The Black Cab...
6:45am 27th December 1991, Privet Drive.
Dudley had already broken over majority of his Christmas Gifts.
How he had done so Harry didn't know, but he had ran rogue all of the neighbourhood with his new trinkets and came home with them broken and dirty in his hands before promptly dumping them in Harry's room without a care in the world.
Harry who had stared at Dudley shocked before averting his eyes down the tattered remains in anger and jealousy.
Harry who currently lay shivering from his fever on his small bed pulling his ratty blanket closer watching the rain patter against the only small window in his room.
Harry who once again desperately wished he was waking up in his four poster bed at Hogwarts next to his fellow Ravenclaw's in bliss not laying here holding his bruised cheek.
The same Harry who however, watched as a sleek black limo gently drove passed and parked in front of their driveway...
Martin Charteris had been working for too long.
He had been working for a grand total of too many years yet near the end of his service was he able to witness the spectacle he had waited so long to see.
As he stepped out of the back of his limo, he breathed in the crispy air and gently brushed to the side his greying hair. Straightening out the imaginary wrinkles in his impeccable black suit, before letting out a sigh of both nervousness and relief, he slowly stepped forward letting his feet take control.
He stopped at their doorstep.
Their welcome home mat seemed so overused and tacky yet extravagant and mind boggling at the same time. Even so, Charteris found himself curling his lip up in disgust at the very sight of it.
Their doorbell, which seemed to be too bulky and well thought for something as simple of a doorbell, was no different.
Gently reaching forward, he pressed the it, immediately wiping his hands after of course, and waited. It seemed like hours to Charteris but even he knew it had only ever ben a maximum of 10 minutes.
Thundering steps were heard and a shrill scream saying what he could not decipher.
Yet, sooner rather than later, the door was flung open and he found himself staring directly at mesmerising dark blue eyes that seemed so familiar yet so different.
"U-uh..excuse me sir, we weren't really expecting guests. Is there anything I can help you with?" Harry had asked softly when he was jolted out of bed and had opened the door to a smart man in a suit. He fidgeted under his gaze and shyly pulled his ratty and oversized pyjamas closer towards him desperately trying to ignore the fact that his cheek was turning blue and black while pulsing with pain. Blushing as he thought of how stupid and small he probably looked to the man in front of him, he held back another shiver and once again wished for another paracetamol.
"Yes. I believe you can." The man's voice was smooth and baritone. In some way, it reminded him of Professor Snape and he found himself once again reminded of his aching longing to be away. The thought of Hogwarts had seemed so appealing when he had just arrived but whenever he found himself thinking of it, he shivered in reminder of those icy blue eyes belonging to the headmaster.
"May I come inside?" The stranger asked politely jolting Harry out of his thoughts. Harry only blushed harder and nodded hurriedly before stepping to the side and letting the man in. The stranger had simply walked inside yet never kept his eyes of Harry, staring at him as if he was some wonder.
Aunt Petunia had come running down the stairs dressed in an expensive dress with her hair hurriedly put into a bun and a slight tint of blush on her face.
"Ah! My name is Petunia Dursley! Good morning sir! If you can call it that of course. The rain would often prove me otherwise!" Laughing loudly and awkwardly Petunia ushered the man into the living room and sat him down on the sofa glaring at Harry who loitered in the hallway trying to get a glimpse of what was happening and scrambled to the side when caught.
"Yes, unfortunately there is no time for meaningless pleasantries to be exchanged today. I am here on official business Madam." The man slowly sat down and pulled out a file from the briefcase he had carried and a small wallet he had pulled out and opened showing Petunia who gasped dramatically and inwardly squealed.
"Official business! My! Whatever do such noble people want from us?" Petunia spoke snobbishly exaggerating every phonic and sound till in her opinion she sounded sophisticated but to Harry simply sounded silly.
"Not you specifically Madam. Your nephew. Mr Harry Potter." The man leaned forward slightly and his eyes gained a slight glimpse of what could only be described as excitement. "Is he around perhaps? This is a matter of utmost importance."
Petunia gulped slightly before turning and staring at the 'empty' corridor with horror before turning back with a fake smile plastered on her face.
"Y-yes. L-let me just fetch him."
He was in for it now. Harry knew he was.
Charteris didn't know what he was expecting.
A decent sized 11 year old stumbling down in silk pyjamas and curly black hair perhaps.
The small, meek boy who could barely pass for someone who was 9, wearing oversized ratty pyjamas with a sickly look and a purple bruise forming on his cheek. The very boy who he had brushed aside thinking of his own childhood scuffles and had opened the door for him was definitely not what he had expected. Yet those eyes! And the curly unmanageable hair no matter how knotted, was so majestic and light! Everything from the shape of his nose to his jawline screamed the Windsor family!
"E-excuse me sir?" Harry stammered softly once again tugging at the sleeves of his shirt watching a million emotions flash through the man's eyes. "Y-you asked for me?"
"Yes! Yes! I did!" Charteris burst out suddenly making Harry jump and inch away slightly. "Pardon me. I did not mean to scare you. I only wanted to talk. In. Private." He bit out staring expectantly at the horse like woman who stood behind and sniffed offended before marching out angrily making Charteris shiver and crinkle his nose up in disgust.
"Sorry about my aunt. She doesn't really like not knowing stuff."
"No problem young sir! Some people are just rude and we cannot control what they do. Why don't you sit down? Please come!"
Harry simply nodded slowly before tip toeing forward and sitting on the edge of the sofa timidly.
"Now. Where are my manners? My name is Martin Charteris. But most call me Charteris. You may call whatever you find comfortable. I am the assistant private secretary to the sovereign." Holding up the black wallet, Charteris flashed his crisp ID.
Harry's mind whirled with a a thousand mixed up thoughts. The sovereign? He couldn't possibly mean the Queen? Right? What would the Queen want to do with someone like him?
"The Queen young sir."
"T-the Queen? And you are her private secretary? What would you possibly want someone like me for?" Harry asked breathily with disbelief and anxiousness colouring his voice.
"Yes, I am her assistant private secretary and the matter of which I would like to speak to you about is a delicate one." Charteris answered placing the documents previously in his hands onto the glass table in front of him.
"The Q-queen? And me? In the same sentence? Are you sure?"
"Yes. Perfectly sure. You are Mr. Harry James Potter, yes?"
Harry only nodded wide eyed.
"And your parents were one Lily Potter nee Evans and James Potter, yes?"
Harry only nodded once more.
"Then you are who I am looking for."
"B-but-"
"If you might let me finish sir, I might have the answer to many of your questions. May I?" Charteris asked titling his head slightly and smiling softly at Harry's blushed embarrassed face and shaky nod before continuing. "What do you know of your parents. And your lineage?"
"Pardon? What do my parents have to do with anything?" Harry questioned bewildered biting his lip nervously.
"You will find they have a large importance in this matter sir." Charteris answered motioning for Harry to reply.
"W-well, they died when I was 1...in a car crash. Their names, as you said, were Lily and James Potter and they adopted me. From an orphanage...Wools Orphanage I um think?"
"Yes, thank you sir. Just as I thought." Charteris smiled widely before placing a document in front of Harry.
A birth certificate. His birth certificate.
Yet the information so different to what he knew.