul exclaimed, trying to grab it back, but soon gave up.

"Let me see it!" Victor yelled to break up the fighting. Danny gave it to his father, and the moment he saw the back of the envelop, his face went blank.

"Patricia!" he exclaimed. His wife soon came running in.

"What's wrong?"

"Th - th . . ."

Patricia walked over to her husband and looked at the envelop. Her mouth dropped open soon afterward.

"What's so bad about it? It's a letter! How often do I get a letter? Can I at least read it?"

"No!" Victor boomed.

"Can I?" Danny asked.

"No, none of you can! None of you! Get out of this room!"

Danny quickly exited, but Raoul didn't budge.

"I want that letter!"

"No! We are going to burn it and ignore it!"

But ignoring it wasn't going to help much.