Pesky Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter , and make no money off this fanmade story.
Summary: Just days before his eldest children are suppose to go to Hogwarts, Harry Potter gets the shock of his life when a boy shows up at his doorstep with a note attached to his cloak that reads: Dear Potter, If you're reading this, he's yours. Slash. AU/AR. HPDM,ASPSM.
Please note that my main aim for this fic is to be HPDM (goal!), but inevitably I may dabble into ASPxSM since that pairing intrigues me... Granted, many other pairings of the next generation intrigue me as well so that might not happen. We'll see what you guys think and what will work for the story. Also, while this story is AU/AR, it does go off of both Harry and Draco marrying and having kids. After that though it goes into AU/AR a bit (as all slash tends to do in this fandom). Hope you enjoy!
The Surrogate
By Pandarai Kirsch
Chapter 1: Mornings in Diagon Alley
"Dad! Over here! I want to go to Ollivander's next!"
Harry Potter nearly tripped over his own two feet trying to keep up with his second born, thankful at least that his youngest and eldest were cooperatively following at their own pace behind him despite the fact that they were sick of being dragged this way and that so early in the morning.
"H-Hold on, Al! Not so fast!" Harry called, nearly exasperated with holding all the items his son had just purchased at Flourish & Blott's. At times like these he really wished he'd remembered the spell Hermione used to shrink things. Harry sighed, turning to look behind him. "James! Lily! Stop messing around with those owls and get over here!"
James and Lily Potter abruptly stopped cooing over the birds, snapping up straight as if they'd just been caught sneaking chocolate frogs out of the top cabinet their dad thought they didn't know about, and promptly trotted over.
"Mr. Potter, what a nice surprise! …Ah! And you've brought the young masters and mistress Potters as well, how very nice to see you!" an older gentlemen greeted from behind the counter.
"Oh, Mr. Ollivander, hullo," Harry smiled, nodding. "Yes, we're looking for a wand for Albus. This will be-"
"It's my first year going to Hogwarts!" the boy cried out excitedly, looking around, mouth agape at all the boxes on all the shelves. It was amazing! He'd never seen so many shelves with so many boxes before! "Are there wands in all those boxes?"
"Of course, you idgit. This is a wand shop after all," James said, knocking his brother upside his head.
"Boys," Harry warned.
Mr. Ollivander chuckled at the wonderous look the child had as he moved out of his brother's range of attack and lightly touched the boxes within his reach.
"How do I choose one?" Albus asked, pulling a box out from a shelf.
"Blimey, Al! Don't just go around and mess with things that you haven't been given permission to touch!" James griped at his sibling, shoving his brother away from the displays and putting the box back where it came from. "What are you, two?"
"James, Albus, calm down," Harry warned again, sighing as he looked back at the old man's twinkling eyes. "As you can see, he's very excited about his first year."
"As every young witch and wizard should be, Mr. Potter," the man smiled, watching the eldest Potter child chase the middle son around the front of the store once again. "Well then, why don't we try..." the old man trailed off, picking through the boxes on the shelf closest to him. "Ah, yes. Here we are."
Albus and James paused mid-motion and stared as the man held out a dark, average sized wand. Albus blinked at it before looking to his father for permission and, upon receiving it, gently held it aloft.
"Yes, yes. Now, how does that feel to you?"
Albus shrugged awkwardly, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do to know this was the wand he was meant to have for all eternity.
"Well, give it a swish, boy! Heavens," Mr. Ollivander exasperated, chuckling all the same.
And swish Albus Potter did. The next moment four heads peered from behind the safety of the counter amidst the dust and fallen wand boxes scattered haphazardly about the front of the store. Al gulped, eyes huge as he carefully set the wand down before stepping away carefully.
"Well, you definitely are your father's son, I must say, Young Potter," the old man said, flicking his wrist and setting all the wands back in their rightful place. Harry coughed, turning a slight shade of pink before shooing a snorting James and giggling Lily out of the store as they caught sight of their cousins walking out of one of the junk shops across the way.
"Rose! Hugo! You'll never believe what Al just did-!" James hollered across the street, beckoning their attention. Albus winced in embarrassment as he tuned them out, turning to the storekeep.
"Sir?" Albus questioned Mr. Ollivander's earlier statement.
"Ah, perhaps this one," the man mumbled to himself, glancing between the boy and the box he held in hand before shuffling down the ladder. "No need to look so worried, young Potter. As I mentioned before, your father did the very same thing when he first came in to garner his wand all those years ago."
Albus looked up at his father who merely smiled down at him in reassurance.
"Go on, try that one out, Al."
With a smidge of reluctance on his part, the boy took the wand in hand, a warm feeling overtaking his body. He gasped at the tingle of clarity that passed through him. It felt like a fog was cleared from his mind, or a weight lifted off his shoulders.
"I thought so, yes. That wand there is a 10" oak, and embedded within the core resides a single unicorn hair. A very strong, very pure wand indeed," Mr. Ollivander said in awe, still curiously eyeing the boy and wand simultaneously.
"What do you say, Albus?" Harry nudged his son back to the present.
"Oh- T-thank you, sir," the boy said, eyes sliding back to the wand- his very own wand!- in his hand.
"Not at all my boy, not at all."
"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander, it was nice seeing you again," Harry said, paying for the wand and ushering his son outside. Looking around he caught sight of James sitting at the fountain down the street with Hugo and Rose.
"Why don't you go and show-" Harry began saying before he realized Albus was already halfway down the street, eager to show off his new wand.
"Daddy! Daddy! Today's Prophet is about you!" Lily squealed, running up to him, jumping up and down.
"Whoa, whoa, lily pad, what's got you so worked up?" Harry chuckled at the energetic redhead flying around him, waving the paper about. "Alright, settle down. Remember what your mother and I have told you about the Prophet. You can never... look too... much..." Harry trailed off with a sharp gasp. A stricken look drew over his face as he was finally able to read the headline.
"Daddy? What's it say? Am I mentioned in there? Is it-"
"Lily, go play with your brothers by the fountain. I'll be over in a moment," he said gravely, his tone leaving no room for debate. His daughter nodded once and then pranced over to her siblings.
Harry scrutinized the headline splashed across the front page: THE BOY WHO LIVED ALIVE?
He leveled the moving picture with concern, noting that the articles main subjects were missing from it, and only that of the media in front of a large estate gate which swung open and closed in the rainy murk that this morning had been were present. Green eyes skimmed the article, eyes widening with each word or phrase he glanced upon.
When he finished, Harry dropped his arms to his sides as he stared sightlessly ahead of him, repeating the lines he'd read over and over in his head once again.
This morning, before dawn...
An attack...
Pureblood family...
Mother was killed...
The target seems to be the only child and heir, an eleven year old boy, of...
No body, of either the child or his father, has been found or recovered...
And all he could utter was the name of the family that was torn asunder earlier that morning for "no reason that the Ministry could discern as of yet".
"The Malfoys…"
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