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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Mistakes
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"Percy! Do you know in how much trouble you got us with your answer?!" Percy sighed at the admonishment he heard in the other man's voice. But then, Harry Bloody Potter was right.
Percy had managed to pull them even deeper in trouble than they had already been.
"And I thought that I was the one doing stupid things all the time," Harry continued in that moment.
Percy snorted at that.
"I recall that I was stupid for quite some time, not believing when my parents told me about You-Know-Who's return," he said sighing.
Harry raised his eyebrow at that.
"You-Know-Who?" he repeated, disbelieve in his voice.
Percy gritted his teeth.
"We're in the past, Potter," he hissed. "Have you forgotten the taboo on his name?"
Harry's eyes widened at that, then he sighed.
"Yeah," he said tiredly. "I actually did. Good thing that I didn't speak about… him… before now…"
"Him?" Percy repeated and Harry rolled his eyes.
"I refuse to call the dork lord 'You-Know-Who' or some such. Calling him that just gives him even more power," he replied. "Anyway, back to our discussion: Why by Merlin and Morgana did Perfect Percy not listen to anything our hosts said before agreeing with them?!"
Percy winced.
"I was thinking about the trouble we got into thanks to us being drunk and rescuing someone who should have died there and then!" He defended himself.
"Oh, fantastic!" Harry replied, suppressing the urge to shout, while throwing his hands up in the air. They were in Harry's future room and it was the middle of the night, but both of them feared to be overheard so they kept their voices down. "We already made a mistake and changed the future somewhat – why not make more by first not correcting them about us being Greys and then accepting their proposition to be adopted into the Black family! How by Merlin and Morgana will we get out of this without our secrets being found out now?!"
Percy winced. His brother-in-law clearly had learned to chew someone out in his years as Head Auror.
"What's done is done, Potter," Percy finally sighed. "It's not as if we can turn back time…"
Harry's eyes lit up while Percy's widened.
"No, Potter!" he hissed. "No! We've mucked around enough already – we won't go back and stop ourselves! There's no way for it to not go wrong if we try this!"
For a moment it looked as if Harry was about to argue, but in the end he just sighed and nodded tiredly.
"I guess you're right," he said sighing. "I don't even dare to think what could happen if we tried, considering my usual luck in those things…"
Percy nodded at that darkly.
"So… what do we do now?" Harry asked. "It's not as if we could fix it all by traveling in time…"
Percy frowned at that.
"I guess the first and foremost priority is hiding that we're from the future," he said sighing.
"And how do you plan to do this?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. "With our luck it will show our parentage when we conduct the ritual that the Blacks plan to do…"
Percy frowned at that.
"So – what should we do?" He said. "It's not as if we could become Greys over night…"
Harry opened his mouth to speak up again when suddenly Percy's eyes lit up.
"Or maybe there is!" he said. This time it was Harry who frowned.
"How -?"
"The Grey's are dead," Percy said. "I remember that the family was killed just a short time ago. I looked up a lot of the victims shortly after…" He took a deep breath at that. "… shortly after Fred died."
Harry also felt a familiar stab of grieve when he heard that name, but fought through it anyway. There was no time for this now.
"So what -?"
"So their magic is still here on earth," Percy explained. "Normally the residue of the dead person's magic is used to activate their portrait, but there are some documents in the DoM that state that with a simple ritual you can contact the dead to find out their wishes. It hasn't been done in nearly a thousand years, but there are some cases where the family head of a dead family adopted the younger children of good friends as his sons and heirs even after he died…"
Harry looked at him skeptically.
"And you think that the past head would simply adopt us on a whim?"
Percy just shrugged.
"Better than nothing?" He said in a questioning voice. "Or do you want to tell your future parents that you're actually from the future?"
Harry opened his mouth at that – just to close it again in defeat. They would end up in Azkaban if they confessed that they time traveled.
"What do we have to do?"
Percy frowned at that and then closed his eyes while trying to remember what he read.
"Not a lot, actually," he said. "It's a ritual, but it's relatively simple…"
Harry frowned.
"Aren't rituals illegal?" he asked. Percy grimaced.
"Yes," he answered. "But it's that or going to Azkaban for time traveling more than a few hours…"
Harry's eyes darkened at that.
"Alright," he sighed. "What do we have to do?"
"Not too much," Percy said while scratching his head thoughtfully. "I think using a mixture of anise, caraway, lavender and bay leaves should be enough to get into contact with them."
Harry frowned.
"That doesn't sound like a potion," he said.
Percy just shrugged.
"It isn't," he said. "Not really, at least. We mix those things together, add our blood as a connection to us and then pray that we'll get in touch with the Greys."
Harry's frown deepened.
"That doesn't sound like it's a proper ritual," he pointed out and Percy blushed.
"Well – I might not truly remember everything," he finally confessed, beat red. "But it's the best thing we can do on such a short notice and the chance of finding the ingredients is very high since a lot of them are used for cooking. We've just tonight to try and hide who we truly are – so, will you help me or not?"
Harry blinked at that in surprise.
"That doesn't sound like the Percy I know," he pointed out in the end.
Percy frowned at him.
"If I had another way, I wouldn't do it," he said. "It's this or Azkaban!"
Harry rolled his eyes at that.
"Still, I would feel a little bit more secure if we had something of the Greys to add to your… potion," he finally said.
"But we don't," Percy hissed. "Now, will you help me or not?!"
Harry just rolled his eyes.
"I will," he said. "Merlin knows that I seem to rub off on all the persons I keep regular contact with. First I corrupted Hermione, then Neville and now you…"
Percy snorted.
"What about my brother?" he asked, feeling the pang of grieve when he thought about Ron.
Harry snorted at that.
"He was long since corrupted when I met him," Harry said. "In this case it definitely wasn't me!"
Percy suppressed a laugh at that.
"Whatever you say," he said before opening the door and creeping down to the kitchen. With Harry's help he collected the ingredients quite fast and only fifteen minutes later they were back in Harry's new bedroom.
"Alright, what now?" Harry asked.
Percy pulled out his wand – quite happy that it wasn't traced – and conjured up two silken bags.
"Put it in there, add your blood and then shake it. I'll do the same to the other one," he said.
"Just for your information: I refuse to take responsibility for whatever'll go wrong tonight," Harry told the older boy.
Percy rolled his eyes.
"The only thing magical in this mixture will be your blood. I don't think that there'll be a lot that can go wrong with this," he replied.
Harry looked at him skeptically but in the end did what Percy had said, watching fascinated when the white silk turned pink. Then some kind of fog emerged from the bag.
"Er… Perce…" Before Harry could finish his words, the fog suddenly struck him and instantly blackness took over his vision.
"Nothing can go wrong, my ass," was the last thing Harry thought before he fell unconsciousness.
But then, what else should have happened? He was Harry Bloody Potter after all – if something could go wrong, it normally did just for the principle of it!
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When Harry woke up again, he found himself lying naked in a place he had been before: an oddly clean and white part of Kings Cross.
Harry blinked, then he sat up before thinking up some clothes.
Thankfully they turned up like the last time he had found himself in this place. He clothed himself without truly standing up, still far too confused as to why he was here again. Percy had said that there was no way for the mixture to turn deadly, after all – so why was he here?
Before Harry could think about it more, a train stopped, it's doors opened and a crowd of people emerged.
Harry could only stare at them in surprise.
Then the first man reached him and held out a hand for him to help him stand up. Harry stared at the man. He was an elderly gentleman with dark brown hair that reminded Harry of his own even if the colour was different and a mustache.
For a moment, Harry hesitated, but then he took the offered hand and the man helped him to stand up.
"I'm not quite sure if I should call you brave or stupid, young man," another gentleman said. He was very tall, with deep black hair and oddly shaped blood-red, gold and bronze coloured eyes.
"I'm going with stupid," a woman with dark brown hair said, a frown marring her handsome face. "Calling on the dead without specifying to whom he wants to talk to can only be called stupid!"
"Hey!" Harry spoke up at that. "That wasn't my idea! It was Percy's!"
"And yet you went along with it just fine," the gentleman who had helped him up the floor countered.
Harry felt himself blush at the reprimand.
"Yeah, well," he said, stumbling a little bit over his words. "It's not as if I had a choice. If we hadn't done that we might end up in Azkaban for our stupidity, after all!"
"And doing an illegal ritual without any proper research isn't stupidity?" the red-eyed man asked amused.
Harry scratched his head embarrassed.
"Well, yeah," he said. "But traveling in time dead drunk and then getting in trouble in this new time by being drunk again tops this one for sure," he replied half-amused himself.
At that, the red-eyed man laughed.
"I guess you might be right," he said. "Now tell me – why are you here?"
Harry blinked at that, then looked around for Percy.
"Well – actually I shouldn't be here alone, I mean Percy…"
"Is currently dealing with us at another place as well," the woman harrumphed.
Harry blinked at that surprised.
"Oh," he said. Then he remembered Dumbledore's parting words when he had been here the first time. "It's happening in my head – no way for Percy to be here…"
"Exactly," the man who had helped him up from the floor said. "Now – why did you call us here?"
Harry scratched his head again.
"Actually I only wanted to talk to the Head of the Greys," he explained nervously. "Percy and I were mistaken for his children and since we're time travelers and can't correct them we wanted to ask if he would be willing to add us to his family…" Harry didn't know if he should have told the… ghosts, or souls, or whatever… about him being from the future, but he thought that it would be the quickest way to explain their situation – and those people were dead, so there was no way for them to alarm the Ministry, was there?!
The man who had helped him to stand up raised an eyebrow at that.
"I am Eric Grey, the Head of the Grey family," he said before pointing to some of the until now silent bystanders to his left. "This is my family: my wife, my children, my brother, sister and their families as well."
"Oh…," Harry said, looking uncomfortable at the Grey family before his gaze turned to the other souls. "And who are you?" He asked them.
The woman with the brown hair stared at him coolly at that.
"We're other witches and wizards who died in England over the last month," she said icily. "Since you didn't aim your spell at anyone specific you called us all."
Harry blushed.
"Sorry," he mumbled, suddenly feeling like an unruly child again. But then, he and Percy had acted like children. Instead of thinking it through, they had simply done it without thinking about the consequences. On the other hand, both of them were still in shock and not even truly grieving. Harry was quite sure that if it happened a few months later, neither he nor Percy would have acted like they did.
The red-eyed man laughed when he heard Harry's apology.
"Don't worry, lad," he said. "I for my part didn't mind."
"And we're not all from England," another woman with golden hair spoke up from the background. "Some of us are from the French coast, some are from Ireland and some from Scotland or Wales. Your call reached quite far."
Harry blushed even more at that.
"Sorry," he repeated, feeling even more like a little child.
"No need to apologize, lad," Eric Grey said in that moment. "The most of us truly didn't mind."
Harry nodded at that before mentally pulling himself together.
"So, what will happen now?" he asked, trying to return to his adult mindset while pushing away any thought about his loss.
"Now you tell us exactly what you hoped to accomplish with your call," the red-eyed man said.
Harry straightened at that.
"Percy and I hoped to be accepted into the Grey family since, as far as we know, their line ended. We don't want to insert us in a family who still exists and we definitely don't want to steal someone else's rightful inheritance. It was our hope to be adopted and basically find a family even if said family is dead already. We hoped to hide our true ancestry like that, so that there would be no way to find out that we were once time travelers," he finally told the crowd. At his words, a lot of them bowed to him and then left by boarding a train that had entered into the station when Harry finished his words.
Harry looked at the leaving souls confused.
"What -?"
"They all have either an heir or still family left in the living world," Eric Grey said. "With your explanation what you wanted to accomplish you gave them the right to leave."
"Oh," Harry said before looking confused at the red-eyed man and the brown haired woman as well as a few others who stayed.
"We don't have any family or heirs left," the red-eyed man explained. "Even if you and your friend…"
"Brother-in-law," Harry corrected.
The red-eyed man inclined his head at that.
"Brother-in-law," he corrected himself. "Even if you and your brother-in-law planed to ask the Grey family, the fact that your call reached all of us gives us the right to stay and maybe decide that you might be an heir for our families. You might not have meant to call us, but since you did, it is our decision if we want our family names and powers to be lost or if we want them to continue through you."
Harry looked at the red-eyed man in surprise.
"Are you telling me that since you are here now, you are the ones who can decide to take us in – even if we only intended to ask the Greys?!" He asked surprised. The red-eyed man shrugged.
"Whatever you intended doesn't change that you called us all," the red-eyed man said. "So, yes, it's our decision."
Harry didn't truly know how to react to that. They had hoped to talk to the Grey family – not to be potentially adopted in a lot of unknown families!
"Oh," he settled on, in the end. "Alright. So – how do you plan to decide?"
He was surprised when Eric Grey smiled at him at that.
"We've been judging you and your actions since we came here," he said. "Since you voiced your plea everyone who fitted the criteria gained access to your mind and memories to judge you either worthy or unworthy of their family."
Harry stiffened at that. He definitely didn't like that the souls in front of him had had access to his mind in any way or form. It seemed that he would have to learn Occlumency – especially now that he was in the past and had to hide the truth even more. Oh, Harry had learned to hide his secrets from praying minds, but he had never gotten the hang on true Occlumency. It seemed that he would have to change that somehow.
"So – what's the verdict?" He finally asked, putting his thoughts on Occlumency aside for now.
The brown haired woman stared at him darkly, before sniffing.
"You're not someone I wanted to be heir of my house," she said. "I prefer it dead and gone to giving you claim to my house."
And with that, she turned and boarded another, newly arrived train. With her, a lot of other souls left as well – something Harry was very grateful for. He definitely didn't want to be the heir to who knows how many houses!
Eric Grey smiled at him, before stepping forward and kissing Harry's forehead.
"Make me proud, my son," he said smiling. Before leaving. His family, one by one, touched Harry's cheek or shoulder before they boarded the train as well.
Harry's eyes followed them, his heart suddenly aching for the family he had lost before he could be a part of them.
When he turned his eyes away from the train and the Greys, he saw that the platform was empty except of the red-eyed man.
The man was now standing directly in front of Harry.
The odd blood-red, gold and bronze eyes locked with Harry's green ones. Then the man's left hand reached out and grabbed Harry's hair in a painful grip.
The man's right hand struck forward, and instead of touching Harry's chest, entered it. Pain shot through Harry's body, agony that even a Cruciatus Curse couldn't inflict. Harry's green eyes widened in shock and pain and fear.
It felt as if he was ripped apart, as if the man's hand in him was twisting and destroying him in a way he couldn't explain.
Then the right hand of the man left him. It was bloody, but unlike normal blood, the red blood Harry could see was oozing silver fog.
Then the grip in his hair softened and the red-eyed man pulled him closer to kiss his forehead like Eric Grey had done as well. The kiss burned like fire.
"It's time to wake up," the red-eyed man whispered. "Youngest son of Eric Grey."
And with that he pushed Harry backwards, making him fall. But before Harry could even touch the floor, blackness ascended on him and he lost consciousness again. The last thing he felt was the fire tearing through him, twisting and turning his magic inside out.
xXxXxXx
When Harry woke up, he grimaced. Something felt… wrong.
"Harry, you alright?" He could hear Percy. He blinked and then sat up – just to find out that he was lying on the bed.
"What -?" He started to ask, but Percy answered him before he could even think about finishing the question.
"I levitated you onto the bed," he explained, distress in his eyes. "When I woke up you were screaming –"
Before he could continue, the door to Harry's bedroom opened and Marius and Susanna entered, both of them looking concerned.
"Are you two alright?" Susanna asked, while crossing the room, her hand automatically going to Harry's forehead.
"Yes, sorry," Harry said. "Nightmare." It was a lie, of course, but neither he nor Percy could tell their future parents that they had done an illegal ritual to truly change into Greys.
Susanna sighed at that, while Marius also crossed the room, his hand coming to rest onto Percy's shoulder. Percy still looked a little pale.
"You as well?" he asked the older boy. Percy shook his head.
"I heard him scream," he whispered. In his eyes, Harry could see the terror that Harry's pain had caused him. Harry was his last family – even if Harry and Percy had never truly liked each other – and Harry knew that neither of them would take well to loosing the other.
"It's alright," Marius said softly. "I fear that both of you will continue to have nightmare for quite some time."
Harry was quite sure that his future father was right, but he was also sure that the last part hadn't been a nightmare. Whatever the red-eyed man had done – it had changed something in Harry. Harry didn't think that he had lost his magic since he could still feel it beneath his skin, but whatever the man had done, it felt different to before.
"Come on," Marius said in that moment, guiding Percy out of the room. "Let's go back to bed. Your mother will look after your brother for now."
For a moment, Percy hesitated, but when Harry nodded at him, he did as he was told and left the room. Susanna meanwhile had sat down next to Harry, stroking his hair.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked him softly. Neither Harry nor Percy had told them their names, Marius and Susanna had asked, but Harry and Percy had refused. In the end, they had given in and told their future parents that they would tell them their old names the next day shortly before their adoption. Percy had also requested that their new parents would find new names for them – 'just in case' Percy had said and Pollux had nodded at that. 'Just in case the Death Eater knew the first names of Eric's children,' Pollux had thought it wise to change the children's first names as well. If neither Susanna nor Marius knew the names, similarities to their old names less likely happened.
"No," Harry answered to Susanna's question. "Not tonight."
She nodded at that.
"I'll stay until you're asleep," she said and maybe Harry would have felt annoyed by that, if it hadn't reminded him of himself when his own children had had a bad dream. Susanna might not be his mother by birth, but from tomorrow on she would be his mother in all ways possible without ever giving birth to him. And try as he might, he couldn't refuse his future mother something he had always done for his own children. So in the end, he just nodded and closed his eyes, letting the soft petting of his hair soothing him to sleep.
What had they done…?!
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I hope you liked it.
Ebenbild