Lucy continued walking as she looked down at the sleeping child in her arms. She wasn't too sure what she was going to do with him...
'Maybe I could just take him to an orphanage...' Lucy immediately shot down that idea. Sure, Harry didn't have anything unusual about him, such as horns, but still...the orphanage could be a cruel, terrible place... This boy had suffered enough already. 'Maybe I can just leave him at someone else's doorstep...' If she hadn't been carrying Harry, Lucy would have facepalmed at the stupidity of that idea. Yes, just leave an injured child on some stranger's doorstep in the middle of the night. What could possibly go wrong?
Lucy sighed. 'Well...It looks like he's staying with me...' A part of her protested against this, saying she couldn't possibly care for him and that anyone else would be a better caretaker than her.
Another part of her felt a warm feeling inside at the prospect of helping this child...
Lucy shook those feelings away, and decided she needed to find a place to rest...
At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy...
Albus Dumbledore was deeply concerned. He had been keeping track of the blood wards around the Dursleys house that were keeping Harry safe from potential threats...and they had been severed. Harry Potter had been taken from the Dursley's residence.
Dumbledore decided he needed to get to the bottom of this, quickly. Harry could be in grave danger... Leaving behind a note to explain his absence, he made a quick apparition trip to Number 4 Privet Drive, hoping to find some answers...
Back with Lucy...
It was around midnight when Lucy had finally managed to find a place to rest and think about what to do next. She had managed to stumble across a recently abandoned warehouse. It wasn't perfect, but it would be just fine for the night... The diclonius looked down at the small child in her arms, then cringed slightly upon noticing the state of his leg. It was bent out of shape...She made a mental note to find a hospital to get that treated in the morning...
Shaking her head, the pink haired young woman entered the warehouse, and sat against a wall, looking down at the young boy sleeping soundly.
Harry's eyes slowly opened. He blinked in confusion. Shouldn't he be bleeding in his cupboard right now? He felt quite a bit more comfortable than when he'd normally wake up...
Then he remembered. The pretty pink haired woman saved him from his uncle and took him away from the house. He realized he had fallen asleep when she picked him up. Harry hesitated slightly before looking up at his saviour. She smiled gently down at him.
"I see you're awake." She said calmly. Harry gave her an unsure expression...then his stomach decided to speak its mind.
Lucy's smile widened slightly at the grumbling sound coming from the boy's stomach. "I'll see if I can find something for us to eat..." She said as she gently placed the boy on the floor, in a sitting position against the wall. The little boy nodded in response. Lucy smiled at him as she left to see if she could find anything, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.
'W-Why is she helping me? I...I thought freaks didn't deserve help...'
Lucy decided to poke around the warehouse to see if the workers left anything behind. She eventually stumbled across a food storage area. Inside, she found a loaf of slightly stale bread, about a dozen apples, and a box of crackers. Not exactly a feast, but it would do for now...
At Number Four Privet Drive...
In a flash of magical light, an elderly man with a long white beard appeared before a familiar house. Albus Dumbledore quickly approached it, wanting to find out what happened to Harry...and noticed the front door of the house was in pieces. His eyes widening in fear, the old wizard picked up the pace. Then he heard sobbing coming from the living room. Now terrified for the boy who lived's safety, Dumbledore ran into the living room to find Petunia Dursley sobbing over what appeared to be the limbless corpse of her husband. The sight made Albus's blood run cold.
If Mr. Dursley was dead, what had happened to Harry?
"Petunia?" Dumbledore called out softly. The horse-like woman's eyes snapped up, and her face contorted into an enraged snarl at the sight of the old wizard.
"You." She spat.
"Yes, Petunia. Me." Dumbledore nodded. "Please...tell me...what happened here."
"This is ALL YOUR FAULT!" Petunia yelled as she pointed an accusing finger at Dumbledore. "IF YOU HADN'T BROUGHT...HIM HERE, MY VERNON WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!"
"Petunia, please, calm down!" Dumbledore tried to reason, but Petunia wouldn't listen to him.
"THE FREAK IS GONE, OLD MAN!" She yelled furiously. "SOMEONE CAME IN WHILE VERNON WAS GIVING HIM HIS RIGHTFULLY DESERVED PUNISHMENT, KILLED VERNON AND TOOK THE NO GOOD LITTLE FREAK AWAY!"
Dumbledore looked at her in shock. "Punishment? What did Harry do to warrant punishment?" He asked, afraid of the answer. Was Harry simply misbehaving?
"HE WASN'T DOING HIS CHORES PROPERLY!" Petunia replied angrily. "WE SPECIFICALLY TOLD HIM WE WANTED OUR LITTLE DUDDIKINS' ROOM SPOTLESS, AND THERE WAS STILL A MESS WHEN VERNON RETURNED FROM WORK!"
Dumbledore's fists clenched. "Tell me, dear...What WAS Harry's punishment for failing to clean your son's room?" Petunia's face blanched at the question, as she realized she had talked herself into a corner here...
"Um...Well, um..."
Dumbledore wanted the truth and nothing but the truth. There were certain spells that only truly powerful wizards and witches could perform, one of which was a more powerful version of the Confundus spell, which had the same effects as the truth serum.
Petunia's face turned pale as a ghost when she saw Dumbledore pull out his wand. She had no time to run as Dumbledore made a few gestures with his wand and say "CONFUNDO!"
The force of the spell knocked Petunia back. Calmly, she sat up and looked at Dumbledore.
"Now, Petunia. I'm going to ask you some questions." Petunia nodded.
"What was Harry's punishment for failing to clean your son's room?"
"Vernon beat him with his belt." Dumbledore's eyes widened at this. Beating a child for not cleaning a room that belonged to his cousin...? Dumbledore shook his head and continued with the procedure.
"Has Vernon beat Harry with his belt before?"
"Yes."
"How long has this happened?"
"Since he was two." Dumbledore gasped audibly. Had he really condemned Harry to such a fate...?
"Did he do anything besides hitting Harry with his belt?"
"Yes." Dumbledore was afraid to find out...
"...What did he do?"
"He's hit him with Cricket bats, as well as anything else he could hit him with, burned him with cigarettes, punched him, kicked him, strangled him, thrown him, locked him in his cupboard, made him go days on end without food, made him do endless chores..."
Dumbledore's fists clenched around his wand as he listened to Petunia list the horrible things her husband had done to the boy who lived. What had he done...?
"...Did you have a hand in any of these actions?"
"Yes."
Dumbledore had heard enough. He quickly performed the counter curse, and Petunia sprawled out on her back.
Albus Dumbledore had a very, very long fuse. But right now, he was enraged beyond all comprehension. The fact that the people he had trusted to care for Harry had done such horrible things to him burned him with rage. Still, he never once lost his temper as she scowled angrily at the horse like woman begging on her knees for mercy.
"Mercy?" Dumbledore all but spat. "I'm sure Harry begged for mercy as well...Many times. But none was shown to him." Petunia scooted back against the wall as the elderly wizard approached her. "I have never been more disgusted by a human being in my life. Even Lord Voldemort never once made me this furious. I trusted you to care for Harry. Instead, you used and abused him, an innocent child. Your husband deserved what he got. I sincerely hope he felt every moment of his death." And with that, Dumbledore turned to leave. "And you deserve to live without your husband, and the knowledge that you are nothing more than a monster." Dumbledore headed for the door.
Petunia was furious. How dare that...that FREAK call her a monster?! She wasn't thinking when the next words came out of her mouth...
"He's likely to be dead, you know." Dumbledore stopped at the door. "If this person who killed my dear Vernon had no issues in doing so, why would they let that freaky little abomination li-" Petunia froze and realized she made a mistake when the elderly wizard held his wand under her chin and gave her a dark glare.
"Harry Potter was not a freak." He all but growled. "The true freaks are the ones who hurt others who are unable to defend themselves." Slowly, Dumbledore lowered his wand from the whimpering woman and stormed out the destroyed door.
When Albus was outside, he closed his eyes and felt tears threaten to fall. He clenched his fists. Petunia was probably right about one thing...If Vernon was dead...It was very possible they had killed Harry as well.
Dumbledore looked into the night sky. "Lilly...James...Harry...Forgive me..." And with that, he apparated back to Hogwarts. It was time to inform the others of the bad news...
Back in the warehouse...
Harry looked up as the woman came back with her arms full of food items. She smiled and sat down next to him. He weakly smiled back.
"...What's your name?" Lucy asked the small boy before her. He looked down shyly.
"H-Harry, ma'am..." He replied softly. Lucy smiled.
"My name is Lucy." She introduced.
"Hi Miss Lucy..." Harry said quietly.
"You don't have to call me Miss Lucy." Lucy said with a soft smile. "Just Lucy is fine."
"Oh...Okay..." Harry replied, looking downwards.
"Here." Lucy said as she used her vectors to cut the bread in half and handed half of it to Harry. The little boy looked at it in confusion. "Take it." Harry looked at Lucy, unsure, then tentatively reached out and grabbed the bread from her hands. He set it in his lap and looked at it for a few moments, then blinked as Lucy put six apples and a large handful of crackers on the ground next to him.
Harry looked at the food for a few moments, unsure of what to do.
"Eat." Lucy said simply. Harry looked at her again.
"A-Am I really allowed to eat all this?" He asked uneasily.
"Of course you are." Lucy replied with a frown.
"I...I don't have to wait until you're done?"
"Why would you have to wait for me to finish?" Lucy asked with a tilted head.
"Because back home I was only allowed to eat what Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley didn't..." Lucy growled at this, causing Harry to flinch.
"I'm sorry." Lucy apologized quickly. "I'm not angry with you." 'I'm angry with that fat bastard you call an uncle! I should have made him suffer much longer...' Lucy sighed and smiled softly at Harry. "Eat, Harry. You need to eat."
Harry hesitated, then slowly raised the stale bread to his mouth and took a large bite out of it. He looked to Lucy, who smiled and nodded, then chewed and swallowed. Lucy smiled as Harry continued eating, then got started on her own share of the meal.
After they were done eating, Harry let out a yawn. Lucy blinked at this.
"You're already tired? You just woke up about an hour ago." Harry looked down in shame.
"I'm sorry..." He said softly. Lucy smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright. We can go to sleep now if you want..." Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy noticed an old curtain covering one of the windows. She rose to her feet, approached the curtains and tore them off of their position in front of the window. Then, she went back to Harry and wrapped the curtain around his tiny, frail body as a sort of makeshift blanket. Then, she gently scooped him into her arms and held him so that his head was resting against his chest. Finally, she raised her vectors, being absolutely careful to ensure they weren't vibrating at all, then gently wrapped them the little boy.
Harry smiled in content as he rested his little head against the pink haired woman's chest. He couldn't for the life of him remember a time in his life where he had ever been this warm and comfortable...It took him all of ten seconds to fall asleep in Lucy's arms.
Lucy smiled at Harry's sleeping form, then slowly withdrew her vectors, not wanting to cut the small boy by accident. She leaned her head against the wall, and slowly fell asleep.
