Title: True Identities

Author: Gia

E-Mail: divinechild18@hotmail.com

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: None

Time: 5th Year

Summary: One dinner with his Sirius in the Leaky Cauldron changes Harry's life forever. A man, desperate from the loss of his own son, insists that Harry Potter is his son. What will Harry's friends do to get Harry back? And will Harry be able to handle the truth?

Disclaimer: I own not a thing.

Author Notes: Whoa, lots of positive feedback from people! Yay! HERE'S AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT!!

I know Figlio Perduto hasn't been updated yet, but until I get my laptop back which has the chapter in it, I can't post it! -_-.. and Bless the Child.. *sigh* I'm sure your all sharpening your knives to kill me, eh? But I've been hit with inspiration and have a certain thing planned for that! I'll tell you a small bit, those who actually read the Author's Note will get this little blip:

Smiling pleasantly, Alecto addressed Harry.

"The ruin game is not really a game. It's more of a hunt. At the center of the ruin," she pointed to the foreboding figure of the ruin, " a medal has been hidden. The winner has to find the medal and get out of the ruin before an hour has passed."

Harry, still clutching Alecto's hand, looked up at her.

"Will others play too?"

Alecto made a split second pause before hesitantly asking him whom he'd want to include in the game.

"I want Sev!"

Ready to protest, Alecto was suddenly filled with an idea. She smiled widely at Harry.

"It is done."

There! ^_^ A small part of the next chapter! I know, it's confusing, but I'm a very spontaneous girl and I have all these messed up plots swimming around in my head. Can you blame a little psychotic girl for trying?

***

He looked at everything around him over the brim of his cup. Gulping deeply, Snape waited. He could still hear the distinct laughter of Harry, and mentally grinned. Sirius deserved it. The laughter seemed to die down, and that's when Snape heard the bells on the door ring.

He turned his head slightly to the left, and almost choked on his drink. Lucius Malfoy was walking in, and he was heading right for Harry Potter and Sirius Black. Knowing something was going to happen, Snape stealthily approached their table. He was delayed when the men in a table in front of him suddenly got up to leave. In his opinion, they took their sweet time, obstructing his view of what was going on.

When they finally cleared off, he saw Sirius looking ready to slap Lucius silly. Before it could get ugly, Snape prepared to join the fray, hopefully with some neutral remark to not let Lucius get suspicious and not get Sirius to blow up. Whatever Sirius, Snape, or Lucius for that matter, had to say, died on their lips when they all heard Harry give a sharp intake of breath.

"Edward?" was distinctly heard from a young man, looking aged only from the wrinkles around his eyes.

***

The moment green eyes met chocolate brown, Harry was suddenly hit by a familiarity to the man. For some reason, he was rendered speechless, and could only gaze back at the man that was staring at him so desperately. He was already aware of seeing his Potions Professor make an entrance, which prompted him to something. Anything.

"I-I'm sorry? My name's Harr--"

The man had suddenly jumped from his chair, pushing by Lucius as if he wasn't there. He seized Harry by the shoulders, staring wondrously into his face.

"Oh, oh Edward! I thought you had died! Edward, my son, my son!"

Harry was torn between prying the man's fingers off of him, or just standing there for the man's sake. Instead, he looked over at Sirius pleadingly, which certainly seemed the better option of the two. At the pleading look from his godson, Sirius sprang into action. Standing up, she wrenched grabbed the man's arm.

"Let go of my son!"

'Bloody hell, James would kill me if he heard this.. or possibly Lily, don't know which one would kill me quicker.' Sirius thought to himself, assuming a matronly position by putting his hands on his hips.

The man in question, looked from Harry to Sirius and back again. As if being burned, he immediately let go, apologizing profusely. Sirius only caught bits like, 'So sorry', 'Bad eyesight', 'Completely embarrassed'. He just nodded mutely, and pulled Harry closer. The man smiled kindly at them, and quickly took his leave.

Lucius, having stood there silent the entire time, glared at them all before taking leave after the man who had so desperately cried that Harry was his son. Snape, who had been standing back, turned around without another word, and went back to his table.

Eyebrows rising, Sirius turned to Harry. "What was that all about?"

All Harry could do was shrug helplessly, still thinking about the stranger. If he could only grasp what was so familiar..

***

'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Mark repeated over and over in his head. He rapidly walked away from the Leaky Cauldron, unseeingly pushing by people, muggles surrounding him. Had he just lost his mind? He went right up to Harry Potter and hugged him, calling him Edward.

'He looked so much like my Edward.. so real..' To top it all of, Mark had just realized he didn't meet the representative of the possible company they could merge with. His boss would sack him for sure, but at the moment, Mark could focus on nothing, other than the familiar boy's face. If that was Harry Potter, then why did he have such vivid green eyes of his own son? Contacts?

He kept on walking, losing himself on the streets. Exhaustion won over him, when he finally leaned against the wall, and slid down to the dirty ground. Something was gnawing at him, was it anger? Grief? A bit of both probably, Mark thought bitterly. He had always been the stubborn type, and what he should obviously do was staring him right in the face. He could either walk away now, forgetting about today. Harry Potter. Everything.

Or...

***

"As peculiar as the whole incident was, who could top this off, eh Harry? Your Godfather turned godmother.." Sirius tried to make light banter, but Harry seemed preoccupied. Whatever that nut did, he certainly spooked Harry.

"Harry? You in there?"

Blinking slowly, Harry looked up from contemplating over the stranger. "Yes?"

"You're a lot quiet now, is it what happened?"

"Er... a bit. I'm sure he's had to much ale or something." He gave a nervous laugh, avoiding Sirius's eyes.

The rest of the dinner with his godfather continued in silence, Harry growing increasingly guilty inside, knowing that Sirius had hoped for them to talk a bit more. They wouldn't get to do this often, and here he was, ignoring Sirius's attempts at cheerful conversation. Harry wanted to blame Lucius Malfoy, or Snape, or even that stranger.

But Harry couldn't. He had the strongest feeling of forgetting something. Like when you go to your room to get something, but you just can't quite remember what you were going to get. Well, whatever it was, he was sure it was important. Brightening considerably, Harry knew what to do. Kill two birds with one stone. Talk with Sirius and find out more about himself.

Making sure to drop his voice down, he spoke.

"Sirius?"

Looking up from idly playing with his food, Sirius immediately asked what was up.

"Could you tell me more about, you know, my parents?"

"Oh... well, there's a lot really. What do you want to know?"

"Everything! But.. you could start with their friends. My mum and dad's."

"Okay, well, there was of course me, Remus, and *ahem* someone. Then there was this girl named..."

The two talked for what seemed an eternity, Harry laughing at Sirius's stories of the Marauder's adventures, omitting parts with Peter. All in all, Harry was glad to see Sirius smile and laugh again. Of course, all good things must come to an end. Severus Snape returned on the dot to take Harry back to Hogwarts. Harry sadly hugged Sirius goodbye, and cheered up a bit when Sirius said he would mail him the instant Sirius found a temporary safe place to stay.

When Severus handed the floo powder to Harry, so he could go first. He remembered that Hermione and Ron didn't know where he was, which most likely meant they were searching Hogwarts like mad.

***

"WHERE IS HE?!"

"Ms. Granger! That is no way to talk to the Headmaster like that."

"I'm sorry Professor McGonagall, but me and Ron have been searching everywhere for him! He could be--"

"DEAD! BLEEDING!! MORTALLY WOUNDED!!!"

"RON!!" Looking sternly at Ron, she turned back to the Headmaster, "Please, Headmaster, if you could just tell us where Harry is, then we'd be more.. rational."

"He's over here, Granger."

Ron and Hermione whipped around, seeing Harry walking behind their Potions Master, smiling at them from behind Snape's back. Ron looked ready to yell something not appropriate, so Hermione jabbed him hard in the side. Needless to say, he was speechless for the moment.

"Sorry, but I went to visit," he glanced around before whispering so they could hear, "Padfoot."

His two best friends adopted knowing looks, and Harry said thank you and goodbye to the Professors. Once safely out of earshot, they asked how'd it go. Not wanting to leave anything out, Harry told them everything, including the strange encounter with the stranger. Ron found it completely hilarious, but Hermione was deep in thought.

Harry knew exactly what she was thinking, and surprisingly, he didn't try to say something to change her mind. If anyone could find anything about the stranger, it was Hermione. Besides, Harry wouldn't admit it out loud, but he secretly hoped to see that man again. He had thought a lot about it on their way to Hogwarts, and Harry was positive that he knew him. It was only a matter of time before he find out who he was.

First thing on his list, find out the guy's name.

***

Mark sailed shakily over the treetops, mindful of a certain tree. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going or planning to do, but right now, he was going on gut instinct. Basically, his first priority was to get to Hogwarts without anyone seeing, and then... he'd just have to wing it.

He was nearing the windows, and he readied himself for landing. He slightly pointed his broom downward, and made a neat landing atop one of the towers. His old wand was in his pocket, and his senses were on alert. He had to establish a place he could stay in Hogwarts while he figured out how he was going to approach Harry. He had thought over it during the flight, and he already made the decision. He would approach Harry-- no Edward and tell him the truth. Nothing was going to stop him, not if he could help it.

He crept towards the stone archway, and headed down the stairs. He was probably at the seventh floor, meaning he would have to walk a long way towards the Gryffindor common room. That is.. if it was still there. Hogwarts tended to move its rooms and things around a lot, and it could have done so with the common rooms.

'Only one way to find out', he told himself.

He strode down hallways, staircases, and didn't even mind the portraits who were staring at him curiously. 'Guess winging it was out the window.' he thought humorlessly. As he headed down a long hallway, he heard the sound of metal creaking coming from a portrait. He paused, and turned to see a medium-sized portrait, with a short knight lying down, or at least trying to, since apparently he couldn't get into a comfortable position.

Mark needed all the help he could get, and if he was cunning enough, maybe he could convince the portrait to help him. He cleared his throat so the knight could hear.

"Good day, sir--knight!"

The knight in question was startled by the yell, and quickly jumped up. It pulled out a rather large sword and tried to swing it threateningly, and for probably the hundredth time, it fell to the ground with a thud. Taking his chance, Mark asked him the way to the Gryffindor Common Room, which wasn't very cunning at all.

'Okay, I'm not cunning. I'm just really bad at lying..'

Far from becoming suspicious, the knight, who introduced himself as Sir Cadogan, was immediately roused.

"A quest!" he shouted. "I shall lead thee, may we be held in fate's good fortune, come! We must not tarry, for we may have a long road ahead of us!"

Mark was not sure whether he should be grateful for help, or dreading it.

***

End of chapter three!!! ^^

Okay, I know it's short.. Really short.. But I had to get it out!! I know you've all been waiting, and I sincerely apologize for the wait, it's just that I've been preparing for the midterms, entrance exams, Christmas programs.. And so much more!! 0_0.. It's putting me at wits end..

I hope you enjoy this chapter though! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

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