As silence descends over the three people within an office, and one startled teenager looks into a mirror, another person, if you could call him that, was brooding over something. An enormous snake slithered its way up to this man, a slight hissing voice could be heard, the snake coiled itself around the large thrown the man was sitting on. It appeared to have followed an order from the man.
After a few moments of silence, a whimpering could be heard, drawing closer and closer towards the chamber holding the man. As it drew to a halt outside the door, fear could be felt as it rolled of the middle-aged man. He was overweight and was starting to go bald. The most distinct feature of the man was not in fact, his bald spot, or obesity. It was indeed, a silver hand connected to his arm.
The man knocked once, twice, and then a third time upon the door and it swung open without a problem. The man staggered to the base of the throne and bowed, stuttering all the while. "M-m-master, th-the others a-a-are out-outside await-aw-awaiting your o-o-orders." He managed to get out before finally returning to silent whimpering.
The man on the throne looked up, his violent red eyes flashing in disgust at the worthless figure in front of him, a smirk appearing on his face as he thought of the loyal followers that had come back to him a few months before. He looked back down at the pathetic creature before him for a moment, enjoying the fear that radiated off of him, as his tremors were evident through his heavy woolen cloak.
"Thank you Wormtail, bring them in. I would like to talk with them all."
"Y-yes Ma-Master, r-right awa-away." He stuttered before quickly leaving through the doors he had entered, the man upon the throne just smiled maniacally, one thought running through his mind as he mindlessly petted his large snake.
'You will not live the year through Potter, enjoy your life while you can.' With that thought coursing through his entire being, the Dark Lord let out a terrible and evil laugh that filled the chamber he was in, two of the many figures that were entering the room shivered in anticipation, not wanting to go back, but knowing that they must, or many lives would be at risk.
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Harry stumbled back from the mirror, tripping over his feet in his haste, wincing slightly from the jar of falling. He looked down to his hands, and back up to the mirror in a terrified silence. "Bloody Hell," he whispered, his voice sounding different, it appeared to be deeper and smooth.
Harry was so deep in though he failed to hear the heavy footsteps of his uncle coming down the hall. By the time he realized his uncle was in his room, it was to late, a meaty fist connected with his face and Harry sprawled across the floor, his lip re-opening from before. Harry looked up, with a blank look in his eyes, only to turn to fear.
His uncle was purple with rage, his face blotched from restraining himself from screaming, and his body trembled with hate as he looked on to his 'nephew.' "What did I tell you about waking us up again BOY!" He roared, his breathes coming quick and shallow.
Harry tried to shy away from his uncle, but a quick kick to his side made him stop, he winced and whimpered to himself, 'I won't give in, he won't hear me cry.' He kept thinking to himself. He was afraid for his life, as he had never seen his uncle the furious before. As his uncle came forward, and started the abuse, Harry's last thought before falling from consciousness was, 'someone, please help.'
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Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape continued to sit in silence since the Albus's last sentence, all of them lost in their own thoughts of what would happen within the next months. Suddenly, as if waking up from a dream Remus leaned forward in his chair.
"Now, I know this will affect Harry, but there are more pressing matters to be taken care of at the moment. Albus, I suggest someone go to Harry's house to check up on him. I do not trust those muggles as far as Severus can throw them."
Albus' eyes regained a tiny twinkle with that thought, yet his face remains in its worrisome nature. "Ah yes, the Dursleys. They are certainly a bunch of muggles, if ever there were any aren't they?"
Remus nods, while Severus starts to get impatient, "Will you hurry up Lupin? If it's possible I want to get Harry out of that wretched place as soon as possible."
Both Albus and Remus look over at the fuming Potions Master, both surprised of the open concern he had for Harry.
Seeing the looks they were giving him, Severus snapped before anything else could be said. "What, he's my son for Merlin's sake, and if what Lupin says is true, I want him out of there, I don't want those muggles laying another finger anywhere near Harry!"
Albus looked sharply at Remus, his eyes searching for an answer. Remus looked down quickly, "What does Severus mean Remus? What exactly aren't you telling me?"
Remus sighs before looking back up, defeat written all over his features. "In Harry's third year, I came across some interesting news. I had promised Harry I wouldn't say anything to anyone, but I have already broken that promise because I told Severus. Anyways, I have my reasons, but I believe that Harry's Muggle relatives, they have, oh Merlin! They have been abusing him both physically and mentally, and I have reason to believe that's what's going on this summer.
"You see, like I told Severus, Harry usually owls me and Padfoot constantly throughout the summer, although this summer, he's been distant, and we haven't gotten nearly as many letters. Anyways, I promised myself that if this happened I would go to you, otherwise I would help Harry in any other way I could."
Albus leaned back in his chair thoughtfully before speaking up again, "do you have any proof that this is going on, not that I don't believe you or anything, it's just that I need some evidence before I can send anyone out to get him." He said quickly as he saw Severus beginning to protest.
"I've seen the bruises myself, and he's told me about his life, under a wandless calming charm that is, how much more evidence would you possibly need Headmaster?" Remus said desperately, thinking that they might not be able to get Harry out of there after all.
Severus jumped in before things got out of hand. "Why would you need evidence at all Albus? I mean he's my son so I can just go check on him myself, and if they are mistreating him then I'll bring him back here, and if not then I'll still bring him back, simple as that."
Albus coughed to hide a small smile that had escaped at Severus's little speech. "I'm sorry to say, but even if you're his father, and we take him away from there, and the Ministry should happen to find out, how are we going to exactly explain it to them. 'I'm sorry Cornelius but we thought Harry was being mistreated so we thought we would bring him here…oh, well his father gave us permission to remove him from the Muggles' care…why Severus is his father of course!' I'm just trying to make a point Severus, I do want to have someone to go and check up on him, but there are simply too many things that could go wrong that could jeopardize other things, one of which is your job as a spy." Albus stated carefully. Both Remus and Severus leaned back in their chairs trying to figure out a way to do this without rising suspicions.
While the three men thought up different tactics to get Harry out of the Dursley's care, a voice suddenly was heard, echoing throughout the room like it came from far away. 'Someone, please help,' it repeated over and over for a few minutes before they finally recognized it as Harry's voice. Severus jumped out and was about to run out the room before Remus' quick reflexes caught him at the door.
"Let go Lupin, my son just asked for help, and I'm going to him. So Let. Go. Now."
Remus just shakes his head, not letting go before he turns to the headmaster, "is it safe to say, that we have a way to go get Harry?"
Albus just stands and walks over to them, "we most certainly do, although it would be best if all three of us go, just to be safe…I just have to make Minerva aware that we will be gone for at least an hour, it'll only take a moment."
He quickly went to the fire, tossed some purple powder in and exclaimed, "Minerva McGonagall"! The flames turned a purple shade before a head popped out. It was a severe and strict-looking woman. Her hair, streaked with gray, was put in a tight bun in the back of her head. She looked at the Headmaster, a questioning look in her eyes.
"We will be gone for at least an hour Minerva, can you look after things while we're away? I don't have time to explain now, but we have to leave, it is quite urgent. Could you have Poppy stand by just incase we arrive in need of medical attention?"
"As you wish Albus. Is anything the matter, and will you need any assistance?"
"We'll explain when we get back, we do not need any more people, but thank you for the offer. Come along you two, we have to get outside the wards before we can apparate."
With that, Albus, Remus, and Severus (AN: did anyone besides me realize that their names all end with 'us'…so does Sirius, that's just weird…anyways back to the Fic) all exited down the staircase, leaving a confused Transfiguration teacher behind. With a small 'pop' Minerva's head disappeared from the fireplace, and the room was now empty except for Fawkes, who sat quietly on his perch.
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Three tiny 'pops' could be heard on Private Drive at approximately two am. If someone were to look, they would have seen three rather unique people walking swiftly towards a house, particularly the house at #4 Private Drive. All three of them stopped momentarily at the front gate, the tallest, motioning for the other two to go ahead of him.
"We will go in quietly. I'll put sleeping charms on the three muggles, just as a precaution, we will start downstairs and work our way up." Albus whispered quietly as they approached the front door.
As they walked in, Remus stops suddenly, he looks around for a moment, and then turns to Albus, an urgent look in his eyes. "Albus, this house…it reeks with hate, anger and fear. Its overwhelming, I can barely breathe!" He whispers out trying to hold back a cough.
Albus shook his head gravely. "We must hurry, I'll check the living room for Harry's
thi–"
Remus shook his head violently. "No. Harry told me they keep his things in a cupboard under the stairs, he said it was his old room…"
Severus turned around. Behind him were the stairs, and now all they had to do was find the door.
They look in confusion at the stairs, which appeared to have no doors, let alone a room there. Remus, remembered hearing from Lily once that her sister loved to redecorate, walked forward running his hands along the wall, feeling for any sign of a crease, or indentation betraying the door.
His hands stopped over a portion that was near the middle of the stairs, he felt along, and yes! There's the door, he took out his wand and, using the Severing Charm, he cut the wall paper. Sure enough, there was the door…only missing the handle.
"Well, I have to say Remus that was impressive," Severus admitted grudgingly. He never would have thought that the muggles would have hid a door like that, "Anyways, we have to hurry, or those Police men will come. Merlin knows we don't need those imbeciles here too."
Remus nodded while he swung the door open with the help of his wand. Inside they found Harry's trunk and Firebolt. Shrinking them, and using a feather-weight spell on the trunk they pocketed the items and headed upstairs.
The first room they came to was a spare bedroom. It seemed to be unoccupied at the moment, so they headed to the next. Inside they found Dudley, he appeared to be sleeping, his fat bouncing with every snore.
Snape sneered at the disgusting sight, 'how can they live with something like that?' he wondered to himself quietly. Looking around they found that his room was buried in toys and junk, most of which seemed to be broken.
After Dumbledore finished the sleeping charm, they went to the next bedroom. It appeared to be the master bedroom because inside were Vernon and Petunia Dursley. Severus sneered at them before quickly leaving, knowing if he had stayed there any longer he would have done something that he would later regret. Well that is, he might regret, as Remus and Albus came back out from putting charms on the last two muggles they headed for the last door.
As they opened it, Remus physically recoiled from the room, even Albus and Severus could smell the different emotions. Fear, hate, anger, and depression were just a few that hung within the air. They looked around and found that this room was basically empty, there was nothing except a tiny bed with a thin sheet on it, and empty owl cage, in which identified this room as Harry's. As they peered closer, they realized that there was actually a mirror along the wall, and what appeared to be a small pile of rags on the floor next to it.
"Where is he?" Albus asked, looking around for any sign of Harry, getting more and more worried by the minute. When he looked over to Remus for an observation he saw the young werewolf staring at the pile of rags in shock and horror. Looking back, and taking a closer inspection, both Albus and Severus realized it wasn't a pile of rags at all, but a badly beaten Harry, and by the looks of it, unconscious.