A/N: If you're even reading this fanfic, I'm going to hope that it's safe to assume you've at least read the first few chapters of the first HP book. For the purposes of this story, everything that happens at the beginning stays the same up until the day Harry receives the first Hogwarts letter in the mail. Because instead of one, there's… two???

Chapter One: Two Letters

"Go fetch the post, boy!" Uncle Vernon barked at Harry. It was a usual Saturday morning at Number 4, Privet Drive. Harry had just finished making breakfast for the Dursleys when a small squeak of hinges and a flap of papers signaled the arrival of the day's mail.

Harry bit back a retort, knowing it would only get him locked in his cupboard again. There was no point. He'd vent later to the spiders that were his only friends.

He shuffled over, taking his time just to annoy his uncle a bit more. He finally reached the front door and retrieved the post, flipping through the letters with only a mild curiosity… until he noticed an envelope with his name on it. Who on earth would write to him? He had no friends to speak of, no relatives except the ones he lived with. Curious, Harry pulled the letter to the bottom of the pile so he'd still have it when he handed the post over. Immediately as he moved the letter he noticed that there was one just like it adressed to Dudley.

This disheartened him. Anything sent to both of them couldn't be important. It was probably just an advertisment or… something from the secondary schools they would be attending next year. No, it couldn't be anything special…

"Hurry UP with that post, boy!" Vernon cried. Harry quickly shuffled back into the kitchen and handed the post to his uncle before turning toward his cupboard to open his letter in privacy.

"Dad, dad, Harry's got a letter!" cried Dudley, pointing at Harry's retreating form.

"So? It's mine!" Harry retorted.

"Let me see that, boy!" roared Vernon.

Harry reluctantly turned and handed the letter to his uncle.

"Dudley's got one too," his Aunt Petunia quipped. "Maybe it's from th-"

But her speech stopped suddenly as she flipped the letter over and noticed what Harry had earlier eyed with interest: a wax seal of some sort, very official looking, with the word "Hogwarts" inscribed, along with a crest of some sort.

She immediately seemed to go white, as did Vernon when he realized what she was looking at. Harry and Dudley were both thoroughly confused as to what could be affecting Mr. and Mrs. Dursley so greatly.

But of course, Dudley's greediness took over, and he said loudly, "I want to open my letter, mummy, I want to open it now!"

Petunia looked frantically over at Vernon, who seemed to have decided that they were going to pretend nothing was out of the ordinary.

"It's not for you, it's the wrong address, Duddy-kins," was Vernon's reply.

"But they sent me one too!" Harry said. "I want my letter!"

"Well you aren't ruddy getting it! Go to your cupboard, now!"

"But-"

"NOW!" roared Vernon.

Sensing defeat, Harry removed himself to his cupboard, thoroughly confused by his aunt and uncle's reaction to the letters, and the fact that this Hogwarts person who sent them seemed to know the exact location of Dudley's bedroom as well as the fact that Harry slept in the cupboard under the stairs.

After a few hours of contemplation in his solitary confinement, his uncle suddenly opened the door and told him to grab his belongings.

Harry soon found that he had been moved into Dudley's "second bedroom", which was nothing more than a room full of broken toys and objects. He could care less; he was just happy to be out of that cupboard. But again, he was confused. Was this all because of those letters? What could it all mean?

Not being invited down for supper, Harry eventually fell into a soft slumber.

"Psst. PSST! Hey!"

Harry pulled on his glasses and looked around blearily. To his utter surprise, his cousin was standing in his doorway, clad in a pair of pinstriped pajamas that forced Harry to bite back a fit of laughter.

"Yeah?" he asked, yawning.

"I want to find out what was in those letters," Dudley replied. "They haven't collected the rubbish yet, and I saw which bin they went in. Let's go find them."

Harry was a bit surprised. This scheming was rather unlike his cousin, and he had to admit he would have thought it beyond Dudley's mental capabilities. But none the less, Harry was curious too, and knew that it was worth the risk. So they silently tiptoed down the stairs and out the back door, where Harry was forced to rummage through the rubbish bin until he found the two parchment-colored envelopes. Dudley snatched his out of Harry's hand, and both of them eyed their letters with a greedy curiosity. After a split-second pause, they both tore the envelopes open and pulled out the contents, which seemed to be two pieces of paper similar in color to the envelope they came out of.

Harry looked down and began to read:

Dear Mr. Potter,

You have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…

He heard Dudley gasp, and they both stood there in a state of shock, wondering what this could possibly mean.