Chapter 3

A few minutes later two middle aged men in ministry uniforms entered the room. The first was slightly tanned with brown hair, dark brown eyes; his face was lined from laughing and smiling. However, he currently had a somber pitying expression on his face as he surveyed the young boy. They had both read the report on the injuries found on the boy, and needless to say they were shocked and repulsed that some one could do such things to a child. The second man had a shocking head of bright red hair with bright blue eyes that seemed to hold a fatherly comfort. Slightly stocky the man looked fit for his age.

Both officials pulled up chairs next to the boy's bed, something that made Harry extremely uncomfortable with their close proximity.

"Hello there." The brown haired man began with a faint smile and a gentle voice.

Harry nodded his head in recognition.

"My name is Auror Carwin and this is Auror Emerson."

Once again Harry nodded his head and then licked his lips.

"Harry Jacomus Leandros Potter."

Seeing the men raise their eye brows Harry allowed a small smile to appear on his lips.

"I figured you'd need my full name for the paper work."

The man named Emerson let out a slight chuckle of agreement, "Good point."

With that said Emerson pulled out a note pad and ball point pen. He must have noticed Harry's stare because he looked at the boy and slightly raised an eyebrow of enquiry.

The dark haired boy blushed a bit as he had been caught staring.

"Sorry about that sir, I've never seen a wizard actually use something as convenient or logical as a muggle pen."

At the statement both of the other men burst out laughing and Carwin raised his eyes in a mocking manner towards Emerson.

"Fine then, I'll admit it your wife had a point…muggle pens are better than quills." Emerson finally muttered good naturedly. Once they settled back down Emerson wrote down Harry's name on the notepad and nodded towards Carwin.

"Now what are your parents' names?"

Harry sighed and lowered his eyes.

The two men immediately became more somber and exchanged glances.

"Harry are you ok?" Carwin asked in a soft voice placing a hand on the boys shoulder and noticed how it tensed at the contact.

"I'm fine." The boy finally answered moving out of the other man's grasp.

"My parents' names were Patroclus and Maeve Potter all I know for sure is that I am named after my great uncle." Harry answered.

Harry didn't feel a bit bad about stretching the truth a bit, he really was named after his great uncle, well in away since James was named after him, and Harry's middle name is James. So even if that's not the same uncle he is talking about he still was named after a great uncle.

Emerson nodded and wrote down the new bit of information.

"So you were named after your great uncle Harry Potter?" Carwin asked.

"What? No, I have no clue where my mother got the name Harry from; my uncle was named Jacomus Leandros Potter. According to my guardians my grandmother dying request of her son was to name his first born son after her brother, which he agreed to. Hence I am named Harry Jacomus Leandros Potter." Harry replied with a shrug.

Now both men were looking some what confused.

"If your grandmother requested of her son that she named him after her brother then how could he be a Potter?" Emerson asked.

"Oh my grandmother gave my father her maiden name. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure she ever stopped using her maiden name once she was married, I think her husband died before my dad was born, but I'm not sure." Harry said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Emerson raised his eyebrows at the odd arrangement but continued to write down every thing he was told, while not common for a child to take the mother's last name, it was not unheard of, especially if the father had died.

"You mentioned guardians Mr. Potter? If you don't mind me asking what happened to your parents?" Carwin asked gently not wishing to up set the boy.

Harry visibly tensed at the question and he gripped the sheet in his hands tightly.

"My mother…Maeve died giving birth to me…she was only eighteen, my parents married young." The boy slowly unclenched the sheet and grasped his hands together nervously, "as for my father, I am not sure what really happened to him, my caregivers told me that he died, but they never said how."

"I…" Harry paused here and looked at the two men uncomfortably.

Emerson motioned him to continue so Harry took a deep steadying breath and continued in a voice barely above a whisper, "I think he was murdered."

Emerson and Carwin shared an uncomfortable glance with each other, a look that was filled with pity for the child in front on them.

"I am sorry to hear that Harry." Emerson whispered watching the boy.

"It's fine, I never knew them."

Carwin could here the pain in the young boy's voice even as he denied that he cared about it. He's heart was breaking for the boy, and they hadn't even gotten to the part that they were sent to investigate.

Emerson sighed sadly and continued, "Now who are your guardians?"

"My guardians were Zacharie and Helen Blanc. My father and Zacharie were child hood friends where they grew up in Reims…" Carwin interrupted him, "Reims as in France?"

Sighing Harry nodded.

"After the defeat of Grindelwald my Grandmother thought it would be safer in France so she moved, gave birth and raised my father there, where he met and became friends with Zacharie who was a few years older than he. Later Zacharie decided to travel a bit after school and met his future wife Helen in Scotland." Here Harry let a fond smile play across his lips as if he was remembering a story that he was retold often.

"After my parents died, Zacharie and Helen as my god mother and god father took me in, treated me like their own son since they weren't able to have children, and we lived in Lyon for the first four years of my life. I'm not sure why, perhaps my mum…" here Harry paused and sighed, "Well Helen might have been homesick for some actual English speaking people, so we moved to the small village of Blackwaterfoot in Scotland. Dad was never really happy about it with rumors of a new dark lord flying around."

"We've been living there every since until a little over three weeks ago…" Harry trailed off getting a tired distant look to his eyes.

He turned his back to the two older men, hoping that he would be able to pull off the next bit of acting.

"Then they came…I'm not sure who they are, but they were wearing black robes and white masks. They killed them…right in front of me…and just laughed…I can still see the fear in my parents' eyes as they were held at wand point…total fear and defeat, they knew they were going to die." Harry's voice broke here with contained emotion and he felt a hand grip his shoulder once again.

This time however he didn't pull away, but actually leaned in to the comfort.

"I'm not sure where they took me, but I do know I was there for weeks…they…they…" He stuttered out and broke of leaving the sentence hanging in the air once again he felt the hand grip his shoulder, lending him support to continue.

"Well I don't need to tell you what they did; my medical report should speak for itself. I really don't know how I came to be wherever I was found though; the last thing I remember was passing out from one of the curses they used on me."

When Harry was finished speaking he could feel the anger and the sorrow in the air, and almost taste the hatred for Voldemort.

Finally Emerson spoke up, "Thank you for telling us what happened Harry. Do you have any questions that we can answer for you?"

"Who were they?" Was the whispered question from the boy.

Both Emerson and Carwin exchanged glances trying to figure out just how much to tell him.

"They are called Death Eaters, followers of he-who-must-not-be-named."

"Why did they kill my parents? What did they ever do to deserve that?" Harry asked in a lost voice racked with pain and grief.

"I don't know Harry…they aren't good people…they thrive on the suffering of others." Emerson answered his heart breaking for the boy in front of him, never in his whole life had he meet some one who had already been forced through so much suffering and pain.

Harry bowed his head and muttered one last question, "What will happen to me now?"

This time it was Carwin who answered the sad question.

"You'll be safe."

The Minister of Magic was shocked and dismayed at the report given by Bran Carwin and Gavin Emerson about the boy named Harry Potter. As far as they could trace his story checked out, even down to the attack in Blackwaterfoot. The small cottage home had burned to the ground, erasing any evidence they possibly could find of bodies. If it hadn't been for the boy's tale the Ministry may have never known that two people lost their lives there.

The hard part was what to do with the boy now? Millicent Bagnold had known Jacomus Leandros Potter very well. The man was a great auror in his day and sadly to say he and his wife had died in a Death Eater attack on their home a few years back. Harold, their only son, had been devastated and had taken a while to work through his grief.

If the boy was truly a Potter, which she didn't doubt hearing his description, would Harold be willing to take him in? The boy lost his parents to a Death Eater attack, something that was sure to strike a cord in Harold.

Well the only way to know was to ask. Taking out an office note she jolted down a request and then sent the message on its way. Millicent sat back in her chair as she watched the paper bird fly away to its destination.

Harold Potter was not having a good day at all, first he had to go home because his son had some how gotten stuck, yes STUCK, in a secrete passage way, and his lovely wife wasn't able to remove him; then when he gets back to the office he is attacked by a vicious note, requesting his presences immediately by the Minister of Magic herself. Not that he had anything against the minister, just that the only news he ever seemed to receive from her lately was bad news, something he was hoping to avoid like the plague.

Harold quickly made his way to the minister's office and knocked politely.

Millicent Bagnold quickly opened the door giving a nervous smile and inviting the auror to take a seat in front of her desk.

Mentally Harold groaned at the nervous smile…he knew from experience that that smile did not bode well. Something was definitely wrong.

"Well Harold how are you, Emily and James doing?"

Keeping back an annoyed growl at his son, Harold instead gave a polite smile, "They are doing fine; James can't wait to go back to Hogwarts and his friends. He's going to be a third year this year, time is going by so fast."

"Indeed it is. I remember when James only came up to your waist and would insist that he would protect you from criminals when he came to work with you." Minister Bagnold smiled in amusement, but quickly stopped when she remembered the conversation ahead.

"Harold I have some shocking news for you. You did know that your father had a younger sister yes?"

Harold nodded in confusion, why in the world would Bagnold want to talk about his dead aunt? He barely remembered her as he was only seven when she vanished; the only thing that really stuck out was her bright green eyes. His father had never really gotten over the lost of his little sister, who he loved dearly, and thought of more as a daughter more than anything. Right out of Hogwarts in 45 she just upped and vanished with out a trace. Half the family believed her dead; the other half believed she ran off with her lover. Neither was proven though, nothing was ever found.

"Have you by any chance heard about the boy that was found in the woods the other day badly beaten?" Bagnold asked quietly examining the papers on her desk.

Harold narrowed his brow in confusion and concern for he had not heard of such an event as of yet.

"No minister I have not heard of such an event, is he ok?"

"Yes the boy is fine, but it's who we think he is that concerns us. I sent Aurors Carwin and Emerson to question him about how he turned up that way and he told a most disturbing tale." Millicent said with a sigh.

"Instead of telling what he said I think it would be more beneficial to just read the report." She said and pulled out some papers and passed it over to the dark haired man.

With a bit of trepidation Harold began to read, and his jaw dropped almost immediately.

Name: Harry (possibly Harold) Jacomus Leandros Potter

Age: 10

Birth date: 31 July, 1962

Physical Description: 5'0" Black hair, green eyes.

Parents: Patroclus and Maeve Potter (deceased)

God Parents: Zacharie and Helen Blanc (deceased)

Description of event: Attacked at home in…

Harold zoned out in shock at what he was reading, with each passing line he began to feel sicker and sicker. Finally finishing off with the medical report Harold thought that he would be physically ill at all the torture his cousin had went through. Closing his eyes he leaned his head back and sighed in sadness.

"When will he be released?" He finally asked opening his eyes and looking over the desk at the minister.

"He should be released from St. Mungo's within the week. Would you be willing to offer him a home?" Millicent asked hopefully.

"Of course, he's my cousin with no where else to go! I'll pick him up as soon as possible. Now if you'll excuse me Minister I need to take my leave and inform my family of the unfolding events." Harold stated quickly clearly bothered, and walked out the door and to the apparition point.