Spinning Around
Unfortunately, Dudley didn't die.
The snake was quick, but not quick enough to suffocate his cousin to death, so Harry's little stunt just led to a few broken bones and a panicked aunt Petunia. The only highlight was that the boa constrictor at least managed to escape in the end. Harry wasn't exactly going to uphold his end of the bargain, since he immediately put the glass panel back with some effort in order to keep people from helping Dudley; so yeah, he wasn't exactly expecting the snake to escape, but the zoo staff was so worried about Dudley that it was able to slither away when they entered. The animal had even thanked Harry.
Obviously, Dudley was immediately rushed to the hospital and Harry was unfortunately dragged along. Apparently, it wasn't even that bad, Dudley just had one broken arm and yeah he'd suffocated for a a few seconds but he didn't really get hurt. So really, his cousin was just being a whiny baby in Harry's honest opinion.
All in all, Harry had thought the whole ordeal to be really underwhelming. How disappointing.
Thankfully, Harry was pleasantly surprised the next day.
His cousin had passed out due to fear and the pain of a broken arm. And when he woke up, the Dursleys obviously questioned Dudley about what happened, and then Harry realized that if Dudley told the truth... Well, he'd be completely screwed to say the least.
But instead of whining about how much of a monster Harry was, Dudley just... Looked at him for a second and then looked away, his lips trembling for a moment before he spoke with a shaky voice:
"The glass it... It broke and I fell in."
Dudley was lying.
Dudley was lying to his parents about something that Harry did, his cousin was scared enough to help Harry.
The realization was heady, the feeling of having power over someone else made Harry's head swirl, and he wondered why he'd never tried to control people like this before. Was it really so easy? Just scare them a little bit and they'll cower before you?
When Dudley looked at him again, Harry couldn't help but give his cousin a mocking smile; holding back his laughter when his cousin squeaked slightly and immediately turned his attention away from Harry.
Just like a rat.
A few days later, summer break had started and today was Harry's birthday. Not that the day actually meant anything, because Harry had never celebrated it, but he weirdly felt like something was going to happen today.
His relatives were having breakfast with Harry standing aside and watching, having morbid thought after morbid thought. Harry sometimes liked to imagine what it would be like if the Dursleys choked on their greasy food (That Harry had cooked and couldn't eat); personally, he thought his uncle would be the funniest to watch.
A knock came from the door and Vernon ordered him to get it. Harry would usually be annoyed about this, but why did he feel a strange sense of anticipation?
Harry collected the mail and looked through it briefly; knowledge was power after all and Harry liked to know everything.
And then he saw it: His name was written in one of the letters. Someone had written a letter to Harry.
Harry was mesmerized, but then his uncle's voice broke the spell,
"Boy! Why are you taking so long?!"
Harry jumped slightly and quickly hid the letter inside his clothes. Dudley might be too scared to pick on him now, but that didn't mean that his relatives wouldn't. So really, he was better off hiding it.
After he handed the rest of the letters to his uncle, Harry then faked a migraine and implored his aunt to let him go back to the cupboard. The woman eventually relented, saying that he'd have to do double the chores tomorrow in order to make up for the ones he wouldn't do today; Harry quickly agreed and rushed back to his cupboard.
Obviously, his cupboard was too dark to see anything, even in the daytime, but thankfully Harry had recently developed a trick to deal with it. He finally learned how to make light with his powers, so Harry used it all the time when he was locked away. Now every time the Dursleys locked him Harry got simply ecstatic, after all, the longer he was locked away the longer he could read his books.
Not that the Dursleys knew about his books, since most of them were small pocket books stolen from the school library, his relatives didn't have any idea how Harry spent his "punishments" now.
He concentrated the power on his fingertips and nudged it out slowly, his mind concentrated on creating a small sphere of pure light. It finally appeared then, and Harry let out a small sigh, he always felt proud whenever he did this.
The small ball of light wasn't that luminous, but it was enough that he could see the letter while also not alerting his relatives.
The letter's envelope looked old but not worn down, it had a slight brownish tint to it that reminded Harry of old treasure maps he'd sometimes see in the kid's shows Dudley watched. There was also a coat of arms with a weird but familiar name written on it:
Hogwarts.
The name caused Harry so much familiarity and fondness. Like he knew what this 'Hogwarts' was and cared a lot for it.
He also noticed that the letter was weirdly addressed to Mr. H. Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs. How could anyone know about that?
Without more delays, Harry opened the envelope and saw two pieces of the same weird brown paper inside; he picked the one in the front and felt his heart stop at what he read.
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? he was accepted into a school of witches and wizards? Like, the kind that did magic?
Harry... Harry was actually a wizard?
The light he was producing suddenly wavered with his surprise, getting momentarily brighter before it started to get too dimmer. Harry snapped back into focus when it was close to disappearing, putting more energy into the little ball so it could keep shining.
Right, he should focus now, this wasn't the time to get frozen from the shock. Harry should focus and assess the situation.
So, he was a wizard, right? The only reason a school for witchcraft and wizardry to accept someone is if they're magical themselves, right? So... Did that mean that Harry's powers were actually magic?
For some reason, the term magic felt not only very familiar, but also incredibly correct. All of his instincts were telling him that magic is the correct name for what Harry can do.
Harry looked back at the little ball of light that was hanging from his fingertips. Magic, huh? It certainly did feel like magic, the thing that seemed to be entwined to his very soul and that he could sometimes taste in the air when he did a particularly difficult trick; it all felt like magic to him.
But then, Harry's wonder came to an abrupt end when the more logical part of him kicked in: Because really, magic? Harry being a wizard? And if it is true, how could he simply be accepted to something he had never signed up for in the first place? And that wasn't the only weird thing; the letter made it seem that Harry wouldn't have to pay anything, it simply said that Harry was accepted into Hogwarts and it implied that he was expected to go.
It all seemed awfully sketchy, but for once in his life Harry was actually feeling hopeful. If this Hogwarts place is a school for magical people, then didn't that mean that the people there would be like him? Wouldn't they be able to understand Harry? To... To like him?
He knew this was a childish thought. It was obvious that this was probably wishful thinking and Harry knew that his whole Hogwarts business had little to no chance of being true but...
He could hope, right?
The next day, Harry woke up in a bad mood. He wanted to tell Tom about the letter he received, but it had been a few weeks since his last lucid dream and they didn't happen very often. He also had spent hours mulling over the 'Hogwarts' issue, since the letter also had a list of materials attached and Harry had no idea how to get those. Where the heck was he supposed to find a wand? And also, just where the hell was Hogwarts in the first place? It's not like the letter gave him an address or something.
Harry let out a sigh when his aunt started banging on the door. Right, double the chores, huh? God, Harry had just woken up and was already completely fed up.
Later that day, when Harry was doing the dishes, a loud knock came from the door. Since his aunt wasn't freaking out dressing Dudley, Harry guessed that the visit was unexpected.
Dudley went to open the door, and then Harry heard his cousin let out a scream and the door was closed with a bang. Dudley came back to the kitchen and was basically screaming, "Mom! There's a huge man outside and he's freakish!!"
That caught his attention. Harry stopped washing the dishes and ran to the front door, opening it with urgency.
Harry's eyes widened when he saw the man outside. He was huge and Harry had to bend his neck completely to see just half of the man's face.
Well, Dudley was right, that was definitely freakish.
"Hello Harry." The giant man said, with a smile on his face.
Harry narrowed his eyes, "Who are you? Actually, scratch that, what are you?"
The man frowned a little, looking hurt from what Harry said. Good, Harry thought, the man looked stupid, and something told Harry this man was going to be an annoyance.
"Oh... Right. You probably don't remember me eh? I knew ya when you were a tiny baby." The man then barked a laugh, "Though you're still tiny!"
Harry's hold on the doorknob got tighter. This man was annoying, just like he thought, and Harry wanted to blast him all the way to hell already.
"Answer my question."
The man looked uncomfortable, but then sighed, "Right. The name's Hagrid, I'm Hogwarts groundskeeper."
"Oh?" Harry raised an eyebrow, "You're from Hogwarts?"
Hagrid looked excited now, "Yeah, exactly! Ya got your letter?"
Harry simply nodded, and then asked, "Are you going to take me to Hogwarts?"
Hagrid barked another laugh, "Of course not! Ya gotta buy your supplies first! I'm gonna take you to Diagon Alley."
Harry then looked Hagrid up and down, "You?"
Hagrid blinked, confused, "Yes, me."
Harry had to hold back a grunt, "I see."
The man moved uncomfortably, "You... Don't have any more questions?"
"No." Harry said curtly.
He had, in fact, several questions, but it was clear to anyone with half a brain that Hagrid was a bit dimwitted. Asking him anything would probably just lead to a lot of inaccurate information. And really, if Harry was going to buy supplies soon, that probably included books and he could just learn from those.
Wait, how was he going to buy anything?
Harry blinked and then sighed, "Actually, I do have one question: How am I going to buy anything? I don't exactly have money and my relatives aren't going to pay for anything."
The Dursleys barely gave Harry food, they definitely wouldn't be paying some fancy magical school too.
Hagrid smiled, "Oh that's easy, we're gonna get ya money from Gringrotts."
From the way the man talked, Harry guessed Gringrotts was a bank. If so, what money would they get? Banks just didn't give money for free after all.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Petunia's scratchy voice screamed and Harry wondered if he should take her vocal cords off while she slept. The woman screamed like a damn harpy, it was enough to make a man deaf.
Well, what followed next was Hagrid trying to explain to Petunia why he was here and Petunia in turn, obviously not listening and just screaming into oblivion.
Harry let the confusion go on for a while. Let them make each other suffer, Harry didn't like either of them anyway.
After about 7 minutes, he decided enough was enough: "Aunt Petunia, Hagrid is going to take me away for a while, so don't you think it'd be a great time for your family to unwind and relax without me there?" Harry said with a sickeningly sweet voice and an even worse smile. Aunt Petunia thankfully understood that this was her cue to get Harry away from them at least for a little while, so she simply gave him a curt nod and went back inside.
He turned back to Hagrid,
"So? Lead the way."