Two Steps Ahead, He Turns Back With A Smile

ACT VIII: WHERE ON EARTH IS HOLLY POTTER?

Harry set his cutlery down as he quietly listened to Holly's retelling of the muggle fairytales they've been reading lately.

Sirius and Remus who grew up in the wizarding world were somewhat fascinated though they remembered Lily talking about some of them while they were still attending Hogwarts.

He lifted up his cutlery once more as he gently reminded Holly to finish swallowing her food before continuing talking.

Holly smiled sheepishly and swallowed her mouthful of food. The three adults... well two adults and one dog subconsciously sent her a fond gaze.

Harry gave an occasional response whenever Holly looked up at him expectantly, ten minutes later Holly finally finished her retelling and silently ate her food.

Following her lead, Harry continued to bite into his roasted potatoes, that's when he received an alert.

[The Phoenix is awakening]

Holly's "copy" was actually one of his house-elves (Tibby) who in turn spied on the Dursley and Figgs for him.

Harry leaned back in his office chair in thought, Dumbledore has started to take notice of "Holly".

According to Tibby (the spy house-elf) Mrs. Figgs has started to babysit "Holly" and has been keeping Dumbledore updated on her well-being.

Well then, it took him 2 years... not bad.

Well... let's see if he can find her, Harry sadistically chuckled as he made another "Holly" (Daisy the spy-elf) and sent Dumbles on a wild goose chase.

Just the thought of Dumbledore's face full of pure disappointment was enough to make him giddy.

***

Dumbledore finally realized something is not right about Mrs. Figgs reports.

They're consistent: "She's fine, healthy. But a bit thin. Quiet and doesn't go out much."

He dug through the stack of letters from Mrs. Figgs throughout the last seven years that he had yet to open.

He's ashamed to admit, but in last seven years he has only read five letters over the many reports she had sent him.

He's a busy man.

He tries to track her using her blood but it's far too old, 7 years too old– to be precise. Besides even if it did work, he would never be able to track her through the wards around Haven Manor.

Dumbledore realizes he doesn't actually know what seven year old Holly looks like, other than her baby pictures.

He assumes she either looks like her father or mother.

Cepheus managed to tame her wild black hair into passable thick half curls, and somehow that made her look more like a Black than a Potter.

(Then again... the Blacks were practically related to all the Purebloods)

Dumbledore thought long and hard.

There's that Lord Cepheus Potter, the new Lord Potter and his daughter Holly Potter but could it be that easy? Such a coincidence that the two girls had the same name.

It's not uncommon for cousins to share the same name. (A/N: The amount of Lily/Lilly/Lillian in my family tsk tsk.)

Also, "Holly" became a rather popular name after the (temporary) defeat of Voldemort and "Jamie" could be a contribution to his late cousin, James Potter. They were quite close when they were young.

Maybe? Maybe not. However, Dumbledore has seen Lord Potter's daughter and although the two little girls resemble each other (he blamed it on Potter Family Magic) there was a key difference and Cepheus Potter's daughter did not have it.

She did not have the lightning bolt scar.

Which is in fact a cursed scar (he had tried to heal it briefly but it did not work) so even if someone tried to glamour it, it wouldn't disappear.

No matter how coincidental it ALL was, no scar meant he had to look elsewhere.

Harry watched the headmaster through the eyes of his spying portal.

He snorted, hiding in plain sight is the best disguise. It keeps your searchers second guessing themselves.

It was just his luck Dumbledore tends to overthink and easily dismiss things.

Dumbledore – a week later – was still scratching his head. He went to the Dursley's but they weren't home.

So he waited and waited. And when he came by again, he saw Holly (Tibby) walking alone somewhere and then she disappeared!

He managed to track her again, in the next five streets over and she (Daisy) disappeared again!

She keeps disappearing!

Where on earth is Holly Potter?!

Tibby and Daisy cackled, they had the best job ever!

***
A/N: Caught a cold so I'm feeling under the weather. But don't worry I'm still updating.