CHAPTER TWO

ONE DECADE LATER


Nearly ten years had passed since that faithful night at Godric's Hollow, and Lily was still a single parent, her newly arranged marriage was (luckily) rarely brought up. Her son, Harry was now a sweet young ten-year-old boy, who was just shy from turning eleven. Harry was a well fit boy for his age, he had jet-black hair like James and inherited his mother's bright green eyes, as well as a pair of black wired and round shaped glasses.

But more than anything, Harry had one thing that separated him from his mother, something he was more than unusual, and it was this: On top of his forehead was a lightning bolt shaped scar, just imagine that. Whenever he went out to play with friends, Harry had his mother protect it by covering it up with his hair or sometimes he would wear a hat or bandage over it. He had had it for as long as he could remember, and one of the first questions he could ever remember asking his mother was how he had gotten it.

"Ask me again some other time, Harry." Lily answered, "I'll explain everything in due course, sweetheart. Until then, just say you've had a nasty cut you're recovering from, or something thereof."

Harry was not one to break his promise and agreed he would do so per his mother's request.

"Okay, mom, I understand."

Whenever the time came for Lily to leave Harry alone, she would attend to her job four or five times a month every once a week, which required her traveling around the world, Lily would act as a nurse who helped people with medical issues using the pseudonym Lila Evelyn, with Harry's name changed to Harvey Porter, he was the son of Jason Porter, a doctor. It was not an exciting life living by a lie to cover for his real name, but Harry learned to adjust to it. For the first ten years of living together, Lily performed this task with relative ease, taking Harry with her a good chunk of the time. As a result of her hard work, Lily wound up making more than enough money to pay for rent, groceries, and anything else she and Harry could want. And when she left Harry alone, she would hire a babysitter, one who did not know magic.

It was a warm and sunny Wednesday on the twenty-ninth of July where we come in, and to Harry and Lily that could mean only one thing: Harry would soon be turning eleven, safe to say, a birthday party was all set, and it would soon be underway. That late afternoon, two days later, when Harry was outside playing soccer with some friends, he soon heard a familiar voice call out to him belonging to that of his mother, "Harvey, it's time to come home, sweetheart."

"Coming, mom" Harry answered.

As he left, Harry bid farewell to his friends whom he had gotten to know for ten long years, which were essentially five girls and four boys at exactly or around his age. While on his way home, he saw that there were shadows of people at either around, exactly or older than his mother's age, some wearing various colored cloaks, some with patterns, others without. But then it struck Harry that this was probably some silly stunt — Could it be that these people were obviously collecting for something? Yes, that would explain it. But how wrong he was, for these people were in fact, guests who had been invited to his birthday party.

"SURPRISE!" they all said, Harry was humbled. "Happy Birthday, Harry!"

Harry soon saw that one of the guests, a giant of sorts, turned around. His mouth beaming a smile with serenity. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair, "An' here's Harry!" said the giant. "Las' time we saw you, you was only a baby, yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got Lily's eyes."

"Thank you, sir." Harry said, making a bow.

"And he's modest too," said a normally severe-looking woman, who today had a smile on her face like the rest of the guests. She was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of markings a cat had had around its eyes. The woman wore an emerald cloak. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun, her name was Minerva McGonagall.

It was not until a tall, thin, and very old man, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt stepped forwards. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.

"Many happy returns of the day, Harry!" he said with a bigger smile.

"Hello, sir." Harry replied, but he didn't know what to think or say next, so he looked at the guests and then turned to his mother for help. "Mom, who are all of these people?"

Lily smiled back, "Oh, of course. How silly of me to forget, Harry. These are some friends I've invited to your not only your birthday party, but your coming-of-age party too."

" 'Coming of age' party?" Harry asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Lily then approached her son and placed a hand on her son's shoulder, "I know it's all so confusing, sweetheart, but this will all make sense in no time."

"Yeh don' know what yeh are, do yeh, Harry?" asked the giant, to which Harry shook his head no. "Blimey, didn't you ever wonder what yer mum and dad learned it all?"

Harry was still confused, "All what?"

The giant smiled and revealed the news, "Harry — yer a wizard."

As if it happened so quickly, Harry couldn't prevent his mouth from gaping, "I'm a what?"

"A wizard, o' course," replied the giant. "An' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?"

Harry was then handed an envelope by his mother, to his surprise, this was no ordinary envelope, it was an extra special one. The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, turning the envelope over, his hand trembling from excitement, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. His curiosity getting the better of him, Harry carefully opened the envelope so as not ruin the contents inside, for if he did, he wouldn't know to forgive himself. When he opened the envelope, a letter landed onto his lap, opening it, Harry read the message meant for him:


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 Mr. 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

Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress


When he was done reading the letter, Harry gently folded the letter and looked at every one of the party guests, and they all had smiles of pure kindness and love on their faces. Harry turned to the one in the emerald cloak, McGonagall she was called, "Am I truly a wizard, ma'am?"

McGonagall nodded, "We know it's a lot for you to take in and process, Mr. Potter… But yes, it's perfectly true. Ask anyone you like; they'll tell you the same answer as I have just done so."

To Harry's amazement, sure enough, the answer was indeed the same as McGonagall had told him. Harry then turned to his mother, hugging her with much love and affection.

"Oh, mom… this is the best birthday present I could ever get." The two broke apart. "But why didn't you tell me before?"

Lily sighed, "It wasn't my place to do so, Harry. With the protection both me and Dumbledore gave, we had to keep you safe."

"Keep me safe," asked Harry. "From what?"

"Not so much as to what, Harry, but rather who." Dumbledore replied. "Do you still want to know why you have that scar on your forehead?"

Harry nodded eagerly as he took off the bandage which hid his lightning bolt shaped scar, "Do I ever!"

Dumbledore then nodded to the giant as if to say, 'go ahead', and so the giant sat down on a sofa and patted his lap, "Have a seat, Harry. And I'll tell yeh all 'bout it." As Harry joined him, the giant soon realized something, he held out his hand, "Oh, I almost forgot… I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

Harry shook the big hand back with a smile, "Hello Hagrid, I'm Harry."

"Pleased ter meet yeh, Harry." he replied beaming back, his smile then disappeared. "Now yer story, Harry…" Hagrid began inhaling and exhaling to calm his nerves. "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?"

"Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?"

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, 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…" Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.

"Nah — can't spell it." Hagrid shuddered. "Most people call him the Dark Lord, others just call him You-Know-Who."

"My good Hagrid," Dumbledore interrupted briefly, he spoke in a calm, but firm tone, "Surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for far too long I have been trying to persuade our people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."

Hagrid let loose a heavy gulp, but went on with his storytelling to Harry, "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. 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. Dumbledore's the only one he was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway."

Taking a swig of a drink of what looked like an orange-colored juice to Harry, which was revealed to be pumpkin juice, Hagrid cleared his throat and continued.

"Now, yer mum 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 was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"

Hagrid then pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.

"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum and dad, nicer people yeh couldn't find — anyway…"

"You-Know-Who killed yer dad James. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you and yer mum, 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. And as fer how yeh got that mark on yer forehead? It's no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you and yer mum, an' that's why yer both famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you both, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts — an' you was only a baby, an' both you an' yer mum lived."

After what seemed like an hour, Harry didn't know what to say, he still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. But he asked the one question that seemed sensible and easy enough for Hagrid to answer.

"But what ever happened to him, the Dark Lord?"

"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you both. Makes yeh and Lily 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 two that finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — I dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' about you two stumped him, all right."

Everyone looked at Harry with warmth, kindness, respect, and love blazing in their eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He spent ten years in hiding, and was addressed as Harvey Porter, average boy.

"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you and the others must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."

To his surprise, everyone laughed warmly, including Hagrid.

"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or any other feeling?"

Harry pondered on this for a while, but it soon occurred to him, he had done one or two minor things… his hair growing back fast, his injuries healing faster than other people, making objects float without touching them, the list was endless. Harry then looked back at Hagrid and the others who continued to smile, he even saw that Hagrid, along with everyone else were positively beaming at him.

"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."

"So how do I get to Hogwarts?" Harry asked no one in particular.

"We'll tell you all about Hogwarts as we party down tonight, Harry." Dumbledore answered, "But for now, I suggest you join us and dine on some of this lovely party food and open your presents from everyone, we can't very well celebrate without the recently newly turned eleven-year-old young wizard of the hour."

Knowing Dumbledore meant him, Harry made a warm smile and chuckled, "No sir, that simply wouldn't do."

"There's a good boy, Harry. Now enough chitchat, let's have some fun and let's party." Dumbledore replied ruffling Harry's jet-black hair.

And that's exactly what they did. As the party went along, true to his promise Harry would only ask more of his questions about his new lifestyle and get them answered about, Dumbledore even told him that if he so wished, he could keep his Muggle friends he made all those years ago, as he believed Muggles were fascinating people, they were, if anything, just a little confuse. Ultimately, Harry agreed that he would keep his old friends, just to get the best of both worlds, but whether or not his old friends could accept having a celebrity boy wizard for a friend would be entirely up to them.

During the party, Harry got acquainted with most of his guests, some who would be his soon to be professors at Hogwarts, others who were old friends of Lily during her Hogwarts years. Among the professors Harry got to know included, but did not limit to — Minerva McGonagall, who taught Transfiguration, a Half-Goblin named Filius Flitwick, who taught Charms, Madam Rolanda Hooch, who taught Flying, and Pomona Sprout, who taught Herbology. In addition, Lily introduced one of many among her friends, who she explained knew James as well, who Harry got to meet was a man named Remus John Lupin, who was his magical uncle. Harry was also told that if he wanted, despite him being human and Hagrid being a giant, he could consider the latter to be another uncle too. Harry, of course, delightfully agreed.

From each of these guests and his teachers, Harry received the following gifts: Dumbledore gave him a variety of Wizarding world sweets to snack on, McGonagall gave him a book entitled Transformation Through the Ages, Hagrid not only gave him a handsome, leather-covered book containing photos his parents and their time together at and after Hogwarts, but also made a large and delicious sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written in green icing and pink frosting, Flitwick gave him a writing quill from an eagle with bottles of navy blue and black inks respectfully, Madam Hooch gave him a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp, Pomona Sprout gave him a vase filled with assorted magical and non-magical flowers, and his Uncle Remus gave him received a copy of The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger.

At one point during the festivities, everyone was discussing their favorite magical creature, Harry didn't have one, so he listened just the same to hear everyone's answers. When it was Hagrid's turn, he replied dragons.

"Okay, I'll bite. Why a dragon, Hagrid?" asked Harry.

"They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults at Gringotts." said Hagrid, "And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat. Crickey, I'd like a dragon."

"You'd like one?"

"Wanted one ever since I was a kid."

When the party was finished, there were presents aplenty as well as a lot of food and drink scattered all over the place, but poor Harry was too tired to help clean up, so Dumbledore helped Lily by caring the young soon to be newly enrolled wizard off to be tucked into bed, while the rest of the guests would help clean up the mess and spare dishes away.

Before turning off Harry's bedroom light, Dumbledore approached the young savior of the Wizarding world and smiled, he also offered him some advice, "I look immensely forward to having you at Hogwarts very soon, Harry. Not only will we teach you how to use your magical gifts and abilities, but how to control them as well. Also, I want you to know that as you go along learning at Hogwarts, it won't be so much as your abilities that'll show us who you want to be, rather instead, it'll be your choices."

"I'll keep that in mind, and thank you, Professor." Harry said with a smile.

The old man beamed back and removed Harry's glasses and put them on his bedroom lamp table.

"You're very welcome, Harry."

He then turned his attention to a bag containing a bag of what looked like normal jelly beans but were in fact a brand of magical jelly beans called Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"I'm glad I warned you to be careful with these, Harry. When the packaging says every flavor, they truly mean it."

True to Dumbledore's word, Harry learned wizards and witches can get ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then they can get spinach and liver and tripe. Hagrid even told Harry that he had a soap-flavored one once, which made the newly young wizard in the making laugh warmly with his newfound magical family and friends.

Dumbledore continued, "I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them — but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee to wrap up the night. Do you mind, Harry?"

Harry shook his head, "No, not at all, sir. Please, help yourself."

The old man nodded and popped a golden-brown bean into his mouth, then he choked and said, "Alas! Ear wax!"

He then left two small sheets of parchment by Harry's desk, one containing the list of the required school supplies and the other being a train ticket for when to go to when the big day came for him to go Hogwarts, on it was the picture a scarlet steam engine with the number and an inscription 'Hogwarts Express – First of September. King's Cross Station: London, England.'

"Good night, Harry. We'll be seeing you in September." said Dumbledore.

"Good night, sir. And thanks again for you and everyone else coming." Harry replied.

"It was our pleasure," said Dumbledore.

And then without another word, Dumbledore smiled and closed Harry's bedroom door and left. It had been a most wonderful party, Harry closed his eyes, knowing tomorrow was a big day, he would go what Dumbledore told him earlier was a tavern and pub called the Leaky Cauldron, and behind its brick wall barrier and archway, it would contain all of the things Harry would need to stock up on his school supplies and everything else that was required, it was marketplace called Diagon Alley.

As Harry's head touched his pillow, he was excited for everything that lay in store for him tomorrow, he could hardly wait to see what would happen to him and his mother next. But that is a chapter for another time…


Author's notes:

* So that was my second chapter of the Sorcerer's Stone, and as always with every one of my stories, let me know what you all think so far by leaving your feedback in the comments area.
* The Harry Potter franchise, its characters, elements and everything else are owned and were created by J. K. Rowling.


That said, until the next chapter my fellow Wizards, Witches and Muggles:
I'm M. R. Parkerson signing off…