I would like to start by saying Thank You for all your lovely reviews, they really encourage me to keep writing and I am so sorry this has taken so long.

I have since gone through this story and fixed some issues I noticed (and a few which were pointed out to me by you). Nothing has really changed in the story but feel free to go back if you previously noticed any errors that bothered you and let me know if I missed any J

Please remember I still have limited knowledge on the official procedures when dealing with crime and I know a lot of this research and tests take a while, but for the sake of the story I'm speeding up a few things or it will get very boring very quickly! That said the story won't be continuing with the line of following the legal process much longer (I don't want to give the plot away, and the drugs ring and police will continue as a plot line, it's just this story is more about Harry and his relations with friends/family and the upcoming adventure than what Vernon does at work)

Anyway: I won't keep you waiting, on with the story

As usual, I own nothing but a laptop (and even that was once my mums)

Rita Skeeter was amazed! What had started as a simple trick was fast becoming the scoop of the century!

A few months back she had realised news was getting slower and slower, true the world cup should generate something but she also knew almost every reporter in the wizarding world would be covering that, she needed something fresh!

To make things worse she was facing constant threats of being sued for being liberal with her creative licence. What she needed was a big story that was not only sensational, but true. Well, true enough that she can easily defend herself and increase her credibility. While she had been pondering she had eyed an old wanted poster for Sirius Black. She had practically begged Dumbledore to let her interview Harry Potter on his thoughts on the matter, but the old man was fiercely protective of the boy and was yet to let her near for any reason, and she had been trying a lot.

The problem was she wasn't allowed to look for stories in muggle areas due to the secrecy act unless there was a valid reason to suspect something was happening that would be of interest to the wizarding world, and since Harry potter was almost always in either Hogwarts or with his muggle relatives, he was practically untouchable. That was when it hit her… all she needed was a reason to suspect there was an issue.

After a little research and a casual period watching the house from the garden (in her other form and during the school year so as not to raise any alarms) she found that the boys aunt was a housewife- nothing there, his cousin went to boarding school- potential but not much, and his Uncle worked for a large company, and was very high up in it too. Now that she could work with: nothing said news like a scandal, and these big companies were teeming with it!

All it took was a quick anonymous tip-off to muggle authorities that the business was dirty, and they would do the rest!

She had hoped for a quick, juicy story. Instead, while they did search the office, the action was almost non-existent (at least from what she saw). They had seized some documents but nothing of major interest, until they were analysed. Suddenly there was a task force being put together. It seemed they were doing things carefully, hoping to catch someone out. Rita could tell that whatever they found was big and from what she heard Vernon Dursley was right in the centre of it! Whatever was happening, it was the huge story she wanted, it may not be unfolding quickly but when it finally did she'd be ready. She could wait.

…

Now, months later, the muggles had struck! Rita had taken to spying on the house between her smaller stories, she had told no-one what she was working on, just a big exposé.

When it finally came through though, it was even better than she could have imagined! Drugs, Harry Potter locked up, questions over his life with his 'family'… and did she smell signs of abuse? Rita was thrilled! The hope of the wizarding world, Dumbledore's precious golden boy: unsafe in his own home! Now if that wasn't a justified story she didn't know what was!

The reporter had entered the house during the raid and heard the whole interview, now why would the boy have used such a different and more negative story than the one he was meant to. Without hesitating she hitched a ride on one of the police hats and watched as Harry Potter and Arther Weasley tried to figure out a way to fix this.

She watched as the second interview started, beginning with the basics: names, dates of births etc.

It wasn't long before things got good…

…

Detective Stevenson was back. She looked at the man in front of her suspiciously. He was dressed in an outdated suit and seemed to be eyeing the voice recorder with an odd curiosity, as if he had never seen one before.

They had already covered the basics, she really wanted to know more about this man, but she also knew she needed to be careful about it. She started simple:

"So Mr Weasley, would you mind telling me for the record how you know Harry Potter?"

The man answered confidently, like he was used to interview situations, yet she could tell he was nervous, like he was used to questioning more than answering

"My youngest son is his friend"

"And how many children do you have?"

"Seven, six boys and the youngest is a girl"

'Blimey' she thought, did this man and his wife have nothing better to do? The next question was to Harry

"And how did you two meet?"

"At school"

"You mean St. Brutus?" she probed- now would be the moment of truth, she knew there was no such place, if the man backed Harry up he could well be in on this too!

But then, Arther spoke up, doing a good job of acting surprised

"What do you mean? I've never heard of that place" he directed the last part at Harry with a subtle wink with the eye away from the detective. Harry caught on immediately

"I just stuck with the story" He said defensively

"Harry, the story is for civilians, not the police!"

Detective Stevenson cut in

"You mean you didn't tell the truth?" she probed. Harry shifted uncomfortably

"Well not about school or how my parents died. Theres a lot of security issues so I didn't think I was allowed"

Arther was impressed by Harry's acting, he just hoped the next part worked

"Harry goes to Hogwarts Academy" he stated simply. Stevenson immediately knew the officer watching the monitor would be researching this new place while listening. Arther continued

"It's a slightly out of the norm school, in that it's designed for high risk children, Harry goes because his place was booked early thanks to his parents, my children go due to my job"

"And what job is that? And how are his parents linked?" The detectives head was spinning, this was becoming even crazier than she had anticipated!

At this point Arther whipped out a badge he had from the ministry, due to his job Arther often had to be in odd places or confiscate items from muggles. The ministry of Magic had a specially designed sector that worked with the muggle government which basically worked to keep the existence of magic a secret, any ministry workers who would regularly have come into contact with muggles as part of the job received a badge that stated they were part of an organisation similar to MI5 or MI6, and depending on the job it would state a different department. Arther didn't know the full details (they were far too complex for anyone to keep track of and often changed: the employees just kept up to date with their own story and left the rest to the ministry unless needed), just what he'd been told to say in situations like this.

"I work with a department in identifying and confiscating dangerous items and substances to help prevent attacks from organised crime such as mafia groups. Unfortunately, while my job is mostly office based, it does mean my co-workers and I make some unpleasant enemies. Harry's parents on the other hand, were specialists. His father was a high up intelligence officer and his mother a sort of negotiator. They were both killed when Harry was a baby when information was leaked revealing a number of identities for people in the department they worked for and an attack took place on their office. Harry was signed up for the academy at birth and it was decided it would be best for him to attend despite his parent's tragic loss, at least until all the perpetrators are caught, you might have heard of one of them: Sirius Black"

Detective Stevenson was shocked. That was… unexpected. It almost seemed ridiculous. But again, it was almost so farfetched that it almost had to be true. She needed to check. Her co-workers would be in the next room with at least one person doing immediate follow up on computers, trying to fact check what was said. She decided she couldn't proceed without some more information. She picked up the ID on the table and made a note of the details

"If you two don't mind, I think we need a short break while I quickly verify this"

"Of course, shall we wait here" Arther said, glad for the respite

…

Once the woman had left they both took a deep breath. It was hard to tell of she was buying the story, but hopefully once she confirmed the department, she would. Arther turned to Harry

"OK, when she comes back I want to ask her about your uncle and exactly what her problem is with you living at number 4"

Harry nodded, he didn't know it but his thoughts on this cover were almost identical to the detectives: the story was insane enough that it just might work!

They sat quietly, not wanting to be caught out saying anything suspicious, Harry hade made sure Arther was aware they were being watched by making point at waving at the camera, when asked what he was doing he mentioned spotting the surveillance device and Arther caught on immediately

…

Detective Stevenson was shocked. As impossible as it seemed, the story matched up!

The school, the parent's, the jobs… even Sirius Black!

It turns out that when this Arther Weasley arrived they had immediately started to run the ID, and it hadn't taken long to check out. The same with this school and the people he worked for, a quick check provided conformation that nothing in the story was out of place. Even the speed at which it was confirmed was remarkable!

There weren't many details in regards to the company or school (it seemed to be locked behind a level of security that outranked her), and while there was very little on Harry's parents the death report had been found to confirm with what the man said, right down to their names being under a list of Sirius Blacks victims. As far as she could tell though, it was all legitimate: which meant Harry living with the Dursley's was probably also a match. She was also now sure the DNA would match.

This was a disaster! She had spent so long working to get a warrant to search this house, it was going to make her career! But with all this security surrounding the strange boy she had no idea what could happen: for all she knew this whole thing would have to be covered up to protect him, and if the reason he was there was valid and he didn't want to press charges everything could settle without the major issues being solved!

But then again, this case wasn't over yet-there were still questions that needed answering. How could an organisation and school so security conscious just leave one of their kids with a family with ties to an illegal operation? Did they not know? If not, how? And why didn't they ever check up on the boy when he was clearly not well cared for?

Besides, the question of why he was there may have a valid reason, but that didn't change what she saw: there was no denying that this boy was not safe or welcome in that home. The first thing she needed to do is see if there was anyone else who could take him, if not- she'd have to consider placing him into foster care. As she had found Harry and he had strong links to her suspects, she felt she should be responsible for him until he was no longer at risk from the Dursley family or their associates.

She wondered if he could stay at his school, after all, it was a boarding school so maybe they were set to take students over the summer. Or if the boy had grandparents… no- his record showed no other living relatives and the legal guardian named by his parents turned out to be Black (this boy seemed to have the worst luck she'd ever seen for his godfather to have turned out to be some kind of traitor!)

Maybe this other fellow could take him in for a while- it seemed he'd had several background chacks and held a high security level, but then she didn't exactly trust him; something just seemed strange!

In the end she decided to call her boss and ask for advice only to be told to send they boy back with the Weasley fellow, mostly because they lived relatively far away so Harry should be safe their permanent decision was made as to whether he could be returned to his aunt- the boys cousin had been sent to stay with some friends as well while they checked out Petunia Dursley)

With that she decided to go in and finish up with the odd pair (and why was the boy waving at the monitor!)

…

As the woman re-entered the room she looked a lot more resolved, Arther and Harry could only hope was a good sign. She sat back down and once again started the recording

"I have verified your details" she started, returning the badge, and Arther got the feeling she wasn't just referring to his job "and their doesn't seem to be a reason to keep you much longer for now, I just need to ask a few more questions but first we need to talk about where you're going to stay"

"I can help there" Arther interjected quickly "Harry was meant to be visiting for a couple of weeks anyway and as I have a background check I'll happily take him until we can get this whole mess sorted"

Eyeing Mr Weasley suspiciously she knew she had no choice in the matter

"Yes, well I'm glad you volunteered, my boss did think it would be worth asking"

"Will I be allowed to get my stuff?" Harry asked, he didn't want them finding his school stuff or cloak while sniffing around. Luckily the police had missed his hidden floorboard and they had previously been working on concealment charms at school which Hermione had insisted on practicing on all his stuff when she had run out of her own- as long as no one looked too closely at his trunk or books they wouldn't see anything to catch their interest, however that didn't mean he wanted to chance it.

Stevenson thought for a second but knew they had already searched the boy's room and taken samples where needed as well as plenty of photographs. His only recorded possessions seemed to mostly reside in a trunk which held mostly books and overlarge clothing, also photographed, and decided Harry would probably need his cloths at least. She nodded yes and Harry looked relieved.

With that the three promptly made plans for Harry to fetch his stuff and be on his way with Arther (who claimed they would be taking the train- it was that day Harry learnt an important life lesson: Don't eat and operate; it ends in a mess!)

…

…

…

In all the commotion there was one man who you would think would know something was up. Unfortunately, what with helping set up the tournament, prepare for the upcoming guests in Hogwarts, and his usual responsibilities Dumbledore was rather surprised the next morning when he saw the headline of the Daily Prophet:

"HARRY POTTER: SAVIOUR OR VICTIM?"