April 14, 1985

12 Grimmauld Place

Harry raised an eyebrow at Arcturus telling him that he had arrived in 1985. He rubbed his chin slightly and tilted his head as he eyed the lord of the Black family.

"Before I begin, I must say, you're not at all what I expected," said Harry. "Although I wasn't sure what to expect and I was hoping I would arrive here when no one was around."

Arcturus frowned at Harry's words. "Then what or who were you expecting?"

Harry squirmed slightly in his seat. "Well, to tell you the truth, I was worried I would either be yelled at by the portrait of Sirius' mother, Walburga, or end up dropping in on her."

Arcturus laughed heartily. "Walburga? That cow of a daughter-in-law? Oh, she's dead. She couldn't bear the thought of one son being a disgrace in her mind and the other one having died in the service of the supposed Dark Lord. She actually thought the whole family should follow that wanker."

Harry just nodded in response to Arcturus' comments.

"So, you've met her in her portrait, I take it?" asked Arcturus.

"Yes, and pardon me, but it was usually a most unpleasant experience," said Harry.

"It was meant to be," said Arcturus. He laughed to himself and then explained his reaction to Harry. "I had no idea who would possibly end up owning this place after I'm gone, with Sirius in Azkaban and his crazy cousin Bellatrix there too. That leaves my granddaughter Andromeda who was kicked out of the family by her father, and her sister, Narcissa, who is sadly a Malfoy. Not knowing who would end up here, I figured I could torment them by placing that portrait on the wall in the hallway with a permanent sticking charm. If anyone other than a Black tried to live here she would effectively haunt them forever." He paused and noted Harry's reaction. "So, apparently I did follow through with that plan and it seems like it was quite effective, seeing how you already seem to be quite aware of what a grating personality she had. Pure-bloods really should take a lesson from muggles and avoid all of this damnable inbreeding."

"No offence, sir, but I don't think I ever expected to hear such words come from anyone in the Black family other than Sirius, or perhaps Andromeda."

Arcturus shook his head, "Don't judge me without knowing me, but then again, most of the magical world only knows what little about me that I have let them know. They all think I'm some dodgy old fart with a crazy family full of nutters and crazed murdering psychopaths. But then again, that may not be too far from the truth."

Harry simply nodded his head slightly in agreement with that statement. "I'd say that you have been quite successful in fostering that image, sir."

"So, where were we? Oh, yes, you were going to tell me just how you ended up in my home, some twenty years or so from the future?"

Harry nodded, "It is quite an involved story. This could take some time."

Arcturus snapped for Kreacher again who appeared with the bottle of wine and two glasses. "Ah, there you are," he said to the elf. "Be more respectful of my requests when we have a guest over."

Kreacher hung his head, "Of course Master Black." Then he disappeared with a quiet pop.

"We do have a large bottle of wine, and neither one of us are going anywhere soon, so, you might as well begin," stated Arcturus. "And I have plenty of bottles of wine if we need more to get through the whole tale you have to tell."

Harry smiled and took the offered glass of wine that the Lord Black had poured for him.

"Very well," said Harry, "I suppose I should start with the beginning. Of what happened to me growing up."

"I did wonder what became of you," said Arcturus. "The cagy old bastard Dumbledore only said you were safe with family. There are no other Potters, and I knew Charlus, your grandfather, and he had told me a little of your mother's family's background."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that comment. "Well, I was raised by my mother's sister and her family, which was not exactly a loving home," said Harry. "I was kept ignorant of magic until I received my letter to attend Hogwarts when I turned eleven. Before then I had been told that my parents died in a car crash because my father was supposedly a drunkard. I learned the truth of their sacrificing themselves for me after I learned I was a wizard which was right around my eleventh birthday. But no one told me anything about Sirius until my third year in school. Everyone assumed Sirius was my parents' secret keeper. Which is why they all assumed he had betrayed my parents to Voldemort, and so they tossed him in Azkaban without a trial."

Arcturus cut in to make an observation. "I had already deduced that my grandson was not given a trial. And I haven't been allowed to contact him at all, not that I particularly wanted to after he had apparently disgraced the Black family name. So, Sirius wasn't the secret keeper, but that was what he led everyone to believe he was." Arcturus paused for a moment before adding with a laugh. "He was always the best Slytherin of that generation of Blacks! Cunning and ambition! Hid away from his family's background in Gryffindor and then convinced everyone he was something he was not. Much more Slytherin than Bellatrix ever was. She was just crazy and mean. And there is nothing Slytherin about that."

He sighed briefly then turned back to Harry. "So, who was the secret keeper if not my grandson?"

"That would have been Peter Pettigrew, who was one of their close friends," said Harry.

"Never liked that one when I met him, something always seemed off." Arcturus paused as he considered what he had just been told. "Just like the ministry to royally screw that up and give an order of Merlin to a dead man who was really a traitor."

"Oh, he's not dead," said Harry. "Part of my plan is to find him, and prove to the magical world that he was the traitor and a coward."

"That is a noble goal, and clearly not your sole purpose of coming back in time," said Arcturus. "But what about where you grew up? How could the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot just leave you with your muggle relatives?"

Harry sighed before he responded. "Oh, yeah, well, he always told me it was the safest place for me to be when growing up. Something about some sort of blood wards and family protection by being with people who loved me. It didn't help that they actually hated everything about me."

"Your own relatives hated you?" questioned Arcturus. "Did these muggles know about magic? And they hated you for that?"

"Well, yes, they hated magic and all things they called 'freakish.' Hell, I thought my name was Freak for the first five years of my life." Harry closed his eyes tightly for a moment as he remembered parts of his upbringing.

This did not go unnoticed by Arcturus. "Obviously from your reaction there were problems with your relatives."

Harry took a deep breath before he responded to the comment from Arcturus. "I was dropped off at their doorstep in the middle of the night after my parents were killed. The headmaster left a note in the cradle with me asking them to take me in. Apparently he didn't even wait around to be sure they actually would take me in. My aunt and uncle had me live in a cupboard under the stairs until I received my Hogwarts letter. And as I said, I didn't even know my name until I started attending muggle school and the teacher called on me. Before then I only knew the names 'boy' or 'freak,' depending on how angry they were with me at any given moment."

Arcturus could not hide the look of disgust he had from his face upon hearing these comments from the young man. "Enough about that for now," he said quietly, clearly sensing the discomfort the young man felt. "What happened when you were at school, at Hogwarts?"

Harry laughed awkwardly at the question. "What didn't happen? Let's see, my first year I had a teacher possessed by the spirit of Voldemort, or Tom Riddle, the Dark Lord's real name. He tried to kill me when he couldn't get ahold of the Philosopher's Stone that Dumbledore had hidden within the school. Obviously, that didn't work, and the professor ended up dying and the spirit of Volde…of Tom Riddle fled. In my second year someone released a basilisk upon the school, but no one could figure out what was happening. That was all due to an artefact that had part of Tom Riddle's soul in it which possessed another student. I ended up killing the basilisk and that spirit of Tome Riddle that was trying to completely take away the life of the girl he had possessed. Nearly died from the basilisk bite at the end of all that."

Arcturus' eyes widened at that statement, but he allowed Harry to continue.

"Then, my third year, that's when Sirius managed to escape from Azkaban. Everyone was convinced that he did that to come and kill me at school, so the minister used dementors to guard the school, supposedly for my protection," added Harry.

"Complete and utter imbeciles and bloody fools," exclaimed Arcturus shaking his head.

Harry smiled at the outburst and nodded in agreement. "We eventually learned the truth, that Pettigrew was still alive, hiding out in his rat animagus form…"

"That is perhaps the most logical thing you have told me yet, young man," interrupted Arcturus.

"And even though we caught the little rat, things ended up going pear shaped at the end and the rat escaped and Sirius had to live on the run still being thought guilty by everyone."

Harry paused and noted that Arcturus was waiting on him to continue his story. "Fourth year, well, that was another huge fiasco. The ministry arranged to bring back the dangerous idea of the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"Those stupid bastards, do they not read history?" asked a dumbfounded Arcturus. "Never mind my asking that, we already have established time and again that they are utter morons at the ministry. When will they learn that inbreeding leads to, never mind, they will never learn."

Harry ran his hand through his hair and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, well, it gets worse, of course, for despite their supposed safeguards to not allow any underage wizards or witches from participating in the tournament, someone had rigged the Goblet of Fire and my name came out as a fourth champion, and I was forced to compete at age 14 against three 17 year olds, and I couldn't back out. In the first task I had to steal a golden egg from a nesting dragon, in the second task I had to rescue a friend from the bottom of the Black Lake. The final competition was a maze, and the same individual who had rigged my entry into the tournament in the first place arranged for the trophy at the end to be a port-key, which whisked myself and another student away to another location for me to be used in a ritual that brought Tom Riddle, Voldemort, back to life in a new body."

Arcturus held up his hand, indicating for Harry to stop talking for a moment. He then rubbed his temples with his fingers, and after a moment he stopped and looked at Harry while shaking his head. "I swear, some of the stupidest people in the magical world must work for the ministry or whatever group allowed that all to happen."

"I can't argue with you about that, sir. And then, after I managed to escape and returned to Hogwarts, the ministry didn't want to believe me when I said that Voldemort had returned, so they tried to belittle both myself and Dumbledore. Then they sent an incompetent witch to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. All of this while Tom Riddle was laying low, allowing people to continue to think I was nutters about him returning. This led to a confrontation at the end of my fifth year between me and my friends and a bunch of his Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries. That in turn led to Voldemort showing himself, but worse, Sirius was killed during the battle as he was sent through the veil by his cousin, Bellatrix."

"She was always a bit off, that one," commented Arcturus. "So obviously she got out of Azkaban."

"Yes, Voldemort went and released his followers who were imprisoned there during the school year and the ministry blamed it all on Sirius," said Harry.

"And I suppose you're going to tell me things still got worse," said Arcturus.

"It wouldn't have been my life if it hadn't gotten worse. Dumbledore finally agreed to teach me some things," said Harry. "No, not magic or skills to help me survive, but things about Tom Riddle. I already knew he was a half blood. But we learned how he had survived the rebound of the killing curse. He made soul anchors. Dumbledore died at the end of my sixth year, and the ministry fell and Voldemort, well, Riddle, took over. My friends and I went on the run, trying to track down the various soul anchors, and eventually we got all of them. Everything culminated in a battle at the school. A lot of people died. In fact, I was one of the soul anchors, and he had to kill me again, but the soul anchor died, not me. And we finally won, and Riddle was defeated."

Arcturus finished his wine, and refilled both of their glasses. But he didn't make any comments.

After an awkward pause, Harry concluded, "So, after school I became an auror. And things continued to be difficult and I eventually decided to try and travel back in time to change certain things."

Arcturus drank another glass of wine and just stared across the room for a couple of minutes. "Idiots, the whole magical world is filled with idiots," he finally stated. He then reached up and rubbed the back of his head. "So, this rat, is hiding out somewhere and you think you can find him?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, I know I can."

Arcturus hummed slightly, then added, "And these soul anchors…"

Harry started to explain, "They're called Horc…."

Arcturus cut him off. "Do not speak that foul name for those disgusting things! I know what they are, and it would be inconceivable for someone to make more than one, but you clearly indicate that Riddle did just that. Of course I will help you gather them before He Who Must Not Be Named can make a return. What were they again, these anchors?"

Harry smiled slightly at being offered help. "There was the diary, the one used in my second year to possess a student, the ring, the diadem, the cup, and there was a locket. Oh, and Kreacher HAS the locket or at least he knows where it is. Like I was about to say, your grandson, Sirius' brother Regulus, he betrayed Riddle and stole the locket from where it was hiding, which is actually quite the relief. I really don't want to go back to that cave, ever."

Arcturus stopped himself from saying something, knowing that when they needed this item that Kreacher knew about, then he could have the house elf bring it to them at the proper time. "How many soul anchors did Riddle create?"

"He had intended to make six, thus splitting his soul into seven pieces," said Harry. "He didn't make Nagini, a snake, into a Hor…a soul anchor, until shortly before he had his ritual to get a new body."

Arcturus nodded in understanding.

Harry took a deep breath and then added, "And then there is the one in my forehead, or was in my forehead, and I suppose that it is still in my younger self's forehead."

Arcturus raised an eyebrow, and thought about everything that Harry had just relayed to him. "And how do you plan on destroying them all? You did say that the one in your scar left you when Riddle hit you with the killing curse for the second time."

Harry sighed, "I'd really rather not do that to myself."

"Don't worry young man, we will come up with a way to deal with that, later which will not include casting the killing curse at your younger self." Arcturus was trying to sound reassuring to this man whom had just met. "We don't need to solve all of your problems in one night."

After another couple of minutes in silence, Arcturus spoke up again. "So, if you destroy all of these soul anchors, then he is dead, truly gone and never to return?"

Harry nodded then stopped himself. "His soul is somewhere. But it can die. He may be able to possess someone, and he will possess Quirrell just before I start my first year at Hogwarts."

Arcturus nodded again. "So, we need to make a list of our priorities, as I see it. One of those being that we must get your younger self away from those horrid muggles."

Harry smiled at the thought of this man helping him, not just with the soul anchors but also with his younger self.

Arcturus continued, "Then we gather the soul anchors. And then, of course, we need to destroy them. After that, we get the rat and exonerate my grandson. And once we have done all of that, we will then go after the ones who allowed a Black to be incarcerated unjustly." Arcturus emphasised his point by slamming his fist on the table, nearly knocking over the bottle of wine.

Harry nearly jumped in response to the fist slam. Then he smiled at Lord Black, hardly believing he already had his first ally on this improbable mission. "Great! So when do we begin?"

Arcturus laughed quietly. "Not today, you will need to sleep off the hangover you're going to have in the morning. And then tomorrow you will tell me the story of how you ended up back here, in this house and in this time."

Harry realised that he wasn't even sure what time it was, but he noted there were two empty bottles of wine on the table at this time.

"Kreacher," called Arcturus. "You will make a room ready for Harry. He is family. His grandmother was my sister. And his godfather is my grandson."

Kreacher had appeared as his name was called. He looked over at Harry and was clearly not pleased.

Harry decided to make a statement to the old elf. "Kreacher, I am aware that your former young master gave you a job right as he died. And I am aware that you have not completed that job. One of the things I need to do will be to complete that task."

Kreacher's eyes seemed to get larger.

"I can't do it just yet, but I assure you, we will destroy that locket just like Regulus wanted you to do."

Kreacher narrowed his eyes as he looked at Harry closely and then leaned closer and smelled him. "Kreacher's magic recognises young master, but Kreacher hasn't met young master before."

Kreacher then disappeared with a quiet pop as he went to go prepare the room for Harry.

"Most interesting," observed Arcturus.