Usual Author Disclaimer:

None of these characters belong to me. The story is product of my imagination and doesn't reflect any actual events.

Constructive criticism allowed and welcomed.

Quick Author's note:

Thank you guys for all the comments and the support. I'm still nervous about my writing, but I have faith you'll like it as much as I loved making it up. This chapter is a bit longer than the other two, but I started writing and couldn't stop. Let me know what you think. :)

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Somewhere in the Highlands of Scotland there lay the ruins of an old castle, all covered in moss and reflecting the harshness of time. The ruins lay there destroyed around a lake and what looked like a forest. People carefully avoided the whole area ever since some one had gone missing and the local government had declared the area as dangerous. Today, however, if you were close enough, you would hear what sounded like an ambulance's alarm ringing loudly through the field. Of course you would not be able to see any ambulances, since there was no actual road leading to the ruins; and yet, if you looked close enough, you would be sure that the sun was playing tricks on your vision. Across the field, where the ruins lay, there was a castle in its full glory. There were towers, and bridges, a field could be seen at the far end, and it had greenery surrounding it and spreading all around until the edge of the forest.

Inside the castle, on a corridor in the seventh floor, and elderly man with a long silver beard, and wearing a red night robe paced in front of an empty wall across from a hideous tapestry. His name was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and he was the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; although none of that mattered to him right at that moment. Albus had jumped from his desk the instant he heard the alarm. He had been going through some last minute enrollments while his pet phoenix, Fawkes sang around his office and perch, when he heard it. He knew what it meant, and it wasn't good news.

Even though he had run towards the corridor, the noise had already woken up his Deputy Headmaster, Minerva McGonagall. She has wearing a deep green night robe and had her wand out, but was also clutching her chest. She had a look of distraught on her face, and Albus was sure he had one similar as well.

- "It can't be, Albus!", she said to him as soon as she saw him coming, "You said he would be safe there!". Tears were already forming in her eyes.

- "Minerva, I don't kn-", he started shaking his head, but stopped when he noticed that a door had materialized on the wall next to them. Albus opened the door and walked in, followed by Minerva. The room was small, only a few pieces of furniture filled the space; the noise was even louder inside. Albus walked to the chest next to the desk and withdrew a strange looking round device. He placed it on the desk and tapped it twice with his wand. The noise faded and the small token started to open up emitting with a strange golden light an image of a map reflected on the desk. The map showed some roads, valleys, mountains, and coasts; with a swift movement of his hand, Dumbledore was able to change the imagery so that it shifted between different locations. McGonagall's eyes carefully studied Albus' concentration.

- "Albus, what is that? What did you do?", Minerva asked, after realizing what the device was. "This is… This is dark magic, blood magic even! ".

- "I apologize for not telling you before, Minerva, but it is perfectly safe and it was something I needed to do. Inside this token, is a small amount of Harry's hair, taken the day we both dropped him at number 4 Privet Drive. The token is infused with a tracking charm that I have developed myself. It basically alerts us if Harry is in a life or death situation, or can no longer be tracked." He explained calmly to an irate Minerva with a twinkle in his eyes. "While I don't think he may be in any danger, the fact that I can't seem to locate the young boy in any of the usual places he frequents; only tells me that either the spell is faulty or the hairs have lost their power after all these years."

The device in itself was no bigger than a galleon, but when twisted it could be opened to place something inside. The night James and Lily Potter died, Voldermort had vanished, to be thought of dead, but Albus Dumbledore did not fully believe that, and wanted to make sure Harry would be kept safe. Minerva and Albus had had a long conversation that night and, despite the all the protests coming from Minerva's great arguments; they had agreed that, while not convenient, Harry should be brought up with his closest family, who were his aunt and uncle on his mother's side, the Dursley's.

Minerva had spent the whole day in her animagus cat form studying their life and keeping tabs on them. She had been surprised at how different Lily was from Petunia; she had heard rumors about how her sister treated her when she was back from school for the holidays. But the behavior she had been witness to from the Dursley's household had appalled her. She had fought and argued with Albus when he had told her that Harry had to stay with them. She didn't care about any familial magic, or blood magic, she was sure that the boy would have a better life growing up in Hogwarts, where he would be amongst his own. When Hagrid showed up on carrying Harry on mister Black's motorcycle, she had already communicated all the information she had gathered to her superior. Albus had patiently heard her claims and concerns. He was aware of who they were dealing with, but he honestly believed that this would be the safest place to

- "He turns nine today, you know. I bet those hideous muggles we call his family forgot again. Did you know that he fell ill, and they didn't take him to a healer? I cannot wait for when he finally turns eleven, and comes here.", Minerva huffed indignantly.

- "I know.", Dumbledore sighed.

Throughout the years Dumbledore had kept tabs on the well-being of Harry, and was aware of how badly he was treated, but by then Harry was being raised as a muggle, and had no knowledge of his parents world. He had never wanted him to be raised the muggle way, but Lily's sacrifice would place a defense spell on him, that until he became of age, would protect him from any serious harm, and that spell could only be activated if he was close to his bloodline. It also helped that the Dursley's didn't like parading the boy around, so he wouldn't grab any strange or unwanted attention.

The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had agreed to place a Notice-Me-Not charm on the Dursley's house in order to avoid any unwanted magical visitors to suddenly show up on their doorstep, that is of course, until Harry turned eleven, and the owls were to present the usual Hogwarts' invitation. Usually, Cornelius did not like taking orders from Albus, but he understood the need for Harry's safety, and had agreed that until the day came, only Albus, Minerva, and Hagrid, for some reason Cornelius did not understand, would be the only ones with knowledge of where Harry was staying. He was a little miffed at Dumbledore for not including him, but he was not willing to argue with the man who could take his job at any given moment. Dumbledore on the other hand, was concerned about the situation since he knew that while Voldemort may have vanished, whether permanently or not, his followers were still made of flesh and bone, and would likely use any change for revenge.

- "You don't think that You-know-who's followers got to him, do you?", asked Minerva, her voice trembling.

- "I don't know what to say, Minerva, but I know who might have some answers. From what I know, he was supposed to be staying with Arabella Figg.", he told her, while pocketing the token and standing up.. "I think a visit is due. Shall we?".

They both descended to the Great Hall and walked to the apparition point in the grounds and with a loud pop they both vanished, reappearing in an alley close to Wisteria Walk. Making sure they were okay, they made their way to Mrs. Figg's door and gently knocked on the door and an elderly woman answered carrying a fat ginger cat on her arms and wearing what looked like a fur coat, but was really a coat heavily covered with cat hair.

- "Pro- Professor Dumbledore!", she stuttered. "I didn't know you would be visiting us tonight.", she said putting the cat down and trying to shake the hairs off the coat. "I would have prepared a little bit, or clean up, or…".

- "Arabella, I have told you multiple times, its just Albus, there is no need for the formalities. This is Professor Minerva McGonagall, she works with me at Hogwarts.", he interjected, signaling to the woman standing outside the door looking at him with surprise in her eyes.

- "Ah yes! Albus! Come in!", she moved to the side of the door motioning at them to go in.

A couple cats had scurried under their legs to go outside, but there were at least ten more others inside looking at them from various places in the living room. Minerva noticed that not all of the cats were regular breeds, but it seemed that the majority showed traces of magical breeds. The ginger furball that had been occupying Mrs. Figg's hands had taken space on the stairs and was looking at them attentively, following their every movement. Mrs Figg had taken into trying to tidy up a bit the free spaces in her living room that were not being occupied by the felines. At the instruction she had sat down next to Albus, in a magenta colored sofa, while Mrs. Figg kept fidgeting and fussing over how her place looked.

- "Let me just tidy this up real quick. Shoo!", she kept muttering to herself.

- "Arabella, I'm sorry to say that this is not a courtesy visit. We are here on Order business.", he looked at her and she froze.

The Order of the Phoenix had been a small group of witches and wizards who had joined forces to rebel against the darkness that was overpowering the magical world. Dumbledore had started it as a means to have an idea on how to fight against the rising power of the dark wizard who called himself Voldemort. Its rank were filled by some of the strongest witches and wizards they were able to recruit, but at the end, it had taken the selfless sacrifice of a mother for her son to destroy the Dark Lord. The surviving few had disbanded that day and now lived their own lives, but Dumbledore still had some tasks to complete that were left over from when the Order was still alive.

- "I'm sorry for this Arabella, but we need to see young Harry. " he looked at her somberly.

She started shaking and twisting her hands.

- "He should be upstairs sleeping. His family dropped him off yesterday and said they would pick him up at the end of the week. He is a nice kid, never complains, and really helpful around the house and with my cats. "

Dumbledore looked at her with understanding. Her family had shunned her, as a kid when they found out she was a squib. However, what she lacked in magic she had in will to help and heart. When Dumbledore had gone to her nine years ago and informed her that she would be moving there and keeping an eye on Harry and their family, she had readily dropped everything in her life and followed instructions. He had gifted her with magical items for communication and some familiars that could keep her company, since she was used to them from working in the Magical Animal Emporium back in Diagon Alley.

- "We urgently need to see that he is well. Our tracker seems to be malfunctioning, so we want to be safe and check on him. Then we'll be on our way.", Albus explained.

- "Yes, of course! Up the stairs, second room to the left. Try not to wake him up, please."

They stood and made way to the room. Minerva noticed that the ginger cat kept staring at them.

- "Albus, something is strange. Call it a sixth sense, but I feel like that ginger cat knows something Mrs. Figg doesn't."

- "Calm down, Minerva. Being around a lot of cats always brings your instincts out. Okay this is it.", Albus said with a small chuckle.

They slowly opened the door to the room. The moonlight coming from the window filled the room, and they could see that the bed and its occupant were untouched. Just as Albus was closing the door and turning to Minerva, the ginger cat slipped into the room and jumped on the bed. Minerva let out a gasp, since she was sure Harry would now wake up, but nothing happened. The ginger cat let out a loud yelp, as if calling for them to come closer. Minerva pushed Albus to the side and made way to the bed. The ginger menace had made a mess of the empty bed and the cold bed sheets.

With fear in her voice, she looked at Albus, "It's empty, Albus!"

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- "We are here!", the Doctor said with a smile.

Harry jumped. He wasn't still sure he wasn't dreaming, but the up until now, the trip had been nice. He had gone with Rose to the Tardis' closet and tried out multiple attires, while Rose kept telling him about her past adventures in different planets. The idea of there being aliens and other beings in space was something Harry had never really been interested in, but Rose made it sound like it was so much fun.

- "Where are we?", Rose asked the Doctor.

- "Not where, but when, or both! Open the door Harry.", said the Doctor .

- "Wait! Before we go outside, some ground rules, for our young adventurer. No running off. Stay where we can see you. Don't eat anything given to you without asking me first. Don't talk to strangers. Let me see. I think that would be the gist of it.", the Doctor told him. "That also applies for you Rose!", he added.

Harry looked at Rose while walking slowly, and felt reassured once she smiled at him. He headed to the door and pulled the handle.

Just as the door opened, a bright light filled the Tardis, and Harry took a step outside. They were definitely no longer in the park, they were somewhere else. Underneath his feet was the greenest grass he had ever seen and all around there were mountains. Harry could hear water running not far away. Soon Rose joined him and put a hand on his shoulder.

- "Whatever you do, Harry, do not, by any circumstances, got anywhere without us.", Rose told him while holding to his shoulder. "Where are we, Doctor?"