The Beauty, The Beast, and The Potter

Chapter 1

It had been a peaceful, lamp lit, quiet night on Privet Drive before Albus Dumbledore arrived. Until he pulled out his little trinket, his Deluminator, and pulled all of the lights from the lamps inside like a lighter, before hearing a cat's meow and putting it away. His eyes met those of a tabby cat with strange markings around the eyes, sitting on a brick ledge.

"I should have known that you would be here." He whispered, seemingly to himself. "Professor McGonagall." The cat meowed, sniffed, then jumped off the wall, her shadows revealing her transformation into the very human Professor Minerva McGonagall.

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore." She greeted as they headed towards house Number Four. "Are the rumours true, Albus?" She asked, almost frightened for the answer.
"I'm afraid so, Professor. The good, and the bad."

"And the boy?" She persisted.
"Hagrid is bringing him." McGonagall's eyebrows rose.

"Do you think it wise to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" Dumbledore smiled.

"Ah, Professor, I would trust Hagrid with my life."

There was then a motor sound, and the two professors looked up to see a flying motorcycle coming down from the air. It skidded on the street, before halting. Rubeus Hagrid, who drove the motorcycle, lifted his goggles.

"Professor Dumbledore, Sir." He greeted, climbing off of the bike and taking a small bundle of blankets that sat in his lap into his arms. "Professor McGonagall."

"No problems, I trust, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked, and Hagrid shook his head.

"No, sir. Little tyke fell asleep just as we were flying over Bristol." He chuckled, before handing the bundle off to Dumbledore. "Heh. Try not to wake him. There you go." Dumbledore looked into the bundle, to see a small baby boy with a lightning bolt shaped scar stretching across his small forehead.

"Accio!" Came out of nowhere, and the baby flew from Dumbledore's arms and into the darkness, the baby fussing, but a soft shushing was heard, and the boy was soothed.

Hagrid stood up straight and McGonagall reached for her wand, both ready to fight if they had to, but there was little need.

"I should have known you would try to intercept this exchange, Madame Hara." And out of the shadows came a girl with hair so dark orange it was almost brown, a sprinkling of freckles across her nose, big, blue eyes that had their eyebrows furrowed above them and a small mouth that was set in a determined frown. She held the baby close.

"I know these people, Albus." She spoke without hesitation. "I've met them. They are not to be trusted with any child, let alone their own."

"I understand your fears, Belle." He told her. "But, we both know it is what must be done."

"Would Lily want this?" There. She had asked the question. Would Dumbledore respond with the answer she was looking for was the question.

"No, Lily would not." He said slowly. "But, they are the only family he truly has left. It is what must be done." The girl stood still, unmoving.

"And what makes him any safer here than with me?"

"The blood relative aspect." Dumbledore told her. "The safety, of a magical seal, left behind by Lily herself." Safety. That was all she wanted for him. If Dumbledore believed that he would be safer here than in the wizarding world...

"Then, I want to be there for him." She told him. "He has to know me at the least. Please." Dumbledore sighed.

"Be unimportant. Don't spoil everything for him yet. Let yourself be in his life, yet out of it at the same time." The girl thought for a moment, then nodded finally.

"Fine." She told him, before walking over and returning the bundle of blankets and baby to Dumbledore, and the four adults carried on the walk to Number Four.

"This boy will be famous." McGonagall realised when they reached the house. "There wont be a child in our world who doesn't know his name." Dumbledore nodded.

"Exactly. He's better off growing up away from all that. Until he is ready." He whispered as he gently set the baby down on the porch, and sniffling came from Hagrid. He was crying.

"There, there, Hagrid." Dumbledore told him gently. "It's not really good-bye, after all." Hagrid nodded, and the girl, Belle, wiped her eyes. She had been driven to tears as well. Dumbledore gently placed a letter beside the baby, before whispering one last time.

"Good luck...Harry Potter."