Chapter 4: *Chapter 4*
August 5, 2001 (Potter Manor)
It was a nice, warm August morning at Potter Manor. This goes double for one Lily Potter. For Lily, her life was perfect. She had an amazing husband who was due for a promotion to Auror captain at his job. She had a magnificent son who she loved with all her heart. In fact, that son just had a birthday a week ago and had turned 6 years old. She could not be more proud of the boy that Arthur was becoming. He was so sweet and kind to everyone he met. He was modest and gracious and got along with almost anyone. Lily would admit that when he was younger, she feared he would end up with too much of James's personality. Luckily that fear was unfounded. He had turned to take more after her even if he did like to perform more than the average amount of pranks and liked to fly a little too fast for her taste on his broom. Despite that, he was a great kid and she loved him.
If all this great news wasn't enough, she had just found out this morning that she was pregnant again? She hadn't told James yet because she wanted to confirm it for herself first. She was ecstatic when the healers at St. Mungos told her. Even more so when she found out that it would be a girl. Oh, how she couldn't wait! All this talk of babies was reminding her of when Arthur was a baby. When he took his first steps, when he said mama for the first time, that time he accidentally climbed on a broomstick and they couldn't get him down for an hour because he was moving too fast and giggling the entire time. Such good memories.
All these old memories were starting to get to Lily feeling nostalgic. She decided to go look at her old photo album of when Arthur was a baby. So she went upstairs to her room. She grabbed the book and went back down the stairs and sat back down on the couch. As soon as she opened the book she was confused. The picture was for the most part what she expected. It was her, James and Arthur looking at the camera and for the most part, smiling, or giggling in Arthur's case. What she didn't expect to see was another baby boy in the picture. This one, unlike Arthur, had hair as black as night and eyes that shined like emeralds. The baby boy had a smile on her face. As she looked at him confused, a single name popped I her mind.
'Harry'
With that name came other things. Memories and emotions she had once felt but had long since forgotten. She quickly flipped through the pages faster and faster looking for more pictures of this boy with her family as memories started to resurface the more she looked at him. As the years went on in the book, the boy was seen less and less. Not only was he seen less but his expression change. While it was first happy like any toddler should be, his smiles soon vanished only to be replaced by blank stares of no emotion almost as if he was dead. By the time they got too Arthurs 4th birthday, there were no more pictures of that black-haired little boy. As she tried to turn the page, she found that she couldn't. She looked at her hand to see that it was shaking. It was shaking uncontrollably and she couldn't stop it. Her vision started to blur and she couldn't seem to stop it. She felt water leak down her cheeks. She attempted to get up but her legs gave out from under her and she toppled to the ground. As soon as she hit the ground she wailed though not of pain but of sadness. She cried and cried and cried as more and more memories of her forgotten child entered her mind then suddenly seemed to stop after he hit the age of three which only made her cry some more.
After twenty minutes of crying a thought suddenly hit her.
'Where is Harry?!' she thought frantically. Suddenly her strength which seemed to have been lost seconds ago returned full force as she tore up the stairs. She checked every single bedroom they had and found nothing. She was really starting to panic as she got to the last door.
'Please God, let him be here' she prayed as she opened the last door. Behind the door was…no one. As she looked around she did see signs of life. Dishes that had disappeared without a trace long ago, books stacked neatly at the edge of the desk. A few old toys that clearly had seen better days. The room had clearly been abandoned long ago. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust that seemed to coat the room like a blanket. Lily collapsed against the door frame and slowly slid down to the floor. Before letting unconsciousness take her, one thought went through her mind.
'What have I done?'
4:00 pm, same day
James just got home from a tiring day of filing papers at work. He was really trying his best to get that captain position which had been a dream of his since he joined the corps years ago. As he got home though, his raggedness seemed to evaporate as the first thing he did was look for his beautiful magnificent wife. Just as he was about to call out to her, he noticed something unusual about his home. There seemed to be something wrong in the way it looked. It was almost as if a feeling of dread and sadness wafted throughout the house like a late evening breeze. James couldn't remember the last time he felt such a feeling, it would have had to be in the war. This made him concerned.
"Lily, you there?" James yelled out as he started to look around the house. Since they lived in an actual Manor this was no easy feat.
"Lily come on your scaring me. Come on out." James yelled again as he grew slightly panicked. After checking the downstairs area, he decided to check upstairs. He was running now. As soon as he got to the hallway with all the bedrooms, he saw her. She was slumped against the guest bedroom door frame knocked out.
"LILY!" James screamed as he sprinted to her as fast he could, fearing the worst. As soon as he got to her he checked her heart rate and confirmed that she was still alive and sighed with relief as soon as he felt it beating.
"Lily come on wake up. You've got to wake up. You have to be okay. Lily please!" James pleaded to his knocked out wife. As he finished Lily's eyes fluttered open and looked at him. The red and puffy which made him think that she was crying recently.
"Lily, thank god you're okay. Why were you passed out? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" James asked as he hugged his wife to his chest as tight as he could without hurting her.
"James…" Lily whispered, "We forgot him….we forgot about Harry." Lily said. Her voice was completely devoid of all emotion as if someone came and literally drained her of all of them. James looked back at her confused.
"Who's Harry?" James asked, wondering if perhaps they had forgotten about an old friend and wondering why that would upset Lily so much. Lily simply looked at him and her eyes made James feel like he was being sucked a dark abyss full of sadness and loneliness. Lily didn't respond. She simply reached out for the photo album that had fallen on the floor about a foot away from her and gave it to James. James was confused about what the problem was. He opened the book and started to flip through the pages and immediately saw the problem. He too saw the little black-haired boy that he hadn't given a though too in years. He saw as the pages went the boy smiles slowly disappear. He knew then what was coming but still hoped against hope that they didn't forget one of their own flesh and blood. As he kept going through the pages though, his suspicions were proven correct. Harry disappeared completely from the book after Arthur's 4th birthday.
"Lily…where is he…Where's Harry?" James asked as his voice was hoarse with all the raw emotion he was feeling.
"He's gone" Lily whispered back as she clung to James a little tighter and tears started to appear in her eyes.
"Harry's gone."
6 pm, same day
Dumbledore was sitting in his office going over papers before the new school year started. He was sucking on a lemon drop and relaxing in his throne-like chair. That was until his fireplace roared to life and Lily and James appeared. That itself wasn't too out of the ordinary for Dumbledore as his favorite students did stop by every now and again to talk about Arthur and any news on him. He was about to greet both with a grandfatherly smile as he usually did until he took in their appearance. They both looked terrible. It was obvious both had been crying by their red puffy eyes and tear stains down their face.
"James, Lily what's wrong? Did something happen to Arthur." Dumbledore said getting to his feet just in case he needed to depart swiftly.
"Professor it's about Harry," James said back sullenly. Dumbledore was taken aback for a moment. He hadn't even heard a mention of the boy for many years now. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had even seen the boy. He did relax a little though.
'At least Arthur is safe. Wouldn't have been good for the population if he died now before he could even complete his destiny.
"Ah, I see. How is Harry then? I must confess to not have remembered seeing him that often recently. He's alright I presume?" Dumbledore asked them both.
"He's gone," Lily said as she looked down. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Gone? What do you mean Lily?" Dumbledore asked her seeking to better understand the situation.
"I mean he's gone. We don't know where he is. We think he left a while ago." Lily said still looking only at the ground.
"I see. Well, what efforts have you made to find him?" Dumbledore asked. A sudden thought pierced his mind.
"He couldn't have been kidnapped could he?" Dumbledore now asked jumping at the possibility. While Harry most likely didn't have any information that could put the light side in jeopardy, if a dark family got hold of him, there was no telling how bad it could be especially since children tend to remember quite a bit subconsciously. This suggestion also seemed to also jolt Lily and James.
"You don't really think that could be possible do you, professor?" James asked regaining some of his voice as he suddenly filled with doubt.
"It is entirely possible. If a dark family got hold of him, there's no telling the damage they could do. Not only that but Harry has roughly around the same potential as Arthur if I remember correctly. Should he be raised by the dark, the damage this could cause if they teach him dark magic could astronomical." Dumbledore said as he thought about the situation more.
"Why would they train him in the Dark arts?" James questioned.
"It would be the perfect revenge against Arthur to force him to fight his own twin. With the Dark arts, it would be easy to mold a child into a weapon." Dumbledore said.
"Of course this is still just a theory. There is no guarantee that is what actually happened. Harry might have not been pleased with his home life and decided to leave. Children don't usually have much control of themselves so that is also possible. Either way, we must find him as soon as possible just in case and before he's put in any more danger. I assume you have already tried the tracker spell to try and locate him?" Dumbledore asked. Lily nodded in response to him.
"Hmmm that does not bode well but perhaps a more powerful variant that has an increased range will do the trick," Dumbledore said as he pulled out his wand. He raised his and made a few complex motions before whispering the spell
"Inveniet eam" he said clearly. His wand hovered in his hand before pointing in a direction. He was about to smile at the success of the spell until it did something unusual. His wand changed into an entirely different direction every 3 seconds. First North, then South-East and so on.
"Hmm, this is most unusual," Dumbledore said out loud.
"What? Did the spell work?" Lily asked impatiently.
"It's strange. It has locked onto the target but something seems to be causing its signal to be constantly thrown for a loop. Most interesting." Dumbledore said, truly fascinated by this turn of events.
"So you're saying you can't find him," Lily said starting to sulk again.
"Not immediately I can't but rest assured I will get in touch with all my contacts until Harry has been found and brought home safely," Dumbledore said as he tried to reassure both Potters.
"In the meantime, perhaps you should tell young Sirius and Remus about this so they can help you with your search." Dumbledore offered politely. Both Potters nodded before they left through to the fireplace and went presumably back home.
'Well that was interesting' thought Dumbledore as he slouched back into his throne-like chair.
'We must find and bring that boy back at all cost. Should he fall in the hands of the dark, he could become a real threat to our side' Dumbledore thought. He sat up and got up from his chair and moved to the fireplace. He reached out and grabbed a hand full of Floo powder and threw it in the fireplace. He had a few places to drop by too tonight.
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