Prologue

A/N: Is it really necessary to do a disclaimer? Whatever. I don't own anything, so don't sue me.

It was just another ordinary night for the ordinary folks of Number Four, Privet Drive. The festivities for the night of Halloween had tapered off. But the swish of a cloak, followed by the sudden power outage in the street lamps, marked a rather unusual visit from an unusual man. If it hadn't been for extenuating circumstances, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore wouldn't have come near the place.

But, alas, he knew of no others that could take care of the child. Trisha Evans, the boy's only other aunt, was gone, Remus Lupin couldn't take the child in because of Ministry restrictions, and Sirius Black was arrested not even an hour prior and was now in Azkaban. He knew there were others that would be more than willing to take the boy in, who would find it an honor to raise the savior of the wizarding world, but he didn't want to put those wizards in danger from Voldemort's followers, who would certainly want to take revenge on young Harry Potter.

He smiled and shook his head slightly when he saw the tabby sitting on a nearby wall. "Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."

His smile grew and his eyes twinkled as he watched the cat leap off the wall and seamlessly transform into a rather severe looking woman in one fluid motion. Watching an animagus transform was truly a sight to behold. It never really got old for a man like Dumbledore, who'd seen it countless times in several different individuals. But that wasn't why he was on Privet Drive late on Halloween night, well technically early morning on November the first.

"Hello Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall said, "There are several...rumors floating around. Some of them are utterly ridiculous, but they all share certain things in common. Is it true that You-know-who is...?"

"Dead? I'm afraid so." Dumbledore said.

McGonagall's right hand jumped to her mouth, her expression one of horror. "And what about..." she couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

Dumbledore lowered his head. "Their son lives. Hagrid's supposed to be bringing him."

"You-you're not thinking of leaving him here are you? These people are the worst sort of muggles! I saw that child of theirs, kicking his mother and screaming for sweets! Harry Potter come live here!" McGonagall yelled.

"It's the best place for him." Dumbledore said firmly.

The two were interrupted by a loud growling sound that seemed to come from the sky. If the muggles from around the area of Little Whinging had looked to the sky at two in the morning on November first, 1981, they would have seen a motorcycle fall from the sky. The motorcycle was quite large, but the man sitting on top of it was truly something out of a fairy tail. He had hands as large as trash lids, and when he got off the motorcycle and stood at his full height, he towered over both the other wizards.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, Professor McGonagall. I 'ave little 'Arry 'ere wi' me. Little tyke fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol." said the man, bringing out a bundle wrapped in cloth from under his jacket.

"Thank you, Hagrid. Now-" Dumbledore started to say, but the sound of flapping wings caused him to look towards the sky. He turned towards the sound, which was coming from the east, and saw a type of bird he never thought he'd see again in this area.

A ural owl.

These birds were native to certain parts of Asia. Trisha Evans had gotten one because she had gone to magical Japan for summer vacation right before her fifth year. Her own bird, a snowy owl, had been killed a month prior.

The bird flew towards Dumbledore and the man extended his arm to allow it to land. The bird held out its leg, and Dumbledore untied the string wrapped around it.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

I am sorry for not writing sooner, but rather unique circumstances prevented me from writing, which would take too long to write out on paper. I now live in a place called Resembool. It's located in magical Germany, with rather complex magical spells around it so that it remains undetected by unsavory folk. These spells basically act as a dimension divider, hiding the country Amestris(where Resembool is located) within Germany. The people who invented them are geniuses(or whatever the plural form of 'genius' is.) I've attached instructions that explain in detail how to get to Amestris. It's a fairly complex process, but I'm sure you'll do fine.

One last thing. I have changed my last name to Elric. During my travels, I discovered that Lily and I have different fathers. Her father died before I was born, so my mother remarried a man named Michael Elric. For some reason, though, she never told us, and let us keep the surname of Evans.

Hope you're doing well, Professor!

Signed, Trisha Elric, formerly Evans.

P.S. I've married a man called Van Hohenheim. He said that you know about his special circumstance involving a certain artifact. I have a child named Edward, who was born on the thirty first of July,1980.

Dumbledore smiled. "It seems that we won't have to leave young Harry here after all." He said, handing the letter to Professor McGonagall.

McGonagall took the letter and read it. She smiled slightly, "So it seems we're going to Germany then."

"So it seems." Dumbledore said.

"Wha' d'ya mean Germany? Why would we go there?" Hagrid asked.

"Trisha Elric, formerly Evans lives there." Dumbledore said.

Hagrid smiled. "I though' I knew tha' owl. How're we going to get there?"

Dumbledore pointed his wand at the motorbike, and the bike shrunk, so it was small enough to pocket. He pointed his wand at the baby, and muttered a spell that would make him unaffected by apparating, a spell that only worked on small children.

"Grab my arm, Hagrid." Dumbledore said.

Hagrid pocketed the sized-down motor bike and did as Dumbledore requested. With a loud crack, the three wizards were gone.


Trisha Elric was wide awake. And so was Edward. Which is the reason Trisha was awake.

Taking care of a baby was no small task.

Hohenheim was also awake, studying something or other. Trisha didn't really have much interest in his 'Alchemy'. It came as a great shock when she heard someone knock on the door. It was four in the morning for crying out loud! Who would be up at this ungodly hour?

So she came down the stairs carefully, Ed in tow, and answered the door. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw who was standing on the other side. She'd sent the owl at about ten o'clock. She hadn't been expecting a personal visit so soon!

"Hello, Professors." Trisha said, smiling warmly.

"Good morning, Miss. Elric." Dumbledore said politely.

"What brings you to my house this early?" Trisha asked.

Dumbledore sighed, "Lily and James were killed last night by Voldemort. We've come to ask if you'd be willing to raise their son."

Trisha gasped. "L-Lily and J-Jams are d-d-d...?" she sobbed, unable to finish her sentence.

McGonagall came forward and put her arm around Trisha's shoulders in a comforting gesture. It took Trisha about ten minutes to stop crying. When she finally stopped, she looked up and made eye contact with Dumbledore.

"I would love to raise their son. What is his name?" Trish asked.

"Harry Potter, and he happens to have the exact same birthday as your own son." Dumbledore said.

"Who would've guessed?" Trisha said hollowly, "I wonder what happened to the letter I sent Lily...?"

Hagrid took Harry from under his jacket and gave him to Trisha, who gently set Ed down on a nearby table and took Harry carefully. When Trisha looked at the child, tears sprang to her eyes again.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Professor Dumbledore. How can I ever thank you?" she said.

"It's what Lily would have wanted. There is no need to do anything in return, I just ask that you try your best to make Harry happy."

"Don't worry. I will make sure all of my children are raised properly, and that includes Harry."

Dumbledore smiled. "Well, we've imposed on you long enough. I have a school to run, after all. Take care, Miss. Eva-Elric."

"You haven't seen Van yet! Hogwarts doesn't start its day for several hours, right? Honey, we have visitors!" Trisha yelled the last part down the stairs.

"Coming!"

A bearded man with long blond hair walked up the stairs. "Who would be visiting...Dumbledore? It's been a while! How's everything been?"

Dumbledore shook his head and explained what had happened. Hohenheim dropped his head. "They were good people," he said.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes they were."

"Would you like to stay for breakfast?" Hohenheim asked.

"If I didn't have a school that needed to be run, we would've loved too. But alas, we've already been away for too long." Dumbledore said.

Hohenheim nodded, "That's understandable. Take care, then."
So the three wizards left, leaving Harry Potter to be raised by one of the closest people to Lily. Little did they know that the little boy would face challenges much harder and trials far more painful than if he had been left at the Dursleys.

But he wouldn't have had friends or family close to him. At least this way, he'd have precious people to help him through it all.

A/N: What do you think? Good? Bad? I feel like it's a pretty big improvement over the intro to The Weight of Their Sins. Please review! Also, this will likely be the shortest chapter. The others will be at least 3 times this size.