The Original Order reads Harry Potter Book 1
Chapter Three: The Boy Who Lived.
Previously in the last chapter.
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death!" Everyone in the room said the phrase in a loud and clear voice.
As soon as everyone said the phrase, the entire room was engulfed by a bright flash of light, making everyone to tightly closed their eyes but not letting go of each other's hands. The bright flash of light grew brighter and intense before it suddenly disappeared, as if a switch was being turned off. However, when the flash of light ended, there was a very important fact.
Everyone in the meeting room was gone.
(In the Present)
The transport journey that was carrying the Order of the Phoenix and their guests was like a Portkey, something that made their stomachs lurched since Portkeys tend to be uncomfortable and makes people either sick or have nausea. Everyone was expecting to feel sickness, uncomfortable and nausea, but they weren't feeling anything at all, much to their very great surprised.
'Could the people in the future finally figure out how to make Portkeys more comfortable during transport?' Everyone thought, looking extremely hopeful for that case. If the people from the future did make Portkeys more comfortable during transport, then they would use Portkeys from now on instead of using Floo powder.
Sadly, everyone's thoughts about the comfortable Portkey came to end when they suddenly landed hard on the ground, almost making them stumbled. Regaining their balance and adjusting themselves, everyone looked around to see where they are, only to widened their eyes from what they saw.
The Order and their guests were standing in a large, blue-covered, bronze-trimmed, squared room that almost looked like the common room of Ravenclaw, but with the room being squared instead of circular, you can tell the difference between the rooms. There wasn't much in the room, except a wide, blue-color, circular couch with a gap where everyone can walk through and sit down in a spot, a white refrigerator and a small table that was in the middle of the couch. On the small table was the books that came from the future.
"What is this place?" Sirius asked, looking around the room in awe.
"This is the Room of Requirement, Mr. Black," Filius Flitwick, a tiny, elder, half human/half Goblin wizard with white hair, fair skin and blue eyes, replied in a squeaky voice. "Also known as the Come and Go Room. It's a secret room that's located in Hogwarts and built by Rowena Ravenclaw."
"Wait, we're in Hogwarts?!" Lily exclaimed with wide eyes, shocked at this information, along with everyone else.
"That is correct, Mrs. Potter," Filius replied with a merry chuckle. "I discovered what the room was one day when I was doing a night patrol on the seventh floor. I was beyond tired from grading my student's work all day and I thought how great it would be to sleep in a room with a large bathtub to relax in. Imagine my surprise when I turned around after hearing a noise to see a door appearing from out of the wall."
"You were so surprised that you blasted the door with an Exploding Charm?" James asked with a mirthful grin. He was earned with a playful stern look from the Charms Professor.
"No, I did not blast the door, Mr. Potter. I went to investigate it, but with constant vigilance since I didn't know what was on the other side of the door." Filius replied, earning an approved nod from Moody. "When I entered through the door, I became shocked from what I have seen. I was standing in a beautiful, blue-covered room that had a very comfortable bed and a large bathtub for me to relax in. My first thought after I gotten over my shock was, 'What in the name of Merlin is this room and how does it work?' The answer to my question appeared in a form of a letter."
"Really, Filius? A letter?" Minerva asked with an unimpressed look. "How can a letter explain your question about the room you explored during a night patrol?"
Before a rather embarrassed Filius Flitwick can defend himself against his fellow colleague, Narcissa spoke up in her usual drawling and cold voice. "As much as we want to know more about this room, are we going to sit down on the couch and read those books from the future? I have grown tired of waiting and I don't intend to wait any longer." Without giving anyone time to react, the Malfoy matriarch crossed over to circular couch in two strides, went through the gap and elegantly sat down on the right side of the couch, while placing her hands on her lap.
Narcissa's actions caused scowls to appear on the Order's faces, except Lily, who silently walked over to the couch, went through the gap, sat down on the left side of the couch and leaned forward to observe the books from the future. They did not like the woman's attitude at all, and they were seriously considering teaching her a lesson, but a warning look from Dumbledore and a dangerous look from Andromeda made them stopped in their tracks. While the Order didn't want to disappoint Dumbledore again, they did not want to face Andromeda because of the look in her eye. To them, the woman can be dangerous when mad since she was raised as a Black, despite getting disowned from marrying a Muggle-born.
"I agree with Cissy. Are we going to read the books or not?" Andromeda asked, as she walked over to the couch, went through the gap and sat down next to Narcissa, who gave her a smile. Andromeda's family wasn't that far behind to join her on the couch, with Ted sitting next to Andromeda's right side and Nymphadora Tonks sitting on her mother's lap. "While time may have stopped outside, I don't want to wait any longer."
"We are going to read the books, Mrs. Tonks. But before we can do that, we must make ourselves comfortable first." Dumbledore replied, as he walked over to the couch, went through the gap and sat down in the middle of couch. It wasn't long until everyone sat down on the circular couch, except Moody, who had chosen to stand behind Dumbledore, and Hagrid, who was sitting on a wooden armchair behind James and Lily, the former conjuring the armchair and the latter still observing the books from the future.
"So, are we ready to read the books?" Emmeline asked, feeling excited that everyone was about to read her idea she suggested a week ago. Everyone nodded their heads. "Great, but who should read first?"
"We should let Lily read first since she had been staring at the books the longest." Remus replied, noticing Lily had been staring at the books from the future for a while. The said woman jumped slightly in the air from being discovered what she was doing, and a blush of embarrassment appeared on her face.
"T-thanks for the offer, Remus," Lily said in a small voice, trying to regain her composure but failing miserably since everyone was laughing at her. She then took a deep breath and gave everyone a fierce glare that caused them to stop laughing. Feeling satisfied, Lily leaned forward and took one of the books from the future, which happens to be the start of the series.
"What's the name of the book, Lily?" Marlene asked from the right side of the couch.
"The title of the book is called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Lily replied, causing every Pureblood or Half-blood in the room to widen their eyes from hearing the last words. They didn't need to read a book of what the Sorcerer's Stone is since it belong to a very famous person. But they were confused about one thing: What does this Harry Potter have to do with the stone?
There were many possible theories in everyone's head who knows about the famous Sorcerer's Stone, but they decided to stay silent since they didn't want to spoil the book. Lily didn't notice the silence in room as she opened the book, flip a few pages and began to read the first chapter.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. 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.
"Dursley? Where have I heard that name before?" Lily asked, as she stopped reading the book and put on a thoughtful look on her face. She had distinctly heard of the name before but couldn't place it.
"Maybe the book can tell you if you read more of it, Li-flower." James said, causing Lily's face to flush red from asking a stupid question before she went back to reading the book again.
Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was a thin woman with blonde hair and a long neck, which was used to craned over garden fences and spy on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and there was no finer boy anywhere in the Dursley's point of view.
"Ah! Now, I know what Dursley is! He is my sister's husband!" Lily exclaimed in realization, as she stopped reading the book again.
"Your sister doesn't really have good taste in men." Andromeda stated, wrinkling her nose at the description of Mr. Dursley, along with every female in the room. They find it hard to believe that a man so big and so beefy can actually be a husband, much less a human being. Mr. Dursley could either be a walrus or a elephant.
"That's because she doesn't have good taste at all." Lily said, looking unsurprised by what she said.
"Mrs. Potter!" Minerva exclaimed, looking at her former student in astonishment.
Lily's face flushed red once again and she quickly ducked her head down to read the book.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.
That sentence caused everyone in the room to raise their eyebrows in confusion. What is the Dursleys greatest fear?
The Dursleys didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they haven't met or even talk for several years. In fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister because her sister and good for nothing husband were as unDursleyish as possible to be.
"Is unDursleyish even a word?" Narcissa asked, confused at the word.
"No, that's not a word at all, Cissy." Andromeda replied, chuckling a bit. "It's just a made-up word."
"Are you sure? I think I heard of it before." Elphias Doge spoke up from Dumbledore's right side.
"Where could you have possibly heard of it, Doge? It's not a real word!" Andromeda exclaimed, giving the old man an annoyed look.
While everyone else was talking about the unDursleyish word, a certain couple were not speaking at all because of what Mrs. Dursley had described them.
"I'm a good for nothing husband?! Me?!" James exclaimed in outrage, fighting the urge to leave the room, track down the Dursleys and give them a piece of his mind. Sirius and Remus were trying to calm the raven-hair man down, but they were also angry at the Dursleys and wanted to give them a piece of their mind.
"After everything we done since we were children, this is how my sister repays me? By pretending I don't exist at all because I married someone from the Magical World?" Lily quietly asked to herself, trembling slightly from anger and balling her fists tightly, though she made sure to do the last part on her lap so that she wouldn't ruin the book's pages. She couldn't believe how her sister was acting towards her in the book, by pretending Lily doesn't exist at all and not even trying to speak to her. It was heartbreaking and sad to do that to a sister, but in Lily's case, it was the last straw for Petunia Dursley. She was cutting ties with her magical sister. "Well, if that's what you want to be, dear sister, then fine. I see no reason to speak to you any longer."
"Now, don't you think that's a little extreme, Mrs. Potter?" Dumbledore asked, hearing what Lily said. "I'm sure Mrs. Dursley didn't mean-"
"Stay out of it, Dumbledore." Lily snarled angrily, turning to face the old wizard. "This is family business, and you are sure as hell not family." She then picked up the book and continued to read where she left off, not noticing the shock looks she was earning from everyone in the room.
The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son too, but they had never seen him.
"Hey, we have a son, James!" Lily exclaimed happily, as she stopped reading the book and turned to face James with a grin on her face. "I always wanted a son!"
"Should we name him Harry?" James asked with a grin of his own.
Lily nodded. "Yeah, let's name our son that when he comes to our world."
"Can we please get back to the book?" Minerva asked with a small bite of annoyance in her voice. "We haven't even gotten past the first chapter!"
"Sorry," Lily and James said with sheepish expressions on their faces before the former went back to reading.
This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they, the Dursleys, didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Andromeda thundered with a dangerous look in her eyes, heavily offended by that last sentence. "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!"
"Yeah, what does that sentence mean exactly?" Ted added with a growl in his voice.
"Andi, calm down." Narcissa ordered, even though she too was looking angry and wanted to know the meaning of that last sentence. If she had a child, she would also be offended like her big sister.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Cissy." Andromeda said harshly, causing the blonde-hair woman to slightly wince from forgetting about Andromeda's temper. "I want to know the meaning of that sentence."
"It means the Dursleys doesn't want anything to do with us, Mrs. Tonks. Our kind, to be exact." Lily explained, remembering how bitter her sister had become after she gotten her Hogwarts letter. "They absolutely hate magic to the very bone."
"How can anyone hate magic? Magic is amazing!" Dedalus Diggle, an energetic, excitable, late-twenties, below average-height man with short, brown hair, fair skin and brown eyes, exclaimed from Emmeline's left side.
"To some people, yes. But to the Dursleys, no." Lily said, giving the excitable man a look before reading the book again.
When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on a dull, gray Tuesday, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest strange and mysterious things that was about to happen 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 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," Mr. Dursley chortled as he left the house. He got into his car, backed out of number four's drive and started to drive to work, his mind thinking about a large order of drills.
However, it wasn't until Mr. Dursley came up to a stop sign when he noticed something peculiar, causing his mind about the large order of drills to vanished. Standing at the end of Privet Drive was a tabby cat reading a map.
"It's McGonagall," Sirius stated, earning a glare from the Transfiguration Professor.
"Why on Earth would I be doing at Privet Drive of all places, Sirius?" Minerva asked, even though she wanted to know why her future self was doing at Privet Drive.
"Maybe to check out how handsome Mr. Dursley is?" Fabian and Gideon suggested in unison, laughing loudly at the complete horrifed expression on Minerva's face before they went became white as a ghost when the Transfiguration Professor sent them a very cold and very frightening glare that Voldemort would be proud of.
"I think it's best we continued reading the book, Lily." Remus suggested, trying not to show how scared he was from seeing the glare on Minerva's face.
"Yeah," Lily agreed, also trying not to show how scared she was from the glare. She then turned her attention to the book and hastily began to read again.
For a second, Mr. Dursley wasn't sure if he was seeing things correctly since cats cannot read maps, then he whirled his head around in the driver's seat. There was no mistaking it, the cat Mr. Dursley saw was still reading the map before, as if sensing a pair of eyes, turning to look at him. Mr. Dursley stared back at the cat, and it stared back unblinkingly. The stare off between human and animal continued for a few more moments before Mr. Dursley ended it by turning his car around the corner and drive away.
Mr. Dursley continued to drive to work in silence, putting the tabby cat out of his mind and rethinking the large order of drills. He had convinced himself that what he saw must be a trick to the light and wasn't fully awake yet. He just needs to have a cup of coffee. But as he got into the edge of town and into the usual morning traffic jam, Mr. Dursley's mind about drills were driven out by something else, something that was peculiar as the cat.
Mr. Dursley couldn't help but notice a strange bunch of people that were dressed in weird outfits, which were cloaks. He couldn't bear adult people who dressed in funny clothes; they were supposed to be worn on young children or teenagers, not adults! He supposed the cloaks were new fashion or something and it was stupid and hideous.
"Is Mr. Dursley talking about our clothes?" Dedalus asked, gesturing the outfit he was wearing, which was a purple cloak with a purple hat.
"What else would he be talking about, you idiot? Your hair?" Narcissa snidely asked.
"How should I know!?" Dedalus asked in a heated tone, glaring at the blonde-hair woman.
"Enough," Dumbledore said, ceasing any argument. "Lily, please continue."
Lily nodded and continued to read.
Mr. Dursley drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he continued to observe the strange people, and his eyes fell upon a group of them who seemed to be whispering excitedly. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see one of the strange people, a man to be précised, wasn't young at all than the others, and the man looked older than him, wearing an emerald-green cloak of all things!
'The nerve of that man!' Mr. Dursley thought, staring at the old man with anger in his eyes. 'Does he not know anything about fashion?!' It was then a simple thought struck Mr. Dursley, causing his anger at the old man to vanish. 'Wait, this has to be a silly stunt. Yeah, it has to be a stunt because these weirdos must be collecting something and whatever it is, I do not want to know at all.' Thinking with that conclusion, Mr. Dursley turned his gaze towards the traffic and just in time because the cars were moving. A few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot.
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 owl's swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did. They pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time.
"That isn't normal owl behavior." Dorcas Meadows, a tall, dark-skin woman with black hair and brown eyes, stated in a smooth voice.
"Yeah, something must've happened to cause this strange behavior with the owls and the people." Minerva agreed with a nod of her head. "But the question is, what happened?"
"I know we heard the same thing over and over, but if we read more of the book, our questions will be answered." Alice said from the end of the couch. That caused Lily to read the book again.
Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people, made several important calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, thinking it would be a good idea to stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy a bun from the bakery. He had forgotten about the people in cloaks until he passed by a group of them by the bakers, whispering excitedly like the last group of people, and he eyed them angrily. The sight of those weirdos made him feel uneasy and scared and he didn't even want to go near them. So, he walked past them and went inside the bakery.
"We are not weirdos!" Sirius and James exclaimed in unison, standing up from the coach and waving their arms dramatically. "We are amazing people!"
"Yeah!" Everyone in the room agreed.
Smiling and shaking her head a bit from Sirius's and James's antics, Lily resumed reading the book.
It was a few minutes later that Mr. Dursley came out of the bakery, clutching a bag with a large doughnut in it, and began walking back to his office. He had just walked past the group of weirdos when he caught a few words from them.
"The Potters, that right. That's what I heard…"
"Yeah, their son, Harry…"
Mr. Dursley stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the Potters and fear flooded him, causing a bit of sweat to appear on his brow. Why was the group of weirdos talking about the Potters? Did something happened that caused the group to talk excitedly about them? He turned to look at the people as if he wanted to say something to them but thought better of it and dashed across the road when it was safe to walk. As soon as Mr. Dursley reached the Grunnings building and made it up on the nineth floor – the doughnut being quickly eaten in the elevator – he hurried to his office, snapped at his secretary to not disturb him, seized his telephone and began dialing his home number.
Mr. Dursley had just almost finished dialing the number when he changed his mind and put the receiver down to not only stroke his mustache but to think. He was being stupid; Potter wasn't an unusual name. He was sure there were other people called Potter who had a son named Harry.
"There isn't any Potters in the Muggle World, just in the Magical World." James said, shaking his head. "If there was, then they would look nothing like I do." He was earned with chuckles around the room. "Li-flower, can you please continue reading?"
Lily nodded and resume reading.
Come to think of it, Mr. Dursley wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never seen the boy. It might have been Harvey or Harold.
"Ugh, those names are horrible." Andromeda said, mentally crossing out those names.
"I agree," Narcissa seconded, also mentally crossing out those names. "I wouldn't name my son with a horrible name, not even Lucius."
"He would name a baby with a horrible name." Sirius countered, giving Narcissa a mocking look. "Dear old Lucy would name the baby Lucius Junior." He was earned with an angry glare from the Malfoy matriarch.
"Sirius," Dumbledore warned, giving the black-hair man a look to stay silent. When the man listened, Dumbledore gave Lily a nod, which signified her to read the book.
There was no point of worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. Mr. Dursley didn't blame her. If he had a sister like that, he didn't want anything to do with her…but at same time, those people in cloaks...
Mr. Dursley found it a lot harder 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 right at the main lobby door, which happens to be a tiny man.
"Dedalus." Everyone stated, looking at the said man who had a surprised expression on his face.
"Sorry." Mr. Dursley grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized the man he knocked into was wearing a violet cloak and didn't seem upset from being almost knocked to the ground at all. On the contrary, the man's face split into a wide smile and exclaimed in a squeaky voice that made people nearby 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 celebrating on this happy day!" The old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off, humming cheerfully.
There was a stunned silence in the Room of Requirement, everyone couldn't form words at all because they were repeating the words future Dedalus said in their minds.
"You-Know-Who has gone at last!"
"You-Know-Who has gone at last!"
"You-Know-Who has gone at last!"
"Y-You-Know-Who is…gone?" Marlene breathed out in shock, not looking completely convinced of what she just said.
"Impossible…" Narcissa breathed out, her deep blue eyes filled with pure shock and disbelief. She couldn't not believe that the Dark Lord, the one who was resigning at her husband's manor as headquarters, was defeated.
Everyone continued to look stun from this information before Sirius suddenly let out a cheer and stood up from his seat. "YEAH! THIS IS GREAT NEWS, GUYS! YOU-KNOW-WHO IS FINALLY DEFEATED! WE WON!" That exclamation was enough to snap everyone out of their stunned state and started cheering with Sirius.
However, the only people who were not cheering was Dumbledore and Narcissa, the latter still looking stun and disbelief from hearing the Dark Lord being defeated and the former having a pensive look on his face. He had been paying close attention when the book mentioned the Potters, something that made a sinking feeling appeared in Dumbledore's stomach. The sinking feeling grew more when future Dedalus mentioned Voldemort being gone and he was wondering if Voldemort did something to the Potters.
Soon, everyone in the room stopped cheering and sat back down in their seats with bright smiles on their faces, except Minerva, who had changed her features back to her usual stern look.
"I can't believe that You-Know-Who is finally defeated." Sirius said, almost having a hard time of believing You-Know-Who being gone, despite cheering a moment ago.
"Me too." Alice seconded.
"Albus, why are you not cheering like the rest of us?" Frank asked his former Headmaster. "You-Know-Who is finally defeated. This calls for a celebration."
"Because I have this sinking feeling in my stomach, Mr. Longbottom," Dumbledore replied, sending a look at James and Lily. "And the feeling involves the Potters."
That last part wiped the bright smiles of everyone's faces and become extremely worried, though it paled to comparison of a certain couple who were white as a ghost. James couldn't bother to make a single sound since he was so worried about future him, Lily and his son, and Lily was hoping, praying even, that something didn't happen to her, James and their newborn baby.
'I have to find out what happened to my family!' Lily thought, as she began reading the book again but in a frantic pace.
Mr. Dursley stood rooted on the spot he was on. He had been hugged by a stranger he didn't know, and he thought he been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled, paralyzed even, before he managed to get his legs working again. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he never hoped before because he doesn't approve imagination.
As Mr. Dursley pulled into the driveway of number four, the thing he saw was the tabby cat he spotted that morning. Looking at it didn't improve his mood at all since it was sitting on his garden wall. Mr. Dursley was sure it was the same cat because now that he had got a good look at it, it had markings around its eyes.
"Shoo!" Mr. Dursley said loudly, waving a hand at the cat.
"Hey, don't be mean to Minnie!" James exclaimed, causing Minerva's face to flush red at the nickname. The exclamation brought the tense and worried mood to dim somewhat.
"Can I read the book so I can learn what happen to us, James?" Lily asked with anger in her voice, not happy that she was interrupted.
"Yes, go ahead." James replied, quickly nodding his head, also wanting to know what happened in the future.
The cat didn't move from its spot but gave Mr. Dursley a stern look, causing the man to wonder if this was normal cat behavior. Trying to pull himself together, Mr. Dursley entered his house, determined not to mention anything to his wife about the Potters and the strange people.
Mrs. Dursley had a nice, normal day. She had told Mr. Dursley over dinner about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley learned a new word (Won't!). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally throughout dinner but found it hard when his mind began thinking about the strange people again. When Dudley been put to bed, he went into the living room and sat down in his armchair just 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 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 to have a grin of his face. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be anymore showers of owls tonight, Jim?"
"Well, Ted," The weatherman said once he was on the camera. "I don't know about that but it's not only the hours that I've been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee had 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 Bight early – it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."
Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair from what he just heard. 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…
Mrs. Dursley came into the living room with two cups of tea in her hands. She set one down next to her husband and hold the other one as she sat down. Mr. Dursley would have to say something to her about what he witnessed during work, and he knew Mrs. Dursley wouldn't want to hear it. But nevertheless, he cleared his throat nervously and began to speak. "Er – Petunia, dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"
As Mr. Dursley expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry from hearing Mrs. Dursley's sister. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.
"The feeling will be mutual, dear sister," Lily said snidely, giving the book a narrowed look.
"No, I haven't heard from her." Mrs. Dursley said sharply. "Why you asked?"
"Funny stuff on the news." Mr. Dursley replied with a bit of mumble. "Owls, shooting stars and there were funny-looking people in town today…people in cloaks."
"So?" Mrs. Dursley snapped.
"Well, I thought…it had something to do with…you know, dear…her crowd."
'Her crowd?' Everyone thought with anger.
Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips and Mr. Dursley wondered if he should tell her about hearing the Potters in town. But after a moment, he decided not to because Mrs. Dursley's anger would increase. So, he decided to bring up the conversation of his nephew as casually as he could. "The Potter's son, he would be about Dudley's age, right?"
"Yes." Mrs. Dursley replied stiffly.
"What was his name again? Howard? Harold? Harvey?" Mr. Dursley looked hopeful from the names he mentioned.
"Harry. A nasty name for a newborn baby, even though the name was common."
"Harry is not a nasty name!" Alice fumed, glaring at the book in Lily's hands. "It's a nice name!"
"Yeah, what she said!" Everyone exclaimed, agreeing with the black-hair woman.
"Oh," Mr. Dursley said, heart sinking horribly when he realized that his nephew's name was called Harry. "Yes, I quite agree with you, dear. The name is horrible."
Mr. Dursley didn't bring up the subject of the Potters for the rest of night, just as he and Mrs. Dursley went upstairs to go to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept into the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden to see the cat from before was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something.
'Am I imagining things since this morning? Could everything I notice during work have anything to do with the Potters?' Mr. Dursley thought, still staring at the front garden. 'If everything I saw was true, then could it be the people in cloaks knows me and my family are related to a bunch of-' Mr. Dursley shredder, not even wanting to finish the sentence. He couldn't bear the thought if he finished the sentence.
The Dursleys changed into their pajamas and got into bed. Mrs. Dursley quickly fell asleep, but Mr. Dursley stayed awake, still thinking everything he endured during work. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason from them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what the Dursleys thought of them and their kind, and Mr. Dursley couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on in their world. He yawned and turned over on the bed. The strangeness couldn't affect the Dursleys…
If only Mr. Dursley knew how very wrong he was.
Mr. Dursley may have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the tabby cat that was still outside and sitting on the garden wall showed no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting still as a statue and its eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't quiver when a car door slammed shut on the next street, nor twitched when two owls swooped overhead in the sky.
In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat even moved at all and it was at that particular moment when the cat spotted movement coming from the far corner, a faint silhouette of a person walking towards the street, causing the cat's tail to twitch and narrowed its eyes.
The silhouette continued to walk closer and closer towards the street before stopping near a street lamp, its light revealing what the silhouette is. It was a man, a man no one in Privet Drive has ever seen before and would certainly never be welcomed because of his physical appearance and his outfit. He was tall, thin and very old with silver hair and a beard, which were both long enough to be tucked into his belt, pale skin, a very long and crook nose that seemed to be broken twice and brilliant, twinkling blue eyes that were behind a pair of half-moon spectacles. He wore long robes with a purple cloak that swept off the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.
"Yay! Dumbledore's introduced in the story!" Everyone in the room, except Narcissa and Lily, exclaimed happily from the Headmaster's introduction, Hagrid being the loudest.
Dumbledore, like Narcissa and Lily, didn't join the exclamations but smiled slightly.
Rolling her eyes from everyone's exclamation and feeling amused, Lily resume reading.
Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize he had just arrived in the street he was in because he was busy digging through his robes, looking for something. However, it was a moment later that he realized he was being watch, which caused him to suddenly look up from what he was doing and spotted the tabby cat. It was still staring at him with narrowed eyes. Dumbledore seemed amused from seeing the cat instead of being shocked, which caused him to let out a soft chuckle before muttering, "I should have known…"
"It seems like Albus recognized Minerva." Frank amusingly said, getting chuckles around the room.
Dumbledore resumed digging through his robes before founding what he was looking for and pulled it out, revealing a circular, small cigarette lighter. It had a black handle with green markings on it and the top and bottom were made of silver. This item is called the Deluminator, a device that can remove any light sources and created by Albus Dumbledore.
"That's amazing!" The Prewett twins and the Marauders exclaimed, fascinated by the device's description and amazed that Dumbledore created it.
"Indeed, I've never heard such of a device before." Frank said, also fascinated by the device. "Albus, is there any more of these devices?"
"No, it's the only Deluminator I've ever created." Dumbledore replied, earning shocked looks from everyone in the room. "We can talk more about the Deluminator later. Right now, I want to listen to the rest of the chapter."
Dumbledore raised the Deluminator up in the air, flipped the top open and clicked it. Almost immediately, a small ball of light from a faraway street lamp came towards the Deluminator, resulting the street lamp to blackout. He clicked the Deluminator again and another street lamp blackout, just like the first one. Dumbledore repeated the same action to the other street lamps twelve times until the whole street was descended in total darkness. If anyone was to look out the window, they wouldn't be able to see anything because of the total darkness.
Dumbledore put the Deluminator away in his robes and set off down the street towards the Dursley's house. Once he reached the house, he walked over to the garden wall and sat down next to the tabby cat. He didn't look at it but spoke to it a moment later.
"Fancy seeing you here at this time of night, Professor McGonagall."
Dumbledore turned his head to smile at the tabby cat, but the cat was gone. Instead, he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was sitting next to him. She had black hair in a tight bun, pale skin and green eyes that were behind a pair of square-shape glasses, the exact same shape the tabby cat had around its eyes. She, like Dumbledore, was wearing robes and a cloak, but the color of her robes was black, and the color of her cloak was emerald.
"How did you know it was me?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."
"You would be stiff if you were sitting on a brick wall all day."
"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must've passed by dozens of feasts and parties on my way here, and the people looked happy instead of being stiff."
Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily, not amused by Dumbledore's humor.
"Oh, yes, everyone is celebrating, alright," Professor McGonagall said impatiently. "You'd think they would be careful when celebrating but they didn't, and their actions caused the Muggles to notice something's going on in Britain. I heard what happened on the news." She jerked her head towards the Dursley's dark living room. "Flocks of owls and shooting stars. The Muggles, while not completely stupid, were bound to notice it. And I bet the shooting stars was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."
"HEY!" Dedalus shouted in outrage, feeling greatly offended from what Minerva said about him.
"I apologize." Minerva said stiffly, not feeling sorry about what her future self said in the book.
"You can't blame them, Professor," Dumbledore said gently. "We had little time to celebrate for eleven years."
"I know we had no time to celebrate for eleven years, Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall said irritably. "But there's no need for us to lose our heads, become careless, walk around in broad daylight without Muggle clothes on and swapping rumors." She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore when she said that last part, hoping he would tell her something, but he didn't, which caused Professor McGonagall to continued talking. "A field day it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seemed to disappear at last, the Muggles found out about us. I supposed he really is gone?"
"It certainly seems so," Dumbledore replied, pulling out something from his robes. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"
"A what?" Narcissa asked, wondering what a lemon drop was. Other people in the room also wonder what a lemon drop was.
"A what?"
"Cissy, try not to copy words from the book." Andromeda teasingly said, chuckling at the flushed look on Narcissa's face.
"Yeah, try not to copy words!" Nymphadora exclaimed, copying her mother's words and giggling at the gob-smack expression on Narcissa's face.
"A lemon drop, Professor. They are a kind of Muggle candy I'm rather fond of."
"No, thank you," Professor McGonagall said coldly, not finding the particular need to talk about sweets. "As I was saying, even if You-Know-Who is gone-"
"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name?" Dumbledore interrupted. "All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense. For eleven years, I've been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched from hearing the name, but Dumbledore, who had taken out two lemon drops, did not notice. "It becomes confusing when we keep referring him as 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened from saying Voldemort's name."
"That's because you're different than most people, Albus." Sirius explained. "You're the only the who can go par to par on You-Know-Who."
"Thank you, Sirius," Dumbledore softly said.
"I know you haven't," Professor McGonagall said, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different than most people. Everyone knows that you're the only one You-Know-Who – oh, alright, Voldemort – was frightened of."
"Sirius, don't pull a Narcissa." James said, snickering at the look on Sirius's face, oblivious to the death glare he was receiving from Narcissa, who was greatly offended from what he said about her.
"Want to repeat what you just said, Potter?" Narcissa asked, as she reached into her robes and slowly pulled out her wand. "I will be very happy to give you a lesson of pain."
"Cissy," Andromeda warned, placing a comforting hand on Narcissa's shoulder, which caused the blonde-hair woman to calm down and put her wand back into her robes.
"You flatter me." Dumbledore said calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."
"Only because you're too, well, noble to use them."
"It's a stroke of luck that it's dark outside. I haven't blushed so much when Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."
"I really didn't need to hear that at all." Marlene stated, her tanned face turning green.
"Yeah, me too." Lily said, her face also turning green, but her stomach became slightly ill.
"Mommy, I don't feel well." Nymphadora said, her face turning very green and the color of her hair changing from bubble-gum pink to sickly yellow. She looked on the verge of throwing up.
"Here's a bucket for you to throw up in, dear," Minerva said, quickly taking out her wand and conjured a bucket out of thin air before levitated it towards the young girl who grabbed it and proceeded to throw up in.
After a few minutes, Nymphadora stopped vomiting in the bucket and raised her head up to let Andromeda wiped her mouth and sweaty face with a rag, while letting Ted to vanish the bucket, along with the contents, with his wand.
"Are we ready to proceed?" Dumbledore asked, getting nods around the room, a shaky one from Nymphadora. "Alright, then let's continued reading."
"The owls are nothing to the rumors that are flying around," Professor McGonagall said, sending a sharp look towards Dumbledore. "You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"
It seems that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss with Dumbledore, the real reason why she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall and Privet Drive all day. She was fixing Dumbledore a piercing stare that would make anyone caved and give her answers. Since she was a no-nonsense woman, she was not going to believe the 'rumors' that are flying around until Dumbledore confirms it. But Dumbledore didn't answer and chose to eat another lemon drop.
"What everyone's saying," Professor McGonagall pressed on. "Is that Voldemort appeared in Godric Hollow's last night and went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are…dead."
There was once again a stunned silence in the Room of Requirement, but this stunned silence was thicker and heavy than before, all because of Minerva said in the book.
"The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are dead."
"J-J-James and L-L-Lily are d-d-d-d-dead?" Remus croaked out in disbelief, tears pooling at the corner of his eyes.
What Remus said was the trigger of everyone's reaction. Marlene and Alice burst into tears and went to hug Lily, whose face was white as a ghost from what she just read before, as if a tidal wave was washed over her body, heavy tears streamed down her face. The red-hair woman couldn't believe that she, along with her husband and newborn son, was dead instead of being alive. Just when she became excited when she learned Voldemort was gone at long last.
Andromeda had silent tears streaming down her face, finding it hard to believe that her distant cousin and friend was dead in the future. While she couldn't call James her distant cousin anymore since she was disowned from the Black family, she will always consider him as a cousin.
Narcissa, seeing the silent tears on her big sister's face, reached over to wrap her arms around Andromeda and pulled her into a comforting hug.
Ted was embracing a wailing Nymphadora in his lap, his eyes showing pain and sadness as he rubbed comforting circles on his daughter's back.
Sirius let out a howl of sorrow and misery like a dog before embracing a deeply shock James, with Remus also hugging James but proceeded to sob on his shoulder. Peter Pettigrew, a small, average height, young man with short, mousy brown hair, pale skin and blue eyes, sobbed silently in his seat.
Hagrid and Filius were sobbing heavily from learning that James and Lily are dead in the future. The former thought of them as his friends since they hang out with him during James's and Lily's school days and the latter thought of them as his favorite students.
Frank turned his head away to hide the look of sadness on his face, finding it hard to believe that James and Lily are dead like Andromeda.
The Prewett twins, Dedalus, Elphias, Edgar Bones, Dorcas and Alastor lowered their heads, sad to learn that two of their most gifted members of the Order were perished by the Dark Lord.
Minerva's stern look changed into a look of deep sadness, and she covered her face with her hands, letting out muffled sobs.
'Is this how far you have fallen to the Dark Arts, Tom? To the point where you would kill newborn children for your own sadistic pleasure?' Dumbledore thought with great anger inside him, an emotion he didn't like at all, while closing his eyes to prevent the tears that were desperate to leak out. The last time he had anger inside him was when Voldemort killed ten Hogwarts students and that happened during a Hogsmeade visit. 'I was hoping to show you the error of your ways when we confront each other, but it seems you are beyond redemption for me to even show you the error of your ways. When we do meet, I will be putting you down.'
Everyone in the Room of Requirement wasn't sure how long they'd continued to sob over James's and Lily's death from the future, but they didn't care; all they cared about was mourning for the lost of two people. Eventually, it was Dumbledore who spoke after grieving.
"I know it's sad that James and Lily are dead in the future, and I want us to continued mourning for them," Dumbledore said, getting everyone's attention. "But we must remember an important fact, everyone. This hasn't happened yet, which means we can prevent their deaths from happening in the future, along with many innocents, and the only way to do that is to keep reading the book."
Everyone couldn't help but wholeheartedly agree with Dumbledore's logic about the Potter's deaths not happening yet and realized they can indeed prevent their deaths, along with many innocents who are becoming Voldemort's victims. And the only way to prevent the deaths from happening is by reading the books from the future.
It took a while for everyone to calm down since James's and Lily's deaths still affected their minds, but once they were calm and ready to listen to the book, Lily began reading the book.
Dumbledore once again didn't say anything but bowed his head, which caused Professor McGonagall to let out a horrified gasp. The rumors about the Potters and Voldemort were true but while she was happy that Voldemort was gone, she was deeply upset from what happened to the Potters.
"I-I can't believe it…" Professor McGonagall said with shock in her voice. "Lily and James…I didn't want to believe the rumors at all…I thought they were just causing me to become paranoid…but they're real…oh, Albus…"
"I know…" Dumbledore said heavily as he reached out to pat Professor McGonagall's shoulder. "I know…"
Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she continued talking. "That's not all everyone's saying. They're saying Voldemort 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 when Voldemort tried to kill Harry Potter, his power's somehow broke and that's why he disappeared."
Everyone's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates from what they just heard.
"Our son…is still alive?" Lily asked, feeling a flutter of hope in her chest.
"Oh, thank Merlin!" James exclaimed, a fresh wave of tears streaming down of his face. The tears weren't sad but happy. "Our son has survived against the Dark Lord! The Potter family hasn't become extinct!" James's exclamation caused everyone to cheer loudly.
'But how did Harry survive against Tom?' Dumbledore thought, shocked that a newborn child was able to survive against the Dark Lord and the only person not cheering like everyone else. He was hoping the answer to his question can be answered in the book so that he can use it against Voldemort.
Dumbledore nodded glumly.
"So, it's true?" Professor McGonagall faltered, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. "After everything Voldemort's has done…all the people he's killed and tortured…he couldn't kill a little boy? It's astounding – a miracle even – for such a thing to happened, but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"
"That is something we all want to know." Remus said, getting nods from everyone.
"We can only guess, Professor," Dumbledore replied. "We may never know."
Professor McGonagall pulled out a handkerchief from her robes and dabbed her eyes with it. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took out a golden watch from his robes and examined it. It was a very odd watch than normal watches. Instead of having two hands and numbers, this watch had twelve hands and little planets that were moving around the edge. Anyone who looked at the watch for the first time would never understand it, but Dumbledore seemed to understand the watch and gave himself a nod.
"Hagrid's late," Dumbledore said, putting the golden watch back into his robes. "I suppose it was he who told you I would be here?"
"Yes," Professor McGonagall replied. "And I'm amusing you are going to tell me why you're here in Privet Drive of all places?"
"I have come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left."
Almost immediately after the future Dumbledore replied to Minerva's question, protests began ringing in the air.
"Why leave our savior in the hands of Muggles, Dumbledore?!"
"Harry should've gone to me since I'm James's cousin!"
"This is a disgrace for the Potter family!"
Although everyone's protest was loud, Lily's protest was the loudest of them all. "Dumbledore, you cannot be serious of leaving my son with the Dursleys! You heard what they said about us; they'll never raise Harry as a nephew. They'll raise him as a slave!"
"I'm sure my future self has a very good reason on why I'm placing Harry with the Dursleys, Lily," Dumbledore defensively said, ceasing any protest. "And while I am concerned about Harry being raised at the Dursleys, I'm pretty sure they won't do anything to him."
"Bullshit!" Lily snarled, glaring fiercely at Dumbledore, while forgetting a child is in the room. "I call bullshit, Dumbledore!"
"Language, Lily! There's a child in here!" Marlene chided, giving Lily a hard slap to the arm.
"Sorry," Lily muttered, rubbing her arm and giving an apologetic look at the Tonks family.
"Let's just continue reading," Alice spoke up. "Maybe we'll find the reason Albus was talking about."
"You don't mean – you can't possibly mean these people who live here?!" Professor McGonagall cried, jumping to her feet and pointing a finger at number four. "Dumbledore, you can't leave Harry here! I've been watching them all day and was aghast from what I saw; you won't find two people who are less like us. They also have this son; he is so spoiled beyond belief. I saw him kicking his mother up the street while screaming for sweets. To have Harry Potter live here is mind blowing!"
"It is the best place for Harry, Professor," Dumbledore said firmly. "His aunt and uncle will explain everything to him when he's older. I have written a letter to them."
"A letter?" Professor McGonagall faintly repeated, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore? You think a letter can be explained from all of this? These people will never understand Harry! He'll be famous throughout Europe, a legend even, and I won't be surprised if this day will be called Harry Potter Day. There will be books written about him, all sorts of rubbish about what the people believe instead of getting know the real Harry Potter, and everyone in our world will know his name!"
"Now, Minerva, what does that statement about a letter remind me of?" Filius asked with a smirk on his face, sending a pointed look at a flush-looking Minerva.
"That's different, Filius!" Minerva retorted, glaring at the people who were chuckling at her.
"Sure, it is." Filius nodded his head, his smirk growing.
"Exactly," Dumbledore said, looking very serious. "The fame would be enough to turn any boy's head, making them arrogant, snobbish, narrow-mind and look down on anyone, and that is something I don't want the Potter's son to be. Imagine him being arrogant! Imagine him looking down on everyone! His fame will so large that it will be impossible for him make any friends in our world. Professor, can't you see it's better for Harry to grow up away from his fame until he's ready to take it?"
"As much as I don't like my son staying at the Dursleys for the rest of his life, I can't argue with Dumbledore's logic." Lily admitted, letting out a heavy sigh. What future Dumbledore said was true, Harry would be much better off in the Muggle World where he'll have a normal childhood like all kids should have before he enters the Magical World. It was not a good idea to let fame go to a child's head when he or she had lost their parents to the Dark Lord.
However, the fact that her son was being raised at the Dursleys made a feeling Lily couldn't described appeared in her chest and she hopes the feeling would go away.
"I agree, the fame will be enough to turn anyone's head, including a child." Marlene seconded, also thinking the same thing as Lily, but minus being raised in the Muggle World.
"But still, I think Harry should've been raised with me since I'm James's cousin and Nymphadora would have a little cousin to play with." Andromeda said, frowning that Harry wasn't going to be raised by her and her family. She can already imagine what things would be like if Harry live with the Tonks family.
Andromeda and Ted would be an excellent parental models to Harry, teaching him everything about the Muggle World and the Magical World, while Nymphadora would be an excellent older cousin to Harry, watching out for him and making sure he doesn't get hurt.
"Don't call me Nymphadora!" Nymphadora exclaimed with a cute scowl on her face. She hated her first name. Why can't her parents just call her Tonks?!
"What do you mean Harry should be raised by you, Andi? I'm the one who should raise Harry since I'm James's best friend and mate!" Sirius exclaimed, glaring at Andromeda.
"Black, if you were to raise Harry, it won't work well because you'll be highly emotional from losing the Potters." Narcissa spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "You'll just be depressed for the rest of your life and drink large amounts of alcohol."
Sirius couldn't argue with what Narcissa said because it was the truth. He wouldn't be able to raise Harry the way he was from being depressed and drinking large amounts of alcohol. Hell, he wouldn't be able to raise his own kid if he had one and the thought of not raising his own kid caused Sirius to gain a pain expression on his face.
"Would you please continue reading, Lily?" Dumbledore asked, know what Sirius was thinking at the moment.
Lily nodded and resumed reading, not before giving Sirius a sympathy look.
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth to argue more about Harry's placement but decided to change her mind since she knew she would never get Dumbledore to change his mind, though it was because she agrees that Harry was better off being raised away from his fame until he's ready to take it.
"Yes, yes, you're right, Albus. The boy would be best being raised away from his fame. But how is he getting here?" Professor McGonagall asked, eyeing Dumbledore's robes as if he was hiding Harry underneath.
"If you two say something funny about me, I'll personally hex the living daylights out of you that you'll never walk again." Minerva threatened with malice in her voice, as she glared at the Prewett twins who looked on the verge of saying something to humor themselves.
"W-w-we weren't going t-to say a-a-anything, Minerva," The Prewett twins stammered out, feeling a cold shiver running down their spines from hearing the malice in Minerva's voice.
"Hagrid's bringing him."
"Do you think it's wise to trust Hagrid with something important as this?"
"Hey! I can be trustworthy of bringing little Harry on Dumbledore's orders!" Hagrid exclaimed with a betrayed expression on his face, even though it was hard to see because of his bushy hair and beard.
"I'm sure my future self isn't doubting your loyalties, Hagrid," Minerva said with haste in her voice, trying to calm the large man down. "But you can be careless sometimes and could drop Harry."
"I trust Hagrid with my son." James stated, giving the huge man a grin.
"Me too, as long as he doesn't drop Harry." Lily said, giving Hagrid a threatening look.
"You won't have to worry about me dropping Harry, Lily, I can assure you." Hagrid said, placing a large hand over his chest, swearing that he would never do such a thing.
"I trust Hagrid with all my life." Dumbledore said with a small smile on his face.
"I won't deny Hagrid's heart is in the right place and can be trustworthy," Professor McGonagall said grudgingly. "But you must admit that he can be careless sometimes. He does tend to take an interest in – what was that?"
A low rumbling sound broken the silence in Privet Drive, making Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall stand up and look around to figure out where the sound was coming from. They didn't see a car approaching and the sound grew steadily louder, which was, apparently and unbelievably, coming from the sky. The two adults looked up in the sky when the rumbling sound changed into a roar, and they saw a huge motorcycle descending downwards from the sky, much to their surprised. They watch as the motorcycle landed on the street with a loud screech, which didn't wake up the neighborhood, and driven up towards them before coming to a complete stop.
If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing compared to the man sitting on it. He was twice as tall as a normal man, towering over Dumbledore's and Professor McGonagall's height, and at least five times wide with massive muscular build. He was simply too big to be allowed in Privet Drive – the neighborhood would be baffled from seeing this man – and so wild. He had long tangles of bushy black and beard that hid most of his face, fair skin and beetle-black eyes. His hands were like trash can lids and his feet in leather boots were like baby dolphins. He was carrying a bundle of blankets in his arms.
"Hagrid," Dumbledore said, sounding relieved from seeing the large man. "You've finally arrived. And where did you get that motorcycle?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," The large man said, climbing carefully off the motorcycle and walking towards Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got Harry, sir."
"You have a flying motorcycle, Sirius?" Frank asked, turning to face the said man with a shock look on his face.
"I do," Sirius replied with a smug grin on his face. "I bought one after I was done with Hogwarts and spend two weeks putting magic into it."
"That's impressive," Dumbledore complimented the young man. "Maybe you'll be able to give little Harry a ride in your bike."
"No, he won't!" Lily exclaimed, shuddering at the idea. There was no way in hell she'll let Sirius take her son on that blasted bike and go ride around. She'll destroy the bike if Sirius puts Harry on it!
"There weren't any problems?"
"No, sir. The house was almost destroyed, though, but I've gotten Harry out in one piece before the Muggles started swarming around. He felled asleep when we were flying over Bristol."
Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward to look inside the bundle of blankets. Inside was a baby boy, fast asleep. He had a tuft of jet-black hair and a lightning bolt shape scar on his forehead.
"Aw! He's so cute!" All the females in the Room of Requirement cooed, gushing how cute little Harry was.
"Is that where Voldemort struck Harry?" Professor McGonagall whispered, pointing out the scar while ignoring the Hagrid's flinch.
"Yes," Dumbledore replied with a nod of his head. "He will have that scar forever."
"Can't you do something about it?"
"Even If I did find a solution to get rid of the scar on Harry's forehead, Professor, I couldn't. Scars can come in handy; I have one above my left knee that is a perfect map for London's Underground. Well, give him here, Hagrid. We'd better get this over with."
Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursley's house.
"Can I – can I say goodbye to him, sir?" Hagrid asked with a bit of plead in his voice. When Dumbledore gave him a gentle nod for confirmation, Hagrid bent his great head over Harry and gave him a very scratchy, whiskered kiss. After he'd done that, Hagrid suddenly let a howl like a wounded dog.
"Shh!" Professor McGonagall hissed, startled at the howl. "You'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry!" Hagrid sobbed, pulling out a large handkerchief from his coat and buried his face in it. "But I c-can't stand it! Lily and James dead and l-little Harry going t-to be raised by Muggles…"
Everyone looked down at that statement, feeling sad the last Potter being raised in the Muggle World instead of the Magical World.
"Yes, yes, it's very sad for Harry to grow up here, Hagrid, but get a grip or we'll be found." Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as they watch Dumbledore step over the garden wall and walked up to the front door. From there, he gently laid Harry on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tuck it inside the bundle and walked back to where the others were standing.
For a full minute, the three adults just stood and stared at the bundle in silence. Hagrid's shoulders shook from sobbing, Professor McGonagall dabbed her eyes again with the handkerchief she used, and Dumbledore's eyes lost its twinkle.
"Well, that's that." Dumbledore said, breaking the silence. "We have no business of staying here anymore. We might as well go join the celebrations."
"Right," Hagrid said in a very muffled voice, putting his handkerchief away. "I better get this bike out of here. Good night, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore, sir." Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life. With a loud roar, the motorcycle rosed into the air and shot off into the night.
"I expect I'll see you soon, Professor McGonagall?" Dumbledore asked, turning to look at the server-looking woman who nodded her head before blowing her nose on the handkerchief. "Then let's go our separate ways."
Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street he had came from. Once there, he stopped and pulled out the Deluminator from his robes. He clicked it and the twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive won't be in total darkness. With the street having light again, Dumbledore saw a tabby cat slinking around the corner on the other side of the street and he can now see the bundle of blankets of number four's doorstep.
"Good luck, Harry." Dumbledore murmured, giving the bundle of blankets one last look before turning around and vanishing into the darkness.
A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the black sky, the last place you would expect astonishing things to happened. Harry Potter rolled over in his blankets without waking up, a small hand closed on the letter beside him. He slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he was going to be awaken in a few hours by Mrs. Dursley's scream when she opens the front door to put out milk bottles and not knowing he was going to spend the next few weeks being pinched and prodded by his cousin, Dudley.
Harry didn't even know that at the 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's the end of the first chapter." Lily stated after she read the final sentence.
"To think this happens in just two years." James said, taking note of the year the war ends. It started in 1970 and ended in 1981.
"I hope we can prevent the Potters deaths from happening and learn about Voldemort's secrets." Dumbledore said, ignoring everyone's finches.
"Should we get started on reading the next chapter and learn about Harry's life?" Emmeline asked with enthusiastic in her voice.
"Yeah, I want to learn about little Harry!" Nymphadora exclaimed happily.
Lily smiled at the enthusiasm in Nymphadora and if she was honest with herself, she wanted to learn more about her son. "Sure, we can read more, but who's going to read the next chapter?"
"Can I read?" Andromeda offered, making Lily nod her head and passed the book over. "Thanks."
"What's the chapter's title called, Andi?" Sirius asked.
"It's called The Vanishing Glass."
I'm just going to go ahead and say I am very, very glad that I got the second part of the Boy Who Lived chapter done. This took me long to write and it actually caused me a bit of stress. There was just so many words I had to copy from the book, edit the sentences I want to change, and I had to write the Order's reactions. All in all, this chapter was long to write. But I hope you guys enjoy it.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: The Vanishing Glass.