March, 1980
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Illnesses
"Well, Mrs. Potter, everything is going very well. Have you had any odd feelings in your stomach or limbs?" Lily Potter, mother-to-be, shook her head as she watched the medi-witch scan her unborn baby boy for defects and anomalies. "That's good. I think this little boy is going to be….hmmm." Lily looked up in surprise.
"What is it? Is there something wrong with him?" Lily started to panic as thoughts of malformed limbs and missing eyes ran through her head.
"Not at all, Mrs. Potter. Not at all. I can definitely tell you that this boy is going to be a handful. He already has a distinct magical signature. Usually that doesn't show up until about a month after birth. You can relax; your baby is very healthy." Lily sighed in relief as she lay back down on the examining table.
August, 1981
Godric's Hollow, Wales
"Where's Harry? Where's Harry?" James Potter crawled around the back of the desk to see his son sitting on the floor looking the other direction. Lily stood in the doorway watching the game of hide-and-seek with a smile on her face. Suddenly the front door slammed open as Sirius Black ran in screaming at the top of his lungs, "Hey Prongs, you will never guess what happened!!" At that moment, baby Harry wailed in fright at the loud noise and promptly vanished from behind the desk, reappearing almost instantly with a deafening crack in his mother's arms. Total silence descended on the room as everyone stared in shock. A one year old that could apparate? Even accidentally? Wow.
October 31, 1981
Surrey, England
Albus Dumbledore looked at Minerva McGonagall. "I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."
"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "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!"
"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."
"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all 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!"
"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course.
The Next Morning
At promptly 5:30 AM on the dot as always, Petunia Dursley opened the front door to retrieve to milk from the doorstep. She looked down and promptly screamed. "VERNON!! There's a baby on the porch!!" The aforementioned infant, upon hearing the noise, started screaming and then promptly vanished, much to the consternation of Mrs. Dursley, who then had to explain to her now yelling husband why she was screaming about something that wasn't there.
The Same Approximate Time
Godric's Hollow, Wales
Sirius Black was a wreck. Two of his best friends dead. One a murderer and Death Eater. His godson, Harry, taken by that meddling old coot, Dumbledore, to Merlin only knows where. The Ministry wanted to lock him up for it all. He decided to turn himself in, but first, he wanted to find James' and Lily's wands and give them to someone to keep them for Harry. He was poking through the rubble that had been the Potter home when he heard a deafening crack and a baby screaming. "Harry?"
January, 1982
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Headmasters Office
Headmaster Dumbledore was most puzzled. One would even go so far as to say he was flummoxed. Never before had a magical person eluded his efforts to find, let alone three of them. First, baby Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Savior of the Wizarding World, had vanished without a trace from the very doorstep that the headmaster himself had laid him upon. Next, Sirius Black, wanted fugitive, and suspected Death Eater (not that the headmaster believed that for a second) had vanished that same day without a trace. Less than a month later, Sirius Black's best friend (that still lived), Remus Lupin, also vanished without a trace. Nowhere in Wizarding England were the three to be found. Young Harry possessed a magical signature strong enough to be traced, even at his young age. Sirius was the Lord of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, which should have made it at least possible to find him, if not difficult. Remus was a werewolf, which was easily traceable for the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot. Yet the three were nowhere that Dumbledore could trace. Someone knocked at the door to his office. With a weary sigh, he got up to answer it.
February 9, 1982
The Most Secret Isle of Black (nowhere that Dumbledore can trace)
Remus Lupin collapsed on the threadbare mattress in the small shack on the back of the island. This month's transformation had been especially harsh on him, between the grief over the deaths of his two friends, and the betrayal of the other, and now worrying about getting caught by the Ministry or Dumbledore (that meddling old coot) with a fugitive and a missing hero. He stared out the window at the exotic birds as he wondered what they were going to do, where they would go. They couldn't hide here for more than a year or two, as Harry would need somewhere to grow up around people. Remus knew that he would have to take the responsibility for the planning. Sirius was so determined to keep Harry safe that he probably wouldn't have a problem with raising him as a recluse. It would not do for the Savior of the Wizarding World to be raised with no social acumen. The biggest problem would be to find a place where they could not be traced by the Ministry or Dumbledore (the old coot). He hated the fact that any plans made would depend on Sirius for financing, as Remus was pretty much broke. He had been making a meager living as an arithmetic teacher in a muggle finishing school in Glasgow, but he left that behind when he found out that Harry needed him. Ok, he had to admit to himself that he came for Sirius too. It had taken several hours for Sirius to convince him that Lily and James had changed Secret Keepers. Once he was convinced, there was no question about what he would do. Harry came first. He made an oath to James. He intended to keep it.
Elsewhere on the island, Sirius Black, accused murderer of 12 muggles and one wizard, and suspected Death Eater, was doing what had become his most dreaded duty in the last few months. He was changing Harry's nappy. It wasn't the changing that bothered him, or even what Harry filled the nappies with. It was Harry's tendency to levitate the nappies onto Sirius' head for his own amusement.
Once he was done, he took the squirming infant outside and set him in the magical enclosure that he had created so that Harry could play safely. He was glad he had thought to dig through to remains of the Potter house for anything salvageable when Harry had appeared. He had found several books that James had gotten on basic care for magical babies. He had also managed to salvage a few of Harry's toys and one of the family paintings, containing Harry, his parents and grandparents, and Sirius. Remus had painted the picture, and Wormtail (the filthy traitor) had been out of the country that day. It was painted about a week after Harry had been born. Shortly after that, James' and Lily's parents had all been killed in Death Eater attacks. The spells listed in the baby books had been a great help, but nappies still had to be changed by hand. You couldn't use magic near a baby's tender parts, or you could risk causing future problems.
Sirius walked into the cottage and sat at his desk, making sure he could see Harry through the open window. Contrary to what Remus thought, Sirius actually was thinking about the negative impact of raising Harry on an isolated tropical island. He had started doing some research into what parts of the world would be easiest to hide, and would be the best for two bachelors to raise a boy without attracting too much attention.
"Pa-foo." Sirius looked up to see Harry playing with a stuffed grim that looked remarkably like his own animagus form. He smiled briefly at the resilience of the young and went back to his task with determination.