The Worst Birthday (CS)

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Harry feels lonely because he hasn't heard from Hermione and Ron.

The Worst Birthday is the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Summer at the Dursleys'

Harry Potter has returned to number four, Privet Drive after his first school year. His life with his aunt and uncle is miserable. For instance, Vernon often complains about the amount of noise Hedwig has been making, despite Harry's insistence that the owl is simply bored: the Dursleys have locked her in a cage.

As it was noted in PS2, the mention of anything resembling magic—even a sentence as innocent as Harry's "You've forgotten the magic word", obviously referring to 'please'—causes the Dursleys to panic. The boy cannot, stresses Vernon, say "the M word" in the house.

One positive note is that none of the Dursleys know that underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside school. In the first few weeks of summer, Harry had amused himself a great deal by muttering ominous-sounding gibberish near Dudley to frighten him.

The miserable July 31, 1992

Harry and Dudley; fanart by H.Johanna.

Today is Harry's birthday. His aunt and uncle, however, completely disregard that fact, and are much more concerned about a special dinner party that will take place that evening: an important businessman will visit number four, and possibly make the biggest deal in Vernon's career at Grunnings. They repeatedly rehearse their roles; that of the boy wizard is to "be in [his] room, making no noise and pretending [he is] not there".

Harry is in a gloomy mood: he has received no cards or presents from any of his friends—not even a single letter from Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger all summer. He was tempted to use magic to unlock Hedwig's cage, but the risk of getting in trouble was far too big.

While sulking in the Dursleys' lawn, he catches a glimpse of huge green eyes staring at him through the hedge. Dudley's arrival, however, distracts him. The Muggle kid teases his cousin about the lack of birthday cards arriving that day, and Harry's lack of friends at "that freak place". Potter's response is to stare at the hedge and claim to be wondering what the best way to set it on fire would be. Dudley panics and runs to Petunia, who attempts to hit Harry with a soapy frying pan and then gives him several chores to do before he's allowed to eat.

Petunia, now wearing a salmon-pink cocktail dress, lets him in at seven o'clock, grudgingly feeding her nephew two slices of bread and a lump of cheese. The food for Mr. Mason's dinner is almost ready: roast pork and a pudding. Vernon and Dudley are already donning their bow-ties and dinner jackets.

The doorbell rings. Vernon gives Harry one last warning before the boy enters his room and plops down on his bed. He did not notice someone else was already on it.

Trivia

• Vernon has fond memories of his time at Smeltings, especially the food.
• The Dursleys did not yet know that Harry was not allowed to do magic outside of school. Dudley threatens Harry with Vernon's kicking him out of the house if he "does you-know-what".
• Harry would even be glad to see Draco Malfoy, just to be sure it wasn't all a dream.