Woot, next chapter! I wanted to post it near Christmas, but, well I got books for Christmas, I got re-inspired to write another story that I won't be posting for a long while yet, I got a job, and, well, fanfiction called to me. I reread the Backwards with Purpose series for the third time (seriously, go read that if you haven't already, it's probably one of the best Time Travels on here.)

Eesh, tell me if I got the characters right, please. I don't know if I wrote Harry and Dumbledore right or not. Stupid young and old characters. :P

I changed the character listing from Albus and James to Albus and Harry. I figured it would be better, since Albus is going to be the main person telling the story, while Harry will be telling a bit too.

Disclaimer: I, fortunately, do not own Harry Potter. It wouldn't have been nearly as wonderful if I'd written it. Seriously.

Um, I think that's all to say before the chapter starts. So what are you waiting for! Go on! Wink wink, nudge nudge.

A Kind of Family

Chapter One: Deception and Discretion

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore,

I would like to request a meeting between you, my friend Mr. Jamison Day, and myself. The meeting would involve inquiries on the living arrangements of one Harry J. Potter, a relative of both myself and Mr. Jamison Day.

I await your owl.

Regards,

Alphonse Potter

-ooo-

Albus patted down his robes nervously. "Remember, Jay, try not to look into his eyes for too long. Don't give out any totally unnecessary information. Let's at least keep him in the dark about some of our fake secrets." Albus tried to flatten his hair with no success. "And, Jay, please, please be—"

James cut Albus off with a roll of his eyes. "Polite. I got it. Lighten up, Al; this'll be fun."

Albus let out a long-suffering sigh. "We're going to ruin it."

"Pessimistic Slytherin," James joked as he adjusted his glasses.

Albus snorted and smiled slightly. "Oblivious Gryffindor."

"Grab my arm, we'll side-along for this," James said holding out an arm, "With you this nervous you're bound to splinch us."

Albus grabbed James's arm with a slight glare, but didn't argue with his claim. He was nervous, and probably would blotch any attempt to apparate them both. He was confident that he could talk to Dumbledore, but he wasn't confident that he could get the old wizard to give them custody. They could always go to the Ministry to fight for it, but that was something they hopped to avoid.

They landed in Hogsmeade and quickly set off towards Hogwarts. It wasn't long before they were at the doors to the school, both of them looking over the large castle. To an outsider it might look as if they were seeing it for the first time, but in reality they were both remembering all the years they had spent within the halls.

The doors opened suddenly and there was Albus Dumbledore standing regally in front of them. The old wizard smiled down at them, and Albus took a step towards the man his father had named him after.

"Hello, Headmaster, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Alphonse Potter," Albus greeted as he inclined his head.

James was a moment behind his brother. "Hello Headmaster. They call me Jamison Day." James waved a hand in greeting, earning him an eye roll from Albus.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr. Potter, Mr. Day," Dumbledore greeted, "Please follow me to my office."

Albus nodded, and tried not to look around too much as they followed. James wasn't masking his curiosity, but that was just as well. They were supposedly new to Hogwarts after all.

The trek through the castle was relatively short, as they soon found themselves in front of the statue of a gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore didn't say a word, but the gargoyle leapt aside nevertheless. James had a sly smile on his face and it was all Albus could do not to punch his brother to get him to stop whatever he was thinking about. They really couldn't deal with any mishaps.

Finally they were sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk, and Albus knew that the real challenge had just started. Getting themselves fake papers and putting their information into the Ministry would be laughingly easy compared to this.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Day," Dumbledore started.

"Please call me Al or Alphonse, Headmaster, Mr. Potter was my father and grandfather." Albus smiled at Dumbledore softly. James may have been the best at charming people, but Albus had talents in that area too.

James cut in, "And while we're on that, call me Jamison, because I've always thought Mr. Day sounded ridiculous." James grinned, and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a bit.

It would go to show that Dumbledore would like James instantly. Albus hoped it was a good thing.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. "Before we go on, how are both of you related to young Harry?"

Albus smiled slightly, while James looked down. Albus decided he would go first. "My grandfather was Charlus Potter, Benjamin Potter's brother(1), Headmaster. I was disowned when I was a teen for some… choices I had made, so I've been cut from the family tree for some years." Albus frowned slightly. He looked to James, who let out a breath.

James opened his mouth to speak. "My relationship is a little more complicated, Headmaster." James sat up straighter. "But the simple answer would be that I am Harry's Uncle."

Dumbledore raised his white eyebrows. "I was not aware that Lily had a brother."

James shook his head slightly. "Neither was she, sir. I'm not clear on the details, but Thomas Evans and my mother had a short affair, which broke off before my mother realized she was pregnant. She did not tell my… father of her pregnancy, moving quite a bit away from him. I was told stories as a child about my father, who had his own family, with two girls, Lily and Petunia." James adjusted his glasses, which didn't need adjusting. "Until five years ago I did not realize that I was not the only… magical one in the family." James smiled a slightly bitter smile and Albus could have applauded James's marvelous acting. Albus could see through every act James put on, but that smile was his best one yet. Albus knew that if he didn't know his brother so well, he wouldn't have known the difference.

Albus leaned forward, adopting a more serious look as he spoke, "Headmaster, I am going right to the point of this meeting; Jamison and I would like to adopt young Harry." Albus took a breath, making it clear he was not done speaking. "I know on the surface it does not seem like a good idea, for I'm a disowned cousin, and my relationship with another man isn't going to endear me to some."

James cut in with a humorless voice, though he had a slight smirk on his lips. "Not to mention I'm an illegitimate muggleborn, who has no solid proof that he is even related."

Albus tried not to shoot a look at James, but only managed to hold the reproach from the look. "But we would like to be there in Harry's life, to raise him. I'm sure you've heard this from many others wanting to adopt him, but Harry's famous in the wizarding world. Living with muggles, whether he knows about magic or not, isn't going to prepare him to live with constant magic. Getting thrown into the wizarding world will be a shock, but being almost a celebrity on top of that? I fear for how my cousin will do in this world."

"You make it seem like we want to milk his fame, Al," James commented.

Ablus stopped himself from rolling his eyes only because he was minutely grateful that James had pointed it out. "Shut up, Jay." He turned to Dumbledore, and softened his face, "Headmaster, I will never have children of my own. Despite my disowned status and never having the chance to be close to most of my family, I would honor the chance to help raise my cousin."

-ooo-

Albus sank into a large chair, while James fell onto the fluffy sofa Scropius was occupying. Albus smiled slightly at his long time friend. "It seems too easy." Scorpius's blank face melted into a confused expression.

"Easy?" James snorted, looking at Albus disbelievingly, "What was so easy about hours of talking about little things like our daily routine to our grades in school? What does that even matter anyway? And blood tests. I thought we'd lost it then."

Hugo came in from the kitchen, where he had been making dinner. "The spell took care of that, Jay, you get so paranoid."

"I don't trust potions," James muttered, "I don't care how many times we tested our blood here. Dumbledore is powerful, and Snape probably made the potion. You know how many times Mr. Malfoy went on about how brilliant the git was." Albus winced. After the memories, James had never really forgiven Severus Snape for the way he treated their father.

While Albus was content to let James rant to himself about his paranoia, Scorpius wasn't. "James, we went back in time with a spell that knocked us off our feet for a week and took us a year to perform. We've tried over twenty blood testing spells and potions and they've all came back with our new history. We've done magic checks, replaced certain papers in the ministry. We've gotten jobs. We researched until we could tell our story in our sleep to make sure there were no loop holes in the spell. There's not going to be any family looking for us, and the spells will come back with the same story we told and implanted into the spell. Don't trust potions as much as you want, but don't insult our own magical skill." Scorpius and James stared at each other. "The time travel spell was perfect."

Albus just rolled his eyes as Scorpius and James held each other's eyes, neither looking away. He'd become used to it over the years. Hugo broke the tense moment with a happy, "Dinner's ready!"

James immediately stood and rushed to the kitchen at the prospect of a hot meal, while Scorpius and Albus took their time. Albus met Scorpius at the end of the sofa and slipped an arm around his waist. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?"

Scorpius let out a breath and leaned into his lover. "Not as much as I feel I should be."

"Dumbledore's both more and less intimidating than I thought he'd be." Albus said with a nod, "You'll be okay though, since you have more talent at charming than I do."

Scorpius chuckled, "You got us out of more trouble in school than I did."

"That's because I had family connections with most of the teachers." Albus paused as they reached the doorway to the kitchen.

"Can you believe he thought me and Al were a couple? That was just disgusting!" James exclaimed as he was talking to Hugo. Albus went a little green remembering the vehement denials than both he and James had spouted at Dumbledore. That was a misunderstanding Albus could have done without.

"I don't want to even think about that James!" Albus loudly told his brother. But Hugo was laughing with tears in his eyes and Scorpius was quietly chuckling with a smirk on his face. There would be no help from their corner.

-ooo-

Six months later

"Boy!" Seven year old Harry Potter jerked his head up at the sound of his Uncle's yell. Frantically he thought about the chores that he had done and tried to remember if he had forgotten to do any of them. No, he'd dusted the front rooms and made all of the beds. It was still too early for garden work, and he was just now cleaning the breakfast dishes.

Harry dried his hands off and hesitantly walked to the kitchen doorway. "Yes Uncle Vernon?" Harry tried to be as polite as possible. He knew they had a guest at the moment, and was trying to be on his best behavior since his aunt and uncle hadn't locked him in his cupboard. He sort of wanted to eat meals for the next couple of days, thank you very much.

Vernon Dursley's head leaned out into the hallway and Harry shuddered slightly. The man looked entirely too happy to be looking at Harry. "Boy, someone wants to speak with you."

Harry stood frozen for a moment. Who would want to speak to him? No one wanted to speak to him. Not even his aunt, uncle, and cousin. Was it one of his teachers? He didn't remember doing anything that would make them want to come to his house; it was only the beginning of the school year anyway.

Harry finally started moving when Uncle Vernon's face started loosing its smile. His steps were shaky, but he managed to make a steady pace to the door way to the sitting room. Once there his eyes went wide behind his glasses.

Sitting in the room were his aunt and uncle. While his uncle looked as happy as Harry had ever seen him, his aunt had a pinched look to her face, as if she had tasted a lemon. On the other side of the room sat a very old man. He had a long beard, white hair, and bright blue eyes behind half moon glasses. The man was wearing a red and green plaid suit and Harry was sure that he had never seen someone so strange in his life. Harry didn't know how his aunt could stand being in the same room as the man.

The man smiled and Harry immediately liked him. "Ah, Harry. I am Albus Dumbledore. I have a few questions to ask you, my boy."

Harry glanced to his aunt and uncle to see that they still had the same expressions on their face. He looked back at the older man and smiled. "Sure, Mr. Dumbledore."

The man smiled back, before looking at his aunt and uncle. "If we could just have some privacy…"

Uncle Vernon stood as fast as his body would allow, motioning for his wife to do the same. Aunt Petunia's face looked even sourer, but she followed her husband. "Oh, yes, yes. We'll just be in the next room if you need us. Anything you need." With that both Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia left the room, leaving Harry and the man alone.

"Please sit, Harry," The man said, motioning to the place his uncle had just vacated. When Harry was sitting, the man leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Harry fidgeted slightly and forced himself to leave his hands on his lap. "How do you like living with your aunt and uncle, Harry?"

Harry froze for a second to process that question. "It's fine," Harry muttered quietly. It wasn't like they beat him, like he'd seen on the television when Dudley got bored of some of his games and wasn't chasing Harry around the yard. He got to eat most days, and even though his cupboard had spiders it still was warm even if the rest of the house was cold.

Dumbledore only smiled. "I knew your parents, Harry," Harry sat up straighter, looking at the man with wide eyes. He knew his parents? "I was their teacher in school, a school that you will go to when you're old enough." He paused with twinkling eyes. "I have found that you have family other than your aunt and uncle. The two men would like to adopt you Harry. Would you be okay with that?"

Harry's heart was pounding and it felt like his throat would close up. Someone wanted to adopt him? It was almost too good to be true. There had to be a catch to it. How were they related? Why now?

"How are they related to me?" Harry asked deciding that was a good first question.

"One of the men, Alphonse, is a cousin of yours from your father's family," Dumbledore explained, "His grandfather and your grandfather were brothers." Harry's eyes went, if possible, wider. "The other man is Jamison Day. He is your mother and aunt's half-brother. They are very eager to meet you."

Harry was silent for a moment before asking the question that was one of the most important to him. "Why now? I mean, why do they want to adopt me now? I'm already seven." Harry fidgeted in his seat.

Dumbledore smiled softly at him and Harry felt himself relax somewhat. "They are young. Alphonse is just twenty-three, while Jamison is twenty-five. They've been traveling for some years, and decided to settle down in England. From what they have told me, they've been getting jobs and settling themselves in. They live with two other men that they are close with." Dumbledore paused for a moment. "Is there anything else you would like to know, Harry?"

Harry thought for a long moment. Sure, he had a lot of questions, but he couldn't put them into words. There was only one question: why? But that wouldn't get him too many answers, as Dumbledore probably wouldn't even know what he meant. Harry wasn't even sure he, himself, knew what it meant.

Harry fidgeted once more. "Did they know my parents?"

Dumbledore smile turned a bit sad as he looked at Harry. "No, they did not," Harry tried not to show the disappointment he felt. "Alphonse was not very close to his father's family and Jamison was unaware of his sisters before your mother's death."

Harry looked down at his hands and uttered a small, "Oh."

"It is unfair of me to ask if you wanted to be adopted before you met the persons wanting to adopt you," Dumbledore told him lightly. Harry's eyes shot up to Dumbledore's face. "Would you like to meet them? We can meet them for lunch, as they won't be at work at that time."

Harry knew he really shouldn't be going off with strangers, but Uncle Vernon and Aunt Pertunia weren't scared of the man. And Harry also really wanted to meet these strange men who wanted to adopt him and take him away from the Dursley family.

"Sure, I'd like to meet them," Harry told Dumbledore with a smile.

-ooo-

Albus was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to work through a new potion he wanted to make when the telephone rang. There was only a few who knew the number and even less that would be calling on that day. That fact made Albus rush to the phone, almost tripping on the way there.

"Yes? Al Potter speaking," Albus answered in a smooth voice, even if his nerves were on end.

"This is Albus Dumbledore," a voice from the other end said pleasantly. Albus took this as a good sign. "Harry and I would very much like to meet you for lunch. Are you and the boys free today?"

Albus smirked wryly at the term "boys" but couldn't help grinning a second later. "Yes we are. Hyperion should be home any second, and the others have the day off. Where would you like to meet for lunch?"

"I'm afraid I do not know much of Muggle London," Dumbledore spoke, "Are there any places you would recommend?"

At this point both Hugo and James were standing around him with expectant faces. Albus rolled his eyes at them, but his heart was thumping loudly. "There's a nice place just a bit away from King's Cross. It's small, but not too small, and they have good food."

Dumbledore agreed to the place and Albus gave him directions. They were just setting a time when Scorpius stumbled gracefully out of the fireplace, looking at the three surrounding the phone in confusion.

"We'll meet you then, Albus," Albus said, still feeling strange calling someone else his own name. The two hung up and Albus turned to his audience with a large grin. "Muggle clothes, gentlemen, we're going out to lunch with Dumbledore and Harry!"

James let out a cheer, dragging Hugo up the stairs to their rooms. Scorpius smiled at Ablus waving him up to their own room.

"Jay, wear something half-way normal! We don't want to scare him!" Albus yelled after his brother.

They would finally meet young Harry. After all they did to make that possible, Albus was feeling quite ecstatic.

-ooo-

Harry shifted in his seat, taking another sip of his chocolate milk. Dumbledore had told him that the men should be there soon, but Harry was anxious to meet them already. What if they didn't like him? What if they saw him and thought that he wasn't what they'd imagined and didn't want to adopt him anymore? What if they were just as bad as the Dursleys?

Suddenly, Dumbledore stood, and Harry jumped in his seat, turning to stare where the old man was looking. Harry's mouth dropped open.

There were four men walking towards them, a waitress directing their approach, though it seemed that they didn't need it, for they were either looking at Dumbledore or Harry himself. The tallest of the four had slightly messy dark red hair, with brown eyes covered in square glasses, and an easy grin on his face. He was looking at Harry with gleeful eyes that made Harry want to hide under the table. The second tallest had brownish red hair and brown eyes that were looking at Dumbledore and a smile on his face. The last two were the same height. The one closest to Harry had smooth white-blond hair and gray eyes that were calm as they looked at Dumbledore, with a small smile on his face.

The last man had caused Harry's mouth to drop open. He was looking right at Harry, and there was a soft smile on his face. His hair was messy jet black, just as Harry's was, and green eyes that Harry could swear were his own. The first thought that popped into his mind was that the man must look exactly as his father looked.

They all were dressed normally and seemed almost odd compared to Dumbledore, who was dressed in his outrageous suit.

"Albus," said the second tallest man, "How are you today?"

Harry looked to Dumbledore as he greeted the man. "I am fine, Hugh, how are you four?"

The tallest answered this time, "Just fine, Albus. Actually, better than we've been for a while."

"Hyperion just came home as you called," said Harry's look-alike as he shook hands with Dumbledore.

"This must be Harry," The tallest said, turning to Harry. Harry stood quickly, and took the hand the man offered. "There's no doubt you're a Potter, kid. You look just like Al, there." The man jerked a thumb to point out Harry's look-alike, who rolled his eyes at the man with a smile.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, catching Harry's attention, "These are Hugh Prewett," He pointed to the brown haired man, "Hyperion Black," the blond, "Jamison Day," the man who had just spoken, "and Alphonse Potter." That was Harry's look-alike. "Jamison and Alphonse are the ones looking to adopt you."

Harry forced himself not to shuffle his feet, but couldn't help looking down at his toes. "Hello," he greeted quietly. He knew he had to look strange in his overly large clothes and dirty trainers. They seemed like okay people, but what if they thought he was just a bad kid, like all the neighbors thought?

As they all sat down, the four men ordered drinks. Harry fiddled with his cup of chocolate milk, sneaking glances at the men. "You can call me Al, Harry," Alphonse said. He was sitting closest to Harry, adjacent from the blond, who was speaking to Dumbledore quietly.

"Yeah," said Jamison, who was on the other side of Harry, "And you can call me Uncle Jay." He jerked and glared lightly at Alphonse, who had reached over Harry's head and flicked him on the ear, "Or just Jay, it's up to you."

Harry had no idea what to say, so just nodded with a quiet, "Okay."

Hugh, who was sitting across from Harry, grinned at him, "Don't worry about these two, Harry, sometimes they act like an old married couple."

Alphonse made a face, while Jamison laughed, "Don't give him any ideas, Hugh, it was bad enough when Albus thought we were together," at that Jamison smiled down at Harry, "Al there is with Hyperion, not me. When we were first talking to Albus, he got the impression that Al and I were a couple, which, in my opinion, is gross."

Hyperion leaned toward Jamison and smirked, "Like anyone would want to date you, Jay." Dumbledore and Hugh chuckled as Jamison made a face at the blond, who waved a hand.

Harry looked between Hyperion and Alphonse with slight awe. His aunt would have gone crazy if she knew the two men were a couple. She had seen a male couple on the street once, and had steered Dudley away, making horrible comments about them. Harry hadn't seen what the problem was, and didn't think he would ever figure it out. His aunt just didn't like the strangeness of it, he guessed.

The four men and Dumbledore talked through lunch, which Hyperion paid for. Harry was eventually drawn into conversations, and found he really liked the four men. Jamison was usually laughing or making jokes about things, making Harry laugh at almost everything he said. Alphonse was usually shooting comments at Jamison, and getting Harry to laugh almost as much as Jamison had at the other man's expense. Hugh made comments here and there, encouraging the two men's banter, while Hyperion was the calm one, always sharing a fond exasperated looks with Harry and Dumbledore or focusing the two bantering men on something else.

Harry felt almost sad when lunch was over and they were all outside the restaurant. He wouldn't mind a bit if these men adopted him. They were wonderful

Alphonse knelt down in front of Harry, so they were about eye level, and smiled softly at Harry. Jamison was standing to Alphonse's side, while Hugh and Hyperion were standing a bit off with Dumbledore. They were watching Alphonse and Harry with looks that Harry couldn't place.

"Harry," Alphonse said, "would you like to be adopted by Jay and me and come live with the four of us?"

Harry nodded quickly. "I'd love to! You're great! A lot better than my aunt and uncle!" He was scared that he would sound to eager and they wouldn't like him anymore, but he had to let them know how much he would like to go with them and never look back at Number Four Privet Drive.

Alphonse grinned, his green eyes that looked so much like Harry's lighting up. "We'd love to have you live with us Harry. You're a great kid." Harry froze as Alphonse put his arms around him in a hug. Harry couldn't ever remember being hugged before, and there was nothing like it in the world. He threw his arms around Alphonse in return, and buried his face in the man's shoulder. There was something about the men that Harry felt he could trust.

Alphonse pulled back and put his hands on Harry's shoulders. "Well, that's settled then. You'll come live with us!" Alphonse kept grinning and Harry couldn't help but mirror it. Alphonse stood again and turned to Dumbledore, who was looking on with a smile. "Albus, when do you think Harry could move in?"

The old man stroked his beard and his eyes twinkled behind his half-moon glasses. "Tomorrow should be soon enough. That is if all of you are ready?" He looked at all of them, even Harry.

Harry nodded quickly, as Hugh said, "We've been ready for a while, Albus." There was agreement from the rest as well.

"Well, then tomorrow Harry will move in with you. Is that all right with you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah, that's great!" Harry already couldn't wait.

"That's settled then," Dumbledore told them, "I'll take Harry home, and tomorrow they will pick you up."

"Jay and Hyperion have work in the morning, though they should be off by about four," said Alphonse, "Hugh and I will be able to pick Harry up."

Harry grinned as they all said their goodbyes, and didn't stop grinning as he and Dumbledore made their way back to Privet Drive. Harry felt like his life had changed for the better in that moment, and he hoped he wasn't wrong.

End Note: So, yeah, that's the chapter. I don't know if I wrote Young Harry good enough. The conversation between Dumbledore, James, and Albus just wouldn't be written, so I cut it short. I know snatches of it, but I just couldn't put it all together. It was a very long talk though. Dumbledore wouldn't be okay with the adoption if he didn't have very good reasons to trust the boys, you know.

1: Benjamin Potter is James "Prongs" Potter's father. I had no idea what to name him, so I gave him a pretty normal name, considering "James" is a pretty common name. In case you don't know who Charlus Potter is, he's on the Black family tree. He was married to Dorea Black and they had one, nameless, son. Some think the son was actually James "Prongs" Potter, but I'm iffy about that. I think Sirius would have said something to Harry when they were talking about Arthur and Molly being related to Sirius.

Actually, all of the boys' (except for James II) heritage were planned out (somewhat believably) with "canon" characters (namely the Black family tree). Scorpius is a Black by name (Marius Black, the squib,'s grandson) and Hugo is kind of closely related to Molly, being Ignatius Prewett's grandson.

Also, I felt kinda bad about making Lily's father into a cheater, but it had to happen. Lily's blood has to be there for the Blood Wards to work, and Al, James, Scor, and Hugo knew that, and they couldn't explain having Lily's blood any other way.

See, I'm smart and I research. /Pumps fist/

I don't know if Scorpius's spiel explained the Time Travel spell all that well. I think you'll see more of it explained later, though. Just know that there are only a few ways to tell they time traveled.

Man, I typed a lot in this end note. Sorry about that. They should be shorter next time though, promise.

The next chapter, or the chapter after that, will probably have a "time skip" to Harry in Hogwarts. Yay?

Hopefully the next chapter won't take too long. See ya!