Magic Meet Mind

The moment the Dursleys were murdered, the artifacts in Albus Dumbledore's office monitoring the blood wards on Privet Drive either stopped working or let off an alarm. As Dumbledore had been down at breakfast at the time and then went about his duties, he didn't learn of this until several hours later when he returned to his office. He immediately flooed to Arabella Figg's house, his panicked appearance startling the old woman sitting with her cats.

"What happened?" he demanded. As Mrs. Figg had no idea what he was talking about, Dumbledore instead hurried out of the house and down the street to the house marked Number 4. Checking to make sure no one was watching, Dumbledore discreetly used his wand to cast some revealing charms. With no one inside, he let himself in and found nothing out of the ordinary.

By this time, Mrs. Figg had caught up with the headmaster and informed him that the Dursleys had bragged to their neighbors about spending a week in the United States Capitol due to how hard Vernon worked.

This did not ease Dumbledore's mind. The only ways the blood wards would have broken before Harry's seventeenth birthday were if he no longer considered his Aunt Petunia family and her house not his home...or if there was no longer a living blood relative to tie him to the residence. Without the blood wards to keep away wizards with ill intent, Harry would be extremely vulnerable, especially as he was now in a foreign country with no way for Dumbledore to locate him.

Because of Harry's fame, Dumbledore had cast a mail redirection charm on him as a baby before leaving him with the Dursleys. Dumbledore had thought it a good idea with the hundreds of letters and packages sent to him over the years that were currently being stored in a locked room deep within Hogwarts. If only he had been paranoid enough to put a tracking charm on him as well. The redirection charm would only break on Harry's eleventh birthday so that he could receive his Hogwarts letter, but Dumbledore could not wait that long.

He had to find Harry Potter.

With determination fulling him, he sent out messages to his contacts in the United States and to former Order of the Phoenix members who would be willing and able to help.

It was actually Mrs. Figg who contributed the first useful bit of information. About a week after Harry went missing, Marge Dursley showed up on Privet Drive to manage the Dursley's affairs, wailing to any and all about her poor brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. They were murdered in their hotel room. "Uncultured savages," Marge had called the Americans, slaughtering her only family left.

Mrs. Figg took the opportunity to ask about Harry while pretending to console her. After all, if there was one benefit to living on Privet Drive all these years, it was learning how to prod information out of people.

"How horrible a person must be to kill four innocent people," she said.

Marge scoffed. "Four?" she asked rhetorically. "I assume you're talking about that brat nephew of Petunia's? If only he had been killed instead of my poor nephie-poo!" Marge dissolved into tears again. But this gave Arabella hope. It would seem Harry was still alive.

After informing Dumbledore, she suggested that he look into muggle news articles in Washington D.C. in the last week. Surely such gruesome murders would be reported?

Doing so, Dumbledore learned how and why the Dursleys were killed and that the culprit was a muggle serial killer. He completely ignored the details of the case, such as it being solved by the BAU, as he was only looking for what happened to Harry. However, the only mention Dumbledore found was a short line about the Dursleys' nephew surviving the attack. The news said nothing on Harry's current whereabouts.

And so, Dumbledore found himself back at square one with no way to locate Harry Potter. He leaned on his foreign contacts to find the boy, but his few contacts in the MACUSA didn't have authorization for Harry's government file, which was sealed and given classified status. Unlike the British Ministry of Magic, the MACUSA had only recently started working with the nonmagical government. To gain access by going through proper channels would bring too much attention to Harry. Instead, Dumbledore and his recruits resorted to looking through public records, particularly school records, but no "Harry Potter" ever showed up.

The only thing Dumbledore knew for sure was that Harry Potter was alive, somewhere in the United States.

...

There weren't many issues to be sorted out in the first few days of Harry officially becoming a member of the Hotchner household. As he was already living there prior to the decision to adopt, he knew the rules he had to follow and why, most being for his own safety. No, the problems were more technical in nature. One was the question of his citizenship. As his guardians were full citizens, Harry was filed as a temporary resident. Once the adoption went through, he would be a full American citizen. Harry would also retain his British citizenship until the age of eighteen, at which time he could file to retain his dual citizenship or to drop one or the other.

When filling out the paperwork, Haley and Aaron asked Harry if he wanted to keep his last name Potter or if he wanted to drop it in exchange for Hotchner. He also had the option of hyphenating the two.

Harry, who had been told all his life that his parents were good for nothing drunks, didn't really feel attached to the name of Potter. He loved his new parents who wanted to be called mum – or mom as it was pronounced here in the states – and dad. He was happy to be called a Hotchner. Saying exactly that, Aaron and Haley smiled, while inside, their stomachs churned with mixed feelings. Hotch then told Harry that while he was proud to have him as a son, perhaps he should wait to drop the Potter name.

"The Dursleys weren't very honest people Harry," Aaron pointed out. "I know what they told you, but they could have lied to you about your parents just as they lied to your neighbors and teachers about you."

This idea shocked Harry and he blinked at the thought of his birth parents being good people.

"Could we find out?" he asked hopefully. His dad smiled and agreed to investigate.

As it was, the final name put onto the request for adoption forms was Harry James Potter-Hotchner.

The final question for Harry's new life demanded an answer just two weeks after Harry came to stay with them. After the Dursleys' murder case was solved, Harry stayed home with Haley, bonding with his new mother who would take him to visit Hotch every day at lunch. Harry missed being at the BAU and would beg to go to Quantico. One morning he got his wish, as Haley had to go in for teacher's meetings and make sure everything was set up for the new school year. When she came to pick Harry up at lunch, she and Hotch talked about Harry's own schooling. He should have been going into first grade, but both were unsure if it was best for him.

They consulted Reid, Gideon, and Dr. Oxland, the psychologist who first examined Harry, and together they all agreed it would be best to homeschool Harry for a year to work out his social anxieties and other psychological issues caused by the Dursley's abuse.

Spencer Reid was both elated and highly supportive of this decision and was one of Harry's best tutors. With his help, they concluded that Harry was currently about a year ahead of his grade level and could easily gain two years of schooling in half that time with the right guidance. Happily, Harry started to complete his homework assignments at a desk next to Hotch's. The BAU had allowed the setup while Harry was in potential danger, but as they had returned to normal operations, Chief Strauss vehemently protested the arrangement.

"The bullpen is not a daycare!" she shouted. "Exposing a child to the types of cases we work is highly irresponsible-"

"With all due respect," Reid timidly intervened, "Harry's already been exposed."

Strauss narrowed her eyes in a glare at the young profiler.

It took Gideon talking with her behind closed doors for Strauss to allow Harry to spend his days at Quantico, but only under certain conditions. For one, he could only spend two days of the week in the BAU bullpen. He had to be in the daycare center Quantico offered its employees at all other times. This allowance itself came with conditions. Harry could not have any part in the cases they worked, nor could he be disruptive. If he took any significant time away from the agents, the arrangement would end. He also had to be supervised at all times. If a case took the unit away from Quantico when Harry was with them, he would be escorted down to the daycare and picked up by Haley at an appropriate time. Harry's sessions with Dr. Oxland would also be increased from once a week to at least twice a week in hour long sessions.

Strauss had been the one to suggest the last guideline. While she had only met Harry twice, each of those times she'd been in his presence enough to understand exactly why the other profilers wanted to keep him around. He radiated innocence, but not ignorance. In fact, Harry was wise far beyond his years, and despite – or maybe because of – his own experience, he felt a deep compassion for the victims of such horrible crimes. It didn't hurt that he was also incredibly talented and well-behaved; there hadn't been a single problem caused by Harry. More impressive to Strauss was the determination lighting his eyes when confronted with a mystery, a fire burning even brighter when he was told of how the BAU brought criminals to face justice.

Strauss would never allow an innocent child to study gruesome murders committed by the trash of humanity, but it was true that Harry wasn't exactly innocent. The horrors that parents try to protect their children from had gotten to Harry, and there was no going back. She saw it in his eyes, even when he was smiling. There was a deep world-wariness and inner pain that lingered in his bright green eyes. The way he could stare at her and seem to see past every mask she wore into her very core was almost unsettling. Yet, there was no anger. No hatred. Instead she saw acceptance and, when Harry was with Hotch, Reid, or Gideon, a slight glimmer of hope. From what she read in Harry's medical report, he'd spent the last five years in hell, never being given the chance to be a child. In the end, that's why she conceded, knowing just as Hotch and Gideon did that now that Harry had been shown this way of life, a way of fighting against the wrongs of the world, he felt a compulsion to be a part of it.

It made Strauss truly pity the boy. He was only six years old. A child shouldn't feel the need to do something like this; to protect, to fight for himself and for others. She consoled herself that maybe this was the best option for him. Harry had been broken by his relatives, by all the tragedy he'd experienced, including the loss of his parents. Perhaps by guiding Harry, she and the other agents could keep an eye on him and hopefully keep him from walking a much darker path. Maybe by compromising, they could force him to have as much of a childhood as he could allow himself to enjoy. Perhaps they could give him the tools he needed to one day heal.

…

Harry was very happy with his new life. For the first time that he could remember, he had a real family that loved him. His mother was so loving and always willing to hug him or ruffle his hair. Mummy made him laugh and smile and brought joy wherever she went. His father was different, but no less loving. He was quieter, but steadier. Daddy always made Harry feel safe, and Harry loved when he was allowed to sit on his lap, strong arms holding him close. Harry would look up and see the soft smile on his daddy's face and know that he was truly happy Harry was there.

Harry had gained more than parents though. He now had other people who liked him! Spencer was the best. He taught Harry how to read really fast and never got mad when he asked questions. Spencer and his new parents wanted Harry to do his best in everything he did, unlike the Dursleys who got mad when he did better than Dudley. It was odd at first, getting praised for learning something, but Harry grew to crave that feeling of accomplishment. He wanted to make everyone proud, even Uncle Gideon.

Spencer had told Harry to call Gideon that as an experiment to see how the older man would react. They weren't really sure what it meant though when the only reaction was a slight uplift at the corners of Gideon's lips before he returned to his crossword puzzle. He didn't tell Harry not to call him that though, so he continued and the moniker just stuck.

Harry had a real bedroom with toys he could play with, and his parents always fed him until he was full. They also gave him new glasses, and the world had never been so clear. The headaches Harry used to get were now a thing of the past along with his blurry vision. He could think so much faster than before without the constant low-grade pain in the back of his head.

He got stronger too. Mummy insisted on him playing some sport so that he could meet other kids his age. He'd spent a few days with daddy playing the different games, and he'd liked some of them, like baseball and basketball. Those were apparently spring sports though, and he didn't care for any of the fall sports like football. The question of what social activity Harry would join was solved by Agent Bends after he offered to take Harry down to Quantico's training facility about a month into his new life. There, the large agent attempted to teach Harry some fighting techniques. Bends was sidelined though when two women scolded him for teaching him boxing.

"Are you stupid?" the curvy blonde asked. "You shouldn't be teaching the kid boxing. Look at him!"

At first, Harry just thought they didn't want him fighting at all, but the petite, dark-skinned brunette added, "He's too young for that. He doesn't have the size or strength for boxing. If he tries to box with an attacker he'd be killed. He needs Krav Maga or Tae Kwon Do." She turned to Harry. "Luckily I know both." She grinned and winked at him.

When Harry returned sweaty and with a large bruise on his arm, Hotch was understandably concerned despite the wide grin covering his son's face. His worries were immediately put to rest though as Harry excitedly regaled Hotch with how he learned to fight off and escape Agent Bends, a muscular man well over six feet. Harry then turned to Hotch with puppy dog eyes asking if he could learn Martial Arts. Hotch and Haley easily agreed. Harry was put into a beginner Tae Kwon Do class where he surprised everyone with his success at both picking up the moves and making friends with the other boys and girls.

Harry's life was so jarringly different compared to when he was with the Dursleys, and even though he was told constantly that he was loved and that he wouldn't get in trouble for accidents, he couldn't help but feel like something was going to go terribly wrong. At first Harry felt this way every moment of every day, but as time went on and he relaxed into his new life with his family, the feeling went away.

The only time it bubbled up was when he accidently did something freakish. He didn't always understand why what he was doing was wrong nor how he was doing it. He just felt this tingly sensation inside when he wanted something, and then the tingle got stronger before disappearing just as he got what he wanted. He tried his best to hide it from his parents, but his daddy was one of the best profilers, he was bound to notice eventually. Harry could only hope that when it happened, they didn't punish him like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did.

Though Harry hadn't cried in a long time, he didn't think he'd be able to live with his mummy and daddy hating him.

…

There was something odd about Harry.

Haley and Aaron had to admit that there were actually many things odd about Harry, but those could be explained away by his intelligence or his past in an abusive home. But there was one thing about him that couldn't be explained, and though they loved Harry, they couldn't deny that in the past four months, there always seemed to be something odd happening around him.

At first, they could brush off the occurrences as little quirks, such as Harry hissing at a small black garden snake while he and Haley were playing outside. Kids have imagination after all. Haley quickly pulled him away and told him not to play with snakes because they could bite him. Harry was adamant that the snake wouldn't bite him, but still promised to keep his distance. She and Aaron still caught him hissing at the occasional snake from a safe distance away when he thought they weren't watching.

Harry also seemed to find any object in the house within moments, even if his parents had been searching for over ten minutes. But Harry had proven he was observant and logical and had probably seen them misplace whatever they were looking for the last time they had used it.

Then there were the events that they simply shrugged off as luck. Harry tumbling all the way down the stairs and not even getting a bruise was such a relief that they didn't question his good fortune. Whenever Harry dropped something that his parents were sure should have broke, the object simply bounced off the ground, completely intact.

It was luck.

And yet, there were other occurrences that Haley and Aaron could neither brush aside nor explain. For instance, Aaron could have sworn he saw one of the only two action figures Harry played with moving by itself once. When he examined the toy later though, it was all made of one piece of plastic and didn't bend or move in any way.

One day after Haley and Harry had built a pillow fort in the living room, they were cleaning it all up and Harry simply tossed the pillows in the air with barely a glance at the couch and chairs. Yet, they all landed perfectly in position. It was even more surprising when Harry threw the blanket into the air and it hovered as though carried by a breeze before settling evenly over the back of the couch.

Just recently while setting up the Christmas tree, Hotch had accidently backed into the spruce while trying to untangle the lights. It certainly looked like it would fall onto Harry, who was sitting right next to it, but after a moment of hovering over him, the tree fell back into place with barely a wobble.

There were also the many times Harry was caught with a book that had been deliberately put out of his reach. Much to Haley's displeasure, Harry loved reading the true crime books in Hotch's office. She supposed his prior exposure to the subject made him curious about the kind of people would do such things and why. She didn't like it, but she accepted the argument that teaching him about it in a controlled manner would help him more than trying to shelter him when it was already too late for that. As a compromise, Haley encouraged him to look at the history of crime and its legalities to keep him away from the gorier details for as long as possible. It still didn't distract her from the fact that Harry should not have been able to get ahold of those books in the first place, having been locked up in Aaron's office on the highest shelves.

The odd occurrences only increased the longer Harry was with them. It all came to a head when Hotch brought up James and Lily Potter's files. One of the tech analysists had put together everything that could be found on Harry's birth parents and to say it was strange would be an understatement.

Lily Potter nee Evans had lived a mostly normal life in the south of England until she was eleven and a half. The autumn of that year, she attended a private boarding school and seemingly dropped off the radar. While she had a driver's license, she didn't own a car. Nor did she have any record of employment, and only one credit card that she barely used. There was a marriage certificate to James Charlus Potter filed in July of 1995 and a home address in a small town called Godric's Hollow. Finally, there was a death certificate with the date October 31, 1998. Included in the file was a newspaper article saying that the Potters were killed when part of their cottage exploded from a gas leak. However, when Hotch investigated further, he found there was no autopsy report, and therefore, no official Cause of Death. It simply stated that they died in the explosion.

The whole report just seemed…off.

James Potter's report was even more so, mostly because it was practically bare. No record of where he was born, just a birth certificate that said he was the son to Fleamont and Euphemia Potter. No school records of any kind until the age of eleven when he went to the same private boarding school as Lily, of which both records were minimal. No employment records. No credit cards. No driver's license. No bank accounts. No criminal record. Nothing. Nothing except three certificates of his birth, marriage to Lily Evans, and death.

There wasn't even a will on file and considering Lily and James had been parents for over a year at the time of their deaths, that was suspicious. Hotch didn't know a single parent that didn't have a plan in place for their child if something should ever happen to them.

While he had been happy to tell Harry that his parents didn't die in a car accident while they were drunk, that was about all he could tell him.

It frustrated Hotch to no end.

After months of researching, Hotch had to admit that he had hit a wall and needed help. He confided in Gideon that he was trying to learn about Harry's birth parents, but there was barely any record of them. There were also very few people who were close to the Potters listed in the file, and they were all dead, so contacting them was out.

Gideon listened to Hotch's explanation, eyes narrowing when the private school Lily and James attended was mentioned.

"What was it called again?" he asked slowly.

Hotch huffed. "Hogwarts School for the Gifted."

Gideon's face went completely blank before he stood up. "I need to make a call," he said shortly as he hurried to his office and shut the door firmly.

Hotch was fully aware that Gideon knew something but would only reveal it when he had a full answer. He returned to filling out paperwork while Gideon was in his office calling up his old friend and partner, David Rossi.

Former Agent Rossi had traveled all over the world and seen many strange things. He delighted in telling stories of his escapades while somehow never revealing anything confidential. However, there was one instance about ten years ago when Rossi told a story about his second wife, Hayden Montgomery. She was a French diplomat at the time of their short marriage and would often receive visitors in their home. This particular story featured two French professors wearing medieval style robes and a dinner that ended with a frog in every teacup and him speaking backwards for a day. When Gideon asked how that had happened, Rossi smirked ruefully.

"You don't want to know," he said. "I've seen a lot of strange things in my life, but what I learned from those Beauxbatons professors takes the cake. At least the knowledge has come in handy over the years, and the meeting could have gone a lot worse."

"How so?" Gideon asked.

"They could have been from Hogwarts," Rossi stated. "Apparently their headmaster is nuttier than a porta potty at a peanut festival."

Gideon had never thought much on that conversation, but Hotch saying "Hogwarts" had brought the memory rushing back.

When Rossi finally answered his phone, Gideon didn't bother with any pleasantries.

"Tell me what you know about Hogwarts and a couple named Lily and James Potter."