Chapter One (1) The Girl Who Lived
Edit (5 May 2023): changed some reactions to better fit my AU.
Chapter One: The Girl Who Lived
Remus read out loud, using a spell to enhance his voice. Harry flinched at the use of 'girl'. Some of the hall thought back to when the public had 'mistakenly' believed Harry to be girl, whereas Sirius and Remus looked and Harry. They realized almost immediately that he was transgender (as they had been there for his birth, and knew that he was originally named Hettie) and Remus smiled softly. Sirius grinned as he himself was genderfluid.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were absolutely and completely normal, thank you very much.
"Your welcome!" Fred and George bowed dramatically, while the rest of the hall laughed slightly at their antics.
They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold such nonsense. Vernon Dursley was the director of a firm that made drills.
Someone went ask what a 'drill' is but Professor Flitwick spoke first. "Any questions can be written down and we can talk about them later." The student nodded.
He was a big, ugly man with the world's shortest yet fattest neck, although he did have a very large mustache.
Some of the occupants of the hall grimaced at the lovely description and a few even fake gagged. Harry snorted at the reactions and wondered how they'd react to an actual picture of the man.
Petunia Dursley was thin and blonde and had an abnormally long and thin neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.
"Accurate. I swear Tuney always was a giraffe." Severus muttered, not realizing that Hogwarts herself seems to have added voice enhancements to everyone, so the whole hall heard his comment. The room turned quiet and then burst into (slightly nervous) laughter.
"Tuney?" Harry asked the professor. He turned to look and her only just realizing everyone heard that,
"Ahem, uh me and Lily used to call her that to piss her off.." He replied, which just received more laughter. While Harry was remembering that Snape said he knew his parents.
The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
Harry snorted at 'small'.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Lily Potter was Petunia's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as possible.
Remus had to hold Moony back from growling at that. "James was not good for nothing and Lily was the best sister anyone could ask for!" Sirius yelled. Remus, Severus, Regulus and Minerva nodded along with him.
"Also 'unDurdleyish' isn't even a word!" A Gryffindor, Hermione if Harry remembered correctly, huffed.
The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.
The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a young daughter but they had never even seen her, and never planned to. This girl was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
Severus glared, he already knew that the Dursleys were bad people but it was still aggravating. He gritted his teeth.
"What did he mean 'a child like that'?" A random 7th year asked.
"A magic child..." Harry replied which made the book receive more glares. From teachers, students and especially the mob of redheads.
When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday this story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Vernon was silent as he picked out his most plain, boring tie for work,-
The Weasley twins groaned;
"Why would you-"
"-ever purposefully-"
"-pick the most-"
"-plain, boring tie?!"
Harry snickered, "Because he has no taste. A blind pig could dress better than him." The Twins eyes glowed for a second, and they turned to each other with one thought 'we will bring him to the dark side.
Sirius noticed that Harry's stutter had left when she spoke to a fellow student... His thoughts trailed back to Severus and himself in school... no no he shouldn't think like that.
-and Petunia muttered away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.
Any parents grimaced.
None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. Letter tied to its foot.
The aurors present glared as they realized what day it was, and the amount of memory charms cast that day. Whereas Harry received pitying looks for all around.
At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed and stumbled on over feet,-
"HAA-" Harry almost burst out laughing but covered his mouth before he could. Although if the looks he received were anything to go by, he did a shit job.
-because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.
It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar -- a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen -- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It glared back.
Some of the students and a few aurors looked towards each other, Harry included, in confusion. While anyone who has been to a transfiguration lesson or knew her personally just grinned.
As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive with disinterest -- no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.
"Minnie can.." Someone (*cough cough* Remus) muttered, but the hall could not tell who.
Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.
"It is not always good to have a one-track mind like this man." Luna Lovegood spoke dreamily, Harry smiled at her while some others looked at her weirdly. Harry liked Luna ever since bonding with her on the train. "You're right, Luna."
By the time Vernon reached the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks and pointed hats, sticks sticking out of pockets. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes -- the getup's you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion trend.
Moody sighed. Those wizards were so obvious. "Merlin's sake, everyone broke the Statute of Secrecy that day." Moody groaned.
He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing a dark-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt -- these people were obviously collecting for something. Probably a cult, Vernon murmured… yes, that would be it.
"OMG!!" The Weasley twins and Sirius burst out laughing, "A cult!?!" Harry laughed alongside them as well. "I am honestly not surprised that he thought that." He muttered.
The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the parking lot, his mind back on drills.
Luna and a few other students tutted at that.
Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped by overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl at nighttime, let alone daytime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted at a new intern. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road--
Harry looked shocked, "He voluntarily walked?! The world is ending." He swooned dramatically and fell into the person on her left. It was a fourth-year (14 year old) Hufflepuff. Harry had heard some people talking about him earlier, Cedric Diggory. The room laughed at Harry's dramatics, while Harry blushed at the sight of this boy smiling down at him.
Remus' eyes narrowed onto Cedric, he was smirking but also thinking about what to do if the boy hurts Harry.
to buy himself a few buns from the bakery.
Harry composed himself and said, "Crisis averted, he just wanted to fatten up some more." The students laughed again whereas some of the adults looked at Harry in shock.
"Dear you really shouldn't insult peoples weight." A woman, Molly Weasley, said to Harry while frowning. Harry turned to look at her, "R-read the book and yo-u'll agree with m-me. Trust me.." Harry's stutter returned, because of the adult he didn't know yet his voice sounded unconfident. Harry wasn't happy that they would read about the Dursleys, but maybe he could get out of the house.
He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed, a few glared back. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard, yes, their daughter, Hettie."
The hall quieted. "I am starting to believe that it wasn't 'false information', why are they calling Potter, Hettie?" A Slytherin student, Blaise Zaibini, asked. Harry coughed, and he looked away from anyone's eyes.
"I uh, I am t-transgender." He replied. The hall was silent, before Remus decided to start reading again.
Mr. Dursley stopped dead.
"I wish.." Harry muttered under his breath, but Remus heard and narrowed his eyes.
Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.
He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his wife's number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.
"It is though?" Tonks piped up. Some other students looked confused as well. "Not in the muggle world. Potter isn't uncommon, and even Black is a common surname." The girl, Hermione, replied.
He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a daughter called Hettie. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his niece was called Hettie. He'd never even seen the girl, nor does he want to.
"He didn't know your name and had never met you?" One of the teachers, Aurora, asked. Harry shook his head in response.
It might have been Harriet. Or Heather. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her -- if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...
He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.
"Ugh move," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.
The Weasley woman sniffed, "Merlin.. have some manners."
It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't worry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"
Moody groaned. "Why are people like this. If that oaf of a muggle is catching on then I am sure loads of other muggles could've." Tonks snickered beside him and Kingsley tried to grab his hand to calm him down. While he did that Harry noticed the matching rings on their ring fingers.
He quietly gasped and whispered, "Gay wizards for the win." Under his breath, but apparently Moody heard it as his head whipped around to meet Harry's eyes. He seemed more shocked and proud then anything, Harry wondered why. Meanwhile Moody was thinking about how good this boys perception is.
Remus was just confused, he'd heard Harry as well, but didn't know who he'd been muttering about.
And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle, well as much as his small arms could wrap around, and walked off.
Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.
Luna made a noise at that and looked at Harry sadly. He just nodded back to her with a dismayed look on his face.
As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw -- and it didn't improve his mood -- was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. Similar to glasses.
Remus and Sirius grinned at 'Minnie'.
"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Vernon felt as if he had just been told off by his grandmother.. Was this normal cat behavior?
"No. But it is normal behavior from Miss Minnie!" Remus finally spoke loud enough for the hall to hear. Minerva sighed.. "If you are going to call me that, at least get it right. Mrs Minnie." Almost everyone's eyes widened, McGonagall was married?!
Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.
Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").
Any parents in the room tutted at the horrible parenting, and the Weasley boys shuddered at the thought of them doing that.
Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:
"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious.--
Harry narrowed his eyes slightly, "Th-that reporter definitely know-s somet-hing." Tonks turned to the boy and smiled. "He does as, if I am correct, that is my father. Ted." Tonks had noticed that Moody seemed to like the boy and she could tell why now. He would make an excellent auror.
--And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"
"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early -- it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."
Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters… It couldn't be…
Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er -- Petunia, dear -- you haven't heard from your.. sister lately, have you?"
As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.
"No," she said sharply. "Why?"
"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."
"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.
"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you
know... her crowd."
Everyone was annoyed with how these muggles talked about them. Snape's mind wasthinking, Vernon and Petunia were not going to be good for Harry. And if anything happened to the boy (and Severus was sure something did) then Severus fully blames Dumbledore as Remus, Minerva, Poppy, Regulus and himself had all tried to get custody over Harry. But no, Albus refused to let them.
Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their daughter -- she'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't she?"
"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.
"What's her name again? Hope, isn't it?"
"Hettie. Nasty, weird name, if you ask me."
"Says the people who named their kid Dudley!" Feorge exclaimed.
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."
He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. That cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.
Was he.. God forbid, imagining things?
'Heh how the tables turn.' Harry thought.
Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of -- well, he didn't think he could bear it.
The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind.... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on -- he yawned and turned over -- it couldn't affect them....
How very, very wrong he was.
Harry rolled his eyes when a student asked a question, "Wait why are we even reading this, Potter can't possibly go and live with these guy. He will grow up clueless!" Some of the other students also whispered about how Harry grew up.
"Uh, I do live with them actually.." The whispering stopped immediately. Most people in the room sent Harry pitiful looks.
Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. The only time it had moved was to peer over into the window of Number 4 and it didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved again.
A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.
Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.
"DUMBLEDORE!" The Twins said in time with Remus. Harry, Severus, Sirius and Remus grimaced.
Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."
He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter.
Harry almost laughed at the thought of Dumbledore smoking.
He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again -- the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Deluminator, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance,-
"That is so cool!!" Some students exclaimed, while Harry thought about how it was made. He was itching to get his notebook out and brainstorm ideas, but let it be.
-which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Deluminator back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."
He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a loose bun with hair escaping in the front. She looked distinctly ruffled.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
"My dear Minerva, I taught you how to become an animagus, and I have never seen a cat sit so stiffly."
"Wait, what?" A Hufflepuff asked. "Ah yes. I used to be the transfiguration Professor before dear Minerva came around and I became Headmaster." A coupled students look shocked and others just rolled their eyes at the useless, but well known, information.
"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Minerva McGonagall.
"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."
Sirius was a second away from blowing up, "Why would Minnie celebrate?! I know the war ended, but her students just died!!" Sirius was angry, but you could see it was really just sadness at remembering his old friends.
Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily, with a hint of sadness underneath.
"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no -- even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I watched it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars.... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent -- I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense to begin with."
Remus tried for a laugh at Minerva insulting someone, but felt the room was too tense to do so.
"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for the past eleven years."
"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."
She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day Voldemort, who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"
"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"
"A what?"
"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"
"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.
"Because it wasn't." Minerva said.
"As I say, even if Voldemort has gone -"
"My dear Professor, for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name and yet you use it so freely." Professor McGonagall stared in annoyance, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.”
Some of the people in the room shivered at the use of his name. Harry sighed. He didn't know much about 'Voldemort' but it isn't exactly a normal name so chances are it isn't even real.
"I know you haven 't,” said Professor McGonagall, sounding exasperated. "But everyone knows you're the only one Voldemort was frightened of."
"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."
"Only because you're too -- well -- noble to use them." Dumbledore seemed not to notice that those words were obviously forced out, as if Minerva didn’t believe herself.
Some students turned to Minerva. 'Does she not like Dumbledore?' is the thought that went around their heads. Whereas Severus scrunched his nose at the praise.
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."
Professor McGonagall shot a disgusted look at Dumbledore--
So did most of the hall. And Poppy almost gagged, for real.
--and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"
It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.
"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James are -- are -- that they're -- dead. "
Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.
"Lily and dear James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus..." McGonagall seemed about to cry.
"P-professor, how did y-you know my paren-ts..?" Harry asked, Minerva just smiled and motioned to the book. She was remembering the day this had happened and knew that it would be revealed.
Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.
Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's daughter, Hettie. But -- he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little girl. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Hettie Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke -- and that's why he's gone.”
Dumbledore nodded glumly.
"It's -- it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little girl? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Hettie survive?"
"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know." McGonagall's eyes narrowed, she could tell that he knew why.
Harry's eyes turned suspicious and he turned to Dumbledore who was not looking in his direction. Amelia Bones wrote down something on a parchment that she'd had out the entire time. She seemed to be muttering away angrily.
Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her freely flowing tears. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. He put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"
"I've come to bring Hettie to her aunt and uncle. They're the only family she has left now."
"You don't mean -- you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore -- you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son -- I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. I would gladly adopt Hettie, she is mine and Poppy’s Goddaughter for Merlin's sake!"
Harry's mouth opened in shock, "Wh-what?!" Most of the other people in the hall were shocked as well. Minerva and Poppy gently smiled at Harry, it was then that he noticed them holding hands.
He gasped again and said, "I love lesbians.." After saying that he closed his mouth and gasped. "Oh my God! I didn't mean to say that out loud!" Harry was blushing while the other people were laughing, although shocked to realize that McGonagall was a 'Mrs' to Pomfrey. Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder while laughing to try calm his nerves.
"You can’t take in a child when her blood relatives are still here and besides it's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."
"A letter?!" repeated Professor McGonagall loudly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand her! She'll be famous -- a legend -- I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Hettie Potter day in the future -- there will be books written about Hettie -- every child in our world will know her name!" Her face slightly twisted at ‘Hettie Potter day’ but otherwise she continued speaking.
Harry's face twisted in disgust as well.
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any girl's head. Famous before she can walk and talk! Famous for something she won't even remember!--
'Jokes on you, I do remember some of it.' Harry thought to himself, annoyed.
--Can’t you see how much better off she'll be, growing up away from all that until she's ready to take it?"
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth then said, "No -- no, you're wrong, but I know I can't fight you on this. How is the girl getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Hettie underneath it.
"Hagrid's bringing her."
"You think it -- wise -- to trust Hagrid with something as important as a child?"
Hagrid pouted towards Minerva, who looked away because such a big man should not have such convincing puppy eyes.
“I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.
"I'm not saying that I disagree," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to -- what was that?"
A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky -- and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.
If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.
"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got her, sir."
"Hey! I want that back!" Sirius exclaimed. Hagrid nodded, he had always planned to give it back. But Sirius being thrown into Azkaban caused some problems.
"No problems, were there?"
"No, sir -- house was almost destroyed, but I got her out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. She was cryin’ for her mama all the way until fallin’ asleep ov’r Bristol.
Harry blushed as Remus brushed his finger through his hair while muttering sweet words. Harry knew that he shouldn't just trust these people straight away, but he felt safe with them.
Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby girl, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over her forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a realistic bolt of lightning.
People tried to look at him and Harry tried to flatten his fringe over his scar, but Remus' finger were in the way.
"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "She'll have that scar forever."
"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well -- give her here, Hagrid -- we'd better get this over with."
Dumbledore took Hettie in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.
"Could I -- could I say goodbye to her, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Hettie and gave her what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.
Harry smiled slightly, he didn't really know who Hagrid was but he seemed to care for Harry. And that made him feel fluttery inside.
"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it -- Lily an' James dead -- an' poor little Hettie off ter live with Muggles -"
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered despite the dried tear tracks on her own face, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Hettie gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Hettie's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute, the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.
"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
"Wha!-" Some of the adults went to argue over placing a child on a doorstep, but Remus continued reading.
“Wait?! You are just going to leave her? At Least knock or put a warming spell on her, it is supposed to rain tonight.” McGonagall hissed angrily. But Dumbledore just pretended to not have heard so Minerva cast some of her own spells. She ended up casting a warming and waterproof spell as well as a spell to make Hettie undetectable. They should all wear off by 8 am.
"Thank you Minnie." Sirius said sincerely. And a few other adults nodded, not happily but they felt a bit better.
"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall -- Professor Dumbledore, sir."
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.
"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.
Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Deluminator. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.
"Good luck, Hettie," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.
A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Hettie Potter rolled over inside her blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside her and she slept on, not knowing she was special, not knowing she was famous, not knowing she would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that she would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by her cousin Dudley... She couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Hettie Potter -- the girl who lived!"
"Well that is the end of the first chapter. Who is reading next?" Remus asked, his voice slightly dry. Before anyone could answer, Flitwick intervened.
"How about I charm the book, therefore we can all sit back and relax while it reads itself." He suggested. He got nods and hums of approval and did just that.
"Chapter Two: The Vanishing Glass." The voice read.
EDIT: 9 March 2023: Notice: I changed some chapters to suit my plan some more. (You don't need to re-read it, I just took anything saying that Snape/ Harry didn't know each other away as they met each other earlier in this AU.)