The Mystery of the Philosopher's Stone.

Chapter 4: He who must not be named.

A week before Harry was due to go to Hogwart's his foster parents called him and Etta into the living room after dinner. Mr Green turned the television off and both children sat facing their foster-parents on the sofa opposite.

William cleared his throat and began to speak,

 "Harry, Etta, the time has come for you to know what happened to your real parents. It all begins with a dark wizard called Voldemort. Most witches and wizards refer to him as 'He who must not be named.' Twenty years ago he was gathering followers, to gain an army, to make himself powerful. Some people joined him because they wanted to share in his power and believed in dark magic and wanted to use it against others. Some people were just scared and did not want to oppose him, as those who did were killed or their friends or family would be threatened to bring them over to his side. Your real parents were good, brave people who chose to oppose Voldemort and he hunted them down and killed them himself. This was unusual as Voldemort would most often send out his servants to do this and they killed many powerful wizards before his downfall."

Harry and Etta simply stared at him, unable to speak.

"I know it is difficult to hear this and come to terms with it but I felt you were both old enough now to understand and begin to come to terms with the knowledge. I did not think it was right to keep this information from you longer than necessary. After killing your real parents Voldemort tried to kill Harry. When Voldemort cast his deadly spell, it failed to work and rebounded on himself. It did not kill him but he lost nearly all his powers and became merely spirit, forced to inhabit the bodies of other creatures, to possess them if he wanted a body at all. So, he still lives, but only a half life, his whereabouts are not certain, but it is rumoured that he lives in the forests of Albania. He may return one day if he is able to regenerate his own body. But, we will always be here to protect you if we can."

There was a long silence in the room. Each person was thinking about what had been revealed.

"You will need time to think about this, but do not hesitate to ask me any questions you may have or just come to myself or Elizabeth if you simply want to talk about it."

Harry nodded and Etta said quietly, "I will. Thank you for showing confidence in us by telling us now."

Both siblings stood up and went to their bedrooms. Harry softly closed the door to his room and lay down on his bed staring at the ceiling. At first he was angry at the way Voldemort had destroyed his family and that his parents had died. But, the more he thought about it, the more puzzled he became. How did he survive? He was only a baby at the time. Why couldn't Voldemort kill him? He had killed many adult wizards. Everyone seemed afraid of him and would not speak his name even ten years after his downfall. Despite this, Harry was determined to become a great wizard. He knew that one day he would face Voldemort and have his revenge.

 When Etta returned to her room she sat at her desk, which faced a large window looking out at the back garden. She stared at a blackbird in a tree close by. Many questions flooded into her mind as she watched it. Why did Voldemort want to kill Harry? Why were two wizards defeated by one? Why didn't her real parents block the spell that killed them? Why didn't Voldemort try to kill her? Did he plan on killing her? Did he plan on killing her after Harry? How did Harry survive when their real parents didn't? While she considered, she caught sight of her pale reflection in the glass and this brought another more immediate concern to her mind. Should she talk to her foster-parents about the strange changes to her teeth? What did it mean? She couldn't go back to school in September if they kept growing! I must have courage and talk to them about it before then, she thought. She looked up at the posters on her wall, which always cheered her up and gave her confidence. There were lots of pictures of pterodactyls, some cats, tigers and lions. She had always been fascinated by dinosaurs and felines. It was a strange combination of interests which she had no explanation for. Both Harry and Etta took a long while to sleep that night. When Etta did sleep, she had strange dreams of huge creatures flying over ancient forests.