Harry liked small spaces. In small spaces he could be safe. In the cupboard under the stairs Harry could be protected. The spiders that ran by were a bit scary. But the darkness and the peace was nice. When he was in the cupboard Harry didn't have to do chores. In the cupboard, Harry could think. It's not that he minded the chores so much. Cooking could be fun. It was nice to make things. It was just that waking up early and being dragged around wasn't fun at all.
Often Harry wondered what it would be like to live somewhere besides the Dursleys. Harry hoped that one day he could wake up and Privet Drive would be gone forever. He would awake from this bad dream and go live with people who made him happy. Harry would still do chores like gardening. But he'd do more fun things too. Maybe he'd even get to watch the telly! Or someone else could make food for once. Maybe the red haired person would make him chocolate chip biscuits and he'd get to watch a show while eating!
Harry had a little trouble hiding his day dreams. Sometimes he'd wander too far in his imagination and Aunt Petunia would screech at him to "do his job" or Uncle Vernon would smack him with the newspaper to "do your work boy!". Harry didn't really like being called boy. The way Uncle Vernon said "boy" made the word feel dirty and wrong.
Harry thought he had to get better about hiding his dreams. In the cupboard he didn't have to hide them. Since Harry was hidden away, his dreams could be hidden away too. But, out in the big world, without little spaces to hide, he had to learn how to protect the thoughts. Maybe he'd work on only thinking things in the cupboard. That seemed smart.