杜思丽夫人度过了一个美好、正常的一天。她整个晚餐都在好和杜思丽先生说隔壁邻居女儿的问题以及学会一个新词汇“不会”。杜思丽先生尝试表现得正常一些。当大力上床休息后，他走进卧室，打开广播按时收听晚间新闻：
“到最后，据各地的鸟类观察家报道，今天在全国范围内的猫头鹰习性非常异常。猫头鹰通常是在晚上出来捕食，并且很少在白天出现，但今天日出后，目击到了上百只，飞的到处都是。就算专家也不能解释为何猫头鹰会改变他们的睡眠习性。播报员咧嘴一笑，”太奇妙了，让我们把时间交给吉姆，让他说说天气，今晚会不会下猫头鹰雨呢，吉姆？
”好的，泰迪"天气播报员说，“我并不知道那些，但在今天不仅仅是猫头鹰表现得古怪，远在肯特，约克，丹麦的观众也打来电话告诉我说昨天下的不是雨，而是漫天瓢泼的流星雨！或许，人们把本该下周需要庆祝的火把节，现在提早庆祝了。不过，朋友们，我确定今晚一定下雨！”
杜思丽怔住了，坐在扶椅上，全英国都在下流星雨？整个白天都在飞猫头鹰？大街上都是穿着斗篷的人？以及那个关于波特一家的传言，，，
杜思丽先生端了两杯茶水，走进了卧室。状况很糟，他不得不告诉她一些事情。他清了清嗓子“额，亲爱的潘娜，你近期没有听到过你妹妹的事情，对吧？
不出所料，和他预想的一样，杜思丽夫人惊讶又生气，毕竟她一直装作没有这个妹妹。
“没有”她尖声说道，“为什么？”
“新闻中那些荒唐的事物”杜思丽先生咕哝地说：“猫头鹰，，流星雨，，还有今天在镇子里那群穿着奇装异服的人”
“所以？”杜思丽夫人厉声说道。
“好吧，我只是想,,,或许,,，你明白，这一切或许和她们那群人有关。”
Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:
"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"
"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early -- it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."
Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...
Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er -- Petunia, dear -- you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"
As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.
"No," she said sharply. "Why?"
"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."
"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.
"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."
