Lesson 8: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

 

“Up! Get up! Now!”

Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.

“Up!” she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he’d had the same dream before.

His aunt was back outside the door.

“Are you up yet?” she demanded.

“Nearly,” said Harry.

“Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don’t you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy’s birthday.”

Harry groaned.

“What did you say?” his aunt snapped through the door.

“Nothing, nothing…”

Dudley’s birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley’s birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise —unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley’s favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn’t often catch him. Harry didn’t look it, but he was very fast.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley’s, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.

“In the car crash when your parents died,” she had said. “And don’t ask questions.” Don’t ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

 

 

Vocabulary:

 

Rap: A sudden, short sound made when someone hits a hard surface.

Example sentence: There was a rap on the window.

 

Screech: An unpleasant, high, loud sound.

Example sentence: A car came screeching around the corner.

 

Demand: A strong request; a command. 

Example sentence:  She demanded that he apologize.

 

Groan: A long, low sound that expresses pain or unhappiness.

Example sentence: He collapsed, groaning with pain.

 

Snap: To say something suddenly in an angry way. To speak angrily. 

Example sentence: She snapped at the children because she was tired.

 

Mention:  To briefly speak about something. 

Example sentence: She didn’t mention her daughter.

 

Unless: Except if.

Example sentence: I won’t call you unless there are any problems.

 

Involve: A necessary part;  to include.

Example sentence: There are a lot of risks involved.

 

Scar: A mark left on the body from an injury that won’t go away. 

Example sentence: I have a scar on my knee from when I fell off my bike.

 

Crash: To hit something.

Example sentence: I crashed into him on accident.