Chapter Four - Everything You're Supposed to Be
Harry was still wheezing for breath when there was a second thud on the door.. The wood made a noise of discomfort at the weight. Dudley squealed, bolting as deep into the shadows as possible. It was like someone had hit the door with a hammer instead of a fist. Heavy footsteps came from above as Uncle Vernon thundered down the stairs, a great rifle in both hands. He pointed the barrels towards the door.
"Stay back," he roared. "I'll have you know I'm armed!"
The answering response was another thud. Aunt Petunia squeaked.
Harry rose slowly, the pain receding in his stomach enough that it occurred to him that maybe he should also get away from the door.
He tried, and was just in time for the entire wooden door to slam into the dirt floor with a cloud and a thud.
On the other side was a positive giant of a man, dwarfing the doorway and then some. Shaggy brown hair and a coat that could fit at least six Harrys and two Dudleys and still have some wiggle room, Harry took one look and almost considered jumping out the window to get away fast enough. But then he saw the man's eyes. A soft black, like beetles with their young, and glittering like the chalk on black paper.
"Yeh gave us a right run-around yeh did," bellowed the man. "All this fuss 'n everythin. Least yeh can do is let us shelter here fer a kip?"
"Hagrid," said a cheerful voice, though muffled through the walls. Harry could swear he had heard it before. "Mind pushing your way in? I don't like the water that much."
The man's face was almost impossible to see, but Harry thought he could imagine him flushing.
"Right yeh are." And he squeezed himself in masterfully through the door, its frame squeaking and bending and then smoothing back into place with almost no sound whatsoever. As he settled in someone slipped in after him. Both of them were positively drenched.
This did not deter Uncle Vernon in the slightest. In fact, he only raised the gun higher. "I demand you leave at once!" He roared. Spittle was flying from his mouth at this point. "You are… you are breaking and entering!"
The man bellowed out a laugh that almost shook up the walls. "Wouldna had ter if yeh hadn't fled like a buncha rabbits would I? Yeh had nothing to fear!" He patted down his moleskin overcoat as he spoke, eyes darting about the cabin. His eyes flickered to Dudley. "Guess that oughta be yer son eh? Thumpin' big boy yeh got there. Probably got the stamina of a young kneazle, he ought!"
A what? Harry couldn't help but think as the other person edged themselves out of the taller man's shadow. At the glimpse of purple whipping about, Harry felt the tension of his shoulders ease a little. He had recognized that voice.
Still. "Sayo? What are you doing here?" He had figured she would be helping with the testing and that's the end of it.
She waved at him. "Hullo, Harry Potter! I'm here because we're to read and translate the results of you and your relatives' Soul Ather Magical Examinations. Following that, we'll explain the plans for you all moving forward."
"There are no plans!" Vernon barked. He looked distinctly red at this point even in the dark, rapidly moving towards purple as the roof creaked. The rifle shifted in his hands, shaking like it was about to go off on its own. "You have broken into our residence! We don't owe you any-"
"No plans?" echoed the man. "No plans! Why that's dangerous, that is!"
"Not any more dangerous than what you lot did to my sister." Aunt Petunia's voice ached, but she was serene in her fury, glaring without fear of the clearly impossible.
Harry and Dudley both looked at the adults in terror, or in Harry's case, growing realization. "What they did?" He snapped before he could stop it, before he could stop all the feelings of inadequacy and bottle them up where they belonged. "You said a car crash! You said dad was a stupid drunk and mum a drop out!"
"At least that's normal!" Petunia said back, fierce and looking him in the eyes. And for the first time, Harry thought he really knew his aunt. His mom's sister. Who loved the normality, the peace. "At least you don't have to be sent away most of the year proper, in little hideyholes like rats. Better than being special, with juggling teacups that walked and strange pets! Better than being blown up for nothing and leaving your hardworking relatives to do all that mattered."
"Nothing!" thundered the man. "The Potters were good people! They were fightin' fer your good things, they was."
And Aunt Petunia stared at the giant of a man, unintimidated, or perhaps in a rage, and answered. "That doesn't make them any less dead, you brute."
The giant man's eyes crinkled and he made a sound of discontent. "Suppose that's so. But Harry's alive, he is, and I take joy from that, even if you ain't." He gestured with one large hand to Harry's spot on the floor and Dudley's frantic ball on the couch.
"All right, enough of this, enough," Sayo said, watching Vernon's face turn to purple with little more than casual interest. "We don't have the legal rights over this. We are here to present your letters so the sooner we get through this, the sooner you can stop hiding on a rock."
Vernon sputtered but Harry stood, boiling over a little. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to yell and scream and howl at these people, these awful people who let their son chase him and beat him and destroyed him for any shred of imagination he had, who made him survive off of scraps and hand-me-downs out of fear. Nothing but fear. He had so much he wanted to say but he just… he couldn't.
He turned to Sayo instead, breathing hard through his nose. "Results?"
She bobbed her head, smiled again and held out one of the envelopes he just noticed in her hand. "That's correct." She tossed one to Dudley, and the last two landed unceremoniously by Vernon's feet. He yelped and almost fired the gun.
The giant of a man made a soft noise of discontent. "Yeh reckon that's enough of that gun, don' yeh? And yeh've done enough damage as is. No need to make it worse now." He sounded almost cajoling, like he was talking down an angry pet. Where was he even supposed to start with these people?
"Make what worse you brutes?!"
"Mister Hagrid, didn't you have something for Harry?" Sayo's voice was sharp now, watching Harry fumble at the papers with shaking fingers.
Hagrid turned away from the Dursleys now, aa smile lifting his beard so high Harry could see the man's shining teeth from the fire light. "Tha's right. But yer letter first."
Harry finally manages to rip open the letter and unfold thick, smooth paper. Four animals shifted around on what seemed to be a crest, with the word Hogwarts written in black. Beneath that in green ink was a short letter in tight, neat script.
"Dear Mr. H Potter,
Congratulations, we welcome you to the Digital Training Academy of Hogwarts School In Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Harry had to stop, look up in awe. "It's real then?"
"Real as you and me," Sayo agreed with a light smile.
"And you'll be a thumpin' good one I wager," agreed Hagrid, whose bright eyes and genuine hulking warmth made Harry's heart hurt. "Just need some trainin'. Dumbledore'll be takin' an interest in yeh as always if you pick the righ' classes."
"Magic tricks from a crackpot old fool!" Uncle Vernon had found his voice again. "I'll not have it, for any of us. I swore I'd create a normal boy out of that rat and I won't pay a cent to not!" His jowls were quivering at this point, eyes almost nothing but pupils.
"Crackpot?!" snapped Hagrid, who had turned away again. The Dursley's quailed, Dudley leaping back to the safety of his parents. "How dare yeh? How dare yeh insult the man who gave me a future? A life?" He lifted something from a pocket, a rather frilly, beaten up, pink umbrella. He points it at them for a moment, and they tremble.
"Hagrid." Sayo's voice was gentle. "Let the professor deal with this. Not you. He'd be sad if you were hurt for him."
Hagrid takes a deep breath and slowly settled, looking for all the world like he'd rather not settle. He thrusts his umbrella towards the logs and with barely a breath, there was a warm fire crackling close by. Harry scooted to it and sat down, the letter still in hand. Hagrid turned with him, blocking the Dursleys from view. The family scrambled up the stairs, leaving the three of them alone and their bravado forgotten.
"Go on Potter," Sayo says. She sat primly on the abandoned sofa.
"The Hogwarts Academy boasts the honor of hosting all of the Education of the Magical and Soulful Youth in the United Kingdom, Ireland, surrounding islands and areas of Europe from ages eleven to seventeen. It is a required component of all magical and soulful youth, lest you run the risk of soul outbursts and internal magical damage." That sounded ominous. "You are required to attend for all seven years barring extenuating circumstances. Your acceptance is awaited by owl or other forms of physical message. Email, text, or Mystery Gift is no longer accepted by law. We await your response by August First at the latest. Yours most sincerely, Minerva McGonagall."
Harry looked up. "She came to the Dursleys!"
"She's supposed t', if you don't grow up with any magic at all, like those lumps." Hagrid jerked a thumb in their direction. "Spect they were supposed to tell you."
Harry made a face, and nodded. "Guess not."
Hagrid smiled through his beard. "You'll be jes' fine, 'arry. Come on now, got some sausage and-" He reached a hand into one hand and unveiled a large, white box. "Sommat for you. Might be a bit squished, we were sitting a mite often."
Harry opened the box to see his name misspelled in frosting, the smell of chocolate wafting in the air with buttercream.
Harry couldn't stop himself. He began to cry.
"Th-Thank you," he blubbered, face flushing with heat.
The man's eyes sparkled with genuine joy. "Course. Every birthday deserves a cake."
Harry nodded, gulping down air. Sayo offered him a handkerchief, face solemn.
"Let's steal your cousin's stuff and have a sleepover," she said. Harry couldn't help but smile through the puffy eyes and do so.
The Dursleys never came down, or if they did, Harry didn't notice. Not until the morning, when Dudley was looming over him with one raised fist. The other clutched an open envelope, his eyes puffy with tears and a rage Harry had never quite seen before from Dudley. His father yes, but never Dudley. An absolute, wild, unforgiving loathing.
"You," he said. "You infected me… with your freakiness! Take it back! I don't want it!"
Harry blinked blearily, blinked through his first good sleep in a long time. And he didn't know where the words came from, but he said them anyway. "No fixing what you already are."
Because, as he lay there, wrapped in a giant coat and full from sausage and cake, Harry realized the truth.
He wasn't the freak. He wasn't the weird one. They were. He was Harry Potter. He was himself. And there were others like him. It didn't matter that Dudley had these weird powers too, or that his parents might. He had met two people who would give him a birthday cake and defend him from these people who were supposed to be his family. They were the normal people. They were the good people.
And there could only be more. What did he have to fear from a bunch of bullies like this?
Dudley made to swing down, but he ended up flying backwards, the tip of a pink umbrella having jabbed at the air. Dudley fell in a heap and with another jab, he was oinking, literally oinking.
"Well," Hagrid grumbled sleepily. "That oughta take care of 'im, innit? Least for a while."
Sayo giggled and Harry smiled so wide it hurt. "Wicked," he whispered. "Do I learn to do that?"
"All sorts," Hagrid replied, a proud look on his face. "But yeah, that too."