Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Web of Lies.

Minerva frowned at the headmaster's words; she was feeling bad that Dumbledore would suppress his duties towards his grandson just because Harry had disappeared and everyone expected him to find the boy. "Albus."

As usual, the headmaster seemed to sense what she was thinking. "Minerva, please answer me."

The woman hesitated. "But Alexander."

The old man gave her a hard look. "Alec is not missing."

The deputy-headmistress frowned at him. "No, you're right, he's not, but Alec is sick and he is your grandson. He needs you!" She paused for a moment and then continued. "Why are you putting one of your students, no matter who he is, above your own grandson?"

Dumbledore sighed softly. "Because Harry might be in danger."

The woman shook her head. "That's not all, it can't be. The whole wizarding world is also looking for him, why do you need to get involved?"

Dumbledore laughed a somewhat bitter laugh. "And what do you expect me to do, Minerva? Fame comes with a price; I'm the Headmaster of Hogwarts, it's expected of me to make sure my students, especially Harry, are safe. Now, please, answer me and let's get this over with. Do you know anything about Harry?"

The other two men had been listening with growing horror at the exchange. It seemed so natural to depend on Dumbledore when something went wrong. No one had ever thought about what doing so much work might mean for the old man, how many sacrifices he had to do, how much his name had cost him. They had never bothered to find out about the man's family; they had always assumed he had no one since he always stayed at Hogwarts. They were suddenly feeling very selfish and with a determined look, they decided to help the old headmaster as much as they could so it would not continue happening. Dumbledore deserved a bit of peace.

On the other hand, the Headmaster was reading their faces well enough to guess what they were thinking about. It made him feel uncomfortable. He was right now directly lying to them, and they believed him blindly. That was one of the reasons he hadn't wanted to go check on Harry before talking to them, he had to make them see he was doing a real effort to find the missing boy. He wished they would finally answer him and that he could leave the office, it was starting to get oppressing.

Finally, Minerva, seeing Dumbledore was growing impatient, decided to stop arguing with the stubborn man and started to speak again. "There's nothing new on Harry, Albus. Until we can get the Ministry to help us, there's not much we can do to find him. The raid for this evening is ready. Severus says that Voldemort doesn't know anything; he doesn't expect anything to go wrong, but Severus says he will stay close to him in case Harry suddenly appears and he will help the aurors should anything go wrong."

Dumbledore frowned. "If he's still in the castle when you return, tell him to not risk himself unnecessarily." Minerva nodded and he continued. "What has been done about the Dursley?"

Minerva pursed her lips. "They are at Hogwarts right now. Hagrid went to get them this morning. Aurors have taken their places, and as soon as everything comes out, we're going to get them to the ministry. They will then decide what to do about that family."

Dumbledore couldn't help but smile slightly at the tone she used. Minerva had always been very overprotective of Harry, maybe he should tell her the truth. The he shook his head slightly. No, the more people who knew about it, the more likely it were to come out. With a small sigh, he turned towards Sirius and Remus, who hadn't said a word since he had entered his office. "I trust Minerva has informed you about everything that has been going on. Do you know anything else about Harry? Has he told you anything?"

Sirius shook his head slightly, a sad look on his face. "He didn't answer our letters, but we were fairly far away and we moved every few days; it would have taken Hedwig some time to track us down so we weren't getting worried yet." The marauder paused for a moment and then spoke again. "Are you sure Voldemort doesn't have him?"

Dumbledore nodded, "I'm fairly sure, he would have let us know by now if he did."

Sirius lowered his head and put it in his hands. Remus placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked at the old man. "What should we do now?"

Dumbledore leaned back into his chair. "I'm not sure, Remus. As we were saying yesterday, it seems as if Harry left on his own accord. Minerva said it was bad at the muggles', but it seems to be out of character. Harry has never run from his troubles before."

The man frowned. "Maybe someone else has kidnapped him?"

Dumbledore had to fight to keep his features neutral; that statement was too close to the truth. "There was no evidence of it, and I don't think anyone may have any reason to kidnap him." He paused for a moment and then spoke again. "I don't like this."

They all stayed silent for a few moments, then Dumbledore stood up; it was time to break up this meeting. "Since there's nothing else to talk about." He looked towards the closed door, knowing that his companions would understand. "Call me if anything new comes up, Minerva, and I want a full report from one of the aurors when the raid is done. Sirius, Remus, feel free to stay here for a while, I'll tell you what I need you to do once we know how things have gone this evening."

Without waiting for an answer from his three friends, Dumbledore walked to the door and went into the room to finally check on his "grandson".

It took him a moment to grow used to the darkness in the room, but when his eyes adjusted to the low lighting, he saw Harry leaning against the wall behind his bed, his eyes closed and a book on his lap. It seemed the boy had fallen asleep while reading. The headmaster picked up the book and marked the page before putting it on the night table. Then he carefully moved Harry so he was lying comfortably. Unfortunately, the movement made Harry wake up with a start and he looked up, startled at his headmaster.

"Granddad! I didn't hear you come in."

Dumbledore chuckled slightly. "I'm sorry I woke you up, but I thought you might get uncomfortable sleeping that way."

Harry looked confused for a minute and then blushed slightly. "It's ok, I didn't mean to fall asleep again."

Dumbledore sat down next to him on the bed and tapped his forehead with his wand to take his temperature. He was happy to see it had gone down again to nearly normal, even though the boy hadn't had a fever reducing potion in a while. He sat back and looked him over carefully. His face was not as pale anymore and the dark shadows under his eyes had lessened thanks to the few nights of peaceful sleep.Yet, he was still too thin, looking as if he would break if you handled him too rough.

Brushing a bit of hair out of his face, the headmaster smiled gently down at the boy. "Have you had breakfast, Alec?"

The boy shook his head slightly. "No, Granddad."

Dumbledore nodded lightly. "Very well, how about we go to the living room? You can lay down on the couch and Twinkle will be able to clean up this room."

Harry's face brightened; he was starting to grow a bit tired of the small room, even if it was pretty comfortable compared to his old room at the Dursley. He would have preferred if there was more light, yet, the curtains had been charmed so they would stay closed so not to disturb him. The boy stood up quickly, and Dumbledore had to move quickly to steady him when a dizzy spell hit him.

"Take it easy, Child, you're still not well."

Harry smiled a bit embarrassed at the old man. "Sorry, Granddad."

Dumbledore made him sit back on the bed and picked out some clothes from one of the bags they had left there the day before. He gave Harry the clothes and told him to get dressed while he went back into his office and ordered some food.

Half an hour later, the thin boy returned to the office and saw Dumbledore staring pensively out of a window. "Granddad? Is there something wrong?"

The man turned around and looked at him. The boy was dressed in casual blue jeans and a red t-shirt with a golden snitch on it. Dumbledore smiled slightly at him. "Don't worry about it, Alec, everything's fine."

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but Dumbledore had already moved to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Come on, it's time to have breakfast."

Harry sighed slightly and nodded, allowing the man to lead him out of the office. Once they reached the living room, Harry was surprised to see Remus sitting on the couch, peacefully reading a book. With a glance to Dumbledore, he remembered he was supposed to act shy and quickly stepped behind him, clutching his arm tightly and pecking around him from time to time, to observe the other man, who had not noticed them yet.

Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle when he felt Harry press himself against his back; acting like this, the boy looked adorable and he had to fight down all the protective instincts that were rising within him. The small sound didn't go unnoticed by the younger man. Looking up from his book, Remus saw Dumbledore standing at the door, and he had to wonder why the man was not coming in. Then he noticed that there seemed to be someone standing behind the old headmaster. Dumbledore walked inside and drew the boy from behind him, allowing him to press against his side.

"Remus, I don't think you've met my grandson, Alec. Don't mind him, he's a bit shy."

Remus couldn't help but think that that was an understatement, but he smiled slightly. "Actually, I met him this morning; I'm afraid Sirius woke him up this morning with his shouts, and he came to check what was going on."

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes and looked sternly down at Harry. "What did I say about wandering around?"

Harry bowed his head and tried to hide behind the headmaster again, but the firm arm on his shoulder kept him in place. "Sorry, Granddad, but they were making so much noise."

Remus, seeing he had put the boy in trouble, frowned a bit and quickly spoke. "It's not the boy's fault, Albus, you know how loud Sirius can get. Besides, he only stayed for a moment and offered us breakfast."

Dumbledore still didn't look very happy, but he gently led the child towards the table, where a small breakfast had appeared. As soon as they were seated, Remus joined them and started to talk with Dumbledore about the modifications that the aurors were doing on Hogwarts, trying to keep his attention away from the small boy. He knew very well how it felt when the Headmaster was not happy with you.

Once they had finished, Dumbledore made Harry lay down on the couch with the book he had been reading, and continued his discussion with Remus.

About an hour later, Dumbledore looked up from the papers he had been revising with Remus, only to see that Harry had fallen asleep on the couch. He stood up and gently removed the book from the boy's slack hands and, summoning a blanket, he tucked the small boy in. Remus, who had remained sitting in his chair at the table, looked at the old man with curiosity. He had never seen Dumbledore be so careful and gentle with anyone. Sure, the old man was always kind and had a smile for everyone, but this was different in ways he couldn't really explain.

Dumbledore returned to the table with a small smile on his lips, and not noticing Remus' curious look, returned to the papers. Some time later, Sirius joined them; he had taken a shower and changed his robes. He quietly joined the other two men, a deep, worried frown on his face.

They were snapped out of their work when Twinkle appeared and announced that lunch was ready. Sirius and Remus moved to clear the table, while Dumbledore walked to the couch. It was a real pity to have to wake Harry up since, for once, he was having a peaceful sleep without the aid of a potion, but the boy really needed to eat.

Sitting down next to him, Dumbledore placed a gentle hand on the boy's thin shoulder. "Alec." Harry stirred but didn't wake up. A bit more forcefully, the old man shook his charge lightly. "Alec."

The small boy blinked and looked up with half closed eyes. "Head."

The hand on his shoulder tightened, and Harry noticed Sirius and Remus talking quietly at one side of the room. Shrugging the hand off his shoulder, he sat up and looked at Dumbledore questioningly. "Yes, Granddad?"

The old man looked at him carefully, making sure the scar wasn't showing, and then smiled at the boy. "It's time to eat lunch, Alec."

The boy groaned lightly, but knowing there was no sense in arguing, he stood up from the comfortable couch and followed Dumbledore towards the table, where Sirius and Remus were already sitting. Both Marauders smiled at him, even if he could see that they didn't know how to treat him.

For his part, he just kept quiet, knowing that it was for the best, so he wouldn't make any mistakes. Dumbledore easily drew the attention of both men again, so that they wouldn't look at him too much; the only way Harry knew that the old man hadn't forgotten his presence was by the looks his grandfather threw him from time to time, urging him to eat.

They were eating their desert when Harry started to shift uncomfortable. His head had started to hurt lightly, and he really hoped his fever was not going up again, he really didn't want to spend any more time in bed. But then, by the end of lunch, he knew that something was wrong. His headache was slowly getting worse, and suddenly, he understood. It wasn't his head that was hurting, it was his scar. And if his scar had started to hurt, he knew it would only get worse before it got better. He needed to get out of there. Sirius and Remus couldn't see him touching his head in pain; it would be a bit too obvious.

But what could he do? Dumbledore wouldn't allow him to just leave the room by himself; the man was overprotective. That meant he had to run for it, but he needed to have a valid reason.

Then he remembered the first time he had been there, how sick he had been. Before giving it a second thought, Harry suddenly jumped from his seat and dashed out of the room and into the bathroom Dumbledore had let him use so far. He heard his grandfather call after him, but the pain in his head was getting worse by the minute, and he needed to reach the room before their plan was ruined.

He made it just in time to close the door with a bang, and collapse on the floor trembling in pain; he hoped that Dumbledore would get rid of Sirius and Remus before entering to check on him.

To be continued.

A/N: Thanks for all reviews. Thanks for my beta-reader, Vinnie.