Prologue
Harry Potter was six years old when Vernon Dursley was chosen to go on a business trip to Washington D.C.
Grunnings was attempting to break into the American market and Vernon, trying to climb the ranks, had impressed them enough to be picked to meet with prospective business partners. The company had also arranged for Vernon's family, including his nephew Harry, to travel with him to make a good impression.
Unfortunately, Vernon Dursley never made it to the first meeting. When the businessmen he was supposed to meet with had spent an hour waiting, they called their superiors who then called their contacts at Grunnings who then attempted to call Vernon.
That call went unanswered.
Finally, Grunnings called the hotel the Dursleys had been set up in and the hotel sent up one of their housekeepers to check the room and its occupants.
When no one responded to the housekeeper's knocking, she opened the door and almost immediately screamed. The bloody body of Vernon Dursley was laying just a few feet from the door.
The housekeeper let the door fall shut and immediately ran to inform her manager and call the police.
The police then called in the FBI and the FBI assigned the case to the Behavior Analysis Unit.
…
When Aaron Hotchner joined the BAU, he knew he was signing up to witness the very worst humanity had to offer.
But he also knew that he would have a chance to catch the bad guys before they hurt anyone else. It brought a feeling of satisfaction that he could never get from simply prosecuting criminals, and his wife Haley understood that he loved his new job despite the horror he faced at all hours of the day.
Hotch, as he was commonly called, had only been in the BAU for a month, but had quickly bonded with Jason Gideon, his unit leader. While Gideon had been doing the job for decades, he treated Hotch with a level of trust and respect not common for a newbie, but one that he had earned after his very first case with them that showed just how capable he was.
Also in their unit was Gideon's new protégé, a brilliant young man who somehow already had a PhD and was studying to acquire more even though he was barely old enough to buy a beer. There were several other agents on their team, but Hotch wasn't attached to any of them, especially as he knew that two of the agents were looking to move on in the next few months.
It was just before noon that late August day when his team was assembled and briefed on their new case. An English family of three was the second foreign family to be murdered in their hotel room, and they were being called in to investigate.
The DC police had left the crime scene untouched for the BAU, so they and the FBI crime scene techs were the first to enter the room.
One had to wonder how nobody had heard the murders being committed, especially with such thin walls the hotel had. Blood was splattered everywhere, mostly from the obese father, but the mother had been stabbed multiple times as well and the son had one long slice across his throat. Marks around their mouths showed they'd had their mouths duct taped shut. Bruising on the parents' wrists indicated that they'd been restrained.
It was Hotch who first noticed something odd. There were three victims; father, mother, and son, but there were four pairs of shoes. In fairness, the last pair were small and almost completely hidden beneath the couch that had been turned into a pullout bed, but they didn't look to fit the large blond boy. They were also falling apart at the seams, and Hotch almost considered that they had simply been overlooked by the maids and forgotten there by the previous occupant.
Then an almost inaudible shuffle came from the closet.
Calling out to Gideon and gaining the attention of everyone in the room, Hotch inched towards the door, and gently knocked. This time there was no mistaking the sound of shifting fabric.
Hotch braced himself and twisted the knob to pull the door open. He was not the only one to blink in confusion at the little boy curled up in the corner, bold green eyes peeking out at everyone through the mop of black hair covering his forehead.
Relaxing immediately, Hotch crouched down and shuffled over so that he was blocking the boy's view of the dead bodies.
"Hello," he said in his soft baritone. "My name is Aaron. What's your name?"
The boy only cringed back further into the closet, pulling the blanket by his feet up to cover himself. Aaron then took note of the closet floor. Blanket, pillow, and a small backpack in the opposite corner. It looked like the boy had slept there.
Hotch filed the information away and asked the boy if he could touch him. Not receiving any answer, Hotch gently reached out. When there was no resistance, he pulled him into his arms and stood up, taking the boy out of the room to be checked out by a medic.
Hotch couldn't explain why, but from the moment he held the boy in his arms, something inside him thrummed. While he felt protective of the boy, as anyone would in that situation, it was more than that. It was something undefinable. A gut instinct that told him there was something more to this boy than met the eye, and he vowed to find out what it was.
While the boy was cleared of any injury, Agent Martinez, the lone female member of his team, found out the father's name through the hotel and that his company had made the reservation. Grunnings was called and HR was able to pull up employment records to identify the other family members. The boy was the Dursley's nephew, Harry Potter.
Returning to Quantico, Hotch led Harry to a room filled with toys used to talk with children involved in cases and told him he could play while they waited for the social worker Child Protective Services was sending over. Legally, the agents couldn't speak with Harry without a guardian, which is why they needed to wait for the social worker, but they could subtly observe the six-year-old through the glass walls.
Instead of playing or even curling up and sitting quietly, which wouldn't be surprising for a traumatized child, Harry slowly walked around the room looking at the toys. He wouldn't touch any of them unless they were out of place in some way. He picked up a ball to put it in a bin with others. He pushed the books on the shelf up straight to slide in two more that had been placed carelessly on top. He placed the blocks that had spilled onto the floor back in the tub. He made sure the little plastic chairs around the table were pushed in nicely. All the crayons lying out were slid back in their box and placed next to the markers right in the center of the table. A crumpled ball of paper lying next to the trash can was quickly thrown away. When the room was all tidied, he sat down against the wall and looked out to watch the agents in the bullpen.
The behavior was troubling in a number of ways, and Hotch yearned to go in and speak with Harry. He had his suspicions of how the Dursleys treated him. The EMT that had looked him over had told Hotch that Harry had several bruises at various stages of healing and was quite small and underweight for his age. It would take a full medical evaluation to find the extent of his injuries and how far back they went though.
Finally, the social worker arrived and Agent Martinez was chosen to go in to speak with Harry. Hotch had wanted to go in, but was overruled as he didn't have much experience with children.
The social worker, Ms. Taylor, sat in the corner to observe, while Martinez approached Harry. For half an hour, she tried all the tricks to get Harry to talk. She spoken softly. She reassured. She sympathized. She asked simple questions, some just about himself. She tried to engage him in activity by coloring a picture herself. She even sat quietly by him when nothing else worked, hoping that he would talk to her if she didn't prompt him.
But Harry didn't say a word. He avoided eye contact, yet followed all of her movements, especially her hands, with shrewd eyes.
Eventually, Martinez was motioned out of the room, leaving Ms. Taylor in with Harry. Hotch took the chance to ask again if he could speak with him. Gideon studied him for a moment before nodding his head once.
…
Hotch let the door shut behind him, dulling the sounds on the other side of the glass. He stood there, just watching Harry until he finally raised his head and looked at Hotch with a blank expression. Hotch looked away and walked over to the bookcase. He looked back at Harry, whose eyes were lowered, but still looking in Hotch's direction.
"Why did you put the books away?" Hotch asked directly.
Harry's eyes focused on his face.
"Do you put the books and other toys away at home?" Hotch reworded, encouraged by the slight response.
Harry nodded.
"Do you like it when things are clean and organized?"
Harry glanced away in thought before he shrugged.
Not OCD then, Hotch thought. He didn't tidy up because he needed things to be in order. He did it because it's what he's been expected to do.
"Do you get in trouble when things aren't cleaned up?"
Harry nodded.
Those simple answers alone weren't really indicative of abuse, but Hotch knew. He could feel it. It's not why Harry was here though. Hotch needed to get him to talk about the murders and anything he might have heard. However, the knowledge of Harry being abused would help in how he got those answers. Harry would respond if he was direct and unemotional. Factual. Hotch needed to treat him almost as if he were an adult in this case, without kid gloves. That was what Harry was used to.
Hotch used a blunt tone when he said, "Your aunt, uncle, and cousin were murdered last night."
Ms. Taylor started to interrupt, but Hotch held up his hand and glared at her to be silent and let him speak. She pursed her lips but remained silent in her seat.
Hotch looked back to Harry. "I know you were in the closet when it happened. I know that you weren't involved in any way," Hotch added when Harry shrunk in on himself. "But I think you know how your family died. The person who killed them is going to kill other people. You could help us stop them if you tell me what happened."
Harry looked up at him, and Hotch could see it in his eyes that he was finally going to say something.
"I didn't see him."
Hotch sat down across from Harry and crossed his legs. Harry shifted to copy his position.
"I still want you to tell me what happened. Start at the beginning," Hotch said lowly. "You came here yesterday on a plane. Yes?"
"Yes."
"Close your eyes. Think back. You were on a plane with a lot of other people. There was a noise from underneath. It was the landing gear. An announcement came over the speakers. Then the plane landed. Was it bumpy?"
Harry murmured, "A little. Dudley was scared."
Hotch continued. "You had to stay seated until the plane came to a stop. Then you got up and got your bag." Harry nodded along. "Tell me everything that happened once you got off the plane."
Harry did. In a surprising amount of detail, Harry told of how he stumbled after the Dursleys through the airport, met a man waiting for them with his Uncle Vernon's name on a sign, and rode in a black car to the hotel. Then his uncle went out for a few minutes while his aunt and cousin changed clothes. His uncle came back with a box of cheerios for him to eat while the three went out to dinner.
"They didn't take you with them?" Hotch interrupted.
Harry blinked his eyes open. "No," he said simply, in a voice that clearly implied, Why would they?
"What did you do while they were gone?" Hotch went on.
"I watched the telly and ate my cheerios."
"Do you know how long your family was gone?" Hotch asked, internally frowning at the use of the word "family".
Harry's face puckered in thought. "I found a cartoon," he said slowly, "and I watched…four episodes of it, so it was a little more than two hours I think. Then I heard Uncle Vernon coming down the hall a bit through the fifth episode, so had to turn it off real quick."
Impressive reasoning for a six-year-old. "Why did you have to turn it off?"
"They don't let me watch the telly."
"What happened after they came back?"
Not much apparently. They turned the couch into a bed for Dudley, changed into pajamas, watched some television, and then went to sleep as soon as it got dark.
"I was really tired," Harry said. "So were Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Dudley yawned and whined a lot, so I know he was too."
That makes sense, Hotch thought. There's a five-hour difference between D.C. and London. The Dursley's would have had to stay awake longer than normal to adjust to the time zone.
"Why were you sleeping in the closet?" Hotch asked, hoping that Harry would contradict him and just say that he hid there before their attacker noticed him.
Harry looked at him with piercing eyes. He was studying Hotch more than any other child ever had. "Aunt Petunia told me to," he said while looking him in the eye.
Hotch breathed in deeply and maintained eye contact. "Do you sleep in a closet at home?"
"No."
Hotch was slightly relieved at his, but then asked, "Where do you normally sleep?"
"In my room."
Hotch narrowed his eyes. Harry was clearly lying. He looked away when he said it. He tensed. He tapped his fingers. Everything about his body language said it was a lie.
"Your aunt and uncle told you to tell people that," Hotch said calmly. "They're dead. Tell me the truth," Hotch demanded.
Harry looked back at him with wide eyes. "In my cupboard," he whispered.
"You told someone this once before," Hotch stated. "An adult. A teacher maybe? And when the Dursleys were confronted about it, they said you were lying. No one believed you, and your aunt and uncle told you not to tell people where you slept or about when they hurt you."
Harry looked down and curled in on himself. "I'll get in trouble."
Hotch breathed out slowly. There it was. As soon as he found this serial killer, he would make sure Harry got the help he needed.
"I believe you."
Harry's head snapped up.
Hotch just raised a brow. "Why would you lie?" he asked simply, as if him believing Harry was no big deal. Of course he believed him. "I'm not like other adults," he explained. "I've been trained to read people's behavior; to understand them. I know when someone is lying and when they're telling the truth. I know you're telling the truth."
Harry's whole body relaxed at he looked at Hotch in wonder.
"Now," Hotch said lightly. "This next part might be hard, but I need to know what you know. You said you didn't see him. Was there another man in the room?"
Harry nodded, and Hotch sat looking at him patiently.
"I woke up," Harry said slowly. "I don't know why, but then I heard a door open and close. Then a weird sound, like errrrc," Harry imitated in a high pitch. Hotch deduced that it was the sound of duct tape being pulled. "Then I heard Dudley wake up. He sounded scared. He was whimpering, but the man shushed him. Then I heard Dudley get off the couch bed and they both walked a few steps. It sounded like he was going to the big bed. And I heard that noise again. Then Uncle Vernon grunted, and I heard the bed squeaking. Then I think Aunt Petunia woke up. The man shushed them and Dudley started crying. The man whispered something."
Harry frowned. "It was hard to hear him, but I think he said he didn't want to hurt Dudley and promised he wouldn't if they did what he said."
Hotch leaned forward. "What did he want them to do?"
Harry's eyes narrowed in thought. "First he told Aunt Petunia to cover her mouth. Then he told her to tape his hands behind his back. I think he meant Uncle Vernon. Then the man told her to stand up and walk forward. I couldn't really hear what he said next. It was just a whisper, but I heard that sound again."
Harry looked up at him. "Was that sound the tape?"
"I believe so," Hotch said quietly. "What happened after that?"
Harry closed his eyes. "He started talking funny."
Hotch tilted his head. "Funny in what way?"
"His words didn't make sense. It was like he thought my aunt and uncle were his mum and dad. I remember that he asked how they could abandon him. He said, 'You took me out to eat as a treat and told me I'd be happy here. I didn't know that you meant I'd be happy here without you, and you were wrong!' I heard that part because he was a lot louder than before," Harry told him seriously. "Then he said, 'I wasn't happy here. Do you know what you left me to…' um, it sounded like he said 'mami'? And then, 'Do you know, papi?' I heard all of the Dursleys trying to talk to him, but they just made mmm sounds because their mouths were taped shut."
Harry fell silent after that.
Hotch tentatively reached out to cover one of his hands. "Harry, I know you don't want to think about what happened next, but it might be important."
Harry spoke in a mumble. "He told Dudley not to be scared. He said he was saving him because they would leave him, and then Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were screaming, only it was quiet, and then I heard a thump and then some footsteps and then…"
"Then?" Hotch prompted.
Harry had shrunk into himself by this point, and Hotch had to lean close to hear him whisper, "It was like a hitting sound, but also…wet. Over and over and over." Harry peaked up at Hotch. "I didn't hear Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon or Dudley after that."
Hotch breathed out.
"Thank you, Harry. That was very brave of you. I want you to know you helped us a lot by telling us this. Ms. Taylor is going to take you to safe place now," Hotch said as he stood up.
"Wait!" Harry gasped. "There's one more thing!"
Hotch lifted a brow.
"The man," Harry said. "He walked funny. I heard him as he left. His steps were uneven. He walked like this." Harry then proceeded to walk with his left leg not extending past his right.
"He had a limp?" Hotch clarified.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, and I know it was on his left leg because I saw his shoes when he walked near the closet."
Hotch hummed to himself, thoughts not on the case, but on the boy standing in front of him. It only took a moment to come to a decision.
He asked to speak with Ms. Taylor outside.
…
Using the excuse that the Unsub was a family annihilator and might try to come back for Harry if he found out that he didn't kill the entire family, Hotch was able to convince the social worker that Harry's temporary guardian be a BAU member working the case, as Harry could also remember further details about that night that may come in handy. Of course, Hotch volunteered and was approved quickly given his current and former status.
When he called Haley to inform her of their new houseguest, the only questions she had were out of concern for Harry. It made Hotch fall even more in love with her.
Hotch was allowed to leave early that day to take Harry to the hospital for a full medical evaluation. The abuse was confirmed and a full report written up. Then Hotch took him home and introduced him to Haley. The wide-eyed look Harry had when Haley slowly put her arms around him in a hug soon melted into a look of wonder and contentment.
Hotch hoped not to overwhelm Harry with all of the changes, but Harry didn't really react to all the new freedoms he was given. His new room was barely glanced at. The food he spooned onto his plate at dinner was minimal. He still cleaned up around the house even though they both told him not to. Hotch and Haley agreed that Harry hadn't accepted his new reality yet and that it would take time. The only thing that concerned them was the strong attachment Harry seemed to make with them, always wanting to be in the same room. What concerned the couple more was how much they both wanted him there.
Over the course of the next four days, Harry spent the mornings and nights with the Hotchners, quickly stealing both of their hearts. Haley sat with him and worked to make sure he knew that he was a child and it was her job to take care of him, not the other way around. Harry still insisted in making them breakfast every morning. Thankfully he stuck to cold foods and the toaster after Haley and Hotch rushed downstairs that first morning when they realized neither of them were responsible for the bacon and pancakes they smelled cooking.
During the day, Hotch took Harry to work with him as it was part of the agreement that Harry would be in the presence of an FBI agent at all times. At first, Harry was told he could play in the corner of Gideon's office with some toys borrowed from the playroom. That way he would be in sight, but not hear anything going on outside. However, Harry had no interest in the toys. More importantly, he did not want to be away from Hotch. And so the team resigned themselves to Harry sitting beside Hotch's desk in the bullpen. While rarely speaking, it soon became clear that Harry was listening to everything when he pointed out a mistake Agent Bends made in their suspect pool.
Impressing everyone and receiving praise, Harry started to come out of his shell, asking questions and giving insightful answers when asked what he thought about things. It was this curiosity and intelligence that led to him bonding with Spencer Reid. Unlike most children – and even most adults - Harry wasn't at all confused or bored with Reid's rambling explanations. He always asked to know more, which is why Reid took Hotch aside after the second day Harry was in the office.
"I think Harry's a genius," Reid said bluntly. "Not that intelligence can really be quantified-"
"Reid," Hotch interrupted.
"Right," Spencer said. "From what I've seen, Harry shows many signs of a high IQ, especially in his observation and deductive reasoning skills. I think we should have him tested."
And so, the third morning of Harry's stay at the BAU saw Hotch dropping Harry off at a psychologist's office located in the same building at Quantico after reassuring him they would see each other at lunch. While the doctor didn't normally see children, let alone test if they were gifted, she was qualified and spent the whole morning running Harry through various tests.
At lunch she delivered her findings to Hotch, Reid, and Gideon, who also wanted to know how Harry was doing. It came as no surprise to Reid that Harry was indeed a "genius" as he suspected. It did surprise all of them when the doctor asked to keep Harry for the afternoon to do a mental health evaluation, suspecting that the damage the Dursleys did was much more mental and emotional then physical.
Her conclusion and suggestions for moving forward had Hotch and Haley whispering to each other late that night, neither one able to fall asleep.
Harry had several issues they needed to work through, the most pressing being Reactive Attachment Disorder. Harry did not trust or form attachments easily, which is why it was so concerning that he developed a close relationship with the Hotchners. Normally it would be a good thing, but his placement with them was only until the unsub who murdered his relatives was caught. To send Harry to a new home with strangers in a foreign environment would be detrimental to him at this stage, almost guaranteeing Harry would never form a close relationship with anyone and most likely developing more violent tendencies later. It's why the psychologist posed the question of a more permanent guardianship with Hotch and his wife.
"It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," Haley whispered. "He needs us."
"I thought we were going to wait until I settled in more at the BAU, and didn't you want to continue teaching another year?" Hotch asked.
"Well it's not like I'll be pregnant for nine months and have to take maternity leave." Haley rolled her eyes.
"If we do this, we can't give him back."
Haley settled her chin on Aaron's chest and looked him calmly in the eye. "Do you want to give him back right now?"
Hotch breathed in. "No."
"Then what makes you think you'll ever change your mind?"
It was a good thing the couple talked that night because the next day when Hotch went into the office, he was told they had arrested the unsub. The man was thirty-one years old and had been abandoned in the nation's capital when he was seven by his parents. They were illegal immigrants from Columbia that had left their son in the hopes that their leaving him with no identification would keep him from being deported and have a good life in America. Instead, he was shuffled from foster home to foster home, suffering abuse from several older boys that led to a fall down the stairs and a broken femur that left him with a noticeable limp. His life never got much better, but the stressor came when his girlfriend, who happened to be a single mother of a young boy, left him for another man. The night she broke up with him was the night he killed his first family. They were eating out at the restaurant he had eaten at with his parents before they left him. The Dursleys had gone to the same restaurant. The two families' accents and conversation topics had clearly told the unsub they were tourists, which is why he picked them. It also explained why he left Harry alive in the closet. He simply didn't know he was there, having not seen him at the restaurant.
The case was closed and Harry's social worker informed. When Ms. Taylor came to collect Harry, Hotch very firmly told her that wouldn't be necessary and asked for the paperwork to become Harry's permanent guardian with the intention to adopt. Within two days, Harry was officially his ward. Haley and Hotch would have to wait a few more months to adopt him, but as there were no other family members – Marge Dursley refused to take Harry in – and they fulfilled all the requirements, the Hotchners were happy to call Harry their son that very day.
Ms. Taylor was quite pleased.