Albus Dumbledore was facing some problematic problems, to say the least.
He had a babe in his arms, one Harry Potter by name, one he had planned to drop off at his sole remaining relatives' house, until he was stopped by his deputy Headmistress, the woman on whom he confided to stop him from mishandling what little time he had in Hogwarts. He would stop to listen to her, if only to assuage her fears, as she talked about the problems with leaving Harry with the Dursleys.
She didn't understand, didn't have all the information, and there was little time to give it to her. He'd explain to her why he had to do what he had to do in a moment, just as soon as he'd left Harry to be safe in his aunt's home.
"They're the worst sort of muggles, Albus," she reminded him, repeating a phrase she'd said before, as if she feared that he hadn't been listening. He was, far be it from him to be deaf to her, but he couldn't heed her words, not now, not when he knew better than her what needed to be done to ensure Harry's safety. "They're not even truly related," she added, as an afterthought.
This stopped Dumbledore cold, even as he was walking towards the front door of the Dursley home, number 4 Privet Drive. He blinked, before turning around and regarding McGonagall with a curious look. "Pardon?"
At this, she smiled, thinking she had an in. "It's as you heard—Lily Evans was adopted into the Evans family. She shares not a drop of blood with them."
The bearded old man blinked in confusion. "Truly?" he asked, as if wishing to assure himself.
"Truly," she confirmed, nodding at him, "she confided in me after a particularly nasty letter from her adoptive sister. It seems Petunia had told her in a fit of jealousy and envy over her inability to use magic," McGonagall continued.
"Oh dear," Dumbledore said, shaking his head, "this isn't good. I had planned on leaving Harry with his sole remaining relatives, for it is the only way in which we could ensure his protection, both from Death Eaters looking to avenge their master as well as the fame that will surely attempt to ruin his life," he said, sounding quite disappointed that he'd be forced to go with plan C, which was to leave Harry with a wizarding family where he could run the risk of growing with a big head, like a pampered prince, or forced to live under the pressure of living up to the legends that were no doubt already forming about him.
Neither was a good prospect for a child to grow up.
"Then the Dursleys would've been a bad choice either way. They'd hate him, at best, and he'd grow up without a childhood to speak of. If they did not, they would spoil him like that brat that I told you about before. Either way, they are no good as guardians for Harry," McGonagall said, with a tone of finality that told Albus that this was the last they'd ever speak of leaving Harry with the Weasleys.
He would not disagree. Some part of him was happy that he wouldn't have to curse Harry for living under the same roof as Petunia Dursley, even if now he had no way to ensure his safety to the extent the Blood Wards could. "Perhaps..." he muttered to himself. "Minerva, did Lily ever seek her biological family?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes," McGonagall said, nodding. "She tracked down her father, at least, though she never could find her mother. Her father was a small-time farmer living in a nameless little village in Wales, though he has since passed. She had a sister, but as far as we know, she has been missing for ten years now," she explained.
One would think it odd that she could so readily recall personal information from any given one of her students, but those would forget that Minerva McGonagall was not known for being forgetful. Couple that with the fact that Lily Evans had been the teachers' darling pet during her stay at Hogwarts, and you could easily see why her head of house could readily recall that sort of information.
"Hm... this isn't good," Dumbledore said. "Harry's mother's sacrifice... it would need him to live with a blood relative to cement its power. There is power in blood," he added, as an afterthought.
"Well... he does have two cousins, still," McGonagall said. "I don't think Lily learned much of her cousins, and before she went into hiding, her younger cousin had also seemingly disappeared off the map, or so she told me. The older cousin lives somewhere within Britain, but we haven't been able to ascertain her location."
"I hope that such a blood relation is enough to have the wards hold, for it will have to do. Do you have a name, Minerva? I must search for them at once," Dumbledore asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do. Lily's father's last name was Springfield."
It had to have been the first time she had seen Albus Dumbledore's eyes attempt to burst out of his skull at her pronunciation. She blinked, clearly shocked at the image.
"Was it something I said?" she muttered to herself as Albus began to walk off with the babe in arms, clearly raising his hand to call for his phoenix companion, which would offer much safer travel than Apparation.