A/N Okie dokie! Chapter two! Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time! Five reviews! (: Me a happy writer! (: This one I wrote! So I hope ya like it! (: Got any questions? Lemme know! Give me some advice on how to make my writing better! I can take it! As long as it's not a stupid review and just tells me it's horrible I'm fine with it... I hate the reviews that do that! But I can totally take the ones that tell me things I did wrong. So let me know, guys! And enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Far away from a scared and confused Harry Potter, two old friends sat, discussing the scandalous new event. Fudge and Dumbledore were confused after Mafalda had rushed into the Minister of Magic's office and announced the shocking news to the both of them. She didn't know what was going on, it seemed queer.
"What do you think of it, Dumbledore?" Fudge asked him once Mafalda wandered out of the room.
"There is only one wizard in that area," Albus whispered as if he wasn't sure himself.
"It can't be Harry! It was a much too powerful burst of magic to come from someone that has not attended school yet! Let alone someone that doesn't even know he's a wizard! It has to be from someone close to being of-age!" he exclaimed.
"How about this - I shall send someone to check things out at number four Privet Drive to see if anything unusual has happened. If not, then we shall admit that there is nothing we can do," Dumbledore reasoned.
"Fine. Agreed," Fudge responded as Dumbledore waved his wand to conjure a spare bit of parchment. Then grabbing a quill from the desk and dipping it in the black ink, he began to write.
After finishing the letter, he walked over to the window where he proceeded to whistle, calling his loyal bird to him. He attached the small but meaningful letter to Fawkes' leg and sent him off. There, the two sat, patiently awaiting a reply.
Far away, on a street called Spinners' End, a greasy haired, crooked-nosed, middle aged man sat in his living room, reading the newspaper. To him, it was an average day. No mysterious news of any abnormality.
The first of July was calming to him. It meant another whole month before he had to go back to work. A month to be himself and do things that he wanted to do. He called to his house elf to get him a cup of Firewhiskey when he saw a flash of orange coming into view outside his window.
He knew at once that it was a phoenix, and he only knew one person who would send him a letter this way - Dumbledore. He rushed to the window and waited with bated breath as he saw the phoenix fly closer to him, eventually landing before him on the window pane. He quickly tore the letter away from the outstretched leg and after telling his house elf to get Fawkes a treat, he opened it and read.
Severus,
I know this is on a short notice, but I am afraid our dear Harry may be in some kind of trouble. We had a breach of underage magic coming from his place of residency, but as you know he does not even know that he is a wizard. I am asking you if you would please go see if everything is alright. If you find anything out, send me an owl, or Apparate to the Minister's office or my own. I will be there at either of those two places.
Thank you.
Albus
After reading the shocking letter he quickly grabbed his wand that was sitting beside his chair, and Apparated to Privet Drive.
He remembered going there all too long ago, to assist Dumbledore and Hagrid to drop off Harry when the poor child who had been only a year old. Severus had cried that night; the night he lost his best friend, an acquaintance, and had been so close to losing someone who was like his own child. Probably as close as he would ever get, at least.
He took a deep breath and banged harshly on the door. Tapping his foot impatiently he waited until it finally opened to show a scrawny, long necked woman that he had known since he was little. Known, and despised.
"What do you want?" Petunia hissed at him.
"Don't worry. I won't grace you with my presence for too long. I am in need of some information, and unfortunately that requires your help," Snape sneered at her.
"What do you need, then?" She snapped at him.
"Where is your nephew?" Severus asked her, getting to the point quickly.
"Like I would know. I try not to dwell on him too much," she answered.
This made him furious.
"You were supposed to take him in as your own! That means keeping an eye on him!" He exclaimed angrily. He went to continue, but was interrupted by an obtuse boy running up behind him. The boy was clearly out of breath, and a little shaken.
"Dudley-kins!" Petunia exclaimed before rushing over to the plump boy, "What's wrong!"
"Harry," he started to say, before having to stop for air, "went... poof."
Severus' eyes widened and his heart began to race.
"What do you mean?" he questioned him.
"I... was... chasing him... and he... disappeared," Dudley answered.
If what the boy was telling him was true, Harry had Apparated. Surely that was impossible. There was no possible way that a boy who didn't even know he was a wizard would be able to Apparate. Was there? He had to get to Dumbledore. He had to tell him what he knew. Would Dumbledore even believe him? And another problem was how they were going to find the boy afterward.
When Harry finally woke up, an hour later, he was lost, and that was only the beginning. He had no clue where he was, or how he had got there. The only thing he did know what the fact that there was a forest surrounding him. Everywhere he looked was trees and bushed. So he walked, and walked, and walked. He walked, only to get even farther into the forest. He began shouting for help, trying to get someone to hear him, but to no prevail. He started to run, but that only made his problems worse because he tripped and fell on his face, breaking his glasses even further.
He heard a rattling coming from the bushes next to where he had landed. Scared, he started to back away as a snake emerged from its hidden hiding place. Harry had always been afraid of snakes. They made him queasy, yet he had always felt a certain bond to them. The snake started to slither towards him, and Harry did the only thing that he could think of. Which was to attempt to talk to it, even though he knew it was impossible.
"Stop! Please!" Harry shouted at it, although what came out of his mouth didn't sound like words. He heard a sort of hissing sound, but figured it was coming from the snake.
"Parsssssselmouth?"
Harry stopped dead. Did the snake just talk to him? Actually speak to him?
"Par – what? Did you just speak?" he whispered to the snake.
"Ahhh. Innocenccccccccce." The snake spoke once more before turning away from Harry and going back to its home.
There, a confused and scared little boy was stranded in the middle of a wide forest, with no one around to help him, or tell him that things would be OK. Harry sat on the cold ground, with clothes that were too big for him and already full of dirt. Tears streamed down his face, and he wanted to be anywhere but where he was now. He wanted to be held in someone's arms. This was the one of the many times he wished he still had parents. That he had a family, instead of those rotten people he had been forced to live with.
