As the evening drew near Andrew and Harry bid their friends a fair well before headed off to the Dursley residence. Once they entered the house they were met by a few things. The biggest being the silence of the TV in the other room and the smell of obviously burnt food in the kitchen.
They walked further into the house and found the cause of the... oddities. It was none other than the oddest people they knew; The Weasleys all standing in the dining room while the Dursley's looked on in shock and confusion. Ron, Mr Weasley and the twins all stood staring at a member of the Dursley's while they stared back.
"Hiya Harry, Andrew. You ready to go?" Ron asked hoping to diffuse the awkwardness.
Book 4 – Chapter 2: Strangers in my mind
There was a pause as the two boys registered what they seeing.
"Ah, hi guys, Mr Weasley... what's uh... what's going on?" Andrew asked with a small shrug.
"Ah yes, well, we're here to collect you for the tournament it's going to be in three days but the boys along with Molly and I thought it'd be best to go collect your school supplies before we headed out." Mr Weasley explained.
"Oh, right. That makes sense, alright, give us like 5 minutes and we'll have everything ready." Harry said after sparing a glance at the purple faced Vernon.
"Oh let's help you."
"Yeah, eight arms are better than four."
The twins said finally breaking their silence and followed the boys upstairs to their room.
"So, thanks for the heads up, by the way." Andrew scolded the boys while quickly sorting out and packing his trunk.
"Ron told us that he had sent Pig over here already." Fred answered.
"Pig...?" Harry asked his face showing clear confusion.
"Yeah his owl." George supplied as he packed away a T-shirt.
"You got a new owl?" "Who names an owl Pig?!"
The twins shared a look before breathing and explaining the situation.
"Okay first, the owl isn't new, per say. It was a gift from Sirius; he sent us an owl asking about you two and whether or not you'd be at the tournament."
"We told him that you'd be over at our house before and after the tournament. So we assume he's going to meet us there." The twins provided as the Potter boys indulged the information.
"Why wouldn't Sirius contact us directly?" Harry thought to his brother.
"One guess: Rhymes with Fumblewhore." Andrew responded.
Harry shook his head slightly. "Alright, but that doesn't explain the owl."
"Oh, Sirius said that Ron could keep it, we had to name it, and no one came up with a good one-" Fred started.
"Enter baby sister with the worst name in owl history; Pigwidgeon and thus Pig." George finished with a tired sigh.
The boys sucked air in through their teeth.
"That's horrendous." Andrew said sympathetically.
"Yeah, we know." The twins answered in unison.
"Boys, let's get a move on shall we?!" came a yell from downstairs.
Completing the rest of the packing in a timely fashion the boys quickly went downstairs and met with the rest of the family before being told they'd be traveling through the floo system which had been temporarily set up in the Dursley's fireplace. When their luggage had been taken through with various members of the Weasley clan they were left alone with their relatives for a moment.
"So I guess we'll see you next summer?" Harry stated awkwardly before climbing into the fireplace and calling out his destination, swiftly followed by Andrew who didn't have anything he wanted to add.
When the boys later asked about the Dursley's suspicious silence; they were told that they seemed to be too shocked, scared or surprised to actually do anything other than let the boys go.
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They arrived at the Burrow and met up with Hermione who was also spending some time at the Weasley's and the four friends quickly caught up the others on how their summer had been going. Ginny had joined them and it was clear the poor girl still had her crush on Harry, which Andrew was quick to tease his brother about.
The rest of the day went on relatively calmly as they had lunch and helped degnome the garden again.
"Oi, Potter don't we owe you a punishment for failing last time?" Fred asked with a wicked grin.
Andrew simply scowled at the twins who laughed at his reaction before continuing what they were doing.
The following day came and with it the usual flurry to make sure the family had gotten everything together before they headed out to Diagon Alley.
"Honestly just prepare the night before and you'll never have this issue again." Andrew muttered while shaking his head at the rushing Weasley family members.
Hermione turned to him and shot him a grin, indicating that she had heard what he said and agreed with him.
Once everyone was ready they all stepped up to the floo and one by one, they headed off to Diagon Alley.
With his trademark exit from the floo Harry tripped over his own feet and landed face first on the ground. This incited a chuckle from Ron before he helped his friend out Hermione came out next followed by Andrew, both of whom simply stepped out of the green flames.
"Show off." Harry muttered, his brother shot him a grin and as a unit the group headed out into the vibrant shopping district.
The Potters could never imagine themselves ever disappointed by the stunning visuals that Diagon Alley provided them.
"Well, we should probably go to the bank first." Arthur provided as they headed towards the Goblins.
Once inside they seemed to be waiting, Andrew, Harry, Ron and Hermione all shared a look of confusion as they saw many tellers booths become available. They soon received their answer when the door to Gringotts opened once again.
"Sirius!" Harry called out before rushing out and hugging the smiling man.
The ex-convict smiled and hugged Harry back warmly and the entire group was glad to see how he looked much better than when they had seen him previously. He still looked thin and slightly gaunt but his health seemed to be on the incline judging by his clean hair and clothing as well as his smooth shaven face.
"Oh Prongslet! It's so good to see you again!" Sirius said with a large happy smile.
"You as well! What are you doing here?"
Andrew had honestly never seen Harry look this happy nor excited, but just seeing his brother smile caused one of his own to grace his features.
"Well, obviously I've come to take my Godsons shopping for their school supplies! I've already missed three trips, I'm never missing another one again!" he answered with a soft smile. Lifting his head he saw Andrew and his smiled doubled once more.
"Andrew Raymond Potter are you not going to greet your long, lost and oh so handsome Godfather?!" Sirius asked with a raised brow.
Andrew looked around for a moment before Hermione giggled to herself a bit.
"Oh go on Andrew, he won't bite." she whispered in his ear before pushing him forward.
Taking a few shaky steps Andrew approached the man who he had had his wand trained on before and looked him in the eye.
The two stared at each other for a moment before Sirius launched forward, shocking Andrew with the sudden movement and wrapped his arms around the young dark skinned teen. Andrew stood frozen for a moment unsure on what to do.
"I'm so glad to meet you." Sirius whispered in the boy's hair.
Andrew cautiously wrapped his arms around Sirius, almost as if he were frightened the man would shatter should he apply too much pressure.
"It's great to meet you too, Sirius."
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Once they had gotten their gold from the vaults, Sirius opting to take Andrew, Hermione and Harry while the Weasley's tended to their vault business. Sirius and co entered the Potter trust vault and Sirus let out a soft whistle.
"Damn Prongs, Lily you weren't kidding around about the vault." he mused to himself.
"Yeah, it's a lot." Harry provided with a small laugh.
Hermione just seemed to be completely gobsmacked at the amount of shimmering gold she could see.
"How much is in here?" she asked glancing around the room.
"Not sure, to be honest. We just know that it's a lot." Andrew provided with a shrug.
"Well, if the trust vault is this full, I can only imagine how much James and Lil had in their main vault." Sirius said with a small laugh.
"Main vault?" Harry asked with furrowed brow.
"Yeah, after you turn 17 you get access to the entire fortune." Sirius provided with a small shrug.
"And nobody thought to tell us?" Andrew asked exasperatedly.
"Well honestly, parents don't really bother before the child turns 16, the promise of riches from a young age could turn anyone into... well a Malfoy." Sirius answered with a nonchalant shrug.
Andrew and Harry immediately understood that point and pressed it no further as they collect a few Galleons, Sickles and Knuts into the Gringotts issued pouches they had received.
Once everything was sorted they headed off to the stores to buy their supplies for the school year.
As they were passing the Quidditch store Ron stopped and called Harry over to show him the broom that had just been the previous summer: The Firebolt; the fastest broom in the world.
Sirius couldn't help but overhear the excitement in the boys voices and decided to make a mental note of that.
As they passed Madam Malkin's Sirius asked the boys about the state of their hogwarts robes and if they wouldn't like some new ones Andrew caught the look he shot the Weasley parents and the... what he guessed they called 'subtle' nod of the head. He frowned at their odd behavior but decided to keep it to himself until he had an idea of what could be going on.
Harry thought he could use new ones as his ones were barely hanging in there, Andrew agreed with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Alright, so I guess we'll catch up in the Leaky Cauldron?" Sirius asked them to which the Weasley's agreed.
The boys told their friends that they'd see them in a bit and headed into the store with their Godfather.
"Ah, hello lovelies, here to get a new set of robes for school then?" Madam Malkin asked as she appeared around a rack of fancy looking robes.
"Ah, hello Madam, it has been a while." Sirius greeted with a bow and a kiss on the lady's knuckle, inciting a giggle from the witch.
"Oh now Sirius! You were in here just a few short weeks ago." she scolded lightly.
"Really? Oh well, I suppose just being away from you at all is an arduous experience." he responded in a low tone, once again inspiring giggles to emerge from the witch.
"I suppose it wouldn't be too much to ask if you could continue this after we'd finished what we came here to do?" Andrew asked with raised brow.
"Oh right, alright, on the platform, let's take your measurements shall we?"
The tape measure flew out and began getting the boys sizes while Sirius decided to have a conversation with them.
"So, what do guys think of our sense of fashion?" he asked conversationally.
"It's alright, I suppose." Harry commented with a shrug.
Sirius nodded before turning to Andrew.
"Honestly?"
"Yes, tell me honestly."
"I'm not a fan, the only time I wear my school robe is during the opening and ending feasts. I just don't see the appeal in it. It's way too loose, they usually either drag on the ground or their too short and reveal your ankles and despite societies acceptance; no one really likes showing their ankles. And by God above what about winter...? I know warming charms exist but it must be so weird having everything... so free while a crooked breeze assaults you. No thank you. I just prefer to wear my school uniform honestly." Andrew told the man who seemed to be holding in some laughter.
"Makes sense." he provided before walking off to have a conversation with Madam Malkin.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Harry asked his brother.
"I've given up trying to understand the complexities of adults." Andrew responded.
After a few minutes Sirius came back holding two bags of standard Hogwarts school robes. As they left the store, Andrew accidentally bumped into someone by the door.
"Oh, sorry about that." he apologized quickly.
"Watch where you're going, filthy half-blood!" sneered the person.
Andrew took a better look at the person and sighed.
"Theodore Nott, of course since you're Captain isn't here, of course we'd run into his right hand man." Andrew said exasperatedly.
Sirius stepped forward making Andrew frown in confusion until he saw that it was now Nott Senior who stood in front of him. When the hell did he miss that?!
"Apologize to my son, boy." he commanded, his gravel like voice making the boys teeth tingle.
"He will do no such thing, Nott." Sirius responded before anyone else could.
"Ah, Black... still sullying your families name by interacting with blood traitors and half-bloods, I see."
"Nott, I'd rather do that then kiss the feet of another wizard."
Nott shot the man a dark look before looking down at the Potters.
"Hmm, to think he had so much potential, only to waste it on Blood traitors like you and a squib whore."
Sirius took another step closer. "Watch what you say about the dead, Nott."
The elder Nott and Sirius glared at each other while Andrew and Harry's eyes never left the glaring form of the younger Nott.
"Well, this has been... interesting. I hear certain wheels might be at play at Hogwarts this year." Nott said nonchalantly as he turned away from Sirius. "Let us hope, nobody gets hurt."
As the two entered the Robes store Andrew and Harry sighed a breath of relief.
"That was something." Harry commented.
"Yeah, but at least it didn't dissolve into a fight." Sirius said as they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Yeah, hey what did he mean by '… certain wheels might be at play at Hogwarts this year.'?" Andrew asked.
"I'm not quite sure myself, don't forget I did just get out of Azkaban." Sirius answered with a small laugh, the boys smiled but couldn't really see the humor in that themselves.
Sirius stopped and looked at his two wards, "Hmm, too dark?" he asked.
Andrew side-stepped that question and asked another one of his own.
"Oh and that last part of what Nott said, that was thinly veiled threat wasn't it?" Andrew asked as they approached the door.
"I suspect it might be, or it could just be a scare tactic. Either way there isn't anything he can do to you while you're at school with Dumbledore there." Sirius answered with a shrug. "Hell, Voldemort himself was scared of Dumbledore, I doubt some two bit executioner could take him down, if ol' Voldy was scared of the headmaster."
The boys stewed in that bit of information for a minute having learned some very valuable information. Voldemort's scared of Dumbledore. That was something they had to look into.
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Evening fell and everyone was sat in the Weasley kitchen having a lovely supper when conversation turned to the World Cup.
"So are you all excited about the match tomorrow?" Sirius asked as he enjoyed a refreshing cold drink.
"Yes! Ireland vs Bulgaria! Are you kidding me?" Ginny exclaimed excitedly.
"Maeve Gallagher against Viktor Krum two of the best seekers in the game+-"
"The battle of the century!" The twins provided happily.
Harry, Andrew and Hermione shared a look.
"I think we're just happy to be going." Hermione provided with a small shrug.
"Yeah, we don't really know the teams so, I think we'll just watch it for the enjoyment." Andrew agreed.
"What about you Sirius, are you going?" Harry asked.
"Sorry Prongslet, not this time, I'm still on probation. Probably a good thing, but I promise, next time, we're going to go for the entire tournament. From game one till the final!"
Andrew and Harry smiled at the man's enthusiasm and conversation continued around the table. Mr Weasley asked the boys more about muggle culture, such as; the science behind airplanes, if muggles have found a method of communicating with loved ones who live far from them and their personal favorite, muggles' biggest accomplishment.
"Well, actually, they've gone to the moon." Hermione answered.
"Come on, Hermione. Be serious." Ron said with a dismissing laugh.
Andrew turned to grab his drink when he noticed the look on his Godfather's face.
"I am being serious, Ronald!" Hermione snapped.
Andrew noticed the steady grin ever growing on the man's face and for the life him couldn't understand why.
"Well, obviously you're not!" Ron snapped back.
"Of course she can't be Sirius, cause that's my name!"
Andrew finally understood the reason for his excitement.
"Well, that's the cue I think." the dark skinned boy said as he stood from his place at the table. "Thank you for supper Mrs Weasley it was lovely."
"Oh not a problem at all, sweetheart. Oh off to bed?"
"Yeah, gotta get an early night seeing how we're going to be up pretty early." he provided before softly muttering. "Also that Sirius joke kinda drained all my energy."
"Oh that is a good point, come now everyone, time for bed, you have to be up pretty early." the matriarch commanded as people softly complained but ultimately headed off to do their nightly routines before headed off to bed.
As Harry prepared his bed Arcanum flew into the room and settled on her perch just before she was joined by Hedwig who made a quick stop by Harry to drop off a letter. Seeing the hand writing he quickly and carefully untied it and began reading.
"Wotcher Harry!
I'm great but training's really taking a toll on me. I can't remember the last time I was this tired.
Overall I'm doing okay! Though Mad Eye's told me that he has some mission he has to take care of so it's just me and Kingsley; he's this awesome guy, you'd like him, he's all noble and crap!
How're things with you? I heard the Weasley's are taking you and the others to the World Cup final, I'm so jealous. Are you excited for the new school year? I heard whispers that something big is going down and with your luck you'll probably be involved in some way, so just be careful.
I really miss you guys too. It's so weird not seeing you in the halls, I'm always half expecting Andrew to burst around the corner and ask for my help for some ambiguous project his working on. Honestly, whatever he has planned, it's going to leave a lasting effect on the school, that's for sure.
Well, I hope you have a fantastic time at school this year and I'm sorry my letter's have been so few and far between, I barely have a schedule anymore but when I get a chance I'll definitely answer you letters.
Miss you guys loads!
Love Tonks!"
Harry smiled at the letter and made a mental note to respond to her as soon as they arrived back from the match.
The rest of the hours ticked on and soon everyone in the burrow laid their heads down to rest.
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Darkness that's all he could see then came the light from the moon softly illuminating the environment around him. A small distance away was a manor, broken down and uninhabited except for a small light illuminated in the windows of the upstairs section.
Creeping closer he finally entered the manor and the was met by even more darkness, barely being able to see anything thanks to the room facing away from the moon. He slowly crept up the stairs to the source of the light, and was soon met by the sounds of soft whispers and what sounded to be hissing.
Getting closer he saw a door slightly ajar and inside were three men. A tall aristocrat looking man with long black hair, another man with dirty blond hair and finally a man sitting in an armchair facing away from the door.
"Is everything in place?" a raspy, almost demonic voice coming from the armchair asked.
"Yes my Lord. All the pieces are in place." replied the dirty haired man.
"Good, I will not tolerate failure!"
"Understood, my Lord." the two other men responded.
"Now then, Nagini informs me that there is a scent from the door. A muggle. Barty, dispose of it."
That were last words he heard before a stick was pointed his direction by the sandy haired man.
"Avada Kedava!"
A bright green flash headed directly towards him before...
Andrew sat up in his bed tons of sweat having soaked his pillow sheets. Sighing he climbed out of the bed and saw the dark outside the window.
"What time do you think it is?" a voice from behind him, causing him to jump slightly.
"Jesus dude... I don't know, 4 am, maybe?"
"Think we should start getting ready?"
"Well, we're up already. Hard to get over a habit once you've developed one." Andrew said with a shrug as he got up and proceeded to stretch his muscles.
"So, I assume you had the same dream as me." Harry said as he too got out of his bed.
"Yeah."
"Then I guess the only question is... who dreamed it?"
There was a beat of silence before they shook their heads and made eye contact.
"Breakfast?" Andrew asked pulling them away from this conversation.
"Sure." Harry said with a shrug.
"We should probably do a whole thing so that they'll be somewhat ready to leave when it's time to go." Andrew commented with a little sarcasm in his tone.
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The boys had prepared a massive breakfast, the most they had ever done, successfully nearing Mrs Weasley's amount.
"This is so much food." Andrew commented as he wiped some sweat from his brow.
"Oh what's this?"
The boys turned to see Mrs Weasley standing in the doorway looking absolutely shocked.
"Did you boys do all this?" she asked.
"Yeah, we were... uh, up earlier and didn't have much to do." Harry provided.
"Well, this all looks beautiful. But might I suggest you boys shower and get ready now, when everyone else gets up you'll likely not get the chance." she suggested while she still looked awed at all the food resting on the table.
"Alright Mrs Weasley." they said in unison before headed out of the kitchen and e their way to their room that they shared with Ron who was peacefully snoring away.
"Alright so I'll go first, see you in a bit." Andrew stated as he pulled out his toiletry bag and headed to the bathroom.
As he approached the door his mind wandered to the dream he had had the previous night and he wondered what it was about, he didn't recognize anyone there. He pushed the door open and stepped inside shutting it in the process and turned to face the shower, but he came face to face with something else.
Hermione stood staring at Andrew, eyes wide in shock and horror, the only thing saving her from completely freaking out being the towel wrapped around her body. She had just stepped out of the shower and heard the door, expecting it to be Ginny since the younger girl had stated that she was on her way to the bathroom in a few minutes.
Once the towel was wrapped around her she noticed Andrew closing the door behind him before turning and seeing her, his eyes doubled in size as he stared at her in terrified shock.
"Wha- What... What do you think- Andrew!"
"No wait...! hold on, no... I know how this looks! I didn't know you were in here!"
"Well then do you... would you mind!" Hermione's face now burned a deep crimson as Andrew looked outrageously awkward.
"Right! Yes, I'll just...!" he faltered as he pointed to the door behind him and rushed to leave.
Once the door slammed Hermione stared at the spot where one of her best friends had just basically seen her naked and wanted nothing more than to simply disappear. Unknown to her Andrew was squatted over with his hands in his face feeling the exact same way.
So this is the last chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!
I have a few notes if you guys would like to stay and read some of them:
1) I knew I wanted Sirius to be free since chapter one of this story, he is going to be very vital for the boys and will really help in their development.
2) So with the time turner, I asked which duo should go and most of you voted for Tonks and Harry but I also wanted Harry to be the one to give Tonks her own personal Adventure. So there's that.
3) The Patronus isn't Prongs! Yeah I know, I've changed it to better fit the Harry in this universe who realizes that the people around him want him safe as much as he wants them to be, you can look up the description of the octopus if you'd like, let me know if you figure out why I chose it to rep our boy!
4) Will the ships remain the same as the description of this story? I don't know anymore to be honest, I'll come back to you guys on that one.
5) The skaters seem random, I realize, but I do have a plan for them. They will be needed a little later down the road, trust me.
Okay that should be it! Again I'm very sorry for my late upload and I swear I will try my damn best to do better!
