Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its wonderful characters belong to JK Rowling.
In the old, dilapidated kitchen in Number 12 Grimmauld Place there was complete silence after Albus Dumbledore's announcement. No one wanted to break the silence or be the one to ask the dreaded question. Finally one brave soul asked the question on everyone's mind.
"And that would be what exactly?" Snape drawled frustrated by the whole event and ready to be done with it.
"The Paternis Revelo spell," replied Dumbledore.
"Why would we need that? We know who his parents are," Sirius snarled.
"I'm afraid we don't. For the only explanation for Harry's sudden change in appearance is the fading of a blood adoption potion the effects of which begin to fade around thirteen years after it was first administered unless of course a second dose is given then the effects would become permanent," Dumbledore said all of this while looking directly at Harry.
"A blood adoption potion?" Harry asked weakly, understanding where this was leading and not liking it a bit.
"They were used a long time ago to adopt muggleborn children into pureblood families that couldn't have children. In essence they changed the child's blood even their very magical core and when administered the second dose it would amplify the affects completely destroying all of the child's natural born blood and effectively making the child, the child of the adoptive parents even going so far as making it possible for them to pass on their adopted blood to their own natural born children. But the potion was outlawed due to the blood ritual involved and the risk it posed to the child," said Dumbledore.
"Not to mention it encouraged the stealing of muggleborns," Moody snorted and Hermione gasped in outrage.
"And you really think I was under the effects of a blood adoption potion?" Harry asked quietly while his mind was racing through all the different scenarios.
"I'm afraid so," said Dumbledore gravely.
"No this is impossible!" Sirius cried leaping to his feet.
"Sit down mutt," Snape snarled.
"No Harry has to be James and Lily's son. He has to be, I was there when he was born. I saw Lily pregnant. He has to be their son," Sirius insisted.
"Well he's not," Snape replied coolly.
"Then just make the second dose of blood potion and he can take it so it will change him back," Sirius demanded.
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way Sirius. The first dose has already left his system. There's no going back now," said Dumbledore sadly.
Harry was a little hurt by Sirius's suggestion of just giving him the potion. Sure he wanted to be back to normal but Sirius's reaction was making him worry that Sirius wouldn't want him if he really wasn't the child of James and Lily Potter. And if Harry was honest with himself it was looking like that was the truth more and more. It wasn't fair Sirius had been the closest thing he had ever had to a father and if Sirius rejected him Harry wasn't sure what he would do.
"Can we just find out if it's really the truth? Can you just cast the spell and get it over with?" Harry asked his tone hallow. He knew they had to get this over and done with. There was no use holding it off he knew everyone would just keep insisting until the truth was discovered and Harry himself needed to know the truth. He needed to understand what had happened and what was going on.
Dumbledore nodded looking grim but he stepped over to Harry. With several intricate wand movements and a surge of power a golden line appeared above Harry's head. The line branched off in two directions and at the end of each branch a name was written out. The first name was one Harry wasn't familiar with but it seemed by the gasps of shock and horror upon seeing the name that the others were intimately familiar with it and didn't like it. It read Bellatrix Cassiopeia Lestrange nee Black. Harry quickly forgot all about the first name though when he saw the second one begin to take form. Something inside Harry twisted when he saw the name Tom Marvolo Riddle take shape above his head.
"No," he breathed in shock.
His gaze whipped around to Dumbledore who was looking at the name with a grim but unsurprised expression. It hit Harry then how willfully ignorant he had been. He knew his new features had been familiar. It was because he had seen the exact same ones in the face of a sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry felt crushed. Voldemort was his father. The Dark Lord that had tried to kill him on numerous occasions was his father! The blood in Harry's ears was roaring and it was as if through a tunnel that he heard Sirius cry out in distress and start to deny the fact that Harry was the son of his crazed and evil cousin. Moody demanded to know who Tom Riddle was and Dumbledore explained much like Tom himself had told Harry by rearranging the golden letters of Tom Marvolo Riddle to spell out I am Lord Voldemort. This caused an even greater uproar amongst the adults and Harry knew he needed to be alone.
Harry fled the kitchen and ran back upstairs to the room he had put his trunk earlier. He threw himself down on his bed and pressed his face into the pillow in an effort to stop his tears. It didn't work and before long his body shook with overwhelming sobs. His mind was in chaos and he wanted nothing more than to wake up and realize this had all been a horrible nightmare. He must have passed out from exhaustion because the next thing he knew he was being woken by a hissed conversation between Ron and Hermione.
"I can't believe it Hermione. All this time he was You-Know-Who's son! No wonder He couldn't kill him. He's probably got dark powers just like his dear old dad. If that all really happened anyway. He could have killed the real Harry Potter and replaced him with his own kid to spy on us," Ron spat sounding angry and terrified all at once.
His words sent a lance of anger and pain through Harry. Ron had been Harry's first real friend. He had thought the other boy had liked him but this was just proof that Ron didn't truly care about him. If he did he wouldn't care who Harry's biological parents were he would trust Harry based on his own merits not on people Harry didn't even know.
"Don't say that Ron. Voldemort might be Harry's father but he is still Harry. He's still our friend," Hermione hissed back fiercely filling Harry with warmth knowing that she at least was sticking up for him.
"You don't know that Hermione. Blood adoption potions mess with your blood and magic. Now that it's worn off he's technically a different person," replied Ron.
"Maybe in appearance and magic but not in personality. He's still the same Harry we've always known. Couldn't you see that when we spoke to him earlier?" Hermione demanded.
"He was angry at us. Harry's never angry at us," said Ron and his logic made Harry want to strangle him.
"He's been through a lot the last few months Ron. Of course he's angry!" Hermione snarled.
"Whatever, I'm not sleeping in here with You-Know-Who's kid," Ron snapped back and Harry heard him stalk over to his own trunk and rustle about before stomping out of the room.
Hermione followed still berating him about his attitude. But Harry knew better. He should have seen the signs in the way Ron had so easily turned against him when he thought he had put his name in the Goblet of Fire. As far as Harry was concerned he was done with Ron Weasley. The thought pained him greatly but Harry ruthlessly shoved it to the corner of his mind. If Ron could so easily dismiss four years of Harry's friendship than Harry could certainly do the same thing. At least he still had Hermione on his side. But he wondered for how long.