Three days later, a grey-haired woman with an aristocratic bearing rang the doorbell. Aunt Petunia answered the door, and presently came to tell Harry, who was weeding the back garden, to come in and talk to his visitor in the living room. The visitor introduced herself as Deputy Headmistress Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you for coming. I was expecting to get a letter that explained things better than your first letter rather than a personal visit."

"I apologise for the confusion. Most starting pupils fall into one of two categories: those with parents who are magical themselves and who know all about magic and Hogwarts, and those with non-magical parents who don't. The latter get a different letter that explains more about the magical world, but because your late parents were both magical you got the former. Your aunt knows about magic, but she just told me that she had been hoping you would not be magical enough to be invited to Hogwarts and therefor hadn't told you about magic yet. Why didn't you tell her about your letter?"

"Because I'm forbidden from asking questions."

"Excuse me?"

"My aunt and uncle make me do all the house-work, punish me for the smallest infractions against their rules, and that includes the rule that I'm not to ask any questions."

When Professor McGonagall stared at him with a horrified look, he continued, "and complaining to the authorities is also against the rules, so if you're going to talk to them about it you'd better make sure that you take me away from here never to come back, because one of these days they're going to leave me in my cupboard without food for too long and I'm going to starve to death."

An interminable time went by as Professor McGonagall just stared at Harry. At long last she visibly collected herself and said, "I will have to see if there's anything I can do about that. I'm afraid there might be legal and magical complications, so I'm afraid I can't promise to take you away from here, although I certainly wish I could. So I propose we leave that to be decided later, and for the moment limit ourselves to what I thought I came here for, which is to convince you to attend Hogwarts. The truth of the matter is that since you are a wizard you are a subject to the magical government, who require you achieve a passing grade in at least one exam of a subject requiring a wand in five years' time. Since you don't live in a magical household, home-schooling is not really an option, so to all intents and purposes attendance at Hogwarts is compulsory, much like secondary school is in the muggle world."

"Muggle?"

"That's what wizards and witches call non-magical humans. I by no means wish to come across as authoritarian, and I do apologise for the poor first impression it made that you were sent a letter that didn't explain the situation adequately, but unless you are determined to try and find a way not to attend Hogwarts I think it might be more productive to proceed on the assumption that you do intend to accept."

"We're not talking about stage-magic here, are we?"

"No, I assure you we're not. If you would allow me to demonstrate?" she asked while drawing a wooden stick from her sleeve.

Harry nodded, and Professor McGonagall turned the coffee table into a dog. "Wow." Harry didn't need to play-act this bit, he really was impressed, "and you teach all pupils to do that?"

"I should explain a bit more. In addition to deputy headmistress I am also the professor of transfiguration. Transfiguration is turning one thing into another, such as the inanimate to animate transfiguration I just performed." She then turned the dog back into the table. "I've mentioned OWL exams after five years. Transfiguration is one of the seven compulsory subjects up to OWL level. In addition, there are five elective subjects, which start from third year. Then there are two further years of study, during which all subjects are electives, which are finished by the final exams that are called NEWTs. A student would be expected to be able to do what I just did to pass the NEWT exam of transfiguration."

"Shall I continue?" When Harry nodded, she explained about the other subjects.

"What about normal subjects?"

"Electronics and magic don't work together. Therefore, it is not possible to teach any of the subjects that require electronic apparatus like chemistry and physics. Biology is treated as two separate fields: herbology and magical creatures. Geography can be done with magic that is beyond NEWT level. Some students learn another language or English literature in their spare time. Are you interested in any particular subject?"

"No, I was just wondering." After a brief pause Harry said, "I'd like to go to Hogwarts, please."

"Excellent. Next Saturday I'm going to take the muggle raised students to Diagon Alley to buy their school supplies. They will travel there with their parents. Shall we go and ask your aunt if she or your uncle will take you?"

"They're not going to like it. Can I travel there by myself?"

"I can come and pick you up at five minutes to nine. You'll need to be ready to go."

Harry nodded, but then asked, "how did I end up here after my parents died?"

"Your aunt was your only living close relative, so it was decided that this was the best place for you."

"Who decided that?"

"Professor Dumbledore."

"A Hogwarts professor decided where I should live? Are there no children's services in the magical government?"

"What you have to understand is that there are only a few thousand magical humans in Britain. Imagine the population of Little Winging spread over the whole country. Your case is quite unique, so there is no separate government office that deals with such rare cases. Decisions are made on an individual basis."

"But why this Professor Dumbledore?"

"Your parents were part of a group that fought against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named; a group that was led by Professor Dumbledore. After your parents were killed –"

"Wait. My parents were killed? My aunt told me they died in a car-crash."

"Ah. It is rather unfortunate that they decided not to tell you about magic, but once they made that decision they couldn't very well tell you."

"And that makes it alright?"

"I didn't say that. I fully intend to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it."

"The same Dumbledore who decided to place me here and then forget about me. Isn't there someone else?"

"What you have to understand is that many of the followers of You-Know-Who –"

"No, it don't know who."

"There is magical power in names. He could detect when his name was being used, so people avoid using it. You-Know-Who is another way we use to talk about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Oh. OK. You were saying about the followers of You-Know-Who?"

"Many got away. He had many rich and influential followers, including people in government, and some of them would still like to come after you for destroying him, -"

"Wait. What do you mean I destroyed him?"

"The night that You-Know-Who killed your parents he also tried to kill you, but instead, he was destroyed himself. It's how you got your scar. You are famous amongst witches and wizards as the only one ever to survive the Killing Curse."

Harry was silent for a minute, then said, "let me see if I understand. An unnamed wizard was trying to take over the government. A schoolteacher was leading a vigilante group to try and prevent this. My parents were part of the vigilante group and were killed. Then some mysterious magic happened and a child who could only have been a few years old survived, and all of a sudden I'm famous, as if I actually did anything on purpose. And then I'm left here and everybody forgets about me until it's time for me to attend this school of yours."

"We could squabble about your portrayal of the details, details that I intend to look into, but in essence, yes, that's it."

"What were you going to say about the corrupt government people who followed You-Know-Who?"

"That they might want to attack you for your role in destroying You-Know-Who, so Professor Dumbledore used the fact that you, your mother, and your aunt were related to by blood to set up magical protections around the house. These protections make you safer here than you could have been made anywhere else."

"Well," Harry reflected, "I still think it's too strange for words that I was left her 10 years ago, and then forgotten about, but it's not as if I've been particularly impressed with the non-magical people."