37 Chapter 37
Hagrid was mollified and Albus ushered the much calmer man out of his office before contacting Severus Snape, the resident Head of House Slytherin, Professor of Potions, former Death Eater and sourpuss extraordinaire (well known and well feared by all students not in Slytherin and even a few that were). The younger wizard had balked at being forced to fetch 'that blasted Potter brat' from his relatives but eventually capitulated when Albus reminded him that boy in question had an important part to play in the future. Once the irritated Potions Master had left to attend to the matter, Albus took the time to repair the door and his desk before returning to his duties; Harry Potter once more pushed to the back of his mind now that the child would be taken care of by one of his trusted underlings.
Albus was therefore not prepared for Severus to return two hours later with the news that Harry Potter had vanished and as far as the Dursley family and Arabella Figg were concerned; the child had never existed in the first place. Severus confirmed that he'd scanned their memories and found evidence that the Dursleys' and Figg's memories had been tampered with (because of the holes) but that he couldn't pinpoint when it had happened, who had done it, or why it had been done in the first place. He also said that there had been no sign of the child anywhere within the house but that there was an unusually high concentration of magic behind the wall beneath the staircase that he'd been unable to dispel.
It was at that moment that the venerable headmaster knew he could no longer delegate the matter of Harry Potter to his subordinates; things had just gone from troublesome to worrisome quite unexpectedly.
Albus gathered together a group of witches and wizards to help him get to the bottom of the mysterious disappearance of Harry Potter. Included in that group was Poppy Pomfrey (the school's Mediwitch), Minerva, Severus, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody (an old friend of Dumbledore's and a veteran auror with the Ministry of Magic), Filius Flitwick (the Head of House Ravenclaw, Professor of Charms, former Dueling Champion, and a competent Master Warder), and Hagrid. The group of seven magicals portkeyed into Arabella Figg's backyard and immediately split up in order to investigate the disappearance of young Mr. Potter.
Madam Pomfrey went to check on Arabella and see if she could break the memory charms that had been placed on the old squib. Minerva headed for the local primary school in order to find out when Harry had last been seen in class (where she'd learn that the blood wards had prevented any of the teachers or staff from taking notice of the child and therefore had no records of him at all). Hagrid would remain with Arabella and Pomfrey in order to keep watch on the two women and so he was on hand in case they needed him. And Severus would lead the rest of them over to the Dursley's residence so that they might track down any clues as to when Harry had vanished and if he had left willingly or if he'd been taken by force.
The search ended the moment Alastor pushed his way into the house passed an indignant Petunia Dursley; the grizzled old auror had immediately spotted the missing child sealed behind the wall under the staircase when he swept the house using the magical eye that had earned him the nickname 'Mad-Eye'. Albus, Filius, and Alastor immediately set to dismantling the wards that had sealed the child behind the wall while Severus was sent to collect Minerva and Madam Pomfrey now that the missing child had been found.
It took them over twelve hours to drop the blood wards that had hidden the door to the cupboard and another six hours to break through the unexpectedly potent accidental magic that had sealed the door from the inside. Once they had the door open, the wizards were quite confused by what they were seeing; the eleven year old had been hooked up to some weird helmet thing that was connected to an unfamiliar machine. The most troubling thing, aside from the evidence that the cupboard looked well lived in, was the fact that everything in the small room was covered with at least two years worth of dust; including a much too small and frail looking Harry Potter.
The worst of the news came when Madam Pomfrey proclaimed that Harry's body had been forced into magical stasis a year and a half earlier (resulting in his already stunted growth being stunted further), his soul was not inside of his body, and Harry's magic (what little of it remained with his body) in combination with the last remnants of the blood wards was actively linking the child to the strange machine. In fact, the machine was so saturated in Harry's magic that it was no longer being powered by electricity (his magic acting as a source of energy for the device) and disconnecting him from the machine could potentially damage the child's magical core due to how the magic circulated between the machine and Harry's body.
That was on top of the obvious neglect and malnutrition that the child had suffered from during the weeks leading up to the child's body entering stasis.
Albus had aged decades by the end of the report and the other adult magicals present looked sickened (even Severus found it difficult to be disdainful of a child that looked half dead and obviously neglected). Minerva was hopping mad beneath her distress though and Albus knew he'd be forced to face her ire (and possibly her wand) once Harry had been transferred to a safe and secure location (preferably within Hogwarts). He knew he would deserve whatever the younger witch sent his way as he now had undeniable proof that he'd made a serious mistake in trusting the Dursleys to raise the boy hero that had toppled the dark wizard Voldemort at the height of his reign of terror.
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