Albus Dumbledore and the Issue of Harry Potter

Gotimtim

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, yawned as he settled himself behind his ornately decorated desk. He stared at the pile of messages delivered to him since the evening meal some five hours prior.
His sleeping cap sat askew on his head, and he scratched an itch on his long, crooked nose before putting on his half-moon spectacles. His sleeping gown barely made a rustle as he adjusted himself in the high backed chair and sighed.

His was a never ending job of writing and receiving letters, hearing the complaints and missives of the school's Board of Governors, and also acting as an unofficial advisor to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. While he dearly loved the job he had and the people who were under his ever watchful eye, there was one job he also held that he felt could be entrusted to no one else. That of watching over the growth and care of one Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived.

Personally, Dumbledore hated the title however accurate a description it might be. He was in fact, the only person known to have survived the killing curse, and to this day, some eight years later no less, no one could figure out why. Even though he himself thought he knew, and the evidence supported his conclusions, there was no other known case anywhere in the Wizarding World to support his conclusion, and there was no possible way he could ask for any volunteers to try and find a way to support his hypothesis. He smiled at the thought. He was sure his dear friend, Gellart Grindelwald, would have had different views on this matter.

Swiftly shifting the thought aside, he glanced at the portraits of the Headmasters before him that adorned the office walls. All of them appeared to be sleeping or otherwise absent from their portraits. Off visiting friends in other places, or maybe other portraits that existed in other locations in some cases, no doubt.

Retrieving his wand from a pocket hidden inside the sleeve of his robe, Dumbledore waved it and smiled at the steaming pot of tea that appeared. Next to it sat a cup, a saucer, a bowl of sugar and tiny pots of cream. For late evening tea, lemon just would not do, he thought. It took only moments to prepare a cup to his liking, and a careful sip to realize the tea would need a few moments more to cool. Time he could use to begin going through some of the messages stacked on his desk.

Lucius Malfoy had written him, as he often did, complaining about the course of Muggle Studies which Hogwarts offered. Without opening it, Dumbledore felt sure he knew what it would say. "No other school in the Wizarding World offered such a course, why then should Hogwarts?" Or "Do muggles really warrant study by children at school? Surely, if their jobs after school demanded close contact with muggles, such study could be provided as part of said job's training regimen."

The thinly veiled prejudice Lucius held towards muggles and those who defended them in the Wizarding World, such as Arthur Weasley, another name Lucius often mentioned in the halls of the Ministry, was a sore spot with Dumbledore. That way of thinking was one that had cost him dearly as a younger man, and the lesson was one Albus had no desire to repeat.

Tapping the sealed scroll with his wand, it rose up in front of Dumbledore and unfurled itself. He was three sentences in when a small smile crossed his lips. He was right. Twice, as Malfoy had included both lines almost verbatim in his letter. With a sigh, Albus dipped a Quick Quotes Quill in the old ink pot which stood a corner of his desk and quietly dictated a brief response. After that task was finished, he turned to the next letter in the stack and opened it and he began the process again.

So the next half hour went. Professor Sprout wanted to enlist Hagrid's help in building a new bed for the school's Mandrake plants. Professor Snape had copied Dumbledore in on a note he'd sent to Arthur and Molly Weasley about their twin sons, both first years now at Hogwarts, and their antics in class.
Albus repressed a smile at this. He was not the first Professor to draw a comparison between the young Weasley twins and two other rapscallions that had played a fair number of pranks during their time at Hogwarts. The memory of James Potter and Sirius Black and the number of pranks they used to pull brought forth the smile he'd tried not to let pass his lips. Those were much happier times.

Letting his mind wander for a moment, Dumbledore felt is curiosity pique at the thought of James' young son, Harry, who would soon be starting Hogwarts himself in a couple years. Albus wondered if he would be like his father, or like his mother, Lily.

Again, his mind wandered as the thought of Lily Potter entered his mind. She was a delightful child, and a top student in all her classes. It was a tragedy that she died protecting Harry, but it was that sacrifice which would enable Harry to one day face and conquer Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort as her preferred to be called.

Dumbledore knew many other scoffed at the thought of Voldemort's return. Indeed, nothing had been seen nor heard of him since that fateful night in Godric's Hollow. He, however, remained convinced that Voldemort would someday return to power. Of that Albus had no doubt.

With a sigh, he brought his thoughts back to the task at hand and returned his attention to the now somewhat smaller pile of letters in front of him. Ironically, the next letter in the stack was from Arabella Figg, the squib who Dumbledore employed to watch over Harry Potter at his Aunt and Uncle's home on Privet Drive. That he rarely heard from her gave him cause to pay more attention to the letter she'd written him.

"Professor Dumbledore,

I recently watched Harry Potter again for his Aunt and Uncle, while they took their son, Dudley, a dreadful boy who is as spoiled as can be, to a movie. Yet again, I have noticed Harry had bruises on his arms and legs that I feel could not be obtained while just playing in the garden. I myself have seen his Uncle rough handle the boy on more than one occasion, and I have also seen their son do the same.
I am writing this letter today to let you know I am worried about the Potter boy and the treatment he is receiving from them. Is there not anything that can be done for his situation?

Yours Most Sincerely,
Arabella Figg"

Reading Mrs. Figg's letter stopped Dumbledore's train of thought cold. He knew that Potter was not treated well at his aunt and uncle's. He'd had reports come from others telling him much the same thing. Twice before, he'd enlisted the help of others to go by the Dursley's home and investigate matters. Professor McGonagle had, at his request, assumed her animagus form of a cat and gone to the Dursely home one evening. He'd also had Kingsley Shacklebolt go into the home, disguised as a TV repair man to fix a TV set the Dursely boy had broken. Both reported it looked as if Harry Potter did not live in that household, though he knew for a fact he did. Professor McGonagle entered the home through an open window and spied the boy lying inside a cupboard under the stairs. Then there was the simple fact that the Dursely's often called on Mrs. Figg as they called her to watch "the boy" when they took their son out.

Dumbledore was quite aware of the bruises and other marks Harry sometimes bore. He also knew they were not all the result of bullying from his cousin. Mrs. Dursley had been observed dragging Harry roughly by the arm a few times and his uncle many more.

Not wanting to entrust the task to anyone else, Dumbledore himself had interviewed a couple of Harry's teachers to get their observations on things in Potter's home, and had even once used a disillusionment spell to turn invisible and spend a day observing things inside the Dursely household. He told no one he did this. It was only done to make sure there was nothing life threatening to endanger the boy in the house.

Once he was able to ascertain that while certainly mistreated and maybe even abused on some level, the matter wasn't dire enough to warrant the removal of Potter from the home of his mother's sister. And given the dangers the boy faced, it was exceedingly important he stay in that home if at all possible. However much Dumbledore hated the fact. Removing him would be detrimental to him and the plan he was forming so that Harry could one day take on Voldemort, meet him as an equal, and destroy him in the process.

No, for now the Potter boy would stay where he was. He might be miserable there. He might not like his family any more than they liked him, but as long as he could call that wretched place home, the magical protection it provided him would keep Harry alive. He knew this decision and his refusal to comment on the matter mystified some and irritated others, but Dumbledore didn't care.

The boy was not in their charge and therefore the issue was not their concern. To remove him would be to endanger him. A hard life, while heart rending and unpleasant, would also serve to give the boy tools that he would need when the time came to face down Voldemort. The benefits of leaving him far outweighed the concerns. One day, they would all understand. Until then, they could wait.