In a cold place in the North, there was an old man with a long white beard sitting in his office. In his office, all sorts of weird and curious trinkets were working. Said old man was worried. Not only did he have to prepare gifts for a lot of people, he also needed to find a missing child. Around him, the elves were working tirelessly, preparing for the festivities...

No, I'm not talking about Santa Claus. I'm talking about Albus Way-too-many-middle-names-for-me-to-remember-but-ironically-it-is-shorter-than-this Dumbledore sitting in his office in a huge castle located somewhere in North Scotland. And the missing child he was looking for was none other than our dear Harry Potter.

A couple months ago, a couple of his trinkets went absolutely bonkers, sirens sounding all night, not letting anyone sleep. When he went to check them, he discovered that those trinkets going crazy like that meant that A) Harry Potter was no longer in #4 Privet Drive, B) the wards were no longer active and C) the Dursley are dead. Good news is that Potter is still alive, just missing.

So, over the course of those months, Albus has been trying everything to find the kid. The problem was that Harry was always on the run, moving constantly, making it harder for trackers to track him. Whenever the trackers successfully located the boy and someone was sent to retrieve the boy, that someone never returned. Apparently, they had all been killed by some serial killer. This went on for a month before every tracker stopped working. Dumbledore even tried using some not-so-legal tracking spells but nothing worked. It was as if Harry had completely vanished from the face of the earth! Well, he's still alive if that's of any consolation...

What?... We skipped too much?... Yeah... We should probably go back a bit. To the hot tub time machine!... What? What do you mean we don't have that!?... Blew up!? How!?... Fine, we'll rewind time the normal way (with 3 dots).

...

Nick didn't really want to do this. He really didn't. But it was his fault for signing without reading the contract. So, he was stuck there... trying to lure kids into an 'ice-cream truck' with some other guys in order to bring them to the big Boss so he could sell them or suffer the consequences... which involves painful deaths to his entire bloodline... So remember, kids: Always read before signing anything!

"Kids at 12." Maddie, another person in the kidnapping group, said as she elbowed him.

True enough, a group of 6 kids were running towards them. Well, 5 were running & one in a hoodie was dragged along.

"Hey kids! Do you want some ice cream?" Luke, another in the group, asked. "We have a bunch of flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Coconut, Pistachio,..."

The kids excitedly yelled the flavors that they wanted. Except the kid in the hoodie who looked like he was really weary of them.

"Oh no!" Maddie exclaimed dramatically. "It looks like we ran out of those flavors! Hey, could you kids go check the back of the truck for us?"

The kids cheerfully agreed. All except the boy in the hoodie, who was trying to warn the other kids before deciding that it was a lost cause and tried to run to call the adults. Unfortunately for the boy, Luke was faster. The man swoop him up and threw him inside the truck with the others.

The trio of kidnappers climbed on the truck and drove away.

...

Harry was not expecting this. After a month of constant traveling and running into some cultists (?) in weird robes, Harry had decided to stop at a park. He didn't expect 5 other kids to come and play with him before they dragged him to get some ice cream... together.

Upon seeing the truck, his instincts immediately told him to run away. Why though, he was not sure. Maybe it was because the truck were in a pretty secluded area. Perhaps it's because the truck didn't seem too have a cooler and the sign looked like it was placed on a normal truck. Or it was the smiles of the venders, one too sweet (to the point you might get diabetes), one too awkward and uncomfortable (as if the owner of that smile didn't want to be here doing this) and one too ferocious.

Harry decided to run away as soon as he realized that it was definitely not a normal ice-cream truck and the other kids did not listen to him. Sadly, he had not made it far before the guy with the ferocious smile caught him and threw him inside the truck with the others. In there, the woman threw him inside a small cage and locked him in.

It was just like he was back at the Dursley's again.

No. No! NO! He needed to get out of here! No! He can't be back there! He can't! He needed to get out! He will not be back with them! Not again! N̸̳͚̝̾͑͐̂ ̷̛̲ͦͦͯ̆ Ȩ̙̗̞͎̝̗͇͚̽̆͐̉́ͤ ̨̧̭̯̭̝̖̱̿V͚ͯ̇ͧ̒ͪ̃͜ ̍҉̙̹̯͕̗̳̜͢E̷͔̤̫̭͕͐̿͆̿ͨ̓ͯ̌ͅͅ ͔͙͕̇̓ͯ̔͌ͯ͜͠R̈ͧ̎̎͛͏̖̟̀ ̻ͫ̈ͧ̄̇͡ ͍̿͡ ̢̰͇̮̣͛ͯ̑͠A̒ͨ҉̥̼̺̭̭̣͞ ̻͈̬̻͈̗̽̆̃̑̀G͇͍͚̉̊ͣͪ͊̒̀ͩ́͢ ̄ͬͦ͌ͪ̄ͧ҉̬͍̼͇̠̣͘A͕͓̯̱̟͚̳̙ͯ̋͛͞ ͙̉̆ͧ͜͡I̸̠͌̔ͧ̀ ̬͇͔͚͑̉͂͞N̬̆̓ͧ͟

...

"Drive!" Luke yelled at him. Having no choice in the matter, he drove. Well, he tried to but the engine wasn't working.

"What's taking you so long!?" Maddie yelled.

"The engine is not working!" Nick yelled back.

Suddenly, a chill ran down their spines.

"What the fuck was that!?" Maddie exclaimed.

The temperature kept dropping. Ice was forming on the wall.

"The hell!?" Luke yelled, pointing at something in the back. They look at the direction he was pointing and they saw something really strange. The ice seemed to originate from a kid, the one in the hoodie, the one who seemed to be having a panic attack. They tried to get to him but was blocked by all the sharp icicles. Multiple clicks were heard as all the locks were opened. Not long after, all the other kids ran out through the back door. The hooded one was still having his panic attack. Maddie tried to open a door but the ice had made it impossible to open. The only door opened was the backdoor which they could not reach. There was no way out of there.

And then, they saw Her, standing right outside the backdoor.

"What in the ever loving fuck!?"

"Oh god! What is that!?"

"We're all gonna die!"

She raised her long hand towards them. She let out a bloodcurdling shriek. And all they saw was red. Their red blood...

...

The police were baffled. The crime scene looked like that of the serial killer on the rise recently, the one dubbed 'The Woodsman' because of all small fragments of wood found in the victims wounds and the trees that came out of nowhere. However, this time, the fake ice-cream truck where the kidnappers were killed was frozen all over. Not to mention the claims about a weird hooded kid that was missing and the lady in a long-dress with patterns like the bark of a birch tree. All in all, the police didn't know where to go next.

...

Harry stopped, breathing hard. He was exhausted from running and using what his aunt and uncle called 'freakishness'. Or 'uniqueness' as Kris told him.

The Birch was no longer there. She had disappeared once again, waiting to come back when he needed.

Suddenly, a piercing static. Harry fell down to his knees and held his head. He had a headache, most likely because of the static.

"Who's there!?" He asked, feeling somebody approaching.

And then, he saw a really tall man in an expensive suit. Harry looked up and was taken aback by the man's face... Or lack of, in this case. His skin was paper-white and he had neither hair nor a face.

"Hello, child." He 'said' after a couple seconds of silence. "I am Slenderman. Would you like to come live with me and my wards?"

Harry was weary, specially after the kidnapping but She hadn't shown up yet so it was safe... For now, that is.

"And why would you want me?" Harry asked.

"You seemed like you needed a home and we just happen to have one. Besides, you need someone to look after you and help you with your... 'uniqueness'." Slenderman replied, offering him a hand.

"Very well." Harry said as he took Slenderman's hand. He quickly looked around but it looked like She still hadn't shown up. "I accept your offer."

"Wonderful." Slenderman said as he led him away.

~~~~~~~~~~

And that's it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed.