The Keeper of the Keys
After the break, everyone sat down, and the book started to speak (a/n: or is it read? I don’t know) again.
THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS
Everyone looked at Hagrid when the title was spoken.
BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.
All the Muggles and Muggle raised gasped.
"What is a cannon?" Bellatrix snapped.
"It's a muggle weapon that when you pull the trigger, it can kill you or hurt you. Some people threaten you with it." Rose said.
All the pure-bloods gasped in shock that Muggles could do that, not knowing that they were much more advanced.
There was a crash behind them, and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his handsnow they knew what had been in the long, thinpackage he had brought with them.
"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn, you I'm armed!"
There was a pause. ThenSMASH!
The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges, and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.
A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.
The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.
"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."
Rose then randomly starts to laugh.
"Whats funny?" Sirius asks.
"Its just that when someone breaks in a home, they don't ask for a cup of tea. They would look for things to take in your own home." Rose said.
Sirius looked confused.
"It's certain muggles that come to steal from you in the muggle world." Rose clarifies.
He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.
"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.
Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.
"Wimp." James says.
Lily hits James head.
"An' here's Rose!" said the giant.
Rose looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.
"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh, look a lot like yer mom, but yeh've got yet dad's eyes."
James nods in agreement.
Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.
"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"
"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.
Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.
"I would prefer if they were chocking on food instead but oh well." Sirius says nonchalant.
"Anyway – Rose," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."
From an inside pocket of his black overcoat, he pulled a slightly squashed box. Rose opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Rose written on it in green icing.
Rose looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"
"YOU NEED TO LEARN MANNERS, YOUNG LADY!!!" Molly Weasley screeched.
"You will do nothing of the sort, I'll tell my daughger on how to behave." Lily says in a deathly silent voice though every one heard in the hall.
The giant chuckled.
"True, I haven't introduced myself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
He held out an enormous hand and shook Rose's whole arm.
"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."
His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it, and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing, but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light, and Rose felt the warmth wash over himas though he'd sunk into a hot bath.
"HE USED MAGIC ILLEGALLY!!!" Dolores Umbridge screeched.
"He probably didn't as I probably allowed him to." Dumbledore said calmly while Molly was nodding her head in agreement.
The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. Soon, the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."
The giant chuckled darkly.
"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."
"That's true." Rose agreed, but it sounded as if she didn't wanted to.
He passed the sausages to Rose, who was so hungry she had never tasted anything so wonderful, but she still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, she said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."
The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts -- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.
"Oh Hagrid, she didn't even know what Hogwarts is as she raised the muggles." Lily said.
"Er – no," said Rose.
Hagrid looked shocked.
"Sorry," Rose said quickly.
"You don't need to say sorry, they need to say sorry." Lily said annoyed.
I don't know if he works with Dumbledore, so I am going
"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"
Lily rolled her eyes.
"All what?" asked Rose.
"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait, just one second!"
He had leaped to his feet. In his anger, he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.
"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this girl – this girl! -- knows nothin' abou' -- about ANYTHING?"
Rose thought was going a bit far. She had been to school, after all, and her marks weren't bad.
"I know some things," she said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."
"Thats not he meant." Molly said kindly.
Rose, Lily, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter glared at Molly.
"What world?"
Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.
"DURSLEY!" he boomed.
Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.
"But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
"What? My -- my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"
"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Rose with a bewildered stare.
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.
Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"
A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.
"You never told her? Never told her what was in the letter Dumbledore left for her? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from her all these years?"
Lily gasped at what they did to Rose.
"Kept what from me?" said Rose eagerly.
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.
Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.
"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Rose – yer a wizard."
There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.
"-- a what?" gasped Rose. "That's very offensive!! "
"I also said that when I found out I was a witch."
"What do mean that is offensive?" Narcissa asks.
"In the muggle world they portray witches with green skin, warts. Its basically saying they're evil But not every muggles think that. " Rose answers.
"A witch, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."
Rose stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mrs. R. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:
" FINALLY!!!" James shouted.
Rose laughed at her father getting whacked by Lily Potter.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Questions exploded inside Rose's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"
"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl -- a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Rose could read upside down:
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Given Rose, her letter.
Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well.
Hagrid
"I can't even read his writing thewrite way up." James said in shock.
Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.
Rose realized her mouth was open and closed it quickly.
"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.
"She's not going," he said.
Hagrid grunted.
"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.
"A what?" said Rose, interested.
"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like thern. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."
"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of her! Witch indeed!"
"That would damage her beyond!!" Madame Bones says in horror while writing everything down.
"You knew?" said Rose. "You knew I'm a -- a witch?"
"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.
"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as as abnormal -- and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"
Lily was shocked, beyond that she couldn't say a word, because she really hoped that she was able to mend their sisterly bond. Lily gasped but her friends, aka: Marlene; Alice; Marlene, all said at the same time," We are your sister's not her. "
Rose had gone very quiet. As soon as she could she shouted, “Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!
"Car crash?" James said beyond angry.
AND STOP BEING JEALOUSE IT DOESN'T HELP!!”
James and Lily smiled gratefully at Rose. Rose nods towards her parents.
“CAR CRASH!” roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. “How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Rose Potter notknowin' her own story when every kid in our world knows her name!”
“But why? What happened?” Rose asked urgently.
The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.
“I never expected this,” he said, in a low, worried voice. “I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin’ hold of yeh, how much yeh didn’t know. Ah, Rose, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh -- but someones gotta -- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'.”
He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.
“Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh -- mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it….”
How wrong it was. Rose thinks.
He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, “It begins, I suppose, with -- with a person called -- but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows –”
“Who?”
"Well -- I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."
Rose just rolls her eyes.
"Why not?"
"Gulpin' gargoyles, Rose, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."
Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.
"He won't say it!!" The marauders shout out.
"Could you write it down?" Rose suggested.
"Nah -can't spell it. All right -- Voldemort."
"She got him to say it." James says while gasping.
"I'm just excellent that way." Rose says while flipping her hair.
Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this -- this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too some wereafraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Rose.Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.
"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side."
"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' -- an' --"
"Wrong." Rose whispered, or so she thought.
Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.
"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad -- knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find -- anyway..."
"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then -- an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing -- he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh -- took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even -- but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age -- the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts -- an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."
"Wrong again." But this time it was whispered.
Remus who had super hearing heard what she said and looked confused but decided to wait until it says in the books.
Something very painful was going on in Rose's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, she saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than she had ever remembered it before -- and she remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.
Her parents looked worried while Amy hugged Rose.
Hagrid was watching him sadly.
"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."
"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Rose jumped; she had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.
"Now, you listen here, girl," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end --"
But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley – I'm warning you one more word..."
In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.
"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.
Rose, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.
"But what happened to Vol--, sorry -- I mean, You-Know-Who?"
"Good question, Rose. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful -- why'd he go?
"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.
"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Rose. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on -- I dunno what it was, no one does -- but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."
Hagrid looked at Rose with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Her? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?
"Hagrid," she said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."
To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.
"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you were scared or angry?"
Rose looked into the fire. Now she came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made her aunt and uncle furious with herhad happened when she, Rose, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, she had somehow found herself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, she'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit her, hadn't she got her revenge without even realizing she was doing it? Hadn't she set a boa constrictor on him?
Rose looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.
"See?" said Hagrid. "Rose Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."
But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.
"Haven't I told you she's not going?" he hissed. "She's going to Stonewall High, and she'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters, and he needs all sorts of rubbish -- spell books and wands and --"
"If she wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop her," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's daughter goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. Her name's been down ever since she was born. She's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there, and she won't know herself. She'll be with youngsters of her own sort, fer a change, an' she'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled--"
Rose snorted as Tom Riddle is more powerful than Dumblder
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.
"Who wants to help find a burial place?" James says sarcastically.
"I'll help get a coffin." Sirius adds in.
"I'll be an alibi." Remus and Peter adds in (a/n: as this is a dumbledore bashing, peter doesnt betray them to Voldemort, only to dumbledore, only because he was under the imperius curse and the prophecy is fake in this story).
But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN-FRONT-OF- ME!"
Rose then looks troubled as in her mind it started to trigger certain memories in her memory but it is so blurry.
He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Rose saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.
Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.
Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.
"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."
He cast a sideways look at Rose under his bushy eyebrows.
"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm -- er not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job
"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Rose.
"Oh, well -- I was at Hogwarts meself but I er got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."
"Why were you expelled?"
"He won't tell you." James said while pouting.
Rose smirked.
"You found out." James asked.
Rose nods.
"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."
He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Rose.