"So, my parents didn't die in a car crash?"

"A car crash?! Of course not!"

It turned out that Hagrid had quite a bit to explain about magic. After beginning with a demonstration, by attempting to water Petunia's flowers with his pink umbrella (he only managed a few drops), he went on to explain that talking to snakes was a very rare talent. Historically associated with bad wizards, it had slowly died out with many of the older families. Harry was the only 'parselmouth' that Hagrid knew of, in fact. As far as Hagrid knew, none of Harry's family could talk to snakes, either.

This was part of a more detailed explanation of an entire hidden community of wizards, witches, and all sorts of magical creatures who lived beneath the noses of what they called muggles, or non-magical people. Their ability to keep their society hidden for so long was something that surprised Harry. Surely, all it would take to reveal them would be one dissenting wizard who could book a space on a popular television show? As the saying went, three people could keep a secret, if two of them were dead; perhaps there was magic for that, too.

It did seem that the wizarding community could stand to learn a few things from muggles, as Hagrid seemed to exemplify many of their faults. He insisted on writing various letters to people not with a pen, or pencil, but with quills. Quills had long since been replaced in the muggle world for their remarkable inefficiency and being easy to break, but that didn't stop wizards from writing with them. Hagrid insisted that Harry would need his own quills for when he went to their school, Hogwarts. As for where one could find quills, Hagrid said that there was no better place then Diagon Alley, which was apparently located right in London.

The insistence that Harry would be going to Hogwarts had made him feel a bit uneasy.

"What would happen if I refused going to Hogwarts?" he had asked.

Hagrid had frowned at that comment. "Yeh mean you aren't interested in learnin' about magic, Harry?"

"Well, hypothetically, let's say I did. What then?"

"Well, Harry, it's for the best that yeh learn to control yer magic. Otherwise, you might let it out in ways that could hurt someone."

That had been more than enough to convince Harry to follow Hagrid to go shopping for the things he needed. Harry could definitely go without accidentally setting people on fire whenever he got annoyed.

On the way to Diagon Alley, Hagrid went into the details of his parents. James and Lily Potter had been well liked among the wizarding community before being killed by one of the most evil wizards of all time, referred to by his moniker, "He Who Must Not Be Named."

"Was he so bad that you can't say his name?" Harry asked. "Is it cursed?"

"It's bad news, Harry, but I guess I could say it, since yeh haven't heard it before... all right, it's Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don't ask me to say it again."

Harry blinked. "Was he french? That sounds a bit like a french name."

Hagrid shook his head. "Naw, he was english, and went to Hogwarts like everyone else."

"So... he was born named Voldemort? Without a last name?"

"No, I suppose that wasn't really his name... yeh'd have t'ask Dumbledore about something like that."

Dumbledore was the current headmaster of Hogwarts, Hagrid explained, and one of the wisest wizards alive. He was one of the major figures in the resistance against Voldemort, a movement that had abruptly ended when Voldemort met an unexpected end on Halloween. After he had killed Harry's parents, the evil wizard had turned his attention to the infant Harry, only to die for an unknown reason, taking the house with him. It was a miracle that Harry hadn't been crushed by an errant chunk of the ceiling.

"So, yeh see Harry, you're famous!" Hagrid said. "Everyone in the wizardin' world knows yeh as the boy who lived!"

"Famous?" Harry muttered. "Do you think people would recognize me once we got there?"

Hagrid thought about it for a moment. "Well, Harry, since yeh haven't been in the company of wizards since yeh were born, they probably wouldn't, unless they say your scar."

Harry quickly checked to make sure that his distinctive scar was well covered up by his hair.

Hagrid laughed. "Modest?"

"Sure," Harry mumbled.

The actual truth wasn't really that he was modest, as Harry could see some ways in which fame could benefit him, but having a bunch of strangers heckling him in the streets certainly wasn't one of them.

The entrance to Diagon Alley was hidden in a pub called The Leaky Cauldron, an allegedly famous place that was harder to spot than a person in France who wasn't smoking. It was a dark, grimy little place that had certainly seen better days.

"Hey there, Hagrid," The barkeep said. "What brings you here today?"

"Hogwarts business, Tom," Hagrid said. "Can't tell you more then that."

They continued out the back, where their progress was blocked a brick wall, which Hagrid bypassed by tapping some of the bricks in an order that was quite easy to forget. That caused the wall to open up, showing an astonishing collection of shops lining a very narrow, crooked street. There was no doubt the place was magical, considering how many of the buildings blatantly defied the laws of physics. There were shops with side rooms that would have dragged them to the side, shops that wouldn't be able to support their own weight, and places that sold brooms meant for racing.

"The first thing we have to do is get some money from Gringotts the wizard bank," Hagrid said. "You'll need it for your school supplies."

As he said this, he handed a list to Harry, who examined it with a great deal of trepidation. Apparently, the school uniform for Hogwarts not only included robes, but a pointy hat! Why was that a part of the school uniform? Were these people nuts?

Harry had ample time to ponder that thought as he and Hagrid made their way to Gringotts; a large marble building that turned out to be staffed by-

"Goblins," Hagrid said. "A lotta wizards don't trust 'em, but I think that's a load of poppycock."

One such goblin was tasked with taking them to the Potter vault, and another vault for business that Hagrid refused to discuss.

Harry was surprised to see how much money there was in his parent's vault at first, but he began to worry when he thought about how much his school supplies would cost, and how quickly the money might go when he was looking for work and had to find a place to stay and pay rent... The amount of gold there looked like a fortune, but a nasty bit of inflation could take a large bite out of it with Harry being unable to do anything about it.

His fears were lessened somewhat when he saw the small amount Hagrid took to pay for his school items, though they did not abate entirely.

After Hagrid retrieved a small package from another vault, it was off to a clothes shop to get robes (and a hideous pointed hat). There were two other girls there engaged in a heated conversation as Harry entered the store. Presumably, they were going to Hogwarts as well, as Hagrid hadn't mentioned any other magic schools in the country.

"Now what I'm saying is that this whole business involving the forbidden forest is inexcusable," the first girl said. "You can't just send children out there and expect them to be okay! Do you know what some of the books say lives in that place?"

"Sounds like a coward's words to me, Cho," the second girl said. "Afraid of a few redcaps? Maybe if you spent more time reading the things you claimed to study-"

"I'm not making this stuff up! Do you not know that a student was arrested for having an acromantula on the grounds?!"

"An acromantula? Yeah right. If one of those was still there, the school would be shut down in an instant!"

"But that's what I'm saying! What if it's still there?"

"Listen to yourself..."

The conversation died down as the two exited the shop.

After Harry had gotten his robes and hat (which he decided then and there that he would not wear under any circumstances), he had a few more questions for Hagrid.

"What's an acromantula, Hagrid?"

Hagrid got a worried look on his face. "Why do you ask?"

"Some students in the shop mentioned the term."

"Well," Hagrid said, refusing to make eye contact with Harry, "They're a breed of giant spiders. But yeh won't have to worry about seein' any of them at Hogwarts."

Hagrid didn't look to happy to discuss the subject, so Harry didn't press him any further.

After his clothes, they moved on to the other things on the list, including several textbooks, a telescope and cauldron, some smelly potion ingredients, and a magic wand. The wand was supposedly the most important item of the bunch, being directly responsible for any wizard's ability to do magic. Wands in Diagon Alley were sold by a man named Ollivander, who was certainly a nut. After a bit of fussing around, Harry ended up with a wooden stick that was distinguished from the other wooden sticks by being ten inches long and having a base of unicorn hair, two characteristics that meant absolutely nothing to him. Perhaps one of the several textbooks he now owned could enlighten him on the subject.

After all their business was done, Hagrid was ready to leave, but Harry stopped him.

"While we're here Hagrid, I was hoping there was one more thing we could do," Harry said.

"What would that be?"

"Is there a place here where we could obtain fake muggle documents? I'd like something to give my aunt and uncle that makes them think that I'm going away to a muggle boarding school for the rest of my school years."

As a matter of fact, not only was there such a place, but it was perfectly legal for wizards to visit it (it was most commonly visited for faking passports for wizarding families that had no official contact with the muggle government), although Harry had to first talk Hagrid out of 'beating some sense' into the Dursleys. For the low price of two silver coins and four bronze coins, Harry walked away with a professional looking letter that marked his acceptance into St. Marble's Boarding School for Extremely Naughty Boys. If his aunt and uncle did any research at all into the 'school', they would easily find out that it was fake, but Harry doubted that they would dare risk missing out on the opportunity to have him out of their hair for however many years it took to graduate from Hogwarts.

After doing his chores for the night, Harry carefully approached Uncle Vernon, who was in the middle of one of his favorite television shows. He made sure to wait for a commercial break before speaking up.

"Uncle Vernon?"

Uncle Vernon turned his fat head around to look at Harry. "What is it?"

"If you're not busy, I just got a letter of acceptance from this school-"

Vernon got up and snatched the letter from Harry's hand. Upon reading its contents, his face lit up with glee.

"So, this school, they'll keep you for most of the year, and we don't have to pay anything?"

"Absolutely," Harry said. "All you need to do is sign there-"

Vernon got up with an uncharacteristic burst of speed and rushed for a pen, and signed the letter in a few seconds.

"Thank you," Harry said.

Only then did he risk bringing in all the stuff he had bought at Diagon Alley.