The keeper of the keys
BOOM!
They knocked again. Dudley jolted awake. "Where's the cannon?" He asked stupidly.
"Dudley, there is no cannon, there's something outside!" said Harry, backing into the nearest corner and hiding himself and Hydrus the best he could under the small blanket. He could only hide Hydrus, but it was good enough for him.
There was a loud crash, and Vernon suddenly came rushing out of the room with a rifle in hand. They now knew what was in the long, thin package he shoved into the trunk.
"Who's there?! I warn you! I'm armed!" He shouted.
There was a pause in which felt like the entire world had quieted down, and then--
SMASH!
The door had been hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and fell on the ground, and Harry peeked at the door from his hiding place.
A large man-- a giant, dare he say-- standing where the door once was. His hair was almost hiding hiding the entirety of his face, and a beard assisted it, but the bare minimum of his eyes could be seen, although they looked like gleaming beetles underneath the light. He squeezed through the door frame, and put the door back on. He turned towards them.
"Couldn't make a cup o' tea, could yeh? Been a long journey, not easy a' all..."
He sat on the sofa, which Dudley squirmed off of, and sat near Harry, who was trying his hardest to hide with the frail little blanket, but he couldn't pretend it was working. Dudley squeaked when the man looked in his direction, then went to hide behind his father with his mother.
"An' here's lil' Harley! " He said.
Harry looked up, almost scared, but tried his best to keep a straight face, and held the blanket tight over Hydrus-- if he couldn't keep himself safe, he'd atleast do that for something worth keeping.
"Las' time I saw yeh, you was only a baby," He started. "Yeh look jest like yer da'! --Eh, James! But yeh got yer mum's eyes!"
Vernon made some kind of grunting noise, and held the rifle up to the man's face.
"I demand you leave at once! You are breaking and entering!" He yelled.
"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," The giant replied as he reached over the back of the sofa, yanking the gun before he bent it like as if it were a balloon, before tossing it in a corner.
Vernon made another noise, before going to stand before Petunia and Dudley.
"Anyway, Harley," The giant spoke as if he hadn't turned a gun into a knot. "A very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here-- er, mighta sat on it at some point, but I imagine it'll taste all the same," He continued, pulling a slightly squished box from a pocket within his large black overcoat. He handed it to Harry, who opened it uncertainly. Inside was a large cake of sticky chocolate, with Happee Birthdae Harliee written in green icing.
Harry looked up at the giant, who was still smiling brightly. He meant to say thank you, or atleast correct the man on his name, but his own words twisted in his throat, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"
The man chuckled. "True, 'aven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out a large hand, and shook Harry's whole arm. If he could be any less asleep, that definitely helped. "What about that tea then, eh? Unless yeh got summat stronger, I'd not say no ter it," Hagrid said. He looked at the empty grate with the burnt chip bags and banana peels and snorted. When he got up and walked over to the fire, nobody could see what he was doing, but when he backed up a moment later, there was a roaring fire. It filled the entire hut with a feeling similar to that of a sauna as the heat merged with the humidity of the storm still harshly blowing. Harry felt like he had fallen into a hot bath he never wanted to emerge.
Hagrid came back and sat on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and he began to take all sorts of things out of his rather large pockets; A tea kettle, a pack of sausages, a poker, and a couple mugs. He took out what looked like a bottle of brandy, took a sip, and started making tea. And not long after, the hut smelled heavily of cooking sausages, the banana stench now long gone.
Nobody said a word, not even when Harry got up and brought the thin blanket with him as he moved to sit infront of the fire, but Dudley's mouth watered when Hagrid pulled out the first, almost burnt, six sausages from the poker.
"Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley," Vernon said quickly.
Hagrid snorted. "Yer great puddin' of a son ain' in need no more fattenin', Dursley, don' worry."
He passed Harry the sausages, who, if it may be worded it as such-- devoured them. But then again, he'd take what he could get. And they'd already been cooked-- it was no good trying to save them for later. He waiting for a moment, but when he finally realised nobody planned on explaining anything, he said, "I still don't really know who you are,"
Hagrid took a sip of tea. "Call me Hagrid," He started, taking another swig. "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts-- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."
"No. I- I don't- I don't know about Hog... wars?" Harry said.
Hagrid looked shocked.
"Sorry, am I supposed to know? I don't think I know it," Harry rambled, trying to make sure he hadn't angered Hagrid.
"Sorry--?" Hagrid almost shouted, turning to the Dursleys. The three shrank into the corner. "It's them who should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't getting yer letters, but I never thought you wouldn't even know about Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never even wonder where yer parents learnt it all? Where they met?"
"All what?" Harry asked. His mouth pursed shut when he realised he had already forgotten this man had bent Vernon's rifle, which still looked like a pretzel in the corner.
"ALL WHAT?!" Hagrid yelled. "Now wait jus' one second!"
He leapt up and stomped over to the Dursleys cowering against the wall.
"Do yeh mean ter tell me, that this girl-- she- she--" He emphasised, pointing back at Harry. "-- knows nuthin' abou- about ANYTHING?" He thundered.
"Hey, I know a lot! My teachers call me a genius compared to the other kids. Sometimes," Harry chimed in. It may not have been the best time, but his marks weren't bad whatsoever, and he definitely knew things. Even the teachers that didn't like him couldn't ignore how smart he was. He had to be smart of course, and if it saved him from having to take bullying from the students and the teachers. It was one thing for kids to make fun of him, but the adults were supposed to be grown up-- above bullying the students, atleast, the voices said. The teachers were, perhaps, the only thing they agreed with Harry on.
"I mean about our world." said Hagrid, "Yer world. Yer parents world,"
"What do you mean--? What world? I-I know a lot about the planet," Harry tried.
"DURSLEY!" Hagrid boomed. Vernon, who had gone a pale white, mumbled something that Harry couldn't hear. Hydrus's head popped up from underneath the blanket and hissed, before Harry shushed him. "I'll tell you later," Harry hissed, and Hydrus curled around his waist.
"Yer've gotta know about yer parents. They're famous! Yer famous!"
"What? My mum and dad-- f-famous? I-I don't know anything about them being famous, but I know I'm not famous," Harry said. "They weren't famous, were they?"
"Yeh don't know what yeh are?" Hagrid finally said.
Vernon finally seemed to remember he had the ability to speak.
"Stop! Sir, I forbid you to tell him anything!" He yelled. Hagrid looked at him more than menacingly, and even the knees of the bravest man on Earth would've buckled.
"Yeh never told her?! Never told her what was in that letter Dumbledore left for her! I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've been keepin' it from her?!"
"Kept what from me? A letter?" Harry asked eagerly. It didn't even have to be his letter, it just excited him in general that anyone had a reason to want him having a letter that made him want it so bad. It didn't even have to be the same letter, he wanted it.
"Stop! You're- You're forbidden!" Vernon yelled once more.
"Shut up, Uncle Vernon!" Harry abruptly yelled. Petunia and Dudley's faces had gone white.
Sure, they had heard Harry yell- only very recently- but never had he truly said anything towards any of them, let alone Vernon. It made him feel some sort of strong, because Vernon was looking at him and then at Hagrid and growing paler by the second. Hagrid chuckled, turning to Harry.
"Harley-- yer a witch."
There was an intense silence, not counting the very loud storm still outside.
"I'm- a- a what?" Harry looked at the man as if he was loopy.
"A witch. An' prolly a darn good one, I'd say, once yeh bin trained up a bit. Wit' parents like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's about time yeh read yer letter."
Harry stood up, and stretched out both arms anticipatingly. He had waited days for this. He didn't even read the address; He simply ripped it open and read it infront of the fire.
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 Ms. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed 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
Harry had a large smile across his face, but it was more happy he had finally gotten to read the letter rather than what he read. "Wait, what does it mean, await my owl? Who owns an owl?"
"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me!" Hagrid pulled an owl out yet another one of his inside pockets- a very live and very breathing, rather mangled looking owl, as well as a quill and paper. He wrote something quickly before he rolled it up, putting it in the owl's beak, and tossing it out into the storm. He sat back down on the couch that look like it'd break in half any minute now rather casually, as if he had just taken a telephone call.
"Poor owl," Harry mumbled, before he put his hands over his mouth. Hagrid had, fortunately, not noticed or heard.
"Where was I?" He asked, but Vernon stomped up and stood before the fire.
"He's not going." He said sternly.
Hagrid grunted, and Harry rolled his eyes. Hagrid went to speak, but Harry beat him to it. "And what are you going to do to stop me, Uncle Vernon?" He cracked a wicked smile against his own will, yet he didn't find himself fighting it.
"Yeah. I'd like to see a great Muggle like you try an' stop him." Hagrid agreed.
"A what?" Harry asked, now interested.
"A Muggle. It's what we call non-magic folks like them. An' it's just yer bad luck you got stuck wit' the biggest Muggles I don' ever laid eyes on."
"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish-- swore we'd stamp it out of him! Witch indeed!" Vernon barked.
"You knew?" Harry said, appalled. "You knew I'm a- a..." he paused, but he caught himself before anyone- especially Hagrid- could catch it. In the books he'd read, boys weren't witches-- those were the girls. Wizards were the boys. "... and you had the audacity to keep it from me?"
Petunia suddenly then remembered she could speak too.
"Knew!" She shrieked. "Knew--! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dreaded 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 candied frog spawn, turning rats to teacups! I was the only one who saw her for who 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! As if they just knew she was going to be special-- better than me!"
She took a breath, and then continued. She clearly had been wanting to say this for years. With the way it sounded, decades.
"Then she met that stupid immigrant Potter and that other boy-- Black, or whatever it was-- at that wretched 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!"
Harry's face had gone a burning red that made Petunia's face go a pale white. "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash! You--"
"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursley's scuttled back to their corner, and Harry stopped midway from jumping on Petunia and strangling her. "How could a car crash kill the Potters?! It's an outrage! A scandal! Harley Potter not knowin' 'er own story when every kid in our world knows her name!"
"Wait what? No way. What happened?" Harry asked.
"I never expected this," Hagrid said, in a worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble getting' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harley, I don't know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh-- but someone's gotta-- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."
He threw a glare 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..."
He sat down on the somehow still stable sofa, 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."
Harry almost scoffed, but held it in. "Why not? It's just a name."
"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harley, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. And worse than that. Worse than worse. His name was..."
Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.
"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.
"Nah-- dunno how ter spell it. All right-- Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this-- this wizard, 'bout twenty years ago now, started lookin' for followers. Got 'em, too-- some were afraid an' forced to work wit' him, some just wanted a bit o' his power, alright. Dark days, Harley. 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."
Hagrid took a breath, and then spoke again. "Now, yer mum an' James an' even Black, well, they were as good a witch an' pair o' wizards I ever knew. Head boy an' girl, Lily an' James, an' then Black-- er, well, you ought to know his name too- Regulus, I'm pre'y sure- prolly the bes' Prefec' his House had seen. Suppose is the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on him side before... probably knew they were to close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' to do with the Dark Side. Well, James was. I dunno abou' Lily, but that Black was definitely wit' 'em already..." He paused.
"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em to turn over and it went wrong... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. An', a' first, he had ih'-- killed Black. Then af'er that, all anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you an' Lily an' James an' Harmony all was living, on Halloween night ten years ago. The two o' yeh was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' he... an' he--"
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 parents, wasn' no nicer people yeh could find-- anyway...
"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then-- an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing-- he tried to kill you and Harmony, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't get yeh. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut, no scar that could fade. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh-- took care of yer sis, an' yer dads, an' yer house, but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harley. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em. No one except you, an' he killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age! The McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts, full blown wizardin' families to the core, an' yeh was only a baby, yet yeh lived."
Suddenly, to Harry, everything made sense. He saw that same scene in his head-- the green light, now, he thought probably whatever really killed his parents, the scream still his mother's, but as he thought about it, he could imagine one more thing. A high-pitched, cruel laugh. It made him angry, but then, sad-- and that made him angrier. Almost his whole life was a lie.
Hagrid watched him, a sad look on his face.
"Took yeh from the ruins myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."
"Load of old tosh," Vernon said suddenly. Harry jumped-- he had completely forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.
"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, pointing at Harry.
"Boy?" Hagrid repeated, but Vernon continued.
"I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured if I ever had a real good reason to give you one-- and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them! 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--"
Harry hadn't listened to a word he said, but Hagrid did, because at that moment, he leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing it at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning yeh, Dursley- I'm warning yeh-- 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 as much as possible and fell silent.
"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time dropped with a thud to the floor.
Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask--- hundreds of them. Hydrus pulled himself up around Harry's neck in some form of a hug. Hagrid hadn't seen him, as the flames had slowly began to die down to a bare light source.
"But what happened to--? I-I mean, Y-You-Know-Who?"
"Good question, Harley. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill yeh. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see...he was gettin' more an' more powerful-- so why'd he go so suddenly?
"Some say he died. Codswallop, I say. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances, some pretended ter 've been forced. Don' reckon they could've done it if he was comin' back anytime soon.
"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere, but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. Cause somethin' about yeh finished him, Harley. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on. I dunno what it was, no one does-- but somethin' about yeh stumped him, all right."
Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling please and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A witch? Him? Or, better- wizard? That, he'd argue, was codswallop. He was smart, but if he had conquered the strongest wizard as a baby, how come he couldn't even hit Dudley without cracking his own knuckles? Why hadn't he been able to curse the Dursleys whenever they forced him into his cupboard, or Dudley whenever he had pushed and kicked him around?
"Hagrid," he said uncertainly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard. O-or a witch. I'm-- I'm smart, but being a wizard has got to take some brute or something. I'm only smart."
To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. "Not a witch, eh? Never made things happen when yeh was angry?"
"I don't think I really get that angry. Nothing I can remember,"
"Well, what abou' when yeh've bin scared?"
Harry thought it over. A main example could've been how he ended up with Hydrus.
Though he wouldn't say it, the few times he had gotten angry-- not counting the last week or so-- something weird or bad always happened, and that's was just another reason why he was always considered such a bad kid. The only thing that made up for it was his exceptional grades that the Dursleys never cared to look at.
Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.
"See?" said Hagrid. "Harley Potter, not a witch-- yeh wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."
"I'm not Harley," Harry said quickly, and he felt a little nauseous at being considered famous, but he couldn't stop thinking about the comfortable warm feeling in his chest. "I'm... Harry. I'm a, er, boy."
Hagrid chuckled. "Well then-- yer a wizard, Harry."
But Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.
"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish-- spell books and wands and--"
"If he wants ter go, a Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop the Potter's -- eh, son-- goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad! Her--" (Harry supposed you couldn't win them all) "-- 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 'erself! 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--"
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT, OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.
It now seemed that 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!"
He swung the umbrella through the air and pointed 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 hand clasped over his fat bottom, wailing in pain. When he turned away from them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. Vernon took Petunia's hand and Dudley's collar, and took them to the other room with a glare.
Harry snorted when they were finally in the room, before he couldn't stop himself from laughing entirely. Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.
"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said uncertainly, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I s'pose there wasn't much left ter do."
Harry laughed again, and Hagrid cast a sideways look at him under his bushy eyebrows with a smile.
"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 aloud 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 Harry.
"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, that Dumbledore."
"Why were you expelled? What did you do?"
"Nothing that was my fault, I'll tell yeh! But, ey'-- it's getting' 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 tossed it to Harry.
"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."
Harry slightly squirmed away from the nearby pocket that he heard squeaking from, but smiled at Hagrid gratefully. If he got to leave the Dursleys, it was worth it. It was all worth it.