AN:
So Wow, I really didn't expect so many readers so soon. I never used to believe writers when they said that chapters could be thirty or so pages long. I believe them now. I'm quite proud of how this turned out after a few weeks of on and off writing.
So anyway, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no matter how much I wish I did.
Normal Text
From the book
Upon hearing the title Hailey looked at her best friends. What would they do when they find out how the dursleys treated her. She looked up at Dumbledore as if to ask if this was all a joke. For the first time in months he caught her eye. He seemed to know what she wanted to ask. He shook his head.
"Get on with it Dumbledore I want this over as quick as possible" snapped Fudge.
"WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME" I yelled. I really couldn't care less if I seemed like a whining child. It was true. It always happened to me.
"I'm sorry about this Ms Potter, but as she said we can't leave here until the books are done. Perhaps you would feel better if a certain God-father would make an appearance?" Dumbledore said this and nodded to Sirius. Sirius took the hint and transformed from Snuffles into his human form. He then, to the surprise of the hall, went and sat next to Hailey.
"SIRIUS BLACK" screeched Umbridge and Fudge. Fudge then started to demand Amelia Bones arrest him at once. At this I was furious, they were going to arrest him just because he came to comfort me. I stood up and shouted at the minister of magic.
"HOW ABOUT YOU DON'T ARREST HIM AND LEAVE HIM ALONE. SEEING HOW IT SEEMS WE ARE READING ABOUT MY LIFE IT WILL BE PROVEN THAT HE WAS INNOCENT IN YEAR THREE. HOW ABOUT YOU JUST SHUT UP AND STOP ACCUSING PEOPLE OF THINGS THAT THEY HAVEN'T DONE. I AM DEALING WITH THE WHOLE SCHOOL FINDING OUT MY LIFE FROM MY PERSPECTIVE NO LESS WHICH PROBABLY MEANS THAT YOU WILL HEAR MY THOUGHTS AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF I WILL FEEL THE PAIN FROM IT AT THE SAME TIME. SO HOW ABOUT YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND WE GET THIS DONE". When I was done I sat down at Sirius' side. At my outburst the whole hall was quiet. No one other that Ron and Hermione had ever heard me shout like that. I think that they were more scared of me then that when they thought I was the heir of slytherin.
The hall was silent for a few minutes before Dumbledore suggested starting the chapter. No one opposed him so he started reading.
Chapter one - the girl who lived
Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal thank you very much.
"Who are the Dursleys?" asked a fourth year hufflepuff.
"The muggles I have to live with" I said, hatred laced within every word.
They were the the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense
"Magic is not nonsense" yelled a second year ravenclaw.
Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.
"What are drills?" asked Draco. The hall shushed him.
He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.
"Eww" squeaked Lavender and Parvati, "How are you related".
"I wish I wasn't" muttered Hailey quietly. Sirius looked at her in concern, wondering what happend to generate the hate in her voice.
Mrs Dursley was tin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.
"Delightfull" muttered Professor Sprout. The sentiment was echoed around the hall.
The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
Anyone who had ever seen Dudley Dursley snorted.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.
Confused mutterings were going around the hall. The same question on everyone's lips.
They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.
"What's wrong with the Potter's?" asked Sirius, standing up, "They were the nicest people you could ever meet!".
The hall looked at him stunned. Sirius Black, the man famous for betraying the Potter's was here defending them. After a minute or two he sat back down sheepishly and nodded to Albus to continue.
Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband
"Good-for-nothing, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING. JAMES WAS AN AMAZING PERSON" yelled, surprise, surprise, Sirius. He jumped up. "I'LL SHOW YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTH…"
He didn't get another word in as Hailey had stood up, silenced him, and pulled him back down. She whispered something in his ear and undid the charm. The hall was quiet after his outburst. The only noise was his muttering about the Dursleys. Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued.
were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.
"Undursleyish is not a word" muttered a 7th year ravenclaw.
The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small daughter, but they had never even seen her. This girl was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
"Well I wouldn't want any of my children spending any time around Dudley" Mrs Weasley exclaimed.
"Shh Molly" whispered Arthur.
When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.
"What day is it" asked a first year.
Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.
"Most boring tie, what do you" started Fred
"Mean most boring tie. I" continued George
"As to say my twin and I"
"Would never stand for such"
"Blasphemy" they finished together. Angelina playfully hit them on the back of their heads.
None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.
At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.
It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.
"IT'S MINNIE" yelled Sirius. Professor Mcgonagall sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. No matter how many times she had told him to stop, he still called her that awful Nickname.
For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.
"Stupid Muggle" drawled Draco. His mother gave him a disappointed look.
Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.
At this the hall burst out laughing. No one out stared Mcgonagall.
As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.
Again, the hall fell about laughing.
"We now know"
"Professor Mcgonagall's weakness"
"She can't read"
Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.
"He certainly has a one track mind"
But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.
"Whats strange about cloaks?" asked one of the 6th year slytherins.
"Muggles don't wear cloaks" replied Hailey.
"Weird" remarked the Slytherin. Many of Muggleborns snorted.
Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something...
"He thinks that you are wearing cloaks for charity" Hailey said before anyone could ask.
yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.
Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time.
"How have they never seen owls? Do they not get any post?" questioned a pureblood
"Muggles don't use owls to send post. They use a post box" replied Terry Boot.
Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road
"He walked!" exclaimed Hailey "The world must be ending, tell me it's not true Fred"
"Alas Hailey it be true" answered Fred
"He has in fact decided to take a walk" continued George
"We must prepare for the end" they finished together.
All three of them burst out laughing at the confused gaze of the hall. When they had calmed down Sirius gave the twins a thumbs up for cheering Hailey up. Draco stared glumly from the other side of the hall, he wished he could joke with Hailey like that.
to buy himself a bun from the bakery.
"Ahh, everything's fine then. The world shall not end today" whispered Hailey in an eerily good impression of Trelawny. Anyone who had taken divination laughed.
He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their daughter, Hailey"
Any laughter in the room died as everyone realised what day this must be. All the adults turned to look at Hailey in sadness and Sirius pulled her into a one-armed Hug. Hermione and Ron watched her from her other side. The twins looked at her from there sofa behind her with sad expressions. Unnoticed by everyone except Narcissa, Draco looked at her too in sympathy. Narcissa let out a small smile, she knew that her dragon had a crush on Miss Potter but wouldn't act on it.
Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.
He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.
"Yes it is" said Neville "There's only one family in the Wizarding world with the surname Potter. You're from a very influential family. I should know, our families have been allied for years."
"Really?" asked Hailey "I didn't know"
"What, You didn't know?" asked Narcissa Malfoy.
"No, why"
"Pup, your magical guardian should have told you this years ago. You maybe a half-blood but the Potters are still a very old pureblood house. You actually outrank Malfoy. Are you telling me that your magical guardian hasn't been teaching you everything that comes with being an heir to an Ancient and Most Noble House?" Sirius explained.
"I honestly didn't know that the wizarding world existed until I got my Hogwarts letter. And what's a magical guardian?"
"WHAT!" yelled pretty much everyone.
"You don't know" asked Sirius faintly. "After this I am having a serious talk with Dumbledore"
He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a daughter called Hailey. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his niece was called Hailey. He'd never even seen the girl. It might have been Harriet. Or Hermione.
"He didn't even know your name!"
There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...
There was angry muttering all around the hall.
He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.
"Sorry,"
"He knows the word 'Sorry'"
he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It
was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"
The sound of face-palming could be heard around the hall.
"How close were we to being found out that day" Arthur Weasley whispered to Madame Bones. She shrugged in reply.
And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.
"He fit!"
Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.
Fred, George and Sirius all simultaneously pretended to have heart attacks to the amusement of the room.
"Knock it off" Sighed Remus
"But Moony, it's blasphemy I tell you blasphemy"
'Moony" the twins mouthed to themselves after Remus had got Sirius to stop acting like an Idiot.
As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.
"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.
The hall was shocked silent for a minute, trying to imagine someone tell the strict transfiguration Professor to 'Shoo'. The Weasley twins were the first to laugh, closely followed by the marauders. In a few minutes time there wasn't anyone in the hall that wasn't laughing at the thought of a Muggle saying that to Mcgonagall. They didn't stop for a few minutes even after being given Mcgonagall's patented glare.
The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior?
"It's normal Mcgonagall behaviour" quipped Lee Jordan.
Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.
There were mutterings of 'stubborn' around the hall.
Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").
Narcissa shook her head at this, she may spoil Draco but even he wasn't as bad as this.
Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:
"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern."
"Even the muggles noticed something was up that day" commented Madame Bones.
The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"
"Well, Ted,"
"That sounds like my dad" exclaimed Tonks, "He used to work for a news company".
said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks!
"That sounds like Diggle" Tonks whispered to Kingsley.
But I can promise a wet night tonight."
Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...
Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"
"No offence, but why would hearing from her sister mean anything. I mean it had just happened that day, so unless she had contacted her that morning she wouldn't have known." a second year pointed out.
As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.
Surprisingly it was Snape who looked ready to commit murder at this statement. 'Oh Petunia' he thought 'How jealous can you be'
"No," she said sharply. "Why?"
"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."
"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.
"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."
"Her crowd" muttered many people around the hall.
Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare.
"Coward" muttered many of the Gryffindors.
Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their daughter - she'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't she?"
"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.
"What's her name again? Harret, isn't it?"
"Hailey. Nasty, modern name, if you ask me."
"You're name is cool." whispered Sirius, "I still remember your parents arguing over it"
"Really" asked Hailey. She looked up, she was always interested in any stories about her parents as she hadn't heard much about them other than that she had her father's untameable hair, her mother's eyes and a mix of both their facial features. She was apparently short like Lily was but had the same mischievous stance that her father had.
"Yeah" said Remus getting ready to tell the story, "Lily had just told James that she was pregnant and James just fainted on the spot" he smiled at the memory.
Sirius continued "After laughing for a few minutes me and Remus cast enervate on him, he woke up and the first question he could think of was if Lily had thought of a name. She said that she hadn't given it much thought as she had only just found out."
"James whispered to Sirius that they should call you 'Proof I Had Sex With Lily Evans' and Lily heard. Me and Sirius stood there laughing as Lily chased James around the house yelling and hexing him." At this point the whole hall was listening in and laughing, including Remus so Sirius had to carry on.
"After half an hour of this James hid behind me and said that Lily could name you whatever she wanted and only then did she lower her wand. James was covered in different spells and hexes, his hair was neon green, his clothes were pink and purple and his skin was red and white polka dots. A couple months later Lily had decided on a name and your father chose wisely to agree.". Hailey was crying with laughter at this, it had definitely cheered her up.
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."
He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.
It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.
Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.
Anyone left laughing, sobered up, at the reminder of how much the dursleys hated the magical community. The weasley twins, Lee Jordan and Remus could be heard plotting.
The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...
"He shouldn't have said that"
"Murphy's law" said Anthony Goldstein
"It should be renamed Potter's law" said Hailey and anyone who knew of her adventures and luck agreed.
How very wrong he was.
"Called it" shouted Anthony.
Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.
"Damn Minnie" exclaimed Sirius, looking shocked. In fact he wasn't the only one, most of the hall were looking at the transfiguration professor like she had grown two heads. This lasted for not even a minute, before she leveled them all with a glare that made all but those that were used to it, e.i. the Marauders and Weasley twins, look at the floor.
A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.
"Whoever he is he's in trouble" Sirius stage-whispered to Hailey, making her laugh.
Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.
"IT'S DUMBLEDORE"
This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.
"Knew it"
Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.
"I knew I just didn't care" commented Dumbledore while he pauses the reading to unwrap a lemon drop.
He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."
"Known what" grunted Crabbe, or was it Goyle. Draco shushed them, if he was in his room he would have face-palmed at their stupidity. How people thought they were his best-friends he would never know.
He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.
"Cool" was whispered around the hall. Many were looking fearfully and moving backwards at what was coming to be know as the Weasley twins prank face. No one wanted to know what would happen if they got a hold of one of them.
He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement.
Fred and George's smirks were getting bigger.
"Oh Professor Dumbledore"
"Our favorite Professor"
"You wouldn't happen to know"
"Where my twin and I"
"Could get our hands on one of those"
"Simply marvelous devices?"
"Sorry Boys as far as I am aware, mine is the only one in existence, as I am the one who created it" replied Dumbledore seeming not bothered by their speech, unlike many others that were feeling the beginnings of a headache.
Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.
"Imagine someone just walked into this without any idea about magic" commented a 3rd year Ravenclaw. Her friend next to her snorted.
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."
He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."
Sirius snorted.
"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.
"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."
Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.
"How does one sniff angrily"
"Like that apparently"
"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.
"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."
"It probably was"
"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."
Most of the Adults grimaced at the reminder of the last war while those who weren't old enough to have memories of it, sat in shock of it lasting so long. Most turned to Hailey, not realising exactly what she had done.
"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."
She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all.
"That would be ironic"
I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"
"It certainly seems so,"
"Ah-ha" screeched Umbridge "You said it yourself that he has gone"
"He said that about fourteen years ago, you can't hold him to it. Other evidence could have come up"
"Delores, now is not the time" whispered Fudge in her ear when he saw most of the hall give her disgusted looks.
said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"
Anyone who had ever been invited to the Headmaster's office snorted. He was well known for offering the strange, yellow sweets.
"A what?"
"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"
"Understatement" someone muttered.
"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"
"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.
"Exactly" said Hailey "There's no reason to be scared of a name, it only gives them power that they can use against you"
"Well said Ms Potter"
"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."
"I pretty sure that You-Know-Who should be afraid of Hailey when she is angry. She's bloody scary" Ron whispered to Hermione. Hermione sat there wondering whether to hit him or laugh, she decided on both.
"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."
"Only because you are too noble to use them" said Hailey.
"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."
Everyone laughed.
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."
"TMI" yelled the weasley twins which got laughs from everyone
Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"
Many in the hall turned to look at Hailey who was hiding her face in Sirius' shoulder. He seemed to sense that she didn't want the attention so he decided to unleash a glare at anyone who stared at her like an animal in the zoo, coinsidently, that was most of the hall was doing.
It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true.
Some of the Slytherins scoffed.
Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.
As one, the hall snorted.
"Sir are you addicted to lemon drops" asked a Dennis Creevey. Dumbledore just winked and pulled one of the sweets in question out of his pocket and proceeded to eat it.
Mutterings of 'Mad' 'Completely barmy" could be heard from the Slytherin table. Most, if not all the Slytherins' didn't like him because of his obvious favoritism of Gryffindor and the Golden Trio.
"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. "
Anyone who knew the Potter's bowed their heads.
Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.
"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."
Sirius sniffed, Umbridge sneered and Remus wiped his eyes.
Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.
Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's child, Hailey. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little girl. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Hailey Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone.
Hailey lifted her head up and looked around at the sad hall. She whispered to Hermione.
"When they say it like that it sounds ridiculous and completely unbelievable". Hermione gave her a look and then smiled, appreciating the girl's attempt at alleviating the sad atmosphere of the hall.
Dumbledore nodded glumly.
"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little girl? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did she survive?"
"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."
'But you do know' thought Hailey, she glanced up at him and saw that he was avoiding her gaze like he had been the whole year.
Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"
"I've come to bring Hailey to her aunt and uncle. They're the only family she has left now."
"They're more of acquaintances that I have to deal with. I would rather have been placed anywhere else." she muttered. Thanks to them she has some scars that will never leave, both physically and mentally.
"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Hailey Potter come and live here!"
"It's the best place for her," said Dumbledore firmly. "Her aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to her when she's older. I've written them a letter."
"A LETTER" yelled Molly Weasley "YOU PLAN ON TELLING HER THAT HER SISTER JUST DIED IN A LETTER AND THAT SHE NOW HAS TO CARE FOR HER NIECE".
Despite cringing away from the shouting Weasley matriarch, many were nodding in agreement and glaring a Dumbledore. Dumbledore wisely decided to not say anything. Madame Bones got out her notebook and started writing things down.
"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand her! She'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Hailey Potter day in the future
A sudden burst of coughing by the gryffindor side drew the hall's attention. Sirius thumped Hailey on the back and looked at her worriedly.
"Tell me there's not actually a Hailey Potter day" she asked faintly.
"Why, you want one Potter" yelled Malfoy. Secretly he thought that there should be as she was viewed as a hero by most people and … no other reason, no other reason at all. Narcissa gave her son a knowing look.
"No" said Arthur Weasley, "The paperwork for it was destroyed in a small interdepartmental fire"
"Thank Merlin! I'd hate that"
Ron leaned over and whispered into her ear, "The day of the interdepartmental fire was also the last day the Twins were allowed into the MOM, apparently their three year old selves had gotten ahold of someones wand and had tried a spell they had seen someone do."
Hailey looked at them and they mock bowed, she laughed and shook her head.
- there will be books written about Hailey
"Pretty sure they are all false as I haven't told anyone what happened and I would pay to see someone ask Voldemort for an interview" stated Hailey. Sirius' bark like laughter could be heard from outside the hall.
- every child in our world will know her name!"
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn anybodys head. Famous before she can walk and talk! Famous for something she won't even remember! Can you not see how much better off she'll be, growing up away from all that until she's ready to take it?"
"It's a good reason for me to grow up way from the wizarding world but anyone would have been better than the dursleys"
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the girl getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.
"Hagrid's bringing him."
"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"
"I would trust Hagrid with my life"
I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.
Hagrid beamed at both of them.
"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"
"What's what?" asked a first year.
"Maybe let the headmaster finish" replied their friend.
A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.
"Ah-ha. That's illegal you filthy half-bre…" exclaimed Umbridge, she stopped speaking when she saw the whole hall glaring at her, she looked across at her dear Cornelius, he was also looking at her in disappointment. She shrank back into her chair.
"I think that is my motorbike" said Sirius calmly, "I had wondered what has happened to it"
"I've still got it" Hagrid told Sirius, "It's shrunk down in my hut"
"Ok, thanks Hagrid"
If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride
it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.
"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"
"Sirius, where did you get the motorcycle from?"
"You're Mum actually. She told me about them in my third year and that started a trend of every year her getting me something to do with motorbikes and I getting her something to do with magical transport. She got me the bike as a christmas present in 7th year. I spent the better part of two years charming it to fly and other cool things"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me.
"You were at Godric's Hollow?" questioned Madame Bones.
"Yeah" said Sirius, remembering the site, "I was the first to go inside the house, the first to see the bo… damage". Hailey gave him a hug that he leaned into. Madame Bones made some more notes in her notebook.
I've got her, sir."
"No problems, were there?"
"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got her out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. She fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."
Many girls aww'd.
Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby girl, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair that shimmered dark red in the low light, there was a curious shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning, on her pale forehead.
A few people turned, trying to get a good look at her and her famous scar. Hailey rearranged her fringe so that it covered the thrice cursed scar and glared at those who dared look disappointed. The twins couldn't help but feel scared when the gaze was directed at them for sniggering at her discomfort.
"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "She'll have that scar forever."
"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"
Hailey looked up in hope. She hated that scar and all the attention it brought her. She then looked down and bit her lip. If he could or was willing to he would have already done it.
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.
"How convenient"
Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."
Dumbledore took her in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. "Could I - could I say good-bye to her, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Hailey and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.
"Thanks Hagrid" deadpanned Hailey. Making Ron snicker until Hermione hit him over the head.
Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.
Sirius looked affronted.
"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Hailey off ter live with Muggles -"
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Hailey gently on the doorstep,
"DOORSTEP!?" yelled Molly Weasley and surprisingly Narcissa Malfoy. Arthur put a hand on Molly to calm her down and Lucius tried the same until Narcissa had a thought.
"Tell me you at least put a warming charm on her" she said, her voice a deceptive calm taking over her features. Many blanched at the implications. Dumbledore was looking really uncomfortable right now. Amelia was scribbling away rapidly in her note book. Sirius looked to be reaching for his wand and Remus wasn't that far behind. They both looked rather Murderous. Hailey pulled them back into their seats and gave them another look.
"But Pup, it was a DOORSTOP"
"Cub, it was November. H e could have caused some serious damage to you."
"I know, but I'm fine and… if you go after him now we won't finish the chapter and I really want it to end. I'm quite aware how cold it is"
The last living worthy Marauders gave each other looks and pulled her into a hug. Sirius leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Ok, for now we will calm down, but Prongslet, after this we can go interrogate Dumbledore. Maybe you will have some questions for him"
Dumbledore cleared his throat and suggested that they continued the story, everyone agreed for now.
took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.
Angry muttering could be heard from the adults. At some point during the earlier comotion Narcissa and Molly managed to sit together and the grown men were shooting them fear filled look as the two women seemed to get over there usual hatred of each over to discuss ways to get back at Dumbledore and what might have happened to Hailey.
For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at
the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall
blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.
"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
"You leave a newly orphaned child to go celebrate" scoffed Narcissa.
"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.
"Cool" muttered Colin Creevey "No matter what you say, it's still cool"
"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.
Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps
It was the twins turn to have awestruck faces. No one wanted to imagine what they could do with equipment like that.
so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.
"Good luck, Hailey Potter" he murmured.
"I'll need it" whispered Hailey, so quietly that only Remus with his super hearing could hear her. Remus wondered what happened to his cub for her to give that ominous message in such a broken voice.
He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.
A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Hailey Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside her and she slept on, not knowing she was special, not knowing she was famous, not knowing she would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that she would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by her cousin Dudley... She couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Hailey Potter - the girl who lived!"
The room was quiet at the end of the chapter. Dumbledore took a minute to compose himself and then asked who wanted to read next. Minerva looked around at the hall and volunteered to read. She summoned the book of the Headmaster, cleared her throat, and began to read in a load voice.
"The Vanishing Glass"