To the untrained eye, the night between November the first and second, 1981 would have been a relatively ordinary Halloween night. Decorations were still out, but everyone (or very nearly everyone) was fast asleep.
However, the residents of Privet Drive had no idea that one of the most significant events in history had just occurred.
This was due to the fact that it was a magical incident. The most powerful Dark wizard in known history had been bested. By a one year old baby.
Harry Potter and his family were attacked by Lord Voldemort, who quickly dispatched the parents, James and Lily, before his wand was turned on Harry. His twin brother, John sat by and watched as an incredibly powerful wizard's own curse was turned against him by a seemingly normal wizard baby.
Harry Potter would become famous for the events of that very night. However, he was only left with his brother.
On Privet drive, an aged, very wise looking man, Albus Dumbledore appeared to be taking a stroll at an absurd hour. However, he had a purpose. Protecting Harry Potter, leaving him somewhere safe, along with his brother.
Dumbledore came to a stop near house number 4.
Nearby, an inquisitive tabby cat approached the old man.
To any onlooker this would appear to be a perfectly normal scene, until something extraordinary happened.
"I should have known you would be here. Professor Mcgonagall".
Before the old man's eyes, the tabby quickly morphed into the form of an intelligent, aging woman with a stern face and hair tied into a tight bun. Minerva McGonagall.
"Good evening professor Dumbledore. Are the rumours true Albus? Is he really gone?"
"Yes, but not dead. For now we can celebrate of course, but there are more rumours than just the downfall of Voldemort. It seems that Lily and James Potter... are dead."
Professor Mcgonagall clasped her hand over her mouth and her professional manner had suddenly vanished.
"Lily and James… I don't want to believe… It can't be." She said, disjointedly.
Dumbledore patted her shoulder.
"I know, I know. But the boys are unharmed. They shall be brought here, to their uncle and aunt." Said Dumbledore.
"Are you sure they should be left with these people? I've been watching them all day, they shouldn't be the ones to look after the boys, they are the worst sort of muggles imaginable! I would be surprised if they could look after their own children! They really are-"
"The only family they have left. It would be better that they grow up here than with any wizarding family, where Harry would be subjected to relentless mobbing, if not by the family, then by any that they encounter. And John would grow up in his shadow, constantly being known simply as 'the other one' or some such title." Said Dumbledore.
"How are they being brought here?" asked McGonagall.
"Hagrid is bringing them here." Dumbledore explained.
"Do you think it wise, to trust Hagrid with such an important matter?" McGonagall asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Ah Miverva, I would trust Hagrid with my life."
A humming noise could be heard in the distance, and as the two professors looked up, they saw a headlight in the sky, emanating from an enormous motorcycle.
If the motorcycle was large, it was nothing compared to the man sitting upon it. He was twice as tall as a regular man and five times as broad at the shoulder. He had a mass of shaggy black hair and an extremely large beard, almost completely hiding his face, but his beetle black eyes shone in the moonlight.
"Professor Dumbledore sir, professor McGonagall" he greeted.
"Good evening Hagrid, no problems I trust?" Dumbledore asked.
"No sir. Little tykes fell asleep as we were flyin' over Bristol." Said Hagrid, as he handed over two bundles of blankets, carrying a pair of recently orphaned young wizards.
"Thank you Hagrid, and may I inquire as to where you got that motorcycle from?"
"Young Sirius Black lent it to me! I was a little surprised, he said he didn't need it any more, he loves this motorcycle. Anyways, here they are, all safe and sound."
Hagrid handed over the two infants to Dumbledore, who carefully placed them on the doorstep of number 4 Privet Drive, along with a letter, explaining the tragic events that had just occurred and what the residents were to do with the babies.
A large, rough sounding sob emanated from Hagrid, while McGonagall tried to put a comforting arm around his hulking shoulders.
"There, there, Hagrid, we will see them again, but for now we must go back to the castle and all will be explained when they turn eleven."
The trio left a letter filled with explanations at the doorstep of number four Privet Drive, and the last words the two infants received from any of them were:
"Good luck."
Nearly ten years on, Harry Potter, resident of the cupboard under the stairs awoke to ape like cousin screaming:
"Wake up, Potter! It's my birthday and we're going to the zoo! Go get breakfast you stupid moron!"
Harry began to grumble to himself until he heard loud thumping noises on the stairs, and sure enough, when he walked out, he saw his much larger twin brother standing over a newly bruised and groaning Dudley. Harry and John's more neglected cousin was tentatively walking down the stairs, until she took in the sight of her brutal brother groaning on the stairs and her protective cousin smiling up at her.
"Happy birthday Delilah" Harry and John said, in unison.
"Thanks you two", replied Delilah, more happily than her awakening had lead on.
A loud groan from Dudley attracted the attention of his father, Vernon Dursley, a beefy, big bellied man, with thick, neatly parted dark hair, and an extremely bushy moustache. He greatly resembled his son, apart from Dudley having blonde hair, like his mother.
Delilah looked like neither her mother nor her father, she had blonde hair like her mother, however, her face resembled her grandmothers (and therefore, her aunt Lily, both of whom she unfortunately never met). No one had ever told her, but she was rather pretty, but constantly put down by her neglectful family. This had happened since she was nine, and she knew exactly when, but not why.
A roundabout Dudley was sat on decided to suddenly speed up to a tremendous pace, so much so that Dudley was in fact, thrown off and ended up throwing up violently. For unexplained reasons she was blamed for it, along with many other inexplicable occurrences that happened within Number 4 Privet drive – the ones which Harry and John weren't around for.
She was unlike anyone else in the Dursley family, shy, pretty, kind and very intelligent. She acted much more like her aunt, Lily Potter than her mother. She did not like to admit it, but she also had a remarkably short temper and often vented her frustrations on Harry and John, which usually resulted in her sobbing her apologies to Harry and John, who didn't mind one bit.
She was extremely grateful to have cousins like them and felt terrible about the way she treated them before the roundabout incident – she believed her family about the way Harry and John were, until then, when they finally bonded.
Harry was short and skinny, with messy jet black hair, picked up from his father and startlingly green eyes from his mother. His face was an identical copy of his fathers, and had round glasses perched upon his nose. His personality was a mix of both of his parents, the kindness of both of them, a slight mischevious streak from his father, intelligence from both of them, bravery from them both and sometimes reckless behaviour from his father.
John, on the other hand, was very much like Harry, however, much bigger, stronger and heavily built, as he started toughening up to stand up to his bullying cousin, resulting in the groaning boy upon the floor. He got around the lack of food problem by frequently stealing meat from the fridge when no one was looking, and uncle Vernon thought it was just Dudley with a 'healthy appetite', even though John was now eating just as much as Dudley himself.
He often offered his food to Harry and Delilah, who always insisted that they weren't hungry, no matter how persistent John was at trying to get them to eat.
He, however, unlike his brother and cousin was rather arrogant, extremely lazy, but with a good heart and a very protective nature. He was by far the most mischievous boy that any of these people had ever known. He was almost identical to his father, apart from not having glasses and green eyes rather than hazel.
Something peculiar about Harry never failed to be noticed by their friends. He had a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, explained rather eloquently by uncle Vernon as "A souvenir from the car crash caused by your moronic drunken parents."
Uncle Vernon began to pace menacingly towards John, who gulped, knowing that he was in trouble for sure.
"You" he began, pointing a fat finger at John's mock-innocent face.
"What do you think you're doing?" screamed Uncle Vernon, now livid because "that ruddy idiot" had mutilated his "angelic son".
"Playing a game. First to fall down the stairs wins. He thrashed me at it, he always does, but I'm not complaining."
This resulted in John having a time out in his "room", which other people prefer to call "an ancient garden shed".
Then, turning to Harry and Delilah, he barked "You! Make our breakfasts, while you clean the car, NOW!"
Harry and Delilah did just that, while John snacked on some more of the stolen food from the fridge.
After washing the car, Delilah was exhausted nearly to the point of collapse, so Harry and John carried her into it, and soon they had left, on their way to the zoo.
Dudley felt like playing a very simplistic (and often painful) game with Harry and Delilah in the back – kicking them whenever he saw something that amused him while on the road.
He didn't try anything with John, in fact he hadn't done so in over a year, when John started standing up to him. Dudley may have been heavier, but John was stronger and faster by far. It still didn't stop Dudley from bullying Harry and Delilah when near Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, who would always stop John's attempts at intervening.
As they finally arrived at the zoo to wonder at natures many miracles, Harry, John and Delilah had broad smiles on their faces, which was a rare sight by this time. They came across a very large male gorilla, who took to staring at the three of them, as they stared right back.
"He looks like Dudley." Said Delilah, giggling.
"Hey! Don't insult the gorilla!" John replied, smirking, causing Harry and Delilah to laugh.
Later on, in the sauna-like reptile house, Dudley, Uncle Vernon, Harry and John had come across a particularly large Burmese python while Delilah was looking in fascination at some iguanas. Aunt Petunia was merely feigning interest in the whole place. The python was at least thirteen feet long, they were certainly glad about the glass separating them from the large serpent.
Dudley, however was more interested in mindless entertainment.
"Make him move." He demanded.
"Move!" Uncle Vernon half-heartedly said.
"MOVE!" bellowed Dudley.
"He's asleep!" Harry pointed out.
"He's boring." Dudley said, looking at the snake with pointed distaste.
"And you're just lovely aren't you Duddikins? Now move it, or do you need mummy's help to do that as well?" John snarled.
Dudley knew better to pick a fight with John after that morning, so he simply walked away, scowling.
"Don't worry about him. He doesn't know what it's like, feeling caged into a tiny space like you or me, watching people press their ugly faces-"
"Extremely ugly in Dudley's case" interrupted John.
"Yes, well the point is… hang on! Can you understand us?" asked Harry, feeling both nervous and excited.
To their astonishment, the snake started to nod.
"Neither of us has ever talked to a snake before, do you do this often?" asked John.
The snake shook his head.
As John opened his mouth again to say something, Dudley ran up and pressed his face onto the class staring at the now very active snake.
John and Harry wished that the snake and Dudley could swap places, but they never expected their wish to come true. The glass vanished and Dudley fell through the space where it had just been, while the snake slithered out of its enclosure and moved into the rest of the zoo. Dudley tried to get out but to his horror, the glass had re appeared.
It took the zookeepers half an hour to get Dudley out and another hour for Uncle Vernon to get him home.
Uncle Vernon, now livid, grabbed Harry and John by their hair and demanded to know what happened
"I swear we don't know, one minute the glass was there and then it was gone, it was like magic" replied a panicking Harry.
"There's no such thing as MAGIC!" replied uncle Vernon, who then forced Harry back into his cupboard.
Harry, John and Delilah (even though she had done nothing) had to contend with half the food they usually do for the rest of the week, so John had to sneak them extra food during the nights, including leftover pork, vegetables, and whatever else he happened to grab from the fridge. It meant that the fridge emptied earlier than usual, but was refilled with yet more food. The Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn't know it, but in trying to deny Harry, Delilah and John proper helpings, they were only feeding them even more.
A few days later, when Uncle Vernon barked at Harry to get the mail, Harry found something rather peculiar- a letter addressed to him, with a crest in the corner he had never seen. It said:
Harry Potter
Number 4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
The cupboard under the stairs
Harry found it extremely odd that someone knew exactly where he lived and when he looked through the other letters, he found similar cases with John's and Delilah's letters.
He walked into the kitchen and after he handed Uncle Vernon's letters to him, he began to open his own, when-
"DAD! DAD! Harry's still got some letters!" Dudley had snatched the three letters from out of Harry's hands.
"Give them back, they are mine, Delilah's and John's!" Harry yelled back.
"Who in their right minds would be writing to you three?" Uncle Vernon scoffed before seeing the letters.
Uncle Vernon's eyes looked back and forth from the letters to Harry and John and Delilah, who both had just walked in, now looking terrified.
Over the next few days, no less than fifty of these letters were sent to the three of them, and it gave them hope that someone actually cared about them enough to continue sending these letters, despite there being no reply, seeing as Uncle Vernon tore or burnt each one.
After many letters had been sent, the Dursleys had moved Harry to the shed, but the letters to Harry were now addressed (like John) to "The back garden shed", frustrating Uncle Vernon to no end.
Eventually, Uncle Vernon had put a plank of wood in the way of the letter box in frustration, eliminating the only glimmer of hope Harry, John or Delilah had left.
Until one morning-
"Sunday at last. In my opinion, the best day of the week. Why is that do you think Dudley?"
Dudley shrugged.
"There's no post on Sundays."
"Right you are Harry. No post on Sundays, HA! Not another single blasted ruddy letter! Not a-"
He stopped once he felt a slight tremor. The tremors grew louder until they actually shook the entire house.
When they thought the shaking couldn't get any louder, letters spewed out through the chimney, the windows, the doors, in fact, everywhere, letters simply seemed to magically appear from every opening in the house.
When Harry, John and Delilah realised what these letters were, they immediately felt elated and began trying to catch one. When Harry eventually did, Uncle Vernon immediately grabbed him and Bellowed:
"THAT'S IT, WE'RE GOING AWAY! FAR AWAY! WHERE THEY CAN'T FIND US!"
"Daddy's gone mad hasn't he?" asked a panicking and somewhat terrified Dudley.
The next thing they knew, Uncle Vernon was driving towards the coastline, with a smug look on his face, while Harry, John and Delilah were thinking the same thing:
"He seems to be taking this a bit too seriously..."
They couldn't have been more wrong. Uncle Vernon, they found out the next morning, had booked for them to stay in some dingy 'hotel' out in the middle of the sea, on a tiny island which was barely anything more than a few hundred square feet of rock, with a cabin on it.
After a long boat ride across the sea, the Dursleys, Harry and John were on a small island off the coast of Brighton. It was Uncle Vernon's idea to get as far away as possible from Privet Drive, so that no more unwanted letters would arrive at their home. They all took one look at the cabin they would be staying in for possibly months and cringed, apart from Uncle Vernon.
"Perfect isn't it? No one will send a letter here! Now we can finally relax!" Roared Uncle Vernon happily.
"Relax- in a shack that would probably shatter if a mouse stepped inside?" asked John.
"It's better than it looks, now get in!" replied Uncle Vernon, starting to get angry.
No one wanted to test Uncle Vernon's patience, which was extremely thin since the letters started arriving at Privet Drive, so they quickly scurried indoors.
"Hey John, it's nearly our birthday. In the next 30 seconds we'll be eleven years old!" Harry pointed out.
"Not much of a happy birthday in this place, but hey, it could be way worse!" said John, smiling at Harry.
"Yeah, at least we're not in some poverty stricken country where water is worth as much as gold. I guess we've always got to remember that we're luckier than most. Hey, look at the clock!" Said Harry.
"In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy Birthday." They said to each other.
Suddenly, as the silence in the house began it was quickly interrupted. The door took a big impact that was so forceful, that it knocked the door down at a massive force. An incredibly large figure stood at the doorway. Everyone had woken up because of him. Uncle Vernon quickly reached for his gun, which he pointed at the enormous figure.
"Sorry 'bout that." Said the gigantic man. He had an extremely shaggy black beard and long, wild hair, with his face barely showing underneath. He had warm, kindly looking black eyes, feet the size of small dolphins and hands the size of dustbin lids. He was easily twice the height of a grown man and about five times as wide, he must have weighed almost half a tonne.
"I'm w-w-warning y-you… You're breaking and entering!" Uncle Vernon tried to yell at the figure, but his stuttering gave away his fear.
The gun didn't seem to bother the man, who simply walked towards Uncle Vernon menacingly.
"Shut up Dursley yeh absolute prune!" He growled, before seizing the gun and tying a knot out of the extended barrel, as if it were made out of shoelaces.
"Blimey, Harry, John, I haven't seen you two since yeh were babies, yeh've grown a lot! Yeh both look just like yer dad, but yeh have yer mum's eyes!" the man said happily, turning to Harry and John.
"Err, not to sound rude, but who are you exactly?" Inquired Harry.
"Rubeus Hagrid, but yeh can call me Hagrid, everyone calls me that. I'm the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. But of course yeh know all 'bout Hogwarts."
"Sorry, we don't."
"Yeh don't? Don't yeh wonder where yer mum and dad learned it all?"
"Learnt what?"
"Yer wizards, both of yeh, and Delilah, yer a witch"
"Wait, there's got to be a mistake, we can't be wizards, can we?" asked John, now feeling overwhelmed by the possibility.
"Did yeh ever make anything happen, anything unusual when yeh were angry, or scared?"
John, Harry and Delilah's eyes widened with realisation as they figured out that Hagrid was right.
"Take yer letters, which those trolls didn't let yeh have." He said, handing over three more copies of the letters which had been sent repeatedly to the house on Privet drive.
"Dear Mr. Potter" Harry read out. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry- so it's all true!"
"Well seems like yeh've got some catching up ter do, I'll help yeh with that." Hagrid offered.
"Thank you sir" Said Delilah
"No problem and don't bother calling me sir, Hagrid is fine." Hagrid replied, looking down on Delilah with an apparent fondness.
"Hold on a second, you knew this whole time that we were wizards and said nothing?" asked John, now outraged.
"Of course we knew! How could you not be, with my 'perfect' sister being who she was, and then she met that Potter! When she had you, we knew you would be just as strange, abnormal and undesirable. And then they got themselves blown up, and we got landed with you two!" Said Aunt Petunia, her voice rising with each word.
"Blown up? You said our parents died in a car crash!" roared John, his normally well controlled temper starting to flare.
"A CAR CRASH? A CAR CRASH, KILLING LILY AND JAMES POTTER? THAT'S AN OUTRAGE! A SCANDAL!" yelled Hagrid, making everyone jump.
"We had to say something" replied Aunt Petunia in a small voice.
"Err, can you tell us about Hogwarts?" asked Harry, preferring to avoid seeing things get ugly.
"O'course I can! Oh, almost forgot, take this! Baked it myself!" said Hagrid, cheerfully, as if he hadn't just made the cabin shake using just his voice.
"Thank you!" Said Harry, putting it on the table.
Hagrid began to explain how Hogwarts was a school in an enormous, old castle, which was over a thousand years old, yet had stood strong the whole time. He talked about the beautiful grounds, which he was in charge of, the lake which was a favourite place of his to just relax, skip stones or have a play with his pet dog.
John resisted the sudden desire to ask if a massive man like Hagrid had a dog which was also many times larger than a normal dog.
They were all so preoccupied with talk about Hogwarts, that they failed to notice that Dudley had snuck up and started eating the cake which lay forgotten on the table, until then.
At this point, Hagrid had had enough and from his pink umbrella, sparks flew and a pig's tail emerged from Dudley's enormous backside.
The Dursleys all screamed, except for Delilah, who laughed herself to the floor, along with John and Harry.
After watching the Dursleys panic for quite a while, Hagrid, Delilah, Harry and John all walked towards a rowboat. It was very large, and had some big blankets in it.
"Well, come on. Got ter get you three ter Diagon Alley."
"Where?"
"Oh, right. It's where wizards buy their supplies for Hogwarts. And it has some other great stuff."
"Right." The three said exhaustedly.
"If yeh're sleepy yeh can get inter the blankets. There's a long journey ahead."
As all of them tried to get some sleep Hagrid rowed across the sea. Although it was hard to get to sleep they did so eventually. They awoke to a bright blue sky and Hagrid, who was eating a sandwich. They were now somewhere different from the harsh waters of the sea.
As Hagrid tied his boat to a harbour, John, Delilah and Harry stretched themselves, so they could wake up properly. After getting ashore, Hagrid motioned for them to follow him. They were catching a lot of attention, not only due to the sheer size of Hagrid, but also his excitement at some perfectly normal muggle objects like parking meters and traffic lights.
Hagrid told them to re-open their letters, to see their shopping lists, among the massive list were:
"All students will need:
One standard size 2 pewter cauldron
A telescope
A set of plain black robes
A Pointed hat (black) for day wear
Plain white button down shirts (short and long sleeve acceptable)
Black trousers (for boys)
Black skirts, knee length (for girls)
A wand
Students may, if they wish, bring a cat, rat, owl, or toad however, these pets are the responsibility of the student, and while we will provide veterinary care for when pets become ill and an owlery for owls to spend most of the year, we will not provide day to day care, such as food for cats, toads and rats.
"Can we get all of this in London Hagrid?" asked Harry.
"If yeh know where to look."
