Chapter 3: Harry, Meet Harry

Harry lay on his stomach waiting for the moment. In approximately twenty minutes, he would be eleven.

James and Lily were laying on either side of him, wanting to wish him a happy birthday right at midnight.

Maybe he would wake Dudly up just to annoy him.

"We're probably more excited than him!" James exclaimed, "He doesn't even know why this is such a big deal!"

"He'll find out soon!" Lily said, who was also bursting with excitement.

The clock struck midnight, and there was a knock on the door.

"Here he is!" Lily whispered.

BOOM. The knock sounded again.

"Where's the cannon?" Dudly asked, stupidly.

Vernon and Petunia rushed out of the bedroom, and Vernon held a long rifle in front of him.

"Who's there?" Vernon's voice shook, "I warn you! I'm armed!"

"Hagrid!" Lily smiled.

BOOM! This time the mysterious knocker knocked down the entire door altogether.

A giant strode in through the door. Harry looked up in amazement that anyone could be that big. He was twice the size of a regular human with hands the size of a garbage can.

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It hasn't been an easy journey." The giant went and sat on the couch, almost crushing Dudly and said, "Oh, budge up yeh great lump."

After Dudly ran away in fear, the giant man looked up and smiled, "An' here's Harry! Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby!" He looked into Harry's face and heard something that he would soon have to get used to, "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes!"

James and Lily looked at each other, both of their eyes had a sparkle in them as they watched their son.

"I demand you leave at once, sir!" Vernon exclaimed, holding the rifle still, "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," the giant jerked the rifle out of Vernon's hands and twisted it into a knot. The giant, acting as if he hadn't just tied a rifle into a knot and turned back to Harry. "Anyway – Harry, a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it at some point, bit it'll taste the same all right."

Harry opened the box that the giant man handed him and saw his first ever birthday cake.

"Who are you?" Harry asked the man.

"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

Lily bit her lip, smiling and tears forming in her eyes. James reached out and grabbed her hand, "Here we go," James said, "Finally."

Lily and James watched on as Hagrid looked at Harry expectantly. James burst into laughter as Vernon and Petunia attempted to stop Hagrid from telling Harry about Hogwarts.

After Hagrid yelled at the Dursleys, he turned back to Harry, "You're famous Harry."

"I'm famous? Were my parents famous?" Harry was still confused.

"You're a wizard, Harry," Hagrid said, and handed him a letter.

Harry looked down at the letter. It was the same letter that he had attempted to read. He read the letter and his eyes widened.

Lily squealed and hugged James, "He's going! He's going to Hogwarts!"

"He's not going!" Vernon yelled.

"I'd like to see a great muggle like you stop him!" Hagrid shot back.

"What's that?" Harry inquired.

"A muggle is a nonmagical person." Hagrid explained.

"When we took him in, we swore that we would stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!" said Vernon.

"You knew?" Harry said.

"Knew!" Petunia screeched, "Of course we knew! How could you not be, my sister being what she was? OH, she got a letter just like that and she disappeared to that... that school. She would come home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats! I was the only one who really saw what she was. A freak! But my parents, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, oh how wonderful! We have a witch in the family!

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you," Petunia continued her rant, getting redder and angrier, "And of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange and abnormal! And then, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!" Petunia ended her rant, practically screaming by the point she had finished.

Lily looked extremely hurt, even though she knew how Petunia had felt about it all. She flinched and Petunia finished the rant about her and her family. Lily went over and embraced Harry, wishing he could feel her.

Harry felt a rush of emotion run through him and he found his voice, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"

"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys backed up a full ten feet. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"

"What happened?" Harry asked, "Why do they know my name?"

James had come over and comforted Lily and Harry. As Hagrid explained to Harry about the incident with Voldemort and about how Harry was the only known surviver of the Killing Curse. He also told Harry about how the name was feared.

Lily looked close to tears again, "Why?" She whispered, "Why Harry? James, as much as I love it here where we are... I wish we could go back for Harry."

James nodded, "I know. But we are with him... I mean, you know he'll see us someday."

"Yeah," Lily sighed as they watched the rest of the night unfold, "I guess he will."

So here's chapter 3! I was going to publish it earlier today, but I rewrote it and separated it into two different chapters, so the good news is that chapter 4 is almost done! Please review!