Case of the Cintimani Stone: A Hammer Mystery

Chapter 4

The next morning the Hammer was up bright and early even though he barely managed to contain himself to fall asleep the night before. He found that Grant had beat him to the punch and seemed to have already been awake for hours and was already halfway through a pot of coffee when he came into the kitchen.

"'Morning Harry."

"'Morning Dad." He went to the fridge and poured himself a glass of juice before sitting down at the table opposite his adoptive father. They stared into their drinks in silence a while before Grant broke the quiet,

"I still don't like this whole situation, but it doesn't look like I'll have much say in the end."

"I know." Harry took a drink of juice.

"I just wanted what was best, and I wanted to be a responsible detective and father to you."

"I know - but this one is mine. She turned into a cat and said it was child's play."

"I know." Grant left it here.

Sometime later, Petunia came downstairs, glowing and perfect as always. The Hammer had to squint and think about what he had heard - whatever his suspicions, those could wait until after he had seen magic for himself as a whole.

The family's morning routine held out, representing a sense of normalcy that the two older Masons wanted to savor while they still had their son with them. The Hammer, in the meanwhile, waited impatiently with a mug of hot chocolate, tapping his foot against the ground barely able to contain his excitement.

There was a boom like the thunder rolling from a nearby lightning strike that came from their front door. Everyone inside froze,

"Oh, I should'n'a done that."

A moment later, a smaller set of knocks came on the door, still shaking it in its mount, but sounding positively dainty in comparison to the earthquake from earlier.

Harry was up in a flash to answer the door. What he saw through the peephole was a large red workman's shirt framed by the edges of a brown coat. Harry swung open the door.

"If it innt Harry! By Merlin, las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," the giant man that had knocked on the door opened with a lot more glee than Harry had been expecting, staring up at a face that had almost successfully hidden itself under a long shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."

Harry just stared. The man was the biggest he had ever seen - the top of his head was somewhere up above the door frame and his width made it seem like it would take effort for him to fit into a regularly sized doorway. The giant broke eye contact with Harry briefly before speaking,

"Ah, where are me manners? I'm Rubeus Hagrid, the one Professor McGonagall told yeh about. Just call me Hagrid, everyone does."

He extended a hand that felt like it was the size of a frying pan to shake Harry's, his own getting lost inside of its firm grip.

"And a pleasure to meet yeh, Mr. Mason. Petunia, wonderful to see you again." Harry realized his parents had walked up behind him.

"Would you like to come in? We've just put a fresh kettle on." Petunia asked him.

"Oh, I would love to, but I'm afraid we're on a bit of a schedule today - after all it's Harry's first time preparing for Hogwarts."

Harry was way ahead of him, "I'll get my hat and coat." He said and dashed away.

"Where are you going to be taking him?" Grant asked.

"Not far t'all," Hagrid leaned in close and began speaking at what passed as quietly for him, "Just popping over to some shops near Charing Cross, wizards and the like only I'm afraid. Though once Harry's a bit older I'm sure yeh might be able to come along as his guests."