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Albus groaned in frustration. Nothing was going right anymore!
First, the wards on Privet Drive had fallen. It had happened at some point in July, though Albus wasn't sure when, as he hadn't been in his office when the trinket he had for monitoring them had gone dead with a shrill crackle. No, it hadn't been until a few days before the boy's birthday, when Albus went to check the wards to see if they were charged enough to 'rescue' the boy yet, that he had discovered the problem.
At first, Albus thought that perhaps the wards had fallen during the school year. He had checked them occasionally, since this was the longest the boy had spent out from under them, and they had been weak but fine during the Easter break when last he'd looked. With the wards fallen — they'd never been as strong as he would have liked, but at least they'd been there — Albus was going to need to lay down new wards of his own. He'd need to tie them to the boy, and he'd need to do it quickly. It would be better to go at night, when everyone was sleeping. That way the boy would never know that Albus himself had been the one to set the wards imprisoning him at Privet Drive, and would thus see him as a savior every year when he was rescued.
Albus didn't really have time for a midnight jaunt to Surrey, but needs must, so he gathered up his deluminator and left the school's wards so that he could pop over to the apparition landing spot at the end of the street. When Albus cast a general Homenum Revelio charm, he was perturbed to find that there were only three signatures in the Dursley home, none of them magical. He couldn't imagine that they had let the boy attend a sleepover at a friend's house — he shouldn't have any muggle friends — and surely he would have heard from his two little spies if the boy had run away to either of them.
It was a puzzle, and Albus detested such puzzles when he didn't know the answers, so he quickly unlocked the door and stomped into the house at Privet Drive. It took no time at all to wake up Petunia, and she hissed at him to get out and never darken their doorstep again. From his passive legillimency Albus detected that the boy had never shown up at King's Cross on the last day of term, and the Dursleys — while upset at having to go to London for nothing — were happy to have seen the last of him.
Albus was furious, and had warned Petunia that her peaceful vacation would not last, as he was going to find the boy and drag him back here by the ear if he had to!
Thus began his frantic search for the boy. Albus had checked in with his two spies, but both Granger and the youngest Weasley had seen him alight from the train and head towards the barrier. They'd lost sight of him in the crowd and with the fuss of greeting their families, but they certainly hadn't sheltered him for the last few weeks.
Then Albus had been forced to conduct a search. He stealthily visited the Longbottoms, as the next most likely to take the boy in, but there were no extra bodies to be found. Nor with his other dormmates or those he played quidditch with. Out of ideas, Albus had decided to wait until September first to discover where the boy had been, and had turned his attention back to the myriad things he needed to get done over the summer.
Except the boy had not arrived! Albus had stomped upstairs from the feast and discovered sitting in the middle of his desk a goblin form letter withdrawing the boy effective immediately. There was no other magical signature he could trace, and it had been sealed with the Potter heir ring.
That was when Albus had realized his great mistake. He'd never considered that the boy had gone to the goblins, and those little beasts had surely told him all kinds of things that Albus wouldn't want him to know. They might have set his plans back years and they wouldn't care at all! He was going to have to propose a new series of stricter laws to the Wizengamot to deal with their kind in punishment for this.
But it also meant that he knew where the boy was. He had to be hiding behind the wards of Potter Keep. If the goblins had helped him, they would have told him about his ancestral property. They might also have arranged tutors for him to complete his OWL studies. The boy could stay locked inside the manor for years and only emerge to take his testing once he turned fifteen. It was unacceptable!
But if Albus had to bide his time until then, he would do so. He would propose and pass the laws he needed in the Wizengamot and the ICW, and when the boy emerged, Albus would be ready to recapture him and force him back into his proper role.
And in the meantime, oh how he would punish the beasts who helped his weapon escape!
Albus scowled as he settled in behind his desk, having finally gotten rid of the Weasley family. Yet more of his plans were in shambles, and he was going to have to find a new young light witch to betroth the boy to. One that he could control properly, which narrowed the list considerably. The Weasley chit had been perfect, and now she was lost to him!
Of course Albus had heard the wards screaming at him about the dark artifact on the grounds, but they'd been doing that for years, and he'd long since figured out how to mostly silence them. There were all sorts of dark artifacts in the school, after all, and one more wouldn't be much of a concern. When the beast had been unleashed, attacking the school, Albus had seen it as a minor inconvenience. He was dealing with his plans in the Wizengamot, and trying to figure out who was subtly blocking his plans in the ICW, and didn't have time to bother with some petrifications that would eventually be taken care of.
Of course he knew that Hagrid hadn't been responsible the first time around; acromantula could not petrify people, and the girl's body had no bite marks or venom within her blood. But it had made the boy wonderfully beholden to Albus when he later got him out of Azkaban and got him a job at the school. Albus was sure he could figure out what the monster was if he put a little time into it, but he didn't have that time to spare. Not if he wanted to get the Potter boy back into his clutches!
Lucius Malfoy had gotten the board of governors on his side and gotten Albus temporarily dismissed, but that had only given him more time to plot. And of course he was able to use it to his advantage later, when the Weasley chit had gone missing, and the family's clock had spelled out her fate. Albus had simply pointed out that, had he been there, she would not have died, and of course everyone believed him. His reinstatement was a mere formality, but the entire thing had lost him a valuable pawn.
Luckily he had time to find a new witch before the boy emerged to take his OWL exams, and to set everything in motion to place her as the future Lady Potter. If only he could get his hands on the boy again!
When Severus came to Albus and showed him the darkening mark on his arm, Albus was surprised that it had happened so soon. He had thought he would have several more years of testing the boy before Tom was capable of returning from his disembodied state. After the severe blow the boy had dealt him the year before, surely his wraith form had weakened?
Still, the darkening mark was undeniable, as was Severus's admonition that Tom would seek out his followers still in Azkaban.
It was, in fact, that very comment that gave Albus his next great idea. It had been the work of nothing to convince Cornelius to have Amelia tighten security at Azkaban and review the cases of the worst Death Eaters to make sure they were properly secured.
In no time at all she had discovered the lack of evidence or trial keeping Sirius Black imprisoned, and had brought that information to the Wizengamot, where Albus could use it to free the man and save him from the dementors. Escorting the man to Hogwarts afterwards allowed Poppy to give him a checkup, and for Albus to oversee the reunion between him and Remus Lupin.
Then Albus brought them up to his office and explained his fears that the goblins had manipulated young Harry into locking himself away in Potter Keep to avoid his celebrity as the boy-who-lived. He emphasized how the boy still had friends out here who missed him, and how surely he would rather be at Hogwarts, playing quidditch and studying with his peers than locked inside a dusty old manor with nought but a house elf for company. Albus assumed there was a house elf, or how else could the boy survive?
Both men had been devastated, and swore to find the boy themselves, even if they had to storm Gringotts to do it! Albus sent them off on their task with a fervent wish of good luck, and went back to his plotting.
And now, both men were off the grid! Instead of bringing the boy back into the light, they'd vanished from his chessboard themselves! It was most frustrating, and Albus actually trashed his office in his anger.
But he had a plan. There was going to be a Tri-Wizard Tournament at Hogwarts next year, and it would be easy enough to enter the boy's name. Then he would be forced to emerge and compete, or risk losing his magic. Yes, it would be the perfect way to recapture his weapon, and to get back at those two who had defected to his side as well!