Knock, knock, knock.
Professor McGonagall waited for a moment. Soon, the door was opened by someone she knew quite well from a distance.
"Excuse me, who are you looking for?" Harry asked, looking at her politely.
"Hello, Harry. Long time no see. I am looking for a young man named Kane Heath, about your age," Professor McGonagall said, pulling an envelope from her robes and handing it to Harry. "I brought this for you while I was at it."
Having said that, she politely maneuvered past Harry and entered the house, coming to a stop in the hallway and waiting for the two adults of the house to appear.
"And you are?" Vernon, who was off work today, walked out. Seeing the elegantly and meticulously dressed Professor McGonagall, he asked a cautious question.
"I am the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Minerva McGonagall. I have come to inquire about a missing young wizard, Kane Heath, and to deliver the acceptance letter for Harry Potter," Professor McGonagall stated directly.
"We won't have them going to some freak school! You can leave now; this house is not welcome to you," Vernon barked. The moment he heard the words 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,' it was as if his PTSD had flared up, and he instinctively tried to throw McGonagall out.
"In the magical world, the will of a guardian is merely an opinion; the true right of decision belongs to the wizard themselves. Furthermore, even if you are unwilling to let the two children attend Hogwarts, you surely must know where Mr. Heath is currently located?"
Professor McGonagall walked toward Vernon with an air of authority, eventually forcing him back into the living room before she stopped.
"I've already called the police about that annoying brat Kane Heath. The police will find him; I don't need you causing trouble here," Vernon insisted, putting up a brave front.
"No, let her check. She can find him," Petunia Dursley said, having heard the commotion from upstairs. She hurried down and spoke quickly after listening to the situation.
"Petunia... sigh." Vernon groaned and returned to his usual sofa, turning the TV volume up to the maximum. He muttered bitterly to himself, "Two freaks. One freak finally gets lost, and now another shows up."
With a simple wave of her wand, Professor McGonagall shielded herself, Harry, and Petunia from the noise.
"Can you find Kane?" Harry asked firmly.
"Perhaps... Do you have anything that has been touched by Kane's power? Clothes, specific jewelry, or perhaps something from his room? A drawing he made?"
Harry and Petunia exchanged a look and shook their heads. Suddenly, Harry remembered something. He ran back to his small room under the stairs and pulled out the clothes he had worn the night he chased Kane.
The clothes hadn't been washed yet; there should still be traces of the shadows Kane had used on his shoulders.
"Look, would there be some marks on the shoulders?" Harry handed the clothes to Professor McGonagall.
McGonagall used her wand to probe the fabric. Sure enough, she extracted a wisp of dark shadow. However, in an instant, the shadow streaked off in the direction of Hogwarts, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"Um... Professor, that was..." Harry was a bit dazed by the sight, while Petunia, watching with forced composure, slowly took half a step back.
"I can only say that Mr. Heath is, at the very least, still alive," McGonagall said cautiously.
"Yeah. He's so capable, he's bound to survive. But he probably isn't living very well. It's lunchtime now; he might be scavenging in a dumpster in some corner right now..." Harry said pessimistically, imagining things that weren't actually happening.
He quickly looked back at McGonagall. "Can you find him?"
"That is certain. Even if I cannot, Albus Dumbledore would not ignore a missing young wizard," McGonagall promised.
"Then Professor, I'll definitely see him at that Hogwarts place, right?" Harry brandished the acceptance letter in his hand.
"You will. Do you wish to—" McGonagall started to ask.
"I'm going to knock his teeth out!" Harry said fiercely.
Recalling the sensation of that incredibly pure Dark Magic shadow, McGonagall felt that Harry was quite the character—daring to think and daring to act.
She then turned her gaze back to Petunia. "This child needs a room, clothes of his own, and to attend Hogwarts. Of course, this is merely an opinion."
"That's impossible!" Vernon roared from the living room.
McGonagall glanced at him.
".....Alright, alright. Petunia, go clear out a room for Mr. Potter." Vernon's voice dropped several decibels.
"And..." McGonagall continued.
"We'll let him go to that school, but we only permit him to leave this house. We won't involve ourselves in anything else." This was Vernon's bottom line. He would rather die than go to a wizarding area to buy textbooks or attend a parent-teacher meeting.
"I will arrange for someone to take your place," McGonagall said, looking back at Harry. "Tomorrow morning, someone from the Weasley family will come to help you purchase the items needed for school. They are wonderful people; you'll recognize them by their red hair."
"I understand, Professor," Harry nodded.
After Professor McGonagall left, she Apparated back to Hogsmeade and took a secret passage straight to Hogwarts Castle. A missing young wizard with such dense Dark Magic was something that needed to be discussed thoroughly with Dumbledore.
She soon walked into Dumbledore's office. Two cups of black tea and a crystal ball were sitting on his desk.
"Dumbledore, this matter..."
Dumbledore raised a finger to his lips. "A missing young wizard with traces of Dark Magic. I know."
"If you know, then why are you just sitting here?" McGonagall asked, crossing her arms sternly.
"Because I have already found him and brought him back. Right now, he's 'treasure hunting' in the Forbidden Forest."
As Dumbledore spoke, McGonagall stepped closer to look at the crystal ball in the center of the desk. The image inside showed Kane and Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. They had been wandering around for quite a while.
"So... Kane, are you really sure there are 'Treeguards' in the Forbidden Forest?" Hagrid asked, huffing for breath.
Kane shook his head. "I'm not sure."
"Well, I was just as imaginative when I was eleven. I understand you. Let me ask another way: what do you want a Treeguard for?" Hagrid followed up.
"I'm going to take it down and use its Living Logs as material for my wand," Kane said with complete honesty.
"The problem is... Kane, we might not have 'Treeguards' here," Hagrid said bitingly.
"No worries, I have a plan." Kane pulled out an oak seed. This seed had been thoroughly corrupted by his shadows. Once this tree grew, it was guaranteed to be a Treeguard. Now, the only thing missing was the magic to make the seed sprout and mature instantly.
And that was a type of magic Hagrid just happened to have.
"What are they doing in that little dirt pit?" McGonagall frowned as she watched Kane and Hagrid squatting on the ground, digging away.
"I don't know. Perhaps they're reforesting the Forbidden Forest..." Dumbledore had been speaking with a chuckle, but suddenly his smile vanished. He stared at the image in the crystal ball with a look of utter bewilderment. "Wait, what is that?"