Could the boy have attempted another blind jump? But then where would he have gone, and what happened to the blood wards? He began to wave his wand again, but most of what he got was flooded out by the magical residue of the apparition. Some uncontrolled magic, that's to be expected, but… I can't get anything else here blast it, the apparition residue is too powerful!
With that thought, the man moved out of the cupboard, standing upright with a creak from his knees and back. Still, even that tells me something. Such a powerful residue could only have been made by a long distance jump. But how long a distance is the question, I've never seen such a powerful splash before…
With a sigh, he moved back over to Petunia, scowling angrily at the woman as he glared into her frightened yet belligerent eyes. "I left your nephew here thinking that you and your husband would abuse him somewhat, but this, this is too far by half! Forcing a boy as young as seven to cook for you, constant beatings? There is treating him as an unwanted guest, and then there is outright cruelty! And now, because of you and your family the boy has run off to who knows where and the blood wards are gone, nothing I can do could bring them back!"
Something in the woman's eyes told him she was happy the boy was gone, and the man smiled thinly behind his beard. "Well Petunia, if the boy is no longer here, then the money your family received to take care of him is no longer required." The woman paled slightly even immobilized, an interesting feat, though her pallor continued to worsen as the man went on. "If you are very lucky I will not be forced to share the news of what happened here with anyone else. If word gets out that you abused my world's savior, well…" he shrugged eloquently. "The so-called 'freakishness' the boy was responsible for will be the least of your worries."
"Goodbye Petunia, I do hope nothing happens to you and your family because of this night's business…" With that Albus walked off, only cancelling the spells on Petunia only as Fawkes alighted on his shoulder. By the time the woman had enough breath to scream, he was gone.
Back in the castle in Scotland, the man sat down at the desk, writing out a short message which he handed to Fawkes. The bird disappeared with it, and the man stood up, gathering up the small devices that had been on the same shelf as the one that had exploded. Waving his wand over them, he scowled as none of them responded as he expected them to.
After a moment he shook his head, speaking aloud to the empty room. "Not one of them working, which means that all of my tracking spells on the boy are gone. Could they have been drained like the blood wards, or did something else happen there? Still, there are other ways to find him."
He stared off into the distance, thinking hard, then tapping his fingers together. Still if I cannot find him, there needs to be both a scapegoat, and a secondary plan. The scapegoat, or rather scapegoats will be simple enough. But the secondary plan, that might prove more difficult.
After a moment he got up again, moving to pick up a large piece of blank parchment, stuffed into a book on a shelf as if it was being used as a bookmark. He tapped it with a finger, intoning "All I do is for the Greater Good."
A second later the parchment was no longer blank but filled with scrawls, some kind of mathematical formula filling up half of it, and several notes in different languages filling the rest of it. After a moment the man nodded, smiling thinly. Three to four years then until he is strong enough to do anything. And I cannot imagine any of his servants would go in search of him, not any of the ones free anyway, good. That gives me time to see if I can find the boy, and also to prepare a replacement if I cannot.
With that in mind, he gestured with his wand and a small silvery bird that resembled Fawkes appeared. "Minerva, could I speak to you for a moment please, something has come up." With that the silvery creature shot off, passing through the door at the far end of the room.
For a few minutes the man bustled around the room, filling up a small bag with far more things than it should have been able to hold. He stopped however as a faint ting echoed in the room. Working his face for a moment he assumed a sad expression. "Come in Minerva."
The door opened revealing a tallish woman in a tartan green robe. She was a somewhat elderly woman, possibly just out of middle aged, with a stern face that made her seem older and wearing a witch's hat on her head. "You wanted to speak with me Albus?"
Albus smiled at her wanly. "Yes Minerva, I hate to do this to you but I'm afraid I will not be here for the next few months. As such you'll have to handle any of Hogwarts paperwork that needs doing. I fear a friend from Asia who I have corresponded with for many decades is dying and I wish to do what I can to make his final days as happy and comfortable as possible."
Even while Minerva gave him her condolences, Albus was already making plans to see if he could find Harry Potter, thinking of the places he would have to visit and the rituals he would have to do to pick up his trail. Yet for all the effort Albus would put into it, his search would be in vain.
Harry hadn't really used a spell to teleport away from his cupboard since even if he knew one he couldn't have concentrated enough on it to do anything. It had simply been a blind, all-encompassing need to get away as far away as possible.