Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
The Misplaced Potter
Chapter 3
In which Dumbledore discovers his error
Arabella Figg was sitting on a sofa in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts when she dropped her bombshell.
"What do you mean he's not there?" Albus Dumbledore roared in a panic. He was instantly remorseful when he saw the frighten look on Arabella Figg's face. "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Figg. I didn't mean to shout at you. Please forgive me."
Mrs. Figg wearily nodded at the powerful wizard. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"I forgive you, Professor Dumbledore," she said in a still shaky voice. "I'm sure that my news was a bit of a shock for you."
"You have a gift for understatement, Arabella," Professor McGonagall said from a chair across from Mrs. Figg.
"Let us review the facts one more time to be sure that we are all together on this," Dumbledore said in a measured tone. "There is no boy living at number fourteen Privet Drive. You are sure of this?"
"Yes, Professor, I am," Mrs. Figg said patiently. "I have babysat for them on several occasions. There are only the two little girls there ages seven and four."
"Their grandchildren?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Grandchildren?" Mrs. Figg exclaimed. "Certainly not. The Barkleys are barely old enough to have children the ages they do."
"The Barkleys?" Dumbledore said. "No wonder we are confused. Mrs. Figg, I was asking after the Dursleys."
Mrs. Figg looked at the two professors in confusion. "You asked about number fourteen Privet Drive."
Professor Dumbledore nodded as fear began to crawl up his spine. "The Dursleys do not live at number fourteen?"
"No," Mrs. Figg replied. "They live at number four."
Minerva caught a brief glimpse of the Dumbledore's horror-stricken face before he buried it in his hands. She waited for him to say something but as the silence lengthened uncomfortably, Minerva spoke up.
"What can you tell us about number fourteen," She asked. "When I was there ten years ago an older couple occupied the house."
"That would have been the Winters, John and Candace," Mrs. Figg said. "He was ever so handsome and would you believe that she was nearly his age? She died about three years ago. Something with her blood went wrong, I believe. Mr. Winters moved in with one of his daughters after that and sold the house. One couple lived there briefly but they were divorced and after them came the Barkleys."
"Arabella, I don't want to appear insensitive to your condition but can you tell me what a muggle would do if they found a baby on their doorstep?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"I've known you for too long, Minerva, to believe that you would hold me being a squib against me," Mrs. Figg answered with a smile. "As to your question, likely it is that they would call social services especially a couple like the Winters who would not be the types to adopt a children."
"They would not adopt a child?" Dumbledore asked coming out of his stupor.
"No," Mrs. Figg answered. "They had several daughters and a host of grandchildren. They would treat the babe well but they would turn him over to the muggle authorities."
"No chance that Harry is at the Dursley's?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"None whatsoever," Mrs. Figg assured her. "And it's a blessing that he isn't if their own son is any indication. If there was ever a boy born that was heading for prison, it is that son of theirs. If Harry was there, he'd probably be as much of a teddie as Dudley Dursley."
"Or cowered into near uselessness," McGonagall said looking over at Dumbledore. "So where does that leave us?"
"At the beginning of a long search," Dumbledore said. He looked haggard but Minerva heard the determination in his voice. "Mrs. Figg, I must apologize to you again. I sent you vague instructions. I'm afraid that I wasted of your time."
"I have no complaints," she replied. "What do you wish for me to do next?'
"At the moment, nothing," he answered her as he rose from the chair. "You can return to your own home but I will stay in contact with you. I fear that the dark times will return and the Order of the Phoenix will be needed once again."
Rising also, Mrs. Figg said. "You can find me in Little Whinging. I may be getting on and may be a squib but you know that you can depend on me."
Professor Dumbledore escorted Mrs. Figg to the hallway. "I know that I can and that's why I feel so badly about shouting at you. Minerva will send you through the floo, Mrs. Figg. Thank you for coming here."
"And after I get Arabella home?" McGonagall asked.
"I'm going to London," Dumbledore replied. "I need to talk to Sirius and get him started on the search. If we want Harry here in time to begin school, we have only a year in which to find him. Mind the shop while I'm gone, won't you?"
Twenty minutes later, Minerva McGonagall entered her own apartment in Hogwarts Castle overlooking the lake. A short girl with blue eyes and jet-black hair darted across the room and hugged her around the waist.
"Hi, Mum," the girl said happily.
Minerva bent down and kissed her daughter on the top of her head.
"Did you have a good time today, Maggie?" she asked.
"Just super," Maggie replied.
Minerva maneuvered her daughter to the sitting room as Maggie prattled on about her day in Hogsmeade with her best friends Bess and Bridget MacNarney. Maggie said nothing that anyone else would have considered earth shattering. It was just about what she had seen and about the seemingly purposeless games that girls play but for Minerva McGonagall the high point of her day was the time that she spent with her daughter.
She had offered to raise Harry Potter but the headmaster would not consider it. His comments on her ample fitness to be a mother, however, had planted a seed in her mind. The Death Eaters had left many orphans so she adopted a baby girl several months after they left Harry on that doorstep in Surrey. Thinking about Harry caused her to frown, a look that Maggie caught.
"Is something wrong, mum?" she asked.
Minerva smiled at her daughter. "Yes, dearest, there is something wrong," she answered lightly. "But there is always something wrong. That is the way of this world but you have no need worrying about such problems. I was thinking that with tomorrow being Saturday, we should go to the cinema. Perhaps Bess and Bridget's mother will allow them to join us."
"That would be super," Maggie gushed.
"It is settled then," Minerva said. "Come, let's wash up. We shall see Mrs. MacNarney and then have dinner in the village."