NicoleR85: here's more!
sumsum83460: thank you
RT89: yep! Now Ember is going to find out the truth…or at least part of the truth.
Ember shifted around for the umpteenth time as she tried to get comfortable on the cold hard floor of the rickety old house she and the Dursley's were currently staying in. Since that Sunday where a huge flurry of letters all addressed to Ember made their way into Number 4 Privet Drive, Vernon had been driving all over the place trying to find somewhere that the letters couldn't reach them.
At first they stopped at a gloomy hotel on the outskirts of some big city. The four of them only spent one night there as when they were having breakfast on Monday morning, the owner of the hotel told them that she had 100 letters addressed to Ember on the front desk.
The next place they stopped at was forest. They weren't there for very long as Vernon took one look around shook his head and carried on driving. Eventually they arrived at their current lodgings, an old house on a small rocky island. The home had one bedroom which Vernon and Petunia took. That left the moth-eaten sofa which Dudley quickly claimed for himself leaving the poor girl with the floor.
She sighed looking up at her cousin's watch that read 11:45. Only 15 minutes until she turned 11. Ember should be excited about it but she wasn't, her birthday was never celebrated unlike her cousin. The ginger rolled over onto her stomach and started to draw a birthday cake in the dirt with her finger. When she finished, she glanced at Dudley's watch which beeps as it turns midnight.
"Make a wish, Ember", Ember said, gently blowing on the picture, scattering the dirt as she did so. Suddenly there was a loud thump at the door making the birthday girl jump and look up in alarm. There was a second thump and then a third which at this point had the newly turned 11 year old on her feet and hastily hiding by the fireplace. Dudley was cowering by the table as the thumps continued. Petunia and Vernon appear on the stairs, the man pointing a rifle at the door.
"Who's there?" he asked, trying to sound unafraid but it didn't work. His voice trembled with his words. The door bangs again, this time comes off its hinges. The Dursleys all screamed as a giant man stepped in.
"Sorry 'bout that", the man, Hagrid apologised. He picked up the door easily and puts it back up.
"I demand that you leave at once, Sir! You are breaking and entering!" Vernon demanded.
Hagrid walks over to him not at all intimated by the man who was pointing a rifle at him "Dry up, Dursley, you great prune", he said grabbing the barrel of the gun and bent it upwards. Both Vernon and Petunia jumped when the gun went off, blowing a small hole in the ceiling.
Ember quietly snickered at how afraid her aunt and uncle were of the newcomer. Anybody who'd stand up to those people were alright in her book. She stepped out from her hiding place, gaining the attention of the giant sized man. A smile appeared on his face, partly hidden by his bushy beard. "Ember!" he said, delighted "startin' to look just like yer mum", he remarked "Got something for ya. 'Fraid I might have sat on it at some point! I imagine that it'll taste fine just the same" Hagrid produced a slightly squashed white box from his pocket "Ahh. Baked it myself" he hands the box over to Ember "Words and all. Heh".
The girl opened the box and found a birthday cake inside. It was topped with pink icing and decorated with the words Happee Birdae Ember in green icing "Thank you", Ember said sincerely. She touched by the fact that this stranger, who seemed to know who he was, had made her a birthday cake. The Dursleys never bothered to do that, ever.
"It's not every day that a little lady turns eleven, now is it?" the Keeper of Keys commented. He then sat down on the sofa, the piece of furniture sagging a bit under his weight and took out an umbrella. The Dursleys and Ember gape as sparks fly out of the tip, setting the logs that where sitting in the fireplace alight. Ember sets the cake down and takes a step towards Hagrid.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Ember asked.
"Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts", Hagrid replied stoking the fire a bit "Course, you'll know all about Hogwarts", he added looking up at Ember.
The girl shook her head "Sorry, no", she said.
"No?" Hagrid asked confused "Blimey, Ember, didn't you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?"
"Learnt what?" the 11 year old asked.
"You're a witch, Ember", Hagrid declared.
"A witch", the girl repeated. Weirdly enough that made some kind of sense to her. She'd always felt different and this was way more than having two hearts different. Things seemed to happen around her that she couldn't explain which included the vanishing glass at the zoo. "I believe you".
Hagrid smiled at her again "good!" he said, pleased about that. He stood up, pulled out a letter from his pocket and held it out to her. Ember wasted no time tearing it open, her hearts hammering in anticipation at its possible contents.
"Dear, Miss Potter. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Ember read aloud.
"She'll not be going!" Vernon proclaimed storming over to stand by Ember "We swore when we took her in we'd put an end to this rubbish!"
"You knew?! "You knew all along and you never told me?" Ember exclaimed. She didn't have the hearts to be surprised at his confession. It explained a lot about their behaviour actually. Why they treated her like she was something they'd get stuck to the bottom of their shoe.
"Of course we knew. How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was", Petunia scoffed moving to stand beside her husband "Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. They were equally delighted when her twin also got a letter too. We have two witches in the family. Isn't it wonderful? I was the only one to see them for what they were. A pair of freaks! One fell in love with that strange…traveller" the woman sneered "the other met Potter and then she had you…I knew you'd be the same, just as strange, just as ... abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up! And we got landed with you".
"You told me they died in a car crash", the hybrid growled, stepping toward her aunt, her eyes flashing red gold in her anger. The muggle's eyes widened and she hastily moved back over to her husband, standing behind him slightly.
"A car crash?!" Hagrid piped up, outraged by the lie "A car crash kill James and Lily Potter?"
"We had to tell her something", Petunia said defensively.
"It's an outrage! It's a scandal!" Hagrid exclaimed. He couldn't believe that Ember had grown up surrounded by a pack of lies about herself…about other members of her family.
"She'll not be going!" Vernon said firmly.
"Oh, and I suppose a great Muggle like yourself is going to stop her, are you?" the half giant challenged.
"Muggle?" Ember questioned, curious.
"Non-magic folk", Hagrid answered before turning his attention back to the Dursleys "This girl has had her name down ever since she was born! She's going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and she'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts' has ever seen: Albus Dumbledore".
"I will not pay for some crackpot old fool to teach her magic tricks!" Vernon shouted. There was no way on earth he was letting his freak of a niece go off to Hogwarts. No way!
Hagrid whipped out his pink umbrella and pointed it threateningly at Vernon "Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me", he said warningly. That was one thing he wouldn't stand for, people insulting whom he'd consider to be a very great wizard and a friend. He then noticed Dudley scarfing down Ember's cake. Hagrid pointed his umbrella at the boy's backside and a curly pig's tail grows out of it.
"Ahh!" Dudley cried along with his parents. Ember laughed as she watched Vernon and Petunia chase Dudley around.
"Oh, um, I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone at Hogwarts about that. Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic", Hagrid told Ember.
"Tell anyone what?" the hybrid said 'innocently' earning her a grin from the Keeper Of Keys. Hagrid checked a small gold pocket watch.
"Ooh, we're a bit behind schedule. Best be off" he went over to the door and pulled it off "Unless you'd rather stay, of course?" he asked turning back to Ember. The girl took one look at her aunt, uncle and cousin and made her choice. She was going to go somewhere that she belonged. She was going to Hogwarts.