Between a storm and a dragon.

Mhhhhhh….

Mhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Something strange with this chapter.

Intersecting line of creation. Space and Time completely tangled up in knots.

It's seemed that fiction and reality collide here where lies and truth are the same.

Hum… I'm too old for that.

My apologies dear friends but it seemed that this part had some problems with untangling the true from the false. A lot of repetition and reading already known. Although this does not harm the plot, it may disturb some of you dear friends.

If you find it too disturbing, it will be my pleasure to reassure you and make the appropriate correction.

but for now enjoyed the tale.

Your dearest,

Sir Moustachio

........

After their departure from Privet Drive, the journey was extremely strange. For hours, Vernon drove as fast as possible and visibly without any destination in mind. It only seemed to be a matter of running away from a mysterious pursuer whose purpose was to deliver a letter to Harry and Dudley. During a sojourn in a seedy hotel, the Dursleys were surprised in the morning to discover the manager of the establishment delivering a mountain of letters to the two cousins. Vernon wasted no time before getting the whole family in the car and driving at full throttle on the road.

The Dursleys eventually stopped near the coast in the evening. Vernon then left the car before locking them up and disappearing. Harry and Dudley, left with an anxious Petunia, sat in the rear of the car wondering how long they were going to keep fleeing like this.

"How many times will we do this in your opinion?" Harry asked Dudley.

"Dunno. But given the weirdness that usually surrounds you, I'd say we're not done yet." said Dudley, casually.

"Hey! You received letters to!" replied Harry.

"I mean other than the letters. I bet my father was driven mad long before this problem with your quirky business. "

"It's not like I've done it on purpose before", said Harry, feeling wronged.

"I guess. But you could have tried to hide it… that's what I do." muttered Dudley.

"What did you say?" asked Harry.

"Nothing…" Dudley said simply.

Shortly afterwards, Vernon returned to the car smiling and with a long wrapping under his arm.

"I found the perfect place", he said smiling.

A few hours later the whole family found themselves in a miserable shack in a rocky heap in the middle of the open sea, a few minutes away from the coast by boat. With only two bedrooms, Dudley and Harry had to share the space, which had only a dusty couch in front of the damp fireplace. After attempting to make the shack as comfortable as possible, Harry and Dudley sat on the couch to do their best to get some sleep. It was already dark and a thunderstorm was raging outside, the Dursleys were already sleeping in the nearby room. Dudley struggled to wrap himself in a blanket to warm up, but the piece of cloth was too small for him. As for Harry, he was sitting at the edge of the couch, wrapping himself in an old sheet to keep him warm and stared at the fireplace as if he was waiting for something.

"I don't think the fire will start even if you stare at it like that." Dudley said to him.

Out of his reverie, Harry looked away from the lifeless hearth and turned his attention to his cousin

"It's not… No nevermind" Harry said.

Dudley stared at Harry unknowingly for a moment until a thunderclap outside made him remember something and looked at his watch. Midnight passed. It was Monday. Harry's birthday.

"Happy birthday Harry", Dudley said to him.

Harry stared at his cousin in surprise before smiling at him dumbly. He didn't expect anyone to wish him his anniversary today, obviously. Dudley said nothing else and just smiled slightly from the corner of his lips before attempting to find a more comfortable position. But even before he could be made more comfortable, a huge bang shook the door of the house. Harry and Dudley looked at the door a moment before another tremor occurred at it, causing it to quake even more. Before the cousins could even understand anything, another blow knocked the door. This is when they understood, there was someone knocking. Once again, the door was shaken and right away Vernon Dursley in his pyjamas entered the room equipped with a gun and followed by Petunia in her bathrobe.

"Wh-Who is there! I warn you... I am armed" said Vernon with a trembling voice.

But just after that, the door was knocked so hard that it was ripped off its hinges and fell flat on the ground. 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 and directed his gaze to Dudley who sat stunned by the giant's arrival.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.

"What's the magic word?" Dudley replied, reflexively.

Everyone in the room apart from the giant stopped breathing. The stranger stared at the young boy in front of him in disbelief before laughing out loud.

"HAHAHA… Good one, yeh big chump! HAHAHA… magic word!" laughed the giant stranger.

The giant passed Dudley and then stood in front of Harry, with a big smile on his face.

"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.

Harry looked 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 the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes."

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 couch and jerked the gun out of Vernon's hands. He then bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room. Dudley looked at the giant with an appraising nod. That was some strength.

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

"Anyway... Harry," said the giant, turning his back on Vernon, "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."

The giant then magically took out a slightly squashed box from his coat. Harry opened the box with his trembling fingers. Inside there was a chocolate cake with "Happy Birthday Harry" written on it in green icing. Harry looked at the giant unsure of what to say. He would have wanted to thank him, but the only words he had were:

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Harry asked the stranger.

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. The giant's grip shook Harry all over his body, leaving him even slightly staggering.

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

Hagrid the Giant, stood in front of the damp fireplace as he sat on the couch pushing both Harry and Dudley out of the sofa unintentionally. He then leaned towards the chimney with his whole enormous body and before anyone could understand what the giant was doing, a warm and invigorating fire burned in the fireplace as if it appeared by enchantment. Hagrid then began to take various items out of his large coat, teapot, cups, frying pan, a strange amber bottle and even a pack of sausage. It seemed as if his coat contained a whole kitchen in it. The giant did not ask his permission and proceeded to cook on the fire he had just lit. He had a drink from the bottle, from which a strong spicy smell came out, boiled water for the tea and grilled his sausages, one of which he handed to Harry when they were well cooked. Hungry Harry began to devour the piece of meat savoring each moment. Dudley looked at him with an interrogating eye, wondering how Harry could accept food from a stranger he had just met, and just after the latter had forced their doors.

"We still don't know who you are?" asked Dudley to the giant, bringing Harry back to the current situation in the process.

The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He then turned his attention to Dudley who just had the feeling that he had been ignored until now.

"Call me Hagrid. Everyone does. An' like I said, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o'course Harry." said Hagrid turning back to Harry and dismissing Dudley once again.

"Er - actually I don't" answered Harry who could see the artery on Dudley's temple dangerously agitated.

Hagrid looked at him shocked.

"Sorry?" simply said Harry.

"So-SORRY" Hagrid said as he turned to the Dursleys minus Dudley with his eyes blazing with fury.

"It's them who should be sorry. I knew yeh weren't getting 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?" roared Hagrid.

"All what"

"ALL WHAT?! - Now wait jus' one second!" Hagrid said, shaking the room by his strong voice.

Hagrid got up from the chair faster than his size seemed to suggest, his eyes sharp, in front of Vernon and Petunia. Dudley alternately looked at Hagrid and Harry, certain that he was finally going to get to the bottom of it.

"Do you mean ter tell me, that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?" Hagrid growled at the Dursleys couple.

"Knowing what?" asked Dudley but once again Hagrid ignored him to his greatest annoyance.

"Eh - knowing what?" asked Harry this time, walking a few steps away from Dudley.

"About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."

"What world?" innocently asked Harry.

"DURSLEY!" exploded Hagrid.

The Dursleys couple sank into a corner of the room, and Vernon paler than a ghost could only pronounce a jumble of inconsistent words. Hagrid turned his attention once again to Harry, his face this time calmer but saddened. Harry returned his gaze but filled with questions that seemed to make the giant age several years older. As for Dudley, he was really getting tired of being ignored.

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

"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.

It was at this moment that Vernon suddenly retrieved his voice.

"Stop! Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!" he commanded.

A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him. When Hagrid spoke again, 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 Uncle Vernon in panic.

Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid before looking deeply at Harry.

"Harry... yer a wizard."

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

"I'm a what?" gasped Harry.

"I think he just said... No wait, let me rephrase it!.. He's a what?!" asked Dudley bewildered.

"A wizard, o' course,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 letter." said Hagrid ignoring a Dudley about to explode and sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower.

Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Couch, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. But the moment he was opening it, Dudley arrived next to him and snatched the letter from his hands.

"WHAT YEH'RE THINK YEH'RE DOING, YEH BIG FA…" began to shout Hagrid by jumping out of the sofa in a leap, but he was stopped by a bigger roar.

"SHUT'UP YEH BIG BEARDY AND GO SIT ON THIS COUCH BEFOR' I DROWN YEH INTO THE SEA! YEH' HEAR MEH!" roared Dudley like a dragon shouting fire.