Uncle Mad-Eye 1
"Well...Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?" Harry leaned back in the bed as he spoke, feeling exhausted after his confrontation with Quirrel and Voldemort.
"Ah, already you ask a question that is not easily answered." Dumbledore sighed, looking at Harry, "The easy answer is because he felt he had to. The more complicated one is one that must wait until you are older. I give you my word that I will answer the question in a few years." Suddenly, the man looked tired, "Now, I have a question for you, Harry. Do you promise me to answer truthfully?"
Harry frowned; he didn't like how Dumbledore sidestepped his question. A small part of him wanted to say no, to ask why should he if Dumbledore wasn't going to answer his question, but he didn't want to act like Dudley. "Yes, sir."
"How does your family truly treat you? You are small for your age, and Hagrid told me that when he picked you up to take you to Diagon Alley, you were on the floor while they had beds. Madame Pomfrey mentioned that she found some scars." Dumbledore's gaze was serious.
"I--" Harry looked down. This was one question he always hated to answer. They never believed him. Will firming, he looked up, "Not good. I do all the chores for the house. I didn't know my name until I went to school, they always called me boy or freak..." As he explained, Dumbledore's expression grew more grave, and angry.
Finally, when Harry finished, Dumbledore lowered himself into a seat. "I'm sorry, Harry," the man said softly before looking up. "I placed you there hoping they would accept you. I felt it necessary. There are special magical protections placed on your home that have protected you more than once already. I promised your Aunt that I would stay away. I see now that I should have been more firm and insisted on periodic visits. While you must stay there, I will make sure you're taken care of properly."
"How will you do that?" asked Harry.
"I think the best option would be to have a friend of mine move in with you. You will reside in the home, but he will be the one to take care of you." Dumbledore polished his glasses gently, "If you wish, you won't have to interact with your family at all."
"Relatives. Not family." This was said firmly, before Harry said, "I don't think that would work. Vernon would never allow another wizard to stay."
"He won't have a choice." Now, Dumbledore's eyes glinted, and Harry could see that anger again. "I will make sure you will be safe, Harry. I promise you." Harry wished he could believe that. He simply nodded at the Headmaster, not saying anymore. After a few moments, Dumbledore rose to his feet, "Yes, I need to speak to a few people. Rest, Harry."
HPϟHPϟHPϟHPϟHP
Dumbledore sat in his office, wearily speaking to the man in front of him. "I made a mistake, Alastor. No. That's not right, it's too minor a statement to describe what I did. To quote one of my students, I made an utter hash of things." He rubbed his brow, sighing, "The things the boy told me. And I can't move him; the blood wards have protected him many times already; if I move him, someone will find him. Especially now that he's a part of Wizarding society again."
"Bollocks that, Albus. If you screwed up, we'll fix it. What is your plan?" said the grumpy voice of the man sitting on the other side of the desk.
"I don't think you'll like it. But you're the only one I can trust with this. You've been talking about going into semi-retirement. Can you do that for me?" Dumbledore asked. "I need someone willing to stay at Privet Drive with the boy and take care of him."
"You want me to take care of the boy?" Moody's voice rose in shock. "Why?"
"You're the only one I can trust for this," Dumbledore repeated. "You need to take care of him as a parent. You need to discipline him. And you need to train him. You're one of the few who could properly do all three. I've noticed how good you are with children when you deal with them as an auror. Don't tell me you wouldn't do a good job. I wanted him to have a normal childhood, but I can see now that hasn't happened. You'll also provide more security in case something happens, and you won't take anything from his relatives."
Leaning back in his seat, Moody shook his head, "This is crazy, you know. Me, taking care of a child. You're right, though, I always try to take care of the little ones when they come up in a case. You know why." His shoulders straightened, "If I do this, Albus, I will do it fully, you realize. No half measures. My Marigold would be upset at me when I pass, otherwise. I might come into conflict with you. I'll also need to be his guardian, officially. I will also still want to train someone for the aurors, I promised Amelia that I would."
"Agreed. And that's probably for the best, to be frank." Dumbledore laughed, "I need someone willing to tell me when I..." His lips quirked, "...to quote my students again and be blunt like yourself, Alastor, when my head is up my arse about the boy." He sounded a little amused at his own vulgar phrasing.
Moody barked a laugh, "Well, you know me, Albus. I'm more than willing to tell you when your head is stuck up your arse. Why does he have to be trained, though? Other than him being Harry Potter?"
Dumbledore sighed. And so it came to it. He'd reveal a secret he'd held for over a decade. "There was a prophecy spoken not long before Harry was born. I don't really have much belief in such things. However, Voldemort heard part of the prophecy, and he believed. Believes. And he will come for Harry when he returns."
"Never believed in that dragon shite myself, but you're right. That doesn't matter if he believes in it." Moody nodded, "What is the prophecy?"
"I really don't want this spread, but if you're going to take care of Harry, you have a right to know. It is vague." Dumbledore took a breath and recited, "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
"What kind of bloody shite is that? That's beyond vague. I can see it applying to Potter--" He paused, "--no, Harry. If I'm going to care for the boy, I should call him Harry--but it could have also applied to others, I'm sure." Moody frowned.
"Two boys, at least if the 'seventh month' is based on the normal calendar instead of the moon or other such things. But only one of them was marked," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "I find the more parties believe in a prophecy, the more they're likely to come true."
"And Voldemort believes, so you can't take the risk." Moody nods. "All right. I'll put him through the wringer."
"Remember, even if he needs training, he has to be a child too; we don't want to break the boy. What happened this year at school was bad enough, I told you about the Stone already," Dumbledore warned.
"Don't you worry 'bout that, Albus," Moody stated. "I'm well aware if you push a recruit too hard, they'll break. He's not a recruit, but he might as well be. I'll be careful." Moody paused, "I do want to know why you made the traps leading up to the stone so weak, however. If three first-years could get there..."
Dumbledore sighed, "It was an experiment. I'd found a complicated runic trap designed to capture malevolent ghosts. I tweaked it hoping it would work on other spirit entities. Peeves allowed me to test it and it worked on him. I'd hoped that when Voldemort got there, having been slowed down just enough to think it was legitimate, that the runic trap would capture him. Unfortunately, whatever he is cannot be trapped in such a way. At least using that method. I'd thought that if I could capture him, we could discover how he survived at our leisure."
"Mmm. Risky, Albus, having your 'experiment' in the school," Moody stated. "I don't like that. Too dangerous to the students. It would have been better elsewhere, though I suppose you wanted to be sure to protect the Stone if it hadn't worked."
"That was a large part of it, yes," Albus said, before adding, "And you're right. I think... I think I've become too sure of myself of late. If nothing else, this has shown me that I need to think things through more carefully."
"Well, I'm glad some good came of it," Moody said ironically. "When do I meet the lad?"
"As soon as you sign these papers," Dumbledore said, sliding a set over to him. "Let me call in Minerva to witness."
"All right then. Call the lass in," Moody declared as he looked through the papers carefully and prepared to sign.
HPϟHPϟHPϟHPϟHP
Late that evening, Harry was walking out of the infirmary when he heard a voice. "Ah, Harry. It's good to see you up and about." Glancing up, he saw Dumbledore standing next to a grizzled man with dark grey hair and a most amazing almost electric-blue eye that was out of sync with his other, more normal brown eye.
"Hello, sir," Harry said to Dumbledore, before glancing cautiously at the other man.
"This is my friend, Alastor, Harry. Alastor Moody. He is a Master Auror and will be retiring. I spoke to him and he's agreed to look after you," Dumbledore told Harry.
"Look after me?" Harry asked, cautiously, his eyes again looking at the rather scary-looking fellow. His face looked like it was carved from rock.
"Aye, lad," Moody said as he walked forward, Harry noticing the limp. "You can call me Alastor. Dumbledore tells me that your relatives are right plonkers. He figured that by having me look after you, we solve multiple issues at once."
"How do you mean?" Harry was suspicious as he glanced between the two.
"Listen, lad," Moody began. "He hasn't gone into detail as that's your business and private, but from how he acted, I can guess. Aurors are like policemen; I've seen it all. They treated you like shite and probably hit you. You need someone willing to look out for you. To take care of you. I'll do that. Also, you need to learn to fight, so if you have to face down another crazy bastard, you know what to do. I can help with that, too. It's what I've been doing at the Ministry, after all."
"Language, Alastor," Dumbledore chided, even as Harry perked up at the idea of learning to fight.
"Bugger that, I'm sure the lad's heard worse." Alastor grinned at Harry. "If we do this, there'll be some ground rules we need to discuss and struggles for the both of us, lad. Unless I miss my mark, your relatives never cared about you at all. I will. I'll be expectin' to see good marks at school for example, and you not misbehaving." He paused. "Well, more than any other kid anyway. Everyone needs an outlet now and then."
In the background, Dumbledore actually facepalmed.
Harry couldn't help it; he snickered softly at Alastor's response to Dumbledore before he considered. "Okay. I'll try it. It can't be worse than what I deal with already," he said with a shrug.
"Good. I have a few ideas. Dumbledore, I expect you to get an exception for Harry to use magic during the summer. Mark me down as a private tutor so they don't complain," Moody ordered. "I plan on going through his first-year stuff and then starting on second and above."
Harry blinked, "Really? I'll be able to do magic?" He actually smiled, "That'll be great!"
"Aye, you'll be able to do magic inside your house. I'd keep that to certain areas, though, for safety sake." As he spoke, Moody added, "Unless, of course, something happens. Then you zap them as hard as you can and I'll handle the rest."
"Alastor!" Dumbledore interjected.
Moody gave Dumbledore an amused look, and then glanced at Harry, "All right, lad. Come on, let's talk. How are you liking classes? What are your favourites and least favourite? How long do you spend on your homework?"
"My favourite is Defense or Transfiguration. My least favourite is Potions, though I'm not too fond of History of Magic either. Professor Snape hates me and Binns is so boring..." Harry answered readily, clarifying a bit before adding, "I guess I could focus more on schoolwork and homework."
Dumbledore winced. He definitely had to talk to Severus, now.
"You need to do that, then. I'm not going to be hitting you lad as you've had enough of that already, but if I hear you aren't trying your best, I will make you do chores or take away that broom of yours for a time," Moody warned as they disappeared down the hall.
HPϟHPϟHPϟHPϟHP
Harry felt... weird as he sat in his compartment on the Express. Watching Hermione and Ron bicker quietly, he leaned back, thinking of the past few days. He still wasn't sure that he trusted Moody, but he seemed a good fellow; part of him kept wondering when the other shoe would drop.
They'd mostly discussed school as well as Moody's 'rules', which were basic things like not lying, following the law, and obeying if Moody actually asked him to do something. The last bit made Harry worry, even if Moody said he'd only be giving such orders on 'important guardian stuff'. The man seemed almost as unsure about things as Harry, though he was doing far better than the Dursleys did, in Harry's opinion.
The other bits were... strange. Moody seemed rather paranoid and arranged a series of code words to use to verify that after being apart, they were who they said they were. It seemed like something out of the old spy novels he'd read while hiding from Dudley in the library. Then again, if the man had survived Voldemort in the seventies, it made sense he'd be cautious. Even if he took it to extremes.
It was just strange knowing that someone was going to be looking out for him. That'd never happened before.
The trip to London was over in an instant due to Harry falling asleep; he woke up to the chime announcing their arrival. Yawning slowly, he looked around and saw Hermione and Ron getting ready to go. He realized he still hadn't told them about Moody. Mostly because he still wasn't sure if it'd turn out all right. "See you guys in the fall," Harry said to them. "I'll send Hedwig when I write you."
"See you, Harry! I should be home for the first month, then my parents are taking me to France, so I might be unavailable in August," Hermione said, leaning forward and giving him a quick hug before pulling away.
"I'll just be at home, mate, so write any time," Ron told him as Hermione gave him a quick hug as well and left the compartment, dragging her trunk along behind her.
Pulling his trunk down from the rack above them, Harry staggered a bit as he set it down, "Expect my first owl in a few days then," Harry replied as he followed them towards the train's exit.
Stepping off the train, Harry looked around and frowned as he didn't see Moody. The man said he'd meet him when he got off the train. Perhaps he was in the muggle section? Heading towards the barrier, he stepped through, and heard a voice, "There you are. I've been waiting forever! Get over here, boy." Harry slowly approached and felt his arm being grabbed. "Come on, we're going home," Uncle Vernon stated, beginning to drag him along.
It was then that he heard Moody's voice, "Ah, there you are, lad." The soft clicking sound of Moody's prosthetic could be heard as he approached. "You'd be Dursley then." When Harry and Vernon turned towards him, Harry saw that he was dressed rather normally, if a bit old fashioned, wearing a rumpled brown suit.
"Who the hell are you? Do you know the boy? You're one of the freaks, aren't you?" Vernon asked with a scowl.
"Freak, hmm?" Moody snorted, "I think that the freak is the man in front of me." The smile the man offered was almost feral. "You see, I've been looking into the lad's life. I'm what you'd call a magical police officer." He smiled. "Found lots of interesting things, you know."
"So what if you have? Do I look like the kind of man that can be intimidated?" barked Uncle Vernon.
"Well, yes," Moody said as he pulled back his eye patch to reveal his eye, "I'd say you do, Dursley. All I have to do, you see, is talk to one or two friends of mine, and you'd be lucky if you were thrown into prison for life. The other option is having your soul sucked out, and frankly, that's far more likely."
"How dare you? Do you think you can threaten me?" Vernon growled.
"Shut it. You will be taking me with the lad to your home and I will be staying with him. On the plus side, you won't have to see him for the entire summer. On the negative, you won't be using him as a slave anymore." He had already spoken to Ms Figg. "That's the deal, or I talk to my friends." Harry couldn't believe it, boggling as he listened to Moody's words.
"I don't believe this!" Even as he blustered though, Harry's Uncle took a step back, a brief flash of fear in his gaze. "If you think we're going to support another freak..."
"You won't be supporting me. You won't be supporting him, either. He will reside in his bedroom, and you will never see him. In fact, I will be making sure you can't enter the bedroom at all," Moody said. "That way he doesn't have to worry about you and yours." He smiled. It wasn't a very nice smile, "I also arranged a waiver so he can use magic. So if you were to try something, well. It wouldn't go well for you."
Vernon's face paled at this, and he took another step back. He opened his mouth then closed it, and then snarled, "Fine. Come on."
Moody nodded and looked at Harry, "Come on, lad. It'll be okay." With this, he stomped along behind Vernon. Once they were out of sight of others, he tapped his wand on Harry's trunk and it shrunk. "Put that in your pocket." Nodding, Harry did so and slipped into the back seat when he saw Moody get in front.
The trip passed in silence, Vernon occasionally looking at the man beside him and glaring. Eventually, they pulled into the driveway and Vernon got out of the car, almost running towards the door. Getting out at a more sedate pace, Harry and Moody walked to the door. It slammed in front of them, and Moody rolled his eyes. Pulling his wand from his sleeve, he waved it at the door and the lock clicked open.
Entering the house behind Moody, Harry looked around and saw Vernon in the living room, standing in front of his Aunt Petunia and Dudley. "That was stupid, Dursley. Did you think a little lock would stop me?"
"Get out!" screamed Petunia.
"No. Like I told your husband, there is a simple choice. I will be staying with Harry to make sure you folks don't bother him. You simply leave him alone in his room, and you won't see him all summer." Moody paused, adding, "You cause problems, and I call my friends in the aurors - magical police - and you'll be arrested for child abuse. Imagine how it'll look when they contact the muggle police and you're pulled out of your house in handcuffs."
Petunia went white. "You can't do this to us!"
"Unlike you, I'm simply telling you to behave. I'm not treating you like a slave or abusing you," Moody stated with a glint in his eye. "Now sit down, and we'll be upstairs. Don't try to come into the room. You won't like it."
With this, Moody headed up the steps with Harry following and entered Harry's bedroom. "Ugh, this is where you stay lad? It's a mess. Granted, that's not surprising the way those idiots downstairs are." Moody waved his wand, cleaning the room and then carefully started to vanish all the detritus. "You won't be really staying here, anyway, but I like things clean."
"Not really staying here?" Harry asked as he watched Moody continue to clean the room, magically. "How do you mean? Dumbledore said I had to. He said something about protections?"
"Oh, you'll be in the area, just not in the room itself." After a moment, Moody pulled two trunks from his pocket. He tapped one of them and it grew into a full-size trunk. Opening one of the compartments, he pulled out a piece of white chalk and began to mark the door jam with strange symbols. "Give me a moment, I want to get this done. Best to be safe, aye? Runes are used, at least in modern times, to modify spells. Make them last longer, change them in some ways, make the effects larger, and so on," Moody stated. "I'm drawing runes that will make the charms I cast on the room permanent." When he finished with the chalk, he began to wave his wand along the runes, cutting into the door to etch the runes permanently into the wood.
"Modern times?" Harry asked curiously.
"Aye, lad. Say a thousand years ago, before wands became prevalent, runes and rituals were the main way of casting magic. Nowadays, spells are better than most runic spells. Rituals are still useful, though easily abused." Moody explained this idly as he worked, "There. Now..." He began to wave his wand, speaking clearly as he cast a few spells. "There we go." He slipped the chalk into the chest and closed it, shrinking the chest again and pocketing it. He opened the other trunk, and gestured, "Get in."
"Er...into your trunk?" Harry asked, confused.
"It's bigger than it looks," Moody said, gesturing again, "Go on."
Frowning in confusion, Harry looked down and saw a ladder. He slipped into the trunk and found himself in what looked like a sitting room. Beyond the sitting room was a kitchen, and a hallway was at the other end, with multiple doors visible.
Moody climbed down behind him, "See? I had a friend make this for me as I really didn't want to live in a small bedroom. Your room is the one on the left, mine's on the right. The bathroom is at the end of the hall. The duelling room is through a door in the kitchen. You have full run of the place, and if you're hungry, I have food in the icebox."
"This is so cool!" Harry considered, "Am I stuck here, though? I mean, you said they'd never see me..."
"Oh, no, lad, I wouldn't do that to you. He pointed, "The fireplace has a floo connection, though it's heavily locked down. Only I can use it right now. I'll open it up for you now that you're here, though you will not be allowed to bring others through. Don't try, it won't work out well for your friends. You can visit friends who have a floo. I expect to be asked for permission if you want to visit someone, though. If you want to visit the muggle world, I'll just apparate us from your bedroom."
"Floo connection? And also, Apparate?" Harry asked.
"Flooes are fireplaces that are magically connected. You use floo powder to open the connection, and you can talk through the flames or step through them to another location. I'll show you how when we visit Diagon Alley for better clothes for you. Apparate is basically going from one place to another without going through the intervening space. You just disappear and reappear somewhere else," Moody explained.
"Wizards can teleport?" Harry blinked, "That is so cool."
Moody's lips twitched, "Glad you think so, lad." He gestured, "Put your things away, we'll probably have a big shopping trip for you soon. Pulling out his other shrunken trunk, he headed down the hallway and opened his door, tapping his trunk with his wand after putting it on the floor. "Put your trunk down and I'll unshrink your trunk."
Harry moved and opened the door to his room, seeing a room that was positively spacious compared to what he was used to. A full bed with a cupboard near it could be seen, as well as a desk, a long table, and four large bookcases. There was even an owl perch. Two of the bookcases were full of books, while the others were empty. "I made a point of getting a lot of my old books that you might find useful," Moody said, watching as Harry set down his trunk at the foot of his bed. A single tap and the trunk grew to full size.
"Thank you, sir," Harry told the man as he opened it. "Oh, um...what about Hedwig?" he asked, hesitantly.
"You can put your perch outside in the bedroom. She can also come visit in here," Moody said, gesturing to the perch, "Though you'll have to let her out to fly around," Moody added.
"Get yourself settled, make sure your owl arrived, and so forth. Tomorrow, we will discuss your summer studies and I'll unlock the floo so we can go to Diagon Alley to shop," Moody told him.
"Okay, sir." Harry paused, then added, "Oh, you said I can do magic?"
"Yes. Though keep all magic to this place, don't use it outside. Well, unless you're attacked, then you have permission to defend yourself. I'll handle any issues," Moody stated.
Nodding, Harry turned and slowly began unpacking his trunk. After a moment, Moody nodded and turned, shutting the door to give him privacy and headed into his own bedroom.