Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Unspeakable was paying much more attention to the speed he was walking at than he ever had before in his life. He couldn’t walk too fast or his co-workers would ask what was happening and pay him more attention, but if he walked too slow, then that would be suspicious too. It shouldn’t be so difficult to walk innocently, but when you were hyper-aware that you were absolutely not innocent, something as simple as walking became much more difficult than ever before in his life.

After the war he’d decided that he was really just done with having to deal with people, so he'd dramatically changed the direction of his life to bury himself in research as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries and almost step completely out of the society around him. He had done an excellent job at losing himself in his job. He actually did so well that he hadn’t even realized the world around him had become unrecognizable and rotting from the core of society until it had been way too late.

He took in a breath and continued his walk to the lifts that would take him away from where he’d found a home and acceptance and back up into the society of hate and shame in the heart of London. He wistfully looked at the dark marble walls, very aware this was more than likely his last day as an employee of the Ministry of Magic…hell, it was probably his last day as someone who wasn’t wanted for crimes against society.

“Unspeakable Smith,” a voice called from behind him, causing his heart to pound more heavily. The man turned slowly and almost let out a whimper at the sight of the red hem of the obscuring cloak of his supervisor. He had no idea or even theories on how Supervisor Davids always recognized them on sight and was even more confused why he insisted on using their ridiculous code names when it was just the two of them in a meeting.

“Supervisor,” he gave a little nod of his hooded and obscured face. “Can I help you?”

“Before you leave,” the tall Unspeakable stepped almost uncomfortably close to his subordinate, something he was want to do to put people off their guard and make them feel a bit wrong-footed in their interactions. “I would like an update on your active project.”

The younger Unspeakable wanted to scream in frustration. His supervisor had a habit of asking for updates when least expected, and this was absolutely not the time. “I have made some moderate headway,” he explained in as neutral of a tone as he could pull off. “As you are aware, my supply has been restricted. If my test cases were fresher and more plentiful…”

“Your headway, Unspeakable Smith,” the supervisor cut him off, clearly not wanting to hear his gripes about resources and the restrictions placed on his specific area of research. Neither the ministry nor the Department of Mysteries would ever admit to the general public they had a small department…well, one person, who researched soul magic…the darkest of magics.

“I’ve extended viability of the host and there were some slight changes in responsiveness from my last test subject,” he ground out, trying to not draw attention to the pocket of his robe that he was overly aware contained an object that would clearly be highly illegal for him to step onto the lift with…or frankly even have on his person since it was not from his research.

Supervisor Davids just nodded his hooded head and reached into his own pocket. “Have you left the weekly copies of your notes for the project on my desk?

The younger Unspeakable frowned, not that anyone could see. He always left his notes for his supervisor. He’d never been late turning them in even once. It was odd he would suddenly ask. “Yes, sir…”

“Brilliant,” the man nodded again, his hand coming out of his pocket and holding a clear, but unremarkable crystal. “You will need this for your project, Unspeakable Smith. I wish you luck.”

He reached out his hand in confusion for the crystal. As soon as the crystal touched his skin, he was even more entirely confused. The crystal felt alive with swarming electric waves of magic. Unspeakables were trained to sense magic around them, but he guessed even an average wixen would be able to feel the ambient energy of this crystal. Besides the unassuming crystal being enormously magical, it was also clearly not going to help him in any of his projects. It was the lightest magic he’d ever felt in his life. He imagined a phoenix’s magic would feel similar as the lightest of all magical creatures.

“Sir…I don’t think…”

“Have a good weekend, Unspeakable Smith,” the man turned, ignoring his protest. “Your research has been groundbreaking, and you have been an asset to this department. Keep the crystal…you’ll see how it fits in soon enough.”

The younger Unspeakable slid the crystal in the opposite pocket to the other object on his person and shook his head in bemusement as he stepped through the doors of the lift when it stopped. His supervisor had always been an enigmatic drama queen in his opinion, not that he’d ever say that to the man’s face…well, hood. The lift doors closed and the Unspeakable was painfully aware that he’d officially just broken multiple laws, enough to get him sent to Azkaban for life.

With a deep breath, he forcefully let go of his tension and pushed the hood from his head, running his hand through his long, red hair before pulling a hair tie from his wrist and shoving it into a knot at the base of his neck, just wanting it out of his way and not distracting. He should just cut it, he thought for the thousandth time, even though he never did. The lift dinged and he once more took a steadying breath before stepping into the atrium.

“Ah, just the Unspeakable I could use,” a man said off to his left side, causing his heart to almost stop in alarm once more. He slowly turned and plastered as kind of a smile as he could fake onto his face as the head of the Department of Relocation and Retrieval walked up to him.

“Mr. Finch-Fletchley, how can I help you?” he held in his grimace at almost the last person on the planet he wanted to run into right then…or really ever, stopped him.

“Call me Justin, please,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “We did go to school together. I know it’s the end of the day, but we’ve run into a ward issue that we could use an Unspeakable to help with. It’s pressing and needs to be handled today.”

Not only were wards nowhere near his specialty, but he might just give everything away in his desire to crucio this monster to within an inch of his life if he had to spend any time at all with him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Finch-Fletchley…I really don’t know a lot about wards, but I can recommend someone…”

“Weasley!” Another voice called from behind him, causing him to turn and grind his teeth at literally the last person he wanted to run into…the Head Auror. And what use were their obscuring hoods anyway if people kept calling out their bloody names and title?!

“I already claimed Weasley,” Finch-Fletchley crossed his arms and frowned at the tall, well-built man that towered over the former Hufflepuff when he joined them.

“You have a ward issue,” the auror gave him an exasperated look with flinty eyes. “Collins called for you a specialist from Gringotts…that isn’t the Unspeakables’ job. I, however, do actually require the services of Weasley here.”

“You aurors,” Finch-Fletchley grumbled but did turn to head back towards the lifts. “One of these days, we won’t need you anymore…”

“I welcome the day,” the auror placed a hand on the Unspeakable’s shoulder that made him distinctly feel like he was being arrested. “For now though…you do still need us.”

The Unspeakable cleared his suddenly dry throat. “What do the aurors need my help for?” he asked in almost a rasp.

“Nothing,” the hand steered him away from the lifts and towards the doors. “Did you get it? Please tell me you did. Merlin, I almost had a stroke when Justin stopped you…It’s just your luck to run into that prat on today of all days!”

The Unspeakable’s eyes widened, and he had a moment where he both felt like it should have been blatantly obvious that Neville Longbottom would be at the center of this little orchestrated treason and also like his world had just been turned on its head that the Head Auror was plotting against the ministry. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…” was the most he could get out through the haze that had settled on his mind.

Neville snorted with no humor. “Don’t worry, Weasley. I don’t know what it is you were asked to get. None of us were told everything. There are too many legilimens around these days.”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” he now stubbornly replied as they got closer to the doors to the outside world and where he could escape.

Auror Longbottom gave him a little smirk. “Fine, but please tell him now that I’ve done my part already that I’m in if he needs anything else…I’ll do whatever…there isn’t much I can do legally anymore, but he knows I’ve been wanting to leave this job behind for a very long time now…”

The Unspeakable paused…this didn’t sound like a trap. What Longbottom was saying was treason in itself, not even mentioning if he was actually part of his crazy plan. “Longbottom…” he said softly, taking a chance on the young boy he remembered from Hogwarts. “I don’t even know what’s going on…I promise.”

With a grin and a chuckle, Neville clapped him on the back fondly before a sad look settled in his eyes. “I guess that makes perfect sense…if it helps any…this was Hermione’s plan. You know she was the one that set it up so that none of us would have all the information. She was the one that initially pushed me to the head of the line of aurors…I don’t know how, but some kind of bureaucratic magic only she would have known.”

He actually hadn’t known that. He was only recently conscripted into this coup even if he’d suspected it was quietly going on for a long time now. At the stabbing pain that hit him in his heart at the mention of Hermione, he suddenly wished he’d been included much earlier. “We shouldn’t be talking about this here,” he anxiously glanced over his shoulder.

Neville rolled his eyes. “I’m the Head Auror…I have a permanent privacy ward I can activate, which I did as soon as we walked away from Finch-Fletchley,” he motioned to a bracelet that radiated a steady stream of magic that caused the Unspeakable to nod in appreciation…and definitely want one of those for himself.

“Look…my part is done,” Longbottom said quietly, even with the ward. “That means this is all coming to a head now…take care of yourself and don’t let him do anything stupid. I know this was Hermione’s plan, but we both know how Harry gets…If he’s going to listen to anyone, it’ll be you, Weasley.”

The Unspeakable gave him a short nod, wishing he’d not been as isolated from Longbottom as he had been. However, if all this had been planned by Hermione, that was probably a part of the plan as well. He’d never heard anything against Longbottom in the ministry gossip mill, causing him to believe the man was completely sold into the ministry propaganda and mission. It was genius…and also very lonely.

“I don’t know what I can do, but I’ll try. I do know how he gets very well. It was good to see you again, Neville,” he said with a little smile.

Longbottom touched his bracelet and the shimmer of magic around them dissipated. “It was good to see you again too, Percy. Don’t be a stranger…I’m only a few floors above you,” he winked before turning, his red robes flowing behind him, as he strode in long steps towards the lifts.

Percy stepped into the twilight of a winter evening feeling like he was stepping into a new world…or maybe an old one he recognized from his nightmares. This is what he remembered the war felt like, when you didn’t know who you could trust, when any day could be your last. With a sharp twist, he didn’t even pause in his apparition away from the marble building that suddenly felt exactly like a prison he was leaving.

Percy appeared expertly on the stoop of twelve Grimmauld Place and immediately opened the door without knocking. The oppressive wards felt like water as he walked through them. Thankfully he was welcomed, or it would be fire he would be trapped in until his corpse was unrecognizable instead of the uncomfortable pressure before he was standing in the gloomy entry hall.

“About time,” a tired-looking portrait commented by the door. “He’s been pacing all day and mumbling to himself. If I was alive, I’d have cursed him already.”

Percy rolled his eyes at Walburga Black. The woman had eventually given up on trying to get them out of the house and they’d come to a very tentative truce…especially when Kreacher had been killed. That had been the turning point in Walburga’s attitude. She now looked at Harry with a hard look and gave him a little nod when he walked by. Percy figured he should have realized sooner that Harry had some kind of plan to avenge the elf that he’d filled the portrait in on, but he’d been so caught up in his research in the Black library and in the Department of Mysteries…what he was using to run from his grief, that he hadn’t been paying much attention to what Harry and an old portrait had been doing.

He made his way up the familiar staircase to the room where he knew Harry would be in, and what he’d just learned to be a ritual room…he’d thought before that Harry kept the door closed since it had been Sirius’s room and there were too many memories for him to face it, but no, it was because he’d set up a highly illegal dark magic ritual and practice room…honestly, Percy couldn’t judge. He knew a lot of other things Harry was involved in, so this should have frankly been expected. His own area of research was the darkest of magics, and apparently, they were about to commit some kind of treason anyway…no, he honestly really didn’t care at this point.

Percy slowly opened the door and peeked his head into the room. Harry Potter was counting under his breath while slowly stirring a bubbling cauldron…not that anyone would recognize this man as Harry Potter anymore. It’d been a very long time since the press had caught him on camera due to come fairly illegal glamour charms and the fact he spent most of his time in the muggle world or back alleys in the wixen one now, and they probably wouldn’t even associate this man with their image of the Boy-Who-Lived if they did see him.

While the rest of them had changed more inwardly, Harry had gradually marked his internal changes externally, dramatically changing his looks from what the wixen world imagined him to be and look. His hair was longer than Percy’s at this point and in a long braid down his back liberally sprinkled with grey strands well before the grey should be there, he’d fixed his vision so no longer wore glasses, he had multiple silver piercings in his ears, eyebrow, and nose, and the tattoos had gradually been added as well. Most of the tattoos were actually runic magic for protection, focus, stability, fortitude, and many other things that Percy hadn’t fully researched. Some of the tattoos were clearly sentimental though with a silvery otter on his wrist for Hermione and a lion that Percy knew was for his youngest brother on his right ankle among many others representing those they’d lost.

He waited until Harry finished counting to step in. “I got it,” he said quietly, patting the pocket of his robes.

“Thank Merlin,” Harry closed his too green eyes and breathed out in relief. “Did anyone try to stop you?”

“I ran into Justin on the way out,” he sneered, walking over to the potions set-up. “Neville actually stepped in and got me out. You could have told me that the big, bad Head Auror was actually in on all this,” he gave the man a withering look from the other side of the steaming cauldron.

“Need to know,” Harry mumbled but also gave him a little sheepish shrug. “Forgive me?”

With a sigh, Percy shook his head, a fond smile on his face. He never could hold onto any anger with Harry, hadn’t been able to for a very long time. “I suppose everything and all the compartmentalization makes sense now that Neville let it slip that this was all Hermione’s plan…you at least could have told me that. And if you say, ‘need to know’ again, then I’m sleeping in the guest room and your cold feet can just suffer.”

“Prat,” the man grinned at him before walking around the table and pulling him into a kiss that still startled and excited him each and every time.

Their very confusing relationship had started when Percy had stayed over to make sure Harry wasn’t giving into his grief after the latest major tragedy a few years ago, then he needed to make sure that Harry got out of bed and ate, then there was the Black library with all the wonderful literature on soul magic in it, then Harry had taken to sitting with him and asking about his day, then he’d just never left…eventually, somehow, he’d been relocated from the guestroom to Harry’s room and they’d never gone back. They’d never really defined anything, but Percy was positive that didn’t matter to either of them in the slightest at this point anyway.

“Hey…” Percy put his hands on either side of Harry’s neck and looked into his eyes, seeing the pain as he did every time they were close. “How dangerous is all this? It’s time to actually tell me. No more ‘need to know’ no more compartmentalizing information. We’re in this together…I know I wasn’t very helpful there for a while…”

“We all grieve differently,” Harry shook his head, putting his hand on top of Percy’s. “You got me through my grief, and it took a while for you to face your own. You were there when I needed you to physically pull me out of bed, and you needed me there for you to just sit with you in the library…you didn’t need to be in on the plans, not when it all hit…”

“It’s time now though,” he insisted steadfastly. “Yes, you got me through Hermione’s death and what h-happened to Ron…Now, I’m here for you…Since I stole this from the Time Room, I’m assuming all this has something to do with time-travel…?”

Percy took the vial of time-dust from his pocket and placed in on the table beside them. “There’s enough in there for three time-turners, but I still don’t see how that’s going to help us at all…even if you could get it to work together without a physical time-turner that would hold it, that would still only be about a day you could go back.”

Harry’s face lightened up into a genuine smile at him, making Percy not regret for a minute that he’d just thrown away his entire career for a vial of sand. “That’s the point of this potion and the artifacts I’ve had to track down, repair, and the runes all over the floor.”

“That’s not for aesthetics?” Percy smirked at the ritual circle with scribbled runes that took up most of the room. “I thought you were just a shit decorator.”

“Ha, ha…though I am that as well,” Harry deadpanned and shrugged his braid back over his shoulder before rolling up his sleeves, baring many more runes and spidery lines. “Merlin, some days…most days, I wish Snape had lived. I’m sure he’d have taken Hermione’s plan and figured it all out months before I did…I found her notebook in her desk, but even then, it took me weeks to slightly work out the basis of what she’d been doing. She put all this into motion years ago though…right after Teddy was taken…”

Harry’s step faltered and his eyes glazed over. “Hey…” Percy put a hand on Harry’s hip, trying to bring him back to reality. Sometimes without warning his brain would disassociate, usually when he said something without thinking that pulled the trauma right back to the forefront of his brain. Percy had seen Harry stuck this way for hours before and only hoped this time wasn’t as bad as those.

“Hey, come back to me,” he rubbed circles on Harry’s back and tried to get him to focus back in. “Don’t leave me now…you have a lot of explaining to do…months and months of planning without me. Come on, what would Snape have done? Tell me.”

Harry slowly blinked as his eyes focused slightly back in. He reached a hand up and touched the small silver bar he had through his right eyebrow. This caused him to take in a steadying breath. Percy just smiled at him kindly. He’d noticed that it helped Harry to touch something that was different about him than from when the trauma had happened, something that reminded him that time had moved forward. Personally, he believed it was why Harry had changed his appearance so much so that he would have those reminders that he was different, that time had progressed.

“Sorry about that,” Harry shook his head and gave Percy an apologetic smile. “Erm…right…the potion. Yeah, so Snape could have figured it out ages ago…”

Percy stepped back and let Harry move forward like he hadn’t just gone catatonic for a minute, pretending that nothing had happened. “Even so, I think he might actually be proud of what I’ve done…not that he’d ever say that on pain of dismemberment,” Harry motioned to the now purplish colored gloop in the cauldron.

“It was the artifacts that were bloody difficult to collect though, and that was partially my own bloody fault in not keeping the ones I had already found for a rainy day,” he grumbled as he motioned to his old invisibility cloak that surprisingly had an interesting-looking wand on top of it and a cracked black stone. “I had to track down a tiny, black stone in a forest and do a bit of grave-robbing for the wand…Dumbledore won’t mind though, or at least he’d better not…anyway, not his problem anymore.”

“Ok…so if we say that I actually follow any of this,” Percy sighed, sitting on the stool over in the corner of the room. “I’m getting the idea that the time-dust will interact in some way with all these objects, runes, and potions and that something time-related will happen. Are we talking time-travel or dimension travel?”

“It never gets old just how smart you are,” Harry grinned at him as he bottled the purple potion. “Yes, we’re talking time-travel. Without getting into specifics, it’s an old ritual that Hermione found in a book in the Black library…which I think might be bound in human skin…not going to think about that…”

Percy shuddered. “Right…so we’re definitely talking dark magic then? Can I be of any help?”

“Actually, it has to be an infusion of pure light and dark magic within three vessels each,” Harry patted the objects on his cloak. “Thankfully, I knew where to find some items of pure dark magic…actually, figured that one out on my own and am quite proud of it, but the light magic was a bit more difficult. It was bloody difficult to convince a unicorn to stay and listen to me instead of running away like I was the devil himself, but I did finally get some freely given unicorn hair. That was the hold-up along with finding a couple more pure light items since people wouldn’t really work for the ritual. I don’t know anyone at this point whose core is completely light anyway…not after everything…”

Percy winced. He was well aware that his core was extremely dark after all his work in soul magic, and with the little he knew Harry had been up to, he was certain his (sort-of) boyfriend’s core was even darker than his own. “Yeah…I can only imagine what Mum would say if she saw us now…”

Molly Weasley had thankfully died of a bad case of dragon pox before Ron had been taken. She would not have survived losing Fred, Ron, and Hermione or even Bill, Fleur, and Victoire moving off to America to escape what was happening. Arthur was a shell of himself, but he was doing his best to hold his remaining family together. Most days that meant just making sure George was surviving and that Ginny hadn’t self-destructed yet.

“Riiight…” Harry didn’t meet his eyes.

Percy was suspicious. Was he planning to see Molly Weasley again? “Just how far back are you planning to go, Harry? No one has gone back more than a few days, but it’d take years to make a difference in this mess. Even if you did, what would you do? This wasn’t one person like Voldemort, this was society, this was the ministry, it was fear.”

Harry walked over and leaned into Percy, putting their foreheads together, breath mingling. “I’m going back as far as I absolutely can…I think I have enough power personally to make it about six years.”

Percy’s brain seemed to skid to a stop before he even tried to process that impossibility. It was easy math, Harry was 27, so that would put him at 21…it was before things had gotten really bad, but they’d still lost people before then…they’d lost Teddy before then even if it’d taken them years to actually figure out what happened…Percy held still as Harry’s fingernail traced up and down his neck. It was clear this was goodbye…well, the hell with that!

“So, since we’re going together, that means we can go back twelve years then,” he put a hand over Harry’s and stilled it.

“No…”

“No, you listen to me, Harry Potter,” he pulled the man even closer to him. Whatever crazy, suicidal plan this was, he was in. Harry was absolutely not doing this alone. “There is no way I’m letting you leave me here alone…if it’s dimensional travel, then I’ll be here without you and never see you again. If it’s time-travel, then we’ll still never be together. You know I wouldn’t have just moved in and made myself a part of your life without everything that happened…plus, who is going to stop you getting stuck in your head if I’m not there, huh? You will not be leaving me!”

“It’s too dangerous…” he protested with a firm shake of his head. “It’s time-travel, not dimensional, which will bring even more risk…I also don’t know if I’ll end up in my younger body or if there will suddenly be two Harrys which causes even more problems and risk.”

“Like I fucking care if I live through this if I don’t have you!” He growled, holding tightly to the strong shoulders of the man in his arms like a lifeline. Harry was literally the only good thing in his life anymore. He didn’t bloody care what they were to each other, they were all each other had, Harry was his home, and he was not giving that up without a fight.

“If one person can go back six years, then double the magic and let’s go back twelve! You’ll be fifteen and I’ll be nineteen, and it’ll be before we lost them all. Whatever your…or Hermione’s plan was going to be, it has to be even more effective if we get there earlier…more time has to be better than less. Plus, I was working for Fudge at nineteen...that would put me at the heart of the ministry. I can be useful.”

Harry closed his eyes and let out a breath. “Hermione didn’t have a plan; she didn’t get that far before she was killed in the raid, or at least she didn’t write it down…I can’t ask you to be a part of what I’m going to do. This is asking too much of anyone.”

“Would it still work if you were fifteen?” Percy just raised an eyebrow and pushed forward. “Because whether I’m going or not is no longer in question. You can bloody well just get over that. The question is now if we need to temper our magic to not go back as far or if we should try for the furthest distance back possible. So, what is this plan? What do you want to do to change the world?”

Harry looked him deeply in the eyes and Percy knew that whatever he was about to say would probably be the most insane thing he’d ever heard in his life…and that he was in whatever it was. “Being fifteen may make it a little more difficult, but it can be done…if we can save Teddy…”

“What are we doing, Harry?” Percy asked again, putting as much stress as possible into the ‘we.’

With a sigh Harry broke eye contact and turned to pick up the potion. “Percy…I will be becoming the next Dark Lord.”

Percy was positive he’d heard that wrong…no that’s what Harry had said… “Excuse me…isn’t there another one of those gallivanting around about then?” Percy coughed out. “He might take a bit of offense to being dethroned.”

Harry shrugged and gave him a wicked smile. “Oh, love…do you really imagine I give a gnat’s arse about what offends dear old Voldy? It’s frankly Dumbledore we should be more worried about.”

“Right…so, we’re planning to wreak was much havoc as possible until we’re taken out by Dumbledore, Voldemort, the Ministry, or the Order…that sounds like a Harry Potter plan,” Percy nodded and sat back down on his stool to watch the preparations happening around him. It was insane, and they probably wouldn’t live through it, but he decided it was better than the doing nothing they were currently stuck in.

“Ideally, we wouldn’t be taken out…at least not until we actually change things,” Harry rolled his eyes and rummaged around in a box for the unicorn hair.

“Do you actually have a plan for how to do that?” He sighed, not being very optimistic that a plan existed.

“Er…sort-of…” Harry grimaced some. “I’m not sure when exactly we’ll actually end up, and that changes things a bit. Plus, now that I’m going back six more years than the original plan, that puts most of my initial plans in disarray…especially since Voldy and Dumbles are still alive.”

“Is there any reason why we need to do this right now?” Percy asked next when he’d deduced that Harry was in-fact planning on them traveling back in time that very evening from the activities going on around him. Suddenly, he had the passing thought that he should possibly shower and put on clean pants if they were going on a trip, especially if he were about to see his mum again.

“I’m sure the time-dust will be missed…plus, Neville’s part will also not go unnoticed,” Harry looked up at him and gave a grin that Percy had come to be a bit afraid of. “The runes aren’t drawn in charcoal…they’re drawn in the ashes of a dementor…Nev is super hardcore, and I wish I’d known to tell him that when he was eleven and doubting himself,” Harry chuckled. "Remind me to tell him when we see him in the past."

Percy’s eyes widened at the dark drawings on the floor that he’d felt dark magic bleeding from but which he’d assumed was from the runes themselves. He’d taken Ancient Runes in school, but their usage in dark magic was not in the scope of his studies, that was all Harry. “Bloody hell…yeah, I think Azkaban will be missing one of its guards eventually…”

“Yep, and any legilimens worth the title will tie it all back to me once they interrogate Nev…he knows that and is prepared. Hopefully we live through the spell and can make sure he’ll never have to go through that, but well…his days are numbered and mine are too before I’m Undesirable Number One again,” Harry explained, a hard, blank look in his eyes. “Personally, I’d like to leave this time before I have aurors trying to break through my wards or a friend is tortured.”

“Right, so we go back in time and plan when we get there,” Percy agreed and stood to take off his work robes to leave just his slacks and a t-shirt, showing off his Unspeakable mark on his wrist. “What can I do? Do you know if we’ll be able to take anything with us? I can pack us some bags.”

“Nope, we’ll probably end up starkers when we arrive if we don’t just meld with our younger bodies,” the man was now dripping some of the purple potion between the runes on the floor, causing them to glow an eerie dark glow.

“So, no taking funds with us…or wands…or books,” Percy was deeply frowning, not liking that one bit.

“We’ll have the library still when we go back, we might just have to sneak around Sirius to get into it…” Harry’s eyes slightly dazed, but he shook his head and kept going instead of sinking into his mind. “There is a crystal in the box over there that had the unicorn hair in it, would you find it for me? It’s the light match to the resurrection stone. I paid almost half my vault for that in Knockturn Alley. Bloody black market prices! I know, hypocritical, since I’m a dealer myself, but still…”

Percy pulled a clear crystal out of the box and frowned deeply at it. It was radiating magic, but it was a light grey haze…it was definitely not pure light magic. He knew Harry could sense magic, but light magic was absolutely not his specialty at all, and he hadn’t been trained like Percy had with the Unspeakables. “What’s this supposed to be, Harry?”

“It’s a seer crystal, said to be given by Mother Magic herself to the world. Those with the Sight can connect as one to the magic of the world,” Harry stood up and stretched his back. “I most assuredly do NOT have the Sight, but it is an object of pure light to balance the dark of the other stone.”

“Yeah…you got scammed love,” Percy grimaced, feeling terrible as Harry’s face fell dramatically.

“No…we can’t do the spell without a match to the resurrection stone…” the man sank down dejectedly, clutching his chest, breaths coming short. “I’ll kill Aiken! He knows not to scam me!”

“Wait…” Percy frowned and walked over to his robes, feeling his pockets until he pulled out the clear crystal his supervisor had given him not hours ago. “Is this what you need?”

“Why in Merlin’s name did you just happen to have a seer crystal on you?” Harry jumped up and rushed over to take the stone. “This does feel a little different than the other. Merlin, you’re amazing!”

“You haven’t been trained to feel magic like I have, and if you don’t have the Sight…well, it’s an easy scam,” he squeezed Harry’s arm to show him that it wasn’t his fault. “Honestly, your friend Aiken might not have known himself. As for why I have it…I really don’t know. Supervisor Davids handed it to me on my way out of the ministry earlier. He said I’d need it…wait…you think he might be a seer?”

“That would mean he would know what we’re doing,” Harry stopped mid-turn from where he’d been heading back to the runes. “What did he say to you besides that you’d need it?”

“He just said something about my work for the department being good and wished me luck…” his eyes narrowed as that flippant sentence seemed much more laden now. “Bloody hell…”

“You always said your supervisor seemed to already know what was going on before you told him,” Harry shook his head and continued setting up. It wasn’t like there was anything they could do about it at the moment anyway.

Percy saw the ritual start to take shape as the invisibility cloak was laid on a rune with the unicorn hair, the resurrection stone was laid with the seer crystal, then Harry put down the wand. “What matches the elder wand?” Percy asked, not surprised at all that Harry had thought to track down the Deathly Hallows when he read that they would need dark objects. Personally, he had a sneaky suspicion that Harry might actually be classified as the Master of Death, whatever that meant.

With a deep sigh, Harry pulled his own wand out of his pocket before Percy cried out at the sharp snap when he broke it. “Why did you do that?” He gasped, only catching on when Harry gave a tired sigh and pulled a long phoenix tail feather from the core of the wand.

“A phoenix tail-feather from a wand that was mended by the elder wand,” Harry sadly placed the feather across the death wand. “You said we couldn’t take our wands back…I’m really hoping I’ll be young Harry when we get back and will already have it on me, if not, we’ll have to get new wands anyway.”

“We’ll need to get new wands regardless,” Percy put his wand on the workbench with a sad, parting look at it. “Wands grow with you over time, and we’ve progressed past our old wands at this point. If we end up in our younger bodies, we’ll probably still need to get a new wand and use our old ones as back-ups maybe. Mine would probably completely revolt the first time I cast anything dark. Yours had a light core...no telling what it would do if you tried to cast with it back years ago with your core the way it is now.”

Harry grimaced. “Well…one more thing on the to-do list.”

“Yeah…the list that currently reads: don’t die, solve Voldemort issue, establish a following, overthrow the ministry, don’t die again,” Percy trailed off with a shake of his head. “Try not to have complete meltdowns every time we see someone we’ve lost…”

“Merlin…I’m not the person that should be doing this,” Harry sat back down on the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees. “I’m not going to be able to hold it together. Neville should have been the one…”

“That’s why we’re going together,” Percy walked over and physically pulled him back up to standing. “You don’t have to do it alone, and you know that, while Neville is apparently a dangerous badass, you are the only one of us that actually fulfills the whole Dark Lord requirements.”

Harry snorted. “Unintentionally…it’s not my fault that dying turned my core dark…probably the Hallows as well.”

“Reading almost everything in the Black library was a bit more intentional though,” Percy kissed the top of his head with a smile. “Now…if we’re going to do this, let’s just do it. I’m more concerned about the Unspeakables coming after us than the aurors since Supervisor Davids apparently knows what we’re doing.”

“Eh…he seems to approve at least,” Harry shrugged but still picked up his silver knife and sliced a gash in his palm. “You want to do it, or you want me to?” He held out the knife to Percy.

“Are there like a thousand elements to this ritual?” He grumbled, picking up a clean knife instead and slicing his own palm with a wince.

“You have no idea…I’ve been putting this together for over a year,” Harry dripped three drops of blood in the middle of the circle. “You next…this is the time to back out if you want. You’re committed once you add the blood.”

With an eyeroll Percy added three drops of his own blood to the middle of the circle. “I have a feeling I was committed from the day I moved in here after Ron was taken.”

“See you on the other side then,” Harry gave him a quick kiss before unfolding a parchment with a very long spell in Latin on it and began to chant.

He couldn’t breathe…it felt like all the air was forced from his lungs and he was being crushed in a vise. Then, he was too large, he was stretched over all space and time. He had no body. Was his soul anchored to anything anymore? Then…there was nothing, no thoughts, no feelings, nothing. With a painful crash, he finally drew in a deep, painful breath and clutched at his suddenly solid once again chest. “Bloody hell,” he groaned and rolled over on a bed he didn’t remember getting into.

Chapter Text

Harry Potter groaned in pain and cursed Hermione, the Ministry of Magic, Merlin, Voldemort, and Dumbledore for good measure. He really didn’t want to open his eyes and deal with whatever was around him. He couldn’t hear Percy breathing and he seemed to be in a bed, so he guessed they hadn’t crashed onto the floor of Sirius’s room in the past…he hadn’t been looking forward to explaining to a freaked out Sirius why older versions of Harry and Percy Weasley were lying naked on his floor anyway. That would just be awkward!

He was naked though…if he’d ended up in his younger body…Harry reached up and hissed at touching a tender spot in his eyebrow. “Bloody hell…” he groaned. They’d come back in their current, older bodies, but his earrings had disappeared like his clothes.

It was a quick, wandless conjure to have new silver studs to put in all his piercings, which he did while checking out the room he was in. It took all of half a second to check out his old bedroom at Privet Drive. It was an odd juxtaposition for Harry to be standing in his 27 year-old body in his old bedroom in a house he’d never wanted to see again in his life. What was more confusing though, was where was young Harry?

Briefly freaking out that Harry might be at Hogwarts while he was in Surrey, he cast another wandless spell to see the date and time. Wandless magic was extremely tiring, and he realized he was quickly reaching his limit when he saw with a grimace that he was back in time to right after the dementor incident and before his fifth year. He didn’t think he’d been taken to Grimmauld yet, but his memory was grasping back twelve years, so he could be wrong.

Hedwig hooted from where she had just landed on the open windowsill, and it was all Harry could do to keep himself from disassociating in his surprise and the emotions that overwhelmed him. With a deep breath and a couple tears that escaped his eyes, he smiled at his first friend. “Hey girl…if you’re here, then young Harry must be here somewhere too, right?” Hedwig just hooted and flew over to her perch unhelpfully.

He hadn’t planned on having to actually talk to his younger self, especially this early in his trip, but he figured it would be better to do that clothed than starkers at least. After a quick rummage through his school trunk, Harry pulled out the larger of Dudley’s old clothes. He’d grown quite a bit since he was fifteen, not as much as he would want, but enough that he was thanking Merlin that Harry was still using Dudley’s castoffs when even then there was a good inch at the bottom of his trousers. He didn’t even try to put on his younger self’s shoes. He’d figure out that situation later.

About the time he was finally, mostly covered, his eyes fell on the familiar sight of his wand lying on the table beside his bed. Now Harry frowned in earnest. If he’d just survived being attacked by dementors, then young Harry wouldn’t even be going to the loo without his wand…frankly, it’d been a habit he’d formed then and hadn’t changed in all the years since.

“Hedwig…did I somehow take the place of little me?” He turned a concerned gaze to the owl who didn’t seem put off that her human was much older than before.

He wasn’t sure how it was possible, but it seemed that somehow his older self must have over-written his younger self. With a pang, it hit him that he’d basically just killed his younger self unintentionally. Logically, that wasn’t exactly what happened since young Harry was still a part of him, but ever since he learned they would be coming back this far, he’d kind-of hoped a younger version of himself would get to grow up with a much less traumatic life…to get to actually be a kid for a little while longer, or really for the first time.

Hedwig ruffled her feathers and dipped a beak in her water bowl. “Right…no time to freak out,” Harry began to pace. “Once the Dursleys wake up, they’ll clearly notice I’m not the me they know, and casting anything with that wand will have the ministry down on us immediately since I’m pretty sure the dementor thing has already happened,” he explained to his owl.

Hedwig cocked her head and just looked at him, seeming to wait for him to come to a decision. “We need Percy,” he finally decided. “He can cast a glamour on me or some other super-secret Unspeakable mojo to get me looking fifteen again. Then I need to get a new wand, trace-less if possible, then I guess we need some kind of plan.”

He quickly sat at his desk and jotted down a note to Percy setting a meeting for the Leaky Cauldron just as soon as humanly possible. “Can you take this to Percy Weasley?” He asked Hedwig. “He’ll look a bit different than last you saw him, and I’m not really sure where he was living now in this time. I would guess London somewhere, but I’m not sure.”

The owl looked offended as he tied the letter to her leg. “Sorry…I was just checking,” he smiled. He’d missed Hedwig so very much. “I know you are the absolute best owl in all of existence. Oh, and please stay with Percy after dropping off the letter because his owl will be too recognizable for a lot of the people I’ll be with, so you’ll be better for us to communicate with each other.”

With a quick nip to his finger, Hedwig was off, leaving Harry to have to scramble to find a way to get to the Leaky Cauldron and get out of the house before his relatives woke. He was desperately hoping he had enough time before the Order members picked him up to take him to Grimmauld Place since he really needed to disappear for a day. It was imperative that he get a new wand and buy some clothes that fit him. Even if he planned to find a way to temporarily look fifteen, there was no way in hell he was going to stay fifteen consistently. Most appearance spells wore off in one’s sleep anyway, so he’d at least need some bigger pajamas if nothing else. And shoes…he grimaced at the holey and tight trainers he pulled onto his feet. Briefly, he weighed the pros and cons of using just a bit more wandless magic to expand them, but he was already feeling very tired from what he’d done so far and didn’t want to be unable to defend himself if he ran into trouble on the way to London.

Tight shoes and ill-fitting clothes and all, Harry grabbed his old wand and used just a bit of wandless magic to unlock his bedroom door and sneak downstairs. It was laughably easy to get out of the house and actually very irritating how easy it was for Harry to spot his Order watcher and avoid the snoring lump in the bushes. Really! It was shameful. Granted, he’d lived through a war, a police state where he was part of the rebellion, and his business in general also tended to be on the shadier side, but still, these people were mostly aurors and knew they were guarding a supposedly defenseless child that had already been attacked once over the summer!

Trying to quell his irritation with the knowledge that he was 27 now and poor-defenseless Harry was dead for all intents and purposes, he ran several streets over and behind a closed department store before he raised his old wand outwards to call the Knight Bus. One loud crack later and an offensively purple bus appeared before a young man Harry didn’t think he’d ever seen before jumped out.

“Welcome to the Knight Bus, transportation for the stranded…” the lanky man trailed off once he got a look at the pierced, tattooed, muscled, wild hair flying, and poorly dressed wizard in front of him. “You ok, mate?” He frowned in a mix of concern and worry at what Harry might do or if he were dangerous.

“I’m fine,” Harry tried to look unassuming, mostly unsuccessfully. “I had a bit of trouble with the missus. She threw me out in me skivvies and cast an incendio at all my stuff. Thankfully, I was holding my wand and me mate down the street lent me some clothes,” he gave a wry chuckle at the end. He wasn’t sure where the accent he was trying to put on came from. He thought it might be a mix of Hagrid and Mundungus, but thankfully the Knight Bus conductor seemed to buy it.

“Merlin, you’ve had a rough night of it then. Sounds like you really put your foot in it,” he laughed and stepped aside for Harry to board the bus. “I’m guessing the Leaky to get a room?”

“Called it in one,” Harry answered wryly.

“You got fare?” The man frowned now, rightfully thinking that might be a bit of a challenge.

Harry had scrounged enough from his school trunk for fare though and handed it over, with the extra for hot chocolate. Merlin, he could use some hot chocolate! He just missed spilling his delightfully chocolatey drink on himself as the bus was off once more with a lurch and bang. Though Percy regularly assured him that no one would recognize him anymore, Harry still hadn’t been anywhere in wixen society for years without a heavy glamour, so it was with a deep sigh and grin over the rim of his mug that he took a moment to enjoy anonymity while in his own skin.

There were a few stops before him, so Harry had just finished his hot chocolate when the bus screeched to a halt outside of the Leaky Cauldron. “Thanks, mate!” He waved to the conductor.

“Good luck with the missus!” He yelled back before the bus was off again.

“Am I the missus?” Percy stepped forward from the shadows with an amused raise of his eyebrow.

“No, she was being entirely unreasonable,” Harry grinned widely at him and took his hand, needing to be reassured he’d made the trip in one piece. “Burned all my clothes you see…I have no idea what brought it on…might have been when she learned I’m gay, but your guess is as good as mine.”

Percy’s clothes at least fit, though he was wearing an outfit he wouldn’t be caught dead in anymore. Harry was missing the old horn-rimmed glasses though. Percy had his eyes fixed when Harry did and Harry kind-of missed the nerdy look on the man. “I’m guessing your younger self is gone too?” Percy asked as he pulled Harry into the pub and over to an empty booth where he promptly cast a privacy ward around them.

“Yeah, I feel sorry for the poor sod. I didn’t mean to kill him,” Harry sighed and plopped down tiredly. Between the time travel and the wandless magic, he felt like he could sleep for days.

“It wasn’t an outcome I was expecting either,” Percy agreed before ordering them both a firewhiskey and shepherd’s pie from the very tired night waiter who didn’t seem surprised at all that they were within a privacy ward bubble.

“That is exactly what I need. You are a brilliant, brilliant man,” the younger man nodded firmly. “So…from what I remember, this is just after the dementors attacked me and my cousin but before I’m whisked off to Grimmauld and have my hearing.”

Percy gave him a concerned look. “Are you going to be ok seeing Sirius again…and you know, R-Ron and Hermione?”

“Probably not,” he winced and immediately took a sip of the firewhiskey that was set down in front of him. “I plan to blame everything on trauma from the dementor attack if I need to.”

“Well…I’ll have to come up with some kind of excuse for myself then,” Percy groaned and shoved some food in his mouth to give him some time to think. “People are going to ask about your patronus…I vaguely remember it being brought up in the trial,” he added through a mouthful of potato. “Were you asked to cast it in the courtroom? I don’t remember.”

“Ergh!” Harry downed the rest of the firewhiskey. “No, I don’t think I cast it in the trial. I’m not so sure I needed it at any time fifth year besides when I was teaching that club-thing…bloody stupid trauma and dark core!” He grumbled. Harry hadn’t been able to produce a patronus, corporeal or otherwise, since he’d died during the Battle of Hogwarts. "I probably shouldn't take on the club this time around...I'd probably end up teaching Unforgivables..."

Ignoring the ridiculous man's tangent, Percy continued to slowly eat his food. “I think this is actually a really good time we came back to. A lot of things happened this year we can head off. If we take out Voldemort before he’s formally acknowledged by the ministry, then that will keep some of the initial political actions from being put into motion. His use of dark creatures and the snatchers in particular have to be stopped before the ministry takes note of them,” Percy explained while pulling parchment and a never-out quill from his pocket.

“Of course, you have parchment in your pocket just in case,” Harry fondly rolled his eyes at the man. He loved his nerd. “So, I guess we need some sort-of plan…”

“Do we try to initially keep things as they were so we can control the variables?” Percy was already jotting down a timeline of what he remembered happened from that year.

“Hell no! Who has the time and the patience for that?” Harry grumbled and downed the last of Percy’s firewhiskey as well.

“I was going to drink that,” he protested with no feeling. He knew he should have just ordered more.

“My point is that we’re going to change things anyway and making me a new Dark Lord should happen sooner rather than later,” he rolled his eyes and paused in their discussion to order Percy and himself another round.

“Put as number one on that list killing off Voldy. I need him out of my way. That’s the one down-side to coming back this far. Between the two of us, I think we can knock out all the horcruxes before Christmas though…thankfully, killing Little Harry should have taken care of the one in him. I already checked, I'm still horcrux-free."

“I think number one is actually going to be me teaching you the age glamour charm that Unspeakable Jones was working on,” Percy looked up at him with a smirk. “I think we need Harry Potter to go to Hogwarts, at least as a cover during the day while Voldemort is still knocking around. What you do at night is what is going on this list.”

“Speaking of those we call unspeakable,” Harry ran a finger over the swirled lines and runes of Percy’s Unspeakable mark on his wrist. “Are you going to be able to glamour this? It may raise some very awkward questions…I think your future, possibly a seer, supervisor is probably already at the ministry.”

“No, I can't glamour it,” he winced in answer. “No one will admit to this, but Voldemort’s Dark Mark was developed from these. Rookwood taught him the magic. These basically have a mind of their own and can’t be covered easily. Knowing the Department of Mysteries, it's possible that I'm suddenly registered as an Unspeakable now in this time...I guess we'll just have to wait and see if I get called to any department meetings.”

“That'd be inconvenient. Well, better pick up a wide bracelet then, start a new fashion trend,” Harry shrugged, filing that away as something to deal with later. “Although, it’s the 90’s now…yeah, I think that was already on trend, so no problem there.”

He jotted down the note on the corner of the page with new clothes containing sizing charms for Harry added. “Right…so kill current dark lord…you have to establish a following if you’re going to take his place…”

“Can’t I just steal his current followers,” Harry pouted. It was the part of his plan he was least looking forward to.”

“Not if you want to pull over some of the moderate or light supporters. I think you would have a good sell to get Remus and Tonks to our side at the very least,” he paused in writing with a sad look.

“Yeah, show them a couple memories and I have my inner circle…same with Ron and Hermione I would assume. This was Hermione’s plan after all,” Harry nodded, touching an earring to ground himself and suddenly thinking this might not be as hard as he initially thought. “Also, put on there to set Remus up as the new Minister of Magic.”

Percy actually put the quill down to look at him in disbelief. “Wasn’t that going to be you? You are the new Dark Lord and all…”

“Nope…I’m the Dark Lord, not minister material,” Harry gave him a look to show just how much he would hate that idea. “Plus, Remus is really smart and is a werewolf so we counter the creature legislation there and we make sure to keep his record clean…unlike mine will be, so that he’ll appeal to both the light and dark.”

“Sure, sounds good to me,” Percy shrugged and wrote it down. He really didn’t care as long as the future administration they were familiar with didn’t take over…well, that and that he didn’t have to do it. “What do you want to do about Dumbledore?”

“Keep him in the dark as long as humanly possible. I hope he can be convinced to come to our side at some point, or we’ll have to figure out a way to take him out of play,” Harry growled, still having a lot of stored up anger for the man. “I think we’ll need to get Snape on our side to be able to do that though…From what I know about the man, I’m guessing my odds are pretty good there. I’m handy with Legilimancy and Obliviate these days if I’m wrong though…which, new wand, add that to the list. I can’t stand having the stupid trace on me!”

“We’ll go by Knockturn once we get a general plan going here,” Percy assured him. Both of them were much more comfortable in Knockturn than Diagon Alley these days. “I bet Sullivan’s clothing store will be open early too. He can add charms so your clothes will fit both 15-year-old you and 27-year-old you.”

“So much better than Madam Malkin’s!” Harry agreed quickly. “Also, and this is very important…”

Percy looked up, knowing his partner well enough to know this wasn’t actually going to be important. “Yes…?”

“We both need to pick a couple things we want to put on that list just for the sheer pettiness of it,” Harry said sagely.

He continued at Percy's skeptical look. “We’re back twelve years in time. What do you want to do to fuck up the timeline for Percy? I think we should get a bit of satisfaction out of saving everyone’s arses from themselves. It’s not like becoming a Dark Lord was ever on my career planning sheet during Hogwarts, so I should get to do something I want to do as well as you.”

Percy had to admit, he really liked that idea. Merlin, they both needed mind-healers! “Sure, why not,” he shrugged and immediately added the two things that came to his mind first to their list.

“No fair!” Harry pouted deeply causing Percy to smirk at him and really want to kiss that pout away. “I wanted Umbridge!”

“Oh, love, I have more access to her than you do right now,” he reminded the man as sweetly as possible. “Plus, it was her proposed legislation that we have to stop with this whole insane trip.”

“Fine,” Harry did take Percy’s hand and place a little kiss to the back of it though. “If she shows up at Hogwarts, then dibs transfers to me though. And don’t get caught! I’ll storm Azkaban for you, but it should be the absolute last resort.”

“Fair enough…”

“Ergh! You are such a nerd!” Harry laughed at the next thing Percy had written down. “Finish your research? You have all the time in the world for that…well, at least until we get killed or arrested by the aurors. Pick something petty, please, or I’ll feel bad. I was going to add killing Pettigrew and setting up Remus and Tonks again to the list…I miss Teddy.”

“Harry, dear…I was never allowed to tell you what my research was in, and I think it could be helpful to our cause,” Percy couldn’t help the gleeful look that came into his eyes. Without having to follow the ministry’s rules, he could now do all the things he was banned from before…well, still not legally, but at least he wasn’t trying to keep his job anymore.

Harry took the last bite of his shepherd’s pie and leaned back expectantly. “So…will the all-knowing Unspeakable finally let me in on what he’s been doing in the office all day for years now? I know it has something to do with soul magic since I can feel it leeching off of you when you come home…I might not be as good at feeling magic as you, but soul magic is part of my inner-being now.”

“Fair…” He nodded, realizing he should have known Harry would be able to detect it. “Yeah, so, my area is inferi…I’m working to give them actual sentience if not their own souls back…”

“You’re working in Necromancy?!” Harry gasped in a startled whisper while looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, even if they were behind a privacy ward. “And the ministry sanctioned that?!”

“We’re the Unspeakables,” he shrugged. “The laws tend to be tossed out regularly in the Department of Mysteries. I know, hypocritical, but it works in my favor at least.”

Harry gave him an appreciative look that bordered on lecherous. “I thought you couldn’t get any hotter, but then you go and tell me you’re a necromancer…you don’t happen to have those old horned-rimmed glasses around anywhere, do you? I might just self-implode if you do.”

Percy looked around the pub as well before leaning in with a matching grin. “When do you have to get back?” He asked with a raise of his eyebrow. “My flat is just off Diagon.”

Harry did some very creative mental math. “I would guess the Order is coming to get me tonight. I remember us flying off on brooms when it was dark, which…clearly not safe. I don’t know what they were thinking! Anyway…my relatives won’t care or notice if I’m gone all day, I just need to get back before the sun goes down.”

Percy grinned even more broadly. “Right…business first though. Let’s get you that new wand, some age and size appropriate clothes with charms on them, then…we have the rest of the day. I’ll tell the ministry I’m sick and skip out on work today.”

“Awesome! You just quit your job in the future; you should get a day,” the younger man stood and dispelled the ward with a wave of his hand.

“More like I would have been fired and a warrant issued for my arrest,” he muttered lowly so only Harry could hear.

“Potato/tomato, or whatever that saying is…” he just shrugged and excitedly pulled Percy by the hand to the back of the pub to access the alley. “I’m suddenly motivated to handle our errands as quickly as possible.”

“Bank first then…do you have your key on you?”

Harry paused with a frown. “Did I ever have my key…?” He couldn’t remember. He had one in the future, but when had he gotten it? It had to have been after the dragon incident when he’d had reparations and groveling and all that.

“Merlin…fine, we’ll get you a blood test too for a new key,” Percy grumbled and tapped the bricks to open the wall. “I thought you were less of a hot mess when you were younger, apparently I was mistaken.”

Harry just grinned at him broadly. “Yeah…should have warned you…that’s probably from trauma that happened from even before Hogwarts…or I was just always this way, not sure which. You love me anyway though,” he said confidently.

Percy sighed deeply. “That I do, you prat.”

“Love you too!” He threw an arm around Percy’s waist, and they strode into a very different Diagon Alley than they were used to in their time.

Chapter Text

Harry was extremely irritated. He’d had a wonderful day with his partner where they’d done their best to make each other forget they had so very much to do, and he was loving his new wand made of ebony wood with a core of dementor skin…he got a sick kick out of that to be sure. Now, however, he was sitting in his fifteen-year-old body on his creaky, and very uncomfortable bed waiting on people to pick him up that were ineffectual during the war at best and downright incompetent at worst.

Frankly, the only people besides his friends that legitimately made a positive difference to the outcome of the war had been Remus for teaching him the patronus charm, Sirius that saved his life at the end of this year before dying, Dumbledore for better or worse, Draco Malfoy who he was going to have to figure out a way to get out of all this mess, and Snape.

Mentally, Harry added Draco Malfoy to his running list of possible future followers. That prat was annoying but would make a good follower to pull over some of the darker families. He wasn’t sure about Sirius…he’d never quite figured out exactly how mentally stable the man was. Sometimes he seemed fine, and sometimes…well, he would be a liability regardless until Harry figured out a way to clear his name. Thankfully, Pettigrew was now gleefully added to the year’s to-do list.

Harry rolled his eyes dramatically when he heard Tonks trip over something in the house and the Order members being incompetent once more in sneaking in. Instead of just waiting on them, he shrunk his trunk and shoved it in a pocket before throwing his door open. Now, he could just make it known that he heard them and say hi…but Harry was definitely not that kind of person.

“Aculeo augere,” he flicked his wand with the whispered incantation down the stairs.

A beautiful chorus of multiple people gasping and squealing met his ears. It wasn’t a very useful charm in battle but feeling like you were being stung by a jellyfish was very satisfactory for the caster at least. “You know a herd of hippogriffs would be quieter than you lot,” Harry drawled and ended the spell with a flick of his wand, smirking at the stunned group standing in his Aunt Petunia’s good sitting room.

“Weren’t we picking you up because of some underage magic nonsense already?” Moody grumbled, rubbing the sting out of his good arm with a glare that was irritated but also impressed. It was a pretty obscure spell, but thankfully just on the right side of legal.

Harry raised his eyebrow at the man. “I’m really hoping you are the real Moody this time…and as I’ve heard you are wont to say…’Constant Vigilance!”” Harry smirked at him. “After dementors attacked me in the middle of Surrey, I took the Knight Bus to Knockturn Alley and got myself a new wand without the trace on it. I’ll not be held back during a fight ever again. I’m sure you can agree…”

“Er…isn’t that illegal?” Tonks loudly whispered to a now, smiling Moody…that was quite terrifying.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve done much more illegal things than this the past few years,” Harry shrugged unconcernedly. Merlin, he’d actually done a lot before his fifth year already…if they only knew what he’d done since…anyway… “If Voldemort wants me dead, then I plan to take him with me at the very least.”

“I hate to say it…but I agree with Harry,” Remus gave him a little smile. Harry’s heart melted. He loved Remus, he really did. He just didn’t know him as well as he would like, so the man’s death had been traumatic, but thankfully nothing to set off his already precarious hold on reality.

“Let’s maybe not tell your friends though…or Dumbledore…but you should be able to defend yourself and not have to risk being expelled,” Remus added at the end, giving the auror and former auror a stern look to let it go.

“Hmm…old Barty might not have been completely shit at the job,” Moody gave Harry a gruesome grin. “He was clearly channeling me and my brilliance though! Well…come on, kid. Let’s get you out of this muggle hell!”

Harry crossed his arms and stood his ground. “I’m not leaving these wards with a group of people I really don’t know very well or that I’m not sure if they are who they say they are…so, for lack of a better choice, Remus…what do I hear when the dementors are around me? Only Remus Lupin and Ron and Hermione know the answer to that,” he tapped the tip of his wand against his arm with a challenging look in his eyes.

“I like him…” Moody grumbled with a little booming laugh. “Good boy!” Harry gave him a scathing look at the use of ‘boy,’ but just waited on Remus who was a little pale at having to answer that particular question.

“You hear your parents being murdered…” he said quietly. “Turn about and all since you seem very different since last I saw you, though that was about a year ago…what form does your patronus take?”

“I’ve gone through a lot in a year,” Harry shrugged with a hard look in his eyes at the question the man had asked. “And you need to do better than that, Remus, if you want to stay alive. Everyone saw my stag patronus during that quidditch match my third year. You have to have a better question.”

“I really like this kid!” Moody laughed once more and Tonks just took a step further away from the grizzled auror, a bit scared at his behavior.

Remus seemed taken aback…it was clear he actually didn’t know Harry that well at all. He gave a little sniff of the air before looking confused and inhaling even more. He turned a hard gaze on the (supposed) teen. “What was the first and unsuccessful memory you chose for your patronus?”

All right, Harry was a little impressed the man remembered that…frankly, it took him a minute since he wasn’t sure he remembered himself. The man’s continued sniffs were starting to freak him out too. “It was flying on a broom for the first time,” he finally remembered, thankfully.

What the hell could Remus be smelling on him?! It made him want to sniff himself to check, but he tried to refrain from that. He was now getting a very pointed look with another questioning sniff. A werewolf wouldn’t be able to smell his changed core, and even at 27 his actual scent shouldn’t have changed enough for someone not that familiar with him to notice…then he remembered what he’d been doing that day, and he kicked himself for prioritizing a nap over a shower.

Harry was a very stubborn person, but the look he was getting from Remus clearly said he was going to be out-stubborned until he fessed up. “Fine!” He groaned and threw his arms into the air. “Clearly, you are a very powerful werewolf with an amazing sense of smell!”

“I guess you believe we are who we say we are then,” Remus smirked at him. “Now…care to explain the very distinctive smell I’m getting from you right now?”

“Well, I was out anyway getting the wand, so I clearly swung by to see my boyfriend. I’m a teenager, and it’s been a long summer…plus, I almost died,” he added on for good measure. “Give a traumatized guy a break!”

“How did you sneak past the guard?” Moody frowned deeply as the implications of Harry sneaking out finally registered for him.

“You have a boyfriend?” Remus asked at the same time.

“First of all, your guards are very visible and easily distracted,” Harry informed the man with a disappointed look. “I’m assuming you didn’t train them…” that seemed to mollify Moody slightly, but now he looked very angry at the guards. “And as for my personal life, you never asked,” he accused the werewolf, who really hadn’t, even if he was stretching the truth there a bit.

“Erm…everyone, hi I’m Tonks by the way,” Tonks gave him a little smile and sheepish wave. “We should probably get going. We’re due back soon to headquarters.”

“Right…well, I hear you’re good at flying. You got your broom?” Moody huffed and turned his piercing gaze on Harry.

For his part, Harry couldn’t help a little smile at the brilliance of Percy whose Unspeakable glamour charm couldn’t even be seen through by Moody’s magical eye. “Wouldn’t side-along apparition or portkey be easier and safer?” He asked, wondering yet again why they were flying.

“We couldn’t chance registering a portkey, and Dumbledore suggested you’d appreciate flying more than side-along,” Remus answered his question.

“I’d appreciate not having to fly cross-country at night in the open with Voldemort out there,” Harry just rolled his eyes. They really weren’t taking the danger seriously yet. Thankfully, that worked in his favor since he planned on taking over…but baby-steps. Plus, he was still allowed to be irritated since all three of these people hadn’t survived the war.

“Right, well, stay close, and I’ll apparate the boy once we cross the wards,” Moody instructed the group.

“Harry, kid, brat, nuisance, Potter, dunderhead…all names I will find acceptable,” Harry glared at the older man. “Boy is not one of those names.”

Moody’s face remarkably cracked into that terrifying grin once more. “Fine, I’ll apparate the brat once we cross the wards.”

“Brilliant!” Harry grinned broadly at him and led the way out of the house with a laughing Tonks and Remus following along behind them.

Harry took in a deep steadying breath, using the distraction of him holding the paper with the address to the already clearly visible to him Grimmauld Place to take a personal moment. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the wards on the house when he entered. Hopefully nothing, but magic was odd and not bound by time as much as humans are, and Harry had been the owner of the house and made significant changes to the house itself and wards. Plus, he had a sneaking suspicion the house liked him better than Sirius…

Regardless, he really couldn’t care less at the moment. He knew he was going to have a hell of a time making it through what awaited him on the other side of that door. While he loved Remus and Tonks both, he was really not ever that close to them. He’d been much closer to Teddy. The people in that house though…Sirius, Fred, Kreacher…Ron and Hermione…he wasn’t sure he could mentally make it through the next few minutes and wished to Merlin that Percy was there with him to ground him to reality.

“Oh wow…cool,” he said with as much feeling as he could muster at the house supposedly appearing…it really wasn’t much feeling at all.

The next few minutes were all a blur to Harry…people were talking and he was being led into the house, he even felt the wards snapping into place around him, claiming him as their master, but all that was ancillary to the person waiting for him on the other side of the door.

“Harry!!” Sirius beamed at him and rushed over, only pausing when he wasn’t sure if they were hugging people or not.

“Sirius…” Harry was almost frantically rubbing at the invisible silver bar through his eyebrow, trying to keep himself in the present. “Hey…I missed you…” he breached the distance and wrapped his arms around his godfather’s middle, breathing in the smell of dust, whiskey, and aftershave.

He did briefly black out then, but it seemed to only be a second as he felt Moody shove by them and bring him back to reality. “You never told me the brat had the most braincells of you lot,” Moody remarked as he walked by.

“Don’t call Harry, brat!” Sirius grumbled with Harry’s head still in his chest. The glamour even freaking made him seem smaller and Harry was loving being almost wrapped up completely in the man he loved so much and had missed so dearly.

“Harry actually gave him permission,” Remus laughed since Moody hadn’t even paused to respond.

Walburga began screeching when Tonks, of course, tripped over the umbrella stand and Harry just smiled into Sirius’s shirt. He would have words with the portrait later…she was probably the only one that recognized the wards changing over anyway. Sirius was too disconnected from his family magic to have noticed, and thankfully, Dumbledore wasn’t there when it happened.

“Padfoot…heads up, you might want to give our little Prongslet a lecture on safe-sex, by the way,” Remus told the man pointedly. “Probably more than a bit overdue.”

“Hey!” Harry protested with very little feeling. He’d sit through a lecture if it meant he could be with Sirius…frankly, he figured he’d be much less embarrassed at the whole thing than the other man, it might even be a bit funny.

Sirius chuckled and leaned away to look at Harry better. “You got caught out by the werewolf nose too? Merlin, we never could get away with anything in school with Moony around. Who is the lucky young lady? And erm, Moony…you might be better for that particular lecture because…you know…” He gave a dramatic nod with wide eyes.

“I don’t think he’s going to mind, Padfoot,” Remus rolled his eyes fondly at his friend. “Especially since he said he’d spent the day with his boyfriend.”

“Merlin! Really?! Thank Mother Magic!” Sirius almost crumpled in relief. “Remy said you’d been living with muggles, and they’re super prejudiced and that it might be best if I keep the whole being gay thing under wraps for now…but, wow! We have so much to talk about!! Merlin, it feels good to not have to keep a secret from you!”

Harry raised a surprised eyebrow. One, he’d never known that about Sirius, and two, why had his godfather thought he’d be prejudiced like his horrible family? “We really can skip the sex-talk and just chat about life, you know,” he finally responded, stepping back a bit. He really just wanted to know Sirius as a person better.

Harry was actually proud of himself; he’d gotten through that entire encounter without crying or disassociating or even blacking out for more than a second. It was a win for him. He was sure he’d pay for it with horrific night-terrors that evening though. It was just the way his luck (and trauma) ran.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the meeting he was fearing the most. “Harry!” He heard a deep voice he hadn’t heard in several years now call out excitedly from the stairwell.

He gripped his arms, almost drawing blood and tried to breathe normally. It wasn’t working. “Harry?” the same voice now spoke much nearer to him and with worry tinging it. The world disappeared and he could only hear screams and crying. Everything was pain…

Harry crashed back to reality as Sirius’s scent came back into proximity and his familiar hand landed on his back. “Hey, Pup…you ok?”

Shit! Clearly, he wasn’t holding it together. He tried to smile, but it was probably more like a grimace. There was the familiar haze starting at the corners of his vision once again, but he tried to push it aside as he looked at the two people now crowding out the older men. Sod it! Harry launched himself into Ron’s arms, not being able to handle everything anymore. The tears flowed from his eyes as he blindly reached out and too tightly grasped Hermione’s hand as well.

These were his friends…yes, they were younger versions, but they were still his people. They were his family, and he’d missed them like not being able to breathe. “Hey, it’s ok…what happened?” Ron muttered with a stunned tone in his voice and the tightest grip possible around Harry’s frame. “They said you were fine. Was it your relatives? I knew we should have cursed them or something!”

“Harry…it’s ok, we’re here,” Hermione returned the crushing grip and rubbed his back with her free hand.

“What happened to him?” Sirius’s voice asked from the other side of Harry’s cocoon of everything he’d come back to the past for.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled from Ron’s collar. “I almost died and didn’t think I’d see you two again,” he said, it was a crap explanation for his actions, but it was the best he could do right now.

“We love you too, mate,” Ron mumbled back in a surprised tone while Hermione continued to rub circles into his back.

“Oh Harry…” Mrs. Weasley’s sad voice broke into the group, causing Harry to gather himself up and finally release his death-grip on his friends. “We’re so glad you are here…why don’t you all go take a moment to yourselves and settle in upstairs before dinner,” she suggested pointedly to her son and Hermione.

Harry was grateful she recognized that he probably didn’t want this breakdown seen by the entire Order and gave her a little nod. He loved Mum Weasley and had missed her, especially her cooking. “Yeah, that sounds good…show me to my room, R-Ron?” He almost gasped out.

“Yeah…come on,” Ron uncharacteristically actually took Harry’s hand in his and pulled him towards the stairs, somehow instinctively realizing he needed the comfort.

The house was so familiar and also so different than what Harry was used to as they made their way past the room he normally shared with Percy in the future, the room he’d turned into his ritual room, and what had been his study with all the dark artifacts he’d collected. The artifacts which he traded on the black market as a sort-of job to fund the underground network of people he had cultivated to safeguard families away when they became in danger from the ministry, or more specifically the Department of Relocation and Retrieval.

“Harry…?” Hermione began.

“Wait until we’re in the room,” he mumbled, remembering Fred and George’s extendable ears well, and he hadn’t seen them around yet, which usually wasn’t a good sign.

He briefly debated what he should tell Ron and Hermione before just throwing all his ideas out and settling on telling them the truth. He’d never lied to either of them, ever, and he wasn’t about to start now. Besides, if he was going to have an inner circle, it was going to be these two…and if they disagreed with this whole plan, then that was actually a very important thing to take into account. He was self-aware enough to realize that neither he nor Percy were stable individuals. If they were going to change this insane plan for any reason, it would be because Ron, or more likely, Hermione told them it was a bad idea as the two people who would understand why they did what they did but also not have gone through all the trauma they had.

“You’re sharing with me in here,” Ron remarked, opening the familiar door and pulling Harry inside.

“Spill,” Hermione put her hands on her hips and glared at him as soon as she closed the door behind them.

Harry huffed and instead pulled out his new wand and cast a complicated privacy ward around both the door of the room and the empty portrait he knew Headmaster Black frequented. “Is that a new wand?” Ron frowned.

“What was that spell?” Hermione exclaimed at the same time.

“Right…so, sit down on something and give me a minute, ok…if you haven’t noticed, I’m having a bit of a hard time right now,” Harry plopped down on his bed and buried his face in his pillow for a second, just trying to still his racing heart and cut out all the external stimuli and ghosts around him.

“What happened this summer, Harry?” The bed dipped beside Harry where he knew Hermione had sat down with him.

He gave a wry snort, not even knowing how to start addressing that. Their Harry was dead…erased from existence, and the Harry they had now was so broken that only hope, sheer stubbornness, firewhiskey, and Percy held him together these days. “I need a drink,” he grumbled but sat up to look at them again.

“I’m going to start with ‘I’m sorry,’ and I’ll circle back around to that,” he began in a deep sigh, seeing Ron sit on the edge of his bed beside Hermione and them both look at him in anticipation. “Hermione…I need you to actually consider something for me, will you?”

Hermione looked so very confused. “Of course, Harry…what’s up?”

“What would you do, Hermione Granger, if things had gotten so bad, you couldn’t fix them. You were in the middle of hell before you even realized it’d began. Everything you cared about, everything you held dear was gone, and there just wasn’t a way to fix it,” he looked at her with tired eyes, eyes that had seen his world fall around him and his family ripped from his arms.

“Mate…” Ron began with a frown.

“No, Ron, I’m thinking,” Hermione stopped him, seeing that Harry was deadly serious. “I suppose, if there was no way to fix it, if there was no going forwards, I would try to change what already happened…like third year. We’re wixen…I know I may be more practical than the average witch, but the laws of nature don’t actually apply to us…there would have to be a way to write a new law. I guess, I’m getting at…I’d do whatever it takes, but I wouldn’t give up…”

Harry couldn’t help the dry laugh that escaped his throat. “That was always the difference between you and me ‘Mione…you would move the earth to fix it while I would burn it down in anger…”

“I’m getting really scared, Harry…where’s this going?” Ron reached out and put a hand on Harry’s ankle, trying to reassure himself his friend was there and well.

“We got there, guys…” He looked at them both. “We were in the middle and lost everything, there was no going forward and no going back, so Hermione did what Hermione does best and researched…she planned it all…and left it to me to blast my way through like the wrecking ball I am.”

“I’m really confused…” Ron began.

“Wait…are you implying…are you really…Harry?” Hermione seemed to question everything in that moment. “What is your patronus form?”

“You’re second person today I’ve had to tell that question is a crap one since way too many people know the answer, but it used to be a stag,” he told her. “I can’t cast one anymore…as a better proof, when we went back in time third year, I originally thought it was my dad that cast the patronus that saved me and Sirius.”

“You’re really Harry?” She frowned. “But…back in time?”

“I’m really Harry,” he said with a sad smile. “But also…I need to circle back to that apology,” he said and gave his wand a wave, dispelling the glamour covering his entire body.

Both his friends gasped in complete shock and seemed to be considering if they should run or start firing off curses before it finally registered on both their faces that the man sitting with them was actually Harry. “Bloody hell!” Ron gasped, taking in the piercings, the tattoos, the scars that littered the visible parts of his body, and the long braid of dark hair littered with silver.

“Merlin,” Hermione breathed out. “I sent you back in time…” she uttered dazedly. “Did I really and truly rewrite the laws of time itself and fucking send you back in time years?!”

Both men looked at Hermione like she’d just punched Malfoy in the face again. “Er…yeah,” Harry finally answered. “I’m, erm, well…I’m 27.”

“I don’t even know what to say about that,” Ron shook his head seeming to give up on even absorbing all the information. “We all knew ‘Mione was brilliant though…er, so…how do I look in your time? Got a bit of a belly like Dad or fit like you? I didn’t go bald, did I?!”

Hermione put a hand over her mouth with a little gasp. “Ron…we’re dead…don’t you realize. When he saw us downstairs earlier…He was seeing ghosts…”

“Bugger,” Ron’s face fell. “Well…we’re changing that, right? I’d like to live to get that potbelly.”

“You are both taking this so much better than I thought you would,” Harry frowned deeply. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. “You do realize, this means that your Harry…well, it wasn’t planned, and we didn’t know it would happen, but…well, he wasn’t here when I showed up…”

“You took his place,” Hermione breathed out. “That might make sense…it would be the only way to counteract the repercussions of there being two of a person in a given time.”

“Souls cannot duplicate and cannot exist in separate bodies without splitting. It only works with a time-turner because of the limited amount of time you can go back, and also why you’re not supposed to see yourself since the souls will try to realign,” Harry nodded.

He’d thought about it since that morning, and it made sense when taking into account that he would need to be in that time for more than just a day or two. It was one of the main reasons one couldn’t go very far back in time before the ritual they did. If he didn’t want his soul to split like a horcrux, then it couldn’t exist for long in two locations as it would try to either pull itself together or apart.

“You know about soul-magic?” Hermione raised an interested but skeptical eyebrow.

“Some…there are parts that I’m definitely an expert in and parts that I really don’t know much about. Thankfully my…significant other…partner…boyfriend…whatever, we never settled on a term, is an expert in those areas,” Harry shrugged and looked at them a little sheepishly. “Er…by the way…I, erm, didn’t exactly come back alone…he insisted on coming with me, the git. Didn’t trust me to not just self-implode or something…probably wasn’t wrong though.”

Ron held up a finger and closed his eyes with a tired sigh. “Give me a minute. I’m processing…my best friend, sort-of died, but not really…Harry is still here but almost double my age, he looks like a badass and knows dark magic…Hermione is a genius, which we already knew…I die young, and she probably does too…oh, and my best mate likes blokes? I know it’s not even close to the shocking bits of information, but you can’t just slide it in there like we already know.”

“Oh…” Harry hadn’t even thought about that. They’d taken it really well the first time he told them back when he was around 19 or 20, so he hadn’t even thought to put it on his list of things to break to them.

“So…yeah, I guess I do…I’ve been shagging a bloke for a couple years now, so it tracks,” he said with a wry grin, trying to make light of the information.

“Can we get back to someone travelling through time with you?” Hermione rolled her eyes at them. “Who is it? Clearly it wasn’t either of our dead arses.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at her again. “I remember you being a bit more prim with your language, Hermione…”

“I just learned I’m dead and the world apparently got so bad that killing off the younger version of my best friend sounded like an acceptable idea, so excuse me if I don’t really care about being proper right now,” she glared dangerously at him.

“Noted,” Harry nodded in appreciation. Even a look from a 15-year-old Hermione could still scare him. “You’ll figure out who it is pretty quickly even with the aging charms since I really don’t care at all to keep it a secret, at least from you two, so I’ll just say, someone you know…now, do you want to hear about my plan?”

“Er…first, why did we die and what happened?” Ron raised a questioning hand. “Personally, I’d like to know why you came back in time before what you plan to do while here. It’s very important to the strategy and all.”

Harry grimaced since he didn’t really want to get into it, ever. They needed to know, but he should probably skim over a bit of the gruesomeness for the fifteen-year-olds. “The war gets really bad,” Harry began. “It starts in earnest at the end of this year, but things have already been set in motion. You might not know the name Dolores Umbridge yet, but she’s already whispering poison in the Wizengamut. She doesn’t work for Voldy, but some of the things he does like setting werewolves on innocent families and using creatures and mercenaries to round up those against him add fuel to the flame she started.”

“So, we lost the war…” Hermione breathed out dejectedly.

“No…we actually win,” Harry shook his head and squeezed her hand in comfort. “It was too late though, the hate against creatures and anyone different, and anyone who even considered speaking against the ministry had already begun. Laws tightened, then rights were taken away, then people started disappearing. Originally, it was former Death Eaters that had either been pardoned or had served out probation or a short prison sentence, then it was those with creature blood.”

“Merlin,” Ron gasped. “But…Professor Lupin, and Hagrid…”

Harry took in a deep breath and rubbed his hand over the rings in his right ear. “When my godson was taken because he had some creature blood was when we started paying attention in earnest. First, we thought he’d been kidnapped, then the Department of Relocation and Retrieval was announced. They were said to be setting up a new community for those with creature blood to live in peace away from wixen to keep both groups safe…the problem was, no one ever heard from those taken again.”

“We searched and searched, but none of them would admit to taking Teddy and we couldn’t find him no matter what we did. Hermione and I got into some pretty dark magic looking for him, and even that didn’t work.”

“Oh Harry…was he…was he one of ours?” Hermione motioned to the two of them.

Harry shook his head firmly, now scratching a place on his arm he was certain would eventually draw blood. “No…Remus and Teddy’s mother didn’t survive the war,” he told them and clenched his jaw tight. “A lot of people didn’t…it’s like walking through ghosts out there…and in here,” he looked up at them.

“We survived the war though,” Ron reached out and grabbed Harry’s hand, clutching it to keep him from continuing to scratch. “We were helping you find Teddy…”

Harry nodded. “Ron was an auror…a damn good one too. He’d never been sent to work with Relocation and Retrieval though. When he started asking questions and causing them problems, he was sent on a raid of a vampire nest. He…you, made it out, but not before being captured and turned…”

“Right,” Ron nodded firmly and compartmentalizing that fact. “I’m not saying becoming a vampire was top of my wish-list, but I lived through it…I’m guessing I was eventually taken by this group when they found out?”

“Yeah…you made a pretty rotten vampire, just so you know,” Harry gave him a glare and rubbed a few fang marks that had scarred on his neck. Supposedly, he tasted good, which was something he never needed to know.

“I imagine neither of us took that well,” Hermione gave Harry a teary look.

Harry just snorted at that understatement. “It was when you…my Hermione, started putting her plans in motion. She’d started after Teddy, but now she was unstoppable…until she was caught helping out a kid who’d just recently been bitten by a feral werewolf…wolfsbane was almost impossible to get anymore. I was already in France, working our contacts on the other side to get the kid to safety, and the safe house was raided before you could meet up with me. Hermione and Kreacher did their best, but neither made it out…I don’t know about the kid…I think he was taken.”

Both teens looked at Harry like that was the least believable part of his entire story. “Kreacher?” Ron looked at him questioningly. “The evil house elf that mutters under his breath about how much he wants to kill all of us? Mate, you haven’t met him yet…or you shouldn’t have anyway, but he’s a bloody menace!”

Harry laughed. He could see now why that was so shocking. He’d forgotten how Kreacher used to be. “Yeah…he comes around once we figure out why he’s so ornery…which, yeah, it’s a good reason. Anyway, the house elves are too powerful for the ministry to leave them be for too long after everything starts, even they aren’t doing very well by the time I left.”

“Ok…so you’re coming back to stop this? What’s the plan?” Hermione asked. “I left you a way to come back, did we come up with some kind of plan together?”

“Erm…so…no, we didn’t actually get to talk about that before,” Harry grimaced. “Er…I have a sort-of plan, but I’m not so sure you’re going to approve. It’s a bit drastic, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“Mate…it wouldn’t be a Harry Potter plan if it wasn’t dangerous and a bit insane,” Ron rolled his eyes knowingly at his friend who was still so much the same even if he was very different.

“Well…I had some input,” he grumbled.

“The mysterious boyfriend, we know,” Hermione huffed this time. “Out with it…what are we doing to fix all this? Personally, I don’t want to have to do all that research again. I’m tired just hearing about it.”

“Right,” Harry nodded firmly, his green eyes flaring. “So, I’m taking over. Once I get rid of Voldy, much more quickly this time, I’m going to take his place. You are looking at Britain’s next Dark Lord.”

Chapter Text

“Right,” Harry nodded firmly, his green eyes flaring. “So, I’m taking over. Once I get rid of Voldy, much more quickly this time, I’m going to take his place. You are looking at Britain’s next Dark Lord.”

Both of Harry’s friends just stared at him with confused looks on their faces. “Hermione…I misheard Harry,” Ron turned to their other friend with a pleading look in his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I heard him say that he’s become a murderous psychopath sometime in the last decade that now wants to take over from You-Know-Who, but I have to be wrong…please tell me I’m wrong.”

“He’d better not be. I’ll not be responsible for sending a murderous psychopath back in time,” Hermione glared at their now older friend. “Explain…and it better be really good.”

In deference to his friends, Harry did actually do a little introspection to make sure he really and truly hadn’t gone off the deep end, but no he’d thought through this and had good reasoning. He didn’t think he was doing anything wrong in the grand scheme of what was going to happen to their society if he didn’t do anything. He didn't spare more than the passing thought that he'd probably think the same if he really were a murderous psychopath though...oh well, nothing he could do about that.

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m not a murderous psychopath,” he told them confidently.

“However, I do think I’m much more practical than your younger Harry where this war is concerned, and not squeamish when it comes to handling things when they need to be handled…for instance, there are some people that really should not make it out of this alive, like Voldemort…However, I promise I will never just go around killing people for the fun of it like he does. I also will always listen to you two if there is something you disagree with that I think needs to be done, but I also might not check with you on everything since I do have over a decade more experience and foreknowledge than you do.”

Ron and Hermione shared a look. “I guess I can agree with that for now,” Ron slowly admitted. “What you described…we can’t let that happen, no matter what. If you aren’t going on a murderous rampage, then what do you mean by being a Dark Lord? I only know the title in connection to the maniac that’s been trying to kill you for years.”

“Are there some criteria or something for the job?” Hermione added on. “I just thought You-Know-Who took the title and made people use it.”

Harry gave them a broad smile that was less reassuring than he hoped it would be. “Well, there are actually criteria for what it takes to be a legitimate Dark Lord as recognized by magic. First, you need a dark core, then you need to be a master of Dark Arts, then you need a cause to champion for the side of the Dark, lastly you need a following. Nowhere in there does it say you need to torture and kill or even do anything generally deemed as immoral…whatever that means.”

“Er…mate…do you actually fulfill those requirements? I don’t think even You-Know-Who does…at least his cause seems to be hurting the Dark more than helping it,” Ron frowned even more deeply at that implication. “I suppose you have a better cause because more tolerance and acceptance is good for both the Dark and the Light, and I guess we’ll be working on getting that following, but how the hell do you change your core…and did you actually pick up a mastery in the past decade?!”

“I find myself both impressed and highly irritated at you if you have the drive to pick up a mastery, but I have to consistently remind you to do your homework every night,” Hermione grumbled and gave his leg a little kick with her foot to get her point across.

Harry couldn’t help the fond looks and the tears that built up behind his eyes. They were still there. They might be wary and concerned about his plan, but they were listening to him, and seemed to even be considering it. “I missed you both so much…”

“Yeah, yeah, keep it moving with the explanation so that I can get to my freaking out. I’m building up to a really good panic and want time for that before dinner,” Ron prompted him with an exasperated look. He really could do without the constant reminders that he was most likely dead in Harry’s time.

“Well…starting from the beginning-ish. After the war, I joined the aurors with you, Ron,” Harry took a breath and steeled himself to explain. “However, I was ‘politely’ asked to leave after just about two weeks when it became clear my magical core is almost completely dark. You can’t have an auror hunting down dark wizards who is a dark wizard himself apparently. It really made me start to question what it actually meant to be a dark wizard though when I was kicked out but hadn’t actually done anything wrong...at that point anyway. As for my core, my boyfriend seems to think it’s because I died at the end of the war and came back, and he’s really never wrong about these things so I’d believe him.”

“Died…like…huh?” Ron asked but they both were giving him confused looks.

Harry grimaced. “I can’t explain everything right now. Frankly, you both already know too much with Snape and Dumbledore running around. I’m going to have to teach you Occlumency and quick, but even now, I need you both to avoid any sustained eye contact with either of them. I’m planning to get Snape to join us eventually, but I don’t think Dumbledore will be a good idea to approach.”

“Er, huh?” Ron asked yet again, seeming stuck on a loop. “What’s Occlumency?”

“Why Snape and not Dumbledore?” Hermione looked way out of her element with the confusion he was throwing their way.

Harry breathed out a frustrated sigh, not at them but at the fact that they just really didn’t know anything when they were fifteen. “Look, there are a few books in the Black Library that I’ll get you as soon as I can sneak by the ‘adults’ to get in there. It will explain mind magic to you, something Dumbledore and Snape are both already proficient in. As for joining us, Snape is actually more on our side than either of you know right now, and he’s a dark wizard unlike Dumbledore. He’s still a git of a person, but I think he can be sold on helping us.”

“Wait, there’s a library in this house and no one told me?!!” Hermione indignantly protested, more upset at that than Harry proclaiming to take up the title of Dark Lord. Harry and Ron both had to laugh at her for that. The world might be crumbling around them, but they could at least still count on Hermione being upset about not being allowed in a library.

“It’s all Dark Arts and only members of the family and those added into the wards can enter,” he explained. He hadn’t even found the library until he’d been living there for a good few months and had been working on the wards. “It was very helpful when I studied for my mastery, which I actually did do, Hermione. I have a focus problem when studying that actually got worse over the years, but I’m working on it, and these help,” he lifted his shirt to show some of the focus and steadying runes he’d tattooed himself with when he realized it was either going to take some magical intervention or a mind-healer to get him the help he needed to buckle down and actually focus in on something like reading and potions and things like that which took concentration when his was completely shot.

Hermione studied the runes and frowned. “Like ADHD or something?” She asked with a nod, seeming to try to place his actions with her prior knowledge. “Those are very impressive, by the way.”

Harry shrugged and pulled his shirt back down. “I don’t know. A mind-healer was never really a practical option for me being who I am, especially after the war. I would guess it’s more PTSD, but either way, the runes help, and I was able to study with a master to get my own mastery in the field…not in Britain, of course, my master was based in Amsterdam.”

“Sweet,” Ron grinned at him widely. “I’ve always been warned off the Dark Arts, but after everything that happened last year and with You-Know-Who being back…I have to admit, I’ve been questioning the complete ban when it would help to know what they know when they clearly know what we do.”

“It’s not inherently evil, but that’s something I can explain another day when we have more time. I think your mum is going to call us to dinner soon,” Harry smiled at them thankfully. “For now, I’ll get those books for you, and I really do need you to work on Occlumency. If you can at least get some rudimentary shields around your mind, then I’ll teach you some useful spells and we can start planning in earnest…plus, there’s a pretty big thing that Dumbledore’s been keeping from everyone that I can’t fill you in on until your mind is protected.”

“And that’s why you’re not planning to ask Dumbledore to join our side,” Hermione nodded, understanding now. She was well aware that Harry didn’t like things being kept from him; it was tantamount to betrayal in his eyes. “He will be a problem eventually, you know.”

“And that’s why we’re going to get Snape to join us, and I’m hoping Remus and Tonks as well,” Harry nodded, well aware Dumbledore was going to be a major problem to his plan.

Hermione seemed to be sorting all the new information in her mind while Ron was already grumbling about more homework. Harry had a feeling Hermione was going to excel at mind magic. Ron…well, he might have to convince his more unfocused friend to let him spell a few runes onto him. Or maybe he should check with Percy first about the morality of putting tattoos on a fifteen-year-old…was that bad? He honestly wasn’t sure.

“You think I have time for a shower before dinner?” Harry sniffed himself while Hermione and Ron were visibly trying to recover from everything he’d thrown at him. “Remus said I smelled like sex…I should probably shower even though I don’t think anyone else has as good of a sense of smell as he does. Sirius has already been roped into a misguided attempt at a sex talk…I recommend keeping away from the werewolf after you two’s alone time if you don’t want to get roped into one as well.”

“Excuse you?!” Hermione sputtered while Ron’s mouth fell open. “I’ll have you know, we are fifteen-years-old, and why would Ron and I be doing anything together anyway?!”

Harry frowned deeply at the two of them. “You weren’t together yet in fifth year?” He asked, trying to remember when exactly the two became a couple. He’d gotten so used to Ron and Hermione as a couple even before they were officially a couple, it was hard to think back to when they weren’t. Even when they weren’t official, they’d still been dancing around each other and heading that direction.

“Wait…no Lavender Brown was sixth year, wasn’t she? Can we skip over that this time? It was highly annoying. Have you broken up with Krum yet?” He added on for Hermione. “That was…fourth year, but was he still in the picture our fifth?”

“What? Yes, we broke up over the summer, that was never really serious,” she sputtered. “Are you insinuating…?”

“Hermione and I are together?” Ron finished with wide, shocked eyes.

“Sorry,” Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. “This has been twelve years for me. I can’t remember everything. You two were dancing around each other for years, so I’m not extremely sure when you made it official…it might have been after the war, but I was certain there were some things going on behind my back before then. Look, just ignore I said anything if it makes you uncomfortable. You don’t have to get together if you don’t want to, but you made a really good couple surprisingly.”

“Kind of hard to just ignore, mate,” Ron was still looking a bit afraid over at Hermione, not sure what to do with this new information, or if he should do anything.

“Really, Ronald,” Hermione just sighed in exasperation at both of them. “Harry…could you maybe give us some time to talk. Go take that shower you need, and Ron and I will sort it. I think we need a little time to grieve our Harry too…it hasn’t really sunk in yet that we’ve basically lost him. I know you’re still here, but…”

“Yeah, I know,” Harry nodded with a sad look and stood to enlarge his truck and start rifling through it. “I was sad when the skinny bugger wasn’t in the room when I popped back as well. I was hoping he’d grow up to be someone…well, not me. I’m doing my best, but I know I can’t be him…not anymore.”

“Don’t forget the glamour,” Hermione reminded him when Harry emerged from the trunk with some boxers, sweatpants, and a t-shirt.

Harry flicked his new wand, casting the brilliant spell Percy had taught him leaving a skinny fifteen-year-old standing in the room once more. “The privacy ward will stay until you two leave the room,” he motioned to the magic overlaying the bedroom door. “Mind saying anything around that portrait without a ward around it. Headmaster Black can move between it and Dumbledore’s office,” he added on with a nod towards the portrait.

Ron frowned in irritation at the portrait. “That’s an invasion of privacy!” He protested vehemently. “I want a new room!”

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. “We shouldn’t be talking about things around the house much anyway. Plus, my glamour will fall in my sleep, so I’ll be keeping up his ward most of the time anyway.”

Hermione was studying him intently. “You may look like our Harry, but your mannerisms are even different…it’s odd seeing you with the glamour but also seeing who you are underneath.”

Harry ran his hand over the piercing in his eyebrow and tried to push aside his mounting anxiety that he’d fail. No, it was fine. If someone called him on acting differently, then it was due to losing Cedric, seeing Voldemort reborn, and almost getting his soul sucked out. Yes, it was a good excuse, and would explain his personality changing some.

“Right…shower. I’ll see you at dinner,” he nodded to them, forcefully pushing the anxiety aside. “Thank you for listening and not judging…feel free to curse me out while I’m gone though…Merlin knows I deserve it.”

“Hey…” Hermione grabbed his hand and gave it a little squeeze. “One, I sent you back in time, and two, you came to save us. We’re not going to curse you out or anything.”

“Yeah, mate…I’m mainly planning on asking ‘Mione if she thinks I’m fit,” Ron grinned widely at them both, recovering from his shock of before.

Hermione laughed, but Harry just smiled at them fondly. “Well, just don’t shag on my bed, that would be rude and gross,” he added before closing the door on the scandalized teenagers behind him.

“Merlin, I didn’t see this coming when I woke up this morning,” Ron flopped back on Harry’s bed and let out the pent-up anxiety he had been trying to hide from Harry. “What the hell are we going to do ‘Mione? I wasn’t planning on joining a Dark Lord…I’m not even a dark bloody wizard, but…it’s Harry…and it might actually be the best way to change things since he is a dark wizard…what do we do?!”

“I think we need a better name than ‘Death Eaters,’” she shrugged and flopped right down beside him. “What else are we going to do but join him? He seems to think that whatever Dumbledore is keeping from everyone is big, and the danger doesn’t even seem to be from You-Know-Who in the long run…I think we trust our Harry even if he’s older, rougher, and a bit more ruthless. He's still Harry underneath it all.”

With a deep sigh, Ron nodded. “We should probably call the git Voldemort instead of You-Know-Who if we’re now serving his competition,” he snorted humorlessly. "Seems a bit disrespectful to our new Dark Lord...ergh, that's just weird!"

“Point taken,” Hermione looked over at the door Harry had left through. “How concerned should we be that Harry doesn’t seem to remember how to act like a fifteen-year-old and frankly also doesn’t seem to care to try?”

“I’m more concerned about what happened to him in the entrance hall when he seemed to just go blank for a while. I think we might need to talk to the mysterious boyfriend about that,” he shrugged before getting a horrible idea and sitting straight up on the bed. “Wait! You don’t think Harry and Malfoy would ever get together in the future, do you? I swear, if he brought an older Malfoy back with him, we have to find a way to send the blond git back to when he came from!”

Hermione sat up and laughed. “I really don’t know. He just said we knew the person. It could be anyone from school…sometimes animosity does translate to passion in the future though.”

“I accepted the Dark Lord thing, I even accepted I died as a vampire, but I will absolutely not accept Harry dating Malfoy,” Ron firmly protested. "Some things are just asking too much!"

“What about us?” Hermione looked at him a bit sheepishly. “Do we want to discuss that? I kind-of got the feeling that you might have wanted to go with me to the Yule Ball last year, but I wasn’t sure…”

Ron was completely red at this point and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well…yeah, I kind-of did. I mean, it was bloody hot when you punched Malfoy in third year, and well, I like your hair…and…bloody hell, Harry should just watch his mouth with the future knowledge,” he groaned in frustration.

Hermione raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. “Your hair isn’t so bad itself,” she chuckled. “And seriously, Lavender? Why would you ever want to date her?!”

“I don’t know!” He threw his arms up. “I haven’t done it yet! Right at this moment, I don’t even like her that way!”

“Well…let’s take Harry’s advice and skip that this time around, shall we?” She grinned at him. “And…maybe we just put off any relationship decisions for a bit and try going to Hogsmeade together for the first trip? What do you think? Give it a try then?”

“Merlin, that sounds nice!” He gave her a relieved smile. “Yeah, let’s deal with trying to convince everyone Harry is 15 and not a dark wizard for now and give Hogsmeade a try. I like that.”

Hermione smiled and leaned back against the wall. “You think he could help me with my Runes homework now? Plus, wouldn’t he have to be good at Potions to get a Dark Arts mastery? How’d that work out?”

“Of course you see this as an opportunity to get homework help,” he chuckled and bumped her shoulder with his.

“It’s a valid question,” she huffed as they just sat there, letting everything sink in.

“Bloody hell!” Ron’s eyes widened. “He still has the trial! We’re going to send a dark wizard poorly pretending to be fifteen into the ministry! He’d better be able to hold it together.”

Hermione frowned. “What if the boyfriend is as much of a loose cannon as Harry is? What is he doing out there in the world while we have Harry here?”

“Bloody hell,” Ron leaned back again with a groan. “Let’s just hope he’s dating Neville or someone like that.”

Harry was much more comfortable, clean, and still had wet hair when he followed the smell of cottage pie to the kitchen where everyone was beginning to gather for dinner and after the Order meeting seemed to have just wrapped up. Right…he wasn’t supposed to know about the Order yet he had to remind himself firmly. “Harry, I see you found the shower,” Sirius gave him a smile and a wink when he entered the room.

Harry ran his finger across the invisible line of scars vampire Ron had left on his neck to keep himself grounded in who he was. “Hey, Siri, yeah, I’m all settled in and got filled in on this whole Order-thing by Ron and Hermione,” he said, congratulating himself on staying in the moment and coming up a reason to know what was going on.

“Great, well, sit down by me and tell me all about this new boyfriend, or is he new? How long have you been together? Do I know him?” Sirius peppered him with questions while pulling Harry over to the bench and plopping him down beside where Remus was sitting by Tonks.

Harry grinned, hoping the goal of setting those two up might not be as difficult as he thought it would be. “Well…” Harry opened his mouth and then closed it with a click. He had been about to say that his boyfriend was a bit older before it dawned on him that the age gap between 15 and 19 was more remarkable and shocking than the actual age gap he had with Percy of 27 and 31. Suddenly, he realized that he might have to fudge a bit more about his relationship than he’d originally thought until more people knew his actual age.

“We met at Hogwarts, of course,” he began, mind spinning as he came up with what to say. “He’s actually quite the nerd and loves studying and research.”

“A lot like our Moony then!” Sirius laughed and reached around Harry to punch the werewolf’s shoulder playfully.

Ron and Hermione wandered into the room about that time and thankfully didn’t seem like they’d been arguing or anything. Harry smiled at them broadly, hoping they would work out their relationship much faster and with less angst this time around. “Maybe this person will help Ms. Granger in getting you to do your homework then,” Remus rolled his eyes at his friend.

“Hey, I did my homework for your class!” Harry protested…fairly certain he’d done really well at DADA that year. It was a practical class which usually meant he did a lot better in it since it was easier for him to focus when he was physically doing something over having to read or focus on details like Potions.

“You forget I had access to the professor’s lounge,” Remus just raised an eyebrow at him. “Severus complained about your essays enough for everyone.”

“I really do not know what you mean. I do not believe I ever discussed Potter or his work. That would mean I would have to think of him at all,” Snape drawled, standing from where he’d been in the shadows in the corner of the room.

Harry’s breath hitched and he had to quickly rub the piercing through his eyebrow. He hadn’t noticed the silent professor in the corner when he'd entered since he’d been ambushed and distracted by Sirius. His vision tunneled and all he saw was blood, so much blood, and the broken body of his professor on the floor of the shrieking shack. “Take them…” the man gasping, trying to give Harry his memories with his last breath.

“Oi! Harry! You’re gay?! You should have told us!” A loud voice cut into the nightmare Harry had been pulled into. The voice didn’t help though. Now Harry was in the battle, death and ash permeating the air, and saw a one-eared George standing and breaking over the body of his dead twin.

“Ow!” Harry crashed back to the kitchen at Grimmauld Place and rubbed the painful bruise that was probably forming on his side from where it seemed Ron and viciously pinched him. “Er, yeah, sorry Fred…it’s not like I really knew or was telling people before now though. Everything is still new with the boyfriend and all.”

“So, who is it?” George asked with an excited grin beside his twin, both ears in place and both twins alive and well.

Harry blinked. It didn’t seem that anyone realized what had happened besides Ron who was covering his move across the kitchen by reaching around Harry for the tea kettle on the table. Snape was giving him a dark look but he promptly left the kitchen, not seeming to care if Harry was acting strangely or not.

“How about I introduce you over Christmas or something? It’s still new, and he’s not out to his family, so I don’t want to just go telling everyone,” Harry really hoped they didn’t press the issue.

Frankly, he didn’t really think it was his place to tell Percy’s family that he was bisexual…which, now that Harry thought about it, was his boyfriend still dating Penelope Clearwater? He frowned as that thought occurred to him. Percy had better dump his girlfriend if he hadn’t already or they’d be having a row really soon; his gaze darkened at that inconvenience he hadn’t considered before that very moment. Really, he wasn’t sure when Percy had told his family…actually, he might never have told them. Everyone was dealing with their own traumas and Percy and Harry had just kind-of fallen together. Did they ever tell the remaining Weasleys, or did they just start showing up to things together and just let everyone assume what they wanted? Harry was thinking it might have been the latter since he definitely didn’t have the conversation with any of them.

“Perfectly right!” Sirius jumped in, saving Harry from his spiraling thoughts about what Arthur Weasley might have thought about his son moving in with Harry, especially when they started doing joint Christmas gifts. “Never out someone who isn’t ready yet.”

“Hey Harry,” Ginny sat down across from Harry and gave him a little smile.

Finally, someone who wasn’t dead in his time! Harry returned her smile with a little relieved nod. Now, that was something he definitely wasn’t going to do this time around. Percy would kill him, and well, ew. Dating Ginny again after the war had been one of the main pushes Harry needed to decide that he really should just give up on trying to date girls.

“Harry has a boyfriend and won’t tell us who it is,” George fake pouted to his sister, most of the Weasley’s (Harry included) looked at her out of the corners of their eyes to see how she would take the news having notoriously had a crush on him most of her life.

“Oh…” Ginny frowned for a moment and her brow furrowed. The was a beat of silence before: “Oh…ok, well, I agree with what Sirius was saying then that you shouldn’t out someone before they're ready.”

She seemed a bit shaken but was quickly recovering. “It isn’t Ron, is it?” Her nose wrinkled with a disgusted look at her brother.

“What?! No!” Ron protested with a choke on his tea he’d just taken a sip of.

“It would be perfectly fine if it was!” Molly Weasley turned from the stove to give him a sharp slap on the back and a glare at the table, her children and husband included. Harry had a suspicion she really did think it was Ron. He could see the look on her face as she seemed to consider if it were necessary or not to move them to separate rooms.

Arthur cleared his throat. “Er, right, yes, what your mother said. Nothing wrong, not at all…”

“Ron’s actually with me,” Hermione cut in to Ron’s, and it looked like even her own, surprise. “Oh, well, I mean…” she blushed deeply while Ron just looked at her in surprise. “We’re giving it a go at least…”

“Thank Merlin!” Harry exclaimed with an overly dramatic relieved sigh. “Now I just have to get used to third-wheeling your dates, but at least we can get past all the will they or won’t they!”

“Just take your boyfriend instead of third-wheeling,” Ginny rolled her eyes at him and started passing around the rolls her mother had set down for dinner.

“Well…we’re happy for you dears,” Mrs. Weasley put the cottage pie down on the table in front of Ron and Hermione. “And you too, Harry…whoever he is.” She went back to readying dinner, clearly happy she didn’t have to reshuffle all the teenagers to different rooms.

“Right smart owl you got, brat,” Moody grumbled as he stepped into the room, the snowy owl sitting on his shoulder. “Found us under a fidelus, she did.”

“Course she did,” Harry snorted, but happily reached out for Hedwig to transfer to his shoulder, dropping the letter she was carrying in his other hand. “Hedwig is brilliant, and definitely more magical than your average owl.”

He hadn’t expected a letter from Percy already, but he was extremely happy to get it regardless. He just hoped there wasn’t something wrong. “Who would be sending you a letter with your own owl?” Tonks looked at the bird in concern. Hedwig glared at the auror...Hedwig would never let someone send a cursed letter by her to her human!

“Boyfriend,” Harry responded while he read over Percy’s short letter with a huge grin.

Harry,

Remember your trial will be moved up to much earlier in the day. Wear the grey robes we just bought, and try to tame the crazy short hair if possible. You should be able to adjust the glamour to make it look slightly tamer. Also, remember that Dumbledore will be there. Please do not curse him, physically attack him, or act like anything other than a confused 15-year-old. I will not acknowledge you during the trial, but I think I have an idea for how to be close to you during the year. Please remember I’m 19 and should not be seen snogging a fifth-year student!

I don’t know how I’ll sleep tonight without your cold feet attacking mine. Miss you already. Maybe give Ron a hug from me if that’s not weird.

Love,

Percy

P.S. – this is spelled so no one can read it but you, but burn it anyway. I know, I forget who I’m talking to, you paranoid git. I’m sure you’re burning it already.

Harry was in fact setting the letter on fire just as he finished the post-script with a small bit of wandless magic.

“Was that wandless?!” Hermione leaned across the table to see what Harry had done to the letter easier.

Harry unfortunately hadn’t caught that he shouldn’t do that, but shrugged, not really caring. “Fire tends to be a fairly easy wandless spell for me. Lumos too in a pinch.”

“Burning correspondence and wandless magic,” Moody was chuckling and shaking his head as he sat at the table. “I might have to come out of retirement to train you, brat, if you ever decide to join the aurors. I can’t believe I missed last year. Can’t say I was too upset about that until now.”

“Yeah, Pup, that does seem a bit paranoid,” Sirius bumped his shoulder with a little concerned look. If Moody agreed with you, then you should probably be worried. “Everything ok, there?”

“Huh? Yeah,” Harry shrugged. “Can’t be too careful…anyway, er, my trial is tomorrow, right?” He really didn’t remember when his trial was scheduled for, but Percy had implied it was the next day.

“You forgot when your trial was?” Remus frowned.

“No, just checking that it hadn’t changed,” Harry lied with a wry grin. “The boyfriend was just reminding me to wear my good robes.”

Harry thought he heard a mumbled, “Malfoy,” from Ron across the table, but he had absolutely no idea why he would or how Malfoy was relevant at all.

The house was completely silent with just slight creaks from it being an old building and from the wind. Harry left the room where Ron was asleep with a light spring in his step. He hadn’t seen Kreacher yet, and he missed his ornery friend. Plus, he had business with the House of Black that he wanted taken care of as soon as possible.

He made a detour through the attic where he knew there was a pocket-sized portrait in a box that would be useful for the future. The occupant was, of course, missing when he slid it into his pocket. He knew exactly where to find the occupant and planned to head straight there next. A wordless spell had him moving silently through the house, not even leaving shadows in his wake.

“Who’s there?!” Walburga Black barked out from her painting in the entry hall when she felt the wards shift slightly as Harry stepped in front of her portrait.

He dispelled his disillusionment and his glamour with a smirk at the painted woman still inexplicably tied directly into the wards of the manor. It was why her portrait could never be removed. “Hello, Walburga,” Harry drawled with a warning glare in his eyes.

“Who are you, and why are you master of my wards?” She hissed at the young man in front of her. She’d felt the wards change to someone earlier in the day, but she had not seen his dark wizard in the house at all. He looked like he may be a member of the Black family, but she could not place who he was. Whoever he was, he must be very powerful though for the house to choose him over her disappointment of a son who was actually the next in inheritance order. The Black Manor was mildly sentient and would choose a master that would ensure its survival and ability to maintain its magical wards. She already felt the family magic strengthening after just a few hours of being connected to this man.

Harry pulled the small portrait from his pocket. “I’m from the future where I am master of Black Manor,” he told her, causing the stern woman’s eyes to widen in surprise, especially as she took in her small portrait. “I know you then…you incorporated the ward stone’s magic into your portrait…not something usually done in polite society or strictly legal,” he smirked even more widely at her. Like Voldemort, the hateful woman had a desire for immortality. Walburga at least just made it to where her legacy had to live on, and her portrait would never be removed instead of doing something as vile as creating a horcrux though.

She glared at him for that. “You must be my grandson. Sirius is your father? I’m surprised he would allow you to study the Dark Arts, but I can feel your magic in the wards.”

Harry rolled his eyes at her. “No, I’m Harry Potter…I am Sirius’s heir, but more importantly, as the ward holder, you will serve me now.”

“I serve no one, young man,” she sniffed indignantly. “Ward holder or not, you have no right to order a lady of House Black around, especially as a Potter,” she said as if the name were a swear word.

“Ah, but you already promised me your allegiance,” he couldn’t help the little chuckle at that. While they may have worked past their overt animosity in the future, he still really didn’t like Walburga. “Your portrait in the future said to invoke your blood oath to the Dark…You are sworn to serve the Dark, and as the rightful Dark Lord by magic, you serve me.”

The woman actually looked a little afraid and impressed as his words confirmed the oath that still rang through the blood she’d woven into the painting. “You mean to take over from Lord Voldemort?” She crossed her arms and studied the man more. He looked formidable, and his magic spoke to great power, but could he actually win against Voldemort? “I am less than impressed with your odds in this endeavor,” she concluded.

Harry just chuckled and waved her concern away. “Regardless, I expect you to keep an eye on the inhabitants of this house. I will be asking for regular updates, especially as your portrait is primely placed to hear the Order meetings.” Silencing wards didn’t affect something in the wall itself, like a portrait unless it was intentionally put over the portrait. No one had ever questioned that Walburga heard all and knew exactly what was going on in the house at all times.

She sneered at him, but she was bound by the vow she’d made to magic as an idealistic youth. “At least someone else is standing against these Light fools, even if I do not believe you will succeed against this time’s Dark Lord.”

“I already have,” Harry shrugged and put her small portrait in his pocket with a smirk and a flourish. “I think I’ll greatly enjoy doing it again this time much more though.”

“Consider having a portrait painted,” she called after his retreating form. “There is a nice place in the sitting room you could have it placed when he kills you!”

Next, Harry strolled into sitting room to grab a bottle of firewhisky from where he knew Sirius hid them in the roll-top desk. Armed with alcohol, he made his way to the Black Library in the far corner of the third floor where no one’s eyes ever strayed if they were not accepted into the manor’s wards. Honestly, he wondered if Sirius were even able to see it. He had barely held the wards and would probably not be interested in a Dark Arts library regardless.

Harry took in a deep breath, the familiar dusty and earthy smell of the library calming him with the slight ozone tinge of dark magic just at the corner of his senses. He, Hermione, and later Percy had spent so many hours in that library that it’d become a safe haven for him. Importantly, he knew a certain house elf that would be magically notified that he’d entered the unused space though. Kreacher had always taken on the library as a personal point of pride that none of the Order had ever entered nor thrown out any of the artifacts it contained.

Harry hadn’t had time for more than a sip of the whiskey before the ancient Black family house elf popped into the library with a dark glare, probably expecting that he was going to have to run Sirius out of the space. “Hello, Kreacher,” Harry took another steadying drink before smiling at the elf he’d missed as much as he had Dobby.

Kreacher stood utterly still, his large, yellow eyes wide in shock. “Yous are the wizard wearing the glamour of a child,” he remarked. Harry’s eyes widened at that. He was fully aware that Kreacher would have been watching everyone from the shadows, but he hadn’t known the elf would be able to see through the amazing glamour he’d been wearing.

It didn’t matter though. Harry sat on the dustless, and luxurious red-velvet armchair to be closer to Kreacher’s height. “I am. I’m from the future. I came back to change things for all of us.”

Kreacher slowly nodded. “Kreacher felt the Dark Master claim the wards. Bad master Sirius could not hold wards of ancient dark magic. Has the Dark Master come to restore the glory of House Black.”

Harry’s grin turned terrifying as he nodded in agreement. “I’m here to restore the glory of the Dark as well as House Black and wixen society. I will be your and everyone's Dark Lord.”

Kreacher almost squeaked as he shuffled into what resembled a bow for the ancient elf. “The Dark Master should know, there is another false Dark Lord. Kreacher’s master Regulus served him before he turned from the true way.”

“Oh, I know, Kreacher,” he grinned even more ferally. “Kreacher…let’s talk about Regulus…”

Chapter Text

Harry awoke to the feeling he was being stared at. He was about to tell Percy to piss off and let him sleep a little longer until he remembered he wasn’t in his own time and Percy was definitely not in bed with him. Warily, he cracked open one eye before he just closed it again with a groan. He absently waved his hand to dispel the silencing ward around his bed.

“Hermione, it’s more than a little creepy to wake up to a fifteen-year-old girl staring at you like that,” he grumbled at his friend who was sitting on the edge of Ron’s bed and staring intently at him while Ron was rummaging through his trunk for clothes to change out of his Chudley Cannons pajamas into.

Hermione immediately turned bright pink. “I wasn’t staring like that!” She protested vehemently. “I was looking at your runes. They’re really impressive, and I don’t even know what most of them are for. I know they must be fairly mild magic, even inked onto you, but still, they have to individually do things as well as work together.”

“Yeah, mate, even I stared for a bit,” Ron leaned up from where he was halfway inside his trunk and chuckled. “You can’t just tattoo magic on yourself and not expect people to try to figure out what it does.”

“Plus, the other ones are quite good artistically. I understand why you got the grim, werewolf, and stag, but why do you have that pretty otter on your wrist? It doesn’t seem to go with the others,” Hermione leaned closer, and Harry self-consciously pulled the sheet up over his chest.

“Thanks, erm, Dean Thomas actually got to be a pretty good tattoo artist, but I had to do the runes myself because of the magic and all. The otter, well, it’s your patronus…or will be at least,” he glared at their staring. Hermione leaned back with a smug look on her face at that news, whether from him having a tattoo just for her or that she mastered the patronus charm, Harry wasn’t sure. “Merlin, I got like no sleep at all and now have to wake up to you two tag-teaming me!”

“The half-bottle of whiskey by your bed probably didn’t help your sleep,” Hermione just crossed her arms and returned his glare.

With an eyeroll at her and Percy’s voice that was in his head saying the same thing, Harry sat up and moved the bottle further under his bed. “I don’t have a problem…maybe a bit of a dependency, but not a problem.”

“I wasn’t insinuating…”

“Plus, I’m not used to sleeping alone anymore,” Harry stood and stretched, getting a satisfying pop from his back, before throwing a t-shirt on to cover the runes and tattoos. “The nightmares are worse when I’m alone.”

“Harry…please don’t take this the wrong way,” Hermione began with a deep frown on her face. “But, how do you plan to make it through this year at Hogwarts? I mean, you seem to be hanging on by a thread here.”

Ron sat beside her on the bed, now holding his jeans and jumper for the day. “She’s not wrong mate. You went a bit blank there last night at dinner, and I’m sure you don’t want me going around pinching you all the time.”

“Here is going to be worse than Hogwarts,” Harry told them with a sigh. They were right, but he knew he could hold it together. He would do what he had to do to keep moving forward, no matter the cost to himself. “There are more people I lost in this house that I care about than there. Yes, I’m sure it’ll be hard, and please keep an eye on me, but I’m getting more used to all this. I haven’t even been in this time for a full two days yet. Give a guy a break to get used to it.”

He pulled his nice, grey robes out of his trunk and began to braid his hair up. Even if no one could see it, he could still feel it and wanted it out of his way. “Ooo, me next!” Hermione grinned and motioned to her crazy curls enthusiastically.

With a laugh and shake of his head, Harry pulled another hair tie out of his trunk and gathered Hermione’s tightly spiraled curls in his hands. “This isn’t going to be an every morning thing now, is it?”

“Hmm…I did send you back in time and am one of your first followers, so…you do kind of owe me,” she gave him a mischievous grin.

“I doubt Voldemort braids the Death Eaters’ hair,” Ron shuddered at the thought but stood to go claim the bathroom and change.

"I don't know...Lucius Malfoy's hair I might even volunteer to braid...well, right before I cursed him," Harry winked at Ron, causing Hermione to burst out a surprised laugh.

Ron grimaced in disgust at that thought. "Not a picture I want in my head regardless of if you cursed him or not afterwards. Oh, and mate, don’t forget your glasses. You went to dinner last night without them. Most people know you’re pretty blind and might ask questions.”

“Bollocks,” Harry kicked himself in a grumble. “I fixed my eyes for that very reason. Glasses are a liability. How reasonable do you think it would be to tell everyone I got contacts?”

“We also all have a general idea that your muggle relatives are terrible, even if you haven’t actually said anything,” Hermione patted his knee while he finished up the braid and tied it off. “So, that might raise even more questions. However, I’m starting to think you might want to leave one of your piercings visible at some point. You tend to touch them when you’re anxious, and it’s an odd nervous tick when it doesn’t look like there’s anything there for you to touch.”

“I’ll gladly tell everyone I stabbed you with a needle to do it,” Ron smirked at them. “Actually, you want another one? I’m game.”

“Loving the sacrifice you’re making there, Ron,” he chuckled and tossed a sock at his friend. With a flick of his wand, his glamour was back in place. He looked in the mirror and tweaked it just a little to make his messy hair slightly tamer. “Good?”

“Easier than hair products,” Hermione nodded.

“I’ll think about the piercing, but after the trial. I haven’t seen Dumbledore yet and don’t want him to have any questions at all about me,” Harry said as he pulled the two books on mind magic he’d taken from the library the night before out of his trunk. He made sure to bury his nice new shiny locket dripping in evil darkness further down under some of Dudley’s old pants. He was not letting either of his friends touch any of Voldemort’s horcruxes this time around, and he couldn’t exactly cast the magic he needed to destroy it in the middle of Order headquarters.

“And…that’s my cue!” Ron hurried out of the room at the appearance of more homework.

“Hermione…is it morally wrong to tattoo a focusing rune on a fifteen-year-old?” Harry frowned at the empty space Ron had almost apparated from in his hurry to leave.

She shrugged and greedily grabbed for the books. “I guess it depends on if you do it in his sleep or if he agrees to it first. Merlin knows I’ve been trying to get both of you to focus more for years, so I’m not complaining.”

Harry gave it up for the moment. “I’ll turn my boyfriend loose on him if he doesn’t work on it. That’d serve him right.”

“Please tell me this boyfriend is more reasonable and less…erm…” she trailed off, not knowing how to phrase what she meant.

“Damaged?” Harry answered for her with a raise of his eyebrow. She flushed, not wanting to admit that was the word she was trying to avoid.

Harry thought about Percy though and how they compared in a way he could explain it to Hermione. They balanced each other and supported each other, but neither of them, even Percy, made it out of everything unscathed. It probably didn’t help that the ministry had supported Percy’s decent into fringe (and very dark) magic. Harry was a bit more chaotic and maybe more brutal, but Percy had a calculating nature to him that Harry believed could be just as destructive as his own explosive tendencies.

“Yes, and no,” he finally said slowly. “You’ll understand when you meet him. I would say he’s definitely the more logical and reasonable of the two of us. He also doesn’t melt down like I do, but I will probably be the one that reigns him in when it comes to those more ruthless decisions that will need to be made. He can be a bit scary when it comes to a doing what he believes needs to be done. He loves fiercely, but he hates fiercely as well.”

Hermione turned introspective at that. She seemed to be weighing his response and what that would mean to their plans. “So, a bit like me and a bit like Snape,” she finally concluded with a frown at the little she knew about her professor, but what she did now seemed to fit.

Harry’s eyes widened in shock. He’d never even thought to compare Percy to Snape in the slightest. Yeah, he was definitely into research and learning like Hermione, but now that she said it… “Please don’t ever tell him that,” Harry laughed loudly. “Merlin, he’d have a hippogriff!”

“Anyway…” Hermione was already flipping through her new books in excitement. “When are you going to add me into these wards around the library? It better be soon!”

“I’ll add you after you are able to construct shields around your mind. Actively having any Dark Arts knowledge at the forefront of your mind is dangerous with Dumbledore coming and going from Grimmauld…not that he was here much this summer if I remember correctly, but still. It’s not safe until you can protect your mind,” he shook his head and grabbed his robes to go hurry Ron from the bathroom so he could change for his trial.

“And you can do this Occlumency thing?” She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him over the book.

“Both Occlumency and Legilimancy,” he nodded. “I had to work on the focus thing and get rid of a…erm, well, obstacle,” he evaded the horcrux-issue poorly. “But sometime this year, Dumbledore is going to order Snape to teach me. It was terrible and I didn’t get it down at all then, but I at least learned the basics before finding the Black library and finishing out my studies, along with what I did in my mastery. Unfortunately, the ministry starts employing more Legilimens for interrogations after the war as well…so, it was also self-preservation.”

“Right…well, I’ll start in on this, go get ready for your hearing,” she waved him off to the door, already getting more comfortable in their room and not planning on leaving for a while.

“Trial,” he corrected her with a huff of irritation. Yes, he was still irritated twelve years later. “It turns into a trial. I’ll be fine though, Dumbledore swoops in and saves the day. Honestly, I’d like to see them try to convict me for underage magic right now. I might not be very popular, but still…I’m supposedly fifteen and can share memories of dementors attacking…I could have the press eating out of my hand within minutes…not that I knew that as an actual fifteen-year-old though.”

“Don’t curse anyone,” she distractedly responded, not really paying attention to him at all anymore.

Harry made it down to breakfast wearing his nice robes and actually having remembered his glasses (spelled with clear glass lenses now). “Nervous?” Sirius asked him with a hearty pat on the back when he joined his godfather at the table already laden with breakfast items.

Harry shrugged. “Not really. They can’t expel me for saving myself and my cousin from dementors that are supposed to be under the control of the ministry…or at least they can’t and expect me to stay quiet about it.”

Sirius laughed loudly at that remark while Arthur Weasley seemed to pause where he was putting eggs onto his plate to consider the feasibility of that happening. It was like no one ever considered that Harry would be able to or even want to speak up for himself. Honestly, from where Harry was sitting, it would probably be easier on him if he was just expelled and could carry on his plans in the shadows, but he’d lived through this trial once already and knew Dumbledore wouldn’t let that happen.

“Maybe you shouldn’t say that in front of the hearing committee,” Molly Weasley sagely replied while placing the porridge she knew he liked right in front of him.

Harry couldn’t help the large smile he gave her at that. “Thank you, Mrs. Weasley.”

“No problem, dear…now, you’re going in with Arthur this morning. I’m glad you see you’ve tamed that hair a bit and have some nice robes,” she gave him a motherly smile and pat on the hand. “I suppose we have that new boyfriend to thank for making you upgrade your wardrobe some,” she added on with a knowing look. Everyone had seen his hand-me-down clothes from before, so it was a very safe assumption.

“Not really,” Harry shrugged. “We went shopping together, but he just encouraged me to get whatever I liked and felt comfortable in. Mainly I was just desperately needing some things that fit.” Percy had never cared what Harry wore, but he did make a point to remind Harry to take care of himself and get what he wanted instead of what he thought others wanted him to get. He tried to do the same with Percy, but the older man just smiled and tended to get whatever Harry said looked good on him.

“I think I like this new bloke,” Sirius decided firmly. “You’ll mention to him you have an escaped convict for a godfather though. It’s only right I get to use that to put a bit of fear into him since I can’t just go out and meet him myself to have the shovel talk. Merlin! I wish I could leave this house!”

Harry narrowed his gaze at the man. There had to be a way to teach his godfather the Unspeakable’s glamour spell and it not be really weird that he knew it or clue him in that Harry was currently wearing it. Considering the spell hadn’t been invented yet, it wouldn’t be in a book somewhere…he resolved to give it some thought. Sirius needed to be able to leave the house, and while he did have plans to kill off Pettigrew, that might take a few months to figure out since he didn’t want to clue Voldemort in that he was coming after him until all the horcruxes (barring Nagini) were destroyed.

Regardless, now he just had to focus on the trial and not punching Dumbledore when he saw him. “Good, yeah, I haven’t been to the ministry before, so I’d love to get there early and maybe get a bit of a tour of where you work, Mr. Weasley,” he said with a wide grin at the man. He always liked Arthur, especially when they were all struggling so much after the war, he’d really stepped up to hold the family together. Even when there just weren’t that many Weasleys left, Arthur Weasley always held a Christmas and Boxing Day event for everyone to come to, even learning to make Molly’s Christmas pudding when she wasn’t there to make it herself.

“Wonderful!” Arthur smiled back at him. “Well…finish your porridge there and we’ll head on out just as soon as possible.”

Harry was certain they’d left earlier than when he did this the first time around. The twins and Ginny were still asleep when they’d left and Ron had only been awake because Hermione had woken him up, anxious to get the books on mind-magic from Harry. If nothing else, Harry was excited to see Percy again. Yes, he’d seen him the day before, but he also didn’t know when he’d get to see his partner again before Hogwarts. Honestly, it would be easier for him to sneak out of Hogwarts than Grimmauld where people were actively keeping an eye on them, though even then, he knew Kreacher would cover for him.

So, it was with much more ease that Harry walked into the ministry, not really concerned about his trial, and not currently wanted for anything actually criminal. Normally, in his time, he just avoided the ministry at all costs, but he was also very good at covering his tracks for the more criminal activities he was engaged in, so he might be suspected of quite a few things, but he also wasn’t currently being investigated…according to Neville anyway who should know.

“Wand please,” the witch at the front desk asked with her hand out to Harry.

With an internal smirk, Harry passed over his old holly wand, his new ebony one strapped to his leg but also easily accessible if needed. Percy had done the same with his new aspen wood wand with banshee hair for the core. The wand shop in Knockturn really was more imaginative in their components than Ollivanders. Harry hadn’t tried to cast anything with his old wand yet because of the trace, but it also just didn’t feel comfortable in his hand anymore, so he wasn’t hopeful that it’d work well for him. He did hope he could still use it for class at the very least though.

“Now for a tour,” Arthur Weasley smiled broadly at him, excited to show someone around where he spent most of his days. “I think we should end with my office. Anywhere strike your fancy that you want to see first? Maybe the Department of Magical Games and Sports? We have plenty of time before your hearing.”

“Actually…” Harry took his old wand back and turned towards the lifts. “Could we maybe see the room the hearing will take place in? I’d like to get an idea of the space…you know, nerves and all…It might help calm me down some.”

Arthur gave him an understanding look before turning to look for someone. “Of course, let’s just find someone from that department, and we’ll make sure of the location. Sometimes these things get moved around. Ah, there’s Percy…” he trailed off with a concerned frown appearing on his face.

Harry had already turned and tried to squelch the smile tugging at his lips. Percy’s glamour was not as extensive as Harry’s since he hadn’t changed overly much since he was nineteen. He’d filled out a little more, his face had developed a few lines, and he’d grown out his hair, but overall, he was still recognizable as Percy, unlike Harry. Because of this, Harry could tell that Percy hadn’t even covered everything, probably to begin to pull back his glamour over time as people got used to it. Harry couldn’t exactly remember what his partner looked like at nineteen, but he was fairly certain that Percy had made his nineteen-year-old hair a little longer and was slightly more built instead of rail thin. He’d also completely ditched his glasses, not even going to attempt keeping up that ruse.

Put together, the changes weren’t overly dramatic, but Arthur Weasley still seemed to notice that there was a difference in his son. “Dad…hi,” Percy breathed out as he stepped up to them.

Harry couldn’t remember when exactly Percy and his family had started to be on bad terms, but it was definitely during his fifth year at some point, and he was guessing it had already happened by the stern look on Mr. Weasley’s face at his son's approach. “Percy…you’ve grown out your hair a little…” he said, a frown still tugging at his lips. “And your glasses…did you get your vision fixed? That’s very expensive.”

“Er, yeah,” Percy remarked awkwardly, stopping his hand from reaching up to tug on the invisible end of his even longer hair. “I’ve been saving up a long time for the vision thing. I never really liked my glasses.”

Arthur nodded slowly, seeming confused about why they were even having this conversation. “Is there something you need from me, Percy?”

Harry did step behind Arthur to dramatically roll his eyes at his partner and give him a significant look. He was being weird and needed to get it together. Clearly, this was not normal behavior for the father and son at this point in time.

“No,” Percy ignored him and focused on his father. “I just heard that the location and time of Harry’s hearing has been moved. It’s in courtroom ten, and you should probably head that way now to make it. I’ll walk with you if you want.”

Arthur frowned and looked at his battered watch in disbelief. “But this is hours early…and why a courtroom…?”

“I don’t know. I’m only there to take the minutes as Minister Fudge’s assistant,” Percy shrugged very convincingly in Harry’s opinion.

“Well…I guess we should head that way then, Harry,” Arthur finally just shook his head and headed towards the lifts. “Erm…thanks for telling us, Percy,” he added on with an almost hopeful look in his eyes that definitely broke both Harry and Percy’s hearts.

“Just doing my job,” Percy responded, not able to meet his eyes.

Harry felt a slip of paper slide into his hand when Percy walked by him to enter the lift to head down to the courtroom. He stifled a grin and put the paper into his pocket to read at a less conspicuous time. He avoided looking at Percy who was fiddling with his briefcase, then his black leather armband that covered his Unspeakable mark, then had to stop himself from touching his hair again…Harry was certain his partner was nervous about more than just seeing his father again in the past, but he wasn’t sure what it was that was bothering him and definitely couldn't ask.

The silence of the lift was so palpable that Harry actually let out a sigh of relief then the doors opened to the Department of Mysteries. Percy did as well, but Harry knew it was for very different reasons. This was Percy’s safe haven, it was where he was most comfortable, even if he was pretending to not be an Unspeakable in this time. “Just this way…” Percy cleared his throat and motioned them down the black, marble hallway to courtroom ten.

Just as it had happened before, Arthur Weasley was not allowed in the courtroom with him, and Harry was facing the entire Wizengamut for something that should have just been a committee meeting instead of a full trial. He stood there though for a moment in confusion…something was different. “Mr. Potter…right on time,” Minister Fudge grumbled, really hoping Harry would have missed the trial entirely.

“I’m glad you received the change of location and time promptly,” Amelia Bones remarked in an offhand way that Harry interpreted as her belief that he had actually been notified. “I am Madam Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.”

Harry nodded absently, still trying to figure out what was different this time. It was itching right at the back of his brain. “We are just waiting on Undersecretary Umbridge to begin,” Fudge remarked with an impatient glare towards the door.

That was it! The pink toad wasn’t there! Harry’s eyes immediately cut to his nervous partner who suddenly didn’t look nervous at all. He was calm, poised, and so confident he was almost bored. Yep, that was definitely Percy trying to get away with something. He was terrible at controlling his feelings and expressions until he absolutely had to, then he was brilliantly perfect. It surprised and amazed Harry every time he'd seen his partner do it.

“I don’t believe Undersecretary Umbridge showed up for work this morning,” Percy dryly remarked in a nonchalant tone that Harry never could have perfected unless his life did actually depend on it. “She must not be feeling well.”

Harry was extremely proud of himself that he showed no emotion at that statement at all. Frankly, he was very thankful for his years of Occlumency study to shut down the smirk and maniacal giggle that wanted to erupt from him. He was certain there was something they could cross off their to-do list now…Merlin, his partner had been busy without him!

Fudge looked confused and worried over the information, but Madam Bones just gave a business-like nod and shuffled her papers. “Well, let’s get this going then,” she addressed the room. “We all have other places we are meant to be.”

The rest of Harry’s trial happened exactly as he remembered it from the first time, except for the little “hem hem” interruptions from Umbridge that were thankfully missing. This time Harry didn’t even try to make eye contact with Dumbledore. While, yes, he was angry at the man for basically raising him to die at the right time, he did still have a deep-seated need for the man to approve of him, which definitely made him angrier than even telling him he had to die had. He wasn’t sure if he was angrier at himself or Dumbledore for those feelings though.

Regardless, Dumbledore didn’t try to look at him or address him and Harry thought that was perfectly fine with him, definitely preferable. Yes, he was a master Occlumens who didn’t have a horcrux in his brain anymore, but he still didn’t want to meet those twinkling eyes that seemed to bore right through you. When Dumbledore rushed out at the end of the trial, Harry spared one more look up to Percy who gave him a little smile before he left to meet up with Arthur Weasley once more and go home.

“You made it back,” Ron breathed out when Harry entered his room where Ron and Hermione were both now looking through the mind magic books he’d given them. “I have to admit, I was certain you’d be figured out, mate, and whisked off to be studied by the Unspeakables.”

Harry just laughed and fell back onto his bed. “I’m not entirely useless. You have to take into account you both know what’s going on, so you notice my oddness more. If you didn’t know, you’d just think I was a bit traumatized from what happened at the end of last year or something.”

“So, you actually passed as a fifteen-year-old?” Hermione raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“I looked quite a bit scared, confused, and very concerned about getting kicked out of school,” he assured them as he opened the letter from Percy that had been figuratively burning a hole in his pocket since he'd gotten it.

H.

When are you going to Diagon to pick up your supplies for the school year? Do you think you could get away to stop by my flat for a couple minutes? I’ve been working on something for your birthday.

P.

He frowned, seeming to remember Order members picking up their supplies for them that year. Well, that just wouldn’t do. Whatever this birthday present was, he wanted it! Maybe it was Umbridge gift wrapped for him!

Absently, he answered the questions Hermione peppered him with about what they were reading while he found some parchment and wrote an answer to the letter.

P.

It’ll take some work on my end, but I’ll make sure we’re in Diagon on the Saturday before term begins. Of course, I’ll be able to slip away; who do you think I am? By the way, I’ve looped in R. and H. about me, not you yet, but they are on our side. I’m sure R. can cover for me for a while. You do realize it was November when we left, so nowhere near my birthday, not that I don’t want the present, mind you. Might it happen to be pink and toad-like?

H.

“Hey, Ron, can I borrow Pig?” He asked after sealing the letter with a spell so that only Percy could read it.

“Where’s Hedwig?” Hermione asked while Ron tried to grab the tiny owl that had been zooming around the room in excitement ever since he saw someone grab parchment and a quill.

“I left her with the boyfriend,” Harry shrugged and tied the letter to the vibrating owl’s leg. "She'll get to stretch her wings more there than here."

“Now…I’m going to need to delegate some plans I have coming up,” he decided as the owl flew out the window with a happy loop into the air.

Ron’s grin grew wider. “Our first job as servants of the Dark Lord?!”

“Ew, don’t even say that,” Harry grimaced violently. “You are no one’s servants! Let's not get started on that!”

“What are we then?” Hermione rolled her eyes at them and flipped the page.

“I don’t know…my friends,” he huffed. “Anyway, no, this is actually just a personal wanting to meet up with my boyfriend thing, so do you think you can get the ‘adults’ to let us go to Diagon to get our own school supplies?”

“Why wouldn’t we be getting our own supplies?” Hermione actually looked up from the book to ask with a frown. “We always go to get our supplies before the term starts.”

“I don’t think they want us to go this year for safety,” Harry removed his outer robe to get more comfortable. “At least, that’s what I remember…”

“Will we finally get to meet this mysterious person?” Ron took the excuse to put down the book and stop studying for a while.

Harry shrugged. “Probably not…I’ll need you to also cover for me, but it shouldn’t take long.”

“Well…there are some things that picking out for oneself is important,” Hermione remarked with a thoughtful nod. “I think we can come up with something. What are you going to be doing since you’re delegating this to us?”

“Oh Dark Overlord…” Ron added on with a mischievous grin.

Harry rolled his eyes but ignored him. “Well…I had a bit of a chat with Kreacher last night…” He said as they both grimaced at having to deal with the elf. “Anyway, it went very well, so unclench from all that prejudice you have against him.”

“You have to admit, he’s pretty bad. Even Hermione doesn’t like him,” Ron huffed while Hermione actually nodded in agreement at that.

“I think it’s how he’s been treated though. Ron just thinks that’s how he is,” she clarified.

Harry did actually agree with that. Kreacher never developed a happy, upbeat personality in the slightest. “Probably some of both actually…anyway, I did learn that elves can see through my glamour, so we have a bit of an elf problem that I’m going to have to solve.”

“I don’t understand,” Ron said in confusion.

“What does that mean?” Hermione added on with a concerned and very suspicious look at him.

“The Hogwarts house elves can see that I’m not a student,” he more specifically told them. “And, stop worrying Hermione. I’m just going to talk to Dobby and see if he can smooth things over with them. They tend to mind their own business and not report things anyway, but I want to make sure none of them will run off to Dumbledore. Merlin! I told you I’m not a murdering psychopath!”

“Just making sure,” she continued with her suspicious look but picked up the book she’d been reading again.

Harry huffed in exasperation. “I fully agree with you about freeing the house elves, Hermione, and it is actually a part of my long-term plan. If they had been free, then they wouldn’t have been in any danger from the ministry when they were finally targeted. However, you can’t go about it with SPEW. Forcefully freeing them when they don’t want to be free is cruel and not helpful. It’s a long-term plan, because you have to start with more rights, access to education, and understanding them more and what they want. If they eventually decide they want to be free, then let’s do it in a heartbeat, but until then, we can’t just make decisions for them unilaterally and force them into it. That’s not helping, that’s hurting. We all saw what happened to Winky. They are autonomous individuals that should be treated as such and not as children for us to just make decisions for.”

Hermione’s mouth had fallen open in surprise, the same as Ron. “Oh…” was all she was able to say as it sank in what she’d been doing by trying to trick them into being free.

Harry shrugged and pulled his firewhiskey out from under the bed. “Anyway, I’ll ask Kreacher to go find Dobby at the school and get that handled. Maybe check in on Winky while I’m at it. What do you think is for dinner? I’m loving having your mum’s cooking again!”

Ron shook his head still in surprise. “Er…not sure. I think we’re supposed to start cleaning the house again tomorrow though, so whatever you need to do, maybe do it tonight while everyone is sleeping.”

“Sirius is going to start missing his whiskey,” Hermione warned him, but Harry just smirked at her, not concerned. There were too many people in the house for Sirius pin it on him. Moody would most certainly be blamed before he was.

The return letter from Percy showed up with Pig just before dinner while Harry was quickly trying to finish off all the homework that young Harry hadn’t bothered to even start. He made sure to add in some mistakes and all, but he was sure it was still going to be better than his usual slapped together summer work. It hurt his pride at this point to do as badly as young Harry probably would have.

“Awesome!” He grinned in excitement as he grabbed the little owl out of the air from where he was zooming around the sitting room he and the younger Weasleys were all in while the Order meeting was being held.

“Your owl is a bloody menace Ron,” George grumbled at the bird that had almost flown smack into his head.

“He’s just enthusiastic, George!” Ginny protested and took the owl from Harry to coo over his tiny, fluffy head.

Harry chuckled but opened the letter distractedly:

H.

Good to hear about R. and H. Wait to fill them in on me until I can be there. I should be able to talk with them in person soon. As for your present, this is more of an addition I’m adding to your school supplies than an actual birthday present. I’ve been working on a project that I believe will be finished by the Saturday before term. About your guess, I have no idea what you might mean by a pink toad. I don’t believe even magical toads come in that color.

Good job today. I was very impressed by your acting.

P.

Harry could feel the amusement from Percy’s writing and was really looking forward to seeing him in just about a week. He had absolutely no clue what the man planned to give him, but he was already hoping he could get away from the group long enough to properly thank him for whatever it was.

“Good news?” Hermione asked from where Ron was squarely beating her in wizard’s chess.

“Mainly just flirting,” he grinned at her. “Not that he’ll ever admit it, mind you.”

At that, the door opened to the sitting room. “Dinner,” Mrs. Weasley stuck her head in to call them all.

Chapter Text

“Kreacher just doesn’t understand why the Dark Master needs this other elf though,” Kreacher was grumbling during what was becoming a common meeting he and Harry had in the Black library late at night when everyone else was asleep. “Kreacher can serve his great Dark Lord without this Dobby person.”

“I know that, Kreacher,” Harry assured him vehemently, feeling a headache coming on from having to explain this once again to the elf and from his lack of sleep due to nightmares the past few nights. “I know you are perfectly capable, but house elves can see through my glamour. Dobby works at Hogwarts and can talk to the elves there to keep them from going to the headmaster about me.”

“Kreacher can just threaten this Dobby…”

“Please Kreacher, Dobby is a friend,” Harry tried another tactic after a large swig out of a new bottle of whiskey he’d recently swiped from Sirius’s stash. “I lost him in the future like I lost you, and I’ve gotten to see you and spend time with you, but I’d like to see Dobby too.”

“Wizards are not friends with house elveses,” Kreacher now looked at him suspiciously, seeming to think Harry was lying to him or joking or something.

“You’re my friend, Kreacher, or you will be a least,” he sighed. “This whole time-travel thing is confusing, but you became a good friend to me, and Dobby does too…”

“Kreacher will get this Dobby, but Master will not invite him to stay in our home,” the elf almost commanded before popping away with a loud crack.

Harry picked up the book he’d taken off a shelf when he came in. He had started reading it in his own time and hadn’t finished before they came back, so he figured he’d get a few pages farther along before school when he probably shouldn’t be smuggling an ancient text on blood magic’s use in human transfiguration into his solely Light magic boarding school. It only took two pages before a loud crack sounded again and Kreacher reappeared with a tight grip on Dobby’s arm. Dobby who looked just as eccentrically dressed as Harry remembered in his green knit hat, orange toga, and four pairs of socks.

Harry took another large swig of whiskey and forcefully pushed the tears threatening to well up in his eyes down at the sight of the friend he'd lost and who had saved his life. “Hey Dobby.”

For his part, Dobby looked extremely confused about being summoned by a random wizard away from the school to a dark magic library in an old manor home. “Master Wizard knows Dobby?” The elf turned and studied Harry intently instead of his surroundings.

“The great Dark Master wishes to see Dobby elf, yous will be respectful,” Kreacher warned the newcomer with a dark glare from his large, yellow eyes.

“Hey, Kreacher, could you maybe go get a plate of biscuits for me, you, and Dobby?” Harry turned to his elf to ask. “This might take a while, and as it’s late at night, some biscuits might be just what we need to keep going.”

Kreacher spared one more glare at the elf before he popped away to get them some biscuits and probably tea as well since he’d made it very clear he didn’t approve of Harry’s drinking. “Master Wizard is offering Dobby biscuits?!” Dobby’s eyes went really wide and looked shocked at that. “Harry Potter is the only one who ever comes to the kitchens to eat biscuits with Dobby. Wizards don’t eat with house elves, but Master Wizard isn’t Harry Potter…he does looks some similar…”

Sometimes Harry regretted just how much he’d changed in his looks, even the famous lightning bolt scar had faded to almost invisible after the horcrux was gone. Those times were very slim and fleeting though. This happened to be one. He took one more drink of the whiskey and capped the bottle to put under the table beside him.

“Dobby, I don’t know how to convince you of this, so you’ll have to tell me what you want to know, but I actually am Harry Potter,” he began, holding up a hand to stop the protests Dobby was about to make. “I’ve come back in time to fix some things that went terribly wrong. We lost a lot of people in this war, and after, our world got worse. I can’t let that happen again. How can I convince you that I’m just an older version of your Harry?”

At that Dobby stepped forward some and stared at the wizard in front of him. “Harry Potter is not a dark wizard, and yous are. Harry Potter is a good, light wizard…”

Harry nodded, knowing this was going to be a problem. “Yes, I’m a dark wizard,” he put his elbows on his knees and hunched over some to get closer to Dobby’s height. “That doesn’t mean I’m evil though. I died during the last battle but came back to life because of some ancient magic. That changed my core dark, and I’ve learned how to use dark magic in good, helpful ways since. Just because the Malfoys use dark magic to hurt and harm, doesn’t mean that it's inherently evil. From what I remember, Narcissa wasn’t evil and treated her elves well…”

Dobby’s eyes widened more at the knowledge Harry had of his past living situation. “What spell did Dobby use and what did he use it on in Harry Potter’s house to get him expelled before his second year at school?” Dobby asked, his eyes narrowing in consideration.

Harry nodded with a large smile. “Finally! Someone asks a good question that no one else knows. The hover charm was fairly well known since I got in trouble for it with the ministry, but the fact that you floated a pudding during my aunt and uncle’s dinner party I think was only known to Ron and Hermione besides the two of us.”

Dobby came all the way up to him then and studied his face intently. “Yes…Dobby sees his Harry Potter in yous…Dobby’s Harry Potter has had a hard life, he can see,” the elf patted him softly on the hand. “But where is young Harry Potter? Is he here?”

“I’m sorry, Dobby,” he sighed tiredly. It kept hitting him over and over again just what he and Percy had done to both young Harry and young Percy. “The spell I used to come back here…I didn’t take into account what it would do to the younger me. He wasn’t here when I appeared, so I think I took his place.”

Dobby frowned but didn’t pull his hand away from where it was now resting lightly on top of Harry’s scarred and calloused hand. “Are yous going to go to Hogwarts then? What will Harry Potter do to fix what happened? What can Dobby to do help?”

Harry almost breathed out a sigh of relief, especially as Kreacher entered then with a plate of ginger biscuits and a pot of tea. “Well, let’s eat up; come on both of you,” he said, conjuring a couple more teacups since Kreacher had only brought one. “We have a lot to discuss, so you need to help me with all this tea and biscuits…or I could just finish my whiskey,” Harry added on with a smirk at Kreacher who just grumbled and rolled his eyes but also took the teacup handed to him.

“Right, so Dobby…I am going to Hogwarts, but you house elves are so brilliant you can see the 27-year-old me through my glamour…now, what can we do about that?” He asked and settled back in his armchair while Dobby and Kreacher glared at each other while awkwardly perching on the very edge of the couch across from him.

“Dobby can talk to the head elf, but we’s generally not get involved in what goes on in the school anyway,” Dobby said, completely missing Harry’s smirk at just how false that was where Dobby himself was concerned.

“What about Winky? How is she?” Harry asked since Hermione would want to know.

“Better…still not happy,” Dobby shrugged as if to say there really wasn’t anything he could do about it at this point.

“Do you think she’d want to serve a Dark Lord?” Harry asked with a raise of his eyebrow over the rim of his teacup.

“Kreacher doesn’t needs any help!” The elf vehemently protested once more.

Dobby’s hand stopped halfway to his mouth with the biscuit, and he frowned in confusion. “Dark Lord You-Know-Who is looking for an elf? Why would any elveses want to serve him?” He shuddered at even the thought.

“Oh Dobby, this is going to be good,” Harry grinned broadly at him, having an idea that he knew Percy would be rolling his eyes at. “I’m looking for an inner circle, and I know three elves that would be perfect to join. Right now, it’s just Ron, Hermione, and my boyfriend, but if I’m going to do this right, I need more people than that, and house elves seem the best group to have on your side if you are staging a rebellion.”

“The Dark Master is Magic’s true Dark Lord,” Kreacher confirmed what Dobby already seemed to have guessed by his shocked expression. “Though why he wants house elvses to advise instead of serve seems foolish to Kreacher.”

“Think about it…” Harry told them both adamantly. “I think you’ll start to see that this really is something you can use to your advantage. What do the elves want? We can make that happen. You can have a say in our society, and keep me from doing anything stupid, which I’m likely to do.”

Dobby snorted in agreement at Harry’s remark before taking a large bit of the biscuit and musing as he crunched. “Dobby does not wants much, but that doesn’t mean things is perfect.”

Kreacher frowned and finally took a sip of his tea. “Kreacher may want some things…”

“That’s the ticket! Welcome to the inner circle! Invite your friends!” Harry beamed at them and poured himself a cup of tea to really get down to business.

“Right, so I need a couple new bras, and Harry needs new shoes,” Hermione promptly told them as she plopped onto Harry’s bed after dinner one night and grabbed the mind magic book she was actually almost finished with.

“Er, I just got new shoes,” Harry, still glamoured from the day, bunched up some for her from where he was trying to get through his blood magic book and ignore Ron’s grumbling about having to read more than what was necessary for school.

Ron looked up and his ears got a little pink at the mention of bras. Harry and Hermione both rolled their eyes at him. “It’s why the Order has to let us go to Diagon,” Hermione explained in more detail. “Those are things you have to try on for yourself and a random person can’t just buy it for you. Plus, I don’t think Professor Lupin or Moody really wanted to go bra shopping for me, though I’d probably pay to see it if they did.”

“I most definitely would!” Ron chuckled and continued to slowly make his way through the other mind magic book. “Ergh! It’s the clearing your head part that’s so frustrating!” He grumbled for the hundredth time. "What does that even mean?!"

“Imagine yourself flying on your broom. It’s just you in the sky, the wind in your hair, and the rustling sound of the leaves on the trees. Nothing else for as far as you can see,” Harry told him, not even taking his eyes from his book. “It’s how I started, and it worked well while I got used to it.”

That seemed to really hit Ron in a place he could understand. “Thanks mate, yeah, I think I can try that,” he determinedly went back to the book. “I’ll get this down. I want to keep what’s in my head secret, and I wouldn’t be opposed to learning some new spells you studied in your mastery.”

“I’m working on organizing my thoughts before building my shield,” Hermione added in to neither of their surprise.

“I knew you’d get this quickly, Hermione. And, Ron,” Harry looked up at his friend with a fond smile. “It took me much longer than it’s taking you. I had a bit of a hindrance when I first started, but even later when it was gone this type of magic in particular didn’t come naturally to me. You’re doing really well, I promise.”

Ron turned bright red and that and also looked proud. “Thanks, Harry…that, well, that means a lot.”

The door flew open to their room before Fred and George both shoved their heads in. “Sirius and Professor Lupin have started a prank war,” Fred began.

“Get off your arses and join in!” George threw the door open wider to gesture then outside. "We want Harry on our side!"

“Night’s too nice for reading!” Sirius called out from behind them as he ran past the room being chased by what appeared to be paper airplanes.

“I could take a break,” Harry looked over to Ron mischievously.

“Merlin, thank you!” He threw the book down and jumped up.

“Hermione?” Harry held out a hand for their friend.

“Fine,” she grumbled but still put the book down to stand. “Someone needs to remind you to use fourth year spells,” she whispered warningly to him as they left the room.

She wasn’t wrong, Harry decided. But….also, no one would really know if he was the one to charm something or if it had been Sirius or Remus or the twins. Oh well, a few seventh year spells and some obscure ones that Sirius probably grew up learning from his cousins wouldn’t be too remarkable. He didn’t remember this prank war from his first time in Grimmauld, so he wasn’t sure what he had changed to cause it, but he sure as hell was going to enjoy it! He hadn't had actual fun without something terrible hanging over his head in so very long!

It was laughably easy to get away from the Order once they were all in Diagon Alley. Harry just had to say he needed to stop by the bank and then the bookstore. The Order members couldn’t really go to his vault with him since he definitely wasn't going to give permission, and they could at least trust he would be passably safe in the bookstore afterwards. Ron and Hermione were going to make sure that it took them as long as possible at Madam Malkins and getting their potions supplies. It didn’t buy Harry an exceptional amount of time, but he figured he could disappear for a good hour before anyone would get highly concerned.

He ducked into a small alley and dropped his glamour. Breathing in the relief of being in his own skin and having anonymity once more, he stretched his muscles and walked forward confidently. He really didn’t miss the stares he always got when he was a teenager and before he left the public eye. Percy lived down a side-street from Diagon and only a few blocks away, so Harry happily wandered towards the flat he’d only been to once before.

He was only a dozen or so meters from Percy’s flat when Harry paused as he saw a very familiar figure stalk determinedly into a shop just at the corner of the building in front of him. The shop didn’t have a name above the door, only the common mortar and pestle that marked an apothecary. If Snape used this apothecary, then Harry assumed it must be exceptional, and he was definitely in the market for a new apothecary. Slug and Jiggers in Diagon tended to not have any of the darker or more dangerous ingredients he regularly used in potions, so Harry had been patronizing Madam Teague’s apothecary in Knockturn Alley in the future. However, Madam Teague’s prices were exorbitant since she really didn’t have any competition in Diagon or Knockturn Alleys for what she offered. Harry, however, was given a hefty discount since he brewed quite a few of her darker, ready-made potions. Now he didn’t have that partnership to fall back on though, and he wouldn’t have access to his larger family vault for another couple years. He wasn’t actually hurting for money, but funding a rebellion was probably going to end up being pretty expensive, so he was trying to take price into account more than he usually would.

He frowned in thought. If he followed, then that was taking away from his time with Percy, but Harry’s curiosity finally won out as it usually did in the past and in the future both. Any apothecary that Snape thought was good, was one he just had to check out. Plus, there were some things he really did need to stock up on for his own personal brewing. It also didn’t hurt that he got quite a bit of sick glee in maybe running into the acerbic man in a form he decidedly would not recognize. So, Harry strode forward and into the dimly lit and haphazardly cluttered store.

It was the smells that hit him first. He’d come to love potions as he brewed for hours during his mastery with someone who actually loved to teach and would explain things patiently, so the earthy smells of the potion ingredients tugged a little smile onto his lips. He knew he would never be the genius that Snape was, but he also guessed that Snape probably couldn’t hold his own with Harry’s knowledge of the Dark Arts at this point either. In Harry’s mind that put them on equal footing, even if Snape didn’t know that.

Harry did actually smile when he saw the collection of vials of vampire blood just sitting on a shelf with a ward around it that repelled any who had a solely light magical core from being able to see that it held. Harry hoped it was strong enough to keep aurors from raiding the place because he was already falling in love with the shop that clearly did not have a problem with dark ingredients. Merlin, he’d missed vampire Ron, well he missed Ron like a missing limb, but vampire Ron was mainly missed for the steady supply of blood for some quite inventive potions that became increasingly useful. Hey, if Ron got to snack on him, then he was more than allowed to take a little blood for potions ingredients!

Harry picked up a couple of the vials and grinned even broader at the price. Yes, it was very expensive, but not exorbitantly so like Madam Teague’s. His eyes fell on some powered griffin’s claw and tincture of hellebore that was just perfect and seemed extremely pure unlike what he was used to having to distill before he could even use it. Now, if he could just find some black dahlia petals that were preserved in stasis instead of dried…

“You are making a magical signature blocking potion,” a silky voice drawled behind Harry. “That is quite a complex brew.”

He wasn’t sure why he still jumped at Snape’s remark when he knew very well that he’d followed the man into the store, but he’d been happily filling a basket and had still been surprised by the silent approach of the spy. “I’m not sure what you mean,” Harry stifled all emotion and turned to give his professor a very fake-innocent smirk at guessing the illegal potion he was most definitely going to brew.

Snape for his part just snorted in what Harry assumed might be amusement even though he’d never seen Snape amused at any point in his life before. “You have vampire blood in your basket; you have already crossed into doing something illegal,” he informed Harry with a raise of his eyebrow. “Master Cretian does not judge those who frequent his store and provides only the best ingredients.”

“Absolutely!” Harry exclaimed, letting his façade of nonchalance go for his excitement at the find. “I usually use Madam Teague’s but just happened to stumble on this place. I’m never going back!” He added as he found the black dahlia petals and added them to the basket.

“Planning a crime?” Snape picked up some dahlia petals for himself and some freeze-dried tarantulas.

“Maybe,” Harry smirked at the man, thinking this was the most civil conversation they’d ever had in his life. “You never know when you might need to rob a bank.”

“You would need much more than just a magical signature blocker to even attempt that,” Snape raised an amused eyebrow.

Harry shrugged. He’d done it with just Polyjuice potion and a dragon before, but he wanted to maybe not make the goblins quite so mad at him this time around. Actually, Polyjuice might be a good idea to brew though. He began to glance around for the ingredients.

Curious, he looked over and into the basket Snape was holding and gave the man a chuckle. “Well, if you keep my potions secret, I’ll keep yours,” he said teasingly, having seen that Snape was clearly brewing veritaserum, which was decidedly illegal if you weren’t working directly for the ministry.

Snape leaned against the counter behind him, studying the strange man he’d definitely never seen before but who also looked oddly familiar for some reason. “I only spoke to make sure you know the blood must be added on the new moon or the hellebore will not be neutralized…I’d hate for a fellow potions enthusiast to poison themselves.”

Harry’s hand paused over the boomslang skin he was sorting through with the idea that he might make some Polyjuice potion for Sirius. Was Snape flirting?! Definitely not; he was decidedly imagining things! He had to be. That was absolutely not possible in any time or universe. Harry turned around, brushing his braid over his shoulder, accidentally exposing the cluster of vampire bites and the inked line of tattooed runes going up his neck.

Nope, he didn’t imagine it. Snape’s dark eyes flicked to the runes and up to his lips then eyes. Harry was not sure what was going on, but this was not acceptable…whatever it was! Deciding to ignore it, Harry held out a calloused hand to the man, “Hadrian Black,” he offered in his most polite tone.

It really was his name, or at least part of his legal name. His full legal name was Hadrian James Potter-Black, but he never used his full name on anything. In his day-to-day life, it was just Harry. In his shadier dealings, it was always Hadrian Black. Surprisingly, no one ever seemed to realize that his full name couldn’t possibly be Harry, so it was a good pseudonym that if he were ever called on would still be legal and no one could say he was trying to pretend to be someone else or falsify an identity.

“Severus Snape,” his professor shook his hand with a firm grip and held on just a bit too long before letting go.

“I’ve heard of you. You’re a genius when it comes to potions,” Harry commented and continued to fill his basket with everything he needed for Polyjuice. “I’ll never be your caliber. I just don’t have the imagination for it, but I had to learn quite a bit during my mastery. I definitely know vampire blood works best in potions during a new moon if nothing else.”

“I can see you’ve had some experience,” Snape gestured to the bites on his neck, his hand coming just a bit too close. Yep, Harry was going to shut this down now. What the hell was happening?!

“I have not heard of you before, and I know most brewers in this country who could competently make a potion as complex as what you are attempting. Are you a member of the ancient Black family here in England? And just what is that mastery in if not Potions?” Snape continued to trail behind him with that light smirk that was almost a smile.

“Hmm,” Harry placed his basket on the counter and took out his Gringotts bag to pay, sparing a bright smile and thanks for the elderly owner who seemed to only speak French. “Yes, I am a member of House Black; however, I’m from a minor line and have been doing quite a lot of traveling. We don't get discussed often here in England, probably for the best with the general family history and all. As for my mastery, let’s just say I studied in Amsterdam and my degree did not transfer over to Britain,” he added with a raise of his silver studded eyebrow to convey just why it might not have transferred.

“Ah,” Snape nodded and paid for his own ingredients next, a wider smirk that was almost definitely a smile forming on his mouth. Harry thought he might be having a stroke at the shock he was in. Weren’t you supposed to smell burnt toast or something if you were having a stroke though?

They exited the store and Harry was awkwardly wondering how to escape to Percy’s flat without being rude. “Hadrian,” Snape turned his intense gaze on the other man, almost purring the name. “Would you care to stop by Diagon Alley and get a drink with me? I would love to continue our discussion about the effects of the moon on potion ingredients.”

Right, well, time to go. Harry shrunk down his bag and put it in a pocket. “I’m sorry, Severus,” he said, almost choking on the name. It was taking every ounce of his Occlumency training to keep from either dying laughing or just taking off at a run to not have to deal with this situation. “Erm, I’m actually in a relationship,” he told the man firmly. “I’m heading to see my partner now. I’m sorry to disappoint.”

Snape’s look fell infinitesimally before he gave a short nod. “Another time then…maybe with your partner, as friends? There are not many whom I believe share similar interests here in Britain where potions and certain forms of magic are concerned.”

At least who aren’t murderous terrorists, Harry thought to himself and just barely stopped his mouth from adding. What he really couldn’t stop his mouth from saying was the: “I’d really like that. I’m sure my partner would as well. He has some similar views even if his experiences might be different and more specialized.”

What was he thinking?! Was he actually agreeing to get dinner or drinks with Snape sometime to talk about the dark arts?!! Did he just volunteer Percy to join as well? Merlin, his partner was going to kill him!

“Owl me when you are free, and we can meet in either Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. I teach at Hogwarts during the year but will be happy to leave the school for an intellectual dinner,” Snape remarked before he gave Harry a short nod and that expression that was bordering on a smile and left back towards Diagon Alley.

Yep, he was probably having a stroke or a mental break. He knew it would happen eventually with his insane life. It was an inconvenient time though, he mused as he dazedly continued his walk to Percy’s flat. Once he started laughing, he just really couldn’t stop. It started as a chuckle and turning into a hysterical, side-splitting laugh just as he knocked on the door to Percy’s small but very comfortable home.

“Should I even ask?” Percy, thankfully looking like Harry was used to seeing him without his glamour, looked at him in amusement while Harry continued laughing into his flat and crashed on the couch.

“I don’t even know!” Harry shook his head and really did try to stop the giggles. “I think I just got hit on by someone!”

Closing the door, Percy made his way over to sit beside his partner, pushing a basket a little farther from them. “Ok…I don’t see how that’s amusing, but erm…congratulations? I hope you told them you’re taken.”

“What? Yes, of course!” Harry finally did stop laughing to turn to his partner conspiratorially. “It was Snape! Can you believe that?!”

Percy just looked at him incredulously. “Are you sure you interpreted the situation correctly? You’re not really that good at reading the signals well or at all…frankly, I’m not sure how we even got together.”

“Because I just told you I liked you one night and asked if you wanted to shag,” Harry rolled his eyes but couldn’t disagree with his partner. “Yeah, I’m not good at these things, but I’m fairly certain in this instance. Regardless, he does know about you, and we might be committed to having to get dinner with him as friends at some point. I used the Hadrian Black name as usual.”

“Well, you did want to convince him to join us. This might be a good opportunity, or the best we’ll get anyway,” Percy nodded instead of being upset like Harry had really dreaded.

“Oh good,” he sighed in relief. “I hate committing you to things without asking first, but my mouth was talking, and I couldn’t get it to shut up.”

“That does tend to happen with you,” Percy smirked at him fondly. “At least it usually leads to good ends. Do you want your present now? How much time do you have before you'll be missed?”

“Not long,” Harry winced. “I followed Snape into this amazing apothecary you have just down the street. Have you ever gone in? They have excellent dark ingredients!”

“Really?” Percy leaned forward in interest at that. “How are the prices? Madam Teague’s is robbery without your discount.”

“Very reasonable,” he nodded happily and kissed Percy firmly on the lips. “I do want my present now though. Pleease!”

“Great, well, my project didn’t quite go as planned,” Percy explained as he pulled the basket around and then stood to pick up what looked like a pet carrier from behind the couch. “It was successful…but maybe more like 80-85% successful. Regardless, I hope you like it.”

“Erm…Percy, love…what is it?” Harry frowned into the carrier at the naked, wrinkled thing that strongly reminded him of the baby Voldemort horcrux he’d seen in the afterlife, and it didn’t help that he could feel dark waves of soul magic coming from the thing.

Harry’s eyebrows shot up when the thing in the carrier gave a tiny: “meow.”

“Wait…is that some kind of cat?!” He asked incredulously with wide surprised eyes.

Percy chuckled and opened the crate door for the (maybe?) cat to come out. The thing immediately began to snuggle up around Harry’s legs. He couldn’t tell if it was very loving or just cold, but it was still kind of nice in a bony, wrinkled skin way. “It’s a kitten actually, or rather half cat/half kneazle,” Percy explained while Harry bent down to get a better look at the creature.

“Why is it naked?” He softly scratched the odd textured skin behind the kitten’s overly large ears and the tiny thing just melted into jelly on top of his left shoe.

“Er…well, that’s what I meant by 80-85% success,” Percy shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat. “Erm, it started out with hair but something with the magic interacted, and it was an odd side-effect, I guess. I’m not sure just yet what the interaction was. I’m still studying the data. Hairless cats or rather Sphinx cats are a thing though, so it’s not too odd.”

“Right, so its hair all fell out when you did some kind of magic on it?” Harry now picked up the little wrinkled thing that was starting to worm its way into his heart. Honestly, it was just so ugly it was cute!

Percy huffed and crashed down onto the couch where Harry joined him again with the cat. “Well…I was working on my research, and I had the thought that having a familiar around might help keep you out of your head while at school. Hedwig is wonderful, and I’ve loved having her around here, but she lives in the owlery when you’re at Hogwarts. The professors tend to be more lenient with familiars like cats following you to class. And, well, this one will definitely need you. It wasn’t intentional, but you know, it’ll need regular baths since it doesn’t have hair, and sunscreen for when it goes outside, and little jumpers for when it’s cold…you hate it don’t you?” Percy stopped his ramblings with a deep frown. “This was a terrible idea, wasn’t it? If you don’t like it, then I’ll just keep it myself or undo the magic…”

“Don’t you dare, Percy Weasley!” Harry held the cuddly ball of wrinkled skin closer to his chest. There was a little mistiness in the back of his eyes that Harry had to blink away at the thoughtfulness of what his partner had done for him. He'd been thinking of him and made something with his own magic to make Harry's life better. It really was the best gift he'd ever been given.

“You got me an emotional support inferius! It’s by far the absolute nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, and I love her already!!”

Percy’s face broke into a huge smile. “Really? Even if it’s a bit high maintenance?”

Harry just chuckled and patted the little kitten on the butt, which seemed to make it extremely happy. “Of course! I’ll have Hermione teach me how to knit it little hats and jumpers. She’ll be the best emotional support inferius ever!”

“Wait,” Harry lifted the cat to look under it excitedly. “Yep, she, definitely a girl. I’ll need to get her a name…Er…what does she eat by the way? Cat food, or does she have more of an inferius taste for raw meat?”

“Cats will eat raw meat too,” Percy chuckled. “She’s been eating cat food just fine for me though. I’d maybe give her some raw meat occasionally to balance out her diet some.”

“Anything else odd about her since she’s an inferi? Any side effects besides the hair?” Harry was running through good names that might fit his new friend.

“Well…I haven’t been finished with her long, so there might be some things that show up later,” Percy winced some at the unknown, he didn't like the unknown. “There is one though,” he waved his wand and room went completely dark.

Harry looked down at the two glowing red orbs of light in his lap. “I’m not sure why her eyes glow red in the dark,” Percy tensely remarked. “I’ll definitely need to fix that for future human subjects if I ever get that far.”

“Aren’t you just the creepiest cutie ever!” Harry cooed over the cat, causing Percy to laugh as the spelled the lights on again.

“I don’t know why I was even concerned you might not like it,” he chuckled.

“Her, not it,” Harry corrected firmly. “I think I’ll call her Persephone like the queen of the underworld since she’s an inferius.”

“You’re not allowed to call your cat Percy,” Percy told Harry with a glare, knowing just how his partner was going to shorten that name.

Harry pouted but didn’t seem put out. “I’ll call her Sephie then. Spoil sport.”

“The basket has all her toys and treats and things in it,” Percy pushed it over to him. “Can you stay for tea or a drink?”

Harry looked at his watch and sighed. “No, I really should be getting back. They’re going to wonder if I got lost or kidnapped in the bookstore very soon. By the way…how is Umbridge feeling? Still under the weather?” He asked with a smirk while he coaxed Sephie back into her carrier.

Percy rolled his eyes in exasperation at that woman and all she'd done. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that monster this year,” he remarked off-handedly. “The ministry is scrambling to figure out what happened to her as well as fill the vacancy at Hogwarts.”

“They aren’t going to trace anything back to you, right?” Harry asked him intensely. “I can go cover it if you aren’t 100% sure. You know I have your back.”

“I’m sure,” Percy stood and kissed him firmly in thanks for his support. “I spent quite a lot of time at the lake where Voldemort left all the inferi for my research, so I have it on very good authority that twelve years from now, it still hasn’t been touched by anyone. No one is going to notice one more inferi in the lake with the dozens that are already there.”

“You really are brilliant and quite scary,” Harry told him with a wide grin and a kiss of thanks. “I really don’t think my hand or my sanity could take another round of Umbridge anyway,” he waved his still very scarred hand that clearly read ‘I must not tell lies.’

“I’ll try to make sure you get someone competent this year,” Percy promised him as he opened the door and shrunk down the basket to put in Harry’s pocket.

“Need to arm the students against those Dark Lords, you know,” Harry winked at him teasingly. “I’ll sneak out just as soon as we get back to Hogwarts, and we’ll really start in on our plans. I got the ingredients to brew the magical signature blocker, so we’ll have that for the cup in the bank, but I want to grab the ring and diadem first. I have the locket in my trunk.”

“I know you know to avoid touching it,” Percy kissed him once more for good measure. “I’ll wait on you for the ring. I know it’s a bit tricky.”

“Good, yeah…please,” he gave a significant look at that. They both knew it was what really killed Dumbledore.

“I’ll try to see you before then…I still have some plans to keep close to you,” Percy gave him insinuating look before giving him a little shove out the door.

“Keep your secrets then,” Harry huffed but smiled all the way back to where he had to replace his glamour to re-enter Diagon Alley and find his keepers.

Chapter Text

“Merlin! Don’t do that to a person!!” Hermione clutched her chest when Harry popped up seemingly out of nowhere right in front of where she and Ron were pretending to look for him in the bookstore.

“Found you,” Ron dryly chuckled. “Moody and Tonks have been growing that ‘oh shit, we lost Harry’ look on their faces for the past fifteen minutes. I was giving Moody about five more before he called in an entire contingent of aurors to look for you.”

Harry, chaos monster that he was, turned and sweetly waved to Tonks across the store like he’d been there the whole time. The woman glared at him, but just turned to the grizzled former-auror beside her to tell him to stand down. “Aw, they care,” he fake-sighed.

“Don’t ask for me to cover for you again,” Hermione grumbled. “You were supposed to be back fifteen minutes ago.”

“Aw, don’t be mad,” he pouted at her. “I found this amazing apothecary a couple streets over on the way to my person’s flat that I’ll show you whenever we can escape our babysitters. I followed Snape in, so you know it has to be excellent.”

“Of course, you followed Snape in,” Ron rolled his eyes, but Hermione was already nodding along like he was forgiven.

“I’ve been hoping there was a better place to get ingredients than Slug and Jiggers,” she grinned happily. “There are a couple potions I want to try that have some more…exotic ingredients.”

“Did Snape see you, mate?” Ron asked as they handed Harry his textbooks they’d grabbed for him and headed to the checkout. “Please at least say you didn’t look like this.” He motioned up and down to Harry’s glamoured look. He was starting to get the idea that Harry was about just as unstable as Sirius, and it was obvious his and Hermione’s new job was reigning him in.

Harry chuckled but was definitely not going to tell Ron and Hermione anything about that interaction. He didn’t particularly want Snape to try to kill him later for telling them once he learned who Hadrian Black was. “Yes, we talked, and no I wasn’t wearing the glamour. He thinks my name is Hadrian Black by the way, in case it comes up again. It is…sort of, well, it’s part of my name anyway. I’m legally Hadrian James Potter-Black.”

“I never even considered that ‘Harry’ was short for something,” Hermione frowned as both she and Ron looked a bit taken aback that neither had even thought of it. “Why didn’t we even consider that?”

A soft “meow” sounded from the carrier Harry had set down behind them. “Er…your bag is meowing,” Ron frowned at the carrier before bending down to look inside of it, knowing Harry hadn’t had that particular bag when they had left for Diagon that morning. “What the bloody hell is that?!” He stood up again quickly with a disgusted look on his face.

“Where were you, Brat! You were supposed to stay in the bookstore!” Moody had finally pushed through the crowds to reach them with Tonks trailing behind.

“Well, I was here, but I had to go pick up Persephone, but then I came right back,” he gave the man the most false-innocent look ever used. Moody’s face hardened more in suspicion at him.

“Oh…this cutie must be Persephone! Well, hi, little one,” Hermione had bent down to see what had shocked Ron and was currently trying to pet the kitten through the bars on the carrier.

“What is it?!” Ron asked again, looking like he wanted to pull Hermione back as quickly as possible from the beast.

“It’s a Sphynx cat, Ron,” Hermione stood and gave him a glare for not respecting the kitten.

Harry just nodded at them all with a smile. “I’m going to call her ‘Sephie.’ Isn’t she just the best?! She’s really nice and cuddly and everything.”

“And those blue eyes, and the big ears!” Hermione cooed at the tiny, wrinkled thing.

Moody was almost growling down at the cat. “It feels evil,” he frowned even deeper.

“Sephie is no more evil than I am!” Harry protested and moved the carrier farther away from Moody. He assumed the man must be feeling some of the soul magic around her, but honestly, Harry himself was about as dark as an inferius these days, so even if he wasn’t evil, the sentiment did stand on multiple levels. Moody was thankfully an auror and not an unspeakable trained to feel magic or Harry would already have been carted off to a holding cell somewhere in the bowels of the ministry.

“And she’s going to be best friends with Crookshanks,” Hermione cooed again.

Harry wasn’t so sure about that. Crookshanks, as part kneazle, would probably be very suspicious of the inferius cat, but he’d try to introduce them slowly if possible until they got used to each other. “We’ll introduce them later,” he nodded at her. “Oh, and I need to learn how to knit her some little jumpers before it gets cold. Can you teach me?”

Hermione solemnly stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. She nodded very seriously at her friend. “All is forgiven and my earlier words in anger are retracted. You are currently my favorite.”

“Merlin, I’m glad you’re gay,” Ron grumbled before getting a playful punch to the shoulder from Harry.

“Can I see the cat?” Tonks was trying to look around Moody, but he was thoroughly blocking the aisle. “Oooo, where did you get her?” She finally shoved by the man and poked a finger through the bars, her hair turning bubblegum pink in excitement.

“I just stopped in at the Menagerie,” Harry lied. “I was looking for a familiar. I love Hedwig, but she doesn’t live in the dorms with us. Sephie is just so interesting and sweet.”

“Buy the books and let’s go!” Moody ordered them all with an extra glare towards the cat. “This day has already been a fiasco, let’s get you back to the house and in the wards.”

“Love you too, Moody,” Harry grinned at him as he walked by to pay for his supplies, getting a swat to the back of his head for the effort.

A tall figure shuffled into the room causing Harry to look up from where he was reading his blood magic book (glamoured as a quidditch highlights book) and cuddling with a sleeping Sephie in the sitting room. Everyone had been really good about her joining the house, except Crookshanks who refused to be in the same room, but he planned to wear the large, orange cat down. Molly Weasley thought the kitten was disturbing, but still gave her some scraps from cooking occasionally when she was in the kitchen. Ginny and the twins were both set on the thinking she was either adorable or interesting respectfully.

Regardless of their feelings, Harry still hadn’t told Ron and Hermione exactly what she was yet. He wanted them to get used to her a little more, then he’d fill them in. They were still more than a little freaked out whenever they saw him without his glamour, a pet inferius was asking a bit much of them at the moment. Overall, she was a fairly normal cat thanks to Percy’s exceptional skills with soul magic. Harry was hiding what she was fairly easily, aided by a small glamour he cast on her each night to hide her glowing red eyes that he still thought was just the coolest thing ever.

“Hey Siri…?” He asked the man standing just inside the room and who looked truly awkward and embarrassed while he shifted weight from side to side in front of him. “Can I help you?”

“Here!” Sirius tossed a thick pamphlet onto the couch beside Harry before he plopped into the armchair in a dramatic topple. Harry glanced around, but they were alone in the room, so this must be something the man had sought him out for.

Shaking his head at his godfather in bemusement, Harry put down his book and picked up the pamphlet to look through without disturbing the inferius. “Er…I don’t think this is what Remus meant by giving me a sex talk…I don’t think you’re supposed to outsource it to a pamphlet…where did you even get this? It might even be a little too informative.”

Harry chuckled as he flipped through the extremely detailed pamphlet that was almost clinical in its explanations…the moving pictures were just a little too much in Harry’s opinion though. Really, that might have traumatized him a bit as an actual fifteen-year-old. He had to admit, he was a little sad if Sirius wasn’t going to attempt an actual talk. The amusement alone was so worth it.

“I get the feeling you’re already fairly informed about all this…I’m sure your friend Hermione made you read up on it, or Madam Pomfrey did a talk, or something based on how not embarrassed you are about everything,” Sirius gave an exasperated wave of his hand at the pamphlet. “I had Dora pick that up at St. Mungo’s just in case though. I’m happy to chat about it and answer questions, but I doubt we need to do the full talk.”

“Hmm…” Harry hummed as he flipped though. “This is all wizards. What if I wanted to sleep with a muggle?” He asked, not giving up yet on getting his godfatherly talk.

Sirius huffed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t use magic and wear a condom. You might not be able to catch any muggle diseases, but you don’t want to be a jerk about them being concerned you might have something. Besides that, everything is the same.”

“I’m actually pretty happy with my person anyway. I’m not looking to trade. I did get hit on when we went to Diagon the other day though. It was quite amusing,” Harry chuckled and put down the pamphlet to focus in on the other man.

Sirius ran a hand down his face and sighed. “Merlin, you’re 15, I thought it would be a long time from now before I had to have these talks with you,” he grumbled. “You’re too young for people to be hitting on. If a man is hitting on you, then assume he’s a creeper or someone dangerous since you’re only 15. Hex him and run if at all possible.”

Harry did chuckle slightly at Snape being considered a creeper until what his godfather said really registered with him. “Talks?” Harry raised an interested eyebrow now. “As in more than one? Is there something else you’d like to discuss? I don’t think there’s anything pressing I need to know about life right now…”

“Look, Pup,” Sirius leaned forward with his arms on his knees, trying to look as serious as possible, which was a little disconcerting coming from this man in particular. “I know we don’t know each other very well yet, but you seem to have changed from when I saw you last. You have this darker cloud about you…more serious and like you’re holding the weight of the world.”

“I did just see Voldemort resurrected from my own blood and a friend murdered in front of me,” Harry bluntly reminded him. Even the first time around everyone had seemed to think he should be perfectly fine after that and go about his business as usual. It might not be why he was acting strangely now, but he thought they should have expected some personality changes and issues from trauma that no one ever seemed to think he needed regardless of what he’d recently gone through. Everyone just expected him to be fine and bounce back from whatever terrible event he had recently been subjected to, and he was bloody tired of it.

“Yeah, Pup…I get that. I really do. You have a right to feel however you feel, and it’s ok to not be ok,” Sirius paled some but nodded in understanding. “It’s why I’ve been trying to get you kids to have a little fun with the prank war and getting together some poker games…I swear I don’t expect you to be doing great and perfect and fully adjusted after what happened, but I do want you…I need you to take care of yourself and find some healthy coping mechanisms. For instance, alcohol is not the answer to making things better…it’s a temporary plaster that really doesn’t fix anything at all…”

“Excuse me?” Harry raised a surprised eyebrow at his godfather. Yeah, he had been the one stealing all the whiskey, but it was very surprising that Sirius had traced it back to him. There hadn’t been any wards or anything around the cupboard; Harry had definitely checked. To Harry, Sirius had never seemed to be the most observant type, but it had been about twelve years since he’d interacted with the man, so maybe he was remembering him wrong.

“What makes you think I’m drinking?” He added on more out of interest in how he’d been found out than really caring if Sirius learned it was him or not.

Sirius pointed to the cupboard in question. “I keep my firewhiskey there, as I’m sure you’ve figured out…and Remus has set me a very strict limit on how much I can drink for the same reasons why I’m worried about you right now. Bottles have been going missing since you came to stay here but none went missing before. I swear to you that I’m not mad, and I’m not even judging you at all, but there has to be a healthier way to deal with everything.”

Harry really wanted to laugh at how very serious his godfather was being. It was almost a bit parental, something he’d never seen from Sirius whom he’d always tried to take care of more than the other way around. He also hadn’t known that Sirius was being looked after that well. It really made him like Remus even more than he had before, and he was glad someone was there for his godfather when he went back to school.

“What makes you think it wasn’t Moody?” He asked, stifling his chuckle. He really didn’t care if Sirius knew, but now he just had to mess with him. “Everyone knows the man has a drinking problem. It’s why fake-Moody got away with carrying a flask all year.”

Sirius crossed his arms and seemed to catch on that Harry was messing with him instead of angry judging by the smirk on his face. “Moody has been sober for a year, ever since he had to dry out when he was kidnapped and kept in a trunk. He realized he had a problem when he had so very much time for introspection…anyone else you want to throw under the bus there?”

Harry shrugged. “I’m sure Dumbledore loves a good drink now and then.”

The older man snorted in amusement. “Snape would have been a better scapegoat than Dumbledore. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the headmaster have even a glass of wine, though I’m sure he probably does have a glass or two of scotch with Minerva occasionally.”

“Mrs. Weasley?” Harry tried next with a wide grin.

Sirius out-right laughed at that one. “Harry, I might not be quite right mentally anymore, but I used to be an auror…I can put together missing bottles of whiskey and the one new person in the house who can’t go out and buy their own.”

Technically Harry could go out and buy his own, but it wasn’t worth the hassle of trying to sneak past all the Order members during the day, and he didn’t think the 24-hour liquor store down the street had even opened yet in this time for him to sneak out late at night. Sephie yawned and Harry scratched her behind her ears. He wasn’t sure what to do, or really how much to tell him. It’s not like he wanted to lie to Sirius…honestly, he really wanted to tell the man the whole truth, but he wasn’t sure he could handle it.

“I took your whiskey,” Harry said slowly, still debating just how much he should let on.

“I appreciate your honesty,” Sirius nodded, clearly already knowing this, and keeping his promise that he wasn’t angry, just concerned. “We need to talk about better ways to deal with what you are going through though, and I know I might not be the best person for that.”

“Merlin, Sirius,” Harry laughed and shook his head. “I don’t have a drinking problem. I’m sure I could very well cross into that category, but I’m on the right side of the line at this moment. I clearly know I need a mind-healer as well, everyone from Hermione to my boyfriend have told me that, but that really isn’t an option for me right now…maybe ever.”

“Then talk to me about what you’re feeling at least then, or Remus if you feel more comfortable with him,” Sirius frowned deeply, not knowing how to solve this but really wanting to.

Harry cracked his neck and tossed out a mental fuck it. He wanted his godfather, and he wanted him to know what was going on. He was quite good at obliviate these days, and no one who had studied even a little mind magic would dare to try to get into a former Azkaban prisoner’s mind, especially one that had been there for over a decade. That wouldn’t be helpful to the legilimens at all and would probably just send them off with the worst migraine of their life and tossing the contents of their stomach. Azkaban did a number on a person’s mental processes that got worse with longer exposure. So, if Sirius took it well, then the information was safe, and if he didn’t, then Harry would just obliviate him of the entire conversation.

“If I’m going to talk to someone, it’s going to be you…well, besides Ron and Hermione who already know,” he assured the man.

“Or the boyfriend maybe?” Sirius tried for some levity with a small smile.

“I’m not counting him since he’s part of the secret,” Harry just added, taking a steadying breath for what he was about to do. “Look, Siri, if you want in, I’ll tell you. I really do want you to know, and I want you on my side. I need you to be sure you can handle some pretty heavy information though. I need to know that you care about me not some cause or a side in this war or even an idea of who and what you want me to be. Am I asking too much? If so, just tell me, I won’t respect you any less, and I’ll swear to never take your whiskey again and we can move forward.”

To his credit, Sirius did actually take a moment to think about it before responding. “Pup…I know I’m not the best godfather…” he held up his hand to stop Harry before he could protest.

“No, it’s true. I can’t leave this house and take you places, I’m all over the place mentally, and Remy says I’m way more impulsive than I was even as a teenager. So, I understand that you might not fully trust me, but I want to assure you, more than anything else in this world, that I’m trying to be better for you. I want to be there for you. Even if I sometimes look at you and see James, I do still know you’re Harry, and that means more to me than this ridiculous war, the people in this house, my own freedom. You say the word and you and me will run off never to be heard from again. I’m serious. Whatever you need, whatever you want to tell me, I’m here for you.”

“Well, you must really mean it since you didn’t make the joke about your name,” Harry grinned at him.

“I did think it though,” Sirius returned his smile slightly. “I didn’t put you first before when I escaped…I put my revenge first. I know I wasn’t in my right mind then, but I want to do right by you now. I want to be someone you can come to and trust with things.”

“Ok, but I’m warning you, if you freak out, I’m going to obliviate you,” Harry told him, not as a threat but as a very sincere promise. He wasn’t worried about Sirius telling anyone because, one, he really didn’t think he would, and two, no one would believe him anyway.

Sirius scoffed. “It might have been a while since I was there, but I’m certain Hogwarts doesn’t teach mind magic to anyone, let alone underage students. At most I might get a nosebleed if you tried.”

“Well, for starters I’m not fifteen,” Harry crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch, trying to take this slowly and not just throw everything at the man all at once. “I act different, I am different, because I came back in time this summer. I’m not the person you knew at the beginning of the summer. I’ve lived all this before, and Siri…it didn’t turn out well at all. My partner and I, we came back to fix things, or fuck it up at the very least.”

Sirius frowned, a look of disbelief and confusion in his eyes. “Time travel does not exist past hours…if you were to go back any significant time, then you put your own existence, your own soul, at risk. My knowledge of dark magic is highly limited, but even I know two of a person cannot exist on the same plane for any significant length of time before the soul tries to right itself.”

Harry winced at that. “Yeah…I really should have realized that ahead of time. I would have if I’d sat down and really thought it through. But, in my defense, future Hermione was the one who found the ritual, and I was more concerned with getting the ridiculous thing right than thinking through all the magical theory. In hindsight, it should have been obvious though. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have done it, I definitely still would, but I might have at least warned my partner first.”

“Obvious? What exactly are you claiming to have done?” Sirius raised an eyebrow, still seeming to not quite believe him and getting more and more concerned.

“Yeah, well, we over-wrote our younger selves…basically, fifteen-year-old me was killed in the process of me coming back, or written out of existence at least,” Harry grimaced at that. “We didn’t mean to, but well, we’re still here, just older and all. It was how the ritual solved the two people on one plane issue.”

“You look fifteen…” Sirius frowned darkly at the person setting in front of him. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was very concerned about Harry. If he wasn’t absolutely certain this person was Harry, which he was after all their interactions over the past week, then he would probably be calling in the rest of the house at the moment.

Harry sighed and moved Sephie off his lap to pull his new wand out of the holster on his leg. Sephie stretched really big before wandering over to Sirius to paw at his pants leg. “Go ahead, pick her up,” Harry waved at the cat. “Maybe holding her will calm you down when I do what I’m about to do.”

“You’re scaring me, Harry,” Sirius didn’t pick up the cat who shook herself and just plopped down on the rug in a bit of a huff.

Harry cast a few auror-grade wards at the door to the sitting room, followed by a ward he really shouldn’t (legally) know but which Percy had taught him. “Merlin…you aren’t fifteen, are you?” Sirius gasped in shock, his eyes wide and his breaths coming short. He looked very close to losing it.

“I just cast a few wards. I haven’t even removed my glamour yet. Are you going to be ok with all this? Remember, obliviate is still an option. We can just go back to how things were half an hour ago,” he offered, his wand pausing before he removed the glamour.

Sirius held up a hand to stop him and visibly seemed to force himself to calm down. “You’re wearing some kind of glamour. That’s why you don’t look fifteen? How do you even know a glamour that strong? I didn’t know one existed! Merlin, Moody has been around you for a week now!”

“Let’s take a minute,” Harry put his wand down on his lap and mimed deep breaths for the man. “Just breathe, Siri. Everything’s fine. I’m only a bit older than you think. As for the glamour, my partner was an unspeakable before we came back in time. One of his coworkers in the future developed it, so no, it doesn’t exist yet.”

Sirius nodded and was clearly still trying to calm himself and take come deep breaths. “How old are you? I just want to prepare myself before seeing it, you know.”

Harry did actually understand. Hearing about it and seeing it were very different things. “I’m twenty-seven, so still younger than you. I should warn you that I do look very different than now though, and it’s more than just my age. I’ve gotten into a bit of body modification over the years…nothing super drastic, but well…you’ll see.”

Sirius shook his head and closed his eyes. He seemed to be spiraling into a dark place. “My pup is twenty-seven…he’s all grown up and I missed it…was I at least a better godfather to you in the future? Was I ever able to be there for you?”

Harry frowned and wrinkled his nose in thought. “I really don’t want to tell you a whole lot about the future all at once. I think it’ll be best to just slowly slip things in. Like now, just get used to me being back in time and being a little older, then we can slowly add events and other revelations.”

The animagus opened his eyes and gave a short bark of a laugh. “Right, so I’m definitely dead,” he chuckled wryly. “Great…I hope I at least died epically in a blaze of glory. You wouldn’t dance around something as simple as how I disapproved of you dyeing your hair or took you to get your first tattoo or something like that if I were still alive when you decided to come back in time and…what did you call it? Fuck up the timeline? Merlin, if I were alive, I’d have come with you. That was a very marauder move at the very least.”

Harry was extremely impressed. Sirius was smarter than he’d given the man credit for over the years since he’d last seen him. “Well, er…yeah, it was actually a pretty epic death overall. You saved my life, so I’d call it a blaze of glory at least.”

Sirius nodded in agreement. “It was a good death then. The way I’d want to go…ok…I think I’m calm enough now. Take off the glamour and give me a minute to freak out again.”

Harry slowly picked up his wand again and waved it over himself, removing his glamour. Sirius took a sharp breath in and looked very close to passing out. “Er…what do you think? Too many piercings?” Harry tried to joke as he nervously fiddled with the end of his braid, something he couldn’t do when he had his glamour on.

Sirius didn’t seem to be able to process anything at the moment. He just stared until he slowly started to nod absently. “Right, so…I can still see you, around the eyes…it’s still you…it’s still you…” he tried to reassure himself.

“Yeah, Siri, it’s still me,” Harry assured him with a little smile. “I’m just a bit older.”

“And got into runes at some point,” Sirius raised an eyebrow at the lines of different magic runes up Harry’s neck and around his arms.

Harry shrugged. “They have purposes. Mostly, they help with my focus, some chronic pain from things that have happened to me over the years, some are to help with memory, and various other things. I have one for you too,” he pulled up his shirt to show the grim, stag, and wolf on his ribcage.

Sirius did actually smile at that and Harry let out a breath of relief. “That’s really well done, Pup. The stag looks almost exactly like Prongs.”

Harry fixed his shirt and waved his wand again to reapply the glamour. “How about we call it there, Siri? I don’t want to overload you. You should take some time to get used to all this.”

“Wait, do you and your boyfr…wait, you’ve been calling him your partner, this is more serious than just a new relationship isn’t it?” Sirius frowned at that new revelation.

“Er…well, we haven’t really felt the need to define anything,” he shrugged. “But yeah, we’re really serious. He’s it for me. I wouldn’t be as arguably sane as I am without him. I love him.”

“Wow…well, I’ve got to meet this person now,” he sighed, accepting one more thing he’d missed in his pup’s life. “Right, so do you and your partner have a plan in all this? Can I help with something?”

Harry shook his head. “No, I don’t need any help right now. Mainly, Voldemort is in my way currently. I hadn’t originally planned to come quite this far back in time, so I need to get rid of him before we can actually start implementing any major plans to change the future.”

“He wasn’t the problem?” Sirius asked in complete disbelief. “You can’t just say you’re taking care of the Dark Lord like he’s a minor inconvenience to your plans! What the hell happened if Voldemort was not what you came back to change?!”

Harry shrugged in unconcern at the Voldy-Situation as he was thinking of it. “He kind-of is an inconvenience at the moment. I got rid of him two years from now in my past when I was only seventeen. Now that I know how I did it, I think we can take him out of play by Christmas or Easter at the latest. The problem is larger than him. It’s…well, it’s complicated. Sit with this a few days and we’ll talk again, ok?”

Sirius shook his head firmly. “No, you’re going back to Hogwarts in a few days. I won’t see you until Christmas. You can’t just leave me with no information. I need to know you and why you’re here and what I can do to help and what all’s happened to you…”

Harry just scoffed at that and stood to remove his wards. “Please, even without the Marauder’s Map I could sneak out of school blindfolded. I’m only going to school to maintain my cover at the moment. I’ll stop by the house to visit. Plus, I’ve already tested it out that if I walk around without my glamour, no one even suspects I’m Harry. I’ll be here as often as I can sneak by the Order. Plus, now that you know, I can tell you that I bought the ingredients to make you some Polyjuice potion, and I can also teach you the glamour, but I’m not sure how effective it will be to change your appearance to another person instead of just a younger version of yourself though.”

Sirius’s jaw was hanging open in surprise. “I can leave the house…?”

Harry removed the last ward and turned with a raise of his eyebrow. “If someone could pretend to be Moody for a year, I don’t see why you couldn’t get away with Polyjuice. I’ll even give you some of my hair as long as you promise not to hit on anyone or get me into any trouble. Remus might be a better option for you though, just whatever you feel most comfortable with.”

“I can leave the house…” Sirius just stated again in surprised disbelief.

“Well, technically it takes a month to brew Polyjuice, but I can probably speed it up a bit. There are a few spells that can move things along faster, but I might need some help from Snape for that. I know potions now, but they aren’t my specialty. He’s next on my list to get on board with all this at least,” he sighed tiredly. He really did have a lot on his plate. It was nice for Sirius to know…Harry was still about halfway certain he’d end up having to obliviate the man in the next few days though.

The older man scoffed at that. “Snivellus? Why? I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. You should just leave him out of whatever plans you have.”

Harry knew this was going to be a problem going into his revelations, but it was something he wasn’t going to budge on. His plans needed Snape and his skills, so Sirius was going to have to get over his prejudices. “Sirius, I want to be very clear…Snape is non-negotiable. I honestly know him better than you do at this moment, and I need him. Also, I am absolutely certain he’s on my side. I can’t tell you how I know this, but chalk it up to future knowledge.”

“Really, Harry…” Sirius scoffed.

“Obliviate is still an option…” Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “I would rather you just try to be civil to him and have an actual conversation though. Maybe you two can get past all the horrible things from your past, which from where I’m standing, it seems was more you and my dad’s fault overall anyway.”

Sirius frowned deeply. “What do you know of our past? Snape was not innocent in everything…”

Harry held a hand up to stop him. “Sirius, I don’t really care. I don’t give a shit what you all did to each other before now. I only care that you can eventually figure out how to work together. I’m going to leave at that…think about it.” Harry put his wand back in his leg holster and picked up his book and then Sephie to take her with him upstairs.

“Does the weird cat-thing have anything to do with your plans?” Sirius asked with a grimace at the hairless cat that was glaring at him from Harry’s arms.

“She’s just a cat, Siri,” Harry laughed at them. “My partner got her as a gift for me. It was very sweet.”

“Sweet my arse,” Sirius was grumbling from the room while Harry escaped to check in on Ron and Hermione and fill them in on what was probably his latest mistake.

P.

I told Sirius. I know, I know…not a good idea. Overall, he seems to be taking it fairly well. I only told him my age though. It’s not like he knows any real plans we have. I swear I’ll obliviate him at the first sign of trouble. Please don’t be mad. I miss you! Sephie is doing really well and eating good and playing. I might even tell Ron and Hermione what she is soon. I caught Ron petting her yesterday before he tried to act like he wasn’t doing anything. Has anything been decided yet about the new DADA professor? Just a few more days and I can more easily sneak out to see you. Merlin, I miss you!

H.

X

X

X

H.

I knew you would eventually tell Sirius. I’d hoped you would wait a little longer, but he’s your godfather, and I know how much you have missed him over the years. I’m not mad at all, but please be careful and keep a close eye on him while you can.

I’m glad Persephone is doing well. Keep me updated about anything out of the ordinary she might do. If she starts to chew on people, tell me immediately. I’m serious, H., that's not something you keep quiet because you like her.

As for the DADA professor, Fudge has narrowed it down to just a few now that he's having to work around Umbridge’s disappearance. I’m trying to subtly influence him in the direction I want him to go, and I’m liking my chances. It helps that he can't even imagine his teenaged assistant, Weatherby, might actually be smarter and more politically savvy than him. Regardless, it looks like it will be a last-minute thing. Hopefully, whoever it is will make it to the welcome feast.

I miss you too! I’m keeping busy, especially know that I have that amazing apothecary you found. I find that I really don’t like not living with you anymore though. Even your weird habit of jabbing me in the side when you want to get my attention I’ve started to miss instead of finding annoying. We need to spend some significant time together soon.

P.

Chapter Text

Harry tapped his wand on his arm and circled the man, looking him up and down in a minute study. “Well…it’s not the perfect solution, but I think it’ll work…”

“Really?!!” Sirius Black almost danced in joy with an excited clap of his hands.

“Don’t get too excited. If you run into anyone who actually knew you at this age and they get a close look, I bet they could figure it out,” Harry tried to squelch his glee some. “It’s safe for the muggle world and general wixen from a distance, but maybe not Diagon or Hogsmeade, or at least wear a hat or hooded cloak if you do need to go there.”

The glamour spell Percy had taught Harry really was just for making a person look like a younger version of themselves. With the spell on Sirius, he looked in his early twenties, which was a far cry from his current weathered and gaunt self, but there were a lot of people who knew him at that age still around. They had been able to tweak it slightly though so that his hair was now a sandy brown and his eyes were more a standard blue than the odd Black family grey-blue they were before.

“Even so pup, just going out to Tesco or for a pint with Moony is so much more than I have currently,” Sirius’s grin didn’t fall in the slightest.

“Well, I’m still going to work on the Polyjuice for instances where you might need to be around people who knew you at this age,” he decided. “What do you plan to tell Remus anyway? I’m not so sure we should pull him in just yet. I think joining us will be an easy sell if he’ll actually hear me out and watch a couple memories I have, but I was thinking that it might be better to take care of the Voldy problem first before then. I don’t want Dumbledore to know just yet, and I think he might think it necessary to tell him.”

Sirius scoffed and removed the glamour before plopping into an armchair. “I'll tell Moony I found the spell in a dusty old book. I don’t understand keeping Dumbledore in the dark though, but I also realize I know absolutely nothing about your plans or history at this point anyway. If you give him a good enough reason, I’m sure Remus will support you though,” he then pouted at Harry with large puppy dog eyes. “Why does Moony get to see memories and I don’t? I’m your godfather.”

Harry winced and sat on the couch beside where Sephie was napping. “Believe me, Siri, you don’t want to see the memories. Remus is sold on this whole two sides of the war thing and Dumbledore’s way is the right way. Don’t get me wrong, he has good reason to support the man who gave him opportunities when no one else would, so I’m not judging him,” Harry explained while Sirius frowned, trying to absorb his reasoning.

“So, my point is, I know that it’s going to take those memories to convince him to break away from all that. I have absolutely no doubt he will, I have the ace in the hole on this one, but…those memories are not ones I’d wish on anyone…you really don’t want to know.”

Sirius’s frown deepened even more at that. “Harry…are you really alright? I mean…I clearly don’t know anything about what you’ve gone through, but I’m getting the idea that maybe I should be more concerned than I have been.”

Harry gave him a sad smile and a shrug. “I was doing better before I came back here,” he said, knowing it was true, even if he had been a mess then too. “I think I’ll be able to get past the worst of it once I get used to all the dead people walking around alive though.”

Sirius closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before standing and moving over to sit beside Harry and Sephie on the couch. “I’m going to need you to check in to tell me how you are doing,” he instructed very seriously. “You said that you can sneak out, can you come by here like once a week just so I can see you? I don’t know how to get you past the Order, but I’ll find a way if you can get here.”

Harry chuckled as an idea came to him. It would be nice to drop by and see Sirius regularly, and he had already established a cover to do that unintentionally. “Just tell them your cousin is in town and he’s amenable to helping out the Order and won’t turn in his favorite older cousin to the aurors,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“With your hair long, you do look like you could be a part of the family,” Sirius gave it some thought and an equally mischievous grin. “Mother and Grandfather both were brutal when it came to cutting people out of the family, so it wouldn’t be too shocking for there to be a cousin people hadn’t heard much about.”

“I generally use the name Hadrian Black in the future for my business dealings anyway,” Harry informed him, already now planning his double life outside of school. Percy was going to hate this. “I’ve used it here in Diagon and wasn’t questioned on it, even the goblins wouldn’t question it since it actually is part of my legal name.”

At that Sirius looked extremely confused but not upset. “Erm…I get Hadrian…I vaguely remember Lily wanting to name you after a Roman emperor for some reason, but how did you end up with my last name? I’m clearly fine and even happy about it, but just how?”

“Huh…” Harry raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Well, I guess you haven’t made your will yet. In the future/my past, you made me your heir. Left me everything, even your name so that the family could live on.”

Sirius chuckled at that. “Well, guess I got my head out of my arse and did something smart eventually then. I think I’ll go ahead and put together that will…I might also see about formally adopting you into the family since we can’t take away a name you already have. That just wouldn’t do. Plus, I'm planning on not dying very soon anyway.”

“It’s a simple ritual,” Harry told him, now extremely excited to more completely be accepted into the family. As the only one left with the name, it hadn’t ever been a problem that he wasn’t a Black by blood, but it had always been a small regret of his. Although…he was technically more accepted by the family magic than Sirius was now, so…

“Er…I should probably mention that I own the house,” he said sheepishly. “Clearly, that changes nothing about you living here or even the Order, but yeah…you should know. The wards switched over to me as soon as I stepped over the threshold.”

“Even the house likes you better than me,” Sirius fake pouted, clearly not too broken up over that. “I can't believe I didn't notice...Well, seems this ritual is more a formality then…let’s go get a Hadrian Black added to the ugly family tapestry!

Sirius jumped up and motioned for Harry to follow him, presumably to the sitting room that contained the tapestry. “What do we need? Probably some blood? Maybe a potion?”

“I’ll grab the book from the library, but I think I remember it’s just some blood, a chant, and possibly burning some drawn runes…” he stood, trying to remember the ritual he’d studied and even had to perform once for a family as part of his mastery. It had been a while, but he was still pretty sure he remembered it, but it was always best to check instead of accidentally cursing themselves or something though.

“So…you said you used the name in your business dealings…what exactly is or was your business, pup?” Sirius slung an arm over his shoulder and steered him towards the door with a questioning raise of his eyebrow.

“Er…just this and that…erm, let’s just focus on the ritual for now. Why don’t you go find a silver dagger, and I’ll go find the book in the family library,” Harry tried to deflect, clearly not fooling Sirius any at all.

“Fine!” The man gave a fake huff and eyeroll at his secretiveness. “Wait…we have a family library?”

A couple sliced palms, some ancient Latin, and a small but controlled fire later and one Hadrian Black appeared on the family tapestry in an odd branch off to the side, not really attached to anyone in particular. “It looks like I just showed up out of nowhere, like a stork actually did drop me off on your doorstep,” Harry chuckled at the positioning of his name.

“A stork?” Sirius looked at him in utter confusion.

“Er, muggle story, sorry,” Harry said in explanation. "Although...I was actually dropped off on the Dursley's doorstep...huh...not sure how I feel about that right now."

“Well, I'm glad you are here with me now. Regardless, families graft people in all the time,” Sirius lovingly ran a finger over the name, the only part of the tapestry he liked. “Our family just wasn’t one to add, more subtract.”

Harry walked over and wrapped his arms around his new cousin, or uncle, or father, or whatever the ritual had made Sirius to him. With his glamour off, they were much closer to the same size. Even if Harry was still a little shorter, he was stockier and more muscular. It was odd, but nice. “Thank you…then and now for wanting me in your family.”

“Always, pup,” Sirius just hugged Harry back like he was the only thing keeping him tethered to the world.

“Besides, I can’t have anyone questioning my favorite cousin,” he said with a grin. “You really going to stop by and join in on Order things and such?”

“I will definitely stop by as often as possible,” Harry assured him. “As for the Order, I can help out, but not join. While our goals currently do align, I’m clearly a dark wizard, Siri…you have figured that out, right? I mean…tattooing runes on yourself is runic blood magic…are you ok with me if I’m not completely sold on everything the Order stands for? I know you said you were with me, but I’m not a light wizard…”

“I did actually figure that one out, thank you very much,” Sirius rolled his eyes and gave a little nervous chuckle. “Yes, the runes, but also the wards switching to you, that this ritual was clearly dark magic and you expertly cast it with no problem, and the fact you even knew we had a family library that I’m assuming is completely Dark Arts. Harry, pup, my prejudice against dark magic is because I’ve seen the harm it can do from my family, but after the war…well, I’ve seen the harm light magic can do now as well. I’ve seen the harm I can do with light magic. I might not understand, but I’m willing to listen…for you, I’m willing to try.”

“That’s all I ask, Siri,” Harry assured him vehemently. “I’m not asking you to be involved in anything you don’t want to. I just want you in my life.”

“Well, we’re stuck together now!” Sirius smiled and pointed at the new name on the tapestry. “Welcome to the madhouse of my family. I’m sure you fit in better than I do. I think we might both have a touch of the stereotypical Black madness anyway.”

Harry laughed and gave him one more hug before reapplying his glamour. “Well, I have packing to do for school, and you have an Order meeting to get to. Try not to start any fights with Snape.”

Sirius shrugged. “I make no promises…no stealing my whiskey to take to school!” He called out as Harry removed the ward on the door and made to leave.

“Just one?” Harry asked with a pout and really terrible puppy dog eyes. “Kreacher refuses to buy any for me, apparently house elves can refuse an order if they think it’s for your own good…I swear he only ever followed about a third of my orders in the future anyway, and he’s heading that direction quite quickly already.”

“I don’t even want to know how you got my elf to serve you…actually, you own the house, I guess that makes perfect sense,” he shrugged, not caring at all. He gave in with a sad sigh. “Alright…just one bottle, and you aren’t to give any to the actual fifteen-year-olds.”

“Oh please, like I’d share with them anyway,” Harry scoffed with a laugh to run off and grab the bottle before his godfather changed his mind.

“Merlin, he’s worse than me,” Sirius grumbled, more concerned than anything else. With one last glance back to the newest member of his family on the wall, he made his way downstairs to try not to fall asleep during the latest Order meeting fiasco.

“I still don’t know how I got prefect and you didn’t, mate. I know you don't want it, but still,” Ron remarked as his mum fussed over everyone while loading the table with food as soon as the Order meeting finished.

Everyone was still in the kitchen when the ‘kids’ were allowed to enter, even Dumbledore was still hanging around, though he refused to look anywhere near Harry’s direction. Harry clutched his hands tightly and did his best to just ignore the man. A thought then occurred to Harry, something he’d completely forgotten.

“Wait…didn’t I get quidditch captain this year?” He asked in a whisper to Ron. He hadn’t really looked over his school list, but he remembered the badge that he’d just brushed off. “Merlin…that’s going to be a bit inconvenient…”

“What do you mean by that?!” Ron indignantly sputtered, making everyone look up in their direction.

“Cool it, Ron…we’ll talk later,” Harry rolled his eyes and huffed at his friend before plopping down at the table between George and Hermione. Ron was still muttering under his breath when he sat down on the other side of Hermione, shooting his friend dangerous glares.

“Are you all packed? Anything in the laundry?” Mrs. Weasley checked with them all as she continued to putter around and try to force the Order members without families to stay for dinner as well.

Sirius cleared his throat loudly, causing most of the people to look his direction. “Erm, would it be ok if my cousin stopped by for dinner sometimes? Not for Order things and all, but he’s very reliable and can keep a secret.” Harry hid a smile when he saw Snape’s head shoot up from where he’d been trying to exit while avoiding Mrs. Weasley.

“You have a cousin…that you actually like?!” Remus asked incredulously, the question echoed in literally everyone’s expressions.

“Well, yeah,” Sirius nodded awkwardly. “My favorite little cousin Hadrian owled me when he heard I’d escaped, a really impressive bit of owl magic that was to find me, but he’d never believed I was guilty. He’s been out of the country traveling and studying, but he just recently moved back to Britain. I promise, he is not in league with Voldemort and won’t turn me in to the aurors.”

“Why haven’t we heard about him?” Remus asked again, still seeming to be stunned at not knowing something about Sirius's life.

“He was out of the country,” Sirius just shrugged. “He was too young to take part in the last war anyway.” Harry frowned and did some quick math. If he was 27 and the war was 14 years before, then he’d have been 13 in this timeline…it tracked, but in reality he’d already been integrally involved in the war by the time he was actually 13. Harry kept Snape in the corner of his eye where he noticed the man’s expression slightly take on a confused look, then concern, then clear completely once more.

“Now, my boy, we can’t just have random people coming to headquarters,” Dumbledore began with a deep frown.

Fred coughed on the other side of George in a way that sounded very suspiciously like “Mundungus!” Harry couldn’t help the laugh and smile over at Fred for that one.

“Hadrian isn’t just a random person, he’s my cousin,” Sirius protested. Harry was starting to get concerned. Sirius lived here, Order headquarters or not, they were absolutely not going to keep him from his godfather.

“Sirius is right, Albus,” Molly Weasley said to everyone’s surprise. “This is his home, and this person is his family. Can’t you just have him take a secrecy oath or something. You can’t keep family away from each other...it's just not right-,” she said a little sadly at the end. Harry had a feeling she was thinking about Percy, and he was so glad that their estrangement was not going to be anywhere near as long this time around since his partner was completely on board with making up with his family as soon as he could do it and it not cause too many questions.

“Wait…who are his parents?” Remus asked, still trying to figure why he knew absolutely nothing about this person.

“Disowned, of course,” Sirius huffed in exasperation that this was becoming such a big deal. “Go look at the family tree if you don’t believe me. His whole side was cut off, but he was too young at the time to get caught in that particular purge…I believe it was my grandfather who knocked off that branch of the tree.”

Remus still looked like he was having some kind of complete mental meltdown in trying to believe the fact that Sirius might actually have a cousin he liked. “How old is this cousin? Did he attend Hogwarts?”

Internally, Harry was dying laughing, but just loaded his plate with chicken and mashed potatoes to cover his amusement. “He’s 27,” Sirius answered him with a questioning look at why he was taking this so hard. “And no…he had private tutors because of all the travel his family did.”

Harry knew he looked a little older than 27 due to the silver that had worked its way into his hair because of trauma, chronic pain, and some of the magic he used to keep functional, so he saw Snape seem to slightly let out a breath of relief that it didn’t turn out he’d been hitting on someone significantly younger at least.

“Just trying to place him at school…” Remus grumbled before he shrugged, seeming to finally let it go. “Maybe having some family around would do you good.

Dumbledore sighed and tiredly ran a hand over his face. “Do you believe this cousin of yours would consent to meeting with me and taking a secrecy oath? We can’t have what we are doing get out to the wrong people.” Harry wondered what Sirius would say. Honestly, he didn’t know how he felt about those conditions himself. Sirius, for his part, frowned and did his absolute best not to look over at Harry questioningly.

“I will not commit my cousin to an oath. That's up to him, and I’m sure he would want a say in the wording,” Sirius eventually said after a lot of thought. “As for a meeting…” He trailed off with a frown at the implications of putting an older, darker Harry in a room with Dumbledore who would most definitely try (and fail) to use legilimency on him.

“I know Black’s cousin,” Snape cut in surprising literally everyone in the room, even Harry who was privy to the story about how they'd met. “We met briefly; he is not marked, nor have I ever seen him at a meeting.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, he hadn’t known that Snape had been clocking if he had a Dark Mark or not, but it made sense he would have looked. It also made sense that he would also realize the danger of putting a dark wizard in the room with Dumbledore who seemed ready to interrogate this new person. “If you want, I could meet with him and ask about the oath. We were going to meet up to discuss a potion he was working on anyway,” Snape offered, causing Sirius to turn pale and look like he was trying to figure out a way to get Harry out of this.

Harry tried to catch his eye to tell Sirius to stand down, that this was the best outcome they could hope for. Eventually, Sirius did look over at him, and Harry gave him an imperceptible nod and smile. Sirius let out a breath and seemed to let his protests go, but Ron leaned around Hermione with a surprised look.

“You were going to meet up with Snape?” He asked in an incredulous whisper. They knew he’d talked to Snape in Diagon, but they didn’t know they’d planned to meet up again later. Harry sent him a glare, but only stuffed more potatoes in his mouth, clearly not going to talk about this with everyone in the room.

Dumbledore just slowly nodded though, seeming to weigh just how much he trusted Snape’s judgement. Clearly, he didn’t trust Sirius’s. “Of course, Severus. If you were going to meet anyway…I trust you can come up with a binding secrecy oath.”

Sirius apparently couldn’t help the snort of agreement at that statement, but thankfully he kept his mouth shut…it was a little progress at least. Harry for his part planned to write that oath himself. He wasn’t going to agree to anything that didn’t have hippogriff sized loopholes that he could use for his own benefit.

The potion master just nodded sternly. “I’ll owl him to meet next week.” At that, he turned on a heel and strode from the room. Harry wondered how well-known Snape’s owl was or this might get a bit awkward in a couple hours…

He shoveled the last of his food in his mouth quickly and was barely able to swallow it. After a cough to clear his throat, he looked up at Mrs. Weasley. “May I be excused? I still have a little packing to do,” he asked the woman with as kind of a smile as he could force onto his face to cover his anxiety.

“Of course, dear…you sure you don’t want more?” Mrs. Weasley asked, patting his hand before he gave his godfather a little smile and rushed off to his room to await the promised owl.

“Seriously, Padfoot…how didn’t I know about this cousin…?” Remus was asking yet again behind Harry as he sped out of the room.

Hadrian,

I know that I initially left it to you to owl; however, it has come to my attention that you and your cousin are in communication. Your cousin asked this evening if you were allowed to come to dinner sometime, and I assume you know at least some of his circumstances if not all. There is some concern about safety and security. I have been tasked to meet with you to address these concerns.

Would you, and your partner if you would like, be free to meet in Hogsmeade next week at the Three Broomsticks for dinner? I am free any evening except for Friday when I have night patrol duty. Owl back at your first convenience.

Severus Snape

Potion Master

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Harry had just set Snape’s letter on fire when Ron and Hermione made it back up to the room, having stayed behind to finish dinner and see the fallout from Sirius’s question. “Must you do that with all your correspondence?” Hermione asked with a long-suffering look at him.

“If you knew some of the things I had to deal with in the future, you’d agree with me,” he grumbled. He clearly remembered finding a reporter digging through his rubbish bin looking for correspondence to publish during the height of his fame after the war. That wasn't even taking into account the times people had tried to track his location through letters...yeah, bad memories there. Even if it hadn’t been sensitive information from Percy or Snape, he still burned literally all his letters and warded all those he sent others.

“Why were you going to meet up with Snape anyway?” Ron asked yet again now that they were alone.

“I told you, I need him on my side,” Harry reminded them with a sigh. “Honestly, I’m closer to his age than yours at this point, and as much as I love you both, I can also relate a little more to him and all the things he’s been through…I’m not saying we’re going to be best friends, but I need his skills, his information, and it would be nice to talk to someone outside of my partner about potions and things.”

Ron looked extremely conflicted at that reminder of just how old Harry was, but Hermione was already nodding. “It makes sense. It’ll take us a while to get used to you not really being our Harry anymore though,” she reminded them all. Sometimes it was easy to forget when he was wearing the glamour. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to come here to the house as Hadrian Black though? I know Sirius is tentatively in on the secret, but that sounds like it’s stretching you a bit thin to be Harry at school and now have the separate identity of Hadrian outside.”

“It might actually keep me saner,” he chuckled wryly. “Pretending to be fifteen is more difficult that I originally thought it would be. Plus, it’s not like I really need to study or learn anything at school. I already know the fifth-year information and could even sit my mastery again tomorrow if needed. Anyway, I don’t really think OWLs are required as part of the Dark Lord job description.”

“Well, get ready to be thoroughly interrogated by Professor Lupin as this mystery cousin, mate,” Ron chuckled and flopped onto his bed. “He seems very flustered that Sirius never mentioned you.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Technically, I would have been thirteen when Siri went to jail in this timeline. What does Remus expect? It’s not like I could have reasonably been a big part of Sirius’s life even if I’d actually existed as his cousin back then.”

“Just a warning,” Ron shrugged while Harry began to pin a reply to Snape.

Severus,

I was just thinking about writing you. I would love to get dinner with you in Hogsmeade next week. I will have to check with my partner to see if he is free, but I can at least commit to dinner. I believe Thursday would work best with my schedule. Would 8pm be acceptable?

I understand my cousin’s circumstances and obligations, and I am not seeking to cause any problems. I also know he doesn’t have any family he is in touch with besides me though, and I would like to see him some. I know a very little about your past history, mainly only that you do not get along. I hope my relationship with my cousin does not need to affect our friendship moving forward.

Hadrian Black

Harry sat in an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express with Sephie purring in his lap and wearing a soft, pink jumper he’d asked Hermione to knit for her for the occasion. He did not tell Hermione the color was in honor of their late-almost-professor that would most assuredly not be teaching DADA this year though. He got a whole lot of sick joy out of the pink jumper in honor and memory of Umbridge though…may she burn in hell…or a lake of inferi.

The door slid open and a familiar face smiled in. “Hey, Harry…how was your summer? Mind if I join?” Neville asked, awkwardly waiting for Harry to invite him in.

Harry gave his friend a smile. He didn’t know how he would have gotten through the years without Neville. This teen had grown into his rock, a calm point in the middle of any storm. Also, thankfully, he happened to be a head auror that was perfectly fine covering over some little crimes and keeping Harry updated on where possible raids might take place. He was much shorter, less muscular, and a lot more timid than Harry was used to seeing him, but it was still Neville, and he still loved him.

“Come on in, Nev…I missed you over the summer. Mine was a little eventful with the whole dementor trying to suck out me and my cousin’s souls thing…then the trial for underage magic, but whatever…at least I got Sephie here out of it all,” he motioned to the cat in his lap. “How was your summer?”

At some point during Harry’s rant Neville had sat down and started staring at him while turning a bit sickly pale. “Erm…did you say dementor attack?” He finally asked with a terrified look in his eyes.

Oh dear…Harry forgot Neville wasn’t quite up to his level of crazy just yet. When had Neville decided he was a badass that would cast fiendfyre at a dementor to get its ashes for Harry? Well, he’d get there…maybe with a little less torture along the way though, Harry decided firmly. Neville would grow into the amazing person he was going to become without all the trauma, and if he was just a little less badass and fiendfyre wielding, well, Harry would still love him anyway.

“Right…let’s start from the beginning…or maybe the end,” Harry smiled at him. “This is Persephone, but I call her Sephie,” he introduced his friend to the inferius cat in his lap.

“I can’t believe I haven’t thought to ask this, but with all the insanity going on…who is our DADA professor this year, Harry?” Hermione asked him.

“And will they try to kill you?” Ron asked when the carriage they’d claimed just the three of them began to slowly climb up to the castle, the thestral trotting along happily in the stream of the other carriages.

Harry gave them a huge smile. “I honestly don’t know. I’m looking forward to finding out though. Hopefully if they try to kill me it's imaginative and not already been done a million times. Some of the attempts are just getting old.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Hermione frowned in concern. “You’ve lived this year before. Who was the professor?”

"And you better be kidding about the murder attempts," Ron frowned, not seeming to be able to tell if Harry was joking or not...he wasn't.

Harry just grinned at them even more. “My partner has been a bit busy while I’ve been lazing around Grimmauld with you lot…this year’s DADA professor was frankly the worst of all my years, and he knew I’d probably kill her…well, most definitely would kill her, if she showed. So, he took care of it for me. The ministry will appoint someone to replace her since they want a presence in the school this year. I have no clue who though. It’ll be interesting to see if this one wants me dead too.”

“How could they be worse than Quirrelmort?!” Ron asked incredulously.

“What do you mean by ‘took care of it?’” Hermione asked at the same time with a concerned frown.

Harry looked out the window at the castle in the distance, trying to shove down the ghosts of his past that was trying to force their way to his attention. It felt like he was missing something on this trip to the castle. There was something or someone that was supposed to be there his fifth year...he had avoided Malfoy's normal taunting by warding his compartment after Ron and Hermione joined him and Neville, so maybe that was it...something still felt like it was missing. Oh well...nothing he could do about it at the moment until he remembered.

"Right, so DADA professors...I actually rank them from worst to best as: This fifth-year one, then Lockhart, then Quirrelmort, then Snape, then Fake-Moody, then Lupin…Remus was definitely the best.”

“Snape taught one year?” Ron asked in surprise.

“That was only six,” Hermione counted. “And you still didn’t answer my question about what taking care of them meant.”

“I didn’t attend my seventh year,” Harry turned back to them with a sad smile. “It is a very long, sad story that thankfully ends with Voldy’s death. I did attend for a few weeks of an odd eighth year option we had going until future Hermione made me drop out and self-study for my own mental health. I didn’t spend enough time with that DADA professor to rank them.”

“Merlin…this is not going to go well,” Ron sighed, taking in the fact that Harry hadn’t been able to stay the last time he’d been at the school.

“As for taking care of the situation…don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Hermione, because I will answer you,” he warned her with a dark smirk. “Just trust that this was entirely necessary, and you would have been one of the first in support if you’d have lived through this year. This was not something you wanted to experience for this year or for the lasting impact it had on our society.”

“Considering you ranked a Death Eater as our second-best DADA professor and the one with Voldy in the back of his head wasn’t the worst…and I don’t disagree with you…I think I’ll believe you if you say this one was one we didn’t want to experience for ourselves,” Ron winced at the implications.

“Merlin…we’ve had some messed-up professors, haven’t we?” Hermione sighed, not letting it go, but willing to push it aside temporarily.

Harry was holding Sephie in his arms, needing the comfort as he walked into the entrance hall of the school. Even so, everything disappeared around him three steps in and he was standing in the middle of the battlefield the school had become. There was smoke, spellfire, and crying all around him. He could smell the blood and hear an echo of Bellatrix’s laugh in the distance.

“Ow!” Harry jumped and shifted Sephie in his arms to rub at his side. “There has to be a better way to get my attention.” He frowned at Ron who had viciously pinched his side when he’d blacked out in the middle of the hall. "I definitely have bruises!"

“What does your boyfriend usually do?” Hermione asked him as she put a hand on his arm and tried to offer some comfort as they followed everyone into the Great Hall.

Harry hummed with a small, nervous smile as he tried to stay in the moment. “I don’t think you or Ron would want to try that.”

“Ew, too much information,” Ron grimaced while Hermione just laughed.

“I’m joking,” Harry gave Ron’s arm a little bump with his shoulder. “He usually just rubs circles on my back or talks to me until I come back.”

“Bloody hell! The other professor you got rid of had to be better!” Ron dramatically groaned after a look up at the head table. “You should have left it alone. This year is going to be terrible! Let's just quit now!”

Harry frowned, coming back to himself more in confusion as he tried to see who the DADA professor was that Ron was so adamantly against. He absolutely could not help the smile that broke onto his face even with all the Occlumency training he’d had over the years. He pushed down his glee and excitement as much as possible when he briefly caught the eye of Percy Weasley. Percy’s face softened just slightly before he turned back to where he was talking with McGonagall at the head table.

Hermione was also talking about something when Harry sat down with them at the Gryffindor table and started listening in to them again. “But he isn’t even qualified. I’m sure he did well on his NEWTs, but how does that equal being able to teach DADA?” She was ranting quietly from beside Ron who was nodding away vehemently.

Harry held his tongue. Oh, if they only knew…Percy might not have a mastery in DADA, but as an Unspeakable, he was more than qualified to teach their class. Harry wondered just how persuasive his partner was with Fudge or if he needed to check the minister over for memory charms the next time he saw the man. He gave a mental shrug; he really didn’t care. He did care that his Percy was going to be at the school that year though!

“Erm, Harry…?” Hermione asked with worry in her tone and a scared look on her face. “Why do you think Professor Flitwick would be staring at you like he is extremely, possibly murderously concerned…Like maybe he sees a tattooed 27 year-old sitting where Harry Potter should be sitting at the Gryffindor table?”

Harry looked over from where he’d been looking at Percy, and yes, Flitwick was staring at him like the next goblin uprising was about to start any second…then Flitwick’s eyes cut over to Percy, a similar but more confused look crossing it then. “Bloody hell…it’s not just house elves,” he groaned wondering how long Flitwick would give him before demonstrating why he was world-renowned dueling champion. "This is why experimental spells are experimental!"

Chapter Text

“Hermione, give me some parchment,” Harry put Sephie on the table and held out a hand to his friend.

“What makes you think I just carry around parchment on me,” she rolled her eyes and scooped up the pink clad cat who was wondering around the plates looking for something to knock off the table.

“My nerds have failed me,” he sighed and pulled out his new wand to conjure some parchment and a quill, not having tried his old wand yet and not trusting it in a pinch.

Ron was looking at Flitwick with a frown of concern. “Harry, mate, I’d classify you are a nerd at this point, so you might want to start putting that brain to use to come up with some way out of this. Flitwick looks like he’s just trying to figure out the best way to attack to limit collateral damage.”

“What’s going on?” Neville leaned around Ron to ask as Harry frantically scribbled a note on the paper.

With a quick wordless and wandless spell, the parchment folded itself into an origami bird and fluttered lowly towards the head table just as McGonagall led the new first years into the hall and towards where the sorting hat was sitting. “Nothing, Nev,” Harry told him with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I forgot that I needed to tell Professor Flitwick something about my schedule this term. I had asked for some extra tutoring in Charms later on in last year.”

Neville nodded but still shot a look up to where the half-goblin professor grabbed the note from the air with a hard look on his face. “I don’t know…he looks a bit upset. Maybe he lost his last tournament,” Neville remarked just before the sorting hat began its song for the new year.

Harry kept an eye on the man who read the note and didn’t look any less suspicious at all. He did look slightly less murderous though, which Harry would count as a win currently. Flitwick returned his look and slowly, and very deliberately, pulled his wand from his sleeve and sat it on the table beside him. Yeah…that clearly wasn’t a threat…

With a flick of his wrist, Flitwick disintegrated the note in his hand and banished the ashes beside his plate. “I’m not so sure that helped, whatever you wrote,” Hermione whispered from where she was scratching Sephie behind the ears.

“I just said that I’d meet him in his office after the feast and explain everything,” Harry sighed and reached out for the cat. He needed his emotional support inferius since he just caught sight of Colin Creevey out of the corner of his eye down the table, and he was decidedly repressing the emotions that brought up in him.

Hermione passed the cat back and looked up at the head table with another huff. “If he gets on board with your ridiculous plan, maybe he would give us some extra tutoring in DADA. It looks like another year of sub-par teaching. At least this professor won’t try to kill you.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Percy,” Ron added on with a glare towards his brother who was clearly trying to not look at the Gryffindor table. “He’s been a right arse since…well, forever, but even more since what happened at the end of last term.”

Harry opened his mouth but closed it again. He wanted to defend Percy who really had been going through a lot when he was actually nineteen, and who had grown up quite competent, capable, and just wonderful in Harry’s opinion. He definitely didn’t want to spoil the surprise they were going to get later on though.

“Er…maybe we give him the space of a lesson or two. He might have come around,” he lamely attempted instead. Hermione and Ron just both looked at him like when he’d said Kreacher was a friend again though.

The rest of the welcoming feast was uneventful if you discounted the death glare Harry got from Flitwick the entire time. There were no interruptions from Umbridge, Hagrid was still missing like he had been the first time, and Snape still glared in Harry’s direction occasionally. As traumatic as it was, Harry felt like he was home again, and it felt like he could finally work past some of what had been weighing him down over the years as well. He just had to survive their dueling-champion, Charms professor first.

Flitwick leaned over and said something to Percy, getting a frown and a nod in response before they left the hall together. Harry sighed, at having to go deal with this issue on top of the stressors of the day. At least he got to do it with his partner, and at least he still had a bottle of whiskey waiting for him in a very secret compartment he’d spelled into his trunk to evade the Hogwarts security check.

“Hermione, please take Sephie and get her settled in the dorm,” Harry passed the cat over to Hermione. “Don’t let her get too near Crookshanks though, they still don’t like each other.”

“You did check that she isn’t an animagus, right?” Ron frowned at the cat in suspicion once more. “We did learn our lesson third year.”

“Yes, Ron,” Harry rolled his eyes and gave the inferius a parting scratch behind her ears.

“You sure you don’t want us to come too?” Hermione checked, even though neither of them seemed to actually want to deal with this.

Harry shrugged. “I know our standard go-to is to not trust the adults to handle anything, but I guess I’m the adult now, weirdly enough. Let me handle this and you all just get settled, and maybe hex Seamus for me if you get a chance, Ron.”

Ron frowned and paused as they had turned to leave. “Er…why hex Seamus? What did he do? I thought we liked him.”

“He’s going to be a prat this year,” Harry smirked at his friend. “I’m just getting a head start on not dealing with his crap. Plus, it’s less icky if another fifteen-year-old hexes him instead of me.”

Hermione poked him in the chest. “No taking out future actions on people before they did them. That’s not fair, and if you’re changing things anyway, then they may never do whatever it is they did.”

Harry rolled his eyes but didn’t disagree with her. “Seamus is just a nuisance and a child, so I’m not going to do anything major to him besides make it known that I disapprove of him hating me. He got over it by the end of this year anyway. If I were going to go after someone for future actions, it would be Justin Finch-Fletchley, and if you noticed, I haven’t even looked his direction. See…I’m being good.”

“The Hufflepuff prat?” Ron frowned, craning his neck to find the boy. “What did he do?”

“I’m being good…!” Harry called with a smirk and a wave as he strode away towards where he thought Flitwick’s office might be. He’d never actually had detention with the man, and it had been years since he was in the school, so it was an educated guess as to where he was even going.

“Is this about the start of the term? I do have some preliminary lesson plans for the first couple weeks that I would love to talk with a seasoned professor about…” Percy was saying as Harry finally came to an open door that must be Flitwick’s office.

“Merlin,” he chuckled when he looked into the office that seemed to be overflowing with books and whose furniture was slightly shorter than the norm but still looked comfortable. “You’re a bit hard to find. I don’t think you ever actually gave me detention when I was in school…thanks for that, by the way.”

“Harry?” Percy turned to his boyfriend with a questioning look and surprised frown.

“Who are you both?” Flitwick gave his wand a twitch causing the office door to slam shut and what Harry recognized as a questionably legal ward fall over it. “You look like Mr. Weasley but different, and who are you?” He glared first at Percy then Harry.

“Er…” Percy turned wide, concerned eyes to Harry when he realized why they’d been trapped in the office.

“He can see through the glamour,” Harry answered him with a shrug. Yeah, he was concerned, but he fully believed Flitwick was a good bloke and definitely remembered him fighting against Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts. “You didn’t catch the dagger glares he was shooting me all through the feast. Apparently, it’s house elves and goblins at this point that the spell doesn’t work for.”

“Explain or you’ll learn that I have some actual daggers as well,” Flitwick growled, his hand straying to his hip, and Harry was extremely impressed. He actually did want to see what the man could do with some daggers and was interested as hell even if he didn’t want them used on himself.

“I’m Harry Potter, sir, and this actually is Percy Weasley. We’re just older than we should be. We made a little trip back in time, and unfortunately that lead to our younger selves not being here when we took over,” Harry explained as succinctly and quickly as possible before the man started to curse them.

“Time travel…that would explain Mr. Weasley,” the man frowned and studied them through the glamours to try to ascertain the truth of the story. He nodded at Percy, but his gaze settled on Harry with an even deeper study. “Yes…you are Harry Potter; I see that…son, do you not have a girlfriend or someone in the future to tell you that shoving pieces of metal through your face is unattractive?”

Harry laughed and Percy seemed to let out a breath of relief, his hand moving from where his wand was clearly strapped to his forearm. “Percy is actually my partner of a couple years now, and he hasn’t complained yet. Any issues with my face, love?” He grinned at Percy who rolled his eyes but gave him a fond smirk.

“So, I’m your partner now? Not boyfriend or something like that?” He asked instead of answering the question with an interested raise of his eyebrow.

Harry shrugged, not really wanting to have this discussion in front of Flitwick even if the man seemed to have calmed down some and was instead now filling a kettle for tea, clearly expecting them to stay and explain before he released them into the castle where there were students. “I think we’re past that now at this point. I mean…you’re my person…”

Percy gave him a smile that definitely bordered on the sappy. “Well, good…and no problems with the face at all. I kind of like it a lot…”

Flitwick cleared his throat and shoved teacups in both their hands. “Now that’s settled, just why did you two break all the laws of magic and invade our little slice of 1995? Does this have something to do with our Dark Lord problem?”

“Yes and no,” Percy answered him as they walked over and sat on the low couch across from the professor’s smaller armchair. “Voldemort is more a contributing factor than the entire problem. It’s a bit of a domino effect. The fear and tactics that he takes leads to some very unethical and prejudicial legislation after his overthrow that basically destroys our community.”

“Anyone with magical creature blood is taken from society, anyone with any connection to dark arts as well, and anyone who speaks against the ministry or the law,” Harry continued to explain to a shocked but also not completely surprised Flitwick. “We could never determine exactly what was happening to those taken, but we have enough information to guess that they were probably being killed instead of any kind of relocation as we were told.”

Flitwick pointed to Harry’s runes. “It seems you have some connection to the dark arts yourself.”

“He’s a master of Dark Arts,” Percy said, not able to keep some of the pride out of his voice. “He’s also good at disguising himself when he’s out in public, so he hasn’t…or hadn’t been targeted just yet.”

Harry was a bit embarrassed and gave Percy a little smile. “Er…yeah, I started questioning everything I’d believed over the years when I was kicked out of the aurors because my core was completely dark. So, I did some self-study, then found a master in Amsterdam, and when everything started getting really bad in our society, I turned to using what I had learned to try to help others.”

“I have no prejudice against any type of magic or core,” Flitwick took a sip of his tea and nodded. “My family is much more open-minded than your purely wixen society. If those of creature blood were targeted though, what of my people? Were the goblins and our nation addressed in all this legislation at all?”

Harry and Percy shared a look before Percy motioned for Harry to explain since he had more information and background knowledge. “Well…the goblin nation thankfully had some solid treaties and a standing army, so you were safe for a long time.”

“This doesn’t sound promising,” Flitwick sighed and poured some more tea to fortify himself for the news.

“Nothing outright or violent happened,” Harry assured him quickly. “But the ministry set up their own financial institution and started requiring more and more of our world to use that bank. Gringotts Britain eventually closed its doors and the nation focused on its international branches, so there are very few goblins left in Britain anymore. I’m not sure what you in particular ended up doing. You retired from Hogwarts when the first wave of those with creature blood began to be taken, but I don’t think you were part of those. I think you left the country, but I’m not absolutely certain about that.”

“The ministry now controls all the money, the legal system, and most of the jobs in the world,” Percy explained with a dark look at those implications.

Flitwick stood and opened a cabinet, taking out a bottle of what looked to be scotch. With a questioning gesture, he ended up pouring some in all their teacups. “I feel like I should be more surprised at all this you’re telling me, but the goblin seers have been warning of a time similar to what you are speaking of for years now. The ministry has gotten so corrupt, more so in my lifetime.”

“It swiftly gets much worse after the final battle when everything is rebuilt,” Percy agreed with him.

Flitwick sighed and looked at them both sadly. “Who did you lose? I’m assuming for something as drastic as what you did in coming here, it wasn’t just a threat but a reality of just how bad things had gotten.”

Percy and Harry both winced. “Everyone,” Percy answered with a meaningful look at the man before downing his scotch.

“My godson,” Harry began, a hollow and haunted look in his eyes. “Ron, Hermione, Draco, Kreacher, and they were all directly connected to ministry action. There were many others before then that we hope to stop like Severus, Colin Creevy, Fred Weasley, Lavender Brown…the list just keeps going…”

“Dear Hecate,” Flitwick closed his eyes in dread before downing his scotch and pouring them all another.

“We’re going to take out Voldemort much earlier this time,” Percy nodded and put an arm around Harry’s shoulders supportively. “Stop the fear and what he did before it gets bad once more.”

“You’re going to need to do more than that,” the Charms professor put down his cup and crossed his arms, studying them. “What is your plan?”

“It’s more of an idea than plan…” Harry started with a grimace.

Flitwick’s eyes cut to Percy with a raised and disbelieving eyebrow. Percy huffed and rolled his eyes. “I literally learned about the time travel plan minutes before we were performing the ritual. Of course, Harry jumped right in without anything solid to work from.”

“Hey! I had a plan but then you insisted on coming,” Harry gave him a fake glare. “I was only going back in time six years; you took us back twelve. That’s a big difference to a plan!”

“Your plan was to just cause chaos…that’s not a plan, love,” Percy gave him a long-suffering look.

“It sounds like you’re going to need help,” Flitwick cut in before they could start bickering. It really was like watching an old married couple. “I realize the first step will have to be taking out the Dark Lord…I assume you know how to do that?”

Harry crossed his arms and smirked at that. “Been there, done that, can do it much faster this time,” he assured the man. “Plus, I already got us some help.”

“If you mean my brother and Hermione, please remember they are only 15 in this time,” Percy reminded him with a significant look that clearly stated no teenagers would be involved in as much dangerous activities as they had been the first time around.

“Yeah, well I have Sirius and the house elves on board as well, plus Flitwick if he wants,” Harry gave the man a hopeful smile.

“Sirius Black?” Flitwick instead asked disbelievingly. “I heard a rumor he might be innocent, are you claiming that is true?”

“Definitely!” Harry nodded firmly. “Killing Peter Pettigrew is also on my list just as a warning if that’s a deal-breaker for you.”

“What do you mean by having the house elves?” Percy cut in to ask before Flitwick even seemed to get over his shock. “Don’t you just mean Dobby and Kreacher?”

Harry nodded and helped himself to a bit more scotch. “Well, yeah, Dobby and Kreacher are the only ones really sold on the whole me taking over as a Dark Lord bit, but Winky is tentatively a yes. She wants to see a better plan first before committing to anything. Apparently, the Hogwarts Head Elf is sort of a leader in their community, and she’s reaching out to all the head elves of private families to put together a list of demands before the community as a whole signs on. They haven’t said no yet though.”

Both men looked over to Flitwick to see his reaction to Harry’s nonchalant slide-in of their main plan of taking over the Dark Lord position. Flitwick poured another splash of scotch in his teacup and nodded, downing it in one. “You do seem to fit the criteria,” he remarked and leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed. “So that’s the plan, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…that’s the core anyway,” Harry agreed as they waited on his response.

“Albus will be a problem,” the half-goblin remarked, his eyes still closed as he seemed to be processing. “What do you plan to do there?”

“Whatever it takes…whatever is necessary,” was Percy’s answer, not surprising Harry, but clearly surprising Flitwick whose eyes shot open in shock.

“And what may I ask have you been getting up to all these years, Mr. Weasley?” Flitwick seemed to decide that question was remarkably necessary now. “I doubt you taught DADA the first time you lived through 1995, so what are your qualifications, and how may I ask did this position conveniently land in your lap this time around?”

“I’m an Unspeakable,” Percy pulled off the leather band around his left wrist and held out the mark for Flitwick to see. “I’m sure I can keep up with Hogwarts students enough to teach DADA.”

Harry snorted, “At least. Professor, he’s so much better than who we had before.”

“Yes…and what may I ask happened to the person we were originally assigned?” He nodded at the mark before pinning them with a dark look.

Instead of answering, Percy took Harry’s hand and held it out for Flitwick to see the still deep and clear scarring that read: I must not tell lies.

“Delores Umbridge was originally assigned to my position. She tortured Harry with a blood quill this entire year, she was the one that sent dementors after him this past summer, she dosed students with Veritaserum, threatened the cruciatus curse on students, and was the eventual author of most of the legislation we are hoping to stop being implemented in the coming years,” he said so that the man had the full picture. Harry pulled his hand back and clenched his fists while Flitwick turned a concerning shade of red.

“I hope you murdered her,” he finally looked at both of them, fury lining his face at what had been allowed to go on in his school. “No one tortures students under my care! There is absolutely nothing lower than harming a child!”

Harry just nodded, impressed. “Right…so, can I put you down as on our side?”

Flitwick sighed and began to clean up the tea things. “I will not turn you in or stop you at this time, but I’m also not going to make a decision before I have all the facts. I will not condone the murder of innocents…”

“We aren’t planning…” Harry began in protest.

“I don’t believe Albus counts as evil,” Flitwick cut him off with a glare. Percy looked off, not wanting to say he disagreed with the man, but clearly disagreeing. Harry just shrugged. His feelings towards the headmaster were so complicated that he wasn’t sure he was capable of making a logical decision where the man was concerned.

“It isn’t the plan to kill the headmaster,” Harry finally said. “First, I’m going to try to get Snape on our side. He should be able to distract Dumbledore long enough for us to get so far into our plans that he can’t do much against us…hopefully.”

“What makes you think Severus will be on your side?” Flitwick looked at him in abject disbelief about that assumption.

“Future knowledge that is about his personal life and that I probably shouldn’t spread around,” Harry said. “So…the plan really isn’t to kill innocents at all…however you define that.”

“I will consider your proposal,” Flitwick said, raising a hand to stop their continued explanations. “I need time to process this, and with your permission, discuss what you have told me with some of my goblin relatives and our seers.”

“The goblins don’t hate me yet, so sure,” Harry shrugged and smirked at the man.

“Harry stole their dragon…for a good cause,” Percy rolled his eyes and explained to the man who looked shocked once more. “It’s a long story.”

“Right…” Flitwick lowered the ward over his door with a flick of his wand. “I expect you both back here in my office after dinner at the end of the week,” he informed them. “I will think over what you have told me, and I expect to have an answer for you by then, or at least more questions.”

“Thank you, sir,” Percy stood and pulled Harry up behind him since he knew his partner had some lasting issues with his right knee from a nasty bone shattering spell he’d taken in the past and the couch was a bit low to stand up from.

“My eye will be on you, boys,” Flitwick warned them with a twirl of his wand. “You put any of my students in danger, and Voldemort will be the least of your worries.”

Harry gave a sharp nod of approval. “Noted, and I wouldn’t expect otherwise.”

They walked into the hallway, and both let out a breath. “Well…that went better than I expected,” Harry chuckled at his partner who just shook his head in wonder at what they’d just done and the fact they weren’t being turned in to the headmaster, aurors, or unspeakables.

“I was fully planning on having to try to obliviate him, but I also didn’t like my chances on being faster than a master dueler.”

“You’re fast, but I’m pretty sure you’d lose,” Percy wisely nodded as they wandered in the same direction of Gryffindor tower and the DADA rooms. “Come see my new chambers? Stay the night?”

Harry pouted deeply. “I’d love to, but Ron and Hermione will probably think Flitwick killed me, and Neville would probably come looking for me if I don’t show. I’ll sneak out tomorrow night though once everyone’s asleep…maybe I’ll even come up with some story about dating a Ravenclaw or something.”

“Ergh! As long as it isn’t Chang,” Percy grimaced at him and gave the invisible end of Harry’s braid a little tug.

Harry stopped and frowned as he remembered what he’d wanted to ask Percy again. “Hey…you did break up with Penelope Clearwater, didn’t you? I mean…I’m not a big fan of sharing in relationships anyway…”

Percy frowned and actually really had to think about that to his sudden fear. “I forgot I’d been dating her…”

“You haven’t heard from her since we got here?” Harry asked in disbelief. Surely, she would have sent an owl or showed up at his flat or something.

Percy finally remembered and let out a breath of relief. “Wait, no, she dumped me earlier in the summer. I remember we’d broken up, just not when in the summer, but yeah, it was definitely before we took over from our younger selves.”

“Good,” Harry nodded firmly. “Like I said…I don’t want to share.”

“Since I’m your partner now,” Percy teased with a wide smirk. “Mr. Who Cares About Labels Anyway?”

Harry rolled his eyes and bumped Percy’s shoulder with his own. “Prat…you know, I realized that I never actually had to introduce you to people back in our time, so we didn’t really need labels. You were just Percy and people knew we showed up to things together and lived together. Here, I actually have to refer to you as something, so yeah, maybe labels really do matter sometimes.”

“Well, I like it,” Percy smiled at him and looked around. There weren’t any portraits where they were currently standing in the corridor, so he pulled Harry over to him and kissed him enough to make the man’s toes curl.

“Hmm…remember that you like me because we have dinner with Snape on Thursday,” Harry sheepishly informed him. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but we might need to decide what Hadrian Black’s partner looks like. I don’t have time to brew you Polyjuice, but I know some of my former black-market contacts that should already be in business in this time and they would have some to sell.”

Percy shrugged and nodded. “How about I just go as Percy? I don’t see the problem.”

Harry wrinkled his nose. “Then I look like the cradle-robber.”

“Yes, but I’m actually an adult and of-age at nineteen. Fifteen-year-old Harry is the problem,” Percy just informed him, not really caring in the slightest what Snape thought of them. “You can be the older one in this relationship for once…just not the wiser one.”

“Of course, never,” Harry chuckled and kissed Percy once more before turning to head towards the tower.

“Keep Persephone with you, and no cursing anyone,” his partner reminded him as he walked away. “I’m serious, Harry!” Harry leaned around the corner to flip him off, then blow him a kiss, then laugh as he kept walking.

“He’s so going to curse someone,” Percy shook his head and chuckled, turning to go and figure out how he wanted to arrange the furniture in his new rooms.

Harry made it through two days with no major mishaps. His old wand was sluggish and didn’t like him as much, but it did work, so everything was fine there. Transfiguration, Charms, and Divination were all very boring and easy for Harry since Flitwick was decidedly ignoring both him and Percy (while watching them) as he decided what he wanted to do. Potions was easy as well, but he had to remember to keep his head down and not engage with Snape and not brew a perfect potion either.

DADA had been really good. Percy had started them out on a solid lesson in shielding charms that was informative, appropriate, and which they all really needed to know. Not even Ron or Hermione had anything bad to say after the class, and they still didn’t know Percy’s relationship with Harry yet. Ron was still grumbling about Percy, but Hermione tentatively decided to wait and see what the older Weasley was going to do with his lessons.

Harry was confused what Ron’s issue with Draco Malfoy was though. Well, he knew they had issues, but Ron seemed to be staring at the blond more and looking between the two of them often. Harry had been avoiding the future Death Eater as much as possible since he remembered him being quite a bit of a prat in their fifth year. They had eventually put everything behind them and become sort-of friends before Draco mysteriously disappeared with most of the other former Death Eaters, but at 15, well, Harry was perfectly fine just avoiding him until he killed off Voldy and needed to convince the heir to join his movement. What Ron was thinking was beyond Harry’s understanding though, and Ron just brushed him off whenever he asked.

It was two days into the term when Harry remembered what it was he forgot though…or rather what he’d been steadfastly repressing in his brain. It had been bugging him since the train that there was something he should have remembered or realized, but his brain had buried it deep, so he hadn’t figured it out yet. Sephie had been napping when they left the tower for breakfast on Wednesday morning, so he’d left her behind to collect later. He, Ron, and Hermione were just about to walk into the Great Hall when a flash of gold caught his eye and the world stopped.

“Harry!” Ron pinched his friend’s side multiple times but got absolutely no response.

“Nothing’s wrong, don’t worry,” Hermione motioned Neville on with a fake smile. “Harry’s just messing with Ron.”

Ron cast a stinging hex at Harry next but still didn’t get a response. “Funny, mate, you really make a terrible statue though,” he fake laughed as the rest of the people around them made their way into the hall, shooting the strange trio looks.

“What happened? What did he see?” Hermione hissed at Ron who had just slapped Harry across the face. She winced in sympathetic pain at that.

“I don’t know…what did he say his boyfriend did? Rubbed his back?” Ron asked her in concern before he started to try to rub his friend’s back to get him to come around. “I don’t see how this will help over a stinging hex!”

“Maybe we should call Dobby or something?” Hermione suggested next while wringing her hands, knowing that Harry had talked with the elf over the summer.

“Merlin, shit!” Percy swore as he rushed over from where he’d just stepped out of the Great Hall when he’d heard whispers that the Golden Trio were being strange again in the entrance hall.

“Leave it Percy, we’re fine,” Ron growled at his brother, stepping in front of Harry to hopefully hide him a bit.

“Yeah…erm, Harry’s just messing with Ron,” Hermione jumped in with the excuse again.

Percy sighed and looked at them tiredly. “What did he see?” He asked before stepping around Ron and throwing up an unspeakable-level notice-me-not charm around their entire group.

Hermione’s eyes widened as she met Ron’s surprised gaze as well. “Erm…we don’t know. We were just walking towards the Great Hall and he stopped right in the middle of a sentence…er…Percy?...”

“Who was also walking into the hall? Like what other houses?” Percy ignored their questioning looks as he put his arms around Harry, cupping the back of his neck with one hand and tracing circles on his back with the other. “Hey, love…it’s ok…you’re fine…”

Ron seemed to have lost all ability to speak as he turned white as a sheet. Hermione gasped but slowly nodded her head. “I don’t know…We were with a group of Gryffindors, but I think there were some Ravenclaws that were entering in front of us. He hasn’t mentioned anything about a Ravenclaw…”

“Merlin,” Percy breathed out and pressed his forehead to Harry’s unseeing one. “Was Luna Lovegood in the group of Ravenclaws?”

“Loony?” Ron found air enough to ask before Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow, yeah…I think Luna was there…what’s wrong with Luna? I don’t think she and Harry have ever even talked. What are you…?”

“I knew I shouldn’t believe him when he said he’d gotten past it,” Percy sighed and kissed Harry’s neck. “Hey, love, you gotta stop repressing things and telling me everything is ok. I can’t help you when you lie to yourself.”

“You’re the boyfriend…” Ron finally breathed out in disbelief even with the evidence in front of him.

“Did Luna do something to him?” Hermione asked with a frown. She’d always thought the Ravenclaw was a bit odd, but harmless overall.

“Luna didn’t do anything to him,” Percy shook his head. “They were best friends…it was what was done to them. It was years ago, but Harry has a tendency to completely bury things that he doesn’t want to think about then they slam into him like this when he least expects it. He’s probably run into more things these past few days than he has in years though. At the very least this trip is making him face everything he’s been trying to just ignore.”

“Bloody hell,” Ron sighed, still processing that Percy and Harry were together. “Wait, weren’t you dating a girl…Penelope or something?”

“Ron, you don’t have to have everything figured out as a teenager,” Hermione explained with an eyeroll at her sort-of boyfriend.

“She’s right, I’m bisexual by the way though,” Percy told his brother before turning away to focus on Harry, not caring about his brother’s reaction at the moment. “Right…sometimes this works…sorry, Ron,” he remarked before diving right in and snogging Harry like it was the end of the world.

“Ew!” Ron closed his eyes and grimaced. When Ron opened his eyes once more, he wished he hadn’t because his best mate was wrapped around his older brother like a koala with tears streaming from his eyes.

“While this ward is wonderful,” Hermione cut into the drama around them. “I think we should move before people start noticing that something is up in this hallway.”

“She’s right, love…plus, you’re a bit heavy for this,” Percy untangled a nodding Harry who blinked around at them all before lifting a side of his shirt and pressing the tip of his wand to a line of runes that flared blood red at the touch.

“Sorry about that,” Harry took in a deep breath and steadied himself all of a sudden. “I have about half an hour before the backlash of that spell hits me,” he told them all, specifically Percy who knew what he’d just done and very much didn’t approve of any spell that purposefully repressed emotions even if necessary in the moment.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” he grumbled but took down the ward around them. “My office everyone since I’m sure you’re going to want some explanations and Harry will probably breakdown again in about half an hour.”

Percy led the way with Harry quickly hurrying behind with. Ron turned to Hermione and let out a sigh. “I think Malfoy would have been better,” he breathed out in resignation.

Hermione just threw an arm around his shoulders and led him after the other two. “At least you know Percy is on our side now,” she tried to make him feel better. Ron grumbled and she just laughed at him. “Maybe DADA is going to be a better class than I thought.”

Chapter Text

Harry walked straight to the back of Percy’s office where he had set up Sirius’s Polyjuice to start brewing the night before and took it out of stasis, banishing the notice-me-not ward around it. He pulled over the next ingredients and started to chop them for the next step in the potion. “I can’t, Percy,” he mumbled, not looking up at any of the others in the room.

Percy just sighed and gave him a sad but understanding smile. “I know…” He turned to where Ron and Hermione had just walked into his office and cast several wards on his door to keep anyone from listening in to what they were saying.

Without comment, Percy turned around with an intense expression on his face and strode right up to his brother, pulling him into a tight hug. “Percy?” Ron questioned in shock, looking with wide eyes over to Hermione who just shrugged.

“I missed you so much,” Percy mumbled into where his face was buried in Ron’s red hair. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Ron awkwardly patted his older brother on the back, still stunned at this turn of events. “You know I haven’t lived through whatever it was yet, right? And…Harry said we’d stop it, so no big deal…”

Percy finally pulled back some and breathed in to steady his emotions, motioning to where Harry was trying to lose himself in brewing. “Clearly it’s a big deal to us, even if it hasn’t happened yet, and will never happen,” he told his brother with a sad look.

Ron tried to give him an encouraging smile through the whirring of his brain trying to process everything. “Well…erm, I’m just glad you might not be a prat anymore. How’d you end up with Harry anyway? I never would have pegged the two of you being together.”

Percy sighed and ran a hand over his face before sitting on the edge of his still mostly empty desk. “You have to realize, we lost a lot of people. Our family…well, you wouldn’t recognize it anymore. We all changed so much; you and I got pretty close right before you were taken. You hold onto those you have left, you know? Hermione and I were close too before the end,” he gave the girl who was now looking at Harry’s potion set-up a sad smile.

“Are you brewing Polyjuice?” Hermione asked Harry, acknowledging Percy with a matching smile. Harry gave a little nod without looking up from what he was doing.

“It’s for Sirius,” Percy answered for his partner who was doing his best just to hold himself together. “Look…Harry doesn’t talk about what happened. Based on how he seemed to not even see this coming, I expect he’s buried everything behind so many Occlumency shields that it’s a vault in his mind.”

“Something happened to you and Luna?” Hermione prodded a little more at her unresponsive friend. "When? What was it?"

“I can’t, Hermione,” Harry mumbled. “The runes only hold it all at bay for so long, and I just can’t go there…”

Percy nodded while Hermione and Ron just looked confused at them both. “He has some runes to muffle emotions. I hate when he uses them since he’s not processing, but it’s only a temporary fix anyway. Look, I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s not much. I only know what future Ron told me after it happened.”

Ron moved over and sat in one of Percy’s chairs before nodding for him to continue. “Tell us what you know, and Hermione and I will figure out how to keep him together.”

“You might be putting too much faith in our abilities,” Hermione warned him before sitting down herself. Harry gave a little snort of agreement from where he was still slicing ingredients.

“Right,” Percy nodded and leaned over to light the fire under the cauldron for Harry. “So, this all happened not long after the war ended. It was before Harry developed his well-deserved and hard-won ridiculous level of paranoia.”

“It’s only paranoia if people aren’t actually out to get you all the time,” Harry gave him a glare before picking up a jar of beetles.

Percy nodded and walked over to kiss his neck before giving the potion a stir since it was starting to boil. “That’s never not going to be super weird and disturbing,” Ron grumbled to where only Hermione could hear, getting a smirk from his sort-of girlfriend.

“Anyway, from what I remember at the time, Harry had just started his mastery in Amsterdam,” Percy continued, going back over to sit on his desk in front of the two teenagers. “He would take a portkey back to England twice a week. One day, he would visit with his godson and you two. The second portkey was for a standing lunch in Diagon Alley with Luna, and sometimes Ginny would join them when she didn’t have practice…she ended up playing quidditch professionally.”

“This was before I realized that having a set, predictable schedule was just communicating to my enemies where I would be at any given time and give them the opportunity to plan accordingly,” Harry grimaced at his own past bad decisions.

“You didn’t know,” Percy assured him sadly, hating that he was still in so much pain. “What happened was that Harry and Luna were kidnapped by some rogue Death Eaters when they were leaving the café they had lunch at. We couldn’t find them for three days…”

Harry hissed as the knife slipped and he cut a gash in his hand. “Merlin!” Hermione jumped up.

Harry just rolled his eyes at her and tapped his hand with his ebony wand, healing the cut, and then tossing the beetles he’d just been slicing into the rubbish bin since they were ruined. “It’s nothing, Hermione,” he gave her a dry look. “The Death Eaters…they…well, they thought I could help them raise Voldemort back to life. Somehow, they had gotten some actually good information that I had something that would allow me to do that, but they didn’t know that I no longer had this capability anymore after the war,” Harry said through gritted teeth, dumping out another pile of beetles angrily onto the cutting board.

“If I still had the ability, there was a point in there, I would have done it…” He added quietly on at the end before shaking his head and focusing back on the potion. How they had learned about the horcrux in him, he still had never figured out. It’s not like he could ask them after everything was said and done anyway.

Percy stepped back over to him just to put his hand comfortingly on Harry’s back. “Harry said he’s having you work on Occlumency?” He asked, knowing they couldn’t tell the teens anything about the horcruxes until they had working shields.

“I’ve started constructing some shields,” Hermione said before turning a proud look to Ron. “Ron’s almost there. A few more days, and he’ll probably catch up to me.”

Ron turned pink and shrugged at the compliment. “Er…I don’t want people in my mind…I’m motivated is all…”

“Right, well, we’ll tell you more once you have those shields,” Percy turned his own proud look on his brother, surprised and impressed at how he’d stuck to it.

“From what future Ron told me, Luna did something…” he looked to Harry, but Harry didn’t seem able to add anything into the conversation anymore. “She did something to help Harry get at least slightly free…somehow they escaped, and we just know Harry showed up in the lobby at St. Mungo’s looking like a poorly revived inferius and screaming as he held Luna. The healers rushed to them, but Luna didn’t make it. She was too far gone when they got there.”

“Oh, Harry…” Hermione looked at her friend with horror in her eyes while Ron just looked completely sick.

“You two and Neville had been going crazy looking for them,” Percy continued, still rubbing circles on Harry’s back. “Ron and Neville were junior aurors at the time and were able to get enough information from Harry before he was placed in a medically induced coma to find where they had been kept.”

“Good…so we arrested the bastards,” Ron growled, impressed that Neville ended up in the aurors but sick at the thought of what his friend must have gone through.

Percy shrugged but with a dark look. “No one was alive to go to trial,” he remarked with no feeling or judgement. “This is pure conjecture on my part, but while the official word was that Harry killed them all in his escape, in self-defense clearly…I have a feeling there might have been a few that weren’t quite dead when you two arrived based on how future Ron insisted I not ask questions and what I know from recent experience about what Longbottom was willing to do for Harry.” The last comment got a tiny little tug up of Harry’s lips in almost a smirk.

“Good,” Hermione growled lowly, surprising Ron but not Percy or Harry who knew exactly what she would be willing to do very well at this point.

“Ron also told me to not ask Harry about what happened during those three days,” Percy told them, his hold on Harry tightening some. “Normally, I wouldn’t approve of avoiding something like that, but Harry left for Amsterdam immediately when he got out of hospital and didn’t return to England for a year. Teddy, Andy, and you two would go visit him, but he didn’t return until after he finished his mastery. When he did finally return, he’d just go blank and disassociate if anyone ever brought up Luna. By that time, he never left the house without glamours to change his appearance, never went to any location on a regular schedule, burned all correspondence, and had started in on his collection of tattooed runes. It seemed like good advice at the time to give him as much space as he needed…”

“Until we came back in time, and I had to face it,” Harry sighed, rejoining the conversation, and putting down his knife. “Look…I promise I’m going to be ok. It’s just the backlash of my Occlumency walls failing makes everything crash in here,” he pointed at his head with sad eyes.

“So, do we keep you away from Luna or should we try to reach out to her?” Hermione asked with a frown, not knowing what would be best. She resolved to look for some psychology books in the library or even owl her parents to send her some muggle ones if there weren’t any.

Percy shook his head firmly at that, Harry mirroring him. “Merlin, no! That would be terrible!” Harry emphatically said with wide eyes.

“You have to keep them apart for a while at least,” Percy said just as emphatically. “Have you ever noticed that Luna is a little special?”

Ron snorted while Hermione shot him a glare. “Luna is…different,” Hermione eventually said in agreement.

“She’s an empath,” Harry explained, putting the potion back into stasis with his wand and replacing the notice-me-not ward. “Luna feels what those in close contact with her feel. It’s why she always seems to know more than she should. The creatures she’s always talking about are code-words her parents used with her as a child so she could tell them about what she was feeling while out in public. Empaths are highly sought after by both sides of the war and the ministry. They wanted her to be able to decide what she wanted to do with her life instead of it being decided for her.”

“If Luna is too close to Harry, well, you all have an idea of how terrible that would be for an empath to experience without being prepared first,” Percy said and threw an arm over Harry’s shoulders now that he wasn’t brewing anymore.

Harry snorted in agreement. “I’ve been constructing Occlumency shields for years, and I’ve gotten better since I first started during my mastery. I can construct some better shields around that trauma since the original are now gone…shields that are more mentally healthy,” he added firmly at Percy’s disapproving look.

“I know how to not completely bury memories now and can just distance them. I didn’t know how to do that nine years ago when I was trying to function and just wanted to rip out the memories…I think we can all agree that it’s good that at least I didn’t obliviate myself, which I did consider for a second. I’m slightly healthier than that. Give me some time though, and I’ll keep away from Luna until I won’t hurt her by being close.”

Ron sighed and rubbed his temples. “So, we keep Harry and Luna away from each other while trying to convince everyone he isn’t insane since the Prophet is already painting him that way while also trying to keep him from doing anything stupid…”

“It’s a busy year,” Hermione just smiled with a chuckle.

“What?” She raised an eyebrow when everyone looked at her. “It’s still better than last year.”

Harry nodded slowly, remembering his fourth year. “Still better than my original fifth year probably too.”

“Wait!” Ron held a hand up, a shocked look on his face as he remembered what Harry had said about his partner. “Harry said you killed our original DADA professor!” He stared open-mouthed at his brother who was a complete wimp and would never do absolutely anything considered illegal.

Percy just looked at his partner and raised a questioning eyebrow. Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. “I told them no such thing. I heavily implied some things, and they may have gone from there.”

Percy shrugged, not really caring. “I have no regrets,” he said darkly before squeezing Harry’s hand and going to his desk to find his lesson plans for his first class. “I did what had to be done. You may not agree with my methods, but I did what was right, and you don’t have to trust me on that, but I ask that you remember that we’re at war. The rules you live by no longer apply.”

Harry put a hand on Percy’s desk and bent over with a gasp. “My runes as deactivating,” he said in almost a sob. “I only have a couple minutes…erm, my first class is Charms, so at least Flitwick knows I don’t actually need his class. DADA is next…Percy, can I take your office for a couple periods? I think I can fix my shields by Transfiguration.”

“What do we tell Flitwick?” Hermione asked with wide eyes at how the emotions were trying to flood her friend once more.

Tears were running from Harry’s eyes, and he sat on the floor and curled up in a ball. Percy sighed and bent over to kiss his head before taking the wards off his door. “Come on, leave him be. We have class anyway,” he herded the two teens towards the door so Harry could work on dealing with his emotions in peace. He looked back at his partner with a wince. He was going to be so sore when he finally got up off the stone floor.

“Flitwick?” Hermione reminded Percy as they stepped out of the office and Percy warded the door behind him for Harry’s privacy.

Percy stood there thinking and tapped his wand against his leg. Ron was just looking at him speculatively. “What do you look like under there?” He mused, trying to look through Percy’s glamour.

His older brother just smirked at him. “Not as out there as Harry. I’m not a big fan of needles,” he chuckled.

“Tell Flitwick that Harry isn’t feeling well…tell him that a past illness hit him again. If you say it significantly enough, he’ll realize what you’re trying to tell him. If he doesn’t, just tell him to talk to me, and I’ll clear it up later. See you in DADA!” He gave them a little wave and a wistful look at Ron again before turning on his heel and striding off to his first year Hufflepuff/Slytherin class.

“Merlin, this is all so strange,” Ron grumbled as he and Hermione began walking to their Charms class. “I can’t believe Harry’s dating my brother!”

“I wonder what your brother did for a living in the future,” Hermione mused. “I didn’t get a chance to ask.”

“That’s what you’re wondering?” Ron asked with a disbelieving look at her. “What about what happened to my nerdy, prat of an older brother to turn him into that? Or, what actually happened to Harry and Lovegood? Or what that thing is that they’re not telling us until we can protect our minds?!”

Hermione rolled her eyes but gave him a fond look before throwing an arm around his shoulders and steering him towards the classroom so they wouldn’t be late. “We’ll learn that last bit soon enough…I don’t think we actually want to know what happened to Harry and Luna…it was clearly torture, and I personally don’t want to know the depths of depravity wizards can sink to. If Luna didn’t survive and Harry had to be placed in a medically induced coma for a while, then it was extremely bad.”

“And, as for your brother, he was always very committed to what he viewed as right. He followed the rules and laws to the letter, to an extreme that made you call him a prat,” she explained as Ron nodded in agreement. “He seems to be doing the same thing now, but his rules and laws are just significantly different. He’s following some code he has…Harry’s the chaotic one, but Percy is calculating and always has been. I’d be willing to wager the sorting hat considered Slytherin for him at the very least.”

Ron grumbled but nodded. “We have to keep an eye on those two. I’m not saying I don’t trust them in general, but I definitely don’t trust them to not do something that will get them sent to Azkaban…case in point, DADA.”

Hermione nodded. She was definitely getting the full explanation of just what that former DADA professor did and soon. “We will…plus there is Sirius in on it, Flitwick now, and probably Snape soon.”

“Right on time,” Professor Flitwick remarked when they walked into the classroom just as he was about to close the door. “Aren’t you missing a member?” He raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked behind them.

“Er…Harry’s not feeling well,” Ron awkwardly said, scoping out a few empty seats.

Hermione nodded. “A past illness cropped up, and he needed some time. Professor Weasley is looking after him,” she said, as significantly as possible without winking twice at the man.

Flitwick, for his part, gave the girl an eyeroll for her troubles. This was why teenagers should not be involved in plans for a revolution. “Thank you, Ms. Granger. Go ahead and take a seat you two so we can get started.”

The tiny professor strode to the front of the classroom, and everyone quieted as he sternly looked at them all. “I realize this isn’t DADA,” he said, giving them all a very serious look. “This is Charms. However, we will begin this year working on dueling. Charms are not just for household use; they can also save your life and can be used offensively. I will not have you go out into the world and think that Charms can only be used to cook and clean with.”

Ron looked at Hermione who raised an eyebrow and pulled out some parchment in interest. They were certain Flitwick didn’t start with this lesson in the first version of their fifth year. “Now,” he continued. “Before we begin with dueling, I want you to turn to your neighbor and come up with a list of five ways Wingardium Leviosa can be used to get you out of a situation where you are being attacked.”

Ron turned to Hermione and smirked. “Troll club…” he grinned at her. Hermione wrote it down with a chuckle.

“Brain check?” Percy dryly asked with a look over at his partner…something he’d asked multiple times that day whenever he got a moment.

Harry rolled his eyes but did look gratefully at his partner for checking on him. “I’m fine, Perce…shields are up again, nothing is buried, but it’s also been nine years. I have some time and perspective from what happened. The problem was that I only knew how to bury the memories before, so they hit me like it had just happened yesterday.”

“I’m sorry, Harry,” Percy refrained from putting an arm around the man who looked fifteen since they were still in view of the castle as they pretended to be on a walk and not going down to Hogsmeade, where they were headed to meet with Snape. It had been very difficult to pry Harry loose from Ron and Hermione after what had happened earlier, but neither wanted to deal with Snape, so they eventually and begrudgingly allowed Harry to leave the castle.

“At least it shouldn’t be hard to avoid Luna. You never actually interacted before this year, right?”

“Right…but I’ve seen her twice off in the distance after what happened this morning,” Harry sighed and scrubbed his temples, still having a bit of a headache from all the mind magic he’d used that morning. “Apparently, she was always there just not part of my circle of friends until this year. I really want to talk with her, but I know I should give it a week at least and let my new shields settle. I’m confident I will be fine, but keeping an empath from being flooded with the crazy in my brain is not something I’m willing to try until I’m completely certain.”

They turned a corner around a grouping of trees. “This seems a safe distance,” Percy remarked since they were now out of sight of the castle.

With a relieved breath out, Harry removed his glamour. “Merlin, it feels good to not have most of my skin invisible to everyone else,” he said before leaning over and snogging Percy soundly. “I also missed doing that,” he mumbled.

“Me too,” his partner kissed him back and wrapped his arms around the man he missed living with and waking up beside.

“Hmm,” Harry hummed before pulling back. “I think once we take care of Voldy and Hadrian Black takes over, maybe Harry Potter should just quietly drop out of school and move or be homeschooled in some undisclosed location.”

“Oh, thank Morgana,” Percy breathed out and kissed Harry one more time for good measure before taking his hand and continuing their walk through the gates. “I don’t think I can do two more years of this before slipping up and getting in some major trouble for my underage boyfriend.”

Harry just raised an eyebrow at the seemingly 19-year-old man beside him. “I don’t particularly like being the older one in this relationship either, but at least you can gradually start removing your glamour and maybe people won’t notice too much. I’m not saying you’re not cute at this age, but you definitely look Ministry Secretary and not Badass Necromancer like this.”

Percy chuckled but had to pause as they got to the outskirts of Hogsmeade. It took him a minute for his brain to catch up with the differences between the present and the future. Hogsmeade itself hadn’t really changed that much after the war, but it had changed significantly over the year it was held by Death Eaters and during the battle. It wasn’t super overt, but older paint and structures, slightly different colors, and a couple stores that had no longer been in existence caused some dissonance in his brain.

“It’s always strange seeing these places, isn’t it?” Harry remarked, seeing what his partner was as well. “I feel like there should have been a time travel manual that Hermione left for us. Granted, I could have planned a little better, but I wasn’t planning on Neville assassinating a dementor so quickly and had to move everything up.”

Percy shuddered. “Remind me please that fiendfyre is not an appropriate spell to teach fifth years if I ever forget. I don’t want to see Longbottom overthrowing you as the next Dark Lord.”

As they neared the Three Broomsticks, Harry patted down his braid, checked that he didn’t have any stains on his black, Weird Sisters t-shirt he’d recently purchased, and basically fidgeted awkwardly. “You look fine,” Percy rolled his eyes. Personally, he looked a little more out-of-character since Snape actually knew him. It wasn’t overly noticeable though. He’d just traded his cardigans and khakis for a black button-down shirt and some dark wash jeans. Wearing his Unspeakable robes everyday had Percy dressing now for comfort more than anything else since no one really ever saw his clothes anyway.

“It’s just important that he approves me, or us, to visit Siri. Besides, we’re going to completely scandalize him,” Harry gleefully chuckled. “Er…have you come out to your family? I didn’t think to ask. He’ll probably tell them you know.”

“Nope,” Percy looked at him with a smirk, not really caring if Snape told them or not. At this point, he only mildly cared about their reactions, and it might be best it came from Snape with him not in the room anyway so that they could process without him there.

“Actually, I don’t think I ever did even in the future. Dad never questioned our living arrangement, and George just asked once if we were shagging, and when I said yes, he said cool and poured himself another cup of tea. I don’t think Ginny really paid any attention to us at all, she was so caught up in trying to keep herself busy that she didn’t have time to really question us always showing up to things together.”

Harry nodded. “That’s what I thought. It’s amazing how just not important some things become when your entire world falls apart around you.”

“Well, clearly Snape is bi if not gay,” Percy agreed with a nod. “So, I don’t think we’re going to scandalize him quite as much as we did Ron.

Harry full out laughed before they could walk into the pub at that. “Merlin, I have to see that pensieve memory at some point. I was too out of it to pay attention to his face. It had to be beautifully shocked…probably turned bright red too!”

“Got it in one,” Percy laughed with him and pushed open the door. “Hermione just blinked a couple times and seemed to accept it, but Ron looked like he just saw me…I don’t know…kiss the giant squid or something.”

“Please don’t compare me to the giant squid,” Harry gave him a disgusted glare before making a beeline towards an empty booth since they seemed to have beaten Snape there. “Get us a round, and two bottles of whiskey to go?” Harry gave his partner his best puppy dog eyes that never seemed to fail to work on the man.

Percy just smirked at him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “The whiskey stays in my chambers. Fred and George will be able to tell there is whiskey in the tower by some sort-of Divination that they can do to find mischief.”

“You’ll drink it,” Harry accused him with a pout. He did believe it about Fred and George though. Merlin, he’d missed Fred, and George with Fred.

“Fine, I’ll get three bottles then,” he chuckled and walked to the bar.

Harry smiled and gave a little wave to the man who had just walked into the bar looking much less stern without his teaching robes and only black slacks and a black knit jumper. Frankly, the man looked good. “Black,” Snape acknowledged him before sliding into the booth opposite. “Was your partner not able to make it?”

“Hadrian, please,” Harry corrected him with a smile. “And he’s at the bar getting us a round. How was the start of the new term?”

Snape grimaced. “How up to date are you on the events happening in Britain right now?”

Harry nodded knowing that Voldemort was probably being a right arse to his Death Eaters and Snape in particular since none of them besides weak Pettigrew had sought him out when he was wraith to raise him back to life.

“Very,” Harry commented, purposely turning his left arm just so Snape could be abundantly sure he didn’t have a Dark Mark even if he’d clocked his bare arm before. He cast a quick ward around their booth so no one could listen into their conversation, something that had Snape nodding at him in appreciation.

“As a Master of Dark Arts, I did my research into the state of the country and ministry politics so I would know how welcome I was here. I have to say, your dark practitioners have absolutely not been helping our people’s case in promoting magic equality,” he said with a sneer that showed just what he thought of that.

Snape nodded, and tapped his left arm significantly over the covered Dark Mark. “What has your cousin mentioned about me and my association with him specifically?”

Harry smiled at the man and leaned back, seeing Percy returning out of the corner of his eye. “Schoolyard rivals, he says you were a git, but frankly he sounds like a bully. I imagine things were worse than he made them out to be, but I also know that he’s a different person now. He also spent way more time in prison than whatever he did would have warranted if he actually did something illegal, which knowing Siri, he probably did.”

Snape sneered but nodded. “I was an anti-social git, but your cousin was most definitely a bully. That isn’t what I was asking though.”

Percy walked through the ward and put three whiskeys on the table before promptly sitting down beside Harry. “I have your bottles shrunk in my pocket, and no shrinking them absolutely doesn’t change the taste, don’t even go there,” he told his partner with a glare before turning to a baffled Snape across from them. “Professor…good to see you outside the castle. I was surprised you and Hadrian had met before.”

“It definitely changes the taste,” Harry rolled his eyes but looked between the two with a smirk and waited. “Thank you though, Perce. I’ll get the next round.”

“Percival Weasley,” Snape said in as much a tone of disbelief as his very expressionless self could muster.

“Ergh! Please call me Percy,” the man shuddered. “Only Aunt Muriel ever called me that. You’re giving me bad flashbacks of mothballs and crushing disapproval.”

“How did…?” Snape didn’t seem to be able to finish the sentence as he looked between them, seeming to add up the age, geographical locations, and magical belief differences between them.

“Ministry trip to Amsterdam last year before the Tournament really got going,” Percy shrugged in explanation. Harry pushed Snape’s whiskey closer to the man with one finger and a smirk.

Snape gave him a twisted smirk back before taking a sip of the drink. “You do realize he’d a light wizard, right?” Snape put down the glass and asked Harry with a dry glare over at the redhead.

“Actually, no…” Harry frowned. “I would have said you were grey, but you’re definitely dark now, love, aren’t you?”

Percy put an arm over Harry’s shoulders and leaned back. “Dark enough,” he shrugged. As a necromancer, he was as dark as they come…well, except for Harry who definitely beat him out as (probably) the Master of Death or something along those lines. “You have to admit, my family would most definitely assume I’d joined Voldemort if I told them though. I doubt they understand the difference between Dark Arts as a balance to Light and what the Death Eaters are twisting the practice into.”

Snape slowly shook his head before taking another sip of his drink. “Percy Weasley,” he said yet again with a shake of his head. “I don’t know who I was expecting to see with Hadrian, but it wasn’t you…”

Percy just smirked. “If you look at my lesson plans, I’m actually teaching Defense against all types of magic, not just the Dark Arts,” he added.

“That…that is actually a very good idea,” Snape nodded slowly before looking back over at Harry. “Before, what I was asking you about what your cousin has told you…”

“That you’re a spy?” Harry raised an eyebrow and smirked at the man who glanced over to Percy with worry in his eyes. “Don’t worry. Percy and I are fully supportive of you, of the Order taking down Voldemort, and I would help, but I doubt I’m Order material,” Harry motioned to the runes visible on his neck and arms.

“It’s in court records from the first war,” Percy reminded the man. “Frankly, I’m very impressed you were able to sell Voldemort on you being his double agent instead of Dumbledore’s when everyone knows you were a spy for someone.”

“Please call him the Dark Lord or something besides that,” Snape winced yet again at their continued use of the name.

Harry’s eyes flicked to where Percy’s Unspeakable mark was covered and wondered if the spell had been tweaked to cause Death Eaters pain when someone said the name around them. “Does it actually cause you pain, or do you just not like it?” He asked to clarify. “Because, he is most assuredly not Magic’s Dark Lord, so I refuse adamantly to call him that. I can, however, call him Voldy or Tom or something like that if I’m actually causing you pain.”

“Well…you are very well informed,” Snape looked at him, impressed that he actually knew the Dark Lord’s real name, something he thought only himself, Dumbledore, and probably Potter knew at this point. “And yes, it feels like we’re being burned whenever it is said.”

“I’m sorry then. I will avoid that name in particular going forward,” Harry nodded at him firmly. “Now, this is supposed to be some kind of security interview or something, isn’t it? What do you want to know?”

Snape actually chuckled. “You are dating a Weasley. I think we can call you safe. Even Dumbledore would probably agree with that,” he remarked motioning for the waitress to bring them another round.

Percy rolled his eyes and Harry laughed. He was still laughing when their drinks were delivered and only marginally pulled himself together. “Merlin…the Order had really better be more secure than that!” He knew it really wasn’t from his experiences in the past and future.

“I’m kind-of on the outs with the family right now,” Percy winced. “I’m trying to make it up to them though and plan to apologize for being a prat about some things as soon as I'm able.”

Snape shrugged, not caring at all. “So, I clearly know what Mr. Weasley does for a living. What have you found to do since you moved to Britain?” He asked in actual interest.

Harry huffed and took a sip. “Not a lot. I’m an artifact dealer and serve as a competent brewer for anything not overly complex…please don’t ask about the types of artifacts or potions I have though,” he added at the end with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Snape smirked right back, remembering what both of them had been buying the day they met.

“Actually, on that note, I’m brewing some Polyjuice for Sirius…aren’t there a few spells to speed along the process so it doesn’t take a full month?” He asked in interest.

Percy now sat back and enjoyed watching the two geek out since Potions were at the very bottom of his interests. Harry held out a hand and Percy passed him some parchment and a quill with an eyeroll while Snape went into some kind of lecture into magical theory that had Harry scribbling excitedly while Percy planned his next experiment on Persephone. He supposed that everyone had their interests, Morgana knew he was the more academic of the two of them, but Potions was just not his thing.

“Sorry, Percy,” Harry looked up at him sheepishly while he folded the parchment that supposedly would help him speed along Sirius’s potion by over a week. “I know you’d rather talk Charms or Transfiguration or anything besides Potions.”

He shrugged, just happy that Harry was so happy and that Snape seemed to be actually getting along with them. “I love to see you when you get all nerdy…”

“Am not! Take that back Percy Weasley!” Harry protested with a wrinkle of his nose while Snape stifled a snort of laughter in his drink.

Percy turned to Snape, ignoring the ridiculous man. “Do you happen to know of a spot on campus or in the Forbidden Forest where a spike of dark magic wouldn’t be noticed?” He asked. Harry needed to get rid of the horcrux he’d already collected as well as the diadem once they grabbed it. Plus, he couldn’t exactly test out the spells on Persephone in the castle, and he still needed to solve the glowing red eyes problem.

Snape slowly shook his head as he ran through everything he knew about the wards. “Not with Albus’s wards…”

“What about the Chamber of Secrets?” Harry asked with a frown when the idea came to him. “I’ve heard of its existence from Hogwarts: A History. Isn’t it a chamber within the castle where Salazar Slytherin himself practiced dark magic?”

“It’s secret, Hadrian. It’s in the name,” Percy reminded him, clearly knowing that Harry knew where it was, but Snape wouldn’t and would definitely not expect either of them to know.

“Both of you make good points,” Snape nodded at them before draining his glass once he realized he really should get back up to the castle if he wanted to finish his marking before bed.

“Yes, I am sure whatever you are wanting to practice could theoretically be done there, but no one knows where it is except for Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. I would suggest not asking either of them, Mr. Weasley. I get the impression neither will trust you if you are indeed on the outs with your family currently. I would assume especially Albus would want to know what you were planning to do there.” Clearly Snape was avoiding the question but really wanted to know as well.

Percy just smiled at him and drained his own glass, having plenty of practice in just not answering questions after his years as an Unspeakable. “I will pursue off-campus opportunities then.”

Harry chuckled, knowing they would be going into the chamber soon now that they’d thought of it. “I have some, possibly expired, but very rare, potions ingredients that I don’t know what to do with,” he thought of the basilisk and wasn’t sure what to do with the carcass. If they were going to use the space, then he refused to have the dead thing there as well. Honestly, knowing Percy, he’d probably start experimenting on it if it was there, and that would probably be bad for humanity as a whole.

“Er…would you want to check them out to see if they are viable? If they are, I’m sure we could work out some kind of mutually beneficial deal,” he ended while Percy looked a little confused, not having put together the large, dead snake bit yet.

“Personally, I could use the funds,” he ended honestly. He needed to buy some kind of base of operations and probably shell out quite a lot of bribe money, and his inheritance vault just wasn’t going to cut it.

“With pleasure,” Snape gave them both a nod. “Just owl them to me, or bring them by when visit your cousin next. I will inform Albus we can trust you, but that we were not able to come to terms on a secrecy oath.”

“Merlin, was that proposed?!” Harry gasped, clearly knowing it was, but acting shocked at the information.

“I don’t think I’m quite up to trying to get past those, not having had any legal training myself,” Snape motioned to the bracelet of runes around Harry’s wrist that he had been glancing at since he sat down and trying to put together what they combined to do.

“I’m surprised you figured out what they do,” Harry laughed and scrubbed at the tattoo with his thumb fondly.

Snape’s breath caught and he just barely stopped himself from noticeably gasping when he saw the line of scars on the top of Hadrian’s opposite hand. He’d been so preoccupied with trying to figure out what the runes did that he hadn’t looked at the man’s other hand. While Hadrian clearly had many scars visible that Snape could see, those were the only ones that were so obviously clear what caused them. Blood quills were highly illegal and forcing someone to carve I must not tell lies into their hand was beyond dehumanizing and torture of a terrible kind.

Harry hadn’t noticed the man’s distraction and had continued explaining his runes that kept him from being contracted into anything against his very clearly stated will. Even then, it kept the oath or contract from taking his magic if broken. It would be very painful and unpleasant, but he’d keep his magic and life at least. It had been necessary multiple times for ill-conceived marriage contracts people had tried to force him into. Frankly, they were the first runes he’d inked onto himself that then led to the others.

Snape was still staring at the scars though. He knew Hadrian was from the Black family, and they were never known to be good or pleasant people. He knew that Regulus and his brother had not had good home lives growing up, even if he was less sympathetic to Sirius. Even if Hadrian’s family had been struck off the family tree, that still didn’t mean they were good people or that he hadn't grown up in a terrible home.

Percy reached over and put his hand on top of Harry’s, having noticed where their professor’s eyes had fallen. Snape looked up at him, and Percy gave a little shake of his head. The message of ‘don’t ask’ was received, and Snape gave him a little nod in return.

“…and I can give you that oath, but it probably won’t be as powerful as your leader is looking for because of them,” Harry concluded, having not paid attention to the silent conversation going on around him. “So…you want me to mock one up really quick?”

“No,” Snape shook his head firmly and stood to leave. “I will ask for lunch though, next Hogsmeade weekend? I assume you will be visiting Mr. Weasley anyway.”

Harry’s eyes widened some, surprised that maybe he’d possibly made a friend out of the man. Merlin, he didn’t think he’d ever see the day he would be friends with Severus Snape. He had admired the man since he died in the war, saving them all. But he didn’t actually think Snape would want to be friends with him. “Er, sure, yeah…”

Snape gave a sharp nod. “Expect my owl about visiting with your cousin and the decision reached concerning it,” he said before giving them both a tiny smile and heading out of the pub, back to the school.

“Harry…” Percy looked over at his partner with a deep frown. “Just how much do you think your handwriting has changed over the years?”

Harry frowned back at the man in concern. “Er…you mean owling Snape? I cast a spell on all my correspondence that makes my handwriting change every time you look at it. It’s to keep anyone from being able to forge something from me.”

"Of course you do," that didn't surprise him at all. Percy tapped a finger to the back of Harry’s hand though, and Harry sucked his breath in. “Do you think he noticed?” He asked with wide eyes. Young Harry had never disguised his handwriting for anything, especially his essays.

“That it is there, yes, that it’s Harry Potter’s handwriting…I don’t think so,” Percy decided after really thinking through the man’s minute expressions. “I think you should work on changing your handwriting on your essays some though just in case he sees your hand again and it sticks in his memory. Most people don’t pay that close attention to handwriting, but he’s both a professor looking for plagiarism and a spy…he would probably notice before most anyone else.”

Harry grumbled and drank the last of Percy’s whiskey who just huffed at him in exasperation. “Fine…now, I think I can stay out for another hour before anyone gets very anxious. I remarked to the general populous that I had just recently started seeing a very unspecified person in Ravenclaw while in the dorm yesterday to excuse random disappearances. How fast do you think we could get back to the castle and to your rooms?”

Percy smirked and canceled Harry’s ward with his wand. “I’ll take that challenge!” He pulled Harry up and out the door, planning to even beat Snape back to the castle.

Chapter Text

“That ingrate of a son of mine moped around for a few days after you left, but he’s been going out in the evenings with that werewolf under a glamour the past couple days and seems to be less of a poison to those around him since,” Walburga Black’s pocket portrait seethed throughout her ordered report to Harry who was sitting in the kitchens without his glamour but with a pot of tea and a large plate of biscuits while the house elves bustled around him and Sephie slept in his lap. The elves were still deciding on their terms, but they were tentatively on his side in what was coming to their world and would warn him if anyone was approaching so he could reapply the glamour.

“Good,” he nodded and sipped his tea, wishing Dobby would let him put some firewhiskey in it, but apparently Kreacher had gotten to the other elf, and he was on the Harry can’t have alcohol train now as well. “I want a full update on the Order meeting tonight as it is happening and a summary after it with as little editorializing as you can manage without causing yourself an aneurysm.”

Walburga glared at the heavily scarred Dark Lord as venomously as possible, but also not able to contradict him on her inability to keep from adding in her own comments to the reports. There was so little joy to be gotten out of being a portrait, so she was going to take what there was where she could get it.

“Why are you in a Merlin forsaken kitchen?” She asked instead with a disgusted grimace, recognizing the activity happening around the young man.

Harry just smiled kindly at Winky who stole his plate of biscuits and sat a plate of carrot sticks on the table instead with an ordering point of a long finger at them. Apparently, Harry looked like he didn’t eat enough vegetables or something like that, and she had taken to following behind Dobby to replace his biscuits with raw broccoli or carrot sticks every time he stopped by the kitchens.

“Those had better be half gone before yous leave,” she ordered before huffing and heading off to help the other elves with making bread for the next day.

“Thanks Winky!” Harry called to her with a chuckle as he picked up a carrot with a disappointed wrinkle of his nose at it. “To answer your question,” he looked back at the scandalized portrait. “I’ve invited the house elves to join our cause. Even as Light creatures they have basically no legal rights, and they honestly have more reason to revolt against any and everyone than any of the rest of us. They’re still working on their list of demands from me and our side since they don’t have a formal governing body, but they are a sentient race that has been systematically oppressed for centuries, and we will be blessed by Magic herself to have them stand beside us.”

Harry saw one of the elves…Pipsy he thought, pause in his work at Harry’s words out of the corner of his eye before going back to washing dishes. He hoped they were starting to see just how valuable and deserving they were as people and individuals, but it was still a long road ahead for all of them.

Walburga scoffed at his choice of followers but was cut off from responding when a very familiar crash was heard from the other side of her larger portrait. The stern, black-clad woman rolled her eyes. “My disgrace of a great-niece apparently has arrived,” she remarked at the regular knocking over of the umbrella stand. “I assume your meeting is about to start.”

“I’ll be here,” Harry toasted her with his teacup as she turned to leave. “Oh, tell me if you can tell if Tonks sits beside Remus or not,” he added with a grin at the end, just getting yet another scoff from the woman before she left to spy on the Order meeting happening behind her portrait.

Dobby hurried back over to where Harry was seated with another plate of biscuits to replace the one Winky had stolen with a wink at Harry. “Here Masters Dark Lord, Harry Potter…”

“You are an angel, Dobby,” Harry replaced his carrot stick with a chocolate biscuit and settled in to wait on Walburga’s next report. “Hey, tell the Head Elf that we’re going to have an ‘inner circle’ meeting in a couple weeks in the Room of Requirement. No worries if you don’t have your demands put together by then, but you’re all invited…however many of the elves want to come. I’m sure the room can accommodate everyone comfortably. We’re just doing some updates and figuring out what everyone’s goals are.”

Dobby almost vibrated in excitement but calmed himself to give Harry a little glare. “Now, Dark Lord Harry Potter knows that not everyones can be in his ‘inner circle’ yous need an ‘outer circle’ too…Dobby will get Kreacher to helps, and we’ll help narrow down how many elvses are allowed to come. You knows they will all be there if you don’t say no.”

Harry shrugged, not really caring. He didn’t give a kneazle’s arse how his little organization was set up as long as they didn’t serve either Dumbledore or Voldemort and were working towards tolerance and equality for all creatures and magic alignments.

“Thanks Dobby…I’m sure I wouldn’t survive without you and Kreacher…don’t tell Winky,” he added on conspiratorially at the end.

“I heard that, Harry Potter! Eat your carrots!” Winky remarkably heard and yelled across from where she was kneading the bread dough in the corner of the room, getting a wince from both Harry and Dobby at being caught.

Severus Snape stopped and took in a deep breath of the crisp night air from outside Grimmauld Place. He absolutely did not want to be attending an Order meeting, especially since he’d been forced to attend a painful and humiliating Death Eater meeting the night before, and added to all that, he was behind in his marking.

He was intrigued by his new friend though, and beyond curious about the man’s relationship with his escaped convict of a cousin who he seemed absolutely nothing like. Even a dunderhead like Sirius couldn’t have missed that his cousin was a dark wizard though, and he didn’t seem to care…that did not align with the Sirius Black Snape knew as a student at Hogwarts. Something was definitely going on with that relationship, but whether Black was finally growing up after his stent in Azkaban, or if Hadrian was just that good at worming his way into the prejudiced man’s life, was still up for debate.

However, as an argument for the latter possibility, somehow Hadrian had convinced a member of the Weasley family, historically one of the lightest families in their society, to date him, and it seemed to be serious by how they interacted with each other and how Hadrian and talked about his ‘partner’…surprising, since Percival…no, Percy…was so much younger than the dark wizard. And Percy did imply he might actually be a dark wizard himself, which, in Snape’s mind, completely changed the whole binary the war had taken on in the past couple decades.

Snape was willing, as a dark wizard himself, to sign onto the Light side because of the Dark Lord’s actions against the Potters, Lily in particular, and the insane man’s general willingness to kill, torture, and risk exposure of the wixen society. The Dark Lord’s mission and goal of taking over the wixen and muggle societies was unreasonable and unattainable with the sheer number of muggles in existence and how small their society was, proving the megalomanic really had lost his mind at some point. However, if there were other dark wixen who would stand against the Dark Lord while also standing their ground on their magical alignment, well, that changed everything. He was no longer alone if that were the case. Not allowing himself to hope though at this early juncture, he pushed it all down and focused on his mission: Get Hadrian Black accepted into the Black family ancestral home so that he would no longer be the only dark wizard there and to have a solid buffer against Sirius Black’s continual ridiculousness.

Steeling himself for the inane conversation and frequent digs at his character from all parties awaiting him on the other side of the door, Snape turned the handle and stepped into the entryway. Walburga Black’s eyes followed him as he walked past the portrait and into the kitchen, surprisingly not making any sound at his intrusion into her space. He frowned as he stepped into the already full room. Did anyone think to put a ward around the portrait? After a second, he shrugged off the thought. It was not like Walburga had any other portraits she could communicate with anyway. Linking portraits took a lot of highly specialized magic, and he was certain the Black family did not have any other properties that Walburga would have had access to and the desire to leave a portrait at anyway.

“Severus, welcome, I believe you are last to arrive,” Albus turned his twinkling eyes on his spy before standing to call the meeting to order.

With a grimace, Snape took the only empty seat left that just so happened to be beside Sirius Black. He almost considered asking Tonks to trade seats with him, but that would put him sitting beside Lupin, and after a quick assessment, Black was probably the lesser of those two evils. “Albus…” He acknowledged his employer and spared a sneer for the smiling man beside him.

“All right, Snape?” Black asked in a more cordial tone than Snape ever remembered him using in his presence before. He raised an eyebrow, questioning the man’s sanity, before just glaring at him, refusing to answer when he didn’t know what the mutt’s angle was. He must want something, and Snape didn’t know what it could be.

“Let’s get the non-Order business taken care of first before we go into reports,” Dumbledore sighed as if it were all extremely taxing and crossed his arms, leaning against the countertop. “Severus, you met with Sirius’s cousin. Were you able to ascertain his loyalties and obtain a secrecy oath?”

Sirius turned large, hopeful eyes on Snape, and he really just wanted to kick the man to get him to turn his attention to anyone else in the room. With a glare at the animagus for good measure, he turned to the rest of the Order, catching the eyes of Molly and Arthur Weasley over where they were sitting by Moody. Steeling himself he met the elderly man’s twinkling eyes with his own unimpressed ones.

“Hadrian Black is not a Death Eater, nor will he ever wish to serve the Dark Lord. He has very strong convictions that will not be swayed to the Dark Lord’s ideology. I was unable to attain a secrecy oath; however, I do not believe it is necessary since the house is protected under the Fidelus Charm anyway. He has a highly vested interest in keeping Death Eaters away from many here in attendance, so he would not seek to betray us willingly,” Severus concluded firmly and tried to ignore the huge smile that was frankly freaking him out from the animagus beside him.

Dumbledore just frowned at that recommendation though and Moody scoffed. “Really, my boy, you are more at risk than anyone here. I would think you would agree that this person must be bound under some kind of oath to protect our secrets,” Dumbledore concluded.

“Only Sirius knows this man,” Moody added in. “He has no reason to protect any of us. How do we know he isn’t taking advantage of Sirius’s mental state to report our location or plans to the Dark anyway?”

“Hey!” Sirius protested Moody’s dig at his mental state, but Snape rolled his eyes. Honestly, Sirius had never been that stable as even an auror in his early twenties, and twelve years in Azkaban was definitely not going to help that. The man was clearly not quite sane on his best day, so it was a good point whether Snape personally believed Hadrian to be using him or not.

Snape sighed and wished they could just move on to the boring reports of the evening so that the attention would be off him. “He isn’t going to be joining Order meetings to learn any secrets, and clearly Sirius is not the only one who knows him since he is practically married to a Weasley. I doubt he would sell out his partner’s family. Arthur, Molly…you must agree,” he turned to the Weasley parents with a questioning look for them to hopefully back him up on this so they could move on.

Surely, the Weasley parents would support their son’s partner even if they weren’t on the best of terms with Percy currently. Percy had said he and Hadrian had been together for almost a year, and it was only just recently that the Weasleys had split, so they must know Hadrian at least passingly…though, now that he thought of it, they hadn’t reacted to the name when Sirius brought him up the first time, nor did Hadrian mention having met them…

With a bad feeling, he noted both the Weasley parents’ surprise as well as Sirius’s beside him. Surely, Hadrian had at least mentioned his relationship to his cousin! Merlin, what had he walked into?

“Excuse me?” Molly Weasley asked in a sputter as her husband frowned, seeming to try to figure out what Snape was talking about.

To Snape’s utter bafflement, Sirius Black chuckled and shook his head beside Snape, seeming to find the entire situation amusing while everyone else looked completely shocked. With a grimace, Snape realized he might be about to out Percy Weasley to his family, and he was not looking forward to the fallout. Percy and Hadrian both were going to get an earful from him for putting him in this situation when they could have at least given him a warning.

“I’m taking it you didn’t know…” he breathed out, hoping he was wrong about the situation.

“Sirius’s younger cousin is romantically involved with someone in our family? Who?” Arthur frowned in confusion. “I think my cousin Hannah is single…? She moved to Belgium though…” He looked over to his wife questioningly.

“Your son,” Severus sighed tiredly and rolled his eyes at his life. “Hadrian Black is dating your son, and it seems fairly serious from what I witnessed.”

“Which one?” Arthur asked again, sharing a surprised look with his baffled wife.

Snape huffed while Sirius seemed to be almost dying in his attempt to hold in his laughter. “I don’t know what to tell you, Arthur, you have three grown sons who are out of school, which one is gay or at least bisexual, and that’s the one he’s with.” He was absolutely not going to out a person to their family if he could possibly avoid it.

Molly and Arthur didn’t seem to have any clue which of the three it might be though from their expressions while Sirius seemed to finally not be able to hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. “Oh, Merlin, I hope it’s Bill!” He laughed loudly. “He’s quite fit! You all have to admit that.”

“Sirius,” Lupin shook his head at his friend fondly but was chuckling himself.

“Bill is dating Fleur Delacour,” Tonks spoke with a shrug when everyone looked at her. “What? We talk sometimes. We were friends at school even if I was Charlie’s age and he was older. We both think curses are interesting.”

“Bill is dating the Beauxbatons champion?” Arthur raised an appreciative eyebrow for his son’s choice, getting a sneer from Snape, who was really not comfortable with this whole conversation.

“Erm, dear…would you know,” Molly awkwardly turned to the purple haired auror with a frown. “Is Charlie perhaps gay?”

“Bloody Salazar’s ghost!” Snape hissed out in frustration, causing everyone in the room’s eyes to snap to him. “He’s dating Percy! Percy Weasley, your son…the one who is currently teaching DADA at Hogwarts! I’m going to curse the both of them for not telling me that you didn’t know!”

Sirius gave another little surprised laugh but seemed less surprised than the rest of the room. Snape supposed the escaped convict had never actually met the third Weasley son, so he probably was less shocked. “Well…I’m not sure what that one looks like, but you all have pretty good genes by the sons I’ve seen,” Sirius shrugged and commented to the boy in question’s parents. “I suppose I’ll probably approve.”

“Percy?...Are you sure?” Arthur asked with a questioning look to his wife who just gave him a shrug as if to say she hadn’t guessed it either.

“We all got drinks in Hogsmeade two nights ago,” Snape tried to hold back the sneer he wanted to turn on the entire Order for putting him in this awkward position to be talking about romantic relationships of all things in the middle of a war. “They have apparently been together almost a year.”

Sirius gave a surprised snort of amusement at that and shook his head. The man clearly knew something he wasn’t planning on telling the rest of the Order and Snape just huffed in frustration at the dunderhead of a man. Black really could help; this was his cousin they were talking about.

“A year? But…Percy doesn’t believe You-Know-Who has returned,” Molly added in, looking at Snape with hopeful eyes that her son might return to the family. “Surely, Sirius’s cousin doesn’t believe that as well. How did we not know Percy was dating a man for almost a year?”

Snape honestly had no clue what had caused the rift in Percy’s relationship with his family, and the war didn’t seem like it could possibly be the reason with how Hadrian had talked about the Dark Lord as if it were obvious he had returned. “I don’t know what to tell you, Molly,” he sighed, feeling like he’d probably spoken more directly to the Weasley parents in this meeting than he ever had before in his life.

“In our conversation, your son seemed certain the Dark Lord had returned and that he stood adamantly against him. It is possible either he had to take the contrary stance because of his position as Fudge’s assistant, or maybe Hadrian has recently convinced him of the truth of the matter…I do not know. We did not discuss that in particular.”

“What did you discuss, my boy, if I may be so bold to ask?” Albus looked at him with that patronizing stare again that seemed to say he was only trusted as far as he was useful…something that Snape knew was the case extremely well.

“Potions,” he answered his employer, sometimes master when they were being honest with each other, simply. “Hadrian and I first met in my regular apothecary, and we share an interest in the art. He is currently brewing his cousin a batch of Polyjuice Potion to help him leave the house more often…He wanted advice on ways to speed the process so it would take less than a month to finish.”

“That’s nice of him…and you, Snape,” Sirius said turning his blue/grey eyes on Severus with a thankful look once more and making Snape even more suspicious that the man had some kind of angle he was playing at.

“Well…I for one want to meet my son’s boyfriend!” Molly Weasley turned demanding eyes on both Dumbledore and her husband. “If Percy does actually believe You-Know-Who is back and is on our side, then there is no reason for all this bad blood. I want to meet my son’s partner and get my baby back with the family where he belongs.” She gave both men a glare that ordered them to make it happen, whatever that took.

Well…Snape didn’t actually say Percy was on their side. He and Hadrian seemed to be in some kind of middle-ground or maybe even a third side if one existed. He was clearly not going to say that in front of Percy’s family or the leader of the Light though. “The house is under a Fidelus, and they can be banned from the building during Order meetings. I don’t see the issue here,” he said once more to the group. “Can we possibly move this along?”

“Yeah, come on Dumbledore,” Sirius spoke up, agreeing with him to the spy’s continued surprise. “Snape has papers to mark, and Moony and I have a chess game to get back to. Just say Hadrian can come to dinner and let’s take care of all those recruitment reports and call it a night.”

“I agree,” Arthur spoke up with his wife to no one’s surprise.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh before turning those twinkling eyes once more on the group. “Fine, but no one will tell them any Order business, even your son,” he said to Arthur and Molly who quickly nodded in agreement.

The Order meeting finally continued on with Moody starting into his extremely long-winded report on possible precautionary measures they should take. Snape turned to Sirius, pinning the man with a venomous glare. “What do you want?” He asked quietly so only the animagus would hear. “We do not like each other, and here you are playing nice. You want something, out with it.”

Sirius’s face darkened slightly before he seemed to push off whatever thought he had and frowned before he slowly shook his head. “Only to see my cousin,” he finally replied to Snape’s surprise. “Hadrian likes you for some reason and made it infinitely clear that he’s planning to keep you in his life. I figured…well, it’s been over a decade…maybe we aren’t the same people we were back at Hogwarts? I mean…I’m not the same person. Maybe you aren’t either? It only makes sense to try to start over, at least on a probationary basis anyway.”

“Probationary basis?” Snape tried to process what the man was saying, but it just seemed ludicrous.

“Well…yeah,” Sirius shrugged and lowered his voice even more so no one would hear them. “You’ve seen Hadrian…you know, well…what he is. I love him. He’s my family, and the absolute most important person to me in this world besides Harry. That’s enough for me to reevaluate some old beliefs…right? Can we maybe just try to start over? I know I was going through a lot and really terrible sometimes to you as a teenager, but you know, you were too…and probably going through just as much. Could we maybe not be Black and Snape and just be Sirius and Severus for a bit until we figure who each other actually is as an adult?”

Snape really was beyond shocked and didn’t trust Black for a second. However, he was Hadrian’s cousin, and Hadrian was the first dark wizard he had met in a very long time that believed things similarly to himself. Honestly, he was the first person in a really long time that actually seemed to want to be his friend and spend time with him. If keeping Hadrian as a friend meant spending slightly more time with Black, then maybe it was worth a temporary truce…a truce without trust though. He still didn’t trust Black even if he was willing to put things behind them temporarily.

“That is quite possibly the most mature thing you have ever said in your life,” Snape told the man beside him with a slight nod of agreement to his proposal.

“Don’t I know it, Snape,” Sirius gave him a little chuckle before turning back to at least look like he was listening to Moody drone on and on.

Percy calculated how long it would take to apparate back to the school and walk from the gates while he waited outside of Snape’s office for the man to return. Harry had sent him a charmed, paper airplane message when Walburga Black’s portrait had reported that both Hadrian Black and Percy were approved to visit Sirius and that the Order meeting was over with, and Percy wanted to hear from Snape himself how the meeting had gone. He also needed to ask the man for some potions that he knew Harry would be too proud to ask for himself until he was in significant pain, and Percy didn’t want it to get that far. Sometimes…most of the time, Harry was way too stubborn for his own good.

Snape strode almost angrily around the corner, only slightly pausing his stride in his surprise at finding the DADA professor waiting for him. “Percy,” he acknowledged his colleague before opening the door to his office and motioning the younger man in.

“Professor,” Percy nodded at him and entered, sitting in the student chair as he had done several times when he was a student and had a question about a potion.

“We are equals now, Percy,” Snape gave him what could only be described as a little smirk before he sat at his desk. “You should call me Severus.”

Percy chuckled at the hypocrisy. “I’ve heard you call Professor McGonagall ‘Professor’ several times myself…it’s a hard habit to break. I will attempt an occasional Severus though.”

Snape seemed to slightly relax as he leaned back in his desk chair and let out a small breath of a chuckle. “I appreciate the attempt. Is there something you need this evening, Percy? I really am behind on my marking and lesson planning.”

“You know, if you invite Hadrian over for tea, he’ll help with marking the younger year’s essays at least,” Percy offered, knowing that Harry would suggest it himself if he thought of it. It was laughably easy for him to do the fifth-year homework, and they hadn’t put any of their main plans into motion yet, so Harry was a little bored at the moment, and a bored Harry was a dangerous Harry…something Percy knew all too well.

“Really, you think?” Snape looked way more surprised than Percy thought he should be at the suggestion.

“Er…yeah, he’s a little bored right now since he hasn’t found a full time job yet. I’m sure he’ll probably be too busy eventually, but use the boredom while you can,” he offered with a shrug. “Actually, I was going to ask if you wouldn’t mind brewing him a mild pain potion. It would normally be an easy buy at an apothecary, but he’s become immune to any potion with belladonna in it, and most standard pain potions use that as a vasodilator,” he explained.

Snape frowned in concern. Becoming immune to an ingredient like that took quite a lot of exposure. That much exposure to pain potions, even mild ones, was concerning. “I take it he’s taken potions for pain quite often?”

Percy slowly nodded, not sure how much to tell the man without giving away who he was talking about. It was quidditch he was worried about as they got closer to the season. Harry almost never played anymore because of his knee that had basically been shattered when he was cursed several years back, and the ligaments just couldn’t be regrown like the bones could. He had to play though if he was going to pass as 15-year-old Harry, and the season was about to start. Of course, Harry hadn’t said anything about it, but Percy knew he was going to be in significant pain, and he was going to hide it from everyone until he just couldn’t move anymore.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that Hadrian has had a hard life,” he explained as circumspectly as possible. “He tends to be a bit of a danger magnate and has some lingering issues…one of which being a knee with ligament damage.”

“There are a few pain potions I can brew which do not have belladonna as an ingredient,” Snape nodded at him. “I suppose some marking for my first years’ essays would be a good trade as well. It might help for me to get a look at his knee sometime as well. There may be some options he hasn’t considered for the ligaments.”

“Great! I would really appreciate it! Hadrian is a stubborn arse most of the time, but he’ll appreciate it too once I talk him around,” Percy grinned broadly at him.

“Now…how did my parents take me dating a bloke? Did Mum bemoan me not giving her grandkids or anything?” He asked unrepentantly, knowing exactly the position he’d put Snape into.

Snape glared at him dangerously. “That was absolutely not fair of you both at all. You could have warned me.”

“I’ll convince Hadrian to gift you some of those rare potion ingredients he was asking you about,” Percy shrugged and just smiled at him more. “Now…Mum? Was she scandalized or did she want to meet Hadrian?”

Snape’s eyes narrowed at the redheaded man across from him. “Sometimes I forget that you are the twins and Ronald’s brother…”

“They forget it too,” he wryly commented with a sad smile. “I am the dark wizard of the family though, so that will probably take over as my descriptor from being the bisexual one once they learn that. This was probably just the first shock of many to come.”

Snape nodded, agreeing with the man, and knowing it was very true. “They asked to meet Hadrian. Your parents seemed accepting from what I saw. I do not know how they will take your magical alignment though. I would wait and see their reactions to Hadrian first. His alignment will be difficult to hide if he does not cover his runes.”

Percy nodded with a shrug. They had taken it well when Harry had originally left the country to get his mastery in the Dark Arts, but that was also when they were distracted by their grief and had Ron and Hermione both there explaining the why to them almost incessantly. It wasn’t going to be the same with him, but at least he knew his parents had eventually accepted one ‘son’ with a dark alignment in the future. Besides, he couldn’t exactly change now. He’d cast way too much soul magic to change his core back to Light. That would take years as it had taken years to change his core Dark. Besides, he actually really liked being a necromancer, and Persephone was remarkably holding together extremely well and hadn’t tried to eat a person yet at all.

“Well, I’ll pass on the message that he’s approved to visit to Hadrian. I assume he’ll need to go with you the first time?” Percy stood to leave the man to his marking.

Snape sighed, but knew it was necessary because of the Fidelus. “Yes, I guess I’ll have to put up with another night of Hadrian’s cousin, but I will persevere.”

Percy laughed. He’d never met Sirius Black before, but by all Harry’s stories, he was certain those two were going to curse each other before too long if they kept being forced together. “Well, we have the first Hogsmeade weekend next week. Why don’t you two set up when to go together then. I think Hadrian is working on those potions ingredients to send to you before. If you want help with marking, just reach out. I’m serious when I say he’s bored, and that’s dangerous for all of us.”

“I may take you up on that,” Snape gave him a smirk before picking up his quill to start in on the extremely large pile in front of him.

“You know how I always ask you before committing you to things?” Harry glared at his partner as they made their way to the second-floor girls’ bathroom.

Percy nodded, not able to keep the little smile off his lips as he petted Persephone who was cuddled up in his arms and wearing a little red and gold jumper that day that was frankly atrocious…it was Harry’s first attempt at knitting.

“Well, that ends now. I did not need half of Snape’s marking owled to me, thank you very much!” He glared at the slightly taller man while he held a mild notice-me-not charm around them with his wand as they walked.

“You were bored,” Percy shrugged and held open the bathroom door with the hand not holding the cat-inferius. “You were bored, and you know full well that Snape is extremely over-worked and frankly dealing with a lot of pain since Voldy is curse-happy.”

“Fine! But I wasn’t bored if you must know. I’ve been negotiating with the house elves and keep getting letters from the goblins with questions about my future policy plans that I haven’t even come up with yet. Maybe I’m not quite as busy as I usually am, but we’ve only been back in this time a few weeks now. I needed a bit of a break anyway.” Harry grimaced before looking at the sink and realizing they had a problem. “It takes Parseltongue to open it. I honestly forgot I can't speak it anymore...”

Percy sighed and shifted the cat in his arms a little. “You no longer have the horcrux…any ideas for learning a language you can’t understand in the next few seconds?”

Harry looked at the sink, deep in thought for a minute before nodding and pointing his wand at his head. After a second of deep concentration, he pulled a memory from his mind flicked it into the air with a murmured mind-magic spell. A projection floated in front of them, and Percy noted a much younger version of his little brother standing with his wand pointed at Gilderoy Lockhart beside the sink they were standing in front of.

“Nice,” he commented in appreciation at Harry’s solution to the problem.

Harry in the memory hissed out loudly in the room, causing both the memory sink and the reality sink to begin to open. “There’s got to be an easier way to do that if we go down here often,” Harry remarked as he dispelled the memory with another flick of his wand.

“And I am not going down that slide. I just bought these robes,” Percy looked down into the grimy hole with a disgusted grimace on his face. “Persephone agrees with me.” The cat even gave a little meow in what could possibly pass for agreement.

With a swish and a flick, Harry had Percy and Sephie floating into the air with a little laugh at their surprise. “I’ll float you down, but you’re better with the scourgify charms, so you’ll have to clean me off at the bottom then.”

“Deal…you better not drop us though, Harry Potter,” Percy gave him look that promised swift retribution if he did while he just held the cat closer to his chest.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, love,” the younger man angled the floating pair into the hole and down without touching the slimy stones around them. “We need to hurry before Myrtle shows up. I am not dealing with her if at all possible.” Percy’s laugh echoed from where he had almost disappeared to touch down on the stone floor at the end of the slide.

When he was sure they were safe, Harry jumped into the hole with a whoop and heard the sink closing behind him as his hair whipped out behind him and he raced towards the ground. “Ow!” He grumbled and laughed when he tumbled off into the pile of rat bones. “That was a lot more fun when certain death isn’t looming over you.”

Percy was already casting cleaning charms at him with a disgusted look. “I’m not kissing you until you take a shower. I don’t care how many cleaning charms I hit you with.”

Taking a step, Harry had to stop and put a hand against the wall, keeping his knee from completely buckling. “Mordred’s balls,” he winced.

With a sigh, Percy waited for him to recover. “I asked Snape to brew you some more pain potions in exchange for your help with that marking…you know quidditch is going to aggravate it too.”

“I’m fine,” Harry grimaced once more before pushing off the wall and testing out the knee. He was slightly limping as they walked forward, but it seemed to be holding his weight at least. “Of everything I’ve been hit with over the years, it’s annoying that it’s my knee that gives me the most grief.”

Percy began casting various charms to move the stones and repair the cave-in Lockhart’s spell had caused back in Harry’s second year. “You think we have time to stop by St. Mungo’s and murder Lockhart in all those plans of yours?” He finally grumbled after the last stone settled back into place. “I can’t believe what he tried to do to you and Ron!”

Harry shrugged. “It’s not like he can hurt anyone as he is now anyway. I vote we leave him unless he ever gets his memory back, then I’ll definitely put him on the list.”

With another pull of a memory, Harry had the door to the main Chamber of Secrets open and they stepped into the large, dark room. Percy put the cat down and Sephie took off to explore the room, her eyes glowing red in the dim light, while both men just stared at the carcass of the giant, mythical snake taking up most of the floor of the chamber. “I think I actually remembered it as smaller surprisingly,” Harry wryly commented wondering how in Merlin’s name he had survived the massive thing as a twelve-year-old.

Percy just reached over and pulled Harry to him, kissing his neck and holding him uncomfortably tight. “I thought I needed a shower first,” Harry gasped out as he held onto the other man just as tightly.

“Don’t you ever go up against something like that again without me,” Percy turned haunted eyes onto the monster in front of them. “Merlin…you were so tiny as a second year too! And Ginny was down here!”

There must have been some sort of preservation charms on the chamber, or maybe it was just part of the basilisk’s magic itself, but the snake was much less decomposed than it should have been for being over two years dead, though it still definitely stunk. Harry just looked at it calculatingly, seeming to be taking it apart with his eyes. “You think if I give half of it to the goblins they’d stop bugging me and just join in already? I think they’re even annoying Flitwick at this point with all the questions they want him to relay to me.”

“Half might be a little much…” They trailed off as they heard a loud yowl and hiss.

The two men spun around to see Sephie take down a rat that was remarkably larger than herself. Harry clutched his chest dramatically with a fake sniff. “Aww, my baby is such a good girl! You’re such a precious little vicious inferius! Did you see that, Perce?! It wasn't even a struggle!”

Percy grimaced at the carnage but was impressed with the skill. “I think you’re going to have to burn that jumper.”

Harry just shrugged. “It turned out a bit lop-sided anyway. Have fun Sephie!” He called over to where the cat was already hunting for another rat. “She’s due a bath tonight anyway.”

“Right…well, horcruxes…where do we start?” Percy raised an eyebrow and turned to his partner questioningly.

"I don't know...you're the necromancer..." Harry pulled the locket and diadem from the satchel hanging at his side and placed them on the floor with a wave of his hand for Percy to proceed. "Have fun. I expect to be impressed with your badass skills my dear."

Percy gave his partner a smirk before looking at the items in front of them...maybe there were some things he could try...it could be fun...

Chapter Text

Percy vaguely registered that his partner had dispelled his glamour before pulling dragon hide gloves, a collection of different types of preservation vials, and a long-ass knife from his satchel before almost gleefully pouncing on the snake carcass. His attention was decidedly elsewhere though. He’d never gotten to study a horcrux before, and it was just fascinating…terrible, but fascinating. He cast a strong containment ward around the two horcruxes before casting diagnostic after diagnostic.

After each spell showed its results, he frowned more and more deeply. Something just wasn’t adding up. Percy hated not knowing something, and he had more questions than answers at the moment. He finally looked up to where Harry was extracting each fang from the basilisk’s mouth and putting them into separate crystal vials.

“And you said that the horcrux remnant in you was definitely with you when you crossed into the train station limbo or purgatory or whatever?” He asked, continuing his thought like he’d been talking to Harry the entire time.

For his part, Harry looked up from his intense concentration to wipe some snake guts from his cheek and frowned while his brain tried to catch up with Percy. “Er…yeah…it was weird, wasn’t it? The bit was almost corporeal…but how could that have happened if it was just a small fragment…also, what does the horcrux do to the soul to negate its desire to right itself? I mean…that’s why the ritual made our younger selves no longer exist in this time…how did the horcruxes get around that?”

Percy’s eyebrow rose in appreciation that his partner had picked up on the exact same inconsistencies he had been wandering about when he started casting diagnostics. “I’ve been trying to ascertain just that…but I don’t know…the diagnostics show no magical reason for why a soul released from a horcrux would not try to fix itself just like any normal soul. The container definitely keeps it separate from the main piece, but the soul shouldn’t move on when the container is destroyed…by what I’m seeing, it should try to meld with the main soul.”

Harry put the fang he was holding into a vial and scrunched up his face as he thought it over. “So, when a horcrux is destroyed, the pieces of soul should try to reattach themselves…and there really isn’t anything you can find on it to make the soul piece move on?”

Percy slowly shook his head while he looked at the two horcruxes on the stone floor in frustration. A terrible but also very interesting thought crossed his mind, making his eyes widen in surprise. “Erm…Harry…just how many of the horcruxes were destroyed while you were actually in the room with them?”

“Just the diary, the locket, and the cup,” he answered, not liking where this was going at all but seeing what Percy was getting at. “I was in the castle though when the diadem was destroyed and closer to it than Voldemort at the time. Nagini was killed after the horcrux in me was gone.”

“If you’re saying that each part of Voldemort’s soul was attaching to the horcrux in me, making it larger, that would explain everything except for the ring, what happened with Nagini, and why the piece in me didn’t return to Voldemort when he hit me with the killing curse….although…now that I think about it, he was knocked out temporarily when I was hit…could that mean something?” Harry actually sat on the ground as he tried to process this new possibility.

Percy slowly nodded. “It would make sense…by the time Dumbledore destroyed the ring, you probably had more of the soul in you than Voldemort did just with the diary and the one in you since the diary piece would have been the largest. It’s also possible you happened to be closer to it wherever you were at the time than Voldemort as well.”

“Ok…then that explains why the ugly, baby soul piece in the train station was corporeal if it was almost the entire soul, but how did it even end up there? And what happened when Neville chopped off Nagini’s head?” He leaned up against the snake carcass with his eyes large and haunted, not even caring it was smelly and dead at the moment.

“The piece in Nagini would have gone back to Voldemort,” Percy finally concluded after a moment of weighing what he was going to say next. “As for why the piece went with you when you died…you wanted the piece to die with you…”

“Yeah, and?” Harry prompted, realizing the man was holding something back he didn’t want to say.

Percy scooped up Sephie as she darted by him and walked over to sit by Harry, a squirming and grumpy cat dumped into his lap. “I’m very worried if you are ending Sephie’s fun for whatever you need to say next,” Harry raised an eyebrow and kissed the top of the cat’s head before releasing her to go back to stalking rats since she definitely did not want to be sitting with him.

Percy just sat down next to him and sighed. “Harry…how did you find the tiny, black resurrection stone for the time-travel ritual buried under years of undergrowth in the middle of the Forbidden Forest?”

Harry frowned but leaned his head against Percy’s shoulder to wait out whatever bad news the man needed to tell him next. “Well…I looked for several days before I figured that the elder wand could probably summon it. So, I did my bit of grave-robbing before returning to the forest and accio’d the stone. I was actually surprised it worked, but the elder wand is the most powerful and they are connected, so it tracked…”

“Did you try to summon it before using the elder wand?” Percy kissed the silver-streaked hair of his love with a sigh that seemed to say his suspicions were confirmed.

“Er…no,” Harry leaned back to look up in confusion. “It was the resurrection stone, why would it be able to be summoned by a normal wand? That’s not how magic works.”

“I wasn’t implying it could be summoned by your wand; I was implying it could be summoned by you,” Percy said with meaning. “Harry, dear, I know you don’t like to talk about this, but do you think…might you actually be the Master of Death?”

Harry grimaced and stood to pick up his knife and go back to the snake. “What even does that mean?! Of course, I don’t have any say over life and death or whatever, and I’m definitely not immortal. I’ve clearly aged over the years!” He motioned to the strands of silver in his hair before he began to hack away again at the snake’s hide.

With a steeling breath, Percy stood and crossed his arms. “No, you are clearly not immortal. However, we both know that you really should have died a few times over the years and just chalked up your survival to your abnormal luck. Isn’t it more probable though that you are like the third brother from the story…the one that also happens to be your ancestor. Death couldn’t find him, he only crossed over when he was ready, and he met Death as an old friend.”

Harry snorted and wildly gestured his hand holding the knife. “So, you’re saying that I could just get hit with another killing curse and walk away if I don’t want to die because some embodiment of Death can’t find me?! That sounds ludicrous!”

“Harry…can you really tell me that you should be alive today after what you went through with Luna, after that ambush in Knockturn Alley, after that banshee stabbed you, after…”

“Just stop,” Harry cut him off with a raise of his hand and a grimace, pausing in his frantic hacking of the snake carcass. “If what you’re saying is true…and that’s a big if…that would mean that I just forcefully took Voldy’s soul into the afterlife with me when I went and left it there when I returned. That also means that if we stab or destroy the horcruxes, the pieces of soul would just go back into Voldy since I no longer have the piece in me, right?”

“Right…unless you can figure out a way to make them move on,” Percy said with a little smirk at what Harry’s powers might actually be.

Harry rolled his eyes at how much Percy loved to study things, even if that were him, but honestly, he really should be dead. Frankly, he had been pretty certain he’d been hit by a killing curse in that ambush in Knockturn Alley where he’d been caught in between the aurors and some very dangerous artifact dealers. Clearly, he just assumed he’d been mistaken, but now…maybe he hadn’t been mistaken.

“How about we just contain them for now,” he suggested and turned back to his task. “If Voldemort were to get his entire soul back, do you think that would make him less insane? I mean, ripping your soul apart has to have some awful effects on you, right?”

Percy began to cast more permanent containment wards around the horcruxes to store them more long-term. “Well, that would be unfortunate since we’d still have to kill him off and that might even make him more dangerous,” he grumbled with a sneer at the monster. “You’re taking over, and he has stepped well past any redemption arch in my opinion. You can’t think he’d actually agree with you or not still be a murdering psychopath even if he had his soul back, do you?”

“All signs point to him being fairly murderous even before he split his soul, but we’re a bit there ourselves, aren’t we?” Harry shrugged. “Practically speaking, you are right. He has to go. We can’t have two dark lords around when trying to take over. That might just confuse the minions.”

Percy chuckled and stepped over to help with the snake disassembling. “Our brand of crazy is different from his at the very least, but yeah…so, we collect all the horcruxes and either destroy them all at once right before we go after Voldemort, or we find a way for you to use your death-mojo and push them into the afterlife.”

Harry looked up with a disbelieving scrunch of his nose. “Please don’t call it death-mojo, and I’m still not sure I believe you, but I’ll give it a try if you can come up with some safe experiments to give it a go.”

“I think I can do that,” Percy smiled broadly, clearly looking forward to it. “And…I think it important to note that if it’s true that you can only move on into the afterlife when you are ready and not before, then you are not allowed to be ready before I die myself…understood? I’m going first, and that’s not up for negotiation.”

Harry grumbled and threw a snake scale at the redhead but smiled at him nonetheless. “Fine, but I expect you to find a way to raise yourself from the dead if you go any time soon. You’re a necromancer, you can figure out some way to turn yourself into an inferius like Sephie or something.”

Percy rolled his eyes at Harry’s very limited understanding of Necromancy. “Human souls are much different than animal ones. I haven’t figured out how to pull an actual human soul into a body yet. Plus, there is the problem with decay of the body. If the inferius isn’t raised immediately after death, like Persephone, then you risk it stinking like this bloody snake.”

“I know air-freshening spells,” Harry smirked as he cast one to prove his point, making the room smell much better. “Besides, if I can banish a soul, maybe I can kidnap one from the afterlife as well.”

Percy actually stopped in his activities to think over that, the possibilities stretching out before him. “Now that would actually be very interesting…”

“Sephie!” Harry abruptly called out at the cat. “Don’t eat that!” He put down his knife and ran after the cat who had decided to try to eat something green and slimy and definitely not edible.

Harry grinned manically at his friends as he walked behind them towards Hogsmeade. “Stop looking at us like that,” Hermione grumbled with a glare back at him. “I can feel your eyes on my back. We’re just getting lunch and walking around a bit.”

“But it’s a date,” he ended in a sing-song tone. “It’s your first official date. This is a momentous occasion, especially since it’s probably a good two or three years early and all my doing. I expect to be named godfather to any future kids. I’m an excellent godfather, just ask Teddy once I ensure his parents get together and make sweet wolfy love at just the exact right time that I’ve already tracked down to a two-week window through multiple Arithmancy calculations and star-charts.”

“You’re seriously disturbed, mate,” Ron grimaced back at the annoying third wheel following them down to the town.

“I’m not sure biology works that way,” Hermione frowned wondering what all went into tracking someone’s actual conception date and what the factors were with time-travel involved. “And how are you going to make sure they have sex, then? That sounds fairly…er, intrusive? Icky?”

“How long are you going to be following us around anyway?” Ron asked, turning to walk backwards and pin Harry with a look saying the answer had better be ‘not long at all.’

Harry rolled his eyes at them and laughed. “First of all, by that time, I plan for Remus to already be on our side and know things, then I’ll just tell him and Tonks about Teddy and get them a nice vacation hotel on a beach somewhere or something. If that doesn’t work, I’m sure Snape knows how to brew some nice aphrodisiac potions or something.”

Ron gagged while Hermione turned pink at that suggestion. Harry just ignored them. “Also, I’m leaving you right now since we’re out of sight of the castle, and I can just pop into the Shrieking Shack to change clothes and remove the glamour,” he peeled off from them some to start walking towards the abandoned structure.

“Wait,” Hermione stopped him to look him up and down. “You’re meeting the parents tonight, and we all know they love Harry, but they don’t know Hadrian at all. Please say you have a turtleneck shirt in that bag or something to cover up your runes.”

Harry frowned at them both in concern. “No, I just have a Stubby Boardman and The Hobgoblins band t-shirt. Why should I hide who I am though? They’ll find out eventually anyway.”

“Not even a nice button-down!” Hermione sighed in frustration at her sartorially challenged friend who it seemed hadn’t gained an appreciation for fashion in the next twelve-years either.

“I’m supposedly hanging out with Sirius and not officially meeting Mr. and Mrs. Weasley anyway,” Harry scratched the back of his neck, self-consciously wondering if maybe he should have been more worried. He’d always been Harry around the Weasley parents, so he’d never thought that maybe they wouldn’t approve of him…well, yeah, he figured they might not approve of him as the next Dark Lord, but dating their son, that he hadn’t really been worried about until that moment.

“Mate, if my parents know you are in the house, you will be officially meeting them tonight,” Ron corrected his assumption. “They already know you’re a bloke, but a dark wizard is adding a bit more onto that…”

Harry sighed, but he was also not willing to cover up and pretend to be someone he wasn’t. He had disguised himself somehow every day when he left his house in the future for various different reasons, and he was absolutely not going back to that, especially when he was pretending to be fifteen every day already anyway.

“Well…at least it will take the heat off of them learning Percy is a dark wizard too,” he finally concluded. “If they get used to me, that won’t be as large of a blow as their own son.”

“Wait…my brother is a dark wizard?!” Ron hissed in surprise at the news, his blue eyes going large.

“You didn’t know that already?” Harry just frowned at them both while Hermione shook her head and Ron looked completely dazed. “Er…I was a little out of it when we all talked in his office the other day. I didn’t realize it hadn’t come up. Oh well…er, surprise! Your brother is also a dark wizard, but no one else in your family is that I know of anyway…er, well, you were a vampire for a while, so you kind of count…”

“Nope, I’m going on my date, and you’re meeting up with my brother and the dungeon bat before heading off to terrorize my parents,” Ron shook his head firmly and threw an arm around Hermione’s shoulders. “Get lost. I’m done with all the surprises for the day. I do expect a report on how much you scandalized my parents though tonight when you get back. I’ll just insinuate you’re off snogging that unnamed Ravenclaw if anyone asks where you are…er, is it a boy or a girl we’re pretending you’re dating again?”

“He’s only used gender-neutral pronouns so far,” Hermione answered for him with a twinkle in her eye. “I suppose if anyone gets really nosey, we should probably say it’s a boy though.”

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes at them. “Just tell me whatever lie I’m supposed to be sticking to so I don’t get caught out later.”

“Have fun!” He called back to his friends who were definitely now whispering together about what ridiculous lie they could get him committed to sticking to going forward.

“Mister Longbottom,” Severus Snape drawled causing the Gryffindor to pale where he was clearly standing on the lookout for the Weasley twins who were off in the alleyway doing Merlin knows what with a firecracker and a teapot.

“Er, hello Professor Snape!” Longbottom said loudly, causing the older man to almost roll his eyes at how teenagers thought they were getting away with things when they were really just outstandingly obvious.

A loud bang and shuffle emanated from the alley before it got quiet again. “I’m sure you would really hate for this to be your last Hogsmeade trip for the term,” he raised an eyebrow threateningly at the teen.

“Aw, let him have some fun, Severus! You aren’t even on chaperone duty,” one Hadrian Black laughed as he threw an arm around Snape’s shoulders and leaned around him to grin at the cowering teen. Snape had almost jumped out of his skin, not having heard the wizard walk up behind him, which was remarkable in itself.

“Hey, are you Neville Longbottom?” Hadrian kept his arm around Snape’s shoulders as he turned his huge smile on the student while Snape just sighed at his new erratic friend.

“Er…y-yeah?” Longbottom stammered out, his eyes huge and a pink tinge to his ears.

“I’ve heard good things about you from my partner. I’m Hadrian Black,” Hadrian reached out his free hand to shake the teen’s. Snape tracked the Longbottom heir’s eyes as he took in the hand and the arm that had clearly visible dark runes on it as well as the piercings and other visible tattoos.

To Snape’s surprise, Longbottom cleared his throat but stood a little taller as he reached out and shook the proffered hand. “Erm, thank you,” he said in something between a question and a statement. The teen’s eyes flicked between them, and Snape almost rolled his eyes at the assumption. He could not let it pass that Longbottom of all people might think he would say good things about him.

“I am most certainly not his partner,” Snape drawled with a glare to the man still invading his space. “This dunderhead is dating your Professor Weasley.”

Longbottom almost looked relieved at that surprisingly. “Oh, yeah, good to know. Erm, yeah, good to meet you,” he stammered out again, turning slightly like he was really wanting to escape the situation.

Hadrian laughed and turned his bright green eyes on Snape, eyes that looked less like the Black family’s common blue/grey and more like…well, he was going to say Potter’s, but Hadrian’s eyes were much more haunted and seemed to be a darker shade of green, more emerald than Potter’s carefree light green…though, it wasn’t like he spent any time at all looking at Potter if he could avoid it.

“Fine,” he grumbled and gave a dismissive wave of his hand to the teen and, by association, the twins poorly hiding in the alley behind him. “Just don’t do anything illegal or anything that will get back to me on my day off. This is Minerva’s problem anyway.”

“Such a softie,” Hadrian teased and tugged him towards the Three Broomsticks. “Bye Nev and Weasley twins/future possible in-laws!”

“You are ridiculous, and I should have just kept walking when I saw you in that apothecary,” Snape grumbled as the frantic whisperings of the twins questioning what Hadrian had said and that their brother could be dating a bloke and one that’s probably a dark wizard wafted towards them from the alley.

“Hey, they forgot about whatever chaos they were causing,” Hadrian shrugged and grinned at him. “Besides, you had to talk to me in the apothecary. I might have blown myself up without your timely intervening about what potion ingredients interacted with others.”

“Which you already knew…”

“Eh,” he just shrugged again infuriatingly with a smirk, nonverbally communicating he knew exactly why Snape had talked to him in the apothecary. “Percy got us a table already. Is it too early to start drinking?”

“Yes,” Snape told him firmly with a narrow of his eyes. “I’ll not be taking you to see your cousin and the Weasley parents drunk.”

“He doesn’t really get drunk,” Percy Weasley corrected him when they reached the table he’d chased a group of students away from to claim it for themselves. He’d chosen the table mainly because he could just catch a glimpse of where his brother and Hermione Granger were sitting cuddled together in the corner from his seat, something which Harry caught onto quickly if his smirk was anything to go by.

“Hmm, I did once upon a time, but I think my tolerance is just really high or my magic decided it needs to negate it or something,” Hadrian said in a nonchalant way that was just as concerning as the words coming out of his mouth. “Now, it just dulls everything a little bit.”

Snape sighed and determined his new friend was going to be quite high maintenance, something he regretted less when the man threw a pile of papers onto the table from his leather satchel…a pile of papers that turned out to be all the completed marking Snape had sent him for his first-year classes. “I’m not bored,” Hadrian protested with a glare towards his partner who turned an exasperated look to Snape that contradicted those words.

With a shake of his head, Snape accepted the completed marking and shrunk it to put in his pocket to sort out later that evening. “Thank you,” he just breathed out. “This term has been almost unbearable. I was overworked before with all the Potion classes, having most of the night rounds since a lot of the faculty do not live in the castle full-time, and being head of Slytherin. Now, with…everything added outside of my job…I just don’t have time to do it all.”

“I can take more night rounds,” Percy Weasley offered before placing his order with the waiter who stopped by, only turning a mild look of judgement on his partner who definitely ordered firewhiskey.

“And I really don’t mind the marking. Things will probably get busier for me in a few months, but I don’t mind the first-years and even the second-years if you want to send them along for now,” Hadrian offered with a kind smile once they were all alone again and waiting on their food.

“I will not ask that of either of you,” he sighed. He was not one that needed or asked for help, and he refused to pull these two into his problems anyway. “Percy suggested this round of essays in exchange for some pain potions you will need that lack belladonna as a base ingredient.”

Hadrian’s eyes narrowed as he turned on the younger man beside him. “I’m fine, and I do not need more pain potions,” he glared at the man. "You know I don't like how they make my head fuzzy!"

“You will most definitely need them, but you’ll wait until you’re in too much pain to move to ask for them,” Percy glared right back, raising the young man in Snape’s esteem as he stood his ground.

“I prefer to have you mobile for when I can steal you away for the night, and you’re much less fun when you’re trying to pretend your knee isn’t killing you,” Percy continued causing both Snape and Hadrian to flush pink in embarrassment for different reasons.

Hadrian grumbled until the waiter returned with their food and drinks, which he downed immediately. “Fine, he’s probably right,” he admitted begrudgingly. “My knee gives me trouble a lot. Normally, I can just ride it out with a lot of strengthening exercises I do regularly for it, but flying really aggravates it, and I’m going to need to do a bit of that coming up for a temporary job I have going on.”

“I would like to do some diagnostics on the knee to help with potion strength and type,” Snape nodded, knowing that any length of flying time had one resting quite a bit of weight on their knees to change direction and balance.

“Sure, we can do that tonight at my cousin’s place if you have time,” Hadrian smiled at him thankfully. “And that means I do still owe you some marking, so take me up on it and don’t be a drama queen about it.”

Snape sputtered into his glass of water in indignation. “Excuse me?!”

“Oh, Perce…will you also put those potion ingredients we got for him in his office while we’re gone?” Hadrian ignored him to ask his partner. "You can look over them and tell me if they're useful at all whenever you get the time."

“Mr. Weasley is not going with us?” Snape asked, his indignation giving way to confusion.

“Percy, and no,” the man corrected him. “I haven’t quite mended things with my parents yet, and I’m also massively behind on lesson planning since I haven’t done this before. It seems that I always either over-plan or under-plan for classes, and I haven’t quite figured out yet just how much we can get through in one class period based on age and class size yet. Besides, Hadrian will be fine on his own. He can be charming when he wants to be.”

“I also gave him a new project he’s been geeking out on recently, which takes up a lot of his time as well,” Hadrian smiled at his partner unrepentantly before taking a large bite of his sandwich.

“I have a feeling I should not ask about this project in the middle of the Three Broomsticks,” Snape remarked getting matching smug looks from the two across from him that clearly answered his question. He’d wager his best cauldron that it also tied into why they had asked if he knew a place where some dark magic would go undetected.

“Eat fast, the twins finished their project and are heading our way,” Hadrian shoved the remaining portion of his sandwich in his mouth and washed it down with a drink of Snape’s water, getting a disgusted grimace from the man. Snape would definitely admit that he wanted to be gone before the twins made their way to them through the press of students crowded around the bar though.

“What did you do?” Percy sighed, clearly knowing his partner well, something that Snape was very quickly starting to learn as well.

“Nothing, but they may possibly didn’t know we were dating until a few minutes ago,” Hadrian stood. “Oh, look at the time, I think Sirius is waiting on us. Severus, you ready?”

“Indeed,” he stood quickly, agreeing wholeheartedly that Percy could handle this on his own since he already had to handle the man’s parents himself during the Order meeting.

Percy’s hand shot out and wrapped around Black’s wrist in almost desperation. “You can’t leave me here alone with Fred,” he hissed out lowly, eyes looking almost pleading at the other man. Snape’s eyebrow rose in shock as he looked at the conversation that seemed to be happening nonverbally between the two. Why just Fred Weasley? What had happened between them? He could understand both twins, clearly, but just one of them...? They were never apart from each other.

“George is there too,” Hadrian finally waved towards the two that had been held up by Lee Jordan. “Do you really need me here or do you just want to hide behind me and not deal with it?” He asked, a concerned and knowing look on his face.

“If you need me, I’ll stay as long as you want, forever, but if you’re trying to hide from it, then let me be your cautionary tale…you know what happened to me just a few days ago. We can’t keep hiding from things. You keep pushing me out of myself when I do this, I don’t know if I should do the same for you or not?” Hadrian sighed and ran his free hand down his face, scrubbing at the piercing in his eyebrow as he went as some sort-of nervous tick. “What do you need Percy? Merlin, I’m bad at this! I'm sorry!”

Though he hadn’t actually fixed anything, Percy’s face melted into one of appreciation for the man whose wrist he was still holding. With a small squeeze, he let his partner go. “I need you to leave and let me deal with this on my own,” he said with a determined but scared look over to where the twins were just disentangling themselves from their friend. “You’re right, we can’t keep hiding.”

Hadrian quickly leaned down and kissed the man soundly. Snape just caught the whisper as he pulled away. “Send a patronus if you change your mind. I’ll ditch Snape in a heartbeat.”

Honestly, it didn’t upset Severus for a second. It actually made him a little jealous…ok, he could admit it was more than a little. Having someone who tried, even if he really was bad at it, someone to wanted to be what you needed, that was something Snape had never had. Not even Lily had stood up for him when that was what he needed or even asked how to help. He had asked her when she had lost her father to cancer in their third year...and that thought didn’t help the twisting feeling in his gut at all.

“Well, hello, our brother and professor…” Fred started with a smirk at them all.

“We hear there is some news we’re behind on,” George put his hands on his hips with a stern glare.

“Right! I’m off to meet your parents!” Hadrian clapped a hand on George’s shoulder before grabbing Snape’s sleeve with his other and giving it a tug. “Nice to meet you an all…”

“Blimey he’s a bit fit and not at all your type,” Fred was remarking to Percy while Harry chuckled and pulled the Potions professor towards the door.

“You can unhand me,” Snape protested, but honestly didn’t mind that much. He tended to have a general, unapproachable air which was about half and half intentional and not, so no one ever touched him. Having someone who felt comfortable just grabbing onto his sleeve or his arm was both highly disconcerting and kind of a nice novelty...sometimes, no, he'd never admit it, but sometimes...it would be nice to be touched.

“Ah, Hadrian, good to see you out and about,” Filius Flitwick stopped them from where he was sitting at a table beside the door. The Charms professor looked between them with a large smile tugging at his lips before he took a sip of his butterbeer.

“Er, P-Filius,” Harry caught himself since Hadrian would have no reason to call the man ‘professor.’ “It’s good to see you too. Having a nice trip to Hogsmeade?”

“I am, though I have chaperone duty unlike Severus here,” Filius raised a questioning eyebrow at the man who absolutely never socialized with anyone but who looked quite comfortable with an older version of Harry Potter of all people.

“Oh, Filius,” Harry remembered the meeting of his ‘inner circle’ he was supposed to tell the man about. “I’m going to send you an owl this evening. I’m putting together a little project and wanted your opinion on dealing with Gringotts. Anyway, talk later?”

“Of course,” Filius raised his glass in a little toast.

Snape was just stunned, staring at the interaction. He had absolutely no clue the two knew each other or even why they would know each other. “Filius,” he finally nodded his head at the man in acknowledgement.

“Oh, Severus,” Filius began, catching them once more before they left. “Take care…” he trailed off ominously, causing the Potion professor to frown in surprise and concern.

“I’m not that bad of an influence,” Hadrian rolled his eyes and pulled the man’s sleeve once more, leaving the small man laughing in their wake.

"What happened between Percy and his younger brother, how the hell do you know Filius, what is the project you are working on, and just...what the hell in general?!" Snape spat out in a stream of frustration when they had finally left the pub and had headed to a place they could apparate from.

Harry paused and raised an amused eyebrow at the irritated man. "None of your business, also none of your business, and I'll eventually tell you..." he grinned at the man widely. "I don't even know how to answer that last one. Maybe just that I like being a mystery. It keep you from getting tired of my company."

"You are purposefully frustrating," he grumbled again before holding out an arm to apparate them both.

"Of course, I am," Hadrian smirked back and linked his arm firmly around Snape's. "It's all part of my charm."

“Oh wow,” Harry deadpanned, once again pretending poorly to be surprised when Grimmauld Place supposedly appeared after reading the piece of paper from Dumbledore.

“Last chance…it may be best to hide those runes with a conjured scarf or something,” Snape offered, actually hoping Hadrian wouldn’t and they would have an unashamedly dark wizard walking into Order headquarters. Knowing the man, it was just the type of chaos he would love causing anyway.

“Percy accepts me, my cousin accepts me, you accept me…that’s all that really matters,” Hadrian turned those green eyes on him with a sad little smile. "I hope it goes well with my partner’s parents, but they need to know who I really am eventually anyway. Might as well let it be from the start so they don’t think I’m purposefully hiding anything.”

Surprised that he somehow made the list, Snape nodded slowly in bemusement at where his life had changed so much in so little time. “Well, ground rules…You are not to leave me alone with your cousin at any point in time, you will not be alone with his friend Lupin, and avoid the house elf, he is quite unpleasant.”

Hadrian snorted a laugh. “You can take care of yourself, I already know Lupin is a werewolf and can take care of myself, and I’m a member of the Black family. I think a house elf will be the least of my problems on the other side of that door.”

“You were warned,” Snape gave him a one-shoulder shrug and smirk before opening the door and stepping inside.

“HADRIAN!!!” A blur of animagus sped past Snape and almost crashed directly into Harry, causing Walburga Black’s portrait to tut in disapproval and making Harry brace himself against the doorframe.

“Hey, Siri, I missed you too,” he patted his godfather’s back and smiled at the absolute novelty of having someone he loved from his past alive and happy to see him.

“He has a bum knee, mutt, I’ll not have you exasperating it!” Snape pulled Black forcefully off of Hadrian by the collar of his t-shirt.

“It’s fine!” Hadrian protested once more while Sirius just looked concerned. “Stop being a mother hen.”

“You ok, cousin?” Sirius looked him up and down, but he looked the same as the last he saw him, highly scarred but nothing that looked recent.

“Percy asked Severus to brew me a pain potion and now they’re both hovering,” Hadrian rolled his eyes at the Potion master who just sneered at him.

Molly Weasley chose that moment to walk into the entryway from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. “Oh, hello, I thought I heard you enter…I’m Molly Weasley,” the woman held out her hand and blinked a couple times in surprise when Hadrian stepped around Sirius and she actually got a good look at him. By the look in her eyes, she almost took back her offered hand, something that Harry felt hit him right in his gut.

She ended up keeping it out though and Hadrian gave her a smile before shaking her hand. “Hello, Mrs. Weasley, I’ve heard so many good things about you from Percy. I feel like I’ve known you for years.”

“How is my son doing?” She asked, the lines tight around her eyes as she catalogued his runes, tattoos, and piercings.

“Oh, he misses you,” Harry couldn’t help having to run his finger over the piercing in his eyebrow. He felt like his own mother was looking at him in disapproval. “He had to stay back to work on his class today, but he really wants to get together and apologize for what all went down at the beginning of the summer. He's missed seeing all of you.”

Snape really hoped that eyebrow piercing was old, or it was going to get infected with the amount that Hadrian seemed to touch it. He didn’t know why it was a nervous tick, but it seemed to be something he did when he was overwhelmed. “We left Percy with the twins in Hogsmeade,” he added in, hoping to take some of the disapproving glare Hadrian was getting off of him.

“Those twins are just brilliant!” Sirius tried to help next, tugging Hadrian’s arm more into the house with a look between excited and concerned at the whole situation. “Come on, Hadrian. You need to meet Moony as he’s been working up to a full on interrogation since he learned you existed.”

“Did Percy’s young man arrive?” Arthur Weasley walked into the entry hall next from the sitting room, not letting them escape just yet. “Oh…” he trailed off at the look of the dark wizard who had clearly had a very rough life based on the liberal amount of scars and curse marks visible on his arms.

“Er…hello…um, you must be Mr. Weasley,” Harry held out a hand and waited. Molly had crossed her arms in the doorway and seemed to be weighing his worth with her eyes.

“You are a dark wizard,” Arthur Weasley stated the obvious, still looking at the young man and not moving to take his hand.

Harry pulled his hand back in and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Erm, yes…I got my mastery in the Dark Arts while living in Amsterdam. I’m currently between jobs right now since I moved back to Britain to be closer to Percy. I have some ideas though…”

“Merlin, Arthur and Molly!” Sirius grumbled in frustration. “Yes, Hadrian is a dark wizard, but he’s not a Death Eater. Besides, Snape is a dark wizard, and Moody might as well be with all he knows about it. Remus is a bloody dark creature too!”

“I doubt I’m the best example to ease their minds,” Snape warned lowly from behind Sirius so only the animagus could hear him.

“Maybe we should all sit down to tea…” Sirius offered next, not giving up on breaking the tension in the hallway.

If the five people already crowded into the entryway weren’t enough, that was when Remus Lupin decided to come down the stairs to see what was holding everyone up. “Well, don’t make him stand in the hallway, Padfoot…” Lupin stopped at the foot of the stairs with a frown on his face while he took in the man at the center of all the tension.

Lupin didn’t look shocked at Hadrian’s runes though; Lupin looked like he was confused. He clearly sniffed the air and frowned once more. Hadrian’s eyes narrowed. There was no bloody way the man’s sense of smell was that good to be able to tell he was Harry…unless…he did some quick math in his head and almost groaned in dismay. It was the day before the full moon, when a werewolf’s senses were at their strongest in human form. He still didn't think the man could tell his specific scent, but he clearly smelled something and was now giving him a suspicious look.

“Well…” He smiled in more of a grimace and gave everyone a little nod of acknowledgement and clap of his hands. “Kreacher!” He called and the elf popped into the entryway with a bow that almost reached the ground.

“Master Black,” the elf croaked, surprising everyone except for Sirius in attendance.

“And I’m once again chopped liver,” Sirius wryly chuckled to Snape behind him. “That elf really does hate me and will claim absolutely anyone else connected to the family.”

“I can only take one interrogation at a time,” Hadrian announced to the assembled suspicious looks he was getting. “Please set up tea with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen and a tumbler of whiskey for Sirius and Lupin in the sitting room,” he added an extra glare at the end so Kreacher would know that he really did mean whiskey and not to try trading it out on him. Kreacher gave him a narrowed look at the glare but popped out to handle it anyway.

“Right, so who wants to go first?” He then turned to the group with a self-conscious smile and grimace.

Chapter Text

The Weasley parents went first for Hadrian’s interrogation while Snape escaped to his potions lab in the attic. As much as Snape liked Hadrian, nothing was going to induce him to sit through a meeting with the Weasley parents, especially if it was about something as inane as relationships. Sirius and Remus had to wait their turn…well, they sat in the corner of the kitchen staring at the tense group having tea, but at least they waited-ish. Harry gave them both a glare to wait their turn as he poured a cup of the tea that Kreacher delivered to the table.

“How do you know Sirius’s house elf if you’ve never been here before?” Molly Weasley asked with a frown as Harry poured her a cup of tea as well, causing both Mr. Weasley and Remus’s eyes to flash to Harry questioningly and Sirius to glare in a silent order at Kreacher to go along with whatever, causing Kreacher to sneer right back at the animagus.

Harry frowned at the assumption she was making but kept his irritation in check. “Sirius and I have used Kreacher to communicate some over the past year, so we are previously acquainted…However, I never said I hadn’t been here before. I visited a few times back when Sirius and Regulus were here for the summer holidays. I have actually met Sirius before you know.” He really didn’t want anyone questioning his familiarity with the house, and he definitely would have been old enough before Sirius went to prison that he should have visited his older cousins at some point.

“Oh…I suppose we just assumed…” Molly Weasley trailed off as an awkward silence ensued at that loaded statement.

“How did you and our son meet?” Arthur Weasley finally broke the silence with a clear of his throat. Harry was just sipping his tea, perfectly fine with sitting with his former-surrogate family and feeling much less awkward than them at the moment.

Harry gave him a kind smile and stole a biscuit from the plate Kreacher had just sat down with a grateful smile to the elf. “I was finishing my mastery in Amsterdam when Percy was there on a short trip for his job at the British ministry. I was excited and surprised to run into a fellow Brit-wizard in a café I frequented, so we got to talking. Mainly we got to arguing over our differing views of government, magic, and society as a whole,” Harry chuckled at the imagined conversation he definitely would have had with a younger Percy in that situation.

“Anyway, we had a great time debating and kept in touch and travelled to see each other some. The relationship grew from there,” he summed up quickly before taking another sip of his tea. He was feeling quite a bit out of his depth, never having had to have this conversation with the Weasley parents before since he was always just a part of their family whether it was Ginny he was dating or Percy.

Sirius cleared his throat, not able to keep out of it as much as he tried. “Hadrian is a Black. Him being a dark wizard is less of a surprise than me being a light wizard…you had to have considered that…” Sirius trailed off as the looks from Arthur and Molly clearly communicated that no they hadn’t thought of that, trusting in the fact that their children would only ever consider being in a relationship with those that followed Light magic.

Harry sighed and swallowed the bit of cookie he had in his mouth and dusted off his hands. “Listen…I know that things are done differently here in Britain. I grew up here, so I know. However, Dark magic isn’t treated elsewhere as it is here. It doesn’t need to cause harm, be evil, or immoral. Dark wizards have given the practice a bad name here while following that pretender of a Dark Lord you have. A true Dark Lord brings balance and works with the Light. One practice should not try to wipe out or even denigrate the other. Our world needs both types of magic to support each other and balance the order of nature.”

“I hadn’t really looked at it that way before…” Arthur frowned in consideration with a look to his wife who gave him a little smile.

“In my defense mastery, we learned how Dark magic can help and heal as well as the harm Light magic can do when used with malice,” Lupin said next, getting a grateful look from Harry and an elbow from Sirius for butting in, even if it was relevant.

“Regardless,” Harry sighed and gave the bar through his eyebrow a rub; he was just tired…so, so tired. “I’m not going to apologize for who I am or my relationship with your son. Percy is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and your opinion of me with never change my feelings towards him. I know you don’t have the best relationship with each other right now, but he wants to reach out and fix things. Please, don’t give him a reason not to. He’d regret it forever.”

“Well said!” Sirius slammed a hand down on the countertop behind him, this time getting an elbow and glare from Lupin.

Molly Weasley reached across the table and, to Harry’s surprise, gave his hand a little pat. “We’re sorry, dear…it was just a surprise to see you. It’s not that we think you’re evil or anything, it’s just the war…Frankly, we tend to think the worst of people these days with everything going on.”

Arthur nodded and finally relaxed enough to take a biscuit. “Yes, I would like to hear your opinion on the balance of magic. I haven’t heard it explained in a way I could actually understand before. My aunt tried once, but it was too technical for me.”

Now this was, a conversation he’d had with the Weasley parents in his past, and Harry smiled at them both broadly, finally knowing how to handle the situation. “Of course, sir…I won’t claim to be as good of a teacher as Percy, but I’ll give it a shot.”

The next half hour consisted of Harry basically running through what he’d learned in his first few days working on his mastery. He broke it down, answered questions, gave examples, and Remus even started taking notes at some point in the whole spiel. Harry ended by talking his partner’s parents through some of the more visible runes he had placed on himself, careful not to show the wolf, grim, and stag on his ribs.

“This one is to keep from being bound against my will,” he pointed to the rune sequence on his arm that Snape had deciphered the other day. “And this is for concentration, this grouping is for pain management…I have some lingering curse damage from the last war when I got caught in some things I really shouldn’t have as a kid…” he grimaced at the half-truth more than the memories. It was true, if you looked at it the right way.

The Weasley parents turned white at the thought that any child could be caught up in a war…then remembered their children already were at the moment, not helping their thoughts on that at all. Remus’s head shot up from his notes though.

“Those runes…exactly what kind of pain do they help with?” He asked with a hopeful look on his face.

Harry’s eyebrows rose in consideration at the question. Remus hadn’t been alive when he’d studied runic blood magic before, so he hadn’t thought about it, but it probably would help a werewolf with their transformations some anyway. It wasn’t super effective in relation to potions, hence why Snape was still having to brew him potions for when quidditch started, but it would keep one mobile and able to push past the pain and was much safer long-term than potions were.

“You know…” he said slowly, weighing the practicality since he didn’t want to get Remus’s hopes up. “I’d need to do some research first, but yeah…I think it would help with your transformations. I could definitely teach them to you. Dark magic shouldn’t have a negative effect on a dark creature…it might even work better for you.”

Remus’s eyes flashed amber and turned to Sirius before he dug his elbow into his side once more. “Oi! I mentioned you were a dark creature out in the hallway!” Sirius protested with a glare and a rub to his ribs. “I may have said something before, but it’s not like it’s a secret now anyway!”

“Woah!” Harry held his hands up as his eyes went big, forgetting he probably shouldn’t have known Lupin was a werewolf. “Sorry! I didn’t think it was a secret. Percy was the one that told me actually! I think even Snape mentioned it.”

“Of course, Sniv…” Sirius stopped himself and seemed to forcibly push the words back down his throat and they tasted sour. “Regardless…it wasn’t me,” he finally finished to his friend glaring at him.

Remus actually looked impressed at his friend though for stopping himself. “Well, I suppose that’s fine then. I’d love to help you with your research if you want to suggest some books…” He added with a little smile over to Harry.

Harry shrugged though. “You won’t be able to buy them in Britain. I’ll see what I can do to get one or two to you.” He’d have to take it from the library upstairs, but as long as Lupin didn’t remove them from Grimmauld, Kreacher probably wouldn’t kill them. With the look the elf turned on him from where he was doing dishes, that was most likely not true.

“Anyway,” he rolled his eyes and turned back to the Weasleys. “I’ve given you a lot to think about. How about I head off to my second interrogation of the day, and you all talk it over? I’ll tell Percy to write and meet up with you at some point soon, yeah? Maybe we could all get dinner or something?”

“We’d love that,” Molly smiled at him thankfully, happy to have her son come back into the fold. “Why don’t I wrap you up a little basket of food? You’re just all skin and bones and look like you could use a good homecooked meal,” she said, causing Harry to grin widely at her very missed mothering.

He almost teared up and had to stand to hide his emotion, though Molly Weasley definitely caught it and resolved to add even more food to the basket. “Thank you. I actually could use a homecooked meal…I’ll share with Percy if you want to send him anything.”

Molly was already shooing a grumbling Kreacher away from the stove when Harry strode across the hall to the sitting room and poured himself a generous glass of the, thankfully, whiskey that Kreacher had provided. “Right, your turn now,” he vaguely motioned to Remus who had walked in, followed by Sirius right after him. Harry downed the glass of whiskey and dropped into a threadbare armchair.

Sirius stole the tumbler from his hand with a glare. “Not you too!” Harry whined at his godfather with a pout. “I promise it isn’t a problem…not yet anyway!”

“And we’re not going to let it get there either,” Sirius glared right back at him before filling the glass for himself and taking the other armchair with a smirk at Harry’s glare.

Remus just raised an eyebrow at their interaction before sitting on the edge of the couch. “Who are you?” He finally asked Harry after a long study of the man draped over the armchair in front of him.

Harry frowned, not knowing where this was going. He had figured Remus knew he was Harry from his scent, or at least that was his best guess at the look he’d gotten earlier, but that didn’t seem to be the case. So, why was the man looking at him like he was a new, slimy dark creature to put in a tank in his office?

“Er…Hadrian Black?” He said as more of a question than a statement while shooting a look to Sirius who just shrugged at him, not having any guesses himself at what was going on.

Remus was slowly shaking his head though. “That doesn’t make any sense,” he seemed to be having some sort of personal crisis. “You are pack…my wolf is telling me that you’re pack, but I’ve never met you before. How could Moony know you?” He finally explained with an exasperated look over at the young man across from him, his eyes flashing amber briefly.

“That’s simply impossible,” he concluded with a deep wrinkle in his brow while still studying Harry intensely enough to make him uncomfortable.

“Oh…” Harry sat up with an academically interested look at the man, not having seen this twist coming. Remus had never referred to him that way before when he was young Harry. That didn’t mean Remus, or rather his wolf, didn’t think of Harry that way, but he’d never actually said it out loud. That would explain Remus making Harry his son’s godfather though, even though they hadn’t had a very consistent relationship before.

“Well, he’s my cousin, so Moony must be picking up on the family connection,” Sirius suggested, seeming confused at this turn as well. His eyes flashed to Harry, questioning how much they were going to tell the werewolf.

Lupin slowly shook his head. “No…I never saw Regulus that way…it can’t just be family.”

“But we were kids then,” Sirius interrupted, worried at where this was going.

Harry laughed and shrugged before he leaned back against the chair. “You know, you’re not really my type,” he winked at the man who rolled his eyes and huffed.

“Not what I meant at all,” he sighed. “I swear, it must be genetic. You two are clearly related,” he motioned between Harry and Sirius.

Both members of the Black family couldn’t help a laugh at that remark. “Merlin, sorry. I couldn’t help the joke,” Harry gave a last chuckle before trying to be serious again and thinking over any other explanation besides him being Harry Potter. “Right, well…it’s possible it’s some connection to Sirius since he technically blood adopted me…”

“What does that mean?” Remus frowned and looked at them both suspiciously. “Why would he need to do that? You’re his cousin.”

“I lied. He was actually cut off the family tree, and I added him back on,” Sirius took a drink of the whiskey in his hand to hopefully cover the new lie from his friend, and not very well at that.

Remus clearly didn’t seem to believe him, causing Harry to sigh and reach across to steal the glass of whiskey from his godfather’s hand. “Oi! You brat!” Sirius protested, but it was already gone.

“Yeah…Padfoot, you used to be a better liar than that,” Remus crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at his long-time friend. “You lost your touch in Azkaban.”

“Well, it was a pretty good excuse as they come,” Harry nodded over at his godfather thankful for the attempt anyway after the glass was empty. “I appreciate the effort, but your best friend is going to know when you’re telling the truth or not. You should have just let me explain, Siri.”

“I was doing fine until you started mucking about,” Sirius glared at him, causing Remus even more confusion.

Harry just pulled his ebony wand out and flicked it at the bookshelves in the corner, causing a hidden cabinet to open and wide bowl to float out towards them. “Merlin’s balls!” Sirius jumped in shock before rushing over to look into the now empty cabinet. “Has that always been there?!! Why didn’t I know about it?!”

Harry spared him yet another glare as he directed the pensieve down onto the coffee table between them. “You hate the house and don’t like Kreacher, that’s why you didn’t know. I like and respect the house and love Kreacher, even if he’s a bossy git.” Harry had to look over his shoulder surreptitiously just to check that Kreacher wasn’t somehow behind him. It had happened a lot in both timelines at this point and made him paranoid to say anything about the elf.

Sirius grumbled but plopped back into his armchair. “It would have been helpful to know I owned a pensieve,” he pouted while Remus was checking over the ancient magical artifact on the table in awe.

“It’s beautiful,” he breathed out at the etched runes and ornately carved stone. When the Blacks purchased things back in the day, they got quality.

Harry nodded in agreement. He had actually never run across a better pensieve, besides the one that Dumbledore had in his office which probably dated back from the time of Merlin since it was technically owned by Hogwarts instead of the headmaster. This was saying a lot too since Harry was an artifact dealer himself and had traded in a few pensieves over the years when he ran across them.

Harry pointed his wand at his temple and very carefully and specifically pulled away five short memories to give Remus enough initial information to believe him without traumatizing the man or giving away his current plans. He didn’t think Remus was quite ready for that yet.

“Can I see these too? Please,” Sirius begged in excitement as the silvery memories swirled around the bowl in front of them.

“These, yes,” Harry told him with a little smile and nod. “This is just a little explanation since it’s almost impossible to tamper with a memory and it not be very noticeable. I think Remus might be slightly more difficult to convince than you were, Siri.”

“Brilliant!” Sirius held his hand out for Remus, almost vibrating in his excitement to see some of his godson’s memories.

“Anyone want to give me a heads up what I’m getting into before I get sucked into someone’s past?” He looked at them both in exasperation.

“What would be the fun in that?” Harry chuckled, causing Remus to roll his eyes again.

“I swear, you two are clearly related,” he grumbled but took his friend’s hand and breathed in a deep breath before they both disappeared into the pensieve.

Harry took the moment alone to pour himself another glass of whiskey before he frowned at the glass and placed it onto the table before stepping back. “Merlin, they’ve even got me questioning myself now,” he grumbled in frustration before plopping back into the armchair and closing his eyes.

The memories weren’t anything overly important, so nothing with Teddy in them, but they did give a timeline for who he was in relation to young Harry. He had started with him and Remus in his third year during patronus lessons, then he’d put in the memory of Christmas at Grimmauld Place in his fifth year, that hadn’t happened yet, when he’d spent time with both Sirius and Remus. The third memory was of Remus sitting across from Harry at his seventeenth birthday party at the Burrow before everything fell apart. He was smiling and telling Harry how proud he was of how Harry had grown over the years.

For the fourth and fifth memories, Harry jumped ahead to after Remus was no longer there. The fourth was a simple but profound memory for Harry back when he still looked like his younger self, just more weathered. He was sitting in front of a mirror, scarred chest bared, as he inked himself with his first runes…the ones for suppression of emotions as he tried to hold himself together in the aftermath of what had happened with Luna.

The last memory was very recent. He could remember it word for word as a smile tugged at his lips. It was when he knew Percy loved him just as much as he loved Percy:

Harry was trying to keep himself from falling apart at the thought of losing Percy for good. He couldn’t even look up into his partner’s eyes and he held onto him, just breathing in the last moments they had. Percy wrapped Harry’s hand in his larger one.

“So, since we’re going together, that means we can go back twelve years then,” Percy said as if it were the most simple logic ever.

Harry couldn’t let him do it, even as he wanted desperately for Percy to be there with him. To never let him go. “No…” 

“No, you listen to me, Harry Potter,” Percy held onto Harry’s hand, painfully tight in his desperate grip, his eyes blazing into Harry’s. “There is no way I’m letting you leave me here alone…if it’s dimensional travel, then I’ll be here without you and never see you again. If it’s time-travel, then we’ll still never be together. You know I wouldn’t have just moved in and made myself a part of your life without everything that happened…plus, who is going to stop you getting stuck in your head if I’m not there, huh? You will not be leaving me!”

“It’s too dangerous…” Harry weakly protested, wishing his tone didn’t sound so hopeful when he should be firm to save Percy. “It’s time-travel, not dimensional, which will bring even more risk…I also don’t know if I’ll end up in my younger body or if there will suddenly be two Harrys which causes even more problems and risk.” 

“Like I fucking care if I live through this if I don’t have you!” Percy growled, wrapping his arms tightly around Harry like he was all he had left…which was true for both of them.

“If one person can go back six years, then double the magic and let’s go back twelve! You’ll be fifteen and I’ll be nineteen, and it’ll be before we lost them all. Whatever your…or Hermione’s plan was going to be, it has to be even more effective if we get there earlier…more time has to be better than less. Plus, I was working for Fudge at nineteen...that would put me at the heart of the ministry. I can be useful.”

Harry smiled. Percy was always smarter than him, and right almost all the time. Bloody inconvenient when one was trying to win an argument, but nice when he got to travel back in time with someone instead of alone. It may have only been a few weeks so far, but he was certain he would have broken down without Percy there within just a few days.

“What the bloody hell?!!” Remus stumbled pale-faced onto the couch suddenly as he and Sirius were spat out of the memories.

Sirius strode over and took the abandoned glass of whiskey. “Ta,” he gave Harry a little cheers before taking a sip. “I have to say, I was right in my guess. I may never have met him, but your Weasley is quite fit. Good job there.”

“What the hell was that ritual you were setting up?!!” Remus stood and strode over to where Harry was sitting. “Are you telling me that you’re…you’re…Harry?” He stopped in his angry rant and his face fell, the truth of the revelation sinking into his bones.

“What did older Percy mean when he said, ‘before you lost them all?’” Remus’s eyes widened at the implications of what his cub had done and why he might have felt he needed to.

“My name is actually Hadrian Black,” Harry stood up and cracked his back, not planning on staying for any intense explanations. He just didn’t have it in him after his day already. “It’s just Hadrian James Potter-Black more officially.”

“Oh…” Remus frowned in consideration at that.

“Yes, Percy and I are back in time, yes, I’m Harry, and no I’m not going to go into more depth than saying that things get really fucking bad,” he said with feeling to the werewolf. “You haven’t seen anything yet…”

“And I wouldn’t see it anyway,” Sirius gave a humorless chuckle. “Apparently, I die sometime fairly soon-ish.”

“Died…past tense, not this timeline, not while I’m here,” Harry glared at him. Sirius wasn’t going anywhere near the Department of Mysteries if it was the last thing Harry did before killing the man himself.

Remus sank into the couch, not able to remain standing any longer. “What all happened to you?” He motioned to the broken and scarred man in front of him.

Harry shrugged though and turned tired eyes on the man he’d lost too soon. “I could write a book, Remus, about everything done to me. It’d probably be banned for being too gruesome though. So, let’s just leave it there, shall we?”

“How are you making it back at Hogwarts?” Sirius asked, clearly concerned for his godson’s mental health.

Harry chuckled. “Glad I have Percy. That prat holds me together whenever he isn’t driving me crazy with some new research project he has. Anyway, I’m going. Remus…I’ll tell you more later, and Sirius can fill you in on what he knows, but I skipped out on a Hogsmeade weekend to come here, and I can’t have it noticed that Harry Potter has disappeared.”

Sirius strode over and wrapped his arms around the man almost his height when he wasn’t glamoured. “It was good to see you. Don’t do anything rash without me.”

“Course not!” Harry smirked at him. “Tell Snape I said ‘bye’ when he emerges from the potion fumes, right?” Sirius rolled his eyes but nodded.

With a couple flicks of his wand, Harry had his memories back in his mind and the pensieve safely back into the cabinet in the wall. He smirked at Sirius’s wistful look at it, knowing full well the man wouldn’t be able to get into the cabinet no matter how hard he tried since he didn’t hold the house’s wards anymore. “Sorry for springing all this on you,” Harry clapped a hand on the still dazed werewolf’s shoulder before striding out of the room and out the house to hurry back to school.

“Padfoot…?” Remus turned questioning eyes up at his friend, still not able to process what had happened to the fifteen-year-old that he knew, or had known just weeks before. “When did Harry Potter become a dark wizard?! I get that something terrible happened…I get the time travel, I even get dating a Weasley, but what? How?”

Sirius joined the man on the couch and passed over the remains of the whiskey. “Right, so…I honestly don’t know much. We all die, he finds the Black library upstairs, which apparently exists even though I can’t find it without him taking me; this house is very biased about who it likes,” he gave a glare to the walls. “And then more people die, he dates the third Weasley boy, they get some hair-brained idea from Hermione I guess, which makes complete sense now that I know her, and BOOM! They end up taking over their younger bodies here in the past.”

Remus drank the whiskey and grimaced. “That’s a really good glamour…Merlin! He taught it to you!! That’s where you learned the glamour!” Sirius laughed and knew Remus would eventually be ok. Well…he still didn’t know all of Harry’s plans, and they seemed a bit ominous, but he knew Harry, and whatever it was, they were all going to be ok.

Harry made it one step outside of Grimmauld Place with his large basket of food from Mrs. Weasley before Kreacher popped right in front of him, almost giving him a heart attack. “Godric’s ghost, Kreacher! Don’t do that!” He gasped and dramatically held onto Kreacher’s arm like he was going to pass out.

Kreacher huffed at the dramatics and rolled his eyes before passing over a piece of parchment to Harry that was filled with beautiful calligraphy. “Dark Lord Master should be more serious and upstanding with his inferiors,” he admonished. “How’s you going to gets your followers to do what you want them to when you’s not serious?”

“One, you are never inferior to anyone, and don’t listen to anyone who says that to you. And two, maybe my followers will do things because they understand why I want them to do it and they agree?” Harry chuckled and looked at the list of names. “What’s this? And did you write it? Is this really your handwriting? It’s beautiful!”

The elf stood taller and looked very proud. “Kreacher is an elf of the most ancient and noble Black family. Kreacher knows how to writes for official correspondence, and Dark Lord Master will gives that lists to Dobby elf.”

Harry shook his head in good humor at being used as a post owl between the two elves. “Why is it a list of people we know though? And why are some in red and some in black?”

Kreacher crossed his arms and sternly glared at the man in front of him. “Dobby elf says Dark Lord Master was just going to lets everyone into his inner circle and Dobby elf and Kreacher cannot allow that. This is the list Kreacher believes is the bests of the people. Red peoples are outer circle and black peoples are inner circle.”

Harry nodded as he looked at the well-thought-out list. It had Order members, goblins, centaurs, a few people that Harry knew from his business in Knockturn Alley and not as young Harry, and some of the more prominent house elves. “You have you and Dobby in the outer circle though, that’s not acceptable. Ron and Hermione are going to have to be inner circle too even if they’re teenagers. I know how you feel, and we’ll protect them, but they’re too involved already. I agree that Snape and Flitwick need to be inner circle once we loop in Snape, but I don’t know how much I trust McGonagall. I think she’s out for now, and outer circle whenever we do loop her in.”

Kreacher grumbled about ridiculous masters as he opened the door to re-enter the house. “You’s just gives that to Dobby elf and bring back his list next you come here.”

“You know you can pop back and forth between Hogwarts and here. You don’t have to just stay in the house all the time,” Harry chuckled and looked at the elf in amusement.

“And leave those Flaming Flamingo people in Kreacher’s house unsupervised!!” Kreacher glared at him before slamming the door and setting off Walburga Black who still loved a good scream in the entrance hall.

Sirius Black stepping into the attic and immediately knew it was not a good time for him to say anything on pain of a long and bloody death. He sat on the stool in the corner and waited while Severus Snape seemed to be completely absorbed in dropping individual tiny grains of something into a bubbling cauldron that hissed every time one broke the surface. He’d never actually watched Snape work before. The man looked almost happy, or at least relaxed, as he lived in his own world of order and precision.

Sirius found he was almost enthralled watching the potion master’s movements, there was no wasted effort or motion, everything he did was calculated and almost like a dance. He blinked at the shocking turn his thoughts had taken when a lock of Snape’s hair fell out of the loose ponytail he’d pulled it into and into his face. The animagus gave his head a shake and tried to mentally scrub the wholly unwelcome and slightly erotic thoughts that had somehow been born out of probably his oncoming insanity.

For his part, Snape must have gotten to a stopping point because he was just staring at Sirius like he was looking at something that just didn’t fit, was probably a hallucination, and should really just not be there. “Black?” He eventually asked like he was certain he was mistaken and that his childhood nemesis wasn’t really sitting quietly in the corner of the room and watching him brew.

Sirius had to clear his throat and tugged at his sleeves in awkwardness, shockingly still trying to push these new and entirely inappropriate thoughts far out of his head. “Erm, yeah, er, what are you brewing?”

Snape just blinked at him a couple times before his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you want, Black?”

At something between a sigh and a grunt, Sirius raised his hands in surrender. “We agreed, Snape, we were starting over. I’m not here to start anything with you. Hadrian just wanted me to tell you he said goodbye and needed to get back to his place. When I came in, it looked like a bad time to break your concentration.”

Snape flicked his wand, sending the potion into stasis before he leaned against the countertop and studied the man in front of him, trying to figure out his angle in all this. “You were correct,” he finally admitted. “I’m brewing Hadrian’s pain potion he requested, and it’s a complex brew since he cannot have belladonna in it which stabilizes the brew more. He was supposed to remain for me to do some scans of his knee for diagnosis…did you or the wolf do something to offend him?”

Sirius frowned at Harry needing a pain potion, but also found it didn’t surprise him in the slightest. “No, I think it was just a long day for him. He basically gave a lecture on magical balance to the Weasleys and had to talk about some personal things about his family with Remus and me. I think he was just ready to call it a day.”

Snape slowly nodded and studied the man, wondering if he should ask the question that had concerned him for a while. He figured if anyone would know, it would be Sirius, so he opened his mouth. “Black…we both know your family wasn’t the most pleasant of people…”

Sirius snorted, but it was in agreement and amusement at the understatement. “Sorry, go on…”

“Your cousin…I believe he grew up in an abusive home. I know some of his injuries seem too recent for that, but some seem very old as if from childhood, especially that writing on his hand that clearly came from being made to use a blood quill for a horrifically extensive amount of time,” he explained before taking a breath and daring to meet Sirius’s blue/grey and concerned eyes. “Do you know what has happened to his parents? Are they still in his life? Is he in danger?”

Sirius opened his mouth to protest Snape’s assumptions and conclusions before he closed it again with a concerned frown. Harry had been well-cared for, right? They’d just picked him up a few weeks before from his relatives. What had Harry said about them? Had Harry ever talked about them? Surely someone would have noticed if one of the most famous people in their society were being abused, right? Except…he hadn’t been in their society before he went to Hogwarts.

“Hadrian’s parents are dead,” Sirius finally said dryly, the emotion in his voice for once not there for James and Lily but the child they’d left behind. “If he is in any danger currently, it’s because he’s thrown himself into it.”

Snape nodded and let out a huffed chuckle of agreement at Black’s assessment of the man. “I may have only seen him a few times and not for very long, but even I can tell he thrives in chaos.”

Sirius nodded, but not really thinking about Hadrian anymore…well, he was, but also not. “Erm, Snape…if you’d just met a teenager, like a young one, not a seventeen-year-old, and you asked if they wanted to move in with you…would you think it was concerning if they agreed immediately after only having known you for less than an hour. I mean…that’s not normal, right?”

Snape crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the man. “Black…you haven’t been asking children to move in with you, have you? When have you even been around children?!”

“Godric man!!” Sirius’s eyes widened at where Snape’s thoughts were going in horror. “I meant Harry! I asked Harry if he wanted to live with me back when he was 13 and before I had to go on the run! He said yes, but he thought I was trying to kill him up until just minutes before that!”

“Harry Potter is a pampered brat,” Snape grumbled and began to clean up the potion supplies, no longer concerned. “He is the most famous wizard in Britain, and he knows it. We know the signs of abuse, you and I, and Harry Potter is…”

Snape put the vial he was holding down as Sirius Black’s question finally sunk in. He shook his head and turned around. “No, Potter is treated like a little prince.”

“Snape…” Black slowly shook his head, now seeing it for himself. “We both know Petunia, she could be nice to those she wanted to, but she could also be extremely vicious, and that brute she married…”

Snape couldn’t tear his eyes from Black’s. “And you said he just agreed? Didn’t ask about your house or chores or vacations, just agreed to live with you wherever?” Snape’s frown deepened and a shadow passed over his face, not wanting to believe what Sirius was telling him.

“I think I mentioned my house was pretty bad off actually,” Sirius rubbed the back of his neck as everything sank in. “He’s a bit small for his age too, right? Or are Ron and the twins just large?  And he never talks about his family. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him flinch at sudden movements too,” and that was even before older Harry had taken over.

Snape was shaking his head, seeing the truth in what Sirius was saying and knowing Potter had been even smaller and thinner as a first year. That defiant streak and the inability to ask for help, that could be from an ingrained belief that no one was going to help or cared as well. “Potter is fine,” he said again, more to make himself believe it than that he actually did believe it.

Sirius nodded, letting it go. He was certain now that Harry had a terrible homelife growing up, but he was 27 now and there was nothing he could do about it. Besides, there was no way he was going to let Harry go back to Surrey for the summer anyway. Knowing Harry now, or rather Hadrian, the muggles wouldn’t survive it, not that he particularly thought that was a bad idea at this point.

“Well, thank you for hearing me out,” he stood and turned to the door. “And thank you for the potions for my cousin.”

Snape stared after the man, feeling his world shift on its axis. What was true anymore? Was he right about anything? Had he failed his best friend? Surely, Potter was a spoiled brat that loved to torture him…surely? But…he did know Petunia…

Chapter Text

Snape watched his shining doe patronus gallop off with its snarky admonitions at Hadrian for leaving him at the house with his cousin and not remaining for their agreed upon diagnostics of his knee. He knew he could send an owl, but it just didn’t convey the same ire and sarcasm without his voice. Snape was normally a little embarrassed by his patronus form since it was so very not-imposing or dangerous for a man of his background and standing, but somehow he had a feeling that Hadrian would be the last person to judge him for it. Why he had this gut feeling, he had absolutely no clue. Frankly, he was a little curious about Hadrian’s form, or if he could produce a patronus, though he seemed powerful enough to be able to. He would decidedly gag if it was something as insipid as a weasel for Percy though.

With a grimace at that thought, Snape crossed into the wards of the castle and made his way towards his rooms. He ended his day nicely by catching two students out after curfew and assigning detentions before he opened the door to his office and began to unbutton all the many buttons on his outer robes to get comfortable for the night. Honestly, even his short conversation with Sirius hadn’t been antagonistic surprisingly; however, what Black had insinuated about Potter…

Snape did not believe it; he didn’t want to believe it. He was resolved to watch Potter much more closely and prove to himself and Black both that he was wrong though, and Potter really was just a spoiled little prince that thought he could get away with anything and was invincible. He paused just before opening the door in the back of his office to his private rooms…something was on his desk that he hadn’t left there.

It took him a minute to remember that Percy Weasley was supposed to drop off the rare and possibly expired potion ingredients that Hadrian had wanted him to check out and see if they were still viable and useful for anything. With a grumble about his day not being over yet, he tossed his now unbuttoned robe on the back of his chair before sitting down and opening the small wooden chest containing a collection of sample vials.

With a frown, he withdrew what looked to be different parts of something reptilian, probably a snake or lizard. There were a couple vials of skin, a few of what looked to be bone, and a crystal vial that had a clear liquid in it with a crudely drawn image of a red skull and crossbones taped to its side. Snape chuckled at what could have only been Hadrian’s handiwork for a poisonous warning.

One of the vials of skin looked to be shed skin while the other had to have been taken from the dead animal itself. Both would be viable as well as the bone and venom since they would not have lost potency over time, until they completely decomposed anyway. So, they hadn’t expired, but as for the usefulness, that he would need to determine just what kind of snake this actually came from to know.

He held the skin up to the magical torch on his wall and frowned at it. It was a brown/green and had very little sheen to the scales. That didn’t give him much to go on but did cross several of the more exotic and magical varieties of snake off his list since it was lacking the brilliant colors common for them. If this turned out to be some common garden snake, he was going to send howlers to both Percy and Hadrian for the trouble they had him going to.

He carefully uncorked the crystal vial of venom and placed the cork on his desk to cast some diagnostics at the clear liquid. He raised his wand and gasped as the place on his desk where the cork rested began to lightly smoke. Immediately, he levitated the cork off his desk and tested it to see that Hadrian or Percy one had put some significant preservation and protection wards around it to his surprise. Keeping it floating beside him, he then cast several diagnostics at the venom…and even more after that as his shock grew.

Now, completely forgetting how tired he was and that he had even been planning to head into his chambers moments before, he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill to start excitedly writing down his findings and narrow in on what creature this came from. It was the most dangerous snake venom he had ever come across. The crudely drawn skull and crossbones now seemed less of an over-protectiveness of his friend and more of an understatement and definitely not nearly enough of a warning on the part of Hadrian.

With a check at the other components, the snakeskin was much stronger than a normal snake’s, as well as the bones even being slightly toxic themselves. What the hell was this creature Hadrian had found?!! And why didn’t he think to at least leave a note with the creature’s identity on the box…though of course, Hadrian would get a kick out of not telling him. He had probably been snickering the entire time he was drawing the little skull thinking about Snape having to figure out what it was. He settled in, honestly, appreciating the mystery even if he’d never admit it. It was going to be a long night, but he was going to both figure out what this creature was and a few uses for its parts if it was the last thing he did!

With a hiss of pain and a sigh, he put down the quill and floated the stopper carefully back into the vial of venom before grabbing onto his left forearm, cursing his fate and luck both. It seemed his new project was going to have to wait, and his night was going to get much longer. He stood and quickly opened the door to his chambers to grab his hated robe and white mask to head to the meeting he was unexpectedly being called to. At least Hadrian had finished some of his marking for him. Snape swore to send the infuriating man another stack of essays for adding to his workload with the snake parts…even if he was secretly very excited about them.

He sent off another doe patronus to Dumbledore this time before frowning when he remembered it was his second of the night…he’d never gotten a patronus back from Hadrian. It seemed the man either couldn’t cast one or maybe he just didn’t care to send one back. One option raised a whole slew of questions in Snape’s mind and the other made him feel very empty inside…neither option was pleasant at the moment. He cleared his mind and raised his Occlumency shields as he strode towards the gates as quickly as possible to head to whatever torture his night would bring.

Harry was having a very pleasant evening in his dorm with just Neville for company as they both quietly tried to get through their respective work. Ron and Hermione were still off doing couple things in the common room (apparently their date had gone well, though Harry hadn’t been concerned) and Seamus was still angrily avoiding Harry even though Harry had been very good and hadn’t cursed him once, as much as he had wanted to. Dean was probably off with Seamus or playing exploding snap with some poor second year who hadn’t learned he was as good as Ron was at wizard’s chess and ten times more brutal in his victories.

Neville was a great bloke for a quiet night in, only occasionally asking questions when he came across something in their homework he didn’t understand. Harry was sure he thought they were both doing schoolwork, and he didn’t mind helping one bit when Nev asked him something. He hadn’t figured out how to help Neville along in his confidence or show him just how much he valued and loved him yet, but he was working on it.

For his part, Harry was actually putting together a flowchart with everything he remembered from his original fifth year and a timeline of things he knew they needed to do to end the Voldemort problem before fully committing to their next step of taking on the ministry. He was stuck on the prophesy at the moment. In order to keep Arthur Weasley safe, he needed to get the prophesy before December in some way that the Order would know it was gone. Either that, or he would have to stalk his partner’s father for a few days since he couldn’t remember the exact date the man was attacked and wouldn’t get the vision of it happening this time around. He could pinpoint it to within a few days of when it must have happened, based on the winter break, but he also thought they had left a little early for break because of the attack…he wasn’t certain about this though. It had just been so long since then!

Voldy also had to be taken care of before he broke his followers out of Azkaban, which he thought was right after they got back from winter break. He was absolutely NOT dealing with Bellatrix again. He would gladly break into Azkaban himself to kill her if he could figure out how to deal with a dementor when he couldn’t cast a patronus. Maybe Percy’s whole ‘Master of Death’ thing would give him some ideas there if it actually came to something. It would make sense that he had some connection to death or the soul since the core of his wand was dementor skin though now…best not to think about that too much, he decided.

He was tapping his quill against the parchment, leaving little splotches of ink as he thought about who was currently out of prison that might need to be dealt with when a brilliant and silvery doe pranced into the dorm like it owned the place, and Harry cursed his luck and choice in friends when Neville’s head shot up in surprise at the invading patronus. He had no clue how he was going to get out of this one…

The doe looked at him and what was unmistakably Snape’s sarcastic drawl emanated from it. “You left me with your cousin! Rule number one was to absolutely not leave me with that infuriating man. Retribution will be swift and painful Hadrian, and clearly in the form of another stack of first- and second-year essays delivered first thing tomorrow! Please be less kind and supportive in your comments this time around. The children will think I am going soft. Also, you forgot your diagnostic for your knee. I swear, you try to do something nice for an idiot and you get cursed with your sorry hide. We do need to meet for this before I can finish your pain potion. Since you cannot come into the castle without the headmaster’s permission, can I meet with you at your place or at your cousin’s next week sometime? I await your reply with bated breath,” Snape drawled in a tone dripping in sarcasm at the end.

Harry couldn’t help the little smile, even as he was cursing the man’s timing. At this point, after knowing the man for about seven years and going through hating each other, having a bit of a weird crush on the man through his old textbook, murderously hating him again, then admiring him, Harry knew how to speak Snape. The translation was that Snape was a little disappointed he hadn’t stayed to say goodbye back at the manor, he was worried about Harry’s knee and that he might have been overwhelmed with all the questions earlier, and that he was looking forward to meeting up with him again soon.

Harry looked over to Neville who’d paused with his hand in the process of petting Sephie’s back since she had migrated over to sleeping in the teenager’s bed at some point in the last hour. Harry already had his wand in his hand and absently spun it through his fingers. He could obliviate Neville. It would be extremely easy…the teen wouldn’t even see it coming…

Neville’s eyes cut to his wand on his end table, not in easy reaching distance, something Harry was sure he did unconsciously. He didn’t particularly want to obliviate Neville, so Harry waited. He didn’t know how Neville would process what he’d just heard and decided to give him a second to see how this was going to all fall out before making his decision.

Neville frowned deeply and absently ran a hand down the sleeping inferius’s back. “Harry…” the teen finally said, his look surprisingly more disappointed than shocked or confused. “You know how I feel about Snape, I don’t like him, and he frankly scares me, but…it’s not right to make the man think you’re his friend to make fun of him. That’s not funny, it’s cruel. You're better than that.”

Harry’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t follow what conclusion Neville’s brain had jumped to, but it didn’t seem to be that Harry was from the future. “Er…what?” was all he could get out in his confusion.

Neville’s face took on a hard look that said Harry needed to listen to him. “It’s only a prank when both parties are laughing. It’s mean to mess with someone’s emotions, and I’d thought better of you than to do something like that to a person,” he explained, crossing his arms and giving Harry a look he hadn’t seen on anyone besides Hermione before, and he felt about as tall as a bowtruckle at it.

“Look, I don’t know if it was Polyjuice you used when I saw you earlier today or some kind of glamour or whatever, but you have to tell Snape…and how is Professor Weasley involved in all this anyway?” Now Neville looked a little confused as that piece of the puzzle didn’t fit with what he had assumed with the rest of the situation.

Harry’s hand relaxed on his wand some as he thought about what Neville was saying. He really wanted to be Snape’s friend and wasn’t trying to trick him, especially since he was actually being who he really was. However, that might also be the way Snape would see it too, and that was not acceptable at all. He didn’t know how he would eventually bring Snape into his confidence, but he was certain he’d have to figure out some way so the man knew that he absolutely meant everything and really did want to be his friend.

“That’s not what’s going on here, Nev,” Harry sighed. It wasn’t even quite October yet and already Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Flitwick, Dobby, Kreacher, and Remus had all figured out his secret. He didn’t particularly think it was a good idea to bring in a fifteen-year-old Neville, but he also didn’t want to obliviate his friend. Maybe there was a kind of middle ground?

Neville didn’t look convinced at all though. “What’s going on then? You, Ron, and Hermione are always getting into things you shouldn’t. What’s the play here? Do you think Snape is working for You-Know-Who or something?”

Harry didn’t know how to answer that because…well, yeah, but also definitely not. “Erm, no…and I really do want to be Snape’s friend, and I’m really in a relationship with Percy Weasley,” he began, seeing Neville’s eyes harden in concern at that last admission at he was dating a professor.

“I also wasn’t wearing a glamour or anything earlier…this is the glamour,” he motioned to himself and waited to see how Neville was taking everything before he continued.

Neville’s eyes widened and looked very consciously at his wand this time. Then he moved, he honestly surprised Harry, which was very difficult to do. Now, Harry did see it coming enough that when Neville picked up Sephie and tossed her at Harry that he reached out and caught the startled and yowling cat, getting some long scratches on his arm for his efforts. It gave Neville enough time to get to his wand and narrowly missed hitting Harry with a petrificus totalis who rolled off his bed with the cat and crouched on the other side.

“What the hell, Neville?! I’m not going to hurt you!” He yelled right after casting a silencing ward at their door, which he was thankfully closer to, so that no one would come to investigate what was happening.

“Who are you, and what did you do with Harry?!!” Neville yelled from the other side of his bed before throwing a jelly-legs hex towards Harry.

With a grumble, Harry promised himself that he was going to teach his friend some much more effective curses, and better aim as well. “I am Harry if you’ll chill for two seconds for me to explain!”

A heavy book soared right over his head from where Neville had banished it across the room and towards him. That actually was pretty impressive, Harry nodded at it on the floor in appreciation. Sephie hissed at the book and her eyes flashed red before she plopped down under the bed this time. “Sephie is definitely going to piss on your bed tonight, fair warning…” Harry called over his shoulder towards where Neville seemed to be trying to remember expelliarmus but got the word wrong several times and instead caused a few mini-explosions of Harry’s pillows.

Harry figured he’d given Neville enough time to feel like he was giving it a good go, and he was getting tired of hearing the disarming spell butchered, so he rolled his eyes and put down his old holly wand to aim his new wand just over the top of the bed. “Osteo immobulus!” He cast quietly.

There was a yelp followed by some whimpers two beds over where Neville had been crouching. Harry stood and winced, realizing he’d landed on his bum knee when he’d rolled off the bed and limped slightly over to where Neville was stuck. “You’re fine, calm down,” he huffed and slid down the side of the bed to sit beside the teen and stretch his leg out.

“That was only a bone freezing spell,” he explained to the frozen teen. Neville’s eyes were moving everywhere, looking for a way out and he was breathing shallowly in fright. It was only his bones that couldn’t move, so he was awake, aware, and could easily breathe and see, even if his jaw didn’t move so he could talk. It was dark magic, but only slightly, it was almost grey really…depending on how you looked at it.

“Anyway, I’ll free you in just a minute once you hear out my explanation and stop trying to make my nose bleed since you were never going to get the disarming spell right at that rate,” he glared at Neville playfully. “I will be teaching you how to do that, by the way, as well as shield and some nice curses that will stop a Death Eater in their tracks, bloodily, if needed. I swear, that was the most pathetic duel I’ve been involved in since our piss-poor excuse of a dueling class in second year,” he grumbled with a little chuckle to Neville at the end.

Neville was glaring at him in fear and anger currently, so Harry figured he was at least attentive. “Right, so, I came back in time…Percy too, by the way,” he said flippantly, tired of having to do this same explanation multiple times. “Actually, future you helped send us back, quite impressively too, but I’ll hold off on explaining how or you might not believe me and all.”

“Episkey,” Harry broke off to try to heal the cat scratches on his arm. They slightly closed but were still bleeding, causing Harry to swear in a couple languages when he remembered his cat was actually an inferius. “Well, that’s inconvenient,” he remarked dryly before conjuring some bandages and starting to wrap it.

Neville’s eyes seemed slightly less fearful, and his breaths were a bit deeper when Harry finished wrapping his arm. He really hoped that was a good sign but wasn’t sure. “Right, so I’m 27, and the world went to shit between now and then, so I’m back in time to fix it with my annoyingly brilliant partner to keep me from screwing it up worse.”

Harry looked at the teen and crossed his arms. “I don’t know what to tell you to convince you I am who I say I am. I know a lot about you actually, but we didn’t get close until after this year, so none of that is stuff that will help me convince you right now.”

He grimaced and leaned up against the bed, realizing that this was probably the most difficult of these conversations he'd had yet since there wasn’t really anything from their past that only Harry would know and not most of Gryffindor Tower as well. At least Remus had Moony to help him believe the information as well as Sirius there, but Neville… “Maybe I should just obliviate you,” he sighed with a sad look at the teen whose eyes widened in fear again.

“Neville, I really like you…you’re one of my best friends,” he began, at least wanting his friend to understand why before he was obliviated, even if he wouldn’t remember it. “Those adventures you referenced with Ron and Hermione, well, you went with us at the end of this year in my original timeline. It made us a lot closer. Then, we learn later that there was a prophesy that said a boy born at the end of July, 1991 was fated to face Voldemort, and it could have been either you or me, until Voldy made it me. That actually bonded us a lot more.”

“Neville, you are one of the bravest men I know,” he said seriously to his friend whose eyes looked more confused than anything else currently.

“I know you don’t believe it yet, but it’s true. When R-…” he took in a deep, steadying breath. “When Ron was taken and after Hermione was killed, Percy was there to pick me up, but you were the one that got me moving forward once more. You always looked out for me, even when you were the Head Auror, and I was a black-market dark artifacts dealer,” he chuckled wryly.

“Yeah, our lives got a little complicated,” he bumped Neville’s arm with his shoulder in a friendly bump. “I’m going to fix it though. I’m going to kill Voldemort well before I did last time, I won’t let him break his followers out of Azkaban this time around, and I’m going to step up and make our world better, safer, and more accepting. I know you don’t believe me, but I want you to know before…well, I’ll only take the last like fifteen minutes from your memory…”

Neville gave a grunt and a whine through his immobile jaw, clearly wanting to talk. Harry huffed a laugh and reached over to pluck the teen’s wand from his hand, knowing that he would be fine even if he had let him keep it after what he'd seen earlier. Neville was nowhere near his badass head auror skills yet. “I’ll remove the spell, but I’m only giving you a minute before the obliviate. I’m sorry, but yell at me all you want. I can take it.”

Harry flicked his wand and nonverbally removed the spell, causing Neville to slump down as his bones once more moved with his muscles. “Bloody hell!” He gasped out. “That’s worse than a petrificus totalis!”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t be able to hear me out with that spell,” he explained, waiting for the screaming and probably renewed attacks to commence.

“Harry…please don’t obliviate me,” Neville said slowly instead of attacking. “I don’t know what you can do to persuade me what you are saying is true either, but…”

Harry’s face brightened up and he laughed. “Actually, I might be able to!!” He clapped his hands still holding the wands, causing Neville to jump in surprise at the change of emotions. “Dobby!” He called out.

A loud pop sounded in the room before Dobby, wearing a black toga with a neon yellow belt, one pink and one green sock, and a purple knit hat appeared. “I like the look this time, Dobbs,” Harry nodded in appreciation at the almost eye bleeding collection of colors.

Dobby preened and smoothed down his tunic. “Dobby wants to looks professional for Master Harry Potter, sir! Kreacher says Dobby is ridiculous, but Master Harry Potter, sir, always says Dobby looks good.”

“Right smart actually,” Harry assured him, loving that Dobby liked the look even if Harry wouldn’t wear it himself.

The elf looked at the teen on the floor beside Harry and raised one eyebrow. “What can Dobby do for Little Lord Longbottom and Master Harry Potter, sir?”

Harry crossed his arms and leaned against the bed again, bending his knee and stretching it again to keep it from seizing up. “I happen to have it on good authority that Professor Snape has some freshly brewed Veritaserium on hand. Would you mind popping down to his storeroom and stealing me a vial? I promise I’ll pay him back and/or replace what we use later.”

“Of course, Master Harry Potter, sir,” Dobby scoffed as if it was almost an insult that Harry thought he might mind. With a pop, the elf was immediately gone once more.

Neville actually leaned up against the bed too, still looking at Harry out of the corner of his eye suspiciously though. “Snape’s going to kill you.”

Harry shrugged. “I can brew him some more, and one dose is really small anyway. I actually got pretty good at potions…27 remember? Start thinking of some questions you want to ask me.”

Neville nodded, seeming to know he couldn’t overpower or escape judging by how his eyes flicked over the room before he seemed to decide that Harry probably would have done something to him if he planned to when he was immobilized. “So…Ron and Hermione died…who else did we lose?” He asked, seeming to decide to go with it all for the moment. “I suppose a lot if we worked to send you back in time. And Percy Weasley…how did that happen?”

Harry closed his eyes, even though he still had every sense tuned to what Neville was doing beside him. “My godfather, Professor Lupin, Auror Tonks, Dumbledore, Professor Moody, Professor Burbage, Madam Bones, Snape, Lavender, Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley, my godson, Draco…”

“Stop!” Neville cut him off with a hand on his knee, his eyes also closed as it sank in. “Merlin, we should have sent you back sooner…”

Harry snorted a laugh and looked at the teen he’d fairly traumatized beside him. “I wonder what’s taking Dobby…”

A pop sounded before the elf was once more in their midst. “Speak of the little demon…” Harry grinned at him, causing Dobby to smile back.

“Three drops is the dose,” Dobby reminded Harry when he handed the small vial over. “It was easy to find, but Dobby is concerned that it looks like Professor Potion Master is out for a meeting,” he ended with a significant look at Harry.

“I’m taking it you snooped a bit and noticed his meeting robes missing?” Harry smirked at the elf who turned a bit red at having snooped but nodded.  

“I don’t know what we’re talking about, but can we just get this over with?” Neville asked in tired exasperation. “I’d like to be assured my dormmate isn’t trying to kill me or anyone else.”

Harry shared a look with Dobby that clearly that last bit wasn’t going to bring any assurances since he did actually plan to kill a few people. He quickly dropped three drops on his tongue though before capping the bottle again and handing it back to Dobby. “Dobby, please put this back where you found it, and would you drop by and see if Percy will check in on Snape in an hour or two when he might be back in?”

“Yes, sir, Master Harry Potter, sir!” Dobby gave a quick salute before popping out again.

Harry turned to Neville and grinned mischievously. “I’m going to warn you that I will have to answer your questions for the next fifteen minutes or so and cannot lie, so be careful what you ask since you might not want to know about my sex life.”

Neville turned pink but nodded in understanding. “What is your name?”

“Hadrian James Potter-Black officially, but I go by Harry Potter most of the time,” Harry answered without even being able to think about his answer before his mouth was speaking. He absolutely hated Veritaserum, but he was happy he’d thought of some way to keep from having to obliviate Neville.

“How old are you?” Neville asked next, his eyebrow having gone up in surprise at Harry’s name.

“I am twenty-seven, but I also don’t know when my birthday will be this year technically since I left the future in the fall and it was summer when we arrived here,” he said, the potion making him answer as specifically as possible.

“Do you mean harm to me or anyone in this castle?” Neville asked next with a hard look, causing Harry to frown before the potion made him answer next.

“I don’t want to harm any student in the castle. I’m concerned I may end up having to harm Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle if they continue on the path they did before and become Death Eaters. I’d really like to curse Justin Finch-Fletchley for things he does in the future, but I’m hoping to make it to where he can’t this time around,” Harry said as the potion prompted him to keep talking as much as he would really rather stop right there.

“I would very much like to murder Dumbledore…maybe…I’m not sure. I’m still very angry with him and think he will get in my way for my plans. I blame him for a lot of what happened in my original timeline, but I don’t know why he did what he did. I’d really like to kill him honestly, but I also realize I may not have the full story...I'm conflicted...”

Neville’s mouth had dropped open in surprise at the last part. “But…why? What did Dumbledore do?” He asked in complete shock. “Harry always looked up to the headmaster…you, you always looked up to him.”

Again, something Harry would really rather not answer. “Dumbledore left me as a baby with my magic-hating relatives that he was fully aware did not want me and who would most definitely treat me poorly if not abuse me…which they did. He then kept vital information from me that directly impacted my life, leading me to make poor decision based on not having enough information. He gave me just enough information to keep me going and keep me desperate enough to be willing to die when it was time. He raised me to die when the time was right, which I did as the faithful little solder I was. Thankfully, I was able to return, but that's a story for another time,” Apparently, the potion didn’t think Harry was done though as his mouth opened on its own when he stopped to take in a breath.

“What makes me the angriest though is when I learned that he covered up an attempted murder when my parents were in school, blatantly overlooked the abuse of many children including myself, my godfather, Professor Snape, and you…”

Harry’s eyes widened as Neville had turned completely white at his name making the list. “Shit, sorry…I warned you about asking things,” he said quickly before his friend could freak out. “I know about your uncle, you’ve mentioned him before when talking about him trying to get you to do magic as a kid, and you tell me more about what all happened in the future. I promise, I’m not going to tell anyone if you don’t want me to, but I’d also like to make sure you’re safer before you go home this summer if you'll let me.”

Neville seemed to let out a breath of air in shock or relief one. Neville’s uncle had stopped his abuse aimed at getting Neville to toughen up and use more magic after the battle at the ministry their fifth year, claiming that Neville had finally grown up. Since he didn’t plan on that battle happening this time around, Harry really didn’t plan on Neville’s Uncle Algie to still be alive come summer. He wasn’t going to say any of that unless Nev asked him directly though.

“What are your plans to fix things?” Neville asked next after giving it some thought.

The Veritaserum was starting to wear off, but not quite soon enough. Harry was able to get out a sigh before his mouth opened once more. “I’m going to kill Voldemort before the war can start again,” he began. “Voldemort isn’t the problem though. The problem is the fear and hatred that was here before him and intensified in his wake. The ministry is corrupt, our laws are racist and prejudiced, and they only get worse. Our society needs balance and understanding. I’m going to take my rightful place as Magic’s Dark Lord and restore balance to work with the Light to make a society where everyone is free, where magic isn’t discriminated against if it does no harm, and where all creatures can live safely and without fear in our society.”

“Bloody hell,” Neville breathed out and leaned back up against his bed, stunned completely.

“Er, yeah…how to get there, I’m still working on though,” Harry added sheepishly at the end. He felt the hold of the Veritaserum disappear and he let out a breath of relief. “I can still obliviate you if you want,” he offered with a little smile and bump of his shoulder against Neville’s.

Neville snorted but opened his eyes to look into Harry’s. “No,” he said firmly. “Unless you finally learned to open a book in the future, you’re going to need someone who understands the ancient and noble houses and how they work,” he said with a decided and thoughtful frown.

“I’d like to help. I grew up with Pansy and Draco and Susan Bones and that lot. I know it’s surprising now, but our society is small, the peerage even smaller. We all get thrown together as small children at ministry events before we’re taught to be prejudiced. Draco Malfoy has always been a prat, but his mother, she was very nice and always treated me kindly. I remember being confused when I was told she was the ‘wrong sort’ to look up to as a dark witch…she was so much nicer to me than my own Gran and Uncle Algie and really everyone…”

Harry gave a surprised snort of agreement. “Draco did actually get much better over the next couple years actually. I grew to really like Narcissa though too…she helped out a lot with my godson. I did finally learn about all the hierarchical nonsense though, and I have my godfather, who is Sirius Black and innocent, by the way.”

“Bloody hell,” Neville breathed out again and sighed. “So, you don’t need me…”

“You’re sounding more and more like Ron,” Harry chuckled. “And I’ll always need you, mate. You’re my rock, Nev. Regardless of who you may or may not become in the future, even in our past, you’ve been the rock of our friend group. You stood up for Snape when you thought I might be pranking him just now, you tried to stop us in first year from doing what really should have killed us, you stood by me when everyone thought I was evil in second year, you were there for me when Ron and Hermione were fighting third year, and you were the one I could count on to talk me down last year when I thought everything was falling apart around me. I need you for you as Neville Longbottom, my friend. I want to be there for you too.”

“Really?” Neville asked, tears shining in his blue eyes.

“Yeah,” Harry threw an arm around his shoulders and leaned against the boy beside him comfortingly. He made a mental note that maybe Algie should disappear before winter break instead of summer if Neville decided to go home. “I hope your scourgify is better than your expelliarmus because Sephie will most definitely pee on your pillow tonight.”

Neville winced but nodded as if he had it coming. “Is she ok? I knew you’d catch her, and I needed my wand…”

Harry laughed. “It really was a good move to distract me, and yeah, she’s fine, just pissed off.” He looked over the bed to where Sephie was in fact glaring at them from where she was now perched on top of Harry’s dresser, clearly plotting her revenge.

Severus Snape kept up a steady stream of swear words in every language he knew as he slowly and painfully made his way back up to the castle. Apparently, the Dark Lord had been trying to send images of the prophesy the Order was protecting in the Department of Mysteries to Harry Potter to entice him to go and collect it. For some unfathomable reason, the Dark Lord had been unable to access some link that had supposedly been previously available to him with the boy, which was frankly very concerning. The evil man was murderously angry and ordered Snape break into the boy’s mind and figure out what had changed and reopen whatever connection they had before.

Of course, he hadn’t offered any suggestions for how to do this without blowing his cover. Even as the Order spy he couldn’t just walk up and legilimize the teen without harming Potter, and there wasn’t a legitimate excuse for him to try it. He hoped Dumbledore had some way around this and maybe had an idea about what connection this was that the Dark Lord was talking about.

He stopped at the foot of the stairs and groaned. He just wanted to be in his bed with several pain potions and to sleep right through the next day. “Need a hand?” a voice asked from his side, causing Snape to almost jump out of his skin. No one snuck up on Severus Snape! Somehow, Percival Weasley had succeeded where even seasoned Death Eaters had not though.

“Bloody Salazar’s ghost!” Snape huffed out in surprise. “Where did you come from?”

“I was waiting on you,” Percy ignored the man’s question and his pride and just physically threw Snape’s arm over his shoulders, and he put his own arm around the man’s waist to help almost physically lift him up the stairs.

Snape was more shocked at the fact that Percy Weasley of all people actually seemed just as tall as he was at this point and possibly stronger than the fact that he was being manhandled up the stairs he’d found so daunting seconds before. “Why were you waiting on me?” He asked instead, too tired and in pain to protest the help at this point even though he knew he'd hate himself for taking it the next day.

“The house elves know we’re friends and one asked me to check in on you,” he said as if that were something not complete shocking. As far as Snape knew from his 24 some odd years at Hogwarts, the elves never got involved in anything the wizards did beyond just doing their own jobs. Frankly, he could count on one hand how many elves he had seen outside the kitchens in that entire time.

“The location of the kitchens is something passed down from brother to brother since the Bill told Charlie who told me and so on before we each started Hogwarts,” Percy explained to Snape’s shocked silence as they stumbled into the castle. “I think the twins might have skipped Ron and told Ginny instead,” he shrugged at the end though. “They always liked to mess with him.”

“I can make it from here,” Snape put a hand on a stone wall to take a breath inside the castle and rest before tackling the stairs down to the dungeons.

Percy snorted and grabbed onto Snape once more over his protests. “Hadrian will have my hide if I leave you to fall down the stairs to the dungeon,” he protested. “I’m getting you to your couch or bed and drugged up before I head back upstairs to mail off more of your marking to my very bored partner to do.”

Snape snorted but they moved in silence once more, the help down the stairs very welcome even as embarrassing as it was. “Percy…does Hadrian know how to cast a patronus?” He asked, breaking the silence and still feeling a little insecure at his message not being answered earlier.

“He knows, but he can’t cast it anymore,” Percy quietly remarked, pain in his eyes. The young man’s look had Snape hold his tongue from asking why. It had to have been something very traumatic to make him unable to cast the spell. Even as a dark wizard, being able to cast a light spell he already knew should not have easily changed.

“My marking is on the right side of my desk beside all those mysterious ingredients you sent,” he remarked instead as they neared his office. “Tell your idiot to stop being nice and just call them dunderheads when they show they are. I heard a first year the other day tell a second year that they thought I was actually ‘quite helpful in my comments,’” he sneered, causing Percy to laugh as he pushed open the office door.

“Merlin forbid!” He kept laughing.

Chapter Text

“I just don’t understand why we can’t tell Dumbledore. It’s the most logical response to all this,” Remus Lupin grumbled from where he was wrapped up in a blanket on the couch with tea and chocolate, still recovering from the last full moon.

“Because Harry doesn’t want us to, and that should be enough for both of us,” Sirius sneered at his friend over the top of his teacup from where he was sulking in the armchair across from him. It was an argument they’d had too many times in the few days since Harry had filled Remus in. He didn’t understand why Remus couldn’t just trust Harry and move on.

“He has future knowledge that Dumbledore could use to make better decisions for the war though,” Remus tried once more with an exasperated motion of the half-eaten piece of chocolate he had in his hand.

Sirius sighed and sat down his tea on the end table. “Moony…Harry must have his reasons. Why can’t you just trust our Prongslet? He came back to save us.”

With a huff, Remus put down his teacup as well. “Siri, the thirteen-year-old Harry I knew was much more concerned about quidditch and hanging with his friends than strategy or learning. I realize he picked up some Dark Arts knowledge over the years…”

“A mastery,” Sirius interrupted with a glare. “Moony…you’re talking about a thirteen-year-old child and forgetting it’s a twenty-seven-year-old that asked us to trust him. Even the fifteen-year-old went through shit to get where he was…”

“Before older Harry killed him,” Remus gave his friend a dark look. “Unintentionally, but that just goes to show that he doesn’t think things through all the time.”

Sirius grimaced but shook his head. “No, we need to at least know why Harry doesn’t trust Dumbledore before we go against his wishes. I won’t let him down again…Moony, I think Harry had a harder life than we believed, and I mean his childhood not his shit-poor older years with the war.”

Remus frowned deeply at that and sat up, pulling his blanket more tightly around him. “What do you mean, Padfoot?”

As Sirius opened his mouth to answer, the man in question pushed open the door to the sitting room, and strode in. With a grin and a flick of his wand to cast a privacy ward at the door, Hadrian Black flopped into the armchair beside Sirius and almost lit up the room with his bright smile. “Hullo, dogfathers! How’re things? Dumbledore freaking out yet that a dark wizard is in the house?”

“No, there’s not an Order meeting for a few more days, so he hasn’t been by for anyone to tell him,” Sirius answered as Remus raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in school? It’s a weekday,” The werewolf chided him.

Harry just shrugged unconcernedly. “Everyone thinks I’m dating some unnamed Ravenclaw, so I’m supposedly off snogging them in a broom cupboard somewhere. Severus has been bugging me non-stop about my knee though, and there are only so many misdirect spells I can cast on his owl before it finally finds me at breakfast. So far, the grumpy featherbrain can only find me in the tower, but the owl is as smart and as persistent as his owner, so I figured it was best to give in to the summons, especially since there wasn’t anything major going on this evening at school. Plus, I had to deliver a letter from Dobby to Kreacher. I really need to buy one of them an owl.”

“It’s Severus now, is it?” Remus asked with a concerned frown at the friendship he didn’t understand.

“Snape is coming here?” Sirius sat up straighter with a look on his face that Harry really couldn’t interpret the meaning of and didn’t care enough to try.

“He’s my friend, and you be good,” Harry jabbed a finger in Sirius’s direction with a glare. “Quidditch starts up next week, and I’m going to be a right stroppy terror if I don’t get some kind of pain potion for my knee.”

“I’ve been very good, Harry!” Sirius protested vehemently. “So good that he’s suspicious that I want something, the paranoid git! I don’t know what else I can do to play nice if he always thinks I want something.”

“And do you want something from him, Padfoot?” Remus asked knowingly, seeming to interpret Sirius’s look and take something from it where Harry really couldn’t.

“What?! No!!” He protested even more vehemently but with a touch of pink creeping onto his ears. Harry just huffed and shrugged, figuring it was none of his business and not caring to pry into the drama anyway. Snape could take care of himself, and Sirius really was getting better now that he could leave the house and had a purpose in helping Harry. It looked like he’d even taken the time to brush his hair and put on some nicer, cleaner clothes than last time Harry had seen him.

“Well, make sure to thank him for helping me with this for you. We were able to shave off a good week of the brewing time,” Harry pulled a large flask of Polyjuice potion that he enlarged from his jeans pocket and handed it over. “I’ve decided I don’t trust you with one of my hairs when you’re acting all weird like this, sorry. Maybe Remus will help you.”

“Nope,” Remus popped the ‘p’ and smirked at his friend who had put on a dramatic, fake hurt look on his face.

“Fine, I’ll just summon a hair from a random muggle,” he rolled his eyes at the two. “This means I can go to Diagon though! Merlin, I miss that little pub over at the intersection with Knockturn! The one with the spicy mead.”

“Ooo, I know that place,” Harry sat up with an excited smile. “They have great fish and chips! We should all go and take Percy and Severus too!”

“I do need to meet this Percy fellow…” Sirius nodded happily and clapped his hands.

“Can we please talk about the dark wizard in the room from the future that doesn’t want us to tell Dumbledore about himself instead of pubs?” Remus interrupted impatiently with a look between the two. “Harry…You know I love you, but I don’t think you can handle this on your own…we need to tell Dumbledore…”

“First of all,” Harry cut him off, leaning forward with a hard look in his eyes that suddenly made Remus a bit afraid and Moony almost whimper from within him. “I don’t actually know you love me. How would I know that? I didn’t meet you until my third year, and we hardly ever talked outside of class then. After that, you were always off doing Order things. You may have said you see me as pack, but you never even mentioned that to me in my first timeline at all. Frankly, I really don’t know you as a person.”

“Harry…” Remus frowned deeply as Sirius looked between them, confused.

“No,” Harry shook his head firmly. “I do trust you, Remus. I’m just saying that you’re assuming a relationship that doesn’t exist for me. Right now, you are a means to an end for me. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. I need something from you which I promise to tell you about one of these days. I’d also like you to be a large part of some of the plans I have, but that’s only if you want to be. I want us to be closer and to have a relationship, but frankly, you died before we got there in my original timeline and didn’t try very hard before that either.”

“I didn’t realize…I’m sorry,” Remus frowned even deeper and seemed to be crumpling in on himself. Moony was almost wailing inside of him in guilt. “What do you need from me?”

Harry gave him a grin that was the epitome of James Potter when he had a plan he was excited about. “Nothing right now. It’ll be about two years before I need you to do something…just er, get to know Tonks a bit, right? She’s a really cool person, and I think you’d get along.”

“Of course, Dora is awesome, but what does that have to do with anything?!” Sirius huffed, not liking being confused. He’d assumed Harry and Remus had a great relationship after living in the same castle for a year when he was outside of it stalking Pettigrew.

“Nothing yet, and don’t worry about it for now,” Harry leaned back again and propped his feet up on the coffee table, glancing over his shoulder, paranoid that Kreacher was about to pop in and yell at him.

“Now, to answer the second part of your accusation, I don’t plan to do this on my own. I brought back my brilliant genius of a partner with me, remember. Plus, I have you two, the house elves, Flitwick, the goblins-ish, I’m still working on them, a whole slew of teenagers I don’t know what to do with but need to keep safe, and hopefully Snape at some point.”

Remus sighed tiredly. “But Dumbledore…”

“Left me to do everything on my own anyway,” Harry crossed his arms and glared again. “He died at the end of my sixth year and only left extremely vague instructions for me to follow, one of which was to make sure I died at the end of it all, and I’m not planning to do that again. Percy would raise me back to life just to kill me himself, bloody necromancers…”

Remus sputtered in shock while Sirius had to stand to pace in his agitation. “Right, I have to unpack all that,” Harry’s godfather was now frantically running his hands through his hair. “What do you mean that you died?!! How did Dumbledore die, and why wasn’t the Order taking care of things instead of you? Did you just insinuate that Percival Weasley of the Light Weasleys might be a necromancer?!! And what do you mean that you died?!!!!”

“Er…yeah,” Harry said slowly, realizing he’d just dumped a lot on the men, but not realizing it would be quite as much of a shock as they seemed to be taking it. They did know about the prophesy they were guarding, right? “Dumbledore really hasn’t told you anything, has he?”

Now both men looked taken aback and suspicious, but this time not at Harry. “What do you mean, pup?” Sirius finally asked after they shared a look. “What are we not being told?”

“That prophesy you’re guarding at the ministry is much more trouble than it’s worth, and frankly both Dumbledore and Voldemort put way too much faith in it, and it’s what got Siri killed the first time,” he explained with a sigh.

“Look, Dumbledore thinks I’m the only one that can take out Voldemort, and well, he’s right, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have appreciated more support and information, especially as a seventeen-year-old. I guess it doesn’t help that he needs me just suicidal enough that I’ll throw everything away when it's time though,” he rolled his eyes at that last bit, remembering how he’d walked to his death without really even a second thought that first time.

“But why?” Sirius almost whined in exasperation. “How are you still here if you died?”

“The answer to both is because I used to be a horcrux. It’s why I needed to die and how I survived that last round of a killing curse in the war,” he said with a shrug and pulled the neckline of his shirt to the side to show the second lightning bolt scar on his body.

This got him thinking though…maybe the horcrux wasn’t really why he survived if Percy was right and he was the Master of Death or some such rot. But, where did he possibly get hit with a killing curse in that Knockturn Alley raid a couple years ago then? Wouldn’t there be a scar like the others? He had quite the collection of scars, so it was entirely possible it had melded into another one or was in a place he couldn’t easily see…might be fun to have Percy check him over for it…

Harry shook his head to chase away the inappropriate images he was definitely going to try to make happen in the future before focusing back in on the two men in the room. “Do you know what a horcrux is at least?”

Both men looked at each other questioningly before shaking their heads. “No…does it have something to do with Percy being a necromancer?” Sirius prodded once again at that unanswered question.

“Er, no, definitely not. It’s vile magic, and Percy is the best person I know…well, besides Luna who is just an angel,” Harry nodded firmly, both happy and sad he could remember Luna again. “Percy is an Unspeakable, and they assigned him to soul magic, but that’s a story for another day.”

“Really? Mr. Weasley joined the Unspeakables?” Remus’s eyes went wide in appreciation. “I figured he would stick to politics.”

“Not currently important,” Sirius gave Remus’s hair a tug from where he was still pacing in the room.

“I’ll send you a book,” Harry ended up huffing out in exasperation while realizing he would need to pry it out of Kreacher’s hands if it meant taking it from the library. “It only explains what a horcrux is and not the process or anything, but Severus should be in here any moment now since I just felt him cross the wards, and it’s best we aren’t talking about this in particular. He would know what it is if my guess is correct. Between Azkaban and being a werewolf, your minds are safe with this knowledge from legilimens, but avoid talking about it where anyone could hear.”

“We’ll talk later,” Remus leaned forward with an almost pleading look in his amber eyes. “I won’t tell Dumbledore anything, for now, until I know more. Just don’t do anything rash without getting help first, please…I really do care about you. I’m sorry if I made you feel like that wasn’t the case in the past…”

“Of course, you are all in here together,” Snape drawled when he opened the door and crossed the privacy ward. “That was a nice ward…I assume Hadrian cast it,” he nodded, looking back in appreciation at the strong ward he’d crossed when entering the room.

“Most definitely, the paranoid prat,” Sirius huffed a laugh and took one step closer to Snape. “Thank you for checking out my cousin and for helping with the Polyjuice potion.”

Snape’s eyes narrowed, clearly expecting there to be some snide comment added in at the end. Finding none, he turned to Hadrian. “Your cousin is being weird, come up to my lab and I’ll cast the diagnostics on your knee.”

Harry gave Sirius a little laugh and a shove when he walked by him, clapping a hand on Snape’s shoulder while chatting amicably as they left the room. “He’s the weird one,” Sirius grumbled under his breath when he finally flopped back down into his armchair.

Remus refilled his teacup and raised an eyebrow warningly at his erratic friend. “I saw that look…it’s a very, very bad idea. Maybe your worst yet, and that includes daring James to swim in the black lake naked in January.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sirius steadfastly looked off. “There was no look.”

“Uh huh…” Remus was not fooled in the slightest. “Well…that was…what do you think a horcrux might be?” He changed the subject and cast his own privacy ward at the door since Harry’s had fallen when he’d left.

Sirius shrugged. “I’m guessing something really bad. I for one am now going to be watching Dumbledore a lot more closely though. Do you think he knew that Harry was being abused at home? If he needed him slightly suicidal, then…I don’t want to think about it, but do you think it could have been intentional?!”

“Wait? What?!” Remus spilled his tea as he sat up abruptly. “Is that what you meant earlier about Harry’s childhood?!! You think his family was abusing him?!”

Sirius threw his hands in the air in frustration. “Yes, maybe…I haven’t asked him directly, but yeah, it seems highly likely. I don’t know the extent though.”

“Merlin,” Remus breathed out before turning flashing eyes on Sirius that were more wolf than man. “Harry was right that I never saw him before his third year and kept my distance then. Dumbledore wouldn’t let me visit Harry ever. I asked every year, sometimes multiples times a year, but he always said Harry was happy, safe, and that I would only bring more danger into his life, so I should keep away to keep him safe. I’ll kill him if he knew…!”

Sirius was just slowly nodding as the new information hit him like a physical blow to the gut. “You’ll have to tell Moony to wait in line. Me, and I have a feeling Percy Weasley, will be in line ahead of you if that’s the case. I might not know him, but I’m betting on the Unspeakable Necromancer succeeding over either of us.”

“It’s possible Dumbledore doesn’t know…” Remus added in as they shared a look that said neither believed that, especially since Remus had been assured every year that Harry was fine.

They sat in silence, each in their own confused thoughts. “What do you think he needs from you in a couple years that you wouldn’t have now?” Sirius broke the silence to ask.

“Maybe I inherit something from someone?” Remus shrugged, not really caring at the moment with all the new revelations shaking him to his core. He couldn’t believe he’d never taken the initiative to just ignore Dumbledore to check on Harry when he was a baby, that he’d never told Harry what he meant to him in the first timeline, and that Harry didn’t even see them as family when he most definitely saw Harry that way. He’d screwed up their relationship so much by trying to not be a bother that he didn’t know how to move forward.

“I don’t see how that involves Dora though…” Sirius trailed off, still trying to put together the pieces.

Percy Weasley perched on the stool in the corner of Severus Snape’s office and watched him work. He had invaded the space early that morning with coffee for the man and insisted on staying when he really should be marking papers and lesson planning. Quidditch tryouts were currently happening at that very moment, and he was hoping to have a potion to hand off to Harry as soon as he was finished. Harry had sent him a letter the night before saying that he thought he could escape the dorms that evening now that Neville also knew what was going on, so Percy wanted to make bloody sure he wasn’t in pain since he’d really very much missed his partner in his bed…and for other much more fun activities.

“Was it better or worse than you thought it would be?” He asked when Snape had finished slowly adding in an ingredient. He was really trying not to be annoying, but he did really want to know how the diagnostics went.

The older man looked up with a frown on his face at the question. “Worse,” he said firmly a hard line to his jaw.

Snape wouldn’t admit it to anyone, especially Hadrian or Percy, but he’d cast his spell wider than Hadrian’s knee and could now definitely tell Sirius Black that his cousin had in fact been abused and starved as a child. Also, the only explanation for the sheer amount of spell damage to the man’s body was that he’d been tortured many times over his short life, as horrible as that thought was. Honestly, he realized just how very little he knew about his new friend, and it had taken everything he had to hide his shock at the diagnostic results. If he wasn’t absolutely certain Hadrian was an Occlumens, he would have at least tried to gain some information from him about his past.

Snape’s best guess that he was becoming increasingly certain of as he thought it over was that Hadrian had been, or maybe still was, a hit wizard. He wasn’t sure if it was for Britain or elsewhere though. The elite law enforcement office in the ministry cared much less about magical alignment than the aurors did, and Hadrian’s very British accent spoke to him spending more time in the country than he let on. What that meant for Hadrian’s cousin, Snape didn’t know. If Hadrian were going to arrest Sirius, he didn’t know why he hadn’t already. Either Hadrian was no longer a hit wizard, which would align with Percy’s insistence that he was bored, or he truly just didn’t care that his cousin was a fugitive. Or…it was possible that Hadrian was there to spy on him or the Order, to see just what side Snape really was working for or the Order’s plans…it wasn’t a thought he welcomed, but it seemed reasonable for the circumstances.

Percy was still looking at him questioningly, so Snape figured he should continue his remarks on the knee though. “It seems that Hadrian’s knee had been shattered by what must have been an auror-grade bone-breaking spell…and they say light curses are more humane than dark ones,” he snorted in disgust at the hypocrisy.

“Really?” Percy raised an eyebrow. It had been a former Death Eater that hit Harry with the spell, so it was surprising it was a light spell. “The healers at St. Mungo’s refused to help him when he was brought in and the glamour over his runes was removed. We ended up finding a private healer, but it had been a while, so the healer didn’t recognize what spell it had been at that point. I’m surprised you did especially after all this time.” It was one of the times when it wasn’t to Harry’s advantage that he was no longer recognizable as Harry Potter when the healers didn’t recognize who he was and just turned the dark wizard away after stripping the glamour from him.

Snape frowned and raised a suspicious eyebrow at the DADA professor. “This injury is older than a year…I would say three or four at least. I thought you two had only been together for less than a year?”

Percy rolled his eyes at his own slip and shrugged. “I was reciting the story I’ve heard so many times that it felt like I was there. Hadrian absolutely hates St. Mungo’s and tells the story any time it’s mentioned. I must have misspoken.”

Snape didn’t look convinced but also had no reason to outwardly doubt Percy, so he went back to the brew he was working on. It didn’t align, even if Hadrian were a hit wizard, that the two would be together for longer than a year. Percy was only 19, and they couldn’t have even met before he started to work for the ministry at the earliest.

“I probably have more training and experiences with curses, both light and dark, than any private healer,” he snorted wryly and with no amusement. That experience had been hard won, especially as he also served as a healer for the Death Eaters and the Order when in a pinch as well. “I believe I can reverse some of the damage to the knee though. It’s too old to completely cure, but there are some potions that will help heal some of the ligament damage.”

Percy nodded thankfully and watched in amazement. Even if he didn’t like potions, that didn’t mean he couldn’t recognize a master at work. When Harry brewed, there was always a lot more chaos and swearing involved it seemed. He was good at it, but it wasn’t effortless like the way Snape approached it. “Watching Hadrian brew, you’d think that swear words were necessary to the process. You make this all look much easier,” he chuckled.

With a deep frown and an almost silent curse at the ministry, Percy put a hand over the wide, leather band on his left wrist. “Something wrong?” Snape’s head shot up and his bored drawl belied the shock at his associations with anyone suddenly grabbing their left arm.

“Huh? Oh nothing, just a meeting I forgot I was supposed to attend this evening,” he breathed out. Apparently, someone had decided to call a full department meeting of the Department of Mysteries, and he’d been right, he was still listed as an Unspeakable no matter what time period he was currently in.

He quickly ran through his timetable for the day to make sure he could carve out time. All department meetings took place at the end of the workday, so 5pm for their office, even if it was a weekend since there was always someone working in the department no matter the day of the week. Thankfully, meetings weren’t called very often, and their identities were always hidden; however, if Supervisor Davids was already working there…Percy was concerned, very concerned.

Snape maintained his study of his former student out of the corner of his eyes while he finished the brew. Percy hadn’t grabbed his wrist in pain, it was more surprise than anything else. It also wasn’t in the right spot for a Dark Mark. However, he always had his wrist covered since he’d started teaching about a month before. Snape had assumed it was some kind of fashion statement, but now he wasn’t so certain. Unspeakables had marks in that location that did something with the magic of the Department of Mysteries to grant them access to the location. He had never heard anything about them being used for communication though. Also, he’d never heard of someone as young as Percy being admitted into the secretive department either. Something was going on and he absolutely did not like it!

“Have you figured out what the ingredients we sent you are yet?” Percy spoke up again with a smirk, pulling Snape’s mind back to the present.

Snape looked up and caught a tightness to the man’s eyes that hadn’t been there before. Percy was worried about something, and that something had to be whatever had happened with his wrist. “I’ve narrowed it down to a snake and an old one at that. I’m guessing it was almost a thousand years old when it died. Care to give me any hints?”

Percy raised a surprised eyebrow at him. “I’m shocked you haven’t figured it out from that information,” he remarked contemplatively. With a frown, he realized that Harry had been the one that old him about the Chamber of Secrets and what happened. Ron and Ginny had told him their parts as well, but he hadn’t heard the story from literally anyone else, even his parents. Was it possible that Dumbledore hadn’t told the staff at the school what had happened? What did they think was petrifying students three years before then if not a basilisk?!

“Regardless, I have a few solid guesses that I’m only waiting on some free time to test,” he continued with a hint of frustration at the mystery, oblivious to Percy’s shock at the massive cover-up Dumbledore must have somehow carried off under their noses.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out much sooner than I would in your situation,” Percy said, now surprised that the man had even figured out that much if he hadn’t known there was a basilisk in Britain since they were supposedly extinct.

“I plan to spend the rest of my day solving mysteries then,” Snape said, just a hint of warning in the tone as he bottled the finished potion and held it out for Percy. He’d handed over as much marking as he could to Hadrian when they had met up at Grimmauld Place, so it was the first opportunity he had to focus on the ingredients and testing them, see if he could figure out what was going on with Percy now, and maybe see if he could ascertain anything about Harry Potter’s homelife as well to pass along to Sirius.

“Standard dose?” Percy asked with a little smile at the potion in his hand.

“Indeed, but only up to three in a day, no more or he’ll have another problem to attend to along with his drinking,” Snape warned him. “I’ll send along what I’m working on for healing the ligaments once I’ve determined the best brew for it.”

“You are brilliant Severus, and we owe you,” Percy said with feeling, pocketing the potion. “Seriously, whatever you need!”

Snape waved him off. “I passed along my marking. That takes a great deal of work off my desk.”

Percy gave him a little wave and smile before escaping the office, presumably to owl the potion to his partner. Snape just frowned after him. He hadn’t had friends in so long, but he was sure one was not supposed to be this suspicious of those they called friends. Maybe it was that he didn’t know how to be a friend at this point. Regardless, there was definitely something not right with those two, and whatever it was, he was going to figure it out. If Hadrian were a hit wizard spying on him…well, Merlin help him because he was not sure how he would handle that.

Harry was limping behind an excited Ron who had just gotten the Keeper spot on the team and who was enthusiastically relaying his thoughts at each and every quaffle that came his way. Honestly, Harry would rather just give his position over to Ginny at this point, but that would raise way too many questions since they thankfully didn’t have Umbridge around to ban him from the sport. He did still like quidditch, but the love of the sport had dissipated with everything else pushing into his life, the trauma, and his bloody knee that was currently killing him.

“Hey, Harry,” Neville Longbottom jogged up to Ron, Harry, and Hermione as they were making their way back up to the castle. Neville was a little out of breath and seemed to have something weighing on his mind.

“Hey, Nev, how’s it going?” Harry smiled at his friend and tried to walk more normally before remembering that Neville already knew about him, so he gave up to just continue limping his way forward.

“Er…hey guys…” he looked at the two flanking Harry questioningly.

“They know,” Harry told him, catching onto the question in his look. “Er, Nev figured it out guys.”

“What?!” Hermione crossed her arms and stopped in surprise. “What did you do? Were you being weird? I told you to act more like a well-adjusted fifteen-year-old.”

“I wasn’t well-adjusted as a fifteen-year-old,” Harry grumbled back with an eyeroll spared for Neville.

“Yeah, how did you figure it out?!” Ron’s exuberant look dropped in surprise that they might have failed in their jobs to keep Harry looking not-suspicious.

“Wasn’t my fault this time. Severus sent a patronus to Hadrian while I was in the dorm with Nev,” He rolled his eyes before giving a pointed look around them. “We really shouldn’t be talking about this outside though. Even if no one is around, it’s still not safe.”

“You were acting a bit weird this term though too even before I knew why,” Neville smirked before handing a vial of potion over to Harry. “Professor Weasley asked me to pass this along to you. He said to tell you to take the standard dose.”

Harry gladly and expertly took a sip that should equal the amount he was supposed to take for his knee. “Thank Merlin and Snape,” he sighed. “You too, Nev, but why didn’t Percy just bring this to me?”

Neville straightened up, looking proud to discharge the job he was given. “Professor Weasley said to tell you that he got called to a department meeting. He said he should be back at around 8pm this evening at the latest.”

Ron and Hermione frowned in confusion while Harry just looked worried. “What’s that mean? We don’t have departments at Hogwarts.”

“Did he mean with Fudge at the ministry?” Hermione asked next as they all looked at Harry questioningly.

Harry just cleared his throat and tried to look unconcerned. “Ministry, yeah…” he trailed off, not wanting to lie more than as just an omission.

“Ergh! Does that mean I still have to cover for you tonight when you go do things with my brother that I never want to hear or think about?” Ron turned green at the question while Hermione just laughed at him and linked her arm through his.

“Yeah, but now I have more free time before then,” Harry grumbled as they made their way towards the castle again. “Besides, you and Nev know now, and I was just going to spell my bed curtains closed anyway. Seamus still hates me, and Dean and I are friends, but we were never the hang out on each others’ beds and chat at midnight type friends. That’s not really a lot of covering.”

“He does have you there,” Neville nodded in agreement. “It probably would have been me trying to ask him a question that caught him before now.”

“Now that you have some more of your evening free, you can help me with my Runes homework!” Hermione looped her other arm through Harry’s and gave him a hopeful grin.

Harry sighed. He had Snape’s marking, a list of objectives and goals he was supposed to be writing up for the goblins, and Bipsy (the Hogwarts Head Elf) had finally delivered the list of house elf demands to him that morning that he needed to look over. So, he had plenty of things to do to keep him occupied, but he was also just bored. He was used to making deals in back alleys, secreting people away from under the ministry’s nose, and fighting for his life regularly, a night in with paperwork suddenly seemed torturous now that he’d added being anxious for Percy’s trip to the Department of Mysteries to the list.

He stopped and let out a huff of air, causing his friends to look at him in concern. Percy had gotten to have all the fun so far with killing Umbridge, playing with inferi, and all the subterfuge he’d gone to in order to get the DADA position. Harry was feeling a bit useless since he was stuck in the castle with the paperwork. Yeah, he’d gone to see Sirius some, but that wasn’t really useful.

“I just can’t do it. Nope, not another night,” he shook his head firmly and shifted his Firebolt to his other shoulder determinedly. Percy wasn’t in the castle to stop him, and honestly, probably wouldn’t anyway. He would insist on coming along though if he were there. Plus, Harry’s knee felt better than it had in years after Snape’s potion, and there was no way he was going to waste that feeling sitting by the fire in Gryffindor Tower.

“Do what, mate?” Ron asked, now sharing a very suspicious and concerned look with the other two. They’d seen Harry get like this before, and it usually ended in some very dangerous and unplanned catastrophe. It was like his skin or his brain or something got an itch, and he just couldn’t sit still and had to do something about it.

“Right, so can you cover for me at dinner? Say I’m not feeling well or behind on homework or something?” Harry asked them, almost vibrating in excitement now that he’d decided to do something in his evening before getting to thoroughly congratulate his boyfriend on a successful infiltration of a Department of Mysteries meeting later (because Percy would be successful, and Harry didn’t doubt that for a second).

“Harry,” Hermione put her hands on her hips and looked at him sternly. “What are you planning to do? Do we need to grab Flitwick or Dobby or someone to talk you out of whatever this new insanity is?”

“What?! No! I’m being perfectly sane and reasonable,” he protested vehemently before shoving his broom into Neville’s hands. “Don’t wait up though! I won’t be back until morning and will be in a much better mood!”

He smirked at his friends who were calling after him in indignation as he cut through several secret passages to get to the tower before them and quickly change into something less Gryffindor and more Hadrian Black, Dark Arts Master. Honestly, he didn’t even know what he planned on doing yet, just that he was going to do something. There were quite a few things on his list that needed taking care of sooner rather than later.

The prophesy was the most pressing, but Percy was currently at the Department of Mysteries, so he would clearly be in the best position to see what was possible where that was concerned. Harry needed to smooth things over with the goblins before bringing up the cup in Bellatrix’s vault. The ring was a touchy subject, and Harry knew Percy would be angry if he went by himself both for the danger and that Percy wanted to see how the resurrection stone interacted with his magic. Harry could always kill Pettigrew if he found him somewhere away from licking Voldemort’s shoes, but that might tip his hand too early as well.

Harry skidded into his dorm and looked at the lunar calendar on the wall. It was well past the last full moon when he’d been by Grimmauld and seen Sirius and Remus who was recovering. Clearly, right after a full moon would be better for his plans, but that also wasn’t really sporting now, was it? Harry was nothing if not a believer in giving your enemy a chance…to an extent.

Percy was so going to kill him, bring him back to life, and kill him again. Harry was smiling broadly as he petted Sephie on the head before throwing open his trunk. Now…he knew he’d bought some nice silver knives last time he was in Diagon Alley…where did he put them in the trunk? Maybe he could try out some kind of Master of Death mojo magic just to prove or disprove Percy’s theory while he was at it. It felt so nice to be productive again!

Chapter Text

Percy kept his head down and tried to be as unnoticeable as possible. He passed his old wand over for registration to the witch at the welcome desk when he entered the ministry, keeping his new wand solidly hidden, and then headed quickly towards the lifts. It was an in-reverse flashback to when he’d tried to escape the ministry after stealing the time-dust just weeks before, even if it felt like years ago. Honestly, he was really just trying to avoid Fudge at the very least since he didn’t particularly want to have to cast yet another Imperious Curse at the man. He’d already done enough things to get himself the dementor's kiss in this timeline, and casting a second Unforgivable at the Minister of Magic from within the ministry was probably pushing his luck.

“Percy!” A familiar voice called out, stilling the redhead mid-step.

He nervously checked that his leather wristband was secure and that his glamour was in-place before slowly turning around. He clasped his hands together to keep them from running through his glamoured hair in his anxiety. “Dad?” He said as neutrally as possible to keep the stress out of his tone.

“Hey…” Arthur Weasley strode towards his son from where he must have been leaving work for the day. “How are you? We met your young man the other day…” Arthur trailed off, seeming almost as awkward as his son in this interaction.

Percy nodded and kept himself from checking his wristwatch. He knew he had plenty of time, and he really did need to talk to his dad. “Yeah…Hadrian said you had a lot of questions for him…erm, I’m sorry I haven’t mentioned him before. I mean, we got together kind-of fast and well…he’s…you know…”

“A dark wizard?” Arthur raised an eyebrow with a little smirk at his son.

“A bloke,” Percy finished with a matching smirk at his dad. This got a chuckle from the older man and Percy felt like a hippogriff sized weight was lifted from his chest as he finally allowed himself to believe that maybe he could actually work things out with his family before having to go through a tragedy this time around.

“There was that…” Arthur chuckled again, his lined face taking on the carefree look Percy had missed seeing for many years now. “Your mum may be talking up the advantages of adoption at some point, but with seven of you children, odds were that one of you at least wouldn’t be completely straight. We didn’t quite plan for the dark wizard bit though.”

“He’s not a bad person,” Percy cut in with a frown, hoping that they’d listened to Harry as he thought they had. Harry and Hermione had sat them down and had a very similar discussion with his parents in the future and they had come to terms with Harry before, but he just wasn’t their Harry this time around.

Arthur put a hand on his son’s arm and gave it a squeeze. “We know that, and have even been doing our own research, but in Britain, it has always been more black and white. The dark wizards here almost always follow You-Know-Who, so it tends to be the standard response to believe them evil.”

Percy nodded slowly and tried to remember just what had caused the rift in their relationship so many years ago. “I’m sorry I was an idiot at the beginning of summer. I just didn’t want to believe he returned. I didn’t want us to be heading towards another war.” He thought that was it. Did he say anything in particular he needed to apologize for though?

Arthur gave a little wave of his hand, seeming willing to accept whatever Percy said as long as he wanted back in the family. Percy really hoped he hadn’t said anything personally offensive to his parents since he wasn’t going to be able to remember exact wording to apologize to them for it. “Erm, would you and Mum want to get dinner with Hadrian and me soon? We could come to where you are staying now or meet up in Diagon Alley. I’m sure you still have a lot of questions…”

Arthur gave him a smile and another pat to the arm. “We’d love that, and yes. Your boyfriend does seem a bit older than you, so we’d like to get to know him as a person, just to make sure he’s treating you well and all. We really only talked about his magic use and his mastery when we met.”

Percy had to hold in a laugh at Harry now being the older one. With Harry unglamoured, their age gap was much larger than the real one between them though. Plus, with everything going on in Harry’s before life with people trying to kill him and the media attention on him, it was actually Percy who’d had more romantic relationships before they got together than Harry though, even with (or maybe because of) his fame. Regardless, it was all very hilarious to Percy as he tried to wipe the emotion off his face.

“You have nothing to be concerned about with Hadrian,” he said, not able to stop the amused smile. “He would love to answer all your questions though, I’m sure. His parents passed years ago, so I think he’d really appreciate being around you and Mum.” It was a bit low of a tactic, but he knew it was both true and something that would get his mother firmly on Harry’s side now.

“Great, I’ll owl later then,” Arthur nodded firmly. “You looked like you were heading to something though, so I shouldn’t keep you.”

Percy nodded and couldn’t stop himself from giving his surprised father a quick hug. “Just a meeting. I’ll see you soon…and, Dad…I love you.”

Arthur Weasley was left stunned as his son rushed off towards the lifts. Percy had always been the least emotive of all his children, and they hadn’t hugged in years. He was surprised, but hopeful that maybe things were looking better now for their relationship. He had a feeling that at least some of this could be attributed the pierced and tattooed young man that had shown up at Grimmauld days before. He still wasn’t sure what he thought of the older, darker, and more haunted young man, but he was willing to give it all a try if it pulled his family back together again.

Percy removed his glamour before stepping from the lift and quickly rushed to the Unspeakable changing rooms. He took off his leather wristband and waved his mark over the wards to grant himself entry. There were always a few robes left in the small room for those who had a major spill or explosion in their experiments, so it wasn’t difficult to snag an obscuring robe that would fit him. Taking in a deep breath, Percy turned and slowly made his way out of the changing room and down the hallway to where their meetings were usually held in a surprisingly bland conference room.

Percy once more waved his mark over the wards, checking himself in for the meeting and granting his entry. There were more grey-robbed individuals milling around the conference room than there had been in Percy’s time was his guess as he tried to blend into the background. He found an empty chair as close to the door as he could and settled in to hopefully be invisible for the next hour or so.

With a relieved breath out, Percy noted the red-hemmed supervisor looked to be a woman, so it wasn’t Supervisor Davids. That didn’t mean he wasn’t in the room, but at least Percy’s former seer-supervisor wasn’t the one running the meeting. “Settle in everyone!” The woman called out, causing the group to end their conversations and find seats.

“As usual, let’s start with some housekeeping,” she picked up a roll of parchment that must have had the agenda on it. “If you leave food in the break room, it will be thrown away at the end of day on Sundays. It is your responsibility to collect anything you’ve left, and no food storage containers will be returned…I’m looking at you Unspeakable Edwards,” she ended with a playful glare (at least he assumed since he couldn’t see her face) to a robbed figure that chuckled in the corner.

Percy was impressed. Somehow the supervisor seemed to know them just as well as his old supervisor did. Maybe it was a kind of magic that came with the position. It was very worrisome though for when she saw him. She was already continuing in her announcements though.

“It is a general consensus that we all request the Love Department to move on from rabbits in your experiments. It’s getting out of hand, and they bite,” she looked up and many chuckled in the room.

“What do they suggest then? Knifflers? Rabbits at least are slower,” an unspeakable in front of Percy leaned over to grumble to his colleague who must both be in the department apparently breeding rabbits.

“There was a breakout last week,” the unspeakable beside Percy leaned over to tell him quietly while the supervisor had moved on to the odd smell emanating from the Euphoria Department that was causing headaches and bouts of uncontrollable laughter. “I damn near stepped on a rabbit coming out of the lifts,” the man chuckled. Percy raised an eyebrow, not sure why the man was filling him in on this but nodded his head in thanks for the information regardless.

“On to department updates,” the supervisor picked up a quill and poised it over her parchment to take notes.  “The Mind-Magic Department is up first…”

“Could we possibly be moved farther from the Euphoria Department,” an unspeakable raised their hand to draw the supervisor’s attention to them. “Their experiments intersect with ours occasionally to some very dangerous results.”

The supervisor made a note and nodded her head. “Actually, I’m hearing the beginning of a wonderful collaboration here. I’m going to assign you to help with whatever experiment is causing the smell and they can help with potions and charms that intersect with the mind.”

Both departments were clearly upset as unspeakables on either side of the room, as far away from each other as possible, crossed their arms and supposedly glared under their hoods. “They absolutely hate each other,” the unspeakable leaned over to whisper to Percy again. “Personally, I think it’s because their research could be rolled into the same department, and they are all concerned about their jobs. I give it a week before there is some kind of literal explosion that comes from their departments.”

Percy nodded thoughtfully. He was fairly certain there wasn’t a Euphoria Department in his time. There was a large Mind-Magic Department though. He looked at the man beside him and narrowed his eyes. What were the chances this unspeakable was a younger Supervisor Davids?

“Divination Department,” the woman rattled off next, causing the man beside Percy to straighten up more.

Percy groaned at his luck while Unspeakable Davids explained their promising work with some new crystal balls they’d developed from beside him. The man ended with a little flourish of his hand. “If anyone wants to help test them, we’re taking bets on the Puddlemere United and Falmouth Falcons game,” he ended with a chuckle, causing most of the room to laugh as well. “The balls say Puddlemere for the win.”

“I don’t see how that helps test them, but put me down for two galleons on Falmouth. They have the best offense no matter what your crystals say,” the supervisor shook her head and continued on to the Time Department.

“Easiest two galleons I’ve ever made,” the man remarked to Percy while the meeting continued. "No one ever does seem to think we'll be right."

As the meeting began to wrap up, the supervisor paused in her progression through the departments. Percy was certain she’d be frowning if he could see her face. “Erm…The Soul Department?” She asked as more of a question than a statement. “Unspeakable…Smith?”

Percy really wanted to just melt into a puddle on the floor when Davids looked over at him. “Er…” he spoke up, causing many hoods to turn his way. “I’ve had some minimal success with animals recently when studying inferi. However, their souls are much more simplistic than a human. I’ve also been interested in a soul’s magnetism recently and its desire to remain whole even when split.”

The supervisor was nodding along and making copious notes on her parchment. “Do you have need of any materials for your experiments?”

“Er…not at this time,” he quickly said, just wanting this over with.

She nodded once more before pinning him with a look even from under her obscuring hood. “Now, who might I ask hired you? And when did we establish a Soul-Magic Department? Do you even have office space?”

Percy’s mouth dropped open, not sure how to answer any of those questions. “I believe it was the Time Department, ma’am,” Davids raised his hand slightly beside Percy to add in.

“Ahh,” the woman nodded before making another note on her parchment. “I guess that explains the soul magnetism research…bloody time-travel,” she grumbled before looking up again. The Time Department were all collectively leaning forward and looking uncomfortably interested in him.

“Right, thank you Unspeakable Davids,” she nodded to the man that clapped Percy on the shoulder companionably. “As per our procedure, if you’re from more than three days in the future or past, you must meet with the Time Department. However, I assume you will be more capable of handling the issue with your double soul than they will given your research. I expect a summary of all your research on my desk by the end of next week or before you go back to your own time if that’s before then and even possible.”

“Er…yes, ma’am,” he nodded quickly in shock. He didn’t know there was a procedure for this. However, he didn’t think anyone had been sent forward or backwards in time more than three days while he was an unspeakable. Honestly, they had only recently recovered from Harry’s destructive fifth year escapade through their department though since they had been unable to rebuild during Voldemort’s take-over and then time-dust was very dangerous and difficult to manufacture.

The meeting continued with some last-minute announcements and a reminder for when their next meeting would be a held the next month before they were all adjourned. “I’ll walk you down to those Time-vultures,” Davids offered as he stood and opened the door, motioning for Percy to make his escape before the Time Department had the opportunity to corner him in the conference room.

“Thanks,” Percy hurried into the hallway and towards where he knew the department to be located. “Erm…so…”

“Right,” Davids cut him off and strode forward. “Now, you want a prophesy, am I correct? I didn’t see which one you want or why, but I’ll tell you the same thing I did in my vision. Prophesies cannot be removed from the Department of Mysteries. They can be retrieved and listened to by those they were made for, but they will immediately reappear on their shelf if someone were to actually walk out of the lifts with one in their hands.”

“Oh…that’s inconvenient,” Percy took the man’s knowledge in stride. He had helped him to come back in time, and frankly, no one in the Department of Mysteries seemed too concerned. However, the Department of Mysteries was used to a level of chaos that was only rivaled by Harry Potter’s life in general. If he remembered correctly, Harry’s prophesy had broken before they tried to leave with it…which meant that it probably reappeared on the shelf in the department afterwards…he wondered if anyone actually checked that once the dust cleared. Voldemort clearly hadn’t.

“Bring the person the prophesy is about with you, and I can set up a viewing,” Davids continued, not seeming to pay any attention to Percy’s shock beside him. He waved a hand and the doors spun around them before his Unspeakable mark flashed causing the doors to stop with the Time Department right in front of them.

“Look…I get the feeling that I helped you with all this for some strange reason, but I don’t know why…I recommend not telling me, and especially not telling those obsessed idiots in the Time Department. Luckily, you’re one of us, so they can’t just keep you down here, but never let on that you didn’t come alone, you hear?”

Percy nodded firmly, already knowing it would be a bad idea to mention Harry. “Do you know what they’re going to do to me?” He asked with some fear when they entered the room he'd only been in a few times during his days in the department.

Davids shrugged and followed him through the door. “A bunch of diagnostics and questions that you will avoid answering. Just cite future consequences as an excuse. How’s your soul, may I ask?”

Percy sighed and stepped into the room. “I replaced my younger self, so my soul is intact and in no danger.”

Davids nodded. “Well…at least you don’t have to worry about them heading off to kidnap the younger you and possibly murdering one of the versions to keep your soul from splitting.”

“They’d do that?!!” He gasped out. Clearly, Percy was perfectly fine with doing some things not exactly legal or moral when called for, but that was something he’d never even consider doing to his or Harry’s younger selves.

“Now you know why I call them Time-vultures,” Davids said dryly before stepping back out into the hallway. “Good luck! See you soon!” he called, closing the door behind him.

Percy sighed and sat down on a chair beside the cabinet full of time-turners. He was in for a long round of diagnostic spells and annoyingly excited unspeakables. Clearly, he was helping their research, so it would be like pulling teeth to be allowed to leave now. He was absolutely not missing his evening with his partner though, so they could just deal with it.

Harry had absolutely no clue where he was going. Yes, he could have thought this through much more and actually come up with a plan, but what was the fun in that? Besides, he had two wands, two silver knives, and maybe some connection to Death. That seemed pretty prepared in his world. “Point me, Fenrir Greyback,” he said as his ebony wand spun in his hand.

The wand eventually just gave up and pointed upwards into the sky after a moment. Clearly the werewolf was too far away for it to register direction, which was actually a relief to know since Harry was just outside of the school wards. It wouldn’t be good for that monster to be anywhere near the school. Now, he had to actually give it some thought though…what did he know about Fenrir? Did the werewolf have a house or did he live in woods somewhere?

With a grumble, Harry gave up since he clearly had never known where the man lived in his past. He had actually been the one to eventually kill the werewolf after the war ended when he was cornered leaving Andromeda’s house. Fenrir had apparently escaped the aurors and come almost directly after Harry. For his part, Harry hadn’t stopped to chat when he was attacked that close to his godson though. Fenrir hadn’t had time to say much before Harry was cleaning up the mess and asking Andy if it’d be best to call the aurors or hide the body…they had eventually called the aurors, Andy just wasn’t as up for hiding bodies as much as Percy was unfortunately.

He pulled one of his knives out of the belt he had shoved them in and made a little cut to the palm of his hand. Though he'd studied it in his mastery, he’d never gotten to use this spell before since he’d never been actually related to anyone in his lifetime, so he was very excited to try it now that he had Sirius. “Loqui ad familiam,” he said quietly into his hand before breathing out a breath of magic across the cut.

A fuzziness buzzed in Harry’s ears and his vision dulled around him. It wasn’t long before he felt another presence by him, almost like he could reach out and touch them even though he couldn’t see anything. “Sup, Siri?!” Harry laughed out mentally, feeling the presence jump in surprise.

“Harry?” The surprised question floated through the newly established link. “Where are you? Are you in my head?!! What did you do?!”

“Yup! I had a quick question and didn’t want to wait on an owl. This is just a little family, blood-magic link that’s entirely temporary, so nothing to worry about,” he said unconcernedly. He figured it was probably disorienting to have someone suddenly talk to you in your mind, but it’s not like it hadn’t happened before to Harry.

“You free right now?”

A long-suffering sigh went through their link. “Remind me to give you a communication mirror, and please never do this again. It’s very uncomfortable and disconcerting, especially since I’m currently in the loo.”

“Ah, so you are free,” Harry chuckled at the man, but did actually want that mirror. It was so inconvenient to not be able to cast a patronus. “Could you ask Remus if he happens to know where Fenrir Greyback is?”

“What do you want with that monster?” Sirius asked in clear suspicion. “What are you planning, Harry?”

“I had a free evening and wanted to work a little on my to-do list,” Harry rolled his eyes in the haze around him. “Just ask for me, please.”

“I’m in the loo! I told you!” Sirius huffed but Harry did feel him move in their link a little farther away and muffled communication happening on the other end. It didn’t take long before Sirius’s consciousness was back tuned in to his.

“Moony says to stay away from Greyback,” Sirius relayed through their link. “He also wants you to explain this spell to him in great detail while he takes notes next you see him.”

“Sure, yeah, heard and noted,” Harry rolled his eyes at their misplaced protectiveness. “Did he happen to say where Greyback might be though?”

Sirius moved away again, and there was louder grumblings on the other end before he was back. “Remy says that he has a place somewhere in Sheffield. If you can get there, a point-me spell should work since he spends most nights outside his wards until late at night. Remy also reiterates that you are to go nowhere near Greyback and is offering to join if you are going to completely disregard the warning. Personally, I’d like in too if you want company,” Sirius added a little excitedly at the end.

“I’m not doing anything, don’t worry about me,” Harry said to no one’s belief at all. “Anyway, remember to wash your hands, and I’ll see you next week sometime!”

“Harry, wait!!!”

Harry tapped the palm of his hand with his wand, healing the cut and severing the connection with a large smile. Right, Operation Save Lavender Brown was back on! Well…and also save a whole bunch of kids from becoming werewolves and muggleborn deaths and Bill from getting mauled…anyway, that name was too long. With a twist, Harry popped off to Sheffield to hunt down a werewolf!

Harry found Greyback stalking a child who was a little too far away from their mother on a playground just as the sun was going down on the horizon. Harry saw red as he clenched his fists in anger, drawing blood with his nails. The whole situation was most definitely worse since this wasn’t even a full moon...there were some really bad implications for what Greyback might be doing.

“Well, hullo,” Harry drawled from where he was nonchalantly leaning against a tree behind the monster and inside the small forest Greyback was crouched at the edge of. “Funny finding you here this evening when I happened to be out for a stroll.”

Greyback stood and spun around, crouching as he snarled and his nails grew longer, partially transforming. “Who are you, and what do you want?” He growled out. “Where did you even come from, wizard?”

Harry frowned. Oh yeah, he wouldn’t know who he was…oh well, didn’t matter anyway. “Give me a minute,” Harry held up a finger and stared at the werewolf deeply.

“Die…I command you,” he ordered firmly, trying to pull whatever kind of death magic he happened to have but not exactly sure how to access it.

Greyback’s eyebrow went up over his beady amber eye and he smirked at the idiot in front of him. “I believe the spell is Avada Kedavra, and you’d need a wand for that,” he looked the dark wizard up and down and was absolutely not impressed. “Not that I’m going to give you the chance to try it…”

“Just giving something a go…looks like it didn’t work though,” Harry shrugged. His wand fell into his hand from its holster just as Greyback lunged.

Harry stepped aside and the man flew by him while Harry threw a silencing ward around their part of the woods. It wouldn’t do for the child or their mother to come over to see what the commotion was. Sectumsempra! Harry cast nonverbally at almost the same time, the spell just narrowly missing Greyback’s arm and taking out a huge chunk of the tree behind him.

Greyback’s eyes narrowed, realizing this may be a little more difficult than he originally anticipated. He dove and rolled to behind Harry who spun around in anticipation of the move. “Avada Kedavra!” he cast, the green light of the spell almost singeing Greyback’s hair as he had to drop flat to the ground to avoid it.

Greyback actually pulled his wand from his back pocket in that moment. “Incarcerous!” He cast.

“Protego!” Harry blocked the spell easily. It probably didn’t say anything good about Harry’s mental state that he was actually a bit flattered that Greyback had pulled out his wand. He wasn’t a strong wizard at all, so pulling out his wand was rarely a go-to for him. It said he was actually viewing Harry as a threat now though.

“Crucio!” Greyback cast next, hitting the tree behind where Harry had disapparated from a second before.

Harry apparated to just behind Greyback and threw one of his silver knives immediately, catching the man’s leg with the blade. The werewolf snarled and turned around, his teeth growing as he more closely resembled the beast he would be on a full moon. Greyback threw the knife at Harry and another crucio at the exact same time.

Having to make a choice, Harry dodged the knife into the path of the torture curse. The curse knocked him from his feet, but Harry just screamed loudly as he jumped right back up through the pain. Greyback had already lunged at him through. Harry felt white hot pain slash through his shoulder as he spun out of the way, the werewolf’s claws just catching his shoulder as Greyback overstepped and fell from his lunge off to Harry’s right, also knocking the wand from Harry’s hand.

Not sparing a look at his arm, Harry threw his next knife, this one embedding itself in the man’s side as Greyback raised his wand once more. Harry looked around but didn’t see his wand as Greyback hissed in pain and cast an Avada Kedavra at Harry, causing him to have to dodge even further from where his wand would be.

Greyback stood tall, holding the knife in his hand now and ferally growling at where Harry had fallen to the ground. The monster had to die and now. Harry narrowed his eyes; he couldn’t leave him for the three more years it would take for him to kill the man in his first timeline. He didn’t even know what would have happened to the child and the mother if he hadn’t shown up that evening. Harry felt his second wand fall into his hand. He hadn’t pulled it from the holster, but his holly wand had always had a mind of its own it seemed. He knew there were going to be consequences for using a wand with the trace on it outside of Hogwarts, but Greyback was almost on him with the knife, and he wasn’t so sure Percy’s guess that he might not be able to die was legitimate at all.

“Avada Kedavra!” Harry cast with the wand, letting out a breath when this time the green light caught the werewolf right in the chest.

Learning from Voldemort’s mistake, Harry stood and walked over to check for himself that the man was dead, which he most definitely was. Harry fell down onto his bum beside the dead werewolf and let out a breath while the adrenaline slowly left his body. He didn’t know how long it would take for someone to realize he’d used the wand, but he needed to leave quickly. Harry looked down at his wand and paused with a deep frown on his face…this wasn’t his holly wand.

It might actually have been better for him to use the wand with the trace on it, Harry blinked and thought through his surprise. In his hand, he held the very familiar elder wand, the death stick. Merlin, Dumbledore was going to have a hippogriff!

Harry focused on the wand, trying to send it back to Dumbledore with his magic. Nothing happened. “Go back!” He ordered the wand next.

It just sat in his hand like it was a normal piece of wood and not some incredibly damning piece of magic. “You’re a very good wand, and thank you, but you need to go one back to Dumbledore now,” he tried reasoning with it next. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”

When still nothing happened, Harry grumbled and shoved the elder wand into the holster on his arm before standing to find the ebony wand in the grass. It didn’t take long to track it down before he had to finally look at his torn shoulder with a wince. After a failed episkey, Harry conjured some bandages and wrapped it to the best of his ability one handed. He frowned at Greyback…well, there was nothing for it. He was going to have to go check in on Regulus and Umbridge, he guessed. At least he had plenty of blood on him to open the cave with.

Percy was very tired but rallying when he got closer to his rooms where he hoped his partner was waiting on him. It had taken forever to get away from those who he was now also calling the Time-vultures, and he was much later returning to the castle than he had planned. He quickly opened the door to his chambers to step into a dark room, only lit by the fire burning brightly in fireplace. The room wasn’t empty though, he caught the sheen of amber in the light as Harry raised his glass of whiskey to take a sip.

“I’m so happy to see you. You have no idea have tiresome my coworkers can be,” he sighed out loudly and tossed his robes on the hook by the door before stepping forward. He stopped immediately as Harry took another sip of his drink and Percy finally noted that he was shirtless and had a large bandage wrapped around one shoulder.

“Bloody Morgana and the horse she rode in on, Harry!” He gasped out in surprise. “What happened to you?!!”

Harry put down the glass and smiled at the man through his split lip. “I’m fine, Percy, I promise, but I could use a little help if you’re up to it.”

“Bloody hell!” Percy swore again before kneeling down in front of Harry to examine him better with concern on his face.

“It’s just some scrapes and bruises besides my shoulder,” Harry told him, putting a hand lovingly on Percy’s cheek with a small smile. “Please don’t be mad, but Greyback was still out there, and I didn’t want him to keep doing what he did before for the next three years. We don’t even know all the damage he did before, and I’m not sure what I interrupted tonight, but it was definitely bad.”

Percy nodded as Harry’s explanation washed over him while he was instead focusing on removing the bandages around Harry’s shoulder to see it better. “What all did you try putting on it already?”

“I tried an episkey and some Essence of Murtlap, neither did much,” he explained with an almost disinterested look at the four long scratches that went over his shoulder from his front to his back. “I might need stitches.”

Percy sighed and conjured a wet rag to wipe off some of the blood to see it better. “I’m assuming since it was Greyback, and thankfully not the full moon, that you’ll just like your steaks a little rarer now?”

Harry chuckled and winced at the movement. “At least it was me and my shoulder and not Bill and his face,” he said wryly. “I already liked my steaks fairly rare anyway.”

“You did kill him, right?” Percy looked up at him, a hard gleam in his eyes that said he was going to take care of it if Harry hadn’t.

“Yep…” Harry lifted his glass for another sip. “He’s hanging out with Umbridge currently and making friends with some inferi.”

“Good,” he firmly nodded and sat back on the ground with a tired sigh. “Harry…neither one of us are healers, and a partially transformed werewolf scratch isn’t an easy injury to just take care of. We need to get you looked at. I would wager it will more easily get infected than a normal injury.”

“And who would we get to do that? St. Mungo’s?” Harry snorted with no amusement behind it but a heavy dose of bitterness.

Percy put a hand on his knee. “No, but we could get Snape. We can come up with some lie, but I’m not going to try to sew you up when I’ve never held a needle in my life.”

Harry slowly nodded. “I get it, but what could we even tell him? This is clearly from a werewolf, and Greyback is the only one I know of that can partially transform when it isn’t a full moon. Plus, I’m in the castle. I shouldn’t be able to get into the castle…I guess we could say you told me about one of the secret passages though for that one.”

“I’ll go get him and think of something to say on the way. I’m sure it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Greyback and you to run into each other and him to attack,” Percy stood and kissed Harry, just so thankful he was still alive. “While I’m gone, you figure out some way to cover these,” He ran a finger across the wolf, grim, and stag tattoo on Harry’s ribs and ended it with a tap on the cauldron that had a snake rising in the steam. Snape probably wouldn’t figure out that tattoo was for him, but it was best not to chance it.

“You aren’t mad at me?” Harry asked with a little concerned frown that stopped Percy on his way out.

“Oh, I’m pretty pissed,” Percy gave him a smile over his shoulder. “Mainly that you didn’t take me, but I get why you did it and that you saved so many people in the process, my brother included. I’ll get over it, but I’m mainly upset that our night got ruined.”

Harry nodded and gave him a lecherous look. “Trust me, I’ll make it up to you.”

“I’m holding you to that Hadrian Potter,” Percy smirked back at him before leaving the rooms to go find Snape.

Harry looked over at the end table that had the elder wand laying on it that Percy hadn’t seemed to notice in his worry. He opened the drawer and put the wand in it with a frown before closing it again. He didn’t know what the wand coming to him meant, or how he was going to handle Dumbledore, or what Dumbledore might be doing at this very moment since his wand had disappeared, but Harry was sure that Percy was probably right once again in his theories and this was all something they’d just have to handle in the morning.

Chapter Text

Harry frowned at the glamour over his very identity-revealing tattoos. It was fine for the average person, but it wasn’t as good as the unspeakable glamour he normally wore, and Snape was not the average person. He had a feeling the man would notice that the glamour existed, even if he couldn’t tell what was under it. Oh well, there were many reasons why a person wouldn’t want others to see some tattoos they had that were normally covered by clothes. Regardless, Percy’s door was opening, and time was up anyway for him to do anything differently.

A very stern-looking Snape followed in Percy and frowned at the injured man still sipping whiskey on the couch. “Alcohol is a very bad idea when you are bleeding,” he drawled before stepping forward to look at the man’s shoulder. “Why am I not surprised that I find myself healing you late at night in the castle you should not even be able to gain access to anyway?” he sighed as he cast a diagnostic at the deep scratches. Harry looked around him at Percy who just smirked at his partner with a shrug. That was very not helpful as a hint for what he’d told the man.

“Thank you, Severus. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I hate we keep dragging you into my medical issues,” he smiled at his friend in thankfulness. “I asked Percy to just stitch me up, but apparently, he thought his sewing skills weren’t up to the task. I wouldn’t have come to you, but St. Mungo’s is not dark wizard friendly at all.”

“Percy did mention you’d had bad experiences with them in the past,” he nodded with an understanding hum before looking up with narrowed eyes. Snape’s face took on a stern look that Harry could only guess would be on a disapproving parent as strange as that sounded. “Now, care to explain why you would pick a fight with Fenrir Greyback of all people and why you were even around him to begin with?”

Harry looked over his shoulder again at Percy. “No, don’t look at him,” Snape moved into his line of sight and glared. “Percy spun some story about you being in the wrong place at the wrong time in Knockturn Alley. What Percival Weasley apparently does not know is that Greyback has been banned from most businesses in Knockturn and hasn’t shown his face there in months. So…I would sincerely hope your partner is lying for you and actually knows what went on this evening, but I also cannot disregard the circumstances where you have lied to your partner as well.”

“Er…” Harry’s eyes widened in shock at how Snape had put those pieces together, trying to ignore Percy who was heroically stifling a laugh behind the man who seemed to actually be protecting his former student for some very strange reason.

“So, it’s the first then,” Snape motioned behind himself with an eyeroll to where he really shouldn’t have been able to see Percy trying not to laugh. “Care to tell me what both of you are attempting to hide then?” He turned to keep both of him in his eyeline now.

“Well…” Harry began sheepishly. Snape, however, cut him off with a wave of his hand to stop him before tapping his wand to Harry’s shoulder and nonverbally casting some spell that had Harry suddenly, and quite painfully, stitched up with neat and excellently done little stitches.

“That’s always best to do while one is distracted,” the Potion Master smirked at them both while Harry gasped out and swore before taking another large swig of his drink.

“Bloody hell, you acerbic git of a bastard!” Harry continued with a grunt of pain and shocked look at his shoulder.

“Indeed,” Snape nodded and just continued to smirk smugly at the man. “Now, what I’ve pieced together is one…Percival Weasley is for some very unknown, shocking, and inexplicable reason an Unspeakable,” he waved his hand dramatically towards the grey robes hanging by the door that neither had even thought about hiding in the shock of Harry’s injuries.

“Oops,” Percy gave his robes an exasperated eyeroll before giving up and just plopping down on the couch beside Harry. He promptly stole Harry’s almost empty whiskey glass to refill it and keep it for himself.

“Two,” Snape held up two fingers with a glare at Harry now. “My educated guess is that you are currently employed as a hit wizard. Based on the damage to your body and that you’ve clearly spent more time in Britain than you want everyone to believe, that is the only conclusion I can come reasonably to. Now, I have not been able to determine if your cousin knows this or what your motives are for trying to befriend me might be…However, I would really appreciate it if you would explain this to me without me forcing you to do it under Veritaserum, which I will do if I believe you to be lying.”

Harry nodded slowly in appreciation at just what all Snape had deduced…even if he was wrong, it was still impressive. Also, he fully believed that Snape could and would know if he was lying to him and would most definitely be able to sneak him some of that Veritaserum he definitely knew he had when he least expected it. “Well…” he began again as his brain fuzzed, not actually being able to come up with a good lie at the moment.

The room was silent as Harry’s brain just wasn’t working. Mostly because of the pain he was in currently. “Fuck it!” He sighed and just leaned his head on Percy’s shoulder. “I can’t come up with a good lie right now!”

Percy shook his head and laughed, motioning for Snape to have a seat. “You’ll want to sit for this then Professor. It’s a long and very convoluted explanation.”

“Indeed?” Snape did sit down as he raised an eyebrow questioningly at the two. “Pray tell…what is going on then? How long have you been a hit wizard? Why are some of your tattoos glamoured? And how did you become an Unspeakable?” He addressed them both respectively while also staring in frustration at the glamour covering part of Harry's ribcage.

Percy kissed the top of Harry’s head on his shoulder with a little smirk. “Love? Were you actually recruited by the hit wizards? I mean, that does seem like something they would do. Did you turn them down or something?”

Harry snorted a laugh. “Yeah, right after I finished my mastery they approached me. I don’t even know why I took the meeting; it’s not like I was going to sign-on at that point anyway. It ended up not mattering though. When they saw my runes, they had a little heated discussion amongst themselves, figured out what I was using them for, and promptly apologized for even reaching out. They said I was clearly not going to pass their psych evaluation.”

Percy gave a full laugh at that while Snape just looked on very confused. “Right, so how much are we going to tell that nosey git then?” He asked Harry with a smirk and wave of his whiskey glass to the man who was looking like he might curse them any minute now unless they started giving him some actual information.

Harry just studied the man with his haunted, green eyes from where he didn’t plan to move away from Percy’s shoulder any time soon. “I want to tell you everything, Severus, but I don’t think you’re ready to hear everything just yet, or maybe I'm just not ready to tell it. Would you be willing to accept the what of my plans right now and wait to hear the why? The glamoured tattoos and the damage to my body are actually part of the why and very personal. I'd like to keep that to myself for just a little longer, but I promise I'll tell you one day.”

Snape crossed his arms and leaned back in the armchair with a glare in the dim room, still only lit by the firelight. “What all does your cousin know?” He was not willing for Sirius Black of all people to know more than him. He fully believed that people should be allowed their secrets, but he at least wanted to know as much as that annoying man!

Harry chuckled, understanding exactly what the man was thinking. “Sirius has the opposite. He knows the why, but he’s not ready to hear the what of my plans just yet. So, you’ll know more than him in one area anyway.”

“You two are ridiculous, and I haven’t even met Sirius Black yet,” Percy chuckled at the man who was only actually four years his senior and even then seemed so very much younger than what he remembered from when he was first in 1995.

Snape rolled his eyes before conjuring his own glass and taking the bottle of whiskey from the low coffee table. “Look…Salazar knows that I have my secrets and things I would like to keep to myself, and you do not owe me anything about your personal life and motivations. However, I am owed information on your plans and intentions since I was the one that vouched for you with the Order. So, if you are willing to tell me that, then we are square for now. I do reserve the right to some answers to at least a few of the questions that have been eating away at me since we met though.”

“Fair,” Harry grinned at him and finally peeled himself off of Percy to sit up and actually explain what was probably not going to be taken well at all. Percy put a comforting hand on his knee and settled in to study the reactions of the potion master in front of them, to step in if anything became volatile.

“I would like to answer one of your questions before we get started,” Percy cut in to say. “I am an Unspeakable as you have deduced. As you should know, that is all I can tell you though. The position of being an Unspeakable is not a closely guarded secret; however, what we do and our areas of research within the Department of Mysteries is secret from even our coworkers. So, I will only say that it may have some bearing on why I’m teaching DADA, but beyond that, I can’t even legally tell you what I do.”

Snape nodded in understanding of the explanation. Rookwood was the only Unspeakable he had ever been closely associated with, and even then, he’d maintained his distance since that Death Eater was one of the more zealous and disturbing of the Dark Lord’s supporters. He was extremely glad the man was still currently rotting in Azkaban. “But you are not a hit wizard?” He instead asked Hadrian.

“No,” Harry shook his head. “I am, as I have already told you, currently unemployed. I have my mastery in Dark Arts, and back when I was actively working, I was a dark artifact dealer and brewed potions that were on the darker side but also which were useful and helpful…I have never dealt in any potion or artifact whose only purpose was harm. Clearly, some of what I dealt in could cause harm, but even water can harm a person if they are submerged in it.”

“Agreed, but that does not explain your purpose here unless you are about to tell me your only purpose for being in Britain is Percy,” Snape drawled with a sneer that clearly showed he wasn’t going to believe that excuse at all.

“I’d like to think for my own ego’s sake that I could be,” Percy glared at the man with a huff.

“Of course, dear,” Harry laughed and then winced as his shoulder pulled some. “Bloody hell, werewolf scratches are no joke.”

Snape nodded and pulled a vial of potion out of one of his pockets. “You will need this. Your injury is worse because of your former exposure to vampire bites. While neither injury will turn you, the residue from each will fight each other. It does not help how close their proximity on your person is,” he explained, handing the potion over. “That will help dull the interaction until it can calm down over time.”

Percy reached forward to take the potion from him. “Thanks, Severus. You really are going above and beyond here,” Harry drank the potion gratefully, knowing the man wouldn’t poison him…or well, if he did, it would be sneakier than this at the very least. “My best mate was turned into a vampire years ago. For some odd reason, he found me quite tasty. It actually became a bit of a running joke between me and his wife, which he frankly didn’t appreciate nearly as much as we did.”

This caused Percy to wince at the memories of that time that were both happy and very emotionally painful. Snape noted the wince and frowned, not knowing where it came from. “Well…that was one of my many questions. What has become of your friend? Are you still in touch?”

“He died,” Percy flatly answered for Harry. “Can we move this along some? I would like to get some sleep tonight,” he added, not able to keep the strain out of his voice completely.

“Right, yeah, so pulling off the plaster…” Harry took in a deep breath and looked intensely at the man in front of them. “I’m planning to kill off old Tom and take his place. He does not fulfill Magic’s requirements of a dark lord and is hurting both our cause and this society. So…I’m going to step in and try to make changes to help those who are aligned with the dark, and most importantly creatures in our society who have been systematically oppressed for centuries.”

“In a nutshell,” Percy added on with a laugh at the very blunt explanation.

For his part, Snape sat stunned for a moment and then slowly drained his glass of whiskey before pouring another. “You will not succeed,” he then said calmly before taking another sip. “You have no chance of vanquishing the current Dark Lord, and I do not see how you, an unknown, can gain enough support to not be immediately stopped by the aurors if you try to push forward any changes, especially for regulated creatures.”

Harry just waited as the silence stretched on. “Is that your only objection?” He finally asked impatiently as Snape didn’t seem capable or willing to say anything else. “It’s only the practicality you oppose, not the goal?”

Frankly, Snape was completely reeling. This was absolutely not what he’d expected his new friend to say or even within the realm of his guesses. “In theory, you fulfill the requirements of vast knowledge of the dark arts, a platform to help and support the dark, and a dark core,” he eventually began with a frown to cover his racing heart as his anxiety at just what these two young men might be planning. “However, I do not see how you can gain the following necessary or what makes you think you have the right to even attempt this.”

Percy opened his mouth to defend his partner, but Harry placed a hand on his knee to stop him. “No, he’s right,” he said to both of them. “I don’t inherently have any right. You, Severus, have just as much right as I do, or even Percy if he wanted. However, I’m willing. If someone else was able to and wanted to take my place in all this, hell, this is the last thing I wanted to do with my life! I’m not willing to stand by any longer though, and that goes to my motivations that I’m not willing to discuss with you yet.”

“Well…there is that one thing…” Percy raised an eyebrow at him, reminding him of the whole Master of Death thing that Harry really didn’t want to have to deal with right now.

“Yeah, well,” Harry huffed, and he glared off into the distance at Fate or Destiny or whatever. “That’s a whole other thing…anyway…”

“No,” Snape shook his head firmly, downing the last of this second glass of whiskey. “You will not be going up against the Dark Lord. I won’t allow it! He is as powerful as he is insane. Besides, you don’t have the full story. There are some extenuating circumstances that make his demise extremely unlikely…”

Harry just nodded, knowing he meant the prophesy and that there was some connection to Harry Potter that Snape knew existed even if he didn’t know the full prophesy. “Yeah, yeah…You know stuff, I know stuff, we really should compare notes sometime, but I doubt you’re going to willing do that now…”

Harry raised an eyebrow at the man whose lips pursed as he glared right back. “Regardless, I clearly have no nefarious intentions against your Order if we are both out for Tom’s death currently, so that should allay some of your concerns, right?”

“For the Order, yes, for yourself, no,” Snape put down his glass to cross his arms and glare more sternly at the man. “I will not allow you to commit suicide, which is basically what your plans amount to. If for some miraculous reason you do succeed in usurping the Dark Lord, then you would have the Order itself to contend with. British wixen are unaccustomed to believing in anything besides Light is good and Dark is bad.”

“He already has Sirius Black and my parents listening to him though,” Percy smirked at the man. Snape had to admit, he did have a small point there. “Hadrian can be very persuasive and charismatic when he really tries to be.”

“Plus, I just killed Greyback,” Harry had to grin at that, even if his shoulder hurt. “Now, I can try to get to werewolves to my side since they frankly didn’t like him either.”

“That will not help you much at all, even if you are successful,” Snape grumbled, now realizing he was more than likely going to need to go discuss this with Sirius for Hadrian’s own good, as terrible as that plan sounded.

Harry shrugged with a wince. “Well, I already have the goblins on my side and the house elves. Although, I did send back the house elves' list of demands and tell them to add more. They really are terrible at negotiation.”

“I think that makes you the one that’s terrible at negotiation,” Percy laughed at him, kissing the side of his head.

Harry grumbled. “Well, I want them to at least add the provision of immediate freedom for any and all house elves that want it as well as housing and a means to gainful employment while they set themselves up. That didn’t go over very well though. Some thought it was a good idea to add even if they didn’t want it themselves and others thought it was too scandalous. Last I heard, Kreacher of all people, had some excellent ideas for some caveats to add that would get both sides more on board.”

“Wait, wait! Excuse me…did you say that the goblins are supporting you?!!” Snape sputtered in complete shock. The goblins were neutral. They were always neutral in wixen conflicts unless they were the ones fighting against the wixen. He wasn’t even going to try to process the ramification of house elves joining a side!!

“Tentatively,” Harry huffed at all the negotiations that had been going on. “They’ve actually assigned me a lot of paperwork and contract stuff which I really don’t have the legal knowledge to understand. I’ll probably end up agreeing to something that will have me selling them my soul or something eventually unless I get some help.” He was definitely going to have to get Flitwick to help him some or hire a solicitor…that might be a good idea anyway.

Snape slowly nodded. “You are going to get yourself killed, Percy, and me too…” he concluded. “Forget Azkaban, we will all be killed…”

Harry looked up at Percy questioningly. “You know…maybe I should try to get the dementors on my side…” he remarked, decidedly not looking over towards where the elder wand was hanging out in Percy’s side table drawer.

“You bloody will not…!” Snape’s oncoming rant was interrupted as a silvery phoenix patronus glided through Percy’s wall.

“Severus, please come to my office as soon as possible,” Dumbledore’s voice emanated from the patronus before it disappeared.

Snape frowned angrily at the place the phoenix had been moments before. “If this is because you are in the castle…” he turned to pin Hadrian with a glare.

“Hey! I’m very good at sneaking around. I find it personally offensive you think I would get caught. This is something different,” Harry protested, knowing exactly why Dumbledore was probably freaking out.

Snape stood to go before looking at both men on the couch. “You,” he pointed at Hadrian. “You leave before anyone catches you in the morning, and you,” he turned to Percy. “You will provide me a list of all those secret passages you said earlier that your brothers know about. It is unsafe to leave then unwarded.”

“But what if I want to visit,” Harry pouted, knowing he could just ask Dobby to take him in and out of the castle, so it wasn’t a big deal regardless, but still wanting to tease Snape.

“Make nice with the headmaster then,” Snape smirked at him before turning on his heel and quickly striding through the door and out into the castle.

“Well…at least he bought the secret passage lie I told…although, I guess it was technically the truth,” Percy shrugged. “What do you think Dumbledore wants?”

“I have some ideas,” Harry pursed his lips. “I might happen to have his wand hiding in that drawer.” He pointed to the side table.

Percy started before he frowned as sudden understanding dawned on him. “You mean the elder wand, right? One of the Deathly Hallows and belonging to the Master of Death? That wand?”

“Yeah…It might have defected to me when I really, really wanted to kill Greyback and didn’t have my own wand in my hand at the time,” he sheepishly explained with a grimace.

“Morgana! I’d hate to be Snape right now,” Percy laughed and stood, holding out his hand to help Harry up. “Let’s get you to bed. You’re going to be soooo sore tomorrow.”

“We’re not going to talk about this whole Master of Death thing then?” Harry took the hand up but with a confused frown.

“Nothing to talk about,” Percy helped him towards the bedroom. “We need to set up some controlled experiments and get the resurrection stone next…I think we could use the chamber…”

“Ergh! Let’s just sleep for now,” Harry grumbled, seeing more homework in his future. “Besides, I want to hear all about your meeting at some point.”

“Oh yeah…so Davids is definitely there already, and apparently there is a procedure for time-travel,” Percy laughed as they entered the bedroom and Harry was already asking questions.

Severus Snape frowned at the almost frantically pacing man he found when he entered the headmaster’s office. It had already been a very trying evening, and he suddenly realized it was clearly nowhere near over yet. He wished he’d had more of the whiskey in Percy’s room now.

“Headmaster? You wanted to see me?” He crossed his arms and waited for the man he’d never seen quite so agitated before to acknowledge him.

“Severus! Have you heard anything from Tom or your contacts or anyone this evening?!” Dumbledore stopped and pinned Snape with his bright, blue eyes that were shockingly lacking their normal twinkle.

Snape frowned. He didn’t suppose Hadrian counted for what the headmaster was asking. “No. Did something happen?” He asked, wondering just what calamity had struck their world now.

Dumbledore waved his hands out in exasperation in something between a surrender and a shrug. “I don’t know…something is happening, and I am very concerned, Severus.”

“Care to be more specific, headmaster. We are in a war if you have not noticed,” Snape raised an eyebrow in question. Something very dramatic must have happened, why wouldn’t the man just spit it out?! Albus really was very frustrating all the time.

“My wand went missing,” Dumbledore sighed and sank into the chair behind his desk, looking older than he had just moments before. “That coupled with what you said about Tom not being able to access Harry’s mind anymore…it’s starting to sound like we might have another player in all this. It’s the only thing I can think of since Harry is incapable of blocking his own mind and no one should even know about my wand…”

“What about your wand?” Snape was now very interested. He had just heard of a third player, one which he didn’t believe for a second would be effective or could do either of the things Dumbledore was suggesting, or even why he want to do either. Why would anyone want Dumbledore's wand anyway? It's not like the man couldn't just floo over to Diagon and get another one.

Dumbledore waved his hand dismissively, which always meant he refused to tell Severus whatever he was alluding to. It was highly irritating, even more than Hadrian who had at least explained why he didn’t want to tell Snape everything. It was like 1992 again when Dumbledore only ever gave anyone half answers even when he seemed to know what was going on. Severus still wasn’t sure what exactly had caused the petrifications that year, only that Potter had somehow stopped it. This year seemed to be heading a very similar direction.

“Headmaster, if I do not know what is going on, then I cannot help you,” he tried a new tactic.

Dumbledore’s head shot up and he narrowed his eyes at Snape. “Actually, I do think you can help,” he began as an idea seemed to be forming for him. “You will teach Harry Occlumency. Yes! That’s just the thing to solve this.”

“Excuse me?!!” Snape’s eyebrows shot up at the insane drivel that was pouring from the elderly man’s mouth. “I will do no such thing!”

“Yes, that’s it,” Dumbledore was nodding now, completely ignoring Snape’s protests. “I’ll tell him it’s to keep him safe from Tom…no, it’ll keep the Order and his godfather safe. Yes, that’s better. While you’re teaching him, you will search his mind for whatever is keeping Voldemort out and who put it there. That may lead to information on my wand as well. They must be connected, either that or Tom is getting much wilier in his old age, which doesn’t bode well for us either.”

Snape winced at the flash of pain that Dumbledore seemed to always purposefully inflict. “So, you want me dead…” he said as dryly as possible to hopefully cause the man to think over just what he was asking. “If the Dark Lord were to ever find out I was teaching Potter Occlumency, it would be my immediate demise.”

Dumbledore just waved him off, seemingly uncaring. “Tell him it’s how you convinced me to let you root through Harry’s mind then. He wanted you to find out what is going on as well.”

Snape sighed again at the man’s obtuseness. “Legilimency as you are suggesting would cause a great deal of pain to Potter. It is an invasive spell.”

Dumbledore was already standing, clearly expecting Snape to leave for the evening now that he had his orders. “I will tell him it’s necessary. Harry will do what he must. He’s had worse anyway. I’ll set it up with him. Clear your Thursday evenings…hmm, we’ll call it Remedial Potions or something like that. Good evening, Severus…”

Clearly dismissed, Snape was almost in a daze as he unconsciously stepped out of the office onto the moving staircase. Was the headmaster really suggesting he torture a student to get information? Clearly, he didn’t say it in so many words, but that was essentially what he’d requested. Also, it was highly concerning Dumbledore’s throw-away suggestion that Potter had ‘had worse’ as well. What was that supposed to mean? He knew the Dark Lord had cast the torture curse on the boy a couple times the year before, but Dumbledore’s comment had sounded like it ran deeper than that.

It was beginning to sound like Snape needed to watch Potter much more closely and fast, before his now booked Thursdays. It also sounded like he needed to meet with Sirius Black as soon as possible, now both to discuss Hadrian’s suicidal plans and how to stop him as well as to discuss exactly what his suspicions were about Potter’s homelife. He was starting to believe the man might actually have something there. The implications of the Boy-Who-Lived in an abusive home though, that he wasn’t sure what to make of it. It could tear their world apart. Who had placed Potter with his relatives? Who had kept him out of the public eye all those years? And how in Salazar’s name was he going to get out of these Occlumency lessons?!

Harry turned over in his sleep and groaned, immediately awake from the shooting pain coming from his shoulder. “Merlin’s balls,” he groaned out and rolled over to his other side.

Percy chuckled and kissed his messy hair. “I told you that you’d be sore today. You need to head out soon to make it to the Tower before breakfast,” he warned.

“Can’t I just stay here today? It’s Sunday,” Harry cracked open one eye and then the other to plead with his partner who was looking quite spectacular with his long, red hair in crazy curls, his soft blue-stripped pajamas, and his kind, blue eyes sleepily looking at Harry.

“Too many people would ask questions. I bet you weren’t at dinner last night either,” Percy reminded him, causing Harry to grimace but snuggle just a little closer to Percy anyway, going to soak up as much comfort as possible in the few minutes he had before the man kicked him out of bed.

“You have another of Snape’s pain potions?” Harry asked, and immediately smiled when Percy summoned one from the other room and handed it to him. “Angels! Both of you!” He quickly swallowed the recommended amount.

“No more than three doses a day,” Percy reminded him as he ran his fingers through Harry’s long hair to get some of the knots out.

“Right, what is it?” Harry put the vial on the nightstand and leaned on his good shoulder to look at Percy better. “You’re looking very contemplative this morning, which means something is on your mind. You have the ‘I’m not sure I should ask’ look on your face you get sometimes, usually when I’m doing something questionable. I don’t think I’ve done anything you don’t already know about recently though.”

Percy sighed and put his hand on Harry’s hip, playing with a little hole in Dudley’s old t-shirt that Harry kept in his room to sleep in. It was making Harry very nervous. “That’s not it,” he seemed not able to meet Harry’s eyes. “It was something Snape said last night…”

“Right,” Harry said slowly and waited. “Snape will be a problem; we already know that. At least he just thinks I’m incapable and not evil or something. What did he say to cause these wrinkles though?” Harry ran his thumb across the Percy’s furrowed brow, getting just the hint of a smile from the man.

“Nothing,” Percy sighed loudly. “He just said that you hadn’t come to Britain for me, which is completely true since you live here, but it got me thinking. Are we only together because there was no one else? I mean, if we fix everything here, you’re going to have options. I won’t be the only one anymore.”

Harry was completely shocked, and his eyes widened in surprise. “Perce…is that what you think? That you’re some kind of last resort or something? I mean…I know I wasn’t too quick on wanting to label what we have, but that wasn’t because I didn’t want to be with you, I just didn’t think it was anyone’s bloody business! I’m so sorry if I made you feel that way!”

“No,” Percy shook his head and put a hand on Harry’s cheek to stop him. “No, it’s just that I know you were with one of the other dark arts students in Amsterdam for a while and you came back to Britain for all of us. You could find him again once this is all over with and you can put yourself first for once.”

Harry wasn’t sure where this had come from or if it were always lying dormant under their relationship. He didn’t like it one bit! “First of all, he dumped me and was a right git about it!” Harry now sat up to look down at Percy better. “I want you, no one else! Who else is stupid enough to jump back in time 12 years with me and then go and make me an emotional support inferius?!! There is literally no one else on the planet I’d rather annoy for the rest of my life than you!”

“Yeah, but…” Percy trailed off, not seeming to get it.

“What about you though?” Harry asked, realizing that maybe this wasn’t actually about him at all. “I was there. I was convenient, and I didn’t ask questions you didn’t want to answer. I can’t believe you would put up with me if this wasn’t all real, but maybe it’s too much for you. Would you rather be with someone else? Your life would be easier; you should find someone who isn’t so damaged.”

Harry felt like his heart was literally tearing apart. The edges of his vision were getting dark like he might blackout, and he was doing his absolute best to hold himself together, to act like this wasn’t the most important conversation he’s had in his entire life and that he might just not live through it. He’d have to be strong for Percy, so he could leave him and know it was ok.

“What?! No!” Percy shot up in the bed and put his hands on either side of Harry’s face. “Breathe, love…” he said calmly, catching on to how much this was affecting Harry even if he was hiding it. “It’s going to be ok, neither of us are going anywhere.”

“Harry…” Percy said clearly, keeping eye contact as Harry slightly calmed down. “I’m so sorry. That’s not what I meant at all. I just didn’t want you to stay with me out of some kind of obligation from a future that no longer exists. I love you though, and I don’t want anyone else. I choose you. That’s why I bloody well jumped through time with you!”

“Percy Weasley, don’t you do that to me again,” Harry ordered with a frown before letting out a breath of relief and pushing Percy back to where he could lay on top of him on the bed, to make sure he couldn’t go anywhere at least for now. “If you want to break up with me, I understand, but never assume I don’t want to be with you. I love you, and you’re the best thing in my life.”

“Then you just go ahead and believe the same for me,” Percy lifted his head to kiss Harry’s lips. “I don’t want to break up with you. I just let the insecurity get to me for a minute. I’m sorry.”

“Next time, let’s just shag or something when you’re feeling insecure, right? Sounds like a better way of dealing with it to me,” Harry grumbled, wishing he wasn’t currently very injured and with stitches so he could make good on that.

Percy laughed. “I believe the experts suggest communication instead.”

“Merlin, that I’m not good at,” Harry rolled his eyes before kissing Percy again. “We really should recruit a mind-healer to our side. Oh, and a solicitor as well, that was a thought I had last night, one that was actually helpful instead of panic inducing.”

“I’m never going to live this down, am I?” Percy gave a fake sigh and smile at the man on top of him.

“Nope,” Harry popped the ‘p’ with a smirk. “Especially, since Death might not be able to find me or some such rot, so I’m not allowed to die first or whatever your stipulations were.”

“Yes…experiments,” Percy nodded, and shifted a grumbling Harry off of him to jump out of bed and start planning excitedly.

“I should be concerned that you want to experiment on me!” Harry called after him. “And Merlin knows I wish I meant that in the sexual sense!”

“Get to breakfast before my brother comes looking for you!” Percy called back from where he was already making notes in a notebook for things he wanted to test out with Harry. “And take the elder wand with you. I don’t want a deathly hallow lying around my rooms where some embodiment of Death might come looking for it.”

“Wait…you don’t think there’s an actual being that’s Death, right?” Harry was ashen as he came out of the bedroom to ask in shock. “You don’t think I’m actually going to meet Death, do you?!”

Percy barely looked up from his notes with a shrug. “If you do, ask him if a dementor could put a human’s soul into an already created inferius body, will you? I’ve been trying to figure that one out for ages.”

“I may love you, but I also hate you,” Harry glared at him while painfully trying to pull on his jeans.

“Well, you’re stuck with me apparently,” Percy did look up to smile at him fondly at that one, infinitely glad their morning conversation hadn’t gone as badly as he’d expected it to go.

He wasn’t sure what he would do without Harry. He hadn’t told his partner yet, but he’d loved Harry from well before they’d gotten together. He’d loved him from when he’d taken the time to help George get back on his feet after losing Fred, when he’d cheered Ginny on at her quidditch matches even after they’d broken up, how he’d just patiently read a book when vampire Ron got hungry and wanted to snack on him making jokes to Hermione about it the whole time, and when he’d fallen apart at every tragedy and then got right back up again time and again to keep living. He just kept everyone else around him from falling apart and supported everyone around him, making everyone feel loved, even if it hurt Harry himself. That was something Percy swore to keep from happening this time. If nothing else, he was going to keep Harry together, and love Harry, and make sure that his partner had someone in his life that put him first since he clearly didn’t do that for himself.  

“Here, let me help you,” Percy strode over to save Harry from the shirt that was clearly beyond his current capabilities to pull over his head. “Make sure the glamour covers your injuries.”

“Hey, Percy…” Harry was grinning at him when Percy pulled the neck of the shirt over Harry’s head.

“Yes, my love?”

“Greyback is dead and can’t kill Lavender, that’s one death we stopped,” he grinned widely at something they had actually accomplished.

Percy chuckled and helped him put his arms through the sleeves. “Now, you just have to worry that Snape will run off to rat you out to your godfather.”

“I doubt it,” Harry frowned, not overly concerned. “They really hate spending any time with each other at all. Besides, if he does, at least that means I don’t have to break the whole dark lord plans to Siri and he can just get his whole freak-out out of the way.”

“Hmm,” Percy mused, thinking Harry might not be quite reading the situation as it was. “Ten galleons says you get a letter from Sirius about it before Wednesday.”

“I’ll take that,” Harry grinned, really not thinking they would purposely spend time together of their own volition. “I should probably owl Siri that I’m still alive though…I did mention I’d asked him and Remus for Greyback’s location, right?”

Percy sighed and just shoved him towards the door. “You better have your DADA essay written before class on Monday. I’m not taking werewolf murder as an excuse for it being late!”

Chapter Text

Ron, Hermione, Sephie, and Neville met Harry on his way to the Great Hall in an empty corridor. “Hey guys!” He smiled broadly at the worried group. “Looks like someone was finally forgiven!” He remarked to Neville who was holding Sephie who looked very grumpy in her pink jumper that morning.

“She made it clear it was only probationary,” Neville looked at the cat in his arms with a bit of concern.

“Two questions …” Ron held up two fingers with a chastising look on his face that Harry wasn’t sure he’d ever seen on young Ron yet but which he’d gotten a lot from much older Ron. “One, why was Dobby popping in and out of the dorm grabbing things for you last night when you know Nev and I would end up having to cover for you with Seamus and Dean, and two, why does your cat’s eyes glow red in the dark…granted, I might not want to know the answer to that one since I was the one she decided to scare into an early grave when she woke me up sleeping on my chest.”

“While you answer…” Hermione motioned to her unbraided hair. “You’re slacking on your job.”

Harry chuckled and also winced when he gathered her hair and the movement pulled on his injured shoulder. He felt his own invisible ponytail shrug over his shoulder since Percy was remarkably bad at braiding and had only pulled it back into one of his ever-present hair bands since Harry couldn’t lift his arm that much to do his own hair that morning.

Even with Percy’s hair being slightly longer than it was originally as a 19-year-old, it was not long enough to pull into a ponytail with his glamour on, so Harry found it amusing that no one had commented on the fact that the DADA professor always seemed to have one or two hair ties around his wrist or on his person even when his hair didn’t look long enough to pull back.

“You injured, mate?” Neville asked in concern, shifting the inferius in his arms to be a little more comfortable.

“Just a minor shoulder thing,” Harry brushed him off with a smile while he braided Hermione’s hair quickly in the hallway. “Right, so I’m sorry about Dobby, but I was waiting on your brother a while and wanted to look over the house elves’ list of demands…which Hermione, you’ll be happy to hear I sent back and told them to add more onto it, and I also needed my toothbrush.”

“I approve…” She gave him a little side-eyed smile. “And my parents approve of your oral hygiene.”

Ron grumbled and crossed his arms. “Well, Dean and Seamus think you spent the night in the infirmary with a stomach bug now, so look ill if they bring it up. Second question though… the naked, demon cat?”

“Well, she’s not a normal cat, but really, nothing is normal in our world,” Harry didn’t meet their eyes as he finished and tied off Hermione’s hair. “Er…Percy kind-of made her for me, but she’s such a sweetie, isn’t she,” he cooed to the cat at the end.

“I have a feeling I’m going to want you to take her,” Neville paled some and held the cat out in anticipation of his friend explaining exactly what he meant by that. If Harry was avoiding saying it this much, then it must be highly questionable at the very least.

Harry went to grab her but winced once again. “Er…maybe you should keep her for a little while. The shoulder thing is a bit of an annoyance.”

“What did my brother make you that somehow resembles a cat, Hadrian James Potter-Black?!” Ron now moved slightly to stand between the cat and Hermione who just rolled her eyes at him and reached around to pet the cat anyway to her boyfriend’s frustration. “Is she transfigured from something? What is she transfigured from?!”

“Shh!” Harry looked around them quickly but didn’t see anyone. “Don’t use that name out in the open…Snape would have a meltdown if he heard you!”

“You’re going to have to tell him at some point, Harry. I haven’t known about all this long, but even that one time in Hogsmeade, and I could tell you’re both getting attached,” Neville reminded him as Hermione took the cat from the grateful teen.

“Yeah, well…I at least broke my plans to him last night about…you know, stuff… so let’s let that sink in first, then I’ll do my best to keep him from hating me when I tell him the rest,” he sighed tiredly.

“Why’d you see Snape last night? I thought you were with Percy?” Hermione now frowned at him in suspicion even as she kissed the top of Sephie’s bald head. “How did he take it though?”

Harry shrugged. “Percy refused to stitch me up even though he’s proven he’s not squeamish around blood…apparently Molly never taught him to sew, so he got Snape who, of course, knew a spell, probably even invented it himself,” Harry rolled his eyes and started walking towards the Great Hall again.

“Anyway, Snape’s a suspicious git, as we all know, so he’d put together some of the information. Overall, he took it well. He just said I was going to die and get everyone around me killed as well…the usual.”

“What did you do to need to get stitched up?!! And how exactly did my brother prove he isn’t squeamish around blood?!!” Ron’s voice had risen to an octave that would make an opera singer proud in his shock. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about the cat!!”

Harry stopped right before they would enter a busy hallway to give them a stern look they had all yet to see on his face. “We can talk about all this later when we’re behind a privacy ward. For now, just know that I took care of a problem that you don’t need to know about. I’m fine and Percy is fine. And there is nothing wrong with my cat. She is just a little extra magical, and that’s all you need to know for now.”

They all collectively swallowed a bit of fear until Harry’s face immediately cleared up and he looked fifteen again. “Professor!” He greeted the Charms professor who had just walked up to their group with a raised eyebrow from where he seemed to already be leaving breakfast.

“Mr. Potter, could you stop by my office after your breakfast?” Filius Flitwick asked with an air of it being important. Harry was certain it was about his ‘inner circle’ meeting…that now needed to be moved if Snape was going to seal off all the secret passageways…bugger!

Harry nodded firmly. “I’ll eat a couple eggs, some toast, and head right there!”

“No hurry. I’ll just be doing my marking,” he nodded to them all before continuing on his way.

“See…you never know who’s just going to pop up,” Harry warned them again. Thankfully Flitwick knew everything anyway, but it could have been McGonagall. Dumbledore was still avoiding him, so at least they were safe there. “Anyway…how’s the extra homework going?”

“I’ve only gotten through the first chapter of the book…it’s really complicated,” Neville wrinkled his nose in frustration at the ancient Occlumency book Ron had just passed off to him.

“You’ll get it, Nev. You picked it up really well in the future, so I know you can do it,” Harry assured him vehemently, knowing how Neville was very unsure of himself at this point in time.

“I think I’m ready to give it a go,” Hermione remarked confidently to no one’s surprise.

“I’m almost there, but everything’s still a bit shaky in here. I don’t think it’d hold up to anyone pushing yet,” Ron tapped his temple to illustrate the point.

Harry just nodded in pride and love for his friends who were really working hard at shielding their minds. “You all are doing brilliant! Hermione, would you rather that I test your shields, or would you be more comfortable with Percy? I promise that if either of us do get through them, we’re not going to dig into your memories.”

“You, definitely!” Hermione shot a little scared and embarrassed look at the head table where Ron’s older brother was already pouring himself some tea.

“Percy’s office this evening then!” He nodded as they made their way towards the Gryffindor table. “You all can see how it goes, and it might help you as you’re working on your own.”

Harry’s injured shoulder was roughly collided with from behind as Malfoy pushed past their group with a hissed “Potty!” Harry’s breath caught in pain as he willed himself to not make any outward show of just how very much that had hurt. He did turn a sickly shade of white though as he bit his tongue.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Ron snarled after the Slytherin as all Harry’s friends glanced at him in fear to see just how he was going to react to the spoiled brat.

After a couple deep breaths, Harry just nodded and started walking again to a mostly empty spot at the Gryffindor table. “I can’t believe that prat! Thinks he owns the school!” Ron was still fuming.

“That was very mature of you, Harry,” Hermione said only slightly patronizingly while Harry eyed the bowl of eggs that was just a bit too far out of his reach with his bum shoulder that was now throbbing.

“Hermione…I really hope at this point that I’m above cursing fifteen-year-olds whose only offense is being spoiled and emotionally abused by his father…even if it’ll be years before he will be willing to admit it to himself,” Harry rolled his eyes at her belief that he’d just hex Malfoy like he would have when they were both children. “Please pass the eggs, Ron.”

“They’re right in front of you,” Ron grumbled, still shooting murderous looks over to the Slytherin table.

“I can’t exactly reach that far right now…shoulder,” he reminded them with a grimace.

“I got you,” Neville jumped to grab the eggs and started loading up Harry’s plate. “Just say when…”

“What do you mean about Malfoy’s father?” Hermione asked, passing some sausage to Sephie who was eating it happily.

Harry thanked Neville and shoveled some eggs into his mouth. He chewed slowly, weighing his words heavily since he didn’t want to say anything that would break future Draco’s trust even if he was in the past currently.

“Lucius Malfoy has already tried to kill me…erm…once or maybe twice at this point…definitely once,” he finally said since he thought it was the end of fifth year in the ministry where he’d racked up the second time the man tried to kill him. “Anyway, he’s not a good person. Actually, I don’t really even know how involved he is with everything right now…maybe I should put him on my list…though, he did try to turn things around at the end…”

Harry trailed off as he tried to decide if he needed to kill Lucius Malfoy or not. It would definitely make Narcissa’s life easier, and Draco would maybe avoid the worst of the man’s manipulations. Lucius had gone to prison right after the war though, so Harry wasn’t sure how redeemable he might be currently since he’d had very little interactions with the man.

“Merlin…I’m going to have to talk to Snape or Draco I guess to get the full picture,” he finally concluded with a huff. He really wanted to avoid talking to Draco if at all possible since they had made absolutely no inroads into being friends at this point in time. “Maybe Dobby can fill me in without having to go to them.”

“What are we talking about exactly?” Neville asked with a look on his face that said he knew exactly what Harry was talking about and didn’t approve.

Harry just buttered a piece of toast with a smirk at him. “Hey, Nev…are you planning to go home for Christmas or are you going to stay at the castle?”

“Er…Gran wants me home…” Neville trailed off with a concerned raise of his eyebrow.

Harry just nodded and bit off a huge bite of the toast. “Thanks! Good to know!”

“Harry…you will not be killing my Uncle Algie…” Neville leaned in to quietly hiss at Harry insistently.

Hermione and Ron’s heads shot up to look at the two of them in shock. “Who? Me? I wouldn’t hurt a bowtruckle,” Harry laughed and shut down the conversation with a pointed glance to everyone around them. “Besides, it’s just now October…a lot can happen in two months’ time.”

Potter was acting strange; Snape concluded from where he was stirring his tea slowly at the head table and studying the Golden Trio that had recently seemed to add Longbottom to the core group along with that naked animal Potter treated as a baby. When his godson had shoved past Potter, Snape had already pulled his wand out of his sleeve to stop whatever fight was sure to ensue, but Potter hadn’t risen to the occasion. Yes, he’d seemed affected…he’d stood still and turned pale like he was pushing down his anger or something before just shaking his head and continuing along as if nothing had happened. That was not the hot-headed behavior the Gryffindor brat was known for showing.

He watched while Potter seemed to be mildly upset at something before just shrugging and pushing whatever it was aside once again. Longbottom was acting strangely too through all this. He’d put food on Potter’s plate and then seemed to be angry or upset about something himself that shocked the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio before they all look around themselves and seemed to change the subject.

What was going on? There seemed to be some dissent amongst the Gryffindor clique…or, they were planning something. The second seemed much more likely knowing that group. It must have something to do with Draco if they were not engaging in their normal adolescent taunting. If so…he would be willing to bet his best silver cauldron that Sirius was behind this and was helping his godson with a prank. Snape narrowed his eyes and tapped his wand on the table, conjuring a piece of paper and a quill. He was going to need to send that note immediately to Sirius for a meeting to put a stop to all this insanity with Hadrian, Potter, and everyone involved.

Snape had just finished his letter requesting a meeting when Potter pushed away from the table and hurried off, leaving his naked animal with the Granger girl. That was interesting…he never usually left the animal. Snape stood and decided to follow along behind the teen since his friends seemed to be remaining behind to eat a more leisurely breakfast without him.

Potter was laughably easy to follow as he seemed to pause occasionally to look out a window or tie his shoe or scratch his head like he was thinking about something. It was almost like he knew he was being followed and was seeing how long Snape would stick with him. That was absurd though. Severus Snape was a spy and very well versed in remaining hidden when surveilling a person. There was no way Potter knew he was being followed.

He let Potter get a little farther away from him to be safe and melted into the shadows. They seemed to be heading towards the Charms classroom or possibly Flitwick’s office. He wasn’t sure which as Potter turned a corner in front of him. Snape heard a pained yelp and hurried forward in concern. Skidding to a stop in a deserted hallway, Snape raised his wand and lit it with a nonverbal lumos spell.

It was empty…there were no classrooms, supply cupboards, or secret passages that he knew of where Potter could have disappeared to in the amount of time it had taken him to turn the corner. He ran his hand along the stone wall, searching for something he must be missing. Potter was gone…had the cry been from him? What had happened? Had he been attacked?

“Point me, Harry Potter,” he cast with his wand next, and the wand spun around before just pointing straight up to the ceiling. It shouldn’t have done that. The students were trackable in the castle to all professors…Potter should not have the knowledge needed to keep himself from being tracked…he also shouldn’t be able to keep someone out of his mind…something was going on and Snape felt like he was almost to the answer…it was like he knew what it was but was missing some crucial step to put it together to make sense.

Snape made his way to Filius’s office as it seemed the most likely direction Potter had been heading since the Charms classroom wouldn’t have been in use on a Sunday. He paused in the doorway wondering just how paranoid he was being, but then decided that with Potter that answer was decidedly that one could never be too paranoid. That had been proven over and over again since the boy was an infant.

He promptly knocked at the open door. “Filius,” he greeted his colleague who looked up at him from a large pile of marking with a questioning but not upset look on his face at the interruption.

“Ah, Severus…how are you this weekend?” The man motioned for him to come in and sit. “What can I help our Potion Master with today?”

“Have you seen Potter just now?” Snape sank into the slightly too short couch that always made him feel like a child with a frown. “I was walking behind him in the corridor and heard a cry, then he seemed to have disappeared.”

Filius paused where he had just been about to offer his colleague tea. “Mr. Potter? He was supposed to come and discuss a project I have him working on after breakfast,” he said, but shook his head, with a dismissive wave of his hand. With his knowledge of just who Harry Potter really was, he wasn’t concerned at all about him while in the castle.

“I wouldn’t worry. He’ll pop in any time now. There are more secret passages in this castle than even Dumbledore knows about, I’m sure. He probably just forgot something in Gryffindor Tower and made a detour.”

The yelp he’d heard earlier had sounded like someone was in pain though. Snape didn’t have any solid evidence, but the fact he couldn’t track Potter was concerning in itself. “I tried to track him though…”

“Hey Professor…sorry it took me a while at breakfast,” Potter had appeared in the doorway almost instantaneously, only Snape’s years of Occlumency training kept him from jumping out of his skin.

“Merlin, Potter, you know not to interrupt your professors!” He growled, more in anger at his own reactions than Potter’s sudden appearance. And, honestly, the boy looked pretty bad. He was pale and sweating, and his hands seemed to be shaking some.

“Are you alright, Mr. Potter?” Flitwick asked in concern, also noting the boy’s odd behavior.

“Oh, yeah, fine…I think I might be getting a touch of a cold,” Potter smiled insipiently at them. “I’ll stop by Madam Pomfrey’s after our meeting.”

“Of course, of course,” Filius nodded firmly. “Severus? Was there anything you needed from me?”

“Hm, no,” Snape stood, now feeling almost embarrassed at his actions but also still suspicious at whatever he’d witnessed in the corridor. He was going to head straight to the owlery to send that letter to Black…Sirius! (It was still frustrating he had to call the man by his first name since there were now two Blacks). Then, he was going to spend some time relaxing on his Sunday by trying to figure out just what that animal was that produced the potion ingredients Hadrian had sent him.

“Have a good day, Professor!” Potter called after him and Snape sneered, wondering if there was something he could give the boy detention for, but giving it up as not worth his time and strode purposefully down the corridor.

“Merlin, Flitwick!” Harry collapsed onto the low couch Snape had been sitting on just moments before and dug a potion vial out of his pocket. “Ward it please!” He waved to the door while take a large swig of whatever was in the vial.

Filius made sure they would not be overheard or disturbed before turning back around to see a twenty-seven-year-old man sitting on his couch and holding his arm like it was injured. “What happened?” Flitwick promptly stepped over to look at the man’s shoulder in concern.

“I’m fine, I promise,” Harry took in a hissed break of pain when the professor pulled his sleeve up slightly to expose a bandage that definitely needed to be changed based on the amount of blood that had seeped through.

“That is not fine,” Flitwick narrowed his eyes at the man before summoning a first-aid kit from a corner cupboard. “How did this happen?”

Harry hummed evasively before just banishing his shirt that was now also stained with blood. “I’ll call Dobby to bring me a new one before I leave,” he explained. “I, er…well, I dealt with our Greyback problem, so now I am free to approach the werewolves to see if they will join our side.”

Flitwick didn’t react as he peeled back the bandage and banished it. He opened the kit and pulled out a clean bandage. “Hmm, well, good riddance to that monster. Who stitched you up? This looks well done, especially for a werewolf scratch, even if it wasn’t the full moon.”

“Snape did,” Harry winced as the new bandage was pressed down and taped. “I wasn’t trying to be suspicious with him here just now, but the Weasley twins yanked me into a secret passage on the way here by my injured arm, and I almost crucio’d them for it!”

“Unforgiveables, Mr. Potter, really?” Flitwick raised a judging eyebrow before sitting on the armchair in front of Harry and flicking his wand to get the tea to start brewing.

“I said almost,” Harry rolled his eyes and scoffed, he would absolutely never actually curse the twins no matter what they did. However, they were at war, so Flitwick was going to have to be a little more flexible in his morals. “Anyway…the twins are going to be a small problem. I promised I would talk to them later and explain things, but they caught me staying the night in Percy’s rooms and understandably have questions.”

Harry was fuming at the twins, himself, future George who’d never told him, and just fate in general. Honestly, it was quite brilliant of the twins, and made oh so much sense now in hindsight. But, apparently, they hadn’t been quite as nice to him in his third year as he’d always thought. They didn’t just part with the Marauder’s Map out of the goodness of their hearts for a poor third year in need, no…they’d learned how to copy it first.

“How in Hecate’s name are you going to explain that?!” Flitwick asked with an amused chuckle at someone else falling victim to those two menaces.

Harry grumbled and wondered if he could just obliviate them. However, he would have to find their version of the map then too, and he didn't like his chances against the Weasley twins trying to hide something… “This is more complicated than I had planned.”

“There was a plan?” Flitwick caught the teapot floating their way and reminded the young man with a smirk just how not-thought-out all this was.

“Yeah, well, Fred hasn’t been alive in my time for ten years, and I forgot just how brilliantly devious those two can be together,” Harry grumbled and reached out for the offered teacup with his uninjured arm.

“I trust you will think of something that will not put any of my students in harm’s way,” Flitwick ordered sternly. “Now, I talked with my cousin Ragnok, and he is willing to attend your meeting  on behalf of the Goblin Nation even though you haven’t signed the contracts yet.”

“Right, yeah, so we’re going to need to move that meeting back to the next Hogsmeade weekend,” Harry sighed, thankful for the caffeine in his tea that was very needed. “Snape is going to ward the tunnels into the castle, which is frankly long overdue even if inconvenient to us. I can still get out with Dobby’s help, but getting Ron, Hermione, and Neville out too is asking a lot, and we can’t keep them out of the meeting when they’re already so involved just by knowing me. I promise I’ll keep them away from any danger though,” Harry added on quickly at the end before the professor could protest.

Flitwick nodded slowly, realizing the teens would insist on at least knowing what was happening even if they weren’t involved based on everything they’d been up to the last four years. “We can do that. It will also give you time to go over the contract more thoroughly and sign it. The next Hogsmeade weekend is scheduled for Halloween.”

Harry groaned loudly. “Sorry, I just hate Halloween, it’s cursed. Even after Hogwarts and the war, terrible things always seemed to find me that day,” he grumbled. “I don’t think anything major happened on it this year, but that probably just means I’ve changed something that will now cause something bad to happen. Dobby!” He called out unexpectedly.

With a pop the elf was bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of Harry with a jaunty sailor hat on his head this time. Harry raised an eyebrow at it. “You been shopping in the Come-and-Go room, Dobs?”

“Does Dark Master Harry Potter sir like?!” Dobby grinned and adjusted the hat to an even jauntier angle.

“Love it,” Harry nodded firmly and gave him a smile. “I have a couple questions, Dobby, that I think you can help me with.”

“Yes, sir!” Dobby saluted and stood at attention, causing Flitwick to almost choke on his tea in amusement.

“First, do you think Head Elf Bipsy could attend the inner circle meeting if we moved it to Halloween? I know you all are really busy then with the feast?”

Dobby thought about it and nodded. “We’s can work something out. Kreacher can goes to the meeting and fill us in if we needs to.”

“Great!” Harry nodded at them both. “Brilliant, and if anything terrible does happen on that cursed day, I don’t think I can be anywhere safer than with the goblins and house elves.”

“And the centaurses,” Dobby added in, looking smug that house elves were in that list. “Kreacher asked Winky to meets with the centaurses, and they’s said they would send a representative.”

“Even better!” Harry grinned broadly at Flitwick who looked completely shocked at that news. He’d never thought about house elves being good ambassadors, but no one ever suspected them of having ill intentions or were wary of them, so it made sense. Things were moving faster than he’d thought.

“Let’s do the Shrieking Shack then so we can all fit and not raise questions,” Harry was continuing. “Also, my next question is for both of you…Flitwick, what do you think it would take to negotiate with the goblins for a cursed object that’s currently in a Gringotts vault of a convicted felon?”

Flitwick sat his teacup down and crossed his arms. “An object in a vault at Gringotts? You don’t have that much money or power to negotiate.”

Harry frowned at that answer before looking at Dobby. “What’s the extent of elf magic? For instance, if I were to ask you to get me an object in a vault, could you?”

“Excuse me?!!” Flitwick protested in shock and outrage while Dobby looked like he’d just failed miserably at his job.

“I’s can’t Master Harry Potter, sir, not unless it’s the master’s vault,” Dobby almost wailed.

“No, no, don’t worry about it!” Harry assured the elf quickly and took one of Dobby’s hands in both of his reassuringly. “It’s fine, Dobby. You are doing an excellent job, and I couldn’t survive without all you, Winky, and Kreacher have been doing.”

“Mr. Potter…You will not attempt to rob Gringotts!” Flitwick protested firmly.

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. “Then we’ve lost the war. I had to rob it the first time around to get the object we need, but I was hoping to do it a bit easier this time. If I don’t get the cup in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault, then Voldemort can never be killed. Talk to Ragnok and see if there is anything he can do,” Harry told him seriously, hoping it got across just how important this was to ending the war.

“We must get that cup, and I’ll rob the bank again if I need to, and hopefully do it a little easier this time…although, now I might also have to break into Azkaban to do it,” he sighed tiredly at the end remembering he'd need a hair from Bellatrix.

Dobby patted Harry’s hand this time soothingly, and not taken aback at all at the possibility of bank robbery or breaking into a prison. “We’s figure something out Harry Potter, sir…”

“Thanks Dobby,” he smiled at his friend. “Would you mind grabbing me a clean shirt from my trunk?”

“Yes, sir! Oh, befores I forget,” Dobby pulled a thick letter from his toga and gave Harry an embarrassed smile. “Please pass this to Kreacher from me.”

“Of course,” Harry put the letter in his pocket just as Dobby popped out. He chuckled to Flitwick. “Merlin, I think I might be in the middle of some kind-of house elf love triangle between Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher. I’m not sure how to get out of it at this point either.”

Flitwick was still glaring at him. “You will not be robbing my family’s bank, and you will tell me how you did it the last time as well.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I can’t tell you that or they might tighten security. Besides, I’m sure there’s something Ragnok wants that I can give him. Just ask.”

“Oh, I’m certain they will already be tightening security,” Flitwick glared, but also made a mental note to find something Gringotts would want that they could negotiate with.

Snape felt ridiculous. He did not wait outside of pubs for people he would not recognize when he saw them. It was highly inconvenient! It was also shocking just how quickly Sirius Black had agreed to his meeting and that he had insisted on it being that very evening and at this little pub at the crossroads of Diagon and Knocturn Alleys that Snape had only ever been to once. If he remembered correctly, it did have fairly good fish and chips though.

While he waited, Snape was wracking his brain to figure out if he’d heard absolutely any mention of a basilisk in the past few years still in existence somewhere out in the world. He was certain he would remember a basilisk being mentioned though. That was just unthinkable! How could Hadrian have stumbled upon a recently deceased extinct creature that could frankly kill an entire town easily if it wanted to. Maybe his tests had been incorrect…but he’d done it twice when it had seemed to read basilisk.

“Severus!” A twenty-something young man with sandy hair and hazel eyes greeted him with a huge smile. “Thanks for coming!”

“Black?” He raised an eyebrow in question at the disguise. It seemed the Polyjuice Potion he’d helped Hadrian with had turned out well. “What did I curse James Potter to do in our fourth year that earned him detention with McGonagall?”

The man laughed loudly, smile never faltering. “Merlin! That was hilarious! You cursed him to hit on everyone. I believe it was when he told McGonagall that he could make her purr with his magic fingers that he was given detention. Even once she knew he’d been cursed, she still made him serve detention for having filthy thoughts in his head!”

“It was one of my better spells,” Snape gave Sirius a little amused smile before opening the door to the pub. “Shall we…?”

“It’s been ages since I was here!” Sirius hurried in to choose them a booth that could be easily warded. “Well…fourteen years if we’re going to be exact. I hope they still have that spicy mead!”

It turned out they did and had the fish and chips on special when they both ordered and heavily warded an out of the way booth in the back, not even getting a raise of an eyebrow from their waiter. They were right by Knockturn Alley, so it probably happened a lot. Snape was absolutely not going to admit that it was an unexpectedly nice dinner for his Sunday evening.

“So, what did you want to talk about? I’m guessing this has something to do with my cousin?” Sirius smirked at him and took a deep sip of his drink happily. “Did he do something? If he hasn’t, I’m sure he will soon knowing him. He scared Remy and I to death yesterday, but we got an owl from him right after you, and it seemed it was all nothing.”

“If you are talking about his murder of Fenrir Greyback and getting a few new scars to add to his collection, then I do not want to hear your definition of ‘something’ then,” Snape sneered, more at his worry over Hadrian than anything else.

Sirius’s jaw dropped in surprise. He figured he probably should have guessed that, but Harry’s letter had just said he was fine and was sorry for worrying them the night before. “Well…I guess that explains why he asked Remus where Greyback lived then…I can’t say I’m upset about that monster, but is Hadrian really ok? You said he got some scars?”

“He will be fine, maybe some slight lingering effects, especially with his exposure to vampire bites, but nothing that will significantly impact him,” Snape explained and poured them both more of the mead out of the pitcher Sirius had ordered.

“Vampire bites?” Sirius frowned now, realizing he knew absolutely nothing about Hadrian. “When was he bitten by a vampire?”

“Look, I’m not here to talk about Hadrian’s past, which I also have basically confirmed through my scans was very abusive…”

Sirius held up a hand to stop him. Snape didn’t realize just how shocking that confirmation was. Even if Sirius had suspected it before, to have someone with healer training to confirm it… “I need a second,” he pinched the bridge of his nose and took in a deep breath.

Snape raised an eyebrow. He’d assumed Sirius had known even if Hadrian had never told him. “I thought you had guessed as much?”

Sirius nodded and slowly opened his eyes, before downing his drink and pouring another. “Godric, I wish we’d gotten firewhisky now,” he remarked before turning his hazel eyes on Snape with a haunted look. “Yes, I had guessed as much, but having it confirmed hurts more than you know. There are people that should have caught the abuse before you…I being one of them.”

“You were in prison for twelve years, Black,” Snape found himself reassuring the man surprisingly.

“I have no need of you to assuage my guilt, Severus, I have plenty to sustain me for a long while,” he dryly remarked and leaned back in the booth. “Now, what about Hadrian did you actually want to talk about?”

“He mentioned he hadn’t told you his plans for moving to Britain?” Snape clasped his hands together and sent a quick plea to the universe that his friend would forgive his betrayal of his trust, especially when this was for his own good.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, which looked much less aristocratic and imposing on his borrowed face. “No, he has not. I have my guesses, but I will not betray my cousin’s trust…”

“Well, I’m going to,” Snape sighed tiredly and ran a hand through his hair. “You have to help me. We can’t let him do what he has planned. He doesn’t know everything, and he’s going to get himself killed.”

Sirius highly doubted Snape knew more than Harry about what was going on at this point, and Harry had assured him that he didn’t plan on dying this time around, which was concerning in itself. “I think you are underestimating Hadrian,” he said snagging a chip to snack on.

Severus looked around them, even knowing they were behind a privacy ward before leaning forward to whisper. “He’s going to attempt to kill the Dark Lord.”

Sirius nodded at that since it wasn't news. That was a bit he actually did know along with the fact that only Harry could kill the man, which if Snape knew, was probably what was freaking him out. “Yes, he did mention that. Aren’t we all attempting that right now though?”

“Yes, but…” Snape trailed off realizing he didn’t actually have an answer to that. He knew that Harry Potter was the only one that could do the final deed, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t all currently trying to end the Dark Lord’s reign, he just hadn’t thought of it that way when Hadrian had been assuring him he was going to kill the monster.

“I think you have about as much luck with convincing Hadrian to not go after Vol…You-Know-Who as you do Dumbledore,” Sirius caught himself before he could do something to cause Snape pain.

Snape gave Sirius a surprised look at his consideration, one that was rarely even thought of by the rest of the Order. “Fine, I will concede that point for now,” he eventually said, not giving up, but vowing to see if he could redirect Hadrian’s efforts now instead.

“After that though, he wants to take over…he wants to be the next Dark Lord,” he whispered next as if the current one would pop up behind him and murder him on the spot.

Sirius frowned and sat down the chip he’d just picked up. Well, it wasn’t what he'd thought Harry had planned to do. But…he had assumed his godson had some plans to take over or influence politics, and Harry was a master of dark arts. “What are the requirements to be a Dark Lord again? Like a normal one, not one chosen by Magic herself?” He asked as Snape’s words sank in. It might actually be the logical move for his godson…

“I can’t believe you aren't throwing a fit right now!” Snape frantically hissed. He hadn’t expected Sirius to be so calm. If anyone was going to freak out even more than himself, it should be this man who had almost had a phobia of all things dark when they were teenagers.

“Well, I don’t exactly know the requirements now, do it?” Sirius said calmly as if talking down someone who was panicking, which he kind of was. “If I’m going to go along with what all you and Hadrian have been saying and believe that dark doesn’t equal evil, then I have to also entertain the thought that a dark lord doesn’t have to be evil either, right? So, what are the requirements again? Does he fit them?”

Snape ran a hand over his face in frustration. “I cannot believe you are actually considering this! Yes, he fits the bloody requirements, and no, a dark lord actually should not be evil as part of the requirements, but you know Dumbledore will never let a new dark lord rise! He will mobilize the Order against Hadrian next!”

Sirius slowly nodded at this. So, it did make sense for Harry to take over as a dark lord, and they already knew Dumbledore was a problem, one that he now knew was complicit in his godson’s abuse if he knew anything at all of his homelife, which he had to at least be negligent by keeping Remus away and lying to him all those years…

“Please don’t take what I’m saying the wrong way,” he slowly said, weighing his words as Snape had always seemed to be Dumbledore’s man through and through. However, he’d loved Lily, anyone who knew them in school knew that. This was the line, which one would Snape stand by in the end…

“But…I’m not so sure I’m with Dumbledore anymore either. What I mean is that, I’m still stuck on the fact that I think, no, I know Harry was in an abusive home,” he growled as now he actually did know. “Dumbledore had to know something since he was the one that placed Harry with his relatives. I gave Harry to Hagrid that night it all happened, and we both know who Hagrid answers to.”

“Just because he placed Potter with Petunia does not mean he knew of any abuse…are you sure? Are you positive Lily’s son was abused?” He asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Sirius opened his mouth then stopped, his eyes widening. Severus was a Roman emperor’s name. His brain flicked through the many genealogy lessons he’d been forced to sit through from his father as a child. Snape was descended from the Prince family…and they always used Roman emperor names for the male children just as the Black’s used constellation names. Lily had insisted they use a Roman emperor’s name for Hadrian…did that mean she and Snape were still friends even after all that had happened?

Harry was without a doubt James’s son (thank Merlin!) because of both how Harry looked as a child and that Sirius was quite certain that Snape was out as gay even while they were at Hogwarts, but maybe Lily was reaching out to her friend in her own way. Maybe Snape would be easier to convince to follow Harry instead of Dumbledore than he’d originally thought. If Lily and Snape had kept in touch over the years even after Hogwarts, it would make sense for neither Lily nor Snape to mention it to the marauders since their history was so very well known…and Snape had come over to their side before the Potters were killed.

“You just had some kind of epiphany? Care to share with the class?” Snape raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Severus…if I can prove to you that Harry was in fact abused and that Dumbledore knew about it, would you stay with Dumbledore or would you consider Hadrian as a third side?” He asked, seeing Harry’s side expand before his eyes. If they could tarnish Dumbledore’s reputation, there would be so many people who would be rushing to choose a third option between the two sides of the war.

Snape huffed and stole a chip off Sirius’s plate. “Sirius, if you can convince me that Hadrian has any chance at all of being successful, then I would join his side immediately. If you can convince me that Dumbledore knew anything at all about Harry Potter being abused and did nothing, then I will kill the man myself.”

Sirius smiled, and even through the Polyjuice Potion, his eyes flashed, and a shiver ran down Snape’s spine as what was called the Black Madness lit the man’s face. To his immense surprise, Snape wasn’t concerned in the slightest, he was excited…there was a shift in power, and something was happening…

Chapter Text

Sirius Black crossed his arms and leaned back in the booth he was sharing with Severus Snape. He knew his slightly unhinged smile wasn’t exactly very reassuring, Remy called it the ‘oh hell we’re all going to die’ smile, but he was starting to see just why Harry liked and said he needed Snape so much. “Right, so I’m going to have to talk to Hadrian and Harry both before we can really talk about all this,” he finally said as Snape waited on the information.

“Of course,” Snape huffed and rolled his eyes, coming to terms that he wasn’t going to get anything concrete at that moment as much as that severely irritated him.

“Some things I don’t know for sure and don’t want to lie to you, and some things are secrets that aren’t mine, and I don’t have the right to share,” Sirius explained quickly so Snape would know he wasn’t being intentionally evasive and really did want to tell him. “What I can tell you…”

Sirius took in a deep breath, finding the right words while Snape stared at him like he could see right through him. Thankfully, he had Azkaban brain, or he was sure Snape would be using some legilimency on him in that moment. “What I’ve put together from comments from a lot of people is that Remus and Harry didn’t meet until Remy taught at Hogwarts in Harry’s third year.”

“Alright…so they did not know each other,” Snape raised an eyebrow waiting for the significance that he didn’t quite see.

“They didn’t meet when Harry was little because Dumbledore told Remus he couldn’t visit for Harry’s safety,” Sirius continued, leaning forward now to give Snape a significant look and wishing he had his own face and expressions for this important conversation. “Remus asked every year after Harry, and Dumbledore told him that Harry was perfectly fine and happy and that he had checked on him…either Dumbledore just lied outright and never checked on Harry or somehow he knew and did nothing…”

Snape felt like his lungs were starting to contract and he had a pain in his chest. He had been told Harry was treated like a little prince by Dumbledore. While he still didn’t want to believe Harry Potter had been left in an abusive home, what Dumbledore had said just the day before, paired with Sirius’s claims…

“Dumbledore has requested that I teach Potter Occlumency,” Snape breathed out, realizing just how very close the two of them were, almost touching over the table, and leaned back. He didn’t want to believe Sirius was right, but it was looking more and more like he was.

“I don’t know what happened, but the Dark Lord supposedly was able to access Potter’s mind minimally up until a couple months ago when he suddenly wasn’t able to anymore…then there was something about Dumbledore’s wand, which I personally don’t understand, and he didn’t explain to me. For some insane reason, Dumbledore believes they may be connected. He’s asked that I find out the connection through the guise of teaching Potter Occlumency…do you understand those implications and what that means I have been asked to do…”

Sirius paled significantly. “I see you do,” Snape drawled at the sick look he was sure had been on his face when it had been asked of him as well. “Albus made an off-hand comment that Potter ‘had experienced worse’ when I protested.”

“The bastard,” Black seethed, his eyes flashing back to ice blue from their hazel as he looked like he could kill the old man on the spot.

“You need to take your Polyjuice again,” Snape warned him, seeing the signs it was wearing off. “Getting caught and thrown back in prison will not help Potter in any way. Also, I would personally not like to be the one to have to tell your cousin it happened when I was with you either.”

Sirius was swearing vehemently and fluently in several languages the entire time he took a swig of Polyjuice from the flask in his pocket and his eyes returned to hazel. “Bloody fucking hell…” he shoved the flask back in his pocket and actually reached across the table to grab onto Snape’s arm. “I’ll kill him and feed him to Moony…”

Snape’s eyes trailed to the hand on his arm with a frown, but he didn’t shake it off understanding the intense emotions the man was experiencing which were probably made worse with the trauma of Azkaban having stripped his nerves and mental processes. “Do you have any ideas as to why the Dark Lord may not have access to Potter’s mind anymore? Or what the hell happened with Dumbledore’s wand disappearing? Maybe Potter has said something to you?”

The hand on Snape’s arm tightened as Sirius took in a deep breath before seeming to realize what he was doing. “Sorry,” he turned slightly pink and mumbled as he returned to his side of the booth and put his hand in his lap, seeming to not know what to do with his hands now. “Erm…the wand, I don’t know anything about that. Was there anything significant about it? Was it not the one he bought for school at Ollivander’s?”

“There wasn’t anything special about it that I know of, but you know Dumbledore…it would not surprise me if it were important for some reason,” Snape sighed with a dismissive shrug at his own ignorance on the matter. “Honestly…Percy Weasley is probably the one I should be talking to about this if we think there might be something to do with magical theory or artifacts involved.”

“Ah! Yes! Great idea,” Sirius almost bounced in his seat, thinking that maybe Snape might know something about Percy at least and he wouldn’t have to avoid talking about it. “Just so we’re clear…why Percy Weasley in particular?” He asked significantly, wanting to know just how much Snape did about his godson’s Unspeakable necromancer partner before he started plying the man with his own questions since he hadn’t met Harry’s Weasley yet and needed oh so very much more information.

Snape rolled his eyes. “I’m guessing we both know he’s an Unspeakable,” he explained, more than a little confused when Sirius’s face fell slightly…there must be something else he didn’t know. Interesting…Well, he was certain he could get whatever it was out of the Hadrian since he clearly didn’t seem to want to keep things from him, just not quite ready to share them yet.

“Yes, definitely, Unspeakable,” Sirius nodded firmly with a huff of slight disappointment since he apparently didn’t know about the soul magic bit, so they couldn’t talk about it. “Ask Percy about the wand, and tell him to come visit me or something so I can give him a shovel talk or ask about his intentions or whatever so I don’t feel quite so useless in Hadrian’s life.”

“I will do that if you tell me what you seem to know about Potter’s sudden and surprising ability to block the Dark Lord from his mind,” he smirked, Black was so very easy to read.

Sirius finished off his mead and gave Snape an exasperated look to cover the fact he was stalling to find a good lie. He had won the coin toss with Remus and had gotten to read Harry’s book on horcruxes first. He had thankfully just finished the section it was in earlier that day and passed it to Remus, and the very little he’d learned made him feel sick at the magic that had been living in his pup for years. This was not something he could tell Snape though without breaking “Hadrian’s” trust and outing him as Harry. So, he needed some kind of excuse for Harry to possibly know Occlumency already…he hadn’t been around Harry enough to teach him himself, disregarding the fact he didn’t actually know the skill. Also, Snape was talented enough as a spy to know when he was being lied to, so there would need to be some truth and maybe he could just imply a lie…

“Yeah, well, right…I can’t tell you everything, but you will actually want to talk to Hadrian about this,” he said, trying to push off the revelations to his godson so he didn’t have to do it.

“Hadrian? Why?” Snape looked a little shocked and confused in the minute expressions he allowed himself to show to others.

“So…” here was the danger zone where Sirius couldn’t outright lie but could maybe imply some things. “I never actually said that Hadrian and Harry don’t already know each other…”

“You will explain this,” Snape ordered, leaning forward and looking dangerously at Sirius, realizing this was extremely significant information if a dark wizard who planned to become a new dark lord was actually in communication with the Light’s chosen boy.

“Well, it’s not like I could be around Harry much as a wanted fugitive, and Hadrian doesn’t exactly have a job right now and all, so he might have reached out to Harry for me…” Sirius trailed off, thinking that was probably all he could chance for a lie where the spy was concerned. Hadrian had been around Harry, if you squinted at the situation just right.

Snape grumbled and gave a low swear before leaning back, coming to his own conclusions. “I suppose I need to check the Golden Boy for some dark, blood-magic rune tattoos now, don’t I? The idiot! That’s beyond stupidity for both of them: Hadrian to attempt it and Potter to agree to it! Not even mentioning the fact it’s illegal to tattoo a fifteen-year-old!”

“Or it’s brilliant and ingenious if it keeps You-Know-Who out of Harry’s mind,” Sirius gave a mental sigh of relief at the conclusion Snape had jumped to that he had been hoping the man would. “Regardless, tread lightly with your Occlumency lessons. I’m not sure how much Harry will admit to if you question him directly, your relationship has been very…antagonistic up to now.”

Snape gave a snort of agreement before scrubbing a hand over his face, knowing exactly the position he’d put himself in with the boy. “To say the least! Yes, it was my fault, but the Dark Lord was still out there as a wraith that could be returned to a body, and I would personally like to stay alive to see middle age if possible!”

“It is not like I could be even relatively considerate to the brat when he wears every single emotion he has on his face. That first day I had him in Potions class I tested the waters to see his reactions, and the boy has absolutely no filter on his expressions! If I were to show him kindness or reach out to him, he’d look all sickeningly happy at me and either Crabbe or Goyle would immediately report it to their parents, and I’d be dead already now that the Dark Lord has returned…those little snitches!” He swore, wishing he hadn’t had to burn every bridge with Potter…especially now that Snape knew he hadn’t had the pampered life he'd been led to believe.

“You walk a very fine line there as a double agent,” Sirius winced deeply, realizing for the first time just how very much danger Snape was constantly in with both sides of the war knowing he was a spy and having to constantly lie and prove his loyalties to both while neither really trusted him. Without Harry’s absolute assurance from the future and his recent epiphany about Hadrian’s name, Sirius would still be swearing Snape couldn’t be trusted himself. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looked at it, Harry could hide his emotions and did actually trust Snape now being Hadrian from the future.

“When is your first Occlumency lesson?”

“Thursday if Dumbledore actually sent him the information,” Snape replied and cut off with a hiss as his second master painfully called, causing him to grab his left arm as his nerve ending were blasted with pain. “Salazar’s balls!” He breathed out.

“Sorry,” Sirius grimaced, feeling more for Snape than he ever had in their lives before. He wasn’t sure what it was he felt exactly though. It definitely wasn’t pity… appreciation?... admiration maybe… “I’ll talk to Harry. He should be much less antagonistic on Thursday if I can help it.” That was going to be an interesting conversation, but Harry would have to figure out some way to cover that he already knew Occlumency. He hoped his godson was up to a bit of acting.

“Thanks, Black…that is actually very…helpful,” Snape grumbled in confusion and pulled out his wand to leave and apparate to the meeting before pausing and sitting back down as another thought occurred to him. “Also, would you happen to know where the hell Hadrian would have been around a dead basilisk? He sent me some parts, and I’m not certain he realizes just how valuable they are.”

“A basilisk?!” Sirius’s eyebrows shot up in complete shock and a bit of fear. “But…those are extinct, right?”

“I thought so, but I have some skin, venom, and bone in my office that leads me to believe that is actually questionable,” he huffed, not liking all the mystery currently in his life.

“You know…I think I remember one of the teens this summer say something about a basilisk, it was just a throwaway comment I didn’t pay much attention to beyond finding it funny that teenagers would actually know what a basilisk was since they’ve been extinct so long,” Sirius was frowning. He thought it might have been Granger, or possibly the Weasley girl, but someone had said something about a situation that was happening that it at least it was better than a basilisk or something…but he hadn’t thought about it since they were clearly extinct.

“I’ll ask…”

Snape nodded and stood. “I will speak to Percy about the wand and let you know if he knows anything about it.”

“Hey Snape…” Sirius called as the man turned again to walk off, a concerned look in his eyes. “Be safe, alright?”

Snape’s eyebrows shot up and he momentarily looked surprised before he gave just the slightest hint of a smile at his former nemesis before nodding and striding away in a swirl of dark robes. Sirius let out a breath and ran his hand over his face. He didn’t know what was happening to him, but he’d thought more about Severus Snape over the past few weeks than he had in years, and he found he was intrigued, and worried about the spy, and guilty for their past, and just so very…yeah, he was screwed…

Harry glared at Fawkes who actually seemed irritated himself that he’d been called on to deliver a letter like some lowly owl. “You know he’s a bastard, right?” Harry asked the bird in all seriousness, crumpling the parchment in his hand. “You’ve always been kind to me, and saved my life in second year, but Dumbledore…you know what he’s doing isn’t right…you’re better than him.”

Fawkes gave a cry that had a mournful note in the sweet tones of the music. Harry wasn’t sure exactly how to interpret it, but Fawkes wasn’t his familiar and could make his own decisions. “Well, take care of yourself anyway,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the parapet of the Astronomy Tower where the bird had found him.

With another cry, Fawkes disappeared in a ball of flames, leaving Harry watching the sun go down on the horizon and pondering just what he’d changed to prompt Dumbledore to move his Occlumency lessons to before Christmas break instead of after. It had to be something about the wand, but Harry had no clue why Dumbledore would think he had anything to do with that. His hand trailed to the third wand on his person now, strapped to his right arm, feeling so much more right there than either of the other wands on him. Soon, he’d be able to start his own wand shop, he thought wryly.

“Harrikins!” A Weasley twin called out in greeting as they both strode into the tower for their set meeting, still looking suspiciously and in concern at who they thought was a teenager in a possibly compromising situation with a teacher.

“Oh great patron of pranks and little brother of ours!” The other twin added on, George, Harry thought even though it was much harder to tell them apart with George having both ears. Usually, he just picked names for them both and went with it in his head.

“You ready to tell us…”

“Why you were slumming it last night with our git of a brother?” They asked, trading off in the middle of the conversation as they did often, the tone more serious than the words.

“Yeah, Perce’s boyfriend is a bit scary. You might not want to cross him,” Fred continued with a chuckle while they stole a couple of the student chairs strewn about and sat in front of where Harry was still leaning against the parapet.  

“Plus, that’s just really morally questionable, Harrykins,” George added on.

Harry rolled his eyes and snorted. “You guys talking about something being morally questionable?! That’s concerning in itself,” he laughed. “By the way, why didn’t you tell me you had a copy of the map?”

“And spill all our secrets?!” They both dramatically gave shocked gasps in unison.

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to give me that map now, could I?” He asked, already knowing the answer but having to give it a try. Unfortunately, with Umbridge not at the school that year, they had no reason to drop out, so it would be an entire year of the two of them knowing where he was in the castle at any given time.

“Now, why would Harrikins want our map, Gred? That sounds suspicious,” George asked his brother with a frown.

“Seems our Har-Bear is up to no good, Forge,” Fred raised an eyebrow as they smirked at each other before turning that smirk as one onto Harry.

“Merlin, I missed his,” Harry couldn’t help the large smile at how in-tune the two were. George was never the same after Fred’s death. He was a ghost of himself, always trailing off in the middle of sentences, waiting for someone else to finish it even years after Fred was gone. “I love you two so much.”

The twins now looked concerned. “Harry…you ok?”

“Our brother’s not hurting you or blackmailing you or something, right?” George asked.

“We’ll take care of him for you ourselves if he is,” Fred said completely seriously and meaning it clearly.

“Merlin, no!” Harry quickly assured them, standing up straight and emphatically shaking his head. “No, it’s nothing like that, but if you’re not going to willingly give me your map, then I’m going to have to fill you in on some things because I’ll definitely be spending as many nights as I possibly can get away with in your brother’s chambers, and in his bed too if I don’t do something to make him pissed at me…the couch does tend to see my stubborn arse more than it should.”

“Harry…you’re 15,” George got really serious to remind him in concern. “And our brother is a professor…”

“Have you seen Hadrian?!” Fred added on with wide eyes. “Dark wizard…muscles…lots of scars…that guy?”

“Actually, I’m 27,” Harry smirked as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the parapet once again. “What all do you know about time-travel?”

“Enough to know that’s impossible to go that far back…”

“Without some serious dark magic…” the twins looked at each other, shock across their faces.

Harry pointed at himself, grin on his face. “Dark wizard, muscles, lots of scars…that’s me.”

“Prove it!” Fred crossed his arms and placed his hand over where Harry knew he kept his wand up his sleeve in a holster like Harry had three of now.

Harry bent over and pulled his own ebony wand out of his ankle holster, still hating the feel of his old holly wand and how sluggish it was now. With a flick, Hadrian Black was standing in front of them. “I swear to both I’m Harry Potter, but I made some very intentional changes to my appearance to be less recognizable to the press and everyone in the future,” he explained while the twins studied him, their wands now clearly in their hands warningly.

“He’s Harry Potter on the map,” George commented to Fred assessingly as he looked the man in front of them over.

“The map doesn’t lie,” Fred nodded back at him. “I can see it…around his eyes…”

“So…you come back in time and immediately start shacking up with our brother?” George turned to Harry now and asked in confusion. “Why are you back in time so far? How is that even possible?”

“And what happened to you?!” Fred added on as Harry’s bruises and visible bandage against his neck was visible now as well as his age.

“That’s a lot of questions,” Harry laughed and reapplied his glamour with another flick of his wand, feeling vulnerable out in the open of the Astronomy Tower. “I’m teaching Ron, Hermione, and Neville Occlumency. You’re going to have to learn it too if you want to know everything,” he said, also looking at his watch to make sure he wasn’t late to Hermione’s training session in Percy’s office.

“I can’t believe Ronnikins is going to try to learn mind magic,” Fred commented to George who nodded with a chuckle.

“We’re pretty sure Snape and maybe the headmaster are legilimens,” George told Harry to explain their knowledge in the subject.

“We haven’t gotten to full shields yet, but we’ve got enough to keep out surface skimming…have since our third year and twenty-fifth detention,” Fred smirked at him.

Harry nodded in appreciation. “Of course you do,” he rolled his eyes. “Right, well, come with me to your brother’s office. We’re testing Hermione’s shields this evening, and I’ll fill you in more there. Importantly though before we go there, and to answer one of your questions, I’ve actually been with your brother for about two years now…he came back in time with me.”

“Percy?! Using dark magic?!” They both sputtered in disbelief. “Definitely not!”

“It’s too out in the open here to go into any detail, but yeah,” Harry said, looking around. He’d set up wards when he first entered the tower, but he was paranoid enough he would still rather have this discussion in Percy’s office.

George’s hand suddenly shot out and crushed Fred’s arm in a vise grip. “Percy came back in time,” he told his brother with a look of horror on his face. “Our brother is back in time years.”

“Yeah…?” Fred looked at his twin in confusion, not realizing why this was significant (well, definitely significant but George looked ready to pass out) and affecting his brother so much.

“Percy almost cried when we sat down with him the other day in the Three Broomsticks,” George explained, blood draining from his face. “I thought he’d missed us since he was avoiding the family all summer, but I had thought it strange and a major over-reaction at the time especially since he’d seen us in class…”

“Unless it had been much longer since he’d talked with us…” Fred finished, understanding making him turn pale now as well.

“We’re dead, Fred aren’t we…?” George said in almost a whisper before they both turned scared and questioning eyes on Harry.

“A lot of people were…coming back in time wasn’t for a lark,” Harry said dryly, not wanting to tell them what all happened. “But no…you weren’t both dead…”

The twins were holding onto each other as if they could physically keep anything bad from happening to the other. The look in their eyes was clear that that situation was actually worse than them both having died. From what Harry had seen of George without Fred and them together again now, he could believe it.

“Come down to the office, right? We’ll talk more there…” Harry gave them a sad smile and stepped towards the door. “I promise, I came to help everyone…to change things. I’d never hurt any of you.”

“Of course you did, Harry!” George stood up and scoffed as if that had never been in question even though he still looked exceptionally shaken.

“You wouldn’t be Harry if you didn’t defy the laws of magic to change things for us all,” Fred followed his twin as they both stepped forward and then seemed to remember Harry was injured before they could, Merlin forbid, pull him into a hug or something.

“Come on, let’s get to our big brother’s. I want to see what he looks like under that glamour too,” George led the way down from the tower towards the DADA office.

“So…why exactly are Harry’s cat’s eyes red?” Ron asked his brother as if he were asking about the weather while they all waited on Harry to show up for Hermione’s Occlumency lesson.

“Saw that, did you?” Percy gave his younger brother a grin from where he was finishing up his report for his new supervisor in the Department of Mysteries. He had been shocked when he got the owl that morning that he now had office space and a paycheck heading his way as long as he continued his research.

“Unforeseen side-effect of some research I’ve been doing,” he answered off-handedly while finishing his report with a flourish.

“Exactly what research would turn a cat’s eyes red?” Hermione asked from where Percy had asked her to stir the potion Harry had simmering in the back of his office. They both hoped they weren’t going to need to break into Gringotts, but just in case, it was best to have some magical signature blocking potion on hand if needed.

“How exactly does a person clear their mind?! You can’t just not think!” Neville grumbled in frustration, still reading the book on Occlumency from where he was sitting as far away from the potion as possible in Percy’s office. He didn’t think he would ever not be a curse at Potions and was skeptical about Harry claiming somehow he’d overcome it to be an auror.

“Research I’m not going to explain to a fifth year,” Percy told Hermione to her frustration before he turned to Neville. “Not exactly clearing your mind completely, but focus on one thing that blocks out everything else, something calming,” he recommended.

“Oh, thank Morgana!” Percy let out a breath when his door opened and he saw his partner, happy to not be left alone with the teenagers for any longer.

“…Nundu bile, some kind of muggle explosive, like maybe gunpowder or C4, and vampire blood if you can get it,” Fred was rattling off as the twins entered behind Harry.

“What are they doing here?” Ron asked in a tone that had just a tinge of jealousy around the edges.

“You need anything, love?” Harry asked, distractedly ignoring Ron, from where he seemed to be jotting down the list the twins had been giving him on a pad of muggle paper.

“From?” Percy stood and began to ward his office door, figuring the twins must now be in on things if they were asking his partner to buy them illegal products.

“I’m going to try to make friends with Stefan again,” Harry responded, taking Percy’s now vacated desk chair and tapping his muggle pen to the pad of paper he was holding. “He’s the easiest of my old black-market contacts to track down in this current time. I’m pretty sure he’s working out of that butcher shop in Knockturn already.”

“Freely-given unicorn hair if he can swing it,” Percy responded, thinking it would help in his experiments on Harry since it was a pure-Light substance.

Harry grimaced at the memory of having to convince a unicorn to give him some hair for the ritual. Bloody difficult and stubborn horses! “Fine, but that’s going to cost you shower sex even if you complain it makes you all pruney. Anything unicorn is bloody expensive!”

“Deal, and no getting any explosives for my brothers!” Percy turned a glare on the twins who had been looking between the two of them with their jaws hanging open.

“I miss their fireworks though,” Harry pouted.

“Who exactly decided to loop in the chaos twins?!” Ron finally exploded, waving his arms over his head wildly to get everyone’s attention.

“The bloody menaces never told me, in fourteen years might I add, that they made a copy of the Marauder’s Map,” Harry gave the twins a fake glare before removing his glamour with a flick of his wand.

“Godric’s ghost!” Neville jumped when he looked up from his book, having forgotten exactly what Harry looked like as an adult. “Warn a person.”

“You’re warned then,” Percy dryly commented before flicking his wand and removing his own glamour.

“Bloody hell!” Ron’s eyes widened in shock as everyone took in the older version of Percy. “You said you hadn’t changed much!! You look like Bill only thinner and sterner!”

“I haven’t changed much,” Percy frowned and looked to Harry with a questioning raise of his eyebrow.

“In relation to me anyway, but you’re 31, love, it’s still very different from 19,” Harry said with a shrug. He didn’t look that different to Harry, but Percy had filled out a lot more, had the longer hair, and his face was more lined and mature.

“Right, so mind magic, right?” George asked, sitting on the corner of Percy’s desk. “We just learned one of us is dead, so we need to be filled in about what’s happening to stop that tragedy.”

“Yeah, let’s get a move on!” Fred nodded vehemently.

“Join the club,” Ron grumbled and leaned back crossing his arms.

“Yeah, we’re dead too,” Hermione put Harry’s potion back in stasis to join the group.

“I’m not! I’m alive!” Neville raised his hand with a wide grin.

“Yes, you are,” Harry smiled indulgently at Neville before looking over to Percy with a frown. “Oh…er, dear…erm…I might have changed something, and I’m not sure what. I don’t know how it’s going to affect things.”

“We’ve changed a lot, Harry. What specifically happened?” Percy laughed, knowing that the more endearments Harry used when talking to him usually meant he thought he was going to get in trouble for something.

“I don’t know,” Harry shrugged and passed the parchment Fawkes had delivered earlier over to Percy. “This didn’t happen until after your dad was attacked before Christmas last time around.”

“Wait…something happens to Dad?” Ron jumped up in shock. The twins stepped forward in concern as well while Percy took the letter and sat on his desk beside Harry to read it.

“We’ll stop it, don’t worry,” Harry assured the rest of the Weasley’s. “Even if I have to stalk him for a week…er, since I don’t remember the exact date it happened.”

“Hmm…this is a problem. If Snape is going to teach you Occlumency, you can’t exactly hide that you already know it, and you definitely can’t let him in your mind,” Percy mused consideringly.

“Yeah, I still can’t get close to Luna,” Harry winced remembering how he had made to walk over to her just the day before, thinking he had everything under control, and had almost had a panic attack himself, not even touching on shielding his emotions from her as an empath. “My mind’s probably a bit like Sirius’s even without all the dementor exposure.”

“You could just tell him,” Neville remarked, pointedly not looking up from his book.

“Wait, Harrikins was hanging out with the dungeon bat, wasn’t he?” Fred asked, remembering they’d left Hogsmead together.

“How’d that happen?” George finished the question for him.

“None of your business…same as whatever I did or didn’t do to my shoulder,” Harry playfully huffed at them before standing and pulling out his ebony wand again.

“Right, I’ll figure out something with Snape before our meeting, but now, we need to test Hermione’s shields. The twins already have some mild-ones, and if someone is insistent enough to get past those, then all of you…” he looked intensely at the group of teenagers to make it clear he was serious about this. “You just tell them whatever they want to know. I don’t have any secrets worth you getting tortured. You hear me?”

“But…”

“Nope, you tell them everything,” Harry cut off Hermione and looked more adult than they’d ever seen him in his serious glare. “They’ll find it out eventually anyway, and this way you might be able to convince them to use you as a bargaining chip to get me alone. They’ll see you’re more valuable to keep alive and lure me into some kind of trap than to kill you. Save yourself, no matter what. Percy doesn’t think I can die anyway…not sure I believe him, but he’s experimenting on me to figure it out…and not the fun sexy kind of experimenting either unfortunately.”

Percy rolled his eyes at his ridiculous partner while everyone else sputtered in shock and embarrassment. “What do you mean that you might not be able to die?!” Hermione asked next, now looking like she wanted to get in on these experiments…the not sexy kind at least.

“I really have no clue,” Harry shrugged, not caring at the moment anyway. “I’ll let you know once Percy tells me. He’s the expert.”

“How is my brother an expert in death?!” Ron sputtered once more, looking at Percy disbelievingly.

“I’m an Unspeakable,” Percy answered him with a smirk, causing the teenagers to fall silent in shock once more. “Now…Hermione, sit down and get comfortable. Do you want me or Harry to give your shields a little push?”

Remus Lupin pulled his lightweight jacket more tightly around his shoulders, wishing he’d worn one a little heavier. He sighed, staring at the row of bland houses in front of him from where he was leaning against a streetlight in the twilight. Sirius was off meeting with Severus, as world ending and hell freezing over as that sounded, and he’d been left alone at the house with the book on horcruxes. After reading the frustratingly short section on the vile form of magic, Remus had been too keyed up to sit still, horrified at what had been done to his cub all those years before and how he'd had to live with a piece of Voldemort’s soul inside him.

He didn’t know what he thought of this older Harry, not that he didn’t trust him, but he saw his own mistakes in the young man. He hadn’t been there to help, and his cub had suffered…he didn’t even know how much he’d suffered. He should have just ignored Dumbledore and tracked Harry down, even if it meant wandering every street in Surrey and creepily sniffing families. He could deal with the muggle police asking questions if it had led to him finding little Harry.

Then, this past summer, he’d even had guard duty a couple times when he wasn’t trying to convince the werewolves to go against Fenrir and join the Light. While he had a sneaking suspicion that Greyback might not be a problem anymore, why hadn’t Remus talked to Harry while he was there watching the house? He hadn’t wanted to be a bother or a burden, and he’d never even considered that Harry might actually want him to come up and talk to him. Just what had happened, even this past summer behind that very normal and average looking door?

“You must be the werewolf one, aren’t you?” An old woman startled Remus in his self-deprecating and angry musings. “You’re clearly not the fugitive one that were on all the posters.”

Remus looked over the elderly woman who was squinting at him in the dim light. He couldn’t sense any magic in her at all. She was stooped but still spry, it seemed, and her grey hair was pulled back in a severe bun like Minerva usually wore. She must be a squib…there was a squib woman who had testified at Harry’s hearing, wasn’t there?

“Yes…I’m Remus Lupin,” he eventually admitted slowly, not so sure he wanted to be caught contemplating some definitely illegal plans outside of a house he should really not be anywhere near.

“Well, it’s ‘bout time!” The woman huffed and turned around, motioning for him to follow her. “Well, come along then. You’ll want to come to mine. Here, carry this for me.” She picked up a grocery bag she’d sat down on the street with cat food in it and shoved it in his arms.

“We’re just going a street over, dear, keep up,” she strode away, not looking back to see if she was being followed, though Remus was most definitely hurrying along in this mystery woman’s wake now.

Chapter Text

Remus Lupin cautiously sipped his overly sweet tea from the tiny, floral teacup in his hand while keeping an eye on the large calico cat giving him a death glare from its perch on the back of the elderly woman’s chair across from him…a person he now knew was Arabella Figg. “Don’t mind Colonel Scratch there, he’s just a mite protective,” Arabella waved a hand errantly back at the calico while passing a piece of biscuit to a large, orange cat at her feet.

“Cats don’t tend to like me,” Remus remarked as several more felines wandered around in the corners of the comfortable, but more than a bit overly cat scented, sitting room.

“I would imagine so,” the woman said dryly, hiding a small smile behind her teacup. “Now, why don’t you just flip through that photo album sitting there on the coffee table? I have some wonderful pictures of my cats in there, and I do flatter myself that I’m a bit of a photographer. I think you’ll find them very interesting.”

Remus frowned as he leaned forward to open the large photo album. He decidedly did not want to look at pictures of this woman’s cats, but she lived just a couple streets over from where Harry grew up, and she seemed to know something. He figured if he humored her, she’d eventually get to the point about why she seemed to be looking for either him or Sirius to show up. “Hmm…yes, they are quite good…” He distractedly commented as he flipped over a page of fluffy kittens framed by flowers and cat toys.

“Yes, all my babies have been extremely photogenic…all of them,” she said significantly at the end just as Remus flipped the page.

The werewolf sucked in a startled breath when he realized exactly why this woman wanted him to look at pictures of her cats of all things. There, holding a kitten in his lap, was a three- or four-year-old Harry Potter, smiling painfully at the camera through a split lip and black eye. He looked up as the woman raised an eyebrow and took another sip of her tea. “Harry…?”

“Go on,” she interrupted in a hard tone. “My pictures cover years…up until just this past summer. There are a few very artful ones in there, ones where Harry has almost more colors on his skin than Colonel Scratch here has in his fur,” she reached up to rub the cat perched imperiously behind her.

Remus flipped through the pages where there were more candid shots of Harry playing with the cats, his arm in a make-shift sling made out of rags, bruises on the back of his neck while he was weeding the yard of what looked to be the house on Privet Drive, and years of abuse recorded in what was disguised as pictures an old and obsessed woman had taken of her cats. “Why…?” was all he was able to get out past the lump in his throat as he turned page after page.

“Why didn’t I do something about it?” She asked, sitting down her teacup and giving him a hard look. “What could I do? I’m a squib. I have no magic, and I’m bloody seventy-five years old, which is old when you have a muggle lifespan like me…forgive my language.”

“But surely…”

“That first picture you saw, I sent a copy of that one to Dumbledore along with every other picture in that album he’s in when I took ‘em,” she interrupted him once more with an angry glare. “I don’t have easy access to owl post or my own transportation, but I made the trip to London regularly to try to get help for that boy. The first few years, I was thanked for the pictures and assured that Harry was ‘accident’ prone and played rough with his cousin but that he was perfectly fine. Harry himself said the same thing when I asked, not that I ever believed him. After that, I never even got responses.”

“How did Dumbledore know though?” Remus frowned. He fully believed the man had never actually checked in on Harry after the things the older Harry had let slip.

“The hell if I know,” she hissed, sounding remarkably like one of her cats. “I were posted here to keep an eye on the lad, and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of Albus Dumbledore until he dropped by after the dem’nter incident this past summer to ask me to speak at little Harry’s trial. I know a dem’nter even when I can’ts see one, but I’d lie on that stand faster than you can blink if it meant protecting my Harry!”

“So…he never came by? Not even after this picture?” Remus asked slowly, tasting the anger palpably in his mouth and feeling Moony at the edge of his senses. He flipped back and pointed at the picture where Harry had his arm in the makeshift sling with bruises all over it.

Arabella leaned forward to look at the picture. “Never saw him once, and I only got a few letters updating me on events…that was the day I stood for two hours outside of the muggle police station debating if I should walk in and report something, show them my pictures…I wish I had. I might still if you send him back here after seeing all this and after the dem’nters,” she motioned to the album with a dangerous glare at the werewolf she didn’t seem frightened of for a second, more like she'd hit him over the head with her purse if he didn't do anything.

Remus ran a hand down his face. There was no way in hell they were letting Hadrian Black walk back into Privet Drive. He would say the same thing about his cub back when he was Harry, but for very different reasons. If someone was going to kill the Dursleys and be sent to Azkaban for it, he wanted to be the one to do it and at least keep his cub safe from that…and he was certain by the little he knew of Hadrian, that he’d have no qualms with killing those monsters if they tried anything.

“Why didn’t you report it to the muggles?” He finally asked, not judging the woman who had been in an impossible situation, but wondering why all the same.

“The wards,” she said simply but with that hiss again. “I was assured by Dumbledore that there were pow’rful wards around Harry’s house protecting him. But You-Know-Who was supposedly dead, and his followers had seemingly moved on at the time…so I stood there, weighing the options. If I got the muggles involved, they might get him out to safety, but was it really safer? Were those wards necessary? At the time, I didn’t know. I’m not privy to a lot of what’s happening in the magical ward since squibs aren’t welcome in most places. I didn’t know if Harry would be in more danger if he were removed from the wards…now, with the war back on, he seems he might actually be in more danger.”

Remus nodded slowly. At the time though…Harry looked around seven or eight…he probably would have been safe outside the wards. It was only after Voldemort rose again, or when everyone believed he was in danger from Sirius when he was thirteen that the wards would really have been needed and were a good argument. 

“Do you know…are those wards really and actually pow’rful?” Arabella asked insistently with anxiety on her features. “Was I right to leave him, or did I leave the boy to harm when he could have been saved.”

Remus just shook his head in frustration. “I don’t know. It’s only recently that the war is decidedly heating up again. I don’t think any of the Death Eaters were actively after him once the initial activity was quelled in the wake of Voldemort’s fall. However, if the muggles took him away from the Dursleys, it would have gotten back to the ministry eventually, and there would have been chaos as everyone tried to put their hat in for who should be allowed to adopt him. Not all families would be better than the Dursleys unfortunately…”

She let out a frustrated huff which Remus completely agreed with. “Well, I cornered old Mad Eye when he doing his security checks this past summer…he was a friend of my father’s back in the day, and he were the one that told me about you and the fugitive godfather as being the closest adults to Harry…I been expecting either of you to drop by anytime, once you really talked to my Harry boy…what took you so long?!”

“He never talks about his time with his relatives,” Remus closed his eyes and shut the book, not being able to look at it for a second longer. With a sigh, he pulled his wand out of his pocket. “Do you mind if I make a copy of this?”

Arabella crossed her arms and glared at him. “As long as you promise my boy will never step foot in that house again. You and that fugitive man can just go and kidnap him if you need to, but you get him somewhere safe, with good wards, and where Albus Too Many Names Dumbledore doesn’t know where he is!”

“That will not be a problem at all,” Remus tapped his wand to the album, duplicating it on the coffee table. He had a feeling that Harry’s plans were moving forward more than he knew and that he never planned to go to Surrey again. If Remus had anything to say about it, this was the exact evidence they would need to take down the Light…something that he would have been against just a few weeks before, but now…whatever Harry’s plans were, he was in.

Snape growled at the image of Percy Weasley once more standing outside his rooms and waiting on him while he painfully crawled back to his chambers after a Death Eater meeting. “Which house elf do I need to make sure and hand a shirt to this time,” he complained when he opened the door and waited for the DADA professor to enter since he was clearly there to check on his health and well-being.

“First of all, the house elves work for Hogwarts, not for you, so you couldn’t free one if you did actually want to,” Percy responded with a snicker while he made himself at home with Snape’s potions cabinet and collected many of the potions he would need to be mobile to teach the next day. “Second, it was Sirius Black that owled this time. The request to check on you was buried in his demands for a dinner and obligatory shovel-talk, but it was there nonetheless.”

“Black is highly annoying,” Severus groaned, but gratefully took the potions he was handed and waited out the diagnostic spells now being thrown at him.

“Which one?” Percy chuckled and walked over to grab another potion or two his diagnostics said Snape would need.

“Both…and where did your partner find a bloody basilisk?!” He pinned the younger man with a glare while accepting the potions. “They are decidedly extinct according to everyone in the magical community.”

Percy frowned. He had meant to ask Harry about that. He was still confused why Snape didn’t seem to know about the basilisk incident. “A friend ran into it, killed the monster, and gave it to Hadrian to figure out what to do with,” he eventually responded, not wanting to say anything to give Harry away. If Snape did eventually figure out where it came from, then they could still say Harry gave it to Hadrian somehow.

“It is a shame your friend killed it. A live basilisk would be invaluable…where was it anyway?” Snape stretched his long legs out on the couch, planning to sleep right there instead of trying to make it to his room.

Percy rolled his eyes and had Snape floating in the air with a flick of his wand. “Set me down you ingrate!!” Snape protested while he was floated towards his bedroom, swearing the entire way.

“You’ll be in even more pain if you sleep on the couch, and you know I’m right,” Percy informed him before he gently dropped him onto his comfortable bed.

“I blame Hadrian for you somehow lacking all fear of me anymore,” Snape groused as he rolled over and into his covers more, not undressing, and pulling them up to almost over his eyes.

“Probably true,” Percy shrugged, thinking it was more like he just understood Snape a little more now. “Anyway, the basilisk was trying to kill our friend, so we’re happy he got it first. Let us know what you find out when you test the ingredients, and I’m sure Hadrian can tell you more of the story later.”

“He better,” the cocooned man grumbled, his voice muffled in the duvet.

“Hadrian finished the last round of essays. I’ll set them on your desk,” Percy pulled the ream of parchment out of his pocket. “Also, Hadrian and I are meeting Mum and Dad for dinner before the Order meeting Friday night, so if you get there a little early, you can pass more marking off to him.”

“He had better hurry out before the meeting, Albus has not learned Sirius’s cousin is a dark wizard yet,” he added in, dark eyes following a chuckling Percy out of his room.

“How do you keep sneaking out of school without people noticing?” Sirius Black glared at his grown godson who had reams of parchment spread out over his desk in Grimmauld Place and who seemed to be drowning in paperwork.

“I’m a very generous lover to my fake-Ravenclaw girlfriend,” Hadrian looked up with slightly crossed eyes and a smudge of ink on his nose. “Plus, the twins are in on it all now, and they could distract a niffler from a bank vault if they wanted to.”

“Girlfriend?” Sirius raised an eyebrow and a smirk before sitting in the armchair in front of his own stolen desk.

“Yeah, not sure how that rumor came about or why Ginny at least hasn’t corrected people…Percy isn’t too happy about it since I did actually date Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw, for a very awkward half-second in fifth year the first time through,” Harry shrugged unconcernedly. “I’ll make it up to him though…as soon as I get through the bloody centaur’s demands, this bloody ridiculous contract from the goblins, and Kreacher’s updates to the bloody house elf document,” he groaned tiredly.

Sirius gave a long-suffering sigh before dramatically reaching out a hand. “Give me the goblins’ contract. I did take a course on contract law as a professional development seminar when I was an auror.”

“You? Professional development?” Harry gave him a disbelieving look even as he handed over the large stack of elegantly written on parchment.

“It was paid,” he rolled his eyes. “The bloke teaching it was quite fit too.”

“That makes more sense…” Harry nodded with a smirk and pulled the house elf document over towards him, already pulling out a bottle of red ink to circle areas they could ask for more from him in. “Did you hear that I’m supposed to start Occlumency with Snape tomorrow?”

“Hmm, yes, I had dinner with Severus on Sunday night, and he mentioned it,” Sirius said as innocently as possible. “What are you planning to do about that?”

Harry actually set down his quill and looked up again in shock. “You had dinner with Snape? Really? I was sure the ritual took me back in time and not to an alternate dimension…I’m wondering if I read that bit wrong in the book now.”

“You were the one that insisted I play nice,” Sirius looked up at him with a glare that was only half serious. “You could have told me yourself that you had injured your shoulder…and that small detail of wanting to become the next dark lord too…”

Harry huffed and gave his shoulder a tentative rub. It was still very sore, and the stitches would need to stay in for another week at least. “The shoulder is fine, and well…I wasn’t sure how you’d take the whole dark lord thing…how are you taking it?”

Sirius shrugged and reached over to grab the pencil sitting on the desk in front of him to make some suggestions for changes to the contract. “Snape explained it a little more than what my limited knowledge understood, and it makes sense. I guess I kind of agree that it’s probably the best option, even though it’s going to be difficult and dangerous, Pup. Also…I just offered to look over your contract from the goblins…did you assume I’d be too stupid to realize it was about supporting a new dark lord?”

Harry gave him a death glare. “No, I was kind of hoping you’d figure it out on your own. That’s why I was doing all this work here…well, that and the common room isn’t exactly safe to have documents like these out and about in.”

“Long as you didn’t think I was stupid. My ego is so very fragile you know,” Sirius gave his godson a teasing smile. “Now…what are you going to do about those pesky Occlumency lessons.”

“No fucking clue,” Harry grumbled and viciously circled an entire section in red ink. “I only have until tomorrow night to figure something out, and I really haven’t made any progress there. Any suggestions?”

“Tell him the truth?” Sirius looked up with a shrug. He figured Snape probably wouldn’t take it well initially but would hopefully get over it quickly once he understood.  

Harry grumbled something under his breath that Sirius couldn’t hear. “For those of us without werewolf hearing…” he prompted his godson.

Harry huffed and put down the quill again. “I’m worried he won’t like me anymore. He hates Harry Potter, and well, I don’t have a lot of friends close to my age anymore here. I love Ron, Hermione, Neville, and the twins…but it’s not the same. They just don’t understand what it’s like, and I hope they never will. I have Percy and all, but I’m worried if I put everything on him all the time, I’ll just burn out our relationship.”

“I doubt your Weasley sees it that way,” Sirius reached across the table to give Harry’s hand a little squeeze. “Also, you have me too…I’m the same age as Severus.”

“Yeah, but you’re Siri…you’re the closest thing to a dad I have, even if you’re only seven or eight years older than me right now.”

Sirius Black was completely floored. Harry had gone back to looking over his papers, but Sirius’s brain just wasn’t working. Harry actually saw him as a dad-figure…well…didn’t that just completely rock his world and throw everything out of balance? He was flattered, and terrified he wouldn’t live up to expectations.

They worked in silence for a while as Sirius tried to wrap his head around having a grown son now and what he needed to do about that…or if he needed to do anything. What did Harry actually expect of him? “You know…Percy and I are having dinner with Molly and Arthur Friday before the Order meeting,” Harry finally spoke up conversationally. “You’ll have to tell me how many shades of red Dumbledore turns when he finally realizes your ‘cousin’ is a dark wizard and has been hanging around the house for a couple weeks.”

Sirius frowned and almost broke the pencil he was holding. He desperately wanted to kick out the Order after what he’d recently found out. “Er…Harry…I should tell you…Remus did a thing…”

Harry’s head shot up and he growled dangerously. “What did Remus do? Did he tell Dumbledore about me? I swear, I don’t actually need him to get my godson back, I really only need his sperm...and Tonks’s permission. He doesn’t need to be alive for me to accomplish that.”

Sirius choked on air and was certain he was going to die from shock. He didn’t know if the correct response was to laugh or faint. “That’s what you need Remus for?! You want his future kid?!!”

“Well, it’s not like I planned on kidnapping the baby or anything,” Harry grumbled and crossed his arms petulantly. “They’ll love Teddy too, but I want my godson back!”

“Please, please don’t tell Moony,” Sirius decided on laughing as he clutched his now aching sides. “I want to tell him, please, can I?…Two years you say? This is the best prank ever! I know they’ve been flirting a bit, but I didn’t think he’d actually end up with my cousin…wow!”

“Don’t get distracted, Padfoot. What did Remus do? How angry am I going to be?” Harry continued his unblinking glare.

“Not, sperm-stealing and murder angry,” Sirius calmed enough to roll his eyes and assure Harry. “He stopped by Privet Drive and ran into Arabella Figg.”

“Ms. Figg? Why would he do that?” Harry frowned, now more confused than anything else. “I bet she introduced him to all her cats and fed him a bunch of biscuits.”

“He was made to look at her cat photos…” Sirius said slowly, waiting for Harry to catch on.

Harry didn’t seem to see what he was getting at. “She made me help with those pictures every time she babysat,” he chuckled at the memory. “I didn’t get it until Percy gave me Sephie…I’ve been thinking about taking a few pictures of her in her little jumpers myself though…maybe I should mail a picture to Ms. Figg…I need to thank her for speaking at my trial anyway…”

Sirius was shocked. Harry didn’t seem to realize what those pictures he’d help take were really for, even with an extra decade to put it together. “Harry…you do realize what Arabella was doing, right?”

Harry frowned even more deeply in confusion at this. “Er…taking pictures of her cats…”

Sirius put down the contract to run a hand over his face and scoot his chair a little closer to Harry. “Look…Arabella Figg was documenting your abuse over the years. She was taking pictures of you, not just the cats…she was trying to get you help…”

Harry’s frown fell even further as he took that in. He’s never realized that. Honestly, he hadn’t even learned Ms. Figg was a squib until his fifth year, then he had only vaguely seen her in passing a couple times when he was back in Surrey after that. He hadn’t really given her much thought over the years. “Oh…” he trailed off.

“Look…can we talk about it?” Sirius leaned forward to put his arms on the desk, giving Harry a sad look. “If you want to that is…”

For his part, Harry just shrugged and picked up the house elves document again. “Nothing to talk about. That was over a decade ago for me. I’ll definitely have to do something nice for Ms. Figg though…I’m guessing she tried to get Dumbledore to step in and he ignored her? Frankly, that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

“Well…we should do something! Like kick the Order out of the house, expose Dumbledore, kill the Dursleys, something!” Sirius growled out in frustration. He’d talked Moony out of killing the Dursleys until he could talk to Harry, but they were both so mad they weren’t thinking straight.

Harry raised a very calm eyebrow. “The Order is serving my purpose right now in trying to get rid of Voldy, and I don’t want them to turn their attention to me. We will expose Dumbledore if it comes to it, but it needs to be after I take care of Voldemort. Lastly…the Dursleys…”

Harry huffed and ran a hand over the piercings in his right ear. “I just…I know I haven’t dealt with anything. I got an entire dissertation from Hermione on dealing with it in the future so I don't need one from you too, but Dudley actually turned out a solid bloke. The dementor incident really has him turning his life around. I don’t know…we got close in the future, and those are his parents, and he was the one that actually did most of the physical damage, though they should have stopped it…I just…I don’t know how to process this…I don’t want to deal with it now when I’ve put it behind me.”

“Have you really though?” Sirius prodded, seeing Harry’s confusion about the situation but still thinking something should be done even if murder wasn’t the answer.

“No,” Harry grumbled, trying to not lie to his godfather. “I don’t see the point now though when I have so much more going on. I have all this,” he waved to the documents. “And I need to head to a meeting with a supplier in Knockturn in just a few minutes, then I have those lessons with Snape to figure out…I just don’t need anything else on my plate right now.”

“Hey…it’ll keep Pup,” Sirius backed off, seeing the panic in his godson’s eyes as he continued to play with his piercings, a clearly visible sign of his anxiety. “Don’t worry about it right now, and we’ll revisit it when things calm down some. Right?”

Harry finally stopped with the piercings and nodded. “Yeah…that sounds good. And…tell Remus thanks. I know he was trying to help, but also, maybe don’t murder anyone right now. I was planning to set him up as the Minister of Magic and he needs a clean record for that.”

Sirius choked once more at that in surprise. “Do not tell him that! Please! Can I?! Right after we tell him he needs to shag Tonks on a very specific night two years from now!”

“Granted…as long as Tonks agrees!” Harry held a finger up, knowing he would be damn persuasive. Honestly, he didn’t care much if Remus agreed or not, but Tonks needed to be on board. He was absolutely certain she’d want Teddy though, so it wasn’t even a gamble.

Sirius laughed loudly as he picked up the contract once more and slashed through a clause that would have had Harry as the marketing ambassador for the Goblin Nation…yeah, that wasn’t happening.

Harry felt like he should be humming a funeral march as he made his way towards the dungeons and his first Occlumency lesson with Snape. He supposed it was probably possible to construct shields to make someone think they were seeing into your brain without actually doing it; however, Harry wasn’t that skilled, or rather Snape was too skilled to not catch that. One or the other, it didn’t matter as the end result was the same. There was no way he could fake his way through not knowing Occlumency, and there was no way he could lower his shields for Snape to see into his mind. So, it was lie his arse off as the current plan…yeah, he knew he wasn’t good at planning.

The twins had offered to blow something up as a distraction, and while Harry really did appreciate their support, their fireworks weren’t currently up to the first timeline’s standards yet. Harry had relegated them to gunpowder for their experiments since Percy refused to allow them to have the C4 he had tracked down, but he figured it was probably gunpowder they’d gotten the first time anyway, so he’d let them experiment a bit before testing anything out when it could hurt someone.

He knocked on the door to Snape’s office and steeled himself for whatever was waiting for him on the other side. “Enter!” Was called out in Snape’s usual drawl with more than a hint of irritation in it.

Harry opened the door and had to blink a couple time in surprise at the two first year students currently sitting in the student chairs and furiously taking notes. “I will be with you in a moment, Potter,” Snape sighed, a look of irritation not hidden in his features.

“Of course, Professor…” Harry was certain he’d ended up in an alternate dimension now. That was the only explanation, he thought as he stood awkwardly in the corner of the room as the two little girls looked up at him and didn’t seem traumatized by their current situation at all.

“Right, then you stir it three times, not two, not four, but three and counterclockwise,” Snape finished his instructions, holding up three fingers sternly. “If it turns blue, you didn’t add enough eye of newt and now is the time to add just a hint more. Once it turns a brown-grey color, you can remove it from the heat and let it cool.”

“Thank you so much, Professor Snape!” One of the girls chirped as they finished their notes and began to put the parchment in their bags. “I just told Mary here that you wouldn’t mind helping us. Your notes are always so helpful and encouraging on our essays.”

Mary was nodding and smiling with her friend while Harry held in a laugh. Apparently, this was his fault, and he was absolutely loving it! “I expect you will no longer over boil your potions in my class then,” Snape drawled, looking like he’d really rather be giving detention instead of helping, but not being able to get out of it.

“Never! We know what we were doing wrong now!” The one that must be Mary assured him as the two little girls stood.

“Thank you so much, Professor! See you in class!” The first one happily called back. Both girls turned a bit pink and shuffled past Harry, giggling behind their hands.

Snape sighed and plopped down into his desk chair, motioning for Harry to now have a seat. It was taking all he had to not just break down laughing, and he was certain that Snape could see the amusement in his eyes regardless. “That Salazar-forsaken idiot,” Snape grumbled under his breath and shuffled some papers on his desk before looking up at Harry, a sneer that was more assessing than anything else on his face.

“Sir…?” Harry waited, not wanting to be the one to start off this farce in the slightest.

“Do you know why you are here?” He drawled, standing to come out from behind his desk and leaned against the front of it across from Harry. He tapped his wand against his arm, and Harry would swear the man looked almost scared…or maybe uncomfortable or something…

Harry nodded, figuring Snape would tell him at some point what was wrong in his own roundabout way. “Er, yeah, Occlumency, but I don’t particularly want to learn it, and I don’t see why I should have to anyway since it’s not standard curriculum,” he said, hoping he could bluff his way out of this if Snape didn’t just curse him first. It was Plan A at least.

“The Headmaster…” Harry was certain there was a sneer in Snape’s voice at that. “Has deemed it necessary to teach you how to keep the Dark Lord out of your mind. As a member of the Order myself, I see the advantages of keeping our secrets from the enemy. Surely, even a dunderhead such as you would agree.”

Right, so Plan B it was then. “I already know Occlumency though,” Harry crossed his arms stubbornly and tried to look like a petulant fifteen-year-old. “I’m reasonably proficient enough to keep my thoughts to myself as long as I'm not in the actual room with Tom, and if we’re in the same room, then I think I have other more pressing problems, agreed?”

Snape’s eyes narrowed and Harry felt like he’d given something away by Snape’s suspicious look, but no he didn’t think he had…Harry kicked himself mentally and swore, he’d referred to Voldemort as Tom since he knew it would hurt Snape to say the name…Harry Potter wouldn’t have done that.

Backtracking Harry opened his mouth before Snape could start putting the pieces together. “Hadrian Black taught me over the summer. He’s Sirius’s cousin and stopped by my house a few times,” he explained quickly since Sirius had mentioned he’d let slip to Snape that Harry and Hadrian might know each other. It was the best excuse he could come up with to know a base-level of Occlumency. As long as no one knew about the horcrux, they should buy it.

Snape looked even more like Harry had given him damning information he wasn’t sure what to do with. Harry didn’t know what he was stepping into this time. It seemed like a fairly reasonable excuse to him! “What? You can test my shields if you want…?” Harry offered, feeling like the man was already reading his inmost thoughts at the piercing look he was receiving.

Snape tapped his wand against his arm a couple more times as he stared at the teen in front of him. Something was nagging at the back of his mind…there was something big he was missing. Something wasn’t right. Potter shouldn’t know mind-magic at the level he was professing…not with a few lessons over the summer if the Dark Lord had a direct link to his mind. For a normal situation, it was reasonable, but not with this supposed direct link…He’d assumed Hadrian had inked some runes onto Harry, not actual Occlumency lessons.

Snape frowned even more deeply. Mind magic was dark magic and would need someone to cast the legilimency spell to test one’s shields…that spell would have set off the blood wards he’d been told were around Potter’s house since it was invasive dark magic. “You are lying to me…why are you lying? I understand being pig-headed about having to take extra lessons, but you actually understand why they are important…I can clearly see that. Why are you lying about knowing the art then?” He asked. It was rhetorical since he wasn’t actually expecting Potter to answer him honestly.

Harry was keeping his panic under wraps as best as possible. He was lying, but only partially really. What did Snape know that he didn’t know Snape knew?! That’s where the trouble lay. “I’m not lying. I already know Occlumency,” he said firmly, knowing his only recourse was to dig himself in deeper. “Sirius told you that he asked Hadrian to check in on me. He was really nice and taught me some things while he was there.”

Snape’s eyes narrowed as he stared even more deeply at the boy fidgeting in front of him, willing his secrets to come into the open without having to break into his mind. If the boy actually did know some Occlumency, breaking into his mind would be even more invasive, painful, and dangerous for him to attempt. Snape’s eyes narrowed and his thoughts screeched to a halt as the nervous teen reached up and rubbed a spot in the middle of his eyebrow. It was a nervous habit, one he’d seen many times before but never from Harry Potter.

Snape’s hand tightened on his wand, and he slowly reached out with the other. Harry flinched back, which was concerning in itself, but he didn’t move out of the way. Snape clapped a hand down on Harry’s shoulder and gave it a sharp squeeze. Harry’s eyes shot wide and he hissed out a stream of expletives.

“Bloody fucking hell, Severus!! If you’d figured it out, you could have just asked me instead of testing it!!” Harry Bloody Potter or maybe Hadrian Black hissed out and shoved Snape’s hand off his shoulder to clutch it to his side. “Merlin’s balls! If you tore my stitches, I expect you to fix them, you git!”

Severus Snape didn’t know what to think. His mouth dropped open and his brain was not catching up to whatever this new reality was. His wand seemed to have risen of its own accord. “What have you done with Harry Potter?” He found himself asking, even as he knew he did actually know the answer to his question…but that answer was eluding him.

“I fucking killed him,” Hadrian looked him right in the eyes, those green eyes so very, very familiar. “It was an accident though…I didn’t realize I’d over-write my younger self when I came back in time. I should have known though as two souls for one person cannot exist for any length of time in any given reality.”

Snape was certain his hand was shaking that was holding his wand, but he couldn’t put it down. Hadrian’s words were echoing in his brain, but he didn’t want to believe them. “You are…you are…”

“Hadrian James Potter-Black,” the boy sitting in front of him answered. “My mum named me Hadrian, after a Roman emperor…something her best friend’s family always did for their sons. I’m more comfortable with Harry though since I’ve always been called that instead.”

Snape collapsed back onto his desk, his wand faltering as he lowered it. He didn’t know what emotions he was feeling in that moment. He felt betrayed, and hurt, and surprised, and oddly seen, and just…no, he couldn’t process this at all.

“Severus…I really, really want to be your friend,” the (maybe?) teen was saying even as the words washed over Snape without him really being able to grasp them. “You died in my time, and I learned after that what all you’d done for me. I wanted to get to know you, to be your friend, and I really didn’t expect to run into you that day…”

“Bloody hell!” Snape’s blood rushed from his face as he suddenly remembered how they’d met. “I hit on Lily’s son! I bloody hit on Lily Evans’s son!!”

Harry shrugged and chuckled, drawing Snape’s eyes down to the fifteen-year-old that he now knew was an illusion. “If it makes you feel better…you weren’t doing a very good job at it.”

Snape’s eyes narrowed and he clutched his wand more. “You brat…”

Chapter Text

“Calm down, Severus,” Harry sighed with an eyeroll while Snape seemed to be having a mental breakdown at the realization of just who Hadrian actually was and the fact that he’d been initially attracted to him. “I’m 27, you didn’t know who I was, and if I wasn’t already dating Percy, I might even have said yes to drinks.”

Snape glared enough that Harry felt it in his bones. “Stop trying to help, you decidedly are not helping!”

Harry huffed a laugh and instead pulled his ebony wand out and threw a few wards at the door before turning back around and dropping his glamour. “Does this help you process some at least?” He asked, causing Snape to throw his arms in the air in frustration and move to crash down into his desk chair.

“Does Mr. Weasley at least know about this?” Snape absently waved a hand in the hardened man’s direction. “I would hope he knew what he was getting into before he entered this relationship.”

“Er…yeah…he actually came back in time with me. Percy is also older than he looks,” Harry returned to his seat with a raised eyebrow, waiting for Snape to blow up or curse him or something. “I tried my best not to lie to you as much as possible, but Percy and I have actually been together for over a couple years instead of less than one. Why don’t you ask me a few questions to set your mind at ease or something. I promise, I was trying to be above board with you, but I didn’t think you’d take my identity well if I just blurted it out when we first met…”

Snape gave a sharp snort of agreement at that while he was obviously trying to line up the two identities in his mind to merge the particulars he already knew. “Percy is actually…31 then?” He commented, having done the mental math with a frown.

“There abouts…we might have passed his birthday in the former timeline…” Harry trailed off, not really wanting to do the math himself right then. “So, yeah, he looks a little different than what you see as well. It’s a glamour invented by one of the Unspeakables in the future. It’s really quite good, but we didn’t realize house elves could see through it…and goblins, so Flitwick actually knows all this too.”

“Indeed,” Snape nodded, that little piece of the puzzle finally making much more sense. He just couldn’t believe a 19-year-old would have been recruited into the Unspeakables, but a 31-year-old was much more understandable. He vowed next to interrogate Filius about what he knew at his earliest convenience though.

With a sneer and irritated huff, another piece fell into place. “I am assuming your godfather knows about all this as well by comments he let slip when we had dinner the other night.”

“Yep…he caught me stealing his alcohol, and I ended up caving and explaining what happened to stop the lecture,” Harry laughed and leaned back, crossing his arms. “Which, by the way, any chance you keep some wine or firewhiskey or something in your office?”

“You have a problem, Potter,” Snape sneered at the man across from him, wincing at using the last man.

Harry winced too. “Yeah…that’s too weird now with us. Please either Hadrian or even Black when we’re alone. You say my name like that, and I feel like I’m getting detention.”

Snape nodded. “Agreed. This is all very strange and unprecedented, but I’m still not giving you any alcohol, no matter how old you are.”

“Spoil sport,” Harry sighed and gave up the effort. “What else do you want to know?”

Snape had so many questions that it was difficult to narrow in on what to ask first. “Did you actually kill the Dark Lord in your time, or is that why you came back? Why did you come back?”

“Huh? Yeah…sorry, I’ve explained this so many times that I forget who knows what,” Harry chuckled, having thought for some reason Snape already knew why he’d come back in time.

“No, Tom isn’t the actual problem but more a symptom or even instigator. Yeah, it took about two more years before I killed him in the first timeline, and it was really bad, but I think I’ll take care of him by the end of Christmas break this time around, so not really the issue. It was the Ministry and general society that I came back to fix actually. That’s why I’m going the whole dark lord route and all. They became hyper racist and paranoid and were killing all dark creatures and dark practitioners. We’d lost too much to not come back in time to do something…whatever the consequences of that.”

Snape tapped the side of his own neck significantly with a questioning frown. “Your vampire friend…?”

“Ron,” Harry nodded. “Yeah, he was turned a little over…er, maybe four years ago in my time. It was everyone though…” Harry paused knowing the information Snape would want to know the most but not sure if he should say it. It needed to be said though.

“Draco was actually one of the first that disappeared,” he finally said hollowly, the memories and his inability to do anything still haunting him.

Snape sat up further in his chair, putting his elbows on the desk in his surprise and concern. “My godson is not a dark creature, and he is more interested in Potions than delving into any of the darker arts to his father’s chagrin. Why would he be targeted? Was it just because of Lucius?”

“No…” Harry scrubbed a hand down his face, knowing the next bit was what he’d hoped to spare everyone from, Draco most importantly but Snape as well. “Draco is forced by his father to become a Death Eater this next summer. I’m hoping to save him from that completely…he was pardoned and only given probation after the war. Kingsley was minister then though…things were good for a while when he was in charge.”

“Shacklebolt?” Snape prompted, needing more information about what happened to his godson in the future. He was doing his best to keep his godson out of things, but Lucius was a fanatic and weak when it came to standing up for anyone besides himself. Kingsley though, he didn’t seem the type to do what Hadrian was explaining.  “He seems…uptight but not prejudiced. I would hope he would be a fair minister.”

“Yeah…he was. He just didn’t make it very long. Murdered by centaurs during a diplomatic trip at the end of his first year as minister,” Harry nodded with a grunt of frustration. “It was definitely NOT centaurs…they were obviously framed. There was a massive backlash against the centaurs that I tried to stop but was only partially successful at in the original timeline. I have some good ideas as to who actually did the deed, but that doesn’t actually matter because the person who was behind it has already been taken care of.”

“You killed them…” Snape’s eyes widened in shock, and he looked at Harry in a whole new light. He hadn’t quite absorbed the fact that Harry Potter had been the same one to murder Fenrir Greyback a few days before, and he was just now realizing that this dark wizard, who was a master of the dark arts, vying to become the next dark lord, and a murderer was actually Harry Bloody Potter!

“Er…noooo,” Harry said slowly as he gauged the odd expressions crossing Snape’s face. “That was actually Percy, but that’s beside the point…”

“What?!” Snape sputtered in shock.

“Do you want to hear the rest of this story or not?” The young man glared at his friend who was clearly close to either panic or anger or both.

“Please…” Snape took in a deep breath and motioned for Harry to continue.

“Well…Draco and I weren’t super close though we were friendly and getting to be actual friends, but Narcissa and I were close and had a standing tea date on Sundays, so I ran into him quite a bit. It was Astoria Greengrass that found the note though. It sounded like he’d committed suicide. Narcissa and Astoria were distraught, and Blaise and I looked for him or his body for months, but we never found anything,” Harry let out a breath of sadness for everything that happened at that time. Narcissa had never been the same.

“It wasn’t until we realized that all the former Death Eaters had mysteriously disappeared after one extremely flimsy explanation or another that we put together the pieces, that and those of creature descent started going the same way. It was so quiet, and there was always a note, or a notice of the family moving, or something as an excuse for why they were gone…You can’t fight something when you don’t even know it’s happening.”

“Right…so how much have you changed in the timeline already?” Snape was trying to take all this in stride, but it just wasn’t happening. He needed a bottle of Scotch and a week to process everything. Did Potter say he was friends with Narcissa Malfoy? How had that happened?!

“The Dark Lord is clearly first since he is the most pressing currently, but what needs to be done after that?” Snape finally asked, pushing everything else to the side to be dealt with once he had that bottle of Scotch. He did best with a clear goal and mission, and it was time to figure one of those out.

Harry shrugged, trusting his new ‘inner circle’ to be the leaders in those regards once they finally had their meeting. “Right now, I’m just focusing on Tom. We’ve changed quite a lot already. I’m sure you’ve realized that Percy was definitely not our DADA professor the first time around, and we’re all thankful for that change. Merlin, this year is so much better! I really couldn’t take a repeat of the toad taking over the school.” Harry ended with a shudder just for effect.

“If you’ve changed a lot, then are you not worried that events will have been affected and your plans will no longer be effective moving forward? Lack of future knowledge takes away some of your advantage.” Snape frowned, now wondering how Harry had killed off the Dark Lord that first time around if he was so confident he could do it sooner this time.

“I’m only worried about a couple things that could potentially change, but Tom really didn’t do much before the end of this academic year in the first timeline, and I plan to be done with him by Christmas,” Harry sighed tiredly, letting some of his anxieties show. “I’m mainly worried he’ll move up when he tried to use Nagini to take the prophesy from the Ministry and if he decides to break his followers out of Azkaban early. Those are my main concerns at the moment.”

Snape’s brow furrowed. “So, you know of the prophesy…” he let the rest go unsaid.

“Yep, and your part in all of it, and I’ll curse you if you try to apologize. You clearly didn’t know what it meant or who it was targeting,” Harry rolled his eyes not wanting to dredge up the past he wasn’t even alive for. “Frankly, I’m starting to wonder if I know the actual prophesy though since I only know what Dumbledore told me. I’m going with Percy to hear it officially in a few weeks if he can swing it with his former supervisor who is currently a member of that department.”

“I believe I have reached my capacity to handle your insanity this evening,” Snape closed his eyes and leaned back in his desk chair. There were still so many questions, and Snape really didn’t know how he felt about anything he’d heard that evening.

“I get that response a lot,” Harry just smirked at him, not offended at all.

“I must warn you, Dumbledore had requested I search your mind this evening for information surrounding how you were blocking out the Dark Lord and if you know anything about his wand disappearing…did you have anything to do with that?” Snape opened his eyes to question Harry, now actually thinking he might.

“Er…soooo…you’re going to need to lie to Dumbledore about the whole blocking Tom out of my mind thing,” Harry reluctantly decided. “Can you and would you do that? Maybe tell him that I found a book on Occlumency at Grimmauld or something? There is something important he’s not telling you about that connection, and I could tell you now, but I have a feeling I might have overloaded you a bit and it can wait.”

“You think?” Snape sarcastically drawled, but would immediately admit he knew Dumbledore was keeping quite a lot from him. “I will inform the headmaster Sirius’s cousin assaulted you by placing blocking runes onto your body somewhere…I presume you have some of those?”

Harry hadn’t thought of that excuse. It would have been a much easier one to use with Snape. “No, but I can add some,” he raised the hem of his school jumper and looked for some empty space. He’d learned Occlumency, so he hadn’t thought he would need any blocking runes, but they might still be useful.

“The wand…?” Snape prompted, surreptitiously studying the tattoos he was seeing to try to figure out what they all meant at a later time.

“Huh…” Harry looked up from where he was trying to decide on a good spot for the new tattoos and then winced, his eyes flicking down to his ankle holster. “Yeah…that was me but very unintentional. I tried to get it to go back to him, but it doesn’t want to go and is being very stubborn about it.”

“It’s a wand Hadrian,” Snape sighed, feeling like he’d lost a good five years of his life just during this conversation. “It’s an inanimate object without feelings.”

“Nope, not just a wand, but again, I’m really trying to be good and respect your mental health at the moment,” Harry smirked.

“You are not helping,” Snape sneered, knowing he needed the rest of the information but feeling that Hadrian might be right and it could wait until he slept on everything he had. “I feel I should note how we both seem to be talking around the fact that you do not trust the headmaster for some reason…is it only because you are a dark wizard, or is there something I should know about?”

Harry shrugged, not knowing the answer to that question himself. “I don’t know anything super specific. He died at the end of my sixth year, but what he did before then…well, it just seemed a bit shady. Some of the things I’ve learned since I’ve been back haven’t really added up either. I’m not willing to trust him because of my magic and my goals, but even besides that…I don’t know. I’m not so sure the headmaster has my best interests at heart. I think I’d like to just confirm what he told me about the prophesy before drawing any major conclusions though. He’s all for the ‘greater good’ and I was most definitely a casualty of that, but I’m wondering if it might be a bit deeper now.”

“We will meet this weekend once I have had time to think through what you have told me this evening,” Snape informed him. “I want the rest of your explanation then…about your connection to the Dark Lord, the wand, how you first defeated the Dark Lord, how you got into the dark arts, what you know of the Dark Lord’s plans, specifically your comment about him breaking his followers out of Azkaban, everything…”

“Sure, I have a meet the parents thing again at Grimmauld tomorrow anyway,” Harry grimaced and stood. “I swear, this was so much easier when they had known me since I was 11. Percy’s dad still looks at me like I might decide to bite him or something.”

Snape motioned for Harry to leave him with a tired sigh. “I suppose I will see you in passing before the Order meeting since you do not have Potions tomorrow. I also clearly expect perfection in all your potions going forward since you learned them at some point remarkably,” he added with a glare at the man who once more looked fifteen.

Harry shrugged and removed his wards. “That’s actually easier for me than trying to only slightly mess them up. Pass me any marking tomorrow as well. Sirius has helped a lot with all the paperwork the goblins have sent me and my schoolwork in laughably easy, so I still have some time at the moment. Your pain potion has been a lifesaver with all the flying I’m expected to do as quidditch captain,” Harry grimaced at the end. “Merlin, I’ve missed the game, but my knee just cannot take the pressure of flying anymore.”

Snape felt like his brain was melting as the last puzzle piece of the two identities seemed to fuse together. Hadrian had been abused as a child and tortured as an adult…Harry Potter had been abused as a child and was currently dealing with a lot of pain. “Hadrian…” he didn’t even know what to say as he trailed off, frantically massaging the headache building in his head.

“What? You look like I’ve broken you again,” Harry stopped on his way out, not knowing what he’d said to cause Snape to look like he might be sick.

Snape just vowed to get trashed over the weekend and probably curse Sirius for not telling him all this. He eventually just pushed it all aside and actually looked at the glamoured man in front of him. “I need to study your knee a little more. We will keep these Occlumency sessions for that purpose. There are some things I believe I can do to heal some of the damage. You need additional potions as well to correct other damage you have sustained, or you will develop arthritis before you reach anything resembling old age.”

Harry looked confused but nodded. “Er…ok, sure. Thanks…Percy’s always on me about my health, so he’ll appreciate that too. Well…see you tomorrow night! Merlin, I hope I see Dumbledore in passing. I’d kill to see his face when he realizes Sirius’s cousin is a dark wizard!”

Harry was laughing the whole way out of Snape’s office while the man just lowered his head to his desk and let out a loud groan. He stayed that way for a second before he suddenly raised his head. “And where the bloody hell did he find a basilisk?!” He growled out into the empty office as yet another question occurred to him. He was going to write down all his questions and get each and every one of them answered by force if necessary!

Harry didn’t run into Dumbledore before the Order meeting. It was a bloody shame. Snape had gotten there early to finish a potion he had started in his lab at Grimmauld and to pass off what Harry viewed as a vindictive amount of marking to him though. If the man was going to fix his knee, he would prioritize whatever amount of marking he was given regardless. It was worth it! Honestly, just seeing first years think Snape was helpful and approachable was worth it to Harry since Snape seemed to rely on the fact that they wouldn’t come up to him and seemed to actually be helpful when they did since he didn’t know how to handle children who didn’t have an inherent fear of him and just thought he was grumpy in person but nice on paper.

Dinner with the Weasley parents was surprisingly unremarkable. That was only because he was with Percy though, and the whole thing ended up being apologies, made up explanations on his and Percy’s part, and catching up with their third oldest son on the Weasley parents’ part. He did get a bit of a shovel talk that seemed to amuse Percy enormously, but which Harry actually appreciated. He liked that Arthur and Molly were looking after their son in their own way, even if they really didn’t have to worry that he was ‘older’ or even ‘more experienced’ or that he didn’t have a job.

Harry might not be Malfoy wealthy, but he was fairly well off with his trust fund and family vaults. It wasn’t spectacular since he had to fund a rebellion with it now, but he also had means to make more money with his mastery, knowledge of the black market, and skillset, and Percy had somehow ended up in a situation where he was being paid by Fudge’s office, Hogwarts, and the Unspeakables…they were fine and had honestly never needed to help each other out financially. Harry did start wondering if that was a mistake on his part though. Maybe he should ask Percy if he wanted to merge vaults or at least have one that they both contributed to and could access. He wanted Percy to know he was serious about their relationship, and it seemed that was something neither of them really were good about talking about or knew how to bring up in conversation.

It gave him a lot to think about as they apparated back to Hogsmeade and had to enter the school separately. He had about an hour before the Order meeting started and he could get Walburga to fill him in on what was going on, so Harry made his way to the library where he figured he could ward a corner and start in on Snape’s marking while getting the play-by-play from his portrait follower, as reluctant of a follower as she may be.

“Well, there’s our disappearing roommate. We were about to think you got eaten by one of Hagrid's pets,” Dean Thomas remarked with a smile from where he was sitting a table with Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati where they seemed to all be working on Percy’s DADA homework. “Hey, you know the answer to question eight from the homework?” He asked when Harry drew near to them.

“Obstructa armum,” Harry told them, happy he’d thought to stash his schoolbag in the Shrieking Shack when he’d left campus so he had it with him now and looked like he was planning to study. “It will reinforce whatever physical structure you are behind to help shield against spellfire. It’s the only way to protect against an Unforgivable besides just dodging it.”

“Brill! Cheers!” Dean happily wrote down the answer while Seamus seemed to be trying to set Harry on fire with his glare alone…which, knowing Seamus, might actually happen if he stood there long enough.

“Were you with your girlfriend?” Lavender turned around to pin Harry with a look saying she needed new gossip and now so that she could procrastinate her homework. “How’s that going? You seem to be spending quite a lot of time together.”

“Yeah, who is it?” Parvati cut in to ask. “Padma said she doesn’t know of any Ravenclaws who disappear with you. Who has stolen you away from the lions?”

“No one, he’s probably off concocting stories and planning his next attention seeking catastrophe,” Seamus almost hissed at Harry.

For his part, Harry just rolled his eyes. Yes, he was irritated with Seamus, and he desperately wanted Ron to hex the brat, but he was not going to rise to the bait from a literal teenager. “My relationship is my own business,” he tried to deflect the girls’ prying looks.

“If I want to be out of our dorm room as much as possible, I’m sure you understand,” he said with a pointed glance at Seamus. “It’s not the most welcoming atmosphere these days.”

“Fine, but who is it?!” Lavender insisted. “If Padma can’t figure it out, then we might just have to conclude this mystery girlfriend is made up.”

“Yeah, Harry…as your Yule Ball date, I think I should at least get a hint…” Parvati teased, which actually did make Harry laugh at that fiasco of a night.

“I think you deserve a medal for that, but no, she wants to stay out of all my press and everything,” Harry tried to leave, but Lavender stopped him again.

“Please Harry…just tell us who she is,” she pleaded with him.

“Lavender…look…” Harry trailed off, frantically trying to come up with some kind of excuse that didn’t sound made up.

“It’s me. I’m his girlfriend,” a silvery voice answered from behind Harry, causing him to tense up and consider just running from it. “I asked him to keep quiet about it because I don’t like a lot of attention.”

Harry didn’t know how to leave at this point, so he did his best to bury any and all emotions behind the strongest Occlumency shields he possibly could as Luna Lovegood seemed to float over from the corner of the library to standing right beside him. Harry felt hollow and empty as he just kept pushing the waves of distress and pain down deeper and deeper into himself. He knew he looked blank and off as he turned and plastered what might pass for a smile on his face as he stood in Luna’s presence for the first time since he’d tried to erase her existence from his memory in the wake of what he could not bring himself to face outside of so many layers of wards protecting himself from the emotions in his own mind.

“Luna, hi,” he said, acknowledging her. “I didn’t see you there.” He didn’t know why Luna had stepped in as his imaginary girlfriend, but knowing Luna, she had her reasons and was decidedly right in whatever conclusion she’d come to.

“Hello, Harry,” she said as if this wasn’t the literal first time they had talked to each other in this timeline. “May I steal my boyfriend?” She turned to the speechless group at the table that seemed to all be shocked into silence. “I have a question about my Charms essay that he promised to help me with.”

“Luna?” Parvati asked blankly. “Huh?”

“Er…yeah,” Dean motioned for her to steal Harry away while everyone else just stared.

“Wait…I didn’t know you two even knew each other,” Lavender finally spoke up to ask, her face breaking into a smile at the fact she would be the first to know this juicy new information.

“Oh yes,” Luna answered for him, putting her small hand on his arm and breaking his heart just a little more. “We met when he was visiting the Burrow…I live next door to the Weasleys.”

“Luna is my heart,” Harry answered in the absolute truth as he tried to contain anything that would hurt the wonderful girl next to him. “She is the best person I know.” The deep gratitude and love he had for her slipped out from behind his shields at his words, and Harry felt Luna’s hand tighten on his arm.

Beside looking slightly shaken, Luna passed off Harry’s slip with a shake of her head. “We must go. There are only a couple hours until curfew, and I want some alone time with Harry as well.”

Harry allowed himself to be dragged away to the more secluded part of the library he had been heading to originally while his housemates frantically whispered about them in their absence. “What was that?” He asked Luna when they were far enough away not to be heard.

“Do you know a privacy spell or ward?” The Ravenclaw fourth year asked with a vague wave around them and their study carrel.

“Yes, of course,” Harry quickly cast several high-level wards he really shouldn’t know before turning back to Luna who had sat down at the desk and seemed to be staring into space.

“Please, keep your shields up if you can. You are quite overwhelming,” she remarked as if talking about the weather. Harry had missed that so much! Luna was a hole missing from his life, and he did his best to contain the absolute joy he had in her presence down with the pain, sealed and locked away.

“How did you figure it out…or actually what have you figured out?” Harry chuckled and joined her at the table, giving her that tense smile again that was just a little too vacant in contrast to her vacant but full of feeling look she wore most of the time as she tried to filter out everyone’s emotions around her.

“Hmm,” she mused, giving him a smile and her full attention that was like the sun turned directly on you. “I know you love me, and that you lost me…it was very painful. I can feel it whenever you walk by. You’ve been trying to avoid me, but you don’t always see me until I’m quite close. I disappear that way for most people, even if you seem more attuned to my presence than others. Are you from the future? It is my best guess for the emotions I feel from you…also, you seem not surprised at all that I can feel your emotions…something else that tells me you already knew this.”

Harry nodded. “Yes, twelve years in the future,” he said without reserve. Whatever Luna wanted to know, he’d tell her. “I’m not avoiding you because I don’t want to be around you, but there is a lot of pain, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

Luna nodded in understanding. “As good as your mind magic is, I can still feel the edges. You have not handled your pain and loss well…it’s not healthy to hold onto everything. You must move forward.”

Harry opened his mouth to protest that he had but shut it once more. If Luna said it was true, then it was. “I’ll do better…I promise, I’m trying.”

She nodded at him with a kind smile and a hand placed on his arm. “I know, but I’m also not your Luna. You’ll have to get to know me as I am now, not who I could be.”

Harry nodded with feeling. It was the same with all of his friends. He had to keep reminding himself of that whenever he looked at Neville or Ron or Draco or any of them. “Yes, I know that. I will. What all do you want to know? I’ll tell you anything.”

Luna just gave him that look that said she was seeing right through him again. “I think you had other plans tonight,” she responded as she stood. “I don’t know you Harry Potter…and I think I would like to get to know you as who you are now. I don’t need to know who you were.”

“Thank you,” Harry breathed out, not even knowing that was what he needed to hear. She was the first person that didn’t want to know everything that had happened to him over the past decade and why. She just wanted to get to know him as he was…flaws, slight mental instabilities, paranoia, and impulsive tendencies and all. “I’d really like that…er, I have to ask though…how did you know I don’t actually have a girlfriend?”

Luna smiled more broadly at him. “I can feel the love you and Professor Weasley have for each other from across the Great Hall,” she giggled. “You might want to tell him to work on his mind magic just a little more,” she added before stepping outside of the wards and giving him a parting wave. "See you for breakfast Har-Bear."

Harry let out a deep breath and had to laugh as he pulled Walburga’s small portrait out of his pocket. He wasn’t sure if Luna as a fake girlfriend helped his story or not, but it was sure fun regardless. He was still laughing as he opened the clasp and her stern face appeared. “Hey Walburga, what’s up?”

The woman sneered at him, clearly wanting to curse him from her painted image. “What is up is that you have kept me waiting, you imbecile! I don’t have all day to cater to your every whim!”

Harry stopped laughing and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like you have a busy social life I’m keeping you from,” he dryly remarked. He would never like this woman no matter how much their goals currently aligned. “What’s going on in the Order meeting?”

Walburga sneered but ducked out of the frame to check her other portrait. She reappeared shortly after. “Your Light Lord is throwing a fit worthy of a toddler,” she reported with venom. “He has been for the past ten minutes. He believes he should have been informed immediately that you were a dark wizard, and you should never have been allowed in the house. The bigotry of that man!”

Harry snorted a laugh. “Yes, well, that was expected. What is everyone else saying? Sirius, Snape, the Weasleys? Are they planning to ban me?”

Walburga gave him another look that called him an idiot. “You own the house and control the wards.”

“I know that,” Harry rolled his eyes. “I’m asking what he wants, not what’s actually going to happen.”

Walburga huffed but reluctantly answered him. “My ingrate of a son said he’d throw the Order out before you; your potion master reminded them all that he is a dark wizard; the Weasleys are trying to reason with him using many of the arguments you have been telling them recently; and that werewolf of yours has broken three spoons and a knife of my good flatware! My son just keeps giving him more pieces! He had better fix them or I expect you to curse him for me!”

Harry was very surprised that Remus seemed upset for him, but it did sound hopeful that maybe they actually could have some kind of relationship moving forward. “Well…that’s nice,” he lamely commented since he was still shoring up most of his emotions in the wake of Luna being with him. “What did Dumbledore say?”

Walburga hissed at him but left to check and make sure she wasn’t missing anything. She returned looking more irritated than even when she left. “He’s insisting on meeting with you soon, so prepare yourself,” was the explanation she gave. “While I have no faith in your capabilities, I do still hope you are able to get in some good curses before he kills you.”

“Dumbledore isn’t going to kill me,” Harry answered with little faith behind the words. He honestly didn’t know what Dumbledore would do. He wouldn’t kill Hadrian Black, random dark wizard, but if he found out he was planning to become the next dark lord…it was a good thing Harry probably couldn't be killed...

“Regardless, your potion master will be contacting you about a meeting,” the portrait continued. “They have moved on and your werewolf is being sent on a recruitment mission since it seems my old friend Fenrir has gone missing…shame.”

Harry almost set the portrait on fire right then, but he needed the spy inside the house…although with Sirius, Remus, and Severus…maybe he could set her on fire soon. “Remember your vows, Walburga,” he warned her darkly. “I allow you a great deal of leeway with your editorializing, but I will not have you going against my plans, and people like Greyback are not welcome in the movement I am building.”

The portrait paused in her rants with a frown. “Yes, my lord,” she begrudgingly finally ground out as Harry’s look pulled on the magic imbued in her painting and made it run cold.

“Good,” he let off his hold on her magic slightly and gave her a smirk of a smile. “Now, when you find Sirius alone, tell him that I need him at the Shrieking Shack at noon on Halloween for a meeting. I may see him before then, but just in case. It’s a Tuesday, but the students are allowed a day in Hogsmeade before the feast since it’s a holiday.”

“I may be dead, but I remember my time at Hogwarts,” the portrait sneered right back at him but agreed to do it.

“Great! Be good and tell Kreacher I miss him,” Harry instructed.

“I’ll do no such thing!” Was screamed through the portrait as Harry snapped the clasp shut and tossed it back into his bag.

With a chuckle, Harry pulled the pile of parchment Snape had given him out of his bag and cracked his knuckles. He’d start with the first years. He was thinking Snape would be extra encouraging about the progress they were making and their improvement this time around.

Severus Snape really wanted to punch something or someone. He had never been one for physical violence, but he was swiftly reconsidering it. He had only a moment with Hadrian and Percy as they were leaving the house, and it was not a good opportunity to talk. He needed more information though and now and his confusion and anger had only been growing. He had no specific place to turn that anger though. After sleeping on the little he knew, he had even more questions he had to know the answers to. He was also getting more and more suspicious at Dumbledore from the very little that Hadrian had let slip about his, so this meeting was slowly killing him.

The Order meeting was even more insufferable than usual since Dumbledore had predictably overreacted to Hadrian’s magical alignment. Surprisingly, even Moody had spoken up for the man he hadn’t met yet though. As an auror, while Moody knew that there were many dark wizards that used their magic for evil, he also knew that dark wizards from other countries had a much different view about the balance of magic and were not necessarily aligned with their current Dark Lord. Since Hadrian studied in Amsterdam, even Moody had been willing to hear him out, something Dumbledore was furious about.

It seemed that Sirius’s adamant stance that he sided with Hadrian and the Order could fuck off if they made him choose was the deciding factor since Grimmauld was the absolute most secure house they could meet in. Severus was surprised to see the sheer amount of broken flatware Lupin had collected over the entire discussion from where Sirius seemed to be feeding him the pieces to keep him from blowing up over the whole thing. It seemed the werewolf might also know just who Sirius’s ‘cousin’ really was. It was something to consider anyway...that and the fact that no one had seemed to care to let him in on that secret until Hadrian accidentally did.

The desire to punch something had Snape hanging back while the rest of the Order cleared out, Lupin included since he now had shot at actually succeeding in his recruitment mission now that Greyback was ‘mysteriously’ dead. Dumbledore seemed to think the Dark Lord might have done it over some slight, and Moody was theorizing it was the werewolves themselves that finally banded together in their hate and fear of him. Snape shared a look with Sirius who desperately needed to work on hiding his emotions since his eyes sparkled with glee at it all.

“Offer me a drink, Black,” Snape ordered Sirius tersely who was one of the last to stand from the table to leave the kitchen.

Sirius cracked his back and raised a questioning eyebrow at the man. “Sure…with Remus gone now, no one is monitoring my Firewhiskey…er…let’s go to the study,” he motioned and strode out of the room and into the study that seemed much better cared for and less dusty than even the last time Snape had seen it.

Snape threw up the best wards he knew at the door as soon as they entered while Sirius pulled a bottle of amber liquid out of a desk in the corner before placing it on the coffee table with two tumblers. “Rough week?” Sirius conversationally asked with a small smile when Snape turned back around.

Without comment, Snape strode over and shoved Black hard against the bookshelf in the corner, knocking the wind out of him. “When were you going to tell me Hadrian Black was Harry Bloody Potter?!” He hissed. "Let me guess...never?!"

“It wasn’t my secret to tell!” Sirius gasped back, looking around for an escape. He hadn’t seen this turn of events coming. He’d thought they were getting along quite well recently. “What’s your damage, Snape?! I told you that I couldn’t tell you everything!”

Snape just pushed him painfully back against the shelf once more. He knew he wasn’t actually mad at Sirius in some far off corner of his brain, but he didn’t know how to handle this anger inside of him, and he didn’t have anything to take it out on. Sirius had always been good for a fight in the past, but the man didn’t seem to be obliging him this time around.

“Were you both getting a good laugh out of all this?! Keep Snape in the dark and make him think we’re friends, then what?! What then?!” He growled and shoved the man once more almost frantically.

“Nothing!” Sirius protested, eyes wide. “Harry really does want to be your friend…I…er…”

“You?! You what?!” Snape shoved him again, needing him to fight back.

“I…well…I don’t know…” Sirius looked around for an escape once more. “I’m not going to fight you, Severus. I get you’re mad, but I’m not your enemy!”

“You don’t know! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Snape growled, more in confusion now. “You don’t know what you want from me?!”

“Well…yeah,” Sirius blushed and shrugged. It was the blush that had Snape stop in his antagonizing in favor of confusion.

“What?” He still had a hand raised to shove the man again, but just stood there. “What does that mean?”

Sirius let out a breath and ran a hand down his face. “Look, Severus…I’m not going to fight you,” he said as he reached out a hand and fisted the front of Snape’s dark robes.

Snape looked down at the hand and raised a questioning eyebrow. “If you don’t want to fight then…”

Snape couldn’t get out the rest of his sentence because he felt like his brain was melting once more for the second time in as many days. Sirius had pulled him forward and his face was centimeters from Snape’s own. “If you aren’t going to punch me, then I’m going to kiss you,” Sirius informed him matter-of-factly. "I'm not good with words...but I can show you what I want from you."

Snape gaped, eyes wide before putting a hand on Sirius’s arm that was still holding onto him. “I might still punch you,” he remarked before crossing the short distance between them when he finally caught on to what Sirius was talking about.

Chapter Text

Harry was sitting with Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny at the Gryffindor table for breakfast when Luna walked over and squeezed onto the bench between Neville and Harry, almost shoving over a protesting Neville. “Good morning, Love-Bunny…pass the scones, please,” she grinned at Harry as if this were a normal occurrence for them and not remarkable at all.

While suppressing as much of his emotions as possible, Harry still couldn’t help the loud laugh that escaped as he grabbed the plate of scones. “Anything for you, Sugar-Lips.”

“Er…I think I missed something…” Neville looked at Ron and Hermione in surprise to see if they knew what was going on. Ron just shrugged and went back to his porridge, but Hermione frowned and opened her mouth a couple times, wanting to ask the question, but not sure if she should with Ginny there beside them.

It was Ginny who finally broke out of them all though. “Er…Harry…I realize you don’t have to have everything about yourself figured out in school, and I'm supportive no matter what, but, erm, weren’t you dating someone very…different not too long ago,” she said with a raise of her eyebrow at a smirking Luna. “Not that I don’t love you, Luna…don’t get me wrong.”

“Sephie!” Harry was immediately distracted as his cat jumped up onto the table from his lap and pounced to chase away a mail owl that had hung around for snacks after making its delivery.

Ron, never looking up from his porridge, reached out a hand and held off the inferius to give the owl enough time to fly away. “No, Seph…” he rolled his eyes, but left the cat on the table, seemingly no longer phased by an inferius cat…either that or just too tired to care. “Yeah, Harry...my very gay friend, what gives?” He did finally look up and raised a warning eyebrow, probably thinking he was being protective of his brother, but there was more exasperation than anything else in the look. Clearly he trusted Harry even if he had to make a token protest.

Luna looked around, but they were fairly separate from the rest of the people at the table, as was usual for their group. “I’m his toupee,” she remarked with a secretive bump of her shoulder to Harry’s before reaching for the pumpkin juice.

“Toupee?” Hermione frowned even more deeply in her confusion.

Harry barked out a sharp and fairly unstable laugh again that had Sephie look up and make a little chirping noise before hurrying over to him for head scratches. “I think she means beard,” he laughed louder as he kissed the top of his cat’s head and patted her bottom.

Luna frowned and shrugged. “That’s so much less interesting,” she remarked airily before taking a large bite of scone.

Harry looked kindly at a confused Ginny. “My significant other isn’t ready for everyone to know we’re dating yet. When Lavender and Parvati got insistent on ferreting more information out of me, Luna stepped in to save my ass,” he explained with a grin at the blonde beside him.

“Well…that’s nice of you…” Hermione remarked with a questioning look that clearly wondered just how much Luna knew and how Harry was holding together with her near. Ginny didn’t know anything though, so Hermione couldn’t ask the question that was making her brain itch with her need to ask it.

“But what if you find someone you want to date?” Neville asked Luna instead with a thoughtful tilt of his head at the fake relationship. He had recently been filled in that Harry and Luna had some kind of a traumatic history in the original timeline, but what that history was he didn’t know.

Harry opened his mouth to explain that Luna was aromantic since separating her own emotions from someone else’s in a relationship was just too confusing and frustrating for her to want to deal with long term. Plus, the fact that every negative emotion her partner had, she knew about, and no one could ever get away with a lie or even covering over when they were having a bad day. Luna had eventually decided that it just wasn’t something she wanted to deal with in her life. Before saying any of that, Harry quickly checked himself and closed his mouth with a click. He realized that Luna might not have gotten to that place yet as a fourteen-year-old, and he wasn’t going to out her, especially if it was to herself.

For her part, Luna just shrugged unconcernedly. “I doubt that’ll happen,” she said vaguely, not seeming to care at all. “If I do find someone, I’m sure Harry and I can stage a public break-up or something.”

“Ooo, we should do that anyway!” Harry grinned at her even more broadly. “That would be so much fun!”

Ginny laughed and stood. “You’re both so weird. I should have figured when you finally met you'd gang up and do something like this…I have revising to do,” she gave them all a little wave before walking towards the door, still chuckling and shaking her head. She stopped just a few paces away. “Still on for practice later? You didn't seem very enthusiastic when you scheduled the team practice.”

Harry shared a look with Ron who just raised a questioning eyebrow himself. He ended up nodding but with a little grimace. If it wouldn’t give him away, he’d just let the Gryffindor team bomb the cup that year, but he had to look like he was excited, wanted to win, and not in pain. “Yeah, see you later,” he waved back, but she was already walking away.

With a sigh, Harry looked up to the staff table, his face falling into a concerned frown. “I wonder where Snape is. He’s usually at breakfast by now even on weekends.” Harry’s eyes caught Percy’s who just looked over at the empty seat beside him and shrugged. Percy shared a concerned look with him though about their missing potion master.

“Snape can take care of himself, mate,” Ron remarked, not even looking up from his porridge this time, and seeming much less concerned than his friend and his brother.

“What if he had a meeting last night though?” Hermione hissed under her breath, shooting a surreptitious look over at Luna, still not knowing how much she knew.

“Ah…that’s my cue,” Luna swallowed and stood, picking up her half-eaten scone to take with her. “It’s too early to deal with all this…” she waved a hand over their little group to signify all the worry and conflicting emotions they were giving off.

“They’re almost to full shields,” Harry informed her, sparing an eye-roll for his friends at letting their emotions go. “I’ll get them there soon.”

Luna just shrugged and gave them all a vacant smile. “Well…fill them in about me anyway if you haven’t already. I’m off to the stressed Ravenclaws…they at least are straightforward and predictable with their emotions. Don’t be a stranger, Honey-Cakes,” Luna kissed the top of Harry’s head, probably leaving scone crumbs in his hair. Harry grinned widely at her, not caring if the entire scone was in his hair as she walked off.

“Gin was right; you’re both weird,” Ron snorted, expertly dodging a swat to his arm from his girlfriend.

Neville frowned after Luna. “You sure this is a good idea, Harry? There's a lot that can go wrong with a fake relationship and people asking questions.”

“Probably not, but it’ll be fun,” Harry shrugged and smirked at him before standing and scooping Sephie up into his arms. “Well…I’m off to see a wizard!” He informed them all before turning on his heel to walk off.

“That’s not informative at all in this school!” Hermione called back with an eye-roll. They all knew he was tracking Snape down though, so it’s not like he really needed to clarify which wizard he was off to see.

Harry only made it down a couple corridors before a “Mister Potter,” dryly drawled stopped him in his tracks with a huge grin. "A moment of your time please."

“Yes, Professor Weasley?” Harry turned with a positively lecherous grin on his face to his partner who was waiting in an alcove for him.

“I could give you detention for that look alone,” Percy snorted in amusement at the supposed-student before pulling him into the alcove and throwing up a privacy ward. “You checking in on Severus? Want me to come along?”

“Nah, I got it. My healing spells are a little better than yours anyway,” Harry sighed. “He was fine when we left him last night. Walburga didn’t say anything about him going off on a mission or anything either. He’d bloody better not have gotten himself into any trouble after the meeting.”

"I hear you have a new girlfriend," Percy grinned at him. "I thought I was the bisexual one in this relationship."

"Ha ha," Harry snorted before looking around to see if they were alone before giving Percy a quick kiss.

"How's Luna? Any emotional leakage?" Percy asked seriously as soon as Harry pulled away.

With a tired sigh, Harry shrugged. "She's fine. I'm pushing everything down fairly well, and the longer I'm around her, the more I can stay in the moment. She doesn't stay around me too long though as I get a bit much over time."

Percy pet Sephie’s head and nodded in understanding. “Good, then, I'm glad she's back in your life. I missed her myself. Well, I’m heading to the ministry today to check in at my office,” he informed Harry, his raise of an eyebrow making it very clear he meant the Department of Mysteries and not Fudge’s office.

“Give Davids my best, ask him when it's best for me to drop by to hear the prophesy, and see if you can make friends with the Veil of Death people too,” Harry scratched his neck, really not wanting to go anywhere near that veil again, but it was his newest idea for getting rid of the horcruxes. “I’m thinking maybe we could just chuck the artifacts in there to solve our little problem if they’ll let us near enough to it.”

Percy’s look was somewhere between horrified and completly scandalized. “What?” Harry asked him in confusion when he seemed incapable of speaking.

Percy sputtered a couple times. “Those are priceless magical artifacts!” He exclaimed in a voice very much like Hermione's if Harry had suggested burning a library to the ground and dancing on the ashes.

Harry gave him a disbelieving look that this was surprisingly where Percy was drawing a line out of everything. “If you remember, I destroyed them the first time…”

“Well! We’re not this time! Plus, it wouldn’t work anyway. The Veil destroys the body not the soul. It would be the same as if you just stabbed them with a basilisk fang. The soul would return to the main piece,” Percy explained in indignation, his forehead crinkling in a way that Harry found very cute.

“Besides…I’m technically part of that department anyway…or adjacent at least,” he trailed off in a mumble, not really wanting to admit that little piece of information he’d purposely never let drop to Harry before.

Now it was Harry’s turn to glare at him, not liking that new information even a tiny bit even if it was convenient. He didn’t want anyone he knew anywhere near that abomination in the death chamber, let alone researching the Veil. “We will be talking about this later,” he darkly informed Percy, getting a resigned huff in return. Harry saw an argument brewing in their future that Percy was not going to worm his way out of.

“Fine, but keep next weekend free of quidditch practice when you meet with the team later…I have an experiment I want to try on you then,” Percy instructed, not afraid of Harry’s ire even a tiny bit, though he did feel bad keeping that secret from him when Sirius had died there. That was specifically why he hadn't told Harry that he sometimes studied the Veil though.

“Ah, luv…if you wanted to kill me, you just had to ask…” Harry smirked playfully behind himself while he and Sephie sauntered off to track down the dungeon bat and save the argument for later that night.

Severus Snape sat at his desk nursing the mother of all hangovers, one which his hangover potion only put a dent in instead of curing. Oh, he had made very bad decisions the night before…then they’d started drinking and he’d made even worse decisions. The scary thing was…he found himself not completely wishing that it wouldn’t happen again, which in Snape’s internal monologue meant he did actually, really, very much want it to happen again though he’d never admit it, least of all to himself. He was torn between wanting to murder Sirius Black and…well, start a repeat of all those very bad decisions.

Someone plowed through the wards around his office as if they didn’t even exist, making Snape wince and plan to curse whoever walked through his door, which he was certain was either Potter or Dumbledore with the blatant disregard for his personal wards and space.

“You’re alive!” The too awake and perky Gryffindor brat, happily threw up a nonverbal shield, blocking the hex Snape sent his way. Snape was only passably grateful it was Potter instead of the headmaster in the grand scheme of annoyances in his life.

“Nice one,” Potter gave him an impressed smile at the hex before placing that hairless monstrosity that was supposedly a cat down on the floor of his office. “Now…why weren’t you at breakfast? I’m guessing hangover by your general look and demeanor, but I’m not going to rule out torture until you tell me otherwise.”

Snape closed his eyes and tried to remind himself that Potter was Hadrian, and he did actually like Hadrian. He might have possibly been unfair to Potter as well, but he didn’t really have the mental capacity currently to examine that. When he reopened his eyes, Hadrian Black was standing before him without his glamour and with much stronger wards over his door.

“Hadrian…” he acknowledged the man who looked like he was itching to start casting diagnostic charms at him. “It is only a hangover, and recovery from a late night. I have been acutely reminded that I am not as young as I once was.”

“I didn’t know the Order meeting after-party got that wild,” Hadrian smirked at him before making himself at home in Snape’s office by plopping into the student chair across from him.

Snape gave him a withering glare. “Is there something you need?”

“Nope,” Hadrian shrugged and smiled as the bald cat wearing a neon orange jumper of all things jumped up onto Snape’s desk. The man glared in disgust at the cat who ignored him steadfastly. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t off dying somewhere. You weren’t at breakfast, and your schedule tends to be predictable when Tom isn’t ordering you around…you might want to vary that up a bit, you know. I’ve learned it’s best that no one knows the exact time you arrive places, especially where easily drugged food will be available.”

“What is your cat wearing?” Snape glared in disgust at the beast. “And, I’m perfectly capable of checking my food for poisons…I am a potion master if you remember.”

Snape frowned as another puzzle piece connecting Hadrian to Potter seemed out of place. “Being on a student class schedule again must be killing you with having to be places at very specific times.”

“Hermione won’t give me her good yarn anymore after the last two jumpers turned out all wonky,” Hadrian rolled his eyes good-humoredly at the cat. “However, this one turned out pretty good, besides the color, if I say so myself. And yes, Percy stole my backpack flask, so I’m slowly dying inside. Dobby checks my food for poisons though, and I try to take very different secret passages to get anywhere, and I check over my dad’s old map to see where people are along my routes, so I’m making it with minimal psychological damage. Personally, I think my backpack flask has become Percy’s desk flask, but he just glares at me when I ask for it back.”

“You will remember this conversation next time I tell you that you have a problem and refuse to give you alcohol,” Snape glared at him in a mirror of the look he’d gotten from Percy when he’d stolen the flask.

“I’m not the one with a hangover,” Hadrian just reminded him with a smirk. “So…while I’m here anyway, when is Hadrian Black’s meeting with Dumbledore? I’ll have to see if I can fit him in between classes, killing off Tom, and trying to take over wizarding Britain.”

Snape was somehow not surprised that Hadrian already knew what they had discussed at the meeting he hadn’t been invited to. “I suppose Sirius owled you this morning?” He asked, wondering how the man was coherent enough to owl when he’d had just as much to drink as Snape and had a lower tolerance after his years in prison. When he’d left the man’s room that morning, he was definitely still in bed and grumbling about his head, his muscles, the light coming through the curtains, and anything else he could think of…though, surprisingly not Snape’s presence, which he was very quick to deprive the hungover fugitive of.

“Huh? No, I have a spy in the Order,” Hadrian have him a shit-eating grin at that.

Snape rolled his eyes. “Lupin, I suppose…he did seem abnormally protective of you.”

“Nope,” Harry grinned even wider. “You should know that the best spy is one that no one knows about…although, that hasn’t been the route you are taking.”

“To the detriment of my nerves and general health and well-being,” Snape huffed a pained laugh. “That house elf then…whatever his name is.”

“Kreacher?” Hadrian’s grin slightly fell before ratcheting back up to a 10. “Not this time, I guess I have multiple spies…cool, go me. I’m killing this dark lord thing already!”

Snape couldn’t bring himself to care and would prefer to be left alone to his misery. “Wednesday, if you can swing it,” he answered the man’s original question. “I knew you had a larger free period then, so I suggested it as a good day. He is awaiting your owl.”

“Hmm…you think he could be strung along for a couple weeks?” Hadrian mused while the cat was now trying to get Snape to pet her and getting a murderous look for her troubles. “Percy is going to try to kill me next weekend, or something like that, then the next Tuesday is Halloween, and I refuse to do anything besides my new ‘inner-circle’ meeting because the day is cursed…you’re invited to that by-the-way. I’d rather meet with Dumbledore once I already have all the details worked out with the Goblin Nation, the centaurs, and I just heard that my old banshee friend is going to be there…not that she remembers we were friends, but at least I got her as a friend without getting stabbed this time. I consider that a huge win.”

Snape’s mind was reeling, and he was suddenly very surprised that any of his marking had gotten done at all. Hadrian must really not do well with free time in the slightest. He could see that clearly now. There was so much in that sentence that he really didn’t want to touch, so he just pushed it all under a metaphorical rug in his head to deal with later.

“Just go to the meeting on Wednesday, Harry…” Snape grimaced and closed his eyes. “I will see what I can do about your ill-advised meeting on Halloween…if your boyfriend hasn’t killed you first, that is. I won’t blame him if he does though.”

“Hey! You called me Harry!” The man was giving him the most unhinged smile Snape had seen on anyone’s face besides Sirius Black, so he figured it must be something genetic that transferred over from whatever blood adoption ritual they’d done to get Hadrian onto the Black tapestry at Grimmauld.

“My mistake,” he sighed and knew his (friend?) wasn’t going to let it go. “Before you leave, because you are most definitely leaving, please put me out of my misery and at least tell me where the basilisk parts came from? And, do you have more venom you could give me for an experiment I want to run?”

Hadrian was now looking at him very confused. “Of course, I can give you all the venom you need…what do you mean ‘where’ the basilisk came from?”

“I mean that basilisks are extinct. Where did you find one, Hadrian?” He asked again in exasperation. Was the man being purposefully obtuse?!

“I figured that was the biggest give-away to my identity,” Hadrian still looked very confused. “I got them from the basilisk I killed…I thought you’d realize that. How did you not realize that?! You were the one that said the Chamber of Secrets would be a good place around the school for Percy to do some dark magic if he could convince ‘Harry’ to tell him where it was.”

Snape felt his vision blur slightly around the edges as what Hadrian seemed to be implying started to sink in. He gaped at the confused man sitting in front of him. “Are you…are you expecting me to believe that a basilisk was the monster in the Chamber of Secrets?!!”

Snape hissed in pain at the sudden scratch on his hand he got from Potter’s cat who took offense to his raised voice. “Merlin, sorry, Severus!” Hadrian broke out of his confusion to scoop up the cat. “Bad Sephie!…Well, good girl protecting us, but Sev is our friend,” he cooed at the cat now on his lap.

“Ignore the cat, Potter!” Snape urgently snapped his fingers in front of Hadrian’s face. “Was there a bloody basilisk in this school where children live?!!”

“Well, yeah…what did you think was petrifying students?” Hadrian looked at him like he’d lost all his senses. “I thought Dumbledore told everyone what happened.”

“He said there was a runic stone to summon and command a svartálfar in the chamber! He said you went down and ended up calling your house elf friend…Dobby was it?...to banish it! He bloody well didn’t tell anyone it was a basilisk!!”

Harry raised an eyebrow before slowly putting the squirming cat back down on the floor. He gave it some thought. It would have made sense and been soooo much better than a basilisk. A dark elf could easily petrify students as a powerful and dark prankster creature, especially if it was being commanded by someone, but they were also much less powerful than, and easily banished by, a house elf.

“Oh…” he finally said lamely in response.

“OH?!! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Snape waved his hand wildly before having to stop when he suddenly realized he was bleeding. He rolled his eyes. “Episkey,” he tapped his hand and frowned when nothing happened to the scratch.

“That’s not going to work with Sephie's scratches,” Hadrian quickly conjured some bandages and grabbed Snape’s hand to wrap it for him. “Now…I think we can agree that Dumbledore might just be a bastard. It was most definitely a basilisk back in my second year, and I’m guessing he lied to the staff to keep the school from being closed down…why, I don’t know; you’d have to ask him. I’m surprised this is the first I’m hearing of the lie, but with the war and all, it wasn’t really something that seemed important, so I guess I never really talked about it with anyone. It was dead, so those of us who knew it was a basilisk just didn’t mention it much since we thought everyone knew already.”

Snape still had that light-headed fuzzy feeling from the shock of there being a bloody basilisk in the school as he watched Hadrian tie off the bandage. “I am going to murder that man…”

Hadrian shrugged unconcernedly. “You did it once already, can’t be too hard a second time, maybe make it a little less public this time around though.” Snape closed his eyes and breathed in a calming breath of 'Yes, Hadrian is insane' and let go a less calming breath of 'he’s still probably the world’s best option.'

“Avada kedavra on the Astronomy Tower,” Hadrian answered his unasked question. “You’d worked it out with him ahead of time though because he was already dying from a curse he was stupid enough to fall into, so not exactly murder.”

“Why does episkey not work with your cat's scratches in particular?” Snape asked instead, needing to change the subject for his own mental health.

Hadrian shrugged. “Weird magic interaction-thingy since Percy made her for me with his unspeakable, mojo, magic stuff…” he trailed off and Snape knew by Hadrian’s inability to meet his eyes that he most definitely did not want to ask any follow-up questions.

“Anyway…” Hadrian cleared his throat and sat up straighter, looking at Snape confidently again. “Speaking of murder and second year…what are your thoughts on Lucius Malfoy? I’m thinking of killing him, but I’m not sure how redeemable he actually is since I never interacted with him much before he was carted off to Azkaben. Dobby is pro-murdering, I’m certain Draco would vote no at the moment even if it’s the best option, and Percy really doesn’t care, so I need a tiebreaker. I'd ask Narcissa, but I've yet to figure out how to be friends with her again yet. What do you think?”

Snape slowly opened his desk drawer and took out another hangover potion to down, hoping it would do something, anything. “Start from the beginning,” he found himself saying, knowing it was a bad idea. “What part did Lucius play exactly in the whole basilisk fiasco that I’m somehow just learning about?”

Something weird was going on with Sirius. Harry was grumbling to himself his entire long walk from Hogsmeade back up to the castle after sneaking out of the castle earlier as Harry (with Dobby’s help since Snape had warded all the secret passages) and returning as Hadrian Black. He was wearing his normal magical, rock band t-shirt and worn jeans that he felt most comfortable in as his actual self, not willing to dress up for someone he no longer respected in the slightest. He was more concerned about his godfather than this idiotic meeting with the headmaster though.

Yes, the meeting was important since he was certain Dumbledore probably wanted him dead on some level, but he also knew the man wouldn’t just murder him right there in his office. It’s not like Hadrian was the first dark wizard in the school anyway. Lucius Malfoy and Theodore Nott’s father were both on the school board for Merlin’s sake! Anyway…somehow Sirius had learned about the basilisk and lost his ever loving mind. Somehow meaning Snape most definitely.

First of all, why were those two talking behind his back anyway? It’s not like they were friends! Then, Sirius kept saying “we” in his letter that seemed to also be tear-stained, and he clearly wasn’t talking about Lupin who was still off with the werewolves. It was obviously referencing him and Snape, but when did they become a “we?” They both seemed to be ganging up on him about seeing a mind-healer, which yeah, he did need to do, but that would have be someone in the Goblin Nation or something right now since he was not ready to be outed as Harry Potter/new Dark Lord to the wizarding world just yet. It wasn’t just the basilisk-thing either, the letter was trying to say something or reference something about Harry’s past that he wasn’t actually saying, and Harry just wasn’t following. It was all very confusing…

Harry had to put his thoughts on hold as a stern Professor McGonagall was standing at the door of the castle to greet him. “Hullo,” he remarked to the woman with a self-conscious shrug and small smile. He didn’t care how old or powerful he got, that woman still had the ability to scare him and make him feel eleven all over again, second only to Poppy Pomfrey. “I’m Hadrian…Hadrian Black.”

“Yes, I was informed of your arrival. I’m to take you to the headmaster. I am Professor McGonagall,” she reached out a hand to shake. Hadrian quickly shook her hand, not sure if her expression was neutral, disapproving, or just trying to figure him out.

“Good to meet you…and to finally see the school. I’ve heard so many good things from my cousin about his time here,” Hadrian conversationally remarked as he followed his head of house into the castle and quickly headed towards the headmaster’s office.

McGonagall’s lips thinned. “Don’t believe a third of what Sirius Black tells you. That man was, and is still, a menace.”

Harry almost choked on a laugh when he realized the woman was making a joke. He still couldn’t tell what she thought of him, but it was a damn good sign. “Merlin! Less than a third!” He laughed in agreement. “I believe his friend, Remus, just a few slight percentages more.”

“I heard you had private tutors instead of attending a school such as ours?” McGonagall remarked, with a small backwards glance to the man hurrying along in her wake. “Tutors proficient in runic, blood magic is seems…”

“Er…yeah, but no, the runes came later with my mastery. I studied the Dark Arts under a master in Amsterdam,” he informed her. “I followed Percy here…erm, I’m his partner. I’m not sure he’s mentioned me, but there aren’t a whole lot of jobs in Britain for dark wizards…I’m leaning towards either the Unspeakables or Hit Wizards…” he explained, listing the only two careers friendly to dark wizards with the ministry. He and Percy had decided that saying he wanted to work at the ministry was the safest lie to place him in a ‘safe’ category with Dumbledore. Anything else and he would be too much of an unknown and mark him as a liability immediately.

They suddenly came to the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore’s tower office and McGonagall promptly gave it the password. “Mr. Weasley has mentioned you in passing, but we have not spent much time together since he joined the staff regrettably. I wish you luck with your career though. It is admirable to follow your younger partner here when you must have already been established yourself.”

Harry couldn’t help giving his long braid a slight tug before nervously twisting the silver ring in his ear. “Er, yeah…Percy’s worth it, and Siri too if we can ever get him a fair trial…”

“Indeed, he is…” McGonagall motioned towards the moving staircase. “Just through there, Mr. Black. Also, you may want to be discreet in who you mention Sirius Black around. Not everyone will be as understanding where he is concerned as the headmaster and I.”

“Thank you for the advice,” he nodded and smiled at her before quickly escaping up the stairway, fairly positive he was running to a much worse situation though.

Harry firmly slammed down every Occlumency shield he had as he stepped off the stairway and gave the door to the office a quick rap. “Enter,” a deceptively mild voice called from the office.

Taking a deep breath, Harry turned the brass doorknob and pushed open the door, stepping into an office that he’d hoped (without much conviction) that he could avoid all year. “Headmaster Dumbledore?” He smiled at the elderly man who looked up from a desk covered in parchment, appearing busy even though Harry knew he had probably been tracking his steps since he entered the castle with some of the little silver devices he recognized now as an adult through his black-market dealings as various magical tracking and spy equipment.

“Ah, Mr. Black, I’ve heard so much about you from your cousin and Mr. Lupin,” Dumbledore stood and reached out a hand to shake, his blue eyes twinkling and a push against Harry’s Occlumency shields going unmentioned by the both of them.

Harry shook the hand offered and raised an eyebrow at the mental test, but let it pass. It was the least of his worries about the man in front of him. “As have I,” he said instead as he took a seat in the garishly purple armchair across the desk from the man. Harry caught Fawkes out of the corner of his eyes giving him a quizzical look and decided to ignore and avoid the bird as much as possible. He really didn’t know much about phoenix magic and didn’t want to find anything out the hard way.

“I understand you have some concerns about me visiting my cousin at his house?” Hadrian remarked lightly as if he didn’t understand where those concerns were coming from at all. “I can assure you, I’m harmless. I am only here to visit my favorite cousin and be near my partner.”

“Percival Weasley,” Dumbledore steepled his fingers under his chin as he leaned his elbows on his desk and quietly studied the man in front of him.

Harry refused to quake under the ice-blue stare he was receiving. He’d thought he’d gotten over most of his conflicted feeling for the man after he’d seen him at his ministry trial in the summer, but no, he was still vacillating between wanting the grandfatherly man to approve of him and being murderously angry at him all at the same time. “Percy is my world, sir,” he said quietly and honestly. “I’m happy he’s found a home here again on your staff.”

Dumbledore slowly nodded. “Mr. Weasley was appointed by the ministry to serve as our DADA professor this year since we had no applicants,” he said unnecessarily since that was common knowledge, but the remark also spoke volumes to how much (not at all) the headmaster valued his newest staff member.

Harry did his best to bury all his emotions and give the man in front of him a smile as if he didn’t know exactly what this man thought of him, a dark wizard, and his partner just by association. “Yes, well, I understand there is a little misunderstanding and some prejudice about the type of magic alignment I lean towards here in Britain,” he said lightly as if it were just a little issue like music piracy or speeding in the muggle world.

“I hope you wouldn’t hold that against my partner, a member of one of your light families.” It took everything Harry had to not chuckle at his necromancer partner who was being assigned as “light” by association.

Dumbledore finally sat back up straight, giving Hadrian a paternalistic look that clearly communicated they were getting down to business now. “Son, I’m more concerned with your interactions and intentions with one Harry Potter. Please do tell me, just how many times have you met with the boy since you returned to England? And what have you told him?”

Hadrian batted away another mental attempt on his shields and remembered Snape was going to tell Dumbledore something about him putting blocking runes on young Harry…bollocks! Well, it was story time he guessed. Time to lie through his teeth like his life depended on it, because by Dumbledore’s look now, it definitely did.

Chapter Text

Dumbledore finally sat back up straight, giving Hadrian a paternalistic look that clearly communicated they were getting down to business now. “Son, I’m more concerned with your interactions and intentions with one Harry Potter. Please do tell me, just how many times have you met with the boy since you returned to England? What have you told him?”

Hadrian batted away another attempt on his shields and remembered Snape was going to tell Dumbledore something about him putting runes on young Harry…bollocks! Well, it was story time he guessed. Time to lie through his teeth like his life depended on it, because by Dumbledore’s look now, it definitely did.

“Oh, Harry Potter, yeah…good kid there,” Harry said with a shit-eating grin on his face and a nod at the headmaster who was trying to look threatening. The look probably would have been effective on anyone besides Harry…and maybe Voldemort, but Harry didn’t like being compared to that monster at all, even if it was just in his own mind.

“How long have you and young Harry been acquainted?” Dumbledore leaned forward, glaring at the dark wizard in front of him. Harry knew that Dumbledore could not realize the significance of how he phrased that question and how true it was. Harry…or rather Hadrian, really hadn’t been acquainted with young Harry at all, or at least not since he had actually been young Harry.

“Honestly,” Harry smiled since it was actually the truth. “We aren’t well acquainted. I don’t know Harry that well at all.” At least not at this point in his life being so far removed from being fifteen. It was why Ron, Hermione, and even Neville had been having to run interference for him so often in classes and amongst his classmates when he just couldn’t act like his younger self anymore.

“That is not what I have been led to believe,” Dumbledore continued his interrogation with a sneer at what he believed to be a lie from the other man. “It is my understanding you have been practicing some questionable dark magic on one of my students. I must insist you tell me everything that has transpired in your interactions immediately.”

Harry’s smile widened even more, making him look a little unstable probably. While he knew exactly where Dumbledore was coming from in his concern for Harry, Hadrian wouldn’t, and he was well within his rights to act as ignorant as he really wanted to in this situation as Hadrian Black.

“Er, sir…I don’t understand,” he said as innocently as possible. “I haven’t contacted Harry Potter since this past summer. We only ever talked a couple times when he wasn’t in school or one of your students. I don’t see why my limited interactions with Mr. Potter concern you at all as headmaster of Hogwarts.”

“Anything pertaining to the safety and well-being of my students concerns me, Mr. Black,” Dumbledore almost growled at the man who was messing with his plans. Fawkes added a little trill at the comment that Harry still wasn’t able to determine if it was in agreement or not.

“Riiight…” Harry slowly said, raising an eyebrow in disbelief at the headmaster he once almost worshipped. His safety had never been a concern of Albus Dumbledore, that was a fact that Harry knew intimately well no matter what other conflicted feelings he had towards his former headmaster.

“Well, you can put your mind at ease then. I’ve done nothing to harm Mr. Potter, only help him. Sirius was concerned about his godson and asked me to stop by and check on him over the summer. I only saw him twice. The first time we just talked, got to know each other, and I asked him about how he was doing in the wake of seeing one of his friends murdered in front of him,” Harry couldn’t help the accusing glare at Dumbledore for never checking on his younger self after that or at least offering some form of grief counseling. Between that and losing Sirius the next year, Harry had officially started his downward spiral then that he was only now trying his best to claw himself out of.

“What about the second visit?” Dumbledore prodded, putting his magic behind the words to create a feeling of heaviness in the air. Harry almost laughed at the wizard's attempt at intimidation. It would have worked on a student or a bureaucrat who didn't recognize the tactic, but someone who was used to living in a war zone, who dealt with shady black-market types (who was a shady black-market type), and who had actually been tortured several times…well, it was just pathetic. Also worth noting, Dumbledore hadn’t even thought to ask how Harry had been in his grief that summer…

Harry made a show of looking a little bashful and ashamed. “Well…sir, I must admit, I’m more used to the laws in Amsterdam than here in the UK. I haven’t lived here in so long, and I might not have realized things were different here until after the fact.”

“After what fact?” The headmaster frowned darkly at him.

“Er…well, Harry had been complaining about nightmares and headaches in his letter with Sirius and when we talked, and it seemed that your current dark lord had created some sort of connection with his mind that I haven't seen before. I didn’t have the time to teach the kid Occlumency over the summer, so I just blocked the connection for him to give him some temporary relief. He should still learn Occlumency though if you have someone who can teach him. The connection can open up again if he doesn't learn it for himself,” Harry shrugged with that bashful grin.

Harry continued as if he was concerned what the man thought while he watched Dumbledore process the implication of what he'd said. “You see, it’s legal to tattoo someone under 18 in Amsterdam with their parent or guardian’s permission, and Sirius was perfectly fine with it. I didn’t realize until later that the laws here are stricter in those regards. It’s only the muggle police who actually care though since dark magic is thankfully still not illegal here in your society, and runic blood magic is still sometimes used on children in dire situations such as the one I encountered with young Harry.”

Harry really did want Dumbledore to try to get the muggle police to go after him. It would be absolutely hilarious! It would be even more hilarious to see Dumbledore trying to interact with the muggle police and not be locked up because they thought he was drunk or insane. Dumbledore himself looked murderous though currently. Yes, what Hadrian had done was technically illegal in the muggle world, but it also wasn’t illegal in the wixen part of society…and there really wasn’t anything the man could do about it.

“Mr. Black…” Dumbledore’s seething was so concentrated that Harry was surprised steam wasn’t coming from his ears. He continued to speak as if Hadrian was one of his students or at least a small child in need of a stern talking to. “I forbid you from interacting with Harry Potter from this day forward. What you did was unconscionable! Using dark magic on a minor! I would restrict you from your cousin’s house if your influence on him wasn’t so…stabilizing. You will not be allowed to roam freely in the house though. I expect you to stay with your cousin, Mr. Lupin, or one of the Weasleys whenever you are inside the house. Have I made myself clear?”

Harry’s eyebrows went up almost to his hairline at the man’s audacity. Yes, he did help Sirius a lot mentally and he was much better now than in Harry’s first timeline, but regardless of his influence on Sirius, Dumbledore had to realize that Harry…or rather Hadrian, would know that a headmaster of a school had no right or ability to restrict him from his ancestral house as a member of the Black family, even if he didn’t know that Hadrian owned the house. Well…that could certainly be rectified!

Harry gave Dumbledore his most unhinged smile, the one that even had Percy shivering (but definitely in a very different way), the one which usually preceded murder and mayhem. “Headmaster Dumbledore,” he emphasized the man’s title to show just how little influence he really had over Hadrian. “I’m sure you remember, but those of your advanced age sometimes struggle in that area…so, I will remind you. My cousin, Sirius Black, was disowned from the Black family way back when he was sixteen.”

Dumbledore’s face fell in confusion. Yes, he’d known Sirius had been disowned, but he was sure it wasn’t formally and legally filed because that would mean…

“Sirius has no legal rights to the Black family manor, the Black family vaults, or the Black family Wizengamot seat,” Hadrian finished Dumbledore’s thought with that terrifying grin.

Ok, so he was stretching the truth since Sirius did actually have those legal rights in his first timeline and even before Harry had come back in time, but ever since Harry’s trip back though time, he was the one magically determined as the Black heir. Sirius would always be taken care of if Harry had any say in the matter, but Hadrian Black was the magical and legal head of the family now.

“But…no…that's not...” Dumbledore looked even more confused because he’d placed the fidelus charm on the house, but if that were the case, it wouldn’t have been binding if Sirius wasn’t the legal owner.

Harry shrugged and stood, seeing where the man's mind was going. “I never actually needed to be told where the house was located. I share secret-keeper power with you since Sirius didn't have the authority to take part in the spell without me there, and since I’m the legal owner, it will be so very easy for me to cut you out of that power altogether. You, my cousin, your Order, are all at Black Manor by my permission and at my whim. You're lucky that I prefer to stay at Percy’s flat while he’s away here at the school and don't want to live at the manor full-time…However, I can and will move in if I deem it necessary. Now, if you will excuse me…I believe Professor McGonagall has been waiting for me long enough out in the corridor, and I have business to attend to of my own today. I look forward to seeing you at the next Wizengamot meeting, Professor Dumbledore.”

Harry didn’t particularly want to have to attend Wizengamot meetings, they were just so boring, but Dumbledore was going to be a problem, and he was the new dark lord, so he should probably suck it up and do his bloody job. He turned back around to address the headmaster just when the elderly man seemed to be recovering to take up the argument once more. “Oh, and I also expect to have a very long conversation with my cousin about his responsibilities where young Harry are concerned. It seems that there are those who have taken an unhealthy interest in a child they have no legal claim to…very concerning that.”

Harry turned the doorknob and exited the room, smiling to himself as an indignant squawk followed by the angry shattering of glass echoed behind him in the office. He had to stop himself chuckling as he stepped off the staircase to greet McGonagall once more. “Sorry that took so long,” he gave the woman an apologetic look.

She waved him off unconcernedly before leading the young man back towards the exit. “I assume your meeting went well?” She looked behind herself at the man following her to ask. The dark wizard had looked happy and not upset when he’d met her once more, so she assumed everything must have been smoothed over with Albus, and he’d been deemed harmless.

“Very well, thank you,” Hadrian beamed at her. “Now, Professor, I hear you’ve mastered the animagus transformation. That is extremely impressive, and I'm beyond jealous! How long did it take you? It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but never found the time. Was it very difficult to initially undertake? How does it feel to be an animal and have their senses?”

Minerva McGonagall smiled at the young man who was eager to learn and kept up a lively conversation with him about the animagus transformation and her experiences all the way down to the gates of the grounds since the front door just didn’t give them enough time to discuss everything. She gave the lad a fond wave as he disapparated on the other side of the wards, promising her to owl with more questions. Now, that was a young man she would love to talk to again. He was kind, genuinely interested in what she had to tell him, and asked thought-provoking questions. It was a shame he’d settled on the questionable field of dark magic instead of transfiguration, but since Albus must have decided that he was on their side, she was looking forward to seeing if Hadrian Black had any insights about where dark magic intersected with transfiguration since she was much less knowledgeable there. Thankfully, she would likely run into him often visiting Percival or even at Headquarters…if not, she was at least looking forward to his owls.

Dear Siri,

Heads up, Dumbleduck is on a rampage. I pissed him off royally, and I’m personally very proud of that feat. Anyway, you might want to lay low or even take some of your Polyjuice and escape for a bit if he drops by. I ended up telling him I own the house and threatened to kick him and the Order out after some very inappropriate demands on his part. I may also have subtly (or not) threatened to use the Wizengamot seat against him.

Also, did Snape happen to fill you in on the lie he came up with that I tattooed blocking runes on Harry to keep Voldyshorts out of his head? If not, heads up, you approved that supposed plan and gave your permission. I get that Dumbledore needs me…or rather Harry…whatever, to die, but I don’t see why it's necessary to keep the connection open to Voldy right now. It’s not like young me actually learned how to use it to my advantage until I was like 17. Before then, I just got you killed with it.

...I guess there was the Arthur Weasley thing though…Merlin, I keep forgetting about that! Could you get me the Order's rotation for the guards around the Department of Mysteries?

...Actually, scratch that. I’d hate for any of you to get eaten by Nagini if she gets sent early…well, except Mundungus, he can get eaten for all I care. I’ll handle that from the other direction.

Now, care to share why you and Snape seem to be friends all of a sudden?! You do remember that you tried to feed him to Moony once, right?

Love,

The bestest godson ever

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Harry,

I don’t give a flying fuck what Dumbledore thinks or wants anymore! I’ll smooth things over because I know it’s best we keep the Order at the house to better keep tabs on what they’re doing since I won’t have as much access if it moves anywhere else. That doesn’t mean that I’m not ready to poison that bastard’s lemon drops though!

However, should I be concerned about what you mean by handling it 'from the other direction?' And what are you handling anyway? Care to fill me in?

And bloody Merlin! Harry, you didn’t get me killed! I don’t know what all went down in your time, but it wasn’t your fault. You were actually fifteen then and dealing with things hardened aurors shouldn’t have to deal with. I don’t care what happened: It. Was. Not. Your. Fault!

As for Snape, how did you hear about the werewolf incident? I don't think I told you anything about that in this time anyway. That wasn’t exactly how it went down. I didn’t intentionally try to feed Snape to anyone, especially not Moony. Wait…was it Dumbledore who told you that? Why would he have told you that I actively tried to kill someone…no, don’t answer that, I think I already know. He didn’t want you to get close to me.

Merlin! I think I might just take your advice and dose myself on Polyjuice and leave to avoid that man.

Padfoot

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Pads,

First of all, don't worry about the Order guards. I'm handling it...or rather, I'm probably going to get Percy to handle it for me.

For the werewolf thing, Remus told me about that in my third year at Hogwarts...or at least I think I remember it being my third year. You might want to talk to him about that. I’m not sure what’s going on. You didn’t tell Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow on a full moon in your fifth or sixth year?!

Harry

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Harry,

Remy is still away on a mission, but something weird must be going on. By what I remember, which we all know is sketchy at best, Snape did try to go to the Whomping Willow once on a full moon, but not because I told him to. While my memory might be bad, I do know Snape wouldn't have trusted anything I told him when we were in school together. Why would he have listened to me back then? We weren’t friends, and he was smart enough to know that if I told him to go somewhere, he should absolutely not go there, or at least not go without some serious back-up.

By what I remember, he overheard Peter and me planning how to get some snacks and stuff into the shack for Remus’s transformation. He was testing out that ingenious listening charm he invented. Ask him to show that one to you at some point if he hasn’t already. James ended up catching him snooping around and forced him back to safety before things got too dangerous, but it wasn’t intentional. Merlin! We were stupid but not murderers! We did some pretty awful stuff to each other, but he was decidedly not innocent in that himself.

I need to talk to Remus… we need to talk to Remus. I’ll let you know as soon as he’s back.

Siri

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Severus,

How do you feel about Italian food? I’d do unspeakable things for a good carbonara! Plus, I need to escape the house for a bit. Did Harry fill you in on his meeting with Dumbledore? I’m planning to be gone as much as possible until the next Order meeting so he’ll hopefully cool down before we're in the same room together.

Also, do you remember that night back in fifth or sixth year with Remus when James headed you off on your way to the Shrieking Shack? Harry was told a very different tale than what I remember from that night. I need to talk to you. At this point, I don’t know if I’m remembering it all wrong or what. Azkaban did some crazy things to my memory. Remus was the one that told Harry the story though, so maybe I’m the one that doesn’t remember it right. Sev, did I try to kill you?! Please tell me that I didn’t try to kill you when we were kids?!! Please…just…I need to talk to you.

Sirius

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Sirius,

I enjoy a good pasta. I have Harry’s fake Occlumency lesson tomorrow evening, but I would be amenable to meeting after for a late dinner. Also, do not call me Sev on paper or otherwise.

Calm yourself, as far as I know, you did not actively try to murder me in cold blood when we were teenagers. I am uncertain what Hadrian was told, but I agree that we must talk about this…and about other matters concerning us. I will meet you at your manor tomorrow evening when I am finished.

Severus Snape

Percy Weasley pinched the bridge of his nose but held in his irritation, knowing it was more for the situation than at the teenager pestering him with questions. “Ron, why don’t you go see if Ginny wants to go for a fly with you around the pitch or something?”

“It’s already dark,” Ron absently motioned towards a window as he followed his brother closely through the castle not even pausing in his stream of commentary. “Harry is off annoying or mothering Snape, whatever it is they actually do when they’re together, Hermione is studying, and Neville is in a greenhouse doing something I don’t even care to ask about. Besides, I want to get to know my big brother a little better and all since you’re so old now.”

“I’m not old,” Percy grumbled, cracking his neck to relieve some of the tension that built up every time he was around someone who had been long dead for him while he tried to act normally around them now.

“You’re older than Bill,” Ron just reminded him with a shrug. “You’re the oldest Weasley brother now. That’s pretty old. So, you’re the one that has to handle the dating advice and everything now. Good job you’re bi and not gay, right?!”

Percy let out a sigh that was very close to a groan. “Yeah, good job that...Trouble with Hermione?” He guessed as he held back a tapestry for Ron to proceed him into a secret passage. He really didn’t want to be the one that dealt with dating advice, but it made his heart clench in pride that this Ron would come to him for advice regardless of what kind it was. He’d never been that brother, even when they were getting along in the future.

“Yeah, sort-of…there’s nothing wrong per-se, but I think she might be getting tired of me,” Ron stumbled a bit in the dimly lit passageway before Percy reached out and helped right him. Ron had such a growth spurt that year that he was constantly tripping over his own feet, still not used to the height yet. “Thanks…I think I need to step up my game or something. Should I maybe try to get more physical or buy her something or…”

Percy held up a hand to stop the rant that would probably never end without him stopping it. “First, why do you think she’s getting tired of you? Has she said something? The Hermione I knew would have told you if she was unhappy, and I doubt she has changed all that much in those regards.”

“Er…no, she hasn’t said anything, but we also haven’t changed much towards each other in our interactions from when we were just friends. Shouldn’t we be doing…I don’t know, more?” His little brother turned questioning blue eyes and a bright, embarrassed blush on him once they stepped out of the passageway into the second floor.

“You’re fifteen,” Percy gave him a look that he hoped didn’t come off as too paternalistic, but judging by Ron’s glare it probably was. “This is also both of your first real relationships. I think you should take this as slow as you both want. You don’t move faster than either partner is comfortable with. Don’t feel pressured into doing more, and for Morgana’s sake, please talk to Hermione and ask her what she wants before just assuming how she’s feeling.”

Ron grumbled but nodded. “Probably right…" he trailed off with a frown. "Hey…earlier you said ‘the Hermione you knew’ like you were friends and all. You didn’t ever…you know…with future Hermione, right? That'd just be too weird and gross!”

Percy cracked his neck again and looked off to where they were heading. “Of course not Ron,” he lied smoothly with an assuring smile at his brother because, yes, just once, after Ron died and before he and Harry started their thing, back when they were both grieving. Harry knew and never judged either of them, and he would take that information to his grave over this Ron or Hermione ever learning about it.

“We’re here!” Percy quickly changed the subject as he opened the door to the second-floor girl’s bathroom.

“Oh hell no!” Ron stepped back, eyes wide at the location he found himself in. “What do you need in the bloody chamber?! Plus, we don’t have Harry. We can’t get in anyway, see there, we should go!”

“Stop being a wimp. It’s only a bathroom,” Percy rolled his eyes and shoved his brother into the abandoned bathroom. “The snake is dead, dismembered, and currently being sold off by Hadrian Black in back alleys and shady storefronts whenever he gets some free time, which is very rare these days.”

“Not good memories here, you prat,” Ron grumbled at his brother who was pulling some kind of muggle electronic device out of his pocket. “What’s that? I thought muggle eklectrikals didn’t work here?”

“This is spelled to work around magic. It took quite a few owls back and forth with Dad before I figured out how to do it though,” Percy smiled at the one thing he’d been able to connect with his father on in a very long time. He hit the play button on the recorder and hissing sounded out into the room from where they had recorded the sound from Harry’s memory of opening the chamber.

“I’m absolutely not going down there,” Ron looked down the hole that was gaping open in the room now, his face pale.

“You don’t have to,” Percy patted him on the back understandingly. “I didn’t ask you to follow me around anyway. Why don’t you just head off back to the Tower or join Hermione in the library. You could even have that conversation with her that we talked about.”

“Harry might be back anyway…” Ron trailed off, looking longingly towards the door.

“Maybe…” Percy offered even though he knew that Snape was working on Harry’s knee that evening so it would probably be a while before he was done. “I’m just going down to grab an experiment I’ve been working on. I don’t need any help.”

That seemed to seal the deal for Ron who knew just enough about Percy and Harry’s interests at this point (as well as Sephie’s existence) to know he didn’t want to meet another of his brother’s experiments. “Right, well, have fun then! I’ll just go talk to Hermione then…” Ron was already out the door before finishing his sentence.

Percy laughed at his brother’s retreat but was also bone-deep saddened by the trauma that his brother, sister, and Harry had went through in the chamber. Ginny seemed to not remember most of it, and Ron had been trapped outside the chamber with Lockhart, but still, it was something that 11- and 12-year-olds should not have had to face.

One flotation charm, another recorded hiss, and Percy was in the chamber he’d been conducting experiments in for a month now. He had a few things going, some of which he should probably move to his office in the Department of Mysteries, but it was just the medium-sized crate in the corner that he needed this time in preparation for his trip with Harry that weekend. He wouldn’t get much free time the next day with a faculty meeting scheduled, so he was moving the crate to the Shrieking Shack now.

Harry had been warding and casting all kinds of spells on the shack before his ‘inner-circle’ meeting the next week, and it was officially safe enough and private enough now to be a safe meeting place and storage. They would need somewhere bigger and even more secure once their movement started in earnest, but the shack would do for now since they were both living at the school and close by.

Percy tapped the crate with his wand, releasing some of his magic. He smiled in satisfaction when a rustling and scratching sound met his ears. With another tap of his wand, the sounds abruptly stopped. “Perfect!” He grinned to himself and picked up the box. “You are just perfect if I do say so myself!”

“But Tuesday is Halloween or Samhain or whatever you want to call that accursed holiday,” Harry pouted as his partner walked into the Shrieking Shack to get something he said they needed for their trip.

“You said you wanted to hear the prophesy before the first inner-circle meeting,” Percy’s voice filtered back to him from inside. “It was the first day Davids could work out a time for a private viewing for you. You’re the one that wants this done off the books, so you have to take what you can get.”

“Fine, but when we’re attacked or eaten or flayed or whatever, I’m blaming you,” Harry continued to pout when Percy exited the shack holding a crate in his arms.

“Don’t all those things fall under the category of ‘attacked?’” Percy raised an amused eyebrow, shifting the weight of the box to one hip so he would have a free arm.

Harry just gave him an unamused death glare. “What’s in the box?” He said taking hold of Percy’s arm for him to apparate them to wherever they were going.

“You’ll see…” Percy said with a smirk. Percy loved messing with him, and Harry enjoyed it maybe a little too much himself.

“Well…take us wherever we’re going, won’t you?” Harry impatiently motioned for his partner to get a move on. “I have some business that’s going down today, and I’d love to see the fallout from it if this doesn’t take too long.”

“Should I be concerned?” Percy asked at the vague comment.

“Merlin, no, everyone is still alive…that I know of anyway,” he grumbled, clearly wishing that wasn’t the case.

“Riiight…” Percy wasn’t convinced he shouldn’t be concerned. “Anyway, I’ve never been where we’re going, so you’ll have to apparate us. Take us to Little Hangleton, please.”

Harry let out a deep sigh, really not liking where this trip seemed to be going, but did as he was told and apparated them as close as he could get them to the old Gaunt shack he was certain Percy was wanting them to visit.

“Ew,” Percy deadpanned with his first look at the rundown shack with a snake nailed to the door and the waves of clearly evil magic he could see emanating from the place.

Harry snorted in amusement at his massive understatement of a response. “So…I’m guessing you’re not planning on killing me for this experiment but do want to grab the ring horcrux, right? You got a plan for this or are we just hoping that whatever curse Dumbledore fell into we’re smarter than? As much as I hate the man…I have to admit, I’m not sure that’s the safest assumption.”

Harry was already casting detection and diagnostic spells at the shack while going into his concerned diatribe. Percy hung back and waited to see what his partner found, he could see the magic, but Harry was better at the wards and darker curses than he was. “We’re not here for the horcrux…or rather we are, but only tangentially. We’re here for the resurrection stone,” he explained. “If we’re testing this whole Master of Death thing, then I want you to have all three items in your possession first.”

“It’s safe until the door,” Harry lowered his wand to turn and inform Percy. “There are some deterrent spells, a nasty animation curse on that snake, and a few wards I can easily dismantle, but I don’t know what’s on the other side until we get past those.”

“No need,” Percy assured him with a wide smirk, putting the crate on the ground between them and opened the lid. "You take down the wards out here, and I'll handle inside."

Harry raised an eyebrow but looked into the crate just as Percy lifted out the monstrous creature inside and sat it on the ground. “Mate…I think you’ve gone backwards a few steps from Persephone,” he grimaced at the decaying inferius of what might have once been a kneazle now on the ground between them.

“This one has a different purpose than Persephone had,” Percy chuckled and flicked his wand, sending a shock of something like life back into the corpse. “This one, I command…”

Neville Longbottom rubbed his neck and cracked his back, a little sore from leaning over the venomous tentacula he’d been pruning. It had been a bit touch and go with the plant over the last couple weeks as it had been harmed in an accident with the second years in greenhouse 4, but Professor Sprout had let him nurse it back to health and he was quite proud of the progress he’d made with it. It had been exceptionally calming and a retreat for him now that everything seemed to be turned on its head with his new knowledge about Harry.

He'd never really been on the inside of what was going on before with his three housemates, and he’d both wished he was and been relieved he wasn’t alternately over the years he’d known them. Now…well, he was terrified, but he also felt stronger than he ever had before. It was odd. He knew he was in danger, anyone who knew what Harry had done and the shape of his future plans were decidedly in danger, but he also felt needed and important. Harry certainly needed those around him, even if they were younger. Actually, he needed them the most because they were younger. Neville had made excuses for Harry, stepped on his foot to stop him talking, or reminded him about something he should remember so many times in classes and in the dorm that he was certain someone would have caught onto the 27-year-old masquerading as a 15-year-old if he, Ron, Hermione, and now Luna weren’t looking out for him.

Neville was also doing quite well with his Occlumency practice, which was shocking in and of itself. He was the hold-up currently before Harry would really let them all into his secrets, but he’d started on it after the other two, and they assured him that he was making exceptional progress. It had given the teen more confidence than he’d ever had before when Percy Weasley had informed him in all seriousness that he was getting the information faster and better than he had when he’d first started learning. No one had told him he was good at something besides herbology before, and now Harry kept looking at him like he’d hung the moon and Percy kept glancing at him like he was slightly afraid of him, not that he understood that at all.

He was just about to leave the greenhouse when a loud pop sounded and a house elf bowed low before him, causing Neville to jump in surprised shock. “Maisy? What are you doing here? Is Gran ok?” He asked in concern, recognizing his grandmother’s elf.

“You’s grandmother is fine, Master Longbottom,” the elf assured him as she handed over a letter in the fine parchment is grandmother always used.

Neville frowned as he took the letter. What was so pressing his gran couldn’t wait to send with a mail owl? “Mistress Longbottom didn’t wants the master to learn whats happening from the paper,” Maisy explained before popping out once again with a last bow.

Neville broke the seal on the letter in trepidation and pulled out the parchment to read. He read it through twice with a frown on his face before he really understood the information his gran had written him about. His frown deepened and he growled out a sharp, “Harry!” Before he turned and stalked angrily towards the castle looking for the Weasley twins. They would be able to find Harry. He better be in the castle or it would be even worse for him once Neville was able to track him down!

Chapter Text

While impressed with the inferius Percy had created in front of him, Harry still thought it was quite gross. When the (kneazle?) stood up on its hind legs and reached out little hands, Harry almost gagged when he realized it was in fact not a kneazle but a niffler. It was just so decomposed that those two very different animals had gotten confused in his mind with what little there was left.

“So…you’re awesome, but ew!” Harry remarked to his partner, not able to take his eyes from the train-wreck of a creature in front of them. “Is it possible you could have found something a little fresher? Or at least that had its insides on the inside.”

Percy just shrugged from the corner of his eye. “I could have killed a niffler and used the fresher corpse, but I found this one already dead in the forest after getting eaten by something. Mum always said not to waste what’s still usable. This will do even if it’s not pretty.”

Harry couldn’t help the unhinged laugh that broke through and finally drew his disbelieving eyes back to Percy. “Merlin! It’s amazing how your mum’s lessons all manifested in the oddest ways amongst you and your siblings. Between vampire Ron making sure I was bundled up in blankets with hot chocolate before he’d bite me to Charlie knitting baby dragons little fireproof jumpers, I just don’t know what you all are going to do next, and it always amazes me.”

The redhead just shrugged wryly with a smirk. “I might be a necromancer, but I’m still a Weasley,” he remarked.

Harry bent his knee a few times and jumped up and down some, testing that it was still feeling very good after Snape’s newest round of healing potions. Truly, it had never felt better since it had been injured. He then rolled his shoulder; it was still a little sore even though Snape had finally removed the stitches. Everything seemed fine, so there was no reason they couldn’t do this.

“You done stalling?” Percy asked with an amused raise of his eyebrow and a quick, playful tug at the end of Harry's braid.

“Excuse me if I’m not as fond as you are about playing around with magic I don’t understand,” Harry grumbled with a snort of amusement, getting flipped off by Percy as the only response.

Chuckling at his boyfriend, Harry raised his wand, and he promptly removed a few of the spells on the shack to make it easier on the niffler to get in. “Right, well, let’s do this then,” he finally turned to Percy and motioned for him to send the little beastie into the cursed house.

“Brill! Thanks love,” Percy flicked his aspen wood wand and the inferius shambled into the shack as fast as its little bone-legs could take it. Harry switched his ebony and dementor skin wand out for the elder wand that had been in his ankle holster, feeling it right in his gut that whatever else he needed a wand for must be done with the other hallow.

“You got the cloak on you, right?” Percy asked, catching what he was doing even as he was concentrating on commanding his creation.

“In my pocket,” Harry nodded, both intrigued and worried about what would happen when all three deathly hallows were once more reunited.

Some scratching and shuffling in the shadows later, and the niffler re-emerged from the shack carrying a dark box that was radiating all kinds of vileness from it that even Harry, who hadn't been trained by the Unspeakables, could see. Harry felt overcome by a sudden push on his magic as the stone in the box called to him with a desperate tinge to its magic pulse.

“Merlin!” Harry gasped, clutching his chest with one hand and the elder wand with his other and trying to take deep breaths to clear his head.

Five steps closer to them and the niffler finally succumbed to the dark magic it was carrying and crumbled into a pile of dust. “Bugger!” Percy swore with a frown. “I supposed it was too much to ask that it would put the box in its carrier like I’d planned. I guess we’ll have to do whatever we need to do here out in the open then instead of back in the chamber.”

Percy immediately strengthened the wards Harry had already cast around them to keep muggles, wixen, or whatever from seeing what they were about to do. Harry just stood transfixed though, his eyes never leaving the box, the stone calling to him…asking for his help, for him to free it.

“It doesn’t want to be a horcrux,” Harry remarked in almost a whisper while Percy finished reinforcing the wards.

“What?” Percy looked at him with a surprised frown having head what he had said. “Are you telling me that it wants? Like…it’s sentient?”

Harry took a step closer to it. “I don’t know…I guess it is as much as the wand is anyway. I’ve never felt anything from the cloak before, but the wand definitely has expressed stubbornness, amusement, a desire to be used…things like that. The stone…it’s…pissed is the best I can describe it. It’s angry that someone violated it by making it a horcrux.”

Percy just nodded, absorbing this information and filing it in his mind to later add to his research notes. “Well I guess it…stop that!” He grabbed Harry’s arm as he took another step forward. “It’s still cursed and all,” he reminded his boyfriend. “I’m not going to let you end up like Dumbledore.”

Harry shrugged and turned to halfway smirk at the man. “Eh, I probably won’t die, right?”

Percy narrowed his eyes and scoffed. “This is not the way we’re going to test that. I’m planning a controlled environment with a potion I can revive you from if our hypothesis is wrong. So, if anyone is going to kill you, it'll be me. You will not be touching that ring on my watch though.”

Percy may have spoken too soon as even he felt the thrum and the magic wave that washed over them both. He expected to be compelled to open the box and touch the ring like Dumbledore had, but he only felt himself rooted to the spot unable to move at all. It seemed the magic wasn’t from Voldemort’s spell…it was from the hallow, or at least that was his conclusion when Harry’s eyes dilated to almost completely black, and he raised his wand automatically.

“I’m going to bring you back to life and kill you again myself if you go and get yourself cursed,” he hissed in his anxiety, knowing Harry either couldn’t hear him or couldn’t respond through whatever influence he was currently under. Seeing a person, someone he loved, who could easily throw off an imperius curse step forward under the influence of death magic was causing Percy to panic from where he was magically restrained.

Harry took another step forward and turned to look back at Percy with those black eyes and a smirk on his face. “Don’t worry, love…I think I know what I’m doing now,” a voice deeper than Harry Potter’s and strangely echo-y told him, but with a tinge that was still distinctly Harry underneath it all.

Percy gasped as Harry…or rather the Master of Death he realized, turned back and silently cast something that had the box float upwards and open, revealing the silver ring and too black stone within. With another flick of the elder wand, the box was banished, and the ring floated in mid-air on its own, a dark cloud of magic suddenly visible around it. Percy was very versed in dark curses at this point, but even he was taken aback and horrified by whatever magic Voldemort had attached to the ring. His Unspeakable training revealed the spell to be corrosive, almost cancerous, and singing with compulsion and seductive spells that wove a siren song around it.

Percy tried again to get to Harry, but he was still stuck, useless and meters away. “Don’t touch it!” He warned once again, knowing it was useless.

The Master of Death just chuckled though. “My…aren’t you just a nasty little parasite. Well, let’s get rid of this annoyance…” A ball of fire suddenly consumed the ring and Percy gasped once more when the flames died out and the curse was no longer wrapped around the object.

“Morgana…what was that spell?” He asked in amazement and didn’t even protest this time when Harry reached out and grabbed the ring out of the air.

Harry hummed in that echoing voice once more. “You, my dear, got yourself in a bit of a pickle, yes? Let's take of you now, shall we?”

Percy closed his eyes in shock when he felt the cry, the call for help. Harry had been right, the stone was in pain…and pissed off. He didn’t know why he could feel it now, maybe because it was so close and finally free of the curse. It was clearly there though, and it was not happy with Voldemort at all.

The Master of Death narrowed his eyes and frowned at the stone. “You are mine!” He hissed in a tone that Percy would have said just bordered on Parseltongue if he wasn’t certain Harry couldn’t speak that anymore.

With a shriek, a dark cloud emerged from the stone and lashed out at Harry with dark and murderous tendrils. With another hissed spell that Percy didn’t catch, Harry batted the soul of Voldemort away from him with his wand and flames once more consumed the dark cloud until they once more blinked out of existence, leaving Harry and Percy standing alone in the daylight, a too cheerful day for what they had witnessed. Harry slid the ring on his right middle finger before the magic holding Percy finally was released.

Uttering a sharp cry, Percy rushed forward to catch Harry who suddenly sank down to one knee. “Harry!” He threw his arms around his partner and held him tightly. “Harry! Are you ok? What did you do?”

Green eyes looked back up at Percy from where Harry let out a breath. “Merlin…that was a bit intense,” Harry chuckled in his normal tone once more. “Er…so, you might be a little right about that whole Master of Death thing…”

Percy covered his eyeroll with the kiss he pulled Harry into, needing to reassure himself that Harry was actually Harry again. “I’m going to kill you,” he breathed out between kisses, causing Harry to laugh again. “You are a stubborn idiot! I love you so much!”

“I love you too, Perce,” Harry assured him, pulling Percy even closer to his body if that were possible.

Percy suddenly pulled back with a frown. “Wait…where did the soul go? Did it go back into Voldemort?”

Harry frowned at that too and looked at the stone on his finger. “Er…I think I sent it to Hell or the afterlife or whatever, but…I wasn’t super in control…I just knew what I had to do and trusted the wand and the stone to handle it…though, I think it was actually the cloak that did something to the soul as strange as that all sounds.”

"You just commanded a soul to the afterlife..." Percy trailed off gaping at him.

"Maybe?" Harry shrugged sheepishly.

Percy’s look into Harry’s eyes caused him to gasp in immediate arousal. Half of Harry’s clothes were gone before he decided that he was absolutely not going to have sex on the ground in the middle of Little Hangleton even if they were behind wards.

“Sod it! I don’t really need to be there when everything goes down anyway. They can handle it without me,” he gasped again while Percy was now trying to remove his pants. It was really only out of perverse curiosity he’d wanted to be there when his plan was enacted anyway, and Percy like this was so much more important and enticing.

“Stop that for a second!” Harry smacked Percy’s hand that was oh so very distractingly inside of his pants now. "I don't want to splinch us." He closed his eyes and with a pop, they were both apparated, safely thankfully, to Percy’s bedroom in his flat off Diagon Alley for the rest of the day.

Harry was smiling broadly when he finally pushed open the portrait to Gryffindor Tower, well after curfew and when everyone should be asleep. He twisted the new ring on his finger and felt much lighter now that there seemed to be some way he could purge the souls from the diadem and locket horcruxes in his trunk…if he ever figured out how to use that power again from earlier. His very energetic day with Percy only contributing more to that lightness in his step.

“Harry Potter,” a cold voice stopped him in his tracks from over by the fireplace. Harry raised an eyebrow at the teenager sitting in the shadows of the flames and glaring at him like a villain straight out of a bond fic.

“Hey Nev, how long have you been practicing that whole glare and ominous tone and all?” Harry smiled at him and changed his course to walk over and crash onto the couch beside his friend. “It’s very impressive by the way. You need a bit of work on the glare though, it’s just not menacing enough. As head auror you had this glare that could make criminals just break down and cry sometimes...I'll help you work on it if you want.”

Neville let out a huff of exasperation at the glamoured man in front of him. “I told you to leave Uncle Algie alone,” he said now in more of a resigned grunt than the cold tone from before. “And where have you been all day? The twins weren’t even able to find you.”

Harry put his feet up on the low coffee table and sank back into the comfortable cushions of the couch. He smiled, glad his plans had worked out, even if he hadn't been able to see it happen. “I was getting rid of one of those things I’ve been avoiding telling you lot about until you were better at mind magic. I suppose you’re all good enough at it now to let you in on the secret, but let’s at least do it when you all are together so I don’t have to explain it multiple times. That's been bloody frustrating having to explain who I really am all the time, so let's not do that again.”

“So, are you saying you had nothing to do with this?” Neville waved the letter he’d received from his gran earlier, some of his remaining anger washing away in the unexpected praise from Harry that they were finally all proficient enough at Occlumency to be let in on the last of his secrets.

Harry took the letter and glanced through it with a smirk and a shrug. “You told me not to murder him, you didn’t tell me to leave him alone,” he clarified before handing the letter back. “And I told you that I was going to keep you safe, so I don’t see what the problem is here. He's still alive.”

Neville opened his mouth to protest that he was perfectly safe before closing it again. Harry knew…he might not have told him, but his older self had, and any protests he made, Harry would know were a complete lie. He closed his eyes and breathed out, the last of his anger draining away and leaving something that was surprisingly very much like relief. He could go home for Christmas…he could go home for Christmas and his Uncle Algie wouldn’t be there…

Harry was giving him this knowing look that had absolutely no pity in it, it just spoke to the fact that he really did know and understand. Neville, for not the first time, questioned just what all Harry had been through with his muggle relatives who he refused to talk about. That look though had Neville finally letting go and just believing that maybe things could be better, that they would be better.

“So…forgiven?” Harry asked with this lost little boy look in his eyes that Neville had seen only a few times on his friend's face before and which always made him want to protect his roommate with every scrap of his being whether they were the same age or Harry was 27.

“Forgiven,” Neville immediately answered before reaching out and taking Harry’s hand to give it a little squeeze.

“How did you even find muggle explosives to frame him as a terrorist though anyway?” He asked. “And why the muggle police? Do you think the charges will stick?”

Harry laughed and squeezed Neville’s hand back before closing his eyes and relaxing more into the couch. “Well…I had all this C4, and Percy wouldn’t let me give it to his brothers like they wanted, so I had to do something with it,” he laughed.

“The muggles take these things much more seriously than we do, so it was easier to get him arrested in their world…I doubt the terrorism charges will stick, but possession of illegal explosives definitely will. By my research, the maximum jail time is 14 years for that, which is about what he would get in the wixen world for what he did to the pureblood heir of an ancient and noble house, but in a much nicer place than Azkaban unfortunately. The aurors have some kind of deal with the muggle police to keep convicted wixen in their prisons if I remember correctly from what Ron and future you told me when you were on the force.”

“Really? That long?” Neville frowned. Fourteen years seemed a little excessive even if it were the maximum, and he would probably get less.

“Attempted murder of someone in the peerage? Sometimes bigotry works in your favor,” Harry opened one eye to look at him. “Among everything else he did…Personally, I think he's getting off too easy, but you asked me to not kill him.”

“He wasn’t trying to kill me…” Neville trailed off because he knew he definitely would have died if his accidental magic hadn’t kicked in when he’d been dropped out of a window as a kid.

“Riiight,” Harry now rose both eyebrows at him in disbelief. “Anyway, now that Snape’s on team 'Dark Lord Harry’ I’m going to make him give you a full physical. I know from future you that some of your clumsiness is directly related to past injuries, and if we treat it sooner rather than later, you’ll feel much better overall.”

Neville sputtered, wondering if it were possible to be mad at your future self for telling all your secrets. “I’m fine! I’ve seen Madam Pomfrey for different things in the past, and she’s never said anything.”

Harry just shook his head at him. “As much as I love Madam Pomfrey, she’s a medi-witch. She’s only trained to deal with scrapes, bruises, runny-noses, and the like. Snape though has had some actual healer training as part of his mastery, and until I can recruit a real healer to our side, he’s the best option we have.”

“But…it’s Snape! I know you like him, but he hates me!” Neville protested in a tone just shy of a whine. "He'd rather curse me than heal me!"

Harry just shrugged unconcernedly. “He hated me too, but we’re besties now, so who knows, it might work out.” Neville was just about to remind Harry of how much Snape would hate to hear he’d been referred to as anyone’s ‘bestie’ when he was cut off by the arrival of Fred and George Weasley from the staircase leading up to the dorms.

“Hey! You found him!” Fred remarked with a wide grin as George folded up their version of the Marauder’s Map and put it in his pocket.

Harry sat up to jab an accusing finger in their direction. “Oi! You two are supposed to be my minions now. How does that equate to helping an angry teenager find me?!”

With a glance to each other, Fred and George were suddenly dramatically bowing before Harry. “Oh, great and powerful Dark Lord!” Fred began.

“Forgive us for all we’ve done to bring your ire on us…” George added.

“All hail the Dark Lord!” They said together.

Harry chuckled, remembering this exact scene from his second year when everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin, and the twins had done basically the same thing. He looked over and shared an exasperated look with Neville. “Idiots,” he rolled his eyes.

With a quick change in tone, Harry had to bunch up as a twin squeezed in on either side of him on the couch and both slung an arm over his shoulders. “Sooo, where have you been?” George asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, doing nefarious dark lord-y stuff today?” Fred mirrored the smirk.

Harry just chuckled and leaned into their comfort. “Eh…for a bit. However, I spent most of the day finding out about all the little kinks your brother has though…”

“Ew! Child abuse!” They both clapped their hands over their ears in shock while Neville just shook his head and laughed at them, turning a bit pink around the ears himself.

“Oi, mate! We don’t want to hear anything about any of our siblings’ sex lives…” Fred assured him firmly.

“Though, I did always think Percy would be the freaky one…” George nodded contemplatively to even his own twin’s shock. “What? He was the quiet one!”

“You want to hear about freaky sex…” Harry gave them all a teasing look, loving that he was finally the one that could mess with them when they’d made him blush more as a teen than anyone else had. “I dated Blaise Zabini for a hot minute until we both came to our senses. Anyway…”

“And I’m out!” Neville stood suddenly and escaped the situation like Fluffy was chasing him from the room even though the twins now looked very interested.

Remus Lupin was so very tired. He could feel it in his bones. It was well past the full moon, but it might as well be the day after with the way he felt. His traveling and meeting with the werewolves had actually gone surprisingly well now that Greyback was no longer in charge. The new leadership was still up in the air though, so he had very little definitive information to bring to the Order…actually, he had really not even mentioned the Order at all but had instead introduced the idea of a third side…one that was dark and very creature friendly. That he had much more positive news to tell Harry about.

It was just dawn on Halloween morning when he finally apparated to the stoop of Grimmauld Place and pushed open the front door, stifling a yawn. Moving as quietly as possible, Remus looked at the portrait of Walburga, expecting to see the usual curtain over her to keep her from screaming. Surprisingly, the curtain was open, and Walburga just raised a disapproving eyebrow at him before disappearing out of her portrait. He frowned…he didn’t know Walburga could leave her portrait…where did she go? Did she have another portrait?

Remus just shook his head. He was much too tired to worry about that right now. That was Future Remus’s problem, he decided as he stumbled up the narrow staircase towards his room. The house was much quieter now that Arthur and Molly had finally moved back into their home when the wards had been updated. If Sirius was asleep or the rare times he was out of the house, it was honestly too quiet for Remus when that happened. He’d spent most of his life completely alone, and the quiet now seemed to settle into his very soul and make him feel almost claustrophobic. He was scared that he wouldn't be able to go back to living alone again. The silence was too much now.

Remus paused with a frown when noise hit his sensitive ears as soon as he stepped into the long hallway. Muffled sounds from Sirius’s room had him stepping forward slowly. It sounded…it sounded like Sirius must be having a nightmare based on the moans and little cries he heard. Remus sighed, normally his friend would put up a silencing ward around his room since he had almost nightly nightmares, but he must not have done it that evening since he had been alone in the house. With a wistful glance over to the door to his own bedroom, Remus gave it up and decided he really should wake up Siri. He didn’t want his friend to have to suffer through his nightmares alone if he could help in any way.

Remus strode down the hallway and opened the door to Sirius’s room without knocking…since he should have been asleep. That was at least until Remus realized that he had been very, very wrong in his assumption about what those noises had meant. His mouth fell open and he gaped in shock at the sight of way too much skin he was seeing from the last two men he’d expect to ever see together on the bed.

“Er…sorry!” He blushed bright red and spun on his heel to escape as soon as Severus Snape and Sirius Black’s eyes had caught him from their very compromising positions.

“Oh no you don’t!” The door slammed shut and a ward went up right before Remus could make good on getting out of there and obliviating himself.

“You have some explaining to do, Mr. Wolf!” Sirius put his wand back on the end table with a glare at his friend.

Remus slowly turned back around and immediately looked up at the ceiling to avoid looking at way more than he ever had wanted to see of either man. At least Severus was attempting to cover up some with a sheet, but Sirius was now standing with his hands on his hips and no shame in the world that he was butt naked.

“I thought you were having a nightmare,” he explained in a whine at apparently having crossed into an alternate universe when he’d entered the house.

“How do you get off on telling Harry that I tried to kill Sev when we were in school?!” Sirius glared at him as menacingly as a naked and very shagged-looking man could do.

Remus’s eyes snapped down from the ceiling, taking in his angry friend, even Snape looked disappointed in him. “Erm…but…you did…” he frowned in confusion. “You told him to go to the shack on a full moon…Harry asked why Severus hated you so much…so I told him?”

“Lupin, that doesn’t even make sense,” Snape pinched the bridge of his nose, somehow still looking imposing and elegant with just a sheet across his lap. “If Sirius had told me the school was on fire, and I actually saw the flames, I still wouldn’t have believed him. Why would I willingly have gone anywhere he told me to go?”

Remus frowned, and then his frown fell even more. “But…huh?”

Sirius was now looking concerned at his friend. “Moony, who told you that I sent Sev to the shack? You were already there, so you didn’t see anything. How did you learn that he had been out on the school grounds that night?”

“James said he’d stopped Severus…”

“He did,” Snape cut in, now looking confused himself. “I had heard Sirius and Pettigrew talking about going to the shack, so I went to follow them. I overheard it though, that was the only reason I would think that going there was a good idea. Thankfully, Potter was running late and noticed where I was heading. Of course, I didn’t listen to him when he warned me away, so even he had to stun me and drag me into the school to get me out of danger.”

“The git,” Sirius smirked at Snape who rolled his eyes at a comment that he definitely would have made if Sirius hadn’t beaten him to it.

Remus must had been hit over the head at some point during his travels, he decided. There was no way this was happening. “Look, I can’t even deal with this right now,” he motioned to the two naked men before him. “Siri, put on some pants for the love of Merlin,” he picked up a pair of boxers that had to be Sirius’s since they were bright orange, and Snape wouldn’t have been caught dead in something bright orange.

Sirius rolled his eyes but picked up the pants and pulled them on. “I can’t believe I still got in bed with you when I saw those,” Snape grimaced at the orange pants in distaste like they were personally offending him.

“You did pull them off remarkably fast,” Siri smirked back at him unrepentantly.

Remus cleared his throat to get their attention. “Siri…what I remember of that night. I was in the hospital wing recovering and Dumbledore was there when I woke up…”

“Of course he was,” Sirius groaned and sat back down on the bed with Snape dejectedly.

Remus felt his brain melt when Snape then patted him on the back, not exactly comfortingly but definitely with familiarity. It was a familiarity that Remus had never expected to see between Snape and anyone let alone Sirius Black. He cleared his throat wondering if he was more shocked that apparently his friend and Snape were shacking up or that Dumbledore had screwed them over again…definitely that Siri and Snape were shacking up.

“Right, yeah, so Dumbledore told me that Sirius had tried to pull a prank on you, Severus. He said that he had told you to go to the shack on a full moon but that James had stopped you when he realized what Siri had done. Dumbledore said that he’d talked to you all and sworn everyone to secrecy, so I shouldn’t bring it up. James did mention it once though, so I assumed what I’d been told was the truth, especially since Severus seemed to hate us all even more after that.”

“Regardless of the circumstances, I was still justly angry that a werewolf was regularly traipsing across campus with just a few adolescent animagi to keep it in check,” Snape rolled his eyes at that. “And the headmaster did actually swear me to secrecy, and I am still not sure that there might not have been a compulsion charm he cast on me to get me to make the vow.”

“But why?” Sirius frowned at them both. “What was the point of telling Remy that I’d tried to kill you? I don't see how that serve any purpose.”

Snape sighed deeply and shook his head, knowing how the Slytherins had always been treated by the headmaster and seeing a pattern. “Because you are a Black…I think he’s always assumed that you would eventually turn to the dark even if you were in Gryffindor. It was a way of sowing doubt in those who were closest to you. Potter would never have doubted you, but Lupin trusted the headmaster implicitly. If you ever did step over the line, he knew he’d have an ally in Lupin, and Lupin could easily convince Pettigrew and then Potter would be outnumbered.”

Sirius snorted humorlessly. “I’d say I proved him wrong, but apparently I’m serving the new Dark Lord…so…”

Remus was slowly shaking his head as he turned sickly pale while all the implications settled in his mind. “Siri…I’m so sorry. I never would have even considered that you would have been the one to betray James and Lily, but then there was always that thought about how you’d set Severus up…that maybe you had some darkness within, that maybe I could be wrong. It was the only reason I thought that maybe…maybe it was you. Merlin, his plan worked! I can't believe it!”

“Merlin’s balls,” Sirius groaned and flopped back on the bed, sprawling more on top of Snape than Remus wanted to see. “He’s really screwed with all our lives, hasn't he? I wish Harry didn’t want him alive currently for his plans,” he pouted at the end.

“Oh, did he tell you, apparently I killed the headmaster the first time around,” Snape smirked down at the ridiculous man, a self-satisfied look on his face. “Hadrian said I could do it again this time.”

“Not if I call dibs first!” Sirius sat up and picked up his wand as if to send a message to Harry.

Remus just cleared his throat to remind them he was still in the room. “Erm, so, before I go get completely wasted about all this, or sleep, whatever comes first…either of you care to explain…this?” He motioned to the bed and their undressed state. “Sirius might not have tried to kill you, but don’t you both hate each other?”

“Yes.”

“No.” Snape then Sirius answered him at the same time.

Remus just crossed his arms and waited while the two men seemed to be having a silent argument with their eyes. Sirius eventually rolled his eyes and grumbled before turning back to Remus. “We’re trying to start over, and all that pent up obsession had to go somewhere, right?”

Remus looked disbelievingly at Severus. The potion master just shrugged and leaned back against the headboard. “He has a nice arse.”

Sirius and Remus look at each other before they both had to give in and laugh. “Merlin, Severus!” Remus laughed before he pulled out his wand and almost effortlessly broke the ward Sirius had put over the door. “I think I probably don’t want to know anyway. Just put the silencing ward back up over your door when I leave. Merlin knows I really don’t want to hear you two.”

“Sleep tight Moony!” Sirius called out teasingly just as Remus slammed the door closed behind him.

Remus sighed tiredly and finally made it to his room where he crashed face first onto his bed, still clothed and with his shoes on. He didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry. How could one man have messed with their lives so much without them even knowing about it? And what in the hell alternate reality had he walked into going on in his best friend’s room?! Maybe he should ask Dora what all had been going on while he was away. Obviously, he’d missed something. Yes, Dora would know…he thought just as he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Troll, basilisk, escaped fugitive, deadly tournament, blood quill, Greyback’s attack at Andromeda’s, Efa stabbing me, my storage unit being raided by aurors…”

“What are you doing?” Percy raised an amused eyebrow at his irritated partner who he had just found grumpily drinking Firewhiskey with Severus Snape in the Hog’s Head early on Halloween.

Snape rolled his eyes and sipped on what looked like gillywater while keeping an eye out for any stray students making their way into the pub who might be under the legal drinking age. He looked a bit tired in Percy's opinion, he hoped Snape was sleeping well. “Personally, I don’t know what he's doing, but he’s been insufferable since he sat down. It is 9am, Hadrian,” he added with a raised and judging eyebrow to the drink.

“It’s Halloween, Severus,” Hadrian just shot back and took another sip. He turned to look at Percy next. “I’m listing all the ways this horrible day is cursed…oh yeah, and my parents were murdered, and I was hit with a killing curse…twice!” Hadrian Black glared at them both while reaching for his second Firewhiskey he’d already ordered the same time as his first.

Snape had gone pale even as he was shoved over by Percy who slid into the booth beside him. “You’re being overly dramatic. More things, and worse things, have happened to you on other days besides this one,” he reminded the man dryly.

“Worse things?!” Snape’s carefully constructed stoic façade broke slightly as he reached over to steal Hadrian’s Firewhiskey out of his hand to replace his own gillywater. “When did you get hit with a second killing curse?!!”

“I was drinking that,” Harry protested with very little feeling since he’d already waved at the ancient waiter who was bringing him another round. Once the waiter slid the tumbler of neat whiskey in front of him and left again, Harry took a sip and winced. “And I’d rather not talk about it if you don’t mind.”

“Especially since it was his third killing curse, just the second on Halloween,” Percy stole the second half of Hadrian’s egg and bacon sandwich and took a large bite.

“How did you survive?!!” Snape had resumed his stoic appearance even as his words were dripping in concern and shock.

Harry sighed deeply and leaned back in the booth closing his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it…plus, this isn’t the place to be talking about such types of magic when anyone could hear.”

Snape nodded even as Percy cast a privacy ward around them. “We do need to fill him in on everything as well as all your teenage fan club soon since they’re all proficient at Occlumency now,” Percy reminded him.

“I believe Sirius has already explained to me part of what you are talking about,” the potion master frowned. “At least, the…soul magic…involved I suppose would explain you surviving the second killing curse, but not the first or third.”

“The first had very little to do with me and much more to do with Mum,” Harry opened his eyes and sighed. “The third is…”

“It’s embarrassing,” Percy smirked at Harry over his stolen sandwich. “That’s why he doesn’t want to talk about it.”

Harry rolled his eyes and continued to pick at the half of a sandwich he still had. “The magic isn’t embarrassing…it’s just something I don’t understand currently. Percy is getting way too much of a kick out of the circumstances involved though.”

“How would getting cursed be embarrassing?” Snape frowned. “I would get it if it was a different type of curse instead of that one...”

With a deep sigh, Harry figured he had to tell the story. “The aurors had this sting operation going on in Knockturn Alley, and it wasn’t even about me or anything I was involved in. I just happened to choose the wrong day to sell a few untraceable wands I had on hand,” Harry grumbled in irritation. If he was going to get killed, he’d at least like it to be about something he’d done! It was the principle of the matter!

“An auror tried to kill you with an unforgivable?” Snape was both shocked and very much not shocked all at the same time. He hated that he never left a conversation with his new friend without a headache.

Harry shrugged and Percy giggled (actually giggled!). Percy earned himself a glare for that. “I don’t actually know who hit me, but it was more than likely one of the non-aurors. I tend to view the whole lot as criminals at this point, myself included. Anyway, there were a lot of curses flying, and I ended up blasted through a glass storefront. Clearly, I assumed I hadn’t been hit with an avada kedavra since I was still alive, and I had plenty of cuts to obscure a small new curse scar. I never should have asked that redheaded ingrate to look at my body for that particular scar.”

Percy giggled again. “Hey, I’m not the one who took a killing curse to the ass.”

“Thigh, you git! Upper thigh, not ass!” Hadrian grumbled with a glare.

“Any rational individual calls that part of the body the ass,” Percy protested gleefully while Snape just sighed and motioned for the waiter to bring by another Firewhiskey that he was decidedly not going to share with Hadrian.

“It sounds like I need to have a chat with you and Sirius both about sharing information,” Harry ignored his partner to raise an eyebrow at the dark man in front of him. “When did you two become such good buds anyway? I'm not so sure I like this development.”

Snape growled and downed his whiskey. “Kindly never refer to me as a ‘bud’ to anyone ever again. And you seemed to be avoiding telling me about something that I actually did need to know. Sirius agreed that you should have told me already.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I was avoiding telling you for your own sanity, clearly.”

Snape scoffed. “I am no fainting damsel for you to protect, Hadrian Black. While learning the despicable depths the Dark Lord descended to in his insanity was unpleasant, it answered many questions I had…and added a few more. I assume you are aware of how to deal with these items and how many there are?”

Now it was Harry and Percy’s turns to scoff. “I might not be the best at planning, but I can at least do something I’ve already done once before and better this time around.”

“I’m keeping him in line,” Percy added, getting an eyeroll from Harry.

Harry pouted at Snape. “He said I can’t kill Lucius or Pettigrew until after all the items are taken care of or it will tip our hand. I personally think I could stage an accident for one or the other of them well enough. Dobby even volunteered to put some poison into Lucy’s tea whenever I wanted.”

“It might bring Narcissa under suspicion,” Percy shook his head while Snape choked on the sip of gillywater he’d just taken.

“Fine! But I’m sure I could frame Fudge for it, even if you don’t agree,” Harry sighed and took another bite of his sandwich. “You ready to go?” He asked around the large bite, getting a disgusted grimace from the other two at the table.

“You plebian!” Snape continued the grimace. “Where are you two off to anyway? The meeting isn’t for another three hours.”

“Hadrian is going to embarrass me in front of my future boss, and I’m going to keep him from killing Dumbledore,” Percy rolled his eyes, but stood to leave.

Hadrian smirked but swallowed his bite and stood. “We’re off to hear that bloody prophesy to see just how much Dumbles has lied to me.”

Snape’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I expect a report at the meeting.”

Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the command. “You do know that I’m the one in charge, right?”

Snape scoffed and leaned back to cross his arms. “Please, Longbottom is more in charge than you are.”

Harry shrugged. “Eh, probably. Anyway, I’ll see you soon! Oh, and you’re giving Neville a full physical exam next week. Toodles!” Harry swiped his wand down to break the privacy ward before pulling Percy quickly away from an angry, sputtering potion master.

“You will give that man an aneurysm one of these days,” Percy chuckled as they walked to the apparition point.

Harry snorted. “Nah, he’ll go all Zen god eventually and just roll with it. He’s dealt with more insanity in his life than me. I’m just a new oddity.”

Percy shook his head and took Harry’s arm to apparate them. “Oh, love, no one has dealt with your level of insanity before.” They popped out of existence before Harry could even attempt to protest that.

Since it was a major holiday for the wixen world, the ministry was almost completely deserted when Harry and Percy expertly bypassed the check-in wizard and made their way down to the Department of Mysteries. “Do try to not mention breaking in your fifth year, destroying the Time Room, especially destroying the Prophesy Room, surviving a killing curse multiple times, any type of death magic, how much you could get on the black market for various items…”

“Merlin! I’ll just be quiet then!” Harry protested all the restrictions he was being put under as the lift descended. “I’ll have you know, I can be plenty charming when I want to be.”

“Now, that I believe,” Percy smiled and pulled down the hood of his obscuring robes before giving Harry a little kiss.

“I don’t know if I find it hot or disturbing to kiss you when you’re wearing that,” Harry remarked dryly as the doors opened, starting to feel anxiety creeping into his veins.

“Just don’t go kissing any random unspeakables you aren’t sure are me,” Percy chuckled and led the way towards the round room with the revolving doors, also known as the lobby to those who worked there.

Percy raised his unspeakable mark and the doors spun around to stop at the one they were looking for. “That is so much easier than just trying them all while they’re also moving,” Harry smiled at the memory that was much less traumatic now that he had over a decade of separation from it.

Harry knew he was getting glared at to shut up about breaking into the department, even if he couldn’t see Percy’s face. Percy opened the door to where an Unspeakable was already waiting for them on the other side. “Unspeakable Davids, thank you for coming in on your holiday,” Percy said respectfully as he ushered his partner into the room full of glowing glass orbs.

“Not a problem at all, Unspeakable Smith. This is quite interesting, and I’m anxious to see just what the content of the prophesy might be,” the man said excitedly. He sounded a bit older to Harry with a deep voice, but there was absolutely nothing else he could glean from the man from under his obscuring robes.

“Ten galleons that Dumbledore made the entire thing up, and it’s completely different,” Harry sighed, his tone dripping in resignation.

Percy put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll take that. I think he just changed some of the words to meet his own ends and skew it in his favor.”

They both looked at Unspeakable Davids who chuckled and turned to lead them deeper into the rows of prophesies. “Well, knowing what I know about Albus Dumbledore, I’ll put my money on the prophesy being mostly what he said but it was longer, and he omitted parts of it. He very much likes to keep information to himself, like a niffler hoarding jewels.”

Harry couldn’t help the laugh that broke through his anxiety. He thought he just might like Percy’s future boss. “I notice none of us wanted to put any money on it being exactly correct.”

“Waste of good galleons,” Percy snorted as they rounded a corner and made their way down an aisle.

Harry glanced over all the many prophesies as they walked by them, wondering if anyone else’s life had been ruined by one of them like his had. He took a deep breath of the dusty air. “Unspeakable Davids…what is the ministry policy about people being here after hours? Like in the corridor outside of the Department of Mysteries.”

The hooded man turned, and Harry was sure he was being frowned at in concern even if he couldn’t see it. “Are you talking about Unspeakable Smith here? Someone who works in the department?”

“No, ministry employees but not ones who work for the Department of Mysteries,” he replied.

The man stood still as he weighed what he was being asked. “But why would they be right outside our department after hours if they don’t work here?”

“Dumbledore’s Order believes they are guarding the prophesy we are here to view from Voldemort,” Percy answered, knowing that Harry was trying to find a way to keep the Order from being attacked…more specifically his father.

The Unspeakable crossed his arms. “Only Voldemort himself could pick it up, and even he cannot remove it though.”

“I don’t think they know that,” Harry shrugged, wondering not for the first time where the Order was getting its information.

Unspeakable Davids hummed to himself before turning on his heel to continue leading them through the shelves of glass orbs. “I will speak to Supervisor Matthews,” he informed them. “She will want to look into this. That poses a security risk and is just frankly unprofessional. I would wager there will be a couple aurors stationed here until we can discourage their presence if my guess is correct.”

“Good,” Harry nodded firmly. “Voldy sends his snake to get the prophesy at some point, which, I know, stupid and wouldn’t work, but it attacks an Order member. We want to avoid that if at all possible.”

“I believe we can handle that,” Davids assured him as he stopped at a shelf containing a familiar glowing orb. “Here we are, boys. What are we actually expecting it to say, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Harry rubbed his neck and closed his eyes. It may have been years, but he still remembered the prophesy as if Dumbledore had just recently told him. “According to Dumbledore, it said:

‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…’”

Unspeakable Davids slowly nodded at the recitation. “There is quite a lot of room for interpretation for that one. While it does seem to specifically apply to you, Mr. Potter, you yourself are not a Light wizard, clearly. I would also hazard a guess that Lord Voldemort is not Magic’s true Dark Lord since he brings chaos instead of balance.”

“The first bit must be right since Severus also heard it though. It's the second bit that it's possible was changed,” Harry sighed and reached out for the orb. It felt icy cold in his hand as he lifted it off the shelf.

“Unless he was confounded or something,” Percy added in.

Harry just scoffed. “The man is a master Occlumens, even at that time. I think the first bit is right. How do I go about listening to this then?”

“Just break it,” the Unspeakable informed him. “When it is finished playing, it will return unharmed to its shelf.”

“That’s a handy bit of magic,” Harry was impressed at however that worked, but promptly tossed the ball to the ground in a shatter of glass.

A silvery image of Professor Trelawney emerged from the orb, just as she had the first time, and opened her mouth with the raspy voice of a prophesy:

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will show himself as a pretender when he marks the child as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the pretender will be born as the seventh month dies…”

Harry raised his eyebrow at the exact same prophesy barring just a couple words, but Trelawney continued before he could even make a comment.

“The rightful Dark Lord will rise…the marked child will overcome …he will stand tall and save the Dark from destruction…He will bring understanding and peace…he will raise the rightful Lord of the Light to his side, his equal in birth and prophesy…together they will usurp the Lord of Manipulation, the breaker of balance…beware those who stand in the way of the Dark and the Light…beware those who stand against Magic…”

Harry and Percy shared a look before they both pulled ten galleons out of their pockets and handed them over to Unspeakable Davids. “Pleasure doing business with you,” the man chuckled and shoved the money into his robes pocket. “I must admit…I quite like the sound of the second part of that prophesy.”

“I don’t even know what to say except ‘why?’” Harry sighed and wished he’d brought some of the Firewhiskey from earlier with him. “Why would he cut that out? I get that I’m supposed to find the new Light Lord and we take over from Dumbledore, but would he really see himself as the Lord of Manipulation? I would have thought he would have assigned that role to someone else even if we all know it is clearly him.”

“Albus Dumbledore may be ruthless, calculating, and highly manipulative, but he is decidedly not delusional about himself and his own actions. He knows very well what he is and what he is doing,” Davids scoffed.

“You seem to know the headmaster very well,” Percy crossed his arms and asked. Frankly, they knew nothing at all of Davids's life except that he seemed to be supportive of their goals.

“I was the Divination professor at Hogwarts before the woman you just saw,” he waved his hand at the orb that was now whole and sitting on the shelf again.

“If you use what I just said to find my identity, you will receive no more help from my end,” he warned. “Let’s just say that Dumbledore was much more comfortable employing a prophet who would never remember their prophesies than a seer who was highly suspicious of him.”

“Understood completely, and your secret is safe,” Percy assured him vehemently. The man had helped them exponentially, the least they could do is not look up old professor records to find his real name. “Who do you think the Light Lord is? It’s clearly not me, and most of the people we know are grey at best these days.”

“Not everyone,” Harry hummed with a calculating look on his face. He tapped at the plaque under the orb. “If I find out who the Light Lord is, will their name be added to the prophesy to be able to view it.”

Davids nodded. “The room works as Magic is spoken into the world. If, as the rightful Dark Lord in the prophesy, you say, ‘The Light Lord is…I don’t know…Minister Fudge or whatever, and it actually does fit under the prophesy, then the name will be added to the plaque.”

“So, Dumbledore must have said ‘Harry Potter is the child of prophesy’ at some point then?” Percy asked as he tried to figure out how the magic must work to do that.

“Either him or Lord Voldemort. Either would have worked,” Davids agreed with him.

“This is fascinating!” Percy said, studying the plaque. "It's possible that question mark is in place of Dumbledore's name instead of questioning Harry's since someone would need to explicitly say his name and place in the prophesy."

Harry groaned loudly. “We have a meeting to get to. We can’t stay here forever while you geek out over some new magical theory you have.”

“Fine,” Percy grumbled but vowed to spend much more quality time with his coworker. It really was very interesting. “Do you have any theories about who it is though?”

“I think I know,” Harry hummed with a small nod and a concerned frown. “I don’t know if I should say it though and commit them. If more than one person fits the prophesy, I would hate to be the one that determined they had to fill the slot. That’s unfair. I would never wish being bound to a prophesy on anyone.”

Davids shook his head. “Someone will make the determination eventually. If you already have a name in mind, then they are the person. If you don’t say it now, it will eventually be said, whether you want it to or not. Magic will have her way in a prophesy that directly affects the balance between Light and Dark. If you say it now though, you can see if your theory is confirmed or not. If nothing changes on the plaque, then you are wrong and can look elsewhere.”

Deciding he would test the theory first, Harry studied the plaque that read:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.

Dark Lord and

(?)

Harry Potter

He figured he could easily make it a little more specific before committing another person to the chains that bound them all together. He chose his words carefully before saying, “The prophesy spoken by Sybil Trelawney to Albus Dumbledore concerned Tom Marvolo Riddle as the false dark lord, Harry Potter as the marked child and true dark lord, and Albus Dumbledore as the Lord of Manipulation.”

A brief flash of light had the three of them studying the changed plaque under the orb. It now read:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Harry Potter and

Albus Dumbledore

“Well, it works,” Percy snorted. “That didn't add the Light Lord on there though.”

Harry grumbled and shifted his feet. “The Light Lord is presumably someone we know since they are going to stand with us in all this. I raise them up, so they aren’t already in the fight. Lastly, we are equal in birth and prophesy…”

The two unspeakables just looked at him when he didn’t continue. “And…” Percy prodded impatiently.

Harry sighed and scrubbed at the silver bar through his eyebrow in frustration. “There was another person the original part of the prophesy could have applied to if Voldemort had picked them to go after that night instead of me. I think that’s what it means. We are equal in birth and prophesy by both being able to take either side of the prophesy. I would guess if the other baby had been chosen instead of me, then I would be the one stepping in as the Light Lord and he would be the Dark…”

“Neville,” Percy breathed out, in shock. “You think it’s Neville…”

Harry nodded and looked at the plaque. “Neville Longbottom is the Lord of Light,” he told it in almost a whisper. A flash of light later and there was one more name added to the bottom of the list, eliciting almost a whimper from Harry.

“Forgive me, Nev,” he whispered into the silent room, feeling as if he had utterly broken his promise to protect his friend.

Percy just let out a little chuckle though, causing both men to glare at him. “Sorry, but you and I both know that Neville is bloody terrifying. I know he’s only fifteen right now, but we give him a few years, and he would be the one I would choose to balance you out for the Light. Morgana knows I can’t keep you in line, but he definitely can.”

Harry snorted a chuckle. “Yeah, you just join in on my crazy schemes instead of trying to stop me.”

“And make them better,” Percy proudly added.

“You have both given me a month’s worth of new research avenues!” Davids was almost clapping his hands in glee. “Now, off with you two! You have a meeting to get to, and I need to start in on my notes. Merlin, it’s a good time to be alive and a researcher!”

“Bloody unspeakables,” Harry gave them both a fond eyeroll before he and Percy did make good on leaving. “You had better not try to recruit Hermione after she graduates,” he firmly told his partner. “I’d never get any of you to leave if she joined in.”

Percy winced. “She’s already been asking way too many questions about those Time Vultures.”

“Merlin forbid!” Harry laughed as they waited for the lifts to take them back up to the Ministry so they could finally leave for the first inner circle meeting of ‘Dark Lord Harry’s Friends’ as Dobby was calling it anyway. It did sound much better than Death Eaters at least.

“Can I call ‘not it’ on telling Neville?” Harry pleaded when they were in the lift and Percy was finally able to lower his hood.

“You want me to be the one to tell him?” He raised an eyebrow warningly.

“You’re right, not a good plan either,” Harry grimaced. “I don’t want to though!”

“Suck it up. You’re a Gryffindor,” Percy just smirked at him.

“I hate you.”

“Love you too.”

Harry was jittery as he paced the Shrieking Shack. Many of his proposed supporters were already milling around and chatting while keeping their new Dark Lord under close observation. Sirius and Severus were chatting with Percy over to one side. Remus hadn’t been invited. Harry was planning on it eventually, but they just weren’t quite there yet. All the students except Fred and George who were covering for them were seated at the table and drinking tea where Winky had left quite a spread. Even if she was still refusing to join officially, she was in support and figured they could all use some tea and finger sandwiches. Dobby and Kreacher looked exceedingly awkward where they were craning their necks up to talk with the centaur Firenze, who had never been asked to teach at the castle this time around since Umbridge wasn’t there to fire Trelawney. However, Harry was most concerned with the little group that consisted of Efa, his banshee friend, Filius Flitwick, and his cousin, Ragnok. Harry was certain he was going to get stabbed again.

“Well, I think this is everyone for our first meeting,” he nervously called them to order, motioning towards the table. There was even a mat on the floor for Firenze to sit at if he wanted to that Winky had the foresight to bring in. “There are other people we want to approach to join, so there may be more at our next meeting.”

“I am surprised at the children in attendance,” Efa glared at the teenagers like their presence was personally offending her. “They have no place in this business.”

“Hey!” Ron protested even as Hermione put her hand on his arm to stop him.

“Unfortunately, they are already in the thick of it, and we cannot keep them out at this point. We will, however, keep them safe,” Harry told everyone firmly, knowing that he might be lying when it came to Neville now. If it was the last thing he did, he promised to do his best to keep his friend safe and happy though.

“Should Harry Potter not be here as well? Are these not his friends?” Firenze motioned a hand over the students with a frown. “Is he firmly with the side of the headmaster? That could potentially cause problems.”

“Erm…yeah…so…” Harry awkwardly scratched his neck and sat with everyone at the table. Only Firenze and Efa didn’t know who he was, but he really didn’t want to have to explain everything again either.

“He is Harry Potter. Time travel,” Ragnok spoke for him very abruptly and pinning him with a glare. “Have you signed our contract, Mr. Potter?”

Harry took the thick ream of parchment out of his enlarged pocket. “Right, yeah, Ragnok is correct. I am Harry Potter, but please call me Hadrian Black outside of these meetings. Even when we expand, those outside of this little group will only know me by Hadrian Black. The Goblin Nation and the…yet unnamed united group of house elves…we need to get you guys a name,” Harry frowned at Kreacher and Dobby. “Anyway, those groups gave me contracts with what they want out of this movement and terms for their support. Efa and Firenze, I know you both have some sway in your communities, so I’m willing to do the same for the banshees and centaurs as well.”

“That is how you knew me when we met,” Efa slowly nodded, her long, white hair flowing over her shoulder as the random dark wizard that inserted himself into her life now made much more sense.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Harry just shrugged at her. “You stabbed me the first time we met though, so I at least approached a bit more cautiously this time.” The banshee just snorted in amusement and took one of the sandwiches off the tea tray.

“Is that the contract?” Ragnok asked as if a broken record.

With a sigh, Harry tossed it over to him. “It’s signed after that last round of changes. I think we’ll all be happy now.”

“Mr. Potter, or rather Black, what are the goals for this little movement of yours?” Firenze settled down onto his mat and crossed his arms in front of him sternly. “I only know of creature rights from Mr. Dobby, but nothing else. I assume the goblins asked for more delineation of your goals at least.”

Flitwick gave a little chuckle at the understatement of that remark. “We definitely did.”

“Balance,” Harry offered immediately. After hearing the prophesy, he actually felt like he had more direction now. He felt more solid and like Magic was pushing him in the direction he must follow. “We will bring balance to the Dark and the Light. We will eventually work with the Light hand-in-hand when Dumbledore is replaced by the true Lord of Light just as I will replace the current pretender of a dark lord.”

“Wait…there is a Light Lord?” Hermione asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

“Of course, there is,” Neville answered her lowly. “Magic is all about balance. Just like with plants, magic needs both light and darkness and nourishment from both sides. Dumbledore and You-Know-Who have been serving in those roles, but if Dumbledore is also not the true lord, then we need to find who it is to continue with that balance.”

“Well said, boy,” Efa raised her eyebrow in surprised admiration while Harry was dying inside at Neville saying they needed to find the light lord.

“Ok, so that is a new goal then,” Hermione nodded with a frown.

“What about muggleborns?” She asked next with a look on her face that said she might not want to know the answer. “And muggles too.”

“They have been the major point of contention between the current two lords,” Sirius agreed with her, but much less concerned about Harry’s answer. “You need a solid answer to that for your followers.”

Harry just nodded, not worried about the question at all. If they didn’t agree with him, he’d just obliviate them when they left and find a new person for his inner circle. “Muggleborns are wixen, plain and simple. All magicals, creature and wixen alike, are valuable and should be cherished. Our world is too small to not embrace our kind, no matter where they come from, the same for all magical creatures and even squibs.”

“Wait…squibs?” Sirius frowned at that part. “Erm, but they aren’t wixen.”

Harry just shook his head. “They are still wixen even if they can’t access their magic. They are an extremely valuable part of our society as people who can integrate and bridge the gap between the magical and muggle worlds. We are behind as a society if we don’t keep up to date with muggle advancements in technology and science. If we supported our squibs in their endeavors in the muggle work and to bring back this knowledge and not cut them off from us, they would bring so much more richness to our society and growth as people.”

Flitwick was nodding along as well as Hermione, though the rest of the group still looked a little skeptical. “And what of muggles?” Snape reminded him he hadn’t answered that question.

Harry shrugged. “I care nothing about the muggles.”

“Harry James Potter!” Hermione indignantly called him out.

“Not what I meant, Hermione,” he sighed and scrubbed a hand over the metal bar in his eyebrow. “I don’t mean we should kill them. They are autonomous sentient human beings that deserve their own lives in their own society. Besides there are like a billion more of them than us.”

“I would like to hear you explain what you did mean then?” Firenze prompted with a nod for him to continue. "The stars speak many warnings about the muggle world."

“I meant that our society should view muggles as people with rights, but that the Statute of Secrecy is there for very important reasons. Muggles have their own world, and frankly, they don’t want to be a part of ours, and we don’t particularly want to only be a part of theirs either. It’s important that we learn from them, hence supporting muggleborns and squibs, but we should view widespread exposure as a real and dangerous threat to us,” Harry explained.

“Muggles don’t fit into my plans in much detail because I’m not their Dark Lord. We need some policy changes in how we deal with them, and we absolutely need to strengthen our approach to the Statue of Secrecy, I mean, look at the World Cup last year, but they have their own government and society. I’m here for you, I will serve you, and I don’t plan on spending my whole life either speaking up for or against muggles. I serve Magic; I serve you,” he finished with a look around the table and the odd collection of people assembled.

Efa cleared her throat. “Brill, now moving on, creature rights. Banshees can’t currently work at the ministry. What are you going to do about that?”

Dobby slowly raised a hand too. “Er…it wasn’t in the contract, but the house elveses, we were thinking it might be good to be classified as beings instead of just creatures…if that’s ok…”

“Merlin! Of course, it is!” Harry huffed out, not realizing they had forgotten that important part in the contact. “Send the contract back, and I’ll write it in.”

“Wait, house elves aren’t even categorized as beings?!” Hermione’s curls almost stood up on end as the ire rose in her righteous fury.

“We’ll fix it, Hermione, as well as more jobs for banshees and centaurs, as well as protected hunting grounds for centaurs…Merlin, does anyone know a merperson we could get in touch with?” Harry sighed and started scribbling notes all across the parchment in front of him. “They need to be reclassified as well.”

“I can contact them,” Firenze offered.

“Wonderful!” Harry nodded as he continued to write. “Severus, we have got to kill off your boss before we can do any of this. Can I put you and Sirius on finding some weakness to exploit once we’re ready to take that step, you can loop in Remus if you want?”

“Which boss?” Severus just asked with a smirk and a knowing raise of his eyebrow.

Harry rolled his eyes at him. “We’ll start with the snake faced one and go from there.”

“I have some ideas. I can help them,” Percy volunteered, causing the group to look over at him for the first time.

“And just who are you, young necromancer?” Firenze narrowed his eyes to take in the man sitting several seats away from him.