Harry sat on the edge of his dingey bed in the darkness, watching the repaired alarm clock as the seconds counted down to his 16th birthday.

As he did so, he reflected on the past year. Sirius had almost fallen through the veil at the DoM, but had caught himself just in time. It had been a very close call.

Suddenly, the clock beeped twice, signifying midnight, and Harry was overcome with overwhelming pain. It felt like his body was on fire and he was being run over by one hundred stampeding hippogriffs.

Harry collapsed on the floor, his mouth open as if to scream, but he was incapable of it. His eyes were clamped shut tightly, and he eventually lost the battle to unconsciousness.

…::-::…

When he woke up, the sun was just beginning to appear over the horizon. He groaned as he opened his eyes, to find the world had blurred around him. Slowly, Harry sat up from where he lay on the wooden floor, and removed his glasses, to check what was wrong with them. He was startled, however, when everything became crystal clear, better than he had ever seen it.

He blinked once, twice. Was he dreaming? Shaking his head in confusion, he stood slowly, stretching his aching limbs. As he got up, he immediately felt a difference. He was taller.

He had always been small for his age, due, no doubt, to the Dursleys starving him. Now, he was probably a foot taller, about even with Snape, which shocked him. What had caused all this?

It was then that he noticed the mark on his inner right wrist. Well, a mark wasn't really the right way to describe it. It was more like a tattoo. To be precise, it was a red image of a roaring lion in profile, it's jaws wide open to reveal gleaming, sharp teeth. Harry stared at it in shock. What was happening to him?

Glancing on the clock and deciding it was late enough for Sirius to be awake, he fetched his repaired mirror from beneath his hidden floorboard and called his godfather.

"Harry!" Sirius greeted, jovially, "Happy birthday! To be honest I wasn't expecting you to call me this morning, but you have, so… Anyway, why are you up so early? It's six o'clock in the morning. Normal 16 year olds sleep in, you know."

He continued rambling nervously. Harry listened half heartedly, but was, nonetheless, amused.

"Sirius?"

"… so I said chocolate, but Molly insisted on vanilla. Can't you just tell her I'm right? I know chocolate's your favorite, or at least Remus said so.."

"Sirius?"

"Ah… Yes, sorry, what were you saying?"

Harry smirked inwardly, but spoke with seriousness, "Something happened to me this morning."

Sirius frowned, "What do you mean?"

Harry explained. When he got to the part about the tattoo on his wrist, Sirius' frown deepened.

He swallowed, but continued calmly, "Well, some of the Order were planning to come and collect you later this morning. We can talk when you arrive."

Harry nodded, "Okay. See you soon."

"Bye, Prongslet."

With that the mirrors went blank and Harry collapsed backwards onto his bed, thoughts churning wildly, wondering what on Earth had made Sirius have such a reaction.

…::-::…

"Harry!" was the only warning he received before he was nearly knocked over by a head of brown hair crashing into him, "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry chuckled, "It's good to see you too."

She took a step back and looked over him critically, checking to see what had changed since she'd last seen him.

"You've grown," she commented, curiously.

"Yeah," Harry replied, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

They stood in a wayward silence for a moment, staring at each other. Harry cleared his throat, "Uh, I'm just going to catch up with Sirius."

Before she could stop him, he left his friend at the bottom of the stairs and ran to meet his godfather in his bedroom.

The door crashed against the wall as Harry opened it in a rush, causing Sirius to jump out of his skin as his godson tumbled into him, all gangly arms and legs.

"Hello, Harry," he greeted, grinning at the young man who had his arms wrapped around his shoulders, "Trying to give me a heart attack, are you?"

Harry chuckled embarrassedly, "Sorry."

"It's fine," Sirius grinned, "Just gave me a fright, is all. Now, let's talk."

They sat down on the bed beside each other.

"Where do I start?" Harry asked, anxiously, "I've already explained what happened, but I don't know why it did, or how."

Sirius frowned, "Let me see that mark you told me about."

Harry put his arm forward and pulled up his sleeve, baring his wrist. Sirius gently held it, examining it closely.

"I recognise this," Sirius said quietly, "It's the mark of the British Magical Royal Family."

Harry was stunned, "Magical Royal Family? Why would I have their mark?"

Sirius was very pale, "I'm not sure. Usually only the king or queen and their heir have it, and it appears on their 16th birthday, but I never saw either James or Lily with that sort of mark, and neither of them went through any physical changes like you have."

He stared at the wall.

"Do you - do you really think I'm the heir, Sirius? That I'm royalty?"

His godfather shook his head, "I don't know," he paused, "But I know how we can find out."

Harry raised an eyebrow in enquiry.

Sirius looked him in the eye, "Time to pay a visit to Gringotts."

…::-::…

Early the next morning, before anyone else was awake, Harry silently entered Sirius' bedroom, where his godfather was waiting for him, a jar of floo powder in his hands.

They greeted each other with a silent nodd, trying to make as little noise as possible, before stepping into the green flames before silently whispering their destination.

Luckily, Gringotts at six o'clock in the morning on a Saturday was relatively empty, so there were only the goblins to see the Boy-Who-Lived and his Azkaban-escapee godfather enter through the floo. Together, they walked up to the nearest teller, where Harry spoke firmly, "I'd like to see someone about an inheritance ritual, please."

The teller goblin looked over him with disdain, "Wait a moment."

He got off his high chair and disappeared behind the counter, coming back a few minutes later.

"This way," he instructed, before walking off, leaving Harry and Sirius to follow.

They soon reached a door, on which read a sign, "Gripetoe - Inheritance and Rituals."

The goblin that had led them there opened it, before stepping aside silently to let them pass. Harry and Sirius nodded their thanks before entering, and the door was shut behind them.

They found themselves in a large office, with high, white ceilings and black walls. In front of them stood a matching black desk, behind which sat an imposing-looking goblin - Gripetoe.

"Ah, Mr Potter, Mr Black, I was told you requested an inheritance ritual?"

"Yes," Harry nodded, "I would like to have one done."

The goblin nodded, "Alright. The ritual will cost 10 galleons, which will be drawn from your account. You're welcome to take a seat while we wait for the necessary materials."

They took a seat, side-by-side in a set of plush chairs, as directed. A moment later, another goblin entered the room bearing a sheet of thick parchment and gleaming silver dagger. Gripetoe nodded at him in acknowledgment before he left the room again.

Once the door was closed, Gripetoe once again turned his attention to Harry.

"Mr Potter, the instructions for the inheritance ritual are fairly simple. Simply take the dagger and cut your hand with it, letting 10 drops of blood fall onto the parchment. The parchment itself will do the rest."

He pushed the two items to the front of the desk. Harry stood up and took the dagger in his hand, slicing open his finger and letting the required drops of blood fall onto the parchment. Sirius watched from behind him with rapt attention.

As soon as the correct amount of blood had been collected, the parchment and the cut on Harry's finger flashed blue briefly, healing his finger and causing black ink to begin to appear on the page.

Harry took it with him as it continued to write, keeping it face downwards as he sat down back beside Sirius. The office was silent - no one spoke. All Harry and Sirius could hear was the pounding of their hearts in their chests

Finally, after about three minutes, the parchment flashed blue once again, signifying that it was finished. Harry gulped and glanced nervously at Sirius. He knew that whatever was written on it had the potential to change his life.

Sirius nodded stiffly - a poor attempt to hide his own anxiety. Slowly, Harry turned over the page so they both could read it.

Inheritance Ritual:

Name: Harold James Potter

Birth Date: 31 July 1980

Father: James Fleamont Potter (alive, location - unplottable)

Mother: Lily Lucille Potter neé Evans (alive, location - unplottable)

Godfather: Sirius Black (alive, location - Gringotts Bank)

Godmother: Alice Longbottom neé Charles (alive, location - St Mungo's Hospital)

Inherited Titles:

Prince of British Royal Family (Current King - James Fleamont Potter)

Heir to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black (Current Lord - Sirius Black)

Heir to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Slytherin (Current Lady - Lilly Lucille Potter neé Evans)

Abilities:

Parseltongue - Through mother

Parselmagic - Through mother

Fire Affinity - Through father

Harry stared at the parchment, blinking once, twice. Sirius stared along with him, unable to believe their eyes.

'They're alive,' Harry thought, 'My dad's a king, my mum's a queen, and I'm a prince, but they're alive'

"Sirius?" he whispered, "Sirius, are you okay?"

His Godfather was still staring at the parchment unseeingly, his eyes suspiciously misty. He blinked, and they cleared, though his voice was slightly hoarse.

"I'm fine, Prongslet," he assured him with a small smile, "Just shocked."

It was at that moment that Gripetoe re-entered the conversation, "Excuse me, Mr Potter, but may I also see the results?"

"Of course," Harry replied, handing them over to him.

The goblin read them over carefully, his eyebrows rising higher and higher as he did so. He looked up at Harry, back down at the parchment, then up at Harry again, in rapid succession.

He then rang a bell on his desk, and the door opened, another goblin walking in. The pair spoke briefly in Gobbledegook, the newer goblin looking up at Harry with wide eyes. Shortly afterwards, he left the room, and Harry raised an eyebrow in enquiry. Gripetoe shook his head, "All will be revealed soon enough. In the meantime, I have your parents' location for you."

Harry and Sirius' eyes widened, "You do? Where are they? How do I get to them?"

The goblin smiled, "They live in a castle along the Scottish coast, not too far from Hogwarts, in fact. As for how you get there, I can have some of my guards arrange transportation for you later this morning. I'm sure you would like to go and collect your belongings before you leave."

"Yes, thank you so much, Gripetoe!" Harry exclaimed, "We'll be back as soon as possible!"

With that, he grabbed a still stunned Sirius and dragged him back to the floo, giving their destination before appearing back in Sirius' bedroom at Grimmauld Place.

"Come on, Sirius!" Harry cried, his eyes sparkling with anticipation and excitement, "We've got to tell Remus!"

"Hang on a minute, Harry," Sirius said, grabbing hold of his godson's arm, "Let's think about this for a minute. I agree that we have to tell Remus, but who else do you want to tell? I'm sure you don't want the whole Order to know yet, and what about Ron and Hermione?"

Harry frowned, "I hadn't thought about that. I definitely don't want the order to know. They'll probably stop me from going because it's 'unsafe'. We should tell Remus, Ron and Hermione, but make them promise not to tell anyone else just yet."

Sirius nodded, "Okay, that sounds like a reasonable plan. Make sure you're all packed. Once you are, go and talk to Ron and Hermione. They're welcome to come with if you'd like them to. I'll go talk to Remus."

With that, they separated. Once Harry had packed, he quietly knocked on Hermione's door. She herself opened it, her eyes widening as she saw who was standing there.

"Harry!" she cried, "Where have you been? Ron came to tell me you were missing from your room earlier this morning. I've been worried sick."

"Has anyone else noticed I was gone?"

"I don't think so, mate," Ron said, going to stand beside Hermione, "but she's got a point. Where have you been?"

Harry sighed, "That's what I've come to talk to you about. Can I come in?"

They nodded, and the trio sat down on Hermione's bed, once Harry had closed the door behind them. Taking a deep breath, he told them everything.

His best friends were shocked. Harry was a Prince? His parents were alive? And he'd only just found out?

"Do you want us to come with you to meet them?" Hermione asked, her gaze wandering anxiously over Harry.

He smiled nervously, "If you're okay with it. We can't tell anyone - at least not yet. It's still early enough that only Mrs Weasley's awake. Just pack your things and meet me in Sirius' bedroom, and leave a note for the Order saying you're okay - we don't want them to start a search."

Hermione and Ron nodded, and the trio separated. Harry went up to Sirius' bedroom again, to find both Remus and Sirius already there. The werewolf looked shocked, but happy otherwise.

"Ron and Hermione are coming," he whispered, "They're just packing their things."

They stood in silence for a few minutes.

Harry's earlier excitement was wearing off, and anxiety was taking over. What would happen? Why hadn't they come for him before? Why had he been separated in the first place?

What if they didn't want him?

His thoughts were interrupted by Ron and Hermione entering the room.

"Everyone ready?" Sirius asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Alright then," he said, "To Gringotts!"