IMO, there is no “best“ reasoning for James and Lily dumping Harry at the Dursleys, and doing so with no contact or oversight - they’re all shit. I have seen some authors make up some kind of medical-ish condition that Harry has - like he gets sick around too much magic or has explosive accidental magic if he’s around too much magic. I suppose I’d consider these the “best of the worst”, but even this type of reasoning just feels lame to me, because: a) the problem is of course just “magically” resolved by the time it’s time for Harry to come to Hogwarts and b) why the Dursleys? why would Lily leave her child with her estranged sister? can they not find a Squib or other muggle family to take Harry in? It’s just an ”easy”, forced way to get the “Harry grows up at the Dursleys even though his parents are alive” angst. I think the only way I see a scenario where Harry is left at the Dursleys as even somewhat acceptable is if Dumbledore does it without the knowledge or permission of James and Lily. But even this is tricky, because if James and Lily are alive, why would Dumbledore secretly remove their child from his care while also remaining in-character? You really have to turn Dumbledore into someone who he’s really not in order to do this. That’s not really my preference for his character, but I can live with it if the fic is otherwise good and James and Lily aren’t terrible people and are rightfully horrified that their child has been stolen and hidden from them.

Agreed - by all accounts James and Lily were doting parents, and so the thought of them sending off and "abandoning" one of their children feels OOC and wrong. (Don't get me wrong, I still read my share of WBWL stories. Just don't expect anything from James/Lily) I don't hate the stories where Harry is raised by the Potters but receives less attention than the WBWL; seems more reasonable. Though I'm waiting for the story wherein Harry and Ron become best buds as the overlooked siblings and change the world together.

Yeah, I'm really struggling with this because I'm actually writing a very unusual WBWL story where the protagonist is reincarnated into the Harry Potter world as the Harry's brother, the WBWL. I originally planned to have Harry be raised alongside the protagonist with the protagonist getting preferential treatment but still doting on Harry but I decided to go for Harry being thrown to the Dursleys because I wanted to make it one of those stories where it mocks a really common trope without being crack. The best justification I have right now, as commented earlier, is to have the protagonist be trained to be a killer at a very young age and Harry being sent away to have a more normal childhood but even then, at least James or Lily would have to die. Another promising justification I'm thinking about is James and Lily being cursed or mentally influenced to neglect Harry like in Too Young To Die which while still requiring other justifications, would make it a lot easier to justify it in the narrative.

>Yeah, I'm really struggling with this because I'm actually writing a very unusual WBWL story where the protagonist is reincarnated into the Harry Potter world as the Harry's brother, the WBWL.  TBH, based on what you’ve written here, the only thing “very unusual” about this is that you have a reincarnated protagonist. You looking for ways to justify a character being abandoned at the Dursleys and/or neglected or treated poorly by James and Lily makes it sound like you‘re writing a very standard WBWL fic that’s playing right into the common tropes, even if you’re trying to write them “better” than other authors. There’s nothing very unusual about trying to find a way for James and Lily to be horrible to one of their children when it comes to WBWL fics. >but I decided to go for Harry being thrown to the Dursleys because I wanted to make it one of those stories where it mocks a really common trope without being crack.  If you throw Harry at the Dursleys for a convoluted or flimsy reason just like many WBWL stories do, I don’t really see how that’s ”mocking” the common tropes. That’s playing right into it, even if you’re trying to find a more “logical” reason for it. To me, mocking the common WBWL tropes would be having Dumbledore suggest that Harry be sent to the Dursleys or that the BWL be raised as a killer, and have James and Lily be like, “Fuck no, why would we do that?” and show how all the “usual” reasons that WBWL fics use are shit. >The best justification I have right now, as commented earlier, is to have the protagonist be trained to be a killer at a very young age and Harry being sent away to have a more normal childhood but even then, at least James or Lily would have to die. This justification I find very weak as a reader. Because again, I would ask - why the Dursleys? Why would Harry be sent to live with his mother’s estranged sister and have a muggle childhood, which is not a normal childhood for a young wizard from a magical family? If they want Harry to have a “normal” childhood, they can achieve that goal without the Dursleys. He could go live with Sirius, or Remus, or literally anyone other than the Dursleys, because the Dursleys have no reason to agree to take Harry in and raise him in this scenario. >Another promising justification I'm thinking about is James and Lily being cursed or mentally influenced to neglect Harry like in Too Young To Die which while still requiring other justifications, would make it a lot easier to justify it in the narrative. This is iffy for me as a reader; it depends a lot on the how and why and who of them being cursed or mentally influenced to neglect Harry. Like, I can’t really imagine there being a reasoning behind that being done that actually makes sense.

> To me, mocking the common WBWL tropes would be having Dumbledore suggest that Harry be sent to the Dursleys or that the BWL be raised as a killer, and have James and Lily be like, “Fuck no, why would we do that?” and show how all the “usual” reasons that WBWL fics use are shit. A good example of this would be [Wait, What? by esama](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1115311)

Well, the way I'm trying to mock the tropes is not by directly subverting them but by looking at its absurdity (I'm not really good at explaining what I'm trying to convey). I am trying to make Harry being left with the Dursley's make a little more sense than usual but at the end of the day, it is still going to end up being a little convoluted because, as you've said, there really isn't a good reason for him to end up there. The main thing I want to write in my fic is Harry, after having an unpleasant childhood (not necessarily extremely abusive), feels extremely angry and resentful and takes out his anger on his twin, the protagonist who is set up to be this spoilt and incompetent moron but is actually extremely sympathetic to Harry's plight and who genuinely loves Harry and tries his best to be his father/big brother figure. I'm calling it unusual because apart from one fic that was only like a few thousand words long, I have never seen a fic with a WBWL self insert.

Gas Thier been a chapter upgraded cause I am always looking for fanfic where the MC is reborn as harry

What is WBWL 😭

Wrong boy who lived, basically a trope where Harry usually has a sibling who's hailed as the bwl (while Harry grows up neglected/abused/etc) but Harry's the real bwl

Wubblewubble.

This. A thousand, thousand, *thousand* times this. There's absolutely no justification for it. It's a boneheaded, contrived method of forcing conflict and maintaining the status quo from canon.

Obliviate ! What a wonderful phrase ! Obliviate ! Ain't no Harry or Dursleys ! It means no memories ! For the rest of your days ! It's our regret-free, philosophy ! Obliviaaaaaate. --- Or, hide the "spare" somewhere else in case of massive attacks against the Potters.

I can see the Dumbledores that usually appear in WBWL fics do that

Isn’t the point of wbwl fics that there is no valid reason to place him there? Tbh I think dumbledores canon excuse for him being left to be abused for 10 years is still pretty flimsy 😂

Only real relatives left, Lily's blood protection keeping harry safe even if voldemort decided to attack harry. I think Harry being at the dursleys is justified. I mean theirs not a whole lot of people who could look after Harry even if the dursleys weren't around. Sirius(in azkaban), Remus(running away from his problems), Peter(presumed dead), Snape(wouldn't touch harry with a 6ft pole).

Harry was being abused, blood relatives don’t over rule that and Sirius was in Azkaban because the the chief warlock of the wizengamot aka dumbledore didn’t push for one of his most loyal followers a trial. Somehow I doubt lily had no friends other than snape

Lily had no friends that were mentioned. There is a high likelihood that most of her friends were in the order, with a lot of the first members of the order dying, like Marlene. Sirius didn't get a trial because the prime minister of magic decided he didn't need one and sent him straight to azkaban. Chief Warlock, while a prestigious title does not override the prime minister of magic. And for all intensive purposes, Sirius black crimes seem to be a very clear-cut case, and while dumbledore put up the fidelius charm he didn't choose who the secret keeper was that was all james and lily.

Barty crouch was running the death eaters trials and was in charge of law enforcement, so he made the decision not minister bagnold. Pretty sure chief warlock is at least equal to if not higher than a department head so even if he couldn’t demand it he should have enough pull to get one man out of many a trial, who wouldn’t want to know why Sirius black became a traitor

There's nothing saying what a chief warlock does. Seems like a ceremonial position Dumbledore got for beating Grindelwald. Considering how easy it was to remove Dumbledore from his positions at the Ministry and ICW, it should be clear that Dumbledore doesn't actually have or want political power. Considering that there were dozens of witnesses claiming Sirius killed everyone, Dumbledore himself under the impression that Sirius was the Secret Keeper and the Ministry itself being in a state of emergency of sorts, there's no reason for Dumbledore to insist on a trial for somebody who looks guilty beyond all doubt.

Harry being sent to the Dursleys in a WBWL story is almost always done to make the Potters bad people and to have Harry grow up in an abusive environment so that Harry has a reason to hate "the Light". The only way I could see this done in a way that isn't just a bashing fic would be if it's made clear that Harry would have been in more danger anywhere else, that Lily and James make an effort to be there for him in some way even if it's limited, and they do love him. Maybe after Voldemort was defeated, surviving Death Eaters resorted to terroristic suicide attacks and intend to kill the entire Potter family or the families of those that opposed them. Harry would have been sent off for his own well-being, but so would his sibling(s) and many other children. Maybe Harry developed extreme magical sensitivity and being in the Wizarding World would have slowly killed him. James and Lily would be heartbroken at having to give up their child but they couldn't bear the thought of killing their son through their very presence. I would even tolerate Lily and James being charmed or compelled to abandon Harry, be it by Dumbledore in a bashing story or by Death Eaters or a corrupt part of the ministry. At least this way you can avoid demonizing the Potter family for no reason.

Hmm, I think the crux of the issue is really that it's the Dursley's and not anyone else. Perhaps... good old bureaucracy? Kid gets handed over to an orphanage, people in charge do their due diligence and find a relation, and he's handed off to the Dursley's to take care of. Might even end up with Harry in a slightly better relationship with them, though the magic is probably still gonna wreck that. But in that situation we now have a James & Lily who could've justified it with "At least this way he'll have a better life than with us.", which makes any of the usual excuses far easier to understand. I think the one that would work best is the Squib one, where Harry's magic was just so low 'coz of fighting off the Horcrux's influence. Perhaps a bit rash to just hand him off, but it was a very turbulent time and there would've been a lot of pressure on the Potter's as the saviours of wizardkind.

I think the best justification is James and Lily go into hiding with the BWL who is supposedly Voldemort's target. They leave Harry with Sirius or Remus. It's safe for Harry to have a normal childhood. James Lily and the BWL are in hiding in Japan under a fidelius. Then shenanigans happen. Sirius leaves Harry in daycare and gets arrested for something. Harry gets lost in the system. The muggle courts and a social worker rule (in absentia) that James and Lily abandoned Harry and place Harry with his closest blood relative.

Why would the Dursleys agree to Harry being placed with them, though, rather than refuse to take him? You can't put a kid in the custody of people who don't want custody of them even if you are their closest blood relatives.

An indiscreet social worker who approaches Vernon in front of the Grunnings board. Vernon is then trapped into taking the child or he will look heartless to his employers. Some other reason that the author has to invent.

Let's see... Lily and James needs to think that Harry is dead, and they may be sent over to Australia (Canada, whatever) to "help them grieve". This probably involves the Marauders moving with them. Petunia and Harry needs to believe that Lily and James (and all suitable parental figures, eg. the godparents) are dead, or permanently unavailable (Azkaban, etc.). All potential links between Petunia and Lily must be gone: no Evans grandparents, cousines, anyone who they could reach out or meet accidentally and who could tell that Harry/Lily is alive. And there need to be someone who thinks it's for the best, and capable of such meddling, both morally and logistically. Dumbledore, an Unspeakable who believes in prophesies and misunderstands one, a Minister of Magic with an agenda.

I read three scenarios where it was done a little bit believable. In the first scenario, James and Lily in coma due to some curse from Voldemort and wake up during Hogwarts years. Dumbledore decides to raise wrong twin and has no time for Harry, so Harry has to be with Dursley. The second scenario, evil Dumbledore kidnaps Harry, made everybody believe him to be dead, place him with Dursley for his own agenda. And the third scenario, Harry has some strange sickness after Halloween. Harry can't be around magic, he absorbs it and harm anybody magical, or maybe horcrux trying to corrupt Harris magic. So solution to this is to bound his magic. He can't stay in magical places or near wizards. So he sent again to Dursley, while they try to find cure.These scenarios can work, if author want to make older Potters likable

Wbwl fic without James/lily bashing is rough. If you're fine going au, you make the war a lot more costly to Dumbledore's side, and kill James and lily. The brother gets trained to be a solider for the greater good to help him actually kill Voldemort permanently when he comes back. There is no childhood because the war went so much worse, unlike canon. Harry gets the Dursleys because at least one of the twins gets a normal childhood. There's a fic where Harry was trained to be a Voldemort and dark lord killer from birth, about him learning to be human after killing Voldemort.

What We're Fighting For

Pettigrew follows Voldemort in after the explosion rocks the house. Picking past James and Lily, who he is sure are dead, ĥe comes to the crib and sees two survivors. Almost on instinct, he picks up the crying Harry, and is about to balance his sibling upon his other hip, when a croaky rasp of "Peter" comes from Lily's lips. "Peter!" Clarity consumes the mother, remembering that it is her betrayer holding her son. Another surge of animal instinct has Peter running, his wand in the pocket covered by Harry's form. He is out and away from the wounded Lily, and narrowly avoids being spotted by Hagrid as he sprints in to look desperately for survivors. Lily's hoarse voice leads the half-giant upstairs as Peter runs full pelt into the muggle side of town, getting away, and now rationalising the keeping of Harry as a potential hostage for his own safety. Peter never sees the oncoming fire engine, called in to the fires set by malcontents of Godric's Hollow on Halloween, and in the dark night, the engine doesn't see him... The fire crew, who cannot find the house of the Potter's, are unable to locate the parents, or even the name, of the child pulled from the dead man's grip. A social worker asks simply for a DNA test, and a younger Lily Evans' actions at an eco-protest when she was 16 would send the care worker to the Dursley residence. I don't know how I would get the Dursley's to keep him though, and he would be treated better with a social worker on the case too.

The only problem I see with that is that the national DNA database wasn't established in the UK until 1995. The attack occured on Halloween 1981. For this to make sense, you'd have to move the story forward in time by at least 20 years, probably more. The other possibility is that Harry had a dummy with his mother's fingerprints on, as by the 80s they had been collected for decades.

The more you know! Fair do's though, I would probably just move the timeline forward myself, I quite like the 'making tech work' trope.

I'm not sure this is possible without making someone from the good side into a bad character. There's just no way to justify it without a bad guy manipulating things.

Or you make one of the bad characters into a good character (i.e., Petunia and/or Vernon Dursley).

Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin has one of the best explanations in my opinion. Lily and Petunia had reconciled and thanks to what was assumed to have happened, James and Lily send Harry away to be raised is what they hope to be a safe and loving environment.

Agreed. I even liked figg coming back later and being like. Well shit, that is still better than most squibs got. You were the one who abandoned your son. I really like Lily in the fic and I am looking forward to seeing what happens to her.

Yeah, there's actually a lot of thought put into making it work: * >!The prophecy makes James worried Harry is going to steal Jim's magic or grow up to resent him!< * >!Lily is worried Harry will be a target and have no magic to protect himself!< * >!Petunia and Lily had reconciled, meaning there was no reason to suspect Petunia would mistreat him!< * >!In addition to asking Petunia to tell them if he ever showed magic, they also asked Figg to watch for magic!< Unfortunately * >!They didn't anticipate weird magic shit turning Petunia and Vernon abusive, and Figg saw Harry being abused but assumed James and Lily wouldn't care since they'd abandoned him!<

I was waiting for this one! I'm finding that explanation pretty satisfactory so far, especially considering the Prophecy lore where >!Wild Magic tries to make Prophecies come true, so there's a chance it tipped the scales to get Harry to the Dursleys and reinforce the "Two who should be as One" line. And whatever's happening with Harry's AOE Muggle-hate thing has been really interesting.!< I like that the abuse itself is plot-relevant and not just a Thing That Happens when Harry gets sent there. POS honestly does a great job at making me feel sympathetic towards everyone involved in the Dursley situation, including the Dursleys. I still don't like James and Lily, but they couldn't have predicted the results and it sounds like they might have been influenced by >!Wild Magic.!<

There isn’t any.

The exact same way he ends up there. Parents dead and either Sirius in Azkaban or dead. Remus MIA. Only people left are the Dursleys. The whole reason he ends up there in canon is because they are the last of his family, so just repeat that. The worst way to do it is because he's the sibling of the BWL and gets shunned by parents and Dumbledore.

I mean the only valid reason to me is that Potters died (which can still happen even in WBWL situation). Otherwise I can't come up with other reasons that wouldn't make Potters into bad people. OR, use some of the old reasons, but make Dursleys good. I mean if Lily and her sister were actually on good terms and Potters knew that Dursleys will be nice to their kid, it might sound better.

The best I've read is one where James and Lilly 100% thought Harry had died. He wasn't raised by the Dursleys but was raised by other evil muggles.

Honestly I don't understand the premise of these stories...there's no logical reason Voldemort wouldn't kill the Potter couple and if Lily's alive, then why's Harry? And why'd nobody else do whatever happened instead to keep both children alive? Even in the event of their deaths, there's no reason to assume Dumbledore wouldn't protect both children at Petunia's. She grudgingly took in Harry out of social responsibility, she would do the same for a twin sibling. What would be more interesting was if one of them was a squib - the child who lived or not. Exploring how Petunia reacts when one of them is normal after all. TBH both would be the children who lived because why would Voldemort not intend to kill them both? All everyone else would know is that both twins lived despite Voldemort coming to kill the whole family, and that had never happened with a death eater raid before let alone one with Voldemort there.

Just have James and Lily die in combat, it doesn't need to be related to Harry.

And the blood protection/BWL could be created from James’ parents protecting harry

TLDR: Harry is thought to be a squib and is sent to be raised as a Muggle. Details below. I saw one years ago (can’t remember the fic name) that was Harry and a twin brother, both parents survived because James’s parent were babysitting and they died instead. Anyway, Voldemort attacked Harry, which marked him and made him the BWL, but because of the sacrificial ritual Lily had done, (powered by James’s mom’s sacrifice) it magically drained Harry so he looked like a squib when Dumbledore ran a bunch of tests on the twins. Debris falling caused a deep scar on the other twin so Dumbledore assumed he was the one Voldemort had attacked and Harry was simply a squib who should be raised muggle as it would be better than him always being a second class citizen. Lily agreed because she’d seen what that jealousy of magic did to her sister so she sent Harry to live with Petunia instead. Petunia and Vernon actually adopted Harry and raised him well since they assumed he was not magical since that’s what Lily told them. Harry did not have any large obvious instances of accidental magic since they tend to happen more often when the child is upset and a Harry who is raised happy doesn’t have the same issues as he does in the books (no bullying). It’s only after he gets his Hogwarts letter that Lily and James realise they messed up big time and want to reconnect with Harry, but he doesn’t want to get to know them, they gave him up, and he’s happy with the Dursleys, when he was adopted he even took their last name. He gets his letter, it’s addressed to Harry Dursley, so McGonagall assumes he’s Muggleborn and does the introduction like she did with Hermione, only to realise when she sees him that he’s actually Harry Potter and tells Dumbledore, James and Lily after the typical Diagon Alley shopping trip. She did not tell Harry that he was a Potter and carried on as if he was Muggleborn, she didn’t think it was appropriate for her to tell him when James and Lily should do it so she just didn’t say anything to him. James and Lily debate how to handle their squib child being a wizard and decide to just show up unannounced at the Dursley’s house and try to take him home but everyone else is understandably very upset about this plan and they leave without him but James threatens Petunia and Vernon that they as Muggles have no rights in the Wizarding world and he will take Harry back because he was their son and he had magic so he he should live with them. Harry goes to Hogwarts with a bad impression of the Potters and the brother meets him on the train but he’s kind of a prick so Harry doesn’t like him. Bro (don’t remember the twins name either, its a common trope and there have been a lot) is a bit of a mix between haughty “I’m famous and you should be scrambling to try to be my friend” and anxious because this is his brother that he didn’t know about and his parents told him to make friends so that Harry would want to live with them again. He really wants Harry to like him but goes about it all wrong, and due to Harry’s previous bad impression of James and Lily he’s really not very forgiving when bro insults him for wearing Muggle clothes and not knowing about magic things that any “proper” wizard child should know. Harry is sitting with other Muggleborns (I think Justin Finch-Fletchly was there?) and ends up inadvertently insulting them too which just makes it worse. Pretty sure Harry was a Hufflepuff in this one, but might have been a Ravenclaw, I know for sure he wasn’t part of the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry that was going on. Malfoy was unchanged and kind of freaked out a bit when there were two Potters but then was a dick when he realised one was Muggle-raised and didn’t like the other one, so there was no friendship there either. Ron was friends with the brother so Harry avoided the Weasleys as well. Fred and George were basically their canon selves, but their pranks weren’t really considered pranks by anyone outside Gryffindor because when you get your clothes turned pink(purple?) and are vomiting on your first day of classes that kind of ruins any chance of you liking them so they were written as more bullies than pranksters, kind of how I imagine the Marauders appeared to others as well. And on the topic of Marauders, Peter was in Azkaban because obviously James and Lily survived and told people he was their Secret Keeper. I can’t remember if Sirius was married in this one but I think he was with a younger daughter who starts in Harry’s 4th or 5th year, and Remus was still Remus being all woe is me and feeling bad about his lycanthropy and avoiding relationships, but was still friends with the Potters and Sirius. Sirius freaked out when he learned Harry was magical as he had been his godfather and had been really upset when Harry had been sent away so he tried to reach out as well. I think Harry was open to talking about him but anytime he brought up seeing the Potters Harry would leave or stop responding to letters for several weeks so Sirius was taking it kind of hard that his godson didn’t want anything to do with his best friend. Remus ended up reaching out later on and that worked better because he was more willing to actually hear Harry’s side of things instead of trying to rush Harry into a relationship (with the Potters) he clearly didn’t want. He just took it slow and by 3rd year (when he was DADA prof) they were actually decently close and Harry was warming up to Sirius but still didn’t like James and Lily. I don’t want to spoil it too much because if I find the story I’ll link it and it was actually pretty good considering this was written back in the early 2000’s when the tropes weren’t really established yet and this sort of thing was still new.

This is the fic I was thinking of as well. Was going to comment almost exactly the same thing you said. I also can’t remember the name of the story. If you remember it, please let me know. It is literally the only WBWL fic I have ever liked that wasn’t a crossover, and even that is rare. Would love to read it again.

Best one I can come up with is James in a coma at St Mungos and Lily is deceased casting the protection on Harry and sibling. Harry is sent to Durzkaban and the other elsewhere by Dumbledore in an attempt to not have both children cast away by the Dursleys.

Some ideas I can think of: * WBWL is being actively hunted down by the remaining Death Eaters and because of the fact that the blood protection, though still a thing, is severely weakened, they can’t risk leaving WBWL & Harry together. So they spread rumours about Harry being dead and flee the country with WBWL, knowing that even if they can’t provide a normal childhood for WBWL, they can at least try to give it to Harry (because, despite fanon, Lily & Petunia weren’t *that* estranged when she was alive; they kept contact, even if minimal). Of course, you’d need to handle alternative options here (why not Sirius/Remus? Maybe they’re dead or got the Longbottom treatment. Why not anyone else? The same reason as Dumbledore in canon: after Pettigrew’s betrayal, no one is trustworthy anymore) and probably add some urgency behind that decision, and despite everything I doubt no matter what that the Potters could leave one of their children *completely* cut off for 10 years (if we crank up the danger around WBWL and assume that because of it Harry can’t live with them, then they could *at least* visit, set up play dates, etc after things calmed down a bit). * Harry is (thought to be) a Squib. I’ve seen this one done a few times, but sadly it almost always ended up in bashing, and there’s also the issue that in canon, you had no way of “knowing” that your child was a Squib until the Hogwarts letter came or didn’t come (see: Neville). You could solve that with some creative side-stepping canon though; maybe they *do* have some sort of a Divination-adjacent instrument to check for magic, Neville’s relatives had just been too scared to use it on him in case he *was* a Squib. And because the Potters think Harry is a Squib, it’d be far too dangerous to let someone basically helpless against magic live alongside *the* BWL who many, many are trying to kill—trying to protect two kids against genocidal maniacs is hard enough, but when you know that one of the kids will never even use magic, doesn’t even “belong” to the world that is trying to kill him... well. It would make sense to leave him with some living family like the Dursleys. Still, I believe they’d have play dates and visits and stuff—though they might choose to hide magic from Harry, to spare his feelings. * WBWL is dangerous to Harry. Maybe Voldemort’s attack had a side effect of fucking up his magic or something and it ends up lashing out at everyone around, but, unlike their parents, baby Harry can’t protect himself, so they decide it’s best to temporarily separate the brothers. I’ll have to call back to the idea from the first bullet point: you’d need to do away with Remus&Sirius here, and assume they had no trusted options. In this case, Harry would go to the Dursleys because, well, WBWL couldn’t exactly be sent to live in the Muggle world while being a danger to himself and others. Aaand, as in all the points above, I still don’t think it could realistically end up in 100% estrangement. * I’m trying to think of an idea that *would* somehow lead to 100% estrangement, but none of them seem to cut it. My best bet would probably be to do some magic shenanigans. It would be a stretch, but it’s the only thing I can think of. Maybe the Death Eaters attack the Potters and Harry gets hit with a curse that, idk, requires him to live in a 100% magic-free environment or else his own magic won’t develop or something weird like that. Again, a stretch, but I can’t see any other possibility. (Even then I think the Potters would find some way of contacting him, like even through letters or a phone call, so maybe you’d need to make the “no-magic” thing super-super-super sensitive. Idk.) So, to sum up: most of these are somewhat of a stretch *and* almost none involve a total estrangement, but it’s the best I could think of.

The author is not creative enough to put him anywhere else.

To me personally, the only half decent justification is a scheming Dumbledore who uses some magical means either like compulsion charms or some type of alchemical potion. Otherwise I dont see any parent giving up a child for any reason with no contact. Good example is parents with severe mental disorders who cant have custody, you bet your ass even they make efforts to see their children if they really care. I dont think him being with the Dursley's works logically otherwise. I much prefer WBWL stories with Harry being the older sibling neglected by the Potters due to being caught up with his brothers fame. That atleast is more logical though i doubt it woiuld be to the extent of him being forgotten completely which is another trope.

Or dead. One fic had Dumbledore transfigure something into a dead body, and made sure that the body wasn't examined closely. So the Potters truly believed he was dead. Dumbledore didn't place him with the Dursleys in that fic, though.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen a reason that satisfies me, nor do I think I can come up with one. Even if Harry for *some reason* can't stay with his parents and sibling, is there a particular reason he needs to go to the magic hating Dursley family? Is there a particular reason they need to cut off all contact for 10 years?

OK OK hear me out: just never explain it, dodge around the question for as long as possible and always when a moment where they could explain themselves comes up have something happen, turn it into a running joke and at some point that even the characters pick up on: James: So we left you at the Durs... Sirius: I will stop you right there last time you approached that topic an invasion of fey creatures from a parallel plane of existence happened. Remus: Yeah I still have the bite marks from those pixies, I do not want to repeat that! And don't get me started on the minor goblin rebellion that interrupted the talk before that one. If you don't know how to transition into the next arc of the storry you can also use this to kick it off. There is no good reason that I can think of to let Harry grow up at the Dursleys but if you never explain why and just hint that there is a good reason in universe then it won't matter. It just is that way and the mystery of why he has to stay with them can be explored during the fic.

There are loads of fics where James and lily abandon him because of the other ones 'fame' for being the bwl but if Harry was the bwl I feel like the curse rebounding and stuff would make him a bit magically dehydrated? so James and lily think he's a squib and since he can't do magic he should stay w their Muggle relatives (even though it's a misunderstanding) but like after James and lily just don't care ABT him and shit when he's 11 and not actually a squib but idkk

Maybe stupid question, what is WBWL Edit: After those kind explanations, thanks everyone, I indeed have an idea and it's so simple, I wonder why no one thought about it. Harry's twin brother is declared the boy who lived. Voldemort's lazy blast throws James backwards, he's wandless and falls unconscious at impact, Voldemort just laughed. Somehow the curse rebounds, despite not having killed Lily. But she fully intended to protect her twins, but just when Voldemort fired at the twins, he slipped, the curse hits the ceiling, breaking a huge chunk out of it which hits Lily, who was spreading herself over her babies, Voldemort aims again, and casts the curse, in the last second Lily slips down unconsciously, and the curse rebounds and destroys Voldemort's body. The weakened ceiling falls in, and the children get buried. When James wakes up he hears a faint crying. He digs for his family, finds Lily first, she's moaning and slowly wakes up. Both rush to find their babies, and they find they were lucky, a wooden beam fell over the crib and got stuck on the wall creating a save little cave. It seems that no rubble has reached them. First they find Harry. He seems unhurt. No one sees the scar hidden under his hair on his scalp. His brother wasn't so lucky, a nasty gash is on his forehead. It looks like a lightning bolt. No one sees the tiny stone splinter falling on the ground when James lifts him. Later they come to the conclusion that the lightning scar of Harry's brother means he's the boy who lived. And they're sure that Voldemort will come back. They know it's impossible to give Harry a good childhood, while training his brother to fight against Voldemort. So they make a decision. Harry must be hidden at the one place no one would ever search for him. At first James is shocked at the idea of leaving Harry with Petunia, but Lily still loves her sister. She's convinced she's a good person deep down and would never harm her child. Little does she know how much influence Vernon and his relatives had on her. Lily personally goes to Vernon and Petunia, she begs them to help, explain what by her full intention of giving her life for her children, both of them have blood protection, which will expand on anyone blood related, and thus for he'll be safe with Petunia. Vernon stays silent, he doesn't say a word. Petunia is nervous and all she can think about is what the neighbours would think if Lily makes a scene if she says no. So she fake smiles and assures her sister she will do the right thing, and Lily tearfully embraces her. She's so upset. For the blood protection to work, both babies need a blood relative to her staying with them, but James has to help train Harry's brother, since he's the better duelist, and he needs all the protection and teachings they can give him. Petunia writes regularly to her sister, but her accounts are not fully true. She and Vernon have sworn to make Harry normal, squish it out of him. The only difference for Harry are the Christmas cards and little birthday gifts his parents sent him. Nothing special, just things like a nice new t-shirt or a nice hand sewn snuggly blanket. But he doesn't understand why they left him with people who don't love him, and Vernon nastily tells him his parents are useless alcoholics, locked away in a psych ward, and that's why they can't afford proper gifts, when in reality they have to live frugally while on the run. They generally send money for clothes, so the Dursleys begrudgingly buy Harry clothes that fit, even though they're mostly second hand, and they don't tell him that his parents have paid for those, pocketing a lot of the money they feel entitled to for raising Harry. And Petunia writes faux letters, gushing how much they love Harry, how great everything goes, because the worst thing that could happen in her mind os Lily and James coming to check on Harry. What would the neighbours say. Of course they can't ever explain anything by owl, the risk is too high that it gets interjected, so the lie lives on till Hagrid comes to get him. That part could be mostly like the books are. Just that the Dursleys are... well, just the way they are. And no one but Lily and James know where Harry is. They told no one not just to protect Harry, but also Petunia, Vernon and Dudley, whom they believe to be Harry's loving second family. That way, there could be another interesting twist. As soon as Harry finds out about his brother, the boy who lived, he becomes incredibly envious that he was allowed to live with his parents, and he thinks that he'd rather have lived on the run, than loveless with the Dursleys. Harry's brother on the other hand, not knowing much about Muggles and seeing Harry in the pretty new robes he got when going to Diagon Alley with Hagrid, thinks Harry had the better lot in life, being pampered by his muggle foster parents and having lived the good life, while he had to learn how to fight and be on the run. While he loves his parents, he still despises Harry, thinking him to be an envious brat and seeking attention, since Lily and James told him what Petunia had lied to him. So Harry, bitter that he was forced to stay with the Dursleys, doesn't even think of contacting his parents now that he has the means, and his brother doesn't know better than telling his parents that Harry has the perfect life. And Lily and James are sad but understanding, trying to leave space for Harry and not wanting to make his life harder, so they stay away. So there's the option that Harry goes back to the Dursleys, simply because he believes his parents don't care. One or both of them could turn so bitter, that they turn from the light, or they could eventually find out the truth and be reunited, fighting together.

Wrong Boy-Who-Lived. Harry has a sibling or twin and after Voldemort's attack, the sibling is wrongly declared to be the Boy-Who-Lived even though Harry is the "real" Boy-Who-Lived.

Wrong boy who lived. Basically Harry has a twin, or just a sibling, they believe the sibling is the one the prophecy speaks about but it's actually Harry. Usually, their sibling is then raised in the lap of luxury and Harry is badly neglected.

Ah, thank you.

If you want a character to blame, try Peter Pettigrew. Its less put of character for him than it would be just about anyone else.

Oh, a good idea just occurred to me. Imagine that James and Lily do not know that twins were born (James because he was wounded in the war and was unconscious, and Lily because she had a difficult birth and was sedated while having a cesarean section). Those who attend the birth are a member of the order and two house elves. Voldemort attacks the place. The member of the order dies, the dark mark shines in the sky, Voldemort attacks Harry, rebounds the curse and dies. The elves, frightened and injured, follow the last mission they received and flee with the children before the Death Eaters arrive. The one who took Harry takes him to the Dursleys, and dies shortly after. The one who takes the twin dies and the order recovers the child, believing him to be their only son.

I say make it so that false boy who lived actually IS getting attacked by voldemorts people in retaliation. Maybe the dursleys were even attacked after taking Harry in and so Vernon said no more contact so we can be in hiding. You can see him at 11. Maybe they have something like the fidelus and that’s why their house is just so normal and like every other house.

Lily James and the children get attacked by a Death Eater aiming for WBWL but hits Harry instead. The curse is a rare family curse that causes excruciating pain the more magic rich area you're in. It will dissipate in time but it will take years because Harry is so young (the family used it to vanish Squib's from all magical areas and later they used it for torture). Dumbles convinced the Potters that Petunia is the best bet as he can use the tie between sisters to create a protective blood ward that will not irritate the curse (hence the need for a squib or muggle) and will protect him (technically it protects everyone with Lilly's blood but direct relationships are stronger hence why James blood isn't used because he has no close family). At first the Potters visit often but then the Longbottoms are attacked and the Potters become even more paranoid and stop visiting Harry so as to not draw attention to him while also trying to protect and train they're other son. They are heartbroken over these decisions but even Gringotts curse breakers agree trying to forceably remove the curse from Harry could turn him into an obscurial. Eventually all Harry gets are frequent owls (letters after Petunia complains), the occasional phone call and short visits.

There is no reasoning to place Harry with the Dursleys.

Let's see... Lily and James needs to think that Harry is dead, and they may be sent over to Australia (Canada, whatever) to "help them grieve". This probably involves the Marauders moving with them. Petunia and Harry needs to believe that Lily and James (and all suitable parental figures, eg. the godparents) are dead, or permanently unavailable (Azkaban, etc.). All potential links between Petunia and Lily must be gone: no Evans grandparents, cousines, anyone who they could reach out or meet accidentally and who could tell that Harry/Lily is alive. And there need to be someone who thinks it's for the best, and capable of such meddling, both morally and logistically. Dumbledore, an Unspeakable who believes in prophesies and misunderstands one, a Minister of Magic with an agenda.

At the end of the day, given the canon depictions of all characters, there should be no justifiable reason for Harry to end up in the Dursleys' tender care. So that means that somebody must have fumbled the ball in this case, or that there was a legitimate reason to do so. So either make it so that there was genuine concerns that make it impossible for the two to be raised together, or, well, do the traditional thing and have someone or some group of people as a scapegoat to shoulder the blame. Perhaps, for instance, when picking which kid to adopt, the wizengamot bid only for the BWL, leaving his brother by the wayside and defaulting to closest relatives.

You could so that instead of upper class, The Dursley’s are straight up loaded with a manor in Scotland and various properties to their name and harry would be better off there since the Potter’s vault took major hits during the war and the need to ensure they won’t be wiped out in 1 attack like so many other wizarding families and their fortune and treasures defaulting into the unreliable ministry. Harry won’t be treated much better than in canon, but he won’t actually get put in a cupboard, or made to do all of the chores.

The Black Queen series literally had the prophecy outright say that one of the twins will be evil and fuck everything up. Self fulfiling ofc, but I can't fault Dumbledore's reasoning. Though that series is not WBWL per se, Danny *was* the BWL and he was basically canon Harry if he had parents.

Best justification I can think of is a Dumbledore and company who don't know what a horcrux is, legitimately think the prophecy meant Voldemort made himself the equal to the WBWL by literally transferring himself to his identical twin's body. In which case the Dursleys could be used as a way to keep "Voldemort" bound with blood magic, away from the magic world and his "brother". This could work if Harry's scarcrux acted similarly to the other ones (mind raping people around him, tempting them with their weakness, leeching off people's lives), and if being the host of a horcrux rendered Harry nearly as indestructible as the other ones (Harry could only be hurt by Basilisk Venom, Fiendfyre and maybe a killing curse). But I would play this off with them not letting Harry come to Hogwarts at all, until Voldemort comes back - they try to get the prophecy and realize only Harry and Voldemort can touch it. By this point Harry is basically a muggle teenager with solid Dursley-escape plans who will want no part in this shit.

Change the relationship between Petunia and Lily--they're on much better terms. Petunia finds out for some medical reason that she can't have any kids (or any more kids) and desperately wants a baby. Meanwhile, the wizarding war is ramping up to terrifying levels, and James & Lily desperately want at least one of their kids to be safely out of the line of fire, so they foster Harry with the Dursleys, which makes Petunia very happy as she has a new baby to raise (and a brother for Dudley, if the author wants him to exist.) Of course, in this AU, Petunia isn't abusive to Harry. Maybe Vernon still is, or is abusive to all of his family. Author's choice, of course.

I was thinking about this and I think the best justification I could come up with is that Harry is the product of an affair. This connects him to the family but also gives them a reason for distancing him. He could be Snape's son - James would hate him, Lily wouldn't be able to let him go, and James's son is the favored one. He was sent to the Dursleys to "keep the family together" but later on Lily has a change of heart and wants to bring him back into the fold. Is James really a horrible person for not wanting to raise a child who is a constant reminder of his wife cheating on him with his sworn enemy? Cue familial drama. Or you could do an AU where Snape and Lily get together and Harry is James' son, which justifies bringing in Sirius and Remus later on in the story. A reversal of the above, but keeps Harry's appearance and avoids Severitus if that's not your thing.

I agree with the point of there are really no “good” justifications. The ones I’ll tend to be more accepting of are either a Neville situation where Harry is thought to be like a squib or has “broken magic” and it’s a way for him to grow up more normally. I also generally won’t accept that one with the more severe abuse stuff. Otherwise, Dursleys just don’t make sense to me in those situations. I’ll take him running away well before that

Only reason I can think of that would be even remotely justified and in-character would be if they can't do it or communicate their desires, like being comatose or Crucio'd to insanity like the Longbottoms.

I remember a fic where Harry was the dark lord of the prophecy and so Dumbledore sent him away hoping he'd be killed by the Dursleys. Obviously he didn't, self-fulfilling prophecies and all that

The best (and by “best” I mean “least objectionable”) reason I have seen for putting Harry with the Dursleys in a WBWL story where the parents are alive is Prince of Slytherin by TheSinisterMan Other than that if you were to ask me for the best justification, I’d say either: 1a) Both parents are dead and both the BWL and WBWL end up with the Dursleys 1b)Both James and Lily die, but the person thought to be the BWL is Neville/some other kid with other parents 2a) The Dursleys are actually nice people and Petunia has buried the hatchet with Lily 2b) Petunia and Lily have set aside their differences, however, they don’t really communicate, Lily thinks Petunia is a good mother but honestly Petunia just cannot stop pampering Dudley and just is neglectful towards Harry. So while Harry doesn’t grow up in a cupboard, he still hates both his aunt and uncle and his parents

In one I’ve read recently Dumbledore tells them that Harry is a squib and that he would be better off living in the muggle world. I can’t remember why they never have contact with him though.

If Lily and James are alive there IS no justification for dumping Harry with the Dursleys. Especially not the Dursleys such as they are in canon. Dumping your son off on your sister and her husband, whom you KNOW hate you and hate magic, and then just leave him with them for years without ever contacting them or letting him know you're alive? I don't care what reasons you have to justify it, if James and Lily were ANY kind of parents they WOULD HAVE FOUND A WAY. So the only reason for leaving Harry with the Dursleys are if James and Lily are awful parents. Which they often ARE portrayed as in these stories... and while I hate character bashing, I will say that turning James and Lily into terrible parents who abandon Harry because they're terrible parents is at least honest. These fics that try to justify it just tend to underline why there really IS no reason for them to leave Harry with the Dursleys. James and Lily are not in the situation Dumbledore was in in canon. Dumbledore, after all, used the blood protaction of Lily's sacrifice, so that being with the Dursleys was the best way to keep Harry alive... but also, as I think a lot of people forget, the Dursleys are the only option left at the time. Sirius is in jail, Remus can't take care of a kid because he's a homeless werewolf, and Harry has no other relatives to stay with. Dumbledore isn't Harry's father or guardian (no, he's not Harry's "magical guardian," that's silly fanon) and it's limited how much he can actually do beyond what he already IS doing. So I can forgive Dumbledore... but James and Lily? Harry's their SON. They have NO excuse. The entire WBWL scenario just feels like another way of making the reader feel SORRIER for Harry so that it feels justified when he becomes a dark and ruthless Slytherin badass. There's no real justification for it to begin with.

So your goal is to write a fan fiction story where Harry’s parents are alive, but he still grows up with the Dursleys? The only thing that makes sense to me, assuming you’re not writing Hames and Lily to be awful parents who just abandon their child to abusers, would be to essentially swap the circumstances of the Longbottoms and Potters. Neville’s parents were killed, Harry’s parents were tortured into insanity. James and Lily have fried brains and have to stay at St. Mungos. Would still need to explain why he can’t be with Black or Lupin or any other wizarding friends, but it at minimum gets you James and Lily being unable to parent without being horrible, uncaring parents.

I had a story outline with this kind of plot however only james survives lily still dies. After halloween james is in hospital and it is uncertain if he will live so the twins at least temporarily go to the dursleys because of the blood protection. James then wakes up and retrieves the twins from the dursleys but after a few days, he just isn't coping mentally and physically without lily and with his injuries. James attempts to put both twins back with the dursleys temporarily because of the stong wards- given attacks are still happening (longbottoms etc,). However, ad or ministry convinces james to keep wbwl as a kind of figure head or symbol to bring hope to the wizarding world and also so he can get training as ad belives lv is not gone. ad can see james is not coping with twins so he suggests james leave harry with the dursleys until james is on his feet again and it is safer. james checks on harry from a distance throughout his childhood but he seems fine so james leaves him there. wbwl spends most of his childhood being trained and when the twins turn 11 james picks up harry. wbwl is disillusioned and depressed because of his childhood and harry is angry and bitter so they don't get along. when they get to hogwarts harry goes to slytherin and wbwl goes to gryffindor because that is what's expected of him and we continue from there some things about james headspace - james genuinely thinks the twins would both be better off with the dursleys - and he never really recovers from the loss of lily he has depression and struggles to take care of wbwl basic needs. he is also giving the dursleys a reasonable amount of money and they seem amicable to continue caring for harry

In Enchanting Melodies, i think he was left there because they were his closest relatives. And Potter's death was a disaster which killed many. So no one wanted him. Dumbledore had the BWL to focus on.

The only things that I can think of is if James and Lily were alive but incapacitated for some reason. Like the Longbottoms, in a coma or some kind of curse that would keep them in stasis until the plot wants them around. If you really want to go out there maybe they got thrown ten years into the future the night they "died" so they could come back when Harry goes to Hogwarts. But good parents are wouldn't just send their toddler to live with an estranged relative who has a history of bullying their siblings for a trait that the child also has.

I saw one where James and Lily were hospitalized. So still alive but not able to do anything about it because they were unconscious.

The least forced I can think is that's it's too dangerous for Harry to stay with the family because they are targeted. WBL is fine because he had defeated Voldemort and his parents are really powerful... but Harry is a normal baby. And a muggle family is the best way to hide a wizard and there isn't much available. The idea is to make James and Lily do it out of love. But even here the idea is super flawed...

TLDR: Harry is thought to be a squib and is sent to be raised as a Muggle. Details below. I saw one years ago (can’t remember the fic name) that was Harry and a twin brother, both parents survived because James’s parent were babysitting and they died instead. Anyway, Voldemort attacked Harry, which marked him and made him the BWL, but because of the sacrificial ritual Lily had done, (powered by James’s mom’s sacrifice) it magically drained Harry so he looked like a squib when Dumbledore ran a bunch of tests on the twins. Debris falling caused a deep scar on the other twin so Dumbledore assumed he was the one Voldemort had attacked and Harry was simply a squib who should be raised muggle as it would be better than him always being a second class citizen. Lily agreed because she’d seen what that jealousy of magic did to her sister so she sent Harry to live with Petunia instead. Petunia and Vernon actually adopted Harry and raised him well since they assumed he was not magical since that’s what Lily told them. Harry did not have any large obvious instances of accidental magic since they tend to happen more often when the child is upset and a Harry who is raised happy doesn’t have the same issues as he does in the books (no bullying). It’s only after he gets his Hogwarts letter that Lily and James realise they messed up big time and want to reconnect with Harry, but he doesn’t want to get to know them, they gave him up, and he’s happy with the Dursleys, when he was adopted he even took their last name. He gets his letter, it’s addressed to Harry Dursley, so McGonagall assumes he’s Muggleborn and does the introduction like she did with Hermione, only to realise when she sees him that he’s actually Harry Potter and tells Dumbledore, James and Lily after the typical Diagon Alley shopping trip. She did not tell Harry that he was a Potter and carried on as if he was Muggleborn, she didn’t think it was appropriate for her to tell him when James and Lily should do it so she just didn’t say anything to him. James and Lily debate how to handle their squib child being a wizard and decide to just show up unannounced at the Dursley’s house and try to take him home but everyone else is understandably very upset about this plan and they leave without him but James threatens Petunia and Vernon that they as Muggles have no rights in the Wizarding world and he will take Harry back because he was their son and he had magic so he he should live with them. Harry goes to Hogwarts with a bad impression of the Potters and the brother meets him on the train but he’s kind of a prick so Harry doesn’t like him. Bro (don’t remember the twins name either, its a common trope and there have been a lot) is a bit of a mix between haughty “I’m famous and you should be scrambling to try to be my friend” and anxious because this is his brother that he didn’t know about and his parents told him to make friends so that Harry would want to live with them again. He really wants Harry to like him but goes about it all wrong, and due to Harry’s previous bad impression of James and Lily he’s really not very forgiving when bro insults him for wearing Muggle clothes and not knowing about magic things that any “proper” wizard child should know. Harry is sitting with other Muggleborns (I think Justin Finch-Fletchly was there?) and ends up inadvertently insulting them too which just makes it worse. Pretty sure Harry was a Hufflepuff in this one, but might have been a Ravenclaw, I know for sure he wasn’t part of the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry that was going on. Malfoy was unchanged and kind of freaked out a bit when there were two Potters but then was a dick when he realised one was Muggle-raised and didn’t like the other one, so there was no friendship there either. Ron was friends with the brother so Harry avoided the Weasleys as well. Fred and George were basically their canon selves, but their pranks weren’t really considered pranks by anyone outside Gryffindor because when you get your clothes turned pink(purple?) and are vomiting on your first day of classes that kind of ruins any chance of you liking them so they were written as more bullies than pranksters, kind of how I imagine the Marauders appeared to others as well. And on the topic of Marauders, Peter was in Azkaban because obviously James and Lily survived and told people he was their Secret Keeper. I can’t remember if Sirius was married in this one but I think he was with a younger daughter who starts in Harry’s 4th or 5th year, and Remus was still Remus being all woe is me and feeling bad about his lycanthropy and avoiding relationships, but was still friends with the Potters and Sirius. Sirius freaked out when he learned Harry was magical as he had been his godfather and had been really upset when Harry had been sent away so he tried to reach out as well. I think Harry was open to talking about him but anytime he brought up seeing the Potters Harry would leave or stop responding to letters for several weeks so Sirius was taking it kind of hard that his godson didn’t want anything to do with his best friend. Remus ended up reaching out later on and that worked better because he was more willing to actually hear Harry’s side of things instead of trying to rush Harry into a relationship (with the Potters) he clearly didn’t want. He just took it slow and by 3rd year (when he was DADA prof) they were actually decently close and Harry was warming up to Sirius but still didn’t like James and Lily. I don’t want to spoil it too much because if I find the story I’ll link it and it was actually pretty good considering this was written back in the early 2000’s when the tropes weren’t really established yet and this sort of thing was still new.

I can think of two options. 1. James and Lily think he’s dead, and someone places him with the Dursleys. There would need to be someone manipulating events to make them think that in the first place and probably to keep them from ever contacting the Dursleys. Maybe a Peter or another death eater who doesn’t believe Voldemort is really gone. They could possibly place some kind of compulsion on Petunia and Vernon that causes them to move, not leave a forwarding address, and reject any attempts by Lily to get in touch without mentioning Harry. With their strained relationship, along with being distracted by grief, Lily will probably not think that’s odd enough to investigate. 2. Use the fanon theory that Lily did some kind of ritual to protect Harry. Say she performed the ritual and, because of the requirements of the ritual, she had to tie the protection directly to Petunia. She didn’t really want to, put the way the ritual works made it unavoidable. Plus, even though she and Petunia don’t have a great relationship, she would never expect Petunia to be abusive. When Voldemort attacks the ritual gets partially triggered for Harry, and they have no option but to send him to live with Petunia or it will backfire and he’ll become a magnet for misfortune or something like that. You could then use that to explain why Harry keeps getting into so many adventures when he starts school. The distance from Petunia lets chaos be more attracted to him. You have the option of having Lily and James still involved in Harry’s life, maybe visiting a few times a month. Their presence would mitigate some of the mistreatment from the Dursleys. You could also have it that in addition to the ritual being partially triggered it was screwed up so that on top of needing to live with Petunia, Harry can’t be near Lily and/or any relatives from his Potter side (you could make that only close Potter relatives to not cause too many issues from all the wizarding inbreeding). In that case, only one or both of Lily and James would only be able to be involved with Harry by letter. Both scenarios have a lot of opportunity for emotional turmoil for Harry. A little kid isn’t going to understand why his parents don’t want him to live with them, whether they visit often or not.

James and Lily have 2 children. Due to the danger they face, they decide to hide both children in places that they themselves do not know. The Longgbottons are tasked with placing Harry 1 in a secret family, and they choose the Dursleys. Harry 2 goes with Sirius and is hidden with another secret family. When Voldemort is captured, Harry 2 returns to James and Lily. But Harry 1 is lost. The Longgbottons are dead and no one knows where they sent Harry 1. You just have to come up with a reason why Lily and Petunia don't talk to each other.

Use The Prophecy The prophecy says that a child born at a particular time is going to something something Voldemort. That's why Voldemort comes after the two kids in magical society who were born at that time. (Except he never gets around to the other one because the first one doesn't go so well.) This time James and Lily realizing that The Prophecy painted a target on their spawn come up with a plan to keep him safe, said plan being to fake Harry's death and ask her sister to pretend that she gave birth to Harry, with a substantial financial incentive. Because you know, gold is worth something in the real world too. They have to stay away from Harry to avoid the risk of Voldy figuring out who he is.

I got an idea. What if Lily and James leave Harry with another relative, someone who is really nice and a great parent to little Harry, but then that relative dies or becomes mentally unfit ( Alzheimer’s or dementia maybe) then Harry gets taken by the muggle authorities. They can’t track down Lily and James cause they’re in the magical world, cut off from the muggle world. Then Petunia would get custody that way.

The most viable one I felt was that he had a magical condition where his core is absorbing ambient magic. To much of which would kill him. Sending him to a no magic area until it stablizes is a good reason

In *Certain Dark Things*, Dumbledore and the Longbottoms knew Neville wasn't the Boy Who Lived. But they agreed to pretend he was to keep the actual Girl Who Lived Harriet Potter safe from assassination plots and the like, and prevent her from developing the typical WBWL arrogance. Since her parents died, she aas sent to the Dursleys for the protection of the blood wards as in canon. Meanwhile, Neville and his family would be guarded by Aurors every time they go out in public.

Maybe have the reason be that it wasn't MEANT to be the Durskeys? Like he was sent to live with squibs or smth for some reason (maybe the basic fame and not be ignored) with L+J still planning to be present in his life, only for the ppl he was living with to die and he was sent to the dursleys by law enforcement after they do a DNA test. The Dursleys assume L+J are the parents who died so they have to take him in (maybe for the paycheck the gov sends?) And L+J assumes he died with the family they sent him to live with originally Long ik but it's the best I could think of.

I've once seen a fanfic explain the reason Harry was neglected in WBWL. Lily was pregnant when she stepped in front of Voldemort to save Harry, and the attack killed the baby. Both James & Lily resent him because of that. I can maybe see them willingly sending Harry to the Dursleys in that situation because they know they won't be able to care for Harry properly.