In Time's Tender Care - Chapter 1

Genre: adventure, romance

Rating: R for violence, language, probably some sex later on etc.

WARNINGS: This story contains SLASH which is a sexual relationship between two males, if that squicks you then get the heck out of here! This is fanfiction folks, if you want to read canon I suggest you stick to JKR. There also may be some light cursing. If this isn't your thing, you're going to want look elsewhere now.

Synopsis: starts at the end of book 6. Harry finds out he is not who he thought he was and takes a new path all of his own. in his jurney to find himself he will learn many things about the wizarding world and have many an adventure. ElfPrince!Harry.

Pairings: HP/?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: This is the complete betaed chapter. R&R.

Chapter 1- The first piece of the puzzle

Tick

There was not a sound in the still and dark room but the sounds of the night, carrying from outside the second storey window of number four, Privet Drive.

Tick

The time was two minutes to midnight on the 30th of July. On the small bed on the left side of the room was a young man, who was just about to turn seventeen years old.

Tick

Now, to most people, their seventeenth birthday was a happy occasion indeed, but no more so than any other birthday, just the mark of another year passing by. To this particular someone though, this day would be a life changing experience. Harry, for that was the boy's name, was lying on his bed, unaware of how much different this particular birthday would be.

Tick

Harry sat up on the bed with his back to the windowsill. His eyes were set on the clock that was hanging above the door to his room. The longest hand of the clock was almost done with its last circle for the day. When the hand reaches twelve, the day will die, and will be reborn the next year.

Tick

There was now only but a few seconds to midnight. Tearing his eyes from the clock Harry turned around and stared out the window, waiting for the traditional midnight visitors that arrived on this particular day of the year. The night sky was black and not a star was in sight. His birthday presents and cards should be arriving by owl at any moment now, but Harry was not exited by the prospect. The only thought on his mind was that in a matter of seconds, he would be seventeen years old and therefore an adult in the eyes of the Wizarding world. For Harry Potter was a wizard… and that made all the difference.

Tick

Midnight.

The very moment the clock struck twelve a pack of diving owls appeared in view of the window, getting closer by the second. Harry watched passively as the owls got closer, only wincing once in awhile as a particularly strong ache flared through his head. For the last couple of days the aches in his head would come and go every couple of minutes and each time they came, they became a little stronger.

The coming owls were now almost at the window, forcing Harry to move to give them space to enter and land. As all the owls entered and settled on the bed Harry quickly and methodically relived them of their letters and packages. Most of the owls left right away, soaring out of the window as their parcels were taken from them, but two, one white as snow and the other very small and enthusiastic, stayed, and flew to rest in the cage that stood on the nightstand near the bed.

"Hey there Hedwig…" Harry went to pet the bird's fathers only for his fingers to be nibbled on. "You went all the way to Hermione's place just to get my birthday present? You're a big softie, aren't you?" Harry couldn't help but smile when Hedwig gave him a look as if to say 'You had better appreciate it!' Harry's smile got bigger as Hedwig glared at him. "I love you too, girl."

Harry sat on his bed and looked at the many packages and envelopes that were on it. He reached and picked one that looked like it was sent by Hagrid and opened it. Hagrid had long ago given up on giving him any homemade goods and now just sent him his favorite wizarding candies. He took out a chocolate frog, and while biting into it took another package from among the pile on the bed.

Harry continued working through the presents, packages and letters on the bed, putting the cards on the nightstand and dumping the presents on his chair, or on the floor. Ron got him a new Quidditch kit, since his last one had just run out. Mrs. Weasley sent him the usual cakes and fudge, and his dorm mates sent him mostly chocolates and the occasional book. When he opened Hermione's present, which seemed, of course, to be a book, he gasped in surprise. The title on the cover read: "The Wonders of Human Transfiguration - The Animagus Process in 3 Easy Steps". On the inside of the cover, and written in Hermione's small, elegant scrawl, was "Dearest Harry - Don't do anything I wouldn't. Love, Hermione". Harry smiled as he read the inscription; she was practically giving him permission to try it out. Putting the book on the nightstand beside his cards he continued to his last two birthday presents.

The first one was very obviously from the twins. It was wrapped in glowing, glaringly bright yellow and red wrapping paper. So bright, in fact, that it hurt the eyes. Opening it, Harry snorted at the content. It was a set of their most successful pranks and tricks and in the box there was also what appeared to be most of their joke shop's defense against the dark arts range. Not to mention, quite embarrassingly, a book which looked to be the Karma Sutra for gay wizards. Harry realized belatedly that the box must be enchanted as there was no way all of these things would have fit in the box otherwise. The note only said: "Happy birthday, partner!"

Harry gently put the box on the floor next to his trunk and winced as a painful throb hit him behind the eyes. He ignored it and turned to open his last birthday present, one that was apparently sent by Luna. Opening it, he tried to figure out what exactly she had sent him without reading her note, but had no such luck. Unfolding the card she sent him, he read her fairly ordinary handwriting that only said: "To wear at all times; it will protect you from time, space and garlic! p.s. To open, press the red button. To use, press the green button." Looking at the thing (for Harry still did not know exactly what it was), it was not hard to spot the red button. It was round, wide and hollow and right on top of it was the red button, though Harry saw no green one. Shrugging, he pushed the red button and was a bit startled when the thing broke apart in his hands. Inside, Harry found a set of magnificent emerald green jewelry, a ring and a necklace. The ring appeared to have some form of family crest on it, and both the ring and necklace had radiant emerald green marble stones in their center. Harry put them on his neck and finger respectively and stood up to go and look at himself in the closet's mirror critically.

His black messy hair had gotten rather long recently for no apparent reason, since he couldn't remember cutting it in the last six or seven years, and it had always stayed the same length in that time. Ever since his aunt tried to cut it off completely during his childhood and since it kept growing back in the morning, it never seemed to grow more than its usual bird's nest appearance. He had also gotten quite a bit taller in the last few months, and now stood at a respectable almost 1.75 meters. The necklace that lay around his neck was shining brightly in the moonlight outside his window, reflecting the same brilliant color as his emerald eyes. Harry stared spellbound at the shimmering stone on the necklace and reached with his hand to touch it. He felt a pang of disappointment when he pressed on the stone and it wouldn't budge an inch but then scowled at himself for thinking such stupid thoughts.

With a last look at himself he sighed and turned back to the bed to attend to the rest of his mail. The first letter he picked was an official looking one that was made out of thick parchment and was addressed to Mr. H J Potter, Head of the Potter family". Harry's eyebrows rose at the title and he opened the letter with growing curiosity. The top of the letter was decorated with the logo of Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We congratulate you on your coming of age and entering the world of adult wizardry. We are pleased to inform you that with your coming of age your family vaults will now be available for you to access as the as the sole heir to the family vaults, and therefore as the head of your family. You are hereby invited to tour the vaults at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. If you cannot attend said appointment please inform the bank by owl no later than tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. A goblin will be waiting for you upon your arrival at the bank, whereupon you shall present the front desk goblin with your current vault key and this letter.

Kind Regards,

Gringotts Bank

Harry's jaw hung open for a few seconds while he tried to comprehend the meaning of the letter he held in his hands. Why the hell did no one ever find it necessary to inform him that he had, from what he had read in additional pages of the letter, at least seven more vaults with his name on them, simply waiting for him to become an adult? Why hadn't Dumbledore? Or Sirius? Or even Remus told him this was coming?

While his mind kept running in circles, trying to look for nonexistent explanations, his hands unknowingly were already moving to open the next envelope and he soon found himself staring at the letter in disbelief. He had gaped at the letter for more than two minutes when he realized what it was he held. Trying to calm down, he took a deep breath. 'Panicking will not change anything.' He thought letter he held in his hands looked strangely very old and yellow and the written words looked to have faded with age.

Dear son,

If you are reading this letter then we are no longer among the living and are not able to rejoice with you on this joyous occasion of your coming to age. I am truly sorry that we cannot be there for you on this hard and important day; for it will be hard for you, and more than a bit important. In the next twenty-four hours you will be experiencing a great deal of pain and a transformation to your body that will leave you almost unrecognizable to those people who do not know you well enough.

Son, if you are getting this letter then we have not yet told you that you are not completely human. You see, Lily, your mother, is not a muggleborn witch like everybody thought, but a true, full blooded royal elf. She was kidnapped as a small baby and was thought dead by her people, but was in fact adopted by the Evans family and raised as one of their own flesh and blood in the muggle world. Elves look exactly the same as human beings during their childhood (That is why children are not talked about among the elves until they come of age). They only come into their inheritance at the age of seventeen. The same age as you are now, son, which means that during this day you will come into your inheritance too and become en elf yourself.

No one but us knew about Lily being an elf, and even to her own husband she told only a short time before our wedding took place. When she came into her inheritance at the age of seventeen she was smart enough to know what it meant and hide it with a glamour spell until she could research it more fully. As her birthday was in January 30thand during school time it was a wonder that she succeeded to hide it, but it also meant that nobody but her knew about it. It also meant that the royal guard of the elves did not realize she came of age until school let out for the summer. For you Harry they will come by the end of your birthday, when you are fully an elf. The council will train you and will take good care of you, so can trust them. You will probably spend most of the summer vacation with the elves, but when you return you will be a fully trained elf. You must not tell anyone of your true nature until you find your mate, and even then tell only those you trust with your life. The wizarding world is not kind to non-humans.

During this day you will also receive a lot of mail, from different banks across the world, which will declare you the sole heir to the Potter vaults. If you do not know about them yet do not be alarmed that no one told you, as only the head of the potter family know of the extant of our vaults. Even if we had been alive you would only have found out about them after your coming of age.

Spend this day wisely, son, even though you will be in a lot of pain from the transformation. Visit all of the vaults you now own and the Potter properties so that the house elves will be able to acknowledge you as their master and give you the grand tour of each estate. In the first Potter vault at Gringotts there is a very special backpack with the Potter motto on it. It is a bottomless bag. In it you will find many useful things that generations of Potters have added to it, and a shrunken magical trunk with seven compartments and the keys to go with it. You need only to enlarge it to use it, and there are instructions and information about what's in there is in the bag too. Add to this bag and trunk anything that you think can be useful to you from the vaults and the Potter properties. Carry this bag with you always! You can shrink it and put it in your pocket, you can transfigure it and wear it on your back, you can wear it as it is, it doesn't matter as long as it is always on your person. You can never be too careful. The bag has a permanent featherweight charm on it so you need not worry about adding things to it at all. In this bag you will also find emblem ancestral portkeys to all and any of the Potter family houses and manors. Carry them around your neck as emergency portkeys.

The Potter ancestral castle has a big library that has in it all the Potter histories, anything and everything you need to know about elves, and a trunk of already carefully chosen books that every Potter that came of age since the first of our family had to know by heart. It will be hard to learn all that you require, but I trust you to understand the importance of keeping the family tradition as you are now the only living Potter, though hopefully not the last. In the library we also left you a diary that we wrote for you with things we think you should know in it.

Take care of yourself, we love you dearly and are proud of you no matter what. Learn all that you can, for knowledge is power. Never forget to live, and last but not least, follow the family motto, "To be loyal to one's self and to always stand strong." We gave this letter to Gringotts bank for safekeeping. You are supposed to receive it on your seventeenth birthday.

Love,

Lily and James Potter (a.k.a. mum and dad)

After reading this letter Harry figured that he should have read this one first. All the other letters seemed to be from different banks over the world, and one that seemed to be from a real estate agency with a book, A BOOK, that had all of the Potter properties listed along with information about each one of them. Harry was numb from the shock. He couldn't possibly own all of that, could he? By the size of the book and the amount of the letters on his bed he and his children for at least seven generations forward can live very comfortably to old age without needing to work one day in their life.

That was too much for Harry to process at this time of the night and with his increasing headache. And he didn't even want to think about the fact that neither he, nor his mother, were human. Harry took his wand from the nightstand, cast a simple alarm clock charm that he learned from Hermione and went to sleep. Everything will hopefully look better in the morning, after a good night's sleep.

Nightfall In The Snow