Dumbledore rushed to Number 4 Privet Dr. He had been in his office when the instruments he had watching young Harry's home had gone off indicating that the wards had fallen. He feared the worst, but as he entered the house without bothering to knock he found all the Dursleys eating dinner.
"Who the hell are you?" Vernon roared. "What are you doing in our house?"
"I am Albus Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Where is Young Harry?" Dumbledore asked, as politely as possible barely taking the time to introduce himself.
"Why should we know where that freak is?" Petunia said contemptuously. "We don't care if he's run away or if he never find his way home. He's no nephew of mine, because didn't you know Lily was not my sister. She was simply someone that my parents took in because they felt pity for her."
Dumbledore stared at the Petunia and knew that reason why the wards had suddenly come crashing down. With the general attitude of the Dursley family towards Harry Potter all the boy would've had to do was say that this place was not his home and the wards would've failed. They had been weak to begin with and Dumbledore had always wondered why, but if Harry Potter was not really related to Petunia then that would explain it. He suspected that the only reason the wards had come up in the first place was that Lily had lived with Petunia for several years so that was a kind of connection. That connection though hadn't been nearly as strong as true blood wards would have been.
He was going to have to start a search for the boy, for how far could a six-year-old get in a few hours? He had no way of knowing that Harry Potter was no longer present on this particular plane of existence, as he had been taken to the otherworld and would not return for some years.
He was going to have to find the boy and then figure out what he was going to do with him for it was clear he could not stay with Petunia, her husband and son. It was clear that Petunia did not care for him and Dumbledore wasn't surprised to find through use of Legilimency that the boy had been abused from the moment he had left him on their doorstep. In fact, it wasn't really surprising that Harry had supposedly run away for a happy well-adjusted child did not run away from their families. When he had left baby Harry on the doorstep of the Dursleys he had expected Petunia to treat him like her own, but apparently, he had been mistaken. Now, he only hoped he could correct his error and find Harry before it was too late.
"I had no idea that you and Lily weren't related, but even if you were not, I expected you to treat her son like he was your own and it is clear that he was abused from the moment I left him on your doorstep," Dumbledore thundered. "How you could mistreat a baby and then a young boy is beyond my understanding."
"We didn't want him here," Petunia screeched. "Even if Lily had truly been my sister, I would never have had anything to do with her since she had magic. I considered her a freak from the moment that her father asked my parents to take her in at least during the summer holidays. He paid my parents to look after her for some reason and he also paid for her education so at least he did the proper thing and didn't put that expense on my parents. I never saw her father again, but I understand that she spent the Christmas holidays as well as part of the summer with him. Sometimes I think my parents loved her more than they did me.
The jealousy in Petunia's tone was very obvious to Dumbledore. Jealousy over the fact that Petunia's parents had paid more attention to Lily who they had apparently taken in then to her.
"You, Dumbledore, didn't even bother to knock on our door and ask us if we wanted to take in another mouth to feed and we wouldn't have done so if not for that damn spell you put on the letter that you left in the basket. We would've dropped him off at an orphanage if it had been possible. You didn't even bother to give us a stipend to care for the boy, so that our finances weren't stretched so tight."
Dumbledore now had several unanswered questions and one of those was who was Lily's real father, since apparently it wasn't Howard Evans. Another question that needed answered was if it was Lily's real father that had tracked down his grandson and taken him somewhere. Apparently, Howard and Rose Evans had only been guardians for young Lily so that she could come to Hogwarts.
Petunia was right that he had never thought about giving the Dursley family a certain amount of money a month to look after Harry. It had never occurred to him that he might be putting them under a severe financial burden by basically forcing them to take in another child when their own son was only a few months old and Vernon had just started his career. The young Dursley family would have other financial concerns like paying for the house, for the electricity, for food and clothes.
Dumbledore understood more about the Muggle world then most other magicals, but none of these concerns had occurred to him at the time. He had just been in a rush to get Harry safe from the remains of the Death Eaters who would be after him to finish the job for destroying their master. He had apparently made the wrong decision and if the person who had taken Harry away had been his grandfather he doubted very much that the man would ever forgive him for what happened to his daughter, son-in-law and his grandson.
Dumbledore knew from personal experience that a lot of parents or grandparents for that matter didn't forgive someone for meddling in the lives of their family, especially if that family ended up in a bad situation due entirely to the meddler's own making. He knew from Petunia's memories that Harry had not only been mentally and emotionally abused, but physically abused as well. If that was the case he expected a confrontation to be coming sometime in the very near future. He would be very lucky if Harry's grandfather allowed his grandson to come to Hogwarts at all and that's only if an owl could find him with the invitation.
It was absolutely vital that Harry attended Hogwarts to be trained for there was a prophecy about him and Voldemort and the Dark Lord would never be defeated if Harry simply disappeared to some unknown country or even somewhere that was magically protected. He knew that he couldn't defeat Voldemort himself as he and Tom Riddle were to evenly matched, when it came to knowledge and power and he wasn't as young as he used to be either, which would only hamper him in winning a battle against Voldemort.
Vernon who had been silent for sometime rose suddenly and charged at Dumbledore. Dumbledore who had not been expecting an attack, still reacted quickly and froze Vernon in place.
"You had a responsibility to care for the child that I put in your care," Dumbledore said gravely with anger shimmering in his ancient blue eyes. "You had better hope and pray that you and Lily do not meet in the afterlife, as I know she will want to teach you a lesson for the way you have treated her son. You can't hide anything from me, because I can read the thoughts directly out of your minds. I see now you not only mentally and emotionally abused him, but also physically. You did everything you could to break his spirit and in doing so you only made his bouts of accidental magic worse for a child that isn't happy has more of them rather than less.
"You barely fed him enough to keep him alive and now I'm actually glad that it was likely his grandfather that took him away, so I have no doubt that he discovered what you were doing to Harry. If you had only treated him with love and affection or even indifference there would have been far fewer bouts of accidental magic. You have caused no end of trouble due to your hatred and you better hope and pray that you never encounter his grandfather for I'm sure he has plans for you, plans you will not like I'm sure."
"We've done nothing wrong," Petunia bleated, as she stared at Vernon in fear.
"You don't consider physically abusing a child, barely feeding him, making him work out in the hot sun with no protection and not allowed to come in for lunch until he's done, abuse? Or the fact that you fed him scraps that weren't even fit for pigs, abuse? And you don't count throwing him into a cupboard and locking the door from he outside? All these things are abuse in my book and they will be in the authorities books too," Dumbledore asked calmly, but with great anger in his posture and his normally twinkling blue eyes were instead filled with anger for the two people in front of him, causing both to cower away from him. "You didn't even have the common decency to give him a room of his own instead stuffing him into a tiny cupboard."
"He crawled in there as a baby and wouldn't emerge," Petunia shrieked.
"So you took a child that had just lost his parents, who likely used that cupboard as a safe haven, while he got over his grief at the loss and turned it into his bedroom instead of handling the situation in the right way by comforting him and telling him stories of Lily's childhood. No, you treated him like an unwanted burden from the first moment that you took him in. I realize that you're not totally to blame as it is my misjudgment that you were be suitable to look after him until he was gown.
"I had heard stories about how you and Lily didn't get along, but I thought no, Lily's sister surely wouldn't take out her resentment, anger and yes, even hatred of her sister on an innocent child. I thought surely she will raise her sister's child like he was her own and in that I was unfortunately mistaken.
"You will someday realize what a great opportunity you lost and if you do not get punished in this life for what you have done then you can expect to be punished for your crime against an innocent, especially a child, when you die. I hope sincerely that thought brings you no comfort for those who harm the innocent, especially children will be doubly, even triply punished when they finally pass away if they are not punished in life. I hope someday you realize that what you and your husband did to a defenseless child was not the right thing to do and also realize that you both need to find a way to make it up to him.
"Your punishment on the other side will be far less then if you make it up here while you are alive and free to do so."
Petunia said nothing, though she did look just a little guilty, and that was all to the good as far as he was concerned, Dumbledore thought.
As for her husband he was a lost cause as Dumbledore had read his mind that it was a truly dark place. Really, Vernon Dursley was not that different from Voldemort, but due simply the fact that he was a Muggle without an ounce of magic in him the Death Eaters would never accept him as one of them, despite their similar views. He was just like a lot of purebloods and very narrowminded so things that didn't fit his normal worldview were considered weird or strange and anybody who showed unusual powers in front of him were considered freaks including an innocent child.
"Well, I think I've wasted enough of my time here, as I have a young boy to find, a boy who is only six years old. Be glad that your son was visiting a friend of his for if he is like his father and I can see in your mind that he is, even if you try your best to deny it, then he will turn into just as much of a narrowminded bigot and bully. It will be totally your fault if he ends up in prison once he is grown."
"My son is not a bully!" Petunia screeched in denial.
"If you say so, Mrs. Dursley. You can deny it all you want, but considering what I've seen in your mind and in your husband's, that he beats up Harry every chance he gets that is what I call being a bully. I have no doubt that he terrorizes the neighborhood children and will only get worse as he gets older," said Dumbledore politely simply shaking his head at Petunia's denial and turned to leave, but before he did he released the spell on Vernon who fell to the floor. Dumbledore was gone before Vernon could get to his feet, but that didn't mean that he didn't look around wildly looking for his adversary before he finally realized that Dumbledore was gone.
~~~Dave and Harry~~~
5 years later
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Dave asked his grandson gently.
Harry had grown considerably in the five years he had been in Tír na nÓg or the otherworld. He was tall for his age with muscles under his long sleeved shirt from all the sword practice he did. His clothes were a strange mixture of leather and another material that wasn't readily identifiable. He was no longer malnourished like he had been when Dave had finally found him and it was clear that he had been well cared for and loved in the last few years.
His entrance into Dave's territory five years ago had been greeted with joy and he'd met his grandmother as well as all of Dave's younger children. Dave's companion or perhaps partner was better was not really his wife although he often called her that because it was rare for sídhe to marry, because if they did so it was for forever and since elves lived for a millennium before they finally died most of them never took the step to make their partnership legal and binding.
Dave used the term wife so that he didn't offend people's delicate sensibilities whenever he took trips to his old world known as Earth. Some people were rather particular Dave had told him and so it was best not to offend unless there was no other way or unless you wanted to for some reason.
Harry looked down from where he was standing on the parapet of the castle that stood in the very center of the realm that Dave had created himself. The thing about the otherworld was that it was mainly a mist that could be molded into anything if the person's will was strong enough. This other realm was as big as Earth, though there were different sections and territories.
Each sídh held as much territory as they wanted and fought off anybody that tried to take it. The otherworld could be a dangerous place, because there were many Unseelie that just loved to come in to someone's territory and cause trouble for someone. Of course, those Unseelie were usually more subtle than that and plotted and schemed.
"As ready as I'll ever be granddad," Harry finally said.
"You know that the visit to Gringotts tomorrow is necessary," Dave gently reminded his grandson.
Dave had learned several things as he had been back to England several times over the last five years. He had learned that Harry was known as the Boy Who Lived and that he was legendary for supposedly defeating Voldemort. Dave knew that this was a load of bullshit, but he knew that the British wizarding world was also very gullible and would sit back on their asses and do nothing if they learned that it was supposedly Harry that was meant to kill Voldemort once and for all. They would depend on a child or at most young man to defeat someone that should've been taken care of before he had gotten as far as he had.
There was a prophecy about Harry and this Voldemort character, but since his own seers had agreed that his grandson must return to defeat this Voldemort, Dave had no choice but to accept it. However, that didn't mean that his grandson wouldn't have numerous forces from Tír na nÓg to help accomplish his goal.
The goblins were the only other ones that knew that Dave was not a magical or a human, as they could see through glamours easily. They had always treated him and his daughter like royalty because sídhe were not often seen and in fact, they were nothing more than a legend to a lot of people.
On one of Dave's trips to England he had happened to enter Gringotts Bank to set up an account for his grandson for when he returned to England, even though he knew that the Potter fortune was more than adequate and as soon as he had done so it had been requested that he follow the goblin to Ragnok's office.
Dave and Ragnok had talked for a long time, but the main thing was that the goblins wanted to support Harry in the fight that was likely coming his way, but they could not do that overtly. They knew that Voldemort would not treat them any better then the British wizarding community currently did and in fact, it was likely to be worse for Voldemort and his Death Eaters were not known for their tolerance of anyone other than another pureblood.
All they had asked for in return was that Harry try his best to get them seen as something other than the financial version of the house-elf. Dave thought this was perfectly reasonable and what should have been happening all along, so he'd promised to talk to his grandson and that he would be here for the meeting that had been set up.
"I know, and it is not that I really object to," Harry tried his best to explain. "It's the fact, that this will be the first time I've been seen in England ever since you took me away and I'm not looking forward to the adulation of the people. Also, you know perfectly well that Dumbledore will hear about my return and will be on me like lint. It's that I'm not looking forward to not this meeting."
Dave gave his grandson a hug, but he did understand Harry's reservations. What young boy would look forward to confronting someone much older and also much more powerful. Dave was sure that Dumbledore would try his best to get control of Harry, because of that blasted prophecy, as he had been the one to leave him with Petunia and her family after all. Dumbledore might not be evil, though Dave wasn't to sure of that, he could just be controlling. Dumbledore was not going to get his wish and certain ground rules were going to have to be set down before Dave allowed Harry to come to Hogwarts.
"I understand, but believe me Dumbledore won't get control of you. He might try, but we have many allies. We can also blackmail him and say that you will not come to Hogwarts if he tries to control you. I'll simply tell him that I'm watching him very closely and if he does anything I or you don't like then you'll be gone. I think that will muzzle him for the short term anyway.
"We'll just have to see how it goes. Remember, you have plenty of power and you'll only grow stronger magically the older you get. Not only do you have the power from your father you also have a different kind from your mother. I doubt that Dumbledore will be expecting you to have the power of a sídhe or that you know how to control it."
"Considering you've been training me ever since I arrived I should have control of it by now," Harry snorted the humor in his tone obvious and Dave simply smiled.
"You know what I mean," Dave admonished his grandson gently.
"Yes, I know what you mean," Harry said quietly, as he slumped against the parapet. "I'm looking forward to finding out about the estate my parents left me, as you have said that you knew the Potters were quite wealthy. It's not really the money I care about you know, but it will be nice to see some of the things that my parents owned. I don't really care about how wealthy they were so long as it is enough that I won't starve like my supposed aunt tried to do to me."
Harry said the word aunt very sarcastically, but Dave couldn't blame him. Harry had been learning about what a real family was like over the last few years, one that loved and cared about you and went out of their way to help you out if you were in some kind of trouble or had a nightmare. Someone who did things for you without being asked and helped you when you were ill.
"From what I hear the Potter fortune is quite substantial, but it's nice to know that you don't really care about money, which means that you aren't a greedy person and that is all to the good," Dave said approvingly causing his grandson to blush a little. "From what I know of your father while he wasn't greedy, he was a bit of a bully when he was younger, but he outgrew that thank goodness."
Harry listened attentively as Dave told him some of what he knew about his father.
"I think that he didn't truly mean to be a bully, but he was young and young people are often shortsighted and arrogant because they are so sure of their abilities or of their desirability. In some cases, they are bullies to cover up their feelings of inadequacy or lack of self-confidence. It's not right of course, but people are not perfect and neither are sídhe or any sentient race. Your mother helped him grow up, become a better person," Dave said. "I suspect that he was somewhat spoiled to, as I know he was an only child. Only children are often spoiled, especially if it's not possible for the parents to have anymore whatever the reason for that may be. The mother could've had trouble giving birth and so the Healer may have recommended that she not try to have anymore. That's only one reason though as there are numerous reasons why your father was an only child."
"I think I understand," Harry said.
"You'll truly understand one day once you have a little experience with other people. Some concepts are just harder to understand for the young. Now what about some cookies?"
"Fresh baked or kenned?" Harry asked immediately.
"Fresh baked of course," Dave grinned.
Kenning was something simply meant creating something out of magic, but it often didn't taste exactly right or at least it wasn't quite the same as making something by hand with real ingredients.
Dave also enjoyed real food, not just food made by magic, which was one of the reasons that he enjoyed going out in to the human world so much.
"Then let's go," Harry said eagerly, causing Dave to chuckle. "What can I say I just love Grandma's cookies."
"I do too, but she would never do them just for me, so consider yourself special," Dave chuckled. "That she does them for you ought to tell you that she loves you and our children a great deal."
Harry said nothing simply raced inside and towards the kitchen Dave followed at a more sedate pace smiling the whole time. Harry was happy and that was what mattered.
~~~Dave and Harry~~~