Harry was sitting at the table in the kitchen when Arcturus walked in to speak with him. "You could use more than one change of clothes, young man."
"Yes, about that, I was thinking the same thing," said Harry.
"Before you set off anywhere, you need to rethink such plans," commented Arcturus. "We shouldn't risk anyone seeing you, at least not before we have a new identity for you and a way to make sure that certain individuals to not recognise who you are. After all, you do look a lot like your father did. And then there is that tell tale scar."
Harry rubbed his forehead slightly, even though his scar had not been hurting.
"Don't worry," said Arcturus, "I will arrange for you to get a new wardrobe. Just let Kreacher know what you want and he can get you anything you need. And no, don't even think of going into muggle London, who knows who might actually see you there. We don't want to mess up your plans before you even formulate them."
Harry laughed with Arcturus, thinking to himself who knew that Sirius' grandfather had a sense of humour. Arcturus had paid for a new wardrobe, refusing any argument Harry had about who should pay for it. Kreacher had followed through with Harry's requests and is new clothes were all in black; black robes, black shirts and black pants.
After two weeks of sitting around Grimmauld Place while Arcturus was often out doing various errands, Harry was hoping that something more would be done about the various plans that needed to be set up to accomplish his goals for traveling back in time.
As the two men were about to have lunch, Harry noticed that Arcturus seemed to be happy, something which he surmised was not something that the head of the Black family had felt for quite some time.
"Arcturus," said Harry, "you seem particularly pleased with yourself today."
"Of course I am, young man," said the man with a broad smile. "Your arrival here will help me to accomplish several things. Ridding the magical world of that stain who called himself a Lord but was just a power hungry deranged half-blood would be good enough to brighten my mood. But I was just thinking that by the time you have accomplished all you have set out to do, I can have achieved even more personal goals. My family name will be restored, my grandson should be freed from Azkaban, and Albus 'I know best for everyone' Dumbledore will get what he deserves. The last part perhaps being the sweetest for me."
Harry nodded in understanding of the man's desire to see all of those things accomplished.
"However, Harry, before anything can begin, we need to do some groundwork," said Arcturus. Noting the slight confusion on Harry's face, he went on to explain himself. "Don't be rash and do things too quickly, like my grandson, your godfather. We need to start this plan carefully, and to do that, you need an identity, you need to become a part of this magical society, in this day."
Harry sighed, "Well, yes, of course, but I can't do that being kept locked up in here."
"You're not locked up, you're just awaiting for the plan to develop," corrected Arcturus. "But before we start our, or your, grand plan, you need a new identity. You can't just go around as an older version of yourself. People will ask questions. Hell, Dumbledore will ask questions, and he is the last one we want asking too many questions."
Arcturus' eyes seemed to brighten as he continued. "I have a great idea that I have been working on and I have been trying to lay the groundwork for this on my various outings. You can be a distant relative, one who was thought to have died but was raised far away, perhaps in Australia. We can use that as your cover story."
Harry inclined his head, listening to what Arcturus was sharing with him.
"My brother Alphard, he was basically a squib, and he traveled to America. Sirius liked him a lot, but as he really had no magic he was not a welcomed part of the family." Arcturus paused and tilted his head. "Don't start judging me, the Black family is old and has long been one of the staunchest pure-blood supremacist families, but that doesn't mean an old man can't learn a thing or two." He took a deep breath before he continued, "But Alphard will work for our needs. He left England, and none of these pureblooded fools here would have given a crap about what he did, because to him, and most of the Black family, what he did just wouldn't matter. So, if we say that he traveled from the United States, to Australia, even farther away, we could do something with that."
"Australia? Why Australia?" asked Harry.
"The farther away your origin is, the harder it will be for people here to question it," said Arcturus, gaining confidence in his own story he had been creating in his mind. "You were not raised in their schools, there would be no record, and we wouldn't want to try to forge those records in a foreign country. But if we claim that you were trained at home, trained by a Black, even one who didn't have much magic, we can make that believable."
Harry raised one eyebrow. "I guess something like that could work."
"But we'll need an angle, a way to bring you into the Australian magical society, so I can then 'learn' of your existence and then I can go and fetch you to bring you back to your home country, England, as the wayward but now found lost son of Black." The excitement over his proposal was making the man truly happy.
Then he narrowed his eyes at the young man sitting opposite him. "You defeated this Riddle, that psychopath, and then you were an Auror, that's what you told me, correct."
"Yes," replied Harry hesitantly. "You want me to become an Auror in Australia?"
Arcturus shook his head. "Don't be daft boy, that would never work. Too many holes in your background for them to take you in and hire you to do a job like that. But if you're handy with a wand, which I presume you must be with everything you have already done, then we can enter you into their duelling circuit. If you're as good as you should be based on your past exploits, then you should rise in popularity and fame on their duelling circuit in no time."
Harry smiled slightly, "I think I could make that work.
Arcturus called for his elf. "Kreacher, prepare for us to travel! We need to get from here to Australia, without anyone, any ministry worker, knowing what we're up to."
Harry looked between the elf and the man who was going to be helping him. "Um, he can really do that? Get us all the way to Australia? I didn't know that house elves were that powerful."
Arcturus shook his head. "No, of course not, he's just going to pack our bags. I will have to have a few final discussions with some old acquaintances in Knockturn Alley. Things can be arranged and trails can be covered. I've already begun to work on setting up a vault for you that won't be connected to the Potters or the Blacks, at least not any connection with us here in England." Arcturus noted the look of concern on Harry's face.
"Deal with it young man," said Arcturus, assuming that Harry was having second thoughts when he referenced using assistance from certain sources in Knockturn Alley. "You're no longer an Auror. You can't get hung up on what is technically law abiding or not. Hell, you traveled through time and essentially trespassed into my home. You came here with a definite plan that would muck up so many things with the DMLE and the Ministry of Magic as well. Hell, if the Department of Mysteries and the Unspeakables had any idea what you have done and what you plan to do, they would be all over you like dirt on a pig. Or something like that."
Harry smiled broadly at Arcturus' comments. They had the beginning of an actual plan. One that would allow him to actually leave this house and even create a new identity. "So, we, or I, head off to Australia. But what about the…the soul anchors?"
"You need to stop being such a Gryffindor and be more of a Slytherin. Riddle doesn't make a comeback until you start your first year at Hogwarts in 1991, so you still have some time," explained Arcturus. "You need to do this right, and you need to do this carefully. You will still have plenty of time for developing a plan for obtaining all of the soul anchors and then for dealing with that psychotic bastard. You're basically creating a miracle to fix the future of magical Britain. You rush a miracle, you get a rotten miracle."
Harry nodded at Arcturus' comments.
"But before we actually send you off to Australia, we will need to review your duelling skills, and maybe help you with a few Black family spells and duelling strategies," said Arcturus with a slight gleam in his eye. "Oh, and we'll need to do something about that scar of yours too."
AN: Thanks for all of the reviews and likes and follows. While I have not published in some time anything new I have been working on stories, but as stated previously, the pandemic and work issues have severely limited my ability to complete a story to the point it can be posted here.
Several reviews commented that the first few chapters just repeated what you already know from the books. However, Arcturus does not know any of this, and this is exposition for that character's benefit so we have a reason to see him become involved in the story.
A little more preparation for the start of the adventure and the great plan.
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