Harry Potter sat in the dirt near the school yard trying to find the strength in his limbs to stand despite the beating his cousin and his gang had inflicted upon him. It had started as usual with the standard derogatory comments about his clothes (which were once Dudley's), his parents (despite the fact that Dudley's parents were worse than anything they or Dudley could come up with) and the fact that Harry had no friends (due to Dudley pounding anyone who so much as said 'hello' to him on a regular basis). He really didn't care about his clothes and knew that the Dursleys were worse than what they said about Harry's parents which made those comments very suspect even to a seven year old like Harry. It was the lack of friends that really bothered him.

Having friends would mean someone could see that he wasn't just a 'good for nothing freak' as his Aunt and Uncle frequently said. The only problem he saw with this was that strange things did happen to him on occasion; his hair growing back last month when Aunt Petunia shaved him near bald save his fringe and somehow finding himself on the roof of the school kitchens while jumping behind a row of bins to escape Dudley.

Finally gathering some strength, mainly due to the fact his cuts and bruises were not so sore now; he clambered to his feet and headed off to his classes. The beating he received and the required recovery time meant that he arrived to class ten minutes late for which he was given a detention and sat at the back of the class next to two new girls whom he had never seen before. He knew that they must be new students. He got out those pencils he had that had not been stolen or broken by various persons in the class (cough Dudley cough cough) and began to complete the set questions. Once he had completed them, with the required mistakes of course to make sure he wasn't going to be showing up his cousin, he looked over to the two girls on either side of him. The girl to his left was slight, with wavy mouse brown hair blue eyes and a prominent nose, though not protruding. This girl was still working through the problems shown though from the look of it was nearly finished.

To his surprise the girl to the right, with bushy brown hair, brown eyes and slightly overgrown front teeth was already finished and was reading "Matilda". Harry had already read the book a few times in the public library and was quite fond of it and read it when he had the chance to go there when his relatives forgot to give more chores after he finished.

"Do you like that book?" he asked her.

"Yes it's nice," she replied. "This author is really good, he wrote a lot of books and though he tends to write ones a bit shorter than most authors like Jane Austin his quality of writing is much better than most. I'm Hermione by the way, Hermione Granger."

"Harry Potter," Harry replied. "I like that book too; I've read it a couple of times at the library when my relatives forget to give me more chores."

"Do you like the author? There are several books that I've got that he wrote and most are really nice. You said there was a library here, can you show me where it is?" she spoke going quite fast. It took Harry several seconds to break down the words and put them in the sentences slow enough that he could understand her.

"Yes I like what he's written that I've read, but my Aunt and Uncle aren't going to be happy that I was late and I have to wash the car and clean the kitchen when I get home from detention so I can't show you today," Harry told her feeling let down.

"Why were you late? You didn't look well coming in," Hermione asked looking curious.

"Dudley and his gang beat me up before school," he said. "He's the one over there, the blond one who looks like a pig in a wig."

"The one who looks like he's aiming to be wider than he is tall?" she asked surprised at the size of him compared to Harry. Harry was a stick while the statement she made looked to be near fulfilment.

"That's him."

"Why didn't you tell the teacher?" she asked shocked that he didn't go to someone in authority to put a stop to it.

"I tried before but they just said I was lying and told my Aunt and Uncle. When they do I get chucked in my cupboard for a few days," Harry said calmly.

"Your cupboard what do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Where I sleep," he said sounding a little ashamed.

"You sleep in a cupboard?" gasped the girl on his left looking horrified. Harry just nodded.

"How could anyone do that?" she asked in a whisper. "That's horrible! Just letting you out to eat, go to school and the bathroom. Remember when my parents shut me in my room for a day for breaking their china tea set in a tantrum. That was bad but a cupboard would be horrible!"

Harry hesitated and Hermione noticed after looking confused for a few seconds a look of dawning comprehension appeared on her face.

"They didn't let you out at all did they?" she asked with tears in her eyes. She finally saw why he didn't stand up for himself and why he was so thin. He shook his head.

Both girls were silent as what he told them sank in. "I'm Sally-Anne Perks, you said your name was Harry didn't you?" she asked.

"Yes Harry Potter," he said.

"Well Harry, what about your friends?" Sally asked

"I don't have any, Dudley beat up anyone who came near me," Harry said. "You shouldn't really talk to me. He'd hurt you."

"We're not scared Harry. I know I didn't have any friends at my old school because everyone who came near me was ostracised," Hermione said.

"Same here, what does ostrakised mean?" Sally asked.

"Made an outcast," Hermione replied. "So would you be our friends?"

"O-Ok," he stuttered.

Harry was astonished that anyone would want to be his friend. No one had ever come near him willingly without trying to tease or beat him. Now suddenly two girls wanted to be his friends and so he was naturally suspicious. People had done this a couple of times before; come close, pretend to be his friend and then turn on him at the first opportunity. These two however didn't do anything of the sort and they talked for the rest of their free time during class. That time was over very quickly to Harry and he like everyone else left for lunch. Taking his sandwich that his aunt had reluctantly packed when people at school enquired as to why he never had anything to eat for lunch, he and his two new friends (hopefully) sat down on a secluded bench to eat.

Within minutes however the 'Fearsome Four' as the kids had dubbed them, made their appearance.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," Dudley said. "The freak and the newbies. You two girls don't want to hang around with the freak here; he'll probably steal your stuff and try to blame others for it."

"Go away Dudley," Harry said.

"Yes you are nothing but a fat bully," Hermione said much to Harry's shock. This was usually the part where people decided to give him the slip and leave him to the Fours less than tender mercies. "I saw Harry in class and he's much smarter and a much better person than you so go away."

"Well you would like him," Dudley replied. "What's going on with your teeth? You look like a beaver. Beaver face!"

The rest of the gang started chanting "Beaver face!" over and over at Hermione and Harry did something he had never done before; he gave Dudley a shove sending him back on his backside.

"You'll pay for that freak!" said Dudley as he got back up and the rest of the four backed him up. One of them grabbed Hermione's metal lunch box and lifted it up to hit him on the head with it while another grabbed Sally's folder to do the same. Dudley and Piers, the remaining two both grabbed hold of Harry by both of his arms.

Then everything happened at once. Hermione and Sally started forward to try and get their possessions off the two and use them themselves, both the file and the lunch box flew up out of the bullies hands and began hitting them on the head repeatedly much to their and the two girls surprise and both Dudley and Piers' clothes caught fire. All four ran away screaming, and the two on fire were quickly shoved to the ground by a teacher which made them stop, drop and it was found that Dudley despite his shortcomings elsewhere, was a champion at rolling. After a few seconds of pursuit from the animated inanimate objects, the pounding stopped and they both flew back to the two girls who caught them automatically.

All three were shocked by what had happened, they each had had several inexplicable things happen to them before yet nothing seemed to be as potent or as overt as these. Harry was practically shaking as he realised he had just set Dudley on fire with no idea how he did it, this would mean he would get a terrible punishment.

Just then a teacher came up and tried to find out what had gone on. She was an eye-witness to the folder and lunch box chasing them but she was going to find out how Harry had supposedly set the other two on fire. She checked and saw that he had no cigarette lighters or matches and there was no smell on his hands so she was forced to conclude that Harry could not have set the two boys on fire so for completeness she checked the two girls with the same results.

All three were taken to the headmaster's office who informed him that the two who were attacked by the folder and lunch box suffered minor cuts and bruises. Dudley and Piers were more serious; both suffered third degree burns to twenty percent of their body and two and a half degree burns to another twenty five percent. They were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. All three children looked horrified and both girls started crying, particularly when the four policemen arrived and the three children were taken to the police station.

Hermione was shaking with fear, she knew she was in trouble for what happened and she knew that there was no logical explanation for what happened. What made it worse was that the two boys had been badly hurt, she had been told about how burns were classified, first degree was minor, just the first layer of skin, the dead layer, was burned and would usually peel and recover fairly quickly. Second degree was worse, the burn was to the second layer of skin, the real living layer and those took time to heal and were very painful. The next step was two and a half degree where the whole of the second layer was burned almost to the third layer and were the most painful and did slightly more damage. The third degree burns were the worst, they didn't hurt only because the skin was damaged to badly to be able to tell you it was hurt, the pain receptors and nerves were damaged and could result in permanent scarring.

She was led to an interrogation room by an officer there and was given a glass of water and told that her parents were being called and would arrive soon. While she waited she mulled over what had gone on that day. It had started out almost normal; she got up and put on her new uniform for school. She was looking forward to learning and hoped that she wouldn't be teased too much and maybe make a friend who wasn't after her homework. On arriving in class she was shown to her seat and told that there would be another new person in class that day and the two were introduced to the class. Ten minutes into the lesson a tiny boy walked in looking like he had been in a fight and the boy was promptly given detention for being late and sent to the back of the class. To her something seemed off; the boy seemed to be at most a first year, not a second year like the rest. He looked like he had been thoroughly beaten by whoever did that to him and his quiet acceptance showed that he really didn't seem to be the type that got into fights.

The boy was pushed to the back of her mind when they were given a set of questions and she set upon them eagerly, trying to impress the teacher and her parents with her work. After doing them in ten minutes she finished and got out her book to read. After a minute of reading she heard a soft voice from next to her.

"Do you like that book?"

She looked up and saw the boy who came late looking at her and her book. She answered in the affirmative and told him that she liked the author. He surprised her by saying that he had read that book and a few others at the library. She was hopeful that she had finally met a kindred spirit and they talked about their time before in other schools. She was shocked to learn of Harry's home life and spent an entire hour of the class talking about everything and anything with her two new friends Sally and Harry.

Then everything went wrong in the first few minutes of lunch.

The four bullies started in on Harry and Hermione knew that she would need to say something. Harry was her friend and she was not going to abandon him to these four, they were obviously the ones who had given him the beating that put him in such bad shape this morning. The four then turned on her and to her astonishment Harry defended her, even pushing Dudley as she remembered his name was onto his butt. The four then attacked Harry grabbing Hermione's lunch box and Sally's file to hit him while the other two grabbed him.

That was when one of her weird inexplicable things happened. She had known several things that occurred with no logical explanation before but this was the most overt of them all; her lunch box flew out of the bully's hands and started hitting him on the head as was Sally's file. The most astonishing was Dudley and his pal who were holding Harry caught on fire somehow. She was shocked to see the two friends she had do the same sort of things that kept happening to her. She realised that she was not alone with these things.

That's when she found out just how much trouble they were in. Two of the boys were in hospital, they were taken to the headmaster's office and the police were called. She was taken to the station along with Harry and Sally where she waited now for her parents to arrive so she could be questioned. They would be furious, she had put two people in hospital with her two friends and it was one of those weird things that no one could explain. She wandered what would happen to her, she didn't' know much about law, just what she had picked up from her parents talking. It was one area that she hadn't looked at in the libraries that she had frequented in her previous neighbourhood so she was completely in the dark.

It was over an hour before the door opened again and her mother walked in with a police officer. She sat down at a table with her mother at her side and the constable opposite her. She was shivering and her mother had her arm around her trying to calm her. The constable started with the standard recording lingo of date, time and the names of the people there before asking Hermione to tell him her version of what happened. She did so, outlining what had happened in class before and telling him everything she could remember about the boys, what they did, what Harry, Sally and herself had done. The only bit that she had trouble with was the ending, the cause of the injuries. After she finished she was asked a few questions about some details and she answered, all the while trying to stop herself panicking, imagining all the bad things that could happen. She could be locked away; she could be taken from her parents. For a second when she looked at her mother's face when she described how Dudley caught fire she feared her parents wouldn't want her around but that was the only one she could quash quickly.

After the interview finished they were left in the room while the officer talked to his colleagues and her mum asked if it was one of those strange things again to which she said yes and that Harry and Sally could do them too. Her mum looked thoughtful and commented that they should look into these things more closely to find out what causes them. Hermione agreed heartily, she was always eager to learn and she was starting to calm a bit as she didn't seem to be in too much trouble so far.

It was then that the constable returned and took them to a room where Harry, his aunt and uncle, Sally and her parents were already sitting. They were left in that room together and Hermione ran to Harry and hugged him and Sally. Jason and Emma Granger watched closely and were surprised to see Harry cringe when Hermione hugged him, finally relaxing after a second as Hermione started talking about what they had each done and gone through while being interviewed. They looked at each other knowing that both of them had caught his cringe and a look at Sally's parents showed that they too had caught it. They began to speak to the Harry's aunt and uncle and after less than a minute they realised that they were both unpleasant characters; conceited, nosey, arrogant and snobbish. They worshiped money and status and their opinion of Harry was obviously very low.

Sally's parents, Sue and Charles were much better in their opinion. They thought the world of Sally and her two younger brothers and were well respected, a well known nurse and lawyer respectively. It was them that spotted some of the signs.

"I don't like how Harry carries himself," Sue said her voice neutral with a hint of an emotion that they couldn't place. "How he seems to be timid with any movement. Did you notice earlier how he cringed when hugged?"

"'Course," Dan said. "What do you think about it? Could have been nervous that Hermione would be angry he got her into trouble which he didn't."

"It's not just that," Charles said his eyes narrowed as he looked at the children. "He's way too small; he's barely the size of our boys and their five, he has a pinched look and his eyes have a hint of fear."

"I've seen that look quite a few times before," Sue said grimly. "Whenever an abused kid comes in they look similar. At a glance he has been badly beaten recently and looks malnourished. Also those are not prescription glasses, I can tell from here. They are just cheap ones you can pick up for a few pounds at a pharmacist, not proper glasses."

"You think he's been abused at home?" Emma asked sharply. She hated child abuse in all forms; she had worked hard to have Hermione and again for another child. They had recently been forced to admit that they would never have another child and so children were precious.

"I'm fairly certain, though I'd need to talk to Harry first," she replied. "Sally?" she called. "Would you like to introduce us to your new friend?"

The trio hurried over, Sally and Hermione leading with Harry tagging along behind.

"Mum, Dad, this is Harry and Hermione," Sally said happily. She was glad to have friends now and on only her first day. She was sure that her daddy would help her as he was a lawyer and could work the courts.

"Hello Mr and Mrs Perks," said Harry shyly, his voice very quiet and seemed to want to blend into the background.

"Call us Sue and Charles dear," Sue said kindly. "Are you alright? You don't look well."

Harry hesitated, he knew that to tell adults what his aunt and uncle did would get him nowhere and would most likely get him shut away with no food for even longer. They might even give him a bad beating at home.

"He's hurt mummy, he was beaten up before school and his aunt and uncle are mean to him," Sally said.

"How are they mean?" Charles asked looking between Harry and Sally.

"T-They," Harry started. "They hit me when I don't do all my chores fast enough, then they lock me in my cupboard and don't let me have the scraps for tea."

All four adults were appalled with not only what he said but what he implied with his main points. It was not that he was locked in, it was where, it was not just that he was denied food but he implied that scraps were what was usual for him. They knew that this was genuine; no kid would be that subtle in his accusations unless coached and his physical shape told the rest. That decided it for them all, they were telling the police.

"Have you told anyone else about this?" Jason asked.

"I told the headmistress once, but they moved me out and by the time anyone came to check there was nothing wrong," Harry said. "They found out before and hit me when they were gone."

Harry then spilled a lot of information, beatings, starvation, his constant chores and doing everything around the house and his living conditions. He didn't know why he was telling them this but once he started talking he just couldn't stop, everything came out in one go. Hermione and Sally were in tears by the end and their parents looked murderous. They all knew that if it was even half as bad as Harry made out those people were going to be behind bars for a long time.

A few minuted after Harry finished the officers came back in.

"Well, what are they going to be charged with," barked Vernon impatiently.

"There is nothing to charge them with," a sergeant said. "We could find no trace of ignition sources on their hands; we found no matches or other lighters on them. Then there were the flames; they erupted simultaneously on both boys all over, the only way that could have happened was if they poured petrol on them which didn't happen. The other two boys who were apparently beaten with the file and lunch box had stories that contradicted each other while witnesses said none of the three laid hands on any of the four boys. Put simply there is no evidence that they committed a crime and we are simply baffled as to how any of this occurred in the first place."

"WHAT!" Petunia screamed. "They hurt my Dudders and they get off!"

"There is no evidence that they did anything Mrs Dursley," another officer said. "Thus there is no way we can charge them."

"Of course that freak did it!" shouted Vernon. "They all did! They always do freaky things like that and they make you think they had nothing to do with it!"

"That's enough Mr Dursley that was uncalled for," the sergeant said sternly.

"Sergeant could we speak with you on a related matter," Emma said her voice grim. "In private thank you."

"Of course," he said and led both Hermione and Sally's parents through to another room. Once there the four voiced their concerns as to Harry's welfare, citing their prior experience, observations and Harry's story that he told them in the room. Needless to say the sergeant was deeply disturbed when they recounted Harry's story and when they mentioned his previous attempt to seek help was covered up by his relatives he agreed that they should search the Dursleys house immediately before they could try to hide the evidence again.

"We should be able to search without a warrant because we have good suspicion that a crime is being committed in that house," he said. "I'll get another few officers and go around there soon but I'll need to speak to Harry first."

Once they agreed, Harry was taken to a room for a formal statement, obviously his guardians were absent and so Charles offered to stand in as a lawyer on Harry's behalf. It took Harry ten minutes to give his statement of the events of his life and when asked if he had proof of this he offered to show them his cupboard where he slept and showed him the scars on his back. The sergeant was furious and asked him if he would go home with his Aunt and Uncle and they would follow behind which Harry agreed to. Once the kids were released Harry was half dragged to his Aunt and Uncles car with the threat of "a good solid beating when you get home." He hoped that the policeman would be there quickly.

Hermione was relieved that she wasn't in any trouble for what happened at school today. She sat in the back of the car and relaxed though her mind was whirring. So much had happened to her today; just this morning she was the new girl with no friends trying to settle in a new school. Now she had two new friends who also had strange things happen to them. The only down note was Harry was going back to his relatives and things there were really bad. She couldn't believe that anyone would do something like that to someone like Harry; she just couldn't get her head around it.

"Mummy," she asked. "Why did Harry's aunt and uncle do those things to him? He was so nice, why would anyone do that?"

Emma sighed, saddened that her daughter had to see the cruelty of the world so early. "Sometimes people are just bad like that. I doubt Harry did anything to them and in any case nothing could justify them doing that. They just do that because they can."

"That's horrible," Hermione said with tears in her eyes. "Why are they like that?"

"I don't know angel," Emma said sadly. "Some people are just bad like that. There is no explanation. I just hope that the police would put them away for a very long time."

"And what would happen to Harry after that?" Hermione asked. "Where would he go?"

"He would probably go to a children's home," she replied. "If he has no parents or relatives he would be put in government care and possibly adopted."

"Will I ever see him again?" Hermione asked tearfully.

"I don't know sweetheart," Emma said gently. "Possibly. But it all depends on where he goes."

"Could we adopt him?" Hermione asked. "I've always wanted a brother. Could we mummy?"

Emma sat, lost in thought as she pondered the question that Hermione had asked. She had been worried about her daughter at her old school, she had been friendless and bullied by most and had a lot of false friends but Harry had stood up for her against four larger opponents. There was also the way that Harry had opened up to them; something about Harry had just clicked with Hermione. She could see that from how they seemed to be friends from the very beginning, after just an hour they were tight as if they'd known each other for months if not years.

The idea of adopting Harry was very tempting; she wanted another child to look after and love and watch grow and here was one that practically landed in their laps. A friend of Hermione, looking for a home with love in it, seemed to like books and even had the strange tendency to have inexplicable thing happen around him like Hermione did.

"I think that's a good idea Hermione," she said. "Your farther will be home by five from the clinic and I'll discuss it with him but I think he would say yes."

"Thank you mummy!" she squealed bouncing excitedly in her seat.

"That will all depend on if Harry is released from his relatives care and is available for adoption," Emma said. "So don't go getting your hopes up yet. Wait 'till he is able to be adopted before you start expecting him to be part of our family."

"I know mummy but this will be great!" Hermione said excitedly. "This is the best day of my life!"

Sergeant Halaway was following about half a mile behind Vernon Dursleys car on its journey back to Privet Drive. He and his partner were well prepared to search the house and find the evidence promised, the mannerisms Harry had shown fitted with his own experiences with abused children though luckily he had met very few of them. Thus he was confident that they would find evidence enough to put the two away for a long time, the only problem would be to get there and search before Harry was hurt. He hated that they had just enough evidence to justify a search for more but not enough to remove Harry from their custody or even detain them while they searched. He knew that an event like this could easily lead to physical punishment to Harry so he tried to time it so he would arrive just after the Dursleys got through the door. That way Harry wouldn't be hurt and they could get him out and those two behind bars quickly. That is if everything went according to plan.

He finally turned onto Privet Drive just in time to see Harry be pushed through the door which was slammed behind Vernon a few seconds later. He parked on the verge outside No 6 and both he and his partner got out and walked quickly towards No 4, peering through the window as he saw Harry being dragged into the living room and Vernon shout, "You're going to get it now freak!"

They quickened their pace as they headed towards the door, before movement in the living room caught his eye. Vernon was pulling a golf club out of a bag and telling his wife to pin the boy down so he could beat him. His original plan was to knock on the door and inform them of the search but that plan was scrapped as soon as he saw that. With a nod to his partner they drew batons and Tasers and went straight through the door which was still unlocked. Upon seeing Vernon raise the club about to bring it down on the boys' legs, he snapped up his Taser and fired. Four sharp barbs buried themselves in the vast expanse of Vernon's chest and delivered a large electric shock, dropping him and the club to the floor.

"How dare you do that to my Vernon!" Petunia screamed, grabbing the club and swinging it at them. Halaway's partner quickly deflected the blow with his baton and hit her on the hand with it, breaking a few bones and causing her to drop the club. Harry quickly scuttled out of the way towards the kitchen away from the screaming and fighting as the two officers charged Petunia off her feet, pinned her and snapped handcuffs on her. They read her, her rights and led her off to the car while another car pulled up to collect Vernon and look for evidence. He knew that he could get them for attempted assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and all he had to do was search for evidence of abuse.

This was turning into an eventful day.

Hermione was bouncing excitedly and anxiously on her bed, thoughts flashing through her head as she waited for her parents to call her downstairs. Her dad was home and her parents were debating whether they would adopt Harry or at least become his guardians or not. She was very eager to have Harry as a brother; he was the only person who stood up for her apart from her parents, the only one who she could relate to on a child's level. Someone who had the same problems and had the weird stuff happen. She decided to distract herself from thinking about the adoption by trying to figure out what the weird stuff was.

She approached the problem logically; the two boys caught fire and the two objects kept hitting the other two on the head by themselves. She considered bouncing properties of the devices and knew that there was no way they would do that on their own. Somehow they were made to do that, just like magic. It struck her like a bolt of lightning, magic!

That was the only solution, the only thing that filled in the blanks. She and probably Harry and Sally could do magic.

The problem she faced now was what to do. The things that she had done before were not controlled; all they were were outbursts that seemed to be completely instinctive. So what causes them?

She looked back on the situation and the others that she remembered: the bully in first year having his chair break suddenly, her cousin who stole her pencils and broke them suddenly turning sickly green all over, when she was about to be hit by that car and suddenly found herself on the other side of the road. What linked them?

After several minutes of thinking it finally came to her, emotions. Every time something happened she was scared or angry and what happened made her feel better or solved it: the bully and her cousin she got her revenge on with magic and when she was about to be hit by the car her magic got her out of the way.

Now how to control it?

She thought about it; if emotions did something she decided to think of a powerful emotion. She recalled the sorrow of her pet cat being hit and tried to focus it into moving a book on the other side of the room. Nothing happened. It must be in the mind, she thought. If she focused enough could she do something? Was she starting too big? She decided to simply make a small ball of light appear in her hand. She turned off the light and sat on her bed in the low light, closed her eyes and focused with all her might, imagining the ball of light in her outstretched right hand. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and gasped.

A beautiful ball of golden light hovered millimetres above her skin in her right hand. She looked closer and saw swirls of bright energy within. She decided to try and change the colour. She pictured it turning blue and after a second it turned a vivid electric blue just like she had imagined.

There was a knock on the door and her mother walked in and stopped dead in the door way, looking with wide eyes at Hermione sitting on the bed with a ball of light in her hand.

"Isn't it beautiful mum?" she said with wander in her voice. She focused again and it turned gold yet again.

"h-how?" her mum stammered.

"Magic mum," Hermione said happily. "I can do magic! I was thinking about what happened in the school yard and the other times and it was the only thing I could think of. It must be in my mind that I control this because there weren't any other similarities. I knew that emotions had something to do with it so I tried that and it didn't work so I tried simply concentrating and it worked!"

Emma simply stood there flabbergasted at her daughter. She knew there was something different about her but magic?

"Magic?" she said still sounding dazed.

Now Hermione began to worry, she had heard many stories about the witches in the middle ages; how they were burned at the stake. Did her mum think the same of her? Would she still want her after this? Her euphoria at her discovery vanished like smoke.

"Mummy?" she said in a small voice, unsure of what her reply would be.

It was that small slightly scared voice that snapped Emma out of her funk. She looked at her daughters' worried face and walked toward her, taking her into her arms.

"What's wrong?" she asked, she couldn't' understand why Hermione would be euphoric one moment and suddenly be looking at her like she was scared of her or something.

"Y-You aren't mad?" Hermione asked. "I h-heard about how people u-used to see m-m-magic. You still want me?"

That shocked her and immediately saw that she was to blame. Her reaction to the revelation Hermione had greeted her with could be seen to be one of fear or loathing setting in and Hermione being as bright as she is made the connection with other attitudes to magic from the past.

"Of course I still want you darling; magic isn't bad, it's just a part of you. I know you thought I was mad or something before but I was just shocked. I never expected this when I came up here. I always will love you and want you no matter what you are."

"Thank you," Hermione whispered back relieved. It was just like how her mother comforted her when she was bullied at her old school so she knew it was genuine.

"You don't need to thank me Hermione. I love you and that's all there is to it and that wont' change. Now I came up here to tell you..."

Hermione's head snapped up again, in her fear about her mum she forgot about Harry.

"Can he live with us?" she blurted out.

"Yes your farther agrees. If Harry agrees and we are allowed to we will at least become his permanent foster parents."

"YES!" Hermione squealed in delight hugging her mum tight before running down the stairs and trowing herself into her father's arms and squeezing him tightly. "Thank you daddy!"

"Any time angel," her father said. "We know that the two of you have just clicked and we always wanted another child so we'll see the social worker for Harry's case tomorrow about adoption. It will probably take some time though; adoptions usually take some time."

At the end of Privet Drive a tall bearded man in a purple cloak with silver stars and moons appeared with a slight pop. He immediately began to walk through the late evening twilight towards No 4. He was very concerned that the various different sensors and gadgets he had keyed to Harry and the wards were all shutting down. He knew that the wards had all but collapsed and he wanted to know why. With a flick of his wand he sent a message to Arabella Figg who lived nearby and continued walking briskly towards the object of many of his plans. Unfortunately for him the destruction of the wards could only be attributed to a handful of things, none of which would bode well for Dumbledore's plans. He needed the brat pliant so he could mould him into a weapon to be thrown at Voldemort and do some damage, allowing Dumbledore to come charging in as the cavalry to save the day. That way he would be thrown into the spotlight as the greatest light wizard of all time and thus gain the power he had so long desired. He turned down the minister's job frequently because he knew that any minister would go out of office with his name sullied to the point that he would never be able to wield true power over the masses.

The main thorns in his side were the muggle-borns. He had nothing against the people as a whole; in fact he knew quite well that muggle-borns were far superior to the pureblood witches and wizards both in intellect and in magical power. Most of his better pawns were muggle born; Lilly Evans, Alice Smith, Jessica Marsh and many others. All were important tools in getting him more power and keeping the purebloods under control. The only down point of them was their ideas: Democracy, separation of powers, equality in all things. Those were dangerous to his plans; democracy would negate his goal of kingship permanently, separation of powers would ensure that the road to kingship would be unwalkable and equality in all things was a good idea but they never understood that some are more equal than others.

Pure bloods were the next worse; they almost always believed that they were superior simply because they were born with magical ancestors. It was easy to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that children born only of magical ancestors with no muggles or muggle-borns as far back as their great grand parents would experience a significant drop in their magical potential. It is just before that stage that the phenomenon of squibs arises. No muggle-born had ever produced a squib. Ever. Dumbledore knew from research that the fresher the magic the more potent it is. The only time long magical ancestry is good for magic is when the old that is kept strong by fresh infusions is bred with the best of the fresh. That combination of ancient and new, magics that had existed and survived the test of time with the brand new magic that is unbound and unworn always creates powerful witches and wizards. Unfortunately the only people who practice this, if unintentionally, are the Potters. They always find the brightest and most powerful witch of their age who is almost always muggle-born and marry them. The only other way to get that effect is to reawaken the magic of an old line that died out in magic via squibs, but they only happen very rarely, not many lines are still around in squib form at all.

He quickly directed his thoughts back to the house that he was approaching. The car was still in the garage and the furnishings were all there. A simple charm showed him that there were no people in the house so he unlocked the door and went in. He saw no signs of a struggle and no evidence of packing or anything, in fact if it weren't for the fact that it was evening on a working day and the car was in the garage he would have thought they were simply out for a movie or some such thing. He checked the tracking charms he had placed on Harry only to find they were down and cursed the nature of blood wards. They only allowed spells that were keyed into them to work and so if the wards were down his tracking charms were as well.

Whatever happened Harry no longer had this place as a home. Without him sufficiently beaten down how could he mould Harry into the martyr he needed him to be? Without him how would he keep the wizarding world in line? Plans he had put in motion since he had first met Tom Riddle and used him as a pawn were unravelling and at this stage could back fire horribly. It was time to track Harry the old fashioned way, find his habits and follow them to their conclusion. He walked out, spoke to Figg and found nothing new before disapparating. It was time to plot some more.