Harry Potter 1. In Which We Get Letters

**I'm re-doing this story a bit - Yes, again. Just so you know, this will eventually have slash and probably be Dark or Gray!Potters.**

**This story followers the idea that there was a 'Triplet Curse' - Trinus Vomica - and many magical triplet siblings were born. You'll hear about that in the next chapter.**

**For the first few chapters, this does follow the book almost exactly, except for the presence of triplets. Get over it - it's still supposed to be the same story :D**

**Feel free to review. **

* * *

Chapter 1: In Which We Get Some Mail.

On the night of October thirty-first, 1981, in a perfectly normal neighbourhood, three babies were placed on the doorstep of a perfectly normal house by a not-so-normal man.

All over the country that night, these three children were being toasted and cheered, praised and celebrated, but they knew nothing of this.

They seemed like normal children, of course, except for the lightning-bolt shaped scars on their foreheads: one on the right side, one on the left, and one in the middle. These triplets, whose names were Ivy Lily, Beatrice Juniper, and Harry James Potter, were famous in the not-so-normal world, simply for the scars on their foreheads…

* * *

Over the next few years, Harry, Ivy, and Juni grew into rather extraordinary children – and not just because of all the extraordinary things that seemed to happen to them. They all loved to read – when they were able to sneak books. They somewhat enjoyed school – except for the fact that Dudley was always telling all the children that they were evil, and their Aunt and Uncle told the teachers that they were troublemakers, so they were hated by nearly everyone before the end of the first day.

Harry had very messy black hair and brilliant green eyes. He was very protective of his sisters, and for all his love of reading (though he preferred fantasy stories), he wasn't an amazing student, though he got all A's and B's. Ivy had very long, straight black hair and black eyes, while Juni had thicker, wavy, blood red hair that was the same length as her sister's, and brown-green eyes. The two girls were very pretty, but smart and could stand up for themselves. The triplets had a reputation for standing up for people in trouble, like those picked on by their Cousin Dudley's gang.

However, their talents and personalities were not at all noticed by their Aunt and Uncle…

* * *

"Up! Get up, you brats! NOW!" Came Aunt Petunia's voice through the cupboard door, along with a loud pounding, and Ivy, Juni, and Harry Potter all jerked awake.

Harry, who lay in the very front of the closet, sat up and pulled on clothes that were far too big for him – hand-me-downs from their cousin, Dudley – messing up his dark hair even further. Ivy, in the middle, sat as well on her bean bag chair, carefully stuffing several books under the mattress Harry used, before pulled on her own worn-out clothes, these from her Aunt. Juni, at the very end, crawled out from under the low point of the cupboard when the stairs dipped down, and began to dress hurriedly as well.

It's hard to imagine that three young children could share a ten-by-four closet, or that someone could treat good, respectful children like that, but that was the Dursleys for you. They had been reluctant as could be to take in their nieces and nephew, and never so much as bought them a pair of socks, let alone allow them a room. Ivy, Juni, and Harry slept in the tiny closet, then; Harry with the lumpy old mattress, Ivy taking the ripped bean bag chair, and Juni on a worn sleeping bag.

Ivy glanced as the tiny clock they had stolen from Dudley and repaired. It read 6:00am.

"Why is she getting us up so early?" the black haired girl moaned. "It's summer!"

"Don't you remember what day it is?" asked Harry sarcastically, pulling on his round glasses. "It's Precious Dudykins's birthday."

All three groaned in unison.

Every year, their Aunt woke them up even earlier than usual to make breakfast for their cousin's birthday. Dudley was very spoiled and rarely went without something he wanted, and on his birthday he got dozens of presents, most of which he broke within a week.

Horse-faced Aunt Petunia glared at them as they entered the kitchen to a horrible smell wafting from the sink. It looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.

"What's this?" Ivy asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did when one of them dared to ask a question.

"Your new school uniforms," She said.

"Oh," Juni said with no small amount of sarcasm. "I didn't realize they had to be so wet."

"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of mine and Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."

The triplets thought this was unlikely, but they cooked the breakfast and tried not to think about the fact that they would be wearing bits of old elephant skin on their first day at Stonewall High. At least one good thing would come of going to this new school – the triplets would be away from Dudley all the time.

Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in at around eight, and made faces at the smell from the triplets' uniforms.

They heard the click of the mail slot and letters flopping onto the mat.

"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his newspaper.

"Make Harry get it."

"Get the mail, Harry."

"Make Dudley get it."

"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."

Harry dodged the stick and went to get the mail. Five things lay on the mat; a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, who was on vacation, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and – _letters for the triplets?_

Harry picked them up and stared at them, his heart twanging like an elastic band. No one had ever written to any of them before. Who would? They had no friends besides each other, no relatives…yet here it was, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:

_Mr. H. Potter_

_The mattress in the cupboard under the stairs_

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging _

_Surrey_

_)(_

_Miss I. Potter_

_The bean bag chair in the cupboard under the stairs_

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging_

_Surrey_

_)(_

_Miss B. Potter_

_The sleeping bag in the cupboard under the stairs_

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging _

_Surrey _

The envelope was thick and heavy, written on yellow parchment. The addresses were written in emerald ink, and there was no stamp.

Turning his envelope over, Harry noticed a wax seal of a lion, a badger, an eagle, and a snake, all around a letter H.

"Hurry up, boy!" Uncle Vernon shouted from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" he chuckled,

Harry hurried into the kitchen, handing Uncle Vernon the bill and postcard, and his sisters their letters. They looked at him incredulously, and then started to open them.

Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and turned over the postcard.

"Marge is ill," He told Aunt Petunia, "Ate a funny whelk…"

"Dad!" Dudley said suddenly, "Dad, they've got something!"

Harry and Ivy were on the verge of unfolding their letter, which Juni had already done, when they were snatched out of their hands.

"Hey!" cried Ivy, reaching for hers.

"Those are ours!" echoed Harry.

"Who'd be writing to you?" Sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking a letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a traffic light. "P-p-p-Petunia!" He gasped, looking at her with wide eyes.

Dudley tried to grab the letter, but Uncle Vernon held them all high out of his reach. 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.

"Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!"

They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry, Ivy, Juni, and Dudley 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.

"I want to read those letters," He said loudly.

"_We _want to read them," Juni said furiously. "As they're _ours."_

"Get out, all of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.

The triplets didn't move.

"Give us our letters!" cried Harry.

"Let _me _see it!" Dudley demanded.

"Interfering with mail is _illegal." _Reminded Ivy angrily.

"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he grabbed two wrists in each hand and threw the children into the hall, slamming the door after them. Dudley and the triplets promptly scrabbled to see who would listen at the door. By sheer strength of numbers, Dudley ended up on the floor, listening at the crack. Juni, who had the best hearing, got the top half of the door crack, Ivy the bottom, and Harry pressed his ear to the keyhole.

"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "Look at the addresses – how could they possibly know where they sleep – and which bed as well? You don't think they're watching the house?"

"Watching – spying – might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.

"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want – "

"No," said Uncle Vernon after a minute. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer….yes, that's best…we won't do anything…"

"But – "

"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia, let alone three! Didn't we swear when we took them in we'd stamp out all that dangerous nonsense?"

That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before: he visited the triplets in their cupboard.

"Where's our letters?" demanded Harry the moment he had squeezed through the door.

"Who's writing to us?" Ivy echoed.

"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I've burned it."

"It was _not _a mistake," Juni said angrily, "It had our cupboard on it."

"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.

"Er – yes, Harry, Ivy, Juni – about this cupboard. Your Aunt and I have been thinking…you're really getting a bit big for it…we think it might be nice it you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Don't ask questions!" snapped their Uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."

The Dursley house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took the triplets one trip upstairs to move everything they owned from the cupboard.

Aunt Petunia went to the store and came back with several large plastic boxes, which she stuffed all of Dudley's things into that were in the second room – most of it broken – but luckily she ignored the bookshelf, which had never been touched and held some items of interest to the triplets. She also bought some pillows and blankets for the three children – albeit from a second-hand store, but at least they were clean – and Uncle Vernon assembled a bunk bed set he had bought from a garage sale.

When they were done, they room actually looked fit for three ten year olds to inhabit: the bunk bed was against the wall by the window, the other bed that had already been in the room was pushed to the wall where the desk was, with the desk and bookshelf one either side. There was only one wardrobe in the room, but Ivy, Juni, and Harry didn't have many clothes as it was.

They reflected that yesterday they'd have given anything to be up here, but today they'd rather be in their cupboard with the letters. Sigh.

The next morning at breakfast, Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with the Smelting's stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his second bedroom back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and wishing he'd opened the letters in the hall. His sisters were thinking the same thing. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.

When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to the triplets, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting's stick all the way down the hall. Suddenly he shouted, "There's another one! Mr. H. Potter the smallest bed, the smallest bedroom, Miss I. Potter, the top of the bunk bed, the smallest bedroom, Miss B. Potter, the bottom of the bunk bed, the smallest bedr – "

With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt up from his seat and ran down the hall, the triplets' right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letters from him, which was made more difficult by the fact the Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon from behind around the neck, Ivy had grabbed his feet, and Juni bit his arm. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting's stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with all three letters clutched in his hand.

"Go to your cupboard – I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed to Ivy, Juni, and Harry. "Dudley – go – just go."

"They know we've moved from the cupboard," Ivy said.

"And they know we didn't get the first letter," added Juni.

"So that means they'll try again, right?" asked Harry.

"They have to," agreed Ivy. "They won't give up this easy, I bet, whoever they are."

"We have to help them this time," said Juni. "But what can we do?"

They all thought for a second. Juni was hanging upside down from the top bunk, Ivy was sitting in her bean bag chair – which she had repaired with some needle and thread she'd found – and Harry was pacing.

"I've got it!" he suddenly told his sisters.

The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and they got dressed silently. They mustn't wake the Dursleys. They stole downstairs without turning on any lights.

They were going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. Their heats hammered as they crept across the dark hall toward the front door –

"AAAAARRRRRGGHHH!"

Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat – something _alive!_

Lights clicked on upstairs, and to the triplets horror, they realized that Harry had stepped on Uncle Vernon. He had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure they wouldn't do exactly what they'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry and his sisters for half an hour, then told them to go make some tea. They shuffled miserably off to the kitchen and by the time they got back, the mail had been delivered right into Uncle Vernon's lap. They could see at least a dozen letters addressed in green ink.

Before they could speak, Uncle Vernon began tearing them into pieces.

Uncle Vernon stayed home that day and nailed up the mail slot.

On Friday, no less than thirty letters arrived for the triplets. As they couldn't go through the mail slot, they had been pushed under the door, through the sides, and some were even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.

Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could get out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.

On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Forty eight letters to Ivy, Juni, and Harry had found their way into the house by way of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had passed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon mad furious calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.

"Who on earth wants to talk to _you _this badly?" Dudley asked the triplets in amazement.

On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.

"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "No damn letters today, no sir, – "

Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply in the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Ivy, Juni, and Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.

"Out! OUT!"

Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and through him into the hall, followed by Ivy and then Juni. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley ran out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.

"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly and pulling chunks out of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"

He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the front seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.

They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.

"Shake 'em off….shake 'em off…" He would mutter whenever he did this.

They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall, Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up aliens on his computer.

Uncle Vernon finally stopped at a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley, Harry, Ivy, and Juni shared a room with two full beds and damp sheets. Dudley snored through the night but the triplets stayed awake – the better to sleep in the car the next day – and stared out the window, wondering…

They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next morning. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.

"'Scuse me, but is any of you Mr. H. Potter, Miss I. Potter, or Miss. B. Potter? Only I got abou' a 'undred of these at the front desk."

She held up three letters.

Mr. H. Potter

Room 17

Railview Hotel

Cokeworth

Miss I. Potter

)(

Room 17

Railview Hotel

Cokeworth

)(

Miss B. Potter

Room 17

Railview Hotel

Cokeworth

Harry, Ivy, and Juni all made a grab for the letters, but Uncle Vernon knocked their hands away.

"I'll take them," he said while the woman stared, and followed her out of the dining room.

"Wouldn't it be better to just go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully, late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.

It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley shivered.

"It's Monday," He told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a _television."_

Monday. This reminded the triplets of something. If it _was _Monday – and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television – then tomorrow, Tuesday, was their eleventh birthday. Of course, their birthdays were never exactly fun – last year, the Dursleys had given Ivy a broken pencil, Juni a coat hanger, and Harry a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. Still, you weren't eleven every day….

Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He carried a long, thin package, and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked him what he'd brought.

"Found the perfect place!" He said. "Come on! Everyone out!"

It was very cold outside. Ivy's and Juni's long hair whipped in the freezing wind, hitting Harry and Dudley in the face. Uncle Vernon pointed out at a miserable shack on a rock out in the sea. It was freezing in the boat; icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks. Halfway cross, they were soaking wet. The sea water burned their eyes, and the triplets curled up together, trying to keep warm. It seemed like hours until they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.

The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms: a living room, containing the empty fireplace, a sofa, and a battered wooden table. The other room was a bedroom with single bed and two side tables.

Uncle Vernon's 'rations' turned out to be a bag of chips and a banana each. He tried to start a fire, but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up.

"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" He said cheerfully, his right eye twitching a bit.

He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. The triplets privately agreed, but it didn't cheer them up at all.

As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry, Ivy, and Juni were left to put on all the clothes they could find and curl up together under the most ragged blanket.

They couldn't sleep. The lightened dial of Dudley's watch told them that they would be eleven in ten minutes.

Ivy, who, as stated, loved to draw, traced a birthday cake in the grimy floor, writing HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY, IVY, AND JUNI on the side, so they could pretend to blow out the candles at midnight.

Five minutes to go. They heard something creak outside.

"I hope the roof doesn't fall in," said Juni nervously.

"We might be warmer if it does," Harry countered grimly.

Four minutes to go.

"Maybe by the time we get back, Privet Drive will be so full of letters, we'll be able to sneak one," hoped Ivy.

Three minutes to go.

"Is that the water?" whispered Juni, hearing a slapping noise outside.

"What's that noise?" gasped Harry, hearing a crunching noise outside. The triplets curled up fearfully together. Maybe someone would kidnap them? They couldn't be worse than the Dursleys…

One minute to go and they'd be eleven. Thirty seconds….twenty….ten…nine…maybe they'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him…three….two…they leaned forward to blow out the fake candles….

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered. Harry, Ivy, and Juni sat bolt upright. Someone was outside.


	2. In Which We Meet A Giant

**As I said in the last chapter, I am re-doing this story a bit - again. Here is the new chapter two!**

**(By the way, this story will eventually have slash and femslash relationships, but hopefully realistically. If you want to know the pairings - spoilers! - just ask. Any requests? I'll think about them :)**

* * *

Chapter 2: In Which We Meet A Giant..

BOOM.

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 package he had brought.

"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 deafening crash landed flat on the floor.

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, glittering like black beetles under all that hair.

The giant squeezed into the hut, and Ivy dragged her siblings into a corner on the other side of the fireplace to hide. Perhaps he would kill the Dursleys and leave them? The triplets might be able to paddle the boat back to shore by themselves…

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…" They heard him say in a deep voice. The next second, he seemed to addressDudley.

"Hullo there, Harry!" he said happily. "Haven' see you since you was a baby, o' course, but your looking a lot rounder than I remembered. Where're your sisters?"

Dudleysquealed and ran to hide behind his mother, but the triplets thought the giant sounded kind. They decided to take the chance.

"He's not Harry," Harry said bravely, stepping out from the corner. "I am."

The giant rolled his eyes, smiling. "Well o' course you are!"

"I'm Juni." Said the red-haired triplet, stepping out.

"And I'm Ivy," said Ivy.

"Yeh look a lot like your dad, Harry, but yeh've got your mother's eyes. You two – "

Uncle Vernon cut him off.

"I demand that you leave at once, sir! You are breaking and entering!"

"Dry up Dursley, yeh great prune," The giant said, reaching over the back of the sofa and grabbing the shotgun, then twisting it into knot and throwing it into the corner of the room. Uncle Vernon made a funny noise.

"Anyway – Juni, yeh look just like yer mother at yer age, though yeh've get yer dad's eyes. Ivy, yeh've got yer dad's colour, but your grandmother's straight hair…o' course, ya already know that."

The triplets just stared at him. How could he know so much about their family?

"A very happy birthday to you three, by the way," He added, reaching into his coat. "I got summat here for yeh – might've sat on it, but it'll taste fine – "

From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled out a slightly squashed box. He handed it to Ivy, and Harry lifted the lid while they peered in. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with _Happy Birthday Harry, Ivy, and Juni _written on it in green icing.

The triplets looked up at the giant.

"Who are you?" blurted Harry. He had meant to say thank you, but the words had gotten lost on the way to his mouth.

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 each of the triplets' whole arms.

"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 shrivelled 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 the triplets felt the warmth wash over them as though they'd sunk into a hot bath…not that they'd know what that was like.

The giant sat back down under the sofa 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 an amber bottle of something that he took a swig of before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was filled with the sound and smell of sizzling sausages. Nobody said a thing while he was working, but when he slid six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages off the poker,Dudleyfidgeted a little. UncleVernonsaid sharply, "Don't eat anything he gives you, Dudley."

The giant chuckled darkly.

"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."

He passed two sausages each to Harry, Ivy, and Juni, who were so hungry they had never tasted anything so wonderful. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, Ivy wiped her hands on her overlarge skirt and said, "I'm sorry, but we 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," Juni said, feeling confused.

Hagrid looked shocked.

"Sorry," said Harry quickly. "We've just never heard–"

"_Sorry?" _barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them that 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?"

"Learned what?" asked Harry, Ivy, and Juni in unison.

"LEARNED WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"

He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole shack. The Dursleys covered against a wall.

"Do you mean ter tell me," He growled to the Dursleys. "That these kids – these kids! – don't know nothin' abou' – about ANYTHING?"

Now, Harry, Ivy, and Juni thought this was going a bit far. They had been to school, after all, and their marks weren't bad.

"We know _some _things," Harry said. "We can, you know, do math and stuff."

But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About _our _world, I mean. _Your _world. _My _world. _Yer parents' world."_

"What world?" asked Juni, eyes wide.

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 the triplets.

"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," He said, "I mean, they're _famous. _You're _famous."_

"What?" gasped Ivy.

"Our – our parents weren't famous…" said Harry, thinking of how they had died in a 'car crash'…where three different people had somehow received the same scar…hmm….

"Were they?" wondered Juni. "How much do we really know about them, you guys?" she said, looking at her siblings. "It could be true…"

"Yeh don' know….yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry, Juni, and Ivy with a bewildered stare. The triplets were glaring at their Aunt and Uncle.

"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 them anything!"

A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.

"Yeh 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 us?" said all three children eagerly. Anything that bothered their uncle this much _must _be good.

"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," Hagrid said. "Harry, Juni, Ivy – yer wizards."

There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and wind could be heard.

"We're _what?" _gasped Juni, finding her voice first. "Wiz – _what_?"

"Wizards, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower. "An' thumpin' good 'uns 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."

And finally he took the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to the three children; The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. They pulled out their letters 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 Miss _(or, in Harry's case, it read Mr.) _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._**

As could be expected, questions exploded inside Harry's, Ivy's, and Juni's heads, and they couldn't decide what to ask first.

Finally, they all stammered a different query at the same time.

"What does 'Order of Merlin, First Class' mean?" Ivy said.

"What is a Mugwump?" asked Juni.

"What does it mean, they await our owl?" stammered Harry.

"Gulpin' gargoyles, that reminds me," Hagrid said, 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 the triplets could read upside down:

**_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_**

**_Given Harry, Juni, and Ivy 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.

Ivy nudged her brother, whose mouth was hanging open, and he closed it quickly.

"Where was I?" Hagrid said, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.

"They're not going." He said.

Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop them," He said.

"A what?" Harry asked, interested.

"A Muggle," Hagrid said, "It's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you all 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! Wizards indeed!"

"You _knew?"_ Harry said incredulously.

"You knew we're – wizards, and you never told us?" said Ivy angrily.

"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia. "_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 _school, _and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one to see 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 that she had been waiting to say all this for years:

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you three, 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 triplets were very white. As soon as she found her voice, Juni said, "Blown up? You told us they died in a car crash!"

"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, Ivy, and Juni Potter not knowing their story when every kid in our world knows their names!"

"But why?" asked Juni. "Why does everyone know about us?"

"What happened?" said Harry urgently. The three of them looked empathically at Hagrid.

The anger faded from the giant'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, you three, 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'."

He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.

"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh – mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great mystery, parts of it…"

He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with – with a person called – but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows – "

"Who?" the triplets asked eagerly.

"Well – I don' like sayin' the name, if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?" asked Ivy.

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Ivy, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went…bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…."

Hagrid gulped but no words came out.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.

"Nah – can't spell it. All right – _Voldemort."_ Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this – this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' for followers. Got 'em, too – some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was getting' himself power, all right. Dark days, you three. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches…terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up ter him – an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school – not jus' then, anyway.

"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before…probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.

"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em…maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you all were living, on Halloween ten years ago. You were all just a year old. He came ter yer house an' – an' – "

Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.

"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad – knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find – anyway…

"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then – an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing – he tried to kill you three, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got those marks on yer forehead? Those aren't no ordinary cuts. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh – took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even – but it didn't work on you three, an' that's why you're famous. No one lived once he decided ter kill 'em, no one except for you three, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age – the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts – an' you was only babies, an' you lived."

Suddenly the triplets remembered something – all three of them at once. A flash of green light they had seen before in dreams, but much clearer this time – and something else…a high, cold, cruel laugh. They scooted closer together.

Hagrid was watching them sadly.

"Took yeh from the ruined house meself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yer ter this lot…"

"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry, Ivy, and Juni jumped; they had forgotten the Dursleys were there. He seemed to have gotten his courage back; he was glaring at Hagrid, fists clenched.

"Now, you listen here, brats," Uncle Vernon snarled at them. Normally a speech that started like this would have terrified the children, but with Hagrid there, they didn't feel as scared. "I accept there's something strange about you all, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured –" _Like you never tried _that_, _thought Harry sarcastically. "– and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion – asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types – just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end–"

But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley, - I'm warning you – one more word…"

In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.

"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.

The triplets, meanwhile, still had questions to ask – hundreds of them.

"But what happened to Vol-, sorry, I mean, You-Know-Who?" asked Harry.

"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill yeh. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see…he was gettin' more an' more powerful – why'd he go?

Hagrid went on to say that some people thought You-Know-Who had died, but Hagrid didn't think so. Hagrid thought he had lost his powers, and was too weak to go on now. He said there was something about the triplets that stumped Voldemort that night. Then he looked at Harry, Ivy, and Juni with a mixture of warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but they – instead of feeling pleased and proud – felt that there must be a horrible mistake. Wizards? Them? They had spent all their lives being picked on byDudleyand ordered around by their Aunt and Uncle, starved, unloved, and occasionally beaten for things they hadn't even done. If they were a wizard and witches, why hadn't the Dursleys turned into frogs every time they had annoyed them?

"Hagrid," said Ivy quietly, voicing what the others were thinking. "I think you've made a mistake. I don't think we can be wizards."

To their surprise, Hagrid chuckled.

"Not wizards, eh? Never made things happen when you was angry or scared?"

Now that they thought about it, he was right. Hadn't every odd thing they had done happened when they had been upset or angry? When they had been chased byDudley's gang, they had somehow found themselves on the roof of the school. When Aunt Petunia had given Harry a horrible haircut, he had somehow made it grow back by morning. When their second grade teacher had yelled at Ivy for being a know-it-all, her wig suddenly turned blue. When Aunt Petunia had told Juni she wasn't allowed to readDudley's books – even though he never touched them – one had floated down the stairs and into the cupboard that night.

The triplets looked back to Hagrid, smiling, and saw that he was now positively beaming.

"See?" said Hagrid. "The Potter triplets, not wizards – you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."

But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.

"Haven't I told you they're not going?" he hissed. "They're going to Stonewall High and they'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and they need all sorts of rubbish – spell books and wands and – "

"If they want ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop them," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's kids from goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad! They're names have been down ever since they were born. They're off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and they won't know themselves. They'll be with youngsters of their own sort, fer a change, in the largest class Hogwarts had seen in decades. They'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, too, Albus Dumble–"

"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 the 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, the triplets saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.

Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.

Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.

"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully. "But it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do – what?"

Harry, Ivy, and Juni had burst into laughter. Hagrid was looking at them like they were insane.

After a minute, Hagrid cleared his throat.

"Anyway – I'd be grateful if yeh didn't mention this ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm – Er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff – one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job – "

"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Ivy.

"Oh, well – I was at Hogwarts meself but I – Er – got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."

Harry started to ask why he was expelled, but the girls knew this wouldn't be polite, and nudged him casually.

"What did you mean when you said that we'd be in the largest class in decades?" asked Juni instead.

"Oh, well that another myst'ry, isn' it?" said Hagrid, his eyes gleaming again. "See, all the witches back in August o' 1979 through…oh, 'round January or February 1980 took these Potions that our Healers came out with for pregnancy health. Turns out that these Potions hadn't been fully tested, and tons of witches ended up havin' triplets, like your mum."

"Really?" gasped Harry.

"So how many sets of triplets are there now?" asked Ivy, trying not to be too shocked, because this was the most normal thing they'd heard all night, honestly.

"Oh, I'd say 'round a dozen. Maybe more. They're callin' all of you the Trinus Vomica – the Triplet Curse." Hagrid said, chuckling and pulling off his coat. "But enough abou' that now. It's late, and we've got a lot ter do tomorrow. Here – " he handed the coat the Harry. "Use this ter cover up with. Don' mind if it wiggles a bit – think there might be a few door mice left in there."


	3. In Which We Go To Diagon Alley

Chapter 3: In Which We Go To Diagon Alley

Ivy woke to a loud tapping sound.

She sat up, causing Hagrid's to cloak fall off her. The storm was over, Hagrid was sleeping on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl at the window, rapping its claw on the glass, a newspaper clasped in its beak. Looking down at her brother and sister, Ivy carefully covered them with the heavy cloak and then went to the window, jerking it open – it seemed as though no one had used it in about ten years or so. The owl swooped in and dropped the paper on Hagrid, who didn't move. It then fluttered onto the floor and began attacking the cloak.

"Hey!"

"What the–?"

Harry and Juni woke up to see an angry owl attacking the coat they had been using as a blanket.

"Don't do that!" Ivy said, running over and trying to wave it out of the way, but it snapped its beak at her angrily. "Bad bird!"

"Hagrid!" Juni called loudly. "Hagrid, there's an owl–"

"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.

"What?"

"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."

Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing _but _pockets – bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags…finally, Harry found a handful of strange-looking coins.

"Give him five knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.

"Knuts?"

"The little bronze ones."

Harry counted out five of the little bronze coins, and the owl held out its leg so that he could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew out of the open window.

Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.

"Best be off, Harry, Ivy, Juni. Lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."

Harry was turning over the wizard coins in his hand and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel like the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.

"Um – Hagrid?" He said.

"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.

"We haven't got any money." Harry said sadly, looking at his sisters.

"He's right," said Ivy, sinking to the floor.

"And you heard Uncle Vernon," Juni added, sniffing slightly. "He won't give us a pound."

"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up, "D'yeh think yer parents didn' leave yeh anythin'?"

"But if their house was destroyed–"

"They wouldn't keep their money in the house, Harry!" admonished Ivy, feeling excited again. "They'd put it in a bank, right?"

"That's right, Ivy," said Hagrid. "Firs' stop Gringotts, wizards' bank. Have a sausage."

"Wizards have _banks?" _Harry asked incredulously.

"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."

Harry dropped the sausage he had been holding. Juni nearly choked on hers.

"_Goblins?" _Ivy gasped as Hagrid thumped Juni on the back.

Hagrid went on to explain that you'd be mad to rob Gringotts, and to never mess with goblins. He said Gringotts was the safest place in the world, except maybe Hogwarts. He needed to visit Gringotts anyway for Hogwarts business, and then added proudly that Dumbledore frequently gave him important jobs. He really seemed to look up to this Dumbledore person. The triplets hoped that perhaps they could explain how the Dursleys mistreated them, and maybe Dumbledore wouldn't make them go back. None of them dared voice this aloud, however.

"Got everythin'? Come on, then."

The triplets followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, but with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.

"How did you get here?" asked Ivy, looking around for another boat.

"Flew." said Hagrid.

"_Flew?"_

"Yeah – but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."

They settled into the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.

"Seems a shame ter row now, though," said Hagrid, giving the triplets a sideways look. "If I was ter – Er – speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentioin' it at Hogwarts?"

"Of course not," said Juni. They were eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out his pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off towards lad.

On the way, Harry asked more about Gringotts. Hagrid explained that there were spells, enchantments, and maybe even dragons guarding some vaults. When Hagrid opened his newspaper, the triplets went quiet. They had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone when they did this, but it was very difficult, as they had never had so many questions in their lives.

"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.

"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Ivy asked. She didn't think anything would surprise her now.

"'Course," Hagrid said. "They wanted Dumbledore fer minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' for advice."

"But what does a Ministry of Magic _do?" _asked Harry.

"Well, their main job is to keep it from the muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."

"Why?" asked Harry.

Juni rolled her eyes. "Because everyone would want magic solutions for their problems, Harry." Harry stuck his tongue out at her.

"Right," said Hagrid as the boat bumped the shore, and they climbed up the stone steps onto the street.

Passerby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as everyone else, but he kept pointing out perfectly normal things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, you three? Things those Muggles dream up, eh?"

"Hagrid," Juni said. "Did you say there were _dragons _at Gringotts?"

"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."

"You'd _like _one?" Ivy asked, sure she'd heard him wrong.

"Wanted once since I was a kid – here we go."

They had reached the station. There was a train toLondonin five minutes, and Hagrid, who couldn't understand "Muggle money", as he called it, handed the bills to Juni to buy their tickets.

People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary yellow circus tent.

"Still got yer letters?" Hagrid asked them as he counted stitches.

They took out the parchment envelopes.

"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh'll need."

They each flipped them over, eager to see what Wizard Children used at school.

**_HOGWARTS_****_ SCHOOL_**

**_of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_**

_UNIFORM_

_First-Year students will require:_

_Three sets of plain work robes (black)__One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)__One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

_COURSE BOOKS_

_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

**_The Standard Books of Spells (Grade 1)_**

_By Miranda Goshawk_

**_A History of Magic_**

_By Bathilda Bagshot_

**_Magical Theory _**

_By Adalbert Waffling_

**_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _**

_By Emeric Switch_

**_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_**

_By Phyllida Spore_

**_Magical Draughts and Potions_**

_By Arsenius Jigger_

**_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_**

_By Newt Scamander_

**_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_**

_By Quentin Trimble._

_OTHER EQUIPMENT_

_1 Wand_

_1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_1 set glass or crystal phials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS._

"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry asked, thinking of wands and broomsticks in the front window of _Toy Master._

"If yeh know where to go," Hagrid replied with a wink.

Harry, Ivy, and Juni had never been toLondonbefore. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.

"I don't know how Muggles manage without magic," He said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops. Ivy was shivering terribly, trying not to look down. She was very frightened of things like stairs and escalators, especially when they were very steep.

"This is it," said Hagrid, finally coming to a halt. "The Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. They wouldn't have noticed it at all if Hagrid hadn't pointed it out. In fact, the triplets had a feeling that they and Hagrid were the only ones who could see it. Before they could mention this, however, Hagrid had steered them inside.

For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who said as they walked up, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't Tom. I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping a hand on Ivy and Harry's shoulders.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at the triplets. "Are these – can they be – ?"

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.

"Bless my soul," continued Tom, "The Potters….what an honour."

He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed towards Ivy, and seized her hand, tears in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Miss Potter, welcome back."

He moved to Harry, and then Juni, nearly sobbing by the time he shook the red head's hand.

They didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at them. The woman with the pipe was puffing it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.

Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry, Ivy, and Juni found themselves shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.

"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Miss Potter, I'm just so proud.'

"Big honour Miss Potter. May I call you Ivy?"

"Juni, isn't it? You look just like Lily!"

"Always wanted to shake your hands – I'm all of a flutter!"

"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."

"We've seen you before!" cried Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off his head in excitement. "You bowed to my sisters and me in a shop once!"

"He remembers!" cried Dedalus, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? Harry Potter remembers me!"

They shook hands again and again – Doris Crockford kept coming back for more. After a moment, a pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. Once of his eyes was twitching.

"Professor Quirrell!" Hagrid cried. "Harry, Juni, Ivy – Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand first. "C-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you th-th-three."

"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirell?" asked Juni curiously.

"D-Defence Against the D-D-Dart Arts," muttered Quirell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-Potter?" he laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.

But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep the triplets to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.

"Must get on – lots ter buy. Come on, Harry, Ivy, Juni."

Doris Crockford shook their hands one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a rubbish bin and a few weeds.

Hagrid grinned at them.

"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh – mind you, he's usually tremblin'."

"Is he always that nervous?" Ivy asked.

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first-hand experience… They say he met vampires in theBlack Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag – never been the same since. Scared of students, scared if his own subject – now, where's my umbrella?"

Vampires? Hags? The triplets' head were spinning. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.

"Three up…two across…" He muttered. "Right. Stand back, you three."

He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.

The brick he touched quivered – it wriggled – in the middle, as small hole appeared – it grew wider and wider – a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight, lined with shops of all kinds.

"Welcome," Hagrid said. "To Diagon Alley."

He grinned at the triplet's amazed looks, and they stepped through the archway.

The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. _Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-stirring – Collapsible, _said a sign hanging over them.

"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid. "But we gotta get yer money first."

Harry, Ivy, and Juni wished they had about ten more eyes. They turned their heads in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, and the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…"

They heard a soft hooting from a dark shop with a sign saying _Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy._ Several boys of about their age had their noses pressed against a wind with broomsticks in it. "Look," They heard one of them say. "The new Nimbus Two Thousand – fastest ever – " There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments, shops with shelves full of jars of various disgusting looking things, tottering piles of spell books, rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…

"Gringotts." Hagrid announced.

It was a very tall white building. On the front was an inscription, a poem warning intruders, and inside it looked like a great marble hall with desks against the walls and goblins working busily at them. Hagrid went up to one and said they needed the Potter vault. When the goblin asked for a key, Hagrid promptly emptied several pockets of various things: mouldy dog biscuits, a ham, and several white dormice until he announced that he had it.

Hagrid then said he had a letter from Professor Dumbledore and he need to get "The You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen". The goblin read the letter seriously, then called two other goblins named Griphook and Appock to take them to the vaults. Harry asked what was in vault seven hundred and thirteen, but Hagrid said he couldn't tell them, and then climbed into a cart with Appock, while the triplets went with Griphook. Hagrid said he'd see them in a few minutes, but he didn't look very optimistic.

Though they were a little nervous about being alone with the slightly scary looking goblin, the triplets relaxed as they zoomed through the dark underground, and it was impossible for them to remember which roads they had taken, though Harry tried at first. Ivy and Juni hear him murmuring, "Left, right, right, left…" but he stopped after only five. The rattling cart seemed to know its way, because Griphook wasn't steering.

Finally, they arrived at their vault. Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came tumbling out, and as it cleared, Harry, Ivy, and Juni gasped.

Inside were piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins. It was incredible – a small fortune, belonging to them, buried underLondon. Yet all their lives, they had worn old, ill-fitting clothes, slept in a closet, and never had a single toy…

Griphook gave them each a "complementary" leather money bag that said on the front: I KEEP MY GOLD AT GRINGOTTS – YOU SHOULD TOO! And they piled as much as they could into them, not knowing how much they would need. Griphook explained that the gold ones were Galleons, the silver were Sickles, and the bronze were Knuts. Seventeen Sickles to a galleon, and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle.

"It's easy enough to remember," he added at the end, and laughed darkly at the children's doubtful looks.

One wild cart ride later and the triplets were waiting in the lobby of Gringotts for Hagrid to emerge with Appock. After a few minutes, his giant figure appeared, looking very green and shaky. He told them that the carts made him nauseous and said he was going to get a drink back at the Leaky Cauldron. He pointed them towards Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions to get their school clothes.

"Do you think we can get normal clothes there?" wondered Ivy. "I mean, we have money now…"

"We'll have to ask them, I suppose," Harry said as they approached the store.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed in all mauve.

"Hogwarts, dears?" she said when Harry started to speak. "And I see you three are some of the Trinus, eh?" They nodded nervously, glad Hagrid had told them about that. At least they knew _something. _They could only hope this woman wouldn't recognize them…

Madam Malkin smiled. "Got three in there now being fitted up, s'matter o' fact."

In the back of the shop were three pale children with white-blond hair: the first, a boy, had a pointed face, slicked back hair, and steel eyes. The second, a girl, had long, slightly curly hair and green eyes, and the third, another girl, had shorter, thicker hair, a round face and rather large nose, and blue eyes. A second witch stood next to the boy, pinning his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry across from the other three, then Ivy and Juni on each side of him, and began to pin them as well.

"Hello," said the blonde boy. "Hogwarts as well?"

"Yes," answered Harry.

"I see you three are some of the Trinus also," said the thinner girl.

"That's right." Ivy answered, wondering how these kids could sound so snobby with barely a few words spoken.

"Our father is next door buying our books." Informed the blue-eyed girl.

"Mother is across the way looking at wands." Added her sister. They both had bored, drawling voices, but it seemed to the Potters' that this speech had been practised.

"Then we're going to drag them off to look at racing brooms," continued the boy in the same tone of voice. "I don't understand why first years aren't allowed them."

"And then we need to take them to look at the tigers, Raven." said the long-haired girl to her sister. "Honestly, only being allowed an owl, a cat, or a toad is so old-fashioned."

"We'll just have to sneak the brooms and animals in, right Draco?" laughed the other girl coldly.

"Have _you _got your own brooms?" asked the boy, smiling evilly at his sister's comment.

"No," Juni said.

"Play Quidditch at all?" asked the green-eyed girl.

"Of course they don't Jayda," said the girl named Raven, rolling her eyes. "They've just said they haven't got brooms."

"Well, we do." Continued the boy – Draco, they remembered. "Father says it's a crime if at least one of us isn't picked to play for our House, and I must say I agree. Know what House you'll be in yet?"

"No…" said Harry. They were feeling stupider by the minute. Houses? Quidditch? What was all this?

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but we know we'll be in Slytherin, the whole family's been for generations." Said Raven.

"Imagine being in Hufflepuff," laughed Jayda cruelly. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

Not knowing what they were talking about, the triplets gave noncommittal shrugs of their shoulders.

"I say, look at that man!" cried Draco suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at the triplets and pointing at four large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.

"That's Hagrid." Ivy said, glad they knew something the other three didn't.

"He works at Hogwarts." Added her brother.

"Oh," said Jayda. "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper." said Juni. They were liking the blondes less every second.

"Yes, exactly." said Raven. "We hear he's a sort of _savage – _lives in a hut on the school grounds."

Draco laughed. "And every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and sets fire to his bed." His siblings laughed with him.

"We think he's brilliant." Harry said coldly. He and his sisters glared at the other three.

"_Do _you?" sneered Raven.

"Why is he with you?" asked Jayda. "Where are your parents?"

"They're dead." Ivy said shortly. They weren't going to go into that matter with these kids.

"Oh, sorry." Said Draco, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were _our _kind, weren't they?"

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean." Harry said.

"We really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you?" said Jayda.

"They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways." agreed Raven.

"Some of them have never heard of Hogwarts until they get their letter, imagine." said Draco. "I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"

"Potter." Juni said shortly.

Simultaneously, all three blond triplets gasped, Madam Malkin shrieked and tripped, ripping Ivy's sleeve, and her assistant toppled over on top of Harry.

"Did you say _Potter?" _stammered Jayda.

"You're – you're Juni, Ivy, and Harry Potter?" gasped Raven.

"In my shop too! Such an honour!" Madam Malkin said excitedly, beaming as she hurriedly repaired Ivy's robe with what must have been a wand, and helped Harry up.

"But who have you been living with all this time?" asked Draco suspiciously as the two women got back to work, focusing on Harry, Ivy, and Juni, much to the blonds' annoyance and their pleasure.

"Our Aunt, Uncle, and cousin." Answered Ivy.

"Our Aunt was our mum's sister." Harry added.

Draco, Jayda, and Raven shared a look, then burst out laughing.

"What?" Juni demanded angrily, feeling really annoyed with the other kids. They were just complete brats!

Draco answered quickly, though sneering again, "You've been living with _Muggles _all your lives, that's all,"

Before he could say any more, Madam Malkin announced, "That's you done, dears," she said, smiling happily at them, and the triplets, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the others, stepped quickly from their stool.

"Well, we'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose." said Raven in her drawling voice. Ivy bit back a not-so-nice comment.

As the triplets were paying Madam Malkin for their robes, Ivy asked, "Do you know of any shops here that might sell Muggle clothes?"

Madam Malkin looked at her curiously. "Yes…well, there's Wizard in Disguise down the street, they have loads of things. May I ask why?"

"Our Aunt and Uncle…well, they don't buy us many things," said Juni slowly.

"And we don't have any Muggle money, but we would like to get things that actually fit us," Harry said wryly, smiling at the woman.

"Alright then, yes, I think WD will have just what you need." She said kindly.

The triplets were rather quiet as they ate their ice cream. Hagrid took them to buy parchment and quills, and they cheered up a bit when they found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote. Juni purchased a few magical drawing supplies, such as a pencil that when change colour if you asked nicely and a pad of paper that never ran out.

When they left the shop, Harry asked, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"

"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how much you three don' know – not knowin' about Quidditch!"

"Don't make us feel worse," said Ivy, and they told them about the blond kids in Madam Malkin's.

" – and they seemed to find something hilarious with the fact that we were raised by Muggles."

"Don' worry about that," said Hagrid, waving his hand dismissively. "Some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles – look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"

"So what _is _Quidditch?" pressed Harry.

"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like – like soccer in the Muggle world – everyone follows Quidditch – played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls – sorta hard ter explain the rules."

"And what are Hufflepuff and Slytherin?" asked Juni.

"School Houses. There's four – Gryffindor – that's where your parents were, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but – "

"I bet we're in Hufflepuff." said Harry gloomily.

"Hey – speak for yourself!" cried Ivy, playfully smacking her brother on the arm.

"Yeah, maybe you're a duffer, but me and Ivy aren't!" agreed the red-haired triplet.

Sibling wresting then ensued – mostly playful – and ended with Juni pouring the rest of her ice cream on Harry's head and Harry stealing Ivy's shoe.

After Harry had located a napkin and Ivy had re-tied her shoe, Hagrid continued, trying to hide a smile.

"Anyway – it's better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," He said darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."

"Vol-, sorry – You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Years an' years ago." Hagrid said.

Next they bought Harry, Ivy, and Juni's school books at a shop called Florish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with all manner of books. Hagrid almost had to drag them away from _Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) _by Professor Vindictus Viridian.

"I was trying to find out how to curseDudley."

"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid.

Ivy decided it would be a good idea to get extra books, for background reading, so they pick up copies of _Modern Magical History, Hogwarts, a History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, _and _Great Wizarding Feats of the Twentieth Century._

Hagrid wouldn't let Harry by a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got three nice sets of scales for weighing potion ingredients and some collapsible brass telescopes. Then they visited the Apothecary, where Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for three supplies of basic potion ingredients for the triplets.

Outside, they checked their list again.

"Just got yer wands left – oh yeah, an' I still haven't gotten you three a birthday present."

The triplets went red.

"You don't have to–" started Harry.

"I know I don' have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get an animal. We can go over to the Magical Menagerie before yeh get yer wands."

Twenty minutes later, they left the Menagerie. Harry was carrying a cage which held a beautiful snowy white owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. Ivy carried a smaller cage containing a small snake (she had really felt drawn to him, but was worried he wouldn't be allowed. Hagrid assured her that since he was so small – about half an inch wide and ten inches long – it would be fine, as he wasn't poisonous.). Juni held a tiny rectangular cage that contained a kitten (actually, a half kitten, half kneazle – Hagrid had explained what that meant). It was calico coloured with silver blue eyes.

"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivander's left now – only place fer wands, Ollivander's, and yeh gotta have the best wands."

Magic wands…this is what they had really been looking forward to.

A tinkling bell sounded in the back of the store as they stepped in. They set their bags and animals by the door, and Hagrid sat on the single wooden chair to wait. There were thousands of narrow boxes stacked up to the ceiling, and the very air seemed to tingle with magic.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. The triplets jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly of the spindly chair.

"Hello," They said together, rather awkwardly.

"Ah yes," said the man, who had white hair and silver eyes that didn't seem to need to blink. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you three soon. Harry, Ivy, and Juni Potter…"

"Why am I always last?" asked Juni, rather annoyed. The man didn't seem to hear her.

"Harry, you have your mother's eyes, and Ivy, you have your father's. Juni, my goodness, you look exactly like your mother at your age, but you lack her eyes….I remember when she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to them. Harry wished he would blink; those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.

"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for Transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard."

Mr. Ollivander had come so close that they were about a foot apart.

"And that's where…."

Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Ivy's forehead with a long, white finger. She was started to think that Mr. Ollivander may not be all-there.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands…well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"

He shook his head and then, to Ivy's relief especially, spotted Hagrid.

"Rebeus! Rebeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again…. Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.

"Good wand, that one. but I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.

"Er – yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," He added brightly.

"But you don't _use _them?" Ollivander said sharply.

"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Juni noticed he gripped his umbrella rather tightly as he spoke.

"Hmmm," said Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now – Mr. Potter, you first. Which is your wand arm?" he pulled out a long tape measure.

"Er – well, I'm right-handed," Harry said.

"Hold out your arm. That's it…"

He measured Harry all over, and then his sisters. They seemed to try every wand in the shop; Harry would try it, then Ivy, then Juni ("Always last!" she grumbled.), and they all ended up in a pile on the spindly chair.

Finally, Ollivander said, "Hmm…tricky customers, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match somewhere…." And then he scurried into the back of the shop, emerging a second later with three very dusty boxes. He handed one to Harry, one to Ivy, and the last to Juni.

Looking at each other nervously, they took them and each grabbed one, waving it.

Immediately, a warmth went up their arms and red and gold sparks shot out the tip of Harry's wand, blue and gold out of Ivy's, and red and black from Juni's. They grinned at each other. Hagrid whooped and clapped, and Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well…how curious….yes indeed…very curious…"

As he wrapped their wands up in brown paper, Ivy asked, "Sorry, but, what's curious?"

Ollivander fixed the triplets with his silver stare again.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss Potter. Every single one. It just so happens that you three all have very rare double cores, and they all share one common half. It is curious that the phoenix that gave half of each of your cores gave three other feathers. Just three. It is very curious indeed that you three should be destined for these wands when their brother gave you those scars."

Ivy gulped. Harry went pale. Juni gasped.

Ollivander continued, "Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious how these things happened. The wand chooses the wizard or witch, remember…I think we must expect great things from you three…. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great."

Ivy shivered. Harry decided he didn't like Ollivander much – he was a bit scary. The old wandmaker then informed them of their wands types; Harry's wand was holly, eleven inches, with a phoenix and hippogriff feather core, Ivy's was hazel, eight inches, and the phoenix feather in her core joined with fairy wings, and Juni's was hawthorn, nine and three quarter inches, with phoenix feather and a Demiguise hair. The triplets had no idea what a hippogriff or a Demiguise was, but they didn't mention this and instead paid Mr. Ollivander twenty one gold Galleons total for their wands, and Ollivander bowed them from the shop.

It was late afternoon but the triplets – well, mostly Juni and Ivy – convinced Hagrid to stop by Wizard in Disguise where they picked up about two dozen outfits each. The Muggle clothes were much cheaper than their robes and other equipment, and even Harry was excited to have clothes that he liked and that fit them.

People stared even more on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, not to mention their pets. Harry sat with the snowy owl in his lap, still sleeping in her cage. Juni had her cat on her lap as well, but she got a lot less stares than her brother. Ivy's snake curled up nonchalantly in her pocket.

At Paddington station, Hagrid bought them each a hamburger before their train arrived. The triplets kept looking around; everything looked so strange somehow.

"You three all right? Yer very quiet." Hagrid said.

They shared a look, not sure if they could explain. They'd just had the best birthday of their lives – and yet…

"Everyone thinks we're special," Ivy said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Madam Malkin, Mr. Ollivander…"

"But we don't know anything about magic at all!" said Harry. "How can they expect great things from us?"

"We're famous and we can't even remember what we're famous for." continued Juni, "We don't know what happened the night Vol-, I mean, the night our parents died."

Hagrid leaned forward across the table. Behind the wild beard and eye brows, he wore a very kind smile.

"Don' you worry, you three. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll do just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts – I did – still do, 'smatter of fact."

Hagrid helped them onto the train that would take them back to the Dursleys, then handed them each an envelope.

"Yer tickets for Hogwarts," He said. "First o' September – King's Cross – it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, Harry, you send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me….see yeh soon."

The train pulled out of the station. They wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; they rose in their seats and pressed their noses against the windows, but when they blinked, Hagrid was gone.


End file.

Harry Potter, Adventure, Friendship