ONE-THE BOY WHO LIVED.
Mr. And Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
"That's stupid!" James exclaimed, "Who wants to be normal!"
"Not everyone wants to be like you, Potter," Snape scoffed.
"Look! He complemented you! He said people want to be like you, Prongs!" Sirius cried out.
"Sirius! Read!" Moony ordered.
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. Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.
"What are drills?" James asked, confused.
"Don't be a dunderhead, Potter," Snape reprimanded.
He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly 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.
"I wonder who these people are…" Regulus said thoughtfully.
"The name Dursley sounds familiar," Lily said, frowning.
The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.
"Hey! My family's better than you are!" James exclaimed. Suddenly, Lily went pale.
"What, Lils?" Remus asked, noticing the change in her stance.
"My sister is dating a Dursley. You don't think…"
Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister,
"I marry Lily! I marry Lily! I marry Lily! I marr- Ow!" James sang, doing some strange sort of happy dance. Moony had grabbed the book from Sirius' lap and smacked James with it.
but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.
"Ain't that the truth!" Sirius exclaimed.
The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.
"Lily, as soon as we get married, we are visiting your sister!"
The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too,
"Aw!" Lily breathed, despite her disbelief over marrying James
but they had never even seen him.
"I don't want you to see him!" James vowed
This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
"Why not! What's wrong with my son!" Lily yelled.
"It's not your son, Lily, it's them," Remus explained, looking angry.
When Mr. And Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, 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. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. 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, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke, " chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.
"They think that's funny!" Regulus said, his voice sharp with disbelief, "If either of us did that, Mother would-" Regulus was cut off by Sirius,
"No one cares what that hag would do!"
He got into his car 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 - a cat reading a map.
"Something tells me that's not a cat."
For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. 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; cats couldn't read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake 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. 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. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.
"I'm confused," Sirius said, "What's weird about that?"
"You're always confused, Black," Severus said.
He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. 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! The nerve of him! 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.
"That makes no sense whatsoever," Regulus said, "Why would wizards be collecting muggle money?"
"You know, it's times like these that I can tell you're related to Sirius," Lily said thoughtfully. Regulus frowned, looking slightly peeved off at that comment and asked,
"Why's that?"
"Only Sirius would ask something that stupid. The Dursleys have no idea that these people are wizards."
"Shut up!" Regulus muttered, looking slightly embarrassed.
The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed openmouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.
"We're usually more careful," Severus said with a light frown.
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.
"He sure does like yelling," James snickered.
"So does Sirius. You should have heard him with mother," Regulus said darkly.
He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs
"What! The universe has just been altered!" Sirius exclaimed, ignoring Remus' glare.
and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.
"It's been set right again," Sirius said.
"Just read, Sirius!"
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. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch was whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. 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. "The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry"
"We're famous! We're famous!" James began to chant, ducking when Moony threw the book at him.
"Not for a good reason," Luna said darkly. Everyone jumped; they had forgotten she was there.
"You've been quiet," Sirius observed.
"No freaking duh! Thank you, Captain Obvious!"
"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm!" Sirius said brightly.
"What-?" Luna said, looking lost. Sirius started to read before she could finish.
Mr. Dursley stopped dead.
"He died! Yes! The world is a better place!"
Fear flooded him.
He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, 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 back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... No, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry.
"That's low, Dursley. Even for you," Lily snapped.
"You've met him?" James asked.
"Unfortunately," Lily snarled
He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that...
"A sister like what?" Remus said, dangerously quiet.
But all the same, those people in cloaks... He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon 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.
"Poor soul," Sirius said, wiping away an invisible tear.
"Sorry, " he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!
"Voldemort!" Sirius exclaimed, interrupting himself. He ignored the way Regulus flinched. Remus noted how Regulus' left arm had seemed to twitch as Voldemort's name was spoken. He couldn't be a…
"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.
"How does anyone not approve of imagination!" James yelled.
"Yeah! How would we survive all these classes without it?" Moony frowned at Sirius and replied,
"You'd survive without melting your cauldron down or accidently transfiguring your foot into a flower or –"
"Okay! I get it!" Sirius said, eager to make Moony stop listing off his many embarrassing moments.
"Or that time when you started drooling in History of Magic because you were thinking about you girl friend at the time."
Regulus snickered and Severus snorted.
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. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. "Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.
"That is definitely Minnie," James stated.
"What other cat looks stern?" Regulus noted. All three Marauders shivered at the thought of Minnie's stern look.
Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered.
"Are you as stupid as you sound?" Severus wondered
"Oh no," Lily chided, "He's worse."
Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. 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 learned a new word ("Won't!").
"And they're proud of that?" Severus asked, disgusted.
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 newscaster 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?" "Well, Ted, "
"You don't think it's Ted Tonks?" Regulus asked.
"Who's that?" Lily asked confused.
"Oh Merlin! It's finally happened!" Sirius yelled sharply.
"What you prat!" Lily yelled back.
"We've confused Lily Evans! We've confused Lily Evans!" Sirius chanted
"Git!" Lily said, exasperated.
"Ted married our cousin, Andromeda," Regulus said smiling.
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 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.
"Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...
"Looks like you're still causing mayhem outside of Hogwarts, Prongsie," Sirius said. James laughed.
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. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?" As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.
"I think we're going to have to visit your sister, Lils," Remus said, seriously.
"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... ""So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley. "Well, I just thought... Maybe... It was something to do with... You know... Her crowd.
"Her crowd. Her crowd! Seriously!" Severus exclaimed.
"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. 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?" "Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me. ""Oh, yes, " said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree. "
"I happen to like that name," Lily huffed.
"Same," James said with a smile.
"It's better than if you named him after Jamsiepoo, here," Sirius said. James scowled at the nickname.
"I wouldn't be talking, Siripoo," Regulus said with a chuckle. Prongs and Moony exchanged wicked glances at the nickname.
"How did you hear about that?" Sirius asked, mortified. The only person who called him that was one of his old girlfriends…
"I walked in on you," Regulus said, looking disgusted, "You were in a broom closet."
"And why were you looking in a broom closet?" Padfoot asked raising an eyebrow (or at least attempting to.)
"None of your business!" Regulus snapped.
"Somebody's got a girlfriend…"
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 were waiting for something. Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did...
"The world will be that much awesome!" Prongs exclaimed.
"And I didn't think the world could get any worse," Regulus said, his lip twitching.
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. 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. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind...
"I doubt that. James and I would visit them all the time if we did!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Yep!" Remus said, laughing, "All four Marauders would invite themselves in."
He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them... How very wrong he was.
"I do NOT like the sound of that," Lily muttered. Everyone else agreed.
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 on the next street, nor when 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. The cats tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. Nothing like this man had ever been seen on 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.
"Dumbledore!" Sirius yelled.
"Yes, Siri, we know!" Regulus said, laughing slightly.
He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that 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.
"Told ya!" Sirius said proudly.
"Must I repeat myself?" Regulus said, still smiling.
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 found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.
"I want one!" Padfoot and Prongs said at the same time.
He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on 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 beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward 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. "
"Knew it!" Sirius sang.
"Shut up, Black!" Severus said rolling his eyes.
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.
"What's up with the head of Gryffindor wearing green cloaks?" Regulus asked.
"They bring out her eyes," Sirius said, ignoring everyone's stares.
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 if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day, " said Professor McGonagall. "All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here. "
"No doubt we're running one, Prongs!" Padfoot exclaimed.
"Yep! Marauder parties are the best!"
Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. "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 have 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."
"But he is fun!" Remus said.
"You can't blame them, " said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years. "
"Eleven years…" Remus mused, "That'd make this in 1981. That's not far off."
"I know that, " said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. 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.
"When does Dumbledore ever tell us anything? He always makes us guess," Severus muttered.
"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. 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?" Regulus asked. Sirius started to laugh, inexplicably, but he continued to read before anyone could ask.
"A what?"
"You think like Minnie!" Prongs shouted, grinning. Regulus rolled his eyes.
"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of "No, thank you, " said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.
Sirius tutted and said, "It's always the time for a lemon drop."
"It's time for you to shut up."
"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone - "
"Yay!" Sirius and James yelled. Moony shook his head,
"Gits!"
"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself 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.
"Of course he hasn't…" Severus muttered.
"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. "
"Go Dumbledore!" Sirius yelled.
"Read!"
"You flatter me, " said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have. "
"He's too noble to use them," Lily said quietly.
"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them. "
Everyone laughed slightly, but they could tell something was wrong. There was something about how the conversation was moving that didn't seen quite right.
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs. "
"Yuck. Bad mental image," Prongs said, grinning none-the-less.
Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"
"No I don't," Sirius said with mock politeness.
"Just read, Sirius!" Lily demanded.
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.
"Bet that was comfortable!" James laughed.
It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true.
"That's smart, just think about all the rumors that would be killed," Lily said.
"But rumors are fun!" Sirius pouted.
"Do you like how most of Hufflepuff thinks you and Potter are together?" Regulus asked in disbelief.
Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. "What they're saying, " she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.
"No!" Everyone said, turning to Luna for confirmation. She nodded.
"Why have you been so quiet?" Regulus asked her.
"I'm here to make sure you get through the books without killing anyone, not to commentate."
"She sounds like Lily," Remus said.
The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. "
"No!" Sirius said quietly, in shock.
"It – it can't be…" Prongs whispered.
"What about Harry?" Lily asked, but no one answered.
Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. "Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus... "
"I don't want to believe it either…" Severus whispered, too quiet for anyone else to hear.
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.
"I didn't know she cared about us that much," Lily said, smiling watery.
"That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. 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. Dumbledore nodded glumly.
"Our son defeated Voldemort," Prongs said in a hushed whisper.
"Your son sounds pretty awesome, Prongs," Moony said.
"How couldn't he be? He's related to me!"
"I think it's Lily's genes coming through there," Regulus teased.
"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? 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. "
"He knows."
Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden 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. They're the only family he has left now. "
"Merlin, no! Dumbledore that's a bad idea!" Lily shouted.
"you're talking to a book, Lils," Sirius said.
"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. Harry Potter come and live here!"
"Exactly my point," said Lily vehemently.
"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. "
"A letter? How in Merlin's name can a letter explain everything?"
"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? 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 the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"
"Ha! My son is famous!" James said.
"Because Voldemort tried to kill our entire family," Lily said, still dazed with shock. Tears began to run down her face at the thought of her son being orphaned.
"Exactly, " said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses.
"So he looks like me!" Sirius said in a pathetic way to cut the tension.
"Don't, Siri, just… don't," Regulus said.
"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?"
"Merlin knows his father's head is big enough," Severus said.
"I'm still surprised you can play Quidditch with a head that big," Lily said, teasing good-naturedly.
"Maybe that's why Gryffindor lost the Quidditch cup, eh, Potter?" Regulus said, remembering last year when he had caught the snitch.
"We do not speak of that," Sirius snapped. Regulus smirked in response.
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.
"He better not be!" Lily exclaimed.
"Hagrid's bringing him. "
"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"
"Of course," Prongs said.
"I would trust Hagrid with my life, " said Dumbledore.
"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place, " 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 motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.
"I want one! That sounds awesome!" Sirius said.
If the motorcycle 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. 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 trash can 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 motorcycle?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir, " said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir. "
"Yes! It's mine!"
"No problems, were there?"
"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was 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.
"Is that where-?" Severus whispered.
"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.
Everyone laughed lightly, but the mood did not change.
"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 handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.
"That's strange," Remus said
"And slightly creepy," said Regulus.
Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with. "
Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. "Could I - could I say good-bye 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.
"I like dogs," Padfoot said, trying to distract the others from their sad moods. It didn't work.
"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 - "
"I can't believe Dumbledore would do that to him," Severus muttered. While they had been friends, Lily had introduced him to her sister. He hated her, obviously.
"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.
"I didn't realize they'd care so much," Lily said, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks once more.
"Everyone cares about you, love," James said, putting an arm around her. For the first time, she didn't push him away.
"Well, " said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations. "
"Yeah, " said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir. "
Luna frowned at the mention of taking Sirius his bike back. Unfortunately, Regulus saw it.
"What?" he asked her. Biting her lip, Luna said,
"Sirius doesn't get his bike back."
"What happens to me?" Sirius whispered, but Luna didn't answer.
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle 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.
"They left my son on the doorstep!" Lily yelled.
"That's not right," James said shaking his head in anger.
"Good luck, Harry, " he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.
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... 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 sounds like a nightmare," Remus said grimly.
"I can't believe Lils and Prongs are dead!" Sirius exclaimed. "They – you can't be!"
"I wonder where I am?" Remus said.
"Who knows, Lupin. Maybe if you read you'll find out," Regulus said.
"Okay," Remus said, taking the book. Throughout all of this, Luna was silent. She didn't want to make them suspicious of anything in the future. Her father had cleared that much up. If she let them know anything before the time came, then the future might change for the worse rather than for the better. For now, she had to trust her father. After all, he was Harry bloody Potter. He would know how to do this.
Lily Luna Potter sighed, waiting for Remus to begin the next chapter.
Hi! Read and Review Please! That'll make me update quicker! I do not own any of this by the way!