Chapter Text
Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey was a perfectly normal house, in a perfectly normal neighborhood. In fact, you wouldn't be able to tell the house apart from any of the other houses next to it if you tried until you saw the mailbox, and the residents of the house were perfectly happy with that. Until the night of Halloween 1981, the night the Dark Lord was defeated, leaving a small orphan boy behind.
That night an unnatural sight could be seen at midnight had someone just looked out their windows. A tall man, in dark green robes trimmed in silver that seemed to reflect all the light that hit it back as bright as the sun, wearing a long-pointed hat. He was content to stand there uncaring about what would happen if he were to be seen by anyone. He was too busy to be in what seemed to be a staring contest with a grey tabby cat. The contest lasted three minutes before the tabby chose to break off the contest by jumping off the wall she had claimed for the day. Mid jump, the normal seeming tabby cat, shifted and in the blink of an eye where there was a cat now stood a woman. Her face wrinkled and her lips tightened so tight one would struggle to see the line that separated them.
"Albus" the woman said to the tall man.
"Professor McGonagall" the man replied nodding his head to the woman.
"So, it's true then? The dark Lord has been beaten?" she asked him with hope in her voice and misty eyes.
"I'm afraid so professor, the good and the bad" At that moment a loud engine roared in the distance. Minutes later the witch and wizard saw a bright light breaking through the dead of night. It didn't come from the road though, through the sky came a motorcycle with a giant of a man riding it. As the bike touched down in rattled and bounced. It came speeding up before braking in front of the two, smoke coming from the back. "No trouble I hope Hagrid?" The man named Albus asked.
"No sir, little man fell asleep almost as soon as we got into the air and hasn't woken up since" The large man replied. He was carrying a small bundle in his arms. you could just see a small tuff of black hair peeping out of the bundle.
"Is it truly necessary to leave him here Albus? I've watched these muggles all day and they are the worst type of people there are. I don't see how little Harry could have a good life here." Professor McGonagall questioned.
"I'm afraid it is Minerva; poor Harry will be hunted by the remaining Death Eaters he will be far safer here than he would be in our world." The reply came from the man still looking down at the small boy. "I have written his remaining family a letter telling them all that has happened this night and have expressed the importance of him living here."
They left the small bundle there on number 4's doorstep and without another look back the three adults went back to their comfortable lives not thinking of the boy again for many years.
Andromeda Tonks Nee Black,
She sat in her home near the blazing fire trying to warm herself. The world seemed so much colder the last decade, Voldemort more or less ruled with little resistance he would win and that scared her. Her husband was a muggle or a new magical not coming from any known family, and she was a blood traitor if she wasn't in hiding behind wards, she put up herself they would have been found long ago. She had gotten word from Remus, a friend of Sirius's who had been around a few times along with the Potters, that the Dark Lord was no more after he went after James and Lily Potter. He didn't say anything about them or their little son Harry. She hopped that they were alright, to have beat the Dark Lord was not something that just anyone could claim.
Her heart sung with relief, safe for the first time, or at least as safe as any who had the label of blood traitor. She could survive that though, now that there wasn't anyone hunting them down and killing them like dogs, if they were lucky, just for existing. Nymphadora had not known a world where there wasn't fear thick in the air. Her daughter had also taken with the Potter family, with Harry more so than she would have thought being 6 years older than the new infant. Being attacked by that psychopath would be enough to make anyone's blood run cold. By the gods both above and below she truly hoped they survived and were alright.
The front door opened allowing her husband Ted into the living room. "Is it true?" Andromeda questioned him not giving him any more time than to lay down his briefcase.
"It's true, or at least that's what Dumbledore has told everyone, but it's not all good news I'm afraid." Ted replied to her with a deep full chest sigh. "He went after the Potters and never left their house. Unfortunately, he took both James and Lily with him, little Harry was the only one that survived. The people are already calling him "the boy who lived""
"No." Andi gave a small sob. "What's going to happen to him? Where is he going to go?"
"Dumbledore has taken guardianship of the boy, says he will keep him safe."
The only response Andi gave to that was a small snort and to hold her arms out to her husband to comfort her.
Time Skip
5 Years later
Pain, that's all the small boy knew. Every day since he could remember, the moment he woke up till the moment he went to sleep. The pain of cold when his aunt and uncle left him outside so he wouldn't inflict his freakishness upon the house, he felt the pain of hunger from going days with only bread in the mornings to last him all day because he couldn't earn his keep, he felt the physical pain from the beating his uncle and cousin gave him whenever they had a reason to, sometimes when they didn't too. His name was Freak he knew that he didn't know a lot, but he knew that. That's all they called him in the house and if they were seen outside of it, they called him boy though they did their best never to be seen with him outside of the house. He slept in the cupboard under the stairs some days, when it was cold they would leave him out back in a shed that his uncle had built just for him so that he would be out of the house as much as possible.
That's where Freak was that night, his uncle has lost a client at his job, whatever that was, and had decided that it was Freaks fault. After the beating that he suffered from his uncle's belt, fist, boot, or any number of things that Freak forgot about. He could feel the blood trail down his face from where his uncle had hit him, he thought he could even feel his ribs move in ways that they shouldn't be able to. The pain was so much worse than he had ever felt, he feared what he would look like in the morning sun. They had sent him out to his shed; he liked being out here sometimes, it was quite and he was safe most of the time when he was in here, his relatives wouldn't follow him out here if they could help it. It was cold this night the snow pilling up making it hard for his uncle to open the door when he tossed Freak in.
He was cold, his body shivering trying to keep him warm and failing. All he wanted was to be warm, some food, and maybe just maybe for someone to love him. He couldn't have that here, he knew that. He couldn't have any of that here, he had to get away he had to leave, but how would he go it was so cold, he would need fur, he wished he had fur. He wished with all of his heart and soul he could get away to be free. That was his last thought before he his body shut down his heart slowing down beating less and less. Then it happened, he awoke to what felt like every bone and muscle in his body shrinking moving in unnatural ways, bending his hand tightened and became harder as claws grew, his hair grew everywhere. His eyesight became sharper he could see in the dark shed; he could hear noises from the house and road that he hadn't been able to just a few moments ago. There was pain in the transition. As he felt his body settle finished changing. It was weird, he was on all fours, seeing the world from a different point of view.
Light, he could see light where a board had been fitted together poorly. He could get out, he could leave. In this form that's all he cared about, he wasn't meant to be in a cage, he was meant to be free, and free he was going to be. Moving was difficult, his body hadn't been healed during the transformation into this new form. He still hurt with every step he took but he was determined to make it out. What if his uncle really lost it next time and he went too far and killed him? No regardless of the pain he was in he had to leave, and with this new form he could. He wasn't cold now his fur saw to it that he was warm, he could find food it's not like he was fed much as it was.
He was moving before he knew it. Towards the light in the darkness, the crack in the boards. It was time, no one would miss him, they would celebrate him leaving. Getting out into the snow was he could still feel the cold on his paws, but it felt nothing like the biting chill if he had touched the snow with his bare hands, he felt the wind tearing through his fur, he would need to find a place to get out of it soon, but he was smaller it would be easy find a place that guarded against it. He was a puppy, everyone loved dogs he thought, no one would ever hurt him again he would get bigger, stronger, so much that no one would ever think about it.
Albus Dumbledore,
The headmaster had everything planned, he always did. That was one of the things that the old man had prided himself on his backup plans had backup plans. The man's thoughts went back to the child that he left on that doorstep so many years ago. Harry Potter, he would save them all, it was his destiny to either die at the hands of Tom or Tom would lose his life at the boy's hand. Albus would be there to shape the boy after so many years with Vernon and Petunia he would be destroyed. Albus felt little guilt when it came to that outcome, the boy would come back to the wizarding world broken but the ends justify the means. Albus could rebuild the boy, make him a devoted member of the light, a ridged follower of Dumbledore's and that's what mattered the most in the end.
Dumbledore knew something was wrong when one of the many items he had set up monitoring the boy burst into flames. As he rushed to the shelf that had held it another one fell silent, then a third. No, what had happened, the blood drained from the man's face as he glared at three of the four instruments. The one that had burst into had been set up to monitor the magic power of the boy along with the block that Albus himself had set up to limit the amount of power that Harry was able to express through accidental magic, Albus wanted the boy broken not dead and he knew that was how he would end up if he had expressed too much power. The second was a tracker to watch the boy at all times in case Tom came back before he was ready, so he could easily find the boy and bring him back whenever he needed. The third monitored the wards that Lily's last act set in place as long as Harry saw wherever Petunia was as home. The fourth one still spun, that was good, it was set up to the boy's life, as long as Harry Potter was still alive it was keep spinning.
His mind spinning trying to figure out what could have happened to make those three instruments stop working. He set up a curse on the boy so if he ran away or tried to tell anyone of what was happening to him, they wouldn't believe him and bring him back to the Dursley house. His power dampener may be explained if his power was stronger than Albus's which the old man thought highly unlikely, he wasn't the most powerful wizard, defeater of Gellert Grindelwald, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. It was just not possible for a 5-year-old child to be more powerful than himself. If he put more thought into it, he was sure that he could come up a reasonable reasoning for it. What he couldn't figure out was why the tracker stopped working. There was no reason for that if he was still alive, he had interconnected the magic with the boys own. If the boy was still alive, he should be able to track him, but the fourth instrument was still working telling Albus that the boy couldn't be dead. He would assemble all the people her could trust to find the boy and bring him back to his aunt and uncles, the greater good demanded it.
Time skip
5 months
Albus Dumbledore,
It had been five months since the boy who lived disappeared, he sent out his Order of the Phoenix to find the boy but there was nothing to be found. There was a small magical presence left coming from a shed in the backyard he was sure wasn't there when last he was there. They couldn't follow it however, by the time they found, it was too faint for any spell they knew. Even he didn't know anything to help.
He had just finished pulling his head from the fireplace floo calling Remus telling him that there was no reason to keep looking for the boy. They had searched everywhere and each of the members had their own jobs and other responsibilities they had to get back to. After telling the man to try to keep an ear out for the boy, Albus went back to his high back cushioned chair. What else can I do to find that child? Albus questioned himself, all he could do is hope for near impossible that Harry would find his way to one of Albus allies and they would tell the ageing headmaster. He didn't think that the "ex" Death Eaters had found the boy, for if they had he was sure that they would have killed the boy already.
A New thought struck him then and it sent shivers down his spine. If someone had taken the boy and hadn't killed him, what would they be doing to him? Training him to be the next dark lord? That could be an answer to the question, that would be the way they would think. If harry was strong enough to kill Voldemort, they could want Harry to replace him. No, Albus thought so loud that his magic rippled through the air causing a gust through his office. No, that couldn't be it, in his darkest hope if they had the child Albus hopped that they just killed him. It would be ironic that if they did kill him, they would be killing their chance at having their master back.
Harry Potter,
Running away had been more work than Harry had thought. At first, he was happy to be able to get away from his aunt and uncle and anything he went though had been a price he was willing to go through. He was able to get food from trash cans and dumpsters, so he had eaten enough. People hadn't been exactly kind to him like he thought they would be though. It seemed like anytime he went near anyone they rushed away from him, even going as far as throwing things at him to get him to run away from them. Still even if they did hit him, it didn't hurt nearly has badly as when his uncle had gotten to him. It was tiring though; he found himself always on edge, there had been dogs around at first and they wouldn't let him around. Thankfully he had gotten away from them with little problem, they only chased him so far before giving up and going back to their territory.
He wasn't sure how long he had been alone. It had gotten warmer, and the snow had melted into the ground. Harry left the area near the Dursleys house, he wanted to get away from them as quickly as he could. He feared what would happen if they found him and somehow figured out who the small animal was. He sensed a power nearby, he hadn't felt anything like that before. It called to him, like a fireplace does to a freezing man. The feeling drew Harry in, walking in the direction to it, the boy heard a small sob from a high-pitched voice.
Tonks,
Her parents had just told her that they couldn't afford to get her a pet, she had wanted to an owl. Everyone cool was able to get an owl and she one too. Or any animal really, a familiar could be dread useful for any number of reasons. She would have to get over though her parents told her under no uncertain terms that there was no way she was getting one. She could use one for protection if she could get one that was a dog or even a cat, but even that argument did nothing to persuade them to find the gallons to get one. A twig snapping caught her attention; she shot her head up to find that the noise came from the cutest red furred, with white paw puppy came from further in the woods