Chapter 1: The Boy Who Thinks Scientifically

Our story starts when Petunia receives baby Harry and the letter of his circumstances on her doorstep one fine morning.

It is not until the evening that she has the chance to tell Vernon of the letter and a substantial amount of the truth of Lily's magical status, her Hogwarts education, and life in the wizarding world that she had previously glossed over to him in conversation about her. Although quite a revelation, he saw no part of it as Petunia's doing nor fault, so no part of his opinion about her was changed. After those necessary reassurances they got onto the critical bit of this situation.

"The adoption papers, may I see them…?" he asked.

Petunia swallowed nervously, "there are none," she admitted.

"Well then we can't register Harry for school or the doctor's because we won't be considered his legal guardians," he said.

"I told you. My sister and her wizarding folk are different. They belong to a different set of systems I think, and don't have muggle equivalents of their paperwork - even though they should."

"Very silly," agreed Vernon, "I can have a talk with my lawyer friend if you want. I'd say it's something I heard on the news, was confused about and wanted to set the line straight just for the record. See what they think. They might know something more about these things that we don't…"

"Very wise, please do that…" Petunia was meek because she was still in shock due to the circumstances. If it had been any other day she would have already chattered with gossip after the closure of a heavy conversation.

"I talked with Bernard today," said Vernon at the coffee table after dinner a week and a few days later.

"What did he say?" asked Petunia, pursing her lips as she sipped her tea.

"That we definitely need adoption papers in order to formally adopt him. If we have evidence of relation such as Lily and your birth certificate to prove your parents are the same, a DNA test to show you are a match for his aunt, or anything else that helps build the case, we may be considered higher preference for adoption if there is ever any conflict over who gets to adopt him. Bernard then warned me about custody conflicts with the paternal side of his family. Say his grandmother or grandfather from his father's side wishes to adopt him. He says this is often the case in many custody conflicts, particularly if not much is known about the other side of the family because when tragic events happen, sometimes all families trust with their progeny is themselves and relatives from his paternal side wanting to exercise their claim over him are our biggest concern if we want to adopt," Vernon finished, sipping his tea after the long speech.

"I don't know anything about James' parents. Lily and I...didn't really talk after we drifted apart...I know they don't have records though. They are...witch and wizard..." said Petunia, settling down her cup solemnly.

"I didn't think so. I told Bernard we weren't sure about the records from Harry's paternal side. That they were - circus folk - the term we agreed to call them to non-magical people," said Vernon, "and Bernard said it would be difficult because isolated communities have their own legal system and legal records more often than not. He says often in these situations it's rarely ever the first time people from two different communities came in contact with each other and reached a situation that potentially needed legal resolution. There will have been instances in the past, and legally agreed upon ways of handling the interaction between the two systems. We just don't know about them. He says for situations like these it's recommended we talk to an expert that knows how the two legal systems and formal records interact with each other to reach an agreement, in order to understand what our options are for adoption."

Vernon took a break to sip some more tea. After he was finished he continued, "He also said that we could provide evidence of our relation to Lily and a DNA test to have higher preference for adoption if there is no challenge from his paternal side. And that the more evidence there is, the more likely we are still to be given preference is there is ever any challenge over his custody for the entire time he is under our roof. It is very important for if I'm to do the proper job of adopting Harry under our roof I wish to wrap things up legally as best as possible."

"I agree. Best to wrap things up as well as possible from our end," said Petunia.

"Do you want to adopt?" asked Vernon, "I mean. Tough situation. Looks like they guilt-tripped us and all pressure points towards us adopting. Family is important, our own. I will not stand my wife being unhappy, including a forced adoption of a relative's child she doesn't have good relations with. If you don't make the decision I will seek other legal ways to ensure we do not adopt and change our lifestyle just because of a...freak accident with a relative you don't have good relations with. What do you make of Dumbledore's explanation that he needs to stay with you due to the blood protection of his mother upon death?"

"I don't know," said Petunia, "if I were younger I would've just scoffed and said it was all nonsense. But as it is, I've heard enough gossip from friends about families who've struggled with personal illness and needed an extra kidney, lung, liver, or other organs like that. The first call is always family because they have the most genetic similarities that do play a role which we can't see with the ***** eye, to decrease changes of rejection or complication. If I were younger I would've just scoffed and said it was nonsense but...as unfavourable as it is, I do believe there is a...magical equivalent."

After taking a brief pause she said, "There you go. That's my final answer. As...unfortunate as this situation is I am past believing there is no truth to this sort of thing."

"Well it's a reasonable course of action to take in any family-linked situation," said Vernon, "I just treat it like a health situation, but the magical kind. So you're happy with adopting?"

"Yes. I mean, I've always known if Lily needed a kidney I'd donate one for her...I would you know. And she would me. I guess it's not much different. Even if it's...something I don't understand..." she said, "I'll learn to live with the situation and Harry..."

"I respect that," said Vernon, "I'll call up a lawyer, a proper one not just a friend, to sort out the birth certificates and any other form of evidence. Shall I book the DNA test so that by the time we have reached the front of the waiting list it is around the same time as when all the other documents would go through..."

"### Yes," said Petunia, and that settled it.

"### He's a cute one. Testing for relation to yourself?" Dr Leroy Loughty smiled at Petunia in the consultation room. He had been going over the results of the test and how to read them to the couple.

"Yes," Petunia said a little stiffly.

"Difficult situation? We usually get them here at our relation testing clinic," he said sympathetically.

"You've done a great job," put in Vernon earnestly.

"It's my sister's. We were close when we were younger but she ran of with circus folk in our teenage years...fell in love with the ringleader I suppose. They died in their business and now he's mine..." it was such an overwhelming situation it all just came out. Vernon patted her comfortingly on the hand.

"But not the circus exactly? There's only one group that occasionally passes through here and the last time I did a test for them was about a decade ago. They didn't seem like the type to give of that impression to newcomers..." Dr Loughty said. Turned out he was just too knowledgable about circus folk in the local area to truly be fooled.

"No, you're right. Not circus folk exactly, but...strange people," Petunia swallowed nervously, "I'm not sure if you believe me. But they believe in magic and...they have created a whole isolated society and belief system for it...oh..."

"What's your opinion on this Doctor?" asked Vernon, "although we don't adhere to those beliefs we have had to be exposed to those ideas through Petunia's relation to them. Even though it is impolite to reject a belief without entertaining it at all in polite society, we...have to admit we're at a bit of a lose how to even begin entertaining their ideas. I...what is your opinion, as an educated person? It might do us some help to hear it."

Dr Loughty licked his lips and raised his eyebrows, as if he had a lot of knowledge to depart. Then, he began, "I'm certainly not a stranger to the idea of communities to varying levels of isolation having their own society and belief systems. It has been well documented throughout history that there's always been different ideas and worldviews practiced by different groups at any given time, just that most people are more commonly acquainted with the dominant one, or the worldview that the majority of all people currently living practice. But the existence of alternate groups has always been recorded. It is the fact that one worldview is practiced by the majority that causes us to see it as the only worldview of reality. However, the fact that it is dominant does not affect the existence of others. Though there are complexities when they intertwine and interact..."

"Thank you for not believing that I'm making it up," said Petunia. It was one of the reasons she hesitated to mention it to any of the friends in her social circle.

"No, I don't believe you are. And I also don't believe they believe they're making it up either. They probably very strongly have some understanding or experience of something outside of what the dominant worldview knows and genuinely believe it is magic of a sort, and have established a sort of system for it. But of course, magic doesn't exist. If you showed a lightbulb to someone decades before it came out, they might think it's magic. If you showed someone magnets who had never seen them before they may also believe there's magic at play. Magic is simply a word humans use to describe phenomena we do not currently understand. And with good scientific understanding and analysis we can break it into physical steps and simple explanations from our everyday world that don't involve magic at all," he finished.

"Beautifully put. So they are crackpots because they are onto something the rest of humans don't know about but just don't explain nor understand it well. Calling it magic," said Vernon.

"Sadly many people are ignorant to even the most beautiful of all phenomena," said Dr Loughty.

"Is there a way to make money of this magic?" asked Vernon, "say if one of them had a proper discussion with a businessman...used what they know to...generate profit..."

"Whether or not their worldview spreads to the dominant society's worldview or dies with them when the community dies does depend on several factors, one of which is luck. Many times in life all too soon a community dies out without getting to spread their worldview, and then the next one discovers the same phenomenon and one day if by chance there may be some interaction between them. So we can't say for sure when or what the knowledge dispersion between your sister's isolated community and our one happens. But all I can say is that there's no such thing as magic, everything can be explained by the physical laws of this universe, and it is only a matter of time to unravel it and stop using the word 'magic' as a blanket statement over what is really going on underneath," he finished.

"So we're just sitting ducks," said Vernon, "expected to live with it until if or when their community could bridge with ours. But we largely can't change our position in this."

"I suppose no," said Dr Loughty.

"Thank you though, you've been immensely helpful. Have you a special interest in studying these type of phenomenons? Your explanations have been breathtaking," said Petunia. He was really, one of the only people who had given them a palatable answer from their perspective.

"No. I'm just a very strict adherent of the laws and logic of science and I apply my methods of analysis to most things that tickle my mind. I'm glad my musings have offered some peace to you, and if you're would feel it's helpful, I'm happy to be contacted about anything more to do with this all throughout his upbringing if there's something you wanted questions about. I want to help my clients as much as possible..."

"Thank you, that would be in order," said Vernon.

"Looks like we have made a new family friend," remarked Petunia optimistically once they had left the clinic.

My name is Harry Potter. My parents died in a car crash when I was one so I was sent to live with my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and my cousin Dudley for as long as I could remember. The circumstances of my parents death isn't discussed much because of the distress it causes to my family. I have mostly lived a happy life though the Dursleys didn't ask for this position and would have clearly preferred their family life with just Dudley, but the one thing that strikes me as significant is Dr Leroy Loughty, who has been a family friend of ours for as long as I could remember, and later - a good friend to me.

It started when I liked talking to him when he came over. Witty, enigmatic, with a lot to say, he was what Aunt Petunia would describe as being unexpectedly good with children and after some time they thought we clicked well that they said yes when Dr Loughty made the jovial suggestion that I accompany him to his work at his lab one day for fun.

I went there every so often when he was running some small errands and didn't mind humouring a young child at the same time. It was there that I was acquainted with science, broken down simply so I could understand, and I loved it. It is so satisfying when things make sense because you could understand how they worked.

"What happens if people make a new discovery?" I asked him one day nearing my 11th birthday when I had been a bit older.

"They write papers," said Dr Loughty, "of experiments to do to confirm their theory. If other scientists can do the same experiment again around the world and get the same results then it's proven true, so that theory becomes more supported. There can always be evidence against it, but some theories build up so much support we basically consider them to be facts. Which are then used around the world for all sorts of different purposes and industries. That's how new scientific knowledge is found."

"Do people have to use them?" I asked.

"No, sometimes it's just there to be recorded. Waiting to be used," he said, "but what's more significant is adding to the collective human knowledge, with sound scientific theories of naturally occurring phenomena we otherwise didn't understand just branded as magic at the time. It's the thinking and analysing to deduce how it all works that's most important. Never let yourself be held back if you are to go into a science field when you're older," he said, "it is a beautiful train of thought."

I was eleven when I got my Hogwarts letter. "It's that same rubbish from that crackpot community," said Uncle Vernon.

"I'll call up the post office and see if they have a record of that letter in their storage before it was sent," I said, "it may not have come through the postal system even though it ended up in our mailbox." Talking about things calmly and rationally always seemed to calm my aunt and uncle down.

"Good. I want to see what they say. I bet not," said Uncle Vernon. Since he was calm he did not take the letter away from me and it seemed I would be allowed to keep it due to my excellent handling of the situation.

I called the post office. "Hello, Little Whingeings Post Office Speaking, how may I help you?" A young sounding male operator said over the phone.

"Hello, Harry Potter from number 4 Privet Drive speaking. I was wondering if you had a record of a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry recorded anywhere before it was sent this morning," I said.

"Hold on one moment..." A few shufflings later the voice said, "We do keep a small summary of each item that our mailman has delivered. There was a water bill, electricity bill, a subscription to the magazine..."

At the end of the list, there was no record of such a letter.

"Would that be all Mr Potter?" said the voice, "it is possible for people other than the mailman to put post in other people's mailboxes. We aren't responsible for it though we can recommend some mailbox security products to buy if that's within your interests..."

"No thank you sir, good day sir," I said, before hanging up with a click of satisfaction.

"Well, what did they say m'boy?" grunted Uncle Vernon as he ate some more baked beans at the breakfast table.

"That there was no record of such a letter at the post office this morning," I said, "someone else must've put it in the mailbox. Or it came by other means to the mailbox."

Uncle Vernon roared with laughter, "strange community," he said.

"Things haven't really improved...I'm not that surprised," said Petunia.

I smiled and ate my breakfast as fast as possible before escaping to my room to read it. Because I had not made such a fuss out of the letter being magic, which may have triggered Uncle Vernon's (somewhat understandable) outburst as the topic of magic without any real explanation was not welcome in this household, and I had attempted to approach the situation as rationally as possible which kept both individuals calm and not threatening to take the letter away from me, I got to read it.

I read it in the privacy of my own room in the cupboard under the stairs and dropped the letter with a faint open-mouthed 'wow' afterwards. I was a wizard with magical powers I didn't know about until now, signed up for a school to harness them since birth, that I had just received the entrance letter and list of items to purchase for today. I was going there next year to learn how to develop said powers of magic, and all that came after.

I felt...amazed but also like there was no such thing as magic afterall. It is simply naturally occurring phenomena people do not currently understand, that a community of people have labelled 'magic' and they may have invented some education systems to harness it. But the reality behind it was not any fictional substance called 'magic', but real-world scientific meanings and analysis' no one from that community had ever thought through before and recorded to add to the world's scientific knowledge.

My name is Harry Potter, and I might be the first person to approach this community with a rational perspective and prove through experiments and papers, that there was no such thing as magic, and everything could be explained by physical laws of the universe as we knew it, and settle this for once and for all.

I told my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon of this over lunch on this Saturday.

"Dr Loughty taught you well, those were his views," remarked Uncle Vernon.

"Those are sensible views all sensible people hold and he just happens to be one of them," I said.

"Your mother received one of those letters too," said Aunt Petunia. It was usually not a discussed topic but Dr Loughty's help and views surrounding it had made some things easier to discuss. I suppose Aunt Petunia felt game to talk about things a little today in this conversation. "And of to Hogwarts she went too. I suppose the wizarding world hasn't changed much since then. But it was due to the ... car crash of your parents, that you had to live here with us. We received another letter from the headmaster of the school, Professor Dumbledore, of the circumstances and how we were to care for you. There were no adoption papers so Vernon had to go through the difficulty of talking to a separate lawyer and drafting up the documents in order to do it properly so we would have higher preference over custody of you if there came any custody challenges from your paternal side. Awfully inconvenient people, wizarding folk. And Dr Loughty was the scientist who explained to us the results of a DNA test for the court. We told him a little of the situation then and he had just such a sensible view of it that we decided to keep in touch and exchange well wishes from time to time. Then you clicked so well with him and...it's amazing how things turn out. We could've never predicted..."

"He's a good man," said Uncle Vernon, "without his help we wouldn't have been able to understand some things as...well as we did."

"I've always liked him," I said.

"Can I have an outing with Dr Loughty too?" asked Dudley, who had never expressed any interest in cognitive challenges until now.

"Why yes you can, Dr Loughty ought to be free to humour all kids under this household, one more can't hurt. I shall have a word with him now that you want to..." said Aunt Petunia.

The rest of the lunch passed smoothly. Things often passed down in families so I wasn't surprised that my parents were involved in the community. If anything I was now more driven to get to the bottom of it, because it had been something that affected my side of the family for so long. Both my parents were involved in this community and so were my grandparents from my father's side from what I'd deduced of the situation. I didn't ask any more questions than necessary for I didn't want to trigger any outbursts or emotional moments in either my Aunt nor Uncle as they didn't react to the topic well. But I knew there were more mysteries waiting to be solved just from what I knew of everything now.

I saw Dr Loughty once again in the intermediary between receiving the letter and going to Diagon alley to purchase my materials. I told him of the letter and everything.

"Well that's great," he said, "it's a bit expected because these things do run in families. And I'm sure you'll have a lot of things to take in and analyse into scientific theories if that's what you want to do. Of course, you can just enjoy it..."

"No never," I said, "I will never just dub it magic on top and not understand it. Once my eyes have been opened to the beauty of science I just can't accept it. Though I may work on my theories bit by bit, at what's easier to understand and then keep going..."

"Sounds like a plan. Well, live life the way you want. By the way, I've some news to tell you. I've accepted a post on a decade long expedition to Antarctica over a combined geology and biology project with a formidable team from around the world. It is quite a career move for me, but I will be around no longer and quite uncontactable there. This project was one I hoped for for some time but I thought to let you know so you're not wondering with unanswered questions about my whereabouts. Life, has a way of never going the way you planned, and I'm not sure what my next steps are after this, or where else in the world I would be located. Though I'm open minded to all opportunities and the direction my life may take after. There's many exciting things left for me to explore. But this may be the last time I'm in this part of the world again and also the last time I may see you. I hope it causes no unnecessary distress..."

"None, it's not unusual for scientists to leave as they are stationed where they need be for their jobs. I had no expectation you would stay so there is no disappointment. I can only say thank you for being here for my family for so long and all that you have opened my eyes up to," I reasoned.

Even though he had left I would not forget the lessons he taught me, and that was no excuse to not carry out my original plan of unlocking the scientific explanations behind all the mysteries of this magical community. I will carry on, regardless of this minor inconvenience. I will not be deterred from my original goal.

On an innocuous weekend I was contacted by the staff member that would come to get me for the trip to Diagon Alley.

There was a ring at the doorbell. Aunt Petunia told me to get it from the breakfast table and I opened it to a very tall man with a closed umbrella. Outside it was stormy, unusual for this time of the year but freak storms pass over these suburban areas sometimes. Though his umbrella was closed and he was not wet at all, on the contrary his clothes and bushy beard and hair looked incredibly dry, suggesting he was nowhere close to getting wet on his journey here.

"Hello," he said in a jolly voice, "There was a bit of a storm here but I was still able to fly here nicely. Eleventh birthday, that's a special age hey," he said, winking at me. I instantly liked him. Pleasant, affable jolly guy. Seemed sensible and not full of airs or graces at all. He was a genuine soul.

"Come in. It is still pouring out," said Aunt Petunia, welcoming him into the kitchen table.

"When you say fly, was it on a plane?" Uncle Vernon asked carefully.

"No, there isn't a flight short enough for that," said the man, settling down his umbrella as he accepted a cup of tea from Aunt Petunia at the breakfast table. I didn't notice it until now but there was a white box he had been holding with his other hand which he settled down in front of us.

"Happy birthday Harry," he said, "I made it myself. Not the best cook but figured it was the thought that counted."

I opened up the box to a homemade birthday cake, deliciously baked with the words 'Happy Birthday Harry' written on top in icing that would be delicious to eat.

"Thank you," I said with the biggest smile on my face.

"Anyways, I'm Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of the keys and grounds at Hogwarts. I'm here to take you to Diagon Alley to get your supplies because Hogwarts usually sends a staff member to help muggle-borns. Or those in similar situations. In case the letter didn't make it clear enough to yer Harry, yer a wizard, and you will go to Hogwarts to learn magic."

If there was one thing a sensible person didn't like it was to meet a silly view and still adhere to it for a long time yet. I figured it was better to make things as straightforward as soon as possible, especially as I didn't judge for there to be any emotional outburst or reason why I should hold back on this.

"I'm not magic and neither is anyone else in your community. Magic is simply a word people tack onto naturally occurring phenomena they do not currently understand, and anything that is explained by magic can also be explained by the physical laws of the universe and simple logic if truly thought and analysed out," I stated simply.

"Well of course," said Hagrid, "that's more or less what people think of it. We all know we're a bit special and all, doing these things. No one feels we have figured these things out but we figure em well enough to survive in our community and that's all that matters really. We just call this 'magic' because it's better than saying, we're cursed with something we don't understand and have ter build a school for so we don't make fools of ourselves in this society. Or no school. We all know that deep down, it's the prejudice that makes it difficult to come out with hard rules for it because-"

"I've been taking lessons from Dr Loughty too," Dudley chose this moment to chime in, "and I know logically it's all due to economics. People in that community would not logically want people outside of it to profit economically from the naturally occurring phenomena only they currently practice regularly. Because a lot of things in society could be explained through simple economics. I know how sensible things work too-"

"Yes well, if ter prejudice was only about the rich not wanting the poor ter benefit. But eh-blimely Harry. Look at the time, we should get going-"

"Yessir!" I said, closing the lid of the box. Dudley looked disappointed. He was also an eleven year old boy who had a sweet tooth and had fond feelings towards birthday cake which he just realised may be dampened if they weren't eating it at breakfast and he was left in suspense over when it was consumed.

"Do let us all have a slice before we leave. Would you like a bit of bacon and eggs Mr Hagrid?" said Aunt Petunia, sensing the way Dudley felt.

"Yes," said Harry, who was so pleased by the fact that he had a birthday cake, he was just happy to have one slice and would've liked a bit of an affair with his family.

"I suppose," said Hagrid, accepting a plate of eggs, bacon and french toast from Aunt Petunia.

"Ow-hard-" Dudley choked on a slice of birthday cake he had thought was tantalising to eat. He lost his balance and fell forward.

"Uh no-" said Hagrid as Dudley came barrelling towards him, trying to juggle the two separate plates of eggs and bacon, and french toast, as well as his umbrella that he had also been holding, at this new projectile.

He tripped, the eggs, bacon and toast went flying in the air. His umbrella flew through the air and a spark zigzagged from the tip to Dudley's rear-end, which then sprouted a pig's tail to Harry's surprised eyes. Hagrid's hands then caught his balance on the table, and the next second it all came crashing down as breakfast items spilled, plates dropped and crashed, and the floor was a mess of items. All of the members sat there in their chairs or on the floor in the case of Dudley and Hagrid, food and broken plates all around them, and the remainder of the small table at which they had a lowkey breakfast at sometimes remained in smithereens all around them.

"Dudley your tail! Look at what happened to you!" screamed Aunt Petunia, pointing at Dudley's tail.

Uncle Vernon saw the change in physical condition Dudley was in and screamed too.

"Sorry. Accidental magic," grunted Hagrid, picking up his umbrella.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon just screamed even louder at that, not liking naturally occurring phenomenons they didn't know about to be described in those words and Harry could practically see the mood of the room rising like mercury in a thermometer before...

"Let's go," he said quickly to Hagrid, leading the newcomer outside, "see you," he said as calmly as he could to his Aunt and Uncle as to not make the situation more hysterical before they left the doors of Privet Drive.

"I shouldn't have said accidental magic..." said Hagrid, as he began leading Harry away to Diagon Alley where their next big adventure lay.

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