Hand-Me-Down Clothes

'You're a Wizard Harry!'

Despite being known as a man of calm temperament and congenial moods Albus Dumbledore was for once truly rattled. Rattled is of course a term Albus would use, whilst we would be more likely to say, raging, and then find some place else to be.

It was perhaps unfortunate that Vernon Dursley had arrived home whilst Albus and his young tour guide had been exploring upstairs, and was now in the kitchen being briefed by his wife. He didn't sound particularly happy, and whilst Harry was not be seen as a coward he had a healthy dose of fear towards an angry Vernon, and was beginning to lag behind on his new found friend's hand.

'Harry?' asked Dumbledore. 'Is that your Uncle Vernon?'

Harry nodded emphatically, looking longingly at his cupboard, where they now stood. In the kitchen a hippo roared. Sorry, that would be Vernon, Dumbledore looked, if anything, pleased to hear it.

'Good,' he smiled.

Harry gave his a look that said he was off his rocker, and then tentatively asked,

'Are you really going to take me away from here, Mr Dumbledore?'

'Absolutely Harry, as soon as I can.'

'Oh,' said a suddenly unenthusiastic Harry, envisaging an angry Uncle Vernon and no one to left to protect him.

Dumbledore looked at the suddenly downcast little boy and was struck by an inspiration.

'Or,' he said, 'I can take you away with me now, if you want me to.'

'Yes please!' Harry looked up hopefully and tried to look like a well-behaved little boy, who was perfect for being 'taken away'.

'Well then, first things first... ' Dumbledore took an exaggerated deep breath for Harry's benefit and pushed open the kitchen door, beside him Harry moved closer but followed.

Inside Vernon Dursley stood listening to his wife, who, facing the door, saw Dumbledore first, and the alarmed expression on her face immediately informed Vernon Dursley, who swung around and did something extremely stupid. He hit Albus Dumbledore.

Harry cried out in alarm for his friend Mr Dumbledore as soon as he saw Uncle Vernon's meaty fist rise and fall towards the older man, but his cry died gurgling in his throat as suddenly Uncle Vernon was on the floor, clutching his hand and weeping like a little boy. Surprised, Harry stared at Mr Dumbledore who appeared untouched and completely calm and collected as he regarded the man curled up on the floor, Aunt Petunia was shrieking for her husband to tell her what was wrong, but Vernon Dursley just kept on crying like a baby.

Harry cautiously tugged on Mr Dumbledore's sleeve, 'Are you Superman?' he whispered, eyes wide in awe.

'Who is soupa man?' Dumbledore asked.

'SupER Man,' corrected Harry. 'How can you not know who Superman is?'

Dumbledore chuckled, thinking about the differences between the muggle and the magical worlds and musing briefly on how he was going to explain it all to seven year old Harry.

'Well, you are very old,' said Harry thoughtfully, as if that explained everything, Dumbledore blinked in surprise, oddly put out by this observation. 'Superman is a hero, he can fly and he's super strong!'

'I'm not old,' was all Dumbledore said. Harry looked at him strangely, and Dumbledore drew his busy brows together in a frown, 'I mean 147 isn't so old. I'm still youthful, full of energy, up to appreciating a compliment from a pretty lady...'

'One huuuuunnddrreeed and forty SEVEN!' yelped Harry, gaping at Dumbledore, 'Nobodies that old!'

'I am!' protested Dumbledore, completely caught up in their little conversation.

'You're ancient!' said Harry, staring at Dumbledore as if he were some sort of museum artefact from bygones. 'You could die at any minute...' Harry backed away slightly, as if waiting for Dumbledore to collapse.

'Now hang on!' said Dumbledore, bristling, 'I am not going to die any time soon!'

Harry, whose eyes had started to water in fear of his hero's oncoming demise, promptly brightened up.

'You're not?'

'I'm not,' clarified Dumbledore firmly.

Harry gave a little jump for joy and leapt forward to embrace Mr Dumbledore around the waist, hanging on tightly he sniffled a little as Dumbledore, surprised, hugged him awkwardly back.

'What - have - you - done - to - my - husband?' snapped a furious Petunia, interrupting them.

'Nothing permanent, although I imagine that he will need to see a doctor,' said Dumbledore. 'Some of the bones in his hand will undoubtedly be broken. I can heal them if you would like?' he stepped forward, raising a long thin stick of wood at Vernon Dursley, but Petunia Dursley flung herself in front of the large bulk of her husband.

'You've done enough damage, you unnatural abomination, now get out of my house!' she screamed the last at Dumbledore, who winced a little but otherwise ignored it, Harry however ran in front of Mr Dumbledore and shouted right back at his Aunt.

'Leave him alone!'

Dumbledore went to place his hand on Harry's shoulder and gently but firmly guide him out of the way, when something happened that shocked him so, he was bereft of speech or action for some moments.

Petunia Dursley raised her hand and struck Harry. She hit him so hard across the face that he was knocked from his feet and smashed to the floor.

It took Harry a moment to raise his head, and in that moment Dumbledore tasted true rage, a bitter taste in his mouth and a roaring in his head, his eyes burning blue ice and before he knew it he was raising his own hand, his wand forgotten, ready to deliver a terrible blow. Yet he looked down at just this moment and saw Harry, with blood trickling from his mouth, clearly dazed, but watching, and looked up and saw Petunia Dursley cowering from him in his rage, and he lowered his hand, ashamed.

His anger melted away, his heart ceased pounding and he bought himself under control, quietly he knelt beside Harry and took the little boy's cheek in his hand, murmuring soothing words he healed the wounds caused by ignorance and fear. Gently he gathered the child into his arms and lifted him up as he stood, Harry was far too light, a bundle of sticks in a sack, he was in shock and shaking, and clung to him like a life line, Petunia Dursley was huddled in the furthest corner of the kitchen, still terrified of Dumbledore's fury. Dumbledore withdrew his wand and without asking permission reduced the pain in Vernon Dursley's hand for long enough that he could listen and understand him.

'It has become quite clear to me that you are unfit to take care of Harry. Your extreme and illogical fear of magic has made you unreasonable to the point of... madness,' Dumbledore paused for a moment, his restrained rage giving him clarity.

'I am taking Harry Potter from your care and from this day henceforward you are no longer his guardians, nor his family. I will not press charges against you for the abuse that Harry has suffered in your care, but be warned, that forever, from this day forward, shall my eye be upon you, and if you ever mistreat a child again I will know about it, and my wrath shall be great!'

So saying, Dumbledore turned and left the kitchen, as the door shut behind him a thudding on the stairs showed that Dudley had been listening in and was now retreating for fear of being noticed.

'Is there anything you wish to take with you Harry? Any thing special?'

Harry thought for a moment, then shook his head, he didn't want to risk getting down from this reassuring embrace to pick up a few pairs of socks and the odd misshapen toy solder.

Nodding, Albus Dumbledore quickly strode to the front door, pausing for a moment on the open threshold, 'Take a last look Harry, because you are never coming back here.'

Harry peeked over his saviour's shoulder into the murky hallway lined with family pictures, in not one was he included, and he thought about his Aunt and Uncle and his Cousin, and he was not sorry to leave them, they had never given him anything accept pain, shame and humiliation.

'I'm glad Mr Dumbledore,' he said, and rested his small head on the man's chest, 'I'm glad.'

Dumbledore stepped out into the sunshine, the golden light warmed them both, caressing chilled faces and cheering up their sagging spirits, but the perfectly arranged and tended garden of number four suddenly seemed unbearably stifling to Dumbledore.

He quickly stepped out onto the pavement of Privet Drive and began walking, heading towards Arabella's home, Dumbledore gave a spontaneous hop-skippety-jump and Harry stopped trying to bury his head in Dumbledore's suit to giggle.

'Oh you think that's funny do you? Wait till you see my horse impression!' Dumbledore twisted Harry around so that the child was clinging to his back, 'Are you ready?'

'Uh huh,' said Harry slightly apprehensively.

'Heeeeere we go!' cried Dumbledore, and began to skip down the road, bouncing and jiggling Harry around.

'Neiiiigh!' he hollered, making Harry flinch at the unexpected noise, and trying his best to mimic a horse. 'Neeeeiiiggghhhh!'

Soon Harry was laughing hysterically and still finding the energy to whoop and yell, 'Giddy up!' enthusiastically.

Passer-by's and people relaxing in their gardens stared at the pair, the old man with his unusually long snowy white beard, looking fragile but displaying a great amount of agility and strength, and the thin little boy dressed in baggy clothes with messy ebony locks, both displaying a freeness of self that was enviable, as well as a refreshingly unaffected joy.

Dumbledore finally came to a halt outside Arabella's house, rather hot in the face from his sudden exercise, yet rather glad to have been able to make Harry laugh and forget his troubles for a while, for it sadly struck Dumbledore that Harry was a rather serious child for his age.

'Last stop gentlemen, last stop!' called Dumbledore, chuckling, and Harry was carefully let down, still laughing.

'This is Mrs Figg's home,' said Harry looking around. 'She's my babysitter. What are we doing here Mr Dumbledore?' he slipped his hand into Dumbledore's. Somewhere along the road Harry had decided Mr Dumbledore was someone he could place his trust in, and not worry about it being broken.

'Mrs Figg is a friend of mine Harry, this won't take a moment. Hopefully,' he added quietly.

'So! You came back! With Harry!' came a forceful voice from the now open doorway, Dumbledore inwardly winced, there was a definite note of 'I told you so' in the pointed tones.

'Yes Arabella, you were right. I have removed Harry from the Dursleys care,' replied Dumbledore evenly.

The said lady just smirked, and then jerked her head to the side, 'Come in why don't you?' grappling with her crutch she led the way to her sitting room, full of crocheted monstrosities.

'She always makes me look at photos of her cats,' whispered Harry aside to Dumbledore. 'Do we have to do that this time too?'

Dumbledore laughed out loud, and Harry hushed him urgently.

'No Harry, not this time.'

'Have you explained to him about the real world?' asked Mrs Figg, eliciting a bewildered look from Harry as he sat down beside Mr Dumbledore on the cat hair covered couch.

'No, not yet,' replied Dumbledore seriously.

'Well you better had, unless you were planning on showing him and then explaining,' said Mrs Figg with some asperity in her voice.

'Of course not,' said Dumbledore sounding a tinge exasperated and then paused as if stuck.

'You weren't thinking of giving him over to more muggle guardians?' said Mrs Figg, sounding irritated, she glared at Dumbledore until he relented and answered her.

'No, at least I'm not now,' admitted Dumbledore, finding Arabella's steady gaze unnerving and annoying for it. Harry looked alarmed at this new development,

'Mr Dumbledore, I want to stay with you. Please, may I? I won't be any bother, I can do chores.'

'Well then, that's sorted,' said Mrs Figg, over-riding whatever Dumbledore's open mouth had been about to say. 'The boy's chosen, Albus, and it's your duty to provide it.'

Albus shut his open mouth and glowered briefly at his ever so slightly ascetic friend, he scratched his beard and felt a small hand touch his still one nervously, then a small head rested against his side, and little Harry Potter murmured:

'Will you be my granddad?' with the kind of wistful hopefulness only Oliver Twist might have pulled off, and he was fictional. Dumbledore was stunned into insensibility for an instant and didn't reply.

'Harry, there are things you need to know first, about who I really am. You know I told you I come from Scotland?'

Harry nodded his head against Dumbledore's side.

'Well I am Headmaster of a school there. A school called Hogwarts. It's a school for special students Harry.'

'You mean one for people with die selex a?' asked Harry, confusing Dumbledore, who couldn't figure out what die selex a was.

'No, it's for magical students Harry,' said Mrs Figg in her usual straightforward manner.

Harry clapped his hands over his mouth and gasped behind them, eyes wide he stared at Dumbledore, who stood up, took out his wand and transfigured his suit back into his usual flamboyant robes.

The effect on Harry was electric, he leapt up from his seat and shouted something incoherently, before quickly realising what he had done (seeing Arabella Figg's pinched face), and collapsing huddled to the floor, his hands raised above his head and his body tensed.

It was obvious that he expected to be hit for his spontaneous outburst, Arabella Figg took one look and was suddenly striding to the door, crutches forgotten and a grim scowl of determination upon her face. It was only Dumbledore's quick thinking (and a petrificous charm), that stopped the Dursleys experiencing magic in a way that would make them truly paranoid about it for the rest of their lives, for all her gruff manner, Arabella Figg was a person with a large if somewhat lopsided heart.

'What did you do to her?' asked Harry, fearfully.

'I used a charm, Harry, to stop her from doing something stupid.'

'Did it hurt her?' Harry's concern for his old, no doubt boring babysitter touched Dumbledore, and made him warm some more to the boy, slowly his heart was melting and accepting Harry in to a soul that had wised up to the world and sadly found it lacking.

'No Harry, but she will be annoyed with me for taking her unawares.'

'Can you do lots of... magic,' Harry squeaked the last, looking around as if expecting Uncle Vernon to materialise from nowhere and tell him off.

'Yes, but you have to learn it, that's why we have a school,' explained Dumbledore.

'Will I be able to go?' asked Harry, suddenly looking interested.

'Oh yes, undoubtedly Harry, undoubtedly.'

'It's not freaky?'

'Do I look like a freak?' questioned Dumbledore, and got a seriously pondering look from Harry, who had never seen his type of clothing before, and thought the colours bright and wonderful, though the shoes were scary.

'You,' said Dumbledore, mock glaring at the small boy, 'are going to give me an inferiority complex!'

'A what?'

'Make me go insane,' said Dumbledore in his teachers voice, he looked over his half moon glasses at a cheekily grinning Harry Potter, whose confidence was growing every moment in the company of 'Mr Dumbledore', and smiled his twinkling eyes smile.

'You're a wizard Harry.'

Author's Note: Let's see, you may shoot me, but I had written this all out on my lap top but one night it got hungry and went for a snack, routing around it found a delicious looking morsel and glomped it all down with much relish. Sooo, here is the 'other' version of chapter four, (we shall never see the original again I fear), and I have made it extra long to make up for the delay.

Did I mention that I love you all? Well that would of course be an exaggeration but awww, I do anyway, lol. Your reviews have been splendiferous and I have enjoyed reading each and every one! Anyways, do continue to comment and tell me if you liked it, why you did, questions, and indubitably to tell me off for my appalling update history!

Please be aware that I'm not replying to reviews submitted to this chapter, but the previous one, so although you might have submitted another review for this Chapter (you dah-ling people), I'm replying to the one you submitted in chapter three! Phew!

Finally! Replies to reviews...

LilPup: I didn't want to make Dumbledore lose his rag with the Dursleys, at least not much, because he's meant to be so wise etc, I guess we can leave that to others.. hint hint. Thanks for the review.

DuxDuk: I don't intend on giving up this story, this has to be one of the easier ones to update, my other fics are suffering from writers block but this one seems to have escaped! Thanks for the review and I hope Petunia Dursley's reaction was satisfying!

wquad: Thank you, it is good to know you are enjoying this!

shdurrani: Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter!

LittleEar BigEar's sis: Thank you!

Crysal: You had me going for a moment! Glad you liked it!

Sky Chief: Glad you liked my Dudley, sorry for the long time between updates, I have a busy life!

kateydidnt: Dumbledore got him out of there! Mind you he couldn't really do anything else considering the situation! Again, sorry for the time it takes me to update.

LinZE: Yah, I'm a definite fan of Minerva as a mothering figure, behind the stern exterior etc, look out for this in future chapters!

Rachel A. Prongs: Yeah, I wanted Dumbledore to curse the Dursleys too but couldn't really do it ethically. Sorry for the wait.

Moonlight: This chapter was a little sad too, but Dumbledore did get around to freeing Harry. Thanks for reviewing and putting me on your faves! Yay! :-)

silverleaf: Hope this chapter also was worth the wait! I'm also in agreement that Dumbledore is partially responsible for the way in which Harry was brought up, as he was the one who, after all, placed Harry on the Dursleys doorstep, thus the inspiration for this fic.

Lady FoxFire: Dumbledore is constrained by being such a public figure, so that he cannot punish the Dursleys as he might wish, however that doesn't mean to say that others won't do so for him!

Aeryn Alexander: Wow, a review from one of my favourite authors! Thank you very much, I'm glad you found the last chapter 'excellent' and I hope this one meets with you approval also.

Lokia: See, Harry is 'outta there', hope you liked the method!

Christy: I continued, and I keep stopping them at interesting points to make it more interesting for you readers! Thanks for the review!

blackunicorn: Hope chapter four was okay, and I'm happy you like this fic!

hedwig7up: Thank you! Here's an update!

K. H. T: Thanks for your review!

some lesbian: Thanks for the review! Did you enjoy this chapter!

Robin: Wow, thanks for the wonderful review. I actually agree on your little nit-picking point about Harry saying 'mister' too much in chapter three, and, as soon as I've finished and posted this, I intend to go and correct it!

Illustrious Sorrow: thank you, I'm planning on making Harry's life much better, as a child's life should be.

Anneliese: Your reviews are always so enthusiastic! I love them! Here's 'more', hope you like it!

The Wolf of Were: Thanks, I hope you also thought this chapter was just as good!

Melanie: Thank you for reviewing my fic, did you read my others? I must go check my reviews! lol

Moonlight Snitch: Oh I know, my updates are terminally slow at times, however this fic is better than others of mine (scary huh?), glad you liked it, and thanks!

skipastarseeker: I know I should update more often! But encouragement does help so thank you for your review!

SithTahiri: Here's more, lol!

Aurelia: Thank you for the review, hope you liked what happened.

Winged wolf: Thank you, I work on making Harry as realistic as possible, despite it being an AU.

john: It wasn't 5 months since my last update was it? Oh man that is bad! Will definitely improve, promise!

JerseyGirl03: Is there going to be more? Absolutely! Here it is! ;)

Blume: cringes so sorry about the lengthy wait for chapter three, hope this one didn't take so long (I can't remember). Thanks for the review!

serapotter: Thanks!

sakurakawaiicherry: Thank you for the review, Harry is kinda cute, and I wanted him to be cos I like the kid!

Butler: Yeah those Dursleys are mean people, thanks for reviewing.

lil_angel: That is high praise! I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Rhiain: Thank you, high praise again, and I'm not sure I deserve it, but I am glad you enjoyed it.

Danny's Girl: Hey, I updated!

Athenia McGonagall: Thank you, as you can see I have continued, and I hope you liked it.

Lions Blood: Thank you, this didn't take too long, right?

Charma1219: Thanks!

npetrenko: My last reviewer for Chapter Three, thank you!