AN: Hey, sorry for the lateness, and for any grammar/spelling/punctuation mistakes. (Please tell me about any you find.) I'm really tired. :(
So, yeah, enjoy this chapter, thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed (YAY!), please review this chapter, and I don't own much, as previously established, it all belongs to JKR.
Last chapter: 20 minutes later, when the twins had finally managed to lift Dudley's bag into the car by dint of discreetly unpacking his TV, everybody was ready to go. Uncle Vernon pulled out of the garage and drove away from Number 4, Privet Drive.
Chapter 3: Holidaying with Everyone's Favourite Family
After nine hours spent in a small space with the Dursleys, the twins almost missed Privet Drive.
Dudley had been forbidden to play on his devices after the first five minutes, when the beeping of his Gameboy was the last straw for Uncle Vernon. He had reached back, grabbed the Gameboy out of Dudley's fat hands and thrown it out the window. With all other forms of suitable entertainment denied, Dudley had resorted to poking the twins.
Aunt Petunia, after casting nervous looks at Uncle Vernon, had called to cancel the cups of coffee, brunches, cocktail parties, and formal dinners that she was missing. Her shrill voice filled the car, like forks on china plates.
Uncle Vernon fell back into his favourite hobby. He complained. For nine hours straight. (They hadn't stopped for lunch, they had just got out the "official" food and the Dursleys had eaten that.)
Isabel and Harry only managed to keep a hold on their sanities because of their mindspeak conversations. They discussed a wide range of topics-Hogwarts, the Dursleys, magic, broomsticks, coursebooks, witches, wizards and pet owls. Okay, so they didn't discuss a wide range of topics.
I wonder what the Dursleys know about Hogwarts?
They must know it's, well, unusual. Otherwise they wouldn't be so afraid.
#*~*#
But they did, after the aforementioned span of time, stop. They stopped in Stonehaven. Normally, the pamphlets at the inn explained, Stonehaven boasted wonderful sea views. Today, however, it would be impossible to tell where Stonehaven was and where the sea was, as everywhere was wet and grey and stormy. Actually, it might have been dryer in the sea.
#*~*#
When Uncle Vernon disappeared to the toilet, Dudley took his chance. He looked up from his second dinner, and asked "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" The twins pricked up their ears.
"Ssshhhh! Not so loud!" Aunt Petunia glanced furtively at the other guests.
"Well? He has, hasn't he? He's gone bonkers!"
"It's just, darling, that some people are bothering him. That's all. He wants a holiday. Yes. A holiday away from the people bothering him."
"Who are the people bothering…?" Dudley started, and then saw his father coming back. He began shovelling more food into his mouth, as if the words he had said were still there and had to be smothered with food to disguise them.
#*~*#
The next morning, after cups of cold tea and tinned peaches on oats, Uncle Vernon disappeared. He pulled Aunt Petunia aside, and they held a whispered conversation. Then he left, taking the car.
Aunt Petunia came back and sat down. "Eat up, darling." She addressed this to Dudley, who certainly did not need any encouragement.
"Scuse me, but is there a Miss and Mr Potter here? Only, we got, like, hundreds of these letters this morning." A girl, obviously an employee, waved two letters, addressed in green ink.
"I will take them." Aunt Petunia rose to her feet and looked at the girl haughtily.
"Mummy," Dudley tilted his head, "are these letters from the people making Daddy go mad?"
Brilliant! Dudley, you chose exactly the right thing to be observant about! Harry, I've changed my mind. I like Dudley after all.
Aunt Petunia looked at Dudley. "Yes-" she hesitated.
"Why are they making him go mad?" Dudley prompted, head still tilted. It was nearly resting on his shoulder.
The twins waited with bated breath. How much did the Dursleys know?
"Because they're…" Aunt Petunia stopped talking when the girl coughed.
"Uh, miss? The letters?"
"Of course. Finish your breakfast, Dudley." And with that, Aunt Petunia attempted to sweep out of the room.
#*~*#
Uncle Vernon came back later that morning with more food, and a mysterious package. It was long and thin. Isabel tried to put it in the car, so she could inspect it, but Uncle Vernon beat her to it.
"No, girl, you get your junk, we're leaving. You too, boy."
#*~*#
Their destination was apparently a beach-a rocky beach with rearing grey waves, whipped by an angry wind. There were no trees, or buildings, just brown-green flaxes. Uncle Vernon made everyone get out of the car, and follow him down the beach.
Where are we staying, Iz?
In the smackbang middle of nowhere.
Yeah, but where are we going to stay?
Oh, I get it. Um, in the car?
The car was a five seater. With little boot space.
Oh please, no.
I wonder. Isabel shaded her eyes and squinted.
Can you see that?
What? Where? Harry had terrible sight, and although he had glasses, they were of the cheap type bought at a chemist and were not much help. He needed a pair tailored to his sight needs. This was proven by the fact that he had no idea what Isabel was looking at.
There's an island. Just out there. Well, it looks like more of a rock than an island, but it has a shed thing on it.
Really?
Maybe we're staying in it. I hope not though, it looks like it's missing half the roof. But how would we get out to it?
Oh, no.
What?
Boat.
Boat?
Boat. Harry indicated a rowboat ahead that looked like it had been washed in by the last storm after spending several decades at the bottom of the sea. Uncle Vernon was standing next to it, rubbing his hands happily.
Are you sure it's a boat? Isabel frowned at it. It might be the remains of a house caught in a hurricane.
In that case, we're going to sea in the remains of a house caught in a hurricane.
Reluctantly, the twins followed the Dursleys into the boat.
#*~*#
I don't like boats.
I don't like rain.
I don't like shacks, either. Isabel finished, as they entered the shack.
It was not a very likeable shack. It was cold, and smelt mouldy and it only had two useable rooms because the roof had fallen in in the third room.
Harry put down his plastic bag next to Isabel's and followed her back out again, going to get the food and the Dursleys' stuff.
When they had finally staggered in with the last of it, they were dismayed to discover that they weren't getting beds. There was only a double in the smaller room that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia claimed, and a couch for Dudley. That left the floor for the twins.
Right. It's official. I can't sleep on the floor. I want to go back to Privet Drive.
For the first time ever, Isabel and Dudley were in agreement.
"We can't stay here! It's Monday! Men Shoot Aliens with Unrealistically Big Guns 5 is on tonight! I want to go home!" he wailed.
"Shuddup, boy," Uncle Vernon growled.
"Sorry, Diddy-poo. We'll go home one day, darling."
Harry tried not to roll his eyes.
"What are you doing just standing there, girl? Food! Help her, boy!"
#*~*#
Late that night, Harry lay awake, listening to the shrieking wind and the boom of waves. Every now and then the shack groaned, and he would jump, convinced that the rest of the roof was going to fall in.
Harry?
Yeah, Iz?
I've been calendar-ing. If today is Monday, then it's the 30th. And tomorrow, Tuesday, is the 31st -and our birthday!
Really? Wow. Eleven.
I know, right?
The twins waited for 12 o'clock on Dudley's digital watch.
11:58
11:59
One more minute, and we'll be eleven. Isabel was excited, practically bouncing up and down from where she was sitting with her arms wrapped around her legs.
THUD.
Isabel stopped bouncing.
What was that?
THUD.
The twins crept closer together.
The watch changed to 12:00 and the twins didn't even notice, they were staring at the door.
THUD.
Uncle Vernon stomped out of the second room holding a gun, eyes wild.
And the door opened.
"'Ello." The biggest man Harry had ever seen stood outside the door. Harry had to look up and down to see all of him.
"Name's Hagrid. Ah'm the groundskeeper at Hogwarts. Harry, Isabel, yeh there?"
Isabel waved.
"Good. Ah'm meant ter give yeh these." Hagrid had to walk sideways to get through the door, but he managed. He handed Isabel two more of the letters.
"Thank you, but we've read them."
"Do yeh not want ter go ter Hogwarts, then?" Hagrid stared.
At the same time, Uncle Dursley snarled. "You've read them? Well, you can't go, anyway. I forbid it. As for you," he sneered at Hagrid, "get out of my shack!" He aimed his gun at Hagrid.
At the sound of his father's voice, Dudley woke up.
"Dad? Wha-who is…?" He whimpered when he realised how giant Hagrid was.
Hagrid ignored the Dursleys. "Do yeh not want ter go ter Hogwarts?" he asked again.
"Oh, we want to go."
"But we can't."
"They wouldn't let us."
"And we don't have any money, anyway."
"Woah, slow down." Hagrid looked at the twins kindly. "They can't stop yeh. And-"
"We are their legal guardians. They can't go if we say no." Aunt Petunia snapped.
"Why would yeh not want 'em ter go? Firs' rate eddication, they'll get, taught by the finest wizard the world has ever seen, Albus Dumbledore." Hagrid said the name reverently.
Uncle Vernon was livid. "I WILL NOT LET SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TEACH THEM M…M… TRICKS!"
"Never, ever insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me." Hagrid said softly, and he pointed the pink umbrella in his hand at Dudley.
Sparks flew, and Dudley grew a tail. Both Dudley and Aunt Petunia screamed and ran into the bedroom.
Hagrid advanced on Uncle Vernon, who was growing pale. The twins watched in fascination.
"Now, Dursley. If the chillen of Lily and James Potter want to go ter Hogwarts, they will go ter it will take more than a Muggle like yeh ter stop them!"
Uncle Vernon mumbled something like, "Mimblywimble," and dropped his gun to the floor.
"Right, thought yeh'd come around to my way of thinkin'." Hagrid said cheerfully, and Uncle Vernon followed his family into the bedroom with all due haste.
Wow. I like this guy.
Did you see it? Did you see the tail?
Yes Iz, I saw it.
That means it's real, right?
Yes Iz.
Awesome.
The twins stopped mindspeaking when Aunt Petunia walked out of the bedroom.
"Fix my son?" She tried for confidence and ended with pleading.
Hagrid shook his head. "Ah can't."
Aunt Petunia reached into her purse and pulled out a stack of notes.
"You're not understanding. Ah can't. Ah am unable ter."
Aunt Petunia replaced the notes, and turned on the twins.
"So, freaks after all!"
"So you did know." Isabel whispered.
"Knew!' shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. '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 – that school – and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw 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 like she had been wanting to say all this for years.
"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, 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!"
"Blown up?"
"Blown up?" Both twins spoke at the same time.
"You told us they died in a car crash!"
"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Aunt Petunia scuttled back in the bedroom. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Their kids not knowin' their own story when every kid in our world knows their names!"
"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.
The anger faded from Hagrid'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, 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 door.
"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh —Yeh parents were murdered."
"Who?"
"Why?"
"Well, no one knows much about it, see. But a very powerful Dark wizard-tha' means bad-" he added, seeing the confusion on their faces, "-'e killed 'em. An' then, so the story goes, 'e tried ter kill yeh. But 'e couldn't. Mos' powerful Dark wizard ever, couldn't kill two babies! Anyway, the spell 'e used rebounded, got 'im, an' 'e fled. Mos' of us think 'e's still out there, somewhere, bidin' 'is time."
Hagrid looked at Isabel's pale face, and saw how Harry had his face turned away so his grief couldn't be seen. He abruptly hugged them, and put them down again just as quickly.
"Anyway," he said gruffly, "do yeh want ter go ter Hogwarts?" The twins looked at each other.