Year 1

BOOM!

They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" He asked stupidly.

There was a crack around them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a ruffle in his hands- now they knew what had been the long, thin package he had brought with them. "Who's there?" He shouted, "I warn you- I'm armed!"

There was a pause. Then-

SMASH!

The door was hit with such a force that it swung clear off its hinders and with a defeating 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 jack beetles under all the hair. 

The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stopping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily 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..." He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear. "Budge up, yeh great lump!" said the stranger.

Dudley squeaked and bolted to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified behind Uncle Vernon. Harry didn't know he could run that fast. 

"An' here's Harry." Said the giant. Harry 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 like a lot like yer dad, but yeh'vr got yer mum's eyes, an' young Sirius's hair, befer he.." the giant trailed off, shaking his head as if he revealed something he wasn't supposed to. 

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. "Anyway- Harry." Said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys. "A very happy birthday to yeh. Got somethin' 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 squished box. Harry opened it curiously. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing. Harry looked up at the giant and set the cake to the side. He wanted to ask what the giant was doing here, ask who sent him, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth and all he ended up saying was, "Thanks, I guess. Who the hell are you?"

The giant chuckled. "True. I haven't introduced myself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts." Harry blinked at the man. Of course, it was probably Dumbledore who sent him to retrieve him. He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. "What about that tea then, eh?" He said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if you got it, mind."

His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and snorted. He bent down over the fireplace, casting a spell to summon a warm and roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp but with flickering lights and Harry felt the warmth was over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath. 

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 hit was full of the sound and snell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing, for once Petunia wasn't screeching, Vernon wasn't yelling curses, and Dudley wasn't threatening Harry. As Hagrid slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausage from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley." 

The giant chuckled darkly. "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattemin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." 

He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant, having never seen a magical being in person. Finally, as nobody seemed to be talking any time soon, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." Harry decided to act innocent and new to the wizarding world, at least for the time being, until he knew more information. 

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."

Harry made a confused face, "Er- no." Hagrid looked schooled. "Sorry." Harry said, maintaining his innocent face and holding back a grin.

"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 about' Hogwarts, get cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where her parents learned it all?" 

"All what?" Harry asked. 

"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" He had leapt to his feet. On his anger he seemed to full the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall. "Do you man ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy- this boy! -knows nothin' abou'- about ANYTHING?" Harry thought the giant- Hagrid, was being a little dramatic, but decided not to say anything. Hagrid waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents''  world."

"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 yer must know about yer mum and dad." He said, "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."

"What? My- my mum and dad were famous, why?"

"Yer don't know what yer are?" He said finally. 

Harry looked up to the giant, "A human?" 

Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. "Stop!" He commented. "Stop right there, sir! 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 him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left for him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"

"Kept what from me?" Harry said eager and angrily. 

"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" Yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror. 

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh." Said Hagrid, "Harry- yer a wizard." There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. 

Harry laughed, "You're crazy! Alright Dudley jokes up, you got me, now can we go home now? I'll do the chores twice as fast."

"No!" Hagrid said once again gaining his attention, "Yer a wizard, Harry."

Harry looked at him until he would laugh if he stared longer, "You're not joking?"

"No." Hagrid frowned, "Magic ain't somethin' to joke about." He sat back down on the sofa, witch groaned and sank even lower,  "An' yer a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else could yer be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter." 

Harry stretched out his hand to take the letter identical to the one in his backpack, it read: 

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore 

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sarc., 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 vegans on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. 

Yours sincerely, 

Minerva McGonagall 

Deputy Headmistress 

Harry waited for a moment, as long as it took for him to read it the first time and a few seconds before he asked a couple questions normal for a muggleborn. "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand on his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled out 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 Harry could read upside down. 

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Given Harry his letter. 

Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.

Weather's horrible. Hope you're well,

Hagrid.

Hagrid rilled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the it into the storm. Huh, owls could fly in this weather. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. 

"Where was I?" Said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the fire light. 

"He's not going." He said. 

Hagrid grunted and Harry glared at the wall behind Uncle Vernon. "I'd like yer see a great Muggle like you stop him." He said. At the look on Petunias face, Harry looked down and smirked. 

"A what?" Uncle Vernon spat. 

"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call non-magical folk like you. An' your, yer wife, an' yer son are 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, "and swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"

Harry crossed his arms, "You knew?" He said, years of anger and misery seeping through his voice. "You fucking knew?"

"Knew!" Shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my drafted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared of you that- that school -and came home every vacation with her pokers 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 had been wanting to say all this for years. 

Harry was stuck on the name she kept repeating- Lily. His mum's name was Lily? Then he remembered the books he'd found in the room, a name was written in cursive in almost every book. Then it clicked. 

Lily Evens. That was his mum's name?

Aunt Petunia broke him out of his thoughts. "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- abhorred -and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we get landed with you!"

"Blown up?" Harry tilted his head and looked to Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, a shocked Dudley in the corner, Hagrid, and back to Aunt Petunia. "You told me they died on a car crash."

"CAR CRASH!" Roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' Janes Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"

"What happened?"

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, Harry, 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'." Harry didn't dare tell him he did. Hagrid 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..."

He sat down, stared into the floor 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 mane, everyone in our world knows-" 

"Who?" Harry asked, wondering if it was Voldemort, the dark Lord who killed his parents, or a different wizard. Onyx and Obsidian never told him. At the thought of them a sudden guilt hit Harry. He'd left them.

"Well- I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why?" Harry pressed on for answers.

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, 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, Harry eagerly leaned forward. 

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.

"Nah- can't spell it. All right- Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. Harry blinked, happy to know at least one other detail about his parents murderer. He'd definitely investigate more when he officially entered the wizarding world again. 

"Don' make me sad it again. Anyway, this- this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em too- some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare her 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 heavy breath that flowed past Harry like wind, lifting up his hair from his shoulders. "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' yer do with the Dark Side." He shook his head, "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'-" Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. 

"Sorry," he said. "Bit it's that sad- knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yet 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 jus' 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 got 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 killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age- the McKinnons, the Bones, the Pewetts- an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."

Harry looked down, looking to act like he was upset, and he was, but he was more confused. If Voldemort killed both his parents, who were grown adults and said to be great wizards and witches, then why couldn't he kill Harry, who was  barely one years old? There was no way he survived the curse without the aid of his mum or dad, maybe even both. 

Suddenly something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. He saw, again, the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before- and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. 

Hagrid was watching him sadly. "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought you to this lot..." Harry swallowed a pit of fury. 

"Load of old town," Said Uncle Vernon, he must've got his courage back. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched. "Now, you listen here, boy," 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 option- 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 was about to curse Uncle Vernon and blame it on accidental magic, but Hagrid beat him to it. He 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..." Hagrid's words trailed off, but the threat lingered in the air between them. 

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.

Harry, meanwhile, was still curious to know just how much Hagrid knew, more importantly what Dumbledore has told him. "What happened to Vold- sorry -I mean, You-Know-Who?"

"Good question, Harry. Disappeared, vanished, the night he tried to kill yer. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful- why'd he go?" Hagrid paused for dramatic effect, or maybe he was expecting Harry to answer. "Some say he died. Codswallop, in my option. 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 trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was coming' 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, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night, he hadn't counted on- I don' know what it was, no one does, but somethin' about you stumped him."

Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry just felt like something was wrong, that Dumbledore had made a horrible mistake. Though he knew it wasn't the headmaster's first time. Surely it couldn't be him to defeat Voldemort when so many others died trying, that could never be true unless everyone that makes up the wizarding world is weak and pathetic. 

"Hagrid, I think there has been some type of mistake." He told the giant gently, "I couldn't have done something like that, I'm not even sure I could preform basic magic!" He added the last part for dramatic effect and to sound more realistic. 

Hagrid chuckled, "Yer think you ain't a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"

Harry looked into the fire, he was always scared and angry, he was always surrounded by the Dursleys. He waited a few seconds to get his smile to seem less... fake. When he looked back to Hagrid, he beamed. 

"See?" Said Hagrid, "Harry Potter, not a wizard- you wait, you'll be famous at Hogwarts." Harry dreaded that part, And Uncle 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 Stonewell High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read these letters and he needs  all sorts of rubbish- spell books and wands and-"

"If he wants ter to, a great Muggle like you won't stop him." growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potters don goin' yer Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort for a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbledore."

Aunt Petunia scowled at the name, making Harry knit his eyebrows, and Uncle Vernon yelled. "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!"

But it seemed as he had gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER-" he thundered, "INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN- FRONT- OF- ME!"

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, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. Harry thought it went with Dudley's personality perfectly. Uncle Vernon roared, whether it was in agony, anger, or determination, nor Hagrid or Harry knew. 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." Harry hadn't bothered to hide his laughter when Hagrid cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. "Be great full of 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 letter to yer an' stuff- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job-"

Somehow, somewhere, Harry didn't believe that was why he was here. "Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" he asked curiously. 

"Oh, well- I was at Hogwarts myself 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. Good man, Dumbledore."

Harry thought if he heard the name Albus Dumbledore again in the next ten minutes he was going to screen bloody murder. "Why were you expelled?"

"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. He thought it was suspicious how Hagrid avoided his question and added it to the list of things he wanted to investigate. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry. "You can sleep under that," he said, "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."