Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were not pretentious like their neighbors. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because of their reputation as friendly neighbors.
Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was an attractive man that could have been an actor, although he was very satisfied with his current job. Mrs. Dursley was a blonde with an hourglass figure, which came in very useful as her job was that of a fashion designer so much of her time was spent at her boutique.
The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley. The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, who had abandoned her sister for the wizarding world. Petunia believed she was the main part of reason that her sister left her. While growing up she was simply envious of her sister who got everything she wanted from their parents; who preferred Lily over Petunia due to one having magic and the other not. Vernon and Dudley knew about magic, being a part of the squib lines.
The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small daughter, too, but they had never even seen her. Petunia always wanted a daughter but due to medical reasons, she was unable to have another child. She had decided to try and spoil Dudley but to an extent. Due to Petunia's Boutique and Vernon's job as a director in Grunnings, they were rich enough to be able to support at least 3 generations of theirs with no problems.
When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on a bright, sunny Tuesday, there was nothing about the sky outside to suggest that mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his suit for work and Mrs. Dursley dressed Dudley and then herself in the recent fashionable clothes and drove away to her boutique happily. None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and kissed Dudley goodbye as he sat on his high chair and ate his cereal with no fuss. Everyone at work had no problem with Dudley as they adored his polite manners and cute looks. So Petunia was only so happy to take Dudley to work with her daily.
As Vernon drove to work, it was at the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something unusual – a cat reading a map. For a second, Vernon didn't realize what he had seen – He stopped the car and then he jerked his head around to look again. A cat was standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. It must have been a trick of the light. He blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive – Vernon thought that it must have been a trained cat trying to find its way back home. As he drove towards work he thought of how his family was doing and about a large order of drills, he was supposed to get that day.
Vernon was wondering if he had skipped his calendar or something, with the number of people dressed as if it was still Halloween(All Hallow's Eve), all of them wearing colored cloaks standing together in huddles whispering about a Moldeshort(he eavesdropped)
Vernon always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor to concentrate on his work and be productive. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night-time. Vernon had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning as his back was turned to the windows. He helped five different people. He made several important telephone calls and finally had the deal secured. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's newly opened shop. He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the bakers. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
'The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard –'
'– yes, their daughter, Lyra –'
Vernon stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.
He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, asked his secretary not to disturb him, seized his phone, and had almost finished dialing his wife's work number, he decided against disturbing his wife. There was no point in worrying about his wife, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister.
He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon, and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.' Sorry,' he apologized, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. But the old man didn't seem to be bothered at all. The old man said 'Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, forYou-Know-Who has gone at last! Even people like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!'And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off, leaving Vernon wondering if this you-know-who person was the Moldeshorts person that the cloaked people were discussing.
As he started to drive back home, he saw the same tabby cat from earlier on his garden wall. This time he thought it was no coincidence and gently picked up the cat and took it home, he now had cat fur all over his suit. He took 2 bowls from his kitchen drawer and put some milk in one bowl and some water in the other and placed them in front of the cat. The cat looked at him in distrust (if that is even possible)and started sniffing the bowls before lapping up the water and then the milk.
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This is the cat.
Vernon was wondering how to tell petunia that he got a cat in the house. About half an hour later Petunia came home with Dudley at her side. After putting Dudley to sleep, Petunia came down and asked her husband why there was a cat with spectacle markings on the carpet of their house.
