Summary: AU-On the night of Halloween, Voldemort attacks the Potter's residence when Harry is a year old. Lily and James are banished to death, whereas Harry and his older brother, Alex, survive and make their way through life-- but with a few twists. Posing as Dumbledore's grandson and developing an illness that can't be cured, can Harry fulfill his destiny?


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related.

Where Are The Children

By: xScenex

a.k.a. Min

Chapter 3


(A/N: Just so that I don't confuse you or myself, in this 'dream,' I'm going to refer Harry to Nicholas, unless the people in the dream are talking to him. Okay? If anyone's confused, just tell me, and I'll explain it a lot simpler.)

He heard a voice; it was familiar, yet foreign to his ears. Turning his head to the side slightly, he saw the face of a young woman that was no older than 25. Her piercing green eyes stared down at him with so much love that Nicholas felt an ache in his heart. Her auburn hair lay in soft waves over her shoulders, gently tickling his face whenever he turned it. Soon, he realized that she was holding him. Wait… holding?

He felt a gentle caress on his forehead, and the boy looked up into the dark, chocolate brown eyes of a man with unruly black hair that actually reminded Nicholas of himself, except for the color. Huh… he started to think to himself, who are these people?

"Harry," the woman said in a soft, musical voice. "Hello there, Harry. Meet your daddy."

Looking from the redheaded woman, his gaze moved over to the man, who smiled charmingly down at him. Who was Harry? He was Nicholas.

"Hey little man." The guy said gruffly, trying to keep emotion out of his voice. "You have your mum's eyes, you know that?"

The woman laughed lightly, then handed him to the guy with the messy black hair. "Be careful with him, James."

"I will, Lily. I won't drop him. You'll have to watch Sirius with that!" He laughed, cradling Nicholas in the crook of his arms. "I can't believe you're finally here."

Nicholas blinked up at the man, unsure of what was going on. Who were these people? They seemed so familiar, yet he'd never seen them in his life.

"Prongs! Flower!" A voice shouted from somewhere behind the man named James.

Nicholas, unable to move in this 'dream' as he assumed it was, had to wait until the person came into view before he could see him.

"Let me see Prongs Jr.!" The voice called out and soon, another man with black hair and blue eyes that seemed recognizable came into view.

"Padfoot! Nice to see you! Isn't he absolutely gorgeous?" James crowed loudly.

"James!" The woman scolded, but the guy known as 'Padfoot' said,

"Of course Prongs here would call him gorgeous! Blimey, Harry looks just like him! It's a mini-James!"

"Who looks just like him?" Another male voice asked, and soon, to Nicholas' shock, the guy that he had met in his grandfather's office that was named Remus, walked up and stared down at him. "Never mind, I think I know now."

With a grin, James handed Nicholas to Remus, who had held his arms out in a silent question. "What do you think?"

"I think he's going to grow up looking like you, but he'll have Lily's attitude." Remus smiled, then winked in the direction of the woman with red hair. "Alex is going to love him."

"I hope so. I hope he doesn't get jealous." Lily said worriedly.

James replied, "He wont. We didn't raise our child to be like that."

"Of course not."

"So, who's the Godfather?" 'Padfoot' asked.

"You, of course!" James said and slapped the other guy on the back.

"Me?" He asked in astonishment, then let out a loud 'whoop!' before doing a small dance.

Everyone laughed again at the boys childish behavior. Nicholas was still confused of who these people where, though he found himself drawn to this 'family' as he assumed it was.

Finally, when things calmed down, Remus looked down at Nicholas again, then asked, "So what's the little guys full name?"

The woman replied, "His full name is Harold James Potter, but Harry for short."


Harry woke with a start. He felt cold sweat on his face and attempted to wipe it away but his hands were shaking too much. Why was he shaking so much after that dream? Why had he dreamed about Harry Potter and his family? More importantly, why was he Harry potter in the dream?

Harry shook his head slightly, trying to get the images of the happy family out of his head. What was bothering him most was the fact that Remus was in the dream. It just seemed too coincidental. He met Remus just the night before, then he had a dream about him and a bunch of others, namely Harry Potter.

Sitting up in bed, the boy yawned loudly. He looked around and realized that it was really late in the morning and when he peered up at the clock next to his bed, realized that it was almost noon. He had slept in and no one had even bothered to wake him up. That meant that his grandfather was out again, and he was left in the house with only Sparkle and Twinkle as company.

Sighing in annoyance, the boy slipped out of bed to go rummage through his wardrobe. Finding a plain black shirt and jeans, he left his room to take a shower.

After showering, he dressed in his clothes and headed to the kitchens to get something to eat. He slept through breakfast, and it was near lunch, so the house elves wouldn't mind. The boy went through the hidden passageway behind one of the large paintings of a unicorn and found himself inside the room that contained many cooking utensils, materials, and food.

"Hello Sparkle, Twinkle."

"Good afternoon young Master! It's great to see you finally awake." Twinkle replied while smiling brightly at the boy.

"Is Grandfather out again?"

"Yes, he said he had business to attend to and wouldn't be home until dinner or later." Sparkle told him sadly, her large ears drooping dramatically.

"Ah." Was all Harry said as he took a seat on a stool by a counter.

"Would young Master like something to eat? It's nearly lunch!"

"Could you just make me a sandwich? I'm not really that hungry anymore." Harry asked and stated quietlythen watched the house elves nod and hurry off.

While waiting for the elves to get back, Harry began thinking about what he'd do that day. He was getting tired of staying inside, so he figured he could just go exploring around the vicinity. His grandfather wouldn't mind; he had mentioned it to Harry just the other day.

When the house elves came back with his sandwich and a glass of pumpkin juice, Harry had planned on going to 'explore' the surroundings around Dumbledore Manor for a while to take up some time, then after that, he'd come home and fly in the pasture a quarter of a mile beyond the pond.

After taking his time eating, he downed the pumpkin juice and muttered a quick goodbye to the house elves, who waved merrily at him as he left the kitchen. Trudging back to his room, he slipped on some shoes and picked up his broomstick then exited through the back door that led to the back yard.

The afternoon started to pass by slowly and Harry was feeling rather bored. He'd decided to go into a small orchard, but soon found that the underbrush was extremely thick so he flew his broomstick over the bushes and shrubs.

Everything looked the same here: green and/or brown and was so dense that you couldn't seem much else. Harry wouldn't have really minded it if it weren't for all of the thorns that were randomly sticking out here and there. It was quite nice and peaceful. Maybe there was a clearing somewhere…

He was staring up into the green, canopied ceiling of the orchard when he heard a dull whisper. Alarmed, the boy's head snapped to the right where the sound had come from and he froze in midair, straining his ears for any further noise.

'Ssstupid bussshess, alwayss getting in my way.'

The boy would have laughed out loud at the anger in the feminine voice he heard, if he wasn't so scared. The voice was more of a hissing than it was an actual voice but Harry clearly understood it. What scared him most though was the thought of why someone would be doing all the way here near his grandfather's house?

'Ssstupid green ssshrubss-- Ssss! Ssstupid twigsss! I'd kill you if you weren't a plant!'

Harry snorted in amusement and was further confused when he found that the voice was coming from somewhere below him. It couldn't be an actual human-- he was only hovering three feet above the ground. He decided to call out --

"Hello? Is someone there?"

There was a pause in which he waited for an answer.

'Jusst my luck, a human! Ssstupid humanssss, always in the way…'

Harry's eyes narrowed. So it wasn't a human. 'Who's there?'

Startled, the boy clamped his hands over his mouth, hearing the hissing coming from his own mouth. He understood what he said, but it was unmistakably hissing. Hissing?

'What? A human? Ssspeaking parsseltongue?'

'Parseltongue? What is parseltongue?'

'You ssspeak ssnake language, human.'

'Snake language? How's that possible?'

'I am not sssure, human. The lasst man to ssspeak the sssnake language wass the heir of Sslytherin.'

'Heir of Slytherin? You mean Voldemort?'

'Yess, that would be what you humanss called him.'

'But Voldemort was a bad person! I'm not a bad person-- at least, I don't think I am!'

'Not to worry human, ssspeaking the ssnake language isssn't a bad thing, no, not alwaysss…'

He was now staring to panic. Wasn't speaking parseltongue a bad thing? Whoever he was speaking to had assured him that it wasn't, but if Lord Voldemort had been able to speak it, did it make him a bad person?

'Human, I would like to sssee you. Do you think you could lower your… sstick and reach out your hand ssso that I could climb up and ssee your faccce?'

'What are you?' Harry asked hesitantly.

'A sssnake, of coursse…'

Sighing quietly in relief, Harry lowered his broom so that his feet were now touching the ground. He reached a hand downwards a bit and a small, golden head popped out of the underbrush. To Harry's immense shock, the golden creature had green eyes -- like those of the woman in his dream. The snake was absolutely stunning in the boys perspective.

The snake, seeing his hand, slowly slid upwards and onto his arm, weaving it's body around and around until it was completely covering the lower half of the limb. Hissing contently, the snake asked, 'Lift me up sso that I can sssee your faccce.'

Harry obliged, holding the snake that covered his arm up to his face at eye level. After a long staring contest, the golden snake hissed once, then turned away.

'Human… do you realize that you are not who you think you are?'

'What do you mean?'

'Ssso… asss I predicted, you do not know.'

'Don't know what?'

The snake turned its head back to Harry, staring deep into his eyes as if searching for something, then said, 'Speaker child, you are under a charm; hidden away for your ssafety. I do not know exactly who you are, by name, but you, child, are sssomeone completely different. It'sss in your sscent and in your eyes… those eyess of yoursss are like mine…'

'But what does that mean? How are my eyes like yours?'

Harry had the impression that the snake was shaking it's head. He huffed slightly, then, on impulse, he began stroking the snake, which, to his surprise, hissed contentedly.

'What isss your name, child?'

'Nicholas. Nicholas Dumbledore -- but most call me Nick.'

'Nicholas… that isss not who you truly are. You do not sssmell anything like the one you call Dumbledore. I know, I've ssseen him around, and his sscent is everywhere…'

'Is that a bad thing?' The boy questioned, hoping that he would never smell like an old person.

'It depends, child. There isss more to you than meetss the human eye.'

'I don't understand…'

'You will know in time, Sspeaker.'

"I suppose." Harry said to himself.

'Where do you live, Nicholasss?'

'I live with my grandfather, down that way.'

'Could I come with you, Ssspeaker? I would like to watch over you… there iss sssomething about you, and us snakess live to ssserve our masssterss. I feel drawn to you, ass if I belong asss your familiar… Our masssters ssspeak the ssnake language, and you, child, are one…'

'I guess you could. I don't think Grandfather would mind. What's your name?'

'You can call me Arifandel.' (A/N: It's pronounced as -- Airy-fan-dell)

'Can I just call you Ari for short?'

'If that iss what young massster wants.'

'Please, don't call me young master. I'm too young to be called that! I'm only six… and a half! Call me Nick, or Nicholas.'

'But that isss not your true name, child.'

'Then call me that until you find out my real name?'

'Fine.'

The boy smiled to himself, then asked the snake if she'd like to move somewhere other than his arm so that he could steer his broomstick around without hurting her. She agreed, and eventually wrapped herself loosely around his shoulders, her head resting against his neck.

Harry and Arifandel spoke to one another, and the boy decided that he truly did like this snake. He found out a lot of things about her that were interesting, like the fact that she wasn't an actual breed of a snake, but was made a long time ago by a wizard. She was made of pure, raw magic, and Harry thought it was wonderful.

'Who was your master before?'

'I do not remember, sspeaker. I truly don't. It hass been too long; but you, child, are my new massster. That isss all that matterss…'


It had been almost two and a half hours after he found Ari, and now he was making his way back to Dumbledore Manor. He was nearing where the river was, when Ari pointed something out to him.

'Young Nicholasss, do you know that there isss an abandoned building over that way?' She asked, jerking her head to the side.

Looking in the direction, Harry could make the faint outline of a building that he hadn't remembered being there before. 'Do you want to go check it out?'

The snake was silent for a moment before she nodded her head in agreement. The boy smiled slightly, then smoothly steered his broom in the direction of the building.

It was farther away than he thought, and Harry was surprised at how big the building itself was. As he neared the ruins of what used to be something that resembled a factory, Ari hissed in his ear, 'There isss magic in the air… there is a barrier of ssorts around the perimeter… It'ss a type of glamour charm, like the one you wear on yourself, Sspeaker, but this one hides thiss place from view of mosst.'

'A glamour charm? I have a glamour charm on me?'

'Yes, child. You do… I can tassste it almosst.'

Harry shivered slightly at the thought. What was so wrong with him that he had to be hidden behind a glamour charm? Did it have something to do with his family? His heritage?

Before he could think anymore, Harry suddenly felt the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. Ari hissed in discomfort and began to squirm in annoyance. He knew that what he was sensing was the magic that served as a barrier to the building. He'd read about barriers of these sorts -- and from what he could tell, this one was an old charm.

Something about the magic seemed to still around him and Ari, before it suddenly ceased to surround them. It was as if it were permitting them entrance to the place; Harry was starting to feel a bit of unease settle in his stomach.

'That wasss odd… it iss accepting uss for sssome reason.'

'What would have happened if it didn't accept us?' Harry gulped.

'It could have killed usss.'

'What!'

'It isss true!'

Groaning in annoyance, the boy ruffled up his hair. 'Why didn't you tell me that before I came? I could have died.'

'I had a feeling that you would be able to get through. You were able to sssee what mosst do not. It permitted you to come…'

Harry still seemed unconvinced but he didn't argue any more. Slowly, the drifted over the remains of what seemed to have been a stone wall. The stone that lay broken and scattered on the ground was either covered in vines or moss, and there was even a small stream that branched off of the river somewhere up north that ran along the far left side.

The building in front of him loomed forebodingly above him, towering up into the sky. Even the vines hadn't grown all the way up the sides of what was left standing, and it was obvious that this building had been there for a long time.

The windows -- some still closed off by glass -- were dark and ominous. There was no sound, no animals of any kind. Nothing stirred, except for Harry and his snake friend, as they slowly moved forward to the large structure before them.

'Should we go inside?' Harry asked hesitantly.

'Of courssse, Sspeaker. We were allowed here for a reassson.'

'Right.'

So, with that, Harry jumped off of his broomstick and landed quite gracefully on the rocky ground below. After slinging the broomstick over his shoulder, avoiding hitting Ari, he took a few steps forward towards a large, gaping entrance to the builing until he was enveloped in the dark abyss of shadows that lay waiting for him.