And receive magic they did. After what felt like months to Harry and Henry, the day of their birthday arrived. The Dursleys acted like there was nothing special that day. In fact, their 'birthday presents' were double the amount of chores.
It was nearing evening when Henry and Harry were out on the porch. Henry was pulling weeds from Aunt Petunia's garden as Harry cleaned up the 'unintentional' mess Dudley left all over the lawn. Harry's hopes of a supposed magic school were at an all time low, and nothing seemed to get better.
The downward spiral of hope stopped just when a large hairy man wearing a large coat and carrying an umbrella stopped to peer at the two twins cleaning the lawn.
Henry noticed the man spying on them from afar first. He was hiding behind a thick tree, but it didn't do him any good in concealment.
"Harry," whispered Henry.
"What?" asked Harry as he looked up at Henry and looked around.
"I think there's a man watching us." Henry continued whispering as Harry started subtly walking closer to Henry and the house.
"I'll use my rake and knock him down from behind and you slap him with your shovel."
"Are you sure we can't just go inside? I'm pretty sure that he'll be scared off pretty easily once he sees Uncle Vernon," said Henry.
"Wait! I think that might be the man who's come to get us!" said Harry, a smile slapping onto his face.
"Maybe..."
"Come on! Let's act like we're working and maybe he'll come closer!"
Harry immediately started cleaning up the lawn as Henry rolled his eyes and threw the pile of already picked weeds into the composter. Their resume of working caused the man to come closer, and eventually walk casually past their lawn and stop in his tracks.
"'Scuse me young lads!" the large man said in a jolly tone. Harry and Henry immediately stopped working and looked up at the man.
"Don't s'pose yer can tell me yer names?" asked the strange man.
Henry and Harry looked at each other excitedly.
"I'm Harry, and this is my brother Henry," said Harry.
"Me stars, so yer the Potter twins?"
"I suppose so. How do you know us?" asked Henry.
"Well, I just came by ter see if you got yer letter!"
Harry and Henry looked at each other with smiles on their faces.
"'Spose yer do by the looks on yer faces. Oh, by the way, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
"May we call you Hagrid?" asked Henry as he took out the Hogwarts envelope and handed it to the large man.
"O' course! Everyone does. So I don't s'pose yer aunt and uncle already know 'bout Hogwarts, then?"
"Actually..." Harry started to explain but was then interrupted by a shriek. Uh oh.
"VERNON!" yelled Aunt Petunia as her eyes widened at the large hairy man.
Uncle Vernon came storming out of the house, followed by Dudley. All of the Dursleys' eyes widened at the large hairy man.
"Boys," said Uncle Vernon dangerously. "Get back in the house. Now."
"They'll do no such nothing!" Hagrid's voice boomed as he stepped onto the lawn.
Dudley whimpered behind Uncle Vernon as Aunt Petunia tried to control her breathing. Meanwhile, Harry was smiling wickedly and Henry was trying not to chuckle.
"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" said Uncle Vernon. "You are breaking and entering!"
"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said Hagrid, marching over to the rake-armed Uncle Vernon. Hagrid grabbed the rake from Uncle Vernon and tossed it aside as if it were a feather.
"Anyway - Harry, Henry," said Hagrid as he turned his back on the Dursleys and motioned for the two to come to him.
Harry and Henry ran up to the kneeling giant as he took out a white plastic box from his massive black coat. "a very happy birthday to yeh both. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."
Hagrid opened the box which revealed a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry and Henry! written on it in green icing.
Dudley fidgeted a little at the sight of the scrumptious looking birthday cake that Harry and Henry were now holding. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."
"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursely, don' worry. As I was sayin', I'm Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."
"All we know is that it's a wizarding school," said Henry.
"An' a fine one it is, Harry, er..."
"Henry," corrected Henry and continued. "Hagrid, that's all we know. All we know about this supposed existing magical world is that there's this magic school called Hogwarts and that mails are responded by owls, I think."
Hagrid looked shocked.
"Sorry," said Harry quickly.
"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who were somehow still frozen to their front porch and staring at the half-giant. "It's them 'as should be sorry! I knew they weren't givin' yer letters to yeh, but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know anythin' more abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"
"Learned all what? Magic?" asked Harry.
"YEH DON'T KNOW?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" Hagrid lept to his feet, which caused Henry to drag himself and Harry back. Henry wondered why no one was awoken by this racket.
"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the frozen Dursleys, "that these boys - these boys! - know nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"
Harry, for the sake of the Dursleys' physical safety, decided to step in.
"Henry and I know some things," he said. "I mean, we both do math and stuff."
Henry slapped his palm to his forehead. "He means the magical world, idiot."
"Oh," said a now flustered Harry. "Then yeah, we only know about Hogwarts. But that's only because we read the letter in secret."
Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.
"DURSLEY!" he boomed.
Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, just stood there. He was completely speechless.
Hagrid stared wildly at Harry and Henry and said, "But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
"WHAT?" Harry exclaimed as he pushed past Henry and stood in front of Hagrid. "Our mum and dad were famous?"
"Our - our mum and dad weren't famous, were they?" asked Henry timidly.
"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry and Henry with a bewildered stare.
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?"
"Er... I believe we might be some sorts of wizards, I guess?" said Harry uncertainly.
Uncle Vernon finally found his voice.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boys anything!"
Hagrid gave Uncle Vernon a furious look, which quieted the Dursley man.
"You 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? That we're magic people?" asked Henry eagerly.
"Wait, wait! Who's Dumbledore?" asked Harry.
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.
Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.
"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry, Henry - yer right, yeh are wizards." There were two seconds of silence before Harry burst out in cries and whoops of joy.
"I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU!" Harry whooped mercilessly, bouncing on the balls of his feet next to a shocked looking Henry.
"A wizard... I'm a wizard..." said Henry to himself.
"Wizards, o' course," said Hagrid, "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 both be? Yeh said yeh read the letter?"
"Yes!" said Harry and Henry.
"Gallopin' Gorgons, I nearly forgot," said Hagrid as he retrieved from yet another pocket inside his overcoat a real live ruffled-looking owl, a long quill, and a roll of parchment. He scribbled a note to Dumbledore and sent it off with the owl. Harry and Henry looked at the quickly shrinking owl in the sky in amazement.
"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but then, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking furious, moved to stand in front of Hagrid.
"They are not going," he said.
Hagrid grunted and said, "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop them," he said.
"A what?" said Henry, interested.
"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you 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, "swore we'd stamp it out of them! Wizards indeed!"
"You knew?" said Harry, completely furious and looking as if he were about to lose his head. "You knew that Henry and I were wizards?!"
"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 vacation 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!"
Henry's heart filled with understanding, feeling slightly bad for Aunt Petunia having to go through never experiencing what a magical school would be like and being overshadowed by her sister. But according to Harry's face, his brother thought otherwise.
Aunt Petunia stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed 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 two, and of course I knew you two would 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 two!"
Harry's eyes widened and his face flushed red in complete anger. Henry silently exhaled in exhaustion, sorrow, and shock and closed his eyes. He had been lied to; that's why he forever resented the Dursleys.
"Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" exclaimed Harry angrily.
"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Vernon Dursley scuttled back a step and Dudley whimpered even more. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry and Henry Potter not knowin' their own story when every kid in our world knows their names!"
"But why? What happened?" Henry asked urgently.
The anger faded from Hagrid's face and he suddenly looked 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, Harry, Henry, 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'."
Hagrid threw a dirty look at the Dursleys; so did Harry. Henry just kept a neutral face.
And so Hagrid told of how everything started with an evil wizard, whose name Hagrid feared to speak, and his name was Voldemort. He told of how Voldemort had power, and those willing to find a place in his 'new world' would follow him. These were the dark days. Then he told of how Voldemort broke into his house ten years ago, when Harry and Henry just a year old, and killed their mum and dad while trying to kill the Potter twins but failed.
"But what happened to Vol - sorry, sorry! - I mean, You-Know-Who?"
"Good question, er..."
"Harry."
"Harry. He disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go? Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back."
"Are you absolutely sure we're wizards, Hagrid?" asked Henry, which annoyed Harry to the extent.
"Oh stop it, Henry! Of course we are! This man, Hagrid, has come to see us and just told us the truth about our parents!"
"Don't believe me, eh? Never made things happen when you was angry or scared?"
Henry bit his lip in thought. He pondered over every odd thing that has happened that he or Harry couldn't explain, such as his hair growing back every time Aunt Petunia tried to cut it. Even just a month ago when he and Harry made the glass disappear at the zoo and talked to that snake!
Henry slowly nodded and smiled.
"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry and Henry Potter, not wizards - you wait, you two will be right famous at Hogwarts."
But of course, Uncle Vernon was persistent in not letting the Potter twins leave.
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.
Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER - INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN - FRONT - OF ME!"
Pointing the umbrella at Dudley, he swished it and then Dudley grew a curly pig's tail which poked a hole through his trousers.
Uncle Vernon roared and pulled Aunt Petunia and Dudley back into the house with one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.
"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," Hagrid said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. I'm - er- not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'."
"Not a sound from me!" said Harry happily while Henry hesitantly nodded.
"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."
He took off his thick black coat and threw it towards Harry, which unintentionally landed on and covered Henry.
"Er, oops," said Hagrid. "You can kip under that inside that little o' cupboard of yers. Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."
"Sweet!" said Harry and Henry shrieked when something squeaked inside one of the pockets.