The whole shack when this person knocked on the door. Harry and Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" Dudley stupidly said. Aleena jumped when Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hand - now they knew what had been in the long, thin 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. Aleena's mouth dropped open when she saw a giant of a man stood in the doorway. He 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, stopping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. Aleena closed her mouth when she realised that it was still hanging open in shock. He turned to look at them all.
"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey" he walked over to the sofa where Harry and Dudley were sat frozen in fear. "Budge up, yeh great lump" he said, nudging Dudley on the leg. Dudley whimpered and moved over whilst Harry stared at the man with slightly narrowed eyes.
"An' there's Aleena!" she looked up at him and notices that he was smiling. "The las' time I saw you, you was only a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer mother" he said, before turning to Harry. "An' Harry, yeh look a lot like yer father, but yeh've got yer mothers eyes."
Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. "I demand that you leave at once, sir! You are breaking and entering!"
"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune" the giant said. He reached over the back of sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into the corner of the room. Aleena looked at the gun, then at the giant, then back at the gun.
"Woah!" she breathed out.
"Anyway, Aleena, Harry" the giant said, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh both. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."
He went into one of the many pockets on his coat and pulled out a slightly squashed box. He handed it to Harry, but Harry didn't take it off him.
"I'm not touching anything you give me" he snapped.
"Ok" the giant said, frowning a little. "I'll let yer sister open it instead then" he handed the box to Aleena. She smiled and took it off him. With trembling fingers, she opened to box to reveal a large sticky chocolate with Happy Birthday Harry and Aleena written in green icing.
Aleena looked up at the giant. "Th-thank you, but who - who are you?"
The giant chuckled. "Ture, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts" he held out an enormous hand and shook Aleena's whole arm. He tried doing the same with Harry, but he moved his arm out of the way. The giant looked at him confused before his eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled crisp packets in it.
He snorted and 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 lights and Aleena felt the warmth wash over her as though she's sunk into a hot bath.
The giant sat back down on the sofa and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat; a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs and a bottle of some amber liquid which he took a swig from before he started making tea.
Aleena started at him in amazement. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausages. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausage from the poker, Harry and Dudley fidgeted a little.
Uncle Vernon saw this and sharply said, "don't touch anything he gives you, boys!"
The giant ignored him and passed the sausages to Aleena. She hesitated a little before taking the plate off him. She picked up a sausage and took a bite, then another one and another one, and before she knew it, she had eaten all six sausages.
"Someone was hungry" the giant chuckled. Aleena blushed and handed him the plate back where he put another 3 sausage on the plate for her to eat. Something that she happily accepted. Aleena looked around the room and saw the Dursleys and Harry were looking at the giant with narrow and worried eyes.
She looked at the giant and saw him drinking a cup of tea. "I'm sorry, but I still don't know who you are."
The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Call me Hagrid, everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm the Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll you know all abut Hogwarts o' course."
Harry narrowed his eyes at Hagrid. He had a feeling that he was going to tell Aleena the truth and he didn't want that. He didn't want her to come to Hogwarts with him. Then he thought about what Aunt Petunia said to him that day in the kitchen when she told him that he was a wizard.
"And don't worry about your sister, sweetheart, she won't be going to Hogwarts with you, we will make sure of that."
"Erm - no" Aleena answered, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. Hagrid looked at her shocked. "Sorry" she quickly added.
"Sorry?" Hagrid barked, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them who should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learnt it all?"
"All what?"
"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. Aleena jumped and dropped the sausages that she was holding on the floor, which made her groan. She was enjoying that. "Now wait jus' one second!" Hagrid said, jumping to his feet. His angry seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys and Harry were cowering against the wall.
"Do you mean ter tell me that this girl - this girl! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"
Aleena frowned at him. She thought that was going a bit far. She'd been to school after all, and her marks wasn't bad. "I know some thing, you know. I mean, I can do maths and stuff like that."
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. He shot the Dursleys a nasty glare before turning to Aleena. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad? I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
Harry frowned at that. Aunt Petunia never mentioned anything about Aleena being famous, so what's Hagrid talking about? What makes that little freak famous?
Aleena was just as confused as Harry. "I don't know anything about my mom and dad, they never said anything to me about them, and what do you mean I'm famous? What am I famous for?"
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" Hagrid muttered, running his fingers through his hair. "I can't believe yeh don' know."
"Know what?" Aleena asked impatiently. She just wanted to know what everyone was hiding from her.
Before Hagrid could say anything, Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. "Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the girl anything."
"You never told her? Never told her what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer her? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from her all these years?" he turned to Harry. "Yeh know, don't ya? It's written all over your face."
Aleena looked at her brother, who glared at her angrily when he saw her looking at him. She swallowed hard and looked away from him.
She cleared her throat and softly said, "Can one of you just please tell me what's going on."
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" Uncle Vernon yelled in panic.
"Ah, go boil yer heads, the both of yeh" Hagrid growled, before turning to Aleena. "Yer a witch."
Aleena's mouth fell open. She really wasn't expecting him to say something like that. "I'm - I'm a what?"
"A witch, o' course" Hagrid said, sitting back down on the sofa. "And yer brother is a wizard, I mean, with a mom an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."
Hagrid pulled out the very familiar yellowish envelope from his pocket and handed it to her. Aleena quickly grabbed it out of his hand before Uncle Vernon could get his hands on it. She pulled out the letter and read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY Dear Miss Potter,
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
We are please to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary boos and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later then 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Aleena read the letter 4 times just to make sure that she read it right, but the look on the Dursleys and Harry's face told her that it was true, but why would Aunt Petunia tell Harry about this and not her? Does she hate her that much that she was going to keep this from her forever?
"What does it mean by they await my owl?" she asked, looking at her letter, then up at Hagrid.
"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me" Hagrid said, clapping a hand to his forehead. He went into a different pocket on his coat and pulled out an owl - a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl.
"Oh my goodness" Aleena gasped. She rushed over it and made sure that it was ok. She hates to think how long it's been in Hagrid's pocket for. She watched as Hagrid pulled out a long quill and a roll of parchment. He scribbled down a note that Aleena could read upside-down:
Dear Mr Dumbledore,
Given Aleena her letter. Taking her and Harry 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 owl out into the storm. Aleena rushed over to the window and sighed in relief when she saw the owl flying through the air.
"Where was I?" Hagrid said, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-face but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.
"She isn't going anywhere!"
Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop her."
"A what?" Aleena asked, interested.
"A Muggle is what we call non-magic folk like them" he said, pointing to the Dursleys. "An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."
"We swore when we took her in that we would put a stop to that rubbish" Uncle Vernon said.
"Why didn't you want me to know but you were happy to tell Harry that he's a wizard?" Aleena asked.
"Because you're the reason why my sister is dead!" Aunt Petunia snapped, making Aleena stare at her in shock.
"W-what? But - but you told me that mom and dad died in a car crash."
"A CAR CRASH!" Hagrid roared, jumping to his feet, which made Aleena flinch. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Aleena Potter not knowin' her own story when every kid in our world knows her name!"
Harry didn't like the sound of that. He didn't want that freak being more popular than he was.
"What happened to my mom and dad?" Aleena asked, her voice breaking a little. She didn't want what Aunt Petunia said to be true. She didn't want to be the reason on why her parents were dead.
The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. "I never expected this" he said, in a low, worried voice. "Ah, Aleena, I don' think I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."
Aleena straightened up and listened eagerly, so did Harry. He couldn't wait to hear how his little sister was famous and he wasn't.
"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', mainly because it's a great myst'ry on some parts. It begins with a person called - it's incredible yeh don't know his name really, everyone in our world knows his name."
"Who's name?"
"Well, I don't like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."
"Why not?"
"People are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went bad. As bad as you could go. Worse even. His name was ..." Hagrid tailed off, unable to finish his sentence.
"Maybe you could write it down?" Aleena suggested when she heard the hesitation in his voice.
"Nah - can't spell it. All right - Voldemort" Hagrid shuddered, whilst Harry scoffed.
What's so scary about the name Voldemort? he thought to himself, rolling his eyes a little.
"Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em too - some were afraid and some just wanted a bit o' his power. They were dark days, Aleena, didn't know who yeh could trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches. He was taking over everything."
Hagrid cleared his throat before he started talking again. Aleena hadn't moved from her spot on the floor. Her heat was beating faster and faster the longer Hagrid talked.
"Now, yer mom an' dad were as good as you could be. Head Boy and Head Girl at Hogwarts in their day. 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, or maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is that he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago, and entered the house -"
Hagrid suddenly pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose. "Sorry, but it's just so sad. I knew yer mom an' dad, an' they were the nicest people yeh could ever met. Anyway, You-Know-Who killed 'em, an' then he tried to kill you too, Aleena, but he couldn't. No one lived after he decided to kill them, no one except you -"
"How am I still alive then?" Harry butted in.
Hagrid turned to look at him. "He didn't realise that yeh were asleep in the next room, or I'm sure he would have gone after yeh too" he said, before turning back to Aleena. "That's why you're famous, Aleena. You're the girl who lived."
"So - so I'm not the reason why my mom and dad are died?"
"No" Hagrid said shaking his head. "Yer mother and father died protecting yeh and yer brother, they didn't die because of yeh" he smiled.
Aleena smiled back. Her heart feeling lighter than it did at the beginning of the story, but something very painful was going on in her mind. She saw the same flashing green light more clearly than she's ever done before, and, for the first time in her life, she can hear a high, cold, cruel laugh that sent chills down her spine.
Hagrid sat there and watched her sadly, whilst Harry stood there with his fists clenched. He wanted to be the famous one. He wanted all the attention to be on him. He wasn't used to being overshadowed and he definitely wasn't going to be overshadowed by his freaky little sister.
"What a load of rubbish" Uncle Vernon said. Aleena jumped. She had almost forgotten that the Dursleys and Harry was 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, girl" he snarled at Aleena. "I accept there was something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't cure - and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the worlds better off without them in my opinion."
"Well, no one wants your opinion, so shut the fuck up talking about my mom and dad like that" Aleena snapped, before she could stop herself. Uncle Vernon went to grab her but Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat and pointed it at Vernon as if it was a sword.
"I'm warning you, Dursley - say one more word and I will make sure yeh will regret it" Uncle Vernon whimpered in fear and flattened himself against the wall and fell silent. "That's better" Hagrid said, lowing his umbrella.
Aleena meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. She looked at Hagrid. "What happened to Vol - sorry, I mean You-Know-Who?"
"No one knows. He disappeared the same night he tried ter kill you. 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 somewhere, but he's lost his power. Too weak to carry on, but there was somethin' goin' on that night, somethin' he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does, but something about you stumped him that night."
Hagrid looked at Aleena with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Aleena, instead of feeling please or proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.
"Hagrid" Aleena said quietly, "are you sure that I'm a witch, I mean, I'm just Aleena. There's nothing special about me."
"Too right there isn't" Harry hissed, making Hagrid rise his eyebrow at him. "Why are you looking at me like that for?"
"Because that's yer little sister you're talking about. Why are yeh being so mean to her for?"
"It's none of your business!"
Hagrid turned to Aleena, who just gave him a sheepish smile. "Anyway, I'm sure about yeh being a witch, Aleena. I mean, have yeh ever made things happen when yeh were scared or angry?"
Aleena looked into the fire and thought back on all the things she's done. Blowing up a lamp when she was angry at Aunt Petunia. Making a lightbulb pop because she was scared of Harry. Making that popped lightbulb turn on because she was scared of the dark. Making her hair grow back over night.
Then she thought about how she talked to Sammy the snake at the zoo, and how she made the glass disappear because she was angry at Dudley for hitting her. She turned to Hagrid and smiled. Hagrid was positively beaming at her.
"See?" he said. "Aleena Potter, not a witch - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."
Aleena didn't really like that sound of that. She's not used to being the centre of attention, so she's not sure how to feel about everyone in the wizarding world knowing who she is. She was really hoping that people will want to be her friend because they like her, not because she's famous.
Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight though. "Hadn't I told you she's not going?" he hissed. "She's going to Stonewall High and she'll be grateful for it."
"If she wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop her" Hagrid growled. "Stop Lily an' James daughter goin' ter Hogwarts!" Yer mad. Her name's been down ever since she was born. She's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and she won't know herself. She'll be with youngsters of her own sort, fer a change, an' she'll be under the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts ever had. Albus Dumbledore."
Seven years of magic school, Aleena thought in excitement. "Awesome" she mumbled, smiling slightly.
"Albus Dumbledore" Uncle Vernon scoffed. "More like a crackpot old fool."
But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head. "Never - insult - Albus - Dumbledore - in - front - of - me!"
He brought the umbrella swishing down though the air to point at Dudley - there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and 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. Aleena saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hold in his trousers.
Her mouth fell open in shock. She didn't like Dudley that much but she thought that was going a little bit too far, especially seen Dudley didn't do anything to deserve that. Uncle Vernon gasped and pulled Aunt Petunia, Dudley and Harry into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.
"You shouldn't have done that, Hagrid" Aleena said. "Not to Dudley anyway. You should have done that to Uncle Vernon since he was the one how deserved it."
Hagrid looked down at his umbrella. "You're right. I shouldn'ta 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."
Aleena tried to hold in her laughter, but failed and ended up burst out laughing. Hagrid looked at Aleena. "I would be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. I'm - er - not suppose ter do magic. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letter to yeh an' stuff."
"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?"
"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled in me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything, but Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper."
"Why were you expelled?" Aleena asked before she could stop herself.
"It's gettin' late and we've got a lot ter do tomorrow. Gotta get up ter town to get all yer books an' that."
He took off this thick black coat and threw it to Aleena "You can kip under that."
Hagrid lied down on the sofa and fell asleep immediately. Aleena lied back down on the floor, and, thanks to Hagrid coat, it was a lot more comfier than before. Aleena lied there and stared at the ceiling. She knew that there was something odd about her, but she never thought that it was because she was a witch. This sort of stuff only happens in books.
"Oi, freak" Harry said, nudging Aleena in the leg with his foot. She jumped up and looked at him. She didn't even hear him walk back into the room. Harry smirked when he saw the fear in her eyes. "Don't think you being a famous witch chances anything. I'm still the boss of you and if you disobey me then I won't be very happy about it, and you don't want to see me angry, do you, freak?"
Aleena shook her head which made Harry roughly grab her jaw and forced her to look at him. "Use your words" he growled.
"No, Harry, I don't want to see you angry."
"And why's that?"
"Because I'm scared of you when you're angry."
Harry smirked and let go of her jaw. Aleena lied back down and pulled Hagrid's coat over her face so that Harry wouldn't see her smiling. She couldn't believe that she's a witch and that she's finally getting away from the Dursley's, shame she wasn't getting away from Harry too, but there's nothing she can really do about that.