第一章

活着的男孩

家住在女贞路4号的杜思丽夫妇总是得意的说，他们是非常本份的人家，谢天谢地。他们是最不可能被认为卷入到一些奇怪和神秘的事情的人。因为他们从来都不认可那些虚无缥缈的事。

杜思丽先生在一个名叫布朗宁的公司做主管，公司主营钻床制造。他高大健硕，胖的几乎没有脖子，却留着很大的胡子。杜思丽夫人身材纤细，留着一头金发，近乎两倍长于常人的脖子，这让她时常非常便利地把脖子伸出栅栏，窥视邻居。杜思丽一家有一个小儿子名叫大力，在他们看来，世间再也找不到像大力这么好的孩子了。

杜思丽一家拥有他们想要的一切，但除此之外，他们保守一个秘密，他们最害怕被别人们发现。如果被人发现有关波特一家的秘密，他们会承受不住的。波特夫人是杜思丽夫人的妹妹，但是他们有好几年有没有见面了。事实上杜思丽夫人假装她没有这个妹妹，因为她的妹妹及不中用的妹夫，和杜思丽一家处世方式完全不同。他们一想到邻居议论波特一家是否会回到这条街，就怕得浑身发抖。他们知道波特家有一个小儿子，但他们从来没有见过。这个男孩是他们远离波特一家很好的理由，因为他们不想要大力和这样的小孩厮混在一起。

故事开始于天色阴沉，灰暗的周二早晨，杜思丽夫妇一早醒来，窗外低沉的云天没有丝毫迹象预示在这个城镇将要发生奇怪和神秘的事情。杜思丽先生哼着小曲，挑选一条最不喜欢的领带去上班，杜思丽夫人不停地絮叨，高兴地把哭闹的大力搬到儿童椅子上。

然而，没有任何人注意到一只巨大的、褐色的猫头鹰挥着翅膀从窗外穿过。

八点半，杜思丽先生拾起他的公文包，轻吻杜思丽夫人的面颊，然后尝试和大力吻别，但是却失败了，因为正赶大力发了个脾气，把她的早餐奶扔到了墙上。“小淘气”杜思丽先生咯咯笑着离开了房子。他钻进汽车，并倒出4号路。

在大街的拐角，他注意到了奇怪的信号，一只猫正在看一副地图。过了一秒钟，杜思丽先生没有意识到他看到了什么——就在那时，他猛然转过头去一看究竟，那里只有一只花猫站在女贞路路口，但是并没有看到地图。他到底在想些什么？很可能是光线产生的错觉吧？杜思丽先生眨着眼睛，并盯着那只猫，猫也在盯着他。杜思丽先生转过了街角，上了大道。他从后视镜再去看那只猫，它正在看写着女贞路的路标——不，它只是在看路标；猫是不会阅读地图或路标的。杜思丽先生稍微振作了一下，并尝试把猫从脑海里赶走。他向着城里的方向开，脑海中想的是希望今天能得到一大批钻床的订单。

（未完待续）20180226

Chapter 1

THE BOY WHO LIVED

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.

None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.

At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.

It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar -- a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen -- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive -- no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.