A/N:

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. This chapter took less time than we had expected and the next post will (hopefully) be tomorrow.

Still no ideas for pairings so please tell us if you have one in mind. We would also love to hear ideas for future chapters (We have planned everything up to Halloween but we can change our plans) and any mistakes we could fix.

16/08/23

xXxDoubleKxXx

DavidoDaVinci

Chapter 2: In the Office

Albus Dumbledore paced around his office, deep in thought. Dumbledore's long, wispy hair was always tucked into his belt and in the dim half light of sunset, his half moon spectacles shone, illuminated. His Crooked nose had been broken long ago, and it was not entirely unreasonable to believe that he had just been born with these features and that they were simply a constant to remain with the wizarding world for the foreseeable future. However, it may be important, and indeed necessary, to say that the old man was human, and by extension, mortal.

It would also be good to note the same about Lord Voldemort.

Dumbledore had a problem, however, and this problem was the fact that a Hogwarts letter was automatically sent to every Hogwarts student to be, and they all had their name down from birth, and that letter was, of course sent to them, eleven years after. The problem was that one such student, Harry Potter, had presumably been killed at the age of one.

Now the problem with THAT was that if Harry really was dead, the letter would have not been sent. This, therefore proved that Harry Potter, who should have died 10 years ago, was alive and well. This had been brought to Albus Dumbledore's attention, only because Mr Harry Potter himself had written to him.

However, Harry had also written to another person on the same night, and we shall start with them as they are, what with everything else, less important.

xxx

Draco Malfoy was heading off to bed. It had been a rather boring day, he thought. He had simply spent an hour making sure his hair was perfect, been tutored, had lunch and all the other things which are both important and obscenely uninteresting.

He had to remind himself however, that it was not really an uninteresting day at all.

The reason was quite simple, the owl he had been awaiting eagerly for months had finally arrived. His Hogwarts Letter! Which meant he, Draco Malfoy, would not be TUTORED anymore, but would spend hours being sorted into Slytherin and… and…

Hmmm… that was odd…

The truth was, Draco had never been to real school before, and didn't really know what he would actually spend his time doing… learning… probably.

But what more was there to learn?

At least Harry was going too. He had received the letter confirming that only a few minutes earlier. He would be heading to Diagon Alley tomorrow and was convinced that Harry would also be going. Unfortunately, that meant the Dark Lord would also be going and Lord Voldemort really didn't like Draco. It had taken much intervention from both Harry and himself to keep him alive and well.

He followed this train of thought for about half an hour, during which nothing in particular happened.

However, Draco did not know that something very particular indeed was about to happen.

Just as Draco had decided that maybe Voldemort might like him if he grew up and killed a bunch of people from the ministry, a snowy owl flew in through the window, and he recognised it at once.

"Hedwig!" he exclaimed.

The moment he took the letter, the owl flew away.

He knew who it was from; he ripped open the parchment.

Dear Draco,

You'll probably not be surprised to hear, but I got my Hogwarts letter!

I have no doubt you have received yours too by now.

My father is taking me and Bella to Diagon Alley tomorrow at around eleven in the morning. We will, of course, be under glamours, so keep a look out for a middle-aged man with light brown hair, a tall blonde witch and me, but with blue eyes and no glasses.

I also wanted to discuss my cover while at Hogwarts (I can't exactly walk into Hogwarts and say I'm the son of Lord Voldemort). I am going to keep my birth name as Harry Potter and say I grew up in a muggle orphanage. I will pretend to know nothing at all about my Father and his followers which means we must act as 'enemies' and I must make 'friends'.

See you tomorrow.

Your friend,

Harry

Draco re-folded the parchment. Well, that was not exactly what he had been expecting from the next letter Harry would send him.

xxx

Dumbledore had decided. He had decided when he had been pacing in his office.

Half an hour ago, he had sent for Professor McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and James and Lily Potter for an emergency meeting. McGonagall had arrived first, only five minutes later. Minerva McGonagall was a tall witch with a tall, black hat to match. She wore a long green dress that had the somewhat annoying habit of trailing behind her on the ground. Her square glasses were perched precariously atop her nose. Lily Potter was wearing a white blouse, navy-blue trousers, black Converse sneakers and had her red hair in a long plait down her back. Her shockingly green eyes were the only thing her first son had inherited from her. She was sad to find she had almost forgotten. Her husband was in jeans and a casual t-shirt. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were wearing similar clothes.

Once they were all together, Dumbledore waved his wand, and six identical chairs and a table appeared. They all sat.

"So, Dumbledore," came Sirius' voice. "You called?"

"Indeed I did, Sirius," Dumbledore spoke in a calming voice, but his piercing blue eyes did not have their usual shine today.

"Is this about the Order?" asked James, looking worried, "Has anyone been attacked?"

"No, no." Dumbledore reassured him. "No one has been hurt today, or for the last month, for that matter. It is quite suspicious, but as no one has been hurt, it is not an immediate worry."

He wore a look appropriate for a funeral.

"Something's happened, hasn't it?" Lily asked. The expression was all too common nowadays.

"Yes," said Dumbledore, sadly. "Something has indeed happened, and it's far worse than another attack."

"Has someone… died, Albus?" Professor McGonagall's usually calm voice shook at the idea of losing another friend to Lord Voldemort.

The room was silent. Everybody was waiting for bad news.

After a minute, or it might have been a hundred minutes, Dumbledore spoke.

"Are any of you aware of the way Hogwarts Letters are sent?"

The Marauders and Hogwarts Professors all shook their heads.

"Well, there is a magical quill in a room behind this office. The door is disguised and only the current headmaster or headmistress can enter this room. The quill decides which students will be the ones to attend the school each year and writes the letters. It then signs them as the deputy head at the time."

"Okay," Lupin said thoughtfully, "That sounds like a reasonable system…"

"Yes, I thought so too," Dumbledore smiled.

"But…?" James had spoken.

"Well, if the person in question was dead…" Dumbledore trailed off.

"The letter wouldn't be sent?" Lily thought she might have begun to see where this was going.

"Precisely. And there is no one monitoring who it is sent to."

Lily definitely thought so.

"Today was the day the Hogwarts Letters were sent to the next first-years."

Sirius nodded.

"And they, of course, tend to write replies."

Everyone nodded.

"And today I was sent a response from someone I was not expecting."

Lily was certain she knew now what was going on.

"Lily?" The Headmaster was looking at her.

She braced herself.

"He's alive."

A long pause.

"Who's alive?" James asked, confused.

Dumbledore sighed. "Your son, Harry Potter."