Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to Harry Potter

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Reaching Through Time

Chapter 13: A simple game of quidditch and society

Tom would later think about his third year as the year that had gone to hell. Besides Harry's magic getting drained to dangerous levels, it had also been the year the first bombs had fallen on London. The muggles were at war and that war was bleeding into the wizarding community.

The world of magic hadn't been prepared for the bombs. The wards that were in place were not strong enough to keep the blasts and explosions out so a great deal of Diagon Alley and other wizarding places were horribly damaged.

By the summer that Harry was finally anchored to the past the majority of the wizarding community had been repaired and the wards had been fixed to protect against bombs. Most of the wards simply deflected or turned the bombs into duds, but a few of the stronger wards protected against the explosions.

Tom was immensely thankful the Malfoy's had found him and Harry those two years that the bombs fell on London. He had no idea if the orphanage was even standing and honestly Tom didn't want to know.

That didn't stop either Tom or Harry from having nightmares about the bombs though. Especially when one dropped over Diagon Alley a couple days after Harry had been given the blood adoption potion.

The Malfoy family had decided to stay away from London after that. The family relocated to the Malfoy estate in Southern Scotland to wait out the muggle war. The adults also opened up their home to wizarding children that were being evacuated out of London.

Among the half dozen children that joined the Malfoy's at their estate was Orion Black.

Tom quickly decided he did not like the very distant cousin of the Malfoy's. The boy was the same age as Harry and that seemed to make Orion think that he and Harry should become the best of friends.

This was not something Tom had any control of, but he would not just sit back and let Black take his place as Harry's most important person.

"Harry should be resting, not flying around on broomsticks." Tom said quickly after Orion had just asked if Harry would like to go flying over the estate gardens. "Go ask one of the others."

Tom tried to make the dismissal as obvious as possible as he reopened his book to get back to reading. Harry was next to him on the couch reading one of his own books.

"Hadrian's been doing nothing but resting!" Orion snapped back as he leaned over the couch to grab at Harry's book. "A little fun won't kill him."

If Harry hadn't had such hope in those pale green eyes Tom might have argued against it once again. He knew it was wrong to keep Harry from doing anything other than reading, but not only did Tom not like Orion, but he worried about Harry's health.

It had barely been a month since Harry's escape from the magic drain and they were fast approaching the start of the next term. Tom wanted to keep an eye on Harry as much as possible.

"Please Tom?" Harry pleaded softly as he gave Tom the biggest eyes he could manage.

With a sigh and a snap of his own book as he closed it, Tom nodded. "But I don't want you flying any higher than the rooftop. And I'm coming with you."

Harry nodded happily and jumped off of the couch. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't gotten bored sitting around and taking it easy.

Orion on the other hand looked like he had just eaten a sour candy. He had been looking forward to spending time with Harry without his protective older siblings.

Tom wasn't the only one denying Orion the chance to hang out with Harry. Abraxas would also tell the two younger boys no if he thought Harry needed more rest. The Malfoy teen was the only one capable of ignoring Harry's adorable puppy dog eyes.

But Abraxas wasn't there at the moment so it was up to Tom to keep Harry from injuring himself.

For the sake of Tom's sanity Harry did fly a little lower than Orion would have liked and he did fly a little slower than Harry would have enjoyed. But it kept Tom from jumping onto his own broomstick to chase after the two 10 year olds.

"No tricks!" Tom yelled up at Orion and Harry from the ground.

When the Malfoy's had first introduced Tom and Harry to the idea of flying back after Tom had been adopted, Harry had taken to flying like a bird. Tom on the other hand didn't like the idea of relying on a tool to fly. What if the broom broke or he slipped? He was fine with flying, it was the falling Tom didn't much like the idea of.

Orion rolled his eyes and flew close to Harry as the two of them circled around the gardens.

"Why do you let him boss you around so much?" The young Black asked once they were out of earshot from Tom.

A tiny giggle left Harry and he just smiled. "Tom doesn't boss me around."

Orion shook his head and leaned back a bit, flying the broom without the use of his hands. "Sure seems like he's bossing you around." He made a face and then tried to imitate Tom's voice. "Don't fly too high. No tricks. Finish reading your book. No sweets before bed." Orion rolled his eyes again. "I'm pretty sure that's what being bossy means."

Harry shook his head and his grin turned fond. "He's just worried about me. Abraxas says I'm a magnet for trouble and Tom knows it." Even Harry could believe it with how often he got into trouble. "It was just me and him for a long time."

"Still..." Orion mumbled as he swung around to fly on Harry's other side as they circled around and flew past Tom again. "He could ease up a little."

Harry could only shrug. He didn't mind Tom being over protective for the most part. Tom had always been like that and honestly Harry enjoyed being cared about.

"Mother says I'll be staying here until I start at Hogwarts next year." Orion said as casually as he could. "So I guess it'll be my job to keep you out of trouble while Tom and Abraxas are away."

That fact made Harry sigh sadly. He'd been enjoying spending time with Tom and Abraxas on the weekends. Mrs. Malfoy did say they could go to Hogsmeade sometimes to have lunch with them, but it wouldn't be the same.

Harry had his wand on him all the time now, but he wasn't going to get to learn the things that Tom and Abraxas were learning. Mr. Malfoy would be hiring a tutor for Harry and the other children staying at the Malfoy estate, but it wasn't the same as having Tom standing right behind him, helping him with his posture, teaching him the words he needed to know.

It wasn't the same.

"You alright? Do we need to stop?" Orion asked once Harry became a little too quiet.

"I'm fine. Let's do a couple more laps." The worried expression Orion was giving him made Harry smiling reassuringly.

Orion wasn't completely convinced, not until Harry smirked mischievously and was suddenly flying several times faster. With a loud laugh Orion grabbed hold of his broom and leaned forward, sending himself shooting after the laughing boy ahead of him.

When Harry and Orion returned to the ground Tom looked like he'd just gotten done with having a heart attack. Tom immediately launched into a lecture about the definition of 'taking it easy'. Harry just kept smiling serenely up at his most favorite person.

Back in the future things weren't as simple. In the month that Harry had gone missing, Madam LeRue had launched a full scale investigation. She'd also seen fit to remove Dudley from his parents and place him in foster care for the time being.

The social worker was filling out reports when there was a knock at her office door.

"I'm busy. Please make an appointment with my secretary." Madam LeRue really was swamped. Not only did she have the Potter disappearance to worry about, but she also had at least a dozen abuse cases to go over and determine level of severity.

She really should have given some of those cases to others so she could focus on the more at risk children.

"I asked that you speak with my secretary." Madam LeRue almost snarled as her door was opened and an elderly gentleman in a strange blue plaid suit walked in. "Please leave."

"I'm here about Harry Potter."

That made Madam LeRue stop. She considered the strange man before her before setting her pen down to clasp her hands together on her desk.

"You have five minutes."

The elderly man nodded and sat down in the chair across from Madam LeRue. He pulled out a little bag of what looked like lemon drops and offered one to the severe woman.

LeRue shook her head and simply glared. "Four minutes."

With a sigh the man adjusted his spectacles and put his candy away. "I must ask that you forget about Harry Potter."

It didn't sound like a threat, in fact Madame LeRue thought the old man sounded quite friendly and warm, but he wasn't the first person to come into her office and tell her to back off.

Before she could reach for the security button that she'd had installed some time ago when another angry parent had come in and threatened her with a gun, LeRue felt herself freeze.

"Wha-" She tried to call out, but even her voice seemed to be stuck.

"Before I obliviate you, I have a few questions about Harry Potter." The man pulled out a strange looking stick and pointed it at her.

Madam LeRue glared at the man and his stick. What was he going to do? Poke her to death?

"Now then. I know Harry Potter vanished July 19th. I know he's supposed to be living with his relatives the Dursley's." The man tapped his stick against his other hand for a moment. "Hold still now. It'll be easier if you cooperate."

Her eyes never left that ice blue stare of the old man with the long white beard. LeRue felt like there was a pressure in her head, but it only lasted moment.

"I see." The old man seemed contemplative as he looked away. "He was visiting a friend and didn't return when he said he would." That complicated things. This LeRue muggle woman didn't know where or who this friend was, but she did know the two had been friends for years.

After several long minutes of thinking to himself, the man finally sighed and lifted the stick back up. "I'm sorry to do this, but honestly you should have never been allowed to get involved. Those Dursley's were more afraid of you than of me. Pity."

Madam LeRue blinked several times in confusion. She could have sworn she'd been talking to someone, but her office was empty. What had she been doing?

She glanced around at her desk. There were open reports on recent child abuse accusations that she was working through.

"Jessy," LeRue held the button on her phone for a moment. "Did I have an appointment with anyone today?"

"No mam." The younger woman replied over the phone. "You instructed me to not let anyone see you today so you could catch up on your reports."

"Thank you Jessy." Despite what her secretary had said LeRue still felt like something was off.

She wasn't the only one. At least a dozen, if not more, muggle men and women conveniently forgot about a small boy with black hair and brilliant emerald green eyes.

The last people Dumbledore visited were the Dursley's.

When he arrived at the Dursley home, Dumbledore didn't even wait for someone to open the door to his knocking. He just entered.

"Now listen here sir!" Vernon Dursley started to say only to be flung back into his arm chair by wandless magic.

"Tell me," Dumbledore smoothly and softly cooed. "What part of 'Keep him safe and secret' was so difficult?"

Petunia, who had been cowering by the stairs piped up with a squeaky voice. "He got out one night! There was nothing we could do when the police found him."

Dumbledore rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "And why didn't you report this to me?" He demanded quietly. The lights flickered around him and the house groaned as his magic pressed down on it.

"We bloody well couldn't, could we?!" Vernon yelled as he fought against the magic holding him to the chair. "You never told us how to contact you and we weren't going to use a bloody bird."

The old headmaster knew he should have put more thought into this. Shame on him for thinking a muggle family would take care of a blood relative that had been orphaned.

The Figg woman he'd setup down the street hadn't thought to get Dumbledore involved since the muggle police had taken care of things. She hadn't wanted to disturb Dumbledore with something that wasn't magical in nature.

He was dealing with complete idiots. Idiots that had lost him the wizarding world's 'savior'. With a wave of his wand he obliviated the Dursley's. They wouldn't remember Dumbledore's visit, but he'd let them remember the loss of their son.

The muggles could deal with the fiasco that was the Dursley's. Dumbledore had to make sure all the loose ends involving Harry Potter were cleaned up. Once that was done he could start searching for the boy.

If he was lucky Harry Potter would be with a pure blood or half blood family somewhere in magical Britain. It was the only explanation as to why his magical guardianship had been revoked. Muggle adoptions did nothing to the connection between a child and their magical guardian.

Unless...

No. Dumbledore could not allow himself to consider the thought that Harry Potter might be dead. If he was then he had been wrong about the prophesy.

For now he would simply search for Harry Potter quietly and in secret. He would find the boy and figure out what to do from there.

Time flowed evenly between the past and the present and the end of summer turned into the beginning of fall. With fall came the inevitable trip to Hogwarts and the separation between Tom and his Harry.

Unaware of the search efforts Dumbledore was doing in the future, Harry settled into his life as the newest member of the Malfoy household.

This change in familial status brought about other changes for Harry. As he had done for Tom, Mr. Malfoy introduced Harry to several tutors that would instruct the boy on proper pure blood traditions and culture. Mrs. Malfoy took up the mantle, once again, of teaching the children in her care etiquette and manners.

Most of the other children got along well with their studies and tutoring. Harry did fine with the magical education, but he couldn't quite understand why he had to stand up straight all the time or how to properly address adults of different status. He absolutely hated learning about table manners.

"Hadrian Malfoy." It had been decided during the blood adoption that Harry would take the Malfoy name, to protect him from his magical guardian and relatives. "Young men do not mumble or squirm when speaking with young ladies."

Harry so wished Tom were there so he could distract himself with his friend. Orion was nice and all, but he wasn't Tom.

Eileen Prince, who was a month younger than Harry, and a few others in their group had been quietly conversing when she'd asked Harry if he was at all interested in potions.

The dozen children the Malfoy family had taken in for the time being had been joined by a few other children for a little socializing. Mrs. Malfoy believed it would be a good chance for her charges to practice their manners and etiquette. Especially Harry.

"It's alright Lady Malfoy," Eileen Prince said sweetly as she smiled up at the woman. "I did change the subject rather suddenly."

Mrs. Malfoy smiled and nodded. She approved of the young Prince girl; she was well spoken and was always polite.

Harry on the other hand didn't really care for any of the girls in their little 'tea group'. In the effort to 'expand Hadrian's group of friends' Mrs. Malfoy had placed him and Orion into separate groups.

"So?" Eileen pressed again to get an answer out of Harry. "What do you think about potion making?"

"It's ok I guess." Harry did his best not to squirm. Each group had four people and his was the only group where the girls out numbered the boys.

His response had the girls in his little tea party giggling. Harry was staring to learn to hate that sound; especially when it came from girls.

Apparently the girls all silently agreed that Harry's short and quiet responses were cute and that he was simply shy. It became a challenge for them to see who could get Harry to come out of his shell.

"What do you enjoy Malfoy?"

Now that was something Harry was having a hard time getting used to. It'd taken him awhile to get used to responding to "Hadrian" or "Mr. Smith", but now he had to get used to everyone outside his family or close friends calling him "Malfoy"; stupid pure blood etiquette. Harry was half tempted to give everyone permission to just use his first name.

Taking a subtle but deep breath Harry steeled himself before answering. "I guess I enjoy flying." It was the truth. He couldn't exactly tell them about how he knew spells from the first three years of Hogwarts. What sorts of spells do 10 year olds know anyway?

"Oh! Do you have a favorite quidditch team?" A girl that wasn't Eileen asked quickly. Now that they had caught Harry's attention the girls were determined to keep him talking.

"Well," Harry fought the urge to bite at his lip. He was used to talking to Orion about this sort of things; not a bunch of girls. "The Ballycastle Bats is a good team, as is the Chudley Canons, but I think my favorite team would probably be the Caerphilly Catapults."

"The Catapults are decent," the girl that had asked the question replied. "But honestly I think the Appleby Arrows are much better."

Eileen huffed ever so slightly at that. "Puddlemere United is a much more respectable team than Appleby Arrows."

"Don't you start Prince." The third girl groaned as the other two girls began to, elegantly, argue about which team was better. "Honestly. It's just a sport."

Thankfully that got the three girls bickering and left Harry alone for at least a few minutes before they remembered he was supposed to be included in the discussion.

Harry wasn't saved until Mrs. Malfoy gave the go ahead for the groups to break up and mingle with each other.

"The Caerphilly Catapults? Really Harry?"

"Shut it Orion." Harry growled back softly. "I like them. They have one of the best seekers in the League."

Orion nodded thoughtfully. "I'll give you that, but you have to admit that the Falmouth Falcons have a much better overall team setup."

"If you enjoy excessive violence and regulation violations."

"Go away Prince." Orion glared at the girl and hovered almost possessively at Harry's side.

Eileen pretended not to have noticed Orion. "You're a horrible influence Black. Have you no manners?"

It was easy to tell that the two of them were always like this when around each other. There was no hatred in their words and Eileen almost looked at Orion fondly when he snapped back at her that his manners were perfect when in the right company.

"And to think we're going to be stuck together when school starts next year." Eileen sighed deeply and shook her head at Orion's continued sneering. "I'll be relying on you, Malfoy, for even a tiny bit of civility."

"Me?" Harry was almost shocked when his arm was grabbed up by Eileen as she pretended to swoon. "Why me?"

Eileen batted her eye lashes at Harry and gave him her best smile. "Because you aren't bad mannered like some boy's I could name."

His other arm was grabbed up and Harry suddenly felt like a toy that was being fought over by siblings. "He's my friend Prince. You're not going to corrupt him."

With a gasp Eileen's hand fluttered over her chest. "Me? Corrupt? Isn't that your job Black?"

Harry found himself greatly missing Tom and Abraxas. At least the two other boys were mature and never fought like this when around people they didn't like that much.

"Let's go outside Harry," Orion made sure to empathize the use of Harry's name in order to make sure he irritated Eileen a little. "We can find Rupert and the others and have a practice quidditch match." As long as they included some of the other children Mrs. Malfoy wouldn't be too upset about Harry and Orion bailing from the tea social.

Eileen wasn't much of a flier, not in the way Harry and Orion were, but she didn't want to stay indoors and be ignored either.

"I'll be referee." It was better than staying inside and being bored out of her mind.

When no one else offered to take the job of mediator, Orion finally agreed to let Eileen be the referee. Just to be on the safe side, she did make sure to inform Mrs. Malfoy of the impromptu quidditch match.

Seeing as how small Harry was, he was instantly pushed into the seeker role for one of the two teams that was being made. Orion was made chaser for the same team.

"Everyone knows the rules right?" Eileen called out as she clung to the broom she'd borrowed from the Malfoy's. There were plenty of brooms to go around for all the kids. When she got enough nods Eileen sighed and put her fingers to her lips. "Clean game please. Go" She whistled as loudly as she could and then tossed the quaffle high into the air. The house elf on the ground released the snitch and the bludger; which had been spelled to hit at a much gentler strength.

Thankfully Harry didn't have to worry too much about the other players, besides the seeker on the other team, and all he had to watch out for were two balls.

Without his glasses to slip around on his nose Harry had an easy time whipping his head around to search for the gold speck that was the golden snitch. He thought he saw it once, but the gold sparkle turned out to be a necklace on Sylvia Thicknesse's neck.

"Harry watch out!"

The shout came just in time as the bludger shot right past him. He waved at Orion to show he was alright before returning his focus to the air to find the snitch.

Harry spotted the snitch a few minutes later, but it vanished just as he started chasing after it. He knew how it had happened; the little bugger had been able to slip out of view by flying straight towards the sun to blind Harry.

The seeker on the other team, Rupert Flint, was squinting and shading his eyes as much as possible to search for the snitch.

"We shouldn't have played at noon." Harry mumbled. You would think with the sun directly overhead on a rare sunny fall day a tiny gold orb would be easy to spot, but it was quite the opposite.

Finally Harry spotted the snitch hovering around Eileen closer to the ground.

He didn't have the time to call out to Eileen, not if he wanted to go for the snitch before Flint. If Harry did call out to Eileen to watch out the snitch might dart away from her. Harry just couldn't risk it.

With that decision made he tilted his broom down and dove towards Eileen as fast as possible. His black hair whipped around his head and his pale green eyes narrowed until all he could see was the snitch.

Harry was sure he heard his name called out, but he was too focused. The snitch was seconds away, all he had to do was reach out his hand and grab it. It'd be close, and he would have to spin onto his side to avoid hitting Eileen, but Harry knew he could do it.

Making sure his legs were wrapped tightly around the broom, Harry yanked the broomstick so that he would roll onto his side. Just as his fingers closed around the golden snitch.

"HARRY!"

Once the snitch was in his hand Harry's world widened back up and seemed to slow down. Eileen had twisted and was looking at Harry with surprise and fear. More accurately her gaze was right behind him.

A lot of the other children were looking right behind Harry as well.

The world picked up speed again and suddenly there was a solid punch in the middle of his back from the bludger that had been coming right at Eileen. Harry must have cried out, but he didn't notice. With his legs still wrapped tightly around the broomstick Harry was thrown around by flying magic of the broom and the force of impact from the bludger.

Luckily Eileen had been hovering close to the ground so when Harry crashed to the ground with his broom, he only had at most ten feet to fall.

"Hadrian!" Mrs. Malfoy had been watching the match from the tea room with the other children that had elected not to get involved. The moment the bludger made impact she had apparated onto the field.

"M'okay." Harry groaned as he stiffly sat up. His back hurt, as did his legs and side of his head, but he'd been beaten enough to know nothing was broken. "Just bruised."

"That was reckless!" Mrs. Malfoy admonished as she performed a quick diagnostic spell to make sure Harry didn't have a concussion or any other injury that could be life threatening. "You should have known better! Flying sideways like that! Honestly."

The young boy just smiled happily up at the woman that had adopted him. Being fussed over felt...nice...even if she was lecturing him at the same time.

"Harry?"

"Malfoy?"

The other children were landing around him with varying degrees of worry and curiosity on their faces.

With a huge smirk that showed all his teeth Harry held up one hand to brush his hair out of his face and then held up the other to reveal the weakly struggling snitch.

"Alright!" Orion and the others on Harry's team cheered even as Mrs. Malfoy send them frowns. Rupert and his team groaned in defeat which only made Harry's smirk bigger.

Harry wasn't sure what did it, what made him blush, but he did as his eyes went from Orion to Eileen. Orion's smile was full of charm and it made his normally pouty face fill out in such a handsome way. Eileen on the other hand had her hands clasped against her chest and there were tears of worry in her eyes as she knelt down next to him.