Chapter 5
The pause in the kitchen ended as Harry pocketed his wand and grabbed the paper.
Late afternoon Sunday, the Aurors were called onto the scene of twelve locations where twelve bodies were discovered. All twelve of the bodies were of wizards and witches that disappeared June thirtieth. Thirteen people disappeared that day begging the question: where is Harry Potter?
"There was so much going on that day it's possible we just missed him." Says Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror office. "Or it's possible that he's alive out there somewhere. We just don't know at this time."
Scrimgeour believes that if he's alive, Harry may hold the information necessary for solving—
Harry's hand shook as he folded the paper back up and set it on the counter. Lily, Alice and Neville were all staring at him. He met each of their eyes before going out the kitchen door and closing it behind him. It was a lot warmer outside and yet suddenly it was easier to breath. There was something easier about being outside in the summer. It might have had something to do with the lack of relatives outside the house. With several strong breaths of warm air, Harry found a good spot of sun to lie in.
He should have known it was coming. The sole survivor of thirteen people that had disappeared, of course there was going to be a lot of attention on him. Obscurity was never available to him. There was too much going on for him to stand back and pretend he wasn't a part of it. Whenever there was trouble it was guaranteed that Harry Potter would be in the middle of it.
"Perhaps it is best to leave him outside for now," said Dumbledore staring at the strewn out teen. His black hair splayed through the fingers carding his hair.
Minutes after Harry had ran from the kitchen, Dumbledore came through the floo. It had been convenient for him to have Lily right there in the kitchen when he came through. Especially given that she herself had just finished reading the article.
"You weren't here when he came through that door." Lily replied taking a seat at the table. Folding her hands on the wood she paused and turned her head toward the door. "He was ready to defend Alice, wand drawn in an offensive position. I've never seen anyone enter a house like that before."
Alice nodded: her brown hair shaking with the movement.
"It would not be wise to keep him hidden much longer." The oldest member of the room decided turning slowly to meet the eye of all the other occupants. The boy turned away keeping his eyes toward the floor. "It would be best to have James take him in."
"Take him in?" Neville asked as the adults talked over him. "You make it sound like we're turning him into the authorities."
"James!" Remus yelled apparating into the middle of the kitchen clutching the paper. "He might still be alive! James!"
Still wearing his apron from work Remus paused, lowering the compressed paper.
"Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore acknowledged with a nod of his head before turning back to Lily. "I believe that now is a good time to inform all those you wish to know of your particular situation."
"Of course," said Lily.
"Situation?" Remus asked glancing around the room and receiving no response.
"May I use your fireplace? I need to track down your husband," The headmaster spoke directly to Lily. She nodded as he stepped to the fireplace, waved farewell and used the floo to return to his office.
"Can I ask what is going on?" Remus asked quietly once Dumbledore had vanished.
"Thursday afternoon," Lily paused. "Peter is probably working; Sirius is almost assuredly working with all that's going on. As a journalist, Celine could be almost anywhere. I suppose it would make most sense to send out an owl to everyone asking them to meet here around six. Six is good right?"
"That gives everyone a couple hours to finish up work and go home before coming over. Six is good, though they may not have time to eat." Remus added setting a reassuring hand on Lily's shoulder. Her whole body was so tense and he could feel her almost tremble at the prospect of getting this together.
"I'll get some food together for those who haven't eaten," said Alice. "Neville, run back and get Beaver and Kolton so Moxy doesn't have to carry all the letters herself."
"I guess I'll start writing then," Lily said with several pauses and started walking toward the stairs.
"Now don't assume the simplest explanation, because you'll never guess what has actually happened." Alice stated very clearly to Remus. When he resumed the confused expression he'd had earlier she turned him toward the window and pointed out it.
"Harry!"
"Don't assume." Alice rebuked him and received an even more puzzled expression in return.
James looked right past the paper as he slipped it under the rim of his plate. He stretched out and glanced down at his two-day old robes. It was tempting to go home and grab a change but he honestly wasn't interested in running into the other boy again. James had stopped by the Leaky Cauldron four times and almost rented out a room till the 30th. His sandwich sat forgotten on the cream ceramic with only three bites taken out of it and yet he still waved over the witch for the bill, paid and headed out onto the cobblestones.
Diagon Alley was abuzz with the news of the deaths and his son's life but no one stopped him. They chattered with bowed heads, whispers dulled through newsprint and moving pictures. A graying witch with a round face waved her copy of the Prophet across to two similarly aged women and yelled in his ear as James passed. He ducked his head down lower and continued.
"Did you hear about Potter," asked a tall boy carrying new school robes with the Hufflepuff crest.
"Just because they haven't found him doesn't mean he's still alive," replied his companion, a blond with a large stack of books.
"I'd rather not think about his corpse rotting some place, thanks," the tall boy wrinkled his nose and steered them toward Florean Fortescue's.
The image of Harry's body lying on the floor of Willy's shop shot back through James' mind. The pallor of his skin stark contrast against the red of Sirius's Auror robe and the limp lay of his eyelids so still without the slight quiver of sleep. James swallowed and rubbed his eye while casting a simple spell for the time. It was still a half an hour before he was to meet the necromancer again.
James took a right turn in front of a young couple into Gringotts. He had yet to tell Lily that he was going to withdraw 500 galleons from their account and he was sure she would understand. This was for their son. This was to figure out who killed him. James just wasn't sure this was a good time to bring up the whole subject again. Lily was going to arrange the funeral and he was going to kill the man that killed his son.
The granite tile was crisp and solid under his feet, a welcome change from the uneven patches of cobblestone. The chatter of the latest gossip had followed him though and came from the left pushing him off balance again as he tried to stay focused on the counter ahead.
"I heard that Potter was the only non-halfblood of the lot. That's why he's still alive," asserted a chuddy wizard in silk robes usually preferred in the east.
"Where did you hear that? Rubbish. I heard they all were taken because they all had publicly denounced Fudge. He has a special squad in the department of mysteries just for those that cause public unrest." Replied the squint eyed woman to the wizard's left. "This Potter boy only got away because his father is an Auror."
"No. No." The short witch with a squat hat on his other side insisted. "I knew Paul Jens: a good man. He never once spoke out against Fudge. Anyway, one of them taken was an Auror herself. My Nicolas was in Ravenclaw with the girl."
"What better way than to get rid of one of your own to through off the public's suspicion from the Ministry," insisted the first witch.
It was a good distance to the front counter but it seemed like James could hear every conversation in the main entry of the bank. He did his best to stay focused on the task but it seemed that perhaps there was really was someone in the crowd who might know something he didn't; missing that little tidbit could be the difference in solving the case. It all sounded like so much gossip, nothing more than falsehoods made up to entertain and increase one's own importance among the social circle.
"Key," hissed the goblin once James made it to the front. James handed the small golden key over and followed the goblin over to a waiting cart. It wasn't a long ride down to the vault and James had made it enough times he hardly noticed the trip. It seemed very unlikely this whole situation was a Ministry conspiracy of some sort. Fudge was a Politian not a particularly creative conspiracist. It was possible the disappearances and deaths could kill his career. England had been at peace since Gindelwald, and barring the odd crime of passion or regular criminal activity nothing this big ever happened. It was possible that people would look to another Minister come the next election because Fudge has let something like this happen on his watch. It was hardly the man's fault but the public would lay blame where they would.
The Potter vault wasn't particularly extravagant but they lived comfortably and they did have 500 galleons to spare. James picked up what he needed and a little extra to keep on hand. It was hard to know when you might need a few gold pieces to exchange for some imperative piece of information.
His purse refilled, James walked back out to the street ready to meet Willy. The necromancer's shop was in a small village close to the border with Scotland and required a floo trip and a quick apparition to get there. A mixed village, the population had both a strong wizard and muggle population. While the muggles generally didn't notice the wizarding particularities they did know their neighbors pretty well. It was a quiet place with expansive green fields and a simple bustle to it that suited William Bord and his discreet clientele. The street with the antiques shop was lined with maples trees and the large leaves had already started to fall, evident by the bright oranges crunching under the wizard's boots.
A soft magical chime went off as James entered the shop causing Willy to look up from the counter where he was displaying an amulet for a customer. James scowled at him for the wait when they had a prearranged meeting. The sale went quickly enough with the green clad wizard carefully avoiding eye contact with the Auror on his way out.
"Flip the "Open" sign," Willy instructed as he opened up the counter and motioned that James should follow him into the back room.
The curtain separating the shop from the rest of the property had been charmed to keep smells from drifting into the front end. A mortar filled with anise lay on a workbench to the left with pestle still sitting in the herb as its smell drifte heavily into the air. Harry lay on a cleared table in the center of the room, bare except the chain of chamomile draped on his abdomen. His hair had been patted down with comfrey oil and slicked back from his face as a sign of respect to his loved ones. James rested a hand lightly on his son's cheek and handed Willy the purse with his other slowly.
Willy nodded and stepped back allowing the father a moment to mourn. He may perform necropsies illegally but he wasn't such a criminal that he would dare disrespect the bodies of the dead. He knew which rituals had to be upheld to work with the dead's magic instead of against it. He carefully lit up his pipe while he waited and it was several calming inhales before James looked up at him expectantly.
"Magical exhaustion," he explained taking the pipe into his left hand so he could run his wand over the boy.
"And?" The younger man asked his face setting from the softening it had worn a moment before.
"That's it."
"I don't understand." James replied his brow darkening. Bord may have performed rites James hadn't expected him to but he'd paid him for results.
"Other than magical exhaustion, there's nothing wrong with the boy." He motioned to the colors appearing above the boy as his wand traveled from nose to knees. "He should be perfectly healthy. Everything is in the right place and would be in working order except his magic. He simply doesn't have any."
"Even the dead have some magic lingering until we lay them to rest." James said shaking his head.
"Not him," Willy canceled the spell and carefully blew into his pipe slowly to keep it lit. "Would have thought I was dealing with a muggle if I hadn't known better. Not even the lingering wisp of magic in his hand from a spell cast close to death."
The two men stood opposite each over the body, Willy with a casual hunch and James standing with his arms folded just looking down at his son.
"There's nothing else wrong with him. No residual curses or hexes, not even any indicators saying that magic was used to drain him. Certainly no physical injuries or illnesses and no magic was used to cure any pre or post-death. Nothing else could have killed him."
"Potions?"
"Just water," Willy shrugged acknowledging it was the one thing left out of his list. "There was a lot of water in his stomach but the only thing that may mean is that the boy was thirsty before he died."
"You can't die from magical exhaustion though." The Auror insisted unfolding his arms to place his hands on the chilled table; a shiver followed traveling up into his shoulders. "I've personally magically exhausted myself enough to know. Almost every wizard or witch does it once or twice in their life."
"I've told you everything the necropsy told me." Willy insisted meeting James' hazel eyes directly. James then held eye contact a moment longer than Willy found comfortable forcing him to break it first.
"I need a discreet place to keep the body until the funeral." James inferred pulling out several extra galleons.
Neville sat cross-legged on the floor with his back to the wall. He had had a seat on the couch but his mother had insisted he relinquish it when Celina and Peter had arrived. Everyone but Sirius and his own father had arrived. As Aurors they were always the last ones to show up everywhere. Harry's grandparents were seated on the loveseat engaging Victoria Stuit in light talk. The conversation was soft and condoling, careful of the fragile state the mourning sister was in. There was a slight resentful tilt to Victoria's language that the eldest Potter took with the occasional rebuking tone and his wife tactfully ignored.
Remus Lupin and the Pettigrews sat on a tan couch discussing the mental state of the Harry's parents with Remus glancing now and again toward Neville trying not to give up what he'd seen earlier in the afternoon. Neville had considered explaining the situation to him but his mother had kept him busy running errands and preparing small sandwiches and making sure the dishes were clean. It seemed that Remus wasn't going to gossip about the possibilities even with his closest friends not knowing the whole situation.
Neville's mum had taken to playing host with Lily. As if making sure everyone had a full glass gave Lily a little extra time to figure out how she was going to explain the situation.
Neville hadn't seen or spoken to the Other Harry himself since the newspaper incident. The other boy spent the afternoon outside and ate only when Alice had taken food out to him. Just before the group had started to arrive, he'd sneaked up to Harry's room without anyone really having a moment to notice him and he had been up there since. Even the conversation in the living room and Alice causing a commotion about the quality of the wine hadn't brought him downstairs.
A smile came to Neville as his father's voice sounded down the hallway from the kitchen. As both of his parents were Aurors, even when he was home for the holidays he didn't see them very much. If his mother hadn't warned the office she was going to take the day off several weeks leading up to it to spend some time with Neville, she would have been busy away at work with the current tragedy.
Frank and Sirius walked into the room a moment later chuckling grimly with a hard set to their faces and a determined cheery lit to their speech. Decked out in crimson having flooed in straight from the ministry, Alice appeared to take their outer robes from them to hang in the hall closet.
"Well that's everyone," Lily remarked with an airy chuckle as Alice sat down on the floor next to her son. Frank leaned against the wall on Neville's other side but remained standing. Sirius took a seat on Remus's armrest causing the other man to scowl slightly and move his arm quickly.
"I have a copy of the afternoon edition of the prophet for anyone who hasn't read it." Lily started holding up the paper with a slight tremor to the pages.
"We've all read it," James' mother said softly with a kind smile glancing around. The rest of the room nodded encouraging Lily to continue except Healer Stuit who focused firmly on the rug in front of her and Sirius who seemed to be watching everyone but Lily.
Harry's mother paused gauging her next words before drawing her robes a little closer to her torso. Her breath shuddered a bit before she spoke.
"Harry is dead."
Reactions ranged from turned eyes to full weeping. Victoria whipped her eyes upwards from the rug for the first time Lily was in the room to glare at the ginger haired woman. Neville brought his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them. His mother slipped an arm behind his back to hold him slightly and he could feel his father's eyes glancing down at him.
"Lily!" Celine jumped up and hold the slightly taller woman whose breath had become very ragged.
"Where's James?" The Potter patriarch insisted as his wife sobbed lightly into his shoulder.
"He's—" Lily stopped and found her strength again to motion Celine back to her seat. "We've agreed that I will handle the funeral arrangements while he—"
"He's investigating how Harry died." Alice finished.
"But I?" Victoria asserted standing with her eyes darting and angry, but her eyebrows arched high instead of drawn.
"Vicky," Lily pleaded. "I'll explain everything, please."
"He's dead."
Lily nodded.
"I'm so sorry Ryan is dead. I know how much it hurts, please."
"If he's dead why doesn't the department know about it?" Frank asked cutting through Victoria's moment.
"Dumbledore asked James and me to keep his death quiet, only to tell those closest to us." Lily explained slowly turning to everyone in the room.
"Why?' echoed through several voices.
"Neville will you go up to Harry's room for me," Lily asked ignoring the puzzled faces. Neville nodded understanding exactly what she wanted him to do.
"Neville can hear this," Frank broke in his brow arched downward.
"Oh he already knows." Alice explained patting her husband's leg as Neville stood up and headed toward the kitchen.
Neville found that he was slow getting through the kitchen, up the stairs and even as his hand rested on the door handle he didn't turn it. There had been no reason to speak to this Harry after the Daily Prophet incident and the awkwardness of it all certainly hadn't passed since then. This wasn't the Harry everyone downstairs had loved and the wisdom of shoving him into the middle of them was lost to Neville. It was a quiet rap when Neville did knock, one that may have gone unnoticed. To the chagrin of the boy on this side of the door, from the other side came the response, "Come in."
"Uh, I suppose there are some people downstairs to meet you," Neville explained pushing door open to find Harry sprawled out on the rug in the center of the room.
The other Harry had Intermediate Defense for the Weary and Wise in front of him, their fifth year Defense Against Dark Arts text, and he slipped a piece of parchment into his place as a bookmark before climbing to his feet.
"Time to disappoint everyone?" Harry asked flattening his hair.
Neville nodded his breathing more relaxed. It seemed that Harry understood the situation and Neville found that they had nothing to say as they walked back downstairs. The members of the living room were discussing the relative merits of different wood to use as a pyre by the time Neville made it back into the hallway but Harry stood in the middle of the red-brown ceramic-tiled floor of the kitchen.
"Who's all in there?" Harry asked.
"Everyone," Neville replied crossing his arms.
"Neville, we're all getting really impatient to hear what's going on. Lily is awful at stalling. Hurry up and bring in whatever you were sent to fetch." His father yelled over brief lull in the living room conversation. There were a few awkward chuckles in response but Harry froze completely.
"Who's that?" Harry breathed.
"My dad," Neville hastily said. "Come on."
The walk down the hallway was blocked to most of the people in the living room. Frank and Victoria were the first to see the dark haired teen following Neville and the way Frank straightened up or the way Victoria slammed her cup of tea down onto the table seemed to catch everyone else's attention. Once they were fully in view of everyone Harry kept a clear path to the hallway but Neville returned to his previous place between his parents.
Sirius was up on his feet and almost to the teen when Remus had grabbed his arm and with a werewolves strength easily held back the Auror. Celine and Peter exchanged confused glances from where they sat on the couch together their hands loosening from the earlier frantic grip.
"Is this some kind of practical joke!" The Potter patriarch hissed standing up to cross the living room to narrow his eyes on his grandson. "Is James laughing in a back room somewhere?"
"Harold," his wife spoke with a slow, fluid voice but the patriarch wasn't slowed.
"Some kind of trick this is—"
"Is James the kind of man to joke about his son's death?" Harry asked cringing and taking a step back.
Harold paused in his step, straightened his stance, gave the boy a quick look down with a raised chin and said "This is not my grandson." The proclamation stilled the rest of the room uneasily. Though not of a great height, the old man still towered over the slight boy in front of him.
"If you did not have Lily's eyes, I would accuse my son of having a bastard child. In lieu of that, I suppose you can provide an explanation for yourself."
"Dumbledore says I'm from an alternate world."
"Albus says you're from an alternate world?" The older man parroted with a turn to his voice.
"In fact I do." The headmaster said strolling into the living room, his brilliant robes leading past him when he stopped. James stood at his left shoulder only acknowledging Lily with a nod.
"When he was found at Lily's sister's, he believed without a doubt that his parents were both dead. Yet we all know that Lily and James are both very much alive." Dumbledore explained resting his hands on Harry's shoulders.
"A fact like that doesn't immediately jump to alternate world. Any number of spell and potion combinations could have resulted in this confused young man." Harold Potter retorted meeting Dumbledore's eyes in a challenge.
"No, I did not jump to alternate world," Dumbledore explained to the room with his bright eyes moving past Harold's. "Until we found this Harry of this world's body."
"That's right." Sirius cut in a grim look on his features. "I was the one that found him. That same day we found all the others."
Harry's eyes snapped over to the over-world godfather. The shadow over his face suddenly made him look much less young and closer to the man he knew than the wizard that had attempted to hug him a moment before.
"I must ask of you all the heavy task of keeping your Harry's death to yourself." Dumbledore stated taking a serious tone for the first time since he had arrived. "I believe it is for the best for this Harry to take on his identity."
"Now Albus!"
"Harold," the Potter matriarch held out her hand as she spoke and her husband returned to her side and gripped her bony hand lightly.
"I'm afraid James and I must borrow the boy from you all now. He has an appointment at the Ministry tomorrow and we need to speak before he gets a good night's rest." Dumbledore gave a small wave as he spoke and then began to lead Harry out of the room. "Goodnight"
Lily seemed intent on feeding him, making sure the robes fit well enough and seeing that his hair stayed flat all at once. Harry almost called her Mrs. Weasley twice for all the fuss she was causing over him that morning. It was a relief when James walked down the stairs in the crimson of his Auror robes. The teenager put down his fork when his father walked into the room and gave his wife the briefest kiss. Harry's thoughts flickered between wonder at if that's how he would look in Auror robes and the shaded look in Lily's eyes.
"Time to go." James insisted giving Harry's eggs an impatient look. A moment later he grabbed a handful from the pot on the mantle and disappeared in a flash of green flames.
"Good luck." Lily smiled and held out the pot to Harry.
A blinding green flash and a lung full of ash later, he stumbled out of one of the many ministry fire places.
"Can't even floo properly," James muttered with a sigh and pulled out his wand to clean Harry's robes. A flick of his wrist and the ash was gone from Harry's robe. As quick as that it seemed, James had a big goofy grin on his face and had slung an arm over Harry's shoulder. Occasionally he'd glance around to see who was watching them but for the most part he just looked concerned but happy. Harry was always very close to James's side and tried his hardest not to look too uncomfortable.
Most of the wizards and witches streaming into the ministry that morning had not forgotten the front page of the Prophet the day before and continually tried to discreetly get a look at him. A short wizard tripped on the long fur lined robes of a tall, dark haired witch trying to get into Harry's elevator causing a repercussionary hex and a dark look from the witch. James chuckled at the scene but kept a hand on Harry's shoulder.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement was on the second floor so they were off the elevator soon enough. A few heads peeked out of cubicles or glanced up from hallway meeting to greet James or glance in Harry's direction. Despite his recent launch into the most popular gossip circles of the wizarding world, many more people stopped to ask after James, Lily or Harry and James kept the conversations brief as if this were a normal walk to work.
"Quite the walk," Harry said conversationally after they'd been walking for a while.
James broke his congenial manner to glare down at the boy for a moment before looking up again to smile and ask after someone's wife and new child. It was another several moments before they came to a large, frosted-glass door proclaiming "Auror Office."
Through the door was a very different atmosphere than area they'd just left. Instead of cubicles the room was open with large wooden desks of a dark, rich stain. The dark of the desks was offset by the crimson of the robes worn those sitting at them scribbling out reports and going through thick files. The room was big enough to accommodate at least 100 Aurors and still there were doors of a lighter wood with silver names etched into them. Sirius sat at a desk fairly far from the door but still managed to cause quite the commotion when James and Harry entered.
Moments later they were surrounded by crimson fabric and James became more elaborate under the crowd. He effortlessly diverted all questions to himself keeping an arm around Harry's shoulder occasionally ruffling his hair. He was halfway through the dramatic telling of finding his half-alive son at his wife's sister's home when the closest door opened.
"Potter," A tawny haired man called over the lengthy, and less than flattering description of Vernon Dursley. His voice caused a quick dispersal of all of the Aurors though Sirius exchanged a shaded look with James before heading back over to his desk. The man himself was tall with a slight unevenness to his stance and wore spectacles over yellowish eyes.
"A word if you have a moment." He said before stepping back into his office.
"Showtime," James breathed out of the side of his mouth.
"Rufus Scrimgeour" was engraved with a silvery ink on the door. Inside the office the slightly graying man sat behind a more elaborate version of the desks in the main room. Several wooden lidless boxes held stacks of yellowed parchment and lined the front of the desk. Harry and James were motioned into the two chairs opposite the office's owner.
"Potter, I see no reason why we can't keep this as an informal report." Scrimgeour's mouth formed as thin smile as he turned to Harry.
"Well, Sir," James began, resting both arms on the armrests so that his hands hung off the ends. "Lily's sister, Petunia, heard a frantic knock—"
"I'm sure you can include all of that in an actual report." The older man said slowly turning his head from Harry over to James and back.
There was something to the way the Auror stared at Harry that made him feel like Scrimgeour already knew Harry was keeping secrets from him. He kept looking over his wire-rim spectacles and giving Harry that thin smile with slightly narrowed eyes.
"I believe we're all familiar with the events leading up to Harry's disappearance. So let's start there: Harry, what happened after you left your father in King's Cross that day."