Chapter 1 – Nine and Three Quarters. And a Quarter.
"You are special, Harry."
Harry potter never understood why his mother uttered these words at least once a week. As far as he could tell, he was pretty ordinary.
"You are average," Cousin Dudley Dursley informed him over Christmas dinner. "You have the potential to become sub-par, but right now you are average."
Harry had wanted to throw Aunt Petunia's spicy apple pie in Dudley's face, but he knew his cousin was right. He was indeed average. He looked average. He had an average IQ. He was even average in the physical department. Dudley, three times his size, could comfortably outrun him.
So why did his mother keep calling him special?
He learnt why on his tenth birthday. Lily and James sat him aside and told him: "Harry, we don't know how to say this, but you are—"
"Adopted?" blurted Harry. "I knew it! You two are so tall, and I need a ladder to reach the top of the dinner table!"
"That's not true, darling," said Lily. "And for the shortness you can blame your father's genetics. You've seen Aunt Petunia."
"What we are trying to say, Harry," James continued, "is that you are a squib!"
"A squid?"
"Nope. A squib. Means you can't do magic."
Harry was relieved. He was starting to wonder what could be worse than being adopted. "You don't have to pretend anymore, dad. I know magic and Santa are made up!"
"Weeeell—" said James pulling out a polished wooden stick. He flicked the wand and poof! The fireplace was suddenly ablaze.
Harry's jaw fell to the floor. "You did that?"
"He did, darling," Lily took her son by his arms. "We kept it a secret to protect you. We always had a suspicion that you may be magically challenged."
"You can do magic too?" Harry asked his mother.
Lily curled her lips and produced a wand of her own. Now the fire in the fire place grew three times, turned into a fiery bird, and flew up the chimney.
"No need to show off…" James rolled his eyes.
Harry seemed lost for words and Lily was worried.
"Are you alright, dear?"
"I don't know," said Harry. "I am happy that magic is real, but also sad that I can't do it, but happy that I am not adopted—wait, can Dudley do magic?"
"Hells no," said James.
"Oh, thank god," said Harry. "I was considering running away if that was true."
"You can't," said Lilly. "And even if you did, we'd find you."
"Because magic," said James.
"That's terrifying," said Harry. "Hey, at least Santa's real… Right?"
"Weeeeell…"
Seven years had passed by since that day. Harry went to and graduated muggle high school. On his graduation day, he was asked to give a speech because the school faculty felt that an average student should be allowed to share his experiences along with the valedictorians.
Harry was giving a fine speech until someone from the crowd (Dudley) tossed an egg at him. First there was outrage, but it slowly it turned into laughter. Harry was embarrassed, but it quickly turned into anger. As Harry was glaring at his cousin, something terrifying and funny happened. Dudley became suddenly big, much bigger than he already was. He was as big as a flying balloon and he was flying away.
Aunt Petunia fainted, while the rest of the parents screamed in horror. All except James and Lily Potter. Those two were crying tears of joy. Their son was a wizard!
It was one of the ugliest memory wipe fiascos in recent history, and The Ministry of Magic was not happy. Harry was summoned to a court hearing for violating the statuette of secrecy. After a long litigation, the judge, recently retired Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, found the accused not-guilty, but strongly recommended that he join a Community College to hone his recently discovered magic abilities.
After a bit of looking around and rejections, Harry finally found a college who would have him. And on July 24th 1998, Harry James potter was standing at the entrance of Greendale Community College.
A stone archway read, "Welcome to Greendale. You are already accepted!"