Harry has just received his Hogwarts acceptance letter. Harry's father, Professor Michael Verres-Evans, is arguing with Harry's mother, Petunia Evans-Verres, about the existence of magic. Petunia claims to have witnessed magic conducted by her sister Lily, but Michael is not convinced. Harry goes upstairs to write a response to Hogwarts, arguing about the existence of magic in his head. After completing the letter and realising that he has no owl to send the response, he decides to exit the house and wave the letter in the air, yelling that he is sending a letter to Hogwarts - whereupon his next-door neighbor Mrs. Figg appears and offers to send the letter herself. His experiment successful, Harry can only stand in shock at the utter improbability.
Tropes present in this chapter:
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In this universe, Vernon Dursley never married Petunia, causing him to never merit more than a single mention in the story. Since Vernon and Petunia never married, Dudley Dursley does not exist.
- Flat "What": Harry's reaction to Figg's reveal is simply "what."
- Freudian Trio:
- Posthumous Character: Lily and James Potter are still dead in this universe, but Lily is mentioned several times by Petunia.
- Take That!: When Vernon once told Petunia that he wanted children and would call his son Dudley, her internal reaction was, "what kind of parent names their child Dudley Dursley?"
