A/N: This is a work of my own imagination. While this isn't a direct sequel to my one-shot fanfic, "Revelations and Reflections," it does elaborate quite a bit more on a particular event I only briefly mentioned in that story. I tried to stay true to the events detailed in the books and/or movies, but this particular event is quite vague in its telling, so I decided to tell my own version of what I think happened. James and Lily Potter were murdered on the night of October 31. Hagrid showed up with Harry at number four, Privet Drive on the night of November 1. There are roughly twenty-four hours unaccounted for. One last thing, I wrote the Dumbledore scene(s) with Richard Harris in mind, so imagine it's his Dumbledore character instead of Michael Gambin.

Additionally, I have done some research into the Fidelius Charm and Avada Kedavra, and the more I read, the more contradictory information I find, so I'm done researching. For the sake of this story, I have decided that the Fidelius Charm broke when James and Lily died, which is why Hagrid was able to see and enter the house to get Harry. Also, I have decided that the force of Avada Kedavra when it deflected off Harry, not performing its intended purpose, and rebounded upon Voldemort, merely blew a hole out of the side of the nursery onto the lawn below.

FYI, the last section of chapter six is my shortened version of this scene from chapter one in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. I figured it was pointless to completely include that scene, word-for-word, from the book just for the sake of completing my story. The dialogue, however, is verbatim from the chapter as J.K. Rowling wrote it.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or ideas created by J.K. Rowling. I borrowed them for the entertainment and amusement of my audience.

SUMMARY: On October 31, 1981, James and Lily Potter are murdered in their home. 24 hours later Harry James Potter is left on the doorstep of Vernon and Petunia Dursley. What happened in the 24 hours in between?

GENRE: Drama

RATING: PG

DATE: October 3, 2012

::~1~::

Hagrid stared across the wooden table to the chair where Dumbledore had just been sitting, before he had Apparated away. The sheer weight of what Dumbledore had asked him to do was still sinking into his mind.

"Hagrid, I must ask you to do something for me. Something very important," Dumbledore had softly said across the table. "It is of the utmost secrecy and you must tell no one where you are going and what you are doing."

"I can do it. Whate'er yer need doin', sir, I can do it," he had eagerly answered. In these dark times, he wanted to be of some use against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his minions. He wanted to be of some use to Dumbledore in overthrowing these dark wizards and witches. He would do anything he could.

Dumbledore had smiled weakly at him. "It needs to remain a secret, Hagrid, between you and I." Hagrid nodded furiously. "You must go to Godric's Hollow this very night. There you will find something very precious. You do not need me to tell you what it is, for it will not take you long to find it and you will know it once you see it. You must go with all speed as time is crucial. Once you have acquired your precious cargo, you must go to 4 Privet Drive in Surrey. Arrive there at eleven this night and you will find me awaiting you. I will consider your task complete upon your arrival. Do you understand the importance of this mission?"

Hagrid had been dumbfounded when Dumbledore related the details of the mission. It did indeed sound like one of extreme importance...and Dumbledore was entrusting it to him of all people! "I won' let yer down, Professor Dumbledore, sir," he proudly replied, thumping himself on the chest.

"I know you won't, Hagrid."

Now that he was gone, it suddenly occurred to Hagrid that Dumbledore had appeared very pale and tired. "He's prob'ly jus' busy with Hogwarts stuff and the war. Busy man, tha' Dumbledore is," he muttered into his mug. He had been so intent on listening to Dumbledore's mission for him, that he had barely touched his drink. Recognizing the importance of getting to the Hollow as soon as possible, he drained the mug in one huge swallow. Noticing that Dumbledore had left his wine goblet untouched during their meeting, Hagrid fought a brief internal battle on whether to drink it down or not. "Can't jus' let it go ter waste. It bein' such a nice wine an' all." He picked up the delicate goblet in his massive hand and drained the contents in another solitary swallow. Placing the goblet back on the table, he was pleasantly surprised to see two galleons had appeared from underneath where the goblet had been sitting, more than enough to pay Tom for the drinks and gift him with a hefty tip.

Upon exiting the room, in his haste, he bumped quite hard into a witch passing through the room. Mumbling his apologies, he tried to hurry away so that he could get started on Dumbledore's mission, but that wasn't an easy task for a half-giant like himself. It wasn't until Minerva McGonagall forcefully blocked his passage to the exit and practically shouted his name at him, that he finally tuned back in to his surroundings.

"Sorry, professor. I didn't see yer there."

"I know that," she replied, gazing up at him. "You seem to have a lot on your mind, Hagrid. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, professor. It's somethin' I need to do by meself. I'll be leavin' now." He started to move past her again, before she held up her hand. A disapproving frown had creased her features.

"Hagrid, why don't you tell me what's going on? Wizards and witches have been acting strange all night, and I don't trust what I've been hearing. I'm not about to let you out of here to get into your own mischief, unless you tell me what you're hiding."

Hagrid's shoulders slumped down and he looked almost childlike in appearance as he sought to avoid her searching eyes and pointed questions. "I'm on a special mission for Professor Dumbledore. I can't say any more. He'll be angry wit' me if I do."

McGonagall straightened up and her face softened. She patted Hagrid on the arm and must have decided to drop the subject as her next question was, "Where is Professor Dumbledore now?" Her eyes flew past him to look in the direction he had just come from.

"I don' know, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid replied. "He Apparated out of the room as soon as we was done talkin'. He did leave me an address to meet him at tonight." Hagrid appeared unsure of whether or not to continue.

"Hagrid, you know that Professor Dumbledore trusts me implicitly. You can tell me where he is. Perhaps he can even make sense of all the nonsense going on in our world today." McGonagall seemed on the verge of pleading, but Hagrid luckily saved her from such an embarrassing position by giving her the address, though the internal conflict he battled with was great and McGonagall was almost sorry to have put him in such a position. Convinced that she would be able to figure out the exact address using her own deductive reasoning, she said, "You'd better go now. It would not do to fail in whatever mission Professor Dumbledore set for you. I'll find him and ask my questions of him directly. I'll get to the bottom of it." She patted him on the arm again and stepped aside to let him pass, watching him as he stooped to exit the Leaky Cauldron and disappearing into the late-night London throng.

::~*~::

Hagrid wended his way through the late-night Halloween revelers. It made no difference that it wasn't even Halloween anymore; these Muggles didn't need much excuse to celebrate anything at all. Hagrid had only gone a couple of blocks before he realized that he had no idea where he was going. He was going to Godric's Hollow, he knew that for sure, but he didn't know in which direction it lay. Stopping at a darkened intersection he looked up one street and down another. One way seemed as good as another and he chose one at random and continued walking, pointedly pushing the thought out of his mind that if he had chosen the wrong way, he would be wasting valuable time. He was silently cursing himself for not bringing his umbrella, but Dumbledore's message had been so urgent that Hagrid had left his hut in a hurry. If he had had his umbrella he was quite sure he could have figured out a way to conjure up a map to point him in the correct direction. As it was, he was going to be forced to question a Muggle for the proper direction.

Ahead of him in the darkness, he could make out a figure weaving in and out of the streetlamps, singing an Irish drinking song very loud and terribly off-key. Not quite sure that this person would be able to help him, but seeing no better alternative in the area, Hagrid hastened up the street to catch up with the Muggle.

"Ho, there!" Hagrid hollered, coming to a halt next to the man. "Perhaps you could 'elp me, sir. I'm looking fer Godric's Hollow."

Hagrid watched the eyes of the Muggle grow huge as he took in Hagrid's enormous size. He started to open his mouth in alarm, perhaps to holler out for help himself, but Hagrid backed away hastily, raising his hands to show he was not going to start any trouble.

"Sir, I need ter find Godric's Hollow. Wha' way do I go?" He was fully prepared to take off if things started to turn badly, but he desperately needed directions, so he was willing to try and make this Muggle understand him.

Instead of running away or screaming at the top of his lungs, the man pulled an amber colored bottle from his jacket pocket, squinted at the label under the dim streetlamp and exclaimed, rather loudly, "Oy! I'm neva drinkin' thisssshtuff agin." Hagrid visibly recoiled from the man's slurred speech and whiskey breath. Hagrid himself was known to imbibe on a few occasions, but he never remembered acting or smelling this bad. The man looked up at the half-giant towering over him. "Methinksssss you're a gian' giant." The man was leaning so far back to see Hagrid's face, hidden in shadow as the streetlamp was directly above him, that he was dangerously close to falling flat on his back. Hagrid moved forward, in an attempt to keep the man from falling over, but he moved too much and accidentally sent the man careening to the pavement. He leapt forward and grabbed the man's jacket in one massive hand. He yanked the Muggle to his feet, attempting to stand him up straight, all the while muttering apologies. The Muggle, in his drunken state, refused to stand up straight and swayed back and forth as he looked Hagrid up and down. "Would you likessss drink from me bottle 'ere?" He waved the bottle under Hagrid's nose, having to stand on tiptoes to get his hand that high.

Hagrid, meanwhile, was getting angry. Time was absolutely critical and between the conversation with Professor McGonagall, the wandering aimlessly around the streets of London and now this meaningless conversation with a Muggle drunk, he had already lost two hours from when Dumbledore had left him in the Leaky Cauldron. Already he could sense dawn would be upon him in the next couple of hours. Hagrid positively refused to let Dumbledore down. Turning away, he started to walk away from the drunk, seeking out another Muggle to help him, but the guy stumbled after him, calling out, "Hang on there. Where ya goin'?"

Hagrid ignored him. He kept walking and soon he had left the drunk behind, yelling curses at his "uncalled for rudeness." Hagrid had half a mind to storm back there and teach the drunk a thing or two about rudeness, but he kept firmly to his course. While he didn't have any magic at his disposal, he was of a formidable size and could knock some sense into any Muggle he came across. Fortunately he detested violence and distanced himself from such situations when he could.

After two more encounters with different Muggles, he quickly realized that the only people out and about this early were celebrators from the evening before, none of whom would be sober enough to help him. Slumping down to sit on a street bench, the worrying situation overtook him. Dumbledore had explicitly repeated that time was against them in this mission. It didn't take long for the feeling of failure to wash over him. He had already wasted three precious hours, wandering lost around London. He had no doubt that if he had picked a direction directly out of the front door of the Leaky Cauldron and just continued in that direction, he would have been out of London by now, but having no idea in which direction Godric's Hollow lay, he could have gone in the opposite direction and wasted even more time. Perhaps if he sat there for a few minutes and puzzled his predicament out, he might be able to come up with a solution and be on his way again.

The chiming of a clock alerted him to the new hour—five o'clock. The sun would start rising soon and Hagrid was no closer to his destination than he had been when he had left the Leaky Cauldron. Dumbledore had always trusted McGonagall; perhaps Hagrid should have told her where he was going so that she could point him in the correct direction. "Nothin' to be done 'bout it now," he muttered, though he perked up just a little bit. Businesses would be opening up soon and respectable Muggles would be streaming out into the streets, on their way to jobs, schools, and other activities.

He got to his feet, causing a few kids across the street who had started to cross over to his side, to scurry back to the original side. As they hurried up the street, they kept throwing curious and somewhat fearful glances over their shoulders to him before disappearing out of sight.

"Excuse me, sir," a high-pitched voice said below him. Hagrid glanced down and furrowed his brows in wonderment. There was a little, elderly Muggle man standing near him, reaching no taller than the average goblin in height. He was straining to see Hagrid's face, looming so far above him. "May I sit on the bench here?"

"O' course!" Hagrid replied cheerily. This was the first Muggle he had come across who hadn't looked as though he'd rather be bolting up the street in terror. Hagrid sat back down, making sure not to squash the little man next to him. Shifting his eyes back and forth between the ground in front of him and the man next to him, Hagrid finally got up the courage to ask his question. "Er, yer wouldn' happen to know which d'rection Godric's Hollow is, wouldja?"

The little man looked up at him curiously. "I don't believe I've ever heard of it. Is it in Britain?"

Hagrid was on the verge of nodding until he caught himself. Was Godric's Hollow in Britain? With Ireland, Wales, and Scotland so close, it was perfectly reasonable for the village in question to be located in a neighboring country.

"Don't worry about it," the man said, pulling something from a briefcase located on the ground near his feet. Opening it up, Hagrid was delighted to see it was a map of the United Kingdom. The man bent over it, studying it for a few minutes, before speaking again. "Aha! Godric's Hollow. It's located just outside of Swansea in Wales and..." He paused and Hagrid waited with baited breath. "...I'd reckon it's about 180 miles west of here." Hagrid's heart sank in his chest. How was he supposed to travel 180 miles, especially when he had already lost so much time?His despair quickly turned into resolve. He would do his absolute best.

Without thinking about the obvious disparity in size, Hagrid leapt to his feet and seized the man's hand in his own, shaking it vigorously. "Thank ya, sir! Thank ya!" When he finally released the man's hand to leave, the man quickly ordered his slightly tousled appearance, before calling after Hagrid's retreating back.

"Are you going to walk all the way there?"

"I'll fig're somethin' out," he called back. "Thank yer again!" He didn't know much about Muggle transportation, but he was almost positive that it couldn't get him there fast enough for him to complete his mission.

After a mere ten minutes of walking, Hagrid was thoroughly surprised to find himself outside of the Leaky Cauldron again. A little more than three hours wasted and he was right back where he started. He was close to passing it by, but the thought that he might find something to speed his travel in Diagon Alley turned his course to the door of the bar.

"Hello, Hagrid!" Tom called cheerfully. As Hagrid was crossing the bar-room to reach the back courtyard, he was struck by Tom's cheerful demeanor. He pulled up short and eyed him suspiciously. Tom was focused on pulling something out from under the bar and Hagrid shrugged his shoulders before continuing. "Hang on there, Hagrid. I've got something for ya."

A flicker of annoyance crossed his face before he turned back to Tom. Hagrid was starting to think there were dark forces working against him, preventing him from continuing, seeking to thwart him at every turn. Tom held out a folded and sealed piece of parchment and, once Hagrid took it, he went back to his bartending duties, whistling an off-key tune that Hagrid was sure was currently a big hit on the wizard radio station.

Turning the parchment over in his hands, Hagrid was surprised to see Dumbledore's spidery handwriting on the outside. Quickly tearing it open, it was all he could do to blink back the tears coming to his eyes. He may be a little late, but he was going to complete his mission.