Author: CaptainTightPants12

Rating: K

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I'd be jetting around the world looking awesome with JK Rowling, making sure that a Marauders movie would get made. And I would definitely dress better. No more buying clothes on Amazon. Actually, I probably would still buy clothes on Amazon. Who am I kidding? I'm more Weasley than Malfoy.

Summary: Harry Potter is given a gift that reveals to him an untold story about where he came from.

Chapter: #1, Sock Puppets and Smoke Puffs

Author's Note: I wrote this as a Christmas/Birthday present for a girl, published in a book and the whole nine yards, and I figured I'd share it out here for other Harry Potter fans as well. It's been a while since I published on this site, been doing a lot of my own personal original work lately so it's fun to dip my toe back out there. Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!


Following the second wizarding war, life was very different for Harry Potter. For the first time, he wasn't afraid. Voldemort was gone, and he was able to focus on the rest of his life with the people that he loved and was able to pursue for the very first time, what he wanted. Not what he was destined to do. Not what he was chosen to do. Simply what he just wanted to do. It was a freeing thought for the young wizard. He found himself pursuing a career as an auror, fully supported by the new Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt for his efforts throughout his lifetime and most importantly, the defeat of Lord Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts. Of course, Harry was finally able to find love in his life as well. Things with Ginny Weasley had progressed to the point that he was the happiest he had ever been. She didn't know it yet, but he had already bought the ring he would use to propose to her to spend the rest of her life with him. He hadn't been this nervous since his days of hunting horcruxes. Things had just turned out exactly the way he wanted them to.

Working with Ron at the ministry, he had his best friend with him every day. The third of their trio was engaged to Ron before the battle was even over at Hogwarts, Harry liked to joke. Once they opened up about how they felt about each other, they were done for and the writing was on the wall to everyone's enjoyment. Ron had never been more red than having to explain it all to his parents. Hermione had gone back to get her N.E.W.T.s, though neither Harry nor Ron had much interest in more school knowing their careers were already set in stone for them. She was working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but everyone knew that the sky was the limit for her. She could be running the entire ministry in Harry's opinion. The rebuilding of Hogwarts had been going well. Harry was of course very involved in making sure the school was restored to its former glory. He worked hand in hand with the Headmistress Minerva McGonagall and even had been invited to lecture for Defense Against the Dark Arts classes much to his embarrassment at times. It felt strange to stand in front of people who wanted to know about his past deeds. He wanted to teach students how to defend themselves, but to them, he might've just as well been a history teacher. Perhaps he would never fully grow out of the moniker of the Boy Who Lived. Perhaps he would never fully put his tale with Lord Voldemort behind him. He was happy to know that if nothing else, it was becoming less common. He enjoyed simply being Harry Potter, auror at the Ministry of Magic. He also simply enjoyed being Harry the raven-haired Weasley as his soon to be in-laws liked to think of him as. Today's visit to north England brought upon one of his favorite hats though.

One of the great tragedies of the Battle of Hogwarts was the loss of one of his closest mentors, Remus Lupin. A werewolf who had befriended his father and his godfather, and one of the closest bits of family he ever had. Remus fell during the battle while protecting those he loved. He was a hero in every meaning of the word and the loss of him had been carried with Harry every day. The same could be said of his wife, Nymphadora Tonks. She fell in the very same battle, another of Harry's closest friends. Although they looked back on the battle as a victory, still so much was lost. And someday, none would feel that more than their son, Teddy Lupin, the godson of Harry Potter himself. Following the war, Teddy went to live with his grandmother, Andromeda Tonks. Harry tried to visit as often as he could because he could feel a certain kinship with him. Not only was he the son of two of Harry's best friends, but Teddy was an orphan in the same way that Harry had grown up and he was determined to be there for him the way that he had never had.

Harry had lived in a cupboard under the stairs like an indentured slave and was treated beyond poorly by the last of his blood family. He had to go forth into the world and find his own family in Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the rest of the Weasleys. He was lucky enough to be reunited with Sirius and Lupin for the time that he was able to have with them. He would not leave Teddy to suffer the same fate if he could manage it. He would fill his duty as godfather the way that he knew Remus would have wanted him to and the way he knew Sirius would have done had he not been otherwise preoccupied in Azkaban. Normally Ginny came with him but since she had become a professional Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies, she missed the occasional visit for practice or for a match. As he made his way towards the farmhouse, Harry could already smell what Andromeda was making for dinner and it made his stomach growl in agreement. He quickened his pace and wrapped his knuckles against the door before he heard her coming.

"If that's Harry Potter at my door and he's knocking yet again instead of just coming in like I've told him a hundred times by now, I just might hex his pretty little face off," Andromeda muttered before opening the door. "Hex it is, I'm afraid, Harry."

"Someday I'll barge in, how about that?"

She chuckled, "You're family, Harry. You don't have to knock on my door. It's not like I have so many other guests, you know? Somebody else knows, it might mean trouble."

"I'll keep that in mind. How's our boy?"

Andromeda rolled her eyes, "Growing like a weed. He'll be taller than his father in no time. He's nearly talking in sentences now. I just hope he doesn't have mouth on him like Nymphie did."

"I second that, I'm afraid," Harry laughed. "Boy is going to be running the show soon enough. Gin is completely taken with him. She'll be wrapped around his finger worse than me."

"Hard to imagine that, Harry," she snickered.

She showed him into the kitchen where she was preparing a feast while Teddy was napping. She told him about all of Teddy's little achievements and endeavors as of late. Apparently, he was working with building blocks and had even begun picking out his own clothes, though matching was still an issue. "He hasn't quite mastered the difference between gloves and socks. I think showing him sock puppets at such an early age might've confused him a bit," she explained.

When the boy was finally awake, the games began. Harry had the faintest memory of a wand blowing puffs of smoke and when he did it for Teddy, it was gangbusters. Though truth be told, there wasn't a lot that didn't put a smile on his face. Teddy was an orphan and any attention at all was going to be a winner for him. He loved to see his godfather. Harry liked to think that somehow, he knew that Harry was basically as close to blood as you could get without actually being blood. The way Remus had felt about him. While Andromeda continued to cook, Harry bounced Teddy on his knee and they danced around with the little smoke puffs that were coming out of his wand.

"Did I mention the trunk?" she asked.

He looked over his shoulder, "The trunk?"

Andromeda nodded. "I was going through some of the things in the attic and I noticed there was a trunk up there with a letter taped to it. The letter has your name on it. It looked like it was Remus' hand writing from what I could tell. I think it's charmed, I couldn't open it to see what was inside. Not that I was trying to be nosy," she chuckled.

Harry smiled, "I'll go up and see whether or not I can get it open once I'm done helping you cook dinner."

Andromeda shook her head, "Supper is ready, Harry. We can eat and I'll put Teddy down for the night while you check it out. I assume you're planning to stay over for the night?"

He nodded, "Well, Ginny was planning to come in the morning to get some face-to-face time with the little guy, so that's the plan."

"Come along then, dig in while it's hot."

They ate dinner and made small talk. Harry tried to encouraged Andromeda to get out more. He routinely offered to take Teddy for nights or weekends so that she could get a chance to live an adult life, but she seemed to enjoy just being grandmum, and he couldn't really blame her about that. She always liked to tell him that it was good it was this way because it meant Harry had plenty of time to make some children of his own for her to spoil. He didn't even want to imagine how red Ginny might turn at those comments. Once dinner was over, they put Teddy down for the night and he promised that there'd be plenty of smoke puffs in the morning.

Andromeda stayed behind to read him a story from one of his favorite books that he had gotten from Hermione on his last birthday, a little picture book version of Fantastical Beasts and Where To Find Them. He loved seeing all of the little creatures, and his favorite by far was the niffler that narrated the whole book. For a boy that loved getting into everything, he naturally found himself fixated on the nifflers quite a bit. With Teddy down, Harry began to make his way to the attic. Andromeda had proven herself to be a bit of a pack-rat, especially as she hoarded every bit of Nymphadora and Remus that she possibly could. Harry recognized the old blue trunk that Lupin had brought with him when he was teaching in his third year. Sure enough, there was a note on the top of it with his name written on it in Lupin's handwriting. Harry opened the note and read it aloud to himself.

"Harry, I started working on this shortly after we met back at Hogwarts because it was incredibly apparent to me how hard it must be to feel like you don't know who your family is or where you came from. I don't know how far I'll get with this, but fortunately your mother was a big fan of collecting her thoughts and memories. Sirius and I contributed as well. I hope this puts some of your questions to ease, and I hope you see how special your family really was. Your friend, Remus Lupin," he sighed as he looked back over the note.

He knelt down and opened the trunk, and just as Andromeda had told him, it was charmed so that only he could open it. With a pink glow around the lid to the trunk, it opened and Harry had to wave his hand to keep the dust cloud from settling down upon him. The trunk was full of vials, and there was a modest dish off to the side. He lifted the dish and blew the dust off and immediately recognized it as a much smaller pensieve than the one he knew from Dumbledore's office. Each vial was marked with a date and a number. Harry assumed that Lupin had put them in a specific order for a specific reason. He lifted the first one out and looked at it, tilting his head.

"They're memories," he mused to himself and then looked back down at his notes. "Wait… Your mother was a…" Harry blinked a few times. "Are these my mother's memories?"

Quickly, Harry poured the first bottle into the pensieve. He took a very deep breath, and then pushed his face into the water.