The knocking continued, waking the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon came skidding in to the room, holding a rifle – now they knew what the package had been. Suddenly, the door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and landed flat on the floor with a crash.

A giant of a man, with a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, squeezed his way into the shack. He strode over to where Dudley sat, frozen with fear, on the sofa.

'Budge up, yeh great lump,' said the stranger. Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his parents.

'What the…' Charlotte muttered to herself, watching the man lumber around the room, making himself quite at home.

'An' here's the twins!' the giant said, his wild, shadowy face and beetle eyes crinkled into a smile. 'Last time I saw you two you was only babies. Yeh look just like yer mum an' dad.'

Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. 'I demand that you leave at once, sir!'

'Shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune,' the giant said, snatching away Uncle Vernon's gun before twisting it into a knot and tossing it aside. Charlotte could've sworn she broke two ribs trying not to laugh at this strange man calling her uncle a "great prune".

'Anyway – Harry and Charlotte,' he said, turning his back on the Dursleys, 'a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yer here – I mighta sat on it, but it'll taste alright.'

From a pocket inside his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box, which Charlotte opened nervously. Inside was a large chocolate cake with happy birthday twins written on it in green icing.

'Thank you,' Charlotte mumbled, still perplexed.

Harry looked up at the giant, 'Who are you?' The giant laughed.

'True, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. You can call me Hagrid. Everyone does,' he said, as he lit a fire and started to make some tea in a kettle he pulled out of his pocket. The way he kept pulling strange objects from his coat reminded Charlotte of Mary Poppins' bag.

'Pardon me for asking, but what is Hogwarts?' Charlotte asked, genuinely confused.

'Yeh'll know about Hogwarts, you must do,' he said, looking from Charlotte to Harry expectantly.

'Er – no,' said Harry. Hagrid looked shocked. Harry quickly added, 'Sorry.'

'Sorry?' Hagrid barked, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank into the shadows. Hagrid proceeded to express his outrage that the Dursleys had told them nothing about "their world" and "where their parents had learnt it all". Charlotte and Harry looked from each other to Hagrid, wondering desperately what he was talking about.

'I'm sorry to interrupt,' Charlotte began. Hagrid turned to her, looking as if he was about to explode with anger, from where he had been lecturing the Dursley's, who were cowering against the wall. 'But what do you mean "where our parents learnt it all"? All what?'

'Do you mean ter tell me,' Hagrid growled at the Dursleys, 'that these kids know nothin' abou- about anything?'

Harry thought this was going a bit far. They went to school, and their marks weren't bad.

'We know some things,' he said. 'We can, you know, do maths and stuff.'

Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry and Charlotte with a bewildered stare. 'Yeh don' know… Yeh don't know what yeh are?'

Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. 'Stop! I forbid you to tell the children anything!' he commanded, 'I FORBID YOU!'

Aunt Petunia gasped in horror.

'Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,' said Hagrid, turning to the twins once more. 'Harry – yer a wizard. And Charlotte, yer a witch.'

There was a silence inside the hut. Charlotte and Harry stared at each other in total confusion. Aunt Petunia looked as if she would faint at any minute. Uncle Vernon had turned beet red.

'What?' Harry gasped. Charlotte simply frowned, thoroughly sceptical.

'Yer magical. A wizard and a witch. Damn good ones, I'd say, once yer trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, you'd 'ave to be. I reckon its abou' time yeh read yer letters.'

He held out two letters to the twins. Charlotte took the yellowish envelope addresses in emerald green to Miss C. Potter, The Floor, Hut-On-The-Rock, The Sea. She pulled out the letter and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress.

Charlotte looked up, still frowning, at Harry, deep in thought. She could tell Harry's head was exploding with questions, but he seemed far more at peace with the situation. She, however, could not believe this at all. It was just absurd.

'What does it mean, "we await your owl?"' Harry stammered eventually.

'Galloping Gorgons, that reminds me,' Hagrid said. He slapped his forehead hard, and from yet another pocket he pulled an owl – a real, live, rather scruffy looking owl – a feather quill and a piece of parchment. Charlotte was just about at the end of her tether with this nonsense. An owl. In his pocket. Hagrid scribbled a note, gave it to the owl, went to the door and threw the owl out into the storm as if this behaviour was as normal as talking on the phone.

'Where was I?' Said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.

'They're not going.' He said.

Hagrid grunted. 'I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him', he said.

'A what?' Asked Harry, interested.

'A muggle,' said Hagrid. 'It's what we call non-magic folk like them.'

'We swore when we took them in we'd put a stop to that rubbish,' said Uncle Vernon, 'swore we'd stamp it out of them! Wizard and witch indeed!'

'You knew?' Charlotte hissed, suddenly quite angry.

'Knew!' Shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. 'Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that - that school - and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!'

She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had wanted to say all this for years.

'Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you two, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as – as – abnormal - then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!'

Charlotte had curled her hands into fists, glowering at her Aunt with a loathing she had managed to suppress for most of her years. Her eyes seemed to flash red with rage – this happened often when she was angry, but nobody except Harry ever paid enough attention to notice.

Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, 'Blown up? You told us they died in a car crash!'

'CAR CRASH!' roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Durleys scuttled back into their corner.

'How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! The Potters not knowin' their own story when every kid in our world knows their names!'

'But why? What happened?' Harry asked urgently.

The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.

'I never expected this,' he said, in a low, worried voice. 'I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn'know. Ah, Harry, 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', I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…' He sat down, 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?'

'Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does.'

'Why not?' Charlotte enquired, not so guarded and sceptical anymore.

'Gulpin' gargoyles, Charlotte, 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. He went on to tell the twins all of what he knew. That, some twenty years ago, Voldemort started to gain followers. Hagrid called them 'dark days', saying terrible things started happening, that Voldemort was taking over because no-one would stand up to him and most think Dumbledore was the only person he was afraid of. He told the twins that their mother and father were 'as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew'; that they were head boy and girl at Hogwarts. One day he turned up in the village where their family lived, when the twins were just one year old. 'Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em to join the dark side… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way.' He said. You-Know-Who killed them.

'Here's the real myst'ry of the thing – he tried to kill you, too' Hagrid continued, looking at Harry. 'But he couldn't do it. Ever wondered how you got that mark on your forehead? That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh. That's why yer famous. No-one ever lived after he decided to kill 'em. No-one except you.'

Hagrid watched the twins sadly. 'Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…'

'Load of old tosh,' said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.

'Now, you listen here, you two,' he snarled, 'I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured - and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's 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 they'd come to a sticky end - '

Enraged, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. 'One more word, Dursley… I'm waning you…' He growled, pointing the umbrella at him like a sword. Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened against the wall and fell silent.

'What happened to Vol – sorry – I mean, You-Know-Who?' Charlotte enquired.

'Good question, Charlotte. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was getting' 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' 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. Somethin' about Harry finished him.'

Hagrid looked at the twins with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes. '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 they're not going?' He hissed. 'They're going to Stonewall High and they'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and they need all sorts of rubbish – spell books and wands and - '

'If they want to go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them. Stop Lily and James Potter's children going ter Hogwarts! Yer mad, their names 'ave been down since they was born. They're off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world to be with youngsters of their own sort and be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled-'

'I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH THEM MAGIC TRICKS!' Yelled Uncle Vernon.

He had gone too far. Hagrid seized the umbrella and whirled it over his head. 'NEVER-' He thundered, 'INSULT – ALBUS – DUMBLEDORE – IN – FRONT – OF – ME!' He brought the umbrella down and pointed it at Dudley – there was a flash of light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and the next second Dudley was dancing on the spot holding his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back, the twins saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.

Uncle Vernon roared, pulled Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room and slammed the door.

'Shouldn'ta lost me temper,' Hagrid said ruefully, looking at the twins under his bushy eyebrows. 'Be grateful if yeh don't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. I'm – er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'.'

Harry would've asked why, but he was too busy watching Charlotte, who was snickering deviously. She had wanted to laugh for a while – from Uncle Vernon's amusing spiral to insanity, Hagrid calling him a great prune, the revalation that she was a witch, and now Dudley being given a pigs tail, it was all too much.

'Charlie!' Harry hissed, scowling at her. He hardly thought it was appropriate of her to laugh at the moment. She smirked at Harry, but her laughter ceased. Hagrid watched them affectionately.

'It's getting' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow,' he said, tossing Harry his thick black coat. 'You two can kip under that.'