A/N 1: I disliked the last few lines of chapter 1, so I changed it a little bit. It makes more sense now. There's also a new Author's note at the top of that story, which I will also put down here:

A/N 2: Rowling later released the knowledge that the Death Eaters were once called the Knights of Walpurgis. Which is like, a hundred times more awesome. It sounds noble, dark and dangerous. Death Eaters sounds like it's been thought up by a fifteen year old girl who paints her fingernails black and gets wet when she fantasizes about a century-old vampire watching her sleep. Therefore, Death Eaters will now be referred to as Knights of Walpurgis for this story.

A/N 3: Rose's Birthday is 12 december. Putting it here because it's probably never going to be plot-relevant enough to make a big deal out of it.

Chapter 2 - The Potters

Harry awoke in a very soft situation that he had far to little recent experience with. It was called a warm bed. Eyes still closed, he felt around. So incredibly soft. It'd been months since he'd been able to sleep in one. However, morning called. He got out of bed, showered, and dressed. At James' request, he'd remain upstairs a bit, so that the Potters could prepare their younger daughter, Rose. She was to start her first year at Hogwarts, being about two and a half year younger than Iris and Harry.

It was still weird. The girl was probably… a sister ? Twin sister, if that. They had the same birth date. And they still had to figure out an excuse to explain to the world where he came from. Perhaps they'd thought him a squib at first? No one'd believe that. Besides, he was crap at acting. While he could probably hide some of his skill at hogwarts, if surprised he'd always cast accurately. Purposely messing up your spells was liable to be noticed by experienced teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick. A long lost cousin? Yeah, right, with his eye color. Not. A kidnapped twin to Iris? They'd never have kept that silent.

He didn't want to suggest infidelity by either parent. Besides, he was clearly a mix between then. His train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. Out of habit, he checked the Elder Wand in his wand holster on his right arm, the spare wand in the holster on his left, and the emergency wand on the inner side of his thigh. The ring around his neck. It was too gaudy to wear normally, and he didn't want to waste his hand on it. It's use wasn't dependent on holding it like that anyway. At least, not it's true use - only the rudimentary spirit summoning required holding it in your hand.

The cloak was on his back, but it obediently shrunk and disappeared under his collar. He had no need for invisibility, or even a normal cloak right now. The glasses he needed were too different from James to have anything available, and Iris and Rose had never needed them. Therefore, he instead cast a rather finicky spell Hermione had insisted he learn for emergencies, back before he'd fixed his eyesight the first time around. He went to the door, and opened, finding Lily.

"Can you come downstairs to breakfast? I think we have Rose ready to introduce you."

"Ok." Harry tried not to be nervous. It didn't really work. He hadn't been nervous yesterday, but he'd also been quite a bit underway with the interrogation before he'd figured out who they were, due to him having been basically blind.

He joined his mum on the way downstairs. It was a really, really weird idea to finally have a mum, but it was a surprisingly comfortable, warm idea.

At the breakfast table, James was already seated, as was Iris. Next to Iris sat a younger girl, with red hair slightly darker than her mothers'. She had a rounder face than Harry or Iris had, which made her look more innocent, and even a bit cute. Her features were a bit softer than Iris's. She also looked up immediately when he entered.

"Mum and Dad said I'd get an older brother." She paused a moment. "Most people only get younger siblings."

Harry smiled.

"I'm Harry. I'll be your big brother from now on."

"I'm Rose." She looked at him for a moment, her head tilted slightly to the side.

"You look nice." She smiled, then jumped of her chair, ran to him, and jumped into a hug with him, her arms around his neck and her feet dangling around his shins.

"Welcome to the family, brother Harry."

Harry smiled as he hugged her back.

"It's my honor, sister Rose."

That caused her to giggle, and she let go, Harry gently letting her down to the floor. Rose walked back to the table.

"How old are you?"

"Exactly as old as Iris. I think it may also be a good idea to join her class at Hogwarts."

Rose nodded. "Yep. You're still not allowed to use magic at home otherwise."

"Indeed."

He looked at Li - he looked at his mother. That thought would take some getting used to. Then he send a gently legilimency probe at her, the mind magic equivalent of politely knocking on the front door. When she allowed him a bit closer, he spoke in her head.

"I think it's best for me to go to Hogwarts, to avoid attracting attention? We still need to figure out a way to explain my existence, though..."

Lily smiled as she answered, just as mentally.

"Don't worry. We'll figure it out. I was thinking, perhaps we could tell people that you were kidnapped, and James and I were obliviated of your existence?"

"Wouldn't you have noticed that? You may not be masters of occlumency, but memory locks about subjects you'd care this much about would never pass either of you unnoticed."

"You and I know that we'd figure it out if they did, but the rest of the world doesn't."

Harry nodded, and continued eating, looking for a way to break the ice. This was getting awkward. But inspiration struck. He was the son of a Marauder, after all.

$Iris, could you hand me the bacon?$

Iris, still mostly asleep this early in the morning, handed it over, not noticing all three others looking at her.

$Here.$

$Thanks.$

Harry tried, but couldn't prevent an amused smirk. After a few more seconds, Iris finally noticed the total silence from the rest of the table.

"What?"

Her parents exchanged a glance, then looked at Rose. Then James spotted Harry's smirk, and having figured it out, started chuckling. Iris retaliated with a glare, until Lily came to her aid.

"Honey, did you or did you not notice you just spoke parseltongue?"

Iris blinked. Then she slowly looked at Harry, at which point he couldn't stop himself anymore, and collapsed in laughter, which spread to James right away. Rose didn't fully get it, but also joined in.

Iris pouted, and addressed her mother.

"Muuum, Harry is bullying me."

"Aw, poor baby." Her mother replied.

Harry looked at his totally helpless sister.

$I can make it up to you, nest-mate. Salazar left some books on parselmagic in the Chamber.$

She glared at him.

$Fine. I'll..$" forgive you after that."

She frowned.

"Why did it stop?"

"Parseltongue doesn't know the concept of forgiveness. So in order to vocalize it, you had to switch back to English. Same as the word I used not meaning sister, but nest-mate. While parseltongue uses gendered pronouns just like most languages, the gender of your nest-mates is just completely irrelevant. Therefore, those words don't have it."

Iris whispered a few words, falling back into hissing a few times.

"You're right."

"You also need more practice. If you're practiced, you'll be able to switch to parseltongue and back without issues, and regardless of snakes present."

"I'll- I will-" She attempted. $I'll keep that in mind.$

$That's a good start - better then I could have at this age. Also, we now have a secret language just between us.$

"Like we're ever going to need that."

"You never know, sister mine."

She frowned at his designation for her.

"Do you like saying sister for some reason?"

Harry looked down, and flushed a little bit.

"It's just that… " He looked up, and took a deep breath. "When I looked into the Mirror of Erised, all I saw was my family around me."

A silence fell for a moment.

"Harry?" Iris said softly. "Brother, you can call me sister whenever you like.."

Harry smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

"Me too!" Rose interrupted. "I also like having both a brother and a sister."

Harry turned his smile on her as well, and reached out to ruffle her hair a bit, which she tried to pull away from.

"And I like having two sisters. And between me and Iris, we're going to keep you entirely safe at school."

Iris then ruffled her hair from the other side.

"And as long as I think you're to young, I'm gonna have our brother chase all the boys away from you."

Rose pouted. "I don't see what boys would want with me anyway… you're much prettier than I am."

"Red hair like yours and mom's is much prettier than mine. Mom had hordes of boys after her."

James chose that moment to interrupt.

"I think you're both beautiful and cute girls. When you're old enough, both of you will have your pick of the suitors. Perhaps when you're like twenty-five or something."

Iris pouted. "That's what every parent ever says."

"Doesn't make me wrong."

Iris switched her pout to a glare, which James completely ignored.

A few minutes later, a snow owl flew in, carrying the Daily Prophet. Harry looked at her immediately. She dropped off the paper in front of James, but then landed in front of Iris to take her share of bacon and attention. Harry needed a few seconds to regain the power of speech.

"Hedwig?"

The owl looked up for a moment, then resumed full attention to gobbling up the bacon strips Iris had given her.

Iris looked at her owl.

"Go on Hedwig. That's Harry, my brother. Go introduce yourself."

Hedwig hopped over, looking at Harry with a curious gaze, as if she sort of recognized him, but not entirely.

Harry reached out with a single finger, and scratched the one place he knew she really liked - on her breast, slightly left, but not as far as a folded up wing would be.

"Preck."

She obviously appreciated that spot as much as the Hedwig he'd lost two years ago. Her eyes closed almost immediately.

"You think we're gonna be friends, pretty girl?"

"Preck." Hedwig nodded, preened, and nibbled at his finger for a moment, almost reassuringly. He decided to hand her another strip of bacon.

"Pleased to meet you again, Hedwig."

After James had determined that there was nothing of any interest whatsoever in the prophet, he decided to break the silence, spotting all his women watching Harry talk with a bird who by all rights should have no idea what he was talking about, but who seemed to understand nonetheless. Must like when Iris herself did exactly the same thing.

"So Harry, how are you at Quidditch?"

Harry smiled. "Became seeker at my first flying lesson. First time I could remember sitting on a broom. I caught a Rememberall that'd been throw across the field, and McGonagall saw me catch it."

Iris gasped. "You actually went after Malfoy when he stole that..."

"Yes. Neville had dropped it. After I confronted Malfoy in midair, he threw it away as far as he could. I caught it a foot or two above the ground."

"But Madam Hooch threatened with expulsion! Even though I know Malfoy got away with just a detention, you couldn't have known that."

Harry sighed. "I'm not saying I was all rational. Anyway, you on the team?"

"Chaser. Might have been dad's influence."

Harry frowned. "With whom? I have a hard time imaging us without the Flying Foxes, which is what all Gryffindor called Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell."

"Spinnet, you say? I'll admit she's decent. It was a close call during tryouts, and she's our reserve. Who's your reserve then, without me being there?"

"We never had any. In my fifth year though, we got Demelza Robins as new chaser, who is two years younger than us. She was a decent chaser, if not up the the level of the other girls we had. Who is your seeker when you don't have a Potter for the spot?"

Iris gave a slight sneer. "McLaggen"

Harry joined her sneer. "He a douche here as well?"

"Yup. Last year tried to convince me to "shower together" after a match. After I tempered his interest, he spend the night in the hospital wing."

Harry grinned. "Good job, sis. But I'll just go kick his ass in the tryouts, and that'll be that. I won't claim to be on Krum's level, but I'd say I'm pretty close. You can't imagine just how satisfying it is to pull a Wronski Feint on Malfoy."

Iris grinned back the mental image. "That sounds great. You owe showing me that one."

"Yes, ma'am."

"The prat bought his way on the team where you're from too?"

"Seven Nimbus 2001's. I don't recall him ever catching the snitch, though."

"He did in my second year against us. We got slaughtered in that game, to be honest. We had a crap seeker, and then with that bludger…."

"I was able to make the best of the situation. I guided my bludger through the ranks of the snake chasers, while Malfoy was busy all the time trying to taunt me instead of looking for the snitch. Even managed to almost knock him off his broom once with my bludger, but he managed to dodge it." Harry paused. "Vanished bones, courtesy of Lockhart?"

"Dad reported Lockhart for assault after the book shop signing, which I guess never happened for you. So he kept his distance." She smiled at her father, who looked as proud as a Hedwig who'd just been told she was pretty.

Harry mock glared at his sister. "I'm jealous. He had me act out scenes from his books."

Iris threw on a smug pureblood princess look, then winced on his behalf. "Thank Morgana that I was spared that. So did you actually see what happened to Mrs Norris, or were you pulled from the back lines of the student groups like me?"

"Front row seats. I had made the mistake of accepting Nick's Deathday party, and therefore we missed most of the feast. I followed the basilisk's voice for a few corridors, until we ran into Mrs. Norris with Hermione and Ron. We were standing there like morons when everyone else showed up..."

"Famous Potter luck. They accused you right away?"

"Luckily, that only started after the dueling club."

Iris frowned. "Why?"

"There's where Malfoy summoned a snake, and where I and everyone else discovered I was a parselmouth..."

Iris winced. "That's got to have been a nice surprise. I've known for longer. I once found a garden snake outside, and mum explained after that. However, somehow the rumor mill did figure it out. Was a bit later than the dueling club disaster, though."

Iris frowned. "Hermione once told me that I talk in my sleep, but she never heard me talk parseltongue while asleep. But if the other girls would have heard..."

"I've had it confirmed that I used it in my sleep. That'll get less with a bit more practice."

"So what was your team into the Chamber?"

"Team? It was me and Ron. And Lockhart I suppose."

"Lockhart going down there? How'd you manage that?"

"At wand point."

"Ah. Well, he tried to obliviate us in his office, but he used Ron's wand that was broken while we were in the forest with the acromantulas. So it backfired."

"Almost the same. Ron's wand broke at the start of the year, since we nicked his dad's flying car after we found the portal to platform 9 ¾ blocked. We crashed into the whomping willow. And we only disarmed him in his office, and took him downstairs to have advance warning if the basilisk would just show up."

"You stole a flying car when the portal was blocked? Why not just wait for his parents to come back out towards the car and ask them for help?"

"Yeah, I thought about that… a few weeks later." Harry grinned guiltily. "It was fun, though."

"Anyway, I had Ron and Neville with me down there. Neville got startled when he saw the snake skin, and cast a spell at it. It deflected off the skin, and caused a cave-in."

"We had the cave-in because of Lockharts' failed obliviation. So you were alone against Tom as well?"

"Yep." Iris popped the 'p' clearly. "The basilisk was the real problem though. I'd never have beaten it without Fawkes."

"Me neither. You ever processed the body?"

"Processed?"

"The meat alone is super expensive. It doesn't go bad and the goblins adore it. The eyestring makes for some rather destructively powerful wand cores. I'd make a great backup wand for you. The skin makes for totally amazing armor. The poison is quite expensive. The blood less, but it's still a valuable potion ingredient due to it's rarity and it's anti-toxicity."

Iris blinked. "I never thought about that." She looked at her parents, who exchanged a glance as well. Lily was the first to respond.

"We had… something else on our minds when we heard about it at first, and I'll admit that since it's been easier to not think about it if I can avoid it."

Harry grinned. "No worries. It'd been there for five years before we got around to it. But there probably won't be any regrets if you do it anytime soon… but I'd reserve the eyestrings, the skin, and part of the venom. Sell off the old skins as second class basilisk skin, it should be worth about half as much as Common Green Dragon skin, being about twice as heavy for basically the same magic resistance factor. And there's a veritable mountain of the stuff down there. Almost a thousand years of growing, shedding about once a year, and it ended up a good sixty foot long. Then I'd recommend to sell the blood, but not all at once, spreading it out over a few years instead. Same with the meat. Otherwise the price goes down to far. Most of the organs aren't valuable, though. But the bones make for nice ornaments, and basilisk bone is quite strong, even if it's quite heavy compared to the hollow dragon bones. Just think about it - hang it from the ceiling right in the Potter ballroom, so that everyone can see the basilisk you've slain." He grinned, quickly followed by James who understood the implications of showing off like that. Everyone who'd ever come to a Potter ball would be terrified to piss off Iris. The girl herself though, didn't look as happy yet.

"I did it because it was needed. You of all people should know that fame stinks."

Harry nodded. "I do. But unlike our stupid scar, this is deserved fame. You didn't look for it, but when someone was needed to step up and do what was necessary, you did that. This is entirely your own achievement. And yes, luck was involved - but we'd never have survived on dumb luck alone."

"I'll think about it."

"That's fine. Oh, and about the backup wand you could make… I'd grab an eyestring of basilisk and perhaps some bone of either Dementor or Thestral, instead of wood."

Iris frowned. "Why not just find a suitable wood? I like holly.."

"Aye, so we do. But I've… learned some things about wandlore. Using a part of a creature that you've slain yourself, especially one as powerful as a basilisk, makes it almost impossible for the wand not to be attuned to you. On top of that, the eyestring will be very compatible with a parselmouth like you and me. While we'd have to buy the Thestral bone, we could hunt down a Dementor for our purposes."

"How do you even kill a Dementor?"

Harry grinned. "I know of two ways. One, basilisk venom. Two, really overpowered Patronus. You could probably do that, if you can lock a dementor up for the required prolonged exposure. That also makes for better wand materials." He frowned. "I'm positive I could assemble it myself. That way, nobody will know about it."

"Thanks. Would you need one as well?"

"Nope. Already got two, and a really good first wand." He lifted the Elder Wand. "Here, hold it for a moment."

Iris accepted the wand. It felt cold and distant in her hands.

"This is why I don't need a backup wand, despite me carrying two."

Harry grasped in mid-air with his hand, and his wand appeared in his hand, disappearing from Iris'.

"As far as I'm aware, there is no way to block that."

"That's… really useful. Can you teach me?"

Harry shook his head. "It's part of this specific wand. But I there might be a chance that you can find this world's version of it. And.. it's got some more advantages." He looked at James. "Dad, can you create a protego for a moment?" He grinned. James looked wary of potential pranks, but acquiesced. Harry took aim at his father.

"Expelliarmus"

The red spark of light - he'd cast the minimal version, no need to knock his father back - leapt from his wand, completely ignored the shield, and struck James, whose wand was launched into Harry's direction, who caught it and gave it back.

"I'm quite sure that if we make your second wand like I suggested, I can teach you how to do that. I won't promise I can, but it's likely. It has to do with the soul magic inherent to a basilisk's gaze or a Dementors' kiss. It ignores shields the same was as a killing curse would. Alternatively, it also lets you use a killing curse that can be blocked by any shield, or a shield that will block killing curses."

James was the first to respond. "That sounds.. Amazing. Question. Why does nobody know about this?"

"Well, most of it is forgotten. It's related to soul magic after all, and most other forms of soul magic have… consequences if you fail. However, you have heard about it. Since you're, well a Potter, you'll have heard of the tale of the three brothers?"

"The child's tale?"

"A Child's tale? While you've stolen food from the hogwarts kitchen after curfew using death's own cloak?"

"But..."

"How old is that cloak, dad?" Harry said softly. "And how long does a typical cloak of invisibility last?"

"M- most cloaks will fade after ten or twenty years, if it's good quality. I got ours from dad, who told me it was a family heirloom, and that he'd gotten it himself when he went to hogwarts.."

Harry looked between James and Iris. "Who would you say truly owns the cloak?"

James was the one that answered. "Iris. That's just how it goes. But now with you here…"

"I don't count. I have my own complete set. So, Iris, I want you to try and call the cloak towards yourself. Consider it a form of assisted wandless magic - much like saying 'Up' to a broom. Your expectation should be for it to appear on and around you, hiding you from everyone. There aren't any words required, but I've learned it myself with 'hide me'."

Iris frowned, but decided to give it a go. Her face scrunched up in concentration. Then she faded out of view.

"Very good, sis. This should help you get to safety if you ever get in trouble again."

Iris pulled the cloak off. "That felt… weird. I can now sense the cloak."

Harry nodded. "You already had the rights to the cloak - now it accepted you as it's true mistress."

"What's that mean? What's the difference?"

"Short version, it'll hide your smell and sound as well. With practice - a lot of practice - you can disable the invisibility effect, and make it morph into other clothing, within reasonable limits. All of that requires mental commands like the one you just called it with."

Iris eyes grew wide. "That's awesome. How come the family didn't know this?"

"Probably because no one ever tried. I have… some additional information, but that won't really be useful yet. If you want a starting point, try wearing the cloak while commanding it to remain visible. How's your occlumency?"

Iris pouted. "I hate occlumency."

"It's important. It'll also help you master this sort of thing a lot easier. Who's your teacher."

She gestured with her head. "Mum."

"Well, I can't compare of course, but she's bound to be a better teacher of occlumency than Snape."

The heads of all Potters whipped around to face him. Lily was the first to speak.

"Who in the blazes let him close to children, let alone teach you of all people occlumency?"

"Dumbledore. From your statement, can I infer that he's not the Potions teacher at hogwarts here?"

Iris was the first respondent.

"Thank Merlin, no. We have Slughorn. He's generally chill. At least, he was after mom had a little chat with him about pressuring me into the Slug Club. Now he's allowed to try again once a year, and only in writing."

"Ah, ok. I had him in sixth year. I would recommend you join up, though. Makes it easier if you need to get other people on your side later on. I know we don't like our fame, but that's no reason not to use it for the things we deem important."

Iris pouted. "But I don't wanna."

"Aw, poor little sister."

Harry leaned over and petted her hair, turning her pout into a glare.

Suddenly her glare vanished, and she turned to her father.

"Dad, the world cup! Can you get another ticket for Harry?"

"Eh, probably. I'll arrange it today, if you want to come?"

Harry nodded slowly. "Yes, that'll be a good idea. It will be… interesting."

This time, Lily was the one to respond. "Interesting is the exact word for all the things that we haven't managed to keep Iris out of. We'd appreciate to know what's going to happen, if there's any danger involved?"

"Ireland won. Krum got the snitch. A few hours after the match, there were a couple Knights of Walpurgis who decided to go relive the old times, and they tortured the muggle terrain holder for a bit, while blasting away tents. In the end, they were chased off when someone fired a Dark Mark into the sky. In a typical lack of effort, Minister Fudge prevented any and all investigations, probably at the behest of his good friend Malfoy." Harry looked up, and grinned. "So this time, around, I'll just fling a couple of neat lethal curses into the group, see if we can take out Malfoy senior like that."

"Are you sure we should be killing? I… don't like that."

Harry shrugged. "I know I don't look like it anymore.. But I've been doing just that for four years now. If this world is anything like the one I came from, and it does look like it, then it'll be open war in a bit over two years from now. If I can take out important Knights before then, I'd like to do so, and them all wearing their uniforms and torturing muggles gives me a proper reason. The group was about 20 last time. I'm pretty confident I can take out at least half permanently before they run away, since they won't expect it."

Lily swallowed, then looked at James. "We're talking premeditated murder here..."

"Technically, if it happens that way… it'd be classed self-defense. Also, I'm going to have to agree. If we can take out the important lieutenants before You-Know-Who comes back into power, we should. Before his curse reflected on Iris, it would have been a massive boon if they'd disappeared."

Lily nodded. "Ok. But do take care of yourself, ok? I just got you, but you're still my son and I don't want to lose you." She looked at Iris and Rose. "And you two ladies will stay as far away from that as possible. No buts. I already don't like Harry going to fight, but at least he's got experience."

Iris pouted again, but looked at Harry. "You will train me, right?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, but I don't think you'll be ready by then. It's only two weeks, after all."

"Fiiiine."

Harry got up from the breakfast table - they'd long finished eating, but just continued sitting and talking - and walked over, giving Iris a side hug.

"Trust me sis, you'll end up fighting a lot more than you'll want."

Iris sighed. "I know. I just want to be… useful. I need to get good enough."

She stood up, and made it a full hug.

"Thank you, big brother. Together, we'll teach Tommie a lesson in humility."

Harry smiled.

"Yes, my dear sister. We will."

Then Rose got up and hugged around them both.

"Sibling group hug!"

A/N: I'd like to officially state that my main inspiration for writing this is I'm Still Here by kathryn518, story code 9704180 here on ffnet. Just replace it in the address bar in your browser if you're interested. Her Harry is quite different from mine of course. Mine is far less traumatized from his war than he has any right to, because what I wanted to explore was his new relation with his family. I feel like this story might not end up anything like her story, but that story is the single reason I'm writing this nonetheless, and I cannot recommend it enough. I also really like what she's doing with the basilisk venom/phoenix tears combination. However, I won't be repeating that here. I'm instead crossing the ruleset with the one I have developed/ am developing for another story yet unwritten. Part of this is what Harry is able to do with the Hallows.