Thank you for reading my story. Many thanks (once again) to all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed this story.

In this story I'm going with Charlus and Dorea Potter nee Black as James' parents. The whole Potter family revelation on Pottermore sort of ruined a few minor elements in this story. But that's alright, I'll just ignore it. It's fan fiction.

'text' = thoughts


Chapter 4: Revelation

Sirius greeted the new day with a mother of all hangovers and a string of Latin and French curses, although it has to be said that they were very creative. He gruffly ordered Kreacher to give him an Invigoration draught and a sobering solution. Finally, when the bitter aftertastes of the dreadful potions settled, Sirius headed to the kitchen.

There, he found Remus in a much better state.

"Alright there?" so kind of him to ask. Does lycanthropy have some effects on alcohol consumption? Very likely by the state Moony was in. All cheery and cooking breakfast at this ungodly hour.

Sirius grunted in reply and grabbed a plate of bacon and eggs cooked by Remus "Thanks" and dug in.

They were putting their plates away when Holly arrived.

"Morning sleepyhead." Sirius grinned, Holly had the Potter hair and it was such a mess in the morning before she brushed it. The grin grew wider when the ones who were at fault for her hair came into view, with even messier hair.

"Good Morning you two."

"Morning."

"What's for breakfast?" that dog, always thinking about food.

"Here." And Remus placed two plates of breakfast before them, while Sirius gave Holly hers.

After everyone had satisfied their stomachs, the dirty dishes were sent to the sink to be taken care of with a few charms thanks to Remus.

Sirius sat back, let out a loud burp, to which Remus rolled his eyes and Holly smiled in amusement. "So what do you want to know?"

James looked up and looked at Holly "Who her mother is."

"Not possible."

"What, why?"

"For the timeline, you must understand." How can you understand when I don't even understand.

James sat back and grumbled.

Holly felt sorry for him, from what she remembered he was deeply in love with her mother by fifth year "If it's any comfort, you do have a happy marriage." And a tragic end but hey, till death do we part, it was good while it lasted.

"I'll take that." James smiled, his daughter had a lovely kind soul, and a happy marriage? There was only one witch who could fulfill that for him.

"Any other questions?"

"Why am I still living here?"

"Because all other Blacks are dead, so it's mine now."

"All other Blacks? So Reggie- my brother Regulus is…"

"Dead" Sirius was looking away, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. No one wanted to.


Padfoot couldn't quite believe it, sure he hated his family, but other than his mother, he did not really want any of his kinsmen dead.

Except Bellatrix, that bitch was psycho.

Regulus had always looked up to him – until Hogwarts.

Uncle Alphard was always a joy, making all those jokes and showing him awesome spells, light and dark.

His cousins – Bella, Andy, Cissy– were also great company, until Hogwarts.

Grandfather Arcturus always said he was the best heir he could have hoped for.

Grandfather Pollux said 'you cannot have a truer Black than he'.

Even great-great-great-aunt Elladora said her brother and nephew would be proud to have such a member of their house named after them.

Sure he had thrown all that away when he turned his back on them, but he always knew it was gone the moment the sorting hat made its decision.

However, he knew his family still cared for him when Uncle Alphard sent him enough gold to live comfortably for the rest of his life, and was disowned in punishment by his mother – Uncle Alphard's own sister.

The Potters had welcomed him with open arms, James' mother Dorea Potter is a Black, was a Black. He knew some still cared.

He had mixed feelings when Grandfather Arcturus sent him a letter the following week, saying the Family Magic had refused to cut him off from the direct line of House Black. It was confusing, but he understood the key information. He was no longer the son of Walburga Black, but remained the son of Orion and grandson of Arcturus Black. He would later spit on the letter and burn it.

But that was beside the point, if every one of the House of Black was dead, then that would mean…

"The Potters."

James was confused, his best friend had just been told that in 20 years all his family members would be dead and he would be the last surviving Black, and the first thing he says is 'The Potters'? Is he mad? "What?"

"He said all of my house is dead, what happened to the Potters?"

Sirius swore under his breath, should've seen that one coming. "I meant all Blacks by name is dead."

"Which means you have gained Lordship?"

Sirius shifted uncomfortably, he was raised as heir but he never had a head for politics. Sure he could make a successful politician, but it wasn't his passion, James had the same problem as him. "Yes…"

"And your heir is?"

"I have no children." Sirius had already named Holly as his heir the moment he was cleared and formally declared as head of house.

Because there was no fucking way he would let Bellatrix have it. It'll basically be Voldemort, and the thought of that monster controlling the power of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black in the Wizengamot sickened him.

Andromeda was out of the question since she was disowned. He tried to reverse that but the family magic refused. It was a full and legal disownment, by law and magic.

Narcissa was alright, but Merlin be damned if he lets Lucius Malfoy have the power, that also cut Draco out of the picture. Cissy was never one for open debate anyway, preferring to operate behind the scenes, so simply, all of grandfather Pollux's line was unacceptable.

Therefore, the next possible candidate was Holly, and she was his godchild, and to the eyes of the Wizarding world, a godchild to a childless man was as good as a biological child.

"I never married?"

"Nope, not the marrying type."

Padfoot nodded, he had expected that.


Remus decided that their greatest curiosity had been tamed, and felt that it was the right time to move to the next topic.

"First of all, there will be restrictions to our answers due to the timeline, we can't have you going back and changing your actions too much. While some of it may be good but a lot can end up badly. So in the case that we must tell you something important, you cannot tell anybody, so will you two swear an oath?"

"We understand." And they took out their wands and made their magical oaths to never reveal the secrets of the future. It was simple really, they both came from old wizarding families and knew how to do it. Even though it was a matter of life and death the most they thought about it was 'the way Father seals important contracts.'

"Good. The first thing we must tell you, is who Holly is."

"I already know she's my daughter."

"There's more to that…"

"What? Oh God you can't mean her mother chea… committed adultery!?" the thought was so unbearable for James that he couldn't even compete the word.

The thought of Lily cheating on James was so unbelievable it stunned Sirius and Remus into silence for a few seconds, which only added to James despair. Luckily, Holly intervened.

"No no, nothing like that. I'm your daughter, and mum was very faithful to you I'm sure."

James managed to breathe again. "If not that, then what?"

"Well…" Holly shifted uncomfortably.

"Well?" Padfoot was getting very curious and impatient.

"It's… complicated."

Padfoot didn't think anything could be more complicated than his own family troubles. The Potters are a loving bunch, so what could be the problem? Although watching Holly nervously bite her lips was a very charming sight. He wouldn't mind doing it himself to be honest.

"Voldemort."

James and Padfoot gave a small shudder.

"He's still around?"

"Unfortunately."

"How come? I thought at least by now he would've been solved! Why hasn't Dumbledore done anything?"

"He has, lots of things. But the moron just won't kick the bloody bucket."

"The fu-" Padfoot held back his dirty mouth in the company of pretty ladies "Why?"

"We don't know, Dumbledore thinks he's getting closer to the secret, but we can't be sure."

"He better be…"

They sat in silence for a while before Remus decided to continue this, better just get it over with. "But he was defeated, for a decade or so."

"What? How?"

"He was defeated and came back? Is he immortal or something?"

"Perhaps, but we can be sure he's deep into the dark arts."

Padfoot frowned, surely the vast Black family library will answer any question to the dark arts. He remembered stumbling across a section on necromancy with Regulus when he was five, they were traumatised for weeks.

"On the night of Halloween 1981" Holly decided to continue the conversation, it was now or never. "Voldemort" she waited for the usual shudders, James and Padfoot bravely resisted, "murdered my parents."


James was shocked.

Halloween?

1981?

He was barely 21! How could he have died so young?

Her parents? He left his daughter an orphan?

Oh Merlin, so that's why she's staying with Padfoot now. Horrifying realisations were forming by the second. And her mother, it has to be Lily, who else can it be? He killed-kills us both? But why did he leave Holly? Surely he would not leave her with a chance for revenge.

Looking over at Padfoot, it appeared he was thinking along the same lines. They were both stunned. Sure they had expected more tragic tales, perhaps ones of their own family. James was prepared to hear of his demise, but he expected it to be on the battlefield, preferably battling Voldemort himself, dying a hero's death.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, the ancestral Potter manor was surrounded with all types of wards, just like the Black manor and Malfoy manor, you could not enter unless invited, or at least accepted by the master of the house, and he was bloody damn sure he and Voldemort would not become besties within the next 5 years.

He voiced his question "How?"

Holly was puzzled, wasn't it obvious how he died? "Killing curse."

"Yeah but how? Potter manor is surrounded by wards and enchantments old and new."

Holly was confused, Potter manor? She had a manor? "Potter manor?"

Now it was James' turn. "You don't know? How can you not know?" He turned to Sirius "How can she not know?"

Like a hot potato, the confusion bounced from one to another "Holly? You don't know?" To Remus: "What does he mean she doesn't know?"

Remus was quite befuddled as well "You don't know Holly?"

Holly was a little nervous at having the attention of everyone suddenly turned on her again. "No?"

"You don't know about your family holdings? Potter manor, and everything else left to you? By your parents?" Remus had adopted his teacher tone now.

"I know I have a vault, Hagrid took me to see it."

"and the vault number is…?"

"Um, 687?"

"Vault 687 is the trust vault the Potter family sets up for its underage children and wards. What about the family vault, do you know of that?"

"No, I only know of vault 687."

"Our family vault is 187."

"Oh ok."

James was a little frustrated that his own daughter, now the head of her house, did not know of her birthright. "Anyway, continue please. But first tell me how… he got through."

"Well…" Holly had lost her nerve after the whole vault fiasco.

"There was a prophecy" Sirius decided he would step in, since this part was thanks to him "predicting the fall of the Voldemort."

A prophecy? James raised his eyebrow, he always considered prophecies to be phony, and his professor of Divinations didn't exactly prove him wrong.

"Long story short, he decided I was The Chosen One and came to kill me." Holly again.

Yeah that went well, the thought of Voldemort going to so much trouble for a mere baby was hard to accept. But hey, who knew what dark arts did to a man.

"and we were in the way…"

Holly gave a grim smile "Yes, you two protected me till the end." And after a moment "and I still remain under my mother's blood protection, thanks to her sacrifice."

James was impressed, blood wards? Trust Lily to activate that. Wait, under her mother's protection? Then shouldn't she be…

"And you've been living with me ever since?" it was Padfoot who asked this time.

Holly fidgeted, this was the really awkward part.

"To protect the Potters against the prophecy, Dumbledore advised them to go under the Fidelius charm, and they agreed to make me the secret keeper." Sirius swallowed, he was haunted by the biggest mistake of his life every day for 12 years. He could do this. "We told Dumbledore that, and he agreed. But then I decided, I decided that we should..." it was never this hard before, why should it be now. "That we should swap secret keepers."

James and Padfoot weren't that stupid, they decided to let him continue without interruption.

"At the time, Remus was sent on a trip to ally the other werewolf clans, but we didn't know that, and I doubted his loyalty, I shouldn't have." Here he turned to Remus "I'm sorry."

"It's alright now, it's all over."

"Anyway, so I swapped. I swapped with, with…" Fury was gathering at the reminder, he pushed it down with the cold reminder of Azkaban. "I swapped with Peter Pettigrew, and he betrayed us. He betrayed us." Breathe in breathe out. Don't get mad, Sirius could not throw a temper now. "Our friend, our mate, we trusted him." Another deep breath. "But he, he went to Voldemort like the rat he is, and spilled everything. That's how James and Lily died. Because of my arrogance, because of Wor- Pettigrew's cowardice."

"Sirius…" the tender tone of Holly calmed him a bit.

"Anyway, after I realised James and Lily were dead. I left Holly with Hagrid and chased after him, but he staged his death and made it look like I killed him and 12 other muggles."

"But how-"

"Doesn't matter. The point is: his plan worked and I was locked up for 12 years in Az-Azkaban." Congratulations to him, he said it all without his temper creating some accidental magic. Now that would have been embarrassing.

Padfoot was shocked, first he finds out his best friend dies in 6 years and now he's told he is locked up for 12 years. This wasn't the wisdom he planned to know when he planned this trip. He wish he had payed more attention to his grandmother Melania when she talked about life and all that.

"What happened to you?" oh yeah, Voldemort was going to kill his pretty little goddaughter-to-be.

"He cast the curse at me, but like I said, my mother's protection saved me, and it rebounded the curse at him."

"But he didn't die."

"No."

"How did he come back?"

"Through a very dark ritual." Holly's voice was starting to shake.

"Bone of the father, flesh of the servant and blood of the foe. Three guesses whose blood he chose."

"Yours…"

Holly gave a dry laugh "Yes you're right! Mine!" Here she cackled in a way eerily like Bellatrix. "After that night I became the girl-who-lived, only known person in history to survive the killing curse." Remus rubbed her back to calm her down. They really didn't need anymore people-balloons. 'People pretty much trip over their feet whenever I introduce myself."

"Not that they need much reason to…" Padfoot muttered to himself, under the strong opinion that she was beautiful enough to make any wizard stammer like a fool. Prongs decided to ignore him.

"That's not the point, If you didn't go with Padfoot, then Moony must have..." here he shot the man a guilty look, which was sadly returned "But the ministry…"

"I tried, and failed."

James nodded, he wasn't expecting anything different anyway. "Then who? My parents? The Longbottoms? Bones? Abbots?"

Holly was surprised at the mention of these people as possible candidates. Sure her paternal grandparents weren't a big surprise, but the families of her classmates? "No… It was on my mother's side, for the protection."

James frowned. If his future wife was Lily then Holly being sent to the muggle side of her family would explain her ignorance for her family holdings. The frown morphed into a scowl as he recalled something he overhead Lily telling her friends about her sister – Petunia Evans. 'Oh I can't believe it, I barely see her at all and she just shuts me out completely for two months. Two months! Must be that boyfriend of hers, oh well, I guess Petunia just wants some alone time.'

He suddenly grew very concerned for Holly's wellbeing.

Remus knew that they couldn't keep the identity of Holly's mother secret for long, and they've already sworn an oath. Sirius appeared to be thinking along the same lines, and he shrugged in response. With no further need for hesitation, he leaned over to Holly and whispered "I think it'll be fine if they know who your mother was."

"What? But-"

"Don't worry, they've sworn an oath."

Holly was doubtful, but she trusted Remus.

She cleared her throat and braced herself. "Since that night, until this summer actually, I've been living with my aunt and her family. My mother's sister Aunt Petunia, her husband my Uncle Vernon, and their son my cousin Dudley."

"Until this summer?"

"Yes, because… An incident in the ministry managed to clear Sirius of all charges and he filed for my custody immediately. "

"But you've been living with your aunt's family for so long, won't you miss them?"

At this point Holly collapsed into a fit of giggles at the thought of missing her relatives, and laughed even harder imagining it vice versa. So Remus stepped in for her.

"No, uh… They weren't the best guardians for Holly, regardless of the blood wards. As long as we remain here in Gri-" Remus frowned, his sentence was abruptly cut off by an unknown force "Gri- Grimmau-"

But before he could try again, he was instantly alarmed when he felt a wand poke into the back of his neck and a familiar voice "Before you try again, would anyone present like to explain this most peculiar situation to me?


I hope you are pleased with this chapter, this was the really tricky part to write when I first got the idea and made me avoid posting the first chapter for months.

Anyone want to take a guess as to who has arrived?

Do leave a review with your thoughts, the more I receive the more motivated I am to write.

Thank you! :)