(03 Oct 2009: Luna-Lovegood-Granger has said she would like to do a story based on this.)

(01 Jan 2010: spottyslope has started a story based on this.)

Odds and Ends

2 - Got Milk?

Bruce parked his milk truck between number six and number four. The parking lights on his panel truck made an eerie glow in the early morning fog. Looking to the east, he saw the faint glow that indicated dawn was not far away. That meant he was right on time to finish his shift.

Checking the order sheet, he saw that number six wanted a pint of cream, in addition to their normal two quarts of milk. Number four wanted nothing extra, so it was the usual three quarts for them. Grabbing what he needed, he put the bottles in his wire basket and walked out of his quietly running truck to deliver them.

He dropped off number six's first, where he also picked up a few empty bottles. But when he arrived at number four's porch, he found a surprise. Without thinking he swapped the full bottles for the empties, but his attention was riveted to a wicker basket containing a small face wrapped in a blue blanket. Peeling back the blanket revealed the rest of a sleeping baby with a blood encrusted scar on its little forehead.

Bruce's anger flared. Who would leave an injured baby on a doorstep on a very cool November night, because that was clearly what had happened. Or else, he suddenly thought, did the baby belong to these people and they were trying to give the baby to him, or anyone else who came along early in the morning? Looking again, he noticed an envelop in the basket. It was too dark to read it here, so he picked up the basket of baby and his basket of bottles, and returned to his truck. The bottles were stashed with barely a thought.

The baby basket was put beside his chair in the draft of the warm air from the floor heater. He again picked up the envelope with no name. With a shrug, he opened it and began to read.

Dear Petunia,

OK, that meant this family was not getting rid of the baby, and that it had been dropped off here. The name Petunia rang a bell somewhere too, and it was not because it was on his order sheet. All that was there was "V. Dursley".

I'm terribly sorry to inform you that your sister Lily and her husband James have been murdered. Fortunately, little Harry survived and I bring him to you because you are the last of the Evans line and there are no Potters.

Petunia Evans, Lily Evans. Why did that ring a bell? Bruce kept reading.

I ask that you accept him into your home. If you will verbally say, "I accept Harry Potter into my home as part of my family," then that will complete his protection for as long as he can call your house his home. That will keep him, and by extension your family too, safe.

Please raise him as your own and tell him of his heritage when he gets older. We will contact you when he turns 11 to make arrangements to send him to school.

Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore

That's some name, Bruce thought. He also considered the situation he was presently in, or rather the situation the baby was in. It was quite cool outside, in fact, he was glad for the heater in his truck on at the moment. He also had met the Dursleys a few times trying to collect payment when they had not mailed theirs in. They had not been pleasant people, although maybe that was just because he had been making a collection. Still, they did not look like pleasant people and they had been very rude to him. Lastly, the names Petunia, Lily, Evans, and Potter seemed familiar for some reason. Then it hit him.

A few years ago, his wife had dragged him to a family reunion on her side. There, they had met a second cousin or something named Lily Evans who was engaged to a bloke named Potter. That Lily had a sister named Petunia. He wondered what the odds were they were all the same people. In thinking back, he would have to admit that he had not paid much attention to everyone, but there was some similarities between those women and the woman who lived at the Dursley house, at least from what little he could remember.

Figuring it could not hurt, Bruce wedged the wicker basket in among the crates and then slowly started driving back to the plant. He'd drop the truck off and take the baby home. Sarah would remember if all the names fit and if this Petunia Evans became a Dursley. If not, he could take the baby back before the Dursleys woke up. If they did all match, then he and Sarah were family too and he would bet that he could convince her to keep the abandoned baby.

They had been trying to have a baby for several years and had not been able to, so he all but knew that Sarah would say yes. Adopting the baby, Harry he remembered, should be pretty easy. Their home would be far better than an orphanage, and probably better than the Dursleys as well. They would be sure little Harry did not lose his heritage, whatever that was. When he got older, Bruce would explain what happened and let Harry decide what name he wanted: Potter or Creevey.

(note to self: actually colin should have just been born, so perhaps the problem is they can't have any more and wanted 1 more, so she'll say yes to get another)

--- end of premise ---

Notes:

Sarah is a distant Muggle relative (2nd or 3rd cousin and about 10 yrs older than Lily/Petunia), and because she's a Muggle and not in the immediate family of Lily, the wizarding world not keep track of her.

Will Sarah uttering the "magic phrase" constitute acceptance? (yes)

Assuming Dumbledore has his little silver instruments already attuned to Harry, how will they react? (showing normal?) Or are they attuned to Privet Dr? (where they'd show dead) (todo: work out the magical theory on the instruments and what/who AD would have attuned them to)

What happens when Figg gets on the scene and discovers no HP? When would she show up? (could be a couple of years) How long would it take her to find out? How would the Dursleys react when the old woman is poking her nose in their business, and therefore how would they react to AD when he shows up inquiring about Harry, whom they know nothing of?

Is it possible for Dumbledore to track Harry in any other way to find him? (are there tracking charms on him?) Can an owl be tracked or a tracking charm put on a letter? It would be far more fun if AD could not track Harry down before the Hogwarts letter came out.

Fun thought: It's Harry's presence that allows Sarah to get pregnant, causing Colin to be conceived. (alas, the timing doesn't quite work out, as colin would need to be born already). More realistic: they have Colin, but something happened and they think they'll never have another child, along comes Harry and his strong magic allows little brother Dennis to be conceived in a year or so, making him a surprise baby.

(/IF/ AD can find HP in 1981) What if the Creeveys adopt him before Dumbledore finds him, would Dumbledore try to take Harry away, especially when he can see strong blood wards in existence? What would the Creeveys do if AD tried? Would AD explain Harry's magical heritage or just say that he'll be back when Harry is 11? Would Hagrid still be sent after Harry in the summer of 1991?

What if AD quickly finds out (due to his instruments) that Harry is not with the Dursleys? (the opposite of the above paragraph) What would he do and what would the Creevey's do? (they would not yet be the legal guardians, unless he waits too long)

How would Harry be changed by growing up in a loving family:? With 2 little brothers (Colin and Dennis) who won't be fan-boys? Does this change where he gets sorted? Does this personality change affect who his close friends are (almost certainly if he gets sorted into a different house, which might happen because he would grow up knowing what love and acceptance is)

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(A/N: This story is abandoned because I just don't feel like writing the typical "Harry raised by another family" story.)