It is nighttime in Surrey. An owl is sitting on a street sign labelled "Privet Drive". Every house on the street is identical-looking; made with brown bricks. It's quiet even as the owl flies away and an older man in crimson robes appears with a small pop, not loud enough to wake the sleeping patrons. His silvery white beard gave away who he was; Albus Dumbledore, who walks out of a forest near the street, past a tabby cat standing next to what looks like a shed. He makes it to the middle of the road before removing an object from his robe pocket and activating it. With a few uses of the device, every lamppost on the street went out.
Putting the device back into his robe he finally notices the tabby staring up at him. "I should have known that you would be here, Professor McGonagall," he says with a small smile.
The cat silently looks at him before walking past a wall. Albus watched as the shadow of a tabby shifted and changed into that of a woman with a tall hat before Minerva McGonagall stepped out from behind the brick wall.
"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore," she responds professionally before continuing with worry. "Are the rumours true, Albus?"
"I'm afraid so, Professor," Dumbledore lost what little smile he once had. "The good and the bad."
Minerva covers her mouth to stop a gasp. It took a moment for her to calm herself down. "And the boy?" She didn't know what to do if the same fate had befallen the young child.
"Hagrid is bringing him," Albus tells her while walking down the street, McGonagall following and looking concerned.
"Do you think it wise to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"
They halt in front of a house labelled #4, "Ah, Professor, I would trust Hagrid with my life."
They turn at the sound of a motor and see a flying motorcycle coming down from the air. It skids on the street before stopping. A large man with shoulder-length black hair and a beard steps off, a baby strapped against his chest snuggly and safely. He removes his goggles and grins at the two professors. "Professor Dumbledore, Sir. Professor McGonagall."
"No, problems, I trust, Hagrid?" Dumbledore smiles at the man as he moves forward.
Hagrid shakes his head, "No, sir. Little tyke fell asleep just as we were flying over Bristol. Heh," he chuckles. "Try not to wake him. There you go." Albus is handed the sleeping baby.
Albus begins to head toward #4 causing Minvera to grow concerned, "Albus, do you really think it's safe, leaving him with these people? I've watched them all day. They're the worst sort of Muggles imaginable. They really are…" She didn't get to complete her thoughts as Dumbledore interrupted.
"The only family he has," he states softly. Neither McGonagall nor Hagrid respond and continue to follow him to the stoop.
Minerva cannot ignore her gut telling her to speak, "This boy will be famous. There won't be a child in our world who doesn't know his name." While she thought this would get her colleague to reconsider, it has the opposite effect.
"Exactly," he nods sagely. "He's better off growing up away from all that. Until he is ready." Albus gently places the bundle on the stoop while Hagrid sniffles, letting out a short sob. The tall man clears his throat, trying to stop the sobs. Albus rubs the man's lower back, "There, there, Hagrid. It's not really goodbye, after all."
Hagrid nods as Dumbledore takes a letter from his robes, placing it on the baby in front of the door. Hagrid and Minerva walk away, leaving Albus to say his final words to the boy. "Good luck… Harry Potter."
The baby with a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead is left alone in the middle of the night. Once Dumbledore and McGonagall apparate away while Hagrid speeds through the air on the motorcycle, another figure aparates near the house where the boy was left. The man is wearing a black robe with a hood covering his face. He strides toward the child, a determined feel to his gate.
"That man is a fool for thinking that a blood ward would be around this house when that rotten woman doesn't share the same blood as Lily," the man mutters as he makes his way to the child. When he gets close he picks the boy up, holding him close to his chest. "You will stay with me and my aunt May." Severus Snape smiles down at the sleeping toddler. "At least with me, a blood ward will activate."
The two apparate away from Privet Drive to a new life.
—*—
A knock comes on Harry's bedroom door, a woman joyously speaking, "Up, Harry!"
The boy, now ten years old is already dressed in navy jeans and a red shirt, a pair of round glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. When Harry exits his room, the woman is no longer there. Upon moving down the hall to the living room he finds Aunt May and Severus Snape standing by a pile of presents, all wrapped for him. They are smiling at him, but Harry is in shock.
"These are all for me?" He always got presents, but this was another level. He never expected to get that many presents.
The man Harry has grown to see as a father figure nods, "Of course, they are, and don't forget the promised memory."
In the boys' excitement, he works on opening every present. He gets a Rubrics cube, and a multitude of books; scientific, colouring, word search, and puzzle-solving, along with puzzles of many different sizes. It was Heaven for Harry Potter, that's for sure.
"Harry," Snape gets the boys' attention. "Are you ready to choose a memory?" Harry nods eagerly, rushing over to his father figure and taking his hand.
They walk into a dimly lit room and move towards the bottles with swirling white light inside; the memories. "So, which one will you choose this year?"
Severus smiles when Harry motions to be picked up. Once in Severus' arms, he points at a memory bottle. Picking it up, Snape pours it into the Pensieve. Still holding Harry in his arms, he allows the memory to pull them in.
In the Pensieve, they see a young Severus Snape walking out from behind a tree to see Lily Evans making flowers bloom with a slight touch. Severus smiles and goes to step forward when he steps on a branch, breaking it. Lily turns towards him frantically.
"Who are you?" She asks, worry clear on her face.
"I'm Severus," he responds, a grin growing. "Were you making those flowers bloom?" Severus was excited at the possibility of not being the only magical child nearby.
However, Lily was terrified. She hadn't had an accidental burst of magic such as this before. "I-I don't know, they just started blooming anytime I touched them; I couldn't stop it."
The boy realizes her fears, and tries to alleviate them, "You're a witch." Keyword, tried.
She gasped, "That is rude!" She was shocked that the boy could say such a thing to someone he just met.
Seeing where he went wrong in his explanation Severus laughs a bit before picking up a blade of grass between his fingers. What happened next caused Lily to gasp softly in wonder; the blade of grass turned into a bright orange, almost red lily.
"If I just insulted you, I insulted myself by being a wizard."
That's the last thing they hear before they are booted out of the memory. Harry giggles faintly even as silent tears roll down his cheeks, Severus is not any better but he hides it well.
Whipping his tears away, he turns to Harry with a weak smile, "So, Harry, are you ready to go to the Zoo?"
At the mention of going to the Zoo, Harry perks up slightly and nods, "I want to see the spiders and snake!"
