Welcome back my lovely Potterheads!
Okay, we've reached reveal time. We know who shows up at the door - or do we? (DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN)
Ha, I'm just kidding. It's our favorite half-giant Hagrid. This chapter was a fun one to write, especially when it comes to Susanna observing her mother. We get little hints of Petunia's complex behavior in this - not only towards Lily, but her dynamic with Susanna vs. Dudley as well. Her complexity will only continue to grow in this story, and you'll get a bit more of it in the next chapter.
I hope you guys enjoy this update! As always, I only own my OC - the rest is JK Rowling's!
BOOM!
Whoever was outside knocked again. Dudley jerked awake, sending a confused look to his cousins. "Where's the canon?" He asked, still half asleep.
Something crashed upstairs, and heavy footsteps rushed down the stairs. Susanna turned to see her father looking around wildly, a bloody rifle in his hands. So that's what he'd brought with them. The girl had gone pale, staring at her father with more fear than she cared to admit.
"Who's there?!" Vernon shouted, Petunia cowering behind him, hair pinned up in rollers. "I warn you - I'm armed!"
Silence. Then…
SMASH!
The person on the other side had hit the door with more force than the old slab of wood could take. It fell right off its hinges, landing on the ground with a devastating blow. Harry and Susanna scooted closer to the fireplace, and a giant man stepped towards the now-empty door frame.
He had great shaggy hair that fell in thick curls and a wild, tangled beard. His eyes glinted like black beetles, and he surveyed the shack as he ducked inside. He bent down to pick up the door and shoved it back into frame, quieting the storm raging outside.
He turned to look at the five people blinking up at him, a bushy eyebrow raised. "Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…" He gruffed out and thudded his way to the couch. Dudley stared up at him with wide eyes, his whole body vibrating. "Budge up, yeh great lump!" The giant of a stranger ordered. Dudley squeaked and ran away, hiding behind his mother when she and Vernon had finished walking down the stairs.
"An' here's Harry!" The stranger crowed, and the cousins watched a smile form on the giant's face, only slightly hidden by his beard. "Las' time I saw yeh, yeh was only a baby! Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." He looked from the boy to the girl next to him, and gasped. "Blimey. Yeh look jus' like Lily!" The girl blinked up at him. Her mother had only ever shown her pictures of the late Mrs. Evans, but she hadn't known she looked like her aunt, too. "Nice to meet yeh, Susanna."
Her father made an odd raspy sound. "I demand that you leave at once, sire! You are breaking and entering!" He'd walked closer to the stranger since the even-larger man began to talk, standing right behind the giant with the rifle pointed at his long mane.
Without turning around the stranger tore the gun from Vernon's grasp. "Ah, shut up Dursley, yeh great prune!" He bent the rifle into a knot with his bare hands and chucked it into a corner of the room. The Dursley patriarch squeaked. "Anyway, Harry - a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here. I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste fine just the same."
The giant reached into the pocket of his black overcoat and pulled out a slightly smushed box. He passed it over to Harry, who opent it with trembling fingers. Susanna reached out and steadied the giant's gift, her cousin smiling shakily at her.
The box contained a sticky chocolate cake with pink frosting. Scrawled on top in green icing were the words "Happy Birthday Harry".
He looked like he wanted to thank him, but instead asked, "Who are you?" Susanna nodded next to him, and the giant chuckled.
"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." Rubeus Hagrid shook Harry's whole arm with his large hand, doing the same to Susanna. "What about that tea then, eh?" He said, and the giant rubbed his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat if yeh've got it, mind." Susanna looked behind her, at what Hagrid was snorting at. The shriveled up crisp bags were still in the fireplace. The giant stood and walked over to it, the cousins moving out of the way. Hagrid bent over it, his whole body blocking their views. Moments later he stepped back, warming his hands in front of the now roaring fireplace. A wonderful warmth crept all through the shack and the cousins on the floor sighed in relief, their shivers fading.
They all watched as the giant sat back down on the lumpy couch and began emptying his large pockets. He pulled out a copper kettle, a package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, some mugs (all of which had been chipped), and a bottle of amber liquid. Susannah supposed it must've been a brandy, and she caught her father's interest peaking when he took note of it. The giant ignored all this, though. He just took a swig from the bottle and began to make some tea with a box of loose tea leaves. As the sausages cooked on the poker the whole broken-down house started to smell divine - the sizzling meats were erasing the gross old-seaweed scent.
When the first six sausages had finished cooking, the giant slid the slightly burnt bangers from the poker and rolled them onto a plate. Dudley crept out from around his mother and licked his lips, but Vernon shook his head. "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."
Rubeus Hagrid laughed, though it was anything but cheerful. "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley." He looked down at the cousins, taking in how small they both were compared to Dudley. Susanna looked from Hagrid to Harry, then back, and it seemed like the giant understood because he set the plate down in front of Harry. Susanna's own stomach rumbled, but she shook her head when Harry offered her a juicy sausage. He needed it more than her.
"Here yeh go, Susanna." The giant passed her another plate, and she smiled up at him before digging into the first of her six sausages. She finished one before she glanced up at the giant. He was pouring himself a cup of tea.
"I'm sorry, but we still don't know who you really are." Harry spoke up, wiping his mouth with the back of his old flannel. Susanna nodded in agreement.
"Call me Hagrid, everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course. Yeh too, Susanna, what with Lily being yer aunt."
"Er, no."
"What's a Hogwarts?" Harry and Susanna responded, and Hagrid looked down at them in total shock.
"Sorry." Harry apologized, and Susanna shrugged apologetically, though she caught the look her parents exchanged. It was anything but pleasant.
"Sorry?" Hagrid shouted incredulously, and then turned to gesture at the rest of Susanna's family. They had tried to hide in the shadows of the hut. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh two weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yey mum never tell yeh what yer aunt could do?" He asked Susanna, who shook her head. "Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?" He looked down at Harry.
Susanna watched as he tilted his head. "All what?"
The giant exploded, his voice louder than the rolling thunder outside. "ALL WHAT? Now wait jus' one second!" He jumped up from the couch and turned back to the Dursleys, who were doing their best to blend into the wall of the hut. "Do you mean ter tell me that this boy - this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"
Susanna tried not to snort when she saw the offended look on her cousin's face. "I know some things." The boy argued. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."
"I'm not sure that's what he meant, Harry." Susanna half-whispered, and the giant seemed to catch it because he snorted and pointed at her.
"Yer cousin's right, Harry. About our world, I mean yer world, and yer's." He gestured to Harry then Susanna. "My world. Yer parents' world, Harry!"
"What world is that? Is it on Earth or up there?" Susanna asked, pointing up to the sky. They'd learned about other planets in school, and she hadn't meant to sound so sardonic, but she was sure this was all just one big strange dream.
Hagrid became so enraged that Susanna feared the shack would come down around them. "DURSLEY!" He roared, addressing Vernon.
Susanna's father was shaking like a leaf. A pale, damp leaf. He seemed to whisper something, and Hagrid looked back at the cousins on the ground. "But yeh must know about yer mum and dad." His voice was soft as he spoke to Harry. "I mean they're famous. Yer famous."
"What? My - my mum and dad weren't famous, were they? Were they?" Harry looked over at Susanna, and she shrugged.
"Like I wouldn't tell if I knew. Honestly, Harry."
"Yeh don't know… yeh don't know…" The giant shook his head, looking completely lost. "Yeh don't know what yeh are? Either of yeh?" The cousins shook their heads once more, but before Hagrid could continue Susanna's father stepped forward, face still pale but a furious expression plastered onto it.
"Stop! Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell them anything!" Her father commanded, though the giant only raised an eyebrow and huffed in amusement, like a child had said something particularly funny. Still, that huff turned into rage, and Hagrid was shaking once more, a ticking time bomb.
"Yeh never told him? Never told him what was in the letters Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' yeh've kept it from him all these years? An' yer daughter? Yeh never told yer daughter the truth? Yeh ought to have known, what with yeh marrying Lily's sister!" Hagrid glanced at Petunia. "Yeh never told Susanna what she is? But it's not a surprise, is it? Yeh've noticed what she can do, right? Yeh've been honest with her?"
"Mum?" Susanna asked, standing up.
"Kept what from me?" Harry asked, and Susanna nodded in agreement at his eagerness.
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" Her father panicked, but her mother stood her ground, though her eyes were clearly terrified. But when she stared back at Susanna, the girl thought she looked… guilty? But also somehow free, like some weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Still, the woman was a little tense.
"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh." Hagrid waved them off and turned to Harry and Susanna, the rage leaving his body. "Harry, yer a wizard. An' Susanna, yer a witch."
The cousins seemed to have stopped breathing, the whole shack quiet. Susanna looked at her parents, her brother, Harry, but words had escaped her. A witch. Witches were real. She was a witch.
They hadn't left Harry, though. "We're what?" He asked, voice barely above a whisper.
"A witch and wizard, o' course." Hagrid returned to the couch, sitting with a heavy sigh. The old piece of furnitured sagged and groaned under his weight, and Susanna was surprised it hadn't broken yet. "An a thumpin' good wizard, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?" Susanna sat back down and took Harry's hand, looking into his matching green eyes and smiling in reassurance. "I reckon it's abou' time yeh two read yer letters."
Harry stretched out his hand to grab the two offered letters. He handed one to Susanna, who released him in favor of holding the yellowish envelope. She gasped when she saw what was written in green ink.
Ms. S. Dursley
The Floor
Hut-on-the-Rock
The Sea
With shaking hands she tore the wax seal and pulled out the letter. Her green eyes roved over the words, taken aback by the news she'd received.
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 Ms. Dursley,
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 the 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
She had so much to ask, yet so much began to make sense. Catching Harry when he was pushed from the roof, what had happened on her birthday at the zoo. Earlier memories came back, like that time when Dudley's game had been somehow transformed into spiders when he broke Susanna's bike. She had been so angry, and she knew her twin was afraid of the little arachnids - she was the only one who knew, he'd told her about it in private. And she blamed Harry, who was forced back into the cupboard without a meal for five days, and she hadn't been the way she was… she hadn't snuck him food…
Susanna's eyes watered and she covered her mouth, guilt taking over. How many unusual things had she done that were blamed on Harry before she even knew she wasn't normal? She looked at Harry, who was too consumed by his letter to notice her. Hagrid had, though. "Yeh alright, Susanna? I know it can be a lot, but it's the truth."
She cleared her throat and wiped her eyes, pretending there was no turmoil going on inside her mind. "I'm alright. Thank you, Hagrid." The giant beamed down at her.
"What does it mean, they await my owl?" Harry asked.
"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me." Hagrid slapped his forehead before pulling an owl - an owl, Susanna thought in awe - out of his pocket. It fluffed it's feathers, rightfully ruffled looking. Hagrid also took out a quill and a roll of parchment. Had he not heard of a pen and paper?
He began to write, the scroll spread out on a massive thigh. His handwriting was large enough that Susanna could read it upside down.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Given Harry and Susanna their letters.
Taking them to buy their things tomorrow.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.
Hagrid
He gave the now rolled-up parchment to the owl, the note clamped in its beak. He stood - the couch groaning at the lack of a weight - crossed over to a broken window and slid it over so he could toss the owl out. As it flew off the storm, Susanna couldn't help but worry the poor creature would get hurt.
Hagrid returned, acting as if nothing peculiar had just happened. Susanna supposed that was because it was all perfectly normal for the giant. He sat back down on the couch, and Susanna reached over to shut Harry's gaping mouth.
"Where was I?" Hagrid asked himself. Before he could reclaim his train of thought Susanna's father had suddenly become brave enough to walk into the firelight, looming over his nephew and daughter.
"They're not going!"
"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop them."
"A what?"
"What's a Muggle?" Harry and Susanna asked.
Hagrid grunted. "A Muggle, it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's yer bad luck yeh grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on." Hagrid looked from Harry to Susanna, smiling gently at the girl. "I mean no offense, but then again yer not a Muggle, either."
"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish! Swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!" Vernon shouted. "Then he went and turned my daughter into one, too! My little girl, just like him and his parents! He ruined my perfect little girl!" Susanna flinched at his words, Harry protectively holding onto her wrist. Susanna wrenched her arm out of his hand, though, and shot up like a rocket to glare at her father, barely as tall as his elbow.
"It's not Harry's fault! None of this is Harry's fault! Stop blaming him for something as simple as genetics!" She shouted back.
"You knew? You knew I'm a - a wizard? And Suze is a - a witch?"
"Knew!" Susanna jumped as her mother let out an unholy shriek. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?" Petunia scoffed, throwing her head back and crossing her arms, rollers in her hair askew. "Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that - that school - and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was always Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" Susanna caught her mother looking quickly over at Dudley, her mouth in a scowl but her eyes concerned and sad. How could she possibly feel sad for him? He was her perfect child, after all, her most precious gift. Susanna wanted to scream that at her, but Harry's shaking grabbed her attention. She took her cousin's hand in solidarity.
Her mother took a deep breath. "Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married," she continued to rant, years of well-hidden information tumbling out of her mouth, "and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just as strange, just as… as… abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"
"Blown up?" Harry asked, completely white. "You told me they died in a car crash!" He rightfully accused, his small frame tense with rage.
"CAR CRASH?!" Hagrid jumped up from the couch, the rest of Susanna's family scurrying away, back into their corner of the hut. The storm outside was less dangerous than the one coming off the giant. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name?!"
"So tell him!" Susanna shouted, drawing Hagrid's attention away from her parents and brother. "If they won't, you should. He needs to know, we need to know. Please, you're the first person to tell us the truth about who we are! Harry deserves to know what happened to his parents. Please?" Susanna pleaded.
An anxious Hagrid exhaled and scrubbed a large hand over his face. "I never expected this. I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much both o' yeh didn't know." He looked at Harry, who's cousin had wrapped an arm around his shoulders protectively. "Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh. But yer cousin's right, someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." He sat down on the couch once more - after throwing another angry look at the Dursley parents - and looked into the fireplace. "Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it… 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?" Harry interrupted, and the giant swallowed.
"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. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…" Hagrid moved his mouth, but no words came out.
"Would it be better to write it down?" Susanna asked.
Hagrid only shook his head. "Nah, can't spell it. Alright - Voldemort. Don' make me say it again." Hagrid shuddered, then continued speaking. "Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, alright. Dark days, yeh two. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway." Hagrid sighed and looked from the roaring fire to Harry, and Susanna kept holding her cousin. "Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an' Girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an'... an'..." Hagrid stopped in favor of blowing his nose in a spotty handkerchief. Susanna felt tears sliding down her cheeks as she looked at Harry, who seemed worlds away.
"Sorry." Hagrid apologized. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people you couldn't find. Anyway… You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too." Susanna held onto Harry tighter, as though he were in danger right that moment. Her cousin moved closer to her, his arm around her shoulders as well. "Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead?" Susanna looked up at the lightning bolt scar above his right eyebrow. Harry's free hand reached up to trace it, and the cousins looked at each other before glancing back at Hagrid. "That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work out on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the Mckinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts - an' you was only a baby, an' you lived." Susanna looked over Hagrid's shoulder and at Petunia. The woman's focus was on the wall, an unreadable expression on her face. Susanna wondered if her mother really did hate aunt Lily as much as she claimed. "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh to this lot -"
"Load of tosh!" Her father interrupted the giant, courage seemingly restored. He glared at Hagrid, body shaking in fury as his fists clenched and unclenched. "Now you listen here, boy." Her father snarled at Harry. "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured - and as for all this about your parents, well, they were were weirdos, not denying, and the world's better off without them in my opinion - asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"
"Dad!" Susanna interrupted her father, beyond angry. "Stop!"
"And as for you, girl. You mother and I hoped and wished you'd turned out as normal as Dudley. SO what went wrong, eh?" He narrowed his brown eyes. "Why can't you just be normal -"
"I'm warning you, Dursley -" Hagrid jumped up and pulled a pink umbrella out of his coat, jabbing it towards Vernon. Susanna's father clammed up once more, his moment of bravery over. "I'm warning you, one more word…" When the man had been silent long enough Hagrid sat back down, the couch sagging straight to the floor.
"What happened to Vol-, sorry, I mean You-Know-Who?" Harry asked, Susanna nodding next to him.
"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill yeh. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see. He was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go?" Hagrid breathed in, then exhaled. "Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers, too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, alright."
Harry blinked, lost in thought. "Hagrid." He finally spoke, voice softer than Susanna's ever heard it. "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."
Hagrid laughed, much to both cousins' surprise. "Not a wizard, eh? Never made anything happen when you was scared or angry?"
Harry looked at Susanna, who nodded. Her bright green eyes pleaded with him to think about every strange thing both of them had ever done. All those times his hair seemed to grow back overnight when her mother had given him those awful, embarrassing haircuts. That time she was so angry the flowers refused to grow, and how the lilies outside the window of her father's old home office came back to life the day she truly let herself love her cousin. The boa constrictor at the zoo, the spiders, how she seemed to always fly onto trees when she was particularly excited to get out of the house.
Her cousin began to grin at her and Susanna nodded back, dimples appearing on her cheeks as she joined him in smiling.
Hagrid was beaming at them, when they returned their focus to the giant. "See? Harry Potter, not a wizard - yeh'll be right famous at Hogwarts. And Susanna, yeh don't have nothin' ter worry abou'. Plenty o' Muggle-borns have gone on ter make name's for 'emselves. Yeh look bright, yeh'll catch up right quick."
"Haven't I told you they are not going?" Her father hissed, and the three looked over at the purple-faced man. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it." Vernon pointed to Harry, than to his daughter. "And she's going to keep up her ballet lessons and sweat out what makes her unnatural. You won't be taking our daughter!" The man shouted.
"If they want ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them." Hagrid argued, glaring down at Mr. Dursley. "Stop Lily an' James Potters' son goin' ter Hogwarts? Yer mad! His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world! And as fer Susanna, I can't quite say I like the way yeh've been talkin' ter her. From where I'm sittin', it looks ter me like she wants ter go!" Susanna nodded in agreement, free hand on her hip. "Seven years there and they won't know 'emselves. They'll be with youngsters of their own sort fer a change, an' they'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled-"
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH THEM MAGIC TRICKS!" Vernon Dursley finally exploded.
His behavior did nothing to keep Hagrid from matching his rage. Susanna backed Harry away towards a wall as Hagrid rose from the couch and descended on her father, his pink umbrella swishing over his head. "NEVER - INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN - FRONT - OF - ME!" The giant bellowed over a wave crashing against the shack. He swung his umbrella down, but rather than point it at Vernon, he moved it down to the right -
And a violet flash flared in Susanna's eyes, and when it faded she could only stare in terrified amusement as her twin howled and squealed, turning his back to them… and revealed a pig's tale curling out of a hole in his pyjama bottoms.
Petunia screamed, Vernon roared, and the whisked the squealing boy up the stairs and into their room, the door slamming shut behind them. Susanna jumped at the sound, and a part of her wanted to chase after them and check on her brother. But she didn't, far too hurt and angry about everything that was hidden from her and Harry, too upset by how her father treated her.
Hagrid cleared his throat awkwardly and the cousins stepped forward, no longer latched onto each other. The giant stroked his beard. "Shouldn'ta lost me temper, but it didn't work, anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig there wasn't much left ter do." Hagrid sighed and shifted his weight a little nervously. "Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters ter yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job -"
"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" Harry asked.
"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er- got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."
"Why were you expelled?"
"Harry, you don't just ask why someone was expelled!" Susanna hissed at her tactless cousin, who blushed.
Hagrid cleared his throat and spoke much louder than was necessary, " It's gettin' later an' we've got lots ter do tomorrow. Gotta get up to town, get all yer book an' that." He pulled off his giant overcoat and passed it to Harry and Susanna. "Yeh two can kip under that. Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." With that he took a seat on the collapsed couch and the cousins moved back to their spot by the fireplace. Both were curled up under the coat - it was large enough to fold into a thick sleeping bag. Harry was snoring moments later, the sound of it drowned out by the giant. Susanna stared into the fireplace for hours, only falling asleep when the last of the embers had died.
Another fun thing about writing this chapter was exploring Susanna's reaction to the news of what she is - on one hand, she knows she and Harry are strange, but giving it a label definitely makes it all the more real to her. A tiny part of her thinks she's dreaming, but the bigger part of her's seen too much for her too think what she is, is a mistake. Again, she caught Harry mid-air and got him on ground safely after Dudley pushed him off the roof, then two years later Harry helped a boa constrictor escape captivity. There's no way that girl thinks she anything but normal, anyway.
