Flowerbeds?

[tesseract197 <jayemelle@earthlink.net>]

Amy:
> Well, call me a hippie, but I wouldn't mind lying in a flowerbed.  
> It's not like lying on the grass, no, and wouldn't be my first 
> choice, but grass lawn is a bit wide open if your aim is to have a 
> quiet spot to yourself.  If there's nice soft mulch, lots of room 
> between the flowers, and fairly high bushy flowers to hide in, it 
> might be a good way to escape from the family.  If he's actually 
> lying on any of the flowers, of course, Aunt Petunia will kill him.

Me:
Hear, hear!  (Or is it, "Here, here"?  I've never figured that one 
out.)  Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly.  I'm firmly in the camp of 
those who believe this is a quiet, peaceful moment, not one that 
falls in the aftermath of some violence against Harry.  In my mind, 
the reason he's the only one "left" outside is that Dudley, having 
broken his Smeltings stick by banging it against one too many things 
(or people), has dragged his parents off to get a new one--because 
heaven forbid he should be without his favorite weapon while his 
crazy cousin is at his house :o)  The Dursleys have just piled into 
the car, leaving Harry to do some yard work (it is, after all, the 
hottest day of the summer), and as soon as they're out of sight, he 
decides to take advantage of their absence to relax in the 
(hopefully) cushy mulch of the flowerbed.  It's the most comfortable 
option he has, because I've always imagined the house on Privet Drive 
to have really short, impeccably manicured, Astroturfy grass that 
looks nice but wouldn't be all that comfortable to lie on anyway.  So 
that's what I think this is--a nice, peaceful moment that allows 
Harry to relax, think and commit some slight anti-Dursley subterfuge 
all at once.  As dark as OoP promises to be, I think it'd be nice to 
be eased into it with a brief moment of calm.

Tess