A/N: I wish I could tell you that Hermione's whereabouts are resolved in this chapter, but its Harry centric. Hermione- fans, don't flame. Hermione will return… eventually. One more thing, this chapter is more of a flashback, so deal with it.
"Bill, it's really nothing to worry about. Your father and I had a visitor over last night, he spent the night, and he probably left early so he wouldn't disturb us. It's fine."
Bill sat on the end of his parents' bed, as his mother patiently explained to him who the 'intruder' had been.
"Oh, okay then. I think I'll head back to bed."
He gave a sidelong glance at his parents as he left. They both looked worried about something. When Bill had told them that the man had left early and had taken the newspaper with him, they had look slightly alarmed, which surprised Bill. It was only a newspaper, nothing to really be worried about.
Other than that, his mother hadn't mentioned who the 'friend' was except that they had known each other for a long time. Bill had been introduced to most of his parents' friends since he was the eldest and would be leaving school soon. Something was wrong here, and his parents were hiding it.
"I thought he left last night," said Molly, after they heard Bill's door close.
"Obviously not." Arthur rubbed his forehead with his knuckles. "I didn't want the children to see him. Especially not Bill; he's too attentive to things. I'm sure he knew we were lying."
"We'll take care of Bill later. What do you think he went to do?"
"Knowing him," said Arthur, reaching onto his nightstand where the Daily Prophet lay, "it will be something incredibly stupid. And I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about it."
Callie Allister looked up in surprise when her secretary came in, announcing a visitor. Callie hardly ever had visitors after summer was over. She worked in Muggle-Wizarding Relations Child Services. She mostly handled Muggle-born children become accustomed to the wizarding world and was in charge of orphaned magical children. The two usually went hand in hand because young wizards without any family members were usually sent to a Muggle household.
"Send him in," she said, waving her hand. The secretary nodded and left. Callie could hear some muttering before a man entered.
He had untidy black hair with a matching beard. He was tall and had blue eyes. He looked as if he had been down on his luck, but Callie was certain she had never seen a happier man.
"Good morning, Mrs. Allister," said the man good-naturedly. "I was wondering if you could look up the files of Harry Potter."
Callie, who had had her hand in her file drawer, stopped dead and re-examined the man. There must have been something she had missed. His tone had been very nonchalant and had a bit of certainty to it.
"And may I ask, sir, who you are? I'm not authorized to give you the files unless you are a relative, or a relative of his has appointed his custody to you." Which I'm sure they haven't.
The man didn't seem thrown off guard by this at all. "I have recently been appointed Harry's guardian by a Muggle orphanage in Surrey and by Harry's existing relatives. If you please, I would like the files."
Callie wasn't going to give in that easily. "Do you have any paperwork where these people granted you to be this young man's guardian?"
Becoming Harry Potter's guardian over night was not something that happened on a regular basis. It would take a lot for this man to gain Potter's files.
"Of course, my mistake," he said. The man took out his wand and waved it twice. Four documents fell on her desk.
Callie raised her eyes at them, but only said, "Give me one second."
She started sifting through her drawers, presumably looking for the custody papers that she had been given for Harry Potter six years ago. The man was watching her out of the corner of his eye, even though his eyes were on the ceiling.
Callie pretended to take out a pair of documents and glance at the ones on her desk and the blank papers in her hand.
"You'll have to give us a few days, sir. Getting all of this verified may take a while."
The man smiled. Did nothing get him down?
"It's not a problem. I can wait. If you want to contact me, I'll be at this address." He tapped his hand and a card appeared. He handed it to her and left.
"Strange," said Callie, looking at the address. "The strangest man that I've ever met."
As Callie put the documents away, she realized that she had never asked the man for his name.
As the wizard left the office, he smirked inwardly. It had been easier than he would've expected. Almost too easy. Allister was obviously working for Dumbledore, but that was no concern of his.
In just a few short hours, he'd be out of Surrey with Harry in tow. He'd be going home and be able to raise Harry. There was nothing Dumbledore could do about that. After all, it was his duty to Lily and James' memory. Harry deserved better than those damned Dursleys and that sorry orphanage.
I haven't broken my word to Lily and James and I've kept my word to Dumbledore. I know I'm the best thing for Harry. I'm certain of it.
Who would've thought I'd be adopted so fast? And by a wizard!
Harry looked up at the man who called himself Alex. He had been glancing at him all day just to make sure he was real. The two were riding in a train, off to Alex's home in Somerset. Alex had said that it would be quiet there, something he preferred.
The two had met only a couple of weeks ago. Keeping his word to his relatives, Uncle Vernon had sent Harry away to an orphanage almost a week after Aunt Petunia's funeral. Their parting had been very stiff and no sentiments had been exchanged.
The orphanage was rather filthy and unfit to live in. There were most likely more rats than people, the plumbing usually needed to be fixed, and most of the place didn't have electricity. Even though it was drastically different from Privet Drive, Harry would've rather lived there than anywhere else. That was, until Alex came along.
Hardly two days into Harry's stay at the orphanage, the matron of the orphanage informed him that he had a visitor when he came back from school. This had confused him.
Who would be visiting me? Uncle Vernon could hardly wait to get rid of me and Dudley sure isn't crying over me.
He had apprehensively stepped into the room, not knowing what to expect. The man that he had seen from the funeral was hardly what he had expected to see. He had been whistling a strange tune while sitting on Harry's bed. His blue eyes had landed on Harry and he had quickly stopped.
Harry had instantly stepped back into the doorway. He wasn't scared of the man; he just gave off an air of…peculiarity.
"I don't bite, you know," said the man, swinging himself off Harry's bed.
"I didn't think you did," said Harry, stepping back into the doorway. "Do I…know you?" Harry knew it was a foolish question to ask, but he knew he'd seen the man before his aunt's funeral.
"I'm afraid it's been a long time since we've had relations. It's hardly your fault or mine, but it was something out of my control. If I had had it my way, we would've known each other for quite some time now." The man paused thoughtfully and Harry's mind ran with the thought that this man, whoever he was, was more than likely mad. What was he talking about?
"But that's quite enough of that; I believe we will need introductions. Simply put, I'm Alex, and that's all you will need to know about me. And you would be…" Alex waved his hand, inviting Harry to introduce himself.
"Harry. Harry Potter," he said quickly. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Harry started cursing himself. Now the lunatic knew who he was.
"Of course you are, I knew that. Just wanted to get any formalities out of the way." Alex's eyes rolled over him and Harry felt an odd chill, but not in a bad way.
"Come, sit." Alex flopped back down on the bed and patted the space beside him. Harry moved forward tentatively, dropped his book bag by the door, and tentatively took the seat beside the stranger.
"I've already told you I don't bite. I just want to talk, if that's fine with you."
Harry nodded, feeling slightly more comfortable with the man already.
"So Harry, tell me about your relatives and that interesting scar." Alex's eyes flickered to Harry's forehead, where the lightning-bolt shaped scar resided. "I've never seen anything quite like it."
Harry didn't know how, but he and Alex were soon talking like they were old friends. Alex was trying to be nice and he had a complacent, if rather bizarre, demeanor. When Harry mentioned the Dursleys, Alex's eyes flickered with anger for a moment, but it quickly receded.
Alex's voice was very quiet after Harry described the Dursleys. "Did they hurt you?" He ran a hand over the bruise on Harry's arm. It had been fading, but it was still visible.
"It's nothing really," said Harry, quickly tucking his arm behind him. "I had a nasty fall." Harry had been comfortable with telling this man about how downtrodden the Dursleys had treated him, but he wasn't going to tell him about the abuse.
Alex had given Harry a look and he put his head down quickly. He wasn't quite sure what to say to him.
"How do you know me?" Harry finally asked after the awkward silence. "I mean, I've never met you before, but..." He trailed off, and snuck a glance at Alex.
Alex ran a hand through his hair before answering. "I knew James personally. Your dad was a good friend to me. I didn't meet your mother until after she had married James, but she was a good friend to me as well.
Harry blinked in surprise. He hadn't met anyone that had known his dad before. "What was he like?" he blurted out. He put his head back down as Alex laughed.
"I'll have to save you that story for another day. I've stayed too long. Not that I didn't like talking to you," he added hastily. "I wouldn't want to keep you from dinner and I've got a couple of other things to do."
Alex stood up and held out his hand. "Nice meeting you Harry. I'd like to see you again." Alex looked apprehensively at Harry. It was as if he was pleading for Harry to take his hand.
Harry glanced at the hand uneasily. He had never been treated this way before and it was strange. He barely knew Alex, but anyone that had been friends with his parents couldn't be that bad. Besides that, he liked him and the sad look in Alex's eyes was...unbearable.
Harry grasped Alex's hand and shook it. "I'd be glad to see you again."
"Evening, Mrs. Allister."
Dumbledore walked into Callie Allister's office and took a seat. He had been contacted earlier during the day and had come over as soon as possible. Callie had sounded very distressed when he had talked to her through the Floo.
"Evening headmaster," said Callie nervously. She sat down behind her desk and rubbed her forehead. She had been dreading this day for a while. Even though she had been going over the plan for the past six years, she had never thought that this would happen.
"I don't know what to tell you, headmaster," she started. "It's rather odd...I hardly expected it."
Dumbledore watched her intently. "Just start from the beginning, Mrs. Allister and work from there. I suppose this has to do with what we discussed six years ago."
Callie nodded. "I know what I was supposed to do, and I kept an eye on him sir, I really did. But I didn't see this coming." There was a bit of annoyance on the headmaster's face.
"I'm sorry, I realize I'm delaying. It's just...he's gone."
After their first encounter, Harry didn't see the mysterious Alex for a while. Despite Harry's attempts to just blow it off, he took it very hard. Alex had been, if only for three hours, the closest thing that he had to aparent. He grew moody over the next few days and the matron became worried about him. Harry tried to act normal and obviously appeared so to the new friends he had made. Well, except for, one.
"Hey Harry," said Wayne Hopkins, one of the boys he shared a room with. "We're playing soccer, want to join?"
Harry waved his hand at his friend. "I have homework to do."
A shadow fell over the math book Harry had opened and he looked up to see Wayne raising his eyebrows at him. The boy was taller than Harry and had brown hair with matching brown eyes. He could be intimidating at times, but he was the first friend Harry had made when he had arrived at the orphanage.
"Homework?" the boy asked skeptically. "What's really wrong with you?" Wayne was always able to tell when someone had a problem. It was a bit annoying really.
Harry sighed. "I don't know-" he started.
"But I do. You miss that one guy that came over here, don't ya?" Wayne didn't wait for a reply. "Expected to be picked up, just like that. It hardly works that way around here. Most kids stay here until they're eighteen."
"It's not that, it's just...he said he'd come again."
Wayne made a face, but only said, "Just give the guy some time then. He can't be thinking about you all the time. He might have a life." When Harry gave him a clearly disgusted look, Wayne tried to rectify his sentence. "He has to do something else than visit you all the time, right? Now stop moping." Wayne took Harry off of his bed and started to march him out the door.
"You're going to play soccer and you're going to like it, whether you want to or not."
Over the next few days, Harry took Wayne's advice and forgot about Alex. Well, not completely, but he didn't dwell on him like he had before. Harry started to expect to never see Alex again and supposed that it might have just been too much to hope for. Adults hadn't liked him before, why should one start to now?
Harry was shocked, once again, to discover Alex sitting on his bed in his room, whistling the same tune he had before. Harry pinched himself a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming and still didn't go in until Wayne, who had followed him in after a game of soccer, pushed him inside, hissing inside his ear, "Stop standing there like an idiot and say hello."
Harry stumbled inside and drew Alex's attention. A smile spread over the man's face.
"Wondering when you'd be coming in. I've been waiting for quite a while."
Harry said nothing. He was trying to make his shoelaces seem very interesting.
"Look Harry, I'm sorry I've been away so long. You're probably mad and I can understand that. I meant to come sooner, but I was...delayed. Besides that," he said, adopting a more cheerful tone, "I've brought you something."
Harry looked up quickly. He had never received a gift in his life.
"It's really nothing, but I thought you might need them. I noticed that you squinted a lot when we last met, so I got you some glasses." Alex took out a pair of black, plastic glassses, which looked brand new.
"I'm not sure if it's your prescription, but they should work all right. Here." Alex handed the glasses out to Harry. He accepted them and placed them on his face. They were very similar to his old ones. Everything was still fuzzy for a moment after he put them on, but everything slowly came into focus as he adjusted them.
When he looked at Alex, he saw that his eyes were bright. "Your similarity to James is uncanny," he said when Harry gave him an odd look. "Everything except your eyes. You have your mum's eyes." Alex quickly swiped at his own.
Harry had been planning to be angry at Alex the next time he saw him. A temper tantrum obviously wasn't going to get him anywhere now. He wasn't mad at him anyway. Alex had given him glasses without him even asking and he had shown up after all.
"Last time you were here," Harry started, "you said you were going to tell me about my parents." An odd twinkle was in his eye.
"Yes, I did," said Alex, his voice less wobbly. Harry took a seat next to him on the bed.
"Well, I had met your father..."
"I haven't been able to track his magical signature at all. And I suspect that man had something to do with it. I've contacted the orphanage, and they said..."
Dumbledore held up a hand to stop the flow of Callie's rambling. "Give me a minute, Mrs. Allister, I need to think."
Inwardly, Dumbledore was smiling. He had expected something of the sort from Alex. That was mostly the reason he had left Harry at the orphanage in the first place.
There was no doubt in his mind that Alex could take care of Harry better than the Dursleys could. And fighting him on the matter would just make things worse for Harry. However, he did need to talk to him. Alex was going a little overboard.
"Callie, did you feel something blocking Harry's signature?"
Callie shook her head. "When I searched for it, I found nothing. That's the strange thing headmaster." She lowered her voice. "There was nothing there." Dumbledore blinked rapidly a few times.
No magical signature? Not many wizards are capable of blocking it, but removing it all together...
If Dumbledore had been the type to swear, he would've done so very loudly as an odd thought came to him. And it was not a good one.
Alex, what have you done?
Harry leaned closer into Alex as the train sped into the night. He was very tired. He had slept during most of the train ride, so that hardly made any sense. He tried to stifle a yawn, but didn't succeed. Alex looked down at him.
"If you're tired, you should go to sleep. We've still got a while ahead of us until we reach Somerset."
Harry shook his head. He didn't want to go to sleep. He could hardly believe what thad happened to him. He was afraid that if he went to sleep, he'd wake back up under the cupboard under the stairs. He would be back with the Dursleys and he didn't want that again.
"Can't go to sleep," he said drowsily. "Make sure...you're here."
Alex chuckled. "Trust me, I'll be here."
Harry felt his eyes drooping and saw, out of the corner of his eye, Alex placing his wand back into his pocket.
"No fair," Harry said, before his eyes closed and his head dropped.
A/N: Sorry, but this is where I'm stopping. Alex and Harry's relationship will be further elaborated on. I hope I didn't give the wrong idea of Alex. He has Harry's best interests in mind. He's not shady; he's one of the honest OCs I've ever thought up. On a further note, Wayne Hopkins is JK's creation. Hermione will return next chapter, I think. No promises! Reviews are nice!