CHAPTER TWO
I own nothing, only the plot.
If my eyes stay shut, I'm hiding. And if I say I'm okay, I'm lying.
-o0o0o0o-
Harry was worried when he, Neville, and Draco sat down in front of their family.
Or, perhaps he should say their extended family. At only five years old, Harry didn't know much. Only that nobody in his family had his last name, and his mum and dad were dead.
He didn't really know what to make of it, honestly. It's not as if he knew James and Lily Potter, but he felt a portion of his heart missing. A blank that nobody, not even his Padfoot, could truly fill.
It's not that he wasn't grateful. No, he had a mother in Narcissa and Andromeda. A father in Remus and Sirius. A sister in Dora. Brothers in Neville and Draco. Uncles in Ted, Lucius, and Frank. Aunties in Alice and Cassiopeia. Uncle Cygnus and Auntie Druella were more like faraway relatives that you knew were quite fond of you but didn't truly talk to you one on one. He had grandparents in Arcturus, Melania, Augusta, and Pollux. He was not lacking in anything and wanted for nothing.
Except his birth parents.
Back to the topic, the three boys sat along with their cousin Dora in a family meeting. Dora was in her first year of Hogwarts, so they pulled her away for the family meeting.
Sorted into Hufflepuff, Harry thought she was the coolest Hufflepuff he'd ever met. He smiled at his metamorph-practically-older-sister. He loved her, truly. She smiled back, and morphed her face and hair to match his unruly dark hair and emerald green eyes.
It seemed her favourites shifted from his appearance, to Draco's, or Neville's, in an attempt to get them to realise that she was their family. Or she made herself have bright bubblegum pink hair.
"Harry," Sirius began gently, grabbing Harry's hand. Harry looked at him in confusion.
"What's going on, Padfoot?" Harry asked softly.
"Aunt Cassie has told us all that you can speak to snakes, darling," Grandmother Melania said softly, smiling at him.
"Is that bad?" Draco asked, his light eyebrows furrowed.
"No, sweetie," Narcissa answered. "It is rare, but it would be a good idea for us all to keep this a secret for as long as we can."
Neville frowned. "But it's really cool!"
"Yes Nev, it is," Frank nodded knowingly, with a smile. "But to everyone outside of us..it is considered a very dark ability."
"Why?" Draco asked. It dawned on Harry why.
"It's because he spoke to snakes, isn't it?" Harry asked. "The man that killed my parents." Everyone tensed, looking at Harry with varying expressions on their faces.
"How do you know that, Harry?" Uncle Cygnus asked.
Harry fidgeted in his seat, not wanting to answer. He only relaxed when Dora held his hand and smiled encouragingly at him.
"I have these..dreams." Harry whispered. He noticed out of the corner of his eyes Dora's hair turned into its natural dark brown colour, and her eyes faded to grey. He cringed.
"What dreams?" Moony asked him softly, his eyes showing sadness.
"They're..vague." he whispered. "Sometimes I'm in his head..and seeing through his eyes. I saw you, Uncle Lucius," He said, his emerald gaze boring into Lucius' pale blue. They didn't break eye contact. He beckoned Harry to go one, not bothering to hide the pain in his eyes. "He was torturing you," Harry whispered. "And he was enjoying watching you in pain. But other times," he licked his lips, his throat was dry. "Other times I'm watching from the sidelines, and people are dying and–"
His eyes watered as he shook his head. "But the worst one is the day he killed them,"
Sirius nearly fell over, and Narcissa and Andromeda were openly weeping.
Frank and Alice were crouched in front of Harry, holding him and consoling him but he shook his head and looked at Arcturus. He was the only one that he knew wouldn't coddle him.
Arcturus nodded, despite the fact that he was going to hear about his nephew's death. The worst night of Harry's short life.
"I was being held by a man," Harry smiled softly. "He looked like me, then he called for a woman..I have her eyes," Harry whispered in awe. "She went to put me down, and when I was in my crib the man..my father, yelled. 'Take Harry and go!' He sounded really scared," Harry whispered. "'It's him! I'll hold him off!' And then there was a whisper, and then a thump. And then he's in the room, and I'm watching it happen. He says, 'Move you silly girl! Stand aside!' But she didn't. She only begged him. 'Not Harry, please, not Harry. Not Harry.' He said a spell..then a green flash of light and she was gone. He was laughing. He turned his wand to me and the flash of green was coming at me..but it didn't hit me," Harry whispered. "It hit him instead."
He didn't look away from Arcturus' eyes once. His own eyes filled with tears as he recounted his recent nightmare, but he held the older man's gaze. He then switched his gaze to Sirius, who was trembling.
"You remember that?" He whispered brokenly, running to Harry and enveloping him in a hug. He whispered apologies into Harry's ears as Harry openly wept.
When he pulled away, he looked to the people who knew his parents best.
"They loved me, didn't they?" He whispered softly. Alice Longbottom kissed him on the temple.
It was wet with her tears, but he didn't care. "They loved you so much, Harry," Her voice cracked.
"So much," Remus Lupin's voice was hoarse as he reiterated what Alice said.
"He was after Harry, wasn't he?" It was Neville who spoke. Everyone looked blankly at him.
"What?" Aunt Cassie asked softly.
"He asked his mum to stand aside," Neville said. "He wasn't going to kill her. He only killed James because he tried to stop him. He was after Harry."
Harry tensed. "What is my fault?" He demanded.
Nobody spoke. Harry was pale with fear. "Did I get my parents killed?!" He said even more frantically.
"No, you didn't," Sirius whispered. "I promise."
"Then why did he want me?" Harry's voice was anguished. "What could I have done?"
"Nothing!" Augusta Longbottom snapped, striding over to Harry, making everyone surrounding him move out of the way. She held onto Harry's hands as she crouched down to his level.
"You did nothing. You were only a baby, Harry."
"So why did he want me?" Harry needed answers.
The adults who knew hesitated, looking at one another before sharing a single nod. It was Remus Lupin who answered.
"A prophecy was made, Harry."
"Divination?!" Arcturus scoffed. "The lunatic went after the Potters because of a prophecy?"
"Do you know it?" Harry asked.
"Only the first portion..which is what Voldemort knew when he came after you." Remus answered.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him…born as the seventh month dies."
"And he thought it meant me." Harry said. It was not a question, but a fact.
They nodded.
"Can we hear the rest of it?" Harry whispered.
"When you're older," Sirius whispered, kissing the top of Harry's head. "I promise, pup."
"So," Draco murmured. "Harry has dreams of when Voldemort killed his parents, and nobody can know that he can speak to snakes."
"Nobody can know that Harry is a parselmouth," Cassie nodded. "But I'm going to look into these dreams," she whispered. "You should not be having them, Harry."
-o0o0o0o-
Not much has happened since that day. Harry continued with his studies and playing with his cousins. His family had done relentless research about his dreams, and nothing came up. Harry was a happy, healthy child. He was tall for his age, as were Draco and Neville.
Auntie Alice said that they were going to grow up to be incredibly handsome, and Harry smiled at the thought.
But today was different. It was his eleventh birthday. He was going to get his Hogwarts letter today.
Neville had gotten his the day before, and Draco got his in June.
He was sitting at the breakfast table in Potter Manor, eyes darting from Remus and Sirius to the window, awaiting his owl.
"Calm down, pup." Sirius said in amusement, love shining in his eyes. "You'll get it. You've been doing accidental magic since you came out of your mothers womb."
"I know," Harry sighed. "Doesn't mean that I don't want the confirmation."
"We're going to get your Hogwarts supplies with Neville and Draco today," Remus said, sipping his coffee. "I know you're incredibly excited."
"And I'm going to claim the Lordship of House Potter today," Harry sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Why do I have the feeling that no normal eleven year old is the Lord of their family?"
"We're not normal," Sirius reminded.
"And how dare you insinuate something so insulting as that?" Remus asked, faking being affronted. Harry giggled.
"I know I know. Marauders are not normal."
"Too right you are," Remus smirked, tapping Harry on the nose gently with his index finger. Harry wrinkled his nose and mock-glared.
Remus only threw his head back and laughed.
"Don't do that!" Harry whined, sounding very much like an eleven year old James that Sirius and Remus had to shake their heads to clear their minds from old memories. "You know I hate it! It itches."
"I wouldn't be a good Uncle if I didn't do things you hated, Harry," Remus chimed.
"Oh, looks like we have a visitor." Sirius said softly, smiling at the barn owl that flew in the open window and landed a letter in front of Harry.
"YES!" Harry screamed, tearing open his letter addressed to Hadrian J. Potter, the second largest room in Potter Manor.
He glared at Sirius. "I told you the room was too big, Padfoot!"
"No it's not," Sirius said smoothly. "You're just too small."
Harry glared even further, then read his letter. It was the exact same letter that Draco and Neville got. Harry quickly penned a reply and sent off the barn owl.
He shoved down his breakfast and his muggle orange juice that's just sooo good and looked at his guardians.
"Let's go," he said, his words muffled by how full his mouth was. They chuckled in amusement, quickly finishing their breakfast and floo-ing to Longbottom Manor to pick up Neville and Draco.
Harry immediately ran to them and Dora and promptly screamed; "I GOT MY LETTER!"
The adults all chuckled.
Narcissa looked at Sirius. "Are we going to Ollivander's for their wands?"
"Yes," Sirius nodded. "But Ollivander is going to custom make them for all three, they're not going to get pre-made ones."
"Is this really necessary, Sirius?" Alice asked softly, fingering her very own custom wand that fit so much better than her old one. The adults had gotten theirs as well earlier in the year.
Lucius nodded. "You have heard the whispers as well as I have, Alice."
"But that's all they are!" Alice muttered. "Whispers. Rumours."
"Rumours are always based upon truth," Andromeda said wisely, holding Ted's hand. "He's going to come back."
"And we'll be ready when he does." Sirius said grimly. "We have a score to settle with him, don't we?"
They all glanced at each other before nodding resolutely.
-o0o0o0o-
"I wish they would stop staring at me," Harry muttered in annoyance as they all made their way to Gringotts.
Draco snorted. "You're the Boy-Who-Lived, they're never going to stop staring."
"Thanks for that, Dray," Harry said dryly.
"They're staring at all of us," Neville said, trying to make Harry forget the extra lingering stares he has. "It's possibly the company in which we're with."
"Yeah," Draco said. "It's probably because we're accompanied by the most influential people in the British Wizarding World."
"Maybe," Harry said, unconvinced as they all walked into Gringotts. Once again, people stared at the large group of people.
Harry was silently thanking any deity out there that most of the Blacks had foregone this particular shopping trip. He may have dropped dead from all the stares he was receiving regardless.
"Hello Gornuk," Harry greeted the goblin with a smile. Gornuk was both the Potter and Black account manager.
"Hello, Heir Potter," The goblin greeted back. "Shall we?"
He took the group into a private meeting room in the bank, where he presented Harry with the Lord Ring and a contract that needed to be signed in his blood.
Harry sighed, and saw the Heir rings resting proudly on his friends' fingers and sighed. As he slid the Lord Ring onto his finger, it resized to fit him perfectly and he was filled with a rush of magic.
Draco and Neville smiled at their friend as they watched the family magic settle itself within him and knowledge that was acquired by past Lords settled in his mind.
"Gornuk," Harry asked after he signed the contract, the one Sirius had to sign when he became the Lord Black. "I would like to see my parents' will."
"I thought you might," Gornuk smiled. "I sent Griphook to get it right before we came inside the meeting room. Sure enough, Griphook walked in with a box filled with silver vials, a pensieve, and three letters.
"Would you like me to read it?" Sirius asked softly. Harry nodded.
"This is the Last Will and Testament of Lily and James Potter. We, in sound body and mind, declare anything that belongs to us and the House of Potter goes to our son, Hadrian James Potter. Ten thousand galleons will go to Remus Lupin. Ten thousand galleons to Sirius Black. If we have died during the year of 1981, we would like it decreed that it was Peter Pettigrew that was our secret keeper, and not Sirius Black. Ten Thousand galleons are bequeathed to Frank and Alice Longbottom.
Encased in the box are memories from our seven years at Hogwarts. We do not want Harry to grow up thinking his parents were heroes that can do no wrong. Or horrible people, depending on who you ask. We are human. We want him to know us, if he did not get the chance to. He will do so through various pensieve memories.
Harry, we are so sorry that we did not get to raise you. We are sure you had a happy childhood with Sirius, Remus, Alice, and the rest of your family. You are never alone. We love you more than words can say, and are, and always will be, so proud of you.
There were two separate letters from Lily and James addressed to Harry personally outside the will itself. Then, under the papers and vials, there were letters from James addressed to Sirius, Remus, Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix.
Lily had left letters to Frank and Alice.
Harry stared in awe at the vials and memories. He then looked at Draco, Neville, and Dora.
"Will you watch them with me?" He whispered. They held onto him in a group hug.
"Of course we will, idiot." Dora whispered, kissing the crown of Harry's head.
Harry was sad that her last year of Hogwarts was his first, but he knew she would be there for him no matter what.
-o0o0o0o-
The shopping was all but done. They had received everything except their wands. The large group walked into Ollivander's and watched the wandmaker's unnerving silver eyes light up when he saw the three children.
"Ah, my custom orders," he said, beckoning them forward.
"You three will one by one reach into the boxes and allow your magic to allow you to pick your wood, core, and focus stone."
Neville went first. He had Cherry Wood, which was an extremely powerful wand wood. His core was a Ukrainian Ironbelly heart string. His focus stone was an amethyst.
"Powerful," Ollivander said, appraising the young boy. "Very powerful indeed."
Neville flushed, and moved to his parents who kissed him on the cheek.
Draco was up next. His wand wood was Blackthorn, suited well for warriors. His core was a thunderbird tail feather. His focus stone was a ruby.
Ollivander's eyebrows shot up. "Very intriguing," He whispered as Draco went back to his own parents.
Dora held her own custom wand, which was Aspen wood, Hungarian horntail heartstring, and an opal focus stone. It was great for duellists and a very powerful wand in its own right.
Harry was next. His wood was Alder. And Cypress. Two wand woods? Ollivander's eyes went wide as he ushered Harry to the cores. He had two cores as well. Phoenix tail feather from a shadow phoenix. The rarest type of phoenix that blends into the shadows and has black flames.
The next was basilisk heartstring. His focus stone was emerald.
"You four," he said, his eyes onto Dora as well. "Are going to do great things," he whispered. "All four of you are powerful, with your own affinities and potential to reshape our very world," he whispered.
The boys and Dora were incredibly unnerved, as the adults listened unflinchingly. Ollivander went to the door, and twisted the sign to show the shop as closed. "Will you wait here whilst I work on these wands? I will need only a few hours."
They complied, and a few hours later, the boys were presented with their wands.
Harry felt the power flow through his veins as he clutched his wand, emerald and gold sparks flowing out of the tip of his wand as he smiled and turned to his family.
They smiled proudly at all three of their boys.
They were going to do great things. That was just a fact.
-o0o0o0o-
The boys piled onto the Hogwarts express after teary goodbyes with their entire family. They quite literally took up the whole platform.
The boys struggled to lift their luggage into the carrier, only to be helped by two twin redheads.
"Need some help with that?" One of them asked. Harry smiled.
"Yes, please," He said in relief. He felt a wave of magic coming from them. Identical twins but different magical signatures.
He, Draco, and Neville had spent years learning to recognize magical signatures, but Harry had a natural affinity for it.
"What are your names?" Neville asked politely as they walked onto the train.
"I'm Fred–"
"And I'm George–"
"Weasley at your service!" The two finished in unison.
"Weasley?" Harry asked, perking up. He heard about them through Dora's letters. She called them 'our generation's Marauders.' "I've seen memories of your Uncles,"
And he had. He looked at War memories first, and Gideon and Fabian Prewett featured in many of them..until one day they didn't.
George and Fred's eyebrows furrowed. "Fabian and Gideon?" Fred asked in confusion.
"Yes," Harry affirmed, and smiled fondly. "They seemed like amazing people."
"We wouldn't know," George smiled grimly as the five of them settled into a compartment, waiting for the twins' friend Lee.
"They passed away before we could really remember them." Fred clarified.
"We're named after them and don't know a thing about them," George said with a dry laugh.
Harry, Draco, and Neville frowned. Harry then brightened, already knowing how to help them.
He remembered watching the memories of his parents. Watching how his father grew from a–well..arrogant prat to an amazing man. But even in his prattish days, he knew his father had one of the best hearts in the world. He was funny, yes, but he would die for his friends.
He felt as if he truly knew his parents and their friends, and that was the best gift he could ask for.
So he would give that gift to these boys who were kind enough to help them.
He had brought the memories and pensieve with him, in a secret and warded compartment in his trunk that would only open by his blood.
He levitated his trunk from where it was stored and opened it. He had compartmentalised all the memories in categories. Memories of his dad and his friends, his mum and her friends, all of them together, his mum and dad's memories together. And different categories of people who featured most of the memories.
There were ten vials of memories filled with Fabian and Gideon.
He, Draco, and Neville smiled at one another and swiftly made copies – Sirius and Remus taught them in case something happened to the original.
"My dad and mum were good friends with your uncles," Harry explained. Handing them the copies in vials with unbreakable charms on them. "I never knew my parents..they left me some memories in their will. These are the memories that feature your Uncles."
Fred and George were left speechless.
"Who are you?" George breathed in shock, touched that a stranger would do something like that for them.
The black haired and emerald eyed boy smiled. "I'm Harry Potter, pleased to meet you, Fred and George," he said, pointedly looking at each of them when he said their names,
He could tell them apart.
"You–" Fred stuttered. "You can't just do something like this for people you just met!"
"Sure I can," Harry shrugged.
Draco grinned. "Besides, we have a cousin that may or may not have overheard you talking about the Marauders one day while doing prefect patrols."
"I-" George stuttered.
Neville put a hand on their shoulders and stated seriously.
"Anyone who carries on the Marauders legacy is a friend of ours."
"How do you know the Marauders?" Fred asked in awe.
"Prongs is my godfather," Neville stated, shrugging.
"Padfoot is my Uncle." Draco said.
"Moony is the best," Harry grinned. "Let me re-introduce myself. Hello, my name is Harry Potter, son of Prongs, godson of Padfoot, and nephew of Moony. This is Draco Malfoy," he gestured to the blonde who winked. "And this is Neville Longbottom." Neville smirked.
"And we were raised by the Marauders and friends." Neville finished.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Messrs. Weasley." Draco said, with a flourishing bow.
Fred and George nearly spontaneously combusted.
They quickly put the vials in their trunks, and then they screamed: "WE ARE NOT WORTHY!"
-o0o0o0o-
They spent the trip with their new friends the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan.
Fred and George caught him up on everything. The memories, the marauders, and their names. Lee Jordan smiled.
"I don't even care if you lot aren't sorted in Gryffindor," Fred stated.
"You have just made three forever friends in us." George stated seriously. Harry, Neville, and Draco grinned.
It was very easy to get along with the Weasley twins, hearing about their prank escapades in Hogwarts.
In turn, they told them about their prank experience with the Marauders.
The train soon pulled into the Hogsmeade station, and they would have to go their separate ways.
Fred and George pulled Harry aside for a moment, whilst Neville and Draco went to claim the three of them a boat.
"We wanted to thank you," Fred stated sincerely.
"You gave us a chance to see what our uncles were truly like," George added.
"And that is not something that can ever be repaid." Fred whispered.
"If you ever need anything–"
"And we mean anything."
"Let us know, okay, Harry?"
"Thanks guys," Harry said, touched. He didn't do it to get anything out of it. He just felt they should know the people they were named after.
"You're our honorary brother now." George stated, before bidding goodbye to the firstie and they went their separate ways.
The boys sat in a boat with a pureblood girl by the name of Daphne Greengrass.
She was quite pretty, with raven hair and ice blue eyes. A blush staining her pale cheeks from the cold.
They all got along swimmingly, once she let her guard down.
They got the House overview from Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, who's eyes lingered on Harry a bit longer than usual.
Malfoy, Draco was called, and after a few moments was declared a Slytherin.
To nobody's surprise.
Longbottom, Neville was sorted into Gryffindor after about forty-five seconds of deliberation.
Soon enough, it was Harry's turn.
The moment his name was called, a hush fell over the students. He saw his cousins and the twins along with Lee Jordan smiling encouragingly at him. He steeled himself, and walked to the sorting hat.
Words flitted through his mind. Hello, Hadrian Potter.
Hello Mr. Sorting Hat.
You are quite difficult..hmm, yes. Haunted by the horrors of your parents' deaths. I remember them, you know. You're like them in many ways. And in other ways, you resemble your grandfather, Charlus.
Thank you. I am very fond of my family.
A Potter. Full of courage, nobility in spades. Loyal, possibly to a fault. Kind, intelligent. Yes, you have a thirst for knowledge. To prove yourself. Very ambitious, I see. Cunning. Oh, and a parselmouth? Very interesting..Lord Potter.
Just sort me where you think I will be the best.
You have qualities of all Houses, Hadrian. Oh, yes, what is this? An ambition..a very intriguing ambition. You wish to kill Lord Voldemort.
Harry panicked. He's dead. He tried to lie.
No..he is not. But you already knew that, didn't you?
Yes. I know he will come back. And I will kill him. Harry vowed.
He had not been training until he had a wand for nothing. Neither had Draco, Neville, and Dora.
But..no. Voldemort was his to kill.
Very well, better be.."SLYTHERIN!"
A hush fell over the Great Hall. Severus Snape sneered. But then..in a move that shocked everyone. Neville Longbottom, the Weasley twins, and Lee Jordan of Gryffindor began cheering with Dora Tonks of Hufflepuff, and Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass of Slytherin.
Soon enough, the entire hall was cheering as Harry walked over to the Slytherin table with a grin. He made eye contact with his friends at Gryffindor and smiled at them.
They winked back.
a/n: chapter two done! I'm not very proud of it, but oh well. Tell me your thoughts and opinions! :) things are finally going to pick up soon. Inter-house quidditch teams..and who doesn't love a good old fashioned prank war, coupled with some voldemort and fluffy.