"That's better," says Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sags right down to the floor. 

"Do you have anything to cut the cake with?"

"Oh, aye." He has cutlery!

Hooray! She is disproportionately delighted by the cake. It's delicious but perhaps not quite enough to merit her enthusiasm.

He beams. "Anywho, that's—not all there is ter tell. I should get it all out."

"...Okay."

"So after that day, You-Know-Who... disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful—why'd he go?"

"...Maybe my parents did something?"

"Maybe. Who knows? They're gone, an' you ain't. An'...

"Some say You-Know-Who died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.

"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Dorea. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on—I dunno what it was, no one does—but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."

Hagrid looks at her with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes.

She swallows. She straightens.

"I'll do my best to live up to that."

"She's not going," Vernon repeats, having found his courage somewhere in his back pocket again, "and that's final."

"She's gonna do whatever she wants ter do and yeh can't stop her."

He sips from his tea.

"Watch me if I can't. We're gonna lock her up—no meals—only comes out for school—"

He stands up again and points his pink umbrella at Vernon. "Shut. Up. I'll know if yeh do anythin' o' the sort an' I'll make yeh regret it if yeh do."

And he shoots sparkles from his umbrella at the ground directly in front of the Dursleys, causing a small explosion.

Dudley squeals and runs into the room his parents had been using.

They follow, their courage completely gone.

"Thank you," she says, heartfelt.

He smiles. "Yer quite welcome."

"I always thought they just hated me because they resented me for being dumped on them. I never would have guessed--"

"Never? Not even with all the—strange things? Things appearin' where they shouldn', strange happenings around yeh that yeh couldn' quite explain?"

"It's not like I was--making them happen on purpose."

"But yeh musta known yeh were special."

"--Well, yeah. But not in a way the Dursleys would recognize."

He shakes his head. "Yeh'll do jus' fine, jus' yeh wait." Then he yawns hugely. "But we can wait, tomorrow's a big day."

"Oh?"