"Enjoy your birthday sweetie?" Lily asked, pulling Harry into a hug as he sat next to her on the couch.

Harry wasn't paying much attention though. He had squirmed out of her arms and shuffled his way over to the corner of the couch nearest the window. Pulling back the drapes ever so slightly, he was taken aback by the large man his father was conversing with on the front step.

Lily who had taken an interest in the scene gasped when she saw who the man was, flopping back on the couch out of shock.

"Mum, who-who is that?" Harry asked, rather in shock himself as he pulled away from the window, realizing the man was coming into the house.

She pulled her son in close to her, and said softly, "wait and see." Harry in turn looked back at the doorway, which his father had left through just moments ago, waiting for the moment he would return. Sure enough, his father came back, but the large stranger who was following solely behind him was having a little trouble getting through the doorframe.

"Harry, I have someone I would like you to meet," James said, rather proudly as he looked up at his friend.

Harry just starred as the stranger began speaking.

"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer dad here, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." The stranger said, in an accent the boy had never really heard before. "Anyway – Harry, a very happy birthday to ye. Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." And with that the large man held his arm out with a box tied up with a green ribbon.

Harry looked up at his mother, who smiled in encouragement before he scrambled off the couch and walked over towards the man. He accepted the box after looking the large man in the eyes. Untying the box, he opened it to find a cake with pink icing and green letters that wrote out Happy Birthdae Harry!

He looked up at the giant, ready to say thank-you but only managed to blurt out, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

The giant chuckled and glanced at both Lily and James who were both sitting on the couch watching the scene unfold—smiles adorning both their faces.

"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid," he said, extending his arm to Harry's, "Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

"At where?"

"Hogwarts o' course! Finest school of Witchcraft and Wizardry there ever was!" Hagrid said, his eyes beaming at the mention of the school.

"Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Harry questioned, more confused than ever before.

This time it was Lily who stepped in, to answer her sons budding question.

"Harry, you're a wizard," she said calmly as she held her son at arms length from her, bending slightly so she was at his height. She stayed there, searching his eyes for any sort of acceptance, or understanding but saw nothing but further confusion. She looked at Hagrid who was standing just a ways back behind her son, and then to James who was behind her but only saw him starring at their son waiting for his reaction.

Hagrid was the first to speak up, "He really knows nothing' about' anything does he?"

Harry took in Hagrid's last words for a second. He knew he wasn't the greatest in school but he tried hard. His teachers helped him occasionally, but overall he was an average student.

"I know some things," Harry piped up, "I'm rather good with maths and literature sometimes." At this Lily smiled comfortingly.

But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Your parents world."

"What world?" Harry asked, glancing at everyone in the room.

James took this as his moment to step in. "Harry, you're a wizard."

"I'm a what?"

"A wizard, o' course," boomed Hagrid. "An' a thumpin' good'un I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?"

Harry looked up at his parents, "You two are wizards too?" His voice was beginning to show signs of excitement.

They both nodded, smiles still stretched across their faces. James looked up at Hagrid and nodded.

"I reckon it's about time yeh read yer letter Harry," Hagrid said as he reached into his pocket before handing Harry a letter, which looked very tiny in comparison to Hagrid's hands.

Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr H. Potter, Second Bedroom on the Third Floor, 34 Trevor Square, Knightsbridge, London. He pulled out the letter and read:

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. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all the necessary books and equipment. Terms begins on 1 September, We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

"Hagrid," Harry said quietly, looking down in disbelief at the letter, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard. I'm just Harry."

To his surprise, Hagrid just chuckled. "Not a wizard eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"

Harry thought back to the times when kids made fun of him at school for being small and scrawny—things that weren't his fault. He remembered one time when they were chasing him at the back of the school how all of a sudden a nearby playground ball hit the big one out of nowhere and he got a nosebleed meanwhile Harry got away scotch free.

"See?" said Hagrid, who was beaming at him. "Harry Potter, not a wizard – you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."

"Famous? What for? Isn't everyone at Hogwarts magical?" Harry said, yet again confused by what made him so special.

James and Lily looked at each other, concern spreading across their face. Hagrid noticed the silent exchange.

"Say Lily, could yeh make us a cup' o tea? It's uh not been an easy journey…" Hagrid asked, trying to get away from Harry's yearning question.

"Yes, of course Hagrid. I'll be right back. Harry, why don't you go upstairs and go to bed? It's getting awful late. Take your letter with you," she said smiling. "In the morning you can tell us about the books you need and we will take you to go and get them."

Harry didn't move at first, looking around at the adults in the room. He eventually made his way though, after saying goodnight to his parents, each with a hug, and shaking Hagrid's hand one more time thanking him again for the cake and letter.

James turned back to Hagrid once both Lily and Harry had left the room. "I guess we have some explaining to do for you Hagrid, but first, what does everyone out there think happened to us that night in Godric's Hollow?"

"Morning sweetie," Lily said as Harry entered the sun-lit kitchen, still in his pajamas. "Would you like a spot of breakfast?"

"Yes, that'd be nice."

"Did you look over the letter"

He nodded, staring at it as he sat at the table.

She was about to ask him what they needed to get when James entered the room, in pretty much the same state as his son. Both boys' glasses were crookedly sitting atop their noses, their hair standing up in pretty much every possible direction on their heads. They both had on plaid pajama pants and grey shirts of sorts.

James came over to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, whispering a morning greeting in her ear before heading to the table to join his son.

"Get any sleep last night Harry?" he asked, catching a glance of his son's eyes that seemed dark underneath the glasses.

"No, not really. I kept thinking it was all a dream. Dad, quick, throw water on me, pull a prank or something, then I'll know I'm awake for sure."

Lily sent a smile over her shoulder. James chuckled and reached across the table to ruffle his sons hair. He then grabbed the flower vase, pulled the flowers out and sent the water out of the vase in his son's direction.

"James!" Lily screeched, turning around to see her husband leaning back in his chair contently as her son sat sopping wet across from him. She quickly rushed over and brought him a towel. James though had a different idea on how to dry his son off.

"Harry, stand up for a second will you?"

"Wha-why?" he said, shivering a little as he walked around the table towards his dad.

At this, James pulled his wand out of his pajama pockets.

"Wha-what is… that?" Harry said, leaning closer to his father, straightening out his glasses to get a better look at the object in his father's hand.

James though just grinned widely as he flicked his wand towards Harry who felt a rush of air come quickly at him and then a feeling of warmth. He looked down and saw that his clothes were all dry. He quickly moved his hands up on top of his head and realized that it too was completely dry.

"How did you do that?!" Harry exclaimed, grabbing the wand off the table from where James had just placed it. He turned it multiple times, looking for a switch or something.

"Magic, Harry. You'll learn it all too," James said, snatching his beloved wand back before digging into the breakfast Lily had just placed in front of him.

"Harry, why don't you go and wake up Hagrid?" Lily said, as she set two more plates down on the table.

"He's still here?" Harry said, rather excitedly. He had so many questions to ask the giant.

Lily nodded towards the direction of the living room, "in there. Go."

Harry ran down the hall and into the living room. The room was a lot darker than usual as the blinds were closed. The white carpet that usually lay in the middle of the floor now was covered in darkness and the giant lay asleep in front of the fireplace a top his big coat and quite a few of the couch pillows.

"Hagrid?" Harry said, rather quietly, not wanting to scare him.

Another snore came from Hagrid's direction. Still asleep, thought Harry.

Harry grabbed an umbrella from the stand in the front hall, and came back into the room. He inched closer and closer to the sleeping giant, until he was only an arm and an umbrella length away from Hagrid's shoulders. He jabbed the umbrella into his shoulders.

Hagrid awoke instantly.

"Awow!" he bellowed, blinking as he scanned the dark room for what had poked him. His eyes found Harry who was standing wide eyed in the entry way with the umbrella still pointed towards him. "Wha' yeh do that for?"

"I uh-uh didn't uh—breakfast is ready. I was supposed to wake you for breakfast." Harry stuttered.

Hagrid chuckled, "Well I'm awake now, lets go eat!"

"So what do we need to get?" James asked excitedly as they set out down a street in central London.

Harry pulled the letter out and unfolded a second piece of paper that he hadn't paid much attention to the night before and read it out loud:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Uniform:

First Year Students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please notes that all pupils' clothes should carry nametags

Set Books:

All Students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Books of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

History of Magic by Bathilda Baghot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Other Equipment:

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Can we buy all of this is London?" Harry asked inquisitively, as he had never seen a store in all of his time in London that sold anything of the sorts.

"If you know where to go," James said with a wink. He and Hagrid were walking along in front of Lily and Harry who were trailing along behind, looking at the book list. Lily's eyes were as wide with excitement as Harry's were.

"This is it," Hagrid said, coming to a halt alongside James, who was standing in front of a run down black door. "The Leaky cauldron. Famous place it is."

"It doesn't look like much," Harry said warily as they began moving inside.

It was a dark, gloomy pub that had cobwebs in all corners of the room. It was filled though, with all sorts of people wearing odd looking clothes and very pointy hats.

Everyone in there seemed to know Hagrid.

"The usual Hagrid?" the barman asked as he reached for a glass.

"Can't Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," Hagrid said, clasping down on Harry's shoulder, who had just come in front of him to see whom Hagrid had been talking to.

"Good Lord," the barman said, peering at Harry, "is this—it can't be—?

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.

"It's Harry Potter," said one man who had been standing in the corner.

All of a sudden people were coming up to Harry and Hagrid, looking to shake Harry's hand and introduce themselves. Lily and James lingered in the background, laughing a little as everything happened. They couldn't help themselves as they watched Harry's eyes grow larger and larger, and Hagrid try to shuffle the both of them through the crowd to the back.

James and Lily slowly moved along the back wall and slipped into the back room where they would make their way into Diagon Alley once the other two got through the crowd of Harry's adorning fans.

"So how are we planning on telling him why everyone is so keen on meeting him?" James asked, rather worriedly, knowing they would have to answer the question sooner rather than later.

"I guess we will have to uh explain who Lord Voldemort was, and the times that we were in when he attacked us." Lily said, trying to sound confident in the decisions they had made regarding their son in the past ten years. "I think the hardest part for him isn't going to be why he is famous, or why we are famous in this world, but why people don't know the truth about what happened that night."

James just stared straight at the way, trying to think of an explanation for that last part that would be adequate for his son.

Ten minutes later, Harry and Hagrid had finally managed to make it to the back room where Lily and James were waiting.

"Hagrid, we need to go set some affairs in order at Gringotts, and get some money out for Harry's supplies. Would you mind taking Harry to get some lunch while we do that?" Lily said sweetly as she passed a couple of odd-looking coins to Hagrid.

"Sure it'd be me pleasure. Come on Harry's let's go."

Harry watched as his parents, hand in hand, walked away down the tiny cobblestone street and into the enormous crowd of people. His mom turned around just before she disappeared and waved at her son, beaming.

James and Lily wandered down the alley, looking in every direction, excited to be back in their world.

"I'd forgotten how wonderful this place was," Lily gasped as she walked by some of her favourite shops.

"One of the best places in the world, besides Hogwarts. I can't to take Harry into all the shops. Think he's alright with Hagrid?" James said, trying to catch a glimpse of Hagrid and Harry behind him, but they were too far in the crowd to see anything.

"I think Harry will be perfectly alright. Come on, lets go, I want to start getting his stuff as fast as we can. We've been long for far too long," Lily said before she started running up the stairs of Gringots, the Wizard Bank.

The building was massive inside, made almost entirely out of marble. At every desk there was a goblin, hard at work, stamping cheques or sorting out muggle currency. They made their way up to the main desk at the far end of the room. Lily stared up at the large crystal chandeliers that adorned the ceiling, remembering the first time she walked this route side by side with her own parents, and Petunia of course. She continued to gaze around the bank, as James dealt with the head goblin.

"I would like to access my vault, sir." James began, waiting for the goblin to acknowledge his presence. "I have a note from Albus Dumbledore, explaining our absence." The goblin finally looked up and accepted the note.

"Ah, yes. Well come with me, and we will sort this out, Mr. Potter. Come this way please."

"Come on Lils, you've been here before," James chuckled as he pulled his wife away from one of tellers who was counting galleons, and towards the goblin who they were meant to be following.

"Hagird?" Harry asked, looking up at the giant who was gorging down the soup he had gotten for lunch.

"Yeh?"

"Why is it that all of those people back there know who I am? Why are they welcoming me back?"

"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice, "I knew when I came how much yeh didn't know. I knew that they kept yeh away for yer own safety. Ah Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person to tell yeh—but someone's gotta, reckon it'd be hard on yer parents to do it themselves. Well I guess it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh—mind you I meself don't know some of the details…"

Harry was glancing at him with curious eyes, having shoved his own food away from him, clearly not hungry for anything besides the story that Hagrid was about to unleash on him. Hagrid looked around the restaurant, making sure no one was paying too much attention. As he scanned the room though, he caught sight of the Potters who immediately noticed the look on his face.

James looked at Lily who simply leaned into him and said quietly, "Let him tell Harry. I don't think either one of us can." With that, James glanced back at Hagrid who understood immediately. The Potters made their way over to seats at the bar, and watched as Hagrid began to tell their son his story.

Hagrid looked back at the young boy in front of him, taking a deep breath.

"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?"

"Well I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?"

"Gulpin' Gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult." He looked up, spotting James and Lily at the bar, both who were staring intently at their son. "There was this wizard who went about as bad as you could go. Darkest Wizard o' the age. His name was… was… Voldemort. About twenty years ago now, he started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em too – some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, cause he was powerful all right. It was dark times, terrible things were happenin'. Didn't know who to trust, nothin' was safe, except Hogwarts o' course. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of.

Now yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' head girl at Hogwarts in their day! It's a mystery You-Know-Who never called for them.

All anyone knows is, he turned up in Godric's Hollow where you all were living ten years ago on Halloween night. Yer parents fought him tryin' to protect you. Most thought they died, reckon that most still believe that they are dead—they been gone so long.

Anyways, that night somethin' happened, somethin' he didn't think of when he came. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. Somethin' about you stumped him, and he vanished, not one person's seen him since. That's why yer famous, that's why everyone knows yer name. Yer The-Boy-Who-Lived."

*Disclaimer: all the recognizable J.K. Rowling Harry Potter series content is fully her and I take no credit for it. The rest is my own imagination, and if you have time I would love to hear what you think. Thank you to all of those who have taken the time to read and follow my story thus far and I hope you continue to enjoy it. I really appreciate it!