Harry Potter Missing!
Snape looked down at the paper in disgust. It had taken Potter’s relatives 4 weeks to report the boy missing, and only then because the store clerk had helped the police track them down and they were forced to admit the boy had even existed. Their arrest had been blasted on the front of every muggle paper in Britain, detailing the atrocious living conditions they had evidence of Harry living in before he was “Kidnapped.” But even still it had taken The Daily Prophet another six weeks to report The-Boy-Who-Lived missing. Albus had managed to hold them off with his story, but not even he could keep the press quiet for long with this kind of scandal.
FLASHBACK
Severus came through the floo irate at having his evening interrupted. “What is so urgent that you needed me to come at once, Headmaster? I was in the middle of a delicate brew” he groused. Looking around the office to see the other professors that were gathered in the headmaster’s office.
It was true. After several in-depth diagnostic scans, Snape had to brew near constantly potions to fix all the underlying and chronic health ramifications of the boy’s past five years of abuse. He had needed daily nutrient potions, specially brewed, to be more concentrated. A host of vaccination potions for protection against deadly muggle and wixen illnesses. Repeated vanishing or incorrectly healed broken bones and the subsequent Skelagrow to replace the damaged bones. His hands had been particularly bad and had required two weeks to fix properly. With luck the boy would be able to regain the full range of his fine motor skills. If left untreated, Harry would have been left crippled and unable to write literally or properly prepare potion ingredients. It had taken eight weeks to get that far, and he wasn’t even halfway done. If he tried to heal any faster, he would run the risk of burning out the child’s core and leaving him a squib!
Harry never liked to talk about how he got such injuries, but each new one he mended left Snape in a foul mood. He fervently wished he had killed the wretches before the police had gotten ahold of them. Now he was left standing in front of the man who orchestrated it all, forced to play nice as if he had no knowledge of what the man had done.
Albus sat behind his desk, a somber expression affixed to his grandfatherly face. “I’m afraid I have grave news, my boy. Grave news indeed.” Severus sat in the chair in front of the desk with the other professors as directed, while he strengthened his metal shields. There was only one thing this meeting could be about. Albus steepled his fingers in front of his nose and took them all in with sad eyes, “Harry Potter is missing and his family has been arrested.”
Severus held in a snort of derision at the boy’s so-called “family” but sat in silence as the others reacted. There was a range of emotions through the crowd as the professors took in the news, but one was much more pronounced than the others. “I told you those muggles were of the worst sort! I told you! What have they done to James and Lily’s son?”
Albus had the gall to brush aside the wrongdoings of the muggles. “It seems that Harry has been abducted by what the muggle Aurors believe to be a child predator. His Aunt and Uncle have been detained on suspicion of neglect for allowing this to happen.” Dumbledore shook his head, “I am working with an undercover squib to have them released of all charges so that Harry will have a safe home to go back to, but in the meantime, I need your help.”
Severus stiffened minutely as he held back his rage. The muggle papers had clearly listed all the evidence that showed the horrendous abuse Harry had suffered under that roof, and yet the man would send him back to that hell hole? He tuned out the proceedings as the headmaster arranged his pieces to orchestrate a continent-wide search for the missing Boy-Who-Lived.
“Wouldn’t the wolf be a better option than muggles suspected of… neglect?” he interrupted.
Minerva nodded, “Yes. I second that thought. From what I saw, these are likely no mere accusations.”
Albus shook his head firmly, “No. I had Remus waive his rights to the boy, for the child’s safety. Growing up with a werewolf would be traumatic and Harry needs to be with blood relatives for the wards to work properly.”
The argument had dissolved into shouting between the headmaster and deputy headmistress, but nothing more was accomplished before Severus left. The only thing he learned from the entire fiasco was that he was rapidly running out of options for the boy to stay…
END FLASHBACK
Harry staggered into the kitchen half asleep his arm still in a sling from the recent procedure to fix the weakened joint in his shoulder from repeated dislocation. The boy sat down in his usual chair at the table, yawning hugely and rubbing his drowsy eyes. Silently Severus slid a potion bottle across the table, which the child glared at accusingly. “Can’t I be done with these already?” he whined, “They taste dreadful!”
“You are still in the lower 10 percentile of weight for your age group and dreadfully behind the growth curve. You’ll be lucky if I let you off the potion by the time you're in your 30s!” Severus reprimanded.
Harry grumbled before he downed the bottle, making a comically twisted expression as he shivered at the taste. Maybe he should work towards improving the taste of the potion. By Harry’s growth trajectory, he really would be lucky to get weaned off the nutrient potions by his sixth year at Hogwarts. That is if he could even go to the school.
With the headmaster's true intentions in the dark, he was loth to put the boy anywhere near the man, but he still had five years to find a solution. The more pressing matter of his permanent accommodations was the real problem…
“What are you reading?” Harry asked, interrupting his thoughts.
Severus looked back down at the front cover of the newspaper with disgust.
Harry Potter Missing!
Harry Potter, AKA The-Boy-Who-Lived, was reported missing by Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall on Thursday night. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement did not have a comment at this time, but our sources tell us that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has known of the disappearance for months and has failed to bring this to the DMLE’s attention! But why would such an esteemed member of the magical community do such a thing?
You and I both would like to know the answers, dear readers! So I, your loyal reporter went digging and what I found you will hardly believe!
Harry Potter was placed with muggles! And not just any muggles, but muggles of the worst sort. I investigated The-Boy-Who-Lived’s home life and was shocked and appalled to discover that muggle officials have arrested the family for several counts of child abuse and neglect. (The details of the evidence found are on page 10.)
Sources say that Harry was last seen at a local grocery store, leaving with a strange man (Description on page 12.) The shocking evidence suggests that this man may well be a muggle child predator! Aurors are investigating the matter thoroughly, but say they are hindered by the lack of any recent photos of the child, as the muggles he was living with hand not a single photograph of Harry Potter to speak of!
If you or anyone you know of has any information that could help the investigation please contact Auror Shacklebold at the DMLE…
At the top of the page was an out-of-date photograph of a one-year-old Harry held in the arms of both his smiling parents. The image had been altered to give the colors a more grayed-out somber atmosphere.
Severus vanished the paper with a flick of his wrist in disgust. “Nothing of importance.”
He watched as the boy painstakingly buttered and spread marmalade on his toast with one hand. His tongue poked out between his lips in concentration. He had to admit to himself that living with the child had been tolerable these past few months. Harry was shy and quiet, as well as pitifully grateful for any small kindnesses. He still remembered the boy's crushing hug after being offered a dusty spare room and tearing up at being given a new toothbrush of all things because it was still in the packaging.
The child was always looking for ways to be helpful around the house and was obedient about staying out of his lab when he closed the door to work on delicate potions. He had even helped Snape with a few rudimentary potions, chopping ingredients. A skill earned from years of cooking for the muggles. He even helped him in the greenhouse from time to time. Severus sometimes worried that the boy had no idea of how to just be a child, but he himself had never been very good at that either at Harry’s age, so who was he to judge?
Overall, Harry was pleasant company, but their coexistence couldn’t last much longer. The school year was only a little over a month away, and Severus couldn't very well show up to class with Harry Bloody Potter in tow. Nor could he leave the boy alone at home for the entire school year, but no matter how he looked, he could not find anyone trustworthy who was not also in the Headmaster’s pocket. Sighing, he watched as Potter finished his toast and pulled out a slime book from his pocket. It was a children’s book he had owl ordered to help him learn to read.
Harry was fascinated with Severus’s library, and eager to learn to read, even if he was greatly hampered by his poor eyesight. Something Severus was not capable of healing with his potions lab alone, as wixen optometrists used specialized equipment. That would have to be taken care of today before the whole wixen world was mobilized in the search for Harry Potter.
Severus tapped his chin in thought. “Harry, I will need you to hurry and dress. I think it’s time we head to Diagon Alley to get you some of your own clothes and visit an Eye Healer.