I'll finally start reading today as well >_>

Anyway, that might be an explanation, Drome, because what always struck me was the disconnect between how well-off the Dursleys sound, and how they live. Listening to the descriptions, you'd consider them -- perhaps not rich, but well off. There's Vernon's job (director, it's possible enough he owns the company, actually), Dudley's presents, and don't forget, the talk in CoS is about buying a vacation home in Mallorca. On the other hand, their house in Privet Drive is just not impressive at all. It's a fairly small, at-most middle-class home. It fits Mrs. Figg. But the Dursleys?

 

Hm, maybe I had a wrong image of the house, too. The movie version does seem kinda small, at least, but right, it's quite possible I have a wrong baseline. Anyway, to wrap the wealth discussion up:

The Dursleys had everything they wanted. (Ch.1)​

Something else I wondered, regarding the very first chapter: It's November, so wouldn't there be school? I mean, McGonagall and Dumbledore should've been there, no? Yet they kinda sound as if they haven't seen each other in a while -- or at least McGonagall can't find any more practical way of talking to Dumbledore than waiting in Privet Drive, and even if this is an aberration, it still definitely means there was no school that day, anyway.

I agree with this.

I read this as people sometimes buy another wand, and this was Lily's first. It doesn't necessarily say that she bought another one, though it's possible. And good work on the wands Harry tries. I hadn't yet looked up their meanings in Pottermore.

--

I really enjoyed the first chapters. I love Rowling's humour, it's exactly mine -- dry in tone, with lots of hilarious images (Vernon tearing his moustache apart in agitation), absurd situations (the letters, when he nails shut the door, humming "Tiptoe through the Tulips", because "if they can't deliver it, they won't send it, see"), and something children won't notice: the clearly satirical ways in how Vernon and the Dursleys are depicted. It's a pointed riff on the typical well-off, bigotted, narrowminded and terribly dull suburbia family, and Vernon is their star:

He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn’t approve of imagination.​

This is pointed, funny, and spot on: satire at its best. There's also the obligatory dig at private schools:

Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren’t looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.​

In those early chapters, HP is almost political.

--

Now, Trivia Time!

“All right, we’ll take you to King’s Cross. We’re going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn’t bother.”

“Why are you going to London?” Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.

“Taking Dudley to the hospital,” growled Uncle Vernon. “Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings.”​

I can only conclude this means Grunnings is, in fact, not in London. Was it ever said that the Dursleys lived in the outskirts of London? Surrey is not that small, after all. I could imagine Grunnings being in Woking or Guildfort and Little Whinging being close to that, or even in Reading, if they are living near the eastern fringe. If Harry gets up at 5, and they are leaving "two hours later" (at 7), and reach King's Cross at half past ten, that is some fair distance, morning traffic jam or no.

Next:

The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat.​

It's important to have the right image in your head here. The right image is something like this (if you've watched, say, Downton Abbey, you'll know what comes now):

​

The Hogwarts Express does have a corridor connecting the compartments, but the doors should be opening into the compartments, and most (if not each) compartment has one, and that is why Harry is moving along on the outside of the train, looking for an empty compartment. It's far easier, and he can always look into the compartments anyway. Similarly here:

Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot. [...] With the twins’ help, Harry’s trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.​

He's standing in front of the open door, and tries to get his luggage (and himself) directly into the compartment. Interestingly enough, though, this is kinda contradicted when they exit the train,

They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform.​

But perhaps the platform in Hogsmeade is on the other, corridor-side? I'm still pretty sure the above picture is what Rowling intended; carriages like those were A) common in the early (steam) days, and B) still in use long throughout the 20th century, so she'll have used them herself.

Then:

“You’ve already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn’t something you goggle at in a zoo.”​

Probably not the London Zoo. I want that magical zoo, now.

And:

Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn’t keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcraft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose ...​

Give me a big fat XD

Wiki says: "In some Irish myths, Clíodhna is a goddess of love and beauty ..." I propose she looks something like this:

​

(That's her greek cousin, but who cares). Yeah, I'd stare too :3


Finally, here's a question: The usual POD is Harry not meeting Draco, and hence getting sorted into Slytherin. All things considered, do you think this is realistic?

Obviously Draco does all the wrong things: He behaves like the spoiled brat he is, reminding Harry of Dudley, insults the person that fetched Harry from the Dursleys and got him his first birthday cake etc. Later on, at the train, he shows his prejudice, but at this point I'd argue Harry's mind is already set, and he ends up with:

Perhaps it was Harry’s imagination, after all he’d heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.​

So how much of the bias is Draco, how much is Hagrid (“There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.”) or even Ron's? I think I think Hagrid is the bigger influence here -- Draco is one thing, but to end up in the House where Voldemort was, who killed your parents?

 

FriedIce: Perhaps, though 2.5 hours I could see -- putting up Google Maps says from the southernmost edge of Surrey (Haslemere) to King's Cross is ~80 km and takes 1:30, add an hour of rush hour traffic jam and you're there.

And yes, they are taking the car; Harry loads his stuff into the boot. I guess the point here is that you definitely want the Dursleys to live as far away from London as possible, while still being in Surrey.

This runs counter to the usual idea that they live directly in the London suburbs -- and Grunnings not being in London then fits also.

Edit: The train is probably a plot hole anyway, as Harry leaves from Paddington Station after the shopping in Diagon Alley, and no lines serving Surrey end in Paddington.

 

If anyone has opinions, I really would like to talk about this, before we have the next batch. Here's all mentions of Slytherin until the sorting:

Draco talking about it, at Madam Malkins:

“Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I’ll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?”​

Hagrid afterwards:

“And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?”
“School Houses. There’s four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers, but —”
“I bet I’m in Hufflepuff,” said Harry gloomily.
“Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin,” said Hagrid darkly. “There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’tin Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.”
“Vol-, sorry — You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?”
“Years an’ years ago,” said Hagrid.​

Ron on the train:

“What House are your brothers in?” asked Harry.
“Gryffindor,” said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. “Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don’t know what they’ll say if I’m not. I don’t suppose Ravenclaw wouldbe too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin.”
“That’s the House Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?”
“Yeah,” said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.​

The Sorting Hat:

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.​

And the already quoted line:

“Bulstrode, Millicent” then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry’s imagination, after all he’d heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.​

And that's all. Not really much, if you think about it. So what had that much of an impact, that the result is

“... So where shall I put you?”
Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.​

especially considering that right before, Harry fears not getting sorted at all? Strange to limit your options then, and conversely, implying he'd rather not be sorted than sorted into Slytherin. That's quite something.