The woman set her teeth as she watched her husband get ready for work. Today was her day off and she was glad for it. Or at least she had been until last night.
She poked her head into the bathroom, where her husband was brushing his teeth while fixing his tie.
"Hey, there's something I need to tell you." Her voice was visibly shaking and her husband knew it.
He spit in the sink and his toothbrush, which had been moving back and forth in his mouth without any help from his hand, returned to its holder. He turned around to look at his wife and fixed her with a serious look.
"Is it bad?" he asked.
"No."
"Is it good?"
"No. Not exactly," she said slowly.
"Uh-oh."
"I think you should sit down before I tell you this."
In the Burrow, a man smiled with grim satisfaction as he read the headline of the Daily Prophet that morning. It read:
Muggle Hospital in Surrey Attacked by Dark Wizards Unknown
The man scanned through the article as it mentioned the many deaths that the attack had caused. He became frustrated when none of the dead Muggles were mentioned by name.
He quickly folded up the paper and went upstairs. Molly and Arthur were still sleep, most likely exhausted from the night before. The children were still asleep, which was rather surprising. Most of them slept in, but the three eldest were pretty early risers.
Counting himself lucky, the man went into the kitchen and as carefully as he could, twisted the door handle. He stepped out and closed the door behind him before striding away from the house and Apparating.
If the man had been paying better attention, he would've noticed the red-head on the stairs that had been watching this stranger, a wand in his hand, his eyes alert.
Bill Weasley had just woken up when the man was out the door.The stranger hadn't been doing anything suspicious and Bill had figured he shouldn't provoke a fight with a man who had only sat there and read his paper.
Nevertheless, he went back upstairs and into his parents' bedroom. They needed to know they had had an intruder.
She's back.
How do you know?
I just saw her walk past my room.
Oh. Did she mention anything?
Nothing except that lessons would be a little late today so we could go flying if we wanted to.
Do you?
No. Derek will go with you. Diane's busy.
Busy…as in…
Following Mum around.
Ahhh. Did you hear that?
Hear what?
The sound of glass shattering.
I hear shouting. Sounds like your mum and my mum are having a row again. Any minute now Lucius will jump in.
Yes, I can hear Father now.
That's not good.
I know. The voices stopped.
What do you think he said to them?
Does it matter? They're quiet.
It's a breakthrough.
A magical miracle.
What if he just cast a Silencing Charm on them?
We'll see how long that lasts.
Narcissa's coming. I can hear her muttering to herself.
My mum does not mutter-
No time. Talk later.
Harry watched his aunt's casket gently lower further underground. Next to him, Uncle Vernon bawled, his tears flowing freely. Dudley was staring at the casket with an odd expression on his face. He had been very withdrawn after his mother died and hadn't even bullied Harry when he had returned to them a month ago. Harry supposed his grief was beyond tears.
As the friends and family members came up to Harry, Dudley, and Uncle Vernon, to offer consolation for their loss, Harry reflected on the events of the last month or so.
It had been a fortnight before Uncle Vernon had retrieved Harry from Mrs. Figg's house. Harry had no doubt that it was the last thing that his uncle had wanted to do. Mrs. Figg had appeared reluctant to let him go, which was surprising. She had told him before he had left that if there was anything that he needed, he should come to her. This was going to be the least of the strange occurrences that would occur over the next few days.
His uncle had given up the will to live. Everything he did, he did it half-heartedly. Uncle Vernon hardly ever fed himself and was oblivious to everything around him. It took a while to catch his attention.
Dudley had given up on his favorite pastime of picking on Harry and also ate less. He was in shock like his father, but wasn't as oblivious to everything around him as Uncle Vernon. Dudley carried on with his daily routine and had even returned to school.
Harry had gone back to school along with Dudley when the school year started. He noticed Dudley wasn't being a bully and was very subdued during class. He had lost interest in Harry, and this had encouraged a few kids to be nice to Harry instead of running away from him in terror.
Funeral arrangements had been made by Aunt Marge, who had come to stay with them a week after Aunt Petunia's death. She was Uncle Vernon's sister and had all of his personality.
She had dominated the house and had doted upon her brother and nephew, sparing no sympathy for Harry. It wasn't as if he really needed it, after all. He felt no sadness over his aunt's death and didn't want to be pitied for it.
Many people had showed up for the funeral, some that Harry had never heard of. All of them were from his uncle's side of the family, since his aunt had no more living relatives. They all had the same features as Uncle Vernon; wide with thick mustaches.
None of them had spared a look at Harry, and he was certain that they were plotting for the best way to get rid of him. Harry didn't mind and stayed out of their way as they tried to comfort his cousin and uncle for their loss.
As Great-Aunt Camille and her husband came up, Harry glanced past them to a man he had seen separated from the rest of the group that had assembled for the funeral. Harry was certain he didn't remember seeing him before.
The man was tall and slightly hunched over. His hair and beard were a deep black and his eyes were a pale bluish-hazel. No one else had noticed him except Harry. Their eyes slipped right past him and to their next relative.
Harry felt as if he had seen the man before. His face was familiar, but Harry knew he wasn't acquainted with him. The man was looking around at all the people gathered there, and there was a look of disgust on his face. Harry didn't blame him. The Dursleys weren't people that you wanted to get to know.
The stranger looked back around and locked eyes with Harry. Even though the distance between them was far, and even without his glasses, Harry could see his eyes had a determined look to them. They were entrancing. Harry could feel himself moving…..
"Boy!"
Harry jumped and looked up at Aunt Marge. Uncle Vernon was still talking to Great-Aunt Camille, but Harry was no longer standing next to him. Harry had somehow walked through half the cemetery without remembering it.
"Yes, Aunt Marge?" he said obediently. She looked livid. He noticed a brown stain on her new dress and a paper cup clenched tightly in her fist.Harry could guess what had happened. He gulped. He knew he'd be in for it once he was back home. He looked towards where the man was standing, but he was gone.
Locked in his cupboard, Harry could hear his relatives discussing him. They had been doing so for the past three hours. Harry was surprised they spent so much time thinking about him.
"It'll take time for you and Dudley to heal from your loss, and you can't do it with that boy here," said Aunt Marge. She had been using that same argument ever since she had arrived.
"Marge's right. You and Dudley deserve better. He's not your relative anyway. Not by blood. I say send him away." This was Uncle Gil. He was Uncle Vernon's younger brother.
"Petunia would've never wanted me to send him away," said Uncle Vernon hollowly. "She never liked him, but she kept him anyway. I could never understand-"
"Vernon, that's all in the past. You have to act now and the best thing for you and Dudley is to send that boy away. He's obviously causing you pain."
Harry snorted as he tuned out the rest of the conversation, already knowing how it would go. Uncle Vernon's relatives would continue to nag; telling him to send Harry away, Uncle Vernon would cave and say he'd start looking into it. So far, as Harry knew, his uncle had done no such thing.
That keeps me here a little longer. I can live with that for now, but who knows when Uncle Vernon will change his mind.
The man stood outside Number 4, revulsion clear on his face. He had been so close to taking him. They could've left and there would've been no problems. Now he would have to wait.
But he didn't want to wait. He had waited for six years; he shouldn't have to wait anymore. He tried to calm himself and turned away from the house. Just the thought of it made him sick. He walked away from the house and down the street before Apparating with a crack.
"I'm just keeping her for a while. She's the worst off of any of the patients that we've had to treat so far and I'd like to keep her in a stable environment."
"A stable environment being our household?"
"She's a Muggle, she'llhardlycauseany trouble. As soon as she's well, I'll talk with Wizarding Child Services. I promise." If something else hasn't already come up by then.
"I suspect that you have something else up your sleeve."
"And you'd be wrong. There's nothing suspicious about the situation at all. She's a special case is all, nothing more, nothing less."
"Where is she?"
"I put her up in the guest bedroom. I didn't want her bothering the other children."
"What's her name?"
"We don't know, she was unconscious when we found her on the street. The other Healers couldn't wake her up to get any information out of her." The woman was lying through her teeth, but it was necessary. Her husband didn't need to know the truth right at this moment and she would tell him eventually. Yes, right now, lying was the best defense.
"What the hell were you doing out there anyway?"
Lucius and Lynn were wandering through the halls of Malfoy Manor. Narcissa had withdrawn to her room and the children were off doing other activities.
"I had to take care of that girl. I couldn't let her escape. If she had, she would've ruined everything."
"Did you dispose of the body?" The two were talking about this in very nonchalant voices.
"I don't kill without reason, Lucius. I took care of her, that's all you need to know."
"The Ministry better not find her. If they try to pin anything on me, you're going down too."
"I'd expect no less. Same to you."
Dumbledore touched the bowl of water, making the image disappear. So he was watching him again.
I hope that he doesn't do anything too rash. If he does, I'm afraid that I'd have to step in.
He ran his wand over a temple, extracting a glowing, silver strand. He headed over to his cabinet where a bowl sat. A silvery substance was twisting inside of it. He placed the strand inside the Pensieve and watched his memory swirl inside of it before tapping it with his wand and making it disappear.
A/N: There's chapter six. Just a few things to clear up about Harry. I know you still don't know where Hermione is, but I can't help it. It's not time yet.Let's just say that it's not an OC, but this character never made an appearance in the books.REVIEW!