Thanks to Psychonerd 5. And by the way, in this, I didn't intend for Raoul to still be a nobleman.

Chapter 6

Shagrid

The crash awoke the whole family. Victor quickly found a pistol in the back of the hut and pointed it at the giant. "Don't move another step! I'm armed!"

"Put down the gun, Victor," the giant said sternly. "I'm not 'ere to 'urt anyone."

"How can I trust you?"

"You don' have to, but I'm just 'ere for Raoul's birthday."

Slowly, Victor lowered the gun beside him. Raoul looked at the giant in confusion. "You know me?"

"Course I do," he responded. "I'm the one who left yeh 'ere."

"You left me with these creeps?"

"Yes, but it was my only choice. Course Dumbledore approved of it."

As Raoul wondered who the heck Dumbledore was, he was becoming angry with this man. It would have been better to be left at an orphanage than with the Burglary's. It would have been five times better. For someone that was far from ordinary, anything was better than living with the Burglary's.

"Well, happy birthday. I got yeh something. Not sure what 'appened on the ride 'ere. Could 'a got smashed," the giant told Raoul as he reached into his overcoat pocket. Not long afterward, he pulled out a box and handed it to him. "By the way, my name's Rubeus Shagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts . . . go on, open it up."

Raoul soon opened it, and was pleased to find a gigantic strawberry shortcake, overflowing with strawberries, the sponge cake drowning in the fruit's juices. There was a mountain of whipped cream on top of it all. He was delighted, for he loved strawberry shortcakes, but had only had one once in his life. Maybe this man wasn't so bad after all. "Thanks," he said as he got up to get a fork from a small cabinet. Afterward, he sat back down and began eating the desert, trying not to do so too fast so he could enjoy it.

"Yeh like it? Thought yeh would," Shagrid told him as he watched him eat a large strawberry.

After swallowing, Raoul replied, "Yes, it's really good. Oh, and by the way, what in the world is Hogwarts?"

Shagrid stared at Raoul in shock. "You don't know what Hogwarts is?"

"Sorry, I don't," he responded, feeling a bit odd. Was he suppose to? Was it common knowledge or something like that?

"You mean you haven't told him anything?" Shagrid yelled at Victor and Patricia. "You haven't told him who he is, who is parents are, anything? I know you haven't been getting the letters, but I would at least think you've told him something!"

"I'm Raoul, and my parents were Daisy and James, right? There's nothing more to it, that's what I've been taught," he let the giant know. Shagrid seemed as though he would explode.

"Not just Daisy and James! They aren't normal people, they aren't just muggles. They were murdered by - by - oh, I can't say his name. This was because they were wizards!"

Raoul nearly dropped his fork. Wizards? "But Uncle Victor and Aunt Patricia always told me there was no such thing as magic. You must be mistaken. And what on Earth is a muggle?"

"No such thing as magic! And you don' know the diff'rence between a muggle and a wizard?" Shagrid boomed. "A muggle is a non-magic person. A wizard, on the other hand, is a magic person. You're a wizard, and you don' seem to know an ounce about its world!"

"But you must be mistaken. I'm not a wizard," he informed the giant.

"Course you are! 'ow else would you survive 'e-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's attack with jus' a scar?"

Raoul looked more confused than ever. He had survived an attempted murder? He always thought that scar was from falling from a window, although it was a bit odd that it formed into a sixty-fourth note. "But I thought I got this scar by falling out of a window. Out of the top window of a hotel building. That's how my parents died, right? That's what my uncle and aunt told me."

Now, Shagrid looked angrier than ever. "'ey fell outta window? No where close to the truth! 'Ey were murdered by the most evil wizard 'ere is! 'E tried to kill yeh too, but 'e couldn'. Just left yeh a scar!"

Raoul looked over at his aunt and uncle, who were standing next to Danny, terrified. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Magic is insane," Patricia told him in a terrified voice. Your mother, she used to come home from school with chocolate lizards that actually moved and when she did her homework during the holidays, you could see beetles pop out from her wand! We didn't want to have to deal with you being like that."

"Well," Shagrid began, shaking his head, "it dosen' matter now. 'E knows. 'Ere, take this. Musta been wonderin' where these letters came from." He handed Raoul one of the letters that he had been wondering about so long, the ones that kept mysteriously appearing. Slowly, he opened the envelop, Patricia and Victor shaking along with Danny. He then read the letter:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albert Dumbledore

Dear Mr. de Chagny,

We are excited to announce you have been accepted to wonderful Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. Please find everything on the enclosed list. We will be unable to supply you with these things. Term begins September 2. We await your owl by July 30.

Sincerely,

Professor McGonagall, headmistress.

"Await my owl?" Raoul asked.

"You must not know about that either. Instead of the postal service, us wizards use owls. You obviously don't have one, though. But, maybe we'll buy one tomorrow when we go to Diagonal Alley," Shagrid responded.

"You're taking me where?" Raoul asked in awe.

"You're taking him where?" Victor asked in disgust.

"Diagonal Alley to buy his school supplies. It's in London."

"You're not taking him anywhere!" Patricia screamed.

"Of course I am! I'm bringing him where he belongs, with other wizards. Not a bunch of terrible muggles like yourself!" Shagrid told her. Even though it took minutes and minutes of persuading, he eventually got the situation to look good. He was taking Raoul to Diagonal Alley, away from his aunt, uncle, and cousin!