Thanks again guys! :) I'm thankful that the plot is actually going somewhere now :P

By the way, if Hagrid starts to talk normally halfway through, I'm sorry. It's hard typing like he speaks :)

Much love xx

Chapter Eleven - Hagrid's Hut and Revelations.

Jessica had decided to write to her mum as soon as she could. Whilst on the train she had figured that she could probably write to her on the first day - she would have time, of course.

Or so she thought.

Her first week of Hogwarts flew past in a blur of potions, ghosts and floating feathers. Before she knew it, it was Friday, and she had yet to write a letter to her mum. It was all so hectic - so tiring.

Flopping onto her bed, she dropped the bag of books she had been carrying all day on to the floor, and looked over to Lily. She, unlike Jessica, was standing, busying herself in the corner along with Bella. Jessica rolled her eyes. She didn't have the energy to even get up.

Bella and Lily walked away from the mirror in the corner, their hair fixed. They turned to their friend - currently draped over her bed in exhaustion. Lily sighed.

"Come on, Jess - we'll be late!"

Jessica groaned, her eyes rolling to meet Lily's impatient stare. "For what?"

"For Hagrids!" Bella shouted, heading over to Jessica and grabbing her by the arms, "Don't you remember? He invited us to his hut today."

"Did he?" Jessica searched her memories but found no recollection of this invite. Now sitting upright, a small letter was dropped in her lap. It was lined with an untidy handwriting.

Dear Lily and Friends,

Was wondering if you'd like to come down to my hut, Friday evening? It's been so long since I saw you - I'd like to catch up and meet your new friends. If so, come around half six - after dinner. I never was much of a cook.

Hope to see you then,

Hagrid.

Nope. She'd never seen that letter before in her life.

"It came on Tuesday, Jess. In the post."

Realization dawned on Jessica. She had missed the entire breakfast on Tuesday morning thanks to the arrival of dozens of owls in the hall. Therefore, she was too busy staring to do anything else - including eating and reading invites from Gameskeepers.

"Oh."

Bella pulled her to her feet. "It's quarter past six, Jess! We need to go!"

Jessica looked longingly at her bed. It looked so soft. "But maybe-"

"NOW!"

Lily grabbed hold of Jessica's free hand and began to drag her out of the dormitory. Bella followed, laughing. Jessica threw her a look - she didn't find the prospect of going outside to visit some man she'd never spoken to properly before, in winter, at half six, when she could be relaxing, very amusing at all.

"Lily! I've bin expectin' yeh!"

The huge man stood in the doorway, a massive smile on his face. Lily smiled back. Jessica tried to, but found she couldn't. It really was incredibly cold.

"Jessica, innit?" Hagrid addressed her. Jessica nodded, Hagrid clapped her on the shoulder. The impact almost knocked her off her feet, but she disguised it as a stagger into his hut. Lily bit her lip.

"And you are?" Bella looked quite frightened at having come face to fact with this enormous man. Nonetheless, she replied cheerily "Bella Finnigan," and held out a hand for Hagrid to shake.

After considering it for a few seconds, Hagrid shook Bella's hand gently. He shut the door behind her, and they both entered the main room of the hut. Or, from what Jessica could see, the only room of the hut. It seemed very basic compared to the castle. She took a seat at the chipped wooden table, next to Lily and Bella.

Hagrid turned to face them, smiling widely. He dropped a variety of confectionery on the table, then took a seat himself. "Sorry," he offered, "Told yeh I wasn't a cook. But, yeh can't go wrong with sweets, can yeh?"

Jessica shook her head slightly, unsure of what to say. Lily began to ask Hagrid about how he was - trivial small talk, as far as Jessica was concerned. Taking Bella's lead, Jessica leaned forward and took a chocolate frog. She unwrapped it, and grabbed onto the chocolate frog, taking a quick bite out of it's head. Then she turned to the card. She read the name, eyes wide. Not that she needed to - it wasn't hard to recognize him.

"Uh... Lily?" her voice was quiet, unsure.

"Yeah, Teddy's fine. He still comes round for tea every week..." Lily was babbling in her usual manner to Hagrid.

"Lily?" She tried to be louder this time.

"Did you know he's with Victorie now? Yeah, James saw them kissing and everything..."

"LILY?!"

Hagrid, Lily and Bella all turned to look at Jessica, confused looks on their faces. Jessica's hands had begun to shake. She looked down at the picture again, then to Lily.

"Why is your dad on a chocolate frog card?"

Lily's eyes immediately slid to the floor, and she made some unconvincing "uhh" noises like she did when under pressure. Hagrid looked between them, still confused. Bella leapt to her feet, leaning on Jessica's shoulder and looking at the card.

"Woah!" she said, awe in her voice, "You got Harry Potter? I still haven't got him. And i've been collecting since I was-"

"Lily?" Jessica wasn't in the mood for Bella's rambling. "Why is your dad on a chocolate frog card?"

Lily's eyes began to flicker about. It was Hagrid who replied.

"Surely yeh know that, Jess? Everyone knows Harry Potter - and Lily, for that matter..." Seeing the confused - and slightly scared - look on Jessica's face, Hagrid trailed off, sensing this girl definitely did not know Harry Potter. "You're a Muggle-born, then?"

This only confused Jessica more, and was more than thankful when Lily spoke up.

"No -" she stopped, "Well, yes. But that's not the reason she doesn't know. I mean, it's a reason, but," she took a breath, "This is Jessica Dursley, Hagrid. Daughter of Dudley."

Hagrid's jaw nearly fell to the floor. He mouthed something that looked like Dursley? then shook his head. Now Jessica was quite scared. Hagrid knew her name. Teddy had known her grandparents. Hell, even the hat had known her name.

"How do you know my name?"

Hagrid shook his head again, Lily looked to the floor. Bella was too interested in the card - which she had now stolen from Jessica - to notice anything.

"You really don't know anything, do you? Why didn't Harry tell me?"

"It was only her birthday the other week, Hagrid," Lily replied, to the floor, "He never had the chance. And he didn't want her knowing... everything. Said she could learn it at school - with me."

Jessica let out a high-pitched, fairly manical laugh. This even caught Bella's attention, and she returned to her seat, a worried look on her face. Hagrid's expression mirrored this. Jessica decided to explain herself, before they carted her away.

"You'll have to tell me now, won't you?" She said, still high-pitched, "Whatever everything is, you're going to have to tell me. I suppose it explains why Harry's famous enough to be put on a chocolate frog card - why the fricking sorting hat recognized my name?"

Lily nodded slowly. She raised her eyes to Jessica's. "It does explain all that. But dad..." She trailed off, turning to Hagrid. He sighed. Jessica began to unwittingly dig her fingernails into the wood beneath her hands. She was fed up of nobody answering her - she wanted an explanation.

"She's right," sighed Hagrid, after a pause. Jessica's heart leapt to her throat. "We can't just leave it now. We've got to at least tell her something, even if it isn't the whole story."

Jessica's eyes darted between Lily and Hagrid expectantly. Lily looked quite upset.

"But Dad said-"

"I know, Lily. But we can't just leave her hanging, can we? We'll tell her as much as she needs to know - no more. She can learn the rest at school - like your dad said."

Lily slumped back in her chair, defeated, muttering something like 'my dad is going to kill me'. Jessica ignored her and looked directly to Hagrid.

"Well?"

He leaned forward, resting on his elbows. "A long time ago - about 40 years ago now, merlin, that makes me feel old - there was this man. He was-" Hagrid paused again, searching for the right word, "Evil. Tha's the only way teh put it, really. The lowest form of life there is. Yeh see, usually, tha' kind of people get locked away - but this guy, he was powerful. So powerful. And... an' noone could stop him. If yeh tried to, he killed you - or had you killed, he had this whole cult of followers. Death Eaters they were called - they followed his every move. And they were everywhere. There was no escapin' from him..." He trailed off, looking sad.

Jessica sat, wide eyed. She had no clue anything like this had ever happened. It frightened her to think about the darker side of magic - the harm it could do in the wrong hands. It must have been terrifying - all of those 'death eaters' waiting around the corner, watching. It made her shiver.

Then a thought occured to her - was this what her dad meant in his speech to her? Had he known about this all along?

It was then she realized everyone was silent. Lily was still staring at her feet, Hagrid into the distance, and Bella at Hagrid, eager for more of the story. Jessica tried to speak.

"What was his name?" she croaked.

Hagrid looked up, fire in his eyes. "Voldemort," he said defiantly, "There, I said it." Jessica's eyebrows pulled together, "Yeh see, Jessica, he was so powerful - people were so scared - nobody even said his name. They were too frightened. Nobody dared stand up to him - if yeh did, yeh were dead by next week."

He sighed, "Well, there was this couple. They were in a group, a resistance to him. And he started to pick them off one by one, until there were only a few people left in this group. This couple - Lily and James - were two of them. And somehow - don't ask me how - they found out they were next. Next on his hitlist. So they went into hiding." Hagrid paused again, Jessica swore he had tears in his eyes. He sniffed, "But...but he found them."

Bella gasped. Lily sniffed. Jessica stared. Lily and James. Harry's kids.

"He turned up at the house," Hagrid sniffed, staring at his knees, "And the man - James - told his wife to go. To protect -" This time a tear definitely ran down into his beard "- to protect their son. He was one year old. His mother - Lily - she went up to protect him. Well, Voldemort killed James without a care, then moved on to find Lily. She was upstairs with their son. She died - she died trying to save him. He killed them with magic - a killing curse."

Hagrid shook his head. "But she couldn't save her son. He turned on the baby, having killed his parents. He fired the exact same curse at the baby," Hagrid was looking up at Jessica now, dry-eyed, "But it didn't work. The baby - he didn't die."

"The boy who lived." muttered Bella.

"Yeah," said Hagrid, "Do you know what his name was? The baby?"

Jessica shook her head, despite the fact she had a good idea.

"It was Harry. Harry Potter. The boy who lived."

It was still unclear to Jessica. Sure, the story had shaken her to her core - frightened her so much she'd probably have nightmares. And she was indeed breathtaken to know that her uncle's parents had died that way - but surely he wasn't the only one? And what did this have to do with her family?

She decided to voice this to Hagrid, albeit rather shakily. He let out a low laugh.

"Nobody has ever survived the killing curse - ever. Except Harry. It lead to his downfall - Voldemort's downfall." Then he muttered something under his breath. Before Jessica had a chance to question him, he carried on. "And as to the Dursleys - well, Lily was Petunia's sister. They were Harry's closest family. He was sent to them. And, well, they were - " he coughed " - less than kind, to him."

Jessica's stomach dropped a little. "What?"

"People know Harry's story, Jessica. That's why people know your family name - that's all."

"But-"

"I said I'd tell you what you needed to know. That's what you need to know. You want more information - ask your family. Not me." He checked his watch, "Now, I think it's best you be off. It's getting late."

Lily looked up for the first time in ages. She looked to Jessica. "I'm sorry I never told you - you know, that my Dad was famous, and everything." she swallowed, then continued quieter "He told me not to. Don't be mad."

Jessica wasn't mad. Not at Lily or Harry - she understood why he felt it necessary to keep all of this from her. It would have scared her even more. But, she was still curious. She had a feeling that wasn't the end of the story.

However, there was a stronger feeling that Hagrid wasn't going to tell them anything else. Not tonight.

They all bid each other a quiet goodbye, and headed back up to the castle in the cold. Nobody spoke.

When they reached the dormitory, the silence remained. Jessica got changed and crept into bed, thankful for the quiet. It gave her chance to sort out her thoughts.

So, the wizarding world had been in danger all those years ago - her dad was right. It sounded terrifying. But, why had he been evacuated?

No. This story was definitely not over.

Yeah. Jessica is a girl :P x