AUTHOR'S NOTES: So I'm not usually one for Dumbledore-bashing, but this is a major exception. A LOT of the crap that Dumbledore has pulled in the books will be coming to light and the man will have to do some serious apologizing later on.
Also, I'm still trying to come up with a nice, succinct title for this story, so suggestions are still welcome.
Chapter 3
3 Weeks Ago…
Vernon Dursley was up to something—Harry knew that much.
The previous weekend, Vernon had been busy securing passports for everyone and talking to travel agencies.
A few days later, during dinner, Petunia announced that they were all going on a vacation to the United States.
"How long are we going to be away?" Dudley asked, his mouth full of meatloaf.
"Two weeks," Vernon replied, giving a somewhat disdainful look in Harry's direction. "We'll be leaving the day after tomorrow." Glaring at Harry, he added, "And if you tell anyone about what happened to your legs—or if you even try to contact those freak people of yours while we're there—I swear I'll make sure you never walk again!"
After dinner, Harry went to wash the dishes, thinking quickly. It would be enough of a challenge to bring his wand with him, but bringing Hedwig or any of his school books would be tantamount to suicide. But what if this vacation was all some sort of ploy to get rid of all of his things while everyone was away?
It would be too risky to try and contact anyone while he was away, Harry decided, but he also couldn't take the chance that something would happen to his meager possessions in his absence.
After cleaning up the kitchen and dining room while his aunt, uncle, and cousin watched TV, Harry made his way upstairs to his bedroom and grabbed a quill and some spare parchment, writing out a letter to the Weasley family… specifically the twins, Fred and George.
#12 Grimmauld Place
Harry's first letter of the summer did nothing to reassure Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George Weasley.
On the contrary—the four of them quickly began plotting the best way to get Harry's things after reading Harry's request.
"Portkey over to Privet Drive, I'd say," George said, thoughtfully.
"Best do it at night," Fred added, looking at the time. "After everyone's gone to bed."
"What if something happens right after Harry and the Dursleys leave?" Ginny pointed out. She didn't like waiting, but at the same time, she didn't want to get caught in some sort of trap, either.
Nodding, Ron agreed with his sister. "We should go tonight. We can lay low until they leave and then retrieve Harry's things."
The four of them in agreement, Ron looked at his siblings and added, "We shouldn't tell Mum."
"Ron's right," Ginny agreed, nodding quickly "If she knew what was going on she'd go straight over there."
Fred and George exchanged a look as they both thought the same thing. Harry's letter had left instructions that if he hadn't come back in 3 weeks, they were to contact Dumbledore. But the Hogwarts headmaster was the reason they were all worried about Harry in the first place.
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It was just after midnight the following night when black, shaggy dog came out from the shadows and meandered in the direction of #4 Privet Drive, occasionally looking around expectantly.
After overhearing Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley the previous evening about their plans to obtain Harry's belongings while Harry was away with the Dursleys, Sirius had volunteered to do a little reconnaissance to make sure the coast was clear. Roaming about the neighborhood in his animagus form, Sirius had tried his best to look like a stray dog sniffing about, chasing a few rabbits and cats… even rooting through the garbage cans at one house.
When he'd started to notice more activity inside Harry's house, Sirius cut around behind the house next door and slipped into the bushes surrounding #4, laying low and staying quiet so as to not draw attention.
The Dursleys had headed out late that afternoon, loaded down with bags and suitcases—most of which Harry had carried to the car. Seeing the look of pain on his godson's face as he tried to walk using only one crutch, Sirius Black had felt the fur on the back of his neck stand on end.
Harry looked exhausted when he's finally climbed into the car, almost dragging his right leg which he'd had to manually pull up into the vehicle while Vernon groused about how they were running late because of Harry's 'laziness'.
As the car pulled out of the driveway, Sirius raised his head, looking for any sign of anyone else coming to the house. Thankfully, the shrubbery provided the perfect cover and he was able to blend into the shadows.
The street was quiet the rest of the day with only a few cars heading up and down the road.
After nightfall, Sirius felt it safe to roam about the neighborhood one more time, even getting invited in at #8 Privet Drive when he was spotted by the kids playing outside. After the family fed the poor, homeless stray, Sirius played the dog role until nearly 10 before scratching the door to be let out.
Resuming his watchdog duties, Sirius headed back towards Harry's house, waiting for the Weasleys to turn up.
Giving a short two-note bark about 2 hours later, Sirius waited until he saw the four teenagers sneaking down the street, taking care to stay to the shadows, just in case.
Once inside the house, Fred, George, and Ron led the way to Harry's bedroom while Ginny stayed in the sitting room, looking out the front window.
"You've been here before, I take it?" Sirius surmised as he followed the group upstairs.
"When we didn't hear from Harry after our first year," Ron explained. "—Mum got worried. Especially after she'd heard that Harry had used magic outside of school. He hadn't—it was this house elf named Dobby—but Harry got blamed." After an uncomfortable pause, Ron added, "That was when Vernon Dursley broke Harry's legs."
Sirius stopped dead outside Harry's bedroom, stunned by what he'd just heard. Harry had said very little about his physical condition whenever Sirius had brought it up and had always given the impression that the injuries were accidental, made worse by the Durlseys' refusal to get Harry proper medical attention.
Now Sirius learned that the Dursleys were, in fact, the cause of Harry's condition and may have even exacerbated it.
Meanwhile, Fred and George had grabbed Harry's trunk and piled everything they could inside before headed out of the room, carrying the trunk between them.
As the group headed out of the house and to the alleyway where they would take a portkey back to Grimmauld Place, Sirius couldn't help wondering what else Harry hadn't told him.
Sirius patrolled Privet Drive for the next two weeks, keeping an eye out for anything strange or out of the ordinary. Hermione Granger—Harry's other best friend—had given him a set of potions to alter his animagus form so no one would call animal control about the black shaggy dog prowling the neighborhood.
Molly Weasley hadn't approved of Sirius' plan, but after finding out about Harry's trip with the Dursleys, she was starting to become more and more concerned for the young man she considered an adopted son.
On the day the Dursleys were set to return, Sirius was wandering the road once again. This time, he was a husky-retriever mix and even though he tried to act like a normal dog, he couldn't stop his brief moments of anxious pacing as he hid in the bushes.
Hearing a car pull into the driveway, Sirius dropped to the ground, watching for any sign of Harry.
"Dudley, when you finish unpacking," Petunia said as she got out of the car. "—take a trash bag into Harry's room and clean it out."
Dudley agreed as his father added, "We'll move your video games and TV back into that room tomorrow."
Sirius was on high alert as he watched the Dursleys unpack their things and head into the house. It was taking all his self control not to change back, burst inside and demand to know where Harry was.
Instead, he forced himself to watch and listen Harry's 'family' crowed about abandoning Harry in the US and how Dudley hoped the child services system put him with the worst foster parents ever. Petunia groused about not having Harry around to do chores, but Vernon argued that "Potter was a useless cripple, anyway" and they were all "Better off without the freaky brat buggering up their lives".
Finally, when Sirius had just about reached his limit and was about to abandon all restraint, a loud 'pop' made him jump. Turning his attention to who had just apparated, Sirius came out of the bushes when he saw the new arrival was none other than Albus Dumbledore himself.
Dumbledore didn't look surprised in the least to see Sirius, he only looked down and said, "Molly told me about Harry's trip. Has he returned?"
Sirius shook his head, growling in the direction of the house.
Seeing that he needed answers swiftly, or risk Sirius attacking the Dursleys in their own home, Dumbledore strode over to the front door and knocked, taking a step back to patiently await Harry's aunt and uncle.
A few minutes later, the door finally opened and Vernon Dursley stood in the doorway, sneering at the Hogwarts headmaster. "Think you're so bloody clever, do you? Here to rub it in my face that you've got Potter back in your freaky world, are you?"
But before Dumbledore could say anything, Sirius had changed back to human, forcing his way inside as he grabbed Vernon Dursley by the front of his shirt. "Scream," Sirius hissed, venomously. "Try anything, and I'll snap your neck here and now."
"That will do, Sirius," Dumbledore warned as he entered the house and closed the door behind him. Turning his attention to Vernon Dursley whom Sirius had unceremoniously shoved to the ground, the headmaster said, "I apologize for Harry's godfather. I only came by to check on Harry. Where is he?"
"He's gone," Sirius snapped, still staring murderously at Vernon. "They left him in the United States."
"Is this true, Petunia?" Dumbledore asked Harry's aunt as she hurried into the room. "Despite what we discussed when Harry was first brought here?"
But if Dumbledore was expecting Petunia to be penitent, he was sorely mistaken. "You never asked me f I wanted to take in that freaky brat!" Petunia said, angrily. "I would have dumped him at an orphanage the very next day, but I didn't want you freaks to hurt my family! I wish Harry had died along with my sister that way I never would have had to deal with this weirdness again!"
Dumbledore didn't know how to respond to Petunia's outburst, but he knew that he had to maintain the blood protection somehow. "You and Harry share the same blood," he began.
"I. Don't. Care," Petunia said, clearly. "And if you even think of bringing that brat back here, it will be the last you ever see of him." Glancing at her husband, she went on. "Vernon wanted to off the boy and burn his things. I said that abandoning him on vacation would raise fewer questions."
The coldness of the woman's words shocked and horrified both wizards. Placing a firm hand on Sirius' shoulder to prevent the younger man from doing something drastic, Dumbledore pressed on with one more plea. "I implore you to reconsider, Petunia. You may not like what Harry is, but if you do this you are losing the last family you have."
"This is my family," Petunia snapped, indicating her husband and son. "That freaky brat was never family to me. All he ever was to me was a burden."
xxxx
Once Sirius and Dumbledore had left the Dursleys' house and returned to Grimmauld Place, Sirius flew into a rage, screaming obscenities about the Dursleys along with curses, threats, and expressing a clear desire to throw all three into a cell in Azkaban Prison. "Except that would have no bloody effect, I'd wager," he said, bitterly. "—because clearly none of them have a soul for the dementors to consume!"
"What do we do now?" Remus Lupin asked as Molly Weasley tried to calm Harry's godfather down.
Regretfully, the headmaster's reply only served to stoke Sirius' anger further. "Harry is under a powerful, old magic that uses his mother's sacrifice to shield him from Voldemort. If the blood protection is to remain active, Harry must return to Privet Drive—no matter how briefly."
"You cannot be serious," Lupin replied, dismayed. "There must be some other way to forge a new blood bond with someone."
But Dumbledore shook his head, regretfully. "The only alternative would be to find some other relatives of James or Lily, but Petunia was the only one I found."
Sensing what the headmaster was about to say, Molly cut in. "We can't send Harry back to those people."
"With the right memory modification spells," Dumbledore said, thoughtfully. "I'm certain I can get Petunia to overcome her—"
"And are you going to alter Harry's memories as well?" Sirius snapped, not believing what he was hearing. "Because otherwise, you're asking him to willingly stay with the people who abused him and were the cause of the damage to his legs!"
But Dumbledore wasn't dissuaded from his beliefs as he insisted, "The best protection Harry has is the Dursleys—"
"And that worked so well when Vernon broke Harry's legs and locked him in his room with no medical care whatsoever!" Molly said, her own anger getting the better of her. "How did you think Harry was injured, Albus? Some accident? Harry told us the whole tale, poor dear. Vernon barged into Harry's room after the whole debacle with that house elf and broke both of Harry's legs in multiple places by beating him with a tire iron."
"Harry only received treatment after Fred, George, and Ron took our old car to fetch him," Arthur Weasley added, taking up the rest of the story. "Of course, that was over a month later, and Harry's legs had started healing—badly, I might add. Apparently, magic can only go so far once that happens."
"I think we can all agree that Harry's safety is our primary concern," Lupin said, trying to keep the situation from escalating. "And, unfortunately, that means both safe from Voldemort and safe from the Dursleys."
Molly didn't like the situation at all, especially when Dumbledore insisted on going to the United States to retrieve Harry. The headmaster seemed set on finding some way to keep Harry with the Durlseys, but Molly was equally determined to make sure that Harry never had to see his aunt and uncle again.
A/N: Next chapter, Dumbledore learns that when you go up against the Gray Family, be prepared for a fight… and not always a fair one.