Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Thanks for the follows. Read on.
Night Time Rendezvous and Talks
Summer Holidays, 1989
Marauders' Home
The next day Harry got up early, as was his routine and carried out his magic practice and exercise. He wasn't going to go back to the dojo, so was going to practice by himself. He practiced his stances of combat and trained with his weapons. They had converted a room into a training room for the sole purpose.
Sirius slept till late, so Harry wasn't worried about him walking in on him and realizing he was using magic.
Though he was thinking of telling Sirius about it on that day.
He had thought about everything that he learned the day before, till late in the night and had decided to start teaching Sirius wandless magic and of course telling him some of the things. Like the training they need to start to fight the parasites. He would have to be careful with what he said as Sirius could tell everything to Remus who would tell Bumblebee.
Though he had faith in Sirius and was hoping he would realize telling others what they were doing wasn't good for now, he couldn't be sure what he will do. So Harry was going to have to be careful with what he said.
After breakfast that day, he asked Sirius if they could talk and after Sirius sat back down he started to carefully construct his words.
Harry told him how he could perform wandless magic, demonstrating it by cleaning their plates and putting them back wandlessly.
He told him he had been able to do it for the last year, after Anna had started teaching him and told Sirius he could teach him as well.
Sirius had looked excited at Harry's ability to perform wandless magic and was thrilled he could learn as well.
Then Harry told him he couldn't tell anyone else about what they are doing and Sirius had been confused.
"But this is a big thing, Harry. Think about the ways wizards could benefit from it, Dumbledore could teach it to others. It would be a huge breakthrough in the wizarding world. Everyone thinks that no one could perform wandless since only powerful wizards could do it even in the times before." Sirius said excited.
"It used to be this way before Sirius. But they stopped teaching it for a reason. They were scared of what the wizards could do with such freedom. As there's no way to trace it like a wand. You can't stop a wizard from using their magic if they don't need a wand, which could be taken from them. So we need to keep this under wraps. You can't tell anyone about this. Even Dumbledore. And there's more." Harry said.
Then Harry told him about the greater threat against them from the parasites.
"Anna had a vision about this." Sirius asked incredulous.
"Yes. You need to understand Sirius, this is very important. We can not tell about this to anyone as the wrong person could realize what we are doing. It could cause all our plans to fail. We need to be discrete about our actions." Harry said grimly.
"But you are all just kids Harry. You can't do all this. We need to tell Dumbledore about this. There was already the threat of Voldemort looming over us and now this. He needs to know." Sirius said standing up and pacing.
"No, Sirius. Aren't you listening to me? We can't tell anyone about this. We need to be sure they aren't corrupted. And from Dumbledore's actions it sure looks like he is." Harry half-lied even though he knew he wasn't.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked confused.
"Well. Look at all the things he has done. Dumping me with the Dursley, chucking you in Azkaban without even a trial, when you were my Dad's best friend, brothers they called you. You even blood adopted me. He should have had some knowledge about it. How he handled Voldemort. Do you know that if he hadn't handled the things as he did in the past, Voldemort wouldn't have ever gotten this far. A fluke brought him down. Not their, your efforts. A backfired killing curse. He was almost close to rule over us." Harry vented.
Sirius just watched him astonished and frowning.
"We can't trust Dumbledore, Sirius. You need to promise me, you wouldn't tell him about this. He can't help us, but only would hinder us. We are suspicious if this all was because he is corrupted or his own actions, which would be worse." Harry finished with a grimace.
"But he must be corrupted then and maybe there is a way to help him." Sirius muttered.
"And how are you sure I'm not corrupted?" He added to Harry.
"Because we can sense it. We can teach you as well. And Dumbledore actually doesn't feel like he is corrupted. So its possible all this actions were his own. Which means it is worst possible situation. And we can't help him. We can't change his way of thinking. But we may have been able to help if he had been corrupted." Harry said grimly.
"This... this is so much, Harry." Sirius said sitting back down, with his head in his hands.
"Were you acting weird yesterday because of all this?" He asked looking up at him.
"Yes. We had decided to tell you about this. And I was worried how you would take it." Harry answered looking at him anxiously.
"I would think about all you told me. And I wouldn't tell anyone about it." Sirius promised.
"Thanks, Sirius. And please remember it. Not even Lupin should know now, alright?" Harry asked beseeching.
Sirius just nodded back and left the room.
Harry let out a sigh. They hadn't discussed what they were going to tell others, but he was sure the other two were giving Regulus similar rundown now.
The others needed to know something to prepare for the fight. They couldn't do all this alone.
And he was right. The other two were telling Regulus the slight change in plans, that is now they were going to train to fight the parasites and finding Avalon had taken back place.
Regulus had been astonished on learning about the new threat.
They had to tell him that the one who told them about the task before, to save Majs from No-Majs, had alerted them to the new threat.
He also had left them like Sirius to ponder on the new revelations.
-x-
Nurmengard
It was close to midnight on Friday and Nick and Anna were waiting for Harry.
They had met again two nights ago to discuss all that they had learned.
Harry telling them Sirius' reaction and his decision to help him. He had also promised Harry he wouldn't tell anyone about all he learned but he needed to know everything about the vision and all they know.
Harry hadn't told him everything but did inform him of their previous plans to isolate the wizards from muggles, but the change of plans occurring because of the new vision.
Regulus was still thinking about everything but had been alright for the preparations of the ritual to start, which would change his identity. The ritual was going to be done on the next weekend and he had time till then to confirm his decision.
Then they had discussed the various ways they could start including others. It had been a long night.
"Boo." Harry whispered as he stepped behind them in the clearing.
"You can't scare us Harry-chan." Anna replied turning towards him unaffected.
"No, but I did scared Sirius like that. It is nice to act like a child sometimes. And he also gets reassured because of my child-like antics." Harry shrugged.
Anna smiled then took his hand along with Nick's to step them to the spot she had scouted out the day before.
She had stepped them to a spot a few miles from the actual prison, which unlike Azkaban wasn't surrounded by water on all sides.
Then stepped again near the prison, erasing her magic as she went.
From there they checked out the wards. They were difficult to break through but they weren't going to break them, rather they disabled all the alarm wards and then made a hole big enough for them to go through in their Animagus forms.
Nick was also a panther like them and Anna suspected now, it was because they all were Death's master. The panther is sometimes associated with Death. That is, it is considered one of Death's symbol. It may be true, apparently.
His form was also cub like, but they both could change forms into a small kitten as well.
They appeared outside the outer boundary wall, then again stepped inside it.
Nurmengard was a desolate place. It was, as its reputation said, a grim fortress. The highest tower, where Grindelwald was kept, was looking quite forbidding.
They changed back their forms then looked at each other. Anna indicated the other two to go in front of her she would follow, erasing their evidence.
Harry looked at her doubtful, but she rolled her eyes and waved him off.
They flew to the window of the highest tower. There, floating in the air they checked out the wards on the cell. They were going to need to find a way inside. The wards on the cell were more concentrated than that on the whole prison.
From the window they could see the emaciated form of Grindelwald lying on the hard bed.
The night was dark but they were using their mage vision. The trick of infusing magic in the eyes to see the magic was called mage vision by the majs, Anna was informed by Harry.
They searched out the door to the tower so they could get inside and bring him out some way, as they definitely couldn't use the window for that.
Or maybe they could, Nick suggested.
"We just need to transfigure him and take him out through that way." He whispered raising a brow.
"But we will need to deposit the clone as well. We would need to transfigure it too, I guess." Anna whispered back thoughtfully.
"Do we dismantle the wards now? To see how he is?" Harry asked.
"His magic is bound to almost nothing, but he looks stable." Anna replied shrugging.
"Let's just check them out so we would be prepared to dismantle and remantle them later." Nick said.
But they froze suddenly as the form inside seemed to have sensed them. He sat up on his bed and looked out the window. They were disillusioned but still held their breath. Then he grinned. He remained sitting and they all were left wondering what to do.
"Well, come on then. Come to finish me off, aren't you?" He called from inside.
"Or are you Death, come to finally do me in?" He continued.
"If you are one of my fans then I should tell you I won't be any use to you. I have changed my ways." He said tilting his head confused by their silence.
"Well that's great then, isn't it?" Anna said finally bringing down her disillusionment charm.
"Hello there. Your voice sounds young. Very young. How did you got here child? Or are you really a child?" Grindelwald asked, his voice hoarse from disuse.
Anna dismantled the wards, shrugging at the others as they too brought down their disillusionment and looked at her questioning.
She then changed forms and entered through the window in her kitten form. The others followed her in.
Grindelwald was sitting relaxed back on the bed. He was trying to see them in the dark but it was a new moon, so the sky was pitch black.
Anna changed her form back and put up wards around the cell. Then she conjured some light in her palms and let it flood the cell.
Grindelwald averted his face, bringing his hand up to cover his eyes.
"Wow. He looks like hell." Anna said tilting her head.
"That's an understatement Anna." Nick replied folding his hands and leaning back against a wall.
"And what are we doing here, conversing with him?" Harry asked.
"Well you wanted to give him a choice. He isn't corrupted, so let's see what he makes of it." Anna replied quirking her brows.
Grindelwald had been watching them silently as they talked, head still tilted. He finally said,
"Well aren't you all cute little angels. I had always loved children. Little rays of sunshine. Well some of them are." He finished wryly, coughing a fit after talking.
"Yeah. Some. Though not all, right?" Anna asked smirking towards her companions, after his fit was finished.
They smirked back. Then Grindelwald continued,
"So what brings you here to this hellhole?"
"Well we are ma-" Anna was about to blab everything so Harry cut her off and said instead,
"We are here to give you a chance to show us if you really have renounced your old ways. If you want, we could give you a way out of this hellhole."
"Though we don't really care about your actions, you did come second on the list of terrorizing Dark Lords. And so we would need to be sure if you really regret your old ways." Nick added.
"Who stole the first place?" Grindelwald asked.
"Oh, you must have heard of him. It isn't like you don't get the news of the outside world here." Nick replied quirking his brows, like Anna did.
"Though how you do get it is a mystery to me." Anna added.
"Prisoner privileges I would say. He get it through the newspapers?" Harry guessed.
"Yes. The house-elf brings a newspaper along with the food." Grindelwald nodded his head fast, agreeing with him.
"He doesn't seem mentally sound to me." Anna commented at his behavior, raising a brow.
"You are thinking about it just now." Harry said shaking his head.
"He is just like that, don't worry." Nick added.
"Alright. So the first place winner was-" he continued.
"Voldemort. I know." Grindelwald said.
"Like I thought." Nick replied.
"Though you could call him 'Lord Thingy' or 'You-know-who' o-"
"Anna?" Nick interrupted.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"Alright." She smirked.
"'Lord Thingy', that's a good one." Grindelwald added smirking.
"I know, right? You have to give Fudge the credit. He-" Anna said but seeing Nick's face added,
"Shutting up."
"So why are you giving me this chance? A way out of a hellhole built by my own orders." Grindelwald asked.
"Well we had heard that you felt 'genuine remorse' for your actions. Thought you could use a chance to-" Nick looked towards others with a brow quirked so Harry said, "make amends." He looked towards Anna.
She rolled her eyes at their expectant looks and looked towards Grindelwald, who had been looking at them all through it all.
"You seem to be the leader here." He commented.
"Ah. No. Not really." Anna said at the same time Nick and Harry said, "Yes. She is."
She looked at them exasperated and said to Grindelwald, who was smirking, "We decide everything together. I... I am the oldest amongst us so I guess I get the title of the leader." She shrugged.
"So you are getting this chance to make amends." She added.
"To make amends huh? And how would I do that?" He asked.
"..." Anna didn't know what to say. The others didn't want to tell him everything so,
"That is for us to know and you to find out later. You just need to think if you want the chance or not." She said finally.
"And how do I know that you wouldn't turn back on your offer. Or whatever task you ask me to do I would want to do or even could do it. I ain't like I used to be." He shrugged.
"Well we won't turn back on our offer, we wouldn't have asked you otherwise. We definitely won't ask you to do anything you don't want to. And don't worry about being able to 'perform', you would be able to do it." Anna smirked.
"Child. Anna. Child. You. Are. A. Child." Nick exclaimed, while Harry too looked on exasperated.
Anna just looked at him sheepishly, tongue between her teeth.
"That she is." Grindelwald said intrigued.
The cogs in his head seems to be turning as he observed them with weak eyes. And then he let out a wheezy laugh.
"This is hilarious." He said. He didn't said more just watched Anna shrug unapologetic to her companions.
"Well you found out how you would be able to be fit enough to do the task. Now its just the matter of you wanting and accepting to do it." Anna said checking her nails.
"We will leave you now. And I hope you won't tell anyone about us, if anybody came for a visit. Even if the chances of that are slim. Though maybe Bumblebee will." She finished with a mutter.
"Bumblebee, huh?" Grindelwald shook his head, "Never heard that one before."
"Farewell. Or what do you say in German, Ciao." Nick said tipping his head.
"See you soon." Harry too tipped his head.
"Tata." Anna waved her hand cheerfully and then brought down the wards she put up.
They all changed back forms and got out back through the window. Grindelwald listened silently as they all cleared all signs of their presence after remantling all wards back up.
Then they were gone and he was left to contemplate their offer.
Well, he thought, it wasn't that hard to decide what he wanted. He definitely wouldn't mind getting out of that hellhole.
-x-
Surrey - Marauders' Home
"Oh, we didn't asked him his birth date." Anna exclaimed when they stepped into the clearing.
"You could go ask him later. We have time till Christmas." Nick said casually.
"That we do." Harry said.
"That-" Anna started.
"Don't say it. Don't jinx it." Harry said.
"You are so superstitious, Harry-kun." Anna pouted.
"It isn't superstition. Words have power. As the Greeks used to say." Harry replied.
"They used to say, 'names have power' or something similar to it, Harry-kun. Like you can't say Zeus's name or the other Gods' name." Anna corrected.
"It is similar. Its better not to say anything like that as well. I have plenty experience in that." Harry replied stubbornly.
"Shush guys." Nick exclaimed.
They had already gone silent though, hearing the rustling of the bushes.
They waited in silence, searching around with their mage sight and hearing.
Finally Sirius' grim form emerged from behind a tree.
He was skirting around the clearing but hadn't notice them.
Finally he left and they looked at each other.
"Shit." Harry said.
"Language, Harry-kun." Anna reprimanded.
"Forget his language, what the hell was he doing here?" Nick asked, indicating towards where Sirius had gone.
"Beats me. I had been careful. How did he realize I had gone?" Harry exclaimed.
"Man, he was keeping a close eye on me. But I thought I had tricked him good. Guess you couldn't trick a marauder easily." He added running his hand through his hair.
"Now what am I gonna tell him we were doing?" He asked frustrated.
"Staking out the corrupted?" Anna suggested, biting her lip.
Nick too nodded thoughtfully.
"Alright. Let's go." Harry said.
"Before he calls the cavalry." He added muttering.
"Calm, Harry-chan." Anna said.
Harry just nodded back taking a deep breath.
They found him near the tree edges and he changed form on seeing them.
"I told you to tell me about your plans Harry. And I didn't give you permission to-" Sirius was starting to rant, but Harry cut him off.
"I know you care about me immensely Sirius and feel responsible for me but I'm- we are used to doing things by ourselves. I hadn't asked for anyone's permission in quite a long while. Even before Anna came into my life, I guess. And I am not going to ask yours any time soon." Harry exclaimed.
"I said Calm, Harry-chan." Anna called cringing, from her place with Nick at some distance.
He took a deep breath again and said, "Look Sirius, I know you were scared for me. But you have to realize, we do this things frequently. You can't keep worrying for me like this and following me. Bumb-, I mean Dumbledore might learn about it. He had already put surveillance wards on the orphanage and our home."
Sirius heaved a sigh and said, "Don't worry about the wards. I had noticed them and deceived them when I was leaving. And also realized he put some here. You were clever in deceiving it. Nothing much complex." He added with a grim smile.
They had done it like Anna had altered Harry's last time. Keeping them on a loop.
"And you are right, I worry about you. I guess I have to think of you like a mature person rather than an inexperienced, scared child." He said with a sad smile. And hugged him close.
Harry hugged him back and said, "I know this must be difficult for you. But as I said, we are used to do things on our own. We had gone to stake out some of the corrupted." He added to explain where they were gone.
Sirius nodded and raised a brow.
"They aren't doing much yet." Harry replied at his expression, waving his friends near.
Then Sirius asked, "What were you calling Dumbledore? Bumb- something." He frowned in thought.
"Ah. It isn't really an insult, just a play on his name." Harry said sheepish, rubbing his head.
"Actually, I started using it you see. So they too got in the habit of it." Anna added.
"And 'it' is?" Sirius asked expectedly.
"Bumblebee." Harry replied.
"Seriously? That is hilarious." Sirius said with a snort and then he laughed out loud.
"We never thought about it." He added.
Harry bid farewell to Anna and Nick then and took Sirius' hand, stepping them back to their home.
"This is cool." Sirius exclaimed, having seen that way of apparating the first time.
"That it is." Harry smiled back.
They went inside and then discussed Harry's actions of the night and Sirius' too.
Sirius promised he won't follow him around again, but he should be informed of Harry leaving at least.
Harry nodded back and told him he would be gone the next night and the next weekend as well.
Sirius just sighed and nodded in reply to that.
They left to their rooms to sleep for the few hours left before dawn arrived.
As he went to sleep Harry was thinking of starting the training with Sirius and also starting his own training to fight in different styles.
As Death had told them, the parasites were tricky beings with very different styles of fighting than their own. So they needed to vary their fighting styles, if they hope to have a chance against them.
-x-
London - Potter Manor
The next night they really were going to stake out the corrupted so that Nick and Harry could understand how to sense them.
"Hadn't you sensed that he was corrupted?" Harry asked Anna indicating Nick.
"I realized it when we summoned his bodiless self for the ritual. We had flushed out the parasite then." Anna replied.
"You didn't tell us anything." He added frowning.
"Like Death said, I couldn't." Anna shrugged.
"I mean I literally couldn't tell you." She huffed on seeing their dubious expressions.
"Its like... Ah yes... the Fidelius charm. You can't talk about it until the other is in on the secret." She said.
"But now its like the charm is broken so we can tell others about it." She added.
The other two nodded in understanding at that.
They wandered around London, Anna letting them sense the corrupted on their own.
"Why are there so many corrupted in the ministry?" Harry frowned.
"To reveal the Majs to others. They would be properly placed to leak the news outside." Anna said.
"The Prime Minister's the only one who we reveal the secret to." Nick added.
"Of course the Queen also knows as well." Anna added.
"And her security detail." Nick agreed.
"And them yeah." Anna added.
Harry hummed in agreement.
"Should we go to Buckingham Palace as well. But they have some Majs in there guards right?" Harry asked.
"Yes they have. Rather not risk it now. Death had said the Majs hadn't been corrupted much." Nick said looking at Anna. She nodded back.
But Harry said, "You had been corrupted though."
"No actually. He had the remnant of last time. Like many people may have now. Those are the ones with very weak defenses. The parasite was able to influence them through those remnants. We could check them out if you want. They may have some remnants as well."
So they covered their magical signatures carefully and stepped away.
They were like phantoms as they wandered around the place. After finding a few they decided to withdraw and so stepped back in Potter manor.
"So those are the remnants?" Harry asked frowning.
"Yeah. You understood the difference, right? Between the remnants and actual corrupted. Nick did all those things because he had the remnant which allowed the parasites the control like last time. But we flushed it out."
"And we could help those as well?" Harry asked.
"We could flush out the remnants easily but actual parasites are gonna be tough, and I mean real tough, difficult to flush." Anna replied.
"We can't make them immune, its tough to flush them out, this is looking like its all against us." Harry exclaimed.
"You got to work for it." Anna shrugged.
"But if a remnant could cause so much destruction, what could an actual parasite do?" Nick exclaimed.
"No it didn't actually caused the destruction like last time. Most people who went 'missing' in your reign are actually safe. We could save those in the time change. As they weren't actually considered dead by the world, they could be brought back. They actually are living in the dungeons in your castle." She added to Nick.
"That they do." Nick frowned.
"I have always been confused why I didn't kill them, instead just keeping them prisoners. Guess it was the time change affecting the circumstances, yeah?" He added.
Anna nodded then said, "Your soul was still destroyed cause we couldn't change the time that far back. Or Death could have just solved the majs problems like that." She said with a snap of her fingers.
"The timeline can be changed only a few years back from the time that I start so..." She shrugged.
"So what do we do about those remnants and the corrupted?" Harry asked.
"Nothing for now. No need to tip our hand just yet." Anna replied.
"Death had said it isn't serious yet." Nick added shrugging.
"But it could get serious soon. Circumstances can change." Harry persisted.
"How about I show you how to flush the parasites and the remnants?" Anna asked looking towards them contemplative.
"Alright." Nick nodded.
And Harry too nodded with a grimace.
"I know you two must be thinking that I'm acting all paranoid, but it-"
"Isn't paranoia if they are actually after you." Nick smirked as he finished.
"We understand Harry-kun. And you are right. Circumstances can change. It is better to be proactive. Things could have been different last time if we had..." Anna sighed shaking her head.
"But I'm not going to waste our time talking about what could have been." She said.
And continued, "So how about we do it sometime in the next week. The weekend is gonna be busy. And the days after that too. We would 'get adopted' soon." Anna smirked.
"Are we going to continue school after that?" Nick asked.
"Maybe. Its better to have real records rather than making them up. We could use them later if we need them for anything. Or maybe we don't. I really don't want to waste time doing school." Anna held her head in her hand.
"The majs don't go to muggle school anyway. Nobody in magical world would question it if Regulus-Leo homeschooled us." Nick added.
"It would save our time. Rather than pretending to be normal kids, we could use the time to do more of our tasks." Harry said.
"I was going to ask you about it soon. Sirius had asked me if I wanted to get enrolled in a school again. But we don't really need to. So we don't." Harry proposed.
"Alright. So we don't go to school again, at least the muggle school. We will need to go to Hogwarts in two years though, since we need to establish ourselves there, in the magical world. " Anna replied.
"That we do." Nick sighed.
"How did you do this so many times? I'm already tired thinking about all this now, my first time. With all the memories though, it doesn't feel like I'm trying to save the fricking world for the first time." Nick said.
"I don't understand one thing. You didn't had your memories last time we lived in this time and yet you said you could have saved him if you had sacrificed yourself?" Harry asked, confused to Anna.
"The time on Earth isn't one-way river, Harry-kun. We are living this life again, aren't we? The things that happened last time wouldn't happen this time. So he could have been saved before, but I didn't want to do that then so..." Anna shrugged.
"Its so confusing." Harry said and rolled his eyes.
"The time flows for the universe in a straight line though, right?" Nick asked.
"Yes." Anna replied.
"So we didn't have fixed timeline cause Death changes-could change, the time period on Earth?"
"Yes."
"But he can't change back much from the starting point?"
"No, he can't. I mean, he can change some things but not much. The 'future' we could change with our actions."
"And he didn't sent you back to a time period earlier than this cause?" Harry asked, starting to understand it some.
"Cause... I don't know. But I 'think' its cause all the masters are present in this time period, I mean together. I actually wasn't born as a maj before this time in this period and neither were you?" She trailed off questioning Harry.
"No. I got no memories of this timeline before this period, I mean not related to all this. I was born but I too wasn't magical." Harry answered thoughtful.
"All masters are present together now, as majs. So Death sent you in this period." Nick said musing.
"Yes. I think that may be it." Anna shrugged.
"And I didn't knew about all this in my first lives so I had time to enjoy the experience, I guess. And get bored of it. You had everything piled on you in just your first life." Anna said smiling sadly.
Her eyes showed her eons of experience then and she blinked and it was gone.
"Well I have somewhat tolerable companions so its alright." Nick smirked.
"And you get used to the saving people business." Harry shrugged.
"That too." Nick replied.
"So no schools. And you show us the way to flush the parasites and remnants this week sometime. There is still time for the vacations to end but we are not going to school so I guess we have got more time to do things now." Harry surmised.
"Anything else?" He asked yawning.
"No. Come on. We need to sleep." Anna pulled him up, stepping Harry to his room. Then in her room in the orphanage, after making sure Nick was gone as well. She waved him goodnight from the doorway and he smiled back closing the door.
-x-
London - Gringotts – Black Manor
Anna did showed them the way to flush the parasites in the next week. Again going late in the night to find a inconsequential corrupted.
That weekend Regulus was ready and decisive to carry out the ritual which would change his identity permanently.
That included his appearance as well. He had dark blue eyes almost like Nick, with a changed facial structure and body build to separate him from his original form.
Leo Perseus Black was homeschooled by his mother, a half-blood, who herself was homeschooled. His father, a squib like his grandfather, died when he was child. And his mother died last year due to a magical illness.
He had lived in France his whole life, but had decided to move to his home country and was now living in the muggle world, alone, finding a place for his home. He's 19 and had yet to get his Owls and Newts but he's going to get them soon. After which he could get a job with the goblins, warding houses.
Regulus actually was good with wards and had asked them to inquire with the goblins if they would give him the job. They had agreed after testing his skills.
After he was settled he will come across the orphans while wandering London and then adopt them, to fill up his house, rather than living alone and feeling lonely, and help the magical orphans, following his mother's footsteps of helping people.
"If my mother learned I was doing this, she would disown me faster than you could say 'orphan'." Leo had said shaking his head.
"May be or may be not. You can't know it and you may never know her opinion." Anna suggested.
"I'm pretty sure, that would be the case." Leo replied.
"If you say so." She shrugged back.
The days after were spent creating a false trail to suggest he was living in France, and not just appeared from no where.
Then getting a house so that they could all live there comfortably.
While he searched for the house, the others were busy with the muggle-borns and squibs the goblins had found.
The squibs had already started with the fields and supplies, and now they were going to teach the muggle-borns new spells and innovations that they were getting patented.
The magical training would start after they had got more acquainted with their employees. During the time they otherwise would have been busy with school.
The goblins were having a conference with their people soon, from various branches of Gringotts around Europe. It was the first step towards increasing their influence. After that they would increase the scope to include other continents but there was still time for that.
Sirius had been alerted of the fact of there being a new Black family member around when Leo had gone to give his Owls and Newts in the ministry.
It had opened the can of worms for him. He hadn't yet gone to meet his grandfather, but after learning about Leo's ancestry he decided to bite the bullet.
He wanted to include him and his cousin Andromeda and her family, back in the Black family. He could do it later when he become the Lord Black, but he wanted to try reasoning with his grandfather first.
He wanted to introduce Harry as his son as well and so they were going to meet him in the Black family manor.
It was grand and layered with numerous wards. Harry had already seen it in some of his earlier lifetimes and so was careful to act awed when they saw it. Though it wasn't hard, seeing as the magic of the place was still impressive.
The grounds were even larger than the Potter manor's and the Malfoy manor. Harry wished he could go and pet the Hippogriffs and the horses he knew were kept in the stable along with the Pegasi and the Abraxan horses.
They entered the foyer and the huge door opened to reveal a house-elf who led them towards the master bedroom where the current Lord Black, Arcturus Black III was waiting for them.
Sirius had dressed implacably for the occasion and had asked Harry to dress well as well. His grandfather was all about prompt and manners after all.
"So they were able to get you out of the prison." His grandfather said as they entered the room.
"Yes, they were." Sirius replied. He had been told about Harry's and Anna's efforts at releasing him from the Azkaban.
"You don't look well, Grandfather." He added as they neared the bed.
Lord Black was sitting up, leaned back on the bed and was covered with sheets. But he looked tired as he scrutinized his guests.
"I don't feel much well." He replied.
"And you are young Harry Potter." He added looking at Harry.
"Yes. Well met, Sir." Harry greeted with a bow.
"Well met, lad. Quite some manners you have there. Couldn't have been from him though." Lord Black replied, indicating Sirius.
"No, it wasn't me. But I'm trying to be a good father for him now." Sirius answered at the jab.
"Well I hope you do better than what you did as a son and a heir." Lord Black replied sharply.
"My parents pushed me away-" Sirius started to say.
"You were too much of a coward to own up to your mistakes. Shirking from your responsibilities." Lord Black interrupted.
"Why don't we all forget the past for now? It would lead us no where arguing about it." Harry interrupted when Sirius went to speak again.
"That you are right about, son. Take the seats. So what brings you here? Didn't remember me for all this time." Lord Black coughed out.
"I'm noted as the heir. I am to become the Lord after you. I wanted to meet up with you to ask if you are really accepting of it. And also wanted you to meet the next heir in line, Harry." Sirius answered.
"Yes. I knew you would be the Lord. Regulus, bless his soul, would have been more appropriate but he died trying to do the right thing. Like you people were supposed to do." Lord Black replied with a frown.
"What? He died because he got cold feet after he realized that it wasn't all glorious following the megalomaniac." Sirius replied heatedly.
"You never did tried to think about things through others point of view. For you it was always black and white. You were right about everything and we were wrong." Lord Black replied shaking his head.
"He was trying to do the right thing, after he did realize his mistake. You wouldn't know about it, because you were busy ignoring your family and fighting your righteous fight." He added.
"But its no use beating a dead horse. So yes you would be the Lord after my death and I hope you do well with your responsibility and not run from it again." He said to Sirius.
"And I hope you would do something of yourself as well and bring back the respect and the esteem the Black name once held back." He added to Harry.
Harry just tilted his head in acknowledgment.
"And I wanted to inform you that I would be bringing Andromeda and her family back in the Black family." Sirius added.
"Her daughter is a Metamorphmagus I hear." Lord Black commented.
"Yes, she is. Along with Leo Black, a half-blood ward master, grandson of Marius Black." Sirius continued.
"Is he now? Well you can decide what you want to do after you become the Lord." Lord Black said, face devoid of emotions.
"And I would disown Bellatrix and Narcissa and her son." Sirius finished.
"Still so ignorant." Lord Black said shaking his head.
Sirius frowned at the comment.
"Narcissa, I may rethink about after meeting with her, but Bellatrix how could you advocate her after all she's done." Sirius said frowning still.
"And what about all that was done to her? Things aren't always what they look like. You should know it better now." Lord Black answered.
"I had cleared your doubts, you would be the Lord Black after me. May Hecate be with you and guide you. Now leave me to rest." He said abruptly then, ending the conversation.
Sirius frowned at the abrupt dismissal but stood up, indicating Harry to stand up as well.
"Goodbye, Grandfather. Take care." He said bowing, as he stepped back to leave.
"Goodbye, Sir." Harry mimicked Sirius.
"Goodbye, sons. Take care." Lord Black replied.
They were led back towards the door, then Sirius gave his hand to Harry to step them back to their home.
"What was he talking about? What was done to Bellatrix and what about Regulus?" He muttered as they entered the living room.
Harry knew about them both, but he couldn't answer those questions as he can't give the excuse of Anna's visions for it. So he remained silent as Sirius paced around in agitation.
"Maybe you could try asking someone about it. Lord Black can't be the only one who knows whatever happened." Harry suggested.
"You are right. Maybe Narcissa knows. She may at least know about Bellatrix. Regulus' death had been a mystery to all of us. We just thought Voldemort ordered him to be killed when he tried to back out." Sirius replied frowning.
"How do you know he tried to back out?" Harry asked.
"He... he uh had... they say he had been trying to find a way to get away... Had tried to contact someone to help him..." Sirius replied grimacing.
"Maybe I could have helped him... if I had just..." He continued muttering.
"Well try finding the story first. Maybe talk to Lord Black again. You would learn what really happened at least." Harry replied.
Sirius just nodded back sighing.
-x-
Potter Manor
When Harry entered the Potter manor that night to meet with others, he was met with a surprising sight.
The elves were running around panicking in the kitchen.
"Oh master Harry, Mistress Anna be hurt." Folksy said reverting back to her previous speech due to her panic.
"What? What happened?" He asked, but they weren't in the state to answer him.
"Hush. Calm down everyone. It's going to be alright. Come on, don't panic. Everything will be alright." He said trying to calm the panicking elves.
"Take me to her, Folksy." He ordered her finally.
She took his hand and popped them both in Anna's room. Then popped back to the kitchen, to look after the food still anxious.
Harry was looking at the scene in shock, Anna was laying on the bed covered in gauges and Nick was sitting near her with his head in his hand.
"What happened?" Harry asked frowning, moving towards the bed.
"Hey, Harry-kun." Anna greeted him with a sheepish smile.
"What? Anna what happened?" He asked again.
"I did this." Nick said sighing.
"What?" Harry asked frowning still, his vocabulary lost for the moment.
"Will you stop blaming yourself? I'm totally fine. We were training Harry-kun and I asked him to don't hold back. We need to built our pain resistance, for if we ever got caught and were tortured by the parasites. It was totally my call to get beaten up." Anna said frustrated.
"I will be alright by the morning. But they all are in a panic. I didn't even put up much of a fight as he attacked me." She added exasperated.
"Are you insane? Why would you do that? And put him through that? And you, you just beat her up, when she wasn't even putting up a fight?" Harry said incredulous.
"Well if that was her not putting up a fight, I don't know and really don't want to know what is. She was... she was taunting me for my failures and... And I lost control. I need to get a handle on my anger." Nick said sighing.
"I just thought it was a good time to start that training. You both need to start getting a handle on your emotions when you fight. And you too need to build this threshold for pain. I am sorry I sprang it on you like that Nick. I really am. I just didn't think it would be a big deal." Anna said frustrated.
"Of course it is a big deal Anna. We are supposed to fighting together, not with each other. Even if it was training you could have warned him of your intentions." Harry exclaimed.
"You are both intelligent enough I thought to understand the reasons behind it." Anna snarked back.
"We need to get our body acquainted with the pain, so we don't go in a shock when we do get injured in a fight." She said frowning.
"So you do this in all your lives? Getting yourself beaten to get yourself acquainted with the pain?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Cause even if I know mentally I could take it. My body still may go in shock and I would rather not faint in the middle of a fight just cause it couldn't handle some pain." Anna replied.
"That's insane and correct, theoretically." Harry sighed.
"But still not right." He added frustrated.
"So you don't want to do it?" Anna asked blankly.
"I am saying a warning would have been nice. I was afraid after seeing all the elves in panic, thinking what could have happened. Did the parasites made a preemptive strike or what?!" Harry said.
"And he didn't need to be subjected to that." He added gesturing towards Nick.
"You must have trained others in your lives, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. You need to bleed to make yourself stronger." Anna scowled.
"Don't you think we know that? And instead of treating us like inexperienced children maybe you could have just asked it directly. Discussed it." Harry replied folding his arms.
Anna looked from him to Nick, who still had his head in his hand, then sighed.
"I'm sorry Nick. I am an idiot." She said taking his hand in hers.
"You don't need to beat yourself up. I promise you I would be perfect by morning. I just didn't realized that I could have just discussed it all with you instead. I'm still learning as I said. In my lives I just treat my students like that, I mean they need to learn as they go after all. I'm not that brutal with children though." She said apologetic.
Nick huffed a sigh and just shook his head.
"I should have realized you were setting me up, but as I said I need to control my temper. I had controlled it in my previous lives but I guess I need to start anew for this body. Voldemort had a murderous rage after all." He said self deprecatingly.
"Hey, you are not Voldemort. It's in the past, don't live in it. Just try to get lessons from it as you move forward." Anna said in a lecturing tone.
Nick just rolled his eyes at her tone.
"So you both good now?" Harry asked with a raised brow.
"Yup. Sit Harry-kun. Did the elves calmed down? They had been in a panic since we were fighting." Anna said tugging at Nick's hand.
"I tried to. They will calm down soon hopefully." He shrugged.
"Why all the gauges? Can't you just heal the injuries with magic?" He asked.
"I could. But the salve applied to it would heal it all in the night, without wasting any energy. It's my own creation." She said with a smile.
Harry nodded back.
"So what were the injuries? You look like hell." He asked.
"Oh, just a few broken bones. A little blood loss and some bruises and cuts." She said airily.
"Yeah, it was all just superficial." Nick said sarcastically.
Anna ignored him.
"So how did the meeting with Lord Black go?" She asked instead.
"It was short. Sirius told him about letting Re-Leo in the family along with the Tonks. Then said he would disown Bellatrix and Narcissa. So he replied that Sirius was still ignorant about it all." Harry shrugged.
"And now he's going to try and find the truth." He added.
"Well good luck to him, trying to find it." Anna said rolling her eyes.
Harry didn't react in anyway. He was feeling funny since the morning actually. He had ignored the feeling in the morning as just flu or something. But now he was feeling tired and so sleepy.
"Harry? Harry?!" Anna was calling his name, shaking him.
"What?" Harry asked confused.
"You fell asleep. Are you feeling alright? You don't look too good." She replied.
"Hark who's talking." He snapped back.
"Hey, calm down. What's wrong? How are you feeling?" She asked trying to check his temperature.
"Don't touch me. I'm fine." He said frowning.
"Your body's heating up. Are you really okay?" Anna asked glancing at Nick.
"I said I'm fine." Harry snapped back.
"Let me check Harry." Nick asked him calmly.
"I'm alright guys." Harry replied frustrated.
"Your body really is heating up." Nick replied.
"Must be the flu or something. You know what, I'll go and sleep. Maybe we had been working too hard." He replied, getting up and backing towards the door.
"Call us if you feel worse." Anna said worried.
Harry just nodded back, stumbling on his feet.
"Follow him. Make sure he reaches home safely." Anna waved Nick after him.
Nick nodded and went out behind Harry.
-x-
A/N: Thanks for reading. Constructive Criticism would be appreciated. See Ya, Novarkek.