Harry didn't sleep at all. He'd been up all night trying to process the things that he'd been told the day before. They swam about his mind. At first, he felt angry, then doubtful and now he was at the point of confusion.
"Harry, there's no easy way to say it. You're a wizard."
A wizard? What does that mean? Harry wasn't in any way magical. He didn't have powers. That's something he would have known. Wizards aren't even real. At least he never thought they were. Is everyone a wizard? Why had they kept this from him? He tried to rationalize it over and over, but there was no real logical answer for all of his questions.
"Your mother and father died protecting you from the greatest evil that I've ever known. You shouldn't have lived, Harry."
His scar began to ache. Evil? His parents had died when the house was swallowed in flames, or so he believed until this point. What was this tremendous evil? Why had it killed his parents? Why did he survive? He turned it over and let it sink into his brain.
"No one has ever survived He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. No one but you. You are more powerful than you've ever known."
He didn't seem very powerful wrapped in his blankets wiping tears from the brim of his lashes. How had he lived? He was only a baby. The thought of his parents throwing themselves in front of him to save him made his eyes sting. He wished they were here right now, telling him it was going to be alright and that the next few days weren't going to gnaw him to his bones.
"There's a school. Hogwarts. It's where you mother and father went to learn spells and potions and the courage that they both held so much of. You'll be attending. That is, if you want to."
But Harry wasn't sure what he wanted. All he knew is that his head hurt and he wasn't ready to get up yet. If his mother and father went, he should go. Yet he didn't know that magic was real until yesterday. What if he failed? Sirius and Remus would be devastated. Maybe he shouldn't go. But magic seemed interesting enough. If he was as powerful as he was told, maybe it would be easy. He knew that he'd have to decide soon, because the letter would becoming for him any hour. He wouldn't even know anyone, he barely even had any friends at his normal school.
He finally found the energy to pull himself out of bed and get dressed. He tried to tame his hair, but it only got worse and worse with each comb through. The purple rings underneath his eyes made the wild green color of his irises stand out even more than usual. He pushed his glasses onto his thin, pale face and stood at the door for a long moment, his hand poised over the doorknob. When he reached the kitchen, the conversation from yesterday flooded back with even more intensity. A quick glance at the clock let him know that it was 10:23. Remus was working today and already gone, but Sirius would be up soon and Harry really didn't want to talk to him. He grabbed a muffin from the cabinet and tried to make a break for his bedroom.
But Sirius was already behind him. He was teary-eyed and it was apparent that he hadn't gotten much sleep either. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it without uttering a thing. The silence was uncomfortable and Harry shifted his weight every so often while Sirius looked at him.
"Good morning, Harry," He finally croaked. Harry could see the distress on his face and he regretted the way he had stormed away from Sirius and went to his room for the rest of the day without saying a word.
"Morning, Sirius," Harry said quietly, "Listen about yesterday, I'm sorry. I was confused, I-" Sirius cut him off.
"Don't be sorry. I shouldn't have kept it from you for so long. You had every right to act the way you did. I just wanted to protect you. I love you, Harry." This brought tears to Harry's eyes and he suddenly knew what he wanted.
"I've made a decision," Harry said to his uncle. Sirius smiled.
"And what's the verdict?" Sirius asked, hoping that Harry would choose the path of his destiny and attend Hogwarts, yet a small part of him wished that Harry would stay. A long silence followed this and Sirius waited with patient anticipation.
Harry spoke, "I want to go to Hogwarts." As soon as he uttered the sentence, a red stamped envelope fluttered through the mail slot and landed on the hardwood floor, as if by magic.