'The boy had been even more mistreated than I believed,' the old man thought. He should have taken him earlier.
The boy brightly asked, "After, are you taking me back to Auntie'Toona's and Unca Vernon's? Auntie 'Toona's going to want me to help with breakfast."
Pausing in finishing dressing his young charge, the old man said,"No, lad. You'll be living here now. And you won't have to help with anything like that."
"Okay," the young boy said. If he was going to live 'here' now - and he didn't have to help with breakfast, lunch or dinner - he wondered what other chores he'd be doing.
"Will I still be pulling weeds?" he asked.
"No, lad," the old man kindly replied. "You'll be spending a lot of your time learning and playing. And, the more you learn, the more you'll get to play."
The young boy's eyes lit up hearing that.
"Wow!" he said. "With toys and everything?"
"Yes," the old man replied with a smile. "With toys and everything."
The young tyke was really excited. He was going to like living here. It sounded much nicer than living with his Aunt and Uncle.
The boy asked eagerly, "Can we start after breakfast?"
Standing back up the old man took the young boy's hand.
Leading him towards the door he said, "Well, we can start learning some things now. And even while we're eating breakfast."
"Wow!" said the boy excitedly.
"For a start," said the old man as he led the young boy out the door,"My name is Myrrdin Emrys and I'm going to help you do something very important when you get older.
"And your name is Harry James Potter. Today is your birthday. As of today you are now four years old. Happy Birthday."
...
In his office at Hogwarts, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was sitting up late doing parchment work. He noticed the monitoring ward he had upon the Dursley home had triggered for only a moment. Frowning, he watched to see if it triggered again.
When nothing happened after a minute he guessed it must have only been an anomaly. Such occurrences were rare but, with the fate of the wizarding world on the line, he wasn't prepared to take chances.
He'd approach the house under a disillusionment charm tomorrow to ensure the boy was exactly where he was supposed to be.
It hadn't even dawned on him that today was the boy's birthday.
Within a few days of collecting Harry from the Dursleys, Myrrdin began to explain what Harry was going to do when he grew older.
In terms the small child could understand, he explained about the magical school known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And how the small castle - keep, really - they were currently living within, was somewhat similar. He told stories about the four founders and made little dolls of each of them, keeping the boy spellbound for hours. He explained what an heir was and he explained how Harry was going to bring the four heirs of the founders together. And, together, they began to watch history on what the old man called a 'time viewer'. He also told the lad what sort of boy he was going to grow into. At least, what sort of boy Harry would have grown into had he not removed him from the timeline.
Myrrdin knew he would be years mentoring this child, but he also knew the future of the world hinged on his young charge. The old man had prepared for his role very carefully. And he would prepare young Harry James Potter just as carefully.