A/N: Feel free to review. You can tell me the dress looks fat, I'm asking your honest opinion. And thank you to all the people who seem to want to read this. This story was intended to just piss of my friend who hates time travel fics, but you people seem to like it, so thanks, you are lovely.
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Harry had never really believed that history repeated itself, but as he lied awake counting down the hours to his eleventh birthday for the second time, he lost any shred of remaining faith in that theory.
It was five minutes until he turned eleven, according to the watch Dudley was wearing. If memory served him right, it was also about five minutes until Hagrid was going to show up, and whisk him off to introduce him to the magical world.
He listened to the storm that was raging outside, and couldn't help but wonder how it was that Hagrid had gotten there. If he had flown, it would have been one terrible ride. The rain was pounding onto the roof of the shack, and the wind and crash of the sea made their terrifying music just outside the door.
Two minutes until Harry's second eleventh birthday. Why had Hagrid decided to come at midnight? Was it for dramatic effect? Wizards did have more of a flair for the dramatic than they did for the practical, but he didn't see any reason why Hagrid couldn't have shown up one afternoon, and stayed for tea.
One minute to go, and Harry began to worry. What if Hagrid didn't come this time? So far everything seemed to go as it had the first time around (except the things he changed purposefully), but who was to say that this may be when things started to diverge. Maybe this was the point in time, when he could go back to his old life? Maybe he was only meant to live like this until his eleventh birthday?
Ten… He got ready, for what he hoped was a trip home… Nine, Eight, Seven, Six… he bunched his eyes closed, hoping that when he opened them he would be home… Five, Four, Three… Almost there… Two, One.
Harry kept his eyes closed, but he could still hear the storm outside. He was still in the shack. And right on cue- BOOM! There was a knock at the door.
Harry got up to get it.
"Where's the cannon?" Dudley asked.
BOOM! There was another knock before Harry could open it. He swung the door open, to see Hagrid standing there.
"Hello," Harry said, "Won't you come in?"
"Thank you," Hagrid said as he walked into the shack, closing the door behind him.
"Who's there!" Uncle Vernon shouted as he came into the room holding a rifle, "I warn you- I'm armed!"
Uncle Vernon stopped as he spotted Hagrid standing there.
"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…" Hagrid said as he looked at the Dursleys. He went over to where Dudley was sitting, "Budge over, yeh great lump," he said to the boy who was shaking with fright.
Dudley did budge, to go and run over to cower behind his parents.
"An' here's Harry!" Hagrid looked at Harry and smiled, "Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby. Yeh look like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes."
And so it would begin. He had heard those words so many times that he had almost grown to resent them.
"I demand you leave at once, sir!" said Uncle Vernon, in a rare moment of bravery, "You're breaking and entering!"
Hagrid took the gun from Vernon Dursley's hand, twisted it into a pretzel, and tossed it across the room, "Ah, shut up Dursley, yeh great prune."
Uncle Vernon's moment of courage seemed to pass, as he let out a rather sad sound. Harry felt a sort of satisfaction from seeing Uncle Vernon loose a battle, as small as it was.
Hagrid turned back to Harry, "Anyways- Harry, a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here-" he pulled a squished box from his coat pocket, "I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."
Harry took the box, and opened it. He smiled as he saw the cake inside.
"Thank you, H-" he had to stop himself. This man was still a stranger to him.
"It's no trouble, Harry." Hagrid said.
"Who are you?" Harry asked, unable to think of a better way to phrase it.
"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." The man said, as he held out his large hand for Harry to shake. After they shook, Hagrid looked around, "What about that tea then, eh? I'd not say no ter sommat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."
Harry had to try hard not to grin. This night was even better the second time around. He watched as the man bent over the fireplace, obviously casted a spell, and moved away again, as though it were nothing. The fire did seriously improve the atmosphere of the shack, and the temperature. Out of his coat Hagrid pulled out a kettle and all the fixings making tea.
"Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley." Uncle Vernon said as Dudley began to eye the food Hagrid had just pulled out.
"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." Hagrid said. Harry had to try very hard to contain his laughter.
The giant man gave Harry some sausage links, which Harry gladly took. The food since they had been outrunning the post had been less than ideal, and he welcomed the opportunity to eat.
"So you are from Hogwarts?" Harry asked, wanting to get this whole scene over with, so that he could leave the Dursleys.
"Yes, yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course." Hagrid said.
Harry weighed his options here. He could play dumb, and 'find out' all the things he already knew, or he could just try to act as casual as possible while telling them he knew everything. The problem with that option being that there was no way, at this point, that he would have had even the slightest clue about the truth, other than what he had learned from the letter he had gotten back at Privet Drive. Since it was easier to act surprised than to explain his omniscient knowledge he decided to play along.
"Er, - no. Sorry" he said.
Hagrid shot the Dursleys a look, "Sorry? It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't getting' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"
"All what?" Harry asked, innocently.
Hagrid looked absolutely furious, which was actually rather frightening, "ALL WHAT? Now jus' one second! Do you mean ter tell me, that this boy- this boy!- Knows nothin' abou- about ANYTHING?"
"I know that Hogwarts is a school…"
Hagrid shook his head, "That's all you know bout our world?"
Harry made his best confused face, "What world?"
"DURSLEY!" Hagrid bellowed. He mumbled something which Harry couldn't quite catch, "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad, I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
"My parents were famous? They couldn't have…" Harry said. Harry thought about how he seemed to only get more famous after this point. After he had defeated Voldemort a second time, he had received so much media attention he had taken Ginny and they had gone on an extended vacation to France. The attention the eleven year old him received was nothing.
"Yeh don' know… yeh don' know… Yeh don' know what yeh are?" Hagrid shook his great head.
Uncle Vernon seemed to remember he could talk, "Stop! Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"
"Tell me what?" Harry asked.
"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left for him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?" Hagrid said.
"Kept what from me?" Harry asked.
Uncle Vernon looked furious, "STOP! I FORBID YOU!"
"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh." Hagrid growled at the Dursleys before turning to Harry, "Harry- yer a wizard."
"So I am a wizard?" It was hard not to burst out laughing.
"O' course, an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter." Hagrid said, reaching into his coat, and pulling out a letter. He handed it to Harry, who read it. He had been accepted to Hogwarts, he needed to send and owl, the usual.
"I need to send an owl?" Harry asked.
"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me" Hagrid said as he took some parchment and an owl out of his coat pocket. Why Hagrid was keeping an owl in his pocket Harry couldn't quite understand. The giant man wrote a message on the parchment and gave it to the owl, before throwing the poor bird out into the storm. Hagrid looked back at them, "Where was I?"
"He's not going." Uncle Vernon said, as though he had any authority.
"I'd like to see a great muggle like you stop him." Hagrid said.
Uncle Vernon looked Harry with utter disgust, "We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish, swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"
Harry felt the anger bubble up in him. Why did this man hate him so much? He understood Aunt Petunia's resentment towards him, but what had he ever done to his uncle. This man had neglected and abused him for nearly ten years, and for what reason? Was it just because he was different? Because Harry had one thing that he didn't? He clenched his fists, "Is that why you locked me in the cupboard, and kept me in the dark about everything? You knew I was a wizard, you knew -" He had to stop himself before he gave away too much. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
Aunt Petunia gave him a spiteful look, "Knew!" She said, her voice filled with resent, "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 fill 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! Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as- as- abnormal- and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"
Harry gave her a look that nearly matched the one she was giving him, "She was your sister! She couldn't help being magical! You lied to me. You told me they died in a car crash."
Now it was Hagrid's turn to get mad at the Dursleys, "CAR CRASH! How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"
"They haven't told me anything." Harry said, surprised by how angry he was. He wasn't this angry the last time, he hadn't known the whole story then, and he had probably been too shocked. This time, though, he knew all that his parents had gone through, all that everyone had gone through in the first war, and the fact that these two just say his parents as freaks ate away at his composure.
"I never expected this," Hagrid said, looking at Harry uncertainly, "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much you didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person to tell yeh- but someone's gotta- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'. Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh- mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it… It begins, I suppose, with- with a person called- but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows-_" The man looked very uncomfortable. Harry wanted to tell him that it was okay, that he understood, because by God did he ever understand, but he knew if he did that he would have to work very hard to try and cover-up for his knowing.
"Who is it? Why can't you just say the name?" Harry asked.
"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, 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 is…" Hagrid shifted uncomfortably, he looked as though he was trying to make words come out, but none were.
"Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself..." Harry said, half to himself.
Hagrid let out a great sigh, "All right- Voldemort." He said it as though it were the foulest word he could think of, "Don't make me say it again. Anyway, this,- this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got em too- some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was getting' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry."
Harry felt an odd twinge. He remembered the dark days. Not the one's Hagrid was talking about, but the one's he hoped this Hagrid would never have to see.
"Didn't know who to trust," the giant man continued, " didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him- 'an he killed 'em. Horribly."
Harry's chest tightened. He still had trouble thinking of all of those who had died because of him. He would still wake up some nights drenched in sweat and trembling, with the images of his dead friends in his mind. None of them deserve to die, not like they did, not so young.
"One o' the safest places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school."
Harry felt the bitter laughter bubble up inside him, but he forced it down.
"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day!"
Thinking about it now, Harry couldn't help but wondering why on earth they had made his father head boy. Wasn't he one of the Marauders? Who makes a Marauder the head boy? Though he remembered having heard that Lupin had been a prefect. Dear God, that was a bad move on Dumbledore's part.
"Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an'- an'-"
Hagrid pulled a large handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose.
"Voldemort killed them?" Harry asked, "Why didn't he kill me too?"
The look on the giant man's face was a cross between shock at the use of the name, and sadness over the story. "That's the real myst'ry o' the thing- he tried to kill you, too. He couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead?"
"He tried to kill me, and all I got was this?" Harry said, he touched his scar lightly.
"That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh- took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even- but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age- the McKinnons,"
Original Order members, Harry thought.
"-the Bones,"
Susan Bones' family. Edger was in the original Order too, if memory served him right.
"-Prewetts,"
Mrs. Weasley's family… Her brothers, they were twins like Fred and George had been. Before Fred…
"-an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."
Twice… The ever present survivors guilt was running through his mind, intensifying with every name he added to the list in his head of people who had died while he survived. Neither can live while the other survives… He survived, but some days it was hard for him to live. Some days, he could hardly bring himself to get out of bed. Some days Ginny would need to practically drag him out of bed.
Hagrid was giving him a sad look, "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh to this lot…"
"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Over the course of the story, he seemed to have gathered himself, and was now looking angrily at Hagrid. "Now listen here, boy, 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 weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion- asked for all they go, getting mixed up with these wizarding types-"
Harry stood up and went over to his Uncle, he was a lot smaller than him, he realized when he got there, but at that point he was too mad to care, "Haven't you been listening! Do you ever listen? Or is that too strange for you!"
"Boy, I'm warning you!" Uncle Vernon glared daggers at him.
"What are you going to do? Give me that beating that will cure me?" Harry said, he felt anger mix with the guilt and the sadness that was already welled up in him.
"Maybe I will, you will finally get what's coming to you, you-"
"I'm warning you, Dursley-" Hagrid had gotten up off the couch and was now pointing his pink umbrella at Uncle Vernon, "I'm warning you- one more word…"
Uncle Vernon backed down immediately, though Harry still had to fight the urge to punch him. Though he wasn't sure how much good that would do, he was still only in his recently eleven year old body.
"That's better," Hagrid said as Uncle Vernon flattened himself against a wall.
Harry was still filled will hot anger, "Why didn't you ever tell me this? What were you afraid of?"
Uncle Vernon looked a bit shocked; no one ever seemed to question his motives.
"Were you afraid I would turn Dudley into a frog or something?" Harry watched his uncle get angrier.
"You ungrateful little-" he grabbed Harry's arm, his sausage like fingers gripping him with enough force to bruise.
"Dursley!" Hagrid bellowed, pointing his umbrella at the man again.
Uncle Vernon backed away instantly. Harry moved across the room from his uncle, not wanting to be too near him. Why had they lied to him? What did they gain from that? Harry couldn't quite figure it out, even after everything, he still couldn't justify most of the things his aunt and uncle had done. He needed to leave them; he couldn't keep living with them like he had the first time around. He would need to do something, but what?
"When do we get to go?" Harry asked, wanting out of the shack as soon as human possible.
"Haven't I told you you're not going?" Uncle Vernon hissed, more bold than he probably should have been, "You will go to Stonewall High, and you'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sort of rubbish- spell books and wands and-"
"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him. Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself." Hagrid said.
Seven years of Hogwarts had changed him… well six, but that was beside the point. In seven years he had not only changed, but the whole wizarding world had changed too. Maybe if he got seven years of Hogwarts again, he would be able to make it better. Maybe this time more than one innocent life could be sparred…
Hagrid continued, "He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled-"
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Yelled Uncle Vernon.
Hagrid was up in less than a second, umbrella in hand, "NEVER- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN- FRONT- OF- ME!" he bellowed. The umbrella swished through the air and pointed at Dudley. There was the flash of a spell being cast, and a sequel from Dudley. It was even better this time than the last, Dudley hollering and holding his bottom while he danced around the shack, and then Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon panicked and took the squealing boy into the other room and slamming the door. Harry couldn't help but smile.
Hagrid looked at the umbrella for a moment, "Shouldn't lost me temper, but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do. Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. I'm- er- not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'."
"I won't tell anyone," Harry said, knowing that even if he did tell Dumbledore there would be very minimal consequences for Hagrid, but it was best not to test that.
Hagrid gave him a nod, "Well, it's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow. Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." He took off his large coat and gave it to Harry.
"You can kip under that. Don't mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." He said, and Harry couldn't help but smile.
He was going to save wizard kind again, only he was going to do a better job of it, and it all started with him getting back to Hogwarts. This was just the beginning of the greatest story in wizard history.
