Dumbledore

On the night that one Harry Potter went missing, Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardy, was sitting alone at his desk and filling out paper work in regards to next school year. His long beard hitting the desk in front of him as he wrote with a fine, black quill.

It was Arabella Figg, an old squib who lived next door to the young saviour that first reported anything a miss. Her head poked through the headmaster's fireplace. He had given her a handfull of Floo powder in case of an emergency, and in the six years since Harry had been at the Dursley's she had never used it. Owls had been exchanged of course, telling details like Harry's apparent love for gardening and how he seemed to be very antisocial. He was small for his age so he must have a fast motabilism...at least that is what Albus told Arabella Figg when she voiced her concerns. Albus knew of Harry's treatment and he encouraged it. He wanted to seem like a hero when it came time for Harry to join them at Hogwarts.

"Ah, Arabella. I trust there is something important you must tell me." He said as he continued his writing. Arabella was a good meaning woman, but she was horrible at overexaggerating the most mundane of situations, and this paperwork was very important. He hardly even noticed when Arabella began speaking.

"He's gone Albus. And so are the Dursley's. I was doing my shopping and when I returned the house was empty. Not a soul. That is very unlike them, they never take Harry anywhere and always leave him with me." Arabella said, her voice shaking with concerned for the poor child.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Well, surely they could not have left him with you if you were not there Arabella." He said. If he had bothered to look up from his paperwork, he may have seen Arabella's distraught face, he may have come through the Floo and taken a look at the Dursley residence. He may have noticed the giant lock on the front door that was placed on the outside and read "Property of the City of London", he may have realized that something in his great plans had gone terribly wrong. But he did not even glance up from his papers. "Tell me if they don't come back by tomorrow, Arabella. I'm sure Mister Potter is just fine with his relatives." Then the Floo went dead and the call ended. Albus sighed as he continued.

It was exactly 24 hours later that he got another Floo call from the woman. This time, she began speaking immediately.

"I'm running low on Floo powder Albus, but you need to come here now. They never returned and the house is being overrun with police." She said right as the line went dead. This stopped Albus in his tracks. Police? That was never good.

He stood up slowly, his old bones creeking and cracking, and then threw Floo powder into the fireplace and went straight to Arabella Figg's residence. It was then that he noticed she wasn't exaggerating and police seemed to be searching every inch of the house. He made is way toward the nearest policeman and used a worldess spell to compel the man to answer his questions. "Where is the boy that lived here?" He asked.

The man's eyes glazed over. "The fat one was taken to a new home. The little one was taken to the hospital. Probably won't live through the night." He said, voice monotone due to the spell that Albus had cast.

Albus released the spell and turned to Arabella. "Where are the nearest hospitals, my dear?" And Arabella answered. Thus, began the four hour search to find Harry Potter.

And Harry Potter was found. A nurse was placed at the hospital to keep watch until he woke up from his coma, at which time Albus was going to make sure Harry got put in a home that was just as bad as the Dursleys, except this time he would place a spell preventing them from killing the boy. It was true that Albus had known of abuse, but the extent he was unsure of. And he was horrified. Not because he cared for the boy, but because his chances of winning the war and having a sacraficial lamb had almost been completely irradicated.

It was when Harry Potter woke up again, years later, that things took a turn for the worse. He was supposed to be in the hospital for weeks doing physical therapy, but the boy healed remarkably fast. No doubt due to his magic. But this left Albus Dumbledore with almost no time to find new guardians for the boy. On the day that this new family was supposed to pick him up, he went missing again. Ran away, the nurse said.

And this time, they could not find Harry Potter. Tracking spells did not work because they did not have any of Harry's hair, and all the spies that Dumbledore set out around muggle London reported no one who looked like the savior. He had people watching for months, though, and of course he would occasionally get reports of a street kid or two who looked like Harry Potter, but after the first two leads led to nothing, he stopped checking and gave up hope. The boy was probably dead and when he did not show up for Hogwarts, the world would know.

Years later, when the enchanted quill began to write names for the upcoming school year, Albus Dumbledore watched intently. He normally allowed the quill to work in peace, but this time he was waiting. Waiting for one name. When the quill wrote that name, he practically jumped for joy and ran to the Floo to firecall Severus. If he had waited at the quill just one second longer, he would have seen the name "Hermione Potter" written down as well and been very concerned, but as it was, he stood up and looked away before that could happen.

Severus Snape was very annoyed. He was placed as a look out in Diagon Alley to look for the savior as he bought is school supplies. Fantastic. Of course he saw Harry immediately. He recognized his eyes, Lily's eyes, but he had not expect the Saviour to be holding hands with a young girl who also shared those same eyes. So he watched as they went into Gringotts and he jumped like a school girl when his good friend, Lucius Malfoy, startled him from behind.

"I see you've noticed Harry and Hermione Potter, Severus." He said as he watched the children enter also. The two shared a look, and Severus knew what it meant. The old man was not to know about this.

So when Severus returned he stated that he had indeed seen the saviour in good health, and that he was being helped by a respectable wizarding family so Albus need not worry. He would be at Hogwarts at the start of term.

Almost all of that was true, Severus realized as he began walking towards his potions lab. Potter did appear to be in good health and he had last seen him shopping for robes with the malfoy family, laughing and making jokes with Draco like they were long lost friends. Harry would be there when term started, Lucius had assured him of that. But one thing was a lie.

Albus Dumbledore most definitely should have been worried.