Privet Drive, Little Whinging. An ordinary street, in an ordinary corner of the most boring part of Surrey that anyone could imagine. That was what most of the residents thought, especially the occupiers at No 4. Vernon and Petunia Dursley. They were not long married, but somehow lucky enough to have got into Privet Drive in the 70s just before house prices had exploded.(1), (2) Both of the Dursleys hated anything out of the ordinary, boring was fine, grey and beige were their hearts desire. White paint, standard brickwork and a neat well-watered lawn bordered with flowers to contrast with the green of the lawn was all the brightness they wanted. The garden flowers were visible from the front room, Petunia remembered her childhood in the grimy ugliness of Cokeworth, so she wanted just a little colour, but not so much as to upset Vernon. Yes, Surrey was fine by her, but privacy had been enhanced somewhat too with a bed of large hydrangea bushes, there was a limit to how much neighbourliness they were prepared to share.
In view of what was to happen to the Dursley family in just a few years time the fact that a witch lived at No 7 on the opposite side of the close was ironic. Tiffany Merryweather kept herself to herself, as a muggleborn she was happy to live in amongst the general population, and commute into her job in Diagon Alley. Her parents had been commuters, it was what she was used to and had expected to do in her own turn. The whole Hogwarts experience had left her somewhat cold, very dangerous things were expected there, like flying and playing quidditch with those nasty bludgers. As for apparition, she could do it, but it made her sick. Uggh, no for her the nice office job administering the book orders at Flourish and Blotts was quite sufficient thank you.
There were some perks to being a witch, as examples, storage was never a problem for her and nor was doing the washing up, but she made sure the cupboard doors were closed when it was her turn to host the WI Committee. Rather like the Dursleys she was happy and contented to be just an ordinary witch, with an ordinary job and an ordinary commute.
In late 1980 her work changed with a managerial promotion and she planned a move so as to get a slightly bigger house and an easier train commute into work. The run in and out of Paddington was OK, but Waterloo was easier all round. As it was to turn out the very day when she moved out of Privet Drive to her new house in Surbiton was the very same day that the evening’s events were to change lives for ever at No 4.