To say the staff room was thrown into chaos when Severus' Patronus had delivered its message was like saying Voldemort only had a hobby in the Dark Arts. Albus Dumbledore was sure he couldn't have heard Severus correctly, Harry Potter couldn't be dead. Minerva's thickening Scottish brogue pulling him from his thoughts as she yelled at him that she had known Harry wouldn't be safe with the Dursleys. Albus held up his hand to stop her so he could speak.

"We have no idea what has happened but I do suggest that we alert the order so we may learn what has actually occurred. Send out Kingsley and Moody to the Dursley house to see what they can find. I will go down to Severus and help him with Harry who is sure to be confused. This meeting is dismissed. I believe the rest of the staff should keep an eye out on the students and try to divert anyone coming down to the dungeons until we can figure out what to do next."

No one was happy but they quickly dispersed to their duties. Minerva still cursing under her breath as she made her way to alert the order for the first time since Voldemort's defeat.

Albus quickly made his way down to Severus, thoughts already forming for how Neville had to be the boy who lived. He couldn't believe he had gotten it wrong, but Harry's death must be a sign and it was not too late to shift focus to Neville. This would have been much worse if Harry had died after arriving at Hogwarts.

Albus found Severus in a short time, the lingering energy from the formation of a new ghost was easy to follow. Severus was sitting on the stone floor, which was shocking in itself as Severus would never usually do something as undignified as sitting on the dirty floor. What also was shocking was the quiet and soothing voice he was using to talk to the small ghostly child floating in the middle of the hallway. Albus hadn't wanted to believe it but this was definitely Harry Potter, even dying hadn't tamed that wild Potter hair.

"Severus I-," Albus began before being cut off quite suddenly by Severus wandlessly and wordlessly using a silencing charm on him.

"Shh, it's alright child. That's just the nosy headmaster that should know better than to interrupt me." Severus said soothingly to the small child that had startled at Dumbledore's sudden presence in the hallway with them.

"He won't harm you either, I swear I wouldn't let him even if he tried. Okay?" Severus continued, drawing Harry's frightened eyes back to him. Harry nodding a little nervously, hovering closer to Severus.

Albus was feeling both offended and amazed by Severus' behavior towards him and the child.

"Now child, I am going to invite a friend here that will be able to help you in your new form. I know it is scary but I need you to trust me okay?" Severus said as he slowly pulled his wand out, the boy's eyes watching him warily but not flinching away. Severus summoned his Patronus again, Harry's eyes widening at the appearance of the doe his fingers twitching in a way that Severus recognized. Keeping his smile to himself Severus nodded at Harry.

"You can pet her if you want to Harry, you won't get in trouble."

Harry looked unsure if he should trust Severus but slowly reached up to pet the doe, a small smile appearing on his face.

Albus didn't think ghosts could feel a Patronus, but it was something to be experimented with at a later date it seemed. Once the boy stopped petting the doe he watched Severus send the doe off with a message to the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron to come to their location to aid with a new ghost.

Albus felt strangely useless and like an outsider intruding on a private moment as Severus took on the responsibility of the boy who once lived. He wasn't going to leave them alone as he needed to speak to Harry to see how he was killed. But he did recognize that the death was probably not an unfortunate accident, the bruises stood out starkly on Harry's ghostly skin.

It wasn't long before the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron were both in the hall with them, opposite sides of the hall since even in death Helena had not forgiven the Baron for killing her. As the oldest ghosts in the castle though, they did take their duty towards newly presented ghosts very seriously and it was the only time anyone could say they even vaguely got along.

Helena looked as if she wanted to cry seeing such a young boy as a ghost but both she and the Baron kept their composure. They often had ghosts form here at Hogwarts due to being the center of 3 intersecting ley lines and the magic that had soaked into the stones from centuries of students passing through these halls. Most ghosts could be convinced to let go of their burdens and pass on, or they were pulled back to their place of death if it held enough of a magical aura to hold them sentient. It has been many years since a ghost had formed at Hogwarts that had not died here and then decided to stay within the castle. Helena got the feeling this little boy would be Hogwarts newest resident for many generations to come. She wasn't a seer like her mother Rowena had been, but her gut feelings were never wrong.

"Harry I would like to introduce you to Helena Ravenclaw and Baron Waldo Bayler. They are going to teach you and make sure you are safe, okay?" Severus explained to the child. Harry looked skeptical, it was such a Slytherin response it almost made Severus laugh.

"I swear that if they do anything wrong you can always come straight to me and I'll take care of it. But for now, I need to leave you in their capable hands okay?" Severus reassured the boy. It took some coaxing from Helena before Harry followed after her and the Baron. Harry still looked over his shoulder at Severus until he was out of sight.

Severus slumped with exhaustion, he didn't even have the energy to stand up off the floor. Although he knew he needed to stand to speak with Albus before the man got too impatient with him. Albus had already removed the silencing charm on himself and was studying Severus carefully.

"Clearly the boy was murdered." Severus decided to begin with as he pulled himself off the floor.

"Now my boy we can't know that for sure…" Albus tried to say but Severus was already shaking his head.

"Don't be a fool, Albus! You saw the bruises on his neck, he was strangled to death. The boy you were supposed to protect suffered a slow and painful death. It's no wonder he came back as a ghost! From his behavior, I suspect abuse as well. I would look at who he was around most often family, friends, his friends' families for anyone who was in contact with him often enough to abuse him. We also have to find his body. The first step in helping him cross over will be finding his body and giving a proper burial where he will be at peace next to his parents." Severus was pacing the hall as he laid out his thoughts to Albus.

"Minerva is contacting the order so we may send Aurors who we trust to go out and check the Dursley home for what has occurred. I highly doubt that Petunia would have let someone near them enough to kill the boy." Albus spoke in a way that should imply that Severus should be ashamed for even thinking Harry's family could hurt him.

"Yes because Petunia has always been such a loving individual. I am sure she only blocked Lily from attending their parents' funeral out of deep affection for her sister." Severus snarled sarcastically. Albus sighed, he knew there would be no convincing Severus, so he would have to wait until they heard back from Kingsley and Moody.

"Come, Severus, we should be ready and waiting for when the others report back. We can take action from there."

"Fine. Lead the way then." Severus grumbles in contempt. Following the Headmaster back up to his office for the long wait on official word about Harry Potter's death. Severus knew that no matter the outcome, he would not be sleeping well tonight. He could already hear Lily's voice berating him for failing to protect her little boy.

*MD*

Both Minerva and Severus felt like they were going to float away with as much tea as they had both consumed while waiting for word about the status of Harry Potter's body and family. Albus, Minerva, and Severus were all sitting in the headmaster's office in silence, they had run out of small talk two hours ago. Just when Severus was about to scream to relieve the tension of waiting, the floo activated and Kingsley stepped into the office looking grave. Even when the war had been at its height, Severus couldn't recall Kingsley ever looking so ill.

Kingsley slumped into one of the open seats in front of Albus' desk next to Minerva. No one knew how to break the silence or wanting to ask questions as to what had put such an expression on the Auror's face.

"Vernon Dursley has been taken into Auror custody." Kingsley started grimly, just that one statement already had Dumbledore deflating in his own seat.

"Dudley Dursley is currently in muggle child protective service's custody while Petunia Dursley nee Evans is being questioned for her part in the abuse, neglect, and murder of her nephew Harry Potter. Vernon has already partially confessed to killing Harry, but will be questioned further to get a full picture of the abuse he doled out on Harry." Kingsley spoke slowly as if he was still processing the knowledge that he shared.

Severus worked up the nerve to ask a question that he feared the answer of, "What of Harry Potter's body? You have it so we can bury him next to his parents correct?"

If anything that question seemed to make Kingsley pale and look on the verge of throwing up. "The status of Harry Potter's body is grim. When we arrived at the Dursley home they were in the middle of … disposing of the boy's body. We will not be able to bury Harry properly, nor will we be able to provide anything that even the most dark of rituals could use to help release the boy's ghost from this world. Harry Potter was killed three days ago on the evening of March 16th during Miss Marge Dursley's birthday celebration. We currently have a warrant out for her arrest for her part in Harry's murder. The story we received was something along the lines of Harry having interrupted the birthday dinner when he screamed because Dudley Dursley had pushed Harry down the stairs. Vernon proceeded to strangle the boy in a fit of rage and had not realized he had killed the boy until he had dropped the body on the floor." Kingsley took a deep breath to fortify himself for the next part.

"It gets worse, unfortunately. To avoid being caught as murderers Petunia and Vernon placed Harry's body in a sealed container of acid in the shed in their garden. They burned what little possessions the boy had and scrubbed the house clean of his ever living there. They were going to move the container of acid and Harry's remains to a waste site today but we arrived as they were loading their car. The acid had done its job well and there isn't anything left of the boy's body." Kingsley finally stopped speaking.

Everyone in the room was horrified. Minerva had silent tears rolling down her aged cheeks. Albus was silent but looked almost as pale as the ghosts were. Severus was nauseous. Even as a once voluntary Death Eater, he didn't think he had heard anything as horrifying as what had happened to poor Harry Potter. He had failed the child in the most epic of proportions. They had all failed to protect Harry Potter and now he was going to be stuck forever seven years old, never getting to move on to see his parents that had loved him so much, never to grow up or fall in love. Severus felt his heartbreak and he wasn't sure there was anything he could do to help the little boy that they had failed.

Severus covered his face with his hands and cried for the first time in years since Lily Potter's death, he cried for the little boy who deserved so much better than he had received and what could have been if anyone had checked on him.

What could the world have been like if Harry Potter lived?

Now they would never get to know.