Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.

Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.

“Marge's ill,” he informed Aunt Petunia. “Ate a funny whelk…”

“Dad!” said Dudley suddenly. “Dad, Harry's got something!”

Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.
 

“That's mine!” said Harry, trying to snatch it back.

“Who'd be writing to you?” sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.

“P-P-Petunia!” he gasped.

Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.

“Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!”

They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.

“I want to read that letter,” he said loudly.

“I want to read it,” said Harry furiously, “as it's mine.”

“Get out, both of you,” croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.

Harry didn't move.

“I WANT MY LETTER!” he shouted.

“Let me see it!” demanded Dudley.

“OUT!” roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.

“Vernon,” Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, “look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?”

“Watching — spying — might be following us,” muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.

“But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want—”

Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.

“No,” he said finally. “No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…”

“But—”

“I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?” 

哈利回到廚房，一直盯著他的信看。他遞給弗農姨父賬單以及明信片，坐下來慢慢地開始拆自己黃色的信封。

　　弗農姨父飛快地打開賬單，厭惡地哼了一聲，又把明信片翻過來。

　　"瑪姬生病了。"他跟佩妮姨媽說。"因為吃了不干凈的螺。"
    "爸爸，"達力突然叫道，"哈利居然有信收！"哈利正準備打開那封同樣也是用厚厚的羊皮紙寫的信。弗農姨父一把從他手中搶了過去。

　　"這是我的信，"哈利試著把它搶回來。

　　"誰會寫信給你呢？"弗農姨父冷笑著說，并且用一只手搖晃著把信打開。只看了一眼，他的臉色便由紅轉綠，比交通指示燈變得還快。他愣住了。不久，他的臉色變成像放久了的粥的灰白色。

　　"佩——佩妮。"他喘著粗氣說。

　　達力想搶那封信去看，但是弗農姨父把信舉得高高的不讓他抓到。佩妮姨媽好奇地拿過去只讀了一行字，她就好像要昏過去了一樣。她抓住自己的喉嚨，發出一陣被什么東西噎住了的聲音。

　　"弗農！我的天哪——弗農！"

　　他們面面相覷，好像忘記了還有哈利和達力在這間房子里，達力可不習慣被人忽視。他用棍子在他爸爸的頭上猛地敲了一下。

　　"我要看那封信。"他大聲地說。

　　"我也要看，"哈利萬分焦急地說，"它是我的信。""你們兩個通通給我出去。"弗農姨父喝斥道，又把信塞回了信封。

　　哈利不肯動。

　　"把信還給我！"他大叫。

　　"給我看！"達力也來湊熱鬧。

　　"出去！"弗農姨父發脾氣了。他抓住哈利和兒子幾乎是把他們丟了出去，然后砰地一聲關上了廚房門。哈利和達德里馬上為爭奪鑰匙孔旁的位置展開了一場激烈而又無聲的爭斗。

　　"弗農，"帕尤妮亞姨媽用一種顫抖的聲音說，"看這個地址——他們怎么可能知道他睡在那里？你不覺得他們在時刻注視這間屋子嗎？""注視——監視——很有可能在追蹤我們。"弗農姨父地嘀咕著。

　　"那我們該怎么辦，弗農？我們應該寫回信嗎？告訴他們我們不想——"哈利可以看見弗農姨父閃亮的黑皮鞋在廚房里踱來踱去。

　　"不行，"他終于開口了。"我們不寫回信了。如果他們得不到答案……對，這樣再好不過了……我們什么也不用做……""可是——"

　　"佩妮，我們不能讓他們任何人進這棟房子！我們收養他的時候不是發過誓，要制止這種聳人聽聞的荒唐事嗎？"