Deadly Belladonna

Forty-nine year old Harry was rather content with his life, but when his lover, Andromeda finds a way to rewrite the war, well, let’s just say that the Dark Lord was not expecting to deal with two Harry Potter’s and the loss of his favourite lieutenant. Sirius Black might not be the only Black with a cleared name and dark past. Meanwhile, for the Triwizard Champion, things might start to get a bit brighter. Time Travel, Two Potters.
[Lord Harry Black/Bellatrix Black] [Younger Harry Potter/Luna Lovegood]

Chapter 1: Your Worst Nightmare

Chapter Text

Summary: Forty-nine year old Harry was rather content with his life, but when his lover, Andromeda finds a way to save her sister, well, let's just say that the Dark Lord was not expecting to deal with two Harry Potter's and the loss of his favourite lieutenant. Sirius Black might not be the only Black with a cleared name and dark past. Meanwhile, for the Triwizard Champion, things might start to get a bit brighter. Time Travel, Two Potters.

[Lord Harry Black/Bellatrix Black] [Younger Harry Potter/Luna Lovegood] Sirius Black, Hedwig

Rating: T/M, possible fade out intimacy, no smut, book levels of violence.

Dyslexia: Surprise! I still have it ;D

KEYnote: As of November 2023 this story has been content edited. Please forgive my inevitable mistakes but this should run more smoothly. I will be doing a separate Fantastic Beasts story after The Delicate Art of Raising Thestrals finishes.

Chapter 1 - Your Worst Nightmare

Harry Potter, age forty-nine, was smiling as he entered his home.

He had just spent the day babysitting his first granddaughter, Magnolia Tonks Shacklebolt. Teddy had chosen to take his wife's name, first because Teddy didn't have much attachment to the name Lupin and second because Sonya Kingsley Shacklebolt was the man of the house in all but equipment.

Magnolia was four months old and had fully captured Harry's heart, making a part of him regret that he hadn't had more children aside from Teddy and the twins, Rose and James.

However, his smile instantly fell away as he entered the main room and heard the distinct sound of muffled crying.

Harry rushed to Andromeda's side, his partner in all things, where she was curled around herself on the sofa.

Her arms instantly went around him as he reached for her. Kissing her head, he began to rub her back, "Shhh, Andromeda, shhh, what's wrong? What happened?"

She pushed back from him, anger overtaking her beautiful face as she wiped the tears back with a harsh gesture. Andromeda's words were thick with emotions and an undercurrent of rage, "I brewed the cure to the Longbottoms."

Harry blinked at her, "Andromeda… that's wonderful, why-"

"It worked!" Andromeda exclaimed, standing to her feet and began to pace the hall, "It worked, Harry!"

Confusion overcame him as he remained where he was watching her and asked slowly, "Why is this a bad thing?"

Andromeda spun on him, her hair wild around her shoulders. Her dress was a rich burgundy she had donned to enter the Wizarding World, "It worked. The Longbottoms came back to themselves, they still remembered, there is still much emotionally they need to recover from but thephysical scars caused by the torture and trauma were healed. The rest is up to them and what the family can do for them."

"That is excellent," Harry said, "But then why-"

"Because it would have worked for her too!" Andromeda nearly screamed at him.

He went still and asked, "For your sister?"

Fresh tears spilled from Andromeda's dark eyes, "It's how I knew what needed to be fixed. Harry… what our mother did to us, to Bella… she was never the most stable person, but she wasn't always broken. Bella adored Sirius once, did you know that? I'm not sure Siri remembered, he was so young then. But Bella was… caring, overachieving, curious about everything, and brilliant."

Harry had heard things about Bellatrix from both Narcissa and Andromeda over the years, but something felt different in this moment, so he said nothing to interrupt as she revealed things he wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"She was, however, absurdly powerful, to such a degree that her magic sometimes overwhelmed her. After one of our mother's last 'punishments', our father finally, finally stepped in. But it was too late, there was nothing the healers could do for her, and Bella who was once such a happy and wild spirit, became prone to violent outbursts and surges of accidental magic that could shake the foundation of the house." She looked at him, "Do you know what an Obscurial is?"

He nodded, "It comes from suppressing one's magic, no?"

"In children, yes, but Bella wasn't little, she was sixteen, and her magic… it was like she became the obscurial. My father found an old family relic, two bracelets, one he gave to me and the other he gave to her. I'm not sure what their original purpose was, but what they did was create a bond between magical beings. For the one, she was unable to use her magic except with my conscious permission, which I could give with nary a thought, to my own bracelet. It kept us connected, it doubled our powers and it didn't suppress her magic as long as I used mine. She could feel it whenever I used magic, you see."

Harry tilted his head, "That's actually rather brilliant. But why didn't you use them in the war?"

A look of shame came over her face, "She was older than me, and she stayed close to home through our and my school years. It worked well through those years. But her husband…" Andromeda sighed, "there was nothing any of us could have done short of murdering Rodolphus, which I sincerely regret not doing."

"He took the bracelet off her," Harry guessed.

Andromeda sighed and came back to sit beside him, "No, I did."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because she couldn't defend herself without my permission, and because…" Andromeda touched her stomach, "I was pregnant with Nymphadora. I was going to move to the muggle world and Bella… I gave my bracelet to Narcissa. But Bella saw it as a betrayal. She stopped Narcissa from wearing it and forced Narcissa to remove hers as well. And well, I suppose you know the rest of my sister's story."

Harry reached out to hold her hand, "You think this potion could have made a difference?"

Andromeda looked up at him, "I don't think my sister was imperioused or manipulated to do the things she did. Nor do I think she didn't believe in Pureblood fanaticism. But my sister wasn't a sadist, she wasn't cruel for cruelty's sake. I remember how much she used to love me and Narcissa. I remember the hours she would spend playing on the floor with Siri and Reggie when no one, myself and our mothers included, wanted anything to do with them."

After having spent the day with his granddaughter in his arms, Harry felt his expression soften, he squeezed Andromeda's hands, "I'm so sorry, Andromeda."

She closed her dark eyes, "My mother and her husband tortured her long before Voldemort got his hands on her. And I-" she looked off into the distance, "I left her. Abandoned her." She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment and two black metal bracelets, "But if I had stayed… she could have had a chance."

Harry's hand covered hers over the recipe to the cure and two bracelets.

"What did you name it?" he asked softly, resting his forehead against hers.

She opened her eyes, their closeness making the eye contact incredibly intimate.

"The Belladonna Cure."

"The main ingredient?" he asked, wondering if it was the herb itself she had used even as he lowered her lips to hers.

"Deadly Nightshade," Andromeda spoke the words over his lips before closing the space between them.

Harry would never not love this woman, this witch who had walked through the darkness with to find a life worth living.

When they pulled back, she blinked up at him, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Andromeda?"

"Harry," she said thickly, "I know that this is unforgivable, but I know you will find happiness again."

Confusion swept over him as her hands closed over his, the metal rings going so cold in his hands they burned.

And in a flood of magic, Harry watched the light dissipate from her eyes as the metal in their hands spread ice temperatures into his hands, through his bones, filling him as if he had been dropped into a vat of liquid nitrogen.

And his entire world and vision went completely black.

When his eyes finally opened.

It was night, he was outside, there were torches, and lots and lots of people.

Harry blinked.

He was no longer in his house.

He was pretty sure he had just seen the love of his life die, and he wasn't entirely certain that he hadn't died either.

Where was he?

Shaking his head, he took in a breath and tried to look around him, taking stock.

The first person he noticed was Luna.

Why were they sitting on bleachers with a bunch of students?

Wasn't it summer?

Were they on the Hogwarts ground?

"Luna?" he croaked.

Luna turned and Harry startled so hard he jerked and nearly dropped the paper and two metal bands in his hands.

"Harry?" she asked.

Harry could only gawk.

It was definitely Luna. She had to be Luna Lovegood.

Only…

Only she looked about twelve.

Harry stood, and to his horror, he finally registered what he was before them all.

A hedgerow.

More specifically, the maze.

Andromeda's words came back to him.

I know that this is unforgivable, but I know you will find happiness again.

And that odd conversation they had had last night.

If you could go back, if you could save Sirius and face Voldemort as an adult, fight the war as you are now, would you?

Harry Potter had one too many crazy things happen to him to doubt the reality in front of him.

Even if he was praying that he was dreaming rather than Andromeda finding some way of time travelling.

Cursing under his breath, he placed the bracelets in his breast pocket and pulled his wand.

He tapped the recipe of the Belladonna Cure in his hand to duplicate it. He pocketed one and passed a second one to Luna.

Luna took it, her eyes scanning and her brows shooting up, and Harry said, "Don't lose that, Ms. Lovegood, it could save many lives one day."

Then he was making his way down the bleachers.

His heart hurt as his eyes scanned over the familiar figures.

Many hadn't survived the war.

Many, many, more hadn't followed the price to be paid in the aftermath.

The Lost Generations.

Harry spotted Neville Longbottom, he still had his baby-face and looked bored as stone as he waited with the crowd that was gossiping with everyone but him.

Luckily for Harry, he was sitting at the end of a row.

Harry knelt so they were at eye level, "Neville?"

The young boy startled, "Hello? Who are you?"

Harry smiled tightly and handed the boy a copy of the Belladonna Cure to him. "I'm a DADA professor," Harry answered before lowering his voice to keep the other kids from hearing, "Give this to the healers caring for your parents."

Neville took it with a frown, "What?"

But Harry was already taking the final steps.

He saw Ron sitting with Hermione, and Harry's heart broke.

If you could change the past, would you?

He had said yes.

Harry cursed and tapped Dumbledore on the shoulder, the man spun on him, his eyebrows climbing to the rim of his outrageous hat, "James Potter?"

Harry shook his head, "When did they go in?"

"What?"

"When did the Champions go in?" Harry asked, more slowly.

"An hour ago," Dumbledore answered, "Who-?"

"Alastor Moody is trapped in a trunk in the DADA office and your teacher who has been teaching your students is Barty Crouch Jr.. He's a Death Eater using this tournament to resurrect Voldemort and murder Harry Potter."

Albus gaped at him.

For a moment, Harry enjoyed that expression, before he turned and sprinted into the maze. Albus's shock and the other professor's confusion, giving him the time to enter unimpeded.

Plus, he wasn't exactly slow on his feet, he might have been in his late forties but Harry wasn't out of shape. He also didn't pause as he began to undo the spellwork that had erected the hedges. Just the hedges, revealing the monsters and the traps behind.

It wasn't a wise thing to do really, as Hagrid had definitely done his job. Suddenly, the bored crowd began to scream as the 'challenges' began to pose a challenge to the staff, students, and their parents.

Harry cursed himself for hesitating as he watched from yards away one of his worst nightmares and biggest regrets play out before his eyes.

But he acted anyway, even if it was too late, he pointed his wand to shoot the cup back.

Cedric's hand missed the handle, Harry freaking Potter, however, was an excellent Seeker, and he leant forward to catch the cup. He was wrenched from space for his trouble to out cry of the speaking.

Harry the Elder, came to a halt. He had still been figuring out how to apparate off Hogwarts grounds, like Dumbledore, in recent years.

He hadn't gotten the trick of it yet. So, instead, he searched for something…

Or someone.

"Excuse me, Sphinx?" Harry called.

The cat woman creature paused in her meandering, "Yes, wizard?"

"I don't mean to offend but might I have a ride to the border?"

She tilted her head, and sat back on her hind legs, then asked:

"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

It lies behind stars and under hills,

And empty holes it fills.

It comes out first and follows after,

Ends life, kills laughter."

"Darkness," Harry answered without hesitation.

The Sphinx's smile was predatory, yet she lowered herself to the ground and Harry didn't waste time as he climbed her back and said, "Thank you so much."

"I couldn't pass up a chance to perhaps eat you," she replied, before taking off in a sprint toward the border of the Hogwarts grounds as absolute pandemonium broke out behind him.

oOo

Harry watched Voldemort, newly risen, raving as he paced, his red eyes darting from grave to grave.

"Listen to me, reliving family history..." he said quietly, "why, I am growing quite sentimental...But look, Harry! My true family returns..."

The air was suddenly full of the swishing of cloaks. Between graves, behind the yew tree, in every shadowy space, wizards were Apparating. All of them were hooded and masked. And one by one, they moved forward...slowly, cautiously, as though they could hardly believe their eyes. Voldemort stood in silence, waiting for them.

And then someone who wore normal wizarding clothing snapped into being before Harry.

"Hey, Voldy, looking as horrid as ever, I see," that voice struck Harry as both kind and confident.

Completely unafraid of the monsters he stood in front of.

Voldemort spun on them, his red eyes going wide, and he breathed, "It cannot be."

The man laughed, "I know. Isn't it just a pain when your enemies don't stay dead?"

Voldemort hissed, "James Potter."

Harry's heart nearly stopped in his chest.

But the man, whose hand was holding his wand at his back, said, "A relative of mine, of course, but no, I'm not James."

Harry swallowed hard, hope fleeing him.

Nearly a dozen Death Eaters and Voldemort versus Harry and this strange wizard, who twisted his wrist and the ropes dropped from around Harry.

Voldemort snarled, "Who are you?"

Harry could hear the smile in the man's voice, "Your worst nightmare."

What followed was the most impressive wand work Harry had ever witnessed, the man cutting the air with his wand, pulling up the stones from the earth to meet Voldemort's screamed Avada Kedavras and the other Death Eaters began to attack the man.

That single man struck out counter curses as fast as he brought his wand up in defence.

Two of the Death Eaters dropped, whether dead or otherwise, Harry couldn't tell, but he winced as stone debris began to blow back, time and time again, after each Unforgivable curse was blocked. Which was when Voldemort switched to other curses, and Harry watched one of the strongest shield charms he had ever personally witnessed appear as the man bellowed, "Protego!"

The first spell he had spoke out loud.

The man spun, taking Harry with him as he rolled behind the tombstone and then-

Like the cup, Harry felt himself tugged impossibly through space.

Where they landed next was not at all where Harry would have thought.

He blinked at the streetlights, and asked, looking up at the man who had just gone up against Voldemort to save him, "Where- where are we?"

"London," the man said, checking their surroundings, "Good, I don't think they followed us. But let's move, never stay in one place unless it is truly secure."

Harry hurried to catch up to him, "Thank you, sir, for saving me."

"You are most welcome, Mr. Potter," the man said, flashing him a smile.

Harry nearly tripped over the cobblestones. He looked like his father.

But under the streetlights, Harry saw the grey streaks in his hair, this man was too old to be his father, older than Sirius even.

Though for an old guy, Harry had to nearly run to catch up, "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home," he said.

That was an unnerving answer. One, because Harry didn't live in London, two, if this man was taking him back to Hogwarts, why were they in London? Three, if he was taken back to the Dursleys early, he was going to break something.

Four, why was he following a stranger through the night?

Oh, right, because he owed this man his life.

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

The man stopped dead and turned to look down at him, he observed Harry for a moment before he said, "Harris Magnolia Black, it is wonderful to make your acquaintance, Mr. Harry James Potter. And this is number 12, Grimmauld Place."

Then Harris Black took a step to the side, and an apartment jumped into being.

Harry stared at him and couldn't stop himself from asking, "You think this is my home?"

Harris grinned, "Home is where the loved ones are."

Harry was still confused, "You're related to my dad and the Blacks?"

Harris smiled wider as he pulled Harry up to the stoop, "I'm not a pureblood, I'm just a bastard child lost in time."

And then Harris Magnolia Black disapparated, leaving Harry standing on the stoop of Grimmauld Place.

Harry wasn't sure what to think, but he didn't want to linger on this lonesome street at night, so he began knocking on the door.

The door was yanked open a moment and a rather panic-stricken Sirius Black stared down at him. Confusion passed over his face, and then…

Harry found himself wrapped in the tightest hug he could ever remember, and he clung onto his godfather just as fiercely.

"Oh, Harry," Sirius said into his hair without letting go, "Harry, I am so glad you're safe. I just heard- but you're here. You're safe."

Harry sank into that moment of safety, that moment in which someone just loved him for him. Someone who cared for his well being and was happy to welcome him home.

Home truly was where the loved ones were.

oOo

AN: Feedback, thoughts, ideas, events you wish to occur in this story, and yes, my artistic process is writing a bunch of stories at once, so any orcas to add to the pod?

Chapter 2: Deception

Chapter Text

Thank you Nauze!

Chapter 2 - Deception

Sirius finally broke the hug and ushered Harry into a darkened apartment.

Harry couldn't really see much, but he got the distinct impression of a dusty dirty place, like an abandoned storage building.

Sirius hushed him as they crept into a room that looked like a dingy dining room, warmed by the pleasant crackling of a fire in the hearth.

Sirius directed him to an old armchair and then sat down across from him. He pulled his wand and took care of the cut Wormtail had given him. "How did you get here? How did you even know to come here?"

"Um, he called himself Harris Magnolia Black, do you know him?"

Sirius went very still, "No, Harry, you shouldn't trust-"

"He saved my life," Harry defended, "and he looked like my dad."

Sirius cocked his head like a dog, "Saved your life from what?"

"Voldemort," Harry said, "and even Voldemort called him James Potter."

"Whoa, wait, Voldemort? I heard you disappeared from the tournament after some stranger took down the hedge maze."

Harry shook his head, "I saw the hedge disappear but I was in the process of catching the cup and it was portkey."

Sirius's face paled, "Tell me."

So Harry told him.

Sirius was frowning as Harry described Harris's duel with the Dark Lord.

"He deflected the Killing Curse?"

"Multiple times!" Harry exclaimed, "I thought it was impossible to block it."

"It is!" Sirius agreed, "Or it is supposed to be. What was he doing?"

"He was levitating or conjuring stones, and they shattered but he didn't stop. It was hard to tell, it all happened so fast. Sirius, I've never seen anyone move like that, he looked as if he was brandishing a sword. He downed two of the Death Eaters while holding Voldemort back. But then Voldemort stopped using the Killing Curse and he pulled up this massive shield charm, and he disapparated us out of there."

Sirius sat back in his chair, "A man who could stand against Lord Voldemort and his followers, who saved your life. And he claims to be a Black."

"He said he was related to my father and that he was," Harry cleared his throat, "a bastard child."

Sirius's brows shot up, "How old was he?"

"Not too old but older than you."

"Interesting," Sirius mused and stroked his beard in thought.

He looked much better and cleaner than the last time Harry had seen him.

"You think he meant that literally?" Harry asked, "And where are we?"

Sirius sighed, "Well, our friend's knowing where this place is, is a testament to his telling the truth. No one but a Black could have known how to get here and not set off any of the wards in the process. Which means he's either my uncle or my brother. What confuses me is how an illegitimate child would be aware of this place. Unless my father reinvested in him after Regulus died."

"But why would he look like my father?"

Sirius shrugged, "Any number of reasons. Illegitimate children are almost impossible to track. If he is older than me, then he may be the Black Heir, which would of course mean he is a part of our direct line, but otherwise…" Sirius sighed, "Short of a muggle blood test, pureblood family lines are so entangled that it would be hard to tell how closely related he was to James and yourself."

"Oh," Harry said wrinkling his nose, "I don't know why this world hates muggleborns so much if it means they could avoid-" he gestured.

Sirius laughed, "Indeed, Harry, indeed." Then he sighed, "I suppose we should get you bac-"

" No!" Harry almost shouted.

"Harry," Sirius said, "People need to know you're okay."

"Why? They let me compete in the tournament, someone tricked the Goblet yet no one could find a loophole to get me out of tasks. No one cared when Skeeter came after me or when the school hated me, again . They don't actually care about my safety, why should I do anything for them?"

Sirius looked at him, "Harry, don't you want to go back to school?"

"I'll write Ron and Hermione so they know I'm alright, but no. I was excused from finals and I don't want to take the fall for being the first person to say Lord Voldemort is back. You offered at the end of last year to run away with you if I wanted. Please, Sirius, I can't take another summer trapped with the Dursleys."

Sirius's face softened, "Well, I suppose, keeping you safe wouldn't be too hard in this old place. It's warded against everyone. Except for this Harris fellow, but he certainly seems alright."

"Does Dumbledore know you are here?" Harry asked.

"No, he sent a message about you by way of patronus. But I just got here not a week ago, I haven't told him about it lest he get any funny ideas. I'm not sure that it was habitable."

"It's a roof," Harry said before asking, "does it have running water?"

"Yes, but-"

"Please, Sirius," Harry begged, feeling as if everything was catching up to him all at once and he just couldn't face the chaos at Hogwarts or another summer with the Dursleys, not knowing what was out there. Not after having faced and almost dying by Voldemort and his Death Eaters again. "You're my godfather. You're who my parents wanted me with, not the Dursleys. You and I know I'm okay, who else really matters? If I'm safe, I'm safe, and I'm safe with you."

Sirius's lips thinned, but Harry could see the hope and light in his godfather's blue eyes, before he gave a wolfish grin, "You know what? You're right. And kidnapping Harry Potter isn't actually going to make 'Kiss on Sight' any worse."

Harry actually cheered.

Then jumped when a wailing went off in the hallway.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"My mother," Sirius said with a sigh.

"I thought we were alone here," Harry said.

"Nope, there is you, me, Kreacher, my mother's portrait, and whatever else decided to make a home here."

"Oh," Harry said lamely.

"Still want to live here?" Sirius asked.

Harry snorted, "Sirius, as long as I'm with you, I'd prefer living in a cave than the Dursleys."

Sirius barked a laugh, "Well good, that's the kind of attitude you'll need to live this crypt."

Harry felt that there was more than a tinge of bitterness in that statement. But he was far too happy, and tired, to hold onto that thought as he kicked off his shoes and curled up by the fire.

oOo

Harris Magnolia Black

oOo

Harry found himself aimless wandering the London streets as he tried to figure out where to go.

And tried really, really hard to think about why he didn't have anywhere to go.

All he could do was worry about Magnolia as the rain beat down on him, the slick streets smelling of wet stone and the night chill biting into his bones.

Magnolia was a baby and Voldemort was alive, again.

Magnolia, unlike her parents, unlike James and Rose, was unable to protect herself. Harry had to be there for her, he had to be.

But as he paced the street that Teddy's apartment was on, it finally sunk in, slowly, like needles before the numbness, as to why he didn't just go straight to his own godson and granddaughter.

Because they didn't exist.

His family didn't exist.

The life he built for himself: gone.

The happiness, the friends, the in-laws, his students, all gone.

No one would remember them but him, not as they had been, and no one would remember who he had become.

They were all gone, with no chance of them existing as they had been, no way for him to go back and relive raising his children. He had already changed too much.

They were gone.

Harry screamed.

He bellowed his pain up into the rain and didn't care if people saw him or thought him crazy.

His family was no more!

His babies…

His sons and daughter.

His granddaughter Magnolia…

He might never see them again, might never know them. He wouldn't even get the opportunity to see the woman Magnolia would have grown up to be or know of the other grandchildren he might have had.

And for what? To get a second chance at a war that had shredded his people, taken the lives of almost every witch and wizard he had grown up with?

Even if he had managed to kill Voldemort tonight, it wouldn't have changed the rot lurking in their community, the rot they had only just begun to grow back from.

Harry found an alley, hiding from the light and wishing for nothing more than to stop feeling, because the worst was yet to come. The thing he was running away from in his own mind.

Andromeda had done this to him.

The woman he loved had done this to him without his opinion or consent.

She had taken away everything from him, choosing him to be the one to save their world, again.

He felt… betrayed, violated, and pissed off!

This was something Gin might have done to him but not Andromeda; how could she have done this to him?

He wished he hadn't returned home last- this night. Wished he had taken Teddy up on his offer and just stayed the night, little Magnolia asleep in his arms, bringing joy to all by just existing.

But she didn't exist in this world.

Harry began to cry then, because never had he ever felt so helpless, like there was no light left fighting for in the world.

He had done his part, he had paid his prices, he didn't think he could, and he knew that he did not want to do it again.

"I trusted you," Harry said brokenly to the night, then again his voice rose as the rain beat against him in a deluge, "You bitch, I trusted you! I loved you! How could you do this to me!?"

He pictured Andromeda's beloved face as she said, I know that this is unforgivable, but I know you will find happiness again.

He screamed, long and wordless.

She had taken everything away from him.

Then he remembered the life leaving her eyes, and it finally clicked as to what had happened.

Why she hadn't talked to him before doing this.

Andromeda had martyred herself to send him back in time, for one chance that he might be able to make a better future for them all.

To fight the Dark Lord as a man and not a child.

Andromeda had killed herself.

That knowledge wrenched through him and what was left of his heart shattered.

He curled up in that alley and let the rain and cold take him.

He knew that when the sun rose, he would do what needed to be done, because that's just who he was.

He was Harry fucking Potter.

But tonight, he let himself mourn.

To say goodbye to everything that had made his life worth living.

oOo

By the time the morning came, Harry was stiff and cold, but the most unexpected and most welcomed visitor perched on his shoulder.

He blinked up at her, "Hedwig?"

She hooted and glared down at him reproachfully.

He let out a pained dry laugh as he staggered to his feet, "Alright, girl, I hear you. Pull yourself together, Harry."

She nipped his ear.

"Ow! Merlin, yes, I missed you too."

She nodded but seemed to wait for him, and he sighed, waving his wand over himself.

Dry and clean, she bobbed her head again before rubbing her cheek against his.

Nothing beat a familiar as brilliant as Hedwig.

"Yeah, I love you too," he told her, stroking her cheek, "Now go on to our younger counterpart, and be careful of whatever is in that apartment."

With one final light nip, she took off.

Harry watched her go, her snow what feathers cutting through the London gloom, and rubbed his eyes.

He no longer wore glasses, thanks to Rose accidentally magicking his glasses into his eyes when he had been explaining to the little girl that he couldn't see without him.

His being blinded had scared her and her magic had lashed out.

Resulting in a trip for Harry to St. Mungos. Since accidental magic wasn't any kind of formal spell or curse, it hadn't been an exact science/countercurse, to get the glasses removed from his eyeballs.

The end result, luckily while he was unconscious, was an emergency, and dramatic, eye crafting work. His eyes now worked properly, but they had lost their green colour.

He now was as blue eyed as Sirius.

Which was good for what he had planned as he weaved his way through Diagon Alley.

The bands Andromeda had given to him weighed heavy in his breast pocket even as he stepped into the bank to claim his title as Head of House Black.

Technically, he was the oldest living member now, and in his own time, he had stepped up in politics, mostly because of Hermione's urging, and because he was sick of the stagnation.

He was tantamount to a world leader in the Wizarding community, and Harry had used his power for good. He would do so again now.

Plus, claiming the title would give him access to money.

As he hoped, the goblin who greeted him and took his blood sample fell in his favour. The rivulet of blood glowed bright over an old seal confirming him as Head of House Black, proving that blood magic was silly and stupid and didn't understand time travel or incest.

After that little reveal, Harry got a private room to conduct his business.

"Full name and heritage," the goblin demanded more than asked.

"Harris Magnolia Black, first son of Orion Black," Harry lied boldy, thinking that Sirius would get a good laugh out of his defiling the name of House Black, "no idea who my mother would have been. I think she died when I was a baby."

The goblin sneered, "It doesn't truly matter, not for what you wish to claim."

"I want Sirius Black, and his godson, Harry Potter, to continue having access to the Black Family Vault."

"Unregulated?" the goblin asked.

"Yes, though if Sirius randomly tries transferring everything to another vault, I would like to be informed."

"I would also like to claim the title Lord Black."

The goblin raised his brow, "Mr. Black, you would be taking the seat currently held by Lord Lucius Malfoy who holds the seat of the House of Black due to his marriage."

Harry smiled, "Excellent. Also, are there any properties on the account still?"

"Number 12 Grimmauld Place," the goblin said looking down at a list of assests.

"I want that crossed off the records, the physical deed will remain in the vault inaccessible to any but Sirius Black or myself, unless we both die, in which case Mr. Potter may gain access to if in need."

"That will cost you," the goblin sneered.

Harry tossed him three galleons, as he hadn't travelled back in time with nothing on him, "One to do your job, two to keep your mouth shut, three for an advance bribe, you break this trust of three forever shame on thee."

Luna had taught him that, and the goblin glowered but pocketed the gold without another word, "It will be done, Mr. Black."

"Any others?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, owned an apartment that she vacated upon marriage but it was bought and deeded to Orion Black, your father."

Harry took in a sharp breath.

It would have worked for her too!

Harry wasn't big on ignoring the signs in his life, and this one was shouting save Bellatrix Lestrange .

Merlin have mercy on him.

But at this point, with Voldemort free, Harry had two options, get to her before the Dark Lord did, or kill her at a later date.

Harry remembered how much Bellatrix had looked like Andromeda, and no matter how mad he was at her, he couldn't kill her look-alike, not when he had been granted the means and a chance to save her.

Hermione was absolutely right, he did have a saving people's thing.

"Well," Harry said, "it will no longer be vacated. What number?"

"1119 Knockturn Alley, though its windows overlook Diagon Alley."

"Swell," Harry groused, then he asked, "Is the signet ring still in the vault as well?"

"Yes."

"Good," Harry said, "very, good."

And probably really bad for everyone else.

oOo

Kingsley Shacklebolt was pretty sure the Wizarding World was going to implode.

He wasn't really sure people would have believed that Voldemort, the Dark Lord, He Who Must Not Be Named, You Know Who, was back, but after a month of Harry Potter having been missing… well.

The rumours were larger than life, and Harry Potter was the name on everyone's lips and Sirius Black the shadow in everyone's nightmares.

Yet in all the chaos, one light shone through.

A mysterious man who had arrived at the Triwizard Tournament and accurately accused Moody Alastor of being an imposter, and had also given Neville Longbottom a potion recipe.

A recipe that Potions Master Severus Snape had brewed, and several others analyzed, and in the end it had been cleared to give to Frank and Alice Longbottom, two Aurors Kingsley himself had trained along with Alastor.

A miracle had occurred and the two long mourned Aurors began to heal and regain themselves.

Kingsley had been there to see the first time Alice called her son by name.

Neville and his grandmother had wept openly.

Kingsley's own tears had been shed in private.

Whoever that strange man had been, who supposedly looked like James Potter, was a hero.

But nobody could find him, not him, or Sirius, or Harry Potter, or a supposedly resurrected He Who Must Not Be Named.

Kingsley sighed, wishing he could be out there, doing his job rather than in court, listening to another useless briefing on British security.

Amelia echoed his side beside him and they exchanged a look.

That look said, 'Higher smarter Aurors and let us lead our department, problems solved'.

Instead, the Wizengomat droned on, some having rightfully earned their seats, others having wrongly inherited them.

But just when Kingsley was debating responding to an 'urgent alert', James Potter walked through the doors.

Everyone froze, Fudge cutting off mid-word.

It took Kingsley a moment to see past the similarities.

It wasn't James.

For one, he was actually older than James would have been had he lived, marked by the streaks of silver and white in his black hair. For another, his eyes were blue and he wore no glasses. The longer Kingsley looked at him, the more changes he spotted, taller than James, his robes cut a more lean frame with broader shoulders, and he stood like a man who hadn't been raised in privilege but through war.

Kingsley wasn't sure why exactly he thought the last, perhaps he just knew too many veterans, and perhaps too many 'young lords' to compare him to.

Fudge leaned forward over his podium, the wood creaking, "Who are you?"

The man smiled, not in the least intimated, "Lord Harris Magnolia Black, eldest son of Orion Black, and I've come to claim my seat in court."

Kingsley supposed it was the month of scandals and surprises, because the wards of this room, a private closed meeting room that predated the Ministry of Magic itself, wouldn't have let any non-member through those doors without explicit invitation that had been approved by all sitting members, as was Kingsley own status.

Which meant…

Mr. Harris Black approached the Wizagomat seats, and accurately identified the seat that was meant for him, was the legitimate heir to House Black. The man smirked at Lucius Malfoy, who was sitting ramrod straight in the seat only granted to him because of his marital status to the only Black not exiled or imprisoned.

Mr. Black quirked a dark brow at the blonde, "Out of my seat, pretty boy."

No one said a word.

Lucius Malfoy stared at the man usurping his privilege, who, if Lucius made an enemy out of in the first conversation, would reflect badly on him and his standing within the other Pureblood families.

If the Head of House Black was back in society, they were all in for a change, whether for good or ill.

Lucius stood wordlessly and, with the barest incline of his head, vacated his seat.

Mr. Black waited for Lucius to step off the platform before taking that seat.

When Malfoy was halfway to the door, Black called, "Oh, and Lucius?"

Lucius froze, and when Black didn't immediately speak, Lucius turned back to ask, "Yes, Mr. Black?"

"Do say hello to your wife for me, won't you?" Black asked, something dark and teasing in his voice, "I would dearly love to catch up with her."

Heat rose to Lucius's pale cheeks and he whirled on his heel to the exit in a sweep of pale hair and dark fabric.

Kingsley shared another look with Amelia.

Kingsley was pretty sure Harris Magnolia Black was the man Albus Dumbledore and Neville Longbottom had described, who had given Neville the Belladonna Cure, and who had apparently rode off on the back of the Sphinx from the Final Task.

Making him the hero of the Longbottoms and the Auror's office.

As well as the new primary suspect in the case of the missing Harry Potter.

So Kingsley worried about that last comment, either Mr. Black had a strange sense of humour, or he been threatening Lucius and his wife, or, and as they would be first cousins, Kingsley didn't want to think it to be the most obvious implication, that Mr. Black had been making an overture to Narcissa Malfoy through her husband.

As Harris Magnolia was a Black, there was absolutely no way to be certain.

Perhaps it had been all three options.

Kingsley sighed, At least this afternoon's meeting had become interesting.

oOo

AN: Two chapters, one day? Show your author some love and comment on character and plot, please?

Chapter 3: Muggle Shenanigans

Chapter Text

KEYNOTE: Harry will always think of himself as Harry but for your benefit, I will start writing Harris and Harry. (though I will likely slip up some on this and I do apologize).

P.s. I'm skipping Horcrux hunting, you've read it before, I've written it before, and honestly, I finally found a compelling HP drama that can be held up while still messing around in the realm of the books :D

oOo

Thanks Nauze!

Chapter 3 - Muggle Shenanigans

Harris would classify this summer as one of his worst.

Merlin help him, he had thought his childhood was bad, that that was the worst it could get.

Wrong.

So very wrong he had been.

Harry spent many a day cursing Andromeda into absentia even as he mourned her and his children that he would never see again.

As for what he did practically over the summer?

He attended court, played politics, and did the damage repair for what a neglected House of Black had become.

He wasn't exactly sure what the public made of him. His every vote was progressive, and yet, he had publicly snubbed Albus Dumbledore at every opportunity.

He had also refused to meet with Frank and Alice Longbottom, writing them a note instead that read:

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Longbottom,

I am glad to hear of your recovery. But I am afraid I am not the Potions Master who created the cure, merely the person who passed it along. So, there is not much we could discuss and I am not the one who deserves your gratitude, nor can I tell you who the creator of the Cure is.

I wish you and your son all the happiness in the world.

Sincerely,

Harris Magnolia Black

That hadn't endeared him into making any friends but also hadn't made him any enemies in court.

He was an enigma on the Wizengomat, a strong super of civil rights for muggleborn and non-humans, and yet not a friend of Dumbledores.

At this point in time, politicians were one or the other.

Harry's only real enjoyment that summer was shooting down Dumbledore's every attempt to talk or make introductions.

His public rebuffing of Dumbledore, and the fact that despite voting in the modern way's favour, he never brought forth his own ideas or voiced an opinion. He just listened and voted.

He was a political enigma, belonging to neither side, which of course meant he was claimed by both sides.

Harris also knew, however, he would need the purebloods on his side for what he had planned, even if Voldemort had probably connected the dots on who he was.

However, he was counting on Voldemort's curiosity to get him to play with fire.

So he approached Mr. Friel Nott with the full expectation of being well received.

Mr. Nott's eyes darkened, focusing in interest as Harris approached, "Mr. Nott."

"Mr. Black."

"I had a matter which I wished to get your thoughts on," Harris said, blandly, aware of the eyes on them.

Mr. Nott raised a brow but nodded, "Of course, would you accept a private drink?"

Harry nodded, "It would be my pleasure, shall we take the floo?"

The skin around Nott's eyes tightened but he nodded.

Harris didn't allow anyone to apparate him, not if he had anything to say about it. When they got into the hall of fireplaces, Harry had the exact address of where he was going.

The Nott Estate was likely only standing because of the five house-elves who ran it. The Nott family lacked money, and what income they did have, Friel primarily used on drink.

Even still, Harry was surprised to see Blaise Zabini beside Theo on the sofa before the fire.

Both shot up to their feet, their expressions smoothing into well-practised masks.

Harry brushed the soot off even as Freil went straight for the liquor. It wasn't until he poured himself a glass and took a long draw did he say, "Harris Black, this is my son, Theodore, and his friend, Blaise Zabini. Boys, Mr. Black."

Harry felt his heart ache as he held out his hand first to Theo and then Blaise.

They took his hand, shaking it back firmly, but there was a bit of confusion breaking through their masks.

Children in the Wizarding World weren't given much credit as individuals in their own right.

"It is a pleasure to meet you both," Harry said genuinely.

Teddy had been sorted into Hufflepuff.

But the twins had both been sorted into Slytherin. James had married Theo's daughter, Eliza Nott, and Rose had married Blaise's son, Dharmik Zabini. Over the years, and especially after Ron had been assassinated, Harris, Theo, and Zabini had grown to be, well, not friends exactly, but they had become family, finding that they had much more in common than any of them had believed.

Theo just nodded and Blaise stared at him suspiciously.

Friel came over with a glass for Harris and instructed coldly, "Get lost you two."

Theo nor Blaise needed to be told twice as they nearly sprinted from the room.

Harris would happily murder Friel.

Theo would probably have thanked him.

But Harris also knew that Lucius was Theo's godfather, and that would not help Theo now.

Draco was in enough danger as it was, no reason to put two children directly into Voldemort's path.

Harris pretended to sip his drink after they had both sat down, using a bit of wandless magic hidden at his side to make some of the alcohol disappear.

"What is it you wished to discuss, Black?" Friel asked.

And that's why Harris had decided to go to him, because Friel had the intelligence to understand politics, just not the patience.

He would rather torture things or drink his boredom than participate in society.

"I need a favour," Harris said, jumping straight into it.

"That will cost you," Friel answered, taking another swig.

Harris was careful to keep his expression clear, "Name a price, and I'll have the funds transferred to your account."

As well as a trust fund made for Theo.

Harris didn't know if the younger Harry would have a child that would marry a Nott, but Harris remembered how proud Eliza's father had been, how Theo had nearly ruined his marriage with Daphne because he had been unwilling to ask for help.

Theo was as much family as Sirius was in Harris's mind, and as long as he could keep giving, keep helping and making things better, he would have a reason to live.

Or at least that was what he was telling himself.

"I need to know what it is," Friel said, looking at him now with a bit more interest.

"Nothing illegal, of course, I just need your support in a public matter."

"In court?"

"Yes."

Friel swirled the amber liquid in his glass, before naming a sum.

It was pricey, but not unreasonably so.

Harry held out his hand, "Agreed."

Friel stared at him, but shook on it, he needed the money after all. "Now, what's the motion."

"I want to clear my little brother's name."

"Half-brother."

"He's still blood of my blood."

"Perhaps," Friel mused, "but are you even a pureblood?"

"Given my physical appearance to the Potters, I would imagine so, but I never knew my mother, so I cannot say for certain."

"Who trained you?" Friel asked, doing Voldemort's bidding like, everyone wanted to know who 'Harris Magnolia Black' was.

"Tutors," Harris said. "Orion went great lengths to keep me hidden from view of the Wizarding World."

"Where have you been all these years?"

Harry shrugged, leaning back in his seat, "I married a witch abroad, she's dead now. So I came back to Britain to find what family I could have left to me."

Something sobered on Friel's expression at that, "I lost my wife as well."

"My sympathies."

"Nothing has been the same since she died."

Harris let the silence fill as Friel gazed into the fire.

Finally, the alcoholic said, "Clearing Sirius Black's name will not be easy, he has made enemies and most of his friends are long buried."

"To tell you the truth, I don't much care, nor do I care if he is innocent or not. I will say whatever it takes to free him."

"Why?" Friel asked, "Why go to all that trouble for a man you don't know, brother or no?"

"He is Harry Potter's godfather."

Friel's expression twisted, "Ah, yes, the Boy Who Lived. Rumour had it you had kidnapped him."

Harris shrugged, "That boy is my Heir, I will allow no harm to come to him."

Friel eyed him, "Potter is not your blood."

Harris gestured to himself, that he was literally Harry James Potter was lost Friel, but the resemblance spoke volumes.

Friel snorted, "Alright, I see your point. But no good ever came to those protecting Harry Potter."

Harris leaned forward, "No good ever came from screwing with a Black either. I want Sirius freed."

Friel was quiet for a long moment, "What of your female relatives, the Black Sisters?"

Here, Harris would lie, or at least distort the truth to appeal to the Death Eater's baser urges, "I want nothing to do with Andromeda Black, she betrayed our house in marrying a man without significance. I'm sure you can imagine, my own heritage being in question, I have little sympathy for a mother that would force that upon their own child."

Friel nodded, as if what Harris had said had made perfect sense and wasn't hypocritical at all.

"As for her daughter, Nymphadora, the poor child, I bear no ill will toward her, given she marries a respectable family."

No Death Eater would ever consider Remus Lupin as a respectable match. However, the House of Lupin would not reflect poorly on the child and thus, Tonks' marriage would not have gotten her expelled from her from pureblood circles, well, at least it would have stopped Teddy at any rate.

"Narcissa Malfoy?" Friel probed, "Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"I hold Narcissa in the highest regard," Harry said truthfully, "As for Bellatrix, well, I understand that her crimes are a bit more significant. Freeing her from prison would take more than a trial."

Friel smiled into his glass, "You would be surprised, but at any rate, I agreed to help you and I will. Given you transfer that fee and you're as clever as you think you are."

Harris smiled, as he 'drained' his glass in one swig before standing, "It truly was a pleasure, Mr. Nott."

"You're an intriguing man, Mr. Black, but one I think I could respect."

Harris bowed, before disapparating away.

oOo

Narcissa listened silently to the report Nott gave to the Dark Lord.

She had sent Draco to Lucius's family estate in France, where she had a few cousins who were always happy to have him.

She fought down a scowl when her name was mentioned and Lucius stiffened at her side.

All eyes turned to her, and she glared them all down, including, but not focusing, on the Dark Lord himself, "I say again, I have never met this man."

"He's clearly not for our cause," Macnair said angrily.

"Not so hasty," the Dark Lord said, "Blood is important to him, I can respect that."

"He stood against you," Macnair gasped, outraged.

"He saved his heir," the Dark Lord said, giving Narcissa a look that made her feel distinctly uncomfortable, "it does not mean he cannot be persuaded to see reason."

"Perhaps," Yaxley offered, "if he were to remarry, to have a son of his own, he would cease to care about Sirius and Potter."

"Then why are we speaking of helping him clear Sirius's name?" Lucius asked, "He is a nuisance and a hindrance to our cause."

Narcissa didn't make a motion there, she had loved Sirius once, they had been closer in age and might have been friends once.

Before her Aunt had begun locking Sirius in his room to keep him from 'embarrassing' them all. Before Bella had snapped.

"For every supposed Death Eater freed," the Dark Lord said, "the quicker our people can regain control of the populace. I take it as a point in our favour that Mr. Harris Black has made no declarations against us as his plain disdain of Dumbledore bodes well. The Blacks are a powerful family, and Harris appears much more competent than his brothers ever were. The risk of gaining such an ally is worth letting that runt free."

"He isn't one of us," Lucius protested, "he's obviously related to the Potters, and I can understand why Orion would have hidden him away."

Narcissa disagreed, if anything, Uncle Orion had most likely would have hidden his firstborn from his wife.

She didn't like to think what her Aunt would have done to a child conceived outside of the marital bed.

"What does it matter?" Yaxley said, "He's a Black with all the power that title implies. Widower he may be, but he is at the moment single, we could tie him to us with blood. If his allegiance can be won by strangers, by people he has never met before, we have a simple solution to assuring his alliance."

Lucius shook his head and said, "We do not have any available witches among our number."

Crouch smiled at Narcissa with lascivious eyes, "Widows are easily made."

Narcissa didn't react even as she cursed Lucius, even as Lucius leaned closer to her to warn Crouch Jr. off.

Her husband had brought these mad zealots into her home, endangered her son.

The Dark Lord chuckled, "A fertile witch would be necessary. Nymphadora could be persuaded to our causes, perhaps."

Narcissa really doubted that.

But the Dark Lord went on, "It will be something to think on. I found witches to be less reliable, but exceptions can be made. For now, we will assist Mr. Black in freeing his half-brother, and we will see if what he leads the House of Black."

Narcissa let out a slow deliberate breath and couldn't fully stop herself from thinking, Don't ever play with a Black unless you enjoy being cursed.

oOo

Harris was disappointed as ever to find how woefully defended Hogwarts was at this time.

Flying in through the window on his own wings was a simple matter.

As was finding and destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Easier, as it happened, then sneaking into the Department of Mysteries and destroying that fucking prophecy.

Dumbledore was such a dipshit for not doing the same all those years ago.

Even now, Harry didn't understand what he had been protecting.

With the prophecy destroyed, the chances of Voldemort trying to convert Harry before killing him were high.

Which was good, because it would give Little Harry more time to get away.

Honestly, the only reason Harris or Harry was alive today was because Voldemort loved the sound of his own voice, whether he was a snake, a spectre, or otherwise.

Harris took the time to ward Hogwarts to his own liking, planning it for when he knew Dumbledore and McGonagall would be out of the office.

He even went to Hogsmeade and set up a number of alarm wards.

Harris had devoted much of his post-Hogwarts years learning how to ward. It was kind of fitting he had claimed the name Black; he was certainly paranoid enough to do the name proud.

He was neither happy nor surprised when he appeared at Grimmauld place and found the Order of the Phoenix present a week and a half before the start of the school term.

He entered without knocking, feeling the presence of multiple magic users before he even entered the apartment.

The entirety of the Order of the Phoenix.

Molly was fretting over Harry who looked more annoyed than anything else, while Dumbledore was attempting to lecture Sirius.

"You didn't need to summon everyone," Sirius said, "I merely said you could use the place, not that we needed your-"

"You put Harry in danger," Dumbledore cut him off.

"No, I didn't," Sirius said, enraged, "We've only made outings to France, in the muggle world, under disguises. Harry has been perfectly safe with me."

Albus shook his head, giving Sirius 'disappointed cold shoulder' as he turned on Harry, "My boy, how could you not write to us? You know how worried-"

"I did write," Harry argued, "I wrote to Ron and Hermione, and as far as I'm concerned, they are the only ones who've been really there for me."

"That's not true," Molly said, hurt all over her face. "And what about Remus, he's been-"

She looked at Remus who was wearing a guilty expression and looking healthier and cleaner than Harry had ever seen him. Honestly, it looked as if he had deaged fifteen years, and he also shaved his horrid moustache.

A distinct improvement.

Molly shrieked, "You knew where he's been this whole time!"

Sirius crossed his arms, "Yes, because Remus has been living with us."

"Why didn't you inform me where you have been?" Dumbledore demanded.

"Because," Harris said, stepping out of the shadows, not missing Snape's deepening frown lines, "you would have taken him back to where he was not welcomed. Harry Potter is Heir of House Black, this is his rightful home and place."

Albus Dumbledore turned on him, and with obvious effort kept his voice pleasant, "Mr. Black, I did not expect to find you here."

"Sirius and I own this residence, you are the guest, the outsider here, not I." Harris stepped around Dumbledore, "Sirius, I need to speak with you."

Dumbledore stepped in front of him, "Anything you have to say to say to Sirius can be shared with this-"

"Vigilante anti-terrorist group?" he asked. "I can think of a number of things I could say that would not at all be suited before this group, Dumby."

Molly gasped, "You can't call the Headmaster like that!"

Harris smirked, "Yet here I breathe. Now, if you don't mind, I need to speak with my brother and nephew."

He was halfway across the room, Harry suppressing a smile as he approached when Dumbledore said, "You don't know the powers and plots in which you are interfering. Harry Potter is not a normal child-"

Harris spun on the man, "Enough. You are done with this family. You will stay the hell away from Harry, and so help me if you meddle with his future-"

"How dare you speak to Dumbledore that way, he is a great man!" Molly all but yelled, Hagrid and Snape puffing up as well.

"Why?" Harris challenged, "Because he's powerful? Power does not make one great."

"Well, he's done more than you have ever done, he defeated the Dark Lord Grindelwald."

Harris smirked, "See that might be more impressive if they hadn't been lovers," the entire room going still, Dumbledore's eyes were very wide and Harris had an excellent view of Snape's expression, "If he hadn't been a part of his rise and methodology, to begin with, until," Snape's expression crumpled in confusion as Dumbledore seemed to, between one and the next, curl in on himself before he raised his head in defiance.

"Until," Harris repeated, "You backed out, not wanting to be involved. I would applaud you for cleaning up your own mess, but Voldemort is your fault too. Tom Riddle was your student and you put the responsibility of ending his reign of terror on a child. A child you helped orphan."

Dumbledore shook his head, "You have no idea of what you speak."

"No," Harris said, getting in the taller man's face, his rage at his circumstances finding a convenient target, "It is you who does not understand. Somehow, in all your long years, you still fail to understand that there are consequences to your actions that others must pay. I say again, if you intercede in Harry's life again, I will ruin you."

Dumbledore's expression was defiant as he attempted to loom over Harry, his voice gone low, no longer the cheery old geezer he pretended to be.

The others seemed to shrink back, but Harris, oh Harris had longed for this conversation.

But it's hard to get back at a dead man.

"I kept Harry safe from dangers you couldn't possibly-"

Harris snorted derisively, "Is that your best defence? That one layer of death and blood magic is the best you could do? And just on the property of the house, it wouldn't have protected him on the street, or at his primary school, or even the park. The only reason it held was because no one truly believed anyone from the Order of the Phoenix would use a dark ward that required blood from the dead and the living, of a witch and her muggle sister. Furthermore, no one thought you would actually put the Boy Who Lived with a family that, if they were from another century, would have happily roasted marshmallows over the inflamed screaming bodies of 'Satan Worshippers'."

Dumbledore seemed rather done with this conversation, "Harry's family kept him safe from more than just the Death Eaters, but from the public-"

"Yes, you seem so worried about the public but I suppose since he turned eleven, he's man enough to handle the constant unimpeded harassment and gossip that surrounds him. Last year in particular, you did a bang up job of keeping him safe from the public eye. Not to mention a Tournament that has a brilliant history of getting students killed!"

Colour was rising to Dumbledore's cheeks, but Harris was beginning to have fun.

Fun riding the edge of laughter or destruction. It was good to be angry, it was a luxury he had rarely allowed himself, going so far as to get therapy after the twins were born.

But there was no amount of therapy in the world that could get him through losing everyone he had ever loved into the cosmos.

"There are forces you don't-"

"I understand perfectly well that by making those pests of humanity his so-called family, you cut him off from any type of guardianship or guidance in the magical world. You are lucky after what that boy endured that he didn't break, but year after year, you've managed to put him through trials from your lack of competence to handle terrorist threats against the school."

"No one could have predicted-" Dumbledore attempted.

"No, no could have predicted you would groom a child for slaughter through neglect and needless endangerment! Harry Potter was a child, and now he is a young man with his entire life ahead of him and it was nor should it ever have been his responsibility to destroy a Dark Lord before he is of drinking age!" Harris was finally shouting.

But Dumbledore remained quietly angry, "I don't know what you think you know, but-"

"I know everything!" Harris bellowed, "I know how the Dursleys kept that baby you forced upon them in a spider-infested closet under the stairs. How they starved him and gave him only hand-me-down clothing three sizes too big for him. How they would beat him, gave him chores until his hands blistered and until he nearly passed out from heat exhaustion." Harris looked at Hagrid, who took in an angry gasp of air. Harris gestured, "Hagrid was the first one to ever wish him a happy birthday and give him a present. Meanwhile, Harry had to grow up watching his cousin be spoiled in excess.

"Did you know that they punished Harry any time he got a grade higher than that buffoon, that he was punished forever asking questions in school? Did it never strike you as odd how such a stubborn boy could be so afraid of his professors? How a child so enamoured with magic, so naturally talented, would lack the inclination to pursue his studies?

"And let us be perfectly clear, Albus, you are as guilty as those monsters for keeping him there. Do not pretend to me that he did not ask you to be re-homed or that there was no one willing to take him."

The entire room was silent now, and everyone seemed at a loss as to what to say.

"How do you know all of that?"

Harris turned to Harry who was staring at him in horror and confusion, "If you knew so much about me, why didn't you do anything?"

Harris smiled at him sadly, "Because I only learned of it this summer when I went to go see the Dursleys, to have the muggle paperwork signed over to our house. You are truly a Black now, Mr. Potter, I can promise you that you will never be forced to go back to that place again."

Harry stared at him, and Harris saw his own suspicion reflected back at him.

Never trust adults, they will always fail you in the end, always when you need the most.

A flash of his son's face went through Harris's mind and the thought of James not trusting him damn near broke his heart.

None of Harry's children ever had cause to doubt that were loved.

But before he could say anything more Harry turned his gaze on Dumbledore and asked one simple, little question, "Why?"

Dumbledore seemed to deflate, "I thought I was doing what was best, I never tho-"

"It wasn't your place," Harris snapped.

Hagrid looked very upset even as he spoke up, "It ain't normal for any guar-"

"It wasn't his place," Harris said firmly, he glanced at Minerva, "Do you know, Professor McGonagall?"

She had to swallow before speaking, even still her voice sounded dry as she asked, "Know what, Mr. Black?"

"That as James Potter's godmother, when both Harry's godfather and Alice his godmother, that the Potter's will defaulted Harry's guardianship to you? That it was your responsibility to either take him in or find a loving home for him?"

She stared at him blankly for a moment until his words sank and she turned on Albus, wand raised.

oOo

Harry had never seen Professor McGonagall so furious before, and Harry was kind of honoured it was on his behalf.

Actually, he was just amazed to have any adult actual stand up for him, not just try to protect him, stand up for him.

Nonetheless, he backed up away from the two professors, along with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix as McGonagall actually threw a spell at Dumbledore that he had to whip around to deflect.

It wasn't a real duel but McGonagall was enraged.

"How dare you!?" McGonagall began and then said many other things and curse words that even Harry couldn't make out because her Scottish brogue had grown so thick and he was almost certain there were a few Gaelic swears thrown in.

Harris tapped him on the shoulder and motioned him to follow, Harry followed Harris and Sirius into a little used study.

Harry shut the door, blocking the sound from McGonagall along with Mrs. Black Portrait.

Harry was the first to speak, "Did you hurt the Dursleys?"

Harris shook his head before saying, "No, however, I did use a memory charm on them which was specified to remove all knowledge of the magical world. They will remember you, how they treated you, and Petunia will remember her sister and the wrongs she paid her, but they will not remember that you were a wizard or that your parents were also magical."

Harry stared up at him, "But that's why they hated me."

Harris's smile was bitter as he said, "And one would hope with that factor removed that they will have the self awareness to regret such unjustifiable behaviour and actions."

"I wish you hadn't said all those things in front of all those people."

"All those people, aside from perhaps Hagrid, Minerva, and Remus, value you for all the wrong reasons. And besides that, you have been over isolated, community comes from pain shared. Besides, just with the facts, it doesn't mean they know you."

"I don't want their pity."

"Pity?" Harris repeated with an arched brow, "No, Harry, not pity. Pity was for the loss of your parents you never met, pity was for the dangers you are constantly. That's not what they are feeling now. The old Order of the Phoenix lost many members, James and Lily's involvement with them was the reason for their deaths. As repayment for their friends' sacrifices, they abandoned you, the Potters only son. Guilt is what they feel now and I can only hope that it makes them be more cognizant of their own choices and not give Dumbledore so much blind trust. Having faith in someone is one thing, treating a man like a god is quite another."

"It was my fault my paren-"

"It was not," Sirius snapped, "It most certainly was not your fault Lily and James were killed during the war."

"But they died protecting me," Harry reasoned.

"Harry, I have lost three children, a grandchild, and all of my family I have ever loved," Harris said, "I can promise you that I would have rather died a thousand times over than to see any of my children come to harm. Had your parents survived and you had not, it would have been a cursed life they led."

Harry stared at him, at this man who looked like his father, who was so full of wisdom and pain, yet still, Harris had been the most competent person he had ever met. "I'm sorry for your losses," Harry said earnestly.

Harris rested a warm hand on his shoulder, "Thank you, my friend. Just try to remember that the only people responsible for killing your parents were Voldemort and Pettigrew." Harris met Sirius's graze, "Everything else is immaterial, the choices and mistakes leading up to that date were not the cause of their death. Their death was caused by the people who murdered them."

Sirius looked away, and Harry reached out a hand to snag Sirius's hand.

This had been the best summer of his life, but he had seen the guilt Sirius was drowning in.

Sirius blinked very fast yet squeezed Harry's hand back before he cleared his throat, "I'm sorry too, brother, for your losses. I don't know how anyone could survive that."

Harris smiled and let his hand drop as he reached into his robe's pockets, "I'm surviving only because I still have family, one that needs looking after. Speaking of which," he handed Sirius the documents, "I secured a court hearing for you. The council is treating it as a joke so not many are showing up but I've spent the summer garnering enough support that the vote should go in our favour." Harry handed him a large ostrich-feather quill. "This is a portkey I spelled to take you into an alley a block or so down from this apartment. If something goes wrong, you will not have to return to the Dementors' care."

Harry felt his heart racing, "But I thought we needed Pettigrew?"

"Why would we need him? We aren't proving who committed the crimes against the Potters and the muggles, only that Sirius did not."

"Yeah, but I'm not popular," Sirius pointed out.

"But I am, and more than that, I've been playing coy all summer. People will vote in your favour in an attempt to garner mine."

"But surely Voldemort knows who you are now," Harry said, "Why would the purebloods want to align with you."

"Because unlike Sirius, I haven't spent a lifetime trying to rebel against the House of Black, even as a half-born bastard, I am still more head of this House than Sirius would be even if he held the title."

"But you attacked Voldemort," Harry argued.

Harris smiled, "I stood up against, certainly. But Voldemort was holding back and I did no permanent harm to his followers. The only thing I truly did is protect you but you are my only heir, and such a title in our world… It means a great deal. Assuming Voldemort doesn't attempt to murder you before me again, he will believe that there is a way to gain me as an ally."

"But you are a good person," Harry said.

Harris laughed, "I do hope so, but I am a good man who has publicly set himself at odds with the Great Albus Dumbledore, and therefore I remain convertible. I will represent you Sirius. I would like you to come up with as brief a description as you can for what happened that night, and leave out the Fidelius Charm. I'll take care of the rest."

"But that's why I'm-"

"No, you were imprisoned for killing the muggles, which you did not do, there is no proof of it."

"But the Fidelius-"

"Will mean more coming from me accusing Pettigrew than you," Harry assured. "For one, there isn't a curse that would just leave a thumb and nothing else, furthermore, they destroyed the wand. There are plenty of defences we can use to get you off, most of them truthful, and the rest are political."

"Who trained you in politics?" Sirius asked.

"Your father hired tutors and proceeded to wipe their memory of me after their efforts."

"Did he pay them?"

Harris raised a brow.

Sirius shook his head, "I shouldn't trust you, but you saved Harry's life, and I am grateful to you for standing up to Dumbledore."

"Why didn't you tell Dumbledore about the Fidelius Charm or let him be the secret keeper?" Harris asked.

Sirius was quiet for a long moment before he said, "Lily didn't trust him."

Harris nodded, "Fair enough. Now let's discuss how we are going to get you into the ministry."

"You can use my invisibility cloak," Harry said, pleased not to be cut out for this conversation.

"That won't get us through security," Sirius said sadly.

Harris smiled and laid a large portfolio case, like those used to hold rather large pictures or architecture sketches. When it was opened up, it was just assorted papers and a poster of hippogryph that looked suspiciously like Buckbeak.

Harris tapped his wand on the cross section of the two bands holding the poster in place, the poster changed and the hippogryph flew back in the imagined sky, and a light breeze filled the room.

"I'll bring you through in this and then you'll put the invisibility cloak on in the loo. That and the portkey is about as safe as I can make it for you entering the Ministry. Aside, of course, from my being with you."

"Harry said you held off the Dark Lord."

"I did, though I've managed to lose the element of surprise. He won't underestimate in a duel a second time, though I admit he doesn't know my full potential. It was a brief encounter after all."

"You have my gratitude," Sirius said.

"Nonsense, we are family, this is what we are supposed to do with one another."

Sirius smiled, "Well, I think this will be the first time I can say I'm proud to be a Black."

Harris inclined his head before asking a peculiar question, "Might I have a word with your house-elf?"

Harry didn't know what business Harris had with Kreature, but Harry was left with the strangest feeling for the future.

Real hope.

oOo

Kingsley really didn't know what to think as he watched Sirius slip an invisibility cloak off, standing in a respectable suit, hair pulled back in and beard tidy.

Of course, Kingsley had known what to think after that fiasco at Grimmauld Place. He had never seen anyone challenge Dumbledore like that, nor had he ever seen Minvera fly off the handle like that with anyone.

And strangest of all, Dumbledore had deserved that chewing out.

Kingsley didn't hate the man, but as he watched Sirius give a brief, simple, and clear defence, and Harris defending him like a certified lawyer, he couldn't help thinking how persuasive he was for a man who had never been an active part of their world before.

Harris played two angles.

The first being that Sirius was innocent, which was true, and there was a certain flavour to the truth that remained no matter what anyone said.

The second was all political manoeuvring, citing the offences of the Ministry on the Pureblood families and the scandal of wrongful imprisonment.

In sum, it was surprising for Sirius to have been able to make it to this chamber unspotted, not at all surprising when the vote to clear Sirius of all charges, saying as no physical proof but rumour even existed anymore.

Nor was it surprising when Mr. Harris Black sent around a document of recompense for damages.

Three identical copies that Fudge and Amelia would have to sign and certify.

The money he asked for certainly seemed to pain and enrage Fudge, and the clause prevented any person or creature being able to give a quote about Sirius Black or Harry Potter to the press for defamation of character.

It meant anyone in the Ministry who tried to publish gossip or hateful speech would be fined, as well as the paper, for sending that quite to print.

Kingsley actually admired that clause, and realized belatedly after it had passed his hand, that it would remove every book ever published without Sirius's or Harry's consent that invented a history of Harry's life and theories that surrounded the events of that October night could no longer be sold or printed in any shop in Britain, or at least any book that advertised itself as being a factual history.

Kingsley had to admit how clever a man like that was, and watched in amusement as Fudge signed the magically binding contracts.

He even allowed himself a small smile as Harry Potter ran from the observer stands, along with Remus, to crush a crying Sirius in a hug as he was declared a free man, cleared on all charges, though in the pit of Kingsley's stomach, he worried.

Worried because Harris Black had yet to reveal his true colours.

The man was caring and protective of his own.

But was he truly a better man than his father had been, or would he be like the majority of his family, willing to watch the world burn for any but his own?

oOo

Some things Harris and Hermione learned over the years.

The most beautiful thing was playing muggle magic tricks on wizards.

In this case, Harris had just pulled what might have been one of the greatest heists of his life in the most simplistic way possible.

It was a dark day as he pulled out his own magically sealed and ministry approved document to hand to the Azkaban guard. The wind was cold and the waves felt deafenily loud.

The man read the bottom most clause over ten times, before checking it with his wand, the approval symbol of the Ministry of Magic that was impossible to forge appeared.

Harris smirked as the dumb founded Aurors summoned their patronouses and led Harry up through the prison after handing him back the legally binding government document of reimbursement for wrongful harm done to the House of Black. One that he had gone the extra distance with to get a third copy recognized by and archived with goblins.

Had Harry used any magical ink, had he used any concealment, the parchment would have burst into flame the moment Fudge would have tried to seal it.

But the same was not true for a muggle chemical based ink that took several hours to appear after being exposed to oxygen.

One feat of muggle shenanigans, two freed Blacks.

The uppermost cells in high security were bleak even with the silver light of phantom animals dancing around them.

Prisoners called out to them, screaming for freedom, for a mere reprieve from their suffering.

Or just screaming from their own personal hells they were trapped in.

Most were simply listless.

And Harris was glad that Bellatrix was unconscious by the time they got to her cell.

He pulled the smelling balm he brought with him out of his pocket nonetheless as he knelt by the skeletal woman left to rot in this cold and hopeless place. He held it to her nose for half a minute, the airborne potion ensuring she would stay asleep before he took the keys from the guard and unlocked her restraints.

Pity consumed him despite himself as he saw what had become of her body.

Harris knew she could heal physically from this, she had before, but it was hard to see anyone like this and not be moved to pity. He wrapped her in the invisibility cloak he had kept from the trial before picking her up.

No reason to let the entire prison know who had been removed.

Even with the contract, Harris still worried she would be taken from him if enough people were alerted too soon.

But Harris had every intention of disappearing with his new ward, to see if Andromeda was right or not, to see if her sister could, in fact, be healed.

"Lead the way," Harris said softly to the guards.

The two prison guards exchanged looks but nodded and Harris followed them.

Even if it was Bellatrix Black being freed, other purebloods had been freed before, Sirius included. It showed how corrupt their system was that the guards didn't arrest Harris for even attempting this.

Harris cradled Bella's chilled and bony body to his chest as they made their arduous descent through the prison.

Hard to believe that Sirius had come out of this sane, well, mostly sane, at any rate.

Harris had many doubts about doing this, but he knew that it was either he took responsibility for the woman or Voldemort was going to get to her first in his prison break.

Despite Harris's knowledge of the future, short of assassinating the Death Eaters in their cells, he could think of no way to stop Voldemort from freeing them.

Dumbledore had been warning the ministry for decades that the Dementors could not be trusted.

Harris might have the political pull to get Sirius free, but he didn't have the presence in their society to change that big of a thing.

Their government's stupidity wasn't even something Hermione had been able to fix.

So instead, Harris committed himself to Andromeda's dying wish.

He just wished that the morality of the thing she had asked him to do had been a bit more clear to his own broken heart.

oOo

AN: I feel loved! Thank you to all the reviewers, the length of this chapter was for you! I would appreciate any plot or character wishes or feedback :D

Chapter 4: Challenges to the Galaxy

Chapter Text

Dyslexia: Language disability. I have a beta and proofread, yet things still fall through the cracks because we are imperfect beings.

I can take a critique but I don't have endless patience for bullshit for a hobby ;)

Chapter 4 - Challenges to the Galaxy

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harris hadn't left the Hogwarts grounds. He had stayed with Madame Pomfrey and helped her in what ways he could for the people and children who could not be moved to St. Mungo's.

Running for your life was scary.

Losing your loved ones was breaking.

Fighting took away everything you were and remade who you had been.

But nothing compared to picking up the pieces afterwards.

Those days, those weeks after the final battle. The helplessness, the brokenness.

The smells and morbid facts of the human body.

Hermione and Ron hadn't stayed; in fact, aside from Luna, none of his friends had stayed with him.

Harry hadn't blamed them, especially not when the pain and horror and rage from the parents, from the victims, was directed directly at him. No matter how illogical those despair filled words had been, they had scarred him deeper than he had ever admitted to anyone.

It's your fault he targeted the school.

Why couldn't you have defeated him sooner!?

This is your fault!

You did this!

Get away from my daughter, you freak!

Luna alone had seen this, had been at his side, and sometimes, he thought it had poisoned him against her.

Luna had always been able to see through him, and after those weeks…

It had been so raw, he had been so raw.

Of course, she had always been there for him, his best friend in the end, more so than perhaps Ron or Hermione had ever been.

Luna had been the first to tell him to slow down with Gin, that they weren't the fairest match for each other because they didn't know each other well enough.

But Harris had rushed into marriage with Gin, had been so ready to put the old chapter of his life behind, to start living, to start a family.

But of course, Luna had been right. And though they had remained, Harris knew he had passed up on something that might have been truly beautiful with Luna Lovegood.

Harris, though, had always believed that Luna needed someone better, better than him.

It was the same self-sabotaging and lack of self-respect that had caused most of the woes of his later life.

That led him to this moment now with Bellatrix Goddess-damned Lestrange completely dependent on his care. A situation that was dredging up those long suppressed memories of his time as Madame Pomfrey's assistant.

She had told him that he would have made a good healer.

Harris knew his soul would have died if he had been forced to see an endless stream of suffering, even if he could help them.

Harris took in a steadying breath as he put the tip of his wand to Bella's forearm.

Harris had regained the Elder Wand after one of his students had broken his Holly wand, and had decided to destroy it then, his current wand he gotten from a young wand maker.

Exhaling sharply, he focused his mind at the task at hand.

He had done this thrice before, once for Draco at Narcissa's behest, once for Theo, and once for Blaise.

Both Theo and Blaise had been forced to take the Death Eater marks by Friel Nott mere days before the Battle of Hogwarts.

Harris had never asked them the specifics, merely explained how much the countercurse would hurt.

Worse than the Cruciatus Curse, he had been told, only localized in the arm.

Harris had done his best to assure Bella was comfortable, in a warm bath with salts, an attempt to ease some of the pain that a decade of sleeping on cold, rugged stones had caused. With so little meat on her body that her white skin was a patchwork of bruises.

Still asleep even after a full three days of freedom, she had hardly stirred. The moments she did wake she would open her eyes, staring into nothing, let out a long sigh, and snuggle back into bed.

Harris didn't blame her, and if he was honest, cleaning and feeding her himself was easier than dealing with whoever ended up waking up.

He knew Andromeda's potion worked, he just didn't know how much of Bella was insanity or conditioning. The potion could only fix the physicality of the former.

It couldn't take away all the memories of her abuse nor the reality of her actions.

Harris sighed, berating himself for delaying. He was still debating having used a potion rather than 'borrowing' anaesthesia from a muggle hospital but he wasn't a doctor, and the potion he used was mild because he hadn't wanted to risk the countercurse having extreme side-effects, trapping her in an inescapable nightmare. After all, it hadn't exactly been tested on all that many people.

So, taking in another breath, he held her wrist gently, but firmly as he spoke the counter curse, unweaving the ink from her skin.

Her body twitched, her face, all cheekbones and white skin wrinkled with pain.

This curse took about an hour, and Harris split his focus, luring the curse from her personal aura and flesh to himself.

Bella's body tensed as the pain sunk in, and Harris began speaking to her like he might a skittish hippogryph.

Hermoine considered it incredibly unhealthy when he did this, so far, Harris was the only one to perform this spell without having it rebound.

Harris had refrained from explaining that he still felt a hole in his own aura from where Voldemort's soul had leached into him.

He was still convinced that the damage to his spiritual self had begun in fifth year, and further exploited by Snape. Whatever the man's intentions had been, the end result was leaving him mentally weak.

Harris had been careful to ask Harry about the pain in his scar and of recurring dreams through letters with Hedwig.

Harry had written back that the pain was sometimes severe but no dreams.

Considering Harris had destroyed the prophecy in the beginning of the summer, the latter was not surprising but he still didn't trust Mr. Noseless.

Only, Harris had not the slightest idea of how to get rid of the parasite inside of Harry.

Aside from killing him, which wasn't an option.

He had to travel outside of the country to find books on the topic of soul magic, but so far, he had no leads.

Yet Harris was not without hope, even if he had to offer himself up as a host he would.

As he observed this countercurse, he thought of how he might adapt this or something like this to unbind the parasite from Harry.

Maybe if he got a hold of Nagini, he could do a practice run. Because if he failed with the snake, his intention, in the end, was to kill her.

Bella thrashed in the tub, and Harris spoke with more assertion, "Shhh, Bella, you are safe, it will be over soon, you are safe."

She let out a whimper, pulling back from him slightly. He was careful to keep hold of her arm.

"You're safe, Cissa is here, you're safe," he said over and over again in variation as he led the cursed ink down her forearm.

He brushed aside those remembered horrors as best he could as he drew the poison toward the gaping hole in his soul that beckoned to the Dark Arts like a field of cat grass to a horde of kittens.

When the curse was through, the ebony ink floated above his wand, an undulating snake from the laughing skull.

Harris ignited fire from his wand, a fire that burned white, incinerating even the ash of the ink.

"Memento Mori, bastard," Harris snarled.

Remember all things die, it was a truth he held close to his heart. Even when all the evils in the world seemed overwhelming, he reminded himself that even his enemies would die one day.

It was something he told himself when the nightmares got bad, when Voldemort, Pettiegrew, Crouch, and… Bellatrix damned Lestrange plagued him.

They were dead, he had told himself, dead and gone despite everything Voldemort had done to prevent it.

But Andromeda Tonks had unravelled the universe, had brought the dead back to life, or rather, altered their destinies.

He had known when he saw himself, preventing Cedric from grabbing the cup, that this wasn't the type of time travel that governed the time turners.

Because he didn't remember these changes and Harry had seen him yet this world kept turning, even if his own was little more than memory.

He also knew what he felt when Andromeda had killed herself to enact this curse, this ancient bit of archaic magic that he could spend a lifetime searching for and never find the answer to, he had felt the future unknit, the blackness consuming everything.

There was no future for Harris to return to, there was very likely no way to reverse this, and despite himself, Harris wouldn't be able to let the world unfold as it had if he could stop it.

If you could go back, if you could save Sirius and face Voldemort as an adult, fight the war as you are now, would you?

Harris had never understood, not really, the sentiment of no hate was stronger than where there had once been love.

He hadn't hated his ex-wife, not even after all the shit she'd done to him and the kids, but now?

Harris lifted Bellatrix's limp body out of the tub, still more skeleton than woman, and he felt true loathing.

Not, oddly for the woman in his arms, who was more patient than person, but for the woman, the woman he had given his heart and life to.

He hated Andromeda Tonks, hated what she had done to him, and hated that despite the betrayal, he still mourned her death, the death of the life they had shared together.

Of the years they had to grow old with each other, of watching their grandchildren grow, and perhaps their great grandchildren, now lost to the ethos.

He laid Bella on the bed and waved his wand drying her off and dressing her in a soft cotton nightgown.

He promised himself he would give Bella a chance, that he would shelve his past nightmares of her to give her that chance.

Besides, Voldemort and Andromeda had reserved the seating for his disdain.

Despite the fact that he still loved her, would always love her.

He hoped this world's Andromeda well, hoped Ted and Nymphadora lived long and happy lives, that this Andromeda would be unbroken and happy.

Harris also hoped never to meet her again.

oOo

Harry regretted the summer ending, however, he had never had such high hopes for the school year.

This year was going to be better than all the rest. The first time Sirius showed up in public was to bring Harry to the station. Most people gave them a wide birthe, but Harry didn't care.

Someone was at the platform with him.

Actually, Remus was here too, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, a guard to ensure nothing happened on the platform.

Harry was caught between excitement for the new year and homesickness for Grimmauld Place, which Sirius, Remus, and he had gone to great lengths to redecorate. The place was positively inviting, much to Kreacher's horror.

Although, the old house-elf seemed a lot happier now, ever since Mr. Black had talked to him.

That's what Sirius and he had started calling him, Harry because it felt strange saying a name so similar to his when the man already looked like him, and Sirius because he said his father would have loathed this oldest son taking his place when he had gone to such lengths to hide him.

Harry couldn't imagine what the man's life must have been like, he hadn't even been allowed to attend Hogwarts.

"Get into loads of trouble," Sirius told him as they came to the train.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Do try to study this year, Harry, your OWLs are coming up and the better you do, the more opportunities you will have in your future."

Harry frowned, "I don't even know what I want to do."

Kingsley smiled at him, "You could always become an Auror."

"Or become a Quidditch star!" Sirius enthused.

Remus shook his head, "You don't have to decide now, start small, think of what types of jobs you would like and then what fields cover the most of those jobs. Then you don't have to decide what you want to be."

Sirius's face sobered and he put a hand on his shoulder, "I am the last person who should say anything about waving family legacy around. But remember, Harry, we are quite well off, whatever you want to be, don't consider what salary you could or couldn't make. Pick what you're passionate about, think about what will make you happy. And if you want to change careers in the future, it won't be too late. Don't fear, make dreams."

Harry hugged him, his heart swelling, "I love you, Sirius."

Sirius hugged him back fiercely, "Me too, Harry, me too."

As they parted, a cold voice addressed Sirius, "Cousin."

Sirius turned to the regal Mrs. Malfoy with exaggerated surprise, "Cousin?" He made a show of looking around. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "you're talking to me? Tell me, Cissa, when is the last time you claimed me as kin?"

Harry watched Mrs. Malfoy's eyes flick as if she caught herself from rolling her eyes. "I saw your trial, it's nice to see you claim your own name. It seems I am not the only one considering unlocking the doors."

Sirius's expression twisted, "They voted for me because of Harris, not because anyone wants me in the bloodline. I'm surprised you would be ready to accept a bastard child into the family."

Mrs. Malfoy raised an amused brow, "Our mothers were evil, I do not blame Uncle Orion for hiding a child from that woman's inevitable wrath."

Sirius shuddered but narrowed his eyes, "I've never heard you speak badly about them."

"We haven't spoken since we were children, Siri. We are adults now, and the war is over."

"Is it?" Sirius asked.

She cocked her hip, her blonde hair that was partially unbound spilled over her shoulder, "I am offering you an olive branch, you brat. We need not be enemies."

"And what does dear Lucy think about that?" Sirius challenged.

Harry, Remus, and Kingsley were watching this discussion like a tennis match.

Harry flinched at the arctic expression on Mrs. Malfoy's face, "My husband does not own me."

Harry had the distinct impression that Mr. Malfoy and Mrs. Malfoy hadn't had a good summer.

But he supposed he wouldn't have either if he had had to entertain Voldemort.

Draco joined them then, "Mother, I've-

"Draco, do be good to your cousin this year."

Draco frowned at her in confusion, then looked around and spotted them and all and gaped at Harry, "Mum, you can't be-"

Mrs. Malfoy put an elegant hand on her son's shoulder and Draco swallowed a yelp, his own expression going icy, "Fine, Potter let's go."

Harry didn't move, "We aren't cousins."

Sirius patted Harry on the back, "You're the new Heir of House Black, you'll find many 'cousins' this year. Feel free to snub them, that's what I did."

"Which got him sent to Azkaban without a trial because he was a Black in name only," Mrs. Malfoy said, "I suggest you, Mr. Potter, that if not friends, then by learning to cultivate friendly relations with the other pureblood houses, you will find more doors open to you in the future."

"She's not wrong," Kingsley advised, "You can even be kind to people whose philosophies you don't agree with."

Harry blinked at the tall imposing man who had just told him to be kind to Death Eaters' kids.

Sirius ruffled his hair, "You'll figure it out, kid, just be yourself."

Draco allowed his mother to kiss his cheek, before wishing her farewell before saying again, "Come on, Potter, we need to go."

The train's whistle emphasized his point.

Harry gave first Remus then a final hug to Sirius before following Draco Malfoy, of all people, onto the train.

Harry waved from the hall window as the train set off, Sirius waved to him madly until the train pulled out from sight.

"You done?" Draco asked caustically.

"You aren't really going to be nice to me, are you?" Harry asked.

Draco crossed his arms, "My mother was a Black and she has missed having family, my father and his father didn't have any siblings, I'm not going to ruin this for her. But by all means, walk off in a huff."

Harry cocked his head, "No, I don't think I will. I want to see how long you can keep this up."

Ron was going to have an aneurysm from laughing when he heard this.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Come on, we can find a compartment and then I have to go find the other prefects."

"Oh, you got the badge too then?" Harry asked, not knowing why he didn't feel more bitter about that. He guessed it was hard to be bitter when he felt this happy. Honestly, his life had never been better, and even Malfoy couldn't ruin that. "Congratulations."

Draco gave him a sideways look over his shoulder but said, "Thanks. I'm guessing you did too then."

"Nope, Ron and Hermione."

Draco snorted, "Oh, I'm sure that will work out well. Because Weasley is such a role follower."

"Says the guy who challenged me to a duel in our first year after curfew," Harry retorted, "and then there was that whole dementor thing, and-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, but this year is going to be different."

"Why? Because we're cousins now, or because Voldemort is back?"

Draco spun on him, "Watch what you say," he lowered his voice to a bare whisper, "there was a heavy price to pay for losing the war, don't presume to know what we all went through."

"Likewise," Harry retorted, "And don't think just because I'm Heir to House Black now that I won't do everything I can to stop your Dark Lord."

Something like fear chased through Draco's pale eyes, and he warned, "Just remember what you stand to lose, Potter."

"I remember my mother," Harry said back just as quietly, "I will never forget what I have lost. It's you who doesn't realize that that monster will kill and torture his own just as easily as his foes. He only cares about two things, himself and power."

Draco swallowed and looked like he wanted to hurl insults but the compartment door opened, and Blaise Zabini poked his head out, "In here, numbskulls, if you're going to talk about family business."

Draco let out a sigh, then gestured for Harry to go in ahead of him. Harry hesitated, looking over Blaise's shoulder to see Theodore Nott, Daphne Greengrass, and Tracey Davis. But aside from a few sneers and sniggers, Harry couldn't remember having any specific incidents, and thought, what the hell, Hermione had already said they wouldn't be able to share a compartment for long.

Theodore scootted to the other side, and Daphne said, "Beautiful owl."

Harry smiled as he took his seat, "Thanks, she's the best."

Hedwig preened and gave a happy hoot.

Draco put his luggage up, "Right, see you all around."

There was an awkward silence as Blaise sat on the other side of him.

Theodore asked, "What does the Dark Lord look like now?"

Harry raised his brow, "You believe Dumbledore?"

"His father is a Death Eater," Daphne said coldly.

"Anything you can tell us would be helpful," Tracey said, "Slytherin House was the first to fall under his control."

"Tracey is muggleborn," Blaise explained, "And the press has been useless. Fudge is a moron for not realizing how much he is helping their side by roasting Dumbledore."

"Wait, so you don't support him?"

Theodore glared daggers at Harry who held up his hands, "Just a question."

Theodore growled, "We are Slytherins, we will do whatever it takes to keep ourselves and families alive."

Harry stared at him, weighing him.

Harry had been meant to be sorted into Slytherin, and as much as he didn't like to think the worst of Ron, Ron could be really harsh on Slytherins.

Sirius said that his cousin Andromeda had been sorted into Slytherin and not been half bad.

Harry had made a resolution with himself, that this year would be different.

How different would his life be if the Slytherins didn't outright hate him?

So he asked, "What do you want to know?"

"What the hell happened at the Final Task?" Blaise asked.

"No," Tracey interrupted, "start at the lake. We didn't see anything. Honestly, for all the hype, it was a pretty boring tournament, they should have ended with the dragons."

That made Harry laugh, and he found himself retelling his stories to people who didn't hero-worship him, they were just peers who wanted to hear a good story and about a war brewing that could very well change all of their futures.

Harry had just gotten to the point where Harris rescued him, when Theodore, or Theo as everyone else called him, "What? Wait, you're telling me that random guy in the stands traded spells with Voldemort unscathed?"

Harry nodded, "He blocked the Killing Curse, multiple times." Sharing stories about how epic someone else was in his family made him feel all types proud.

Maybe Mrs. Malfoy and Kingsley were right.

"That's impossible," Daphne said, "There is no spell that can do that."

Harry smiled, "He used transfiguration and lifting spells to pull physical obstacles in the way."

A long silence followed.

Blaise rubbed his eyes, "That's so simple."

"I'm offended that no one had the imagination to come up with that," Daphne declared, "I'm disappointed I didn't come up with it."

"To everyone's credit," Harry said, "it did make a ton of shooting rock debri, but Mr. Black is nifty with defence spells. I've never seen anyone move as fast as him."

A knock came on the door then.

"Don't answer it," Theo said, but Tracey had already leaned over to undo the latch.

A red-haired head poked in and Ron's face lit up as he spotted Harry, then fell into confusion as he saw who else was with him.

His face contorted into rage, "What the bloody hell are you doing here, Harry?"

Harry felt himself flush at Ron's rude behaviour when everyone else had been so civil, if not outright friendly with him.

It made his tone sharp as he replied, "Hi, Ron, nice to see you too."

Ron scowled at him, and nearly spat, "Slytherins? Really?"

Harry glared back, finding he didn't like Ron being a prejudicious butt anymore than he liked it from Draco.

"Yeah," Harry said, "Slytherins, you know, one fourth of the school's population."

"But they are Slytherins ," Ron intoned.

Harry was getting exasperated now, "Do you even hear yourself? You're being rude, Ron."

" I'm being rude?" Ron asked, "When you're the one who ditched your friends to sit with a bunch of snakes!?" He pointed at Theo, "He's a Death Eater."

Theo didn't raise his wand at the prefect, he did however flip Ron the bird.

Ron's face went bright red, and Harry said the first thing that came to his mind before this could escalate, "First off, Theo isn't a Death Eater and we were just talking, Ron. Let it go."

"Let it go!?" Ron blustered, "Slytherins are-"

Harry felt everyone in the compartment, and read death in Blaise's dark eyes, and Harry blurted a long kept secret, "I was almost sorted into Slytherin."

Ron froze, the blood draining from his face, he opened his mouth to say something then closed it.

"Shove off, Weasel," Draco's voice said as he shouldered his way past the redhead and took a seat beside Tracey.

Ron looked lost for a moment, staring at them all awkwardly before his face darkened and he met Harry's gaze and spat, "Traitor."

Then slammed the door shut behind him.

Harry let out a low oath.

Merlin help him, he had just wanted to make a good start to the year.

Which had just backfired spectacularly.

"Why weren't you sorted into Slytherin?" Tracey asked.

Draco did a double take, "Wait, what? What did I miss?"

Harry jabbed a thumb at the blonde boy, "Cause of him. I told the Hat I didn't want to be sorted into the same house as that git."

Blaise laughed and Daphne nodded sagely, "Fair enough."

Draco grumbled, "This is why I'm not friends with you lot."

"Right back at you, fuzzhead," Theo said with a smirk.

"Why did the Hat want to put you in Slytherin?" Tracy asked.

"It said I could be great and Slytherin would help me on the way to greatness. But I never wanted to be famous," Harry said.

Draco made a derisive sound, "Yeah, right, I totally believe that."

Harry shrugged, "Malfoy, I don't really care what you believe. But I'm telling you that I never wanted to be famous, I would have been perfectly happy just being a normal student who was good quidditch."

"Right," Draco drawled, "and I'm sure your guardians told you all sorts of outrageous-"

"My guardians told me my parents were drunkards who got themselves killed and nearly me, while driving and drinking." He pointed to the scar, "I thought this was from the wreck that killed them. It wasn't until Hagrid I even knew magic was real."

"What about the accidental magic?" Theo asked.

"They punished me for misbehaving and called me a freak. The very word 'magic' was forbidden in the house."

They all stared at him and Harry wondered why he was telling them this when he had never told this to anyone, not explicitly to even Ron and Hermione.

Maybe because they had never asked.

Ron had assumed he knew him, and only learned to hate the Dursleys because Harry so clearly did and Hermione thought she knew him from all those stupid books published about him.

"Stupid muggles," Theo said finally.

Harry shrugged, "Prejudicious people can be horrid with or without magic."

No one had anything to say about that.

"Anybody want to play wizarding sabacc?" Daphne asked, breaking the silence.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

Blaise chuckled, "Oh, Potter, we have so much to teach you."

oOo

By the time Harry caught up to Hermione, it was in the Great Hall.

He took his seat beside her and Ron was on the literal opposite end of the table.

"Where have you been?" Hermione hissed at him, "And what's wrong with Ron? He hasn't said a word after saying had found you."

Harry sighed then shook his head, "He let his big mouth get away with him, I'll explain later. He's just being melodramatic."

Hermoine gave him a wary look, and Harry wondered whose side she would pick this year.

And then Harry sighed, why did there always have to be sides? Why couldn't they just be kids and enjoy life?

Harry didn't pay much attention to Dumbledore this time around, having a bit more than mixed feelings about the man now.

The Order of the Phoenix still respected the man, even McGonagall, who had wrote Harry a long apology letter that had meant more to him than he could have ever imagined.

To have an adult he knew and respected acknowledge that his life with the Dursleys wasn't okay was like punching a hole in the resentments he had been building up over the years. Everyone else's reactions had just added fuel to the fire because they hadn't done anything to free him.

But knowing that if he had gone to McGonagall instead of Dumbledore things would have been different.

Slowly but surely, Harry had a growing list of adults he could go to if things got bad again. People he was beginning to believe he could trust.

It was like a thousand worries and fears had been lifted from his shoulder.

The new DADA professor, a toad-like lady dressed in pink, interrupted Dumbledore.

Harry very quickly tuned out the obviously rehearsed speech.

He let his eyes wander the hall, Ron was deliberately not looking at him, the Weasley twins had their heads pressed together in conspiratorial mischief, and Ginny was staring at him, quickly whipping her gaze away when he spotted her.

Harry looked beyond to the Slytherin table, who, aside from the younger students, were all frowning or scowling at the new DADA.

Harry supposed he should be paying attention if they all looked that concerned, but figured Hermione would repeat the damn thing back to him verbatim during the meal and later that night.

Instead, his attention snagged on Cho Chang who smiled at him.

He smiled back, but his attention was diverted by a girl with white blonde hair making a string of bottle caps float between her hands.

She wasn't holding her wand.

Wandless magic?

The girl with big blue luminous eyes that were captivating even across the space between him.

She waved to him, the bottle caps orbiting her hand like a ring of Saturn or Neptune, and he gave a small wave back along with a true smile.

He wondered if he could get her to teach him how to do that.

The speech ended, apparently, for a few people clapped. Harry didn't bother, and Hermione tugged on his sleeve as Dumbledore announced dinner was served.

Hermione asked, "Harry, did you hear what that woman said?"

He turned to her, "No? I figured you would relate anything of interest."

She gave him an exacerbated sigh, "Really, Harry?"

He shrugged, "Come on, Hermione, how bad could it be? I really doubt Dumbledore would let a second Death Eater teach in consecutive years."

She sighed, "When will you learn to never ask questions like that?"

He smiled, "I don't know, call it positive thinking. Really, what's the worse that could happen?"

But Harry looked up at the head table and some warning bell blared in his head as Dolores Umbridge focused the full weight of her beady eyes on him.

He suddenly regretted his word choices, feeling as if it was a challenge to the galaxy.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, feedback, or orcas, please?

Chapter 5: A New Life

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 - A New Life

Harry was successfully holding his tongue.

His history with DA professors, Lupin included, was just too bad, he wanted to go on unnoticed and maybe he could just draw through the whole day or do homework for other classes or something.

From the book and Umbridge's little speech, he already knew that he knew more than this class had to teach him.

Especially as he had spent the summer with Sirius and Remus, both of whom had agreed that him learning all he could about defensive magic was vital.

Sirius and Remus were also helping him through transfiguration theory and Charm work. He had certainly corresponded a lot more Hermione over the summer. She had made him give her full notes, which had the added benefit of building and cementing his own theoretical knowledge.

He was really disappointed that they weren't getting a real Defence class. At least Crouch Jr. had actually taught them some things.

The new Care of Magical Creatures professor, however, should be good, seeing as he had literally written the book. Hagrid was taking the year off to negotiate with giants and do some other work for the Order.

Apparently, Professor Scamander would be an official graduate as he had been expelled as a kid. Which Harry thought to be a bit unfair, seeing as Hagrid hadn't been allowed to do the same. But then, the man was older and had fought in the war against Grindelwald.

According to the history he had learned over the summer from Remus while Sirius gave graphic and imagined details, Grindelwald had been a smarter and less inhuman (as in not obsessed with personal immortality) version of Voldemort.

He wondered for the first time as if he would learn more being homeschooled by them instead of here at Hogwarts.

He knew he would have learned more Defense than from this hag.

Hermione was lecturing the professor about the necessity of practical magic to pass their OWLs, something Dean supported.

'Well, it's like Hermione said, isn't it?' said Dean. 'If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk free.'

'I repeat,' said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at Dean, 'do you expect to be attacked during my classes?'

Harry couldn't help it, he burst out laughing, he couldn't help it.

Umbridge turned her beady eyes on him, and asked in a threateningly sweet voice, "And what do you think is funny about that, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shook his head, "Oh, I don't know, maybe because our last DA professor used the Imperius Curse on us and he later turned out to be an actual Death Eater and escaped convict from Azkaban. Also, our first DA professor had Voldemort stuck on the back of his head like a freakish parasite. So yeah, at this point, if I might be so bold, this class is where I expect we are most likely to be in danger."

Umbridge stared at him and he thought her eyes might pop out of her head from rage, "But there will be no magic used in this classroom and He Who Must Not Be Named is dead."

"Not so much," Harry said, "Because as cute as it is that everyone thinks its the baby who done it, I am here to tell you that my mother's spell work wasn't enough."

"Wait," Draco called, "You remember? What happened that night?"

He had the entire class's attention now, "I remember enough. My mother must have warded me somehow, because the Killing Curse didn't take and it rebounded at Voldemort. It didn't take well to him either, I guess. He was just hurt enough to disappear for a while."

"So now he's healed," Bulstrode said, as if a long unexplained question was finally answered.

"Enough!" Umbridge yelled, "He is not back, and you are liar, Mr. Potter!"

Once upon a time, Harry would have exploded, but he could see everyone else's faces and mattered more to him that they believed him rather than the DA Professor who worked for the ministry.

Even the Slytherins seemed convinced.

So Harry just raised a brow and flipped open his book.

Some muffled laughter went up around the room.

Sirius had been right, sometimes the greatest victories weren't having the last word but in not being disproved in front of his peers.

Sirius had been kind of insulted that Harry hadn't been one of the cool kids like he and his father had been.

And as he tapped his wand under the desk to replace the DA book with his transfiguration book about animagi, he let himself be pleased.

Harry didn't need to be popular but it was nice to feel confident when he spoke up rather than angry.

Self-confidence and bravery, he was learning, weren't unrelated but nor were they the same thing.

oOo

On their way done to Potions class, Harry spotted the blonde girl who had been using wandless magic unnoticed at the Ravenclaw table. He caught her gaze through the milling students, and Merlin, she had beautiful eyes, and he waved to her.

Pulled away in the crowd, she hopped waving to wave back to him.

Harry was smiling as he turned back to Hermione, Ron was on her other side, still not talking to him because of the incident on the train.

Hermione frowned at him, "Why are you waving at her?"

Harry shrugged, "Do you know who she is?"

"That's Loony Lovegood."

Harry frowned at her, "That's rude."

Hermione shook her head, her cheeks a bit flushed but she said, "Luna Lovegood, but everyone calls her Loony because she's one of the strangest people in the school."

"That doesn't make it right."

"I didn't say it to her face," she defended.

"Well," he said, thinking that anyone who could do wandless magic had to have some talents, "I think she's cool."

She snorted, "Right, and you're Mr. Popular."

"Said Ms. Popular, must be Gospel," Blaise Zabini said as he and Theo Nott passed them.

Harry bit back a laugh and Hermione glared at him.

By the time they found their seats, Hermione wasn't talking to him any more than Ron was.

He was beginning to worry that maybe the reason they had all been such close friends was because he always played peacemaker.

Sirius's words came back to him, Being a peacemaker is overrated, you don't want to wind up like Remus here, do you? Real friends want to know what you think and don't want you to be afraid to challenge them.

Remus had sighed, I want to say he's wrong, because sometimes you need a peacemaker, but had I been more honest with Sirius and James, there would never have been any mistrust or misunderstandings between us. It didn't make them any less my friends, or I theirs, but I would have been happier if I had spoken up more.

Sirius had snorted then, Yeah, and maybe James and I wouldn't have been such bullies. I am not blaming you, Moony, I'm just saying we cared enough about what you thought to maybe have made better choices.

Harry sighed as he took his seat, watching as Snape walked in like a bat with legs, "Granger, Longbottom, you are partners for the year. I'll fail you both if anything explodes this year."

Hermione's expression was worried and annoyed while Neville looked desperately relieved.

"Potter, pick a partner who isn't Weasley."

Harry looked around the room as Ron claimed the spot next to Seamus.

Meaning he was the odd man out on the Gryffindor side.

Typically, it was Parvati who partnered with Daphne, but Greengrass was sitting with Blaise.

Theo rolled his eyes at Harry and moved his bag off the seat beside him.

It was an awkward walk as Harry crossed the invisible divide between their Houses, and of course, Theo was seated near the back wall, so Harry wouldn't even be able to listen to the whispered discussions on the Gryffindor side.

This was different than on the train, this truly felt like he was in foreign territory, in Snape's class of all places.

But as they set into the day's potion, there was something relaxing about not having Snape exuding intimidation and snide comments. Against the wall, Snape didn't even bother to walk behind them, just glanced over at them every now and then.

"I could get used to this," Harry said as Snape overlooked them again.

Theo smirked, "Perhaps you would have done better in Slytherin."

Snape shot them a glare as if he had heard that, Blaise from the table near them, said, "Or maybe not."

oOo

She was warm, surrounded by warmth. Her body was heavy but she felt…

She pulled the thick blanket in tighter around herself as she pressed into the softest thing she could ever remember.

She had fantasies about beds like this, but nothing compared to its reality.

The ever-present cold in her veins had abated and she…

Bella moaned into this pillow, this was paradise.

She curled in on herself and waited for the dream to break.

She couldn't remember the last good dream she had but she knew it couldn't last.

Nothing good ever did.

But as time passed, the warmth stayed, as did the blankets and the bed and the scent of sheets laundered with lavender based soap.

It was peaceful.

She didn't trust it.

But she realized that even if her sanity had slipped in its entirety, that even if she was no longer fit to serve her Lord, she wanted this feeling.

She wanted this to be real more than she had ever wished for anything.

Bella stretched her legs, and then her arms under the pillows, the coolness there feeling beautiful against her warmed skin.

Cautiously, she opened her eyes.

She blinked at the light.

But her eyes adjusted and she stared at what she saw, the wide window with white curtains, the room was painted in the palest blue with a white dream.

Cold and clean, and unlike any place she had ever lived in.

There was something comforting in that, no hint of nightmares, no dark shadows.

The exact opposite of her cell.

But the window.

She remembered that window, it brought back memories of the one gift her father and uncle had ever given her.

Her little slice of the world that belonged to her and Cissa and no one else.

Slowly shifted to the edge of the bed, expecting the window to dissolve.

But it didn't, it stayed real and tangible.

However, when she got to the edge of the bed, she froze as she saw someone sitting in a chair.

He was reading a book, a tray of tea on the side table.

She didn't think he was real until he turned the page of the volume he rested on a propped leg.

Bella stared at him for a long time but he never looked up at her.

It took her a long, long time to pull up the name of this man.

"James…" she managed, brokenly, "Pot.. ter?"

He looked up at her, his sapphire blue eyes were…

She couldn't describe that look.

"Harris Black," he said, "Head of House Black."

Bella knew there were implications in that. That she didn't remember this person, that she should know, that she knew all of her family yet not him.

But she was more concerned with this dream not breaking. So she said nothing more as she hesitantly got to her feet, finding she was dressed in pyjamas.

Pants and a simple button-down top, her favourite because it was the most comfortable thing she owned, but not what a man would have dressed her in.

Another proof that she was dreaming.

He didn't move.

She hesitated, but when Harris Black went back to reading his book, she went to the bathroom.

Her bathroom.

When the door shut behind her, she felt as she first did when she moved to this apartment.

Freedom.

Independence.

Even with a man out in the bedroom, he wasn't her husband, or her aunt or mother.

This was her place.

She was beginning to believe she was dead.

And as she went to the shower, she thought she might be okay with that if this was indeed the other side.

She took her time.

Her hair was longer than she remembered, but the magical brush that dried her hair as she brushed ran through it cleanly.

Redressed in her pyjamas, but when she reentered the bedroom, Harris, his book, and his tea were gone.

She followed her nose to the main space.

The table set another wide window that overlooked Diagon Alley. She looked down at the street before the food.

Sometimes there were days she thought she would die in prison and never see her world again, but there they were, her people, alive and real and…

A glass was set down near her hand and she jumped.

It was brown and foamy, and only then did she see the plate of white, steaming rice.

She looked at Harris, who had sat back down across for her. He picked up his own drink, equally brown and foamy.

She picked hers up in both hands, bringing it to her lips and-

She was definitely dead because this was heaven.

A chocolate smoothie made with such a light yogurt that it didn't make her stomach upset, as it was accustomed only to tasteless meals.

She drank it all, and then she ate until she couldn't eat anymore.

Bella said nothing.

Harris said nothing.

And that's how her days passed in the beautiful death.

The world was quiet, her mind was quiet, and she feared only that this life would end.

Sometimes she watched Harris.

As he cooked, as he cleaned, as he read books.

He slept on the couch.

He was a quiet man and he was sad.

She was afraid to speak to him, afraid that the sadness was born from the price of being here.

Bella let the days and nights go. She sat by the window, sat in the silence, the peace, and let the world pass her by.

The only thing that changed was the food.

It got better, more complex, and after every meal, there was always chocolate.

As an afterlife went, this wasn't so bad.

oOo

Kingsley was just coming out of meeting with Amelia, they switched topics from the upcoming case to the Wizengamot.

"Still, for someone who was so involved over the summer, it's strange that he hasn't made a single appearance. Not even a note as to why," he was saying.

She nodded, "I almost worry that something happened to him."

"But it was certified by Bones and Fudge, there was nothing we could do," one auror said.

"But why!?" one of the other aurors exclaimed, causing Amelia and Kingsley come to an abrupt stop as Junior Auror Nymphadora Tonks stood her hands shaking. "She can't be out in the public! She's- She's- a monster!"

Kingsley crossed his arms, "Who is a monster?"

Tonks spun round and she glared at him, not stepping down at all as she turned that fury toward Amelia, "How could you!? How dare you? What right did you hav-"

Amelia held up a hand, "What are you accusing me of?"

Tonks' hair went to the deepest scarlet, her eyes near black, as she ground out, "You cleared Bellatrix Lestrange and let her walk free."

Kingsley felt the blood drain from his face.

Amelia's face went completely blank, "Lestrange is in Azkaban."

"Not anymore!" Tonks yelled.

"Under whose authority?" Amelia demanded.

"Yours!"

Amelia turned on the aurors, "Who was on duty? Who came to take her?"

Two men stepped forward, not their brightest, but Kingsley never would have thought- "The papers cleared it. I even double-checked with our copies on file. You and Fudge sealed it."

The group went to double check, and sure enough, there it was, in fine print, the last clause, in bold easy to read lettering.

There was no possible way to have magicked it in court unless someone had invented a new spell, but even then, no magical tempering was found.

Amelia had both hands on the table as she leaned over the paperwork.

"Where is Harris Black now?"

No one had an answer.

No one had seen or heard of him since the day after the trial to free Sirius Black.

No one had seen Bellatrix Lestrange either.

Bollocks.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, bunnies, or feedback, pretty please?

Chapter 6: Staking

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 - Anything Is Possible

Kingsley Shacklebolt was not at all pleased to be at Grimmauld Place, not with the news he and his young shadow had to share.

Sirius Black sighed when he saw their faces and before everyone was even seated he asked, "What's wrong now?"

Albus motioned everyone to settle and Tonks was literally biting her cheek to keep from exclaiming the news as he told her not to.

Kingsley sighed, "It has to do with your release, there appears to have been a caveat."

Sirius stiffened, "What did the courts do? I haven't done anything!"

"It's not what has been done, rather it is what has been missed," Kingsley replied.

Sirius glowered at him, "Explain."

"Your cousin," Tonks spat.

Sirius raised a brow, "Which one?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Kingsley said, causing the entire room to still and go deathly quiet.

Sirius's eyes were wide and Severus leaned forward to say in a put upon tone, "Bellatrix Lestrange is in prison and she was convicted in a formal and legal trial."

"But it would appear that Harris Black was being literal in his claim of the Black Family. It appears that not only did he clear Sirius's name but Bellatrix's also."

Sirius gaped, "No… Harris- He's a good bloke. He saved Harry from Voldemort! Why would he side with- with a monster like that? She's nearly as bad the snake-faced bastard!"

"How is this possible?" Albus asked, "Surely a release from prison can be delayed-"

"She has already been taken from the prison," Kingsley said, "and Harris Black managed to slip Bellatrix's full pardon into list of recompenses for Sirius's wrongful imprisonment. I'm afraid that the contract was legally and magically binding, unless, or more likely, until, Bellatrix Black commits another crime she is a free witch. We still can't figure out how he slipped the clause in there, or how we all missed it."

Molly Weasley was breathing fast, "No, surely… she… the Longbottoms have only just recovered."

"We don't know how long this news will stay suppressed-" Kingsley began.

"Hasn't anyone spoken to Harris?" Sirius demanded, "And Bella isn't a Black anymore, she is a Lestrange."

Kingsley shook his head, "The last anyone has seen of Harris Black was at Gringotts then at the prison. Harris filed a claim against Rodaphlous Lestrange that was immediately approved at the banks because Bella's husband has earned himself a life sentence."

"Filed what sort of claim?" Albus asked.

"Harris has divorced Bellatrix from her husband, claimed the Lestrange vaults as recompense all for a claim of slander and wrongful compulsion," Kingsley explained. "Bellatrix Black is, by law, Harris Black's ward and all but untouchable unless she is caught in a future crime."

Moody slammed his fist on the table, "He's given her an alibi, even if she could be retried-"

"What are you talking about?" Hestia Jones asked.

Minerva answered, voice clipped, "In our antiquated laws, witches from the old families are in many respects still viewed as property of their males, whether that be their fathers, husbands, or, as in this case, Head of House. That the Head of House Black went to what is considered a drastic measure of divorce under the charge of endangerment and manipulation into crime, which means that all of Bellatrix's crimes would only fall back on Lestrange. As if a woman has no personal agency. Harris did more than pardon her, he's all but pronounced her an innocent, a victim, in the eyes of the law."

Sirius shook his head, "He can't know what he has done. He can't, he's…"

"An unknown," Severus cut in, "I suppose the only consolation is we know he means Potter no harm and that he can hold off the Dark Lord."

"Bella will mean Harry harm," Sirius growled, "Where is she?"

"No one knows," Kingsley said, "No one has seen either of them since her release. But then she's been in prison long enough that I suspect she needs medical care. It might not be Harris deliberately hiding so much as Bellatrix needing care. Convicts have been known to die after removal from the high security cells."

Many looks were cast Sirius's way but he ignored those looks.

Albus sighed, and glanced at Severus, "Does he know?"

The Potions Master shook his head, "No, he will be furious. Or gratified, he's been wanting to convert Harris Black to his cause."

"That seems a little unlikely, doesn't it?" Arthur remarked, "He saved Harry and Sirius."

"And now, Bellatrix," Sirius sighed, "I would say it's odd that he is so loyal to the House of Black but he wouldn't be the first illegitimate child to try to reclaim his parental birthright."

"But whose side is he on?" Tonks demanded.

"Ours," Sirius answered, "And I mean that personally as in Harry's, Bellatrix's, and my side."

Tonks frowned at him, "But you and Bella aren't on the same side."

Sirius winced, "We are if we remain within the aims within our House."

"And what are those aims?" Tonks asked a bit sullenly.

Sirius shrugged, "Whatever Harris decides they are. He is Head of House. He could decide Narcissa or Andromeda are a part of the fold if he wanted, or he could decide that Andromeda's marriage is illegitimate as her father proclaimed it to be."

Tonks looked utterly horrified, "Harris wouldn't be able to divorce my parents, would he?"

Sirius shook his head, "No, of course not. One, Ted isn't in prison, second they have you, and third, Andromeda may have been cast out of the family but she also formally left. Which means she is purely independent."

"Why would anyone choose to stay a part of the family if they lose their independence?" Tonks asked.

"Money," Kingsley said, "you and your mother will have no claim on the inheritance even if everyone else dies."

"A being of a pureblood house as old as the Blacks, in some cases, you can get away with murder and high crimes against humanity without punishment," Moody growled.

"And that," Sirius said, then sighed, "is worrying, seeing as he knows about Grimmauld Place and the Order of the Phoenix."

"How can we trust him?" Tonks demanded.

"We can't," Moody growled.

"I don't think we should make an enemy out of him," Sirius warned.

"You think freeing Bellatrix Lestrange is justifiable!?" Molly demanded.

"I think Harry owes him a life debt and I owe him my freedom. If he can leash Bella then perhaps-"

Severus snorted, "Bellatrix Lestrange is insane. There is no controlling her."

"She's been out of prison for a few weeks now and no one has died," Sirius observed.

"How can you defend her?" Tonks demanded, "The stories my mother told-"

"I watched Bella break," Sirius said, "I'm not saying that to excuse what she's done but Aunt-" he stopped himself and he shook his head, "And the Lestrange brothers… I wouldn't wish them on anyone, much less a barely seventeen year old girl. Andromeda was smart to have run away, she was supposed to marry the younger Lestrange boy. Keep in mind that Bella was the oldest, the oldest out of all of us and she was female. It doesn't excuse what she did, but I can't exactly say she really ever had a chance at a better life."

Severus nodded, "I agree. She was the Dark Lord's lieutenant because she was intelligent and lethal, but also because she was broken. She never did anything for personal glory."

The other members of the Order were looking at Sirius as if he had just grown a second very ugly head. Sirius had always bad-mouthed his family, always, but ever since Harris Black had arrived, Sirius seemed, well, not kind or positive about his history, but a bit more charitable to those caught in the web of the old families.

Kingsley sighed, "Reports said that's part of what made her dangerous, she had no sense of self-presentation beyond how it served the Dark Lord's causes. If anything, she was more destructive than the You Know Who because she was so often on the frontlines."

Moody growled, "What she did to the Longbottoms can never be forgiven. Until that point, she had only been used as an executioner, but with the Longbottoms she proved she was just as evil and vile as her husband."

There was a long silence, and Molly asked, "Is it still safe to meet here?"

"If she comes here, I will kill her," Moody declared.

"Then Harris will kill you," Kingsley said, "and it will be within his rights to do so if you don't get away fast enough."

"Should I try to contact him?" Sirius asked, "See where he stands."

"Why not?" Tonks goaded, "You're already having tea with Narcissa."

"Having more spies is not against our interests," Albus calmed, "Yes, Sirius, I think that would be best, see if you can get a feel as to where Harris stands."

"It's troubling," Kingsley noted, watching the Headmaster closely, "That he saves Harry, but hates you, Albus, fights Voldemort but saves his lieutenant."

"It's not as weird as you make it sound," Sirius said.

"Do enlighten us, Black," Severus sneered.

"Narcissa hates the Dark Lord, she also is none to pleased with her dearest husband because they are putting her son at risk. If Harris is a traditionalist, I'd imagine he will be the same. Fortunately for us, he has claimed Harry as his Heir is likely always to choose Harry over Voldemort. Yet he doesn't like Dumbledore because of Harry being placed with muggles. Which would incline me to believe he isn't likely to ask Andromeda or Tonks back into the fold if he is disinclined to the muggle world," Sirius explained, looking thoughtful.

Arthur made a derisive sound, "And Bellatrix?"

Sirius shrugged, "I don't know. It will depend on whether she's more loyal to the House of Black or the Dark Lord she swore allegiance to. Harris might not give her the option, she may have to choose stepping in line with him or be ousted from the family. As far as I know my grandfather never made her choose between the two loyalties before."

"Lady Malfoy follows Voldemort," Dumbledore said coolly.

Sirius glared at him, "Narcissa isn't a Death Eater."

Dumbledore lifted a brow, "Will Harris really make her choose between loyalties?"

"If he is actually Orion's son, then no. A Head of House is unlikely to force a witch choice between the larger family and her son, the heir of another house. And if Harris did, Narcissa would simply choose Draco and Harris would lose any influence over her," Sirius said.

"For someone that snubbed his family at every turn-" Severus began.

Sirius glared at him, "I was raised to be Head of House Black, I had these lessons beaten into me, Snivilius. I don't give a flying shit about my dead family because they were mostly evil, but Harris saved Harry."

"So that erases all the-" Severus began.

"Between Harris and Harry," Sirius snarled, "maybe the power accumulated by the House of Black might actually be worth something. I will not wish failure on my own godson. As for the Black Sisters? If our parents hadn't doomed them from the start, their accomplishments would have outweighed Dumbledore's. But because our society is four hundred years behind the times and the word 'pure' has come to mean 'dark' and because they are women, every opportunity was taken from."

Severus glared at him, "And what would have James Potter said to that?"

"James would have agreed with me," Sirius snarled back, "Because I am quoting Euphemia Potter."

"Alright," Albus called, "Sirius will try to reach his brother, Harris, and attempt to access how much danger Bellatrix may prove to be."

"I'll save you the trouble," Moody groused, "Homicidally dangerous."

Kingsley fought not to roll his eyes even though he agreed. However, Kingsley's own family was much like Sirius's, well, in tradition, less so in torturing their own offspring. Of course, Kingsley was the last of his line, so the House of Shacklebolt wasn't exactly a family as such.

"I cannot keep this hidden from the Dark Lord," Severus said, "I can hold back until he summons but…"

Albus nodded, "Wait until he calls you but don't attempt to hide it. Sirius, after this meeting I would like you to reach out to Mrs. Malfoy."

Sirius frowned, "If I tell Narcissa, Voldemort will know."

Arthur looked outraged, "Why would you-"

Albus interrupted, "Because Draco Malfoy is one of my students. Voldemort historically has marked his Death Eaters in the summer before sixth year. If Narcissa comes to trust Sirius or Harris, Draco may have somewhere to go. Whatever Draco's personal views are now, he is minor, if there is a way to provide him a way out than I would like to try."

Moody rumbled, "Even if it means Voldemort becomes aware that his greatest piece is back on the field?"

Minerva sighed, "Rumours like this don't stay secret for long. For Draco's sake, I do believe it best that Sirius earn Narcissa's trust. Sirius is correct in that the Black Sisters were three of the greatest witches to pass through the halls of Hogwarts; it is a pity to see what they became."

"There's nothing wrong with my mum," Tonks snapped.

"Andromeda went into hiding," Sirius said, "I am happy she found some happiness. But Nymphadora Tonks, your mother was not sorted into Slytherin purely because of her cunning, all three sisters were very ambitious, they had dreams of what our world could become."

Tonks scowled, "Yeah, and then Aunta Bella became a terrorist."

Sirius smiled sadly, "Aunty Bellatrix probably would have succeeded in taking over the Wizarding World her husband and the Dark Lord had stepped out of her way."

Kingsley snorted, "If the three of them had been united, the Dark Lord would have been toast. Andromeda Tonks may have left the House of Black, but she didn't fight in the war because was unwilling to side against her sisters."

"My mother isn't a coward," Tonks said through her teeth.

"No," Sirius agreed, "she's jaded."

Kingsley was saddened by the truth of that statement, Andromeda Tonks hadn't given up on her family, she had given up on Wizarding Britain ever becoming a better place. Kingsley wasn't even sure he disagreed with her.

Kingsley was in a melancholy mood as he returned to his office and was greeted by an enraged Amelia who side-along apparated them right out of the Ministry.

They landed in a garage, Kingsley glared at her, "Bones-"

A door slammed open and he turned to find an angry witch pointing a wand at his face.

He sighed internally, blaming Amelia for this.

"What do you people want?" Andromeda Tonks demanded, "I have a front door for a reason."

Amelia didn't waste time with pleasantries, "We are here because of your sister."

Andromeda raised a dark brow, "Did Cissa land herself in prison too?"

"No," Kingsley rumbled, "You're older sister, Bellatrix Black, has received a backdoor pardon and has been released back into the world."

Andromeda paled, her wand lowering, and Kingsley could only imagine how she was feeling.

He didn't see the small smile that curled her lips as she turned away.

oOo

Bella was in paradise, but there was only so long one could be indoors before testing the limits, even if she was being pampered by a handsome, broadening man who cooked like a gourmet chef.

She waited until Harris was busy in the kitchen, his back to the room as the food he cooked sizzled and she tried the door.

It was locked, magically.

She tried a spell, even wandless, a simple unlocking charm was nothing.

But her magic didn't come, she could feel, actually she could feel more magic than she had ever had but she could access it, couldn't command it.

It was a silly thing to admit, but she hadn't really realized what the bracelet on her wrist was, nor had she registered that the one Harris wore was its pair.

Anger, no, rage swelled in her, and she let the emotion consume her so she wouldn't have to think of the last time she had worn these bands.

She kicked at the door.

Nothing.

Before the man keeping her hostage could catch onto what she was doing, she picked up one of the dining room chairs and ran at the large windows, stopping at the last possible moment before chucking the chair into the window pane. Only for her to half to jump back as it bounced off.

She heard the click of the stove being turned off and Harris Black called, "Bella?"

Bellatrix didn't stop, as picked back up the chair and ran to the bedroom.

Trapped, trapped, trapped- over and over again, screaming in her blood.

She wasn't dead, this wasn't heaven, she was being lulled into a false sense of safety for some unknown reason. For a reason she couldn't let herself imagine.

With mounting panic, she lifted the chair high over her head and attempted to break the bedroom window, she began screaming down to the people in Diagon Alley, but the chair broke before the window did and no one heard her.

"Bella," a firm voice called.

Bella spun on the bastard who had taken her magic from her. Picking up a chair leg, she ran at him, intent on using the scrap of wood as a large stake.

Once he was dead she could take the bracelets off.

Harris caught her wrist and pulled the stake out of her hand tossing it away as she tackled him to the ground.

She clawed at his face, she got one good swipe in until he rolled on top of her. He didn't yell at her, nor did he try to hurt her back.

His mistake.

She twisted until she got the right angle and brought her knee up sharply.

He grunted, his hold loosening and she wriggled out from underneath him and made a break for the kitchen, there were knives in the kitchen, there had to be even though she knew he stored them with magic. There would still be a hot pan on the stove.

She didn't make it past the dining area when Harris tackled her back to the ground. He pinned her this time, her front on the carpet, his full weight pressing down on her, his hands pinning her wrists.

She screamed, she roared, she called him every obscenity she could think of, she snarled the vilest spells she knew, and when all else failed, she screamed as loud as she could.

It wasn't as satisfying as clawing his eyes out, but with nothing else to do, she might as well give him a headache.

But Harris Black never lashed out at her, he said nothing, did nothing except for hold her in place as the pain in her throat and the fear in her veins told her that she was indeed, very much alive.

Alive and being held hostage with a complete stranger who had taken away her magic.

Eventually, the fear faded, the adrenaline crash hitting her like a bath of tar, and she went limp, her breath shallow and harsh, her eyelids heavy. If it wasn't for the weight and heat of the man above her, she would be shaking.

"Bella?" he finally spoke.

She didn't answer him, couldn't have if she wanted to, she had given everything she had to escape, to fight him, and now she had nothing.

Causouisilly, Harris let go of her, when she didn't move, he got off her. She didn't move aside from the tremors that raised up her spine.

She fought back tears, confusion and the unknown causing havoc in her mind as she tried to reason out how she had gotten here while deliberately not thinking of why she was here.

She didn't notice that Harris had walked away until the weight of a blanket was draped over her back.

It was several minutes later that she worked up the strength to curl the blanket around her.

Bella wasn't sure how long she stayed like that, huddled on the floor, defeated. But when Harris reappeared in her line of sight, it was to lay down a plate of lemon rice and a cantine of water on the floor. He sat with his own plate, back to one of the chair legs as he began to eat.

It took more energy than was pretty to sit up and drag the plate into her lap.

She didn't like Harris just then, but she did like his cooking.

Harris reached across the space between them to offer her a spoon.

She snarled soundlessly at him.

He smirked, stretching the angry red lines on his face from where she had scratched him, but he didn't take back the spoon.

She snatched it out of his hand, and with nothing else to do or that she could think of to say, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Harris threw his head back and laughed.

Bella was stunned, her eyes going wide, not just at the purity of the sound but at the realization, he wasn't mad at her.

Everyone always got mad at her, the only ones who still loved her were the dementors who enjoyed eating her. But she shied away from such thoughts.

Bella took a sip of water from the cantine that she realized Harris had mixed with lemon, mint, and honey, cooling and easing the pain in her throat.

"Why?" she managed to ask.

He didn't ask her to elaborate, "You're family, and you have some healing to do before you can go out into the city. We can go outside for a picnic tomorrow though, I know a place, the weather should be nice."

It was the most he had ever said to her and it completely boggled her mind that he wasn't threatening her right now. She had not the slightest idea what to make of this man who seemed completely unruffled by her attempt to stake him.

oOo

AN: Please be a patron by reviewing? Please?

Chapter 7 Chapter Text

KEYnotes: The Blacks aren't just purebloods, they are a dark family. Also, I am making Voldemort more powerful than he was in the books, i.e. he can do more the unforgivables.

Harris/Bellatrix: Currently Bella is basically a minor and I have plotted this in a way where it will not be a codependent/stockholm syndrome before they get together. So basically, don't expect anything steamy between them until midway through the second act.

oOo

Thank you, Nauze!

Chapter 7 - Misinformed Assumptions

Narcissa nearly spat her tea.

Sirius, the dog, smiled at her innocently.

Lifting a napkin to her lips, she swallowed and recomposed herself before asking, "Say again, dear cousin."

Sirius grinned, "Going to choke on your venom, Cissa Darling?"

She scowled at him, "You timed that."

He smirked, "Of course I did."

If she wasn't in a public teashop, one of her favourites tucked in on Baker's Street with the most divine tea and pastries, she would have hexed him into the next century.

"My eldest sister is nothing to jest about, Siri," she hissed, "Harris Black is nothing but a bastard child he isn't a legitimate heir."

"Oh please," Sirius snorted, "He's a Black through and through with enough power to stand up to your husbands Master. He's more Head of House Black than Luci is Head of House Malfoy. Tell me, Cissa, how is your son's inheritance doing now that the Dark Lord is using you as his cash cow."

She sniffed at him, but admitted, "All of my dowry and ever gallon Lucius set aside rests in my father's vault."

Sirius smirked, "Black money, then. You realize if he takes that he'll be beholden to the Head of House Black and the House of Malfoy will be a token title only. The Malfoys don't even have a seat on the Wizengamot."

"Just because I am a woman," Narcissa said with all dignity she could and not let the spite of her heart leak through, "I don't see why my titles aren't as important as my husbands."

Sirius smiled, and that, for all the mockery he made of their family and drama and chaos he swept around him, she had always loved her cousin.

Sirius Black never thought a witch was less than a wizard, not in any way. As she had been raised to believe he would one day be their Head of House, she had always been grateful.

Had she ever needed her marriage absolved, not that she would ever lightly deal with that public scandal, Sirius would have done so without question.

Well, maybe one; A quick burial or a slow death for ex-husband?

"Our fathers really weren't all that bad, were they?" Sirius mused.

She sighed, thinking of their mothers and then setting it aside. She had never been able to count on her father to save her, no more than Sirius had been able to count on Uncle Orion to save him from his gem of a mother, however; "They had their moments. Now, are you going to explain to me what exactly the Bastard Heir did to my sister?"

Sirius tutted at her, "Wait until you meet him. But he charms you right out of your heals."

She wrinkled her nose, "I heard of the comment he made to Lucius-"

"When he relieved him from being a seat warmer?" Sirius cut her off, "That was amusing."

"Sirius, I am losing my patience."

He smiled at her, batting his eyes as he said, "Your tea is getting cold."

"Sirius," she warned, voice going lower.

"Apparently, when Harris cleared me, on the list of recompense for wrongful imprisonment without a trial, he managed to clear Bellatrix's name as well."

Narcissa let that sink in fully, "She's been free for how long?"

"Since the end of summer. Apparently, he also divorced her from Lestrange. She is a Black once more and Harris's ward. He also swindled the Lestrange vaults as his own. And before you ask, no, no one has seen either of them since then."

She sighed, "She is broken, Siri, no one can fix her."

"I know," he said, all the humour drained from his face, "Her sell was beside mine you know. I heard-" He sighed, "There was a lot of stone between us, but she always stayed pressed against the corner closest to mine."

Narcissa's heart hurt for him. And for Bella?

Bella was the one who needed to be in St. Mungo's, after Andromeda left, there was no hope for her.

"She's going to kill him," Narcissa stated.

"I know," Sirius said again.

"And then the Dark Lord will have her again."

"I know."

"We need to find her first," Narcissa with ice overcoming her words. As long as she got there before the Dark Lord did she could make up some excuse.

"I know."

"We'll need to end this."

End her.

Andromeda hadn't been strong enough to do it and Narcissa hadn't understood she needed to until it was far too late.

Sirius looked down into his own forgotten tea and sighed, "I know."

oOo

Bella blinked up at the sky, the blazing sun and-

Harris ruffled her hair and she squawked as he chastised, "Don't look up into the sun."

She growled, "Don't mess up my hair."

He raised a dark brow at her, "Why not? I'm the one who brushes it. Honestly if you just let me cut it-"

"No!" she almost bellowed.

He laughed as he walked into the field of flowers, she picked up her skirts to follow, calling behind him, "Where are we?"

He glanced back at her, "Italy."

She scowled, unable to appearate she wouldn't be able to get to anyone she knew from here.

When they got to a spot Harris seemed to like he waved his wand and the basket opened up, a blanket unfolding, he could feel the magic he used as if it was her own.

Bella gritted her teeth not liking the reminder of how it had felt with Andr-her all those years ago.

She would have sneered at this actual picnic but she liked Harry's cooking too well to complain about it.

The day was beautiful, the air warm and smelling like heated sweet grass. It was easy to forget her thoughts, her nightmares from the night before. She didn't have any memories like this, she never had days this peaceful or free.

She wasn't dead, but she wasn't ready to hear the reasons for why she had these freedoms now.

When they got to the desert she rolled her eyes at the chocolate cake, "Are you obsessed with chocolate?"

He smiled, "It makes you feel better."

She blinked at him, "Why do you care about how I feel?"

"Because you are family."

She stared at him, then looked away over the fields of flowers and wondered if anyone in her family other than her sisters had ever cared.

The rest of the day passed just as peacefully, though Harris allowed her to use her magic to transform the flowers and reshape the clouds.

Yes, it annoyed her that she needed permission to use her magic. But she had it explained to her many times how damaged her core was.

What was new to her was Harris allowing her to use his wand. Hers had been snapped, she knew, but for a wizard to give up his wand to her?

Sure, the bracelets that bond them together could allow him to stop her from magic against him, but still, to give up his wand…

It meant that in some small way he trusted her, and that brought her happiness, small but true. A normal person might not have recognized the small feeling, but it had been so many years since she could hold her own happiness close and not have the Dementors use it to steal bits of her away…

She didn't take it for granted, compartmentalizing everything else so she could relish this refuge that would surely end someday soon.

When they got back to her apartment, a white owl swooped down from one of the shelves, landing on Harris's shoulder, the joy on his face at the sight of her made her breath catch.

"Bella, this is my friend, Hedwig, the most beautiful and intelligent owl who ever was," he praised the bird.

Hedwig preened at the attention.

Bella carefully held her hand out to pet the owl, those amber eyes watched her closely but Hedwig allowed it, leaning into her touch. The white feathers were impossibly soft.

Harris took the message from the owl's leg before the owl hopped over to Bella's shoulder making her smile.

Harris read the message and said before looking up at her, "It's from your cousin, my brother, Sirius, and your sister, Narcissa, do you want to write to her?"

"You'll let me?"

He smiled sadly, "I am responsible for you, Bella, and you are healing, but you aren't my prisoner, you just need to heal before you can be on your own again."

She didn't tell him that she had never been on her own, instead, she said, "Yes, I would like to write to her."

She was worried that this might break this time of peace, nothing this good could last, but at the same time…

She missed Cissa.

oOo

Severus Snape was summoned in the afternoon the next day in the afternoon. As they waited for the others, Severus approached Lucius.

"Where is your wife?" he asked under his breath.

Lucius glanced at him sharply with a scowl, "With that hound of a cousin of hers."

Severus sighed in relief, "Good."

Lucius's brows shot up, "Why is my wife's absence a positive thing?"

"Because your sister-in-laws release from Azkaban should not fall on her shoulders to tell the Dark Lord."

Lucius's eyes went wide, "What!?"

Several members glanced their way, but all fell silent before asking a question as the Dark Lord came into the dining room and took his seat at the head of the table.

They all took their own seats after him, and the Dark Lord fluffed his own arse and not so subtly threatened everyone in the room.

The Dark Lord's voice lowered, "It appears that someone managed to invade the ministry and destroy every prophecy in the Department of Mysteries." His red gaze focused on Severus and his voice darkened further, "Did the Order have anything to do with it?"

"Not to my knowledge, My Lord," Severus said reverently, bowing his head to break eye contact.

He had a spare thought to wonder if it was Harris Black, the man seemed to be getting in the way of many of the Dark Lord's plans, but he had no proof of this.

"Then what news do you have for us?" the Dark Lord demanded, his temper shorter than normal.

Severus was secretly very, very glad that the prophecy that had ruined his life completely was destroyed, as he was also glad to have other news that wasn't necessarily terrible for the Dark Lord. "Bellatrix Black has been legally binding complete pardoned for her crimes and has been removed from Azkaban."

The entire room went unearthly still and Severus was treated to the rare sight of the Dark Lord looking completely dumbfounded.

"How?" the monster managed after several minutes had passed, the other Death Eaters hardly daring to breathe.

No one but her husband actually liked Bellatrix, she had taken far too much pleasure in carrying out the Dark Lord's punishments at the slightest mistake on their part.

Severus spoke without a shred of emotion, "In the recompensations Sirius Black's wrongful imprisonment, Harris Black managed to slip in a clause that would absolve Bellatrix Black of all her crimes and release her to his care as his ward."

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Friel Nott snarled.

Severus shook his head, "Not anymore. Harris Black as Head of House Black absolved the marriage between them."

"Under what right!?" Friel bit out.

Severus couldn't hold back an ironic twisting of his lips, "Coercion for criminal behaviour, essentially, all of Bellatrix's crimes are on Rodolphious's head."

Lucius exhaled sharply, "She is truly cleared then, a complete alibi."

Severus nodded, "Unless she is caught in a new crime, she is untouchable from the arms of the law."

Which was more than dangerous and more than stupid. Harris Black seemed about as intelligent as Harry Potter.

"Where is she?" the Dark Lord demanded.

Making Severus wonder suddenly why she hadn't been summoned with the rest of them. Harris must be subduing her somehow.

So maybe not a complete fool after all. But there were other implications in this, it was a pretty picture to think the man's motives were purely to rebuild his family and the House of Black, but the other reason might mean another rival Dark Lord.

Not something Severus cared to ponder the fallout from, their world was already so fractured, their government barely functional. The bloody Americans had a more solidified system which was insulting.

"Bellatrix Black nor Harris Black have been seen since his retrieval of her from Azkaban."

The Dark Lord was quiet for a long time, "Is there anything else of note?"

The words were too casual, like he was fishing, it was either another sign of his slipping sanity or something particular about this was upsetting him.

And sure enough, "In the divorce, Bellatrix was given the Lestrange's legacy as recompense, all of their vaults belong to her, or rather, Harris Black."

"No," the Dark Lord snarled with a fury that made Severus flinch.

The hate and fury on the Dark Lord's face was humbling.

The rest of the meeting did not get better from there.

oOo

Voldemort had seldom felt such rage. Such ire. Even the Potters, or Dumbledore had never even cost him this much.

For one, he had, not that long ago, felt one of his Death Eaters die, it had resounded through the bond he left on them. He had been checking closely the papers to see who it had been.

But now to find Bella was gone; he had feared at first she had been the one to die. But now, she was merely out of his reach, some type of old and extremely powerful magic blocking his connection to her.

It was a testament of how much he had underestimated Harris Black and he would not make that mistake a second time. He was too dangerous to keep alive, and too dangerous to assume he hadn't found Hufflepuff's cup and the dark sliver of power held within.

But surely he would have felt it if it had been destroyed.

One Horcrux out of reach was one too many, though it was doubtful whether Harris Black knew what was in possession. But the sudden need to check his other Horcruxes overcame Voldemort.

He started with the Ring, the easiest access to him.

And to his fury, he found it gone. He wasted little time in checking for the Locket, only to find Regulus Black's betrayal had exceeded every bound of expectation.

Voldemort smiled grimly.

If Harris Black was so concerned about his precious family, Voldemort would make an example that the Head of House would never forget.

oOo

Harry's scar burned, he rolled out his bed screaming. Though he had never reached out to the man, the letter he dragged up to owlery, almost falling to his knees and crawling from the pain, he addressed to Harris Black.

Professor McGonagall found him before Harry passed out, apparently, the portraits had seen him struggle to stand upright.

oOo

Harris stared at Harry's letter dumbfounded, horror overcoming him as he realized the implications.

"Bella," he called.

She looked up at him, her face peaceful but exhausted, she was practically falling asleep in her chair.

He came over to her and held a small crystal he pulled from his pocket. He knelt by her chair and placed the crystal in her hand, "I have to go out for a moment, I'll be back in an hour or three. Will you be okay?"

She nodded, "I'm going take a shower then go to bed."

He smiled gently at her, "If you need me, just drop the crystal in water."

She nodded again.

He stepped back, and said, "I'll be home soon."

oOo

Bella stared at where Harris had disapparated from, and closed her eyes to bask again in his magic, in their magic, as the sensation of it danced through her blood.

Many had pitied her for being bound by the bracelets, they had been used to enslave others, but for her, the trade off was worth the extra power singing in her veins. It was proof she wasn't alone in the world, even in her dreams, she was not alone.

She smiled to herself when she realized he had called this place, the safest of places she had ever known in her life, home.

But when she fell asleep that night, the nightmares caught up to her again.

oOo

Harris was pleased that Harry had been thoughtful enough to name a location. And horrified to realize that the very stone angel he had been bound to all those years ago had been sentient, trapped in a slow petrified torment.

Harris arrived in the graveyard far enough away to limit the sound of his apparition. He transformed immediately into his kestrel form. Sometimes he was bitter about the fact that he transformed into the smallest species of falcon in existence, but other times, like now, it was convenient for stealth as he soared quietly into the graveyard.

He heard crying and Harris knew there were traps everywhere, he could feel the heavy weight of them, Voldemort himself was gone.

Harris soared up high then dove toward the crumpled black cloaked figure on the ground, disapparating them as soon as he touched the other man.

He felt the brush of the activated boobytraps but they were gone before it reached them.

Voldemort really didn't understand what he was fucking with.

Arriving in Grimmauld Place, Harris began checking the younger man over, he looked- well, he supposed he looked just as he had done when he was put into the stone.

A type of immortality, no doubt, that Tommy had discovered and discarded as a viable option. In Harry's letter, he described how the man's physical form would go unchanged but his mind? His consciousness? Would never know rest? Never sleep, never rest, an eternity freed of one's physical form yet lacking any agency of self or movement. Regulus Black, had Voldemort not undone the spell, would have died a thousand years only after the stone angel had been reduced to rubble, unable to hold the curse.

Harris was not at all certain that the Belladonna Cure would do anything at all to help the young ex-Death Eater, but Harry had said that Voldemort had used the Cruciatus Curse on him.

Harris didn't like to imagine what having no sensations but visuals for over a decade would feel like suddenly having every sense then being subjected to torture would be like.

It was no wonder the young man was unresponsive. The Belladonna Cure was something that Harris had brewed extra of to be certain if Bella had replaced it or if St. Mungo's was reluctant to brew it for the Longbottoms during his stay in the past. He fed it to Regulus now, tipping back his head and praying that his sanity would survive.

He had turned on the Dark Lord, turned on him for the ill-treatment of a house-elf. So even though Harris didn't know Regulus Black, he knew there was goodness inside of him.

"Sirius!" Harris bellowed, "Kreacher!" The portrait woke up screaming and Kreacher, upon sight of his old Master began panicking.

"He's not dead," Harris snapped at the elf, "Get me any medical supplies you have." The elf popped out without another utterance.

Sirius, followed by Remus, Albus, Minerva, and Severus, came skidding into the room.

"It's your favourite son, shut up, you ill-painted cow!" Harris bellowed at Sirius's mother as his godfather fell to his knees beside him.

"How?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Voldemort experimented on him with a curse of immortality."

"How is that a curse?" Severus sneered, but he too dropped to the floor checking Regulus's fortunately regular heart beat.

"He was imprisoned in stone, aware but unable to move. Only if you envy the life of statues is that not a curse. It is a punishment," Harris snarled, as he found no other signs of injury.

Kreacher popped back in, "Master Black, Kreacher isn't finding aid, but Kreacher prepared a bath and Master Regulus's room."

Albus asked, "Is he otherwise alright?"

Harris paused, "I believe so."

Albus raised his wand, "En-"

"No!" Harris near shouted at him, reaching for Regulus's arm, "Wait, I don't want him awake for this."

"Awake for what?" Sirius exclaimed, his voice shrill with confusion and mounting panic.

Harris tugged down Regulus's sleeve, putting his own wand tip to the Dark Mark.

"What are you doing?" Severus snarled, "You'll bring him-"

But Harris was already hissing the spell, uncaring if this gave them more hints of his real identity.

Regulus's body twitched as Harris hissed the countercurse, in the end, only he had been able to remove the Dark Mark because of his ability to perfume spellwork in Parseltongue.

Harris had practised on Lucius first, the man's screams had been oddly gratifying. But after that, he had drugged Draco and Theodore into an enchanted sleep before doing the same to them.

The black ink separated, leaving behind a red rash on the otherwise unmarked forearm. The black ink writhed in the shape of the Dark Mark, the skull gyrating its jaw as the snake lashed out. With a final flick of his wand it evaporated.

Severus was gaping at him, "How did you-"

"I'm told it hurts worse than receiving the Dark Mark," Harris said, smoothing Regulus's hair back from his face, "I don't know what he'll be like when he wakes but I think he will be physically fine and if he stays here he'll be safe from Voldemort. It seems his body is unchanged from the time the curse was placed on him."

"Why didn't you bring him to St. Mungo's?" Remus asked.

Harris glanced up, "Because I think freeing Bellatrix lost me any sort of credibility among the open minded in our legal system and there simply are not enough of the old families who are neutral parties for me to swing another pardon. I can say with absolute certainty that I shattered any illusion of there being bridges between myself and the Dark Lord."

"He was rather infuriated," Severus said mildly.

Harris smirked, "Nothing like killing bits of a Dark Lord's soul to make him a bit vexed with you." He glanced at Sirius, "You must be more careful from now on. I believe Andromeda will be safe enough if we ignore her but you, Tonks, Narcissa, and Draco, I believe will be in much peril. When you met with Narcissa, did she seem amiable to separating Draco from his father's path? Did you think they could stay here?"

Albus stiffened, "I agree they should be kept safe, but they cannot come here."

"Master?" Kreacher interceded, "May Kreacher care for Master Regulus, Sir?"

Harris nodded, "Yes, thank you, Kreacher."

Kreacher snapped his fingers and Regulus floated out of Harris lap, once he was up the stairs, he, Sirius, and Severus stood.

Sirius shook his head, "She might… but she might insist on dragging Theodore Nott, her godson, along as well."

Harris smiled, "He would be welcome. I detest the idea that he has to live with that monster who calls himself Theo's father. He is not a bad kid."

Sirius looked a little uncertain, the old part of him that hated Slytherins and the old pureblood families on principle raising its ugly head, but then reason came back to. Sirius had been in Theo's shoes before. "Then yes, though it may be an indoor summer until Voldemort is defeated."

"I'm certain Narcissa won't mind the challenge of interior design," Harris said with a smirk.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "No, I'm sure she won't."

"She cannot come here," Albus said, "The Order-"

"I don't give a damn about your Order, Albus," Harris snapped, "This is the House of Black, family comes first."

"You would trade one family for the lives-"

Harris rolled his eyes, "For the lives of a Wizarding World too cowardly, too corrupt, too weak to stand up for itself? Yes, Albus, I would. Martyrdom is a poor way to win a war when winning comes at the price of your own side dying with the enemy."

Albus stood taught, "Voldemort will kill-"

"Then take the Minister's job and right the damn ship yourself. Minerva would be a more worthy protector of Hogwarts seeing as she cares more about her students' well-being than the machinations of a serial killer."

"Albus protects his students," Remus cut in.

Harris raised a brow, "Oh? You mean how he protected Severus from you?"

Sirius, Remus, and Severus paled.

"Or how he protected Harry, Theo, Severus, and Sirius from their guardians? I can excuse Minerva for not knowing, but not, and I am assuming here, when children come to you for help," Harris said, voice harsh. He needed Albus out of this house, away from Harry.

Harry and Nagini were the only two Horcruxes left. He had time to figure out how to save Harry without killing him. Nagini and Voldemort would just be a matter of time, chasing them across the globe were only more likely to expose his little growing family in danger. He wouldn't risk being worn out and out of reach when Voldemort inevitably launched an attack on them.

"Mr. Nott never spoke-" Albus immediately tried to defend.

"And why is that?" Harris asked snidely, "It can't be because you've spent your entire time at Hogwarts demonizing the House of Slytherin and adding to the rift between the houses, could it? Your bias, old man, undo you."

Albus glared at him, "You released one of the most dangerous people from prison. You dare talk to me about the safety-"

"Bella is my ward, if she does something wrong, I will go to jail with her. I have no intention of giving her a long enough leash to hang both of us with."

"You don't have the power-"

"I have all the power I-" Harris cut off as Dumbledore threw a hex at him. Harris snarled, "Wrong answer!"

Harris was going to enjoy this, He shoved Sirius back and disarmed Minerva, sticking her wand to the ceiling. Albus threw another hex, Harris shielded, disarming Sirius and Remus next.

He left Severus alone only because he was curious.

Severus was loyal to Albus to protect Harry because of Lily. But the winds were changing, and now it was Harris who kept Harry safe. Harris who the Dark Lord feared. It wasn't exactly true yet, but it would be.

It turned into a real duel in the following minutes, the tight space of the parlour limiting Albus from using fire. He sent the furniture at Harris, transfiguring the pillows and wood to lead and shards of steel.

But Harris was a Master in Charms. He was plenty strong enough to muscle his way through Transfiguration but he didn't attempt to beat Albus at his own game. He had a century's worth of experience over Harris.

Harris didn't need Transfiguration, however, to reduce the projectiles to ash. And while Albus had more experience, Harris's youth provided him more speed, his wand work was flawless, his reflexes still that of a seeker.

Gin might have been the Quidditch star, but Harris would always be the better flier, the better athlete.

That's what Harris relied on now, not wanting to actually hurt the man, he gave the token attacks to keep Dumbledore from burying him but Harris was counting on his own endurance. The boost from Bellatrix's magic wasn't present, she was too far away, but he could still sense her, and was certain she sensed the magic he was expending.

Not that he needed the boost, giving him a boost in his core magical strength was rather redundant. Since turning forty, he had been unable to find his own limit.

"Bit of a temper, old man?" Harris taunted.

Albus's eyes narrowed as he pushed hard, raising the floor up underneath him, Harris side stepped it easily, casting an Incantatem Frio stopping Albus's enchantment mid cast.

Albus's eyes went wide as he scrambled to recover, and Harris, realizing how much it pissed the Greatest Wizard of the Age off, he continued to keep using that spell, making the room look like a cave with stalagmites and stalactites, reminding Harris fondly of his first trip to Gringotts with Hagrid.

Albus was visibly sweating and when he was forced to switch to curses, Harris smiled, knowing that his blue eyes were the ones sparkling.

Harris had plenty of people who could challenge him in his own timeline, Andromeda was very skilled, the twins, James and Rose, especially together were frightening, and Teddy was adaptive. The in-laws weren't quite there yet to be up to sparing with him yet.

His own anger came to him then as he realized there would be no 'yet' because his lineage was gone, swept away in the tide of time. Every time it hit, it was like the first time, a near crippling grief that he pushed to fury now.

Anger kept him going, though he had never shown the recovering Bella it before, it was quite easy to treat her like a child. And Harry Potter had done everything in his power to never direct his anger at them.

Something Gin had never accomplished.

But Albus?

Harris flicked his curses aside, the brightly coloured spells dissolving in sparkles before a hint of them could reach the spectators who had moved to the stairs to watch. Harris flexed his magic, letting that seething rage and sorrow direct his magic.

Harris knew that if he was the one attacking, Albus would have a better chance. But as it was, the small space limited them and Albus had pursued the attack, Harris gave him nothing to turn round on him. They were near equals in defence, but Albus was stronger in Transfiguration and Harris stronger in Charms.

Charms typically took less energy, less strength. It's why Albus, Minerva, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Hermione, Sirius, and his father, James, had been known as such great fighters. Transfiguration, summoning in particular, was recognizable in identifying powerful wizards and witches. Transfiguration had also been taught for duelling purposes.

But Harris had always remembered that Filius Flitwick was a duelling champion. Although it was true most Charms were limited to their specific tasks and uses and not as transformative as Transfiguration that could act like elemental magic at times. The right combination of Charms, applied with true force, made for a formidable foe.

As Albus was clearly relearning.

Harris almost wished the old man was younger, for all his power, the years were catching up to Albus Dumbledore.

Harris noted the four spectators on the stairs, their eyes wide. Had they ever seen Albus lose his temper like this? He wondered, perhaps, or perhaps Harris had been subtly trying to get back at the old man. From the moment he was back in time, he began to undermine Albus. Taking Harry to Sirius. Sure, Harry kept in touch with his friends, but his friends had failed to tell Albus that Harry was safe. Which for a full summer in which Voldemort was freed, he had worried over 'the Chosen Ones'" and that was after finding out that his DADA professor was an imposter, escaped convict, and Death Eater.

Then Harris had gone ahead and embarrassed him in front of his Order, he even managed to incur the ire of Minerva McGonagall against him. Harris imagined that cut deep, seeing as Minerva was one of Albus's closest friends, his right hand witch in the war.

Followed by Harris freeing Sirius when Albus could not, turning Harry mostly against Albus, oh, and that little thing where he freed one of the most feared Death Eaters who was second only to Voldemort himself in the damage she had done.

So yeah, Harris knew why Albus was pissed, knew he had pushed the man and his pride too far, but hell if Harris would apologize.

The duel stretched on longer than Harris had anticipated, a sure indication that Albus was more pissed than Harris had initially anticipated. Harris never faltered.

Voldemort was a challenge, because Harris had to protect Harry, and because Voldemort, for all the resurrection made him hardly human, was able bodied. The Dark Arts also had a tendency to take on a life of their own.

Harris loved Defense Against the Dark Arts because it was a redirection, a counter of wild magic given negative direction. Every counter-curse was meant to free that magic, neutralize it. But it was trickery because it required you to direct your magic to balance an outside force.

Defence was in its nature, harder, peace being more difficult to maintain than chaos. It always gave the Dark Lord the upper hand.

But this, with Albus Dumbledore?

Aggressive magic that was not the Dark Arts, just personal magic? Well then, it came to strength, skill, intelligence, and sometimes, luck.

Harris Black was not the boy Albus had led to slaughter.

oOo

Minerva felt as if her jaw was going to unhinge as she watched Harris Black play with an enraged Albus.

They had lost many in the Order to Bellatrix Lestrange, and it was very personal for her old friend.

But Harris Black seemed equally pissed, his blue gaze near glowing with power as he mocked Albus with every defence. The man went out of his way to perform feats of difficult charms. Charms that could break down another's curse, fizzling them out as a firework burning out.

She wished that Filius was here to see this, when she saw Harris stop Albus's transfiguration spell mid-morph she had realized just how much power the man had.

Albus was the single most powerful wizard she knew, Harris was pressing the man back with nothing but defence spells.

And then the entirety of Grimmauld Place gave a shudder as something in Harris seemed to let loose.

"What's happening?" she asked in a quiet tone to Sirius, who glanced back at her with wide, wide eyes, "It is said that the original owners of this place would feed it magic, that it was alive somehow. The stones in the wall taken from the foundations of dwellings made by the same masons who built Hogwarts."

The building again, shuddered, almost breathing.

Minerva turned her full attention back to the duel as Albus tried another desperate attack, but Harris seemed to be done with playing.

Harris hit Albus full on with, "Incantatem Prohibere!"

Albus grunted but kept his feet, breathing heavy, but when next he tried to cast a spell, nothing happened.

Harris twirled his wand, righting and resettling the room, only furniture that had been turned to ash returned to its places. Then raised his other hand twisting his wrist, ripping Albus's wand from his grasp as it came to his.

Albus was panting.

Harris smirked, "So much for being the Greatest, or was it Strongest, Wizard in history."

Albus glared at him, but seemed too out of breath to answer.

Minerva was herself speechless, she glanced at Severus and saw the look of awe on his face.

Albus Dumbledore was feared by Voldemort, he had defeated Grindelwald, and yet, Harris Black had defeated him soundly.

Harris observed the wand in his hand, "This is not your original wand, is it, Albus?"

Albus stood straight but remained silent, his eyes promising recompense.

"You do realize it won't answer you anymore? I won the duel and its loyalties."

Albus swallowed, "That wand-"

"Is the Death Stick. Yes, I'm aware, it was Grindelwald's before it was yours," Harris said twirling it between his fingers with a look of concentration.

Minerva gasped, along with Severus and Sirius.

Remus, however, mumbled, "The what?"

Harris glanced at him, "One of the Three Deathly Hallows. This little twig is responsible for many a death. Grindelwald's crimes and many, many murders before it. It attracts death, you see it. You are lucky I am not most people, Albus. If Voldemort realized you had this, he very well might have stepped out of the shadows, and I think I just established that you are no longer up for that challenge."

A natural defence rose to her lips, where it died. She had witnessed the whole thing, Albus had struck first, and still, Harris had won, and she was positive he had been holding back.

"It is a powerful wand," Albus said, voice rough, tone falsely light.

"Indeed," Harris said, "Didn't help you much, though, did it?" He asked before taking the wand the Death Stick between his hands and snapping it in half.

"No!" Albus exclaimed staggering forward.

But it was too late.

Upon breaking the wand, it blackened further and then crumbled like a charred branch, until it was nothing but dust.

"I just saved you a world of misery," Harris said, "that thing is cursed, no owner of it has yet to die a natural death. Besides, I'm sure you've kept your old one."

"You-"

"Am the Head of House Black. And to continue our conversation, if Narcissa agrees to it, she and Draco and Theo will be joining Harry here over the holidays."

"Where were you during the war?" Albus demanded.

"Protecting my family."

"Then where are they?" Albus foolishly challenged.

Harris came at Albus then, took him by the collar and slammed him against the wall, his wand at Albus's throat, "Don't you dare speak of them."

Albus, Gryffindor, and honestly, Minerva admitted to herself, sore loser that the prideful man was, didn't back down, "You speak of protecting Harry to me when you lost-"

Harris jabbed his wand, the first hurt he had given him the whole, she realized, "I was betrayed by someone I loved, she was family." Harris let go of him abruptly, and Albus almost fell to his knees, coughing. Minerva came to his side then.

Without looking away from them, Harris summoned the wands he had stuck to the ceiling. She, Sirius, and Remus caught them as Harris used a wandless levitation charm.

Really, Minerva thought, Filius would adore this man.

The emotions were cleared from his face as Harris said, "Trust that when I say I understand your doubts about Bellatrix Black, I mean it. I perhaps even agree with you."

"Then why free her?" Severus demanded.

Harris sighed, "Because the Belladonna Cure-"

"That cure saved the Longbottoms, well Bellatrix did to them-" Minerva cut in hotly.

Harris raised a hand, "I know, I know. But understand that the cure that saved them also saved her. It's a cure that heals the neurons in the brain that have been damaged by over exposure to pain. As of now, Bella is mostly lucid, and I believe her current problems stem from her sting in Azkaban rather than mental instability. It is my understanding that it is quite normal for people to need time readjusting to a normal life away from the dementors' care."

"That's true," Sirius agreed with a shudder.

"Understand that the Belladonna cure only fixes the physicality of torture, the cumulative chemical imbalances in the brain, it doesn't erase the memories.."

Minerva's expression softened, "You don't know what it means to their son, to them, that all the time they had together, even if they were restricted from communicating with each other… for it not to be lost- it means the world to them."

Harris raised a brow, "And the shame and regret that they are undoubtedly dealing with, for having been hospitalized, for not being there for their son?"

Minerva's lips tightened.

Harris shook his head slightly, looking for a moment so much like James Potter, James Potter as he would have been if he had been allowed age. "Bella has not reached that point yet. The Longbottoms have recovered much faster than she has. It could be because she was always made, or because she was tortured during her developmental years, or perhaps it will be impossible to tell until after she recovers from fourteen years in high security prison."

"Who are you to make that gamble?" Albus demanded.

Harris turned his brow up at him, "Says the man who sentenced a child to frequent starvation and criminal neglect? If Bella goes down, then I will be imprisoned as well and Harry will be Head of House Black, Sirius will have the temporary position until he comes of age. But I will not let it come to that."

"How does a wizard of your power go unnoticed? How does your entire family die and it not be on any record I can find, muggle or magic?"

Harris gave Albus a dark look, "I am a private man, erasing myself from the history books was no trouble, really."

"Why didn't you fight with us?" Albus asked again, "Why not join your family-"

"As if Walburga would have let me near this family. As for why I was not involved? Well, your news was rather a mess, wasn't it? From the outside, it looked like mostly propaganda and as if the ministry itself was a part of the problem. As much as I detest the current politics, I am not an anarchist. No government is no better than a corrupted one. As an outsider, there wasn't much I could have done. It wasn't as if you advertised for Order members."

"You could join now," Minerva offered despite the glare Albus shot at her.

She didn't care, Albus hadn't taught the Black Sisters, Minerva had, she had liked them despite herself and it just about broke her heart to see what became of those talented and passionate girls.

Harris's face softened, "I'm sorry, Minerva, but I will not follow Albus Dumbledore, I do not trust his motives or his means. However, if you personally, or any of the children at your school need my help, I will always make time to afford any type of help I can."

Minerva blinked at him. He was always so flippant with Albus that she hadn't expected a charming man to lie below the anger and sorrow. "Thank you," she said honestly. What would their world be if they valued their youth more?

Severus found his voice then, "You're a Parselmouth?"

"Indeed," Harris agreed, sheathing his wand as he stepped further away from Albus.

"Could you remove my Dark Mark? Would you?" Severus said with what was in Minerva's opinion humbling bravery.

Harris nodded, "I can and whenever you like, Severus."

Severus held the other man's gaze, before bowing his head, "Thank you."

Harris bowed his own head, "You are most welcome." Before he looked to his younger brother, "Sirius, are you able and willing to tend for Regulus? He must be kept in hiding, no one's looking for him but until Bella's- scandal, shall we call it, smooths over, I believe the courts will try him with the harshest punishments to get back at me."

Sirius shook his head, "I can take care of him. He'll be happiest here anyway. This really was a home for him."

"Because you kept him safe," Harris stated, but Minerva could tell it was a shot in the dark.

That landed true as Sirius ran a hand through his hair, "Well, when you make yourself the easy target, then the only heir left to them, he had to be treated well to make sure he stayed. They sheltered him too well. He didn't realize what he was getting into with Voldemort."

"Few do," Severus said.

Remus let out a puff of air, "Are we all just going to avoid the fact that Albus Dumbledore just lost a duel to a Black and then had his wand, a children's book Hallow, broken?"

Minerva looked at Harris, "I know a professor who would be very interested to talk shop with you."

"Oh?" Harris raised a dark brow.

She smiled slightly, "Filius Flitwick and I have often debated what kind of witch or wizard it would take to best Albus in a duel, seeing as he relies so heavily on Transfiguration and your speciality appears, if I am not very much mistaken, to be Charms."

"Defense Against the Dark Arts is actually my strongest subject," Harris said with a smile, reminding her suddenly more of Harry than James, "But I do rather enjoy Charms. I would be happy to have dinner with you and Filius one night to carry on this debate."

"Isn't the debate solved?" Sirius asked.

Harris shrugged, "I used Transfiguration to my success to hold off Tom Riddle, the Charms I used against Albus would have been utterly useless against No-Nose."

Remus just looked at Harris in stunned amazement and consternation.

"I need to get back," Harris said, he turned his attention on Sirius and Severus, "Do you believe you could get Narcissa, Draco, and Theo to move in for the summer?"

"They would be welcome," Sirius said.

Remus again startled, "Really, Padfoot? You only just reconnected-"

"Albus said as much himself last night," Sirius said, "the summer of sixth year is when Voldy-Smorts brands the kids he pouches. He got my brother, even Severus here. Severus was Lily's best mate and might have stayed so, if he hadn't gotten wrapped up in that shite. I wouldn't wish that fate and regrets on any child."

Severus sighed, "Narcissa will claim to be in her France estate, and Lucius will be forced to cover for her. It could lead to him getting killed."

"Well, he should have thought of that before putting his son in danger," Harris said, "Lucius has enough influence and means to run or hold his ground if need be, especially while Tom was weak."

Albus said primly, "There are other safe houses for Narcissa and-"

"No," Harris interrupted, "There are other places for the Order to go. This is the current seat of power for the Black Family, when the Black Manor was destroyed, the materials were brought here, where no one would look for a pureblood family in the heart of muggle territory. Besides, isn't it already a security risk that Narcissa knows of this place and that the defences of the building are already geared to accept her?"

Minerva looked at Albus.

Harris sighed, "I suppose my letter hasn't reached her yet. But Narcissa is the only one I want to see Bella at the moment."

Sirius nodded, "To be honest, unless she's actually sane, I don't want to see her again and I don't want her anywhere near Harry." But Minerva caught the dark look in Sirius's eye that Harris apparently didn't. Sirius was playing along with Harris's gamble of keeping Bella out of prison. Because if there was one thing they all agreed on it was that Bella couldn't be allowed free.

Harris nodded, "I agree. I will meet with Narcissa, even her husband if she wishes, but she alone can see Bella. And we are keeping Andromeda out of this."

"Why?" Remus asked. "Because she married a muggleborn?"

Harris looked at him, his blue eyes again flashing with light with his emotions, "Because Bella is fragile enough without opening that mess." He bowed to them all, "I must be going, do say hello to Harry for me, Sirius." and then he disapparated away.

Minerva turned on Albus, "Are you insane? You attacked the man in his own house?"

Albus grimaced, "I thought it best to know how powerful he is."

Severus snorted, "More powerful than you, apparently. I think we can all safely say that he isn't another Dark Wizard."

Albus raised a brow, "I don't think we can say that at all."

Minerva sighed.

Sirius crossed his arm, "He just kicked your arse almost entirely with defensive spells."

Remus shook his head, "He is gifted, not just powerful but intelligent. It is good to know he is Voldemort's enemy and Harry's ally."

"He isn't our ally," Albus said.

"He isn't your ally, he made that rather apparent," Severus drawled.

Albus gave him a sharp look, but Minerva smiled, happy to see Servus stand up for himself.

Of course, Severus had made mistakes, but he had given so much over the year, he deserved to live, not to be a prisoner to his guilt forever. She knew he wasn't well liked by many of his students, but he would die to protect them.

"I'll stay with Regulus," Remus said, "If you want to go check on Harry, Sirius."

"I would advise you not to trust Harris in regards to Harry," Albus advised.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "You're just sore you lost and that Harry reached out to him for help first. If Harry trusts him, so do I."

"Even with his freeing Bellatrix Lestrange?" Remus asked.

Albus opened his mouth but Minerva called it, "Enough. Harry is waiting for us."

Severus watched them all with an unreadable expression that made Minerva wonder what changes awaited them in the not so distant future.

oOo

AN: Yes, there will be more Luna and Harry next chapter. Slow burn for all the final pairings. Otherwise, comments, thoughts, or reviews for this chapter? Bluebells or musings for future chapters?

Chapter 8: Happy Halloween

Chapter Text

Updates: Just finished my third huge Star Wars fic, check me out :D The Luna fic that inspired this fic, When the Dragon Spoke to the Moon, is also finished through the Hobbit. This fic will remain as slow updates, because I think it might be marvellous and I am taking my time.

Laughing All the Way to London: The last chapter is being worked through, I promise, my head's just in a weird place right now and that story deserves the correct send off.

Thank you, Theobeobo for helping me with a 10k chapter!

oOo

KEYNOTE: Through Snape and Harris, Dumbledore knew Voldemort was back. Harry was missing all summer, rumour had it, kidnapped by Voldemort. This is why the Ministry was after these two and why Dumbledore is still being flayed in the public eye.

oOo

WARNING AU: I deviate knowingly from canon. Also, VIOLENCE, like this took a dark turn :D

Chapter 8 - Happy Halloween

Albus knew he had been antagonizing Harris Black. He also knew that the man had been on a short fuse.

He had recognized the deep sorrow and self-recrimination in his eyes, it was the same way Albus himself had felt when he lost his sister. He could accept that the duel in Grimmauld Place had been his fault, much like starting a bar fight by stepping into another man's personal space. But Albus had been itching for a fight too, with Harry's disappearance and public opinion turning on him as Cornelius covered up Voldemort's rise.

It had not escaped his notice that except for the wand jab and Harris breaking one of the Hollows, he had not used any lethal magic or even tried to knock Albus out in any way.

Harris Black was a well of contradictions. He appeared to be a good man, a powerful wizard, well centred in the light, until he wasn't. He voted for progressive laws, he fought against the Dark Lord, yet he also used dark magic, was able and willing to work around the law, and was committed to his family beyond reason.

He was a bastard, and he was a Black.

He was a man who had lost everything he loved and was determined to bring back together a family that he had never truly been a part of.

Orion Black had done well in hiding him. Albus had been unable to find a trace of Harris Black either in the Muggle or the magical world.

Despite his status as a bastard child, Orion had given the boy his last name and put him into the line of succession. He must have seen in his oldest son both competence and power. It was just hard for Albus to wrap his mind around the man being unknown to the larger wizarding world.

Still, today, Albus felt it was time to reveal one of Harris's own secrets. He had come to the Longbottom estate to escort Neville back to school. One weekend a month he was being allowed to spend at home. He also saw his parents on Hogsmeade weekends. Though Albus wondered if Alice and Frank would allow him back once Albus broke the news that miraculously had yet to reach the papers.

Minerva was with him, a silent presence; things had not settled between them though the rest of the Order had seemed to understand him.

Alice opened the door after Albus rang the bell, her round sweet face grinning up at him, "Albus! Minerva! So good of you to come. Neville is all packed up but if you want to join for some after supper tea, you are more than welcome to join us."

"We would be honoured," he responded, smiling back at her even as his heart twisted for him.

Your tormentor is free and there is nothing anyone can do to put her back in prison, the thought like poison pooling in his throat.

They were directed to the greeting room and Alice asked how they liked their tea.

When Alice sat down beside Neville, his father Frank on his other side, the boy looked happier than Albus had ever seen him.

Lady Augusta, it appeared, had already retired for the night.

Pleasantries were past and Albus dreaded what he had to say next. Clearing his throat, he began, "There is a matter that we need to discuss. I am not sure when it will be published by the Ministry or the press, however, we believe you should be informed."

"Informed of what?" Frank asked, suspicion thick in his tone.

Like ripping off a bandage, Albus said, "Bellatrix Lestrange has been released from prison."

Frank's expression closed down as did Alice's. Neville looked plain horrified, then angry.

Alice asked, "Released, as in cleared of all charges? Or she escaped like Sirius Black?"

"Harris Black had it slipped into Sirius's settlement somehow. It is, I'm afraid to say, legally binding. Mr. Black also had Bellatrix's marriage annulled so all her crimes she has been pardoned for are not even legally seen as her crimes anymore, but her husband's."

Frank and Alice exchanged a long look over Neville's head.

"What are you asking of us, Albus?" Frank enquired, "I already told you, Alice and I are not rejoining the Order of the Phoenix."

Albus frowned at them, "But you signed up for going back to work next season. And I'm not asking-"

"We talked to Lily and James before that Halloween," Alice said sharply, "Lily didn't think you had our sons' best interest at heart."

"And we will not be helping you track down Bellatrix. I assume that is what you wanted by stating it is not yet public information," Frank said, voice hard.

Albus was thrown, he felt like he had lost track of this conversation, "The Potters were betrayed by Peter Pettigrew."

"So we read in the papers," Alice said sharply, "And Harry went to Lily's sister and our son went to live with Augusta. But that's not what was in our wills."

Albus shook his head, "Harry's godparents-"

"Did you put Harry and Neville where they would be loved or where you thought they would grow thick skins?" Alice interrupted.

Albus blanched, "Your mother-"

"Was insistent, yes, I know," Frank said, "but after the Potters, Neville was to be raised by Alice's cousin in northern France. Which you should have known, but you had our wills not made public."

"Your mother-" he tried again.

"My mother was not high off her own power. You and that damned prophecy-" Frank took a breath before starting again, "I hear that both my son and Harry are in Divination with that woman-"

Albus took a breath himself, he had not expected to be greeted with such anger, the same anger that Harris Black had on Harry's behalf.

Minerva was glaring at him too.

Sighing, Albus decided to face the music, "I did what I thought best to keep the children safe."

Alice glowered at him, "And why is it you think that family can't be just as dangerous, perhaps more so, as assailants? Neville's uncle dropped him out a window and Augusta allowed it."

Albus felt his eyes widen, his lips part in an 'o' of surprise.

Merlin, he was growing so old and his mistakes… seemed to be adding up.

"Um, not to interrupt," Neville said, a bit flushed for his past being the topic of discussion and his parents' anger on his behalf, "But can we go back to the part where Bellatrix Lestrange is on the loose? And it was Harris Black who let her out? But he was the one to give us the Belladonna Cure."

Minerva cleared her throat, "Yes, and we wanted to assure you all that the wards at Hogwarts have been increased."

"Bellatrix Black isn't going to target Neville," Alice stated.

"Nor are we going to help you track her down. If she was pardoned legally, then what's done is done. She spent fourteen years in Azkaban while we were treated at a comfortable hospital. She has paid her time," Frank said matter of factly.

Albus gaped at them.

Neville exclaimed, "But she tortured you!"

Alice smiled at her son sadly, stroking his hair gently, "No, Neville, she didn't. Bella was tortured with us."

Frank put a hand on Neville's back rubbing comfortingly. "She saved you. Whatever other crimes she committed, she is the reason you survived that night."

Neville was looking between his parents, looking as lost as Albus felt, "But- I don't understand…"

Alice cupped his cheek, "People aren't all one thing or another. Bellatrix Lestrange murdered friends of ours, but she wasn't all evil. She drew the line at murdering a child. Those four broke into our home and while Frank and I duelled with the Lestrange brothers and Crouch Jr., Bellatrix went to you in the nursery. She got you out. When she came back your father and I were being interrogated. Bellatrix lied about finding you, and her husband knew she was lying. He didn't hesitate to torture her too. If the Auorors hadn't arrived when they did, she wouldn't have been any more lucid than we were."

Frank shuddered, "You could tell it wasn't the first time Rodolphus had used the Cruciatus Curse on her. She laughed at him. She laughed at us all."

Alice took Neville's hand and squeezed. The shock on his face said that his world view had just been shaken.

Albus was feeling the same.

Alice looked at him and Minerva, "I'm not saying she is innocent, not of everything, but if her crimes were placed at her husband's feet… it might not be so far off from the truth. That woman needed help."

Minerva spoke for the first time, "Harris Black said that she was given the Belladonna Cure as well, and that it seemed to be working. He is still caring for her in private because he said she still needs time to recover from her time in Azkaban."

Alice's expression softened further, "That is good to hear. I wish her the best."

Neville looked sort of green.

Frank patted him on the back, "The world is a complicated place, my son."

Alice smiled, a glint of steel in her eyes, "Because if it wasn't, I would have murdered your grandmother."

Neville blinked.

Frank laughed, leaning behind Neville on the sofa to kiss his wife's cheek, "I do thank you, love, for not turning me into an orphan."

Alice sighed, "In-laws," she winked at her son, "know that when you get married, you're signing up for another person's crazy."

"Hence the reason I asked you to marry before you met my mother."

Alice levelled Frank with a serious look, "It was perhaps the wisest thing you ever did."

They laughed and Neville still looked confounded, and Albus couldn't blame him.

oOo

"What were you thinking?" Lucius demanded, voice low.

Nothing like having a Dark Lord on the first floor to keep one's tone lower even if the room was warded.

"I was thinking of Theodore."

"Draco isn't even friends with him," Lucius snarled.

"So?" she asked, "Unlike Vincent and Gregory, Theodore doesn't have a mother to watch out for him."

Heat rose to Lucius's cheeks, "You think you are the only one to care about our son?"

"I think I'm not the one who gave away one of Dark Lord's trinkets that set a Basilisk loose on the school our son goes to," she retorted.

Her husband was on such thin ice with her, and with Bella's letter clenched in her hand, she wasn't in the mood for his insignificant logic.

"Our son is a pureblood," he said, his arrogance marring his features.

Unearned arrogance. It was an effort not to strangle him, "Do you honestly believe a snake could tell the difference?"

He gave her cold eyes, "Theodore is not staying the summer at our summer home. The Dark Lord has already requested that Draco-"

"Draco is not going to be within arm's reach of that creature," she hissed.

"He will-"

"He won't. So help me, Lucius, do not try my patience on this." She hadn't told him that Sirius had offered her and the boys a place to stay over the summer. If he didn't know then the Dark Lord also wouldn't know.

Wouldn't know that she, Draco, and Theodore would be living with Harry Potter. Harry Potter, who was now the Black heir, and as far as she was concerned, family always came first.

"Watch your tongue, the Dark Lord-"

"Is not my master," she interceded, "I bow to no man or creature."

He slapped her.

The sound reverberated through her being.

Narcissa turned to look back at him, her cheek stinging, her pride rising.

She had tolerated so much, but Lucius had never once raised a hand to her, not as her mother had to her father.

Lucius's expression said clearly that he knew he had made a mistake.

But he did not drop to his knees and beg for her forgiveness.

That was his second mistake.

"He will do worse to you," Lucius warned in a low tone.

She raised a brow at him, her voice was iron as she asked, "Are you threatening me?"

"Draco is the Malfoy heir-"

"He is my son, Lucius, and so long as I breathe, he will not come to harm. I will not permit it."

Turning her back on him, she folded her sister's letter into her skirts as she grabbed a bag she had long kept in an armoury of some of Bella's favourite things. Some of the few pieces of jewelry she had enjoyed wearing enough to bring with her to the Lestrange estate. Some of her favourite books, two corsets and shoes that were meant for dances, hence easy to breath and move in.

"Where are you going?" Lucius demanded, his anger didn't hide his worry.

She didn't answer, checking her dress before she disapparated.

That Lucius had hit her hadn't fully sunk in, there was something unreal about it.

She appeared in Knockturn Alley, her feet taking her to where her sister had told her she was staying, 'where we were ourselves.'

She still had to knock at the top of the stairs, the wards were subtle, but strong enough and complicated enough that she knew it would take too long to break through them.

The door was opened by a man she might have sworn was James Potter, but he had Sirius's eyes and he was older than James would have been.

He stepped aside, "Lady Malfoy."

She stepped over the threshold to the apartment her father had bought for her and her sisters.

Bella crashed into her a moment later, "Cissa!"

Narcissa clung to her, breathing in deeply and closing her eyes against the tears.

She had missed her sisters.

Bella pulled back smiling, her brown eyes were clear, the tension around her face lifted. In some ways, she looked almost younger than the last time Narcissa had seen her. Although she was still too thin.

Bella cupped her face, "You're so beautiful, Cissa."

Again, Narcissa blinked back the tears, though her voice came out clear, "I got your letter."

She had thought she would have to kill Bella, until she read the contents in the letter. It had given her hope and now that hope stood as reality before her.

Bella turned to Harris, grinning, "You sent it!"

Harris huffed, though there was amusement in his eyes, "I told you that I would. Narcissa, may I get you some tea?"

She nodded, "Black, nothing in it."

He inclined his head, walking into the kitchen.

Bella pulled Narcissa to the seating, "He cooks and bakes."

Narcissa was watching the man move about the kitchen as if he truly knew his way around it. She turned back to her sister, whose black hair was smooth and shiny as if she had for once in her life been taking proper care of it, "Good. Merlin knows that you couldn't."

Bella stuck her tongue at her.

Narcissa's lips twitched, she hadn't seen her sister this… carefree since they were children. But her smile fell when she remembered their circumstance, lowering her voice, Narcissa asked, "He hasn't taken-"

Bella shook her head, "He's the kindest man I've ever met."

Kindness wasn't exactly a quality they had ever valued before, but that was before they had gotten married. Although, Narcissa supposed, it was something Andromeda had valued enough to leave them for.

Perhaps Andromeda really had been the wise one, even if she was a traitor.

Harris came back then, setting the tea tray down on the low table.

Narcissa watched the man move, his elegant fingers moving with uncommon grace as he poured the tea, preparing Bella's with just the right amount of sugar and cream before passing them both their tea cups.

Bella tucked her legs up on the sofa, her hands clasped around the warm tea cup, neglecting the saucer on the tray. Which is when Narcissa caught sight of the band around her wrist. Narcissa's gauze swivelled back to Harris, "Did you get those bracelets from Andromeda?"

A dark look passed through Harris's gaze, but his voice was casual as he said, "In a manner of speaking."

"So you stole them," Narcissa concluded.

Bella tapped her leg, "It's alright, Cissa. I like the taste of his power."

You didn't like mine, Narcissa almost said, squashing the jealousy. Bella had been distraught when Andromeda left them and had refused to wear the bracelets with Narcissa instead.

They were, in a sense, slave bands. The band Harris wore was the master ring; he controlled if and when Bella could use her power, and it linked their magicks, it could magnify their powers if they were close enough.

Narcissa was surprised that Bella would wear them again, but she realized with a release of held tension, the bands meant that she wouldn't have to worry about Bella being a danger.

Well sure, Bella could still do an insane amount of damage with a knife or poisons, but it wasn't the same as an impulsive curse.

"Harris said your son is attending Hogwarts," Bella said.

Narcissa looked up to her sister's gaze, "Yes, Draco is in his fifth year."

Bella stretched her legs over Narcissa's lap, her head resting on the back of the sofa, "Tell me about him."

Narcissa blinked at her, Bella had never been interested in Draco before.

But she talked, and Harris laughed at one of the stories she had of her son. Her gaze swung to him, "Do you have children, Harris?"

"I had two sons and a daughter, the two youngest were twins," he said, his gaze soft.

"Were?" Narcissa enquired.

"They've passed," Harris said, voice pleasant but distant.

Her heart hurt for him, she couldn't imagine losing her son, "My condolences."

He bowed his head in acknowledgement.

Bella leaned forward, snatching a cookie from the tray, she jabbed it at Narcissa's lips.

Narcissa snapped her teeth over the small cookie, nearly biting Bella's fingers.

Bella snatched her hand back, chortling.

Narcissa swallowed the bite of sugar and chocolate and fought not to make noise of pleasure, it was that good.

Bella was smirking at her, "I told you Harris could bake."

Narcissa shook her head, "My compliments, Harris."

His eyes were on Bella's contented expression as he said, "Thank you."

That was how the evening passed. Narcissa was amazed at Bella's condition, at her lucidness and lack of violent impulses. It was like having her sister back from their childhood, before their mother had taken her punishments too far. But Bella was still recovering, she jumped at the shadows cast by the outdoor lights and when she got tired, Narcissa could see the depth of her fatigue.

Narcissa was the one to tuck Bella in for bed.

Bella caught her hand, "Visit me again, Cissa?"

Narcissa nodded, kissing her sister's forehead, "I'll visit so often you will be sick of me."

"Impossible," Bella breathed, her eyelids fluttering shut as she drifted into sleep.

Harris was leaning in the doorway, watching them.

Narcissa stood and as she approached, she said "Her tea was different from mine, lavender and camellia tea."

Harris smirked, "Works every time. Dreamless sleep is too risky to give her too often." He stepped back as Narcissa reached to shut the door behind them.

"Why are you doing this?"

He walked back to the coffee table, collecting the tea cups, "You are family."

"What happened to your other family?"

He shot back with, "What happened to your face? It was red when you walked in."

The memories of Lucius flooded back to her, unwelcome.

She had always promised herself that she would never tolerate her spouse raising a hand against her. "You told Sirius that you wanted me, Draco, and Theodore at Grimmauld Place this summer."

He nodded, walking to the sink, and he began to wash the dishes like a muggle, "I did."

She swallowed, "I was thinking of moving there full time."

Harris stilled, he shut off the tap and turned to face her. Drying his hand with a towel, he leaned back against the counter, "Lucius didn't agree with keeping Draco away from the Dark Lord, did he?"

"No, he did not."

"Fool."

She walked around the table, "I can't divorce him."

Harris raised a dark brow at her, "No?"

"He could legally take Draco from me, not even you could prevent that."

He nodded, "But you still plan to leave him." He stated it, tossing the hand towel to the side on the counter, crossing his legs as he leaned into the counter.

Narcissa stared at him, wondering how this handsome man, who cooked and cleaned, who seemed overly generous could be alone in the world. There was also an aura of power around him that made her understand why Orion had made him heir of house Black despite his being an illegitimate child. Even relaxed there was an air of nobility around him.

It was something that Lucius postured with, Harris on the other hand, simply was. But then she supposed any wizard who could duel with Voldemort must be that self confident.

"Thank you for tending to my sister, most would have considered her a lost cause."

"You believed her to be," he noted.

"I will not apologize for that assumption, you don't know the things she has done."

"I assure you that I do."

"And that doesn't bother you."

He sighed, looking toward the window where night had fallen over Diagon Alley, "I told her that once she recovered, she could be allowed her independence. I am not sure that that time will ever come."

"Then you are not a fool," Narcissa responded, "She has never been on her own. She has always needed someone."

"Perhaps that is not a fault," he said, catching her gaze, conveying a secondary message.

Narcissa looked away, her mind already twisting around all that she would need to do to move out from the Malfoy Manor without Lucius or any of the Death Eaters stopping her.

Lucius would make a scene if she tried to leave. She could already imagine him arguing with her, pleading that it was just one slap.

But it was one too many.

Her blood boiled, her heart might have broken if she let it, but she didn't. If Lucius would strike her, even to keep her from taking a side against the Dark Lord, then he wasn't the man she had fallen in love with.

No matter what, he should have supported her as she had always supported him. She had always been so careful of Lucius, refusing to become the tyrant that her own mother had been. But that had been with the trust that Lucius would always trust her in turn.

Clearly, that respect was lacking.

Shame filled her.

Hadn't Andromeda warned her about Lucius?

Fury filled her at the thought, it hurt till she felt as if she was on the verge of breaking.

She didn't want to break, she didn't want to be the one hurting, the one angry. She wanted to put Lucius in his place. She wanted him to regret ever daring to raise a hand against her rather than simply regret losing her. She wanted him to know that he would never get her back.

She wanted to take his heart and break it over her knee, to know that he hurt worse than she did.

But she knew he was too wrapped around the Dark Lord's finger, his lips so busy kissing that creature's boots, he probably wouldn't worry much about her absence. She knew him, knew the way he thought, everything was a game with him.

He would think that if he won this war that she would come crawling back to him.

It pissed her off.

Lucius had struck her, had threatened her, had knowingly put her son in danger, more than once.

"Narcissa?"

She startled, looking up at the man who was now standing in front of her, concern in his sapphire gaze.

Harris Black, her bastard cousin, the head of her family house.

Resolve settled over her, she might have married a Malfoy, but she would always be a Black.

She reached up to the man, watched confusion cross his expression, but he didn't resist her as she brushed her lips over his.

When he didn't pull away, she kissed him more solidly.

He kissed her back, his hands coming to her waist.

He was a good kisser. He smelled of lavender and vanilla soap, and he tasted of the sweets he had likely baked this evening. For a moment, she lost herself in the sensation, in the newness of this experience.

She had married young and had never strayed.

Not until now.

Harris pulled up, his hands on her waist had touched but not explored, she now realized what it was a restraining hold so she couldn't throw herself at him.

As if she would do anything so uncivilized.

She expected him to protest the nature of their relation. He was, after all, a man who professed to be family.

But as Walburga wasn't his mother, they were… it took her a moment before the answer came to the her; they were both descendants of Phineas Nigellus Black. That was plenty far enough removed for her own sensibilities.

And apparently for Harris's sensibilities as well based on the nature of his protest, "You are a married woman, this must be your choice."

Lust, raw and unfiltered spread like heat in her veins. She didn't think it would be that easy, actually, she hadn't even been thinking this through. A spur of the moment plan, if it could be called a plan at all.

She had never cheated on Lucius before, but he had run a stake through their relationship, and Narcissa very much wanted to take back control, to be the one to cleave their marriage in such a way Lucius could never think to repair it.

If she did this, if she went back to the manor with the smell of another man's skin on hers, Lucius would never take her back. Nor would he ever divorce her. He couldn't afford anymore scandal, he had made far too many missteps over the years, as had his father. To divorce her was to permanently ruin the Malfoy name.

He would have to count on her being circumspect, or have to admit publicly that his wife had cheated on him. That he, Lucius Malfoy, had not been enough for her.

The thought brought a smile to her lips, as she appraised Harris with new interest. He was older than her, but his shape was pleasing. She ran hand through his wild salt and pepper hair, "This is my choice."

He was pliant as he returned to her, his hands pulling her close to him.

There was little romance in the way he touched her, though he wasn't rough. She shivered with anticipation when his fingers trailed from the back of her neck, down her spine, curving around her butt, finding the form of her despite the layer of her skirts.

He bent his knees, his arms coming around her thighs. When he straightened, he lifted her off the floor, his face at just level.

She cupped his face, tilting him toward her so she could continue kissing him as he brought her to his room.

Narcissa forgot that Bella was in the other bedroom, that she was doing this out of revenge, and that she only ever done this with one other man.

She forgot everything but for the attentive exploration Harris lavished on her body, on the pleasure he brought her again, and again.

oOo

Harris tipped his head back, letting the water run over his face as he stood in the shower that had run cold a while ago.

Last night had not been the first time he had slept with Narcissa, but the last time Andromeda had been in the bed with them.

Pissing off any of the Black sisters was an ill idea. All around, a poor life choice. Part of Harris was amused that his presence in the timeline had done something to provoke Lucius to ruin his marriage years early.

Narcissa Black didn't believe in divorce, she did, however, believe in ripping a man's heart out and rubbing it to dust beneath her heel if said spouse was stupid enough to betray her in some way. He wasn't sure of the details of the last time Narcissa had broken things off with Lucius. Harris had gotten the idea that it was something about her fertility. The indication being that it wasn't an accident the Malfoy line consisted of only a single male heir, never daughters or siblings, but Harris hadn't pried.

Just like he hadn't pushed this time. Narcissa was one of the few women he knew personally who could share her body without her heart. He knew she had been using him, and he was okay with that, because he had been using her for the same reason.

Only, getting revenge on a person who no longer existed was less than productive. In the past, sex with Narcissa hadn't been cheating because Andromeda had been there every time. His relationship with the blonde outside of the bedroom had remained that of a brother and sister-in-law.

Sex alone with Narcissa had been a betrayal.

It wasn't until he stepped into the shower that he remembered that his Andromeda didn't exist anymore. His mind filled with the memory of the light leaving her eyes as he tried to process her words; I know that this is unforgivable, but I know you will find happiness again.

Wrecked him. It was like he had reached into his own chest and clawed his heart anew.

That was the worst of his experiences since arriving in the past, forgetting. Forgetting that Andromeda wasn't his anymore, forgetting that his kids weren't born yet, weren't likely ever to be born, not as his own.

He could pretend for brief intervals he was holding himself together, but he rarely spoke, rarely slept through the night. While Bella was lost in her world, he was lost in his own personal hell. Tending to Bella was his only reason to even go through the motions, to not give up. She didn't know him well enough to realize his extreme reserve was an abnormality.

But sometimes he fell into a rhythm where he would feel, for a time, like himself. Those blissful moments he forgot what he had lost.

He had actually gone so far as to bake two cakes for Rose and James' birthday. Despite them being twins, he always made sure to make them feel like they were less of individuals than they were. Yes, there were things they shared, but he always was sure in word and in his actions to show them that he loved them equally but as individuals not a single unit.

Ginny hadn't been as good at that.

But then it would hit, like the first realization, that they didn't exist. He had donated the cakes and drank a full bottle of rum once Bella fell asleep that night. The hangover the next day was a needed distraction from the emotional whiplash. Caring for Bella was about the only thing keeping him more or less grounded.

Harris turned off the shower. He had laundry to do and breakfast to make. He tried to hang onto the good news that Draco and Theo would be safe from Voldemort this time around, and by extension, Blaise.

Harris tried to tell himself that going to the Tonks house and cussing out Andromeda wouldn't do any good or harm.

He was nothing to her anymore.

oOo

Narcissa didn't shower when she got back to the manor, she even left her hair down, tousled. It was too early for the Dark Lord to be up.

She had Draco's belongings packed up and ready. She went to the library next, emptying her own office, and out of spite, took a few of the books she knew that Lucius most favoured.

It shocked her how easy it was to turn on him, on all the little resentments that had been building over the years, on the marriage she had worked so hard to hold together.

She knew Lucius loved her, she even knew he loved Draco, but he didn't respect her, and he wasn't careful enough with their son.

If the Aurors caught him again, she wouldn't help get him out of prison like she had the last time. She wouldn't be at his side for this war. Hell, this time she might even fight on the other side, fight with Sirius and Harris.

She might.

Though she would murder Albus Dumbledore in his sleep before taking an order from him.

She was quiet as she stepped into her bedroom. Lucius was asleep in their bed and did not rouse until she flicked her wand causing the expanded trunk to slam shut, the locks turning into place.

"Narcissa?"

She didn't respond to him, shrinking the trunk and stooping to pocket it.

"Narcissa, please, wait, I'm sorry," he was sitting up in bed, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts when she turned to look at him, "You have to understand the danger we are in."

"And whose fault is that?" she asked disdainfully.

His jaw ticked, "You have to know how dangerous loose words can be."

"Again," she snapped, "Whose fault is that?"

He stood, she could see the bluster, the poor excuses. Had he been worried, had he realized the boundary he had crossed, he wouldn't have slept last night. He wouldn't be trying to shrug off sleep, his words sluggish as he scrapped together a half-assed apology.

She cut off his next words, "You were the one who took the Dark Mark, you're the one pissing away Draco's inheritance with a half-baked Dark Lord leeching off you like some type of parasite."

"Watch your mouth," he snapped, despite the fact that this room was warded to be soundproof.

She laughed, "In my own bedroom, you would chastise my speech. Draco will not be coming back to you. You've lost us both."

Lucius frowned at her, then he finally looked at her. As he so often did, he had been looking past her, her beauty nothing but a tapestry hung on his self-worth. An object, a possession that he expected to remain where and how he had left her. He didn't have to admire her to own her.

Fuck that.

A slow smirk tugged at her lips when his gaze fell over her body. He took in the rumpled skirts, the loose corset, and the slight tear at the sleeve. His eyes snapped up to her face, seeing that her hair was for once down, messy. The makeup around her eyes smudged, her lips with only the slightest remains of lipstick that had been worn away.

His grey eyes widened, his breath catching.

He was the only man she had ever allowed to see her like this, until last night.

Lucius tried to suck in a breath, looking as if the air had been punched out of him, his hand raising to his chest.

"When I married you," Narcissa said solely, "You promised me that no one would ever be able to raise a hand against me. You promised that our home would be different, that our little family would be safe here." She shook her head, some of her curls slipping over her shoulders, "Your words are worth nothing, Lucius Malfoy."

His face crumpled, and for a moment, she thought he might cry. But he swallowed hard, his voice a bit choked as he asked, "Who was it?"

She ignored the question, "If you try to take Draco from me, I will turn you into the Ministry myself."

"WHO WAS IT!?" Lucius bellowed, all his reserve shattering.

"Harris Black," she said lightly and without shame.

His expression twisted, "He is your cousin."

"What he is, is a better lay than what your performance has been of late."

Lucius's face coloured and he went through a series of expressions before saying in a low voice, "You whore, this wasn't the first time, was it?"

It had been the first time, but she didn't defend herself, didn't say Harris was only a distant relation or that she had never before so much as looked at another man. No, instead, she said, "This is the last time I step foot in this domain. We are over, Lucius. You are a criminal and you will not approach Draco again until he graduates."

Lucius's expression hardened, "We will win this war, Narcissa, and you will pay for this lack of discretion."

She smiled at him sweetly, "Honey, last time you lost to a baby. This time, your Dark Lord isn't even a man, and you," she turned her wrist, "don't have a wand."

Her own settled in her hand and she disapperated.

She did not go directly to Grimmauld Place, taking several detours to make sure she couldn't be tailed.

When she stepped into the old family home, she immediately knew she would have her work cut out redoing… well, everything.

Sirius looked up from the paper where he was sitting on the sofa by the fire, "Hey, Cissa darling." His smile turned wolfish, "Don't you look well ravished. Did your husband give you a proper send off then?"

She levelled him with a cool look, "No, I tumbled your older brother. He certainly knows how to treat a lady."

It was worth the expression of horror on Sirius's face.

Then it was her turn to be overcome by shock as a familiar face sprinted out from the dining room, he stopped for a moment to flash a brilliant smile at her, "Cousin Cissa!"

She found herself being embraced by her youngest cousin, she pushed him back to examine his face, "Regulus? Reggie? But how-?"

"Harris saved me from the Dark Lord, or should I say, Tom Riddle, a half blood if you can believe it. He had cursed me into stone. But Harris got to me before Riddle could do anything more to me."

She cupped his face, "You're alive? You're okay?"

He nodded, still smiling, "A little stir crazy, but I'm okay."

Sirius chuckled, shaking out his paper, "He has the energy to help you redo this place, Cissa."

Reggie was near bouncing on his feet and said with a child like glee, "You're going to redo this place? I can help! I still have my wand. Where do you want to start?"

Narcissa blinked rapidly, Reggie had lost this childness when Sirius had finally cracked and ran away from home. But the happiness on his face was a gift to see, as much as seeing Bella in one piece again.

Narcissa pulled the boy back into a hug, "I missed you, Reggie."

He settled into her arms, "I'm sorry I didn't listen about joining the Death Eaters. You and Andromeda were right."

Andromeda.

Why did it hurt her heart more to remain at odds with Andromeda than leave her husband?

oOo

Harry laughed as one of the thestrals nearly knocked him off his feet when Luna threw him a slab of meat. Aside from them, only Theo and Neville could see them.

Neville was hanging back with the others, Theo was standing beside Harry shaking his head, "You two are weird."

"Why thank you," Harry said, tossing the meat high, one of the thestrals rose on its hind legs to catch it.

Professor Newt Scamander was lecturing the rest of the class about the thestrals characteristics, while Harry, Theo, and Luna had chosen to feed the herd instead writing the paper on them.

Theo wasn't doing much but for keeping track of which ones needed to be fed and which ones had stolen extra pieces.

Luna's laughing was garnering all sorts of attention as she snorted. Harry thought her laugh was contagious and even Theo almost smiled.

Blaise rolled his eyes at them from where he was standing, only half listening to Professor Scamander.

When class was over, Blaise groused, "I finally understand why he considered his book to be only a brief account of magical creatures."

Blaise nodded his agreement.

Luna, however, said, "I have the extended copy."

"There is an extended copy?" Harry asked.

"Nerd," Theo teased.

Harry flipped him off.

Hermione glanced back at Harry with a dirty look before marching off with Neville at her side. She felt as if he had chosen Luna over her.

Ron was well ahead with Dean and Seamus. Potions, weirdly, had become a point of contention between him and his year mates. Snape no longer picked on him, all his scorn directed toward Ron and Lavender Brown who were the two worst potion makers aside from Neville, who was shielded by Hermione, and Crabbe and Goyle who were Slytherins, thus free from Snape's scorn.

Harry was pretty sure it had something to do with Harris telling the Order of the Phoenix about the Dursleys. Snape no longer treated him like a spoiled brat and without stuff being thrown into his caldron, Harry wasn't actually bad at Potions.

In fact, he liked it. Theo was better at the magical part but Harry was better with the knives. Unsurprising, considering he had been in the kitchen since he was four years old.

"Hey, Harry," Draco called, "Ready to lose tomorrow?"

"Hey Drake, ready to eat my wind?" Harry said with a smile as he walked backwards up the hill.

"In your dreams," the blonde shot back.

"More like my memories," Harry mused, to which Draco shook his head and went back to conversation with Pansy.

Grinning, Harry turned back to his friends, Blaise was asking Luna about the colour of the thestrals' eyes. Harry had never felt so comfortable at Hogwarts before. Draco wasn't popular in Slytherin and Harry had adopted Theo's way of exchanging barbs with him without heat.

Draco had listened to his mother and had stopped trying to really get under Harry's skin. Which Draco was less prone to do since Ron and Hermione had distanced themselves.

Ron thought Harry was a traitor for being friendly with Slytherins.

Hermione couldn't stand Luna's nonsensical commentary or imaginative approach to problems. Harry in turn had started snapping back at Hermione any time she tried to call Luna ridiculous. Now that Neville seemed more confident in himself, he had grown a talent for appeasing Hermoine. He was a good listener and a better peace maker than Harry.

So Hermione had gravitated to Neville, and with space between Harry and her, the Hufflepuffs felt more comfortable around Hermione too. Pretty soon, it was Neville, Hermione, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbot who were nearly inseparable in classes they shared and outside of class time.

Harry was actually happy for her. The Hufflepuffs were nice enough, though they all seemed to think Harry was supremely dangerous since second year. His dangerous status had not improved by third year when everyone thought Sirius was hunting him, nor in fourth year when he was selected as a competitor against Cedric, disappeared, and had yet another DADA professor be after him specifically.

It was kind of hard to hold that against the Hufflepuffs when Harry himself couldn't exactly fault their reasoning.

This year, Umbridge was also targeting him, though he had given her no reason to. Now that the papers couldn't print anything with his name in it for slander, like they had in fourth year and all this summer, he really didn't understand. Before Sirius's settlement had been signed, Harry's disappearance from the Triwizard Tournament and through the summer had been a ploy from Dumbledore to scare people into thinking Voldemort was back.

Blaise had explained that Harry was still the root of most gossip at school so if Umbridge got one over on him, she was less likely to find resistance from the other students.

Harry had found that smiling at Umbridge was a sure fire way to irritate her, happiness seemed to bother her a lot. But she couldn't give him detention for smiling, nor could she punish him for giving correct answers with a sarcastic tone.

She had tried once, and McGonagall had set the slip on fire and had given Harry a biscuit.

It had been glorious.

"You alright, Harry?" Luna asked.

He nodded, "Head hurts a bit, I think I'm going to turn in early."

Her lips pressed together, "You should eat something."

He smiled at her, "I'm fine, I'll eat in the morning."

Harry didn't end up eating anything in the morning.

His scar had hurt so badly through the night he hadn't been able to sleep. He even told Angelina he wasn't up to being the Seeker today.

Even now, Voldemort's anger was pulsing through him and Harry kept seeing flashes of the Death Eater meeting.

Apparently, Draco's mother, Narcissa Malfoy had switched sides. Draco's father had suffered for that, Voldemort ensured that he did. Now, Voldemort had been forced to move to a new location.

He was angry with everyone for not knowing where Harris Black, for losing Regulus Black. Harris had out shown Voldemort again, and Voldemort was blaming everyone but himself for that.

Harry couldn't exactly figure out what Voldemort wanted the Death Eaters to do, he just knew they weren't getting the results Voldemort wanted. This morning something else had happened.

Abeforth Dumbledore is dead, murdered. I told you all to keep hidden! Voldemort's voice felt like it was coming from Harry's throat even though his lips had been closed

"Angelina," Harry whispered to her as they walked out onto the pitch, the day was cold, the clouds dark, "I don't think I can do this today."

Angelina glared at him, "Then catch the snitch as soon as you can. We will worry about catching up on points in the other matches."

Harry nodded even though his vision was blurry, his head splitting. He thought of telling McGonagall, but the whistle was already being blown.

Harry rose into the air and felt as if he would be pulled away into the wind, his stomach rolled. Luckily, there was nothing in it to come back up. Although, if he had eaten, perhaps he wouldn't feel so dizzy.

He kept rising, and when he was hidden in the clouds, he just sat as he started to see again from Voldemort's eyes.

Friel Nott was on his knees before them.

'What do you know?' they asked the snivelling man.

'Nothing, M'Lord. He was just a bartender-'

'He was a Dumbledore. Or are you telling me it wasn't my mark above the Hogshead?'

'It wasn't me.'

'You were the only one unaccounted for, Nott.'

'I was drinking!'

'Funny how it's the bartender who was murdered then,' they mused, a threat in every syllable.

'M'Lord, no, I was-'

'Crucio,' they said.

Friel's screaming filled them with deep pleasure.

Harry came back to himself, clinging to his broom as he dry heaved, thankfully still in the cover of the clouds.

He needed to land, he couldn't do this, he couldn't be this high up. He felt himself being pulled back into Voldemort's mind and he tensed his muscles hoping against hope that when he came back to his own body he would still be on his broom and not splattered on the ground.

'Why kill him?' they demanded, 'Why use my mark?'

Friel was crying, his face blotchy and red.

It was pathetic.

'MacNair,' they called.

The man knelt, 'Yes, M'Lord.'

'If Friel won't speak, then it would appear he no longer has need for his tongue.'

MacNair smiled with delight as he pulled his wand.

'Wait!' Friel cried, 'I swear, I didn't-'

It was the last thing he managed to scream as MacNair bound him on his knees with a spell, then used a second spell to pull on Friel's tongue. MacNair pulled a fish carving knife from his belt.

They allowed themselves a slight curl of lips, ever pleased at MacNair's flair of cruelty. Only Bella and Barty were more creative. They missed Bella. Barty's intelligence was greater than his devotion.

They watched as MacNair grabbed Friel by his hair with his wand hand and slowly sawed through Friel's tongue with the jagged blade.

Friel's screams were garbled, but high pitched, like a rabbit beneath the claws of a pitiless cat. Soon the man was choking on his own blood. When MacNair finished, the spell that was holding Friel's tongue that had been the cut piece floating as Friel himself fell to the floor, coughing, whimpering as blood gushed from his mouth.

'Cauterize the wound,' Voldemort ordered as Harry fought free of Voldemort's inner thoughts.

Harry was crying, clinging to his broom as he spiralled downward.

Some stroke of fate, of his bad luck, led the snitch to be glinting before him, teasing him.

Harry didn't reach for it. He didn't want to be here, he didn't want to be in Voldemort's mind, he didn't want to see a man being slowly tortured.

Theo's father.

Harry was shaking, tipping his broom for a dive, needing to be on the ground as his vision blurred.

Others were holding Friel as MacNair pointed his wand toward-

Harry would never be able to forget the things he was seeing.

-Harry Potter, Voldemort whispered into his mind, proving that the Dark Lord did indeed know Harry was witnessing this.

-Oh, I know, pet, Voldemort purred. Though even as he dug into Harry's mind, he could feel that his memories were safe. Only his immediate thoughts were viewable.

-Where is Harris Black? Where is the Order of the Phoenix?

Harry panicked, but he honestly didn't know where Harris Black was and he saw in Voldemort's mind that he already knew about Grimmauld Place, already had it staked out.

But the wards were beyond even Voldemort's abilities to get through. The Dark magic that protected it had taken on a life of its own and without a Black to get in to grant him permission to enter, he couldn't enter.

More effective than the Fidelius Charm in many respects.

The ancient Blacks had been more than a little paranoid and their booby-traps were lethal. The floo connection was the only way Voldemort could think to enter unharmed, but someone from inside the domain would have to open the connection ahead of time. Slim chance of stumbling on an Order of the Phoenix member as they were going there.

Voldemort laughed when he read in Harry's mind that the Order of the Phoenix no longer met at Grimmauld.

-Thank you for the information.

Harry came back to himself, Draco soaring beside him. Draco was reaching for the snitch.

Harry pulled his broom back, close enough to the ground to stumble off his broom. He almost didn't hear the roar of approval from the Slytherin stand and the booing from the other stands. He didn't care. He was dizzy, but he had to get help, he needed to get to McGonagall.

"Harry! You alright?" Fred called, soaring down to him.

"You don't look well, mate," George said.

Harry didn't doubt that; he was shaking, his body feverish.

His head splitting as Voldemort teased in his mind, -Tell them who you are. Tell them you gave me the keys to your mind, your soul.

Angelina was suddenly in front of him, screaming at him, "It was right there in front of you! All you had to do was reach for it!"

Harry pushed past her, breaking into an unsteady run.

Which was when he realized that McGonagall was unreachable because Gryfindor house was coming down the stands in an angry mob.

For him.

-You better run, little Potter, Voldemort laughed.

Harry, for the first time ever, listened to Lord Voldemort, and ran on heavy legs toward the castle.

"Harry! You dropped your broom!" someone called to him, but he kept running. He got to the castle before anyone else. Docking into an alcove down one of the halls that led to the dungeons, Harry waited for the students to enter.

Gryfindor was first, complaining loudly and cursing his name. Harry slid to the ground, and didn't dare look up, not even to see if McGonagall was there with them.

Hermione was right, people took Quidditch way too seriously.

-Do not worry, Harry, you will come to me, and I will keep you safe, Voldemort crooned to him.

Harry bit back a laugh and thought back, -I'm not that stupid, you want me dead.

Voldemort hissed in parseltongue, ~Not now that I know you are mine. And I know just the curse to keep you safe.

Harry hugged his legs to his chest, pressing his burning forehead into his knees. He didn't attempt to stand until he heard a much happier group of people coming toward him. He used the wall to help him stand.

"Harry?" Daphne asked.

Harry blacked out for a moment, when he next opened his eyes, Theo and Blaise were standing either side of him.

Harry grabbed Theo's shoulder, he whispered to Theo, "It's your dad… Volde- the Dark Lord, he- he took out his tongue."

-And you enjoyed it.

Harry felt sick, his stomach a chasm of pain.

"Harry," Blaise said, "Your scar is bleeding."

Theo's face was confused for a moment at what Harry had said, before it connected, "You saw this in a vision?"

Harry nodded, "I don't know if your father will survive."

Theo looked at him for a long moment, then said unrepentantly, "Good."

Voldemort laughed, -I like him.

Harry wasn't sure what to think, but Voldemort cackled, -You were going to be sorted into Slytherin House? That's precious.

Harry saw Snape, feeling desperate, he called out, "Professor Snape!"

Snape spun face him, and Harry could only imagine what he saw, a boy barely able to stand in a soaked Quidditch uniform, his face pale, scar bleeding, and fresh tears falling down his cheeks.

Professor Snape shooed everyone along, including Theo and Blaise.

Again, Harry blacked out.

When next he opened his eyes the corridor was empty and Snape had his hands on Harry's shoulders bending down to look into his eyes.

"Harry Potter," Snape was saying, "Can you hear me?"

Harry blinked, "Yes -we can."

Snape reeled back, "Your eyes-"

"Help me," Harry begged, feeling Voldemort shadowing his mind. Harry was not the one in control when he pulled his wand.

"Harry, listen to me, you need to breathe."

"He's inside my head," Harry cried, feeling helpless as Voldemort took control of his limbs.

Harry tried to fight him, but it wasn't like the Imperius curse, there was no soft vagueness to fight, to disbelieve.

There was only pain, such pain.

Snape reached for his wand, but he was too slow.

Harry's voice was not his own as he pointed his wand at the professor and said lazily, "Curcio."

Snape dropped to the ground, his back arching as he fought the pain. He didn't scream, not so much as a whimper.

He was well schooled in pain.

The tendons stood out against the man's strained neck as he attempted to look round at Harry.

It must have been difficult with his black eyes all but rolled back into his head. Snape's arm was shaking hard, almost slapping on the ground as he attempted to raise his wand at Harry.

They didn't take the curse off of him.

"HARRY!"

It was Madame Pomfrey.

Harry released Snape from the Cruciatus Curse and lashed his wand down toward the mediwitch.

Red blossomed down her middle.

She fell to the floor, holding her stomach as the red grew and grew on her white robes.

If Severus didn't stop to heal her, she would die.

Harry ran, his vision going black.

When he next became aware he was pacing in an empty corridor.

Blackness.

He came back screaming, rage burning through him.

Harry looked down at a table where sat a broken diadem, a shattered ring, the stone turned to dust, a golden cup with a crack down its middle, a broken locket with its inside blackened, and a note.

It read:

Dear Mr. I Am Lord Voldemort,

Basilisk fangs are quite nifty.

With Love, Harris Magnolia Black.

Once more, Harry blacked out.

This time, he found himself in the Chamber of Secrets. How he had gotten here, how he had gotten past the cave in, he did not know.

He was alone.

-You will never be alone again, Harry, Voldemort murmured in his mind, the bite of his rage burning at him.

Harry was too weak to stand. With a thought, he realized it was why Voldemort had let go of his control of him. Otherwise, he would have walked out of the school, walked past the protection spells.

All of Dumbledore's careful protections would be for nothing.

But Harry was weak, his limbs shaking, his stomach aching, head pounding, and his face crusted with dried blood.

"Help me," he croaked. "Help!"

He looked around himself for anything, for… the Basilisk skeleton stretched above him, the flesh and scales strangely gone.

"Please help me!" he screamed with all his might, his dry throat burning. His plea echoed around the carven.

But nobody heard him, no one came.

-I heard you, Voldemort told him gleefully.

Harry curled in around himself, cold, hurting… hopeless.

Maybe it was better this way, maybe it was better he died down here. After all, he had tortured Professor Snape with an Unforgivable and he had maybe killed Madam Pomfrey.

So yes, perhaps it was better, better for everyone, if Harry Potter disappeared from the world.

For good this time.

Harry shut his eyes as exhaustion came over him and he waited in the cold deep beneath the bowls of the school with nothing but a skeleton and Voldemort's laughter for company.

Voldemort reminded him that today, as surely the night had passed, was their anniversary.

Happy Halloween.

oOo

REMINDER: This is a knowing deviation from canon because this is my fanfiction.

oOo

AN: Thoughts about the chapter, falcons, or feedback on the story, pretty please?

Chapter 9: A Potter in Peril

Chapter Text

Ye of little faith: I found that the ending of the fifth book was deus ex machina much like the ending of book four. I prefer hard magic systems and the thing I love about writing in HP and Star Wars is that the magic is so soft that from fic to fic, I can reimagine how the magic works so long as I'm consistent within the story.

The various powers Rowling gives to Harry and then Horcruxes and the rules of soul and mind magic are…. negligible, although I am aware that fanon has firm ideas about possession not being possible, I just ask where's your sense of adventure?

oOo

Thank you, Theobeodo!

Chapter 9 - A Potter in Peril

Harris woke in the morning to Hedwig tapping on his window. No sooner did he let her in did she land on his shoulder. Then she bit his ear, hard.

"Ow! Stars, what did I do?"

She hooted at him, her glare direct with meaning.

The blood drained from his face, "Harry?"

Harris didn't know at what point he stopped seeing Harry as himself but as someone closer to a son.

James had looked similar to Harry, though he had brown eyes and Rose was the one with the emerald and glasses.

Still, Harry Potter was a separate person from Harris Black, and Harris did feel responsible for his fate.

"What's going on?" Bella asked, coming in rubbing at her eye with a fist, looking herself like a child.

Harris pointed at Hedwig, "You're in charge, Hedwig. Watch her."

Hedwig hopped down on the back of the chair and levelled Bellatrix with large amber eyes.

"She's a bird," Bella said without taking her eyes from the snowy owl.

"She's Hedwig," Harris said, "I'll be back tonight, there are leftovers in the fridge."

Bella nodded, still watching Hedwig with suspicion.

Harris disapparated to the border of Hogwarts, leaving the two to their staring contest, and shifted into his kestrel form. He flew toward the hospital wing.

When in doubt, always check the hospital wing when looking for a Potter in peril.

To his surprise, it wasn't Harry, but Madame Pomfrey herself asleep in a cot with no Harry in sight.

He shifted out of sight of the group that consisted of Minerva, Flitwick, Snape, and Albus.

"Where's Harry?" he asked, walking toward them.

The four of them jumped, Snape drew his wand despite the fact that he was sitting. Harris narrowed his gaze at him, his arm was trembling.

"What happened?" Harris demanded, "What happened to Madame Pomfrey?"

"How did you get here?" Albus asked.

"Where is he?" Harris asked again.

Minerva didn't play with him, "He's missing. No one can find him."

"What happened?" he repeated, "And why does the Potions professor look like he's been crucioed?"

Snape flinched, which meant he hit the nail on the head.

"Another Death Eater didn't get into Hogwarts, correct?"

"No," Minerva said, and said no more.

Harris searched their faces, looking for a clue, running his mind through events of fifth year. He could think of many things that would lead to Harry being in the hospital wing, not Pomfrey though.

An awful idea occurred to him, "Harry didn't attack her, did he?"

"She will be completely fine after she wakes. No scarring even. However, why would you think that it was Harry, Mr. Black?" Dumbledore asked.

Harris gaped at him, that wasn't a no. "Why- Was he trying to-"

"Why do you think-" Albus tried again.

"Don't fuck with me, Dumbledore. Tell me what happened?"

Snape was watching him closely, "His scar was bleeding."

Harris's brows rose, his own scar was so faint it was beyond notice, "Like a paper cut or a head wound?"

"Head wound," Snape said flatly, "It was running down his face."

Another awful idea occurred to him, "He used an Unforgivable on you?"

"Why would you assume that?" Minerva demanded.

But Harris saw the truth of it on Snape's paler than usual complexion. "I am his primary guardian, tell me."

The four exchanged looks, and it was Severus Snape who spoke, "He was having trouble during the Quidditch match. He didn't even try to go for the snitch. The Gryffindors took it badly and he ran from them. He was hiding in the corridor to the dungeons. He was shaking, crying, and seemed barely aware of his surroundings. He asked for my help."

"Help with what?" Harris asked sharply.

Snape gave him a dark look, "I suspect with blood dripping down his face. He was clearly in severe pain. His eyes kept flashing red."

"Excuse me?" Harris asked, knowing that the closest he had ever come to that was hating and glaring at Dumbledore.

Snape went on as if he hadn't spoken, "He pulled his wand. I asked if he could hear me and said 'Yes, we can.'"

Harris paled, "We? Voldemort spoke to you with Harry?"

"Why do you assume it is the Dark Lord?" Snape asked, suspiciously.

"Because he's been having nightmares, seeing visions since last summer."

"He told you that?" Albus demanded.

"We've kept a steady correspondence from the Last Task onwards. Voldemort had enough control to use the Cruciatus Curse on you, Severus, and attack Madame Pomfrey?"

Snape stared at him for a long moment, before saying, "Yes."

"Did anyone else see?"

"Not that I am aware."

Harris cursed and began pacing.

"If you had told us about the visions," Albus said, voice tight with anger.

Harris was hardly listening, if Harry was possessed then Voldemort could have taken him out of the school. Although, if he realized that Harry was a horcrux, it was at least unlikely he would be killed immediately.

"We can't find him anywhere in the school," Filtwick said.

"It's possible that the Dark Lord has him," Minerva added, looking distraught at the idea.

Harris was hardly listening.

Why couldn't Voldemort possess him in fifth year?

Last time it had been a seduction. Trying to convince him to get the prophecy, but Harris had changed much.

There was no prophecy.

There were no horcruxes save Nagini and Harry.

It was more than possible that Voldemort knew that. Harris had taken the Lestrange vault, it might have prompted him to go looking for that which he thought was safe.

It would explain why he took Regulus out of his curse if Voldemort had discovered the fake locket that Harris had not needed to retrieve. Voldemort would have gone looking for the ring which would have been gone.

That's three horcruxes, four if he included Hufflepuff's Cup in Harris's possession. Which meant the others had all been at Hogwarts.

Harris had an idea of where Harry might be.

But that explained why Voldemort would take Harry over now, to see what had become of his soul shards, but it didn't explain how.

What was different between Harry now than Harris had been in his own fifth year? He paused, looking back at Snape.

For a half-second, Harris thought that 'Hey, maybe those lessons had been worth something after all', but that was complete rubbish. He remembered the pain of those lessons, remembered how Snape had torn into his mind.

Narcissa and Andromeda had confirmed that Snape's 'teaching method' had done more harm than good.

Harris stilled.

He remembered that moment in the Ministry of Magic, the pain had been white hot.

He had felt like he was dying.

And if there was one thing Voldemort feared it was death.

I don't know what he thought he was doing, Andromeda had said, but you were correct to assume he wasn't helping.

Narcissa scoffed, He could have broken your mind doing it like that, you could have died.

Harris's gaze narrowed on Snape, the motherfucker.

"What?" Snape asked.

"Have you been teaching Harry Occlumency?"

Snape glowered at him, "Certainly not."

"Theoretically," Harris drawled, "is there a way to shield Harry's mind from the Dark Lord in future attacks?"

Snape thought about it and answered slowly, "Some precautions could be taken, but it wouldn't be enough. It would take the boy years to learn Occlumency, if he could learn it all. It's not a solution."

It had taken Harris years, he had needed Andromeda's help to fix the damage Snape had done.

Purposeful damage.

"What if you damaged some of the connectors?" Harris asked lightly.

Flitwick glowered up at him, "That could kill him."

"Yes, of course, but what if you were careful, what if you did it over the course of weeks or months? Damage just enough to make it… uncomfortable for the Dark Lord to be in his mind?"

Flitwick was shaking his head. Occlumency was within the Charms family of magic and Flitwick was old enough to likely have encountered it on the field before. "No. That would be incredibly painful. It would be torture. To make a mind vulnerable like that… Not only would it damage his relation to his magical core but it would put him in constant mortal danger. You heard Severus's account; nausea, pain, bleeding, the physical toll would be heavy. It would hurt the possessor as much, and they could both die."

Harris was looking between Albus and Severus. Severus looked mildly sick at this discussion while Albus was very carefully keeping his face blank.

Russian roulette. Hurt Harry Potter, hurt Lord Voldemort, kill Harry Potter, kill Lord Voldemort. The math was simple, for Albus, and for Albus that had always been the end goal anyway.

No wonder the bloody bastard never gave a damn about his education. Albus had never expected Harry to live a full life. He was just a piece on his board.

Harris's godfather had died for that arrogance in the fifth year, he himself had nearly died, Snape had, in a way, actually tried to kill him. The bullshit about Snape and his mother aside, Snape had never cared for Harry's health and happiness.

Minerva and Flitwick were angry, which was why they didn't know Albus's plans. Plans that ended with Severus and Harry dead to checkmate the Dark Lord. Both the professors Gryfindor and Ravenclaw were good people. Severus was more morally ambiguous than them.

Harris imagined what he would have done if this had been done to Teddy, to James, or to Rose. Hell to any of his students, to any child he was aware of.

Harris would have murdered Albus in cold blood.

"Did Harry eat this morning or the night before?" Harris asked.

"No," Minerva said, "But what does that have to do with-"

"I know where he is," Harris stated, "And he will be staying with me for a week, perhaps two if he likes. Assuming you don't expel him?"

Snape shook his head, "It wasn't his fault."

Harris nodded, "Indeed. I'll owl Sirius. If there are problems I cannot solve, I will be in touch. Otherwise, I would appreciate your discretion."

He turned on his heel and walked out.

"Albus, don't," Minerva said, clearly holding the man back.

It was Snape who followed him. Snape who caught his shoulder.

Harris grabbed his wrist and threw him into the wall, Harris's wand at his neck, "What the hell do you want?"

Snape didn't look afraid of him, "Why would you think I would teach Potter Occlumency?"

Harris thought of a long list of things to say. But there were no portraits in this hall and Harris knew that he had dentented the man's faith in Albus.

Harry had written that Snape had been, well, not nice to him over the last two months, but not hostile or derogative. For Severus Snape, that was nice, and what was more, Harris knew Snape liked keeping secrets.

So Harris smiled, "First hand experience."

"What does that mean?" Severus asked, "No one knows you. You appeared out of nowhere and I don't believe a Black would ever make a bastard his heir."

Harris leaned in close, whispering in the man's ear, "I think you will find that Harry and I share a history."

Pulling back he watched the confusion on Severus's face. He gave time for him to work through it as he did his own math on how to best keep Harry safe.

Oddly, he thought he might be safest with him and Bellatrix. Harris already had the potions and medical supplies for helping Bella.

Snape gasped, his onyx eyes glued to Harris's hairline where the faintest of white lines bent into a lightning bolt, "No-"

Harris smirked, "Honestly, Severus, isn't the resemblance just a little uncanny?"

"You're Harry Potter- Black's Heir, Time travel isn't-"

"A good idea?" he asked, "I'm aware. I lost my entire family. Everything I fought and died for: undone. No matter what happens, I will never get it back."

"Then why?"

"It wasn't my choice, I assure you. Like so much in my life, this happened to me."

Severus was shaking his head, "That's how you knew about Harry's past. Poppy-"

"This," Harris gestured around him, "No, this didn't happen to me. You tampered with my mind and Voldemort was unable to possess me."

Severus looked at him suspiciously, "You didn't die."

Harris laughed, "Oh, but I did. Albus won his game of chess quite prettily, and you and I played our parts to perfection. I walked to my own death like a sheep to slaughter and I will be damned before I let the same happen to the boy you would claim to protect."

"I claim nothing, I saved-"

"You saved a sacrifice," Harris cut in, "You tore up my mind and Albus stripped me of my personhood. I made many mistakes, I suffered, it took me a long time to learn how to live, how to be happy -and even that was taken from me. So stay out of it, Severus Snape. I know what Harry wants and needs, and unlike Dumbledore's child soldiers, I am capable of defeating the Dark Lord."

Severus stared at him for a moment before stating, "Albus is not evil."

"Perhaps not," Harris conceded, "But he is incredibly misguided."

Severus bowed his head and didn't follow Harris, if he had any luck, that would be the final straw between Severus and Albus.

If not, Albus Dumbledore would learn Harris's true identity. That would have an unknown number of consequences. But it was worth gaining Severus Snape as his ally.

Too much in the timeline had changed. Harris had no way of knowing what Voldemort or Albus Dumbledore would do now that he had completely ripped the rug out from under them.

Harris checked the Room of Requirement first and found the presents he left for Voldemort shattered in a rubble where the table had been.

He checked the Chamber of Secrets next.

When he found Harry curled up around himself, trembling even in sleep, dried blood marring his pale face, Harris didn't see himself.

He saw his son, James, and it broke his heart.

At this point, he wondered what was left of him that could still be broken.

Losing everything by going backwards was a particular sort of hell.

Harris had indeed lost everything he loved, and yet, everything remained left to be lost again.

It was all that kept him breathing, but he did wonder if there would come a day where he let it all burn.

Or, if he would live long enough to see it.

Harry Potter woke up to a long haired woman peering down into his face. She smiled down at him, then booped his nose with a finger, "Harry Potter."

Harry jerked back, scrambling away from her across the big bed.

Harris Black came into the room that was painted in light blues and white molding. It was clearly daytime but the windows had some sort of charm that diffused the light so any shapes outside were unviewable.

Hedwig was on Harris's shoulder and flew to Harry's, rubbing his cheek.

Physically, he felt better than he had in a while, but he was still shaking as he got out, "I'm not safe- I."

"Have a piece of the Dark Lord's soul clipped to the scar on your head which Voldemort's been using to get at you through?" Harris supplied.

"We are going to kill it," the woman said with satisfaction.

Harry blinked at them both, not knowing how to process that, though for some reason, it made more sense than the explanation Dumbledore had given him at the end of first year.

"I have a piece of the Dark Lord's soul? And I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Bella Black," she said proudly, "And I'm going to avenge myself for what the Dark Lord did to me by killing Harris."

Harry leaned away from her, Hedwig nipping lightly at his ear. Harris didn't seem at all bothered by that statement.

"She means the piece of Voldemort's soul in your scar," Harris clarified.

Bella giggled, "It's funny when you say his name. He'd be mad." The idea of angering the Dark Lord seemed to amuse her, because she whispered, "Voldemort." She waited a moment, as if waiting to be struck down, then fell back on the bed giggling.

Harris watched her closely but spoke to Harry, "You've been asleep for two days."

"Madame Pomfrey!" Harry exclaimed.

Harris held out a hand, "She is alright, Harry. She even wrote you a letter. She is perfectly well, no scarring, and she does not blame you in the slightest.

Harry hugged his knees, "I used an Unforgivable."

Harris sat down on the bed, "Harry, it wasn't you."

But Harry was shaking his head, "Snape will hate me." Which was a damn shame because they had finally been, well, not getting along, but no longer freuding.

"It wasn't you, Harry," the older wizard said, "Snape knows that better than anyone. You will not be punished for this."

Bella sat up, pushing her raven hair back from her face, "I think we've all been punished enough."

Harris handed Harry a glass of water, "Unfortunately, I don't think it will be painless to get the soul shard out, but I thought you would prefer now rather than later."

Harry nodded his head avidly, "How did it even get there?"

"Voldemort was practicing a dark type of magic that requires murdering someone in order to slice his own soul. I suspect he was planning on using you to enact that ritual, but when your mother's spell rebounded the curse, the magic went, well, a bit wild."

Harry grimaced, "Why would anyone want to cut up their own soul?" He was still a bit tired, so he couldn't place right away what this was reminding him of.

"He wanted to hide pieces of his soul away, so in the event of his death, his soul would still be tethered to the living plan with assorted objects."

Harry's eyes widened, "Like the Diary! Dumbledore told me then that Voldemort left a piece of himself inside me. So it's his soul, not his magic? That's why I can talk to snakes!" His mind was whiring. It was all too much to fully absorb the horror of it."

"The Dark Lord had a diary?" Bella asked, falling on her side this time in helpless giggles.

"Yes," Harris told her then looked at Harry, "But no, the ability to talk to snakes is your own gift -yes, gift," he emphasized as Harry opened his mouth to protest. "But the soul shard must be removed."

"Why hasn't it taken over me?" Harry asked, "If it's been with me all my life then…"

"Because it is a small fraction of him," Harris said, "the Diary was his first and the most powerful because of it. What you faced in your second year was more of Voldemort than you faced as a baby or in your fourth year. He has weakened himself, it's why his eyes are red, why he is so inhuman, and why he is so very unstable."

Harry blinked, then said, "If I were him, and I wanted me dead or Dumbledore dead, I wouldn't have attacked Snape or Pomfrey."

"If he had been in his right mind, no, I think you are right. I doubt if he had understood just how much control he had over you he would have waited for a more strategic moment. I'm guessing he was upset."

Harry shuddered, remembering what had happened to Theo's dad, "He was enraged. Someone killed Abeforth Dumbledore and used the dark mark thingy like was used at the Quidditch Tournament last year."

Harris nodded, "I saw that. And it did seem a stupid thing to do for someone who wants to stay in hiding."

"It wasn't Voldemort. I didn't even know Albus had a brother, but Voldemort was angry about his death, more so about the mark though I thank."

"And he was excited when he realized how far in your mind he could go."

Harry shuddered, hugging himself harder, "Yeah."

"I gave you some potions to help rejuvenate your strength. You need to eat real food but I don't imagine that you're in the mood," Harris said.

Harry shook his head and took another sip of the water, he didn't know if he could keep the water down much less food. The knowledge that he was carrying around bits of Voldemort and that Voldemort could take him over at any moment was beyond frightening.

"I want it—him out," Harry stated, setting the glass down on the side table.

Harris nodded, patting the spot on the bed in front of him, "Alright, sit up."

Harry mimicked the older man, sitting cross legged in the spot indicated, their knees pressing together.

"Just breathe, Harry, relax your mind, let go as much as you're able."

"What if Voldemort comes back?"

Harris smiled, "That might actually be ideal. But let's not get our hopes up."

"But-"

"I took your wand," Harris said, "It's going to be alright, you just need to trust me." He glared at Bella, "And you need to be sure of your aim."

She grinned, "Always."

Harry didn't like her smile, but if Harris trusted her, he guessed he could too. Letting out a long breath, he closed his eyes.

Harris pressed his forehead to his and a familiarity ran through him, like a crystal glass being struck, singing true.

Yet there was a vibrating, sandpaper sound that he felt rather than heard. It felt wrong, foriegn.

-What are you doing? Voldemort asked in his mind.

~Hello, old friend, Harris hissed in parseltongue, also in Harry's mind.

Harry didn't know how he knew it was in his mind, but he felt as if he were seeing his own magical core, as he was seeing Harris's.

They looked oddly alike. Like stars gleaming together.

~The third eye sees all, Harris hissed, opening up magical shields that Harry knew he didn't have.

It was like Harris's magic was singing and Harry felt his own magic try to match it, to come to harmony with the older man.

-What do you hope to accomplish, Black? Voldemort asked through him.

~I want to kill another piece of you, Harris hissed.

Voldemort roared, and it hurt, but Harry focused on his breathing, on holding himself still on the incredible experience of seeing his own magical core and another person's. It occurred to him that Harris was the one directing this, that in a sense, Harris was processing his mind just as surely as Voldemort was.

But Harris wasn't trying to hurt him and his presence in Harry's mind made it impossible for Voldemort to take control.

~We are more ourselves than Voldemort or his soul shard, Harris explained, clearly able to hear and understand any thought or knowledge drifting in Harry's mind.

~I will kill you both, Voldemort threatened, also in parseltongue.

~Come and get me, Harris commanded.

Voldemort roared and Harry felt some dark thread, that odd disnate sound unwinding itself from around Harry's magical core, flowing like water down a mountain toward Harris who held his shields wide open.

Voldemort saw the trap and abruptly his dark shadow disappeared like a headache easing.

But that tendril of discordant noise went with Harris.

Harry felt himself thrown back toward the headboard. He fell into the pillows as he was jared from the meditation, from Harris's mindscape.

His scar hurt, but the throbbing was easing, he felt light, his thoughts a thousand times clearer as if he had been depressed or sleepy all his life and only now was he awake.

Harris, however, had a scar like Harry's now and it was bleeding as a dark mist, like what had flown from Quirrell was attacking the man's face.

Harry reached for his wand, realized too late that it was gone.

But Bella Black had a wand, and she pointed it at Harris. Her words were clear as she cast, "Avada Kadavra!"

"No!" Harry screamed, but Harris Black dropped from the side of the bed like a stone, the black mist washed away in the now fading green light.

Harry stared at Bella, whose smiling expression fell.

She released the wand, and Harry watched pure horror and fear on her beautiful face. She climbed over the bed, sliding to the ground, and began shaking the man she had just murdered, "Harris! Harris! Please? I did what you asked, I don't want you to die. Please? You can't leave me too, please!"

She wasn't quite crying, but Harry could see her pain clearly and understood that she really hadn't meant to kill the man.

Maybe she shouldn't have used the killing curse then.

But not a moment later, Harris took in a gasping breath, "Bella?"

Bella screeched, then began laughing wildly.

Off like a whip, she ran out of the room bragging in a singsong tone, "I killed the Dark Lord, I killed the Dark Lord! He can't get me! He can't get me!"

Harry was deeply confused as Harris leaned against the side of the bed listening to the crazy lady singing about her successful homicide of a soul shard around the apartment.

"Is she skipping?" Harry asked after a long moment.

Harris sighed, bowing his head, "Probably."

Bella laughed in answer, almost cackling as if she had heard the question and thought it was hilarious.

"Thank you," Harry said, quietly.

Harris smiled up at him, looking tired but otherwise alright for a man who had just been almost possessed then hit with the Killing Curse, "Anytime."

Harry frowned at him, "How did you know that would work?"

Harris grinned, "I didn't, but death isn't something I fear."

Harry gave him a long look, the man might not be skipping around singing about murdering the Dark Lord, but Harry had to wonder if Harris Magnolia Black wasn't the crazier one out of the two.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, reactions, hippogryphs, or feedback, pretty please?

Chapter 10: The Lost

Chapter Text

AN: Bonus chapter 2023.

Chapter 10 - The Lost

Albus Dumbledore dreamed of warm arms, of late nights passed dreaming of a better world.

A world where muggles and wizards lived in peace. Where no wizard or witch would ever fear the muggles reprisal.

Albus had grown up hiding what he was, of fearing his neighbours who hated not only what he was but who he was.

He couldn't perform a spell in the light of day in their own backyard.

No more than he could hold the hand of the man he loved.

Both were forbidden.

The latter would get him lobotomized as if consensual love could be evil.

As if any love could be evil.

The tales Gellert brought with him, of what the muggles were doing…

They scored the earth. Men dying in pits dug into the earth, poisoning each other —the very air they breathed burning—, and pillaging towns and cities.

With all the horror it implied.

The muggles spoke of the Dark Ages as if the plague were the worst things humans could do to one another.

No, what the muggles had done, in the War to End All Wars, was testament to their evil.

Gellert's arms held him safe even as their plans turned darker than he was comfortable with.

Warm lips brushed against his earlobe, "Remember, Albus, this is all for the greater good."

Albus sat up, his night shirt stuck to him in sweat. He pulled himself out of bed, his legs shaking, hands trembling as his past mistakes continued to haunt him.

It was always a balancing act, to act but not too far. The trust people placed in him only made him doubt himself more.

Harris Black scared him. The way he mistrusted Albus, made him like the man.

If it wasn't for how much the man reminded him of Gellert.

Well spoken.

Competent.

Self-assured.

Questionable relation with the Dark Arts.

And: Power.

Albus sighed, pulling on a robe as he went to his desk. He snapped his fingers and the candles lit as he sank into his chair.

Distracting himself from his dream–nightmare–he thought of his latest problem: Harris Magnolia Black.

Albus sighed, Where had the man come from?

He loathed not knowing. He hated himself for letting his anger get ahead of him and make an enemy out of Lord Black.

For he was a Lord.

Someone who could go toe to toe with Albus himself and Tom Riddle without much concern.

Luckily, Harris's actions had been primarily moral, he had even managed to break the curse placed on Harry's magical core without killing him.

However, Albus still didn't trust Lord Black.

Not at all.

oOo

Bella had decided against joining Harris in grocery shopping. At first, because she wasn't allowed out on her own and rarely in front of other people, it had been a fun adventure.

Now, however, she found it boring and she wasn't sure how Harris felt entertained by it.

Still, being home alone was also boring.

She began snooping through the bookshelves.

Seeing an unmarked volume, she pulled it from the shelf and flipping it open she found not a book but a journal written in Harris's handwriting.

She found a family tree sketched on the cover pages.

Andromeda and Ted Tonks, began the base branches, followed by Lily and James Potter.

Harry Potter.

Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin followed by Teddy Remus Lupin (Hufflepuff) who married Sonya Shacklebolt (Slytherin).

The branch that Teddy was artistically sketched to be intertwined under Harry's so he dipped in front of the two names marked as his blood children. The branch was inscribed, Godson.

Beside Harry's name was a thin branch connecting his name in marriage to Ginerva Weasley.

From them, two lovely branches:

Rose Lilian Potter (Slytherin) who married Dharmik Zabini (Slytherin)

James Sirius Potter (Slytherin) who married Eliza Nott (Slytherin)

The grandchild had been inked with pink flowers:

Magnolia Tonks Shacklebolt

Bella's heart tore for Harris. He had lost everyone, his entire family. And though it was remarkable that Harris Black had written his name Harry Potter, Bella knew the important part of the beautifully inked tree was the loss and love behind it.

She flipped the page to see if anything else had been written. Pausing on the page inscribed, Notable Careers:

Teddy Shacklebolt (Head of Hufflepuff)- Care of Magical Creatures Professor

Nevil Longbottom (Head of Gryffindor) - Herbology Professor

Angelina Johnson (Gryffindor) - Flight instructor and Medi-Witch

Charles Montague (Head of Ravenclaw) - Medi-Wizard

Scorpius Malfoy (Slytherin) - Potions Professor

Eliza Nott (Head of Slytherin) - History of Magic Professor, Assistant Headmistress

Harry Potter (Gryffindor but considered by most to be Slytherin much to his, Luna, and Hermione's amusement) - Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor

Susan Bones (Hufflepuff) - Headmistress of Hogwarts

Hermione Granger (Gryffindor) - Minister of Magic

Luna Lovegood (Ravenclaw) - Magizoologist and Dragonalogist

Continuing her reading, Bella felt a chill go upt her spine.

Note: Most children who were born from the Lost generation gravitated toward either Slytherin or Hufflepuff, survivalists and peacemakers respectively. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were almost solely composed of muggleborns. During the following years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Hogwarts had record low attendance rates. Much of Hogwarts' prestige was lost though there was an uptick in acceptance rates for 'lesser magicals' and muggleborns, as well as a greater acceptance rate of international students (though this was the work of decades not seasons).

The Lost Generation

Those who attended Hogwarts during—

Bella noted the date had been viciously scratched out. And the words that followed didn't seem to be written in Harris's voice. It was too formal like something said at a speech or engraved into a memorial.

Known as the Lost Generation for an uncommon death rate. Many were lost during the Final Battle at Hogwarts, many more came to take their own lives afterwards, many fell into some type of addiction, many led lives uncaring of consequences and prone to taking dangerous risks that -more often than not- led to terminal results.

Such as it was, the survivors gravitated toward each other, most were in some way connected either by blood or marriage to the Potter and Weasley lines. Subsequent generations were unable to wed and the 'Purity' of the British 'great' families in the ways of old were lost almost entirely.

The Lost Generation stands as a reminder to the Wizarding World for all time that children are not to fight in war. Children's rights and protection laws in Britain, Scotland, and Ireland have become the strictest across the globe.

The Lost we remember; or be lost ourselves.

Bella had to reread it thrice before she could understand, this was the future, this is the future that Voldemort would have created.

Not lifting up the Wizarding World, but erasing generations.

Maybe she was still crazy, maybe Harris was a time traveller, but Voldemort?

Voldemort was evil.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, spiders, or feedback, pretty please?

Chapter 11: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter Text

WARNING: So, I wrote the outline to this chapter when I posted the last one. It got so heavy that I legitimately had to walk away from it.

What We Lost: On hold because I have two betas working with me on it and real life is a pain in the ass. Hoping it will be up by Yule, I thank you for your patience.

Found in the Ashes: Is a clusterfuck, lots of fun, but still a cluster fuck, it will never be picked back up, however, a lot of key elements will play out in this fic although Deadly Belladonna is completely a different universe and not compatible in events.

Again, I have a lot of stories, but my writing is constantly improving because I'm building on my experiences (. If my writing takes a darker turn… welp, I named this fic after a lethal flower, what were you expecting?

Chapter 11 - Ashes to Ashes

Harris didn't blame Harry at all when he requested to return to Grimmauld Place. They arrived in the late afternoon, Harry carrying a large basket of mixed cookies Harris had taught him to bake.

It took Harris baking for Teddy to fall in love with the culinary arts. Being forced to cook for the Dursleys had been a punishment, being able to provide for his own family and children had been an honour.

Harris quickly became known as the host for every family picnic to the extent that the extended family often cornered him to talk about his recipes and cooking tips instead of his war stories.

Sharing that with Harry earlier, letting Harry reclaim that part of himself, for himself, had a rightness to it.

Especially when it turned into a flour snow storm when Bella attempted to 'help'. Harry's laughter had reminded him of his son James, and Bella's laughter had been… it had been a balm to Harris's broken heart.

He could almost believe that his life still had meaning beyond his fulfilling a role. The Blacks didn't make up for the family he had lost but they were still family.

Harry ran to Sirius the moment they crossed the threshold, Sirius wrapping his godson in a tight embrace, looking healthier than Harris had ever before seen him.

Narcissa was also here, her expression was unreadable as she acknowledged him and pulled Bella close to her side.

Harris didn't quite know what to make of Narcissa's mood, until he entered further into the room.

He saw her then.

Andromeda.

She wasn't Bella and with them both in the same room, he wondered how he ever mistook them.

His emotions hit him like a freight train.

Harris loved her. Still was in love with her, damnit, and he hated himself for it.

She stood with Ted and Nymphadora on either side of her.

He didn't know why they were here, though he suspected it had something to do with Sirius and Regulus but it made for a full family reunion. All the living Blacks in one room: Sirius, Regulus, Narcissa, Bella, Nymphadora, Harris and his younger counterpart.

Harris's gut twisted at having to play this game.

Pretend like he hadn't shared the last thirty years of his life with Andromeda, most of which they had shared a bed. Like she wasn't the reason he was suffering now. Why his life had turned from perfect to dismal. The reason why he no longer cared if he died.

He had told Harry that he wasn't afraid of death.

The truth was though, he desired it.

Harris felt like he was drowning, like he was mute, like no one would ever understand the extent of his loss, and no one would ever fill the voids around him.

So, it was with resignation that he plastered on a pleasant expression and went to greet the woman who tore his heart out.

Andromeda turned to look at him, her face was younger, but her eyes…

Recognition. Distress. Sorrow.

Pity.

"Harry," she addressed him, her voice thick with emotions.

The world dropped out beneath his feet. He staggered back, his mind reeling at the possibility that Andromeda had survived, his Andromeda, rebelling at the implications, "You know me?"

"Harry, I'm so sorry-"

"You came back!?" he raged.

She flinched and he didn't care, he had never hit a woman before, but it was all he could do not to strangle her, "All these months?"

"Harry-"

"You spineless bitch," Harris threw at her.

Oh, he knew there were people watching. He could see it written on her face, she didn't want to have this conversation in front of everyone, in front of her daughter and husband.

But fuck that, fuck her, Harris was going to get his answers and he was going tell Andromeda exactly where she could shove it.

If his divorce with Gin had gone up in flames, this was going to end in ashes.

oOo

Harry watched the change in Harris Black and knew immediately that something bad had happened between him and Bella's sister.

"Hey! My mother is more-" Nymphadora began.

Harris fumed back at her, "Your mother is an honourless, traitorous-"

"Who the hell do you think you are talking to my wife like that?" Ted Tonks demanded, stepping in front of his wife.

Harris eyed him, and Harry thought he looked like a tiger deciding if he wanted to play with his food or simply rip it to shreds.

Harris's voice was smooth, low, and brought a shiver up his spine.

Uncle Vernon got louder when he was really angry but for some reason Harris's low controlled tone expressed a warning of the rage beneath.

Harris didn't speak to Ted, "I always knew you loved him more, you never did take off his ring, no matter how close you held me at night."

Harry felt like an interloper then, this conversation clearly was meant to be a private one. A glance at Sirius's expression told him his godfather felt the same, but Sirius made no move to leave.

The look of soft confusion and disbelief on Ted's face was hard to witness. His voice was small, "Andromeda you didn't- you wouldn't, I mean-"

"You trusted her?" Harris sneered, "That was my mistake, though I suppose not trusting her was yours, you poor fool."

Andromeda's jaw tightened, "Don't talk to him like that, this has nothing to do with him."

"Nothing to do with me!?" Ted exclaimed, "You're sleeping with another man!?"

Tonks was watching this all play out with paled hair and dark eyes as if shock had stripped the colour from her.

"Oh, not anymore," Harris said loftily, "No, I nor her grandson were enough. Nothing we had was apparently enough."

"Harry," Andromeda said brokenly, as if she was about to cry.

Ted jerked away from her, "You're not denying it? You've been having an affair. You cheated on me?"

He sounded devastated.

"Hard to cheat on a dead man," Harris scoffed. "You married one of the most powerful witches in all of Britain and yet you ran, thinking you would be keeping her safe. You died alone in the woods, Ted, good going. Truly, hats off."

Ted turned on Harris, "Is that -what, a threat?"

Harris smiled unpleasantly, "Call it a prediction."

"Harry, that's enough," Andromeda chided.

Harris laughed, it wasn't a good sound, "Enough? Enough? Tell me, my love, what would be enough? You sent me back and I did as you asked; I broke your sister out of Azkaban, I've been taking care of her and the rest of this broken excuse of a family, and I've been killing pieces of Voldemort off, again. What is it going to take to be enough?"

"Harry, you don't understand-"

"You're right, I don't understand. I don't understand how you could give up all that we had, for what? The chance to fuck it up worse than before?"

"It isn't worse," Andromeda said stiffly.

Ted and Tonks were looking at her as if they didn't know her.

"Isn't it? Isn't it!?" Harris gestured to Harry, "So far it hasn't worked out better for him. Voldemort managed a full possession. It was only dumb luck that Voldemort didn't take that opportunity to finally kill the Boy Who Lived," he said that title with palpable sarcasm and derision, "or use him as an assassin. I'm sure murdering his classmates and Dumbledore would have looked fan-bloody-tastic on his resume. Oh, but I forgot, no one gives a damn what happens to Harry Potter, he is, after all, not a person, not a child, he's just an orphan destined to save the wizarding world from its own stupidity."

Harry blinked, knowing he should be offended but something about the bitterness in Harris's voice... Harry always felt like Harris understood him like no one else ever could.

"Harry, that wasn't my intention."

"What was your intention, Andromeda? Tell me, what do you honestly think could justify taking my babies away from me!?"

Harry felt his eyes go wide, he didn't know what was happening but he knew Harris mourned his children, and that was somehow Andromeda's doing?

"I didn't-"

"You erased them! My sons, my daughter! You erased your own grandson!" Harris held up his hands in a gesture that was both angered and pleading, "my grandbaby, my little Magnolia, you took everything from me!"

Andromeda shook her head, "I didn't erase them. They are still living their lives. But this Teddy, he willl have both his parents."

"Oh, good," Harris said, voice derisive, "Teddy will have the father who ran out on him and a mother who orphaned him to go die in battle. I'm sure he'll be delighted, that's certainly going to be a loving home."

"Don't speak ill of my daughter," Andromeda snarled.

"I raised her son, Andromeda, hell, I picked you off the floor when you couldn't figure out how to use a shower. There are quite a few things I could say to your deceased husband and late daughter."

"You-"

"Death is a part of life, Andromeda! I understood that by seventeen. The only people who made my life worth living, who made purpose of my rotten past were Teddy, James, Rose, Magnolia, and I thought, apparently wrongly, you."

"I'm very confused," Tonks said, "I don't have a son."

"And I'm not deceased," Ted added.

Andromeda shook her head, "It was what I was meaning to tell you…"

"Oh, so you haven't talked to them either? The bounds of your love, Andromeda, are pitiful. Sirius was wrong about you, and your sisters were right."

Ted's jaw set, "I am no less a man because I am muggleborn."

"I really don't give a damn who she married, Ted. It's how she left. How she left everyone else to pick up the pieces, to fight, while she sits back to horde her personal happiness."

"I didn't do this for myself."

"Didn't you? A guilty conscience for your sister, a widow's mourning, a mother's sorrow, instead of dealing with your shit, you chose to rewrite reality."

"My daughter-"

"You think I care! Tonks made her choices and so did you. We've all made mistakes, but you took mine. You took away my daughter and sons! What you did to us wasn't a mistake, it was a betrayal."

Andromeda didn't stand down, "I know you Harry, your entire generation was nearly wiped out, you told me about your regrets, how you wished-"

"I never wished away my babies!" Harris roared, "Not when Gin fought for custody, not when she kicked me out of my own home. I never regretted being Teddy's godfather at seventeen, I never regretted having twins with a woman I no longer loved. When it came to them, I regretted nothing. Andromeda, you have taken more from me than the Dark Lord ever has."

Gin? Harry wondered, he can't possibly mean Ginny Weasley. But what were the odds of a man who looked like me, was called by my name and married a 'Gin'?

Andromeda was crying now, the tears sliding down her fair cheeks, "Harry, please, the world was torn apart-"

Harris swept his hand through the air, "The world is not my responsibility! Fuck you! Fuck your people, fuck the entire wizarding world! A baby? A fucking baby? Yes, because that makes sense, not that my muggleborn mother was clever enough to cast a blood protection ward on her son. No, no one ever put that obvious factor together, no it had to be the baby. The baby who grew into a child cloistered away like a weapon to be used but never listened to. It always falls on me to save the world from the Philosopher's stone to me willingly walk to my own execution on Dumbledore's command."

Harry was trying to process what Harris had just said when Andromeda confirmed it.

"Harry Potter," Andromeda said to the collective gasp of the room, "it falls on you because you are that good-"

Harry looked at Harris, at the man he would grow up to be and was at once awed and then horrified.

Harris who had duelled Voldemort and faced death without fear, who was kind to people in a way that gave others strength, and who had endured more hardship than Harry could fathom.

What would it be to have a family of his own, sons and a daughter, then a grandchild, then what? Have the woman he fell in love with betray him and take it all away, force him back through time to continue fighting Voldemort after once defeating him?

Harry was nauseated, not by the time travel, not by two of him co-existing in the same time and space, but at the knowledge that his every dream would be answered one day; only to be taken away from him, not by an enemy, but by his lover.

Because looking at Harris, knowing now who he really was, Harry saw the devastation.

Harry expected Voldemort to hurt him, but to be betrayed by someone he loved?

"You used me!" Harris roared.

Harry shut his eyes and leaned into Sirius's side, some hope in his heart blowing out as he realized it was never going to get better, he was never going to be happy.

Happiness wasn't a part of his destiny.

oOo

Harris barely registered the others' shock; Sirius's look of pure horror, Harry's sorrow, Regulus's confusion, Bella's fury at Andromeda, and Narcissa's shock as she no doubt realized she had tumbled while born in the same year as her own son.

None of it mattered, but Ted and Nymphadora apparently had had enough of being shunted to the side.

"Wait, you're from the future?" Ted asked, "That's why you've been… I died?"

"You remarried a man younger than I am?" Nymphadora interjected.

"No," Harris said bitterly, "We shared a bed for nearly thirty years but we never married. She was always another man's wife. She saw herself as your widow, Ted. She loved your memory more than me, more than her grandson and great-granddaughter. She chose you over the life we built together."

"Harry, you can still find happiness," Andromeda said. "This world-"

"Find happiness? I was happy, I was content-"

"But you can make this world better," she insisted, "You can let him," she gestured to the boy curled in on himself, Sirius's arms wrapped around him, "have a childhood. You are an adult now, you truly are the Dark Lord's equal, you-"

"He isn't a child, Andromeda!" Harris snapped, "Look at him, look at him. He's fifteen and he knows what you've taken from me, from him. Congratulations on giving him a new worst nightmare."

"He still has Sirius."

"Lovely," Harris snapped, "did you honestly forget that I got Sirius killed because I was so desperate not to lose him?"

"You can stop that from happening for these loved ones," Andromeda said, her eyes going to Bella.

Harris stepped in front of the two other Black sisters, because no, just no. "I always wondered how my parents could have trusted Pettigrew, how they could have been that blind to his cowardice, but it seems I was just as blind. I should have taken Teddy from you and left you to rot."

The tears fell from her face, but still, she smiled sadly at him, "But you would never have done that, just like you couldn't leave Bella-"

"It's been months, why did you never come to us? If you love your sister so much, why abandon us again?" Harris asked.

"Because I know what I've done to you was wrong, Harry, but I don't regret it."

Harris shook his head, "You are a monster."

"I know."

Harris's heart felt hollowed out, "What's the real reason?"

Andromeda shook her head.

He had enough, he crossed the space between them, stopping just short of touching her. She looked up to meet his eyes, "Tell me. How the bloody hell did you even send us back? Why are there two of me and one of you?"

"The cost of rewriting the past was my death."

Curse him for those words hurting him, for being able to hate her and love her, for him to wish he never kissed her to mourning even the idea of her dying.

It hurt and he wanted to hurt her in turn, "Get out, Andromeda, you aren't welcome, your family was right to cast you out. I won't let you betray any of us again. Ted, Nymphadora, fine, as Teddy's grandfather and mother, fine, but you, I never want to see you again."

He stepped back from her, but she caught his wrist, "Harry James Potter, I do love you, I always will."

He looked at her in disgust, "This isn't love, Andromeda."

"What we had," she began, then had the sense to lower her gaze as his magic rippled the air between, "it was beautiful," she looked up at him, "but our world needed a wizard not a boy to save us. Albus Dumbledore is nearly as bad as the Dark Lord, and my sisters, my cousin- my daughter, were never given a chance. We were the next generation and our parents, the Dark Lord, decided our fates. The first war broke us, the second war… Harry, you were the Lost Generation, Teddy, Rose, and James had good lives but they grew up in the shadows of these horrors. You have the power to change that."

"Then why now, why send me back here and not then? Before Sirius and Bella spent over a decade in Azkaban, before my parents died?"

Her hand tightened around his wrist, "Because you never learned enough about the first war, back then, Grindelwald's followers were still active. But in this time, you know everything you need to set things right."

"There is nothing right about this," Harris said, "There is always a price. So go home, with your daughter and your husband while the rest of us fight the war you never deigned to pick a side in."

"Picking a side meant fighting against my sisters."

"You won't fight them, but you wouldn't save them either."

"I have now."

"No, I have."

"I'm dying, Harry," she said, "the ritual I used, it required my death here."

Ted exclaimed, "No! Andromeda-"

"It's been months, you're not dead yet," Harris said coldly, though his gut twisted further at this knowledge.

"I wanted-" she swallowed, letting go of him to pull up her sleeve where her veins were visible beneath her skin, ebony lines laced with purple breathing, "I didn't know how long I would have."

"So of course you choose them," Harris said flatly, his heart breaking further. Had anything between them meant anything?

"I wanted you to hate me," she offered, though what he saw was her own self-hatred.

"Wish granted," he said dully, taking another step back from her.

Hands touched his back. Startling him, he looked down into dark eyes as Bella wrapped her arms around him. He saw understanding there; Bella knew what it was to love Andromeda and be betrayed by her, yet to love her despite it.

"Get out," Narcissa said, stepping up to Harry's side, "You've been dead to me for years."

Andromeda pulled her gaze away from Bella who ignored her to look at Narcissa, "I'm sorry."

"You should have killed the Lestrange brothers," Bella said with frightening lucidness, "You ran and never stopped running. You were supposed to be the strong one."

Harris hugged Bella to him, "If you're waiting for forgiveness, Andromeda, you won't find it here."

A glance in Sirius's direction, showed that Sirius had already departed the room with Harry and Regulus at some point.

Andromeda had set fire to far too many bridges, all that remained were ashes.

Not even time travel could undo that.

Andromeda looked at the three of them as if her heart were being ripped out, "I love you, all of you."

"Go to hell," Narcissa hissed.

Andromeda stepped back, Ted catching her as she almost stumbled on her skirts, "I am sorry."

"No, you aren't," Harris said, knowing even as he said it, it was part of the reason he had fallen in love with her in the first place.

Andromeda Tonks, a woman of mystery and contradictions. A woman who would kill for her family, had power enough to rival even Harris, yet also a woman who was afraid. So very afraid.

A fear she had allowed to eat away her reason and ability to fight.

He supposed, this wasn't really about him or Ted or even Nymphadora. Andromeda, the middle child trying to take care of an older sister who had been pulled into a cult and a younger sister who had fallen in love with a terrorist.

In hindsight, Andromeda should have just murdered her parents, murdered the Lestrange brothers and Lucius Malfoy. Instead, she had fallen in love with the gentleness of a humble man and ran away with him; and kept running.

Harris had fallen in love with the woman who was broken as he was, who knew the worst the world had to offer but still loved and cherished her family anyway. He had made peace with knowing that she would always love Ted and Nymphadora more than any others; he had not counted on magic giving her the keys to cheat death and time. He never would have guessed she would gamble their lives away in remaking the world.

But that was the paradox of her, she was fire and ash. Passion and ruin.

Hope and destruction.

Stars above, he would always love her but he would never forgive her.

Andromeda seemed to read it all on his face as she turned her wrist, her wand slipping into her grasp as she held onto Ted.

This was it, this was the end of their story. She would die soon, the pain in her face was more than emotional, her stumble more than a show of distress.

She was actively dying, and it would be slow and painful, likely some portion of time related to how far she had taken them into the past.

"Andromeda," Bella called.

Andromeda paused, "Bella."

"Goodbye, sister," Bella said, squeezing Harris's waist.

Andromeda smiled softly, "I love you."

She and Ted disappeared with a pop, followed by a second as Nymphadora departed.

"She took everything from you, and you still helped me?" Bella asked Harris.

He pulled her in for a proper hug, stroking her hair, "Whatever Andromeda's intentions, you never deserved your fate, Bella."

She pressed her face against his chest and shoulder, holding onto him for own sake as much as she was offering him comfort.

Harris didn't know what to think, what to feel.

Andromeda was dying.

He loved her.

He hated her.

He missed her.

He hated himself.

"She hasn't changed," Narcissa said softly.

Harris kissed Bella's head, "No, she hasn't."

"What are you going to do?" Narcissa asked.

He closed his eyes, succeeding in restraining the tears, "Go on living."

oOo

Note: A different vision of Andromeda than my usual, but I enjoy exploring flawed characters who act in illogical ways due to those flaws. Not everyone overcomes their issues and others often pay the price of that right along with them.

ANII: Thoughts on the chapter, sea tortoises, or feedback, pretty please?

Chapter 12: The Perfect Fool

Chapter Text

KEYnote: A huge section of Harry's development was covered in When Dragon Spoke to the Moon, it isn't covered in this story because Harris hasn't hit those life marks.

It covers Harris's divorce, what happened with Hermione, his relationship with his family and in-laws, as well as his fate if Luna was from Middle Earth and if Andromeda had never found the Belladonna Cure ;)

Chapter 12 - The Perfect Fool

Dear Mum,

I'm honestly growing worried about Harry. He's not in the hospital wing and there's been no rumours of him at St. Mungo's. Something terrible happened but no one will say what. The teachers are all upset and Harry hasn't written to me despite Hedwig, his snowy owl, being absent from the owlery.

He missed Monday's classes. The Gryffindors are saying he's a coward for hiding from him, but the Slytherins said he looked sick. Theo said his irises turned red. I'm sorry for going on and on but I don't know who else to talk to.

Everyone is assuming the worst of Harry and very few people are as worried about him as they ought to be.

Professor Snape looked ill too, really pale and I caught his hands shaking a few times. Something is wrong. I don't think Theo was lying about Harry's eyes, that can't be natural can it? I might ask Hermione, even if she doesn't like me much, for help finding something in the library about it.

She might not be around Harry as much these days, but she is always going to be his friend whether they know it or not.

I hope you're doing well in Heaven, I miss you.

With Love,

Luna

oOo

When push came to shove, Harris was a father before he was anything else. Despite his own sons and daughter being gone, he still had someone who needed him. Frankly though, he was grateful for a reason to set aside his heartbreak.

Narcissa took Bella to get settled while Harris climbed the steps, already cleaner for Narcissa having moved in. Sirius was standing outside of what he assumed was Harry's door looking conflicted.

Sirius looked up at him, "Harry, I'm so sorry."

Harris only shook his head, "How is he?"

"I died?"

"In one of Voldemort's traps that I fell for," Harris answered honestly.

Sirius frowned, "Time magic-"

"So much has already been changed, Sirius, what I tell you now is hardly likely to be anyone's future."

"Andromeda shouldn't have-"

"She broke, Sirius, everyone has their breaking point and she found hers," he said tonelessly.

The problem with loving someone as he loved Andromeda, was that he knew her. After seeing her today, after hearing her refusal to admit she had done anything wrong, he knew why she had done what she had, knew it better than she did.

Harris did blame her, but he understood that there was no getting over the loss of a child, there was just learning to live with it.

Andromeda Tonks was a woman of immense power and many regrets. Unlike Dumbledore she hadn't tried playing for the greater good, she wasn't Voldemort who thought to remake the world for her own benefit, she wasn't Harris who had sacrificed everything by trying to save everyone but himself. No, she hadn't done any of those things, instead she had taken herself out of the equation, locked up her power to keep from deciding the fates of others, to keep from hurting people.

Only, it hadn't worked, she had still hurt the people she loved, she had still lost everything, and she had contributed nothing, at least not until after it was too late.

Harris still thought it was more Ted and Nymphadora's fault for not trusting her, for not knowing that she would have protected them if they had let her.

But everything she went through, after making amends with Narcissa in their time, discovering the cure for the Longbottoms, something Andromeda was deeply ashamed for, and for Bella who she always believed was beyond saving…

It had been too much for her.

It was an explanation, he understood her, but it hit deep that she would hurt him like this, that she would trade away the family she still had.

If she had ever truly loved him, it had not meant enough to her to spare him this fate.

Of course, maybe she reasoned that he didn't matter so long as another vision of him found a happier life.

"Harris?"

He looked up to meet Sirius's worried gaze and asked again, "How is he?"

Sirius looked toward the closed door, "Shouldn't you know?"

Harris sighed, and knocked on the door, "Harry, it's me, may I come in?"

There was a long pause followed by a faint, "Yes."

Harris gave Sirius a parting look before entering and shutting the door behind him.

Harry was sitting at the bed, looking numbly down at his hands.

"If I were you," Harris said slowly, Harry's shoulder tensed at his poor excuse of a joke, "I would be wondering if happiness was ever going to be something I could hope to hold on to."

Harry looked up at him, "We're cursed."

Harris snorted, "Entirely possible. Our luck has a sadistic streak, that is certain. Always chaos, always surviving, when others don't."

Harry sniffed, "Why her?"

He took a long moment to answer that before saying, "In fourth year, Pettigrew killed Cedric, I blamed myself, naturally, and so did many others. My fifth year was hell. Voldemort haunted my dreams, I was Umbridge's favourite target, and Dumbledore forced Snape to give me private tutoring in the mind arts."

Harry gave him a horrified look.

Harris smirked, "Not quite as bad as getting possessed, but it still wasn't my idea of a good time."

Harry glanced down at his hands, "I'm glad Cedric is alive. I'm really sorry that I hurt Madame Pomfrey and Snape, but I'm glad Cedric lived. His dad is really proud of him, ya know?"

Harris smiled even as he remembered Amos Diggeray sobbing over his son's corpse. "I'm glad too."

"But why Andromeda, she's like really old, right?"

Harris shrugged, "Nymphadora and Remus got married, they had a son during the war, Teddy Remus Lupin, and I was his godfather. After Ted, Nymphadora, and Remus died in the war, Teddy went to live with his grandmother. I spent a lot of time with them and she… she understood. Everyone else, excluding Luna, wanted me to step up in the world, in the government, as an auror, as some sort of leader, Dumbledore's replacement. Others wanted me to be a kid, wanted me to return to school for my last year and just do what normal people my age did.

"But I didn't want any of that, I just wanted a family. With Andromeda and Teddy, I had that. Andromeda never asked for me to be other than I was. She was one of the few people who saw me as Harry and not the Chosen One," until recently.

"The Chosen One?"

"The prophecy," Harris sighed, "The attention got worse after I actually defeated Voldemort."

"Why didn't you kill him in the graveyard?"

"Because we are equals, there is no guarantee who will win. Besides, you were in danger."

"But why does it matter what happens to me if there are two of us?"

Harris put his hand on Harry's shoulder, "First, we are not the same. We share the same beginning, but I have no memories of this timeline. Second, since reality has failed to unravel, I believe it is safe to say there will be no time paradoxes like with the use of a time turner. We are separate entities." Harris smirked, "And you're still a minor."

"I thought you said I wasn't a child," Harry sassed.

Harris grinned, stars, he reminded him so much of his son James, "I meant you understood what was happening, not that you should be robbed further of a chance to enjoy your youth."

Harry tilted his head, "That's a… that's different than how Mrs. Weasley would have said it."

Harris grimaced, "She doesn't change, actually, she does, she gets worse."

"Did you really marry Ginny Weasley?"

He sighed, "Yes."

"But why? She's… she, I mean this is the first year she's been even slightly normal around me."

"Yeah, well, she turns into a real badass, and she was pretty hot."

Harry scrunched his nose, "But she is Ron's little sister."

"Definitely awkward, but not as awkward as Ron and Hermoine dating and then getting married."

Harry's expression at this was priceless and Harris laughed.

"How would that even work?" Harry asked, "They argue all the time, they are hardly even friends anymore since I started hanging out with the Slytherins."

Harris knew this from the bi-weekly letters they had been exchanging, "Theo and Blaise were my brothers-in-law, because of the way things fell out, we were never truly friends, but we were family. They are good people."

"Ron can't see past them being Slytherins and Hermione… Hermione doesn't like Luna."

Harris squeezed his shoulder, "Hermione likes Luna just fine, what she doesn't like is you out performing her in class and Luna becoming a closer friend to you. Hermione is, and will always be, Hermione the girl and woman who is steadfast and brilliant. Harry, you were her first friend. She has wrapped her self identity around being the clever one, being the one you turn to for help, and being the very best at everything save Defense Against the Dark Arts and flying on a broomstick. She is scared to lose a place in your life, and with how differently Hermione and Luna view the world, it does not surprise me she is blaming Luna for the distance between you."

Harry nodded, "That makes sense. Ron and Hermione also don't seem to get my teasing Draco. Since Aunt Narcissa said Draco had to be nice, he can't pick a fight with me. It's really funny to tease him now because, well, it's like there is no more competition anymore. I don't like him or anything but-"

"But you never set out to be his enemy in the first place," Harris supplied.

Harry nodded, "Exactly! I just want people who don't like me to leave me alone. And it's nice to like, pass Draco in the hall and not have it escalate into hissing insults and hexes."

"That's mostly Ron anyway. The true animosity was always between Ron and Draco, but Draco focused on you for being the famous one and treating Ron like he was lesser than."

"That and him insulting Hermione," Harry added.

"And that. Draco's son never married one of my children, but he was Blasie's brother-in-law, we made many a comment at Draco's expense."

"Did you really marry Ginny just because she was pretty?" Harry asked.

Harris sighed, "No, I married her because I thought I loved her. I thought she had gotten over the hero worship, but she wanted the fame and she wanted to be young. I wanted to start a family and fade into the background."

"Aren't you going to tell me not to go out with her?"

Harris shrugged, "It's your life, Harry. I can tell you anything you want about my past, but it will never match your future. Too much has been changed already. For instance, Cho Chang-"

Harry flushed.

Harris flashed a grin at him before continuing, "Was still heartbroken over Cedric's death. My first kiss involved her crying over Cedric."

Harry gaped at him, "Why did she kiss you then?"

Harris shrugged, "For the same reason most people wanted to be with me. She also saw me as someone who would miss Cedric. But that was a traumatic memory for me, and I only knew Cedric well enough to know that he was a good person and that his death was a tragedy. We also had very different ideas of romance. Gin was easy to talk to, whatever else was between us, we were friends in the beginning."

"In the end?" Harry asked.

Harris shook his head, "It got complicated, I wanted a divorce and she stopped at nothing to try and keep me. Including becoming pregnant."

Harry blinked, "If you were trying to divorce her then why would-"

"I wasn't okay after the war, I had my own scars. When Gin tried to hurt me, I tried to hurt her back, but the twins, Rose and James… they were my world, a world that included their mother."

Harry rounded his shoulders, "I don't think I want to marry Ginny, not ever, not the person she is now and not after what you just told me."

"It's your life, Harry. You might marry someone else and have kids or adopt children who will mean just as much to you as they meant to me."

"But we are cursed," Harry stated.

"I have done everything in my power to give you your life back. Dumbledore will not be involved, Snape will never attempt to hurt you, Sirius is free, and the Blacks are united. The Black family, Harry, isn't anything to screw with. Take Bella for instance, she was Voldemort's right hand, and I've freed her from him as well. Narcissa is also willing to fight for you and Draco now. Draco is unlikely to be pressured into helping his father, the same is true of Theo. My life went to shit because I was piece on a board, but no one is pulling our strings anymore. We are free."

Harry looked away, "But happiness-"

"Happiness is not something that once reached can be kept, like all things, it ages and grows and wanes and is born again. I haven't killed Voldemort yet because chasing him leaves the people I need to protect vulnerable. He is very good at running and I'm not about to race into a trap."

"But what if he hurts someone?" Harry asked.

Harris smiled sadly, "It's not an if. He will hurt people, but you and I have done much to weaken him. But no one can protect everyone. I've set my own traps, and soon his anger will outweigh his cowardice; then I will end him."

"I thought you said you were equals."

"We are, but I know him and he doesn't know me, I have the advantage and he won't be ready for me to use lethal force. I haven't hurt any of his followers and killing his soul pieces isn't exactly the same thing as killing a person."

"So that's it then, Andromeda ruins our life and you do what she wants anyway?" Harry asked.

Harris sighed, looking away, "I'm older now, Harry, I've lived my life. I'm going to remake this world not because anyone wants me to, but because people I still love are alive. I'm doing this for you, for Sirius, for Hermione, Luna, Ron, Theo, Blaise, and for all the people at Hogwarts, for your futures, for your descendants. The wizarding world took everything I was and reshaped my story to their narrative. It's high time I repay the favour."

He smirked at Harry before continuing, "Dumbledore couldn't do it because of his prejudices. He condemned the old families, and rather than winning over the children from those families, he leaned into the divides between Slytherin and the other houses."

"Why does it all come back to Hogwarts?"

"Because our community is so small that ninety percent of the population went through those halls, and because Hogwarts is where the Ministry, Dumbledore, and Voldemort chose as their battlefield."

"It doesn't seem right," Harry said.

"No, it doesn't."

"Do you really believe we can ever lead a life that belongs to us?"

Harris touched Harry's chin, turning him to face him, "The misery in my adult life, Harry, was caused by me. I went along with too much, I allowed myself to be pushed and used and most of my actions were reactionary. I married Ginny because it's what I thought I should have done. I hid from the public and they published whatever they liked about me unchallenged. I never knew what I wanted until I realized it could be taken from me.

"So find what you like, decide who you want to spend time with. It doesn't matter what Molly Weasley thinks of you, it doesn't matter what our parents might have wanted from you. Dumbledore and Dursleys made us believe that kindness was rare and loyalty to a cause was goodness. But blind loyalty is not something a true friend will ask you for, and some people are not kind until you give them the opportunity to."

"Like Theo and Blaise," Harry said quietly.

Harris nodded, "You and I played peacemaker between Ron and Hermione so often we never had time for anyone else. But it isn't your job to fix them."

"They've stood by me when no one else would have," Harry defended.

"Ron and Hermione are not the only fighters at Hogwarts. I spent so much time trying to make other people happy that there was nothing left for me."

"So what, I trust that other people will be good to me?"

"Be brave, Harry, pain and death are a part of living, but there is still joy, family, and friends to outweigh the sorrows. So be brave."

Harry frowned at him, "I am a Gryffindor."

Harris chuckled, "You are also a Slytherin, a survivalist, which is ironic with how often we chase down life threatening circumstances. Thus why the Sorting Hat agreed with making us lions. But remember this, you are more afraid of being disliked by your friends than you fear dying for the people you love. Fighting isn't easy, but it is clear. Personal relationships are harder."

Harry let out a puff of air, "Yeah, I guess I am. Though, I think I've done pretty well this year."

Harris grinned, "Yes, you have. Are you happier than you were?"

Harry winced, "Gryffindor House is going to hate me when I get back, I lost them the Quidditch match."

"So quit."

"What!?" Harry exploded, "But you know how much it means to me!"

"I know it's not worth your life, I also know that if the Gryffindor House sees themselves as the reason you quit, and they lose the next game, they will be begging for you to come back."

"But-"

"Did Angelina really pressure you into flying when you were feeling unwell."

"I mean, yes, but-"

"I'll speak to her."

"No! I'm not going to be Draco Malfoy asking for-"

"Asking for what? Help when someone needlessly endangers your life? Tell me Harry, how many times have you wished an adult would take you seriously and step in? How many tragedies could have been avoided if someone listened, if someone spoke up? How many times have you been punished for something that has happened to you?"

Harry didn't answer him.

"You don't have to take my advice, but I will be stepping in. Umbridge went unchecked for far too long, if I step in now, I can step in again before something terrible happens."

Harry let out a long breath, then said, "Thank you."

Harris pulled the boy in for a hug, "You're going to be okay."

Harry hugged him back, but whispered, "You can't promise that."

Harris squeezed him, "Maybe not, but I can do my best, and that's all anyone can do." He pulled back, "Harry, you are one of the most powerful wizards in history, embrace it, believe in yourself. We are a part of magic, the things we can do will amaze you. Don't do it for fame or glory, don't do it to have power over others or for grades and your professors, do it for yourself. Magic is something no one has the power to take away from you."

Harry nodded, "Okay."

Harris stood, "Goodnight, Harry."

"Goodnight, Mr. Black," Harry responded, telling Harris that he would, or at least try to accept the fact that they were different people.

Harris left, closing the door softly behind him. He leaned back against the door for a moment before taking in a deep breath and descending the stairs.

He really hoped Sirius had rum.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the crystal decanter on the table. Harris reached for it even as he took a seat between Sirius and Bella. He knocked back a tumbler then refilled it with the intention of nursing it through the upcoming interrogation.

Narcissa was the first to speak; "You're Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived?"

Harris smirked at her, "Is there a problem, Cissa dearest?"

She bared her teeth at him, as she gritted out, "Yes, I slept with a boy my son's age."

Harris chuckled, "First, I am not fifteen and second, when I actually was your son's age in our twenties, that didn't exactly deter you."

Her blue eyes widened, even as she snapped, "What does that mean?"

Harris smirked, "You really think I'm that good I would know your body that intimately on the first go?"

Narcissa's cheeks were pink, "I wouldn't have-"

"Had a threesome with one of your sisters?" Harris shot back.

Sirius choked on his own spirits and Regulus looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

Bella started cackling.

Narcissa snarled at her older sister, "Shut it."

"You did it for the same reason," Harris continued, "Or I mean you did me for the same reason. Have you told Lucius about us?"

Narcissa straightened in her seat, raising her chin, "I did."

"Excellent," Harris said with a smirk, taunting Lucius Malfoy was one of his favourite activities.

"How did you and Andromeda get together?" Narcissa asked as Sirius was spelling away the liquor poured down his front.

"Her grandson was my godson, we raised him together. My own marriage was a ruin. One thing led to another… it started as sex, it turned into more."

"But she betrayed you too," Bella said.

Harris shrugged, the zing of the spirits both deepening and softening the pain in his heart, "She broke. Andromeda invented the Belladonna Cure. When she realized it could undo the damage to the Longbottoms and Bella, her guilt outweighed any sort of reason."

"You sound calm," Regulus noted, his voice deeper than his frame indicated it might be.

"If I start screaming now, I'll never stop," Harris said evenly, "Besides, I have shit to do."

"Like what?" Narcissa asked.

Harris smiled slowly as he swirled the liquid in his desk, "Pissing off a certain Dark Lord, interfering at Hogwarts, and-" He gestured to the four other people at the table, "Raising the House of Black from the ashes."

Sirius groaned, "You want us to get involved in politics?"

"How are you doing, Regulus?" Harris asked.

The man flicked blue-grey eyes to him, the same colour that Sirius and Harris had. "I cannot thank you enough for getting me out. I thought…" he shook his head, "But it has been easier than I thought it would be to regain myself. It was like being caught in an endless nightmare, but my body hasn't changed, I haven't aged -physically, that is."

"So you're sane and in control?" Harris asked.

"As sane as a Black can be," Regulus said with a twist of lips that wasn't quite a smile.

"Will you be prosecuted if you reenter society?" Harris asked.

"Unlikely," Narcissa said, "it is pretty well known that Regulus was personally murdered by the Dark Lord for betraying him. After you freed Sirius and Bella, to prosecute Regulus now with the court already knowing the truth is messy, they won't touch it. Besides, Reggie was just a researcher, he never killed or tortured anyone."

Sirius blinked at his brother, "Really?"

Regulus nodded.

Sirius let out a great breath of relief.

"Thank you again, Harris, for removing the Dark Mark," Regulus said.

Harris inclined his head, "Anytime." Then took another swig from his glass.

"You removed my Dark Mark? That's why it's gone?" Bella asked, looking at Harris with wide brown eyes.

"Yep," he said, finishing off his glass before refilling it.

"We should be more worried about Bella," Narcissa said seriously.

"Especially after what you did to the Longbottoms," Sirius said, fighting and failing to keep the heat from his voice.

Bella scowled at him, "I didn't do anything to them."

"You tortured them into insanity," Sirius snapped

"No," Bella growled, "I didn't."

"My apologies," Sirius said with veneum, "You must have just stood back and laughed at the wonderful entertainment."

Harris just kept drinking, surely he could get blitzed tonight? Narcissa could handle Bella. She was getting better, even with Sirius provoking her.

Hell, Bellatrix was currently more stable than Andromeda both now and when Harris had begun helping her with Teddy after the Battle of Hogwarts.

"I didn't!" Bella yelled, "I was tortured with them!"

Harris stilled, giving the woman ready to rip Sirius's face off his full attention.

"Why would your own husband, brother-in-law, and Crouch Jr. torture you?" Sirius asked coldly.

"Because I saved Neville Longbottom," she sneered.

Sirius gaped at her.

Harris should have been surprised, but whether it was just being done with everything and everyone today or the liquor making its way to his head, all he could muster was the dry remark, "Good to know you have standards."

Bella glowered at him, "I've killed more people than you can imagine but even I draw the line at killing babies."

"Why return to the manor?" Narcissa asked, "If you betrayed them, why return when you knew Rodolphus would do to you?"

"Where else was I supposed to go, Cissa?" she asked, "It isn't as though I'm innocent, I just didn't do that."

"Why laugh at your trial?" Harris asked out of curiosity as the pieces of who Bella was fell into place; the reasons why Andromeda had been so desperate to save her.

Bella shrugged, "Because he lost, because they lost because it was all bloody pointless, live or die, it didn't matter. They thought the mudblood would be the ruin of us but we did that to ourselves a century ago."

Harris observed her before dunking back his drink again. Stars, he didn't want to think anymore, he didn't want to feel anymore.

"How old were you when you slept with my sister?" Bella asked.

"Which one?" Harris asked as he began pouring himself another drink. He wanted to black out, he wanted…

He avoided that line of thought with another long intake of the amber drink.

"Andromeda," Bella specified.

"Nineteen," Harris answered, "My marriage to my wife was that fucked by two years in." He looked into his glass and remembered Gin drugging him with aphrodisiacs. He had sworn off drinking after…

He drank that thought away too.

Funny, Gin was the cause of his sobriety and Andromeda was the cause of his relapse.

That sounded about right.

"What happened to you?" Sirius asked him.

"After I got you killed?" Harris asked, "You didn't make it through this year. The war started after that. I got one more year at Hogwarts in which everyone wanted to pretend to be kids while Draco was being used as a would-be assassin for Dumbledore by Voldemort and Dumbledore was leading me down the path of martyrdom. Child soldiers, the lot of us. Narcissa made a deal with Snape and Dumbledore, in the end, had Snape kill him.

"Seventh year, Death Eaters took over the school. I went on the run, camping in the woods mostly, with Hermione and Ron. Shit happened, the final battle was fought at Hogwarts. A lot of children died. Nymphadora, Remus, and Bella were killed then. I let Voldemort kill me because Dumbledore told me to, then I woke up and killed Voldemort. Fun times."

He finished his third glass, or was it the fifth?

"Bloody hell," Sirius cursed.

"Dumbledore is evil," Narcissa hissed.

"~So is your husband," Harris hissed back.

They all stared at him with odd expressions.

"What?" he asked.

"Parseltongue," Narcissa said, regaining her composure first because of course she did.

He rolled his eyes and repeated in slow English, "So is your husband."

The blonde grit her teeth, "How did you survive dying?"

He tapped his scar, "The same way I did when I had Bella hit me with the Killing Curse. Stupid horcruxes, Harry's came to me easy enough though, Voldemort won't be able to possess him through it again."

Sirius gaped at him, "You had Bella hit you with the killing curse?"

Bella grinned, "I killed the Dark Lord."

"A piece of him at any rate, all that's left his man eating snake and the bastard himself," Harris said, his head spinning now, his shoulders starting to relax a bit.

"Are you suicidal?" Sirius demanded.

Harris actually laughed, "I was raised for slaughter, Sirius, then I lost my entire family to the woman I've been in love with for thirty bloody fucking years. Of course I am."

It was nice to say, nice to share, make them realize how little he cared anymore.

He didn't care anymore.

Sure, he would try, for Harry, for his old friends, for this little broken family, but really? It was spite that was holding him together.

Spite, yeah, spite was reason enough to keep from passing on into the next life. He finished another glass, and when he found the decanter empty, he twisted his hand, wordlessly and wandlessly accioing a bottle to his hand. He began to pour it, then thought, fuck it, and drank straight from the bottle.

"Maybe you should ease up on the drinking," Sirius recommended.

Harris ignored him.

"You defeated the Dark Lord at seventeen?" Regulus asked.

Harris shrugged, "I killed him at eleven actaully." Then shook his head his vision swimming a bit, "I mean, I killed his host, Quir-" his words slurred, "Professor Quirrelmort. Unicorn blood drinker, disgusting, and Voldemort stuck on the back of his head like a fleshy leach," Harris gestured to the back of his own head and made a grotesque face.

"How?" Regulus asked.

Harris shrugged, "My mother's bloodward. Voldemort couldn't touch me; it burned, nearly killing myself too in the process. But that's why he did the whole grand scheme of the Triwizard Tournament so he could get my blood to use. He doesn't like being told no."

Bella grimaced.

Narcissa was drumming her fingernails on the table, "What happened in your second year when Lucius set a basilisk on the school?"

"What!?" Sirius and Regulus exclaimed.

"Big snake, parseltongue, people blamed me of course, that was fun. That stupid diary, also a stupid fucking horcrux that almost ate Gin. Possessed her to kill all of Hagrid's chickens -I'm sorry, roasters. Fawkes helped too. He blinded the Basilisk, brought me the Sorting Hat, the Gryffindor sword and I stabbed it through the mouth, got stabbed myself on a fang. Used said fang to stab the horcrux and Fawkes cried for me," Harris explained, or tried to, he couldn't be sure if he slurred some more or not.

"At twelve?" Regulus asked.

Harris grinned, "Made the dragon in the First task seem tame, at least the horn tail was chained up."

"Merlin, Harry, how much trouble-" Sirius began

"Can a couple of kids get into?" Harris finished, "In the original timeline, Hermione and I started a DADA club and dubbed ourselves Dumbledore's Army. A few of us broke into the ministry of magic and had our first true battle with Death Eaters. None of us died surprisingly enough, except you, Sirius, and a couple of Death Eaters, though none of us really remembers who killed who."

There was a heavy silence, that Harris filled by tipping back the bottle, his stomach aching a bit for filling up on fluids this fast.

He ignored it.

"And here I thought our childhoods were messed up," Regulus said.

Harris stood abruptly and would have fallen over if Bella hadn't caught him.

He leaned into her and whispered into her ear, "You are the smart one." Then hissed in parseltongue, "~And the most beautiful."

Bella shuttered against him and he laughed.

He laughed because he didn't want to cry. He was supposed to be the head of this broken house, he would not cry in front of them.

Regulus reached across Bella to take the bottle from Harris's hand.

Harris let him.

He also allowed Sirius to help him up on his other side, because while needing help after drinking that much that fast wasn't ideal, falling on his face was not the point of this.

No, the point was to make himself forget the pain, the loss, the faces of his children, of his granddaughter who he had been so excited to meet, so proud of.

Living proof that all he had suffered, that all the mistakes he had made both as a person and as a parent had amounted to something so beautiful.

Someone so entirely perfect who he had every intention of showering with love and attention.

He didn't have to be scared of being a bad parent or failing her, that was Teddy's responsibility…

Teddy who had turned into such a wizard, such a father.

Dad, I know my parents died for me but you're the man who raised me. I know it couldn't have been easy at seventeen, I know your friends didn't approve of you giving up your own pursuits for me, and I know I'm the reason you couldn't live with James and Rose full time anymore, but I'm so grateful. I was given Remus's name, but you're always going to be the one I think of as my father.

When I tell people I want to be like you, I don't mean how they know of the Great Harry Potter. No, I want to be the kind of father for my daughter that you were for me. I want Magnolia to know every single day that she is loved and wanted. I want to be her hero, not because I saved the world, but because I was there for her when it wasn't easy, because I was there for all her birthdays and holidays, for all the good mornings and good nights. I want to be her hero because I helped teach her how to face her fear and helped her through them.

I might not always succeed, but she's never going to doubt that I tried the best I could for her.

I love you, Dad, and I know little Magnolia is going to love her grandfather just as much as I do.

Harris didn't remember how he got into bed, he didn't remember much of what he had said during the 'family meeting', he was just glad of the hangover that gave his misery a physical form in the morning.

Physical pain he could deal with.

But he honestly didn't know how long he could continue on like this.

Because who was he really?

A few months ago, he would have told anyone quite proudly that he was a father, that he was Magnolia's grandfather.

Hermione and Luna, the whole extended family had begun to tease Harris for how excited he had been over the new baby before she was even born.

Their little Magnolia.

He wasn't anyone's grandfather now, he was just a powerful wizard with not much to live for. He would keep going through the motions but he had to wonder if Andromeda knew that when she erased them, she had killed him as well?

Even if he survived, went on living, Teddy's father, the twins' father, Magnolia's grandfather, the original Harry Potter was dead.

Harris Magnolia Black was caught between stepping in to correct all those who had failed him in his youth and setting the world ablaze himself.

The world was so set in destroying itself, after all, that lighting a few matches wouldn't require much effort at all.

oOo

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was trying, unsuccessfully, to figure out who had murdered his brother. Of all the things going on, from Harry being possessed by Voldemort, to Bellatrix Lestrange being on the loose, to Harris Black being a massive pain in his arse.

Honestly, he couldn't understand why Sirius trusted him so. Certainly, Albus had interceded in Harry's life, but it had been necessary, and how was he to know that the Dursleys wouldn't merely dislike Harry but hate him. Albus had thought too well of Lily to think any relative of hers could be so… evil.

It was hard to defend himself against all of Harris's accusations, because he had been right about most of Albus's mistakes, and because…

Well, it sounded so naive when said out loud, but Albus had kept hoping that things would get easier for Harry, that he would have time to be a child.

The connection between Voldemort and Harry had gone deeper than he feared and he knew of no way to remove it without killing or crippling Harry.

Dear Harry,

I was wrong in your second year, it wasn't just a piece of Voldemort's magic he passed on to you, it was a piece of his soul that most definitely is draining you of life energy and will one day grow strong enough to overcome you and use your body as his permanent host.

Oh, and by the by, there is this prophecy, yes, the very one that had Voldemort after you and Neville in the first place, that led to the tragic one deaths of both your parents, and the thing says that only you can stop Voldemort, likely at the price of both of you dying.

Which makes sense now that I know you're partially already possessed. Honestly, it's amazing you've lasted this long, if you were a weaker wizard, you would already be dead. So thanks for being you; and yes, the world literally rests on your shoulder.

Yours Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore

Yes, that would have gone down well. How Harris seemed to know all this was terrifying because it meant that Voldemort might already know.

Harris Black seemed to know a lot about everyone yet no-one knew him.

Did it rankle that Harris was possibly a better wizard in magic than Albus? Absolutely. He was self aware enough to know why he had provoked the other man, originally just to test the limits.

Only for Albus to discover that age was catching up with him and all the power in the world couldn't restore him.

All things came to an end, him included. No matter how 'great' he was, he wouldn't be around forever. The wizarding world was in trouble, Hogwarts was in trouble, and the only person other than himself that stood a chance against the Dark Lord was a fifteen year old boy and a pureblood who despite setting himself up as Voldemort's enemy was getting cozy with Voldemort's lieutenant.

Albus was growing desperate, the Order of the Phoenix wasn't what it had been, the Ministry was in shambles, and the wizarding people? What was left of them at any rate, were tired.

When they would finally be motivated to fight, they would be far, far too late.

Albus's wayward thoughts tugged him backwards, no pensive necessary, to a time when he was young and arrogant and in love with a boy who was his world.

It was the horizon line of the Scottish mountains that one saw standing atop the astronomy tower at Hogwarts. Albus remembered that one evening with painful clarity. He had just been hired as the Transfiguration professor and Gellert had come to congratulate him. On that tower they had spoken of their dreams and ambitions and shared their first kiss.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to never hide? To live and love openly?" Gellert had asked.

Albus was young and British, and knew that his love for Gellert was enough of a reason for the muggles to imprison him, or perhaps worse even without knowing about the magical gifts they possessed.

"We have the power to change the world," Albus had answered with the naivety of someone who thought they could deal with anything as long as they had a friend, a lover, on their side.

"Come with me, Albus, let us change the world together," Gellert had pleaded.

Albus had almost gone with him, but he remembered his sister, his brother… "I can't, Gellert, I'm sorry, but I'll always support you."

"Is this because of Aberforth, that bitter brother of yours? What happened to your sister wasn't your fault, Al."

"No, it's not him, this is about my own dreams. I'm a professor at Hogwarts now. Changing the world starts with them, these students, -my- students. If I can direct their education I can redirect the future."

Pure arrogance.

Gellert shook his head sadly, taking Albus's hand in his, "I don't have the patience for that."

Albus had known there was darkness in Gellert but not the extent of becoming a dark lord.

It's hard to imagine the people you love could be quite so monstrous. Gellert had seduced many to his cause, Albus included.

They had kissed then, and Albus knew he should have broken things off with Gellert, knew the dangers, knew that his sister wouldn't have died if Albus had stirred clear of this wizard.

But love was a strange power.

"Albus, do you mean it? Will you always be on my side?"

"I promise."

Albus had been a perfect fool.

Gellert had played his cards wisely, pressing a pendant into his hand, "I'm sorry about what happened to Ariana. Let's make a pact so nothing like that could ever happen between us. I swear, Al, that I'll never harm you." He had pressed his thumb into the edge of the pendant.

Albus had followed him.

He had come to regret that, had ended up asking the man in front of him to help correct that wrong. Albus had betrayed Gellert and Gellert's vision for the future of their world had failed.

He tried not to wonder what would have happened if he had stayed with Gellert.

How the world would be if he embarrassed his curiosities and truer ambitions? He often shied away from the regret of never knowing.

Perhaps, Harris Black was right about Albus. Perhaps he hadn't grown as much as he had fooled himself into believing.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, what did you like about this chapter or want more of in the future, leopard seals, or feedback, please?

Chapter 13: A New Beginning

Chapter Text

WARNING: Short chapter :D but thanks for the support, 1k reviews, 2k favourites, and 3k followers, and to think this story is only the beginning.

Thank you, Nauze!

Chapter 13 - A New Beginning

To say it was strange, Ted thought while standing over his wife's grave, to not think it should have been me but to know it should have been, was an understatement.

Of Andromeda's family, only Sirius and Regulus showed up, then Kingsley and Amelia and a few of his classmates from Hufflepuff.

Cause of death? Cancer. Magical cancer that had made her sick and caused black lines to stripe her limbs with black veins. Ted felt stupid for not having noticed it sooner, to have dismissed her occasional cough of the last few months, the odd mood swings from the summer. But there had been no visible signs until the end.

His friend at St. Mungos hadn't wanted to tell him the cause of the death, nor the details, of how the curse she had been using had bloomed near root chakra and had spread from there. Her body was eating itself until the decay reached her heart.

The disease, the curse, had sped exponentially, spread through her blood, and once it reached her brain, death was inevitable.

Only her death had stopped it.

Dora was devastated and Ted…

He was broken because he was grateful.

Choosing between Andromeda's death and his daughter's…

He would always choose his daughter, just like he knew if it was himself or Nymphadora, Andromeda would always choose Dora.

It was what it meant to be a parent, how things should be, and it broke his heart that Andromeda had been powerful enough to have the ability to make that choice.

A choice that was never intended for mortals to have. Ted's mother had assured him that she would go to hell for witchcraft but then, he supposed, she thought the same about him.

Huddling in his coat jacket, standing alone at the grave, he almost didn't notice Harris Black approach.

Ted looked up at the man, his sapphire eyes hard and distant, staring down at the tombstone as if he were thinking of spitting on it.

The quiet pooled between them, until he couldn't take it anymore, and he blurted, "You loved her?"

Those dark blue eyes flicked to him, considering, before saying, "Yes, I did."

"Do you still?" Ted asked, for some perverse reason wanting to know he wasn't alone in this pain, in having loved a woman whose loss was of her own making.

Harris sighed, looking down at the dirt, "I hate her, Ted Tonks, and I suppose, that yes, I do, because hating someone has never hurt this much."

Ted swallowed hard before saying, "Thank you."

Harris's gaze snapped back up meeting his, "For what?"

"For taking care of her, for loving her, for taking care of my grandson, even if she betrayed you, I'm- thank you. My family wouldn't have…" Ted trailed off, his heart twisting.

Harris nodded, "I know."

Ted thought he would have hated any man who would have slept with his wife, but Ted couldn't hate the man who had picked up the pieces of his family after his death. Nor could he be jealous, not when Andromeda had chosen him, humble little Hufflepuff, over the man that Harry Potter had grown into.

"I meant it," Harris continued, "You and Nymphadora are a part of House Black."

Ted looked back at the grave. "There was a time when she would have done just about anything to have us accepted by the family."

Harris didn't answer for a long time. Ted had just about given up on any further conversation when Harris said in a hoarse voice, "She stole everything from me, and I wish every day that she had simply murdered me in my sleep, that when Voldemort killed me, that I had stayed dead. I have never wished for death, but she's taught me to crave it. I'm never going to see my sons again. I'm never going to get back to the daughter I walked down the aisle. I am never going to know my granddaughter, to know the person she would have become."

Ted looked at him, and felt suddenly very small. He had no words of comfort to offer, no way to relate.

To lose a spouse, to be betrayed by a partner was an indescribable pain, but to outlive one's children, one's grandchildren, that was unimaginable, and Ted envied Harris Black not at all.

And standing at his wife's graveside, he felt selfishly grateful for not being Harry Potter, the man who had lived through far too much.

oOo

Harry Potter, the younger, was petting Buckbeak, who he and Luna were leaning against by the firelight. Everyone else, the Weasley twins, Theo and Blaise, were in chairs around the open bonfire.

Suffice it to say, things at Hogwarts were not improving. He had done what Harris had suggested and had quit the Gryffindor team. But he had let Harris off the hook for talking to Angelina for two reasons, one, the man -future him- was obviously distraught, and two, Harry knew if he had felt that bad that if he had to confront anyone, he would have lost his temper.

And while Angelina definitely deserved a talking down to, she didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of that.

"You should just transfer into Slytherin," Theo suggested.

Harry snorted, "Yeah, because that is going to make things better."

"At least no one would try hexing you in your sleep," Blaise noted.

Cormac McLaggen had done so and had nearly been thrown through the wall when Harry had woken to a stinging hex in a panic.

Needless to say, McLaggen hadn't tried that again.

"Yes," Fred said.

"Because historically," George continued.

"The Slytherins have been Harry's biggest-" Fred picked up before they said together bookending each other with one handed quotation marks as each of them had are marshmallow stick, "'fans.'"

No one argued, Slytherin really wasn't somewhere he would be 'safer' because while he and the fifth year class, oddly not excluding Draco, were getting on just fine, the rest of Slytherin House wasn't exactly filled to brim with 'Boy Who Lived' supporters.

"Speaking of defense," Theo said, "We need to do something about Umbridge."

Professor Scamander came out then, floating them all hot cups of cocoa, nothing like s'mores and hot cocoa at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry took Luna's marshmallow stick so she could warm both her hands on the mug of chocolate-y goodness, Harry sipped from his own one handed, trying not to get too much whip cream on his lips.

Professor Scamander was literally the best teacher ever (sorry Hagrid, this professor hasn't accidentally fed us to man-eating spiders or blast-ended skrewts).

Scamander grinned, "Oh, nothing like a good revenge plot. What do you all have in mind?"

"Shouldn't you be chiding us?" Fred asked.

Scamander shrugged, "She tried to get me fired, along with Professor Flitwick. She has also been trying to push several unfortunate laws in Britain. I can't help you directly, Dumbledore wouldn't forgive me, but I'm sure as spikes, not going to stop you."

Sure as spikes.

Yeah, Scamander was just awesome.

"While I would enjoy screwing her over, I meant our Defense class. We have to pass our OWLs this year," Theo said.

Harry shrugged, "I've gone over the things that will and might be on the exam, it's all pretty basic."

"Basic?" Thoe asked incredulously, "I grew up with the Dark Arts and I'm not confident I could even define all the charms and counter-curses on the exam guide."

Scamander shrugged, "You are all doing well in my class, half of the exam is knowing your Magical Creatures."

"It's easier than the Triwizard Tournament," Harry said, "That's why I learned that material."

"Yeah," Blaise said, annoyed, "Because you were basically testing for a real world version of the seventh year course work."

"Exactly," Harry said with a grin. "Hermione helped me a lot too, though."

"Who knew she would get along with the Hufflepuffs so well," Fred said without malice.

Harry nodded in agreement.

Hermione and Harry didn't really hang out anymore, as she was always with Neville, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones. But Hermione, Neville, Fred, and George were the only ones who didn't hate him left in Gryffindor.

Because it didn't at all matter what he said anymore, he was a Slytherin in lion skin, according to the school, he had purposely botched the match.

Harry was just glad no one knew he had been possessed by Lord Voldemort, that Snape, at least had forgiven him, and Madame Pomfrey, who had also forgiven him and even told him off for blaming himself at all, had fully recovered, not so much as a scar remained from his attack on her.

Harry still had night terrors about it, but after seeing what his older, time travelling counterpart was dealing with, it was really hard to complain too much.

Luna took back the marshmallow sticks, bobbing them above the flames as Harry took his mug in both hands, soaking in the moment of being surrounded by friends, an adult who cared about his safety, a beautiful night beneath the stars, and a protective hippogryph at his back.

"I bet I could teach you guys, if you wanted," Harry said.

"Hell, I want to learn from you, Potter," George said, "I think you might be the best in the school for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Just not the best at the Dark Arts," Blaise said with a sly smile.

Professor Scamander hummed, "I know a room in the castle you could use, but as a professor, I feel that I should advise you to teach more than just this group. There is a war about to start, after all."

"Why don't you teach us?" Fred asked.

"Because Umbridge will give him the boot, that's why," Theo said.

Scamander gave that quirky smile of his and took a deep draw from his hot cocoa.

He didn't care about the whip cream moustache.

George sighed, "I hate to say this but I don't think we should invite the other Gryffindors."

Fred nodded, "At least Slytherin can keep a secret."

"Ravenclaw thinks the Gryffindors are being daft about blaming Harry over being ill," Luna said.

Theo sighed, "Hufflepuff should be pretty reliable, but I doubt you could avoid Longbottom and Granger joining."

"Those two we can trust," Harry said.

Luna pointed the marshmallow stick at him and Harry bit it off, his mouth full gooey sweetness crisped to the perfect degree.

Luna grinned at him, "I suppose we are starting a rebellion."

Gazing at her like this, her eyes like reflecting pools of light, her hair a glowing blaze lit by the fire and the half moon above, Harry couldn't help thinking she was the most beautiful person on the planet.

oOo

AN: Short, I know, but what did you like about the chapter and what interactions and character moments do you want to see in the next?

Chapter 14: A Life Sentence

Chapter Text

Thank you, Theo for betaing this chapter!

Chapter 14 - A Life Sentence

It was funny, after years of Azkaban, after losing her sister, again, Bella had never felt so… in control of her own actions.

Her thoughts were steady, well, she still wasn't exactly a normal person, but that had always been to try. She was far too exceptional to ever be considered 'normal.'

Still, independence suited her. As Harris grew more withdrawn, Bella was left more and more on her own.

And she enjoyed it.

Though Harris kept the bracelets on, she welcomed his presence. Welcomed her freedom while not being alone, welcomed the increased strength of their combined magic. The bands allowed him to read her intent when using her magic, so he rarely if ever prevented her from using it.

This night, however, something had woken her.

She got out of bed, the satin of her nightgown brushing against her thighs as she padded through the silent apartment.

She didn't knock before she softly opened the door.

"Harris," she whispered, as she approached the bed.

Harris was curled around himself, the blankets and sheets kicked off the bed. His breathing was heavy, his muscles tense as he battled demons in his nightmares.

She pulled the sheets up over him, then the covers. He didn't wake up, so she climbed under the sheets with him. He shuddered as she touched his side, but he didn't strike her. As she settled, making herself comfortable on his pillow, Harris turned abruptly, wrapping his arms around her. Holding her close against his chest, he pressed his face to her hair.

His breathing evened out and slowly, ever so slowly, the tension eased from him. Harris sighed, and breathed into the night, "I love you."

Those words weren't for her. He was asleep, he didn't know who he held, and she knew, she knew, those words were for a dead woman.

But still, at least for tonight, she let herself believe it was meant for her. Where no man had ever said those words to her, never felt that for her, she let herself believe that this man did.

That she was loved.

That she was deserving of love.

When she woke, she was alone in Harris's bed. He made no mention of the night nor his nightmares as she sat down for the breakfast that he served to her wordlessly.

They never spoke of that night.

But whether it was her traitorous hope or reality, something seemed to change between them after that.

She was no longer his ward, and him, no longer her warden.

oOo

Harris was relieved that Bella was coming back to herself. Relieved that the Black Family was growing close and closer.

As he slipped further and further away.

Bella and Regulus were especially seen in each other's company, their shared experiences pulling them close. Oddly, Sirius and Bella were almost equally so for the same reason.

But Harris…

He found it hard to feel anything at all, much less make friends.

It was as if the world had gone grey.

He had never quite understood why Sirius had found being a dog more comforting than being himself.

His own kestrel form… well, the little falcon had always made it hard for him to remember everything he needed to. The wind and sky were distracting.

But now, that's all he wanted, to forget, to cease existing… to join the wind and sky and never return.

The only thing that kept him attached, grounded to the world, that made him care, even a little bit about continuing to breathe, was Bella.

The bonds that kept them together, their magic entwined.

Her magic, her spirit, was a burning flame of life, playful and angry, sorrowful, and joyful.

Watching her heal, helping her become the person she never had the chance to become, the woman she, herself wanted to be.

She was beautiful.

She was worth being human for, but when she was away, with the others, he took to the skies.

oOo

Sneaking out of the dorms early in the morning seemed to be the easiest thing to do. So any hour and half before the last hour of breakfast, a large majority of the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff houses made their way to the Room of Requirement for a lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Harry hadn't imagined he'd be able to teach that much, no class at Hogwarts was offered everyday, but with so many students, of so many age groups, including some first years and seventh years, the time was needed.

Harry was honestly glad of the extra work, as it meant he could spend more time studying with Hermione, Neville, Fred and George, in addition to Theo, Baise, and Luna.

But really, the best source of information on teaching turned out to be himself.

His self from the future, that is. Keeping a steady coded correspondence with the older man had been a treat.

Harry never thought he could be as smart as Hermione, but Harris Black had put the work in and was a veritable genius when it came to Defense and Charms. Not unlike Dumbledore in some ways.

That scared Harry, but then most everything about Harris Black scared him a bit.

Harry thought he understood pain and suffering, but he couldn't imagine the hurt Harris had gone through.

Harry hadn't understood before that the people that had the most power over you weren't your enemies, your rivals, or even the people who were supposed to love you. No, the most dangerous people were the ones you loved.

He tried most days not to think of Harris as his future self. While at the same time, he found the motivation to try, to believe in himself and his magic.

This particular morning, Harry was happy people were reviewing because his mind wasn't on his studies. Harry had already asked Theo and Blaise to come with him and Draco to the Black family for the winter holidays. He had mentioned it to Luna, but she hadn't confirmed and…

And Harry had another question he wished to ask.

Looking at the hour, Harry clapped his hands together, "Alright everyone, great work, time for breakfast. I think everyone deserves the upcoming vacation. We will meet up a week after the start of the next term."

The Weasleys started herding people out, "You heard the bossman, shoo."

Harry found Luna in the crowd and they hung back, Theo and Blaise smirked at Harry as they went on ahead.

As they walked, Luna and Harry were soon left alone in the sunlit halls.

Harry swallowed hard before asking, "Luna, um there was something I wanted to ask-"

"My father said yes, we will come to Yule."

"No- I mean, that's great, I'm so glad, but I also wanted to ask-"

"Ahem."

Harry froze, his shoulders stiffening, and Luna stepped away from him as if he had some contagious disease. But it was too late.

Turning slowly to face the pink toad, he internally cursed himself for not checking the map before leaving. He had just been so distracted.

So careless.

He had done such a good job of avoiding Umbridge, they all had. All her stupid rules, none of them had given her cause to give them detention. They had all bowed their heads and pretended to obey. Pretended that a war wasn't coming, that Voldemort was out there making people disappear.

But today, today, the last bloody day before winter break, she had caught them.

Umbridge's smug curl of lips made his stomach twist, "Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six, boys and girls are forbidden from being within fifteen centimeters of each other."

Harry didn't hesitate, "It was my fault."

Umbridge was too eager to punish him, or more precisely, use him to get rid of Dumbledore. So she waved Luna away as she told Harry, "To my office, Mr. Potter."

Go, Harry mouthed to Luna as Umbridge grabbed him by the shoulder and half pushed, half dragged him to her office.

Luna gave him wide eyes but nodded.

He fought not to look back at her as irrational fear filled him.

Or maybe not so irrational, every Defense professor he's ever had has almost killed him one way or another, including Remus.

But something about Umbridge… Just seemed like she would enjoy hurting him. Practically throwing him into the room, Harry felt his heart rate kick up. The look on her face was the same expression Dudley wore when he and his gang cornered him.

"Sit," she ordered.

He sat.

"Tea, Mr. Potter?" she asked as she walked around her desk.

"No, thank you," he answered.

"But I insist," she said, clinking the tea cup down on the table in front of him.

He didn't touch it.

Umbridge sat, with tea in hand, she began to stir, while she began to stare at him and stair at him.

"Are you going to drink your tea?" she asked in a condescending tone.

Swallowing a sigh, Harry picked up the teacup, and pretended to drink it.

The toad continued to stare at him.

So he took another false sip.

She began her interrogation, "Where were you and your classmate congregating each morning?"

He raised a brow, "Going to breakfast?"

She huffed, "Drink your tea."

Harry looked down into the cup and asked slowly, "So, it's poisoned?"

It was the wrong thing to say.

"You little brat," she snarled.

Harry dropped his tea as he tried to reach for his wand, but letting go of the tea cup took a hair's breadth too long.

Umbridge's spell had ropes wrapped around him, exactly like Wormtail had done to him. His breathing grew harsh as Umbridge's heels clicked against the floor as she hurried back around her desk. He was twisting his wand, when she snatched it out of his hand.

"What are you-"

She quieted him by grabbing his jaw with the same intensity that Aunt Petunia used. She pulled a vile from somewhere with a clear substance and tried pouring it down his throat. But he kept his mouth shut.

Aunt Petunia had washed his mouth out with soup, and only once.

Because he had fought her after that.

Like he fought now.

But Umbridge went as far as plugging his nose and her grip was bruising. He almost feared she would break his nose as he tried to shake his head. Eventually he had to breathe and the potion slid down his throat.

It was tasteless and cool and instantly fogged his mind. But his heart was hammering still and felt-

He began to fight against the bonds as the panic set in.

He needed to run.

Run.

"Where were you this morning?"

He shook his head, his muscles tensing further to the point where he felt he might snap.

The compulsion to answer finally overcame him, "In the hall."

Truth serum, Veritaserum.

"Why?"

He said the first thing that came to mind, "Because I was going to ask Luna to be my girlfriend."

Umbridge slapped him, hard enough that he tasted blood in his mouth. "I meant, what have you been doing against the school edicts?"

He almost smiled, "Standing too close to girls?"

Umbridge smiled at him sickly, "With your classmates, answer me."

Though Harry felt compelled to answer her, the feeling felt similar to that of Imperious curse.

He knew how to play this game.

So though he answered her, it was never in the way she wanted.

He never betrayed his friends.

Umbridge practically snarled at him before looking at the clock.

"Tell me, Mr. Potter, where have you and your cohorts been gathering each day and for what purpose?"

Harry smiled at her, despite the spinning in his head, "I already told you, in the Great Hal-"

She spun on him, her wand pointed, "Crucio!"

Pain lanced through him and only his stubbornness kept him from screaming.

She released him a moment later, "Now, I think it is time you start sharing the truth."

Harry didn't stop to think, he flung himself back hard, hard enough that one of the chair legs split along with a chair arm. Something in his arm hurt as well, but it was negligible to the pain of the of the torture curse.

Umbridge tsked, before saying almost lazily, "Crucio."

Sound escaped from his lips this time as white hot fire burst through his bones, but he turned his scream into a shout as he flopped around on the ground like a fish caught in a net. This time, when she lifted the spell, he didn't stop struggling, he kept fighting. He was able to wiggle out of the ropes now that one of the arm chairs had loosened the summoned ropes.

He kicked the remains of the chair at her as he scrambled toward the exit. His legs were shaking so badly he ended up half crawling to the door.

"Help!" he called, "Help me!"

"The door is locked, Mr. Potter," Umbridge purred stalking toward him.

Harris Black could do wandless magic, which meant Harry could too.

Without hesitating, without wondering for a moment if it would work, he cast as reached for the door handle, "Alohomora!"

The door opened with a click.

"No! Crucio!" she roared in outraged disbelief.

But Harry was already out.

He had run away on a fractured ankle for an entire summer from Dudley 'Harry Hunting' before it healed. He ran now and didn't look back.

She didn't cast the Unforgivable as he entered the hall, just a series of stupidfies.

Harry's every breath hurt, but he kept running as if his life depended on it.

Because maybe it did.

oOo

Severus Snape was tired. Tired of the Dark Lord, who had tortured him through Potter. Tired of Umbridge who insulted him in his own classroom.

Minerva sighed, "This year just isn't going to get easier, is it?"

Severus shook his head, his steps faltering as he heard someone screaming, "STUPIFY!" Down the hall.

Minerva halted as well, "Is that… Dolores?"

Harry Potter came bolting down the hall, the look on his face blank with fear and determination. He didn't see them.

Severus braced as the boy ran into him, reaching for his wand. Potter only slowed a bit before he collided into him. On instinct, Severus pulled the boy to his side, angling the boy slightly behind him as he pointed his wand toward the sound of scraping heels.

Sure enough, Dolores Umbridge, hair askew came around the corner, spells blazing, "Stupify-"

Severus flicked the spell aside and Minerva transformed the horrid woman into a toad.

A toad that Severus took the liberty of stupefying.

"Mr. Potter-" Minerva began, her words falling short as they had time to get a good look at the boy.

He was shaking.

Severus settled a hand on the boy's shoulder, softening his voice as best he could, "Mr. Potter, what spells did she use on you?"

Lily's green eyes looked up at him, "Veritaserum… she tried poisoning my tea, but when I didn't drink it she-" Potter cut himself off, "she forced it down my throat."

"What did she want to know?" Severus asked as he felt Minerva radiate with fury.

"I didn't- I didn't tell her anything important."

"Then what did you tell her?"

"Nothing," Potter said, stepping back from him, "She used Crucio on me and-" He looked away, "I'm sorry."

Severus glanced at Minerva, her face was a mask of fury. Her steps were clipped as she walked toward the toad, half strangling it.

"I'm taking her to Amelia and Kingsley now," she said.

Knowing that Harry had apologized because of what the Dark Lord had made him do to Severus and Poppy months ago, Severus shook his head. "This is not your fault Mr. Potter."

Harry looked down at his feet, "I want to go home."

"I think it's best if Madame Pomfrey sees you first, Mr. Potter," Minerva said.

"This isn't your fault," Severus said again, knowing that Harry's reluctance came from the incident of possession they both were remembering. "Poppy and I both know it was the Dark Lord who attacked us, not you, Harry."

Harry looked up at the use of his first name, his shoulders sagging as the adrenaline eased.

Minerva's fist tighter around the toad, "She will serve a lifetime in Azkaban for this."

"No one will believe me," Harry said morosely.

"They will believe us," Minerva said in a voice that broached no argument.

"Come, Mr. Potter," Severus said, "I'll escort you to the hospital wing."

Wand still in his grasp, he summoned his Patronus. The silver doe appeared in a white-blue mist, and Severus told it, "Tell Mr. Black, that his charges are ready to go home before the Hogwarts Express tomorrow morning."

"She has my wand in her office," Harry said, stumbling. Severus caught his arm, helping him walk. "Accio Potter's Wand," he cast, after a minute, the wand came around the corner. He handed the wand that rang with more power than a wand alone should have, back to the boy.

With his wand back in his hand Potter finally allowed himself to be led to the hospital wing. Harry's every step required more of Severus's help to continue.

oOo

Harris apparated to Hogwart's boundary and shifted to his kestrel form, entering the hospital wing through an open window.

His younger self was sitting up in bed. Theo, Blaise, and Draco sitting in chairs at his side.

"What happened?" he demanded as he shifted out of the air, already walking toward the boys and Snape who was scowling at papers in his hand.

"Umbridge," Blaise said. "Used Veritaserum and the torture curse on Harry."

"Well, if that's all," Harris said, as he came to Harry's bedside.

Harry looked up at him, "Can you really take us home early?"

"Yes," Harris said, apparating four children with him was well within his capabilities. He summoned a chair so he could sit by Harry's bedside as well.

"The Bird Club," a name that had come from naming the Defense Club after Hedwig that eventually just became dubbed by Luna and taken up by everyone else, The Bird Club. "That's what she wanted to know about."

Harry nodded, "I didn't tell her anything, she couldn't make me talk."

Harris and Harry had been exchanging coded letters frequently, to the point where he had been practically teaching through his younger self. As much as he knew Harry enjoyed teaching, this… it had reached a point where it was too much.

"Would you like me to come back to Hogwarts as the Defense professor?" Harris asked him.

Harry's eyes widened, "No- I mean you're going through-"

Harris caught his hand, again, Harry reminding Harris more of his son James than himself, "I'm an adult, Harry, and I've been Hogwarts' Defense professor for a great many years. I think you've had enough trouble this year, don't you?"

Harry looked at him, his face pinching for a moment, as if he might cry, but he blinked fast, "I want to go home."

Harris stood, tugging on his hand, "Then let's go."

oOo

AN: If you enjoyed, please follow and pretty please consider reviewing?

Chapter 15: Breaking Point

Chapter Text

Thank you, Thobeobo!

Chapter 15 - Breaking Point

When Harris came home that night he was not sober, he felt as if he had reached his breaking point.

Once upon a time, he could say he regretted nothing because of what it had brought him.

But now? Now!?

If it wasn't for the twins he could readily say marrying Ginevra Weasley was the stupidest thing he had ever done, seconded only by falling in love with Andromeda Tonks.

Why was Gin the worst decision? Because if it hadn't been for her, Harry would have never been pushed into Andromeda's arms.

He would have been able to date someone else freely.

Someone who wouldn't have begrudged him Teddy or his supporting Andromeda.

But Harris didn't have it in him to hate them, at least, not tonight. Hell, he didn't have it in him to bloody well stand up.

He hardly noticed when Bella came to kneel beside him, her hand oddly gentle as she turned his head toward her.

"Harris?"

"Does my being a half blood bother you?"

She shook her head, "I'd rather have married a Potter than a Lestrange. My husband wished me to be nothing more than a beautiful flower arranged to his taste."

Harris looked at her, "Why didn't you kill him?"

"Because," she answered, "I want to live."

"I don't," he said in a whisper. She was strong enough now to know the truth, to handle all of it. "I don't want to live anymore."

Bella cupped his face as if she were something delicate and precious.

Andromeda had never touched him like that, she had her gentle moments, but she never touched him as if he were breakable. Andromeda had always said he was the strong one, the one that could survive anything.

How strange was it that the woman he had loved hadn't understood how breakable he was, and it would be Bellatrix of all people to see the darkened ruin left behind.

"If you meant that," Bella said, "you wouldn't still be here."

"Be here?" he repeated, "Clearly, you haven't been paying attention."

"I don't need you to be strong for me, Harry Potter."

"Then you don't need me at all," he said, beyond tired. His next words were nothing he thought he would have admitted to, but then he was far from sober. "I don't want to be needed, I want to be wanted."

Not for what he could give them but for who he was. He was approaching the big five 'O' and he still hadn't figured that part out.

His younger counterpart was going to be better off if he stuck with Luna.

Merlin, he felt sick, he felt torn apart and he didn't know how to get better, he didn't even fully know how to want to get better.

Clearly, he wasn't drunk enough, maybe he should turn to something more powerful than alcohol.

Could a person snort cheering charms?

Bella leaned in close to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I want you, Harris."

Harris Magnolia Black.

A new name, a new life, but all he could think about was what he had lost. It was Yule, he did have a family.

He knew he did, he should be there for them, for himself. He should be put together by now, he should-

Bella ran her hands through his hair, and that kind touch, that simple connection…

He closed his eyes against the tears and when she pulled him forward, he clasped over himself. He found himself crying into her lap.

Weak and pathetic and too broken to give a damn.

The only thing grounding him was the gentle touch of Bella's hand through his hair, on the nape of his neck, across his back.

Some time passed and a second pair of hands were touching him, the smell of her familiar.

Between the two of them, Bella and Narcissa were able to get him into the bathroom and out of his clothes.

He honestly was too drunk to manage a shower safely on his own, and the two women bathed him as he had been doing for Bella for months.

Granted, both women were not as platonic in their touches as he had always been careful to be, but again, he was too drunk to be of any use to either of them in that way.

Still, even with his bleak mood, it felt good to be touched, to be taken care of. When they slipped into bed, he curled around Bella and Narcissa curled around his back.

He had been taking care of Bella long enough that having her so close, that being in a protective position around her felt inordinately right.

And it felt equally right to have Narcissa at his back, he trusted Narcissa to kill anything that would try to hurt them.

The three of them probably had enough magical oomph behind them to take over Europe.

Voldemort would likely be jealous.

The absurd thought followed him into the darkness of sleep where if he dreamed, he did not remember it.

When he woke to the morning light, he had zero intention of getting out of bed. Surrounded by warmth and the soft press of smooth flesh, not even the hangover of the century could distract him from the contentment that welcomed him.

Narcissa's breath was on his shoulder and Bella was beauty embodied in his arms. He had been so careful of her, and he had seen her as a patient, no matter how often he saw her nude, or she tried to tease him, that line had always been clear to him.

With her nude form pressing the length of his, and Narcissa equally unclothed draped over his back, a woman that he had made love to, the lines were suddenly unclear.

Perhaps he was still a bit inebriated, but he didn't fight the impulse to lower his lips to her neck and pressed a kiss against the soft expanse.

Bella pressed back into him, and she turned her head, brown eyes open and illuminated by the spill of sunlight. She looked up at him with wonder and possession. She cupped his check, raising her lips to his.

He probably should have stopped her, but he didn't. Her lips tasted of spiced cider, and it was him who deepened the kiss.

It was also him who pulled back, Bella deserved more than him with a hangover, but as she settled, cuddling back into the circle of his arms he felt…

Content.

It wasn't the worst Christmas Day he could recall, when Narcissa woke, thoughts of worse, or better, or compared to were chased far from his mind.

He felt good.

He felt wanted.

He felt loved.

For the present, that was more than he had thought he could have wished for, more than he could have hoped for.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, reactions, nifflers, or feedback :D

Chapter 16: Not Erased, Never Forgotten

Chapter Text

Chapter 16 - Not Erased, Never Forgotten

oOo

The Family of Harris Magnolia Black

Harry's Son: Teddy Shacklebolt

The Potter Twins: James Potter and Rose Zabini

oOo

In An Alternate Universe, Life Goes On

oOo

Teddy Shacklebolt sighed as he rocked his baby in his arms, he never thought he would have to go through this without his dad.

Without his grandmother.

And he never would have believed it would be because of his grandmother.

The only thing that didn't surprise him, was his ex-step-mother's reaction.

Rose was glaring down at her tea and James was looking off into the distance.

To put it simply; things were fucked.

Rose was the first to speak after Sonya had delivered the Auror Office's findings and left the room to take a nap, leaving Teddy with a sleeping Magnolia in his arms.

"We don't release this information. The truth never stopped the rumours and it will only make things worse…" Rose trailed off.

James rubbed his face, James who looked just like their father and seemed to bear the most weight of public opinion. "Mother was insufferable before this. How could Grandmama do this to us, to him?"

"Papa's right, he does have the worst luck," Rose said, spinning her spoon in her teacup.

Grandmama's body had been found dead on the sofa of their home while Papa's body hadn't been found at all.

And had never shown back up. No tracking charm had been able to locate him, and for months, the papers had been printing; Harry Potter Murders His Mistress; Reason? Read below for experts' speculations…

Only Papa would never have done that, something Teddy's wife, Auror Sonya Shaklebolt, had thankfully proven.

So what was the problem?

Well, not only had Grandmama killed herself, but she had either probably killed Harry Potter, or damned him to what was possibly a fate worse than death, depending on which alternate reality he had landed in.

One that he couldn't return from which as far as anyone knew, which was the way that Andromeda Tonks had discovered.

A way that required the same cost as a freaking Horcrux.

A death of a soul.

Which meant, Harry Potter of this universe would never willingly return to them; which meant, at least to them, he was dead.

Andromeda Tonks had murdered Harry Potter and herself.

Teddy was not at all pleased to be orphaned, again.

"What are we going to do?" James asked.

Rose hugged him.

"We have to get a message to him somehow," Teddy stated.

"How do you mean?" James asked.

"If it's an alternate universe if he's alive —if he doesn't realize… if he thinks it's time travel and he goes backwards in time… It won't be like a time turner, it won't be a paradox he can remember so he will think—"

Aunt Hermoine walked into the house, and picked up immediately on the conversation, "He will think we were erased from reality."

"And he will never be happy," James concluded, hugging his twin sister, tightly to himself.

"What is our story going to be? For their deaths?" Rose asked, hugging James tighter.

"They tried pushing the magic, they tried improving the Belladonna Cure and it went wrong," Teddy said.

He knew their father wouldn't want it any other way, knew that it was okay for the truth and the betrayal to die with them.

Teddy shut his eyes and failed to keep the tears at bay. When he opened his eyes, he found his daughter looking up at him, quietly observing him.

Teddy gasped, he wouldn't let this ruin him, he was a father now and he could do no less for his own daughter than the man who had raised him had.

"Your grandfather loved you," Teddy told her, letting her grab onto her finger. "Your grandfather loved you more than anything and he is going to be so proud of the woman you grow up to be. You will never doubt that you are loved."

Because that was Harry Potter's legacy, not that he had saved the Wizarding World, or escaped dragons and defeated dark lords, no. If there was one thing that defined their father's legacy it was that his children would never doubt that they were loved.

oOo

In Plain English: Andromeda Tonks, Harris's lover, did not erase the future. Not Time Travel, but alternative universe. Although, Andromeda did kill herself and her alternate counterpart to transfer herself and Harry into this verse. Her death was delayed because her life source was energy source to power the curse not the ingredient. She died getting to see a world in which her daughter and husband lived.

The actual time travel is coming ;D

oOo

AN: Thoughts, feedback?

Chapter 17: A New Year

Chapter Text

When the Dragon Spoke to the Moon: Is the origin of this story and chapter four 'When We Run' has a fall out fight between Gin and Harris at age ninety. For those looking for more of this story, Harris was birthed from the background I had to come up with in that story.

P.s. I may or may not be channelling some Hannible vibes with Harris's cooking sans the cannibalism.

Chapter 17 - A New Year

Harry was somewhat disappointed to not see his older self on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but he wasn't surprised. It was strange to look up to himself and not have it feel like being a narcissist.

But the fact was that he would never be Harris Black, and quite frankly, he never wanted to be.

The man had fought a war, had faced Voldemort enough times to be flippant about, had gotten married and divorced.

He had become a father at seventeen.

Admittedly, Harry did want a family, but he very much doubted he would be ready so young, and he wondered what his counterpart had to give up to be the person he was.

Harry was significantly relieved to know that Harris would be the new DADA professor, if there was a person he could trust not to be evil or hurt him, it would be himself.

Christmas at Grimmauld place was a beautiful array of chaos.

Mr. Lovegood, Sirius, Regulus, Narcissa, Draco, Theo, Luna, and Harry made for a very full house indeed.

Despite Draco being there, it was the best Christmas of Harry's life.

Narcissa, Sirius, and Regulus had truly outdone themselves in remodeling Grimmauld Place. The once dark, near rotting, apartment building now gleamed with cherry stained and walnut wood stairs, railings, furniture, and rafters. The first floor was rose marble. The upper floors of corresponding dark woods and Middle Eastern rugs. There were still some snakes on candle holders, but it looked more ornate and antic rather than goth Slytherin style.

The wallpaper had been stripped from the walls, replaced with solid paint colours that lightened and warmed the rooms. The over abundance of family paintings had been relegated to the Family Tree room. The Family Tree itself Narcissa had worked true magic in fixing, undoing the damage of the burned off images and widening to include everyone they knew of to be related. Including the Potters and the Tonks. Even Andromeda had been reknit into the fold with Ted Tonks name tied to him.

Harris's likeness was woven underneath Orion before Sirius, no one bothered to quibble in marking him as a bastard child, so it looked as if Walburga was his mother as well, which made the portrait of Lady Black, oh so pleased. Her portrait had been shrunk and placed on the wall facing the family true so she could look at what House Black had and would become.

Phineas Nigellus Black was the only portrait who got a place among the pieces that were more standard art paintings throughout the residence. Granted, that place was on the third floor where he had been spelled to stay unless someone in the house called for help.

Harry was able to set aside the trials of the year.

Of Voldemort returning from the dead, of being possessed, of his classmates turning on him, again, and being tortured by yet another DADA professor.

He was determined to enjoy this time of reprieve.

The Christmas tree in the main room was nothing short of glorious and Dobby had joined them all for Christmas day, helping an elderly Kreature who was in seventh heaven among all the Blacks returned to the home, despite the unwanted ones.

Luna looked particularly beautiful beneath the holiday lights. Everyday she proved herself to be a marvelous person, the truest of friends, and a lovely soul. He felt awed by her and extremely humbled that the smiles she sent him became more and more found.

They weren't exactly dating, but they weren't exactly not dating. It was like they had both mutually decided to become best friends before pursuing more. There were already friends, of course, but they still had much to learn about each other.

Much like building a castle on a stone foundation. Perhaps, it was silly, they were just kids and they had only been friends for a few months.

But then crazy stuff like getting possessed by a Dark Lord seemed to happen to him, so it was nice to choose a bit of happiness for himself. It helped that the crazy never scared her off, Luna stayed a constant force beside him.

New Year's Day became an even bigger event when the Weasleys —including Fleur Delacour— joined them. Snape had said there were whispers of targeting the Burrow and the Order had yet to find a sufficient replacement for a base.

Hermione came along with them.

Ron remained aloof, spending most of his night hanging with Ginny —their relationship seemed to have strengthened in Harry's absence— as well as Ron glaring at Draco and Theo, but Hermione was a different story.

She ran to Harry with open arms.

Not everything between them was instantly solved. Harry still thought she would spend more time with Susan, Hannah, and Neville when they got back to school. However, Harry and Hermione were always going to be friends, the history they shared made them family.

Harris had been right about Hermione. She was super intelligent, but she had as few friends as Harry, and Harry embracing rapid change and so many new people had spooked her. Harry was both forgiven for any missteps he may have made and was able to wholeheartedly forgive Hermione for her distance.

Everyone was a little tired from either drinking or staying up past normal bedtimes from the night before, but no one was prepared for the sight that met them in the dining room, a space that had been enlarged off the kitchen during the renovations.

In fact, even the people already seated at the table looked a bit miffed at the carefully curated, devine smelling feast before them.

Harry had never known anyone who celebrated on the first day of the year. Among the people at the table were the Longbottoms, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Amelia and Susan Bones, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus, Nymphadora and Ted Tonks, Mr. Lovegood, Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick.

Also, Viktor Krum?

Hagrid should have been here, but he was still apparently away on a mission.

"What the actual hell?" Theo asked, breaking the stunned silence.

"Oi, what is it?" Fred asked, trying to get a look above peoples' heads where they had all bottlenecked at the entrance to the dining room.

Bellatrix came out of some corner Harry hadn't noticed to snag Sirius's hand and pull him to a seat, Regulus following after them happily.

Narcissa pulled Draco into a hug, catching him out of the group slowly filling the room to take their seats. Even the Weasleys were outnumbered in this group.

Harry bracketed by Luna and Hermione found seats nearer to Fleur and Viktor. He didn't miss the flustered look Hermione gave Viktor nor Viktor's answering broad smile he focused solely on her as he rose to pull Hermione's seat out for her.

Luna was already seated before Harry could think to do the same.

Harry had been raised with strict manners, but also with the expectation that he was never directly supposed to interact with people.

He was never to be seen, never to be heard, and to be the servant as was his due for having a roof over his head.

It was his job to cook and to clean, to help between and never expect anything in return. Not so much as a thank you. The bitterness of his own thoughts surprised him, until he caught Mrs. Weasley's expression of near envy and shock at the food that had been done with more care than even House Elves managed and was prettier than any party Aunt Petunia had ever hosted.

Harry looked up at the table at his older self with a sense of… betrayal.

Sure, he knew Harris cooked and baked, that he had turned what was forced upon him as a child into a personal skill, but…

But Harry hated the idea of serving a bunch of people he really only knew in passing. It left a bad taste in his mouth, a twist in his stomach.

Harris had claimed the title of Black, and it made Harry worry; had some version of himself been unwittingly converted to 'high' society, to being at peace with blood puriests? Of course, that wasn't the majority of the people seated at this table, but with the exception of Remus and Hermione, one could look at this table, at Harris Black surrounded by the Blacks and wonder…

Wonder where his loyalties, if power had corrupted him…

Harris called everyone to attention, "My apologies for the timing of this feast. It was always my tradition to do this on Christmas Eve, however, I am also a believer in starting new traditions, in new friends." He inclined his head toward the Longbottoms, "In new colleagues," a smile for the professors, "and to family that we always hope will grow." He winked at Fleur, who turned pink, causing Bill to chuckle quietly and Charlie to let out a surprised bark of laughter.

Harris held up his glass, everyone reaching and raising their own, some glasses like Harry's was juice, others —like Sirius's tumbler— wasn't juice. "To a New Year and new beginnings."

The twins whooped and a few other voices cheered before drinking.

Hermione leaned into Harry, "You alright?"

He nodded, after that greeting, Harry realized something he would have never considered.

Most of the people at this table weren't well known to Harry, but maybe, just maybe, they were people who had been close to Harris.

Once upon a time.

Chatter rose merrily, if not as boisterous as it had been Christmas Eve.

Bill was seated across from Harry, Fleur across from Viktor, and he caught Bill's barely audible comment as he stared down at the food dumbfounded, "This is better than Mum's…"

Mrs. Weasley was further up the table and didn't hear them, but given the looks all the Weasleys were giving the food, Bill wasn't the only one thinking that.

Charlie nodded mutely.

Fleur sniffed, "He didn't drown everything in butter and salt, of course it's better. This is the work of a true artiste."

Theo cursed quietly after tasting some asparagus and mushroom dish, "Vegetables have no right being this good."

Something warm began to fill Harry's chest as he listened to conversations around the table as he watched the expressions of his friends melt with each bite of food. Luna was practically purring beside him and that's when Harry got it.

No one was fawning over Harris, but the apriatation of the food was visible, and made people happy, buoying the conversations to be lighter and making everyone more friendly.

Aunt Petunia's dishes had never done this, Harry had never been thanked growing up for the food he made, only smacked when the food wasn't 'good enough' or sometimes just because.

Just because.

But this meal was next level and Harry couldn't rightly imagine the amount of hours this had taken, even assisted with magic, this feast was a labour of love.

He had never imagined that food could bring everyone together in a way words never could.

oOo

Harris felt smug as he watched his family eat and the Weasleys collective double takes every few bites.

He took particular pleasure in Molly's conflicted expression. He knew that particular look on her face well because it was the exact same face that Petunia had when someone in the neighborhood out-showed her somehow.

Was he being petty? Absolutely.

But Harris had gone to therapy to not take his anger out on his kids, the war he waged with Molly and Gin was not something any therapist could help him with.

He had been told it was unhealthy and that he should be the bigger person, yada-yada, but Molly had crossed lines with Harris that he would neither forget nor forgive, even if she hadn't done it yet.

The other purpose to this gathering, aside from being with these people he did truly care about, was the matter of time travel.

Minerva was looking between him and Harry as if trying to sketch out how one got from person A to person B.

He didn't blame her in the slightest. Harris knew the contradiction he presented, a family man, an earnest Professor, and someone with a saviour complex, while also being a man driven to antagonize various people for unknown causes —namely, Albus Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy, and Molly Weasley—, and a man who was perfectly willing to bend the law to rebuild a pureblood family.

Of course, he was still the Boy Who Lived, the person who could manage to go toe to toe with the Dark Lord or Albus Dumbledore in equal measure, a man who would do damn near anything to keep children safe.

Harris could tell Minerva wanted to like him, but she was undecided on one single logical principle.

Had Harris been broken either in the past or by what Andromeda had done to him by forcing him to time travel?

Minerva McGonagall was a smart witch and that was a perfectly legitimate fear, some days, even Harris wondered. However, he knew himself, knew his limits, and knew he would never do anything to endanger children.

No one had any right to ask more of him.

Filius seemed more accepting as he coaxed the story from Minerva of Harris and Dumbledore's duel. Harris added his input when Minerva was unable to name a charm he used. Filius was on the edge of seat, his eyes alight with interest at the topic at hand, dueling and charms being his bread and butter.

Snape just looked like Snape, sour as always, though even his mask slipped a bit, tension leaving his face minutely as he savoured each bite.

Harris was feeling pretty smug all around, his mood further elevated as he watched Bella in the corner of his eye catch up with Sirius.

It seemed to surprise everyone except Narcissa, to learn how much Bella loved Sirius. She laughed openly at the mischief Sirius regaled her with from school.

It made Harris re-evaluate the old Bellatrix Lestrange's actions.

She hadn't hit Sirius with the Killing Curse but a stunner, the effect being the same when Sirius fell through the veil, yet it now made Harris wonder.

Believing the best in Bellatrix was far easier watching her ruffle Sirius's hair and Alice and Frank Longbottom sitting comfortably across from them.

"This is truly a fantastic meal, Harris," Ted said. "The best I can remember."

There were several nods, including —much to the man's woe— Arthur Weasley who received a death glare from his wife.

Molly cleared her throat, but said amicably, "What recipes were you drawing from? This is a wonderful spread."

"You mean better than you could manage?" he returned, garnering a few more askance glances.

"It's hardly a competition, Harry," she said with an uncertain smile.

His smile had more bite to it and he could see both Narcissa and Sirius giving him curious glances. Bella didn't notice anything wrong as she was whispering something to Regulus behind Sirius's chair like young children.

Harris's voice was all false cheer, honey coated steel, as he said, "Oh, I can assure you it is, Molly."

Should he be picking a fight with her here? Probably not, but he could see her trying to assert her influence as the inevitable discussion of the time travel loomed closer. He hadn't given them a chance yet, avoiding them all as he had for weeks.

Molly laughed a bit, that laugh girls learn to appease men when they are told a joke that was embarrassingly unfunny. "I can't imagine a future where you and I would be in competition. Harry is a son to me."

Despite himself, Harris's heart twisted.

If he was honest, Molly had been his first and —possibly— only mother figure aside from the memory and shadow of Lily Potter. But that just made Molly's betrayals worse. She always choose her children over anyone else, and maybe Harris could have forgiven her for that. It didn't make him happy that whether she called him 'son' or 'son-in-law' Molly Weasley would always choose her own children over everyone and anyone else, including Arthur.

But that Harris could forgive, what he couldn't abide with was Molly choosing Gin over her grandbabies, over Harris's children.

Molly had dismissed Teddy from the beginning because he wasn't blood, that was unforgivable.

That she had put Gin's pride over the wellbeing of the twins and Teddy, that was a declaration of war.

One Harris intended to win before it could ever become a possibility in this reality. The chances of his younger counterpart getting involved with Ginny Weasley were very slim at this point, but Molly wasn't above aphrodisiacs or love potions.

Harris had learned that lesson almost to his grave.

Survive Dark Lords and Fantastical Beasts, check, survive his ex-wife and mother-in-law?

Just barely.

So Harris bared his teeth in a crocodile's smile and said in a tone whose levity had no parallel to his words, "I loathe you almost as much as Umbridge."

Molly gaped at him.

Umbridge had received the Dementor's Kiss with Harris's recommendation in her court trial before the Wizengamot.

Arthur sputtered but it was Narcissa who asked the right question, not at all surprised at the fangs she knew Molly hid behind her mother henning. "What did she do?"

"Thirty years of grief, but the unforgivable sin was testifying against me in public court, resulting in me losing custody over two of my children," Harris said, keeping his gaze locked on Narcissa's cold gaze though he was able to see in his periphery the others' reactions.

Narcissa's expression was empathetic, because she both believed him and had a child of her own.

"I would never do that!" Molly exclaimed.

Harris pulled his gaze away from Narcissa to pin Molly, "But you did, and in the process, you did immeasurable harm to my children, your own grandchildren, and your own daughter. Gin wasn't really suited to being a mother, not in her twenties at any rate, and especially not a single parent."

"I wouldn't have abandoned her," Molly hissed.

Harris lips curled, "No, you didn't, instead you clipped her wings. My ex-wife never remarried. Gin was never happy, not during or after our marriage. You did your damnedest to punish me for falling out of love with a woman I married in my teens after a war, and you ruined her future in the process and tainted my children's childhoods. So congratulations."

Ted looked disturbed, Alice and Frank were glaring at Molly and even Arthur looked as if he wanted to wash his hands of this.

Molly shook her head, "Divorce is wrong. I must have had a reason— Did you cheat on my daughter with Andromeda Black?"

"Tonks," Harris, Ted, and Nymphadora corrected definitively in unison.

Harris spared them a partial smile before refocusing on the enemy. "I'm not bringing this up to sour dinner, I'm bringing it up so you and everyone else knows, that as with Dumbledore, I will not tolerate your interference in Harry's life. You may think you love him, but you must give up any notion that you can own him."

"Even at the cost of your children never being born?" she snapped.

Harris didn't let the pain of those words show on his face, but Bella caught his hand subtly under the table.

"They wouldn't be mine," Harris said. "They would be Harry's."

"You're the same person," Molly retorted.

Harris let out a long sigh, "No, we are not. We share an origin, but I can promise you that we are no longer the same. I suggest you think of it as a blessing."

"Oh, I do," she said, with the obvious implication that she thought the young Harry would grow up to be a better man and more kind to her.

Harris honestly hoped she was right on both counts.

Self-destruction wasn't something he would wish on anyone. Well, almost anyone.

"You seem pretty bitter about, well, everything," Arthur said, trying to save the conversation —and possibly his marriage.

Harris shrugged, "I'm one of the Lost."

"Excuse me?" Arthur asked.

"My generation," Harris clarified. "One way or another, most didn't survive, either the war or the cost of it. About ten percent of us survived to see our children grown." He smiled at Sirius, "If you think the pool is small now, well, none of our grandchildren could have married without wedding a first cousin."

"That's horrifying," Tonks said.

Harriss didn't know what to say to her, seeing as she was one of the ones to die and he had raised her son.

Not a day went by that he didn't miss Teddy and the twins.

"You were a professor before?" Regulus asked.

He nodded, "I was the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"You survived more than one year?" Sirius asked.

Harris nodded, "Yes, Voldemort put the curse of misfortune on the desk."

There was a long pause after that.

"How did we never find that?" Minerva asked.

"Notice me not charms," Harris said.

"Why would you wait to tell us this?" Minerva asked.

Harris raised a brow, "Because if anyone deserved misfortune and to be cursed by the Dark Lord, it was Umbridge."

At that, Bella, Regulus, and Sirius burst out laughing.

Things fell back into more comfortable conversation afterwards. The Weasleys were the first to leave, followed by Amelia, Susan, Kingsley, Mr. Minerva, Flitwick, Snape, and the Longbottoms.

After which, Regulus and Bella sat down on the floor in the sitting room with Wizarding scrabble much to Draco, Theo, Hermione, Viktor, Harry, and Luna's joy. There were enough of them to have pairs. The spells they came up with had to be explained and were given extra points for funny ones. Xenophilious Lovegood seemed content to watch from a seat near the fire.

Sirius and Narcissa lingered in the kitchen while Harris packed away the food for leftovers and began washing dishes.

Neither helped and he didn't ask them too. They all knew that the Blacks weren't known for any type of culinary expertise or cleaning.

They could remodel the apartment to make the Grimmauld Place downright warm and friendly but even the spell to rinse dishes was beyond them.

Nevertheless, he welcomed their presence.

"Harry, I understand how much you hate her," Sirius began. "But… You were almost cruel toward her. Molly does love Harry."

Harris turned to look at him, "No, Sirius, cruel, would have been telling her three of her sons died before she did. One in war, one to suicide, and one to assination."

Sirius paused, "Your future sounds horrid."

Harris shrugged, "I wouldn't have traded it away all the same. Still, this Harry Potter will have a healthier future."

"Why haven't you killed the Dark Lord yet?" Narcissa asked.

"Because, he'll run if I pursue him," Harris said. "Let him come to me. Let him think I fear him. I killed all his soul shards, he's too paranoid right now to fall into any trap I could think to set."

"That's a dangerous game to play," Sirius cautioned.

Harris sighed and looked up at him, "There's no guarantee I'll win, Sirius. We are equals. Yes, he may have unstabilized himself, but a cornered animal is not less dangerous and comparatively, I…" He sighed again, grabbing a rag to dry his hands. "I don't know if I'm at my best. My heart has been taken from me. I can try, but I can't promise that I will be at my best when the time comes."

Sirius blinked at him, then shook his head, "You have never sounded more like your father."

Harris raised a brow, "You've always painted my father as brave and brash. Hopeful. I assure you that positivity has never been my defining personality trait."

Sirius shook his head, "No, I mean —you're not wrong— but your self-reflection, the awareness of your limitations. Not because you underestimate yourself or because you doubt your own goodness, you just have clarity. James was spoiled, entitled, and even could be a bully at times, but he realized it and it was that self-awareness that allowed him to change."

"You think I can change?" Harris asked bitterly. "You think I'm ever going to move past the world I lost?"

Sirius shrugged, "I don't believe you will ever be the person you were, but I do believe you can be someone remarkable."

Narcissa huffed, "He already is Siri. Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't kill Molly."

Harris smirked, "Where's the fun in that? Murder is easy, showing that witch up in the kitchen is a victory."

Both Narcissa and Sirius laughed at that. Whatever the New Year brought, Harris was hopeful that this little insane broken family could handle it.

If not, then at least they would bring their enemies down in torment with them.

oOo

Everyone was in bed except Harris and Narcissa. Bella padded through the polished hardwood floors on bare feet in search of them.

She found them in one of the guest rooms, alone but for each other, the door still open as if one of them hadn't intended to stay.

Bella lingered outside the threshold, yet unseen.

Narcissa spoke first, "Harris, this is early. It's only been two months, so there are no guarantees, but I wanted you to know all the same."

Harris waited for her to continue, so did Bellatrix who barely dared to breathe.

"I'm pregnant."

Bella's breath caught as she saw the expression on Harris's face, as if his heart were breaking and as if he had just been offered the greatest treasure.

Bellatrix would have killed to have that look directed at her, would have had it been anyone but Narcissa.

When Harris placed his hand on her abdomen it was jealousy that ran rampant through Bellatrix's blood at the visage the couple presented.

They stood, framed by the night darkened window, her hand resting over his on her flat stomach. Harris bent down and pressed his forehead to Narcissa's in a way that went beyond lust or romance. Bella knew how much Narcissa wanted children and she was pretty clear on what Harris thought on the matter.

What Bella felt for the two of them, the two of them like this made her knees weak and her heart flutter with want.

She was well aware of her limitations and reservations. As comfortable as she was with Harris, she liked him better when Narcissa was around. Narcissa who had never betrayed her, who she never had doubted.

She had fallen in love with Harris, but Bella wasn't sure of herself without Cissa present. So wanting them both felt slightly strange because she didn't typically enjoy sharing.

But these two were her people, and she didn't want to share either of them except with each other. She wanted Harris's love just as she wanted her sister's time and intimacy.

She had always disliked Lucius Malfoy, always the thought of him touching her sister even causally, much less sexually.

Bellatrix thinking of Harris's hands on Narcissa inspired an entirely different emotion.

One that she wanted with her full being.

Harris turned his gaze, his eyes the colour of sapphires, just like Reggie and Siri's. Harris was kin and he belonged with them.

He said nothing and did nothing, just watched her without making her feel as if he wanted her to leave.

Narcissa turned to her as well and immediately held out her hand. Bella went to them. Cissa caught her hand and placed it over Harris's where it still rested over the place a child might grow.

One that Bella would be around for rather than in prison. Unlike Andromeda, Cissa would let her hold the baby, and unlike Aunt Walburga, she wouldn't berate Bella for 'cuddling' a child. It still hurt that she had missed Reggie growing up, missed Sirius's school years, and then missed her nephew and niece entirely.

"You're with child?" Bellatrix asked, quiet and awed.

"There are no guarantees the pregnancy will hold, but for now, yes," Narcissa said with the air of a woman who wanted something so badly she was afraid to hope.

Harris pulled them both into an embrace, their arms going around his waist holding onto each other as they leaned into his chest. It felt right, it felt complete, they fit together if it was where they were meant to be.

"If this pregnancy doesn't last," he said, his voice rumbling through his chest against Bella's cheek. "If this is what you want, we can try again."

Narcissa seemed to melt into them then, her eyes fluttering shut, her shoulders easing downward.

"On one condition," Harris said.

Bellatrix looked up and caught his gaze.

Narcissa just hmmed in answer.

"I want joint custody," Harris said.

Bella almost laughed. There were a number of ways that could be achieved, all of them would cuckold Lucius. The easiest one would simply be for Narcissa to give the child her maiden name and have that child inherit her wealth, separate from the Malfoy Heir. Such a thing would require both Lucius and Harris to sign an agreement to it and as Harris was Head of House Black, that child's legal father, regardless of bloodline, would be Harris Black.

There would be rumours of course, there always were whenever that law was used to true to salvage a line from a non-male heir, but nothing would ever have to be proven one way or the other of the child's heritage.

There were other options, a divorce might lose Narcissa custody of Draco, however, Bella wouldn't put it past Harris to force Lucius into prison.

But the first option, would be the most likely and be the most cruel to Lucius's pride.

So naturally, Cissa confirmed, "This child will be a Black."

Harris chuckled, "And a Potter, if not in name than in blood."

"Your blood is power," Narcissa said, squeezing them both closer. "Whatever disagreements I may have had with Andromeda, she was right to believe magic over redirect."

To believe muggleborns had their worth that had proven time and time again.

If not culturally, then certainly in magical gifts. Harry Potter, Harris Black, and Nymphadora Tonks, all half-bloods, all proved that.

Even the Dark Lord himself, proved that.

As well as the muggleborns themselves, Ted Tonks, a renowned healer, and Lily Potter, who had fought against the Dark Lord, tricked him to his doom in a way no one else had.

Blood did not matter as much as the power to keep that which you loved safe.

Harris let out a long breath, before saying, seemingly to both of them, "Thank you."

"For what?" Bella asked.

"For giving me a reason to continue."

Bella smiled. This man was hers, just as her sister was hers, her reason to continue, her love and family.

For the first time in her life, the future wasn't something to dread but something to live for.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, ewoks, or feedback, pretty please?

Chapter 18: Neither Time Nor Death

Chapter Text

KEYnote: This has no beta and I'm still dyslexic. Water remains wet.

Chapter 18 - Neither Time Nor Death

Albus Dumbledore looking to make amends was a somewhat novel experience for Harris.

"You are not a time traveller, Professor Harris Magnolia Black."

"Then what am I?" Harris demanded.

"You're from an alternate universe, and therefore, Harry Potter or no, Boy-Who-Lived or no, I had no guarantees that you weren't lying, that your past truly matched this universe's Harry. No one knew you, there was no evidence you ever existed and such people, in my experience, are running from trouble. Trouble they often caused. Though I admit, I let my pride get the best of me a time or two."

"As did I…" Harris said absently as he tried to process what Dumbledore had just said. "Do you mean… other worlds? Other universes? A multiverse of different visions of us and others that might have nothing to do with us?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, and I have to tell you that no one has ever travelled intentionally between two worlds."

Harris sighed, "Another first?"

"No, I found the ritual Andromeda Tonks used, she is incredibly powerful to pull off what she did and for the intention to lead you both to a world so like your own. But it required the death of a soul per traveller."

Harris stared at him, "Like a Horcrux?"

"Worse actually," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "So much worse in fact I simply destroyed the single copy of it I found, something she no doubt got from the Black Family vault at some point in her youth."

"How is it worse than a Horcrux?" Harris asked.

"It requires not just the murder of a person, but the true death of their soul, for it is the soul that allows one the magic and energy it takes to travel between existence. Andromeda used her first death to take you across with her, and she traded her counterpart's soul in this universe for the opportunity to see this universe before her soul… faded from existence."

"Are you saying she won't have an afterlife, not at all?" Newt asked, visibly appalled.

Dumbledore nodded and said to Harris, "I'm afraid the only known way to bring you back home to your universe would require a similar sacrifice of either your own soul."

"But you destroyed it," Harris said flatly.

"I remember every horrific detail, if you wished to… to end your own life in your own universe, it is a choice you can make but I would beg that you don't. You may never see your family in this life, but in the next— Harris?"

Harris's heart felt as if his heart had stopped, as if the world itself had stopped spinning. He backed away from the Headmaster.

Fawkes trilled sadly.

"She didn't erase them," Harris said, numbly. His broken heart stuttered as if —as if hope was electricity that would either restart his life or end it.

"They're still out there? They're alive? My Teddy, Rose, and James? My little Magnolia? They're alive?"

Please, by all the stars, let them be alive.

Dumbledore stood, with that same sad expression he had worn when he had warned him away from the Mirror of Erised, "There is no reason to believe otherwise. The spell Andromeda used would have harmed no one but yourselves, and she traded her own soul twice over so that you might have a life here. But your family, your past, they are still real, Harris. They live."

Harris stepped back, shaking his head, surely there was a limit to how many times his life and perspective could be altered before it killed him.

But none of it mattered, because his family, his babies, his dearest ones were without him but they lived.

They were real.

Alive.

Harris disapparated back to his apartment to tell Bella, to tell her the good news, but somewhere along the lines, this little apartment had become home.

Become safe.

All the grief he had been enduring, all the pain, and madness, and betrayal, no less real, not unfelt, but where there had been nothing but darkness in his heart, nothing but sorrow and fruitless longing, his dearest wish had been granted.

He wished for his family, for his sons, and daughter, and granddaughter to live. He would have traded anything, done anything —anything— for even a glimmer of a chance for them.

But his wish had been granted without his having to do anything at all. He could remain in this world, he could go on, he could survive and truly live, knowing that his family would live on.

He might never get to see Magnolia again, but he had raised his boys right, he had raised his daughter to be kind and strong, and Harris would be eternally proud of the people they had become, of the lives they had created for themselves.

Harris crumbled on the floor as a sob, painful and ugly, tore through him.

Bella was there, pulling him into her arms just as he had done for her. Harris let himself be held, let himself be comforted as he cried the emotions he had been fighting for so long as hope and salvation tore him apart to remake him, not into the person he had been, but into someone entirely unknown as he clung to two simple truths.

His children were alive and they knew —without doubt— that they had been loved.

That he had loved them and neither time nor death would ever change that, could ever take that from them.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, unicorns, or feedback, pretty, pretty please?

Chapter 19: To Be Happy

Chapter Text

Chapter 19 - To Be Happy

The first week of teaching had passed in a haze, Harris hadn't called on anyone, hadn't used any of their names.

This was, after all, the Lost Generation.

And in a way, still lost to him.

It was like teaching ghosts, not children.

But Dumbledore's investigation of him, his revelations that he was in a parallel universe and not a time traveller had been…

Life saving.

Monday felt like a new start.

A new life.

He still missed his family, missed them so much it was a burn in his heart.

But he could go on, knowing that they too went on, that they weren't erased.

Andromeda had either believed it was time travel out of self-delusion, or she had simply snapped and had traded her soul for a chance to see her husband and daughter one last time, sacrificing Harris's well being and her counter self's soul (murdering her) in a bid to save Nymphadora and Ted.

Harris personally believed the latter.

Selfish. Delusional. Unforgivable.

But a part of him understood, for if she felt as he had about losing his children, then he did understand the desire to bargain with the devil to give anything for the chance of their survival.

What he didn't understand, however, was her line of thinking, mainly because if she had intended him to feel as he had about losing everything… then what he felt for her was hate.

Something stronger than what he felt for Voldemort. Something more than he had room for in his somewhat fragile and beaten down psyche.

Harris was drawn from his thoughts by the fifth year class.

He smiled at them, time to prove why he had been considered the Best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher since Albus Dumbledore himself.

Last week he had simply had his class take notes as he lectured about all the lies Umbridge's book had taught them. Oddly, it was a neat teaching method, the student body hated the one and were eager to prove her wrong even if she would never know what they accomplished out of spite.

The rest of the year would be different. Harris always assigned a few writing projects, just so everyone could pass the written part of the exam and begin understanding the theory behind the spellwork, but primarily his classes were all practical.

It made him rather popular, a type of popularity that Harris enjoyed earning.

oOo

Draco hated to admit it, hated to admit what a fantastic teacher Professor Black, aka Harry Potter from the future, aka the man his father told him his mother was… with.

But the man wasn't anything like Harry Potter, for one the man talked like a pureblood noble and was truly terrifying. He had a presence about him, a gravitas that made him… unapproachable.

But that was last week, this week the man was buoyant, and he waved his wand and changed the room around with a dismissive use of magic that was jaw-dropping.

They had always said Harry Potter was the Dark Lord's fated equal.

Perhaps there was more to it than that.

Draco's Harry, annoying twit that he was, was cheerful at having his older self protecting him at Hogwarts. How there were two Harry Potter's, Draco still had no bloody clue.

Like most of his life lately, he had no clue.

No clue why Theo and Blaise were exchanging letters with his mum and Sirius Black.

No clue why his mum was leaving his father…

Well, maybe he understood, the Dark Lord and whatnot, but that seemed odd considering his mum had always known his father's history.

Draco did, on some level, understand that more was going on between his parents and that his mum was protecting him by having him move to Grimmauld Place where the Dark Lord couldn't get him, but…

But he missed his father and he hated the way his mother touched Harris's shoulders, or hand, or the pointed looks she gave him.

He hated it.

And he wanted to hate everything about Harris Black, but as a number of targets rose at varying heights, some rotating in place others bobbing up and down or side to side, Draco found himself unable to hate the wizard's teaching techniques.

"Today," Professor Black said. "We will be working on aim. Don't hit each other, which is more or less the entire point of this class and I will dismiss you from the room if any of you decide to make this a free for all. You may fire when ready."

The class hesitated, but when Theo and Blaise struck two bolts of red at a single target that blew plums of coloured smoke did everyone take up arms.

What followed was the most fun Draco had ever had in a Hogwarts classroom.

Some of the targets were tricked and would spin out of the moment like a balloon. Others proved to be mere illusions, and grew more erratic the more you hit it.

No one heard the bell ring, over the talking, exclamations, and taunting targets who would sometimes trumpet if you hit them dead centre. In fact, they only knew the class was over when the next class started to trickle in.

Harris was able to clean the room, resetting all the targets to their mundane position with seemingly one spell.

Only, it couldn't have been one spell. One spell couldn't have possibly brought order to that much chaos and mayhem.

The class, Draco included, moaned in protest but Professor Black merely laughed and shooed them off.

Draco had never understood why everyone thought Harry Potter was so great, but he was beginning to think there was a reason his mom had a crush on Professor Black.

He was pretty sure after this week, the majority of the student body would have a crush on the man, salt and pepper hair notwithstanding.

oOo

Bella watched him. Something had changed.

Something monumental.

She knew what it was to shatter. To break beyond fixing.

She still wasn't what she could have been, knew if the wind blew hard, if she were unmoored, seen the lighthouse flick out, she could not find her way back on her own.

Dependence was a hard thing, but she wouldn't trade the happiness she had been given to be alone again.

Harris was independent. Had been from the beginning, taking care of everything and everyone.

Wise as he was powerful.

But he had been slipping, illogical and careless.

Now that Bella could look back on it critically, she could see that he had been suicidal. He had her use the killing curse on him.

He had pushed and poked and taunted Albus Dumbledore into duels, he had purposely pissed off the Dark Lord, and he had been too open about his past.

Harris was a smart man, he should have been able to keep his silence, held onto his knowledge of the future and benefited from it.

Instead, he had lost his temper, sharing with people he claimed to hate, things that were deeply personal.

He had done it because he hadn't cared, had been too hurt, anyone. He had been all but daring the world to strike him again, to end him.

Instead, he had met Andromeda who had done this to him, betrayed him too and then watched her die.

Bella found it hard to mourn Andromeda, she mourned the could have beens more than the person she had become.

She thought things would get better when Narcissa told them she was pregnant.

It both had made things better and worse, Harris would be bright and buoyant one moment and silent and brooding in the next.

But something had changed.

Something had settled in him.

As he placed the meal he had prepared onto plates she approached him.

"Harris?" she asked, her heart pounding with what she was about to say.

What she might say if she didn't lose her courage.

He turned to her and smiled, a smile that shone in his eyes.

The sadness there remained, but for the first time, she thought he might see her.

Not her needs, not her wants, but just her as she was.

Heart fighting against the confines of her chest, she had a fleeting moment to wish that Cissa was here to hold her hand.

She dismissed the impulse, she could share Harris with her sister.

Sisters, in truth, for no matter if it was love, hate, or indifference, Harris would never be over what Andromeda had done to him.

The life they had built together, the life she had destroyed, and this new Andromeda had set them all.

Andromeda would never be forgotten or forgiven.

So, yes, Bella knew exactly what she was getting herself into, that she might never have his full heart, that they would never be innocents sharing a pure union.

But it could be real, it could be wonderful.

With all their broken edges, they might be strong enough to meet the future together.

Harris touched her cheek with his fingers, gently calling her from her spiralling thoughts.

"Bella?" He asked softly.

I love you, she almost screamed but the words got caught in her throat.

Andromeda had asked for his love once and spat it at his feet.

Narcissa asked for his body.

Bella wanted whatever was left of him, whatever he was willing to share with her.

For a man so broken to be capable of such compassion… she wanted a life with him. Wanted to hold onto the light of him.

He might not see it himself, but Bella had always known that stars shone brightest in the dark.

"I like you," she managed to articulate. It was paltry to what she felt, to what she meant, but she had said it and she could not take those words back.

Harris tilted his head to the side, his expression searching.

She was terrified that he would call her a child, claiming she was too broken to know her own mind and desires.

Feared he would think she wanted him only because he had been the one to pull her back from the brink.

But she didn't love him for what he had given her, or even how he made her feel, she loved him for him. For being the strongest and most honourable man she had ever met.

Her first husband had not been her choice, Harris very much was.

She wasn't sure what he saw there because he lowered his forehead to hers in a gesture that was both intimate and familiar.

Pain tore through her, at the kindest rejection she had ever received.

She shut her eyes but not in time to halt the tear that escaped.

She startled a bit when Harris kissed the tear away, her eyes springing open as he pulled back.

Her breath caught, afraid to hope.

Harris searched her face once again, his fingers tracing her jaw before he turned up her chin.

She waited.

When he lowered his head again, he did so slowly, giving her ample time to move away.

She didn't dare move.

Her eyelids fluttered shut when his lips met hers, the kiss was cautious but far from familiar.

She sucked in a breath, bringing her hands up to hold his neck as she kissed him back telling him how much she wanted him that she had failed to put into words.

His hands went to her hips and happiness shot like a bolt up her spine.

Victory was hers.

When he pulled back, she made an annoyed sound.

He huffed a laugh, pulling her into an embrace even as he said, "Dinner is ready."

For once, she really didn't care about us damned cooking. She melted into his arms as if she could keep them from ever parting.

But Harris pulled back from her, "We will take this slow, Bella."

She pouted, knowing she wouldn't get anywhere when he used that tone. "Why?"

He threw her a grin before reaching for the plates, "Because I want to take it slow."

"You didn't take it slow with Cissa," she challenged even as she followed him to the table, taking her seat without being bid.

He kissed her cheek, setting her plate down in front of her, "But you want more than that, don't you, Bella darling?"

She shivered, he was definitely ready to play this game with her. The mirth in his eyes told her all she needed to know about how this courtship was likely to proceed.

"What is it you want?"

Harris took his seat across from her at their small table and said directly, "Marriage. My first wife was a child's mistake and Andromeda… played me for a fool. I'm not doing that again."

"I'm not like that," she protested.

"You don't want to remarry, ever?" he asked.

"No—" she tripped over her words. "No, I don't mean that. But I'm not ready—"

"So you agree," he concluded. "We will take our time with this."

"You didn't take it slow with Narcissa. You aren't taking your time with her."

"But you want more, and more takes time. I am not a healthy person, Bella," he said.

She bit her tongue, she really didn't think saying 'neither am I' would help her case.

"Do you want me to stop being with Narcissa?" Harris asked suddenly.

"No," she said immediately. "The child is yours and hers, I want to be a part of that, more involved than I was allowed to be with Reggie and Siri." Nymphadora was the unspoken addition. "My family is important to me."

"No matter what happens between us, Bella, we will always be family," Harris said. "But I need to know what you think of Narcissa in our bed."

Our bed.

Because it was their bed, the three of them had been falling asleep together on a semi-regular basis.

"I'm more comfortable with Cissa than I am with you," she said perhaps too candidly.

Harris smiled, "We have time, Bella, and neither I nor Narcissa will abandon you."

She picked up her fork, "So you're courting me, but Narcissa could move in with us?"

Full time.

"Yes, though I believe you are also courting me," he said.

She motioned to her plate, "I'm not good at any of this, at being romantic."

He shrugged, "Everyone is different, but I trust that you'll find your voice."

How to say I love you, he meant, even if not in so many words has he had been doing for the Black family.

"You're perilously close to being condescending, Professor Black," she said, nervous with how much power he had given her.

This was her choice, her battle to win or turn her back on. She could fail this game and lose his heart, but not her place in his life.

"I'm afraid, my dear, you'll have to take me as I am," he said in turn, a bit more serious.

There was no way to truly lose without purposely and deliberately trying to hurt him, which meant if she did want all of him, she would have to prove that her heart was with the trouble of trusting a Black sister again.

Harris raised a glass to her, "To finding romance."

She raised her glass to his with a chime, "To becoming something more."

They moved on in their discussion from there, however, the air remained charged with something intangible.

She didn't know what had changed in Harris recently, didn't know why Harry's disappearance into the past had somehow left him happier.

But when he laughed…

The sound was musical to her ears.

Here was a man of hope, a man who believed he could live past the ending of his world.

She could only pray, her heart was just as strong, because more than anything, she wanted a life with this man.

She wanted them to be happy.

oOo

Thoughts, nifflers, or feedback, pretty, pretty please?

Chapter 20: Destiny

Chapter Text

AN: You can skip the intro, but I know it's been a while and/or this plot is on shrums, so let the crazy person describe the fireflies stuck in the sky.

Timeline (YOU MAY SKIP)

*Late May 1995 - Harris arrives end of the fourth year.

*Summer Months - Harry spends summer with Sirius and Remus. Harris spends summer picking off Horcruxes, playing politics, and preparing to break Bella out of prison.

*August - Harry reveals he's been safe all summer. Sirius's trial, both Sirius and Bellatrix are freed. Bella's marriage with Lestrange is annulled. Harris is given access to the Lestrange vault.

*September - Kingsley and Amelia discover Bellatrix is freed, Dumbledore goes to visit Andromeda who is dying of an unknown disease as her soul slowly disintegrates. Bella believes she is in the afterlife. Harris and Dumbledore duel.

*October - Voldemort realises Bella has been freed and that Harris has access to his vaults, which leads him to discover his Horcruxes have been destroyed and the fate of his Slytherin's Locket. Regulus Black is freed from his stone angel curse.

*Halloween - Longbottoms have recovered and reveal Bella was tortured for saving baby Neville's life. Narcissa and Harris start their affair. Young Harry is possessed by Voldemort who attacks Snape and Poppy.

*November - Harris reveals to Snape he's an older Harry Potter. Bella kills Voldemort's soul shard and almost kills Harris in the process. Young Harry misses a few weeks of school as he recovers at Grimmauld Place.

*Late November - Andromeda speaks with Harris, both that she travelled as well and that she was dying. She did not ask for forgiveness. Harris thoughtlessly and uncaringly reveals his and Harry's past (i.e. more self-destructive behaviour).

*December - Andromeda dies, Ted and Harris meet at her graveside. Harry is tortured by Umbridge who is arrested.

*Late December - Yule happens, Narcissa admits to being two months pregnant by Harris, and the two decide, even if this pregnancy does not last (first-month miscarriages are common and natural), that they will keep trying to have a child. I will not write about that happening, but I want people to understand that it is common, natural, and nothing to be ashamed of, pregnancies are huge medical endeavours.

*January - Harris starts teaching at Hogwarts. Albus reveals to Harris that he discovered about Andromeda's actions due to his investigation of her.

Harris realises he's in an alternate universe, thus meaning his family and world were never erased.

Chapter 20 - Destiny

Narcissa was pleased with life, pleased with Harris, her family, and most of all her children.

She was petrified that she would have another miscarriage, and lose another piece of her dreams left to fade away.

But as the months passed and her stomach grew, so did hope.

She began to let herself nest, she rarely left Grimmauld place, cleaning the place up had been one thing, childproofing it was another.

And then there was Regulus who needed to be reminded to eat, to sleep, and Sirius too for that matter. But both her cousins were excited about the baby.

Not nearly as excited as Harris though, who fussed over her more than any man she had ever heard of doing so.

Any adore between them had cooled, aside from humorous barbs they sniped at one another. There also remained intimacy between them more than a brother yet not as passionate as a lover.

Harris cared more for the baby than her, which was fine because Narcissa felt the same way.

That was fine with her, more than suited her in fact.

Narcissa craved respect, as well as a father for her children, but romance…

Lucius had been her first love, and she had neither the energy nor did she have the inclination to give her heart away again. If she wanted more children, which she did, Harris would help her, if she needed to be held, Harris would hold her, and when her children, including Draco, needed help or guidance, she trusted Harris to be there for them.

It was more than she had trusted Lucius… she had hoped when they married, but that was long ago.

And now, here they sat, across from one another, a paper between.

"You cannot be serious," Lucius drawled.

She arched a brow, "You're broke, Lucius."

"When we win the war—"

Harris scarfed, "Your dark lord has barely has a fraction of a soul left, he's insane. And if you mean to side with Grindelwald, may I remind you in a decade or so, he's liable to die of old age."

"I will not sign this paper to sign away my own child—"

"We both know the child is mine," Harris said. "And so will the next one. It's not as if you would be able to hide it. The chances of the child will be born with white-blonde hair would be exceedingly extraordinary, red hair would be more likely by way of my own mother."

Lucius's face twisted at the idea of a bastard siring a child with his wife.

Narcissa grinned. Leaning forward, she said sweetly, "You are broke, and the only thing then being cuckolded is being divorced."

"I could divorce you," Lucius snarled.

Her lips curled further, "Go ahead. No one will believe it wasn't my idea and you wouldn't be able to afford the court bills, would you? Which means you wouldn't just be losing your honour, you would be losing your son."

"You've already taken him from me," Lucius snapped.

"I've kept him safe, away from the Dark Lord, which currently, yes, means away from you. But Draco is a Malfoy, and he loves you still."

Lucius snarled, "And yet this child will be a Black."

"Either take this deal or I will change Draco's name and you and I will be enemies."

"Aren't we that already?" Lucius asked.

She shook her head, "I despise my enemies, I pity you too greatly to hate you."

Lucius jerked the parchment over to himself and signed away his rights to all future children to the House of Black.

Narcissa didn't look at Harris as Lucius rose to his feet scorned and hurting.

Knowing that he would suffer more than she, hurt more than she, and Narcissa was ever so glad of it.

She was a mother, and she was free.

There was no greater pride than to own their own life. For she was master of her own destiny.

oOo

AN: Short chapter, I know, but thoughts, chameleons, or feedback, pretty please?

Chapter 21: The Parental Trap

Chapter Text

The Delicate Art of Raising Thestrals: Is a separate fic that is exploring a true Harry/Luna as the main pairing. It also as a free audiobook we are working on: https://discord.gg/BNMEXM9RBB discord dot gg BNMEXM9RBB

Chapter 21 - The Parental Trap

"What are you doing?" Kingsley asked.

Harris waved him off, "I would like to file a missing person report and be granted permission to place alarm wors around the city."

"A missing person?" Amelia Bones asked, dubious.

"He's technically a minor, though his wand isn't registered."

"Then how do you expect us to find him?" she asked.

Harris smiled, "As it happens, he's a blood relative."

"A blood relative?" she echoed.

"He's an orphan," Harris said. "We just recently discovered that we were related."

"And he ran away?" she said.

"He's a bit of a wild child. Convinced he doesn't need anyone to take care of him. But you see, he's only fifteen."

Amelia sighed, "Name?"

"Tom Riddle, Junior, after his late father, a muggle. The boy was absolutely devastated when he was murdered by Voldemort."

Kingsley made a noise as he swallowed a scoff. "Give me a description."

"Tall for his age, very pale, doesn't like the sun much, our little Tommy boy. He shaved all his beautiful brown hair off the last time I saw him. He also has a rather severe nose injury, poor lad. I think it's where he gets his temper." Harris lowered his voice, "He's rather subconscious about it."

"Riiiight," Amelia said. "I'm going to need some more information before I put through any permissions for laying wards."

"Of course," Harris said, easily rattling off all the necessary information.

When everything was wrapped up Amelia showed them out as Harris thanked her profusely.

"I don't think she's over the whole hidden clause deal," Harris mused.

Kingsley gave him a look, "No one is going to mistake the Dark Lord for a child."

"Ideally, no, but I now have permission to set blood wards throughout the city, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts' perimeter, and anywhere else he is likely to target."

Kingsley stared at him, "What the hell happened to you? Potter was a polite boy."

"Child soldier, getting sacrificed to the Dark Lord, yada yada," he waved it off.

Kingsley stared at him, "If you don't mind me saying. You don't seem to be as depressed as you were a few months ago."

Harris couldn't help but smile, "I'm going to be a father again."

Kingsley raised a brow but lowered his voice, "Malfoy's wife?"

"Narcissa is her own woman," Harris said.

"Have you spoken with Malfoy?"

Harris shrugged, "Her maiden name is Black, it wouldn't be unheard of for the child to take that name when Lucius already has an heir. Besides, I'm a bit more concerned with how Draco will be as an older sibling."

Kingsley huffed, and they kept walking through the halls, "I hear you are everyone's new favourite professor."

"I'm following up after Umbridge, it is not all that remarkable a feat."

"The only reason Amelia saw you today at all is because Susan said she is going to pass her OWLs because of you."

Harris grinned, "Oh, I know, the fact that I've been teaching practical defence is no mere thing either."

"You make it difficult to that you to dislike you."

"I think Tommy Boy is about to disagree with you."

"Here's hoping," Kingsley agreed.

oOo

Voldemort was counting on surprising Amelia Bones unawares. This plan was foiled when he felt the ward go off the minute he stepped into.

Chains like snakes came up around his legs.

The magic wasn't particularly dark, but powerful.

Too powerful in fact to be anything except a bloodward specifically geared toward him.

It took a solid minute to transfigure the chains away.

He was not thrilled when there was a pop of apparition.

"Lost your way, Tom?"

Voldemort snarled, raising his wand, "Harris Black."

"I don't think the Dark Lord counts as a minor, Mr. Black," a feminine voice said from behind him.

Voldemort took a step back so he could keep both in their line of sight.

"Technically, he was reborn at the end of last school year," Harris said.

"A parental ward?" Voldemort asked, outraged. "You set a parental ward on me?"

Harris smiled at him, "You didn't think using Harry's blood for your necromancy would be cost free, did you?"

Voldemort saw red.

Amelia raised her wand, "Ready to take this one down, Lord Black. Not quite sure killing a zombie counts a murder."

"I'll back you in court," Harris said, stepping closer as Amelia angled away so they wouldn't be in each other's way. "Don't think many would mistake this one as human."

Voldemort didn't feel he was ready for this fight, not with his legs still dripping blood from the ward Harris had cast.

So he sneered at them, "I hope you don't have any visitors, Amelia."

He rose off the ground, flying in place as he struck an exclusive spell that would curse the very foundation and soil of the witch's home.

"No!" Amelia cried.

As Voldemort began to disapperate away, he saw a glimpse of Harris performing the countercurse.

It didn't matter what the prophecy had said, Harris Black was the Wizarding World's next Albus Dumbledore.

Both would need to die before he had any hope of winning this war.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, eagles, or feedback pretty please?

Chapter 22: The Black Sisters

Chapter Text

My Finished Fantastic Beasts time travel: When All the World's Against (And you have no fucks left to give).

WARNING: Brief reflection on drugged non-con.

Chapter 22 - The Black Sisters

Andromeda Tonks had once been a woman of such strength and fortitude as to never be broken.

She had been perfect once too, a respectable Black.

A perfect sister.

Until the day her mother arranged a marriage between her and one of the Lestrange boys.

She had only to meet the boys’ father, to feel his gaze done her body, the hand he ran down her eldest sister’s thigh, and to see the leer he gave to her youngest sister in full view of their mother to know that to marry into this family would be the death of her.

The Lestranges did not respect their women, neither their wives nor daughters.

Everything rebelled in Andromeda to remain in the house with these monsters, to have their gazes set on her sisters like predators.

Even the Malfoys were a better sort than these.

Not that Bella would listen. Andromeda had begged her to listen.

Their mother, like Sirius’s mother was criminally insane and a sadist. Andromeda knew that Bella, in particular, suffered for her and Cissa’s safety.

But Bella did not listen, and Andromeda could not stay, could not bare to watch those she loved to be broken down.

Andromeda never thought she could be whole without her sisters, but Ted saved her, saved her from herself.

Andromeda wasn't sure how to fight for herself, but she had known how to fight for those she loved.

And fight for love she did, for Ted became her light, her reason for being.

And he gifted her Nymphadora who would know nothing of the life Andromeda had known.

Her baby girl would never be forced to hide in a closet, listening to her older sister scream as their mother punished her.

Andromeda did try for more children, but it was not to be.

Perhaps it was for the best.

She had been strong.

So strong.

Under torture, they never got anything out of her about Harry Potter and his friends during the second war.

She never broke, keeping her grandson safe as her foolish son-in-law stole her Dora onto the battlefield before she was fully recovered from giving life to Teddy.

Nymphadora abandoned them both for a man who hated himself more than he would ever love anyone else.

Andromeda had waited, holding her godson close.

Ted had already died by then, leaving her alone to guard what remained of their family.

But then Nymphodora hadn't returned.

Andromeda had failed them. Failed her sisters who became exactly what their husbands and masters made of them, failed her husband who had not trusted her, and failed her daughter who had married poorly and chosen death over her own son.

Teddy had been all that was left.

Andromeda had been so tried, so ready to join those she lost. It was a battle to get out of bed, much less take care of a baby.

And then there was Harry, who seemed to come in and fix everything when he had less than nothing himself.

Andromeda could admit to herself that she was using him. He wasn't yet eighteen and already taking care of a baby and a woman so depressed in her grief she often forgot to eat, much less shower, or run errands.

Harry took care of it all, he made it easy.

Even as his own marriage was torn assunder, even as he battled with his own demons, he took care of her.

She was broken then, and as only a broken woman could do, she offered the godfather of her grandson comfort.

Physical comfort.

She owed him such a debt after all.

A debt that could never truely be repaid.

She could not say she did not grow to love the boy, for Harry was the sort that once you knew him, how could you not love him? How could you not welcome being loved by him?

Still, it was wrong of her to take advantage of all that he offered when she had little to return. But she could not stop from gluttoning herself on his touch, his love, and how very easy he made her life.

She felt hidious for it, the worst sort of monster for it. She could never love him enough.

Nothing in this world would ever be enough.

This horrible world where all was tainted by misery.

Andromeda began experimenting again with potions, attempting to make herself useful.

She had so many debts she could not pay, perhaps if she made of her misery and self-loathing something that would heal and not hurt, it would even the scales. So that is what she did do.

If she was not as careful as she should have been with the potions, who was there to notice?

When both Teddy and Harry left for Hogwarts, Andromeda brewed with windows sealed tight. If her headaches increased in number and in intensity, who was there to care?

Harry? Her darling Harry who would save everyone but himself?

If he truly thought he could save her then he did not understand.

He understood nothing.

She also began to self-medicate, over indulging, regularly and increasingly so.

She hid it well from Harry, from his family, and from soiceity itself. Harry thought to well of her to notice and trusted her too well to over guess her growing addiction to nightshade.

To Belladonna.

After all, it wasn't as if she would experiment on any other but herself. It was during this downward spiral she discovered a parallel universe theory and she realised that in a hundred or more realities, her loved ones suffered still.

That her baby would live and breathe and die the same ill-fated death, and that Harry, her dearest Harry who deserves so much better would live to see the same miserable existence.

She wasn't certain what compelled her then, but for years, she chased a solution for a galaxy that was not her own. A universe that she had no business meddling in except that she knew –knew– that if there was another Andromeda whose sister could still be saved, who's travesties could be negated, that she would bend reality to make it happen.

She knew her Harry would neither understand nor forgive her.

But perhaps, another Harry would be grateful to be sparred his original destiny, perhaps another Nymphodora would live to see her child grow, and perhaps, her sisters could be saved. If anyone but cared for them.

Andromeda is still surprised Harry didn't see it, her deception, her hunger for a reality not their own.

But then, he hadn't seen Dumbledore's treachery either.

Andromeda supposed she should have been ashamed of the villain she had become to someone she owed so much.

To one whom she had professed to love.

But nightshade was a peculiar drug that deadened the pain, and empathy, that seemed to reknit the broken bits of her.

Magic had very few limitations and iminate death made those possibilities all the brighter.

In the end, she died with more regrets than she could remember. Perhaps the story of Andromeda Tonks neé Black ended in ashes, a fallen hero who hurt those she loved most.

But she died holding her daughter's hand, held securely in her husband's embrace.

She left her burdens at the gates to be counted and weighed against her, but the poison in her blood and the sickness in her mind did not follow her into the next life.

She was made new with no need of forgiveness or remembrance.

oOo

Narcissa was alone in the living room of the apartement her father had bought for her and her sisters to escape their mother when they had been able.

Narcissa vowed to herself that no child of hers would ever feel so threatened.

Perhaps she had failed Draco, having never believed Lucius could be so weak.

But Draco was safe now, as was the child in her womb

She danced in the living room, arms wrapped around her stomach to an old lullaby her father had sung her when she woke from nightmares playing in her mind.

Her steps were silent, yet the breeze created by her motions held her aloft in her dance.

She was going to have another baby.

Another love.

And this child would have all of her.

She liked Harris, she liked him as the father of her child. She knew that he would not fail his child as Lucius had failed Draco, time and time again.

She would always love Lucius, but she would never be able to trust him again.

She liked the needs Harris met for her and her family, and though she did not love him, she trusted him.

Narcissa Black Malfoy had learned the hard way that trust was more important than love.

At least, where children were concerned.

She did not turn into bed that night as let herself dream and build in her mind a future for children, for what challenges her family might face and, by all the breath in her body and light of the stars, would overcome.

oOo

Bella had been granted permission to follow Harris to Hogwarts as his assistant, but they still spent most nights at their apartment in London

Her act in saving Neville Longbottom, as well as a full and tested explanation of the cuffs she and Harris wore to Minerva McGonagall, granted her access to a world she never thought she would be a part of.

Things between her and Harris hadn’t grown, gentle kisses, sweet gestures, but nothing… more yet.

Which she knew was her choice, he was waiting for her. She was both grateful and resentful. Grateful, because she would give him anything he asked, if he asked, even if it was more than she should give.
Resentful, because she didn’t know how to ask for what she wanted.

Narcissa was here, she could have gone out to her or called out for her, but she didn't want her sister.

She wanted Harris.

Bella sat up in bed and reached for the night side table, she took the crystal Harris had given to her and dropped it into the glass of water beside the bed.

She felt a flair of magic inside her chest and with a soft pop, Harris was beside her.

She didn't give him time to ask before springing at him, holding onto as if she was drowning.

And maybe she was.

She didn't want to mess this up.

She started pulling at his clothes.

Harris huffed, but didn't protest as he aided her in disrobing.

Skin contact helped, and he knew that.

But tonight she wanted to offer him more.

Maybe she was forgiven the things she had done, maybe most of it had not been her choice.

But it would be a lie to say she had enjoyed nothing of her old life. It was not a lie to say she had been aware and active participant as a Death Eater, coerced, or otherwise.

Harris caught on rather fast to what she was attempting to do and hushed her, “Bella… What's wrong?”

“You don't want me,” she started, flinching at the echoes that phrase caused in her.

He hushed her again, stroking her hair, and asked, “What do you want?”

“Family,” she bit out.

“What do you want?”
her emotions were a riot inside of her mind and she blurted out, “To live, to be loved.”

“But?” he asked, insufferably not leaping at the chance to take advantage of her.

She sighed, knowing they had had versions of this conversation before, she shared her fears anyway. “But I don't deserve it. Harris, I saved a baby, but I've ruined so many families. Why do I deserve this second chance?”

Harris was quiet for a long time, so long, she feared he would not answer.

Or worse, invent a clever lie to absolve her crimes she would carry to the grave with her.

He did neither, instead she recited poetry for her.

“ You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

She did not speak, she could not without giving voice to the tears escaping down her cheeks.

She did bury her face into his chest as she sunk into his embrace, however.

She wondered what it would mean to truly love this man, and be loved in turn.

To not be just taken care of, but to possess both his affections and his sorrows.

What would it be like to make him burn the way he set her body on fire?

“Could you love me?” She asked when the tears ran their course and chest no longer felt like her lungs were trying to burst. “Could you love me?”

“Could I love the woman who gave up her freedoms and ambitions for her sister’s wellbeing? Could I love a woman who gave up her sanity for love of her sister’s son, and the son of couple who had wished you dead?”

“Could you?” she repeated. “You know there is darkness in me and crimes that I will never be able to undo.”

He smoothed his touch down her hair, making her shiver. “I know longer know what is right and what is wrong. I do not know if loving you is taking advantage. Nor do I know if I care what is right.”

She pressed her hand over his heart, “If you trust me to know myself, then I am a woman of whom you may take into your heart. If you do not trust me, then I am your ward, then I need nor want your pity. Do not doubt me, Harris, do not doubt that in surviving all that I have, that I know the life I wish for myself.”

“And if I doubt myself?” he countered.

“My sisters and I do not trust in others, and when we do, it is a sole exception. Andromeda loved Ted, with jealousy and the intensity of someone willing to burn down the world for him. She gave you all that remained of her life, which was far less than you deserved. Narcissa loved Lucius, and his failure as her partner does not make her love him less, but with her son, she can no longer trust him. So she gave you her body and her hope. But neither could love you, neither could give you what they had already given away.”

“And you?”

Bella smiled, “I have never trusted, I have never loved.”

He traced a hand over her cheek, causing her to shudder, “Yet you would trust me to hold your heart?”

She traced his cheek bone in turm, “I would love you beyond reason. I would love you, beyond doubt or death. But I am not my sisters, if you failed me, I would kill you myself.”

He smiled, and leaned in close, “I want– I want to be loved by someone who is unashamed of me, someone who wants to be at my side and be seen at my side. Someone who loves me enough to– to love me most.”

“You are all that I want,” she whispered, moving so that she was on top of him. “I would love you more than life.”

He leaned up, his stomach bunching between her thighs, making something deep inside her clench as his lips brushed hers, his hands splay over her back.

“I trust you to know yourself, Bella Black. I do not doubt the woman you are or the witch you are becoming.”

She wrapped her arms over his shoulders, threading her fingers through his hair, “Will you love me?”

“I do love you,” he said. “I love you, the witch who even broken and wild, even hopeless and trapped, never failed to dance. Never lost your laughter.”

“My laughter terrifies most people.”

He smiled, “I have feared and hated some version of you, I have pitied you, and I have despised you. But I have felt those things of so many, including myself. If you left right now, I would love you. If you found happiness with someone else, I would rejoice for you. But I would be happy if you remained with me.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you did not choose me for who I was, for my fame or because you had given up. Narcissa can care for you better than I can at this point.”

“But I don't want Narcissa like I want you. I don't want to be taken care of anymore, I don't need you to be fulfilled, I don't need you to be happy. I want you because you do make me happier.”

He kissed her again, “I wasn't looking for love when broke you out of prison.”

“I didn't know what home looked like until you made my sister laugh, her hair unbound. I did not know what it was to be in love when you looked at me instead of her. Even when you hold her, you never forget about me.”

“You are hard to forget.”

“I want her in my home forever, I want to see you raise her children, I want to be their aunt, but I want you, Harris. I want you.”

He spun her, pressed his front to hers and she shuddered as he lavished her with touch.

“Then I'm yours.”

He did not fuck her, for the by the time he was finished with the foreplay, she was overwhelmed mess of sensation.

But in setting her world to burning, his eyes always assessing whether she was still present, she realised it didn't matter.

Her husband had only ever given a profuncturer interest in her satisfaction, more for his own pride than out of any care for her.

And when he had shared her with the Dark Lord, she had been to drugged to notice or care how it felt.

Pleasure had felt much the same to pain, indistinguishable, in fact.

But with Harris, everything felt… Beautiful and when it didn't, when he pushed in the wrong spots, he immediately eased back, giving her the heady feeling of being in control.

Of being present.

She might have reached a point of too much sensation, but Harris was neither disappointed not left her.

It was perhaps the furthest and most intimate sexual experience of her life that she had ever had without dissociating from her body or mind.

And as she laid there, trying to catch her breath as she shuddered through the aftershocks, she realised she was not afraid that Harris remained unfinished.

For they were finished for the night and she trusted that she could sleep without him taking more from her.

Without him being angry with her for not being able to do more tonight.

No, she realised with a giddy exhalation, she wasn't afraid of his reaction.

She knew him well enough, that she could tell he was happy and satisfied with what they had shared.

He seemed a bit smug really, and sleepy as he relaxed against her side.

It was a near revolution experience to have a bed partner who did not take more than she could give.

And even if some small part of her worried that this could not last unless she made him happy was easy enough to silence.

For like her, Harris seemed happy to share her space, like her, he could sleep knowing they had a future of many more nights to explore each other like this.

She needn't repay his attentions tomorrow because this wasn't about payments or even needs being met, this was… This was joy.

Intimacy.

Something precious to never be taken for granted.

Not every night would be the same, not every experience would be equal, but she finally met her person who would respect her and adore her.

Bella fell asleep, feeling loved and feeling more safe for the man who held her.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, plesiosaurs, or feedback on this chapter, pretty please?

Chapter 23: A Life Twice Lived

Chapter Text

AN: One chapter left :D

Chapter 23 - A Life Twice Lived

The parent-teacher conference they were having was for Luna and Harry, therefore it was Filius, Xenophilius, Minerva, Sirius, Harris, Albus, Hagrid, Newt, and Leta, as well as Bellatrix, for the moral support.

Harris had never lingered in this room with the high ceilings, and one singularly large window that illuminated the space in afternoon light.

“Now, we are gathered here today to discuss Mr. Potter and Ms. Lovegood’s possible internship in America with Mr. and Mrs. Scamander for an extended study of Magical Creatures beginning this summer to the end of the following summer.”

Filius spoke next, “Ms. Luna would be postponing her OWLs by a year of the difficulty that she would be taking them during her sixth-year classes. However, I believe she is perfectly able to overcome those challenges and this internship would be a great benefit to her career and development as a young witch.”

“Likewise,” Minerva said. “Mr. Potter would be excused from his sixth year and return to Hogwarts his seventh for his NEWTs. Given how much disruption he has endured throughout his tenure here, I not only believe he has proven he can adapt but when given proper time and motivation, his exam scores are quite good. His writing and reading skills are quite adequate for a graduate student from this school, his handwriting aside. Whereas, his magical development clearly benefits from hands-on learning. There are implicit dangers dealing with Magical Creatures, but of any students in the school, these two are the people I feel most confident in for this internship, possibly since Hagrid attended school here, and Newt before him.”

Newt cleared his throat, “Leta and I have children and grandchildren who are quite committed to Magical Creatures and their advocacy throughout the world. However, it has come to my attention, that following the defeat of Grindelwald, and even more noticeably after Voldemort’s first defeat, that the rights of Magical Creatures in the United Kingdoms and Northern Europe, have been insidiously dwindling. This internship is part of a worldwide initiative to grow those rights and preserve the habitats of endangered creatures.”

There was a pause as the professors waited for a response either from Luna and Harry or Xenophilius and Sirius.

Sirius clapped, “I think it’s an excellent idea!”

Xenophilius sighed, “You won’t just be in America will you?”

“No,” Newt agreed. “Though, I’m not as young as I used to be, so I won’t be taking them into deep jungles or barren tundras.”

Harris laughed but made no further comment.

“It hardly needs to be asked,” Xenophilius sighed. “But is this what you want, my dearest Luna?”

She nodded, taking her father’s hand, “This is my dream.”

He nodded too, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand in an almost worrying gesture. “Then you have my permission, but I want to see you for the solstices.”

“Of course,” Leta said. “We had already thought that they would be home for the winter holidays.”

Xenophilius let out a relieved sigh, “That would be most welcomed.”

Harris coughed, “If I may make a suggestion, would it be possible for Sirius to accompany Harry.”

Newt shrugged, “I rarely say no to willing assistance, as you’re an adult, you will be able to help me feed creatures Harry and Luna cannot.”

Sirius barked a laughed, “I’m perfectly willing to be your canary if Luna and Harry want me around.”

“Yes,” Luna said immediately. “Grims are good omens of change.”

They all laughed at that, while Sirius preened, and they all knew he would be wagging his tail if he was in his animagus form.

oOo

Xenophilius pulled his daughter aside as they broke from the meeting.

She hugged him tight, “Thank you, Dad, I know this isn’t easy for you.”

He held her tighter, before pulling back so he could meet her gaze, “I am so proud of you, my Little Moon. And I know that your mother would be proud of you too.”

Luna blinked back tears and hugged him again.

oOo

Harris sighed when Dumbledore asked him to remain behind.

“I owe you an apology,” the Headmaster said. “For having such little faith in you.”

Harris sighed again, leaning back in his seat, “I am not the one who needs your apology, Albus Dumbledore. I made my peace with you a long time ago, and got my frustration out on you besides. It was right of you to doubt, in fact, it would have done you better if you were more suspicious of any likely professors you hope to hire.”

Dumbledore looked away, “I regret the pain you endured, but I believe this world is better off with you. You have many, and perhaps even more that you don’t know.”

“I do try to be a productive member of society,” Harris said, rising from his seat. “Especially as a professor of this school.”

“Harry’s life is much changed, and I do believe it is for the better also. I was told of your–confrontation–with Andromeda Tonks, what she did was uncountable, but what you have managed in your situation is beyond admirable.”

“I’d like to say anyone would have done so in my place, but function with a certain amount of brain damage and trauma that’s hard to come by within a reasonably minded person.”

Dumbledore smiled, “Certainly true. It is rare, to find someone of your power who remains pure of heart. I believe that is the Black Family’s motto, is it not, Tourjours Pur ?”

Harris snorted, “We both know that’s not how that phrase was intended to be taken. Though, it worked in my favour as somehow, no one’s really protesting my shaking up with my ‘cousins’ or naming a child out of wedlock as one my legitimate children.”

Albus smiled, “To remain pure, exclusions are bound to happen, making exceptions all the more needed.”

Harris nodded, “I thank you for your words, Albus, but again, I think an apology to Harry would be far more welcomed. His heart remains forgiving.”

Albus nodded, “I shall do as you suggest. But I needed to tell you that after Voldemort is defeated, it is my intention to resign as Headmaster. I think it may be past my time to retire and Minerva will make an excellent had Mistress.”

“She does,” Harris affirmed. “Though I think she will enjoy it more without inheriting the position in the wake of your homicide. Friends, our oldest and dearest are good to have around.”

Dumbledore smiled, “You are a wiser wizard than I, Harry Potter, and a better man.”

oOo

That night, Harris returned with Sirius to Grimmauld Place where he made dinner for the entire family.

In sleep, however, Harris found himself in Dudley’s second bedroom, watching Tonks try to pack his bag, "My mum's got this knack of getting stuff to fit itself in neatly - she even gets the socks to fold themselves - but I've never mastered how she does it - it's a kind of flick - ...Oh well."

Then Harris was standing before the old tapestry with Sirius as he ran his fingers over the burn marks.

Harris much proffered the new one.

"Andromeda was my favourite cousin,” Sirius said with a sad smiling, likely thinking of how he might never get the chance to speak with her again. “No, Andromeda's not on here either, look. Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks.”

Then Harris was standing in the Tonks house, Andromeda descending down on him, "What happened to our daughter? Hagrid said you were ambushed; where is Nymphadora?"

Harris answered with a truth that haunted him all the years of his life, "I don't know. We don't know what happened to anyone else."

Which is when the dream broke from memory, Ted stepping forward to reach for Harris’s hand.

“What happened to our daughter!?”

Harris exhaled, squeezing his hand, “She died.”

The sorrow on Ted’s face was heartbreaking. His voice came out choked, “And Teddy? My grandson, is he okay? Will he be okay?”

Harris held Ted’s between his, “That I can promise you. Teddy grows up loved and happy. I loved him as my own. His children never knew war and my granddaughter, my little Magnolia–” Here Harris swallowed around his heart, “I know she will grow up, happy and loved too. Like his namesake, Teddy grew up to be a wonderful and loving father.”

Ted blinked back tears.

Andromeda stepped forward to take Ted’s hand, “Thank you, Harry.”

Words failed Harris.

Andromeda’s soft features hollowed out, her eyes growing darker, her hair tangling and a manic grin stretched her face, “I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black! And I enjoyed every moment of it!”

But there was an emptiness in her eyes, an energy that burned cold.

“Liar,” Harris accused. “It broke your heart, but it was a moment when the inferno in your mind matched the reality playing out before your eyes.”

She bared her dirty teeth, “You don’t know me.”

“I love you,” Harris said. “It wasn’t something I planned or expected, but I love you. You make me want to burn with you.”

Loving Andromeda had been a slow coming together of admiration and partnership, more similar to what he had now with Narcissa than Bella.

Somewhere between Bella’s pain and gaiety, between her power and lack of greed, Harris had learned to adore her. His heart had grown to trust in her.

Hers was a life that never ceased blazing and whose love would never know disloyalty.

Maybe it had started when she begun to him at odd intervals, pinning him on the floor of their apartment, giggling wildly, turning the fight of restraint she had needed before into a game. He had been amazed by reclaiming her own agency.

And he had fallen in love with the little things, the faces she made when he ate her cooking, the way she pouted when she had her sister’s coffee that lacked the coco, and the way she looked at the sky, always leaving the windows open so she could taste the wind.

In the dream, Bella held her ground, though her confusion was clear on her face, as Harris stalked toward her, “Nothing to say, my beautiful Bella?”

She swayed, her hair loosening from their tangles.

Bella didn’t love it because it eased her pain, she loved it in spite of it.

She felt both, deeply and uniquely, each moment of every emotion crystalized in all its sharpened intensity.

Where Andromeda hid from her pain and Narcissa buried it, Bella gloried in it.

“You know,” she said as if reading from a book. “I don’t think you’re going to last long in this world, boy.”

Harris smiled, “Boy? Is that how you see me, Bella darling?”

“You’re a fool, Harry Potter, and you will lose everything!” she blurted.

He stopped then, “You’re not wrong, but I have you.”

She shook her head, her corset and robes changing to her favourite soft nightgown, a pale baby blue, “You haven’t got the nerve or the ability to take me on alone!”

Harris laughed, stepping forward to wrap an arm around her waist, “We don’t have to be alone if you don’t want to be. Cissa is in the other room.”

The distress on her expression smoothed, and she smiled up at him, her arms a warm brown.

Her fires burning bright and hot.

A worshipper of Aries who had been returned to the Goddess Hestia.

“You - will - never - touch - our - children - again!” Molly screamed.

Harris spun, his wand raised to defend against his ex-mother-in-law.

But Bella slipped from his grasp laughing in the mockery of happiness she engaged in to feel alive before the Belladonna Cure.

Her taunts were empty, the ravings of a mind stretched beyond sanity.

“Not my daughter, you bitch!”

“ NO!” Harris bellowed, stepping between Bella and Molly's curse that would have struck her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart.

Harris’s shield buckled beneath Molly’s spell but did not break.

“Traitor!” Molly roared. “You never loved her, you never loved my Ginny and you never deserved to have James and Rose!”

Harris saw red as he remembered the court hearings Molly and Gin had dragged him through, “Breaking others will not fix your own broken heart, Molly.”

Bella laughed, “Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter. Hurt her, she deserves it for what she did to your sons and daughter. Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy? But you need to mean them, Potter. You need to really want to cause pain — to enjoy it — righteous anger won't hurt me for long — I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson — Crucio!"

Harris turned on her and pulled her again into his arms, and hushed her, “There is more to life than pain.”

Bella became Andromeda, clinging to his shirt.

There was a baby crying.

Harris looked up, “Teddy?”

Andromeda fisted his shirt, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just– I just–”

Harris kissed her head, “It’s okay, I’m here.”

Andromeda choked, “But you shouldn’t have to be.”

He smiled, “He’s my godson, Andromeda. He’s my son.”

Teddy was his son, and it was the greatest honour of his life to watch him grow, to pick him up when fell.

Harris had been so grateful that in being a professor at Hogwarts, he didn’t have to say goodbye to his children until they graduated.

And he was lucky enough to be loved by his children well enough that they came home for dinner more often than not even after getting married.

It had been a good life.

Until it was over.

Harris stood over Andromeda’s grave, Ted standing beside him.

Nymphadora still refused to look at Harris.

“A life well lived,” Ted said, tears streaming down his face as he looked at Harris. “A life well lived, despite…”

And the ripping sensation tore through him again, the sensation of being ripped apart into another dimension.

Harris woke yelling.

Which he stopped when he was whacked in the face, then he grunted as he was tackled by bony elbows and knees.

“HARRIS!? ” Bella yelled into his face. “Are you okay?”

Harris laughed in surprise, his blood roaring in his ears, his body shaking.

Bella huffed, sitting back to cross her arms as she straddled his waist.

The door banged open.

“Harris!?” two voices yelled.

Regulus flung himself on the bed, “Are you okay?”

Sirius’s ‘help’ came a bit more sedate with less accidental violence, “Nightmare, Harry?”

Harris shook his head, “Yes, I’m awake now.”

Bella put a hand over his heart, “I didn’t mean to hit you. You were just loud, when normally you’re not.”

Narcissa was the last to waddle in, she didn’t say anything, just offered her hand to Sirius who helped her on the bed.

“Sorry for waking you,” Harris said, brushing his sweaty hair back from his face.

“I had to pee anyway,” she said as Regulus climbed over Harris’s legs to get on the other side of the bed.

Harris sighed, “Are we all staying then?”

Narcissa laid down beside him, using her hand to turn his head to face her, “You’re one of us.”

He reached out a hand to lay a hand over her abdomen, their child instantly punching against his touch.

Narcissa rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Are you sure you don’t want to know if we are having a boy or a girl?”

“No,” she said. “Lucius cared more about the gender than the child. I can wait this time, I don’t have to know this time.”

This was only the second time she had reached her third trimester, Harris could only hope for whatever remained of Lucius’s sanity that her previous miscarriages had come about naturally.

“Are you going to let me throw a baby shower for you?” Harris asked.

Narcissa frowned at him, “I don’t understand why you would have a party before the baby is born.”

“It’s not about the baby, it’s about the mother. They bring you gifts and your extended friends and family discuss the joys and tribulations of raising children and having siblings.”

“But I don’t need anything I can’t buy myself and I’ve already been a mother,” Narcissa argued.

Bella laid down on top of Harris over the covers, stretching out on him and laying her cheek on his causing Narcissa to move her hand to Bella’s cheek.

“Are you really saying you're going to pass up the opportunity to talk about Draco’s baby years with a captive audience?”

Narcissa stilled, “Oh.”

Harris laughed, “Is that a yes.”

She glared at him, “As long as the men are allowed, if they aren’t allowed to change the subject then we’ll have many more family tales to tell.”

Sirius and Regulus were much younger than their female cousins. Both groaned as they climbed under the covers.

Harris agreed easily, “Of course, it’s your baby shower.”

Narcissa huffed, leaning into Sirius who hugged her. “Don’t be silly, it’s our baby shower.”

Harris smiled, he missed his old life and reality, but he loved this one too.

oOo

Voldemort was sick of the humiliation Professor Black had forced him to endure. He was tired of planning around the wizard and decided it was time to go hunting.

All he needed was to entice the man to fight him alone.

Luckily for the Dark Lord, the Professor’s pride seemed large enough to coax the man into an arena of Lord Voldemort’s choosing.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, baby sharks, or reactions, pretty please?

Chapter 24: Dinosaur Bones

Chapter Text

AN: So I’ve been to London now, and I loved the dinos! I meant to make this story longer, but the previous chapter just fulfilled everything I truly wanted from Harris’s plotline and this chapter… I am so satisfied, I can only hope you enjoyed it as well.

Chapter 24 - Dinosaurs

“Pst.”

Harris hummed.

“Harris.”

He hummed again, a bit louder.

She poked his cheek, “Harry?”

He sighed, opening his eyes to look up at Bella who was sitting up in bed, her hair waterfalling around her, the morning light illuminating herself.

She looked anxious, “Harris?”

“Yes, Bella?” he asked.

“I want to get married,” she stated. “To you,” she added, in case he didn’t understand.

It was a bit early for this, “Okay, we can get married.”

“Really?” she asked, bouncing on the bed.

“Really,” he said, opening his arms for her.

She laughed, flopping down on him.

He grunted and rolled over her, smiling as she continued to laugh. He kissed her full lips, and her laughter tasted like chocolate and lavender.

She trailed her hand down his stomach, and he shivered, back arching when she reached below his sleep pants, her hand wrapping around his length.

Though he allowed plenty of opportunities, he never initiated sex with Bella. Neither her ex-husband nor the Dark Lord had ever given her choice.

A part of him found it hard to believe her innate instincts to lash out but then assault wasn’t about sex, it was about power.

When Bella turned to him for physical comfort and pleasure, he felt handsome and wanted. Not someone just being used as an object, but a man who was allowed to share in these joys with this woman he loved.

“I want to get married this weekend,” she said between kisses she laid along his neck.

He huffed, sliding down her before she could get any further in exploring him.

“Alright, we’ll get married this weekend, you don’t have to seduce my cooperation.” He flipped up the skirt of her nightgown, “However, you do get to explain this to your sister.”

She groaned before his lips returned to her skin.

oOo

It was not a large wedding, and give the security concerns, they got married on the edge of the Forbidden Forest within the school wards.

Newt Scamander and Hagrid were in charge of decorations, Luna also probably helped. Lights wrapped around trees who were all blooming as if at the height of spring.

Minerva officiated.

Despite the last minute nature of the event, Narcissa pulled through with a string quartet from France and cleared a spot to dance beneath the trees.

Harris’s first marriage had been a grand affair, one driven by the desire to enjoy the future and desperation to forget the past.

This, was a far smaller event, and as most of the attendees were his students, a much younger crowd, alternating from bouncing along to music or summoning the bravery to dance with the Hippogryphs and Thestrals like Luna and Harry.

Hermione, in true Gryffindor fashion, was the first to rise to the challenge.

Nymphadora and Ted Tonks attended, at first awkward then bursting with laughter as Sirius and Regulus regaled them with childhood antics.

If anyone wondered who had preceded the Marauders as tricksters at Hogwarts, they need not look any further than the three Black sisters.

Minerva and Filius jested, with great sincerity, that they would both retire by the time any of Harris’s children with Narcissa entered Hogwarts.

Knowing what Teddy, James, and Rose had gotten up to right under Harris’s nose in their school days, he couldn’t say that he blamed them.

For his first wedding, Harris had worn a tux, this time, however, he wore the robe weeding robes of Bella’s father, Cygnus Black.

They were darkest green, flaring around him like a dress.

He felt like an elf from The Hobbit, but whatever discomfort he felt was forgotten when he saw his bride for the first time.

Gin had worn a cupcake dress with more layers of white than a twenty year snow storm, a veil hiding her face as if they were innocents who hadn’t snuck off together at the every opportunity.

Bella didn’t wear a traditional wedding gown and she wore no shoes.

Her dress was her favourite sky blue, the colour of the sky she never saw from her sliver of a window in her Azkaban cell. It hugged her form and fluttered just below her knees. On the dress, blue butterflies fluttered in the folds of her dress, an illusion of charmed fabric that moved with her.

The front of her hair was pulled up into a tiara, the rest allowed to fly free, tangled in the dark hair were white jasmine flowers.

She looked like a maenad, a forest spirit ready to lead men astray.

Harris was all too happy to be stolen by her, to be wanted and loved by her as her partner, not her trophy or caretaker.

But her husband.

The music swelled and Harris only knew he needed to speak when there was a pause in sound.

It didn’t truly matter the words he spoke.

Both of them had been married before, neither of them were innocents, yet neither of them had the slightest reservation in devoting themselves to one another and their family.

Theirs was not a love for the ballads or the dinner table. Theirs was a love in knowing all the painful broken pieces in another, knowing exactly where their limit was, and an understanding that though things might be okay, tomorrow might not be.

Yet it wasn’t for others to understand, it wasn’t for others to ask why after their vows were spoken, Bella needed her sister’s reassurance.

It wasn’t for others to understand why she made Harris dance the first dance with Narcissa while Bella danced with Sirius.

The reality of them was not that they were broken beyond repair, rather that they changed beyond convention.

A traditional marriage and family were not something they could have managed nor wanted.

Harris had external motivations to function while Bella needed internal redirection to keep herself together.

They were dependent, dancing on the edge of disaster, but there was joy between them, a promise of a future they both desired.

Harris danced barefoot with his wife beneath the trees till the moon began to set and she fell asleep held in his arms, still swaying to the music.

No one but the string quartet saw his tears as he fell in love with the woman in his arms all over again.

That night Harris Magnolia Black accepted the fact that he could be happy in this reality, and maybe, selfishly, he didn’t want to return to the universe he had been born to.

A part of his heart would always belong to his first family, but in promising himself to Bella and a new baby on the way, he acknowledged that Andromeda’s curse and betrayal were also a blessing.

oOo

Regulus was having a difficult time sitting. Ever since he had been freed from his stone prison, it had been difficult to remain still.

Being still brought back the fear of being trapped.

Even though the loudness of his heart, his blood running through his veins, his lungs breathing in and tasting the hair, and his eyes… able to close, able to not see for a bit.

“Mr. Black?”

Regulus shot up from his seat, the papers in his arms spilling everywhere, “Ah! Yes, hi, that’s me, so sorry!”

With a twist of his hands, the stack of papers fell back into his arms in the correct order, as he stretched out his hand to shake Amelia Bones’s hand.

She arched a brow at him.

Regulus blushed, well aware that despite being thirty years old, he still looked like a gangly seventeen year old.

“Thank you,” he stammered. “For meeting my proposals, I mean! Sorry, I meant for meeting with me.”

“Were you this nervous of your Dark Lord?”

Regulus flinched, “I– the Dark Lord was just another monster, you’re a…”

“A what?” she challenged.

“Someone whose opinion I respect,” he said.

She did not seem impressed by the flattery, though he was being truthful.

Regulus knew how to behave around tyrants like his mother and the Dark Lord, he did not how to speak to people who might want to hear his honest opinion.

Madame Bones waved him into her office, “Take a seat, Mr. Black.”

Regulus was getting the distinct impression that despite being the person to strike the gavel on his freedom, she didn’t fully believe that he had been coursed into becoming a Death Order or that he had risked his life and lost the majority of his sanity in an attempt to kill the Dark Lord.

But that didn’t really matter much if she listened to him. He placed his papers on the clean edge of her desk.

She sighed, picked up the stack and began leafing through it.

“What is this?” she asked.

“Reforms,” he said. “Reforms specific to the standing of blood status.”

She paused over a specific package, she looked at him, “Marriage and custody? Why would you care?”

“My mother used the Unforgivables on my brother, and occasionally on my father. He almost killed Sirius when he ran away, and there was almost nothing the law can do about it.”

“Using an Unforgivable is a life sentence, we could have imprisoned her,” Bones said.

“And she could have murdered him before the Aurors got there if their claims were believed about Pureblood Lady from one of the old houses.”

Her lips thinned.

“There are too many protections for purebloods than there are for our minors.”

“Protections that spared you,” she pointed out.

Regulus nodded, “I agree, but it also has the effect that fewer children would have been disowned and fewer young people would have been picked up by a cultist. Fewer muggleborns and their families would have survived the war if they felt they could confide in the law.”

She set down the stack, “Do you have any idea how long it takes to rewrite and edit the old laws?”

“I spent fourteen years without sleep or reprieve with just my thoughts and memories, to think of everything I did wrong and all the way our society failed to let an egomaniac like the Dark Lord come into power and break our country. Whatever it takes, is worth it.”

Madame Bones tossed something at him, he fumbled it and almost dropped it before cupping it in his hand.

“What?”

“Congratulations.”

“On what?” he squeaked, opening his hands to find a badge with his name on it.

“On your employment. You’ll be working on rewriting and reshaping this law for the betterment of our society, as you put it.”

Regulus bowed his head, “Thank you.”

She tsked at him, “None of that. Go find Kingsley, he’ll get you set up at a desk.”

Regulus grinned and did as commanded.

Kingsley gave him a one armed hug, “Good job, kid, you impressed the boss.”

Regulus frowned, “I’m not a kid!”

Kingsley laughed, “Save it, Reggie, for when your mean face doesn’t look like you’re pouting about not getting a second scoop of ice cream.”

Regulus sighed, but still secretly pleased.

He was employed.

His mother would have been horrified and his brother would be delighted.

oOo

Getting permissions to go to London on a class field trip was not easy.

This, Luna was absolutely sure of has Professor Black handed out lanyards with little metal Hogwarts crests.

Each was a portkey that would take them back to safety if something happened.

Luna liked the professor’s wife, she saw the world like Luna did, if much more afraid of the shadows than Luna could bring herself to be.

Of course, Luna imagined if she had lived with dementors for over a decade and a mother like Druella Black, she might be more wary of the dark.

Luna’s Harry was very excited as they all waited in line on the long stone ramp.

Luna liked the garden of dinosaurs.

Before they departed, Professor Black had given rather basic instructions, “Those of you raised in wizarding homes write down everything you have questions about, and unless it’s about the science of animal evolution, do not ask it aloud or use terms like muggles. There are security guards everywhere.”

“As for those of you muggle raised. Please write down your observations about the not normal reactions, confusion, or behaviours you notice about your wizard raised classmates. Defence begins with appearance and your ability to blend into your surroundings.”

“I never got to go on field trips,” her Harry said as they waited. “But I read about this museum in the school library. And I loved the Jurassic Park books.”

“Jurassic Park?” she asked, happy to see him happy.

“Yeah, uh, it got turned into a movie, but the books are really good, it’s fantasy.” He turned to Hermione. “Have you read them?”

Hermione shook her head, “I don’t read science- fiction .”

Harry scoffed at her tone, “Bet you’ve read Pride and Prejudice though, and that’s fiction too.”

“Jane Austin is one of the great classic writers,” she sniffed.

Harry got into the debate then, clearly, while not a huge studier or researcher on his own time outside of classes, Harry had read a lot in his life, “Michael Crichton is a classic too. If it wasn’t for Jurassic Park, archaeologists might not have gotten the funding they needed to fill museums. Well, Crichton, artists, and John Williams.”

“Whose John Williams?” Luna asked.

Hermione and Harry gave her such a look of horror.

Hermione shook her head, “We have to fix this before you go to America or they are going to think you’re aliens, not just foreigners.”

Harry sniggered as if something Hermione had said was a pun, though Luna couldn’t have guessed.

Luna exchanged a look with Theo.

“Why are there pineapples on everything?” Ron asked as he wandered back to them.

“Those are supposed to be pineapples?” another student asked pointing at the spikes on the gates.

“Yes, it’s a symbol of wealth as they were difficult to get fresh,” a muggleborn seventh year explained.

Finally, the line started moving and Luna felt as if she had stepped into a brighter, happier train station.

The floors were mosaics and the high, high ceilings had flowers painted on them.

Harry was extremely excited by the fossils of the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.

Luna didn’t have the heart to tell them just then that they weren’t extinct.

Half the class panicked when they walked into the room with the moving life-like dinosaurs.

All of them had grown up in magical households.

Some of them had seen dragons before, most hadn’t, but to them, it was a reality that animals could grow that big, be alive, and be perfectly capable of eating them.

Explaining electronics proved difficult and Professor Black promised to find reading material for them all.

Everyone liked the rock rooms, here, the magical kids were able to whisper describe the magical properties that the stones were used for either for telling the future or as potion ingredients.

Someone tried to tattle to Professor Black about their classmates breaking the Stature of Secrecy, only to be told that magical rocks were something many muggles believed in and attempted to practice.

The whales astonished everyone and Luna decided that one day she would swim with these magnificent mammals.

Harry knew a lot about them, as well as sharks. She wondered if Harry would become a marine magi-zoologist. She wondered how much even Professor Scamander knew about marine animals, magical or otherwise.

Their field trip seemed to end too soon for everyone despite their desire for lunch. They all got their picture together as a group in front of the steps to pose with the giant tree trunk slab.

When they got back to Hogwarts, Professor Black praised them all for their performance, reporting that they ‘were considered an extremely odd private school group for their awe and interest, but otherwise, they were just children, magical and non-magical, all alike.’

The half-blood and muggleborn commentary on their classmates was far less congratulatory.

Most notably, the reaction of most of them kept jumping every time they turned a corner to see a new stuffed animal.

Taxidermy was something that existed in the wizarding world after all.

One of the Purebloods retorted, “Well, after the dragon with the stubby arms turned to look at us what did you want us to think!? Any of those things might have been cursed.”

A haunted museum appealed to everyone's imagination, Luna was happy to sit back with Harry at lunch and listen to ever escalating stories.

Hopefully, Professor Black wouldn’t get fired for taking them to go see muggle dragon wranglers or practice in amateur potion brewing.

oOo

Voldemort had been tracking Professor Black and had been sorely tempted to attack the students until he realised how many aurors had been undercover waiting for just that.

It had been a long time since Voldemort had been to a muggle museum, he had forgotten how many old bones were here.

How many dead monsters.

If Black wanted a trap, then Voldemort would give him a trap.

Deliberately setting off the trace, Voldemort waited for his prey to fly into his spiders web.

Sure enough, the man appeared, standing on the base of the display of the big cats.

“Did you call, Tommy?” he asked, wearing round glasses that made him look unnervingly like James Potter.

If James Potter had lived long enough to grey at the temples.

Voldemort sneered, “Professor Black, so kind of you to join me.”

“Does it burn, knowing I have the job you started a war for and still failed to get?” Black asked, though his mouth did not move and his voice echoed around the grand hall.

The previously darkened museum, was suddenly lit, magic occupying the bulbs of muggle lighting system. It cast the museum into strange shades of white and blue, as if they had been thrown into the ocean.

Voldemort felt his spine stiffen, the casual display of magic was disturbing.

Black raised his wand, and Voldemort smiled, the game was on.

Black dodged, his robes snatched back in the nick of time from the maw of the sabertoothed cat who had come alive behind him.

“Doubling down on the necromancy, I see,” Black said, again without his lips moving.

The man flicked his wand at the sabertooth fearlessly, and it collapsed as if falling back asleep.

Too bad for him, that single cat was not the only dead thing in this muggle animal mausoleum.

Black smiled, and the look in his blue eyes was manic. When he laughed, the sound came this time from his parting lips.

It sounded wrong, but Voldemort didn’t have long to dwell on that, as the floor beneath his feet wered ripped upwards, every mosaic shard a projectile.

Voldemort turned those projectiles to dust. He cackled as the T-Rex skeleton from his own childhood came alive, its muscles and flesh, forming with each step.

It roared.

Professor Black laugh echoed round them.

Raw energy formed in the man’s palm, a dark magic that Voldemort expected from a Black but not this one.

The power in his hand shifted to deepest blue and he pitched it at Voldemort, forcing him to call up a shield.

What kind of freak didn’t care about a monster as large as a dragon charging him?

Black continued his assault by floor shards, and Voldemort summoned fiend fire, throwing the room into blazing light like owl burning on water.

The professor grinned, somehow managed to summon a black hole, or what appeared to be a tear in the fabric of space, that swallowed the flame.

The fire vanished with a puff and pop of sound.

Almost belatedly, the inferius dinosaur fell to the ground in a scatter of bones.

Baring his teeth, Voldemort flung curse after curse at the infuriating wizard who smiled gayly, fighting off every curse with the ease of someone who knew him.

Knew what curses he would use next and how to counter them.

The museum came alive with animals long dead, but Professor Black didn’t so much as point his wand against them, instead, keeping his undivided attention on Voldemort as they duelled.

Still, the animals fell apart, the bones of plesiosaurs and prehistoric dolphins swam around them threw the air only to fall apart before they could attack.

“How are you doing this?” Voldemort snarled as his every attack was thwarted. He tried to apparate behind his opponent and found that the wards had been lain.

“Having performance anxiety, Tommy-Boy?” Professor Black’s voice asked, bouncing off all the walls around him, once more without his lips moving.

“Damn you!” Voldemort roared into the chaos that spun around them.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” that voice and another’s spoke, lips in sync.

“You were always too attached to the prophecy,” Professor Black said from behind him.

Voldemort spun round, “ You…”

He only just managed to guard himself against the curse thrown at his exposed back. He staggered as the ball of blue energy dissolved the stone at his feet, frazzling his shield charm.

Voldemort stepped back so he could see both professors, shaken by the near miss and his own foolishness of turning his back on what he had wrongly assumed was an empty threat. “What is this?”

The professor he had been duelling skipped to the other, leaning against his doppelganger with a wicked smile.

The only difference between them was the rounded black framed glasses the first professor still wore.

The doppelganger didn’t hesitate to meet his twin with a passionate kiss.

Disgusting.

Voldemort struck them with the killing curse, which they sidestepped in an almost dance like movement.

The first professor laughed, and Voldemort was finally able to place the familiarity of that sound.

“Bellatrix Lestrange! ” he seethed. “You little traitor.”

“Bella Black now,” she sing-songed. “ Mrs . Bella Black, and I’ve come to kill you, Mr. Riddle.”

Voldemort was going to slaughter them both.

But the newly weds worked in seemless tandem, summoning a swarm of blue-black butterflies.

Fleshing eating butterflies, as it turned out, that cut at Voldemort’s skin before he could finish insenerating them all.

Bellatrix laughed, the polyjuice running out, leaving the witch drowning in robes too large for her, a pair of glasses slipping down her nose as she giggled.

“As I was saying,” Professor Black said. “You put too much stock in a prophecy, you might have won the war had you just left the babies alone.”

Voldemort smiled, “So you know you will lose, Potter is still a child I can, and will, destroy.”

The Professor smirked, “The first time, the power you knew not was my mother’s blood curse. And now? You will fail because you did not know, did not even suspect, there could be two of us.”

“Two?” Voldemort asked before he felt his blood cold at the use of the phrase ‘my mother’s blood curse.’,

“ Potter!?”

The professor bowed grandly, in a sweep of robes, “I am a Harry Potter, but I am the Lord of House Black. And you’re fucked.”

Voldemort screamed his rage while Bellatrix laughed at him, her wand raised with Professor Potter’s.

Lord Voldemort, naturally, recogonised the curse they used, and though it was not an Unforgivable, there was no shield in the world that could have protected him from their joint magic.

The Unmaking Curse, shown like a comet of white-blue, devouring him whole and leaving nothing of him behind.

oOo

Bella laughed, dancing over the spot the Dark Lord had met his nevermore.

Harris smiled, and began repairing the damage they’d caused to the museum, putting the bones and displays back to rights. Bones walked themselves back into their collections and stuffed beasts rose on their own power to return to their educational providing slumber.

The broken glass and mosaic floors were mended like a video of waterfall flowing in reverse.

Bella slammed against him, “That was so much fun!”

“You were wonderful,” Harris said, holding her against him. She had toyed the cult leader as Harris warded the museum to trap Voldemort in place. As she fought, Harris had the leisure time to uncharm the necromancy curses.

Bella tucked her hands in the too large sleeves, “We defeated the Dark Lord. I’m forever free of him.”

He kissed her nose, removing the glasses that he himself no longer wore. It had been surprising that Voldemort hadn’t been tipped off by that detail alone. Harris knew that he resembled greatly his younger self and James Potter.

“How do you feel about getting some ice cream?” he asked his wife.

She smiled, “You are singular most romantic wizard on the planet.”

Harris threw his head back and laughed, “Slaying Dark Lords and ice cream is the way to your heart, I see.”

She leaned her full weight against him, “He used me as a weapon but you? You fought beside me as my equal.”

He cupped her face in his hands, “Bella, I treat you that way because you are my equal.”

She kissed him quickly and sweetly, “You promised ice cream.”

He kissed her forehead, “So I did.”

He disapparated them, departing, as it so happened, just before the security guards converged on their location to find all their objects and fossils unharmed, though freshly dusted, their floors polished, and their security cameras and lights completely nonfunctional.

oOo

Narcissa squeezed Harris’s hand hard enough to break as she screamed.

It wasn’t so much out of pain as fury.

The healers seemed somewhat cowed as they tried to calm down.

Their baby was born with an answering bellow.

Narcissa released his hand, “Give him to me, give me my baby!”

Harris caught the baby from the healer’s arm, washing the blood from their daughter with a sweep of his hand.

“She,” Harris said, cradling his fourth child close to his heart as he brought her to her mother. “Our daughter.”

Narcissa, panting and sweaty, managed to be as regal as ever as she beheld her daughter for the first time.

She allowed Harris to cradle their child with her. He sat behind her on the bed so that she could hold them both.

“Alyssum,” Narcissa breathed, her gaze full of awe and determination. “My Sweet Alyssum.”

“ Worth Beyond Beauty ,” Harris translated, Rose had been rather found of the Langauge of Flowers.

Narcissa nodded, “She won’t be like me or my sisters, she will know, without doubt, that she is loved. Not depending on her beauty or presentation. We will love her and support her.”

Harris put his hand over Narcissa’s where they cradled their newborn, “Love, without condition.” He kissed the cheek of the mother of his child.

Tears slid down Narcissa’s cheeks as she leaned back against him, to lean on his strength.

“I want more,” she said. “I don’t want another child to grow up alone.”

Harris hushed her as their Alyssum began to cry again, “You can have as many children as you want, Narcissa, and I will adore every one of them. I will always be here to support them and you.”

Narcissa rocked their child against her chest, letting herself cry, letting herself relax enough to trust in another. To trust in this man who loved her daughter, possibly, as much as she did.

oOo

Draco was overwhelmed and a bit afraid when his mother placed his baby sister in his arms.

Harry, however, was entranced, pressing against Draco’s side to coo over the infant.

Draco was still weirded out that there were, in fact, two Harry Potters, and one of them was his mother’s lo–

Nope.

Nope, Draco wasn’t going to think about, despite the obvious evidence in his arms.

Professor Black was functionally his step father, while also being, weirdly and functionally, Harry’s stepfather.

Which made them Draco’s sister’s father and brother.

It was weird, too weird, and really, Professor Black was too crazy to be Harry.

Draco stopped trying to figure it out in favour of figuring out how to hold his sister who was probably going to be more spoiled than Draco had been.

Only, unlike Draco, Alyssum would have a father who loved her and who wanted to be there for her, no matter what.

Theirs was a strange family, Draco found himself quite liking being apart of it.

Epilogue

Harris and Narcissa had two more daughters, making the sisters three: Alyssum, Aster, Artemisia. The three Black Sisters knew little in their loves that was not love, family, and prosperity.

They were, after all, three daughters who came exactly who they wanted, who were loved as they wished to love, and who never folded to the tragedies of their world, meeting each of life's challenge without fear and wisdom greater than their years.

What was most surprising about the three Black Sisters was what they were known for: not for their devastating beauty, not their blinding intelligence, nor even their unfettered magical gifts, which were profound in the extreme.

No, what Alyssum, Artemisia, and Aster Black were best known for was their unwavering kindness.

There is special sort of strength to kindness, a bravery of the heart that Harris, Sirius, Narcissa, and Bella Black all believed, at one time or another, lost to them. Thus, they never stopped being amazed by their daughters’ brilliance.

It was in this way, that Harry Potter the younger and Luna Lovegood grew into this larger family they had always dreamed of having.

Luna became the girls’ favourite aunt. Many years later, well after their successful careers as magi-zoologists and magi-marine-biologists, Alyssum became Luna and Harry’s children’s favourite aunt in turn.

Favourites aside, theirs was a family of prosperity and love.

The Black Family, once known for the darkness galaxy, became beacons of hope.

Sirius Black became a beloved Transfiguration teacher, as the Weasley Twins were found of pointing out, the dog inheriting the cat’s legacy.

Regulus Black, in his time, reformed Ministry’s legal system, and Regulus’s children became prominent figures in their society, known for their morality and civic pride.

Narcissa Black kept as far from politics as humanly possible, yet still managed to influence every generation around her. Her life was a happy and fulfilled one, especially when she became a great-grandmother.

Her grandchildren thought Grandma Narcissa was the kindest witch on the planet to the consternation of anyone else who had met her.

As for Professor Harris Black, he never quite forgot the universe he came from nor the family he left behind.

He too, was loved best by his grandchildren who believed ‘Poppy Black’ could magic the stars into the sky while disbelieving their all so sweet and baking grandfather capable of murdering the Dark Lord.

He was too nice for that.

Grandmother Bella, however, was remembered as the witch who defeated the Dark Lord and the woman who made Poppy Black smile even when he seemed at his saddest.

No one knew better than the elders of the Black family that one could not always rely on family, that romantic love could as easily tear you apart, as heal.

Love was a choice.

Family was a challenge.

The Black Family was one that had overcome annilation, betrayal, and willful cruelty. Through their many hurts and broken hearts, they had learned to value those they loved; beyond ruin and despair.

Beyond pain and fear, there was always a reason to keep fighting for tomorrow, to keep living for those who loved you or those who might one day need your love.

Living was not an expedition of avoiding pain, it was a trial of hearts learning to love as only they could.

oOo

Authour’s Note: This story is dedicated to everyone who has ever felt broken or incomplete, trying their hardest to fall in love with the life we have.

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marlastian on Chapter 1 Tue 12 Jan 2021 08:14PM UTC

:)

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wishinajar on Chapter 1 Tue 12 Jan 2021 09:44PM UTC

This is such a strong opening, like omg. I cannot wait to see where you go with this

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"That" person (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sun 24 Jan 2021 10:38AM UTC

No offence intended and i apologize if i give you one.
"...
Harry Potter, age forty-nine, was smiling as he entered his home.
He had just spent the day babysitting his first granddaughter, Magnolia Tonks Shacklebolt. Teddy had chosen to take his wife’s name, first because Teddy didn’t have much attachment to the name Lupin and second because Sonya Kingsley Shacklebolt was the man of the house in all but equipment.
..."
This was perfect intro, it tells reader exactly what kind of story this is and the state of society where author grew up.
Quoted bit tells us that teddy grew up in a single mother household occasionally visited by a godfather who´s childhood lacked love, security, functioning adults and role models. Best not to mention Hogwarts years. No wonder teddy grew up to be a spineless simp. It is possible that magnolia is teddy´s. Despite what women may say and "think" they subconsciously seek out "toxic masculinity". This leads to a resentment if their current "partner" can´t fill that role and eventual divorce so that they can achieve coveted status as a single mother.
Much of the social history of the Western world over the past decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.
- Thomas Sowell

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1. AppoApples on Chapter 1 Sun 24 Jan 2021 01:13PM UTC
  
  Well, in this case it's because Teddy sees himself as a Potter because Harry and not Remus raised him. Harry didn't know Remus well enough to have a ton of stories about him and Andromeda didn't know him well either.
  And in this case Sonya is just a really dominate personality and very proud, Teddy just goes with the flow. When Sonya wanted to keep her last name, Teddy took it too because the name Lupin wasn't overly vital to his sense of self.
  So in sum, it's Teddy being very secure in his own personage and masculinity that he is comfortable being partners with a competent and not codependent female.
  Sonya being the man of the house was part jest and part Teddy not being a control freak.
  
  Last Edited Sun 24 Jan 2021 01:14PM UTC
  
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2. "This" person (Guest) on Chapter 1 Tue 23 Nov 2021 03:38PM UTC
  
  You must be a very insecure person that you feel the need to randomly point this out. You obviously grew up with an overbearing father figure to whose expectations you could never measure up to.
  
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3. 1. AppoApples on Chapter 1 Tue 23 Nov 2021 11:41PM UTC
    
    Oh, burn! You gonna hit me with yor mama-fat joke? My Peta-ji and I are chill, but you're hilarious, I love it when people self-profile. Good luck in life with your sense of self being tied to your relationship with your parents and your paranoia about gender norms.
    And here's a quote for quote:
    “But by far the worst thing we do to males — by making them feel they have to be hard — is that we leave them with very fragile egos. The harder a man feels compelled to be, the weaker his ego is.”
    ― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    
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  2. 1. That “other” guy (Guest) on Chapter 1 Wed 26 Jan 2022 12:09AM UTC
      
      He was telling the first commenter off, not you
      
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    2. Account Deleted on Chapter 1 Mon 18 Nov 2024 03:31PM UTC
      
      Ah I see, dominant man = bad, but dominant woman = good. Women yap on and on about men having fragile egos, but it’s just the pot calling the kettle black. 🤣
      
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    3. 1. AppoApples on Chapter 1 Mon 18 Nov 2024 03:46PM UTC
        
        I mean what's the problem with either person having dominant personalities. The problem here is not a gender having self confidence and independence, the problem here is if one having those traits dictates whether the partner or the child will be inferior because idealistic ideas of normality, typically dictated by a colonial president aren't being fulfilled.
        I.E. a strong mother does not nessitate her son isweak, and a sensitive father doesn't equal his son feeling inferior. Mind you the original remark was based of the attachment of one's identity to a name of a dead father who walked out on his mom and had him out of wedlock during a war. Is the thesis here in order to be a man, Teddy needed to be as angsty about his dead father as Harry was about his when Teddy was raised by the hero of the wizarding world and his black sister grandmother? Was that the take away?
        
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Th3Hybr1d on Chapter 1 Thu 04 Feb 2021 06:23PM UTC

I came across this story whilst not logged in, so I logged in to give this story and the author the appreciation they deserve- this is a unique storyline and, despite you saying you have dyslexia, I find little errors in the writing- I am very much looking forward to seeing how this develops!

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Account Deleted on Chapter 1 Sun 04 Apr 2021 01:16AM UTC

Yay reunion with Sirius in person!!

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Spade_Z on Chapter 1 Fri 23 Jul 2021 07:27PM UTC

Just a Spade casually dropping by
♠️💚

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thunder20 on Chapter 1 Sat 21 Aug 2021 08:23AM UTC

i am torn
i like harry x bellatrix, but i dislike harry x luna, actually idk why, but i dislike luna overall

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TheSevenWondersOfAWitch on Chapter 1 Tue 04 Jan 2022 01:45AM UTC

Truth be told, when I saw this story and the pairings I worried that a child Harry would be partnered with Bellatrix, but reading the first chapter I can see that won't be the case (thankfully).
Older Harry causing utter chaos at the entrance to the hedges is fantastic, and I'm fascinated by the bracelets Andromeda and Bellatrix had.
Great story so far and am very glad I started reading it!

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Persona_Non_Grata on Chapter 1 Wed 19 Jan 2022 12:29PM UTC

Harry: alright. Time travel. Cool.
Also Harry: arrives in style, shocks dumbledore to stillness, saves Harry, kicks Voldemort’s ass, and drops the boy into Sirius’ lap
“I’m Harris magnolia black”
Oh boy, he’s gonna punch snape in the face, please please please I’m begging

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PinkiePi on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Jan 2022 10:07AM UTC

I thought the parting message was awesome and a good way to kick start tearing down the wards so harry doesn't have to go back by hinting to him what home is.

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Jamie (Guest) on Chapter 1 Fri 18 Feb 2022 08:43AM UTC

Awesome so far

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Mercaptoethanol on Chapter 1 Tue 31 May 2022 02:42PM UTC

Hi there,
First thanks for writing this story. It's awesome that you spend your time freely working on something to share with others.
For my constructive criticism:
- I don't understand why many fan fic writers are spending so much energy on bashing. I mean the first time you read Dumbledore/Ron bashing it's ok. But now it's the hundreth time and it's making me sick. It's just always the same and it's not particularly interesting imo.
- Reading your fic, one can clearly see wether you like a character or not within 2 sentences they say. Which feels odd.
- Characters are very out of characters for no visible reason besides your personal preferences. Which is fine to some extent obviously, as you write the story primarily for yourself. Though it's so out of the blue that it's hard to get by:
Harry getting friend with Draco and all slytherins in 2 seconds and dump Ron and Hermione as fast.
This kind of drama feels out of the blue and unatural. But more than that it feels unecessary.
The story would be much with a real plot and some mystery.
I find that often time travel stories are disappointing because they all follow the same trope. Which is that an all-knowing over-powered characters goes back in time, because of that there is no plot and ends up in made up drama or useless politics. But it doesn't have to be. Just make the identity of the time travel discovered and that opens up a loads of possible plot lines.
Anyway that's just my 2 cents.
Cheers

Last Edited Tue 31 May 2022 02:44PM UTC

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1. AppoApples on Chapter 1 Tue 31 May 2022 03:02PM UTC
  
  Thank you for your feedback.
  Indeed, I often write characters with strong emotional reactions that come down harsh and make them appear stupid. I have a lot of drama personalities in my life and they often don't do things that make sense until or if I get to know their back stories.
  Ironically, your criticism is the exact I've been getting, though I've been accused of having not enough forshadowing to said pmystery.
  If you're asking for plot and choose to continue reading, I suggest you keep an eye on the out of character moments and things that don't match canon. Say, Dumbledore being super touchy and trigger happy, Newt being around, and Luna making some friends over the summer before she ever meets Harry much less a good friend of his.
  I do have strong veiws about Ron, but if you notice, Harry doesn't hate Ron at any point. When Hermione and Ron both back away from Harry and show their displeasure with his having other friends, they expect him to follow and make peace. Harry doesn't do this so it makes this awkward casm that just gets more awkward to cross. Teenage drama, it's also consistent with Harry's behaviour, if a bit more light hearted, as fifth book Harry.
  I'll also repeat that Harry was in contact with Hermione through the summer. They aren't enemies just have awkward distance.
  As for Harris...
  I don't know if you've ever been close to someone who was in a divorce, I've been close to a lot of them and families ripping each other a part is pretty typical. Plus grief brings out the worst in many, as it does with Harris.
  By the time you get to the twist, Harris's drama starts resolving and the plot picks up in haste and I start delving into developing Grindelwald, heating up Voldemort's strike back, and little Harry's adventures as I begin unrevealing the mysteries ;)
  Thank you again!
  
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DetsellaMorningdew on Chapter 1 Sun 26 Jun 2022 12:29AM UTC

This is really well written. I found this because I was looking for unusual ships, and I'm continuing because the writing is legitimately good (and avoids cliches I'm a little burnt out on right now, but never mind that).

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jimmyoz on Chapter 1 Thu 27 Oct 2022 11:02PM UTC

Well this story looks interesting even if i am sad that he wont be with Andromeda again but hopefully he will at least tell his story later to her and everything. i have read the one with her and him and the one with Narcissa and him so figured i would read this one as well. hope it gets updated at completed.

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ImoutoThief on Chapter 1 Wed 23 Nov 2022 09:41AM UTC

Huh, wish he was honest about who he was to himself.

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CanadaScottM on Chapter 1 Wed 18 Jan 2023 06:35AM UTC

Ooh, interesting! I got notified about the newest chapter and realized I hadn't tried this one yet. I'm excited to see where you take it.

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pincho (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sat 25 Feb 2023 05:56PM UTC

That was one hell of an intro chapter! It is nice to see Harry not hesitate! I know you said he did but it was soo quick I don't think it counts, more like..brain is this.. yes..shit let's move ! Type of moment.

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silver_drip on Chapter 1 Tue 18 Apr 2023 12:55PM UTC

:)

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FlameEGB on Chapter 1 Mon 02 Oct 2023 09:45PM UTC

👍🏻

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