July 16

Surrey

“Slightly cloudy with a forty percent chance of rain.” The television buzzed from inside Four Privet Drive.

A small boy worked underneath the windows of the house, his fingers wrapping around the weeds. His oversized clothes were stained with dirt and paint. He ignored the murmurs of those walking by. No doubt gossiping about him. He was so focused on his weeding, he didn’t notice anything until a small rock nearly knocked his glasses off where they hung precariously on his nose.

Instantly, one Harry Potter, jumped onto his feet, crouching. His head turned quickly as he searched his surroundings. His hand went for the wand that he didn’t have. It and Hedwig had gone missing a few days ago. His eyes fell on Dudley.

“Now onto World Sports, Roger.”

Harry warily returned to his gardening, keeping an eye on Dudley. He didn’t need Dudley to ruin his hard work. His mind wandered to school slightly. How was it that he did so well cooking and gardening, but not Potions or Herbology?

He stopped musing when Dudley came closer. Dudley shuffled and his eyes swept side to side. Harry moved a step away from him. He’d prefer to be left alone, so he didn’t have to think about Cedric and the Tournament.

Suddenly Dudley seemed to decide something. With speed no one should have at that weight, he darted forward and latched on to Harry’s arm. Harry gave a small yelp of fear and surprise. Dudley proceeded to drag him out the yard.

“Come, trusty sword. Come, blade, my breast imbrue. And, farewell, friends. Thus Thisby ends. Adieu, adieu, adieu.” The television was faintly heard.

Dudley smiled grandly at his neighbors as he force-walked Harry. Harry would have protested, but a glare and the creaking of his arm bone under the pressure was a good reason to shut up. He mentally cursed being the smallest and thinnest teen his age on the block. Actually he was the smallest his age in Hogwarts too. He purposely brought his mind back to the situation at hand.

They were heading to the park Dudley’s gang often frequented. The rat-faced Piers and the other three lounged near the lake. Harry eyed the woods and his heart dropped into his stomach. Someone there was lurking in the shadows. Harry swore he saw a set of eyes as green as his when the person looked up at him. Harry tensed up considerably. This was the part where Dudley would let go and another round of Harry Hunting would begin.

Harry was startled when Dudley didn’t let go and plowed into the bushes. Some of the branches made thin cuts into his skin as he was pulled along. Dudley’s gang followed, ranging behind like a pack of dogs. The mere thought of it causing Harry’s legendary courage to evaporate. They came to a clearing with a tree bigger than most. There between two thick and exposed roots was a gaping hole into the ground and a large rock nearby.

Dudley, letting go, pushed Harry close to it while his companions formed a loose semi-circle. Harry was seized with a nearly blind panic. The hole wasn’t safe.

A voice slightly deeper than his said something from out the shadows. Dudley’s eyes sparkled with a twisted glee. Dudley like a bull, charged Harry. Dudley missed but Harry tripped backwards over a small root. Arms gyrating in an attempt to recover balance failed as something slammed into his stomach. His glasses were ripped away as if someone accioed it away. He fell on his shoulder, banging his head on the rocks on the floor.

Wincing he sat up. Someone or something was chanting in the background. There were the sounds of something heavy being moved. Harry’s blurry sight focused on the light on the floor. It was disappearing! He stared stupefied as the light disappeared completely.

“Goodbye, Freak.” Dudley called out gaily as he and his friends laughed. The sound faded away.

Squinting in the darkness, Harry felt around, maybe his glasses had fallen in with him. His hand brushed glasses. The broken glass sliced his finger. He gingerly stuck his finger in his mouth. He sighed softly. His luck sucked.

His mind went fuzzy like as if he had a fever. Leaning against the wall where the hole is, he dropped into a dreamless sleep. Some time later, he was jerked awake by the feeling of warmth. He resisted, fearing it could be Voldemort or even something worse like a Dementor. The pull faded slowly, leaving him shivering in fear and the dropping temperatures.

The next few waking periods were spent in a delirious haze of fear and constant pain. His shoulder and twisted ankle throbbed. His fever made him tired and thirsty. His scar burned fiercely. Voldemort was angry at someone, extremely so. What was a Voldemort?

The last pull overwhelmed Harry. There was promise of water and peace interlaced in it. His body automatically crawled towards it, his mind half-screaming for it to not do so. The hole gave way into air and Harry tumbled to the sandy ground below.

He was blinded by the shift in lighting, but the smell of water drove him on. He pulled himself into the water and drank until he was quenched. With protesting muscle, he pushed himself back on dry sand and fell into unconsciousness.

He woke up, slight more clear-minded. He gave a moan when he realized what he had done. The pull came again and his body merely reacted. He fought against himself to no avail as he crawled up a slope.

His hand slipped when it hit smooth flooring. The pull came again. Harry dimly saw columns in the dim light. He ended up sliding across the floor as the pull was accompanied with magic. At the center of the building was a column of pulsing light. Harry regaining some sort of control went flat on his stomach and glared at the light. The light bended this way and that, alternating colors. Harry mused in the part of his mind not ruled by fear-induced courage that it was thinking.

Two spots like eyes seemed to focus on him. Harry watched in surprised as the light leapt at him. The surging light pushed him into and up a stone column. He opened his mouth to cry, it threw back the sound and followed it in.

He was being ripped apart by energy. He screamed in complete pain when it finally overwhelmed him. He slumped into a state of unconsciousness as he slid back down the column. The last vestiges of who Harry was fled like the summer birds in fall.

 

♦

July 19 

Godric Hollows 

Nymphadora Tonks and Kingley Shackbolt were ready to turn in for the night at a local hotel. Harry James Potter had been missing for ten days. Nymphadora stared blankly at Gordic’s Hollow. All the clues pointed here even though Snape, the greasy bastard, insisted that Harry Potter never left Privet Drive.

Tonks smirked. Maybe it’s time for Snape to have his Potter radar fixed. Suddenly she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. A smallish young boy with glasses was walking confidently down the street. A snowy owl sat on his shoulder.

Tonks, without a thought to warn her partner, jumped into action.

“Harry!” She yelled.

The boy turned. “Who are you?”

“I’m Tonks, an Auror. The Headmaster’s looking for you.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Harry said with a polite smile. “I thought Hedwig had delivered my message.”

The boy gave his owl a hard look. The owl only hooted tiredly. Tonks blinked when he turned back to her. “I’ll come.”

“Snape is going to be pissed.” Tonks chirped. “He swore you were still in Privet Drive.”

Had Tonks not closed her eyes, she would have seen the smirk that graced Harry’s face for a moment. He merely shook his head.

“I really don’t understand that man’s obsession with keeping a grudge. Must he always think badly of me?”

Tonks patted his back. “Come on. I got to contact Moody.”

Harry smirked at her retreating back. ‘This is too easy. No way is anyone going to know that He’s missing. Dad was right. No one knows the ‘real’ Harry Potter.”

 

♦

July 20th

Unknown, Surrey

Unaware of the concept of time since he was underground, he woke up to dull pain. Upon moving, the pain decided to do the Lord of Dance up and down his spine. Also he was thirsty again. Soon the pain dissolved away into weakness. He pulled himself to the dimly visible edge and cupped some water. Upon drinking, he became sleepy again. Yawning, he dropped into sleep.

Next time he woke, his pants where he had tied them off with a long rag was painfully tight. It was slightly brighter and he could see and hear much better. He bolted up, just to fall into cool water.

He coughed and sputtered, evicting the water in his lungs as he stood up. The water about two feet deep lapped at his ribs. Something on his back side twitched as his pant’s rag tie had come undone. His ears flickered as he shook his head of water. He desperately wanted light.

A small orb of light blue light appeared. He stared into the water. Long black hair framed large brilliant green eyes set in a pale face. His ears twitching with the change of sound were long and pointed with black fur and white tip. He accidentally bit his tongue with his sharp canine teeth. His hands looked normal enough when he felt his teeth. However out of a childish amusement, he made a clawing gesture. Sharp but small claws appeared. He retracted them in surprise. He nearly fell in again. Then he realized he felt something twitch on his backside. Turning, he spotted his own tail, long, black, and white tipped. It looked like a drowned cat’s tail.

There was something important about a scar on his forehead. He frowned as he brushed his hair out of his forehead. It was gone. He gasped for a moment. Soon the water got colder so he waded out of the water.

He began to clumsily wring out his clothes, hair, and tail. He shivered slightly. His ears twitched at the sound of human voices. Instinct, as screwy as it was, prompted him to flatten himself against the wall. The light faded away.

"Hey, there's a hole here." The first man said.

"Indeed, your observation skills amaze me. Now can we leave?" A familiar drawl floated in.

“Wait, there's something in there and it looks like something dragged itself in there."

The second man sighed. Harry tensed and pushed himself against the wall of the cave. A beam of light came into the cave. Harry blessed whoever was watching over him that he was close enough for the light not to reveal on him.

"Hey, look. Water.”

“Water? Show me." The other man was credulous.

He hoped they would leave so his mother could come and get him. Whoever was his mother anyway? There was no way he could climb the almost smooth walls to the hole. The men both argued a bit. Then the hole exploded. He rubbed his head where a small stone struck him.

Two men stepped out of the hole. One was quite tall and thin like he hadn’t been well for a while. The man wore black. The other was shorter and dumpy. He smelled funny. Harry sneezed.

Both turned on him with sticks, no, wands. Harry snarled weakly and pressed himself against the wall. He didn’t want to get hurt. He just wanted his mother. He bared his teeth when the dumpy man moved forward a step. The dark man made a movement and stopped his companion.

“It’s only a child.” The dark man said to his companion.

“Its mother is probably nearby.” The dumpy man hissed back. “We should kill it and get reinforcement to find the mother.”

There was an instance of disgust in the dark man’s eyes. He spoke carefully, quietly. “It’s a child. I highly doubt his mother is around. Most likely she’s dead.”

Harry wanted to run. His mother wasn’t dead, was she? Something flickered in the dim recesses of his memory. He gave a mournful cry and ignoring the men, curled up then and there. It was true she was gone. No one wanted him. That’s why he was down here. He rocked hard back and forth.

“Stop it.” The dark man said after a long period of near silence.

He stopped. The man was dimly familiar to him. His scent was familiar and also he felt it was better to do as he was told. After all, he could very well end up dead like his mother. His eyes were blurred with tears at that thought.

 

♦

Severus Snape was puzzled by the young creature in front of him. Kitsune demons were all but extinct in this region of the world. Most died during the demon hunts of 1600s. Wizards had little tolerance for demons. Severus preferred demons to certain wizards like his current partner.

However what puzzled him the most was the familiarity of aura. It felt like one Harry James Bloody-Potter. Ignoring Fletcher’s protests, he approached the fox child. His heart-strings stirred faintly at the sight of the mourning child. He suppressed them quickly, knowing Fletcher could possibly kill the child if he didn’t handle this right.

“Stop it.” He commanded.

The kit went completely still. Beside the welling tears in the kit’s eyes, the kit seemed to have turned to stone. Severus casually pulled the apparently damp hair out of the kit’s face. The forehead was woefully free of a certain scar. Something akin to disappointment rested in his stomach. This had to be Potter.

Frightened emerald green eyes peered up at him, not daring to move.

"It's not Potter." He muttered to himself.

“Why would it be?" His despicable partner asked. "And how could Harry be that?"

The last was said in some sort of disgust. Snape said nothing as he stared back into those eyes. They were so much like Lily’s. He wanted to save the kit from death as if that could atone for his sins. Maybe it could. However perhaps he could convince Dumbledore to take him in. An ex-Death Eater as himself didn’t have Lucuis Malfoy’s power and he had a record. They’d kill the boy without another thought. Yes, as much as he loathed it, he needed Albus.

"I'm taking this creature to Dumbledore. He'll be interested in this." He said.

"Whatever, Snape. I'll inform the rest of the Order that this was a dead end."

The kit relaxed somewhat with Fletcher gone. Severus, thinking deeply, subconsciously was running his hand over the damp hair. The kit leaned into the gesture, startling Severus out of it. He let his mouth twitched slightly. The kit seemed half a sleep. His hand stopped. The child merely sighed in disappointment. Severus, daring as concern ate at his chest, picked up the child.

Shivering the kit rolled to face him and buried his head in his robe. The kit was ill and maybe hypothermic. Severus swore softly to himself as he pulled out the port-key.

The portkey deposited them on the edge of the wards of Hogwarts. He moved as fast as he could. Within ten minutes, he managed to enter the Infirmary. He was treated to the sight of Harry James Potter being fussed over by Poppy Pomfrey. One of the few times in Severus’s life, his mind hit an overload point. He didn’t even feel when he hit the floor, clutching the child to his chest.

His head ached somewhat when he came to in the Infirmary. Poppy was trying hard to not smile as she stood over him. He scowled at her but sitting up, looked around for the kit. The kit was a few beds down asleep.

“Severus Snape, lay back down.” Severus merely gave her a glance. He spotted Potter across the room with an odd look on his face. The boy’s eyes caught his and the brat frowned, the look gone.

Severus wanted to take the kit and leave. He didn’t like the boy’s look. Perhaps he was Harry Potter but he wasn’t the one Severus was familiar with.

Poppy pushed him down again and force-fed him a sleeping draught. His last thoughts were blurred. Something about the kit and Potter.

 

♦

July 21

Teacher’s Lounge, Hogwarts

Dumbledore watched the small kitsune wander around the room. Apparently his parents, living or dead, had been civilized beings, the youkai, not demons like originally supposed. The child, despite his curiosity didn’t touch the various device scattered about the room. However as odd as it was, the kitsune showed a great deal of interest in Fawkes and the bird had been responding positively to the small being.

Severus Snape’s eyes were glued to the conjured image. Dumbledore chuckled slightly. Minerva was protesting something.

“It’s Harry. What do you need, Severus, a parentage test?”

Severus turned enough so he could see the screen without turning too much or hurting himself. “It’s not the Potter we’ve known for four years.”

He hissed, his eyes flickered back to the screen. Minerva muttered something about him but Severus ignored her.

“What will we do about Harry’s guardianship?” She asked. “Dursleys will tolerate him but if they allowed him to do this? Albus, he needs a magical guardian.”

“Moody should do it.” Albus said. “He’ll be able to keep an eye out for our young friend Potter as he has plenty of free time. The Aurors refused to let him train others after last year’s incident.”

“Albus, what are we going to do with the… demon?” Minerva asked.

Albus smiled into his beard. “The poor child is an orphan, Minerva and a youkai, a very intelligent and sentient being. I planned to merely raise the child.”

Minerva looked uneasy. “The Minister will have your head.”

Severus gave them both heavy glances before returning to his vigil. Albus chuckled.

“No, he’ll be too busy.” Albus said with a smile. “By time he can do something about the child, it will be too late. I hope to find a suitable guardian for the child by then.”

“Evening, Headmaster.” Poppy said formally.

Albus’s smile dropped. When Poppy acted formal, it was something serious. She took a seat and a deep breath.

“Is something wrong with Harry?” Minerva asked.

“No, the kitsune.” Poppy said, turning to Albus. “I’m not completely sure what the kitsune’s actual age is, but his physical age is about ten. The kitsune is severely underweight and there’s evidence of abuse. I found spell markers I can’t identify but may have encouraged the abuse and neglect.”

Albus frowned. “Kitsunes are normally very loving towards children.”

“I believe that someone had taken him in, not knowing what he actually was except that he was free labor. He probably began to shown some sign of what he was, and they made plans to be rid of him.”

“The place we found him in was covered with a large rock. It would have taken several people to move it.” Severus said distantly. Poppy nodded.

“The child’s torso bruises are almost a week old, that’s why it doesn’t bother him as much. His right ankle has a partially healed fracture. There’s evidence of older fractures and broken bones.”

“A full blown abuse case.” Albus muttered, glancing to the image.

Poppy nodded. Minerva had her mouth covered.

“The kitsune also had a blow to the head. It might be why the kitsune had generalized memories.” Poppy said. “Only time can tell what will happen.”

“What would you say his temperament is?” Albus asked.

“A very sweet child.” Poppy said, her eyes on the figure a moment. “Almost to the point of docility. However I think fear of being hurt bodily plays into that.”

“Indeed. We’ll put off this conversation for a while.” Albus stood up. “I have some business to attend too if that is Fudge I’m sensing.”

 

♦

Omake/Informational: 

Nani Nani Hogwarts!

            Welcome to Nani Nani Hogwarts! I’m your Host, Salazar Slytherin. Here we explain thing that you may find confusing but not necessarily the things you really want to know!

            Today’s subject is….

Kitsune!

            A kitsune is a magical animal originating from Japan. Unlike the more common trickster foxes mentioned in many legends and fairytales, kitsune are often multiple tailed yokai and are capable of taking human form. Yokai means simply a range of supernatural beings.

            Kitsune depending on context of the legend can be malevolent creatures called nogitsune, the more benevolent myōbu whom are messengers of the fertility god, Inari, or a host of other types.            The more tails, the more powerful the kitsune is with the strongest being the kyuubi with nine tails and silver or gold fur. However beware if you ever pull on a kitsune’s tail, it could kill you or worse outright curse your family for generation.  But on a more positive note, kitsune tend to be highly intelligent and will rarely, almost never break a promise.            Thank you for reading, Nani Nani Hogwarts. Now, I, Salazar Slytherin, am off kill Godric Gryffindor…

            GODRIC! WHERE’S MY TEDDY!?