It was a dark, foggy night in Surrey; more specifically, Privet Drive. A line of homogeneous houses spread along the street, differing only by number and varying degrees of neatness, as the street light lit the side walk.
The dark night, nearly or just after midnight, was occupied by a single pair of golden eyes of a ginger tabby cat, patrolling the drive, almost...waiting, for lack of a better term, for something.
The quiet night was rudely disturbed by a faint popping sound as an old, wizen, man appeared from the foggy, opposing sidewalk.
The man, whose old and lined face, deep with frown lines, a long grey beard and accompanying hair, small half-moon glasses and deep blue eyes, who was dressed in a strange purple robe walked firmly, with purpose, towards the ledge the ginger tabby cat was laying on.
The tabby cat, upon hearing the distant pop and witnessing the old man appear, jumped down and promptly jumped down and transformed into a stern looking woman, unsurprised at the appearance of the old man.
The man, stopping in the middle of the street, withdrew a silver lighter which immediately began to absorb the light from the street lights, all of which flickered and promptly died, leaving the two strange figures alone and facing in complete darkness.
Unbeknownst to the pair, another pair of hazel eyes was viewing the fore-mentioned events, a small smile flickering on his mouth as he watched the two familiar professors greet one another.
Come on, thought the strange young man, viewing the proceedings with anxiety and impatience, hurry up.
The strange man appeared in his early twenties, as shown by his dark, messy hair and his lack of lines or any noticeable marks on his face. Dressed in dark grey robes over the top of a dark, age-worn suit, the man cast an attractive appearance.
The man, in an attempt to mentally reduce the growing sense of boredom and frustration, inwardly reflected on the efforts required to be here.
4 years, 15 days, 3 hours and 10 minutes...11 minutes. Encompassing: 109 trial runs, dozens of workplaces and all contact with people. Was it worth it? In a word...yes.
He'd been working towards this goal for as long as he remembered, sacrificing any and every dream of his to get to this one moment in time, to change, for better or worse, the future.
Oh, if they could see me now. I've defied everyone; even my family to get here, no-one can stop this from happening.
If I'd have to take a guess, the aurors should be at my humble abode by now, with no idea what they're looking at.
The thought of dozen of aurors and unspeakables examining his workbench for clues on what he'd done was tantamount to trying to swim from the bottom of a stream to the surface with weights attached to their feet...impossible.
Focusing back on the exchange between Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall he was just in time to hear McGonagall verbally object to Dumbledore's plan.
"...can't mean the people who live here?" Cried McGonagall, jumping to her feet as she had lost strength in her legs at the confirmation of the Potters death, "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"
Silently the dark haired watcher agreed with McGonagall's outburst, holding his tongue despite his wish to interject on McGonagall's behalf. But he couldn't. It would prevent his goals from being achieved, so he waited. Mentally tallying the score D 0, M 1.
"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."
D 0, M 2.
"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend – I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as harry potter day in the future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!"
D 0, M 3.
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boys head."
D 1, M 3
"Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"
D 2, M 3. Growing slightly bored here.
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes – yes you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore? She was eyeing his robes suddenly as though he might be hiding Harry underneath it.
"Hagrid's bringing him."
"You think it – wise – to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"
"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.
God this is boring, maybe if I set some Hedges on fire thing will liven up?
The man seriously contemplated arson as an option, regretfully tucking that option away as his sense of duty to the goal outweighed his need for excitement.
Still, would have scared the shit out of old Dumbles.
A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sort of headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed in front of them.
Ah..Sirius's bike. So that's how Harry got here. They never really explained that part to me fully.
"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved, "At last. And where did you get that motorbike?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."
"No problems, were there?"
"No, sir – house was almost destroyed but I got him alright before the muggles started swarmin' around, He fell asleep as we were flying over Bristol."
The man, hidden with a disillusionment charm, observed them huddled together over the baby discussing in low voices what he already knew was going to happen.
Thank you Minerva for your memory of this...makes this almost too easy.
A loud sob was heard from Hagrid and a sharp hissing reprimand from Professor McGonagall.
"Shhh! You'll wake the muggles."
Finally after what seemed an age the three of them walked towards number 4 Privet Drive and deposited Harry upon the doorstep.
The man saw Dumbledore pull out his put-outer and the golf-balls of light returned to the street lights. After this was accomplished, Dumbledore murmured lowly, to low for anyone to hear, but which the man already knew what he said.
"Good Luck Harry."
He proceeded to ring the doorbell of the Dursley's then promptly turned on the spot and apparated away.
The Man however reacted immediately by hiding the baby with a disillusionment charm and a silencing charm.
"Who the ruddy hell.."
Mr Dursley could be heard ranting as he appeared in the hall, his silhouette shown through the glass as he approached the front door.
Opening the front door he stared directly at where Harry was and walked another two steps forward, barely missing Harry as he lay asleep, curled into the warm soft blanket.
Turning and looking both ways to see if anyone was hiding in a hedgerow , the man was, but was still disillusioned so Mr Dursley gave up glaring at the hedges, determined to find a person to blame for his rudely awakened beauty sleep.
Finding no-one, he promptly closed the door, furiously muttering to himself about the disrespect shown to his family at 12:37 at night.
The doorbell, having woken baby Dudley and Mrs. Dursley as well caused the generally irritable family to reach new levels of grouchiness over an apparent prank by the neighbourhood boys.
The man calmly strode over to the baby, proceeding to stare at him for a long while.
Eventually the man picked up the baby gently, holding him tight to his chest afraid to let him go.
Striding back over to his original observation spot, the man pulled out his wand casting a series of complicated charms and runes around him.
As the ground began to glow, the light reached the man's eyes showing them full of warmth and care.
As they started to fade, the man briefly spoke softly to the baby in his arms.
"Don't worry I'll look after you..dad."
With a loud boom, waking the entire district, the two disappeared. Leaving most of the district guessing at what, or who, had caused the incident and where the perpetrators had gone?
The better question they should have asked, although they were not to know was when had they had gone?