Chapter 2. The Boy Who Didn't Die

"I really don't like the sound of that." Frank said uncomfortably. "Join the club Frankie." Alice told her boyfriend.

Professor Minerva McGonagall was watching Number Four on Privet Drive sorrowfully.

"Why on earth would you be watching a muggle neighborhood professor?" Lily asked her Head of House. Charlus read ahead a bit. "The book explains that shortly."

While many people praised and celebrated, she sat on the brick wall as a cat.

"Why are people celebrating? And if people are celebrating then why are you sitting on a wall?" Sirius asked Professor McGonagall.

The horrible family only soured her mood.

"What horrible family?" Remus wondered. He also wondered how horrible they were, and why they were mentioned at all.

Their child was a large tantrum throwing brat, the wife was a nosy gossip and the husband was a fat simpleton.

"Charming." Lucius drawled sarcastically. The Marauders were giggling at their Professor's insults, while the Slytherins and Lily looked at the Transfiguration teacher in shock. The adults were frowning. What was going on? Why were they mentioned at all if this was a story about Harry, Leo and Aries.

The only reason she would be here was because Professor Dumbledore said a recently orphaned wizard needed to be placed here.

"You must be joking!" Barty jr. guffawed. "A wizard going to live with this horrid lot?" More people were grimacing.

And she was finding more and more reasons not to send a wizarding child, or rather any other child here.

"You really don't like them Professor." Alice noted. "Probably for good reason too." She added sternly.

She conjured a map to make sure she was in the right Muggle neighborhood.

"For the child's sake I hope you made a mistake." Augusta said sternly. McGonagall nodded her agreement.

Then the fat simpleton came out to go to work and she put her map away.

"Love the nickname there Minnie." James said. She sent him a stern look that wiped the smile off his face.

She stayed on that brick wall all day, watching the gossip and her bratty son leave to go shopping. The fat boy was kicking his mother up and down the street for sweets.

"I truly hope you made a mistake there Minerva." Dorea said, not liking the sound of these muggles.

Once Dumbledore gets here she'll give him a piece of her mind.

"Too right I will." Minerva muttered under her breath. Remus heard him with his sensitive hearing and smirked.

Night fell and she was still on the wall.

"You are truly persistent." Charlus interrupted himself to say.

The muggles were talking about the wizards who were celebrating. Ugh, shooting stars in Kent, Dedalus Diggle, are you trying to get us all caught and exposed?

"Doesn't have much sense, does he?" Augusta asked. "No." McGonagall answered. "True, but he is rather funny." Dorea noted. James had this I-told-you-so look on his face, and Charlus was reminded of where James received his mischievous streak.

When Dumbledore came he pulled his put-outer out and took the light from the entire neighborhood.

"Why?" many people asked.

Why, though Minerva never understood.

"Who does understand Dumbledore and his actions?" Moody asked. "I would have assumed you since Dumbledore considers you his friend." Augusta said. Moody snorted. "Then the feeling isn't mutual, given what I learned about Albus." He added. "What did you find out?" Charlus asked his co-worker. Moody opened his mouth to talk when a sheet of parchment fell in front of him.

The books will explain what you know and more. Please don't say anything.

Moody relayed the note and they went back to the book, more curious than before.

They exchanged pleasantries.

"Thank you for sparing us that awkward bit with the long winded goat.." Dorea sighed. Lily looked scandalized. How can anyone say that about Professor Dumbledore? He's a great wizard!

"So it's true then?" Minerva asked brokenly. Dumbledore lowered his head solemnly.

"I truly don't like this." "Same here Paddy." Charlus read ahead and paled. "What's wrong Dad?" James asked. Charlus looked sorrowfully at his only child.

"Voldemort went to find the Potters- and that James and Liliana are- well that they're – they're dead." Minerva said sorrowfully.

Dorea grabbed the two of them into her arms and wept. Liliana was crying and James and stricken with grief, but Sirius saw tears slid down his face. Sirius and Remus looked at their best friend sorrowfully. "But the Fidelius Charm." Remus muttered. Regulus looked up with an epiphany. "Peter Pettigrew was your Secret Keeper." He said. "No, No way! Pete's a traitor and James and Lana are dead! No, no, no ,no!" Sirius said getting a bit hysterical.

"I'm afraid it is true. And that Shizuka Black didn't survive last Halloween night either." Dumbledore said.

No, no, no, no!" Sirius said getting a bit hysterical. "Reggie, James, Lana, and now Shizu too?" Sirius asked brokenly. "What about Remus? Or… OH SWEET MERLIN THE BOYS WERE AT GODRICS HOLLOW ON HALLOWEEN!" Sirius panicked, causing many to pale. Liliana and Shizuka broke into tears. James and Regulus came close by the looks of it. Charlus had to comfort his wife again.

"But their little boy, Harry, stopped Voldemort? How can that be Albus?" Minerva asked.

"Harry did what?" James asked shocked. How in the name of everything did that happen?

She knew that James was a powerful wizard one of her best in Transfiguration.

"Thanks Minnie." James said with a broken smile. McGonagall didn't have the heart to reprimand him. When Lily opened her mouth to do so, Regulus sent her a glare that could freeze hell over, and she promptly shut her mouth. Couldn't she give him a break? He just found out he and his wife would die.

His wife Liliana was from a prosperous family in Italy, and would visit the Potters since the Evagelistas were close to the Potters. She was highly skilled at Defense, and was a skilled duelist.

"Understatement that." James said wiping his future wife's eyes dry.

But could Harry be as powerful as a one and a half year old baby?

"One and a half! Harry bested the Dark Lord at one and a half!" Remus guffawed. Many Slytherins looked contemplative. If he was truly so great why did a baby, defeat him?

"We may never know the reason." Dumbledore said, picking at his muggle candy-lemon drops.

"He knows." All the adults answered bitterly much to Lily Evans' shock. "He wouldn't withhold such important information would he?" She asked, but was ignored. Moody and McGonagall were remembering the death of a young ravenclaw during their school day, and why Hagrid was expelled. Charlus and Dorea didn't like how they talked down to their son on false accusations. Augusta was appalled by her rude behavior towards the others in her year and house, and she saw the hateful envy in her eyes a few too many times for her to respect her.

"I've come to bring Harry, Leo and Aries to the Dursleys." Dumbledore said.

"OH HELL TO THE NO!" James bellowed angrily. The entire room shook and sparked with untamed magic. Everyone was angry but sat stock still at James anger. A punching bag with Dumbledore's face on it appeared, and James stomped towards it. He let loose a dozen swings and kicks, before going back to his seat. Sirius jumped out of his seat while changing into Padfoot, and clawed and bit the dummy. "Sirius move it!" Regulus yelled. When Sirius did so Regulus walked up to the dummy. He punched the Dummydore and knocked it's head off, thanks to Sirius' canine carnage. After everyone calmed down, Charlus read the book through grit teeth.

Minerva lost it. She yelled at him.

"Give 'im hell, Minerva." Dorea muttered, angry that he would even consider this.

"Blood wards won't protect him, they're not family. And not only The Boy Who Lived, but the two Black cousins as well Albus!?" She hissed angrily at him.

"BLOOD WARDS!? IF THAT IS THE CASE SEND THEM TO ANY OTHER WIZARD FAMILY RELATED TO THE BLACKS!" Regulus yelled. "Why, only care about your own family Black?" Lily asked hotly. Dorea could not stand this girl's behavior any longer. How can someone dubbed the "brightest witch of her year" be so narrow minded? She slammed her hands down on the table as she stood up. Everyone but Lily and Snape regarded her warily.

"Ms. Evans, if you had bothered to look at the wizarding world beyond Hogwarts gates, you'd have come to see that many purebloods and half-bloods are in fact related to one another." Dorea said icily and slow. "I myself am a member of the Black family thereby making Harry a part of the Black family. I would have thought you knew that given the number of times I have heard you call James and Sirius inbred purebloods, from them and with my own resources." She said frigidly. Lily's face grew as red as her hair.

"So the arrogant Gryffindor Gits tattle tale to their mother." Snape sneered. She turned her head towards him, and he regretted saying anything with the glare she was giving him. The Blacks all have seen and heard of Aunt Dorea's wrath and Lucius and Barty have learned to never come between a Black and their family or you will be cut down, humiliated and made an example of. They normally wouldn't wish this on Snape, but they all still remember that confession of a death threat.

"You, Mr. Snape, should be aware of the fact that since James is the heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Potter that he would be protected as an heir. Since Sirius was taken in by my family since his parents attempted to kill him" She spat icily "similar protections were placed on him to ensure his safety."

"Those protections include and are not limited to the documentation of malicious threats and insults and tracing them. Speaking of I have multiple documentations of threats from you towards my sons, Remus Lupin, Regulus Black, Andromeda Tonks nee Black, Ted Tonks, Nymphadora Tonks, and Peter Pettigrew from you. Word. For. Word. Dating towards their first year at Hogwarts. So still your tongue, because I am prepared to take you to the Wizengmot with this, and I will." She told him before sitting down.

Snape went slack jawed, and began to sweat under all the glares he was receiving. Most shocking was when Narcissa drew her wand. "You foul, filthy, greasy, horrid, petty, double-crossing, back- stabbing, avaricious, hypocritical, loathsome, belligerent, vengeful, imbecilic WASTE OF MAGIC!" She insulted him taking one step closer with each insult as he backed away cowardly. "Ms. Black!" McGonagall chastised, but it fell on deaf ears.

"You dare to threaten the lives and wellbeing of The Ancient and Noble Houses of Black and Potter?! You dare to threaten both of my younger cousins, my sister and niece!?" She screeched much to the shock of everyone. Lucius walked up to Narcissa and gently placed a hand over her wand. "Cissa, calm down." He drawled. She snapped her head at him. "I understand why you're furious, I would be too, but just let it go for now." He placated.

"Let it go? Let it go?! He had been endangering and threatening my family for years Lucius!" She yelled at him. Lucius shifted his hands in his pockets. "I understand, but think of this: what would the Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black do? I can't imagine him threatening to duel a half blood of the Prince family. Can you?" Lucius drawled again. That seemed to stop Narcissa, as the rest of the Blacks stared at him. He took her hand in his and sat them next to each other. Most were mollified by his words, except Snape who was furious at being looked down on and Lily who wasn't at all pleased with the treatment her childhood friend got.

"Yes here they will be safe from the wizarding world. Harry away from the fame, and Leo and Aries away from the dark sides of their family? Don't you see that this is the best course of action?" Dumbledore beseeched.

"That does make sense." Lily pointed out trying to defend Dumbledore. "Sure but they could've gone to live with me, Andy and Dora." Ted said motioning to his family. "But Professor Dumbledore is protecting them from dark wizards." Ted had a murderous look in his eye. Lily flinched. "Are you implying that my wife and daughter are dark because they're connected to the Black family?" He ground out in a very un- Hufflepuff manner. Lily looked scandalized. "I- I er. I didn't mean-." "Of course you didn't." Ted bit out. "I would assume that someone who gets heralded as the brightest witch of her age would be smart enough to know what she was saying and to whom she was saying it. After all, the brightest witch of her age wouldn't be so utterly childish as to blindly follow the word of an old teacher, and decide the characters of an entire clan for herself." Ted venomously said, much to the shock of the adults.

"Mummy, why daddy mad?" Nymphadora asked, a pair of puppy ears swiveling on her tilted head. "Nothing dear, a girl was saying bad things." Andromeda hushed, petting her daughter's head. "Oh. Stop?" "Yes, I think she stopped saying mean things for a while." Andromeda said pulling Nymphadora to her lap. Lily looked ashamed.

"NO." She told him sternly, a glare to her former Transfiguration teacher.

"Give 'im hell!" Dorea repeated, a bit more harshly.

"I was afraid of this. Confundus!"

The room was quiet before exploding in sound. Eveyone was furious, except for Nymphadora who got scared, and Lily who was speechless at Dumbledore's actions.

He repeated his question. Minerva's mouth opened and closed for a bit before agreeing with him.

"When we get out of here…" Moody growled. "It's fine Alastor, we came to prevent this all from happening." McGonagall said through clenched teeth. "I can see why we were told not to bring Dumbledore here." Augusta muttered. "I'm sure he redeems himself." Lily said with conviction. The Marauders rolled their eyes in sync.

Dumbledore said that Hagrid was bringing the three boys.

"As much as I love Hagrid, would anyone leave two babies and a toddler with him?" James asked. Many shook their heads. Hagrid meant well but he is known to be a tad reckless.

While Hagrid has a heart of gold, he can be a bit reckless, so naturally Minerva was nervous.

Many nodded their sentiments.

A loud roaring noise was heard and Hagrid appeared on a flying motorbike that belonged to Sirius Black.

"Huh, why would I give Hagrid my bike?" Sirius asked. The Marauders shrugged. "You actually have a flying motorbike?" Regulus asked his brother. Sirius nodded. "Started building her when I was at Potter Manor this summer. She's almost done but it's tricky enchanting every piece." Sirius said. "But you're not allowed to use magic outside of school!" Lily said harshly. "He was allowed to as the healers said he needed a hobby that would help control my magic." Charlus said stiffly. "Why did you need a healer?" Lily prodded. "Stop pestering my brother, Evans. What do you care you hate him." Regulus snapped. Lily sent him a glare which he returned tenfold. Sirius let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Dumbledore placed the three boys on the Dursley's doorstep, with a letter.

"A LETTER!?" Every parent (future and present) bellowed.

Then Dumbledore turned to join the celebrations, Hagrid to return Sirius' bike, but Minerva straggled back a bit.

"Please Minerva, save the boys. Bolster that Gryffindor courage the boys are proud of and give them proper homes." Dorea pleaded, lying across the table childishly. Charlus was again reminded where James got a good part of his personality.

She went to Arabella Figg, a squib woman Dumbledore asked to watch the boys from afar.

"She can help! The both of you can save the boys! Please bring them back to their families." Dorea was so close to begging.

"Evening Minerva." Arabella greeted cordially, but lacked any joy. "Arabella can I ask a favor of you?" Minerva asked her.

"Take the boys. Take the boys. Take the boys." Dorea and James chanted, much to the amusement of Liliana and Charlus.

"Of course, Minerva." She responded. "If the boys seem like they're being mistreated at all, contact me. I can't shake this ominous feeling whenever I see the Dursleys." Minerva beseeched.

"Aww." James and Dorea sighed dejectedly. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Barty joked to Regulus in a hushed tone.

"They are a horrid bunch. I will do what I can for the boys. I'll send a kneazle-cat with any messages of concern." Arabella promised to Minerva.

"It's a start. Maybe this way they can have evidence to get the boys away." Narcissa said with a frown at the thought of her two cousins' sons living with muggles.

"Thank you Arabella." Minerva said as she apparated away.

"Is it too much to hope for something good to happen?" Sirius asked nervously.

When Arabella turned to go home, she was met with the twinkling blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore, who had his wand pointed at her.

Jaws went slack.

"Obliviate."