Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Placing: After the war - could be canon…
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Drunken Deeds
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When Harry woke up, he had a headache – again.
He groaned and sat up, just to find out that they weren't at the Leaky Cauldron anymore. Instead the room they were in looked oddly… muggle for a wizarding home.
Harry blinked and then looked around for his glasses. Maybe the TV would vanish if he was wearing them…
A man who sat next to the couch Harry was lying on, held out his glasses for him.
"Thanks," Harry mumbled and took them before putting them on and then looking around again. Nope, the TV didn't vanish now that he was wearing his glasses. But at the same time another thing showed up in his field of vision that he hadn't seen before: Though the window he could see a car parking in front of the garage.
"What? Where?"
"You and your friend are at my home," the man next to him said gruffly.
Harry looked at him in confusion before he remembered that he had managed to throw himself back in time with Percy of all people.
He grimaced slightly.
"Not my friend. My brother –"
Harry stopped himself before declaring Percy his brother-in-law. They were young again, so declaring Percy his brother-in-law wouldn't do any good. Unfortunately he had stopped too late for something else to be read from his words.
"Your brother then," the man said and Harry wanted to object but didn't dare to do it after basically declaring Percy his brother just a second before.
Well, he had always wished for a brother – even if he would have chosen someone else than Percy if he had the chance to choose…
"How -?"
"We brought you here," the man interrupted him while shaking his head before sighing. "Teenagers, truly. Not a scrap of logic in their brains. Why, by Merlin, did you think it prudent to not only leave Hogwarts but to drink yourself silly as well?"
At that, the man truly sounded agitated.
Harry blinked.
Why should they have left Hog-? Oh, right, teenagers. Seventeen and Eighteen years old at most. March.
… no wonder the other man thought that they came from Hogwarts.
"We're not students at Hogwarts," Harry corrected darkly. "And it's our decision if we drink. We're both adults, after all."
The man in front of him just snorted.
"Sure, lad. You're all grown up," the man said sarcastically. "Don't you dare to tell me you're one day older than sixteen, lad! If you squint a little, you still barely look sixteen and your brother is just a year older at most, so don't you dare to tell me that you two know anything about being responsible grown-ups or even being grown-ups in general!" The man huffed. "Considering that when my wife and I met you, you were dead drunk and it wasn't even noon I don't think that you two are responsible at all."
Harry just frowned at the man.
"It's none of your business," he finally replied sharply.
"Aye," the man said, nodding. "But my wife and I will bring you home to your parents and have a word with them so that they will punish you – it is their responsibility, after all!"
"We don't have any parents," Harry replied, and this time he couldn't stop the bitterness showing in his voice. They didn't have any family anymore. Their wives, children and friends or other family were dead. Dead. Dead.
Something of his grieve must have made it on his face, because the elderly man's eyes softened.
"Death Eaters?" he asked, his gruff voice oddly understanding.
And Harry burst into tears like a two-year-old instead of the adult he normally felt like when the sharp pain of loss again penetrated his mind. Oh, how he wished for a bottle of firewhiskey right now!
xXxXxXx
Marius Black stared for a moment at the now clearly grieving teenager in front of him, before he reached out slowly and pulled the teen close to his chest.
"Sh," he whispered. "It's alright. It's alright."
It was in that moment that his wife choose to return to the living room and their guests. When she saw Marius with his arms full of a crying teen, he just arched an eyebrow at her before nodding towards the other sofa where the older of the two brothers was lying.
She nodded and went over to look at the other teen.
"He's still sleeping," she mouthed and he nodded while rubbing the younger teen's back and whispering soothing words in the teen's ears.
It took some time, but in the end the boy exhausted himself and fell back asleep. Marius waited for another minute or two before returning the boy on the couch and tucking him in. Then the turned and looked grievously at his wife.
"There're no parents to return them to. Death Eaters, from the reaction the boy had to them," he said.
"Both of their –"
"They're brothers," Marius explained, then he frowned. "I guess that also explains them drinking even if at least one of them is obviously not old enough to do so." At that he looked at the boy in front of them. The boy looked about fifteen, maybe sixteen in his eyes – of course, there was still the option of the boy being a very young looking seventeen-year-old, but he doubted it, especially now that he knew that the slightly older boy was the older brother. He looked to the red head and then back to the black haired boy. There weren't a lot of similarities in their facial features and colouring, but now that he knew to look for them he saw some – and not only their need of having to wear glasses.
"So – what do you think happened?" Marius' wife Susanna asked him and Marius shrugged.
"I guess that they were home-schooled, lost their parents in an attack and in the end ended up to go out to drink themselves silly. I guess it was good that they did, considering that neither of us would have been alive if they hadn't come and helped us – they were definitely trained well – but I also think that there might be no other family left for them to go to since there's obviously nobody looking for them…"
Susanna frowned at that.
"How can you tell?" She asked.
"If there would be someone looking for them, they would have been found already. Wizards have their ways – and if someone had cared about them then they wouldn't have been left alone to drink themselves silly after losing their parents. I could have understood it if it had been just juvenileness that made them act like this in the first place, but to know that they lost their parents obviously quite recently no responsible adult who cared for them would have left them alone for a day."
His wife nodded at that.
"So, what will we do?" She asked, now sounding determined.
"What do you mean, dear?"
"Well, they obviously saved us. Like you said: We wouldn't have survived those two Death Eaters if the children hadn't come and helped us out," she said. "Now we find out that they are orphans with nowhere to go – do you truly think that we could let them simply leave and be done with it? They need someone to look after them, especially if they decided to drown their sorrow in alcohol!"
His wife was right. But what could a muggle and a squib do? They weren't wizards, they had nothing to do with the wizarding world anymore even if Marius was still reading the Daily Prophet to keep some eyes on his siblings at least. Marius was fifty-seven years old and his wife was only eight years younger! They were slowly getting old and far too old already to throw themselves into a war they knew nothing about just because of two teenager!
Marius groaned inwardly.
"What do you want to do?" he finally asked when he couldn't bear the determinate expression of his wife anymore.
"They need a home," she said certain.
"So what? You want to adopt them?" Marius joked and his wife's eyes darkened.
"Why not?" She said. "They don't look eighteen yet, so it would be perfectly legal."
"They're wizards, dear. I doubt that there is any evidence of them even being alive in the muggle world," Marius said. "My father had to forge my whole documentation so that I could go to muggle school when I didn't get a Hogwarts letter – and I can be happy that he did that. Mother was determined to kill me when she found out about my lack of magic!"
"Well, then we go to your brother," Susanna said shrugging. "Pollux is still writing you, after all, so he wouldn't mind to forge the papers for us. Maybe your sister Dorea would help as well."
"Charlus wouldn't be happy if he would find out about forging anything," Marius reminded her and she shrugged.
"There's still Pollux. He won't mind," she said and Marius sighed.
"We haven't truly seen each other in years, Sanna," he objected. "The last time at the end of the war against Grindelwald!"
"If I remember it right, that was the time he destroyed the wards of Numengard for you – I don't think there's much that he wouldn't do for you after that!" Susanna countered dryly. "Truly, you act as if your siblings started to ignore you like the rest of the family after they found out you didn't have any magic!"
Marius sighed again.
But then, his wife was right. Whatever you could say against the rest of his family – his father and his siblings still kept in contact with him even if, since the end of the war against Grindelwald, it was solely by letter.
"Alright," he said gruffly. "Where's that damn locket he gifted me for Christmas when that new Dark Lord made himself known? I'll call him here."
His wife smiled at that and then went up to their bedroom to fetch the locket. That reminded Marius of yesterday and their walk in the park. He grimaced. He should have started to take that damn locket everywhere he went years ago instead to letting it rot here at home. It had been careless and it would have cost his wife's and his own life if those two teens hadn't shown up when they did.
They had been going for a walk in Leicester Square Garden, not far away from Charing Cross Road and had been on the way back home when they had been attacked not far away from the Leaky Cauldron and the entrance in the wizarding world. It seemed that some Death Eaters saw them walking and decided to do some muggle baiting – or they had been some of the younger Blacks and recognized Marius, who knew? Whatever it was, Marius and Susanna found themselves confronted with two Death Eaters who had taken immense pleasure in using the Cruciatus Curse on them. They were about to go on to some even nastier curses Marius recognized from his studies as a child when the two teens had shown up and interfered.
In the end, the Death Eaters were forced to flee the scene and the intoxicated teens were left laughing at the sidewalk.
"Shey're idiots!" The younger teen slurred. "Even trying t'fight 'gainsht ush, riiight, Pershy?"
"Riiight!" The other one said, as sober as the younger one. "Ev'ryone knowsh y'shouldn't ev'n shink 'bout fightin' men wish a goal! … wif a goaaaal!"
"Shtupid Deash Eatersh!" The younger cried before turning to Marius. "D'ye know that I neeever eeever ev'n shought 'bout ashking Voldishwashy why he named them Deash Eatersh? Ishn't ash if shey're truly eating deash after all! Shey're ev'n afa… 'fraid o'it! Egshactly like Voldie-Smarties!"
Marius guessed that they could be happy that the boy was obviously too intoxicated to speak the Dark Lord's name properly. He had heard of the taboo on the name from his siblings after all and if the youth had succeeded to speak the name Marius was sure that they would have faced some other problems then some simple Death Eaters.
"It'sh for afraid management!" The other one explained the younger of the two. "Or whatev'r y'call shat! Y'know – like anger management buuut wif fear!"
At that the younger one giggled.
"Doeshn't sheem t' work then!" He declared. "Shey're shtill toootally 'fraid!"
"'Coursh not!" the older one said pompously. "Shey got-it all wrooong after all! Shey should have gone t' a mind-healer like ev'ry decent pershon!"
That had been the time his wife had decided to speak up.
"I don't think that the name matters just now," she said oddly calm for the situation they had been in just moments ago. "You can discuss them later. Now, you should go home and sleep before you end up passed-out in an alley somewhere!"
At that the two intoxicated teens just giggled.
"You are living somewhere close, aren't you?" Marius had asked suspiciously and the teens had stared at him as if he was insane – it was oddly disconcerting, considering that they both were death drunk.
"Nope!" The dark haired one of them declared amused in the end. "Not sh' shlightesht close from here!"
"Yep!" The other one said. "Not sh' shlightesht! Not sh' shlightesht!" And then they had started to giggle again.
And like that Marius and Susanna had ended up with two teens in their living room, sleeping on the couches. Marius had originally planned to bring them upstairs in the guest rooms, but the younger one had started to pass-out before they had reached the door to their home, so they had settled on putting them in the living room. At least, like that it was easier to watch them both at the same time…
Not that they had needed a lot of watching until now. The boys had been perfectly asleep for the last twenty-four hours.
In that moment, Susanna returned and held out the locket Marius had requested.
"Here it is," she said. "You're calling him now?"
Marius nodded.
"I think it's the best thing to do," he said. "The children need a home and as long as they're still unconsciousness they can't protest – and maybe they won't protest too much when they wake up and everything is already planned and ready to start up at a moments notice."
Susanna nodded at that and Marius took the locket.
"Pollux," he said and the locket heated.
A moment later, Pollux apparated into Marius' home, wand at the ready. He stopped and looked around blinking.
"Marius, what -?"
"We were attacked yesterday on the way home," Marius said before gesturing to the two sleeping boys on the sofas. "They rescued us and we brought them home since they were severely intoxicated.
Pollux blinked at that in confusion.
"Then why did you –"
"One of them woke up and told us that they were brothers and orphans. Death Eaters, from the reaction of him. Do you know anything about an attack or something like that?"
Pollux frowned.
"The Greys died two days back. The whole family, as far as everyone could tell. Their manor burned to the ground, so there's no evidence but since it had been done by Death Eaters and they aren't known to let anybody live, we considered them all dead," he said darkly.
"They had any children?" Marius asked and Pollux nodded.
"Four sons and four daughters," he said. "At least that's what Erich Grey always said. I don't think that anybody has ever seen any of his children. The Grey's were very particular in that. Something about the children needing to grow up safe before meeting anyone. They weren't even allowed to go to Hogwarts as far as I know! But well, they're the Greys. That family was always a little bit odd…"
"You think those two are Greys?" Marius said, gesturing to the two boys.
Pollux stepped closer first to the dark haired one, then to the red head. He pointed to the red head.
"That's definitely a Grey," he said. "The wife of Erich was a Prewett – and that boy particularly screams Prewett. The other boy, well, he looks more like a Black to me, but then, Erich's grandmother was a Black and Erich definitely inherited some of her looks. Combine that with the Potter blood of Erich's mother and I'm quite sure that the boy could be Erich's child."
"So they are Greys," Susanna said and Pollux nodded darkly.
"And we definitely have to hide them," he said. "If the Death Eaters find out that two of the boys survived they will return and try to kill those two children."
"Well, Sanna and I discussed to adopt them," Marius said. "They didn't seem to have anybody and we couldn't let them go back to wherever they lived until now when there's nobody to take care of them…"
Pollux thought that over.
"It would be a good idea," he said finally. "We should even go a step further and adopt them properly as Blacks. Like that they couldn't be found even if the Death Eaters would know that they are still alive."
Susanna frowned at that.
"I don't think that I can follow…"
"He's talking about a ritual, making them true Blacks at least for everyone searching for them," Marius said. "Basically: it makes us their true parents in the eyes of the whole wizarding world. They wouldn't be our adopted kids, but truly ours by birth."
Pollux nodded.
"And I would make sure that the muggle world documents show the same thing," he said.
Sanna smiled at that.
"Well, we always wanted children, didn't we, Marius?"
Marius just snorted.
"You two know that we have to consult the boys as well, don't you?" he said and Pollux shrugged.
"Don't worry about it. I'll do it."
xXxXxXx
When Percy woke up, his head was throbbing painfully.
A man in front of him held out his glasses to him and he took them and put them onto his nose.
"Good evening, Mr. Grey," the man greeted him.
"Huh?" Percy blinked and when the man held out a hangover potion, he took it gladly. He checked that it truly was what it appeared to be and then downed it in one go. He shuddered and then his memories returned.
Audrey, Molly and the rest of his family were dead.
Percy had no one. He was in the past. He was part of Ghost and he had no one except of Harry Bloody Potter!
And suddenly Percy regretted being sober in the first place.
"Alright, Mr. Grey," the man said. "Now that you can think clearly again, please listen to me for a moment."
Percy turned his head towards the man and saw that there was another man who looked kind of similar to the other one – both of them had those typical features simply screaming 'Black-family' at you – and a kind-looking red haired woman with a heart shaped face and forest green eyes.
On the other couch not far away from Percy slept Harry and Percy sighed in relive when he saw them. At least he hadn't lost the only person he knew as well while being dead drunk.
"I am Pollux Black," the man in front of him said in that moment. "And this is my brother Marius and his wife Susanna. I have to thank you and your brother for saving my brother's and his wife's life. We're in your and your brother's debt."
For a moment Percy was confused about the 'brother' thing since his brothers were dead, but then he remembered that Harry was his brother-in-law and who knew how he introduced himself and Harry. If he stopped at the wrong moment, calling Harry his brother would make sense…
And then the next part of Pollux sentence hit Percy.
…thank you and your brother for saving my brother's and his wife's life…
… saving my brother's and his wife's life…
Percy groaned inwardly.
What had they done?!
So much to not changing anything!
"Do you understand why it has to be done? Do you agree?" The man, Pollux Black said in that moment.
Percy closed his eyes.
He understood the consequences of their actions quite well.
"Yes," he said. "Yes, I understand and yes, I totally agree…"
If he had just listened…
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Well, still inspired by 'Whiskey Time Travel' from Private Jenkins – even if I changed a lot already. xD
I hope you liked it.
Ebenbild