The Innocence of Youth

Disclaimer for all chapters: I am not J.K. Rowling. She owns the Harry Potter world. I do not.

AN: I am back. After a loooong break, in which I ventured off into a few other fandoms, and struggled through a nasty bout of writer's block. But I am back now. I have also realized that my writing skill is rather sub-par. I will try to improve this. I cannot make any guarantees though. I hope this story comes out as at least a bit of what you were hoping for.

Now. On with the story.

Chapter Four

When Harry awoke, his head was resting on someone's shoulder. He blearily blinked the sleep from his eyes, and turned his head slightly, trying to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep. However, a mass of fiery red hair caught his eyes. Someone was holding him. Someone with a nice hold-- gentle and warm, but firm enough to make him feel protected and safe. He only knew two people who had ever held him like that...but his daddy's hair was short and black, not long and red... That left only one person...

"Mummy?"

Eight heads turned around to look at him.

"Mummy?" He tried again, tugging gently on a lock of the red hair that was obscuring his vision. "Mummy?"

Eight sets of eyes widened slightly at the realization of what he was asking. Ginny held him tighter, gently rubbing his back.

"I'm not your mum, Harry... My name is Ginny." He tugged on her hair again.

"Mummy!"

"N-No, Harry, I'm Ginny."

Harry's eyes filled with tears of disappointment and he squirmed, trying to free himself of Ginny's grip. Before he managed to fall and hurt himself, however, he was picked out of her arms by the funny man with the big beard. He liked this man so he stopped squirming and buried his face in the man's beard, smothering his sniffles in the long white hair.

"Harry?" Dumbledore put a finger under his chin and gently lifted his face up. Harry sniffed, bringing two small fists up to rub at his eyes. Dumbledore then walked over to where Remus was sitting, and placed Harry in his lap. Harry looked up with wide eyes at the werewolf, his face suddenly breaking into a smile, in stark contrast of the despair it had shown just minutes before.

"Moony!"

To say that the group was shocked that Harry recognized Remus, much less remembered his name, would be an understatement. Harry, however, was oblivious to their shock. He latched his small hands onto Remus's ears as he used to do, all those years ago whenever Remus would come to Godric's Hollow. He leaned in, as if to tell the werewolf a secret.

"Moony, mummy and daddy's gone." Remus smiled sadly at the toddler as he nodded, stroking his hair gently.

"They are, Prongslet. Paddy's gone too."

"Gone?"

"Yeah."

"They come back?"

"No, they won't be coming back."

"Oh." Harry's eyes filled with tears again, and he rested his head against Remus's chest. He looked up at the werewolf's face.

"You stay?"

"Yeah, Harry, I'll stay."

"Good."

And with that, he snuggled into Remus's robes and drifted off to sleep again. Everyone was stunned into silence for a few minutes, before Dumbledore cleared his throat gently and started to address the matter at hand.

"In light of recent... developments, we have need to discuss Harry's placement with his aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley. I admit, it was my idea, and until today, I was under the impression that, while he may be unhappy, nothing could hurt him there. I have been proven very, very wrong." The twinkle in his eyes was gone, and his features held a surprisingly guilty look. He stood and reached for Harry, who was handed over to him by Remus. He sat back down in his chair, and cradled Harry in one arm, using the other to undo the buttons of his small shirt. The bruises that littered the pale skin were shocking, and all members of the small meeting paled. Ron's jaw dropped, tears pricked at Ginny and Hermione's eyes, and even Snape's complexion whitened a few shades.

Large hand prints were visible all too near the toddler's neck, as well as on his back, accompanied by various other bruises marring the smooth skin. What could a baby have done to deserve such treatment? No one spoke for a moment. Suddenly, the room erupted into angry shouts. Harry whimpered a bit in his sleep, and Dumbledore silenced the room with a reproving glare. The angry protests started again, but this time in whispers.

"He should never have gone there in the first place!"

"I told you that day that they were horrible muggles!"

"I can't believe we never noticed!"

"After all these years..."

"He never said a word!"

"The poor dear..."

"He never did anything to deserve such treatment!"

"He won't be staying there now, will he?"

"I can take him!"

"I can too!"

"You said there was some kind of blood protection if he stayed with his relatives. But they obviously won't be protecting him from themselves!"

"He's much better off away from there!"

"You can't let him go back!"

"I won't allow it!"

Dumbledore silenced them once more with a wave of his hand.

"Nobody can know of this, you understand? If Voldemort becomes aware that the blood protection is void, he will waste no time in attacking. Also, if he becomes aware of Harry's rather defenseless state, he will take it to his advantage without a second thought. And after that, we have to settle where Harry will be staying over the holidays. And before any of you start, though I know you would be excellent guardians, and that you would love to have him, we need to take into account Harry's safety. I do realize that by going with what I deemed the safest place for him to be, I left him to years of abuse, verbal, emotional, and physical. These things will also need to be taken into account. For now, however, we have a two-year-old toddler on our hands."