5 The-Burden-He-Carried

"Hadrian, I am glad that you decided to take a nap. I needed to talk with you" Lily beamed at her son, who arrived inside the white space where she was trapped.

"I was missing you…" Harry said meekly while shifting uncomfortably on his feet.

"Oh, my baby. Come here, let me hug you" Lily started to make her way toward Harry. "I was also missing you… I have to make up to you for leaving you at their mercy for so many years" Lily said bitterly as she pulled her son into her arms… Harry smiled and hugged her back.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Harry asked as he kept hugging her.

"There is much we need to talk about… Let me sit down" Lily said as she finally separated from her son. She wanted to keep hugging him, but she knew that there were some important things she needed to deal with.

Lily sat down and Harry went to sit beside her, but she made him lie down as she placed his head over her lap. Harry completely froze and moments later, tears started to roll down his eyes. Even though he knew everything was real, all of this still felt kind of surreal…

"What happened, Hadrian?!" Lily asked hurriedly when she noticed her son sobbing… "I am not leaving you, I won't leave you, ever" Lily added hurriedly as she started to run her hands through his hair. She felt like her heart was being crushed, but she knew that she needed to stay strong for Hadrian.

"I know, mom… It is just… I always wanted to have a mother" Harry mumbled in a low tone as he finally stopped crying. Lily almost ended up crying after hearing his words, but she knew that she couldn't break down.

"I am here now and I won't be leaving… Don't worry. I will be always there with you" Lily assured Harry as she continued to run her hands through his hair.

"Okay…" Harry nodded his head. "So what did you want to talk about?" Harry asked curiously.

"Hadrian, as soon as Albus Dumbledore realizes that you are no longer at Number 4 Privet Drive, he will start looking for you and he won't stop until he finds you… I don't know why, but for whatever reason, he wants you at my sister's house, and believe me, removing him from the Book of Guests won't stop him" Lily explained heatedly. The name Albus Dumbledore felt like venom in her mouth…

Harry tried to get up with a panicked look on his face, but Lily forced him to lie down. "Then what should we do?" Harry asked in a worried tone. He didn't want to go back to the Dursleys.

"We need information… We are seriously lacking information and we need to know as much as we can before making a decision. I already have a plan…" With that Lily began to reveal her plan to Harry with a glint in her eyes…

~~Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain~~

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was sitting behind his regal desk. Right now, he was quite busy… A new school year was about to start, which meant that he needed to deal with a lot of parchment work before school could start.

All of his staff members had their own demands and only moments ago, he rejected the suggestion to reinitiate corporeal punishment… Albus didn't even bother to read the whole parchment and he simply rejected the suggestion before placing the parchment into the discarded pile… It seems that he would need to have a chat with Argus Filch before school starts.

The next parchment was from Severus Snape… Albus released a sigh after reading the man's name. The man had so much potential, alas, there was no medicine for regrets. The man was asking for funds so that he could restock his Potions Lab before the new session… Albus scoffed at the mentioned budget and crossed it out. After thinking for a bit, he wrote down a more economical budget before approving it.

Albus picked up the next parchment and stared at it for a few seconds before shaking his head. Once again, Rolanda Hooch, the Hogwarts flying instructor was asking for funds to buy new brooms, funds he didn't have… He was quite aware of the fact that the school needed new brooms, but he simply didn't have the funds…

Albus wrote down rejected on the parchment before placing it on the pile of rejected parchments. Albus stared at the rest of the pending pile before releasing a tired sigh… Let it be known that being a headmaster is not an easy job… Albus was about to grab the next parchment when all of a sudden, the Floo flared up.

"Albus! Albus! Are you there?!" He heard a familiar voice from the Floo… Albus immediately stood up from his seat and made his way toward the Floo, expecting to see a familiar face, which he did, when he arrived in front of the Floo.

Arabella Figg, a squib, he has appointed to keep an eye on young Harry… Albus closed his eyes with a pained look on his face as soon as Harry Potter came to his mind. He knowingly condemned the boy to ten years of darkness, but what else could he do? It was necessary… He needed Harry to be meek and malleable. He needed Harry far from Magical World and his fame.

Even with all the Death Eaters receiving pardons, Albus could have easily arranged for a Magical Family to take care of Harry and they would have happily agreed too, but he couldn't have that. Harry needed to grow away from his fame… He couldn't have Harry growing a big head. He also needed Harry to grow up in the Muggle world, so the boy could form a connection with the Muggles.

Due to the lack of interaction between Wizards and Muggles, there was a high chance that Harry may not care for the Muggles if he grew up in the Magical World. Again that was something, Albus couldn't have… That is also why Albus never said a thing when Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban without a trial. He couldn't have Harry growing up with Sirius. Albus was also glad when Alice Longbottom, the boy's godmother was put out of commission by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr.

Albus hated himself for his actions or inactions… Sleep refused to come to him for several nights, but what could he do? Voldemort wasn't dead, he was going to return someday… To stop Voldemort from destroying their world, there must be some sacrifices… The Prophecy was given to him, so it was obvious that fate has deemed it fit for him to carry the burden…

Albus really hoped that it could have someone else instead of him, but he also knew that nobody else besides him could carry such a huge burden. The Prophecy was still at play… 'either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…' the line meant that only Harry could kill Voldemort and vice versa.

Albus did not know what happened during the fateful Halloween night… He only knew that Voldemort somehow lost his body and Harry survived. He did not know what exactly happened that night, but he did know that Voldemort marked Harry as his equal. Voldemort was an orphan and due to his actions, Harry also became an orphan… That is one of the cases how Voldemort could have marked Harry as his equal, but there was also the scar on his forehead, which could be the 'mark' too.

After inspecting the scar, Albus realized that he was out of his depth… He detected the traces of the third Killing Curse inside the nursery, so Voldemort had obviously used a Killing Curse to kill Harry, but surprisingly, the boy not only survived but Voldemort's corporeal form was also somehow destroyed. How did the boy survive the Killing Curse? Albus did not have an answer to that, but he finally received his answer when he found Lily's notes…

He couldn't believe what Lily had done to protect her son, but at the same time, he couldn't blame her… Lily willingly sacrificed herself to protect her son and that is how Albus came to know about Lily's protection… He would admit, he was quite fascinated by the Magic Lily had used, but at the same time, he couldn't understand all of it, and that annoyed him quite a bit.

After studying the notes for nearly a whole day, he finally understood how to manipulate the Protection and that is how he created the protection for Petunia's house. It wasn't that hard, as Petunia had the same blood as Lily, running through her veins even though she didn't have any Magic. Albus knew that Harry will not be going to have a happy childhood, but it was necessary and that is why Albus placed Arabella Figg to keep an eye on Harry.

Her duty was to inform him if the Dursleys ended up doing something excessive… "Arabella, did something happen?" Albus asked in a calm tone, but on the inside, he was already panicking. Arabella was looking really distressed and it wasn't a good sign.

He received monthly reports from her at the end of each month, and the month was just starting, so it couldn't be her monthly report… Something must have happened…

"Albus, I think they have done something really bad to the boy. It has been already three days since I have seen him or as a matter of fact, anyone has seen him!" Arabella screamed in distress and Albus decided to placate Arabella before doing anything else.

"I will pay them a visit" Albus declared as he pinched the bridge of his nose… This is what he was afraid of…