Lie no. 1:
Things started going wrong fairly quickly, the closer it got to his eleventh birthday. First it happened when the glass caging the boa constrictor disappeared (even though it was not the weirdest thing to happen in his life, it was the start to a series of odd events that would result in events that would haunt him for years to come). Then the letters came and it was on the first letters arrival, that Harry saw one particular emotion on the portly man's face. One he never expected.
Eyebrows raised and pulled together. Upper eyelids raised, lower ones tensed, lips stretched towards his ears. Fear.
People didn't just get scared for nothing. And he wasn't going to risk Vernon's wrath over a letter. For, as they say, a cornered animal (and his uncle is very much like an animal, thank you) is often the most dangerous. So Harry watched on with bitter acceptance as he tore the letter between fat fingers. Then more came.
Shooting out from every crack, every crevice, every hole in the house. And that isn't even including the owls that carried them. He could see that each letter addressed to him had his specific location (down to the very room) before they were cruelly snatched by his uncle.
It wasn't long before the paranoia set in.
Lie no. 2:
First his uncle boarded the letter flap shut. Then he chuckled to himself as he burned letters in the fireplace. The next Sunday, Harry could barely keep himself from rolling his eyes at his uncles elation. All because there was no post on Sundays. He cried in joy, unaware of the birds that shoot across the street. Unaware of the birds that had nestled themselves all over the perimeter of the house.
Well... Until a letter flew out of the fire place and hit him in the face that is. It only got worse from there. A storm of them shot of seconds later, surrounding them in a whirlwind of paper. He stood for a moment in wonder, before grabbing one and running. His uncle hot on his heels. He didn't make it to his 'room'. He was grabbed and held in place so he couldn't open the numerous letters in his reach.
"We're going away! Far away! So far, they won't be able to find us!" the man ranted, going pink in the face.
"Daddy's gone mad!" Dudley exclaimed (Harry couldn't help but pause in his struggling for a moment to think 'How long did it take you to figure that out?').
Somehow, the paranoia got worse.
Lie no. 3:
He dragged the entire family to an island shack in the arse end of nowhere. Thunder crashing and lightning streaked across the night sky. Waves crashed against the shore. Everyone but Harry got a bed (as expected). And it was cold as shit.
When Dudley's watch went off at midnight, a large bang resounded through the shack and the light burst through the cracks. His cousin shot up and fell out of bed, as his aunt and uncle ran down the stairs. 'Is that shotgun? Where did he even get one of those?' he thought to himself in disbelief.
He turned as another thud resounded. The door had fallen from its hinges and lay on the floor with a mountain-sized man stepped inside, tucking a laughably small umbrella into his coat. "Sorry about that." he said as he walked into the building. Harry and the Dursley's watched in silent shock as he lifted the door back into place before turning towards Vernon and bending the end shotgun (which was definitely funny, thank you very much), completely disregarding all of the shorter man's rants whilst insulting him.
Harry stared on silently as the unknown man turned to Dudley and tried to instigate conversation. 'How does he know me?' he thought 'Although he doesn't know me as well as he thinks.'
"I'm not Harry," Dudley clarified
"I am," he said from behind the titan.
The giant tried to explain that he had a gift (which was sadly Harry's first), but he had sat on it.
"I imagine it'll taste fine just the same," he tried to placate, passing a cake over. "Who are you?" he asked, his curiosity finally being too strong to hold in.
"Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." he explained.
Lie no. 4:
So… magic is a thing?
Fact: Harry had many things happen in his life.
Fact: A majority of those things could be explained by magic
Fact: Hagrid wasn't lying
Fact: Goblins are his kind of people.
Gringotts was alive with energy as people as he stood at the front desk with a goblin staring down at him with beady little eyes. The two stared at each other for a good minute before Hagrid took over the conversation and proceeded to drag him through the bank.
What really sold him on the goblins was their warning:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
Long, deflective and still appropriately threatening.
Lie no. 5:
Wizards are dumb. Considering how adamant they are about hiding magic from muggles, they aren't very inconspicuous. First Hagrid had left him in the middle of King's Cross Station, then sent him to find an arbitrary platform with a super weird name. And can he just complain about the super loud family who weren't even trying to hide the fact that they were running straight into a wall! It wasnt even one or two, but a whole brood!
It physically hurt Harry to watch them.
He nodded blankly as he listened to the woman's instructions.
The train was tolerable thankfully considering he was able to hide in a small compartment away from everyone in the middle of the train. He was half asleep when one of the gingers sneaked in and asked if he could sit down with him.
'Hand in pocket, half hidden behind door, trying to hide himself, no confidence in what he's saying. Liar' he thought
"Sorry, there are other people here as well, they all just went to the toilet," he lied, turning away "Sorry." then the boy left in a huff. And when he finally thought he would finally have some peace a girl burst in uniform and asked about a toad. The only upside to all of this was a pair of fixed glasses.