Family Reunion

Harry woke up the next morning after getting poked by one of the Hidden. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Mango standing above him.

"Go away Mango, I'm sleeping."

He did not go away and instead poked Harry some more, eventually just picking him up to be carried.

Harry looked around as he was being carried. He had fallen asleep on the beach with pretty much everyone else. He saw Cynthia carrying Lyra who was just waking up as well. About halfway to the village, they both got down and walked.

When they arrived, the whole village was waiting for them. Charlie and Chief were standing out in front of the group, but their eyes looked a bit bloodshot.

The tribe had grown drastically since they had joined. There were a huge amount of children running around or being carried by their mothers. For the past three years, pretty much every female in the tribe was constantly pregnant. The abundance of food and safety had caused a boom in population and there were now just over sixty members to the tribe. Mango had started building more nests in another group of trees nearby.

Every year the big summer storms washed more and more garbage onto the beach on the northeast shore giving them tons of treasure to dig through. They had built small warehouses just off the beach there with the material they had sorted through to be used later. There was a lot of garbage that was just garbage and the wizards had been able to vanish most of it.

They had started to teach the hidden how to fish and procure salt from the ocean. They were able to add more protein and other nutrients to their diets with the fish and preserve them with salt. The children had learned the magic of the earth and the animals, which helped their crops grow quicker and the Hidden to mature faster and grow much larger.

Harry and Lyra looked over the tribe of Hidden whose community they had helped to flourish and smiled at each other.

Charlie stepped forward and signed to them

[You Go, Learn, Grow, Return]

[You, Family]

Both of them shed a few tears. Harry signed back.

[We, Return, We Fly Together]

[We Family]

Hugs and embraces were given all around. Not every Hidden had a name, but Harry and Lyra knew every single one of them. They knew their nests, where they liked to play, what fruits they liked, and every detail that didn't matter.

Chief brought out various containers. Some had rope in them, others had food. There were many different gifts and they treasured all of them. One container was oddly heavy. When it was opened, they found Whispers inside. Lyra carried him herself so he wouldn't think they were leaving him. Mango, Charlie, and Chief helped them carry everything back to the beach. The warders and everyone else were awake and cleaning up the mess from the party and packing up tents.

Severus helped to load up all of their gifts into a magical trunk.

Harry and Lyra said goodbye to the warders they had met and to Nestor who promised them he would keep an eye on everything here and write them regularly. Every bag they were bringing was shrunk and put into pockets. Nestor brought them a steering wheel from a ship that had been in one of the garbage searches.

"The portkey will activate in five minutes," he said. "Lyra, Harry - portkeys are used for long-distance transportation, they are extremely unpleasant. You need to hold on tight, even though it will feel like you are spinning in circles endlessly. For the distance you are traveling, the travel time will be around three minutes. It will feel much longer. When you arrive you will fall, you may twist your ankle, and you will almost certainly throw up. Remember to hold on tight. You have three minutes left."

Harry and Lyra said their goodbyes one more time to Chief, Mango, and Charlie. Whispers gave embraces and headbutts to the other Hidden as well. Harry gave Charlie a big smile and ruffled his hair and Charlie returned the gesture. They walked back to the steering wheel as Minerva started the countdown. They held on with both hands as tight as they could. Whispers was wrapped around Lyra's chest under her shirt.

Minerva finished the countdown, "3, 2, 1, activate."

They vanished with a snap.

Harry and Lyra were on their hands and knees emptying their stomachs as soon as they arrived. Lyra thought she almost preferred the journey in the ship to the portkey. At least this was over quickly. The adults were a little bit winded and dizzy, but they were standing. Lyra felt Whispers vomit under her shirt.

Tristan leaned down to them, "If it's any consolation, you'll get used to it. Remember, you'll do it again whenever you go back home."

When Harry thought about it, he threw up again.

Once they had recovered a little, cleaned up, and drank some water; they headed out. With an eight-hour time difference, it was now the middle of the night so they didn't run into anyone as they exited the portkey arrival station in the ministry. Just before they left, everyone changed into heavier clothing. It didn't stop Harry and Lyra from shivering as they exited the building into the night and the rain. Whispers refused to come out from under Lyra's shirt. At least it kept her warm.

Lyra looked around at all the buildings and the dark. "There's no color here," she remarked.

They took some ministry cars to the Leaky Cauldron tavern. Harry remembered his uncle's car, so being in one wasn't a shock. Lyra on the other hand had never seen it and was amazed at how they worked and how smooth the ride was. Even though she continued to complain about the lack of color, she was asking questions about everything. The street lamps, the roads, the umbrellas of the people who were out, and anything else she laid her eyes on. The rest of the group was trying hard to keep up with all the things she was asking about.

When they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, the place had been cleared out. There were a couple of people out front in long red jackets standing stiffly, their appearance rang a bell for Harry, but he couldn't figure out why. When they entered the pub, they saw around a dozen adults wearing red jackets sitting around.

Alastor barked out, "Attention!" All of them jumped up and stood stiffly. When they noticed who had called to them each one of them stood a little straighter. Harry saw Whispers's arm holding Lyra's neck vanish and the sudden volume of Alastor's voice.

Alastor turned to the woman by the stairs. "Officer, report the current situation!"

The woman pulled out a piece of paper, "The first and last two rooms upstairs have been rented out for our use. All rooms have been checked for monitoring devices and enchantments, no contraband has been discovered either. The bar and kitchen have been checked for any poisons or illegal material. Our rooms have been warded to Standard S3. All other rooms have had their current guests cleared, and future residents will be screened upon reservation and arrival for the next month. A nightingale floor has been installed in the stairs linked to a ward scheme in the two guardrooms. All current guards have been sprayed with Thief's Downfall one hour before your arrival." She placed the paper back in her pocket and returned to the stiff posture. "Sir!"

Alastor smiled. So many of those procedures were his personal requirements. "I have just one more question. What's that behind you?"

The woman blinked but then smiled. "Fool me once," she said.

Alastor punched her in the shoulder. "Carry on."

The adults had agreed earlier not to mention Harry by name to avoid panic. It was easy to pretend he was just a VIP as he did not look like what anyone thought Harry Potter should look like. A dark tan, a different scar, and black and silver hair on a 12-year-old? That was definitely not Harry Potter.

The group climbed the stairs and brought Harry, Lyra, and Whispers to the last room. There were two beds in the room with a nightstand in the middle and two wardrobes on the walls. A door on the wall connected to the bathroom. Regardless of the report, Tristan still did a sweep of the room.

Severus pulled out two flasks and placed them on the nightstand. "It's still the middle of the night here. These potions will give you both a full eight hours of sleep and start to adjust yourselves to the local time. When you get up, we will talk about a few things and then start to prepare you for school.

Harry lay down on the bed, but couldn't relax, and neither could Lyra. "It's not the same," Whispers still looked a little ill from the portkey.

Minerva raised her wand towards the floor and conjured a pile of pants and shirts. Lyra looked happy and jumped into it, making a little nest for herself.

Harry smiled and thanked Minerva. Then he handed one potion to Lyra and they both drank, falling asleep in moments. Whispers climbed into the nest Lyra had made and snuggled into her to sleep.

Tristan smiled, "They're just too adorable. It will be difficult at Hogwarts where they don't have a pile of clothes to sleep on."

Alastor nodded, "Let's get some sleep while we have the Auror guard outside." They returned to their rooms and downed their own dreamless sleep potions.

Lyra awoke and didn't know where she was. She started looking around until she saw Harry and Whispers lying there on their pile of clothes and remembered where they were. There were bits of the sun coming through the top of the window.

She stepped off the pile of clothes and immediately jumped back on due to the frigid floor. Reaching for her staff, she tapped it on the floor and a warm orange light spread out on it like a liquid until it covered the entire surface going under the door and into the hallway.

Now that she was standing on a warm floor, she was able to relax. Then she had a problem, there was no place to pee. The hidden had used a rotation of ditches away from their camp. There was no ditch here.

Just as she was about to wake Harry, a woman in a red jacket burst through the door, her wand was out pointing around. Lyra yelled and Harry jumped up grabbing his staff and getting between Lyra and the woman, he pointed the tip of the antler coming out the top at her and a white glow started to form. She could feel Whispers hanging on her back, invisible.

A second later, they heard Alastor call out, "Stand down!" and the woman dropped her arm to her side and stood up straight. Harry was still in protection mode, but Lyra was wondering why she was standing straight when Alastor had said 'down.'

Alastor walked into the room, the claw on his fake leg scratching against the floor as he walked. "What's going on here? Report!"

The woman in red pointed to the floor, "There was an orange glow coming out of the room, I thought there was an attack and entered quickly to assess the situation. The boy pointed his staff at me and it looked like he was going to cast a spell."

Alastor looked around at Lyra standing behind Harry, both of them holding their staves. The glow on Harry's hadn't gone away yet. "Lyra, what is this on the floor?"

Lyra leaned out from behind Harry, "The floor was cold, so I warmed it up."

One of the toes on Alastor's clawed foot scratched at the floor, "Interesting." Turning to the Auror. "You almost attacked two children. Return to your post, and think of a better way to handle this situation. I'll expect a verbal report in an hour."

The Auror started to walk out before Alastor stopped her. "Wait, just a moment," she stopped and turned back. Turning to Harry, "what were you going to do to her?"

Harry set his staff upright, "I was going to protect Lyra, I had to do it twice before with the people who visited the island and with a snake who thought it was a king. It knocks things away from me."

"Hmm," Alastor hummed. He walked out into the hallway, which overlooked the pub downstairs, and called out, "I need all civilians out of the pub!" He fired off a loud noise with his wand and everyone not in a red coat filed out quickly.

Calling out to the remaining Aurors, "Prepare the entire Leaky Cauldron for a bounce duel, Level 4."

Harry could hear people outside casting a lot of spells. The woman in their room got an alarmed look on her face. She hastily started casting spells all around her and on herself as well.

"This woman is going to kick in the door again and attack Lyra. Knock her out of the room. This is a game, but it needs to be taken seriously or Lyra will get knocked unconscious," Alastor explained.

Harry nodded and gripped his staff as Alastor and the woman went outside and closed the door. It felt like at least a minute passed with nothing happening. He was getting anxious and the grip on his staff tightened. As he stared at the door, everything around it appeared to darken and he could barely feel Lyra holding onto his shirt from behind.

Once the only thing he was focusing on was the door, the woman kicked it in, red light glowing on the tip of her wand, and Harry just focused everything he had on her, and white light shot from the end of his staff, blasting her out into the pub, a white shockwave erupted from where he was standing to follow the blast of light.

The woman rocketed over the balcony and bounced off the far wall of the pub before falling into a table and chairs which bent like they were made of rubber. Alastor watched it happen with both eyes before the shockwave caught him from behind and made him fall over the side as well, falling to the floor of the pub, which absorbed him like it was made of gelatin.

Harry felt dizzy and fell backward with Lyra lowering him to the floor. Whispers climbed over onto his chest and poked him in the face. His vision was spotty, but he felt like he accomplished what Alastor had told him to do. He heard Alastor laugh a bit from outside and say, "I expect your report in an hour, auror. Everyone, remove the dueling precautions and let everyone back in. What just happened is classified as a Class 1 Fish Tale." Harry heard a few laughs from outside.

Once Harry's vision returned, Alastor came back in with Tristan, Minerva, and Severus.

Tristan was rubbing his eyes, "What just happened? What's a Class 1 Fish Tale? That's not in the handbook."

Alastor chuckled, "It is something I made up, but all Aurors know it and take it seriously. It means that they are allowed and encouraged to tell any story they want as long as it doesn't describe what actually happened. I suspect there will be stories about a herd of hippogriffs being released in the Cauldron printed in tomorrow's Prophet."

Severus was already dressed and was drinking from a large cup of coffee. "And what really did happen?"

Alastor smiled, "An auror busted into the kids' room because of this," he tapped the floor and everyone looked at the red floor. "Lyra did this because the floor was cold and it spilled out into the hallway. I stopped Harry from attacking the auror, but then thought it might be fun to see what might have happened and to teach the auror a real-world lesson."

Tristan raised his hand and waved it like he was in class, "After the story breaks that the boy is back in England, may I be the one to tell that Auror that she got knocked around by He-Who-Will-Be-Named?"

Severus choked badly on his coffee, grabbing the door frame for support. Minerva let out a giggle fit for an eight-year-old girl. Alastor just stared at Tristan wide-eyed before nodding.

"Excuse me, everyone," said Lyra. She was dancing a little bit, hopping from one foot to the next. "Where can I pee? Do I need to go outside?"

No one knew what to say, there was a bathroom door right on the wall. Minerva took charge of the situation and showed the children into the bathroom. There were multiple flushings of the toilet and Harry could be heard exclaiming, "It's so soft!"

They had breakfast in the children's bedroom and when they were finished, Minerva decided it was time to have a serious discussion.

"Harry, we told you last night that we needed to have a discussion in the morning, and now it is that time," Minerva started. "Right now, we aren't using your name in front of anyone because, in this country, you are famous." She let that sink in a bit before continuing, "It has to do with your parents, and how you got your scar."

Lyra reached down and grabbed Harry's hand for support, Whispers also mimicked Lyra's action with Harry's other hand.

Minerva continued, "Before you were born there was a war between the wizards of this country. The side we were on, the side your parents fought on, was losing. The leader of the other side was very powerful and anyone who spoke up against him was killed. Your parents fought against him and his followers, but when you were born, they went into hiding. When you were a little over a year old, he found them and came to kill them."

Harry focused on her with sharp precision, hanging on her every word. Lyra was alternating between focusing on the story and checking Harry's reaction.

Alastor took over, "There is a curse that the only purpose to use it is to kill. There is no magical shield that can block it and if it touches you, it is instant death. Using it will put you in prison permanently until you die. Other spells can kill, but this one requires pure intent to kill your target. You can't accidentally cast it or not intend for the target to die when it is cast. That is why it is unforgivable. This wizard that used it on your parents used it hundreds of times. When your parents were dead, he tried to cast it on you. No one knows how, but the spell that cannot be blocked or shielded bounced off your head and killed him. It didn't just kill him, when the spell rebounded onto him, he exploded and took the roof of your house with him."

Harry rubbed his scar.

Severus ended the story, "With the leader of their forces gone, most of the people who followed him were arrested or went into hiding, and others pleaded innocence but it was you that ended the war. So you are famous not only for ending the war but also surviving the killing curse. The newspapers called you 'The Boy-Who-Lived.' There are children's stories written about you, and people tell fantastically impossible tales in the pubs about you. We told you that you were supposed to start school last year, but we couldn't find you. The people of this country were expecting you to come out of hiding last year and were told that they would have to wait one more year. They will be excited to see you, their new celebrity. Though right now you look nothing like what they are expecting, so it will be easy for you to blend in for the moment."

Harry sat still for a moment absorbing everything he heard. The story they told made him think of the night with the Creeping Death and the specter of Lord Voldemort. However, he decided to keep that to himself and tell Lyra later. He also remembered bits of his Aunt Petunia gossiping with the neighbors about different celebrities, giving them praise, and saying horrible things about them depending on the day.

Harry looked up at Severus, "I don't want to be a celebrity."

The moment Severus had to give up his project of making liquid luck, he had been dreading meeting the son of James Potter. Every moment leading up to getting to the village had some level of annoyance to it. Though it all started to fall away the second they met. He didn't have any of the qualities that he loathed in James Potter, and when the boy looked him in the eyes and declared that he didn't want fame, the final drop of resentment towards the child was gone. He was just a boy who wanted a family.

Alastor broke Severus out of his thoughts, telling Harry, "Unfortunately you can't change that. It is who you are here."

Thinking straight again, Severus turned to Lyra, "We also need to have a discussion for you too."

Harry and Whispers tucked an arm around her as Severus continued, "You remember your father?" Lyra nodded fearfully. "He is the head of a family called Malfoy. Your mother was originally from another family called Black. Do you know about them?" Lyra shook her head. "The Blacks are one of the oldest families in England. There are currently only four Blacks that bear the name left in the country. Your great-uncle Arcturus currently is the head of the family. He is currently in the hospital due to his age and will most likely pass away in less than a year. Your mother took up the family name again when she broke her marriage with your father a little over a month ago and now lives with your uncle. The youngest person with the family name is you, Lyra."

Lyra was following the story and at this point spoke up and said, "I'm not a Malfoy?" There was a bit of sadness and joy in her voice.

"No," replied Severus. "When your father got rid of you, he also disowned you from the family. You were left with your mother's family name of Black. The only other Black is currently in prison and will not be coming out." Severus said the last bit with a hint of glee, but Minerva looked sad.

Lyra thought about everything, she remembered her father had been proud of being a Malfoy, so she was happy she wasn't. Her mother hadn't stopped her from being sent away and was only upset now because she had magic.

"I don't want to see my mother," answering the unasked question.

"You won't need to," said Severus. "However, your uncle is demanding to see you. He has a lot of political power even when he is dying. We would like to have him meet with you for an hour this afternoon. If you get upset, you can leave."

Lyra didn't know what to do, she didn't know him, but the rest of her family had let her be hurt and locked in that container.

Harry squeezed her hand, "I'll be with you."

Lyra smiled and agreed.

Minerva had to leave for Hogwarts; so Severus took the children with Alastor, Tristan, and two other aurors providing an escort to the hospital. Whispers had to stay in the room. They explained to him twice about not leaving the room. They went by apparition again which was far preferable to the portkey. Tristan mentioned another method of travel called 'Floo' but said that the first times are best to do in more controlled environments.

The hospital was incredibly clean. Both Harry and Lyra couldn't imagine a place that didn't have at least a little dirt, but here one was. Lyra was a bit scared as they rode the elevator up, and also to the side somehow, arriving at a wing of the hospital with private rooms. They reached a corner room and knocked. Severus recognized the man who answered as the steward from before, though he had a thin mustache and a soul patch now. He led the party in and presented them to the old man in the bed.

"I present to you Lord Arcturus Phineas Black, Head of House Black," the steward announced.

The man pushed himself up as high as he could go and looked at the assembled party. He looked at Alastor hard in the eyes for a moment before ordering, "Take your people outside Mad-Eye."

Alastor glared back, not breaking eye contact before saying, "I'm keeping my eye on you." His blue eye spun around as he and the other aurors exited the room leaving Harry, Lyra, and Severus there.

The man looked down at Lyra with a scrutinizing glare. "I met you when you were a baby. I helped pick out your name." Lyra's eyes went wide at the revelation, and he continued, "You were brought back here because you are to attend Hogwarts. I assume the staff isn't for show, let's see some magic."

Now Lyra's eyes fell and started to water a little. Harry took her hand and said, "We are leaving." He pulled her out of the room into the hall with the waiting Aurors.

Lyra now cried a little, she had been hoping that this man wouldn't be like her mother. That he would want to be family regardless of her magic. She was wrong.

Harry held her, feeling ashamed that he couldn't protect her from this man. He couldn't always just stand in front of an attacker, he was going to have to do more. He passed the sobbing girl to Tristan and went back into the room.

Severus and the man were yelling back and forth but stopped as Harry entered. Harry walked right up to the foot of the bed and slammed the butt of his staff into the ground. A pulse went through the room knocking Severus and the steward back into the wall. Arcturus was already sitting up against the bed, so he was just pushed straighter.

The steward drew his wand, but Severus was quicker and had his pointed between the man's eyes before he could raise his own.

Harry stared the old man down, "How dare you!" his voice was radiating the same force as his staff. "My sister is crying now. You didn't want her because she didn't have magic and now you want her because she does. She thought you might be different from her mother, but now she doesn't want you." Harry slammed his staff into the ground again making Severus and the steward stagger a bit more and then left the room.

Severus held his wand on the steward and slowly backed out of the room, closing the door. He turned to Alastor, "We need to leave now."

Harry held Lyra, who was still sniffling a little, as they walked ahead back to the lobby of the hospital to apparate out. When they arrived at the lobby, there was a commotion going on.

A tall man with blonde hair was yelling at a blonde woman who looked a little like Lyra and trying to push past her. He didn't hear what they were yelling about because he was distracted by Lyra hyperventilating. These must be her parents.

The woman pushed the man back towards the entrance hard, but he came straight towards her and slapped her in the face knocking her to the floor. He turned towards Lyra and Harry started to move toward them quickly.

"Where did you get it?" he yelled. "Where did you get your magic, you little squib?" Lyra was backing away, eyes wide and terrified. Harry was reminded a bit of his Uncle Vernon and was frozen for a second. The blonde man pulled a wand out of his staff which snapped the two children out of their shock. Both slammed their staves into the ground at the same time.

There was a pulse of magic as a reddish-orange and white shockwave shot out toward the man. It blasted him back and made him fall to his knees, though he got up quickly and towards them again. The aurors behind the children fired red spells at the man, but they splashed into nothingness on the wall of the magical shield the children had made.

The blonde man pushed his hands through the pulse, but then his left hand began to spasm and the magic of the pulse started to wrap around his hand, twisting it and bending the fingers into a grotesque shape while the color of the hand darkened and turned black. The man screamed in agony, and finally one of the red spells from the aurors got through and he fell to the ground.

Harry nearly collapsed but held onto Lyra who started to cry again. Tristan ran over to the fallen woman and started treating her wound. Alastor took the wand of the blonde man and bound him in a cocoon of ropes. The other two aurors started pushing the watching crowd out of the lobby, but there were far too many of them.

Severus knelt in front of the children, "We need to leave now. I'm taking you back to your room at the pub. Hold tight." He grabbed onto both of them, gave Alastor a nod, and vanished.