Much to the displeasure of Vernon, over the next few weeks Harry began to ask question after question of Petunia and Vernon as if he expected them to know everything about the wizarding world. In the end Vernon had to send Harry to his room because he wouldn't leave them in peace although Petunia had told Harry everything she knew the day after the zoo trip. Harry took this sign to stop asking questions but unfortunately for the parents, Dudley started asking questions as well.
"Will I go to Hogwarts as well then".
"Why not".
"I might be magical, how do you know for sure".
"This is so unfair, why is Harry allowed and I'm not".
This tantrum ended in a similar fashion to Harry's excitement and he was soon trundling upstairs for the day after repeatedly being told that it wasn't up to the parents.

"Does that mean I have to go?" Harry asked next morning at breakfast, waiting until after Vernon had started eating the full English fry up Harry had made for the family, fearing being told off for more questions. Luckily they did not seem to mind new questions though and Petunia answered saying, "I'm not actually sure, I know that if you don't learn to control your magic then very nasty accidents can occur but I'm fairly sure your not forced to go and learn at Hogwarts."

"Why, do you not want to?" Vernon asked, looking up almost hopefully.
"No, I really want to" Harry added very quickly, "I just don't like the idea of being forced to do anything."

"Uncle," Harry said slowly a few moments later, "Do you not like magic? You seem to squirm every time we talk about it."

Vernon looked up surprised, and there was a slightly guilty look on his face when he replied,
"No its not that I don't like magic, honestly, I just feel uncomfortable about it because I don't know anything about it and to be honest I still find it quite hard to believe. It's hard to get my head round it and I get confused thinking about it, I prefer thinking about things I'm sure of," He said truthfully.

"Sorry uncle, I know I've been talking about it a lot, I'm just really excited, I mean this is the year I am going to Hogwarts isn't it, you said eleven right aunt" he said sheepishly with a quick look to his aunt for confirmation, who nodded smiling at his excitement.
"I'll try to talk about it less from now on."
"Don't be silly Harry; of course you're excited. It's me who should be sorry."

Despite this Harry made an effort to not bring up the subject of magic too much around the family, which they noticed and happily accepted although Dudley would still often bring it up when they were alone. He was jealous still about not being able to go to Hogwarts but after a while had learnt to accept that it wasn't Harry's fault at all.

It wasn't too long after that when Harry received his Hogwarts acceptance letter along with a note at the bottom saying that one of the members of staff would be coming to pick Harry up to help him buy his school things. When he told his aunt and uncle this, they immediately offered to come with him but he said he would rather do it himself, saying that he wanted to do it alone although really he knew that they were still scared of magic and didn't really want to accompany him if a teacher would be there as well. Soon the day came and Harry was waiting in the front hall at 11'oclock as the letter stated the arrival of the member of staff. Then, as it turned five past 11 Harry suddenly got a very cold feeling in his stomach. Had this all been some kind of sick cruel joke by his relatives, there was no such thing as magic. Tears were forming in his eyes and he was turning to go back upstairs when he heard footsteps. Big footsteps. Loud footsteps and they were approaching the door. Harry gulped nervously, the teacher sounded big. Were wizards differently sized to normal people? Suddenly he had a thousand more questions to ask on top of those he hadn't had answered yet and he couldn't wait. He opened the door before the knock came and immediately stumbled back terrified. The man standing before him was huge, way larger than anyone he had ever seen before. He made uncle Vernon look like powerpuff girl.

"Hello there, you must be Harry," the man said gruffly but clearly smiling. "It's been a long time since I last saw you."

"Umm, I don't think we've met Sir," Harry said timidly.
"Ahh but you wouldn't remember it. And don't called me Sir, my names Hagrid" he said happily.

"Well you best go say bye to your family, I'll wait for you outside shall I?" he asked. Harry nodded and ran to the kitchen.
Harry said that he'd be back that night but it was still somewhat tearfully that Petunia said goodbye to him. She knew she was being silly but she still felt that she was losing him to an extent, just like she had lost lily. Harry on the other hand was positively quivering with excitement. He had got over the shock of Hagrid and had already decided that he was going to be a very friendly teacher.

"So Hagrid," Harry asked as they were walking along the pavement, "Where exactly are we going?"
"Diagon Alley, its in London and is one of the largest magical settlements in Britain and almost definitely the largest shopping area. Nearly everyone does his or her Hogwarts shopping there."
"How can it be in London? Surely we would of heard of it if it was in London, its not exactly like there is a place to hide it in London is there, especially if its big at all."
"Well wizards tend to be pretty good at remaining hidden from muggles. All sorts of ways of hiding a place."

"Muggles?" Harry enquired.

"Non-magic folk, and we have to remain hidden because, well, I'm sure you've heard of witch hunting right? Well muggles tend to be rather scared of magical folk and although it's rather hard for them to harm us, we keep out of their way for their benefit. It's actually against the law for wizards and witches to reveal their existence to muggles or do magic in front of muggles except in certain circumstances. Which unfortunately means you can't practice magic outside of Hogwarts when you're home, and not at all until your seventeen. That's when we become of age."
"So how are we getting to Diagon Alley then?" Harry asked.
"Full of questions aren't ye" Hagrid said chuckling,

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Cheeky too then, well we'll take a bus we will."
"Really?" Harry said astonished that wizards would have to use a bus to get round, "Aren't t there any magical ways to travel?"
"Loads," Hagrid said smiling, "and wait till you see this bus, ain't nothing that's not magical about it."
"So where do we meet it?"

"Wherever we want".
"What do you m… whoa" for Hagrid had just stuck out his right arm and a huge, triple-decker bus had just appeared out of nowhere.
A young man stepped out and started announcing himself but Hagrid quickly brushed him aside and dragged Harry on.
"Your gonna want to hold on" Hagrid said, grabbing hold of the side of a bed he had sat himself down on.
"Why?" Harry asked but it was too late, the bus had set off and Harry had been thrown off his feet towards the back of the bus. He stumbled up and looked out of the window. He was astonished to see they were hurtling along the coast.

"But Hagrid? Privet Drive's nowhere near the coast."
"That's magic that is Harry, this bus, the night bus, jumps to wherever someone flags it down and then back to where it was previously. Very fast method of getting round this is."
"But how come people never see it?"
Hagrid raised his eyebrows.
"Aah, magic" Harry said, finally comprehending everything.

"Right, here we are. Padstow Cornwall" the conductor announced to a little old witch. He then turned to Harry and Hagrid.
"Wheres you off to then?" he asked.
"Diagon Alley, London."
"Right you are" and the countryside disappeared and they were hurtling through a very busy main road in the middle of London.

"Phew, that's gonna take some getting used to," Harry said, absolutely loving the experience and only hoping as he thought he soon would that he wasn't about to wake up.

Hagrid paid the conductor and they jumped off the bus. Harry looked round for signs of magic but all he could see was a rather uninviting inn in front of him and houses occupying dingy street.
"This was Harry" Hagrid said pulling Harry into the inn. Harry just glimpsed the name before he passed through the doors, THE LEAKY CAULDRON.
"Just passing through today Tom" Hagrid said nodding at the innkeeper behind the bar, who nodded back, "Hogwarts business" he added nodding at Harry.

"No, it can't be. Not Harry Potter" Tom said staring at the scar on Harry's forehead and the inn went very quiet as for a reason completely unknown to Harry, every head turned towards him. Then suddenly everyone in the inn moved towards Harry in one movement, who instinctively moved backwards thinking he was being attacked but everyone simply started cheering and shaking his hand.
"What an honour, what an honour" he heard many of them say as if he was someone important. Before too long though Hagrid once again grabbed his arm and pulled him through the throng, most of who had already shaken his hand more than once.

"What the hell was that about," Harry asked Hagrid who was thoroughly alarmed by what had just passed.
"You don't know? Well I guess that's just expected," he said quietly, "Blimey, didn't think I'd be the one to tell Harry Potter about Harry Potter," he said wiping his forehead with his gigantic sleeve.
"However now's not the time, maybe over lunch" he added seeing the look on Harry's face.
Harry looked around but realized there was nothing to look at. They were standing in a very poor excuse for an outside part to an inn. All there was were a couple of bins and other than that a brick wall which barely left room for Harry to stand with Hagrid.
Hagrid pulled out his umbrella and started tapping bricks on the wall purposefully. He then spread his hands impressively and announced,
"Welcome Harry, to Diagon Alley."

Anyway there you go, I'm unsure how this chapter will be received but I'm not worried really.

Anyway for those of you who don't know me, I'm not your average fan, I'm not crazy or anything, its just HP has always held a sort of special place in my heart and so I've read the books more times than I can remember. As such my knowledge is fairly extensive of all things cannon and I'm thinking of making a quiz to set as a story, what do you guys think?