I don't own it, never will, no profit, yadda yadda you get the idea.

An idea that came to me one night I should've been asleep.

The war was done. Finally. Against all odds, he'd lived. Unknowingly, he'd become Master of Death. And Death had decided his time was not yet done. He had walked into the forest, expecting to die, hoping his death would fulfil the blasted prophecy that had haunted his entire life, would give an opening to someone else to kill Riddle, and his soul could finally be at peace. Once again, his choice was taken. Forces beyond his comprehension had conspired against him, again, and he was given a choice that wasn't really a choice, for how could he rest, knowing that if he didn't take that chance, if he didn't go back, he could be condemning his friends. No matter. It was done now. The fighting, the trials, the sentencing, the re-build, it was all done. Finally.

Learning from previous experience with the fickle nature of the public, he used his name to maximum force right at the height of their adoration. With the body of Pettigrew, he got Sirius' name cleared.

With his testimony of her actions, together with her own Veritaserum-laced words of her experiences during the war, Narcissa was absolved of crimes, but given the choice of house arrest with supervised outings, or exile from the shores of Britain for no less than 50 years. With Lucius through the Veil like many other Death Eaters, she chose to liquidate many of the Malfoy assets, and retire to the ancient Malfoy home in the south of France, taking exile with a grace and dignity many others could not hope to achieve, and assuring Harry that he and any other Potter would always have a place in her home, for a visit or life.

After meeting Draco to discuss his wand (which they decided Harry would keep hold of until such time Draco was sentenced, when he would either return it, or deliver it to Narcissa, to sit with the rest of the Malfoy wands, and then be burnt on his death, as Malfoy family law dictated) the two finally resolved their differences, and Harry shook the hand that had been offered to him all those years ago. At his trial, it was decided Draco would liquidate the rest of the British Malfoy assets, and take the Malfoy name from British shores once again, again with assurances that the Potters would always recieve aid from the Malfoys, going so far as to use his title as Lord Malfoy after his father's incarceration to make it an official Blood Pact, to be carried down their lines. Harry returned the favour, cancelling any magical Life-Debts, leaving them on a more equal footing, and happier for it.

He attended funerals and trials, and personally visited the families of the dead, to present the survivors with the medals of the dead, a new honour, higher than an Order of Merlin of any class, called - to his mixed feelings - the Potter Cross, a silver cross suspended on a white ribbon charmed to never colour, by dirt or age, to show the purity of their souls.

Hermione, with Ron in tow, had attended funerals and state functions as required, then gone to Australia to look for her parents, and a month later decided to move out there permanently, home was only a portkey away for the war heroes after all.

Ginny, seeing the changes in Harry, had confronted him, especially about his new friendship with the Malfoys, which she saw as the ultimate betrayal, despite the rest of the family objecting. She had brought it to a head at the last fortnightly family gathering.

~Flashback~

"Harry how could you?! After all they did, he did to us! All of us! How could you keep them from Azkaban and then befriend them?! You hated them, what happened?"

Harry, his patience finally at an end, broke. "I died Ginny! I died!" He roared. As she blanched and sat down, he lowered his voice, but carried on speaking with just as much emotion in his tone. "And while I was dead, I took a little time to look at things from other perspectives, to step back and see why others did the things they did. As for Narcissa and Draco, they didn't have a choice until the very end. They did what little they could, but if they had turned spy like Severus and Lucius found out, he would have cast them out." Seeing her about to interrupt, he quickly carried on. "I don't mean just cutting them out of the money and wills, I mean banishing them. Taking their name, everything but their lives, leaving them with nothing, because spy or not no one would accept them in society, no one would give them a second chance, just like you! Narcissa may have been able to appeal to Andromeda, and become a Black again, but Draco, he would have nothing, he was born a Malfoy, and son or not, the Black family magic will not take in an Outcast. He risked everything to save Ron, Hermione and I, with his lunatic Aunt breathing down his neck - quite literally! And Narcissa, if she hadn't done what she did, whether it was to save her son or not, if she hadn't lied to Voldemort's face - Voldemort the Master Legillimencer! I would be finally dead, and who knows how that would have affected the war?! So whether or not you want to admit it, the entire Wizarding Britain, maybe the whole Wizarding World, owes the Malfoys a debt! Having someone save your life, that's a powerful enough thing without magic getting involved, which you of all people should know, but to have an enemy save your life, that's another thing altogether. I'm sorry Ginny. I'm sorry I had to leave you. I'm sorry I caused you all this pain. I'm sorry you think I've changed so much, but the truth is, your Harry died. He started to die all the way back in first year, when he burned a man to death with his bare hands. He didn't know it at first, but each event now being called an 'adventure' by the public, caused a little bit more of him to die, in bigger and bigger pieces, until he finally gave his life walking into that forest. I'm not the boy hero you had a crush on as a little girl, I'm not the teenager you fell in love with, I'm the man who went through hell, then died and came back. I'm sorry you waited all this time, but your love isn't coming back, Ginny. I thought you already knew that, or I would have said sooner. I really am sorry." With that, he left the table and walked out of the house. Arthur came to visit him the next day, and assure him that not all of the family felt as Ginny did, and he was always welcome in their home at any time, but he shouldn't feel obligated to turn up if he didn't want to. Had anyone else said that, it would have seemed as if they no longer wanted him around and only left an invite out of propriety, but being the kind man he was, Arthur got it just right.

After seeing a brand-new house built (paid for with war-relief aid money and funds from Harry and Sirius' accounts- despite protests) on the site of the Burrow, Charlie left back to his dragons, Bill and Fleur went back to Shell Cottage, Percy back to his house and George moved in with Harry, for while he needed to have a little space from his mother, he also couldn't face the shop alone quite yet, the pain of losing his other half still too raw.

Once Harry and George had completely cleaned one floor of Grimmauld Place, Andromeda decided to move in with the two, as she couldn't handle the swiftly growing little Teddy Lupin alone.

A month after the war's end, Harry recieved an owl from Gringots, requesting a meeting between him and the Director. In the meeting, the director explained to Harry that the Goblin Nation had been rooting out it's corruption much as the Wizarding world, and though reparations did need to be made after the trio's exploits, they would be satisfied if he simply sat in on all of their meetings with material suppliers, giving silent support to the Nation so they would recieve fair prices for what they needed to rebuild. They would also relinquish any Goblin rights to the Sword of Gryffindor, if he or another chosen by the Sword would use it to destroy any other horcruxes found in the vaults. Relieved he wasn't going to suffer a fate worse than death, and was in fact being treated more than fairly, he agreed. Over the course of meetings, Harry and the Director became friends, in that easy way Harry had with most 'magical creatures' that he simply considered other cultures. With help from George, Andromeda and the Director, he began to go through the Black Vaults, and sold, disenchanted or destroyed many of the Dark artefacts there, bringing the Black name even more wealth. He did similar things for the Potter Vaults, set up a trust fund for Teddy, and wrote a new will (turns out, a will written on a scrap of parchment in a tent on the run was still legal). It was while going through the Vaults he found a few surprises.

Lily, in her brilliant way, had found a few old, complicated bits of magic on her search for a way to protect Harry and Neville. One of them, was a way to make someone your blood heir, until such time you sire/birth your own child. James and Sirius had performed the ritual between Harry and Sirius, making each the other's heir, so when they said Sirius left him everything, they meant everything. He had the bloodline of both the Potters and the Blacks.

The other surprises were a pair of sea chests, one each from the Potter and Black vaults, which they examined in closer detail in the room the Director had put aside for them. They were especially interesting as Andromeda forbade them to touch let alone open them, instead insisting the Director do it, and make copies of any papers found and inventory all items. Harry especially found it incredibly difficult to leave them alone, his curiosity was burning in a way it hadn't in years.

Several distracted hours later, the Director came back with bundles of letters and other papers, and Harry, George and Andromeda sat at the table with him as little Teddy chattered away happily in a warded corner.

"Before we read these, I should give you a little history of the Black family. Centuries ago, the family head was sailing home from Spain, when he saw an injured woman floating on debris from a shipwreck. Calling to his crew, he got her aboard, then set them to searching for other survivors as he treated her. Being Captain, he took her to his cabin and began healing her broken bones and deeper cuts. There were no other survivors. Two days later, she woke up. Recognising a magical crew, she revealed herself for what she really was. A Siren." Rifling through the papers, she found a drawing dated almost a millennia ago, of a woman with dark hair and darker eyes. "At this point, especially among sailors, there was no disdain among the races, so this revelation wasn't a massive shock. In her gratitude to the Captain for rescuing and healing her, she blessed his family. Those of Black blood will be natural sailors, no Black ship will ever sink nor a Black drown in a storm, though they will still take damage, and all Blacks will have a home with the sea. It was a very generous blessing, but also a curse. Black men would leave for the sea and never return home, often turning privateer or even pirate. Black women were often far more volatile than any other woman, and often if they got to a ship, they left and never returned too. Even the squibs were affected. In the end, the family seat was moved further and further inland, until London became our home. Children were watched for signs of the call, playing with boats over other toys, drawing the sea more than common, small things that got bigger as they grew. The Call as we came to refer to it, was always felt most keenly in those of direct descent of the Captain. If a Black who never felt the Call had children who also never felt it, the third generation would never feel it from birth, it had to be awakened in them, which was often more dangerous. Your aunt," she looked at George "built that cottage in Cornwall so she could find the balance of sea and land. She was one of the lucky ones, it wasn't strong in her." She turned back to Harry. "You've already started to feel it, haven't you." It was a statement, not a question. He nodded. "How long?"

"Since I was at Shell Cottage. When Teddy was born."

"Hmm." She frowned.

"Whether I feel it or not, I'll not be going anywhere until Teddy is grown. I'm his Godfather, and I intend to take that seriously. You and I both know there'll be points when I'm the only one who can help him, and I won't sail away from him until he's at least out of Hogwarts and either coming with me or can use modern muggle technology to reach me." Harry firmly stated. Andromeda gave a small smile.

"If I may," the Director broke in, "I have some contacts among the Sirens, I can see if one is willing to at least barter to lessen the effects for a few years." At that, Andromeda's smile grew. Harry smiled in return.

"Ok, Director if you could speak to the Sirens, and I'll look for a house on the coast for us, George, you're of course more than welcome to stay in Grimmauld or move with us or whatever you want." George's slightly panicked look relaxed into a grin.

"I shall send someone tonight." The Director replied. "Along with the various letters and drawings, there are deeds to vaults in other branches, particularly the Carribean, including a sailing ship from the 1700's, and various small items, including a small colours flag with a variation skull and cross bones with a red sparrow, owned by a squib descendant I believe, and a compass enchanted to point to the holder's desire, that was wrapped in said flag along with a letter that can only be opened by a Black. Shall we move on to the Potter sea chest?"

Receiving nods, he handed them a self-updating family tree. Unlike most, this family tree didn't start with a Potter, or even a wizard at all. The name at the top was Turner. Andromeda immediately looked at Harry in sympathy. "I think you'd best send word to more than the Sirens, Director." She said quietly.

Confused, Harry looked at them and asked, "What?" With more than a little apprehension in his tone.

"Bloody hell Harry," George said in awe. "It really does always happen to you mate."

"What?!" Harry demanded.

~Let me know what you think~