I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them sertainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.

So, after "Hoing another Way" and "No Chance for Fate", here is the start of my third big story (abandoned attempts not included). This time I've written a number of chapters in advance to keep a more regular schedule - unti the chapters really are used up (which should take a while). I do this so people can get into the story faster.

For now, the story will update every second Saturday.

This chapter is the start, but more detailled notes are found at the end.

I don't yet have a TvTropes page for this story, but plan for one. However, it would be a pleasant surprise if someone does it first.

Harry Potter

The Chosen Six

Book I: One Decade of Peace

Chapter 1: Marked as his Equal

"Avada Kedavra!"

In a blaze of green light, Lily Potter's life was extinguished instantly; destroyed just like that. Her murderer looked at her fallen corpse with contempt. Oh yes, he had promised Snape that he would try to spare the mudblood he was so attached to, and he actually had kept his word and tried (though of course not too hard). Too bad that the woman had been so incredibly stubborn and thought she could plead for mercy for her son.

She should have known better after years of war; Lord Voldemort never knew mercy. Lord Voldemort did not forgive, after all. Now she just was one more corpse on his path to power. Severus would have to live with it - if he couldn't, then he wouldn't have any further use for him.

Time to eliminate this obstacle which kept me occupied for over a year, he thought.

Slowly walking to his prime objective, Voldemort remembered how easy it had been.

This spineless sausage Pettigrew had revealed the secret to him as fast as he could, and he thought there was a certain significance in that he would kill the boy on this day of all things. Once he was done here, he would put his energy into finding the spare as well, to make sure. After all, he had not come this far, only to let a prophecy cause him to fail so close to the goal. He might be immortal, but it didn't mean he would take stupid chances.

Entering the house, James Potter had fallen fast to him, due to the man stupidly not having his wand at hand. He had to give it to the man that he had put up a good, even if desperate, fight with his bare fists. That would certainly become a nasty bruise on his face where Potter's fist had hit him. In the end however, it took just one spell to kill the man for good. His also unarmed mudblood wife had tried to plead for mercy for her son, but now she was silenced as well.

Finally, he saw his target. The boy looked at him with big eyes, his young age making it impossible for him to understand what was going on. To even think that this was the great danger foretold...

'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord'. So much for the one with the power to destroy me. Now watch how I wipe aside a prophecy like nothing...

Shrill laughter of gleeful anticipation filled the air while Voldemort slowly raised his wand, fully intent on killing the boy and putting an end to the prophecy of the one that would have the power to destroy him.

Outside meanwhile, Pettigrew was waiting.

He'd already seen two green flashes through the windows and knew that James and Lily were dead. And yet... he felt surprisingly little about that fact. Perhaps it was because he had lost his illusions long ago. He'd aways felt like the fifth wheel in the Marauders. He was not as smart and diligent as Remus, not as gifted or rich as James and not outgoing and popular as Sirius. He'd never shown it, but the resentment had festered for years. The war in turn had shown him he was on the losing team.

Thus it was no wonder that when the Dark Lord had come to convert him, he secretly switched sides without any further complaint and eagerly started to deliver information. At first he'd justified it to himself, but over time it became much easier. They'd never suspected him... below suspicion. He knew they saw him as worthless with little talent, and that they selected him as the secret-keeper because of it had only fueled the resentment deep inside.

Up until this day, it hadn't been all roses with his new master, either.

He'd been a mere henchman to the Dark Lord for the longest time, not being a full Death Eater and others actually holding that honor looking down on him. What would they know? The Dark Lord hadn't marked him due to the danger of discovery being too great. But not anymore. Giving him this crucial piece of information had finally earned him his Dark Mark and once this was over, there would be no more doubt about his allegiance.

Now it should be over in mere moments. The boy meant nothing to him, he had never bonded with him in the first place, so there was just an emotional void concerning Harry Potter. Just a little longer...

-BLAAAAAAAAM!-

He was thrown to the ground when an explosion ripped the outer wall of the house apart. Debris rained everywhere and he barely managed to get up a shield to protect himself. Looking at the devastation, he saw that the house had gone dark, a huge hole now gaping in the outer wall of the ruin. Something near his feet also aroused his interest.

Picking it up, he saw it was his master's wand. "Oh, Master..."

Why now of all times?! What should I do now?! he thought frantically, already toying with the idea to find a place he could stay at as a rat for years to come.

He was about to run away, when a cold shiver made him look up again, and what he saw made him freeze.

In the hole at the side of the house hovered... something. It roughly had the shape of a man and seemed to consist of blackest mist. Two yellow-glowing eyes stared down to him and he knew instantly that these were the eyes of his Master. They seemed to look straight into his soul and impressed one message. Then the shade was whisked away to a place unknown, leaving him alone.

He knew what the message meant and looked at Voldemort's wand. "I... I understand. There is no going back."

He then ran away from the scene of the crime as fast as he could to find a safe spot to apparate from.

o

"No..." Sirius Black gasped while jumping off his motorcycle mere minutes after Pettigrew had left the area by apparating away.

He'd been alerted by the knowledge of the safe house rushing back into his mind, and the screams from the magic that came with being Harry's godfather, that something horrible must have happened to James, Lily and most likely Harry. That the magic only would activate on the death of both parents was a bad omen. If the secret was broken in such a way, then it could mean only one thing. However, the mere idea was so horrible, he couldn't bring himself to even think about it. Denial after all was a strong power.

He knew what else this meant. Damn, we shouldn't have trusted Peter!

In retrospect, it had been a idiotic idea to switch secret-keepers. The idea that Peter would be beneath suspicion had been horrible and this disaster wouldn't have happened if he had listened to James and Lily and their concerns that they shouldn't switch. He cursed himself for convincing them.

This is my fault, was the first thing that came to his mind.

Standing in front of the ruin of the house, he could feel the magic released by the explosion. He wouldn't dare to use his wand to clear the path while the magical energies were still so disrupted. With the power of desperation he started to throw aside debris to free the way into the house. He was right now holding back his tears, but he knew they would come soon enough.

"Damn, Peter, how could you?!" Sirius wailed, fearing he could lose it.

"Sirius!"

Looking up, he saw Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, approach, clearly being sent by Dumbledore to check what was going on after the secret got broken. The huge man looked in horror at the ruin of what had been a safehouse, trying to understand what happened. "Sirius, what happened?"

"We were betrayed! James, Lily and me, we trusted the wrong man with the secret." He then returned to his task. "Help me!"

Hagrid was a more confused than anything else at the statement. Wasn't Sirius himself supposed to be the secret-keeper? However, questions could wait for the moment; it was more important to get into the destroyed house. Thanks to him being so big and strong, they quickly managed to get inside, only to be greeted with a horrible sight.

"James..." Sirius choked when seeing the corpse of his best friend, but he pulled himself together.

Fearing the worst now, both men ran upstairs, being forced to throw aside more debris, until they finally managed to enter the nursery. It looked like a bomb had went off in it, destroying the entire room and ripping away the outer wall. At the inner wall of the room, they saw their worst fear coming true.

"Lily..." The explosion must have had thrown her corpse around, thus why it looked somewhat beaten up. "Harry..."

Both men were barely keeping it together, but finding Harry took priority. Frantically, both men started started to search through the debris, praying that against all the odds, young Harry Potter had survived the explosion. Hagrid threw aside a big chunk blocking his view, and then stopped when seeing what was beneath it.

"Sirius, I've found him!" he called.

Running to Hagrid, Sirius couldn't believe it when seeing the unconscious child. Holding little Harry close, both men were relieved that he was breathing. Indeed, he seemed unharmed, which was strange considering the destruction surrounding him. The only injury he'd suffered was a bleeding cut on his forehead that looked like a lightning bolt.

A conflict was raging in Sirius. On one hand, he felt the overwhelming need to search for Peter and bring him to justice for his treachery. He could simply tell Hagrid to take care of Harry and then go on the hunt for the traitor. His reckless side was screaming for this easy and fast way to deal with the pain and the shame that his decision to switch caused this, fed by the hurt over his friends deaths.

It would be so easy to give in to the temptation.

Then he looked at Harry, and all of a sudden the true magnitude of the situation hit him. They had named him Harry's godfather, so he would take care of him in case something should happen to Lily and James. Shame rose in him that he had entertained the idea to shirk his duties to Harry in order to satisfy his thirst for revenge and make himself feel better. No, Harry took absolute priority over everything else and thoughts of doing the avenging himself died quickly.

Lily, James, I won't disappoint you.

Both men needed a few moments before understanding that they now should better leave.

"Hagrid, we need to go. The Muggle authorities will be here soon... and many of them. No chance that the Ministry can keep this quiet with how thin they are stretched. They will have to make up a story. Thank all goodness this house is as unmagical as it can get," Sirius reminded Hagrid.

Thankfully, Lily had reminded them that a house disappearing and then reappearing would be suspicious, thus the Fidelius Charm had been modified. Once it was broken, everyone who had even remotely come into contact with the house and hadn't known the true story would remember the house had always been there, with the addition that they just hadn't paid it any attention.

"Yes..." Hagrid then remembered something while they raced down the stairs. "Dumbledore gave me a one-use portkey. He's expecting an owl from me." Hagrid pointed at his coat and Sirius guessed that the man kept an owl somewhere in there .

"No, that would take too long." Both men had reached the street, where Sirius had parked his motorcycle. He held Harry close while getting into the sidecar. "You drive. Now we'll see if the driving lessons I gave you with it are paying off."

"I hope so as well..."

Thankfully, everything went smoothly and the motorcycle roared to life as soon as Hagrid used the kickstarter and it quickly sped off towards the rural area. It was only once being outside of town limits that Hagrid dared to turn on the flight mode and the motorcycle took off into the skies. Only then did Hagrid relax a bit and asked the questions that he had.

"What is this about trusting the wrong man? Thought you're the secret-keeper?" he finally asked.

"Originally, yes. However, I convinced James and Lily that someone totally unexpected would be better. I should have listened to them, but I thought myself so smart. I convinced them to switch the duty to Peter..." Only now did it start to sink in for him that things had changed forever.

"You say...?" It seemed, Hagrid as well only now began to understand the gravity of the consequences. It seemed he had not wanted to accept that two of his friends were dead, but now reality was catching up.

"Hagrid, fly towards Hogwarts. I need to meet with Dumbledore as fast as possible. I have to tell him everything... I'll even insist on Aurors und under Veritaserum. No way I want Peter to get away with what he did. I want everyone to know of his crime."

Hagrid nodded silently, clearly fighting with his own growing grief, steering the motorcycle north towards Hogwarts.

Sirius knew the flight would take several hours, even with the magical enhancements that raised the speed of the motorcycle, but he didn't want to leave Harry out of his sight right now. Thank all goodness he'd included charms that diverted air resistance, or the wind would slap them bad. Looking at the unconscious Harry in his arms, Sirius' expression firmed.

No, Peter, I won't let you get away with doing this to Harry.

...at the same time...

Peter was not the brightest wizard in the world by far, but even he knew that it would be very unhealthy to stay in the United Kingdom, now that the war was pretty much lost and Sirius would nail him to the cross by telling everyone of his involvement in the murder of the Potters. The damning tattoo on his arm, even though it was starting to pale after the Dark Lord's physical death, was as much as a death sentence.

Oh, I know, people like Malfoy or Nott will just lie and throw around money to keep their vests clean. No chance I'll let them throw me to the wolves so that they can save their own skin, he thought while finally reaching his destination.

Running into the little hideout he'd set up when realizing he would make a permanent commitment to Voldemort and would become a hunted man by the authorities, he quickly grabbed what he needed and was about to leave, when he got unannounced visitors.

"Where do you think you are going, you little toad?!"

Peter stopped dead in his tracks when being held at wandpoint by two robed and masked Death Eaters. However, he did recognize the voice and knew that Amycus Carrow was not exactly the most patient man.

"He looks like a rat trying to leave the sinking ship." Yes, and that woman was without doubt Alecto, Amycus' sister, who was his equal when it came to cruelty.

"S-sinking ship is a very good analogy!" Pettigrew gasped, pulling up his sleeve to show the paling Dark Mark.

The sight of the mark paling baffled the Carrows, who quickly pulled up their own sleeves and saw to their horror that their marks were fading as well. "What's going on?" Amycus gasped while pulling off his mask.

"T-the Dark Lord ... he left to kill the boy tonight. I don't k-know what exactly happened. There ... was an explosion, and..." Pettigrew finally showed them Voldemort's wand.

"No..." Alecto whispered, feeling like a world was collapsing for her. "We have lost?"

Amycus on the other hand reacted with violence. "Where did you get this?!" he screamed, slamming Pettigrew against the wall, staring to choke him.

Panicked, Pettigrew tried to prevent the male Carrow from killing him on the spot. "D-d-dark Lord ... still alive ... only b-b-body dead ..." he croaked, afraid that Carrow would actually strangle him to death.

Alecto gave her brother a stinging hex, forcing him to let go. "Idiot, don't kill him!" she hissed, then gave Pettigrew her attention. "Talk now, or regret staying silent!"

Pettigrew knew to not press his luck, a survival instinct that had served him well over the years. "The Dark Lord's body was blown apart, b-but his spirit lives on. I saw it. I have no idea how, only that he told me w-without words he would rise again... With our help."

"Ah, and that means you want to skip country, right?" Alecto accused him, implying that he wouldn't try to help Voldemort once he was far away.

"You honestly think the Dark Lord would stay here?" Despite being a coward, he couldn't help but to scoff at the idea. "Also, wouldn't you leave as well? Think about what will happen next and what the Dark Lord will think of you, if you don't help him."

The Carrow siblings blanched when realizing what would happen. Even though they were not the sharpest tools in the shed, they knew where the wind would be blowing to.

Without Voldemort, the whole organization would collapse quickly. Those with money or influence would act like they had been forced to do it, while those less fortunate would take the fall. They knew both of them would fall under the latter category, and their rich, famous and handsome brother would bail them out. The mere idea that they could become indebted to him was unbearable.

Even worse, should they do nothing and Voldemort would rise again in the future, he would be less than happy with them and either kill them outright or punish them harshly. Both were not good prospects for their future. They were not the smartest people around, but they got good survival instincts. Looking at each other, the Carrows knew they had to leave - a fact they had not even considered until Pettigrew had made them aware of the consequences of staying.

"Yes... would be smarter." Amycus then gave Pettigrew a sinister look. "We will come with you."

Peter paled at the idea of having to spend probably years in the company of these two sociopathic thugs, who even in the ranks of the Death Eaters were somewhat infamous for their brutality - though of course no one could hold a candle to Bellatrix in that regard. That was not exactly going as he had envisioned it to go.

"W-with me?" Pettigrew stammered, horrified at the idea of being in the constant company of these sadistic sociopaths.

Alecto gave him a cold smirk. "Oh, we have to make sure you don't get second thoughts. That, and right now you are a pathetic wimp. But that can change."

"And it will change, or else..." Amycus added.

Pettigrew paled at the unspoken implications. He would have to shape up and harden quickly, or he wouldn't be able to survive what the Carrows had in store for him. Still, this was better than life in Azkaban; or Sirius killing him outright .

Peter Pettigrew vanished together with Amycus and Alecto Carrow from the United Kingdom that night, and no one would see them for many years.

...the next morning, 10 Downing Street...

Margaret Thatcher was not having a good day while trying to get the paperwork done in her office in 10 Downing Street. There was so much to do that she was working on a Sunday.

Others might think being the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a great thing, but with the current slump in the economy causing her to make highly unpopular decisions like raising taxes, and the still pressing high unemployment, some in the Conservative Party were questioning her leadership abilities. Add to it the constant headaches with Northern Ireland and no one would envy her for her job.

However, currently she again was having trouble with the nugget that James Callaghan had revealed to her when she took over the job.

She glanced at the ugly portrait of a rather frog-like man hanging near a corner of the room. That thing had proven to be the bearer of bad news far too often in the last two-and-a-half years. As if her current problems were not bad enough, having a civil war on British ground, fought by people who clearly gave a damn on its laws, was the cherry on top. Her anger was only increased by the death toll of innocent civilians who were targeted by the racist terrorists.

Worst was, there was nothing she could do about the problem.

At least not yet... she added, though she never would say so aloud in this particular room.

"Ahem."

She had to control herself to not ram her fountain pen into the documents when hearing this unwelcome voice. "Yes, what is it?!" She didn't bother with tact, since she knew that portrait was just a tool and little more.

"To Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: Minister for Magic, Millicent Bagnold, is about to arrive and needs to talk about an urgent matter."

"Alright, send her through..." She was already preparing herself for more bad news.

She did remember Bagnold's predecessor, Harold Minchum. A very unpleasant man, who was too much of a warhawk even for her tastes - which meant something. He also had not deemed it necessary to inform her of anything after his first visit. Well, the man got killed by the leader of the terrorists last year, which led to Millicent Bagnold taking over his job. At least that woman knew to keep her informed, since the whole mess did touch the whole United Kingdom.

Green flames erupted from the office's fireplace and Bagnold walked out. If anything, she looked even more tired than usual, but something was different. Thatcher had seen that expression before, when fellow politicians were relieved after a long campaign that they were elected, and that the ordeal was finally over. That actually aroused her interest, it seemed this visit could go different.

"Please tell me there aren't even more bad news, Misister."

Bagnold shook her head, clearly wanting to get to the point right away. "Finally good news, Prime Minister. He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken has finally died."

While she found it ridiculous that these magicals didn't even dare to speak the name of the terrorist leader, finding all kind of stupid ways to describe him, these news were welcome. "Finally. What happened?"

Bagnold didn't mind the way they were talking. In the past year she had lost her condescending attitude to the woman very quickly with the war wearing her down and realizing that her counterpart in the Muggle world was intellectually superior to most of the people in the Ministry. That, and in a way they both found a level of understanding due to both of them going through hard times while being in office.

"Details are still sketchy. He murdered the Potters, a very prominent and well-beloved married couple, and then tried to kill their toddler son. We have no idea what happened, but it resulted in an explosion that blasted him to pieces and partially destroyed the house. It's a real mess now, which I, as loathe as I am to say it, need your help with to clean up. Your side got involved in the aftermath and we don't have the manpower to deal with something at this scale on our own."

Thatcher had listened very carefully. "Better give me more details, if you want that mess to be cleaned up."

She gave her all she could, with the Prime Minister being busy with writing down the details, so that things could be done to prevent anything unusual from getting out to the public.

It was kind of a wild tale from the things that were known. Of a family friend turned traitor, which caused a tragedy, and the strange survival of the young toddler boy. There would be a manhunt for the traitor, which was made more difficult because he could turn into a rat of all things. Bagnold promised mugshots so that the traitor would be entered onto the terrorist list of the UK.

It took some time before all details were worked out.

"Thanks, it's a relief that you promised that the bodies would be released so we could give them a proper funeral," Bagnold finally said after all was agreed on. "At least that's something that can be done without uncertainties."

"What do you mean by that, Minister?" Thatcher asked her.

Bagnold sighed. "It will be a nightmare to find out who is guilty, and who was forced into it. I have no illusion that many of them will lie to save their skin and it will be next to impossible to prove that they are lying. Sometimes I hate my job."

Getting up, Bagnold walked to the fireplace, then remembered something. "Ah, yes. We managed to keep the news under wraps for now, but I expect it to have leaked by Tuesday. I know my people, they will act stupid in their relief, so your security apparatus should be forewarned."

That said, the Minister for Magic took some powder out of a small bag she carried and threw it into the fireplace, vanishing in green flames to return to her own ministry. Margaret Thatcher was left alone in her office. Leaning back in her office chair, she tried to collect her thoughts on what had been revealed to her by the other minister.

While that finally was one headache less, she was no idiot. Bagnold had revealed enough that she knew the upper echelons of these terrorists would lie and bribe their way to freedom, perhaps even continue to have influence over magical society. She was no pessimist when feeling this was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, and that Bagnold was naive to think they could clean house.

She knew Monday would be a very exhausting day for everyone, from her down to single police officers.

While starting to write up the needed memos at the trustworthy people in the apparatus to clean up the mess Bagnold told her of, she was already with her thoughts at the bigger issue and how their plans would need to get another boost, considering the news. The Ministry of Magic were quite narrow-minded, and wizards in general were always underestimating people with no magic of their own.

They knew far more than the Ministry of Magic could ever imagine and were well aware of the big picture. The magical government had little idea of their activities. Today had proven that things would go sour; in her mind this at best was a 20-year armistice, as the root cause of the conflict was still present, festering under the surface.

Once this paperwork is all out, I need to contact MI-X. We need to step up our game if we want to be ready once this fragile peace breaks down, she thought.

...the next day, November 2nd, Privet Drive...

How did Albus convince me to do this? Minerva McGonagall wondered while sitting on the garden wall of Privet Drive No. 4 as a cat, watching her targets.

She knew she should be in Hogwarts, keeping an eye on young Harry, who currently was in the care of Madame Pomfrey. The school itself currently was under lockdown, with all students being restricted to their house dormitories and lessons being suspended until further notice. Yet, here she was, watching people that, in her eyes, were not very nice: Petunia Dursley, her oafish husband Vernon and their little son Dudley.

Over the years she had heard small things from Lily that hinted how her relationship with her sister Putunia had deteriorated, but to see with her own eyes how this family was the bad counterpart to the Potters had come as a very unpleasant surprise.

I still can't believe Lily and James are dead, she thought in sorrow, then concentrated on her observations.

Still, the memories came anyway.

She remembered how she'd been woken up in the middle of the night, only to hear the news of the tragedy. She was not embarrassed how she had dissolved into tears at these news. Even worse were the news of who had sold them out, especially since it had only been a few years since she had been Peter Pettigrew's teacher. The Ministry officials had been set to arrive soon to verify Sirius' claims, but he needed her help first.

She had given him a serious scolding for invoking the Animagus transformation as a teenager, and she only then had agreed that there was no other way than to inform the Ministry of his animagus ability as well, if he wanted to tell them about Pettigrew's. She would spin it that these two only recently achieved the feat with her help, but didn't register yet due to the ongoing war situation.

That surprisingly had worked out perfectly and after the Ministry had confirmed the truth of Sirius' report, they had fed them the story. Considering the chaos magical Britain was in, they accepted it with no further questions after a quick demonstration and would set the proper procedure into motion.

She finally concentrated back on her task. Each of this family of thee she was observing was unpleasant in their own right.

Vernon Dursley was not only heavily overweight, he also carried around an attitude she had seen in many pure-bloods from lesser families: nasty social climbers that would walk over corpses to be successful. The way he had interacted with the milkman and the postman - with both men clearly trying very hard not to let it get to them - raised the frightening question how he treated those he felt were to be treated with scorn.

Petunia Dursley was equally unpleasant in her own way, and she couldn't believe this was Lily's sister - and that not only because they looked quite different. Her superficial and arrogant behavior made her quite comparable to some of the more bigoted pure-blood witches. The way she spied on the neighbors and then selectively used the information to play them against each other also spoke of someone unpleasant under the coat of normality.

She could not blame a child of not even two years for his behavior, if anything she was blaming his parents on how young Dudley Dursley was acting. Even if these people miraculously decided to treat Harry like their own son, if this was how they intended to raise him, she would fear for Harry's future. She shuddered what Dudley would be with such a rearing once older, and worse, the horror of Harry becoming like that.

No, she would make it clear to Albus that this was no option, regardless the magical protection possible. Sirius would surely be on her side in the matter.

Right now she was a bit bored. Petunia's fat oaf of a husband had already left for work some hours ago and watching Petunia failing miserably at raising her son properly got old real fast. Finally however, something happened when Petunia left the house with Dudley in a pushchair. In broad daylight the fact that such a young child already was overweight became even more glaring.

At least this means I can get some movement into my limbs. Being a cat meant no one would blink an eye at her presence and many would miss it entirely.

However, she was in for a surprise when Petunia stopped after walking into Magnolia Crescent on the way to the park.

From the distance she could see a removal lorry, with several removal men being busy with carrying furniture into a house. The main attraction however clearly was a confrontation between Petunia and man in his early twenties, with a young woman (his wife?) standing at his side. Feeling this could be important, McGonagall moved closer so she could hear clearly what this heated argument was about that made Petunia so angry.

Finally, she managed to hear what was going on.

"...and I can't believe you! We see each other again after years, I learn you have a son, and the first thing you ask is how I dare to live so close to you? Petunia, get you priorities straight!" the man growled, clearly displeased with whatever Petunia had said.

"Thomas Evans, I hoped to never see you again after you sided with my sister!" Petunia shot back.

Said Thomas Evans snorted. "Don't pull Lily into this. You know how much she hated that your parents favored her so blatantly. I tried to stay out of it until you started to blame her for your parents' errors and began to treat her like she doesn't exist."

"I can't believe you are my cousin; and now I have to endure you living so close by," Petuna huffed, before starting to leave, pushing Dudley's pushchair away.

"Thomas, you never told me your cousin is such a nasty woman," the young woman asked Thomas, the man clearly trying to calm down.

Thomas Evans sighed. "Veronica, first I didn't hear anything from neither Lily nor Petunia for several years, and now I find out that not only did Petunia have a son I didn't know about, but she has turned into a nasty shrew. That's not how I imagined the first day in our new home."

"I thought she would be happy to see family. After all, you told me her parents died mere months ago. I don't get it, your parents were really nice when you introduced me to them and said you plan to marry me," Veronica said, trying to understand Petunia's motivations.

"It's a long story. Come, I'll tell you inside."

Just when it got interesting! Watching them walk inside, McGonagall saw that the kitchen window was ajar. So sneaking to under the window, she listened in. She was very curious to hear what was going on, since Lily had never talked much about her family beyond her parents - even her sister only got sparsely mentioned due to the growing rift between the two.

"So, what's her problem?" Veronica, clearly Mr. Evans' wife, asked.

"To be honest, I don't know all the details, either. Somehow, Lily got accepted into some sort of exclusive boarding school at age eleven, and whatever school it was, it caused their parents to heap all kind of praise on her while neglecting Petunia. Needless to say, Petunia didn't take that well and left the parental hom as soon as she was done with school."

"Sounds like they were kind of a messed-up family and it all fell apart," Veronica observed.

Thomas snorted. "Understatement of the year. Petunia left hating them all and Lily was very unimpressed with her parents' attitude and left as well as soon as she was done with school. I had not heard of either of them until today. It's like Lily has vanished from the face of the planet, as if she never existed."

"Ah. And why was Petunia ready to rip your head off?" his wife asked further.

"She's unable to 'forgive' me my 'sin' of telling her that Lily is hardly responsible for their parents being unfair in playing favourites. I really don't want to talk about her anymore..."

Having heard enough, McGonagall quickly left and made her way to the park a little distance away, where she could de-transform between the trees unseen. Then sitting down onto a nearby bench, she tried to collect her thoughts.

She still felt that Dumbledore's plan was all kinds of stupid, but now a surprising alternative had opened up. None of them had ever wondered what else there was to the Evans family, so the fact that Lily did have a cousin - namely Thomas Evans - came a bit out of nowhere. This relation was more distant than Petunia, but the magic would still accept it. From what little she had seen, this couple looked very promising.

She would not make the same error that Dumbledore made, however. These people did need a personal visit to see if they could be entrusted with such an important task. This also would put Sirius at ease, the man having been very vocal about Dumbledore's plans ever since the Headmaster had explained them. Hopefully, this could defuse the whole situation that was brewing.

Checking again if she was alone, she apparated away to Hogsmeade - familiarity making it easy for her to bridge such a long distance.

o

I never noticed how eerie the castle appears when no one is around, McGonagall thought while walking through the empty halls of Hogwarts towards the medical wing.

With the students restricted to their house dormitories and lessons being suspended for the time being, the castle appeared virtually lifeless. The only sound she did hear were her steps on the stone floor. Granted, it also was like that during summer, but the knowledge that hundreds of students were only a short distance away, yet were unseen, made this so weird.

Finally reaching her destination, she entered and saw Madame Pomfrey watching a young Harry, who was sitting on a blanket, being busy with stacking brightly colored wooden blocks. The young boy completely ignored the new person in the room, being fully occupied with his - to him - fascinating task.

"Well, Poppy, how is your young patient doing?" she asked Pomfrey, relieved at seeing Harry being so active after the boy had slept for over a day.

"Oh, he is very well-behaved. I wish some of my normal patients would have such good behavior. You wouldn't even know that a madman tried to murder him mere two days ago," Pomfrey said in astonishment.

"And what about...?" McGonagall didn't have to finish that sentence.

"As you can see, nothing helped to make that scar on his forehead go away. I know it was done by the darkest magic imaginable, but there is no frame of reference I could work with, since no one ever before survived the Killing Curse. It's an enigma," Pomfrey admitted.

That lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead had become quite the concern when it turned out that even the Headmaster was utterly unable to determine what kind of dark magic could have caused it. Sirius especially worried what it could mean. Thankfully, at least whatever that scar was, it didn't seemed to bother Harry in the slightest.

"At least young Harry otherwise seems to be in good health." She then looked around. "Where is Sirius?" The man after all had watched over Harry like a hawk in the previous two days.

"Oh, he left almost half an hour ago. His friend Mr. Lupin told him something that made him want to have some choice words with the Headmaster," Pomfrey said, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near the Headmaster's office at the moment.

"I see." She hoped that Sirius' reaction to Dumbledore's plan didn't turn violent.

Leaving the medical wing, it didn't take long for her to reach the gargoyle that guarded the moving stairs up to the Headmaster's office. Surprisingly, she saw someone, although that particular person was no longer alive.

"Sir Nicholas, has something interesting happened that you are standing here?" she asked, noting how the gargoyle was not currently in its place, the path to the stairs being free.

"Ah, Professor," the ghost of Gryffindor house greeted her. "Well, it was mainly for the entertainment value. Young Mr. Black proved to be quite vocal with the Headmaster and I'm impressed at the sheer creativity he showed with his words."

McGonagall hoped that Sirius hadn't gone too far. "Anything I should be aware of?"

"Oh, Black implied that Aberforth's fascination with goats must have rubbed off, otherwise he couldn't explain the Headmaster's ideas. Sadly, that also was when Mr. Lupin arrived and managed to make his friend become more civil." If anything, Nick looked disappointed that his free entertainment was over.

She silently thanked Remus Lupin for being able to calm down Sirius. "Well, let's see if Albus is still in one piece. You make sure that no one leaves Gryffindor Tower; I know my lions."

"Yes, I know all too well that they would see it as a challenge." Sir Nicholas sounded a little resigned while floating away.

Entering the Headmaster's office, McGonagall was greeted with an uneasy peace.

Dumbledore tried to look unfazed while sitting behind his desk, but it was pretty obvious that Sirius' vicious verbal attacks had taken their toll on him. Sirius looked like he had to fight to stay civil, the mere idea of sending his beloved godson to Petunia clearly having upset him. Remus Lupin looked tired, clearly getting worn down from having to force Sirius to keep the peace.

From the perch beside the Headmaster's desk, his bonded phoenix, Fawkes, was following everything with a keen eye. McGonagall had known the bird for many years, but still was unsure of the exact connection between Albus and Fawkes. The bird did show a keen intelligence at times.

The portraits of Headmasters past tried not to look like they were paying attention, with one execption.

The portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black - the most-loathed headmaster in the long history of Hogwarts and Sirius' ancestor - looked highly offended. While she knew the man's portrait, like the living Phineas, found it easy to dislike people, it must have found Sirius' presence to be especially unbearable, considering how much he rejected everything the House of Black stood for.

"Ah, Minerva, you are back early. I was still trying to make Sirius see it from my point of view," Dumbledore geeted her, only to get interrupted by a snort from Sirius.

"And you are failing miserably. I'll tell you one last time: if you insist on your hairbrained scheme to send Harry to Petunia so you could invoke the blood magic, then I'll invoke my legal rights as godfather and you'll never see him again."

"Sirius, please," Remus pleaded with his friend. "You know I'm on your side. That will never happen, regardless how much the Headmaster insists."

Sirius needed a few moments. While Remus had almost instantly forgiven him for suspecting he could be the traitor, while it was Peter, Sirius still felt guilty for doubting his friend. Having calmed down, he looked to Dumbledore. "Nonetheless, your plan is horrible. Are you so used to seeing the big picture, that you have lost sight of what others really need? What use is the big picture then, well?"

Dumbledore said nothing, these words must have hit him unprepared.

McGonagall saw her chance to finally douse the fire. "Be reassured that this won't happen. My observations make it clear that the Dursleys are no option at all. From the way they treat their own son, I can say without hesitation that they are not fit for raising a child - especially not the son of people the Dursleys obviously have a severe dislike of. Send him there, and I predict either something bad happens to him or he'll become a broken person."

Having his Deputy spell this out finally took the wind out of Dumbledore's sails. "I see... This enchantment would have been so good at shielding him from those who want him harm." The Headmaster looked pained, like he finally became aware how much of an error he almost had made. Perhaps worse was for him, that he hadn't noticed the problem until McGonagall spelled it out.

Seeing Sirius' relief, McGonagall held up her hand. "However, I discovered something interesting while being in Little Whinging."

She then went on to describe Petunia's confrontation with Thomas Evans and what she'd further learned about Thomas and Veronica Evans. All three men listened attentively to her, while the expression of the Headmaster became a bit lighter, like he saw a new chance opening up with that discovery. When she was done, she waited for reactions.

"I had no idea that man even exists. Lily always was quite silent about her family and we all assumed that with her parents' deaths, Petunia is her only remaining family," Remus finally said, looking thoughtful. "While Dumbledore's original plan is unusable for obvious reasons..."

Sirius did not look happy with that turn of events. "Moony, you can't suggest..."

Remus held up a hand to silence his friend. "Hold up, Padfoot, I did not mean that you wouldn't play a big role in Harry's life. I only meant we can make new plans - plans that do involve you."

"Good..." Sirius then looked to Dumbledore. "However, we will talk to these people first. No way I'll do it your way and just dump Harry at their doorstep with a mere letter to explain things."

McGonagall's eyes widened. "Albus! What were you thinking?!"

Dumbledore held up his hands in defense, but didn't say a word. Going by his expression however, he himself only now, that it was spelled out, realized the consequences of his original plan. Without Sirius and Remus present, he probably would have overruled Minerva's concerns, probably thinking she was making a drama out of it. The thought itself was disturbing.

The phoenix Fawkes gave his bonded human an unreadable look from his perch. The immortal bird seemed to share a kind of communication with the Headmaster no one else could understand.

"He probably had thought nothing about it, not seeing the problem," Sirius said in his place, shaking his head. "Headmaster, you're great at seeing the big picture and making long-term plans, but perhaps you've become too comfortable with that role. The way you were unable to see Harry's actual needs until it was spelled out makes me think you should spend some time to think about your priorities."

Remus was impressed that Sirius had managed to become so calm after his earlier state of mind. "Nonetheless, what should be do about this new development?"

"Well, we won't just drop the boy into their laps, that's for sure. These people deserve an explanation, especially since they have no idea of the tragedy." McGonagall then held up a hand. "That, and we should take our time to think how to tell them. They were still moving in when I left. We should give them some time."

...two hours later...

"At least we look the part... Well, most of us," Remus said, rolling his eyes at Sirius' refusal to change his outfit.

"Hey, the institutional look goes with you maybe, but I need to express my free spirit," Sirius countered. "Be glad that none of us are as ignorant as a huge part of the magical population when it comes to Muggle fashion."

It had been decided that the Evans couple would react better if not being right away confronted with people in robes, which in turn had led to some problems of its own. Remus was secure enough in his knowledge of the non-magical world to wear a suit without trouble. McGonagall, thanks due to her duties of visiting the families of muggleborn wizards and witches, also didn't wear a dress that seemed to come out of the Victorian era, though it still looked quite conservative. Even Dumbledore, normally known with wearing garish colors, agreed after some debate that discretion would the better part of virtue.

No, it was Sirius himself who just had to stand out. With his jeans and leather jacket, he essentially looked like a biker - the matching tattoos on his arms were thankfully hidden by his jacket. Remus knew his friend had adopted that outfit to further distance himself from pure-blood society and especially his family of fanatics. After all, whenever Sirius got the chance to do something that could potentially annoy the Black clan - meaning his mother Walburga nowadays - he did it without any hesitation.

Having all apparated back into the park in Little Whinging, they were now walking down Magnolia Crescent to their destination, Sirius clearly enjoying the looks of disapproval he got from its inhabitants thanks to his outfit.

"Somewhat boring here. All the houses look alike," Sirius then commented. "Exactly the kind of neighborhood my mother would hate."

"Your mother hates everyone and everything, Padfoot," Remus reminded his friend.

"Yes, but it being a Muggle neighborhood would enrage her especially," Sirius replied, speculation that she probably would suffer a stroke if being forced to visit this place.

Walking up to the front door of Number 12, they rung the doorbell and then waited.

The door was moments later opened by Veronica Evans. She gave them a neutral look, though Sirius attire clearly sparked her disapproval. She also gave Dumbledore's long beard a curious look. "Yes, how can I help you?"

"Veronica Evans? We need to speak with your husband, Thomas Evans. It concerns his cousin, Lily Potter nee Evans," Dumbledore told the woman, having taken off his bowler hat.

Only now did Veronica connect the dots. The somber mood of these people, their dark clothes and the way the old man was acting... She quickly told them to come in. Inside it was quite obvious they were still moving it, but they did manage to find a somewhat comfortable seating arrangement.

"May I introduce ourselves. I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of the boarding school Mrs. Potter attended. This is my Deputy, Minerva McGonagall. These two gentlemen are Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, good friends of the Potter family," Dumbledore introduced their group.

"You... have news of my cousin Lily? It's been years since I've last seen her," Thomas asked as soon as he could without appearing rude, already fearing the worst.

"Sadly, it now is too late," Remus told him, taking no effort to hide his own grief.

"Great Lord..." Thomas needed a moment to accept the news that his cousin Lily was dead. "What... what happened?"

"On Halloween eve, Lily Potter and her husband James were murdered by a terrorist who was attempting to kill the entire family. Only their toddler son Harry survived," McGonagall told them somberly. "They got betrayed by someone they thought was their friend."

Both Evans were silent for some moments, trying to process these horrible news. Even though Thomas hadn't seen Lily in years and Veronica had never met any of them at all, this senseless murder hurt them deep inside.

"This...comes all of a sudden." Thomas clearly was trying to find words.

"We all needed time to understand that they are truly gone," Sirius said, speaking from experience.

They then gave the couple some time to process the news they had been given and answered a few inconsequential questions. Clearly, the unexpected bad news was taking a toll on them. It was only after a while that they approached the question both of them were wondering.

"What happens now to their son?" Veronica asked.

"I fear this is a very complicated matter. There are many things the late Lily Potter did not tell her extended family," Dumbledore tried to explain.

"It think it's better to just show them." Sirius then ignored calls from the others to wait and transformed into his animagus form.

Almost half an hour later, things were finally cleared up.

First both Evans had to be revived after fainting from seeing a man turn into a dog, and then they needed some time to calm down and accept that they had not turned insane. It took several further demonstrations of simple magic like levitating objects and and applying and reversing Transfiguration on simple items, for the couple to start and actually believe in magic. Everyone was patient with them, knowing how difficult it had to be to see something that went against all they knew.

Of course, first Sirius got seriously lectured by McGonagall on how foolish and dangerous it had been to do this, as there could have been better ways to show them. She also made him apologize for scaring the couple like that, forcing him to promise he would learn to be more tactful.

Thomas tried to get things into order in his mind. "So, you say that Lily went to a magic school, and that's why she was away for so much of the year?" Seeing confirmation, he sighed. "Is that why Petunia started to resent her?"

"It is connected," Dumbledore said. "I did not reveal this to anyone, but she actually at first was fascinated by magic and wanted to join the school as well, but when I had to explain to her that it was an inherited trait that she can't learn, it turned into resentment."

"You mean she cut her sister out of her life out of simple jealously?" Veronica asked, feeling this to be quite petty.

"Only partially," Remus tried to explain it properly. "Lily told me that Petunia probably would have come to accept this and just move on, if not for their parents fanning the flames. The way they always awed and praised Lily's magical abilities while dismissing anything Petunia accomplished as inconsequential, turned it into the hatred Petunia feels nowadays."

"Lily did try to reconnect to her, but that failed spectaculary, also due to James being too ignorant of non-magical things. The last time they saw each other was Petunia's wedding, and that relegated them just as background guests as a social obligation and little more.," Sirius explained, having heard the last bit from James.

"My aunt and uncle really messed up this one..." Thomas knew he shouldn't talk ill of the dead, but to think how this caused the rift between the sisters... "Now that we know the background, what exactly happened?"

"I won't go into too much detail for the time being. Over the past decade, the magical society of Britain suffered severely from a massive terrorist campaign. The goal of these fanatics was to topple the government and codify their belief of magical superiority into law. To them, people with no magic or magicals with a non-magical background have no right to live, perhaps apart from being slaves to service them," Dumbledore explained, knowing he couldn't sugarcoat it.

Thomas and Veronica remembered pictures from their history lessons ins school, showing Nazi extermination camps. The horrible word 'Untermenschen' also came to mind. "Ah, and I guess to these people collateral damage is something to be proud of, right?"

"It had been ten horrible years," Sirius admitted. "Everyone lost someone they knew, many innocents, magical or non-magical, were brutally murdered and a feeling of gloom had gripped everyone. That left wounds difficult to heal."

"Yes, it was a dire situation." Dumbledore didn't want to show how much these years had eaten at his substance. "And this is where to Potters come into it. I will give the details at a later date, but important is, that the leader of the fanatics, Lord Voldemort, came to see young Harry Potter as a threat."

"A toddler a threat? The man must have been quite irrational," Thomas said, noticing how Remus and McGonagall didn't react well to hearing that man's name.

"Irrational or not, it forced the Potters into hiding. Sadly, days ago one of their friends turned traitor and reported the safe house to Voldemort. Subsequently, Voldemort personally murdered James and Lily Potter and then attempted to do the same to young Harry."

Dumbledore tried to not show his own grief, while he continued. "Right at the moment the best I can make is an educated guess. For some reason, Voldemort's spell got reflected back onto him and it caused an explosion, destroying part of the house. It will take time for me to find out what kind of miracle saved Harry from a spell that has a 100% fatality rate on impact."

It was a grim tale, but it did rise a question. "I guess this now connects to why you are actually visiting us?" Veronica asked them.

"Yes, it is." Sirius prepared himself for what now would come. "You see, I'm Harry's godfather, and normally it now would be my sole responsibility to take care of him. However, circumstances arose that make the situation quite complicated. Voldemort might be gone, at least for now, but even though his organization is starting to fall apart, there are many of them ready to harm Harry out of sheer spite. Also, considering the sheer fame Harry will soon gain, he can't grow up in the magical world, or it will go to his head."

"Due to these factors, I intended to invoke ancient magic that would make it impossible for Harry's enemies to come within ten kilometers of the house that Harry calls his home," Dumbledore explained, but then looked uncomfortable. "However, a blood relative is needed for it to work, and my first thought was Petunia."

"What were you thinking?!" Thomas gasped, then realized why these people have come to them specifically. "You mean...?"

"The only alternative left would be your parents... If they are willing and capable," Remus added, not knowing the status of Thomas Evans' parents.

Thomas shook his head. "There is no way. Dad had been in a serious accident last year, lost a leg and went into early retirement. Mum now is already busy enough with his care. No way they can take care of him."

Veronica looked a little intimidated. "Thomas and me, we were talking about starting a family, but this comes all of a sudden."

Thomas took her hand. "We... we need to talk about this in private. Please excuse us for a moment."

Watching them walk up the stairs, Sirius sighed. "I hope they accept. They strike me as good people. They'll certainly not be alone with the job."

"Sirius?" McGonagall asked.

Sirius shook his head. "I won't leave them to carry this responsibility on their own, if they accept. I want Harry to grow up having his Uncle Sirius around. That decision becomes easier for me by the minute. My disillusionment with the magical world is already big enough."

Everyone knew what Sirius meant, but Remus in particular.

Growing up in the highly conservative, reactionary and obsessed with blood-purity Black family had already jaded Sirius, who despite his upbringing didn't like what the Blacks stood for. That his parents had - to put it mildly - not been nice people who felt nothing wrong with physically punishing him added to it. No wonder he left his family. After school was done, the war had soured him further on the magical world and the murder of two of his friends certainly wasn't helping, either.

"You know, Padfoot, I will stand by you, regardless what you decide. I honestly wouldn't fault you for making a hard cut," Remus told his friend.

That also was pretty obvious. As a werewolf, Remus had been subjected to pretty harsh racism - especially after leaving Hogwarts. His stellar academical merits meant nothing as soon as people learned of his medical problem. While Remus tried not to let it get to him, a certain frustration and cynicism had set in. No, he had only little hope finding a spot in the magical world; he would have better luck outside of it - after all he had already started working on it.

"You are an adult man and can make your own decisions." Dumbledore said absentmindedly. "We certainly can't dictate what you should do."

The Headmaster looked strangely thoughtful, as if he was using the time to think hard about something that was being on his mind. They had seen that before, when something was preoccupying him. They wondered what it could be.

Upstairs meanwhile, Thomas and Veronica were in a serious discussion.

"Even if we ignore the whole magic issue, which I still have trouble with, you know this will be a very serious step, you know?" Veronica told her husband, pacing in a circle due to how nervous she was.

"I know, this is not how we planned to start in our new home," Thomas agreed.

Now, originally they had planned that while Thomas would expand his software company - he was a firm believer that computers were the future and he did manage to find a market in businesses switching to the new machines - Veronica would would do a few more years of office work, before becoming a full-time mother. Only now, should they accept, these plans were no longer possible.

Thomas then continued, "What concerns me even more, is, that the only alternative is Petunia. You got a taste of her, would you entrust the boy to her?"

Veronica did remember not only Petunia's hostility, but also how seriously overweight her son already looked at such a young age. She was not a mother herself, but she had an accurate feeling that Petunia did not have the necessary skills for raising a child - especially not one from parents she hated.

She plopped down onto the bed, looking frustrated. "Regardless what we decide, sacrifices have to be made. Truth to be told, I'm already thinking about taking him in, but it's such a difficult decision."

Thomas held her close. "Don't worry. I know we'll find a way..."

It took some more minutes before Thomas and Veronica returned.

"Well, we know it is a big step, but after thinking about it. Yes, we will take Harry in," Thomas told them.

"However, before anything happens, we need to be informed thoroughly. No way we stumble into this due to not having all the possible information," Veronica added.

They knew it would take considerable time to give the couple the whole picture, but right now they did have the time. This already was going way better than expected, so they didn't want to risk making the Evans' rethink their decision.

...Tuesday, November 3rd...

Vernon Dursley had a perfectly normal Tuesday morning. He hummed absently while tying up his most boring tie - which to an outsider would be baffling as they all looked the same. Walking down the stairs, he saw Petunia struggling with putting Dudley into a high chair and couldn't help but smile at his son's antics.

Reading that morning's Daily Mail, he only heard with half an ear his wife telling him that the Wilkens from Number 6 next door were trying to sell their house, as they were ready to move. She always enjoyed telling him the newest gossip. Finally, at half past eight, he picked up his briefcase to leave for work, again being amused, this time about Dudley's tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.

Life couldn't be better.

They were a comfortably middle-class English family, nothing even hinting they were in any way out of the norm. Of course Petunia and him knew they had to improve their status, and that meant among other things expensive goods to play the game and impress people. His job at Grunnings was paying off nicely, so there were no financial problems, which ruined other families playing the game of social ascension.

Everything was exactly the way he liked it. They were a perfectly normal family; nothing unusual in sight, especially since they had worked hard to keep such influences away - a topic strictly taboo in their house.

However, from the moment he left with the car, the day slowly started to become stranger, and even he, who tended to ignore things that didn't fit with how he viewed the world, started to notice

It started with the unusual amount of people walking around in strange clothes that were slowly raising his alarm level. People wearing cloaks and strange hats in screaming colors started to make him uncomfortable, but he tried his hardest to filter it out. After a productive morning in the company - which involved lots of shouting at various people - his trip to the bakery across the road for a bun finally brought things to a point where he could no longer ignore it.

These weirdos in their strange clothes should have been warning enough, but them talking about the Potters and their son finally caused his finely tuned alarm bells to ring. Back at his desk he wrestled with the decision, but finally decided to not tell his wife over the phone. No, such things were better done in person.

The Potters were a very sensitive topic with his wife Petunia.

He'd only met James Potter two times - and that was enough for him to classify the man as a loon and someone he didn't want to ever meet again. The man's ignorance of even the most simple topics and his absurd comparisons were proof enough to Vernon that the man was a lost cause. Honestly, who talked about brooms as if they are the greatest thing since sliced bread?

Thank all goodness they had not been forced to interact with them during the wedding. All their co-workes from Grunnings took more priority than these two weirdos. Yes, in his mind Petunia's insane sister had married an equally insane man.

Petunia had tried very hard for the past few years to ignore the very existence of her sister. She'd never been especially forthcoming about the exact reasons, but he guessed it was the same reason way she moved out of her parents' home as soon as reaching adulthood. As for the Potter son, they'd never met him and he didn't even bother to learn his name, though he guessed Petunia knew anyway. Straining his memory, he guessed it was something starting with an H. Perhaps it was Harold or Harvey.

The way back home was not better, and it started right on the parking lot. Getting actually hugged by one of these freaks wearing a purple top hat of all things, who was deliriously happy about someone being gone, didn't improve his mood. He was just glad when he finally was home.

However, the evening news were not much better, and all the reports about strange things going on in the United Kingdom - strange lights, weather phenomena and unusual animal behavior - unnerved him so much, that he only listened to Petunia being happy over Dudley learning a new word ("won't!") with one ear.

Finally, after Dudley was in bed, he dared to approach the topic.

"Petunia, dear. Weird things have happened today," he tried to approach the topic.

"Really, did they?" Her mood visibly soured, since to her it was obvious what her husband meant.

He knew he had to be delicate about it. "Their crowd was out in the streets, talking about them. Has ... eh ... anything happened?"

Petunia shook her head. "If it did, I wouldn't know."

Vernon had guessed as much, but tried further. "Their son was mentioned. What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"

"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me." Petunia made no secret that her dislike of her sister also applied to Harry Potter - a boy she had never met. "Vernon, I'm done with these people. It brought me nothing but unhappiness. We agreed to never talk about that again, remember?"

Vernon knew this was the end of the discussion as far as Petunia was concerned. He decided to not annoy her further and simply forget the entire thing. After all, this freakishness would never touch their well-ordered lives after Petunia had cut her sister out of her life for good some years ago.

Oh, how wrong he was, though the impact would be more of an indirect nature.

...November 8th, Godric's Hollow churchyard...

It had been made clear to the magical press to stay out of the churchyard of Godric's Hollow while the funeral of James and Lily Potter took place. That was not only out of respect for the deceased and the mourners, but also because their behavior and inability to blend in would have caused a serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy, something the Ministry was enforcing hard after the serious breaches some days ago.

That was why the Aurors guarding the yard were dressed as Bobbys, in order to not attract attention, though those with little exposure to the Muggle world looked obviously unwell in the uniforms. The mourners themselves also looked perfectly ordinary, something that had taken even more pains to accomplish. It was baffling, especially to many muggleborn, how frighteningly ignorant wizards and witches could be of even the most basic things found outside of the bubble of the magical world.

It worked, however, in that the locals didn't ask any questions - needing an Obliviator squad was the last thing anyone wanted - and just saw the funeral of the inhabitants of the exploded house and police making sure to keep unwanted gawkers away.

Of course no one was naive. They knew these press vultures would be lurking on nearby rooftops or trees and use telescope charms on their cameras to get the pictures they wanted. It was pretty obvious newspapers and magazines would be plastered with illegally made photos. Some - especially Sirius - hated the very thought of the yellow press snooping into such a private thing.

Their main target - the very people that were rumored to have accepted guardianship of Harry Potter - had tried everything to not present any clues to their identity, the cold weather thankfully making it easier for them to put on a good disguise.

Thomas felt a bit stupid wearing a wide-rimmed top hat and big sunglasses together, and the high collar obscuring the lower half of his face only added to it. Veronica felt little better with the black headscarf wrapped around her head and over the lower half of her face and the big sunglasses obscuring her eyes. However, the disguise was good; no one would be able to identify them. Harry, whom Veronica was carrying in a harness on her front, didn't need a disguise, since children at that age looked utterly alike.

Petunia was not present. Even though that was little surprise to Thomas, as it was him who had given her the news and heard her reaction, he still felt a bit hurt by it. Petunia being petty enough to continue her enmity to Lily even postmortem went to far in his book.

He could see the vultures who were greedily making their pictures, they were not as good at hiding as they thought they are, and he felt revulsion. Make your pictures. This is the last time you'll see him for ten long years!

Finally, the coffins with the deceased married couple arrived, each of them carried on the shoulders of four men. Sirius and Remus were at the very front, carrying the coffin of James Potter. Everyone became silent while following the sober procession to the gave that would be the final resting place of the Potters.

Sirius, while carrying James' coffin, couldn't help but to feel more bitterness coming up. In his mind it was the sheer inability of the magical world to learn from the past - the Muggels certainly did - that caused him to lose his friends. It was adding to all his recent thoughts and his decision was starting to form.

Looking down while the coffins were being lowered, Veronica noticed that Harry had fallen asleep.

Maybe it's better that way. He wouldn't understand anyway at this age, but it still is too depressing, she thought.

After all, the obituaries were now starting.

o

With the funeral over, Albus Dumbledore was returning to Hogwarts. However, instead of taking the short route, he had first decided that he needed a drink and some words with his brother, so he had went to the Hog's Head first. While Aberforth had not exactly been thrilled to see him, the conversation with him had been surprisingly civil, especially after he had told Aberforth about what was keeping his mind occupied.

His brother's as usual blunt answers were very welcome and actually gave him some well-needed perspective.

Now he was walking through the halls of Hogwarts to his office, students in the corridors looking in confusion at their Headmaster. After all, they normally always saw him wearing wizard robes - often in widely eccentric or clashing colors. Seeing him wearing a black Muggle suit complete with a black top hat, confused them to no end, while many pure-blood students looked highly offended. Perhaps he should do this more often.

Of course, many also didn't blink an eye - namely the majority of those wearing Muggle clothes at this Sunday. It was a sign of changing times. The muggleborn percentage of students was rising with each year and many of them started to no longer feel the need to conform to magical society in everything. The recent war - ironically - would only accelerate this development with the deaths of so many pure-blood and half-blood families. He could see the future conflicts arising from this trend.

Finally, he was in the sanctuary of his office, with Fawkes as his only living company - the portraits after all were not exactly alive. His eyes for a moment lingered on the the silver instruments sitting on a small table. These were a recent addition and monitored Harry's well-being. As he'd explained to the boy's guardians, to assure them no spying was involved, these were an alarm system in case of emergency, and nothing more.

Setting the top hat on his desk, he leaned back in his office seat, trying to collect his thoughts. These things were on his mind for days now, and he knew why they bothered him so much. Sirius' harsh words had hit deeper than the man knew. The picture most of the outside world had of him had no basis on the real man, yet, as his brother had put it bluntly, it seemed like he had started to actually believe some of it himself.

"Fawkes, my friend, perhaps you can lend an old man a patient ear?" he asked the phoenix.

The fiery bird gave him his full attention and chirped something that could be an answer in the positive.

"Recently, I've started to question myself. I know Sirius said some of the things he did in the heat of anger, but what he said made me start look at myself," he started to explain while taking a sherbet lemon. "It's... not exactly what I expected to see."

He chewed on the candy, before he continued. "After the disaster with Gellert, I vowed to never again strive for power, since I couldn't be trusted with it. So far, that still holds true. However, power is not the only weakness a person can suffer from, and I fear I might have fallen into some of them."

Fawkes moved his head slightly, as if to say 'continue'.

"Could it be..." Dumbledore sighed. "Could it be, that I've become too set in my ways, become too inflexible and lost sight of what's truly important for those affected by my actions? What is that expression in Gellert's first language? Ah, yes. Ich sehe den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht mehr."

Fawkes let out some chirps, as if to comment on it.

"Yes, you are right. Hasty actions won't do any good. I have to carefully look at myself and my actions. What I've seen by now is not exactly painting a flattering picture of myself. Others would just say they are too old to still change their ways."

Getting up, Dumbledore walked to the small case holding his Order of Merlin First Class award, which he'd gotten for defeating Grindelwald in 1945. It seemed so long ago by now. He'd been a very different man back then; much more proactive and not afraid of possible risks. Then several years later he'd become the Headmaster of Hogwarts and made himself comfortable in the status quo. Even the war against Voldemort had not changed his outlook, having acted mostly passive during it despite some highly memorable actions, including two very nasty encounters with Voldemort himself.

Sirius was right, I did become way too comfortable in my ways and lost sight of what those I'm responsible for really need.

Hearing knocking on the door, he was pulled out of his thoughts. "Yes, Horace, you can enter."

"Even after years I still wonder how you do it," said the overweight Horace Slughorn, the Potions Master of Hogwarts, while entering the office.

"Oh, I do have my ways." Dumbledore then walked to his desk. "I guess this is about you wishing to retire after this school year is over?"

"Yes. Recent events convinced me that now might be the time to enjoy the fruits of my labour," Slughorn told him. "Of course I would prefer you find a replacement for me in time."

Dumbledore's thoughts went to Severus Snape, who only got cleared thanks to his help, despite the wrongdoings he did. True, it had been a morally difficult to justify decision, since Snape had done some really nasty things, and thus it made Dumbledore feel very unwell, but he needed Snape to be free if the man were to keep his promise. He knew Snape was an expert in Potions, but actually dreamed of getting the Defense job.

No way however he could give the man that job, since by now he was sure Voldemort had cursed the Defense position and it was not clear if the recent events had lifted the curse. Horace however had opened an alternative that would allow him to keep Snape close. Of course he would make himself few friends with the decision.

Sirius already knew that Snape was kept free for certain reasons - something that added to their somewhat strained relations. Though Sirius didn't know the elephant in the room, or he would outright murder Snape, something Dumbledore didn't want, as it would get Sirius straight to Azkaban.

Also, Horace's behavior was strange. He seemed way too happy that Voldemort had seemingly died. Happiness would be understandable, but there was too much of it. He had however not asked Slughorn about it, feeling it could cause the man to make a snap decision. Still, learning he would lose one of his longest-serving teachers would occupy him for some time.

I hope this goes smoothly, Dumbledore thought, while addressing Slughorn.

"Well, Horace, I already have a young man in mind who could take over." Part of him felt that he was making a serious error.

to be continued...

Next Episode:

"Aftershocks"

Notes:

Here the notes.

All start is difficult for a new story. If you noticed, this story will take numerous chapters before Hogwarts, thus for the time being, the adults are the protagnists. Harry and his friends will start taking a small role a few chapters later, but since they are young children, it will grow only slowly. It won't be until chapter 10, when their roles will start to grow significantly.

As you see, I did subvert the plot that Sirius takes care of Harry... except, in a way he still does. I did use the fan theory around Mark Evans to build onto that.

You probably noticed I used dates. Will, J.K. Rowling was really bad with dates in canon (the date of Halloween 1981 a being prime example). I always use a calendar to make sure that things happen at the correct dates or dates that are plausible.

If you notice Hagrid's accent missing. I simply can't write accent, so he'll speak normally (same will later go for Fleur and Md. Maxime).