In this chapter, Dumbledore orders Fawkes the phoenix to flame-travel him to where Harry is standing, to stay long enough for Dumbledore to grab Harry, then to flame out and return to the headmaster's office with Dumbledore holding on to Harry. But during the few seconds that Fawkes is near the would-be kidnap-victim, Fawkes is attacked and the kidnapping fails. I took the idea for this from "Summer Changes" by broomstick flyer, Chapter 5.

Chapter 11
Two Would-Be Invasions

The next morning, at breakfast
Saturday, 27th July
The Great Hall, Hogwarts

Hogwarts was on summer routine. No student was present in the Great Hall.

Some of the professors were out of the castle (Pomona Sprout, amongst others). The professors who remained behind were involved in individual projects instead of teaching.

Snape was relaxed (for him), because there was not one dunderhead in sight. Dumbledore was jovial. Flitwick and McGonagall were reminiscing about Lily Potter and James Potter.

The professors were carefree and relaxed when postal owls flew in, carrying a few letters; but mostly the postal owls carried copies of this morning's Daily Prophet.

Thirty minutes later

Snape—who had many unpleasant memories of Petunia Evans—was yelling at Dumbledore, "Are you an imbecile, putting the Potter brat there?"

McGonagall was yelling at Dumbledore in a thick Scottish brogue.

Flitwick was speaking scornfully to McGonagall—

"You told Albus, 'They're the worst sort of Muggles,' but what did you do afterwards, Minerva? In ten years, you've done nothing! You're as responsible for Harry Potter's wretched life as Albus is!"

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore yelled. "I do not know what is going on, but I am sure it is only a misunderstanding, which I soon shall put right."

BLAM—Dumbledore angrily apparated out of the Great Hall.

In the back garden of Number 4, Privet Drive
By the kitchen door

Albus pointed the Elder Wand at the kitchen door's lock and cast Alohomora.

Silence—Albus heard no click.

Albus cast the Unlocking Charm again. He still heard no sounds of lock-parts moving.

It occurred to Albus to try to open the door then, even though he believed the door still was locked. To his surprise, the door opened.

Albus thought, The Dursleys must not worry about crime in their neighbourhood, if they leave their back door unlocked.

Albus kept his wand in his hand, because he expected to meet Petunia Dursley in the kitchen he now was entering.

For the first time in his life, Albus entered the house where the Boy Who Lived had lived.

Nobody was in the kitchen. Hominem Revelio told Albus that nobody, alive or dead, was in the house.

Inside the Dursley house, Albus could not begin to guess what he was seeing. In the corridor just beyond the kitchen, one framed photograph was lying on the floor, its glass broken. This turned out to be the only thing amiss in this house (other than no people being here). Nothing else was broken, nothing else in the house was disturbed and Albus saw no blood anywhere.

Albus found magical traces in the house, but they were faded enough that Albus could not tell whether a human magical, a goblin, a house-elf, a runes-sheet or a ritual had wielded the magic. Nor could Albus say with certainty when the magic had been cast.

However, no Unforgivables had been cast in this house, Albus was certain.

Albus quickly discovered that the triangular walls under the stairs were covered with (nonmoving) photographs. Not one of those photographs showed Harry.

Albus was so distracted, wondering why none of the photographs showed Harry, that he was not watching where he was walking. His lower leg bumped into something.

Albus looked down. He had bumped into the door for a cupboard under the stairs. Albus idly noted that the outside of the cupboard door had a sliding bolt on it.

Then Albus remembered a mention in the Daily Prophet, that Harry's letter had been addressed to "the Cupboard under the Stairs."

Curious Albus dropped to his knees, threw the cupboard door wide open, shoved his wand inside the small space and cast Lumos.

The mattress he saw was way too small for an almost-eleven-year-old boy. That too-small mattress had a big dried bloodstain on top of it, and had many dried blood droplets on the mattress. Albus saw dried blood droplets on the floor that surrounded the mattress.

Albus recalled all the Harry is injured or sick alerts he had been sent over the years—but those alerts always had ended within twenty-four hours. Albus at the time had interpreted the alerts ending so soon to mean that Harry was not injured too badly. Now Albus had to face a much nastier explanation: Harry had been severely injured, often, but he had healed himself quickly, using his magic.

Albus wanted to yell I did not know! But Albus knew such words were untrue. Albus had known—but had not cared enough to investigate the injuries or to stop the abuses. And these same abuses were so bad that two American strangers, seeing those abuses, had offered right then to raise Harry instead of leaving Harry with the Dursleys; and Harry had agreed right then to go with them.

Only as Albus was shutting the door to the cupboard under the stairs and he was standing up, did he wonder, Why did the wards not alert me that I had a problem?

Soon Albus was in the front garden, under a Notice-Me-Not Charm, casting diagnostic spells on the wardstone. He was shocked to discover that the wards were up and were reporting no problems. The magic-tap on Harry's magical core was still in place and was working, surprisingly, despite the American Potters having taken Harry to Saint Mungo's.

Albus realised, If they had cut the magic-tap, I would have known immediately that something was happening, and I would have rushed there to stop it.

Automobiles with blue-light tops, meaning that they belonged to Muggle Aurors, drove up then and parked at the kerb in front of Number 4. Because of the Notice-Me-Not Charm on Albus, none of the Muggle Aurors who exited the automobiles paid attention to the bearded wizard.

He heard a disembodied voice say from one of the Muggle-Auror automobiles, "Investigate situation with resident Vernon Dursley, whose employer reports he has been missing for forty-eight hours."

The Muggle Aurors conferred amongst themselves, then two of them walked up the path to the front door, whilst the rest looked in the windows of the Dursleys' two automobiles.

By then, Albus was on the move. He hurried round the house till he was in the back garden, where he apparated away.

A few minutes after Albus had apparated back to the Headmaster's Office, he had convinced himself that Harry's situation never had been all that dire—that Harry in the Daily Prophet interview had been oversensitive, and that the American Potters had taken dramatic license.

As for the blood? Active young boys injure themselves—the blood he had seen all was normal.

As for the question of Where are the Dursleys?, the answer was obvious (to Albus): Those two American Potters had magically murdered the Dursleys, then had Obliviated and had Confundused young Harry so that he would remember events differently.

Albus needed to find Harry. If the Dursleys were no longer alive, Albus would need to take Harry away from the American Potters, then would need to turn Harry over to the Weasleys to raise. Molly Weasley would make sure that Harry Potter eventually would walk willingly to his death, if Albus Dumbledore so ordered!

With those thoughts in his head, Albus walked to the place on his office wall where he kept his runes-Disillusioned safe.

In the last ten minutes, Albus had realised he no longer remembered where Potter Manor was, which was a place that John Potter had referenced in the Prophet news articles.

In this safe, Albus has kept the names, and the Floo addresses and/or Apparation coordinates, for every place he has been the Secret Keeper for, either directly by the original Secret Keeper ritual, or when the Secret Keeper had told Dumbledore the Secret, then the Secret Keeper had died.

When someone had cast a new Fidelius on one of those places, every person's memory of the location was erased; and any document that listed the location or listed the previous Secret was blurred so that it could not be read—

Ordinarily.

Albus's safe had some odd Muggle copper-screen box—a faraway cage?—built in, just inside the safe's walls. This copper box, when the safe's door was shut, blocked magic from affecting documents that were stored inside the safe.

Now Albus opened the safe, and soon found the slip for Potter Manor. The slip was written in Albus's own handwriting, though now Albus did not remember writing it. The slip listed Apparation coordinates for Potter Manor that now Albus did not remember even slightly.

Albus memorised the Apparation coordinates, put the Potter Manor slip back inside the safe, and shut the safe door.

Albus took a deep breath, before he apparated from the Headmaster's Office to Potter Manor. He knew that the American Potters would not be pleased when he dropped in unannounced, but Albus had no doubts that he could smooth over any hurt feelings he might find, and could convince the American Potters to sign Harry over to Arthur and Molly.

Dursleys-murderers the American Potters surely were, and thus theoretically were dangerous; but the Potters also were Americans, and thus were stupid enough to fall for Albus's pretty words.

Time to go! Albus thought with a smile.

OW! Merlin, I hurt! Albus thought, one second later.

Albus was lying on a muddy dirt road that was somewhere in Wales (judging by the Apparation coordinates). Albus was just outside the wards of Potter Manor—which because he had not been told the Secret this time, looked like empty farmland to him.

Albus felt as though the most muscular giant ever to walk about the Russian steppes, had thrown Albus against the hardest wall on the outside of Hogwarts Castle.

Before Albus had time to stand up, or even to sit up—

Pop-p-p-pop. Four house-elves, all showing a P on the left breast of their elf-sized work clothes, appeared nearby. The instant the four house-elves arrived, the oldest house-elf clicked his fingers, and suddenly Albus was tied up with a ridiculous amount of rope.

Two strands of rope were wrapped tightly round Albus's wand-hand; now the Elder Wand pointed at Albus's right toes, and Albus could point the Deathstick nowhere else.

The four Potter house-elves ignored Albus's demands for information, whilst they watched him warily.

Less than a minute later, a young man with Potter hair, and a young blonde, both ran up, seemingly out of nowhere. (Meaning, they just had left an area that was protected by the Fidelius Charm.) Albus's first thought was that the blonde was Veela, until he remembered reading that she was Muggle-born; Albus never had heard of a Muggle-born Veela.

The young man with Potter hair was tall and muscular, with beautiful blue eyes. If it were not for the fact that the young man had a wife, Albus would be eager to accept John Potter as a "companion." (Albus had learnt, the hard way, not to get involved with men who had wives. The rewards were not worth the melodrama.)

Now Albus demanded, "Where is Har—?"

Young John Potter had his wand out. "Accio the wand in Albus Dumbledore's hand."

Albus was shocked by the power of the spell. Five rope-strands had been tightly wrapped about the Elder Wand, yet all that rope did not hold the Wand in place after John Potter cast his Accio. The Wand wriggled under the ropes, then finally escaped.

John Potter caught the flying Elder Wand as deftly as a professional Quidditch player would catch a Snitch. As soon as John Potter was holding the Elder Wand by its handle, sparks shot out of the tip—sparks coloured green, red, gold, silver, purple, white, blue, bronze, and orange.

This was not good.

Albus the disappointed grandfather said, "John my boy, there was no need to disarm me like that."

John Potter ignored Albus; instead, he turned to the blonde. "There goes our plan to have Amelia arrest him for trespassing."

"Why?" the blonde asked.

John Potter replied, "Because the DMLE would want this wand as evidence. This is no Walton wand or ... who makes them here?"

"Garrick Ollivander," the blonde replied. To Albus, she had a strange accent.

John Potter asked the head Potter house-elf, "Greyclay, does our would-be intruder have another wand on him?"

Greyclay clicked his fingers. Albus could not see the results, but he knew he was carrying two other, hidden wands; and Albus presumed that the house-elf's magic was making those other two wands become visible to John Potter.

"So sorry, Dumbledore," John Potter said with fake sympathy, "but it seems you've lost your favorite wand. Glaze!"

A female house-elf popped over. John Potter handed her the Elder Wand with instructions to "Put this on the desk in my office." The house-elf, with the Deathstick in hand, popped away.

Albus said, in his disappointed-grandfather voice, "John my boy, you have stolen my wand."

"Indeed I have," John said, whilst grinning like a Marauder or a Weasley twin.

Albus took a breath, to try a new way to guilt-trip this American—

"Dumbledore," John Potter said with a smirk, "do you have anything to say before the Potter house-elves take you to the front gates of that third-rate school you run?"

"You must do what is right for Harry, and return him to the Dursleys. Only there can he be safe!"

The blonde huffed. "Safe from Voldemort, yes, if he ever returns. But Harry was never safe from Vernon Dursley or Dudley Dursley. I declare, even Petunia hit Harry once, using a frying pan."

John said, "In any case, the Dursleys—all three of 'em—got hauled away by the goblins. They're dead now, all three."

Albus said, "No. I know you two murdered them."

John drew his American-made wand. "The Dursleys, all three of them, died by goblin justice. Neither Paulina or I murdered the Dursleys. Neither Paulina nor I even hurt them, beyond one or two Stinging Hexes. May I die painfully if any of my statements is a lie."

Light flashed. Albus expected for John Potter to die screaming; instead, he stood in the muddy road and calmly put his wand back in his wand holster.

John stared at Albus as he said, "The adult Dursleys were executed because they stole over twenty thousand galleons from Harry and couldn't pay it back. Mudpie, or whatever his name was, was executed after he stole another prisoner-miner's breakfast tray and ate food." John shrugged. "You haven't seen the boy, have you? Trust me, he didn't need the extra food. Unlike Harry."

Albus said, sounding disappointed again, "You should make sure Harry mourns the Dursleys. They were his family."

The blonde said, "Not happening. Harry doesn't mourn a single one of the Dursleys. Mainly because he knows that if he were dead, none of them would mourn him."

John said, "But there's another roadblock to me handing Harry over to the Dursleys, or to that family of all-redheads you favor, or to anyone else. To start with, the Dursleys—before the goblins arrested them all—signed over no-magic guardianship of Harry to Paulina and me."

John then made a fist, so Albus could see his Potter Regent ring. "You see that I'm the Potter Regent, and I've claimed being Harry's magical guardian. You hear what I'm saying? Magic has made me Harry's almost-father, and you dragging me down to that corrupt legislature you're part of, won't change anything."

Albus thought, Do not be so sure.

John grinned down at Albus. "Anything else you want to tell us, before we send you away? And please, make it more believable than 'Harry needs to go back to the Dursleys.' "

Dumbledore said, "Harry has a destiny! Which you two are ruining. There is something that only Harry can do, and only I can show Harry what he needs to do in order to meet his destiny!"

"Bless your heart," Paulina said with a smile.

John Potter said, "Let me guess: Harry starving, you letting Harry be beaten almost to death repeatedly, and stealing 428 thousand galleons from his trust vault, all are part of preparing him for his 'destiny.' Dumbledore, listen up: I don't believe one word you're saying. Unlike the locals in this too-cold country, I'm not willing to worship your greatness just because of something you did back in the Forties."

Before Albus could reply, John Potter spoke again. "Greyclay, get this thief out of here! But leave the ropes on him when you drop him off."

Pop. Albus, still tied up, now found himself right outside the front gates of Hogwarts.

Albus had to summon a Hogwarts house-elf to remove the magical ropes and to elf-pop Albus over to the Hospital Wing. As Poppy Pomfrey hurried over, Albus was red-faced with embarrassment.

Albus was annoyed now. This upstart eighteen-year-old American wizard had humiliated Albus Dumbledore, and had stolen the Elder Wand that Albus had won off Gellert Grindelwald in a (somewhat) fair fight.

An hour later

It had taken Poppy fully a half-hour to heal all of Albus's injuries—including four hairline fractures. After Albus was released from the Hospital Wing, he went back to his office, where he sat quietly—

—whilst he plotted and schemed.

Abruptly Albus broke the silence. "Fawkes! Harry Potter is in danger with his murderous relatives. Go to him and bring him straight here."

Albus's red-and-yellow phoenix companion sang a sad song—and remained on his perch.

Albus had to go to Plan B. He stood up and commanded, "Fawkes, take me directly to Harry Potter."

Fawkes crooned three sad notes, then the phoenix flew over to Albus, grabbed him by the shoulder, and flamed out.

Albus appeared in a library, presumably in Potter Manor. Harry Potter stood two feet in front of Albus, and was staring at Albus with wide eyes.

All Albus needed to do was to reach out his hand—

Suddenly three house-elves were surrounding the boy. They did not elf-pop in, they silently appeared—as though they had Disillusioned themselves, and now were simultaneously removing their disguises.

All three house-elves pointed their arms at Fawkes, and six elfin hands clicked fingers.

Albus had a moment of feeling Arctic cold by his shoulder and by his head, then Fawkes dropped—clunk—to the floor.

But by the time Albus heard Fawkes's clunk, Albus had his own problems. Albus felt as though he were captured by a barbed-wire butterfly net. Helplessly Albus was pushed painfully out of the library, through the manor house, out the front door, across the lawn, and out the front gate. Since Albus still had not been told the Secret for Potter Manor's Fidelius, once Albus had been pushed past Potter Manor's front gate, Albus no longer could see the front gate.

Less than half a minute after Albus almost had laid a hand on Harry Potter, Albus again was lying in that muddy dirt road that was just outside Potter Manor, somewhere in Wales. Albus's robes were ripped up, and he was bleeding from gouges on his face and hands.

By the time Albus was back in Hogwarts, had again been treated by Poppy, and had walked back to the Headmaster's Office, time had passed. Yet Fawkes still had not returned.

Albus suspected that Fawkes had had a "burning day"—though how did this work when the phoenix had been magic-blasted with extreme cold?

It was possible that Fawkes-chick would bond with John Potter or with Harry Potter. Albus fervently hoped not.

Albus supposed it would not be too much of a problem if Fawkes-chick bonded with the Muggle-born Veela-impersonator. John Potter's wife clearly was too dim to realise all the benefits of being bonded to a phoenix.

Meanwhile, at Potter Manor

John and Paulina were sad and mournful as they buried Fawkes underneath a tree.

Who knew that an "immortal" phoenix could be killed by being hit by three house-elves' freezing spells at once?

John and Paulina were only trying to stop Fawkes from flaming away with Harry, they were not trying to kill a millennia-old bird!

That evening, at dinner
The Great Hall

Nobody wanted to speak to Albus, and he did not want to speak to anyone there. Albus ate in silence, whilst he moped about losing the Elder Wand, and about maybe also losing his phoenix.

Albus really needed for Fawkes to return. Anytime Fawkes was not seen with Albus for a long time, rumours started: "Albus Dumbledore actually is a Dark Lord!"

Rumours that were ridiculous, because everything that Albus did was for the Greater Good.

Albus barely noticed when postal owls flew in. However, Albus noticed when a Gringotts owl landed on the table in front of him.

The Gringotts owl had letters for Albus—so many letters that it was necessary for the letters to be put in a box so the owl could carry them all.

The oldest letter was dated four days ago, and said that Harry Potter had a new account manager: Axefrenzy instead of Bronzedagger. No reason was stated.

Three days ago, according to another letter, John George Potter had claimed the Potter Regent ring. Once he had done this, John Potter had claimed the magical guardianship of Harry James Potter, and Magic had accepted the claim. As a result, Albus's key to vault 687, Harry Potter's trust vault, was voided and no longer would be honoured.

John Potter, three days ago, also had ordered a thorough audit of all three Potter vaults in Gringotts London.

After this letter, the Gringotts letters to Albus became nightmarish. The Daily Prophet had reported that Albus had transferred G428 175 from Harry's trust vault to Albus's own vaults; one of the Gringotts letters said the same thing. Another Gringotts letter informed Albus that G107 000 had disappeared from Vault 14, the Potter family coinage vault, whilst Bronzedagger was account manager, "in suspicious circumstances." Albus figured out that in suspicious circumstances meant We think you and Bronzedagger stole the money, but we cannot prove your involvement yet.

Since Bronzedagger and Albus had stolen from the Potter coinage vault, reading this last letter made Albus nervous.