Albus Dumbledore stood in front of the reception of St. Mungo's to visit Harry Potter. He had thought about what he could offer Harry for options where to live and had come up with nothing permanent. He couldn't ask the Weasleys as they already had seven children to look after. That wouldn't be fair on Molly and Arthur. Arabella was out as Harry probably wouldn't take well to her not getting him help earlier. He had considered Remus, but the Ministry would never allow a werewolf to have custody of a child, especially not Harry Potter. Most other members of the Order were too old to look after a child. If Alice and Frank wouldn't be permanent inhabitants of the long term spell damage ward, they would have been perfect. Both were aurors, therefore able to protect Harry, and Neville was only a day older than Harry. But Augusta was very overbearing and didn't seem to really value her grandson like he was. Poor boy. Having been thought to be a squib for a long time was not an easy thing to go through for a child.
He got the room number of Harry and started his walk there. He greeted many people he knew from their time at Hogwarts and some other events. Then he reached the room's door and knocked. He heard the call to come in and opened the door. On the bed with a book in his hand sat a very close image of the late James Potter. But there were certain differences. The eyes of course and a slightly different facial form.
"Good morning, I am Professor Albus Dumbledore and I have been informed about certain … well problems, while a too weak term it will be suitable for now to use, … with your living accommodations with your relatives. I first want to express my sincere apology. I didn't think that your aunt, while not on that good terms with your mother, would go as far as she did. I never thought it possible for somebody to abuse a child of their own blood. You see, in the wizarding world, family means everything. Blood is the strongest bond there can be and betraying one's own blood is the greatest shame in many people's opinion. I assumed it would be the same way in the muggle world and that nobody would intentionally hurt a child. I am really sorry for not seeing my error earlier." Dumbledore said.
Harry looked intently on the old man's face and eyes. Many people, even if they had learned to hide their thoughts, gave subtle signs on their face and especially in their eyes if they lied. Professor Dumbledore seemed to be sincere.
"I see. I accept the apology, but I want to know what reasons did you have to place me there without checking up on me once?" Harry asked cautiously.
He would see what the old man could offer. He knew that the headmaster of Hogwarts was an important man in wizarding society and making an outright enemy of him would be stupid. Better to collect information and take a wait-and-see position. He wouldn't trust him, no way after what that man had put him through in his life, no matter if intentional or unintentional. But alienating the most powerful man in the country, who also owed him, wouldn't bring him what he wanted. Albus Dumbledore held most of the really important positions in this society and therefore he could make Harry's life more difficult if he really tried.
"I guess I owe you that explanation, even if I'd have preferred that this could have waited until you were a little older. On the night your parents were murdered, your mother made the ultimate sacrifice. She willingly and knowingly offered her life for yours. I did scans on the magical residue in your house on November 1st in 1981. There were the signs of an ancient magical ritual, the sacrifice of one life for another, the sacrifice of a loving mother for her child, even if she didn't have to die, invoked an ancient protection. If a witch or wizard selflessly sacrifices his or her life out of love for others, those people will be protected against attacks from the one who spilled the blood of the one who sacrificed himself." Dumbledore started the explanation in a solemn voice.
"With this in mind, I made my plans to protect you from Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. I knew Voldemort hadn't died. Why, I don't know yet; I am still trying to find clues about that, but what I know is that he won't give up. Having been defeated by you is a smudge on his record. He'll do everything to finish what he started. At the moment I think it's safe to say that he isn't an immediate danger, but I know he is out there, somewhere. Voldemort spilled your mother's blood, so the strongest protection I could give you was through her blood. The only living relative you have on her side though that is closely enough related for the magic to work is your aunt Petunia. She knows that. I wrote her a letter explaining all that to her the night I left you at her house. By accepting you into her house she sealed the magical contract and the wards were created. While she might not love or even like you, she didn't want you dead.
"I thought that her taking you in was enough to make sure that she would at least treat you neutrally. But it seems I was horribly mistaken there. The magic made sure that as long as you could call the place where your mother's blood lived your home, Voldemort couldn't touch you there. As his followers are branded with his dark mark on their left forearms, they couldn't harm you there either if they found out where you were living. And those wards stopped five attempts to get to you from Death Eaters, Voldemort's servants, before one year of your stay there was gone. I also didn't want you to grow up having your head filled with the nonsense people came up with due to your fame." He admitted. "I thought growing up as a normal boy would be better for you. To not have to cope with the fame until you were old enough to understand what was going on."
Harry pondered what Professor Dumbledore had told him. It sounded good in theory. With him having the Death Eaters after him and perhaps even Voldemort, the wards sounded like a good idea. Especially as they seemed to have done their job. But why did nobody ever check up on him?
"I can understand that you wanted to protect me, but why didn't you ever check up on me to see if I was okay? Hell, I even sent the police anonymous letters to get them to investigate. Having Vernon out of the house would have made a huge difference. Petunia I can deal with, Vernon is the brute. Petunia only shouts or resorts to slaps." Harry asked.
"I had somebody watch you, I know you know her. Arabella Figg is a squib that was also part of the resistance group, the Order of the Phoenix, that I had founded to fight Voldemort. A squib is a person who can't use magic and is born to magical parents. The opposite to a muggleborn in fact. She had an eye on you, but besides that you were neglected and that your cousin sometimes beat you with his friends, she couldn't tell me anything more. She never noticed signs of physical abuse. Had she noticed something like that I would have come and interfered, but knowing that Petunia didn't like magic, I thought it would be easier for you if she wasn't confronted with the magical world constantly. I didn't want to risk that you lost the protection from the blood wards. Now that is not an issue anymore. The Dursleys will be put on trial. A member of the magical law enforcement patrol, Cannion Vasparion has already got your things out of the house. There also were some things that had remained from your mother on the attic. You will get those things as soon as it is decided where you will be living.
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