Disclaimer: I completely acknowledge that JKR created this world and everything in it. I only take some of her text to play, honestly^^'

Thanks AyleanaMami, HarryHermione22 for their reviews.


The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned us our longest-ever punishment. By the time we were allowed out of our bedroom again, the summer holidays had started. But I can't say that it was time spent being miserable. It wasn't lonely, because we were together in the room, food was brought three times a day through the cat-flap, installed there especially for such situations, there were no Dudley with his mindless followers and we didn't have to do any chores. So, you can say, it was our own vacation time if a little bit boring. After that we tried to stay out of the house as much as possible; we didn't want to encounter Dud's friends who visited him every single day.

Harry liked to wonder about the end of the holidays when we would be going off to secondary school and where, for the first time in our life, we would be without Dudley. He and I were going to Stonewall High (or so my brother thought and I indulged him), the local public school. Dudley had been accepted at Smeltings. The evening, Dudley paraded around the living room in his brand-new uniform, I think I burst my blood pressure, trying not to start laughing. Later, when we were safely in our room, we had hysterics while picturing our cousin.

The next morning though – when Harry saw and smelt our new uniform – I don't think he was in the mood for laughing anymore. My thoughts were exactly the same but I, at least, had the reassurance of knowing about Hogwarts.

We sat down at the table and waited for breakfast to start. Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in and wrinkled their noses; seems, like they didn't like the smell from our new uniform, too. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.

Then I heard the click of the mail slot.

'Get the mail, Dudley,' said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. Huh, it was starting today, then.

'Make Harry get it.'

'Get the mail, Harry.'

'Make Dudley get it.'

'Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley.'

Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. I anxiously waited for events to play out. Uncle Vernon finished his newspaper and impatiently waited for letters.

'Hurry up, boy!' shouted Uncle Vernon at last. 'What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?' He chuckled at his own joke. Yes, what a great comedian.

Harry came back to the kitchen, staring at letters in his hands. He had a stunned, bewildered expression on his face. Yep, he was in shock. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, gave me my letter, sat down, and slowly began to open his yellow envelope. At the same time I examined my letter, while I still had the chance.

Ms. I. Potter

The Smallest Bedroom

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp, though I knew that there shouldn't be one. Turning the envelope over, I saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. Hmm, I liked their style. I was ripped from my musings by Dudley's shouting.

Suddenly, the envelope was torn from my hands.

'That's mine!' said Harry and I in unison, trying to snatch it back. I was indignant. Even if I knew that this would happen, I still didn't like this sort of behavior.

'Who'd be writing to you?' sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.

'P-P-Petunia!' he gasped.

Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. Pity she didn't choke.

'Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!'

Oh, what a Drama Queen! She knew that we were magical. She should have expected the arrival of this letters.

They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that we were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick and required to read these letters. Harry - and I, so as not to appear suspicious - demanded them too. Of course Uncle didn't abide our wishes and rasped for us to get out. Nobody moved.

'I WANT MY LETTER!' Harry shouted. He had quite a temper when he wanted to. Dudley was no better and yelled too. But it was enough for Uncle to snap out of his shock, shout at us and then throw into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, being the walrus that he was, so Harry lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor. I just waited; I already knew most of it and, if anything, Harry would retell me their conversation later anyway.


'So what do you think about all this?' asked Harry shortly after outlining Dursleys' discussion in the kitchen.

I pretended to think it over and then said, 'Well, it's strange. They knew where we sleep in this house and there was no stamp on the envelope.'

'Huh, you're right... Oh, and the letter was written on the real parchment! This is really odd. But who would send us something like this?' That question was bugging him, I could see.

'Dunno…' I faked confusion. 'Though from what you have said, Dursleys might know something. And I really doubt they will answer our questions.'

'Yeah… they won't…' he sat dejectedly for a moment, then stood up and started pacing. Suddenly, in a fit of anger, he kicked our closet and cussed. 'DARN!'

'Language!'

'Sorry,' he looked at me sheepishly, rapidly losing all his fight. 'It's just… If I opened the letter in the hall or hid it and waited till later, maybe…'

'Harry, there's no use wishing about what would have been. You'll just spend your time wallowing in self-pity. Not the best pastime, I tell you.' And considering that I lived with him and would have had to bear the most of it. 'And anyway, perhaps they will try to send them again. Who knows? So cheer up, bro!'

'You're right…Thanks, sis. What would I do without you?'

Seeing as I knew how it would have turned out, I wisely decided to stay quiet.


Next morning, Uncle Vernon made Dudley get the post. Of course my cousin, being the idiot that he was, had to read it out aloud, so the letter was wrestled out and we were sent to our rooms again.

Harry walked round our room, almost making me dizzy, until he spoke.

'Someone knows where we sleep.'

'Yeah…'

'And they seem to know we didn't receive our first letters.'

'Yeah…'

'Surely that means they'll try again?'

'Yeah…'

'And this time we'll make sure they don't fail. I have a plan.'

'Ye… Wait! No! I'm not participating in this!' I snapped out of daze.

'What! But why?' asked Harry, confused by my rejection.

'I decided that I don't care.' Well, I really didn't, since I knew everything already. 'And I have a feeling that we'll get them in time anyway. But feel free to try if you want.'

'Fine. I can do it without you anyway,' snipped offended Harry.

'Yeah, just don't wake me up.'


Obviously, the alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. And even if Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently, I was already half-awake. Uncle Vernon's scream woke me up completely.

Following few days were mildly entertaining. Harry was worrying about getting his letter, Dursleys were inventing new ways of destroying paper with Uncle Vernon showing new meaning of the word crazy and I was observing all this with passive detachment. Sometimes knowing things beforehand can be extremely boring.

On Sunday Uncle Vernon snapped, we packed – with me carefully concealing my handmade present for Harry from him – and travelled to the hotel.

On Monday, of course, new letters appeared and our Uncle drove us around again and finally, finally, discovered the shack on the rock.

As night fell, the storm blew up around us. Dudley was snoring on the sofa and his parents went off to the lumpy bed next door. Harry and I were left to find the softest bit of floor and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket. We cuddled together and sat there waiting for midnight to exchange our presents.

It became our own ritual, you could say. We would wait till late night for the next day to start and then trade our gifts for each other. They were often handmade, bearing in mind that asking Dursleys for money was equivalent to suicide. I was really anxious about this one. I put a lot of thought, time and some magic into doing this present.

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered and I was torn from my musings. Next to me Harry jerked and stared with apprehension at the door. Hagrid was outside, knocking to come in.

He knocked again, jolting Dudley awake. Then there was a crash behind us and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands and this was much more frightening than anything else. I knew that his knowledge about weapons was quite limited – where would he learn about them? – and his aim couldn't be good either. So you see my alarm.

He shouted, trying to threaten Hagrid, but, as I knew, it didn't work. At last the door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. Harry pressed more closely to me.

Hagrid was very-very… well, giant. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard. He had kind eyes though.

He squeezed in, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. Then he turned to look at us all.

'Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…'

He is so no-nonsense kind of guy. Striding over to the sofa and scaring Dudley off, he gazed at us.

'An' here's Harry and Ivy! Las' time I saw you, you were only babies,' said the giant. 'Yeh look a lot like yer dad, thou' Ivy's face is more, er, womanly I say, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes.'

Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise and then tried to intimidate Hagrid. It didn't happen and the one left scared was him.

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

I wasn't sure that I wanted to taste his cake after what he said, but as they say, it's the thought that counts.

From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled two slightly squashed boxes. I opened the one given to me and found inside a chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Ivy written on it in green icing. The same as Harry's then. I looked up at Hagrid and said thank you, while my brother asked him who he was.

Hagrid chuckled good-naturally and introduced himself, confusing my brother even more. He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. He did the same to me, too.

Then he set fire in the fireplace, sat back down on the sofa and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, Harry and I silently communicating through eyes our confusion with the situation, though of course mine was feigned.

Hagrid passed the sausages to Harry and me. Seeing as my supper consisted of a bag of chips and a banana, they tasted good. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, my brother said, 'I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are.'

I sat in silence, letting events go their way. I decided not to take an active role in this conversation, leaving Harry to do all talking, and pretended to be shocked or overwhelmed or faked another emotion when there was a need for it.

At last, we were given our letters. I eagerly opened mine. It's not every day you get a letter from magic school, after all. It was addressed to Ms. I. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. I 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)

Dear Ms. 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

Then I pulled another list, while Harry asked his question, prompting Hagrid to send an owl, and started to examine the equipment and books I would need to buy. Ending my reading, I caught the moment of Harry finding out true facts about the death of our parents. Vengeful bitch, dropping such information without preparation! Squeezing my brother's hand to reassure him, I listened with rapt attention as Hagrid retold that Halloween night. I wanted to be sure that nothing was changed and no one came with some nonsense idea. Like – I dunno – that I'm The Girl Who Lived. But everything stayed the same, Thanks God. All in all, dialogue stayed unchanged, only this time Harry didn't have doubts about being wizard, seeing as we have been doing small magic tricks for a while.

Lying later huddled together with Harry under Hagrid's big warm coat I suddenly remembered that we forgot to trade our gifts. Oh, well, there's always tomorrow, right?


A/N: Another chapter. Please, review!