Harry and Merope to the Rescue - Chapter 3

Disclaimer:

I don't own the HP universe, unfortunately.

Walking quietly toward the cupboard under the stairs, Merope said softly, "Harry, it's safe to come out now, we have taken care of all of the bad people, I promise."

Little Harry sniffled a little and he felt his magic ease from around him and instinctively knew that he could trust this new person.

Merope said, "I'm going to unlock this cupboard now, and I want you to gather whatever you want to bring with you, we need to leave before more bad people come to harm you."

As she was saying this, Harry returned to Privet Drive under stealth mode, and saw the aurors had started to apparate nearby. He quickly apparated next to Merope and said, "We need to hurry. The aurors have just arrived and it won't be long before Dumbledore shows up as well."

Merope said to Harry, "Okay." Turning her attention back to Little Harry she said, "Sweetie, more people have arrived and we don't know if they're all good, I need you to come to me very quickly so that we can leave here before they come inside to take you."

After hearing that, Little Harry quickly grabbed his blankie that had his initials embroidered on the corner. That was all that was his. And he ran into her arms as fast as his little legs would allow, then buried his head into her shoulder and hid his face.

Harry leaned in and whispered to Merope very quickly, "You take him somewhere safe that you can set up the tent with all those wards I've taught you. I want to stay here and find out the reactions and then I'll find you." Merope nodded, gave him a quick kiss, and then disapparated.

Harry, meanwhile, stayed in stealth mode and returned to the yard where the aurors were gathered. One of the aurors was a younger Mad-Eye Moody, with his eye spinning in all directions, but still passing over Harry as if he didn't exist.

Next he saw Dumbledore apparate on-scene and quickly walked past all the aurors to go into the house, while one that appeared to be a rookie yelled, "You can't just go running in there, this is a crime scene that we're trying to investigate!" Dumbledore just ignored him and continued inside. He didn't stay inside for long, as he came running out of the house and started questioning if they had found Harry.

Mad-Eye sharply looked at Dumbledore and said, "You don't mean Harry Potter was living here with muggles, do you?"

Dumbledore said, "Yes, they were his only remaining family. I was able to place blood wards here that were supposed to make it safe, but something drastic must have caused them to fail.

"Well, I'd say so, considering the dark magic concentration in this area. We're lucky whoever was here saw fit to put up muggle repelling wards, otherwise they'd all be swarming around here and we'd have to call out a team of obliviators." Said one of the other aurors.

Another two had gone inside to investigate and then came back out. The first one said, "Two adults and a baby inside, all deceased by the avada kedavra; though, the female appears to have been tortured for a bit, first."

The second auror said, "The cupboard under the stairs was opened, there didn't appear to be any struggle there." Here his face turned even more serious, "There was bedding on the floor there, as if to accommodate a small child, even though there were two extra bedrooms upstairs. I found dried blood, but it appeared to have been weeks old and not fresh. Also, there seems to be some evidence that whoever took the child from the cupboard was different from the ones that killed the muggles."

Mad-Eye glared at Dumbledore and said, "So you believed the blood wards you set up would make him safe here, did you? Perhaps he was safe from the Death Eaters, but it doesn't sound as if he was safe with the muggles."

Dumbledore was seething inwardly at Moody pointing out his mistakes in front of everyone, but he just nodded contritely and said, "It would appear that I miscalculated the strength of the wards."

Moody said, "I would suggest you steer clear of this investigation, Dumbledore. You have made a mess of things by not allowing this to go through the proper channels and sealing the Potters' will. If you meddle into this anymore, I don't think even all your positions will save you from the wrath you will surely experience if something nefarious has happened to The-Boy-Who-Lived." With that, Moody turned away and began giving instructions to the team of aurors there with him.

Dumbledore did a poor job of holding his temper at this point, holding it barely just. Harry made a point of walking beside him, making sure to be close enough to drain the power from the Elder Wand. Then remembering the invisibility cloak that Dumbledore would have hidden away, Harry chose to follow him along to Hogwarts to determine where he had kept it, so that he could take it home for Little Harry.

Upon arrival in Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore was openly seething. "How can I mold him into the weapon that I need, if I no longer know where he is and have any control over how he's being raised?" Dumbledore asked through gritted teeth. Though it appeared that his little outburst had not been quite enough of a racket to make the portraits stop feigning sleep.

Harry did a walk around the office, as he could feel the call of the invisibility cloak through the wards that were keeping it. He started walking towards the direction he could feel the cloak in, when Dumbledore started complaining more about his plans being ruined, and then he said, "Well, with the last Potter gone where I can't find him, and no one to inherit the cloak, it looks like the unbreakable vow I made to return it to Harry can't go into effect, because I don't where he is. Which means I'll really only have the stone to find before I can become the Master of Death."

At this point, Harry had found the hiding spot, bypassing the wards and adding some of his own, willing his magic to not drain the powers of the cloak, as he wanted Little Harry to be able to use it at its full power, even if he will never become MoD. Then he placed a strong illusion of the cloak in its place, put the real cloak in his pocket and returned to Merope and Little Harry.

By the time Harry had arrived to the place Merope had set up camp, which was ironically the Forest of Dean, Merope had given Little Harry a bath and transfigured him some pajamas — because of course out of all their survival stash, they did not think they would need to bring children's clothing, but they would know for next time.

Harry walked into the tent to see Merope rocking Little Harry and singing to him. Harry noticed the angry red color of the lightning bolt on his forehead. It looked much worse than he could remember it ever looking on his own head. Well, first thing's first, they needed to get that horcrux out of his head.

Little Harry's head popped up at Harry's approach and he squealed excitedly, "Daddy!" As he wiggled his way from Merope's lap and over to Harry. Harry picked him up and Little Harry held onto him tightly and started crying in relief. Harry just cradled him and rubbed his little back and gave him comfort, as Little Harry laid his head on Harry's shoulder.

Harry was considering very hard how to handle this. It seemed as if it would be a simple thing for Harry to just pretend to be James Potter. He could glamour his eyes the right color, but there was still the problem that James Potter was dead and buried in the graveyard at Godric's Hollow. And as much as he resembled James Potter, it would probably be better if he posed as a Potter relative that didn't stay in touch with the family enough for friends of the family to have remembered him.

After Little Harry calmed down he looked up and around, then looked at Harry in confusion and asked, "Where Mummy?"

Harry sighed at Little Harry sadly and said, "Mummy can't be here with us anymore."

Little Harry looked at Harry solemnly and said, "Bad man. Green light."

Harry nodded seriously and said, "Yes, she was hit with the green light by the bad man and couldn't be with us anymore. But she is still with us here," gesturing to Little Harry's heart, "and she is here," indicating his own heart.

Little Harry looked up more closely at Harry and looked at his eyes and said, "You not daddy, you no have right eyes. You eyes like mummy's eyes."

"Yes," Harry said, "and like your eyes. My name is Harry."

"Me name Harry," Little Harry said.

Harry said, "Yes, I know. Harry James Potter." Little Harry nodded.

"Do you want to call me Uncle Harry?" Harry asked.

Little Harry frowned and said, "Me no like uncles."

Harry nodded and said, "No, I imagine you don't. Do you want to call me Daddy?"

Little Harry looked to be in deep thought and nodded, "Yes, Daddy. You look like Daddy."

Harry gave a small smile and said, "Yes, I imagine that I do."

Then Little Harry turned and looked at Merope, who had walked over during the Harrys' interactions. He held his little hand out towards Merope, who caught it, and he asked, "New mummy?"

Merope gave Little Harry a gentle smile and kissed his forehead, then she said brightly, "Yes, I'll be your new mummy, sweetheart." Little Harry's answering smile was interrupted by a big yawn.

Harry said, "Well, big guy, it looks like it's time to get you to a bed, it's been a long night for you."

Little Harry blinked his eyes in sleepiness and asked, "Sleep with Daddy and Mummy?"

Harry looked at Merope who responded with a shrug and Harry said, "Well, all right. But just for tonight. We'll get you your own room set up tomorrow."

Then he carried Little Harry to the master bedroom and placed him in the middle of the king-sized bed to sleep. Each one taking a turn staying next to him, while the other got ready for bed.

Harry put the cloak away in his backpack until Little Harry was old enough to be responsible with it, after of course checking to make sure Dumbledore hadn't left any spells on it. Thankfully, he had not. Harry has suspected all these years that Dumbledore placed a tracking charm, among other things, before he was given the cloak in his original time.

When they were both ready and in bed, Harry placed a variation of muffiato that acted like white noise, rather than buzzing sounds, then leaned over and gave Merope a kiss.

"I'm sorry we're not going to get to try the hot tub tonight," Harry said quietly.

Merope smiled and said, "Oh, that's all right. We'll find the time to try it out one day, that is something that we'll always have plenty of." Harry smiled in response to that.

Then Harry said, "Considering the circumstances we are now in, I think it's safe to say we'll be in this time period or world for a few years, it will probably be better to leave Britain though. Everyone will be looking for Little Harry here." Merope nodded in acknowledgment.

"So what I'd like to do these next few days," Harry continued, "is I will get things set up for us at Gringotts, do a blood test with them to verify that I am a Potter and get legal guardianship away from Dumbledore and then legally adopt Little Harry, then I will get all the vault keys recalled. While I'm there, I'll check to see what family properties there are out of the country, because I'd like to raise Little Harry in one of the family homes." Again, Merope nodded.

Then Harry continued, "After that, I'll go shopping for a few things that we'll need for him like clothes and such. Perhaps at a later time, we'll go to the cottage in Godric's Hollow and pick up his own toys and clothes and such.

"And then I'm going to get rid of that parasite in his forehead and take care of the rest of the horcruxes while I'm at it. I don't know if that will get rid of Voldemort while he's in his spirit form, but even if it doesn't we'll take care of him when he comes back. Which means, I guess, I'll have to leave his father's bones and all where they are."

"After we get Harry moved someplace safe, I'll get in contact with Moony and persuade him out of any lingering loyalty he may have for Dumbledore and then make sure Sirius has a trial. With my resemblance to James along with my eye color, I may have to explain to them who I really am." Harry continued.

"And if they refuse to have a trial, well, then I guess I'll just break him out of prison myself and offer to pay for plastic surgery in the muggle world, and help get him a name change." Then Harry said as sort of an afterthought, "I'll try to decide what to do with Wormtail after I have found out whether or not Voldemort's spirit form is eliminated after all the horcruxes are destroyed."

Merope nodded and said, "That seems like a good short-term goal, and I'll expect you to take care of that first thing after breakfast tomorrow morning."

"Yes, dear," Harry said. And then he leaned over and gave her another kiss and then removed the charm he had placed on Little Harry, then the both joined Little Harry in sleep.