Dark: Two chapters in one day! O.o who woulda thunk it?

Deana: I never thought I'd see the day...

Dark: (beats Deana with a frying pan and grins) please ignore what you just saw. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 4

The Keeper of the Keys

BOOM. Another knock.

"Where's the cannon?" Asked Dudley stupidly.

There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. In his hands was a rifle--now they knew what had been in the long thin package.

"Who's there?" He asked. "I'm warning you--I'm armed!"

There was silence for a moment then--

CRASH!

The door was hit with such force that it flew off its hinges and landed with a deafening crash on the floor. A giant of a man stood in the doorway, his face almost completely covered by long, shaggy hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you would make out his eyes, they glinted like black beetles under all that hair.

"Hagrid, you didn't have to knock down the door..."

A young girl with black hair plastered to her face because of the rain walked out from behind Hagrid. She pushed her hair away from her face to reveal stunning sapphire eyes.

Dudley's eyes widened at the sight of the girl.

"She's beautiful..." He said slowly.

The girl paid no attention to him. I don't think she even realized he existed.

"Oops." Hagrid picked up the door and set it back in place.

The girl grinned when she saw Harry. "Harry!"

She launched herself into his arms, knocking him down in the process.

Dudley's jaw dropped.

Harry's eyes widened slightly before he smiled. "Kagome."

"You know her?" Asked Dudley incredulously.

Harry and Kagome ignored him.

Hagrid walked over to the sofa where Dudley was still in shock.

"Move over, yeh big lump."

Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother who was hiding behind Uncle Vernon.

"Harry, who is that girl?" Demanded Uncle Vernon.

"She's--"

"Harry's girlfriend." Kagome shot them a dazzling, if mischievously playful, smile, which stunned Dudley and almost had him drooling, as she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck.

Everyone in the room, including Harry and Hagrid, looked at her.

"WHAT?!"

Kagome laughed as she sat next to Harry and slipped her arm over his shoulder in a friendly way .

"You guys are so gullible."

"Yeh know Harry, Kagome?" Asked Hagrid in surprise.

"We've met, yes."

Harry looked up at Hagrid who was smiling at him.

"The las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said Hagrid. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."

"The opposite of me!" Exclaimed Kagome happily.

Uncle Vernon, having finally recovered from the shock of being told Harry had a girlfriend, made a funny noise.

"I demand you two leave at once! You're breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up Dursley." Hagrid reached behind the sofa, grabbed the gun in Uncle Vernon's hands, and tied it in a knot as if it had been made of rubber. He then proceeded to throw it into a corner of the room.

Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like the sound a mouse makes when you step on it.

"Anyway--Harry," Hagrid said as he turned his back on the Dursleys. "A very happy birthday to yeh an' Kagome. I got summat fer yeh. I mighta accidentally sat on it at some point, but it'll taste alright."

From inside one of his pockets, he pulled a slightly squashed box and handed it to Harry and Kagome. Kagome took her arm away from Harry's shoulder to take the box. She held it out to Harry .

Harry opened it, his fingers trembling. Inside was a sticky chocolate cake with 'Happy Birthday Kagome and Harry' in green icing.

"It's you're birthday too?" He asked Kagome, who had set the cake in his lap and had taken some frosting off of it. As she licked the frosting off her finger she nodded and smiled.

"Yeah."

She pulled out a box from behind her and handed it to him.

"I got you a present too."

He smiled. "Thanks."

Then he looked at Hagrid. He meant to say 'thank you', but it came out as, "Who are you?" instead.

Kagome giggled and Hagrid chuckled.

"I haven't introduced mehself, have I? Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keyes and Grounds at Hogwarts."

"But you can just call him Hagrid." Chimed Kagome.

"Well let's make some tea." He said. "Not that I'd say no if you have anything stronger."

He bent down over the fireplace; no one could see what he was doing, but when he drew back a moment later there was a large fire.

Harry felt the warmth rush over him and Kagome sighed as she did too.

Hagrid sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and started pulling several things out of his coat: a copper kettle, several chipped mugs, a package of sausages, a tea pot, and a poker. He then began to make the tea. Soon the whole hut was filled with the sound, as well as the smell, of the sizzling sausages. No one said anything while he cooked, but as soon as he pulled out those first juicy, slightly burned sausages and slid them off the poker, Dudley's mouth started to water.

"Don't eat anything he gives you." Uncle Vernon said sharply.

Hagrid chuckled darkly.

"Don' worry Dursley, yer son don' need any more fattenin'."

He passed the sausages to Harry and Kagome. Harry was so hungry, he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he couldn't seem to get his eyes of Hagrid. Finally, since no one seemed like they were going to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."

Hagrid took a gulp of his tea, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Jus' call me Hagrid like Kagome said, everyone else does. An' like I told yeh, I'm the Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts. Yeh'll be knowin' all 'bout Hogwarts, right?"

"Um...actually, no." Harry said.

Hagrid looked shocked, unlike Kagome who had seemed to suspect this.

"Your uncle and aunt never talked to you about Hogwarts." It wasn't a question, Kagome was stating it.

Harry shook his head. "No, sorry."

"Sorry?" Barked Hagrid as he turned to stare at the Dursleys. The Dursleys, of course, shrunk away in fear. "They're the one's who should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't getting yer letters, but ter not even know abou' Hogwarts. Didn't yeh ever wonder where yer parents learned it all?"

"All what?" Harry asked.

"ALL WHAT?" Roared Hagrid. "Now wait one second!" He had leapt to his feet and, in his fury, seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall and Dark scooted closer to Harry.

"You mean ter tell me that this boy--this boy!--knows nothin' abou'--abou' ANYTHING?"

Now, Harry was beginning to feel slightly offended. After all, he did go to school and his grades weren't that bad.

"I know some things," he said in his own defense.

"That's not what he means." Said Kagome.

"Yeh know things, but yeh don' know about our world. Kagome's world. Yer world. My world. Yer parent's world."

"What world?"

Hagrid seemed about ready to explode.

"DURSLEY!"

Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, mumbled something in gibberish. Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.

"But yeh know about yer mum an' dad, right? You have to. They're famous. You're famous."

"What? My mum and dad weren't famous," He looked at Kagome. "Were they?"

Kagome nodded while Hagrid ran his hand through his hair and said, "Yeh don' know...yeh don' know..." he fixed Harry with a bewildered stare.

"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" He asked.

Uncle Vernon finally managed to find his voice.

"Stop! I forbid you to tell that boy anything!"

Braver men than Vernon Dursley would have cowered under Hagrid's glare. "You never told him what the letter Dumbledore left said? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it. An' yeh kept it from him all these years?"

"Kept what from me?" Asked Harry eagerly.

"I FORBID YOU TO TELL HIM!" Uncle Vernon shouted in panic.

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Well, since you've forbidden Hagrid from telling him, I will."

"NO, DON'T."

"Ah, shut up!" She turned to sit in front of Harry and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Harry, you're a wizard and I'm a witch."

Harry gaped at her.

"I'm a what?"

Kagome smiled. "A wizard."

Hagrid had sat back down on the sofa and it was once again sagging under his weight.

"A pretty good one too, once yeh've studied. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else could you be? An' I bet yeh'd like to see yer letter now."

Harry reached out to take the yellowish envelope from Hagrid. It was addressed to him in the same emerald green ink as before only this time it said:

Mr. H. Potter

The Floor

Hut-on-the-Rock

The Sea

Harry opened it to find a letter identical to the ones Kagome and Hermione had gotten.

"What do they mean they await my owl?"

Kagome watched Hagrid expectantly.

"Oh, that reminds me."

Hagrid pulled out a piece of paper, a quill, and a very real, very ruffled owl.

He scrawled a note that Harry read upside-down as Hagrid wrote.

Professor Dumbledore,

Given Harry and Dark their letters.

Takin' them to buy their things tomorrow.

Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.

Hagrid

He rolled up the letter, handed it to the owl, who clamped it in his beak, then walked over to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. He came back and sat on the sofa as though this was as normal as talking on the phone.

Kagome pointed out that Harry's mouth was hanging open and he snapped it shut.

"Now where was I?" Said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, who was still ashen but now angry, stepped into the firelight.

"He's not going." He said.

Kagome gave an un-lady-like snort and Hagrid grunted.

"As if a great muggle like yourself could stop him."

"A what?" Asked Harry and Kagome, interested.

"A muggle," said Hagrid. "It's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' its' your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest muggles I've ever seen."

"What about my family?" Asked Kagome.

Hagrid smiled. "I like them. They're understanding."

"We swore when we took him in that we'd stamp all of that out of him." Said Uncle Vernon.

"You knew? You knew I'm a--a wizard?" Asked Harry.

"Knew?" Shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister got a letter just like that. She disappeared to that--that school. Every vacation she'd come back, turning teacups into frogs. I was the only one who saw her for what she really was--a freak. But not my parents, no. It was always Lily this and Lily that. They were proud of having a witch in the family!"

She stopped to take a deep breath, then continued ranting. It seems she'd been wanting to say this for a long time.

"And then she ran off with that Potter and got married. Then she had you. Of course I knew you'd be just as strange, just as abnormal and then she goes and gets herself blown up and we get landed with you!"

Harry and Kagome had both gone very white. Kagome was the first to speak. "She didn't tell me they had..." She gulped. "Oh, God..."

Harry spoke up soon after her. "You told me they died in a car crash."

"CAR CRASH!" Roared Hagrid, he jumped up angrily and the Dursleys scuttled back into their corner.

Kagome had crawled into another corner and had buried her face in her knees. Her shoulders shook slightly as Harry sat down next to her and pulled her into a slightly awkward hug, trying to calm her down.

"How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter?" Snarled Hagrid. "It's an outrage! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"

"But why? What happened?" Asked Harry urgently, still trying to calm down Kagome.

The anger faded from Hagrid's face and was replaced by an anxious look.

"I never expected this," His voice sounded worried. "When Dumbledore said I'd have some trouble getting you to Hogwarts I had no idea how much yeh didn't know. Harry, ah, I don't know if I'm the right person to tell yeh..."

"I'll tell him." Kagome, after taking several deep breaths had finally calmed down and looked at Hagrid with determined eyes. "I'll tell him everything I know."

Harry didn't make a move to unwrap his arm from around her shoulders as she looked down at her hands, which were clasped tightly in front of her, and she didn't shrug it away so it stayed.

"It all starts with a man named Voldemort."

Hagrid shuddered, but Kagome and Harry ignored it for now.

"This was a wizard who was the worst of the worst. Twenty years or so ago, he started looking for followers. He got them, too. Some were afraid, others wanted some of his power, and he was getting a lot of power. Those were dark days, you didn't know who you could trust. You couldn't make friends with strange wizards or witches because things would happen. Terrible, horrible things. He was taking over and people tried to stop him. He killed all who stood in his way. No... he didn't kill them, he murdered them. One of the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore was probably the only one Voldemort"--Hagrid flinched--"feared. He didn't dare take over the school, at least not yet." She sighed sadly. "I was told our mums and dads were good witches and wizards. They were even head boys and girls at sometime in their lives. I suppose the real mystery is why Voldemort"--flinch--"never tried to get them on his side before. He probably knew they were very close to Professor Dumbledore and didn't want anything to do with him.

"Maybe he wanted to persuade them, or maybe he just wanted them out of the way, I don't know--all anyone really knows is that he showed up at our house on Halloween ten years ago. We were probably a year old. He came to our house and--" she stopped. She couldn't go any farther.

Hagrid's eyes saddened. "Your parents were the four nicest people I'd ever met."

He said sadly. "He went to your house and... he killed your parents."

Kagome shut her eyes tightly. Why is this happening? I didn't react this badly when my aunt told me.

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and continued from where Hagrid left off.

"The strange part is, he tried to kill us too." She looked up into Harry's eyes. "He tried to kill us and he couldn't. We have the scars to prove it." She lifted up her bangs to show him a scar on her forehead identical to Harry's. She then let them fall back into place. "But for some reason the spell shot at us didn't work on us and that's why we're famous. Because we're the only ones who ever survived. We were the only one's who survived, and we were babies."

Just as Kagome finished the story, a very painful memory appeared in both their minds. There was a blinding flash of green light; Harry saw it clearer than any other time. There was also a high, cold, cruel laugh. Dark cried out softly.

Hagrid was looking at them sadly.

"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, brought Harry to this lot..."

"Load of lies." Said Uncle Vernon. Harry and Dark jumped, they'd almost forgotten the Dursleys were still there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have gotten his courage back. He was glaring at Hagrid and his hands were clenched.

"Listen here, boy." He snarled. "I know there's something strange about you, something a good beating would have probably fixed--"

Kagome growled. "Who're you callin' strange?"

"And all this about your parents, they were freaks, no doubt about it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion--"

"Yeah? Well, who asked you?"

"Asked for everything they got, getting mixed up with wizarding types."

"It's not their fault!"

"Just what I expected, I always knew they'd come to a sticky end--"

All of a sudden, Hagrid leapt off the couch and pulled out a battered pink umbrella. Brandishing it like a sword at Uncle Vernon he said, "I'm warnin' you, Dursley--I'm warnin' you--not one more word..."

Being threatened to be speared with a pink umbrella by a bearded giant caused Uncle Vernon's courage to fail again; he flattened himself against the wall and shut his mouth.

"That's better." Said Hagrid as he took a deep breath and sat back down on the sofa, which sagged right down to the floor this time.

Harry, meanwhile, still had hundreds of questions to ask.

"But what happened to Voldemort? And why do you flinch every time we say his name?"

"To answer your second question first, it's because I don' like sayin' his name. People are still scared. So call him You-Know-Who 'round me, ok? And to answer your first question, he disappeared. Vanished. The very same night he tried ter kill you two. Makes yeh even more famous. You see, that's the biggest mystery. He was gettin' more an' more powerful, so why'd he leave?

"Some say he's dead. That's a lie, I say. I don't think he had enough human left in him ter die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, but that's probably a lie too. People who was on his side came back ter ours. They wouldn't do that if he was comin' back.

"Most of us reckon he's hidin' somewhere, that he's lost his powers. Probably too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you two finished him. Somethin' happened that night, somethin' that he hadn't expected."

Hagrid looked at them with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes. It cheered Kagome up a little, but Harry didn't feel pleased or proud as he should have. Instead he felt there had been some horrible mistake. Him? A wizard? How could that possibly be true? He spent his life being bullied by the Dursleys; if he had been a wizard, wouldn't he have turned them into warty toads or something every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he had at one point in his life defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley could toss him around like a football?

"Hagrid," he said. "I think there's been a mistake. I can't be a wizard."

"You can and you are," said Kagome. "Because if you're not, then I'm not a witch and I really want to be a witch."

Hagrid chuckled. "She's right, yeh know. Haven't yeh ever made things happen when you're sad or angry?"

Harry looked into the fire. Now that he thought about it...everytime something strange happened, Harry had always been upset or angry...after all, hadn't he gotten his revenge on Dudley without actually meaning to? After all the times Dudley had beaten Harry up, Harry got his revenge by having the boa scare Dudley spitless.

Harry looked at Kagome then at Hagrid, smiling. Kagome was smiling back and Hagrid was beaming.

"See?" Asked Hagrid. "Harry Potter not being a wizard--you two will be famous at Hogwarts."

But it seemed Uncle Vernon wasn't about to give in without a fight. "I thought I told you he's not going!" Hissed Uncle Vernon. "He's going to Stonewall High and he's going to like it. I've read the letters, he needs all sorts of junk--wands and spell books and--"

Kagome had heard enough. "Shut yer trap before I decide to shut it for ya." She snarled. "He can go to Hogwarts if he really wants to." She glared at Uncle Vernon, daring him to defy her. Uncle Vernon only seemed to be slightly taken aback.

"Girl, don't you talk to me like that."

"I'LL TALK TO YOU HOWEVER I FRICKIN' WANT!"

"Look, girl. I'M NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM SOME STUPID, GOOD FOR NOTHING MAGIC TRICKS."

Kagome sucked in a breath. "Oh, no he didn't."

It seemed Uncle Vernon had gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and swung it towards the Dursleys. "NEVER--" He bellowed. "INSULT--ALBUS--DUMBLEDORE--AROUND--ME!"

He then pointed it at Dudley. A flash of bright purple light was seen, a loud squeal was heard, and the next thing they saw was Dudley dancing around with his hands clasped over his big, fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back to them, Kagome and Harry saw a curly pig tail poking out of a hole in his pants. It took Kagome a lot of energy to keep from laughing.

Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley behind him, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and disappeared into the other room.

Hagrid stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Maybe I shouldn't've lost me temper," He said. "But it didn't work anyway. It was supposed ter turn him into a pig, but I guess he already looked so much like a pig that he just needed a ail."

He cast sideways glances at Kagome and Harry.

"You two wouldn't mind not tellin' anyone at Hogwarts about this, would yeh? I'm, er, not supposed ter use magic a whole lot. I was allowed ter do a bit fer deliverin' yer letter an' stuff--one of the reasons why I wanted the job in the first place--"

"Why aren't you allowed to use magic?" Asked Harry. Kagome seemed to be asking the very same question with her eyes.

"Well, erm, I was at Hogwarts meself but, to tell you the truth, I was expelled in my third year. They snapped my wand in half and everything. But Dumbledore let me stay as Gamekeeper. Good man, Dumbledore."

"But why were you expelled?" Asked Kagome.

"Well, time fer bed. Lots ter do tomorrow." Hagrid said loudly. "Got ter get all yer books and such."

He took of his thick black coat and threw it at Harry and Kagome.

"You two can lie down on that. Don' mind if it fidgets every now and then, I think there's still a mouse in there somewhere."

Kagome smiled as she pulled out some blankets from her backpack. "Thanks so much, Hagrid." She handed one to Harry and lied down on the ground next to him.

Dark: end chappie! you know what to do

Deana: If she takes forever to update again...feel free to beat her.

Dark: (sends Deana a death glare then ties her to a chair, blindfolds her, hangs the chair from the ceiling and pulls out a baseball bat) I love pinatas, don't you Deana?