Edited
BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly. There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.
"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!" There was a pause. Then — SMASH! The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor causing Kirra to jump slightly.
A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.
The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all. "Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey. ..." He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.
"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger. Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon. "An' here's Harry and Kirra!" said the giant. But he stopped suddenly as he looked at the girl, shock was written all over the giants face as he looked down at her, his jaw dropping slightly but then he shook his head softly and smiled.
Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile and Kirra stood in front of Harry protectively, not ready to let anything happen to her brother.
"Las' time I saw you two, you was only babies," said the giant. "Yeh both look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes, Kirra you got yeh mom's freckles too." Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.
"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"
"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; 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.
Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on. "Anyway — Harry, Kirra," 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 and Kirra written on it in green icing. Harry and Kirra looked up at the giant.
"Thank you!" Kirra thanked the man happily with a wide smile as she looked up at him and Hagrid couldn't help but grin widely at the young girl.
Harry meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?" The giant chuckled.
"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm and then he let go and did the same to Kirra.
"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted.
He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Kirra felt the warmth wash over her as though she'd sunk into a hot bath.
The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and 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. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley." The giant chuckled darkly.
"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Harry and Kirra, who were so hungry they had never tasted anything so wonderful, but they still couldn't take their eyes off the giant.
Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, Harry 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," 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 and Kirra at the same time. Hagrid looked shocked.
"Sorry," Harry and Kirra 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 yer parents learned it all?"
"All what?" asked Harry while Kirra watched in confusion.
"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" He had leapt to his feet. 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 these kids — these kids! — know nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?" Harry and Kirra both thought this was going a bit far.
They had been to school, after all, and their marks weren't bad, in fact Kirra had gotten some of the highest marks in the grade.
"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."
"And I'm not too bad either." Kirra commented
But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world. Em-" it looked like Hagrid had to stop himself as he began to say another name and he looked grateful when the kids brushed it off and asked another question
"What world?" they asked and Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.
"DURSLEY!" he boomed. Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry and Kirra. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're both famous."
"What? Our — our mom and dad weren't famous, were they?" Kirra asked Hagrid and then looked over at Harry who seemed to be just as confused as she was
"Yeh don' know...yeh don' know...." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry and Kirra with a bewildered stare. "Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally. Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the kids anything!"
"You never told them? Never told them what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer them? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from them all these years?"
"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.
"what haven't you told us?" Kirra asks, "Why can't we know?"
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.
"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard. Kirra – yer a witch" There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.
"I'm a what?" gasped Harry and Kirra as they looked up at the tall man. Kirra felt a small tingle in the front of her brain as if it were trying to remember something, something important, but whatever it was, she just couldn't remember.
"A wizard and witch, 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? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letters. An Kirra I expect yeh ter be a damn good quidditch player."
The twins had no idea what quidditch was but Harry and Kirra stretched out their hands, at last, to take the yellowish envelopes, addressed in emerald green to the two of them.
They pulled out the letter and read: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Kirra looked closely at the paper as she read what was written.
Dear Miss. 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
Questions exploded inside Kirra's head like
"What does it mean, they await my owl?" Harry suddenly asked causing Kirra to look up from her letter, also wanting to know what was meant by 'I await your 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 and Kirra could read upside down:
Dear Professor Dumbledore, Given Harry and Kirra their letters. Taking them to buy their things tomorrow. 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. Kirra realized her mouth was open and closed it quickly.
"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.
"Theyre not going," he said. Hagrid grunted.
"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.
"A what?" asked the twins.
"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. 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 them in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of them!"
"You knew?" the twins exclaimed angrily
"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! I mean, she looks exactly like that girl. And not to mention, 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 two, and of course I knew you'd both be just the same, 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 two!" Harry and Kirra had gone very white.
"Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" Harry exclaimed while Kirra just looked at her aunt with hurt in her eyes. Petunia tried her best to ignore her niece's gaze yet she couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of guilt, though she wasn't going to let anybody know that.
"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry and Kirra Potter not knowin' their own story when every kid in our world knows their names!"
"But why?" Harry asked urgently.
"What happened?" Kirra asked the man in a pleading voice.
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, Kirra, 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'."
And the twins listened as Hagrid told them the truth about what had happened to their parent, and at that moment the twins swore revenge on he who must not be named, they were going to avenge their parents.