Author:
GiaE-Mail:
divinechild18[at]hotmail[dot]comRating:
PG-13Pairing:
NoneTime:
5th YearSummary:
One dinner with his Sirius in the Leaky Cauldron changes Harry's life forever. A man, desperate from the loss of his own son, insists that Harry Potter is his son. What will Harry's friends do to get Harry back? And will Harry be able to handle the truth?Disclaimer:
I own not a thing. took an exceprt from PoA the novel itself for this chapter. You'll recognize it when you see it, but just in case, there will be an asterisk before it.Author Notes:
If anyone is wondering a bit at the Robert character in the previous chapter, he won't be a main character per se, but he will be important in Harry's friends finding out his whereabouts.IMPORTANT
: Also, I've noticed this major plot hole.. Or well, not necessarily a plot hole but I don't think I've actually written where the Blakes are in the States. Well, they're in Massachusetts. Boston, to be specific. XDThe following days of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry showed promise to be lovely ones. The sky was cloudless, there was a gentle breeze wafting through open windows, and the entire student body themselves seemed to be in a relaxed mood. Unaware of the real predicament of Harry Potter, students were no longer finding it odd not to see Harry, the lie of him spending time with away due to family reasons was easily bought.
"Well..." said Dumbledore, taking a sip from his morning tea, "Severus, you look chipper this morning."
Severus raised an eyebrow at the Albus' twinkling eyes. He did not think he looked chipper this morning, as his scowl was firmly fixed on his face and he'd already managed to make two first years burst into tears as he entered. "Really, Albus? I hadn't noticed."
Albus merely smiled at Severus' sarcasm and changed the subject. "Have you seen Sirius this morning? I'm concerned that he may be pushing himself to the point of exhaustion because of the search."
Snape glowered at Albus, although knowing it was futile since Albus had an uncanny ability to be immune to most of the glares Severus sent his way. Any mention of Sirius Black always soured his disposition. "I assume the mutt feels that he is far above gracing us with his presence. In any case, conversation with him is somewhat lacking. Debating against him derives no joy, and say something insulting and he looks at you like a whipped dog."
Minerva, who had overheard, hid a smile behind her hand. The professors' mornings were always an interesting type, the conversations primarily being the ones that would entertain anyone. Minerva loved it.
Albus chuckled softly. "Severus," he chided gently, "you should reevaluate your opinion of him. Sirius is far cry from the young boy you knew as a child."
Severus' lips curled. "His stupidity is encyclopedic."
Minerva couldn't help but laugh at that, shaking her admonishingly at Severus' smirking face. "If Black could hear you now.." Minerva threatened lightly.
Severus found his smirk growing. "Yes, well, he would've missed an invaluable opportunity to hold his tongue."
Albus smiled over the rim of his cup, and raised his eyebrows at Severus' next statement.
"On the other hand, Albus, I think I am chipper today."
Minerva smiled, finding it amusing that a bout of insulting Sirius Black would brighten the Potions Master's day. However, before she could allow a fond smile to linger, it faded away as she remembered the disappearance of a young man. Harry Potter. Minerva wouldn't like to admit it to anyone, since she wasn't fond of blatant favoritism, but she had honestly grown fond of Harry. Most teachers had taken a sort of keenness towards Harry, in some way or another. The fact that they weren't able to protect Harry while he was within the supposedly safe confines of Hogwarts was a sore blow to them.
Sybil had been floating around with solemn eyes, telling her students that she had 'foreseen' Harry's kidnapping and knew that Harry's death was the only possible outcome. Minerva resisted the urge of showing her displeasure physically, but her patience was wearing thin.
Still, the search for Harry was going on and Minerva trusted the Order of the Phoenix to locate Harry. She only hoped that it wasn't deatheaters who held Harry captive, a troubling thought that occupied the order members.
'Harry… where are you?'
Sirius fumbled with the Time-Turner, carefully moving it from one hand to the other. It had been a couple of weeks and still no sign of Harry. Not even a bit. The knight bus that had driven Harry away from Hogwarts had yet to appear, but when they did… 'I just might wring their necks…' Sirius thought angrily.
The matter at hand, though, was still occupying his mind. He'd be betraying everyone's trust in him for keeping a level mind. Was he going to forfeit that trust and go off without thinking about the consequences? 'I can already imagine Snape's reaction…'
--"Black left? Typical Gryffindor. Rushing mindlessly into things.. No, no Albus. You read me wrong. I'm not biased towards Black. Quite the contrary. No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have; and I think he's a dirty little beast."--
Sirius grinned at his imitation of the Potions Master, but then he sobered at the idea. He fumbled with the time-turner several times before stopping and laying it on the desk. 'I can't believe it… Snape's actually influenced me not to be reckless. Moony will have a field day with this one..'
"Dobby! Hey, Dobby?"
Pop!
"Mister Black is not gone! Is Dobby's plan no good?"
"No, Dobby. It was fine. I appreciate the thought," Sirius sighed, grasping the time-turner one last time before handing it over to the surprised house elf's hand, "but I won't be using it. Please return it."
Dobby blinked his large eyes, before nodding slowly. "I is putting it back."
Pop!
"I know I did the right thing… but--" Sirius groaned, resting his head atop the cool desk. "Harry.. I'll find you."
After several weeks, Harry was sitting dispassionately in his room. Ever since the incident at the grocery store, Mark and Grace had taken turns checking on Harry in his room. They were so sure he'd disappear any minute and comforted themselves with the fact that Harry wasn't going anywhere. Night was already enclosing, and after more than a dozen check-ins, Harry snapped.
"Look, I'm not going anywhere!" he all but yelled.
Mark looked blank for a moment, inwardly wishing he knew what to do in this situation. Then again, one couldn't just read up on dealing with a person you kidnapped then forced them to believe you were their parents. It just couldn't be done. 'This kind of thing would breed dramatic irony like you wouldn't believe..' Mark thought to himself, meeting eyes with Harry's furious green ones.
"H-Harry--" he started haltingly, mouth still fumbling with the name, "I'm not going to say that I understand what you're going through--"
"--good!--" Harry retorted.
"--but I can't.. we can't ignore the reasons you're here."
Harry blanched at Mark's statement, remembering all too clearly the two's insistent claims to being his real parents. He'd believe it when they explained it, although neither of them seemed forthcoming with any information. It was mainly why Harry decided to remain obstinate to their advances. Keeping him in the dark wasn't going to make him susceptible to their words. 'They're fools if they think I'd buy it without proof..'
Mark came forward from his awkward stance in the doorway. Over the time Harry had spent his time in his room, Mark had been discussing with his wife that they couldn't keep ignoring the facts. Grace was surprised when he seemed to take the initiative with a clear mind, and found that having their son there was changing them all. Hopefully, for the better.
He approached Harry's sitting position on his bed and calmly sat at the end. If he wanted Harry to listen to him, then he needed to show that he was in no harm. He inwardly grimaced at the times he overreacted around Harry.
"Harry, before I begin, I need.. Just promise me that you'll at least hear me out. I know I have no right to ask you that but… please, just-- just listen."
Harry visibly winced, feeling his heartbeat quicken. He suddenly felt like something was going to happen, something that would be terrible to hear. 'I'm not listening! I shouldn't be listening!' Harry thought frantically.
Footsteps echoed in the hall until Grace made an appearance in the doorway. She glanced back and forth between her husband and son and realized that Mark was going to do what he had wanted to do from the beginning. Tell Harry the truth.
Her heart went out to her son, Edward, who was looked like a deer caught in headlights. She smiled gently, trying to reassure Harry in any way that she could, and approached the bed. She sat on Harry's other side, and cautiously laid a hand on his shoulder. Harry stiffened at the touch but didn't push it away. Something colossal was going to happen, he could feel it. It was like that calm before the storm feeling, or one of those ominous foreboding kind.
"Edward Blake. That was our son's name." Grace started, squeezing his shoulder slightly. She sent a smile over to her husband in an effort to gather strength from his comforting presence. "His favorite playmate was Harry Potter."
Harry trembled, biting his lip as he allowed himself to hear them. Harry didn't think he was too impressionable, but their tones had to belong to a practiced actor. It sounded sincere enough but Harry didn't want to believe it so quickly. He'd always wanted parents or family members to come to him when he was young, but all of this was suddenly too good to be true.
"We weren't always around him." Grace continued softly. "We traveled mostly so Lily and James would watch over Edward. That's he got to be so close to Harry."
She sighed with wonder, her eyes unfocused as she recalled the past. "Edward was so alive with happiness.." she breathed, tears coming unbidden to her eyes.
Harry inwardly squirmed, wondering what was going on. Was he really going to sit through this? Let them relive their delusions? Harry uneasily glanced up at Grace who seemed to not be aware of either Harry or Mark. Mark continued for her, reaching out to grasp his wife's shoulder from behind Harry. There was something reminiscent of their desperation..
--"They didn't see what they thought they saw! Said Black savagely, still watching Scabbers struggling in Ron's hands.--
'Just like that time Sirius was trying to convince us that Wormtail was really alive..'
Harry decided. He started getting a fluttering feeling. 'And Sirius was telling… the truth.'"That day in October… Grace and I had a meeting in the States. We left Edward in the care of the Potters and…" Mark lapsed into silence.
"--the story goes on." Harry responded, his voice soft. "Voldemort came and killed them. He tried to kill me but failed. And now I'm the Boy-Who-Lived."
Grace seemed to snap out of her daze at the mention of Voldemort, grimacing as Harry mentioned his title. "Harry--"
"Wait." Harry held up a hand. "You'll have to hear me out as well. Voldemort killed James Potter, then Lily Potter. He turned his wand on me, Harry Potter."
"No--"
Harry shook his head, stilling Mark's protests. "There would've been evidence of another body in the debris."
"The fire, Edward, the fire could've destroyed any evidence. You wouldn't remember it, but it was all over the papers. The fire raged through Godric's Hollow."
Harry didn't notice Grace's slip with his real name, so he wondered at Grace's expression. "Possibly," he conceded, "but that's pretty much a shot in the dark."
"You can't rule it out," Mark pointed out, "it's still a possibility."
Harry sighed, wondering why he was actually participating in this for the second time. He'd love to just agree with them and suddenly have parents but that… that wasn't reality. Still, he needed to give them the benefit of the doubt. As much for him as them. "Look," Harry stood up from the bed, avoiding their contact. "do you even have proof that I'm your son?"
"We have your birth certificate, but I doubt that will convince you." Mark spoke wryly, looking up at his grown son.
Harry raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "True. It wouldn't convince me. It doesn't help matters when you kidnap me from school."
Mark visibly cringed. "I should've thought that one through. I wasn't thinking." he hastened to explain. Things may have gone smoother if he hadn't reacted the way he had… would he have had his son sooner? He bit his lip, sending a despairing look at Grace.
Rather than scoff at Mark's flimsy excuse, Harry inclined his head in acknowledgement. "I could almost understand that." Harry responded dryly. He smiled enigmatically at two adults' puzzled expressions. 'Sirius wasn't thinking straight when he wanted to commit the murder he was imprisoned for..'
"We could always run a test." Grace said quietly.
Harry perked up at this. "A blood test, you mean?"
Mark looked over at his wife, worry creasing his brow. "That would mean.."
Harry uncrossed his arms, stepping closer towards the two. "What would it mean?" he questioned.
Grace sighed, closing her eyes tiredly. "We couldn't take you to an ordinary muggle hospital because wizarding blood alters the antiseptics and looks different under their microscopes."
"The only way we would know for sure is if we went back to the Wizarding World. St. Mungo's would be best for…" Mark coughed discretely. "privacy."
Harry didn't share their uneasiness, seeing this as his chance to get away. Although, if they were so eager to prove it. It couldn't hurt, could it? Either they were sincere with their intentions or they were the worst sort of deatheaters. Besides, he'd be an idiot of he didn't go through with this. He'd prove to them that he wasn't their son, and then they could go off on their merry way. 'Right.. What am I thinking? For all I know they could be sending me straight to Voldemort.. But…'
"I need proof."
Grace and Mark looked up at Harry, daring to hope that Harry may actually want to see if it was true. Harry saw their hopeful looks and inwardly frowned. 'But.. I don't think they're lying. It's crazy… but I don't… I guess I've finally lost it.'
Mark broke the silence, standing up and motioning for his wife to do so as well. "It's getting late Edward. Why don't you get to sleep, hm?"
Harry blinked at the sudden change of topic, and he swallowed his mentioning of the name 'Edward'. Whining about it now didn't seem like the right thing to do. And he was tired…
"Okay." he accepted softly.
Harry hesitantly stepped past between the two, and sat on the bed awkwardly. Mark sensed his discomfort and quickly brought himself and Grace towards the doorway. With several whispered words, Grace left. Mark lingered in the doorway, his finger stopping over the light switch, not quite turning it off yet.
"Goodnight.." He paused; waiting to hear for a return but was disappointed to hear none. Just as he was about to click the switch--
"..g'night."
Click.
The sound of a phone ringing echoed through the receiver. A man sighed, waiting for someone to pick up the phone. His patience was rewarded when the sound of a click was heard followed by a clip 'Boston, Massachusetts Police Force, how may I help you? '.
"Yes, I'd like to know if there were any reported missing children in the past three weeks."
The clipped tone paused. Then, "Do you have information on particular missing--"
"No, you misunderstand." He fumbled with the cord of the phone. "I'm inquiring on missing children reported recently… say, three weeks? Yes, three weeks."
The tone lost its almost clinical drone, adopting an empathetic one. "Has your child gone missing, sir?"
The man sputtered. "No! No.. Look, I just want to know."
He heard an audible sigh on the other side and a 'hold on, sir' as the police officer clicked away at his computer. After only three minutes there was a muttered 'aha!' and the police officer's voice became clearer through the receiver.
"I've located the file of missing persons in this month. You'll need to narrow it down, sir. Any specifics? Like age, height, any type of description."
The man paused. "Age is probably fourteen, fifteen now. Black hair, green eyes, possibly 5'4. I don't know much."
The officer hummed his 'okay' and began searching through the files. The man had to wait a considerable amount of time, but he was patient.
"I've done a search under missing persons that fit that description but nothing has turned up, sir."
"Oh.. I see. Well, thank you for your time."
"Your welcome, sir."
An idea popped in his mind at that precise moment. "Oh! Wait--"
Click.
Dial tone..
The man rubbed his eyes, slowly putting down the phone. 'I guess I was wrong… that kid in the grocery store…'
Shaking his head to dispel his thoughts, Robert headed towards his bed. He'd only given the boy his first name, and hadn't even been able to hear the boy's own. The circumstances in their meeting were normal, but something about everything seemed off to him. His mind's eye played the incident in his mind.
--Robert smiled back apologetically. "Ah, forget it. No harm done, right? My name's Robert, by the way."
"Oh! Uh.. Right, no harm done." the boy smiled back. "My name's Har--" a hand suddenly came down on the boy's shoulder. Robert looked up to see a middle-aged man, with the same black hair as the boy's.
"Is there a problem here?" he asked quietly.
The boy blanched and turned back around. "No.. just looking for the..er..--bathroom!" Robert, sensing something was wrong, quickly cut in before the man, he assumed was this boy's father, could speak. "Well, like I said before, it's over there. Go past the next three aisles and it'll be the door."
The boy smiled his thanks. "Right then, I'll just be going.." he made to move but another person joined the scene. A woman.
"Mark! Have you found him?" she asked hurriedly, only then noticing Harry standing there.
"Oh, thank goodness!" she immediately pulled the boy towards her, away from both Mark and Robert. Robert watched with surprise as the man, (Mark's?), cold expression vanished completely and turned into a cheery grin. "Sorry about that, can't be too careful with people the days.. I'm sure you understand?"
Robert frowned for a split second before nodding lightly.
"Well, we've still got a lot of shopping to do, if you'll just excuse us." The woman, Robert assumed was the boy's mother, took this as her cue and gently steered the boy away. Robert raised has eyebrow when the boy glanced back at him, before turning back around.--
The entire thing seemed fishy to Robert, and found himself compelled to help the boy out. It was unfortunate for him that there might be more to this than a kidnapping. Might not even be one. The two adults looked like they could be related to the boy. It might be a case of.. 'Abuse..'
Robert shuddered at the thought. However, he couldn't ignore that it sounded plausible. The boy did seem awfully eager to leave, and he seemed edgy around the two. The man, Mark, looked like he could be angry at one moment then not the next. 'I'll just have to help him… somehow..'
A/N:
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