"But what is little Dudders to do?" Petunia Dursley cried. "We simply don't have room. Our child is the most precious thing in the world, and Lily and James just ruined his childhood by getting themselves killed." Petunia stamped her foot on the polished doorstep. "Why does the brat have to live with us? Send her to an orphanage. Do anything you want with her, just get her out of here!"

"I'm afraid that can't be managed," Dumbldore said softly but clearly. Petunia stared at him. Why not? she thought. Make her go somewhere else. Tatiana will never know the difference.

"Why not?" Vernon demanded, unknowingly echoing his wife's thoughts precisely. " I want that thing out of the house. It's upsetting my wife."

"She must stay here," Dumbledore repeated. "You know she is in danger. The wizard who killed her parents meant for Tatiana to die as well."

"But he's dead!" Vernon blustered. "You said so!"

"One of his followers may try to find her. She is only safe with her relatives."

"Fine." Vernon said flatly. "We'll take her. But get out of our house RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

The man gently handed Petunia the girl, then vanished. Petunia stared at the year old baby's chubby little face. She walked heavily through the kitchen door and put the kid on the table. Immediately, Tatiana started to wail. Petunia Dursley sighed.

"It looks like James Potter," she observed with disinterest. "I don't care if it lives here, but it will never be part of the family, you can be sure of that."

Dudley was giving her a beating, for no apparent reason. Tatiana assumed it was his hobby. If so, then her cousin was bored an awful lot of the time. Anyway, today she had beat Dudley on a quiz, so she supposed he had an actual reason for punching her.

Tatiana stumbled as Dudley hit her in the stomach, but today, unlike the rest, she didn't fall. This only angered Dudley more, and he struck at her again. Tatiana doubled over and clutched at her middle. He was trying to hurt her more than usual (the emphasis being trying, as her cousin was so fat that his punches were ungainly and often missed his target. However, that didn't keep his few hits from being painful). Tatiana screamed in hopes that her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Figg, would come out and give her cousin a scolding. She had long given up on Dudley's parents to do anything for her. They turned a blind eye to anything their precious eight year old son did. Dudley swung at her again, and Tatiana jumped backwards, narrowly missing the blow. She glanced wildly from side to side, looking for a place to run. There. Her opening was to the left. If she could just land a punch on her cousin, then she could run for the gate that led out of the backyard. She just had to be quick.

"What's your problem?" she asked Dudley, trying to taunt him as she slowly stepped to the right. Dudley followed her, his steps crushing the grass on the Dursleys' perfectly trimmed lawn. Tatiana took a deep breath and continued. "You haven't hurt me at all to day. Act like a man, you idiot!"

Dudley growled and ran at her. With a speed she hadn't thought she possessed, Tatiana raced to the left and for the gate. She slammed it behind her and leaned, panting, against it. Dudley pounded on the other side of the fence, but the gate held. She had won. Of course, there would be consequences, but for the first time in her life, Tatiana had won.

"Look at her clothes!"

"I know. She has no sense of style."

"It's not her fault, her aunt makes her wear her cousin's clothes!"

"Shut up, Maisy, we all know you're her only friend."

"And you know her cousin's a bully. Why do you even talk to her?"

The whispers followed Tatiana like a cloud as she walked to class every day. She sighed as she heard Maisy defend her yet again. She had told Maisy over and over that she needn't bother, because the other girls would hate her anyway. Tatiana had become an expert in blocking those girls out. She had built a wall around her emotions and hadn't ever shown that she could be hurt by anything. She was steel.

Maisy didn't know about the wall, though. That was Tatiana's deepest secret. If anyone found out what made her tick, well Tatiana didn't know what would happen, but she was sure it would be awful.

"Give it!"

"No, you porky bully, it's mine!" Tatiana had been reading a comic book lent from Maisy. It wasn't actually hers, but it didn't matter. She had been reading the book on the way home from summer school and hadn't noticed Dudley until he had sneaked up (surprisingly quietly for his size) and grabbed for the book.

"I'm telling Mummy you said that!"

Tatiana laughed and grabbed the book back. "That's not very brave, you know, running to Mummy every time you get an insult."

"I'm not a coward!" Dudley snatched the copy of SuperAdventures and ran down the sidewalk laughing. Tatiana chased after him, fuming with righteous anger. She owned nothing, and the one thing that was sort of hers from her only friend was not going to get stolen! Tatiana rolled up the sleeves of her ugly navy blue sweatshirt as she ran. It was a hand- me - down from Dudley like all her clothes were, so it had been about five sizes too big when she got it, at age eight. It fit now, but it was also three years old. Grr … she hated everything about her cousin. Everything!

Tatiana flew across the sidewalk, her feet pounding the concrete surface in too big shoes. It was a wonder she hadn't tripped yet. Panting, Tatiana jumped in front of Dudley and yanked the book out of his loosening grip.

He glared at her, his face red from exertion. "You're gonna pay if you don't give me that book right this...erm, NOW!"

Tatiana smiled grimly at his lack of vocabulary. "No, 'Dudders', I won't pay you anything!" Then she punched him in the stomach.

Tatiana lay back on her blanket and stared at the ceiling of her cupboard. She had plastered the underside of the stairs with little stickers, tiny doodles, anything really. None of the Dursleys had said she couldn't. Her 'room' was small, but it was her space, and no one ever bothered to go inside it. Tatiana absentmindedly sang part of a song as she twirled her glasses around. Man, she was bored. What was Dudley doing right now? Probably out terrorizing some poor little kid, she decided. Or doing something with Pierce. Pierce was the sleek villain mastermind to Dudley's thug sidekick attitude. He was always the one who planned everything, from who needed to be tripped or shoved in the lavatory all the way to long, elaborate plans designed to make whole groups of students cower. He was the one who had hacked into the school system and disabled practically everything. (The blame had been laid on… guess who? Tatiana.)

Tatiana sighed and kept fuming. She was no stranger to time outs, having gotten in fights with Dudley ever since they were six, but the Dursleys had never locked her up for two whole days before. Tatiana frowned at herself and tried to push that thought out of her mind. She had decided long ago that being angry at her relatives was a waste of time. They couldn't help being a bunch of gits. Tatiana resumed humming.

"La di da boing boing boing!!" she sang at the top of her lungs. The Dursleys weren't home, so she was free to make as much noise as she wanted. She had just reached the 'bridge' of the song when she heard a sharp crack. Tatiana sat straight up, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. Why was it so dark? The walls seemed like they were closing in on her. Were the Dursleys doing this? Tatiana was sure that the walls weren't really moving, but what was that noise? It sounded like a dull roar that pulsed and turned. Tatiana began to consider the possibility that she was going mad. She shivered and grabbed the door handle. It was locked, as she had expected.

"Open," she whispered. "Come on, door! Open up!" Tatiana felt idiotic talking to a door, but if she was going crazy, what did talking to an inanimate object matter? The walls pulsed, and the darkness grew more absolute. Tatiana pounded on the door desperately.

"Open," she begged. "Please, OPEN." There was a muffled click.

Tatiana drew back, suddenly wary. She tried the doorknob. To her surprise, it opened, and she tumbled out onto the mauve carpet of the Dursley's front hallway. She could see the source of the roaring noise now. The washer was on a particularly noisy spin cycle. Tatiana was relieved that she hadn't imagined the strange sound.

Nearly a whole day had passed before she noticed the man following her. He was a big man, with long matted hair and beard. He had an owl on his shoulder. At first, Tatiana hadn't thought he was following her. She hadn't thought much of anything, really. When she had run away from the Dursleys, she had completely forgotten that she would need food. As a result, Tatiana hadn't eaten since breakfast a day ago, and that had consisted of barely half a bowl of cereal. She had been too hungry to notice anyone around her. But now it was evening, and the girl was trying to think of places to sleep. Last night she had stayed awake and alert, but today, she was just too tired. She sat on a concrete bench and thought. If she could find a subway station, she could sneak in and… no,that wouldn't work. Tatiana's head drooped, and she snapped it back up. She couldn't sleep until she found a safe place. But nowhere was safe for an eleven year old girl.

That was when she saw the man. He was walking toward her. Tatiana sat very still and hoped that he would walk by and not look at her. Unfortunately, he stopped right at her bench.

"Tatiana Potter?" he said. "Dumbledore was wondering why you hadn't gotten your letter, so he sent me to investigate, ya see." His voice was deep and slightly husky. Tatiana felt like she'd heard it before. Who was this guy?

"How the hell do you know my name?!" she shouted. "And who on earth is Dumbledore?" The man straightened up, apparently shocked, and Tatiana realized how tall he actually was. He was gigantic! Nine feet tall or more! Tatiana screamed and shoved him. It was like hitting a rock, but Tatiana ignored the sting in her hands and ran. She was an idiot, a complete imbecile! Don't talk to strangers, her aunt had said, and here Tatiana had just gone and told this man her name! Well, you didn't tell him, she thought to herself. He already knew your name. That thought creeped her out even more. What if he was a stalker who was going to keep following her until she collapsed from exhaustion? For the first time in her life, Tatiana wished she was at the Dursleys.

Tatiana kept running, but the man caught up with her easily. She stopped and stared at him, defiance glimmering in her eyes.

"What do you want with me?" She asked. The man realized she was scared.

"I won't hurt yeh," he said. "Dumbledore told me ta bring you yer letter."

"What letter? Who is Dumbledore?"

"Yer sayin' the Dursleys never told ya?"

"Told me what?"

"You know the Dursleys? Is this all part of their plan to get rid of me or something?"

"Nope."

"Then I'm going to make you tell them what you told me, and I'm not looking at any letter unless they believe you."

The man scratched his beard in thought. He hadn't thought Tatiana liked the Dursleys at all. Why was she relying on them to make her decisions all of a sudden? But he agreed to go with her to tell the Dursleys. After all, Dumbledore had insisted that she read her letter.

Vernon Dursley was on the phone when the doorbell rang. He put down the phone and sighed. He hadn't wanted to try and find the pesky girl, but Petunia wanted him to find her, so he called up some people and put a flyer on the telephone pole down the street. Petunia had a good point to her argument though, he had to admit. If society thought that they had let their niece go missing, that could tarnish their reputation as good citizens permanently. Mr. Dursley opened the door. There was the brat. Immediately, Vernon flew into a rage, roaring at the ungrateful kid about anything he could think of.

Then something moved behind her.

It was a man, a giant really. He was messy and looked like a homeless person. What was he doing with the brat girl? Maybe he was expecting a reward for finding the girl. Vernon was certainly not giving him anything of the sort. Then the man spoke.

"Mr. Dursley," he said. Oh, right, Vernon thought. I must have put my name in the flyer.

"Dumbledore sent me ta see why Tatiana here hasn't got 'er letter yet." This made no sense at all.

"Petunia!" Vernon Dursley yelled. "Do you know this crackpot? He's saying this Dumplebore person is sending letters to the brat!" His wife appeared almost immediately, a look of worry on her plain face.

"It's happening, its happening," she whispered anxiously. "Unless-" She turned to the homeless person. "Who did you say was inquiring?"

"Professor Albus Dumbledore sent me, ma'am."

"No!" she gasped. "Are you telling me that she's one of them?"

Vernon couldn't stand it anymore. "One of what?" he demanded. Petunia turned to face him, obviously distraught.

"You know I told you my sister was a witch?" Vernon nodded. "Well, she married a wizard, and Tatiana's their ma- ma- magical brat baby!" Vernon clenched his fists as he heard the girl's eager voice inquire of the man,

"So it's true? My mum was a witch? And I've got magic too? Is that like superpowers?"

"YOU ARE NOT A WITCH!" Vernon shouted. He moved to stand by his wife. "I WILL NOT ALLOW IT." Shaking a finger at the girl, he continued. "If magic even existed, which is not possible, I would still forbid you from taking any part in it." This last part he had only added in because he wanted to see the girl cry. Unfortunately, she didn't. She just turned back to the strange man.

"I don't know," she said. "That's just what my uncle is like, you know, nasty. Can I at least see that letter?" Vernon made a grab for the letter as soon as it was produced, but the giant held it out of his reach and offered it to the girl. Tatiana read the letter in silence then smiled.

"Thank you, Aunt Petunia," she said sweetly. Vernon was shocked. The brat, using manners? "I'll be going now," Tatiana continued. "I just needed someone to verify that magic is real. Goodbye."

Vernon saw what was coming. "Oh no you don't," he warned. "You're not going anywhere unless I say so."

The giant snorted. "It's Dumbledore's orders. An' his word better than yours, you being just a bunch o' Muggles."

As they left, her uncle roared one more warning. "If you end up dead in an alley, it's not our fault!" Tatiana just smiled.

"I'm sorry I punched you," she said. Then on an afterthought, "What's your name?"

"Hagrid," he replied. "Rubeus Hagrid."