So this chapter is, in some parts, more recognisable to those familiar with canon and in other parts … not. Ooo, suspense! ;)

More notes at the bottom of the chapter, please check them out after you've read the chapter. I didn't put them up here because they're to do with content in the chapter.

PS. If you feel like it, please do review! I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

Enjoy!

Chapter 3 – The Giant's Entrance

BOOM!

Harry sat bolt upright in his cupboard as something made a deafening crash. Pounding footsteps in the corridor shook the mattress below him. His heart pounding in his chest, he scrambled towards the small slatted window in his cupboard door, and peeked out into the corridor. He saw an enormous, brassy buckle, twice as big as his head. It was attached to a thick leather belt, which seemed to stretch across the whole of his vision.

"Harry?" said a large, gruff voice, and a huge head bent towards the slatted window of his cupboard. A giant of a man was now staring at him, a confused expression on his face. He had beady black eyes and a large, bushy beard.

Harry retreated against the wall, eyes wide. He was unable to speak.

"What on earth are yeh doin' in there, Harry? Let's get yer out, then we can 'ave a chat, eh?" The giant smiled, encouragingly. "C'mon out, now."

Harry, still backed against his cupboard wall in terror, did not answer. The giant man's smile faded into concern.

"Yeh all right, Harry? I'm Rubeus Hagrid. I'm here to give yeh yer letter. Dumbledore did write to yer aunt n' uncle, to say I'd be comin'."

Harry frowned. Dumbledore? Who was Dumbledore? And why was he writing to the Dursleys about him? In any case, the giant man didn't seem to be here to do any harm to Harry, and so he slowly detached himself from the wall behind him. Hagrid starting smiling warmly again.

"Thas' it, Harry! C'mon out then."

"I … I can't," said Harry, in a small voice.

Hagrid's smile faded a little. "What? Why not?"

"My uncle locked me in. He … nailed the door shut." Harry nodded to the spot where he knew multiple long nails were embedded into the cupboard door.

"What?" Hagrid said, frowning. Harry saw his eyes dart to where he had indicated. He must have seen the nails, because immediately his face turned a deep shade of scarlet, and his eyes blazed with fury.

"They – they did this?!" He said, his voice shaking with rage.

"They … didn't want me to get out." Harry said. This was neither a helpful nor a useful thing to say, but he was still somewhat struck dumb by the giant's sudden appearance.

"Righ' … OK then … s'alright Harry, we'll get yeh out now." Hagrid pursed his lips, obviously still furious, but apparently wanting to remain as calm as possible for Harry's benefit.

"Stand – or, er, sit – back, then!" Hagrid said, straightening up. He pointed what looked like a spotty pink umbrella at the lock of Harry's cupboard, and said "Bombarda!"

The cupboard door exploded. Harry tore his moth-eaten blanket up over his head just in time to stop shards of wood hitting him in the face.

"Oh, oops – that was probably a bit much, eh?" said Hagrid, sounding sheepish. But Harry didn't answer him.

He lowered the blanket slowly from his face, his hair covered in chips of wood and dust. His eyes were shining.

"You're … you're a wizard, aren't you?" He asked, his voice full of wonder. He knew that what Hagrid had just done was magic. What else could it have been?

He couldn't believe his luck. Admittedly, Harry wasn't sure why Hagrid had used an umbrella to cast a spell instead of a wand, but he didn't care. A wizard, a real wizard, had come to his house and let him out of his cupboard.

"You're a wizard!" He said, again. Questions flooded his mind. "Did you know my mum? Lily Potter? Or – maybe, Lily Evans? She was a wizard too!"

Hagrid beamed at him, and held his hand out to help Harry out of the cupboard. Harry accepted, and they stood together in the hallway, which was very cramped with both of them standing in it. Harry could now see Hagrid's full form, and gaped at his height. He was over 8 feet tall, and three times as wide. He was wearing a giant brown overcoat, a slightly worn white shirt and large, hide boots.

"'Course I knew yer mum!" Hagrid said, still beaming, and he started to dust Harry off with a hand as big as a dustbin lid. "I knew yer dad too – right decent wizard, he was. One of the best kids at Hogwarts durin' his time! Yer mother was too, o' course. Righ'! Best get this all cleaned up."

He pointed his umbrella at the cupboard and said, "repairo!". The cupboard immediately flew back together, completely intact. The nails sat discarded on the floor.

Hagrid now pointed his umbrella at the front door (which had apparently fallen completely off its hinges at Hagrid's entrance) and uttered the same spell. The door immediately whipped up off the floor, and settled back in place. With a satisfied nod, Hagrid turned back to Harry with a grin.

But Harry's stomach had jumped right up into his throat at Hagrid's last words. He was staring at Hagrid, mouth open.

"My … my father wasn't a wizard, was he?"

Hagrid's expression turned to one of concern. "The spell didn' hit you that hard, did it?" He started examining Harry's head.

"No, no – I'm fine," said Harry, quickly, shaking Hagrid's hands off his head, "But … I thought it was only my mother who was the witch – I thought it was just her and Dudley who were –"

But he stopped. He suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Dudley. That's why Hagrid was here. Why else would a wizard have suddenly turned up at the Dursleys' residence?

"It's him you're here to see, isn't it?" He asked, miserably. He looked up at Hagrid's confused face. "My cousin, Dudley. He's a wizard. You're here to talk to him, aren't you?"

Hagrid stared down at him. "Harry ..." he said, and his voice broke.

Harry turned away. All the wonder he had felt at Hagrid's appearance had disappeared. "He's not here. You'll have to wait." He opened the door to his cupboard, and started to re-enter.

"What … What've they told yeh?" he asked, in a voice that was barely a whisper. He sounded, to Harry's utter confusion, heartbroken.

Harry frowned and turned back to Hagrid, the cupboard door still in his hand. "What do you mean?"

Hagrid's hand slowly raised to his mouth, and the giant was silent for a few seconds.

"I don' … I never thought they'd … Dumbledore told me tha' you might need a bit of info, but I never thought they'd … it's sick." Hagrid suddenly looked furious.

Sick, Harry thought, that's what Uncle Vernon had said … What was going on?

Suddenly, a familiar jangling of keys came from the front door. Harry jumped, and tried to go back into his cupboard – he didn't want to imagine Uncle Vernon's rage at finding him standing outside of it.

But the hand Hagrid had previously been holding to his face was suddenly on Harry's shoulder. The force of it nearly knocked Harry to the floor, but Hagrid was holding tight onto him and brought him to his feet. He gently pushed Harry behind him, and turned to face the door.

Uncle Vernon's large form was now coming through the door, looking behind him.

"Alright," said Uncle Vernon, "well, find your water blaster and we'll head right back out, eh, Dudders? The showing isn't until –"

Uncle Vernon had turned round and stopped dead. Harry had never seen his uncle's face so white.

"PETUNIA! DUDLEY!" He shouted. "GET BACK IN THE CAR! A BURGLAR –"

"Don't." Hagrid whispered. He spat the word out, full of anger.

Aunt Petunia and Dudley had now poked their heads round the door, and looked horrified to find the giant standing in their house. Hagrid reached forward and pulled the door fully open to completely expose the three Dursleys. They stood in the doorway, clutching each other in terror, staring at Hagrid.

Hagrid pulled Harry in front of him, gently, and placed a hand again on his shoulder.

"This boy …" Hagrid whispered, his voice shaking. "You … locked this boy in a cupboard. You … let him believe …" he paused for a second, as if momentarily unable to go on, and then said, "you let him believe that his father wasn't … you let him believe that he WASN' ONE OF US?!" Hagrid was suddenly roaring. "YOU. ARE. HIS. FAMILY!" He swung his umbrella across the air in front of him with each word.

The Dursleys seemed to be shrinking in the doorway. Hagrid continued.

"What 'ave you been tellin' him? James Potter? Not a wizard? This one –" he pointed to Dudley, "a wizard, but not Harry Potter?"

This was too much. Harry's head was spinning.

"Wait," he said, shrugging Hagrid's hand off of his shoulder. "Wait. But … my dad wasn't a wizard. My mum was. They died in a car crash! They …" But he had raised his eyes to his aunt and uncle, and caught the look they exchanged. But before he could say anything, Hagrid started shouting again.

"A CAR CRASH? LILY AND JAMES POTTER, DIE IN A CAR CRASH? IT'S AN OUTRAGE! A SCANDAL!" Harry –" he turned to Harry, "don' believe a word o' what they've told yeh about yer parents. Not one word. Nor what they've told you about you, neither! Yer - "

"STOP!" shrieked Aunt Petunia. Everyone turned to stare at her. She was shaking. "Stop … just – don't –" she turned to look at Dudley, as though she did not want him to hear any of this. She started to cry, shaking harder.

"Petunia …" said Uncle Vernon. He looked defeated, but also (to Harry's surprise) slightly relieved. "Petunia, there's nothing we can do, dear … It was never going to work. It's better if they know the truth. "

Aunt Petunia was now shaking and crying so violently she was leaning on the door for support. Harry was flabbergasted. In all his years at Privet Drive, he had never seen his aunt shed a single tear. He could not match up this hysterical Aunt Petunia with the woman he had known all his life.

"Harry," said Hagrid, who seemed to have finally calmed down, "yer –"

"A WIZARD!" shrieked Aunt Petunia. Tears were now streaming down her face, and her face was red with rage.

"What?" Harry said. He looked at his cousin, who was staring at Aunt Petunia, looking broken-hearted. "But Dudley's the wizard, not –"

"Of course you are. Of course her perfect little son is a wizard! Even after she was dead, blown up in her own house – because Lily couldn't have died in anything less than a spectacle, oh no! – she had to leave me with you, a reminder of what – of what I could never –", she stopped, shook her head, and continued, "I knew you were going to turn out the same as your parents always thinking so much of yourself. I … went to our family home before our parents died, and … and I got everything I could find that she'd left there from her days at that … that school. All the books, and that Quidditch ball …", she said the word 'Quidditch' as though there were a bad taste in her mouth, "I thought if I taught Dudley and not you, then, if you never knew … then he might … he could go and you'd … stay."

"NO!" shouted Dudley, who had, apparently, just now realised what his mother was saying about Harry. "NO! Stop it, Mum! Stop it! It's me, not him! I'm the wizard, it's not him!" His eyes were shining with tears too, now.

Uncle Vernon was standing next to both of them, staring at his wife with a slightly disgusted expression. He also, Harry thought, looked as though he had never pitied anyone more in his life.

Aunt Petunia nodded at Dudley's words, and turned to smile at her son through her tears. "Yes, you too, Dudders – don't worry." She smoothed his hair affectionately. "Don't worry, you're still – you're still a wizard, darling –"

"No." Growled Hagrid.

Petunia's head snapped towards Hagrid. She was no longer crying.

"Yes he is!" She spat, angrily. "Dumbledore said, in his letter. The postscript said Harry wasn't the only one going to Hogwarts!"

Hagrid laughed. "Yer mad." He pointed at Dudley with a finger as long as a cucumber. "This one, come teh Hogwarts? Biggest muggle I've ever seen! No. Dumbledore sent me for Harry, and Harry alone."

There was a silence. Then –

"NO!" shouted Petunia and Dudley at the same time.

"WAIT!" shouted Harry. Everyone turned to look at him. He was trying to put everything together. "So … I'm a wizard? And Dudley is … what did you call him? A muggle? What does that … ? And … both my parents were wizards, too? And they … they got blown up? What … what does that mean?"

Hagrid looked at Harry, sadly, seemingly not knowing what to say. Dudley was blubbering. Aunt Petunia was trying to calm him down, still glaring angrily at Hagrid.

Uncle Vernon suddenly cleared his throat.

"Right," he said, decisively. "Let's … let's go. Petunia. Dudley. To Marge's. We'll come back in an hour. Come on."

With one wary glance back at Hagrid, he shooed his family out of the door. Harry could hear Dudley's wails of misery and anger disappearing down the road.

His head was still spinning.

"Hagrid …" he said, "I don't understand. I … don't understand anything."

Hagrid sighed, and rubbed his eyes. "Blimey …" he mumbled, seemingly to himself. But then he smiled, and patted Harry on the shoulder.

"Righ', why don't I make some tea, and we'll 'ave a nice chat, eh?"

He shepherded Harry into the living room, and pointed his umbrella at the Dursley's fireplace. It sprang to life immediately. He pulled a kettle out of his large overcoat, which Harry could tell was already full with water from the sloshing sound that was emanating from it, and placed it upon the fire. It seemed to float unaided in the middle of the fireplace, just above the flames.

Hagrid smiled at Harry's expression of wonder, and said, "levitatin' kettle. Quite useful for campin' n' that. Got it at Diagon Alley."

He seemed to frown at his own words. "But then … maybe yeh don't know about Diagon Alley yet?" He looked at Harry, who shook his head. Hagrid's cheeks puffed out as he gave a large exhale.

"Look," he said, "why don' you tell me everythin' they –" he jerked his head towards the front door "– told you, an' I can tell you everythin' yeh don't know." He poured Harry a cup of tea and gave it to him on a saucer, along with a teaspoon and a couple of slightly hairy biscuits (all of which he seemed to procure from his giant overcoat), and Harry began to tell him all that he knew. He told him about Aunt Petunia informing him and his cousin at age nine about Dudley being a wizard, about Dudley's wand, Aunt Petunia's lessons with his mother's books, and even the tiny, golden Quidditch ball.

Hagrid's frown deepened as Harry talked, and by the time Harry was nearly finished telling him everything, he was visibly agitated. When Harry stopped talking, Hagrid exhaled again.

"S'all wrong, Harry. At least, most of it. I knew they wouldn't know loads about the wizarding world, bein' muggles an' that – non-wizards, that means – but I never thought they'd outrigh' lie to yeh. Truth of it is, yer a wizard, yer cousin's not. The wand's probably somethin' they got from a muggle shop. S'definitely not real. The books'd be no use to a muggle, neither, and a muggle could never teach magic! Those lessons were complete rubbish. That ball yer talkin' about – s'called a 'snitch'. But yeh'll learn about all that later. First, I need to give yeh this."

Hagrid put his hand into his overcoat again and pulled out a letter. He gave the letter to Harry. The address was written in green ink.

Mr Harry Potter

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

No. 4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

With shaking fingers, Harry opened the letter. It 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 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 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

There was a second page which listed school uniform, course books and other equipment, but Harry was feeling quite dizzy again now, so he merely scanned this page and then looked up at Hagrid.

"My … owl?" He asked, breathless.

"Oh, yeah." Hagrid said, standing up. He reached once more into his overcoat and pulled out a small, scruffy owl. It did not look bothered by the fact that it was being kept in a giant's coat. If anything, Harry thought, it looked slightly sleepy.

Hagrid scribbled a note, attached it to the owl's leg, and let it fly out of the Dursleys' living room window.

"Wizards communicate with owls. Yeh just say who you want yer letter to go to, and they'll find 'em, usually. Unless yeh've got some sort of spell to keep 'em away. I was just lettin' Dumbledore know I'd given yeh the letter."

He sat back down and smiled kindly.

Harry was still clutching his letter. His palms were sweating and he had about a thousand different questions. He decided to start with the one that was bothering him the most.

"What … happened to my parents?" he asked, swallowing his nerves. "How did they die, Hagrid?" He looked at his feet on the Dursleys' pristine, cream carpet. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears.

Hagrid sighed. "I ... blimey, Harry. I don't know if I should be the one tellin' yeh, but .. yeh can't not know ... Alrigh'." Hagrid swallowed. He seemed to be steeling himself for the task.

"Well, back when you were a baby," he said, "there was this wizard who was … the worst of 'em all. Real evil. No one was safe from him. They was dark times, Harry. Dark times. Well, yer parents were great people, and they just … I dunno, I guess he felt threatened by 'em, because when you were just a year old … he …" Hagrid sniffed, and Harry thought he saw tears in his eyes. "He … killed 'em. In yer house. It was … awful. But thas just how it was. If he wanted to kill yeh, there was nothing anyone could do for yeh. It was bad, Harry. But … thas the thing." And now Hagrid was looking at him directly in the eyes. "No one ever got away from 'im. Not one person … 'Cept you. He wanted to kill you, too. But he couldn' do it. Somethin' happened. He jus' … well, no one knows, 'cause he disappeared, didn' he? He tried to kill you, and then he disappeared. No one's seen him since. An' he didn' leave a mark on yeh. Apart from …"

Hagrid pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry's hand went to his head. It wasn't a car, Harry thought, remembering his younger self scanning the interior of Uncle Vernon's Ford Focus for a lightning-bolt shaped object, trying to find out what car part had given him his scar. It never was.

With his hand still touching his forehead, Harry looked at Hagrid. "What was his name?" he whispered.

Hagrid shook his head. "We don' say it. No one does. We say 'You-Know-Who', if we need to talk abou' him."

"Please," said Harry, "I need to know."

Hagrid closed his eyes. "Alrigh', but … just once. His name is …" Hagrid gulped again, and then said, "his … name is Sirius Black." Hagrid shivered. "Don't make me say it again!"

Sirius Black … Harry thought. My parents' murderer …

He mulled over the name in his head. They both sat in silence, the fire crackling beside them.

A few moments later, there was once more a jangling sound from the front door.

Hagrid quickly muttered something, and the fire beside them went out. They both stood up to face the front door.

The Dursleys came in tentatively, slowly, Uncle Vernon brandishing his keys in front of him like a weapon.

Hagrid cleared his throat, and Uncle Vernon jumped.

"What – are you still here?" Uncle Vernon asked, surprised.

"We were jus' leavin', weren't we Harry?" Hagrid said, loudly.

Harry looked at him, perplexed.

Hagrid winked at him and whispered, "go pack yer stuff, I'm gonna take you away for a couple o' days to get yer school stuff and get yeh away from this lot fer a while."

Harry nodded, and went over to his cupboard. He didn't look at the Dursleys, who were still standing by the door.

He packed his pillow (after checking for spiders), a few clothes, and his toothbrush into a plastic bag, and joined Hagrid again in the living room.

"Righ' then, Harry, shall we go?" Hagrid asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. He walked towards the Dursleys.

"Er … Bye, then," he said, awkwardly.

Uncle Vernon said nothing. Aunt Petunia was not looking at him.

However, it was not his aunt and uncle's expressions that drew his gaze. Dudley was staring at him with an expression of pure loathing.

Harry was discomfited. He had seen Dudley look angry, spiteful, frustrated, had even seen him in the middle of a screaming tantrum, but he had never seen him look like this. Dudley seemed to be wearing someone else's face. He was looking at Harry like he wanted nothing more than to utterly destroy him. His eyes were locked on Harry's. They were hard, and seemed to flash with anger.

Harry looked away, uncomfortable, and then saw something out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey!" He said, pointing, "Hagrid, it's that owl!"

The owl Hagrid had sent to Dumbledore had returned, and was sitting outside of the living room window, clutching a latter in its talons. Hagrid went over to let it inside. He reached towards the owl to take the letter, but it flew past him, and dropped the letter between Harry and the Dursleys.

Harry reached down to take it, and then paused.

He read the address on the letter, written in green ink.

His stomach lurched.

Mr Dudley Dursley

The Downstairs Hallway

No 4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Hey All! Hope you enjoyed that chapter! A couple of things:

1) I copied the Hogwarts letter from the HP Wiki – I did not write it. I thought it was the most convenient thing to do!

2) Here we say hello to Sirius, who obviously has a very different role here than in canon! I am playing around with MANY of the characters, so people may not end up being who/how you might expect them to be – however characterisation is very important to me, so I am trying to keep the same 'feel' of everyone! Keep in mind not to judge people before you know them …

Thanks for all your support, means a lot! The next chapter should be up in about a week.