Chapter Three: The Giant, the School and the Truth
BOOM!
Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he asked.
The twins scrambled up, desperately clasping hands. "Always remember: no matter how bad things get, you'll always have me," Heather whispered.
"No matter how bad things get, you'll always have me," Harry repeated, using it as a sort of oath. Or a prayer.
Uncle Vernon ran into the room, holding a long rifle in his hands. Heather was right. "Who's there?" he yelled out at whoever was behind the door. "I warn you - I'm armed!"
There was a moment of silence before -
CRASH!
The door came crashing down, revealing just about the scariest thing any of the five had ever seen standing in the doorway.
His face was almost completely obscured by curly black hair going in all directions, his eyes beetle black and shiny. His skin was rugged and calloused, resembling the paper the twins' letters were written on. He was wearing a sweeping floor-length brown coat, covered in so many pockets Heather couldn't count them (and she was really good at counting). He was huge, the top of his head and the crooks of his elbows hidden behind the hut's walls. He squeezed his way into the hut and said -
"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."
The entire hut froze. It was a very odd comment from someone who had just forced his way into their accomadations, let alone one who seemed to have passed eight foot. As they watched, he made his way towards the bulky form of Dudley, sitting on the couch with an expression of pure terror on his face. "Budge up, yeh great lump."
Dudley scampered away, running to where his mother and father stood. The stranger sat down in his place, making the entire sofa sag. "An' here's Harry!" he said, gesturing down at Harry and Heather. "And Heather, of course. If I remember correctly, you were actually older!"
"I was?" Heather asked faintly, looking up into his eyes. It was not an easy feat given he was several feet taller than her, even sitting down, but she thought she saw a gentle smile grace his face.
"O' course!" the stranger said. "Didn't yeh know?"
"No," Harry said flatly. "No, we did not know."
"Which brings us to the bigger question," Heather said, trembling slightly, "how do you know? And, more importantly, how did you know who we are?"
"Oh, it was easy," the stranger said. "I mean, las' time I saw you two, you was only babies, but Harry, yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yer Mama's eyes. And Heather, yeh look like yeh grandmother! But with yer Mama's eyes, o' course."
"Right," Heather said slowly, doubting every word that came out of the stranger's mouth.
Uncle Vernon seemed to share her state of trust, because he made a funny rasping noise. "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said, raising the rifle threateningly. "You are breaking and entering!"
The stranger didn't seem to care that he was being held at gunpoint. "Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," he said lazily, reaching over and bending Vernon's rifle tip upwards before throwing it away.
"Tell me you saw that," Heather whispered to Harry.
"I saw that," Harry confirmed, gulping.
Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, this time resembling a squeak.
"Anyway - Harry, Heather," he said, turning back to the twins. "To answer your first question, Heather, I know who was born first cause I was there. A whole seven minutes older, you was. Oh, that reminds me - it's yeh birthday today, innit! A very happy birthday to the both of yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."
He produced a large parcel from one of his pockets. Harry and Heather exchanged a look. They'd never gotten any of their presents properly packaged before.
Heather opened the parcel (Harry's hands were shaking, and Heather was generally the more nimble-fingered of the two) to reveal a sticky big chocolate cake with the words 'Happy Birthday Harry and Heather' written on it with loopy green icing.
"Thank you," Heather whispered, her voice quiet.
"Ah, it's nothin'," the stranger said, waving his hand.
"Who are you?" Harry asked. Heather elbowed him, but the giant just chuckled.
"True, I haven't introduced meself," he said. "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
"Where?" Heather whispered to Harry, but before he could answer, the stranger was shaking his whole arm. After a few very exhausting seconds, he moved onto Heather.
"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 spotted the fireplace, snorting. He bent over it, obstructing the others' view entirely. None of them could see what he was doing, exactly, but when he backed away a fire was blazing, washing them all in great warmth.
"How'd he do that?" Heather asked, her brow knitted in confusion. "Foil is made from metal, it's not flammable!"
"I know," Harry said. "This is just getting weirder by the second."
"Agreed."
The stranger sat back on the sofa, making it sag so much he hit the floor. He started to empty his pockets, littering the floor with kitchen utensils, food and even a bottle of an odd orange liquid he drank from before getting started on tea. Heather didn't really like tea - it was virtually tasteless - but even she had to appreciate the smell the stranger's concuction gave off. And it wasn't just the tea. He also started cooking the sausages, which smelled delicious, even once he pulled them off the fire.
Dudley noticed this, and he began to fidget. "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley," Uncle Vernon ordered.
"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry," the giant chuckled.
He passed the sausages to Harry and Heather (Heather divided them between them) who gulped them down quickly, given their extreme hunger.
Both twins were looking at the giant, Heather frowning a little. To relieve the tension, Harry eventually decided to speak. "I'm sorry, but we still don't really know who you are."
"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," said Harry awkwardly.
"Where we supposed to?" Heather asked.
Hagrid looked at them, shocked. "Sorry," Harry said quickly.
"Sorry?" Hagrid repeated, turning to look at the Dursleys, his face as thunderous as the storm outside. "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 yet parents learned it all?"
"Um... no?" Heather asked timidly.
"All what?" asked Harry.
"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid roared, jumping to his feet (Heather got worried he was going to collapse the whole hut, he really was vast). "Now wait jus' one second!" He rounded on the Dursleys. "Do you mean ter tell me - that these kids - these kids! - know nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"
"We know some things," Harry said. "We can, you know, do maths and stuff."
"And I'm top of my class," Heather said.
"O' course yeh top of the class, Heather," Hagrid said. "Yeh got yer Mama's brains, no dou'. But that's not what's important. About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."
"What world?" Harry asked curiously.
Hagrid looked like he was about to explode. "DURSLEY!" he bellowed.
Uncle Vernon said something that sounded to the twins like 'mimblewimble'.
Hagrid looked somewhat desperately at the twins. "But yeh must know about yer Mama and dad. I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
"Famous?" Heather repeated.
"What?" Harry gasped. "Our - our mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"
"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his matted hair, looking at the twins with shock. "Yeh don' know what yeh are?"
"Stop!" Uncle Vernon suddenly yelled. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the children anything!"
Hagrid fixed Uncle Vernon with a look so terrifying Heather thought he might pass out. "You never told them?" he bellowed. "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?"
"What letter?" Heather asked. She was starting to get really confused.
"Kept what from us?" Harry asked.
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" Uncle Vernon yelled. Aunt Petunia gasped.
"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," Hagrid said, turning back to the twins. "Harry - Heather - yer wizards."
There was a silence following his sentence. "I'm sorry, what?" Heather asked. "Wizards don't exist."
"Eh, sure they do," Hagrid said cheerfully. "Well, officially yer a witch, but yer brother's a wizard."
"- a what?" Harry gasped.
"A wizard, o' course," Hagrid said, sitting back down on the sofa (Heather had lost hope it would ever recover). "an' thumpin' good'uns, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a Mama an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letters."
He produced two letters from the folds of his jacket and gave each of the twins one.
Miss. H. Potter
The Floor
Hut-on-the-Rock
The Sea
Which shaking fingers, Heather opened her letter. It read:
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 Miss. 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 Headmistres
Harry's was the same, just addressing to a 'Mr. H. Potter' instead of a 'Miss. H. Potter'. "Um, uh... th-thank you?" Heather stuttered.
"What does it mean, they await my owl?" Harry asked.
"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," Hagrid said. He clapped a hand to his forehead so hard Heather was surprised he didn't fall over and pulled an owl out of on of his pockets - a real, living, squawking owl - and scribbled down a note:
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Given Harry and Heather their letters.
Taking them to buy their things tomorrow.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well.
Hagrid
Hagrid gave the note to the owl, who clamped it in its beak, and then Hagrid threw both owl and note out into the storm. He sat back down on the sofa. "Harry, your mouth's open," Heather hissed.
He closed it immediately.
"Where was I?" Hagrid asked.
Uncle Vernon came out from behind the shadows, the orange light from the fire illuminating his tomato red face. "They're not going."
"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," Hagrid grunted.
"A what?" asked Harry.
"A Muggle," Hagrid explained. "It's what we call nonmagic folk like thern. An' it's your and your sister's 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," Uncle Vernon snarled, "swore we'd stamp it out of them! Wizards indeed!"
"You knew?" Harry gasped. "You knew we're - we're wizards?"
"And, more to the point, you never told us?" Heather asked.
"Of course we knew!" Aunt Petunia shrieked, coming up behind her husband. "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 holiday 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!" She went on and on like this. No-one seemed to have the guts to tell her to stop. "Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you two, and of course I knew you'd 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!"
"BLOWN UP?!" Harry and Heather yelled in unison.
"You lied?!" Heather asked, fury radiating from her in waves.
"You told us they died in a car crash!" Harry said.
"CAR CRASH!" Hagrid yelled, jumping up so suddenly the whole hut shook. Vernon and Petunia cowered back in terror. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry and Heather Potter not knowin' their own story when every kid in our world knows their names!"
"But why?" Harry asked.
"What are we famous for?" Heather asked.
"What happened?"
The anger faded from Hagrid's face to be replaced by something that resembled fear. It looked very out of place on his bearded face. "I never expected this," he said hoarsely. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, Heather, 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'." He glared at the Dursleys. "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 took a deep breath, sitting back down. "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.
"What have they got to do with us?" Heather added.
"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it," Hagrid said uneasily. "No one does."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Heather said. "It's just a name, isn't it?"
"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, Heather, 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..." he trailed off.
"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.
"Or Maybe spell it out?" Heather asked.
"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort. " he 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, Harry, Heather. 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 Mama 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 was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -" Hagrid suddenly took out a very dirty hankerchief and blew his nose. Loudly. "Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer Mama 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 you two, 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. Never wondered how you got those marks on yer faces? Those was no ordinary cuts. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer Mama an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you two, an' that's why yer famous, Harry, Heather. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you two, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts - an' you was only babies, an' you lived."
Heather gripped onto Harry's arm painfully tight, but she was afraid she might fall over. "Harry..."
"I know," he said shakily. "The - the blast of green light..."
He didn't need to go on. They both remembered the light, and they both knew what it must have been now.
The curse that killed their parents.
"And," Heather said, "I can remember something - something else. A - a man - he was laughing -"
Harry nodded. He, too, could suddenly remember that laugh. High and cold. The laugh of a killer.
They flung their arms around each other. They needed each other more than anything in this moment.
Hagrid watched them, his face sad. "Took yeh both from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."
"Load of old tosh," Uncle Vernon snapped suddenly. The twins jumped. They had forgotten the Dursleys were still there. Uncle Vernon had his fists clenched, his courage refound. "Now, you listen here, children," he snarled, "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 weirdos, 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 -"
Hagrid lept from the sofa and, drawing a pink umbrella to Uncle Vernon's throat, glared at the Dursleys. If looks could kill... "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more word... "
Uncle Vernon's courage seemed to have left once again; he pressed himself against the wall, wife and son with him.
"That's better," said Hagrid. He sat back down on the sofa, officially breaking it.
"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Heather said. "I mean, he can't have just vanished... right?"
"Dunno," Hagrid said. "Maybe. Vanished. Disappeared. Same night he tried ter kill you two. 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, Heather. 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."
Hagrid looked at them with respect, but Harry and Heather exchanged a confused look. "Um, uh... can me and Heather talk to each other for a second?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Heather said. "I mean, this is... kind of a lot to take in."
"O' course," Hagrid said, waving a hand. "Go ahead."
They retreated to a small corner of the hut. "There's got to be some sort of mistake," Harry said immediately. "I mean, wizards? Us? How?"
"I know," Heather said. "We've spent our lives being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if we was were really wizards, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock us in our cupboard?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "If we've once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley has always been able to kick us around like a football?"
They were silent for a second. "We've got to tell him," Heather said. "We've got to tell him he's wrong."
Harry nodded. They came over to where Hagrid was sitting watching the fire dance in the fireplace. "Hagrid," Harry said quietly, "We think you must have made a mistake. I - we - don't think we can be wizards."
To their surprise, Hagrid chuckled. "Not wizards, eh?" he asked, grinning. "Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"
Heather looked at Harry, and knew he was thinking the same thing: Hagrid was right. Every odd thing that had ever happened to Dudley or his gang had happened when one of them was feeling an intense negative emotion. Growing hair back... hurting Dudley... shrinking sweaters... climbing on rooves... and of course, their was the most recent incident - they'd made glass disappear, hadn't they, when Dudley had been hurting them?
They exchanged a happy look before turning back to Hagrid with identical smiles on their faces. He smiled back. "See? The Potter twins, not wizards - you wait, you'll both be right famous at Hogwarts."
"Haven't I told you they're not going?" Uncle Vernon hissed. "They're going to Stonewall High and they'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and they need all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"
"If they want ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them," Hagrid growled. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s kids goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. Their names have been down ever since they were born. They're off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and they won't know themselves. 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!" Uncle Vernon bellowed.
Hagrid's reaction was immediate. He lept up, swinging his umbrella over his head threateningly, yelling at the top of his lungs: "NEVER - INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE - IN- FRONT- OF - ME!" And he brought his umbrella down, not on Uncle Vernon's head, but thin air - the thin air in line with Dudley's behind, to be specific.
Dudley howled like a wolf being stepped on. He ran up to his parents, clutching his rear end with both hands like he was scared it would fall off. Casting several furious looks at Hagrid, the Dursleys rushed themselves and their son into the next room.
"Did he have a tail?" Heather asked, smiling slightly.
"I believe he did," Harry said, wearing a smile indentical to his sister's. "A pig's tail, to be specific."
Hagrid, however, looked somewhat bored. "Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he admitted, "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 looked at the twins. "Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. 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."
"Yes sir," Heather said.
"Yer don't have to call me sir," Hagrid chuckled. "Where are you from, a palace?"
"She calls everyone sir," Harry said. Heather shot him a look. "Wait, why aren't you supposed to do magic?"
"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth," Hagrid said awkwardly. "In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."
Heather nodded understandingly, but Harry still wanted answers. "Why were you expelled?" he asked. Heather trod on his foot. "Ow!"
"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," Hagrid said, coughing deliberately. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." He threw the twins his overcoat. "You can kip under that. Yeh don' mind sharing, do yeh?"
"No," they said in unison.
"Very well. Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."