Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 1 - Hogwarts

 As Al sat eating her bacon that Harry had made for them, she smiled at him and heard the letterbox thud. "You, boy," her Pa said, almost accusingly, "fetch the post."

 "I'll go, you just sat down," Al said, eager to walk past her humungous pile of birthday presents once again. It was the twenty-fifth of June and therefore her birthday. She hurried over to the mat where a few letters were sat carelessly. Flipping through them she picked out three that were addressed to herself - birthday cards most likely - and three for her Pa. She handed them over to him and tore open her own. The first was from her Aunt Marge, with a fifty-pound cheque tucked inside. The second was from her Ma's friend from school - Yvonne - with a twenty-pound note inside.

 The third was in a thick cream envelope and had a wax seal on the reverse; rather fancy for a birthday card. Al snapped the seal, pulling out what she now saw not to be a card, but a letter. She unfolded it and read through:

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 Dursley,
           We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
 Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

In an unfamiliar and slight state of shock, Al quickly regarded the enclosed equipment list: Dragonhide gloves? A Wand? A Cauldron? She was pulled out her trance when her Ma sat down opposite her to eat, asking, "Who are the cards from, sweetums?"

"Oh er- just the usual few," she replied, still going over the letter in her head, "Ma?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Have you ever heard of a place called Hogwarts?" The reaction was - in Al's opinion - unnecessarily extravagant. Her ma dropped her fork so suddenly it crashed into the plate, splitting it. Her Pa turned an awful purple that he usually saved for when Harry had irritated him slightly. She looked over to her cousin, who looked just as confused.

 "Hogwarts?" Harry asked. Al responded with a nod and handed the letter over to him. Before he could read it, however, it was snatched from his grip by her Pa who skimmed through it, shaking his head in what could be either anger or disbelief.

 While he read, Al collected the shattered remains of her Ma's plate, who sat stiff in her chair, pale as a corpse, her hands quaking with what seemed to be fear. "Well, you're not going," her Pa finally concluded, placing the letter down carefully as though it may explode.

"But what is it? You obviously know!" Al responded. Her Ma opened and closed her mouth at a loss for words, looking similar to a goldfish. Her Pa turned that awful purple colour again and repeated his previous statement.

"You're not going."

"Your parents went there," said a quiet voice from Al's Ma's end of the table. Instead of looking at Al, however, she was now addressing Harry.

"Petunia!" Al's Pa roared, disgusted. Harry stared wide-eyed at his Aunt.

"Hogwarts? They went to Hogwarts?" he asked, in the same trance-like state of shock that Al had been in only minutes previously. Her Ma just nodded stiffly, still white as paper.

"I'm not having this!" her Pa shouted, "We swore when we took him in-"

"But Vernon this is Alexandra!" her Ma shouted, exasperated.

"No! I will not have some freak-"

"DON'T CALL HER THAT!" Petunia thundered. There was silence across the household and Al and Harry exchanged a quick glance of shock. "I will give her permission if she wants to go," her Ma sighed, sinking back into her chair, her head supported by her hand. Her Pa spluttered for a few moments, his round eyes staring at her Ma, while Al wondered whether or not she should ask more questions.

"My Parents? My Mum and Dad?" Harry seemed fairly dumbfounded, to say the least. Al's Ma nodded once again.

"Your mother was a witch, your father was a wizard. Hogwarts was where they met," she said slowly, not lifting her face to look at Harry as she spoke.

"Do witches and wizards drive cars?" Harry asked and they all knew why. That was how he'd been told they'd died.

 Petunia looked up into Harry's eyes and nodded gravely, before standing up and announcing she was going to get ready to go to the zoo.