The Dursley family had never liked summer vacation. After all, that was when the Witch came home.
She practiced magic, brewed potions, and made all sorts of strange noises around the house.
Owls flew in and out in droves, bringing all kinds of packages that looked downright evil.
The Dursleys considered themselves perfectly respectable people.
If anyone found out they had a witch living in their home, what a terrible blow that would be to their reputation!
And this summer, they had it even worse.
When Uncle Vernon went to King's Cross Station to pick up Harley, he ran straight into that former wizard-murderer.
Although the Wizarding World claimed the man had been framed, and the Muggle Prime Minister had publicly announced that he was not a murderer but an agent posing as one on a secret mission,
Uncle Vernon firmly believed that bad seeds would always be bad seeds, wizards were the worst of the lot, and anyone who had been in prison was bad news.
And now there was someone who was a wizard and had been in prison... So he belonged in hell!
When that bad seed had also threatened him, saying he would come talk to him during the holidays, Uncle Vernon's look of terror had been impossible to hide.
He thought his summer vacation might be ruined.
Fortunately, on the very first day the Witch came home, she shut herself in her room and didn't make any strange noises.
"If she could stay like this all summer and not set foot outside that room, that'd be wonderful." Uncle Vernon quietly complained to Aunt Petunia.
Meanwhile, in the room,
Just like during the previous few summers, explosions and groans often rang out from the room, but a spiritual glow rippled along the walls, keeping everything sealed