Hello there! Welcome to A Kind of Family! I hope I don't regret naming it that. I'm pretty sure this is a original-ish idea, but I could be wrong. I haven't exactly read every single HP fanfic on here, you know.

I have a feeling this is gonna be a LONG story. Considering we're going to be going through Harry's Hogwarts years (at least that's the plan right now, who knows what'll change as I actually get this motor warmed up. ;D) it should be a considerable length. Yay? No yay? ;)

Rated M because I'm known to use bad language and there's a lot of stuff probably going to be happening later that might be a little dark-ish.

Pairings: Canon couples probably and AlScor (Albus S. Potter/Scorpius H. Malfoy). If something pops up with Hugo or James, I'll keep you posted on that, but right now no plans have been made. (though ideas are forming and dieing)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I own all the movies and books though, so I guess I'm doing pretty okay for myself. ;)

I don't have a beta, and since I'm super impatient when it comes to posting what I have written, I don't think I could handle having one. But please feel free anytime to point out if my characters have gone nutty, something completely screwed up happens, or there's a glaringly obvious (or not so obvious) plothole somewhere. I'm usually pretty good with not letting plotholes happen (usually) but I'm also not experienced with stories that are going to be this big. Also, I'm trying to read over the chapter(s) to see if my spelling and grammar are pretty okay, but I'm bound to not notice huge ones that slipped by.

So, yeah, I think that's all I needed to say before the story starts so… ONWARD! /points/

A Kind of Family

Prologue

Albus Potter sighed as put his head in his hands. He knew he should have taken the offer the rest of his family had given him and James and let some of them help, but they had wanted, and still did, to do this with the only people who could understand. Hugo had felt the same way when they had cleaned out his parents' house the week before. So that left Hugo, James, Scorpius, and himself to clean out Albus and James's parents' house.

They were in the attic, searching through the old things Albus remembered being barred from when he had been smaller. James and him had always tried to slip through the wards surrounding it, but even when the two had slipped through any other ward in the house, they still couldn't slip through the attic ones. So far, Albus hadn't found anything particularly interesting. He had already had his breakdown when he had found a tattered old picture of his mother in quidditch robes with his father smiling proudly beside her, with James in their arms.

"Sweet Merlin… Guys, look at this," came Hugo's voice from the other end of the attic. Albus looked up and his eyes widened. Hugo was standing in front of a huge cabinet, and the contents of the cabinet were glowing.

Albus and Scorpius stood at each side of Hugo with James behind them as they looked at the contents of the cabinet. The label "Memories" stood out at the top of the cabinet, but there were other, smaller labels for each section of memories. Albus reached out and took a sheet of parchment lying near the middle of the cabinet. He read silently, Scorpius watching him curiously, while Hugo and James were still staring at the glowing memories with awe.

Dear Harry,

As soon as I told the woman I work with, Cecilia Garret, that I had gone to Hogwarts in your year, she immediately wanted me to mail this letter to you. I know that you have never liked being in the media, but please at least think about what I am going to ask.

Cecilia wants to write a biography about your life and fight against You-Know-Who. She has been wanting to for a long time, but just now has the resources. It would be wonderful if you would please have an interview with her, even better if Ron and Hermione could be interviewed too. Maybe even the rest of the Weasley family.

Cecilia is interested in the truth. I swear. I've known her since I've started working in the Daily Prophet, and she has never, to my knowledge, wrote a false article.

Please write back with an answer. It would be wonderful.

Sincerely,

Lavender Brown

P.S. Please tell Ron that I have no hard feelings against him from sixth year, in case he is worried. Though he shouldn't be.

"What did Uncle Ron do to Lavender Brown in their sixth year at Hogwarts?" Albus asked out loud as he handed the letter to Scorpius who read it curiously.

Hugo acquired a small, sad smile. "Before Mum and Dad started to date, Dad dated Lavender Brown. After about a term or so of dating, Lavender saw Mum and Dad going out the room together—she didn't know that Uncle Harry was invisible with them—and thought that they were together." Hugo's sad smile fell off his face. "Rose told me after she had asked Mum the story of how Mum and Dad got together. Mum had said everyone but Dad had really known they were made for each other."

Albus nodded slightly, a sad look coming to his eyes for Hugo, James, Scorpius, and himself. He looked at the old memories and suddenly thought that he didn't know his father nearly as well as he would have liked. "Lets watch some of them."

"What?" Both Scorpius and Hugo asked at the same time. James got a look in his eye that Albus hadn't seen since they had heard the news about their parents. Albus was happy to see it.

"We should watch some of them," Albus said picking up a memory under the label of "Second Year" Albus looked to James. "We really don't know much about Dad while he was in school."

"Are you sure?" Scorpius asked, putting a hand on Albus's shoulder. Hugo mirrored the question in his eyes.

Albus nodded. "Yes, I really want to."

"Okay then," Scorpius said with a nod.

James grinned. "Yes! We need a pensive. Right now."

Hugo looked around the attic for a second, "I saw a pensive somewhere around here." Hugo rummaged through some things before pulling out a heavy looking pensive and setting it down near the cabinet on a sturdy table.

Albus held the memory he had picked and poured the silvery substance into the bowl. "This was under the label for second year."

"Twelve year old Harry Potter, huh?" Scorpius asked with a half smile.

Albus couldn't help the small smile that came to his lips. "I get to see Dad in school."

"That'll be weird," Hugo commented.

James lightly punched Hugo on the shoulder. "It'll be great, Hugo."

"Lets do this," Albus said with determination. Scorpius took Albus's hand, and the four of them dipped their heads into the pensive.

It was dark, but Albus recognized immediately where they were: outside of Hogwarts. There were two boys looking into the windows of the Great Hall. One of the boys was short and skinny, black messy hair and round wire rimmed glasses. The other boy was taller, with red hair and blue eyes. They were his Uncle Ron and his father, Harry. Hugo had been right, it was strange.

He heard Scorpius and Hugo gasp beside him and knew they had seen what he had. He walked up closer to the two boys, Scorpius and Hugo following closely. James stayed back a bit, and Albus wondered if he would have a breakdown too. Albus didn't question James's need to stay back though. He understood.

Inside the Great Hall it was clear that the sorting ceremony was going on and Albus searched his memory of what the hell his uncle and father were doing outside of the hall when they should have been inside.

"This is when they flew the car into Hogwarts!" Hugo exclaimed, making Albus jump.

James snorted a bit wetly while Albus smiled sadly, then the smile widened. "Is the car still in the forbidden forest?"

Hugo laughed, "I've never saw it, but it should be still in the forest. Hagrid never mentioned meeting it though."

"What?" Scorpius asked in confusion.

Albus turned to Scorpius squeezing the hand that was in his. "Dad and Uncle Ron flew a car into Hogwarts their second year when they couldn't get to the train. The car kicked them out and fled into the forbidden forest. No one's seen it since."

"Hang on…" The four heads shot to where the young Harry Potter was talking. Though it was more childish than what Albus was use to it still almost broke his heart. "There's an empty chair at the staff table… Where's Snape?"

"Snape?" Albus asked quietly to himself. That was the man he was named after.

"Maybe he's ill!" Ron's voice spoke up.

Albus raised an eyebrow. He was named after Severus Snape, but it didn't sound as if his father and uncle liked the man too much. It confused Albus.

Albus jumped slightly as he felt an arm sling around his shoulders. He turned his head to see James grinning at him. It made Albus feel a little better that his brother was okay again.

"Maybe he left, because he missed out on the Defense Against the Dark Arts job again!" Harry said with excitement. Albus snorted and smiled widely. It was extremely weird to see his father talking about a professor like he and his friends had once done.

Scorpius and James busted out into laughter and Albus and Hugo looked to where they were looking to see a tall man in all black making his way quietly toward the two twelve year olds. Albus and Hugo began to laugh too. Albus knew that the man had to be Severus Snape.

He wasn't a nice looking man, and he had a wicked smirk on his face as he made his way toward the boys. Albus looked at one of his namesakes and wondered exactly why he had been named after him. It didn't seem like his father had even liked the man.

"Or he might have been sacked!" The young voice of Ron said in excitement. Albus could see the smile on Hugo's face as he watched his father. "I mean, everyone hates him—"

Ron was cut off by Severus Snape. "Or maybe, he's waiting to hear why you two didn't arrive on the school train." Snape's voice was cold, and there was a tone that he was immensely enjoying the discomfort of the two boys as they turned around and looked at the professor in horror. Scorpius and James snickered, Albus smiled softly, and Hugo slapped a hand to his forehead.

Snape's wicked smirk widened into a horrid smile and he said, "Follow me."

The memory was dissolving and the four young men pulled out of the memory.

Once they were standing back in the attic, Albus looked over the cabinet of memories. He could feel curiosity and longing well up within him. It would be wonderful to learn all those things his father had never told him.

His father had once said that you could learn a lot of things after a person died. It had been the summer after fifth year and Scorpius had been upstairs, sleeping after the long day before at his parents' funeral. His father had just told him one of the quotes that stuck with Albus over the years.

His mother had set down the paper she was reading, going to check on the meal she was cooking, saying, "It doesn't matter though, it doesn't change who they were when they were alive."

His father had smiled at his mother before turning to smile a familiar smile at Albus. The smile was one that his father had always worn when thinking of one of the people he had been named after. "But some people make a lot more sense after they are gone. Draco didn't live the best that he could have, but he was a pretty good person when it came down to it. Hopefully people will learn that with his death."

Albus hadn't really understood, and maybe he would never. But, maybe, with these memories he could just a bit.

Albus turned to the others with a determined look. "I want to watch them all." He stated with conviction.

None of them questioned him.

-ooo-

A week later Albus and James walked into the kitchen of Albus's apartment. Albus slammed down a thin stack of papers in front of Hugo and Scorpius, who were eating muggle take-out, while James leaned against the door frame, oddly serious and calm. Albus ignored his share of food that was sitting on the table, pushing the papers closer to the eating wizards.

"Read. Now." Albus stated in a strained voice. He was too wired to sit down, opting to stand and fight the urge to pace in front of the table.

Hugo took the papers and with reading the first line began to read frantically. Scorpius read over Hugo's shoulder, eyes going steadily wider.

Finally after a long silence, Scorpius leaned away and looked at Albus with serious eyes. "Time travel?"

Hugo looked up at Albus with sad eyes. "We can't save them Al." Hugo's voice was anguished and about to break.

Albus flinched, and gave into the urge to pace. "No, it wouldn't be to save them. I'd—We'd—It'd be much farther into the past." Albus shook his head. "Dad… He… He could have been treated so much better than he was." Albus stopped and faced two of the only people in the world he would ever trust with this. "I stumbled across that in the DOM, as I was sorting through old papers. Someone had obviously tried to hide it, but apparently not good enough. It's insane, but it would work! James and I have read it over again and again, and it's almost flawless. It'll take about a year to do it, and we'd be dipping pretty deep into the Potter Vault, but… It's… isn't it worth it?" Albus looked at Scorpius and Hugo, and knew he looked too frantic. He couldn't stop himself, though.

"Dad… Dad was a damn good wizard, and the best person I've ever known," James said in a calm, quiet voice by the door, "He deserved better didn't he? We could give him that."

Scorpius stood. "You can't just get them back." The Malfoy's face was stern. "You won't be able to go back there and have your parents and your aunts and your uncles again. That's not how it works."

James just kept staring calming, while Albus made a frustrated sound and pulled at his hair. "I know! Don't you think we've thought of it? I thought about going back and saving them, but we'd just get killed as well, I know that. I know if we go back as far as we're thinking, he won't know who we are. I know that, Scorpius! But… Dad… He was the greatest father I could ever ask for, and look at the shit Petunia and Vernon put him through! Didn't he deserve better? He saved the entire fucking world! Why can't we try and give him just a little of what he gave to us? Huh?"

Scorpius looked speechless, while Hugo stood, setting the papers down gently. "Al, James, this could go seriously wrong. Change one thing and we might not even be born. Uncle Harry could die instead of winning against Voldemort. There's so much that could go wrong."

Albus smiled slightly at Hugo, though it probably looked like a grimace. This was the sort of argument he had expected really. "I know. But we won't let that happen. I'm not talking about changing everything; I just want to give Dad a home. Somewhere besides Hogwarts he could really call home, you know. I want to give him somewhere he could just be himself, like what he gave me, and James, and Lil—" Albus's voice broke, and he took a breath to calm himself. "Please, at least think about it. I'm not an idiot, but I don't know if we could make this happen with just James and me. We don't have your brains Hugo, or your charms knowledge Scorpius." Ablus gripped the edge of the table. "We want to do this."

Hugo stared at Albus for a long moment before his eyes went hard. Those eyes and the resolve behind them was the reason Hugo had been sorted into Gryffindor. "Okay. We'll try it."

Scorpius let out a long breath. "Can't let you three kill yourselves."

Albus grinned and James closed his eyes.

End Note: That's the Prologue. Can anyone tell that I only added James in after I had already written this entire prologue? XD If you can't well then I'm better than I thought I was, and if you can, well you have every right to call me lazy. I just didn't want to rewrite the entire thing. But it's only the prologue that I didn't have James in, so that problem won't occur again, I hope. :D

Lavender, you're such a wonderful plot device. Her letter was the reason Harry had all those memories in the cabinet, since he wanted to go over everything that happened in his life, so he wouldn't get anything wrong for the interview.

The memory was pretty much copied from Chamber of Secrets, just in case you didn't know.

I'd like to put up the next chapter for Christmas, but that's extremely farfetched. I'll try though.