Harry Styles and the Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter 3: The Letters from No One

The escape from the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Ross had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Cyrus as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.

Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Ross's gang, who visited the house every single day. Calum, James, Mitchell, and Thomas were all big and stupid, but as Ross was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Ross's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.

This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Ross. Ross had been accepted at Uncle Justin's old private school, Smeltings. Calum Worthy was going there too, Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewell High, the local public school. Ross thought this was very funny.

"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewell," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"

"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Ross could work out what he'd said.

One day in July, Aunt Hailey took Ross to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Cyrus's. Mrs. Cyrus wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.

That evening, Ross paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobby sticks, used for hitting each other, while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.

As he looked at Ross in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Justin said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Hailey burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Rossykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.

There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.

"What's this?" he asked Aunt Hailey. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.

"Your new school uniform," she said.

Harry looked in the bowl again.

"Oh," he said. "I didn't realize it had to be wet."

"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Hailey. "I'm dyeing some of Ross's old things gray for you. It'll look like everyone else's when I've finished."

Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonwell High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.

Ross and Uncle Justin came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Justin opened his newspaper as usual and Ross banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.