Chapter Three: Familiar Strangers

Harry, or rather, Orion, as he now thought of himself, landed next to the Diagon Alley apparition point with a THUD! As he got up he heard a small snicker from a wizard standing nearby and he glared.

"What! So I collapsed on landing, you try Apparating on a bad leg!" he snapped. He wasn't lying; his leg wasn't fully healed although it could carry his weight easily enough. It had been damaged in the battle and still ached a bit.

Taking a small look at himself in a window he smirked. "Hello Orion Skywalker," he muttered, borrowing his last name from the Star Wars films that Hermione had introduced him to.

He walked up the street, avoiding looking at all the parents with young children as much as he could. The loss of his own family made itself known every time he saw a young child walking with their parents, or saw children trying to cast spells with their parents' wands, or a myriad of other things that young witches and wizards did. He shook his head and turned away from the sight, retreating into Flourish and Blotts.

"Not fond of young children sir?" a voice asked. Orion turned to the speaker, a pretty witch with light green eyes and blonde hair. He shook his head, displaying his now black wedding ring. It had turned black the instant Hermione had died.

"It's not that. My family was murdered a few days ago, I'm still in shock. It just hurts to see what I've lost that's all," he muttered.

The witch nodded, sympathy shining in her eyes. "I'm so sorry sir; I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"What memories? For me it's still fresh. I don't honestly know how I keep going on," Orion grumbled. Just then there were shrieks and screams from outside.

Orion snarled as he leapt out into the street, wand out in an instant. He could sense dark magic easily and knew that even if these wizards weren't Death Eaters he still had to take them down before they killed anyone. His Unspeakable training took over as he took down several of the attacking wizards quickly, rage lending new power to his spells. He looked up the street and for a moment his eyesight blurred. He thought he saw Daniel cowering under a wheelbarrow while one of the wizards advanced on him.

The wizard never got the chance to attack as Orion stepped in between the wizard and his target.

"Leave now and you might live," Orion warned coldly. The wizard merely laughed and sent a bone crushing curse at Orion who blocked it. It was the last spell he ever did as Orion then summoned his heart, giving his opponent an instantaneous heart attack.

With the immediate threats subdued and the Aurors quickly appearing, Orion turned round and crouched down to see who he had saved. He very nearly fell over in shock. There, staring at him with wide hazel eyes was a boy that Orion would cheerfully swear was the young version of his father. This was confirmed when a shout rang down the street.

"JAMES HAROLD POTTER, WHERE ARE YOU!"

James wriggled out of his hiding spot and grabbed Orion's hand. "That's my Dad, I have to tell him you saved me otherwise he might curse you," he said and began dragging the startled Orion down the street.

"DAD, I'M HERE!" James yelled. Up the street Orion saw two people, a witch and wizard start running towards them. The witch, whom Orion assumed was James' mother, hugged him tightly before starting to scold him for running off and talking to strangers. James' father, meanwhile, was staring suspiciously at Orion.

"And who might you be?" he asked coolly. Orion met his stare evenly and held out his hand. "Orion Skywalker sir, your son was about to be attacked by one of those idiots and I couldn't just stand by and let it happen."

Charles Potter, for that was whom Orion was speaking with, noted the black wedding ring and his eyes softened briefly. "Thank you for saving my son then. I assume you've had experience?" He nodded at the ring.

Orion's eyes flashed with pain. "A few days ago, someone my wife and I once considered a friend came to our house and murdered my family. I wasn't about to let another set of parents go through the pain of losing a child."

Charles nodded and then he was pushed out of the way as his wife grabbed Orion round the middle and hugged him tightly. "Thank you for saving him, thank you so much. You must come to tea, mustn't he dear," she said, shooting a look at her husband.

Charles looked at the young man in front of him and then nodded again, smiling. "You did save James' life; we owe you a life debt for that. Dinner is the least we could offer you unless you have other plans?"

Orion shook his head. "No sir, no other plans. I was just wandering around thinking about looking for a new house actually. My old one has too many painful memories."

Charles patted his shoulder and then led the way to the Apparition point. "I'll Apparate you there seeing as you've never been to our house before. Just hold onto me."

Orion obediently wrapped his arms around his grandfather and held on. A dizzying sensation followed and Orion picked himself up off the carpet as they landed. "I hate Apparition," he muttered. This was greeted by a chuckle from his grandfather.

"I don't believe I've introduced myself. I'm Charles Potter and my wife is Emma. You've already met our son, James. He's eight years old at the moment, starting at Hogwarts in three years."

Orion now knew the year he was in. "So it would be approximately nineteen-sixty-eight then" he murmured to himself. Charles gave him a sharp look, having overheard this bit, but Orion was saved from interrogation when James bounced into the room.

"That was so cool today Orion. When I grow up I want to be able to fight just like you." Orion swallowed hard, mentally shoving back the memory of his own sons saying almost the exact same thing in relation to flying.

"I'm sure you will," he managed to get out.

Charles intervened, seeing that his young guest was not dealing well with having James bouncing round him. "James, I have to talk with Orion, why don't you go outside and practice flying a bit more."

"But Dad, the quaffle broke so I can't practice my shooting," James complained.

Here was something Orion could fix. Rummaging in his pockets he pulled out the training quaffle that he'd slipped in there before he'd left the future and resized it. "Here. I use it at work for stress relief; it's a normal training quaffle, nothing odd about it. Go have fun."

James raced off and Orion abruptly collapsed into a chair. Charles sat down opposite him and fixed him with a penetrating stare. Emma came in at that point and saw the silent stand off.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked. Charles looked up and smiled before returning his gaze to Orion. "Not really but I would like to know what that comment about it being nineteen-sixty-eight is about. You're not wrong but why would you need to confirm the date to yourself?"

Orion sighed. "Do you have any Veritaserum handy? My story will be a tad unbelievable and I'd like for you to believe me."

Charles and Emma exchanged a look before Emma retrieved a vial of the clear-colored truth potion from one of the drawers nearby. Charles also summoned a roll of parchment and a quill. Orion leaned forward, interested. "Are you an Auror? Only I've never seen that outside the Auror or Unspeakable departments of the Ministry."

Charles gave him another sharp look. "I'm a retired Auror. You know what this parchment is?" Seeing Orion's nod, he continued, "Interesting. I won't have to explain then that anything you say which is a lie will show up in red."

Orion shook his head, he knew what the parchment and quill did, had used it many times himself. The quill would transcribe the conversation and any lies would automatically be colored in red, allowing an interrogator to instantly see a lie. Not that he would be able to lie as he would be dosed with Veritaserum. He opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. As the potion took effect he said, "I would prefer it if James didn't hear this story. He's a bit young yet to understand it."

Charles nodded and promptly shut and locked the doors and windows. "He knows not to come in here when the door's locked. He'll be OK on his own for a while."

Fixing Orion with a stern look, Charles then asked. "Is Orion Skywalker your real name?"

Orion sighed, the questioning had begun. Feeling the Veritaserum start to affect him he answered, "No."

"What is your real name?"

"Harry James Potter."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm a time-traveler from the future, I came back here because the future I come from isn't very nice and I want to change it."

"What relation are we to you?"

"You are my grandparents and James is my father."

The Veritaserum was abruptly cancelled thanks to a spell. Orion came back round to see Charles and Emma gaping at him. Finally Emma whispered, "It's almost unbelievable, yet both the Veritaserum and the parchment mean you weren't lying. What do you really look like?"

Orion sighed and cancelled the charms that he'd placed on himself before leaving the future. His hair went back to being messy and short and his eyes changed to the normal killing curse green. He stared at his grandparents who were looking from him to James outside in shock.

Rolling his eyes Orion said, "Uh, hi guys."

Emma fainted.

"It's amazing. Now that we've established your true identity we can have the rest of the story without the Veritaserum. I think we can safely say that you're not lying. You don't mind if we continue to record it do you Harry?" Charles asked after waking his wife up.

Orion shook his head and replied, "No but could you please call me Orion. I can't be known as Harry Potter here, it would cause too much confusion later on." Charles looked at him and slowly nodded, understanding the reasons why his grandson would not want to be known by his true name.

"Let's hear it then, it should be a good tale," he said as he leant back in his seat. Emma was now hugging Orion tightly and Orion wrapped his arms round her, seeming happy at the contact.

"Well, it all begins when I was a baby," he started. Charles and Emma nodded attentively. "When I was born, Voldemort, that's a Dark wizard who will be causing trouble a few years from now, was on the rise. He had followers known as Death Eaters who were causing trouble, well, chaos and anarchy would be more like it. My parents, James, and a Muggleborn witch called Lily Evans, fought against him. They were members of an organization led by Dumbledore known as the Order of the Phoenix."

"What happened?" Charles asked.

Orion shook his head. "A prophecy was made about me that stated that a boy born to parents who defied Voldemort three times, born at the end of July, would be marked by Voldemort as his equal and would be able to kill him. My parents went into hiding under the Fidelius charm, choosing one of their three friends to be secret keeper."

"I know that charm. Voldemort wouldn't be able to find them as long as the secret keeper kept the secret," Emma commented. Orion nodded.

"They were going to choose my godfather to be their secret keeper but he persuaded them to choose another of their friends, believing that he was too obvious. They didn't inform anyone of the switch so when their friend betrayed them, everyone thought it was my godfather who had done it and he was thrown in Azkaban, without a trial I might add."

"What happened to you?" Charles asked.

"I was sent to my mother's sister, a Muggle who loathed magic with every fiber of her being. I spent the next ten years being the Muggle version of a house-elf, being told lies about my parents and also being told that magic didn't exist. I slept in the cupboard under the stairs," Orion elaborated.

Charles and Emma were furious. "No child should be treated like that!" Emma fumed, with Charles adding, "Did no one do anything about it?"

Orion shook his head. "My uncle was sufficiently well connected to make any investigations disappear and I learnt early on not to tell anyone. Anyway, I went to Hogwarts and made friends. My years there were characterized by the Defence teachers trying to kill or harm me in one way or another, and going from being loved by the public, to being hated, and then back again."

"But what happened to Voldemort?" Emma asked.

Orion took a sip of water from the glass that Emma had handed him. "Right. Well, after my parents were betrayed, I was one year old at this stage, Voldemort came to find them. He killed my parents, and then tried to kill me. I survived the killing curse. It rebounded on Voldemort, due to the prophecy, and left me with nothing but this scar." Orion pushed up his fringe to show the familiar scar. "Anyway, back to Hogwarts. I was known to the general wizarding world as the Boy-Who-Lived, thanks to that killing curse rebounding off me. I grew up, making friends and enemies as one does through school, and then in my fourth year, I was illegally entered into the Tri-Wizard Tournament, against three seventh years. There was a Death Eater at Hogwarts, who arranged for me to take part in Voldemort's rebirth ceremony, turning the Tri-Wizard cup into a portkey. He came back, but no one wanted to believe it."

Seeing that his grandparents were shocked Orion smiled. "I defeated him a year after I left Hogwarts. The reason the old snake survived the first time round was because he'd made Horcruxes to help him survive should he die. That is what I've come back to change mainly. I want to destroy all the Horcruxes so that when he dies the first time round, he truly dies."

Charles and Emma absorbed this and then Emma said, "So who did you marry?"

Orion smiled bitterly. "I had two good friends in school, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron was a bit jealous and hot-tempered, but a loyal friend nonetheless. He showed his jealous streak in fourth year during the Tri-Wizard fiasco, he thought I'd entered it myself you see, he couldn't see that I'd trade all the money I had just for the chance to spend even one day with my parents. Hermione was my conscience I suppose, and a good friend, sticking with me even when Ron didn't. Anyway, during our sixth year Ron and Hermione got together and I got together with Ron's little sister, Ginevra, known as Ginny. Neither relationship ended very well, me because I overheard Ginny planning to use me as her ticket to high society and generally having me as some sort of trophy, and Hermione because Ron's jealousy and insecurity regarding her spending time with any other guys, including me finally made him snap and in our seventh year he began to be very controlling and abusive towards her."

Charles narrowed his eyes at this. "I trust you put a stop to it," he asked.

Orion smirked coldly. "Yes. She was my friend and I'm fiercely protective of my friends and those I consider family. No one hurt Hermione without me having a say in what happened in retaliation. In this case, it broke up my friendship with Ron, and once Hermione and I realized our feelings for each other, the friendship with Ginny died too."

"I take it that what happened to your family has something to do with those two then?" Emma inquired. Orion nodded briefly.

"What is it?" Emma asked. Orion shook his head.

"I'd prefer to use a pensieve for this" he whispered. He got his pensieve out of his trunk, placed the memories of the last few days in it and then sat back.

"Have a look," he said dully.

Charles and Emma entered the bowl and when they came out they had tears in their eyes. They proceeded to wrap Orion in a large hug, and Orion, to his embarrassment, found himself breaking down yet again.

"It's alright to cry," Charles whispered in his ear as Orion clung to both him and Emma. It wasn't the last time he would cry over the death of his family but he was now surrounded by a new one and he understood instinctively that he could let his guard down and heal here.

After the emotional storm had passed, Orion dried his eyes and sat back in his chair again. Charles and Emma looked at each other, and Orion raised his eyebrows, smiling slightly.

"What?" Charles asked, confused. Orion shook his head.

"Nothing. Just that now I understand what people meant when they said that Hermione and I could communicate by simply looking at each other."

His grandparents rolled their eyes. "We've come up with a solution to the life debt issue Orion," Charles stated, using his grandson's new name.

Orion raised his eyebrows. "Yes?" he asked.

"We could adopt you into the family, it's not that unusual, and you'd keep the last name of Potter, therefore only having to remember your new name of Orion. That way, we could still get to know each other and no one would look too closely at how you came to be here."

"Is there precedent for this type of thing though?" Orion asked.

He was reassured as Emma hugged him. "Yes there is. The Unspeakables can whip you up a record of your life before coming here, and you can even go back to being an Unspeakable if you wish. It would certainly cement you as part of our society here."

Orion nodded cautiously. "Alright. What happens to my finding a house and things like that?"

"You can stay here until you find another place, or if you wish, Potter Manor is large enough that you could have your own wing," Charles replied.

Orion now smiled, a genuine, happy smile. "I'd like to go back to work as it was, although I don't want to be a team leader anytime soon. The memories are still too fresh. How are you going to explain this to James though?"

Charles shrugged. "We tell him that you're going to be one of the family now, he'll accept that, and then tomorrow we'll make you part of our society. Do you have any money?"

Orion now chuckled. "I brought my emergency cash with me; do you think several thousand galleons will be enough?"

An answering chuckle from Charles preceded the reply, "Oh I think that will do for a start. How much do you know of your family history?"

"Very little," Orion admitted.

Charles slung an arm round his shoulders. "Never mind that, plenty of time to learn. Dinner will be ready now, so why don't you call James in and we can tell him that you're now his uncle."

Orion choked at that pronouncement and almost fell over. "Uncle?" he queried. "Won't that be a tad awkward for him in a few years when I tell him my true relationship to him?"

"When were you planning on telling him?" Charles asked.

Orion looked bemused and replied, "When he's seventeen. Hopefully things will go as they did the first time round, just with a few minor changes, and I can tell James everything when he's of age."

Charles and Emma shrugged. "Go and get James inside now. He'll probably call you Uncle anyway, even if you don't like it. He'll adapt to the situation when he's older and will probably find it to be quite a good joke, knowing him," Emma laughed. Thinking of how his father had been described to him, Orion had to laugh too, feeling easier about the prospect of being his father's uncle. The idea did have a certain prank feel to it.

"James, time to come in," he called. James looked over at him and then swung his broom round and flew at him, jumping off in mid-air to land on the ground, just in front of him. Orion raised an eyebrow. "Neat trick, I tried that once and landed on my bum," he said. James grinned and raced inside, leaving Orion to hold the broom and wonder where it went.

"Just stick it in the hall closet," James said, popping his head back outside. Orion put the broom where he'd been directed and followed James into the dining room. Once there he looked for a spare seat, only for Charles to pull him into a seat next to his.

Looking round the table, Orion found himself opposite Emma and James was seated just beside her. He smiled at James, and was inwardly delighted to see a grin directed back. The meal passed quickly, all four of them being hungry. Once he'd finished eating James decided to get to know his rescuer.

"So, is your name really Orion?" he asked. Orion smiled and replied, "Yes it is. Do you play Quidditch – I noticed you were pretty good on that broom."

James shrugged. "Fairly good. I need more people to practice with though, Dad can only do so much and Mum doesn't like flying. Will you be staying with us?"

Charles intervened. "Yes he will James, as a matter of fact, we're adopting him into the family. His name will, as of tomorrow, be Orion Potter."

Orion chuckled when James protested, "But he needs a middle name too!"

Orion exchanged looks with Charles and Emma, silently saying that they could choose his middle name if they wanted to. Finally Charles said, "Alright. What name would you like him to have James?"

James thought for a second before grinning. "He could use my name. Orion James Potter, that sounds pretty good. What do you think Orion? That way, I could have been named after you, you see?"

Orion was now having some breathing difficulty. Orion James Potter. The only thing that was different between his new name and his old one was the first name. He remembered that for all intents and purposes the future he knew might not exist anymore and James wasn't that uncommon a name. Finally he nodded.

"Orion James Potter it is then" he said, thinking that his father was going to have a heart attack when the truth was revealed in a few years. Charles and Emma grinned at him, both finding the situation that their grandson was in terribly amusing.

James wasn't finished though. "If you're being adopted into the family, does that mean I can call you Uncle Orion?" He gave a delighted whoop at Orion's faint nod, and jumped down from his chair, running round to Orion's chair and seizing the man in an exuberant hug. He was unprepared for the strong hug he got back but didn't mind. "This is so cool," he exclaimed before Orion gently but firmly pushed him back to his seat.

"So why is your wedding ring black, isn't it supposed to be gold?" he asked. His new uncle remained silent for a minute before replying, "You can charm wedding rings to turn black when your partner dies. My wife and three children were murdered a few days ago. I don't want to talk about it."

James winced. "Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," he muttered.

Orion reached across the table and gently gripped his hand. "I know. I will get over it, it's just going to take a while OK. Now, do you have any friends?"

James' eyes lit up as he described two friends he'd made at the park a few days earlier. Orion sat and listened, chuckling in amusement at James' hand gestures when he wanted to emphasize important points. Finally James ran out of steam and then asked, "So what do you do for work?"

"Well, I'm going to see if I can go back to my old line of work in the Ministry," Orion said cautiously.

James scowled. "You don't want to work there. Dad says that they're a bunch of ass kissers."

"James!" the three adults exclaimed as one before the unfortunate eight year old was hit with three Scourgify charms, Orion having cast his on instinct. When he noticed Charles and Emma staring at him he blushed slightly.

"Sorry. Force of habit. Had to use it with mine sometimes," he muttered. They nodded, not annoyed in the least. James, on the other hand was spluttering and glaring at all three of them. When the soap cleared he muttered an apology and raced off.

"He'll be alright," Charles said when Orion stood to follow him. "Didn't your kids react in the same way?"

Orion didn't reply for a second. "No. They glared at us yes but they stuck around afterwards, seeming to want to get back into our good books. Is he normally like that?"

Emma nodded. "Yes. He'll blow up at something, and go away to cool down, before coming back and everything will be fine again. Then again, if he really doesn't like something he can hold a grudge sometimes."

Orion nodded. "Now I know where I get it from," he commented with a small laugh. Charles and Emma chuckled as well. "So, if you don't mind, how old were they when they, well, you know" Emma asked.

"Daniel and Sirius were four, they were twins, and Lily was two," Orion said. His eyes had gone glassy and distant as he remembered. "They were so cute, all three. Dan was the loud one of them, always wanting to push the boundaries a bit. Sirius was quieter, more manipulative. Lily seemed to want to read most of the time. We joked that with one parent being half Gryffindor-half Slytherin and the other being half Gryffindor-half Ravenclaw we got one Gryffindor, one Slytherin and one Ravenclaw."

A few minutes later Emma's prediction came true as James walked back in, looking apologetic. "Sorry about saying that," he mumbled, hugging both his parents and then looking uncertainly at Orion. Orion immediately held out his arms and James walked into them. Hugging the younger version of his father, Orion noticed the small flash of the camera that had appeared in his grandfather's hands and shook his head. The blackmail material was mounting up, as was the potential for embarrassment when the truth was revealed. At that point in time however, the newly re-named Orion James Potter didn't really care.

Author Note

Thank you for the response to my question at the end of the last chapter. I think I'll go with Harry's memories being the only remnant of the future he came from, as that will be the easiest to write and it makes sense given that some of the changes will be fairly major. Can anyone tell me the approximate term dates for primary schools in Britain? I need to know rough start and end of term dates plus when holidays are. I could be lazy and base the primary school dates on the Hogwarts school year but I don't want to take the lazy option unless it's the only one that fits my story.

Thank you for all the reviews so far, they're really helpful.

Padawan Lynne