𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                                 CHAPTER THREE
              ─── THE  KEEPER OF THE KEYS AND A NEW FRIEND

The deafening noise at the door woke everyone in the house ── apart from the twins who were already awake. Charlus stepped in front of his twin brother, ready to protect him from whatever danger came next.

On the sofa, Dudley woke up scared and a little dazed. "Where's the cannon?" he asked stupidly,his face was sweaty from the fright. Harry and Charlus held back from laughing at their cousin's dumbfounded expression.

Before they said anything, there was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now Harry and Charlus 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!"

But Vernon didn't get a response, silence took over the place and then the door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. At the door, Charlus could see a gigantic man. 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. Then, as if on cue, a boy came out from behind the gigantic man. He was a tall and very handsome boy with chiselled features, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Sorry  about that." the gigantic man said before 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 while the boy looked around.

"Couldn't make us a cup of 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.

The giant's eyes passed over everyone in the place, until they stopped on the twins. " Oh, and here are the boys, Charlus and Harry!" said the giant. Charlus was still in front of his brother, acting protectively and looking suspiciously at the stranger, while Harry tried to look up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.

"The last time I saw you, you were two babiess" said the giant. " You look a lot like your father , but you have your mother's eyes." The mention of his parents had made Charlus look at the giant with curiosity. "You - you knew our parents?" he asked him, softly. "Of course! Lily and James were the best." the giant said happily.

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.

As much as he wanted to laugh at the situation, Charlus held back as much as possible, trying to stay focused on protecting his brother if necessary. Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.

" Anyway – Harry,Charlus."  said the giant before he turned his back on the  Dursleys and  turned to the potter twins. " 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."

Curious, Harry started to approach, when the giant pulled a slightly squashed box from an inside pocket of his black overcoat . With no way out, seeing the twin approaching hesitantly, Charlus also approached and opened the box with  with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with pink icing and 'Happy Birthday Harry & Charlus'written on it in green icing.

Harry looked at the boy before he looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Excuse me, but who are you people?"

The giant gave a muffled laugh. "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," The giant introduced himself before he pointed in in the direction of the boy in the corner. "And that there is Alistair Black future first year at Hogwarts, just like you two."

The boy took this as an invitation to move towards the twins, hold out his hand, and introduce himself. "Alistair Black. It's a pleasure to meet you both." The brown-eyed boy was surprised to see Harry and Charlus take his hand and shake it without hesitation, as if the boys were happy to have another child their age around.

"What about that tea then, eh?"  Rubeus 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 shrivelled crisp packets 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 Charlus felt the cold immediately disappear and the warmth wash over him as though he'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 which 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' any more, Dursley, don' worry. " He passed the sausages to Harry and Charlus, who were so hungry they had never tasted anything so wonderful. Then he passed some sausages to Alistair.

Harry  still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. 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. " he said. "everyone does. And as I told you, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – Course you two know all about Hogwarts?"

"Actually, we don't know anything about Hogwarts." Charlus replied quickly and his twin agreed. Hagrid looked shocked as he looked at the twins. "No? Don't you ever wonder where your Mum and Dad learnt it all?"

"Learnt what?" Harry asked , obviously confused. "You two are wizards." Hagrid explained them.There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. Harrys and Charlus' eyes grew large as Alistair watched their reaction. "We're what?" the eldest Potter asked incredulously.

"Wizards" Alistair said with a smile in a matter-of-fact tone. "And damn good ones I might add. At least if you've had a bit of practice." Harry was quick to shake his head. "No." he said, " You've made a mistake! We can't be wizards. I mean, I'm...just Harry and he's just Charlus! Just Harry and Charlus!" "Excuse me!" Charlus interjected. He had narrowed his eyes and frowned. It was obvious how annoyed he was by Harry's remark. "I'm better than 'just Charlus'!"

"Well, 'just Harry and just Charlus', have any of you ever made something happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?" Hagrid wanted to know from the twins and Charlus automatically thought of the incident at the zoo. As he looked at his twin brother, he realized that he was also thinking about it.

Hagrid stood up, took two somewhat crumpled envelopes out of his pocket and handed over the twins. Charlus looked at his brother, as Harry looked at him, and they both smiled at each other, sat down and finally opened them together. 

The older twin's green eyes looked over the letter and soon he began to read it:

"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 Mr  Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed  a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."

"'What does it mean, they await my owl?" the younger twin asked when his brother finished reading his letter. "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 scrib-bled a note which  Harry, Charlus and Alistair could read upside-down:

Dear Mr Dumbledore,
Given Harry and Charlus  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.

Harry realised his 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. "They will not be going, I tell you! We swore that when we took them in we would put a stop to all this rubbish!"

Charlus growled, looking towards his uncle and aunt, anger in his eyes, he pressed the parchment with his fingers.  "You knew?" he asked them angrily. "You knew all along and you never told us?!"

"Knew!" shrieked Aunt 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 holiday 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. Charlus listened to everything in shock, he felt his hand being held by Harry and Charlus just held it back. They always knew.. They always knew..

"Then she met  Potter and that Black guy 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, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"

The potter twins had gone very white.  As soon as Charlus found his voice he said,"Blown up?You told us our parents died in a car crash!"  "A car crash?" Hagrid repeated incredulously. "A car crash killed Lilly and James Potter!? " he raged on.

"I had to say something." Aunt Petunia tried to justify herself with a softer voice then before. "It's an outrage! A scandal!" Hagrid continued, almost shouting. "They will not be going." Uncle Vernon said in a tone that seemed final.

Hagrid laughed at the man. "Oh, and I suppose a great muggle like yourself's going to stop them?" "Muggle?" Harry and Charlus asked confused, and looked at Alistair for some assistance. "A Muggle." Alistair explained them. "It's what we call non-magic folk like them."

"They've both had their names down since they were born! So, they're going to the finest school of Witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and they will be under the finest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, Albus Dumbledore." Hagrid waved his finger around, finishing his speech

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH THEM MAGIC TRICKS!"  yelled Uncle 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!"

He 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 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, Charlus had to hold back his laughter when he saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.

Vernon roared, pulling Petunia and Dudley into the room and threw a terrified look in Hagrid's direction and slammed the door on his way out. Charlus  looked with shining eyes at Hagrid. "Woww!! Amazing!" he said excitedly.

Hagrid then turned towards Harry,Charlus and Alistair and whispered, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone at Hogwarts about that. Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic." "Don't worry Hagrid, your secret is safe with us." Their newfound friend said to the Keeper of the Keys while Charlus did a thumbs up and Harry nodded.

 Hagrid smiled at the three young boys standing before him and then checked his watch. "Ooh! We're a bit behind schedule. Best be off." The half-giant then turned and headed towards the door, with Alistair following closely behind.

Hagrid proceeded to rip the door from the wall once again before he walked out of it. Alistair turned to his new friends and spoke with a wide, teasing smile, "Unless you'd rather stay of course." And with that, Alistair exited the hut. Harry and Charlus looked towards the door through which their aunt, uncle and cousin had left before they smiled at each other and followed Alistair.

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! The Potter twins will soon be at Hogwarts. 

It would mean a lot if you could vote, like, comment, and share this story with your friends!

Until next time < 3