Alchemist aus Stahl
Chapter 7
Two Different Worlds
Mrs Figg had been horrified at the sight, and she'd been one of the few people to see it. Number 4 Privet Drive had protections most people could never comprehend – including her. She had absolutely no idea how the Muggles milling about hadn't seen the flashes of light coming from the house, how they'd seen only a fire burning it to the ground and not the blue electricity like substance that had wrapped around it.
Mr Tibbles had been the one to alert her, watching the house while she made herself a cup of tea before dinner. He'd smelt something strange: sniffed out something before the fizzles of electrical light had burst forth. She'd been standing in front of the house in her robe when that had happened.
She'd still been standing there when it crumbled in on itself without a scream. She'd been there when the Muggle authorities came, putting the magical ones to shame. No doubt they were squabbling somewhere, she grumbled to herself, grip tightening on her handbag. She planned on leaving a few bruises behind on the person responsible if she ever found them.
The situation now was far more complex. Harry was in the care of the Muggles; in a hospital as the Muggles tried to find what caused the collapse of the house. Mrs Figg could only hope the Ministry was doing the same. The Muggles would find nothing good. If there was magic involve, it would only lead to more work as the Obliviators and the Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee did their work to hide their world away. If it wasn't…whatever it was, Harry would wind up at a Muggle Orphanage, and it would be a struggle to get him out without arousing suspicion. And Harry would not be safe at a Muggle Orphanage.
For that matter, he wasn't safe in a Muggle hospital either, but she was just a squib and had no way of securing a transfer to St. Mungos. That was assuming he'd be safe there; the security was higher, but even in the days of peace they worried about Death Eaters that may have snuck through the Ministry's net or paid their way out of Azkaban. He'd be safer than in the Muggle world at least, where anything could happen now that he didn't have the blood protection his aunt had been keeping for him.
And the Muggles had so far found nothing of the family, except the bones. Bones they weren't even sure belonged to the Dursleys, particularly since there were only two skeletons: a male and female adult. The child was unexplained. And also unexplained was the fact that only bones remained, when everyone else in the living room had survived with non-critical injuries. In fact, the visiting couple was pale and shocked and babbling but otherwise fine. They were to be discharged soon – hopefully after an Obliviator got there and erased their memories. Just in case.
What worried her most of all now though was Harry's state of well-being. Saying the poor boy was shocked was an understatement. He was curled under the blankets, eyes blank with grief and shock and unresponsive to anything but an offer of comfort, and then he'd accept a motherly caress or embrace before realising they weren't his mother (or father perhaps, for the males) and he'd scream and back into the head of the bed and it would take him a while to calm down.
That was earlier though. Mrs Figg could hear quiet sobbing from the room now, but that was all. Tears were an improvement, anyway. As much as she wished he wasn't crying, it couldn't be helped. Just like it couldn't be helped that he had to leave her house in misery every time, just to be certain he could come back to her. Just like it couldn't be helped that the poor child had to grow up in a family that was so far away from him: an aunt who looked at him and saw the sister she'd spent too long trying to hate, an uncle who looked at him and saw someone who could take him away from his son, a cousin who looked at him and saw a boy both his parents seemed to hate. But it wasn't hatred: whatever it was, hatred was not the word to describe it. It was…a lack of connection maybe: of family members who didn't really fit together as a family.
It was a sad life no-body should have to face – except him because he was the chosen child of prophecy, the one responsible for Voldermort's defeat and break from power. The one who was said would eventually destroy him utterly – or be destroyed by him. So they had to protect him, and blood was the one and only protection that could.
Or so Albus had said. But things had changed now that Petunia and Dudley Dursley were no more.
She waited in the lobby. Visiting hours were over and she was in no position to force the issue. Mr Tibbles was with her, waiting for the tell-tale signs of appiration: a quiet pop to announce Albus Dumbledore, or a large crack to announce someone with less experience. There were Muggles about as well, waiting for others, just passing by, visiting the hospital for their own ailments.
'Mrs Figg,' someone said suddenly, and the old woman looked up, recognising the voice.
'Mr Thompson,' she nodded, gesturing at the seat beside her.
The librarian sat with a word of thanks, coffee warming his hands. They'd met only once before so no-one could consider the pair of them good friends, however they shared a common concern for young Harry Potter, and that was enough.
'He's sleeping now,' the man said, after a brief pause. 'That's what the nurse said.'
Mrs Figg nodded. 'Poor baby,' she said with a sigh. She had a cup of tea of her own, inferior to the one going cold at home but good enough for the circumstance. She wasn't really drinking it after all; it was just something to hold on to. 'He's had an unfortunate life.'
He seemed a little surprised, which was understandable. Being a Muggle, he couldn't know a whole lot about Harry's circumstances. 'I know he doesn't feel at home,' he began, hesitantly. 'That he's lonely. I thought he might be adopted…but he said he isn't.' He remembered that conversation. It hadn't had the brightest of endings. 'Although…'
Mrs Figg, having lived in the Muggle world almost her whole life, knew exactly what he meant. 'He's not adopted,' she clarified. 'His aunt and uncle look after him, but they never formally adopted him.'
'An outsider in the place that he lives.' The librarian shook his head. 'That is a lonely life for a child…but better, still, than what waits for him now.'
That wasn't necessarily true, but as far as the Muggles were concerned, Harry would vanish into the orphanage system. The magical situation was a little different though; they couldn't let Harry vanish like that, not after what had happened to the last magical boy to be raised in a Muggle orphanage. He might be lucky and wind up with a loving family, or unlucky and wind up with one whose sympathies lay towards the Dark.
Of course, that involved the wizards actually getting a hold on the situation, Mrs Figg thought irritably, sipping at her tea. She thought she heard a quiet pop afterwards, but wasn't sure.
'Do you know what could have happened?' she asked, carefully watching his face over the rim of her cup. He stiffened a little, and she pressed her advantage. 'I've seen a lot of crazy things in this world, at my age. And seeing the house crumble like that for no apparent reason isn't at the top of the crazy list.' She lowered her eyes, tone going sad. 'Though it's still a terrible, terrible thing.'
'That it is,' the man sighed. 'And I might have an idea, but it's a crazy one.' He looked carefully at her, taking in her carpet slippers and bathrobe and old cat. Evidentially, he decided she was a good person to tell, because he launched into an explanation of Harry's reading habits (which she mostly knew but, like Mr Thompson, had never seen any danger with) to the book he'd found on alchemy to what the librarian assumed was a disastrous attempt at the human transmutation outlined in it.
'It shouldn't have worked though,' he babbled, hair twisting into uncomfortable knots in his hands. 'Many people have tried to make it work but failed. That's why it was classed as fiction.'
Magic, Mrs Figg wondered. Maybe this alchemy, which she'd never heard of before, was magic.
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A/N: Oh, look. No Harry in this chapter. :D
