Chapter 4, Crosses
Albus Dumbledore was not a man to waste time mourning over mistakes; no matter how grievous they seemed, at least not when there were things to do. He quickly considered his options. The wards had indeed fallen. But, they had not fallen to violence; they just vanished, as if there was nothing there to support them. He checked the second talisman he kept on his desk, the one he only had time to tie to Harry's life. Had he allowed more time, he would have also charmed the talisman to reflect Harry's health; time that in retrospect he knew he should have found. The talisman, a phoenix feather, still glowed a bright gold, showing that Harry indeed still lived; though Albus thought he could divine nothing beyond that.
But, Petunia and Vernon Dursley were Harry Potter's aunt and uncle. Surely they would not need to be watched as if they were mere hirelings with no interest in the boy. Yet, his conscience and the failure of the wards told him that the Dursleys were exactly that. In the back of his mind, he had thought that a slight possibility, after all, their hatred of magic was well known to any who knew Lily Potter. Albus thought that blood would run thicker than hatred. Sadly, it appeared, he may have been wrong. This was one bridge he had feared to cross. Yet, it was now the time of the crossing; to delay would ensure disaster. Paying the price of this failure would be yet another cross for Albus to bear, one he would not carry if the burden could be dissolved by timely action.
The Hogwarts Headmaster called for two men to make the journey with him to Little Whinging. The first answered instantly and arrived in Dumbledore's office by way of the school floo system. That man was Severus Snape, Hogwarts' new Potions Master, and Dumbledore's spy against Voldemort. Snape was also a master Legillimens, one capable of "reading" one's mind and memories, even if they had been tampered with. Dumbledore shared this skill with Severus, but valued Snape's unique insight, especially if Harry's disappearance was related to Death Eater activity.
The second man had to floo in from his flat in London; he arrived just after Snape. He was Remus Lupin. Lupin was the closest remaining living friend of James and Lily Potter, and had been in Dumbledore's private organization fighting Voldemort; the Order of the Phoenix. Lupin was also a werewolf. His senses of smell, hearing, and general observation were much keener than most through the entire month, not just on the night of the full moon when he transformed from man to beast. The only slight problem with Dumbledore's choice of assistants was that when Lupin and Snape were both students, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew had bullied Snape mercilessly from the first day of their first year on. Though Snape gave as good as he got, he got so much. While Lupin himself hadn't directly participated in creating Snape's misery, he hadn't tried to stop it, either. Sirius Black had tricked Snape into breaking into Lupin's warded cell just off of school grounds on the night of a full moon. Snape had almost been infected with Lycanthropy himself, being saved literally at the last minute by James Potter. As a result, though Lupin himself was in no way to blame, Snape loathed Lupin with every fibre of his being.
Both men looked at each other, Snape glaring fit to kill. Dumbledore interrupted them. "Gentlemen, we have a bit of a problem. The wards on Harry's Aunt's house fell not ten minutes ago. No other alarms sounded. Severus, have you heard of anything being planned?"
The Potions Master answered, "No, Headmaster. There are three factions of Death Eaters abroad at this time. None of them are concerned with anything beyond finding where Voldemort's spirit has disappeared to. And even that isn't being actively pursued due to the Ministry, and fear of discovery. We're talking no more than twenty-five people at most, after all, and few of them having any real talent or skills.
"I thought as much" the Headmaster stated. "I asked you both here to follow me to Surrey. I intend to find out what happened to Harry. I will in turn need your own skills of observation to help me find a clearer picture of recent events."
"Do you think Harry is alright Headmaster?" Remus asked, clearly trying to fight off a panic attack as he spoke.
Dumbledore answered gently, "Most likely so, Remus. But that is for us to find out; we should leave at once."
The three men walked outside of Hogwarts Castle, to the edge of the school grounds. Once outside of the anti-apparation shields, they apparated to Surrey, to the home of Arabella Figg.
Arabella was surprised to see Dumbledore, to say the least. She was also cross with the Headmaster. "About time you showed up, Albus! I've been telling you for months that the muggles were acting strangely. They've been spending like sailors; they've stopped parading their own pudding of a son about, and not one sign of Harry the whole time! I even offered my services as a babysitter to try to see what was going on with that shrew Dursley; she laughed in my face, then she slammed her door in my face!"
Dumbledore asked, "Have you even seen Harry?"
"Not since the night you, McGonnigal, and Hagrid left him there! By the time I got up and walked that way, the basket had already been taken inside."
The three men pondered this. Severus asked, "Did you seen the brat taken into the house?"
Figg answered, "No. I said that he had already been taken in."
Severus continued, "So we know that the Potter brat got as far as the front steps of his aunt's house, but not that he even entered, much less lived there."
Remus asked, "But what about the wards? If Harry never lived there, how did they even take in the first place?"
Albus answered, "The wards cast themselves. They were in fact up the moment I sat Harry's carry-cot on the Dursleys' steps. All I did was to place monitoring charms within the wards to keep some kind of watch on the comings and goings there.
"I think it's time we paid the Dursleys a visit, gentlemen" Dumbledore finished. After transfiguring their wizard's robes into muggle business attire, the three men let themselves out of Arabella Figg's house, and walked to the Dursleys. They mounted the front steps, and Albus knocked loudly on the door. After almost a minute, Petunia Dursley answered.
"What do you want? Are you selling something, or begging for charity? We already gave, and we're not interested!" She tried to slam the door closed, but found it wouldn't move, courtesy of a freezing charm from Lupin. Dumbledore asked, "May we come in, Mrs. Dursley? We are neither selling, nor begging. We only need a few minutes of your time."
Petunia answered rudely, "Well, you can get that where you stand, and very little of that, before I call the police! What do you want?"
Dumbledore answered civilly, "My name is Albus Dumbledore. I left you a note a few months back, when your nephew came to stay with you."
Petunia almost shrieked, "I have no nephew! You freaks were supposed to stay away!" She calmed down, almost as if obliviated, and said, "What do you want? Are you selling something, or begging for charity? We already gave, and we're not interested!" She tried to slam the door, and this time succeeded.
Albus asked quietly, "Remus? Do you remember Harry's smell?"
The werewolf answered, "I'll remember it for the rest of my life, Headmaster. There's the faintest trace of the smell right were you stand, and nowhere else. Harry isn't here, and hasn't been here ever beyond the night you set him on these steps."
The three men left 4 Privet Drive, talking quietly as they looked for a quiet place from which to apparate back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore asked, "Severus? Your observations?"
The spy answered, "Not Death-Eater, there was too much skill involved, and if they had hired something like this out, I'd have heard about it. Not that I know who they could have been hired for this.
"The woman's memory was clearly altered, but by a type of memory charm I've never seen before. She should have recognized you even without meeting you directly, and I know for a fact that 'dear old Tuney' would never pass up on an opportunity to tell me just what she thought of me, having grown up with her. I was able to see a hazy memory of the Potter brat on the steps. I felt a warm sensation, and the memory disappeared, as if it was entirely imagined or dreamt. But it wasn't; the child was there, and was removed before that woman's eyes; most likely with her consent.
"And before you ask, Headmaster, I don't think we can gain anything further from interrogating that lot! The memory modification runs far deeper than either of us can reach with legillimancy. I don't even think Verataserum would work. We may need to call the Ministry for this."
The three men, having found a momentarily empty alleyway, apparated to the edge of the Hogwarts wards. As they walked up to the castle, Albus replied, "No. We can't call the ministry. They would only make the situation worse. We must look for him ourselves, we can't even risk others in the Order finding out that Harry Potter is missing."
"So, Headmaster, when are you going to obliviate Figg?"
"That won't be necessary, Severus. I'll speak to her in a few moments, and explain the gravity of the situation to her. She'll do her part, and not speak of our current predicament.
"Meanwhile, both of you, I need you to listen to all of your contacts in your various walks of life, and see if you can hear anything. I need not say to not create any interest that's not there, just find out what is to be known." With that, they were standing outside of Dumbledore's office, beside the two stone gargoyles that guarded the spiral staircase up to the office itself. Lupin and Snape both could sense a dismissal when they received one; each left to do their employer's bidding.
It was the first of June 1982. The wards had fallen earlier that day in Surrey. But in Castleton, at Hyrule Castle, the wards Prince Harry brought with him were just as impressive if not more so than the day the toddler arrived. It was the middle of the evening. Link lay in his bed, his sons asleep upon his chest, in a quiet moment between waking times shared with two energetic near-two-year-olds, and his dreams, shared with the same two children, as both Prince Harry and Prince Neville freely visited his dreams where their bonds would allow.
The last child to do so was Link's eldest, Darunia, and that was over one thousand years ago. And, in those innocent times, Link hadn't had nearly the horrors, the shames, the bloodshed and violence; the baggage he had now. Yet, it wasn't so different. He and Saria, his first wife and life-mate, shared all their dreams since shortly after they bonded, and even many before that time. They could easily sense when their son joined them, and not dream of things they would rather not explain to their son at such a tender age. It was the same now, there was just so much more now to turn his children away from.
He looked out the window of his bedroom. His bedroom window faced Queen Victoria's Gate, the front or ceremonial gate of the castle's outer wall. Atop the arch of the gateway flew the Union Jack. But, the Union Jack never flew alone from those battlements, and only flew at all since the time of Queen Victoria. Each of the constituent parts of Britain had its own flag, its own "cross," if you will. England, of course, had the Cross of St. George, a red cross on a white field, as it had since shortly after the time of Horsa and Hengist. Scotland had the Saltire, the white Cross of St. Andrew on a blue field. Ireland had the Cross of St. Patrick, red on a white field. The Union Jack was no more and no less then the combinations of the Saltire, St. George's Cross, and St. Patrick's Cross on the same banner. There were other crosses in Britain, though.
The Welsh had the Cross of Dewi Sant, the Cross of St. David of Wales, yellow on a black background. The Shetland Islands had a white cross on a sky-blue field that looked suspiciously like the flag of Denmark. And the Hyrulians had, as they had since the start of the sixth century, the Cross of St. Darunia; the blaze orange cross on the grey field that flew from Link's battlements beside the Union Jack in the spotlights. That cross was in so many ways Link's cross to bear; not just as a Duke, or a King, but as a man.
St. Darunia was in fact Link's first son; a fact lost to all but the most astute of Hyrulian historians, despite the fame of both St. Darunia's short but fruitful ministry, and the many famous blood-soaked exploits of Darunia the Watchful, third Duke of Hyrule, champion to his father King Link the Valliant. Link fathered Darunia when he was but a few months past his eleventh birthday, barely himself an adult in the eyes of his adopted race in those ancient times. But, in Link's defence, he had already been fighting Ganondorf's monsters since the very hour of his eleventh birthday, and had been married to Saria for all but ten of his days of adulthood. Where most Kokiri conceived their first child just more than a week after their wedding, Link waited over four months. As Kokiri conceived with their first union, and could no more refuse each other than refuse to breathe, this was indeed showing considerable restraint.
Link's apparent youth was not the only problem he faced raising his eldest son. He and Saria conceived Darunia just before the Triforce was split. The Triforce was a sacred talisman left behind by the angels who created the Hyrulian races before the fall of angels and the start of the reign of man, imbued with the power of all three angels. The legends stated that if one of a pure heart were to possess the Triforce that peace, prosperity, and happiness would rule the land. But if one of a purely evil heart were to possess it, then the world would be plunged into darkness, misery, and despair.
The Triforce was split into no less than three pieces when Link attempted to stop Ganondorf, his evil elder half-brother from seizing it to enslave the entire world To this very day, Link carried a piece of it, known as the Triforce of Courage imbedded magically in his left hand, the hand that had always wielded his sword. The seven years that followed were known as the "Shadow Time," for at the end of that time Princess Zelda, the woman who Link was supposed to marry, turned time back seven years, to the very day of Link's eleventh birthday. This almost destroyed time itself! But, at the cost of her own eternal freedom, Saria helped Link to repair the damage, and as an unexpected bonus, the six year old Darunia was cast back into the flow of time, at the side of his grateful and loving father.
Saria's imprisonment was indeed eternal. She was one of the Seven Sages, who arose in the end of the Shadow Time to help Link defeat Ganondorf the first time, and would arise again to help Link win the final battle against Ganondorf Dragmire, or "Ganondorf the Damned." But the other six sages, including Queen Zelda, Link's second wife, were dead, and watched the world from the Spirit Realm. But Saria, like her husband, had used the Master Sword in defence of the cause of righteousness and truth against the attack of evil. Thus, she was, like her life-mate, required to live until all evil was defeated for ever, in other words, until the end of time itself when Christ's Final Pardon would bear fruit and all who accepted it would live eternally. Though not of his making, this was the first of many crosses Link would bear.
Darunia had also wielded the Master Sword, against his father's wishes, though at the end of the Shadow Time rather than the very beginning. Because of this, Link thought that Darunia would also live until the end of time, despite the indirect warnings of God himself that the eternal life Darunia would live would be quite different from the one Link would live. Link was never boastful or arrogant. And whether it be discipline or affection, whatever Darunia needed was freely given by Link. Yet for all that, Darunia had one serious flaw in his upbringing; because of the way he had lived his first six years. Where Link had only lived the Shadow Time once, Darunia had lived it twice; the first time raised by a Link who was emotionally devastated at the loss of his life-mate, and was thus cold and distant, the second time, the only one Link would ever know, where Link and Saria had raised Darunia together almost until the very end of the Shadow Time. This made Darunia vulnerable to Agahimnon's deceipt; Darunia attacked his father, almost causing Ganondorf's premature return to power. Link and Darunia both survived that day, and Link easily forgave Darunia. But Darunia never forgave himself.
Thus, Darunia finally accepted the Gospel; despite the fact that Link himself spoke to Jesus of Nazareth and brought Christianity to Hyrule, Darunia had been a non-believer for most of his life. Moreover, Darunia preached the fullness of the Gospel throughout Hyrule, where he was greeted with some amusement by the populace, who had all been practicing Christians or Jews (refugees from other parts of Europe, one of the tenets of the Hyrulian Catholic Church was that the Jews were to be in no way mistreated) for the past eighty plus years. But when Darunia took his ministry to Ireland, the Celts were not amused in the least. For many Celts, including Celtic clerics had fallen to Darunia's violently blood-soaked blade over the previous decades. To have the Prince of Blood preach peace in the robes of a friar was more of an insult than the Celts were willing to bear.
There was also another "issue" between the Irish and the Hyrulians. Kokiri resembled Leprechauns. Irish peasants, ever watchful for ways to improve their lot, took to kidnapping Kokiri, especially the young children who couldn't fight back. This usually ended up with the child's demise, if not from fright then from the inevitable torture employed by the Irish peasants to force the well-underage Kokiri who was no wealthier than the Irishman to tell where their pot of gold was. This lead to the inevitable reprisals, often led by Lord Darunia himself, where the Hyrulians would sack a village and kill all but a few of the inhabitants, to make sure someone told of what happened to those who offended the realm of Hyrule by kidnapping the most vulnerable of their subjects. Thus, Darunia was crucified and immolated just outside of Antrim.
The Archbishop of Antrim, who was primarily responsible, was conveyed by Link whole into the Lake of Fire. The rest of Ireland avoided slaughter only by Darunia's intervention from beyond the grave. Though Link, who had once wanted fully open borders and trade with the Irish kingdoms never mounted a general attack, relations were truly poisoned from then on. Despite the nomination for Sainthood from the other Irish bishops, despite that sainthood being rightly granted in less than one year, Link's forgiveness, compelled from him by his dead son, was indeed cold, frosty, and malignly indifferent. Until the time of Queen Victoria, no Irish cause brought before Link ever received favourable consideration.
This was yet another bushel-basket of crosses for Link to bear, and he bore quite a few from over fifteen hundred years of life and rule. And, the two children sleeping on his chest, waiting impatiently for their new adoptive father to join them, were yet another. Prince Harry was identified by both English and Hyrulian prophecy as "the one with the power to destroy the Dark Lord," heady stuff indeed. Link had just volunteered himself to raise this child to be powerful, yet not arrogant, conceited, or otherwise unkind. He had no idea how he was going to do this, only that he had one chance, and failure would destroy all of Britain, including Hyrule. And more importantly, it would break Link's heart yet one more time; a time Link was truly desperate to do without. He would find that way, for Neville's sake, for Harry's sake, and indeed for his own. But most importantly, he would do it for the only lady who had both been true and been there for him all his adult life; the Realm of Hyrule. She needed Link to succeed. He had never denied her, even when every fibre of his being told him to quit. He would not deny her in this.
But there were some tributes he was no longer willing to pay, not that he was ever willing in paying them. It was for her that he betrayed his bonding vows to Queen Saria and married Queen Zelda. It was for her safety that he openly betrayed his marriage vows to Queen Zelda by fathering every Gerudo child for almost twenty years, returning sons and normal fertility to that star-crossed race. The traumas this caused Zelda left him open to betray his marital vows to her again, when he fell in love with and bonded with the twin to Queen Saria in the other world, fathering Prince Darmani. In turn, that Saria's and his efforts to keep Link true to Queen Zelda alienated Darmani; though Darmani also fought with the Master Sword, and likely was living yet, Link hadn't spoken with him directly since Darmani was a small boy, not much older than Harry and Neville were now. There were other causes, there always were it seemed. Yet, this time, Link vowed there would not be. If the realm demanded sacrifice from him again, it would only receive sacrifice from him, not his sons. To all the world Harry and Neville might still be just two small boys, but to Link, they were indeed all the world.
Some carried their crosses life-long. Some truly powerful personages simply carried their crosses for a few miles, and were done with it; their labours being complete. But some were obliged to carry their crosses, be nailed upon them, have their legs broken, and then be told to police up the area, carry their crosses back to the barn, and be ready for the following performance next week. This was indeed the Divine Duty of Kings. And, whereas rights could be taken away, duties stayed with one for life. But at least these two were light, and were rather pleasant company, even when they were being wilful; which wouldn't start in earnest for another few months. Link finally let sleep overtake him, and joined his sons playing with a strange menagerie of a stag, dog, and wolf.