It is midnight at Number Four Privet Drive. The streetlamps are vacant of their lights, leaving only the stars to cast a faint glow over the many brick houses and their neat lawns.
Albus Dumbledore walks up the front steps of the Dursley home, dressed in deep purple robes with stars all over them, an envelope in his hand. He rings the doorbell and waits only for two minutes before the door opens, revealing a small girl.
There is no doubt in Dumbledore's mind who this is.
Her resemblance to her paternal grandmother is so striking that it takes Dumbledore aback. Madelyn Rose Potter stands before him in a maroon calico dress, her eyes shining in the darkness like emeralds, her raven hair styled into two tight braids. A few wisps of hair cover the side of her forehead where her scar must be, but there is nothing to conceal the prominent purple bruise on the left side of her face.
But there is also something strange about the way in which Madelyn is staring at Dumbledore. She studies him for several seconds before he begins to speak.
"Hello, Madelyn. I hope that your aunt and uncle have received my message." He offers a kind smile but does not receive one in return. "I am –"
"I've seen you before."
Of all the things Dumbledore has expected to happen, he has never expected this. He keeps his composure and is about to reply when she continues. "I dreamed that you came to give me my Hogwarts letter and tell me I was a witch," she says. "And…" She looks as though there is more that she wishes to say, but she does not dare to speak it aloud.
Dumbledore pauses, his mind working. He then says in as calm a voice as he possibly can, "I must say I am quite surprised, Madelyn. However, why don't we discuss this after I have spoken to your aunt and uncle?"
The look in her eyes is all it takes for him to know that something is wrong. He sees her breathing quicken and can almost hear her heart beating erratically. "They left," Madelyn says, her voice breaking. "They left me." She says this last part so quietly that Dumbledore almost does not hear it.
"They've abandoned you?" he says in order to clarify, clinging to the smallest bit of hope that he has misunderstood.
But she nods. "It's been three days."
Dumbledore knows what he must do now. "Please listen carefully. I will explain everything more fully later, but it is no longer safe for you to stay here. I would like you to pack your things and then we shall leave –"
"Don't worry, sir. I've already packed." Madelyn takes a few steps into the hallway and then emerges back into the doorway rolling a small suitcase. "I knew you were coming and I thought you would want me to leave right away because of the blood wards being down!" A look of excitement suddenly washes over her face. "Are we going to Grimmauld Place? It belongs to me, doesn't it? "
The thought of a Madelyn with no knowledge of the world that she came from had seemed like the most likely possibility to Dumbledore a few moments ago. Even a Madelyn who knew about her own past and the letter clutched in Dumbledore's hand had been a faint possibility. But this?
Dumbledore smiles kindly again, feeling a mixture of sadness and confusion. "I promise that your questions will be answered soon. But come. First, we must make a stop at Hogwarts."
He is about to begin explaining about side-along apparition, but there is no need.
Madelyn steps forward and grasps Dumbledore's arm, her small face looking up at him and waiting, the bruise on her face more noticeable than ever.
"Alright then," says Dumbledore. "Hold on tight. Three…two….one."
They then disappear into the night air without a trace.