DISCLAIMER! I OWN NOTHING! DISCLAIMER!
Harry was seated at the wooden table, in the small room, where he was being held. He lounged back in his chair whilst drumming his fingers against the table rhythmically. Two Auror's stood unmoving against the wall in front of him, their eyes unwavering in their scrutiny of the boy.
They hadn't said a word to him since they were ordered to stand guard, despite Harry's attempts at conversation.
'Come on, your name has to be Millicent,' Harry addressed the taller of the two Auror's, he was a sturdy looking fellow, big beefy arms and a rather small head. 'No? Melinda? Molly? Mary? Maggie? I know its starts with an M' Harry said vehemently, smirking as he saw the Auror's partner swallow a smile.
They lapsed into silence again when Harry saw the beefy guy inching towards his wand. Someone didn't have a sense of humor. It wasn't too long after that when an even louder raucous then before, could be heard from outside of Harry's holding room.
The heavy door swung open with a loud thud, in stepped three men. The first was a portly little man with an odd dress sense, Harry recognized him as the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. The second, a stern looking man with a perpetual scowl, and finally an old thin man, with silver hair and a long beard tucked into his belt. They didn't make the most terrifying disciplinarians, but they still managed to make Harry sit up straighter.
'Its him' Minister Fudge smiled excitedly, watching him with a child's expression.
'Can you be sure?' The second man asked, 'Dumbledore?'
Harry watched the old man warily, the half moon spectacles he seemed to hide behind made him look kindly. But Harry wouldn't be fooled, he could sense an aura of power rolling off of him like a burning heat, it was obvious despite the man's serene demeanor.
'Harry Potter' Dumbledore said in a rather pleasant voice. 'We meet again'.
'Funny, I don't remember you' Harry said with a lot more confidence then he actually felt. He watched as the old mans eyes flashed dangerously before returning to there normal twinkle.
'You look terribly like your Father, Harry' Dumbledore continued. 'Except your eyes, you have your mother's eyes'
Harry felt a cold fury envelope him at the mention of the parents he never knew. How dare this stranger mention them, how dare he try and gain his trust with their memory!
'Yes, I knew your parents. They'd be very upset with you-'
'-So?' Harry interrupted, raising an eyebrow in defiance.
'So, you running away from your family would have upset them' Dumbledore remarked kindly, as if speaking down to a toddler.
'I didn't runaway from anyone. I've never had a family' he sneered the last word with so much venom, he was surprised he hadn't hissed it. Minister Fudge actually jumped back with shock, whilst the stern man simply looked smug. Harry tried to reel in his anger, swallowing it down. 'I'm not this Potter'
'Yes you are.' The stern man spoke for the first time. 'I'm Head Auror Robarbs, I worked with your father' Unlike Dumbledore, Robarbs simply stated fact, nothing else. 'You're a bright kid, I'm going to show you some pictures, if you think there's no resemblance you can go' Harry noticed the sharp looks the head Auror received from both Dumbledore and Fudge, but Harry nodded anyway.
'What's the catch?' Harry asked with hesitating.
'If you see a resemblance, we get to clarify who you are with a Healer. Then we'll continue from there, agreed?' Auror Robarbs didn't seem like someone to make deals often, but Harry didn't want to come across as helpless.
'I have a few demands before we begin. You don't agree to them, and I'll make this very...hard' Harry sat back in his chair, keeping eye contact with the Auror. When Robarbs finally nodded, Harry internally let the knot growing in his stomach go.
'Number 1, nothing happens to me without being fully explained. Number 2, Nothing happens to me unless I agree to it. Number 3, You explain who each of you are. Number 4, Millicent has to go get me a drink. Number 5, I have the right to make new demands whenever I want. Take it or leave it.' Harry rocked back in his chair jovially, if they thought he was Harry freaking Potter, he was going to milk it.
'Millicent?' Robarbs asked, slight amusement shown on his face. Harry simply nodded to the beefy man behind the Head Auror and smirked. 'You mean Maurice?'
Harry's face lit up ecstatically, 'What did I say? I said it started with an M', his full attention on the angry looking Auror behind Robarbs.
The head Auror nodded imperceptibly at Maurice ordering him to do as the boy said. Just as he was about to leave Harry added 'Butterbeer if you could, Millicent'. Maurice didn't even bother to turn around, but he slammed the door pretty hard.
Without waiting for anyone's approval Robarbs conjured a large file, lay it down on Harry's table, and flipped open the cover. He swept two pictures out onto the table, one of a young man and the other of a young woman. Robarbs pointed a long bony finger at the picture of the man 'This is James Harold Potter', he then pointed to the woman 'This is Lily Evans Potter, your Mother' he pointed back to the man 'Your Father'. Robarbs then stood back from the table, to allow Harry a better look.
Harry's eyes were immediately drawn to the similar facial structure of the man. Begrudgingly Harry agreed that they did look somewhat the same. They shared the same handsome face, the same wild hair (although the man's was less crazy then Harry's) and surprisingly the same cocky smile. Harry felt like it had been hours before he managed to tear his eyes away from the man in the picture.
He turned his focus to the woman, and what he saw made his heart stop. It was the eyes, above anything else it was the eyes, the exact copy of his own. Deep almond eyes, shining with the darkest emerald colour he had ever seen; other then his own. The woman was beautiful, she looked kind, if that were even possible. Harry could see it in the gentleness of her smile and the delicate slope of her nose. She had lush thick waves of auburn hair that perfectly framed her face. Harry thought she looked like an angel.
'So?' Robarbs said, breaking the spell. Harry looked up at the man, silently startled from his deep musings. He could see Fudge and Dumbledore with similar expressions of self satisfied smugness. It made Harry's skin crawl. Only Robarbs seemed to have his features schooled to a complacent understanding of Harry's situation.
'The look like me' Harry conceded, trying to swallow the insults he was ready to hurl at the too idiots beside the Auror.
'Okay, I'm going to call in a Healer. She is going to prick your finger and test your blood. She's going to put it in a potion, if it turns gold your Harry Potter, if it remains purple we made a mistake. Understand?' Robarbs precise explanation was followed by a knock at the holding room's door.
A second later a woman in all white stepped into the room, she was carrying a potion in one hand and a needle in the other. Harry sat up straighter in the presence of the healer, he even moved the pictures aside to make room for her things on the table.
The Healer woman had her hair tied back into a tight bun, she looked like she was in her late 40's. As she approached Harry she tried giving him a reassuring smile, which only seemed to highlight his nerves more. What if he was this Potter person? What would that mean? What would happen to him? If he wasn't Potter would they let him go? Harry knew too much, didn't he?
The Healer placed the beaker of potion on the table in front of Harry, it frothed violet bubbles every so often and made a gloopy noise as well. Harry turned to face the Healer who was crouched down next to him. He placed his dirty finger in her clean outstretched hand, and refused the instinct to pull away at the sight of the object piercing his skin. 'Worst bits over' she whispered.
The Healer kept a firm hold of Harry's finger and held it steadily over the purple potion. Three drops of blood fell with quiet drips into the violet mass, hissing each time they met. Almost immediately the potion began to change, first from Purple to a bright white, then silver and finally to a brilliant gold. Holy crap, Harry felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders at the sight of the glorious golden color emanating from the beaker. He was Harry Potter.
'Congratulations Harry, you're a Potter' the Healer smiled at him. He fell back into his chair, he didn't notice when the woman left, or when Fudge started giving orders for a small celebration. All Harry could see was the smiling faces of the two pictures on the table. His parents. He had parents. They were dead. The thought felt like someone had punched him in the gut, like someone had stolen all the air from his lungs. He had parents, but he didn't. They were dead.
What brought him back to reality was the sharp noise of glass landing on wood. There was a butterbeer sitting on the table,'Thanks Millicent', Harry murmured and reached for the glass, taking a large swig. 'What now?' he asked.
'Now you must return to your Aunt and Uncle's until you start school in September.' Dumbledore answered him, looking all the part of the grandfatherly protector.
'What? You find out I'm Harry Potter and then ship me off to people I've never met?' Harry asked sharply, blanching at the absurd idea.
'They are your family Harry, they can protect-'
'-You said I was with them before? Why have I spent all my life in orphanages or on the streets if they wanted me so badly?' Harry fumed, he liked his life, he liked his freedom. This Dumbledore would not take that away from him.
'They must have lost you'
'And then made no effort to find me' Harry concluded. 'Why have I been lost for so long? I'm the boy-who-lived shouldn't I be pretty well looked after?'
'That is my fault, I assumed you were being taken care of, I went to check on you when you were 6 but you were not at the residence' Dumbledore said gravely, bowing his head as if in shame.
'And yet you still want to send me back?'
'They can offer would protection others can't' Dumbledore tried to explain. 'When your parents died for you, it gave you a rare kind of protection from the evil in our world. It can only be renewed when with your family.'
Harry snorted and the old mans explanation, 'I've done pretty well without it'.
'Honestly Dumbledore if he doesn't want to go, we won't force him' Minister Fudge smiled happily, 'There will be plenty people willing to take the boy in. Taking charge of Harry Potter would be a great honor'
'He must go to his Aunt and Uncle's', Dumbledore said firmly, glowering at Minister Fudge.
'No he must not' Harry all but shouted.
'You're nearly eleven Harry, something must be done' Robarbs interceded.
'When?' Harry asked hesitantly.
'When what?' the Auror asked confused.
'When do I turn eleven?' Harry felt very embarrassed by the question, his whole life he had never known his own birthday. Robarbs looked at the boy with a new found light, James and Lily would be rolling in their graves. How could Dumbledore have overlooked the care of this boy so much? Waiting six years to check on him.
'Your birthday is July 31st 1980, you were born in St Mungo's maternity wing at 10:15am'
'What else?' The words tumbled out of Harry's mouth before he could properly filter them.
Robarbs was surprised by the question, 'Um, your vault in Gringotts will know more, I'll take you there when the Minister is finished with you', the offer of kindness was not missed with Harry, he was starting to warm to the Auror.
'Yes, yes, you must be taken to the Goblins! You have so much to learn..." The minister began to babble. Harry slowly tuned him out. He had parents. He had a birthday. He had a vault at fricking Gringotts! Suddenly, being Harry Potter didn't seem so bad after all.