Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

"You're welcome." said Luna in a dream-like voice. The Hall was riddled with the snorts of people trying to hold their laughter.

"SILENCE!" demanded Umbridge forgetting her sickly sweet voice.

"Now Delores." said Madam Bones. "You can't expect them to just sit there and listen to this, do you? Let them voice their opinions, it will make the reading more, let's say, 'attention holding.'"

"She's got that right." said Fred.

"Imagine, just sitting here and listening to Harry's boring life." said George with a smirk.

"We need to spice things up a bit!" both twins said with a laugh.

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.

"Wow, Harry, you've got awfully boring relatives" said Lee Jordan with a big grin.

"Makes us appreciate our family a lot more." said Ron with a look towards the twins and Percy, who was sitting beside the Minister.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings,

"I knew a Grunning once," said Bathilda Bagshot who had just entered the Great Hall and sat down near Hagrid's seat at the teacher's table. "I don't think it's the same one though. He died almost a hundred years ago."

which made drills.

"Most definitely not him. Hardly would do anything if magic wasn't involved." she said shaking her head quickly.

He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck,

The entire school erupted in laughter.

"Don't they sound like people Romance Novels are made from?" said a seventh year Slytherin wiping tears from her eyes.

"Walrus and Horsie siting in a tree! K...I...S...S...I..N...G!" sang the twins and Lee at the top of their lungs to the applause of the school.

which came in useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.

"She never changed, go figure." muttered Snape.

The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley

Harry however was confused.

"Wait a minute, did that just call Dudley small?" he asked loudly. The Weasely children and Hagrid both laughed.

and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

"That's not right, the best guy in the world is right here." said Fred patting Harry's back. The people who knew Harry nodded, including the teachers. Harry quickly blushed.

"And he is now the most embarrassed guy in the world." said George with a snigger.

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.

"Well, we're about to find out about it, aren't we?" said Ernie from the Hufflepuff table.

They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years;

"That's sad. I don't think I could go years without talking to my sister." said Padma. She then moved towards Pavarti and sat beside her. The Weasely's all agreed and came to sit closer together then before.

in fact , Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister and her good-for-nothing husband

Lupin stood up and glared at the book. His eyes flashing dangerously. There wasn't a person on the other side of those eyes, that didn't flinch. Even the dog on Harry's knee was growling viciously. Harry looked at Sirius and then Lupin, he grabbed his cane and slowly stood up. He took ahold of Lupin's arm and tugged it towards himself. Lupin turned quickly around and glared at the owner of the hand. His eyes softened considerably when he saw Harry and noticed that he didn't flinch at his look. He then pulled him into a big hug and helped the teen back to the chair. Even the dog whimpered as he put his nose back on Harry's knee.

were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.

"Thank bloody God." growled Lupin, rubbing Harry's right arm up and down, in a fatherly way.

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 even seen him. This Boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

"Yeah, you wouldn't want 'poor little Dudley' to become nice." said Fred.

"Or generous" replied George

"Brave"

"Selfless"

"Gentle"

"Smart"

"Funny"

"Noble"

"AND TRUTHFUL" bellowed the twins towards the High Inquisitor. She only scowled

I wouldn't want my children messing around with that dirty little liar either. These muggles have the right idea. thought Umbridge nastily.

Harry was too busy to notice the small smirk of the Defense teacher, he had his buried in Lupin's shoulder, blushing furiously. "I'm not any of those things."

"You might not think so, but that's our opinion." said Lupin with a smile.

When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts,

"Didn't it already start?" asked Malfoy, curiously.

"ENOUGH WITH THE INTERRUPTIONS!" cried Umbridge. Malfoy looked insulted.

"Leave the kids alone!" said Madame Bones. "You brougt this up here, you'll have to take their comments and like it."

there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,

"Harry, why would he pick out a boring tie?" asked Mr. Weasley. "I get one for Father's Day every year and I can honestly say, none of them are boring. My favorite one is the one where it whistles a tune all day. Kids all chipped in and got it for me." he finished, beaming towards his kids.

Most of the Ministry people smiled at that. Every year on Father's day, Arthur would go around the Ministry and show off his ties. He was so proud of his children, and they loved to see the glimmer in his eyes when he spoke of them.

"He hates to stand out. I'm more amazed that he was humming." said Harry deep in thought.

"Why is that? People hum all the time." said Flitwick, an avid music lover.

"He doesn't allow music in the house. I don't remember the last time I even hummed, there anyway." Harry looked thoughtful, not noticing the incredulous looks from the people around him. Professor Flitwick clutched at his heart and nearly fainted.

and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.

"Umm...we weren't like that when we were younger, were we mom?" asked Ginny looking sideways at her mother.

"No, you and your brothers were very well behaved when you were babies. Even the twins were little angels. At that age, anyway." she smiled mischievously. The Weasely children released a large sigh of relief.

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,

"QUICK! GET SOME DISINFECTANT!" yelled Ron. His brother's fell off their seats and cushions clutching their sides. Harry laughed along with them, maybe this book wasn't so bad.

and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing cereal at the walls.

"And he doesn't see anything wrong with that behavior? What a stupid man." growled Sprout.

"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.

It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.

"I know who that is!" chanted Harry with a smile.

"How would you know? It doesn't describe what the cat looks like." said Hermione with a frown.

"I saw a cat reading the street sign one morning when I was six. I walked up to it and sat there petting it all day, I even named her, and I found her five years later."

"Where?" asked Hermione, still not believing him.

"Here, turns out it was Professor McGonagall's animagus form, imagine my shock." he said grinning ear to ear. The Transfiguration teacher smiled broadly back.

"What was the name you gave her?" asked Fred with a smirk.

Harry looked up to McGonagall, she smiled proudly. "He called me 'Tootsie'. I've been called 'Minnie' in that form, but you Mr. Potter, came up with a name that actually fits my animagus form."

"You never told me you went to Privet Drive. Did he tell you anything we should be worried about?" said Dumbledore quietly.

"No, he didn't say a word about anything else, besides giving me a name and asking if I liked it, he was very thin though. We both just sat on the sidewalk. Whole day went by." said McGonagall quietly to him.

For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen -then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.

"Wow, you're quick." said Fred whistling.

What could he have been thinking of? It must have a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the car. Its stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no,looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.

"Tootsie can" thought Harry with small smile.

Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.

"He doesn't even think about his family, just his darn business deals." muttered Madame Pomfrey.

But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people!

"I have seen the outfits young muggle adults wear. They are wonderfully eccentric." said Dumbledore smiling brightly.

He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!

"What is odd about that?" said a little first year Ravenclaw.

"That isn't normal in the Muggle world." said Hermione quickly.

The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something...yes, that would be it.

"Collecting? What is this Muggle talking about?" questioned Malfoy.

The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.

"Didn't take him too long, not much must go on in his head." stated a Ravenclaw.

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 owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did;

"Why were the owls going nuts?" asked Blaise.

"It was from all the letters of joy that were being sent around Britain that day." said Snape.

they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.

"Your Uncle Vernon needs to settle down I think." said Professor Lupin to Harry.

Harry couldn't tell him that his temper was pretty easy going, that day by the sound of it.

He was in a very good mood until lunchtime,

"Wait a minute, if that is a good mood, then...Harry, did your uncle ever get angry with you?" asked Lupin, looking sideways at Harry. The dog whimpered. Harry looked down and refused to answer him, he motioned to Madam Bones to continue reading. Madam Bones did rather reluctantly.

when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.

"Figures, the only way he'd actually do some exercise was to get a doughnut." muttered Harry darkly.

He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy.

"He makes us uneasy too." said Charlie thoughtfully.

Bill nodded.

This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.

"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"

"-yes, their son, Harry-"

People in the Great Hall turned to look at him. Harry just looked down.

Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whispers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.

He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone,

"How did he get so high up to have a secretary?" asked Hermione. "It isn't his personality."

"He had to step on and destroy a bunch of people to get where he is." said Harry.

and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking...no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry

"HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME?!" screamed Mrs. Weasely. Harry only looked down. Now he could see the giant problem with the books. He was having all of his secrets exposed. This wasn't fair.

He had never even seen the boy.

"Lily wanted to take you to meet her sister, but her sister always said they were going to be out of town those days." said Lupin sadly.

It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that...

"Yeah, like your sister is any better." said Harry rolling his eyes.

but all the same, those people in cloaks...

He found it a lot harder to 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 just outside the door.

"Sorry, " he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.

"I'm amazed it didn't kill that poor guy." said Harry bemusedly.

"I'm much more sturdier built then most people give me credit for, Mr. Potter." said the Charms Professor kindly.

It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare,

"They just aren't used to my beautiful tenor voice." said Professor Flitwick haughtily.

"No denying that." said Bill with a smile.

"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 be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"

And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.

"It wasn't easy hugging that man, I couldn't even get my arms halfway around his middle." said Flitwick with a smirk.

Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.

"Yeah Harry, imagination is a very bad thing." said George with straight face.

"Just look at us." said Fred, the school erupted in laughter.

As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning.

"Why were you all day, Professor?" asked a third year Gryffindor to his Head of House.

"You will hear about it very soon." she said, eyes misting.

It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.

"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.

The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.

"Even we knew that was going to happen. Same look she gives us when we tell her we didn't do anything." laughed Lee Jordan. Professor McGonagall's lips twitched slightly.

Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together , he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.

Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley learned a new word (Won't).

Mrs. Weasely and the teachers, except Umbridge, snarled at this. "Spoiled brat"

Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room 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 there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight Jim?"

"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars!"

Dedalus Diggle blushed deeply

"Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."

Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. 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 carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"

As he expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.

"Too bad Lily didn't pretend. She was always upset that Petunia wouldn't talk to her." said Lupin sadly.

"No," she said sharply. "Why?"

"Funny stuff on the news, " Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls...shooting stars...and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."

"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.

"Well, I just thought...maybe...it was something to do with...you know...her crowd."

The entire Hall was silent. Then people started whispering, then talking until finally they were yelling

"OUR CROWD? WHAT DOES HE MEAN ABOUT THAT!?" They rounded on Harry and he just sank deeper into the cushions of the bowl. Lupin had to lean in front of the raven-haired youth and send a stern look back to the rest of the school.

Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"

"I suppose so, said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.

"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"

"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."

"Name may be common, but the person with it isn't" said Ginny angrily. All of Harry's friends shouted out in agreement and Dumbledore nodded. Harry buried his head in Lupin's chest again. Lupin just sat and smiled, he couldn't believe how humble Harry was, especially living in that household.

"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."

He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom. Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.

Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did...if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.

The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake,

"Oh, thank Merlin, I was getting ready to be sick." said Fred holding his stomach.

turning it all over in his mind. He last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind...

"I only wished that Lily had confided in me what her sister really thought about her and James. I never would have brought Harry to them." said Dumbledore whispered. McGonagall, thought about reminding him that she told all she knew about the Dursleys, but thought better of it. She patted his arm.

He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...

How very wrong he was.

"Wishful thinking." said Harry out loud, causing people to turn towards him and have concerned looks on their faces.

Mr. Dursley might have been into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact , it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.

A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.

Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots.

"At least you have more fashion sense then someone else I know." said Harry with a smirk.

"Mr. Potter! My wardrobe is the peak of fashion!" yelled Umbridge

"I never said I meant you, ma'am." said Harry innocently. Dumbledore chuckled silently to himself.

His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.

The entire school stood up and cheered. Even the ones who didn't believe Harry or Dumbledore.

Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.

"You just love to go to places where you stick out like a sore thumb, don't you Albus?" said Bathilda Bagshot with a smile.

"I enjoy the look on people's faces." he said with a large grin.

He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."

"Glad I was a source of amusement for you, Albus." McGonagall said, folding her arms but the sides of her mouth were twitching.

He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.

"AWESOME PROFESSOR!" yelled the twins. "Where did you get that thing?"

"I invented it myself many years ago, boys." said Dumbledore.

"Maybe we can make one ourselves, Fred." said George excitedly. Dumbledore chuckled over to them.

"I have no doubt that you can, and will. You have the same ingenuity that I myself possessed when I was younger." The twins grinned ear to ear and were even more hyped to start on their new goal.

If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.

"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."

He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses, exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes.

"I've always loved your glasses Professor." said Harry looking up at her admiringly. She blushed, which was extremely rare. "Living almost my whole life with giant, round glasses, it's really nice seeing something different."

"Yeah, you need a new pair badly. When this is done, I'll take you to the eyeglass shop in Diagon Alley." whispered Lupin to Harry, who beamed at him.

"But how are you going to pay for them? Nevermind, I'll pay."

"My cousin runs that shop, she won't charge me. She never does when I go in for reading glasses." said Lupin with smile.

She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."

"If you had asked Harry about ten years ago, Sir, he would have told you Tootsie." said the twins laughing. Then they stopped laughing and stared at McGonagall. She didn't seem angry.

"Aren't you going to yell at us?" said the twins, slightly disappointed.

"Absolutely not. I will never be embarrassed in spending a day with Harry when he was younger."

"Best day I ever had while at the Dursleys. I used that memory one time in my Patronus charm lessons."

"Is that the memory that broke all the windows in my office, because it was so large?" asked Lupin, Harry nodded. Lupin and McGonagall looked at each other with concern. Why was that memory so powerful? What was life Dursleys really like?

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.

"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my here."

Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.

"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right, " she said impatiently.

"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls...shooting stars...Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."

Professor looked down at Dedalus horrified. She was about to profess her apologies, when he just smiled at her and nodded his head.

"You can't blame them, " said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.

All the adults, besides Umbridge, bowed their heads in somber remembrance.

"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."

She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-know Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggle found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"

"He HAS disappeared! He's never coming back." said Umbridge with authority.

"I'm not even going to argue, I'll let the books take over from here." said Harry dismissing her with a wave of his hand. She didn't like that one bit.

"You've to a week of detention with me Mr. Potter, for your cheek." said Umbridge with a scowl.

"You seem to forget Delores, Potter is excused from all detentions, especially those with you, until he is back to full health and we figure out what happened. As a matter of fact, the rest of the teachers will take care of any detentions you hand out to the students. You will not hold any detentions till the incident is resolved." said McGonagall sternly. The school erupted in cheers. The parents and guardians of the students that were there, looked concerned.

"It certainly seems so, " said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"

"A what?"

"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."

"What is with you and your penchant for sweets, Dumbledore." said Kingsley with a smirk.

"I have a very demanding sweet tooth. I always have a large bowl of candy hidden away in my office. Except at Christmas time." grinned Dumbledore.

"What? What is so different about Christmas time? That's the only time I actually eat candy." inquired Kingsley with his eyebrows raised.

"For the past, oh I should say, four years, I've received a large box of these delightful raspberry and chocolate chip cookies." Dumbledore sat back in his chair, with a longing look in his eyes.

"I don't recall you offering anyone else these cookies, usually you offer anyone and everyone your sweets." said Pomfrey with a mock indignant look.

"I actually refuse to have anyone else have them. That is the one thing, I will not share. I just wish my secret baker would send me more than one box." he pouted. Seeing that look on their headmaster, the students and a few teachers started to giggle and snicker.

"No, thank you, " said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.

"I'm sorry, Albus, but I was in no mood for sweets at that time." said McGonagall.

"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"

"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name:Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched,

As did the rest of the school. Harry let out a sigh.

"Get a grip, people." said Harry rolling his eyes.

but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemorts's name.

Another wave a flinches went through the school, Harry groaned.

"I know you haven't" said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know-oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."

"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."

"Only cause you're too noble to use them sir." said Harry up to the Head Table. Dumbledore smiled brightly and looked to McGonagall.

"Only because you're too - well- noble to use them."

McGonagall looked down to Harry and had a small smile.

"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madame Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."

"Old people can flirt? I didn't think they knew how!" laughed a seventh year Slytherin.

"You think you invented it all, do you?" sneered Pomfrey. That wiped the smile of his face in an instant.

Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"

The entire hall went deadly silent. They all leaned forward.

It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.

"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow."

Lupin began to cringe and Sirius whined. Harry looked between the both of them, leaned on Lupin's arm and stroked Sirius's canine head.

"He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are-are-that they're-dead."

The entire school looked over to Harry, who just closed his eyes. They couldn't see the single tear sliding down his face. Everyone except Luna, who came over and caught that single tear in a vial. Harry looked at Luna with curiosity.

"You had a Squakdoon hovering over you. They take your pain and manifest it into a tear. If you catch the tear and keep it with you in a bottle, you won't feel the pain as intensely as you did before." she ran a thin red string through the loop at the end of the vial. She placed it around Harry's neck. Amazingly, he did feel quite a bit better.

Maybe there was some truth to what she sees.

Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.

"Lily and James...I can't believe...I didn't want to believe it...Oh, Albus..."

Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know...I know..." he said heavily.

Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he 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 they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."

"Great, now starts the reason we all have to worship him." said Fudge with a smile on his face. However, that smile was ripped off his face when he was forced to dodge flying pieces of paper and several bottles of ink. Umbridge was livid.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THE MINISTER OF MAGIC?! ONE HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, MR. POTTER!"

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! HE DIDN'T THROW A DAMN THING! WE DID!" screamed the entire student body. Dumbledore looked quickly over to the giant hourglasses and smiled broadly.

"It seems that the magic of the books we are reading is prohibiting us from taking points away from any student." Umbridge ran over to the hourglasses and examined them. She didn't know what to think. Madam Bones ignored her and continued on.

Dumbledore nodded glumly.

"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done...all the people he's killed...he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding...of all the things to stop him...but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"

"Something we would all love to know, Albus." mumbled Moody from the end of the Slytherin table.

"We can only guess, " said Dumbledore. "We may never know."

Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.

"You have awesome toys, Professor." cheered Bill, who was sitting beside Charlie at the Gryffindor table.

It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"

"What did make you late that night, Hagrid" said Dumbledore leaning forward to speak to the Care of Magical Creatures Teacher.

"Drunk probably, disgusting half-breed. The lot of them." said Umbridge with a smug look.

Hagrid shifted slowly and looked towards Harry before answering.

"It took me and Sirius Black a little while to find Harry, sir. The part o' the house where he was, was completely destroyed. We 'ad ta move a few charred pieces o' lumber to get to 'im. Wasn't even cryin' just kept trying ta..." Hagrid took out a giant polka-dotted handkerchief and blew his nose. "kept trying ta cuddle up wid his momma. Get 'er to wake up." He howled so loud that it made the tables shake. Sirius looked up at Harry, whined and nuzzled his hand.

The school, minus Umbridge and the Minister, all looked down and started to cry. Dumbledore had to take a tissue that was offered by Madame Hooch. Every house table there was didn't hold a single dry eye. Harry looked down, he wanted to cry, but he couldn't. He felt the pain, but it didn't hurt as much as it should have. He looked at the little vial and saw the tear, it was glowing.

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here of all places?"

"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."

"Not no more mate," said Ron thickly. Drying his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "You've got us now."

"And me." said Lupin pulling him into a tight hug. Sirius sat up and licked his face.

"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I 've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"

"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly.

"I couldn't be more ashamed of myself." said Dumbledore covering his face with his hands.

"His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."

"What...the...A LETTER?" said Mrs. Weasely standing up. "How are you going to explain everything in a letter! A little boy just lost both his mother and father in the same night, at the hands of the most psychotic man the world has ever known and you explain things in a LETTER?" Then she rounded on Harry. "What did the letter say?"

"I don't know, I wasn't aware they even got one." said Harry simply.

"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future -"

"For God's sake, tell me there isn't one." said Harry horrified.

"Actually, today is Harry Potter Day." said Madam Bones.

"Were you expecting presents today Potter?" sneered Umbridge.

"Absolutely not, but I'll give presents if you quit your job here." retorted Harry. The entire student body sniggered.

"there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"

"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head.

"Despite the fact that I REALLY disapprove of you chucking my nephew into that place, I've got to admit, I would hate to see a Harry Potter that loved all the fame and attention. Good Lord, you would act just like your father did at your age now, an attention seeking prat." said Lupin running a hand over the mess of black hair. Harry snapped his head up to him.

"My dad was attention seeking?" he said, face falling.

"In the worst way possible. I can honestly say that your dad was not only a prat, but a spoiled brat" said Lupin fondly, his smile faded fast when he noticed how troubled Harry looked. "What's wrong?"

"Everyone says I act...like...him..." said Harry clutching his chest. He felt sick. Lupin looked horrified at how pale Harry had turned.

"When people say that 'you act like him' they mean the man he had grown up to become!" said Lupin quickly, trying to calm Harry's fears. "If they had meant that you acted like your dad when he first started, they would have taken you back to the proverbial woodshed so many times, it could have been your permanent address."

"Then how do I act?" whispered Harry fearfully, he didn't want to come acrossed as an attention seeking idiot, like his cousin Dudley. Did the Dursleys rub off on him after all?

"To be perfectly honest, you don't even act like your dad at any age, you are your mother's son, didn't matter who it was, she stood up for them. Just like what the twins said a few moments ago, that is what she was. And you are the exact same. A carbon copy." said Lupin pulling him in a tight embrace.

Madam Bones smiled down to them and ignored Umbridge's and Fudge's snorts of disbelief and continued.

"Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember!"

"Can everybody please try to remember that!" said Harry out loud.

"Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"

Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here. Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.

"It really doesn't surprise me that you thought that, with all the things I have hidden away in my cloak." said Dumbledore with a grin.

"Hagrid's bringing him."

"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"

"Forgive me Hagrid. I didn't mean it the way it came I out...I...no I didn't mean it at all." said McGonagall pleadingly.

The staff looked sympathetically towards the Transfiguration Professor, McGonagall had been acting strangely, ever since she saw the horrible injuries on Harry that night, she was a little jumpy and quick to apologize. She would however stay her same strict fashion in classes, but the moment Harry would come on the scene, she would smile and continually ask him if he was alright. It took everything Harry had to try and calm her down and get her back to normal. He was making progress, but it would still take a long time for her to return to her usual self.

"I agree with McGonagall's statement in the book. I wouldn't trust a gamekeeper with anything other than a yard full of dirt. Especially the one Hogwarts's has." said Umbridge with her nose in the air.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, Hermione took a glob of magical putty from her bag, something she confiscated from the Weasely twins, and sent it magically over to the staff table and up Umbridge's upturned nose. It took several moments for it to come out and calm the students down. The twins gave Hermione a sly wink.

"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore

"Us too." said Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Hagrid beamed.

"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place, " said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"

A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.

Sirius let out a loud bark, jumped out of the bowl and ran around in a circle chasing his tail. The students all pointed at him and laughed.

"Love your dog, mate!" yelled Lee.

"I love my dog, too." said Harry fondly.

If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.

"Who could that possibly be, Fred?" asked George.

"Wow, I really don't know George. Could it possibly be..." said Fred his twinkling.

"You know you could be right, it does sound like..." said George slowly.

"HAGRID!" yelled the entire Gryffindor table.

In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.

The girls and the majority of the teachers all sighed. "Awww" Harry put his hand to his face and covered his face, hiding a blush.

"Hagrid, " said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"

"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."

"No problems, were there?"

"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."

The same girls and women cooed at this as well.

This is turning into a living hell. Thought Harry.

Umbridge had a similar thought, this wasn't starting out the way she wanted. When were they going to get to some of his lies?

"What was Harry doing as you were flying before he fell asleep, Hagrid?" asked Hermione. Harry groaned at her, but Hagrid smiled at her.

"While we was flyin' he was tryin' to catch the stars with 'is little 'ands." said Hagrid smiling over to Harry, the girls squealed.

"I remember you doing that too, when we would take you for a nighttime ride. You loved flying." said Lupin fondly.

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.

"Ooooh," and "Aww" rippled through the house tables.

"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."

"Couldn't you do something about it Dumbledore?"

Harry sat up straight, too fast, his wounds sent a pain through him in reproach and it took most of Harry's strength to not cry out.

"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground."

"Huh? Really, sir?" said a few Muggleborns.

"Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."

I wanted to get it over with, before I could change my mind. Now I'm wishing I did. thought Dumbledore bitterly.

Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursley's house.

"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.

Sirius let out a similar howl.

"How come that didn't wake you up Harry, you're a real light sleeper." asked Neville.

"Good quality to have Potter, never know when an enemy might come up and assassinate you." said Moody approvingly.

"Harry used to sleep like a log, Sirius would set off a firecracker under James's chair, wouldn't even make Harry flinch. Don't know what made that change." said Lupin with a furrowed brow. Harry said nothing.

"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"

"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"

"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door.

"You know Professor? At one time, I would have been a little irked that you didn't fight for me, but now, I can honestly say that I really can't blame you." said Harry kindly.

"Why is that Potter?" said Snape with his eyebrows raised.

"My aunt and uncle are real good actors when they want to be, from what I hear from this book, they aren't the people I know. There was no way you could have known just how much of a living hell I go through when I'm there." said Harry in an offhand manner. However, when the comment left his mouth and he realized what he said, his hand flew to his forehead, smacking it hard.

The rest of the students didn't catch the significance of it, but Harry's friends and the adults that a hint of the situation going on, turned a deadly shade of white. What the hell went on during the summer?

He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blanket, and then came back to the other two.

Silence, heavy, thick silence, like Harry had never heard before. People just sat in their seats, blinking and staring up at the Head Table. Finally a voice broke through the barrier, Mrs. Weasely was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"THIS WAS OCTOBER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING LEAVING HIM ON A DOORSTEP! THEY SAID IT WAS GOING TO RAIN THAT NIGHT! HE COULD HAVE FROZEN TO DEATH, GOTTEN SICK KIDNAPPED, WOKEN UP AND WANDERED OFF! WHAT WERE THE THREE OF YOU THINKING? WHAT IF HE HAD DIED THEN AND THERE! WE NEVER...NEVER..." after her shouting rant, she broke down in sobs. Not even her husband could console her.

Harry sighed, reached for his cane, which was sitting to Lupin's left and used it to get over to Mrs. Weasely. He sat beside her and embraced her. He said nothing, just hugged her. He motioned for Madame Bones to continue on reading, she herself had tears in her eyes.

"Harry, we should be the ones comforting you, not the other way around." squeaked Hermione. He looked over to her and took her pulled her close to him as well. Hermione couldn't contain it anymore, she bawled, not so much because of him being left in the cold, that was bad enough, but the thought of him, just not being there. She couldn't bare it. Her best friend gone, her first and best friend. It was too much to handle. He just held both of the women and made a soothing 'shh' sound.

"I took precautions." said Dumbledore quietly. "I placed a charm over him, so that he couldn't have been moved, except by his aunt or Uncle and no harm by persons, or nature could have befallen him."

For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulder shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.

"That's never a good thing." said Fred thickly, wiping a tear from his eye. Anger was replaced by worry in the realization that Mrs. Weasely had brought to light.

"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."

"Yeah, " said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'd best get this bike away. G'night. Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."

Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.

"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.

Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lights so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.

"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.

A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up.

One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on,"

"Aww! Sweet! You're so cute Harry!" said many of the seventh year girls. Harry buried his head in his hands.

"Yeah, what happened?" smirked Draco, Harry looked up at him.

"Same thing that happened to you." Draco's sneer slowly slid off his face. Both houses laughed.

"not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley...He couldn't know that at this 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!"

"Well that's the end of the first chapter, Dumbledore." said Madame Bones looking over to the aged Headmaster. He now seemed to have aged a thousand years in an instant. He had tears falling freely down his crooked nose.