Warning – This story is discontinued. I wrote 100 pages and then stopped. It is up for adoption though.
– – – – –
The next morning Harry got up at 5am ran up and down Diagon Alley three times – at which point he was seriously out of breath and had a stitch in his side. He walked back to the Cauldron slowly, catching his breath, and was walking past a newsstand at the exact moment that that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet appeared. Harry's eyes widened and then a wide grin spread across his lips at the headline.
MINISTRY INCOMPETENCE EXPOSED!
SIRIUS BLACK FOUND INNOCENT AFTER TEN YEARS IN AZKABAN!
PRISONER NEVER RECIEVED TRIAL!
Harry walked over and picked one up after tossing a few knuts onto the counter.
He walked slowly as he read over the article, grinning all the while. He wondered if he should pay Sirius a visit or if the man would need some more time to recuperate in St. Mungo's. Part of him was dying to go visit the man, but he had to admit that another, even bigger part of him, was terrified of seeing him again. Especially since this wasn't his Sirius. His Sirius had died when Harry was sixteen years old.
Besides... what the hell was he going to tell the man? 'Hey Sirius. I'm pretending to be your illegitimate son, but in reality I'm Harry Potter – only I'm Harry Potter from the future of an alternate universe and I was sent back here by some weird crow goddess.'
Yeah. That would go over real well.
Harry huffed, and sped up. He couldn't avoid this for very long. Besides, the sooner he got Sirius involved, the quicker he could get everything else going. That was, assuming that Sirius would even be willing to go along with him. Hopefully he would.
Harry returned to his room at the Leaky Cauldron, took a quick shower, got dressed in some nice light summer robes that were charcoal gray with red threading and then took Tom's floo to St. Mungo's.
It took him nearly thirty minutes of arguing with medi-witches and desk-witches to finally convince someone to tell him where Sirius Black's room was. Apparently they had been inundated with requests for information on the man all morning, ever since the article had come out. Once he finally knew where to go, he made his way up the lift towards the fifth floor and made his way to the recovery ward. A wizard was stationed in the hall to keep the 'well-wishers' away so that the patient could actually rest, but Harry had received a badge down on the first floor that gave him permission to go past. He had to present it to the wizard, who then had to go into the room to ask Sirius was even willing to accept any visitors.
Harry stood there in the hall feeling a powerful mixture of emotions. He was anxious and wary, but also extremely excited. He was going to see Sirius again. A living, healing, and free Sirius!
A pang of remorse shot through him at the remembered loss of his godfather and he had to pull in a heavy breath to steady himself. The door opened up the wizard came back out. He ushered Harry inside and then left the room, closing the door quietly as he disappeared back into the hall. Harry turned slowly to face the bed and felt his breath hitch at the sight of his godfather sitting up in bed looking at him with wide disbelieving eyes.
"Is it really true?" Sirius whispered in a stunned quiet. "Are you... my son?"
Harry's jaw floundered and he felt frozen. There was a strange glow in Sirius's sunken eyes. It was like... hope? Harry almost felt tempted to just say yes, but he knew that would come back to bite him in the arse. Eventually there would be a blood test conducted and it would prove that he wasn't Sirius's son at all.
Harry sighed heavily and shook his head sadly. "No. I'm not."
Sirius's face fell and the expression broke Harry's heart.
"But I am the one that got you freed," Harry said taking a few steps forward. He glanced around the room hesitantly before looking back at Sirius. "Do you have a wand yet?"
Sirius looked confused by the sudden question and shook his head. "No. I haven't been able to get a new one yet. They only just declared I could carry one again yesterday and I've been in this bed ever since then. Why?"
"Do you mind if I cast a privacy ward?" Harry asked and the question earned him a stunned and bewildered expression.
"Er... no, that's fine," Sirius said slowly as he took on a rather suspicious expression.
Harry pulled out his yew wand and with a few silent flicks he'd cast a fairly impressive network of silencing and anti-eavesdropping spells as well as a locking spell and a proximity alarm on the door.
"Alright," Harry said taking in a deep breath and steeling himself for what was to come. He walked over and sat down in the chair beside Sirius's bed. "I'm not really named Orion Aubrey, and Erin Aubrey wasn't my mother. It's a cover I'm using right now to try and avoid anyone finding out who I really am."
Sirius's eyes narrowed even further and he gave Harry a scrutinizing glare. "Alright. So who are you then?"
"I'm Harry Potter."
Sirius's eyes instantly went wide with disbelief. "What? Harry P– but... but they said you'd died! You died when you were five!"
"Well apparently the me from this world did die when he was five. That's part of the reason I got sent here."
"Huh?"
"I am Harry Potter, but I'm not from this world originally. I'm from a... a parallel dimension, or an alternate universe or something. I don't even claim to understand it. I was sent here about three weeks ago right after I'd died in my own world. Some goddess that looked like a crow came to me in the afterlife and offered me a second chance if I was willing to come to this world and fill in for the me that died."
"Are you mental?"
Harry blinked for a moment before grinning. "Probably. But I'm not lying. Look... okay I know that some things in this world are different from mine world, but you were made Harry Potter's godfather, right?"
"I... yes. I was."
"My mum and dad, then went into hiding behind the Fidelius charm, but did they tell you why? I mean, you know that we were being hunted down by Voldemort, who was specifically after me, but did they tell you why Voldemort was after me?"
Sirius looked suspicious again but nodded his head. "They did mention a reason..."
"A prophecy, right?"
Sirius's eyes widened minutely.
"The prophecy said that I was the only one who could defeat Voldemort. He's not really dead, even now. His soul was blown out of his body, but he's got all these dark magic artifacts that he made to keep him immortal so he can't really die. He's just a wraith-like spirit right now, but at some point he's going to find a way to get his body back and when he does that he's going to start up his war all over again. He did it in my world. There was a huge war and it lasted for years. I was nineteen years old when I finally finished it. I killed him. But then that bitch Bellatrix went and shot a killing curse at my back and I died.
"The fates or whatever, decided that I got a bum deal. I mean, I fulfilled my destiny just in time to get shot in the back. So this goddess named Morrighan came to me and offered me a second chance. She said that she could give me another life, but I had to come back to this world and well... do it all over again. Which I'll admit, isn't exactly an appealing prospect. I mean I just did this, but... oh well. What the hell, right? She also gave me one hell of a guilt trip by pointing out that this world was basically screwed because my counterpart here is already dead."
"Wait, wait..." Sirius said sitting up straighter and holding up a hand. "So... not only are you from another world, but you're also from the future?"
"That's right."
"And you've been here for three weeks?"
"Just about, yup."
"And in the three weeks that you've been here you got me out of Azkaban?"
"Shocked the shit out of me too! Maybe that's one of the differences between my world and this one. The Ministry is like a thousand times more efficient. Either that, or I just really fucking lucked out."
Sirius barked out a laugh and grinned weakly.
"It helped that I knew exactly where Pettigrew was hiding out. I was thirteen years old when you broke out of Azkaban in my world, and it wasn't until the end of my third year that we discovered Pettigrew, but then the dirty rat bastard escaped and went to Voldemort. You stayed on the run with the Ministry convinced that you were still an evil killer and that you were after me. Of course I knew the truth, but you couldn't take me in like you wanted since you were still on the run from the Aurors."
"Wait, I broke out of Azkaban in your world?"
"Long story short, you slipped out as Padfoot. You discovered that Wormtail was playing pet to a student at Hogwarts and you were afraid that he'd come after me. That and you just wanted to kill the dirty little bastard and you finally knew where he was."
"This is so surreal..."
"You think it's surreal for you? I'm still freaking out every time I look in the mirror and see a ten-year-old staring back at me."
"Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure that Harry had green eyes."
"Ah, right. It's all glamors and a few minor transfigurations. I decided that if I had to do this I wasn't going to do it as Harry Potter. I already endured that crap. I'm more than willing to save the world again and kill Voldemort again, but I'm not going to be a celebrity this time. Being the Boy-Who-Lived sucked and I have no desire to do it all over again. Which brings me to my cover story... would you mind terribly if..."
"If you pretended to be my son?" Sirius asked.
"Er... yes?" Harry said with an innocent hopeful smile.
Sirius let out a slow breath but chuckled lightly. "This is a lot to take in all of a sudden, Harry. I mean, for the last few days I've been under the impression that I had a son that I didn't even know about and that he saved me. But now you're telling me that you're actually James' son Harry – which would be one thing, but you're actually nineteen and from an alternate reality?"
"When I came here... I mean, I know I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for... well, just about my whole bloody life, actually. The muggles who I got left with treated me like shit and never cared one bit about me my whole life. Hell, apparently in this world the Dursley's actually killed my counterpart. And I wasn't the slightest bit surprised when I learned that. But even after entering the Wizarding World I was on my own. When you showed up in my third year and offered to look after me it was... it was amazing. For one brief moment, I thought I might finally have a family. Someone who would actually give a damn about me. But then Wormtail got away and everything was trashed," Harry sighed.
"You had to go into hiding but we still kept in contact. And I spent the Yule Holiday with you one year and that was brilliant..."
"Only once?" Sirius asked, frowning.
"You died the following spring. Killed in a Death Eater attack on the Ministry. It was my fault you were there. You showed up to try and save me, and I was there because I was tricked by Voldemort. Bellatrix killed you. Fucking bitch. Pfft... hell, she killed me too. Damn. That sucks."
"Bellatrix? My cousin, Bellatrix!"
Harry snorted. "The one and only."
"I was killed by Bella?" Sirius looked utterly appalled.
"So was I! How do you think I feel about that! I survived dozens of duels with fucking Voldemort for Merlin's sake, and then I get shot in the back with a killing curse by bloody Bellatrix Lestrange!"
"For real? Duels with Voldemort!" Sirius asked with a mixture of stunned disbelief and pride.
Harry chuckled weakly and shrugged. "Yeah. Got pretty desperate there towards the end... I still can't believe it's really over... but then again, I guess it's not. It's only just beginning again. Blimey that sucks... I can't believe I have to do all this shit all over again..." Harry groaned and slumped back in his chair. "At least I know what the hell I'm doing this time."
"I feel like I should be scolding you for your language. You cuss an awful lot for someone who looks like he's only ten years old."
Harry blinked at Sirius for a second for bursting out laughing. "Yeah, well... I guess I'm going to have to watch myself when I get back to Hogwarts. My language has slipped a bit after two and a half years in the trenches."
"Merlin..." Sirius said in a quiet whisper. "So you've been fighting in a war for years, have you?"
"It really started when I was sixteen I guess. That was the year that Dumbledore died... the next year the Ministry fell."
"Dumbledore died?" Sirius gasped. "And the Ministry fell?"
"Yeah. But it's not like any of this is going to happen in this world. I mean, I'm only just about to turn eleven. I know things aren't going to be the exact same here as they were in my world – there are already a bunch of differences that I'm going to have to sort my way through, but there's no way I'm going to let it get that bad here, as it did in my world."
"Well, I suppose that's a relief. But you're only a kid, Harry. Can you even really do much yet?"
"I defeated Voldemort when I was eleven in my world. He possessed one of my professors and I ended up killing the guy. Faced him again in my second year, although that wasn't exactly him, it was a piece of his soul inhabiting a cursed diary. Third year you had escaped from Azkaban and Minister Fudge was in a panic so he actually had Dementors guarding Hogwarts and the bloody monsters kept attacking me. I had to learn to cast a Patronus that year. Forth year I had another Death Eater manage to infiltrate the school as the defense teacher and he tried to kill me. At the end of the year I was abducted by Voldemort and my blood was used in a ritual that returned him to a body, but I managed to escape afterwards... fifth year ended with that attack on the Ministry where you got killed, sixth year there was a huge Death Eater attack on Hogwarts and Dumbledore was killed, and I didn't even go back for seventh year because the war had started up. Took another two years of guerrilla warfare to end it."
"Bloody hell," Sirius gasped with a hoarse voice.
"That's one of the reasons that I don't want to be Harry bloody Potter here. There was always someone trying to kill me. I just couldn't get a break. If I can get this done from the shadows then that's what I'll do. If I have to come out into the foreground eventually, then so be it. But as long as I can be just a regular student, that's what I'm going to do. That is... if you're willing to play along..." Harry finished with a bit more hesitation.
Sirius let out a long breath but finished it with a weak chuckle. "Well you may not be my son, but I swore I'd look after you as if you were, and I'm not going to go back on my word now. If this is the way you want to work things, who am I to argue? You got me out of that hellhole, Azkaban. I owe you my life."
"You don't owe me anything, Sirius. You... well, the you from my world, were the closest thing I ever had to family. I couldn't leave you to rot in that place."
"Well, no matter. Whatever you need from me, I'll do it. I'm here for you, Harry."
Harry grinned widely but ducked his head a bit. It felt... good. Maybe this wasn't his Sirius, but it was still Sirius.
"So what's your plan, kiddo?" Sirius asked.
"Well, I figured I'd go with the story that I'm your illegitimate bastard son," Harry said with a smirk, earning him a bark of laughter. "Back in my world, Remus told me about you and some girl named Erin Aubrey and how the two of you had an off-and-on thing for years after Hogwarts. But I also knew that she'd vanished within months of Voldemort disappearing without anyone ever finding a body or anything. It sounded like a decent enough foundation for a plausible cover story.
"Basically, what I'm telling people is that Erin Aubrey is my mum. She and you were seeing each other and when she found out she was pregnant she kept me secret, even from you. After you were imprisoned, she took me and we left the country. We've lived abroad ever since, but a year ago she died and I'd been working on finding a way to prove your innocence since then. I found out about Pettigrew being alive and tracked him down. I returned to Britain and since I'm in the country, I showed up on Hogwart's registrar. Oh, I got my acceptance letter yesterday. It came under the name Orion Aubrey, so I guess that worked."
"Huh? Wait, how'd you pull that off?"
"It was that goddess's doing. The one that sent me here. She said I had twenty-four hours to pick a name and she'd make sure it got on the registrar."
"Well isn't that convenient."
Harry snorted. "Well, now that I've got you free the story is that I've come to you to tell you about my illegitimate self and ask you to take me in, since my mum is dead. If you accept, than you and I can head off to... well, wherever. I guess we could go to Grimmauld Place, but... uh... ew?"
Sirius laughed again. "Yeah, I think I'd rather find someplace else too."
"Yeah, well now that you're clear you should have access to the Black vaults. I've got access to my trust vault, but the goblins won't let me touch the Potter estate vault till I turn 17. But I can still help out if you want to purchase a house that isn't so infested with uck as Grimmauld Place is."
"Infested with uck," Sirius echoed with a snicker. "I haven't set foot in that house in years. I can only imagine what sort of state it's in after having been empty for so long."
"Not empty. Kreacher has been there, slowly going completely insane. Or at least he was in my world."
"Oh, Merlin, I forgot about him!"
"So anyway, you're okay with my cover story?"
"You mean about you being my son?"
"Yeah."
"Of course! Merlin, Harry, I'd be honored to be your dad, even just for pretend. I'd even be willing to go through the whole magical adoption thing if you wanted. Have many people seen you with your glamors?"
Harry paused in shock for a moment. "Magical adoption? You... er... the glamors... no, not really. Mr. Weasley, Madam Bones, and some shop keeps in Diagon Alley, but none of the shop keeps know me as Orion Aubrey... well, Tom does but that's it."
"Having to rely on glamors all the time in Hogwarts sounds like a pain in the ass. If we went through with a magical adoption –"
"My appearance would change so I'd looked more like you. I know," Harry cut in, still reeling from the suggestion. "I hadn't even thought of that. It's a brilliant idea, honestly But... are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. If we get things moving along fast enough, we could even have it done by the time you have to head off to Hogwarts. It'll also legally and magically change your name to Orion Black. Do you have a middle name picked out?"
"Oh... er... I was thinking either Lupus, or Canis – you know, sort of a nod to you and Moony – but I hadn't actually picked one on the first day, so it didn't show up on the Hogwarts registrar. I figured it wasn't that big a deal to try and add one after the fact."
"Hmm... Orion Lupus Black; Orion Canis Black... neither one really ring together all that well. Plus Erin wouldn't have known about Padfood or Moony, so she wouldn't have thought to name you after either of those constellations."
"Ah. I guess you've got a point there. Got a different one in mind, then?"
"Hmmm..." Sirius hummed and he began to mumble names under his breath, testing out the rhythm of the names as they flowed together. "It needs to be one of the longer constellations. A two syllable middle name just doesn't flow well with Orion as the first name."
"I'm afraid I don't exactly have all the constellations memorized. I only took Astronomy my first year and never bothered to continue it after that. Naming people after constellations is much more of your families thing."
"Orion Perseus Black. Not terrible... Orion Scorpius Black... not too bad either. Orion Reticulum... no, that sounds stupid... Orion Centaurus... No. You know, actually, Orion Phoenix Black doesn't sound half bad even though it's only two syllables."
"Oh yeah, there is a constellation called Phoenix," Harry mused. "Orion Phoenix Black," Harry said, testing the name out. "I could live with that. Sort of appropriate. The whole rising from the ashes of death thing – seeing as how I did die and now I'm alive again."
Sirius gave Harry a smirk and gave him a curt nod. "Alright. It's settled then. I'll contact the goblins by owl and schedule the magical adoption ceremony."
"The goblins?" Harry said, startled.
"Yeah, I know we could have it done at the Ministry, or even here at St. Mungo's, but if we do it at Gringott's with the Goblin's as witnesses, we can keep all of the details confidential."
"Oh hey! We can also rig it so you get guardianship over the Potter Estate vault. That way we'll have access to it without having to wait seven bloody years."
"I don't need your parent's money, Harry. That's yours."
"Yeah, well it's mine and I'd like to gain access to it before I turn seventeen and this will let that happen. Right?"
Sirius blinked and then chuckled. "You've got me there. Alright, fine."
– –
The two talked for a while longer before one of the healer's came in and insisted that Sirius be allowed to get some rest. Harry left with the promise to return the next day and Sirius watched him leave with a soft smile.
The next week passed easily enough. Harry continued his newly established routine of getting up at the crack of dawn and jogging up and down Diagon Alley before showering, eating breakfast, and then flooing to St. Mungo's. He ran a few documents back and forth between Sirius and Gringott's as all of the finer details were ironed out.
After 8 days had passed the Healers at St. Mungo's finally agreed to release Sirius from their care, and he and Harry made their way to Gringott's for the scheduled magical adoption.
The ritual took about an hour to complete. Harry had had to release all of his glamors and transfigurations for the actual ritual, so it was definitely a good thing that they were doing it with only the goblins there as witness. The whole ordeal proved to be extremely exhausting and magically taxing on Harry's young body. He felt like his very cells were being ripped up and reassembled in a different order and it was an entirely bizarre experience.
Sirius had arranged for a rented flat in London for the two of them to use for the rest of the summer while Sirius began a house search, so once the ritual was done, Sirius apparated a now-unconscious Harry to their temporary home and laid him down in what would be Harry's new bed. He took the floo back to the Leaky Cauldron to collect Harry's things and brought them back, setting them around Harry's new room.
As Sirius stood in the doorway, looking down on Harry he felt the strangest sense of pride and joy. He could feel the hum of the magical bond between them now. He felt a powerful warmth whenever he looked upon Harry. Upon Orion.
His son...
But not really. Sirius had to remind himself. This was James' son. Not his. Not really.
– –
"Come on Sirius! Wake up!" Harry yelled as he jumped onto Sirius's bed.
"Uhhhgh... Merlin Harry, you wake up way too damn early," Sirius grumbled as he turned over and pulled the pillow over his head.
"I've been up for two whole hours already! Come on! Get up!"
"Grrrrr..." Sirius growled which really only made Harry laugh.
"It's hilarious that you can sound so much like a dog even when you're not in your dog form," Harry snickered. "You know... I should try becoming an animagus this time. I never had the time before."
Sirius paused at this. He turned over again and removed the pillow from his head. "That'd be pretty brilliant, actually. But aren't you a bit young still?"
"I came here with my fully developed magical core. My magic is just like it was when I left my world," Harry said with a shrug. "The thing holding me back now is this scrawny ass body, but that's part of why I'm running every morning."
"You and you're bloody running," Sirius grumbled, causing Harry to snicker.
"Anyway, get up! Come on! You said we could go back to Diagon Alley today!"
"I did...? Oh... Oh! Oh hell, it's your birthday!"
Harry snorted. "I'm touched that you remembered."
"Crap. Sorry pup, I totally lost track of the days!"
"Does this mean you didn't get me anything?" Harry said with a mock disappointed pout before he broke and began to snicker.
"Of course I did!" Sirius countered indignant. Harry paused and looked surprised.
"You didn't have to get me anything, Sirius!"
"Don't be absurd! Of course I did. This is your eleventh birthday! Even if it's not really."
"Technically, I'm twenty now," Harry said with a smirk.
"Yeah, well technically this is the first year where I have a son, so I damn well better get you a birthday present, no matter how old you really are."
Harry ducked his head to hid the pleased, embarrassed smile that graced his lips. It had been just about a month since the two had moved into the flat together and things had been... great.
The magical bond that had formed between them because of the magical adoption was stronger than he'd expected it to be. He'd always cared a great deal for Sirius and he had been utterly devastated when his godfather had died, what he felt for the man now went deeper than anything he'd experienced before. It was almost overwhelming. He supposed this must be what the unconditional love of a parent and child felt like. He'd never expected something like this to come packaged with the whole magical adoption thing. The strength of it was startling sometimes when he let himself take a step back and really think about it.
Another odd effect from the ritual that Harry hadn't expected was the way he'd feel about his new name. Ever since the magical adoption, being called Orion felt just as natural and right as being called Harry. He'd even started to insist that Sirius call him by his new name. The excuse was that he needed to get used to it for when he went to Hogwarts, plus it was just safer that Sirius get used to it as well for anytime when the two were in public. Despite the validity of these arguments, the biggest reason he'd insisted upon the name change was that it just felt right to be called that.
Harry also found it was becoming more and more difficult to call Sirius, Sirius. Even mentally, he'd caught himself thinking dad a few times.
It was surreal.
As was expected from the ritual, his physical appearance had changed. The magical adoption ceremony involved taking some of Sirius's blood and literally changing Harry's physical body so that he was, in blood, related. Now, when using a blood quill at Gringott's, Harry could write out the name Orion Phoenix Black, and it would absorb into the parchment, accepting it as his real name. Then the text would change and display his two Potter vaults, the private vault he had set up the day he arrived in this world, and the Black family vault that he now had access to as Sirius's son.
His son in name and in blood.
And in looks. Harry quite literally looked like a young Sirius Black now. He'd retained some of his old features, since only his paternal DNA was replaced by Sirius's. But his features had always been dominated by James' Potter's looks, so now they were dominated by Sirius's instead.
Fortunately his new natural appearance wasn't that far off from the glamored appearance he had used his first few weeks in this world. But for anyone who did notice a change, Harry could simply inform them that, in order to make Harry his legitimate heir and accept him into the Black family, he had had to go through a magical adoption and it had altered his appearance. It was within reason, and wouldn't be questioned.
One thing that had remained the same, despite the ritual, was his scar. His forehead was still graced with the lightening bolt-shaped scar, so he still had to use one glamor when going out in public, and for when he returned to Hogwarts. Still, one small glamor over his forehead was going to be a lot easier to maintain than the whole elaborate illusion that he had been planning to rely on before the magical adoption.
– –
It took about thirty minutes for Sirius to get out of bed and ready to leave. Harry fixed breakfast, as had become the norm. Sirius had told him he didn't have to do it numerous times, but Harry said that he'd spent far too many years fixing himself breakfast in the morning to stop now. Besides, Sirius was a lousy cook.
Their flat was in muggle London and didn't even have a fireplace to hook up to the floo network. Fortunately, they were within walking distance of Charing Cross Road and the Leaky Cauldron. The two of them made their way to Diagon Alley, heading straight through the gateway pub and into the magical shopping district.
"Alright pup. This is your big day. Where do you want to go?" Sirius said looking down at Harry and smiling. It was often difficult reconciling the fact that this cute little kid had the mind of a twenty year old young man. A man who had fought and killed in a brutal war. He was impressed that his adopted son could act so normal most the time. He'd seen signs that there was some deeper damage under the surface though. Harry hid it well. It had made a lot more sense when he'd learned that Harry was a master of Occlumency. One of those things he'd had no choice but to get good at thanks to his connection to Voldemort. Practitioners of occlumency were always masters of concealing their emotions. It often made Sirius wonder just how messed up and traumatized Harry might be underneath it all.
"Eyelops!" Harry said instantly.
"An owl? You bet. I've been needing to get one too, actually. I take it you're getting one to take with you to school, right?"
"Yup," Harry chirped as he began to run down the street, turning and jogging backwards with an impatient spring to his step. "Come on, da-Sirius! You're too slow, old man!"
Sirius blinked, wondering if he'd just imagined the almost-slip but then chuckled and sped up his pace a bit. "Alright, alright. You know, I'm still recovering, right?"
"You've had a month to recover! You need to start getting off your arse and moving more."
Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes.
As they entered Eyelops Harry made a bee-line directly to a cage against the wall with a beautiful white owl in it. Sirius strolled up behind him and let out a slow whistle.
"She's quite a beaut."
"Her name is Hedwig," Harry whispered as he smiled softly at the snowy owl.
"Is it now? I take it this was the owl you had... before?" Sirius said in a lower voice and Harry nodded.
"She was my first birthday present. Hagrid got her for me. The Dursley's never gave me anything, of course. Well... they gave me bruises," he finished with a bitter snort.
Sirius growled under his breath. "Every time I hear anything about those bastards it makes it harder and harder not to go track them down and –"
"Don't you dare. They're mine," Harry hissed in a surprisingly cold voice that made Sirius startle for a moment. He looked down at Harry, slightly confused.
The young boy looked up and the sharp, cold, look in his eyes was almost shocking. "I never got to repay their kindness in my world, but I sure as hell plan to in this one. Especially since they actually killed me here. We'll have to wait though. If the war starts up again, no one will notice if they disappear."
And with that frighteningly cold sentiment, the boy's face instantly shifted back into into a wistful looking little boy as he returned his gaze to the owl. Sirius watched with a stunned numbness as his adopted son picked up the owl and cage and carried them over to the counter.
"So are you going to pick one out too?" Harry said over his shoulder as he started gathering together owl treats and some assorted care accessories.
"Oh. Yeah," Sirius said, jerking himself out of his stupor. He browsed around the store for a few minutes until he finally picked out a rather stunning great horned owl. The shop keeper told him that the breed was native to the Americas and he didn't often get many in his store.
"He's cool," Harry said as Sirius brought the owl and cage over to the counter. "Any idea what you'll call him?"
"Hmmm... I'm thinking... Corvis."
"Isn't that another constellation?"
Sirius chuckled. "Hey, if it works, why stop? So where to next?"
"Quality Quidditch Supplies!"
Sirius laughed and nodded his head enthusiastically. "Sounds good to me. Although you know first years aren't allowed their own brooms," Sirius said in a mock parental-scolding sort of voice.
Harry snorted. "Yeah, well I'll keep it shrunk and in the bottom of my trunk. Besides, I may end up working my way onto the house team again. Although it'll be interesting to see if McGonagall and Dumbledore will be willing to bend the rules for me now that I'm just Orion Black and not... you know."
"Ah yeah, that will be interesting to see. The joys of being privileged and being on the receiving end of double-standards. But avoiding all that is the reason you're doing all this. I still can't get over the fact that you got onto the Quidditch team your first year."
Harry grinned. "Youngest seeker in a century. It was pretty brilliant. Oh hey! I won't have people trying to kill me every game anymore!"
"Well, the opposing team's beaters probably will..."
Harry chuckled and shrugged. "Yeah, but they're supposed to. It'll be nice playing a game without people trying to hex my broom from the stands, or having dementors trying to give me an aerial kiss."
"Well here's hoping you luck. If you get onto the house team, I'll come and watch your games."
"You better!" Harry exclaimed and then laughed.
The two entered Quality Quidditch Supplies and set their owl cages down to the side of the door as they browsed. Harry went straight for the Nimbus 2000s and picked one up.
"So that's the latest and greatest, huh?" Sirius said as he came up behind him.
"Yup. It's a pretty brilliant broom," he paused and then leaned closer and spoke a bit lower. "Next year the Nimbus 2001 will come out, but the year after that a competing broom company is going to release the Firebolt and it's going to be brilliant. You – er, the you from my world, he got me a Firebolt in my third year."
"Well, I'll have to do that again, assuming that the broom comes out here as well. For now, we'll just have to settle with me buying you a Nimbus," Sirius said as he reached over and plucked the broom from Harry's hand's.
"I can get it!" Harry protested, instantly.
"Orion Pheonix Black! Today is your birthday and I'm going to buy you a broom. And that's final. Now hand me that one next to where you just grabbed one. I want a broom too."
Harry chuckled and reached over to grab another Nimbus from the display. Sirius set both brooms on the counter while Harry went over and started looking at the different broom maintenance kits.
"But Father, please can't I get one?"
"No Draco, we are just looking. You cannot even take it with you to school. The broom you already have at home if perfectly acceptable. Next year you will be able to bring a broom to Hogwarts and we can get you a new one then."
Harry whirled around with wide eyes as he saw two very familiar forms coming in through the door.
"Cousin Sirius!" Narcissa Malfoy's voice sounded through the shop with a gasp. Sirius turned on his heal, clearly just as stunned as Harry felt.
"Narcissa!"
There was a moment that passed in utter silence as the group stood there looking at each other. It felt like it lasted ages, but Harry realized it was really only a few seconds.
"My! What a shock. I heard the good news. It was all over the papers of course," Narcissa Malfoy said as she came to stand beside her husband and son. Harry's eyes were drawn to Draco and he had to force himself to remain impassive. It was just bizarre seeing Malfoy at age eleven again. He was so small. But then again, Harry realized that he was pretty damn small now too. Smaller than Malfoy... he grumbled to himself.
Looking over the group filled him with an odd bundle of mixed emotions. Obviously he'd hated Lucius and Draco for years, and he'd never fully be able to move beyond those feelings, but they were laced with pity.
Lucius had died the same summer that Harry turned 18. Killed by Voldemort himself as punishment for some such thing that had displeased him for the last time. Draco had stayed in Voldemort's service for a while, trying to project his mother, but he was always right on the edge of death. Voldemort was always looking for an excuse to kill the Malfoy heir. Both to punish Narcissa, and in return to Lucius's failures. Finally Narcissa had gone to the Order, pleading that they help her save herself and her son.
Draco had come to loath Voldemort with a fiery passion. The man had made his family suffer so horribly and even after his father had served Voldemort to the best of his ability, the Dark Lord had still killed him. Draco had actually provided the Order with some terribly important intelligence as well as getting them a scrap of paper written by the manor's secret keeper that hadn't been burned. With it they had been able to launch an incredibly effective strike against Voldemort's headquarters and Harry had been able to get one of the last Horcruxes that Voldemort had been hoarding away to keep them protected.
The Order had helped Narcissa and Draco get out of the country in return for their help, but Harry had heard word that the two had been killed just a couple months before the final battle. He didn't know the details of it though. He felt rather bad for them, despite everything they'd done, they didn't deserve to suffer as much as they had.
That didn't change the fact that Draco and Lucius were both enormous assholes. Harry admitted that he really didn't know much about Narcissa. She'd been nice enough during the few meetings he'd had with her the last year of fighting. But then again, she had needed his help, so it wasn't like she was going to come to him acting like a bitch.
"It really has been such a long time, cousin. How are you recovering? I can only imagine... well I'm sure you'd rather not talk about that," Narcissa was saying when Harry refocused and realized that they were all speaking.
"I'm doing surprisingly well. Orion here has been making sure I get my lazy butt out of bed each morning," Sirius said with a smile.
It was with this that everyone's attention turned and focused on Harry. He straightened up a bit under their scrutiny.
"Orion?" Narcissa asked with obvious confusion.
"Ah, how silly of me. Allow me to introduce to you my son, Orion Pheonix Black. Orion, this is my cousin Narcissa, her husband Lucius Malfoy and their son Draco."
Harry had to exert a lot of effort not to laugh out loud at the stunned expressions that graced the faces of the three Malfoys. It wasn't often that a person was present to witness when a Malfoy was shocked enough to actually show the emotion, openly.
"Son?" Narcissa gasped as she looked between Harry and Sirius. She recovered quickly and turned all of her focus on Harry. "It's a pleasure to meet you Orion."
Harry nodded his head politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well," he said with a small smile.
Lucius still had yet to say anything, probably preferring to keep his distance from Sirius, but he was keenly observing everything that was going on before him. Draco was now eyeing Harry with a mixture of surprise and obvious curiosity.
"I must admit, Sirius, I'm quite stunned. I had no idea you had a son."
"Honestly I hadn't known either," Sirius said laughing. "Do you remember Erin Aubrey? She was in our year at Hogwarts."
"Oh yes, I do remember her. Lucius, weren't you friends with her brother, Bertram?"
"Ah, yes, Bertram and I were good friends. It has been many years since I last thought of him," Lucius said with a polite, if not forced smile. Harry could tell the man wanted nothing to do with small talk but didn't want to be rude either.
"You were close with Erin, weren't you?" Narcissa asked, turning back to Sirius.
"Yes, she and I saw each other off and on for several years after Hogwarts and through my Auror training. She didn't approve of my involvement in the war though and refused to settle down until I was free of it. It would seem that Erin became pregnant and chose to keep it secret from me. After I was incarcerated, she took Orion abroad and they lived mostly in a small village of British ex-patriots in France."
Narcissa's eyes grew wider with each additional word, and Harry could practically see the desire that was flooding her to run off and tell someone, anyone, this scandalous but incredible bit of gossip. Harry nearly snickered.
"Poor Erin fell ill last year however and died," Sirius continued with a sad look over to Harry.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Narcissa said looking down at Harry as well.
Assuming his most convincing 'I'm sad, but I'm also strong and won't openly show it' face, Harry gave her a tremulous smile. "Mum always said that father was innocent. She told me about him my whole life, and was convinced that he was framed. But there wasn't anything she could do about it. After she died, I stayed with some family friends for a while but eventually decided I would come to Britain and try to prove dad innocent."
"He did too. Orion here is the reason that Amelia Bones and her Aurors reopened my case and caught Peter Pettigrew," Sirius said with a proud smile.
"My! What a story!" Narcissa exclaimed. "You must be so proud of him. And what a handsome young man he is too. The resemblance is remarkable. It's like looking at you as a boy all over again, only with glasses. He's got your beautiful baby blue eyes. You know there's a healer in St. Mungo's that specializes in eyes that can correct poor eyesight. Get rid of those glasses so we can see his eyes better."
Sirius looked down at Harry and rose a single questioning eyebrow. Harry shrugged. "I'll think about it."
"So how old is Orion?" Narcissa asked Sirius.
"Today is his eleventh birthday, actually," Sirius said grinning.
"Is that so! Well happy birthday Orion. That means you'll be starting Hogwarts this fall. Draco is starting this year as well."
"Thank you, and yes. I'm starting this year," Harry said.
Narcissa continued to banter on with Sirius and Harry sighed as he leaned against the counter behind him. He glanced over at Sirius and saw that he wasn't exactly thrilled with being forced into the social dog and pony show either, but was staying cordial.
"So you're starting Hogwarts this year?" a very familiar voice drawled beside him all of a sudden. Harry glanced over and saw Draco Malfoy standing there looking at him curiously.
"That's right."
Draco's eyes trailed over to the two broomsticks on the counter and they lit up. "Do you play Quidditch?"
Harry grinned. "Yup. Seeker, although I was thinking of giving Chaser a try to mix things up a bit."
"You're getting a broom?"
"Yup. It's my birthday present. Dad is getting one too."
Draco's eyes lingered on the brooms with obvious longing. "Father got me a broom two years ago, but it's not a real broom. Just a children's broom. I'm trying to convince him to purchase me a real racing broom and then trying to smuggle it into the school. I think it's ridiculous that they don't allow first years to bring their own brooms."
Harry snickered a bit. "Yeah, that's my plan actually. I'm just going to shrink it and put it in the bottom of my trunk."
Draco gave Harry an approving smirk.
"So I suppose this means you and I are cousins," Draco said after a moment.
Harry blinked before laughing lightly. "Oh yeah, I suppose we are. Wow, that's strange."
"Strange? How so?" Draco said, looking bewildered.
"Oh, I'm just not used to having family. My mum was practically disowned from her's and we went off to France without telling anyone, so I've never even met her brother or any of his family. I doubt they even know about me. Dad didn't even know about me until he got out of Azkaban."
"Is he really... alright? I mean, they say most people go insane after being in there only a year. He was there for ten!" Draco asked in a low whisper.
Harry looked over at Sirius who looked bored but was pretending to be interested as Narcissa continued to prattle on about something.
"Yeah... he's actually pretty good. At least, he's good at pretending he's okay. He's coping surprisingly well with everything out here now. A lot of things changed so much for him, so fast, but he's handling it really well. I know it had to be horrible for him in that place, but it helped that he was actually innocent. The thing that makes people go insane is that the dementors make you relive your crimes over and over in your nightmares. Dad didn't actually do anything wrong, so it wasn't quite as bad. And the knowledge that he was really innocent gave him hope and strength. I'm just glad I was able to get him out of there."
"How did you manage it anyway?" Draco asked incredulously.
"Well it didn't take much. Dad was never even questioned after his arrest and he never got a trial. They just sent him straight to Azkaban. Madam Bones told me that that alone was enough to warrant reopening his case. But I knew who really did it, and I hired someone to perform a high level tracking charm and managed to find where he was hiding. I told Madam Bones and she took a couple aurors to go investigate and they caught him. Everything happened really fast after that."
"That's really something," Draco mused and Harry could tell he was honestly impressed. To Harry, Draco seemed to be acting rather out of character. He wasn't drawling or sneering nearly as much as Harry was used to, but perhaps it was that he didn't feel like he had to impress Harry, or maybe it was the 'we're family' thing. He really wasn't sure, but he could almost stand this version of Draco.
"So is that a Nimbus 2001?" Draco asked, refocusing on the broom. Harry grinned and pulled it down off the counter so Draco could examine it.
"It sure is."
– –
"By this time tomorrow half the wizarding upper class is probably going to talking about my illegitimate heir over tea," Sirius snickered, followed shortly by an tired sigh. "Bloody hell, Narcissa is exhausting."
Harry chuckled. "You looked about ready to chew your own leg off to get out of there."
"Ugh... I hate high society folks. Especially the house wives. Gossip gossip gossip. She looked about as anxious as me to leave so she could get out and spread the word; don't know why she stood around and drug it out so long."
"She was trying to squeeze you of every last drop of worthwhile gossip from you before she ran off to firecall someone," Harry said in an obvious tone.
Sirius snorted. "Probably. Now that the word is going to start going around, I'm sure I'll be getting loads of well wishers and old family friends calling me up. Ugh... I'm just glad we don't have a floo."
"Hey, you know, we should call up Andromeda!" Harry exclaimed suddenly.
"Hmm?" Sirius looked down at Harry for a moment before realization dawned. "Oh yes. I always did like her. She was my favorite cousin actually. The only one of the three sisters I could stand, really."
"She got disowned because she married a muggleborn, right? Ted Tonks?"
"That's right."
"Well you're the head of the family now so you could reinstate them."
Sirius blinked at Harry for a moment before a big grin spread across his face. "By hell, that's a brilliant idea. One more way to spite my old bat of a mother."
"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed suddenly. "This means that Tonks is my cousin now too!"
"Huh?"
"Dora! Nymphadora Tonks. Andromada and Ted's daughter."
"Oh! Little Nyphadora! Gosh I hadn't thought about them in... wow. A long time."
"Tonks was a real good friend of mine in the other world. She became an Auror and joined the Order. She ended up marrying Remus. They had a son too. Named him Teddy and made me his godfather."
Sirius came to a dead halt and choked on his own saliva. He nearly dropped the owl cage he was carrying. "Say what!"
Harry turned to look at Sirius and then burst out laughing at Sirius face. "Wow Sirius, you look like you're about to faint."
"Remus ended up marrying my cousin? Isn't he a bit old for her?"
Harry continued to chuckle. "Yeah, well you do realize that she's in her first year of Auror training this year, right? If I recall my dates correctly, she would have graduated from Hogwarts this last spring. She and Remus didn't hook up until my... let's see... I guess it was my 5th year? Anyway, I know that Remus had a lot of trouble getting over the age gap. He kept insisting that they shouldn't see each other. Sort of a mix between 'I'm too old for you' and 'I'm a werewolf, I don't deserve to be loved'. You know – all that stupid self-deprecating crap Moony always does to himself. Tonks was persistent though. She loved him and he loved her back."
"Wow..." Sirius said as he finally pulled himself out of his surprise and resumed walking. "Think we should try and bring them together?"
"Hmm... probably not. Not yet, at least. I mean, it was hard enough for Remus to get over the age difference when he met her when she was 23. If he met her now, she'd only be 18. I think that would bother him too much. If they haven't met each other in a few years, we can introduce them then."
"Scheming little match-maker," Sirius said with a chuckle as he walked up and ruffled Harry's hair.
"What! I'd like to see Remus with someone, and he was really happy with Tonks. Speaking of Remus, we really need to track him down. Maybe you two can help me brew the animagus potion before I head off to Hogwarts. It takes what... two weeks to brew?"
"Ugh. You'd have to get Remus to help you there. I'm pants at potions. Especially that potion. Still, no matter how old you are mentally, your body is still only eleven. I have trouble imagining you being able to actually do the animagus transformation yet..."
"A normal eleven year old doesn't have a well developed enough magical core, or the mental dedication and focus to do it. I don't think it has anything to do with the body not being up to the task. I've got the magic, the focus, and a desire strong enough to stay dedicated. It's probably going to take a year or two, right? I may as well get started now while things are still relatively calm."
Sirius shrugged. "Guess it can't hurt to try. Come one pup, lets get some ice crème."
The two made their way across the street to Florean Fortescues Ice Crème Parlor and ordered a couple sundaes.
Sirius pulled out his wand an subtly cast the muffliato charm, causing Harry to look up and focus on him.
"So does this mean you're going to come clean with Remus as well?" Sirius asked leaning in close.
"Hmm?"
"Tell him the truth, I mean. About your little trip through time and all that."
"Oh yeah... well... yes. I think so. But just the two of you. I'm definitely not going to tell Dumbledore. I mean, I love the old man, but he's a scheming bastard. If I can avoid his manipulations for at least a few years, then I'm going to."
Harry looked up to see Sirius's eyes wide and his expression rather stunned. "What?"
"Not very often I hear someone speak about Dumbledore like that, is all," Sirius said with a weak chuckle and a shrug.
"Well, I got to know him pretty well, especially that last year before he died. He knew he was going out soon – not that he told anyone – and he was trying to cram my head full of all the stuff I'd need to keep hunting down Voldie's you-know-what's... hey, you know, this is a long shot, but is there any chance you'd be able to access Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringott's vault?"
"The Lestrange vault? Sorry pup, but that's a no. Not part of what I have access to as head of house Black."
Harry snapped his fingers. "Darn. Oh well. I suppose I'll work on that one later."
"I'm guessing that one of Voldemort's... things is in there?"
"In my world it was. I suppose it's possible it's different here. Voldemort realized I was hunting down his things and had it removed from the vault, but if things are the same, it would be in there right now. Still – I'm not about to try and break into Gringott's, especially if I don't know if it's even really there..." Harry got a far off look in his eyes before his hand came up and smacked into his forehead. "I can't believe I... bloody hell, we need to go to Grimmauld Place!"
"Huh? Why?"
"One of the horcruxes is there!"
Sirius gaped at him. "What! Why? How?"
"Regulus! He stole it. He turned on Voldemort there at the end. He found out about that horcrux and stole it."
"Not too sure about that one, Orion. I think that might be one of those differences between your world and this one."
"Oh?" Harry said, sitting up straighter.
"Reg was killed in a raid just a couple years after he graduated from Hogwarts in this world."
"Oh... well damn. It would have been so much easier if it was sitting in Grimmauld Place. I guess that means the locket is still in that bloody fucking cave. Ugh... Merlin I don't want to go back in there... I hate infiri."
Sirius grimaced. "Infiri! How many infiri are we talking about, exactly?"
"Hundreds."
Sirius's face went pale and he looked a bit ill at the idea. "You are definitely not going back in there for a while. That one can wait till you're older and we have help... a lot of help. You got me?"
Harry chuckled and nodded. "Sure dad."
Sirius rose a single eyebrow, but grinned.
"Well, it's still your birthday. What do you want to do next?"
Harry tilted his head and hummed in thought for a moment before a grin spread across his lips. "Let's head back to the flat to drop this stuff off and then go into muggle London. I want to see a movie."
"A movie?"
"Yeah. You know, a muggle movie theater."
"Oh wow! I haven't been to one of those in ages!"
"You've been in a muggle theater?"
"Yeah, Lils dragged me and James to one a few times. Had a blast!"
"What'd you go see?"
"Let's see... what was it called... Oh! Star Wars!"
"You saw Star Wars in the theater! Haha. That's brilliant!"
"A couple years later she took us to one that had the same actor in it. The one that played um... Solo?"
"Han Solo? So Harrison Ford?"
"Hell if I know. Anyway, this other movie stared him, and Lily said that the director from the Star Wars movie wrote this one, but it was totally different. Not out in space or anything. The guy was an archeo... ologist?"
"Oh! Indiana Jones!"
"That's it! I really loved that one!"
"Which one was it?"
"There's more than one?"
Harry blinked. "Oh man! We need to get a tele in the flat and a VCR. If you haven't seen the others... Wait, does that mean you haven't seen the other Star Wars movies either?"
"They made more?"
"Oh hell! Okay. That's it. Come on. We're going to Gringott's to exchange some galleons for pounds," Harry said with absolute conviction as he stood up and canceled the muffliato spell that Sirius had cast earlier. Sirius began to openly laugh but nodded his head in agreement.
"We still going to a movie theater too?" Sirius asked through his chuckles.
"We've got a month till I head out to Hogwarts. We can squeeze a movie in later. This is more important."
"Ay ay, sir," Sirius said with a mock solute as the two began to make their way down the street towards the bank. This was sure to prove entertaining.
– –