Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (or anybody else in this story).

Chapter 4

Harry's afternoon was a whirlwind tour of new experiences. Mrs. Granger started by giving him a bath. He was uncomfortable with her washing him apart from his time as a cat—while Aunt Petunia had done it until he was old enough, she was never gentle about it—but Emma knew that a boy his age should not be left in the bath alone. After that, they piled in the car and went to the store. Harry had barely even seen the inside of a department store before, and he had certainly never had anyone buy him clothes, but they didn't leave until they had three complete sets of clothes for him and a new pair of trainers. Back at their house, he changed out of Dudley's oversize castoffs and was amazed at how comfortable his new outfit was now that he was wearing something his size.

The bewilderment continued as the Grangers allowed him to sit on the sofa and watch television with them until Mr. Dumbledore returned. He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did. The Grangers really did seem to be nice people—not just nice like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were to Dudley, but nice in a way that he had never personally seen and barely heard about from his limited exposure to people outside his family. It would take him quite some time before he understood that it was simply because they were a normal family—more "normal", in fact, than the oh-so-proud Dursleys. For now, he was too busy trying to process all of the changes in his life. He was almost tempted to change back into a cat so things would be simpler—almost. The warm house was definitely better on that point.

Exactly three hours after Albus Dumbledore had vanished from their living room, the doorbell rang. Dan rose to answer it, while Emma picked up the notebook that she had been writing questions in all afternoon.

"Thank you for coming back, Mr. Dumbledore," Dan said coolly when he saw their visitor return in the same absurd robes.

"Of course, Mr. Granger. How is young Harry doing?"

"Much better now that he's cleaned up and in some proper clothes. But if you don't mind, my wife and I would like to speak with you privately before you talk to him."

Dumbledore suppressed a sigh. It was clear that the Grangers weren't about to give him any slack. Oh well, it was too late to go back now, and besides, they were supposed to be on the same side here. He nodded to them and let them lead the way.

Emma told the children to go upstairs again, something that Hermione was starting to get annoyed with, but instead of occupying the living room, they escorted Dumbledore to the kitchen. He watched as they took their seats: the two of them sitting opposite him across the kitchen table, clearly trying to assert themselves in the position of power. He also noticed that Emma had a muggle notebook open with a substantial list of questions written down one page.

"Alright, first things first," Dan said, leaving no doubt that there would be a lot more "things" to come. "What are your intentions towards Harry?" Emma suppressed a chuckle at this, but refrained from pointing out that he was supposed to ask that about Hermione. "You said you had some ideas about where to put him. You'll forgive us if we don't trust your judgement just yet."

"That's quite understandable." Dumbledore wasn't use to being put in the position of being interrogated, but today had been quite the humbling experience. "I can tell you that I wish to place Harry with a wizarding family. The several families I have in mind for consideration are friends and acquaintances of mine, with children of their own who are treated well, and any one of them would be glad to take Harry."

"That's all well and good that they're your friends. But we've seen how wrong you've been before. How certain are you that they would do well with an adopted child?"

"Mr. Granger, I can assure you that almost any wizarding family in the country would jump at the chance to adopt Harry, and if anything, they would probably spoil him."

"What makes you so sure of that?" Emma said.

"Because Harry Potter is quite possibly the most famous person in all of magical Britain." Dumbledore himself being the other contended, but that was irrelevant here.

Dan and Emma blinked a couple times at that, not sure how to respond. "Famous…? How's that?"

"In our world, Harry is hailed as the Boy-Who-Lived. He is considered a hero for defeating Voldemort, even though he was not the one who did it. There are Harry Potter dolls sold in wizarding stores, and a rather successful children's book series written about him, which of course are complete fabrications."

"Are you having one over on us?" Dan said. "The boy's five. According to you, he hasn't been seen in 'your world' since he was one. Are wizards really that messed up, or is this some kind of insane prank."

"I wish it were, Mr. Granger," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "I'm afraid it was inevitable given the euphoria caused by the end of the war. I had hoped that having the boy raised in the muggle world, that is, the non-magical world, would keep him grounded. Unfortunately, that plan has backfired."

"So now you send him off with no real support into a world where he's already famous that he also knows nothing about?"

"As I said, there are families in our world whom I trust to handle young Harry appropriately. In fact, he has a second cousin on his father's side who would be quite suitable. And in the magical world, I will be able to check on the boy regularly to ensure he is not having any trouble adjusting."

"Like you could and should have been doing for him already?" Emma shot back.

He dropped his gaze, saying, "I admit that I have been leaving too much to chance. Unfortunately, the Dursleys were the only serious non-magical option. There are few families who know of us outside our world."

Both Grangers gave the old man a stern look, but Emma said, "Fair enough…for now."

Her husband took up the next question: "Now, if our daughter is going to be a part of your magical world someday—which we are still trying to wrap our heads around—then we want to know more about it. Tell us about this V…Vol…"

"Voldemort?"

"Yes, the terrorist. He sounded like a pretty bad guy. Is he still a threat."

"I assure you that Voldemort is nothing to be concerned about."

"Please don't patronise us, Mr. Dumbledore," Dan said. "You said most people believe he's dead. I don't think you believe that."

He should have known the evasive approach wouldn't work with this pair. Muggle healers were very well-educated and trained to be inquisitive. "No," he answered, his face grim. "Voldemort has not been seen since that night, but I believe that what happened four years ago only weakened him. It must have nearly killed him, and it certainly permanently incapacitated him, or he would have been seen afterwards, but even so, there are dark rituals by which he could return to his former power."

Dan took the next obvious step, "And you believe that if he does, he'll come after Harry for revenge?"

"I am certain of it. The one thing Voldemort could never tolerate was being bested." It was true enough, if not complete.

"But a five-year-old boy?" Emma said.

"Age matters nothing to him, I'm afraid. He attacked a one-year-old child for revenge and to prevent revenge from one day being taken again himself. He will not tolerate loose ends. It is simply not in his nature. But that is if he finds a way to return, which could take years or longer, if it happens at all."

They didn't look persuaded by his words. "And his followers that you mentioned? You said they wanted revenge, too?"

"Yes, though the threat from them is less, now. Most of them were captured and sent to Azkaban Prison. Unfortunately, there are those who escaped by bribes and claiming to be under mind-control spells who are still at large. But with no attacks in four years, I suspect they do not wish to risk their political power on the chance that their Master might someday return."

"Political power? You mean there are known terrorists in your government!" Dan yelled. "How the hell can you allow that?" He started to rise from the table, but his wife put a hand on his arm to calm him down, though, she was furiously taking notes on these latest revelations.

Dumbledore shuddered inwardly at the (sadly true) accusation. After so many years in the Wizengamot, he sometimes forgot how different wizarding and muggle politics were. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I do not wish to burden your family with the past—"

"It doesn't sound like the past to me," Emma interrupted, "and we're going to learn about it sooner or later. You can't stop Hermione from reading history books."

"You can't stop Hermione from reading any books," Dan added.

"This is apparently our world, too, whether we like it or not," Emma continued. "Isn't it better if we know now?"

"Very well," the old man said solemnly. He supposed they would have to learn it sooner or later. "Please understand that what you call terrorism, to us was considered a civil war." Both Grangers' eyebrows shot up at that, but they said nothing. "There is a small, but vocal minority in our society who believe that purity of magical blood is of paramount importance. In their estimation, people descended from old magical families are superior to muggle-born witches and wizards…like your daughter…and to a lesser degree superior to half-bloods—people who have only one parent with magical heritage. Even so, both Harry and I are half-bloods, and (if his unique ability is any indication) we are both very competent wizards, if I do say so. And beyond that, educational records show that pureblood wizards are no more competent than any others. The prejudice persists, however, because those who hold it can claim to be purebloods themselves, descended from old, wealthy, and politically influential magical families."

Emma kept jotting down notes, but they still didn't interrupt.

"In the 1960s, a fanatical wizard who styled himself 'Lord Voldemort' began recruiting followers from among the pureblood supremacists. Voldemort believed that muggle-born witches and wizards should not only be treated as inferior, but actually killed." As children of parents who had lived through World War II, Dan and Emma shuddered at that statement. "His followers were called Death Eaters, and among them—though they deny it in the official record—were at least two of the wealthiest of the fifty lords and ladies of the Wizengamot—our Parliament—and a number of other Ministry officials. Voldemort was known to be involved with dark magic, but he was not considered a serious threat at the time, which allowed him to build up his forces.

"In 1970, however, the Death Eaters began overtly attacking various targets they opposed, such as businesses run by muggle-borns. They continued recruiting, and the violence spread. They attacked purebloods who associated too closely with muggle-borns, whom they condemned as 'blood traitors', and they also attacked muggle targets. Most of the recorded terrorist attacks in the island of Britain from 1970 to 1981 were actually Death Eater-initiated. The Death Eaters wore masks to conceal their identities, so with many accusations flying after the war and and so little proof, the more influential individuals sadly escaped prosecution afterwards. The condition of our government at the time did not help."

"What do you mean?" Dan said.

"By 1980, the situation had descended into outright civil war. At his height, Voldmort had amassed an army of hundreds and launched into a reign of terror that threatened the Ministry of Magic itself and threatened to spill over onto the Continent."

"Wait a minute, and army of a few hundred threatened your government?" Dan snapped out of his wide-eyed horror. "Just how many wizards are there?"

"The population of magical Britain is a little less than ten thousand."

Dan had to reevaluate his vision of the magical world. If ten thousand wizards were a country, then there were probably only about a million of them in the world. And in a nation that small, a police force and a mid-size terrorist group were armies. Counter-terrorism efforts were a civil war. A few hundred bad actors were an existential threat. And one magical school for the whole of the Britain Isles, no matter how necessary the arrangement, gave him an uneasy feeling of putting all of one's eggs in the same basket.

"So your nation was on the verge of being taken over…" He put the pieces together, hands clenching into firsts as he realised Hermione had already been born at that point. "And a genocide of…muggle-borns would have been the next step…but then Voldemort tried to kill Harry and was defeated. That's how bad it was?"

"Yes, Mr. Granger, I'm afraid that's exactly how bad it was."

"And if he comes back?" Emma asked in a whisper.

"Through his philosophy, even if not overtly, he is still powerful and influential. Unfortunately, the same thing is likely to happen again unless he is stopped quickly."

"Could we escape him, then? Flee the country? Or do all wizards have the same problems?" Dan said quickly.

"Unless Magical Britain should fall, yes, most other countries will be safe. With the exception of Magical Scandinavia, no other First World countries have been under the influence of dark rulers for many years. You and your family could escape to almost anywhere you please."

Emma then asked the final question on the matter, the one she had hoped she wouldn't have to: "But Harry can't?"

Dumbledore's breath caught in his throat as he considered the possible implications of her asking that question. Could they be considering—? he thought. It would be a most fortunate break for him. Unfortunately, the answer would probably render it moot. "No," he answered honestly. "As I said, Voldemort cannot accept defeat. If he returns, he will pursue Harry Potter to the ends of the earth."

The questions continued for a long time afterwards. There were a lot about Hogwarts and the alternatives to Hogwarts, since it seemed Hermione would need some kind of magical education. This led to even more questions about things like the glaring gaps in muggle courses in Hogwarts's curriculum and the reasons why muggle-borns weren't normally contacted until age eleven. The Grangers also asked how the magical world was set up, and Dumbledore explained the statute of secrecy to them at length, among other things, and they grudgingly admitted that it was probably a good idea. Finally, they had quite a few questions about what magic could do, which Dumbledore could tell were subtle ways of asking just what magic was good for aside from being murdered by a maniac.

The fact that with her magical constitution and magical medicine, Hermione could possibly live to 150 was a definite plus, but they clearly weren't sold on what country she should live out those years in. By the end of the conversation, Emma had pages and pages of notes, and Dumbledore's voice was becoming hoarse. It was approaching dinner time.

"Mr. Dumbledore, thank you for your patience and honesty," Dan concluded when they rose from the table, offering his hand to shake for the first time. "We really appreciate you being so forthwith with us."

Dumbledore shook both Grangers' hands. He was pleased that he seemed to have brought them around on magic in general despite having to tell them so many of the uncomfortable truths of the wizarding world. Even parents of school-aged muggle-borns rarely learnt as much, or reacted as well. It made him wonder again about their own intentions regarding Harry. It was tempting—oh so tempting—to exert a little influence of his own, but he forced himself to let them make any such decision on their own.

"I'm glad that we could discuss these matters civilly," he replied. "Now, I really must speak with Harry, but given the time, I will endeavour to keep the questions short. You may certainly join us if you wish."

"I think we will at that." Dan was still keeping the old man on a short leash.

The moved back to the living room, and Emma called the kids downstairs. She noted that Harry always seemed to be first when she called, being very quick to obey orders.

"How was your afternoon, you two?" she asked.

Hermione certainly didn't look as happy as she had hoped about having another child her age in the house, but her concerns were clarified when her daughter said, "Harry's not very good at games, Mummy."

Harry dropped his head and mumbled something about his cousin always wanting to win.

"Um, well that's okay, honey. He can learn and get better. Come along now. Mr. Dumbledore wants to talk to you, Harry."

"Yes, ma'am."

Harry sat very still on the sofa with his hands clasped in front of him. By now, Dan and Emma noticed his slight squint and hoped he would be able to get to an eye doctor soon.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, putting on his best grandfatherly face, "I want to apologise to you for what you have suffered for the past four years. I was wrong to leave you with your aunt and uncle, and I will do as much as I can to fix it. I hope that, in time, you can forgive me for my error."

Harry stared at the old man, unblinking. Forgiveness, in any direction, was not something that was well-taught in the Dursley household. More so than at any other point that day, Harry knew neither what he wanted to say in response, nor what he was "supposed" to say. Luckily, Dumbledore just glossed over the point and moved on.

"On Monday, I am going to try to find a family to take care of you. They will probably be a magical family. I promise you that they will treat you well and will be nothing at all like your relatives."

Harry lowered his head and whispered, "Thank you, sir."

"If you are comfortable talking about it, I would like to know what happened when you escaped from your uncle's house."

Harry's head snapped back up, and he flinched in that strange way of his, turning his body away while keeping his eyes locked on Dumbledore. The behaviour seemed familiar to the Headmaster, but he couldn't quite place it. He had certainly never seen James or Lily do that.

Dumbledore glanced away for a second in thought, and Harry seemed to relax. He then began to tell his tale, though he half mumbled as he spoke. At Dumbledore's prompting, he explained the strange flickering of the lights and the loud bang that distracted his family, along with how he ran out the door before he fully realised that he had changed. He then explained how he had found food and water and warm places to sleep outside.

For Dumbledore, the pieces began to fall into place. He would have to enquire with the Obliviators to get the full story, but it was clear that Harry had performed an impressive feat of accidental magic on top of unlocking his animagus ability. He was amazed by the boy's resourcefulness in surviving at that age and wondered how much of it was animal instinct. He would have to ask Minerva after the matter.

Hermione sat by Harry's side for most of the story. When he flinched, she tried to hold his hand, but he pulled away this time. However he did allow her to rub the back of his hand, since it was close enough to petting, like the people who put out food would sometimes do. When he mentioned catching mice for food, though, Hermione turned green and got up to sit with her mother.

When Harry finished his story with his encounter with Hermione that morning, Emma said the question that everybody was thinking: "So if you didn't know what happened, how did you find him?"

Dumbledore frowned. He had hoped to avoid this issue, but he felt he needed to be truthful. "I have certain ways of tracking Harry's movements using magic," he explained. "This is merely for his safety in case something should happen. However, these spells apparently did not follow him in cat form. But that is easy enough to fix…" Well, nothing else for it. "Harry, if you be so kind as to change back into a cat, I would like to correct the spells. I assure you that they are only there so that I can help you if you are taken somewhere you are not supposed to be." Well, that's what his tracking charm was for.

Dan and Emma considered stopping him, but if the spells were there already, there was not much they could say. From their talk, it sounded like this kind of tracking was not uncommon.

Harry stared at the old man again, then lowered his head. "Yes, sir," he whispered. He seemed to concentrate for a moment, then his body shrunk down, and there was a black and white kitten sitting there on the couch.

Dumbledore drew his wand and muttered a lengthy incantation. The Grangers couldn't interpret it clearly, but they caught enough Latin forms to guess the etymology. When he finished, and blue aura surrounded the kitten for a moment, then vanished.

"There, it's done."

The kitten kept sitting there, seemingly unconcerned.

"Well…alright, then," Dumbledore said. He rose to his feet, subtly stretching his legs after such a long day. "I won't keep you any longer, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Thank you for your cooperation today. I will return on Monday to meet Ms. Wilkins and the boy concerning his placement. I reiterate that the magical world must be kept a secret from your non-magical friends and associates. And I would like to keep Harry's animagus ability particularly confidential because it is so…unusual, should you be approached by anyone else from the magical world."

"Of course," Dan said. "We understand."

"Mr. Dumbledore," Emma added, "we've had a lot going on today, and we'll need some time to process it…but could you possibly come back tomorrow afternoon—um, in case we have more questions?" Dan looked a little annoyed by the prospect, but said nothing.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and wondered just what kind of questions they might be that they would want to speak again so quickly, but he tried to answer casually: "Since you've been so generous in caring for the boy this weekend, I think I could arrange another visit tomorrow, say, at one o'clock, perhaps?"

"That would be excellent. Thank you."

"Good. Until then…" Dumbledore once again departed with a loud crack.

"Do they all do that?" Dan wondered.

After Dumbledore vanished, Hermione rose from her seat and sat down beside Harry again. The kitten hadn't bothered yet to change back into a boy. Hermione watched him for a moment, then reached out and began scratching him behind his ears.

"Hermione!" her mother exclaimed. Something about the action disturbed her. That kitten was still a boy, wasn't he? It didn't seem right to just treat him like a cat.

The kitten tensed up under Hermione's fingers, but after a few moments, he actually seemed to relax. It was only when she tried to hold him with both hands that he gave a meow and slipped away off the sofa.

Emma felt that she couldn't handle an intelligent cat running around the house on top of everything else, so she tried to draw the boy back out over dinner. "Harry, I'm going to order some pizza for dinner," she said. "Would you mind…erm, changing back into a person so you can tell me what you want on it?"

"Not mice!" Hermione yelled. Harry stopped in front of Emma's feet and untransformed, but didn't speak.

"No, not mice," Emma said. "Do you like anchovies, Harry?"

"Eww!" her daughter objected.

When he apologetically explained that he hadn't had pizza before, Emma went with just pepperoni.

Harry Potter lay in the double bed in the guest bedroom of the Granger household and wondered again how he had got here. It seemed impossibly luxurious just having room to stretch out all the way and actually a little too warm after weeks sleeping outside and years before that with only a threadbare blanket. It was a wonderful place to sleep, but it still made him uncomfortable. There was something profoundly wrong with the fact that he was being treated better by the Grangers, whom he had just met, than by his own family, even though he was too young to fully understand why. He went over it in his mind, how they had invited him to eat with them, held him when he cried, bought him clothes, let him watch the television, and finally Mrs. Granger actually tucked him into bed.

It had been the best day of his life, except that it didn't make one bit of sense to the confused five-year-old. He felt like being able to turn into a cat was the most normal thing that had happened that day, and even he could tell it was the one part the Grangers really couldn't handle, although they did a much better job of it than his relatives ever would have. And then there was Mr. Dumbledore. The old man was strange, but at least he seemed to know what was going on. Learning the truth about his parents was a shock, but magic and bad guys, however horrifying, he could understand.

The news that he wouldn't have to go back to his aunt and uncle hadn't really sunk in yet. He'd never had much reason to trust anyone about something like that, and he didn't want to hold out much hope. That he had even come this far still made him uncomfortable. He couldn't even seem to sleep in this great bed. Finally, he did something that he had never done before as a human: he rolled over to sleep on his stomach. Instantly, he felt more comfortable—more protected, somehow. Harry drifted off to sleep hoping, as he did every night now, that he wouldn't wake up in his cupboard in the morning, except this time, he also found himself hoping he wouldn't wake up curled up out in the cold again either.

While Hermione and Harry were both in bed, Dan and Emma were certainly not sleeping. By unspoken agreement, they were sitting at the kitchen table, since the discussion was a particularly serious one, adding in a late-night cup of tea for good measure.

"What do you think of all this, Dan?" Emma started.

"What part? Our daughter has magical powers, she makes friends with a boy who can turn into a cat, some old goat in a ridiculous outfit shows up on our doorstep, and we apparently get dragged into some stupid race-based war like in some Third World country, not to mention the part where the bad guys still have their own political party."

"Yes, I know it's all pretty crazy. But what about Harry?"

Dan sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know. For a while, there, I thought we could help him, but…"

"Well, we always have wanted another child."

"Yeah, we wanted another child who wasn't a target for terrorists."

Emma bit her lip and considered letting the matter drop, but she pressed on. "So what do you think we should do?"

"The smart thing to do would be to let Dumbledore take care of Harry, keep our distance, and flee the country at the first sign of trouble."

"But…?"

Dan set his teacup down with a clatter. "Emma, I'm sorry, but why are we even considering this? Why do we even need to consider this?"

"I—I know he regrets his mistake, but do you really trust Dumbledore to put Harry with a good family?"

He shook his head without hesitation. "Not really, no. Better, sure, but I don't think I could trust him on good, yet."

"Exactly. And there is that issue of him being famous in the magical world."

"But, Emma, it's not our problem." He held up a hand. "I'm not just dismissing it. This is serious danger we're talking about that we don't even really understand yet. I have to worry about keeping you and Hermione safe first. That boy is not our problem, and this is not our war."

"I know. I'm worried about our daughter, too, but if it comes to it, it will be her war. Even if we take her overseas, this is still her home, and if she goes to that…Hogwarts school, it'll be her friends who get caught up in it."

"All the more reason to get out while the getting's good."

"That's all well and good for us, but Harry's doesn't have that option."

"And he won't if he stays with us, either." Dan stopped and took a deep breath. He didn't want to lose his temper with his wife, especially this late. "I'm just saying, how does it help anyone if we're stuck here with him?"

Emma rested her forehead on her hand. "If it comes to that, I'll admit it probably doesn't," she said. She met her husband's eyes again. "But right now, Harry is just a little boy who's been badly hurt, who needs help, and who doesn't have anyone in his life who can be trusted to give it to him. Plus, on top of that, Hermione's finally found a friend, which you have to admit is something she desperately needs. And I'll bet she's his first friend, too."

A light went on in Dan's mind, and he gave his wife a weak smile. "My God, you're really taken with this boy, aren't you?"

Emma blushed. Pressing her lips together, she answered, "I suppose I am—motherly instinct kicking in and all that…but, Dan, how many times have we said in the past couple of years that we were going to adopt, and then it never happens?"

"And we still can, Emma, but it doesn't have to be Harry."

"But it's more than just that. I don't know…" She took a deep breath and tried to understand her feelings. "You know, my mother always told me, sometimes you have to make a choice between doing what's right and doing what's easy. And I've just got this feeling that adopting Harry is the right thing to do."

A scowl crossed Dan's face. "Emma, are you sure that Dumbledore didn't, you know, do something to you?"

"I…I doubt it. Else why didn't he do the same thing to you? I don't know where this coming from, but…I still think it's right."

Her husband just stared at her, amazed at her sudden conviction. He could see in her eyes how strongly she felt about this. And he did have to admit she was right about Dumbledore's judgement—or lack thereof.

"You know, we really owe Harry for this," she added.

"What do you mean?"

"If he hadn't shown up today, Hermione would have walked into that world blind six years from now, and maybe never have been told the full story. At least now she'll be more prepared if something does happen."

Well, there was that. "You realise you're talking about joining a war, though, don't you—or a counter-terror force, anyway?" Dan pressed her.

"I know."

"Against people who can use magic. All we have is a shotgun."

"I know. Don't think I haven't thought of that; I almost feel like I've lost my mind myself. But we don't even know if there'll be a war. And if there is, it might not be until the kids are grown. We do know that Harry needs a family, and no matter what he says, I don't trust that Mr. Dumbledore to find one for him who can really help him."

"And you think we can? We barely know the first thing about his world."

"We can better than his abusive relatives or a bunch of magical fans, Dan. That much is obvious."

Dan rested his head on his hands as he tried to collect his thoughts. As adamant as his wife was being, there were few places he could fault her logic. They had wanted another child, and that wasn't likely to happen for Emma. Heck, he'd even liked Harry himself until he found out how much trouble the boy was in. He wasn't keen to abandon the boy by any means, but the story of that Voldemort lunatic was far more than he wanted to take. And yet, as much as he wanted to assure himself that Dumbledore had things under control with Harry, he couldn't make himself believe it. He hated to admit it, but the right thing was to at least keep the boy close—certainly to let him be friends with Hermione if they wanted. Emma was right about that, too. A friend was something both children needed. He steeled himself and looked up again.

"So what do you think?" she asked.

"I…I think it's late. I think we need to sleep on it…Look, I'm not going to just say no. But I don't want to even consider it until we know something about how we can stay safe."

"Of course not. I wouldn't either. That's why I wanted to talk to Mr. Dumbledore."

"Yes, of course…" It was only then that Dan understood how many steps ahead of him his wife was. "Although, is he even the person to ask?"

"He did say he fought against Voldemort. We can ask him about that, too."

"He certainly didn't keep Harry's parents safe, though."

"We don't know what happened to Harry's parents, exactly…I'd better write this down."

Emma started her new list of questions, which she was sure would grow a good deal longer by the time the old man visited them again.

"And…as difficult as it'll be, if we really want to do this, we need to ask Hermione if she's okay with it, too," Dan said.

Emma closed her eyes, blinking back a tear or two. "I know. That's going to be the hardest part in all this."

"Come on, we'd better get to bed, then. I feel like it's gonna be another long day tomorrow."

"Ha, only tomorrow?"

They broke off the discussion and wearily trudged up the stairs. They were just at their bedroom door when Dan stopped one more time.

"Emma," he said. "Do you remember how oddly your mother always dressed?"

"Yes, but…no, you don't think?"

"Well, it wouldn't even be in the top ten strange things that have happened today…and your parents both died a couple of years before Hermione was born under mysterious circumstances."

"Something else we need to ask Dumbledore about."

With the possibilities continuing to spin through their minds, they laid down for what would prove to be a most uneasy night's sleep.