The wooden door of the shack is banging wildly, which wakes everyone up including Dudley, who sleeps like a log. Uncle Vernon, with Petunia behind him, stop at the bottom of the stairs and turn on the single light bulb in this entire place. Vernon takes
a shotgun and aims it at the door, right as the door smashes into the sandy floor. A gigantic person walks into the small shack and looks at us.
"Sorry about that," the deep baritone voice of the man rings throughout the room. He picks up the wood door and places it back in the doorway. Getting a closer look at the man, I realize that he has long black hair and a long black beard. The man
takes his giant trench coat off his body and flings it onto the couch. Uncle Vernon looks scared, but he gains enough confidence to talk to the strange man.
"You are breaking and entering!" he shouts at the huge man, but the man simply glares at Vernon, while he walks over to the stairs. He takes the end of the shotgun, and looks at Vernon in the eyes.
"Dry up, Dursley, you great prune!" he shouts, while he bends the end of the gun upwards. Uncle Vernon pulls the trigger and the gun shoots upward into the ceiling. While uncle and aunt are still looking scared, the man looks over at Dudley and walks
toward him. He doesn't seem like he sees us behind the fireplace wall, because he starts to talk to Dudley without even glancing at us.
"Wow, Harry, you have grown so much!" he says to Dudley, but lowers his voice as he places his hand on his stomach, "Especially in the middle!" Harry looks at me, and takes my hand, while we walk out from our hiding place.
"He is not Harry, I-I am," my twin stutters at the end of his sentence, and I gently squeeze his hand to give him some comfort. He nods his head in thanks, and I focus my attention on the giant man in the small shack.
"Well, of course you are," the man says cheerfully, and puts a hand in his large trench coat.
"I may have sat on it arone point, but theflavor is still good," he says and takes out a white box that bakers usefor their wares. My older brother takes the box, and we both slowly open it to find a wonderful sight. This stranger
made us a cake with pink icing and green letters that spell out, 'Happy Birthday'! The gesture is so sweet that tears start to fill my eyes, and I run over to the man. I tackle him in a bear hug, while my body language is telling him thank you, because
I certainly can't say thank you.Harry, tell him thank you for the both of us.He nods his head, but I don't see it, because I am still hugging the stranger. After a minute or two later, I finally let the man go and step away from him to stand
next to my brother. Salty tears are still streaming down my face, but there is also a happy smile playing on my lips.
"Thank you, sir," Harry says and the man nods in an acknowledgement. He walks over to the couch and sits down on it, while the couch slags to the ground from all the weight coming from the man. He takes out a pinkish umbrella and points it at the
fireplace. Before anything else happens, light shoots out from the tip of the umbrella and enters the fireplace starting a fire. Harry and I look wide eyed at the fire, and I rub my eyes to make sure I am seeing this correctly. Looking over at my
brother, he continues to stare at the fire, but he sets the cake down on a nearby table before he draws his attention to the man.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" he asks the man curiously, and I nod my head in agreement. This man has broken into the shack, frightened everybody, gaveus a birthday cake, and we don't even know this man's name.
"Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts," he says proudly and looks over at us. Hagrid adds in with a smile, "but you two already know about Hogwarts."
"I'm sorry, but what is Hogwarts?" brother asks Hagrid, and I shake my head to indicate that I have no idea what he is talking about. Mr. Hagrid looks at us in shock for a second before he talkessome more.
"Blimey, Harry, Anastasia, don't you wonder where your parents learned it all?" he tells us, and I give him a confuse look that looks identical with Harry's confused look. What is this man talking about, because as far as I believe our parents died
in a car crash and left us with the Dursleys?
"Learn what?" Harry asks the man, and the man gives us a knowing smile.Do you have any idea what he is going on about, big brother?Looking over at him, he gives me a shake of the head that tells me that he hasn't the faintest idea what this
man is talking about.
"You're a wizard, Harry, and Anastasia next to you is a witch," Mr. Hagrid informs us, and I instantly freeze up in shock. Is this man serious? There is no such thing as magic as uncle Vernon tells us every day.
"I-I can't be…can't be a-a wiz-wizard," he says in utter shock and looks at the man in disbelief, "I mean, I'm just Harry…just Harry."
"Well, just Harry, haven't you ever done anything or seen anything that can't be explained?" he asks us with a knowing glint in his eyes, and my memories flash back to the zoo. My eyes widen in even more shock, when I realize that, that was us. From
the look on my twin's face, he must have gotten to the same conclusion as me. Mr. Hagrid stands up and ruffles through his trench coat, before he pulls out two identical looking letters. He hands Harry, his letter, and hands me, my letter. Excitement
washes through me, as I finally get to open one of these letters that are supposed to be for me. I tare open the letter with happiness and eagerness. What have I been missing that requires this much planning and time? While I start to read mine, Harry
decides to read the beginning of his letter aloud.
"Dear Mr. Potter, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," his tone is full of surprise and happiness, which makes me even more happy, because this is a first where he is truly happy.
Big brother looks over at me, and we embrace each other in delightfulness. We would continue to hug for a few more seconds before uncle Vernon decides to ruin this wonderful moment.
"They will not be going! When we took them in, we swore that we would end this madness!" Vernon exclaims and he is fuming with rage. Flinching slightly, Harry pulls me away from our uncle, and becomes angry at him.
"You knew! This whole time you knew and didn't tell us!" he shouts at Vernon, and anger starts to bubble inside me too, because they should have told us instead of treating us like they did. Before Vernon could yell at my twin, aunt Petunia decides
to interfere just so she can say her opinion on the matter.
"Of course, we knew," she says spitefully, and I cower behind Harry some more, "When my sister became eleven she got a letter too, and we learned we had a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful! Except, I was the only one who saw her as she was…a
freak! Then she met that Potter,and then she had you two. We knew you two were going to be just as strange, just as… Then she got herself blown up, and we got landed with you."
"BLOWN UP! You said that our parents died in a car crash!" he shouts at them, and I step away from Harry as my anger boils over. I almost launch myself at them, but Harry takes a hold on my arms to make sure that nothing happens.
"Car crash! A car crash killed Lily and James Potter! A scandal! An outrage!" Hagrid bellows, and looks at the Dursleys with anger. Trying to calm down, I think about his responses and realize that he must have known our parents to be this upset.
After a minute, Harry lets go of my arms, but he pushes me lightly toward the couch. Sighing, I sit down on the couch, but I keep glaring at my aunt and uncle, while I see movement out of the corner of my eyes. Turning my head, I notice that Dudley
has his face inside the box holding the cake, and is eating it like the pig he is.
"They will not be going," he says in a 'this is final' voice, but Hagrid doesn't take that as an answer. I can just tell that he is despising this family more, because he decides to become sarcastic with them.
"Oh! I guess that a great muggle like you are going to stop them," Mr. Hagrid says, and I give him a quizzical look, while Harry asks him what muggle means. He looks briefly at us before saying, "Non-magical folk."
"These two have had their names down since they were born. AND they will be under the supervision of the best wizard in all of England, Albus Dumbledore," he says again with a look of respect and admiration on his face. Vernon looks like he is ready
to explode, and finally snaps.
"I will not pay for a crack pot old fool toteach them magic tricks!" this one sentence seems to snap Mr. Hagrid too, because he pulls his umbrella out and points it at Vernon. A wave of danger and anger rolls off the once kind man.
"Don't ever insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me," he says in a low threating voice, while he is still pointing his umbrella at them. Note to self, don't ever make Mr. Hagrid angry, because he can get really scary if you insult Mr. Dumbledore. I
notice that Hagrid looks over at Dudley, who is still eating our birthday cake, and looks back at Vernon. Quickly, he points his umbrella at my cousin and flicks his wrist, which makes light shoot out from the tip to Dudley's bottom. Where the light
hits him, a pig's curly tail springs out from the pajama pants, and he starts screaming. Vernon and Petunia also notice the tail, which makes them scream also, but it is different for us. Big brother and I start laughing, while the three-people run
out of the room and upstairs, locking the door in the process.
Mr. Hagrid takes out a small pocket watch from his pocket, while he mumbles underneath his breath. I slowly stand up and walk over to Harry. We watch Hagrid as he seems to be thinking over something, before looking up at us. He gives us a smile and
starts to turn toward the door.
"We should be going now," he says as he pulls the door down onto the ground again. When he realizes, we aren't moving yet, and looks at us with amusement written all over his face, "That is if you want to stay here, of course." He gives us a look,
and then walks out into the stormy night. Harry and I look at each other one more time, before we walk out of the door and into a new adventure.