In the canon version of Harry receiving his (first) Hogwarts letter, in HP&tPS, JKR gave that chapter the title of "The Letters from No One."

Chapter 4
The Letters from No One 2.0

Wednesday, 24th July; early morning
Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey

When Harry walked into the kitchen, he saw Uncle Vernon sitting at the table, reading a newspaper. Dudley also was sitting at the table, waving his Smelting stick about. Aunt Petunia was standing by a metal tub in the kitchen sink, where she was dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes grey.

Clearly Aunt Petunia intended for these grey clothes to be Harry's uniform at Stonewall High.

Harry thought, Those clothes are way too big for me, and they're elephant-grey besides; all they need is a "Kick Me" sign sewn onto the back of the shirts.

Everyone in the house heard the click of the mail slot and the flop of letters on the doormat.

Uncle Vernon was reading his newspaper. Without putting the newspaper down, he said, "Get the mail, Dudley."

"Make Harry get it."

"Get the mail, Harry," ordered Uncle Vernon, still not looking up from his newspaper.

"You heard him, Harry," said Dudley, poking Harry with his Smelting stick.

"Fine," Harry said, sounding annoyed. But actually, Harry was happy, because he knew what was about to happen.

Harry went to the doormat and gathered the mail—

• A postcard from Aunt Marge, who was on holiday on the Isle of Wight;

• some kind of bill, in a brown envelope; and

• Harry's Hogwarts letter, which was addressed, just like before, to "the Cupboard under the Stairs."

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. On the back side of the envelope was a purple-wax seal with the Hogwarts crest on it.

"Hurry up, boy," Uncle Vernon shouted from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.

Let the games begin, Harry thought.

Harry walked into the kitchen, handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard—then stepped far away from the fat man's reach.

"Oi, Aunt Petunia," Harry said, as he held up the envelope so that she could see it clearly. "Who would write a letter to an almost-eleven-year-old boy? And not put a stamp on it?"

Aunt Petunia looked sick. Uncle Vernon was beginning to.

"The strangest part of all," Harry said, "is that it's addressed to 'the Cupboard under the Stairs.' "

Two out of three Dursleys went chalk-white.

Dudley laughed scornfully. "The letter's a fake. How could someone outside the house think that's where you sleep? They got lucky that they're right."

Harry laughed just as scornfully back. "How did Hogwarts know my fully correct address? Magic."

Harry continued, "Aren't I right, Aunt Petunia?"

"Shut up, boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled. "I will not have talk of any fre—"

Suddenly Uncle Vernon's newspaper became newswater—for a tiny instant, he was holding flat rectangles of water; but one second later, Vernon's part of the kitchen table was wet. Meanwhile, Dudley's Smelting stick flew out of his hand and began beating both the fat boy and his fat father about the head.

The metal tub in the sink, that held grey dye and Harry's would-be Stonewall High uniforms, vanished—along with the dye, along with the grey-dyed clothes. Aunt Petunia screamed.

Harry said calmly, "I don't need to open this parchment envelope to know that it's from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The same school that both my parents fully attended, starting from age eleven, and which they left at age eighteen after they sat their magical A-levels. Only magical children are invited to this school. Dudley doesn't rate a letter."

Dudley said, "I don't want to go! Who'd want to go to a school full of freaks?"

Dudley was smacked across the face by his Smelting stick.

Meanwhile, Harry said, "That's a good question. Who'd want to go to a magical school if they weren't magical?" Harry looked straight at Aunt Petunia.

Uncle Vernon said, "You are not going to this Hoggy school! I forbid it! In any case, we're not paying for it!"

Harry laughed scornfully; Vernon scowled. Then Harry said, "No shit, you're not paying for Hogwarts? You can't even be bothered to buy me a new Stonewall High uniform—and that's what, fifty quid maximum? And this is when anyone can look at you and Dudley and see that you have money enough to buy food."

Uncle Vernon jumped up from the table, his fist cocked. "You ungrateful—"

"Stay back!" Harry yelled. A red beam shot out from Harry's outthrust right hand, and Uncle Vernon dropped limp to the floor.

"What have you done—?" Dudley yelled as he jumped up. His eyes promised murder.

A red beam shot from Harry's left hand. Dudley dropped limp, back into his chair.

Aunt Petunia sounded scared: "They're breathing, they're not dead, right? Are they going to die?"

"No," said Harry. "I didn't want them dead, I just wanted them to back off."

"Could you have killed them?"

"If I thought they were going to kill me? Yes."

Harry glared at his mum's Muggle sister and said, "How many of their bones have I broken? How many scars have I put on their backs? Don't worry about me being a murderer, aunt. Worry about one of them, or both of them, being guests of Her Majesty for the rest of their lives."

"Dudley isn't violent."

"Dudley intended to kill me, one minute ago. Dudley regularly beats up smaller kids in the park."

Aunt Petunia sighed. "I don't want the disgrace of having a family member convicted of murder. How can I get you sent to Hogwarts for ten months a year?"

Harry answered, "Sign whatever I ask you to sign."

Then Harry, well aware that his aunt had no defences against Legilimency by unscrupulous bearded wizards, lied to Aunt Petunia: "But whilst I want to go to a magical school, it might be Manchester Magical Academy instead of Hogwarts. I have a big problem with Hogwarts, so long as Dumbledore is running it."

Then Harry said, "Now excuse me, I have to go outside and tell an owl to stay here."

Harry walked out the front door and looked about. No owl. Harry walked around the house and into the back garden. There he saw a barn owl perched in a tree; the owl was watching him.

Harry said to the owl, "I'm writing a letter now, which I want to be delivered to Hogwarts this morning. Will you wait for me to come into the back garden with a letter?"

"HOOT," replied the owl.

Harry entered the house through the back door, which immediately brought Harry into the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was standing there, and she looked nervous—perhaps because Vernon on the floor and Dudley in his chair still were unconscious. Aunt Petunia asked Harry, "Can you wake them up?"

Harry lied to his aunt again: "Whatever I did, I don't know how to fix it. All I can tell you is that I didn't want to hurt them any—so maybe they're only asleep."

Then Harry borrowed paper, envelope and a Biro pen from Aunt Petunia, and sat down to write a letter to Hogwarts. Harry had no problem writing this letter only a few feet away from his two wandlessly Stupefyed relatives—

.

Dear Deputy Headmistress McGonagall,

My name is Harry James Potter. Today I got a letter from you, telling me I had "acceptance" at your school for magical children.

I'm confused. I also got a letter from Manchester Magical Academy (handed to me by someone called a "home elf"). MMA's letter told me that I was accepted at their school too. I'm confused because I didn't write to either school and ask to be your student.

.

That last paragraph was pure balderdash—but would Dumbledore know this?

.

The only reason I knew what the sentence "We await your owl no later than 31st July" means is because I read my mum's diary from her first year at Hogwarts. To use Hogwarts words, I'm raised by my Muggle aunt and uncle, so I know nothing about wizards and witches and your world, except what my mum's diary as a "firstie" taught me.

Let me be honest. Just from reading my mum's diary, I don't want to go to school at Hogwarts. Do you still have a boring ghost teaching one of your classes? Do you still have one of your classes cursed, so that no teacher lasts more than a year? Is "Muggle Studies" still taught by someone who has not lived even one day in the Muggle world?

Also, after hearing some things that my uncle and aunt have told me about how I came to be with them, I hate Albus Dumbledore, even though I've never met him. If the words at the top of your letter are out of date and Albus Dumbledore is not your headmaster anymore, forget this last part.

I haven't decided yet whether I'll keep going to school in the normal world or I'll go to MMA. But Hogwarts? No thank you.

Harry James Potter

P.S. I want to hear from any of my parents' friends. If you have a way to contact Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew or Severus Snape, please ask them to write me (by using Royal Mail please, not owls).

.

Harry put down his pen and grinned. He knew exactly what Dumbledore would do when he read Harry's letter—which was exactly what Harry wanted Dumbles to do!

Two minutes later

Harry watched the owl fly away, clutching in its claws Harry's paper-envelope letter to McGonagall.

When Harry walked into the kitchen, he saw that his uncle and cousin were awake after having been wandlessly Stunned, but they were groggy. Harry made no apology for Stunning them.

Harry noticed that Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley were giving him wary looks.

A half-hour later, after Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had gone into their bedroom and talked, they walked out and announced to both boys that Harry's "bedroom" would be moved to Dudley's second bedroom. Harry was not surprised that Dudley threw a tantrum, but Harry was shocked when Dudley was told, "Be silent, this is happening, deal with it."

The first thing that Harry decided to do was to move his no-Trace wand from his old "bedroom" to his new bedroom. But how could Harry do this without his three magic-hating relatives knowing that Harry had the wand?

Harry could not use the Haroldus Cyrus Potter wand to cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on the wand itself. Instead, Harry stuck the wand inside Harry's pants and hid it under his loose shirt. None of the Dursleys commented on any wand-shaped bulge in Harry's clothing, during the minute that Harry had this bulge.

A half-hour later
Hogwarts SOW&W, Headmaster's office

Minerva McGonagall strode into Albus's office, and she made Albus think of a hellcat on two legs. She slapped a rectangle of paper—not parchment, paper—on Albus's desk and yelled, "Look what you've done, Albus!"

Albus smugly thought, Whatever she's angry about, it can't be all that bad.

Then he picked up the letter and read it. It was worse than he could have ever imagined.

Harry Potter refused to attend Hogwarts? He was considering Manchester Magical Academy? And worst of all, Harry personally hated him? How could Albus Dumbledore possibly guide Harry to his suicidal destiny now? This was a disaster!

Albus considered apparating to Little Whinging and doing some Imperiusing of the Dursleys and of Harry—for the Greater Good, of course.

Minerva interrupted his thoughts. "He knows, Albus! He knows you left him with those horrid Muggle relatives of his, and he blames you! Merlin, what kind of Muggle cruelties did you and I abandon him to?"

Albus said, his eyes a-twinkle, "Now Minerva, they're his relatives. I'm sure they've treated him kindly."

Unfortunately, by now Minerva knew Albus's verbal tricks. She pressed him: " 'I'm sure' isn't the same as 'I know,' Albus. How often have you checked on him?"

"Don't worry, I've the situation well in hand. I've a Squib who reports to me about Harry. Arabella Figg, you might remember her."

"This isn't what I asked. How often since 1981 have you checked on Harry?"

"Minerva, you know the demands on my time—"

"Have you visited Harry Potter even once?" Albus was silent. Minerva pushed: "You need to talk to him now or you'll never see him again."

"If I show up at his doorstep now, he'll spit in my face!" Then Albus got an idea: "I have the perfect solution. I'll send Lily's former friend Severus there, to talk-up attending Hogwarts and to talk me up."

Albus felt so proud of himself at that moment, and Minerva's negativity didn't diminish this even a little. Albus amazed himself sometimes, how brilliant he was!

Of course, Lily had loudly ended her friendship with Severus, back during their fifth year, then eventually had married Severus's enemy, James Potter. And Albus had to acknowledge, reluctantly, that Severus was by far the most hated professor at Hogwarts. Still, Albus had complete confidence in Severus.

Albus was not a bit worried about what might happen when a boy who already hated Albus, met Albus's fiercely-hated underling who hated the boy's father.

Albus did not feel like kneeling down in the fireplace and floo-calling Severus. Instead, Albus would use the Elder Wand to send a message-Patronus to Severus: "Come to my office."

This was the plan—till Albus pulled the Elder Wand out of the pocket of his robes. He managed to send off the message-Patronus, but the task was much harder than it would have been, even last week. The Elder Wand was no longer hot in his hand; instead, it now was barely warm. Magically, the Elder Wand now was weak, it was ordinary. Albus frowned. What's wrong with the Elder Wand, and how do I fix it?

Meanwhile at Number 4, Privet Drive

Harry had carried all his worldly possessions up the stairs to his "new" bedroom. This had not taken long. The moving process was made easier because the door of Harry's new bedroom did not have a cat flap (yet) or a zillion locks on the outside of the door (yet).

As soon as all of Harry possessions were carried upstairs and were put away, Harry locked the door and called out lowly, "Greyclay."

When Greyclay appeared, Harry asked his house-elf to fetch Lily's student trunk that Harry had left at Potter Manor. Greyclay did this. Harry asked Greyclay to put an elf-magic Notice-Me-Not charm on his mum's trunk. Greyclay did this too. Harry thanked Greyclay for his help, then Greyclay elf-popped away.

Harry picked up the Haroldus Cyrus Potter wand, from where he had hidden it in his room. Harry used the wand to cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on himself.

With the Dursleys not noticing Harry for the moment, he walked from his bedroom to the bathroom, whilst carrying his no-Trace wand.

In the bathroom

Harry stood in front of the sink and mirror and, using his left hand, he pulled his bangs up to uncover his forehead.

Harry had been returned to 1991 for a bit over a day—which meant that it had been only a bit over a day since the horcrux in his scar had been killed—but Harry noted that already his lightning-bolt injury was less red and inflamed.

With the horcrux dead in Harry's scar, the lightning bolt on his forehead was now a three-part, uniquely shaped laceration. A laceration that was infamous throughout Wizarding Britain, because of those ridiculous Harry Potter books that Gilderoy Lockhart had pseudonymously written—but still, the lightning-bolt wound now was merely a laceration.

The Episkey spell, Harry had remembered Madam Pomfrey saying, was designed to heal lacerations (amongst other minor injuries).

Now Harry pointed his wand at his forehead, using his mirror-reflection to guide his wand's aim. "Episkey," he said. Harry's lightning-bolt laceration felt burning-hot for a second, then ice-cold for a second.

A few seconds later, Harry said it again: "Episkey."

The lightning bolt on Harry's forehead now was gone, without a hint that it ever had been there.

Harry walked back into his bedroom, and casually stowed his no-Trace wand in his mum's school trunk.

The doorbell rang then. Harry ran out of his bedroom, not even bothering to shut his door.

When Harry looked over the balcony railing, he saw Aunt Petunia walking out of the kitchen, towards the front door.

"Aunt Petunia," Harry called down, "don't open the front door till I get there."

Aunt Petunia turned about and looked up at Harry. "Why should I do this?" she snapped.

"Because I'm willing to bet money that it's a Hogwarts person at the front door, and I'm whom he'll want to talk to."

"Fine. Hurry," she said. In the meantime, she pulled a key from her pocket and locked the cupboard under the stairs.

This annoyed Harry, but then he grinned evilly. You've never heard of "Alohomora," have you, dear aunt?

As Harry thought this, he hurried down the stairs, then stood himself at a place where he was near the front door but could not be seen by whoever was standing on the doorstep. Harry then gestured to Aunt Petunia, Continue.

Aunt Petunia opened the door. Immediately she snarled, "You!"

"Petunia," a man's voice drawled. That voice packed more hurtfulness into the one word of Harry's aunt's name, than Draco Malfoy could have caused with a hundred schoolboy words of insult.

The man's voice continued, "Or do you prefer I call you 'Tuney'?"