1st July, 1991: 8.59am
The summer days slipped by in typical British fashion. Some days sunshine soaked the ground until it cracked, and other days thunder shook the sky and the end of Privet Drive turned into a small river. Of course, Aunt Petunia sent a sharply worded letter to the local Council about the blocked drain, as well as the appalling state of Britain in general. Not that any of this mattered much to Harry, who spent all of his time either locked in his cupboard or doing his various chores.
Today, however, was different. Sat in his cupboard, he quietly hummed to himself as he daydreamed about his birthday next month, and how he would celebrate it if he could. He smiled. After all, you only turned eleven once.
His reverie was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Prim clacks rang through the hallway as his Aunt strode past to answer the door.
"Can't you read? The sign says no salesmen." she screeched.
"WHAT?" She responded to the quiet man. "I don't know what you mean, now get out of my house!"
The door shut with a slam, followed by patient knocking.
"Vernon! Vernon! It's them." She sounded on the edge of panic.
Thoroughly confused, Harry curled tighter into his nest as his Uncle came thundering out, loading a sports shotgun as he went and muttering about "damn freaks".
The door opened again, followed by a measured voice, a furious roar in response and an echoing retort that made Harry cover his ears and whimper. There was a pained yell and a thump as someone hit the floor, hard. Then, everything went quiet. Apart from the voice of the visitor.
"Now if we could all just calm down." The man didn't shout, but his voice had a hard edge to it.
"You are Vernon and Petunia Dursley, correct? Where, may I ask, is your nephew?" Silence fell.
Eventually, Harry heard the visitor mutter and a warm glow seemed to surround him. He squeaked in shock and fear before clapping a hand to his mouth.
Gently, the bolt snicked back and the door was swung wide. An old man with a long white beard and plum paisley suit stood there, a look of horror etched behind half-moon spectacles as he took in the wretched signs of habitation in the cramped space, and the terrified boy tucked into one corner. He stood slowly, his patience and any last signs of good cheer sliding from his face. His blue eyes now resembled chips of ice, glowing softly with a subtle power. Waves of oppressive force rolled off of him, the air seemingly thickening and crackling just beyond hearing. The pictures on the wall shook and the front door slammed as if caught in a gust of wind.
"Petunia, I am disgusted. There will be a reckoning, of that I can assure you."
He took a deep breath and pinched his nose lightly to centre himself. The air around him calmed and the chips of ice melted into deep pools of sorrow.
The visitor looked back down at the terrified young boy and reached out a hand.
"Harry, I am so, so sorry." A tear could be seen tracing a line on his face. "Let's get you away from these awful people." Harry, still in shock, meekly complied and followed the man to the door, which opened seemingly by itself.
"You three will not be going anywhere until I return." He waved a stick at the house and all of the doors and windows slammed shut with a squelching noise. As an afterthought, he absently waved at the telephone wire, which sliced straight through as though by a knife. The man knelt in front of Harry.
"I had planned for a nice chat this afternoon, but I think we may have some more important issues to deal with, eh?" He tried and failed to smile. He stood and dusted off his purple suit, which crackled a little under the attention.
"My apologies, my name is Albus Dumbledore and I've waited for this day for ten years. I had hoped I would find you happy and well." He looked at his feet. "If I may, I feel it prudent to get your health checked as soon as possible. But first, would you like something to eat?" Harry hesitated, untrusting, before his stomach took over and he gave the smallest nod in reply. Dumbledore held out his arm to the boy and gestured for him to hold on.
"Just to warn you, Harry, this may feel a little strange."
With a crack, the two of them left Privet Drive behind them.
Harry didn't know what to think. One moment they had been stood outside Number Four, and the next he was twisted into an impossibly small tube and spat back out again in the middle of London. He felt a little faint and would have fallen if not for Dumbledore's sturdy grip. He was led to an impractically narrow café squeezed between a bank and a shabby set of studio spaces. A homemade sign proclaimed it "Barney's Bistro". At his confused look, Dumbledore merely smiled.
"Don't judge a book by its cover, Harry. I have it on good authority that this little café does one of the best cooked breakfasts in the city."
Any questions which Harry may have had were soon quelled by the heady scents of fried bacon and sausages. Mr Dumbledore waved cheerily to the man clanking behind the counter before heading up a set of stairs, which Harry hadn't noticed on the way in. The tousle-haired chef brought up a pair of very full, steaming plates shortly afterwards, along with a pot of tea and a small jug of orange juice. Harry was amazed from the first bite. He put his all into making his cooking at the Dursley's as perfect as he could make it, but he felt out of his league here.
"Tastes magical, doesn't it Harry?" said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling over his half-moon spectacles. "Barnabus here never had a talent for wands. His family disowned him, thinking him a squib - one from a wizarding background with barely any magical affinity. His magic is rather unconventional, and lends itself well to his love of cooking."
Harry listened, holding his questions back as he quietly worked his way through his breakfast. He ate quickly, a habit picked up from Dudley stealing or ruining his food back at home. Dumbledore's gaze drifted off into the distance and he stirred his tea. He sighed, before muttering something under his breath and gesturing purposefully around them with one hand.
"I have a lot of things to tell you, and a lot of them may be difficult to believe. The first, and most important thing is that you are a wizard, Harry."
Harry stopped eating for a second and stared down into the strange man's purple paisley swirls. Then he said in a monotone "But Mr Dumbledore, I'm just a normal boy."
He flinched when Dumbledore reached for his hand. Pausing, Dumbledore sat back and laced his fingers together before saying gently: "Magic is real. Your parents were an incredibly talented witch and wizard. One day, you shall be as well. Normally I would ask if you had done anything strange or unusual, but that is unlikely to have happened with you. To help keep you hidden, I limited your magic, to stop you from revealing yourself to those who might wish you harm." His last words sounded bitter in his mouth.
Harry was still at a bit of a loss, but something about the broken old man made him trust him a little.
"There… there might be something. On Dudley's birthday, I spoke to his pet snake. It might have just been a dream, though." He saw Dumbledore's hands tighten slightly and his eyes widen a little.
"Yes, I can see how that might have happened." he responded thoughtfully. "It might be best to keep that particular detail between us for now, if that's alright. When you've finished, I'd like to take you to a magical hospital for a check-up. I'll need to put you under a disguise, called a glamour, to prevent anyone from recognising you while we're there." Harry just nodded mutely, even if inwardly he was wondering why a nobody like him would need a disguise.
The portion sizes were much too large for Harry, but there was no way he was going to waste perfectly good food. His surreptitious attempts to rescue the leftovers in a napkin couldn't get past those observant blue eyes, however. With a couple of flicks of his wand, Dumbledore conjured a metal lunch box and scooped the leftovers inside. His amazement forestalled any embarrassment; he thought he recognised the style of box from a photo he'd seen once of a sepia-tone construction worker eating lunch atop a skyscraper.
"That should stay warm until you get peckish. It's only a temporary conjuration so try to finish it off in the next day or two" said Dumbledore. Then, with a look of deep concentration, he tapped Harry firmly on the head with his wand before waving it in a complex gesture in front of his chest. "And that's the glamour." Dumbledore promptly stood. "Come along, Harry", he said over his shoulder as he led the way back outside; only stopping to drop a few strange-looking coins clinked on the counter. "Excellent as always, Barnabus. I'll be back for more soon enough!" Barney, or Barnabus, gave a pleased grin in return. His eyes flickered to Harry, but Barnabus only winked and gestured a zipping motion across his lips as the two of them left.
A short walk later, a redheaded and scarless boy who was fascinated with his reflection stood outside a run-down old warehouse called Purge & Dowse, Ltd. If he hadn't seen the earlier examples of magic in action, Harry would have thought this an elaborate practical joke. As it was, he was prepared to think of it more a nice dream while it lasted, and was suspending his disbelief accordingly.
And then the mannequin beckoned to them, and Mr Dumbledore strode straight through the glass! Harry reached out a finger and watched with wide eyes as the glass rippled like water. Following the strange man, he stepped into a whirl of chaos. The people surrounding them had all sorts of bizarre maladies, but he tried hard not to stare as Mr Dumbledore had a quiet word with someone called a Welcomewitch. After a brief look of shock, she hurried them past a grumpy-looking man who was somehow bright blue, down a corridor and through to a private consultation room.
A harried-looking young man came in shortly afterwards, an eyebrow raised in surprise at his visitor.
"Professor Dumbledore? What can I do for you?"
"Bilious! Or should I say, Healer Sayre? It's good to see you. I have a rather confidential case for you."
"Professor, patient confidentiality is the standard, here. Now, who is this young man?"
Dumbledore lifted the glamour with a wave of his hand.
"Merlin's beard, is that who I think it is?" he said with a hint of awe. Dumbledore smiled and gave him a friendly but pointed look. "Mr Potter, my apologies. Your confidentiality is of the utmost importance, of course."
Harry looked at Dumbledore, confused. "Sir? But my name's Harry Smith."
"Harry, I'm afraid that your surname was changed at my suggestion. I expected those people to at least tell you of your heritage in private, though. I'll explain more after your health check." Harry just nodded and looked back to the curious Healer Sayre.
"Mr Potter, I will be performing a number of non-invasive diagnostic scans upon yourself, taking a blood sample and conducting a few physical checks."
He got to work, but his professional demeanour faltered as soon as he asked Harry to remove his rag of a shirt.
"Dumbledore, what is the meaning of this? This poor lad has been through hell!"
Dumbledore looked slightly ill as he saw clear signs of bruising and scarring all over the boy's body. The diagnostics spell being cast by Healer Sayre shot out twisted lengths of coloured mists. Harry instinctively curled in on himself. He couldn't understand the spell, but he had a good guess at what the ominous shades of jagged smoke meant. A nearby quill stood on its point with a flick of the Healer's wand, noting down a long list of old injuries. Badly set broken bones, malnutrition, scar tissue, and traces of recent bruising were all added to the parchment.
"I am afraid that although I foresaw the need to protect him from Voldemort's followers" the Healer flinched but held his stare "it did not occur to me to protect the lad from his own relatives."
"Merlin's beard – his family did this to him?" the Healer went pale and his eyes widened. Cold anger had settled in Dumbledore's features.
Taking a deep breath, the Healer finished the scans, then pulled open a nearby drawer and removed a strange piece of headgear. He put it on himself before clicking a honey-coloured lens into place over one of his eyes. To Harry, the Healer's eye seemed magnified to two or three times its natural size.
"Now, Mr Potter, if you could remove your glasses I just need to check your eyes." After some humming punctuated by a short frown, Healer Sayre noted down some numbers on a slip of parchment which he put to the side.
"Of course they didn't bother getting you the correct spectacles… Mr Potter, you will find it much easier to see distant objects with this new lens prescription. Take it to a lensmaker when you can. It should also help to prevent headaches from reading. When you're older, you can look into more long-term solutions, if you wish." As he was saying this, he removed and stowed his headgear before opening another drawer. Harry's eyes went wide and he shifted away as the Healer withdrew a crystal vial and a bright silver scalpel.
"Mr Potter, calm down. I am going to apply a numbing charm to your hand before taking the sample. You will not feel any pain, but I do need to test your blood to continue with my assessment."
Harry reluctantly complied in silence, his eyes widening in surprise as the numbing charm took effect, and again as the cut glowed a soft white and healed over instantly.
"Of course," he said, looking at Dumbledore "this sample will be destroyed immediately after testing." He placed the vial to one side.
Healer Sayre looked confused as he pointed his wand at Harry's chest.
"Professor, is there some kind of binding on this boy's magic? I've never seen the like in my career"
"Ah, that is one of mine, I admit. To help him to stay hidden, I sought to control the ways in which accidental magic would be released. I hoped to prevent him from being discovered by those who might seek to harm him."
"This is possibly illegal and definitely morally questionable" the Healer looked accusingly at Dumbledore, before leaning in close to the patterns in the air and muttering. "However, I can't see any damage to the boy's magic." There was a hint of reluctant admiration in the Healer's expression as he turned back. "You will remove this as soon as possible? The dangers of magical suppression are very serious."
"It will be unravelled within the week." Dumbledore confirmed, a flash of regret flickering across his features for a moment. Healer Sayre had already turned back to Harry, though, and missed this.
The series of tests and checks continued into the afternoon, with only the occasional break for lunch, or to wait for the results of some test or other.
"Mr Potter, I would also like to see you in a fortnight to see how you are improving, as well as bring in a specialist to look at your scar. I have the results of your blood test on this scrip, but there doesn't seem to be anything extra to worry about. There were some traces of unknown magic in your system" he looked curiously at Dumbledore, who was twiddling his thumbs, "but again, it doesn't appear to be harmful." Healer Sayre handed him several slips of a thick papery material covered in scruffy handwriting. Dumbledore reinstated the glamour before they walked back towards reception.
They quickly stopped at the hospital's apothecary to pick up Harry's potions prescription (helpfully labelled as being for a Mr Harry Smith) before leaving. While the potions were being gathered, Dumbledore took another look at the lens prescription. With a look of concentration, he tapped on Harry's glasses with his wand. Harry felt them go warm and wriggle slightly before settling down, and quickly found a reflection in some nearby glassware to admire the Professor's handiwork. Not only was his sight clearer, but the frames were fully repaired and fit his face snugly.
"I daresay you'll want to see a professional when you get the opportunity, but it is rather handy being a Transfiguration Master at times" his eyes twinkled merrily at the look of wonder on Harry's face. A small box of potions appeared at the apothecary's hatch, and Dumbledore slid over several silver coins before leading Harry back to the front entrance.
There was a room marked as an "apparition point" down a short corridor from the main reception. Once there, Dumbledore took Harry by the arm and suddenly they were before a small cottage on a hill. In the distance, a sleepy village could be seen. Dumbledore glanced over the house with an air of sadness before leading Harry to the front door.
The house was clearly old. It appeared to be built from ancient dark timber with originally white plaster between. Tatty thatch covered the roof, and the garden was long overgrown. Beyond the creaking front door, any furniture was beneath dust sheets and the place had clearly lain empty for a number of years.
"Tilly?" Dumbledore called into the air. A sudden loud crack made Harry jump backwards. Dumbledore gave him a quick look of apology before addressing the small green creature in front of him.
"Yes, Headmaster?"
"Tilly, I'd like you to work here for a short while looking after myself and a prospective student. There will be plenty of work to be done here and I will make sure you get your old schedule back upon your return." Tilly's face had brightened at the mention of work.
"This young man, Tilly, is Harry Potter. If you could help to look after him and the house until the start of term I would be most grateful." Her eyes were wide in amazement.
"Thanking you, Headmaster!" she trilled in excitement. "I's will start straightway!" she snapped her fingers several times. Dust vanished, sheets folded themselves, shutters opened. Very quickly the house began to look habitable again. Dumbledore turned to Harry as she set to work.
"Harry, Tilly is a house elf. Her greatest joy is to work and care for people, and she will help you around the house until the start of term. I know you have a lot of questions, and I shall endeavour to answer as many as I can in the next few weeks. If you think of any while I am away working, write them down and we will go through them on my return. With your permission, I may bring the occasional visitor to see you." Harry nodded.
"Now, this is by no means a prison. You may leave the house if you like, but I would like you to stay nearby and only go outside under a glamour from Tilly. Try to avoid crowded areas, as she will find it much harder to keep you disguised when around many people." He looked longingly out of the window. "You may find the woods interesting to roam in the day. Tilly or myself will accompany you to make sure you come to no harm."
Harry looked up at the kind, tired old man who had done so much for him. He tugged at the sleeve of his suit and whispered: "thank you."
The smile that lit up Dumbledore's face was wonderful.
"I'm sorry that I have to leave you so soon, Harry, but I will be back before long. Tilly knows how to reach me should you wish to send a message." His face darkened as he stood up straight. "But first, I have a reckoning to deliver." Harry watched him out of the window as he walked up the path, before disappearing with a twist.
The day's events had left Harry reeling; he decided he needed to rest and give himself time to process what had happened. At first, though, he knew not what to do. He had never had a bed before and spent several restless hours tossing and turning in the seemingly huge space. He eventually went downstairs and made a nest in the alcove beneath the steps. Tilly was confused but did not force him out of his den. Instead, she endeavoured to make the space as comfortable as possible for the small boy. The feeling of peace that crept over him was unfamiliar, but welcome, and soon Harry was asleep with a small smile on his face.
Author's Notes:
I'm a bit unsure about chapter lengths. In my word processor 3000-5000 words looks plenty, but once it's uploaded it looks a little short. What are your opinions on chapter length? Also, pacing is a thing I'm worried about. I decided that if I didn't start posting, that I never would, so I'm just muddling along and hoping for the best.
It's just occurred to me that I'm unfamiliar with how notifications work on here, so in case you didn't know: I made a couple of slight changes to the previous two chapters and changed the ANs. It's been a long time since I last posted so I didn't want to confuse anyone.