I just want to clarify what is going on, before getting into this chapter too far. Pretty much, Vernon and Petunia Dursley both think that Margaret, Lily, and Audrey have never received a Hogwarts letter. As it is a little redundant, I only stated that Lily's and Audrey's letters were addressed to them, but never specified what was in them. Assume that all three letters are the same as Harry's, except for Margaret's, which had the little add-on of the address of Hogwarts, telling her to send a letter with the day that would work best for her and her family to be told about her magic. I always thought that, even with the magic, if the letters weren't being received, then Dumbledore would have come instead of Hagrid, and tried to figure out a way around the abuse from the Dursleys (for that same reason, I have a slight problem with Mrs. Figg- she saw Harry was mistreated, yet she didn't tell anyone, besides maybe Dumbledore, who didn't really do anything to help...) All three girls have received their letters, and they are waiting to see if Harry will get his, because, really, the whole "You're a wizard!" thing might seem like a joke, considering the personalities of his cousins, and they want him to believe them. Therefore, they arrange for the teacher to come explain it all to Harry, but they were planning on explaining it to him if no one came.

BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.

"Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.

There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands- now they knew what had been in the long, think package he had brought with them.

"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you- I'm armed!"

There was a pause. Then-

SMASH!

The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.

A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.

The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.

"Couldn't make a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."

He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.

Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.

"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.

Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.

"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got you mom's eyes. Ahh- Lily! Petunia! How much yeh two've grown! Lily, lookin' just like yer aunt Lily! And Petunia- yehr the spittin' image of yehr father, but yeh've got yehr mother's height!"

Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.

"I demand you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made out of rubber, and threw it into the corner of the room.

Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on. Lily and Audrey giggled quietly at him, and Margaret laughed out loud, not even trying to be polite and hide her scorn of her father.

"Anyway- Hary," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

From an inside packet of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.

Harry looked up at the giant. "Thank you."

"Who are you?" asked Audrey.

The giant chuckled.

"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm, then did the same to Lily, Audrey, and Margaret, whom introduced herself as "Margaret Dursley, Lily's, Audrey's, and Harry's cousin."

"Pleasure te meet yeh. What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no to sommat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it, covered in ash, and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and they all felt as though they had just sunk into a hot bath.

The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of his pockets: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig of before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley, Margaret."

The giant chuckled darkly.

"Yer great puddin' of a son don't need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry. As fer Margaret- why would I wanna harm 'er? Honestly, don' worry 'bout neither o' them."

He passed the sausages to Harry, Lily, Audrey, and Margaret, who immediately split the last two in half, so they all had equal amounts. They were all so hungry that they had never tasted anything so wonderful, but Harry still couldn't take his eyes off of the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, and the girls seemed to understand what was going on, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."

The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."

"Er- no," said Harry.

Hagrid looked shocked.

"Sorry," Margaret said quickly.

"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't getting' yer letters, but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know about Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh three never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"

"All what?" asked Lily.

"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now jus' wait one second!"

He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.

"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that these children- these children!-don't know nothin' abou'- about ANYTHNG?"

Harry though this was going a little far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. Audrey obviously thought the same thing.

"I know some things," she said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."

"Audrey happens to be a very good musician." added Lily. "Margaret happens to adore science. Harry... well, Harry's not a bad student, but he's definitely not quite the top 5% in the nation- that'll be me, one day..."

But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."

"What world?"

Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.

"DURSLEY!" he boomed.

Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Lily.

"But yeh must know about yer mom, dad, aunt 'nd uncle," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."

"What? My-my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"

"Or mine?"

"I know mine aren't- I mean, look at them."

"Yeh don't know... Yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Audrey with a bewildered stare.

"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.

Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.

"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell those children anything, especially since it will only upset two of them!"

A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.

"You never told them? Never told them what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer them? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from them all these years?"

"Kept what from us?" said Harry eagerly.

"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.

Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.

"Ah, go boil yer head, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry- yer a wizard. Lily, Petunia, Margaret- all three o' yeh are witches."

"I hope you mean the magical variety, not the nonmagical variety that means something demeaning." That was all anyone said, and that was Margaret trying to deal with the truth. Other than that, there was silence in the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.

"I'm a what?" gasped Harry.

"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "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' yer cousins, too. They'll be really good at magic too, what with their parents, and all yer great-great-great-great grandparents. An' I reckon it's about time yeh read yer letter."

Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green ink to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He 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 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 September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks, and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl- a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl- a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth, he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Given Harry his letter.

Taking all four of them to buy their things tomorrow.

Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.

Hagrid.

Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door and threw the rather reluctant owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.

Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.

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

"He's not going. None of them are, especially not my daughter," he said.

Hagrid grunted.

"I'd like to see a great Muggle like you stop any of them," he said.

"A what?" said Harry, interested.

"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. And it's your bad luck you grew up in a family of three of the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."

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

"You knew?" said Lily. "You knew we were- well, witches and wizards?"

"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted siblings being what they were? Oh, they got their letters, just like that, and disappeared off to that- that school- and came home every vacation with their pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw them for what they were- freaks! But for my mother and father, on no, it was Lily this and Harold that, they were proud of having a witch and a wizard in the family!"

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

"Then they met the Potters at school, and they left and got married and had you three, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as-as-abnormal- and then, if you please, they went and got themselves blown up and we got landed with you three!"

Harry had gone very white, as had Lily and Audrey. Audrey found her voice first and said, "Blown up? You said they died in a car crash!"

"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? How could a car crash kill Audrey an' Harold Evans? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name, and the names of his two cousins, who know just as much as he does about all this!"

"But why? What happened?" Lily 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't know. Ah, I dunno if I'm the right person ter tell yeh- but someone's gotta- yeh can't go off to Hogwarts not knowin'."

He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.

"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh- mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great mystery, parts of it..."

He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with - a person called- but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows-"

"Who?"

"Well- I don't like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?"

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Audrey- wha' happened ter yer given name, Petunia?- 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? And, as for what happened to my given name- she happened. I now hate the name Petunia with a burning passion." Audrey stated.

"Nah- can't spell it. All right- Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don' 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 jus wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, alright. Dark days... Didn't know who ter trust, 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. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.

"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, the Potter Twins! 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. 'Course, neither o' 'em were prefects- that were the Evans Twins.

"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 the Potters was all living, and yeh had the Evans over fer the twins' first birthdays, on Halloween ten years ago. You all was just a year old. He came ter yer house an'-an'-"

Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.

"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad- knew your four parents, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find- anyway...

"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then- an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing- he tried to kill you three, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that cut on yeh? Those aren't no ordinary cuts. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh- took care of yer parents, and yer aunt and uncle too. Yer house, even- but it didn' work on yeh three, an' that's why yehr all famous. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you three, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age- the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts, the other Evanses, the las' o' the Peverells, even- an' you three was only babies, an' you all lived."

Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before- and he remembered something else for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. Looking at the girls, he could see that they now could remember more of their first birthdays as well.

Hagrid was watching them sadly.

"Took yeh three from the ruined house meself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."

"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry and Lily jumped; they had forgotten that the Dursleys were still 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, boy, girls," 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, 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 in the wrong crowds, with these wizarding types- just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end-"

But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley- I'm warning you- one more word..."

In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.

"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.

The four children, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.

"But what happened to Vol-, sorry, I mean You-Know-Who?"

"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill yeh. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' 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't believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came out of kinda trances. Don' reckon 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. 'Cause somethin' about yeh three finished him. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on- I dunno what it was, no one does- but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."

Hagrid looked at Harry, Lily and Audrey with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but all three of them, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. Wizards? Them? How could they possible be? They'd spent their entire lives being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; the only person who was ever nice to all three of them was Margaret, with whom the other three Dursleys had a love-hate relationship; if they really were witches and a wizard, why hadn't the Dursleys been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock them in their cupboards? If they'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, why was Dudley and his gang able to beat them up every day with impunity?

"Hagrid," Lily said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I could be a witch." Audrey and Harry nodded vigorously in agreement.

To their surprise, Hagrid chuckled.

"Not a witch, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"

They all looked into the fire. Now they came to think of it... every odd thing that had ever made their aunt and uncle furious with them had been when they had been upset, or angry, or worried... chased by Dudley's gang, they had somehow found themselves out of their reach... dreading going back to school with that ridiculous hair cut, Harry'd managed to grow it back... and the very last time Dudley had hit any of them, they had all gotten their revenge, without even realizing that they had done so. Hadn't they set the boa constrictor on Dudley and Piers?

They all looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at them.

"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard, the Evans twins, not witches- 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- besides, the girls never got any letters, they can't go- spell books, and wands and-"

"If they want ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' to Hogwarts, Audrey an' Harold Evans' daughters from goin' to Hogwarts! Yer mad. Their names've been down since the day they was born. They're off to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and their cousin is comin' with 'em, as I think she is going to be just as good as they are. Seven years there, and they won't know themselves. They'll be with youngsters of their 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 THEM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.

But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER-" he thundered, "INSULT-ALBUS-DUMBLEDORE-IN-FRONT-OF-ME!"

He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley- there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and, the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. Lily, Petunia and Margaret all began laughing, clutching their sides.

Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them, after looking at Margaret, who shook her head.

Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.

"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "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."

He cast a sideways look at the girls under his eyebrows, then looked at Harry.

"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm-er-not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters ter yeh an' stuff- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job-"

"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Audrey.

"Oh, well- I was at Hogwarts meself but I-er-got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. Bu' Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."

"Why were you expelled?"

"It's gettin' late and we've lots to do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."

He took off his coat and threw it at Audrey and Lily.

"You two can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets. Harry, here, take this blanket. I'll take the couch, and Margaret gets the chair. Everyone comfortable? Good."

Thanks for reading this far! I still would like reviews, but thanks again to Giggles, and to Guest- that makes three reviews! I would still like more reviews, if anyone who is following the story happens to have something to say.

Therefore, I am going to leave you with some questions:

What do you think is going to happen when the four cousins go to Diagon Alley?

Where do you think the four will end up? (I'm holding off on the cover, as that will sort of give away where they all end up...)

And then, about character development- What do you make of the three girls? Please let me know if I should make more OCs, or just leave it at the four I already have (you'll be meeting him on the Hogwarts Express.)

Also, have you noticed any symbolism, or foreshadowing (for that matter), with the names? Can anyone guess, for example, who Audrey will eventually marry?

Please do review, I won't post another chapter until I have six reviews total. I know people are reading it- even a smiley face would help. I am even OK with flames, although, if someone does flame my story, I would like it if they would give constructive criticism in addition to saying that the story is rubbish.

But, thank you for reading! If you review, tied to an account, I will read your story, and review it, unless I have no wish to immerse myself in the fandom of that particular story, at which point I will notify you, and thank you over PM.