As she sits on the patio while Vernon and Dudley are bringing a small motor boat back to the cabin with the larger gas canister from the car, Petunia smiles softly. The morning since the Aurors came has gone very smoothly. Though, Harry is still as quiet as he always is the day after a massive beating. When no post arrived, she even got a rare apology from Vernon, just for the accusation in the petrol station, nothing else.
When Harry doesn't reappear as the sound of the boat comes closer, Petunia curses under her breath as Dudley jumps out and runs up to the cabin with a large smile on his face. His smile turns even wider as he notices that Harry's not in the cabin and he runs around behind the cabin.
A moment later, Harry comes sprinting around the other side of the cabin with Dudley hot on his heels. Petunia can't even say anything as Vernon is walking easily up to the cabin carrying the gas canister as if it weighs nothing.
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A few hours later, Vernon's perched on one of the cubic stools and he lets out a satisfied yawn.
"This is just perfect, don't you think Pet? No freakishness, and no way for them to find us."
Before she can reply, the obnoxiously loud sound of a motorcycle starts to echo across the lake. As the two of them watch, the motorcycle drives past where they parked last night, before pulling into the boat house.
As Vernon catches sight of the riders build, and the fact they're not wearing a crash helmet, his face starts turning red.
When the man walks over to the upside down boats, and lifts up a wooden rowing boat as if it's a kayak, Vernon swears, "What the bloody hell is that doing here?"
When Dudley waves at the man, and the man waves back, Vernon explodes. "Dudley! Get back here, don't let the freak get close to you."
As the man gets in the boat and starts to row across, Vernon clips Dudley gently around the ear before walking into the cabin, "What have I told you about freaks?"
Harry, Dudley, and Petunia all watch as the man uses strong and practiced strokes to cross the lake at a surprising clip. Vernon comes out of the cabin once the boat reaches around halfway across the lake. Hung over one arm is a double barrelled shotgun, in the other hand is a box of shotgun shells.
Angrily Vernon fills each barrel with a shell, before clicking the barrel closed with a loud clunk. As it does, Harry looks back and blanches before moving to stand behind Dudley. As Dudley elbows him in the ribs, Harry's very much of the opinion that it's a fair trade for not being in Vernon's line of fire.
At the rate the man is pulling the oars, it only takes another few minutes before the boat runs aground on the muddy bank. As the man stows the oars, Vernon shouts, "Bugger off you freak. If you come any closer, I'll give you both barrels."
As the man ignores the warning, and stands up in the boat, Dudley and Harry both gasp in awe. What seemed to be a large man on the far shore turns into a veritable giant in the boat. His hair hangs wild and wiry in a triangle around his face and back, and his beard falls down to his chest with the same wiry look. Stepping out of the boat, his leather boots sink up to his ankles in the mud, and with one sucking step at a time, he walks towards them.
Vernon's face is bright red, even though his hands are shaking, as he walks off the patio, "Didn't you hear me? I said bugger off you freak. If you come any closer I'll give you both barrels."
The man keeps on walking, "Oh, shuddup you stupid muggle. And put that down afore you put someone's eye out."
As the man gets close enough to make out what his coat and trousers are made from Dudley lets out a low, "That jacket looks so cool."
Vernon glances at Dudley, before shouting back, "I mean it. Don't come any closer, I'm warning you!"
The man continues to walk up the grassy hill to the cabin, as he pays Vernon about as much attention as you might pay a toddler that's waving a foam sword at you.
As soon as he gets to around 10 paces from the patio, Vernon opens fire with both barrels. As the cloud of smoke clears, the man can be seen waving the smoke out of his face. "Now that weren't nice."
While Vernon is staring at the man who seems to have suffered no ill effects from the shot, the man reaches out and snags the shotgun from Vernon's unresisting grasp. With barely any effort, he bends the barrel nearly in half before he puts it back into Vernon's grasp again. "There you go, can't hurt anyone anymore."
As he walks past, he pats Vernon on the shoulder, before stepping onto the patio.
Dudley cranes his neck to look up at the man who's at least twice as tall as he is, "How are you still alive? That should have killed you!"
The man pats his jacket proudly, "It would take more than a pea shooter to get through this. It's made out of Peruvian Vipertooth dragonhide leather. You'd need som'ing a lot stronger than birdshot to even scuff it."
Dudley looks suitably impressed, "Woah, cool."
The man gently pats Dudley on the head, "Now where's me manners. I'm Hagrid, Grounds keeper of Hogwarts. Which one of you is Harry?"
From behind Dudley, Harry gingerly raises his hand.
Hagrid's eyes seem to sparkle as he smiles at Harry, "I haven't seen you since you were a wee babe in arms. Anyway, I have something for you."
Reaching into his pockets, he starts pulling out stuff, including a couple of live mice, something that's wrapped in a handkerchief, and finally a parchment letter.
Once his stuffed everything else back into his pocket, he hands the letter to Harry, "Right, this is for you. Sorry I'm late. The thingy that the headmaster gave me stopped working just after dawn. So, I had to land and go by road."
Coming out of his stupor, Vernon turns around and tries to snatch the letter from Harry's hands, "Now listen here, Harry's not going to any freak school. He's signed up for Stonewall High, and that's final."
Hagrid gently pushes Vernon behind him as he shakes his head, "Not going to Hogwarts? I'd never hear such a thing, both his parents went, and his grand parents too. No, he's been signed up since birth, and he's going. It's just the way it is."
Sharing a glance with Petunia, who nods subtly, Harry slips his finger under the wax seal and opens the letter. When nothing happens, Harry looks down and spots an additional sheet of folded parchment.
As he's putting that bit of parchment under the letter, he idly turns the letter over to check the address. Much like the others, this one is addressed to his current location, the cabin behind him.
Turning the letter back over, Harry reads it carefully before handing it over to Petunia to read while he looks at the other sheet of parchment.
Petunia skims over the letter, as it's much like the one that Lily got. However, as she reaches the last line, her eyebrows rise and she looks up at Hagrid. "Hagrid? If we'd opened one of these letters before you arrived. How exactly would we have sent a reply?" She turns the letter around and points to a line, "It says here that you expect our owl."
Hagrid scratches his beard with one hand while the other fends of Vernon the way someone might fend off a playful puppy. "Ah don't rightly know, sorry. The headmaster just told me that Harry hadn't received his letter yet. And that this one needed to be hand delivered." He looks up at the sun, "Anyway, it's getting late, so we need to get going if we're going to get your supplies from Diagon Alley."
As Vernon realises that Harry's read the letter, he subsides.
At the same time Harry looks at Petunia, and back at Hagrid. As he sees Vernon's shoulders slump behind Hagrid, his decision is made. "Hagrid, would it be ok if Aunt Petunia came with us?"
Hagrid shrugs, "Ah suppose it don't make no difference. So if you're sure, then she can come."
Vernon leans around Hagrid's bulk, "But Pet, you can't go. They're all freaks."
Petunia lets out a put upon sigh, "I'm going Vernon, it's probably our only chance to sort out the stipend stuff. Why don't you spend the next week or so here with Dudley. Show him the things that you used to do with your brother. Maybe take him to the beach. If you do that, I'll make sure the boy doesn't damage anything at home."
Dudley's eyes light up, he looks at Vernon with a pleading expression. Harry can almost see him shouting, 'A whole week being spoilt? Count me in.'
Once he sees the look on Dudley's face, he turns back to Petunia with a look that promises a reckoning when he gets back home. "I suppose that would be ok. We'll see you at home in a week. Just make sure you keep the freak under control."
Completely ignoring the subtext, Hagrid claps his hands together and turns towards the boat, "Right, now that's sorted, let's go."
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Once they get back to the boat house, Hagrid sits on the jetty to clean off the prow of the boat and his boots.
As Harry looks at him curiously, Hagrid says, "It's only polite to return the boat in the condition ah found it. Now, the sidecar's not really big enough for two people, so one of you'll need to ride behind me."
Despite her nervousness, Petunia immediately answers, "I'll do it, as Harry's to small to get a good grip."
Hagrid laughs good naturedly, "There's no need to worry about that, each of the seats has a sticking charm so no one can fall of while the bikes moving."
Petunia sets her jaw, "I'll still do it."
Hagrid laughs, "Sure, just be careful about your skirts."
Once Harry and Hagrid are both sat in the side car, and on the bike, respectively. Petunia nervously hands Harry her handbag, to sit next to his backpack on the floor. Then she takes Nixie from the back of her neck, and hands them to Harry to hold.
Swallowing hard, she puts one foot on the rear stirrup, before swinging her leg over the back seat.
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Harry winces as Hagrid starts the motorcycle, only to look over in amazement as he flicks a switch that silences the engine. After flicking a couple more switches, Hagrid turns the throttle and pulls back on the handlebars.
Instead of the feeling of acceleration Harry was expecting, the motorcycle instead rides up into the air, and over the boat house.
Quickly, Harry leans over the side of the sidecar and gapes as the ground falls away, and they can see for miles in every direction. Even Petunia can't help but gape at the passing countryside.
After a couple of minutes, Harry shouts, "What happens if someone looks up?"
Hagrid laughs, "There's no need to worry about that, this here bike has built in invisibility. Ain't anyone down there that can see us."
As they pass over mountains and rivers, towns and villages, and farmland as far as they eye can see, Harry imagines that this is what a bird must feel like.
However, as with everything, all journeys must eventually come to an end. After three or four hours of riding, their own journey comes to an end as Hagrid takes the motorcycle down into central London.
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Once the three of them have dismounted the motorcycle, both Harry and Petunia walk around a little uncomfortably to get the feeling back in their legs. At the same time, Hagrid lifts the seat of the motorcycle and takes a pink umbrella out of a storage compartment.
After a moment, Harry hands Nixie back to Petunia, before looking up at Hagrid. "Um, I don't suppose there's a toilet somewhere near here?"
Hagrid chuckles, "Can you hold it for five minutes, as I'm sure Tom won't mind you using the bathroom in one of his rooms."
Harry and Petunia both nod.
Hagrid smiles, "Well then, follow me, it's only a couple of minutes walk down this way."
With that, Hagrid leads the way out of the small, almost deserted, carpark they landed in. As they pass the entrance, Petunia shivers despite the heat while Harry only feels a mild tingle.
Frowning, Harry takes Petunia's hand, "Are you ok Auntie?"
Petunia nods, "It just felt like I walked through a massive spiderweb or maybe through one of those heat things they have at shop doors. Except cold instead of hot."
Harry glances back, "That's odd, I felt a tingle, but that's all."
Petunia looks down, "I'm sure we'll figure it out, together."
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As promised, it only takes them a few minutes to walk up Charing Cross Road to a dingy pub. As they approach the pub, Hagrid stops abruptly and turns around.
"Right, Harry, ah just remembered, you probably want to grab your aunts…"
He trails off as he notices Petunia standing on her own, looking at the pub with a wistful expression. "Blimey, never mind then. Um, this is the Leaky Cauldron. Don't mind the interior, it's so that the odd muggle that makes it past the protections doesn't want to stay. It's actually perfectly clean inside."
Petunia nods, "That makes sense. When I came with Lily it seemed odd compared to the rest of the alley."
Hagrid looks surprised for a moment before realisation crosses his expression. "Oh, right. You would have been a kid then."
Petunia smiles and nods, "I was 9 and a half. The half was very important then."
Hagrid laughs, "I bet it was. Well, come on, time's a wasting."
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A man with pitch black skin reaches an unremarkable location on a world where the rivers run through the sky. Looking around, he seems to sniff for a moment before he disappears.