That Tuesday Harry receives a mysterious letter with emerald- green ink in the mail. Before he can read it, Uncle Vernon snatches it away from him and, after reading its message, furiously tosses it into the fire. Uncle Vernon then moves Harry from the cupboard to the spare bedroom upstairs (DudleyÂ’s toy room) so that Harry will be further from the front doorÂ’s mail slot.

When an identical letter arrives Wednesday, Uncle Vernon takes more drastic measures and starts sleeping by the front door, under the mail slot. When three more green-ink addressed letters arrive Thursday, Uncle Vernon nails the mail slot closed. Friday, a dozen green-inked letters are pushed under the front door and into the window of the downstairs bathroom. Uncle Vernon seized and burned those letters in turn. On Saturday, two-dozen letters made their way into the house rolled up inside each of the two-dozen eggs Aunt Petunia got from the milkman. Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.

On Sunday, after a score of letters flooded from the fireplace, Uncle Vernon drives the entire family to a faraway hotel. When Harry receives a hundred letters addressed to his hotel room, Uncle Vernon confiscates the messages and takes the family out to a shack upon a small island just off the coast. As Harry tries to sleep on the cold floor he realizes that his eleventh birthday is only minutes away. As the minutes until midnight tick away, Harry hears sounds outside rising above the din of the storm. Directly at midnight, someone knocks upon the shackÂ’s door.

Just moments past midnight into HarryÂ’s eleventh birthday, a giant smashes down the door of the little hut out at sea where the Dursleys are hiding from HarryÂ’s mail. The giant casually greets Harry, ties the rifle Uncle Vernon had been holding into a knot, gives Harry a birthday cake, and introduces himself as Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts (the secondary school for wizards).

Harry wakes up on the hut out at sea and receives his supplies list from Hagrid. Hagrid takes Harry to the magical (Muggles canÂ’t find it) Diagon Alley, where they stop first at the Leaky Cauldron, a wizardsÂ’ pub. There, Harry meets Quirrell, among others, and finds that he is quite a celebrity in the Wizarding world. From there Harry and Hagrid go to Gringotts, the wizardsÂ’ bank, where Harry finds that his parents have left him a small fortune in wizard money.

At the robes shop, Harry meets Draco Malfoy while being fitted for his uniform. Harry dislikes the spoiled and elitist Draco at once, and Draco unwittingly makes Harry feel insecure about not knowing about Quidditch. Harry then picks up his books and cauldron at Flourish and Blotts, and directly afterwards Hagrid buys Harry an owl as a birthday present.

The final stop is OllivandersÂ’ wand shop, where Harry is greeted by the eerie and eccentric Mr. Ollivander. Ollivander has Harry test out a large number of wands before Harry finds the right wand (before the right wand finds Harry). Curiously enough, HarryÂ’s wand is made from the same materials that made up VoldemortÂ’s wand. Hagrid then takes Harry out of Diagon Alley and sends him on a train to spend the rest of the summer with the Dursleys.

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