The suburban street of Privet Drive was the epitome of normalcy. The houses were nice and symmetrical, and the people … even more so. Nothing ever seemed to happen at Privet Drive and everything was nice and normal, and it instantly set James on edge. "This place is freaking me out," James Potter whispered to his wife, as they walked down Privet Drive to the address that Albus Dumbledore had given them. It had been ten, glorious years since the fall of Lord Voldemort, and they had to admit, being the parents of the Boy-Who-Lived had its perks. But now, the pair prepared for what would most likely be the most difficult thing either of them had ever had to do: reconnecting with their long-lost son. While Albus had certainly never forbidden them from visiting the child, somehow they had simply never gotten around to doing so. Now, however, that decision might very well come back to bite them. 'What if Harry was angry with them for leaving him? What if he became jealous of Liam's fame?' All of these questions were circling within the Potters' heads as they approached the door of Number 4 Privet Drive. The red-haired witch took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
The woman who answered was short and squat, with long black hair and brown eyes, and she was assuredly NOT Petunia Dursley. "Yes? Can I help you?" the woman spoke in a calm, curious tone.
"Yes, is this the Dursley residence?" Lily asked. She was very, very confused. Not only was this the address that Albus had given them, but she had also visited many times before the children were born.
"Who? Oh, you mean the previous owners. Maybe you didn't hear, but … they died."
"What!" Lily's eyes widened in shock. Her sister couldn't be dead! That wasn't possible. 'Albus would have known … would have told me.'
"Yes, almost seven years ago in fact…"
"How could you let this happen?" It is safe to say, that there were very few things in the world that could make Albus Dumbledore, the Defeater of Grindelwald, truly angry. This was most certainly one of them. Albus stood at his full height. His eyes had lost their usual twinkle and now stared coldly at James and Lily Potter. When the Potters had informed him of what had happened, he had rushed to Privet Drive. How was this possible? The blood wards had remained active for ten years, and they would only do so if one of those protected called the dwelling of a blood relative home. If said blood relative were dead, surely he would have known. Upon meeting the Potters in the entrance of Number 4, he had quickly immobilized the Muggles and begun his examination of the house. It took some time but he finally managed to locate and break through the wards that had concealed the shoe cupboard under the stairs. Within he had found four totems, placed within a circle of blood. Each of the totems perfectly replicated the magical signatures of four individuals: Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley, and sure enough, Hadrian James Potter. Someone had known about the blood wards. Someone had engineered this in such a way that Dumbledore would not be notified of Harry Potter's disappearance. That excuse did not, however, apply to the boy's parents.
"Us?! Headmaster, it was your idea to have Harry placed here in the first place, for his own protection!" At James's words, the temperature of the room seemed to plummet, and the most powerful sorcerer in the world fixed a steely glare at the Potter male, a glare that would have made any lesser being quake in terror.
"That is not what I said at all. I said that the blood wards that I tethered to Harry and Lily's sister would protect all four of you. I not ONCE considered that you would cease all contact with the boy. The minute Petunia died, the wards would have gone down. That means that the totems have been in place for at least that long, and that is how long Harry Potter has been missing from this home. Had you ever bothered to check up on your oldest son, you would have realized earlier that he was gone." Dumbledore almost spat out these last words. What kind of heartless beings would abandon their child so? He understood the need for Harry to live with the Dursleys, it had been his idea after all. However, how on Earth did Lily and James think themselves justified in simply severing ties to their son? Regardless, there were more important things now. Only a handful of wizards could have pulled off such a complex blood ritual. And when one took into consideration who the boy in question was (or rather, who his brother was), only one name came to Dumbledore's mind.
"Albus's right James. We should have come to him. What can we do now Headmaster?"
"Hope, Lady Potter, hope," Albus Dumbledore stood up and walked to the door of the house when he was stopped by Lily's next question.
"Hope for what, Headmaster?"
"Hope that your son is still alive. There are only a handful of wizards who could have performed the kind of magic you just saw. In fact, only 2 currently alive besides myself. One of whom … is Lord Voldemort. So yes, Lily, hope that your son is still alive, and hope that he has not been turned into a monster." With that, Albus Dumbledore apparated away. Still pondering the Headmaster's words, Lily and James swiftly unfroze the Muggles and followed suit.
None of them had noticed the shadow watching them from across the street. Its glowing green eye tracking their every move. The shadow had felt when the wards it had placed in 4 Privet Drive had been broken. It simply had to see who had finally come looking for Harry Potter. Imagine the shadow's surprise when he realized that it was none other than the Chief Warlock himself. Followed shortly after by … them. The shadow knew of them, and it loathed them. But in some ways, the shadow knew, it owed them. Without James and Lily Potter, it would have never become what it was today. Satisfied with what it had seen, the shadow lowered the black hood concealing its face and walked away.
