Chapter I.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Number Four Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey was an exceptionally ordinary, upper middle-class home outside of the Greater London area. Every single home, with their small and neat yards, and general appearance of utter uniformity, looked perfectly respectable. To the man currently walking down the street towards the residence however; he thought the entire neighborhood was more than slightly creepy. How anyone could find this pleasant was beyond him. He hoped the boy he sought had not been tainted by any of the ideology and values that ran rampant in places such as this. He still could hardly believe the reason he himself was on this street in the first place. If someone other than Estelle Beaumont had come to him, and told him he had a living, breathing, and young six year old nephew; he would have thought them insane utterly.
As he approached the residence, he thought back to the shocking discoveries that had been brought to his attention that led up to this point. Estelle had come to him some two months ago, whilst he was visiting Paris. He had procured the services of many witches in his time, and Estelle was one of the few whom he had not only liked, but truly trusted as well. She told him that she had been contacted by a witch on the Other Side; the Original Witch. That had certainly peaked his interest. He could not truly fathom why his long-dead mother would be contacting anyone. Esther Mikaelson had contacted Madame Beaumont to warn her of what the Original Witch called 'the Monstrous Abomination'. This so-called abomination was a small six year old boy by the name of Harry Potter; and he was his nephew.
Elijah Mikaelson had lived on this Earth for over one thousand years; and not once, since their mother had turned his siblings and him, did he ever think there would be more members of his family by blood. It was something that was a simple impossibility. The fact that the boy was somehow the son of his youngest and wildest brother Kol, was even harder for Elijah to comprehend. Elijah was well aware of whom Harry Potter supposedly was; the famous boy saviour of the British Wizarding world. Though he rarely interacted with them, he had several contacts in the closed-off wizarding society. To his knowledge, he was the only Original that had any contact with the wizarding world. They would never have tolerated Niklaus, and would most likely have come together to attempt bring about his ruin if the Hybrid had ever dared attempt to force them into anything. In many ways, wizards were far more powerful than the servants of nature. They may not have been capable of killing an Original, but they certainly could have caused massive amounts of trouble.
It had taken Estelle, along with numerous other witches, a full month of using ancient divining techniques; to discover exactly how his nephew came to be in existence at all. From what they gathered, the former Dark Lord had desired to use vampires as further means to destabilize and take out large amounts of the so called 'light side'. In order to achieve this, he had wanted the aid of an Original vampire as his ultimate weapon. At that time, there were only three members of the Original Family 'awake' as it were. Niklaus would not be of any use, nor would Mikael. The Dark Lord must have surely known that Elijah himself would rather destroy Voldemort and his minions should he even attempt to use him. Apparently knowing some of the history of his family, the Dark Lord concluded that the only Original vampire who may be inclined to help the Dark Lord wreak havoc upon his enemies, would be the youngest Original brother Kol Mikaelson.
Madame Beaumont was unaware of exactly how the Dark Lord may have discovered the location of where Niklaus hid his family's coffins. If this boy was truly his nephew, Elijah felt more hope for the first time in many years that perhaps Niklaus did not send their siblings to the bottom of the sea as he had claimed. He doubted the Dark Lord would have been able to locate them were that truly the case. Maybe their was hope for his brother yet. Regardless of how he came to be in possession of Kol's coffin, the Dark Lord did manage it and brought him to a remote manor in the West Country of England. The timing of the events that happened next could almost be seen as the hand of providence itself. Before Voldemort even had time to remove the dagger that was in Kol's heart, the manor he had been taken to was raided by forces of the light side. Elijah was unsure how she managed it, but somehow Harry's mother Lily Evans removed a still daggered Kol from the house, and brought him to her own home.
It had taken Elijah's investigator a great amount of digging to unearth some clues as to how exactly Lily Evans had managed to conceive the impossible and actually have a child with a vampire in the first place. He discovered that Lily Evans was not a muggleborn witch at all. Her biological parents were a squib by the name of Marius Black, and a pureblood witch named Drusilla Potter. They had had one child that was thought to be a stillborn daughter in 1959. How her parents were told their daughter was born deceased, and then the living child was placed with a completely muggle family, Elijah had been unable to confirm. It was undoubtedly a crime of sinister intent, however it came about. The biological parents of the girl were later killed by the Dark Lord's forces early in the Magical Civil War. They had however discovered the fact that their daughter still lived due to an enchantment on the family tree. They did not know where she was, but they did manage to leave their not inconsiderable estate to her if she was found. It appeared that her fellow classmate James Potter had eventually figured out who she truly was a couple of years before they graduated. Lily's father was the brother of James's mother Dorea Potter nee Black; while Lily's mother Drusilla was the only sister of Charlus Potter, and therefore Lily herself was James's first cousin on both sides of his family. Normally, even if she was a wizarding witch of pure magical ancestry; that would have made no difference in her being capable of conceiving a child with a vampire. What he found however, was that Lily was no mere witch. Many of the old pureblood families had distant ancestors that could be called 'magical creatures'. They had genes and biological traits in their blood that were most often dormant, and showed no signs of any magical species. Occasionally however, these dormant genes would become dominant in extremely rare occurrences.
That was the case with Lily. Drusilla Potter, her biological mother; passed on to her only child the dominant genes of an ancient High Elf. Elijah knew the species had truly existed at one point in time, but had seemingly disappeared some five hundred years prior to his own birth. This was apparently the beginning from which the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell- and later Potter, came in to existence as a magical family before the Roman invasion of the British Isles. His investigators determined after studying and testing the genetic sequences in young Harry's DNA, (that Elijah was still unsure of how exactly they acquired his DNA) that the Peverell, and later the Potter family, had mated repeatedly with High Elves until their disappearance some five hundred years later. The research showed that that one single family, in all the magical world, had produced witches and wizards sporadically that shared the dominant genes of an High Elf.
From what Elijah discovered, High Elves were beings of pure magic made flesh. Their powers, longevity, and connections to the the nature of the Earth, made them into beings that were unmatched in terms of magical perfection. Another facet of the High Elves was the fact that each one had a destined mate. The mate of a High Elf was not always another elf. In many cases, they mated with human beings. It was believed by some, that the High Elves may have simply bred themselves into extinction with the mating between themselves and humans. His nephew's mother was one such example of the ancient Elven blood becoming dominant with her. The witches Elijah employed determined that because of some near impossible twist of fate, his little brother Kol was Lily's mate. The magic of Lily's ancient ancestry was so very powerful to the extent that it somehow allowed for her to produce a child that should have been a complete impossibility.
Elijah could easily see his little brother being completely fascinated with such a woman. It looked like Lily had removed the dagger from Kol's heart as soon as she brought him to the estate of her deceased biological parents. Kol and Lily appeared to have been together for somewhere shortly over a years time. His investigators found that to Elijah's utter amazement, Kol had in fact secretly married Lily. Never, in all of his one thousand years upon this Earth, did he ever think he would see the day that the wildest and most unpredictable of all his siblings would truly commit to anyone. Lily truly must have been a most extraordinary woman. It is unclear of exactly how it came about, but at some point in time, Niklaus must have found Kol and managed to put him back in his box. That act alone, through Elijah in to a torrent of rage. The fact that their baby brother had finally found some one to love, (the thought of that alone still left Elijah utterly amazed) and care about, only for Niklaus to destroy that, was by far one of Niklaus' most atrocious and shameful acts.
When Kol disappeared from Lily, she was left with only a note telling her that Niklaus had taken his brother back, and that if she wished to live she would never try to find him again. Elijah was unaware if she took the threat seriously or not. Regardless, she would have been in virtually no position to hunt Niklaus down as she soon discovered she was with child. It seemed as if her Elven blood was so powerful as to allow her to have a child with her mate regardless of his species. In order to hide the circumstances of her child's birth, James Potter offered to help his cousin Lily, (who had become like a sister to him and a daughter to Charlus and Dorea Potter) by faking a marriage and claiming her child as his own. The fact that the child existed at all was apparently what some of the servants of nature had such a problem with. His nephew was utterly unique in the annals of history. There had never been anyone like him. The circumstances of his birth conspired to bring about a young boy that possessed the full powers of a wizard, as well as an Original Vampire. No vampire had ever before been able to be both magical as well as a vampire. The thought alone was staggering. Kol managed to pass on the blood of the original Immortality spell. Because he was born and not turned, his witches were certain that the boy would continue to grow until reaching adulthood. The witches from the Other Side appeared to now consider his nephew as possibly an even greater threat than Niklaus himself. Some were even more scared due to the fact that the young boy also inherited the same magic as both Kol and their mother had in addition to his wizarding powers. That wasn't all either. They believed that his nephew's blood, if used to sire a vampire who was magical, would keep their powers after transitioning. Elijah could well believe how that might terrify some of the overly self-righteous servants of nature. They also determined that once his nephew's powers were unblocked and his vampiric abilities were brought forward, that the boy would slowly come in to the full powers and strength of an Original vampire. Even at the young age the boy was at present, he would likely have the strength of a vampire at least five or six hundred years old; and he would only grow stronger. Elijah found it immensely intriguing that the witches hypothesized that young Harry would most likely have an immunity to White Oak. His wizarding magic seemed to purify the negative aspects of the spell their mother used to turn them. Elijah had to admit, if only to himself, that having one close relative that Niklaus could in no way threaten or intimidate once he was grown, was more than a little satisfying. Regardless, Elijah would allow no one, be they his dead mother, or their father, or Niklaus, to harm the child in any way.
He had made the decision to collect his nephew from where he was being 'raised' as soon as his investigators brought word to him of the deplorable conditions in which the boy lived. He could hardly contain his anger when he learned that the mortal humans he lived with treated him as a slave and forced him to sleep in a cupboard underneath the staircase. No child deserved that, especially not one of his blood. If he didn't need to keep it quiet from the Wizarding world that he had removed his nephew, he would have ripped the muggles apart piece by piece till there was nothing left but a painfully writhing mass of broken flesh and blood. If that little boy was truly in the state his investigators reported him to be, he would most assuredly be paying them another visit at a later date.
Elijah was brought out of the thoughts that led him to his current location when he knocked on the front door of Number Four.
After several moments, the door was opened to reveal a woman around thirty years of age with blonde hair, with too long of a neck for her body, and horse-like front teeth.
Seeing that the man in front of her was seemingly young and dressed in a tailored Armani suit, the horrendously plain woman gave Elijah what he was sure she thought to be her most charming smile. To him she looked merely constipated.
"Yes, how may I help you?" The woman asked.
"Are you Petunia Dursely nee Evans?" Elijah inquired.
"Yes, yes I am. What can I do for you?" She asked.
"My name is Elijah Mikaelson, and you will invite me in and answer any questions asked truthfully and you will do what I tell you to do," Elijah ordered with relative politeness using compulsion.
"I will answer all questions and do as you say. Would you like to come inside?" Petunia said in a dull monotone as his compulsion took effect.
"Thank You Madame," Elijah said as the Dursley woman made way for him to enter the house.
Once they were seated in the living room, Elijah began the questions he needed answers to the most.
"How long has your nephew Harry Potter lived here with you?" Elijah asked.
Elijah was disturbed to note that even through the power of his compulsion, (which as an Original was far stronger than a normal vampire) she managed to show her distaste at the very mention of her supposed nephew.
"The boy was forced on us almost five years ago after his parents got themselves blown up." Petunia said.
"Have you been receiving any type of support for housing him?" Elijah asked
Very much against her will she was forced to reply.
"We have received two thousand pounds per month as well ten thousand pounds per annum for keeping the Freak," she ground out.
Elijah was getting more and more enraged by the minute. 'How dare this piece of common filth speak that way of any small child; his nephew especially,' he thought. He had already noticed that the house, which was almost obsessively clean, bore absolutely no evidence that another child lived there. There were countless photographs of a severely obese blonde child that heavily resembled a pig in a wig, a larger and even fatter adult male that looked to be the boys' father, and Petunia. However there were no signs of his nephew having ever been in this house.
"Does Harry Potter live here at all?" He asked the muggle.
"Yes," she replied; giving no further comment on exactly where his nephew may be.
"Where is Harry Potter right now?" Elijah asked, getting fed up with the woman's evasiveness even whilst under compulsion.
"He's outside weeding the garden," Petunia said.
"You have a six year old outside in this heat doing the gardening? What other chores do you make your nephew do?" Elijah demanded.
Petunia was silent for a long moment, and Elijah was could tell she was fighting his compulsion strongly.
"The Freak does everything. He cleans the house, cooks all the food, does all the gardening, the dishes, the laundry, and anything else we can find for him to do," she said before firmly keeping her mouth closed. Elijah had no doubt that the cruel woman, no matter how foolish she was, was far from stupid. He knew well that she realized the very dangerous position that she suddenly found herself in.
"I see," he said.
"Tell me Madame. Has anyone ever struck, or harmed Harry Potter in any way whilst under your dubious care?" He compelled; desperately needing to know and at the same time praying the answer would be no.
His prayer was not answered.
"I have occasionally struck the Freak with the frying pan, or whatever else was on hand. Vernon..." she appeared to be fighting the compulsion again, but of course was unsuccessful.
"Vernon whips the Freak when he deserves it with a leather strap. He backhands the Freak sometimes, and has dislocated his shoulder twice and broken his arm once. Vernon is always determined to do the right thing and stamp the unnaturalness out of him. My precious Dudders always makes sure the Freak knows his place too. Him and his friends chase the Freak and they too try to beat the freakishness out of him. It normally has no effect though. The Freak is always doing something else unnatural, and it never stops trying to play evil games on Dinky Duddykins and Vernon. The nasty little Freak is always so arrogant, with his pretty looks, and he always looks at us like were nothing but dirt beneath his feet. Can you imagine? The little beast thinks it's better than us good, normal, and regular human beings. Sometimes I catch the monster looking at us as if he's not quite sure whether he'd like to eat us, or slowly torture us to death! That's nothing compared to when the abomination gets this maniacal look in his eyes, the monster's look just screams of how arrogant the brat is. Can you imagine that? It thinks when I'm not looking I don't see the brat. It looks utterly imperious looking down his nose at his betters. How dare a mere servant act the way that monstrous piece of filth does! It is an abomination!" Petunia finished in a shriek.
By the end of the despicable shrew's rant, Elijah is only barely holding on to his temper. He hadn't felt rage like this in literally centuries. He would like nothing better than to rip this woman and her family to pieces; slowly. Two things however keep him in check. For one, the filth that lived here needed to remain as they are for as long as possible without the foolish British wizards getting involved. He has no desire to deal with them, and would like to not have to explain that his nephew is not, and never has been human too soon. He can only imagine the controversy that will bring. The very distant second thing that somewhat cooled his initial rage was the idiot woman's other descriptions of his nephew. Some of those details of what she said Harry would sometimes look and act like reminded him of his youngest brother to an extreme degree. He could well imagine exactly how a younger Kol would react. He let himself cool down a moment longer before he reached into his briefcase and brought out the paperwork his barristers had arranged. The magical set of papers was even completely legal. After getting the paperwork in order he brought the documents necessary for the woman to sign.
"Now, this is what you are going to do. You are going to sign each place that is marked for you to sign. These are documents that will be transferring custody of your so-called nephew over to my custody. I am his father's brother, and he will be living with me from now on. You are never to have contact with the child again, and you are surrendering all rights over to me. You will never have the chance to harm him ever again. Do you understand me?" Elijah told the muggle in a term that brooked no opposition.
If she had any objections, she did not show them; and this part was even without the compulsion being necessary. It amazed Elijah that the woman asked not the slightest of questions, and only seemed too happy to be rid of what she thought to be her own blood. Elijah noticed that in her haste, the woman did not even truly look at exactly what she was signing. Well, she would certainly receive a surprise when she later realizes she had just signed a confession that acknowledged that everything she had just confessed to him. He caught each word of on the recording device in his pocket, and now there would be prison time for both her husband and her. Well, there would be if he was able to wait long enough for retribution. After another couple of minutes, the odious woman completed signing the necessary documents.
"Now, our business is almost complete. Bring me my nephew," he told her in a tone of finality.
The woman huffed at his apparent rudeness, but nonetheless complied with his demand by walking out to the back garden. Several moments later, she returned with his nephew. Elijah's heart became lodged in his throat when he looked upon the little boy for the first time.
His little nephew had dark, almost black hair that went every which way, and was very reminiscent of Kol's unruly locks. He had a light golden tan and rosy cheeks. The young boy was rather short, and Elijah knew not if it the was a result of malnutrition, (as the boy was clearly underweight) or if he was merely awaiting his first growth spurt. Elijah remembered Kol being rather short when he was small, and then he shot up like a weed. For such a young age, he had remarkably high cheekbones. His dark brows framed rather long dark lashes, and the most unusual emerald green eyes Elijah had ever seen. His eyes however were hidden behind a pair of ridiculously hideous round, black framed, and thick glasses. On the whole, his nephew resembled his father to a great extent. He could well imagine that if the child's lips were to form a smirk, it would likely be eerily similar to Kol's. Elijah was further surprised to note that he could also see a strong resemblance to himself. Give the boy a Saville Row suit, and he could easily pass as Harry's father. That made sense of course, as he and Kol shared more physical similarities than any of his other siblings. In years past, he had often found himself amused that some would refer to his little brother Elijah Jr. in appearance, despite the fact that they were essentially polar opposites in temperament and personality. Young Harry was giving him a curious look. Elijah bent down on one knee and looked into his nephew's emerald green gaze.
"Hello Harry. My name is Elijah Mikaelson, and I am your uncle. Your father was my little brother," he explained.
The boy stared at Elijah with wide wondering eyes. He appeared to be examining every inch of Elijah. When he was finished examining Elijah's face his eyes had widened considerably. It appeared the boy had noted the similarities between the two of them as well.
Suddenly a wide smile bloomed on Harry's face.
"You look like me!" Harry exclaimed.
Elijah gave a light-hearted chuckle at his nephew's obvious excitement.
"Yes, yes we do quite look like one another. You look like your father even more," he told him.
"Did you know my parents?" Harry asked.
"I did not know your mother, but I knew your father rather well. Tell me Harry, do you like living with these...people? Would you like to come and live with me from now on?" Elijah inquired, not that he had any intention of leaving him even if he did like them.
His answer was firm and immediate.
"Yes Sir, I'd love to come live with you. I can't stand it here. I hate them because they are ugly, stupid, and bully's. They can call me the Freak all they want, but they are the real freaks." Harry stated emphatically.
Harry gave his new uncle a somewhat sly look.
"I think they're really part animal. She's part giraffe and half a horse too, Dinky Duddykins looks more like a baby whale or a pig in a wig, and evil uncle looks like a really fat walrus," he whispered conspiratorially.
Elijah's response was just to grin down at his nephew. That was until Petunia responded.
"Why you little Freak! How dare you talk about your betters like..." she was cut off from finishing that sentence as she found herself jerked swiftly off her feet and held by the throat against the wall.
"You stupid human. How dare you insult a member of the Mikaelson family in my presence. Be grateful for the reprieve I've given you and your pathetic family, and know this: after you've been exposed for the monsters you truly are, each of you shall be destroyed utterly. Your life, should my nephew so will, and for your actions against him, is forfeit." Elijah told the shrewish woman who was now shaking in utter terror.
Elijah let go of the human and looked down at his nephew. Harry was giving him a beaming smile.
"Wow!" Harry said in awe.
"Come Harry, let us gather your things together and get you out of here. I've never had a child, so you'll have to forgive me if I get some things wrong; but I promise you that I will always try my best." Elijah told him seriously.
Harry gave him a soft smile.
"Thank you Uncle. I've never had parents either, so I guess we'll both just have to learn together. Thank you taking me away from here. I've never had a home before, or real family either...just, well...Thank you," Harry haltingly managed to say in a quiet voice.
Then he did something that was entirely unexpected by Elijah. Harry darted up to him and quickly wrapped his arms around Elijah in a hug.
Elijah was so shocked that it took him a moment to realized his little nephew was actually hugging him. Once it did register, he quickly reciprocated and wrapped his own arms around the boy. Nobody had hugged him in such a way in so very long he couldn't even remember the last time it had occurred. He felt a warmth filling his chest in that moment that almost took his breath away.
Right then and there, Elijah vowed that he would love this child and do everything in his not inconsiderable power to always ensure he was safe and happy; and most of all that this child knew love.