Chapter 2:
Just a quick A/N before I start: wow. Four reviews for my first chapter, two of which were in the first twenty minutes of posting it. You guys are great.
"The Boy Who Lived," Remus read.
"Who's that?" James and Sirius asked at the same time.
"Well, it's a book about my son, so I'd have to say it's Harry," James answered.
"It's too important to the plot to answer," Harry said immediately afterwards.
"It's Harry," everyone from the past thought at the same time.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of Number Four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal,
"And what would be strange?"
"James, I'd like to read, here."
"Sorry."
"No you're not."
thank you very much.
"And they even thank us!" James cried
"Quiet fool!" Sirius quickly snapped.
They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.
"But nonsense is fun!" James and Sirius chorused.
Mr. Dursley was the director of a film called Grunnings,
"Boring name," Ron started.
which made drills.
"Boringer job," Harry finished.
He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.
"He kind of reminds me of Professor Slughorn," Lily mused.
"Except with more neck," Remus added.
"What are you talking about? Slughorn has no neck."
"EXACTLY!" the entire room chorused at Lily.
Mrs. Dursley as thin and blonde
"Kind of reminds me of my sister," Lily thought.
and had twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.
"Definitely my sister."
The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
"Oh, I bet there is."
"JAMES, SHUT UP EVEN THOUGH FOR ONCE WE AGREE WITH YOU!!!"
James pouted.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, bet they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.
"That's what secrets are for!" Sirius called out. Remus gave him a warning look before going back to the book.
They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.
"Potters are great!" James and Harry said together.
"Sure, whatever," Lily muttered with a roll of her eyes.
Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister,
"WHAT. THE. HELL." Lily thought. "No, no, there are other Potters in Britain, it must be one of them."
but they hadn't met in several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister,
"Why the hell would someone just cut their own sister out of their life?" Ginny thought aloud.
because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.
"UnDursleyish? Is that even a word?" Hermione asked. The others just shrugged.
The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.
"OHHH! DOITDOITDOITDOITDOIT!" Sirius chanted. James just shrugged noncommitedly.
The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him.
"Wow. I've got a kid, too," Lily thought at the same time that James said "Wow, I've got a nephew or son!"
"Congrats, Prongs!" Sirius cheered.
This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
"Why? Potters are awesome!" James cheered.
"Whatever," Lily said while rolling her eyes.
"Lilyflower, you look so cute when you roll your eyes," James told her.
"First, never call me that again. Second, NO, I WILL NOT GO OUT WITH YOU!!" she shrieked.
"Whatever you say, Lily."
When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull,
"I bet you're duller."
Remus put a silencing charm on Sirius, and for good measure, James. He then cleared his throat before continuing.
gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.
"I wonder what that was like," Harry and Ron mused. "At least you were still alive then," Ginny said with the red-hair-eye-roll.
Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,
"Told you he was boring!" Ron yelled.
and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.
"Brat!" Remus, Lily, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny hissed (James and Sirius still had the silencing charm on them). Harry rolled his eyes. "You should've seen him when he was older," he told them. Ron gasped. "Wasn't he the one who-" He was cut off as Harry put his hand over Ron's mouth.
"The one who what???" the rest of the room asked in a shout.
"WEEEE KNOOOOW, AAAAND YOOOUUU HAAAAAVE TOOOO WAAAAAIT!!!" Ron and Harry sang, while the other scowled.
None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.
At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek,
Everyone shuddered.
and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.
"Brat!" everyone in the room hissed (Remus had lifted the silencing charm).
"Little tyke,"
"What the hell? He's a brat!" Sirius exclaimed.
chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car
"Bet he had it specially made for him," Ron said.
and backed out of number four's drive.
It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar -
James and Sirius sat on the edges of their seats.
a cat reading a map.
"Bet it's Minnie," Sirius mused.
"Who?" everyone from the future asked.
"These two have a habit of calling Professor McGonagall "Minnie"," Remus explained.
For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen-then he jerked his head around to look again.
"Must've hurt," Ginny said with a wince.
There was a tabby cat on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.
"Of course not, she'd have put it away," James commented.
"How do you know it's Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked.
"I just do."
"So basically you're just guessing."
"Yep."
What could he have been thinking of?
"Lots of stuff."
"SIRIUS!!!" everyone screamed.
It must have been a trick of the light.
"The lengths muggles go to to ignore magic," Remus mused.
"Why can you talk and not us?" Sirius asked.
"First because you two are annoying, second, because I'm the one reading."
Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.
"STARING CONTEST!!!" Harry and Ron shouted at the same time, making everyone else jump.
As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cat couldn't read maps or signs.
"How do you know?"
Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake
"EARTHQUAKE!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" James and Sirius shouted at the tops of their lungs.
and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.
"This guy's life is so freaking BORING! Doesn't he do ANYTHING fun?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head.
But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.
The people from the past started to get a little worried at this.
Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the getups you saw on young people!
"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Lily.
He supposed that this was some stupid new fashion.
"It isn't new, we've been wearing cloaks for centuries!"
"James, don't you think that these people are witches and wizards themselves?"
"Yes I do, Moony, yes I do."
He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel
"There goes Ireland."
and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering quite excitedly together.
"Hey, Harry, isn't this about the time when…"
"Yes, Ron, it is."
Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!
"So?"
The nerve of him!
"I don't get what all the fuss is about."
"That's because you're an idiot Padfoot."
But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something… yes that would be it.
At this, the purebloods turned to the muggleborns (I'll include Harry with the muggleborns), at which point Hermione explained that muggles were taught by their parents that magic was not real, and that this had been going back for centuries, while Lily was hitting James for staring at her.
The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.
"Wow, it doesn't take much to distract him from something," Lily commented.
Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor.
"He needs some sun," Ginny thought.
If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.
"OHHHHHH THE HORROR!!!" James, Sirius, Ron, and Harry screamed as if the end of the world was coming.
He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Why what?" said Hermione.
"Why do they sound surprised?"
"I'll bet that that will be explained by some random explanation somewhere in the soon vicinity of the coming story," Hermione answered.
Ron blinked. "What?"
Hermione sighed and gestured for Remus to keep reading.
Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.
"OHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.
"This guy needs to get a life," said Remus.
He was in a very good mood
"This guy seriously needs to get a life."
until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.
"Nononononononono, fatty must not eat, after all, fatty is fat," said Sirius. James hit him in the head.
"Idiot! You could have done a lot better than fatty! Try again," James told him.
"Sorry mate, I've got fat on the brain right now."
He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed.
"Why? What did they ever do to you?" Lily asked angrily. James sighed.
"Ahhhhhh, Lilyflower, you're so cute when you're mad."
To James' surprise, Lily blushed slightly.
"WHY?!?! WHY THE HELL AM I BLUSHING IN FRONT OF JAMES?!?!" she thought to herself.
He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin.
"They're definitely wizards. But why would they not have any caution about going out among muggles?" Lily asked.
Everyone from the past shrugged, while everyone from the future had an enormous grin on their face.
It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
Everyone leaned forward in their seats.
"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard –"
" – yes, their son, Harry –"
Everyone from the past stared at Harry, who blushed modestly.
"Hmmm, I kind of like the name Harry," James thought to himself.
Mr. Dursley stopped. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.
"GASP!!!"
"Silencio!"
James was then unable to speak.
He dashed back across the road,
"GASP!!!"
"Silencio!"
Now Sirius was unable to speak.
hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver down and stroked his mustache, thinking…
"Breath. !!!!!!!" the whole room screamed, except for Sirius and James.
no, he was being stupid.
"And we're not surprised, why?"
Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son named Harry.
"Yeah, but I'm the only Harry Potter in magical Britain."
Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure if his nephew was called Harry.
"You mean he didn't even know your NAME at this point?!?!" Cried the entire room (again, except for James and Sirius, who instead waved their arms around).
He'd never even seen the boy.
"SO?!?!"
It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.
Harry shuddered.
There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister.
"And what, pray tell, is wrong with her?" James defended, causing Lily to blush again.
He didn't blame her – if he'd had a sister like that…
James looked as though if he knew where Vernon Dursley was at that moment, he would have ripped him apart.
but all the same, those people in cloaks…
"For God's sake, get your mind off those people in cloaks! They're just wearing cloaks!" Ginny shouted.
He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon
"The HORROR!"
and when he left the building at five o' clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!! DON'T DIE!!!" James, Sirius, and Ron screamed (someone had removed the silencing charm again).
"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.
A sigh of relief echoed throughout the room. "Phew, he's okay,"
It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized the man was wearing a violet cloak.
"Again with the cloaks!"
He didn't seem at all upset about being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary
"Why?"
"Well, if you'd shut up for a moment James then we'd know!"
On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today!
Remus suddenly gasped, causing the people from the past to stare in confusion.
Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!
Remus read this last sentence in a voice that sounded completely shell-shocked, and when he'd finished, James', Lily's, and Sirius' jaws dropped almost to the ground in shock. Then James and Sirius started dancing with happiness while Lily just sat there, her jaw hanging open from surprise. She soon realized this and quickly closed her jaw, Sirius and James till dancing nearby.
Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"
"Okay, that's going a little overboard with the happiness. Muggles would soon figure out that there's magic still in the world," Remus remarked. Everyone in the room nodded their agreement.
And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.
Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.
"Someone who doesn't approve of imagination. This guy needs to get a life. Badly," Ginny remarked.
As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning.
"Hooray! Minnie's back!" James cheered.
"And how would you know it's Minnie?" Sirius asked.
"I just do!"
"Fine, I'll bet you a galleon that it's not Minnie."
"You're on!"
It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.
Sirius began to look worried.
"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.
That's never going to work, especially if it is Professor McGonagall," Hermione remarked.
The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.
"Sounding a lot like Minnie," James said to Sirius.
Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.
There were multiple whispers of "coward" throughout the room, loudest of which was from Lily, who was trying hard not to blush.
Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word ("Won't!").
"GASP!!!!"
"Harry, shut up."
Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:
"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The news reader allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"
Every single joker in the room (Harry, Ron, James, Sirius, and Remus) winced at the terrible joke.
"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain that I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early- It's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."
"Who lost their head?" Sirius asked.
"YOU," everyone in the room answered.
Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters... Mrs. Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously.
"Err - Petunia, Dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"
As he expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.
"Why… oh, wait, they probably hate magic, don't they?" James asked Harry, who nodded.
"It was almost hell living with them. Don't go hunting them down yet, though," he hastily added after seeing the looks on James', Sirius', and Remus' faces.
"No," she said sharply. "Why?""Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... Shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."
"You're the funny looking one here!" Harry yelled. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny nodded agreement.
"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley."Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her lot."
"Our lot, you fat excuse for a human being?!?! " James growled, eyes flashing angrily.
Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name 'Potter'. He decided he didn't dare.
"F(bleep)ing coward."
Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now wouldn't he?""I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly."What's his name again? Howard isn't it?"
James almost screamed in terror.
"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."
"Nasty?! COMMON?!?! Harry's anything but common!" Ginny roared.
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something.
"You might as well pay up now," James told Sirius.
Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it. The Dursleys got into bed.
Everyone shuddered at the mental image.
Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley.
"Let's go pay them a visit anyway, James."
"Yes, let's."
The two of them had to be tied to their chairs to keep them from going.
The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind...
"And don't you think what we think of you?!"
"Sirius, as much as I might want to spellotape your mouth shut sometimes, I have to agree with you in this case."
Sirius grinned proudly.
He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on.
"Let's mix them up anyway, when we get back. We CAN go back to our time, can't we?" The last part was directed at Harry, who nodded.
He yawned and turned over. It couldn't affect them...How very wrong he was.
"You mean we did it anyway?!?!"
"Ginny, please hand me the spellotape."
After Sirius' mouth had been taped shut, they continued reading.
Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive.
It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when the two owls swooped overhead.
In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground.
"All signs of Minnie."
The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. Nothing like this man had been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt.
"Wild guess time. Could it be A: Nostradamus, B: Harry Houdini, C: Merlin, or D: Albus Dumbledore?" James announced.
He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.
"Who guessed Dumbledore?" James asked. The entire room raised their hands, except Lily (she'd thought it was the ghost of Merlin). Then whoever didn't raise their hand gets a kiss from mwah!" Much pain was brought to James.
Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."He had found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter.
"The Deluminator!" Ron cheered. The past four plus Ginny stared at him.
He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a littlepop.
"What the hell?!?!" everyone not from the Golden Trio yelled.
He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,
"Deluminator!"
until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even the beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement.
"Good, because it's probably illegal," James said in a pained voice.
Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer
"Deluminator! It's a Deluminator!" Ron almost screamed.
back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it."Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."
"Pay up," James said to Sirius, who muttered something muffled by the spellotape and handed over a galleon.
He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."
"You'd be stiff too if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.
"Yeah, I sure would," Hermione and Lily muttered at the same time.
"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.
"She's getting ready," Ron and James spoke.
"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."
"I know him, and he really doesn't have much sense," Harry told the others.
"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."
"So basically, it happens three years after we leave Hogwarts?" Lily asked. The four from the future nodded. (Note: I'm not exactly sure if it's three years, so just go with it, okay?)
"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads.
Ron shuddered at the thought of someone taking off their head.
People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes swapping rumors."
She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on: "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all.
"Yes, that would be kind of sad."
I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"
"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"
"A what?" James asked.
"A what?"
"Seems you think like McGonagall," Lily told James, who started to shake violently.
"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."
"Would anyone care for a sherbet lemon? I have some with me." Dumbledore said taking a bag from inside his robes and passing it around.
"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.
"she never would think it's the moment for lemon drops," Harry mused.
"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"
"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like your self can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort". Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was un-sticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice.
"It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."
"Only because he's the only one Voldemort was scared of!" Ron pointed out.
"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half-exasperated, half-admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know - oh, all right, Voldemort -was frightened of"
"Now you're thinking like McGonagall," Hermione told Ron, who went to join James.
"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."
"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."
"OOOOOkay…" Ginny thought to herself.
Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared?
Everyone from the past leaned closer to the book, Remus puling the spellotape off of Sirius, while everyone from the future got a sad look on their faces.
About what finally stopped him?"
It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now.
"She has to us. Remember last Halloween?" Sirius asked.
It was plain that whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.
"Enough with the lemon drops!" Lily cried.
"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up In Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.
Everyone from the past gasped. "But…that's where James lives" Sirius spoke slowly as he said this, as if he was going to watch his best friend die without him able to do anything.
The rumor is that Lily and James Potter, are - are - that they're – dead."
Everyone from the future's faces got even sadder, if that was even possible. Everyone from the past, however, broke down in tears.
"Mate, life wouldn't be worth living if you died," Sirius sobbed, while Remus nodded his head in agreement.
Lily, on the other hand, was crying for a different reason. "I think James Potter is starting to grow on me!" she thought. Then everyone remembered the second name McGonagall had mentioned, and they started sobbing even harder, James hugging Lily to comfort her. He had done this out of instinct, to comfort the one he loved, and Lily accepted it, crying into his shoulder.
After he was done crying, Sirius spoke up. "Congrats, Prongs. You finally got the girl," gesturing both to the book, and to the real-life Lily in front of them, who was sitting red-eyed next to James.
Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.
"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."
Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know ... I know ..." he said heavily.
Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.
Everyone looked like they were going to burst into tears again, but Harry managed to calm them down a little by reminding them that he was still there.
"But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy.
"HUH?!?!" was the general outcry from the past people.
No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."
"Again, HUH?!?!"
Dumbledore nodded glumly."It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done ... all the people he's killed ... he couldn't kill a little boy?
"This may not be the right time, but…" Sirius started snickering. "Voldemort was beaten by a one-year-old! That's gotta be embarrassing!"
It's just astounding ... of all the things to stop him ... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"
We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."
Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took out a watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"
"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle.
Kreacher looked up as he was finishing up lunch. He could have sworn he had just heard an explosion of swear words, cursing someone called "Dursley."
They're the only family he has left now."
"What about your parents? Or Lily's parents?" Sirius asked James, who shrugged. He was still angry at Dumbledore.
"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't."
I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets.
Kreacher looked up again. He had definitely heard "BRAT!" that time.
Harry Potter come and live here!"
"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."
"Does he SERIOUSLY think he can explain everything in a LETTER?!?!" James roared.
A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?
Everyone laughed at the look on James' face that he'd just thought like the person he liked to annoy the most.
These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in future - there will be books written about Harry -every child in our world will know his name!"
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"
"That's probably the only good thing that came out of me growing up there," Harry told his parents.
"He's probably the most modest person in the world, especially considering what he's done," Ginny added.
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here Dumbledore?"
She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.
Sirius and James snorted.
"Hagrid's bringing him."
"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"
"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.
"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place,"
"It is, he just likes monsters a lot more than the average person should," Hermione mused.
said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?" A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.
"COOL!!!!" Sirius shouted. "IWANTONE IWANTONE IWANTONE IWANTONE IWANTONE-"
"You'll get it at somepoint, Padfoot, now shut up or I'll stop reading," Remus told him, almost in a shout. That shut Sirius up instantly.
If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide.
"Hagrid!" the past people cried.
He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets. "Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorbike?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it me."
"YES!!!"
"I've got him, sir."
"No problems, were there?"
"No, sir - house was almost destroyed
Lily and James started sobbing. Remus let them let it all out before continuing.
But I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we were flyin' over Bristol."
Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.
"Do you really?" Lily asked Harry, who nodded and lifted up his bangs to show them his scar.
"Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever.
"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground.
Everyone looked as though they could have gone without knowing that.
Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."
Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house.
"Could I - could I say goodbye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid.
He bent his great shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.
Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.
"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed. Lily looked at him strangely (she was the only one in the room who did not know the three Marauders could shapeshift).
"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall. "You'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out...
The room went quiet. Everyone knew what it meant when that twinkling light had gone out.
"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
"I know I wouldn't be able to celebrate with James and Lily dead," Sirius said, followed by a sigh. Remus nodded in agreement.
"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on to the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.
"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.
Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street.
He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four."Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.
"He left you on the doorstep?" James asked Harry, who nodded. Lily managed to calm him down by giving him a hug, and James gave her a look of gratitude.
A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley ...
Everyone growled.
He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"
"That's the end of the chapter," Remus announced at the end. "Who wants to read now?" James' hand shot up first, followed about a second later by Lily's. "Here you go Lily." James pouted.
"Chapter Two: The Vanishing Glass," Lily read
A/N: I think I could have done the romance better in this chapter, but I'm not very good at the genre.