Chapter Text
They had done it. Bill, Jo, and the team had successfully gotten Dorothy to fly. The data they had gotten was promising but they needed more of it. The more tornadoes they got data on and tagged ratings to the better. So that’s what they were doing. What they had been doing.
They were stopped at a little gas station in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. A supercell was getting ramped up to move through the area. October wasn't peak tornado season but they did happen on occasion and it looked like it could happen this time.
Jo stood leaning on Bill as he watched the darkened sky. She felt him tense and pulled off of his shoulder to looked at him, “Time to go?”
“Time to go,” he agreed.
“Alright, let's go!” She shouted as she and Bill dashed for the truck. She could hear the team scrambling for their vehicles and engines turning over. Dusty cranked his music up as they all began to pull out of the gas station and onto the little two lane road headed in the direction of the storm.
It didn't take them long. Golf ball sized hale was raining down on them. Jo was already getting herself ready to prime the latest Dorothy. They had managed to make her just heavy enough over the last few runs that they didn't have to drop the trailer with her anymore. All they had to do was drop Dorothy in its path and run. As much as she appreciated the ride through that F5 that solidified her and Bill getting back together she really didn't want to have to do it again.
They had just made a turn as the tornado came into view. It was a massive cone. What struck her as odd was not the size or the shape. It wasn't the large hale or the rain. It was the lightning. The tornado had frequent lightning strikes inside of it which was odd enough as usually the frequency of lightning goes down when they form, but the lightning was green. It was such a rare occurrence for either to happen that what she was seeing was near impossible.
“You guys seeing this?” She asked into her mic.
Various awed ‘yes's’ came through as Bill got them closer. She tore her eyes away and moved to get out of the truck as soon as Bill stopped. They ran around and got Dorothy ready. As soon as she was on the ground they hightailed it out of there. She had to say she was glad for the lightning they would have had to call it off if they were unable to see it.
They passed a farmhouse as they turned down another road to get to where the team had stopped to watch and wait for the data. Laurence had his camera out snapping photos in the rain and hale as they pulled up. The rest, she knew we're in their vehicles watching as the tornado headed right for Dorothy and then kept right on moving. It was on the ground still and showed no signs of stopping and right in its path was the farmhouse she and Bill had passed not moments earlier.
She turned to Bill with concerns on her lips but he was already looking at her and nodded knowingly. They would be going to that house just to make sure everyone was okay. Out this far it was unlikely they had gotten an Alert, but hopefully they had seen it through their windows and gotten to safety. She turned back towards the tornado and watched as it dissipated a few miles from the house.
“Hey guys,” she called, “I know we just got a ton of data on that once in a lifetime tornado but it passed a farmhouse so Bill and I are gonna go check and see if everyone is okay.”
It seemed she wasn't alone in her worry as the others followed behind them, electing to parse through the data later.
As they pulled up to the house it was evident that the tornado had not spared it. The roof was collapsed and so were several walls. A truck was flipped over on its side half in the building. The shed or barn that had been next to the home was nothing more than a concrete slab.
When Jo hoped from the truck her heart sank. From the rubble of the house she could hear a baby crying. She didn't think, she dashed towards the house even though she could hear Bill yelling for her to wait. She didn't care that the house was unstable that's why she needed to get in there. That child's life depended on it, so did anyone else who may be stuck.
She followed the cries to the back of the home. She stepped into what may have once been a nice kitchen. She only knew what the room used to be because the fridge had only been knocked over and partially buried by a bit of the upper floor. She inched in the room slowly before pausing when she kicked something.
It wasn't a something it turned out, it was a someone. He was laying on his side crushed but reaching out for something. She followed the arm to where it was pointing. A woman lay not far away, her head crushed under a collapsed beam. Jo felt her stomach lurch and she almost lost her dinner. In the woman's arms was a bundle of fabric that twitched with each cry piercing the night.
Jo crept towards it and scooped it up. Inside the bundle was the baby. He stopped crying and looked up at her with big green, watery eyes. He looked unharmed except for a lightning shaped scar on his forehead that looked red and irritated.
She picked her way through the house and back to where Bill and the team were waiting for her. She was immediately set upon by Bill and his worrying, scolding her for going in before they all could help and make sure it was safe. She was saved mid, well meaning lecture, by the bundle in her arms cooing.
Bill looked down and then back up at Jo, “Where are the parents?”
She just shook her head. He looked back down at the bundle and sighed. The rest of the team gathered around debating aloud what they should do. Jo just sat down and looked at the baby in her arms again. This time she noticed a bit of paper tucked into the folds of the blanket. She adjusted the bundle carefully and pulled it out.
“Can someone bring their light over here?”
Rabbit moved over to her and understood when he saw a bit of paper in her hand. He put the light of his flashlight on it so she could hold the now sleeping baby and read.
October 31st 1996
Dear Petunia,
I regret to inform you that this evening your sister and her husband were killed. Young Harry was the only one to survive, though not unscathed. As you are his only living relative I ask that you take him in and raise him. I know that you had your past issues with your sister but I hope that you will not allow that to cloud your judgement of young Harry. Treat him well, and when he is old enough tell him of his world.
Albus Dumbledore
Jo's stomach sank. An orphan. This boy in her arms was orphaned twice in one night. He lost his parents and then immediately after it appears he lost his aunt and uncle. His aunt and uncle who were the last living relatives he had.
“I'm keeping him,” her voice soft.
The team and Bill kept debating what they would do with the child so she repeated it again, louder this time, “I'm keeping him.”
Everyone stopped and looked at her.
“Jo, we can't. He probably has family out there who will want to take him in.” Bill said, trying to be the voice of reason.
She shook her head and handed the letter to Rabbit. He read it and his face dropped before he passed the letter off to Dusty. It went on like that for a moment. Each person on the team reading the letter and then passing it along with a sad look on their face. When Bill finished reading it he sighed.
“He has no one Bill. I can't let him be shuffled through the system like I almost was.”
Bill looked at Jo and then at the bundle in his arms. He sighed again, “Okay. We do this right and get a lawyer so he's legally ours though.”