C H A P T E R F O U R BACK TO THE BURROW y twelve o’clock the next day, Harry’s school trunk was packed with his school things and all his most prized possessions — B the Invisibility Cloak he had inherited from his father, the broom- stick he had gotten from Sirius, the enchanted map of Hogwarts he had been given by Fred and George Weasley last year. He had emp- tied his hiding place under the loose floorboard of all food, double- checked every nook and cranny of his bedroom for forgotten spellbooks or quills, and taken down the chart on the wall count- ing down the days to September the first, on which he liked to cross off the days remaining until his return to Hogwarts. The atmosphere inside number four, Privet Drive was extremely tense. The imminent arrival at their house of an assortment of wiz- ards was making the Dursleys uptight and irritable. Uncle Vernon had looked downright alarmed when Harry informed him that the Weasleys would be arriving at five o’clock the very next day. “I hope you told them to dress properly, these people,” he ‘ 39 ‘