I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm doing this for fun, not profit. Please let that be a sufficient disclaimer!
So that you know what you're getting into before reading, and can choose whether the story is right for you: This is going to be a very fluffy, feel-good story, where a Muggle Intervention sets Harry's life on a far happier path. There will be some action scenes, after the first few chapters.
The first three chapters will set up the story, so may seem slow going. There will be a fair few chapters covering pre-Hogwarts years.
The pairing will be Harry/Katie only, but the romance won't start for a while. This Katie will have the same personality as my depiction of her in Delacour Godparents.
There will be minimal bashing. Dumbledore will not be evil, manipulative or sacrifice-Harry-for-the-greater-good – I hope he will be refreshingly different to any Dumbledore characterisation you have read before.
With that all said, if you're still with me... I hope you enjoy!
...
Miss Peach was excited. She always was, on the first day of a new school year. She had thirty new kids to get to know, and since she had been given the reception class this year, her class would be filled with adorable little four year olds – some nervous, some confident, some probably missing their mummies and daddies already – and all of them entrusted to her.
Miss Peach was still early in her career – she'd gotten her degree in teaching, then completed her newly-qualified year just two years ago. Now a little more confident – ok, a lot more confident – the twenty-four-year-old was ready to greet the newest students of Little Whinging Infant School.
The young woman caught a glance of herself in one of her classroom mirrors, and she paused to make sure she hadn't got crayon on her face or paint on her clothes – a regular occurrence!
She considered herself fairly ordinary-looking. She was 5ft 9, had brown eyes, long light-brown hair which she usually tied back in a messy ponytail, and a reasonable figure... but then who didn't, chasing children around for a job! Not that it mattered, she thought to herself; she'd had a few relationships at university, none of which had lasted, and the guys she'd met since only seemed interested in one thing. She'd meet someone nice one day, she was sure, but for now she was content to be single.
Miss Peach walked around her classroom – her domain, really – picking up a few picture books, splaying them out on one of the tables enticingly, and then stepped back to check how it looked. She smiled in a self-satisfied, pleased way – the classroom looked friendly, warm and inviting. Perfect!
With ten minutes still to go, Miss Peach checked her register for the hundredth time, familiarising herself with the important details: Sophie had a milk allergy, so needed to be kept away from... well... milk, and anything that contained milk; Lee has epilepsy, poor thing, so she needed to be extra careful about flashing lights and any physical activity that could trigger an episode; and Harry was an orphan, but he was being looked after by his aunt and uncle, so hopefully no serious emotional issues, though she would keep an eye out.
...
The scrawny, timid boy was afraid. Not of anything particular – well, except for the promise his cousin had made about bullying him, and the warning his Aunt Petunia had given him to behave, or else – but just that the boy had learned that life was awful and everything new brought only nastiness.
This morning he had gotten dressed in the only clothes that had ever fit him, eaten his usual breakfast of half a piece of dry toast, brushed his teeth, then followed his aunt and cousin out of the house and down an unfamiliar route; all because this was the morning that he and his cousin would be starting school.
After a few minutes walk, they had arrived at school. After his aunt gave his cousin a big, caring hug, and merely told him to "get going!" in a cross voice, the boy followed the other children inside.
His first thought was that the school didn't look too bad – he had travelled through a short corridor and got to a classroom, and the classroom looked interesting: the walls were painted in bright colours, there were some picture books on one table (not that he expected to be allowed to touch them), some toys in boxes over in one corner (again, not for children like him, he knew), and an area with paper and brightly coloured crayons (which he might get to use if it was for learning how to write, the boy thought with unusual optimism).
And then a voice called out - a cheerful, excited, melodious voice – and the boy met the woman who would change his life forever.
"Hello boys and girls! My name is Miss Peach, and I'm going to be your teacher this year!" the woman announced, with high levels of enthusiasm.
A few of the more outgoing children, including the boy's cousin, replied "Hello, Miss Peach," with varying volumes and degrees of excitement.
The boy just stared. This woman, she seemed... well... nice! She just seemed really nice! He'd never met a really nice grown up before.
"Now, I've got this list here with everyone's name on it, and what I'm going to do is call your name; when I do, I want you to give me a big wave like this," Miss Peach explained, waving her hands excitedly, "shout 'Hello, Miss Peach!' and then come and sit down wherever you'd like. Can you all do that?" she asked encouragingly.
"Yes, Miss Peach!" came a few replies, among with several head nods.
"Good! Let's start with... Sarah Axon?"
"Yes, Miss Peach!" called a girl next to the boy; this girl, Sarah, had blonde pigtails. He wondered why they were called pigtails, as he had never seen a pig in anyone's hair, ever.
The boy listened as more names were called, and more children sat down. One boy, someone called Harry Potter, clearly wasn't there, as no-one answered the name. Miss Peach looked strangely at him for a second, but shook her head and continued.
Eventually, there were only three children left standing. Then two. Then just the boy, alone. Was something wrong? Why hadn't his name been called?
Miss Peach approached the shy, scrawny little boy, knelt down and asked kindly, "Excuse me, but is your name Harry Potter?"
The boy shook his head. "No, Miss Peach, that's not my name," the boy answered, now a little worried. Was something bad going to happen to him, again?
"Ok, well maybe they wrote the wrong name down on my list. What is your name?" Miss Peach asked encouragingly.
"My name is Freak," the boy stated sincerely.
...
Miss Peach could have told Harry off for being silly. She could have laughed and told him it was a funny joke. She could have, heaven forbid, called up Harry's aunt and uncle and asked their opinion. But Miss Peach did none of those things.
She let her subconscious mull it over whilst she carried on with her planned morning, and she watched Harry (and his cousin Dudley) carefully. She was very concerned by what she saw: Harry was a shy, timid boy; Harry was scrawny, almost as if he wasn't eating enough; Harry avoided Dudley as much as possible, almost as if he was afraid of him; Dudley twice 'accidentally bumped into' Harry, and seemed shocked to be told off for it.
When lunchtime came around, Miss Peach led her class to the dining hall, asked one of her colleagues – Mrs. Brown – to cover for her, and then asked Harry if he would sit with her, at the far end of the room where the staff normally sat. Harry, looking quite surprised, agreed.
Miss Peach noted that Harry had a very meagre lunch, barely half what she would expect a boy his age to eat, and her concerns grew further. And then, as she gently probed into his home life – using subtlety, though it wasn't needed given that Harry was only four – she became very, very worried.
"What's your favourite thing in your bedroom, Harry?" Miss Peach asked, as Harry ate the apple she had given him with wide-eyed wonder.
After Harry had greedily eaten the fruit, he replied. "Well, it's not really a bedroom. There's not an extra bedroom for me, just the little room under the stairs. I think my school uniform is my favourite thing, as it fits me really well," Harry replied earnestly.
Miss Peach knew there was only one thing for it, though she needed to speak to her head teacher first; she just hoped that her boss would agree with her.
...
It was early afternoon, and two police officers were walking up to the front door of Number 4, Privet Drive. They had just come from the local Infant School, where they met a very worried teacher, a concerned head teacher, and a sweet little boy who had innocently described at least neglect, and more likely physical and emotional child abuse.
Knocking on the door, the officers waited until the door opened, and a horse-faced lady appeared.
"Yes, officers? Can I help you?" she asked.
Steve, the senior officer, knew he was taking a risk. He didn't quite have the legal authority to just barge in and check under the stairs (not without a warrant!), but he was unwilling to leave a small child to a potentially deadly fate, so he made something up and hoped it wouldn't come back to bite him.
"Hello there. I'm Inspector Steve Collins and this is PC Robert Banks. There have been recent reports of some criminals in the area, and we wondered if we could ask you a few questions, see if you have seen anything suspicious?" Steve asked.
Petunia nodded and then, to the officers' great fortune and Petunia's great misfortune, she decided that she needed to invite them in, lest the neighbours see policemen at her door and talk. "Why don't you fine officers come in?"
Smiling in thanks, Steve motioned for Banks to go first. Steve then followed, his eyes scanning everywhere. He saw photos of the three Dursleys in the hall, but none of Harry. He saw a bolt lock on the small cupboard under the stairs. He saw a suspicious red spot on the door handle of the cupboard, and a few faded red spots on the carpet. Steve was now feeling as the young teacher had, just a couple of hours ago.
"Those are some lovely photos on the wall. Is it just you, your husband and your son who live here?" Steve asked, his face all smiles.
Petunia's face dropped for half a second, then recovered. "Yes, that's right. Just the three of us," she lied. Later, she would look back and ask why she had; deep down, had she already realised she was in trouble?
"Really? Inspector Collins here must have forgotten, but our records show you have another child living with you," Banks questioned.
Petunia scowled for a second then recovered her expression, but she knew it was too late. "Oh yes. Harry. My wonderful nephew. How silly of me!" Petunia tried to joke.
"Well, never mind. It's just that we might want to talk to the rest of your family later, to see if they've seen anything unusual," Steve replied, smiling with his mouth but not his eyes.
Petunia led the officers into the lounge, and motioned for them to sit down. It was only a couple of minutes into some mundane and hastily made-up questions when the officers triggered the plan they had discussed on the drive over.
"Anyway, I... wait. Rob, do you smell gas?" Steve asked, sniffing the air.
Banks sniffed. "You're right, I think I can! I'm sorry to interrupt, but if there's a gas leak you could be in danger. Your gas meter, is it in the cupboard under the stairs? I'll just go look," he kindly offered.
"NO! You can't look in there! I mean, the gas meter, it's... well... Maybe I've left the hob on!" Petunia offered desperately, quickly standing in the way of the officer.
"Sit down, and let my fellow officer do his job," Steve ordered, fire in his eyes.
Petunia whimpered as the other policeman went to investigate the cupboard. She knew she was in trouble, but it was only because the officers didn't understand what a freak her nephew was!
When Steve heard a shout of profanity, he knew it wasn't good news. "I do believe, Mrs. Petunia Dursley, that I am about to arrest you on suspicion on child abuse," Steve stated with fierce calm.
"You bloody better, or I will, sir!" called Banks.
Steve snapped out his handcuffs. "Well then. Petunia Dursley, you have the right to remain silent..."
...
The bell rang for the end of school and Miss Peach, still full of enthusiasm, guided her class outside, to where parents and guardians would collect the children. Scanning the crowd, she had never been more pleased to see one of the officers from earlier standing with the other adults.
Standing near to Harry, she asked, "Can you see your aunt?"
Harry looked around, resignation creeping onto his face. He had enjoyed his day so much, and Miss Peach had been so nice, but now he had to go back home. Would his aunt and uncle let him come back tomorrow if they knew he had enjoyed himself?
Harry began scanning the faces of the adults, but he couldn't see his aunt anywhere. "No, Miss Peach, I don't think she's here yet," Harry replied.
The policeman came up and stood near Miss Peach. Harry didn't really understand what was going on, just that the policeman said, "In custard-y" (Harry had never had custard before, but Dudley liked it), and then Miss Peach looked happy, and then the policeman looked happy. They must like custard too.
Eventually, all the other children had been picked up, and there was just Miss Peach, the policeman, Harry and Dudley outside. Dudley was getting worried. Harry was confused.
"Why don't we go inside, Harry, Dudley? My name's Robert and I think it might be good to have a chat," Banks said kindly.
"But what about my mummy? Where is she?" Dudley asked, worried.
"I'll explain everything when we get inside," Banks replied, smiling.
"But I want to know now! Where's mummy! Tell me!" Dudley demanded.
Miss Peach put on her best professional frown, and gently chided him. "Dudley, that's not a nice way to talk. I'm sure your mummy and daddy wouldn't want you to talk to a policeman like that. Let's find some nice comfy chairs, and then the kind policeman can tell us everything."
Dudley didn't like it, but his mummy had told him to listen to his teacher. He followed the others inside, looking very put out.
Once inside and sat down, the policeman explained that Harry's aunt wouldn't be coming to collect them, as the police thought she and Harry's uncle might have done something bad, and so they had taken them to the police station to ask them some questions.
Dudley refused to believe such a thing could be the case, stating it must be Harry's fault because everything bad is Harry's fault.
Harry, meanwhile, was worried. "What about us? Who will look after us?" he asked quietly.
"That's a good question," Banks began. "Dudley's aunt Marge is going to come and collect him, and she'll be here a little later..."
"I don't want to go with her," Harry blurted out, scared. Aunt Marge was even worse than Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon!
Banks noted the reaction, and wondered if he would need to arrest another person before the week was up. Putting that thought to one side, he replied to the scared little boy.
"Don't worry, Harry, she's only collecting Dudley. Do you have any other family, or maybe some grown-up friends?" Banks tried. He was unsurprised when Harry shook his head.
At this point, the head teacher joined them. "Hello officer. I assume all went as expected?" he asked, trying to hide the sadness in his voice.
Banks nodded. "Just explaining to Harry and Dudley. Dudley's aunt Marge will be picking him up as soon as she can, and we were just talking about Harry," he summarised.
Miss Peach looked at the small, scrawny little boy, so unloved and alone, and her heart went out to him. How much had he endured in his short life? And now he was essentially abandoned, with no-one who wanted him.
Well, one person did. She might have called it spur-of-the-moment, except the thought had crossed her mind over lunch, and then a few times during the afternoon.
"I can look after him, at least for now," Miss Peach offered.
Harry turned and looked at her in shock. But he was useless, no-one wanted him! What was the nice teacher saying?
"Jen? A quick word?" asked the head teacher, indicating a quiet corner.
Miss Peach nodded, and followed the man away. Harry's heart started to sink – she probably wasn't going to be allowed to look after him. Good things never happened to him, after all.
A few minutes later, Miss Peach came back smiling, a happy tear in her eye. She had always liked her boss, but this was more than she had expected!
The head teacher led Dudley back outside to wait for Aunt Marge, leaving Harry alone with Miss Peach and PC Banks.
"Harry, would you like to come stay with me for a little while? We can try it out for a few days, and see if you like it or not," Miss Peach offered, all smiles.
Harry couldn't believe it. He must be dreaming. Leaving his aunt and uncle's house, and living with his nice teacher? His voice was lost somewhere in his tummy, but his head nodded his answer.
"There are a few things we need to do. First, we need to pick up your clothes and toys, and anything else you'd miss from your aunt and uncle's house," Miss Peach continued kindly.
Harry looked nervous. "I don't have any toys, but I do have old clothes that used to be Dudley's. Do I have to go back?" Harry asked; pleaded, more like.
Banks smiled kindly. "How about if I go and collect anything that's yours. You just tell me where it is," he offered.
Harry nodded, relieved. "All my things are in the cupboard under the stairs."
Banks' smile faltered for a second. "Are you sure? I only saw very old clothes in there," he queried.
Harry nodded, a little more confident. "Those are the ones. My spare school uniform is underneath," Harry explained.
Banks gave Miss Peach a very telling look, and Miss Peach just nodded, a sad expression passing her face for a moment before she turned to Harry with a reassuring smile on her face.
"Well, it looks like we need to buy you some things then!" Miss Peach declared, a bit of her classroom enthusiasm injected into her words.
Harry was about to voice his disbelief, when Banks got there first. "That might get a little expensive, I could always see if the force..."
Miss Peach interrupted, a completely genuine smile on her face this time. "No need. We have a hardship fund at the school, and the head's letting me drain it!"
...
Author Notes:
Special thanks to Red Renera for being an awesome beta. The number of grammar mistakes will be significantly decreased in this story, thanks to their efforts.
If you liked this humble first chapter, please consider leaving a review!