CHANGED: I HAVE CHANGED GENNEY (GENEVIEVE)'S NAME TO VIOLET (VIOLETTA) BECAUSE OF REASONS.
This story was inspired by Potter Triplets by LuciferWithShades and JKR Got Everything Right Almost: Matilda Potter by C.J Watson. It may seem a lot like them at first but I promise it really isn't. There's a link for pictures of how I picture everyone on my profile; feel free to check them out.
I chose to name the triplets Harold, Charles, and Violetta to keep with a 'classical' sounding feel, even though Harry was not actually named Harold in the books. Obviously they go by Harry, Charlie, and Violet respectively, so I did end up keeping with the supposed flower theme of the Evans women. Genney just seemed to fit less and less for her character.
Thanks again for all the reviews! The second chapter is finally almost done!
Chapter One: An Awful Lot of News
SMASH!
The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. Harry jumped and stared as a giant of a man appeared in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, tangled mane of hair, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.
The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back 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..."
Dudley squeaked at the man's voice and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.
"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. He tried to smile back, but couldn't seem to move his face. Since Harry's eyes were trained on the giant, he didn't notice a small face peek out from behind the man before retreating again.
"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but not as much as Charles does, I suppose. Yeh've got yer mum's eyes, it's true."
Harry had no idea who Charles was, or how this man knew his parents, but before he could ask, 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 and 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. Harry heard a giggle, and wondered if it came from the Dursleys or if he himself had made it and not noticed.
"Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning her back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — one of two, o' course – 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 squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.
Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you – he had never had a cake before – but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"
The giant chuckled.
"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
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 yeh've got it, mind."
His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He pulled a pink umbrella out of his pocket, pointed it at the grate, and suddenly there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over her as though he'd sunk into a hot bath. He stared wide-eyed at the man.
"I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." Harry managed.
"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."
"Er — no," said Harry. Hagrid looked shocked. "Sorry," Harry said quickly, rubbing absently at the large burn on his arm as he always did when he was nervous.
"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 abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"
"All what?" asked Harry.
"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"
In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.
"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"
Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.
"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff." But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."
"What world?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Blimey!" Hagrid said. "Next thin' I'll be hearin' is yeh don' know yeh've got a brother and sister –"
"What?" Harry nearly screamed. "A – a what?"
Hagrid had obviously not expected this to happen. He looked almost as shocked as Harry.
"Yeh – yeh don' know abou' Charles an' Violetta?" Hagrid said weakly.
"W-Who?" Harry stuttered, feeling rather faint.
"Yer brother an' sister!" Hagrid said, shooting a horrible glare at the Dursleys. "They didn' even tell yeh abou' yer family?"
Someone said something like "That is not nice", but Harry had no idea who it was – Dudley, perhaps?
"I have a family?" Harry whispered.
Hagrid's eyes grew soft as he took in Harry's hopeful expression, and he turned around and grabbed something behind him, before pivoting to face Harry again – but he wasn't alone.
Harry nearly screamed. There was a girl – a girl his age, standing right there in front of him. Had she been behind Hagrid the whole time?
She wore a knitted pink sweater, stockings, and a grey, blue, and pink plaid skirt with old grey shoes, and had long dark red hair, pale skin, a large nose in a round face, and bright green eyes. Was it Harry's hopeful imagination, or did she look like him a bit?
Hagrid nudged her gently, and she smiled shyly at Harry.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Violetta, but call me Violet."
"You're – you're –" Harry couldn't even form the right words.
"Yeah, I'm Violetta Potter, and apparently I'm a triplet." She smiled brighter, "I didn't know about any of this until yesterday. I grew up in an orphanage."
"W-why?" Was all Harry could think to ask. Shouldn't she have been with the Dursleys?
Violet shrugged. "I don't actually know the whole story. Just what my letter said, and about you are Charles. Hagrid said he would tell me after we found you..."
Both of the children looked at Hagrid, and he nodded, taking a seat on the sofa. It groaned under his weight. The two children glanced at each other, then sat down on the floor beside each other.
"Well, I suppose I should star' at the beginin', seein' as because of these two, neither of yeh know anythin'," Hagrid glared at the Dursleys again. "It started when –"
"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, Violet — yer wizards."
There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.
"I'm a what?" gasped Harry finally. His head was beginning to hurt. A brother? A sister? Wizards? This was too much. Was Hagrid going to pull his brother out of his coat as well?
"The letter was true?" Violet said in a shocked little whisper. "I…I just thought it was a joke, or a way to find us…"
"Wizards, o' course," said Hagrid, "an' thumpin' good 'uns, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a dad an' mum like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter, Harry."
Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Enchantress, Supreme Mugwump,
International Confed. of Witches)
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 begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. His mouth seemed to decide to answer all of them at once.
"Where's my – our – brother? Why did she live at an orphanage? Why was I sent to the Dursleys? Where –?"
"Wait a mo', let me get caught up!" Hagrid chuckled. "Well, near as I can figure, them Dursleys decided they were only gonna raise one of yeh, and dropped Violet off at an orphanage," he said. It was Violet's turn to glare at the Dursleys. "Yeh'll both live with them now, but jus' durin' the summer months, don' worry. An' o' course, yer brother is with yer mum and dad –"
There was silence for a moment.
"He – he's dead too?" Harry said in a whisper. "But I thought – well, I guess I assumed –"
Violet had tears in her eyes for the brother she had never known, and Harry felt rather teary-eyed as well.
"Oh Merlin, no!" Hagrid said, cutting Harry off and stopping Violet's tears immediately. "Yeh took me wrong – Charles is livin' with yer mum and dad – at their home! And yer parents are alive, o' course – yeh had't've known tha'!"
Another moment of silence followed this statement, shorter than the last, and then –
"WHAT?" Harry and Violet both shouted at once.
"But they died in a car crash!" Harry said.
"No, they're dead, we're orphans!" Violet cried.
"Is this some kind of joke?!"
Hagrid was gaping at them.
"N-no," he said quickly, "They're not dead – I mean, it was close…but – wait, car crash?" he turned to the Dursleys. "Even if they were dead, a car crash killin' Lily an' James Potter, imagine –"
"But if they're not dead," Harry broke in, "Why were V-Violet and I sent to the Dursleys in the first place? And why wasn't Cha-char…our brother?"
Hagrid blinked
"I – I never thought this would happen," Hagrid said, "I mean, two o' the Potters not knowin' their own stories when every kid in our world knows their names…"
"But why do they? What happened?" Violet asked urgently. "Why aren't we with our parents if they're alive?" Harry nodded his agreement with the question. Both children had tears of frustration and betrayal in their eyes now, rather than sadness, and Hagrid's face softened.
"I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know." Hagrid said slowly. "Ah, Harry, Violet, I don' 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 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 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?" asked Violet.
"Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."
"But why not?"
"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.
"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.
"Nah — can't spell it. All right —Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say 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' herself power, all right. Dark days, you two. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange witches or wizards... 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.
"Now, yer mum an' dad are as good a wizard an' witch as I've ever known. 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' ter do with the Dark Side.
"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted revenge. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You two an' yer brother were jus' a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' jus' knocked them out. Both of yer parents. After all that time, people thought that he was just used to killin' by then – maybe he even liked it – but he left them alive an' went for you three.
"You-Know-Who pointed his wand at yeh. Sent the killin' curse – but it didn' work. Charles just has a little scar, and you two…" he glanced down at Violet's leg for a reason Harry didn't know, and then at Harry's right arm, where the large twisted burn he had had all his life was. The Dursleys said he had received it in the car crash, but now, he supposed…
"You got that burn and tha' twisted leg, an' I know those aren' nothin' to sneeze at, but mind, it could have been a lot worse. Should have been. That's why you three an' yer parents are famous. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you an' yer brother, an' he'd killed some o' the best wizards an' witches of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts — an' you was only a babies, an' you lived."
Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind, and he could see tears on his sister's face again from his spot beside her. As Hagrid's story came to a close, 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." He said. "Dumbledore said that yer brother was the one who defeated you-know-who. He protected you two with his magic, somehow. He said that Charles would need more protection, need trainin', so I brought yeh ter this lot till you were old enough fer Hogwarts..."
"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped, and Violet gave a little cry; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there, and apparently his sister had as well. Uncle Vernon, meanwhile, 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 at Harry, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured — and no doubt your sister as well, and as for all this about your parents, well, they are weirdoes, no denying it, and the world would have been better off without them in my opinion — asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew —"
But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew the pink umbrella once more 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..."
In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by an aggravated giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed; 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 didn't know about Violet, but he still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.
"But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"
"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you three. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?
"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. 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 kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.
"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you kids finished him. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — I dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' stumped him, all right."
Hagrid looked at Harry and Violet with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If his family had defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football? And most importantly, why were he and Violet just shoved to the side? Surely they could have stayed with their parents and brother somehow, or at least visited them? Why were they left with the Dursleys, without even a letter or a phone call once in a while?
"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."
At the same time, Violet said, "But Harry and I shouldn't have been left like that. Don't our mum and dad miss us? Couldn't we have all be…protected, or whatever, some other way?"
Hagrid was somber as he addressed Violet's question first, which Harry was glad about, because he wanted to know this more than his own question.
"Listen, you two," Hagrid said. "Yer parents loved yeh a lot. More than a lot. They don' care more abou' yer brother, even though it may seem that way. They wanted ter keep yeh all together, but Dumbledore said it would be safer for you to split up. He didn' want someone to manage to find all o' yeh, an' more people were after yer brother than you two. He needed more protection; it wasn' a favoritism thing at all, it was just…necessary."
Harry and Violet both shared a look, but they believed what Hagrid said about their parents. They felt, deep down, that their parents were good people who had hoped for them to be loved and cared for with their aunt and uncle. It wasn't their fault that that hadn't happened at all.
But this Dumbledore fellow…there was something suspicious about him indeed. Something, the two siblings felt, just wasn't right there.
"Now, abou' what you asked, Harry," Hagrid said with a chuckle as the mood lightened slightly, "Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"
Violet tapped her chin thoughtfully, staring at the floor. Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his uncle and aunt furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found herself out of their reach... dreading going to school with a ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?
Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Violet must have come to the same conclusion, as she was grinning as well. Hagrid was positively beaming at them.
"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry and Violet Potter, not wizards — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."
But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.
"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "I don't give a damn what that girl does – she's not our problem, no matter what you say – but 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 they want ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's kids goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. Their names have been down ever since they were born. They're off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and they won't know themselves. They'll be with youngsters of their own sort, fer a change, an' they'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had, Albus Dumbled—"
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH EITHER OF THEM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.
But 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 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.
Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. Harry and Violet exchanged looks, then burst into laughter, rolling on the floor until their stomachs hurt.
Hagrid ignored them, looking down at his umbrella and stroking his chin.
"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."
He cast a sideways look at Harry and Violet under his bushy eyebrows. They had managed to get their laughter under control, and were sitting upright again, though still giggling every few seconds.
"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 allowed 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 curiously.
"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, Dumbledore."
"Why were –" Harry began, but Violet nudged him and shook her head.
"In the letter, it said they await our owl," Violet said loudly. "What does that mean?"
"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled 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 that the two triplets could read upside down:
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Got Violet and found Harry. I've just given Harry his letter. They didn't have any idea about each other or their parents and brother. I explained as best as I could. Taking them to buy their things tomorrow. Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.
Hagrid
Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.
Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly. Violet simply stared, blinking owlishly.
"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid, stretching. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."
He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.
"You two can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."