NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: A Night of Discovery
The man then sat on the sofa, which sagged because of his weight. He pulled out a wide assortment of items from his many different pockets. A a copper kettle, squashy package of sausages, poker, teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid. Then the man started to make tea, and then started making sausage. No one said anything as the man cooked. Finally as he was sliding the sausages from the poker Dudley fidgeted and Uncle Vernon broke the silence.
"Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley." He ordered, this caused the man to chuckle.
"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." The man responded, he then paused some to me, and some to Harry.
We had hardly eaten, and the food was some of the best I'd ever had. Still, who was this man?
"I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." Harry finally broke the silence. I nodded in agreement. The drank some tea, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before responding.
"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.
"I assumed it was some sort of pork processing plant." I added.
Hagrid looked at both of us in shock.
"Sorry," Harry said quickly.
"I just assumed by the name."
"A pork processing plant? Sorry?" Hagrid barked out in shock. He then turned and stared at the Dursleys who leaned further into the shadows. "It's them that 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 yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"
"All what?" Harry asked.
"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid roared. "Now wait jus' one second!"
Hagrid leapt to his feet, fury resonating off him. The Dursley's were all huddled against the wall.
"Do you mean ter tell me," he started again at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this girl! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"
Was the man calling us dumb?
"I know some things," Harry said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." Harry replied.
"Yeah, and I got the best grades at St Gregory's." I replied proudly.
But Hagrid simply waved the statements off, then said "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."
"What world?" We both asked at the exact same time. And Hagrid looked ready to explode.
"DURSLEY!" he shouted.
Uncle Vernon had gone very pale, he whispered something that sounded like ""Mimblewimble". As Hagrid looked back and forth at me and Harry wildly.
"But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
"What? My — our mom and dad weren't famous, were they?" Harry replied.
"Why would they be?" I asked.
"Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair as he gave each of us a bewildered stare.
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he finally spoke.
"Stop!" Uncle Vernon suddenly commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"
Hagrid gave the man another furious stare, and when he spoke, every word was rage filled.
"You never told them? Never told them what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer em? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from both of them all these years?"
"Kept what from me?" Harry asked eagerly.
"What are they hiding from us?" I asked. Also wondering what this was all about.
"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" Uncle Vernon yelled in a panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.
"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," Hagrid told the Dursley's, then turned to face us again. "Harry, Sarah. yer magical."
You could hear the pin drop. I would take it as a joke if Hagrid didn't look so serious, and the Dursley's so terrified.
"Magical?" I finally asked.
"I'm a what?" Harry gasped.
"Yer a wizard" said Hagrid to Harry. Then he turned to me." An' Sarah you're a witch." Hagrid told me before sitting back down on the sofa, which made a noice and sank further than before. "an' thumpin' good 'un's , 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."
Hagrid held out two yellow parchments to both of us. I took mine, and still not totally convinced began to read it. The same green ink as before said.
Miss. S. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea.
I opened the letter and Harry did the same, when it was finally opened I began to 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)
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
I had so many questions. A Magical school, a hidden world, supposedly our parents and us were famous, the Dursley's had hid it from us. And through it all, one word stuck out on the letter.
Books.