The Giant
The first owl came on a Tuesday, the week before Holly and her twin brother turned eleven. It slid two letters, identical in all but the names on the envelope, through the mail slot on the door just as Harry had been made to fetch the family's mail. In truth, Holly never even had the chance to see that first letter. She was stuck upstairs, scrubbing the toilet with a toothbrush because of her telling her horrible cousin, Dudley, that he looked like he brushed his teeth with toilet water earlier that July afternoon.
The next morning, during breakfast, another set of letters arrived. Harry tried to wrestle Dudley and their Uncle Vernon for it, but again, Holly did not even get to see. Aunt Petunia blocked the door to the hall, bony arms crossed, sour scowl painting her face, as always. “I think you best get a start on the yard-work, young lady.” she instructed, sending Holly off to pull weeds outside where she could be seen through the veranda windows.
The next morning Vernon nailed shut the mail slot. The following morning, twenty-four letters were shoved under the door, twelve for each twin. Holly nearly got one that time, as she was using the bathroom when a few were shoved through the window, but, no sooner had she stepped out into the hall, than Aunt Petunia patted her down rather invasively and stole back the letters Holly had shoved under her shirt.
On Saturday they arrived in double the amount as the day before, rolled up inside their daily delivery of eggs. That still did not work.
Sunday had the letters pouring in in immeasurable numbers through every possible opening in the house. Vernon decided then, that they were going away. He gave them five minutes to pack some clothes, tossed them all into the car, and began to drive, and drive, and drive some more.
They spent the night in a gloomy hotel, only to flee again in the morning when the letters arrived at reception, addressed now, to their hotel room. They found their way to a place Holly thought was best described as ‘wet’. Wet, and likely, unstable. It was an old house atop a sea rock that required them to borrow a boat even to get there.
Privately, Holly thought this would do nothing to deter the birds. They could fly, after all.
Evening came and went and the Dursleys were off to bed. “Tomorrow’s my birthday,” Harry whispered to Holly, once they were alone. They had been born fifteen minutes apart. That happened to mean that Harry was born ten minutes before the end of July, while Holly was born five minutes into August. It really meant nothing considering the previous year the Dursleys gave Harry a coat hanger and some old socks, while Holly received only a half-chewed pencil.
“Do you want me to stay up with you?” Holly asked, though she was exhausted from all their running from the owls.
Harry shrugged. “Nah, I’ll be fine.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Uh huh.” she prodded him with her foot. “I don’t mind but you gotta stay up with me tomorrow night too, k?”
Harry brightened a bit. “Okay.” he promised.
Together they played silent games to pass the time, occasionally checking the clock until there was only five minutes left to go. Five minutes and a strange creak outside. “Hope it’s not the roof…” Harry mumbled. Holly couldn’t help the shiver that passed through her then.
“Well, maybe it’ll only land on them and then we can get our letters, somehow.” Holly suggested, with a smirk.
Harry snorted.
Holly glanced at the clock. Three minutes until midnight. The creaking had begun to sound like pounding. She huddled closer to her brother, determined to die with him if they were to die on his birthday.
Together, they watched the clock and counted, resolutely ignoring the scary sounds outside. Thirty-seconds… twenty… ten… five… four… three… two… one…
BOOM!
Holly spotted someone at the door, knocking. She shot to her feet an instant before Harry. They kept knocking. Dudley jerked awake. “Where’s the cannon?” their cousin asked, dumbly. Nobody ever said Dudley Dursley was smart.
A crash behind them drew Holly’s attention momentarily to Uncle Vernon, skidding into the room with a rifle. She wasn’t sure who was scarier at this point, Vernon, or the booming stranger knocking at the door…
“Who’s there?” Vernon shouted. “I warn you- I’m armed!”
A brief, terrifying pause, and then the stranger broke the door down.
The stranger - a particularly wild looking giant of a man, scanned the room with eyes that seemed somehow soft. He took in Vernon’s Riffle, Dudley’s bed-head, and Aunt Petunia’s severe looking face before finally spotting Holly and Harry.
He barreled straight over to them, minding his head against the rather low ceiling as he went. “Ah, there ye ‘re!” he said, smiling big under his untamed beard. “Ye look jus’ like yer parents.”
“I demand that you leave at once, sir! You are breaking and entering!” Vernon said, rather un-intimidatingly.
The Giant turned to their uncle. “Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune!” He scolded, snatching up the riffle and bending it into a knot as though it were nothing but a piece of string. Then he tossed the thing into a corner of the room, leaving Uncle Vernon to stand there, squeaking.
“How do you know us? Did you know our parents? Are you the one who sent all those letters?” Holly’s mouth began to say words without consulting with her better thoughts, for, if it (her mouth) had, she’d have told it to be quiet. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that the less you speak, the less you're noticed, which would definitely be useful at a time like this.
“Ah, well… you see… actually…” the giant stammered a bit before seemingly realizing something. He patted down his infinitely pocketed coat until he found what he was looking for. He reached in. Holly held her breath, nervous, only to be overcome with excitement when two letters, just like the ones at home that Vernon had burned, were produced and handed over.
Holly hesitantly glanced at her aunt and uncle before snatching up her letter eagerly. Harry did the same, adding a quiet, “thank you” as he took his.
Miss H. Potter,
The Floor,
Hut-on-the-Rock,
The Sea.
Holly pulled open her letter and read the heading: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She looked up at the giant. “Witchcraft and Wizardry? Are you with a prank show? Who are you? What was the point of chasing us all the way here for… this?!” she demanded, tossing her letter to the ground and crossing her arms, definitely. The Dursley’s had done some terrible things before but this seemed extreme even for them. Why would they - the most normal-loving people on the planet, sign the twins up for a prank show?
The Giant looked hurt. He bent down and plucked the letter off the dusty ground. He then took a deep breath and met Holly’s gaze. “Yer tellin’ me ye aint never been told about our world? Yeh must know ‘bout yeh mum and dad, at least-” he looked to Harry, almost searching for something, though, Holly couldn’t tell you what.
“Were our parents famous or something?” Harry asked, glancing over at Aunt Petunia.
The Giant rounded on their aunt and uncle.
“Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell them anything else!” Vernon commanded, seconds before the Giant turned his glare on him.
“You never told ‘em? Never told ‘em what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer ‘em? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An’ you’ve kept it from ‘em all these years?”
“Kept what from us?” Harry wondered, glancing at his unopened letter, and Holly’s discarded one, now in the Giant’s massive hand.
“Stop! I forbid you!” Vernon shouted. Aunt Petunia gasped.
“Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,” the Giant said, turning back to the twins. “Yer magick, both a yeh. A witch,” he nodded to Holly, “and a wizard.”
“I’m a what?” Harry gasped.
Holly fidgeted. Vernon and Petunia did seem genuine in their horror, so perhaps this was all true? Maybe… maybe she was a witch. Weird things were always happening to them. Like the zoo incident where Harry somehow set a snake on Dudley, or the time Holly swore their lawn gnome was following her around for a month and nobody believed her…
“A wizard, o’ course,” said the Giant. “An’ a thumpin’ good’un, I’d say, once yeh’ve trained up a bit. Yeh too, Holly. With a mum an’ dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An’ I reckon it’s abou’ time yeh read those letters.” he handed Holly’s back to her, looking at her meaningfully for a moment before letting go of the parchment.
“Who are you?” Holly wondered, sounding sort of far away.
“Names Rubius Hagrid,” the giant said, “I’m keeper of keys at Hogwarts