CHAPTER TWO

Raven or Harry

August 22, 1993 LONDON

Sirius Black was dead tired as he made his way through the streets of London. Having escaped from Azkaban only a few months before, he had to be very cautious in order to preserve his freedom. Sirius had not changed out of his dog form since he escaped and had been forced to do all of his traveling on foot. This was taking a long time.

After his escape his first objective was to finally see his Godson. He had not seen him in twelve years and was determined to make sure that he was alright. He new that Dumbledore had taken him to his aunt and uncle's after Voldemort had killed Lily and James. So that is where he went. He did not expect to arrive at the Dursley's and not be able to find any sign that Harry had ever lived there, even in his dog form. This was when Sirius decided to go to Hogwarts, thinking that Harry would be there in a few days anyway. There he would also be able to get his revenge on the traitor that had orphaned his godson.

Since he did not know where exactly Hogwarts was he decided that he would need to go to platform nine and three-quarters and follow the tracks to his destination. This was why he was in London. He new kings-cross station was only another fifteen miles away. But he was much too tired to make the journey and decided to get some sleep and go to Kings-cross in the morning. He started to walk into the alley to find a good spot to sleep when he smelt something oddly familiar.

In his dog form, his senses were incredibly sharp. This was how he could tell that Harry was not living at the Dursley's. His curiosity soon got the better of him so he turned around and began walking back down the side walk, following the smell that he still could not put his finger on. When he arrived at the source of the smell he was a bit confused. The source of the smell was a boy of about thirteen who looked as if he had spent his whole life on the streets. The boy appeared to be all alone except for a black and white furred dog that was walking closely at his side. Sirius could also smell that the boy was a little sick. Sirius did feel sorry for the boy but could not figure out why he smelt familiar to him. 'I'm glad Harry had plenty of people to care fore him and would never have ended up living on the streets like this poor child' Sirius thought to him self. Thinking about Harry stirred something in his mind. 'No' he thought as it dawned on him where he remembered the smell from. 'No, no it can't be, this is impossible, I must be mistaken' Sirius said to himself with just a hint of panic.

Just then the boy turned around and looked over at Sirius. When Sirius saw the boys face all his beliefs that this was not Harry were crushed. He nearly yelped when he saw the boys face. The boy had a scar right above his left eye brow as well as a nasty looking one running down his cheek. But the scar that had shocked Sirius the most was the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. This was the same scar Harry had the last time Sirius had seen him. Sirius now knew this was without a doubt that this street kid was Harry, and it brought tears to his eyes.

Sirius got another surprise when he realized that Harry had walked over to him and began scratching behind his ears. Harry said to Sirius "el'o der' little fella, what 'er ya do' in out 'ere all alone?" Sirius did not know how to react; he was still too shocked and to confused to think strait. He quickly snapped out of it though as Harry put his hand out to Sirius to sniff. Sirius then decided that he would from then on; he would fore fill his Godfather duties as best he could by protecting Harry to the beast of his abilities. His revenge could wait.

Making up his mind that he would stay with Harry, Sirius licked Harry's hand affectionately. This seemed to satisfy Harry as he smiled and said "well we v' got t' go now, you can come along if ye wan'." Harry then walked away and smiled when he realized Sirius was following. After a few minutes of walking Harry turned to Sirius and said "ya' look a bi' hungry, why don we go ge' sum food." Then they proceeded to walk down the road.

"Was da' mat'er with you" Harry said as he noticed Mag acting very cautious around Sirius. She wasn't growling as she would have been if she sensed that Sirius was a hostile, but she did seem to be acting very cautious around the other dog. Harry just shrugged and proceeded down the street.

As they continued down the street Sirius noticed that Harry kept lightly bumping into people along the way. He did not figure out why until Harry led the two dogs behind a dumpster and took out four or five wallets from his pockets. Sirius was a little disappointed at first to see that Harry was a pickpocket but he only blamed himself. 'At least he can take care of himself' Sirius thought optimistically. Harry then said "this ot'ta last us a wile. Harry then told the two dogs to what there while he ran across the street to a grocery store. When Harry came back it was with two cans of dog food, which he put in his back pack.

The three of them then continued to walk into the back of the alley which opened up into another alley. Harry continued to lead them through the maze of streets and alleys until they came to a gigantic factory with a large sign on the gate that said 'DANGER KEEP OUT'. They walked over to a small whole in the fence and climbed threw. They walked over to one of the side doors of the factory with a large padlock on it. Harry pulled out a key and opened the door and they walked through Harry led them through a factory and into a room that looked like it used to be a lounge for the workers.

Harry walked over to a pile of rages that was his bed and set his pack down. He took out a can opener the cans of dog food. He then opened the cans and dumped them out onto tree different pieces of wood. He gave one of the make-shift plates to Mag and the other to Sirius, and kept one for himself. Sirius was overwhelmed with sadness again as he watched his homeless godson devour the dog food with a grateful smile on his face.

After they had eaten they all went to sleep curled up together to keep warm on the cold summer night.

After that night Sirius stayed with Harry. He would help Harry out as best he could. Mag never did trust him a hundred percent but after a while she accepted him. Sirius got nervous sometimes when Harry would give him curious looks. It was as if the boy suspected something of him. Sirius new after a short time with Harry that he was incredibly smart and cunning. He would not put it past the boy to not entirely believe his disguise.

Harry possessed mainly street smarts and wit but Sirius new that he had the potential to be incredibly book smart as well. He wished that Harry could have gone to Hogwarts to learn magic and have a home. Sirius considered himself lucky that he had even found Harry.

JANUARY 1, 1994

Harry, Sirius (who Harry had named Jack), and Mag where walking down the cold streets of London side by side. Harry suddenly let out a very sickly cough that made Sirius flinch. Harry had fallen ill and whenever he coughed it broke Sirius' heart.

They were performing there normal routine where they would basically roam the streets looking for unwanted food and if necessary, steel a wallet or two. They had not found any food in days so Harry was looking for an easy pocket to pick. They where in a very rough part of town at the moment, between there factory and the main street where they could usually find some food or a nice fat wallet.

It was then that Harry saw what he was looking for. A man was walking towards him looking around nervously. The man was wearing a nice suit and had a brief case in his hand. Harry could not figure out what the man was doing here, He clearly didn't belong.

Harry walked past him and only lightly brushed against the man. There was no way that the man new any thing was wrong. Harry kept walking and disappeared out of sight. Although Sirius did not like the idea that his godson was a pickpocket, he was always amazed and even a little proud at how good of a thief Harry was. He had tried many times, but even with his sharp dog eyes, he could not see Harry's hands go any where near the victims pocket and yet he never came out empty handed.

Harry led them into and alley where he sat down and took out the money and threw the wallet away. Sirius then heard something coming. As Harry stood up he looked at his companions, both dogs were tense and giving of low growls. Harry soon found out why.

Into the alley came a group of about fifteen people all dressed in rags similar to Harry's. Harry cursed under his breath; this was the same gang that the foxes and the wolves had battled almost three years ago.

A small boy a few inches shorter than Harry was the first to speak, "what've we got 'er, someone trespassing on our territory I see". Harry recognized this boy, he reminded Harry of Mel. Harry snarled at the boy who shrunk in fear but regained his composure when he remembered that it was fifteen to one. He got another fearful look when the two dogs flanking Harry snarled at him with murderous rage.

Then a girl in the crowd spoke up, "I know him, that's Raven, he used to be in the foxes". Some of the people looked a little shocked when they heard this. It was only the fact that they out numbered him greatly that kept most of them from running in fear. Everyone had heard of Raven and it was common knowledge that you'd have to be even crazier than he is to fight him.

Another one of the boys then said "well I'd say it's abou' time we put 'im in his place." Harry's eyes were darting around looking for an escape; this gang was not at all fond of him. He had cost them several of there members in the last battle of the foxes and they had not forgotten. Harry calmly said in a dangerous voice "I aint looking fer no trouble, you jus' leave me da fuck alone an' I'll clear out." The boy just laughed and said "I don t'ink so Raven, you is gona pay for what you an' your foxes done." Harry then knew that they would not leave him till he was dead. The gang started to close in on him drawing knives as well as bats, crowbars and other make-shift clubs.

Harry acted so fast you could hardly see any movement. He swiftly grabbed a knife from his boot and threw it at one of the boys blocking his way to the street. As people began to charge at him he drew a switch blade from his pocket and ran at the street cutting several the people who remained in his way. He did this so quickly he hardly even had to slow down as he slashed threw the mob of people. Sirius was shock as he saw Harry battle through the Mob. He had seen Harry get into several minor fights before but he had never seen anyone fight as fast as Harry was now fighting. He looked at Mag who was helping Harry fight with her teeth and immediately began to do the same.

Harry grabbed his boot knife out of the throat of its target as he and the dogs ran past him and took of into the street with the angry gang following closely behind. They then ran down another alley that Harry knew led into the back a large warehouse that he cold easily loose them in.

When he got to the door that led to the warehouse he cursed violently when he realized it was locked, the murderous gang was right on there heals. Harry wasted no time as he took a thin wire out of his back pocket and began to pick the lock with it. He began to get angry when he realized that there was know way he could pick the lock in time. Suddenly he heard the lock click open. "Holy Shit" he said in disbelief. He did not have time to ponder this as he saw the gang now coming around the corner. Harry threw open the door and they scrambled through it. He slammed the door behind them and locked the door.

An Hour latter they made it to the factory. They all curled up tired and hungry not having gotten any food that day and went to sleep.

HOGWARTS CASTLE

It was New Years day and all the students had just gotten back from there holidays and were gathering around for lunch. Albus Dumbledore sat at the head table having a chat with Jeff Granger.

At the beginning of the year he had hired Mr. and Mrs. Granger to teach muggle studies and he had never regretted it. A lot of people at the ministry had disagreed with this but whenever they said anything he would just reply "who could better teach us about muggles than two muggles". He smiled when he saw how happy the Grangers were here. They seemed to get along with everyone and could now be with there daughter Hermione during the school year. It was things like this that truly made the man proud.

His conversation was interrupted by an owl landing right in front of him. He smiled at the bird as he took the letter of his leg and offered him some bread. He looked at the letter and immediately got incredibly tense as he saw who it was from. It was from The Improper use of Magic office. The last time he had had anything to do with that branch was when he had asked his friend who was the head of that department to contact him immediately if they ever got wind of anything to do with Harry Potter. He had been waiting for this letter to come for the last three and a half years.

As he read the letter he got an even wider than usual smile on his face. He stood up and looked down the staff table and spoke in a cheerful voice that only those at the Head table could hear "Attention Professors, I have Just received some extremely wonderful news, please report to my office after lunch." He then practically skipped out of the hall smiling at every one he saw. The Professors all just stared at him and when he was gone, they returned to there meals.

After they had eaten they all walked up to the Headmasters office. When they got there they all took seats around his desk and he began to speak. "Good afternoon my dear friends, as I have already told you, I have some wonderful news." The teachers all looked at him expectantly and he continued "As you all know, Harry Potter has been missing from our world for nearly thirteen years; most have concluded that he is dead." All the teachers immediately got very anxious as the Headmaster spoke of this. Some of them had been deeply affected when they had heard about Harry over three years ago and never got completely over it. Even the Grangers, who had heard the whole story from the other teaches, were on the edge of there seat. Albus then continued "I have just received a long awaited letter from the improper use of magic office confirming that he is not only alive, but also that he performed an accidental unlocking spell in London at twelve-thirty today."

As Albus said this all of the teachers began cheering in joy. Most were crying in happiness and hugging each other. Hagrid and McGonagall were especially hysterical as they began to sob into each others shoulders. Albus smiled as he saw there reaction. After a few minutes they all began to calm down, but they still had smiles on there faces. "I plan on going to get him as soon as possible, the only problem is we do not know how far away he is from the spot that he cast the spell, Professor Flitwick, I ask that you come along to help me with a tracking charm" Flitwick nodded and said "Of course!!" in an excited squeak. Dumbledore then continued anyone else who would like to come and help is welcome. Am I correct in assuming that you would not miss this for your life Remus?" The werewolf nodded, still in a little shock that Harry was alive. It had crushed him when Albus had told him the news about Harry three years ago.

"Perhaps we should go, we do know our way around the non-magical world" Mr. Granger stated. "Excellent idea Jeff, you and Lisa will defiantly be useful." Dumbledore paused for a moment to think and continued "Why don't you ask Hermione and her friends to also accompany us, perhaps it would make the situation more believable if he were to see some wizards and witches his own age, he still knows nothing of our world."

Hermione Granger and her two best friends Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley were grinning with excitement. They had just been asked to go to London with some of there teachers to retrieve the long lost Harry Potter. It was two o'clock and the three of them were standing in the Headmasters office ready to take a portkey to London with The Grangers and Professors Lupin, Flitwick, McGonagall, Hagrid and Dumbledore. The had been told that they were going to help search for Harry and convince him he is a wizard.

After they touched the portkey and slammed into the ground the two girls were almost dragged down onto the pavement but were caught by Lupin. When they said thank you he mutely nodded, too nervous to trust his voice.

The then got a good look at were they were. They were in a filthy alley with trash cans spilt all over the place. There was a drunk man sleeping behind a trash can who looked like he had not had a bath in about a year and the whole place smelt to high heaven. They were obviously in a very bad neighborhood. None of them looked like they had been expecting this. This was definitely not the kind of place any kid should have to be for any reason.

Hermione, Ginny, and Neville were looking very confused. Neville even looked a bit frightened. The three of them had not been told anything of Harry's past after he defeated Voldemort and were expecting him to be in an orphanage or at a foster home somewhere.

The headmaster then said to himself in a sad tone, "I was afraid of this". Hermione, not liking being confused, asked the Headmaster "Sir why would Harry be in a place like this, he doesn't live around here does he". The Headmaster said in the same tired voice "I don't know child, I certainly hope not."

Hermione then thought of something else and asked, "How did he become missing in the first place anyway sir". Albus sighed and said "well child, perhaps I should tell you three the full tail of Harry Potter before we begin". He then began to tell the story to the three of them, he told them about leaving Harry with the Dursley's, the abuse of the Dursley, and finally he told them of Harry's final beating when he was only four and about being left for dead in a dumpster. When he had finished telling the graphic story, Neville was shacking and the girls were both crying quietly. "How could someone do that to a four year old" Hermione said in disbelief. They soon controlled themselves and began the search.

Professor Flitwick began to cast a charm that would show all of Harry footprints as a glowing pink outline and Albus cast a spell that would only make it visible to them. The group was once again confused as they saw that Harry's foot prints leading to the door were spaced wide apart as if he had been sprinting. They unlocked the door by magic and noticed that the foot steps got normal inside the door. They then began there task of finding Harry.

The trail had been an odd one. They had suspected Harry to have traveled on the main streets and were surprised when they learned that he preferred to use the back streets and alleys, he even cut through buildings occasionally. They quickly became lost because of the maze of alleys they were venturing into.

It was completely dark when they finally came to and old abandoned factory of some sort. They followed the foot prints over to the side where they magically unlocked a door and nervously went in.

Harry suddenly awoke. He had gotten a few hours of sleep at least he figured as it was now dark, but he was not fully rested. Something else had woken him but he did not know what. He looked over at Jack and Mag who had both started to rise, sensing a disturbance.

Sirius was currently testing the air trying to smell something out of the ordinary. His nose twitched as he smelled a few humans approaching. The odd thing was that he recognized one of them. It took him a moment to pinpoint the smell, but when he did his heart nearly stopped. He had smelled that man many times since they were kids. It was the smell of he greatest living friend, Remus Lupin. At first he was terrified. Remus still thought Sirius was a traitor and he knew he was an Animagus. If he were to be seen by him he would be given the kiss within the hour. Sirius then got a smile on his face as he realized why they must be here, they were here for Harry.

He had wanted nothing more than for Harry to be able to go to Hogwarts and Sirius would have gladly given his soul for Harry to have that opportunity. He had to leave Harry now.

Sirius walked over to Harry who looked at him and said in a whisper, "whas' da' mat'er Jack". Sirius, with a heavy heart, gave Harry an apologetic look as if to say good bye. Sirius did not expect Harry to understand but was once again surprised when his godson got a look on his face as if he understood exactly what he was trying to say. Sirius licked Harry's face with love and Harry hugged Sirius harder than he had ever hugged anyone since Maggie had died. Sirius then turned and bound out of the room.

Harry watched as Sirius ran away. He was a little confused but at the same time, for a reason unknown to him, he felt that he understood that Jack needed to leave. He could not figure out how he knew this but he did.

Harry snapped into reality as he heard Mag's low growl. He listened with all his concentration to try and hear what his dog did. A moment later he heard it there was several sets of footsteps heading his way. Harry immediately thought it was the gang that he had encountered earlier that day. He had injured and possibly killed several of there number earlier that day and he was sure that they would want revenge. 'Damn, how could they have found me, no one knows I live here' he thought as he heard them getting closer. He put his finger to his lips and the dog immediately stopped growling. The two of them quickly slipped of into the shadows and hid at a safe distance to evaluate the intruders.

Harry was expecting an angry gang to walk through the door ready to beat what they found to death. He received quite a shock when a group of people who appeared to be wearing cloaks cautiously crept into the room. Three of them looked to be about his age. One of them was shorter than him but looked to be many years older. There were two average sized men, one old man with a long white beard, and two women, one older than the other. But the oddest of all was bushy haired man that was twice the size of most other men and had to crouch to fit through the entrance to the room. They were a strange bunch indeed. But they did not appear to be hostile.

Harry watched as they walked over to the pile of rags that was his bed. The short man suddenly Squeaked "This room is filled with his prints, I fear this must be his home." All the others were horrified as they saw the small camp that was Harry's home. All it was is a pile of rages, an old blanket, Harry's back pack, a few shoes, some various pieces of clothing, a small wooden box, that Harry kept some of Maggie's and Sarah's old things in, and a few other things Harry had collected over the years. The group had gathered around Harry's belongings and were staring at it with utter sadness.

Harry was a little confused as to why these people would care about his stuff or him so much. He had never seen people like this, He had seen plenty of cops and child service workers but these people were neither. Harry was soon shocked once again as he heard the giant of a man bellow out in a great sob "Poor Harry!!"

When Harry heard this he immediately froze. 'How did they know my name? The only people who know my real name are dead, except for my aunt and uncle, but they probably think I'm dead anyway' Harry thought. He then decided to make himself known. He crept over behind them without them noticing, Mag silently following. He positioned himself between the strange group and the door and said in his slow and dangerous drawl, "wha' business you lot got 'er".

The entire group nearly jumped out of there skin when they heard Harry's voice. They all spun around and nearly chocked when they saw him standing there. Harry was covered in filth from head to foot. He was wearing a faded canvas jacket over an old flannel shirt he had found. He had on a pair of shredded slacks someone had thrown out and was wearing a cracking pair of leather boots. One of the boots was so old and dry rotted that they could see Harry's toes through a hole in them which were blue and black on the tips due to frostbite. On his hands, Harry was wearing a torn pair of gloves that some of his fingers stuck out of, this was how they noticed that he only had four fingers on his left hand(he had lost one in a fight). Harry had silver loop earrings in his ears that he had found once and decided to pierce his ears. His matted hair hung down his weathered face and over his shoulders and every part of skin they could see had scars somewhere on it.

Harry did not like the way the whole group just stared at him in horror and sorrow. It made him feel very awkward and he was already uncomfortable with the fact that he was outnumbered on his own territory. Tiered of there gawking Harry spoke again, "dis er's my territory, wha' business you lot' got 'er, I aint don na'in ta you." This seemed to snap them out of there stupor. Then the middle aged man with brown and gray hair stepped forward and started "Harry..." but was cut of as a large black and gray dog appeared in front of Harry and began to snarl in a deadly way that said 'Come any closer and I'll tear you to peaces'. Remus backed away quickly and looked at the dog apprehensively.

Harry said in almost a snarl "How 'da you know my real name." Remus looked back up at him, realizing that they were going to have to explain everything to him, and said "Harry, I was friends with your parents, I haven't seen you for twelve years." Harry replied "what da hell are you talkin' abou', I aint got no parents." Remus looked incredibly sad when he said this and replied "They died when you were one Harry, that's when you were sent to live with your aunt and uncle." Harry shot back quickly "wha' da' fuck da' you know abou' my aunt an' uncle." Harry was getting very angry and was twice as confused. The man, seeing Harry's anger, said to him in a quite voice, "We know about what he used to do to you and about him leaving you to die." Harry was now even more confused as to how they new that. He then asked again with a little less malice "wha' da' you wan' with me?" Then the old man with the beard spoke up, "Harry, perhaps it would be best if we told you every thing all at once, there is a lot we have to offer you." Harry studied the old man for a moment with a gaze that would have made anyone else squirm, but the man just calmly smiled. Harry nodded and said "I'm listnin".

"Thank you Harry, perhaps I should introduce my companions before I begin. My name is Professor Dumbledore. This is Professor Remus Lupin, Professor McGonagall, Professor Hagrid, Professor Flitwick and these are Professor Granger and Professor Granger. This is there daughter Hermione, and these are Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom." Harry nodded to all of them as they were introduced. They all still looked too shocked to be able to move except for Remus and Dumbledore. Harry ignored them and said "'ello every'un, dis er's Mag." Dumbledore smiled at the dog and said "Nice to meat you Mag". Mag let out a short bark after he said this.

"You have a very intelligent dog Harry, quite obedient also" Albus complemented. Harry just grinned and said "dat she is". Harry always looked to Mag when it came to judging a persons character, this is why he already new he could trust these people. If any of them had been hostile in any way, Mag would have let him know by know.

Well the first, most important and defiantly most shocking thing that I should tell you might be a bit hard to believe. That is of course the fact that you are a wizard." Harry raised an eyebrow at the man and replied "what ja' just say." Dumbledore smiled brightly and said, "You are a wizard Harry, capable of doing magic, your parents were as well. We all come from a school called Hogwarts that teaches the art of magic." Harry was beginning to get a bit irritated and said with a scowl "look ol' man, I got a lot better things ta do dan listen ta' yer babblin', so ether star' makin some sense er leave me da' hell alone."

The old man replied "I know it is hard to believe Harry but I am telling you the truth, you are indeed a wizard." Harry was now starting to get angry again, "Dar aint no such thing as magic, even if der was, I sure as hell don got none". Dumbledore continued to grin at the boy, "really, then how exactly did you get that lock open earlier today." As he said this Harry's eyes got wide, "how da you know about that". The old man simply replied, "Magic".

They could tell that Harry was thinking frantically. He was trying to figure out exactly what was going on. He raised his eyes to Dumbledore and said "prove it" as if daring him. Dumbledore smiled and said, "Absolutely." He then reached into his pocket and began to draw some thing. Harry's paranoia then kicked in as he instinctively took a step back, thinking the man would draw a weapon, and quickly drew his switch blade out and held it at his side. Mag began to growl at his side and they both gathered there muscles together, ready attack if necessary. Every one in the room froze once again, not knowing why the boy had suddenly drawn a knife. Albus, realizing quickly what had caused the boy to defend himself, slowly pulled the wand out of his pocket and held it up for him to see. This had confused Harry once again. "I'm not going to hurt you Harry" he said calmly.

Harry paused for a moment, still confused as to why the man was carrying a long stick, and nodded. When he put the knife away Dumbledore smiled and said "well there is a lot we have to tell you so we might as well get comfortable." He then casually waved his wand and suddenly, several couches appeared around them. When Harry saw this he thought he had finally done what he had been afraid of doing for three years, lose his sanity. He took several steps back breathing very heavily.

'This can't be real' he thought frantically. But it did look real. Harry looked to Mag to see if she had seen anything and saw here running back and forth also trying to figure out what had happened. 'At least I'm not seeing things' he thought. He looked up to the others in the room. Most of them were looking at him cautiously, not sure of how he would react, but the old man was staring at him in an amused smile. The old man sat down on one of the couches and said "now do you believe me Harry".

Harry was still in to much shock to answer. When he started to calm down a bit he looked to Dumbledore with amazed eyes and sputtered out, "what-how did you..." He then paused and scratched his head. Dumbledore the said in a calm tone, "sit down Harry, we have much to tell you."

Harry slowly, cautiously crept over to a couch near him and sat down in it looking at the man with anticipating eyes. Mag came over and lay next to him on the couch, her head in his lap.

As all the others sat down on the couches Dumbledore spoke, "Perhaps I should start by telling you about Lily and James, I hade kno..." He was cut off as Harry interrupted "who er' Lily an' James?" Dumbledore did not expect this. He gave Harry another sad look and said in an equally sad voice "Lily and James were your mother and father Harry." Harry Just nodded, a bit surprised, but after a silent moment he smiled and said almost to himself "Lily's a pretty name, Lily an' James".

The others in the room just looked at him as if they were starting to question his sanity until Dumbledore continued, "Indeed, anyway, on with the story. As I was saying, I have known your mother and father since they started school when they were both eleven years old. You father had come from a wizard family and your mother came from a non-magical family, which we call muggles. They were both probably the two smartest people in the school at the time, they were even mad head boy and girl in there seventh year. They were truly great people, everyone loved them like family it seemed."

Harry was listening with a blank expression. All the Dursley's had ever told him was that they were useless slobs who had gotten themselves killed in a car accident. This brought a scowl to his face as he realized that the Dursley's had only said that to torment him. He quickly forgot this though as the old man continued. "Yes, they were marvelous people indeed, they got married shortly after they finished school and obviously gave birth to you. You all lived in a nice little house in Wales together. You were a happy family indeed, despite the troublesome times."

This seemed to stir something in Harry's mind. He seemed to be staring of into space for several moments. The others were waiting to see if he was going to react, but he seemed to be miles away. When the old man had talked about Harry's family it had reminded him of the family he occasionally visited in his dreams. Harry got a small smile on his face and asked no one in particular, "she had ... red hair, an'... green eyes? An 'e' had... black hair, like mine. Dar was a couch... we sat on da couch." He got a wide grin on his face as he realized that the family he had always wanted to be a part of was in fact his family. He leaned back in the couch smiling at the memory. Some of the women in the room were crying slightly, Dumbledore began again, "Yes your mother did have red hair and green eyes, your eyes in fact. And your father did have your black hair." Remus was next to speak, "You all used to sit on your couch at night together, Lily would hold you until you would fall asleep." Harry seemed to snap out of his trance as he said this, he smiled up at them and said, "da's da only thing I can remember" in a soft, loving voice he usually reserved for when he would talk about Maggie, or his other dead friends.

All was silent for a moment as they watched Harry sit and smile to himself. The image of his family was clearer than ever before. Mag began to lick his face and he suddenly snapped out of his peaceful trance. "You was sayin'" Harry said. This seemed to break Albus out of his own trance as he suddenly began to speak again. "Ah, yes, back to the story. Okay, so you were living with your parents when you were an infant. Now, at the time our world was in a terrible state. This was all caused by a man named Tom Riddle who came to call himself Lord Voldemort." As he said this Harry noticed all the others in the room shuddered. He could not figure out why they were so nervous over such a silly name as that.

Harry raised his eyebrows at the old man and said "Lord Voldemort?" Dumbledore smiled and said "Yes, does sound a bit silly I suppose, but there was really nothing silly about him. He was a very powerful wizard, he killed many of the greatest witches and wizards of the world and was a great threat to the world at the time, many feared that he could not be stopped." "Why was 'e' doin' all that stuff" Harry asked. The old man replied "He was a very brutal man. He was power hungry, insane, and defiantly had the magical ability to get what he wanted. No one was ever able to stop him, that is of course until you came along." "What?" Harry replied once again confused.

Albus continued "Here comes the sad part of the story. We received intelligence that Voldemort was after your family. We cast a very powerful protection charm on your house that could not be broken by Voldemort. What we did was cast a very complicated charm called the Fedilious charm that would hid you as long a chosen secret keeper did not revel your whereabouts. Your mother and father chose there best friend Sirius Black to be there secret keeper. To everyone's shock, Sirius betrayed your family to Voldemort. Voldemort then came to your house to kill you, when he got there your father tried to hold him off to give you and Lily a chance to escape. It did not work however. Voldemort killed your father and quickly caught up to you and your mother.

When Voldemort tried to kill you, your mother took the curse for you and she was killed instead. Your mother loved you so much that she died to save you. After your mother was dead Voldemort then cast the killing curse on you. But it did not work. You see your mother's love for you was so strong and powerful that her sacrifice protected you from Voldemort's curse. Love is something he could never understand; therefore he was not able to touch you after your mother poured her love into you. When his curse hit you it was turned against him instead. He was torn from his body but he never really died, he had taken precautions to prevent death and was almost immortal. I believe that only his essence is in existence. He may return one day, but we will meet him when he does. After your parents death I regret to say that it was I who sent you to your aunt and uncles. I would like to apologize for ever sending you there to be abused, I should have checked up on you once in a while. Please understand that I never meant for you to suffer so much. If you could ever forgive me, it would be more than I deserve." The old man gave Harry an apologetic frown.

Harry had been listening the whole time with his mouth slightly open. A few moments ago he had a thousand questions, now he was speechless. Once he had comprehended what the man had said he looked at Mag who had her head resting on his lap calmly. Mag did not appear to sense any distrust in the man. That was good enough for Harry. Harry nodded his forgiveness to the man, who smiled. "If Mag trust ya', dan so do I, You had a reason fer sendin' me dar, didn't ya?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore replied, "Yes Harry, I had many reasons for not wanting you to live in the magical world. The main reason was that since your aunt was your only living relative on you mothers side, the presence of her blood would have preserved the protection your mother gave you. I wanted you to be safe if he ever returned. Also there was still a lot of Voldemort's followers on the loose, some of them might have wanted revenge on you for what you had done." "Like Black" Harry said angrily. Dumbledore replied "not at the time, you see Black was arrested the very next day. After he betrayed you he went on the run. One of your fathers other friends had gone after him seeking revenge. When he finally caught him, Black killed him along with twelve innocent by-standers. That was when he was arrested. He was placed in the magical prison Azkaban and remained there until last summer when he sum how managed to escape. He is the first to have ever accomplished this. Now he is a fugitive. Oh and before I forget I will have to ask all of you not to tell anyone of what you just heard". They all nodded, including Harry.

Harry lost his anger at Black as he though of a question he had asked himself many times. "How old 'm I" he asked. No one expected this. Everyone in the room looked shocked, again. "Excuse me" Dumbledore asked, not sure if he had heard correctly. "Do ya know how old I 'm, when was I born?" Harry replied. Dumbledore quickly got over his shock and replied, "You were born on July 31, 1988. You are almost exactly thirteen and a half years old." "Oh, no one never tol' me" Harry said. Harry suddenly went in to a fit of coughing witch made them all flinch. "Are you all right Harry?" Flitwick asked. Harry looked up after he had stopped and said "I'll be alright".

Then the old lady spoke for the first time. "Harry, when you were eleven years old, you were supposed to begin to attend Hogwarts. We sent Hagrid to your aunt and uncle's house to pick you up, that was when we found out you weren't there. We would know like you to come back to Hogwarts with us so that you can begin you magical education." Harry had been expecting this but was very uneasy a bought it. He had never had been to school and could not even read. All he had ever known was the cupboard and the streets. He had no idea how to act in a way that these people considered civilized. He nervously said "look, I'm not sure da' would be a good idea, I never actually been ta school, I aint to sure I'd do to well, I mean, I always wanted ta go ta school, but, I don t'ink I could do wa'is expected." Now Dumbledore spoke with a smile, "None sense Harry, you'll do fine. You will definitely be a bit behind but I think we can arrange a tutor session until you get caught up."

Harry's excitement was now overcoming his nervousness. "Ya, ya really mean it, I can go ta school" Harry said very eagerly. Dumbledore chuckled and replied, "You can and you will, Harry. I am happy to see you are so eager."

The wide grin on Harry's face suddenly vanished. Harry said in a very sad voice, "I still won' be able ta go, schools cost money an' I only got a little." Dumbledore just chuckled again and said, "That won't be a problem Harry, your parents left you plenty of money. Today is Thursday so perhaps Hagrid could take you to by your school supplies on Saturday. You should be settled in by then". "I'd love to" Hagrid said. The old man then said in his cheerful voice "good, than it's settled, you can come to Hogwarts with us."

Harry's grin was back. "Tank' you, tank' you so much, can Mag come too." "Of course she can, she seems to be well trained, I don't see why she would be a problem. We can leave right after I have a word with my colleagues about how to go about getting you sorted, why don't the three of you help Harry gather all his things." Dumbledore then signaled to all the adults present to follow him into a corner.

They all obliged and Harry looked up at the three students and said with a grin which was nervously returned, "Dis' is amazing, do you really all learn magic at da school?" They seemed to lighten up a little as he said this. Hermione was the one who answered "Yes we do Harry, We also learn potions and a few other fields that involve magic. You'll love it there." Harry replied "I is sure I will. By da way, wha' did he mean 'bout being sorted." She then explained to him about the Sorting Hat and the four houses. "Really, wow, dis is so amazin'; wha' houses 'er you guys in?" Harry asked. Now Ginny spoke up "Were all in Gryffindor." Harry then said, "Well maybe I'll be in der to." Hermione then spoke up again, "That would be nice, then we could help you out till you get to know the place." Harry replied "really, tank you, If I do get in I'll take ya up on dat."

Harry then began shoving all his more valuable items into his back pack, deciding to leave all his extra clothes. When he went to grab his bed role Hermione said, "You won't need any of that, they have nice beds in the dorms to sleep on, and you'll also be able to by some clothes when you go to by school supplies". Harry's smile got even bigger, "I aint never slept on a bed before, this is gettin' better an' better."

By the time the adults had come back over Harry had everything he wanted to take with him in his bag. He had decided to leave most of his clothes, thinking that they definitely would not be suitable if he was going to have to become civilized.

"Are you ready Harry" Remus asked. Harry nodded. "Good now when we get there we are going to get you sorted right away, I must warn you that in our world you are quite famous and everyone thinks you are either lost or dead. So when we arrive, I can not tell you what to expect from your fellow students. There is no reason to be nervous though, I'm sure you'll fit right in. Now this is a portkey, all you have to do is hold on to Mag and when you touch it, you will both be transported to Hogwarts, It may feel a little weird though."

Harry nodded, willing to believe almost anything, and grabbed hold of Mag. They all then touched the book In Dumbledore's hand.