I'd like to thank Quillian and Elizabeth Therisa for reviewing, it was really heartening. Hope you like where this is going.
Days became weeks, which in turn became months, and still there was no sign that anyone had divined Harry's whereabouts. The shock over the Potter's deaths and the Dark Lord's subsequent disappearance receded and finally was overshadowed by more recent news tidbits. Life went on, and the cautions of the past were slowly discarded. Though a few, Albus Dumbledore being among the most vocal, spoke against lowering protections overmuch, they were dismissed as Doomsayers and largely ignored. People who had just emerged from the shadow had no wish to retain any trace of it in their lives.
Minerva McGonagall lay in her bed perusing the March issue of Transfiguration Monthly, blithely overlooking the fact that it was now June. To be honest, she hadn't had much free time lately, not with all the homework that needed to be graded combining with students infected with Spring Fever. In the end, she had finally just decided to declare one particular Saturday her day off. Hence the piles of magazines next to her bed, some dating back to January. It also explained the look of utter relaxation that currently resided on her face.
But all things had to come to an end, and presently, the alarm clock that she had set to midnight went off. With a sigh of regret, Minerva set aside the magazine with a carefully placed bookmark and then put out the candles. With a slight smile lingering on her lips, she drifted off into a light doze. For about ten minutes.
A pale yellow light illuminated the bedroom, then flickered to nothingness. Minerva lifted her head from the pillow and looked quickly about, praying that she had merely been dreaming. There was a moment when nothing happened, then the light reappeared, rising to a lantern's glow then fading away in a steady cycle. Minerva cursed and hurled herself out of bed, grabbing her wand as she went. Without even pausing to grab a change of clothing, she switched to her cat form and dove for the stairs leading to the Main Doors. All through the long run to the Gates, she kept wishing that Albus had allowed even one Apparation point inside the grounds.
After a few minutes that seemed an eternity, she finally reached the edge of the Apparation Shield and skidded to a halt even as she untransfigured; an action that forced her to grab the nearest gatepost to keep from falling over. Focusing her mind firmly on number four, Privet Drive, she vanished.
Minerva emerged on the edge of a scene from Hell. The Dark mark floated in the sky over a burning house. Tongues of fire licked the sky, an inferno that burned with the eerie blue glow that bespoke Gubraithian fire, the everburning flames. Yet there was still hope, for it hadn't spread over the entire house yet. Minerva ran for the entrance, following the desperate shrieks of a child within.
The door looked as though it had been blasted off its hinges, but there was no further damage in the hall beyond. Minerva rather suspected that once the Death Eaters had made their entrance, they had moved speedily to prevent the unfortunate inhabitants from making their escape.
Dudley's howls of fear echoed over the crackling of the flames, and an icy feeling gripped Minerva as she realized what was missing. There was only the one voice. Where was Harry? She finally located the stairs and sprinted up them, pausing halfway at the soft sound of a whimper. Unfortunately, it wasn't repeated, and she couldn't get a bearing on it. Cursing under her breath, she ran up the remaining steps two at a time.
Her first impression of the hallway was of blood. Petunia and Vernon Dursley's bodies lay on the floor, obviously dead. Minerva was forced to look away for a moment. Nothing they could possibly have done would have deserved this. An especially loud cry from Dudley yanked her out of her reverie,and afew quick steps brought her to the end bedroom.
Dudley huddled in the middle of the floor, crying with pain and fear and covered with blood from a nasty wound in his side. She scooped him up and he huddled against her with a sob. A quick check through the rest of the bedrooms revealed no sign of the other boy. Fighting down near-panic, Minerva forced her voice to behave. "Dudley, where's Harry?"
There was no sign that boy had understood her, so she tried again. "Dudley, I need to know where Harry is. Where did they take him?" Dudley muttered something indistinct and buried his head against her chest. A few more tries got a more definite reply, but nothing she could make sense of. "Cubbd?", she muttered to herself. Then, "Cupboard!", as a sudden vision of the door under the stairs flashed into her mind. Minerva turned and half-ran for the stairs once more, careful to shield Dudley from the sight of his parents.
Once at the door, Dudley glanced around and said, "Hawwy," very definitely. A quiet whimper from within confirmed the information, but it didn't do her any good, as the door was locked and refused to respond to Alohomora. Forcing calm, she went over her options, trying to ignore the blue fire that was taking hold at the top of the staircase. The house looked as though it could flash at any moment.
She backed as far she dared and put a Shielding Charm up. Gritting her teeth, she snarled out a Summoning Spell. The door exploded at her in a shower of splinters and bounced off of the shield. Minerva ran to the huddled figure lying on a lumpy mattress and checked him over. Like Dudley, Harry seemed unhurt except for a wound on his shoulder that looked as though something had chewed on him. Minerva carefully picked him up and carried him out into the hallway where she could straighten.
A shower of yellow sparks exploded from the wall as some wires shorted out, bathing the three in pinpricks of heat. The blue flames licked up the walls and ate into the ceiling all around. The heat was immense, and the air almost unbreathable. Focusing desperately on the gates of Hogwarts, Minerva turned on her heel and disappeared into the ether. Seconds later, the house reached the explosion point.
