BOOM. Whoever it was knocked again and the four of them stared at the door.
Petunia placed her hands on the boys' shoulders and pulled them back behind her and Vernon, standing a few feet in front of the three of them, set his feet slightly wider than his shoulders and, crouching slightly, turned his left shoulder a little towards the door.
In the silent room, the dripping tap rang louder than the panicked breathing of Harry and the Dursleys.
'The wardens will come,' whispered Dudley.
'They're probably outside right now,' said Petunia, as she strained to hear what might be beyond the door.
SMASH!
The three of them shuffled back, with Petunia continuing to shield the boys but, as the room shook and the door fell forward and crashed into the floor, Vernon charged, shoulder-first, and barrelled his not-so-inconsiderable bulk into whatever waited in the darkness outside.
Three or four seconds passed and then, eyes wide and mouth agape, Vernon slid back into the room, over the fallen door, and spun to a stop on the floor, face to face with Petunia.
'Giant,' he whispered, and he frowned at his wife's smile and craned his neck as she stood up and straightened her clothing. Grunting with effort, and helped by the boys, Vernon got to his feet and looked at Petunia with confusion.
'Shouldn't a' done tha',' said a voice from the dark.
A massive boot poked through the dark doorway and nudged the door forward a little before stepping onto the floor. Vernon braced himself again, this time putting his right shoulder forward. Petunia, however, gently patted her husband on the back and gestured for him to relax and stand next to her.
The four of them watched the doorway as the lights in the room swung back and forth as the wind swept in and, with brief flashes, they saw a giant of a man, wearing the furriest coat any of them had ever seen, crouch down and enter the room.
'It's a yeti,' Dudley squealed, and Harry and Vernon looked at him and then back at the giant.
'What's a yeti doing all the way out here,' rasped Harry, his throat dry and his mind befuddled.
With a grunt, the giant bent down and picked up the door as easily as if it was a pencil. He placed it against the doorframe and tapped it with a pink umbrella, before turning around looking at Harry and the Dursleys.
'Would you like some tea, Hagrid,' asked Aunt Petunia, and Harry, Vernon, Dudley, and the giant all stared at her.
'Love one,' muttered the giant. He reached into a pocket somewhere in the middle of his furry coat, glanced around the room and took a step forward.
Uncle Vernon rubbed his tender shoulder and muttered, 'If that's a half-giant then what's a full one look like?' and then dusted off the seat of his trousers before he sat down in a chair.
Harry and Dudley squinted at the hair-covered face high above them. Beyond the hair, all they could see were two shiny black eyes that reminded them of their old classroom bunny rabbit – the one Aunt Marge had 'firmly' advised Vernon against allowing them to take home for a weekend because "a rabbit is no pet for a growing boy".
A dream-memory danced in Harry's mind and he whispered, 'The giant on the motorbike.'
Hagrid paced around the room a little, although considering it was, for him, two steps across the width of the room and another two covering almost half the length, it could hardly be called 'pacing'. He leaned down to look at a few things and out of the large window, ignoring the three pairs of eyes watching him. ''Snot a bad place, this. Good fer birdwatching. Put me in a bit of a pickle, though.'
'How… how have we inconvenienced you?' asked Mr Dursley a little meekly. He stood up and walked towards the giant man.
'There's other Muggles here, ain't there?'
'"Muggles"?' said Harry.
'Non-magic folk.' He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a small ball. 'Seems to be working.' He gasped and stood straighter, hitting his head on the ceiling. 'Sorry about that. Sorry. Anyway – Harry, I got summat fer…' his voice trailed off as he noticed the cake on the table. 'Oh, you already… well, it's the thought that counts, right?' His hand disappeared inside his coat and his massive frame shifted left and right and he held out a deformed box with green and yellow icing dripping from its corners. 'Musta, um, sorry about that,' he said, and he handed the box to Harry.
'A fat birthday for us,' said Dudley, cheerily, and he took the box from Harry's hands, opened it, and took out the misshapen cake inside and placed it on the table with the other one.
Hagrid growled a little and, slowly, Dudley backed away from the table and moved towards his parents. Harry stepped in between his cousin and the giant and said, firmly, 'Who are you?'
The room shook and the lights swung overhead as the giant chuckled.
'Hagrid,' said Aunt Petunia, again, softly, and everyone looked at her and then back at Hagrid.
Hagrid coughed and, if you looked carefully, blushed. 'Tha's right. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.'
Harry looked at his Aunt, who nodded, and then he held out his hand. Carefully, Hagrid wrapped his thick fingers around Harry's arm and gave him a gentle shake. Then, tentatively, he offered his hand to Mr Dursley and Dudley and shook theirs, too. Aunt Petunia held out a large bowl and smiled. 'The mugs here aren't big enough, so I hope you don't mind that I made your tea in this.'
Again, if you looked carefully and the lighting wasn't so bad, Hagrid's cheeks positively glowed red.
'We do have some… stronger drink, if you would prefer,' said Uncle Vernon, and Hagrid's mouth opened and closed and he looked at Harry and then at Dudley and shook his head, thanking Uncle Vernon for the offer.
'Lily told me all about you,' said Aunt Petunia, gesturing at the large empty sofa. Hagrid sat down and drank some of the tea and his stomach growled.
'Sorry 'bout that,' he said a little sheepishly. Aunt Petunia laughed and, much to Hagrid's surprise, began busying herself with cooking some sausages and eggs. 'You really don' have ter,' he said, looking at the others nervously.
Harry pulled his chair closer to Hagrid and sat down. 'Is everyone at Hogwarts – at the school – is everyone like you?'
Hagrid chuckled and the lights shivered again. 'There aren't many like me in the world, Harry. 'Fact, I don't know anyone else like me.'
'You're alone?' asked Dudley.
'I have friends,' said Hagrid.
'But no one else like you.'
For a few seconds, the only sounds in the room were of the eggs and bacon frying and Hagrid slowly slurping his tea.
'So,' said Harry, 'are you the caretaker?'
Hagrid coughed and spluttered and large splashes of tea spilled from the bowl and onto his coat. '"Caretaker"?' he said, his voice whispery as he coughed again. He punched his fist into his chest and harrumphed. 'I'm the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds, not the caretaker. That's Filch's job.'
'I'm sorry,' said Harry, 'I didn't realise there was a difference.'
Hagrid shrugged and smiled. 'Anyway,' he said, as he stood up, 'le's get you your letter so we can get ready.'
'Ready for what?'
'For you to go to Hogwarts, 'course.'
'Actually,' said Harry as he got up from his chair, 'I'm not going to Hogwarts.'
'I've got one 'ere somewhere,' mumbled Hagrid as he searched his coat pockets. 'Shoulda known these folks ne'er gave it to you.'
'They did, Mr Hagrid. I read the first one we got, but I don't want to go to Hogwarts.'
''S just Hagrid,' said the giant on the sofa, and then, stunned, he asked, 'Yer what?'
'I don't want to go to Hogwarts.'
Hagrid looked at Harry and then at Dudley and Uncle Vernon and then, with the sofa protesting, he turned to look at Aunt Petunia. He let out a long breath, his brow furrowed under the mess of hair and his beard quivered as he muttered quietly to himself, and said, 'You don't want to go where your parents went to school? Where they met and studied and learned it all?'
'You have to understand, Mr Hagrid,' he said.
'Jus' Hagrid,' Hagrid growled.
'Hagrid. You have to understand, my Aunt and Uncle told me what little they knew but that was all they could tell me. There's a school, Hogwarts, that my parents went to.' Hagrid nodded. 'And there's magic and I can do magic.' Hagrid nodded again. 'And my parents were murdered.' Hagrid nodded slowly.
'Tha's… tha's right,' said Hagrid slowly. 'But… but did they tell you what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer yer?'
'What else was in the letter?'
'Harry,' said Hagrid, leaning forward, 'yer a wizard.'
Hagrid and Harry looked at each other, eyes locked as Hagrid smiled and nodded and, slowly, the smile on the giant's face faded and became buried under his beard.
'I know,' said Harry. 'They didn't say it in so many words, but I know.' Mr Dursley's mouth opened and closed and then he shrugged and crossed his arms.
Gaping and frowning, Hagrid sat back down on the sofa looking defeated. He dug into another pocket and pulled out a yellowish envelope. 'So yer not wantin' to read yer letter?'
'I read the first one that arrived but there was no owl, so –'
'Screechin' Mandrakes,' exclaimed Hagrid, 'I completely forgot.' He grabbed a handful of his coat and shook it a little and out popped an owl which, Harry and Dudley would both later agree, looked a lot like the green duck in a nappy that often appeared on television. '"Write to me when you find him," he said,' he muttered as he pulled out a quill and a scrap of parchment. 'Completely forgot, I did.'
He scribbled a note and stroked the quill down the owl's back as he read it back to himself, aloud:
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Given Harry his letter.
Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well.
Hagrid
'Taking me where?' asked Harry.
Hagrid looked at him, confused. 'To buy yer school things, o' course.'
'But I'm not going,'
'What do you mean yer not going? Harry, yer have to go.'
'I'm happy here, with my family.'
Hagrid looked stunned. 'I wasn' expectin' this. Really wasn' expectin' this. He told me that it might be hard, that there might be trouble but I wasn' expectin' this.'
'Harry,' said Aunt Petunia, and she crouched in front of him and held his hands. 'When that boy told Lily about the school I dreamed of going there with her. When she got her letter I wrote to Professor Dumbledore,' she chuckled softly and shook her head, 'amazing that he's still there after all these years. Your Mother… she learned so many things there, and I remember one of her first letters to me where she said,' she squeezed Harry's hands a little, 'she said that two of the best things about going to the school was being with people who were like her.'
'"Two of the best things"? What was the other?'
'Control.' And Harry remembered the fire a few weeks ago and the vanishing glass and all sorts of mishaps that had happened over the years.
'Soon after Lily discovered what she could do she was afraid. She hid that part of herself. She shared it with me but she hid it, too. The boy helped her and the school helped her even more. We, your Uncle and I – and Dudley, of course – we can't help you. We can't teach you.'
'What are you saying?'
'I'm saying you should go. I'm saying it will be good for you, and if you're half as happy as Lily… oh, Harry, your eyes…' she sniffed and wiped a tear away with the heel of her hand. 'If you're half as happy as Lily was then it will have been amazing for you. You should go.'
'I'm not going to know anyone,' Harry murmured.
'No one ever really does, Harry. That's part of the adventure.'
Harry looked down at the ground and whispered, 'You don't want me anymore?'
She kissed his forehead, pulled him into a hug and squeezed him. 'You'll always be my little boy, Harry. Always. You'll always have a home with us. I promise.'
Slowly, Harry wrapped his arms around his Aunt and hugged her, too. A small glow enveloped them and then faded away.
'I wasn' expectin' that,' said Hagrid, wiping a tear. 'I really wasn' expectin' that.'
Aunt Petunia pulled away and sniffed. She patted Harry's shoulders, stood up, and tugged on the bottom of her cardigan to make herself a little more presentable. 'So,' she said, her voice a little throaty, 'tomorrow, we'll go with Mr Hagrid here to Diagon Alley and get your school things.'
'Hagrid, ma'am,' said Hagrid softly. 'Jus' Hagrid.'
Harry, Dudley and Uncle Vernon gaped at Aunt Petunia. She looked so excited she was positively glowing. She turned to Hagrid and said, 'Is Ollivanders still there? And the bookstore? Flourishing Blotts or something?'
Hagrid sat up and smiled. 'Flourish and Blotts. They're both still there. You know Diagon Alley?'
'We went there to get Lily's things. Years and years ago, but I remember it, or bits of it.'
'But, if yer know all these things why haven' yer told 'Arry before?'
Aunt Petunia sat down next to Hagrid and patted his massive knee. 'What could I tell him, Hagrid? Everything would have sounded so crazy. Vernon and I decided that we would tell him if it became apparent that he was like Lily.'
'Why wouldn't he have been like her? Her and James were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew.'
'Lily was my sister, Hagrid. Our parents and I didn't have a drop of magic in us. And Lily told me about Squibs a few times-'
'"Squibs"?' interrupted Harry.
'They're… er… they're folk born in wizard families who can't do magic,' said Hagrid.
'So that could have been me?'
'O' course not. You're different, you are. Everyone knows the Potter name!'
'My parents were famous?'
'Still are. You are, too.'
Harry remembered the times over the years were people saw him and said his name. He remembered how excited they had looked, and how they always vanished from sight before he could get a good look at them.
'But why? I've never done anything.'
Hagrid looked nervously at Aunt Petunia and she nodded. 'I never expected this,' he said, 'but you can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'.'
'I can't tell yeh everythin', mind, it's a great mystery to me, parts of it, and I suppose… I suppose I can understand a little why yer Aunt never told yeh.' He paused and smiled at Dudley, who was holding out the plate of sausages. 'Kind of yeh. Very kind,' he said, and he took the whole plate on Dudley's insistence.
'It begins, I suppose, with – with a person called – are you sure yeh don't know 'is name?'
'Who?'
'Well – I don't like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does.'
'Why not?'
'Y'er makin' me tug on Merlin's beard here, Harry. People are still scared.' Agitated, Hagrid got up from the sofa and began pacing the whole room rather than the half he had been doing before – again, if it could be called 'pacing' as he only had room to walk five steps across the whole length of the room. Harry and the Dursleys stood by the table and watched the giant. 'This is something that goes back a long time and there's a lot that I don't know, you understand? Twenty years or more, I reckon. Really shoulda paid more attention to what Professor Dumbledore told me.' He paused and looked at the attentive faces of the four people gathered around him. 'It's a story about a bad wizard who made our world dark and scary. His name… his name is something no one really shares, even now.'
Hagrid paused by the window and leaned against the thick wooden ledge. He sighed and mumbled to himself for a couple of seconds as he looked around the room, avoiding the eyes of the others and oblivious to the shuddering walls as his massive leg bounced up and down. 'You c'n do this,' he muttered.'
Aunt Petunia held Uncle Vernon's arm and turned her face away.
Hagrid took in a breath and said, 'Voldemort,' and shuddered. He paused and watched as Uncle Vernon led Aunt Petunia back to the sofa and eased her down. She whispered that she was okay and placed her hands on her knees and sat up straight.
'Twenty years ago,' said Harry, softly.
Hagrid closed his eyes. 'Twenty years ago, our world turned dark. Trust was shattered. Broken. And trust… trust is hard even in good times. Your parents… your parents were people I trusted absolutely. Who would give their lives for me and I for them.'
'But the bad wizard?' asked Harry.
Hagrid sighed. 'He was taking over. Bit by bit. It was join him or die. Some of us, like your parents, came together to fight him. People say that Hogwarts was one of the safest places. That Dumbledore was the one wizard the bad one was afraid of.
'We fought him, yer parents and me. Several times. We survived and others died. Then they couldn't fight. We wouldn't let them. Dumbledore wouldn't let them, even though James and Lily kept insisting. Even at the end, when they were back at the village, with you.'
'Me?'
'That Halloween… I don't know how he found you. Only someone who knew could…' his breath shuddered and then he continued, 'but, somehow, he did. He found them and-' the room shook as Hagrid sobbed.
Quietly, Vernon held out his handkerchief and, sniffling a little, Hagrid took it and blew his nose as a loudly as a blender on a lazy Sunday morning.
'Thank yer,' he said. 'I'll clean it up an'-'
'It's okay,' said Mr Dursley, patting Hagrid's huge arm and frowning slightly as something moved under Hagrid's coat.
Hagrid took in a deep breath and composed himself. 'He killed yer parents, Harry. After years of fighting, he killed them, but it wasn't enough fer him. No, wasn't enough.' He pointed at Harry's face. At Harry's scar. 'He tried to kill you, too. I don't know why the evilest wizard in the world wanted a baby dead but I saw what his curse did. I saw your house, destroyed. And then,' said Hagrid, his voice softening, 'and then I saw you. Untouched, 'cept fer tha' scar. You, a baby, beat You-Know-Who. His magic didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.'
'I'm famous because I lived?'
Hagrid drew his hand back, surprised at the bitterness in Harry's voice.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon looked at each other uncertainly and Dudley asked, 'And the evil wizard? What happened to him?'
Hagrid shrugged and shook his head. 'I've wondered that meself, I have. Reckon he was strong enough to take on the Ministry itself if he fancied. 'Spart of why Harry's famous, see? Spells broke all over the country. People in the Ministry suddenly came to their senses, the Dementors stopped haunting everyone.'
'The mists,' said Aunt Petunia, nodding knowingly.
'The green light and the motorcycle?' asked Harry.
'Don' know 'bout no green light, Harry, but the motorcycle was me when I took yer from the ruined house and brought to live with this lo-' he paused and scratched his beard. 'With the Dursleys. Dumbledore's orders.'
'It's getting late,' said Aunt Petunia loudly, 'and we've got a lot to do tomorrow. Diagon Alley,' and she clapped excitedly. 'Hagrid, I don't think there's a bed big enough for you here, but-'
'Not to worry,' said Hagrid, 'plenty of space for me here.'
'But what about the wardens?' asked Dudley. 'If they wake up and find you here-'
'Ah,' said Hagrid, and he pulled out the ball he had looked at when he first arrived. 'This 'ere is something Dumbledore borrowed me. Told me that 'it keeps those who ain't meant to know from knowing' and puts people to sleep. I figure they'll wake up when we're gone.'
(Note: the note to Dumbledore is from chapter 4 of 'The Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone')
