Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Kudos go to J.F.C. for allowing me to adopt his ideas and allowing me to bounce ideas off him as well as suggesting or improving quite a few of the ideas that are going into this.

Chapter 2

When Harry came home a couple of days later and saw Aunt Dorea, Uncle Charlus and a wizened old man that wore strange clothing and had a beard that looked like it had not been cut in decades, a strange sinking feeling in his stomach that he usually associated with something going wrong. It had been the same feeling he had felt when Alex had dared him to try and ride a bicycle and he had broken his arm. It had been an injury that had taken weeks to heal. He had not liked that too much.

He probably was not going to like this either. He could tell by the barely disguised fury on Aunt Carina's face and the unhidden annoyance on Aunt Dorea's and Uncle Charlus' faces. He knew from experience that whenever those three had the expressions they currently had on that the situations was not one he truly wanted to be in. Their anger was directed at the eccentric man sitting calmly on the couch as he gazed around the room.

All the people within the room had turned towards him when he walked into the room a little while later, after he had attempted to take in the situation fully. He made no move of acknowledging the unexpected guest as he greeted his aunts and uncle. It was not necessary to greet a person you had never met before or did not recognize until you were introduced in Aunt Carina's house and he was currently using that to his advantage and would continue to do so for as long as he possibly could.

He did not like the old man. He somehow managed to rub Harry the wrong way by simply being in the same room with him and that was extremely strange and had never happened to him before to this extent. Sure people had rubbed him the wrong way before but that had only been after they managed to open their mouth and talk.

This man was an entirely different story. He was dressed in something that looked suspiciously like one of the robes he had seen in fairytales when he had been younger. Harry wondered how the man had managed to make his way through London like that. Surely someone would have done something when they saw him.

Harry usually thought of himself as a good judge of a person's character upon first sight. He would not want that old man as one of his friends. His gut told him that the old man was not someone to be trusted, Aunt Carina's expression had only cemented that fact in his mind had he been even a little bit doubtful and wishing to judge the man by appearances. He looked like a kindly old man that was benevolent and something akin to a grandfather to everybody.

There were small things that said otherwise though, things that not many people would pick up on. The glint in his eye for one, at first glance in made him look slightly senile but if you looked for just a little bit longer you would be able to see the plans and calculations that went on in the man's mind. The man was continuously plotting and planning.

The other more notable thing was the pride the man held himself with. It almost seemed like the man expected everyone to respect him and pay attention to whatever he said. Harry would not really be surprised if the man expected people to follow his every command without a word of complaint or even a second of hesitation. That amount of pride in anybody was dangerous and from the impression the other man gave off, he was probably surrounded by children or people younger than him on a daily basis. That would also mean that he would be in charge which Harry did not find a particularly pleasant thought in his mind.

"Harry, this is Professor Dumbledore," Aunt Carina said, introducing them to each other after a tense silence, "Professor, this is Harry."

Harry mentally groaned. He had been right in his assumption then. The old man was some sort of teacher that had authority in whatever institution he was from. He only hoped the man wasn't here to offer him a place at wherever he was teaching as he was probably going to reject it immediately unless he had no choice. He hadn't applied anywhere yet though. He sent Aunt Carina a questioning look out of the corner of his eye.

"Pleasure to meet you, professor," Harry replied. He could be polite or at the very least be polite for Aunt Carina despite the fact that she did not look like she wanted to be particularly polite herself. She had that glint in her eye that warned him that she was in the mood of kicking people out of their home. He hoped this 'Professor Dumbledore' got kicked out soon. Not only for the comic relief such an action would provide.

"How have you been doing my boy?" Dumbledore said with a genial smile.

Harry's eye twitched slightly. This man comes unannounced into their home and talks to him as if Harry had known the man his entire life and not just been introduced to him minutes previous? He certainly was as senile as he looked if he believed that was going to work as well as the man obviously expected it to work. In some part of his mind he was glad that he had rejected Alex's offer of walking home with him, him mood was worsening by the minute.

"My name is Harry," Harry said with a false calm, "I would be extremely pleased if you managed to use it. I am no one's boy."

Dumbledore looked startled for a moment and Harry caught sight of Aunt Dorea's smirk that he was sure would be echoed almost eerily so by Aunt Carina. Harry carefully watched as Dumbledore's mind frantically calculated this new scenario into his schemes and plans. Harry knew for certain that he was a key factor in whatever the man was planning or he would not have bothered about him. He knew people like this professor, they only did something when it benefitted them in some way or the other and never really cared about the people they trampled on to get what they wanted.

"Very well Harry. Carina had certainly been teaching you well," Dumbledore said.

Harry chose not to react to that barely disguised barb at the woman that was his mother in all ways that truly counted. Harry figured that he could pretty much assume that this 'Professor' knew his birth parents from the way he was treating his adopted family.

"Yes she has," Harry smiled lightly. "She's been complimented on how marvelously she had managed to raise me on her own by many people, Professor Dumbledore. I'm sure she's flattered."

Aunt Dorea's expression turned positively gleeful at this and even Uncle Charlus had smirked. He thought he heard Aunt Carina sniggering somewhere behind him but she quickly disguised it as a light cough and reached for a glass of water. Harry ignored all of their reactions and maintained an expression that indicated that he had not noticed the intended double meaning behind his words.

"Aunt Carina, are you okay?" Harry asked innocently, turning to face her for a moment. Not missing the thoughtful look that had crossed the professor's eyes.

"I'm fine dear," Aunt Carina said as she took another sip of water from her glass.

"Why do call Miss Carina your 'aunt' and not your 'mother'?" Dumbledore asked looking curious.

It was the first real emotion he had seen from the man during their short conversation but Harry knew that how he answered could probably be used against him. The professor had an ulterior motive behind his question.

"Well …" Harry looked at Aunt Carina for a moment, "Aunt Carina is my mother in all ways that truly matter to me no matter whether or not I call her 'mother.' I don't really mind either way. Aunt Carina would prefer it if I called her 'aunt' instead of 'mother' and since she prefers it, that's what I call her. She knows what she is to me and does not need to be called 'mother' by me to make it so. We are happy with the way it is …"

Harry shrugged once he had finished speaking. He knew he had probably said more than he should have but that did not really matter to him too much. Everything he had said was true and there would be nothing that could change it. He turned to look at Aunt Carina again and saw that she had started to tear up. She sent him a small smile which he returned without hesitation.

'Would you not like to meet your birth parents though?" Dumbledore asked after his last plan had failed seemingly unwittingly.

"You know my birth parents?" Harry asked, faking a surprised expression that fooled almost everyone and even Aunt Carina on the odd occasion.

"Of course I do, Harry. They were two very bright students of mine," Dumbledore said, looking pleased that the conversation was finally going the way he wanted it to go.

He did not realize that Harry had already figured him out and Harry was not about to inform him of that little fact. That made talking with Dumbledore lean slightly in his favour and he would not give up that advantage. He had already assumed that the professor probably knew his parents but with it confirmed, it shed a bit more light on the situation. The professor wanted to take him away from Aunt Carina and his home and send him to live with his birth parents. Why would he want to do that though? Why had his parents not come themselves if they had wanted him back so badly? Why now?