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"Chapter one The Boy Who Lived." Umbridge read.
"Jee wonder who that is." Fred said.

"Yeah." George said.

Harry smiled a little but still angry at the bloody toad.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

"Your welcome very much," Fred and George said together.

They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.

"What are drills?" Draco asked.

"It's a muggle tool." Hermione and Harry said.

"What do they do?" Astoria asked.

"They make holes." Hermione said.

The purebloods looked at her weirdly.

He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

"So we have a walrus, a horse, and a whale?" Ron asked smirking.

" Petunia hasn't changed one bit." Snape muttered.

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.
*]
Harry growled.

There's nothing wrong with the Potters." Hagrid said, his accent thick with angry.

"Yeah." Ginny said.

Harry smiled at Ginny who smiled back blushing slightly.

[*Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband

Those who knew Lilly growled angrily.

were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.

"Thank Merlin." Harry said.

The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

"I think he shouldn't mix with a child like Harry!" Ginny exclaimed.

When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts,

"I thought it had started." Lee said.

there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,

"Oh Lee is my tie boring enough?" Fred asked.

"Why yes, dear sir it is, tell me, George is mine boring enough?"

"Why yes, Fred is my tie boring enough as well?" George asked.

"Why yes George it is." Fred said.

Everyone but for Umbridge laughed.

and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.
None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.

"How could you not notice an owl in broad daylight?" Professor Sprout asked.

"They're stupid." Ron said.

"Ronald." Hermione said.

"What they are."

At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.

"He encouraged that kind of behavior?!" Madam Pomfrey asked.

Harry only nodded.

He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.
It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.

All of Gryffindor smiled looking at their head of house.

"It's Minnie!" Fred and George said.

"Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley, what have I told you about calling me Minnie?" Minerva asked.

"Not to."

"Then why do you continue to do so?"

"Cause its fun."

Minerva sighed shaking her head, smiling as Gryffindor laughed. Albus chuckled softly as his friend playfully smacked his arm, glaring at him.

"Hitting your employer, are we Minerva?" Umbridge asked smirking evilly.

"Na harm done, Dolores." Albus said chuckling.

What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.
*]
"We know that stare." The Lee and the twins said.

"I wonder why?" Rolanda [*(Hooch) said.

The three of them smirked, while the four houses laughed.

As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.

"That cat can, she's very sneaky." Severus said smirking at his professor/Co-worker.

Minerva blushed, much to the amusement of her collages. "Oh shut it you dungeon bat."

Gryffindor burst out laughing, the golden trio the loudest.

Severus glared at Minerva who smirked in return.

Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.
*]
[*But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.

"Muggles don't wear robes anymore." Neville explained at the confused looks of the purebloods.

"Oh." Daphne Greengrass said.

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him!

"The nerve indeed!" Fred scoffed.

But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something
*]
"You're uncle is rather stupid." Lee said.

"Jordan." Minerva said.

"He's not lying." Harry muttered.

"What was that Potter?" Severus asked.

"Nothing."

Severus raised an eyebrow at the young boy's quick response, as well as the rest of the stuff.

[*... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.
Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.

"He sounds extremely pleasant Harry." a first year Hufflepuff said.

"You have no idea." Harry said, flinching.

The stuff, especially Minerva and Albus looked at Harry worriedly.

"Mr. Potter is everything alright?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Y-yes ma'am."

That made the staff more worried. Ron and Hermione also looked at their friend in worry.

"You ok mate?" Ron asked.

Harry only nodded at his friend's worried question.

He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road

"Wait he did what?" Harry asked shocked.

to buy himself a bun from the bakery.

"Ok that's normal."

He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch was whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry"

"And the rumors begin." Harry commented dryly.

Severus raised an eyebrow at Potter. Did the boy like his fame?

Mr. Dursley stopped dead.

"Shame that he didn't." George said.

"Mr. Weasly!" Professor Sprout said.

Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.
He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.
*]
"Quite common in the wizarding world." Albus said.
[*
He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.

"Harvey Potter?" Draco said.

"No way Harry's much better of a name." Ginny said.

Harry smiled at Ginny, blushing slightly. Ginny smiled back also blushing. The twins snickered at them.

There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that...

Severus growled. "There was nothing wrong with Lilly."

The students looked at him weird, but Severus just ignored the looks. Harry looked at his least favorite professor.

but all the same, those people in cloaks...
He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.
"Sorry," he grunted,

"Did he just apologize?" Harry asked shocked.

as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.
*]
[*Now everyone realized what day it was and had tears in their eyes, minis Umbitch of course. Harry out his head down on the table hiding his sadness in his arms. Ginny put her hand on Harry's back only to flinch away as Harry flinched. Gryffindor looked at their fellow lion. Other houses, even Slytherin looked worried.

'I can't let them know.' Harry thought fearfully. 'The rules.'

Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.

"How can anyone not approve of imagination?!" Professor Flitwick, The twins and Lee said.

"Imagination is very important." Luna said.

"Thank-you Luna!" Fred and George said.

As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.
"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior?
*]
"But it is normal Min behavior." Rolanda said smirking.

Minerva gave her friend the same stern look.

[*Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.
Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").
*]
"Spoiled brat!" Professor Sprout said.

"You don't know the half of it." Harry muttered.

[*Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: "And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.

"Hey, its Tonks' Dad." Ron said.

"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"

"I think Ted's enjoying himself a bit too much." Professor Sprout laughing.

"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain. Owls flying by daylight. Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place. And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...
Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Err - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you." As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.
Again there were several growls and muttered comments.
"No," she said sharply. "Why?"
"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."
"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.
"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."

"What exactly does that mean 'her crowd' Potter?" Draco asked.

"Wizards and anything that deals with magic." Harry said.

Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"

"Well at least he knows something!" Hermione said.

"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.
"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it."

"Does he even know you name?" Goyle asked.

"He does now." Harry answered.

"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.
*]
"What are you doing there Professor?" Cho asked.

"What and see Miss. Chang." Minerva replayed.

[*Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it. The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind...

"Oh she knew alright." Snape muttered dangerously.

He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...
*]
"He jinxed it." A third year Slytherin said.

[*How very wrong he was.

"I wish he wasn't." Harry said.

Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.

"How on earth did you sit there for that long?!" Fred asked.

"Unlike you and your brother, I can manage to sit still." Minerva said, giving him a pointed look.

"Sorry Professor sitting still just doesn't work for us." George said.

A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.

"You can thank Minerva for that." Albus chuckled.

Minerva blushed. "I said I was sorry, you know not to sneak up on me."

"You broke Dumbledore's noise?" Angelina asked. "Twice?"

"Yes Ms. Johnson I did."

"Wicked." Ron said.

"She has quite the right hook." Albus said.

Minerva's blush deepened.

This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.
*]
The four houses cheered. Albus smiled and nodded his head.

'How can anyone be cheering for that old fool?' Umbridge thought.

[*Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.

"I was very aware I merely chose to ignore the fact." Albus said chuckling.

Harry smiled at his mentor, who smiled back.

He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter.

"I didn't know you smoked." Draco said.

"Oh I don't, Mr. Malfoy, a nasty habit." Albus said.

"Then why do you..." Ron asked.

"All will be explained."

He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness.
*]
[*Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,
*]
"Its called the Deluminator." Albus said. "I have no idea why they would call it a Put-Outer."

[*until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.

"Fancy seeing you here, Minerva." He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.

"A ruffled Minerva isn't good." Hagrid said.

"Hagrid!" Minerva said.

"Believe us when we say, you never, ever want to make Minerva mad." Professor Sprout said.

"Pomona!"

By now Minerva's face was brightly red. Professor Sprout laughed at her dear old friend's action.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
"My dear Tabby, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."
"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.

"All day?When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.
"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.

"Not everyone was." hagrid said sniffing.

"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."

"He never does, but he's great for a few laughs." Fred said.

"Yeah." George said.

"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

Everyone old enough to even remember the war shivered.

"The war lasted eleven years?" A first year asked.

"Yes, Mr. White it did." Rolanda said.

"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all.

"That'll be the day." Professor Trelawney said.

I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"
*]
[*"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"

"A what?" Ron asked.

"A what?"

"Ron thinks like Professor Minnie!" Fred laughed.

"Mr. Weasley detention tonight." Minerva said. "I have told you several times not to call me Minnie."

"Totally worth it."

Fred and George high-fived while the rest of Gryffindor laughed.

"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."
"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't
think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"
*]
[*"My dear Tabby, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name. All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."
*]
Many screams and flinches went around

"She's not going to say it." Neville said, knowing Minerva's fear.

[*Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."
"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort,

Neville looked at Minerva shocked.

"Its the only time I've very said it, Mr. Longbottom." Minerva said.

was frightened of."
"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."

"Because you're too noble to use them." Hermione said.

"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."

Hermione blushed thinking like her head of house.

"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since your father said we make a cute couple."

Minerva and Albus blushed as the hall snickered and wolf whistled (Boys) and giggle (girls).

Professor McGonagall blushed and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.
"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. "

By now all the teachers had tears in their eyes. Minerva took her glasses off and wiped her tears away. Albus grabbed her free hand and gave it a good squeeze. Minerva smiled at her Professor/friend/employer.

Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.
"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."

Harry looked at Minerva who nodded her head and smiled sadly. Harry smiled back a little.

Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder.
"I know... I know..." he said heavily.
Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not
all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone." Dumbledore nodded glumly.
"It's - it's true." faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy. It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Little Harry survive?"

"I've asked the same question all the time." Harry muttered.

Ginny put her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him when he smiled at her.

"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."

Harry looked at Albus.

"I'm still trying to figure that out, but believe me, Mr. Potter when I do find out I will tell you." Albus said at Harry's unspoken question.

Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch.
It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.

"Sweet!" Ron said.

It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"
"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."

"No its not." Hermione said.

"Yeah, you got me and my family, Mione, Remus and Sirius." Ron said.

"Sirius Black is a criminal and once he is found he will be returning to Azkaban." Umbridge said.

Harry glared at her.

"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here!" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Little Harry come and live here!"

"Thank-you Professor." Harry said.

"You're welcome Mr. Potter." MInerva said

"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."

"A letter!?" Gryffindor yelled angrily. "You think you can explain all of this in a letter?!"

"A letter." repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Albus, you think you can explain all this in a letter.

"Professor McGonagall agrees with us!" Gryffindor said.

"Gryffindor settle down!" Severus snapped.

Gryffindor growled and sent a glare at the headmaster.

These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future

"No!" Harry yelled panicked.

Severus raised an eyebrow at the young boy. 'Does he not enjoy his fame?'

"There will be no Harry Potter day, Mr. Potter." Albus said.

- there will be books written about Harry

"How many are there Mione?" Harry asked teasing Hermione.

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him.

- every child in our world will know his name!"
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"
*]
[*Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.
"Hagrid's bringing him."
"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"

"I didn't mean anything by that Hagrid... I trust you with my life." Minerva said looking at Hagrid.

"Its ok Min." Hagrid said.

"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.

Minerva and Albus blushed thinking alike.

"Thanks, Professor Dumbledore, sir."

"You're welcome Hagrid." Albus said.

"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?" A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.

"Speaking of which, I should to return that to Sirius..." Hagrid said.

Umbridge smirked. 'Perfect.'

If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.
"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."
"No problems, were there?"
"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."

"Aww." The girls cooed.

Harry blushed.

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.

"Bloody scar." Harry muttered as it started stinging.

"Is that where -." whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."
"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.

"I had one in the shape of a fox once." George said.

"Yeah, I had one in the shape of a teardrop." Fred said.

"I think we all had scares that were shaped weird." Theodore Nott said.

Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with." Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.
"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.

Fred and George howled.

"Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley knock it off." Minerva and Severus said.

The two co-works looked at each other widely. Slytherin and Gryffindor laughed.

"Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall think alike!" Draco and Harry laughed.

Draco and Harry looked at each other weirdly, making the rest of the houses laugh.

"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"

"Min didn't either, she and Dumbledore fought for months when they took you to your Aunt and Uncle." Madam Pomfrey said.

Harry looked at Minerva as she nodded. Harry also looked at Albus who in return nodded yes.

"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door.
He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.

The staff shuttered. Dumbledore with no twinkling light was not a pretty sight.

"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back.

G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir." Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.
"I shall see you soon, I expect, Minerva," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.

"Not one word, Wealseys." Minerva said as Fred and George opened their mouths.

Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.
"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.

"You left him on the doorstep?!" Hermione yelled.

"I promise he was perfectly safe. If someone were to try and take him, he would appear with Minerva and then I would take him to his relatives." Albus said. "And I believe Tabby stayed behind."

"Albus, I have told you over a hundred times not to call me Tabby in front of the students." Minerva said blushing. "And yes, I did."

A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!".