In retrospect, the fact they ran into Charlus Potter soon after the mess with Imhotep (Melody was heartily glad to have avoided that particular menance) shouldn't have surprised them as much.
The fact that he had Theseus with them, however, did throw them for a loop.
Melody almost wanted to wilt when she realized he knew exactly who she was. Or at least what family she belong to.
"So... you're the mystery Potter that I've been chasing this entire time. How did you give us the slip in China?"
"Practice," she deadpanned. "That and zero issue with a few gray spells to insure the mundanes didn't know we entered the country illegally."
Theseus was giving her a look that made her want to run far, far away. It was bad enough being judged by the sheep in her own time... having Newt's older brother give her that sort of look made her question whether it was worth not running the second she spotted them.
Newt, however, took one look at the way Theseus was eyeing Melody before he started openly glaring at his older brother.
"Theseus, before you start in on Melody would you do me one thing?"
"What?" he asked.
"Run a basic diagnostic charm on her, one that details the past fifteen years," he said flatly.
"Why would that matter?"
"Just humor me," said Newt.
"Newt, what are you..." started Melody, before she stiffened when Theseus used a charm she was all too familiar with.
The scroll Theseus used to detail the results quickly began to fill up. His eyebrows went up at the first foot, and his jaw dropped when he realized the scroll almost wasn't long enough for everything it was picking up. He wasn't the only one shocked.
However his eyes fell on one particular diagnosis, as he looked at her hard.
"You're an Obscurial?"
Melody didn't bother hiding her reaction. She hid behind Newt.
"If you start treating me like a bloody werewolf over something I had no control over, I'll start showing you what a very bad idea it is to piss off a Black," she snapped.
Charlus looked at her intently. His eyes went up a bit further from the part Theseus had paid attention to, before his eyes shot up.
"Time displacement?"
"Some idiot hit me with an unknown spell when my time turner was mid-spin. As a result I was slung several decades into the past... I blame Potter Luck," she replied.
"Why were you using a time turner?" asked Charlus curiously.
She gave him an incredulous look.
"Can you think of a better undetectable escape route? A single turn of the hourglass and you have a damn near foolproof way of getting out of a bad situation...after all it's rather hard to curse someone when you don't know when they disappeared to and it's rather hard to cause a paradox that way. After all, if you had known you were going to be in that situation an hour ago, why would you have been in that area in the first place?"
Dead silence.
Theseus went from suspicious to thoughtful. Charlus was looking rather impressed himself.
"That sounds like a much more practical use for time turners in the field than simply using them to catch up on overdue paperwork," admitted Charlus.
"And a reason to study them more in depth," agreed Theseus. "Which makes me wonder why no one has tried it before."
"You're wizards. You find the first thing that works and then don't bother to explore it in depth unless you're a Ravenclaw trying to write a new thesis on the subject. Even then, if it proves too useful the politicians will find a way to bury it so that it doesn't disrupt the status quo too much," deadpanned Melody. "How else can you explain why the Ministry in general is completely useless unless you bribe far too many people?"
"...She has a point," said Charlus with a grimace. That did sound exactly how things worked in the Ministry. "Though that doesn't explain why you never tried to contact the rest of the family."
"I'm not just a Potter...my grandmother was a Black and paranoia runs blood deep. I had enough of British idiocy in my own time and I had no idea how the rest of the family would react to my existence. I was sleeping in some sacred ground in Africa when Newt found my animagus form and thought I was some rare species," said Melody dryly. "Otherwise I would have avoided the magical enclaves entirely for as long as possible."
"Really brother?"
"In my defense if you saw her animagus form you would have done the same. It's not exactly something a smart man would anger readily," replied Newt sheepishly.
"And don't get me started on the 'bloody purity' crap that's currently infecting Europe. The second the nobs find out I'm a half-blood, they'll turn their nose up at me," said Melody in disgust.
"I wish I could dispute that, but considering you openly admit to having Black in your ancestry..." said Charlus with a grimace.
"Besides...in my time I was the only Potter left. I have absolutely no idea where the family is located in England since I was told that the manor was destroyed," she finished. "And I only know of the location of the London townhouse that belongs to the Blacks and I have no desire to step a single foot in Grimmauld place if I can positively help it."
"Was it Grindlewald?" asked Theseus, seeing as Charlus was too rattled by that to ask himself.
"Grindlewald? He was a headache, but he didn't have the tendency to wipe out families down to the last child if they didn't agree with his view on how things should be or even if they refused to join his side. No, the near destruction of the family is something I fully blame on Albus bloody Dumbledore and the fact he hates leaving his precious ivory tower to deal with threats unless he has no other choice," spat Melody. "And don't give me that look Newt. I know you trust him, but after that tosser went and beat Grindlewald in a duel everyone started treating him like the second coming of Merlin and he actually believed he was all knowing to the point he wouldn't even try to find alternative solutions or ask advice from others with more experience than him in a certain field."
"Are you telling me I end up dying because of that idiot's incompetence?" growled Charlus.
"Ah, no. You and your wife die from Dragonpox from what I recall. Your son was quite devastated," said Melody.
"...My son?"
Melody had a wicked, evil grin on her face that had Newt wanting to groan. However Theseus recognized it immediately. It was the same one Charlus had on his face when he was preparing to execute a prank or two.
"Perhaps I should properly introduce myself. My full name is Reed Cerridwen Potter-Black, though you can call me Melody Peverell," she said impishly. Then the gleam got worse. "Or in the words of younger, more fit generation... Hi grandpa!"
Charlus stared at her, before the last bit filtered through his head. He began sputtering.
"Grandpa?!"
"Reed, daughter of James Charlus Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans, son of Charlus Potter and Dorea Potter nee Black," said Melody with far too much glee.
Charlus looked ready to faint.
"Just think, if we went back to England you would have to introduce your granddaughter to the rest of the family and deal with being called old by your peers because the rest of them only have children that aren't even ready for Hogwarts yet," she said with entirely too much cheer.
Newt and Theseus looked very much like they wanted to laugh at the expression on Charlus' face.
Charlus mock glared at her.
"You were a Slytherin weren't you?"
"Gryffindor, though the hat very nearly put me in Slytherin. If it wasn't for the fact I would have had to deal with the sycophant known as Malfoy I might have considered it. I would prefer not to deal with a Frenchman who was too pathetic for even the French to stand," she said snootily.
Charlus snorted at that comment.
"Definitely a Potter."
"Newt... can I have a word with you?" asked Theseus.
Newt followed his older brother to the side, and ignored the privacy charm the man cast.
"How serious are you about her?"
"I intend to marry her, if possible. She's nothing like Leta," said Newt.
"Are you sure?"
"Melody needs me, Theseus. She's been hurting for so long that she expects it to happen. It took me months before she was willing to come out of her animagus form and talk properly," said Newt quietly. "More than that, I believe she was deliberately conditioned to sacrifice herself against dark wizards regardless of the cost to herself."
"Are you sure about that Newt? That's a serious accusation to make."
Newt looked his brother dead in the eye.
"I'm completely and utterly serious. She showed me via pensieve exactly what her Hogwarts years are like and it's clear for even someone like me to see. Someone deliberately conditioned her to sacrifice herself for 'the greater good'. Her mundane relatives were absolutely horrid and treated her worse than a house elf growing up... I believe they are the cause for why her magical core destabilized enough to become an Obscurial. How she managed to stabilize long enough to complete her magical education is a mystery," said Newt flatly.
Theseus looked his brother in the eye, and he saw something in them that made him believe his brother's words.
"Mother is going to have a field day about this, you understand."
Newt had a wicked gleam on his face.
"When we decide to return to England so I can publish my book, the first stop we'll make is to visit Mother."
"What do you have planned?" asked Theseus suspiciously.
"Just try not to hex her to the point she takes you seriously as a threat when we arrive brother," said Newt cheerfully. Melody's impish nature was slightly infectious. He was already anticipating the chaos that would be created when they found out she was a dragon animagus.
Now deeply suspicious, Theseus turned to where Charlus was talking to his future granddaughter. A thought that made him smirk, because there was no way in hell he was letting that idiot live this down.
"That was... exhausting."
Newt was trying hard not to laugh himself.
"Did you see the looks on their faces when we asked if they could put some of the excess treasure we took from the ruins in a new vault under your name?" said Newt.
Melody smirked wickedly. Even after learning her true name was Reed, she still preferred to answer to Melody Peverell. Though she did agree to change it to Melody Potter once Charlus explained who she was and how she ended up in this particular time the moment they returned to England. They would have some time before Newt's book could be published as that took at least a month or two for it to be accepted by the Ministry (even with bribes) and the ICW.
Though the two wizards had a sneaking suspicion that the time-displaced witch would soon have a new surname by the time they reached England, if the way Newt was looking at her was any indication.
Theseus had to warn Newt how their mother would react if he eloped without her at at least being able to meet his prospective bride once. Particularly after how badly he had taken the breaking of his engagement to Leta Lestrange.
Theseus was rather pleased when Newt openly admitted he had no idea where he put the lone photograph he had of Leta after he had reconfigured his case. It was likely buried someplace among the knicknacks and his younger brother was disinclined to find where he had put it.
Though Newt would openly admit, seeing his brother and Charlus' expressions when he took them inside his case (they had sworn on wandpoint never to mention what creatures were inside...Theseus nearly had a fit seeing the nundu) and he showed them the cave with the rather large amount of treasure they had basically thrown into the 'ocean' since they couldn't find a better place for it was absolutely hilarious.
Charlus had openly sputtered and Theseus had almost fainted at the sight of all that gold. Especially when Melody cheekily asked if they wanted to keep some, because they 'might have gone overboard in robbing the place' in her words.
That was the point where Newt broke down and about bust a rib from laughing.
Newt was still snickering in a less than manly manner. Melody was openly cackling at random.
"So... Sudan?" asked Melody, once they were able to get their snickering under control.
Newt nodded, his face flush from laughter.
Once they were back in one of the port towns, Melody began stocking a large amount of meat and some local spices. She also went on a minor shopping spree for clothes. By this point Newt had given her an entire closet dedicated to the things she picked up during their travels and would happily claim ignorance to the contents.
Half the time she would be wearing jeans and a shirt she didn't mind getting dirty in the case anyway. She only wore her new wardrobe outside of it.
Newt would happily admit to admiring Melody's figure whenever the showcased the things she bought in the bazaar and was rather eager to discover what she was hiding under it. Most of her new clothes were the sort that would hug her figure and show her curves rather than obscure them like the Hogwart's robes tended to.
They had no idea that they were going to find something that would bring Melody's mothering instincts to full force, or that they would soon gain a new addition to their already growing family.
And they weren't even married yet.