Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to the wonderful author J.K. Rowling.
Summary: A family of wizarding Gypsies adopt Harry Potter when the Dursleys end up not wanting him. They give him the name of Alexander Romanov and hide his identity from the rest of the wizarding world.
Anastasia Romanov, Ana for short, was taking the her usual early morning walk, when she saw a car come to a stop at the church a short distance away. She paused as a beefy-looking man got out of the car and left a bundle on the doorstep of the church. Her brows raised, she hurried forward to find out what was going on.
Before the man could get in his car and drive away, she called, "Sir, what are you doing?"
The man turned, a startled look on his face. "Er-er-" he stuttered. A faint cry interrupted him and Anastasia stepped to the church doorsteps to find that the bundle was actually a baby boy swaddled in a blanket.
She whirled around to glare at the man. "How can you just abandon a baby like that?"
"He was just left on my doorstep!" snapped the man. "Nobody even asked if me or my wife if we wanted him! Besides, we've got a son of our own to raise and haven't the time or money to spare to look after another child, especially one that's going to turn out to be a freak."
Ana frowned. "Fine then. My family will take the child in, if you don't want him. Now go before I change my mind about turning you in to the authorities."
The man quickly got into his car and drove away. She picked up the baby and headed for her house, wondering if she should take him to an orphanage instead. Raising what was likely a Muggle child in a wizarding household, even one that was familiar with the Muggle world, wasn't exactly the wisest of choices. She glanced at the baby again and gasped when she noticed a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. "That means you're a wizard after all! And the most famous one in Britain! Oh dear." She quickened her pace.
Once home, she explained the situation to her husband, Stephan. "So the man must have been a relative," he mused. "A Muggle one, since Lily Potter was a Muggleborn, and probably one that hates magic. You're right, Ana, we have to take Harry Potter in. We'll raise him as our own son."
"But how are we to go about doing this?" asked Ana. "There are Death Eaters that escaped being arrested, and while the Dark Lord is defeated, he's not necessarily dead. You know I predicted his downfall, but that it would only be temporary and he would return to power one day until he's vanquished permanently. Harry needs to be protected, and will also need to be trained. After all, if the Dark Lord went after him when he's just a toddler, then he'll go after Harry again once he returns to power."
"First of all, we'll give Harry a different name," replied Stephan. "Then you can brew an adoption potion so that he will look more like us. I will add to the wards on the house. We will tell our daughter that she has a new brother. It's a good thing Elisabeth's the same age as him and doesn't need to have her memory modified or anything."
After some further discussion, they decided to rename Harry Potter as Alexander Jacob Romanov, Alex for short, and moved his birthday to August 3rd, which was Beth's birthday, in order to make it appear that the two were twins. After feeding him, changing his nappy, and putting him down for a nap, Stephan went to work on the wards while Ana started brewing the Adoption Potion.
By the time Harry, or rather Alex, woke up, the potion was complete, except for one thing. Ana added a drop of blood each from her, Stephan, and Beth to it, stirred it five times, and then gave Alex two spoonfuls, followed by some milk to take out the taste. After a few minutes, the changes started taking affect. While his hair was still black, it was now neater. His eyes turned from emerald green to the lighter shade of green that Stephan had, while the shape was Ana's. Finally, his skin tone turned a bit darker, as if he was tanned, and the rest of his features matched his adopted sister's, except in a masculine mold.
During the next week, Alex settled in the Romanov household. He gradually accepted Ana and Stephan as his parents once he stopped crying for his real ones. He also cried for two people that he called 'unca paddy' and 'unca mooey'. 'Unca' was obviously baby-talk for 'uncle', but it was unclear who 'paddy' and 'mooey' were baby-talk for, though the Romanovs surmised that it was probably friends of James and Lily Potter. However, the only two people they knew of that had been friends with the Potters were Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Unfortunately, the former was in Azkaban for alledgedly betraying the Potters to Voldemort, and the latter was dead from his confrontation with the former.
After some further search, Remus Lupin and Frank and Alice Longbottom were also discovered to have been friends with the Potters. The Longbottoms couldn't be contacted, as they had just been recently been tortured into insanity by Death Eaters looking for the whereabouts of their master. Remus, however, was still alive and well, though in a state of grief over the deaths of his friends, and after some consideration, the Romanovs decided to contact him and let him in on the secret.
"It's a good thing you adopted him," said Remus once everything had been explained. "From what Lily said, I gather his life with his relatives wouldn't have been that great. Apparently Lily's sister and her husband hate magic and anything else they consider abnormal. Though in the sister's case, the hate seems to stem from jealousy over the fact that Lily was a witch."
He then explained about the Marauders and their nicknames, which was what Alex had called his 'uncles' by. The Romanovs had no problem with the fact that Remus was a werewolf, and told him that he could visit whenever he wanted. Mrs. Romanov, an accomplished Potions mistress, also volunteered to supply him with the newly invented Wolfsbane Potion every month. "That's very kind of you, Ana, but I can't accept," protested Remus. "The Wolfsbane Potion costs money, which I don't have much of at the moment."
"You can pay for it by doing babysitting for Alex and Beth," said Mrs. Romanov matter-of-factly. "I have potions to brew, and it does get frustrating having to stop in the middle of my work to change nappies or feed a child. Stephen can't be around all the time, either, as he has work of his own that needs to be done."
"And when the two are older, you can pay by becoming their tutor," added Mr. Romanov. "There will be some things that Ana and I will exclusively teach them, such as Potions and certain spellwork and our history, but you can teach them how to read and write and about maths and other such things."
"All right then," responded Remus. "I accept." In the end it was decided that he might as well just live with the Romanovs in order to better help look after Alex and Beth. In return for being essentially the live-in babysitter and later tutor, he was given room and board, ten Galleons a month, and the Wolfsbane Potion. The Romanovs tried to offer him a higher salary, but he refused, insisting that he didn't have very many needs and being provided with room and board and the potion was more than enough for him. When it was the full moon, he would be shut up in a shed on the property to avoid any mishaps.
With that, Remus moved in, and so Harry Potter's life as Alex Romanov began.