Dark Widows and Orphans

Chapter 5

Not Mine.. Still Theirs. Boohoo. Sad face.

Enjoy :-)

Can You say Ding Ding?

Hogwarts Castle, somewhere in Scotland.

"Six months! Harry Potter had been missing six months! When the hell were you going to tell me Albus!" Albus Dumbledore sat at his opulent desk, his head in his hands as his Deputy Headmistress and long time friend raged at him.

"I have spent my every free minute trying to find him Minerva, but look!" he pointed to the tiny instruments on a shelf. "Harry is happy and healthier then he has ever been if my monitors are correct. He is alas, I fear, not in Britain."

Minerva McGonagal was not head of Gryffindor house for nothing. She speared Dumbledore with a glare that had quelled many a lion cub. The Headmaster quickly found himself squirming before finding himself saved by unexpected, familiar but no less welcomed voice.

"Albus, Albus Albus... you are in a lot of trouble..." and Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme melted into sight in the middle of the most secure office in all of Hogwarts.

Albus Dumbledore was rarely shocked silent, but seeing his old friend frowning at him and hearing those words made his belly tighten.

Stephen smirked. "I believe you have lost something very precious Albus... or should I say, someone."

Dumbledore's eyes widened and he surged to his feet. "Did you take the boy Stephen?" he demanded. Power thrummed and Stephen cocked an eyebrow at him. Suddenly Albus was sitting back in his chair, hands locked to the armrests. "I did not take him.. his Grandmother and her friends found out about him and went to check on him. They were NOT happy with what they found and took him."

"Harry has no other blood relatives Stephen.. the wards... how?"

"You don't know everything you old fool and you have not endeared yourself to her in any way."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Mr Potter needs to be with his mother's blood.. there is no one else..."

Stephen smirked. "Want to bet? And she is not someone you should piss off... nor are her friends." Stephen paused. "Nor am I Albus. I have seen the list of injuries old and new the boy had when they rescued him from a tiny cupboard beneath the stairs of his relatives four bedroom house. It was his room and had a huge bolt on the outside of the door. No light bulb, just a threadbare mattress on the floor. He is nine years old Albus, and weighed about what a small five year old did. He had never received a Christmas gift, nor any acknowledgment of his Birthday. He was told he was a burden on his good and hardworking relatives, his parents were worthless drunks, he was a ungrateful, unwanted freak that had to earn his keep. They had him doing chores a teenager would struggle with. If he failed he was beaten. If he complained, beaten, if his uncle was in a bad mood, beaten. His cousin bullied him constantly whilst being spoiled and praised by his parents. At school he would beat Harry up daily and encouraged his friends to do likewise whilst driving off any other children who might have befriended him. He would take Harry's lunch, and ruin his homework. Harry was not allowed to out perform his dimwitted cousin at school, had no new clothing and his glasses came from a charity bin. Just how was he safe when the danger came from his own blood? Blood that allowed him to be beaten and his bones broken whilst it used him as a slave, or as one of your house elves, although they are probably treated better because of how much they cost to obtain. To the Dursley's Harry was expendable, a burden. Most definitely unwanted. If his Grandmother had not discovered he existed, your wards would have been worthless in a year, the boy dead before his letter could ever arrive, or shortly thereafter."

As Stephen spoke he visibly became more angry and powerful. Knickknacks and ornaments rattled and the portraits of old Headmasters and Headmistresses were vacated at an alarming speed. None of their occupants wanted to draw the ire of the Sorcerer Supreme.

As silence filled the room Minerva McGonagal spoke, the Scots burr thick

"Albus Ah told ye they weren't right! Ya feckless old Fool!" she calmed herself before looking at Stephen. "I would like to apologies for not cursing the old goat for ever suggesting leaving the boy there. Please, I would like to know he is well?"

"He is, now. He is being cared for and loved by some very powerful people." Strange glared at his old friend. "You screwed up Albus. You will have a long road to travel if you ever want to see Harry Potter in these halls. And don't be thinking that boy will be your good little saviour. If I so much as suspect you are trying to use him, I will be coming to see you Albus.. and I will not be in a friendly mood. No tests, no games. And return the boy's property.. yes I know about the Cloak and what it is." Stephen paused. "You had best get on to dealing with that pure blood elitist problem of yours too, Albus, if my friends or I have to step in to deal with it, there will be no second chances. And as for your pet Death Eater... we both know the history there, you better make sure he knows the new status quo and has an attitude transplant quick smart. I'm sick of hearing Flamel lament the dropping standards in Potioneers. Harry's new guardians are very protective. And you can bet they can and will find out if you, or he, try anything."

"Stephen.. you have to believe me.. I did not know it was so bad. I knew there wasn't much love, but not that it had so actively turned to hate. I would have taken him myself had I known." Albus pleaded. "I didn't know." tears fell into his white beard.

"Then why didn't you check on him?" Stephen demanded.

"I always meant too.. I had monitoring charms... they went off sometimes but always reset quickly... I always meant to go, especially around Christmas and his birthday, but I... I had to promise that his relatives would not be bothered by our kind until the boy was eleven, they would have dumped him at an orphanage otherwise. I meant to check back of course but I got so busy... all the celebrations and then the Death Eater trials."

"That alone should have been enough for you to make other arrangements Albus. I have told you for years you do too much. No one man can do three full time jobs and do them well. You need to choose one Albus, let someone else deal with the others." Stephen sighed. "Harry is safe. He is loved. Do not interfere."

"Stephen, please, where is he?" Albus begged. "Who is he with?"

"Her name is Natasha Romanov. Most would know her better as the Black Widow. Young Harry is quite safe in the Avengers Tower."

And Stephen was gone. Leaving Albus to face his irate deputy on his own.

Albus thought this was grossly unfair as Minerva spent the next hour letting him know just how unhappy she was with one Albus too-many-names Dumbledore.