Abused Boy-Who-Lived Never Reported Missing
After an anonymous tip, I found myself at 4 Privet Drive, the former 'home' of Harry James Potter who has been missing since July without the knowledge of anyone in the ministry. Upon dosing the Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley, we discovered that Albus Dumbledore has known about the disappearance of Harry Potter since July and has made no effort to inform any ministry officials.
If this wasn't disturbing enough, it was discovered that Harry Potter has been abused, starved and neglected at the home Albus Dumbledore placed Potter against the clearly placed instructions of his parents' wills. Whether or not Dumbledore was aware of the abuse is up for question but it is known that he was responsible for Potter's placement with the muggles in question. There were also implications that such abuse was encouraged by Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts.
The well-being of Harry Potter is unknown because, under the influence of a truth serum, Mr Dursley admitted to having been regularly beating and belittling the child, including the severe beating that Potter received the day he disappeared. Now, we are not only worried about the location of Mr Potter but whether or not he is still alive. If the beatings weren't bad enough, the Dursleys refused to inform Harry of his magic inheritance and went as far as to tell him there was no such thing as magic.
"The little freak got what he had coming to him. He was stuck in our care and we were expected to feed him. We were given more than enough money to care for him but we preferred to keep food from him and tell him we spent too much money feeding and clothing him," Mr Dursley stated at one point. "We called him Freak until he was four. Now, you freaks need to get out of my house."
These reports were further checked when Mr Potter did not show up to Hogwarts.
Harry Potter is eleven years old but small for his age. He has black hair, green eyes and wears glasses. He has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead and may or may not be covered in various bruises and cuts. If spotted, approach with caution because Harry is unaware of the magic world.
The Dursleys have been taken into custody and a trial will be happening in just a few moments where the Dursleys will be tried under veritaserum. A few members present are demanding the Dementor's kiss for the older Dursleys. I will keep you posted as the trial continues.
More on Harry Potter Pg 2
More on the Dursleys Pg 3
More on Albus Dumbledore Pg 5
Harry finished reading the article Draco had just finished showing him and he could not believe his eyes. The story had made the front of the Daily Prophet and everyone in the Great Hall seemed to be whispering about it. Occasionally people could be heard whispering things like Harry, Potter, Dumbledore, and muggles. Almost every seemed to be talking about his disappearance and they all seemed angry.
Harry closed the paper so he didn't have to watch the picture of his angry purple-faced uncle wave his fist at the camera and scream things that certainly weren't appropriate for children to be hearing.
"They are screwed. And the best part is, they'll bring Dumbledore right down with them," Draco whispered, grinned as they began loading their plates with food.
Hedwig and Apollo arrived a few minutes into breakfast with letters from their parents, congratulating them on being sorted into Slytherin and wishing them well on their first day of school.
"I told you! I told you they were the worst kind of muggles but did you listen?" Professor McGonagall could be heard from the hall as she yelled at Dumbledore. "Did you read what he said? I swear if you had anything to do with their treatment of the boy, I will personally rip those twinkles out of your eyes and shove them so far down your throat that they'll come out the other end!"
When they walked into the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall's face was red with anger and Dumbledore's face was pale and his eyes were wide with fear. As they made their way to the table, it was obvious that Dumbledore was attempting to give Professor McGonagall as much space as he could without leaving the hall altogether.
Everyone had stopped eating to fix Dumbledore with a wide range of looks varying from confusion to anger. No one looked thrilled with Dumbledore, even the staff looked like they wanted to give him a swift kick in the face.
By the time breakfast was over, Harry was more excited about his first classes than anything else. As he went to leave the hall, he spotted Hermione and gave the Ravenclaw a quick wave before heading off to his very first class.
Transfiguration was the first class of the day and Professor McGonagall impressed the whole class by showing off her ability to turn into a cat at will. Harry found himself amazed by that and several others had been just as amazed by this.
"Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magics you will learn while at Hogwarts. This means that I will not hesitate to throw you out of class if I should see you messing around. We will begin by transfiguring these matches into needles," Professor McGonagall said, as she handed out a matchstick to the students.
Harry and Draco grinned, this was one of the spells they had practised over the summer and they had both mastered it.
"Mssrs Malfoy! I am impressed. I think you have both earned 10 points to Slytherin!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, unable to hide her surprise that they had gotten the spell so quickly.
For the rest of the class, they helped Ron and Neville with the spell; by the end of class, they had needles and the four of them were exempt from the class essay. Several of the other Slytherins who had begun listening to Harry and Draco's instructions had also come close enough that their essays were brought down by several inches.
Charms was uneventful; the teacher was really nice and was impressed with how quickly Hary and Draco caught on. And like the last class, they helped Ron and Neville.
Hermione was in that class and she was the first Ravenclaw to cause her quill to slide off her desk.
After lunch was Defense against the Dark Arts with Professor Quirrell; he was a decent teacher and had begun the class by teaching everyone basic spells they could use on their jewellery and clothes to defend against mind magic and memory altering spells. When a student had trouble with one of the charms, Quirrell went over and worked with them until they got it.
At suppertime, Harry was telling Draco, Ron and Neville about how he'd put protective charms on his socks when the doors to the Great Hall swung open with a loud bang. The hall went quiet as two strangers came into the room and made their way to the staff table with smug and satisfied expressions on their faces.
"Why are there aurors here?" Someone whispered.
Nobody in the hall made an effort to hide the fact that they were watching the aurors approach the staff table. The Auror closest to Harry seemed to have an exceptionally proud expression on his face, like he was about to do something he had wanted to do for a very long time and now his dreams were coming true.
"No way!" A Slytherin whispered in an excited voice.
"No, they wouldn't do it so publicly, would they?" Another voice whispered back.
"Albus Dumbledore!" one of the Aurors said as his partner placed a spell on Dumbledore that rendered him unable to move anything but his legs. "You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
At the staff table, nobody seemed to be rushing forward to help the old man as the Aurors began escorting Dumbledore out of the Great Hall.
After they were out of the hall, the silence broke as everyone began talking about what had just happened and how they couldn't believe that Albus Dumbledore had been arrested in the middle of the meal. Several others could be seen removing parchment and quills from their bags as they began hastily writing to their families to inform them of what had just happened.
Severus Snape had a smug look on his face as he nodded towards Harry and Draco before he waltzed out of the Great Hall with a look of amusement in his eyes.
Moments later, hundreds of owls swooped into the Great Hall, each carrying copies of the Daily Prophet; it was clearly a special edition as they never seemed to come this late. A copy of the paper was dropped into the lap over everyone in the hall, including the house elf who was cleaning up after a student had dropped their food on the floor.
Trial To Conclude Tomorrow Due to New Evidence
The trial against Veron and Petunia Dursley was brought to an abrupt halt after the pair both confessed to being paid by Albus Dumbledore to abuse and neglect their nephew, Harry Potter; a deed they seemed much too happy to follow through with.
It appears that Harry Potter was beaten, starved, neglected and belittled by his relatives under orders by Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the Order of the Phoenix. To make matters worse, Potter was forced to serve the family hand and foot while his relatives catered to his cousin's wild whims; devoid of affection and love, Harry watched as his cousin was spoiled, pampered and loved. If that weren't bad enough, while most children are praised for their accomplishments and accidental magic, Harry Potter was punished for excelling in school and beaten for his magic but never told why he was being punished.
The trial has been postponed until later this evening when Albus Dumbledore will put in his statement under veritaserum. As usual, I will keep you posted on the events of the evening. The DMLE is working hard to make sure all parties involved are tried and brought to justice.
More on Vernon and Petunia Dursley Pg 6
More on DMLE on Pg 8
***LINEBREAK***
"Order in the court! Order in the court!"
The Dursleys had just been removed from the stand and taken from the room before one of the furious members of the jury or audience could cast the killing curse of the pair.
Cornelius Oswald Fudge had a splitting headache; if hearing the unspeakable acts committed against a child wasn't enough to bring pain to his head, then listening to the people in front of him demanding immediate justice was certainly doing the job. Fudge felt confident that he wouldn't have to search long and hard for someone willing to go back and give "justice" to the muggles who had probably been returned to their temporary cell where they had spent the better part of the day cowering.
"What do you think will happen to them?"
The question came from Arthur Weasley, who was holding his wife in his arms in an attempt to keep her from hexing her way into the holding room and bringing her own justice to the abusive muggles.
The woman looked ready to commit murder and it wasn't surprising considering she loves children and would do anything to defend and protect a child. The woman had seven children but would take in more if she could. Molly Weasley was the ultimate mother figure and the fact that she refrained from killing the Dursleys during the trial was nothing short of a miracle.
"I can assure you, it would be hard to get them anything less then kissed; not that I would be fighting too hard for that. They deserve that and much more, even without the 'headmasters' influence," Fudge said, not even trying to hide his dislike for the old man. But he found it hard to like anyone with such medieval beliefs towards the way people lived.
Finally, after several minutes of waiting, the aurors arrived with Albus Dumbledore in hand.
"Court is back in session!" Fudge announced as Dumbledore was placed before him and veritaserum was administered.
"State your name," the first auror demanded.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."
"Is it true that you paid the Dursleys to abuse, neglect and starve Harry Potter?"
"Yes."
The answer caused dead silence to fall upon the room. The only sound that could be heard for several seconds was Rita's quill. Nobody as much as breathed for several seconds while the shock registered in peoples minds. Albus Dumbledore, the face of everything good and light had paid muggles to mistreat not only a magic child but the saviour of the wizarding world?
"Why?"
"So he would be grateful to me when I brought him to Hogwarts; he'd have been the perfect weapon and he would have been so easily swayed to follow my whims," Dumbledore said. The words alone coming from him were horrible enough but the monotone from the veritaserum made it that much more disconcerting and somewhat creepy.
"And what plan was that?"
"To eliminate Tom Riddle. Tom's plans for eliminating abused children from their homes and educating muggle parents; it interferes with my plans for taking control of the wizarding world. Abused kids are more obedient and therefore they listen better and are easier to control. With a few kind words, I can have them eating out of my hands," Dumbledore said, the dull tone of his voice somehow making his words more alarming and unbelievable.
"And who is Tom Riddle?"
"Tom Riddle is the one I have tricked all of you into calling 'Lord Voldemort'."
The room went quiet once again; shock registered on most faces in the room as these words settled; not even Rita's quill could be heard scribbling.
"What do you mean by that? What does 'he-who-must-not-be-named have to do with this?"
The auror's voice broke as he asked the question, his face paling as possibilities began entering his mind.
"There is no 'Lord Voldemort'. Only Tom Riddle and he was soft as they come. Believed magic children should be raised with love and praise; he wanted to give muggle-born and Muggle-raised children extra education, he wanted them removed from abusive homes but this got in my way, so I created an alter ego for him," Dumbledore said, his face dripping with sweat and his face was twisted into a painful expression as he attempted to fight the effects of the potion.
"Why did he kill and torture so many?"
The question seemed unnecessary but the auror felt it needed to be asked but nobody was surprised with what came out of Dumbledore's mouth next.
"Tom never killed or tortured anyone; never could. I tortured and killed those people under polyjuice potion, including the Potters."
"Did you kill Tom Riddle?"
"No! He is alive and in hiding somewhere. No, he was never gone but convincing the world that Harry Potter made him disappear was my greatest accomplishment and had he not disappeared, he would have been my best tool in taking over the ministry."
"So the boy-who-lived..."
"There is no boy-who-lived. I chose him very carefully! Harry Potter is just a regular boy and you fools all ate it up! How stupid could you be? Only Sirius Black questioned me and I had him thrown in Azkaban. You're all FOOLS!"
"Your honour?" The Auror's voice broke Fudge away from his thoughts. "The potion will be wearing off soon, so I'm calling for a recess to further investigate and replenish our stalks because we do not have enough to answer all of the questions that need to be asked."
Fudge stared at Dumbledore, whose face was starting to show comprehension and his expression seemed more guarded now.
"I'll allow it! Auror's escort Dumbledore to a holding cell in Azkaban. I want at least five dementors guarding him at all times. I want the Dursleys placed in a holding cell there as well," Fudge spoke knowing he couldn't have any of them kissed because they were going to be needed for the investigation but spending time with the dementors would have to do for now.
"Skeeter!" Fudge called out, startling Rita out of her thoughts. This was the part of the evening that always came, the part where Rita was told what bits she was, under no circumstances, allowed to publish or repeat.
"Yes, Minister Fudge."
Rita waited to be told she wasn't allowed the publish anything; a story this big was too good to be true. There was no way she would be able to...
"Publish everything!"
That was without a doubt the happiest Rita Skeeter had ever been in her life. This was going to be the story that was going to solidify her career; she was about to go down in history as the reporter who exposed Dumbledore for the evil twisted bastard he was. After a few seconds, she realised that he was serious. With an excited nod, Rita set to work to publish the article that was going to shake the foundation of the wizarding world completely.
A/N I did not show the Dursleys testimony because that would involve graphic descriptions of violence and therefore the rating on the story would have to go up. I haven't gone deep into Dumbledore's motives or ultimate plans but they'll be mentioned later in the story.