Chapter Four: Keeper of Keys and Grounds
BOOM.
Dudley jerked awake.
"Where's the cannon?" He said stupidly.
There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the package he had brought.
"Who's there?" He shouted in the general direction of the door. "I warn you – I'm armed!"
There was a pause. Then –
SMASH.
The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. Harry and Alice both jumped, Aunt Petunia shrieked, and Dudley let out a high–pitched squeal.
A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, wild mane of hair and a messy, tangled beard, but you could just make out his eyes, glittering like black beetles under all that hair.
The giant squeezed into the hut, and Alice quickly dragged her brother into a corner on the other side of the fireplace to hide. Perhaps he would kill the Dursleys and leave them? The twins might be able to paddle the boat back to shore by themselves…
"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…" They heard him say in a deep voice. The next second, he seemed to address Dudley.
"Hullo there, Harry!" he said happily. "Haven' seen you since you was a baby, o' course, but you're looking a lot rounder than I remembered. Where's your sister?"
Dudley squealed and ran to hide behind his mother, but Harry and Alice shared a look. They thought the giant sounded kind, and Harry decided to take a chance.
"He's not Harry," Harry said timidly, stepping out from the corner. "I – I am."
The giant rolled his eyes, smiling. "Well o' course you are!"
"And I'm Alice." Alice said, moving to stand beside her brother.
"Great ter finally meet you two," the giant said kindly, his black eyes glittering. "You two look just like yer–"
Uncle Vernon cut him off: "I demand that you leave at once, sir! You are breaking and entering!"
"Dry up Dursley, yeh great prune," The giant said wearily, reaching over the back of the sofa and grabbing the shotgun, then twisting it into knot and throwing it into the corner of the room. Uncle Vernon made a funny choking noise.
"Anyway – Alice, yeh look just like yer mother at yer age, though yeh've get yer dad's eyes. Harry, of course, yeh've got yer dad's looks, but those are yer mum's eyes to be sure. Course you already know tha'."
The twins looked at him, then at each other, their mouths hanging open. He had known their parents? Maybe – maybe he was from Hogwarts!
"A very happy birthday to you two, by the way," He continued with a barely–visible grin, reaching into his coat. "I got summat here for yeh – may have sat on it, but I'm sure it'll taste fine all the same–"
From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled out a slightly squashed box. He handed it to Harry, who lifted the lid while they both peered inside. It was a large, sticky–looking chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry and Alice written on it in green icing.
"Who are you?" Alice blurted out.
The giant chuckled.
"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
He held out an enormous hand, and the twins both shook it. His hand was so huge it enveloped their whole arms. The twins grinned; he was from Hogwarts! Maybe they knew that the twins didn't have an owl and came to get their responses personally?
"What about that tea then, eh?" He said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."
His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled chip bags and banana peels in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; his huge body blocked the hearth so they couldn't see what he was doing, but when he drew back a moment later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and the Potters felt the warmth wash over them as though they'd sunk into a hot bath.
The giant sat back down under the sofa and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and an amber bottle of something that he took a swig of before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was filled with the sound and smell of sizzling sausages. Nobody said a thing while he was working, but when he slid six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages off the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't eat anything he gives you, Dudley."
The giant chuckled darkly.
"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."
Harry and Alice both had to stifle laughs.
The man passed three sausages each to Harry and Alice. They were so hungry they had never tasted anything so wonderful. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, Alice wiped her hands on her too–big dress and said, "I'm sorry, but…honestly we still don't really know who you are."
"Are you here because we haven't responded to the letters?" asked Harry.
The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Call me Hagrid," He said, "Everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – Yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course. Naw though – we weren' really expecting you to respond. We knew you two didn' have an owl, so they sent me to fetch yeh."
"Er – sorry, but no." said Harry, feeling confused. "I mean, we don't really know about Hogwarts. No more than the letters said, at least" He and his sister exchanged looks, wondering why this man assumed they knew about Hogwarts – should they?
"The letters?!" Uncle Vernon suddenly squawked. "How did you two brats manage to get your hands on one of those?! We burned them all!"
Hagrid looked furious, but Alice responded, feeling empowered by Hagrid's presence; both of the twins felt safe with the man.
"I caught one yesterday and hid it." She said proudly. "We read the whole thing."
She pulled it out of their bag, and Uncle Vernon began to turn purple.
"Why you little–!"
"Dursley, if you want ter keep those hands, I suggest you keep 'em to yerself." Hagrid growled as Vernon's hands tightened into fists with his words.
Hagrid turned back to the twins.
"But how could yeh not know about Hogwarts before tha'?" he asked, looking shocked.
"Sorry," said Harry quickly. "We just hadn't heard–"
"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning back to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank into the shadows. "It's them that should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"
"Learned what?" asked Harry and Alice in unison, curious.
"LEARNED WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"
He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole shack. The Dursleys covered against a wall, and Harry and Alice scooted closer together. They didn't think Hagrid would hurt them or even seriously hurt the Dursleys, but they couldn't be sure.
"Do you mean ter tell me," He growled to the Dursleys. "That these kids – these kids! – don't know nothin' abou' – about ANYTHING?"
Now, Harry and Alice thought this was going a bit far. They had been to school, after all, and their marks weren't bad.
"We know some things," Alice said firmly. "We can, you know, do maths and spell things and stuff."
But Hagrid simply waved his hand dismissively and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."
"What world?" asked Harry, eyes wide behind his glasses.
Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.
"DURSLEY!" He boomed.
Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble". Hagrid turned to stare pleadingly at the twins.
"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," He said almost desperately, "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
"What?" gasped Alice. "F–famous? Why?"
"Our – our parents weren't famous…" said Harry, thinking of how they had died in a car crash…where two different people had somehow received the same scar…
The more the twins considered this, the stupider it sounded.
"Were they?" wondered Harry suddenly. "How much do we really know about them, Alice?" he said, looking at his sister.
"It could be true…" Alice agreed slowly.
"Yeh don' know….yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry and Alice with a bewildered stare. The twins, however, were glaring at their Aunt and Uncle.
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" He said finally, his large hands rubbing over his face.
"'What we are?' D-do you mean the letter was true – that we really are wizards?" Alice asked eagerly.
Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.
"Stop!" He commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you from telling them anything!"
A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.
"Yeh never told them? Never told them what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer them? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from them all these years?"
"Kept what from us?" said the Potter children eagerly. Anything that bothered the Dursleys this much must be good news for them.
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.
"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," Hagrid said. "Alice, Harry – yer wizards."
There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and wind could be heard.
"What?" gasped Alice, finding her voice first. They hadn't really thought the letters were real until this moment, even though they had wanted to so desperatley.
"But…we're–?"
"Wizards, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower. "An' thumpin' good 'uns I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letters properly – not in secret."
He sent another fierce glare at the Dursleys and took out a yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to each of the children; The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. They pulled out their letters and read, even though they already had it memorised:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. or Miss Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy headmistress.
Of course, questions immediately exploded inside Harry's and Alice's heads, and they couldn't decide what to ask first now that they had someone to answer something for them. After several seconds of gaping at the letters, each other, Hagrid, and then the letters again, they both stammered a different query at the same time.
"What does 'Order of Merlin, First Class' mean?" Alice said.
"Where do we get our supplies?" questioned Harry.
"Gulpin' gargoyles, that reminds me," Hagrid said, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl – a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl – a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that the Potters could read upside down:
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Given Harry and Alice their letters.
Taking them to buy their things tomorrow.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.
Hagrid.
Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down, as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.
Alice and Harry realised their mouths were hanging open and closed them quickly.
"Where was I?" Hagrid said, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but now looking very angry, moved into the firelight.
"They're not going." He said firmly, though his eye was twitching again.
Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop them."
"A what?" asked Harry, interested.
"A Muggle," Hagrid said, "It's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's some bad luck you two grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."
"We swore when we took them in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon loudly, "swore we'd stamp it out of them! Wizards indeed!"
"You knew?" Harry said incredulously.
"You knew we're – we're wizards, and you never told us?" said Alice, glaring. Though, the twins thought, this would explain the Dursley's reactions to the letters…
"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that school, and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one to see her for what she was – a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"
She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed that she had been waiting to say all this for years:
"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you two, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as – as – abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"
The twins were very white. As soon as he found his voice, Harry said softly, "Blown up? You told us they died in a car crash."
"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so quickly that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry and Alice Potter not knowing their story when every kid in our world knows their names!"
"But why?" asked Alice. "Why does everyone know about us?"
"What happened?" said Harry urgently. The two of them looked empathically at Hagrid.
The anger faded from the giant's face. He looked suddenly anxious.
"I never expected this," He said in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, you two, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh – but someone's gotta – yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."
He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.
"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh – mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great mystery, parts of it…"
He sat down and stared into the fire for a few seconds. Harry and Alice sat on the floor in front of him, waiting eagerly.
"It begins, I suppose, with – with a person called – but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows –"
"Who?" the twins asked enthusiastically.
"Well – I don' like sayin' the name, if I can help it. No one does."
"Why not?" asked Harry.
"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went…bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…."
Hagrid gulped but no words came out.
"Could you write it down?" Alice suggested.
"Nah – can't spell it. All right – Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this – this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' for followers. Got 'em, too – some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was getting' himself power, all right. Dark days, you two. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches…terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up ter him – an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. He didn't dare try takin' the school – not jus' then, anyway.
"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before…probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em…maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up on the tiny island where you all were living, on Halloween ten years ago. You were both just a year old. He came ter yer house an' – an'–"
Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.
"Sorry," he said thickly. "But it's that sad – I knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find – anyway…
"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then – an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing – he tried to kill you two, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Ever wondered how you got those marks on yer forehead? Those aren't no ordinary cuts. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh – took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even – but it didn't work on you three, an' that's why you're famous. No one lived once he decided ter kill 'em, no one except for you three, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age – the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts – an' you was only babies, an' you lived."
Suddenly the twins remembered something – both of them together. It was a flash of green light they had seen before in dreams and talked about in hushed voices in the cupboard afterwards, but much clearer this time – and something else…a high, cold, cruel laugh. They scooted closer together.
Hagrid was watching them sadly.
"A Muggle man on the shore took yeh from the house himself. Rowed out ter the islan' in this tiny boat. Dumbledore came and fetched yeh, then brought yer ter this lot…"
"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry and Alice jumped slightly; they had forgotten the Dursleys were there. He seemed to have gotten his courage back; he was glaring at Hagrid, fists clenched.
"Now, you listen here, brats," Uncle Vernon snarled at them. Normally a speech that started like this would have terrified the children, but with Hagrid there, they didn't feel very scared at all. "I accept there's something strange about you all, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured –" Like you never tried that, thought Alice with a shudder. "–and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion – asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types – just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end–"
But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley – I'm warning you – one more word…"
In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.
"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.
The Potters, meanwhile, still had questions to ask – possibly hundreds of them.
"But what happened to Vol-, sorry, I mean, You-Know-Who?" asked Harry.
"Good question, Harry. Well, he jus' disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you two. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see…he was gettin' more an' more powerful – why'd he go?"
Hagrid went on to say that some people thought You-Know-Who had died, but Hagrid didn't think so. Hagrid thought he had lost his powers, and was too weak to go on now. He said there was something about the twins that stumped Voldemort that night. Then he looked at Harry and Alice with a mixture of warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but they – instead of feeling excited and proud – felt that there must be a horrible mistake. Wizards? Them? They had spent all their lives being picked on by Dudley and ordered around by their Aunt and Uncle, starved, unloved, and occasionally beaten for things they hadn't even done, or hadn't meant to do. If they were a wizard and witch, why hadn't the Dursleys turned into frogs every time they had annoyed them?
"Hagrid," said Alice quietly, voicing what she and Harry were both thinking. "I think you've…made a mistake. I – I don't think we can be wizards."
To their surprise, Hagrid chuckled.
"Not wizards, eh? Never made things happen when you was angry or scared?"
Harry and Alice looked at each other. Now that they thought about it, he was right. Hadn't every odd thing they had done happened when they had been upset or angry? When they had been chased by Dudley's gang, they had somehow found themselves on the roof of the school. When Aunt Petunia had given Harry a horrible haircut, he had somehow made it grow back by morning. When their second year teacher had yelled at Alice for being a know-it-all, her wig suddenly turned blue. When Aunt Petunia had told the twins they weren't allowed to read Dudley's books – even though he never touched them – one had floated down the stairs and into the cupboard that night. And then there was that snake incident…
The twins looked back to Hagrid, smiling, and saw that he was now positively beaming.
"See?" said Hagrid. "The Potter twins, not wizards – you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."
But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.
"Haven't I told you they're not going?" he hissed. "They're going to Stonewall High and they'll be damn grateful for it. I've read those letters and they need all sorts of rubbish – spell books and wands and–"
"If they want ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's kids from goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad! They're names have been down ever since they were born. They're off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and they won't know themselves. They'll be with youngsters of their own sort fer a change. And they'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, Albus Dumble–"
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH THEM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.
But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head. "NEVER–" he thundered. "–INSULT – ALBUS – DUMBLEDORE – IN – FRONT – OF – ME!"
He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley – there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry and Alice saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.
Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.
Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.
"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully. "But it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do – what?"
Harry and Alice had burst into laughter. Hagrid looked at them like they were mad for a moment, then began chucking as well. The twins could not stop laughing, leaning on each other for support and gasping for air. This was almost more wonderful then the knowledge that they were wizards.
After a minute, Hagrid cleared his throat.
"Anyway – I'd be grateful if yeh didn't mention this ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm – er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff – one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job–"
"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry curiously.
"Oh, well – I was at Hogwarts meself but I – er…" Hagrid ran his hand through his tangled hair with a frown before continuing, "I got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."
Harry started to ask why he was expelled, but his sister knew this wouldn't be polite, and nudged him casually.
"Anyway – it's late, and we've got a lot ter do tomorrow. Get up ter town, get yer books and all tha'. Here–" Hagrid removed his coat and handed it to Harry. "You can kip under that. Don' mind if it wiggles a bit – think there might be a few door mice left in there."