3-Harry Finds a Home

Or Adapting to the World Below I

Disclosure

See Chapter 1 – Prologue. Reviews are appreciated, flames are not.

October 1990

Another useless phone call, Diana thought, as she slammed the receiver back into its cradle.

It had been six months of slow, painstaking research, navigating a system she knew next to nothing about – the British child welfare system – and she was no closer to getting answers or finding justice than she had been at the start.

At least she would no longer complain about her own New York City Children's Aid society.

Of course, she had learned some things. There had been a Vernon and Petunia Dursley in Little Whinging, Surrey, eight months ago. But they had upped and moved, and there was no record of a Harry Potter at their address or any address they had ever had.

Compound that with the fact that these same Dursleys had just disappeared with no forwarding address and it was no surprise that her search for them had come to a dead end.

But it had only gotten better with her further research: Harry Potter himself did not seem to exist anywhere in the British records. There was no birth certificate, no record of parents having died or Harry having been placed up for adoption. It was as if he had never existed anywhere in Britain.

Diana knew that she had to tread carefully. The signs of abuse had been clear to every member of the underground community from the beginning and even now, Harry still experienced nightmares and behavior that showed he had been conditioned by some real mean abusers. He still showed fear at sudden movements and had difficulty in accepting correction, demonstrating that he was expecting a beating or punishment by being locked up in a cupboard.

No, the situation warranted care in her searches: she had no wish to trigger an international custody fight that would see the young boy that had wormed his way into her heart returned to an abusive environment simply because it wasn't New York City's jurisdiction.

Yet, the absence of any documentation on Harry presented another challenge. If he didn't exist in Britain, what could be done to keep him here?

It was time to discuss this with her leonine friend. Perhaps he had some ideas. She was stumped herself.

March 1991

"You're certain of this," Joe's tone demanded a clear answer.

It had been Vincent's idea to lay the cards on the table with Joe Maxwell, Manhattan's DA and Catherine Chandler's former boss. Diana still counted Vincent's meeting with Joe earlier in 1990 as one of the bravest things that he had ever done: Joe could have made his life and that of the community a living hell. But her fiancé had felt that Joe was owed a complete explanation of what had happened to his former friend and as a means of saying thanks for the assistance he had given in the final takedown of Gabriel.

And now, in cases like Harry's, the underground community had an ear in the upper echelons of the city's justice department.

Diana could only nod.

"So let me get this straight. This kid, Harry, suddenly shows up in Chinatown, complete with a British accent, definite signs of abuse, an address in Surrey and says that he is looking for a new home?

"And then when you go looking for a way to nail his abusers to a wall without triggering an international incident, you find there is no record of him ever having been there in Britain?"

Diana nodded again.

"Can't we just put him on a plane and ship him back?" Joe asked.

Her eyes grew cold and she nailed Joe with a stare of ice. "I would never send my Harry back to abusers like that. They were petty, Joe, petty. Who forces a five year old to cook breakfast for three people and then not allow him to eat anything? Or tell that same five year old that he is nothing but a freak, or call him boy? Or let him live in a cupboard under the stairs, often without food or water?"

Joe raised up a hand signaling his surrender. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you. Joseph and Mary, I've learned to suspend my disbelief with that whole underground world and Vincent ever since he came up to see me last year. Dr Wells and all the members of that community are doing a great job down there.
"But I'm trying to play devil's advocate here."

"It's a community of which you and Jenny are now a part, Joe," Diana said softly. "You two are big helpers for us. It's just Vincent thought you could help us here."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Vincent and the other members of the council would like to keep Harry with us. He has really taken to your godchild, Jacob, and the two of them are inseparable." Her face softened into a smile as she recalled that despite the difference in their ages, the 10-year-old Harry and the two-year-old Jacob were indeed inseparable.

Joe couldn't help but appreciate the changes that Diana's continued association with Vincent, Jacob and the world below were having on this formerly guarded, cold special detective. There was openness, softness, and warmth that burst forth in times like this, and he felt he was finally getting a glimpse into her soul. And now she was engaged to one of the most unique individuals he had ever met.

"Look, Bennett, I trust yours' and Vincent's judgment here. But this kid has no papers, no birth certificate. I can't start anything without some papers."

"And I can't find any papers to start anything. There is no proof that he even exists except that he is here in our community, that he mentions a town in England and people who actually exist, and that he has a distinctly British accent."

Joe was silent for some seconds. "What about school? Did he go to school there?"

It was so obvious a suggestion that Diana felt like kicking herself. Harry had mentioned attending school in Little Whinging and there was no way that he would have been admitted to a school without some paperwork. But how could she check into it without alerting the authorities and inadvertently forcing Harry back to an abusive situation. She would have to confirm first from Harry where he had gone to school.

"I'll check into it," she said, rising to leave Joe's office.

"Will I have an opportunity to meet this young Brit?" Joe surprised Diana as she was walking toward the door.

"Of course," she replied. "Tonight?"

"Jen and I will be there."

The familiar clanging of the pipes welcomed Diana as she made her way to the Hub. With the exception of the community's reliance on tea rather than her own strong java, she was truly beginning to feel at home in Vincent's, no, their world.

But how would she bring up this line of questioning with Harry? He had spent the last few months integrating happily into the community, but he needed more than just a life in the tunnels. He needed an education and opportunities that would take him outside of the tunnels themselves. And for that he needed papers of some sort to allow him to stay here.

She realized that she was beginning to think of Harry as her own child. Despite the abuse and its obvious scars, he was opening up to everyone and was worming his way into the hearts of the entire underground community. His interaction with Jacob and her efforts to help him was cementing a close bond between Harry and herself, and she suspected, between Harry and Vincent as well.

She felt, however, that she had to lay the cards on the table for him and get his input on what to do next.

The object of her thoughts suddenly ran across from one chamber to the next with the two year old Jacob in pursuit. They must be back at their games again, she decided and the laughter coming from Vincent's young son confirmed that seconds later. Yes, they were definitely playing.

"Harry?" she called out. His emerald eyes peeked around the corner and he smiled when he saw her.

"Aunt Diana," he replied. Unfortunately for him, his speaking with her allowed Jacob to catch up to him.

"Got you 'arree," the blond haired toddler laughed.

Diana swooped down and picked Jacob up, signing for Harry to join her in Vincent's and her chamber. "Harry, we need to talk."

She could see the fear come into his eyes at her tone. "Have I done something?" he finally blurted out.

"No, but we need some information from you and I would like to talk with you and Vincent about our current situation."

The sharp edge of fear had left his eyes at her even tone; she was obviously not mad at him. But his curiosity remained.

"Our current situation?"

"About where you went to school, Harry. We are working on finding a way to allow you to stay here permanently," she replied.

The light in his eyes brightened at her words and she was hit with a sense of true longing and hope. Harry was definitely engaged in this topic now.

"What can I do to help?" he eagerly began.

She raised her hand to silence him. "Hold your horses, young man. I need to get Jacob into the nursery and then Vincent, you and I will have our chat."

It took only a few minutes for those tasks to be resolved and the three were soon seated in Vincent's large antechamber.

Taking care with her words, Diana laid out the scenario, feeling that Harry needed to be appraised of the current situation and what information they needed from him.

"I only found out my name when I began school in Little Whinging," Harry replied. "My relatives always called me 'boy' or 'freak' before that date.

"But I think the Headmaster of that school must have been a friend of Uncle Vernon because one teacher complained about some bruises they saw on me and they disappeared two or three days later."

Diana sat back with a sigh. Her major goal at the beginning of this process had been to have Harry's abusers prosecuted and face justice for their crimes without triggering an international incident that could see Harry returned to those very same abusers. While the manner of his arrival was still unbelievable, her overriding goal was to ensure his safety from further abuse and see his healing begin, something that was well underway.

But with the headmaster in the abusers' pocket, any attempt to obtain Harry's school records would probably tip the abuser off that police were investigating. And if they could trigger a jurisdictional fight with the NYC authorizes, the actual substance of Harry's abuse could be buried.

How they could obtain a copy of Harry's school file, get necessary papers from it without alerting local Surrey authorities, and return the file was something beyond Diana's knowledge this evening.

Her disappointment was clear on her face and Vincent moved to embrace his fiancé while Harry's face grew worried.

"Will I have to leave here if you can't get the file?" he asked in a low voice.

Diana mentally cursed herself for forgetting that Harry was a very sharp observer. An important survival trait that abused children often developed, Harry's observation skills were very sensitive to changes in moods and he often came to an understanding of situations very quickly.

"No Harry. You will not be forced to leave here," Vincent's voice broke in. "You have a place here as long as you wish. It is simply that papers in the file could help us establish you here officially in New York so that you can learn in schools above."

"The lack of papers hinders things, Harry," Diana continued. "We would like to find a way for you to stay here legally."

Hope now warred with fear in Harry's eyes. "So a copy of this file would make things easier."

"Yes," Diana replied. "However, getting it will prove to be a bit more challenging than I first thought."

Rising from the sofa on which she had been sitting, she stretched and turned back to Harry. "Still young man, we've done enough talking for this evening. You are probably tired from all that running around with Jacob this afternoon and supper waits for us in the kitchen chambers."

Harry slowly rose as well and exited a pensive look still upon his face. Diana turned to her large furry friend.

"He didn't take it well, did he?"

"No, although I believe there is a more than a spark of hope within him. He seems to be able to have 'unusual' things occur around him: perhaps a file may yet turn up," Vincent replied, touching her back lightly and communicating his love and appreciation for all that she had been doing for the young British boy. "Come; let us join our young ones in the kitchen."

Dreams warred within Harry's mind that night: dreams of a woman's scream a green light, a high voice and a school file that promised him a home. The need for the file seemed to grow and grow with intensity. If only he had a copy.

Midway through the night, Diana awoke to the tossing and turning of someone next door. She and Vincent had taken to allowing Harry and Jacob to sleep together in the same chamber: although Jacob was beloved by all the members of their underground community, Vincent's son seemed especially drawn to the black haired young man and, despite the difference in their ages, they were now inseparable. But who could be having a nightmare now?

When Harry had first joined them, he appeared to be continually in the grip of nightmares that would see him awake and screaming. He would remember nothing when awakened, but the sweat would appear on his forehead during these episodes. They had begun to diminish over the past six months as Harry began to relax in his new home, but it appeared the anxiety over the papers and his status with them was re-triggering them.

Padding into the boys' chamber, Diana placed a soothing hand on Harry: it was him again. She thanked the heavens that Jacob was a heavy sleeper: having two sleepy and upset children would not be good for either of them. It was then that she noticed the file by Harry's bed.

He calmed down in seconds and by the time she removed her hand he was already snoring again. She reached over him and plucked the file from the nightstand and opened it to peruse it contents.

Only to discover that it contained one birth certificate for a live birth of a son Harry James Potter to parents Lily Marie Evans Potter and James Charlus Potter, born July 31, 1980 at St Mungo's Hospital, London, UK.

The rest of the file appeared to be the regular contents of a school file: grade reports, teacher comments, school pictures. It was the source of the file that struck Diana as unbelievable: the file was the property of the Little Whinging Elementary School, Little Whinging, Surrey. Just the thing they had been asking for only the night before.

The doorway darkened as Vincent blocked the light from the corridor outside. "Is Harry asleep again?" he asked.

"Yeah, babe," Diana replied, still wrapping her thoughts around what she had in her hand. Looking at her man after a moment's further thought, she sounded bemused.

"Do you remember those strange things that sometimes happen around Harry?" she began.

"I take it there has been another occurrence." Vincent said dryly.

"Only that the file we have been looking for just appeared beside his bed," she replied, straight faced.

"Well then, let us examine it and see if it is indeed the answer to our needs" was Vincent's ordinary sounding reply.

"But….how did it get here? It's almost as if it appeared here….by magic."

"Anyone who can travel from Surrey to New York City in a journey of several seconds or minutes without a plane ticket is already a magical person, would you not agree, Diana?

"And, in fact, if you take a look at this community, or my son, or the relationship I had with Catherine and now enjoy with you, would you not agree that magic can and does exist? How else would we be able to explain your gifts?"

"Or you, my heart." Diana replied in a low voice. The desire was clear and unmistakable and Vincent shivered. What had he done to deserve the love of not one, but two remarkable women, he wondered anew. Perhaps it was magic.

"Let us explore the file with Harry in the morning," he replied. "For now, my bed calls for my huntress."

She was already melting inside at his favorite name for her and she took the file with her to their waiting bed. It could wait until other, more important things were taken care of.

A week later, Joe, Jenny, Diana and Vincent were seated at the underground community's council chamber. Joe had just finished perusing the file and was nodding his head when Diana had finished speaking.

"Yeah, I think that there is enough here to start the process of naturalization going," he said. "You got the school file very quickly."

"It was your idea, Maxwell," Diana replied. "I'm still kicking myself for not having thought of it before."

"There is still nothing here about adoption or guardianship papers for Harry with those Dursleys," he continued.

"I think it was on the QT. So we would have nothing to hinder us with proceeding on this end of the line."

"What are you suggesting – a foster family?"

Diana here looked at her fiancé who nodded slightly. "Actually, we are thinking of adopting Harry ourselves. And we would like to ask you and Jenny for a favor."

"Adopt him? I understand you are taking care of him and everything, but why adopt him?"

"He has wormed his way into a special place in our hearts," Vincent began. "He shares a special relationship with your godson, Jacob, and the two are almost joined at the hip. And while Harry is accepted by all the members of our community, it seems that there is a special bond growing between us and him."

Jenny then spoke. The former Ms. Aronson still found it unbelievable that not only was she part of the world her best friend Catherine Chandler had experienced, but that this world still seemed to her as that of a fairy tale.

"Diana, you mentioned that you wanted to ask something of Joe and me? As always, my husband is a bit dense in picking up on those small details."

Diana was now blushing and her eyes were moist as she looked at Joe and Jenny. Their relationship had become much deeper since the initial stages of the investigation of Catherine's murder and she now counted the two as good friends.

"You've meant so much to Vincent and I as you have become Jacob's godson. We would like to ask you to stand in as Harry's witnesses in the formal naming ceremony in a few months once the formal adoption papers go through."

Joe swallowed as he realized the implications of what Vincent and Diana were asking of them. Standing in as Harry's witnesses was a singular mark of approval and appreciation among the underground community and it told those around them that they were considered as family by the naming parents.

"Could we at least meet the young man in question?" he asked quickly, his eyes suddenly feeling moist themselves.

"Of course, Joseph," Vincent replied. Rising from the table, he banged on the pipes for a few seconds and moments later the raven haired young boy entered.

"Harry, this is Joseph and Jenny Maxwell, very important helpers from the world above," Vincent began. "Joe is Jacob's godfather."

Harry turned his green emerald eyes on the couple sitting there and then looked more carefully at Jenny.

"You're glowing," he said, to everyone's surprise. He was silent for a few more seconds, carefully looking Jenny up and down. "She will have his eyes, but your face and she will steal everyone's heart."

Jenny's hand had gone up to her throat as her face whitened and then turned red while Joe looked at Harry in confusion. "Harry?"

"How did he know?" Jenny began whispering to herself, just loud enough for Diana and Joe to hear. "I wasn't sure myself: I was going to wait a couple of days before I let you know." There were now tears in her eyes.

Joe had turned to Jenny in concern, but the tears were happy tears. It took Diana a few seconds to put things together. "Jenny, are you pregnant?"

Harry broke in. "I don't know what you call it, but she is carrying a young girl who will be a great friend of this community – and will steal her father's heart."

"Harry, how do you know this?" Vincent spoke carefully and slowly.

"I could just see it," came the reply in his innocent tone. Vincent could sense no subterfuge or deception with him.

By now, Joe was hugging his wife as they shared a moment of private joy. Then Joe turned to face Harry.

"Young man, you just made my wife and me a very happy couple. Care to tell me how you knew?"

Harry was starting to get concerned at the questions. "I'm sorry if I offended you, Mr. Maxwell. I could just see your wife and then the little glow right by her belly and I just knew."

Joe rose up slowly and walking toward Harry, embraced him carefully and slowly. "Harry, I am not offended at all. I think you are a miracle and you bring miracles to our world here."

Turning to Vincent and Diana, he looked at the couple. "I hope that I speak for both of us, but it would be a pleasure to witness for you three.

"Let's get that process started."

All Harry knew was that he had gained a new friend that day.