Disclaimer:
I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...
Mischief Managed Damn It!
Title: The Evans Brother (Working Title)
Posted Date: September 17 2022
Tags: Harry not being raised by Dursleys, Lily has other relations
Challenge: Well-meaning but stubborn Dumbledore, Sirius not going to Azkaban, Longbottoms safe, Good Minerva
Possible Challenges: Know-it-all Hermione, Harry not going to Hogwarts
"Albus, you cannot be serious!"
It was late in the night of November 1, 1981, well past midnight in fact that it should be November 2nd. Minerva McGonagall had gone to spy on the residence of Number 4, Privet Drive, Surrey as she was instructed to by her boss and mentor, Albus Dumbledore. And what she had seen thus far did not endear her to the family living there. She had seen the boy kicking the mother while whining at the top of his voice, and the brief period she watched what had to be the fattest muggle in her life act brutally to the neighbours did not make it easier to stomach what she was just told.
"I have been watching them the whole day as you have asked. Petunia is as far a relation as I would have never anticipated to be in regards to Lily. Her husband is a bully in need of weight and anger management who likes to throw his weight around. And do not get me started on their spoiled brat of a child!" Minerva shuddered at this point. "The boy kept complaining and demanding from Petunia at every chance he could get, and throwing tantrums if not done quickly enough. Albus, you must reconsider! These people are the worst sort of muggles I have ever met in my life! They are!"
"The only family he has left." The solemn voice of her mentor cut through her words as the owner looked at the bundle in his arms while they moved towards a house with a giant of a man following behind in the suburbs of Surrey. The lights were off from the inside as expected since it was late at night, but the man named Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was grateful that he had temporarily removed the lights from the other lamps in the area to ensure secrecy. They made their way to the door where he gently laid the bundle in a wicker basket, revealing the bundle to be a young boy barely a year old who was asleep and sporting a rather nasty scar in the form of a lightning bolt on his forehead.
"Is that where?" Minerva paused in her query, uncertain of the sensitivity of the question.
"Yes, he will have that scar forever." The older man answered.
"Why haven't you removed it?" Minerva asked as she considered some options from her history.
"Admittedly, Poppy and I have tried earlier to do so. I suspect that the leftover magic from the attack had infected it and stopped most of our healing." He paused before continuing. "Even if I could fix it in the near future, I probably wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground."
Before she could push for more actual information, the giant let out a wail of pain and sadness.
"Hagrid!" Minerva hissed while looking about the area.
"I am sorry!" The giant took out what appeared to be a table-cloth and loudly blew on it, making Minerva grateful that she placed silencing charms about the block. "He is just a little tyke! He would never get to know his parents! WAAAA!" Minerva was really grateful she used the extra strong versions for this evening.
"I understand your sorrow, Hagrid. We can only hope to do what is right for the boy." Albus let out a sad sigh and made to place the boy down on the steps. The child fussed slightly from the loss of heat before settling when Albus cast a heating spell.
"Are you certain of this course of action?" Minerva had to ask again, her emotions moving like she was on a Gringotts cart set to the highest speed. The news that two of her favourite students had perished because of a mad man tore her old Scottish heart, and hearing that their precious baby boy was the only known survivor reminded her of her own life, how she had lost her husband during the previous war. And the young one would not be able to know why his parents were not around.
"It is the only way to keep him safe." Albus stated again. "While Voldemort appears to have been defeated somehow, his followers are still at large." As one, Hagrid and Minerva winced when Albus said his name. While he was fine with it and kept encouraging others to do the same since "to fear the name is to fear him", they were still having to deal with the Taboo that was placed on the Dark Lord's name. Everytime someone said it, Death Eaters would appear to attack them at the exact location, and that was considered lucky if someone did not have Voldemort lead them personally to attack.
"Albus, please." Minerva pleaded with the man. "Let's not tempt our luck." Albus was going to answer when a series of pops sounded in the area and several cloaked people appeared with bone white masks on them.
"Where the hell are we? Some muggle home area?" One of them asked as they looked around.
"Look who we have here, it's Dumbledore, McGonagall and that pet giant!" One of the bigger fellows spotted them almost immediately. "And what do you have there?"
"Why are they looking at a baby?" A second asked while Minerva readied her wand while Hagrid stood in front of the door to block their view from Harry. Albus stepped forward to prepare to handle them while distracting them.
"An early morning to you, gentlemen." Albus attempted to distract them from the task at hand by making himself a bigger target. "Quite a time to go walking on the streets."
"Hmph, much like you, it would appear." One of them stepped forward while speaking in a cultured tone that Albus recognized to be one of the members of the Wizengamot. "It is a good thing we ran into you, although the setting could have been… cleaner." The derision and disgust was evident as the man motioned with his hand about the street area.
"Well, to be fair, we were just walking about when you chanced upon us." Albus replied as he prepared himself.
"Indeed. I wager it is due to the child your pet giant is hiding our sight from." Hagrid was a little obvious in trying to protect Harry with his frame blocking the door. "If I am right in my guessing, that child has something to do with our current issue of finding our master." At that bit, all the Death Eaters raised their wands at them.
"I believe you are mistaken." Albus said while idly moving his wand as he took a couple of steps back.
"Perhaps, but then again, maybe I'm not." The death eater quickly pointed the wand at Hagrid with the tip glowing red. "Let's find out. Fiend!" Before the spell could be completed, all of them suddenly crashed to the ground without warning, a few of them having their wands snapped from the action.
"What is going on!"
"My wand!"
"Really, I know it has been roughly 2 decades since you have graduated, but I am very sure you have learned this for your OWLs exams." Albus remarked in a slightly chiding manner as he waved his wand to disarm them of their wands, potions and other items normally brought by them. "The Gravity Inducement Charm is one of those spells that could be very helpful if you bothered to remember your lessons."
"Damn you!" The leader hissed out as he tried to push off the ground only to have his arm slip and hit his shoulder against the ground. "GAH!"
"As much as I would like to have a chat, we are very busy. Minerva?" Albus turned to his professor who proceeded to stun and tie them up quickly with a bit more force than necessary, but given how her nerves were being wound up, she could be forgiven.
"How did they get here?" Minerva was barely holding back her Scottish Temper as she glared at the assailants with her fingers twitching around her wand.
"I do not know." Albus admitted while checking themselves for tracking spells. "I am not detecting any tracking spells on us, nor do I find any listening charms."
"The Taboo, it must be the case. They are still using it!" Minerva was hissing at this point. "I know you want to keep using 'His' name, but please think about the situation until all are gone." Albus did look a little guilty at that.
"My apologies, I am rather used to our wards keeping our words and intent hidden so I did not consider the situation out here." Albus tried to keep the mood up but failed with his genuinely apologetic look.
"Well, now you know how we feel." Minerva huffed in irritation.
Albus was going to say something when another series of pops sounded, accompanied by another group of Death Eaters that must have come as reinforcements for the earlier group. Minerva hissed like her animagus form. This was getting ridiculous with the attacks and a small part of her was going to enjoy wringing the beard of Albus when this was over.
Before any of them could react, several loud pops resounded in the street area and the extra Death Eaters dropped to the floor like stringless puppets, a notable stain appearing on the road even in the dim lighting. Dumbledore and Minerva did not waste any time to disarm them and tie them up before looking at them carefully.
"A piercing spell?" Minerva narrowed her eyes to check the wound while holding up a lit wand.
"Something more destructive than that." Albus hummed as he looked at his prisoner. "Adding to the sounds we heard earlier, I believe this could be the work of a muggle weapon."
"A muggle weapon? That would mean someone is watching us right now." Minerva looked around in a panic.
"Curious though, who could do so since there are muggle wards raised?" Albus mused.
"Erm, Professor?" Hagrid's voice attracted their attention to find Hagrid holding his hands up for a man pointing what Albus recognised to be a muggle weapon at him while a young woman held on to the basket with the baby. The woman wore a dark set of clothes that appeared to conform to her figure quite snuggly and had a scarf that covered the bottom part of her face. The young man was wearing a similar set of clothes which might explain why they did not notice them earlier with a beanie covering his hair to blend in better. What really got their attention though was the pair of emerald green eyes that they had only ever seen on another person. Said eyes were looking at them with a fair bit of fury after glancing at the child with some emotion.
"Where is Lily?" The adults noted the amount of emotion that was being restrained in his words.
"What is her relationship to you, my boy?" Albus asked in a grandfatherly manner while preparing his wand. That earned him another weapon which was now pointed at him, and this time Dumbledore could feel with his senses that the weapons the man wielded had magic building up at the tips, meaning these were foci in the form of muggle weaponry, a gun if he recalled the name correctly. Which only made it more perplexing for the elderly wizard regarding the identity of this man.
"I am her younger brother, now where is she?" The man demanded again, and this time the barrels were slightly glowing red from the amount of power being placed in them.
"Lily had a brother? I did not know of this." Minerva had interjected at this point.
"I went to a different magical school out of Britain since my focus was on modern society and we wanted to try out different types of magic." The young man used his thumb to cock the chamber of the weapon directed at Dumbledore which made runes appear on the body. "I will not ask again, where is Lily, who are you, and why is her son here? If you are hoping for someone to hear us, I have already placed wards to ensure no other death eaters will come and ensure that this keeps silent. That also means no one can hear your screams if I don't get my answers." At this point, Albus decided to answer the man's query as it was clear that the young man was losing his temper and did not want to risk Harry's safety.
"My name is Albus Dumbledore, the lady beside me is my Transfiguration Professor and fellow headmistress of Hogwarts. My large companion whom you are pointing your weapon at is Rubeus Hagrid, the gameskeeper of Hogwarts. I am sorry to inform you that the late Lady Potter nee Evans has fallen to Voldemort." While Minerva and Hagrid winced again from the name and looked around in panic, Albus noted that the young man and the companion did not react. "She sacrificed herself to save young Harry from his attacks." At his words, the young man appeared torn in wanting to fall apart and to deny the words with powerful spells. The man took a quick breath before his expression went flat, a notable sign of the man employing Occlumency.
"Then why is Harry here? He was supposed to go to his godfather, Sirius Black."
"Before we answer that, I would ask that you verify who you claim to be and your reasons to be here threatening us." Albus wanted to get some answers of his own and felt that he was in the right to ask this since no one knew that Lily had a brother. For all they knew, this man could be an imposter trying to get the young child, and it was precarious since his companion had young Harry away from them.
The man looked at him for a moment before moving the gun slightly away for his companion to come up and take over the watch of the wizard and witch so that he could raise a hand while maintaining watch over Hagrid.
"My name is Marcus Jacek Evans, and I hereby swear that I am the brother of Lily Potter nee Evans and Petunia Dursley nee Evans in both blood and family magic. I swear that my purpose of being near the residence of Petunia is to ensure that Harry Potter, son of Lily and James Potter, not to be left here as per instructions set by both of them, and in the event of it happening, ensure Harry is to be properly taken care of by the proper guardians. So I swear, so mote it be." A minor glow appeared about his body before he conjured a small ball of flame in his hand for a brief moment. "Will that do?"
It certainly would since the man did an oath, and mildly impressive with his display of wandless conjuration.
"It does. It would also help if you could lower your weapons." The man named Marcus glanced quickly at them all before he took a few steps back to get them all in view and lowered the gun he had slightly, his companion following suit. With a light nod, his female companion slowly lowered hers while ensuring Harry was safe.
"Now why is Harry here?"
"Harry is here because he needs to be protected from the forces of Voldemort despite his defeat." Albus answered. "There would be plenty seeking to find him for revenge if not news for their fallen master."
"That would be fine except Lily's instructions were to not let Harry be left here, as I had spoken in my oath." Marcus replied. "It was stated very clearly in her will on this. And I highly doubt that you do not know the fact that Petunia has been antagonistic towards Lily and magic since the time she entered Hogwarts." He glanced at Minerva at this bit. "I know that she had told you this herself, since you are the head of Gryffindor, or am I mistaken?"
"Indeed, I am the head of Gryffindor. I also had the unfortunate chance to see Petunia react badly to Lily during her fifth year." Minerva answered. "You said that this was stated in her will?" Marcus nodded at her query, noting her tone that she was genuinely curious and confused about the situation.
"Lily had shown me the copy of her will right before she went into hiding with her son and James Potter. She wanted to make sure her son was safe." Marcus then turned to Albus with narrowed eyes. "And I know for a fact you yourself know of this, given that you were one of the witnesses to the will. She stated very clearly the list of guardians who were supposed to take care of him, both magical and non-magical. Petunia was approached once before about this, and she made it clear that Lily and I were not to associate with her ever again, along with her not to be a guardian for any of our children." That got Minerva to turn to her boss with a gasp. "On that note, where is Sirius Black? I know that he is the godfather and the first in line to take care of Harry."
"He was at their house when I came to collect Harry." Hagrid spoke out at this point. "He was holding onto little Harry while crying about James. I told him that I would take Harry to Professor Dumbledore. He did not want to but he did hand Harry to me before running off to find someone."
"I see." His eyes narrowed and gave the familiar glow that was often seen on Lily when she was building up her temper. "Looks like I have a mutt, a rat and a mongrel to hunt down for answers."
"It is important that young Harry stays with his family." Albus interrupted at this point and tried to push for his suggestion. "The protection that Lily has placed on young Harry will ensure his safety if he is with his blood relations and calls this place home."
"I am their brother and Harry's blood related uncle, therefore I am family." Marcus raised his gun slightly and aimed at Albus again. "And before you try saying anything about protections, I have already checked what you did with the household here. It may not allow magicals with ill intent to come within the perimeter of the household, but it does not stop anyone of Harry's blood from harming him, nor does it stop those without magic to attack him as well. And since the protections only extend to roughly the street here, it will not protect Harry if he has to go outside the perimeter for primary school or elsewhere. At the same time, your wards can only be powered by Harry's core which is dangerous for him being so young. Your wards will be leaching off his magic and potentially reducing him into a Squib. He would be better off with the other guardians that were listed in the will, including me for that matter."
"Albus?" Minerva looked to her mentor with a slightly begging tone.
"I would need to consider that. Nevertheless, he needs to be raised in the muggle world, all the attention that would come for him would be detrimental to his upbringing." Albus tried another point. "It is better that he does not know of this until his time to come to Hogwarts." Marcus raised an eye at that.
"Are you seriously saying that you want to keep Harry totally ignorant of magic, with no contact with the wizarding world and no forewarning of his status? For better or worse, he is already involved with magic with his birth alone, and if what you said is true of attention coming, it would be better that he has some foreknowledge of what to expect before he gets thrown into the deep end of the magical society and overwhelmed from the attention he would have no clue of." He held a hand up to stop the possible words from Albus.
"Look, I get what you are saying, you can argue all you want, but bottom line? Lily does not want Harry to be raised by Petunia at all, and in the event that none of the previous candidates are available, I am the one to take him under my protection. The fact that you are here with Harry tells me that the worst case scenario has happened for some odd reason." His eyes narrowed at this point.
"But Harry must!"
"Albus Dumbledore." The coldness in his tone was an indicator that Marcus's patience had run dry. "Right now, I am not pleased at the fact that my sister's worst prediction had come true, let alone her passing. I am also not pleased that Sirius Black, Harry's blood-sworn godfather, has decided to go galloping elsewhere for the likely reason of revenge instead of taking care of Harry. Considering it is barely a day since this happened, means you did not check with the rest, and I know for a fact the Longbottoms are still alive and well behind wards as of a few hours ago, as well as the McKinnons. But until I can get a hold of them, I am taking my nephew with me."
"Professor Dumbledore is a great wizard trying to help Harry." Hagrid interjected at this point, annoyed that this man came out of nowhere to cast aspirations on his mentor.
"Dumbledore may be a great wizard, but he is not the executor of the will nor is he the actual guardian." Marcus answered back before turning back. "Lily left instructions for me to fulfil and I will complete them. Do not test me on this."
"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that." Albus raised his wand quickly only to freeze along with the other two.
"Mary." At Marcus's call, his companion nodded and vanished with a soft pop along with Harry.
"I am not sure what you are planning, but if you are willing to raise your wand despite what I have said, that tells me that you have other designs for Harry that Lily was right to be worried about." Marcus looked at the elderly wizard with eyes that were definitely mimicking Lily's when she was ready to unleash her fury.
"Maybe you have good intentions, perhaps you genuinely think this is the way. I do not know, but I have already given my oath to protect my nephew, and I would be damned if someone decides to play my kid like a fiddle. Be grateful I am not in the mood to blow your heads off." the young man looked at the watch on his wrist before looking back up. "You would be moved to a spot hidden from here, and you will be stuck for roughly 30 minutes before you can move. The only reason I am not getting rid of you is on account of Professor McGonagall who clearly has reservations about leaving Harry here with Petunia. That should be enough time for me to dump the death eaters with the authorities and check if the Will Recordings set aside by Lily and James have been activated along with checking with the Longbottoms." With that, he threw a rope about them which moved them to what looked to be a room overlooking the road.
"This will give you some cover from the outside." Marcus glanced at Minerva before continuing. "I believe your professor has a few choice words for you. I will be leaving now while granting your heads some movement. Until we meet again." He ended that with a pop to show he disapparated, right as Albus could move his head and mouth.
"Well, this is quite a predicament." Albus could not help the dry humour at their current situation.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore…"
Albus was not sure whether he should be glad that he was not facing her along with her being stuck in the same manner as him and Hagrid, or be fearful of the fact that Minerva was going to unleash the full brunt of her infamous Scottish temper on him without anyone to block his path.
At the moment, he was leaning towards the latter. He was going to have to spend his salary on good quality Scotch to soothe her temper.
Oh dear.