The Secret Lives of the Dursleys
Hey y'all! This part (and probably the next part too) is back when Harry is a baby, before Voldemort attacks the Potters. Okay? Okay! Also, I don't own any of J.K Rowling's characters and/or her plot. I just made up the pitiful ideas. I own Lisbeth, Geoffrey, Alyssa, Jacob, Freddy Deerce, and Great Aunt Molly and Great Uncle Wally. I'm doing the year thing so Harry was born July 31st, 1980.
(Flashback, January 23rd, 1981)
Lisbeth knew she should be happy. She was married to Geoffrey Hunter, and they had their second child, a boy this time, in May. Alyssa, her three-year-old, got on wonderfully with her new baby brother Jacob. Lisbeth knew she was a lot luckier then most people, and yet . . .
She was worried and scared. One of her best friends, Lily Potter, had just had a baby boy to, Harry. 'For some strange reason,' Lily had franticly owled her. 'Dumbledore says Voldemort is searching for him!'
Voldemort was gaining more supporters every day. It was hard to trust anyone except your family and closest friends. Lisbeth was terrified of Voldemort harming her family.
That morning, Lisbeth was feeding Alyssa and Jacob their breakfast when a white owl swooped into the room and landed with a thump on the table. It dropped the letter and stood on the table trying to look important. Alyssa picked up the letter and played around with it for a minute. Lisbeth snatched the letter from Alyssa's grubby hands and opened it. It read:
Dear Geoffrey and Lisbeth Hunter,
I am sure you both know about the approaching danger concerning Voldemort. I am sure you also know that he is after the Potters, most particularly young Harry. I can not tell you why in this letter in case it is intercepted, so please meet me at Hogwarts at noon today. I think you may be able to help.
Yours truly,
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy
Geoffrey came into the room and kissed Alyssa on the top of her head. "Good morning, sweetie," he said. She smiled back and said,
"Goo' morning, daddy," she said, gazing adoringly at her daddy and eating at the same time, spilling food everywhere.
"Geoffrey, I need to talk to you in private," Lisbeth said leading him into the other room.
"What's this all about, Lis?" he asked, reading the letter. "How can we help James and Lily?"
"I don't know. We'd better hire a baby-sitter for the afternoon so we can go to meet Dumbledore," she said matter-of-factly.
"I've got a better idea. Let's ask if my sister Alexia and her husband can watch their niece and nephew for the afternoon. Alyssa is the same age as Cedric, right? She can play with him."
"Ok, I'll owl them right away."
Lisbeth went to her desk to write a quick owl to the Diggorys. She heard Geoffrey in the other room talking to Alyssa. "Hey, princess, how would you like to stay at your cousin Cedric's house for a little while?" he said to his daughter.
When they arrived at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore meet them as soon as they Apparted. "Come with me," he said cheerfully. They followed him into a small classroom. "I am sure that you know that Voldemort is after Harry. You, however, don't know why. I am sure that you know that he Potter family is one of the oldest and most powerful wizard families in terms of magic." Geoffrey and Lisbeth nodded.
"Well," continued Dumbledore. "What we didn't know was Lily's heritage and where she inherited her magical abilities. I traced her family back into the 6th century, looking for signs of magical relatives, before I realized that I must have missed something. I retraced and retraced and interviewed the Deerce's, her Muggle family, under an assumed name, questioned Lily, in short, I did everything in my power to discover how her family was linked to magic. One day I was talking to her great-aunt Molly who remembered that Lily' father, Fredrick Deerce, was adopted when he was two weeks old. I magically recorded precisely what she said.
Dumbledore waved his wand a few times and muttered something under his breath. Immediately an old woman was standing in the room. Geoffrey jumped a foot in the air, looking very startled. "Don't worry," Dumbledore said, his eye twinkling like mad. "It's just a projection."
The old woman started talking in a wheezy, raspy voice. "Well, sir, I do remember that little Freddy was adopted. Yes, that's right. You see, my nephew adopted him and raised him with his wife. I remember, (I was there, you see, I worked at the orphanage for some time) that Freddy was left on the step of the orphanage with his twin, another boy they called Tommy. Yes, Tommy was never adopted from that place, I remember, I worked there, you see. Yes, their poor birthmother, well, you see, her husband left her with the boys. Soon after she died, you see. You see, she was very sick. She married a bad man named Riddle, you see."
At this point Lisbeth let out an audible gasp.
"Well, only I would know about Freddy being adopted, you see, because my nephew and his wife had just lost a baby in child-birth, you see, so they pretended little Freddy was their own son. Poor little Tommy, though. You see, he was never very friendly, and he was very cold to every. He never knew he had a brother, you see. I think he went a boarding school during the school year, I'm not very sure, you see, because I stopped working there after I married my Wally when I was forty. Would you like to see a picture of my Wally? He died fourteen years ago from a heart attack. Have you ever lost anyone to heart attack? No? Well, it's very sad . . ."
Suddenly he woman disappeared. Dumbledore turned to them. "That was all she said that was of any importance. After that bit of information all she told me was that her late husband, Walter, was a good man in the navy," he said gravely.
Lisbeth leaned toward him intently. "If this woman is telling the truth, them Lily is related to Voldemort?"
"Precisely," said Dumbledore crisply. "Now, this in itself is not that awful and horrible. Lily is only distantly related. However, when Harry was born, well, he is related to the Kachuurentjaeweajs's, whom Tom and Fred's mother was the last living descendent. That family is pure evil. However, he also is a Potter. The Potter's are pure good. My theory is, when these two things, evil and good, which is what the strands holding the universe together, when they all combined inside this small child, something happened. From my tests, the results are quite simple. Harry Potter is simply the most powerful living thing since, well, since nothing. Also, when Harry was born, I was in Europe on a broomstick. The instant he came into the world, a jolt of magic reached me and sent me toppling of my broom. It was very powerful release of magic. That is the reason that Voldemort is after Harry. Harry is still very young, and cannot control and/or use his powers yet, but when he can, he will easily be able to defeat Voldemort, which is why Voldemort wants to kill him. And if the ancient prophecies are true, then Harry Potter is the child who is destined to end all evil."
Lisbeth and Geoffrey were entranced. They had been hanging onto every word he said. When he was done, Lisbeth blinked a few times and shook her head.
"Wow. That's, . . . deep," she said, staring at Dumbledore. "But, what can we do to help?"
Dumbledore smiled at her. "I have consulted with several powerful wizards and witches, and we think, that if anything happens to Lily and James, then he should live with someone close to him."
Geoffrey nodded. "So like the Diggorys or us, or Sirius?"
"No!" Dumbledore snapped abruptly. Geoffrey and Lisbeth jumped. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I suppose I should explain. Our theory is that Tm Riddle was treated well in the orphanage. However, being a Kachuurentjaeweajs, he hated all things good. He resented it and grew into a hateful, evil boy. Now, if Harry, without his parents, grew up in a loving, caring environment, we are afraid that something similar would happen."
Lisbeth was horrified. "You mean you want him to live with cruel people? All so he can grow up and defeat an evil guy?"
Geoffrey silenced her. "Lisbeth, let's just listen to what Professor Dumbledore has to say," he said, glaring at Dumbledore as if he agreed with his wife.
Dumbledore smiled knowingly at them. "No, not at all. We want Harry to grow up with people who don't understand him. You know Lily's sister and her husband and son? I think their name is Dursley . . ."
"No way, Professor! No way will you do that! I've heard Lily tell me about her sister and her brother-in-law many times. They are awful people and no one likes them! You can't send Harry to live with those monsters!"
Dumbledore said calmly, "Mrs. Hunter, please calm down. My other reason is this. If Harry needs to flee from Voldemort, he will not go to Mr. Black or you or anyone he cares about. He will go to people he dislikes, namely the Dursleys."
Lisbeth slowly comprehended this. "But, so what? Harry will still be traced and caught, and the Dursleys will be killed too! What is your point?"
Dumbledore smiled triumphantly. "But the Dursleys will be able to help him if they are a fully qualified wizard and witch!"
Geoffrey was appalled. "We can't train them to do magic!"
Lisbeth laughed as the image of Petunia and Vernon Dursley waving a wand around with scared expressions on their faces entered her mind. "They'll probably give Harry to Voldemort!" she said, snorting.
Dumbledore smiled at them. "You would do anything to help the Potters?" They nodded eagerly. "You remember the Polyjuice Potion?"
Lisbeth said, "Yeah, how does that help, Professor?"
"If anything happens to Lily and James, I want you to be the Dursleys."