Prolouge
Dursley's House
July 31, 1991
[What was supposed to be Harry's 11th birthday]
Rubeus Hagrid POV:
Hagrid walked up the sidewalk towards Privet Drive #4 with a grin plastered on his face and a birthday cake in hand. He was quite jolly seeing as Dumbledore gave him the honor of picking up little Harry and taking him on his first trip to Diagon Alley for school supplies.
It has been quite a while since he saw the wee babe. Oh that was such a dreadful night indeed. Poor James and Lily were never able to see little Harry grow up. And Harry will never… He cuts himself off from that gloomy line of thinking" Oh stop Hagrid you are going to get yourself all up in a fit" He says softly to himself wiping a stray tear from his eye.
Hagrid has now reached the steps of the Dursley house. He clambers up to the door and gives three sharp knocks on the door. Inside he hears a bit of ruckus but pays it no mind.
He waits patiently for the door to swing open and is greeted to the sight of a rather spindly looking muggle woman. "Yes, how can I help you?" She says with a smile that is quickly wiped off her face at the sight of him.
"VENRON!" She turns quickly and shouts down the hall towards what he supposes is the living room. "It is one of those freaks!" She screeches to her husband.
Stunned at the unexpected insult Hagrid doesn't notice the large man walking briskly towards him with his brows furrowed and face already turning red. "Now see here ma'am just who are ya calling…" He tries to say before he is cut off by her husband that yells just as loudly as his wife.
"Oh no you don't we already got rid of the other freak! I don't want another one hanging around my perfectly normal family! So just go back to wherever you came from with all your other freaks!" Vernon screams in Hagrid's face with spit flying everywhere.
Now Hagrid might not be the sharpest tool in the shed. He quickly picks up on the words spoken by the muggle yelling at him. "What do ya mean "get rid of", are ya saying Harry isn't here?!" Hagrid's face morphs into one of shock.
"Hmpf, that little freak hasn't been here in years" He huffs. "The brat ran away about 3 years ago, haven't seen him since… good riddance I say" Dursley says with a satisfied grin. "3 years!!" Hagrid screams his face white. No… no this must be a mistake he thinks. Dumbledore said Harry would be here.
"Why haven't you sent word earlier that he went missing! How are you not worried sick, he is your flesh and blood!" He screams with righteousness. "That little freak is no family to us, what do we care if he leaves." Petunia pipes up from behind her husband's back.
"We never wanted the stupid brat. You freaks are to blame for dumping unwanted babes on normal people's doorsteps in the middle of night. Really my freak of a sister couldn't just die, no she had to leave a wretched spawn behind to inconvenience others" She complained.
By the time Petunia finished her rant the half-giant's blood was boiling. "How dare ya, how dare ya speak ill of Lily! Once Dumbledore hears of this you will regret it! " Hagrid cries trying to hold back his anger before he gives them a good thrashing.
Hagrid quickly pushes past the two muggles despite their protests. Being a half-giant had some perks, one being much greater strength than the average.
He searched all throughout the house calling Harry's name. He only found a few bedrooms, bathrooms and a room full of broken toys. With no sign of a little boy with black hair and green eyes.
In his search found two things of note however one in the little cupboard under the stairs. As a last ditch effort he peeked inside hoping the boy was maybe scared by him and hid inside.
What he found broke his big heart. There on the inside of the little door written in colorful wax read: Harry's Room scribbled so crooked even he could barely read it. He also found a small beaten up mattress and a threadbare blanket with a few stains on it.
Various knick knacks littered the tiny space. Hagrid felt like he might be sick at how terrible the story this little room told. Still feeling a little queasy at the sight of the cupboard.
"Oh I should have thrown all of those things away years ago. It is just like the ungrateful brat to make me clean up after him" Petunia sneers.
He went to the living room to get away from the sight. Only to find the little Dursley boy there and stuffing his face with a cake he baked personally for Harry's birthday. He had set it there temporarily on his search of the house.
Hagrid's anger exploded. Raises his little pink umbrella and gives it a flick. He gifts the pig of a boy with some brand new appendages to match his appetite. Feeling something different about his body Dudley looks down and cries at what he sees.
The boy's mother, seeing this, screams "Dudders! My baby, what have you done to him!" She runs over and tries to calm down the brat.
Hagrid pays her no mind he needs to get back and report this to Dumbledore immediately. They have to find Harry as soon as possible. Whenever he is, Hagrid hopes he is better off than he was here.
Vernon blocks him on his way out the door. "Now see here you will fix whatever freakish things you have done to my son!" Vernon cried to the half-giant.
He didn’t have any more time to spend of those horrible muggles he had to get back to Hogwarts. He pushes Vernon aside as easily he did when he entered the home.
He jumps on his motorbike and taking off to the screams of the Dursleys telling him to fix their precious baby.
Albus Dumbledore POV:
Back at Hogwarts Dumbledore was sitting comfortably in his chair behind his desk sucking on a few lemon drops. "It should be anytime now that Harry is strolling through the streets of diagon alley with all the wonder of a naive little boy" Dumbledore mumbles to himself contently.
This was really one of his best plans yet, soon the impressionable brat will be wandering these very halls. Then slowly over the years he will turn into the perfect little soldier… a lamb for the slaughter.
Oh how he can't wait for the day to come when he can finally put his plan into action and claim all the glory for himself. He is broken from his musings as the bumbling half-giant bursts through his office door. "Harry Potter is missing!" He shouts and Dumbledore's mouth gaps his precious lemon drops falling to the floor.
"He's what?!" Dumbledore cries jumping up from his seat with all the grace of a newborn giraffe. His carefully laid plans, decades in the making, crumbling along with his pleasant mood.
Dumbledore quickly schooled his expression to his usual calm grandfatherly act. "Now Hagrid what do you mean he is missing?" Dumbledore asks barely able to keep his voice steady after decades of practice.
"Oh that poor boy. He is only 11 years old and he is out there all alone" The half-giant barely able to stop his tears from falling down his face. The thought alone of what the boy must have been through the past few years saddened him. Especially with those muggles that clearly didn't care for little Harry.
"Hagrid please try to focus on the matter at hand please" He says with his anger hidden behind a smile. This imbecile needs to quickly tell him all the information he has so that he may know what he is dealing with.
"Yes of course Headmaster!" Hagrid seems to pull himself together and start telling all about his task to the Dursley House to pick up Harry. He explains how he went to the house, but Harry was nowhere to be found.
Hagrid then seems to hesitate before continuing "Headmaster I don't mean to question you but what I saw in that house was sickening. Are you sure that was the best place to place Harry? Surely there were plenty of good wizarding folks that could have taken him in? I have my doubts about how little Harry was treated there." Hagrid asks.
Albus sighs after listening to Hagrid's story. "Really Hagrid you should be more careful about who you start questioning" He says while raising his own wand. "Obliviate" Dumbledore says and once Hagrid comes back to himself he sends him on his way back to his groundskeepers duties.
Dumbledore stalks over to shelves lined with all his various objects. Most of them being artifacts he "borrowed" from students over the years. It was too bad most of them happened to die during the war leaving no one to come claim them back.
He searched for the ones all keyed to Harry's magical signature and the blood wards around the house. Only to find them all unresponsive and the wards destroyed. "Damn it" He whispers to himself.
He at first wasn't too worried seeing as he could have just used these artifacts to track Harry down and bring him back to the loving embrace of the Dursleys. Now with them not working his panic began to grow.
"Where the bloody hell could that boy have gone?" Dumbledore ponders before he steps away from the bookcase. He had a few fire-calls to make. The Order of the Phoenix was about to have its first meeting in over a decade. His mind working a mile a minute trying to come up with plans to fix the situation.
The search lasted all of 3 months with no leads and little resources. Harry's trail was cold, not a hair left behind to point in the right direction after such a long time since his disappearance.
It was then the rest of the wizarding community caught wind of it. Throwing the whole of the wizarding world in an uproar. The search was picked up by the Ministry of Magic. Despite all efforts there was no sign of their hero.
A new article popped up in the The Daily Prophet not a week later: The-Boy-Who-Lived Vanished! Dead Or Alive! Years Gone By Where Could He Have Went? By: Rita Skeeter
It was not for another 3 more years before "Harry Potter" reappeared in Wizarding society. He was not however the same little boy that got locked up in a cupboard under the stairs.