Chapter Thirty-five
June 13, 1987. Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey
3pm
Petunia Dursley hummed happily as she cleaned out the last of the freak's things from the cupboard under the stairs. It had been a year since he had disappeared. At first they had been fearful other freaks would come wondering where he was, but they never did. So tonight while Vernon and her Duddikins were at the cinema she was getting rid of the last reminders of the nasty little boy her sister had left her with.
Thirty minutes later Petunia had cleaned the cupboard and was just sitting down with a glass of sherry, when she heard a loud 'POP'. She jumped up and went towards the door when suddenly it burst open.
"Where is he?" demanded the strangest looking man she had ever seen. He had long white hair and a white beard that was tucked into his belt. His robes were electric blue with multicolored tulips being visited by butterflies, which actually moved!
"Who are you and how dare you enter my home uninvited!" demanded Petunia gathering her courage around her.
Dumbledore stared at the horse-faced woman. "I am Albus Dumbledore, and I want to know where Harry Potter is."
Petunia wrapped her arms around herself, clutching the sherry glass tightly in her hand. "He isn't here, and he hasn't been here for a year."
Dumbledore paused, shocked, and then sighed – so that was why the wards had fallen. "Mrs. Dursley, I am sorry I startled you," he said in his calmest, most sincere voice. "Please may we sit and you can tell me what has happened."
Petunia pursed her lips in irritation, but sat down hoping to get this man out of her home before Vernon and Dudley came back.
"Thank you," said Dumbledore as he conjured a tea tray. "Now can you please tell me what happened?"
"There isn't much to tell," Petunia said stiffly. "We went out to dinner, Harry was left here, as he had been bad and was being punished. When we got back he was gone."
"Was there anything out of place? Any sign of a struggle?"
"Nothing," Petunia answered sharply.
"Did you contact the authorities?" Dumbledore asked.
Petunia snorted. "Of course not! Why would we? And who would we contact anyway?"
Dumbledore sighed again and sipped his tea. This was a real mess, everyone expected him to be keeping Harry safe and the boy had been gone for a year without anyone knowing! 'No one can find out about this', he thought to himself. 'I will tell them I investigated the house thoroughly, I don't want to call in others so extra attention won't be drawn here. I will tell them that he has been missing for three days. I will still look good, but they will know the trail is cold'.
Dumbledore was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of car doors slamming shut. As soon as the two Dursley males stepped into the house Dumbledore had them petrified and sitting on the couch.
"Three days ago Harry Potter went to the park to play. He didn't come back home. You looked everywhere for him. Knowing he is magical you chose not to contact the authorities and instead waited for my visit to tell me about what had happened," Dumbledore said pushing the words into their minds and blocking the real memories. Releasing the spell he said, "Thank you very much. I will be in touch and let you know as soon as we have found him."
The Dursleys just sat there numbly and nodded their agreement.
Now whom do I tell? he thought as he apparated back to Hogwarts.
8pm
Dumbledore looked around his office; he had chosen just a few loyal members of the Order of the Phoenix to inform of Harry's disappearance. Molly and Arthur Weasley were completely loyal; Kingsley Shacklebolt, a young Auror, was still very black-and-white in his view of the world and Dumbledore hoped to keep him that way. Remus Lupin was also present – even though he was a dark creature his desire to prove his worth made him easy to control. Albus had cautiously included his brother Aberforth as he ran the Hog's Head bar in Hogsmeade and could be a valuable source of information. He had also called in Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, and Sturgis Podmore. Now they were just waiting for his spy, Severus Snape, to show up.
"Welcome and thank you all for coming," Dumbledore said after Professor Snape walked into his office. "Please everyone have a seat and I will explain why we are here," he invited, his tone grandfatherly and warm.
Once everyone was seated Dumbledore began his story. "Earlier today I went to the Dursleys' house to check up on Harry as I do every few days. Unfortunately Harry wasn't there, and after talking with his aunt I learned he disappeared three days ago." Shouts and gasps filled the room at this terrible news.
Dumbledore held up his hand for silence. "I investigated the area thoroughly and found no signs of force or magic. I tried to locate Harry's magical signature but was unable to do so. Kingsley, Dedalus, and Sturgis, would you please begin investigating secretly; ask your contacts if they have heard anything about a missing boy. Also keep an eye out in the Muggle world if you can. I want him found, but I am also hoping to keep this out of the media if at all possible." They nodded in understanding.
Albus turned to his brother, "Aberforth, please let us know if you hear or see anything at the Hog's Head." Aberforth snorted but agreed.
"Severus, are you going to be seeing the Malfoys anytime soon?"
Severus narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I am invited to attend their Solstice celebration. I will see if I can find out anything. If this is the work of Death Eaters, Lucius would more than likely be involved."
Albus nodded sagely. "I agree, thank you Severus. Arthur and Elphias, if a Muggle took Harry, or if he is being held in the Muggle world, he might have a burst of accidental magic, which will be recorded. Or maybe an incident will be noted and be checked out by the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department. Any information at this point will help."
"Headmaster," Kingsley said. "I would like to check Azkaban Prison to make sure all of the Death Eaters we have locked up are still there."
"Wonderful idea," Albus exclaimed. "Now Remus, I would like you to begin visiting the werewolf clans throughout Europe. I do not believe that Voldemort –" he paused for their gasps, "– is truly dead. The werewolves know the forests, will now if something Dark is in them, or if something strange is killing off magical beasts."
Remus sighed, he didn't want to leave, he wanted to help look for Harry, but he understood the importance of talking with the other werewolves. "Give me a few days to get my things in order, and I will leave."
"Thank you, Remus. Now I know this will be hard, but please everyone act as normally as possible. Attend events, go shopping, do your jobs, we can't have anyone finding out. The public will go into a panic, and if Harry isn't with the Death Eaters we don't want them knowing he is vulnerable and finding him first," Albus said sagely.
June 15th 1987. Azkaban Prison
"God, it is miserably cold in here," muttered Kingsley. Pulling out the list, he began checking off names as they passed by the cells. "I hope they are all here. I can't imagine Harry Potter in the grips of one of these insane madmen," he said with a shudder. "I hope we find him soon, poor little lad!"
Gray eyes opened in shock, it had been so long since he had heard another person's voice that wasn't involved in crying and pleading. The words swam through his mind, and finally registered. Harry was missing! Growling low in his throat the man slunk back into the shadows gathering his strength while the Dementors were away.
In the dead of night a shaggy black dog swam across the icy dark water. He had to get to shore. He had to find Harry. He had promised Lily and James! Exhausted he pulled himself onto the shore. A great shake and most of the water flew off his coat. Slowly he began to make his way to London, and hopefully to find his Godson.
June 16th. Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts.
8am
Dumbledore sighed in frustration. The Minister of Magic Millicent Bagnold has just contacted him. Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban last night. Shacklebolt had reported last night that all of the prisoners were accounted for. "I wonder what happened to make him try and escape," Dumbledore muttered to himself. "Oh well, either he will be caught and out of my hair, or he will find Harry and solve my problem for me, or he will find Peter Pettigrew. If he finds Pettigrew I will defend him and he will become an ally." Albus hummed happily and popped a sherbet lemon into his mouth.
3pm
Severus Snape stormed down the hallway to his dungeons. 'Things could not get any worse,' he thought. 'The Potter brat had run off, most likely throwing a fit because he couldn't get something he wanted, and got lost! And savior of the wizarding world or not he is the son of James Potter, and the only person I hate more than James is Black. Stupid, murdering Sirius Black who has just escaped from Azkaban!'
Severus snarled as he flung open his door and slammed it behind him. Striding over to his liquor cabinet he poured himself a glass of scotch. Sipping it angrily he sat in his chair and stared into the fire. His sulking was disturbed by the sound of a hoot. Turning he saw a brown postal owl perched on the arm of his chair. With a sigh he stroked the owl and gently removed the scroll tied to its leg.
"There are owl treats and water over at the perch; feel free to help yourself." The owl hooted its thanks and flew over to the perch. His own owl, Damascus, opened one eye and turned away from the common brown owl, going back to sleep. Severus shook his head at his pompous owl, and then turned his attention to the scroll. Opening it, he read:
Professor Snape,
I hope this year has been good to you. We have had a
very good year, and have an abundance of potion ingredients. Below you will find a list of everything we have. Cherub has also collected many ingredients for you to look over. You are a valued customer, and we do not expect you to purchase substandard ingredients, so please do not feel you must buy anything from Cherub because he is a child, though I think you will find his items most interesting and well worth using in your potions. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Freja Nef
Severus's black eyes widened in surprise. Looking over the list he smirked. Well, they had been in India and Southern Africa, which was wonderful – some of these things were really hard to find. He mentally began calculating out how many potions and Galleons he was going to need to get everything he wanted. At the bottom of the letter was a childish scrawl which read:
Professor Snape,
Here is a list of the things I got for you. Could you recommend a good book on potions ingredients and how to collect them? I want to do a good job.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Dragonheart
'Cherub'
Severus sighed, he really didn't want to purchase inferior ingredients just to make someone's kid happy, but Ms. Nef did say they were good, and so far he had never been disappointed. Looking over the list Cherub had written out his jaw dropped open and he sputtered. This was a list of snake ingredients, including venom! Not only were these hard to get and very expensive, but a child had collected them! Gasping when he got to the cobra venom, he shook his head; they let a child collect these dangerous venoms. Severus was shocked to say the least. Slowly, his mind began to consider the possibilities if these were real and properly collected. Grinning, he thought of the potions he could make, the experiments he could do, and the great price he could get for his products. Surely they didn't know how much Slugs and Jiggers would charge for asp scales, did they?
Standing up, Severus began to search through his collection of books. Somewhere in here was a book on collecting potions ingredients and how they were used and reacted to each other. His mother had given it to him for his fifth birthday; it would be perfect to pass on to Cherub.