Ch. 4
Keeper of the Keys
BOOM!
They knocked again. Dudley woke with a start.
"Where's the cannon?" he asked stupidly.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon came crashing into the room. Uncle Vernon held a rifle. Now they knew what was in the long package he bought.
"Who's there? I warn you! I'm armed!"
There was a silence and then… SMASH!
The door was hit was such force that it swung off it's hinges and crashed to the floor. A giant of a man stood in the doorway. His face was nearly completely hidden under a tangle of black hair and beard. Two beetle black eyes glinted under the mass of hair. He turned, picked up the door, and fitted it back into the frame. The noise of the storm quieted slightly. He then turned to look at them all.
"Couldn't fix us a cuppa tea, could ya? It's not been an easy journey."
He started for the couch and Dudley squeaked with fear before running to his parents. As the giant man sat on the couch, nearly breaking it in two, he revealed a much smaller figure behind him, tangled in a rain slicked cloak. The man smiled at Harry.
"And there's Harry. Last time I saw yeh, yer were only a baby. You look like yer dad. But you've got yer mum's eyes." He looked at the smaller figure, still struggling with the cloak. "Professor McGonagall agreed it was time for you two ter reunite, so I brought her along."
"I demand you leave here at once sir," Uncle Vernon called, forcing his voice not to shake. "You are breaking and entering!"
"Dry up, Dursley, you great prune."
The giant man reached back and snatched the rifle from Uncle Vernon's grip, bent the barrel as easily as a pipe cleaner, and tossed it aside. Harry's eyes turned to the second stranger. The figure finally managed to pull the cloak off. It was a girl a little older than Harry. One year older, to be precise. Harry felt his heart skip a beat as he looked her over. Aunt Petunia gasped and covered her mouth with her hand in shock.
"It's you!" He looked at Uncle Vernon triumphantly. "I told you I have a sister! She's right there!"
The pair rush to each other and Violet Potter wrapped her arms tightly around her younger brother. She had changed since he last saw her, of course. Violet, for that was her name, was several inches taller than Harry and at least one stone heavier giving her a stockier build. Her long, auburn hair was pulled into two buns at the crown of her head. Her blue eyes seemed to glow in the lightning. A thin scar next to her left eye did nothing to hide the fact that she was very pretty. Then she seemed to register what Harry had said.
"Wait, what do you mean you told them about me? They know me." She looked at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, hurt. "You… you told him… I wasn't his sister?"
"Why would we? We sent you away, didn't we?" Uncle Vernon answered viciously. "After what you did, how could you blame us?"
"I said I was sorry!" Violet's words seemed to be aimed more at Aunt Petunia than Uncle Vernon. Aunt Petunia seemed to be unable to look at her niece.
"Aunt Petunia said they sent you to a mental hospital for setting the living room on fire," Harry said.
Uncle Vernon looked at his wife in shock, but she did not return the gaze, staring instead resolutely at the earthen floor. Uncle Vernon made a derisive noise in his throat. The giant turned back to Harry.
"We have plenty of time fer yeh to catch up with each other, but right now we have something more important. Happy birthday, Harry." The large man pulled a white box tied with a scarlet ribbon from his moleskin coat and held it out to Harry. "I made this for you, letters and all. 'Fraid I may 'ave sat on it at some point, but I imagine it will taste fine just the same. After all, s'not every day yeh turn eleven."
Harry opened that box. Green iced letters read "Happy Birthday."
He meant to say thank you. After all, he had never received a birthday cake before. But somehow the words got lost on their way to his mouth. What he said instead was, "Who are you?"
"Call me Hagrid, everyone does. I'm keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. So what about that tea? Mind I wouldn't say no to sommat stronger if ya got it."
He spotted the empty crisp bags by the fireplace and snorted. He knelt by the fireplace. Harry couldn't see what he was doing, but soon there was a roaring fire that filled the small cabin with warmth. He took out a kettle, tea bags, several smoked sausages, a poker, several cupped mugs and a flask of amber liquid he took a swig from as he started working.
Violet took advantage of the silence that filled the room as Hagrid worked and smiled at Harry.
"I've missed you so much, Harry. I was so scared when I had to leave, but there's nothing to worry about now. Auntie taught me to control my magic and now my fire is completely under control. Watch this!"
She held out her hand, palm facing up as if to show him something, yet her palm was empty. After a moment, her entire hand was engulfed in blue flames. Harry jumped and stepped back in alarm. Even Dudley squeaked in fear, but the flames did not burn her. They crackled and danced on her skin, but she remained unharmed. Harry slowly reached out his hand. He could feel the heat. Violet took a cautionary step back.
"Don't touch it dummy. It's only safe for me. You know that." She gave Uncle Vernon a hard look. "Or do you?"
The flames puffed out like a birthday candle. Silver smoke swirled for a moment, but she fanned it away with her other hand impatiently.
"How did you do that?" Harry asked in amazement.
"I'm pyrokinetic." Violet was not smiling now as she looked from Harry to their aunt and uncle. "Harry… you… you do know what we are… don't you?"
"No." He flinched at Hagrid's startled expression as he tipped several sausages onto a plate and gave them to Harry. "Sorry."
"Sorry? It's them should be sorry! I knew yeh weren' gettin' yer letters. But I never thought… I mean, didn't you wonder where yer parents learned it all?"
"All what?"
"All what? Now wait just a moment!" Hagrid stood again and faced the Dursleys who coward in their corner. "Are you telling me this boy don't know anything about… anything?!"
Harry frowned, thinking this was going to far. After all, his marks weren't so bad.
"I do know some things. Like maths and stuff."
Hagrid waved his words away with a massive hand.
"I mean about our world. Yer world. My world."
"What world?"
"Stop right there!" Uncle Vernon called. "I forbid you to tell the boy anything. You'll take that," he spat, pointing at Violet, "and go, right now!"
"You're a wizard!" Violet called over all the shouting. Silence fell and all eyes were now on her. "And I'm a witch. Just like mum and dad were."
"I'm a what?"
"A wizard. Yer probably one of the most famous wizards alive," Hagrid added. "And a thumping good one I'd wager, once you've trained up, of course. Well then, I'd say it's time you read your letter then."
Hagrid took a parchment envelope from his pocket and gave it to Harry. Harry took the letter. It was addressed to Mr. H. Potter, Floor, House on the Rock, The Sea. How oddly specific, just like the others. He read the letter in amazement as Violet and Hagrid watched, smiling softly. Questions exploded in Harry's mind.
"What do they mean, they await my owl?" he stammered after a few minutes.
Hagrid clapped a hand to his forehead.
"Gallopin' gargoyles! I almost forgot!"
He reached into his coat and took out a small owl, a real one! He also took out a quill, ink bottle and parchment. Harry tilted his head so he could read the letter as Hagrid wrote it in scrawled writing.
Dear Mr. Dumbledore,
Given Harry his letter.
Taking the kids to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get their school things.
Minerva already okayed Violet going with us.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.
Hagrid
He rolled up the letter and handed it to the owl. The creature clamped it in it's beak and flew out the window. Hagrid returned to the couch as though it was perfectly normal to keep owls in your pocket.
"Harry?" Violet asked. "Are you alright?"
Harry realized he was staring with his mouth open. He closed it quickly.
"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but Uncle Vernon finally found his voice.
"He's not going!"
Violet gave him a confused look as Hagrid grunted.
"I'd like ter see a Muggle like you try and stop him."
"Muggle?"
"Someone with no magical abilities," Violet answered. "Like them. Mum was a muggle-born, a witch born to Muggles."
"Is that normal?"
"They're fairly common," Violet said with a disinterested shrug.
"Lily Potter was a special girl," Hagrid said with a smile. "It was a privilege to watch her become a powerful witch. It's yer bad luck that you had to grow up with the biggest Muggles I ever laid eye on."
"We swore when we took him in, we would put an end to this!" Uncle Vernon spat.
Harry rounded on his aunt and uncle.
"You knew and you never told me?!"
"Of course we knew!" Aunt Petunia said. "What else would you be? My sister got a letter just like that and off she went to that school. She'd come back on holidays with pockets full of frog spawn, telling tall tales of creatures living in the lake and ghosts running about the place." Her eyes filled with tears and for the first time Harry could see, not anger aimed at his mother, but envy. "I hated her for it! And then she met that Potter and had you two. She was slipping deeper and deeper into a world I couldn't follow her into. And then she was murdered. She died and we never…"
Her voice choked. Uncle Vernon, Dudley, and Harry looked at her in surprise. For a moment, Harry thought he heard a note of regret in her tone. But outrage overwhelmed Harry's surprise.
"Murder? You told me my parents died in a car crash."
"Mum and Dad didn't die in a car crash!" Violet said, outraged. Her hair crackled. "I know! I was there! I saw the whole…" Her voice cracked. "The whole thing…"
Harry put a comforting arm over her shoulder. She was only a year older than him so Harry doubted she remembered much more of that night than he did, but even the painful green light Harry remembered made him queasy when he thought of it. Hagrid gave the Dursley's another contemptuous look and turned back to Harry and Violet.
"But why?" Harry asked. "If it wasn't a car crash, what happened?"
Hagrid anger melted and he suddenly looked anxious.
"I never expected this. Dumbledore said there might be trouble getting you yer letter. But I never guessed how much you didn't know. I'm not sure I'm the one to tell you…"
"I guess it's a good thing I came then." Harry and Hagrid looked at Violet. She spoke in a dead sort of tone. She was looking out the window as if it was a window to her memory. "It started a long time ago. Before we were born. Before Mum and Dad were even born, I think. Just like everyone, there are good and bad wizards. There was a wizard that went bad. Worse than bad."
"No wizard in history ever went that bad," Hagrid said with a shutter in his voice. "Depths of evil grown men can't fathom, let alone two kids."
"His name was Voldemort," Violet continued but she was interrupted by Hagrid again.
"Don' say the name."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
"People are still scared. Don' say it again, Violet."
"Auntie doesn't like when I say it either. But Professor Dumbledore says we shouldn't be afraid of a name."
"We have other family?"
Violet pointed to the signature of Harry's letter.
"That's Auntie. She's one of the Hogwarts professors. She took me in when they kicked me out. She not actually a relative, though."
"Anyway, You-Know-Who," Hagrid continued, "went as bad as anyone can go. What made it worse is he had followers. If someone tried to stand up to him, he'd kill them. It was dark times. No one knew who to trust. Anyone could have been working for him or been bewitched to work for him. I reckon Dumbledore was the only one he was ever scared of. Yer mum and dad fought against him." Hagrid took a table cloth sized handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose. "Sorry… but it's just that sad. Knew yer mum and dad when they was at school. Head girl and Quidditch captain and yeh couldn't find two nicer people." He wiped his eyes with the massive handkerchief. "Anyway, things was lookin' bad for our side. He had just taken out the Prewett brothers. And then, on Halloween night, ten years ago, he went after yer family. He killed yer parents and then tried to kill you, but he couldn't do it. No one really knows what happened…"
"I do," Violet cut in in a hollow tone. "Dad told Mum to take us and run. He tried to take on Voldemort by himself, but…" She choked, her voice cracking. She couldn't finish the statement so she continued. "He'd left his wand in the living room. Dad never stood a chance, but he tried. Then he came upstairs for us. Mum tried to barricade the door to your room, but Voldemort blasted his way in. Mum put us in your crib and tried to shield us from him. He told her to move out of the way. Dad he killed without hesitation, but mum he gave a chance to save herself. I never understood that part. He told her to take me and walk away, but she refused so…" Behind them Aunt Petunia made a small almost inaudible noise in her throat. "He killed her. But then he turned to you and things got… weird."
"What do you mean?"
"He tried to use the same curse that killed Mum on you. He knelt down. He got right in your face. But…" She shook her head, still unable to make sense of the memory after all these years. "I stood there watching and I still don't understand what happened. He performed the curse, but it backfired for some reason. It was almost like the wand itself backfired."
"What happened to him?"
Violet shrugged so Harry looked at Hagrid.
"That's the mystery, ain't it. He disappeared that night. Some say he died."
"He didn't die," Violet counter. "He disappeared."
"I don't believe he died either," Hagrid agreed. "I reckon he's still out there. Too tired to carry on."
"But why go after Violet and I if it was Mum and Dad he was after?"
"He wasn't after mum and me," Violet said with a thoughtful frown. "He was specifically after you."
"Why?"
Hagrid shook his shaggy head.
"I dunno. Maybe he just liked killing by then. But he couldn't do it. Something about you stumped him that night."
"But what's so special about us?"
"You," Violet corrected. "Not us. It was you."
"That ain't no ordinary cut on your head. That there's the mark of being touched by an evil curse. But it didn't work on you. And he took out some of the best. I went to the house lookin' fer yeh. The whole room has destroyed. Scared me to death when I couldn't find yeh at first. Thankfully Madeline Prewett had already found you and kept you safe until I got there."
Harry looked at his sister, his eyes finding the scar on side of her face.
"Load of old tosh!"
Harry jumped. He had quite forgotten the Dursleys were there. He glared at Hagrid, his fists clenched.
"Now you listen here boy," he snarled. "I accept there's something strange about you. Nothing a good beating wouldn't have fixed, I'm sure. As for your parents, they were weirdos. The world is better off…"
"Don't say that!" Violet shouted.
Her hair sparked. Hagrid sprang to his feet and advanced on them.
'I'm warning you, Dursley! One more word!" Uncle Vernon spread his arms over his family and they retreated back to their corner. "That's better."
"But what happened to Vol – Sorry, I mean You-Know-Who."
"No one knows," Violet said.
"But how do people even know it was me he tried to kill? You were there too. How do we know it wasn't you?"
"People did wonder for a long time. But I gave official testimony at the Ministry when I was five."
"But you were only two. How could you remember?"
"I don't know why I remember. But I remember everything. Everything that happened to me since that night." Her eyes looked suddenly distant. "I remember a tall figure clutching mum's body, crying. I remember Ms. Prewett picking you up as I came to. I remember her hiding us under her cloak as she took us to her house. I remember Hagrid and Sirius Black meeting at her house. I remember Black lending his bike to Hagrid so he could bring us to them." She jerked her thumb at the Durselys. "I even remember everything Professor Dumbledore told them when he delivered us with Auntie." She sighed. "I just don't know why I remember it all."
"But that's why yer so famous. You lived when no one else did," Hagrid said.
"There has to be a mistake," Harry said, shaking his head. "There's nothing special about me. I can't be a wizard."
Hagrid smiled kindly.
"Tell me this. Did you ever make anything strange happen when you were scared or angry?"
Harry thought of all the odd things that had happened throughout his life and a smiled slowly spread over his face. Violet grinned back at him.
"See?" Hagrid said genially. "You'll be right famous at Hogwarts."
"Didn't I tell you he won't be going!" Uncle Vernon shouted.
"If he wants the go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him! He'll be with youngsters of his own sort for once and he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumble-"
"I'll not pay some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!"
But Uncle Vernon had finally gone too far. Hagrid leapt to his feet. He seemed to fill the room in his anger as he swung his pink umbrella over his head.
"NEVER INSULT ALBUS DUMBLEDORE IN FRONT OF ME!"
He brought the umbrella down. Dudley squealed and began dancing on the spot, clutching his fat bottom. As he turned, Harry and Violet caught sight of a curly pigs tail sprouting out of the back of his pajamas and the pair burst into laughter. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia screamed. Uncle Vernon quickly herded his family into the other room and slammed the door. Hagrid scratched his beard guiltily.
"Shouldn'ta lost me temper. Yeh won't say nothin' about that the anyone at Hogwarts? Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed the do magic."
"Mum's the word, Hagrid," Violet promised.
"Why can't you do magic?" Harry asked.
"I was… expelled actually. In me third year."
"Why were you expelled? Ouch!"
Violet elbowed him hard.
"Don't be rude," she mouthed.
"It's getting late," Hagrid said loudly. He took off his coat and tossed it to Harry. "Yeh can kip under that fer the night. Don't mind if it wriggles some. I think I've got some dormice in one of the pockets."
As Hagrid settled back onto the broken sofa, Violet took a sleeping bag from a bundle in her cloak and unrolled it in front of the still roaring fireplace. Harry wrapped himself in the hairy coat and, using one of the sleeves as a pillow, drifted off to sleep.
