Disclamer:-I don't own harry potter.*sigh*
Author's Note:-Im just adopting the lovely work of x-x-emo-tinkerbell-x-x .The chapters she wrote wont take much time.i will upload it in a day or less.
Lily opened the book and began to read.
Chapter 1- the boy who lived
"Hey isn't that what some people refer to Dad as?" James asked.
"Yes James it is a book about Dad so maybe this is where it came from!" Albus told his brother.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that
they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
"B-O-R-I-N-G!" James interrupted again.
Rosie turned her head to James and said "James we have gotten through one sentence and you've interrupted twice!"
"What's you're point?" He asked, yes he did know what her point was he just liked to bug her.
"James just be quiet!" Hugo said.
James grumbled but didn't argue much to Rosie's delight.
They were the last peopleyou'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they justdidn't hold with such nonsense.
"Wow they are boring!" Al exclaimed but noticed the rest of his family's faces and shut himself up.
"He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very largemustache."
Lily couldn't help herself she started laughing "flattering description isn't it?"
"Oh defiantly" Rosie was giggling too.
Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual
amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time
craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.
"Wow this sounds like a lovely family doesn't it?" Hugo chuckled.
The Dursleys had a smallson called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
"Who want's to bet that this kid is as bad as his parents?" Lily asked.
"Ok, I bet he's not as bad as his parents." James told her confidently.
"Bad move James" Hugo told him.
"Nope I bet he's worse!" James smiled. Lily thought about this for a minute.
"Fine one galleon, I don't think a child could be as bad as I think these people will be" Lily told him.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and
their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think theycould bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.
"Oi, what's wrong with the Potters?" all the Potter kids cried.
Hugo was now laughing at their reaction said "you're related to James it's not like much can be right about the Potters."
After a few moments James seemed to have figured out what Hugo had just said then looked up "Hey! That's not fair!"
Mrs. Potter was 's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursleypretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothinghusband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.
"UnDersleyish- there's no such thing!" Rosie exclaimed.
"Um.. Rose I think that's the point" Lily tried to calm her down.
The Dursleys shudderedto think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. TheDursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never evenseen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; theydidn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
"Is Dad the child?" Al asked.
"I'm not sure if it is then- HOW DARE THEY TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT?" Lily's temper was playing up a little bit.
"Calm yourself Lilz, we aren't even sure it is you're dad- I could be James!" Rosie said to her cousin.
"Oh in that case it's fine" Lily was perfectly happy now.
"Oi!!" James glared at his sister who just blew him a kiss to annoy him more.
"When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story
starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strangeand mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his highchair."
"Hand it over!" James laughed waiting to accept his winnings.
"Hold on just because he's screaming doesn't mean he's a complete prat!" Lily was regretting making the bet now.
None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursleyon the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley
was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.
Lily handed over the galleon to a beaming James.
"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.
"Anyone who can call a child that throws food at the wall a 'tyke' must be completely mental" Hugo laughed
He got into his car andbacked out of number four's was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of somethingpeculiar — a cat reading a map.
"McGonagall!" James celebrated.
"How do you know?" Rosie asked.
"I've gotten in trouble with her so many times that I know her better than all my other teachers!" James puffed his chest out trying to look proud. Rosie groaned.
For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what hehad seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby catstanding on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. Whatcould he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drovearound the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was nowreading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, looking at the sign; cats couldn'tread maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out ofhis mind.
"He's a bit paranoid isn't he?" Lily giggled.
As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order
of drills he was hoping to get that on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by somethingelse. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing thatthere seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.
"Yes incredibly strange" James said with a lot of sarcasm in his voice.
"Well, for muggles I suppose it is very strange" Rosie told him.
couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups yousaw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.
"Well I'm not sure weather or not to be insulted he technically insulted young people but on the other hand they were muggle young people" James looked like he'd never had to think so hard before.
Hedrummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of theseweirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, thatman had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! Thenerve of him!
"Oh yes it takes loads of nerve to wear normal clothes!" James laughed. Lily and Hugo joined in too.
But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly
stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something…yes, that wouldbe it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in theGrunnings parking lot, his mind back on . Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on theninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drillsthat morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though
people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owlafter owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.
"That's sad" Lily said. Noticing Rosie's stern look she added "I mean imagine never having seen an owl before! It's not natural"
"How many times do I have to remind you guys? Muggles use telephones not owls, they don't wear cloaks, they don't floo places and they don't use magic!" Rosie yelled, she hated repeating herself.
"Well the last one was obvious I mean if they could do magic they wouldn't be muggle would they?" Hugo pointed out to his sister who glared and Lily continued her reading.
Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled atfive different people.
"Wow good job!" James said sarcastically.
He made several important telephone calls and shouted abit more. He was in a very good mood
"This man has a sad life" Lily laughed.
until lunchtime, when he thought he'dstretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.
"He could use the exercise" All of the children except Rosie commented.
He'd for gotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of
them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed.
"Ok I know that he's not used to people in cloaks, but being angry at them is just prejudice" Rosie said (which shocked James so much he fell out of his seat!)
"Did perfect, prefect Rose Weasley just insult someone? I never thought I'd live to see the day!" James clutched his heart and pretended to faint. All the kids started laughing and Rosie coughed in a way that sounded suspiciously like "prat" which just made the kids laugh harder.
He didn't knowwhy, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, andhe couldn't see a single collecting tin.
"Why on Earth would there be a collecting tin?" Lily asked.
Rosie (obviously) decided to explain "Well muggles who don't have much money sometimes go out on the streets to perform for money, the collecting tin is what people put the money into."
Hugo thought about this then said "Isn't that a little desperate?"
"Well Hugo they don't seem to have much of another option!" Lily felt really sorry for these poor muggles.
"Can't they get help from Gringotts?" James asked.
"Well they can borrow money but not so much and in their banks, I don't think muggles exchange money with goblins." Al said.
It was on his way back past them,clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what theywere saying.
"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —"
"Yay the Potters" Lily, Al and James cried out. Rosie sighed.
" — yes, their son, Harry —"
"DAD" The Potter children cried out again.
"Shut up don't go pointing out every single person!" Rosie obviously was losing her temper.
Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the
whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his
secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished
dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver backdown and stroked his mustache, thinking…no, he was being stupid.
"Big surprise!" James laughed.
Potterwasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people calledPotter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure hisnephew was called Harry.
"That is sad!" Rosie said.
"Yeah how can you not know Dad, he's famous!" Lily exclaimed.
"No he's not famous yet here" Hugo pointed out.
"Oh- but still not knowing your nephew's name is a bit pathetic" Lily said.
"Yeah" Rosie agreed.
He'd never even seen the boy. It might have beenHarvey. Or Harold.
"Yes it might be Harvey or Harold but it isn't it's Harry. Say it with me HARRY, h-a-r-r-y" James said to the book. Everyone gave him very strange looks like he'd just told him his lifelong dream was to raise a colony of dixies.
"Umm.. James you do realize the book can't hear you. Right?" Lily said while trying very hard not to laugh.
James blushed a deep red "Yeah right I know!"
There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she alwaysgot so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if he'd had a
sister like that…but all the same, those people in cloaks.…
"Oh Merlin I'm getting bored of this man!" Rosie sighed.
"Yeah like the muggle girl said 'let them wear cloaks'" James stood up trying to be dramatic.
"James, the phrase is 'let them eat cake'" Rosie corrected him.
"Even better!" James sighed thinking of cake.
"You are such a weirdo"
"Am not"
"Are too"
"Am not"
"Are too"
"Am not"
"Are too"
"Are too"
"haha James I'm not falling for it!" Rosie laughed.
"Damn" James snapped his fingers and sat down.
He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he
left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straightinto someone just outside the door.
"OH SWEET MERLIN HE KILLED HIM- that poor man never saw it coming and now he's been squished!" Lily dropped the book. "That's horrible!"
"Lilz calm down" Rosie tried to soothe her. Then Rosie picked up the book and began reading.
"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.
"See Lilz he wasn't squished he didn't even fall" Rosie pointed out. Lily sighed at her own stupidity while James and Hugo laughed.
"How funny would it have been if he did squish the man?"
It was afew seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violetcloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. Onthe contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice thatmade passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset metoday! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!
"Yeah where have you been the last 24 years?" James laughed.
"You idiot this is a book about the past" Rosie sighed.
Even Muggles likeyourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"
"Haha he won't like that" Lily giggled.
And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.
James, Hugo, and Albus were laughing now too "Oh he defiantly won't like that!"
Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete
stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. Hewas rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imaginingthings, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve ofimagination.
"What a sad sad fat man" Lily sighed shaking her head.
As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw — and
it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. Itwas now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had thesame markings around its eyes.
"Told you it's her!" James smiled.
"lots of cats have marks around their eyes James" Rosie pointed out.
"I still say it's her!"
"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.
"Well yeah McG. Wouln't respond to 'shoo' would she." James pointed out.
The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.
Lily burst out laughing "Ah the mental images that come to mind."
Was this normal catbehavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himselfinto the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.
"Yes, because she's that scary!" someone commented.
Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about
Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned anew word ("Shan't!").
"Clever boy!" Rosie laughed.
Mr. Dursley tried to act normally.
"Best of luck!" Hugo tried not to laugh.
When Dudley hadbeen put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report onthe evening news:"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owlshave been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at nightand are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings ofthese birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explainwhy the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern."
"Well that is careless" Al commented.
"Not to mention completely irresponsible." Rosie added.
The newscasterallowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin withthe weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?""Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's notonly the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent,Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain Ipromised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps peoplehave been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! ButI can promise a wet night tonight."
"Wow, Voldemort must have been horrible- people were that happy when he supposedly died." Lily looked quite scared.
"Well, yeah even I know that" James sighed.
"WOW James you knew something!" Hugo laughed.
"Shut up" James huffed.
Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls
flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a
whisper, a whisper about the Potters.…
"Oh yeah blame it all on the Potters you jerk" Lily didn't try to hide that she was unhappy.
Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no
good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er —Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, theynormally pretended she didn't have a sister.
*Cow* Albus coughed.
"No," she said sharply. "Why?"
"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls…shootingstars…and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today.…"
"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.
"Well, I just thought…maybe…it was something to do with…you know…her
crowd."
"Our Crowd- what's that supposed to mean?" Lily pursed her lips, James looked equally as annoyed.
Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered
whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn'tdare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be aboutDudley's age now, wouldn't he?"
"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.
"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"
"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."
He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed.
While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom
window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It wasstaring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.
Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the
Potters? If it did...if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he
didn't think he could bear Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursleylay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before hefell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason forthem to come near him and Mrs. Dursley.
James started laughing "Well I don't think they'd really want to come near you to be completely honest."
Rosie sighed "I have to say I'm glad you commented, that's the longest piece of reading I've done so far- I thought maybe you'd all fallen asleep."
Everyone chuckled at that.
The Potters knew very well what heand Petunia thought about them and their kind....He couldn't see how he andPetunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawnedand turned over — it couldn't affect them.…
"How very wrong he was" Al laughed thinking of how his Uncle Harry had grown up with his aunt and uncle.
How very wrong he was.
Everyone laughed at how Al had thought the same as the fat Dursley guy.
Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on thewall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue,its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much asquiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swoopedoverhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.
"Like I said it our good friend Minnie McG" James said.
"Minnie McG?" Rosie sighed, "She would kill you if she ever heard you call her that!"
Lily laughed at that very typical Rosie comment "Well yeah, that's why he makes sure he doesn't get caught."
A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so
suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground.
"He apparated." Rosie said.
"Well duh!" James, Lily, Albus, and Hugo sighed.
The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.
Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin,
and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both longenough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak thatswept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light,bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very longand crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was
Albus Dumbledore.
"Oh he was the Hogwarts Headmaster, he died when Dad was in sixth year, I heard he was an amazing wizard." Rosie gushed.
"I'm named after him!" Albus cried.
"No Al- you're named after another Albus didn't dad tell you" Lily told her brother (her voice dripping with sarcasm.)
"Nu-uh, Dad told me I was named after Albus Dumbledore the Hogwarts Headmaster!" Albus argued. The others tried to hide their laughing.
"Jeez relax Al, I was kidding" Lily giggled.
"Oh, right, I knew that!" Al blushed.
Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street
where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy
rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize hewas being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was stillstaring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of thecat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."
"Known what?" Al asked.
"That the cat is McG!" James jumped up, Rosie sighed.
He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a
silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again — thenext lamp flickered into darkness.
"Hey, Dad has one of those!" Rosie said.
"Oh yeah I want one too!" Hugo added.
Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,
James laughed "good word, Put-Outer."
Untilthe only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance,which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of theirwindow now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to seeanything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped thePut-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward numberfour, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, butafter a moment he spoke to it.
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."
"HA I TOLD YOU!!!!!!!!!!" James yelled unnessicarily loudly.
"JAMES SHUT UP – we get it" Lily laughed.
"No wait Rose has to admit she was wrong." James smirked.
Rosie frowned but then sighed "fine James you were right."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" James laughed really hard until someone hit him over the head with a pillow.
He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a
rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shapeof the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, anemerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctlyruffled.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."
"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor
McGonagall.
"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a
dozen feasts and parties on my way here."
Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.
"ah yes McGonagall doen't particularly approve of parties" James nodded.
"Like that stops you!" Lily giggled.
"Didn't say it did" James's smile got bigger.
Rosie mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'idiots'.
"Oh yes, I've celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd
be a bit more careful, but no —even the Muggles have noticed something's
going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' darkliving-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls…shooting stars…Well, they'renot completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting starsdown in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."
"Something tells me she doesn't like Dedalus Diggle much" Lily commented.
"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little
to celebrate for eleven years."
"Merlin, that would suck, eleven years with nothing to celebrate!" James sighed.
"Well I guess with people dying all the time there would be no-one who would want to celebrate anything." Al sighed too, things had been horrible during the two wars.
"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to
lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broaddaylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."
"Well that's true they are being careless" Rosie agreed.
She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping hewas going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing itwould be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last,the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"
"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for.
Would you care for a lemon drop?"
"A what?"
"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."
"Well that was random" Lily laughed, "Dad named Al after a nutter!"
"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't
think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Whohas gone —"
"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by hisname? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have beentrying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."
Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two
lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of sayingVoldemort's name."
"I know you haven't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated,
half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."
"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will
never have."
"Only because you're too — well — noble to use them."
"Oooooh McG has a little crush!" James sighed.
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told
me she liked my new earmuffs."
Everyone laughed at that.
Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said "The owls
are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they'resaying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"
It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most
anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall allday, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such apiercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying,she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was , however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.
"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned
up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily andJames Potter are — are — that they're — dead."
"No we aren't we are right here!" Lily sighed.
"Lilz I think she means our grandparents." Al told her.
Realization covered Lily's face. She knew her father had grown up with his aunt and uncle because his parents were murdered, she just never knew the full extent of the story.
Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.
"Lily and James…I can't believe it…I didn't want to believe it…Oh, Albus…"
Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know…I
know…" he said McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not 're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But he couldn't. Hecouldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying thatwhen he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — andthat's why he's gone."
"Well if that's the whole story then its an awfully long book if the story ends there." James said,
Rosie shook her head "No Voldemort comes back remember!"
James sighed "right"
Dumbledore nodded glumly.
"It's — it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done…all
the people he's killed…he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding…of allthe things to stop him…but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"
"We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."
Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her
eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a goldenwatch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelvehands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. Itmust have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in hispocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, bythe way?"
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell
me why you're here, of all places?"
"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 findtwo people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking hismother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come andlive here!"
"Yeah let him go somewhere else!" James cried.
"James no matter how much you yell the past won't change!" Al told him calmly.
"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 aletter."
"Yes because you can explain all this in a letter." Lily sighed, the muggles wouldn't understand at all.
"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the
wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? Thesepeople will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't besurprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future
"Sadly it's not" James looked very disappointed.
"It was going to be but Uncle Harry hates the spotlight so they didn't make it Harry Potter day" Rosie said.
"How do you know that?" Lily asked.
"I read Lilz it was all over the prophet!" Rosie and Albus were the only ones who read books willingly.
there will bebooks written about Harry
"Like this one!" Lily giggled.
— every child in our world will know his name!"
"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his halfmoonglasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he canwalk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you seehow much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready totake it?"
"He makes a good point" Rosie said, everyone looked at her like she was mental "but I agree he could have gone somewhere else."
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed,
and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting
here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he
might be hiding Harry underneath it.
"Hagrid's bringing him."
"You think it — wise — to trust Hagrid with something as important as
this?"
"YES" all the kids said at once.
"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.
"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall
grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — whatwas that?"
A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily
louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; itswelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fellout of the air and landed on the road in front of them.
If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He
was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He
looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild — long tangles of bushy blackhair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, andhis feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular armshe was holding a bundle of blankets.
"What's Hagrid doing with blankets?" James asked.
"I think he's carrying Dad" Al answered.
"Who cares about the blankets I want one of those motorbikes." Lily sighed.
"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you
get that motorcycle?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully
off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him,sir."
"I was partly named after Sirius!" James said.
"No you were named after James Potter idiot" Lily told him.
"Yeah but my middle name James SIRIUS Potter" he said.
"Oh right yeah." Lily blushed she couldn't believe she had momentarily forgotten her brother's middle name.
"No problems, were there?"
"No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the
Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."
"Awwwww" Lily and Rosie smiled. Suddenly Lily looked a bit sick.
"What's wrong Lilz?" Rosie asked.
"I just thought of my father as cute!!"
Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of
blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jetblackhair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt oflightning.
"THE SCAR!!!!!!" James said dramatically.
"Well yeah he's had it his whole life you prat!" Lily tried to hit him over the back of the head but luckily (for James) he ducked.
"Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."
"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself
above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well —give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."
"Wow Al, you were named after a nutter!" Hugo laughed.
Albus huffed to the other kids' amusement.
Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.
"Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his
great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very
scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a woundeddog.
"Lovely" Lily laughed.
"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and
burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poorlittle Harry off ter live with Muggles —"
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be
found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the armas Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door.
He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it
inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minutethe three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shouldersshook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light thatusually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.
"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying
here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike
back. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto
the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the airand off into the night.
"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore,
nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.
Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he
stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve ballsof light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenlyorange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at theother end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step ofnumber four.
"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish
of his cloak, he was gone.
"That's really sad" Rosie sobbed.
"I know" Al and Hugo patted her on the back.
A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy
under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things tohappen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. Onesmall hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he wasspecial, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a fewhours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put outthe milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being proddedand pinched by his cousin Dudley....He couldn't know that at this very moment,people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses andsaying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"
"Wow that was a really cool chapter." James said.
"Poor Dad!" Lily was so sad that her dad had to live with these people.
"Yeah come on next chapter." Hugo said.
"Alright alright." Rosie said picking up the book again.
