Raised by the deputy

Prologue

Co written with SophieBettley

Late Halloween evening, the Potters were settling down for the night after a long few hours of trick or treating. Harry had fallen asleep pretty easily considering all the energy that he seemed to have when he was outside.

Lily and James cuddled up on the sofa of Godric's hollow to enjoy the night.

"James I'm worried, what if Peter wasn't the right choice? Maybe we should change it to Minnie?"

"Lily flower it will be okay, Peter is too cowardly to do anything to betray us, especially with Sirius around."

Lily nods against his chest but doesn't entirely believe that Peter is trustworthy enough.

" We can change it to Minnie if it would make you feel more secure in our home." It was almost like James knew Lily was unsettled as he held her closer to him.

Just as they started to relax an alarm sounded through the small home, startling not only the adults but the green eyed baby upstairs sleeping in his crib.

"Get to Harry now Lily , use the portkey and get away. I love you, now go"

"I love you too James, I'll get Harry out."

Lily then ran up the stairs and into the nursery they made when they had to move to Godric's hollow for their safety. She frantically looked for the small portkey that was kept in a locked cupboard but couldn't find it anywhere. She knew it was there this morning as Lily checks daily to keep her mind at ease. "That bloody rat!!"

Harry watched as his mum panicked around the room before she starting casting spells and engraving runes into his crib. It was the only way she could keep him safe enough, there was not enough time to make a portkey.

Back downstairs James Potter was face to face with Lord Voldemort. His wand had been summoned and broken before James could even react to the door being blasted open. Voldemort could hear the alarms from outside and knew he had to get the job done quickly before people arrived here.

Green light was casted at the man causing him to fall to the floor dead. He quickly ascended the stairs and blasted open the nursery door before shooting the same curse at the red headed women. As she slumped to the ground he strides to the crib of the child and avada kedavra'd him but it didn't work. Lily's death caused the runes to activate and protect her baby boy from the insane man. Green light bounced back at the snake-faced man and he split into two spirit-like entities with one half going into the child's newly formed scar and the other going out of the window in a black mist.

Harry barely started crying when a certain Albus Dumbledore arrived and picked him up out of the crib.

Meanwhile with Albus and Minerva

A dull flashing light appeared on the edge of Dumbledore's desk causing both the occupants to look in that direction.

"What is that supposed to mean Albus,don't tell me it's another stupid cat toy to test me." a crisp Scottish voice questioned. The two had spent the evening of hallows eve filling out and filing paperwork from the Ministry while drinking many cups of tea and consuming more than a few biscuits (or in Albus Dumbledore's case lemon drops).

"No this isn't some test, although i was thinking of one quite similar, the wards have fallen"

"The wards have fallen? But Hogwarts seems fine." a sudden realisation dawned on the transfiguration professor "not the Potter's Albus, tell me it has nothing to do with them."

"Just stay here Minnie, i'll be back soon.'' With no other explanation the great Albus Dumbledore left his office. But Minerva could not just stay here while her favourite students were possibly under attack. No she had to go see, just to reassure herself if nothing else.

The office was left empty as both the Hogwarts staff members had left through apparition, the only place in the castle where this was possible to do.

As Minerva got the potters she transformed into her tabby cat form in order to not let Albus see she was here. A cat-like whine, almost a crying sound, came from the cat as she set her sight on James Potter's corpse. He might have been troublesome, but he held a special place in her heart especially after Lily managed to make him see that his pranks were not always funny but rather hurt people.

Thinking of Lily, Minerva gave one last glance at the body at the bottom of the stairs before gently ascending the wooden steps towards the nursery. Knowing what lies before her, Minnie took a deep breath before entering the room. When she slinked in she found Lily dead on the floor by the crib, and with her advanced eyesight she could see the quickly engraved runes lining the outer bars of said crib.

A baby's cries brought her attention to Albus who was holding Harry out to Hagrid. 'When did Hagrid get here? How did he get here so fast'

" I didn't do it, professor, honestly. I was coming to visit little Harry and I found them like this." It started making sense to Minerva how he got here, Hagrid has obviously been good friends with the potters so it shouldn't be a surprise that he was on one of his very frequent trips to Godric's hollow.

"I am aware of that Hagrid, do not worry I know it wasn't you. It was Voldemort, he finally acted on the prophecy. I need you to take him to Lily's sister at 4 Privet drive Hagrid. It is a matter of urgency, get there as quick as you can, I'll meet you there." Hagrid nods having no reason to disobey the man who saved him from going to Azkaban.

Minerva remembers the Dursleys well from the Potters wedding when they came to degrade Petunia's sister in the hopes of humiliating her on her special day. Luckily, Sirius and Remus and herself were there to get rid of the pair before they got too close to them.

'I can't believe Albus would send Harry to the Dursleys! He has me and Sirius as godparents in case anything ever happened.'

Minnie wasted no time in apparating to the Dursleys and waited patiently for Hagrid to arrive. As she predicted Albus only showed up once the half giant had arrived on the scene with barely enough time to actually take all the lights from the street lights that littered the small village.

'He's too careless about my godson, how dare the old man do this to him.'

The greying man noticed the tabby cat with odd markings and called out to her. "Minerva i thought i told you to stay in my office, but never mind you are here now." he shook his head in disappointment at her for disobeying him, the great and powerful Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

He wrapped the small child in a thin blanket with a small note addressed to the Dursleys and placed him on the concrete doorstep.

"Albus, you cannot leave a child on a doorstep, especially not Petunia's in the middle of the night!" Once again the man shook his head 'how dare she question me, I have a first class order of Merlin and she thinks I'm going to take advice from her? I don't think so.'

He huffed and made his thought clear "Minerva, i know what i'm doing. How dare you question my actions. The boy will be fine here. You are lucky we are not still in my office, this would entail a disciplinary against your work ethic. Can you not make decisions without thinking about the greater good in the long run?"

Hagrid looked back and forth between them but wisely decided to stay out of it for now.

Albus gives her one more look of disappointment before adding the lights back to the lamp posts and disappearing into the night. This left Minnie and Hagrid looking at baby Harry. "I don't think I can leave him here Minerva." he had tears dripping down his face at a rapid pace.

"I am not letting him stay here, don't worry Hagrid, he's coming back to Hogwarts with us. We just can't let Albus see him before we gather the evidence to have him removed from his many positions of power and gain custody of little Harry. After that he can wander as he pleases, well once he's older." She prays that Sirius doesn't visit too often, the school could not handle that all over again.

Minnie picks him up and cradles the green eyed child to her chest, hoping she was making the right choice by doing this.