❝If by my life or death I can protect you, I will.❞
The Chosen One is kidnapped from the Dursley household and it turns out to be the best damn thing that's happened to him.
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MAEVE NEEDED A MOMENT to collect herself after Charlus dropped the word equivalent of a dungbomb on all of them. After everyone's initial reaction, which consisted of questioning Charlus' sanity, she made her way over and sat down on her sofa. It had been one thing to participate in Charlus' earlier tricks to go against Fudge or even support Charlus in his attempts to fool Dumbledore, but kidnapping was a whole other story. And maybe she wasn't alone in her thoughts, because while Sirius looked ready to follow Charlus into war, Remus' expression showed hesitation.
"Charlus," Remus began after a moment, " I don't think you understand what you just said. You're talking about kidnapping Harry. Is this really the only plan you can come up with?"
"Of course not," Charlus answered, " but it's the only one guaranteed to work. I understand that it's not the nicest route to take, and in terms of legality, it is very much illegal. Which is exactly why I didn't want to you or Maeve actively in on it. I will completely understand if you two walk away right now. Go to the Ministry and report me, I don't care. Sirius and I will be long gone along with Harry."
Remus peered over at Sirius, who didn't appear to be upset at all. "Padfoot, come on, you have to understand that this is wrong. You're not going to agree to this, are you? You just got out of Azkaban, if anything, this is a one-way ticket back to prison!"
"I would never let that happen," Charlus interjected. "If anything were to happen, I am fully willing to accept the blame. Harry and Sirius would be fine-"
"You didn't understand anything that was said to you earlier," Remus countered. "If you get into trouble, Charlus, Sirius loses you and so does Harry. How will they be fine? You need to think of a better plan! Why not go to the courts and legally seek Harry in a custody battle?"
Charlus shook his head, visibly becoming annoyed as his body tensed up. "You don't understand, Remus. Dumbledore is not going to let Harry go from the Dursleys. He made that very clear when I went to go talk to him. He doesn't care that the Dursleys aren't treating Harry well, he has some sort of plan that requires Harry to remain there, no matter how much he suffers. I won't allow that. My nephew asked me for help, he asked me to come get him, and that's what I'm going to do."
Maeve finally recovered from her shock and stood up to approach Charlus. "Where are you going to go with him, Charlus? Sure, you can probably get him out of there, the Dursleys are only muggles. But after that? What's your plan? You can't bring him here, as soon as Dumbledore knows what's going on, Aurors will be dispatched to look for you. They know you're here and I think they will have probable cause to enter. Where are you going to go?"
Truth be told, Charlus had not gotten that far with his planning. He had told the others what he planned to do, but he still needed to work out some very important details. Maeve had brought up a very good point that he couldn't bring Harry back to the flat, so they needed somewhere to go. As he tried to think, he couldn't help but feel a dull ache throbbing away near the front of his head.
