ALBUS DUMBLEDORE was not one to sit quietly and accept defeat. After receiving Charlus' letter, he knew his time to act was sooner rather than later. He should have known that Charlus would not accept only playing a simple role in Harry's life, he had made it very clear that he was seeking guardianship. In a perfect world, Albus wouldn't have been opposed to the idea of Charlus raising his nephew. It was only natural for him to want to raise the last of his blood relatives, especially the son of his twin brother.

However, while the ignorant sat in the bliss of a new era, believing everything was fine, Albus appeared to be the only one willing to plan ahead. Harry's location had not only been for the benefit of the child, but for the betterment of the wizarding world as a whole. At only one-year-old, Harry had done something that no one else had managed to do. He had survived the Killing Curse, with his mother's love acting as a shield. And while many believed it to be a fluke or just luck, Albus believed there was so much more to it.

When Tom Riddle had been his student, he had already been someone to be wary of. He was cunning and ambitious, the well-known traits of Slytherin, but he didn't use those traits to do any good. Instead, he only sought power for his own selfish cause. Bitter at his upbringing, scarred by his childhood, Tom wanted revenge but the people he was angriest with the most weren't around to be punished and what little punishment he was able to dish out, hadn't been enough to satisfy him.

As others let their guard down, they advised Albus to do the same. Even Headmaster Dippet had told Albus that he was reading into things way too much and needed to step back a little before he brought himself trouble. If only others hadn't been so easily fooled by Tom's charm, they could have seen the disaster coming. Only Albus had been fooled by charm once, looking at Tom had reminded Albus of looking at a younger Gellert Grindelwald.

Grindelwald had not been easy to defeat and Tom ( in Albus' opinion) was considerably worse than his former friend. People could call him paranoid or a pessimist, But Albus had a feeling that one day, Tom Riddle otherwise known as Voldemort would return. And if he did, it would be Harry that he would go after again. Tom never liked being challenged and Harry had committed the worst crime against him by beating Tom. If the two met again, Harry needed to be ready, and until then, he needed to be safe.

Charlus' concern about the Dursleys' treatment was minuscule in comparison to Harry being murdered. The Dursleys didn't care for magic, but they had been willing to take Harry into their home. Charlus was unable to see the bigger picture that Albus was attempting to set out and foolishly had decided to disrupt everything he had put together.

In Charlus' letter, he boldly stated that Dursleys were willing to hand Harry over and there was nothing he could do. But Albus had to see and hear it for himself because if Charlus was as manipulative and calculated as he was believed to be, there was a possibility that he had threatened the Dursleys.

Petunia Dursley was tired of wizards showing up on her doorstep unannounced, but she didn't vocalise it, especially when she saw Albus Dumbledore standing before her. She felt a sense of anger wash over her as he asked to be let inside to talk, but she didn't think she had much of a choice. But before Dumbledore could startup with little lecture or ask his thousands of questions, she decided to let him have it.

"I know why you're here," she began, " but you're too late. He's already in his uncle's care and that's where he needs to stay."

Dumbledore remained eerily calm and Petunia wished Vernon was at least there to be at her side. " Mrs Dursley, have you forgotten what I wrote to you specifically in that letter? It was for Harry's safety-"

"And what of my family's safety?!" Petunia spat at him. "You didn't take into consideration the safety of my family. We're not of your kind! That you put that boy on my shoulders, make me take care of him out of guilt over what happened to my sister. But there was no follow-up or anything of the sort. How did you expect us to care for a child with magical abilities when we don't have any of our own?"

"Your lack of care was over your own resentment-"

"That may be so, but you played your role as well," she said, " We took him in out of fear of what would be done if we didn't agree. If he had other family members willing to take him in, why didn't he go with them in the first place?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I already informed you that in order for Lily's protection to work, Harry needed to-"

She shook her head, she didn't want to hear Dumbledore repeat his letter to her.  "We willingly gave Harry over to his uncle. We are willing to sign any document provided to terminate our guardianship and transfer it over to him. I don't want him in this house and I don't want you in my house either. I'm sure even in your world that I have rights. I want my family safe, Harry will be in better care with his uncle, I want you to leave us alone! If Charlus Potter is willing to help us accomplish that, I am more than willing to assist him, rather than help you."

After leaving the Dursleys empty-handed to avoid further conflict, Albus travelled to the home of Arabella Figg. As a member of the Order of the Phoenix, Arabella hadn't played a huge role during the war as she was quite limited as a Squib, but she came in handy when Albus needed someone to look after Harry to make sure he remained at 4 Privet Drive. Apparently, she wasn't as useful as Albus had hoped since Charlus had taken Harry right from under her nose and she didn't have the slightest clue until Albus told her.

"I can't say I'm all that surprised," Arabella told him as she groomed one of her half-kneazles. "With all due respect, Albus, I wrote to you many times to discuss the Dursleys and their treatment of Harry. I didn't have much proof but clearly Harry was unhappy in that setting, he looked absolutely miserable when he came to stay with me. Those are some very miserable muggles. If Harry is off to live a better life, I don't see why that would cause you to become upset."

"It's because he's not in control anymore."

Albus looked up to see Bathilda Bagshot of all people, coming out of Arabella's kitchen with a cup of tea in hand. He didn't know what to make of it, seeing as he didn't know the two shared any connection before.

"Bathilda, what brings you here?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but since you asked, "Bathilda began, "I was in search of a companion, and I learned that Arabella here sells some of the finest kneazle cross-breeds, so I decided to come meet her here to pick one out. And surprise, surprise, after you purposely avoided me the last time I was at Hogwarts, here we are, meeting once more. I'm quite disappointed in you, Albus."

"Disappointed?"

"Yes, you forget that while I watched you grow up as a boy, I watched the Potter family grow up as well. Euphemia and Fleamont roll in their graves with how you've treated their boys and their grandson. Both Charlus and James dedicating themselves to the Order, to the point where one of them lost their lives and the other lost everything. Charlus asks you for help and you ignore him until he gets in the way of your plans. And there is no excuse to leave Harry in that type of environment."

Albus straightened his robes. "On the surface, things may appear worse than they are-"

"Albus, please, I expect better of you," Bathilda told him in a scolding tone. "How many people have to tell you that the Dursleys were not fit to raise Harry before you believe it yourself? You just told Arabella that his own aunt said she didn't want to raise him, that you forced the child on her. How is that going to hold up in court in your favour? If I was presiding over the case, I would clearly grant Charlus custody.  You may think Charlus is stubborn, but you are twice as bad with no reasoning to back it up."

"I do have my reasonings, even if everyone doesn't wish to understand them."

She laughed loudly, setting her shaky teacup down. "If they don't wish to understand them? Albus, listen to me, I only say these things because I care. I care about you, about Charlus, and Harry. But what can your reasonings be to keep a child in such a household? Are you looking to have another obscurial on your hands? Wasn't that Credence boy enough to deal with? Do you want history to repeat itself?"

While Dumbledore was scrambling to make things right in his way, Harry had finally fallen asleep among his new family. Taking over the sitting room of the Grimmauld Place, Charlus had been sitting on the sofa when Harry nuzzled up into his side after dinner. He asked plenty of questions but eventually, he fell asleep. Charlus looked down, noting the little lightning bolt scar that decorated Harry's forehead. The mark of where Voldemort had tried to kill him when he was only a baby.

He couldn't help the feeling of guilt that consistently washed over him when he looked at Harry sometimes. Whether it was hating himself for being too late to save his family on the night Voldemort attacked or watching Harry flinch when Sirius got angry with Kreacher, it bothered him to no end. He wanted to sleep too but his mind wouldn't let him, he still felt like there was too much to do.

When Maeve walked in, she shook her head, watching as Charlus fought against any attempt to sleep.

"He seems to be adjusting fairly well," Maeve said as he looked up at her, " especially for someone who is just discovering magic exists and leaving behind everything he knows. I can tell he already loves you, the way he clings onto you and doesn't let you out of his sight. He might be overwhelmed, but he's so happy. And he's so sweet, you did the right thing taking him from the Dursleys."

"I think so too, but I know Dumbledore doesn't think that."

"Well, he doesn't have much of a say right now, does he? The Dursleys are more than willing to terminate their rights and grant guardianship to you. In muggle court, that holds up and technically, Dumbledore had Harry raised in a muggle family.  You and Sirius are technically his godfathers and while that doesn't make it legal, it certainly helps your case. Dumbledore doesn't have much legal ground to stand on. He can only base his argument on whatever his reasoning was to put Harry there in the first place."

"It doesn't mean it won't try. If I'm not mistaken, Dumbledore believes that Voldemort is going to come back," he said, ignoring the wince that Maeve made at the mentioning of the name, " I don't know how it would happen, but that's why he wanted Harry at the Dursleys. That's the whole blood bond protection things he was going on about. Petunia was who he needed to seal the charm and once Harry is no longer in their home, he's not under that protective charm."

"For the sake of humouring such an idea of you-know-who returning from the dead, how would Dumbledore know when that would happen? And if Harry was to continue to live in the Dursley home, wouldn't that bring him further harm? I mean, look at him. He's clearly underweight and they didn't even bother fitting him with a pair of glasses even though he can't see. In order to be protected, he has to face harm elsewhere?"

"Who knows? The important thing is, Harry is out of there and we're working on keeping him out of there. Have you written to your father about how we should proceed?"

Maeve nodded. "He's a lawyer, but child custody isn't his speciality but he's talking to a few of his colleagues. The issue is, do we handle this in muggle court or in wizarding court?"

"I would hope muggle court because Dumbledore doesn't have friends there."