Where Is Harry Potter?
Chapter 3- Where is Harry Potter?
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was up in his office doing paperwork and going over the plans for the coming school year. He had just sent Hagrid to the Dursley residence so Harry Potter could receive his letter. The others kept getting lost, something that shouldn’t happen but Albus assumed the magic needed a manual recharge and decided to see to it when he had the time. But, there were more important matters to attend to. Such as the Sorcerer’s Stone.
You see, Albus was planning a little test for Harry. Nothing too difficult, of course, everything would be easy to come back from even if the worse were to happen. But he needed to see how quickly the boy would progress. All for the Greater Good™.
But at the moment he was looking through job applications and resumes. Since professor Quirrell was not returning to the Muggle Studies position, teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year instead, he needed to find someone to fill the roll before the School Board found someone. Then one person caught his eye.
Michael Afton, 28
Now, Albus was an old man, so he knew the Afton’s. They were once an old pureblood family with an interest in muggle technology. But not like Arthur Weasley, with his rubber duck obsession. The Afton’s specialized in electronics. Despite this, they were not scorned by the rest of the pureblood crowd as they kept this little stain on their reputation quiet and inside the family, on the outside they were still a very traditional pureblood family.
That is until the youngest son, William Afton. The man was much more like Arthur. He remembered when the lilac eyed boy came to Hogwarts and was sorted right into Slytherin. He had been caught tampering with muggle devices in abandoned classrooms after curfew many times, serving a number of detentions for it. His teachers had taken many points for doodling what seemed to be blue prints for something or fiddling with machines during class.
But Albus could see the darkness in him. He may not scorn muggle’s or muggleborns, but there was a manic glint in his eye. There was a reason that, despite his obsession with muggle things, he was not shunned by Slytherin house. The boy was even friendly with the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black. There were a number of rumors about how the boy threatened and hurt those who attacked him. There was never enough evidence, and the supposed victims could never speak about what the boy did. The boy grew into a man, and graduated without a hitch.
But tragedy struck the Afton family. Much like the Black family had what others called the Black Madness™, the Afton family had the Afton Insanity™. They liked to experiment with more than electronic devices. One of these experiments caused an explosion that killed all but four (4) members of the household, others succumbed to various illnesses, and three (3) became cold cases all within the same year. By the end only William, his parents, and a distant squib cousin remained. William disappeared into the muggle world not long after, and his parents passed peacefully in their sleep a few years ago last anyone heard.
When no children with the name ever came to Hogwarts, Albus assumed William just hid away to work with his electronics, perhaps making something of those doodles. At least, that’s what he hoped. But now there’s an Afton applying for the Muggle Studies position, and he was probably the most qualified person for it on such short notice.
It was just as he finished inking the confirmation letter to Mr. Afton that Hagrid burst in the room.
“ARRY WASNT THERE!” The half-giant yelled, shaking the room. Dumbledore looked up at him.
“Well did you ask where he was, maybe he stepped out?” He asked, tying the letter to the leg of one of the school owls. He knew Hagrid wasn’t the brightest. He knew he should have sent Minerva, but he wanted Harry to have the friendliest face to welcome him back as well as someone intimidating enough to make absolute sure the Dursley’s would let the boy go.
“O’ course I asked, they said they ‘adn’t seen ‘im in years! Years Albus!” He whipped his head around to look at the other.
“What!?” This could not be happening. How had he not heard about this? “Hagrid, my friend, I will get to the bottom of this.” He stayed a minute to console the Half-giant, who was on the verge of tears thinking about what could have possibly happened to the boy, before going to gather what was left of the Order once Hagrid left. He sent a Patronus to Minerva and Severus telling them to meet him at The Burrow immediately due to an emergency before walking over to the fireplace and throwing in some green powder.
“The Burrow!” He shouted, then stepped through into a warm cozy home.
“Albus, what brings you here on such short notice?” Asked Molly Weasley from the kitchen, her husband at the table nearby. The kids could be heard playing in the yard outside.
“I fear something may have happened, I’ll explain once Minerva and Severus arrive.” Not a minute later the aforementioned wix stepped through.
“Albus! What’s this about an emergency? What is going on!” Asked a strict voice.
“I would like to know as well. I was in the middle of a very complex potion.” The man that came with her said, with a deep drawl.
“It seems as though Harry Potter has gone missing.” He replied. The room filled with tension, shock etched on the Weasley parents and Minerva’s face. Although you would never know it, Severus Snape was trying to control his own shock.
“Missing! For how long!?” Cried Mrs. Weasley. Albus hesitated to answer her, knowing just how bad it would look.
“How long has he been missing Albus?” Minerva pressed.
“His relatives said they hadn’t seen him in… Years.” He replied slowly. The room exploded.
“YEARS! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YEARS!” The Weasley matriarch screeched, her maternal protectiveness shining through.
“ALBUS! HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW HE HAD BEEN MISSING! DIDN’T YOU CHECK ON HIM EVEN ONCE!?” Minerva yelled, echoing Molly’s sentiment. The men were quiet, but Mr. Weasley was visibly enraged while Severus was sneering.
“Please my dear, you know I don’t have much time outside of the school year. But I assure you, I had been getting updates every few weeks and nothing had seemed out of the ordinary. I don’t know how this could have happened.” That wasn’t entirely true, the updates had stopped coming a few years back, but the others didn’t need to know that. He would be having a chat with Arabella soon enough; she really should have said something if the boy had really vanished.
“Do you think it’s possible that…” Molly started, not wanting to finish the terrible question.
“It is possible.” Albus still answered, “Severus, have you heard anything from the old Death eater circles?”
“No, if I had I would have told you.” His sneer grew, “I don’t know how any of you are surprised, if the boy is as much like his father as you have claimed then it’s not impossible he ran away.” His words were laced with venom as he thought of the man who made his Hogwarts years hell.
“Please Severus. We don’t even know if he ran away. I will be visiting the family tomorrow to see what they have to say about the situation. But I want all of you to be on the lookout. It’s quite possible he ended up in the wizarding world again, so Molly and Arthur please keep an eye out. I understand that you, Severus and Minerva, will be busy with the students but if you both could help search for him it would be greatly appreciated.” He ordered. The Weasley’s nodded in agreement while Severus went dead pan. Minerva, however, looked contemplative for a moment.
“What do you mean you’ll visit them tomorrow? If you didn’t visit them today then who did? Because I know I sure as hell didn’t!” She questioned with a glare.
“Well, I wanted Harry to have a friendly face to welcome him back, so I sent Hagrid- “
“You sent Hagrid!” She cut him off, “Headmaster Dumbledore, I know I may not be the friendliest face, but I am the only one of us qualified to make home visits. Now I love Hagrid as much as the rest of us, but he is the worst person you could have sent!”
“I hear you Minerva, and I will not say anything more. That is all. Everyone, keep your eyes peeled. I will see you, Minerva and Severus, on the Thirtieth (30th) for that last staff meeting. Molly, Arthur, I bid you farewell and I will see your children on September first (1st).” He waved and made his way to the fireplace, threw in some powder and stepped through back into his office.
How could this have happened?