(Minor corrections, 25th May, 2014)

Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following is an alternate universe one-shot I've put together, whilst trying to get a better feel for writing Horace Slughorn (canon or variations thereof). It's about how Harry Potter's (re)introduction to the magical world in July 1991 might have gone if Horace Slughorn had been the Hogwarts teacher responsible for it. The first section is from the point of view of Minerva McGonagall, and after that it's all from Horace's point of view. Note that in a divergence from canon Severus Snape is absent from the Hogwarts scene (which is why Horace Slughorn's a teacher at Hogwarts in 1991 in the first place).

Further Note: 'R.A.' is short for 'Royal Academy', or more specifically 'Royal Academy of Arts'. The initials are used to indicate the institution or membership thereof.

"I'll take this one, Minerva."

Horace Slughorn had been sifting through the pile of letters that Minerva had been about to take to the owls which was the next batch for prospective pupils for September. He'd been hovering around the pile produced by the house elves every morning for the past week, now, and Minerva suspected that she knew exactly why. She didn't need to look at the envelope with its ever-changing address – spelled to inform an owl in flight so it could find a moving prospective pupil – to see that it was the one addressed to 'Mr. H. J. Potter'.

"Really, Horace, is a personal visit necessary?" she sighed.

"His mother," Horace huffed, "was one of my favourite pupils. Of course it's necessary. Social obligation, and so forth."

"I'm sure that Albus told you to specifically stay away from him and to not bother him or his relatives." Minerva said.

"And I have, Minerva, I have." Horace said. "But today, I am going to be an official message from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's not as if he won't be coming to Hogwarts soon, anyway, and there are all sorts of things I can tell him about his parents which his aunt and uncle probably won't have known. He's The-Boy-Who-Lived – don't we owe him something, including a friendlier re-introduction to our world after his long absence than that of a letter delivered by an owl?"

He was turning on the old Slughorn charm, and Minerva was too busy at this time of this particular day to make much of an effort to resist. She had frequently doubted the wisdom of Albus' recall to Hogwarts of Horace, but following a series of unsatisfactory tenures by unsatisfactory candidates of the posts of potions master and head of Slytherin, Albus had claimed he'd had no other choice but to coax Horace out of retirement. The man who had succeeded Horace as potions master and head of Slytherin at the end of his first spell of teaching at Hogwarts, Severus Snape, had gone to Azkaban in November of 1981. Minerva wasn't sure why Albus had ever employed the surly Severus in the first place – it was something to do with the war, she suspected – but before he'd hardly had the time to settle in, the war was over, and apparently Albus had decided that he didn't need Severus any more – or not enough to make any fuss when the aurors showed up just after it was announced that Severus had been named as a Death Eater, so off to Azkaban Severus had gone.

"Just remember his aunt and uncle and cousin are muggles, Horace." Minerva said. "And ones not too fond of magic, or at least not that I heard from Lily whilst she was still alive."

"Oh, I shall be the very soul of tact, Minerva, you know me." Horace breezily reassured her.

The trouble was, Minerva thought to herself darkly, was that she did know Horace, and sometimes he got a little carried away. Still, he was very good at making it difficult to dislike him, and if anyone could handle Harry's muggle relatives, without recourse to pointing a wand at them, it was probably Horace.

Minerva had heard things. Things from Arabella Figg, which Albus had waved aside, as being 'quaint muggle customs', and which would have caused her to doubt the wisdom of a lesser man than the one who'd defeated Gellert Grindelwald, and successfully seen Magical Britain through a crisis against a more recent dark lord…

Horace Slughorn paused outside number four Privet Drive to contemplate the scene before him. The garden was well-tended, orderly, and neat. In fact suspiciously well tended, even given its small size. Either someone here was fanatically passionate a gardener or… well, the alternative didn't bear to contemplate. In Horace's not inconsiderable experience, gardens like this in wizarding society most frequently appeared alongside those households obsessed about appearances – for what were all too often cruel or outright wrong reasons.

He paused to adjust his attire slightly and extracted the letter from his pocket. It informed him that Mr. Potter was currently in The Kitchen at number four Privet Drive.

Horace Slughorn glanced around surreptitiously, drew his wand, tapped it to the letter, and then tucked wand away again. It was best to be prepared, and he could always apologise for the slight deceit if all turned out to be well.

He remembered some of the stories which had been circulating a dozen years or so ago at Hogwarts about Lily's immediate family.

Then he walked up to the door, and rapped on it, smartly. Thirty seconds later, it was opened by a rather dishevelled looking lad wearing an apron who, Horace realised with a shock, had those familiar green eyes and must surely be Lily's boy.

"Good morning, lad." Horace said pleasantly. "I am Professor Horace Slughorn, R.A., and I am here to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, if they are in and that would be convenient?"

He waited politely on the doorstep, whilst the boy retreated back into the house and some sort of discussion occurred.

Eventually a huge man with a moustache even more untamed than Horace's own arrived.

He looked, Horace thought with distaste, like a man whose response to situations he perceived as either out-of-control or hostile was to hector and bully those under him.

Horace of course, was too wise to comment on that.

Instead he offered his hand, and introduced himself:

"Professor Horace Slughorn, Royal Academy of Arts. May I presume I address Mr. Vernon Dursley, one of the two guardians of one Harry James Potter?"

"Why, yes." Mr. Dursley frowned, shaking Professor Slughorn's hand, and clearly wondering what was going on? Horace was by now certain that it was necessary to continue to dissemble. This man was the sort of muggle who, in Horace's experience, would instinctively dislike anything involving magic unless it involved large quantities of money passing into his hands or useful minions he could push around without retaliation being placed under him.

"The Nigellus Black Foundation," Horace dug out the name of one of his favourite fictional charities, "makes annual grants for the education of orphans, and the name of your nephew, Harry Potter, came out of a lottery for a funded place at an educational establishment in Scotland. The school is a small private one which places emphasis on training children in the arts, hence my own involvement as a member of the R.A.." Horace thanked Merlin he'd taken the precaution of coming out with a number of the 'cover' pamphlets that Hogwarts had that muggle-born families could use to explain the Hogwarts attendance of their children to neighbours. Horace could simply use one of them to pretend Hogwarts was such a respectable institution to the guardians of a young wizard. "Would I be able to come in to discuss this with yourself and your good lady?"

The Dursleys proved resistant to Horace at first, simply because they didn't want Harry to be going to a better school (through what from their point of view was some freak accident of luck) than their own son.

Fortunately, Horace was sufficiently familiar with the British muggle private-education system to be able to speak of Smeltings (the destination he was soon able to discover of young Dudley Dursley) in convincingly glowing terms – and to assure the Dursleys that 'The Dippet School of Arts', whilst a good school, was nowhere near as prestigious as Smeltings; and that graduates of The Dippet School, although able to find good, solid, jobs, were nowhere near as well-placed to become 'high-fliers' (in the figurative sense) as graduates of Smeltings. Once the Dursleys understood this point, things became much easier. Apparently Harry's aunt and uncle had been intending to send Harry to a local comprehensive, but if there was a boarding school in Scotland which would take him, which wouldn't cost them a penny (whilst providing no threat of Dudley being overshadowed) then they were happy for him to go there.

Horace negotiated to take Harry shopping for 'school supplies' in several days' time (assuring Mr. and Mrs. Dursley that they would not have to pay a penny for aforementioned supplies), made a mental note to arrange a taxi for transportation, and departed Privet Drive, for now.

He'd wanted to hand over Harry's Hogwarts letter, but he wasn't sure his on-the-spot transfiguration skills were sufficient for it to last looking like a document from the Royal Academy until the promised shopping trip when – having got Harry separate from the Dursleys – he could finally do some explaining to the young man.

He made a further mental note to contact a squib he knew who worked at the genuine Royal Academy, in case the Dursleys decided to double-check his credentials.

It was time now to report back to Minerva, and he suspected that she was not going to be pleased to hear how Harry was currently boarded in Privet Drive. From the general atmosphere which Horace had detected to exist in the Dursley household, Horace was pretty sure that Harry was currently being 'neglected' as defined according to the 1933 'Children and Young Persons' Act – and had Harry been a mere muggle (say a sibling or cousin of a Hogwarts student) Horace would have tipped off friends in the muggle police force and children's services like a shot. Unfortunately, Harry was a wizard, and, under magical law, the necessity Albus Dumbledore could cite ('blood wards for personal protection from dark wizards') meant any attempt to remove Harry by muggle legal means on the basis of child neglect could be considered irrelevant by the Wizengamot and obliviator squads sent in to make sure Harry stayed put where he was – and Horace was pretty sure that having placed Harry with the Dursleys in the first place, the man who was headmaster of Hogwarts would likely seek to ensure that he stayed there. Albus Dumbledore stood to lose too much, politically speaking, if The-Boy-Who-Lived was removed under any kind of negative publicity from carers with whom, at Albus' instigation, he had been placed now for nearly a decade.

Horace was well-connected, but he preferred not to pick fights with Albus Dumbledore, except truly as a last resort. He would just have to be highly circumspect and devious in how he handled Harry Potter's 'home' situation, as he did what he could to minimise any negative effects the Dursleys could have on Harry. Fortunately, Horace was the head of Slytherin House, and not exactly short on low-cunning when need required – and so long as Harry got to Hogwarts in one piece and still sane, Horace would then have some nine whole months to plan and make moves in the quest to ensure a satisfactory 'home' environment for Harry was secured. (Obviously whomever ended up as Harry's head of house would need to be involved, too, but Horace anticipated minimal problems on that count as Filius, Minerva, and Pomona were all good sorts when it came to helping pupils with 'difficult' homes.)

Upon Horace's scheduled return to Privet Drive several days after his first visit (this visit complete with authentic Royal Academy baseball cap for Harry, which he took the opportunity to place firmly upon Harry's head at the first opportunity to hide that scar) he was relieved to discover that the Dursleys had done some checking up, but that Horace's cover had 'held' – his friend in the R.A. had come through for him. Consequently (accompanied by a string of directions to Harry to behave himself from Harry's aunt) Horace had been permitted to load young Harry into the pre-booked taxi and to depart Privet Drive with him.

Once safely ensconced in the back of the taxi, with basic precautions taken to ensure the driver would not overhear them, Horace had commenced to attempt to explain to Harry the existence of the magical world, Harry's place in it, and the need for subterfuge, both with regard to the world in general and to the Dursleys in particular.

Fortunately it was a lengthy taxi-trip.

"Also, Harry, during your trip to buy your school supplies, I shall refer to you as a half-blood student by the name of 'James Evans' I believe." Horace concluded, as the taxi slowed (yet again) for the final approach to the address adjacent to The Leaky Cauldron. "Given how famous you are in some quarters, it would probably be for the best for a first visit for you not to be recognised. The excitement your reappearance could cause after this prolonged absence could be considerable, and we wouldn't want to get trampled in a mob, would we?"

"No sir. What's a half-blood, sir?"

This prompted a hurried explanation from Horace, which concluded (after all this was a son of that most skilled of muggle-borns, Lily Evans) with the words:

"It's rather silly, really, but some people unfortunately set great store by it." just as the taxi was pulling in.

They disembarked, Horace paid the driver with muggle cash he had come equipped with, tipping him generously, and waved him off, and then Horace led Harry into the magical world for Harry's first visit in close to ten years.

As far as Horace was concerned, the trip to Diagon Alley was blessedly normal. Harry was awed at the sight of everything going on around him, of course, and Horace had had to pre-empt Garrick Ollivander with a 'this is James Evans' introduction of Harry, to cut short Garrick's habit of usually addressing a student by name, and reeling off the details of the wands of all the family members of that student which he had often made and sold to them. There had been a nasty moment, though, when Garrick had revealed that the wand which Harry had picked was a 'brother' wand to You-Know-Who's own – Horace had almost made Harry hand it back and insisted Garrick find another, but on reflection it had occurred to Horace that You-know-Who's wand had never turned up and that someone less-than-well-meaning might have picked it up as a trophy. Following a dinner party at which one of the guests, the wandmaker Gregorovitch, had held forth at length about extraordinary things he had known to happen, Horace was sufficiently familiar with the principle of twin-cores to realise that such a wand in theory offered Harry at least a possible distraction against anyone meaning him ill using You-Know-Who's wand.

They also ran into some muggle-born called 'Hermione Granger' in Madam Malkin's shop, who reminded Horace a little of Lily in terms of ability, if not exactly in terms of social skills. Apparently Miss Granger was supposed to be here with Minerva, but Minerva had wandered off to inspect the contents of a quidditch supplies shop – her thoughts no doubt on the quidditch cup of the next school year – and had temporarily abandoned her charge.

This gave Horace the opportunity to observe Harry interacting with a person his own approximate age and using the 'James Evans' cover story with which Horace had pre-equipped him. Harry was actually a remarkably quick thinker on his feet, and had apparently inherited his father's talents for invention – at least Horace hoped that that was the case, and not that life with the Dursleys had compelled him to develop such skills as an aid to survival.

Minerva returned to collect Miss Granger and acquired a bemused expression on her face as she listened to the end of the Harry/Hermione conversation.

"Now, now, Minerva:" Horace wagged a finger to forestall any incautious remark she might make. "Mr. Evans here can't help not having the same instant attention-grabbing name as much more famous pupils due at Hogwarts this year."

Minerva, bless her, was intelligent enough to realise an alias was in play and took the point gracefully, with a brisk nod of acknowledgement.

"She was absolutely awful about Harry Potter." Harry said, presumably meaning Miss Granger, as he and Horace exited Madam Malkin's. "She had this book which she was reading and quoting from, even as the shop lady was pinning up our robes. And most of it was utter rubbish, written by someone who's apparently never met me… or Harry Potter." he hastened to add, as Horace meaningfully *coughed*.

After more shopping, they head back towards the Leaky Cauldron, passing Horace's colleague, Quirinus, on the way. He was pretending to browse the wares of one vendor, but he kept on glancing over his shoulder nervously, for some reason. Horace wasn't too sure, but he could swear that his fellow Hogwarts teacher was acting as if he thought someone was following him – either that or he was unnaturally interested in Gringotts bank or someone that he was expecting to emerge from it.

On the taxi-ride back to Little Whinging, Horace engaged in a long technical discussion with Harry about how he would maintain his cover with the Dursleys over the summer, whilst getting in what school reading that he could. To assist him, Horace had made a present to Harry of a sketchbook, some pencils, and a basic book about drawing. Harry's trunk would obviously have to stay locked and the contents hidden from sight of the Dursleys for much of the time.

Harry confided to Horace that the Dursleys had kept him in a cupboard under the stairs, until Horace's first visit, at which point the Dursley's had moved him into his cousin's spare bedroom and ordered him to pretend, if questioned, that he had always lived there. Horace agreed that for now he would pretend that Harry had only told him that he had always lived there.

They arrived back in Privet Drive, disembarked from this taxi, extracted Harry's trunk, paid the driver and went to meet Harry's relatives. Sensitive to the situation, Horace (having bought obvious presents for Harry) had furnished himself with a non-magical tricorn hat and telescope in Diagon Alley, which he presented now to Dudley. Dudley could now run around and presumably play at being a sea-captain or pirate or something for the next week or two. Harry's uncle thanked Horace and said that that hadn't been necessary, in a tone of voice which told Horace that it had exactly been necessary, and that Harry's life would have been a misery for the immediate future had Horace not been so thoughtful.

Horace said to think nothing of it, and that The Dippet School of Arts would send a taxi to collect Harry on the morning of September the first, to take him into London. Horace didn't think, somehow, that the Dursleys would take Harry to King's Cross themselves unless coercion or bribery was involved. He would have to have a word about that with whomever ended up as Harry's head of house, once Harry did get to Hogwarts – although the plucky lad would most likely end up in Gryffindor, Horace figured. Horace hoped that under that circumstance (in case they weren't able to cook up a suitable alternative for living arrangements and Harry's protection) that Minerva would be able to maintain the fictions necessary to keep the Dursleys relatively happy next summer.

Horace returned to Hogwarts to discover that the headmaster was waiting for him and quite tetchy. Apparently Minerva had said something to the headmaster about encountering Horace in Diagon Alley, without realising that Horace hadn't cleared the trip with Albus first.

Horace requested a private meeting with Albus in his office, emphasising the word 'private'.

Albus went on to Horace for a full quarter of an hour about how reprehensible and risky Horace's actions had been, before inviting him to try and justify his actions in a tone which suggested that Albus didn't believe that they could be justified. Apparently Albus had had some scheme in motion which had involved sending Hagrid or Minerva to take Harry to Diagon Alley on his birthday – a date as yet still some days away.

Horace riposted by explaining to the Hogwarts headmaster one or two of the circumstances which he had discovered of Harry's personal life. He derived particular satisfaction from mentioning the cupboard under the stairs. Horace enquired if the headmaster thought anyone else on the Hogwarts staff could have handled the situation without breeching the international statute of wizarding secrecy, or at least doing something creative such as turning the Dursleys all into pigs – which might have been personally satisfying, but would likely have caused resentment to build up for Mr. Potter down the line?

Albus became thoughtful, and although he didn't apologise – Albus practically never apologised – he said that perhaps, with hindsight, it was fortunate all around that someone as socially sensitive as Horace had assigned himself the task of handling Harry. All was not forgotten, but on this occasion Horace was forgiven.

Horace excused himself, and went to arrange a taxi for Harry for the first of September. As Horace did so the thought belatedly occurred to him that there was a face of one of Harry's neighbours, when they'd returned this afternoon, which he could have sworn he'd seen before somewhere else in an altogether different context…

It took Horace several days to realise that one of Harry's neighbours bore a suspicious resemblance to one 'Arabella Figg' – squib, and sometime associate during the Wizarding War of one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Horace doubted that it was a coincidence that he hadn't seen Arabella since the war ended, nor that she should turn up now, in Privet Drive, of all places, several doors down from Harry Potter. She had almost certainly been watching Harry for Albus, and that said to Horace that Albus must have heard at least occasional clues that all might be less than well at Privet Drive, even if he might have ignored them or told himself that for whatever reasons he had it was essential that Harry remain exactly where he currently was.

It would pay to be doubly careful around Privet Drive in future, if Albus had eyes there…

Author Notes:

I'm not convinced about how close this version of Horace Slughorn is to the canon one (possibly he's less timorous, but then again 1991 is a time of relative peace, as opposed to the period of war ongoing when Horace makes his appearance in canon in 1996, which might make anyone nervous), but a lot is made in canon of how sentimental Horace is supposed to be about Lily Evans and matters pertaining to her.

Given that the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy exists, it seemed reasonable to me to imagine that Hogwarts (and presumably other magical schools) might have 'cover stories' (backed up with stationary) that they could supply to the immediate relatives of muggle-born or -raised students, so that said parents/guardians could explain to the neighbours/distant relations just where little Hermione or Dean was going for most of the year.

I have no particular legal training, but it seems to me that the canon Dursleys fail to provide canon Harry with at least some, if not all, of 'adequate food, clothing, medical aid or lodging', which makes them guilty of child neglect, which (as of the time of my writing these author notes in 2013) has been a crime in English law at least since the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act.

Horace presumably hands over Harry's (untransfigured) Hogwarts letter during the taxi journey to London. Assuming that Horace and Harry went to Gringotts (as canon Harry does with Hagrid) it seems likeliest to me that Horace would have got Minerva to procure for him Harry's vault key.

Since Horace got to see Harry on the day Harry's letter was 'issued' (and arranged a shopping trip for only a few days after that) Horace and Harry's trip to Diagon Alley in this story occurs some time ahead of Harry's actual eleventh birthday. (In canon, given the prolonged letter bombardment which occurs before the final flight to an island somewhere out at sea, it seems to me that Harry's first Hogwarts letter is sent in early or mid July.) Consequently, during the time-frame of the trip to Diagon Alley in this story, Quirinus is still only at the reconnaissance stage of planning his break-in of Gringotts, and there is no encounter with Draco Malfoy in the robes shop. (I took the liberty of having Harry shopping for his supplies on the same day as Hermione Granger, instead...)

Harry ends up with the same wand as canon, but I imagined Horace would be alarmed to hear about the shared core. I felt it needed a credible reason (a conversation at some dinner party with a wandmaker) for Horace not to insist on the wand going straight back in the box and Horace if necessary taking Harry to a different wandmaker altogether.

This piece is a one-shot polished up whilst trying to work out two addresses a different Horace Slughorn is supposed to give in another alternate universe (that of Saint Potter). Progress on them (January 2013) is currently painfully slow.