Chapter 3
Harry's whole body felt as if it had been squeezed through a tube and before he could even get used to it, the feeling stopped and he fell forwards, out of another fireplace. A hand on his shoulder prevented him from falling to his knees and kept him upright. Harry looked up and took in the room in front of him. His first thought was intimidating. Bookcases framed the room on both sides, the books on the shelves looked weird and old and nothing like the books his aunt and uncle had at home. The floor was all dark woods with a dark green rug in front of a large wooden desk. Mountians of paper on either side of the desk framed a small workspace. The chairs in front of the desk looked simple and slightly uncomfotable. Harry continued to look around and was cataloging everything. Tom had stepped out of the fireplace behind Harry and was picking at his clothes, getting rid of the soot that stuck to them. The auror, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Harry remembered, was waiting for them. He gestured to the two chairs in front of the desk.
"Sit down, both of you. I already informed the office of child welfare, they will send someone up as soon as possible to join us."
Both Harry and Tom sat down, Harry was starting to get uncomfortable. Tom seemed to notice and tried to fill the silence as best as possible.
"Maybe, Kingsley, you could explain to us what to expect. What are going to be the next steps?"
"Right, Well. Harry, your case is a bit of a curious one. We need to check if you have any relatives in the wizarding world. Maybe I can explain how we can do that. We will require a few drops of your blood. That's not going to be painful, don't worry. And with a magic spell, we will be able to get your family tree. We can also check if there was something in your parent's will about where you should live in case they died. If we aren't able to locate someone today, my colleagues from child welfare will find a family to take you in, temporarily, until we have exhausted all options in regards to your family. You do not need to worry, you are in good hands now and we will take care of you, ok?", Kingsley tried to explain as gently as possible. He seldomly worked with children of this age and he was unsure what might be too much information for the small child.
As soon as he had finished his explanation, there was a knock on the door and Lucretia Black Prewett entered. She was the head of the department of child welfare. The witch was in her sixties, experienced in all matters of child welfare and a force to be reckoned with.
"Kingsley, you called for me."
"Yes, come in, Lucreatia, and close the door, please. Let me transfigure a chair for you.", Kingsley did just that. He took out his wand, which to Harry looked like a wooden stick, and transfigured a book into a chair, that looked just like the other two in front of the desk. He levitated it over to sit beside Harry.
Harry's eyes were huge and he could hardly believe what he had just seen. How..What had just happened? Kingsley seemed to sense his awe.
"Harry, that was a form of magic called transfiguration. I transformed a book into a chair. You will learn to do that youself when you enter the wizarding school Hogwarts. Maybe we can get someone to give you more magical demonstrations in a bit."
Lucreatia was aprehensive. It wasn't often that she was called into an auror's office with a child already waiting for her. A child which apparently hasn't experienced magic before no less. Kingsley cleared his throat and turned to Lucretia again.
"Lucretia, the boy next to you is Harry Potter. Mr. Potter managed to do his first bout of accidental magic today. From what I've been told, it was the vanishing of a door, quite a big display for a child of Harry's age. He was placed with his muggle relations after what happened to his parents and his muggle relations saw fit to leave Mr. Potter with Tom at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry had a letter with him that explaned that his muggle relations were overwhelmed with the magic and would feel that Mr. Potter would be safer and happier within the magical world.", Kingsley explained, trying to be much more positive about the whole deal, since he felt it unfair to tell the truth in front of Harry. Lucreatia would get the whole truth once Harry was out of earshot.
"I have already explained that we would need to do an inheritance test in order to find possible magical relations of his. Maybe we could do that first and then Harry can maybe go to your department and play a few games, while we will figure out the next steps. Would that be an agreeable plan for you?"
Lucretia was stunned. She knew that Kingsley wasn't telling her the whole truth and appreciated that he minced his words in front of a child clearly in distress. Most aurors were brash and used to dealing with criminals and not children. She was also stunned that the child was introduced as Harry Potter, the savior of the wizarding world when he had been just a year old. She could hardly believe it, looking at the small child that was clearly malnourished and scared. She took a deep breath and tried to put on a cheery facade for the downtrodden child.
"Alright, Mr. Potter, this sounds exciting, doesn't it. Mr. Shacklebolt has explained to you what we must do?"
"Yes, you will need my blood and do magic and it will tell you who I am related to.", the boy mumbled, politely.
"Exactly, Mr. Potter. You are a very good listener. I have a piece of empty parchment right here. For the spell to work, I will prick your finger with my wand. It might sting a bit, but it will be over before you know it. From what I've seen so far, you are a very brave boy, this shouldn't be a problem for you. If you want, I can demonstrate it for myself before you have a go?, Lucreatia asked.
"Yes, please.", Harry answered right away. He was still unsure about magic and would feel more comfortable to see it happen to someone else first. Just like with the fireplace.
Lucreatia nodded and took out her wand. She muttered a spell, which pricked her finger. She squeezed the tip of it, until exactly 3 drops of blood had hit the parchment. Once done, she muttered a quick healing speel and held out her finger to Harry to check it out.
"See, nothing left of it and it doesn't hurt. Now take a look at the parchment.", she angled the parchment in Harry's direction as well. On the parchment, the branches of a family tree started to expand, going out from the drops of her blood and moving upwards and sideways. Lucreatia knew that it would not go downwards since she did not have children of her own with her husband. Names started appearing on the branches with numbers and symbols appearing next to the names. She knew Harry wouldn't be able to read but she took the time to explain it anyway.
"See, this is my family tree. Next to me is my husband. The numbers below his name show us when he was born. He is still alive, so it's only the one number. We are married, so the rings in between our names symbolize that. If you look further up, you can see my father and mother. There's a cross next to my mother's name as well as the second number. So this means that she has passed away. There's a few other symbols, but those are for us to worry about, ok? Do you think you are ready now for your own test?"
"Yes, I am. Thank you."
Magic was fascinating, Harry thought. Just from a couple drops of blood, magic drew an entire picture. He was looking forward to seeing his own family tree and whether it would be as wide and branched out as Lucretia's. He wouldn't be able to read the names, but just looking at it was fascinating to Harry, maybe some of the adults could tell him stories about the tree.
Harry held out his hand and waited for the prick in his finger. Lucretia had been right. It was a quick prick that didn't hurt and it was over before he knew it. After the 3 drops fell onto a fresh parchment paper and the witch had healed his finger, he looked at it. Not even a scab, he couldn't tell where he had been pricked. Fascinating!
Everyone in the room looked at the parchment paper excitedly. The branches spread up from Harry's name and as expected, his parent's names Lily and James Potter appeared. What was unexpected though, were the branches that moved sideways from Lily's name. The name that appeared first was none other than Severus Snape. A man the other adults in the room thought to be a death eater. He had been exonerated after the Dark Lord had been vanished, but only because Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts as well as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, had put in a good word for him. The symbol on his branch told the adults that Lily and Severus had engaged in a blood ritual at some point in their life to become blood siblings. The branches on Lily's side continued to go sideways and upwards, which should also not be happening. From everything the adults knew, Lily was a muggle-born witch. Magical family trees would not show muggle relations but leave a blank space there as there was nothing for magic to trace. Kingsley noted that he should contact the department of magical lineage on this and consult with them how it was possible. The only explanation he had at the moment was that Lily's family wasn't muggle at all but rather squib. Very curious and unexpected indeed.
"What's happening, why are you gasping?", Harry asked. He saw that his family tree looked different than
"Nothing bad, we assure you, Harry. There's just an unusual name in your family tree we weren't expecting. But the person is alive and we should be able to contact him. So that's overall good for your case. But let's continue, the tree isn't done yet.", Kingsley quickly explained. Maybe they shouldn't have looked at the tree with Harry, but it was too late now.
The tree on the parchment expanded, but most of the names that continued to appear had both a date of birth as well as a date of death underneath the names, so it looked like the familial options would be very limited for Harry. Once the tree was done groing, the adults decided that it would be time to speak without Harry present.
"Ok, Harry. How about I take you to my department? We have a large play area where you could play some. You could also draw some pictures or have someone read some books to you. Kingsley and I will go over the next steps. As soon as we are done, we will come and get you, ok?", Lucretia explained gently. Now that they knew the child indeed was Harry Potter and they had concrete clues about possible guardians, they should get to work.
"Ok, can Tom come?", Harry asked, still not wanting to part ways with the first person in the magical world he had met. Tom looked questioningly at the other adults, thinking they might need him to corroborate some of the events of that day, but both Lucretia and Kingsley nodded at him.
"Yes, that is fine. Tom, you can ask for directions out in the bullpen. They should be able to direct you to the department of child welware. Actually, ask McCormack to take you. His desk is the first one on the left when you exit my office.", Kingsley directed.
Tom nodded and stood up. He motioned for Harry to follow him and offered him a hand, which Harry took gratefully. As soon as they had exited the office and closed the door behind themselves, Lucretia turned to Kingsley.
"What the fuck was all that, Kingsley?"
"I know, right? Tom called me around 2 p.m. and told me it was important. As soon as I got to the Leaky, there the boy sat. Tom took me aside and told me what had happened. The boy had entered the Leaky on his own and told him that his aunt had just left him. Lucretia, that woman, Petunia Dursley, took him to London, made him look for the Leaky and as soon as he found it, pushed him inside and left. Tom told me he checked the streets but there was no one else there. That vile muggle left a letter with the boy. Here, you can read it.", with that, Kingsley pushed the paper over to his colleague, who took it right away. She seemed more or less speechless about the whole situation.
She skimmed the letter quickly since it was only three short paragraphs long.
"You have to be kidding me. That is all she was willing to leave the child with?"
"No, he had a bag with him. I checked, it contained another letter. That is probably the one that Harry was left with 3 years ago. It's written on parchment and could be from a wizard. Other than that, he had a change of clothes and a de-stuffed teddy bear.", Kingsley looked for the other letter within the back and fished out the letter.
He turned it over in his hands, but the envelope did not contain any clues about who had sent the letter. It was addressed to Petunia Dursley, No. 4. Privet Drive, Surrey on the front. Kingsley also took the time to check for any spells or enchantments but couldn't detect any. Once he cleared the letter, he took it out and began reading it out loud. The more he read the more questioned stirred inside his head.
"Dear Petunia,
Please understand that the circumstances force me to write you this letter instead of coming inside and talking to you, but there is lot's to do in the face of the events of the past few days.
Lily and her husband have been murdered in their home last night. Their son, Harry, was hit by a stray curse, which is why he has the scar on his forehead. He was examined but there's nothing that could be done about it, the scar should settle down with time.
Harry has no other living relatives, so I must implore you to look after your sister's child. Lily has inacted some sort of blood ritual before her death, offering up her life force to protect her child and in the process giving him the strength to destroy the Dark Lord that has been terrorizing our world. Harry and any person that shares his blood will be safe from the dark forces still after the child.
Please, take the child in and raise him right. He is a magical child and will one day be joining our world with his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts. Up until that point, there is no need for you or your family to raise him with magic in his life. The expectations for him as the savior of the wizarding world are great. He should enjoy simply being a child until then.
We will check regularly on Harry and make sure he is treated well and thriving in this environment. Please, Petunia, raise your nephew as a last service to your sister.
Kindly,
Albus Dumbledore"
Both Kingsley and Lucretia looked at the letter, turning it over and expecting more information to be hidden somewhere. This could not be everything Albus Dumbledore had written to then leave a child on someones doorstep.
"I have so many questions, Kingsley. Why am I just now aware of Albus taking a child and making the executive decision on where to place said child? My department was not informed of this, there should have been regular check ins, a transfer of guardianship et cetera.", Lucretia explaimed. This was preposterous and a gross violation of everything she stood for.
"I am asking myself that, Lucretia. This whole matter just became a much deeper investigation than I thought possible. Both Lily and James were part of the Order of Phoenix. They worked closely with Dumbledore during the war. But it shouldn't give him the right to override all laws and procedures we have in place. I think we will probably have to contact Gringotts and get the wills of both Lily and James. Maybe that will tell us more. But for the situation at hand, how do you want to continue?", Kingsley said thoughtfully. In his head, the to do list for this case just became a mile long.
"The family tree gave us Severus Snape. We should do a backround check on him and ask him to come to the ministry as soon as possible. We could explain the situation and see if he's willing to look after the child. But only if his backround check comes through without any red flags. Otherwise we might place Harry with a foster family and allow supervised visits with Severus. For today, I would suggest just letting Harry rest. Maybe settle down a bit, this must have been an awful lot for him. I have a few foster families on file that might be a fit. But from what I've seen, he is very comfortable with Tom. I know that Tom is not licensed as a foster parent, but in situations such as this, we could make an exception. Do you think he might be willing to look after Harry for a couple of days? That should give us plenty of time to get the investigation well on its way.", Lucretia mused. It was certainly unusual to leave a child with someone not licensed as a foster parent but with a quick home check and a Vow from Tom to take care of the child and cause it no intentional harm, she could leave Harry with Tom. She had seen how the child had clung to the barman and did not want to cause more harm by separating Harry from an adult he seemed to have a lot of trust in.
"Well, we can certainly ask him. If Tom is unable to or unwilling, I would be happy to offer myself up for the emergency placement. Harry has met me and while intimidated, I think he would be ok. Do you want to walk over to your department and ask?", Kingsley stood up and gestured towards the door, ready to get to the next steps of the investigation. In his mind, he already had a team ready to brief and get to work.