Chapter Text
1982
Will Black was a young man that had taken the milk bottle job as a side sort of job until he figured out what he wanted to do at Uni. He had all his A-levels, pretty good scores, decent, but nothing bombastic, and a drive… For something. He was nineteen and had no clue what he wanted in his life. His dad had an in with the local grocers, and he had to do something while he tried to ‘find’ himself and all such tosh. It seemed good as any job and paid well enough.
The hours were shit.
He didn’t like how early he had to get up to deliver everything by six. He didn’t like how sometimes irate customers would wait at ungodly hours, impatiently waiting for their dairy fix and the need to berate him for not coming to their house first. But really, it was an easy job in comparison to others. He only had to deliver once a day, be done by six and had the rest of the day to himself. Most of which he spent sleeping, or browsing through his books, maybe penning things about in a notebook. Poetry mostly, dark drey things that no one would ever see…
“You have got to be shitting me,” is his ever eloquent response once he gets to one of his least favorite houses in Little Winging, Number Four of Privet drive.
His mum, a who actually lived on Privet drive, absolutely loathed Mrs. Dursley, made that known, and as a result whenever the woman managed to catch him on his deliveries she was an utter cunt to him . His mother was an angel, and her dislike wasn’t unwarranted. Mrs. Dursley of Number Four of Privet drive was an utter nightmare. A gossip, and… well a bitch. An utter bitch that was nasty and just plain dull.
So when Will sees a baby on their porch, his response is immediately to put down her damn milk, whole and non-fat, and to pick up the boy instead. The letter tucked precariously in his blankets, one that Will doesn’t notice, flutters into the bushes as he rushes back to his truck, glad that he had gone last to Number Four out of sheer petty spite. He drives fast, back to the grocers, and immediately phones the police.
All the while, bouncing the baby boy in his arms.
Perhaps it was not his wisest choice. But to be fair Will was a bit panicked . It wasn’t every day that someone leaves a baby on a porch. And he was nineteen and an idiot.
When the baby wakes up, lids trembling open and revealing the most vivid, emerald eyes… Well, Will realizes how cute babies are, as well as how utterly defenseless they are as he tries to mimic the little bounce his cousin Mage had instructed him to do when he held her baby, Lexi. It soothes the baby, who immediately leans against his neck, and nibbles at it. He has some teeth, so it sort of hurts, but Will makes bares it well enough, panic easing as he coos at the baby.
“And you say the boy was just out there, in the cold?”
Will gave a strained smile and just nods. The baby was still gnawing on his neck, refusing to leave from his arms even when the child services had offered to take the boy. The screaming fit that had caused had made the woman back off.
“It’s why I took him straight here- It’s November, officer. I don’t think it was smart to leave a baby there. Did I do wrong? I think I panicked. Oh God, I’m a kidnapper.”
The officer, Daniel Brown, actually laughed.
“You had the best intentions lad. It was fairly early anyway. I just now got an answer from the family who lives at the address. Said it must be Mrs. Dursleys nephew, Harry Potter. Her sister isn’t the right sort, you know?”
Will looked at the boy, the sweet little baby that couldn’t be more than a year or so old.
“She would just leave her baby on the porch?”
“She mentioned something of a gang war that her sister may have been involved in. It may have been them. Apparently, she and her husband passed away on Halloween. The poor woman sounded a little shaken up and thought the boy had died with them.”
Will did not like Petunia Dursley but felt a bit of sympathy at that mention of her loss.
“So what happens now? To Harry here?”
“The Dursleys don’t think they can afford to raise him. Young family with a son of their own, as far as I was told. And he doesn’t have any other family. They asked about their options. Most likely putting him up for adoption.”
Will was an impulsive sort. Harry being in his arms more than likely influenced him more then he knew.
“Think I can throw my hat in?”
Will wondered if his girlfriend, Estelle, would kill him. They lived in a small if decent flat in the nicer part of Surrey. Ideal for a young couple starting their life. Not so much for a family.
The officer laughed.
"Don't see why not."