The Three Brothers: The Cure

Anticipations

31st July 1991

Harry looked down at the reddish wooden wand in his hand. Today had been the best birthday—no, scratch that—the best day of his life. He was a wizard!

Now seated on the thin mattress back at his room, he still couldn't believe all that had happened the past week. He knew he couldn't describe the sheer joy and the multitude of feelings that welled in his heart to anyone; he just wouldn't know where to start.

Magic was real and Harry was a wizard, just like his parents had been. In another month, he would be headed to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn magic. According to his new (and rather large) friend Hagrid, this was the finest school of magic there was. But more importantly, he would be going away from the Dursleys, if only for ten months out of twelve.

It had all begun on Wednesday morning when a letter arrived in the mail for him. Harry had never before received a single piece of correspondence in his life, not even from the library. So, to say he had been surprised to find someone writing a letter to him was an understatement.

Uncle Vernon had been of the same opinion, dismissing it as some mistake as he snatched the barely opened envelope from his nephew. Only, it wasn't, since it had been clearly addressed to Mr. H Potter, Smallest Bedroom, 4, Privet Drive. That specifically meant Harry.

To Harry's surprise, Uncle Vernon had then recognised the sender and driven both Harry and Dudley out of the kitchen. Aunt Petunia had looked scared, as if being haunted by some ghost she had left buried in the past, while Uncle Vernon had been mad about the fact that someone was apparently spying on the Dursley household. What had followed next was utter madness.

More and more letters arrived for Harry every day. Uncle Vernon boarded up the mail slot, and they still arrived. He closed up the windows and filled the door cracks. But the letters arrived all the same.

When the letters came down the chimney and blew out the electric fireplace, Uncle Vernon had snapped and forced them all on a wild road trip. They drove around for over two days, trying to escape the mysterious party that seemed hellbent on contacting Harry. But the letters had still followed, so they ended up in the middle of nowhere, at Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea.

At least that was what the last letter had been addressed to, when it was personally delivered last night by the largest person Harry had ever met, Hagrid. He had explained all about magic and his parents and had given Harry a birthday cake; the first birthday cake that he could remember having.

In the morning they had gone to Diagon Alley, to shop for all the weird stuff that was on his school supply list. And it had been truly magical. The Alley was a wondrous place, and Harry wished he had another set of eyes to have experienced everything fully. The trip had been the most fun he had had, in like, forever.

Thanks to his parents, Harry now had a small fortune in Gringotts, the wizarding bank. He was actually thankful that Hagrid had been there with him on the trip, or he would have ended up buying expensive and possibly useless stuff with all the money he now had. He remembered the solid gold cauldron and winced. That would have been really embarrassing for him, turning up to class with a gold cauldron while everyone else used pewter.

He still wished that he could have bought the book on curses and counter-curses, but Hagrid had stopped him, saying he was too inexperienced with magic to try any of it. Plus, he learned that he couldn't actually do any magic outside of his school till he was older. So, it wouldn't be of any help against Dudley.

The thoughts of his new wand took him back to the conversation he had had with Ollivander. The old man had made Harry uneasy, and not just by his general behaviour. He had told Harry that his wand—Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven-and-a-half inches, shared a core with the wand of the man who was responsible for his parents' death.