30-07-1991

"Sevina, come here sweetheart!" Dumbledore called from his office which was next to her room, where she was currently reading. They had both just came back from supper and we're getting relaxing.

"Coming papa!" Sevina called back before hopping out of bed and skipping into the office. "Yes?"

"As you know, it is Harry's eleventh birthday tomorrow but he has not yet received any of his letters. I am sending Hagrid to retrieve him and give him his letter. However, Hagrid is not meant to use magic and cannot travel to Harry's location without it. Would you like to go to help him?" Dumbledore explained.

"Oh yes papa! When do we leave?" Sevina asked excitedly, bouncing in place.

"You will leave at eleven, you should get into clothes for the wet and cold. Your brother is on an island with the Dursleys."

"If the weather is so bad, why are they on an island?" Sevina asked, tilting her head slightly with confusion.

"Vernon and Petunia Dursley are trying to stop Harry retrieving his letter, we think it best to send someone."

"Okay! I'll go get ready!"

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At exactly eleven o'clock, Hagrid turned up in the office covered in his large coat. Seven stood wrapped in a large, black coat with a pale pink scarf and hat - her coat hood firmly atop her hat. Within minutes, Dumbledore had apparated them to a town next to the sea.

"I do not know what the island looks like so I'm not able to take you directly there, good luck," Dumbledore said before disapparating.

"Ready to fly?" Sevina asked, holding her arm out to Hagrid.

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Stepping out of the small rowing boat, Sevina looked up at the old - obviously unused - house. Confused as to whether Harry was here or not, she stepped towards the door with Hagrid in tow as the clock showed that it was a few seconds away from midnight.

31-07-1991

As the clock struck midnight, making it the 31st, Hagrid knocked once on the door - BOOM. When there was no reply, he tried again - BOOM. This time, they could hear a voice inside before a crash rang out.
BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked

"Who's there?" a man shouted. "I warn you -- I'm armed!"

After a pause, Hagrid knocked again but with too much force - causing the door to come clean off the hinges and land flat on the floor with a deafening crash and for Sevina to jump back from the noise with a startled cry. Once the door was open, Hagrid squeezed his way inside, having to stoop down, his head still brushing the ceiling. Sevina skipped in behind him with a beam on her face as she looked around for Harry. Once Sevina was inside, Hagrid picked up the door and fitted it easily back into place - blocking out some of the noise from the storm.

　　"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..." Hagrid asked before striding over to the sofa where a large boy sat frozen with fear.

　　"Budge up, yeh great lump," Hagrid said. The 'great lump' squeaked and ran to hide behind a tall, thin, blonde woman, who was crouching, terrified, behind the large man whilst Sevina happily sat on Hagrid's lap - as he took up the entire sofa.

"And you're Harry!" Sevina exclaimed. The boy she believed to be Harry looked at the small girl before looking up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.

　　"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said Hagird. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes. A lot like this one 'ere. She's got your mom's looks but your dad's eyes!"

The large man, presumably Vernon Dursley, made a funny rasping noise. "I demand that you leave at once, sit!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said Hagrid; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.

Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.

"Anyway -- Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here -- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.

Harry looked up at the giant with gratefulness filling his face which was soon filled with confusion.

"Who are you?"

"True, we haven't introduced ourself, Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," Hagrid said once he had chuckled at the bluntness if the question. He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.

"I'm Sevina, you should know all about me!" The young girl chuckled from her place on Hagrid's knee.

"What about that tea then, eh?" Hagrid said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

Sevina's eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. She bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what she was doing but when she drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.

Sevina sat down near the fire whilst Hagrid began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little.

Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."

Hagrid's  chuckled darkly, "yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."

He passed the sausages to Harry, who scoffed down the meat, his eyes never leaving the two strangers.

Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."

The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Call me Hagrid and her Sid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts -- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."

"Er -- no," said Harry.

Hagrid looked shocked.

"Sorry," Harry said quickly.

"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It' s them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"

"All what?" asked Harry.

"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"

He had leapt to his feet, Sevina standing up - finally listening to the conversation. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.

"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy -- this boy! -- knows nothin' abou' -- about ANYTHING?"

"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff," Harry said.

But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer sister's world. Yer parents' world."

"What world?"

Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.

"DURSLEY!" Hagird yelled.

Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble."

Hagrid and Sevina stared wildly at Harry.

"But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."

"What? My -- my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"

"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.

"Do you know what you are?" Sevina's voice cut through the silence after a moment.

Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. "Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"

A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.

"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"

"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.

"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Vernon in panic.

Petunia gave a gasp of horror.

"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry -- yer a wizard."

There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.

"-- a what?" gasped Harry.

"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? Plus a sister like yours. An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."

Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and began to read silently.

After a few minutes Harry stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl -- a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl -- a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:

Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Given Harry his letter. Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. Sid is doing well. Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well.
Hagrid

Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.

"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.

"He's not going," he said.

"And a Muggle like you is going to stop him?" Sevina giggled.

"A what?" said Harry, interested.

"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like thern. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."

"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"

"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a -- a wizard?"
　　
"Knew!" shrieked Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? 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 Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"

　　She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as -- as -- abnormal -- and then she got pregnant again and, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"

Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"

"Car Crash!" Sevina screeched, stepping forward - her hair, eyes and nails now a flaming red, causing the Dursleys to scuttle back to the corner. "How could a car crash kill my mother and father? That's outrageous! Harry now knowing the story when every other kid in our world knows his name!"

"But why? What happened? And your mother and father?" Harry asked urgently.

The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.

"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh -- but someone's gotta -- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."

He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.

"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...."

He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "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? "

"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..."

"Voldemort," Sevina finished. After a few seconds of silence.

"Yes. 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, all right. Dark days, Harry. 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.

"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, Sevina only a day. He came ter yer house an' -- an' --"

Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn - tears were silently streaming down Sevina's face.

"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad -- knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh 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 and your sister, too. 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? 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 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. Sevina wasn't 'it, he tried to kill you first."

"Took yeh both from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."

"Load of old tosh," said Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.

"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "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 weirdos, no denying it, 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 --"

But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat whilst Sevina pulled out a very beautiful stick. Pointing these at Vernon like swords, Hagrid said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you -- one more word... "

In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.

"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. Sevina sitting on the floor in front of him.

"But what happened to Vol--, sorry -- I mean, You-Know-Who? Why did he only try to kill me?"

"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful -- why'd he go?

"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't 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, all right."

Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football? And if he had a sister, wouldn't he have known.

"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard. I've never even heard of Sevina!"

To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.

"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"

Harry looked into the fire. Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.

"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard -- you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts. As for your sister, we didn't tell yer Aunt and Uncle. Yer sister is very special as yeh can see from 'er 'air, she needed to be with others of yer kind."

But Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.

"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish -- spell books and wands and --"

"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s 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. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with his sister. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled--"

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL To TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Vernon.

But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN- FRONT- OF- ME!"

At the same time, Sevina also hopped up with her hair now flickering with actual flames - she didn't even bother with her wand. "How dare you insult my dad!"

Hagrid brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley -- there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.

Sevina turned to face the other Dursleys, glaring at them before a mist engulfed them and caused them to come out in large, painful hives.

Vernon roared, both in pain and anger. Pulling Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.

Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.

"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."

He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.

"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm -- er -- not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff -- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."

"Well I'm allowed to do magic, so if you see a pair of red headed twins at Hogwarts please tell them how awesome that was!" Sevina exclaimed.

"Why aren't you supposed to do magic, Hagrid?" asked Harry.

"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?"

"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."

He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.

"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."

"What about Sevina?"

"Don't you worry about me! I've got blankets in my bag! Would you like one to lay on?" Sevina said as she began to pull a duvet out of her small blanket, followed closely by two more. She lay two down as Harry stared at her, bewildered.