Year One| Chapter One

The dreaded date came again, one that Hattie hated with intense passion. Her cousin Dudley's birthday was today. June 23rd, the day in which everything was even more about him. Harry had irritation in his emerald eyes, but Hattie was more than pissed. She wanted nothing more than for this date to be marked with death for Dudley instead of birth. He wasn't worth being celebrated about; he was an ill-mannered fat boy who shouldn't have even been born to begin with.

The first thing Hattie was welcomed with that morning was screeching, the sound of, "thirty-six presents! Thirty-six! I had thirty-seven last year!"

Harry went into the kitchen to make the breakfast for the morning, while Hattie stood in the living room of the house, peering at her cousin. She still didn't see how she could be related to this imbecile. She stared at him without saying anything, but just standing there was enough for Dudley to turn his attention towards her with a wobbly chin and tears flowing down his chubby cheeks.

"As if you couldn't become even more of a prat," Hattie remarked, her chin upwards as though to let them know she would tell them what was on her mind. She knew Harry didn't say anything, he muttered it low enough, but Hattie was loud and clear.

"Mum! Freak Two just called me a prat!" Dudley cried as he turned his attention towards Aunt Petunia, enough for the tall and bony woman to narrow her eyes at Hattie.

"How dare you call my precious Duddy-kins a prat! You will go back into the cupboard, you won't be getting any food today, and you won't be going to the zoo. We'll still have to take your brother but it's better than taking both of you," Aunt Petunia declared, enough for Hattie to reach her hand up and put it onto her chest.

"Oh no! I am so devastated about how I can't go to the zoo! Whatever shall I do?"

One moment Hattie had her false sadness apparent on her face and the next moment she had a red mark upon her cheekbone. Aunt Petunia stiffened as she took a step backwards, her back straight and simple, and her chin upwards this time. She was weary but it was obvious she didn't know how to feel about the fact she had indeed slapped Hattie across the face.

Hattie narrowed her own eyes behind her pair of glasses before saying, "you really shouldn't have done that."

Aunt Petunia flew backwards and hit the sofa, falling into a heap onto the carpet. Uncle Vernon was rushing down the stairs at the sound, his eyes widening when he saw his wife sprawled out on the carpet from being flown back against the sofa. His eyes went over to Hattie, where he noticed there was a handprint that was on his niece's cheek.

He rushed over to where his wife was, while Hattie rolled her eyes and went back into the cupboard and shut the door behind her. It didn't take long for her to hear the click of the lock, allowing her to know that Uncle Vernon had locked the door. She went onto the small twin mattress she shared with Harry, where she slept on one end of the mattress, and he slept on the other.

Deciding to take a nap, Hattie was woken by the sound of her family coming home before the front door opened. The cupboard was unlocked and opened before Harry was thrown into the cupboard and shut behind him. Hattie turned her attention towards Harry, where he had a look of still shock apparent on his pale features.

"What happened?"

"Dudley came up to the snake exhibit at the zoo and was making fun of it. You know how we can speak to snakes?" Harry probed, earning a nod from Hattie.

"I was talking to the snake and Dudley thankfully didn't see but he saw that I liked the snake. He kept banging on the glass and before I knew it the glass in the exhibit disappeared and he fell through. The glass in the exhibit came back up," Harry confessed, bewilderment coating his voice as though to let her know he hadn't expected what had happened to have happened.

"Too bad the snake didn't eat him," Hattie whispered, having spoken low enough that Harry almost didn't hear but since they were in a cupboard, he couldn't help but chuckle some.

Hattie smiled as Harry reached his hand out and took one of hers in his, in these small moments they were closer than ever before. She might not have the best relationship with Harry, it was one that was rocky depending on how she acted (Harry was always so loving to her, but even Hattie had to admit she had the personality of a prickly cactus).

A few days later the envelopes came. Hattie was cooking at the stove this time, with her hair pulled back in a hairnet. Harry went into the front room of the house to pick up the envelopes after they went through the mail slot.

Dudley was conversing with the rest of the family about something him and his friends–Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were planning on doing. He tried to make it sound so innocent and anything anyone else would be doing his age, but both Hattie and Harry knew him, and his friends were going around the neighborhood bullying kids that were less than half their age.

"Mum! 'Arry's and Hattie got some letters!"

Hattie turned away from where she had just finished the bacon and was going to come over to the table to push the bacon onto the plates. Uncle Vernon snatched the letters from Harry, only for him to have his face become blue and purple from the stress that began to emit out from him. He showed Aunt Petunia the letters that were in his hands, enough for her to shake her head.

"No! No! Not there…"

Hattie came over with the frying pan and began to put the bacon onto the plates only for Uncle Vernon to reach his hand up to wave her away. She angled the pan so that he would hit his bare skin against the hot, greasy frying pan. He howled in pain and dropped the letters onto the table before he stalked in the direction of where the sink was.

"Harry, grab the letters!" Hattie commanded, enough for Harry to grab the letters before he rushed upstairs to the bathroom. She stood still, knowing that Harry was going to take the opportunity she was giving him now.

"I don't think so! Dudley, grab the freak!"

Uncle Vernon screeched, making Dudley rush out of the kitchen and upstairs so that he could get to Harry. Hattie flinched as she heard the bathroom door upstairs slam open, Harry hadn't had enough time for him to lock the door.

Harry was screaming and kicking as he was being dragged down the stairs by Dudley, letting Hattie see the very rare moments that Dudley was stronger than he normally was. Harry didn't have the letters in his hands anymore, and Aunt Petunia rushed up the stairs past them before she came downstairs with the two letters that were addressed for her niece and nephew.

The fireplace was already lit, something that Harry had been in charge of doing so. Aunt Petunia went towards the fireplace and threw the letters into it, before she brought her hands away and began to bless herself, her hand forming the sign of the cross before she swiftly moved backwards. She was quite a religious nut the older she had gotten.

"Get into the cupboard."

Aunt Petunia didn't turn away from the fireplace, but her voice was loud enough over the crackle of the wood breaking and turning into ash for the twins to hear her. Hattie let her eyes flicker towards her twin, noting how Dudley had ended up forming bruises on Harry, which in return would make Hattie imagine him with the same exact bruises on him. Sometimes he would get them, and sometimes he wouldn't, but she really hoped that he would have that happen.

Getting into the cupboard with Harry in front of her, Hattie made sure she was shielding him from any more harshness. She could handle the abuse; she knew that Harry couldn't. Harry would cower and hide behind her. She would make sure to have just as bad of revenge against them for what they had done to her, so most of the time they left Harry alone whenever she was next to him or near him.

The envelopes didn't stop coming, they came through the fireplace when there was no other place for them to come since the mail slot was nailed shut with wood. The windows were locked to make sure that the owls that came carrying the letters couldn't fly through the house anymore. Hattie and Harry weren't able to grab the letters, for they were soon thrown into the cupboard to keep them from throwing themselves onto the ground and picking up a lot of them.

Eventually all the envelopes that held letters for both Hattie and Harry drove their relatives insane from them. Uncle Vernon had them up and left the small house. They traveled to a hotel, but the envelopes kept coming, until finally Uncle Vernon moved them all to a shack on a rock in the middle of the sea. Hattie was quite entertained by this, wanting to shake hands with the people that were causing this much stress to her uncle, while Harry was just plain confused as to the reasoning behind them just getting up and leaving the house one night.

Hattie was on the dirt ground floor of the two-story shack, which barely had a first floor to be honest. Dudley was fast asleep on the only cot downstairs while Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were sleeping upstairs on the larger cot. Hattie and Harry were leaning against one of the walls of the hut, outside a storm was raging and while it kept both Hattie and Harry awake, she had to admit she always loved the sound of storms. Harry was too into his own thoughts to truly let her know how he felt about the current storm raging outside upon the ocean.

Harry turned towards Hattie as midnight came, whispering, "Happy Birthday, Hattie."

Hattie reached her hand out and put it on his, giving him a small squeeze to let him know she appreciated this. "And happy birthday to you too, Harry."

Both of them almost jumped out of their skin when loud thumping came outside, heading towards the front door of the shack. Harry almost went back against the wall behind him while Hattie wanted to go to the front door and open it, to see what it was that was making that noise. No, it was obvious that it was someone who was coming towards them, but it must have been the size and weight of a giant to make that kind of sound when they moved.

The front door banged loudly, causing Dudley to wake up screaming and calling for their aunt and uncle. Hattie stood up a moment later, reaching her hand out once again to grab Harry's. She pulled him up and nodded her head. She was allowing him to know whatever he wanted to do she would follow him, if he wanted to step forward and go to the front door of the shack she would follow. If he wanted them to stay where they were she would stay with him.

Then, the front door came crashing down, hitting the ground in a thump as the dirt kicked out from the impact. Hattie craned her head to the side in interest (though if someone told her it was the movement a dog would make when they were curious, she would make sure to have them regret having that comparison spill from their lips), while Harry had confusion just apparent upon his features. Both of them were waiting for the shadowed tall and thick being to come into the shack.

The man that came into the shack had to have been twice as tall as a normal man and five times as wide. His black hair fell in tangles down around his shoulders and he had a thick bushy beard that covered most of his face. He wore a moleskin coat and had hands that were the size of trash cans. Feet as big as baby dolphins were covered by simple leather boots. He was exactly as one would imagine a giant would look like, though it was quite humorous to see the umbrella in his hand.

"Who are you? Leave!" Uncle Vernon declared, angered as he looked at the man, only for the man to give a sheepish look and turn to pick up the door to put it back in its place.

As he did so he said, "Ey'm sorry about the door."

"The door? The door! The door is the least of our worries! I said to get out! Get out!" Uncle Vernon almost seemed as though he thought that he could scare the giant like man with threats though the giant man didn't look as though he would leave.

"Can't do that sir. Ey'm here for Hattie and Harry Potter. They haven't received their letters," the man added, before he seemed to remember something. He reached into his moleskin coat and pulled out a box one would find a cake in it.

"Almost forgot! Happy birthday, Hattie and Harry!"

The giant went over to the rickety table and sat down the box before opening it and ushering the twins to come forward. Hattie stepped forward, a few inches behind Harry, before they looked down and saw that the cake was smushed quite a big and the happy birthday was written in a childish manner. It was still sweet, even Hattie could admit that, besides she wasn't going to pass up on some free cake.

"Thank you!"

"What's your name?"

While Harry would automatically thank the tall giant like man in front of them, Hattie was more intrigued about the whole name situation.

"My name is Hagrid, I was friends with your parents," Hagrid confessed, making Hattie narrow her eyes while Harry had excitement reverberating across his features. "Sad day when they died."

"We were told that they died in a car wreck, and we received our scars from the car wreck–"

"LILY AND JAMES POTTER? CAR WRECK?"

Hattie smirked as Hagrid spun on his heels and began to yell at Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Dudley was slowly inching his way to the cake but when Hattie shot him a glare, one that would make anyone ask God for forgiveness, he gave an awkward chuckle and cowered back. She wasn't going to let the fat arse eat the cake because his pig appetite was kicking in again.

Hagrid pointed the end of his umbrella at her aunt and uncle, threatening them to never speak ill about Lily and James ever again, before he turned his attention back towards Hattie and her twin. Hattie was already sitting at the table, ushering for Harry to eat the cake. He reached forward and began to scoop out cake with his hands to eat since there were no utensils.

"Sorry ye had to see that. Yer parents didn't die in a car wreck. They died pertectin ye. From a dark wizard."

Something in Hattie sparked, as she couldn't help but wonder who this dark wizard was who had ended up killing her parents. Harry both seemed as though he wanted to know more but also not at the same time. It was enough for Hagrid to have the warmth in his face to freeze before he told them he'd tell them more about their parents later. He had something big he wanted to tell them.

"Ye're a wizard, harry. And ye're a witch, Hattie."

Harry had confusion flickering across his pale, malnourished face that was also now covered in cake and icing. Hattie on the other hand absorbed what he was telling her before she nodded her head. "That makes sense. I always knew me, and Harry were different. I have to ask though, are you a giant?"

Hagrid chuckled some, before he said, "half on my mum's side."

"They-they aren't going."

Aunt Petunia moved in front of Uncle Vernon, her pale and bird like figure reminding the twins all the hell she had put them through.

"That's not yer decision to make. Dumbledore said ey'll come and pick them up from yer Livin quater to take them shoppin for Hogwarts." Hagrid turned his attention after he said this, giving both emerald eyed children a supportive smile, even though he was threatening their aunt an inch into her life for even saying something like that.

"Hogwarts?"

Hattie and Harry had asked this at the same time, inquisitive since they knew this place sounded far more exciting than anything else they knew. Hagrid informed them he'd tell them more about Hogwarts while he would take them to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies for the said witchcraft and wizardry school. Both twins looked at each other with so much excitement that anyone else would want to encourage that look, but Uncle Vernon went to say something only for Hagrid to give one last look at the man and then his wife.

Hagrid ushered them out of the shack with their things and once he got into the opposite boat of theirs, he made sure to row his boat near theirs. It was obvious that Hagrid was making sure that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would be going back to Privet Drive. Hattie smiled the whole time, rolling her eyes fondly as Harry passed her the other half of the cake.

"Thanks, Harry."

Hattie took a bite of the cake, which was on the overbaked side but not too bad. It was still cake, and as long as she wasn't going to be getting food poisoning from it then there was no reason why it should go to waste. She even felt better when she saw the envious look Dudley gave to the green and pink iced cake, he always got to eat the first slice of cake for anyone's birthday. Even if it meant that he would make sure he would eat the first birthday cake slice before the actual birthday kid.

Arriving back at the house, Hagrid ushered the other members of the family into the house, before he turned his attention towards Hattie and Harry. Harry nervously said thank you for all that he had done for them while Hattie merely gave him a nod. It wasn't going to be anything that was really warm towards anyone other than Harry, and even in those times they weren't so freely given.

Telling him he'd be back to take them to Diagon Alley, Hagrid turned and disappeared into the night, leaving the twins standing in the front yard of number 4 Privet Drive. They turned to each other a few minutes later and reaching his hand out shyly, Harry waited for his sister to put her hand in his. She did so because it was their birthday, and she was in a good mood.

Entering the house, Hattie and Harry went towards the cupboard before they walked into it and sat down on the twin sized mattress. Uncle Vernon came over and slammed the cupboard door shut and made sure to put multiple chained locks on the door. He must have thought that amount of security would be better suited than the worn-out sea battered shack door.

"Uncle will become quite familiar with making house insurance claims if he doesn't realize the strength a half giant can still do over a simple man," Hattie stated, amusement laced thick in her voice as she turned towards her brother. Harry nodded his head, allowing her to know he must have been thinking the same thing.

"GO TO BED! NOW!"

The roaring of Uncle Vernon's voice from the hallway upstairs let them know that although they were a witch and wizard, they were only eleven.

They might be a witch and a wizard, but they didn't have their parents to teach them the ways of witchcraft and wizardry. They were orphans, but the kind of orphans where their parents sacrificed themselves to protect them from a dark wizard. They weren't the kind of parents that were drinking and driving down the road without a care in the world, not even caring about having their infants in the backseats of the car.

If one could look into the cupboard that night, one would see Harry fast asleep and already making up ideas of what Diagon Alley was like. Hattie on the other hand knew she should be looking to the bright side of things; she should be thinking about all the witchcraft items she would find. She should be thinking about pestering Hagrid about all there was when it came to Hogwarts. She should have been doing exactly what Harry was doing.

Only, as Hattie sat there in that small cupboard, and the moonlight came through the cracks of the cupboard door she couldn't help but wonder about this dark wizard.

Who was he? What did he look like? Had he tried to kill them too and it didn't work? It could account for the scars her, and her brother had. Those weren't ordinary scars, and now that she knew that magic was real, she was certain that those scars on her and her brother's face were evidence from a spell shot at them…a deadly spell.

She lay down onto the mattress and closed her eyes, but as she slept, she did not dream about Hogwarts or about the friendly half giant that would make sure they were safe. She did not dream about Dudley choking on the ground from eating a piece of cake only for it to get lodged in his throat…which in the end would kill him. (Although that was a dream she often had whenever it would be around Dudley's birthday to be honest)

No, Hattie dreamt of a tall, robed figure wisping through thick woods. He did not move too fast, nor did he move too slow. He was precise, he moved as though to let her know he was making sure he would succeed in his planning. She went towards him but when she tried to get close enough to pull at his robe and yank the hood down the dream flickered towards a house that was on a street.

An ordinary street, with two levels to it–the ground floor and the first floor of the house. There was a white picket fence that surrounded the property, keeping the house more private and secure than just open and easy to enter. There was magic that was brimming through the air around the property, as though there was a force field that was keeping her from entering the property.

She turned to the sound of movement behind her. The black robed figure was making his way towards the front gate of the property. Hattie moved out of the way, though there was a part of her that screamed for whatever good that was in her to block him from entering the property. She moved out of the way so easily, without any remorse. It was almost as though she knew that this was supposed to take place for this would not be the only time she would be in the presence of this dark wizard.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

Hattie opened her emerald eyes to the sound of Uncle Vernon pulling the planks of wood and chained locks off of the cupboard. It seemed as though Hagrid had kept his promise after all.

author's note: there you go, the first chapter of 'Deadly Nightshade'. The title of the song comes from Ultra Violence. Think Lana Del Rey vibes when it comes to this fanfiction. There is also the song: Dark by Siv Jakobsen. I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter.

as always: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me

-Emmy