Chapter 2
Albus’ eyes shot open as soon as he heard the alarms blaring. Sitting up, he realised he was in his office. A quick tempus charm showed him that it was 11 pm. Glancing at the Daily Prophet told him it was 31st October 1981. ‘Wait… 31st…oh no!’ Albus immediately shot off his patronus.
“Go to Minerva. Tell her the Potter residence has been attacked and that we’re leaving immediately!”
The patronus nodded and flew off. Dumbledore began pacing as he waited for his Deputy.
‘So, I’m back in 1981. Harry can be placed with Sirius and the Tonkses. The Death Eaters will have to be punished. I can’t let them get away with saying they were Imperiused. I’ll have to contact Croaker and take Harry to Gringotts along with Sirius. We should be able to finish off the Horcruxes within the next two years at least. I’ll also have to help the Longbottoms after this.’
He kept making his plans until he felt the ward near his door going off. “Come in Minerva!” he called.
The door opened and in stepped his Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. She was tall, thin, with dark brown hair with streaks of grey tied up in a bun. She had a thin face which was kept in a stern mask, however, her sternness was gone, replaced by a look of worry.
“Albus! The Potters-“
“Yes, Minerva. The Potters have been attacked. We shall head there immediately. Give me your arm!’ Dumbledore said. This wasn’t the grandfatherly man with a love for lemon drops. This was the Leader of the Order of the Phoenix and defeater of Grindelwald. Not hesitating, Minerva grabbed hold of his arm and they vanished with a ‘crack!’
They appeared in front of a house that looked like it had been through a war. The roof of the house looked like it had been blown apart. The smoke could still be seen. The rest of the house didn’t look any better either.
Not wanting to dawdle, both professors hurried through the gate and were heading to the door, when they ended up face to face with a frantic Sirius Black.
“Dumbledore! Minerva….James….Lily….they’re…!” Sirius couldn’t complete the sentence as he let out a loud howl of anguish.
Minerva stood a little wary of the man, but Albus didn’t. “Sirius, what happened? Weren’t you the secret Keeper?”
Sirius stopped crying and whispered, “We decided to switch to Peter at the last minute. I had thought something wasn’t right today and went over to his place. He wasn’t there, and there was no sign of a struggle. The rat was the spy all along. He betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort! It’s my fault they’re dead! Harry’s all I have now!” He let his tears fall as he held the bundle of blankets close to him.
Dumbledore peeked into the bundle and saw little Harry, the baby looked up at him with those green eyes of his, that were red and puffy from crying.
“Pa’foo! Gampa A’bus!” the baby cried, pointing towards the roof of house. “Mama!”
Albus’ heart broke at the cry, but he had to make haste. Right now, a lot of lives were at stake.
“Sirius, take little Harry with you and go to your cousin Andromeda’s place. Right now, Harry’s safety is our priority. I’ll join you soon to explain everything. And I’ll help you track Peter down. Rest assured, he will not get away with this. We also will have to help the Longbottoms should any remaining Death eaters decide to attack them. Minerva and I will clean up here.” Albus stated firmly.
Sirius, now that he had calmed down, nodded. He initially planned to give Harry to the professors and then chase after the rat Pettigrew, but he decided that the headmaster’s suggestion made more sense. He took a deep breath and said, “I’ll see you at Andi’s,” and disapparated with a pop.
Albus sighed tiredly, then looked at his deputy who was crying softly, “Let’s not waste time Minerva. We shall grieve later. For now, let us try to save whatever we can for young Harry.” Minerva nodded, tears still running down her cheeks at the loss of her two favourite students.
****
“Andy! Andy! It’s me! Let me in!” Sirius yelled loudly as he beat on the door to his cousin Andromeda’s home. It might have been late on Halloween, not too much longer until the first of November, but that didn’t matter to Sirius right now.
“Sirius! What the bloody hell are you doing beating on my door at this time of night?!” A woman in a housecoat demanded as she opened the door. She was tall for a woman, with aristocratic features, dark hair, and sharp grey eyes. When she took in the state of her cousin, as well as noticed the bundle in his arms, she gasped. With wide eyes she ushered Sirius inside and closed the door behind him.
“What’s going on?” Ted, Andromeda’s husband, questioned as they walked into the sitting room. He was a fairly average looking man, brown hair, warm brown eyes, tall and lean.
“James and Lily are dead.” Sirius breathed out while gently cradling Harry. “Voldemort found them.”
“I thought they were under the Fidelius Charm?” Andromeda looked aghast.
“Peter, he….he betrayed us….” Sirius started to shake slightly and Andromeda held out her arms to take little Harry. Reluctantly, Sirius passed Harry into Andromeda’s arms and the woman softly cooed to the still sleeping baby.
“Sirius, we don’t know what happened yet, we shouldn’t do anything rash.” Ted advised the slightly younger man. “Going off half-cocked isn’t doing anyone any good and it’s the last thing little Harry needs.” His words struck a chord with Sirius who sagged in his seat and exhaled heavily.
“Harry is the biggest concern right now, Sirius.” Andromeda stated plainly, her tone conveying the severity of the situation. “We can figure out everything else over the next few days.”
“You’re right. Dumbledore said the same thing as well,” Sirius ran his hands over his face, the events of the night clearly getting to the man. “Do you mind if we stay with you until things are settled? Dumbledore will come by to explain everything soon.”
“I wouldn’t let you leave if you tried, Sirius.” Andromeda replied with finality as she held the baby Harry. Ted could only chuckle at his wife’s resolute declaration.
A while later, a ‘pop’ outside signalled the arrival of someone. Ted headed for the door and returned to the room with Dumbledore and McGonagall.
“The DMLE has been notified, Sirius. Barty has the evidence. The aurors have gone through the house with a fine-toothed comb and have saved whatever was needed in here.” He took out a box and wandlessly enlarged it to become a trunk.
“T-thank you, headmaster.” Sirius said.
Dumbledore smiled. “Think nothing of it, Sirius.” He then became serious (no pun intended) “We still need to think about capturing Peter. But I also wanted to ask; do you think you could keep Harry away from the Wizarding world for a while?”
“Absolutely not!” exclaimed Sirus and Andromeda together. Andromeda continued, “I’m all for getting a muggle education headmaster. Merlin knows Lily would want that. But keeping him out of the Wizard world is out of the question! What if he does accidental magic and not know what it is? He’d be ostracised from the rest of the muggle children! It might even lead to bullying! Surely you wouldn’t want that, do you Headmaster?”
Dumbledore looked stumped for a moment then sighed, “Very well. It would please Lily to know her son would like to keep some roots in the muggle world. I knew she had aimed to complete her Muggle education and had even completed her…what was it again? Geesees or-“
“GSEs headmaster,” Ted Tonks said chuckling. “Yes, she had completed them. I had actually helped her with them as I had completed mine.” He shrugged.
Albus nodded, “Right. Now, there is the matter with Peter. Minerva, Andromeda, would you be kind enough to take young Harry to his room?”
The two women nodded, and exited the living room, cooing at the baby who had by then awoken and was looking around with his gorgeous green eyes.
****
Peter Pettigrew gasped for breath as he ran. He had just escaped after seeing his master be eviscerated by his own Killing Curse. Not having any idea what to do, he had taken his master’s wand and had disapparated just before Sirius had arrived. He felt afraid knowing that Sirius would come after him; but he would escape. After all, even if he wasn’t as powerful as his former friends, he was sneaky. He could even land Sirius in trouble if he wanted; the man was as hot-headed as any other Gryffindor.
His thoughts ground to a halt just as he had skidded to a stop. Standing there, his hands balled into fists, was the very man he was thinking about.
Sirius looked at him with anger and betrayal, “Why, Wormy? Why did you do it?”
Peter smirked. He then yelled out, “Lily and James, Sirius! How could-“ he wasn’t able to complete his sentence when he felt like he was hit by something and his world become black.
Dumbledore lifted the Disillusionment charm from himself and said sadly, “Oh Peter, to have been swayed to the Dark side so easily.” He shook his head.
“I’ll take it from here headmaster,” Sirius said as he stunned the rat animagus again for good measure. He then bound the man and levitated him.
“Very well, Sirius. I shall go to the Longbottoms now. Something tells me that they may be in trouble.” Albus replied.
Sirus nodded and vanished with his traitor of a friend, Dumbledore waved the Elder wand casting a massive memory modifying charm on the muggles, causing them to think that two friends had a drunken brawl and were then separated. The fact that it happened near to a pub helped as well.
His work done, he disappeared with a faint pop.
He appeared just a few meters outside the wards around the house and sure enough, there was Voldemort’s right hand, Bellatrix Lestrange, and her husband Rodolphus and brother Rabastan. He decided to not waste any time as he fired three stunners.
Bellatrix had turned around and immediately deflected the spell. Her husband and brother in law weren’t as lucky and were knocked unconscious.
“Good evening, Bellatrix.”
Said witch cackled, “Hello, headmaster,” she replied, spitting out the word headmaster as if it was something foul. “Do tell me where the Dark Lord is, and I promise you that no one will get hurt. Especially the ickle wee wittle Wongbottoms” She cackled again.
Albus wandlessly bound the other two before replying, “I’m afraid not Bellatrix. I suggest you come peacefully. We don’t need to resort to violence.”
Bellatrix snarled, ‘I believe we do. DIE!” She sent a killing curse at him which was blocked by a slab of marble, which exploded on contact.
Bellatrix was strong, it was no wonder she was chosen by Voldemort as his right hand and trained personally by him. But Dumbledore was not just any powerful wizard. He was the defeater of Grindelwald, and the only one Voldemort ever feared. He demonstrated why he was feared by the recently incapacitated Dark Lord by backing Bellatrix into a corner and finally taking her out with a bludgeoning hex.
Dumbledore looked on sadly as he stunned and bound Bellatrix. It was a shame that these powerful witches and wizards could easily be swayed by more power. It was just like him and Gellert back in the day, only he started to shy away from it as soon as Ariana was killed.
Thoughts of his sister brought a smile on his face, albeit a sad one. He would push for execution or at minimum, life in Azkaban. The time for second chances was done. These people had made their choices; they could only be redeemed if they wanted to.
He sent a patronus to the Longbottoms, who came out to meet him. After assuring them that everything was fine, he watched as Frank Longbottom took the downed Death Eaters via Portkey to a holding cell in the Ministry.
Appearing back in his office, he sat down with a huge sigh. He couldn’t prevent all the tragic events that had happened. Lily and James were dead. But Harry would grow up loved by his godfather and the Tonkses. Neville’s parents were alive and well, and Sirius was not in Azkaban.
Tomorrow would be a long day, what with the various trials and taking Harry to Gringotts. But for now that could wait. He may be powerful but he was still an old man, and old men needed their sleep.