Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Harry's Rings

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Founders' Heirs' Weapons

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Lily/Regulus/James' Wedding Rings

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Master Class Schedule

Harry's Schedule

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Hogwarts Ritual Circle

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Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Neville in the Wizard of Oz bc I just had to (reference to the chapter Prints in Ink)

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Harry's Tattoos

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Harry Potter Black (i 100% used abhay verma's face as a reference)

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Death & Harry

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Harry

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Updated Harry's Rings (post ch. 66, "In My Life")

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Theo's Rings

Chapter Text

Hey Jude, don't make it bad

Take a sad song and make it better

Remember to let her into your heart

Then you can start to make it better.

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Harry’s not sure if he was given this honor because Tonks and Remus loved him, because he was the one who got Remus to come home, or just because he was the only one left. But they’re kindred spirits now.

The first war made an orphan of Harry and the second made an orphan of his godson.

Harry refuses to let Teddy suffer the way he did. Harry refuses to allow this beautiful, beautiful boy to grow up without being told every single day that he’s loved, that he’s wanted. Harry had hoped beyond hope that Tonks and Remus would be able to be here, would be able to raise their sweet boy on their own. But, when that became impossible, he had hoped Andromeda would be able to step in. But, advanced age and heartbreak after heartbreak have made it hard for Andromeda to focus on the day to day, and Teddy deserves a grandmother who can be fun and loving when she’s able, but who isn’t burdened with trying to pull herself together and put on a mask.

Teddy deserves someone who can give him their undivided attention, who can give him everything.

So, Harry has to get it together.

He can’t let the ghosts of two wars weigh him down any longer. He’s testified at trials, he’s shook hands and offered condolences and accepted congratulations, he’s attended more funerals this summer than any one person should attend in a lifetime, he’s moved Andromeda and Teddy into Grimmauld Place, he’s even (in an incredibly strange turn of events) opened the doors of the Black Family Ancestral Home to Narcissa Malfoy (who would prefer to be called Narcissa Black, thank you very much), and he’s accepted McGonagall’s offer to return to Hogwarts to earn his NEWTs.

Oh, and he’s adopted Edward Remus Lupin.

Master of Death, War Hero, the Boy Who Lived (x2), the Chosen One, Savior of the Wizarding World, Lord Potter, Lord Black, Lord Peverell, Lord Slytherin (and wasn’t that a shock?), Harry James Potter Order of Merlin First Class … why not add teen parent to the list?

Harry is going to make sure Teddy grows up hearing stories of his parents so he can choose what attributes he recognizes in himself, instead of being seen as the mirror of his father in the haunted eyes of every adult who chooses to care for him. Harry’s going to make sure that Teddy knows that he is wanted and loved because he’s his own person, not just his parents’ child. Teddy is going to be raised in a magical home, raised knowing his station as an Heir to a Most Ancient and Noble House, but he’s going to attend muggle primary school and, now that Harry thinks about it, should probably continue some sort of muggle education even when he eventually attends Hogwarts. I mean, if this kid is anything like his parents, he’ll be endlessly intelligent and endlessly hyperactive. He's going to need something different to focus on so he doesn’t become McGonagall’s’ worst nightmare. A kid who was born a Lupin and a Black and who’s being raised a Potter? A child made up of ¾ Marauder bloodlines who also happens to be Metamorphmagus? And who isn’t properly challenged and entertained? No thank you. Harry’s going to do his best to mitigate that disaster waiting to happen.

* * *

Needless to say, it’s been a busy three months since he defeated Voldemort. And, as it turns out, raising an infant might even be more difficult than battling Dark Lords. Now, Harry’s staring down the barrel of September 1^st. Narcissa and Andromeda are certainly helping each other heal, but Harry’s just not comfortable leaving Remus’ son, his son he guesses … that one’s gonna take some getting used to, in a house with two women who have an incredibly fragile bond and who weren’t expecting to ever have to raise a child again. So, really, Harry and Teddy are staring down the barrel of September 1^st.

Harry’s not really sure what possessed him to not only decide to return to Hogwarts, a place now filled to the brim with ghosts and nightmares, but to return with a four-month-old child. Harry’s also not sure what possessed McGonagall to agree to this harebrained scheme. He’s not sure if it has more to do with her love of Remus Lupin, her love and respect of Harry, or the fact that Hermione said she’d be helping Harry plan. But, at the end of the day, Harry’s not quite sure he cares what the reasoning is.

Teddy Lupin-Potter is sunshine on a rainy day. His mere presence puts Harry at peace and brings a smile to his face, the only time Harry’s nightmares subside is when he falls asleep with Teddy curled against his chest, his nose buried in the soft hair that settles into honey brown curls whenever the boy is asleep. Harry’s honestly not sure if he’d be able to face Hogwarts without his boy.

Harry’s not quite sure when in the last three months he started thinking of Teddy as his, instead of just a kid he was temporarily watching or an honorary nephew, but he can’t quite find it in himself to feel guilty about it.

He’d stressed endlessly over the more tactical aspects of taking care of Teddy; establishing a trust vault, paying his Hogwarts tuition at the first sign of accidental magic, decorating his room, making plans for his early education. But, amongst all that, he’d discovered that what matters most is that he carves time out of each and every day to give his undivided attention to Teddy.

To read books and tell stories and get distracted playing with bath toys and get lost in the siren song of Teddy’s giggles. He hasn’t quite learned how to stop the tears from falling every time Teddy’s features turned distinctly Potter in response to seeing Harry. Wild black hair and bright green eyes, sun kissed skin and a smile far too mischievous for a four-month-old infant.

* * *

For someone who grew up ignorant to the concept of “family,” Harry has found himself absolutely surrounded by people happy to consider him as such.

The Weasleys have always said he was theirs in all but name, but the months since the Battle have only served to solidify that. He had always chalked up his connection to the Weasley family to his being Ron’s best friend or Ginny’s boyfriend, but with Ron and Hermione trekking through Australia and he and Ginny deciding they’re better off as friends, Harry has remained a welcome presence at the Burrow. Molly had even added Harry and Teddy to the clock.

And then, in a manner so strange it could only ever happen to Harry Potter, he’d not only risen to his station as Lord Black, but he’d come to consider them family. The once prodigious Black family had dwindled in recent years, but their pride certainly hadn’t. With Narcissa and Andromeda’s help, Harry had stuffed his brain with etiquette and politics, he’d been brought into family secrets and took up the mantle in more than just the name, he’d officially welcomed Andromeda back into the family and dissolved Narcissa’s marriage contract.

* * *

He’d also discovered during a truly mind-melting trip to Gringotts that he didn’t even know his own name.

Apparently, as people take up Heirships or Lordships, their surnames are magically updated. But, more than that, he’d never known he had a full name. He’d always known himself as Harry James Potter. But, apparently, he’d been given middle names for each of his known Heirships and, beyond that, he had a full name. Why no one ever deigned to tell him that Harry was a nickname was an absolute mystery.

Strangely, it wasn’t the ceremonies and awards and endless articles that made him realize he’d never be Just Harry, it was looking at that inheritance test in a windowless office with a truly disgruntled Goblin who kept muttering about useless wizards with stupid beards and even stupider robes. Apparently, the account managers had been trying to get ahold of him for quite some time.

It seemed Harry James Potter had truly died in the Forbidden Forest. The boy who spent a decade in a cupboard, didn’t understand the concept of family, and who never planned to see his 18^th birthday was gone. In his place was a young man who was Master of an ancestral home, had family in spades, and made plans for the future.

Lord Hadrian James Ignotus Arcturus Peverell Potter Black Slytherin.

And if realizing that he had more names than Dumbledore sent Harry and Steelclaw into a fit of laugher at the sheer insanity of the situation, laughter that only got more manic when the goblin pointed out that at least his third middle name was better than “Brian,” no one had to know.

In public, he remained “Harry Potter.”

To the Wizengamot, he was Lord Peverell; Lord Peverell Black Slytherin Potter was a fucking mouthful, so he’d begged his colleagues to just pick one and stick with it. They’d tried to call him Lord Potter and the Peverell seat lit itself on fire. The chamber had decided to defer to the wishes of the Peverell magic after that.

Narcissa and Andromeda insist on calling him Hadrian, Draco had taken to coming up with as many nicknames as possible and with 8 names to draw from he would likely never run out of options though it seemed “Hades” was his current favorite.

Blaise had decided to henceforth only refer to both Draco and Harry as “Black.” A habit neither of them could break him of but couldn’t technically correct him on given the newly established line of succession.

Harry only had to name heirs to two of his houses. The Peverell and Slytherin Magics didn’t pass down like normal Family Magic. Harry was the Slytherin Lord through the right of conquest, technically, but also through some tie to the Gaunts that he hadn’t fully figured out. When Death bestowed his gifts upon the brothers, he stated that the magic would one day be re-united. The so-called “Master of Death” would be the last of the line and, when they greeted Death as an old friend, the Master would carry those gifts with them into the great beyond. Harry would be the last of the Peverells, he would – some day in the distant future – greet Death as an old friend. He would join the mantle at Death’s right hand.

And what a sodding mindfuck that had been.

Harry really thought when Voldemort’s soul piece got botted he’d stop having to share his dreamscape. But, as it turns out, Lord Death was more than happy to take up residence.

As such, the only Houses Harry had to name Heirs for were Potter and Black. After a lot of discussion with Andromeda, Harry had decided to name Teddy as the Potter Heir and Draco as the Black Heir. Draco had been more than happy to return the Malfoy seat to the chamber to be filled by a younger family. Draco, even more surprisingly, had absolutely zero interest in actually becoming Lord Black. He was more than happy to be the Heir and to help Harry with family affairs, but much preferred serving in an advisory role rather than taking up the mantle himself.

* * *

Shortly before his birthday, once the dust had settled, Andromeda had approached Harry about officially adopting Teddy. While Harry had been Teddy’s primary caregiver since the week after the Battle and while Teddy was officially Heir Potter, Harry was legally only Teddy’s oath sworn godfather. It seemed, in the panic of the war, Remus and Tonks hadn’t had the chance to update their wills to include what should happen to Teddy. He’d been less than a week old when his parents died. Andromeda and Harry had similar claims over Teddy’s guardianship, Andromeda as his grandmother and Harry as his godfather.

Andromeda approached the question as a conversation about which one of them should be his primary guardian, but Harry could read between the lines. Andromeda had lost so much. They all had. But she had lost her husband and her daughter in quick succession, she was aging and hadn’t planned to raise an infant. She was beyond ecstatic to be a grandmother but hadn’t planned to be a parent again. And, while Harry was young, he was mature and understood Teddy’s situation more than most.

Harry knew without a doubt that he would’ve been better off had he been raised by Sirius, no matter how young and inexperienced he may have been. He’d have been raised knowing he was loved.

After a deep conversation and a lot of spilled tears, Andromeda and Harry had decided that Harry would blood adopt Teddy. Harry had initially suggested merely establishing permanent guardianship, but Andromeda had pointed out that being a blood relative would be preferable for the Potter family magic and, more than that, Teddy deserved to have a parent. And really, how could Harry say no to that?

Thus, with a visit to Gringotts and a simple potion, Teddy became the new owner of a stupid number of names (seriously, someone needs to reassess these naming traditions) and hair that not even a metamorph could tame.

Edward Remus Lupin became Edward Remus Hadrian Lupin Potter.

Harry had argued extensively that they find a different Potter name, but Andromeda couldn’t be moved. She insisted that Teddy bear the names of both his fathers. She then gracefully ignored the way that statement made Harry tear up.

The papers the next day announced the Potter Heir. And, in a move that no one could’ve predicted, the Prophet’s article was entirely truthful and, even more shockingly, tasteful. The world was told the story of the Marauders; a band of brothers decimated by war and how their sons would carry their legacy.

Chapter Text

And, in another wild turn of events, Harry has found himself sharing the joy that Teddy brings with a veritable den of snakes.

Harry’s quite sure he’d never have described Draco Malfoy as soft, but that’s exactly what Teddy brings out in his peer.

With Draco and Narcissa in residence comes a constant stream of ragtag Slytherins. Teddy has each and every one of them wrapped around his little finger.

After a lengthy conversation about why, exactly, Harry might be ticked off at Pansy (“Parkinson, offering children up to noseless maniacs is generally frowned upon.” “But, Potter, you offered yourself up anyways. What’s the difference?” “It’s the principle of the thing, Parkinson.”), she took it upon herself to spoil Teddy senseless and dragged Blaise right along into madness with her.

Harry also learned that, when separated from his violent counterpart and out from the shadow of his arguably sadistic father, Gregory Goyle is essentially a teddy bear.

The Greengrass sisters dote on Teddy with a single-minded focus often reserved for generals in the midst of battle; apart from Astoria’s efforts to get Draco to remove his head from his arse and notice her.

Then there’s Theodore Nott.

Son of the original Death Eater, Apollonius Nott.

Harry had a habit of noticing Theodore Nott. Throughout their years at Hogwarts, the Slytherin seemed to make it his mission to blend into the background. He consistently placed in the top five in any given class but, beyond academic prowess, no one knew much about him. The public knowledge of Theodore Nott consists of three clear facts; he watched his mother die, his father is a Death Eater, and he was not to be fucked with.

Harry’s knowledge of Theodore Nott extended much further; he was something of a prodigy when it came to runes, he took his tea with a truly concerning amount of sugar, he often quietly joined Luna Lovegood to feed the Thestrals, he spent hours wandering the castle during sleepless nights, he had an uncanny ability to sense when Harry was near – even under the invisibility cloak – yet never confronted him, he preferred the tables in the hidden corners of the library near the windows that looked over the lake, he was proficient at hiding in shadows and remaining hidden in the dark but sought every opportunity to breathe fresh air and feel the sun on his face, he rarely spoke and his face remained an impassive mask, but if you knew what to look for his eyes could tell no lies.

Over the summer, Harry’s knowledge of Theodore Nott extended even further; he refused to take the Dark Mark and somehow lived to tell the tale, he submitted testimony (albeit anonymously, but what’s really anonymous to Harry Potter?) against his own father, he escorted younger students from all four houses to the hidden depths of the dungeons during the Battle and stood guard until the castle was clear, he enjoyed feeling useful and would happily spend hours firing off cleaning charms and sorting through the piles of artifacts and heirlooms the Order had unceremoniously shoved into the attic, and he was ass over tea kettle for Teddy.

Theodore Nott showing emotion was absolutely unheard of, so when the other Slytherins walked into the sitting room to see Harry passing Teddy over so Theo could hold him, they had absolutely no clue how to process the soft smile on their housemate’s face. They lost their footing even further when that smile was turned toward Harry.

“Who is that and what have they done to Theodore Nott?” Draco asked under his breath.

“Shut it, Black,” Blaise whispered back, “you’ll spook them. They’re both like frightened baby dragons when it comes to emotions. Just back away slowly and let it play out.”

Theo was far too distracted by Teddy to notice anything, but the pair got a nasty glare from Harry. Draco, having some semblance of a self-preservation instinct, grabbed Blaise’s arm and yanked him out of the room.

Chapter Text

Monday, 10 August 1998

Harry had never thought that years of nonstop nightmares and Voldy-visions followed by a year of being constantly alert while sleeping in a tent would be good practice for parenting, alas.

Teddy is, of course, the perfect baby. No one would ever be able to convince Harry otherwise. But even perfect babies can be deeply annoying at times. This was one of those times.

It was 4:00 in the morning and Harry was awake for the third time that night. It was starting to look like sleep just wouldn’t come. Teddy didn’t necessarily scream, he rarely truly cried. But he was restless. Harry couldn’t really complain, he was also restless. But he tended to save it for when he was actually awake. Teddy was only ever fully still when he was being held, specifically when he was being held by Harry.

Harry was about four seconds away from throwing “safe sleeping” to the wind and casting a sticking charm on the hyperactive infant to adhere Teddy to his chest and then sticking them both to the bed when he heard movement outside his door.

Years of living in a less than hospitable home followed by the terror of war had Harry drawing his wand and creeping to check who was outside his door, moving as silently as possible he pulled the door open and came face to face with, “Neville? What are you doing here? It’s four in the sodding morning?”

“Harry, mate,” Neville responded, with no small amount of exasperation, “I’ve been here all night, you showed me to my room not six hours ago.”

“I have an infant Neville, I’ve lost my grasp on reality, forgive me.”

Neville just breathed out a laugh, shaking his head.

“But that doesn’t explain why you’re wandering about in the middle of the night, are you alright, Nev?”

“Yeah, Haz, I’m alright. I’m just getting some water. Are you okay? You look exhausted. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Unless you want to come deal with the most hyperactive child I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, then no. You should get some sleep, at least one of us should be functional to talk to King Ragnok tomorrow. Some of the goblins are still quite peeved at me for the whole robbery and dragon theft fiasco.”

“Harry, you are the only person I know who could pull that shit off and only get away with a fine. Most people would be beheaded.”

“Honestly, Nev, if I didn’t think it sounded insane I’d say Ragnok was actually amused by the whole thing.”

“Knowing your strange luck, he probably was.” Neville responded with a laugh, “but I think we should both be functional for our first official act as Lords Slytherin and Gryffindor,” he paused, shaking his head, “do you think that will ever get less insane?”

“No, I sincerely doubt it will.” Harry deadpanned back.

“You’re probably right mate,” Neville shot back with a grin, “how about I come sit with Teddy for a bit while you sleep, he settles down when someone is holding him right?”

“You don’t have to do that, Neville, we’ll be alright.”

“I know you will be, Harry, but you’re not alone right now. Or at least you don’t have to be. Eventually you’ll learn to ask for help but for now, I’m perfectly happy forcing help upon you.”

With a sigh that did little to cover his appreciation for his friend, Harry pulled the door open and let Neville in. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Harry came to a few hours later to the sounds of Neville explaining the functions of aconite and Teddy humming as if the 3-month-old boy could understand the lecture.

“Nev, I love you like a brother, but I’ll hurt you if you turn my son into an herbology swot.”

“Oh, sod off you mouthy git,” Neville responded with a grin. “Did you get some sleep?”

“I did, thank you, you’re a life saver, I take back what I said about hurting you, I’d never hurt you, you are the light of my life, I will love you forever.”

“Laying it on a little thick there, Potter.”

That specific inflection on Potter could only belong to one person, though it generally came with significantly less bite in recent weeks, “Malfoy what are you doing in my bedroom?”

“It hasn’t been Malfoy for awhile, Potter. Remember the whole dissolution of the Malfoy family and you naming me as your heir last week? I knew you were dense but I thought you at least had a short-term memory,” Draco chided before adding with his signature smirk, “this must be one of those previously unknown effects of surviving the killing curse, Scarhead.”

“You know, Draco, if it wouldn’t be a waste of my heroic efforts to get us both out of that fiendfyre, I’d murder you in cold blood.”

“You say the sweetest things, Harold.”

The thwack of Harry’s pillow hitting the back of Draco’s head followed by his laughter could be heard echoing through the house.

“You know, Haz, I’m not sure if this method of antagonizing each other is any less annoying than when you used to curse each other in the hallways.”

“Don’t forget the murder attempts, my dear Neville, now give me my boy and go get ready for the day. We have a lot of shit to do, and I want to do approximately none of it.”

“Why don’t I sit with him a little while longer while you shower and get ready and then you can sit with him until we have to leave, he’s staying with Andi and Narcissa today, right?”

“Yeah, I thought Diagon might be a bit much for him, plus I didn’t want to just leave him with someone random while we’re in our meeting. I’ll take you up on that opportunity to shower though,” Harry said while he rolled out of bed with a joint-cracking stretch.

“You hear that, Teds? Your dad’s an old man.”

“Oi! Your Uncle Nev is a dirty liar, cub,” Harry barked out, before giving up on concealing his laugh, “you be good, I’m gonna go shower, I’ll see you soon sweet boy,” he added with a kiss on top of Teddy’s messy curls.

“I’m not a liar,” Neville whispered, “but I’m sure happy to be your Uncle Nev little cub,” he added as he pressed his own kiss on the boy’s head.

* * *

Once Harry and Neville were both ready to go, they made their way downstairs to pass Teddy off to his gran and meet up with their friends for a trip into Diagon.

Several people had made Grimmauld their home aside from the extended Black Family (Narcissa, Andromeda, Draco, Harry, and Teddy); Blaise and Pansy showed up at some point and just never really left, Neville was there more often than not, Goyle had officially moved in after his father’s trial in early June (he’d been acquitted after evidence and testimony showed he was entirely forced to take the Mark by his father and then had largely stayed in Crabbe's shadow throughout the war), Theo had finally moved in after Harry, Draco, and Blaise had spent a week convincing him that living alone at Nott Manor was not a good plan. Ginny and the twins were over a lot when they weren’t helping out at the Burrow or running the shop.

The other Gryffindors in their year came over at least once a week, they’d banded together in the wake of missing Harry, Hermione, and Ron for a full year and having to lead a resistance in the school and had grown even closer in the wake of the final battle. They’d all be returning for an Eighth Year and had pledged to start over as friends, all of them together instead of separating into groups as they’d done in their First year.

McGonagall had told them that the Eighth Years would all be living in converted faculty rooms. When the school was in its hayday, there had been hundreds of kids per class instead of the mere 50 or so they got in the wake of two, now three, wizarding wars. There had been multiple teachers per core subject and more options for auxiliary subjects. Now, those rooms sat open as abandoned classrooms and unused living quarters. They’d also get the secondary faculty lounge at the base of the tower as their combined common room. After seven years of being at each other’s throats, they were all exhausted and were quite looking forward to spending their final year at Hogwarts attempting to get along. The general philosophy was ‘if Draco and Harry can sit in a room without cursing each other, the rest of us probably can too.’

Neville and Harry walked into the floo room conversing quietly about their upcoming meeting with the Goblins and about all the things they needed to take care of before September 1^st when their conversation was halted by a missile by the name of Hermione Jean Granger launching herself at Harry.

Ron and Hermione had been in Australia since the day after Harry’s birthday, tracking down Hermione’s parents and reversing their obliviation. They’d gotten word from the pair a week prior that they’d located her parents and had been able to restore their memories, they were incredibly lucky that Hermione was a level-headed and precise witch otherwise it could’ve gone Lockhart levels of bad.

A yell of, “HARRY,” was his only warning before he was knocked to the ground by his best friend. Accepting his fate, Harry just laughed and wrapped his arms around Hermione, asking “how’s it going, ‘Mione?” with a smile on his face.

Hermione, in true Hermione fashion, launched into a series of stories, questions, and answers to her own questions where no one had a chance of getting a word in edgewise, used to these antics, Ron just shrugged before grabbing Neville by the arm and hauling them both into the dog pile. After a few minutes of chatter the fire flashed green and the Patil sisters stepped through the floo, upon taking in the scene, Parvati shrugged and wedged herself between Harry and Neville.

The group of shocked Slytherins looked to the lone Ravenclaw like she might have an answer, she simply shrugged and said “Gryffindors,” with a soft smile. That seemed to be answer enough until Dean and Seamus walked in the front door and bee-lined for the pile of their classmates.

“This is sickening.”

“Shut it, Black.” Harry started.

“You’re just jealous,” Neville continued.

“that the lion den is warm”

“and cozy”

“and just so much better”

“Than your dreary pit of snakes!”

“Harry is literally Lord Slytherin!” Draco shot back, “and please quit it with the twin speak, you’re giving me a headache, and you’re not even twins!”

“Never!” Neville and Harry responded in unison before the lions descended into giggles.

“Since when do they do that?” Padma asked her sister.

“I think they started it as a joke in Fifth Year as a way to throw the Weasley twins off their game during DA meetings and somehow it stuck,” Padma said, looking to the other Gryffindors for confirmation.

“I thought it started Fourth Year when they hung out a bunch while Ron was being a twat,” Seamus added before ducking Ron’s swat at the back of his head.

“Oi! We’re all aware I was a twat, no need to bring it up,” Ron shot back before pausing to think, “I thought it started third year when they hung out a bunch while Hermione and I were fighting over her cat trying to kill the Death Eater that slept in my bed for three years?”

“Ronald must you continue to speak about the Pettigrew incident in the most disturbing way you can conceive?” Hermione asked with a look she tried to pass off as disgruntled but was incredibly fond.

Ron just shrugged in response.

“This is the only time you’ll hear us say this so pay close attention,” Harry said.

“Ron’s right.” Neville finished.

“Yes!” Ron whooped while pumping his fist in the air before Harry’s statement sunk in, “hey, rude,” he continued before sitting quietly for a second, “I’ve always wanted to ask how you guys pull it off? I mean the twin speak that Fred and George do is because they’re magical twins, they had a bond that Fred described once as passive leglimency, they had a sense of what the other was thinking or feeling and could read each other’s thoughts to an extent, so it makes sense that they’re able to follow the other’s train of thought to speak sentence between the two of them, how in Merlin’s name do you two pull it off?”

“We’re honestly not sure,” Harry said with a shrug.

“Yeah,” Neville continued, “when we started spending time together in Third Year we talked some about our parents because of the whole Sirius Black is a deranged felon who happens to be Harry’s godfather and he’s coming to kill him drama.”

“What an incredible summary of that situation, Neville.”

“Why thank you, Hadrian,” Neville said with a laugh, “but then we started talking about what godparents meant in the magical world, and I mentioned that my mother was Harry’s godmother and Harry’s mother was mine. We both grew up incredibly lonely and always wanted siblings so we started joking about being godbrothers and then we remembered that our birthdays are one after the other,”

“So we joked about being godtwins instead; not quite brothers, not quite twins but still something,” Harry added, “then Dean mentioned it would be funny if we could do the twin speak thing that Fred and George do so we thought why not, could be funny if we could figure it out.”

“By fifth year we were weirdly good at it, but we didn’t understand until the end of that year how alike we actually were.”

“Neville, if we’re gonna have this conversation with everyone, we should maybe get off the floor.”

“What do you mean?” Theo asked, looking concerned and something else Harry might've describe as jealousy if that wasn’t an insane concept.

“It has to do with what happened when we were babies and what happened at the end of the Battle, if you guys want to hear the full story we have time now, we don’t have to be at Gringotts for a few hours, but we should maybe move into one of the sitting rooms so we can all be more comfortable.”

“We’d like to hear the story,” Draco said, “as long as you two are comfortable telling it.”

Neville and Harry looked at each other for a moment before Neville shrugged and Harry nodded.

“We’ll explain as much as we can,” Neville said, “there are some parts that we’ll never fully understand because anyone who could explain is dead or incapacitated.”

“And when we say anyone we mean anyone.”

* * *

Five minutes later, all of the Gryffindor Eighth Years, most of the Slytherins, and a lone Ravenclaw were seated in the family tree room at Grimmauld Place with tea.

“I’m not sure how to start this story,” Harry spoke into the silence.

“Start at the beginning,” Parvati suggested softly, she’d heard bits and pieces over the last couple of years but hadn’t ever heard the whole thing.

“That’s the issue, I think,” Hermione responded, “they’re not quite sure what the ‘beginning’ is.”

“You’re right, Hermione,” Neville sighed, before turning to Harry, “maybe you start with what you know from wherever you feel most comfortable and I’ll fill in the gaps?”

“That’s as good an idea as any, Nev.” Harry sat quietly for another moment before leaning back further into the couch he was sitting on, sandwiched between Neville and Hermione.

“Take your time, Hades, we’ve got time and we’re all just grateful you’re choosing to trust us.”

“Yeah, exactly what Draco said,” Blaise added, “this seems a lot more serious than you two teaching yourself twin speak to pull one over on the Weasleys.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh, “you could certainly say that Blaise.” But that seemed to be the push he needed. “Neville and I are tied together by prophecy,” Harry began. “You all grew up knowing be as the Boy-who-Lived, a moniker I hate by the way. I hate it because it was born from the night I lost my parents. The reason I bring this up is that Voldemort didn’t decide to go after my parents on a whim,” he paused for a breath, “some of you may have heard that our home was under Fidelius because we were being targeted, what most don’t know is that it wasn’t my parents he was targeting, it was me.” He stopped for a moment while everyone let that sink in.

“But he wasn’t only after Harry,” Neville cut in softly, “I was also an option.”

Everyone’s heads snapped towards Neville at that, even Ron and Hermione, it seems, hadn’t heard the full story as it related to Neville.

“Shortly before Neville and I were born,” Harry began again before he was cut off by Neville, “wait, Harry, how do you know the timeline?”

“Snape used his dying moments to tell Harry to collect certain memories, one of them answered the timeline question,” Hermione answered. Most of the Slytherins in the room were obviously confused by their Head of House’s involvement. Draco, the man’s godson, was not. He’d long suspected that Severus was tasked with protecting Harry in some manner and had gathered enough half-truths to realize that Lily Potter had been someone he held dear.

“What Hermione said,” Harry continued, “shortly before we were born Dumbledore was interviewing someone for the Divination post at Hogwarts, it wasn’t a great interview and he was about to reject her application when her eyes went glassy and she started to speak a true prophecy…” he trailed off.

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…” Neville began.

“Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…” Harry continued, “there’s more to the prophecy that we’ll explain in a second, but there was a Death Eater sitting outside of the room where this interview was taking place, at this point in the prophecy, the owner of the bar noticed he was listening into the interview and kicked him out, he took what he had heard back to Voldemort and it was enough for Voldemort to determine that the unborn child of either the Potters or the Longbottoms was the Child of the Prophecy.”

“He decided to cut the child off before they could become the ‘one with the power to vanquish’ but I’m not sure how our parents knew this, all I know is that Dumbledore told our parents they needed to go into hiding because our families were being targeted,” Neville said, “I’m not even sure if he told them it was the children he was targeting or not.”

“He didn’t,” Harry continued, “at least I don’t think he did. I do, however, know how they knew they needed to hide.”

“Severus told Dumbledore, didn’t he?” Draco asked.

“Yes. As soon as Voldemort decided that he was going to go after my mother, Snape turned away from his cause. He begged Voldemort to save my mother, going so far as to tell him that he could kill me and my father as long as he spared my mother.”

“That’s revolting,” Theo cut in, “who offers up an infant?”

“I think he knew that Voldemort wouldn’t spare any of us so he went for the most likely option, strangely enough Voldemort did tell my mother to move aside and he’d spare her, but she obviously told him, in no uncertain terms, to fuck right off.”

“Harry I sincerely doubt Lily Potter’s last words were ‘fuck off’,” Hermione said with a slight smile at her best friend’s total lack of tact. At least some things never change.

“You’re right Hermione, and I do know her last words by heart because I heard them every time I was near a dementor in third year, but I don’t think I’ll be sharing them with anyone.”

“That’s perfectly reasonable, Harry,” Parvati said from where she was sitting at Harry’s feet, “are you alright to continue the story?”

“Yeah, thanks Parv,” Harry said, then took a steadying breath before continuing, “Snape knew it was unlikely that Voldemort would spare any of us, so after making his case there, he turned to Dumbledore. Dumbledore promised to protect my family, all of us, in exchange for Snape becoming a spy. Dumbledore had heard the whole prophecy but wasn’t sure how it would be interpreted, approaches and born don’t necessarily mean literally born, it could have been someone coming in from abroad or someone joining the fight, but the most likely interpretation was, of course, a child born at the end of July would be the one with the power to vanquish. And, as soon as Voldemort interpreted the prophecy in that manner, Dumbledore knew he’d need to follow suit.”

“The Dark Lord put a great amount of faith in the Divine. He was obsessed with fairy tails and prophecies, he spent his last year on an insane scavenger hunt for the Elder Wand because he genuinely believed in the story of the three brothers. What a headcase,” Draco said with a scoff.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville went stock still.

Noticing their reaction, Draco breathed out, “no.”

“What does the Wizengamot call me, Draco?”

“Lord Peverell, what does that have to do with anything?”

“I promise I’ll come back around to that, we think it has something to do with the later part of the prophecy in some twisted way, but just keep my title in mind.” Harry answered before saying, “now, where was I?”

“Dumbledore knew he needed to follow Voldemort’s interpretation,” Daphne prompted.

“Right, thanks Greengrass,” Harry said with a smile, “so, he knew that Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy to mean a baby. There were only two babies who fit the bill. Alice and Frank Longbottom and Lily and James Potter had both faced off with Voldemort himself three times and come away standing, and both couples had a son born at the end of July. Neville on July 30^th and me on the 31^st. Dumbledore was nearly certain that Voldemort would interpret the prophecy to mean me but asked both families to go into hiding just to be safe. Now I’m genuinely not sure if he was expecting Voldemort to just wait until we turned 17 to show up and vanquish him or what, but over the next year, he kept tracking us down.

“I don’t know where the Longbottoms were, but I know that my family left Potter Manor and went into hiding at the cottage in Godric’s Hollow. Dumbledore suggested that the house be placed under Fidelius and offered to be the secret keeper, my father refused and said they’d take care of it. He trusted no one but their closest circle at that point. My mother ended up placing the charm and they told Dumbledore that Sirius was the secret keeper. That wasn’t the case though, my Dad and Sirius decided that would be too obvious, so they told him that it was Sirius but switched it for Peter Pettigrew at the last second.” He paused to take a breath and let his anger at the rat simmer out.

“The problem was, Pettigrew was Voldemort’s spy in the Order. Soon after the Fidelius was placed, he told Voldemort our location and on Halloween night he showed up, you all know that story, or as much of it as I’m going to share.”

“Then,” Neville cut in, both because this was his part of the story and to give Harry a moment, “a few days after Halloween, some of Voldemort’s most faithful followers showed up at my house and tortured my parents for information on where their Lord had gone, they didn’t believe he was truly gone.”

“I mean, they were right, their method of information gathering was just utterly psychotic,” Harry said, everyone was slightly shocked when Neville laughed.

“Jesus Christ I forgot they were both like this,” Hermione said under her breath.

“After that happened, Neville was raised by his gran and a series of less than caring Great Uncles and I was raised by my mother’s muggle sister who hated magic and her whale of a husband who tried to literally beat the magic out of me, but that’s a story for another day,” Harry continued, ignoring the looks of shock and pity on his classmate’s faces, missing the look of sympathy and understanding on Theo’s face.

“I grew up hearing stories about my parents and about how I would’ve grown up with Harry as my brother if things had been different, I had no idea where Harry was but I thought he’d have grown up hearing the same things so when we got to school and he had no idea who I was, I decided it was because he didn’t think I was good enough for him and pushed it away, I didn’t realize that wasn’t the case until we were talking in third year.”

“I was so excited when you told me we were godbrothers, I had no family that actually liked me and as happy as I was to be basically adopted by the Weasleys, I still wanted family that was my own.”

“We get that mate,” Ron cut in, “I always wanted that for you too. And now you have it.”

Harry just smiled at his first friend, thankful for all the family he’d gathered, starting with him.

“Anyways,” Harry said, clearing his throat and blinking away tears, “through our first couple of years at school, I realized that Voldemort had a strange obsession with me but every time I asked Dumbledore about it he got super cagey. It came to a head after the end of the Tournament in Fourth Year. I’d just watched Ced die.” Harry paused, if he closed his eyes right now he’d hear kill the spare and see that flash of green that took the light right out of those bright grey eyes.

“Ced?” Draco asked.

“Later,” Harry breathed out, “you can ask me about that later.”

“I know this part,” Neville started, letting Harry take a moment to gather himself, “after Voldemort resurrected himself, Harry begged Dumbledore to tell him why it was always him. Why was he the one who got targeted as a baby, why was he the one Voldemort’s shade was focused on while he was possessing Quirrell, why was he the one who ended up facing off with a basilisk at 12, why did he get entered in this tournament, why did he get used to resurrect a madman?”

“Why did I have to watch everyone I ever loved die right in front of me?” Harry added, barely above a whisper.

Placing a comforting hand on his brother’s knee, Neville continued, “but Dumbledore still wouldn’t tell him. Then there was the whole Harry is a paranoid mental case thing.”

“And then the ministry sent dementors to my muggle neighborhood and then expelled me when I cast a patronus while they tried to Kiss me and my cousin.”

“Yeah that’s a story we’re getting more on later,” Draco cut in.

“Will do,” Harry responded with a wry grin, “anyways, at the end of that summer, Dumbledore moved all of us into this house, except it was basically a ruin at that point, and it was the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Then, when we got to school, he started ignoring me. I had no idea why at the time, but then, long story short, Voldemort started sending me visions.” He paused for a breath, “the visions actually started the summer before fourth year, when Pettigrew created a homonucleus for Voldemort to use as a body, you should all thank your lucky stars you never had to lay eyes on that thing,” he said with a shudder, “but they got more frequent as he gained power, especially after he gained a body after the Tournament.

“Throughout Fifth Year, between training an army and getting my hand shredded by Umbridge’s illegal blood quill, I was also getting fed visions by Voldemort. Some were real, like when I watched Mr. Weasley getting attacked by Nagini.”

“Shout out to Longbottom for beheading that thing,” Draco interrupted, “I still have nightmares about that beast slithering into my bedroom in the middle of the night.”

“You’re so very welcome, Draco dear.” Neville said with a laugh.

“Anyways,” Harry continued with a slight grin, “some visions were less real.” The grin disappeared, “during our History of Magic OWL, he sent me a vision of Sirius being held and tortured in the Hall of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. If Dumbledore had deigned to tell me that there was a prophecy that the Order was guarding or Snape had even mentioned that Voldemort could send false visons, I probably would’ve acted differently, but I was 15, I was in pain, I had just watched the closest thing to a father I had in the world being tortured in my mind’s eye, and it looked and felt real. So after that exam, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Luna, and I flew Thestrals to the Ministry, broke in, stole the Prophecy, fought off an approximate fuck ton of Death Eaters until the Order showed up, then while I was distracted by Lucius fucking Malfoy’s third attempt on my life in as many years, dear Auntie Bella sent Sirius through the veil.”

The room was silent.

Until Draco spoke up, “at some point, we’re going to return to the story on my lovely father’s several attempts on your life, but we can save that for another day.”

Harry just laughed before sobering up and continuing, “when we finally got back to the school after I faced off with Bellatrix and Voldemort and got saved by a signature last minute arrival by Dumbledore, the old bat finally decided I was old enough to hear the prophecy.” Harry laughed again, this time edging on manic, “after I’d watched my mother die at one, essentially killed Quirrell with my bare hands at 11, fought and killed a basilisk at 12, battled off a hundred dementors at 13, got entered into a death tournament against my will and watched my boyfriend die in front of my eyes at 14, finally now, after watching my godfather fall through a mysterious veil never to be seen again and then got possessed by Voldemort himself, I was finally ready to hear the why.” He cut himself off to take a breath, “Merlin, putting it all together like that,” he shook his head, “if he wasn’t already dead I might be tempted to take him out myself.”

At that, Neville wrapped his arm around Harry’s shoulders and pulled him close before continuing, “so Dumbledore showed Harry the memory of when he heard the prophecy. Somewhere in the melee of the Department of Mysteries we lost the original orb, anyways, once Harry heard the prophecy he connected the dots and realized it could’ve been either of us, he told me the whole prophecy that night and we’ve been even more like brothers ever since.”

“So yeah,” Harry continued, “that’s the story of why we’re so alike,” he then continued with a laugh, “but I guess it doesn’t actually explain why we can do the twin speak thing, does it Nev?”

“No, Haz, I guess it doesn’t.” Neville responded with a smile.

“So, wait,” Pansy cut in, “what was the rest of the prophecy? And what does it have to do with you being Lord Peverell?”

“How much time do we have before we need to meet the goblins, Nev?”

“It’s only 9:00 now, we aren’t scheduled to meet them until 1:00.”

“Okay, I can tell this part of the story if you guys would like but it’ll take a minute so we’ll have less time in Diagon.”

“That’s fine by me,” Padma said, “we can always go back tomorrow, I’d like to hear your story.”

After getting general sounds of agreement form everyone else in the room, Harry continued.

“The full prophecy was; the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…” Neville began.

“and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.” Harry finished.

“Now,” Harry started, “Dumbledore was pretty damn convinced that the ‘power the Dark Lord knows not’ was, and I’m being entirely serious here, the power of love.”

“You’re joking, I know you’re joking,” Padma said.

“I’m not, I truly wish I was. I mean, maybe it could be with my mother’s sacrifice, that explains how I ‘vanquished’ him the first time, but it doesn’t really explain the final vanquishing, that I think ties into my being Lord Peverell, my having the allegiance of three incredibly powerful items made by three brothers.”

“You’re saying the Tale of the Three Brothers is real?” Draco asked incredulously.

“To an extent,” Harry responded, “a long time ago, three brothers by the names Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell lived in Godric’s Hollow.”

“Harry dear,” Blaise cut in, “isn’t one of your several middle names Ignotus?”

“You’d be correct Blaise, I’m descended from the Third Brother. At some point, a female descendent of Ignotus married a Potter and the families blended. I know that a descendent of Cadmus married into the Gaunts, who were descendants of Slytherin. Voldemort’s mother was Merope Gaunt. That’s not totally how I’m Lord Slytherin though, I won that by conquest. I don’t know what came of the oldest brother’s family, I have a theory but it’s kind of insane. Anyways, those of you who know the tale from Beedle the Bard know that the three brothers met death and were given gifts, the oldest brother was given a wand of Elder that would grant immense power, the second brother was given a stone to bring back his beloved, and the third brother was given a cloak that allowed him to elude death.”

“Harry, please tell me that the invisibility cloak that you used to throw snowballs at my head outside of the Shrieking Shack in Third Year isn’t the Cloak.” Draco all but begged.

“Well,” Harry started looking rather sheepish, “I didn’t know it at the time.”

“Merlin,” Draco choked out.

“Only you, Potter,” Seamus said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Harry said with a slight grin before continuing, “over time, the story got warped, people began to believe that to win the allegiance of the Elder Wand, you had to kill its previous owner. That wasn’t the case, you simply had to disarm them, you had to win the allegiance of the wand which doesn’t necessarily mean killing its previous owner.”

“No.” Draco said.

“Yes.” Harry answered.

“Could one of you fill us in?” Pansy cut in.

“Severus killed Dumbledore, but he wasn’t the one to disarm him,” Draco whispered.

“Exactly, then, when we were captured at Malfoy Manor, I disarmed Draco,” Harry continued, “but Voldemort still believed that you had to kill the previous owner which is why he had Nagini kill Snape in the middle of the Battle. But, now that I think about that, wouldn’t that have made his damn snake the master?” he trailed off, “you know what, no, I’m not spending more time digging into the thought patterns of that psycho.” Harry took a breath, “so, after disarming Draco I, without realizing it, was the so-called ‘Master’ of two of the Hallows.”

“When you say ‘Master’,” Theo cut in, a look of realization on his face.

Harry simply nodded, realizing that Theo was going to figure out the secret whether he told him or not and hoping that everyone else would be too focused on the rest of the story to realize, before continuing his story, “now, while the common story says that these gifts were from Death himself, the truth of the matter is that the Peverell family magic was just strongly focused on necromancy, the brothers created these gifts themselves and, while they are incredibly powerful and do genuinely work, they aren’t actually gifts from Death.”

Harry noticed that Theo looked incredibly skeptical about that explanation, he was going to have to deal with that later. But he didn’t want to tell everyone the whole story; he didn't need the real story getting out, he didn’t need the world to know that he wasn’t just the true Lord Peverell, he was the Master of Death.

Taking a breath, Harry continued, “the final gift was Cadmus’, the Resurrection Stone. When Dumbledore died, he left the three of us items in his will. Ron got his de-luminator which ended up leading him back to us while were on the run, Hermione got his copy of the Tales of Beetle the Bard with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows drawn on one of the pages which helped us figure out some of this mess, and he left me the snitch I caught in my first game at Hogwarts and the Sword of Gryffindor, which, in hindsight, is hilarious because it can’t actually be bequeathed and it only comes to true Gryffindors in times of dire need,” he trailed off before shaking his head, “anyways, I had no goddamn clue what I could possibly do with the snitch.”

“Snitches have touch memory,” Theo cut in, “you didn’t catch your first snitch with your hand, you caught it with your mouth,” he finished before realizing the implication of him knowing that and ducking his head to hide his slight blush.

“Exactly,” Harry responded, characteristically oblivious to Theo’s behavior. Hermione, however, shot the Slytherin a knowing look.

“So,” Harry continued, “when I touched the snitch to my lips it was engraved in Dumbledore’s writing to say ‘I open at the close,’ that meant nothing to me until I was literally walking to my death in the Forbidden Forest, when I pulled out the snitch and told it I was on my way to die, which I knew I had to do because of the memories Snape gave me, I’d rather not get into that whole can of flobber worms, the snitch opened and revealed the stone.” He paused for a moment, his expression becoming stony, “something in me told me I needed to turn the stone three times, so I did and when I opened my eyes the shades of my parents, Remus, and Sirius were there. They stayed with me until the moment the killing curse hit me. I went down and went to a weird version of Kings Cross where I talked to Dumbledore and he told me I could stay or I could go back, I obviously chose to go back, and I woke up on the forest floor and got carried back to the school by Hagrid right before Neville told Voldy to go fuck himself and then beheaded the snake. The snake was key, it was Tom’s last anchor to life, once the snake was dead he was mortal again.”

“The important thing,” Harry continued, “was that the Elder Wand was loyal to me, the wand doesn’t want to harm its Master. In that final duel, when my disarming spell hit Voldemort’s killing curse, the curse backfired because the wand didn’t want to harm me, he was killed by his own spell, by his own arrogance.”

“How’d you come back?” Draco asked, “I still don’t quite understand that part.”

Harry looked to Ron and Hermione, asking the silent question, can we trust them with this? At Hermione’s slight nod, Harry turned back to the group, “throughout his life, Voldemort created several Horcruxes, items of the darkest, most unforgivable magic imaginable which would anchor his soul to life. Horcruxes are seen as a violation of nature, they’re an insult to Death and Magic. He created the first one when he was still a student at Hogwarts, the creation of such an item involves an incredibly foul ritual culminating in the murder of an innocent in cold blood followed by another ritual to seal the soul shard into an item, Voldemort purposefully created six. His goal was to have seven pieces of his soul.”

“Because seven is an incredibly powerful number,” Theo whispered, before he realized something and spoke up to ask, “you said purposefully?”

“That night in Godric’s Hollow, he’d already created five, my death was meant to be the sacrifice that would create the sixth, but when my mum refused to step aside, she enacted some incredibly Old Magic, incredibly powerful sacrifice that protected me from Voldemort. When he fired the curse at me, the protection activated and his soul was already so unstable from making five horcruxes and preparing to make the sixth that when his soul shard separated and his curse backfired off my mum’s protection, he essentially vaporized and the loose shard, instead of being ready to attach to whatever item he’d prepared, latched onto me. That’s why my scar never healed, why it flared in his presence, why I could see inside his head.” Harry paused to breathe, to steady himself, “when he resurrected himself using my blood, he stripped some of my mother’s protection, Dumbledore had some harebrained theory that he linked the two of us even further which could possibly help me deflect another curse from him, that theory might have some credence, but essentially when he fired the curse at me in the forest and I didn’t fight back, he only killed the piece of himself that was trapped in my scar. It wasn’t a full horcrux because he never finished the ritual, but it was enough. He turned Nagini into a horcrux using the death of Bertha Jorkins sometime either during or shortly before our Fourth Year.”

“We weren’t actually on the run,” Ron said quietly, “we were hunting Horcuxes.”

“In second year, when he fought the basilisk, Harry ended up destroying Voldemort’s first horcrux, a diary from his school days that was left in the care of either Abraxas or Lucius Malfoy and then handed off to Ginny for some unknown reason,” Hermoine added.

“Then, the summer before Sixth Year, Dumbledore discovered his second horcrux, it was a Gaunt family heirloom, a ring that held the Resurrection Stone,” Harry continued, “except Dumbledore was drawn by the stone for reasons I know but don’t feel comfortable sharing with anyone, it’s not my place,” he paused and took a breath, “but he didn’t check the ring for curses first and when he put it on, it cursed his arm, Snape was able to isolate the curse but even without the whole situation on the Astronomy Tower at the end of that year, he would’ve died within the year.”

Pausing for a moment, Harry looked up and waited until Draco made eye contact, “at some point during that year, he found out what you were up to, Draco, he made Snape promise to kill him so you wouldn’t have to, he didn’t want you to have that on your conscience but understood the position you were in with your father and with Voldemort invading your home, he never once blamed you.”

At Draco’s nod, Harry continued the story, knowing they'd talk more later but that this was enough for now.

“Right before Dumbledore died, like literally right before, he took me with him to find the third Horcrux, it was hidden and heavily protected in a cave that a young Tom Riddle had visited as a child with his orphanage, from what Dumbledore could tell from his research, this cave was the first place Tom ever purposefully used his magic to hurt and scare someone else. The matron of the orphanage told Dumbledore that Tom went into that cave with a couple of children and when they left, the children were never the same.”

“What do you mean orphanage? Wasn’t the Dark Lord raised in a manor?” Pansy asked.

“Parkinson, I hate to break it to you, but Voldemort was the son of a muggle named Tom Riddle and Merope Gaunt who was nearly a squib. Yes, the Gaunts were descended from Slytherin, but their wealth had been squandered over the years and the only remaining members of the family lived in a shack at the very edge of Little Hangleton.”

“You’re telling me that Voldemort, the man who terrorized everyone on both sides over his pure blood agenda, was barely even a half-blood?” Padma asked.

“That is exactly what I’m telling you. His mother fell in love with the rich muggle who lived in the manor house in town, dosed him with love potions, got pregnant with our dear Voldypants, stopped dosing him, got ditched because Tom was – rightfully – freaked out by the situation, then went and sold Slytherin’s locket for 10 galleons at Borgin and Burkes before going to an orphanage to have little Tom Junior and then she died.” Harry took a breath, trying to bring himself back to the point of the story, “Tom Marvolo Riddle, which can be scrambled to read I am Lord Voldemort, very clever there, I’ve gotta give him that one, was raised in a London orphanage until he was visited by Dumbledore at 11 and told he was a wizard. From the very moment he was told he had magic, he latched onto the idea that he could use magic to get people to bend to his will, I’ve seen the memory, it was deeply unsettling.”

“Anyways,” he continued, “we went to this cave, took a boat through a lake of inferi, I then had to pour the Drink of Despair down Dumbledore’s throat while he relived his worst memories and was haunted by his regrets, then I got slightly attacked by the inferi at which point Dumbledore rallied enough to send a truly insane flame whip through the cave so we could escape. I genuinely don’t remember getting back to Hogwarts. But when we got there, the Dark Mark was above the Astronomy Tower, Dumbledore made me stay hidden under my cloak while I watched him die then, after all of that, I realized that the locket we’d retrieved was a fake.”

“What do you mean?”

Harry turned to the new voice, seeing Andromeda and Narcissa huddled in the doorway, he wasn’t sure how long they’d been there, “hello, Andi, Aunt Cissa, you both have a vested interest in this part of the story, I’m guessing you’ve picked up on parts of it, but you should hear the whole thing.”

The sisters took a seat on the couch next to Draco, across from Harry and waited for him to continue.

“The locket that we recovered from the cave was a fake, the real one had been stolen by a follower of Voldemort right before he died. This fake had a note in it, essentially saying that this follower had discovered what Voldemort had done and that he had stolen and planned to destroy the original horcrux with the hope that it would leave Voldemort mortal. The note was signed R.A.B.”

“No,” Andromeda breathed out.

“Reggie,” Narcissa said, voice barely a whisper.

“I didn’t know who R.A.B. was until Ron, Hermione, and I came to Grimmauld Place after Bill’s wedding. We were planning to camp out here until we had a plan, that got thrown because we ended up having to break into the ministry,” at the looks on everyone’s faces, Harry just shook his head before continuing, “that’s beside the point. While we were here, we saw Regulus’ nameplate on his door and then spoke to Kreacher who told us the whole story of how Voldemort had asked for a house elf for a task, how he’d taken Kreacher to the cave and made him drink the Drink of Despair, how Kreacher only made it home because Regulus had ordered him to return home once he was done with his task, Regulus then nursed Kreacher back to health before ordering him to take Regulus to the cave so he could retrieve the locket, he drank the potion himself and ordered Kreacher to leave him there and take the locket and destroy it. Kreacher spent nearly 20 years unable to complete his master’s last order.”

“Regulus turned against Voldemort?” Andromeda asked, needing confirmation.

“He did, he was the first person, as far as we can tell, to discover Voldemort’s horcruxes, he gave his life trying to make it right.”

After giving the Black sisters time to digest that news, Hermione continued their story, “so we knew two of the six Horcruxes had been destroyed and we had a third in our possession but no means to destroy it so we ended up on the run, being affected by the dark magic rolling off that locket for months before we happened upon the Sword of Gryffindor which we used to destroy the locket.”

“Then, skipping past all the insane shit in the middle and our brief stint as prisoners in Malfoy Manor, we ended up making a deal with a Goblin to help us break into Gringotts in exchange for the Sword,” Ron continued.

“Griphook helped us break into Gringotts then double-crossed us, leaving us behind in the depths of the bank, we had the Horcrux that was hidden in the vault, but no means of getting out,” Harry continued.

“Until Harry over here had the bright idea to liberate a dragon,” Ron said, “we rode a dragon out of the bank, straight through the roof, and then got dropped in a lake somewhere near Hogwarts. Harry had a strong suspicion the last inanimate horcrux was hidden somewhere in the school so that’s when we snuck back through, Hermione and I went down to the Chamber to stab the one we got at the bank with a basilisk fang while Harry and Luna looked for the one in the school. Harry talked to the Grey Lady and found out that the last one was hidden in the Room of Requirement, which is where we met up with you, Draco. Technically, Crabbe destroyed that Horcrux with fiendfyre.”

“Then, Snape died, I watched his memories, realized I’d been raised as a lamb for slaughter, and marched into the Forest to die. You’ve all heard that part of the story, well most of it, Narcissa risked her hide lying to Voldemort saying I was dead when she knew I was alive.” Harry said with a smile toward the woman in question, “so I guess,” he continued, “a mother’s love, two, Voldemort, zero.”

Andromeda couldn’t help but laugh at the boy’s cheek any less than Narcissa could help the fond smile she directed his way.

“Then, as they said earlier,” Neville continued, “the last horcrux was the snake which was taken down by the nifty little Sword the Sorting Hat likes to drop on the heads of Gryffindors who are riling up insane Dark Lords.”

“You know Neville,” Harry said, “I’m not entirely sure that’s the Sword’s directive.”

“Harry, I think I’d know better than you, I am Lord Gryffindor after all.”

“How can you two possibly be joking right now,” Daphne asked.

“You get used to it,” was all Hermione could respond.

“Anywho, that’s our tale. I am the Chosen One, Neville and I can mysteriously twin speak while not being twins, and the Sword of Gryffindor likes giving children concussions, any questions? No, okay, let’s head to Diagon.” Harry said with a grin.

“I actually have several questions,” Draco said.

“No, you don’t.” Harry said, his grin edging into the shit-eating category.

“Yeah, Draco, I don’t think you have any questions.” Neville added.

“Lord Gryffindork over here and I have a very important meeting with some Goblins and I’ve resolved to do less to piss off the Goblin Nation after I stole their dragon and busted through their roof.”

“You know, Haz, I think that’s a good outlook to have in life.”

“Why thank you my dear Neville, I appreciate that.” Harry responded.

“Why are they like this?” Draco asked Ron and Hermione.

“Mate, I couldn’t even begin to tell you,” Ron shot back.

Chapter Text

Monday, 10 August 1998

“So,” Harry called out, clapping his hands once, “who’s ready for Diagon?”

“Harry, love,” Ron chided, “you can’t just drop all that on people and then move on like it’s nothing.”

Harry cocked his head, in a great impression of his godfather’s animangus form, “what d’you mean?”

“We’ve been working on his tact,” Hermione said to the room in an over-exaggerated stage whisper, “it’s not going well.”

“Oi! I resent that,” Harry shot back, “I was just thinking that it was a lot, that people might want time to process what we said before they asked questions,”

“Oh,” Hermione said, doing a poor job of disguising her shock, “that’s actually a good idea, Harry.”

“Don’t act so surprised, I can be intelligent sometimes.”

“Yes, I’m aware, I’m more shocked by the emotional intelligence,” Hermione responded, worrying she might have offended her friend until she saw the look on his face.

“Why thank you, ‘Mione, dearest, I’m ever so thankful for your support.” Harry shot back, sporting a distinctly Potter grin.

“I’m sick of your shit, Harry James.” Hermione said matter of factly.

“Alright,” Neville cut in, “before this descends into chaos, does anyone have questions right now or should we wait until later when you’ve all had time to think?”

The room was quiet until Narcissa asked, in a soft voice that no one but Draco had ever heard, “Hadrian, do you happen to have the note you mentioned Regulus left?”

With a soft smile and a look of true grief that was rather difficult to comprehend, Harry nodded before calling, “Kreacher, would you allow Narcissa to look at the note that Regulus left with the locket? And maybe later you can show her and Andromeda some of the other notes and photos we decided to keep in his room if they’d like?”

“Of course, Lord Black, Kreacher would be honored to show Mistress Cissa and Mistress Andi Master Reggie’s things. Kreacher would like that very much.”

“Thank you Kreacher,” Harry responded before looking at the Black sisters, “Kreacher keeps some things in his nest but most of Regulus’ belongings are still in his room, you’re both welcome to look through both his and Sirius’ rooms any time. We’ll be out of the house most of the day so you’ll have time and space.”

Both slightly overwhelmed by emotions, Narcissa simply nodded with a soft smile and Andi said, “thanks, love.”

“Well,” Ron started, “let’s get ready to head out. I’m sure Harry and Neville will be happy to answer questions later but I believe they have an appointment at Gringotts and the last thing Harry needs is to piss off the Goblin nation … again.”

“Oi!” Harry laughed, “I only pissed them off once and now that they have some of the oldest vaults in the place circulating again I think I’d have to break back into the bank with the dragon I stole to get so much as a huff of annoyance out of Ragnok.”

“Just how rich are you, Potter?”

“Now, Parkinson,” Harry said back with a Slytherin-worthy smirk, “that’s not a very proper thing to ask.”

Neville, however, had no problem responding, “I think if Harry and I started our own country we’d fall only slightly behind Britain economically.”

“And we’d have a much less corrupt Ministry,” Harry concluded with a grin.

“Sure,” Draco said with a snort, “cause you two are known for your level-headedness and clear sense of right and wrong.”

“Watch your mouth, Malfoy, you’re talking to the Chosen One and his snake-slaying brother. We’d be benevolent leaders, and our people would be happy to follow.”

“If Potter’s in charge, I’m defecting.” Blaise deadpanned.

“I’d be happy to follow Potter,” Theo said under his breath. Apparently not quietly enough if Harry’s responding grin was any indication.

“I’m sure you would, Theodore,” Daphne said with a smirk, “if only to take in the view from behind.”

“Watch your back, Greengrass, I know where you sleep.”

“Don’t, Theodore, you’re harming their poor little Gryffindor sensibilities,” Pansy chided.

“Don’t you worry, Parkinson, we spent six years living with Lord Slytherin over here, it’d take a lot more than a silly little death threat to scare us off.” Seamus responded.

“Yeah, especially when we’ve stayed friends with Harry through several credible threats on his life.” Dean said, before thinking for a moment and adding, “also, hate to hurt your little snakey feelings, but Harry is a much more viable threat. You lot are like a particularly grumpy Pomeranian in comparison to Mr. Temper over here.”

“In fact,” Seamus began, “I’m pretty sure if Voldemort ever saw Harry ranting after a potions lesson he’d have backed off and found an easier target.”

“If you’re all quite done, we should head to Diagon.”

“Oh shut it, Harold, you know we’re right.”

“Just because you’re right doesn’t mean I want to hear your voice, Finnigan.”

* * *

After making sure Teddy was settled and that Kreacher was okay with sorting through some of Regulus’ things with Andromeda and Narcissa, Harry led his friends through his floo to the Leaky Cauldron. Once there, the group began to discuss their errands. They hadn’t gotten their book lists yet but knew that they’d all need new robes between growth spurts and the general destruction of robes that happens while going through the totally normal experience of one’s school being run by ruthless Death Eaters who happily torture children. A few of them also wanted to get new trunks and Pansy, Daphne, Padma, and Parvati had decided it was time for Harry to use his not-insignificant fortune on purchasing clothes that, you know, actually fit. Harry also wanted to look into some things he’d need for Teddy at Hogwarts and Hermione, of course, needed to stop into Flourish and Blotts.

As such, the group decided to start at Madam Malkins to get fitted for their school robes and for the girls to pick out some basics for Harry’s wardrobe before Harry and Neville had to go to Gringotts for their meeting. The girls had pestered Harry until he made a literal vow that he’d meet them at Twilfit and Tattings after his meeting for them to pick out the more traditional wizarding aspects of his wardrobe.

* * *

For now, Harry was dressed in robes he’d had Kreacher select at Grimmauld Place. Loving Harry (almost) as much as he’d loved Regulus, Kreacher had dug through Regulus’ wardrobe until he found the perfect ensemble. With the pitch-black slacks and the perfectly tailored white silk shirt, Harry already looked more put together than he ever had, but that wasn’t enough for Kreacher. The look was completed by a beautiful open dress robe. The fabric was made of the finest silk, in a striking emerald green with golden thread embroidered throughout, depicting an entire galaxy of constellations. Along with just enough Sleekeazy’s to make his hair look purposefully tousled (instead of like he’d been dragged through a hedge backwards), and his new glasses that Andi had forced upon him (still his signature round frames, but thin gold wire instead of thick black plastic), Harry thought he looked quite good. He also looked distinctly Slytherin. Narcissa, Andi, and Kreacher thought he looked rather like Regulus but decided against saying that out loud.

Beyond the outfit, Harry himself had never looked better. After coming back from the literal dead, he’d noticed that his power was rolling off him in waves. At first he’d been confused. The weeks on the run and the wear from the final battle should have left him weak. Instead, he felt more powerful than he ever had.

But it wasn’t just his magic that was healing, Harry felt better than he had in … well … ever. By mid-June, Harry had grown nearly four inches and after some time spent healing with the Goblins, he'd grown another two. It seemed like the stunt to his growth from years of malnutrition had decided to spontaneously correct itself. More than that, he was finally able to keep on weight. Over the years, he’d obviously been skinnier while living with the Dursleys and had been able to gain some weight while at Hogwarts or with the Weasleys, but he’d always felt like no matter how much or how regularly he ate, he was never able to actually gain weight.

Now though, Harry stood at an impressive 6’2” and his frame was beginning to fill out, finally showing hard-earned muscles from years of quidditch and training for war.

More than that, his scar had truly become a scar. Instead of a bolt through the right side of his face that continued to look like a fresh cut even after sixteen years, it had healed. Now, it looked like a true strike of lightning. The stark-white bolt started at his hairline and cut through his right eyebrow before tapering off at his cheek, the small branches off the main bolt had healed almost entirely, leaving the faintest of lines. Where before, the scar would bleed and react to hostile magic, now it lay dormant. A mark of a survivor.

The white scar stood out against Harry’s honeyed skin and jet-black hair. But where, in the past, Harry had always wanted to hide it, now he was proud. He would forever be recognizable; it wasn’t just the scar that gave him away. So, instead of trying to conceal it, he wore it with pride. A stark reminder of his mother’s sacrifice, her love, and her power.

It was the change in the scar that finally led to the explanation for his physical growth and the new strength of his magic. Without Voldemort’s soul invading his mind and leaching off his very being, Harry was finally able to care only for himself. His magic was unbound and his body responded.

Harry and Neville made quite the pair. With Harry’s growth spurt and Neville’s newfound confidence, they stood as two twin pillars. They were the exact same height, a fact that had started several brotherly arguments. They had similar builds and held themselves with the same self-assured poise. While they didn’t look alike, their connection was almost palpable. For those that were attuned to the feel of magic, it was clear that their very souls had recognized each other as kin. While often used in a joking manner, their ability to tap into so-called “twinspeak” exemplified their truly remarkable connection. Whether it be explained by their magical connection as godbrothers or weaved by the very hands of Fate, Neville and Harry were brothers.

Today, they looked even more like a perfect pair. As Harry looked every bit the perfect, imposing Lord Slytherin, Neville was truly Lord Gryffindor.

The man who had summoned the Sword of Gryffindor and severed Voldemort’s final tether to the land of living was out in full force. While he was dressed in black slacks and a white silk shirt from his own wardrobe, the robe had also been found by Kreacher.

Neville’s robe was a similar style to Harry’s, worn open over his slacks and shirt. The fabric, also a beautiful silk, was a deep garnet red inter-woven with gold thread. Because it was a robe made for the Lord of House Black, the thread was obviously woven to depict several constellations. But, unlike Harry’s robe that showed the greater night sky, the threads in Neville’s robe coalesced into a depiction of the Leo constellation on the right shoulder. While the constellation itself was in the same golden thread that woven throughout the robe, the outline of the lion was done in a beautiful maroon that was only slightly darker than the garnet color of the fabric.

Each wore their rings similarly.

They each wore the ring of their primary lordship on their right pinky finger. The Potter ring was a simple gold signet with the antlers of a stag carved into the face. The ring was entirely gold with no stone set into the band. The inside of the ring was carved with runes that leaked Potter magic. When Harry first put the ring on, he could feel the magic wash over him. He felt a warmth he hadn’t experienced in nearly seventeen years. The Potter Family Magic felt like a hug, like a “welcome home” whispered into his messy hair, it smelled like fresh baked bread on a crisp spring day.

The Longbottom ring was silver, set with a dark Lapis Lazuli stone. There was no carving depicting the Longbottom Bear but, like Potter Magic, the Longbottom Magic had welcomed its son home with open arms.

The Black Lordship ring, a silver signet ring with a simple raven carved on the onyx stone carved on the inside with complex runes, powered by a family magic so strong you could almost taste it, sat on Harry’s left pinky finger.

Like Harry, Neville’s secondary Lordship ring, that of Lord Fortescue (Alice’s family line), sat on his left pinky finger. The Fortescue ring was similar to the Black ring in style; a simple gold signet with a wolf carved into red agate face.

The Peverell Ring, somehow magically restored after being turned into a Horcrux and the stone (the Stone) being left in the Forbidden Forest, sat on Harry’s left middle finger. The power of the Peverell Ring is inexplicable. It welcomed Harry just as warmly as the Potter Magic. It always would have welcomed him home; it always would have responded to him. But, after walking into the Forest and greeting Death as an old friend, the Magic was eager to serve its new Lord.

The Slytherin Ring sat on Harry’s right middle finger. The ring of Lord Slytherin looks deceivingly simple; a silver signet set with an emerald carved with a calligraphy style “S” with no other adornment. But, while the ring itself appears simple, the magic it holds is awe-inspiring. The Slytherin Family Magic responds only to a Parselmouth with a pure soul; a soul unmarred by evil magic, a soul not harmed by cold-blooded murder. Tom Riddle, while claiming to be the Heir of Slytherin, would never have been able to claim the Family Magic.

The Gryffindor Ring, likewise, sat on Neville’s right middle finger. Like the Slytherin Ring, it was simple; a gold signet set with a ruby and carved with a “G,” the Gryffindor Ring would only accept a true Gryffindor. While the Lordship was Neville’s by blood, that wouldn’t be enough for him to be accepted as Lord. His ability to call the Sword in battle helped, but the magic of the ring judged him as well. The magic would only respond to a Lord who exemplified all of Gryffindor. Not just blind bravery; but strength in the face of life’s greatest challenges, chivalry toward one’s fellow man, an open heart, love for family, and loyalty above all else.

While their Lordship Rings bled power and signified their place in society, the most important ring each boy wore was on their right ring finger. In an incredibly rare moment of clarity, one that could only be explained by an intervention of Mother Magic herself, Frank Longbottom had taken off his wedding band, handed it to Neville, and said “I love you son, tell Harry that James’ is in his vault,” before the clarity slipped from his gaze and he returned to his normal state.

* * *

Finished at Madam Malkins, the group decided to head down the Alley to look at new trunks. While on the way, Draco decided to take up his usual position of antagonizing Harry Potter;

“So, Ced?”

“You’re joking.” Harry responded.

“I assure you, Potter, I am not.”

“I tell you that entire tale, including the fact that at one point you were the Master of the Elder Wand, and your first question is about my dead boyfriend from Fourth Year?”

“I am absolutely incapable of processing anything else you told us for the next three to five business days so, yes, my first question is about your dead boyfriend.”

“Draco,” Blaise began, “what have we discussed regarding empathy?”

“Oh, sorry Hades, sympathies. I’m just recovering from the shock of finding out that Harry Potter is not, in fact, painfully straight.”

“You’re joking right?” Hermione asked.

“Granger, why would I be joking? This is Earth shattering information. Everyone thought Potter was straight.”

The Gryffindor contingent all immediately stopped walking, almost creating a pile-up in the middle of the Alley. They all looked at each other in shock before Dean finally broke the silence, “what the fuck are you on about, Malfoy?”

“Harry is as straight as Trelawney is sane.” Parvati deadpanned.

“What am I on about? What are you on about? Patil, you were literally his date to the Yule Ball!”

“Draco, have you ever heard of the concept of friends?” Parvati shot back.

“He dated the girl Weasley!” Draco yelled back.

“First off, she has a name, secondly, we are in public so if you’d please refrain from shouting about my love life at the top of your lungs, I’d truly appreciate it, third and finally, bisexual people exit.” Harry whisper-yelled back.

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh, Draco,” Harry sniped back before sighing and running a hand down his face. Pausing for another moment to think about how to respond, he ran his hand through his hair before a slight smile spread over face and a pained look entered his eyes. Clearing his throat, Harry said, “what would you like to ask me about Ced?”

“Well now I feel like an asshole.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” Harry teased, “but seriously, I’m happy to talk about Cedric, I still miss him, it still hurts, but I’m finally to the point where remembering him is overwhelmingly nostalgic instead of depressing, so ask away.”

As the group made their way through the trunk shop, the stationary store, and then made their way toward Gringotts, Harry (and the rest of the Gryffindors) told the story of Cedric and Harry. He talked about their friendship after the fated Dementor invasion of the Quidditch Pitch, how he’d realized he had a major crush at the World Cup, how their friendship had grown until Halloween when both their names came out of the Goblet and, after leaving the side chamber, Harry had begged Cedric to believe that he hadn’t entered his own name until Cedric said “fuck it,” grabbed Harry’s face and kissed him. Hermione talked about how she had to literally hit Harry over the head with a pillow to get him to snap out of it when he’d finally made his way back to the common room that night with kiss-swollen lips and a stupid grin.

Harry talked about how they’d trained together for the tasks and about how Cedric was the first person Harry had told about the extent of the Dursley’s mistreatment. He talked about how Cedric had promised to rescue him; but kept to himself how angry he’d been at Cedric for dying and breaking his promise. He told them about stolen kisses and narrowly avoiding being caught by Rita Skeeter and actually being caught by Dumbledore.

By the time they reached the steps of Gringotts, Harry was smiling, at peace with the loss of his first love. After seeing Pettigrew die in the cellar of Malfoy Manor and finally ending Voldemort, it felt as though Cedric had been avenged.

With another promise to meet the girls at Twilfit and Tattings as soon as they were done, Harry and Neville took a deep breath before bowing to the Goblin Guards and stepping into the bank.

--

Harry's Rings

Chapter Text

Monday, 10 August 1998

As Neville and Harry stepped into the bank, they came face to face with Susan Bones and Luna Lovegood. Sharing a slightly bemused look, the two boys turned to Luna with a questioning look, assuming she’d have the answer because, let’s face it, Luna always has the answer.

“I told you you’d never guess, Susan.”

“Luna, love, what are you talking about?” Harry said with a grin.

In lieu of answering any sort of question, Luna simply turned and started walking toward a teller, leaving the three older teens to scramble slightly before jogging after her.

“Susan what is happening?”

“Harry, it’s Luna, do you really think I have an answer for you?”

“I think you probably have more of an answer than we do.” He shot back.

“She showed up at my house this morning, dressed like that, said ‘good morning Lady Hufflepuff, get dressed we must meet our boys’ then gave me no further explanation. I concluded pretty quickly that she must be Lady Ravenclaw and, because she’s Luna, had some otherworldly understanding of what’s going on, so I just decided to go along with it. I’ve spent the last two hours trying to guess who Lords Slytherin and Gryffindor are, I was pretty convinced that Harry was Lord Gryffindor so imagine my surprise when you walked up looking like fucking Salazar himself.”

“Right of conquest, twice,” Harry began, “and sort of blood if you want to trace it all the way back to when the Peverell line split with the three brothers.”

“We really don’t have time to get into your theories on the Peverell line right now, Haz.”

“Right you are, Neville,” Luna said in her dreamy way, “but he’s almost got it all figured out, just the eldest line giving you trouble still, right Harry?”

“Right as always, Luna. If you have any suggestions, let me know.” Harry said with a smile.

“I think you’ll find your answers soon, but I’m not sure how,” Luna said with a smile back at Harry, “now, let’s follow Sharpfang here and we can discuss our castle.”

“Lead the way, Lady Ravenclaw, and might I say, you look absolutely dashing today?”

“When did he become such a flirt?” Susan whispered to Neville.

“Around the time he got unfairly hot,” was his slightly peeved response.

“Why thank you, brother dearest,” Harry shot back with a cheeky grin.

By that point, the group had reached the office of King Ragnok.

Their meeting went well, it had been generations since each of the founder’s lines at a worthy Head and the castle had suffered for it. They’d be able to re-establish the finer points of the ward matrix; preventing creatures from leaving the Forbidden Forest without express permission, alerting teachers when a student was in danger, strengthing the external wards to prevent intruders, and even bolstering the castle’s magic to assist in the finer repairs from the damage done during the Battle.

King Ragnok also informed them that they’d be able to open Founder’s Tower. Commonly known as the Clock Tower, Founder’s Tower had a suite for each Lord or Lady, a training room, a library, and a large sitting room that they’d be able to reside in whenever they were in residence at Hogwarts. While McGonagall had already offered Harry one of the professor’s suites for he and Teddy, the professor’s suites only had a bedroom, a bathroom, and a small sitting room. While they would’ve been perfectly comfortable, the Founder’s suites each had two bedrooms, an office with a small library, a bathroom, a sitting room, and a small kitchen.

The group called the Head Hogwarts Elf, an aging elf named Bobbin and asked him to open the tower and prepare it for their arrival. It was about the happiest any of them had ever seen an elf. Harry also called the Potter nursery elf, Mimi, and asked her to work with the Hogwarts elves to get Teddy’s room set up. She could hardly contain her excitement over getting to join Harry and Teddy at Hogwarts this year. She hadn’t been able to care for a baby since the Potters had gone into hiding and was more than excited to step into that role again.

Knowing that they’d have access to Founder’s Tower took a weight off of Harry’s shoulders. He’d have a home for Teddy at Hogwarts. A home that they’d get to make their own, a home that was protected by the Founder’s own wards. A home that would be ready for them on September 1^st without Harry having to do anything else.

With their Gringotts business taken care of, the teens were able to let their Founder’s Heirs Personas drop. Luna took off to spend time with her father with a promise to stop by Grimmauld soon, but Susan accepted their invitation to join them in their day of shopping claiming that she just had to get her hands on Harry Potter’s wardrobe.

With that, Harry, Neville, and Susan took off down the Alley, headed for Twilfit and Tattings and Harry’s worst nightmare; shopping for clothes.

Chapter Text

Monday, 10 August 1998

As they made their way from Gringotts to Twilfit and Tattings, Harry spent some time getting to know Susan. He’d known her in passing and through the DA, but hadn’t had time to get to know her on a more personal level. Neville, having spent more time with the Hufflepuffs and having known Susan as a child, just followed along looking slightly amused at the pairs thinly veiled interrogation of the other.

“So, Lord Slytherin?” Susan began after the trio had been walking in silence for a minute.

“I swear, if you make some joke about the Heir of Slytherin rumors being accurate…”

“You’ll do what, Potter? Sic a basilisk on me?” Susan asked with a teasing grin.

“I would but, see, I killed the basilisk and I’m not exactly motivated to go searching for another one.”

“Wait, what do you mean you killed the basilisk? I thought Dumbledore took care of that whole situation?”

“You’re joking right?” Harry said.

“Why in Merlin’s name would I be joking?”

Turning to Neville with a truly affronted look, Harry asked “is that what people think? That Dumbledore always came to my rescue?”

“Yeah, you were his Golden Boy after all. Until we became friends in 3^rd year that’s what I thought as well.”

“Wait,” Susan asked, as she abruptly came to a stop, “what do you mean?”

“The only time Dumbledore stepped in was in 5^th year when Voldemort showed up at the Ministry, every other time I faced him, some version of him, or some other terror, I was either alone or with Ron and Hermione. Even when we first got to the Department of Mysteries in 5^th year we were alone. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny, and I fought off a dozen or so Death Eaters for like an hour before any member of the Order showed up and it was another half hour before Dumbledore deigned to make an entrance. Every other time, he showed up after the fact and either forced me to recount the experience before taking me to Pomfrey or dragged my unconscious ass to Pomfrey and then made me recount the experience the second I regained consciousness.”

“Well, that certainly colors my opinion of our dearly deceased Albus.”

“Susan,” Neville started, “I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that Harry came to Dumbledore’s aid more times than Dumbledore came to Harry’s.”

“Wow,” Susan breathed out, “so what happened with the basilisk then? The story I heard was that you and Ron went and found the student who had been taken and then Dumbledore showed up and stopped the basilisk.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh. And, if his laugh edged on manic, no one could really blame him.

“No, I didn’t see Dumbledore that night until after we were out of the Chamber when I told him I’d been bit by a fucking basilisk, and he actually asked me to please recount my night before he took me to see Pomfrey.”

“I’m sorry,” Susan said in a deadly whisper, “what do you mean ‘bit by a fucking basilisk’? How are you alive, Potter?”

“Oh, Susan, I’m not just the Boy Who Lived, I’m the Boy Who Refused to Fucking Die, didn’t you know?” Harry said with a slightly self-deprecating laugh.

“Harry, tell her the story, you’re going to give her an aneurysm if you keep fucking about.”

“Right, Nev. Sorry, Susan.” Harry said with a sheepish grin, “what really happened was that Hermione, a 12-year-old, figured out the mystery before Dumbledore or any of the other staff, even though a bunch of them had been there the first time the Chamber was opened. But then she got petrified. Luckily, she had a torn page of a book in her hand when she was petrified. Long story short, Ron and I found the page in her hand and caught on to what she’d figured out – that the Chamber’s monster was a basilisk – and then, before we could really do anything about that, Ginny was taken into the Chamber.”

“Ginny?” Susan gasped.

“Yeah, I’m not sure how well-protected the identity of the student that had been taken was, but I know some people know about it, just don’t go spreading it around to everyone, but it’s sort of necessary to understand why Ron and I skipped past any logical solution and jumped straight into dealing with it ourselves.”

“Yeah, I can see that, Merlin and Morgana I can’t even imagine how scared Ron must’ve been. So, what happened next?”

“Well, we saw the writing on the wall saying her body would lie in the Chamber forever and then heard the professors talking about it and some of them were treating it almost like a joke now that I look back on it, egging Lockhart on, saying that he should be able to take care of it since he’s such a proficient Defense Master.”

“You’re joking.”

“No, Bones, I am not.” Harry said with a sigh, “so we followed the fraud back to his office where we saw him packing up, ready to do a runner, so we forced him at wand point to where we’d figured out the entrance to the Chamber was, when we got in, he tried to obliviate us, saying that he’d tell everyone that seeing Ginny’s body was just too much for us and that he’d spin it as some tragedy where he still came out the hero, but he tried to do it with Ron’s old wand, which was broken, so the spell backfired. He’s now a permanent resident of St. Mungo’s, but that’s beside the point.”

“Wait, is that how he got all those stories for his books? He obliviated the wizards who’d actually done those things?”

“Yup,” Harry said, popping the ‘p’, “so anyways, the backlash from his spell caused a cave in, separating me from Ron and Lockhart, so I had to go on alone. I made my way into the Chamber, came face to face with a 16-year-old Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort, the sodding bastard, who then let a 50-foot basilisk loose and when I begged the universe for help, Dumbledore’s phoenix came swooping in with the Sorting Hat, I was like alright what the hell and put the hat on because, you know, I was 12, and then I got conked on the head by a giant sword and thought, why not, let’s sword fight a giant serpent. Then, Fawkes, being the icon he is, pecked out the basilisk’s eyes so it couldn’t kill me with its stare and then I stabbed it through the head with the sword but while I was doing that, it got me with one of its fangs and as I was actually fucking dying I grabbed the fang out of my arm and stabbed the diary that Ginny had been carrying around that I knew, somehow, was tied to this spirit of Tom Riddle and then the diary started screaming bloody murder. I told Ginny to run and leave me but then Fawkes, again, the absolute icon, cried on my arm and, as I’m sure you know, Phoenix tears can heal just about anything. So, yay magic. Then Fawkes flew us all out of the Chamber. Dumbledore never once made an appearance.”

“Didn’t Fawkes also heal you after you’d come back from watching Voldemort’s resurrection in the graveyard?” Neville asked.

“Yes, he did, because he is, again, an absolute icon and, thankfully, takes offense to Dumbledore’s propensity to make me recount my confrontations with Voldemort before seeking medical attention.”

Just then, a melodic trill was heard through the Alley and with a flash, Fawkes appeared on Harry’s shoulder.

“Oh,” Harry said in a completely level voice, “hey, mate, did you hear me talking you up?”

As Fawkes nuzzled against Harry’s cheek, he heard a voice amidst the melody, I was Godric’s familiar, but I think I shall claim you, Heir of Salazar.

“What. The. Fuck.” Harry whispered.

“Did you just get claimed by a Phoenix?” Neville asked in a tone that told of how often he’d seen entirely inexplicable shit happen around Harry.

“Is this what it’s like being friends with you, Harry?” Susan asked, a bemused look on her face.

“It sure is, Susan. I’d say you get used to it but I’m not sure that’s an honest conclusion.” Neville said with a laugh.

“Can you understand me Fawkes?” Harry asked.

Yes, dear Harry, I can understand all human speech, but I can also understand you if you direct your thoughts to me.

“Huh, that’s cool.”

“Haz, you wanna translate Phoenix for us?” Neville said, still slightly chuckling.

“Fawkes says he can understand all human speech but can also understand me if I direct my thoughts to him because he’s claimed me. Oh, also, he was Godric Gryffindor’s familiar, so I think we’re gonna get some good stories out of him.”

“Are you telling me that Godric Gryffindor’s familiar just decided to bond with Lord Slytherin?” Neville asked.

“Hold on a second, Nev, let me try something.”

Fawkes, Harry imagined speaking to the bird, is this correct?

Yes, Fawkes fed back into Harry’s mind, perfectly done, Young Lord.

Fawkes, Harry began, that man right there is the current Lord Gryffindor but, more than that, he is my chosen brother. We are bound by Fate and are oath sworn godbrothers. Somehow, by some Gift of Magic, we share a classic magical twin bond. Would you be able to bond with him as well?

You’d share your familiar? Fawkes said in a shocked tone, that is an incredible act of trust.

As I said, Fawkes, he is my brother. I trust him as much, if not more, than I trust myself.

With that, Fawkes flew from Harry’s shoulder to Neville’s, nuzzled his cheek, released a melodic trill, and bonded with the new Lord Gryffindor.

“Alright, what the fuck?” Susan choked out.

“I think this is just another day in the world of being friends with the Chosen One,” Neville said by way of explanation, sporting a cheeky grin.

“Oh Merlin, they dress the same, they share a familiar, and now they’ve got the same shit-eating grin. What have I signed up for?” Susan said, sounding truly exasperated.

With a laugh, Harry just wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started leading the group down the Alley. “Oh, Susan, you don’t even know the half of it.”

* * *

While Neville and Harry had been in their meeting at Gringotts, the rest of their friends had been finishing up some errands in the Alley. Quills and parchment had been bought, new cauldrons had been procured, replacement trunks had been ordered, and Draco and Ron had been dragged by the ears out of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Now, the group was waiting outside Twilfit and Tattings to experience Harry Potter’s worst nightmare. Daphne, Pansy, Padma, and Parvati had spent the last half hour making a comprehensive list of everything Harry would need to present as a proper Lord.

Hermione had been making her own list of essentials, knowing that Harry had never truly owned his own clothing but not willing to share that information with the larger group. She’d decided that she’d wait until they’d completed his wizarding wardrobe before pulling him aside and asking him to come into Muggle London with her to get everything else. She knew he’d complain but also knew, underneath the front he’d put on, that he’d appreciate her thinking of him and, more than that, would appreciate her not bringing it up in front of everyone else. She also knew that, despite all his complaining, he’d be truly excited to have clothes of his own, even though he’d have to be pushed into spending money on himself, despite having more money than God. She was just thinking about how it might be easier to get him to agree to it if she also suggested that they stop by a couple of stores for Teddy as well when she spotted Neville and Harry guiding Susan toward them with … was that Fawkes perched on Harry’s shoulder? What the fuck had happened at Gringotts?

“Mate,” Ron started, “why is Dumbledore’s phoenix here? I thought he, like, disappeared into the ether?”

“Not Dumbledore’s phoenix, dear Ronniekins, Neville and my phoenix. But, really, if you want to get specific, it’s Godric Gryffindor’s phoenix, he’s just decided to adopt us for the time being.” Harry said with a shit-eating grin.

“Oh, alright, sick,” Ron said with a nod, “good afternoon, Fawkes, it’s lovely to see you.”

Ron was greeted by a melodic trill that had both Neville and Harry chuckling.

“It’s lovely to see you, Fawkes, I’m asking more questions about this later,” Hermione said with a long-suffering sigh, “but for now, you need to walk into this store before this lot loses what little is left of their sanity.”

With that, Harry was dragged into the store to be tortured (“Really, Haz, you’ve been literally tortured before, this absolutely cannot compare.” “You don’t know my life, Nev.” “I do, actually, just try on the fucking robe.”). An hour later, Harry paid for his purchases in a daze. He had some pieces he’d be leaving with today, but most of his robes would be sent to him via owl over the next couple of weeks. He now had several pairs of perfectly tailored slacks in black, navy, brown, and grey, shirts in different fabrics and colors for every season and occasion, jumpers (that actually fit) in different weights and colors, and robes that would be shipped later with their customizations.

Harry, despite all his complaining, was actually quite excited about the robes. He’d never really had wizarding clothes outside of his school uniform, his dress robes from the Yule Ball, and his Wizengamot robes.

The robes the girls had picked out were perfect. Most of them were the style he’d found he most liked from Regulus’s wardrobe; open robes that more resembled a cloak or cape that could be worn over classic slacks and shirts. After finding what style he was most comfortable in, he’d allowed the girls to run wild with colors and designs, his only request was that they don’t make him look like Dumbledore, a statement that was met by identical affronted looks from Susan, Daphne, Pansy, Padma, and Parvati. They’d decided that dark colors and jewel tones – whatever the fuck that meant – looked best with his skin tone. Harry was more than happy to just let them pick, trusting that they knew what was best and he wasn’t disappointed. After picking out the colors, fabrics, and styles, they’d discussed adornments. Harry would have several plain, casual robes with limited embroidery, but he was more excited, strangely enough, about the robes he’d wear when doing business as a Lord or attending formal functions. That wasn’t even counting the few true dress robes they’d convinced him he’d need.

The more formal robes would be adorned with the crests of his houses and would be more intricately woven with embroidery and enchantments. He’d asked for several of the robes to have astronomy-themed designs as an homage to the House of Black as well as Death’s eternal connection to the Heavens, not that he’d tell many people about that second reason.

Harry decided that wizarding clothes were great. Not only did they make him feel fancy and important, but magic made shopping so much easier. The tailor simply had to measure him and then pick out fabrics in order for him to create an entire wardrobe. He’d only had to actually try on a couple of pieces. The whole experience only took an hour. Having planned to come back to the Alley another day, after they’d actually received their book lists, to finish his shopping, Harry was ready to head home for the day but was stopped by a look from Hermione. Slowing his steps so the pair fell to the back of the group he gave her a look that said what do you need? and waited for her response.

“Do you need to get back to Teddy right away?” she asked.

“No, Andromeda and Narcissa are there, I have time, what did you need?”

“I was thinking, now that you’ve got an entire wizarding wardrobe, you might want to spend some money on muggle clothing that you actually like and that actually fits you, if I’m out of line or if it’s not something you want you can tell me that, but I just –”

Harry cut off her rambling by wrapping her in a hug and whispering into her ear, “I’d love that, ‘Mione, thank you for thinking of that, and” he cut himself off to clear his throat, oddly emotional at his friend’s care for him, “thank you for not bringing it up in front of the whole group. I really appreciate you.”

Hugging him back, blinking away the tears that had sprung up, she asked “do you want it to be just us two or should we bring Ron and Neville as well?”

“I think I’d prefer just us two, but we should find some time before September 1^st to bring that group of poncey purebloods into Muggle London with us.” Harry said with a smile.

“Too right, Potter,” she said back with a laugh, “do you have pounds on you or do you need to stop back into Gringotts?”

“One of the Potter accounts is actually with HSBC, apparently my family has some property holdings in the Muggle world that do business through the bank, so I have a credit card. Let’s just split off from the group and then you can lead the way, I’m not sure which stores are the best to go to. I’ve only really gone to the grocers and some smaller department stores for things for Teddy.”

* * *

While not as easy as shopping for wizarding clothes, Harry and Hermione had a great time in Muggle London. They visted several department stores and quickly made their way through Hermione’s list of necessities. Harry finally had clothing he had picked out for himself. Styles and fabrics and colors that he actually liked. New clothing that was actually his size. More than that, the options that he and Hermione selected made him feel confident in his own skin. While the wizarding clothes that he’d picked out gave him confidence by making him feel powerful, the Muggle clothes gave him confidence by making him feel comfortable.

Given that Muggle clothing was less easily altered, he hadn’t gotten as large of a Muggle wardrobe as he had a Wizard one. But he’d picked out a couple pairs of jeans, some sweatpants and shorts, and several t-shirts and hoodies that would fit even if he grew a little more or continued to fill out muscle-wise. Hermione had also forced him to buy things like new socks and underwear, claiming she didn’t want to know the state of the garments the Dursleys had provided him.

The pair had decided to grab Ron and Neville as soon as they got back to Grimmauld and drag them out to the grounds of Potter Manor to have a ceremonial burning of everything Dursley.

After shrinking and pocketing their purchases and stopping for a quick dinner, they found an empty alley and apparated back to the front steps of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Harry dashed upstairs to put the bags in his room and grab his old trunk full of the belongings from his (literally) past life while Hermione grabbed Ron and Neville. The group then ducked back out the front door and grabbed onto Harry, using the portkey charmed to his Potter Ring to bring them to the Manor.

The group was greeted by a small horde of incredibly excited house elves. Harry asked the elves if there was a good spot for them to light a giant fire and one elf – that Harry decided it might be smart to never get on the bad side of – stepped forward with a manic glint in his eye, reminiscent of Dobby after siccing a rogue bludger on a twelve-year-old, and said he knew the perfect spot.

Harry asked the elves if they could prepare some food for Ron and Neville and tea for the group and told them they’d stay for a while tonight before returning to London and then promised, for the thousandth time, that he’d return soon with more people now that the Manor was in proper working order. Neville then suggested it might be fun to bring the group to the Manor for at least a week before they headed back to school.

Potter Manor was truly the opposite of Grimmauld Place. While Harry, Andromeda, Narcissa, and Kreacher had worked hard to clear Grimmauld of its ever-present darkness – and had done a truly incredible job – it was still situated in London and retained some of its historical darkness, just by nature of the Black Family Magic. Potter Manor, however, was situated on St. Ives Bay on the West Coast of Southern England. The Manor House was made of red brick and white-washed wood and surrounded by perfectly tended grounds with a view of the Bay. The Manor and its grounds felt like a breath of fresh air. The interior was decorated in shades of blue, cream, and gold with various red accents added by the many Gryffindors in the Potter Line. The House had several bedrooms, an incredible library, offices for the Lord, Heir, and Steward, a ballroom, a training room, a couple of sitting rooms, and a formal dining room. The grounds boasted a row of greenhouses, a private path to the seaside, and (in Harry’s opinion, the greatest feature) a full Quidditch pitch.

Harry quickly agreed with Neville’s plan, promising the elves that he’d be back soon with several friends before they headed back to school for their final year. The elves were more than excited at the idea of being around people after the Manor being empty for so long.

With a promise to return soon, the group followed the (pyromaniac?? probably..) elf to a spot on the grounds that would work well for a massive sodding bonfire.

While the sun began to set, Ron and Neville helped the elf light the fire and Harry and Hermione quickly sorted through Harry’s trunk. He set aside the few things he wanted to keep; Weasley sweaters, old Hogwarts uniforms that could be sentimental, the few belongings he’d actually purchased, some textbooks that were buried at the bottom of his trunk, and random photos that he’d collected from Colin over the years that he’d forgotten to add to a scrapbook. Everything else got thrown in a pile for the group to add to the fire.

As the group threw Harry’s belongings into the flames, they talked about their hopes for the upcoming year and about what they dreamed they could achieve in the future. Ron, Neville, and Harry were all considering becoming aurors. But, while Ron thought it might be a career he could see himself doing long-term, working to rise through the ranks, Harry and Neville saw it more as something they could do in their twenties while also working on masteries in Defense and Herbology, respectively. Each shily expressed a wish to maybe become a professor someday, a dream that was immediately supported by the rest of the group. Hermione still had hopes of changing the Ministry from the inside out. She had dreams of making the wizarding world more welcoming and accepting of those of every blood status and, more than that, of those who were currently viewed as creatures. The boys decided that, if anyone could do it, it was certainly Hermione. Neville and Harry both offered her their full support should she bring anything before the Wizengamot.

As the flames dwindled and the stars became clearer against the backdrop of the night sky, the quartet of Gryffindors made their way into the Manor. They spent a couple more hours talking about everything and nothing before returning to Grimmauld Place.

It was a day well spent. Harry and Neville had stepped seamlessly into their roles as Lords Slytherin and Gryffindor, they’d deepened their connection with their larger group of friends by telling stories they’d never really told, they gained a truly impressive familiar, Harry collected two new wardrobes and shed the last vestiges of his less than stellar youth, and they took time to bond further within their little group; sharing hopes and dreams for each other and the future.

As Harry drifted to sleep that night; with his little boy happily dreaming in the crib next to his bed, and his friends – new and old – sleeping in bedrooms scattered throughout this house he’d made a home, he couldn’t imagine his life any other way.

Chapter Text

August 1998

The day after their trip to Gringotts as Lords Gryffindor and Slytherin, Neville and Harry had returned to the bank to discuss their individual estates. Earlier in the summer, they’d gone to claim their rings and discuss some initial investments and, in Harry’s case, establish a trust account for Teddy, name his heirs, welcome Andromeda back into the Black family, dissolve Narcissa’s marriage into the Malfoy family, change Narcissa and Draco’s surnames to Black, and spend awhile in the time bubble healing hall.

On this later trip, Neville was speaking to his account managers about options for treatment for his parents; after Harry’s experience in the healing hall, he’d learned that the Goblin healers had some options that may make his parents more comfortable, and, in some cases, even more alert. While Frank and Alice would never be cured, the Goblins’ magic and practices may bring them back to themselves. And, in Neville’s opinion, any improvement was nothing short of a miracle.

Harry, on the other hand, was simply discussing repairs to Raven’s Keep (Black Manor) and Griffin House (Potter Manor). The Keep is a grand manor in central England, located in the Peak District National Park near Sheffield. While the primary line of the Black Family had called Grimmauld Place home for the past few generations, the Keep is where the family initially settled after moving to England from France in the time of Merlin. It’s where Arcturus Black had stayed when he removed himself from society following the initial downfall of Voldemort in 1981. Since Arcturus’ death, the Keep had sat empty. But, thankfully, a small staff of house elves had remained, so the manor was in rather good condition. All Harry had to do was work with Narcissa and Andromeda on making some updates to the décor and making sure the elves were well taken care of.

Griffin House, on the other hand, wasn’t in as great of condition. The name of the house was a slight mystery to Harry. He knew the Potter Family was represented by a stag, given the antlers carved into his ring, his father’s animangus form, and his patronus, but for some reason, his ancestor’s had chosen to name their Manor in honor of the mighty griffin. The grounds were rather well kept by the elves and the interior of the manor was in good condition, but the location of the manor and the lack of upkeep on the wards had led to the building’s exterior falling, somewhat, into disarray. Griffin House is located on the Southwest point of England in the Godrevy National Trust on St. Ives Bay. Over the years that the manor sat empty, the wards against weather damage slowly deteriorated and the sea air and salt water caused a good amount of damage. After claiming his ring, Harry was able to visit the manor to take on the wards and repair the damage to the ward scheme but there were still some repairs and general updating that needed to happen.

At this meeting, the goblins were letting Harry know that the repairs had been completed.

After that meeting, Harry and Neville went back to Grimmauld Place and presented their ragtag family with the option to relocate to Griffin House for the last month of summer before they returned to school. With an open floo and the ever-present option of apparition, they’d all be able to visit their families and run final errands before boarding the Hogwarts Express on September 1^st, but they’d also have the chance to get out of London, spend time in the sun, and enjoy some peace and quiet before they faced whatever insanity another year of Hogwarts would bring.

So, on Wednesday, 12 August 1998, Harry unlocked the floo and sat in Griffin House’s receiving room with Teddy and Neville as the “permanent” residents of Grimmauld, and now Griffin House, made their way through the flames. Andromeda stepped through first followed by Narcissa, then Draco came through followed closely by Blaise Zabini, then Pansy Parkinson, then Gregory Goyle, then Ron came through with Hermoine on his heels, then finally Theodore Nott stepped into the room. With everyone there, Harry instructed them all to find a room.

Griffin House, while appearing much larger than Grimmauld Place, had a similar amount of space thanks to the use of “magic space” at Grimmauld. Harry wasn’t actually sure how many bedrooms were in the Manor because every time he looked, he could’ve sworn he found a room he’d never seen before. Harry was in the master suite and had converted the attached reading room into a nursery for Teddy. While the house had a dedicated nursery, it wasn’t near the master bedroom and Harry didn’t want that much space between him and his boy. Because the heir was sleeping in a crib, Harry had insisted that Neville take the Heir Suite which was next door to the Master Suite and had a similar layout. Each suite had a bedroom, bathroom, reading room, and sitting room.

Andromeda, Narcissa, and Draco had taken the other rooms on the family floor and Harry had placed Ron and Hermione in the Steward’s Suite which was at the opposite end of the family floor from the Master and Heir Suites.

The manor’s basement held the kitchen, potion lab, dueling room, and some storage while the main floor had the receiving room, formal dining room, ballroom, portrait hall, and conservatory.  The family floor was the second floor; this floor also had the entrance to the family-only library which was a section of the library that was accessible only by those with Potter Blood and those who had sworn fealty to the family (like stewards, guards, and generational allies). Right outside the entrance to the family library were the offices of the Lord, Heir, and Steward. The third floor had several guestrooms as well as the main entrance to the library; the fourth floor was much the same but also touted a balcony that looked west over the grounds and the bay. The top floor of the manor held the final floor of the library, a less-formal sitting room, and the entrance to the owlery which sat atop the manor.

With Harry, Teddy, Neville, Andromeda, Narcissa, Draco, Ron, and Hermione on the family floor of Griffin House, Blaise, Greg, Pansy, and Theo were given the run of the third and fourth floors. Even so, they selected rooms next to each other on the third floor and left the remaining rooms for the less permanent members of their rag tag family; their other classmates, Augusta Longbottom, and the remaining Weasleys.

Over the month of August, this group enjoyed the grounds of Griffin House and the access to the bay. They played quidditch, swam in the sea (though Harry kept a t-shirt on the whole time and no one but Ron, Hermione, and Neville seemed to know why), lit bonfires, told stories, forced themselves to talk about the war, worked to understand each other, and grew stronger as a unit.

* * *

Thursday, 27 August 1998

On the last weekend before they packed up and headed to Hogwarts for their final year, Harry opened the doors of Griffin House to any and every 8^th year who wanted to join. In preparation for the invasion of teenagers, Andromeda and Narcissa took Teddy back to Grimmauld Place for the weekend – both to avoid the insanity and to spend some time with Teddy before he joined Harry at Hogwarts. The Weasleys headed back to the Burrow, with Bill and Fleur departing for France to see Fleur’s family and Charlie headed back to Romania with promises to visit soon, and Augusta returned to Longbottom Manor.

Harry, Neville, Draco, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Pansy, Blaise, Greg, and Theo sat in the receiving room while the 8^th years, and a select few 7^th years, came through the floo. Luna came through first and Ginny quickly dragged her outside to look at some of the creatures that called Griffin House home. After Luna, the Greengrass sisters, Tracey Davis, and Millicent Bulstrode stepped through and were dragged away by Pansy to put their belongings in her room and then explore the grounds. After that came Padma and Parvati Patil, followed closely by Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott who went straight for Hermione, begging to see the library. Then came Seamus, Dean, Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie MacMillian, and Michael Corner who grabbed Ron, Draco, and Greg and beelined for the quidditch pitch.

Over the next hour, Harry, Neville, Blaise, and Theo welcomed almost their entire class and pointed them in the direction of the guestrooms and then the various groups around the grounds. After the tide slowed, Neville and Blaise made their way out to the grounds while Harry and Theo remained behind.

“Do you think that’s everyone?” Harry asked after the pair had sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

“I think so,” Theo said with a shrug, “I sort of lost track after the Patil sisters.”

“Me too,” Harry said, laughing lightly, “I guess we should join them, what would you like to do?” he asked, standing up and then holding out his hand to help Theo up.

With a blush, Theo reached out, stood up, and then hesitated to drop Harry’s hand. Both boys were so focused on the point of contact and the question of what exactly was happening between them that they didn’t notice when the floo chimed one last time. That is, until they heard a voice Harry never thought he’d hear again asking in a teasing tone, “well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Harry whipped around so quickly it was a miracle he didn’t give himself whiplash.

“Lavender?” he asked, his voice hardly above a whisper.

“I got your letter and thought I’d join the party,” she responded, smiling and trying not to laugh at the shocked look on Harry’s face.

While the two stood there staring at one another, Theo backed out of the room and went to grab the other Gryffindors.

A week prior, when they’d been sending out invites to their classmates, there was a debate over whether to send a note to one Lavender Brown. No one actually knew whether she’d survived and any attempt to contact her had been futile; letters had been sent back unopened and patroni had come back, seemingly unable to find their target. They all knew she’d been attacked by Greyback during the final battle but they’d never seen her body in the Great Hall. No one knew if she’d survived and, if she had, no one knew where she possibly could’ve gone. It hadn’t been the full moon during the battle so they didn’t think she’d turned, but, at the same time, no one knew what powers Greyback had with him allowing his wolf to take over so thoroughly.

A minute later, Theo returned with Neville, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, and Padma. After a moment of shock, Parvati launched herself at her friend and roommate, knocking them both to the ground. Within seconds, the remaining Gryffindors had joined them, leaving Theo and Padma standing on the edge of the room watching the pile of lions in amusement and no small amount of shock.

“Where the fuck have you been?” came Parvati’s voice from the bottom of the heap.

“I’ll tell you as soon as you heathens get off of me,” Lavender responded, laughing.

“NEVER!” chimed a chorus of voices, sending them all into a fit of laughter.

After a few more minutes of hugs, teasing, and tears, the group finally collected themselves and followed Harry into the adjoined sitting room to talk. Ron declared a Gryffindor class meeting, shoving Padma and Theo outside and then directing Harry to seal the doors. He wanted to give Lavender privacy and Lions always protect their Pride.

As soon as the doors were sealed, Ron couldn’t hold his question in any longer, nearly shouting “what happened?” as his patience ran out.

His reaction was so quintessentially “Ron” that they all had to laugh.

“Well,” Lavender started, “no one really knew what powers Greyback had, but somehow his bite carried enough of the Lycanthropic curse that I turned during the June full moon.”

“Not during the May moon?” Hermione asked.

“No, and I’m really not sure why, I was in a lot of pain during the moon, it felt like my bite scar was on fire and like my body wanted to turn but I didn’t. Honestly, actually turning in June was less painful than whatever I went through during the May moon.”

They all shuddered at that, especially Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had witnessed a full werewolf transformation and had seen how painful the transformation truly was, to think that whatever happened to Lavender in May was worse than that was almost unthinkable.

“But how did you get out of Hogwarts during the battle?” Parvati asked, “we all looked for you in the Great Hall and the Hospital Wing and none of us saw you. We’ve been trying to figure it out for the last two months. I know that Hermione threw Greyback off of you after he attacked and then, later, Ron and Neville actually killed him, but none of us knew where you’d disappeared to after Hermione saw you getting attacked.”

Lavender hadn’t known how her classmates had reacted to her attack, she’d blacked out soon after the initial blow Greyback dealt, upon hearing how her friends had responded, she jumped off the couch and threw herself at Hermione and hugged her as fiercely as she could. After a minute, she calmed down enough to tell the rest of the story.

“I woke up in St. Mungo’s a few days after the battle and they told me that I’d shown up in the lobby via portkey. They were able to heal a lot of my injuries, except for Greyback’s initial bite. They told me that they weren’t sure if I’d actually been infected because it wasn’t a full moon but that the bite wouldn’t heal. Their creatures specialist told me that it could either be because the bite was a cursed or magical injury and, therefore, couldn’t be fully healed, or that somehow Greyback had evolved as a wolf enough to infect someone with Lycanthropy outside of the full moon.”

“But how’d you get there by portkey?” Harry asked, “as far as we knew, all of the injured were brought into the school and weren’t portkeyed out until after the battle.”

“Professor Lupin.” Lavender responded.

After a moment of shocked silence, once they realized that Harry wasn’t going to be able to respond to that revelation, Neville asked “could you explain that, please?”

“The healers kept the portkey I arrived with as evidence and a couple of days after I woke up, someone from the Ministry Transportation Office showed up and performed some diagnostic spells on the portkey which showed the magical signature of Remus Lupin. I asked if someone could contact him so I could thank him, and they told me he hadn’t made it through the battle. One of the healers then ran another diagnostic on me that showed a history of injuries and magic performed on me and they found that right after I’d been attacked, a series of healing spells were performed on me with a magical signature that matched the one on the portkey. He saved my life and I’ll never get to thank him.”

With that revelation, the entire group sat in silence. After a couple of minutes, Harry finally spoke up, “Nev, are there mandrakes in the greenhouses here?”

After a second’s thought, Neville understood what, exactly, Harry was asking, “yeah, Haz, there are mandrakes. Also, the woods surrounding Black Manor haven’t been touched by human feet for a decade, let alone 7 days.”

Harry nodded and then said, “right. Right, I’ll ask one of the grounds elves if they’ve seen any Death’s-head Hawk Moths around.”

“Smart,” Neville responded, “we can check the potions lab and see if there are enough crystal phials, if not, we can stop by the apothecary before we board the express. How many will we need?”

Harry paused for a second, counting the people in the room, “we’ll need 8 sets of everything, unless you think others would want to join?”

“If you’re doing it then Draco and Theo will want to and if those two do it, Blaise and Greg will want to and if they do it then Pansy will want to which means Daphne, Tracey, and Millicent will want to as well… and if Parvati is doing it then Padma will want to join and if Ron is doing it, Ginny won’t take no for an answer which means Luna will be right behind and if you, me, and Luna are doing it then Susan will want to which means Hannah and Megan will join too.”

“And” Harry continued, “if Susan, Hannah, and Megan are in then the Hufflepuff boys will want in too and if Padma is in then the other Ravenclaws will want to join … do you remember how many 8^th years McGonagall said would be coming back? Should we just make it a class project?”

“She said there would be either 28 or 29, I’m guessing the one in question was Lavender … if we have that plus Ginny and Luna and, probably, Astoria if Daphne is involved, then we’d be at 31, so should we get 35 sets just to be sure?”

“Smart, Nev, go get a preservation box from the lab and collect the leaves and I’ll go talk to the elves.”

With that, the pair stood up and started walking out of the room without so much as a backwards glance toward their entirely bewildered classmates, that is until Hermione called out, “what harebrained scheme are you two dragging us in to now?”

With a truly frightening smirk, Harry turned around a simply responded, “Marauders,” then followed Neville out of the room.

Everyone left turned toward Hermione, who looked like she couldn’t decide whether to be excited or terrified, and Ron who looked exactly like Fred and George had looked as they flew away from Umbridge which was, to put it lightly, deeply concerning.

Finally, Seamus called on his Gryffindor bravery to ask the duo what, exactly, Harry was planning.

With a slightly mad grin, Ron answered his question, “we’re becoming animangi.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Lavender asked.

Hermione, in true Hermione fashion, explained to the group how an animangus in their animal form could not be turned by a werewolf and how a werewolf would be more comfortable during their transformation and during their night as a wolf if they had a pack. She told the story of the Marauders; how Harry’s father and godfather (and the traitor, though no one wanted to talk about him) had become animangi during their 5^th year to keep Remus company during the moons and how a stag, a grim, a wolf, and a rat had become a ragtag pack. She talked about how Moony, Remus’ wolf, had claimed Harry as his cub.

She then asked if they all wanted to become animangi, something Harry and Neville had neglected in their plotting. She was met with a resounding yes from her fellow Gryffindors who then split off to find their friends around the manor and send letters to classmates who hadn’t made it for the weekend to ask if they’d like to join.

The only people left in the room were Lavender and Hermione. Lavender was silently crying, looking shocked at the kindness her classmates were showing. With a knowing smile, Hermione grabbed Lavender’s hand and rested her head on her shoulder. The pair sat in silence for awhile until Lavender just whispered, “thank you.”

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 1 September 1998

Through the quiet darkness of morning at Grimmauld Place came the cry of a four-month-old baby ready to start the day.

“Teddy, love,” came Harry’s sleep-weary voice, “what time is it?”

After waiting a second for the infant to respond, Harry finally waved his hand and muttered a quiet tempus, relying on the wandless magic he’d had a greater command over ever since he’d finally kicked the sliver of the Dark Lord’s soul. A blue light appeared in front of Harry’s hand, showing him that it was currently 5:04 a.m., the lack of noise or light outside the townhouse told him that the sun hadn’t even begun to rise yet. The street was still asleep, but Teddy most decidedly was not.

With a grunt, Harry rolled out of bed and stumbled his way over to Teddy’s crib, blinking away the final weight of sleep, Harry started their day.

After getting Teddy bathed and changed, Harry called for Mimi, the Potter’s nursery elf who had been living at Potter Manor without a task since James, Lily, and Harry had moved to Godric’s Hollow. With Mimi watching and feeding Teddy, Harry got into the shower himself and took his time getting ready for the day. Finally, at around 6:30, Harry heard other people moving around the house.

Soon after, Harry heard a light knock on his door and Andromeda’s voice softly saying, “Harry, dear, are you awake?”

He stood up and let her into his room, “good morning, Andi, how did you sleep?”

“Well, thank you.”

At Harry’s knowing look, she let out a sigh and amended her answer, “I slept alright, it’s getting easier to sleep through the night, I think. It’s strange to sleep alone but I guess I’m starting to get more used to it, it’s nice knowing that I’m not the only person in the house, I’m going to miss you all when you leave today but I’m thankful Cissa is going to stay here with me, I don’t think I’d be as able to adjust to this normal without having my sister back. Thank you, again, for that.”

“No need to thank me, Andi, family is important, and I spent my whole childhood with very little in the way of family and wanted the exact opposite for Teddy.” Harry said, with a soft smile, “and, selfishly, I wanted to surround myself with family after, well, everything.”

“You deserve family, dear, I’m very thankful to be among the people you consider as such.” Andromeda responded while gently running a hand through Harry’s ever-messy hair.

Teddy’s babbling broke through the tender moment and Harry turned to take his boy from Mimi and handed him off to his grandmother so she could spend every last minute with him before the pair left for Hogwarts.

“Can we talk through the travel one more time?” Harry asked, with all the anxiety of a new parent and a war-weary 18-year-old combined.

“Well,” Andi started, smiling indulgently at the boy she’d come to see as her son, “what are the options again?”

Not seeing Andi’s expression and ignoring the tone of amusement in her voice, Harry started running through his list, “the first option is that I take him on the train with me, but he’s never been on a train so we don’t know how that will go. The second option would be you flooing with him either to the Three Broomsticks or directly into Founder’s Tower tonight if I can manipulate the wards to do that, that would probably be the best option because we’ve used the floo with him before and we know he’s alright traveling that way, we’d just have to coordinate timing. And I guess the last option would be Mimi apparating with him when I call for her, he’s traveled short distances that way but we don’t know how he’d react to long distance travel, but it might be the safest and would be the easiest to coordinate timing wise, what do you think?”

“Harry, love, we talked about this yesterday, and the day before, and one more time last week, my opinion hasn’t changed.”

“Humor me, please.”

“I think that having Mimi bring him is the best option. Elf apparition isn’t like human apparition, it’s smoother and more secure for whomever they’re bringing along. It wouldn’t be as disorienting as you or I side-alonging Teddy from here to Scotland, it feels more like passing through a barrier like the one at King’s Cross than it does like our form of apparition. It also doesn’t force you to try and manipulate wards you don’t entirely understand, nor does it force you to sit on a train for hours on end with an infant or make Teddy sit through the sorting and opening feast if you pick him up from me at the Three Broomsticks when the train gets to Hogsmeade.”

“Okay,” Harry breathed out, “okay, so you’ll spend the day with Teddy and then after the feast, I’ll call Mimi, and she’ll bring Teddy. She’s already set up his room so all she needs to bring is Teddy himself. I’m going to let Hermes, Merlin I still can’t believe I let Draco, who calls me Hades, name my owl after a psychopomp, anyways, Hermes is going to fly to Hogwarts instead of riding on the train,” then, he turned to Mimi, “does that sound good? Is there anything I’m forgetting?”

“No, Master Harry,” Mimi said, sounding almost as indulgent as Andi, “yous not forgetting anything. Tonight, you call me and I bring Master Teddy to his room. If wes realize tomorrow that wes forgot something, Mimi will come back to Grimmauld Place and get it.”

“Good, smart, you’ve got this all figured out, Mimi, thank you.” Harry sighed.

“Alright, it’s about 7:00 now, the train leaves at 11, why don’t you go downstairs and see what Kreacher’s made for breakfast and then you can do one last check through your trunk and school bag before we head to the station?”

“Sounds good,” Harry responded, before kissing Andi on the cheek and heading for the door, “thank you for everything.”

When Harry made it down to the kitchen, where everyone still ate despite the formal dining room being available, he found a half-asleep Neville staring into a cup of tea as if it’d personally offended him.

“Nev,” Harry said, surprised, “I thought you stayed at Longbottom Manor with gran last night?”

“I did,” he responded with a long-suffering sigh, “but last night I asked if she’d be alright with me coming over here this morning so I could leave for the Express with you for our last year, she thought it was a great idea. But I, in my eternal stupidity, forgot to specify a time so at 6 in the bleeding morning she fired off some insane firework spell that I swear to Merlin she learned from George and told me, in no uncertain terms, to get my arse moving, get my trunk, and go spend the morning with my brother. Apparently the fact that I’d seen you literally yesterday and would be getting on the train with you in five hours meant nothing to her.”

Laughing, Harry responded, “well, no one says no to Gran I guess.”

“Not unless they have a death wish,” Neville said, smiling despite his exhaustion.

“Do you have everything?” Harry asked.

“If by everything you mean my trunk and school bag, yes.” Neville said, smirking.

“You know that’s not what I meant you absolute arse.”

“Yes, Haz, I have all of the leaves in a preservation box. I also have the crystal phials that we bought the other day. Hermione told me that you two had collected enough dew to turn a small army into animangi which, now that I think about it, I guess we are a small army…” Neville said, before continuing with a shake of his head, “anyways, she also said that you’d found enough moth chrysalides for everyone and that she’d made sure both ingredients were packed in your trunk before she and Ron went to the Burrow. Also, I know that Padma and Parvati found containers for all of us to store our phials in after the October Moon until there’s a lightning storm. And you looked at the farmer’s almanac in the library down the street and found that there should be storms throughout October and November so we should be a bloody Zoo by the November Moon.”

“So, the only thing we need is a hair from everyone actually making the potion. Did we ever get a final number?”

“Everyone we reached out to responded yes,” Draco said, stepping into the kitchen, “so that’s all of the 8^th years and the two 7^th years, and one 6th year I think if we expand it beyond that it’s going to get properly chaotic so we should maybe cut it off.”

“I agree,” Harry said, then shuddered, “Merlin that’s still weird to say.”

“Oh shut it, Hades, you love me, really.”

Harry just shot him a look before turning back to Neville, “thanks for all of your help with this. I’ve always wanted to become an animagus but doing it for Lavender just adds an extra incentive.”

“Of course,” Neville said with a grin, “I’ve always wanted to join in on the Golden Trio’s yearly adventure.”

“I think this might be our safest adventure yet and that, my friends, is truly saying something.” Harry said with a wry grin.

The three chattered about everything and nothing for a while, slowly eating various breakfast items from the veritable feast that Kreacher had prepared. After a bit, Theo walked in, yawning “good morning,” before sinking into the seat next to Harry and letting his head drop down on his shoulder. Seemingly not awake enough to realize what he was doing.

Harry looked up at Neville, blushing with a slightly panicked look on his face. Once it became clear that their friend wasn’t going to be able to form words, Neville and Draco chimed “good morning,” with identical shit-eating grins on their faces. Draco then poured a cup of tea for Theo and pushed it across the table. Instead of picking up the cup, Theo simply nuzzled further into Harry’s shoulder.

Finally, Harry cleared his throat and choked out a “g’morning, Theo,” still blushing furiously. After realizing that Harry’s voice was coming from very close to his own head, Theo shot upright and grabbed his teacup, refusing to make eye contact with anyone before stuttering out, “so, um, how – how did you all sleep?”

In an act to quell his friend’s embarrassment – according to him – or, according to anyone with eyes, to simply get closer to the guy he had a massive sodding crush on, Harry put his arm across the back of Theo’s chair and shot him his best trademarked Potter grin and said, “I slept well, thanks, how about you?”

“Good,” Theo said, clearing his throat, “good. Are you ready for today?” He asked, now finally looking up to make eye contact with Harry.

“Yep,” Harry said, his grin melting into something more like a soppy smile, “all packed up and all Ted’s stuff is already there.”

“How’s Teddy getting there, did you finally decide?”

“Yeah, Andi and I talked about it again this morning, I’m going to leave him here with her all day and then after the feast I’ll call Mimi, and she’ll bring him. If he does well with the elf travel it gives us a good option for when Andi wants to see him, and I can’t get away from the school.”

“I’m sure it’ll work. He does well with magical travel, unlike someone else we know.”

“Hey,” Harry shot back, pushing Theo’s shoulder lightly, “rude.”

“Do you think they remember we’re here?” Neville asked Draco in a stage whisper.

“Not even a little,” Draco responded.

Over the next hour, the group grew. The other permanent residents of the house came down and they shared one last breakfast before everyone returned to Hogwarts. Around 9:00, Andromeda and Narcissa shooed the teens up the stairs to get ready. At 10:00, more on time for the Express than Harry had ever been, the group started making their way through the floo at Grimmauld to Platform 9¾. There, they met the Weasleys who, by some act of the divine, were early to the Hogwarts Express, along with the Lovegoods.

Saying final goodbyes to Narcissa, Andromeda, Molly, Arthur, and Xeno, the group made their way onto the Express to find a compartment. Once on the train, they found Padma, Parvati, and Lavender in a compartment with Dean and Seamus, across the hall they found Susan, Hannah, Ernie, and Justin. The group coming from Grimmauld, along with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna split up to fill the other compartments in the section and save spots for their classmates and friends. As the clock ticked closer to 11:00, the compartments were overfull, and the hall was ringing with laughter and too-loud conversation. At exactly 11:00, the whistle blew, and the train started making its way out of the station. Everyone crowded against the windows on the platform side and waved at their families as the Hogwarts Express started toward Scotland.

“What time do you lot have to go to the prefect’s carriage?” Harry asked once the train had cleared London.

“At noon, but I should probably head there soon to meet Susan so we can get ready for the meeting.” Neville said.

“Oh yeah, Head Boy Nev! Way to go,” Ron said with a grin, cheerfully clapping his friend on the back.

“Are the rest of the prefects the same?” Theo asked.

“As far as I know,” Neville responded, “Ron and Hermione for Gryffindor, Hannah and Ernie for Hufflepuff, Anthony and Padma for Ravenclaw, and Pansy and Draco for Slytherin. No one mentioned any changes.”

“I think I’m going to bring back the inquisitorial squad,” Harry mused, “with Nev and Susan as Head Boy and Girl, Luna and I are going to need some minions of our own.”

“You can’t be serious.” Pansy deadpanned.

“Don’t –” Hermione started to warn, but was cut off by Harry responding, “no, in fact, he’s dead,” with a rather cheeky grin given the content of that statement.

“Sirius Black has been dead for three years and still that joke lives. I can almost guarantee it wasn’t funny the first time he told it in the 70s and it remains unfunny today.” Hermione said, with a long-suffering sigh.

“Oh, but I’m just a poor, sad, mourning orphan,” Harry said with an over-exaggerated pout and his best puppy dog eyes (truly, Sirius would be proud), “why can’t you let me have this joke?”

“You know that poor orphan bit doesn’t quite work seeing as you have more money than, like, Poland? Right?” Hermione shot back, looking absolutely done with her best friend’s shit, but still not quite able to fully suppress her smile.

“You’re hiding a grin, Hermione Jean Granger, you love me, really.” Harry responded looking rather pleased with himself.

“Why, oh why, did I befriend Gryffindors?” Draco said with a sigh.

“That’s Lord Slytherin to you, Draco dearest.” Harry quipped with a slightly manic grin.

“I can’t, not only is he the Lord of my Family, but he’s also the Lord of my House, I can’t be expected to live like this.”

“Oh, little Dragon,” Harry responded, his grin slipping into a smirk, “did anyone ever tell you that you have a penchant for the dramatics?”

“Only every day of his life,” Blaise answered.

“Is it noon yet? I am feeling rather unappreciated in this compartment.” Draco said, looking incredibly put out.

“It’s only 11:30, Draco, and I lost my ability to control time after we freed a hippogriff and a suspected mass murderer at 13.”

“You were 14, Hermione.”

“Yes, Ronald, that was the part of that sentence that needed clarification,” Pansy said, sounding incredibly exasperated, “how are you three alive?”

“Well, if you’d like to get technical about it, I did die for a bit there.” Harry said with a shrug.

“You are far too casual about that, Potter.” Pansy shot back.

“You know, Pans, at some point, probably around the time I got bit by a sodding basilisk and then got saved by, who I now know to be, Godric Gryffindor’s familiar, I’ve sorta just rolled with whatever life sent me. If I questioned it too much, I’d have gone entirely mad by 15.” Harry responded, “like battling Bellatrix for most insane member of the Black Family mad.”

“I can’t decide if that would have been entertaining or, like, literally world ending.” Draco mused.

“World ending.” Hermione, Neville, and Ron responded immediately.

“Hey,” Harry responded, putting on an air of offense.

“Haz, you’ve got quite the temper,” Neville reasoned, “if you lost your mind there’d be absolutely no stopping your rage and I, personally, would like to be far, far away if that ever happened.”

“I’m nowhere near powerful enough to cause apocalyptic destruction with my rage.” Harry argued.

“I’ll concede that, maybe, at fifteen, you weren’t powerful enough to cause mass destruction,” Hermione hedged, “but now? Unencumbered by Voldy’s leech of a soul and the bindings we think were placed to isolate that soul magic? I’m genuinely certain you could level the British Isles if you were ticked off enough.”

“I’d try and argue with you,” Harry started, “but you’ve got that face right now that says you’ll hit me if I try, and I’ve seen how effective your right hook is so I’m just gonna nod.”

“Wise decision, Hades,” Draco said.

“Okay, now that we’ve established my godlike powers,” Harry said with a cheeky grin after the compartment had fallen into companionable silence for a minute, “I’m gonna go see Luna about gathering us some minions. Later underlings!”

Harry then, quite literally, skipped out of the compartment in search of his Lady Ravenclaw.

“I am unfathomably grateful he is joking,” Hermione said, “because if he wasn’t, and he decided to take over the world? With Luna by his side? We’d be under a totalitarian regime by Friday morning.”

“Genuinely the funniest part of that Merlin forsaken prophecy was the bit about the Dark Lord marking him as his ‘equal,’” Ron said with a dry laugh, “if Harry were even the slightest bit more vindictive, and Dumbledore were slightly more forthcoming with Earth-shattering information, mind, Voldemort would’ve been utterly decimated by the end of third year.”

“I know he’s powerful,” Pansy started, “but is he truly that powerful?”

“He’s a Mage, Pans,” Theo said, “the Dark Lord and Dumbledore were both Warlocks.”

“How do you know that?” Pansy asked, sounding curious while Hermione echoed her question with slight accusation in her tone.

“I can sense Magic. I’ve been around all three of them,” Theo began to explain, “when we were at Hogwarts, their Magic all felt similar, power wise, Dumbledore’s Magic was overwhelmingly Light while the Dark Lord’s was, of course, Dark but Harry’s Magic was always shifting, I thought that maybe it was just because he had a truly Grey or Neutral Core but I realize now, that I’ve sensed his Magic at its full, unburdened potential, that it was his Magic trying to get free. It spent years straining against bindings and being dampened by that soul piece and had to fight and grow to overcome those limits. So, while he was born a Mage, because a Mage can only be born and cannot be made, he’s most definitely stronger than he would’ve been had he grown into his magical maturity without those factors.”

“Well, that’s a way more interesting explanation than we have,” Neville laughed.

“What do you mean?” Theo asked.

“It’s on his inheritance test,” Ron said with a shrug, “what a day that was. Went his whole life thinking his name was Harry James Potter, went into the bank thinking he’d just be inheriting Potter and possibly Black given what Dumbledore said about Sirius leaving him everything. He had no idea there were different categories of magical humans then, he drops some blood on a parchment and sees his name is not, in fact Harry James Potter, but that he’s got a name to rival Albus too-many-bloody-names Dumbledore, that he’s inheriting Potter, Black, Slytherin, and Peverell. Then, on top of that, it says he’s a Mage.”

“Those poor account managers, they sat there and answered Harry and Hermione’s questions for nearly two hours,” Neville said, laughing at the memory.

“What’s his true affinity?” Theo asked.

Hermione, Ron, and Neville looked at each other, holding a silent conversation, before Hermione finally answered, “he’s got two, one is rather personal and I don’t think he’d want us to reveal it, but the other is Soul Magic and his main element is air which makes sense for a number of reasons.”

“He’s a natural on a broom,” Draco said, “and I believe Slytherin’s main element was air.”

“Correct,” Neville said, “Slytherin is Air, Gryffindor is Fire, Ravenclaw is Water, and Hufflepuff is Earth.”

“The Soul Magic makes sense too,” Theo mused, “it at least sort of helps explain how he could produce a fully corporeal Patronus that fended off a hundred bloody dementors at thirteen.”

With that revelation, the group sat in silence for a bit before Neville looked at his watch and decided it was time for him to go meet Susan. A couple of minutes later, Pansy, Draco, Ron, and Hermione headed out for their meeting and to get their patrol assignments, leaving only Blaise and Theo in their compartment.

“So,” Blaise drawled, “what were you doing sensing Hadrian’s magic while we were at school?”

“Shut it,” Theo muttered while his cheeks flushed red.

Just as Blaise was about to continue pestering Theo, the door slid open revealing the very Mage in question.

With a lopsided grin and a very dramatic bow, Harry announced “your Overlord has returned, dear minions, I hope you missed me.”

“Oh, so very much, My Lord,” Blaise said, bowing his head to Harry before looking up at him with a shit-eating grin, “so much that I’m going to have to flee this compartment to contemplate just how much I missed you.”

“Fuck off, Zabini,” Harry shot back with a laugh.

With that, Blaise exited the compartment and slid the door shut, leaving Harry and Theo alone. Harry quickly realized that the two hadn’t really been alone at all that summer. They’d certainly spent a lot of time talking to each other on the edge of the group and getting lost in conversation, forgetting other people were there. But they hadn’t spent any significant time by themselves. Now, everyone but Blaise was in a prefect meeting that’d likely last the next hour, and Blaise was unlikely to come back to the compartment until he talked to everyone he knew which was essentially every student 6^th year and above. As such, they were well and truly alone.

Harry knew he had feelings for Theo. He loved the way his dark hair reflected the sunlight and the way it curled around his ears and fell in soft waves, with curls sometimes brushing across his forehead. He loved the way his blue eyes lit up when he was explaining something he was passionate about or when something new caught his interest. He loved the way Theo was just a touch shorter than him, something that was entirely new to Harry after his truly miraculous growth spurt over the summer. But more than that, he loved the way Theo made him feel heard and safe and appreciated and the way Theo held Teddy with the utmost care and looked at the little boy with love in his eyes.

What Harry didn’t know, was how Theo felt for him. Now, he was certainly a Gryffindor, but there’s a reason the Hat wanted him to Sort Slytherin and why Magic had recognized him as Lord Slytherin. Harry, when he took a moment to push aside that Gryffindor bravery and need to act, had a self-preservation instinct. Especially in relationships. After losing Cedric and after whatever the hell he was thinking getting into a relationship with Ginny, Harry was rather wary of relationships. It wasn’t that he didn’t think he deserved to find happiness and love, it was more that he didn’t want to risk the heartbreak unless he was sure.

Theo, meanwhile, had also realized the pair were truly alone for the first time. Ever. Theo had been nursing a truly embarrassing crush on Harry since 2^nd year. He’d noticed the too-skinny, too-shy boy from afar. He’d never bought into that Boy-Who-Lived bullshit. Certainly, Harry had power and had given everything, including his literal life, to save them all. But he wasn’t some fame seeking pampered prince, he was a lonely child with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Over the summer, actually getting to know Harry? That was a dream come true.

Harry was kind, caring, funny, and exceedingly intelligent. He’d stepped into the role of Teddy’s father without a single complaint. He’d focused the brunt of his time and energy on ensuring the little boy was loved and cared for and that he knew all he could to be a good father. He’d taken them all in, opening his home to people who, just months prior, had quite literally tried to hand him over to the Dark Lord. He forgave easily and, when he loved, he loved hard. Theo wanted to be someone Harry loved.

Noticing the appraising look Harry was giving him, Theo decided that he’d spent too long sitting back. He’d given too much of himself over to the Slytherin ideal of self-preservation. He decided, in that moment, that he was going to tap into whatever latent Gryffindor bravery he had. They’d all suffered enough, Theo concluded, it would do them no good to deny themselves the potential for happiness.

With a decisive nod, Theo raised to his feet and turned so he was toe-to-toe with Harry. He paused a moment, looking Harry straight in the eye, then moved slowly so Harry would have time to step away. Instead, Harry let his eyes flutter closed and leaned in.

With that encouragement, Theo closed the distance. Finally, finally, brushing his lips to Harry’s. Theo kept the kiss chaste, not wanting to push.

Harry had other ideas.

With a wave of his hand, Theo heard the lock click shut and felt the weight of a silencing ward settle into place.

Wordless and wandless? Theo thought, that shouldn’t be as hot as it is.

With the door locked and the compartment silenced, Harry closed the last bit of distance between the two. He pulled Theo closer with one hand on his hip and the other arm snaking underneath Theo’s and then up to tangle a hand into his hair, leaving Theo no choice but to wrap his arms around Harry’s shoulders.

The second kiss was anything but chaste.

Harry, seemingly emboldened by Theo making the first move, swept Theo into a truly mind melting kiss. The hand that had been on his hip slowly made its way to Theo’s lower back, pulling them flush against one another. With the hand tangled in his hair, Harry tugged Theo’s head back slightly, adjusting the angle to kiss him deeper. Encouraged by the moan Theo let loose, Harry ran his tongue along Theo’s bottom lip, seeking entrance.

By the time they pulled apart, both boys were flushed and breathless, pupils blown wide with sheer want, Harry opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a word out, he was pushed down onto one of the benches and Theo was crawling into his lap, pulling his glasses off, folding them, and setting them on the opposite bench.

At that point, Harry certainly wasn’t going to interrupt with his questions about where Theo wanted to go from here.

From his place on Harry’s lap, Theo took control of the kiss and Harry happily let him. With Theo’s hands tangled in his hair and his hands on Theo’s waist, Harry bucked his hips slightly, seeking friction.

Theo responded immediately, grinding down against Harry.

The effect was immediate, Theo let out a groan that Harry would commit any number of crimes to be able to hear every day for the rest of his life. With Theo’s hands tugging at his hair and Theo’s tongue exploring every inch of his mouth and Theo’s hips rolling against his in a soul-shattering rhythm, Harry found himself utterly lost in the other boy. Not that he was complaining.

Theo, too, was completely gone. Harry’s hair felt like silk between his fingers, softer than he’d ever imagined. Harry’s hands held onto his hips in a vice grip. Harry’s tongue was warm against his own and the hard lines of Harry’s toned body felt like heaven as he pressed against him.

It wasn’t long before Harry’s movements stuttered and he breathed out a “fuck, Theo, I’m gonna,” but Theo cut him off, kissing down his neck and stuttering out, “me too, love,” grinding against him frantically before biting down on that spot where Harry’s neck met his shoulder as he reached his release. He felt Harry’s body tense beneath him before he let out a groan and tightened his hold on Theo’s hips before reaching his own release.

The pair sat in silence, breathing heavily before Theo began placing soft, fluttering kisses up Harry’s neck and across his cheek, then pulling him into another languid kiss before pulling back and resting their foreheads against each other. Harry tilted his head up to press a light kiss to Theo’s nose before waving a hand and hissing a cleaning charm.

Harry winced, misinterpreting Theo’s expression, “too strung out for wandless and wordless and parselmagic is easier to direct wandlessly than other magic, it’s more intent based, you see –”

His rambling was cut off by Theo grabbing him by the back of the neck and pulling him into a truly filthy kiss. As he finally pulled back, he muttered against Harry’s lips, “that’s bloody hot, love, I truly hope you’re not planning to use parselmagic in classes or I’m gonna run into some issues.”

After a moment, all Harry could think to respond was, “love?”

“Yeah,” Theo responded, his tone resolute, somehow not betraying just how nervous he was at that moment.

“Alright,” was all Harry responded, his casual response entirely overridden by the dopey grin he directed at Theo.

“Alright,” Theo whispered back, his tone soft and his smile genuine.

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 1 September 1998

Around an hour later, Blaise returned to the compartment from his grand tour of the train to find Theo peacefully reading a book and Harry passed the fuck out using Draco’s cloak as a blanket (Blaise couldn't wait for the disgruntled muttering that was going to illicit from its owner) with his head on Theo’s lap. The simple fact that Theo looked as though nothing out of the usual had transpired clued Blaise into the fact that something had absolutely happened. And, if the light bruise on Harry’s neck, visible with his collar unbuttoned, was anything to go by, Blaise knew exactly what that something was.

Now, he just had to get Theo to admit it.

“Hello, Theo dear,” Blaise said with a knowing grin.

Theo took one look at Blaise and knew he’d been found out, “keep it to yourself Zabini.”

Well, Blaise thought, that was easier than I thought it’d be.

“You have my word,” he promised. Then, after a pause where he debated whether to be an ass or ask the real question, he decided -to the shock of everyone – to be mature, “can I ask why?”

Theo sighed, then absent mindedly ran his hand through Harry’s hair. Harry melted into the touch, nuzzling his head against Theo’s hip and letting out a contented hum, but didn’t show any sign of waking up.

When Blaise realized he was going to be getting a real answer, one that his friend probably wouldn’t want everyone and their mum to overhear, he quickly locked the compartment door and threw up a silencing charm.

After a moment’s thought and a nod of thanks, Theo responded, “we haven’t had a lot of time to talk about everything. I mean, we’re in agreement that we want to be together, and we want to be something real but there’s just so many factors and so much has changed in all of our lives recently, most especially in his life. He’s a Lord four times over, we don’t know what exact roles the four of them are going to have to take up this year, he’s finally coming into his power and healing from years of abuse and constant battle, he’s never actually had time to grieve a single person he’s lost, and he’s lost a lot of people, Blaise. I know we all lost people, but I really can’t think of anyone who lost as many people as he did, especially when you include the victims of the first war.”

“You’re right,” Blaise responded, thinking it over for a moment, “I mean, in the first war alone he lost his parents and both sets of grandparents, we both know that Lily’s parents weren’t actually killed in a car crash, then his godfather was shipped off to Azkaban without a second thought, then he suffered for a decade before getting dropped at Hogwarts without any real explanation where he faced seven years of horror. He got his godfather back just to have him ripped away right in front of him, he watched his boyfriend die and then immediately after watched his parents’ murderer rise from the dead then in the battle he lost his last living father figure alongside so many of his friends and then he literally died.”

“Then,” Theo continued, “instead of being allowed time to heal, he got thrust into the chaos of wizarding politics and then stepped up and adopted Teddy. He comes across as incredibly well adjusted, but he’s still got that haunted look in his eyes.”

“Now that you mention healing, how the hell is he so put together? It was like one day he was the scrawny shell-shocked kid we all saw at the final battle and then he spent like a weekend at one of the Potter properties and came back 6 inches taller, jacked, and looking … different. Have any of them offered an explanation for that?” Blaise wondered.

“I asked Neville, and he gave me some half-baked answer about Goblins.” Theo responded with a shake of his head.

“It was Goblins,” Harry muttered.

“Didn’t realize you were awake love,” Theo said, “I’m sorry we were talking about you like you weren’t here.”

“S’alright,” Harry said with a sleepy grin. He then sat up, yawning before saying, “I’m happy to answer your questions. I feel like time really got away from me this summer and I haven’t really gotten a chance to explain all the little stuff. I think you guys know all the big things like our camping trip from hell and my inheritance shit but I’m sure you’ve got other questions.”

“Yeah we’ve got some, but you don’t have to answer anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“Thanks, Zabini, but I’m pretty much an open book so ask away.”

“What did you mean by it was the Goblins?”

“Well,” Harry started, “when we went in to the bank in mid-July to see what we were gonna have to pay the Goblins to make sure they didn’t kill us for breaking into dear Auntie Bella’s vault and stealing their dragon, we ended up also doing my inheritance test and Teddy’s blood adoption at the same time.”

“I still can’t believe you idiots stole a dragon,” Blaise said, “such fucking Gryffindors.”

“Thanks,” Harry said with a smile, either not noticing or choosing to ignore Blaise’s tone, “anyways, my inheritance test showed all the normal stuff like, you know, what I was inheriting along with my full name, immediate family, and power level, but it also showed potions, binds, glamours, and compulsions I’d been under throughout my life. Some of them were broken when I, you know, died, but others apparently were strong enough to make the trip to the other side of the veil and back which is just fucking ridiculous.” Harry paused, shaking his head, “anyway, I think we’ve mentioned the bind Dumbledore put on me that we think was an attempt to control the fucking Horcrux in my skull, but there were a few other things that raised red flags. I was spelled to inherently trust Dumbledore, compelled to avoid Slytherins, and had bindings on a few specific traits. Specifically, my Parselmagic was bound. I was able to speak Parseltongue but I couldn’t actually do Parselmagic and it also showed that my Parsel gift was passed down through my mother’s side, and not, in fact, a side effect of the connection to Voldy like Dumbledore told me. As it turns out Lily Evans wasn’t a muggleborn but was, in fact, a descendent of a squib member of the Gaunt family. He also bound a Black family gift.”

“I didn’t think you were actually in the Black family,” Blaise said, “I mean, I thought Sirius just named you as his heir.”

“Yeah,” Theo said, “I was sort of wondering how the family magic accepted you.”

“My great aunt, Dorea Potter, was originally a Black and I think that probably would’ve been a close enough connection combined with Sirius naming me as his heir, but it turns out I was actually blood adopted into the Black family as an infant.”

“Really?” Theo asked.

“Yeah, that’s why my full name at birth had middle names from both the Peverell and Black families, I was always meant to be the heir to three families, Slytherin was the fun twist.”

“What is your full name, again? I know you told us but I’ve forgotten,” Blaise wondered.

“Hadrian James Arcturus Igontus Peverell Potter Black Slytherin, I had all of those names from birth except, obviously, Slytherin. But that was added by Magic after Halloween 1981.”

“So, wait,” Theo said, “you technically had three parents?”

“Hold on,” Blaise cut in, “why Arcturus and not Sirius?”

“Cause, it wasn’t Sirius’ blood.”

“What the fuck do you mean it wasn’t Sirius’ blood?” Blaise whisper shouted.

“I mean,” Harry said, as if he were speaking to someone particularly dim, “it wasn’t Sirius’ blood.”

“Whose blood was it, Harry?”

“Glad you asked, Theodore,” Harry said with a cheeky grin, “Regulus Arcturus Black.”

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 1 September 1998

The compartment was silent.

“Did,” Blaise started, “did you just say Regulus Black?”

“Yes, sir.” Harry said, still wearing that cheeky grin, “thus the ‘Arcturus,’ it was his middle name, and my mum decided it flowed better in the insane string of names than ‘Regulus.’ Which, I guess, is a solid point.”

“Didn’t he die before you were born?” Blaise asked in a slightly incredulous tone.

“Yeah,” Harry said, sobering slightly, “he died in late 1979. I think we told you lot about how he discovered the Horcruxes?”

“Yeah, you mentioned that when you and Neville were talking about the prophecy.” Theo confirmed.

“Well, he wasn’t ever necessarily with Voldemort,” Harry explained, “he joined because it was what his mother expected of him but he’d actually been in a relationship with my dad, well, with James,” he corrected with a wry grin, “during their time at Hogwarts. He took the Mark during Yule break of his 5^th year, James’ 6^th year and they got in a huge fight and broke up then, during James’ 7^th year, he was named Head Boy and my mother was Head Girl, they’d been writing each other over the summer and Lily realized how much James had matured and then sometime during fall term those two started dating.”

“Right, I’d heard that,” Theo said, “and then they got married a year after Hogwarts?” he asked.

“Correct,” Harry nodded, “as far as anyone knew, those two got together, got married, then had me, simple as that. But, what really happened was that at the very end of their 7^th year, Regulus approached James, telling them that he was sorry for how they’d ended, that he didn’t really believe in anything Voldemort was preaching but that he’d essentially been forced to take the mark and, with Sirius running away, he was the last option for Heir and it’d be essentially impossible for him to escape as well without literally being killed in the process, he then told James that he had been trying to find a way to explain this all to him earlier in the year, hoping they could get back together, even if it had to be in secret, but then James and Lily had started dating and he decided it was pointless.”

“Wait,” Theo interrupted, “how do you know all of this?”

“James and Lily left a letter explaining everything along with their journals in the main Potter Vault which I was supposed to be taken to before I started Hogwarts. It had the letters and journals along with notes I was meant to study on my Family Magics, but I only ever saw my School Vault,” Harry answered.”

“Why do I feel like that was Dumbledore’s doing?” Blaise hesitantly asked.

“Because it was,” Harry answered sharply before taking a breath and saying softly, “I still can’t figure out how I’m supposed to feel about him.”

“Feel however you want, Hadrian,” was Theo’s no-nonsense response.

Nodding in thanks, Harry continued, “Regulus, I guess, decided that he at least owed it to himself to explain and apologize, even if it didn’t mean getting James back so he’d approached Lily, asking her if it’d be alright if he explained himself to James because he didn’t want to overstep. She encouraged him to speak to James thinking that would be that, but then I guess she saw how happy and at peace James was after he and Regulus had reconciled, and she got an idea in her head. See, Lily had always had a bit of a crush on Regulus herself and thought, why not. Regulus and James would never be able to be together in the open at that point in the war so no one would know at least until the war was over, Lily and James would have their own private spy on the other side, and they could all work to keep the three of them and their respective friends safe.”

Here, Harry paused for a steadying breath before continuing, “what they didn’t account for was how absolutely bat shit crazy dear old Tommy Boy had become nor did they account for the fact that Peter Pettigrew was both a literal and figurative rat,” he sighed, “it all worked well for a while but shit really started hitting the fan in early 1979. They all started losing friends, one after the other, it became obvious that there was a spy somewhere in the Order and they all knew they weren’t the leak. Then, in November, my mom realized she was pregnant. They weren’t seeing Regulus as often at that point because he’d become obsessed with something they never figured out but that I know was the Horcrux, so he wasn’t around much. Anyways, they knew that I was the child of Lily and James. They were finally able to tell Regulus in early December, Lily wrote that Regulus was incredibly excited by the news. James wrote much the same thing but, by Lily’s own admission, James was always a bit better at reading Regulus. James said that while Regulus was incredibly excited, there was also something about him that was sad.”

“When, exactly, did Regulus die?” Theo asked softly.

“New Years Eve, 1979.” Harry answered.

“Oh,” Theo breathed out.

“Yeah.” Harry whispered.

“So, how’d you end up blood-adopted by Regulus?” Blaise asked after a moment of silence.

“He spent Christmas with them that year and then went to James on Boxing Day and gave him a phial containing a completed blood adoption potion ‘just in case,’ before heading back to Grimmauld Place, he disappeared on New Years Eve and no one ever knew what happened until I went to the cave with Dumbledore at the end of 6^th year,” Harry said, starting to tear up, “he drowned in that cave. My papa’s body was in that cave,” tears were starting to flow freely down his cheeks, “after I forced that potion down Dumbledore’s throat and grabbed the locket, Dumbledore was begging for water and the spells on the cave prevented you from summoning any, so I was forced to take the goblet to the edge of the water and the inferi almost dragged me under. If Dumbledore hadn’t had that moment of strength and summoned flames I would’ve died the exact same way he did.”

Theo reached out and gently wiped the tears away from Harry’s face before running a hand softly through his hair and pressing a gentle kiss to his temple. Harry leaned into his touch before looking back up, taking a breath, and continuing his story.

“Anyways,” Harry said, shaking his head and pushing away his grief, “when I was born, James and Lily decided to give me the blood adoption potion. They realized at that point that it was incredibly unlikely Regulus would ever resurface but they wanted him to be a part of me, they wanted me to be his heir and his legacy. What they didn’t quite account for was the fact that I might inherit more than just the Black Family Magic. Lily’s journal said that I had some features that looked more Black than Potter, like my hair being jet black rather than dark brown and the shape of my nose. They didn’t think anyone would notice because, apparently, both of my grandmothers had had black hair, so it’d be an easy explanation, and the exact shape of my nose wasn’t necessarily noticeable unless someone was incredibly observant. The issue, however, was that the Black Blood made me a Metamorphmagus.”

“Wait, what?” Theo yelped, “you’re a Metamorphmagus? Like Teddy?”

As an answer, Harry switched the color of his eyes and hair, making his hair bright green and his eyes pure black, which, in retrospect, was a rather creepy look.

“Whoa,” Blaise breathed out.

“Yeah,” Harry responded, “it’s pretty cool, but the issue is that infants have very little control over the gift so I’d constantly shift the color of my hair and after a day, my mum and dad decided that they’d need to bind the gift until they were in a place where they could explain Regulus’ place as one of my parents. Their wills had very specific instructions to remove any and all bindings that they had to place on me to keep me safe but, in the aftermath of Halloween, their wills were never read so the literal infant binding on my core wasn’t actually removed until this summer.”

“Are you saying that you made it through 6 years of Hogwarts and several face-to-face encounters with the Dark Lord with an infant binding on your core?” Blaise demanded, utterly shocked.

“Yeah,” Harry shrugged, as if that were no big deal, “anyways,” he continued, “like I said, their wills had a request that this block or glamour be dispelled as soon as it was safe which, logically, wasn’t a super specific request but didn’t matter in the end because, again, their wills were never actually read.”

“So, then the Goblins just removed those blocks and glamours?” Theo asked.

“Yes and no,” Harry responded, “when my inheritance test showed the existence of blocks, glamours, charms, and potions that were never removed when they should’ve been, it became evident that no one had ever run a full diagnostic charm on me meaning –”

Theo cut him off, saying “meaning there was never any full record of your health?”

“Exactly,” Harry nodded, “when their healers ran a full diagnostic I swear, they almost proclaimed war against my relatives. I had injuries starting at the age of 2 running all the way until my 17^th birthday with obvious gaps during the months I’d spend at Hogwarts, save for the few times I landed myself in Poppy’s care. Ragnok himself was ready to take up arms. Apparently the Goblin’s first rule is you don’t fuck with children.”

“I’m guessing they phrased it differently,” Blaise said.

“On my mother’s name, Blaise, Ragnok, the King of the sodding Goblins, literally said ‘the most important rule of the Great Goblin Nation is no one fucks with children,’ before he literally dragged me into one of their healing chambers and all but tied me to a bed.”

“But if you had so many bindings and injuries, how’d it only take, like, a day for them to deal with everything? You were back the next day to see Ron and Hermione off to Australia?” Theo asked.

“Well, once they realized how much time it was going to take and also realized that I might benefit from a little mind healing, we ended up spending that day making a plan instead of doing any actual healing.”

“What do you mean?” Blaise asked.

Just then, a knock sounded, “hold on,” Harry said, standing up and unlocking the door, finding Neville, Draco, and Pansy on the other side, “finish your meeting?” Harry asked.

“Yup,” Neville responded, “Ron and Hermione are on patrol right now with Ernie, Hannah, and the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff 5^th years, but we’re all done for the moment,” he explained while the trio made their way into the compartment, Harry closing the door behind them and taking a seat in between Neville and Theo with Draco and Pansy sitting down on either side of Blaise. “So,” Neville continued, “what are you lot talking about?”

“That’s a loaded question,” Theo muttered.

Blaise gave Harry a questioning look, wondering what, if any of that, he wanted to share with them.

“Neville and Draco already know all of this,” Harry explained in response to Blaise’s look, “the long and short of it, Pansy, is that my parents were in a secret throuple and I’m actually the son of James Potter, Lily Evans, and Regulus Black.”

“Ah,” Pansy said, with a nod, “that explains a lot.”

When it became clear that that she was perfectly fine with that explanation Theo said, “really, Pansy, no questions?”

She just shrugged before saying, “he’s always sort of looked like a Black that somehow miraculously got a tan, it’s really not that far-fetched of an explanation.” 

Laughing at Pansy’s response, Harry shook his head before continuing, “so, anyways, with all those injuries and bindings and whatever,” before being cut off by Pansy who, apparently had questions now.

“Wait,” she cut in, “bindings?”

“Yeah, I had an infant binding on my core as well as a block on a certain Black Family Gift,” he said, shifting the color of his eyes and hair again, “that were never removed because my parents wills weren’t read and then I had a few potions and compulsions that seemed to be Dumbledore’s way of making sure I wouldn’t become the next Tom Riddle which, on some level, I understand but maybe, I don’t know, making sure I grew up loved would’ve been a more simple solution,” Harry said before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, “anyways,” he continued, “with all of my injuries and the blocks, it was going to take a lot of time to heal me so Ragnok offered the use of one of the Goblin’s Time Chambers.”

“I didn’t think they let anyone use those,” Blaise said.

“They usually don’t,” Harry confirmed, “but somehow, despite breaking into the bank and releasing a dragon, I earned the favor of the Nation. So, Ragnok, Andromeda, and Narcissa,” he started to explain before being cut off by Draco muttering, “that is a terrifying combination.”

“Right you are, Little Dragon,” Harry responded, “so the unholy trinity spent a week or so gathering resources and recruiting healers from both the Goblin Nation and St. Mungo’s. The particular chamber I was in was created so that a full day inside the chamber was only an hour in the real world.”

“Wait,” Theo started, “so that weekend you spent at some unnamed Potter property you were actually at the bank?”

“Well spotted, Theodore,” Harry responded, shooting Theo a grin, “yeah, I spent 60 real world hours, so 60 days, inside the chamber with a staff of physical and mind healers, they removed all the bindings and such first so that my magic had time to settle and then they systematically healed all of my physical injuries. I had quite a few bones they had to entirely vanish and regrow, they were even able to fix my vision to an extent. Apparently some of my issues were due to head injuries, not just the bad eyesight that’s prominent in the Potter line. I also spent a fuck tone of time speaking to mind healers and working through everything. I’m by no means entirely better, but I think I’d be a blubbering disaster if I hadn’t taken that time and, better yet, taking the time to heal myself put me in a better place to be there for Teddy and the use of the time chamber meant I didn’t even need to spend that long apart from him.”

“Okay,” Blaise said, trying to process the utterly insane info dump that had taken place over the last half hour, “my next question is how the fuck did you grow so much in such a short amount of time?”

“Oh,” Harry said, “that’s an easy one.”

Easy one? Blaise mouthed to Theo.

“Yeah,” Harry said, undeterred by everyone looking at him like he’d finally snapped, “turns out,” he started, “when you no longer have someone else’s soul riding passenger in your brain and when you have full access to your body and, on top of that, are given an insane course of potions to correct years of malnutrition, you grow to the height you were always supposed to be,” he concluded with a shrug.

“You’re really lucky you have magic,” Draco said, “from what I understand, that type of thing would never be possible with traditional muggle healing.”

“Draco, I’m lucky I have magic because otherwise I’d be dead.” Harry answered, still slightly grinning, apparently unperturbed by that admission.

“I think I’m going to kill the Dursleys.” Draco decided.

“Get in line,” Theo muttered.

“I’m pretty sure Ragnok called dibs,” Harry said with a shrug, “I’m sure he’d be happy for your assistance,” he told them, before saying, “the issue, however, is that they’ve seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

“What do you mean?” Pansy asked.

“I mean, a few hours before the Order picked me up in the world’s most insane retrieval mission the night before my 17^th birthday, the Dursleys were moved somewhere, probably to a place Dumbledore planned before he died, and the only person who knows where they went is Moody who was killed while we were moving from Surrey to the Burrow.”

“What do you mean by the world’s most insane retrieval mission?” Draco asked, “I don’t think I’ve heard that story.”

“I mean, someone’s bright fucking idea was that they’d have a dozen people Polyjuice themselves as me and each Harry would travel with a different guard, by broom, from Surrey to Ottery St. Catchpole in the middle of the night. We got found by a bunch of Death Eaters and, miraculously, the only casualties were Moody and Hedwig.” Harry explained, “granted, it was a tricky situation because the blood wards at Privet Drive would break when I turned 17 but, until I turned 17 I still had the trace so any magic that I used or that was used around me could be tracked by the Ministry and we had no way of knowing who in the Ministry would report that information back to Voldemort. The issue though is, like Hermione loves to say, wizards don’t have a lick of common sense.”

“Hey,” was the grumbled shout from everyone else in the compartment.

“They all forgot that cars existed.” Harry said.

“But,” Draco fumbled for an answer, “the Ministry cars are still technically magical transportation, and they’d have to have gotten one from the Ministry, so it still would’ve been tracked.”

“Draco, Muggle cars aren’t magic.” Harry answered in a matter-of-fact manner.

“Where would they get a Muggle car though?” Draco shot back.

“Hermione literally obliviated her parents and shipped them off to Australia, I really don’t think she would’ve drawn the line at also stealing one of their cars,” Harry responded.

“You’ve got a point,” Draco conceded.

“So,” Harry said, “long story short, I’m extra orphaned, the Goblin Nation is super fucking cool, and the Dursleys are missing. Oh, also, I’m finally tall,” he concluded with a grin.

“What name are you going to use at school?” Pansy asked.

“I’m not actually sure,” Harry answered, “everyone knows me as Harry Potter, and I really don’t want to use all of my names, but I sort of want it to be clear that I’m also a Black. It doesn’t feel fair to Regulus to gloss over that fact.”

“Trust me,” Pansy said, “it’s pretty clear you’re a Black.”

“You think?” Harry asked, seeming a little shy.

“I do,” Pansy answered with a decisive nod.

“She’s right,” Draco said, “you do still look like James’ son with the glasses and the messy hair and that stupid grin.”

“Aw, thanks Draco,” Harry said, sporting said stupid grin.

“I’m trying to be nice, shut the fuck up,” Draco responded, “so, you definitely still look like a Potter, but your face is all Black. The only thing that throws it off is your skin tone and the fact that you don’t have the signature grey eyes,” he concluded with a shrug.

“Yeah, I actually figured out where the eyes came from.” Harry said.

“You have your mother’s eyes, everyone’s always said that,” Theo said, “what do you mean you ‘figured out’ where they came from?”

“I guess I mean where her eyes came from then,” Harry responded, “you’re all more aware of magical inheritance than I am so we all know that when Draco says that I don’t have the Black’s ‘signature grey eyes,’ he’s being literal. It’s not like Muggle genetics, there are certain features that are passed down by Magic that are solid indicators of what family someone belongs to. Like Draco’s white-blonde hair is from the Malfoy line and the grey eyes are from the Black line, everyone knows where those features came from. So, logic and general knowledge of magical inheritance says that I should’ve ended up with the Black’s grey eyes, but I didn’t, the question is why?”

“Ah,” Theo said, remembering what Harry had shared earlier, “are the eyes a Gaunt trait?”

“The only way that’d happen,” Blaise argued, “is if the green eyes were a signature trait of an even stronger line than the Blacks and I don’t think the Gaunts were a stronger line.”

“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!” Harry exclaimed.

“Explain.” Draco demanded.

“Like I told Theo and Blaise earlier, Lily Evans, notorious muggleborn, was not, in fact muggleborn.” Harry said.

“Explain more.” Draco responded.

“My maternal grandfather, Henry Evans, was the child of a man also named Henry Evans, and a woman named Lillian Gaunt.”

“I thought the Gaunts died out when Morfin and Marvolo went to prison?” Theo said.

“Not entirely,” Harry responded.

Realizing that Harry was either too tired from explaining everything so far to give an actual answer or, more likely, he was being a little shit, Neville decided to offer an explanation, “from what Harry saw in a pensive memory with Dumbledore and what we were able to glean from the family tree, the Gaunts were near squibs after generations of inbreeding and exiling themselves from society. Marvolo Gaunt lived on the edge of Little Hangleton in the Gaunt Shack with his children, Morfin and Merope, but they weren’t the only remaining Gaunts. Marvolo had a younger brother, Marvin who ran away from his family at a young age and ended up in Birmingham, likely working a low-level industrial job as he wouldn’t have had any sort of education. As far as we can tell, Marvin was actually a squib. He didn’t have any of the family magic, namely, Parseltongue, but that doesn’t mean his blood didn’t have some magic.

“Squibs, as we know, are able to use passive magic and learn things like herbology and potions, they just aren’t able to use active magic. As such, logic dictates that magic would continue to be passed down. Our theory is actually that most, if not all, of the muggleborns are actually descendent of a squib line and Magic chose to bless certain children with the full gift.

“Anyway, eventually, Marvin Gaunt met a woman named Maureen Hogan in Birmingham. Marueen’s family had moved from Ireland to Birmingham when her father got a job at the local university. They got married and had Lillian who grew up to marry Henry Evans, they then had Henry Evans, Jr. who got married to a woman named Rose, they then had two daughters; Petunia and Lily.”

After taking a moment for that to sink in, Draco responded, “so the eyes are a Gaunt trait? And the trait made itself clear in Lily? How did it override a Black trait though?”

“Almost,” Harry said with a smirk, “the eyes are a Slytherin trait.”

“Which is strong enough magic to dominate a Black trait,” Pansy concluded, “that makes sense.”

At that point, they all sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking through everything Harry, and subsequently Neville, had just explained. Just as Theo was about to start talking about something random to try and change the conversation, someone knocked on the compartment door again. Neville opened the door to find that Ron and Hermione had returned from their rounds, meaning it was Draco and Pansy’s turn to collect the Slytherin 5^th years and join the Ravenclaw 8^th and 5^th year prefects in patrolling the train for the last hour before they reached Hogsmeade.

When Pansy and Draco left the compartment, Blaise moved down the bench so he was next to the window and directly across from Theo while Ron and Hermione moved to sit next to him, with Ron across from Harry and Hermione across from Neville.

Neville succinctly caught Ron and Hermione up on what they’d been discussing which was rather easy as they already knew everything that Harry and Neville had shared.

While those three were chatting, Harry, Theo, and Blaise seemed to be having a debate entirely in looks and gestures before, seemingly, Harry and Theo won based on Blaise huffing an annoyed breath and slumping back in his seat with his arms crossed.

At the sound of Blaise’s huff, Neville turned toward the group saying, “I feel like I’m missing something here.”

“Nothing important,” Harry responded with a wave of his hand.

“Nothing important?” Theo asked with an amused smirk.

“You suck.” Harry said.

Leaning in to whisper directly into Harry’s ear, Theo responded, “not yet.”

“You know,” Harry said, trying to sound casual and trying to hide his blush, horrifically failing in both instances, “I’m going to go find Luna. She said she had something she wanted to talk to me about on the train.”

“Didn’t you already find Luna?” Blaise asked, faux-innocently.

“Did I say Luna?” Harry said, “I meant Ginny,” he stuttered out before rushing out of the compartment.

“I’m going to go stretch my legs,” Theo said, doing a much better job of coming off as casual, also doing a much better job of coming up with an excuse.

After Theo left the compartment and the door had closed, Hermione turned toward Blaise and simply said, “they’re fucking, right?”

While Neville choked on oxygen and Ron sputtered, Blaise simply smiled serenely.

“About bloody time,” Hermione said.

“What do you mean ‘about bloody time’?” Ron demanded.

“They’ve been circling each other for weeks,” Hermione responded, somehow sounding both fond and exasperated at Ron’s obliviousness.

“Even I noticed that and I’m almost as oblivious as Harry,” Neville said with a shrug.

“Harry’s not oblivious!” Ron said, trying to defend his friend.

“Ronald,” Hermione sighed, “Harry didn’t realize Ginny fancied him until part way through our 6^th year.”

After spending a full minute trying to come up with a counterargument, Ron finally conceded, “you might be right.”

“The question is,” Neville started, “if Harry’s so oblivious, how did this happen?”

“I think,” Hermione responded, “that the amount of time he’s spent working with mind healers has helped him recognize emotions and has also helped him realize that he’s deserving of people’s love and affection.”

“You’ve got a point, Granger,” Blaise said, before continuing with a slight laugh, “but I’m about 95% certain that the key answer is that Theo kissed him first.”

Changing the topic, Blaise continued, “he never actually told us what name he wants to use at school.”

“What do you mean?” Ron asked.

“Pansy asked him earlier what name he’d be using at school,” Blaise explained, “and he said that everyone knows him as Harry Potter, and he doesn’t necessarily want to use all of his names because that’s just … a lot … but that he’d like to make it clear that he’s also a Black because he wants to honor Regulus.”

“Then,” Neville continued, “we went entirely off the rails when Pansy ensured him that he looked like a Black and Draco agreed, except for the eyes, then we had an impromptu genealogy lesson and then you lot showed up.”

“Exactly,” Blaise said, “so he never actually reached a conclusion on what he’d like to be called.”

“Potter-Black is a pretty easy change,” Hermione mused, “but we’ll just have to ask him when he gets back from ‘talking to Ginny.’”

At that moment, as if called, the compartment door opened to reveal Ginny who smiled at the group, ignoring the shocked looks on all of their faces in favor of asking, “anyone seen Haz?”

Shaking her head and ignoring Blaise’s sudden laughter, Hermione responded, “he left to look for you but, knowing him, he likely got thoroughly distracted.”

Laughing, Ginny responded, “you’re probably right, I’ll go sit with Luna, they have an uncanny ability to find each other anywhere, in any place, at any time so he’ll probably show up eventually.” She then turned and walked back down the hall.

Blaise, still laughing, choked out, “that was too good.”

“Merlin, someone should probably tell McGonagall why he’s Potter-Black now before she thinks she’s facing an ode to the Marauders and decides to quit,” Ron said, before a frighteningly mischievous grin spread over his face, “or” he started, “we could not tell her.”

Instead of letting that plot go any further, Hermione grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill out of seemingly nowhere and penned a quick letter to McGonagall, banking on her assumption that the professors, or at the very least Minerva “Minnie” McGonagall, knew of James and Regulus’ relationship.

Professor McGonagall,

Don’t fret, all is well on the train, just wanted to warn you – knowing that you haven’t seen Harry in person since early July – that he underwent some healing and cleansing at Gringotts over the summer and is hardly recognizable. He’s much taller and has finally put on weight which makes his facial features a little more distinct … meaning he finally resembles all of his parents rather than just having ‘Lily’s eyes,’ and ‘James’ hair.’ On that note, he may request that professors refer to him as Potter-Black rather than just Potter.

Ronald pointed out that his new look and last name might strike the Fear of God into the Hogwarts staff that remember James and Sirius, so I wanted to head off that, very reasonable, panic and let you know that, while Sirius did name Harry his heir, that is not why he holds the Black Lordship nor the last name. He hasn’t made any official announcement of this, and I’m not exactly sure what his plans are in that sense, but I know he’d be alright with you having this information; Harry is the son of James Potter, Lily Evans, and Regulus Black.

I’m assuming you were at least somewhat aware of the relationship between James and Regulus while they were at school so I’m guessing this isn’t too much of a shock.

See you soon,

Hermione Granger

She then folded and sealed the letter, opened the window and sent Pig toward Hogwarts.

“Buzzkill.” Ron muttered.

“Did you mention that he also looks nothing like he did the last time she saw him?” Neville asked.

Hermione nodded in response.

“Smart,” Neville praised, “everyone’s still on edge and he really does look different if you only ever saw him from afar, it’s a good idea to at least let her know that the Harry Potter everyone’s expecting to walk in the doors is long gone.”

“Solid point,” Ron conceded.

The group then settled into pleasant conversation for a while until Harry and Theo returned, trailed by Ginny and Luna.

“We’re almost to Hogsmeade,” Luna announced.

Looking out the window, they all saw the little village in the distance. Realizing they maybe had five minutes until they reached the station, Blaise, Theo, and Harry (who, unlike their Prefect friends, hadn’t had a reason to get into their school robes yet) shoved everyone out of the compartment so they could change.

Five incredibly frazzled minutes later, the train slowed to a stop at Hogsmeade station, and the friends made their way off the train to board the carriages toward their final year of Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 1 September 1998

As they made their way to the carriages, after waving hello to Hagrid (who did a double take at Harry before shrugging and deciding this was just another thing on the list of Insane Shit That Happens Around Harry Potter), Harry realized that many of the older students had stopped in their tracks, staring at the thestrals in no small amount of fear and confusion.

Grabbing Luna’s hand, Harry stepped toward the nearest thestral and silently started stroking its neck. Luna did the same. They were eventually joined by Theo and Neville, both of whom had been able to see the animals their entire Hogwarts career.

Seemingly deciding that if their peers weren’t afraid of whatever these creatures were, they probably shouldn’t be either, the rest of the students made their way into the carriages.

After some shuffling around, Harry – seemingly randomly – ended up in a carriage with only Neville, Luna, and Susan. Once he realized who, exactly, was in this carriage, Harry turned to Luna to ask if this was her doing, one look at the Ravenclaw’s smug face told him everything he needed to know.

The Lords and Ladies of Hogwarts sat quietly as the carriage made its way toward the school.

Five minutes into the ride, the world outside seemed to fall into complete silence. Looking up, Harry noticed that Susan and Neville looked as confused as he felt but Luna, in true Luna fashion, appeared entirely at peace.

A moment later, it felt as though the very air had been electrified. Their hair stood on end and a thrill ran down each of their spines.

“The ward line,” Neville breathed out.

Seconds later, they each began to glow.

The electricity in the air didn’t go away no, in fact, it seemed to grow.

None of them had truly felt the wards before but, if they had, they’d be able to sense how far they’d fallen into disrepair. Now, though, the wards were nearly as strong as the day they were first created.

With the group allowing the Goblin Nation in to strengthen the wards over the summer, holes that had existed for decades were patched up and the damage that was caused during the final battle was repaired.

The only thing that could possibly make the protection stronger was the Castle’s Lords and Ladies claiming the wards.

At that moment, Harry looked out the window and realized that their carriage had split off. The rest of the students were still on their way toward the castle’s front doors but the four of them seemed to be headed toward the Clock Tower.

Ah, Harry realized, not the Clock Tower anymore.

The carriage came to a stop directly outside the exterior entrance to Founders Tower.

“I hope the carriage stays here,” Susan said, “I don’t quite fancy walking all the way from here to the Great Hall when we’re done with … whatever it is we’re doing.”

“Agreed,” Harry said with a decisive nod, “also” he continued, “pissing McGonagall off by being late not even an hour after arriving seems like a shit plan.”

Neville grunted in agreement at that.

“Don’t worry,” Luna said, “the castle will help.”

The three 8^th years looked at each other before each nodding and stepping back, deciding that Luna was officially in charge.

Luna led the group through the courtyard and then, instead of opening the door, she turned to examine the bricks to the right of the entrance. After a moment’s observation, she pulled out her wand and placed it against a seemingly random stone before gesturing to the other three to copy her movement.

Harry summoned his holly wand from his holster and started to follow the direction until Luna placed a hand on his arm and shook her head, “your real wand, Hadrian.”

Sighing, Harry slotted his first wand back into his wrist holster and instead reached for the wand secured in a thigh holster; the Elder Wand.

“You really should swap which wand is where, Hadrian,” Luna said, “if only because your wrist holster is better concealed.”

Not able to poke a hole in that logic, Harry pulled his holly wand from the wrist holster and placed it in the one strapped to his right leg before reaching out to place the tip of the Elder Wand against the brick.

As soon as Harry’s wand made contact, the bricks began moving, very much like the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Once the bricks stopped moving, they followed Luna into a dark room. As they walked, sconces started lighting a path. After a minute, they reached a flight of stairs. As one, they descended into the bowels of the Castle.

After just one flight, they reached another dark room.

Based on how thick the air was and how cold the stones were, Harry guessed that the Castle’s magic had taken them much further underground than just one flight of stairs possibly could.

At the center of the room was a stone.

A stone that was so heavy with power the group almost stumbled backward.

Silently, Luna directed them toward the Stone.

When Harry looked at the floor, he noticed that the Stone sat at the center of a compass. If he had to wager a guess, he’d say that this room sat at the very center of the Castle. Meaning, if there were a second exit point, they’d likely come out right at the Grand Staircase. So, if whatever was happening here didn’t take too long, they’d make it to the Great Hall before the firsties got off the boats.

At Luna’s direction, they each stood at one of the cardinal directions. Harry to the North, Luna to the East, Neville to the South, and Susan to the West. Then, Luna pointed toward Harry’s right ankle.

Wondering to himself if Luna had X-ray vision, Harry reached down and pulled the dagger that the Slytherin Grimoire made very clear that its Lord was meant to have on their person at all times out of its holster and handed it to Luna. Whenever a Lord Slytherin died, the dagger would magically find its way back into the vault to wait for the next Lord to claim it.

Taking the dagger, Luna sliced her right palm, after spelling it clean, she passed it to Neville who did the same and passed it to Susan, who followed suit before passing it back to Harry.

As one, they pressed their hands against the stone.

As the blood of its Founders soaked into the very heart of Hogwarts, the wards glowed for a moment, pulsing with an ancient power. Unknown to the four students in the wardroom, the castle was coming to life. The tapestries that had been worn and dull for generations mended, looking as though they were woven that very morning. The plants around the grounds perked up with new life. The lasting damage from the battle repaired itself in an instant. Rooms that had been unused and covered in dust for decades righted themselves and unlocked the doors.

Down at the Ward Stone, the Founders’ Heirs felt a presence settle in their minds. Hogwarts.

If they focused, they could feel everyone within the Castle’s walls. They’d be able to tell the moment someone crossed the ward line uninvited. They’d be able to lock down those wards and seal the castle, protecting its inhabitants from any and every threat. They each held an intimate knowledge of this place, their home.

As they pulled their hands off the Stone, their cuts magically sealed, leaving behind only a faint line. Harry found himself wondering why it scarred, and his question was answered by a soft voice. A voice he immediately knew was Hogwarts herself. “It’s a magical injury, my Lord Slytherin,” Hogwarts said, “and” she continued, “it’s a reminder of the Power you hold and the Responsibility you bear.”

It seemed as though his three friends had received similar answers.

After a moment’s thought, Harry decided to ask Hogwarts if she’d guide them to the Great Hall, remembering Luna’s comment about the Castle helping.

At his question, a door appeared behind Susan.

With Susan in the lead, the group made their way through the door and found themselves directly outside the Great Hall. The last students were just making their way through the doors. They moved to follow their peers into the Hall, but Harry’s curiosity pushed him to look over his shoulder and see if the door they’d just exited was still there, finding only a brick wall, Harry shrugged and turned back around realizing he’d fallen behind his friends.

Just as Harry stepped through the doors to the Great Hall, he felt the Castle’s magic wash over him again. Wondering if his friends had felt the same thing, Harry called out for Neville.

When Neville turned around, Harry was expecting him to ask what Harry needed or, maybe just to confirm Harry’s question without him needing to ask it out loud. What Harry was not expecting was for Neville to burst out laughing.

Wondering what the fuck was going on, Harry took a cursory glance over his shoulder, thinking maybe someone had walked in behind him that was causing Neville’s reaction.

Seeing nothing that could explain his friend’s behavior, Harry started to look back toward Neville before catching a flash of green in the corner of his eye.

Weird, Harry thought, I’m pretty sure the lining of my robes was red when I put them on.

After a second, that observation caught up with him.

Looking down, Harry realized his previously red and gold tie was now green and silver.

Harry decided that wasn’t enough proof and looked toward the crest on his left breast.

Well, he said to himself, that’s absolutely a snake.

Looking back up at Neville, forgetting that there were hundreds of children and a few dozen members of staff also in the room, Harry said “what the actual fuck.”

It was at that moment that he remembered they had company.

The hall was absolutely silent.

For a total of three seconds before Draco turned toward the door to see what he was missing and, upon seeing Harry in green, immediately pulled the Quidditch Captain pin from his lapel, yelling “thank Merlin, take the bloody badge, I call chaser.” Before throwing the pin toward Harry who, of course, caught it.

A second later, a whirlwind of red hair materialized in front of Harry.

Ginny reached out and unpinned the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain pin from Harry’s robes, immediately pinned it to her own, then grinned up at him saying “mine now.” Then skipping back toward the Gryffindor table.

Susan looked shocked, Luna looked like absolutely nothing strange had happened, and Neville was still laughing.

From the stool at the front of the room, where it had been placed by Professor Flitwick awaiting the first years, the Sorting Hat simply said, “finally.”

“Well,” McGonagall said after she found her voice, “this might be a good time for me to ask what name you’d like to use?”

Shaking himself out of shocked stupor he’d fallen into, Harry looked up at his old Head of House and tilted his head, thinking for a moment, “I think Hadrian Potter-Black, Headmistress, though I’m also happy to be called Harry.”

 “Well, Potter-Black, five points from Slytherin for language,” she said with a straight face, thought the sparkle in her eyes screamed of mischief, “I think you just beat the record for quickest loss of points.”

“Who, may I ask, held the previous record.” Harry responded.

“I’ll give you two guesses,” she said back, the corner of her mouth ticking up slightly, “though if you get it right on the first one, I’ll give you your points back.”

The rest of the Hall was sitting in complete silence. Either trying to figure out what the bloody hell the pair were talking about, wondering what exactly the Sorting Hat meant by “finally,” or just shamelessly checking Harry out.

“I’m gonna have to go with Sirius Black.” Harry said.

“Well done, Mr. Potter-Black,” McGonagall said before turning slightly to address the entire hall, “take your seats everyone, the Sorting is about to begin.”

Harry just about walked toward the Gryffindor table before Luna grabbed his hand and led him toward the left side of the hall and shoving him toward the Slytherin table before taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table on the other side of the aisle.

Just as the Founders’ Heirs took their seats, the door to the side chamber swung open and Professor Flitwick, the new Deputy Headmaster, led the first years into the Hall.

As the firsties marveled at the Great Hall, Harry did his best to ignore the curious looks being shot his way, deciding he’d explain himself to his new housemates later. Unlike the rather bleak warnings the Hat had given at the beginning of Harry’s 6^th year, the hat returned to its roots. Singing a song welcoming them all to Hogwarts and explaining the traits of the four houses. Though, there was a slight change, at the end of its song, instead of simply waiting to be placed on the first student’s head, the Hat spoke up saying, “welcome back to these hallowed grounds, Heirs of my Founders. Magic has blessed you and Hogwarts welcomes you home.”

With that, the hat fell silent, and Professor Flitwick started calling names from his sheet of parchment.

Harry cheered for each new student, regardless of House.

But, each time the Hat called out Slytherin, he felt a stronger presence settle at the back of his mind. He realized pretty quickly that the Castle was giving him a greater responsibility to those of his own House. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that the others were feeling something similar. He watched as Fawley, Thomas was sorted into Hufflepuff and Susan’s eyes went slightly unfocused before she nodded and began cheering. When Gould, Abigail was sorted Gryffindor, Neville did much the same thing.

So, Harry thought, the Castle didn’t just put me here because it’s where the Hat always wanted me to go or because I’m Lord Slytherin, but because we each have a responsibility to our own students.

Harry found himself thinking back to a conversation he had with Neville a couple weeks ago. It had been rather early in the morning and Neville had found himself thinking too much to stay asleep and had wandered into Harry’s room, knowing he’d likely be awake with Teddy. The pair had started talking about anything and everything, but ended up focusing on talk of their futures.

Neville had admitted that he often dreamed of becoming the Herbology professor at Hogwarts and Harry had said he quite fancied the idea of teaching DADA. He’d then muttered something to himself about seeing to a curse before looking back up at Neville and joking that they’d have to duel for Head of Gryffindor.

Neville had given him a strange look before shaking his head and saying with (now that he thinks back on it, an only mostly) joking tone, “you know you’re Lord Slytherin, right?”

Now, as Harry sits at the Slytherin table, feeling the responsibility for each new Slytherin student settle in his conscience, feeling strangely comfortable in green robes, he finds himself dreaming of a distant future where he’s happily back living at Hogwarts, teaching DADA and serving as Head of Slytherin, a future where he has a certain blue-eyed boy standing at his side.

For now, though, Harry is perfectly content to be a member of Slytherin House, to Captain its Quidditch Team (which he still hadn’t quite processed because, what the fuck Draco?), living in Founders Tower with his son, and spending as much time as possible with that wonderful blue-eyed boy.

After Yaxley, Benjamin was sorted into Ravenclaw, Professor Flitwick carried the stool and Hat into the side chamber and Headmistress McGonagall stood to address the Hall.

“Congratulations to each and every one of you on your Sorting, after dinner, your prefects will lead you to your common rooms where you’ll get a chance to meet your Heads of House and fellow students but, for now, lets enjoy a wonderful feast, dig in!”

At her word, food appeared on each of the tables and conversation broke out around the Hall.

Harry started going about dinner as if nothing were amiss and only once he had filled his plate and poured himself a goblet of pumpkin juice did he look up and realize that the rest of the 8^th years and most of the 6^th and 7^th years were staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

“Good evening,” he said with a nod.

“Good evening, he says,” Pansy said with a huff.

Before anyone could start asking what the actual fuck he was doing at the Slytherin table, he just held up his right hand so they could all see the Slytherin Lordship ring resting on his middle finger.

Recognizing it for what it was, and remembering the news that had come out of the Wizengamot over the summer, the upper class students simply nodded in respect and returned to their meals.

Harry quickly fell into pleasant conversation with his friends, more than grateful he’d had the chance to get to know them over the summer instead of being thrown to the literal snakes without any sort of understanding between them.

Once dinner had disappeared and desserts had popped up, Theo turned to Harry to ask, “so, will you come to the common room after dinner or head straight for your quarters with the others?”

Harry hummed in thought for a moment before answering, “I think I’ll come down and meet everyone, I’m excited to actually get a chance to look around, last time I was there I had a pretty single-minded focus.”

That was met with absolute silence.

Wondering what he’d said wrong, Harry asked “what?”

“What do you mean ‘last time I was there’?” Draco asked.

“We haven’t told you about this yet?” Harry responded.

“Obviously.” Draco responded, in a rather frighteningly good impersonation of Severus Snape.

“Oh,” Harry said, laughing to himself for a moment before responding, “in second year, we – meaning Hermione – brewed Polyjuice potion in the second-floor girl’s bathroom and then snuck into the common room as Crabbe and Goyle to find out if Draco was the Heir of Slytherin.”

“I really, really don’t know why I’m surprised.” Blaise said.

With a grin, Harry simply responded, “glad to know I can still surprise you, dearest Blaise. Anyway,” he continued, “back to the point, I’ll come down and meet everyone and then go up to my quarters. It’s getting pretty late already, and I still have to get Teddy settled so I won’t be able to stay too long.”

A few minutes later, McGonagall stood again and delivered a relatively standard speech about the Forbidden Forest being, you know, Forbidden and that magic wasn’t allowed in the hallways and that everything ever produced to be fun was banned by Filch before concluding with something new, “you may have noticed the switch of Mr. Potter-Black’s House, this is because, for the first time in living memory, we have Heirs to each of the Four Founders residing in the Castle. Would the four of you please stand?” she asked.

Neville, Susan, Luna, and Harry each rose to their feet.

“I’d like to introduce Lord Neville Longbottom-Fortesque-Gryffindor, Lady Susan Bones-Hufflepuff, Lady Luna Lovegood-Rosier-Ravenclaw, and Lord Hadrian Peverell-Potter-Black-Slytherin,” McGonagall said, nodding to them each in turn, “they will be residing in Founders Tower and have certain powers over and knowledge of the wards. They, like the staff, will be able to feel if there is a student injured or in trouble and will be able to find them to help out, please feel free to turn to any of them, whether they are the Lord or Lady of your House or not, if you have any questions or concerns.

“For our 8^th year students, you will be residing in the former faculty tower, the staff that had been residing there have been relocated to other suites throughout the castle, your room assignments are posted on the notice board in the common room and each of the four House common rooms now have a door that will open directly into the corridor between the 8^th Years’ Tower and Founders Tower. Your 8^th Year prefects know the passwords for these doors and your tower.

“With that,” she concluded, “I welcome you once again to Hogwarts, ask that the 5^th year prefects please lead the 1^st years to your common rooms, and wish you each goodnight.”

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 1 September 1998

As they made their way out of the Great Hall, Harry followed his fellow Slytherins down to their common room. A glance at his watch told him it was only 8:00, but he was utterly exhausted. He’d been up early with Teddy. The train ride had been mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. Taking on the wards had taken a bit of a toll on his power stores. Now, he had to introduce himself to his new house, find his way to his quarters, and get Teddy settled. He was in for a long night.

When they reached the empty stretch of wall in the dungeons, one of the prefects spoke the password which Harry immediately forgot, knowing he’d be able to use the door in the 3^rd floor corridor outside the Founders Tower entrance.

Once in the common room, everyone seemed to turn toward Harry as if he had all the answers. Harry, to be honest, was quite sick of people looking at him like he has all the answers.

Harry looked to his fellow 8^th years, hoping one of them might step up. When none of them made any move to speak, he turned toward Draco and Pansy, who were, you know, prefects. But both of them, the absolute assholes that they are, just gestured for Harry to carry on.

While thinking about how, exactly, to get back at his so-called friends, Harry started introducing himself to his new house. A guy can multi-task.

“Alright,” he started, “many of you know me as Harry Potter. I probably look a lot different from the last time you saw me –”

He was then cut off by Astoria Greengrass, who had apparently been spending far too much time under the influence of Ginny Weasley, saying “yeah, you got hot.”

“Thanks, Greengrass, that was incredibly helpful,” Harry said over the sounds of agreement coming from most of the common room, “anyways, the reason I look different is that over the summer I spent a good amount of time in the Goblin healing hall, they did a lot of things but the one that matters is that they removed a block that had been on me since I was a year old and that, among other events, allowed me to grow and actually put on weight. I now look like all of my blood parents.”

That statement got a reaction out of the normally stoic Slytherins.

One of the Carrow twins, Harry couldn’t possibly be bothered to guess which one, gasped, drawing the attention of the entire room, when all heads turned toward her, she started to shy away. Harry simply said, “I think you’ve guessed.”

After a moment of silence and an encouraging nod from Harry, she said “you look like a Black.”

“Right in one,” Harry said with a wry grin, before sobering slightly and turning back to address the room at large, “my full name is Hadrian James Arcturus Ignotus Peverell Potter Black Slytherin, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses of Peverell, Potter, Black, and Slytherin. Son of Lily Evans, James Potter, and” he paused for a moment, “Regulus Black.”

While he was busy starting his introduction, Harry hadn’t noticed the entrance of the common room opening again. He hadn’t noticed his new Head of House in the back of the room.

As such, he was a little surprised when he heard Slughorn’s laugh echoing through the room.

At Harry’s confused look, Slughorn shook his head, saying “oh, my boy, that explains so much.”

Deciding to take that as a compliment, Harry simply smiled at Slughorn and moved on, “anyways,” he continued, “that’s why I asked McGonagall to address me as Potter-Black. Of course, each of my Lordships is important to me and the Slytherin Lordship is especially important to the school and to each of you, I don’t want to use all of my names on a day-to-day basis, I’m happy to continue being called Harry, but I’d like to honor both of my fathers in my surname.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Harry decided it was time for bed, “alright, well, welcome to Slytherin House, first years, all of you, of all years, should know that I’m here to help. Please find me if you have any issues. Anything from bullying to feeling homesick to getting entirely lost in the castle, I’m happy to help however I can. However, right now I’m going to head up to my quarters and get my son settled in.”

“Hold on a moment, my boy,” Slughorn said, sounding slightly confused, “did you just say your son?”

Harry honestly thought that was common knowledge at this point, “yes sir,” he said, “well, he’s my godson, but his parents were Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, so I ended up with custody of him and his grandmother, Andromeda, and I decided it’d be best if I fully adopted him, so he’s my son now.”

“Well,” Slughorn said, “I’m happy for you, Harry.”

Nodding his thanks, Harry made his way toward the door that would take him to the 3^rd floor corridor. Slughorn was standing near the door and when Harry got closer, he said in a quiet voice, so only Harry could hear, “if you’d ever like to hear stories about any of your parents, please let me know. They were each incredible students and people, they’d be very proud of you.”

With a slight lump in his throat, Harry nodded again and said, “thank you, sir, that means the world.”

He then spoke the password, gras es noster, Latin, meaning ‘the future is ours.’

After a single flight of stairs, he found himself exiting a door in on the 3^rd floor. Standing in front of a portrait of a dragon were Susan, Neville, and Luna. Wondering why they were all just standing in the hallway, Harry asked exactly that.

“Waiting for you,” Susan answered, “Luna said you knew the password.”

“I didn’t think we’d set a password yet,” Harry responded, looking to Luna in confusion.

“We haven’t,” she agreed, “but you know it.”

Harry thought for a moment before he heard the voice of Hogwarts echo inside his mind, place your true wand to the portrait’s frame and speak the password. It shall respond and the password will be set.

Nodding his thanks to the castle, Harry thought a moment longer about what the password should be. Then, suddenly, the perfect phrase came to mind.

Stepping forward, Harry dropped the Elder Wand out of his wrist holster and placed the tip against the frame before speaking in a clear voice, “once more we saw the stars.”

As he spoke, the frame briefly glowed with golden light. The dragon lifted her head and nodded once at Harry before settling back down. After a moment, the frame swung open, allowing them entrance into their shared common space.

“What’s that from?” Neville asked.

“Dante, isn’t it?” Luna responded.

Nodding, Harry simply recited the passage,

“To get back up to the shining world from there

My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel,

And following its path, we took no care

To rest, but climbed: he first, then I - so far,

Through a round aperture I saw appear

Some of the beautiful things that Heaven bears,

Where we come forth, and once more saw the stars.”

After letting the meaning of the passage sink in, Susan simply nodded. Neville then said, “I think it’s perfect, Haz.”

“Now,” Harry said, clearing his throat, “I think we have to set our individual passwords. I’m guessing the process is much the same.”

In answer, Hogwarts spoke to each of them, Lord Slytherin is correct, simply find the entrance to your personal quarters, place your wand against the door, and speak your password. You each have control over the wards of this tower, they are separate from the Castle’s wards so you will have to adjust them to allow entrance to your guests. The ward book is in the communal study.

After they each thanked the Spirit of Hogwarts, they made their way up the stairs. They first came upon the communal study that had been mentioned. For now, the only additional people added to the ward book were Teddy and Andromeda. Harry was happy to see that the wards prevented anyone but the four heirs from entering the armory and training room. Though Teddy couldn’t move about on his own yet, he’d be crawling before the end of the year and Harry wasn’t exactly keen on seeing what an infant could do with a sword.

They decided they’d meet later to see who else they’d add to the wards and what areas they’d allow visitors entrance to.

Climbing further, they first reached the Ladies’ rooms. On the right was the suite for Lady Ravenclaw while Hufflepuff’s was on the left. Placing her wand against the door, Luna thought for a moment before saying “moon frogs.” She then turned and nodded to each of them before saying “goodnight,” and stepping into her quarters.

Susan then placed her wand against her door and spoke “meles meles,” at Harry and Neville’s questioning looks, she laughed slightly and said, “the scientific name for the European badger.” Then, like Luna had, she said “goodnight,” before opening her door and disappearing from sight.

Harry and Neville continued up the stairs. The next landing held the doors for the armory and training rooms. After a second’s thought, they decided to rely on the wards for each of these rooms, choosing not to set secondary passwords. If the need arose, they’d have the option to do so.

After the next flight, they found the entrances to their quarters. Harry’s on the right and Neville’s on the left. Neville immediately placed his wand against the door and said, “mimbulus mimbletonia,” which caused both he and Harry to laugh slightly at the memory of the only password Neville ever consistently remembered for Gryffindor Tower.

Neville then placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder and said, “goodnight, Haz, let me know if you need any help getting Teddy settled. I’ll be right here.”

Before Neville could step into his quarters, Harry spoke the password he’d chosen, “caput serpentis,” the head of the snake, a nod to the first password they’d ever had to Gryffindor Tower.

Knowing that they’d be able to get into each other’s rooms if need be, the pair split off and headed into their suites.

Stepping inside, Harry immediately paused, looking around in shock. These rooms were beautiful.

The furniture in the sitting room was gorgeous, made of shades of green and dark, polished woods. The walls were painted cream with various tapestries hanging around the room. The floors were stone, like most of the castle, but were covered in beautifully woven rugs. At one side of the room, Harry saw a well-stocked kitchen area with a small dining table with six seats.

But the most incredible feature of this room was the portrait above the fireplace.

Harry had honestly thought that there were no surviving portraits of the Founders. He was wrong.

Perched above his fireplace, looking incredibly excited, was none other than Salazar Slytherin.

Now, over the summer, with access to the Slytherin vault, Harry had been able to read about the life and opinions of the most controversial founder. He found out pretty quickly that Salazar hadn’t been a blood purist of any sort. He was simply concerned for the muggleborn students with the threat of witch hunts that plagued their time. He wanted to allow these students to remain at Hogwarts year-round to protect them. Somehow, the centuries had turned this wish to protect all of his students into the belief that Slytherin didn’t want any muggleborns in the school. How, exactly, that opinion became so perverted was beyond Harry’s understanding.

However, even with the knowledge that Salazar didn’t want to kick students out and that he wasn’t, in fact, an evil overlord of the dungeons, the man was still intimidating.

So, to see the revered founder practically doing a jig in his frame the moment he saw Harry was a rather confusing experience.

“Good evening, my heir,” Salazar practically sang, “it’s wonderful to meet you!”

After taking a moment to pick his brain back up from wherever he’d left it at seeing Salazar Bloody Slytherin dancing, Harry replied, “Good evening, my Lord.”

“Oh nonsense,” Salazar said, “none of that ‘My Lord’ malarkey. What’s your name my boy?”

“Hadrian, sir, it’s great to meet you.”

“What is your surname, Hadrian?”

With a slight laugh, Harry responded, “which one?”

Laughing at his heir’s sarcasm, Salazar responded, “all of them, then, my boy.”

“My full name is Hadrian James Arcturus Ignotus Peverell Potter Black Slytherin,” Harry said, before muttering to himself, “boy am I getting sick of saying all that.”

“I notice you don’t have a middle name of the Slytherin family?” Salazar said, more than asked.

“Technically,” Harry began, “I am the Lord of Slytherin by right of conquest, but I am also related to the Gaunt line which were the last known descendents of yours through my mother, though she was descendent from a squib child of the Gaunt family.”

“Ah, so the magic of conquest was ready and able to accept you as heir because you were also an heir in blood, that makes sense,” Salazar said with a nod before asking, “which Peverell brother do you call an ancestor? Though, your middle name probably answers that question.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry responded, “I am an heir of Ignotus, the youngest brother.”

“I know that an heir of mine married into the line of the middle brother, Cadmus, though the Peverell family magic much preferred the heirs of the youngest,” Salazar responded, “though, if I may say, I sense that the magic is incredibly strong within you, is that because Magic has recognized you as an heir to several branches of the family, or might there be a different reason?” he asked with a knowing smile.

“You’ve got me, sir,” Harry said with a slight smirk, he then dropped the Wand out of his wrist holster and reached out his left hand, the one with the Peverell ring set with the Stone, and summoned the Cloak.

With all three gifts on his person, the power emanating off of Harry was palpable.

Salazar simply nodded, saying “a worthy heir.”

Harry then returned the Wand to the Holster and folded the Cloak, setting it on the coffee table before saying, “well, sir, it’s been an honor to meet you and I truly look forward to learning from you and getting to know you better over the year but right now I need to get settled before I call for my elf and have her bring my son. He’ll probably go right to sleep but I’ll be sure to introduce you to him in the morning.”

“Oh,” Salazar said, sounding incredibly excited, “a son! How exciting. What’s his name?”

“Edward,” Harry responded, “named for his maternal grandfather, but we call him Teddy. He was my godson and after both his parents passed, I claimed custody of him and chose to adopt him.”

“What’s his full name, my child?” Salazar asked, “names have power.”

“Edward Remus Hadrian Lupin Potter,” Harry responded.

“A beautiful name,” Salazar complimented, “I look forward to meeting him.”

“Thank you,” Harry said, “goodnight, sir.”

With that, Harry started briefly exploring the rest of his quarters. The door just past the kitchen opened to reveal the office which was beautifully decorated in shades of cream and green with dark wood furniture.

The door directly next to that led into Teddy’s room. It was perfect. The back wall had a large window that looked over the clock tower courtyard with the forest in the distance, the walls were all the same cream as the rest of the quarters, but on the wall with the window there was a beautiful mural depicting the very forest the window looked out over. Unlike the rest of the castle, this room was carpeted and seemed to even have some time of cushioning charm on the underlying brick.

All the furniture Harry had picked out was there and assembled. A crib, wardrobe, changing table, and comfortable reading chair.

It was perfect.

Harry stepped out of Teddy’s room and checked the last door. The master bedroom was absolutely lovely. The color scheme was the same as the rest of the place. This room had two large windows, one with the same view as Teddy’s and the other with a view of the lake. The furniture was made of the same dark wood, and the bed had incredibly soft cream-colored sheets with a fluffy emerald green duvet. There was a large rug covering most of the floor, woven in shades of green, yellow, and cream. The Hogwarts elves had already put Harry’s belongings away and stowed his trunk below the bed. He opened the wardrobe to find that the other two sets of school robes had also changed to Slytherin.

Harry looked at his watch realizing only an hour had passed since he left the Great Hall. He decided to take the time to shower and get himself ready for bed now so he could focus on Teddy when he arrived.

There was a jack and jill bathroom between Harry and Teddy’s rooms that had both a large bath and a stand-up shower. There was a linen closet, with a permanent warming charm, that was stocked with fresh, fluffy towels. Harry grabbed a towel and stepped into the shower, mindful that it was getting late he did his best to just shower instead of zoning out and thinking about random shit.

20 minutes later, Harry was clean and dressed in his favorite pajamas. He stepped through the bathroom and into Teddy’s room and called out for Mimi. A minute later, the trusty elf appeared with Teddy in her arms.

Teddy had been asleep when they left Grimmauld Place but stirred slightly during the journey.

Harry grabbed his wand and cast a quick patronus, sending Prongs to tell Andi and Narcissa that Teddy was here safe, all was well, and he and Draco would be sure to send letters in the morning giving more details of their first day.

Harry made quick work of settling Teddy down for bed. The sweet boy fell back into a deep sleep almost immediately.

After casting charms that would alert him if Teddy woke up, Harry stepped back through the bathroom and crawled into bed.

It had been an incredibly long day, so no one could blame him for being asleep by 9:30.

* * *

Across the school, the other 8^th Years were making their way from their House common rooms up to the 3^rd floor corridor.

The prefects relayed the message that the password to their tower was victoria in unitate.

Turns out the school was incredibly into Latin this year.

The password to the corridor from Slytherin was, of course, gras es noster (the future is ours. The password from Gryffindor was fortes fortuna adiuvat, meaning “fortune favors the brave.” From Ravenclaw it was scilicet supra modum, which translated to “wit beyond measure,” and Hufflepuff’s was aboris non timens, meaning “unafraid of toil.”

The 8^th years tower had a large common room at the base and then had four stories going up, each floor with two or three rooms. Each room held two or three students from one of the four houses.

Like McGonagall said, their room assignments were posted on the notice board.

The first floor was taken up entirely by the common room. The second floor had two rooms, each housing three girls. The Gryffindors – Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, and Lavender Brown – were to the right, while the Ravenclaws – Sally-Anne Perks, Padma Patil, and Lisa Turpin – were to the left.

The third floor had the remaining three girls rooms, each housing two students; two rooms for Slytherin and one for Hufflepuff. The first Slytherin room housed Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode while the other housed Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass. The Hufflepuff room housed Hannah Abbott and Meghan Jones.

The fourth floor held the first three boys rooms. One Gryffindor and two Slytherin. The Gryffindor room housed Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnegan. The first Slytherin room had Draco Black and Gregory Goyle while the other had Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott.

The final floor held the other three boys rooms. One Ravenclaw and two Hufflepuff. The Ravenclaw room held Terry Boot, Michael Corner, and Anthony Goldstein. The first Hufflepuff Room had Justin Finch-Fletchly and Ernie MacMillan while the other housed Wayne Hopkins and Oliver Rivers.

The rooms were decorated exactly as their old dorms had been. Each student found their trunk placed at the foot of a bed.

After a long day of travel and excitement, they all quickly showered, put on pajamas, and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, 2 September 1998

Harry woke up early on Wednesday morning. He’d been up once in the middle of the night with Teddy, but it had been no harder than usual to get him back to sleep. Harry found himself hoping that the adjustment would just be that easy.

It was only around 5 in the morning, so Harry had 2 hours until breakfast even started. Putting off getting ready for the time being, he picked up Teddy and headed into the living room, deciding now would be a good time to introduce the boy to Salazar.

“Ohhh,” Salazar squealed, and wow, Harry was really going to have to get used to Salazar Slytherin behaving more like Padma and Pansy than Snape, “is that the wee lad?”

“Good morning, sir,” Harry responded, “yes, this here is Teddy,” then, picking up the little boy’s hand to wave toward the portrait, he said, “say hello Teddy!”

The two men spent a little while longer talking before Salazar asked Harry what his training regimen was. Harry, slightly confused, just responded that quidditch season hadn’t started yet but that he ran at least three times a week to stay in shape.

“Quidditch?!” Salazar exclaimed.

“Yes?”

“Well,” Salazar conceded, “it’s a great sport, truly entertaining, but I meant your combat and strength training.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked, “I guess I’ve done a lot of extra defense against the dark arts practice over my life, but I haven’t ever done combat or strength training, well except for when I was in the Goblin healing hall, they did some training with me as physical therapy, but nothing too intense.”

“Have you been named a friend of the Goblin Nation?”

“Yes, Neville, Susan, Luna, and I were all named friends of the Nation.”

“When?”

“Just a couple of weeks ago,” Harry responded, “when we went into the bank to discuss the school’s accounts and wards.”

“Ah,” Salazar said with a nod, “that makes sense.”

‘What makes sense, sir?”

Before Salazar had a chance to respond, the door to Harry’s apartment swung open. Knowing that Neville was literally the only person on the planet who knew his password, Harry simply said, “morning, Nev.”

“Morning, Haz,” Neville grumbled.

“What are you doing awake?” Harry asked.

“Our esteemed Lord Gryffindor took it upon himself to shriek so loudly that I could hear him through, like, three walls, when I finally got up and walked into my office to ask him what the bloody fuck he was on about, he just told me to come get you and go to the training room. I really don’t know what’s going on.”

“Ah,” Salazar said, his voice shocking Neville.

“Oh,” Neville said, standing up straighter, “good morning Lord Slytherin.”

“Ach,” Salazar waved, “don’t bother with that Lord shite, and Hadrian, dear,” at the pet name, both Neville and Harry looked up in shock, “please stop calling me sir, you may call me Sal or Grandfather, my Heir.”

“Alright,” Harry said, coughing slightly, “thank you, Sal. You can continue calling me Hadrian if you’d like, though most call me Harry.”

“Odd,” Salazar said, cocking his head slightly, “any short name would generally be a family name, why does everyone use it for you?”

“Well, I didn’t know that my full name was Hadrian until this summer.”

“So is Hadrian more like your family name now?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Harry conceded, “though my cousin likes to call me Hades as well, he decided that I needed a nickname only family called me. One of my aunts uses it sometimes as well but the other refuses to call me anything but Hadrian.”

“Then I think I’ll call you Hades, my Heir.” Salazar said with a decisive nod.

“Alright, Grandfather,” Harry responded, “now, do you happen to know why Lord Gryffindor asked Neville to get me?”

Instead of responding, Salazar looked pointedly between Neville and Harry, the later quickly realized he’d neglected to make a proper introduction.

“Oh, my apologies,” Harry said, “Grandfather, this is my godbrother, Neville. Neville, this is Lord Salazar Slytherin, though he seems to rarely use the honorific.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir.” Neville responded with a nod.

“You as well, lad. If you’re Hades’ godbrother, you may call me Uncle.”

“Thank you, Uncle. Neville is my full name, though my closet friends and family call me Nev, I call Harry ‘Haz’ but I think I’m the only one.”

“Then I’ll leave that name to you and your brother,” Salazar decided, “though if your family addresses you as Nev, I may do so from time to time.”

“Well,” Harry said, clapping his hands softly, “this has been a truly mind-boggling conversation.” Then, shaking his head as if to dispel the insanity of this morning, Harry asked “grandfather, do you know why Lord Gryffindor asked Neville to fetch me?”

“If I had to guess, my friend wanted his heir to join you in your training,” Salazar said before asking, “do you have someone to care for your son, Hades?”

“Yes,” Harry responded, “I have a nursery elf, but I can also open the floo and call for one of my aunts if need be.”

“Very well, my boy, call your elf and ask them to please watch over Teddy then you and your brother should go down to the training room, there’s an empty portrait on the wall there, I’ll collect Godric, and we’ll meet you there.”

With that, Salazar disappeared from the frame. Deciding it’d probably be smart to just go along with whatever was happening, Harry called for Mimi and asked her to please watch over Teddy for a little while. The elf, as always, was ecstatic to have a child to care for and happily took Teddy from Harry’s arms, taking him back into his bedroom, likely to sit in the chair there and read.

Neville and Harry, both still dressed in their pajamas, made their way down the stairs. At the door to the training room, they found Susan – also dressed in her pajamas – and Luna, fully dressed in training robes.

“Luna,” Harry said, his tone failing to actually sound exasperated, “where on Earth did you get combat robes?”

“Diagon Alley, of course,” she responded, “we’ve been named friends of the Nation, we’ll have to be trained in combat. It was a logical purchase.”

“Of course,” Neville muttered.

Harry just sent her a fond smile while Susan silently berated herself for not coming to the same conclusion.

“We’ll just have to owl order some robes,” Harry decided, “or, honestly, there might be some in the armory we could use, we didn’t actually look through what was in there last night.”

As a group, they stepped in to the training room.

The room was large, about the size of the room that would materialize in the Room of Requirement when they were training the DA.

There were training dummies and targets lining the walls, the floors were padded, the North wall had windows that looked out over the grounds while the South wall was covered in mirrors.

The East wall had a large set of double doors which led to the armory. During their brief tour the night before, they hadn’t actually looked inside.

On the West wall, though, was a large frame. So large, in fact, that the inhabitants were life sized.

In the quiet of morning, Harry took the opportunity to analyze each of these near-Mythic figures.

The Founders had lived in the Middle Ages, so they weren’t necessarily tall. Each of the Heirs was noticeably taller than their Founder. Godric was the tallest of the group, standing at about 5’10”, while Salazar was a couple of inches shorter. Helga and Rowena appeared to be about the same height, maybe 5’4”.

Godric, though shorter than Harry and Neville, was an imposing figure. Most of the descriptions that Harry had read of the Founder said that he had fiery red hair and a massive beard. Most said that the man had always been dressed for battle. Harry was expecting to see, basically, a Viking. Instead, Godric looked regal. That’s not to say he didn’t appear as if he could level a battlefield on his own if given the opportunity. But he certainly wasn’t a brute.

The man was dressed in fine robes made of a deep burgundy, lined with delicate gold thread. His beard was short and well kept, as was his hair which was combed back. Both were a rich auburn, peppered slightly with greys. He had warm brown eyes, the same shade as Neville’s. His famous sword was sheathed at his right hip.

Helga was a beautiful woman with hair much like Susan’s. It was a lighter auburn than Godric’s and fell in soft waves over her shoulders and down her back. Her skin was lightly tanned, and she had a dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was dressed in immaculately woven yellow robes. She looked incredibly kind, though the dagger visible at her waist was a great indicator that she was not to be fucked with.

Rowena looked a lot like her daughter, Helena who Harry had spoken to during the Battle. The story of Helena Ravenclaw had broken Harry’s heart, and he was looking forward to finding her again this year so he could thank her for her help and hopefully learn more from her. He never liked the way students addressed the ghosts and portraits. Sir Nicholas, for example, was an accomplished Knight. It was beyond rude to go about calling him Nearly Headless Nick. Harry had learned quickly that addressing him by his title endeared the ghost to him and made him more than happy to help Harry find his way or warn him if he was about to get caught out of bounds. He hoped to get to know Helena in a similar way.

Lady Ravenclaw was painted wearing her diadem. Harry still hated how Tom had sullied those priceless artifacts, forcing Harry to destroy pieces of history in order to stop the madman. She was wearing beautiful, silky royal blue robes and her long, dark hair fell in delicate curls over her shoulders. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were so much like Luna’s it was eerie. Harry decided the eyes must be a line trait. Though it was less the distinct light blue color, and more the knowing gaze.

Harry hadn’t really taken the chance to really look at Salazar late the prior night or early that morning. Looking now, Harry was shocked to realize the man looked strangely like Harry himself.

It wasn’t just the eyes which Harry and his friends had established was a distinct Slytherin trait (and, now that Harry thought about it, he realized that the teenage Tom Riddle hadn’t had Slytherin green eyes, his were dark brown … odd). But Harry and Salazar also looked alike. Salazar wasn’t just tan from spending days outside; his skin had a natural brown tone though it appeared more olive than Harry’s honey warm skin. Their eyes weren’t just the same color, they were the same shape and they had the same Roman-esque nose. Both men had jet black hair. Though Salazar’s fell in soft waves to his shoulders, pulled half back by some sort of clip while Harry’s curls refused to be tamed in any real way (especially right now, when he’d literally just rolled out of bed).

It seemed to Harry that the combination of Potter and Black traits, along with the distinct Slytherin eyes, had made him look more like the Founder than he ever thought possible.

Looking around the room, Harry noticed that the other three heirs were also closely analyzing the Founders, and the Founders were analyzing them.

After another minute, Helga broke the silence, saying softly, “it’s truly incredible to have worthy heirs once again.”

“Thank you, my Lady,” Neville responded for the group, “we are honored to stand as your Heirs, and we are honored to have the chance to learn from you.”

“Forgive me for asking if this is a sore subject,” Harry began, “but why doesn’t anyone know that there are surviving, speaking portraits of the Founders?”

“No forgiveness needed, Hades,” Salazar said with a soft smile that had both Luna and Susan turning to look at Harry in shock. Wow, Harry thought, shock is a weird fucking look on Luna Lovegood. The Founder continued, either not seeing or simply ignoring the shock his familiar and warm tone brought, “we sealed this Tower in such a way that only worthy Heirs would be able to enter. At the time, we thought we were maybe being paranoid, but a few decades ago someone claiming to be my True Heir tried to get into the Tower. He didn’t gain entrance here, but he got into my Chamber and corrupted my dear familiar.”

Harry winced at that, having deduced recently that the basilisk had been Salazar’s familiar.

Before Harry could apologize, Salazar continued, “don’t fret, my Heir, you did her a service by killing her when you did, she had been forced to go against her nature and was in a great amount of pain.”

“And you used my sword admirably, young man,” Godric said, his voice lilting and so similar to McGonagall’s thick brogue when she got well and truly pissed at her lions that Harry and Neville both immediately snapped to attention. Laughing lightly, Godric said, “I was proud to hear that both you and your brother were able to wield my sword in battle and I am incredibly happy that Fawkes has bonded to the two of you. I can feel the strength of your magic. I say strength not just to mean that you are both incredibly strong. Well, really, this applies to all four of you young ones, but I am more familiar with the magic of the boys as they’ve called upon my sword and share a bond with my familiar. Anyways,” he continued, shaking his head slightly, “you are each incredibly powerful, but what makes your magic strong is the fact that you refuse to use your power for anything but good. Your intent is pure, and your morals are firm, that is your strength.”

“Thank you, sir.” Susan nodded.

“Yes, thank you,” Neville said, “it makes sense to only appear to your true heirs then.”

“Why is it that Tom wasn’t a true heir?” Harry asked.

“A story for another time, my child,” Salazar said, “for now, we should train.”

“Yes,” Rowena said, “it seems my heir was prepared.”

Rolling her eyes, Helga responded, “yes, yes, Rowena, you and your blood are always perfect, now, you should each step into the armory. The door will open at your touch. When you are in there, close your eyes and allow your magic to reach out, you will find the weapon that responds most readily to you. Once you’ve found your weapons, we will see where you’re each at and discuss a training schedule.”

“What time is it now?” Godric asked.

Glancing quickly at his watch, Harry responded, “5:45, sir.”

“What time do you need to begin your day?”

“Since it’s the first day of class we do need to be in the Great Hall for breakfast so we can get our schedules, other days we may be able to eat in our quarters. Classes don’t begin until 9, but breakfast begins at 7. I’d say we should be there by 8 at the latest.”

“Very well,” Godric said, “we shall work until 7. That will give you an hour to get ready and collect your school things before going to the Great Hall. That should be enough time as you four will have an easier time of travelling through the Castle, simply ask her for passage and she will provide.”

With that, the four heirs made their way to the armory door. Neville placed his hand on the knob and the door emitted a brief blue glow before they heard a lock click.

When they stepped inside, the power was almost suffocating. It was clear that these weapons weren’t merely made, they were crafted. The walls were lined with bows, swords, daggers, knives, hammers, maces, and glaives.

Harry was familiar with the feeling of a goblin made weapon, as he’d been carrying the Slytherin Family Dagger for a month at this point. But the power he felt from the dagger felt very similar to the power he felt from the Slytherin ring.

The power coming off of these weapons was something more akin to what he’d felt when he used the Sword of Gryffindor or the first time he held the Elder Wand.

They each did as directed, closing their eyes and allowing their magic to reach out.

Luna moved first.

Still with her eyes closed, she grabbed onto the hilt of a traditional longsword. Stepping out of the armory, she unsheathed the sword to examine its design. It was clearly Goblin made and was immaculately crafted. She’d have to remember to thank the Nation for allowing this piece to remain in the Founders’ Armory the next time she visited the bank.

The blade was crafted from iron. It appeared to be charmed to always remain clean and sharp. The very metal was dripping with power. Like any Goblin made weapon, it only took on that which made it stronger which is why it was forbidden for the Slytherin Dagger Harry carried to be used on anything venomous. It was meant to be used for rituals and warding and you couldn’t exactly go about slicing palms with a blade imbued with poison.

The hilt of Luna’s new weapon was wrapped in soft dark brown leather, forming a perfect grip. The pommel was inlaid with lapis lazuli, a focus stone. The material made a lot of sense for someone so connected to the otherworldly.

While Luna was examining her sword, Susan had stepped back into the room holding a beautiful dagger. The blade was longer than the ritual dagger Harry carried and was made of beautiful, polished bronze. The hilt was carved with an intricate Celtic knot design around a sturdy leather grip. It was a practical weapon that would serve Susan well in life and in combat.

Back in the armory, Neville and Harry had stepped forward in unison. Something that was getting less and less strange as time went on.

Neville moved right and Harry moved left.

Neville reached his weapon first.

He stepped back into the room carrying a powerful battle axe just as they heard Harry exclaim, “oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Deciding to ignore his brother’s outburst, Neville began to examine his weapon. It looked like a traditional, double-headed Celtic battle axe. The blades were iron and had a beautiful carving, much like Susan’s dagger, the handle was polished wood with a sturdy leather grip. Neville was looking forward to learning how to wield it effectively.

Just as he finished his examination, he heard Salazar start laughing. Looking over his shoulder, he watched an incredibly disgruntled Harry walked into the room carrying a glaive that looked almost … nope … that wasn’t a glaive.

“It’s a fucking scythe!” Harry exclaimed.

At that point, Salazar was entirely bent over, loudly cackling while the other Founders were looking at him as if he’d finally snapped.

Reacting to the ruckus, Luna looked up, when she saw Harry, she started laughing nearly as hard as Salazar.

Neville was trying his level best not to react while Susan just looked incredibly confused.

“This has to be some sort of cosmic joke,” Harry grumbled before his eyes went unfocused and he tilted his head as if listening to someone who wasn’t really there.

After a second, his eyes snapped back into focus, and he had a sort of manic grin on his face.

“Would it be safe to say that Thanatos might be a better moniker than Hades, my heir?” Salazar said through his laughter.

“Oh no,” Harry said, his grin becoming more of a teasing smirk, “I’m the Master, you know, not Death itself.”

After taking a moment to think over what had been said, Susan quietly gasped, looking at Harry as if seeing him for the first time.

“Lord Peverell,” was all she said. Harry simply nodded in response.

“So, are you truly meant to wield a scythe, Hades?” Salazar asked.

“Yes,” Harry answered, before setting the scythe down and moving back toward the armory, “though you four aren’t going to be the ones to teach me how. I’m meant to select a more battle appropriate weapon. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Only 30 seconds later, Harry stepped back into the room holding a traditional talwar sword. The sheath was made of dark, polished leather. When Harry unsheathed the blade, it was clear how well made the weapon was. Like the rest of the armory, the blade was sharp, and the weapon was clean despite centuries of disuse. But, unlike the other weapons, this one didn’t feel as though it were made by Goblin metalsmiths.

“Ah,” Salazar said with a fond smile, “I acquired that weapon during a trip to the Indian subcontinent to meet with a renowned Parsel Mage. Odd though,” he mused, “I don’t believe anyone else has ever effectively wielded that weapon.” He then looked at Harry closely, as if looking for something he might have missed, after a moment, he tilted his head and asked, “are you a mage, Hadrian.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry responded.

“And what are your specialties, young mage?” Godric asked.

“I’m a full elemental,” Harry responded, “and my strengths lie in soul magic and necromancy.”

“Ah,” Godric said with a nod, “that makes quite a bit of sense given your Peverell blood and close bond with Death.”

“Closer than you might think,” Neville said.

“Whatever do you mean, my heir?” Godric asked.

“My brother died, sir.”

“Died?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry responded, “though it’s a rather long story. If you’d like to hear it, that goes for any of the four of you, we’d be happy to tell it some time.”

“I’d like that,” Godric said with a nod.

“So, you’re a mage,” Salazar continued, as if the last bit of the conversation hadn’t even occurred, “I assume you’re also a parselmouth? I can’t believe I didn’t ask last night.”

“Yes, grandfather, I am,” Harry responded, slipping into the language, “for a long time I thought it was because of my connection to the false heir but found out recently it was a gift from your line through my mother as well as a long dormant Potter gift that was more prevalent when my family resided in India.”

“Ah,” Salazar responded in the same sibilant tongue, “it makes sense, then, why that weapon chose you. Look at the hilt, young heir, do you see the serpent?”

Looking down, Harry noticed an intricately carved serpent peeking out from the leather grip and wrapping around the hilt and down the knucklebow.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Well, my child, tell it hello.”

On Salazar’s direction, Harry hissed a soft hello to the snake. At his greeting, the carving began to move, coming out from under the hilt entirely and wrapping fully around the knucklebow before hissing a greeting back.

When the carving hissed back, the weapon glowed green for a brief moment before warming in Harry’s hand.

“It’s now bonded to you, Hades,” Salazar said, switching back to English, “it will remain with you and serve you well.”

With that, Godric took over the lesson. He had them set their weapons to the side. They then worked through the most basic footwork needed for fighting with a weapon rather than a wand. The exact movements would change depending on what weapon they were wielding, but it was all much the same.

Soon enough, an hour had passed, and the Founders sent them all up to their quarters to shower and get ready for the day. The girls made their way down the stairs and Neville and Harry started up.

As they climbed, Neville started laughing again.

“What!” Harry demanded.

“I absolutely cannot believe you ended up with a scythe!”

Shaking his head, Harry responded, “turns out it wasn’t even one of the armory weapons. Death had been wanting to train me but didn’t think it was safe to just leave a scythe laying around Grimmauld or Potter Manor, especially with Teddy around, so he took the opportunity when it presented itself and, in his own words, ‘thought it’d be quite the laugh.’”

“I don’t know why it shocks me that you’ve developed a sarcastic report with a deity, but somehow it does.”

Shrugging, Harry simply said, “he also told me that he hasn’t trained anyone to use the scythe before because there’s never been a true Master, so I think it’ll be pretty entertaining.”

“Ah,” Neville said with a nod, “so that’s why you looked like Seamus after someone tells him he’s allowed to light a fire.”

“Exactly.”

They reached the top of the stairs and split off into their quarters.

When Harry stepped into his living room, Salazar was back in his frame, “I feel there is much that people don’t know about you, my child.”

“You’d be right in that feeling, Grandfather.” Harry responded.

“Secrets are sometimes necessary,” Salazar said, “though don’t put so much weight on them that you forget to truly live.”

Harry nodded his thanks and then walked into Teddy’s room to see how he and Mimi were getting on. Teddy was sitting quietly listening to Mimi read.

“Hello,” Harry greeted, “how’s he been?”

“He be doing good, Master Harry.” Mimi responded, “he be eating and bathing. Mimi will watch Young Master while yous  shower and dress.”

“Thank you, Mimi,” Harry said, stepping closer to kiss Teddy on top of his messy curls before stepping through the door to the bathroom.

30 minutes later, Harry was ready for the day. He was wearing his Slytherin robes and tie over well-fitting black slacks and a white button down. His wrist holster held the Elder Wand while the one on his thigh held his old holly wand and a second dagger that Godric had asked (told) them each to carry. He’d moved his ankle holster with the Slytherin knife to the left, deciding to balance out his moving armory a little bit.

Susan thought they might get in trouble for walking around a school covered in weapons, but Neville made the good point that none of the teachers could exactly take points for something Godric Gryffindor himself told them to do.

Harry then packed up his book bag, a new bag he’d gotten during his shopping spree a few weeks prior. It was made of beautiful dark brown leather and had his initials (just HJPB, not the insanity that is HJAIPPBS) stamped into the corner. The bag had featherlight and extension charms on it, allowing him to carry all of his books instead of having to come back up and switch them out (and carry everything he needed for Teddy) and it also had a lock keyed to his Potter ring so no one else would be able to open it. It was probably his favorite thing he’d purchased.

He still had a couple of minutes before he needed to meet the others and head down to breakfast so he stepped into the living room to floo call Andromeda instead of sending a letter.

He threw in the powder and called out for Grimmauld Place, forgetting that his Slytherin robes might come as a shock to people.

“What in Salazar’s name are you wearing?” Andromeda asked.

That, of course, caused Salazar himself to start laughing.

“Who else is there?” she asked.

“Salazar.” Harry answered with a shrug.

“You’re joking” she said, then at Harry’s look said, “you’re not joking. Alright. Whatever, just another thing on the long list of insane shit that happens to Harry Potter. How are you, love?”

“I’m doing well, Andi. It’s been a pretty eventful few hours and I’ll call again later to explain it all, I’m meeting the others to head down for breakfast soon but just wanted to check in.”

“How’s Teddy?”

“He’s great, he slept well. He spent the morning with Mimi because the four of us were in the training room with the Founders.”

“Wow, you’re telling me all about that later,” Andromeda said before asking, “do you know your schedule for the day?”

“Not yet,” Harry answered, “but if it’s an entirely full day, would you like me to send Teddy to you?”

“You know I’m happy to see him whenever, love, just let me know what will be best for you.”

After thinking for a moment, Harry said, “alright, once I have my schedule I’ll make a copy of it and send it to you with either Fawkes or Mimi. Are you still alright with him sleeping at Grimmauld on the nights I have my Astronomy practical?”

“Of course, Harry, and if you have days where you have class nearly every period I’m happy to have him here throughout the day. He’s your son but I’m his grandmother, use the free babysitting. Don’t overwork yourself, you deserve to have moments of rest too.”

“Thank you, Andi, you’re wonderful.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Alright,” Harry said with a laugh, “I’m going to head down to breakfast wearing Slytherin robes, a thigh holster with a sodding dagger that Godric has decided we all need to openly carry and holding a baby. Wonder if people might think me odd.”

“Oh, love, that ship has sailed.” Andi said, also laughing, “I’ll speak with you later, hope you have a great first day.”

With that, Harry said his goodbyes, grabbed Teddy – who was dressed in a white shirt with adorable linen green and white striped overalls and holding his trusty wolf stuffy in a death grip – and headed down to the common area to meet Luna, Susan, and Neville.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, 2 September 1998

When Harry got downstairs, only Luna was there. While they waited for the other two to come down, they discussed what they’d learned from the Founders so far. After a couple of minutes, Susan joined them followed closely by Neville. Before they made their way out the door, Luna spoke up, “I think we should keep what we’ve learned quiet unless we’re given permission to share.”

“I agree,” Neville said, “things like why we’re carrying daggers could probably be shared because Godric told us to use him as an excuse if we were asked about it, but I’m guessing that they’re going to be teaching us a lot of things that we should treat like secrets of Family Magic.”

Nodding, Harry added, “I think we should promise to share each other’s secrets too. There are certain things that will come up that I’m guessing we won’t want shared with the general public.”

“Is Lord Peverell one of those things?” Susan asked.

“The true meaning of it, yes,” Harry responded.

“Of course,” Susan said before raising her wand and making the traditional wand oath to keep an ally’s secrets.

The other three responded in kind. The simple oath upon an alliance worked perfectly in this sense, as the four Founders Houses had always been allied and the houses that they each represented had historical alliances as well.

With that assurance made, the group left their tower to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was only around 7:45 so they had plenty of time, but they all wanted to test out what they’d been told about the castle offering them passage. As soon as they stepped out from the portrait guarding their tower, Susan turned toward the wall and said, “could we please have passage to the Great Hall?”

Immediately, the brick parted and revealed a flight of stairs.

Once they all stepped through, the brick sealed back over and a few lanterns appeared, floating along the passage to light their way.

“Wicked.” Neville and Harry breathed in unison.

However, they didn’t realize how efficient the passage was going to be.

When they reached the last stair, the bricks opened, and they stepped out directly next to the hourglasses that count house points. The hall went silent, every head turning around to look at the four students and the infant who just appeared.

The silence was broken by Teddy sneezing directly into Harry’s face.

“Thanks, Ted.” Harry grumbled, reaching into his pocket for a handkerchief.

“Morning, all!” Luna chirped before skipping toward the Ravenclaw table.

With a shrug, Susan walked over and sat down next to Hannah at the Hufflepuff table. Neville made his way toward the Gryffindors and Harry walked across the hall. As Harry approached, Blaise moved over to leave a spot between himself and Theo.

Harry nodded his thanks and sat down, saying good morning to everyone who was already at the table. It appeared that most, if not all, of the House was there. At Harry’s questioning look, Draco said, “we always arrive at the same time for the first breakfast so the first years know where to go and so we can all get our schedules, we only got here about 10 minutes ago so you’re not all that late.”

Before Harry could ask, Daphne said, “it was partially that we forgot to tell you and then, this morning when we realized we’d forgotten, we assumed you’d be up early with Teddy anyways, so you’d show up around when we did whether we told you or not and we didn’t have any way to contact you.”

“That’s alright,” Harry said with a shrug before handing Teddy off to Draco who was making grabby hands toward his young cousin, “though we should probably find some way for you lot to contact me if you need me.”

“What’re you thinking, Hades?” Draco asked.

“There’s a portrait in my living room, but I don’t think any portraits that aren’t directly keyed to Founders Tower could visit it,” he said, waving off their inquisitive looks, that was a story for another time, “can any of you cast a patronus?”

“No.” Theo answered.

“Well, then, I guess I’ll just have to teach you.” Harry decided.

“It’s an incredibly complicated spell, Harry.” Pansy said.

“I learned it when I was 13,” Harry said with a shrug.

“You also have godlike powers, idiot.” Draco responded.

“I really don’t,” Harry said. Then, at their unimpressed faces, he qualified, “and I had far less power at 13. My core was bound, and I was still walking about with Tommy Boy’s soul, which was incredibly dark magic. I think the spell is less about raw power and more about wanting to perform it. I hated the dementors, they affected me far more than anyone else. I worked forever to get the charm, but I didn’t actually get the corporeal form until I was facing down a hundred of the fuckers and both my life and Sirius’ life were on the line. It was as much the need to perform the charm as it was my power that made me succeed.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Theo conceded, “and I’d like to learn.”

“Have you found a place to brew and store 30 potions for that other thing?” Greg asked, seemingly apropos of nothing.

“I have a thought though I need to check in with the Goblins and make sure they’ve finished moving the giant bloody snake.”

It took a second for that to sink in before they were all staring at him like he was insane.

“I mean, I’d like to see it as much as the next Slytherin,” Draco said, “but isn’t it kind of a mess after sitting unused for a couple of centuries?”

“The main chamber is,” Harry conceded, “but one of the journals I read mentioned a large lab and a few storage areas that should be under pretty strong preservation charms. And the main chamber really isn’t all that bad. An hour or two of vanishing charms and scouring charms should have it good as new.”

“So, we use the lab to brew and the main chamber for you to teach us,” Greg said with a nod.

“Wait,” Blaise said, “where was it that you taught your secret society back in 5^th year? Could we use that?”

Harry, Draco, and Greg each pulled a face at that question before Greg said, “odds are it’s still on fire.”

When Harry and Draco nodded, the rest of the table decided it’d probably be better not to ask, either guessing why, exactly, the place might be on fire or deciding that anything those three agreed on from during their original years at Hogwarts was probably better left alone.

“I’ll go down and check either today or tomorrow,” Harry said, “the next full moon is on Sunday. We don’t need a potions lab for the first bit, we’ll just all need to meet either sometime Saturday or, at the latest, Sunday morning to hand out the leaves. I found a modified sticking charm in my dad’s journal that they used after the second time they failed to keep the leaves in their mouth for a full moon cycle. The journal also said that the bitter taste of the leaves went away after a couple of hours so that’s good news.”

Before they could discuss any further, Slughorn appeared at the end of their table with a stack of parchment and began handing out schedules and making sure they each reflected the correct classes.

When he got to the 8^th years he said, “since there aren’t many of you returning, we aren’t splitting you by house so each class will be shared with everyone else in your year who’s taking it. The Headmistress is going to put a master schedule on the notice board in your common room as well.”

He then handed each of them their schedule and double checked that they were correct. The staff had decided to introduce a few new classes, helped along by the donations the school had received in the wake of the battle as well as the interest they’d started earning from the Founders’ vaults being opened again.

The older years were now able to take classes like magical theory, warding, and spell crafting as independent studies. These classes would be available as electives starting in 3^rd year for future students (and the current 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd years). They’d also revamped the Muggle Studies curriculum and hired a living, breathing history teacher. McGonagall had also worked out a system with the Aurors where, in the event they couldn’t find a DADA teacher, the department would loan one of their instructors to the school on a year-long contract, hopefully bypassing the curse.

The previous thought had been that the curse was tied to Voldemort himself, but a quick study of the wards over the summer showed that the curse was, in fact, alive and well. The goblins hadn’t been able to find a curse in the wards themselves, meaning it was tied to some physical object somewhere in the castle that they hadn’t been able to find.

Harry had decided that finding the source of the DADA curse was his new mission. Part of his motivation came from the fact that it was something malignant created by Voldemort that was still affecting them, even after he’d been vanquished. The other part was that he’d been thinking more and more about how much he’d like to become the DADA professor eventually. He was still interested in becoming an Auror, but that was more for the training and how it’d aid him in working toward a defense mastery than as a job he could see himself doing forever.

Harry would be taking 8 NEWT level courses and would be doing the independent studies for Warding and Spell Crafting with the potential to take OWLs in those two courses either at exam time or over the summer depending on how much he was able to progress.

Draco grabbed Harry’s schedule to see which classes they’d be taking together and, after a moment quietly exclaimed “what the fuck!”

“Less swearing while you’re holding my son, dearest Draco.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk, Hades.”

“He’s my son so it’s fine.”

“Sure,” Draco said, “anyways, how are you taking the NEWT courses for Runes and Arithmancy? You didn’t take the OWLs.”

“Ah,” Harry said, “well, I helped Hermione study for her exams during 4^th year because I didn’t have to take my own exams with the Tournament and realized how much I’d royally screwed up by taking Divination instead of one or both of those courses and decided I’d just teach myself. Hermione gave me her old notes and I started working through the course work. By the start of 6^th year, I was entirely caught up with where you lot were in class. I took the OWLs at the ministry a couple of months ago and asked Professors Vector and Sinistra if I could take the 6^th year end of year exams over the summer, they owled them to me and I owled them back and now I’m in your class.”

“Impressive.” Draco said with a nod.

Harry hadn’t really had a chance to look over his schedule or see the new professor’s names before Draco had ripped it away. Last night, there had been a few spots empty at the head table and a few faces he didn’t recognize but that McGonagall hadn’t introduced. Before he could think too hard about that, the Headmistress stood up to get everyone’s attention.

“Good morning students,” she began, “it appears that most everyone is here, but can I assume that you will share any information with those who aren’t here yet?”

After a general chorus of assent from the student body, she continued, “good, thank you. Now. I didn’t introduce our new staff last night as some of them weren’t in the castle yet, but everyone is here now. I will introduce everyone, even those professors who have been here for a few years, for the benefit of our younger students.

“Starting with your Heads of House, to my left is Professor Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw, Deputy Headmaster, and Charms Professor. Next is Professor Horace Slughorn, Professor of Potions and Co-Head of Slytherin, next to him is Professor Aurora Sinistra, Professor of Astronomy and the other Co-Head of Slytherin. To my right is Professor Pomona Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff and Herbology Professor. After her is Professor Bathsheda Babbling, Professor of Ancient Runes and the new Head of Gryffindor.

“The other returning professors are our two Divination professors, Sybil Trelawney and Firenze. They will be splitting up the Divination classes based on their specialties, all Divination students will have both professors at some point during your studies.

“We also have Professor Septima Vector for Arithmancy and Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank for Care of Magical Creatures.

“Apart from our returning professors, Argus Filch remains our caretaker, Madame Poppy Pomfrey will continue to serve as our Matron and Medi-witch, Madam Rolanda Hooch will be continuing as our flying instructor and quidditch director, and Rubeus Hagrid is staying on as the Keeper of Keys and Grounds.

“Now, for our new professors, please join me in welcoming Professor Henry Binns who will be taking his grandfather’s previous post as the History of Magic Professor, Professor Arit Sikander is returning as the Muggle Studies Professor after taking a few years off for other research and opportunities, Auror Proudfoot was kind enough to join us on a one-year contract as Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“Then we have a couple other familiar faces, William Weasley will be joining us as the Warding Professor and his wife Fleur Delacour Weasley will be the Professor for Spell Crafting and, finally, our new Transfiguration Professor, an old student of mine who has spent years studying and researching different areas of transfiguration and whom I’m incredibly excited to be welcoming back to Hogwarts, please say hello to Professor Mary MacDonald.”

At that, Harry’s head snapped toward the head table. He knew that name. He’d read it over and over again in both his mother and father’s journals. That name was listed in their wills as someone who would care for Harry in the event his parents and godparents were unable. This was someone who Harry should’ve grown up knowing but had never met. He’d only seen pictures of her and read about her in his parents stories.

She looked different than she had at 20, in the most recent photo Harry had of her, but she was immediately recognizable.

Her warm brown skin and golden-brown eyes. Her long, incredibly curly hair and welcoming smile.

This was someone Harry had been dying to get to know but hadn’t been able to find. He’d tried sending a letter, but it had come back unopened, like she either had a mail-ward against unknown senders or was behind incredibly strong wards herself.

Now she was here, and, according to Harry’s schedule, would be teaching his first class.

* * *

Mary scanned the students, looking for any familiar faces. So many looked back. Two redheads at the Gryffindor table, one looking so much like his deceased uncles it was uncanny. A boy with brown hair and brown eyes who could only be Frank and Alice’s son. Long blonde hair and knowing blue eyes at the Ravenclaw table that couldn’t be anyone but a child of Pandora Rosier. A girl in yellow robes with auburn hair and hard eyes, that had to be a Bones.

Then her eyes reached the Slytherin table.

That was absolutely a Malfoy, though those grey eyes could only belong to a Black. Must be Narcissa’s son, she thought. Not thinking she’d recognize anyone else at that table, she started to look away before she looked directly into green eyes.

Green eyes that stood out against honey brown skin even more than they’d shone against Lily’s pale skin, freckles, and fire red hair. A mop of dark curls, messy in a way that only Potter hair could be. Though his nose and some of his other features didn’t quite fit Lily or James.

As she was watching, Harry reached out toward the Malfoy boy who then handed him a … was that a baby?

Before she could think too hard about that, the Headmistress said, “Mr. Potter-Black,” ah, Mary thought, that explains a lot, “would you like to introduce us to our new student?”

“Of course, Professor,” Harry said with a grin that was so reminiscent of James that Mary forgot to breathe for a second, this was going to be harder than she thought, “this here is Teddy Lupin Potter,” okay, Mary thought, I have more questions now, “he’s my godson,” oh thank Merlin, Minerva mentioned Remus had a son. Mary had found herself forgetting who was alive anymore, safer to just assume they were all dead, she remembered now though, Remus and his wife had died at the very end of the war, leaving behind a son. Mary had thought that the boy would be with his mother’s family, but apparently she was wrong.

“I adopted him,” Harry continued, “thus the Potter,” he laughed, “anyways, Teddy will be around some, he’s a super sweet kid. One thing to know, though, is that he’s a Metamorphmagus,” the little boy then, as if on cue, flashed his hair to a bright blue which Harry immediately copied, to the surprise of everyone but a select few, “Black family gift, pretty cool huh? So yeah, don’t be shocked by the random child who likes to change his hair and face all the time.”

With that, Harry sat back down.

Barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes, McGonagall said, “eloquent as always, Potter-Black,” Harry just shot her a grin and a wink, sighing, McGonagall continued, “that’s all I have for you this morning, you have your schedules, please remember to ask for help if you can’t find your way to a class.”

She then took her seat and the volume in the Great Hall slowly rose.

Fuck, Mary thought, I have the 8^th years first, I need to get it together and get it together fast.

* * *

Back at the Slytherin table, Harry had decided to push thoughts of his long lost … aunt? … out of his mind in favor of finishing his breakfast and making it through the day.

Though, apparently, he wasn’t doing a great job of covering up his anxiety over the situation. A minute after he sat back down from introducing Teddy, he felt Theo’s strong hand grab onto his knee. Harry turned to see what was wrong and saw the concern in Theo’s eyes, knowing immediately what he was asking, Harry nodded as if to say I’m alright, I’ll tell you later. Nodding in return, Theo looked back toward their friends and made to pull his hand away, not wanting to lose the warmth that the touch brought, Harry quickly reached down and placed his hand on top of Theo’s.

Not quite able to contain his blush or stop the soft smile that action elicited, Theo ducked his head.

Blaise just rolled his eyes.

As it got closer to 9:00, the group stepped into the hall and Harry ducked into an alcove to call Mimi. He’d made a copy of his schedule for Andromeda and had written her a note, asking if she’d like to have Teddy for the whole day and send him back tomorrow after Harry was done with class, as he had astronomy that evening.

A minute after Mimi popped away, she returned with a note in Andy’s impeccable writing that simply said “yes!” with a lopsided smiley face.

Smiling to himself, Harry kissed Teddy on the head, made sure he had his wolf and that Mimi knew she could come to Harry at any time if there was an issue before handing the boy off to go spend the day with his grandmother.

With that taken care of, Harry re-joined his friends and headed toward the transfiguration wing. After a couple minutes of walking, Harry got sick of the moving staircases and nonsense hallways and called out for everyone to stop for a second before turning to the wall and nicely asking for passage to the transfiguration classroom.

Everyone looked at him as if he’d lost his marbles until a second later the bricks split and a corridor lit by lanterns appeared, “follow me,” Harry said with a grin.

A minute later, they walked out of another brick archway, standing directly in front of the door to the transfiguration classroom.

They were the first ones there.

“How the fuck?” Draco asked.

“Magic.” Harry said.

“No shit, idiot, how though?”

“Lord Slytherin, asshole.”

“Boys,” Pansy said with a long-suffering sigh, “why must we continue with the insults?”

“Insults are a pillar of our relationship, Pansy.” Draco said in a haughty tone.

“Yes, like the little Dragon said, if we stopped insulting each other we’d simply implode.” Harry said in a similar tone.

The wall opened again, revealing Neville and Susan followed by the rest of the 8^th years taking transfiguration.

“What’s happening?” Hermione asked.

“Draco and Harry.” Theo responded.

“Ah,” Hermione said with a nod, as though that answered all the world’s questions.

As they waited for the classroom door to open, Harry took a moment to study his schedule more. It took him a second to notice the 2 hour block in the morning labeled “Training” that also indicated it was “added at student’s request,” having no recollection of actually requesting that addition, he looked up at Neville and Susan to see if they’d noticed the same thing.

“At student’s request,” Susan said with a laugh, “more like at literal knife point.”

“He’s a portrait,” Neville said, “he can’t actually stab you.”

“You know what, Nev,” Harry cut in, “I’m not entirely sure I want to find out.”

“Who’s a portrait?” Hermione asked.

“Godric,” Neville said casually, still looking at his schedule, Harry and Susan both just shrugged and started looking over their own schedules again.

After a full minute of total silence, Harry looked up, trying his best to look confused, “what?”

“Did,” Hermione started before seeming to buffer.

“Did he just say ‘Godric’?” Ron asked.

“Yeah,” Neville said, looking up genuinely confused before he realized why that might throw people off, “oh yeah, we each have a portrait of our Founder in our rooms, there are a couple of empty frames around the tower where they can move but they bound themselves to the tower so they’d only be able to talk to, or be affected by, their true heirs.”

“Rowena explained this morning that their portraits are charmed to only interact with their heirs so if anyone else looked at them, they’d actually appear as a stagnant painting, not even a moving portrait.” Harry explained.

“Why?” Hermione asked, sounding simply curious.

“Sal said that at the time it felt like they might’ve been overly paranoid, but it’s proven useful over the years, no one is able to manipulate them or force them to move somewhere else. They’re tied to Hogwarts and able to instruct their heirs in Family Magic, it’s worked out well.”

“I’m sorry,” Draco said, “did you just say Sal?”

“Yeah,” Harry said with a shrug, “he told me to call him Sal or grandfather, he was rather disappointed that everyone knew me as Harry because that meant there wasn’t a shortened name that was specific to family, so I told him that you call me Hades and he’s decided he likes it. So good on you, Dray, you’ve influenced Salazar Slytherin.”

“Every day with you is a new experience, Hades, that’s for fucking sure.”

“You’re so welcome, little Dragon.”

“What do I have to do to get you to stop calling me that?”

“I’ll let you know when I think of something.”

Before the two former enemies could devolve into a brawl – though their fights were much more brotherly and much less deadly now – Professor MacDonald came walking down the hall, shocked that everyone was already there, and asked, “how’d you beat me?”

Harry and Neville just shrugged before answering in tandem “we asked.”

“Merlin I forgot you two did that,” Mary said with a slight shiver.

The two boys looked at each other before turning back to Mary and asking, “what do you mean?”

Instead of answering them right away, she addressed the general crowd, “do they always do that?”

“No,” Seamus answered, “only when they’re either incredibly tired, stressed out, or trying to be general nuisances.”

“Ah,” Mary said with a nod, before turning back to the boys, “I was friends with your parents and knew you both when you were babies, you’ve been doing that twin speak thing since you started talking. I’ve gotta say, two babies babbling in sync was a little creepy.”

“I can imagine,” Neville said with a laugh.

“We’ve read about you in my parents journals,” Harry said, smiling, “it’s great to see you again.”

“I know that smile, Hadrian, what are you plotting.”

Realizing that it was going to be even harder to get away with anything with Mary around than it was with McGonagall (Minnie had an uncanny ability to know when trouble was afoot after teaching the Marauders, but Mary knew them and could seemingly recognize chaos from a mile away), Harry just said “we find ourselves in need of a Transfiguration Master.”

“For Merlin’s sake,” Ron said, sighing at his friends antics.

“Harry James Potter,” Hermione admonished, though the threat of the full name was hampered by the fact that she was obviously trying not to laugh, “give the new Professor five minutes before you go all Harry.”

“’Go all Harry,” the man in question said, trying to sound offended but failing to hide the mirth in his eyes.

“Can we go back to you guys maybe getting stabbed by Godric Gryffindor?” Padma asked, raising her hand as if they were already in class.

“It’s too early for this,” Mary said, shaking her head, “get inside, we have a double and all I have planned is testing you to see where you’re at which shouldn’t take more than a single period so we can all ask questions and get to know each other after that.”

Nodding in agreement, the group of 8^th years made their way inside.

The class consisted of all the Gryffindors (none of them able to let down their former Head of House), all of the Ravenclaws, and about half the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, plus the one former Gryffindor, now Slytherin menace to society.

* * *

After they worked through some OWL level transfiguration exercises and the major points of the 6^th year curriculum, Mary had a good idea of where each of the students was at and would be able to adjust her syllabus moving forward. They were only a little over an hour into class and still had nearly two hours until lunch started so she decided to take the opportunity to get to know her students a little better.

She knew this class was different from any other. Her own class had been greatly affected by the war, but it hadn’t truly started until after they graduated. These students fought an actual battle in these very halls only 4 months prior. They were still scared, physically and mentally. And even those who hadn’t been here for that battle had lost classmates and family.

More than that, they were all of age, they could’ve chosen to take their NEWTs at the ministry and got on with their lives. Instead, they’d chosen to come back. Whether it was because they wanted to experience a peaceful year at Hogwarts or because they felt better being somewhere familiar with friends who had become family, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they were here, and Mary would do her best to be here for them.

“So,” she started, “can I ask why you find yourself in need of a Transfiguration Master?”

The class looked at Harry as if he were their spokesperson but instead of immediately answering, Harry looked over his shoulder at a Gryffindor named Lavender Brown. Now that Mary looked closer, she could see a distinct scar going from right below Lavender’s left eye and down the side of her neck. Mary was pretty sure she knew what was going on but when she heard Neville whisper, “she knew Remus.” Mary was certain.

It seemed as though every student in the class knew exactly what was going on. It surprised Mary that they all knew such a secret, but when she thought about how united in trauma and healing this class must be, it made more sense.

Harry was looking back at her now, it looked as though he were thinking about how to phrase his question without spilling a secret. So instead of forcing him to answer, Mary simply asked, “Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?”

The smile Harry sent her was blinding, “yes ma’am.” He responded.

“Well,” Mary said, “I helped them back then so I don’t see why I can’t help you now. It’s a difficult process, how many of you are doing it?”

“Everyone,” Harry answered, his tone brokering no argument.

Mary thought maybe she should’ve been shocked, but she was learning rather quickly that there wasn’t much out of the question when it came to this group of students.

So instead, she asked “do you have all of the supplies?”

“We do,” Neville responded, “and Harry has a place for us to brew.”

“Does this have something to do with you lot responding that you ‘just asked’ and somehow beat me here from the Great Hall?”

“Were you here last night?” Neville asked, instead of actually answering Mary’s question.

“No, I got to the castle after the feast.”

“Ah, well,” Neville said, “you missed something rather important then.”

“Merlin’s pants, Longbottom,” Susan Bones said, “get on with it.”

“If you want to explain go right ahead, Bones, I thought maybe I’d ease her into it, she knew us as babies it’ll probably be pretty weird for her.”

“If I might interrupt,” Mary cut in, “I don’t know if there’s much that either you or Harry could do that would shock me, please remember that I know all of your parents.”

The stress on the word all caused Harry to look up at her in surprise, she simply nodded at him, and he smiled back before saying, “in that case, nice to meet you, I’m Lord Slytherin, that there’s my lovely brother, Lord Gryffindor and the annoying one back there is Lady Hufflepuff.”

“Oh, screw you, Potter.”

“You wish, Bones,” Harry quipped back.

“I’ll kill you in your sleep.”

“Neville’s the only one who knows my password.”

“I’m 98% sure it’s a recycled Gryffindor password, though you’ve probably changed it, so it sounds more ‘Slytherin,’ I’ll have it figured out by lunch.”

Though Harry didn’t answer, the fear in his eyes said Susan was rather close.

Deciding to ignore the death threat, Mary carried on, “so the school helps you get around then?”

“Yeah,” Neville answered, “so long as we ask nicely. We’d be able to get around pretty quickly even without that, Harry knows the school better than anyone I know.”

“It probably helped that he had a magical map,” Draco said, sounding rather annoyed that he didn’t also have a magical map.

“The Map helped for sure,” Neville responded, “but he’d found most of the passages before Fred and George gave it to him and he found several things that weren’t on the map even after he had it.”

“Yes, yes,” Harry cut in, “I’m a genius just like my father before me.”

That got a groan out of everyone.

“Let’s get back to the point,” Harry said, smiling and shaking his head slightly, “we have a place to brew, we have the ingredients, and we know how the initial transformation works as well as the theory behind subsequent transformations, but it’d be really great to have an adult who could make sure we’re not walking around with antlers for a week.”

Mary laughed loudly at that, remember James in that exact predicament, “he kept falling over,” she said, still laughing, “he was too top-heavy and just kept flopping. I thought it was hilarious, Lily thought he was an absolute moron, and Regulus, I swear to Merlin, spent the week pushing his head slightly so he’d topple over.”

Smiling at the memory of his parents, Harry asked, “so would you be able to help us out?”

“Of course,” Mary responded with a warm smile, “I’d be honored. Now, I think there were other questions?”

“Yeah,” Padma said, raising her hand again, “could one of you clarify what you meant about getting stabbed by a founder and maybe also explain why you’re walking around with knives?”

“Ah,” Neville said nodding, “Godric Gryffindor is a crazy person who loves knives.”

“Jesus Christ, Nev,” Harry said, the muggle slang confusing Mary, she’d thought he’d grown up in a wizarding family, she was going to have to ask about that later, “don’t invoke his wrath.”

“It’s fine, he loves me.”

“You met last night.”

“Salazar has you calling him ‘Sal’ and he keeps calling you ‘my child,’ I really don’t think you’re one to talk.”

“Sal’s a big softie,” Harry waved off, as if that weren’t the most insane statement a human had ever uttered, “what Nev means to say is that we’re doing some training and learning about Hogwarts and Family Magic and Lord Gryffindor, well Godric, not Neville, has requested that we always carry daggers on our person. I’m not entirely sure if its paranoia from living in a time where they were constantly at war, if it’s just his training, or if it has something to do with always being ready for a ritual, we didn’t really want to question him. He can be a bit intense.”

“A bit?” Susan demanded, “he’s added two hours of training to our schedules every morning and somehow has the parchment saying it was at the student’s request.”

“He’s so excited though, Sus,” Neville said.

“You’re all off your bloody rockers,” Susan responded.

“Proudly,” Harry chirped.

“I guess that answers my question,” Padma said with a shrug, shaking her head at her friends’ antics.

Trying to change the topic away from whatever the fuck was going on with the founders heirs, Hermione decided to ask Mary what she’d been studying over the years. The two got into a conversation about recent research in transfiguration that was way over everyone else’s heads.

After a bit, Mary decided to ask more questions of the students. She learned about where they’d grown up, who they called family, and what they were hoping to do after school. Harry was rather cagey about where he’d grown up, simply saying outside of London. His non-answer and the looks of pity on several of his classmates faces was enough to make Mary worry. She vowed to get to the bottom of that sometime soon.

Finally, the bell rang for lunch and the students left all feeling great about their new professor. She seemed excited to teach and, more than that, excited to know them which made them feel as though they were being treated like adults. It felt good.

Harry stayed back a moment. Once the classroom was empty, he simply said “it’s really good to see you again. Would you like me to stop by your office hours some time with Teddy so you can meet him?”

“I’d love that, Hadrian, thank you. It’s wonderful to see you again as well. You grew up to be an incredible person.”

Blushing slightly, Harry nodded his head in thanks and left the classroom to join his friends.

Mary watched the students leave and felt the ice that had been around her heart for the last nearly 20 years start to melt. This had been a good decision. She’d thought Hogwarts would be full of ghosts and painful memories, instead it was full of light and love and two little boys who’d called her Aunt Mary were grown up and powerful but still as silly and close as they’d always been. It was good. It was almost perfect. If only her friends were here to share it.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, 2 September 1998

Harry didn’t have any other classes until Astronomy that night so, after lunch, he decided to take a walk around the grounds. He thought he might go visit Hagrid, but the man’s hut appeared to be empty, so he settled for just taking a wander. After about an hour, he heard someone calling his name.

Turning around, he couldn’t stop the soppy grin from forming at the sight of Theo walking toward him.

“Theo,” he said, still smiling, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Laughing at Harry’s faux-formal tone, Theo simply responded, “I was looking for you and saw you out the window, mind if I join you.”

“I’d love that,” Harry responded.

The pair walked in companiable silence for a bit, Harry taking the lead, letting his brain shut off and sort of just following his feet. After a couple of minutes, he looked up and realized they’d stepped inside the tree line.

“You lasted, like, 18 whole hours before entirely disregarding the no students in the forest rule,” Theo said in a teasing tone.

“Shut it, you” Harry said back with a laugh, “I know for a fact you join Luna out here to feed the thestrals.”

“Ah but see, I’m not the Gryffindor Golden Boy, I can break the rules.”

“Not sure if you noticed, Theodore, but I am no longer the Gryffindor Golden Boy.”

“Once the Golden Boy, always the Golden Boy, love.”

Harry just shook his head, laughing before realizing that being in the forbidden forest meant they were, more than likely, alone. He took the opportunity and reached out to intertwine his fingers with Theo’s.

Theo smiled down at their joined hands then continued to quietly follow Harry’s nonsense path through the forest.

After a few more minutes of walking aimlessly, they stepped into a clearing and Harry stopped short causing Theo to run right into him. After reaching out to stabilize them both, Theo looked around in confusion, wondering what had made Harry react like that.

Theo looked up at Harry, he looked like he’d seen a ghost.

Quietly, Theo asked, “what’s wrong, love?”

“This is where I died,” was all he said.

Realizing that Harry was going to need a moment to process his thoughts before he said more, and not quite sure why or how they’d ended up here in the first place, Theo led them to one of the larger trees lining the clearing and sat down with his back against the trunk, pulling Harry down so he was sitting between his legs. Theo wrapped his arms around Harry’s torso, resting his right hand over Harry’s heart so he could feel the steady rhythm and remind himself that, despite all odds, Harry was here. Harry was alive.

“I know I’ve said it before, I know I told the story, and I know I even joke about it sometimes, but it’s still surreal.” Harry began, Theo pressed a soft kiss to the side of his head then decided to stay quiet and just let him talk. Harry took a breath and continued, “I talked about it with the mind healers when I was with the Goblins, but it’s not something you really get over in 60 days, especially when I had so many other things to talk about.

“But, I mean, I really died. I stood right there,” he gestured to his left, “and stood still while the green light came at me. I’d seen that light hundreds upon hundreds of times in my nightmares. Mostly I’d see the moment it hit my mum, but every once in a while, if I didn’t wake up in time, I’d see the moment that light came for me. I remember at the most basic, psychological level the pain I felt when that light hit me for the first time, but everyone had always told me it was a painless death. That confused me endlessly until it happened to me.

“When that light hit me, Theo, I felt nothing. I don’t even remember hitting the ground. Now that I think about it, though, the pain I felt that first time must have been the feeling of the curse rebounding and Voldemort’s soul attaching itself to me. The curse isn’t meant to leave a mark, but I have one. Well, actually, I have two.”

At that, Harry undid his tie and started unbuttoning his shirt. Theo had scars of his own and knew how personal they were, “you don’t have to show me, love.”

“No,” Harry said, “I don’t have to, but I want to. No one but the healers have seen the second one. I want you to see it, though.”

“How do you have a second scar? I thought the first one was from the rebound and the second time the curse actually hit you?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it might be some sort of indicator that the curse did rebound in some sense. I know Voldemort used the Elder Wand which was loyal to me at that point, I know that when I died I left the Horcrux behind, and I know that after using the Stone just back there,” he pointed to a place beyond the tree line, “I was, on some level, the Master of Death. But I also know,” he continued, not fully realizing what he’d just admitted, “that I didn’t truly become Death’s Master until I came back.”

“Harry, love,” Theo said softly, “was that something you wanted me to know? If not, and you just accidentally let it slip, I’m more than willing to allow you to obliviate me. I don’t want to know something you either didn’t want to tell me or weren’t ready to tell me yet.”

Harry looked back at Theo with so much love in his eyes that Theo’s breath caught, smiling, he said “I wasn’t actually meaning to share that part but I’m alright that you know. I know you won’t share my secrets, and I also know you’re smart enough that you’d probably already figured it out.”

“I knew that there was something special about you being the true Lord Peverell and I knew that you had the Wand, the Cloak, and the Stone, but I didn’t know how much truth was behind the Story of the Three Brothers.”

“I’ll tell you the full unfiltered story sometime,” Harry promised, “but back to what I was saying, when the curse hit me that second time, there were several factors that could have meant I wouldn’t truly die. But the thing is, I did. I have that confirmation from an incredibly reputable source,” he said with a wry laugh.

He then continued, “when the curse hit me, I felt no pain. Like I said, I don’t even remember hitting the ground. I woke up in a strange, bright white version of Kings Cross. I know now that it was limbo, but at the time I had no clue what was happening. There was this weird, deformed creature under a bench that I soon realized was the soul piece I’d been carrying in my scar. Then, Dumbledore showed up. I’ve confirmed that it was actually Dumbledore and not Death using Dumbledore’s likeness to make me trust him. Death knows me better than that.

“Dumbledore then explained what was going on. I still have no idea why it was Dumbledore of all people that met me in Limbo, it might have something to do with him being the last true master of the Wand and the last person who’d held each of the Hallows, though he obviously never became the master of the other two, it might have been because he was the one who led me to my death, who knows. But he told me I had a choice, I could stay and get on the train and take it to wherever the train goes, or I could wake up.

“Obviously,” Harry said, “I chose to wake up.”

At that, Theo squeezed him tighter and pressed a firm kiss to his cheek.

Harry then continued unbuttoning his shirt and said, “though I felt no pain when the curse hit me, when I woke up on the floor of the forest, it felt like my chest was on fire. It felt like what I’d remembered the curse felt like the first time it hit me as a baby. I was afraid for a moment that the curse had somehow rebounded again and stuck me with another stupid soul shard, but I then realized that, beyond the pain, I felt stronger, and my magic felt more free than it’d ever felt before. I didn’t have much more time to think about it at that point, though.

“You know the rest of the story. Narcissa expertly lied her ass off right to Voldy’s face, we marched on up to the castle, and I offed him with a first year spell. Truly remarkable if I do say so myself.”

Harry then sobered again, “I didn’t have time to think about this scar until I was in the healing hall. The healers looked at it and ran every diagnostic known to man, god, and being on it and found that it was the same as the scar on my forehead. There were remnants of dark magic, but nothing active. This is as healed as either of them will ever be because, as we all know, curse scars are forever. I’m okay with it though. I’ve gotten used to the one on my face and I know, in time, I’ll get used to this one too.

“What I think,” Harry began to explain, “is that this is where Voldemort’s soul left. The Horcrux latched itself onto the scar on my head because that’s where the first killing curse landed. Logic, whatever amount of that you can apply to this insane situation, then dictates that it exited at the place the second curse hit.”

Harry then finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it off before reaching down and pulling the vest he was wearing as an undershirt over his head. There on his chest, stark white against his tanned skin, was a second bolt of lightning. This one was much larger than the one on his face. Unlike the first scar which resembled a true strike of lightning and followed no clear pattern, the one on Harry’s chest was in a vague zig zag, following the path of the killing curse’s wand movement. Though, like the scar on Harry’s face, there were haphazard branches off the central strike.

It was beautiful.

This scar, even more than the famous one Harry had had almost his entire life, was a sign that he’d faced Death and walked away. A clear indicator that he knew Death in a way no person ever had or ever would.

The scar on his face was a sign that Magic had intervened. More likely than anything, that scar was a sign that Lily had sacrificed her very life so that her son might live. It was proof of the immense power of a mother’s love. It showed what happens when Fate and Life and Death come together.

The scar on Harry’s chest was a testament to his own strength. The strength of his magic; his power great enough to be Death’s Chosen. His strength of soul; his willingness to walk into the forest and greet Death as an old friend so that others might live.

With a shaking hand, Theo reached out and paused only a moment before he reached Harry’s skin. He looked up to see if he had made a horrible mistake, but Harry simply smiled softly and nodded. With permission given, Theo ran soft fingers over the scar, he traced the branches that split out from Harry’s sternum and ran along his chest.

It was only after he’d traced every line of this beautiful, life affirming scar that Theo realized what, exactly he was doing.

Without a second thought, he leaned forward and caught Harry’s lips in a gentle kiss. Harry took the opportunity to crawl into Theo’s lap, straddling his hips and wrapping his arms around his shoulders.

Harry pulled Theo into a sticky sweet, languid kiss before pulling away and pressing featherlight kisses across his cheek, then moving to press his nose to the crook of Theo’s neck. Harry took a deep breath, allowing Theo’s familiar scent of ocean breeze and cedar to relax him.

Theo was perfectly content to just hold Harry close, wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist, he hugged him tighter and allowed him to relax. As Harry’s shoulders started to sag as if he’d let go of a tremendous weight, Theo started to run his fingers softly up and down Harry’s back. With every pass, Harry relaxed further until Theo was nearly certain Harry was about to fall asleep.

Pressing one last kiss to the side of Harry’s head, Theo said softly, “we should head inside, love, you don’t want to fall asleep in the forest.”

“You don’t know what I want,” Harry said petulantly.

“I’m sure you’re tired, Hadrian,” Harry smiled softly at Theo’s use of his full name, “but you have time to take a real nap before dinner. You probably should, we have Astronomy tonight.”

“Don’t wanna leave you,” Harry mumbled.

“Love we both have beds in that giant castle right over there, we can take a nap together if you’d like.”

Harry perked up at that and stood quickly, pulling his vest back on before throwing on his shirt, neglecting to fasten even a single button, and shoving his tie in his pocket.

“Harry you’re going to get a lecture if McGonagall sees you that far out of uniform.

Shrugging, Harry simply threw his robe on, leaving that unfastened too, and pulled Theo up before leading the way out of the forest, “she won’t see me, if we come out of the forest over there,” he pointed ahead, “we’ll be right in front of the Tower and there’s an external entrance I can open with my ring. No one but the four of us, Teddy, and Andromeda are added to the wards yet, but you can get in if you’re with one of us.”

With that, Harry led the way out of the forest and to the entrance he’d mentioned. They didn’t come across a single soul which was odd considering it was an incredibly nice day. Theo wasn’t sure if it was because no one really came to this side of the castle, he could hear voices carried on the wind from the Transfiguration Courtyard, or because Harry had somehow subconsciously tapped into the castle’s magic to clear their path, but he found he didn’t really care.

When they got to the entrance, Harry pressed his ring against the brick to the left of the door. Like the passage they’d taken to get to Transfiguration that morning, the bricks moved to create an archway revealing a flight of stairs.

“Slytherin’s quarters, please,” Harry said out loud. The stairs shimmered slightly before settling again.

Harry then took Theo by the hand and pulled him up the stairs. At the top, unlike the brick archway they’d exited earlier, they came upon a wooden door that looked the same as all the other doors in the castle.

“Caput Serpentis,” Harry said.

“So,” Theo mused, “how close was Susan?”

“Too close for comfort,” Harry muttered.

“Why don’t you make your password in parsel?”

“I want the others, or at least Neville, to be able to get in. I’m not all that worried because this tower is even more heavily warded than the school itself and each of the rooms actually has its own ward scheme, so I can lock the room down once I’m inside. Also, I don’t believe Susan actually wants to kill me in my sleep.”

“You’re right, she’s more the type to kill you face to face.”

“Exactly,” Harry said with a nod.

He then stepped fully into the room. Somehow, the stairs from the external entrance had opened at the same point the main door to Harry’s quarters opened.

“So,” Harry said, “this is my quarters,” he then pointed to the portrait above the fireplace, “that’s Sal. He says hello, he also says you’re really pretty. I think Sal is done talking now.”

It was rather strange, Theo thought, both to be called pretty by Salazar Bloody Slytherin and to watch Harry hold a conversation with an unmoving, unspeaking painting. But Theo decided to greet and thank the painting anyways, “thank you for the compliment, sir. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“He says it’s lovely to meet you too,” Harry then went quiet for a moment, presumably listening to the portrait, “Teddy is at his grandmother’s he’ll be back tomorrow. I have Astronomy tonight, so I won’t be back until late and I don’t want to disturb his schedule.”

He was quiet for another moment, “yes, grandfather, I’m going to take a nap now before dinner.”

After another minute of quiet, Harry let out a whoop. Theo decided that, to any outsider, Harry would seem absolutely bat shit crazy.

“What’s got you excited, love?” Theo asked, instead of remarking on how bat shit crazy Harry seemed.

“Neville convinced Godric to let us start training later on Thursdays so we don’t have to wake up at 5 in the morning after Astronomy.”

“That’s probably smart,” Theo said, “because aren’t you lot training with swords and such?”

“Yeah, Sal said that was a rather central part of Nev’s argument,” Harry then turned back toward the portrait and said, “I’ll see you later, Sal. I’m going to bed. Scream if you need something or if, by some miraculous chance, someone breaks in.”

Harry then mock saluted the portrait and pulled Theo through the sitting room toward the door on the far left.

Harry’s room looked a lot like the Slytherin rooms in the 8^th year tower, just with a larger bed and some slightly higher end furnishings.

Once the door was closed, Harry pulled off the clothes he hadn’t actually bothered fully putting back on and then took off his boots and started unbuttoning his slacks before he turned back and looked at Theo, who was still standing at the door utterly still, and tilted his head in question.

Theo snapped out of the trance he’d fallen into at the sight of a half-naked Harry and latched onto the only coherent thought he could form, “is that another dagger?” Theo asked, pointing to the leather straps of a holster he could see on the back of Harry’s left forearm. Somehow he hadn’t noticed it earlier, far too distracted by the whole Master of Death situation.

“Oh,” he said, “no.”

Such a helpful answer, Theo thought, but instead of letting the snark win, he asked “what is it then?”

Instead of actually answering, Harry flicked his wrist and a second later, turned around holding a massive fucking fang.

“Harry,” Theo said, voice edging on exasperated, “is that what I think it is?”

“Probably,” Harry said with a shrug.

“Why are you walking around with a basilisk fang?” Theo asked before looking closer, “sorry, let me rephrase that, why are you walking around with a basilisk fang that’s dipped in gold?”

“Goblins.” Harry answered helpfully.

“Goblins,” Theo repeated.

“Goblins.” Harry said with a nod.

“Care to elaborate?”

“Sure.”

After a moment of silence, Theo said, “care to elaborate now?”

“Oh,” Harry said, as if that was a foreign concept, “yeah. After we spoke this morning about the Chamber, I remembered I needed to contact the Goblins about the snake so after class I called for Bobbin, he’s the Hogwarts head elf, and asked if he’d go check with Ragnok since he’d been in the bank with us this summer and wouldn’t be seen as a threat.”

“Smart,” Theo said.

“Thank you,” Harry said with a grin, “I have my moments. Anyway, he came back like 7 minutes later and told me that the basilisk had been moved. They’d actually just finished rendering it this morning and after seeing it and knowing that I’d killed it when I was 12 they promoted me from Friend of the Nation to Warrior so, obviously, I needed my own weapon.”

“Obviously,” Theo said, slowly losing his grip on reality.

“According to Bobbin, a Warrior’s first weapon is traditionally forged from some part of the enemy they’d slain to earn the status. Usually, its hide is turned to leather and becomes the grip of a new weapon, but with something like the basilisk, parts of the animal are already weapons.”

“Right,” Theo said, wondering what exactly he’d done in a previous life to have a chance with the savior of the wizarding world who walked around looking like a Greek god, casually wielding daggers and basilisk fangs and being named a Goblin Warrior for something he did at twelve like it was nothing.

“Cool thing is,” Harry continued, oblivious to Theo’s crisis, “this is actually the fang that almost killed me.”

“Hadrian,” Theo said, snapping out of his shock for a moment, “did you just call narrowly escaping death by basilisk cool?”

“In hindsight, yeah,” he responded, “though in the moment it was bloody terrifying.”

“That’s the first normal thing you’ve said in the last 20 minutes.”

With a shrug, Harry continued his story, “so Ragnok told Bobbin to tell me that I’ve been named Warrior, that I should expect official correspondence from the Bank in the coming days, that I’m even more stupidly rich from the sale of the basilisk parts, and that I should wear my Goblin weapon always. Apparently, it’s tradition to wear the weapon close to a scar if you received one in the battle with the slain enemy as a reminder of your victory, so he also gave me this holster. Pretty neat, huh?”

“Yes, Hadrian,” Theo said, sounding entirely exasperated now, “it’s pretty ‘neat’ that you killed a 20-meter snake at 12 and have now been named a Warrior of the Nation when no human has achieved that title in decades. Neat is absolutely the word I’d use.”

Instead of responding to that statement at all, Harry’s just said, “I have to remember to tell Sal later. Godric will probably be pretty excited about the new weapon too.”

“Your life is insane.”

With an emphatic nod, Harry finished getting undressed, unbuckling the various holsters, leaving only the wrist holster with the Elder Wand, and crawled into bed. Theo decided he’d put off thinking about why he found the insane amount of weapons Harry was carrying so bloody hot and pulled off his own robe, hanging it on one of the hooks on the back of Harry’s door, before pulling off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. By the time Theo had his boots and slacks off and all his clothes nicely folded and placed on top of Harry’s dresser, Harry was entirely underneath the duvet, with only his mop of curls visible, and seemed about a second away from sleep.

Smiling softly at his chaos magnet of a boyfriend, Theo set an alarm on his wand and crawled into bed next to Harry.

As soon as Theo hit the mattress, Harry shot out an arm and yanked Theo back against him and wrapped his arm tightly around Theo’s torso. With one last kiss pressed to the top of Theo’s hair, Harry fell asleep.

Warm and secure against his boyfriend’s chest, Theo fell asleep only a few minutes later.

* * *

When the alarm went off two hours later, letting them know it was time to get ready to head down for dinner, Harry grumbled and tightened his hold on Theo.

“Wha’ times it?” Harry grumbled; his face buried in Theo’s hair.

“5:00” Theo responded.

“Dinner goes ‘til 9”

“I know,” Theo conceded, “but I didn’t think we should nap too long or neither of us would actually be functional by the time we got to Astronomy, nor would we be able to actually sleep tonight.”

“Fair,” Harry said, still sounding rather disgruntled, “but we don’t have to be anywhere right now, do we?” he asked innocently.

Not catching on to Harry’s meaning, Theo simply said, “no, I don’t think so. What did you want to do? We don’t have homework yet.”

“I have some thoughts,” Harry said, sounding more awake now.

Still not catching on, Theo responded, “care to share with the class?”

In lieu of answering, Harry pressed his hips forward.

“Ah,” Theo said, “good, smart, great thoughts,” he started to ramble, becoming less and less coherent with each slight roll of Harry’s hips, he then lost his grasp on the English language when he felt Harry’s warm breath brush against the back of his neck.

“Thought you might agree,” Harry said before cupping Theo’s cheek and lightly turning his head to capture him in a searing kiss.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, 2 September 1998

Maybe it’s good we have Astronomy on day one, Harry found himself thinking as he worked to force himself to climb the stairs. He’d arrived alone and a full hour early knowing that this was going to be incredibly difficult. He hadn’t been in the tower since that night.

At the first landing, he found Draco.

He looked paler than usual, which was impressive to say the least, and was staring blankly up the stairs.

Without saying a word, Harry simply wrapped an arm around his friend’s shoulders and urged them both forward.

Without a second thought, Draco wrapped his arm around Harry’s waist and accepted the comfort.

Words weren’t needed.

They both knew what the other was thinking, they’d had many conversations about it.

This was the place where whatever was left of their innocence was lost. Draco was forced to be a killer and, when he wasn’t able to follow through, had watched as his beloved godfather had taken on the sin in his stead.

Harry had spent the previous hours fighting tooth and nail to get into and out of that horrific cave. The nightmares that plagued him about that place had gotten worse after Kreacher told them the story at the beginning of their hunt and had only gotten more visceral when he’d discovered Regulus’ place in Harry’s life.

He’d then returned to the school, to a place that was meant to be safe, somewhere where they’d be able to get help only to find it overrun by Death Eaters and to witness Dumbledore’s death at the hands of someone he’d been told to trust. He hadn’t known until a full year later that the death had been planned. Though at that point he’d had a little trouble processing the whole murder plot because he was just a little upset over the whole ‘you’ve gotta march to your death now’ thing.

But here, on the Astronomy Tower, Draco and Harry had witnessed something horrific.

Now, they were expected to attend class like nothing had happened.

Once they made it to the top, the pair moved toward the railing and looked out over the grounds. Draco softly started naming the constellations he could see, and Harry took comfort in the medial task of pointing to a new configuration and then listening to Draco tell him the name and explain the mythology.

That was how their classmates found them an hour later. Sitting with their feet dangling off the edge, Harry’s arm around Draco’s shoulders and pointing to random spots in the sky with his free hand while Draco rambled on.

Everyone knew not to ask questions.

A few minutes later, Professor Sinistra arrived, and they spent the next hour and a half reviewing what they’d learned and discussing what they’d be working on this year. She let them leave early, telling them to get to bed.

One nice thing about the 8^th years being together for all of their classes was that the professors could plan for certain things. They had Herbology and COMC back-to-back because they’d already be outside, and they didn’t have a class during the first period on Thursdays because they’d be up all night with Astronomy. It was well thought out.

Harry was rather glad that Teddy was spending the night at Grimmauld. He was exhausted from the day, and he knew his nightmares were going to be particularly horrific after going back up to the Astronomy Tower for the first time.

The other nice thing was that Neville had gone back up to his office after lunch and convinced Godric to use the normal breakfast and first class periods for their training on Thursdays after Astronomy. He’d apparently had to argue quite extensively that four sleep-deprived people swinging axes, swords, and daggers about was a recipe for disaster.

Neville had said it was about as insane of an argument as the one they’d had that morning when Godric had said they should all carry their chosen weapons on them at all times. And, while Susan’s dagger could theoretically be sheathed and carried without much fuss, Neville’s double headed axe and Luna and Harry’s swords might raise some questions. They’d eventually convinced him that they’d be just fine carrying daggers and that there was no reason for them to walk around with axes and swords inside a school that was surrounded by stronger wards than Gringotts.

They’d gotten out of Astronomy early, but it was still after midnight and, even though they weren’t going to start training until 8 the next morning, Harry knew he should be heading for bed.

But, at the same time, he knew he was going to have an incredibly difficult time sleeping.

As the group made their way back to the third-floor corridor, Harry was stewing in his anxiety over the nightmares he was sure he was about to face. He knew it wasn’t just going to be what had happened on the tower, but also what had happened before.

He’d spent a lot of time thinking about Regulus in the last two months. It made sense. He’d spent his whole life thinking about his mum and dad and he’d only known about his papa, as James’ journal said Regulus would’ve been called, since this summer. But it was more than that.

In July, Harry had turned 18. Regulus’s birthday had only been a week prior to Harry’s. He was currently the same age his father had been when he’d discovered the Horcruxes. Come January, Harry would be older than his father had ever been.

On May 3^rd, Harry had walked to his death. The feeling was fresh in his head after his feet had taken him to that very clearing that afternoon. Harry wasn’t sure what had made him wander there but thought it might have been a sign from Death or a nudge from his subconscious that there might be aspects of that moment he hadn’t processed yet.

That said, he knew what it felt like to walk toward your death with your eyes open, and he knew in his heart that was exactly what Regulus had felt when he went to that cave.

As it turns out, that left Harry with a lot to think about. And he knew that tonight he’d be plagued by dreams of that stupid fucking cave. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.

As if he could read Harry’s mind, Theo’s hand slipped into Harry’s, their fingers intertwined.

“I can almost hear you thinking, love,” Theo said, keeping his voice soft and quiet so no one would overhear.

“I’m not sure how to explain.” Harry responded.

“You don’t have to, but I’m here if you need me.”

“Thank you, Theo,” Harry said with feeling, “thank you.”

“Always.”

Chapter Text

Saturday, 5 September 1998

It was finally the weekend. The first few days of classes had gone well. Everyone was happy to be back at school and was especially happy to be in a Hogwarts that felt safe from both external and internal threats.

After lunch, every single 8^th Year along with a select few younger years – namely, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Astoria Greengrass – gathered in the common room at the base of the 8^th Years Tower.

“Alright,” Harry started, clapping his hands, “this should be everyone,” he said, looking to Hermione for confirmation.

After a quick headcount, she nodded her head.

“Perfect,” he continued, “so, we all know what we’re here for. Tomorrow evening is the full moon. Moon rise is at exactly 7:29, it is incredibly important that you remember that. If anyone would like, we could gather here at 7:00 tomorrow night so we all can do the first step together?”

Everyone nodded, “alright, sounds good, so come back here at 7:00 tomorrow night. We’ll wait to hand out the Mandrake leaves until that point just so no one loses them in the next day. At moonrise exactly, we’ll each place the leaf into our mouths then say the incantation amato, animo, animato, animagus while pointing our wands at our hearts. It’s important that you remember that spell and also remember how to set alarms on your wands or watches, because we will be saying that spell every sunrise and sunset for the next month. After you cast the spell the first time, you can also cast a modified sticking charm to make sure the leaf stays on the roof of your mouth. If it falls out, you have to start over and you have to start the process on the day of the full moon, so you’ll be waiting awhile. Are you all with me so far?”

At everyone’s nod, he continued “we have the rest of the ingredients stored in the potions lab down in the Chamber of Secrets right now. I’m the only person alive who can access the Chamber, including the other founders heirs, so it’s all safe. When the time comes for us to make our potions, we can all enter the lab from an entrance in the dungeon,” he then added, glancing briefly at Ginny, “no one will have to leave the lab and enter the larger part of the Chamber unless they’d like to and they are only allowed to explore that part of the Chamber with me there, most of the passages are activated by parseltongue so without me, it’s pretty much a giant open room with a statute that looks not even a little bit like Salazar Slytherin.

“Anyway,” he said with a shake of his head, “I digress. Back to the point, we’ll all go down to that lab to brew after moon set the morning after the next full moon which is, when?”

“5^th October,” Hermione answered, “it’s a Monday.”

“Great, thanks ‘Mione,” Harry said with a grin, “so on Tuesday morning after moon set you’ll say the spell one last time and then you can remove your leaf, though I’d suggest not removing the leaf until we’re down in the lab so you can put it directly into the phial instead of wandering the halls with a soggy leaf.”

“Great advice, Harold, what would we do without you?”

“You know, Draco,” Hermione said conversationally, “sometimes I’d really like to punch you in the face … again.”

“Right,” Draco said, “shutting up now. Continue, Hades.”

Laughing slightly, Harry said, “that should be everything, does anyone have any questions?” When the room was silent, he clapped his hand again and said, with a cheeky grin, “well then, class dismissed.”

* * *

Tuesday, 8 September 1998

A few days had passed. Everyone had gotten the leaf in their mouth at the right time and no one’s sticking charm had failed yet. With the help of wolfsbane, Lavender had been up Monday morning ready to go to class. While the wolfsbane certainly helped, there was still something missing. She had told Harry she hoped that it was a pack and that having a group of animals to run with soon would be exactly what she needed.

Harry found himself hoping that he’d end up being an animal that could keep up with a werewolf. He knew that animagus forms often reflected ones’ patronus, but not always. He was more than happy that his patronus was Prongs, but he didn’t really think that would end up being his animagus. When he thought hard about what his inner animal might be, he usually decided it was some type of canine. Every once in a while, he thought about how it might be neat to fly but more often than not he landed on canine.

Now it was Tuesday evening, they’d been to all their classes and Harry had found himself settling into a routine.

He spent the mornings leaving Teddy with Mimi and heading down to join Luna, Neville, and Susan in the training room. They’d all made a solid amount of progress in only a week. They were still working primarily on footwork but had started introducing the basics of wielding a bladed weapon. In the last half hour of their lessons, they’d started working harder on defensive spellcasting. Harry was already starting to feel stronger, in both body and magic.

He'd then have breakfast in his quarters, either just with Teddy or with both Teddy and Neville. Then they’d go to their classes, after which he’d either go to the library, go for a walk around the grounds, or go back up to the study in his quarters. He’d also been spending more and more time with Theo. It’d only been a week and Harry was nearly at the point of asking the others if they could add Theo to the wards so he could come and go as he pleased.

Today, though, Harry, Neville, and Teddy would be joining Mary for dinner in her quarters.

They’d been ticking their friends off all day, swinging from nervous to excited to wary at a moment’s notice.

It was hard to explain to the group. Most of them had grown up with their parents and had gotten to know their parents’ friends. They’d done childhood lessons together and spent holidays with big groups of people. Even Susan who, like Harry and Neville, hadn’t been able to grow up with her parents, had grown up surrounded by family friends and other children her age.

Harry and Neville had spent their childhoods in isolation. For the first year of their life, they’d been surrounded by friends and family, they’d shared their firsts and been treated as brothers and then, one stupid little prophecy later, they’d been plunged into darkness. They’d been forced apart and then they’d lost their parents, then their parents’ friends, then they’d been shoved in a dark corner until they turned 11.

Of course, over the years, they’d gotten the chance to build a family of their own. They’d fallen back on that brotherly bond that had been forged in infancy, and they’d built up from there. Now, their family was large and full of love.

But getting to know Mary … that was an opportunity to reclaim a piece of that first family they’d known.

Nearly the very last piece.

Frank had been two years older than the others and had shared a room with (and been closest friends with) Kingsley Shacklebolt and the Prewett twins. The twins had died shortly after Neville and Harry were born and Kingsley was a tad busy being Minister to answer the endless questions Neville and Harry had about their parents. He certainly did his best, but they always felt a bit guilty bugging him.

James’ friends had been the Marauders. We all know what happened to them.

Regulus’ friends somehow had an even more depressing ending than the Marauders. Evan and Pandora Rosier. One killed by Moody and the other by her own spell in front of her nine-year-old daughter. Dorcas Meadowes, killed by Voldemort himself after she went on an Achilles level rampage following Marlene’s death. Barty Crouch Jr., held under the Imperius by his own father until what was left of his mind snapped.

The mixed feelings they had about Barty were enough to necessitate at least a year of intense therapy. He’d been part of the group that tortured Frank and Alice into insanity, but if his insane ramblings were to be believed, he hadn’t actually participated. Instead, he’d silenced Neville’s bedroom and comforted him so he wouldn’t have to hear what was happening to his parents. Then, he’d been the second-best DADA professor they’d ever had. Sure, he had entered Harry’s name into a death tournament, but he’d also, in his own … special … way, helped Harry survive. He’d also been the only teacher outside of Sprout who’d actively encouraged Neville’s love of herbology.

Then there was Snape. A close friend of both Lily and Regulus. A man who had somehow dedicated himself to saving Harry’s life while also dedicating himself to making Harry and Neville’s lives a living hell … as if they’d needed any help with that. But, like Barty, there were some mixed feelings. He’d put himself between Harry and danger on more than one occasion, he’d been forced to kill his mentor, and he’d had to watch as his closest friends died one by one, unable to do anything about it. They certainly felt bad for him, but that didn’t quite mean they forgave him for bullying actual children.

Lily and Alice had shared a room and a core friend group. Marlene McKinnon had been killed during the first war and Emmaline Vance during the second. Mary MacDonald was the only one left.

This was the fourth of their parents’ friends they’d had as professor and so far she’d certainly ranked higher than Snape. And, with her readiness to help them with the animagus process, it could be argued she’d started edging out Remus and Barty. If she just made it through the year without trying to kill one of them, she’d be in first place.

Now, Neville and Harry were sitting on the floor of Teddy’s room, talking quietly and playing with children’s toys while Teddy took a nap (though, if anyone asked, they absolutely were not playing with toys made for infants).

“What should we ask her about?” Neville wondered aloud.

“I don’t know,” Harry muttered, “I have so many questions, and I know you do too … but I’m guessing she’ll have a ton of questions for us as well.”

“Good point,” Neville mused, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“I mean, when she last saw us we were barely older than one, we’d only just started talking, and our favorite pastime was probably, like, throwing toys at each other’s heads. Now, we’re Lords several times over and, not only that, but we played key roles in taking down the most fearsome Dark Lord in modern history. She sorta missed a few things in the middle.”

“I’d argue it was more than a few things, Haz.”

“Whatever, Nev, you know what I mean.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t make fun of you.”

Instead of responding to that, Harry said “she insinuated that she knew about all of my parents.”

“Yeah,” Neville responded, “she did.”

“I’m getting more and more confused about who knows now and who knew then.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Narcissa and Andromeda had no clue. Like, none. When we got back from Gringotts after we did the Hogwarts stuff, I found them in Regulus’ room with Kreacher and they’d found some letters he’d saved from James, and they were trying to hide them from me, and I was like why would you hide those? And they were all like oh we didn’t want to skew your view of your parents or something like that which, bad argument, but whatever. So, I said, ‘why would letters from one of my fathers to the other skew my view of my parents?’ and, let me tell you Nev, they were shocked.”

“Seriously?” Neville said, “I thought they’d known either after you went for your inheritance test or, at least, when you came back from the healing hall looking like Regulus with a tan.”

“Mate, they’d both thought it was Sirius.”

“You’re joking.”

“Not even a little,” Harry said, laughing lightly, “though they didn’t think Sirius was, like, actually a parent, they just thought he’d blood adopted me either as a baby or sometime during 4^th or 5^th year as an added level of protection or to ensure I could be named his heir.”

“But that wouldn’t explain why finally growing and gaining weight brought out features you’d had your whole life that were rather distinctly Black.”

“That’s what I said, neither of them had a good answer. Anyways, then I told them what I’d known at that point about my parents and told them a little more about how Regulus had ended up serving Voldy and all that fun stuff.”

“How’d they react?”

“They were swinging back and forth between joy, righteous fury, and confusion so quickly I thought they were both about to succumb to the Black Madness.”

“Who were they angry with?”

“Everyone.”

“Could you possibly be more specific?”

“Walburga for forcing Regulus into Voldemort’s service, I mean so angry that Kreacher had to hide her portrait to stop them from lighting it on fire, which I wouldn’t have been all that mad at but whatever, Dumbledore for not reading my parents’ wills which named Regulus as my father and listed both Andromeda and Narcissa as potential guardians given my connection to the Blacks, Voldemort for being stupid enough to make Horcruxes. Tom should be happy I killed him because his death wouldn’t have been anywhere near as quick if he’d been left at the mercy of the Black sisters. Then they got mad at Sirius for not telling anyone.”

“How do you feel about that one?”

“Sirius?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m honestly not sure. I know that he knew James and Regulus were together at some point during school, but nothing I’ve found in the journals or wills indicates that he knew they’d reconciled or that I was Regulus’ child. And, even if he did, the twelve years he spent in Azkaban really fucked with his memory. When we were writing letters, he always knew who I was and was a really great father figure but face-to-face, he thought I was James more often than not and it was incredibly difficult to deal with. I don’t blame him for not telling me any of it because I have no way of knowing how his mind was working at that point, I have no confirmation that he knew in the first place, so I have no reason to be angry.”

“That makes sense … but how do you think Mary knows?”

“Well, we know from my mum’s journals that your mum knew so maybe she told Mary as well? Or maybe she just figured it out? Either back then or when she saw me. I mean I probably wouldn’t be using the Black name if it were just that Sirius was my godfather, my use of the name apart from my titles indicates a more personal connection to it, so she could’ve just drawn a conclusion.”

“That makes sense, do you want to ask her?”

“Maybe not right away. We have nearly twenty years of life to catch each other up on and a lot of it is pretty heavy so maybe we just stick to the lighter stuff to start?”

“Good idea, mate.”

“What time is it and what time do we need to be there again?”

“It’s 6:30 and we said we’d be there at 7:00.”

“Alright,” Harry said, pulling himself off the floor and groaning as he stood, “time to get up little man.”

In practiced efficiency, Neville and Harry got Teddy ready to go and headed out of the tower toward Mary’s quarters.

* * *

“Hello boys,” Mary greeted with a warm smile on her face, “right on time, come in, come in!”

“Good evening, Professor MacDonald,” they responded.

“Please,” she waved them off, “call me Mary in private, it’s still strange to be called professor and especially strange to hear it from the two of you.”

“Sounds good, Mary,” Harry said while Neville nodded his acceptance.

“So, is this Teddy?” she asked.

“Yep,” Harry said with a proud smile on his face, “this is Edward Remus Lupin.”

“That is not his full name, Haz.”

“Aww,” Mary cut in before Harry could respond, “you’re still calling him Haz?”

“Yeah,” Neville said looking slightly confused, “I think I’ve been calling him that since 3^rd year?”

“Sounds right,” Harry said with a shrug, “and I call him Nev.”

“That’s not new,” Mary informed them, “you’ve been calling each other those names since you could talk. It was what James and Frank called you as well.”

“I guess that explains why it feels so normal,” Harry said with a laugh, “Neville is the only person I know who calls me Haz, it sounds strange when anyone else does it.”

“Anyways,” Mary said smiling at the boys, “what did Neville mean that that wasn’t Teddy’s full name?”

With a slightly shy smile, Harry explained, “well, when his grandmother and I decided I’d be adopting him, she insisted that we add my last name to his full name which I was happy to do because I also named him as the Potter heir, but then she insisted that we give him a family name as a middle name as well. I wanted to use James or Fleamont or literally any other name but before I could even argue she’d filled out the certificate and sild it back to the account manager.”

“So, what’s his full name?” Mary asked again.

“Edward Remus Hadrian Lupin Potter,” Neville responded.

Sending a slight glare toward his brother, Harry turned back to Mary and said, “but no one ever calls him Edward. Even his grandmother and great aunt who insist on using full, proper names call him Teddy.”

“Who was his mother? Minerva mentioned to me that Remus had a son and that he and his wife had died in the final battle, but she never mentioned a name and I forgot to ask.”

“Nymphadora Tonks.” Neville responded.

“Wait,” Mary said.

Knowing what she was getting at, Harry just nodded.

“Are you telling me that Remus married Andromeda Black’s daughter?”

“Yup.” Harry responded, popping the ‘p’.

“As in,” Mary said, looking as if she were trying to reorganize her entire world view, “Andromeda Black, Sirius Black’s favorite cousin.”

“Correct.”

“So,” Mary said, “Remus Lupin married Sirius’ cousin?”

“Right in one, Mary.”

“Do you understand,” she started then cut herself off, looking between the two boys who were just grinning back at her.

“Do we understand that our third year DADA professor was in a long-term relationship with the escaped convict who broke into our dorm with a knife to kill our roommate’s rat who happened to be the real traitor?” Neville said.

Harry continued, “do we understand that said DADA professor then married said escaped convict’s cousin like 6 months after said convict tripped right into the veil of death after being hit by a stunner by his other cousin?”

“And that the cousin who sent the stunner was the one who drove my parents insane?”

“Yeah,” Harry said with a shrug, “we understand –”

“- how absurdly fucked the whole situation is.” Neville finished.  

“I have several questions.” Mary deadpanned.

“People usually do when we’re done talking,” Harry said.

“I can imagine,” Mary muttered under her breath before shaking her head and continuing in her normal voice, “let’s leave those questions for later. We obviously have a lot to catch up on and I feel that wasn’t even scratching the surface.”

“You have no idea,” they responded in unison.

Laughing lightly, Mary said, “let’s start with the basics.”

“Sounds good,” Harry said with a nod.

“What would you like to know?” Neville continued.

“Well, let’s start with what your favorite subjects are?”

“Herbology.” Neville answered immediately.

“Defense.” Harry said.

“Very nice,” Mary responded, “how about who your closest friends are? And wait, earlier Neville said, ‘our dorm’ but you two are in different houses?”

“The second question has a shorter answer,” Neville said.

“I was a Gryffindor for most of my Hogwarts career, I only became a Slytherin when I stepped into the Great Hall for the opening feast. As we mentioned in class, we’re Lords Slytherin and Gryffindor and part of that is taking on a responsibility to the school and its students, but more specifically to the students in our own house so Hogwarts decided it’d be best if I was officially in Slytherin House.”

“Also,” Neville continued, “the hat wanted to put him in Slytherin from the get-go but Malfoy was a git on the train, so he begged the hat to put him anywhere else.”

“You talked the hat into putting you in a different house?”

“I’m pretty well known for being stubborn.”

“I can tell,” Mary said with a laugh.

“And for who our closest friends are,” Neville started, “well, we’re pretty close with our roommates from Gryffindor, that’d be Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, and Ron Weasley. They’re all in Transfiguration. Well, actually, all the Gryffindors in our year are in Transfiguration. No one wanted to piss off McGonagall.”

Mary laughed at that before Harry continued, “other than Neville, my two closet friends through school were Ron and then Hermione Granger.”

“The Golden Trio,” Neville said, spreading his hands and pitching his voice so he sounded like he was presenting something incredibly important.

“Shut it, git.”

“They got up to more mischief than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“That’s not possible,” Mary said, “you’ve met the Prewett twins, even if you don’t remember it, and you’ve met all of the Marauders.”

“I’m not kidding. They were worse than the Weasley twins and, from what I’ve heard, Fred and George were worse than Fabian and Gideon.”

“How is this school still standing?”

“Some days, I’m not sure.” Neville responded.

“Oi!” Harry cut in, “we were not that bad.”

“Haz, you took on a troll at 11 –”

“Hermione was 12.”

“Whatever, so there was the troll. Then, at the end of 1^st year, they took it upon themselves to stop Voldemort himself from getting the philosopher’s stone. Still don’t know how you pulled that one off. Then, second year was just absurd. The barrier to 9¾ closed so, instead of waiting for adults, Harry and Ron flew Mr. Weasley’s car all the way to school and crashed right into the whomping willow.”

“That wasn’t entirely our fault, Dobby was making my life rather difficult.”

“That’s beside the point,” Neville said, waving Harry off and pointedly ignoring Mary looking at them like they’d lost the plot, “then he revealed to the entire school he was a parselmouth, so everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin because, oh yeah this is important context, the Chamber of Secrets had been opened and there was a sodding basilisk roaming through the halls. Looking back, it’s actually hilarious because Harry was the Heir of Slytherin and Tom Riddle that was controlling the snake by possessing Ron’s little sister was, according to Salazar himself, not a true Heir of the House.”

“I’m sorry,” Mary interrupted, “Tom Riddle?”

Harry then pulled out his holly wand, you know, for nostalgia’s sake, and spelled out Tom Marvolo Riddle then tapped it, just as the man had done so many years ago, so it shuffled to read I am Lord Voldemort.

“Ah,” Mary said, before realizing why she’d asked, “so Voldemort was possessing Ginny Weasley?”

“Yes,” Neville responded, “that’s actually not the most insane part of this story.”

“I have trouble believing that.” Mary responded.

“Believe it,” Neville said before continuing, “so the basilisk was wandering about and miraculously nobody died, they were all just petrified because they saw the snake’s eyes through a reflection of some sort. Then, Hermione got petrified and Ron and Harry, naturally, went bat shit. They somehow ended up in the forest surrounded by acromantulas and were saved by the flying car that had gone feral and was living in the forest.”

“Do you think the car’s still out there?” Harry interrupted.

“Not the point, Haz,” Neville said, shaking his head, “then, Ginny got taken into the Chamber and those two dipshits decided to take Gilderoy Lockhart with them instead of any one of the several competent professors.”

“He was our best option,” Harry argued, “Ron and I have talked about this and we honestly think the professors either didn’t believe Ginny was down there or were perfectly happy to let it play out because they literally egged Lockhart on, when we got to his office he was preparing to run for the hills so we forced him into the Chamber at wand point because, at the very least, we could use him as a human shield.”

“How old were you, again?” Mary asked.

“Ron had just turned 13 and I was 12.”

“So,” Neville continued, “they go down into the Chamber with Fraudhart and he tries to oblivate them. Luckily, he used Ron’s broken wand, and the spell backfired. He lives down the hall from my parents now. But the force of the spell backfiring caused a cave in, so Harry ended up having to face the basilisk alone. He, again he was 12, killed it with the sword of Gryffindor but got stabbed in the process and is only alive because Fawkes, who was Godric Gryffindor’s familiar, then ended up as Dumbledore’s and has now claimed us, cried on his arm.”

“I’m sorry,” Mary said, “you got stabbed by a basilisk fang?”

Handing Teddy to Neville, Harry rolled up the sleeve of the jumper he was wearing to show Mary the scar, forgetting that he was wearing the fang itself in a holster.

“Harry,” Neville said, “did you forget something?”

Looking down, Harry laughed, “oh yeah!” Then he pulled the fang out of the holster and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch they’d sat down on, pointing he, very helpfully, said “that’s the fang.”

“Why are you walking around with the fang?!” Mary exclaimed.

“Goblins.” Harry shrugged.

Mary, the smart lady she is, looked to Neville for an explanation. Sighing, Neville explained, “we had the Goblins come render the skeleton for parts and when they saw it and viewed Harry’s memory of the event that he’d left with the healers over the summer, they decided to name him Goblin Warrior. They found the fang that had stabbed him still lying on the floor and cleaned it and gilded it and presented it to him as his first weapon.”

“Godric was so hyped,” Harry said with a smile, “he wants me to ask the Goblins about training me to fight with an axe.”

“I still think that’s an insane plan,” Neville said.

“I think it’d be fun,” Harry said with a grin.

“Harry you’re already training in sword fighting, you carry the world’s most powerful wand, and you walk around with two daggers and a literal basilisk fang. Do you really need more weapons?”

“You forgot the scythe.”

“Oh, excuse me. My apologies.”

“I still think I should learn to fight with an axe.”

Deciding he wasn’t going to win this argument, Neville turned back to Mary who looked like she was really hoping any part of this story had been a joke, “back to the Golden Trio being idiots.”

“Tell the short version, Nev, I’m hungry.”

Mary cut in before the boys could start arguing again, “why don’t we call for food and you can keep talking while we eat?”

“Sounds good,” Neville said with a shrug.

After they all had their food, Neville continued, “then third year was the whole thing with Sirius and Pettigrew which is probably a story for another time. Fourth year was when it got really crazy.”

“What do you mean that’s when it got crazy?” Mary demanded.

In lieu of answering, Neville just kept talking, “so first year our DADA teacher was possessed by the wraith of Voldemort, second year we had the fraud that was Lockhart, third year was Remus who was great, fourth year, though,” Neville cut himself off laughing.

“Fourth year,” Harry cut in, “our DADA teacher was Barty Crouch, Jr.”

“There is absolutely no way that Barty was your professor.” Mary said.

“I mean,” Harry conceded, “he was impersonating Alastor Moody the entire year but, yeah, it was Barty.”

“I thought Barty died in Azkaban?”

“Nope,” Harry said, “Papa Crouch broke him out and kept him under the imperius for a decade which he finally snapped out of and then went a little crazy and ended up as our DADA teacher.”

“A little crazy is just such an insane way to describe that year.” Neville said.

When it became obvious Harry wasn’t going to correct himself, Neville turned back to Mary and explained the insanity of 4^th year; “so he polyjuiced himself as a famed auror, not just any auror, but the one who killed his boyfriend according to James’ journals. He then entered Harry into a death tournament and got him kidnapped and sent to a random ass graveyard where fucking Pettigrew used him in a ritual to resurrect Voldemort.”

“He also taught me how to throw off the imperius curse and gave you a lot of books on herbology.”

“I’m really not sure that outweighs him entering you into the tournament and then actively trying to kill you when you made it back alive.”

When Harry saw Mary gaping at them, he shrugged and explained, “Barty is so far down the list of people I hate that have tried to kill me that he’s really not worth my time,” as if that was a comforting statement in any way whatsoever.

“Fifth year,” Neville continued, not giving Mary any time to ask questions, “we had a crazy person from the ministry as our DADA professor and she literally tortured Harry in detentions and refused to actually teach us defense, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione started an underground defense club. Then we broke into the ministry to steal a prophecy.”

“That’s when Sirius died,” Harry very helpfully supplied.

“Then 6^th year, Harry was in all these secret lessons with Dumbledore where, as it turns out, he was training a 16-year-old for battle without actually training him.”

“We just watched a lot of pensive memories.”

“But,” Neville continued, “while that was going on, the world had also decided they liked Harry again because word got out that he was the Chosen One so he was fending off crazy people left and right. He also spent a lot of that year stalking Draco using the Marauders Map.”

“No one believed me that he was up to something!” Harry exclaimed, “then, guess what, I was right, he was trying to murder Dumbledore!”

“He was the world’s worst murderer, Haz”

“Valid,” Harry said with a shrug.

“Haven’t I seen you hanging out with the Malfoy boy?” Mary asked.

“We’re friends now.” Harry responded.

“There’s more of a story there,” Neville said with a shake of his head, “just know that he was forced into everything and that he’s actually a great person. Also, he and Narcissa both changed their last names to Black.”

“True,” Harry said, “Draco actually changed his whole name. He dropped both his father’s name as his middle name and his father’s surname, now he’s Draco Cygnus Black.”

“Well, I’m glad that he can be himself now,” Mary said.

“Us too,” Neville responded, “but then Dumbledore took Harry to a cave that we’re just not gonna talk about and then Harry and Draco watched Snape kill Dumbledore which was a whole thing that’s also a story for another time.

“Then, 7^th year, the school got taken over by Death Eaters and those three went on the run. Harry was undesirable number one which was hilarious. They were gone the whole year and showed up in May and then the battle happened.”

“That’s a lot.” Mary said.

“We also did fun stuff,” Harry said with a shrug.

“Sure.” Neville conceded.

“We did!” Harry argued, “I helped the twins with a lot of their pranks. I mean, I actually gave them the start-up funds for their shop. And this year, no one is trying to kill me so I can get into a little more mischief.”

“That is such a frightening sentence coming from someone with the last name Potter-Black.” Mary said with a shudder, before sitting quietly for a moment, trying to remember where this conversation had started, “so who are your other close friends?”

“Oh yeah,” Harry said, “so we mentioned our roommates and Hermione, we’ve also gotten closer with the other Gryffindor girls, Padma and Lavender. Then Padma’s sister Parvati who’s a Ravenclaw.”

“And over the summer,” Neville added, “we ended up getting really close with the Slytherins in our year.”

“Yeah, after everything, I asked Andromeda to move into Grimmauld with me. We got the place cleaned up and remodeled pretty quickly with Kreacher cooperating, then she asked if we could reach out to Narcissa which I was all for, she saved my life, another story for another time. So Narcissa and Draco moved in and changed their last name to Black and then Draco came to ask me if some of his friends could move in. There were a few who had lost their entire families either in battle or to life sentences in Azkaban, so Pansy Parkinson, Gregory Goyle, and Theo Nott moved in full time. Then Blaise Zabini started spending more and more time at the house and the Greengrass sisters were over a few times a week, and Neville slept there more often than not.”

“We were at Grimmauld most of the summer but spent a week at Potter Manor once it was fixed up. It was really nice to live in a place full of people for once.” Neville said.

“Where’d you two grow up?” Mary asked, not thinking it was a big question, though the look Neville and Harry shared disabused her of that notion pretty quickly, “you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“No,” Harry sighed, “you should know. Just don’t go trying to kill anyone because everyone responsible is dead and the actual people have disappeared off the face of the Earth as far as we can tell.”

Mary was getting concerned now, “who could you possibly have grown up with?” she asked, “I mean, no one ever would’ve sent you to Lily’s sister, that would just be insane…” she trailed off as she noticed Harry cringing, “no.”

“Yeah,” was all Harry said.

“Alright,” Mary said, trying to quell her murderous rage, “alright, well, I’m sure that wasn’t much fun.”

“You could say that.” Harry muttered.

Deciding that was enough for now, she turned to Neville who said, “I grew up with my gran. She was, is, great, but my great uncles all thought I was a squib and tried to get my magic to come out in harsher and harsher ways.”

Realizing that these two boys had grown up in ways so far from what their parents would’ve wanted, Mary decided that nothing good would come out of this conversation so decided to change the topic, “so, what do you want to do when you grow up?”

They spent the next hour chatting about hopes and dreams, telling jokes, and getting to know each other.

Around 9, Teddy started to get fussy, “I should probably get him to bed,” Harry said, starting to yawn himself, “this was lovely, Mary, we really appreciate it.”

“Yes,” Neville added, “thank you, this was great. We’re really glad you’re here and that we get a chance to know you.”

“Of course, boys,” Mary said, smiling at them, “I hope we can do this again and I’ll see you in class tomorrow morning.”

When both agreed to meeting for dinner again, she led them to the door and called out a goodnight, watching them until they disappeared around the corner before she shut the door and slid down to the floor. With her head in her hands, she let the tears fall down her cheeks.

Tears for two little boys who had been forced to grow up far too quickly. Tears for her friends who weren’t here to watch them grow. Tears for herself; for all the people and time she’d lost.

Once she cried herself out, she got up and started getting ready for bed, reminding herself again and again that she was lucky to at least have this time with Neville and Harry, to get to see Remus’ son grow and watch Harry step into the role of his father. No matter how sad she was and how much she missed her friends, she was filled with joy and pride at the men Neville and Harry had become.

Chapter Text

Friday, 11 September 1998

 “You don’t take divination, right?” Harry asked.

“Who are you asking?” Draco responded.

Harry was pretty confused by the question, then remembered that he was sitting at the Slytherin table in the middle of a very crowded Great Hall during lunch.

“In my head, I was asking Theo,” he specified.

“Well,” Draco said, “I don’t take divination, in case you cared.”

“I didn’t, but good to know,” Harry said, voice dripping in sarcasm, “Theo?”

“Oh,” Theo said, finally joining the conversation, “no, I don’t take divination, why?”

“No reason.”

“You’re weird, Potter.”

“No one ever said I wasn’t, Parkinson,” Harry shot back with a sticky sweet smile.

“Why did you need to know if Theo took divination?” Draco asked.

“If you really must know,” Harry said with a sigh.

“I must.”

“You’re the worst,” Harry said, “anyway, I’m working on an assignment for my warding independent study, but there’s some unfamiliar runic language I don’t understand and can’t begin to translate, and Theo is the most likely candidate to recognize the script.”

“I’d love to help, Harry,” Theo said with a smile.

“Thanks, Nott,” Harry said, grinning back.

“Wait,” Daphne cut in, “is it the script that looks vaguely like Elder Futhark but also has odd bits of Cyrillic?”

“Yes!” Harry exclaimed, “are you working on the same assignment?”

“Yeah, I am, I can’t figure it out either, would you mind if I joined you?”

“Fine by me,” Harry said, “do you guys want to meet in the library or down in the study in the Chamber?”

“Is that even a question?” Theo asked incredulously.

“Daph?” Harry asked.

“The study in the Chamber sounds good, Harry, we can head down after lunch.”

“Works for me.”

“It’s probably a good place to work on this specifically,” Daphne mused.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“Well,” she continued, “the language is obviously not commonly known and would be ancient so the library in Slytherin’s study is probably more likely than the library to have a reference text.”

“Good point, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Well,” Theo cut in, “I’m ready whenever you two are.”

A few minutes later, the trio bid their goodbyes and headed down to the dungeon entrance to the Chamber. Harry had been rather grateful to discover that there were entrances to the Chamber hidden throughout the school and that the one in Myrtle’s bathroom was intended for the basilisk to use, not a human. The reason Tom hadn’t been able to find any of the human entrances was that they only opened to a true heir while the one in Myrtle’s bathroom simply opened to parseltongue to allow the serpent to open the passage on her own.

This meant that, not only did Tom have to slide down a grimy pipe every time he wanted to be in the Chamber, but he also never had access to everything else stored in the Chamber. He never discovered the library or the study or the potions lab and adjoined ingredient storage. He never had access to the various artifacts Salazar and his descendants had stored down there. He only had access to the central chamber and the snake. It was a good thing, too, because he did enough damage with the basilisk, Harry shuddered to think what he would’ve been able to do with some of the artifacts and potions ingredients he’d found.

When they reached the entrance, Harry placed his Slytherin ring against the brick that had a serpent carved into the stone and hissed allow me entrance, as ordained by my birth.

The bricks then shimmered slightly before revealing a wooden door. Harry turned the knob and let Daphne and Theo enter first before shutting the door and making sure the passage was sealed.

At the end of a brief hallway, they came upon the entrance to Salazar’s study.

The study in the chamber was larger than the one in Lord Slytherin’s quarters up in the Tower. It was more similar in size to the joint study that the founders shared. From chatting with the portraits, they’d discovered that Godric’s study had been turned into the Headmaster/Headmistress’ office, Helga’s study had been absorbed into the Hufflepuff common room, and the same had happened to Rowena’s. Salazar’s study was the only one untouched.

Three of the four walls were covered in bookshelves with tomes covering everything from ancient runes to potions to parselmagic. It had to be the largest collection of books written in Parsel in existence.

The trio sat down at the table in the corner of the study and started working on translating the runic text. Theo pretty quickly recognized the language as a type of pre-Christian Slavic writing, and they were able to find a dictionary amongst the vast collection of texts.

Two hours later, both Harry and Daphne were done with the assignment. The group left the Chamber and started climbing the stairs, heading toward Bill Weasley’s office to drop off their work.

As they climbed, Daphne asked, “what are your plans for the weekend?”

“I don’t really have any yet,” Theo responded, “I’ve got a bit of homework to complete but it shouldn’t take much time.”

“I have some training scheduled, I need to check in with Nev and the portraits to see what the plan is, I might end up sending Teddy to spend the weekend at Grimmauld if it looks like we’ll be kept busy,” Harry said, “I also apparently have to talk to Flitwick and Bill sometime soon. I got a message from Ragnok and he said that the Nation would like me to train to fight with an axe. I think Helga would be able to train me, but Ragnok said he preferred for me to learn from a goblin, or someone trained by them.”

“What are you talking about, Harry?” Daphne asked.

“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Theo said with a smirk.

“Obviously not.”

“Hadrian over here accidentally got himself named as a Warrior of the Goblin Nation.”

“How do you accidentally get named a Warrior?”

“You kill a basilisk at 12 and then offer the Nation rendering rights.”

“Have you ever once had something normal happen to you?”

“I stubbed my toe the other day,” Harry said shrugging, “that feels pretty normal.”

“Oh, shut up.” Daphne responded sounding exasperated.

Harry just laughed while Theo shook his head.

“So,” Daphne said, “returning to my initial question, you don’t know what free time you’ll have this weekend?”

“If it’s filled with training, it’ll likely just be during the day and if I end up sending Teddy to Grimmauld my nights will be free. Why do you ask?”

“Pansy and I were talking to Seamus -”

“That is a terrifying combination.” Harry cut in.

“and we were thinking,” Daphne continued, ignoring the interruption, “that it’d be fun to have a party in the 8^th Year Common Room. What do you think?”

“I’d be down,” Harry said smiling. Theo nodded in agreement.

“Alright,” Daphne said just as they reached the door to Bill’s office, “I’m not sure yet if it’ll be tonight or tomorrow but I’ll find you once I know.”

“We still need to find a time for you to teach us the Patronus charm.” Theo said, commenting on their struggle to find an easy way to communicate.

“Oh yeah,” Harry said, “we’ll do that soon. But Luna and I also discovered that if you just go talk to the dragon portrait at the entry of our tower she can pass messages on to any of the founders portraits and they can find us if we’re in the tower. Also, any of the portraits in the school will help you pass a message to one of us. They obey us as much as they obey the Headmistress.”

“That’s good to know,” Daphne said as they walked away from Bill’s door and headed back toward the 3^rd floor corridor. The office was empty, so he was either teaching a class or was in his and Fleur’s quarters.

The three chatted aimlessly as they walked back toward their towers. When they got to the entrance, Harry waved goodbye and headed up to his quarters where Teddy was taking a nap under the watchful eye of Mimi. After checking to make sure all was well, Harry headed back into the sitting room to speak to Salazar.

“Good afternoon, Grandfather,” Harry greeted.

“Good afternoon, Hades,” Salazar responded with a smile, “how was your day?”

“It was good, I only had potions and I’ve gotten much better at that subject after going back and reviewing the basics. I’m actually enjoying it now. Then I worked on a project for my warding independent study with Daphne and Theo, we found a runic dictionary down in your study in the Chamber that was incredibly helpful.”

“I’m glad to hear it, my boy,” Salazar said before continuing, “now, I’m guessing you want to ask about Godric’s training plan?”

“Yes,” Harry said, “Death also mentioned he had something he wanted to speak to me about and I got a missive from Ragnok letting me know that the Nation would like me to begin training to fight with an axe, though I need to speak to Professor Flitwick or Bill on that front.”

“I’m glad to hear that, being named Warrior is a great honor but being trained in the ways of the Nation is an even higher one. You must remember to be respectful toward their culture and to work diligently in any lesson they give you.”

“Of course,” Harry said with a nod.

“Good,” Salazar said, nodding back, “well, Godric mentioned that he’d like to see where you four are in terms of dueling but that shouldn’t take too long. Probably just a couple of hours. Are you trying to determine what to do with Teddy?”

“Yeah, if it were just training with Godric I’d absolutely keep him here but I’m really not sure what Death has planned. He sounded much too serious for it to just be a discussion or training with the scythe.”

“Well, Teddy only went down about 20 minutes ago so he should be asleep awhile longer. Why don’t you go speak to Death in the study and then you can make your decision. You could always send Teddy to his grandmother just before bedtime tonight or wait until the morning. Also, depending on what Death is asking of you, you might want to join Teddy at Grimmauld Place to spend some time with your family.”

“That’s a good idea, thank you, Sal,” Harry said smiling up at the portrait before he turned around and headed into the study. Waiting, sitting in the chair in front of the desk, was Death.

The first time Harry saw death take a corporeal form, he’d thought some random man had broken into Grimmauld. He did wear a cloak and carry a scythe like every classical depiction. But he wasn’t skeletal or pale. He didn’t have pure black eyes or a raspy voice.

He was just a man.

He had dark brown hair that looked perpetually windswept, similar to but not anywhere near as insane as the classic Potter hair. He had warm, golden-brown eyes and very lightly tanned skin, a few shades lighter than Harry’s. He had a mischievous smile that truly seemed out of place when you remembered this was an all-powerful deity.

When he pulled the hood of his cloak up and wielded the scythe he was absolutely intimidating. But sitting here in Harry’s office, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head and his legs crossed at the ankle, it just looked like Harry’s uncle had come to visit. Especially if you ignored the scythe propped up in the corner.

“Good afternoon,” Harry greeted.

“Good afternoon, Young Master,” Death said, with his eyes still closed and a teasing grin on his face.

Rolling his eyes at the truly absurd term of address, Harry sat down and asked, “what can I do for you?”

“This is why I like you, Hadrian,” Death said, finally sitting all the way up, “you always ask what you can do for me, never what I can do for you.”

Shrugging, Harry said, “that seems like the right way to act.”

“Indeed,” Death responded, smiling, “that is why my Hallows accepted you as their Master. That is why you can wield the most powerful wand this world has ever known without being corrupted by that power. It is why you can use that stone,” he said, gesturing to the Peverell ring, “without being dragged to my domain.” He paused for a moment, sobering slightly, before asking, “why haven’t you used the stone, Hadrian?”

“You mean to talk to my parents?” Harry asked, “all three of them?”

“Yes.”

Sighing, Harry thought for a moment before answering, “they left me a lot of ways to get to know them from their journals to the memories I found stored in my dad’s personal vault. I’m also still healing from everything that happened over the last couple of years, let alone my entire childhood. And, I’m honestly still reeling from the realization that I had a second father. I just feel I owe it to myself to heal more before I start asking them questions.” He then thought a bit longer before continuing, “I don’t want to overuse the Stone, it doesn’t feel fair to pull spirits back into this realm and I don’t want to just keep calling upon them for any little thing. I want to speak to them and know them and hear their voices, yes, but I don’t want to abuse this power.”

“I’m incredibly proud of you, Hadrian,” Death said, smiling, “you are truly wise.”

“Thank you,” Harry said, smiling back.

Death then sobered again, “Hadrian, what I have to ask of you is difficult.”

“Forgive my interruption,” Harry said, laughing slightly, “but I must say that I never imagined being the so-called Master of Death would always be sunshine and rainbows.”

“Good,” Death said, smiling slightly, “that is a good perspective.” He then paused to take a deep breath before explaining what he was asking of Harry, “you know that your specialties as a Mage are soul magic and necromancy,” Harry nodded, “soul magic is something you’re more familiar with. Emotional forms of magic like the Patronus charm and even the so-named Unforgivables are types of soul magic. But necromancy is much more foreign. It’s been qualified as a type of Black Magic throughout much of the modern wizarding world, but it is central to your role as the Master of Death. Throughout your life, you will train with me and, as I believe I’ve mentioned before, when you leave this life, you won’t truly leave. You will remain by my side and will remain the true Lord Peverell. You will be able to interact with the mortal realm and your position as both human and something beyond will be recognized.”

“But I will be able to pass over?” Harry asked, “even if just to … visit?” He said, not able to find a better way to describe what he was asking.

“Of course, Hadrian,” Death confirmed, “you will be much like the myth of Hermes. Are you familiar?”

“Yes,” Harry said, “I’d heard the basics of the myths back in primary school but when Draco insisted on naming my owl Hermes because he calls me Hades I decided to learn more. Hermes was a psychopomp, correct?”

“Yes, he, along with the spirit Charon, guided souls to the underworld. Hermes is known to be the only Olympian who can enter Hades’ domain without an invitation. He works alongside both Hades and Thanatos, the name the Greeks gave me, to deliver souls to their afterlife. He’s also able to interact with the mortal realm and maintain his position amongst the Olympians.”

“That makes sense,” Harry said, “but back to the core of this conversation, what is it you need to ask of me? I assume it has something to do with training my necromantic ability?”

“You assume correctly,” Death confirmed, before taking another steadying breath, knowing this conversation was going to be incredibly difficult, “what do you know of inferi?”

Instead of answering, Harry stood up and said “I think I’m going to ask Andromeda if she’d like to spend the next couple of days with Teddy. Something tells me this conversation is going to take up a lot of my weekend.”

Chapter Text

Friday, 11 September 1998

Andromeda quickly agreed to have Teddy for the weekend and made sure that Harry knew he was welcome to come back to Grimmauld as well. Harry let her know he might just take her up on that after he knew more about what the plans for training were.

Teddy was just starting to wake up from his nap so Harry went into his room to speak to Mimi and give Teddy a kiss goodbye before continuing his conversation with Death.

Picking up the still sleep warm baby, Harry held him close to his chest and buried his nose in Teddy’s hair. After a couple minutes of baby cuddles, Harry said, “alright, cub, you’re going to go with Mimi and visit grandma and Aunt Cissa. I’ll probably be there tomorrow or Sunday and then you’ll come back home with me, alright? I love you sweet boy.”

After another minute long hug, Harry handed the baby over to the elf and asked if she’d please take him to Grimmauld and spend the weekend there. Mimi happily agreed and with a light *pop* the pair were gone.

Harry sighed and made his way back to his office for what was sure to be a depressing conversation.

“So,” Harry said, stepping back into the study, “inferi?”

“Yes,” Death confirmed, “what do you know of them.”

“Honestly,” Harry said, pausing to think for a moment, “not much. I know that they are corpses that have been reanimated. You have to actually cast the curse on the body to create an inferi, they can’t just be spontaneously created. I know they have above average strength and speed. I don’t know much else.”

“You’ve got the basics,” Death said, “the only major thing you’re missing is the fact that the spirits of those who have been killed to create inferi are trapped on this plane in the same way ghosts are.”

“You mean,” Harry whispered, feeling totally off-balance, “the army of inferi that Tom created to guard the locket, all of those people are trapped?”

“That is exactly what I mean.”

“What about the ones that were destroyed when Dumbledore cast that fire spell?”

“They weren’t actually destroyed, only pushed back. Every one of those souls is still trapped.”

“What about Regulus?” Harry asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“He is trapped too.”

“But he’s not an inferi,” Harry argued, “or, at least, I didn’t think he was.”

“You’re correct, Hadrian, your father is not an inferi, but he wasn’t properly buried. As such, his soul hasn’t been able to cross over. He is not in anguish, he’s not trapped like a ghost, but his soul rests in Limbo waiting to be carried on. Take comfort in the fact that no one understands how time passes in Limbo, it is likely that he doesn’t know how long he’s been trapped there. Though James and Lily know how long he’s been stuck. They, along with your uncle, wait for him on the other side.”

“What do you mean by properly buried?” Harry asked, deciding to latch onto the one part of that statement that didn’t make him want to bash his head against a wall or scream into the abyss for several hours.

“Wizards, like all human societies, have certain burial rights that allow a soul to pass on. While James and Lily were buried in a Christian cemetery instead of on your father’s ancestral land, they were still given the proper rights.”

“Should they be buried at Potter Manor?” Harry asked.

“It’s up to you,” Death said, “you could leave them to rest where they are, or you could move them to Potter Manor and prepare a grave there for Regulus as well, or you could move all three of them to the Peverell lands if you’d like.”

“Wouldn’t Regulus be buried at Black manor?”

“Not necessarily,” Death explained, “technically, he married into the Potter family. His name remained Black because he was the Heir. Contrary to what most believed, when he died, the title passed to you, it didn’t revert to Sirius. Sirius was able to use the Black properties as a Son of the House, but he never could’ve claimed the Head. I digress,” Death said, shaking his head slightly, “what I mean to say is that even though Regulus remained a Black, the Potters are technically the higher ranked family due to their connection to the Peverell line. So, Regulus would be recognized as a Potter by Magic. As such, it would be proper to bury him on the Black or the Potter ancestral lands or, like I mentioned earlier, any of them could be buried on Peverell lands.”

Harry thought for a few minutes before deciding, “I think they should all be buried at Potter Manor. That’s where I’ll be living most often aside from Hogwarts or Grimmauld Place and that’s where my grandparents are buried. I think that’s what they would want.”

“Good choice,” Death said with a nod, “the process is rather easy. You can simply call the Head Potter Elf and ask that three sites be prepared in the family cemetery and that they move James and Lily from Godric’s Hollow to Potter Manor. It’s incredibly simple for them to do.”

“How do we get Regulus though? I mean, he’s been at the bottom of that lake for 20 years, I don’t really think there’s much left,” Harry said before cringing at the morbidity of that statement.

“Don’t fret, Hadrian,” Death said in a soothing voice, “the elves will prepare a casket, and I will show you the ritual to send Regulus to his rest. Also, that lake has an incredibly strong preservation charm on it so his body is in much the state it was 20 years ago. You won’t have to actually see him though, in fact, I don’t think you should. He, as you know, had a rather horrific death and I’d rather think he’d hate for you to see him like that.”

Harry quickly nodded his agreement.

They were both silent for a few minutes before Harry asked, “and can I send the inferi to their rest as well?”

“Yes. We will have to go to the cave, though.”

Harry took a deep breath and nodded, “when?”

“Tomorrow morning, after your dueling training. Call your elf now and take care of James and Lily. I will spend tonight teaching you the rituals we will use tomorrow.”

* * *

The hours had passed quickly. Death had taught Harry the rituals they’d need and had helped him prepare supplies. Turns out that necromancy involves a lot of blood. Thankfully, the Hogwarts elves were happy to bring a blood replenisher without asking any questions.

Word had been passed from the dragon to Salazar that Daphne, Pansy, and Seamus had decided to throw their party on Saturday night. So, once everything was ready for the trip to the cave, Harry decided to take a long bath and then go to bed. The problem was that it was incredibly hard to go to sleep when you were thinking about going to release the spirit of your father in a few hours.

Harry was looking forward to it on some level. Regulus absolutely deserved for his soul to leave Limbo and go to rest with his loved ones and for his body to be interred next to James and Lily. But he was also apprehensive, Death had explained that, in the past, when he’d helped other Peverells perform this ritual, they’d been greeted and thanked by the spirits they’d released. Harry wasn’t sure if he wanted to see Regulus or not, he wasn’t sure how he’d handle that.

So, instead of sleeping, he was lying in bed twisting the Black ring around his finger and thinking about how his father had never had the chance to wear this ring. He’d died wearing the Black Heir ring which now sat on Draco’s right pinky. Harry didn’t really have anything from Regulus. He’d worn his clothes, of course, before the girls had taken him on that godforsaken shopping spree, he still had some of Regulus’ robes in his wardrobe. But he didn’t have anything all that sentimental like he had of James’.

He had the map and the Cloak. Two things that had saved his life and helped him out more times than he could count.

What he had from Lily wasn’t entirely physical but was with him every day. He reached up and brushed his fingers across the scar, the tangible representation of a mother’s love.

Regulus had started the Horcrux hunt, so in some way he’d been with him through that, but Harry hadn’t known.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door. Knowing it could only be Neville, he called out, “come in!”

Neville opened the door and, instead of saying hello or anything polite, threw himself down on the mattress next to Harry, turned toward him, and said “your anxiety is practically screaming, I could feel it through the wall, what is wrong?”

“Could we talk about something else? I’ll tell you everything some other day.”

“Sure,” Neville agreed quickly, knowing Harry would keep his word, “do you think it’s weird Remus married Sirius’ cousin?”

“That was so far out of left field,” Harry said, sputtering, “how did you even land on that?”

“I’ve been thinking about it since we had dinner with Mary and we’ve never really talked about it, I didn’t know any of them as well as you did so I was just wondering what your thoughts were.”

“Well,” Harry said after pausing to think for a minute, “I don’t think so. I mean, not necessarily. We know from the letters we found and from James’ journals that Remus and Sirius were together at Hogwarts and, as far as I can tell, together until Halloween ’81. I haven’t the slightest idea what Remus got up to during the 12 years Sirius was in Azkaban, but I spent a decent amount of time with them after he got out and I genuinely don’t think they ever got back together?”

“Really?”

“Really,” Harry said with a nod, “I could always tell there was something between them, Remus looked at Sirius with such longing and Sirius always calmed down around Remus, it was obvious there was something more than friendship happening. But Sirius’ mind was so fractured those couple years.

“He spent 12 years constantly surrounded by dementors and listening to Bellatrix scream bloody murder down the hall, then he broke out and spent a year living as a dog in the forest, then he left the country and went who knows where only to come back in live in a cave in Hogsmeade during the Tournament so he could be close to me.

“He only got to live in a house again that summer after 4^th year and the house was basically another prison. He hated Grimmauld Place, and I can understand. That place was soaked in dark magic from whatever shit Walburga kept around plus the Horcrux. Also, he had very few good memories of that house. And many of the good memories he had were corrupted by the dementors. He often forgot where he was or even when he was. I mean, Nev, his last word was calling me James.

“There’s no shot he was stable enough to be in any sort of real relationship with Remus. Also, I noticed Remus and Tonks flirting that summer between 4^th and 5^th year, I don’t think they got together until after Sirius died, but I don’t think that Remus and Sirius were together when he died. So, I don’t know, maybe it’s odd that Remus married the cousin of the man he spent his whole youth loving or maybe it’s not but either way, we got Teddy so I really can’t complain.”

Neville was quiet for a few minutes, thinking that over, “I guess you’re right,” he finally said, “I think it’s probably super strange from Mary’s perspective though. She never knew Tonks as an adult, probably didn’t even know her as a kid, but would’ve known she existed because Sirius was super close with Andromeda … but you’re right on the Teddy front. I love that little guy.”

“Me too, Nev, me too.” Harry said, starting to drift off.

“Can I sleep here?” Neville asked quietly, “I was having trouble sleeping too. My thoughts are less loud around you.”

“Course, Nev,” Harry mumbled before turning over and burying his face in the pillow, “g’night.”

“Night, Haz. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Chapter Text

Saturday, 12 September 1998

After a morning of dueling under the watchful eye of the founders, Susan, Luna, Neville, and Harry were dismissed to go about their days.

“What are you lot doing today?” Susan asked as they put the training room back to rights.

“I have some homework to get done,” Luna answered, “but I’ll probably go down to visit Hagrid and see if he’d like any help with the thestral or unicorn herds.”

“Sounds like a good day, Luna,” Neville said with a smile, “I’m not sure what I’m doing yet … Haz?”

“Ah,” Harry started, “I’ve got a bit of a mission today.”

“What’s the mission?” Susan asked.

“Lord Peverell stuff,” Harry answered.

“Ah,” Susan said, nodding, “good luck with that. We’ll be around when you get back. Will you be at the party tonight?”

“Planning on it,” Harry said, “I’ll send a Patronus if my plans change, though.”

“Sounds good, Haz,” Neville responded, patting Harry on the back.

“I need to talk to Ron soon,” Harry said, shifting the conversation, “Hermione’s birthday is in a week, and we need to plan a party. I have her gift already and I’m sure he does too, but I don’t know the last time she had an actual birthday party. It was always just us and sometimes Fred, George, and Ginny.”

“We’ll get something good planned,” Susan promised.

“Should we do it in the 8^th Year Tower or find somewhere else?” Luna asked.

“Where else could we do it?” Susan wondered.

“I’d say the Room of Requirement” Neville said, “though Draco, Greg, Ron, Hermione, and Harry seem pretty convinced it’s out of order … has anyone actually checked?”

“I don’t think so,” Harry hedged, “though I think it’s less a question of if it’s still on fire and more a question of if any of us could go inside without losing our collective shit.”

“What happened in there?” Susan asked.

“Story for another time.” Harry answered, his tone brokering no argument.

Susan just nodded and sent Harry a look that showed she was sorry for asking.

“S’alright, Sus,” Harry said, his smile edging on grimace, he then looked at his watch and swore lightly, “I’ve got to shower and get ready. I’m sure I’ll see you all tonight and, if I don’t, make sure to have tons of fun.”

He then dashed out of the room, calling a quick goodbye over his shoulder.

“What do you think he’s doing?” Susan asked.

“Nothing fun.” Neville responded.

“Do you know?”

“Not exactly, but he was having trouble sleeping last night and didn’t want to talk about why which is never a great sign. I also saw about a dozen freshly made candles on his kitchen table next to a cauldron of something that looked like ink, but my gut tells me was something more.”

“Ink for blood runes probably,” Luna said.

Neville and Susan looked up at Luna in shock, both probably wondering what Dark Arts their friend had gotten himself involved in.

“It’s not dark,” Luna said, reading their minds, “his blood flows with Death’s blessing, both on him personally and on his ancestors through the Peverell line. Because of that blessing, Harry’s blood is an incredibly powerful conduit for necromantic rituals. What color were the candles, Neville?”

Neville thought back for a moment before answering, “mostly white but there were three black ones.”

“Ah,” Luna said, nodding slightly, “he’s likely learning the ritual to send spirits to rest, did you say there were 12 white candles?”

“I think so.”

“That number symbolizes balance,” Luna explained, “it can also indicate divine order. The three black candles would then be anchors for Harry. Three is a magically powerful number and they’re likely black because they were made with blood. They’d serve to anchor Harry to this plane while he works to communicate with another.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Neville said, “I wonder where he’s going.”

“Nowhere fun.” Luna answered with a knowing look.

* * *

Up in his quarters, Harry had taken a quick shower and was now trying to get dressed. He was running into an issue, though, because he wasn’t exactly sure what one was supposed to wear while banishing trapped spirits from this plane and laying your recently discovered father to rest.

“Wear what you’re comfortable in,” Death advised, shimmering into visibility next to Harry’s bed.

“That’s not helpful.”

“Well, then, dress like me and grab your scythe and we can scare the shit out of a few people on our way out.”

“That is an awful idea.”

“It could be fun,” Death said with a shrug.

“It could also be traumatizing.”

“Fine, we won’t traumatize children. Still, just dress like me, that makes it easier for you.”

“Alright,” Harry said with a sigh.

Under his menacing black cloak, Death tended to dress like any average person. He usually wore well-tailored black or dark grey slacks with a crisp white button down or, now that it was starting to get colder as autumn fell on the Scottish Highlands, a jumper.

With that in mind, Harry grabbed his favorite pair of black trousers. They fit him well, the fabric was softer than he thought possible for dress clothes, and they weren’t so stiff he couldn’t move. He then grabbed a soft cotton undershirt and a thin, emerald green jumper. Once he was dressed, he looked up at Death to get his approval.

“Perfect,” Death said with a nod, “though you may also want to grab a cloak, I’m guessing it’ll be rather cold in the cave.”

“Good idea,” Harry said before turning back to his wardrobe to select a cloak. He ended up grabbing one he’d found in Sirius’ closet at Potter Manor. It was black and made of thick, soft wool, it had a hood lined with even softer fleece. The cloak fell to Harry’s mid-thigh and gathered at the chest with a simple gold clasp. Harry’s favorite part, though, was the crests of the Potter and Black families embroidered in fine golden thread over the right breast.

“Ready.” Harry said with a decisive nod.

The benefit of being a deity and something akin to a demi-god who had access to the school’s wards was that the duo didn’t have to walk all the way down to the gate to apparate out. They simply went into the kitchen, gathered their supplies in a bag Death had produced from nowhere and given to Harry with the direction of always keeping it stocked for rituals, then nodded at each other before Harry turned on his heel and Death simply disappeared.

The other benefit of their power was that they appeared right on the island in the center of the lake and didn’t have to take the stupid little boat across the water.

“Are you ready, Hadrian?” Death asked once they’d both arrived.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Alright, then let’s begin. Talk me through what you’re doing. It’ll help you learn, and it’ll give me a chance to correct you if you err.”

Harry nodded his agreement and then began setting up the ritual.

Like Neville had thought, the cauldron of ink wasn’t merely ink. It was a balanced mixture of Harry’s blood, salt water, and ink that had been consecrated by Death.

Harry used the mixture to paint a runic configuration at the very center of the island. He first painted down a shape that looked like the Star of David, two equilateral triangles overlapping each other.

In the north point, he painted Algiz (ᛉ) to symbolize life, in the south point was Yr (ᛦ), the inverse of Algiz, symbolizing death. In the northwest point he drew Sowilo (𐌔) representing light and in the southeast point was Thurisaz (ᚦ) representing darkness. In the southwest point was Mannaz (ᛗ) which represented man and manifestation, this rune was balanced by Eiwaz (ᛇ), which represents death and magic, in the northeast point.

At the center of the configuration, Harry painted a strong protective bind rune that calls on the protection of one’s ancestors, the rune was a combination of Algiz (ᛉ) and Othala (ᛟ).

Harry then began to place the candles. The twelve white candles were placed in a circle around the outside of the runes while the three black candles were placed in an equilateral triangle around the central bindrune.

When Death confirmed that the set up was correct, Harry stepped into the middle of the circle and called upon his power.

After a moment, Harry opened his eyes. The normally bright, Slytherin green eyes were now glowing the same color as the killing curse.

Harry then took a steadying breath. On his exhale, the 15 candles that surrounded him lit up.

After another breath and a nod from Death, Harry began to speak, his voice dropping low, his words rolling with power.

“Ille de caelis, hic terrenus, ille angelorum, ille martyrum, ille confessorum, qui potest dare vitam post mortem, et requiem post laborem. Ab omni infernalium spirituum tyrannide, a laqueis, mendaciis, et furialibus suis nos virtute tua nos liberare rogamus. Praecipimus tibi, spiritus, abi et procul hinc vola. R. De animabus factis ad imaginem suam et sanguine domini sui redemptis.

“Sicut deficit fumus, deficiant; sicut fluit cera a facie ignis, sic pereant peccatores a facie Mortis”.

The moment he finished speaking, a wind rose up from nowhere and extinguished the flames. A moment later, Harry was hit by the power of hundreds of souls being released from their trap. He almost buckled under their weight. He straightened his shoulders and held his head high, waiting for the moment to pass. What felt like hours later, but was truly just a couple of minutes, the wind died down and Harry couldn’t help but fall to his knees at the center of the circle.

As he’d spoken the words of the ritual, he’d felt his power draining. But now, he felt more powerful than he ever had. Death had explained that Harry’s power would be renewed by the release of the souls, but this felt like something more.

He looked up at Death in question and the deity looked just as confused as he felt. That’s not a great sign, Harry thought to himself, confusing immortal gods isn’t something I thought one could do.

“Did you feel that power rush, Hadrian?” Death asked, sounding slightly off balance.

“I did,” Harry confirmed, “do you know what that was?”

“I can only guess.”

“Well,” Harry said, trying his best not to either sound annoyed at Death’s lack of an answer or start laughing at the look of utter befuddlement on the man’s face, “what’s your best guess.”

“It almost felt like they gifted you their power as they passed on. I had assumed that Tom used muggles for this particular venture into depravity, but, if I had to guess, several of those souls were wixen. When they passed on, instead of you just being renewed by your connection to me and my realm, those magical souls thanked you by giving you their power.”

“I feel like an overcharged battery.”

“It should fade, as far as I can tell, your magical core didn’t grow, you’re simply surrounded by more ambient power. It’s like the feeling in the room after a couple dozen students have been casting spells for an entire class period. You can draw on it to renew yourself, like you could draw on the magic found in a place like the Forbidden Forest or somewhere like Stonehenge, but the power won’t stay with you.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Harry said, feeling comforted that this staticky feeling would eventually fade, “will it help with what I have to do next?”

“I honestly think you should expend that excess power by banishing the bodies of those souls you just released so that you’re back at your baseline when you do the ritual for your father. I don’t want to mess around with that particular ritual by you not having a handle on your power. It could cause the ritual to fail or you could get hurt.”

“Alright,” Harry said, nodding. He understood that reasoning and was thankful he had Death at his side. It was odd and someone outside the Peverell line would likely be thrown off by having Death himself standing over their shoulder, but Harry just felt comforted. Death was a great teacher and was truly a friend. He did his best to explain everything in detail and keep Harry out of danger.

Harry stood back up at the center of the circle and directed the ambient power toward the candles. They lit up once more and Harry spoke the simple incantation to send these bodies to rest, “de pulvere astrorum structa sunt corpora tua, et ad pulverem stellarum revertentur.”

As he finished speaking, the flames grew higher around him for a moment before the cave went dark. A slight breeze rippled through and then the light from the lantern Death held returned.

When Harry glanced into the water in front of him, it was empty. The souls of the inferi had been laid to rest and their bodies had been sent on. The ambient power that had been surrounding Harry dissipated.

“Are you ready for your final task, Hadrian?” Death asked quietly.

Harry simply nodded before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the runic circle. This ritual didn’t rely on runes or candles, it relied simply on blood and magic.

He opened the bag and withdrew the ritual knife Death had collected from the Peverell artifact vault, apparently the Goblins recognized the deity as a part of the family, that was something Harry was going to have to think about later. For now, he had to lay his father to rest.

Harry approached the edge of the water and drew the knife across his left palm. He then squeezed his hand into a fist and held it above the water before closing his eyes and speaking the ritual;

“Per sanguinem meum, per animam meam, per spiritum meum. pono animam patris mei. Pater meus per sanguinem, pater meus per spiritum, pater per animam. Eum novae vitae trado. Per virtutem mihi divinissima Morte collata, mitto Patrem meum ad requiem sempiternam. Corpus eius in terra maiorum ex parte dilecti requiescit. Per sanguinem meum, per animam meam, per spiritum meum.”

It was quiet for a full minute after he finished speaking. Just as he was about to ask Death if he’d failed, he felt a hand ghost across his cheek and heard an unfamiliar voice whisper “oh, my sweet boy.”

With a sharp intake of breath, Harry slowly opened his eyes.

Standing in front of him was the spirit of Regulus Black.

“Papa?” Harry whispered.

“Yes, my son,” Regulus said, his eyes scanning over Harry’s face, drinking in the sight of him, it was quiet for another minute while the two men, nearly the same age, stared at each other.

After a moment, Regulus asked, “how are you here? How is this happening? How old are you?”

Harry couldn’t quite stop the laugh that bubbled out of him at Regulus’ rambling questions. It was so like Hermione it comforted something in Harry’s soul.

Harry looked back at his father with a smile on his face before gesturing to the deity behind him and answering, “I’m the Master of Death, Dad will be able to explain more when you get where you’re going. It’s a secret tied to Peverell blood. I’m 18. I turned 18 on July 31. It’s currently 1998. I’m in my last year at Hogwarts, what should’ve been my 7^th year got a bit messed up by Voldemort. Mum, Dad, Sirius, and Remus will be able to catch you up.”

“Time has been passing in a very strange way,” Regulus said instead of responding to anything Harry had explained, seemingly content with the fact that Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus would elaborate, “I know I saw glimpses of you. I remember when you were born, I remember the attack that killed James and Lily, then it was like the next minute you’d arrived at Hogwarts. Then a minute later I could feel you nearby and then you were gone and the next minute you were back and now I’m here.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Harry said, “I’ve been here before. I was here with Dumbledore to get the Horcrux. I had no clue who you were at that point. It’s a long story but Mum and Dad can explain, and I still have this,” Harry said holding up his hand and showing Regulus this Peverell ring, “so I can call on your spirits sometime and we can all talk. I don’t want to do it often, it doesn’t feel right pulling you out of your rest, but I’ll do it at least once.”

Regulus nodded and spent another minute just looking at Harry. Eventually, he looked down at Harry’s hands and saw James ring. Smiling, he looked back up at Harry and said, “hold out your hand.”

Not seeing any reason not to obey, Harry held out his right hand. Regulus closed his eyes, and Harry felt an oddly familiar burst of power. A weight settled in Harry’s hand, and he knew what it was before he even looked down.

Sitting in Harry’s open palm was a gold wedding band, inlaid with rectangular-shaped emeralds. Somehow, despite sitting at the bottom of a lake for nearly 20 years, the ring was perfectly clean. The polished gold and deep green gems glistened in the lamplight.

Harry quietly slipped it on his right ring finger next to James’.

“Your mum’s should be wherever you found your Dad’s, they should be together.”

Harry nodded and wiped the tear that had fallen off his cheek, “thank you, Papa.”

“Of course, my son,” Regulus said with a smile, “thank you for allowing me to rest. Where did you send my body?”

“To Potter Manor, next to Mum and Dad, is that alright?”

“That’s perfect, love” Regulus said, still smiling, “will you be alright if I leave now.”

Harry nodded, smiling back at his father, “I’ll be fine. I’ll go to Gringotts and look for Mum’s ring and then I’ll go to Grimmauld and see Andi and Cissa and Teddy.”

Regulus smiled for a second at the knowledge that his son was welcomed in his ancestral home and that his cousins had reconciled, he then looked confused for a moment before asking, “who’s Teddy? Do you mean Ted, Andromeda’s husband?”

“No,” Harry said, “Ted passed away. Teddy is Remus and Nymphadora’s son, they died at the end of the war but I was named Teddy’s godfather, so I adopted him. He’s with Andromeda and Narcissa right now.”

“Wow,” Regulus said, sounding slightly shocked, “I have a lot to catch up on.”

Laughing, Harry responded, “you sure do, but yes, I’ll be alright. Tell everyone hello for me and I’ll see you again sometime.”

“I will,” Regulus promised, “thank you again for this, I love you son.”

As Regulus’ spirit flickered out of existence, Harry whispered back, “I love you too.”

--

The Rune Circle:

Chapter Text

Saturday, 12 September 1998

After Regulus’ spirit dissipated, Harry stood in silence trying to decide what to do next.

“How are you, Hadrian” Death asked in a soft voice.

Harry weighed that question for a minute before answering, “I think I’m alright. I’m just trying to decide what to do next.”

“What time is it?”

Harry glanced down at his watch, “just after noon, I didn’t realize we’d been here so long.”

“What do you need to get done today?”

“I’d like to go to Gringotts to get my mother’s ring like Regulus mentioned, I think it’d be nice to have them all together.”

“Would you like me to come with you?”

“Who all can see you?”

“No one unless I want them to.”

“That didn’t sound threatening at all,” Harry teased.

Seeing that his young friend’s humor was back, Death smiled, “oh you know how I love to threaten.”

“Ah yes,” Harry said with a slight laugh, “what would people do if they learned that the All Feared Death was just a guy who has as much trouble taming his hair as I do.”

“Brat,” Death said, lightly pushing Harry’s head to the side, "my hair has always been like this. Antioch and Cadmus both had very sleek wavy hair, but Ignotus’ hair was exactly like yours. It became a rather prevalent line trait that carried over to the Potter line when Iolanthe Peverell married Hardwin Potter.”

“I always wondered where my full name came from when I had several grandfathers and great grandfathers in both Lily and James’ families named Henry and the name Hardwin was also in the Potter family, how’d they land on Hadrian?”

“Ah, I can answer that actually.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Death said, smiling, “my fabled meeting with the Three Brothers wasn’t actually the first time I interacted with the Peverell line. What do you know of the origins of your family?”

“Nothing past the brothers,” Harry said, “what am I missing.”

“Did you ever wonder why I could get into the Peverell vault without you?”

“Yeah, actually, I meant to ask but we sort of had a lot going on.”

“Understandable,” Death said with a nod, “do you wonder why we share a line trait?”

“I thought maybe you chose your appearance based on the family you aligned with,” Harry said with a slight shrug.

“Not exactly.”

Harry thought for a moment before it hit him, “you’re a Peverell?”

“Hadrian Ignotus Peverell at your service,” Death said with a mischievous grin and a mocking bow.

Harry couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him, “we have the same name?”

“Indeed.”

“That can’t be a coincidence can it?” Harry asked, still laughing.

“I don’t believe in coincidences, Hadrian.”

Harry had so many questions, like whether or not it was weird for Death to call someone else by his own name, but he landed on, “how did you become Death?”

“The Peverells have always had a talent for necromancy, but it started with me. Well, more accurately, the family started with me. To make an incredibly long story short, I lived in what is now France many, many centuries ago. The area was then known as Gaul. When I was around your age, the Greeks arrived at our shores and established a trading post known as Massalia, though you’d know it as the city of Marseille. Magic was more prevalent in that day. It was before the witch hunts, before the Statute of Secrecy. Muggles and Magicals mixed freely. I’m sure that knowledge helps explain much of what is now known as Mythology?”

“I really wish we’d had a better History of Magic teacher,” Harry said in response.

With a laugh, Death continued, “anyways, when the Greeks arrived, our lives changed. With that shipping post, our economy grew and we had more opportunities. But the most important thing, at least as it relates to this story, was that they brought their culture. Necromancy, as I have told you and will teach you, isn’t raising the dead, it’s communing with the other side and allowing spirits to rest. It also opens a whole world of healing magic that isn’t available to the average witch or wizard. The Greeks who settled around my home heard word of my skills and were impressed. I spent the rest of my life traveling and teaching. Stories of my deeds traveled even further than I myself did and eventually I had people worshipping me to some extent.

“The gods you’ve heard of across cultures are real in some manner. They started as people with extraordinary skill and were worshipped in such a way that they became immortal. Their stories and names changed from place to place, but the King of Gods is real whether he’s called Jupiter or Odin. The spirit of the sea is powerful whether you pray to Poseidon or Varuna. The Ruler of the Underworld has many names, Hades, Pluto, Hel, Arawn, Osiris, but no matter the name, they have someone at their right hand.”

“You.” Harry said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I’ve been called Thanatos and Mors and Anubis and many other names throughout the years, though my favorite is and always will be Hadrian Peverell.”

“What does that make me?”

“As I’ve told you before, you will forever be Lord Peverell. Once you die, you will roam freely between the realms. You will stand by my side.”

“Alright,” Harry said, nodding slightly and deciding that he’d unpack … all of that … at a later date, “alright.”

Laughing slightly, Death continued, “but back to your initial question. Hadrian is a Peverell name that has been used every so often over the centuries, but most notably, it was the name of a Roman Emperor in the early 100s. He was a respected emperor known for traveling throughout his domain and for taking on great infrastructure projects. I believe your mother liked how regal the name sounded and that it could be shortened to Harry like her father and grandfather’s names without giving you the same name.”

“That makes sense, ever since I found out it was my full name it’s felt right,” Harry said before smiling over at his companion, “I think I like it even more now.”

The pair then collected their ritual elements and Harry made quick work of taking down the wards and spells around the cave. It was much easier now that Voldemort was dead, he’d tied most of them to his life, truly believing himself to be immortal. Very few of the wards were tied to anything lasting. Once the last enchantment fell, Harry took great pleasure in vanishing that demented potion and sending a bombarda at the weird ass bird bath it had been stored in.

With that taken care of, Death disappeared, and Harry turned on his heel.

* * *

They appeared again in an alley next to Gringotts.

The pair made their way up the stairs, both greeting the guardian Goblins respectfully, and headed into the bank. If people could actually see Death, they’d probably fall over in shock at the image of an immortal deity waiting in line for the next available teller. But that’s exactly what they did.

After a couple of minutes, the world’s strangest duo made it to the front of the line.

“Good afternoon, Master Teller, may your gold ever flow,” Harry greeted with a nod.

“Good afternoon to you as well, Lord Peverell and…” he trailed off noticing Harry’s companion, “Lord Death, may your enemies flee in terror.” the Goblin greeted back with a sharp grin.

“Good one,” Harry said with a smile, “is there anyone available to take us to the Potter artifact vault?”

“Of course, Lord Peverell,” the Goblin said, “please press your Potter ring to this stone to ensure you are who you say you are and that you have access to the indicated vault, and I will fetch a runner straight away.”

30 seconds later, a second Goblin appeared at the side of the teller’s desk.

“Good afternoon Lord Peverell, Lord Death,” the runner greeted, “please, follow me.”

Harry and Death bid goodbye to the teller and followed the runner toward the mine carts.

After a truly mindboggling ride, the trio stepped out of the cart and made their way toward the largest of the Potter vaults.

Harry pressed his ring against the door where the runner indicated and made his way inside the vault.

He’d only been here once before, to fetch James’ ring after Frank told Neville where to find it. He hadn’t spent much time looking around. He did now though.

Last time, he’d been there alone. He’d wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. But today, Harry had a companion and didn’t have anywhere else to be. There were so many things he wanted to look at but decided to find the ring first. He walked toward where he’d found James’ ring – a shelf full of jewelry boxes.

How he hadn’t noticed the box right next to James’ engraved with “LJP,” he wasn’t sure.

When he opened the box, he found both Lily’s engagement ring and her wedding band, along with several other beautiful pieces. He immediately slid the wedding band, a simple thin gold band, onto his right ring finger.

The feeling that washed over Harry the moment all three rings sat next to each other on his finger was more powerful than the magic he’d felt when he put on any of his Lord rings. It was similar in the sense that the magic seemed like it was welcoming him home, but it felt so much more personal. He could feel the magic of each of his parents.

Harry simply stood there and allowed the magic to surround him.

When it stopped, he shook his head, wiped away the few tears that had fallen, and thanked whoever was listening for giving him magic so he could be a part of something like that.

With a deep breath, Harry looked back toward Lily’s jewelry box. Something in him felt off at the idea of leaving the engagement ring behind so he opened James’ box, looking for the simple gold chain he remembered seeing the last time. Once he located the chain, he slid the engagement ring on and secured the clasp at the back of his neck.

That taken care of, Harry started to look around at what else was in the vault. He’d had most of the furniture and portraits moved back to Potter Manor over the summer, but there was still a lot of family history surrounding him.

It was quiet which was odd, Death tended to chatter.

Turning around to see what was up, Harry found Death staring down at a table in the center of the room.

“What’d you find?”

“Did you notice this before?” Death asked, holding up an envelope with a key attached to the outside.

“No,” Harry said, wondering if maybe Hermione was right, and he really was frighteningly oblivious. The envelope was on a table in the middle of the room, he’d walked straight past it both times he’d entered the vault now.

“It’s addressed to you.”

Wondering what it could be, Harry took the envelope from Death’s outstretched hand. He set the key down on the table and then opened the note. It was written on muggle notebook paper. Harry knew who it was from before he even read the signature.

Hadrian,

Most everything of monetary value is either stored in this vault or will automatically be moved here should the worst happen, but price isn’t necessarily what makes things valuable. If you’ve grown up without us, I’m hoping that you grew up with Alice and Frank, that you know all of our friends and you still have your Uncles Padfoot and Moony. But, if by some awful circumstance, you don’t grow up with one of the people we’ve chosen, you probably know very little about us.

The key attached to this envelope is to a personal vault under the name Lily Evans, you are listed as the beneficiary, but it probably won’t show up on any audits you request as there’s nothing of monetary value.

Know that I love you, Harry. I hope you’ve found peace, and I hope you know how special you are.

Love always,

Mum

Deciding to ignore whatever Potters of centuries past had decided to store here, Harry put the letter into his pocket and walked out of the vault.

“Have you finished?” the runner asked.

“With that vault,” Harry answered, he then handed the key to the Goblin and asked, “would you be able to take us to this vault? It’s a personal vault under the name Lily Evans.”

“Of course,” the Goblin said with a nod, “it’s up a few floors.”

After checking to make sure the artifact vault’s door had closed, the group got back in the cart and made their way toward the surface.

A few minutes later, they stepped out and approached the door of a much smaller vault. Like Harry’s trust vault, this one simply opened with the key. No scan of ring, blood, or magic was required.

Inside the vault, Harry found a veritable treasure trove. His mum had been right, though the Goblins would assign very little value to the contents of this vault, it was worth more than any of his other vaults.

He found his parents school trunks and a shelf full of their books. Next to James’ trunk was a bookbag like Harry’s. Grabbing it, Harry turned to the bookshelf and found James and Lily’s 7^th year textbooks, thinking that their annotations might be helpful, or at least fun to look at. He wondered for a second why only James and Lily’s belongings were here before he remembered that all of Regulus’ things were still in his room at Grimmauld Place.

Apart from school things, there were boxes of his parents clothes, photos of them and all of their friends, and a collection of records that would rival the one they’d found in Sirius’ bedroom at Potter manor.

It was next to the records that Harry struck figurative gold.

Potter Manor had an adapted gramophone so that it could also play muggle records and Harry had found a charmed Walkman in James’ childhood bedroom, but they hadn’t found anything portable that could play music out loud.

It was an issue that had truly been plaguing the Gryffindors.

When Bill Weasley was in school, he and his roommates had warded a corner of the Gryffindor common room so a record player would work. Since then, the muggleborn lions had been building a House vinyl library. Everyone loved it. It made parties far more fun than just listening to the wireless and it allowed the muggleborn students to easily share their favorite music with their wizard-raised classmates.

The issue, however, was that they didn’t have something like that in their new tower and no one had wanted to bother Bill over something relatively small.

Harry had just found the solution.

Lily Evans, charms genius that she was, had charmed both a boombox and a record player.

With a giant grin on his face, Harry made sure that both machines were also charmed unbreakable before placing them into his bag.

He’d already purchased Hermione’s birthday gift but he might just have to add to it now.

* * *

Death and Harry spent a few more minutes looking through the vault before Harry decided it was time to head to Grimmauld Place. He wanted to see Teddy and he needed to tell Andromeda and Narcissa about how he’d spent his morning.

He bid Death goodbye for the moment after promising to call for him if he needed help explaining anything to his family and then turned on his heel and apparated to the front step of Grimmauld Place.

Kreacher popped up right as Harry closed the door, “good afternoon, Lord Black, how can Kreacher be helping?”

“Hello, Kreacher,” Harry greeted with a smile, “could you ask Andromeda and Narcissa to join me in the family sitting room and then would you join us as well? I have something to tell you three.”

“Of course, Lord Black,” Kreacher responded before bowing his head and popping out.

As Harry walked up to the sitting room, he thought about how he was going to go about telling them everything. It was going to be rather difficult to explain what had happened without admitting to being the Master of Death. So far, the only people who knew were Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Theo. Susan and Luna each knew most of it, but he hadn’t actually said the words I’m the Master of Death to either of them.

Neville and Hermione knew the most; Neville because he had been the one to help Harry sort everything out while Ron and Hermione were in Australia and Hermione because she asked as many questions as she could, wanting to understand.

There were still things Harry didn’t understand himself.

But after his conversation with Death in the cave, Harry felt he had a better understanding of his place and the legacy he had joined.

As Harry approached the sitting room, he found himself wondering when and if he should tell Draco. Instead of letting that thought fester, he looked toward Kreacher who was standing in the corner and asked, “Kreacher, would you be able to pop over to Hogwarts and ask Draco to floo over here?”

With a nod of assent, Kreacher popped over to Hogwarts, before Harry had a chance to properly greet Andromeda and Narcissa, Kreacher was back and the family floo flashed green.

“That was fast.”

“Well, you’ve been missing all day and then Kreacher showed up telling me to floo over here, I was sitting right by the common room fireplace so it wasn’t exactly a difficult journey,” Draco snarked back before looking Harry over from head to toe, “you’re alright? Nothing’s wrong?”

“I’m fine,” Harry said, sounding slightly confused, “what do you mean?”

“Like I said, Hades, you’ve been gone all day. You didn’t show up to breakfast or lunch and no one I talked to knew where you were.”

“Did you talk to Neville?”

“…No,” Draco admitted, sounding slightly sheepish.

“Next time you think I’ve disappeared, find someone I share a tower with.”

“Good point.”

Shaking his head, Harry turned around to greet Andromeda and Narcissa. Draco did the same and then they all settled onto the couch.

“Is this a tea conversation?” Narcissa asked once everyone was settled.

Before anyone could respond, Kreacher snapped his fingers, and a tea service appeared on the table.

“Thank you Kreacher,” Harry said with a nod, “before I start talking though, Draco, should I let anyone know I’m alive?”

“Maybe ask Neville to tell people he knows where you are … or send a Patronus to Hermione, she was starting to get curious though I think she’s far more accustomed to you disappearing than the rest of us.”

Harry quickly summoned Prongs to send a message off to Hermione that he was dealing with Black Family business and that he and Draco would be back soon.

He then turned back to the room and said, “I have a lot to tell you.”

Deciding to start from the beginning, Harry started to explain the Peverell Family. He skipped over a what Death had explained about his own origins, deciding that was maybe a story for another time. He began with the story of the Three Brothers, knowing that they’d be familiar with the story from their childhoods. After he reached the end of the true story about the brothers, which Draco had heard that summer, Andromeda looked up at Harry, waiting until he made eye contact before asking, “how do you tie into this?”

“I’m the Master of Death.”

“Truly?” she breathed out.

“Truly,” Harry said with a nod, “there’s a lot to it, a lot I still don’t understand. But you should know that the common belief that anyone who held all three Hallows would become the Master is wrong. There are several requirements, but most importantly you have to be chosen by Death.”

“What does that mean?” Narcissa asked, “to be chosen by Death?”

“Narcissa when you told Voldemort I was dead you wouldn’t have been wrong had you reached me 30 seconds earlier.”

“You actually died?”

“I did,” Harry confirmed with a nod, he then pulled off his jumper and his under shirt.

“What in Merlin’s name are you doing, Had-” Draco started before cutting himself off at the sight of Harry’s scar.

“It’s like the one on your head,” Andromeda said, her voice hardly above a whisper.

Knowing that they’d seen what he needed them to see, Harry put his shirt and jumper back on before continuing, “not only did I die, but I greeted Death as a friend. I willingly walked into the forest; I stood there while the bolt of green shot toward me. I didn’t try to weasel my way out of it; I didn’t beg to be saved. That behavior, that intrinsic knowledge that Death is but the next great adventure is central to the Peverell ideology. From the beginning, the Peverells have been associated with Death. I never once thought that the Hallows would allow me to escape Death.”

“I can see how that would be important,” Narcissa reasoned, “Death wouldn’t want to ally with someone who allowed power to corrupt them.”

“Exactly,” Harry said, “but the reason I’m explaining this is that the Peverell family magic is Necromancy. The art has gotten a rather bad reputation over the years, but at its core, Necromancy is healing. There are healing spells that only a Necromancer can use but, more than that, it’s spiritual healing. Necromancers are able to release trapped spirits and can help spirits travel from this plane to the next.”

“That is far different from the way necromancy is explained now,” Andromeda said, “I’ve always thought it was used for things like inferi.”

“The creation of inferi calls on necromantic magic, yes, but it is not true Necromancy,” Harry explained, “However, Necromancy can be used to release the spirits of those who have been trapped as inferi.”

“Ah,” Narcissa said, realizing where this was going, “that’s what you’ve been doing today, correct, Hadrian?”

“Yes, Aunt Cissa.”

“Where were there inferi?” Draco asked.

“The cave.”

“The cave?”

“Yes,” Harry told Draco, “That’s where I was this morning.”

“Oh.”

“But” Harry said, “the reason I’m telling you this isn’t just to say that I got rid of the inferi and to tell my family something about myself.” He then paused to take a steadying breath, “while I was in the cave, I also completed the ritual to send Regulus to rest.”

“What does that mean?” Andromeda asked, “did you release his spirit or were you able to send his body to rest?”

“Both,” Harry answered, “I sent his body to rest at Potter Manor where I had my Mum and Dad moved.”

“I think that’s what he’d want,” Narcissa said with a decisive nod.

When Andromeda nodded her agreement, Harry decided to keep his conversation with his Papa to himself. He’d have shared it if he needed proof that that is what Regulus wanted but, without needing that confirmation, he decided to be selfish with that moment.

“Can we visit?” Andromeda asked.

“I was hoping you’d ask,” Harry said with a soft smile, “I haven’t been yet. I just asked the elves to move them yesterday and only sent Regulus this morning.”

“Let’s finish our tea and once Teddy is awake we’ll all go,” Andromeda decided.

For the next few minutes, they all drank their tea and talked about what had been going on at Hogwarts. Just as Narcissa was getting Harry and Draco to promise to come for a family dinner after the next Wizengamot session, Andromeda’s wand lit up indicating that the charm she’d set to alert her when Teddy woke up had been triggered.

“I’ll get him,” Harry said, setting down his teacup and grabbing his cloak, “I’ll meet you all back here and we can floo over to Potter Manor. You might want to grab a cloak; it’s always a bit colder by the sea.”

They each nodded and headed toward their rooms, Draco asked Kreacher to pop over to Hogwarts and grab one of his lighter cloaks.

Stepping into the nursery, Harry couldn’t help but smile. Teddy was awake and babbling to himself. He was quite a way away from talking, but he certainly seemed to think he was able.

Harry made quick work of getting Teddy ready to go.

By the time he got back to the family room, everyone was ready to go. They took turns stepping through the floo to Potter Manor. Once there, Harry asked the head elf to lead them to the family cemetery.

After a brief walk through the grounds, they came upon a well-kept cemetery.

There, right at the front, was a brand-new headstone.

“It’s beautiful, Hadrian,” Narcissa said after a minute of silence, coming over to place a hand on Harry’s shoulder.

Harry rather agreed.

Chapter Text

Saturday, 12 September 1998

After spending awhile at the graveyard, the group took the floo back to Grimmauld Place where Draco and Harry easily agreed to have dinner with Narcissa and Andromeda. The two sisters spent the dinner reminiscing about their youngest cousin.

Around 7:00, Draco mentioned that they should probably head back so they could have some time before the party that night. After saying their goodbyes and making plans for Teddy to spend the following Saturday at Grimmauld as well – so Harry wouldn’t have to worry about reigning it in at Hermione’s birthday party – the boys headed back to Hogwarts. Harry decided to apparate them back into his quarters instead of using the floo so he could talk to Draco in private before they were around all of their friends again.

They were greeted by Neville who was sitting on Harry’s couch chatting with Salazar about his travels, “hello Sal, Neville,” Harry greeted.

Neville stood up and immediately pulled Harry into a hug, “how’d it go?”

“It went great,” Harry said, hugging his brother back and happily soaking up the comfort, “I’ll tell you the details some other time.”

“Alright,” Neville agreed, holding onto the hug for another minute before pulling away to greet Draco.

“Draco,” Harry started, “Neville knows everything you know but there are very few people who do. I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t talk about … anything … I told you today.”

“Of course, Hades,” Draco promised.

“Thank you,” Harry said with a tired smile, “if you want to go back to your dorm, my front door will bypass the other floors of this tower and lead you immediately to the entrance on the 3^rd floor.”

“Sounds good,” Draco said, smiling back, “I’ll see you two tonight?”

“We’ll be there,” Neville responded.

After Draco left, Neville confirmed that they’d eaten dinner before sending Harry to go take a shower.

* * *

When Harry was done, he stepped into his room to get ready for the evening and found Theo laying in his bed reading a book.

“How’d you get here?” Harry asked in shock.

“Not happy to see me?” Theo responded with an overly-exaggerated pout.

“I’m always happy to see you,” Harry said with a smile, his first genuine one since that morning, “but how’d you get into the tower?”

“Neville,” Theo said with a shrug.

“Should’ve guessed,” Harry said, shaking his head, “do you know what time we’re supposed to be at this party?”

“I wasn’t given an exact time, but Pansy said after dinner was done so I’d bet around 9:00.”

A glance at his watch told Harry it was only 7:30, meaning they had time before they needed to be anywhere.

“You look exhausted,” Theo said, “do you want to take a nap before heading over? I can stay here and make sure you wake up in time.”

Harry weighed that option for a moment but then he looked at Theo again. His kind, intelligent, understanding, and ridiculously gorgeous boyfriend was laying on his bed in jeans and a t-shirt, muggle clothes Harry and Hermione had talked their pureblood friends into buying at the end of the summer. He had one hand behind his head, and he was looking over with so much care in his eyes it made Harry’s breath catch.

“I think I have another idea,” Harry said with a smirk.

“And what’s that?”

In answer, Harry dropped his towel and crawled onto the bed, straddling Theo and pulling him into a searing kiss.

“Good idea,” Theo murmured against Harry’s lips.

“I have my moments.”

In a brief moment of clarity, Harry waved his hand to lock the bedroom door and throw up a silencing charm in case Neville decided to come back and check in.

“Merlin,” Theo whined, “do you understand how stupidly attractive your casual use of wandless, wordless magic is?”

“Have a thing for power, Nott?”

“Only when it’s yours.”

“God,” Harry breathed out, pulling back slightly, “that’s fucking hot.”

Obviously displeased at the lack of contact, Theo wrapped his hand around the back of Harry’s neck, tangling his fingers in messy black curls, and pulled Harry back down to kiss him soundly.

“Needy,” Harry mumbled in a teasing tone.

“Mhm,” Theo murmured before pulling back slightly to begin pressing kisses across Harry’s cheek and down his neck, stopping to bite down on his collar bone before continuing down, peppering kisses across Harry’s chest.

Harry snapped out of his reverie long enough to pull at the hem of Theo’s shirt.

“You want it off, love?”

“Please,” Harry said, just this side of begging.

“Anything for you,” Theo said, sitting up slightly to pull his shirt over his head.

Harry wasted no time in shoving Theo back down against the pillows, pulling him into a messy kiss, tongues battling for dominance, hands exploring bodies and tugging at hair. When Theo was properly blissed out on the kiss alone, Harry pulled back and began a trail of kisses from cheek to chest. When he reached Theo’s hip, he looked up with mischief in his eyes and a smirk on his lips before teasing at the button of his boyfriend’s jeans.

“Please,” Theo begged.

“Only because you asked so nicely, darling.”

Theo tried his hardest not to blush at the petname. But, if Harry’s responding grin was any indication, he failed miserably.

Harry made quick work of unbuttoning Theo’s jeans, continuing to pepper kisses across his hips and lower stomach before pulling off his trousers and pants in one fell swoop.

Keening at the brush of cold air against his quickly hardening length, Theo reached down to tangle his fingers in Harry’s curls once again.

Wasting no time, Harry licked a stripe up the underside of Theo’s dick. Then, glancing up at him to make sure he was watching, sucked him down to the root.

It took every ounce of self-control Theo possessed to stop himself from thrusting up.

Harry took control, wrapping his hands around Theo’s hips to hold him against the bed and setting an unrelenting pace. When he could tell Theo was getting close, he ran one of his hands down between Theo’s thighs and ran a gentle finger across his entrance.

“Harry,” Theo gasped, “if you do that I’m gonna –”

“That’s the point, darling,” Harry interrupted before returning to his ministrations.

Theo couldn’t hold himself back any longer, finishing down Harry’s throat with a cry.

Harry gave him no time to recover, reaching up and grabbing one of the pillows, he placed it underneath Theo’s hips before muttering a protective charm and a spell to conjure lube in quick succession.

This is new, Theo found himself thinking through the haze. He pulled himself together enough to ask, “you sure?”

“If it’s alright with you,” Harry said in a casual tone, “I’d really like to fuck you.”

“Salazar, Hadrian,” Theo breathed out, “please.”

“Anything for you,” Harry echoed, leaning down to kiss Theo soundly.

Theo jumped slightly at the feeling of Harry’s lube-slick finger teasing at his entrance again but quickly relaxed into the touch.

When one finger wasn’t enough, Harry slid in a second, scissoring his fingers carefully, pressing kisses across Theo’s face, neck, and chest until he was painfully hard and begging Harry to fuck him.

Harry, never one to tell Theo no, quickly lubed up his own length and pressed himself against Theo’s arse.

“You sure you’re ready?” Harry asked.

“Positive,” Theo said, “now, please, Harry, fuck me.”

Ever so slowly, inch-by-inch, Harry slid in, making sure to allow Theo time to adjust before moving.

Once he’d set his pace, he reached down to stroke Theo in time with his thrusts. Theo grasped at Harry’s hair and dug his nails into Harry’s back hard enough to draw blood, Harry simply thrust faster in response. When he felt himself getting too close to the edge, he slowed his pace, focusing on hitting Theo’s prostate with each thrust, stroking him until he was practically writhing, begging for release.

Leaning down, Harry pulled Theo into a messy kiss and increased his pace until he felt Theo’s entire body tense, clenching down on Harry’s length, warm release spreading between their stomachs. Theo’s face when he finished was enough to send Harry over the edge.

Breathing hard, Harry did his best to collapse next to Theo, rather than on top of him, and failed rather spectacularly.

After a minute, both boys caught their breath. Theo turned his head to the side, reaching up to push Harry’s messy curls off his forehead and press a kiss right on top of his scar.

“I think you might need another shower, love,” Theo said with a light chuckle.

“Join me?”

Theo smiled, “How could I possibly say no to that offer.”

* * *

By the time they got out of the shower, it was 8:30 and they needed to get ready for the party.

Theo searched around the room for his discarded clothes, getting dressed quickly. He turned around to find Harry staring at his wardrobe, smiling to himself, he walked up behind his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist and leaned his forehead against Harry’s shoulder, “everything alright, love?”

“I buried my father today, I miss Teddy even though I saw him two hours ago, I’m thinking about when we should tell everyone we’re together,” he paused for a second, “and I don’t know what to wear.”

Trying his hardest not to laugh at the word vomit, Theo said “why don’t we start with clothes and then we can talk about everything else?”

“Alright,” Harry said, taking a deep breath, “what do you think I should wear?”

Humming lightly, Theo stepped toward Harry’s wardrobe and pulled out a pair of light wash jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and a maroon hoodie.

“Here,” he said, holding out the clothes, “these all look nice on you, they’re comfortable, and you have layers if you get warm.”

Nodding his thanks, Harry started to get dressed, pausing when he heard Theo clear his throat.

Harry looked up in question, “I didn’t ask earlier,” Theo said, “I was a little distracted, but care to explain your new jewelry? And also, maybe, the third knife I see in your holster over there?”

“Ah, this,” he said, holding up his necklace, “is Mum’s engagement ring, these” he continued, holding up his right hand, “are Papa and Mum’s wedding rings, I already had Dad’s, but I got the others today.”

“That’s nice, love,” Theo said with a soft smile before putting on a mock-stern face and continuing, “and the knife?”

“Peverell ritual knife, I needed it for this morning and Death who, fun fact, is also named Hadrian, said it’d probably be best to keep it on me.”

“Ignoring the part about Death having the same name as you for the moment, how do you continue waltzing about the school as a walking armory?”

Harry just shrugged and responded, “I never exactly asked anyone permission, so no one’s had a chance to tell me no.”

“That should be your new life’s motto.”

“I rather like it,” Harry said with a cheeky grin, before pulling on his hoodie and holding out his arms, “how do I look?”

“Lovely as always,” Theo answered, reaching out to run a hand through Harry’s damp curls, “now, what weapons are we bringing to a party full of our friends?”

“I’m pretty sure I have to carry all of them,” Harry answered, “the Slytherin Grimoire is clear that the Lord should have the family ritual knife on them at all times, Godric was rather insistent that we each carry a fighting dagger otherwise he was going to make us start walking around with full on swords, as a Warrior of the Nation I’m meant to have my gifted weapon on me so that means the fang is a must, and I need to have at least one wand on me so I suppose I could leave the Peverell dagger and my holly wand behind.”

“Might it be smart to leave one wand behind every so often, so you know you have a backup somewhere safe?”

Harry shot Theo a slightly offended look, “I have four family vaults full of wands and you really think this is my only back up wand? Who do you think I am?”

“Forgive me,” Theo said, holding up his hands in mock surrender, “I’d forgotten you were schooled in paranoia by Alastor Moody himself.”

“Constant vigilance!” Harry barked, maintaining a straight face for all of five seconds before he cracked a grin, “anyways,” he said, shaking his head, “it really does seem excessive but at least my scythe is stored in that sort of shadow space along with the Cloak, so I don’t have to actually carry it.”

“Did you just say your scythe?”

“Did I forget to mention that?”

“I believe you did.”

“Ah, well, I have a scythe.”

“I heard,” Theo deadpanned, “did you want to talk about anything else you mentioned before we go to this party or would you like to wait?”

Thinking for a moment, Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “I think wait, my thoughts are still rather scrambled and I’d like to focus on having fun.”

“Sounds good love,” Theo said, pulling Harry into a hug and taking a deep breath, “want to head over?”

“Sure, let’s check and see if Nev is in his room”

* * *

After collecting Neville in his room and Susan on the stairs down, the group of four 8^th Years headed into the hall, “I’m really not sure what to expect,” Susan commented, “I know what Hufflepuff and Gryffindor parties were like, but I have no clue what went down at Slytherin parties.”

“We didn’t really party much,” Theo said with a shrug, “a lot of people were really focused on appearances, so parties were few and far between, what about the Ravenclaws?”

“Unless it was a party after a quidditch victory, they usually just joined Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Their tower was usually pretty quiet,” Harry answered.

“I guess that makes sense,” Theo mused, “but, like Susan said, I have no clue what to expect tonight.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Neville said, stepping up to the portrait and speaking the password.

When the group stepped through the portrait hall, they walked into the absolute last scene they’d expected; a completely silent common room.

Everyone was there, but it was entirely silent.

“What is going on here?” Harry asked.

“We can’t agree on what to do,” Padma informed him.

“Um,” Harry said, “party?”

“No shit, Potter,” Seamus teased, “we can’t agree on what that means.”

“Haven’t you been planning this all week?”

“We have,” Pansy confirmed, “but we didn’t exactly think past time, place, food, and alcohol.”

“Well, we have the essentials,” Harry said before turning to Neville, “you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Almost always,” Neville said with a manic grin.

“No,” Dean said.

“Absolutely not,” Seamus added.

“You two are barmy.” Ron finished.

“What is going on?” Draco asked.

“Think it’ll be easier or harder to break into Slughorn’s stores now?” Harry asked instead of responding.

Hermione caught on quickly, “no, we are not playing truth or dare with Veritaserum."

"Why not,” Harry whined.

“It’s so much fun,” Neville added in the same tone.

“Weasley’s right,” Draco said, “you two really are barmy.”

“Ugh fine,” Harry sighed, “we could just play truth or dare and if you don’t want to answer or do the dare you take a shot? It’d be lower stakes than our way.”

“That works,” Pansy said, “and while we’re playing, think of other drinking games to suggest.”

“Alright,” Lavender said with a shrug, “it’s our first time drinking all together so this will probably be easier than just launching into an all-out rager.”

“Right as always, Lav,” Harry said with a grin, “get into a circle, people!” he yelled, clapping his hands, “it’s time to get trashed and embarrass each other!”

“Alright everyone,” Ron stage whispered, “Harry is nearly incapable of turning down a direct challenge so give him your worst.”

“You’re the worst Ronald.”

“You love me, really.”

“Whatever,” Harry said, waving him off, “now, the premise of the game is incredibly simple, but does anyone have any questions? No, okay, pour yourself a shot and let’s get going, who wants to start?”

“I’ll start!” Seamus yelled, turning toward Neville, “truth or dare, Weasley?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to kiss Harry.”

“Why is this always your first dare?”

“Cause it’s funny.”

“Is it?” Neville asked with a long-suffering sigh as Ron leaned around Hermione to give Harry a quick peck.

“Finnegan, your sense of humor leaves much to be desired,” Harry said.

“Neville’s turn!” Seamus said instead of responding to his friends’ protests.

Laughing at Seamus’ antics, Neville looked around the circle for a minute before deciding, “Zabini, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Blaise said after a moment’s thought.

“If you had to be in any house other than Slytherin, which would you pick?”

“Probably Ravenclaw,” Blaise answered with a shrug, Neville ignored the scandalized looks the other Gryffindors were sending him for asking such a tame question, “Granger,” Blaise said, “truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Were the rumors about you and Harry in fourth year true?”

Looking across the circle, Hermoine made eye contact with Harry who immediately burst out laughing, followed closely by the rest of the Gryffindors and most of the Hufflepuffs.

“What’s so funny?” Blaise asked.

“Do you not remember when he told us he was dating Diggory fourth year?” Theo asked, smiling at his friend.

“Okay, well, maybe not during 4^th year,” Blaise hedged.

“You can re-phrase your question, Zabini,” Ron asked with a grin.

Rolling his eyes, Blaise asked, “have you and Potter ever hooked up?”

That sent the lions into another fit of laughter.

“Now I really don’t understand what’s so funny.” Blaise said throwing his hands up.

“They’re like siblings,” Padma choked out, “that’d be like asking if Harry and Ron ever hooked up.”

“I literally just watched them kiss,” Blaise protested.

“That’s just because Seamus has a sick sense of humor,” Dean said, “but Harry and Hermione are totally platonic.”

“Dean’s right,” Hermione answered, “no, nothing has ever happened between Harry and I.”

“I really don’t understand why people keep thinking that.” Harry said.

“If you saw how the two of you dance at parties you’d understand,” Lavender said, raising an eyebrow at Harry.

“That’s valid.” Harry said with a shrug.

“What does that mean?” Theo asked, looking over at Harry.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Harry said with a teasing grin.

“No!” Ron yelled.

“What?” Harry asked, looking over at his friend.

“We don’t have the record player anymore! What’re we going to do for music?”

“I have a solution but you’re going to have to wait a week.”

“What’s in a week?” Hermione asked.

Ron and Harry just stared at her until she realized, “oh!” she said grinning, “my birthday! Alright,” she said, turning back to the circle, “my turn, Pansy, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Did you actually date Draco?”

“Absolutely not.” Pansy responded.

“That’s like asking if you and Hades dated.” Draco added.

After the laughter died down, Pansy turned toward Theo with a slightly wicked grin. Theo swallowed hard, knowing exactly what was coming.

“Theodore,” Pansy said, “truth or dare?”

“Truth.” Theo answered in a rather defeated tone.

“Why did you arrive to this party, freshly showered might I add, from Founder’s Tower rather than your own dorm?”

Theo looked to Harry for an indication of how he should answer, Harry shrugged which Theo took as permission to tell the truth, or at least part of it, “I was with Harry.”

“That is not the full answer, Theodore, and you know it.”

“That’s what you’re getting, Parkinson.”

Pansy slumped back in her chair, crossing her arms with a huff. Theo just smiled and shook his head before turning to ask Susan, “truth or dare?”

An hour and a half later, everyone was pleasantly drunk and the game had devolved into people just chatting.

Theo looked across the room where Harry was sitting between Hermione and Lavender smiling and chatting, smiling softly to himself, Theo turned back to the conversation he was having with Ron and Draco.

Pausing their conversation, Ron looked over at Harry and back at Theo, “take care of him, alright?”

“Of course,” Theo said with a nod.

“It was a long day,” Draco said, “I really don’t think he should sleep alone. He’s putting on a face right now, I can tell.”

“Draco’s right which is something I never thought I’d say,” Ron added, “I lived with him for 7 years, I don’t know what exactly happened today, I only know pieces, but I do know that look in his eye and he really shouldn’t be alone.”

“Then I’ll make sure he’s not alone,” Theo said.

“Thanks mate,” Ron responded, clapping Theo on the shoulder before returning to the discussion on the international quidditch league they’d been having before.

An hour later, Theo saw Harry stifle yet another yawn. Walking across the room, Theo circled the couch so he was standing behind him, leaning down he said in a low voice so only Harry could hear, “you ready for sleep, love?”

Harry merely nodded.

“You alright walking out of here together?”

“Yeah, I don’t care if people find out. The people who really matter know.”

“Alright,” Theo said, smiling softly, “let’s go to bed.”

* * *

After bidding goodnight to everyone, Neville decided to head back as well. The trio made their way out of the portrait and across the hall.

As they climbed the stairs, Neville stopped outside of the library, “let’s go,” he said.

“Really?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, I already talked to Luna and Susan, we just need you to finish adjusting the wards.”

“Thanks, Nev,” Harry said with a grin.

“What’s happening?” Theo asked.

“We’re adding you to the tower’s wards,” Neville answered, “you’ll be able to get into the common area downstairs and into Harry’s room, the library, training room, and armory wards cannot be adjusted. You can only enter those with one of us.”

Theo simply nodded his thanks, strangely emotional at the gesture.

Harry stepped back out of the library grinning, reaching out for Theo’s hand he said, “let’s head to sleep.”

Once they were safely in Harry’s room, Theo turned to Harry and asked, “did you want to talk about today?”

“What about today?”

“Any of it.”

Harry was quiet as he pulled of his clothes and threw them in the laundry basket, he was quiet as he went into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, he was quiet as Theo did the same.

Theo let him be quiet.

Finally, once they were both under the covers and the lights were turned off, Harry turned reached out and tangled his fingers with Theo’s and started talking.

He explained his day from start to finish, including the things he’d neglected to tell Narcissa, Andromeda, and Draco. He even told Theo about the conversation he’d had with Regulus’ spirit.

Once he was done talking, Theo simply squeezed his hand and said, “thank you for telling me, love.”

“Thank you for listening.”

Chapter Text

Saturday, 19 September 1998

The week between Harry’s introduction into Necromancy and Hermione’s birthday passed quickly. Classes were going well, the castle felt safe, and Harry felt happy. There was some small part of his brain that kept telling him he needed to wait for the other shoe to drop, but the larger, less paranoid part of his brain told him he deserved to be happy.

Theo had slept in Harry’s room every night since Saturday. On Tuesday, Harry came upstairs from training to find Theo feeding Teddy his bottle while looking over his Charms notes and just like that they’d fallen into a routine.

For two boys who’d never really known the love of parents - Harry losing his parents as a baby, Theo losing his mother when he was 4, and Apollonius Nott being a rather sorry excuse for a father – they’d stepped into the role rather seamlessly. Harry had been doing it all summer, but Theo had only really been at it for a week and, if asked, probably wouldn’t yet admit that’s what he was doing. But it was clear that he loved that little boy with everything he had.

Now, it was Saturday morning and Harry was sitting in an abandoned classroom in the same hallway as the 8^th Year Tower and Founders Tower that Susan and he had commandeered for plotting their government takeover. Harry had given up on telling Susan to stop calling it a government takeover when they were really just discussing how to go about systematically dismantling everything the Wizengamot had done in the last hundred … you know what, it was a government takeover.

With the help of the Hogwarts elves, they’d totally redone the room. What used to be a dusty space filled with broken desks and cobwebs was now a clean space with large windows that let in plenty of natural light. There was a conference room table at the center with enough seats for all the sitting Lords and Ladies in the castle as well as all of the primary heirs. There were several writing desks along the two walls with windows and the third wall, the one not occupied by the door and Susan’s giant bulletin board with a banner reading “1998 is the Year for Anarchy” pinned to the top, was covered in bookshelves holding copies of every law the Wizengamot had ever passed.

This morning, Harry was sitting there with Susan, Hermione, and Teddy. Hermione had no position on the Wizengamot, for now (Harry sure hoped she’d get one of the elected positions sooner rather than later, their Orders of Merlin First Class should certainly help), but she had an incredible political mind. Teddy was there because his godmother (Harry had named Neville and Hermione as Teddy’s godparents when he’d adopted him) had demanded that she get to spend as much time with her godson as possible on her birthday before he was sent away. Hermione really didn’t want to hear Harry’s argument that he wasn’t “sending Teddy away,” but had merely decided that a classic Gryffindor rager probably wasn’t the place for an infant.

Nonetheless, the group was sitting there discussing what they’d like to tackle first at the upcoming Wizengamot meeting. The meetings took place every month, except for August, on the night of the New Moon. So far, Harry and his friends had only attended the July session and they’d only really been able to announce which seats they were taking, and they hadn’t been able to announce everyone. Luna had been out of the country so the Rosier, Ollivander, and Ravenclaw seats remained unclaimed and Fred had still been unconscious from the injuries he’d sustained during the battle, so they hadn’t been able to announce Fred and George as the new Lords Prewett.

That was still a bit of an issue, but Harry had a plan. Granted, the plan included roping Ginny into sweettalking Muriel Prewett, something no one had achieved since Gideon and Fabian were, like, six … but it was still a plan.

“Alright,” Susan said, pulling Harry from his thoughts about how to survive an encounter with the only Dowager more imposing than Augusta Longbottom, “I think we have a plan, or at least a solid outline of one. It’s a nice day outside, Hermione go spend your birthday with your godson. I’ll see you lot tonight.”

She then exited the room with the type of purpose only Susan Bones was able to achieve.

“What would you like to do, birthday girl?” Harry asked.

Hermione just shrugged, smiling, “I really just want to spend time with Teddy. I haven’t gotten to see him much with classes and everything. I haven’t gotten to see you much either.”

“Alright,” Harry said, smiling back, “how about a walk around the lake?”

“Sounds perfect.”

The little trio spent the next couple of hours walking around the lake before Hermione shot off her Patronus to ask Ron to grab lunch and meet them down by the lake.

A half hour later, Ron arrived holding three sandwiches and a picnic blanket.

Harry called Mimi to bring a bottle for Teddy who, after finishing said bottle, immediately fell asleep, snoring softly.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent the next hour catching up, filling Ron in on everything Harry had told Hermione during their walk. After everything serious had been covered, they started to talk about Susan’s career in anarchy. Harry told Ron his plan to win over Muriel and he agreed it was about as good a plan as one could come up with.

Once it hit 4:00, Teddy started to stir, and Harry decided it was time to go inside. The group entered through the Heir’s entrance at the outside of the clock tower so Harry could show Ron and Hermione around the Tower, having realized on the walk over that he somehow hadn’t done that yet.

The trio kept chatting while Harry gave Teddy a bath and got him ready to spend the night with Andromeda and Narcissa

At 6:00, Harry called for Mimi and asked her to please take Teddy to Grimmauld Place.

Hermione’s party wasn’t scheduled to start until 8:00 so they could’ve gone down to the Great Hall for dinner but it had been so long since it was just the three of them that Harry decided to have one of the elves bring dinner up to his quarters. They spent the next hour eating and laughing together before they split off to get ready for the night.

After taking a quick shower, Harry went back into his room to get dressed and found Theo in the exact position he’d been in a week before.

Laughing, Harry said, “I don’t have time for a repeat of last week.”

“I know,” Theo said with a smile, “we can save that for later, I just wanted to see you and thought you might want help picking out clothes.”

“I’m always happy to see you, darling,” Harry said with a warm smile, “and sure, you can pick out my outfit.”

Grinning, Theo jumped off the bed and headed toward Harry’s wardrobe.

A few minutes later, Harry was dressed in the same light wash jeans he’d worn the week prior – he was starting to think they were Theo’s favorites – but instead of a t-shirt and a hoodie, Theo had thrown him a white button down and an emerald green jumper.

Harry looked at himself in the mirror and blew out a breath, “I look like my dad.”

“Which one?” Theo asked with a teasing grin.

“James,” Harry said, rolling his eyes, “I haven’t really thought I looked much like him since I started filling out, except for the hair, skin tone, and glasses, but look at that picture on the bookshelf of him with Sirius and Regulus, I look exactly like him.”

“You really do,” Theo said quietly before he narrowed his eyes at the picture, “except one thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did your dad have his ear pierced?”

“Yeah, he’s wearing that little gold hoop in most of the pictures of him after his 5^th year,” Harry said, smiling, “according to his journals, he let Sirius pierce it over that summer.”

“You should pierce your ear.”

“What? Now?”

“Why not,” Theo said with a shrug, “what’re the odds Luna knows how.”

“Pretty high, it’s Luna, she knows everything.”

“I’m gonna go get her.”

“Theo are you being serious right now.”

“Yeah I think it’d look hot.”

“Alright,” Harry said, realizing putting up a fight would be futile.

2 minutes later, Theo returned with Luna who was holding her wand and a gold hoop and had a slightly off-putting grin on her face, “this shouldn’t hurt.”

“That’s what you said when you fixed my nose and that was a dirty filthy lie.”

Luna simply shrugged before pointing her wand at Harry’s ear and muttering a spell under her breath, a slight pinch was followed closely by the relief of a directed cooling charm, a second later, Harry felt Luna push a post through his ear and heard the slight click as she secured the post into the other side of the hoop.

“Done,” she said in her usual cheery voice.

“I was right,” Theo said, “you look hot.”

Rolling his eyes, Harry thanked his boyfriend before turning around to grab Hermione’s present, “let’s go, I don’t want to be late.”

“Wait just a moment,” Luna said as they reached her door, “I need to grab my gift as well.”

Once Luna had collected her package, the group made their way over to the 8^th Year’s tower. The scene they walked into was a little more lively than the one they’d found last week, but it was nowhere near as rowdy as Harry knew it was going to get.

They sat around the room sipping on drinks while Hermione opened presents from her friends. As always, she got a bunch of books. People rarely knew what else to get her. Well, Neville had gotten her a plant, Luna had given her a hand-crafted dream catcher that was truly beautiful, and Ginny had given her a sweater Hermione had been eying the last time they’d gone shopping that summer.

Ron and Harry had certainly fallen victim to the book cliché over the years, but they’d gotten better. It was down to only their gifts now and Hermione looked between them trying to decide whose to open first, “please let her open mine last,” Harry asked Ron.

“Alright, mate,” Ron agreed easily.

Ron’s gift was beautiful, “I stole your insane shoebox full of pictures and had my mum teach me how to make them into a scrapbook, it’s charmed to always stay this size, but it automatically adds blank pages at the end.”

“Oh, Ron, it’s lovely,” Hermione said reaching over to hug her boyfriend, “thank you so much.”

“Great job, Ron,” Harry complimented, “it’s really well done.”

Blushing at the compliments, Ron pointed to Harry’s gift and said “last one, Mione.”

“Now,” Harry said before she could open it, “half of it is a gift just for you and the other half is yours but it’s also sort of a gift for all of us.”

Slightly confused, Hermione just shrugged and opened the gift. Inside, she found a lovely light brown bookbag like Harry’s. “Oh Harry,” she said, “this is perfect, thank you!”

“I’m glad you like it,” Harry said with a smile, “now open the other part and let’s get this party started.”

Slightly less confused now, remembering Harry’s comment from last week that he’d solved their music issue, she opened the other part of the gift.

“My mum charmed it,” Harry said with a soft smile, “I also found her notes on how she charmed it and how to renew the charms so you can experiment with other stuff. A lot of the tapes are ones I found in her vault, but I also went to that music store by Grimmauld and got tapes of most of the records we had in the tower and," he said with a giant grin, reaching into his pocket, “I made this!”

“No way,” Hermione said, grinning back.

“What’s that?” Pansy asked from across the room.

“A mixtape!” Hermione cheered.

“A what?”

“It’s time for a music education,” Harry responded, “I put a few Gryffindor party favorites and some of your favorites as well as a few other songs I found listening to my parents’ collection.”

“How long is it?” Hermione asked.

“It’s 90 a side, so about 3 hours.”

“Perfect,” Hermione said, grinning, “time to party!”

The Gryffindors apparently took that as a marching order, standing almost in unison to start shoving the furniture toward the walls while Ron and Neville moved all the food and drinks to one table on the far wall and Harry and Hermione got the boombox set up.

“What is happening right now?” Draco whispered.

“I haven’t the slightest fucking clue, mate,” Greg whispered back.

The next thing they knew, Ron and Neville were levitating shots over to the Gryffindors who were standing in a circle around Harry and Hermione, “Arriba, abajo, al centro, pa’ dentro!” they cheered in unison, moving their shot glasses around before tossing them back.

“Did I just enter an alternate dimension?” Draco asked just as Harry reached out and pressed play on the boom box.

A second later, music that none of them recognized but apparently all of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and most of the Ravenclaws knew by heart was blasting out of the corner of the room. Though no one was as into it as the lions.

As the music played, a few of them pulled out their wands and conjured hundreds of multicolored orbs of light and sent them to float around the room.

The Slytherins, to put it lightly, were gobsmacked.

It was like they’d rehearsed it. From the fact they’d all known where to put the furniture and the refreshments to the weird in-sync shots to the lights to the now literally choreographed dance several of them seemed to be doing.

“What is this music?” Draco asked, raising his voice slightly to be heard above the racket.

“It’s ABBA!” Harry yelled back, “get your arse up and dance!”

“How, exactly, does one dance to this Hades.”

Draco would learn rather quickly that asking that question was an incredibly bad idea. Harry all but apparated across the room, grabbed Draco by both hands, and yanked him onto the dance floor, pulling him between Hermione and himself.

Draco looked back over at his fellow Slytherins with fear in his eyes. The traitors all simply shrugged, letting him know without words that he’d chosen this fate now he just had to live with it.

Time passed, the Gryffindors somehow got rowdier, the Ravenclaws were getting crazier and crazier with each passing moment, and the Hufflepuffs had started to pass joints around. The Slytherins who hadn’t been dragged bodily onto the dance floor were sitting in a corner trying to figure out what the ever loving fuck was going on.

About an hour in, Ron came over to the group dragging Draco behind him, “I decided to show mercy.”

“How chivalrous, Weasley,” Pansy said with a smile, pulling Draco down to sit next to her on the couch, “care to explain what the bloody hell is happening?”

“Do you mean the music, the copious amounts of alcohol, or the illegal drugs?”

“Any of the above.”

“It’s muggle music, we all know it because we had that record player I mentioned last week up in Gryffindor Tower and over the past decade or so the muggleborn students have been adding to the library, it’s what we play at parties and Harry made this mixtape of a bunch of favorites, so everyone knows the words to most of the songs. I feel like the alcohol is pretty self-explanatory. As for the drugs, it’s just weed, or marijuana, Sprout has been turning a blind eye to what her Puffs grow in the old greenhouses forever.”

As Theo had been distracted listening to Ron, he hadn’t been watching Harry so when he looked up and saw Harry on top of a table dancing with Hermione, both of them wearing cowboy hats that had seemingly materialized out of thin air, he was rather confused.

Wondering why Theo was making that face, Ron turned around. Seeing his two best friends, he simply smiled and yelled “space cowboy?”

They both cheered and continued dancing, passing a blunt back and forth and scream-singing the lyrics, “I’m a joker, I’m a smoker, I’m a midnight toker.”

Ron simply nodded as if that explained everything.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Theo asked.

“What Nott said,” Blaise added, “also, are you really alright with your best mate dancing with your girlfriend like that? It’s rather … erotic.”

Ron just shrugged, “this is what Lavender meant last week when she said that anyone who saw them dancing together wouldn’t believe for a second they’d never had a thing.”

“That did not answer my question.”

“It’s fine,” Ron said, laughing, a genuine smile on his face, “there truly is nothing between them. They’re having fun, they both like dancing at parties, I really don’t, I have to be incredibly drunk before I join them and by the looks of it I might need to be the sober one tonight.”

Accepting that explanation, the group settled into comfortable conversation, sipping on drinks and listening to the strange new music.

A few minutes later, a song came on that Theo recognized, “what’s this one?” he asked, “it sounds familiar.”

After listening for a second, Ron responded, “Sweet Emotions by Aerosmith, it’s one of Harry’s favorites, he probably played it at Potter Manor over the summer. He goes a little feral dancing to this one.”

“How do you dance to this?” Draco asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Like that,” Ron said, pointing over his shoulder with a laugh.

Theo looked over and saw Harry, still wearing a cowboy hat, though he’d lost the jumper and unbuttoned his shirt entirely sometime in the last 20 minutes. He’d rolled up his sleeves so the holsters with the Elder Wand and his basilisk fang were fully visible. With his shirt unbuttoned, his tanned and toned torso and stark white lightening scar were on full display. He had a joint held loosely between his fingers and a giant smile on his face.

He was still on top of the same table though now he was dancing between Hermione and Ginny rather than only with Hermione.

Theo was quite sure he’d forgotten how to breathe.

“Alright, Nott,” Ron said with a teasing grin.

Shaking his head like a dog, Theo rasped out something that was maybe “yes,” before he downed the rest of his drink and made his way across the room as if in a trance.

“Sweet Salazar,” Pansy said, “does he really think no one knows?”

“They don’t really care if people know,” Ron said, “they told family and decided anyone else could just ask.”

“You knew!” Pansy yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Draco.

“Of course, not only did they tell me, I also have eyes.” Draco answered gesturing back across the room where Theo had reached Harry.

“Theodore!” Harry called out, a giant smile on his face. Passing the blunt over to Hermione, he reached down to pull Theo up on the table with him.

Instead of doing that, because he still had a little bit of a self-preservation instinct, though most of it had been lost in the last 30 seconds, Theo pulled Harry down to the floor and directly into a searing kiss.

He smelled like smoke and sweat and whiskey and something distinctly Harry. His skin was warm, and his kiss was heaven.

Theo seemed to snap back to reality at the deafening cheer that went up around the common room.

Harry was apparently drunk enough to ignore the attention they were getting, “dance with me?” he asked Theo in a whisper.

And, really, how could Theo say no to him?

* * *

It took another hour and a half for the Gryffindors to wear themselves out. Theo had left the dance floor an hour ago to go join his fellow snakes on their couch in the corner. They were having quite a bit of fun, but it would take more than one party for them to be comfortable letting loose like their classmates.

Even after the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had joined the Slytherins on the couches around the room to simply drink, smoke, and chat, the Gryffindors were still going. Whenever someone asked what a song was, they’d either get a clear answer or just get the lyrics screamed even louder.

When the lions finally, finally tired out, they realized that most of the couches were full. With a shrug, Harry plopped himself down right in the middle of the floor and was quickly joined by the rest of his former housemates. Within a minute, they were all in a giant pile, laying on top of each other, and happily chatting or singing along to whatever song was playing now.

“What is wrong with them?” Blaise asked.

“They’re like a bunch of puppies.” Pansy observed.

“Oi!” Harry yelled, having somehow heard that comment across the room and over the music, “we are lions, not puppies, show some respect!”

“You are a golden retriever puppy, Potter-Black, you cannot tell me otherwise.”

Harry just shrugged, seemingly deciding there was no use arguing that point.

When it got to a point where it was clear the pile of Gryffindors was perfectly content to sleep in a pile on the floor, Ron decided it was time to play ‘dad.’

“Alright, you lot,” he said, in a great impersonation of his father, “time for bed. It’s nearly one, several of you have a hostile takeover to plan tomorrow, and you’ve all got too many weird joint issues after serving in a literal war to sleep on a stone floor all night.”

It was the last point that finally got them moving. The rest of the 8^th years followed them up the stairs while Susan, Neville, Harry, Theo, Luna, and Ginny headed into the hall.

“I do not want to walk up to the tower,” Ginny grumbled.

“You can sleep on my couch,” Harry offered.

“Alright, thanks, Haz,” Ginny said with a grin that told Harry that was exactly what she was angling for.

Harry simply rolled his eyes and held out his arm for Ginny to tuck herself into his side.

“Anytime, Gin,” he said, leaning his head against hers.

“You’re my favorite big brother.”

“Please, oh please, say that in front of Charlie next time we see him.”

“Do you want to fight a dragon?”

“I’ve done it before, I’d do it again just to see the look on his face.”

“You’re a strange, strange man Harry James.”

Shaking his head, Harry just smiled as they followed the rest of their group up the stairs, bidding goodnight to Susan and Luna at their landing before continuing up the stairs.

“Night, all,” Neville said with a yawn.

Bidding him goodnight in return, Theo, Ginny, and Harry made their way into Harry’s quarters. Harry grabbed a jumper and sweatpants out of his wardrobe and handed them to Ginny, pointing her toward the bathroom before returning to the living room with a pillow and blanket for the couch. Theo followed him out with an odd look on his face.

“What’s up?” Harry asked.

“Didn’t you guys used to date?”

Laughing lightly, Harry answered “dating is a rather strong word. I think we kissed, like, twice. I’m almost certain I’ve kissed Ron more times than I’ve kissed Ginny. We discovered pretty quickly we didn’t actually like each other that way. She’s like my sister. The Weasleys have all but adopted me.”

“Alright,” Theo agreed easily, “need any help out here?”

“Nah,” Harry said, yawning, “I think it’s good. Merlin, I’m ready for bed.”

“I didn’t realize you lot partied like that.”

“Yeah,” Harry said with a smile, “we like to have fun.”

“I can tell,” Theo said, smiling back, “you’re a rather good dancer.”

“You think?” Harry asked with a smirk.

“I do.”

Before Harry could respond, Ginny came back into the room. She bid Theo goodnight before hugging Harry and promptly passing out face down on the couch.

Rolling his eyes, Harry grabbed the blanket, covered her up, and kissed her lightly on the top of the head.

After making sure the door was locked, Harry opened the door to Teddy’s room so Ginny could get into the bathroom if she needed before shutting off the lights and heading into his room.

Both Harry and Theo made quick work of getting undressed and getting ready for bed. When Theo emerged from the bathroom, Harry was fast asleep. Smiling, Theo brushed his curls back and kissed his forehead before setting an alarm and snuggling up under the covers.

Chapter Text

Sunday, 20 September 1998

The next morning came far too quickly in Harry’s opinion.

He woke up to Theo’s alarm. His boyfriend gave him a quick kiss good morning before he got out of bed, pulled on his clothes from the night before, and headed back to the 8^th Year Tower to get ready for the day, “you should really just bring some of your stuff here,” Harry called out, “there’s room.”

Smiling, Theo nodded, “alright, love, I’ll do that later.”

“Good.” Harry responded before yawning, “alright, I’m going to shower. Don’t wake Ginny up if she’s still asleep, she kicks.”

“Noted,” Theo said with a laugh.

“I am not joking, Theodore.”

“Alright,” Theo said, holding his hands up in surrender, “I swear not to wake her up.”

“Good boy,” Harry mumbled, “see you later.”

“See you later, love.”

Harry gave it another five minutes before he literally rolled out of bed. He showered as quickly as he possibly could when it felt like his entire body was revolting against his very existence. He got dressed in jeans and a hoodie before pulling out another pair of joggers and a hoodie for Ginny, knowing she’d likely refuse to hike back up to the tower before breakfast.

He guessed right, when he walked into the living room, Ginny had just flopped onto the floor, rolling off the couch in the exact way Harry had rolled off his bed.

“Here’s fresh clothes, Gin” Harry said, “you can shower if you’d like then we can go to breakfast.”

“Alright, thanks, Haz.”

“Course.”

Harry sat down on his couch and tried his level best not to fall back to sleep (he failed, miserably) while Ginny showered and got dressed. He was woken up by a pillow to the face and opened his eyes to a grinning redhead.

“I hate you.”

“You don’t.”

“You can’t read my mind.”

“Whatever,” Ginny said, yanking Harry off the couch, “let’s go.”

* * *

Up at the head table, Mary was trying her hardest not to laugh at the 8^th years and select few 7^th years in various states of disrepair across the Great Hall.

“What happened last night?” Bill muttered under his breath.

“Hermione’s birthday,” Fleur reminded him.

“Ah,” he said with a nod, “that explains it.”

“It appears Mr. Potter-Black is so out of sorts he’s forgotten he’s no longer a Gryffindor,” McGonagall commented in a tone that only someone who knew her personally would be able to tell was amused.

“I’m about 80% sure my sister is wearing his clothes, so I really don’t know what’s happening.” Bill commented.

“I thought they were together?” McGonagall asked, obviously trying not to sound too interested in the gossip.

That had Bill laughing so hard he drew the attention of several students.

“I must be mistaken,” McGonagall commented, the corner of her mouth quirking into the smallest of smiles.

“Sorry,” Bill wheezed, “sorry, wow, no, they dated very briefly during her 5^th year, Harry’s 6^th year but they decided pretty quickly that it was weird. They’re like siblings.”

“Ah,” McGonagall said with a nod, “that makes sense.”

“Neville was making fun of Harry for something involving his dating life when we last spoke though,” Mary mused, “it sounded like he was dating someone.”

“It’s Theodore Nott,” Fleur said.

“How do you know that?” Bill asked.

Rolling her eyes, Fleur responded, “though your family has adopted Harry, I am very close friends with him and that friendship started when Harry was getting into his first relationship. I know what he looks like when he’s in love.”

“Whatever do you mean?” McGonagall asked.

“You really didn’t know?” Fleur responded, sounding rather shocked.

“No, who was he dating his 4^th year?”

“Cedric,” Fleur said with a sad smile.

“And then everyone spent a year calling him a liar and blaming him for the boy’s death, Merlin,” McGonagall breathed out, “he has put up with too much.”

“He’s happy now, that’s what matters,” Fleur said with a decisive nod.

30 minutes later, the professors got the joy of watching Susan Bones drag one Harry Potter-Black out of the Great Hall by the ear, shouting over her shoulder, “government takeover meeting in 30 minutes, don’t be late!”

The professors all looked at each other, trying to see if any of their coworkers knew what the fuck that meant before Bill said, “ah, I see.”

Before anyone could ask what he meant, he pointed toward the door and they watched as every sitting Lord and Lady as well as every Primary Heir to the Wizengamot made their way out of the Hall.

“She can’t literally mean government takeover,” Sprout muttered.

Bill was counting under his breath and whistled as the last student left the hall, “if every sitting Lord and Lady votes the same way they have 21 votes. That’s not counting the Houses that generally align with Black, Bones, Longbottom, and Potter.”

“She literally meant government takeover,” Sprout said with a sigh.

10 minutes later, Harry’s patronus galloped into the hall, “Gin, I need you, thanks, bye.”

Groaning, Ginny pulled out her wand and cast her horse patronus, sending it ahead of her to inform Harry she’d be right there before finishing her breakfast and walking out of the hall.

“Since when can she do that?” Bill asked.

“Since her 4^th year when Mr. Potter-Black was running an illegal defense association, most of his friends can cast one.” McGonagall informed him.

“I wish any part of that sentence shocked me,” Bill said with a sigh, “does anyone have any normal siblings I can borrow for a day? Just to see what it’s like?”

He then asked, mostly to himself, “what would he need Ginny for?” before thinking for a moment, “no,” he muttered, shoving his chair back and darting out of the Hall grumbling something about stupid little siblings and suicide missions.

“What was that about?” Mary asked.

“My husband is under the impression that he can temper his siblings’ behavior,” Fleur responded with a mischievous grin, “my husband is wrong.”

* * *

Once everyone was in the classroom, Harry looked up at Susan with a grin, “what are we rockin’ with?”

“I need you to talk less.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Shaking her head and trying to suppress a grin, Susan continued, “there are three things we need to do before we can get anywhere. First, I need to confirm who is going to be sitting as a Lord, Lady, or Proxy. Second, I need to confirm which faction each house is planning to align with. And third, I need to hear whatever harebrained scheme Harry has cooked up to make sure Fred and George are confirmed as the Prewett Lords.”

“One second,” Harry said, pulling out his wand and casting his Patronus, “Gin, I need you, thanks, bye.”

He then cast a second one, “Freddie, Ginny and I are going to invade your home this afternoon. You have two hours to tell me no. Love you.”

“How does anyone put up with you?” Susan sighed.

“I was raised for slaughter, I’ve decided that I deserve some leeway, you know, behavior wise.”

“You know,” Susan mused, “every time you use that as an excuse it loses its efficacy.”

“I’ve never once heard him use that as an excuse,” Parvati commented.

“That’s because you don’t see him arguing with Godric Gryffindor at 5:00 in the morning.”

“That was a mind-boggling sentence,” Aidan Rowle, a cousin of the main Rowle line and a current Ravenclaw 7^th year, muttered.

“You have no idea, mate,” Ernie MacMillan muttered back.

“Getting back on track,” Susan said, clapping her hands, “please raise your hand if you’re sitting as a Lord, Lady, or Proxy and when I point at you state your title or titles.”

She then went around the circle, pointing and jotting titles down on a sheet of parchment.

“Maxwell Avery, Lord Avery.”

“Aidan Rowle, Lord Rowle.”

“Simon Yaxley, Lord Yaxley.”

“Pansy Parkinson, Lady Parkinson.”

“Luna Lovegood, Lady Ravenclaw, Lady Rosier, Proxy for the House of Ollivander.”

“Millicent Bulstrode, Lady Bulstrode.”

“Daphne Greengrass, Proxy for the House of Greengrass.”

“Neville Longbottom, Lord Gryffindor, Lord Longbottom, Lord Fortescue.”

“Theodore Nott, Lord Nott.”

“Hadrian Potter-Black, Lord Peverell, Lord Potter, Lord Black, Lord Slytherin, Proxy for the House of Shacklebolt.”

“Kings gave you his proxy?” Susan asked.

“He sure did.”

“That is an insane decision,” Susan laughed, shaking her head, “anyway, Susan Bones, Lady Hufflepuff, Lady Bones.”

After she finished writing her own name, she turned around and pinned the parchment to the bulletin board.

“Now,” she continued, “Harry, Hermione, and I made a list of where we think each house is aligned, I’m going to pass it around, please double check and correct it if we were wrong. If you’re not sure where to align yourself or if you want to switch your alignment from where your family has been in the past, you can absolutely come talk to Harry, Neville, or me when the meeting is over, and we’ll do our best to help you figure it out.”

As the parchment made its way around the room, Ginny stepped through the door and grinned at Harry, “what sort of chaos are we causing?”

Harry grinned back and started to respond but was cut off by Bill bursting through the door, “what, exactly, do you two think you’re doing?”

“Can the Weasley family circus take the party into the hallway? I’ll brief everyone on what bills are being introduced tomorrow and then you can come in and tell me your insane plan.”

“Course, Bones, see you later. Yell if you need me,” Harry responded with a grin.

Susan just waved him off.

As soon as the door was closed behind them, Bill repeated his question, “I know that look in both of your eyes, what are you planning?”

“Fred is home.” Harry said.

“What are you planning, Hadrian?”

“Oooo, you got full named,” Ginny teased.

Harry shot her a rather ineffective glare before turning back to Bill, “it made sense for Aunt Muriel to maintain her proxy during the July session because Fred was still in hospital, but he’s home now and, while he’s not back to 100%, he’s able to move about, he’s been working in the shop in the mornings and has been working on inventing again. He’s not in a wheelchair anymore, he’s using a cane. He looks like himself again.”

“What are you getting at?” Bill asked, wanting confirmation.

Taking a deep breath, Harry said, “it’s time for Fred and George to take the Prewett Lordship. Aunt Muriel graduated with Bathilda Bagshot and Dumbledore’s mum. She was the dowager before Fabian and Gideon took their place and it made sense for her to maintain that proxy after they passed away and I understand that she didn’t think Fred and George were ready for the responsibility when they turned 17, but they’re, as you know, incredibly intelligent. They’ve built a successful business, and they’ve spent nearly as much time as I have studying Wizengamot history and getting ready to take on a Lordship. And they don’t have Susan and Hermione forcing them to study.”

Bill thought over that for a moment before nodding his head, “alright, I see where you’re coming from. I agree. But that doesn’t answer the question of what you two are plotting.”

“Ginny is Muriel’s favorite.”

“Correct.”

“I’m going to sweet talk her into letting Fred and George step in without a fuss.” Ginny chimed in.

“Exactly,” Harry said with a nod, “they could show up tomorrow and just say they’re taking their spots, and she wouldn’t be able to stop them but that doesn’t feel like the kind thing to do so we want to do it with her permission.”

“Why did you wait until today to do it?”

“I asked her a month and a half ago to meet with the four of us and this is the date she gave.”

“She must know what you’re going to ask,” Bill said.

“I’d assume so, but she didn’t send an outright no, she agreed to a meeting so I’m hopeful.”

“Alright,” Bill sighed, “that is far better thought out than I was betting it’d be.”

“Thanks,” Harry said with a grin, “Ginny why don’t you go up to your dorm and get ready and meet me back here in an hour. We can floo to the shop from my quarters.”

“Alright,” Ginny said, hugging both Harry and Bill goodbye before she headed toward the staircase.

“Before you leave,” Harry said, turning to Bill, “can you confirm what sect the House of Weasley is aligning with?”

“The Light,” Bill said, “I still can’t believe you lot got the House confirmed as the replacement for House Malfoy after the war.”

“It was Draco’s idea,” Harry said with a shrug, “and I happily put my weight behind it.”

“Well, thank you,” Bill said with a smile, “it made Dad incredibly happy.”

With another smile, Harry bid Bill goodbye and walked back into the room where Susan was still running down the docket for the next day’s meeting.

* * *

40 minutes later, the meeting adjourned. Harry, Susan, and Neville stayed behind to talk to the students who’d sort of just been thrown into their roles following the death or imprisonment of the main branches of their families.

When Ginny poked her head in the door, Harry excused himself and the pair headed for his quarters. Harry quickly got dressed in his official dress robes and then they made their way through the floo to Fred and George’s apartment.

“Harrikins!!” Fred cheered, “and my favorite little sister, I’ve missed you!”

“I missed you too,” Ginny said, running over to hug her brother.

“Hey, Freddie,” Harry greeted with a smile, “you look great, is George ready as well?”

“He’s just getting dressed,” Fred confirmed, “he should be out in a minute or two.”

As if summoned, George came skidding into the room wearing an identical outfit to Fred’s; well-fitting black slacks, a pressed white button down, and a dark grey dress robe with burnt orange silk lining.

“Ginny! Harry!” he greeted, “are we ready to get a batty old woman to listen to us?”

“I sure hope so,” Harry said with a laugh, “I have the floo address she’d like us to use so just follow me, Fred do you want to floo with someone or are you alright?”

“I’ll go with Georgie,” Fred said, “I’d probably be fine, but I don’t want to misstep and make a fool of myself.”

With a nod, Harry turned around and stepped into the floo, calling out “Prewett Manor, Main Hall.”

He was followed closely by Ginny and then a minute later by Fred and George. George steadied his twin slightly on the landing, but Fred recovered quickly. The group stepped away from the fireplace and Harry waved his hand, silently banishing the ash from each of their clothes.

“Thanks, mate,” Fred said with a smile.

Ginny and George both nodded their thanks.

A second later, an elf popped up in front of them, “good afternoon, Pippy will be showing you to the Lady.”

“Thank you, Pippy,” they all chimed, following the elf out of the room and down the hall. They eventually made their way into a sitting room where they found Great Aunt Muriel.

“Good afternoon, Dowager Prewett,” Harry greeted, bowing his head.

“Good afternoon, Lord Peverell,” she greeted in return, “and hello, children, it’s lovely to see you.”

“It’s wonderful to see you as well, Aunt Muriel,” Ginny greeted with a smile.

“Great to see you again, Aunt Muriel,” Fred and George chimed in unison, both bowing their heads.

“Please, sit,” Muriel said, gesturing to the couches and chairs surrounding her. Harry and Ginny took one couch and Fred and George took the other.

“Well,” Muriel said once they were all seated, “let’s get right to business, are you two prepared for the responsibility of being Lords.”

“We are,” Fred said with conviction, “we’re respected in the community, we are responsible business owners, and we’ve worked diligently to prepare ourselves to step into the Wizengamot.”

“Moreover,” George continued, “we’d have an advantage that only Neville Longbottom can share, we would be able to turn to you for council.”

“Is young Neville accepting the help of his grandmother?” Muriel asked, directing her question toward Harry.

“Yes,” Harry easily confirmed, “and Gran isn’t only helping Neville, she’s been an incredible help to me as well.”

“That’s good to hear,” Muriel said, nodding. She then sat silently for a few minutes. No one dared interrupt her, “alright, I will announce the two of you as the Lords Prewett at tomorrow’s session and I will be more than happy to assist you in whatever you shall need. We will need to go to Gringotts to get you your rings and then we can discuss whether or not you’d like to move into the manor. We don’t have other properties anymore, they were sold off over time, but the manor is your home should you like it to be.”

“Thank you, Aunt Muriel,” Fred said, grinning, “we truly appreciate it.”

“And we promise not to let you down.” George said, sending her an identical grin.

The group finished their tea, chatting about Fred’s recovery and how the family was doing. An hour later, they stepped through the floo back into Fred and George’s living room.

“I wasn’t even needed,” Ginny said with a sigh, “I could’ve stayed in bed.”

“You never went to bed Ginevra,” Harry said, “you were on my couch.”

“Well, I could’ve stayed on your couch.”

“Whatever,” Harry said with a laugh, “but you’re right, that was far easier than I was expecting it to be.”

“What are you doing the rest of the day?” Ginny asked the room.

“Nothing.” Fred and George said.

“Well, we should probably get some stuff done in the shop if we’re going to take a long lunch tomorrow to go to Gringotts.” Fred amended.

“I need to go get Teddy and then head back to school,” Harry said, “what about you, Gin?”

“Can I come with to get Teddy?”

“Of course,” Harry said, smiling, “want to floo, apparate, or walk?”

“Let’s walk,” Ginny decided, “it’s rather nice outside.”

After bidding goodbye to Fred and George and calling for a Hogwarts elf to take their outer robes back to Harry’s quarters, the pair made their way through Diagon Alley and out the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

Ginny was right, it was incredibly nice outside. It was about an hour long walk from Charing Cross Road to Islington. The pair passed the time chatting about classes and laughing about everyone’s drunken shenanigans from the night before. About 40 minutes in, Ginny turned to Harry with a grin, “so, Theodore Nott.”

“I told you this summer I had a crush on him.”

“I’m aware,” Ginny said, still grinning, “but you didn’t tell me you were actually together!”

“Sorry,” Harry said, “we only told a couple of people. We were going to keep it quiet but sort of just decided we didn’t care if everyone found out.”

“Well, I, for one, think you two are adorable.”

“Thanks, Gin,” Harry said, smiling over at her, “he’s all but moved into my quarters. We haven’t even been together a full month, but I already feel like he’s a permanent fixture in my life.”

“That’s a good thing,” Ginny said with a nod, “he’s good with Teddy then?”

“He’s amazing with Teddy. This past week, he’s gotten him up and ready for the day while I’m down at training so the three of us can eat breakfast together instead of me running around trying to get everything ready. He knows how to calm him down, he knows what toys are his favorites,” Harry cut himself off, shaking his head and smiling, “I don’t know what I’m saying, but the main point is that, yes, Theo is wonderful with Teddy.”

“Good,” Ginny responded, as they turned the corner onto Grimmauld Place, “Teddy obviously comes first, so I’m incredibly happy for you that you’ve found someone who agrees.”

“Thank you,” Harry said, approaching the door to Number 12.

When they stepped through the door, Kreacher appeared in front of them, “good afternoon, Lord Black, Miss Ginny, what can Kreacher be doing?”

“Hello, Kreacher,” Harry greeted, “I’m just here for Teddy.”

“He’s in the nursery,” Kreacher said, “can Lord Black tell Kreacher how many will be coming for dinner tomorrow?”

“Eight,” Harry responded, “Draco, Pansy, Millicent, Greg, Neville, Gran, Theo, and me.”

“Thank you, Lord Black,” Kreacher said before bowing and popping out of the entryway.

Harry and Ginny made their way upstairs to Teddy’s nursery where they found him just waking up from a nap. The little boy was beyond happy to see Harry.

After taking a minute to get him changed, Harry happily handed the babbling infant over to Ginny while he collected the things he’d sent along.

Once Teddy’s bag was packed, the little trio made their way to the sitting room where Harry thought Narcissa and Andromeda likely were.

Harry found the pair gossiping like a pair of high schoolers, smiling, he greeted them, thanked them for having Teddy over, and confirmed that the group would be there for dinner the next night after the Wizengamot session.

* * *

With that, Harry, Ginny, and Teddy stepped through the floo back into Harry’s quarters where they found Theo waiting for them, “give me my Teddy,” Theo said as soon as they appeared.

“Wow I feel appreciated,” Harry teased, but happily handed Teddy over, “thanks for coming, Ginny.”

“Course,” she said with a nod, “always happy to help. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Gin,” Harry said while Theo picked up Teddy’s little hand to wave goodbye as well.

Once the door closed, Harry all but collapsed onto the couch.

“Tired, love?” Theo said with a laugh.

“Exhausted, but he just woke up so he’s full of energy.”

“Why don’t I bring his playmat and some of his toys out here and I’ll sit with him while you take a nap?”

“You’re a wonderful person, Theodore Nott.”

“Don’t forget it,” Theo said, leaning over for a kiss.

By the time Theo got back to the living room with Teddy’s things, Harry was asleep. After getting Teddy set up on his playmat, Theo turned around to pull Harry’s glasses off his face, performed a quick switching spell to get him out of his dress clothes and into sweatpants and a tshirt, and pulled a blanket up to his shoulders.

Brushing Harry’s curls back, Theo pressed a kiss on top of his scar then sat down on the floor to play with Teddy.

In that moment, with Harry peacefully sleeping on the couch behind him and Teddy playing on the floor in front of him, Theo decided he’d never been happier.

Chapter Text

Monday, 21, September 1998

Wizengamot meetings started at 1:00 on the day of the New Moon so Harry and the other sitting Lords and Ladies, along with any primary heirs, would be missing their afternoon classes.

Harry had conceded all control to Susan.

This was her revolution; he was just along for the ride.

After Arithmancy ended, Harry headed up to his quarters with Ron and Hermione to have lunch and get them set up with Teddy.

“Oh,” Harry said as they reached the third floor, “I forgot to ask, would you two like to come to Grimmauld Place for family dinner tonight?”

“I’d love that,” Ron said.

“Me too,” Hermione agreed with a smile.

“Great,” Harry said before calling Kreacher and letting him know that they’d have two more for dinner that night.

Once they reached Harry’s room, he started rambling on about taking care of Teddy, “he’ll be alright with Mimi while you’re in class, but he gets restless in the afternoons and really likes going outside and I don’t want to put too much on Mimi’s shoulders. She does a great job but I don’t want to overburden her so if you could call for her when you’re done with class and spend time with Teddy, that’d be great and then I’ll send a Patronus when we’re done at the Wizengamot and you can come to Grimmauld. Teddy should be fine with the floo, we did it with Ginny yesterday and he was alright, but if you want you can ask Mimi–”

He was then cut off by Hermione, who was trying (and failing) to temper her laughter, “Harry we’ve got it. It’ll only be a couple of hours and then we’ll bring him to Grimmauld.”

“If you’re so worried you could just say fuck you to everyone and bring him to the Wizengamot,” Ron suggested.

“That’s an awful idea, Ronald” Hermione chided at the same time Harry said “you know, maybe…”

“No, Harry, you are not taking an infant to the Wizengamot. For one, he’d hate it and for two, Susan would likely hex you into oblivion if you got distracted tonight.”

“You have a point,” Harry said with a sigh. He then called for lunch and the trio talked about what Susan was planning for the meeting.

After they finished eating, Harry went into his room to pick out clothing. He knew he had to wear the stupid plum Wizengamot robes when he was in the chamber, but he didn’t have to wear them in the hallways and press was always crowded around the Ministry so he should probably look presentable.

He was standing there in just his slacks staring at his wardrobe when he heard his front door open and Theo’s voice ask, “where’s Hadrian?”

“Bedroom,” Ron said.

“Thanks, mate,” Harry didn’t bother to move, knowing Theo would let himself in.

When his door opened, he turned to smile at Theo who had a look of confusion on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

Theo pointed to Harry’s right arm and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Ah,” Harry said, looking down at his bandaged bicep, “that.”

“Were you injured?” Theo asked, concern edging into his voice.

“I wasn’t injured,” Harry said with a shrug, “I was lightly stabbed.”

“I’m sorry,” Theo said, “you were stabbed?”

“Lightly stabbed,” Harry responded.

“There’s something fundamentally wrong with you.”

“What’re you gonna do about it,” Harry said laughing.

Shaking his head, Theo finally stepped fully into the room and pulled Harry into a hug, pressing his nose into the crook of Harry’s neck and visibly relaxing, “what am I going to do with you?”

Harry just hugged him back and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“Having trouble picking out robes?” Theo asked after a minute.

“Yeah,” Harry said with a sigh, “the girls picked out too many official robes and now I can’t choose and, call me conceited, I don’t want my picture splashed across every publication in wizarding Britain wearing those dumbass purple robes.”

“None of us do, love.”

“Which robes should I wear?” Harry asked, “you look wonderful, by the way.”

And he really did. Theo was wearing dark grey slacks with a light blue button down and a navy robe with the House Nott crest stitched into it in silver thread. His dark brown hair was perfectly styled, his deep blue eyes shining against his pale, lightly freckled skin and his blue robes.

Theo hummed in thanks before turning, pressing his back to Harry’s chest and asking, “what are your House colors again?”

“Black is black and silver, Slytherin is emerald and silver, Peverell is black, green, navy, and silver, and Potter is maroon, navy, and gold.”

“You look good in black,” Theo said, thinking out loud, “it makes you look powerful, severe.”

“Is that the look I’m supposed to be going for?”

“You’re Susan’s enforcer … so maybe?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“You could wear black slacks and a black robe but soften it with a different colored shirt?”

“I like that idea, what color shirt though?”

“I don’t know,” Theo said, giving it 30 more seconds before he called in reinforcement, “Granger! Get in here, please!”

A moment later, Hermione stepped through the door, “you rang?”

“What in Merlin’s name does that mean?”

“Muggle thing,” Hermione said, waving him off, “what do you need?”

“Trying to pick out Harry’s clothes, we decided on black slacks and a black robe, but he wants to soften it a little by wearing a different colored shirt, but all of his house colors are rather dark either way.”

“Wear the same color shirt Theo’s wearing,” Hermione suggested, “you look good in blue and isn’t one of the Potter colors blue?”

“It’s navy, but yeah,” Harry agreed.

“So light blue would work,” Hermione said with a shrug, “you’ve been wearing a lot of green, it looks good on you but I don’t know how much you want to lean into the Slytherin thing,” she then paused for a moment, thinking, “do you want me to go see what Neville is wearing?”

“No, it’s alright, I like the light blue idea, thanks ‘Mione.”

“Of course, Harry,” Hermione said with a smile, “would you like me to bring a change of clothes for either of you when we bring Teddy to Grimmauld?”

“I should be fine, thank you though,” Theo answered.

“I’m good as well, thanks!” Harry added.

“Alright,” Hermione said with a nod, “we’re going to head down to the library before class, I’ll see you both tonight.”

They bid their goodbyes, Harry finished getting dressed and said a rather lengthy goodbye to Teddy given the fact he’d see him in a few hours, and then Harry and Theo headed down to Susan’s war room so they could all leave as a group.

The only person in the room when they got there was Luna who was dressed in a simple grey dress with a navy cloak, her long blonde hair was pulled half back in a braid.

“Afternoon, Luna,” Harry said, smiling, “you look lovely as always.”

“You’re such a flirt, Harry,” Luna said laughing.

“Only with you my love,” he said, sitting down next to her with a dramatic sigh.

“I’m right here.” Theo said, failing to hide his amusement, “so which one of you stabbed him?”

“That’d be Susan,” Luna said, smirking.

“He probably deserved it, then.” Theo determined.

“Oi!” Susan said, stepping into the room, “it was actually an accident this time, if I ever mean to stab him I’ll do a little more damage than just a light poke to the arm. He didn’t even have to go get it healed.”

“It’s still wrapped up,” Theo said, “something tells me it wasn’t a light stabbing like you both insist.”

“The daggers we use are goblin made,” Luna explained, “the injuries they leave aren’t easily healed.”

“What the hell is it that you lot get up to in the mornings?” Parvati asked, coming into the room just then, “are the founders actually training you or are you just running around with knives?”

“There’s a lot of running around with knives to be perfectly honest,” Harry said, laughing lightly, “but I promise they are actually training us.”

The group chatted idly as the room filled up. Once everyone was there, Susan made sure everyone was ready to go and then they made their way across the hall to use the floo in the 8^th Year Common Room. Harry laughed to himself when he noticed not a single person was wearing the plum robes, either holding them draped over an arm or carrying a bag.

They flooed into Mr. Weasley’s office as they’d arranged the prior week and met Mr. Weasley, Bill, Fred, and George. Bill and the other heirs split off to head up to their viewing area and Harry and Neville led the procession of Lords and Ladies down to the atrium level so they could walk through the gaggle of press.

Harry was putting up with the publicity for today so Susan could pull off her plan. He had to admit, showing up to the Wizengamot with a dozen 18-year-old Lords and Ladies along with a few adults they’d picked up on the way down from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, led by two war orphans turned war heroes was a rather poignant image.

Reporters yelled and cameras flashed but they kept their heads up, looked ahead, and walked straight to the elevator. Once the door closed, Neville turned to Harry with a grin on his face, “is this what it’s like to be you?”

“Oh, shut it you numpty.”

“You two are actual children,” Susan sighed from behind Harry.

“You love us,” they said in unison.

“Merlin I forgot they could do that,” Fred said from the back of the elevator.

“We’re not special anymore, Freddie.” George said with an exaggerated sigh.

“You’re special, alright,” Harry chirped back.

“Why are you people allowed to run a government,” Pansy asked.

“Nepotism, probably,” Harry said with a shrug.

Before Pansy could respond, the elevator arrived at Level 2.

Harry was rather thankful the real Wizengamot chamber was located on the same floor as the DMLE and that all meetings weren’t held in that giant dungeon courtroom where his farce of a trial had been a few years prior.

When they reached the chamber, the twins, Luna and another 7^th year, Callum Selwyn, who hadn’t been 17 at the July session waited on the floor while everyone else climbed to their seats.

There were twelve sitting Lords and Ladies coming from Hogwarts representing 21 votes. Well, 24 if you counted Luna, Daphne, and Harry’s proxies.

Maxwell Avery, Luna Lovegood, Aidan Rowle, Callum Selwyn, and Simon Yaxley from 7^th year and Susan Bones, Millicent Bulstrode, Gregory Goyle, Neville Longbottom, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, and Harry Potter from 8^th year.

They also had 7 primary heirs; Hannah Abbott, Draco Black, Jacob Burke, Daphne Greengrass, Ernie MacMillan, Parvati Patil, and Oliver Rivers, though Daphne was sitting in the Greengrass chair as her father, Cyrus Greengrass, had been elected Chief Warlock in June.

With their 24 votes plus Fred and George in the Prewett seat and Apollo Carrow, Charles Travers, and Marcus Flint (all also recent Hogwarts grads who’d taken their family seats at a young age due to wartime casualties) happy to work with Susan’s coalition, they held a majority vote in the chamber.

It was a little absurd.

Once everyone had taken their seats, the Scribe stood and announced Chief Warlock Greengrass and Minister Shacklebolt’s entries. After they were seated, the first order of business was announcing new members.

Luna stepped forward first, “I Luna Evanna Lovegood announce my intent to claim the Rosier and Ravenclaw seats of my birthright and the Ollivander seat by blood and proxy.”

The three chairs lit up indicating she’d been accepted, she bowed her head toward the ministry officials and gracefully climbed the stairs to sit in in the Rosier seat.

Callum stepped up next and announced his intent to claim the Selwyn seat. Like it had for Luna, the seat lit up.

Finally, Fred and George stepped forward as one, “I Fredrick Gideon Weasley,” Fred began, “and I George Fabian Weasley,” George added before they continued together, “announce our intent to claim the Prewett seat of our birthright.”

Up in the Prewett seat, Aunt Muriel stood, “I, Muriel Calladora Prewett do renounce my proxy and open the seat for its rightful Lords.”

The seat lit up and Fred and George climbed the stairs, each bowing to kiss Muriel’s knuckles before Fred took the seat on the right and George took Muriel’s arm, guiding her to the side door that opened to the family viewing area before taking his seat next to Fred.

“That concluded,” Chief Warlock Greengrass began, “let us read the prior meetings minutes.”

It was a rather boring 45 minutes while the scribe dictated what had been done at the last meeting (a whole lot of nothing) before they were able to move on to new business.

The August session represented the beginning of a new year for the chamber, as such, this was the time faction movements were made, right now, the seats were in alphabetical order. Every August, the scribe called the families in that order and asked what faction they’d like to reside in.

It was incredibly rare for a family to move so it was often seen as a formality.

Not today.

“House Abbott,” the Scribe, Harry just now recognized her as Penelope Clearwater (which made him wonder where Percy was, turning his head slightly answered that question, he was seated at the right hand of the minister … wow, Harry was going to have to congratulate Percy on that promotion, and also hope that he had fewer blood quills on hand than the last Senior Undersecretary), began, “please announce your faction for the following year.”

“House Abbot will remain in the light,” Lord Thomas Abbot announced.

“House Avery,” Penelope continued, “please announce your faction.”

Funny how the meeting only stayed normal for one name.

“House Avery will move from Dark to Grey,” Lord Maxwell Avery, Hogwarts 7^th year Slytherin announced.

There were quiet noises of shock throughout the Chamber. House Avery had been Dark since the very beginning. It wasn’t about to get any more normal.

“House Black,” Harry stood and announced, “House Black moves from Dark to Grey.”

The noises of shock were less quiet that time.

“House Bones remains Grey,” Susan stated.

“House Bulstrode moves from Dark to Grey,” Millicent said.

Lord Benjamin Burke stood and announced that House Burke would remain Dark, Lord Apollo Carrow stated the same, Lord Robert Davies said House Davis would remain Light, Lord Amos Diggory said his house would remain Grey, Lord Patrick Fawley did the same.

Then, Marcus Flint, the newly anointed Lord Flint, stood, “House Flint follows House Black in this and all things, we will be Grey.”

That set of a veritable cacophony of noise from the viewing platforms. It took Chief Warlock Greengrass firing a bang from his wand to get everyone to quiet down, “continue, please, Miss Clearwater.”

Clearing her throat, Penelope continued, “House Fortescue, please announce your faction.”

“House Fortescue moves from Light to Grey.” Neville stated, clear and confident.

“House Goyle follows House Black in this and all things, we will be Grey,” Gregory echoed Marcus, the shock was slightly lower that time. It had gotten out that Harry had befriended the Slytherins in his year, publicly announcing Draco as the Black Heir sort of had that effect.

“House Greengrass remains Grey,” Daphne announced, smiling up at her father who smiled and nodded in return.

“House Gryffindor remains Grey,” Neville stated.

“House Hufflepuff remains Grey,” Susan echoed.

“House Longbottom stands with its brother, House Potter,” Neville announced, reminding everyone in attendance that Lords Longbottom and Potter had stood together for generations and letting them know that this would be no different, “we move from Light to Grey.”

Now, while the brotherhood between Houses Longbottom and Potter was no shock, both of these houses moving to Grey was a bit of a shock, especially when the Lords were considered Beacons of the Light.

After the noise died down, Ernest MacMillan Sr. stood and announced, “House MacMillan remains Light.”

Then Theo stood and made possibly the most mindboggling statement in the history of the Wizengamot, “House Nott follows House Black,” now that wasn’t entirely odd, but his addendum certainly was, “House Potter, and House Peverell in this and all things,” it was getting rather loud in the chamber, “we move from Dark to Grey.”

This time Kingsley had to cast a Sonorous to call everyone back to attention. Theo was standing with an impassive look and Harry was positively beaming. Kingsley just hoped no one noticed him rolling his eyes, it was rather unbecoming of the Minister of Magic, his nephews certainly had a penchant for mischief (and that is what Kingsley had found himself seeing Harry and Neville as, James and Frank’s boys would forever be family).

Continuing as if nothing had just happened, Luna stood and announced that House Ollivander would remain, as always, in the Grey.

“House Parkinson follows House Black in this and all things, we move from Dark to Grey,” Pansy announced. Alright, this was becoming a pattern.

“House Patil follows House Potter in this and all things, we move from Light to Grey,” Lord Aarav Patil, Parvati and Padma’s father and a nephew of Euphemia Potter announced.

Harry then stood again, “House Peverell moves from Dark to Grey, House Potter stands with its brother House Longbottom and moves from Light to Grey.”

“House Prewett remains Grey,” Fred and George announced.

“House Ravenclaw remains Grey,” Luna stated.

“House Rivers remains Grey,” Lord Alexander Rivers said.

“House Rosier follows House Black in this and all things,” Luna said, “we move from Dark to Grey.”

“House Rowle follows House Black in this and all things, we move from Dark to Grey,” Aidan Rowle, Hogwarts 7^th Year Ravenclaw said.

“House Selwyn follows House Black in this and all things, we move from Dark to Grey,” Callum Selwyn, Hogwarts 7^th Year Slytherin, announced.

Harry then stood and announced that House Shacklebolt would remain Light, Lord Alphard Sinistra announced that they would remain Dark, and Lord Laurence Slughorn announced they would remain Grey.

Then Harry stood a final time, “House Slytherin follows its kin in Houses Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw and remains Grey.”

Lord Sebastian Smith announced they would remain Light, Lord Charles Travers announced they would remain Dark, Lord Arthur Weasley said they would remain Light, and Lord Edmund Wood stated the same.

Then, Lord Simon Yaxley, a 7^th Year Slytherin, finished out the proclamations and completed the Black Coalition, “House Yaxley follows House Black in this and all things, we move from Dark to Grey.”

The Black Coalition had been corrupted by Orion Black and Abraxas Malfoy then further by Lucius Malfoy over the last three decades; it had become the backing for the Dark Lord. Now it was headed by Harry Potter which, to put it simply, was a bit of a change in leadership.

Once the noise had died down, Penelope continued on to the 10 elected members. These individuals were nominated and then voted on at the same time the Minister was elected. They were often Order of Merlin recipients, but didn’t have to be. They also didn’t have to run with a continued faction, they were able to announce there faction once they were elected.

This time, Lucile Brown, Andrew Costello, Henry Dean, Dorothy O’Brien, and Robert O’Keefe joined the Light; Erin Delaney, Patrick Fehrenbach, and Wallace Nell joined the Grey; and Mairéad McQuillen and Abigail Wilson joined the Dark.

That taken care of, it was time to move on to new business. Susan had decided that the re-establishment of the Black Coalition under non-insane leadership and the movement of the rest of their Houses into the Grey would be enough so they simply sat back and listened to their peers talk about nothing for another couple of hours. The only thing they brought up now was a request for the Education Department to look into other available OWLs and NEWTs for students to take over the summer at the Ministry and that was because there was a bit of a time limit if they were going to announce the possibility before the end of Winter term.

The meeting finally ended at 4:30 and Kingsley shot Harry a loaded look once the Chief Warlock had gaveled them out.

After telling everyone else they could head over to Grimmauld, he grabbed Neville, and the pair started toward the Minister’s office.

Harry honestly wasn’t sure whether they were in trouble, but he couldn’t think of a reason they would be.

Once they arrived outside Kingsley’s office suite, his secretary waved them inside.

“Boys,” Kingsley greeted.

“Minister,” they chirped in return.

Rolling his eyes and cracking a grin, he summoned three glasses and a bottle of Ogden’s and gestured to the pair of chairs in front of his desk, “since when do you two gits call me by a proper title?”

“Look at us, Minister, we’re wearing official robes,” Harry said with a straight face.

Neville nodded with the same expression, “we’re very, very serious Lords, Mr. Minister, Sir.”

“Brats,” Kingsley said, smiling at them.

Finally cracking a smile and taking a seat, Harry asked, “what did you need us for, Kings?”

“Just wanted to see you,” he said with a slight shrug, “Mary MacDonald wrote me outright bragging that she got to see you two every day and I got a bit jealous, I haven’t seen you since early August.”

“You’re too busy for us,” Neville said with an exaggerated frown and a put-upon sigh.

“Look at this guy,” Harry said, turning toward Neville, “all he has to do is run a whole country and he can’t even make time for us?”

“Absurd,” Neville said, shaking his head.

“Now I don’t remember why I ever wanted to see you two,” Kingsley said, laughing. Unlike most, Kingsley never compared these two to their fathers. They were their own people; they’d grown into incredible men and he was just stupidly proud.

“How are you doing, though, Kings?” Neville asked, “I can’t imagine this has been an easy time to transition into being Minister.”

Before he got a chance to answer, Harry asked “have you decided yet whether you’ll run for proper election?”

“To answer your question first, Harry, I think I will,” Kingsley said, after a moment of thought, “especially if the Coalition is under your guidance and the majority of the Wizengamot is Grey. Historically, it’s been easier to make lasting reforms in times of chaos when the government is run by moderates. And to answer you, Neville, no it hasn’t been easy but it seems like everyone in the Ministry is in the same spot and is also in agreement that we need to make this place better so it’s been good overall.”

“That makes sense,” Harry mused, “we’ll be in a bit of a similar boat at Hogwarts over the next couple of years. With the dwindling population they’ve cut so many classes and extracurriculars that the school is basically unrecognizable to the Founders, so we’ve been working with them and starting to communicate with the governors of other schools to make a plan.”

“That’s great to hear,” Kingsley said, smiling at them, “you lot will be great for the school. Now, how’s Teddy?”

Neville groaned while Harry grinned and pulled a pile of photos out of, seemingly, thin air and shoved them at Kingsley, “these are copies so you can keep them. He’s great, he’s adjusted really well to Hogwarts and everybody loves him.”

Kingsley took the photos excitedly, oohing and ahhing at every picture, much to Neville’s amusement and Harry’s delight, then he held up one photo Harry hadn’t realized he’d included, “is this Lord Nott?” Kingsley asked, holding up a picture Harry had taken the other day of Theo asleep on the couch with Teddy napping on his chest.

“Yeah,” Harry said, blushing and smiling softly, “that’s Theo.”

Kingsley looked at Neville, one eyebrow raised, “might this explain House Nott openly allying itself with Houses Potter and Peverell?”

“It’s likely,” Neville said.

“Anything to add, Potter?” Kingsley asked, smirking at a slightly flustered Harry.

“He moved into Grimmauld with everyone over the summer and we clicked almost immediately, he’s incredibly smart and he loves Teddy,” Harry said.

“That’s not a whole answer.”

Rolling his eyes, but starting to grin, Harry gave Kingsley the answer he was looking for, “he’s my boyfriend. We’ve been dating for a month.”

“He’s all but moved into Harry’s quarters,” Neville added, helpfully, “they’re disgustingly cute.”

“Thanks, Nev,” Harry said, smacking him on the back of the head. He then looked down at his watch and winced, “we should probably head out before Narcissa murders me for being late to dinner.”

Kingsley’s smile turned a little sad, Harry cocked his head in question, “I’d forgotten Molly gave you Fabian’s watch.”

Harry smiled down at his wrist, “yeah, I have James, Regulus, and Sirius’ as well and I have Remus’ set aside for Teddy, but this is still the one I wear every day.”

“Do you know who has Gid’s?” Kingsley asked.

“I’m fairly certain it was destroyed or lost,” Harry answered, frowning slightly, “though I never explicitly asked. Molly just made it sound like they only had Fabian’s.”

“That makes sense,” Kingsley said with a nod, “I’m glad you have Fab’s though. They loved you two, thought you were the cutest little things. They died before you two started talking, though. I’m sure they’d find the fact that you two somehow ended up being magical twins despite not actually being related a sodding riot.”

“If they were anything like Fred and George I’m sure you’re right,” Harry said smiling.

“It was great to catch up, Kings,” Neville said, standing up. He then turned to Harry to ask, “do you want to use Kingsley’s floo or brave the atrium?”

“We should probably be seen leaving,” Harry said with a sigh, “Susan might stab me again if a story about me getting special treatment takes a headline.”

“I’m sorry,” Kingsley said, raising a hand, “did you just say again?”

“Harry was lightly stabbed this morning,” Neville said, grinning, “it was quite entertaining.”

“It wasn’t that entertaining.” Harry muttered.

“Godric almost pissed himself. If he wasn’t literally a painting I’m sure he would’ve.”

“Do you two ever have a normal day?” Kingsley asked.

“Rarely,” they said in unison, grinning like mad.

“Get out of my sight,” Kingsley said, laughing.

The boys took one look at each other, mischief shining in their eyes, before they darted around the desk and sandwiched the Minister of Magic in a hug.

Shoving them both away by the forehead, but still laughing, Kingsley was about to tell them to leave when he turned a bit mischievous himself, “what would young Lady Bones say about the two of you appearing on the front page with the Minister?”

“She might stop threatening to kill me in my sleep,” Harry said.

“That’s maybe a little optimistic, though she’d probably give it a rest for a week,” Neville corrected.

“Good enough for me,” Kingsley said, standing up and shoving the boys out his door.

When the trio exited the elevator, the crowd in the atrium had thinned out. The remaining reporters and photographers were milling about not quite paying attention though they all snapped to when someone called out for the Minister.

“What are your thoughts on the Black Coalition?”

“How did you choose Harry as your proxy?”

“What were you meeting about?”

And so on, and so on.

They simply smiled and made their way to the floo bank, Kingsley muttering under his breath like he was telling them something incredibly important, but he was really just begging them to send him dinner because he was sick and tired of the Ministry cafeteria.

When they made it to the fireplaces, Kingsley placed a hand on each of their shoulders and smiled, “being serious for a moment, I am incredibly proud of both of you and of each of your friends. You are going to do wonderful things.”

Smiling back, they both thanked him, Harry promised to send Kreacher over once they sat down to dinner, and they stepped into the flames calling out for Grimmauld Place.

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 22 September 1998

Harry had just gotten done with training and had thankfully made it out without getting stabbed.

He came into his quarters to see Theo laying on the couch with Teddy on his chest, holding a textbook with one hand and running his fingers through Teddy’s curls with the other.

Harry couldn’t contain his grin. He kneeled down on the floor next to the couch and gently took Theo’s book out of his hand, setting it down on the coffee table (still open, he wasn’t a monster that made people lose their place). Reaching out, he ran a hand through Theo’s hair, pressing a kiss to the top of his head then the tip of his nose and then a lingering one against his lips, “good morning.”

“Good morning, my love,” Theo said, smiling up at him.

“How’s the little cub this morning?”

“Wonderful as ever.”

“Of course he is,” Harry said, smiling and running a thumb along Teddy’s cheek, “he’s perfect.”

Teddy blinked his eyes open at Harry’s touch, his warm brown eyes flashing emerald green and his soft brown curls turning jet black.

Theo wrinkled his nose, “you smell, Hadrian, go shower and I’ll call for breakfast and get his bottle ready.”

“Alright,” Harry agreed, but before he stepped away to follow directions, he pressed one more kiss to the top of Theo’s head and murmured, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, darling.”

“I certainly hope you’ll never have to find out,” Theo responded, kissing Harry’s cheek before he shoved him away by the shoulder, “now go shower.”

Once Harry was clean and dressed for the day, he stepped into the living room, tossing his bookbag and school robe onto the couch before sitting down at the kitchen table. Theo passed over Teddy and his half-empty bottle and sat down across from Harry.

They ate and chatted quietly about how training had gone and what they needed to get done that day. They were just finishing up when a copy of the Prophet appeared on the table, sent up by the elves. The front page had a massive photo of Kingsley, Neville, and Harry with a headline and story about the “big moves” that had been made the prior day and how Neville and Harry had become major players. This was exactly what Susan wanted; Harry and Neville as the face while she could remain largely anonymous, running everything from the background.

Just as Harry was thinking Susan would be pleased, a silver-blue badger appeared on the table, “I LOVE YOU, YOU BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT MAN. I’LL NEVER STAB YOU AGAIN.”

“I think she’s happy,” Harry said, laughing.

“You still need to teach us how to do that,” Theo commented.

“Oh yeah,” Harry said, “time has gotten away from me. Should we see if anyone would like to meet up this afternoon? We can go outside if it’s nice or head down to the Chamber?”

“Sounds good,” Theo said, “we can just stay outside after Herbology.”

“Perfect, it could even give people an idea of what their Animagus form might be. It’s not always the same but as far as I’ve read it oftentimes is.”

“Yours is your father’s Animagus right?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, “Prongs. Kreacher told me that Regulus’ was the same thing, and I know that my mum’s was a doe.”

“What others do you know?”

“I never saw Sirius’ but my Dad’s journal said it was a Grim. I know that Remus and Tonks’ were also wolves, though Tonks’ was a jackrabbit before she and Remus got together. McGonagall’s is a cat, Dumbledore’s was a phoenix, and Snape’s was a doe like my Mum’s. Neville’s is a lion, you just saw Susan’s, and Luna’s is a hare. Hermione’s is an otter and Ron’s is a Jack Russel Terrier.”

“That’s sweet, you and Ron being a stag and a dog like your Dad and Sirius.”

“I hadn’t thought of it like that before,” Harry said, smiling.

“Did everyone in your defense group learn how to cast it?”

“Everyone got at least a shield, but there were several who could cast a corporeal form and I’m sure even more of them could get it now. Neville didn’t get a corporeal form until after he got his own wand.”

“I wonder what mine will be,” Theo said.

“Do you have any thoughts of what your Animagus form will be?”

“I keep having dreams about a giant wolf so I’m starting to think that’s it.”

“Maybe that’ll be your Patronus then.”

“What do you think your form will be?”

“I’m pretty sure I know.” Harry answered.

“Care to share?”

“I don’t want to jinx it because I rather hope I’m right, but I will say I think it’s a canine.”

“I thought you might want to be something that could fly,” Theo mused.

“I’ve thought about it, but when I meditate on it, it’s always felt like a canine of some sort. Even a few years back, when I learned about the Marauders, I spent a lot of time thinking about it and I always landed on the same thing.”

“Is there a way to get your form through meditation?”

“It’s been written about, but it requires a much greater mastery of Transfiguration than any of us have, the potion helps focus the transformation and establishes the intent pathways or something like that. It’s much easier to get trapped mid transformation if you use the meditation method.”

“Ah,” Theo said with a nod, “I understand why we’re using the potion then.”

“Indeed,” Harry responded before changing the subject, “what do you think the odds are of Flitwick letting me bring Teddy to class?”

“If we leave now so you can talk to him before class starts I’m sure he’d say yes as long as you promise to send him away when we start casting, and you know Vector loves when you bring him to Arithmancy.”

“Alright,” Harry said, grinning, “c’mon, Ted, we’re going to Charms.”

* * *

By some miracle, it was warm in Scotland in late September.

After Herbology, Harry called Mimi and had her bring Teddy outside so he could sit on the picnic blanket Hermione had laid out on the lawn. While Teddy was getting doted on by Hermione, Padma, Lavender, Seamus, and Dean, Harry was explaining the theory behind the Patronus to a group that had absolutely grown since he’d first offered to teach the Slytherins. Every single 8^th year who hadn’t been part of the DA was sitting on the ground like a bunch of pre-schoolers while Harry taught.

“The Patronus Charm is a branch of soul magic; it requires greater intent and focus than your average spell. The incantation and wand movement is incredibly simple, you speak the phrase Expecto Patronum while moving your wand in a small circle. But the incantation and wand movement are not all you need; you must think of your happiest memory, something that comes to you when you daydream and fills you with joy, a memory that you can use to bring yourself out of dark moods without fail. Once you have the memory, you need to meditate on it, let it fill up your mind and let the warmth of it fill you up from head to toe.

“Finding the right memory can be incredibly hard. When I first learned to cast the charm, the memory I chose was my first time riding a broom and while that was an incredibly happy memory, it wasn’t strong enough, it was simple joy, not true unbounded happiness. What happiness means is different for everyone and it’s an incredibly personal question; for some it’s love, for other’s its fulfillment or success.

“To help guide you, I’ll share the memory I used the first time I successfully cast the charm. This should also help those of you who find yourselves thinking that you might not have a happy enough memory, which is how I felt at first.

“My memory wasn’t even a full memory, it was more of a feeling, an idea. When the dementors got close, I could hear my parent’s last moments. It was the first time I’d ever heard their voices, but when I heard my mother begging Voldemort to spare me, another whisp of a memory came to the surface. I heard her voice telling me I was loved, I could remember feeling safe and loved and I let that feeling power the spell. It wasn’t even a full memory, but the power behind the emotion was enough.

“What I want you to do now is close your eyes, feel the sun on your face, listen to the adorable little baby babbling over there and the sounds of students laughing up by the castle and I want you to think of the moment you felt the happiest, safest, or most loved you’ve ever felt.”

Harry stopped pacing and sat down next to Ron and Neville who had happily agreed to help him teach when they got to actually casting the spell.

“You’re a great teacher; you know that right?” Ron asked, looking over at his best friend.

“I think I’m starting to realize that,” Harry said, smiling back, “and I’m also getting better at accepting compliments, so thank you.”

Harry, Neville, and Ron sat in a peaceful silence, watching their classmates smile as the meditated on their happiest memories. Harry’s eye caught on Theo who looked so incredibly at peace it made Harry’s heart flutter.

After a few minutes, Harry stood up and brushed the grass off his slacks, “alright, does everyone have a memory picked out?”

Once he’d got a nod or a general sound of agreement from everyone, he continued, “wonderful, go ahead and stand up and pull out your wands. Neville, Ron, and I will demonstrate the spell first and then we’ll walk around and answer questions or help out as we can. Don’t get frustrated if you can’t cast the spell right way, it took me several months and most of the DA a few lessons before they got it, give yourself time.”

With that, the three boys raised their wands and cast in unison, “Expecto Patronum!”

Ron’s terrier leapt to the ground, running a circle around him before darting toward Harry, then Hermione, then coming back to Ron’s side.

Neville’s lion appeared, turned once, then came to sit directly between him and Harry.

Prongs came to life and headed straight for Theo before taking up a guard position in front of Teddy who squealed in glee at the giant stag.

Smiling, Harry turned back to the group, “alright, who wants to start?”

The boys moved throughout their classmates, adjusting wand movements and pronunciations, giving tips on how to guide thoughts and intentions while casting, and giving general encouragement.

Within a half hour, everyone had produced at least a mist, and several people had shields.

10 minutes later, Parvati’s shield grew legs but didn’t take a full form before it dissipated.

“Great job, Parvati!” Harry cheered, getting a blinding grin in return.

A few minutes later, Harry heard a familiar voice calling across the lawn, “having fun without us? Rude!”

“Then get over here, Gin,” he called back, laughing.

Ginny, Astoria, Luna, and Dennis Creevy appeared over the hill. Dennis immediately glued himself to Harry’s side.

“Dennis,” Harry said with a smile, throwing an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders, “how are you doing?”

“I’m alright,” Dennis said, smiling up at Harry, “it’s been hard but it’s also good being back here. Somehow I miss him less in a place that was just for us, it was harder being at home.”

“I understand that; it’s not the same but it’s easier for me to be here too. It’s like I can still feel their magic around me.”

“Don’t lessen your grief, Harry,” Dennis said, sounding incredibly wise for a 15-year-old boy, “you lost so much over both wars, you don’t have to make it seem like it doesn’t matter to appease people who want to see you as some epic hero. You’re just Harry.”

“Thanks, Dennis,” Harry said, feeling oddly choked up, “do you want to practice with us or just hang out?”

“I’ll just hang out for now, but maybe if you have time later this year you could teach me?”

“Of course,” Harry promised, “and you know you can come to me if you need anything, right?”

“I know,” Dennis said, smiling, “you’re a great person, Harry.”

Squeezing his arm tighter around Dennis’ shoulders, Harry turned back to the group. He spent the next half hour walking around, Dennis in tow before Hermione said they should probably head back to the castle before it got too dark.

They made their way into the Great Hall which was only half full. Most people went to dinner right as it started but their group had shown up about half way through, taking advantage of the mostly empty tables, the group sat down all together at the end of the Hufflepuff table and dug in, continuing the random conversations they’d started on the walk up.

Harry finally got Hermione to unhand Teddy so he could feed him and, once he’d gotten a bottle from Mimi, lost him almost immediately to Theo. Harry just rolled his eyes and filled Theo’s plate so he could focus on Teddy.

Hermione put up a bit of a fight that but conceded as soon as she saw the warm smile on Harry’s face when he looked over at his boyfriend and son.

* * *

It was a couple hours later; Teddy was peacefully asleep, and Harry and Theo had finished their homework and were now sitting on the couch in the living room. Harry had set up Lily’s charmed record player on Saturday morning but hadn’t really had a chance to go through the records or actually listen to anything.

“Alright,” Theo said after Harry had been shuffling through records muttering to himself for 20 minutes, “how are we going to start my muggle music education?”

The grin Harry sent him told Theo this had been the right thing to say.

“Well,” Harry started, “there are several directions I could take. We could go by era, and I could show you how the music developed, or I could just show you my favorites, though you’ve already heard most of those between the records I played at Potter Manor and the tape we played at Hermione’s birthday.”

“Then let’s go by era, where do you want to start?”

“I don’t have any true classical music, but that’s not all that different from the waltzes and such they play at formal balls so it wouldn’t really be a big change from wizard music. The oldest stuff I have is probably from the 60s so let’s start with the Beatles.”

“What is a beetle?”

“Not a beetle, Theodore,” Harry said, laughing, “the Beatles, they were the biggest British pop group through the 60s and early 70s.”

“Okay,” Theo said, “what’s your favorite song of theirs?”

“It’s incredibly hard to choose, but this is one of my favorites, you’ll probably recognize it, or at least the tune, I hum it to Teddy to get him to sleep.”

A few seconds into the song, Theo nodded, “I do recognize it, what’s it called?”

“Hey Jude,” Harry answered, “Paul McCartney wrote it for John Lennon’s son to comfort him after his parents split up.”

Theo found he quite liked the song; it had a peaceful melody and told a nice message. It was very different from the music they’d been playing at Hermione’s birthday the weekend prior.

When the song had finished, Theo pulled his head off of Harry’s shoulder to ask, “what others?”

“This one makes me think of you,” Harry said with a smile, switching out the albums, “it’s a pretty simple song, but it gets the message across,” he finished, settling back onto the couch and tilting his head to rest atop Theo’s.

“Eight days a week? Did they miscount?”

“That’s the point, Theo,” Harry said with a laugh, “7 days isn’t enough.”

“Ah,” Theo said, tilting his head to press a kiss to Harry’s shoulder, “I understand.”

“I hadn’t heard this one before,” Harry said, grabbing a small record after Eight Days a Week had finished, “but I found a copy of it in my Dad’s room and in Mum’s vault so they must have liked it.”

Theo let the song play about halfway through before commenting, “I really like this song, what’s it called?”

“All the Young Dudes,” Harry answered, “Bowie wrote it, but it’s performed by a group called Mott the Hoople. I don’t know any of their other stuff and haven’t found any other records with my parents’ stuff, but they apparently liked this song.”

After that, Harry put on his favorite record. He’d heard a couple of the songs on the radio over the years at the Dursleys but hadn’t gotten to listen to the entire thing until that summer when he’d found James’ collection at Potter Manor, the record was still on the platter.

“This is the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” Harry said with reverence, “it’s my favorite album so you’ll definitely recognize some of the songs. I played it several times over the summer. It’s one of my dad’s, I remember hearing a few of these songs on the radio growing up and I always loved them.”

Theo could see how happy Harry was to share this album and how much it meant to him so he used every ounce of self-control he had not to laugh at the album title.

“C’mere,” Harry said, sliding down to lay on the rug.

“What are you doing, Hadrian?”

“This album cannot be listened to for the first time sitting on a couch. It’s a floor album.”

“That’s not a thing.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Harry said, grinning up at Theo, “this is your muggle music education, you know nothing. I am the expert. Now get down here and hold my hand.”

Sighing as if this was some onerous task, Theo slid down to the floor and laid down next to Harry, turning so his temple was pressed to Harry’s shoulder. He reached out, intertwining their fingers and settled in to listen to Harry’s favorite album.

As the final notes of Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide faded out, Theo rolled over so he was straddling Harry’s hips, a hand on either side of his head, “that was a great album, love. I really enjoyed it, thank you for sharing it with me.”

Grinning, Harry answered, “of course. I want to share things with you.”

Smiling, Theo leaned down and kissed Harry’s forehead before sitting back up and running a soft hand through Harry’s hair.

“Come on, it’s late. Let’s shower and get some sleep.”

Harry found himself hoping that he could spend every night exactly like this for the rest of his life.

“Did you bring some of your things over or do you want to borrow anything to sleep in?”

“I brought stuff over,” Theo answered, “but I’m still taking that t-shirt to sleep in.”

“That is one thing I’m absolutely bringing to the Slytherin quidditch team,” Harry declared, “team t-shirts and hoodies. Remind me to rope Draco into helping me.”

“Where do you guys even get these? Are there any wizarding shops that print stuff like this or are you just confusing the hell out of a muggle shop year after year?”

“Charlie Weasley and one of his friends found a shop in Diagon that prints them,” Harry explained, “one of Charlie’s roommates had a football sweater he wore all the time and Charlie decided they needed them for quidditch and after his roommate explained, extensively according to Fred and George’s story, that he couldn’t just send an order to a muggle print shop for sweaters for a sport no one had ever heard of at a school no one had ever heard of and then ask them to please send the order via an owl, they started writing to shops in Diagon and found a muggleborn owner who was more than happy to print up the designs.”

“I’d love to see the look on a shopkeeper’s face if an owl appeared with a letter explaining a sport played on flying brooms and asking for shirts to be made and sent back with the random bird who’d just shown up,” Theo responded.

“I rather think that’d violate the Statute of Secrecy,” Harry said with a laugh.

“I didn’t say I was going to do it,” Theo argued, “I just said it would be funny.”

Shaking his head and smiling, Harry pulled open his drawer to locate the shirt Theo had requested. It was from his 6^th year and was well worn. A faded maroon with cracked white ink reading Gryffindor Quidditch across the front with Potter and the number 7 on the back.

“You think Draco will give me his number?” Harry asked, pulling out clothes for himself and heading into the bathroom, “also can we take a bath? All of my joints hurt.”

“Sure, grandpa,” Theo teased, “and he literally threw the captain’s pin at you, I’m pretty sure he won’t argue about giving you his number. Besides, isn’t 7 the normal Seeker’s number?”

“It is,” Harry confirmed, “and you’re right, though knowing Draco the number 7 will mean more to him than playing Seeker or being Captain for some strange reason.”

“You’re not wrong,” Theo said, grabbing some salts and a muscle soothing potion to add to the bathwater, “Draco is an odd, odd human.”

Laughing, Harry agreed.

Once the bath was full, Harry happily sunk under the water, submersing himself entirely and letting the warm water and soothing potion relax him for a moment before he surfaced, pushing his hair out of his face. Theo was standing by the tub smiling down at Harry, “you’re adorable, you know that right?”

“Don’t think I do,” Harry said with a mock pout and his best puppy dog eyes, “I think you’re going to have to keep telling me.”

“Of course, love, every day.” Theo responded easily, stepping into the tub and settling between Harry’s legs, leaning back against his chest.

After a long bath where Harry did his best to answer Theo’s questions about the Patronus and how it relates to other soul magics, they climbed out, dried off, and got dressed before stepping through the second door into Teddy’s room.

Leaning over the crib, Harry ran his fingers through Teddy’s hair, it’s natural sandy brown in his sleep, and smiled softly, “have I thanked you lately for being so good with him?” he asked, “or just for being okay with him in general?”

“What do you mean love?” Theo asked, coming up beside Harry and wrapping an arm around his waist before reaching into the crib and running his thumb softly across Teddy’s cheek.

“I mean, you’re 18 and you have no legal responsibility toward him, you could’ve found someone else, someone with less baggage and fewer infants.”

“I didn’t want anyone else; I don’t want anyone else. I want you and I want Teddy. That’s it.”

Harry turned toward Theo smiling, “you’re amazing, you know that?”

“Harry, you both deserve to be loved and I want to be the one to do it.”

It was the closest Theo had gotten to saying those three words beyond calling Harry love all the time. They’d only been dating a month, but Harry was rather well known for running into things headfirst and having them work out in the end, so he pressed a kiss to Theo’s cheek and whispered, “I love you, Theodore Nott.”

Looking up in shock, Theo searched Harry’s face for … what, Harry didn’t know, but whatever he’d been looking for, he seemed to have found it. Smiling softly, Theo wrapped his arm tighter around Harry’s waist and leaned up to pull him into a soft, lingering kiss, “I love you too, Hadrian Potter Black.”

“C’mon,” Harry said, smiling, “let’s get to bed.”

With one last glance at Teddy, Theo nodded and followed Harry back toward what he was quickly coming to consider as their room, as they reached the door, Harry turned back around to whisper, “goodnight, Ted. I love you.”

“We love you,” Theo corrected, making sure Teddy knew how much he was loved even though he was asleep and couldn’t actually understand them even if he was awake, “we love you so much, cub.”

“You called him cub,” Harry said as he closed the door behind them.

“The kid has too many nicknames,” Theo said instead of actually responding, “he’s never gonna know what his real name is.”

“At least he’ll know he’s loved,” Harry said with a laugh.

Theo thought he had a point.

Chapter Text

Thursday, 1 October 1998

The day had started out normal; sleeping in after Astronomy, breakfast with Theo, training with the founders, Ancient Runes. Then, Harry was at lunch before the second half of Runes, his whole class had sat down together at the end of the Ravenclaw table, something they’d been doing more and more since no one had told them to stop. He was half listening to the conversation happening around him, but mostly just thinking about what he’d do with his afternoon, when a vaguely familiar owl swooped in and landed in front of him, extending its leg.

“Who’s it from?” Draco asked from across the table.

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Harry said, reaching out to grab the letter.

“Did you check it for curses?” Hermione asked, leaning over to look at Harry around Neville.

“The wards won’t let anything cursed through,” Susan said from a few seats down.

Even though Susan was right, Harry was a rather paranoid person, so he pulled out his wand and ran a diagnostic.

“I’m going to start calling you Mad-Eye if you don’t stop acting like that,” Susan said, rolling her eyes.

After shooting Susan a cheeky grin, Harry tore open the seal on the envelope. Two pages dropped out; one sheet of parchment and one sheet of lined notebook paper.

Harry grabbed the parchment first.

Harry,

As I told you in my letter over the summer, I’m attending St. Andrew’s for Uni and started a year late because of … everything … last year. Most of my classes are on the magic side, but I’m enrolled in two classes in the Business School. On the first day of my Finance class, I sat down next to a boy who was rather friendly. We got to talking and I asked where he was from, he told me Little Whinging. I thought that was odd because I remember you saying you were from there. Then he asked where I’d gone to school. I said Hogwarts and was ready with the old excuse of it being a private boarding school in Scotland when he grinned at me and asked if I knew someone by the name of Harry Potter.

I said of course I know Harry, how do you know him?

I’m sure you know who I’m talking about by now, but he told me he was your cousin. Over the last month, I’ve gotten to know Dudley rather well. We work together on assignments, and he’s introduced me to several of his friends from his own secondary school. He’s become a great friend, so when he asked if I had some way to get ahold of you, I let him know that we wrote to each other every so often and he asked if I’d be willing to send a letter for him, I agreed.

I remember you speaking very little about your family, so I’m guessing that it wasn’t a great situation. But Dudley has confided in me that he hasn’t spoken to his parents in nearly a year and that he’d really like to have a better relationship with you.

I’m not sure when your next Hogsmeade weekend is, or if you’re able to get away whenever because your whole class is of age, but I think he might want to meet up with you, and I really want to meet Teddy.

Hope you’re well.

Love always,

Cho

The conversation around him had tapered off, everyone was looking at Harry trying to figure out what he was reacting to and what, exactly, his reactions meant. It was rather rare to see Harry Potter in a state of genuine shock.

Not noticing the confusion of his peers, Harry set aside Cho’s letter and picked up Dudley’s. It was short and to the point;

Harry,

I’ve met someone who went to school with you, and she’s told me a lot about you that I didn’t know. She made you sound like an incredible person, and I deeply regret following along with my parent’s attitude toward you, I really want to know the Harry that Cho has told me about.

I haven’t talked to mum and dad since a month after we got moved from our house. I’ve cut off all contact with them and Aunt Marge so I’m rather lacking in family, and I really want the opportunity to get to know the family I have left. Cho also mentioned that you’ve adopted your godson, I’d love to meet him.

I understand if you don’t want that, I’ve been rather awful. But I really hope you’ll consider it. Cho said there’s a village near your school where we could meet you or that you had a rather easy way of getting around so you might be able to come see us here. I am open to anything, Harry.

Your Cousin,

Dudley Evans

P.S. I stopped using dad’s name when I came to school. I want to be a good person and I couldn’t think of any good Dursleys, but I know there was at least one good Evans.

“Who’s it from?” Draco asked again.

“My cousin,” Harry said, voice hardly above a whisper.

“I’m your only cousin and I’m sitting right here.”

“We are related to Harry in the exact same way you are,” Padma said, pointing between herself and Parvati.

“Really?” Draco asked.

“Yes. Our dad and his dad were cousins, same as your mum and his dad were cousins.” Parvati said.

“I’d forgotten that,” Draco muttered.

“I really don’t think this is the time for family tree drawing,” Hermione chided before turning to Harry, “are you alright? You mean Dudley right?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, shaking his head slightly in an attempt to physically clear his mind, “he’s at school with Cho apparently, they’ve become friends, and he wants another chance. He also stopped using his dad’s surname.”

“I can respect that,” Draco said, “was his dad like mine?”

“A war criminal?” Neville asked, “I rather think not.”

Harry huffed out a laugh at that before saying, “if you mean an abusive dick then, yes, Draco, his dad was exactly like yours.”

“I meant just a generally awful human, but I guess that qualifies.”

“Are you going to write back?” Ron asked from next to Hermione.

“I think I’ll write and ask if he’d like to meet up,” Harry said, “it sounds like he’s at Uni for business at St. Andrews.”

“Dudley Dursley is at St Andrews?” Hermione said, sounding rather shocked.

“He was an absolute dunce in primary, but he did go to a private boys school for secondary and I believe he did rather well,” Harry reasoned, “well, he must have to go to St Andrews.”

“Is that a good university?” Theo asked, “I know they’re one of the schools that has graduate studies in magical subjects, but I don’t know much about the muggle side.”

“It’s the top uni in Scotland,” Hermione said, “from everything I know about Dudley it was rather a shock that he’d ended up there.”

“Can I see the letter, Harry?” Neville asked. Harry nodded and handed it over. After reading through it quickly, Neville turned to Harry and said, “if you want to go meet him, I’m more than happy to come with.”

“Thanks, Nev,” Harry said, “but I think I’ll go alone. Well, me and Ted.”

“Should you possibly bring someone else that Teddy is comfortable with in case you end up wanting to talk to your cousin alone?” Theo asked.

“Is this your way of telling me that you think you should come?” Harry asked, smiling.

“No.” Theo responded with his best innocent face.

“I’ll think about it,” Harry said.

* * *

Harry had spent the second half of Ancient Runes rather distracted.

“Harry,” Theo said as they were leaving the classroom. When he got no response he tried again, “Harry, Hadrian, Harry James.”

When he still got no response, he grabbed Harry by the hand and pulled him through the halls, up several staircases, down another hall, through the dragon portrait, and up the stairs to his quarters where he unceremoniously shoved him into a chair at the kitchen table and started making tea.

He didn’t snap to until Theo put a cup of tea in front of him and ran a hand through his hair and then left the hand at the back of his head, playing with the soft curls at the base of his neck.

“Love,” Theo said in a soft, quiet voice, “what’s on your mind.”

Harry leaned into Theo’s touch and let his eyes flutter shut, “my hair’s getting long.”

“It is,” Theo said, “do you like it, or do you want to cut it?”

“I like it for now.”

“I like it too,” Theo said, scratching lightly at the back of Harry’s head, “now can you tell me what’s really on your mind?”

Sighing, Harry leaned forward and pressed his face into Theo’s neck. Theo turned slightly to press a kiss into Harry’s hair, “do you want to lie down love?”

When Harry nodded, Theo stood up and grabbed Harry’s hand again and gently pulled him into the bedroom, “do you want to change out of your uniform?”

Silently, but looking as though he was in deep thought, Harry pulled off his robe and hung it on the back of the door before kicking off his shoes and unbuttoning his shirt. As he was unstrapping the holster from his thigh, he started to talk.

“My whole childhood I was treated as nothing. I lived in a cupboard, I cooked every meal but got to eat none of it, I did all the housework and yardwork, and I got slapped around or outright beaten for mistakes and accidental magic. Dudley and his friends had a game they liked to call Harry Hunting. It’s why I’m so fast. But he was just a kid, a kid following the example of his parents and peers. He never really had a chance to be good and as soon as he had that choice for himself, he tried.

“After the dementors, he changed. He either left me alone or engaged me in normal, if stilted, conversation and when they were moving the Dursleys before they relocated me when I turned 17, he told me that he’d never thought I was a waste of space. I want to give him a chance, it’s just that his reaching out brings up a lot of shit.”

Before Theo could come up with a response, Harry added, “also, he said he hasn’t spoken to Vernon and Petunia in a year and he’s started using the last name Evans because he said he wanted to be good and couldn’t think of any good Dursleys but knew there was at least one good Evans.”

“What do you think your mum would do?” Theo asked after a minute of silence.

“She’d go,” Harry answered easily, “I know she would because even after everything, she still wrote Petunia once a month until the very end.”

“Alright so you go,” Theo said with a nod, “do you want someone to come with?”

“I want to talk to Neville,” Harry said, “but I should probably put clothes back on first.”

“I’ll go see if he’s home.”

“No, it’s fine I’ll send him a patronus, do you want to change?”

At Theo’s nod, Harry grabbed a pair of joggers and a jumper that were probably his own and threw them toward Theo before selecting a pair of shorts and a hoodie for himself. Clothes selected, he sent Prongs to Neville to ask him to come up then promptly threw himself face first on top of his bed.

Theo changed and then sat down next to Harry and started scratching his back in an attempt to calm him down. He’d just started to relax when they heard the front door opening, “in here!” Harry called out. A moment later, Neville stepped into the room dressed in almost the exact same outfit as Harry.

“Merlin you two really act like twins sometimes,” Theo said with a laugh.

Looking up to see what Theo meant, Harry smiled then patted the bed next to him. Neville flopped down face first and then turned his head to look at Harry, “what can I do, Haz?”

“Come to St. Andrews with us.”

“Us?” Theo asked.

“Family trip.” Harry declared with a nod.

“I’m family?”

“Course,” Harry said, not noticing the smile that declaration brought to Theo’s face. Neville noticed though and just smiled up at his brother’s boyfriend before turning his attention back to Harry.

“Alright, when?”

“Saturday morning? I’ll owl Cho and have her pass it on.”

The group fell into companionable silence for a few minutes. Just when they thought Harry had fallen asleep, he spoke up, “do you think Dudley’s a squib?”

“What makes you say that, love?” Theo asked.

“We know mum came from a squib line, her da was a squib and I’d bet her mum had magic somewhere in her blood, so logic says Petunia was a squib as well and mum just ended up fully magical somehow, do you think it passed down to Dudley as well?”

“It’s possible, are you asking just for information’s sake or do you have some other thought?”

“Mostly just information, though if he’s a squib I could get him an owl then I wouldn’t have to use Cho or send Hermes to wait for a response.”

“We have an ancient familiar who keeps telling us how bored he is without all of Dumbledore’s random notes to send.” Neville reminded Harry.

“Oh yeah,” Harry said before climbing out of bed with what appeared to be a Herculean effort and walking over to the writing desk to pen a note to Dudley asking if he was free Saturday morning, “do you think it’ll freak him out to have a giant flaming bird appear in front of him?”

“Almost definitely.” Neville responded.

“Sick,” Harry said with a slight grin before calling, “Fawkes! Could you come deliver a message please?”

The bird appeared instantaneously, Lord Slytherin finally listens, he trilled, where shall I take this?

“To my cousin Dudley Evans, he goes to school at St. Andrews. Could you please make sure he is either alone or only with Cho Chang when you deliver this?”

Of course, Fawkes responded, pass it over. I’m ready to be useful again.

Rolling his eyes at the phoenix’s dramatics, Harry handed over the note and watched as Fawkes disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Do you think he was always that dramatic? Or did he learn it from Dumbledore?”

“Have you met Godric?” Neville asked.

“Ah,” Harry nodded, “good point.”

“My life has gotten exponentially more insane since you two walked into it.” Theo informed them.

“Happy to be of service,” they responded in unison.

“Do you want to call for Teddy now or take a nap first?” Theo asked.

Glancing at his watch Harry mulled it over before deciding, “it’s nearly his naptime. I’ll call for him now and take a nap with him.”

“Just don’t roll over on top of him,” Neville suggested.

“I won’t,” Harry said, “I don’t move much in my sleep, especially now that I’m not sharing a skull with a Dark Lord who tortures me through my dreams.”

“He tortured you through dreams?” Theo asked, apparently having not heard that particular story yet.

“I’m really not sure if it was on purpose or not, but if I slipped into his head in my sleep I could feel echoes of his torture of others so that was super fun.”

“Can we not talk about your nighttime strolls into Voldy’s mind?” Neville said, “get your son. I’m staying by the way. I was about to take a nap when you asked me to come over.”

“Fine,” Harry sighed, “Theo you staying?”

“I haven’t been to my dorm in a week, I’m not entirely sure I remember where it is.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Harry said with a laugh before calling out for Mimi.

The elf appeared a couple of minutes later holding a sleepy looking Teddy, “good afternoon, Master Harry,” she said, “Little Master is ready for a nap.”

“Thank you, Mimi,” Harry said reaching out for the little boy, “I’m ready for a nap too. We’ll be in here, you should go get some rest.”

“Thank you, Master Harry,” the elf said with a nod before popping out of the room.

“Hi, cub,” Harry said, smiling down at Teddy and running a hand through his sandy curls, “nap time?”

Teddy let out a huge yawn in response.

Laughing lightly, Harry said, “alright, beta, it’s time for sleep.”

“That’s a new one,” Neville said.

“Not all that new,” Theo told him, “it means son in Hindi, Padma and Parvati are teaching him so they can bring him to India to meet the other Patils.”

“That’s great, Haz,” Neville said with a smile, “how’s it going?”

“Pretty well, turns out I’m weirdly good at learning languages.”

“Hadrian, you spent the first year and a half of your life with your dad speaking Hindi, your mum speaking English, Sirius speaking French, and Remus speaking Welsh, we don’t actually know what your first language was.”

“That’s a good point,” Harry told Theo, “I think I’ll end up trying to get Teddy to call me baba or da so Remus will always be dad.”

“That’s a great idea,” Neville said, “can we talk less about languages and more about going to sleep now?”

In response, Harry laid back down with Teddy on his chest, who promptly fell asleep the moment he was horizontal.

“Just like his da,” Neville said with a light laugh.

“I don’t fall asleep anywhere near that quickly,” Harry argued.

“You do, love,” Theo informed him, “especially when you’re exhausted.”

“Whatever,” Harry said, “everyone shut up and go to bed.”

Neville pulled a pillow down and laid on his side, reaching out a hand to join Harry’s on Teddy’s back before promptly falling asleep. Harry fell asleep soon after.

Once he was sure they were all asleep, Theo stood up and grabbed the camera off Harry’s desk and snapped a quick picture of the trio before getting back into bed, grabbing his book of the bedside table, and settling back against the pillows.

Chapter Text

Saturday, 3 October 1998

Harry had faced down giant snakes and evil Dark Lords, he’d walked to his own death and hunted down vile magic. But he wasn’t sure he’d ever been more nervous than he was this morning getting ready to see Dudley.

Harry had lost so much of his family between the two wars. He’d built one himself over the years, but there was still a part of him that wanted the Dursleys to claim him as one of their own. He’d spent his entire childhood either begging the universe to send someone to save him or doing everything he possibly could to get positive attention from the family he’d been left with.

Letting Dudley into his life was a risk, letting Dudley into Teddy’s life was a greater risk. He was immensely grateful that Theo and Neville would be along and could leave with Teddy at a moment’s notice.

“Can you pick out my clothes?” Harry asked after standing in front of his wardrobe for a full ten minutes wearing only his boxers, “I’m going to go get Teddy dressed and pack a bag for him.”

“Of course, love,” Theo said, coming up behind Harry and wrapping his arms around his waist, “jeans or slacks?”

“Jeans,” Harry said after a moment’s thought, briefly leaning back against Theo’s chest, “thank you.”

“Anything for you, love, you know that.”

After pressing a quick kiss to the side of Theo’s head, Harry walked through the bathroom and into Teddy’s room to get him ready. The little boy in question was sitting up in his crib waiting for Harry … wait, “Theo! Come in here!” Harry called out, “Teddy’s sitting up all on his own!”

“Really?” Theo called.

“Really!”

Harry heard the sound of clothes hitting the floor followed closely by the sound of Theo’s hurried footsteps across the bathroom tile, “look at you, Teddy!”

Grinning, Harry reached out his hand and silently summoned the camera from their room and snapped a picture of the milestone.

“I think this is a good sign,” Theo said, turning over his shoulder to smile at Harry from where he was standing by the edge of Teddy’s crib.

“You think?”

“I do,” Theo said with a nod, “now what’s our little guy going to wear?”

Smiling at Theo’s use of “our” but choosing not to call him out on it quite yet, Harry turned to open Teddy’s dresser and pick out an outfit.

“Do you think it’ll be cold?”

“Probably,” Theo responded, “it’s autumn in Scotland and they don’t have the protection of a massive magical forest and wards so strong they tend to block harsh weather.”

“Good point,” Harry said, before grabbing a pair of little green corduroys and a cream jumper.

“That might be the cutest outfit I’ve ever seen,” Theo said when Harry laid out the clothes, “but you need to bring a backup sweater in case we’re somewhere you can’t use a cleaning charm.”

“Have I ever told you you’re a genius?”

“Nowhere near often enough, now get the little cub dressed and I’ll go finish picking out your clothes.”

“You’re going to coordinate me to Teddy now, aren’t you?”

“Obviously!” Theo yelled as he started digging through Harry’s wardrobe again.

Shaking his head, Harry lifted Teddy out of his crib and set him on the changing table, “your … you know what I don’t know what to call him, we’ll figure that out later, your Theo is a funny one, cub.”

Once Teddy was dressed and the diaper bag was packed, Harry walked back into his room to find Theo dressed in brown corduroy pants and a cream jumper and a pair of light jeans and a dark green sweater laying on the bed for Harry.

Smiling at the fact that Theo had obviously coordinated his own outfit as well, Harry passed Teddy over and started to get dressed, “do you think we need coats?”

“Let’s put them in the bag just in case,” Theo decided before setting Teddy down against the pillows on their bed and turning back to the wardrobe to find coats for himself and Harry and then ducking into Teddy’s room to find a coat for him as well.

“Alright,” Harry said as he laced up his boots (Timberlands that Hermione had told him he needed and he now really needed to tell her she was right), “I think we’re ready.”

“Let’s go get Neville and get out of here.”

Neville opened the door wearing the exact same outfit as Harry.

“No,” Harry said, decidedly ignoring Theo who was literally about to fall over with how hard he was laughing, “we’re not doing this, one of us is changing.”

“Go change your trousers,” Neville said, “you wear those jeans all the time, you can wear something different.”

“Fine,” Harry sighed, before passing Teddy over to the person not currently on the floor laughing, “I’ll change.”

“No! Wait!” Theo called out between fits of laughter, “I need a picture first.”

“Fine,” Harry huffed, rolling his eyes, though he was doing a rather poor job of suppressing his smile.

Once Theo had his picture, Harry ducked back into his room to change, deciding they’d all look like an autumn brochure for a local bed and breakfast no matter what he put on, he picked out corduroys that were a lighter tan than Theo’s and headed back into the hall.

When he got there, Luna had made her way upstairs to see what the general ruckus was about, “oh look at you lot!” she said with a grin before grabbing the camera from Theo’s hand, “family picture!”

Once Luna was satisfied that she’d gotten a good photo, Neville, Theo, and Harry (holding Teddy) spun on their heels and appeared in an alley Cho had send them the coordinates for near the University.

“Ready for this?” Neville asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Harry said with a nod before he passed Teddy over to Neville and stepped out onto the sidewalk and followed Cho’s directions to where she and Dudley would be waiting.

They heard her before they saw her, “Harry!!” was just about the only warning he got before he had an armful of Cho.

Harry picked her up and spun her around once before setting her down and grinning, “hi, Cho! How are you?”

“I’m great,” she said, returning his grin, “how have you been? How’s Hogwarts? How’s the Wizengamot, my dad said you lot made a rather impressive show?” She then paused her questioning when she noticed Harry’s companions, “Neville,” she greeted with a smile, before turning to Theo, “and I’m not sure I know you, you look familiar though.”

“Theo Nott,” he said, extending his hand.

Looking at Harry with a raised eyebrow, Cho reached out and shook Theo’s hand, “Cho Chang.”

“And this is Teddy,” Neville said before Cho could start an interrogation in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Oh my goodness,” she all but squealed, “he’s adorable, can I hold him, Harry?”

“Course,” Harry agreed, nodding to Neville who handed Teddy over.

In the chaos that is Cho Chang, Harry hadn’t noticed Dudley walk up behind her until he heard a deep voice saying, “Harry, hi.”

Looking up, Harry noticed how nervous his cousin looked and decided that this was likely just as, if not more, difficult for Dudley as it was him. “Hi, Dudley,” he greeted with an easy smile, “it’s good to see you, where do you two want to go?”

“We thought we’d go get breakfast and then walk around campus,” Cho said, “how does that sound?”

“Sounds great,” Neville responded.

Harry noticed that Teddy, in true Teddy fashion, was split between torturing Cho by keeping a handful of her hair in a death grip and disarming her entirely with his sweet little smile.

“Here,” Harry said with a laugh, prying Teddy’s fist open before reaching out to take him from Cho, “I’ll take the little monster, and you lead the way.”

After only half a block, they came upon a small café that Cho claimed made a great breakfast and headed inside.

The conversation was easy, if stilted, so far and Harry was feeling rather optimistic.

After they’d gone to the counter to order, they’d all sat down, and Theo and Harry had fought Teddy into submission and belted him into a highchair, Dudley spoke again, “sorry, I forgot to introduce myself back there, I’m Dudley Evans, Harry’s cousin.”

Neville reached out to shake his hand, “Neville Longbottom, Harry’s brother in all but blood.”

“What would happen if we blood adopted each other,” Harry mused.

“Can we save discussions on untested blood magic for later?” Theo said, rolling his eyes before smiling at Dudley and reaching out to shake his hand, “Theo Nott, Harry’s boyfriend.”

Dudley did a rather good job of hiding his shock at that, “nice to meet you,” he then sat quietly with a questioning look on his face.

Thinking he had a rather good idea of what Dudley was stopping himself from asking, Harry said, “you can ask.”

“Is this your first boyfriend or did you have one before,” Dudley asked, trailing off slightly before he steeled himself and finished his question, “like before that summer with those monsters?”

“No, he’s not my first boyfriend,” Harry answered, “I dated a boy named Cedric who was killed at the end of my 4^th year of school, that summer before the dementors showed up in Little Whinging.”

“Well,” Dudley said clearing his throat, “I am beyond sorry for teasing you about that, then.”

“It’s forgiven, Dudley,” Harry said with more ease than he thought he’d be able to, “you didn’t know.”

“Cedric was my best friend,” Cho said, “that’s how Harry and I became friends.”

“Didn’t you two date?” Theo wondered aloud.

“What?” Cho and Harry asked in unison.

“Where did that come from?” Neville asked.

“In 5^th year,” Theo explained, looking rather confused, “everyone was saying you two dated and that it ended in total disaster on Valentine’s Day.”

“Oh,” Cho said, starting to giggle, “that.”

Rolling his eyes, Harry realized he was going to have to explain, “no, we didn’t date. We kissed once which, might I say, was incredibly weird, but there was mistletoe involved.”

“And crying,” Cho chirped, “there was also crying involved.”

“Yes,” Harry said shooting a rather ineffectual glare at Cho, “there was crying. Then we went to Hogsmeade together because we hadn’t really spent any time together without Cedric, but we were both a little too stuck in our grief at that point to have a friendship separate from him, so we didn’t talk much the rest of the year.”

“But we worked it out,” Cho said, “all’s well now.”

“Well, I for one am happy about that,” Dudley said, “it was so crazy to find someone who’d known you in school, Harry.”

“I can’t imagine,” Harry said with a laugh, “if I were you I’d probably have had a hard time even believing my school was real.”

“I honestly wasn’t sure it was for a couple of years,” Dudley said, laughing a little as well, “a giant showed up and used an umbrella to give me a tail and then you disappeared, I thought there might’ve been a gas leak or something. It was like a giant hallucination.”

“Imagine my perspective!” Harry said, properly laughing now, “a giant shows up and then takes me to a magical alley where I get gold coins from honest-to-God goblins and then tells me I need a wand and a cauldron and a pointy hat before telling me to get on a magical train in a month and dropping me back off at home. I thought I’d gone mad.”

“Every time you talk about your introduction to Hogwarts I get more and more concerned for Dumbledore’s mental state,” Neville said, tone edging between humor and genuine concern.

“Questioning Albus Dumbledore’s sanity is a waste of time,” Harry said, waving Neville off, “trust me.”

They paused their conversation when their food arrived. Once the waiter had turned away, Neville took the chance to pull out his wand and quickly cast a series of muffling and notice-me-not charms, assuming that Dudley wanted to ask questions that would likely get them into some shit with Kingsley if a bunch of muggles overheard.

“So, what can you tell me about school?” Dudley asked, “I was always rather curious but didn’t think I was allowed to ask.”

“Well, the Statute of Secrecy lets us tell immediate family, spouses, and people we live with about the existence of Magic,” Harry explained, “so I could’ve told you anything growing up and now that you know about it, we’re family, and we grew up together, I can answer any of your questions without getting into trouble.”

“Also, we basically control the government,” Neville informed Dudley, as if that wasn’t an insane statement, “so he’s rather unlikely to get in trouble for anything.”

“I rather think the ICW would get involved if I started a war or something like that.”

“So don’t start a war,” Neville said.

“Great advice, Nev, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Harry said rolling his eyes, “what do you want to know, Dudley.”

“Wait,” Theo said, “one thing, remember your question the other day?”

Thinking for a moment, Harry looked toward Theo before finally realizing what he was referencing, “about whether Dudley might be a squib?”

“Yes,” Theo said, cutting off Dudley who was more than likely starting to ask what exactly a squib is, “a squib is someone born of a magical bloodline who doesn’t have magic, we found out over the summer that Lily was from a squib branch of a rather powerful pureblood line so we think that your grandparents were squibs and logic dictates that your mother is as well.”

“That makes sense,” Cho chimed in, “that might even explain where so-called muggle-born wizards come from.”

“I think it might,” Harry said, “we’re trying to figure out how to look into it before we bring it up with the Wizengamot but if you want to mention it to your father, feel free.”

“Alright,” Cho said, “but how do we test if Dudley is a squib?”

“One easy way,” Theo said holding his hand out toward Harry.

“I don’t know what you’re asking for,” Harry said, looking at Theo’s hand, “do you want me to hold your hand or hand you something?”

“Sometimes I forget you can’t actually read minds,” Theo mused, “I’m obviously spending too much time around the two of you.”

“What does that mean?” Cho asked.

“Magical twins,” Neville and Harry responded in unison.

“Don’t ask more,” Theo said, cutting Cho off, “unless you want an hour-long lecture entirely in twin speak and the resulting migraine.”

Cho simply nodded, deciding she’d ask Harry to explain in writing.

“Can I please see your holly wand?” Theo asked.

“Sure,” Harry said, grabbing the wand from the disillusioned holster on his right thigh, “why this wand though?”

“It’s your original wand and it has a twin core with the wand of another Gaunt, it’s the most likely to respond to Dudley in any way, also your other wand won’t respond to anyone else except maybe, maybe Draco and I don’t know if we want to test that.”

“It won’t respond to Draco,” Harry said with authority, “the only person it’d respond to other than me is maybe Neville and I think it’d have to be an emergency situation.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Neville said, tuning back into the conversation.

“I didn’t know until right now,” Harry responded, “when Theo mentioned it responding to Draco I immediately knew that was wrong and then something told me that it might respond to you under very specific circumstances.”

“Ignoring whatever that discussion was,” Cho cut in, “what would Harry’s wand tell us?”

“We know that Dudley didn’t get a Hogwarts letter so we know he’s not fully magical,” Theo started before he was cut off by Neville, “do we know that, though?”

“What do you mean?” Theo asked, turning to look at Neville and Harry who appeared to be (and likely actually were) having a silent conversation.

“We know I had an infant binding on my core,” Harry said, “but there was still the remanent of a binding when I went into the bank that wasn’t the same magical signature as the infant one and the binding on my metamorph power.”

“You think it was Dumbledore,” Theo realized.

“Yes,” Neville said, “Dumbledore who left Harry at the Dursleys, knowing for a fact that they hated magic. What if he placed the same binding on Dudley and it was enough to suppress any magic he had, even if it was just the latent magic a squib possesses.”

“That’s actually not the most insane theory I’ve ever heard,” Theo mused.

“You’re joking, right?” Cho cut in, “how is that not the most insane theory you’ve heard.”

“You’ve met Harry, right?”

“Good point, proceed.”

After sticking his tongue out at Cho, because he was an incredibly mature adult, Harry continued, “we taught ourselves the diagnostic to see if there’s any bindings after they found a minor one on Neville as well.”

“And you two are insanely paranoid,” Theo added.

“And that,” Harry agreed, “I could perform it on Dudley, and we could see.”

“Wait couldn’t you just perform that identification spell Kingsley showed us that aurors use? Doesn’t that show the person’s core category along with the identifying information?”

“You’re right, Nev,” Harry said, “I’d forgotten about that, are you alright with me doing that, Dudley? It just feels like a breeze rushing over you.”

“Sure,” Dudley said, “I really don’t know what’s going on right now but whatever you’re saying sounds serious, so yeah.”

After double checking that Neville’s notice-me-nots and muffling charms were still up, Harry waved his wand at Dudley and muttered a quick spell before tapping his wand to a piece of parchment Neville had pulled out of his pocket.

Dudley Vernon Dursley

23 June 1980

Vernon Dursley and Petunia Evans

Core: Squib

“Huh,” Harry said, “you’re a squib.”

“See if he’s bound,” Neville said.

After another spell, Dudley glowed white for a brief second.

Harry and Neville both breathed out a sigh of relief.

“No binding then?” Theo asked.

“No,” they responded.

“If we’d found out that he was bound to the point of being a squib, meaning he’d been stopped from attending Hogwarts, I’d have raised Dumbledore from the dead just to yell at him and then kill him again.”

“First, you didn’t kill him the first time,” Neville said, shoving Harry’s head, “second, don’t joke about things you could actually do.”

At Cho’s shocked look, Harry waved his hand, “another time.”

Cho just shrugged, a day in the life of being Harry’s friend.

“What does being a squib really mean though?” Dudley asked.

As they finished their meals, Harry, Theo, Cho, and Neville explained the different classifications of magical power and talked about the things they knew squibs were able to do.