Chapter 1
“Harry! Quickly! Pull out your wand and drive them off,” Arabella Figg pleaded desperately as the cold seeped into her bones. Not paying any attention to the old cat lady, the boys turned and ran for their lives, intent on finding someplace where they could hunker down and wait out the oncoming danger. They headed to the next neighborhood over, thinking that since the dementors were focused on Privet drive, and the raven haired teen knew that they were rather mindless, Dudley and he would be able to escape imminent death by outsmarting the demons. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on their side because Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley became trapped within a service tunnel in an alleyway between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. They had run there to hide, thinking that, if they concealed themselves in the tunnel, the dementors wouldn’t find them. Ultimately, the only thing they did was trap themselves within the shaft as the two wraith-like prison guards entered from either end of the underpass.
One swooped down on Dudley, and the feeling of absolute despair had the fat muggle collapsing to the pavement, where the dementor hovered over the boy and started sucking out his soul. Harry turned, intending to run the other way, but was blocked by the other Azkaban guard, and the memories of his mother’s death, brought on by the demon's overpowering presence, overwhelmed the raven haired boy. He dropped to the ground, staring up into the haunting face of the dementor as it opened its mouth and began to draw Potter’s living essence from his body. Emerald eyes faded to a pale, cloudy green as he sagged against the wall of the tunnel. Once finished with their meals, the dementors floated away to return to Azkaban, their assigned task completed.
Arabella Figg, after feeling the dementors finally leave the area, hurried in the direction that the two boys went, hoping that she might be able to offer them some chocolate and a place to recover from their ordeal. Entering the end of the concrete access corridor, her eyes fell on the first body, which was very near the end. Dropping to her knees, her eyes started to water as she took in the expression of overwhelming terror that was frozen on the Dursley child’s face. Bowing her head, she murmured a brief prayer before rising to her feet and continuing down the walkway, eyes widening as she spied their Savior, collapsed against the tunnel wall. Rushing to the boy, she fell to her knees again, a keening wail escaping her mouth at the blank, empty pale green eyes that lived in a face slack and deadened. “Oh, Harry,” she whispered, voice shaking alarmingly with grief. “Why didn’t you use your patronus like I told you?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hogwarts headmaster’s office, Albus Dumbledore,” Figg husked into the floo, voice rough from crying. She had gone directly to the Dursleys and told them what happened to their son. Vernon barreled out of his house and raced to the access tunnel a couple of streets over, and the wail of unbelievable sadness could be heard all over the area as he found his son. Dudley had died as soon as the dementor finished its task; muggles were incapable of surviving an encounter with the demons because of their lack of magic. Petunia had called emergency services as soon as Figg had given them the news, and the police were the first to arrive. They entered the tunnel to see Dursley kicking the unresponsive body of Harry Potter, bellowing epithets as he blamed the young man for the death of his son. It took three police officers to pull the man away just as the ambulances had arrived. The first responders rushed to each boy and checked them over; the ones looking at Dursley shook their heads sadly, informing the police that the teen had died. Harry, however, was still alive, although he was in what the medics had termed a coma-like state. They loaded both teens up into their ambulances and took them away, leaving minor devastation in their wake.
“Arabella?” the old man said, shocked at the condition of the elderly woman. “What seems to be the matter?”
“Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley were Kissed by a pair of dementors tonight,” she replied, voice quivering as she fought not to start crying again. “Harry was unable to send them away. The Dursley boy is gone; he died almost instantly. Harry was taken to Puttenham Hill House, Off Hogs Back, in Puttenham, Guildford. It’s a hospice care facility for end of life care. He’s in a coma, and the doctors don’t believe he’ll ever recover. I tried to get him to use his wand to send them away, but he was too terrified to act quickly enough, and now he’s gone.”
“Gone, you say?” the old man asked querulously, blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “That can’t be. There’s a prophecy in place. He’s the only one able to defeat Voldemort. Our salvation hinges on him. He can’t be gone. He just can’t be.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I am sorry about your grandson,” said the no-nonsense woman in a white lab coat. She had chin length sandy blonde hair done in a pageboy style and clear blue eyes. Her lips were pursed in a permanent impatient pout. “I am Dr. Dana Scully, and I’m the chief physician of the facility. He was brought in with no appreciable brain activity, but was still breathing and all vital signs were present and strong. Over the last few hours, his vitals have dipped alarmingly, and we were forced to put him on life support. I don’t know what sort of injuries he sustained; all scans show absolutely no damage to his brain, brain stem or nervous system. If I had a guess, I would say some sort of virus or infection disrupted his autonomic motor skills, which sent him into a coma.”
“But he didn’t have any illness,” Minerva protested feebly. “He wasn’t as healthy as we would have liked, but he had no viruses or infections, according to his own personal physician.” The elderly woman knew that she had to keep up appearances, so she was playing grieving grandmother to the best of her ability. Her heart ached for the poor boy, her memories of his time at Hogwarts shining a very unflattering, damning light on the lack of ordinary care that should have been offered to the abused child from the moment he’d walked through the doors. She wallowed in bitter self-recriminations as she remembered her role in ignoring the abuses heaped upon the last Potter’s head by nearly the whole school every time he did something that didn’t meet their expectations of what a savior should be.
“Brain infections can lay dormant for years, until some trigger sets them off, and they rip through the soft tissue, leaving devastation in their wake,” Dr. Scully explained patiently, hoping that these lay-people would understand what she was saying and not create excessive drama. “I am really very sorry that I couldn’t bring you better news. The most that I can offer is that he’s comfortable and in no pain. I don’t expect him to last more than a week. If you need anything, just let the nurse know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Where am I?” Harry asked softly as he looked around the dark landscape in which he floated. “What happened?”
“You are in limbo, young one,” a many-voiced being replied gently, startling the teen rather badly.
“Why am I here? Did I die or something?”
“You were left soulless by those abominations your people use to punish criminals in your world. At this moment, you lay in a hospital bed, slowly succumbing to the massive damage those beings, both human and demonic, had done to you.”
“Sooo, I’m dead?”
“Not quite, young one. You are on a precipice, but the powers that be wish to see you return to fulfill the destiny that was meant to be yours before the old one decided to interfere with it.”
“So they want me to be the prophecy child again?”Harry glared around at the absolute darkness, tears of anger and pain shimmering in his eyes. “I won’t do it! I’m tired of being abused by muggle and wizard alike! Tired of trying to live up to impossible expectations! Tired of being the center of attention, both good and bad! Tired of bloody living like this!” By the end, he was screaming, the tears falling down his face as he finally expressed all the anguish that had been bottled up for so very long.
“No, young one,” the many-voiced presence demurred kindly, “we do not expect you to be the Savior again. What we want is to send you back to be who you were meant to be from the beginning. We are going to be sending you to parents to whom you’d belonged from the start, had one of the minor goddesses not pulled such a vicious prank and placed you with the wrong people. She apparently thought it would be funny to see the Dark Prince raised as the icon of the Light. We wish to right some wrongs, and put some arrogant humans in their proper places.”
“Wh-where are you sending me?”
“We are putting you with the parents to whom you belonged from conception, where you will be happy and loved. We are sending you to your father and papa, Lord Tom Marvolo Riddle and Severus Tobias Snape-Riddle. You are starting over, and this time, there will be no mistakes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Isn’t he beautiful, Tom?” Severus asked softly. They were in St. Mungo’s under polyjuice, having just given birth to Hawthorne Thomas Riddle. The child had Severus’ silky black hair and pale skin, with Tom’s aristocratic features and deep mahogany eyes.
“He is, love,” Riddle husked quietly, fingers stroking along the baby’s chubby cheek. It was August 14, 1980, and the Riddles had been married for two years. Severus Snape was introduced to Tom Marvolo Riddle when he was seventeen and just out of Hogwarts. Lucius thought that the future Potions Master would be of great help to the Dark, so he took his best friend to a meeting. As soon as Riddle’s ruby eyes locked with ebon, sparks flew and it was all that Tom could do not to claim the enchanting young man right then and there. Instead, the Dark Lord financed Snape’s apprenticeship, encouraging the younger man the entire way, which earned Severus the honor of being the youngest Potions Master to have ever earned the distinction; a feather in the cap of the Knights of Walpurgis and a point of personal pride to Riddle himself.
Severus had overheard a prophecy that foretold of a child being born at the end of the previous month who would have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. The whole thing smacked of a set-up, so Tom and Severus decided to go to Riddle’s stronghold on Crete, to prevent any sort of shenanigans. Since the Dark Lord and his followers had, in effect, disappeared, Albus Dumbledore decided to use some disposable minions to effect the murders of the Potters and the Longbottoms, thereby cementing the idea that the ‘prophecy child’ had been marked and was being trained to do his duty to the wizarding world. Believing that he was saving their world from certain destruction, Dumbledore placed Harry Potter with his mother’s sister and her family, hoping that the child would at least be humble and eager to please.
Unfortunately, he didn’t count on the absolute loathing that Petunia Dursley, née Evans and her bastard husband held for the Potters and the magical world, and as soon as they dragged the basket in from the stoop, they drowned the baby and tossed him into a small creek a few blocks away, putting the basket into the cupboard under the stairs and forgetting about it. The nude, bruised body was found a few days later by a couple walking their dog. The golden retriever, who had been trained as a cadaver dog, instantly alerted to the corpse, and police were called immediately. A coroner’s inquest revealed that the baby had traces of chlorinated water in his lungs, and that evidence had the authorities investigating the neighborhoods near the creek, sure that the murderer or murderers were residing nearby.
It was as the officers were canvassing Privet drive that they came across some neighbors who had heard an infant screaming in the Dursleys' house before it went silent. Knowing that they had their own infant, and not aware of the baby that had been dropped, unceremoniously, on their doorstep in the middle of the night a few days ago, they thought nothing of the noise, sure that it was their own child who had been wailing. When they spoke to the police, a couple of them realized that the sounds weren't cries of hunger or of needing a nappy change, and they were quick to point out that the wails had seemed like someone in pain. Using this information, the officers quickly got a search warrant and invaded number four, Privet drive, and it was in the boot cupboard under the stairs where they found evidence that helped them put together what had happened. With the wicker basket was a colorful baby blanket, to which was pinned a note of explanation, which was taken as evidence and identification of the toddler.
Vernon Dursley, who was known to the Surrey police department because of his hair-trigger temper, blustered and bellowed as he and his wife were arrested. Not able to control his chronic diarrhea of the mouth, he roared about the 'freaks' who had dropped the unwanted burden on their front stoop, and that they hadn't wanted to be involved with any of that 'unnaturalness', so they decided to do something about it. In his unexpected but not unwelcome confession, he informed anyone who listened that because the baby was one of those 'abominations', it didn't deserve to live; that he had done it a service by putting it out of its misery so that it wouldn't infect nice, normal people with its 'freakishness'. The statements were enough to incarcerate the pair pending trial, and with the baby's last name, it wouldn't be interred as an unknown infant.
It wasn’t until the gadgets and gizmos set to monitor Harry Potter’s life and safety all died at once that Albus Dumbledore was even alerted that something wasn’t quite right, and he went to investigate under a disillusionment charm. Hearing the neighborhood gossip and seeing the house roped off with police caution tape, he returned to his office, where he proceeded to completely destroy everything within reach; infuriated that his plans had turned to dust before they’d even gotten off the ground.