Hi Guys!
Sorry I have been so late in posting, University has been busy with last exams for 3rd year and laptop has been on the fritz, had to be sent back to the repair centre and lost my notes for the story I have almost finished the final draft, just need to type and post to the site. Anyway without further ado….
Crookshanksthe1st
Meanwhile back in Surrey.
Harry lay on his bed and stared at the old picture of his grandparents and his newfound aunt, and then looked at the two wands that lies on his bedside table, next to the picture of his mother and father.
At that moment Hedwig flew through the open window and perched herself on the top of her cage when Harry jumped up in surprise to see there was a letter attached to her leg, he went to his drawer and pulled out some owl treats and fed them to her as he ripped open the reply from Remus.
Dear H,
I am unsure as to what you mean by new found information, however if you believe this to be true, I will call round as soon as you get this.
Love RHe looked at his watch and then made his way downstairs with the box and wands to wait for Lupin.
At 5.30pm, Remus stepped out the fireplace in a puff of great green smoke and smiled at Harry.
Harry immediately went to the kitchen and started to make a pot of tea.
"How are you Harry?"
Harry nodded, "I'm okay, you?"
Remus looked at the box and the wands that stuck out the box. "I guess Dumbledore found them in the rubble and sent them here for you"
Harry put a cup in front of Remus.
"When I touched them I received a vision of Mum and Dad, I knew the wands had to have belonged to them"
Remus began to sip his tea slowly as he met Harry's tired gaze. "You said you had some information about your family you found, what is it?"
Harry immediately pulled the box across to him and put his hand inside and removed the letter from his parents, the birth certificate and the picture of his grandparents with Rose then displayed them in front of Remus.
He read the letter and then smiled at Harry, « They loved you more than anything Harry, never forget that »he said then looked down at the wands again then the picture of Rose. As he examined the letter again he smiled at Harry.
"Well from the looks of this Harry, your grandparents had another daughter, hasn't your Aunt Petunia ever mentioned her?"
Harry shook his head "Never, she never even spoke of Mum once in front of me, other than the time Hagrid came to take me to Hogwarts, but why would she hide this? If she knew she had a sister, then why didn't she tell Dumbledore that, I could have went to stay with her and her husband…Wait a minute! Mum wrote about a cousin in my letter… Peter is his name"
Remus looked again at the letter "It could be possible that they are still alive, however I would need to show this to Dumbledore, if Rose is indeed your Mother's sister, and she is a witch, it's possible that your cousin is a wizard too, I'm sure there is a way that Dumbledore could track down her adoption records."
For the first time all in a long time since Sirius' death, Remus watched as Harry smiled as he looked at the photos again "All we can do is hope that she wants to be found" he said longingly and put the rest of the things back inside the box.
A few hours later, Remus had portkeyed to Hogwarts to speak with Dumbledore about the letter Harry had found.
"And you say Harry had a vision?" said Dumbledore while he inspected the letter.
Remus nodded « He said that when he placed his hand over the wands a picture of Lily and James flashed in his mind, did you send these items to the Dursleys'?" he asked.
"Yes, it was the only things that weren't destroyed in the house, there must have been some sort of charm put on it, you know Lily and her charms" said Dumbledore smiling sadly.
Remus smiled too then got back to the matter at hand. "So this means that Lily had a sister, who she knew about, she would have told us, I mean it says in the letter James helped in her search after they graduated from Hogwarts so that means they knew each other for at least six or seven years, I wonder why she never told us" he said pondering over the situation.
"Perhaps, Lily and James did not want us to know due to everything happening with Voldemort and not to endanger their lives." he said placing the letter and certificate in the envelope again and putting it into his pocket.
"Leave it with me, Remus I have contacts and will get to the bottom of this mystery, I am somewhat curious about this Rose Evans myself, the news about Harry, Lily and James did spread over the wizarding community in New York City I will speak to the Ministry over there and see what we can come up with, in the meantime please assure Harry, I will get back to him in due course"
Remus thanked Dumbledore and made his way from the office.
At least two weeks passed and Dumbledore had kept to his word and searched for the mysterious Rose Evans, however he found that she had indeed stayed in New York and that she had married a Muggle by the name of Daniel Parker, and they went on to have a son name Peter.
"Ah, Albus, I trust your journey was successful?" said Minister Podmore
Dumbledore nodded "Yes Irwin, indeed it was, my trip is purely for information about a certain witch, that lives here in the city, I have found out that she was actually born in England and adopted by a muggle couple and she attended Critchley School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"What is her name?" said Irwin as he conjured a pot of tea and biscuits from thin air.
"Her name is Rose Evans, I believe it changed to Rose Smith after she was adopted, then she married Daniel Parker, we believe her to be the older sister of Lily Potter." said Dumbledore as he sipped his tea.
Minister Podmore almost dropped his cup at the mention of Lily's name. "So she is the Potter boy's Aunt?"
Dumbledore nodded again. At that moment Irwin summoned a scroll from thin air and laid it flat down on his desk. It was the Smith family tree, they had been wizards and it would show up if Rose had indeed been their daughter.
The tree lines branched down to Rose's name then branched off to signify her marriage to Daniel Parker who was Muggle. Minister Podmore waved his wand over both the names to show if they were still alive, but no glow came from the parchment except over one name. Peter.
"I am sorry Albus, but it seems that Rose and her husband are no longer alive, it shows here that they died in 1987, there was a fire at their home, their son Peter was the only survivor who was found alive at the scene, they must have got him out of the house first" he said sadly handing the parchment to Dumbledore.
The two old friends talked for a few more hours and as they delved further into Peter's past, the less they could find about the boy. They weren't sure if he was a wizard or even a squib for that matter. What was most confusing as to why he never received any letter for the wizarding school in the City, and who had taken him after the death of Rose and Daniel.
As they sifted through all of the library records, they found the date of the fire and their deaths. Dumbledore was shocked to see that it was at least one day after the deaths of Lily and James. Could someone on Voldemort's side have found out about Rose and set fire to the house? There was no evidence and if anything such as this had happened to them.
Finally Dumbledore found the records he needed after contacting the Muggle Social Services in the city of Peter, he learned that Daniel Parker's older brother took him in Benjamin and his wife May Parker at the age of four. Dumbledore pleased with the information he had gained decided to take note of the address and to pay the Parkers a visit.
May Parker busied herself in the garden when she suddenly heard the doorbell ring from inside the house. She sighed frustratingly as she got up and made her way back into the house. As she opened the door, she was surprised to see Dumbledore smiling at her. "Mrs Parker, I presume?" said Dumbledore smiling at the older woman.
"Yes, can I help you Sir?" she said as she looked at the strange older man with the strange hat upon his head.
"Yes, I believe you can, in more ways than one, Mrs Parker, this is a personal matter, regarding one of your family members, may we discuss this inside? I am Professor Albus Dumbledore and I have a few questions about how your nephew Peter came to be with you and your husband."
At the mention of Peter's name, she stepped aside and ushered Dumbledore into the house. Dumbledore looked around the small home; he smiled as May motioned for him to sit down as she went into the kitchen to make some tea. A few minutes later she emerged from the kitchen.
"Professor, tell me is everything alright with Peter at University?" she asked worriedly
Dumbledore lifted his teacup to his lips, sipped the tea and then shook his head.
"No, Mrs Parker, I am not from the University, I know that this may sound preposterous to you but I am Headmaster of a school in England a…Wizarding School" he said withdrawing his wand and waving it over his teacup which transfigured into a bird before May Parker's eyes. She almost dropped her teacup in surprise as she let out a shriek; Dumbledore wove his wand over it again and retransfigured it. "I do not intend to alarm you Mrs Parker, our world is very secret and I believe your sister in law was part of our community"
As Dumbledore spoke about what he had learned of Rose. May managed to verify that she had been adopted and learned she had a sister, however she had never spoken of finding her biological family to them.
"Mrs Parker, you're sister in law was a witch, something which even astounded myself as she has another sister who is very normal, however her younger sister was also a witch by the name of Lily Evans, she married and eventually became Lily Potter and she and James went on to have a son, his name is Harry." He said smiling.
"Well this is very surprising Mr Dumbledore, if Harry is Rose's nephew, then that would mean he and Peter were cousins" she said surprisingly.
Dumbledore nodded." How did Lily and James die?" she asked sadly.
Dumbledore started to explain about that fateful Halloween night. He then asked May about what she knew of Rose and Daniel's deaths. After she explained, about the fire etc it only made Dumbledore more suspicious of the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
"You see Mrs Parker I am here today not only to find out more about your nephew Peter but to also offer you a proposition, as I told you about Sirius, Harry's Godfather's sudden death a few weeks ago, he has been very closed off from everyone, including myself, he is living with his Aunt and Uncle in England, Voldemort's followers are increasing by the day, however I find Petunia's lack of interest in her nephew's welfare to be very disturbing, until now she was his only remaining family, you see Harry must live in a place where his mother's blood dwells, Lily and James sacrificed their lives for him that night, he is the only one who can stop Voldemort and it is my duty to keep him safe. The night Lily and James were killed I placed an ancient spell upon Petunia's home so that Harry need only return there once every summer after each school term to protect him. While he is there, he can be protected from Voldemort. Lily and James sacrificed themselves for Harry, Mrs Parker and I wish to remove him from the Dursleys'care and move him into your care, while we still can."
May Parker sat and listened to Dumbledore's heart felt plea about Harry.
"Professor, do you have a picture of Harry?" she asked after a few minutes.
Dumbledore waved his wand in the air and in his hand a small photograph appeared in his hand and he smiled as he passed it to May. He turned to look at her mantelpiece and saw the pictures of Peter as a young child, to the age of nineteen, and it was like looking at how Harry would look like in a few years time.
"My! What a handsome young man, it's strange he and Peter look oddly alike. How old is he?" she asked
"He will be sixteen in two weeks time, in our world by the age of seventeen a wizard is considered to be an adult, so if you wish for Harry to come and live with you and Peter, it would only be for a few months, until he has to return to Hogwarts"
"Professor, I have more than enough room for Harry to come and live with us, after the death of my husband Ben, I have been on my own, and since Peter moved further into the city to be nearer to University" said May
Dumbledore put down his tea cup "I would have to suggest that Peter would need to move back into the house in order for the blood charm to work, as long as they remain together under the same roof, I see no reason why that the blood bond will be as stronger here than it is at the Dursleys'."
Now with May's approval and now to tell Peter of his new found relative.
How will Harry and Peter react?