The snake's escape got Harry's longest-ever punishment, ending as the summer holidays began. Harry then spent as much time as possible out of the house, trying to avoid Dudley's gang and thinking about the new school he will be attending in the fall, Stonewall High. Dudley was to be going to a his father's old school, Smeltings, and this offers Harry a tiny ray of hope.
One day in July, Dudley paraded around the living room in his new school uniform: maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, a flat straw hat, and a walking cane. Harry tried to stifle his laughter as Vernon and Petunia beamed with pride at their son. The next day, Harry found Aunt Petunia dyeing Dudley's old clothes gray for Harry's uniform. Harry was worried that he will look like he's wearing "bits of old elephant skin" on his first day of school.
As the family sat down for breakfast, the mail arrived. Vernon sent Harry to get it, and Harry realized with excitement and wonder that there was a letter for him, addressed to "the cupboard under the stairs." Harry started to open it, but Dudley shoutd that Harry has a letter, and Vernon promptly snatched it away. He reads it, his face turning from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. Petunia then reads it and nearly faints. They yell at the boys to get out, though Harry furiously protests that he deserves to read the letter, as it was addressed directly to him.
Vernon throws Harry and Dudley out into the hall and slams the door. Harry listens to his and Petunia's conversation, as they worry how someone might know where Harry sleeps in their house. Petunia says they should write back, but Vernon argues that they should ignore the letter. He reminds her that when they took Harry in, they swore they would "stamp out that dangerous nonsense."
That evening, Harry again demands to see his letter. Instead, Vernon tells Harry that he's getting too big for his cupboard, and he and Petunia want Harry to move into Dudley's second bedroom, which Dudley has been using to store all of his toys. It takes Harry one trip to move everything he owns. Downstairs, he can hear Dudley bawling at the news. Harry sighs—he would rather be back in his cupboard with the letter than in a bedroom without it.
The next morning, another letter arrived for Harry, this time addressed to "the smallest bedroom." Vernon wrestled the letter away from Harry once more. The morning after that, Harry tried to sneak downstairs early to wait on the corner for the postman, but Vernon was already guarding the door. When three letters arrived for Harry, Uncle Vernon tears them into pieces. He then nails up the mail slot. He said, "If they can't deliver them they'll just give up."
Aunt Petunia protested, "I'm not sure it'll work like that, Vernon."
Over the next three days, the letters continued to arrive—pushed under the door, inside the two dozen eggs that the confused milkman handed Aunt Petunia from the window, and pelting out of the fireplace. After this final incident, Vernon declared that they're all leaving for a trip. In the car five minutes later, Vernon drove wildly, as if trying to shake someone off their trail.
Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Harry, and Dudley arrived at a gloomy hotel outside of a big city, but the next morning, a hundred letters arrived at the hotel for Harry. They set out again. In the midst of this, Harry realized that the next day was his eleventh birthday. His birthdays have never exactly been fun—last year, the Dursleys gave him a coat hanger and a pair of Vernon's old socks. Eventually, Vernon found a miserable little shack on a rock in the middle of the stormy ocean. The inside of the shack reeked of seaweed, and the wind whistled through the walls.
Uncle Vernon was delighted, even as the storm grew stronger, thinking no one can deliver mail to this house in the middle of a storm. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia claimed the single bed in the shack, Aunt Petunia made Dudley a bed on the sofa, and Harry curled up on the floor under the thinnest blanket. He watches Dudley's wristwatch as his birthday ticks nearer. When midnight arrives, Harry hears the whole shack shake and someone outside, knocking to be let in.