AN: Two in one day-ish. Setting very high expectations. Okay well, enough useless introduction. Here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

The Keeper of Keys

BOOM. The knock came again. Dudley jolted up, bleary eyed. "Where's the cannon?"

Uncle Vernon came racing into the room holding a rifle. Oh my Lanta, he bought a gun, she realized. That's what had been in the package.

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

There was a pause. Then –

CRASH.

The door swung clean off its hinges and smashed on the floor with a deafening boom. In the door way stood a giant man. He had an ample brown beard that hid the vast majority. His hair fell in dark curls well past his shoulders. He squeezed through the whole where the door used to be. He bent down and picked up the door from its place on the floor and positioned where it had been before. He turned to look at everyone.

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..." His voice was gruff but not without warmth.

He made his way to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear. "Budge up, yeh great lump."

Dudley squealed like a frightened mouse and ran to cower behind his mother.

"An here's Harry," He remarked smiling at her brother. "An there's Selena." Under the mass of his hair she could see that the skin around his eyes was crinkling in a happy manner.

"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant to Harry. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." He turned to Selena. "And yer just the opposite. Yeh look like yer mum, but yeh've got yer dad's eyes." Selena felt the urgent need to sit down. For the first time in her life things made sense. She looked like her mother. She had her father's eyes.

Uncle Vernon made a strange gurgling sound, "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," The giant grumbled. He reached from his place on the sofa and ripped the rifle from Uncle Vernon's grip. He bent it like it was a straw and flung it across the room.

Uncle Vernon made a funny noise, similar to the one Dudley had made earlier.

"Anyway," began the giant, turning to them, "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." He pulled a dented box from his coat pocket.

He handed it to Harry who then opened it. Inside was a chocolate frosted cake with Happy Birthday written in green icing. The twins looked up at the giant man with wide eyes. "Thank you," Selena breathlessly. At the same time, Harry had forgotten common curtesy. "Who are you?"

"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out an enormous hand and the children both shook it. Selena's hand looked like that of a Barbie doll in his.

"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." He looked over at the crumpled chip bag in the fire place. He stood up from his seat and looked over the pitiful sight. In a matter of seconds a substantial fire flickered and filled the whole dreary hut with light and warmth.

He took out a pot and a package of sausages and began to cook them over the flames. The scent filled the cabin and was a welcome change from the seaweed odor. When he slipped the six juicy sausages from the kettle, Dudley perked up. He licked his chops. Uncle Vernon looked over at him concernedly. "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."

The giant man chuckled, "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."

He gave half the sausages to Harry and half to her. Nothing had tasted as good. She hadn't eaten anything but half a bruised banana in hours. "Sir, I don't mean to be rude…but," She began.

"Who are you?" Harry finished.

"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." Harry answered. Selena just shook her head.

Hagrid's small dark eyes widened in shock. "Sorry," Harry said quickly.

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

"All what?" Selena asked.

"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid's voice boomed through the hut like thunder. "Now wait jus' one second!"

He had stood up, then. The Dursleys slinked back against the wall in horror. "Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that these kids - this boy and this girl! - know nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"

"I know some things," Harry said. "I can do, you know, math and stuff." Selena hid her face behind her face. Oh Harry, you idiot. That is not what he meant.

"About our world, I mean. Your world. Your sister's world. My world. Yer parents' world."

"What world?" Harry asked meekly. Hagrid looked like he was about to beat Uncle Vernon with Aunt Petunia.

"Dursley!" He thundered. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."

"What? My - my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?" Harry stumbled out. Selena was too surprised to speak. She was having a hard time understanding everything that was going on. The Dursleys had been keeping secrets, big secrets.

"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know... " Hagrid muttered running his fingers through the course hair of his head. "Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.

Suddenly Uncle Vernon regained his ability to speak. "Stop!" He commanded. "Stop right there, Sir! I forbid you to tell them anything!"

Her Uncle's bravery was shocking. Most men would tremble at the meer sight of this giant man. This secret was dangerous, or at least in the eyes of Mr. Dursley it was.

Hagrid replied voice thick with ire, "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?" Harry asked.

"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" Uncle Vernon shouted panicked. Aunt Petunia gasped putting her hand over her mouth.

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yer a wizard. Selena – yer a witch."

The whole was silent. Selena could hear the thump-thump-thumping of her heart and the blood rushing through her veins.

"I'm a what?" Harry gasped. She had to sit down. Hagrid took up the majority of the couch so she sat on the sandy floor, cross legged.

"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, plopping back down on the sofa, which wheezed like "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' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letters."

Selena looked at Harry before reading the envelope the giant had placed in hands. It was addressed: Ms. S Potter, The floor, Hut on the Rock, The sea.

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 Ms. 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,

Deputy Headmistress

Selena's eyes felt ready to pop out of her head. She removed her glass and wiped them on her shirt and then, reread it for good measure.

Then she read it again. And again. Until, Harry's voice ripped her from the shock, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

"Yeah, what does that mean?" Selena echoed.

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," Hagrid stated, clapping an enormous palm to his forehead forcefully enough to give any other man a minor concussion, and reached inside one of his coat pockets. He pulled an owl out of it – it was no stuffed toy either, but rather a living, breathing (At least she hoped it was still breathing) owl - a quill with a long, whispy feather, and a roll of parchment. He scrawled out a note that was upside down for Selena but she could still read it:

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Given Harry and Selena their letters.

Taking them to buy their things tomorrow.

Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.

Hagrid

Hagrid strapped the note to the owl's beak and threw it out in the pouring rain. Selena opened her mouth to ask if that was safe, but decided against it.

"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but then Uncle Vernon, shuttering with fear but looking very angry, moved into the low light of the flickering flames.

"They're not going," he said.

Hagrid grunted.

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

"A what?" Harry asked, curiously.

"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. 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 them in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," roared Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of them! Wizard indeed!"

"You knew?" Selena shouted suddenly, "This whole time you knew?"

"You knew we had magic?" Harry asked red faced.

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

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had twins, and of course I knew you two would be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"

Harry blanched, "Blown up!" He bellowed, "You told us they died in a car crash!"

"CAR CRASH!" thundered Hagrid, jumping from the sofa so angrily that the Dursleys jolted and cowered back in their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"

"Harry's story?" Selena questioned.

Hagrid went paper pale, "I never expected this," he said, in a low voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, Selena, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."

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

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

"Who?" Harry asked animatedly.

"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?" Selena wondered aloud

"Gulpin' gargoyles, 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 swallowed nervously.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.

"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 just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. 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! 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... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You two were just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an'-"

Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose in it. It sounded very much like a trumpeting elephant to Selena.

"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, 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 Harry, 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." He turned more towards Harry, "Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts - an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."

Just then, a memory occurred to her. She remembered a scream, a flash of hot green light, and a deep, malicious laugh.

Hagrid looked on at them sadly. "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..." He gestured at the Dursleys.

"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. "Now, you listen here," he barked, "I accept there's something strange about you two, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured - and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion - asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end-"

At those words seemed to get Hagrid going again. He leapt up from the sofa and reached into his coat pulling a dainty, pink umbrella from his pocket. He brandished it at Uncle Vernon, venomously. "I'm warning you, Dursley - I'm warning you - one more word..." He bellowed.

Uncle Vernon scuttled back in response. "That's better," Hagrid said lowering himself back onto the sofa. The poor thing couldn't handle his weight and slumped all the way to the ground.

"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?" Harry spoke up.

"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. 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' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta 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 you finished him, Harry. 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."

"What about me?" Selena asked.

"It was luck that yeh survived. If You-Know-Who had chosen to kill yeh first, there's no tellin' if yeh'd've survived." This was all too much. Her head was pounding with information.

"Hagrid," Harry said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."

Hagrid laughed a hearty laughed. "Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?" Suddenly, all the strange things that happened around them made sense. Everytime someone had angered her something… unfortunate happened to them. She thought of that time she had wanted bags and cut them much to short and uneven. The next morning, she woke up and her hair was the same as it had been the day before. She'd rationed it in her head that she had dreamt the whole thing.

Selena and Harry beamed at Hagrid. "See, Harry and Selena Potter, not a wizard—you just wait, you'll be famous at Hogwarts."

"Haven't I told you they're not going?" Uncle Vernon hissed. "They're going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and-"

"If they want ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them," rumbled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's children goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. Their names' been down ever since they were born. They're off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. They'll be with youngsters of their own sort, fer a change, an' they'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!" shouted Uncle Vernon.

Finally, he had pushed too hard. Hagrid gripped his umbrella. "NEVER - " he roared, " - INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN - FRONT - OF - ME!"

He pointed the umbrella at Dudley wish a swoosh. The tip flashed a violet light. There was pop and a high-pitched squeal. Dudley was grabbing his fat rump and howling in pain. When he removed his hand, Selena could see the curly, pink tail of a pig.

The Dursleys all hustled into the other room.

"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said regretfully, "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 glanced at them sideways. "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 to yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."

"Why aren't you allowed to do magic?" Selena asked.

"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. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."

"Why were you expelled?" asked Harry.

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

He took off his big, black coat and threw it to harry who nearly fell over. Selena was ready for whatever adventure came next.