Dudley grumbled, "I'm bored…"

Harry didn't say anything as he tried to memorise his ABC from his book and their vowels. Dudley looked at him in dismay, poking the boy, "Harry…! I'm bored…!"

Harry rolled his eyes before looking at his cousin, his mental voice like a whip in his cousin's mind, 'Dudley, stop that,'

Dudley turned away and grumbled to himself, "You're no fun,"

They were in the staff's common room where informal meeting of staff usually takes place. Petunia has been working as the assistant for the Muggle Study professors for three months now and the pay was good enough for her. But for the two four year olds, it was torture waiting for her but Harry has been advised by the Queen of Hearts to study for she will expect the best from her boy.

At least it was better than being babied by the Card Guards…he'll torture his brain with studying anytime of the day compared to being forced to play blocks with the Queensland's 'best'…

But Dudley's complain weren't helping. Nope, not in the least!

Finally, fed up with Dudley's whining and needling, Harry put down his book and took his cousin out to visit Hagrid. Usually, staffs with children aren't allowed to bring their kids to work but Petunia was a special case for several reasons and thus excused and even encouraged to bring them over. Usually the elves would keep them busy but Halloween was tonight and so none of them have the time to watch over the children.

Dudley chased after a dragonfly and jumped into a pile of dried leaves, earning a glare from Argus Filch the janitor. Harry sighed voicelessly. They had tried to heal his throat but it was painful for the boy and extremely slow going. Worse he can't take the potion on a regular basis or it might cause an allergic reaction. The scar has been there for so long there was little hope of gaining his voice back, especially when considering that Harry survived such a terrible abuse to his throat via his own magic that helped heal him due to instinct. It certainly caused reversing the effect harder.

Harry looked around and saw the White Rabbit waving at the corner of his eyes. He turned to look and saw the Wonderland resident leaping away from him, heading for the direction of the forest path heading toward Hogsmeade. Knowing that he was needed though he doesn't know the reason why, he moved out the well-trodden path leading to Hagrid's Hut and chased after the White Rabbit.

Dudley banged on Hagrid's door, listening as Fangs barked excitedly behind the door. The Keeper opened the door with gruff, "Yeah?" He looked down and beamed at Dudley before frowning, "What are you doing here alone, Dudley? Shouldn't be coming here without supervision,"

Dudley shrugged, "I'm bored. Besides, I'm not alone. I got Harry with me…" He trailed off when he realised that Harry wasn't anywhere near him. Hagrid's eyes narrowed with worry before taking out his crossbow, "Come on, let's look for him," He direly hopes that Harry didn't go into the Forest.

Meanwhile, Harry was busy following the White Rabbit who suddenly disappeared on him. Frowning, he warily stepped forward and looked around when he spotted the Cheshire Cat hovering near a bundle of colouring things that was emitting smokes. The one that wore what he supposed was expensive attire shifted and something emerged from under it. Harry tilted his head, curious.

Cheshire looked at him, winked and disappeared. Harry looked on as something small came out and started to croak, "Father?" He then clawed at the mess of smoking burnt flesh over his face and started to sob, "Father? Father, help! I can't see! I can't SEE!" He started clawing at his face before bawling in pain.

The larger thing, which Harry supposed was his father, started to twitch and at that very moment, Harry grabbed the boy and dragged him away in time just as the mangled body burst into flames. The boy thrashed and tried to get out and away from the quiet boy, "Let me go! Who are you?! Let me go! Just wait, my father will get you and you'll wish that you have never been born! Don't you know who I am?!"

Hagrid and Dudley arrived at that very moment and Dudley gagged, "What is that thing?! It's burning and smells bad!"

Hagrid's eyes widened at the sight of a badly burned boy trashing against Harry despite the obvious pain. He rushed forward and sent Dudley off to get someone from the school to come over as he tried to quench the flames but then realised that nothing can undo it since it was a curse. He sighed and watched as Harry tried to, awkwardly at that, comfort the hysterical boy who kept screaming for his parents to save him. He shook his head, knowing that the boy had just become an orphan regardless who he was.

Albus and Minerva came with Poppy upon the scene and gagged at the smell of burning flesh. Poppy immediately send the hysterical boy to an enchanted sleep and the three took the boy and levitated the burning corpse to the school, after Albus cast a counter spell to the curse. It was then he noticed the book held by the corpse, untouched by a curse flame.

Chill crept down his spine for only two things could stop such a dark curse from effecting an item held by the victim; one was that it was a powerful arcane object with extremely powerful defensive charm on it, and two was the item was an extremely dark arcane object. Considering that the book doesn't look anything significant, he could only cast powerful protection spell on the item to avoid others touching it even by accident.

Poppy worked hard to help the mystery boy's condition; third to first degree burns all over his arms, torso, neck and most of his back. His eyes was beyond help though and she despaired at the idea of a child losing their sight and that there was hardly any effective method to return sight to those blind, especially one caused by a curse. After all, there were reasons why even wizards use spectacles to see. She could only help to reduce the scarring on his face and the area around his eyes.

Albus spend the evening 'talking' to Harry regarding how he found the boy and what was apparently his father at the closest Apparition point near Hogwarts' barrier. Harry showed him the image of the White Rabbit and Cheshire near the boy and how he pulled him away from his dead father just in time to save him from being burned alive but other than that, he doesn't know why his Wonderland 'friends' called him over to the site where he found them.

That evening, Albus decided to keep the Halloween feast going but didn't remain at the hall for too long before taking leave to the Hospital Wing. Dudley shared a look with Petunia and she shook her head, telling him quietly to stay and not to worry. Harry has never like coming to meals at the hall when the students returned, preferring to either eat at the kitchen or one of the staff's office when they were in.

Albus looked at a slumped Severus who stared at the burnt corpse on the bed, covered with a white blanket. He cleared his throat and asks, "Have you determined the identity?"

Severus nodded dumbly, "Its Lucius…Lucius Malfoy…"

Albus frowned before power walked toward Poppy's office to use her fireplace to call on the necessary people for more information. After a while, he returned to Severus' side, "The Aurors just received call. The Malfoy Manor has been attacked this morning and whomever lead the attack had prevented the manor's defensive barrier from reacting and somehow managed to delay the Aurors from receiving the alarm that was set to reach them the moment the manor was attacked," He sighed, "There were no survivor and everything was destroyed. They can't even find Lady Malfoy's body. The place has been literally razed to the ground,"

Severus rubbed his face, "The boy…he must be Draco, Lucius' son,"

Albus nodded, "I supposed so since he did screamed for his parents before Poppy sent him to sleep," He looked at the younger professor with sympathy, "Lucius did sign you up as his godfather,"

Severus shook his head, "He stopped contacting me after you stood up for me. Last we met, he called me a traitor and unworthy to be Draco's godfather,"

Albus sighed, "Well, we could only hope that the one meant to take care of young Mr Malfoy wouldn't be the one that cause such a tragedy,"