A lead sandwich
Over a thousand sent, and not one opened.
He could think of only one reason. The Dursleys.
He knew they disliked magic, and how could they not?
Petunia's family had been almost entirely wiped out; wiped out by a world that she desperately wanted to be a part of, but never could be. To add insult to injury, she was then forced to take in a child that would be a daily reminder of that world and of a lost family.
He could understand their trepidation, but Harry Potter was a wizard. More importantly, the child had a destiny.
Harry Potter was going to Hogwarts, and to do so he needed his letter. The post was clearly not the answer, so it would have to be delivered by hand.
Who to send, who to send.
Not himself, that's for sure. The headmaster of the finest school of magic in the world personally delivering an acceptance letter?
That would be seen as special treatment.
Minerva? Perhaps, but she was always overworked this time of the year. She personally meets with all the muggleborn families, and sadly, not all accept. Less than one in ten do.
Sometimes she will visit a dozen in the span of a week and come back empty handed.
No, she already works too hard.
Severus? The man does have a personal stake in the case. He knew Lily, and by proxy he also knew Petunia. Perhaps that could be used?
No, Snape would not do. For all he knew, Petunia could have blamed Severus for Lily's death; he did introduce her to magic after all.
Then who?
A few more names passed through is mind, and every single one had a flaw.
Flitwick was out of the country.
Binns couldn't leave the castle.
Trelawney… just, no.
Hagrid… Hagrid! What a splendid idea! Hagrid absolutely adored little Harry. A little slow, but the man could be trusted with any task.
Marvelous. There's not a gentler man alive than Hagrid.
If any person alive could show the Dursleys that good wizards exist, than that man was Rubeus Hagrid!
His rather intimidating physical frame never crossed Albus' mind.
The day they had been dreading for nearly ten years was upon them.
The wizards were coming back.
They had tried. They had tried so damn hard to make Harry normal.
Everything they tried failed.
Every method to prevent magic failed.
They weren't cruel at first, but over time their fear got the best of them.
But after all that they still failed. Harry was one of Them.
Petunia had told him the truth about what magicals could and did do.
Aside from Harry, they had killed her entire family.
Her parents were murdered because they gave birth to a 'Mudblood'.
Her sister died because she wasn't born from a 'proper' family.
What utter rot.
They taught children hexes and curses in school. In school!
They could and routinely did erase memories.
Magical creatures employed by their government could suck the souls out of people!
And Harry was one of Them!
When that letter came he did the only thing he could. He took his family, and he ran!
He didn't tell his dear Petunia that while she helping the kids pack, he grabbed his father's rifle.
She wouldn't have approved, but they needed to protect themselves!
The route to the little shack by the sea was long and hard, but they had made it.
He lay on the lumpy mattress and attempted to sleep, but sleep never came.
What could he do to protect them against a wizard?! Against magic?!
There was nothing he could do. They were in danger.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud noise.
BOOM!
The whole bloody building actually shook! He could see dust particles falling from every nook and cranny of the shack.
They were here!
Instantly wide awake and aware of his surroundings, he knew he needed to protect his family.
As he pulled the gun out from under the mattress, he heard a squeak from the other side of the bed.
"Is that…?" she asked.
"Yes," he said with conviction, "My father's rifle. They won't take us without a fight."
"Oh Vernon…" she said, "I just heard a voice! What about the boys?!"
Jumping to his feet, he sprinted to the door.
Slamming it open, he raised the rifle to his shoulder and readied his aim.
"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you – I'm armed!"
There was a short pause then,
SMASH!
The door flew back ten feet, clean off its hinges!
He shook as he saw the size of the man.
How is it even possible?!
A beast! A giant! Petunia said that they caused the most damage in the war. Why did they send one here?!
The beast spoke but he heard none of it. Frozen in fear, all he could hear and feel was the blood pumping in his head.
Dudley and his wife stood behind him, trembling in fear. The freak just stood there. Idiot!
Gathering all that existed of his courage he said, "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" Quickly adding, "You are breaking and entering!"
The beast spoke again and made a sudden move towards him and his family.
In that split second his life flashed before his eyes.
…and he pulled the trigger.
It took three days before Albus realized that Hagrid was not coming back.
Not only did he not report in about Harry, but the man never showed up at Gringotts.
The stone was gone. The bank was broken into.
Albus never realized the depth of the Dursleys' fear of the unknown. It never occurred to the Headmaster that of all the people he could have sent, Hagrid was the absolute worst choice.
Now a man was dead, a child was still missing, and a powerful magical artifact was in enemy hands.
But then again, wizards are stupid.
AN: Dark. Very dark. Also a half-assed explanation of the Dursleys behavior. Fear does crazy things to the mind.
A thank you goes out to my new beta, DemonicNargles, who as a matter of fact is a pretty damn good writer himself.
If you're into the Naruto fandom, then you should give the dude a try.
AN2: Its come to my attention that this chapter is very similar to BejaB's "Death of a nobody"
It wasn't my intention, but damn, my story is shockingly similar to his.
No plagiarism intended. I hope noone is offended or anything because he did release his two years ago, so he was most definitely first.
-lineape
