A/N: Hi guys, this is my first long fanfic so I hope I haven't stuffed it too badly. Before I start I would like to thank me beautiful Beta-reader, withoutthespaces, for whom I am eternally grateful. Please R and R, flames are appreciated if their honest.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything that is affiliated. I don't make any money from writing, I only have the satisfaction from seeing my work online. Now on with the story!

The street lights illuminated Albus Dumbledore's face as he appeared in the middle of the Privet Drive, putting up Muggle repelling wards automatically. With a smile on his face, he began searching for his Deluminater.

The smile slipped momentarily from his face when he sensed another magic user nearby, but it returned full force when he recognized it as his Deputy Headmistress. He fished his Deluminater out of his pocket and summoned the light from the streetlamps before turning to the cat sitting on the wall.

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore announced, forcing his Deputy to change out of her disguise. The spells he had put on her years ago forcing her to bend to his will.

However, they only worked when she was rational. With the deaths of her favourite student and her protégé, Minerva McGonagall was barely holding it together. With the added grief and despair, she was temporarily in her own mind.

"Albus, you can't leave Lily and James' child here. They're the worst sort of Muggles."

"It's for the Greater Good Minerva," said Albus serenely, while inside he was fuming that she dare try and contradict him.

Minerva was about to respond when the peace of Privet Drive was disrupted by a loud roaring. Any Muggle who was woken by the noise immediately remembered they had something else to do. The noise was hidden to Muggles when Hagrid went into the Muggle repelling wards.

Hagrid got off his bike and lumbered over to the Professors, a small wrapped blanket barely visible in Hagrids massive arms.

"Here you go Professor, safe and sound" announced Hagrid gruffly.

Dumbledore internally rolled his eyes at Hagrids inability to use subtlety, while only saying "Thank you, Hagrid"

Dumbledore took the infant from Hagrid and placed him on the Dursleys doorstep, McGonagall protesting the entire way.

Dumbledore tucked a letter into the blankets that surrounded the baby and began to walk away. At the end of the lane he turned to his companions and said "Obliviate".

This wiped all knowledge of what had happened from their minds, replacing them with complete contentment with the situation for Hagrid and mild concern for McGonagall. Satisfied that both his fellow wizards and the Muggles were taken care of, Dumbledore dismantled the wards and apparated away, followed by McGonagall. Leaving Hagrid to get back on his bike and roar down the street. None of them noticed Mrs Figg looking out her window. Not affected by the Muggle repelling wards and undetected due to her lack of Magic.

Arabella Figg had lived in Privet Drive for almost all her life. Her family had thrown her out when she failed to get a Hogwarts letter. Being 12 and a Squib meant her life in the magical world was either over or about to be very unpleasant. She had heard of girls who had been thrown out of home. Most ended up in 'Entertainment Houses' to be used by wizards and then cast aside. Arabella (or Bella as she was known by her friends) decided that that would not be her fate. She plucked up her courage and ventured into the Muggle world. Within 2 days she was picked up by Social Services and taken to an Orphanage, where she was adopted by the Figgs and taken to live with them in Surrey.

When they passed away, Bella inherited the house and kept the house and gardens going, working at her job cleaning at a restaurant. She had made many friends there and she was always paid well because she was punctual, reliable and always friendly, sometimes sitting up with the owner while he worried about the state of his marriage, a marriage which Bella fixed by getting the two of them to talk and becoming a close friend to the couple.

Bella was a good person and so when she saw 3 magic users, one of them the leader of the Light no less, leaving a baby on a doorstep of the worst family on Privet Drive, in November, she had to act. When they had disapparated, she put on her house coat and went to doorstep. Inside she saw a small baby with letter tucked into the blanket.

Bella picked up the letter and opened it. Reading it, she felt a wave of hatred and fear of magic, strong and unrelenting. She felt like it was going to attack her and wanted to get rid of the child, for inspiring these feelings.

However, then she shook her head. Regardless of what the magical world had done to her, she had always been in awe of it and secretly wanted to go back. She would love to see magic again. Slowly the feelings of fear and hate faded, left only with a tenderness for the baby.

Bella had never had a family, apart from her adoptive parents, and she desperately wanted a child. However she knew that this child was Magical and would need someone to protect him until he attended Hogwarts.

Hogwarts, somewhere she had never seen but had always longed to go. Right then and there she decided to raise the child herself. She would do anything to see the child happy and safe. Hurriedly, so as no peeping toms would see her, she took the baby back to her house across the street, double bolting the door behind her. But to raise the child properly, she would need to integrate the magical and Muggle worlds together, to make sure she was confident in both.

Bella had always kept herself connected to the Wizarding World. She had Floo powder and knew how to use it. Back in her house she picked up a handful, threw it into the grate and called out;

"Gringotts, Main Floor".

While Gringotts did close at the end of every day, it did still allow for customers to Floo in, provided they could give a good reason. People rarely could and so there were only a few Goblins on duty at night. The dark silence was broken by the Floo firing up and depositing a woman, clutching a baby onto the marble floor.

Senior Teller Killem trotted over to the woman, a look of distaste on his face. He detested the night shift and would have preferred to be at home with his wife and children. He had been working since 6pm, and it seemed people had wanted their money for celebrations for some reason so he had been busy running up and down the Banking Hall with the occasional trip down to the vaults.

"What do you want?" growled Killem irritably.

"I have come to ask about any possible inheritances for an abandoned child. He was left on a Muggle family's' doorstep by Albus Dumbledore and two of his deputies. He then obliviated the pair and apparated away," Bella explained hurriedly.

That was the exact right thing to say, the goblins had no love for Dumbledore and had strict morals about dealing with children. Children were sacred in the Goblin culture and anyone seen to harm a child in any Goblin establishment would be punished under the sternest of Goblin Law. This one announcement got the attention of every single Goblin in the Hall.

"I think you need to see Ragnok," Killem said solemnly.

It was in a few moments Bella was ensconced in a comfortable leather chair, facing the most fearsome Goblin she had ever seen, holding a baby that seemed to be of the utmost importance to the 'Leader of the Light'. Bella was surprised she was sarcastic even in her thoughts.

"Mrs Figg, when I was roused by my assistant, saying there was a woman with a baby to see me, I thought they were playing a joke on me. It was then I realised that no one jokes with me. The last person who tried it ended up dead, so tell me, why are you here?"

Bella began to sweat, her mind already trying to get her out of the situation. But she knew that she had done nothing wrong. With new confidence she spoke; "Honoured Goblin leader" (Her adoptive parents had taught her to be polite) " Tonight I saw Albus Dumbledore leaving a baby on the doorstep of my Muggle neighbours, he then obliviated his two associates, one of whom protested strongly, and apparated away. I then collected the infant and brought him here to see what to do next. I didn't come during banking hours for several reasons, the least of which I am a squib and it is dangerous for me to be in public without protection from magic."

Ragnok leaned back in his chair and looked at the woman before him, thinking deeply. Her story was true, that much he knew. Now he saw two options; either send the woman and her child away and wash his hands of them, or he could assist them, forever tying himself into their fate. Suddenly the child squirmed and opened his eyes. Ragnok was shocked; he had only seen those eyes in one individual, the recently late Mrs Lily Potter nee Evans. Mrs Potter had been campaigning for greater rights for Goblins and Werewolves. She had used her position as the wife of James Potter, an important Gringotts shareholder, to get a private audience with him and suggested that they combine their skills and knowledge to build a case to present to the Wizengamot. It was only her going into hiding and subsequent death that stopped her from openly campaigning.

It was then the Director of Gringotts realised the identity of the child. This was Harry James Potter, Lily Potter's son and heir. It was in this moment that Ragnok decided to choose the latter option and help the woman.

"I have decided to help you Miss Figg. The childs name is Harry James Potter, his mother was an extraordinary woman…"