Escape

A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fic so please go easy. If you have any suggestions or ideas they are always welcome.

Summary: Harry is sent to live with his relatives who end up abusing him. On a trip to London he meets a snake that tells him about the magical world. The snake decides to stay with him and becomes his Guardian.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Please don't sue. Thank you.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

October 25-31, 1981

Godrics Hollow

Lilly and James Potter were excited that day as they got their three closest friends together to plan a Halloween party for their son. Everyone had tons of ideas for the party decorations and Remus Lupin was having a hard time restraining his friend Sirius Black from making them dangerous. Not that Sirius would ever do anything to harm his godson but he was a very good practical joker. Sirius kept coming up with ideas for the entertainment and Remus had to veto them. Eventually it was decided that they would all have to spend the week planning, unfortunately one of their friends couldn't meet with them at all during the next week. Peter Pettigrew said that he was making his own surprise for Harry and that he wouldn't be available till the party on the 31st. Lilly told him that it was okay as long as he still went to the party. So before everyone left they made plans to meet again the next day.

That week went as expected the four friends met every day to plan some new part of the party. Soon it was the day before the party and everyone was tired so they all went home early. James was finishing the cleaning while Lilly was putting Harry to bed. Their friends had left about an hour ago so they weren't expecting the knock on the door. James went to answer it since Lilly was still upstairs. He was surprised to see Peter standing there but invited him in.

"What's going on Peter? It's kind of late and Lilly is already putting Harry to bed."

"Oh that's ok. I just wanted to bring by my surprise for Harry."

It wasn't until they were inside that he noticed the other person with Peter and then he was hit with the killing curse. He never got to warn his wife that something was wrong so it took her by surprise when Peter and the Dark Lord Voldermort walked into her child's room. She kissed Harry on the head and told him that she loved him and then she turned to face her ex-friend and his master. Lilly was brave in the face of her death. She tried everything she could to save her son but in the end she died anyways.

The Dark Lord laughed at her and then turned to her son, the one who was supposed to defeat him. He cast the killing curse one more time but instead of killing the child it bounced back and struck him. Peter didn't know what was going on so he started to back out of the room. He watched as his lord was destroyed by the reflected curse. As the Dark Lords body disintegrated a black cloud like essence escaped but Peter didn't really pay much attention to it.

Peter watched as a deep green light wound around Harry but couldn't watch for long as he heard someone entering the house. He ran halfway down the stairs and found Sirius standing over James's body. He started down the stairs more slowly this time but stopped again when Sirius looks up. There was disbelief in his eyes as he saw one of his friends in the robes of a Death Eater. Peter ran the rest of the way down the stairs and went out the kitchen door.

Sirius couldn't believe that one of his friends had betrayed them. He went upstairs and found Lilly lying in front of Harry. By then the green glow was gone. Harry is just staring at his mother sadly as if he already knew exactly what had happened. Knowing that he can do nothing for his friends he takes their son and decides to get revenge for them. By the time he gets downstairs again Hagrid is there. When he sees Hagrid he hands him Harry and tells him to wait for Dumbledore. That way he would know for sure that Harry was safe. Sirius gives Hagrid his flying motorcycle and heads off to find Peter.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, over here."

Hagrid calls to Dumbledore a few minutes after Sirius leaves.

"Hagrid what is going on here? Where are James and Lilly?"

"I'm sorry sir, I got here too late. When I got here Sirius was just coming out of the house. He handed me Harry, told me to wait for you and then left. I'm not to sure what happened sir, but it's not good"

Dumbledore enters the house with Remus, who had gone to get him while Sirius went to check on the Potters, and finds the bodies of Lilly and James. When they come out again Remus is too upset to think clearly and after Dumbledore promises to take care of Harry he goes off in search of Sirius.

"Hagrid I want you to wrap Harry up and take him to Hogwarts. When you get there tell Minerva to go to my office, I will need to speak with her."

Professor Dumbledore apparated to the gates of Hogwarts and headed to his office. He needed to tell the Ministry of Magic about what happened at Godrics Hollow that night. No one wanted to hear about the Potter's deaths but they were all relieved when they were told that Harry had survived. Dumbledore told them that it appeared that when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tried to kill Harry and the curse was bounced back towards the caster. He also told them that he would try to find Harry a home with his muggle relatives so that the boy could live in peace. Everyone agreed that would be best for a child and Dumbledore was given permission to use his best judgment.

After Professor Dumbledore was done speaking with the Ministry Minerva arrived at his office door. She was frantic since Hagrid wouldn't really explain anything to her. As soon as the door to the office closed she started bombarding the Headmaster with questions.

"What is going on? Hagrid came to me and told me to see you. When I asked him what was going on he said he didn't have time to explain because he had to get back to the infirmary. He said something horrible happened to the Potters. Are they all right? Is someone hurt?"

It took a few minutes but he managed to calm her down. He made her sit down and drink a cup of tea before he would explain anything. After she drank the tea and inadvertently the calming drought in the tea he told her of Lord Voldermort's attack.

"I am sorry to have to say this but James and Lilly Potter are dead. The Dark Lord killed them a few hours ago. Fortunately their son Harry survived though he was injured. It seems the killing curse was bounced back from Harry and sent towards Voldermort. We aren't sure if the reflected curse killed him or not but it did destroy his body."

Dumbledore took a break to comfort Minerva as she had started to cry. He let her cry for the loss of her old students and tried to explain to her that they all had to be strong now for Harry. He told her of his plans to allow Harry a normal peaceful life without all the attention he would be sure to receive in the wizarding world.

"Minerva I know you are still grieving but I need for you to do something for me. I need someone to watch Harry's relatives and see if they would be a suitable family for him."

Professor McGonagall realized that the poor child would be traumatized at the moment and that it wouldn't get any better with how people were going to be treating him. They would be celebrating the defeat of the Dark Lord when really it was the day his parents died. She agreed to go look in on the relatives while Dumbledore took care of things with everyone else.

Minerva left and the Headmaster thought it would be best if he checked in on Harry. Poppy was tending to the child when Professor Dumbledore showed up.

"Ah, Albus I'm glad to see you. I wanted to go over this with you. It seems that young Harry here has a curse scar right here on his forehead. When Hagrid brought him in it was bleeding pretty badly and when I tried to heal it a scar formed instead. Other then that he seems to be in fine shape."

"Thank you Poppy and you too Hagrid for taking such good care of him. I have already informed the Ministry of the attack and have sent Minerva to watch the child's relatives. We will let Harry get some rest and then take him to his new family."

Poppy nodded while Hagrid beamed at the thanks the Headmaster given them. When he explained about Harry needing rest the medi-witch heartily agreed and shooed the other two out. Hagrid went back to his hut while Dumbledore went to check on the search for Sirius.

When Dumbledore arrived at the Ministry he was met by an auror and told that the criminal had been apprehended. He was surprised that they referred to Sirius as a criminal but went with him anyway. He was led to the Minister of Magic's office and told that everything would be explained. Dumbledore entered the office and was met by the Minister and two aurors.

"Professor Dumbledore, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but it appears that Sirius Black was a Death Eater and that he led his master to the Potter's home. Several aurors managed to catch up to him and a Peter Pettigrew in muggle London. They heard Mr. Pettigrew begging Black to stop what he was doing and think about Harry. It was reported that he said and I quote 'Please Sirius, how could you do that to your best friend. James didn't deserve that and especially not Lilly, poor Lilly.' A curse was cast then which killed Mr. Pettigrew and fifteen muggle bystanders; all that was found of Mr. Pettigrew was a finger. Rest assured we have Black in custody and he is on his way to Azkaban."

Dumbledore hadn't moved throughout the entire story. Even after the Minister was done speaking he just sat there. Eventually he came out of his shocked state and apologized to the Minister.

"I am sorry Minister it's just that I never expected Sirius of all people to be capable of doing something like that. I will speak with Peter's family of course. Thank you for taking the time to tell me personally."

"There is one other thing Professor Dumbledore. When we were apprehending Black someone tried to interfere. His name is Remus Lupin and we had to take him into custody as well. He seems to be in shock for the most part."

Dumbledore nodded and told them that he would take Remus with him back to Hogwarts. The aurors took him to the room were they kept Remus in and then escorted them both to the fire place where they flooed to Hogwarts. When they got there Remus seemed to come out of his shock a little and looked at Dumbledore.

"He didn't do it Albus. He couldn't have."

Professor Dumbledore was saddened to see someone he cared about in so much pain. He sat Remus down in a chair and brought him some tea, with a calming drought in it of course. After Remus finished the tea he seemed to be a bit better. Albus tried to talk with him, to help him come to terms with the fact that Sirius had betrayed them all.

"No Albus I mean he really couldn't have. He was with me when the wards on Godrics Hollow went off. He had stayed the night at my place so we could go to the Halloween party the next day. When the wards went off he told me to go get you and that he would check on Lilly and James."

Albus wasn't sure what to believe. He knew it was possible that Sirius had told the Dark Lord where Lilly and James lived and then met him there later. But he also knew that this was the only thing keeping Remus sane. It was a hard blow for anyone to have three of their closest friends killed because of a betrayal by the fourth. He also knew that Remus didn't have the most stable of minds to begin with. He wasn't sure what would happen to Remus but knew that it would take him time to accept it all.

Remus saw that Dumbledore didn't believe him and that he was only playing along for his sake. He didn't know what to do two of his friends were dead another was being sent to Azkaban while the one responsible for it all had disappeared. He stood up and looked at Dumbledore and decided to find Peter on his own.

"You'll look after Harry won't you? You will make sure that he stays safe right?"

Dumbledore assured Remus that Harry was being taken care of and that he would be safe no matter what. Remus nodded his thanks and said that he had to leave. Dumbledore was alarmed that Remus might try to do something foolish but was reassured when Remus said he just needed to rest. He walked Remus to the fireplace and said his goodbyes with one last promise that he would take care of Harry. Remus was gone and Dumbledore was a bit worn out himself. He decided he needed a rest and then he would tend to Harry.

A few hours later Professor Dumbledore had Hagrid meet him in the infirmary. They checked on Harry and Dumbledore told Hagrid that he was going to speak with Minerva about the muggles and that he should meet them at Number 4 Privit Drive with Harry. Dumbledore apparated to the muggles home and started looking for Minerva. While he was looking a tabby cat walked up and sat in front of him.

"There you are. Hagrid will be meeting us soon but I wanted to know what you thought of them first."

The tabby cat looked up at him and started to grow. Eventually it transformed into Professor McGonagall. She brushed at her clothes trying to get all of the imaginary dirt off before facing the Headmaster.

"I'm not sure about this Albus. They are the worst kind of muggles especially the father. I don't know if he will be all right here."

Albus saw the worry in his friend's eyes but also knew that the Dursley's had a son of their own. Their son was only a year older then Harry and he was sure it would all work out.

"It will be okay Minerva there is nothing to worry about. The Dursley's have a child and will know how to take care of Harry. Now here comes Hagrid with Harry."

Hagrid rode in on Sirius's motorcycle. After he landed and parked the bike he walked over to the two Professors. He gave Harry to Professor McGonagall and watch as she placed Harry in a basket and wrapped him in an extra blanket. Professor Dumbledore put Harry on the doorstep and pined a note to the blanket explaining what had happened. The three stepped away and took one last look at the sleeping baby before departing back to Hogwarts.

To Be Continued…

So what do you think? Please review. The next chapter will have the Dursley's finding Harry. Any suggestions or comments are always welcome.