The letter from Hogwarts
Two weeks before I turned eleven it happened.
"Get the post boy." Vernon said less than ten seconds after the letterbox flapped shut.
I had to hide my smile as I went to the door, everyday for the last week I'd been listening out for the post.
When I heard the soft hoot of an owl this morning I knew it was the day. That and the rancid smell of Petunia dyeing a bunch of clothes grey for the secondary school she planned to send me to.
I picked the pile up.
Bill.
Bill.
Newsletter.
Bill.
Parchment.
Oh hell yes.
Mr. H Potter,
The cupboard under the stairs,
4 Privet Drive,
Little Whinging,
Surrey
I opened my cupboard and chucked it in for later.
Then I carried on with my day as if nothing was out of the normal.
When I got back to the cupboard I broke the wax seal and took out the thick parchment.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1.
We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
The grin on my face didn't let up for hours, I poured over every letter and every piece of required equipment, I also managed to get some paper to write it out so I'd have a copy of it.
Harry in the books didn't get to keep his original letter thanks to Vernon, I thought if another is posted then that will be the one I present to the Dursleys.
The next day, sure enough three copies landed on the hallway floor below the letterbox.
I wasn't sure there would anymore than this and Vernon had sent me to collect the post, again.
I chucked two of the three into the cupboard and brought the third into the dining room.
I'd done the smart thing and had already opened it like I had just read it.
"I've gotten a letter….."
All three heads snapped towards me.
"And who would be writing to you, boy?" Asked Vernon as though it were a joke.
"Some place called Hogwarts ... .a school… apparently….of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"
I said as though disbelieving it.
Petunia meanwhile paled, even more than her usual self.
"Listen here boy there is no such thing as magic. It's just some freakish joke played in you and our perfect normal family."
He spat, scrambled eggs flicking off the end of his fork and missing his plate.
"All your freakishness is enough as it is, even if there were such a school we wouldn't allow you to attend. Give me the letter." He tore it from my hand.
And thus began the onslaught of letters and parliament was held on the houses, lamp posts and signs of Privet drive, as owls of all shape and size descended on Little Winging.
I realised that this would probably be the majority of, if not all of the school's owls here.
Wanting to avoid the cross country attempt to escape the letters I wrote my own.
Dear Deputy Headmistress McGonagall,
My name is Harry Potter, I'm not sure if this will arrive as I intend to give it to one of the many owls that have made a home in the street.
I am unsure whether or not to believe that this is a real letter regarding a magic school as my Aunt and Uncle have told me there is no such thing as magic.
If it is real then I would like to accept and would need assistance in acquiring the things listed as needed to attend.
If this is some kind of bad joke, please remove the owls as they seem happy to put their droppings anywhere and everywhere.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
Well, that ought to change some things, I thought as the owl flew off to Hogwarts.
The next morning all the owls had gone, only their droppings and the odd feather as proof they were ever there.
It was Saturday 27th of July 1991.
There was a knock on the door, short and sharp.
Vernon waddled his way there and opened it.
"Good afternoon Mr. Dursley, I am here to speak to you, your wife and your nephew Harry regarding his acceptance to Hogwarts schoo-" a tart voice that only could belong to McGonagall which was cut off by Vernon.
"Who do you think you are woman? Coming to my house unannounced in your freakish clothes - Petunia! Petunia! - there's one of those freaks at the door sh-!"
He had clearly been silenced as he appeared to continue to rant but soundlessly, a second later he had realised and turned an awful magenta.
"What have you done witch!" Schreeced Petunia.
"Stop it now!"
"I will be happy to, once he has calmed down and could we first take a seat." Gesturing to the lounge.
I had been playing on Dudley's SNES, which he had gotten the year before, on F-Zero.
McGonagall bustled past the walrus and Petunia and made herself comfortable on the sofa in front of me.
"Harry, I am Professor McGonagall, thank you for your letter." Vernons face turned an ugly shade of purple when Petunia was again schreeced.
"You wrote her a letter? You wrote her a letter? You stupid little boy."
"You were never to know anything, never to know your parents got themselves blown up. Never to become what Lil- she was, a…a.. well a freak."
I could see the anger but hear the jealousy.
McGonagall's face pinched, she then spoke as though telling off a petulant child.
"James and Lily Potter did not get themselves blown up, they died trying to protect their son. Something any mother should be able to understand. It was also due to them opposing a dark wizard, the likes little seen before. Their son Harry has had his name down for Hogwarts since birth, and is most certainly a Wizard and not a freak."
Unable to help myself I finally spoke up,
"I'm a what?"
"Forgive me dear, but yes, you're a wizard, Harry. (Might not be Hagrid but someone said the line haha, didn't get the no post on Sundays line but hey ho, can't win them all.)
She said with a thin smile that still reached the eyes, clearly she didn't enjoy interacting with Petunia and Vernon.
"I, along with being the deputy headmistress, am also going to be your transfiguration professor, and if you are sorted into Gryffindor, I would also act as your head of house." I could see the hope clear on her face that I would be Gryffindor.
Ha I'm Ravenclaw the whole way, sorry Minnie.
"Now, you have to acquire a number of things to attend Hogwarts so tomorrow I will return to take you to get said items, how does 10am sound Mr. Potter?"
"That sounds fine to me."
"Excellent, well I think your Aunt and Uncle would like me to leave now, so I shan't stay any longer."
"Could….could I see some more magic please? I asked, regardless of any possible punishment from the Dursleys.
McGonagall waved her wand in a complicated pattern, simultaneously three things happened, the empty sofa turned into a pig, the candles on the mantelpiece all lit aflame, and the two bookends on the bookcase took flight as a pair of robins.
Petunia looked ill, Vernon who had stopped his silent rant began anew, refreshed by the sight of more visual magic, and Dudley laughed and then let out a low whistle.
"Magic really is something Professor." He said as though Magic was as normal to him as the morning paper.
"Yes, quite, Master Dursley." She paused flicked her wand once and everything turned to normal.
"10am Mr. Potter." She then went to the front door which had been left partially opened during this whole brilliant debacle, briefly glanced at the cupboard under the stairs making her dark look obvious to Petunia, then took a quick look up and down the street and vanished with a short crack as she stepped off the porch step.
I knew she had fully apparated as the same second Vernons voice came back and he would not shut up, I was in for a long day.
As I prepared for my first trip to Diagon Alley I made a quick list of things I wanted outside of the provided list.
A suitcase with space inside like newts in the fantastic beasts films, a bag with the extension charm like Hermione has in the deathly hallows, all the grade spell books, Hogwarts: a history, a book on occlumency, and a wide variety of wizard sweets, and I think I'll get a second pet as well as Hedwig.
I'll have to wait til next year to get the vanishing cabinet from Borgins and Burke's and ideally a second wand or maybe even, third wand.
I lay back in the dark cupboard, and fell asleep softly whistling hedwigs theme…..
I won't drop these Author notes often, but a quick thank you to everyone who's read so far, I hope you enjoy it so far.
I have no intention of abandoning this fic, but for the most part won't have a set schedule of uploading,
Anyway, this is a shorter chapter and they will vary in length,
So, that's all for now folks :)
