Who is the boy?

[Alex]

No: HPFGUIDX 54073

Let's have that quote again:
"The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy 
silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. . . The only person 
left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed 
outside number four."

> Andrea:
> > When I first read that paragraph, my first thought was that Harry 
> was
> > out weeding the flower beds, and took a moment to rest because it's 
> so hot.

finwitch:
> Then he'd be right next to the flowerbed, not in it. It's not like 
> little flowers can keep up when someone's lying on them... But Harry 
> might have been weeding and then fainted. It's hot, he hasn't had 
> enough to drink (because those Dursleys won't let him to) and well, 
> maybe Voldemort killed someone again so that Harry's scar hurt him on 
> top of that...

Now, me (aesob):
I think it has to be Harry, it would be strange to have the book open with 
another teenage boy lying in the Dursley yard. Also, I don't think the book 
would open with Harry doing yardwork (though I could be wrong). Why is he 
outside on the hottest day of the summer when it seems that no one else is 
out? 

The mental image this conjures for me is a boy (I think it's got to be Harry) 
compressing the fresh, loose dirt of a raised flowerbed bordered by lawn, 
crushing Aunt Petunia's flowers, probably about to get yelled at.

I think two details are very important: whoever it is, he's (1) lying on his back, 
(2) in a flowerbed. This is not a place where one would ordinarily lie down, so 
what put him there, his actions or someone else's?

I guess we'll have to wait and see...

~~aesob