Harry Prewett and the Case of Inadvertent Illegal Time Travel

Chapter Three: Living Relations

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, alerted, or favourited! Due to popular vote there will be no new Potter siblings! On with the story!

Harry didn't know whether to be excited or nervous.

On the one hand he'd already met Violet and she'd turned out to be pretty cool and accepting so far. On the other hand there were the Dursleys to consider, they were after all related to him by blood, as much as he'd love to deny the connection, and they were horrible people. On a completely different hand all together, he really, really hoped that his newly acquired relations were nice, and that they liked him.

"Come on, Harry," called Violet who'd gotten a good few feet ahead of Harry while the teen wasn't paying attention.

Harry jogged to catch up with the older witch and followed her up the gravel drive, sticking his hands deep into his pockets and chewing on his lower lip.

Violet opened the door and breezed into the foyer which was not, as one might have expected, overly grand. The floors were wooden and worn smooth and shiny by generations of tromping feet and polishing elves, the winding staircase was also wood. There was a light brown mat in front of the door along with a line of pegs that sported a beaten looking green canvas jacket, a straw hat, a rain coat, and a pair of goggles.

There was a soft pop as Violet shrugged out of her robes and a house elf with large blue eyes and a small round nose dressed in some kind of uniform appeared.

"Mistress Violet is being late," scolded the house elf taking the robe from her.

"I am sorry, Fenn, but it couldn't be helped,"

"Mistress Potter is having dinner ready, she and Master Potter is being in the dining room," the house elf informed her.

"Of course. Fenn I would like you to meet my nephew, Harry, he'll be staying with us from now on, Harry, this is Fenn, our Head of Staff,"

"It is an honour to be meeting you Master Harry," said the elf bowing low.

"Er...thank you Fenn, it's good to meet you too," Harry said cautiously.

But unlike in his previous dealings with house elves this one did not seem offended or likely to burst into hysterical water works any time soon.

"Fenn, if you could arrange a room in the family suite for Harry, and a few of James' things for him to wear until we can get him his own clothes?"

"Of course Mistress, I will be seeing to it personally,"

The little creature then made another neat bow and popped away.

"Dear Fenn, he is always so responsible,"

"Er...I don't mean to be rude, but I can't help but notice how much better treated your house elves seem,"

"Yes, well, we Potters have always been rather odd ducks when it come to the welfare of our servants. It took my husband's grandfather three years to convince the elves that the uniforms he was giving them weren't clothes and that they should have free time and possessions of their own. Poor things, their race has been in slavery so long they've begun to expect mistreatment and have become wary of anything resembling decency,"

"Oh,"

"I know, it's terrible, just because the elves love cleaning, cooking, gardening, and housework and just because they need to be bonded to a wizarding family to sustain their magic does not give wizards the right to exploit and abuse them like so many do," said Violet shaking her head and moving off to the right.

She led Harry down a narrow wood panelled corridor and down a short flight of stone steps. Harry got a brief glimpse of the kitchen before being led through another hall and into a spacious looking informal dining room complete with a large, sturdy looking wooden table and large ivy framed windows that gave an excellent view of the side yard.

"Violet you're late,"

A husky female voice admonished sharply.

The speaker was a tallish woman with a long wild mane of black curls with nary a strand of grey and intelligent hooded black eyes bracketed by laugh lines. Her face seemed vaguely familiar to Harry, she had delicate, aristocratic features and her skin was bronzed from hours spent in the sun. She was holding a round serving dish printed with blue flowers and the smells emanating from it made Harry aware that he hadn't eaten more than a few tea biscuits all day.

"Terribly sorry, Dorea, my business with the ministry took longer than expected,"

"Hmph, this would be the business then," said Dorea flicking her unsympathetic gaze up and down his form.

"No discussing business at dinner, darling," chided a smooth male voice.

This voice belonged to a handsome man who looked rather like an older, taller, neater version of Harry pre-Collette. His jet black hair was combed back from his face and greying at the temples and his golden eyes and generous mouth were framed by deep set lines. He was lounging with the same sort of indolent grace Harry had always secretly admired about Malfoy despite the fact he was sitting in a straight-backed dinning chair.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Dorea sniffed.

The man chuckled rising from his seat in one smooth motion.

"Charlus Potter," he greeted holding out a hand.

"Harry...er, Harry Prewett, sir," said Harry shaking it.

"A Prewett, eh? You have the look of young Gregorius Prewett,"

"Er...yes," said Harry lamely running a hand through his hair.

"Stop it, Charlus!" Violet scolded.

"Stop what?"

"Don't play innocent, I know full well you were building up to an extra-strength cross examination,"

"I would never," said Charlus smoothly sitting back down.

A house elf, female this time, with a kerchief tied around her head popped in and set an extra place at the table.

Dorea scowled.

"Interfering busybody,"

"Now, Dorea, Frannie was just trying to be helpful. Sit down, Harry, you must be half-starved,"

"Yes, before the food goes cold," Dorea agreed.

Harry spooned a large helping of seafood risotto onto his plate and tried to maintain a delicate balance between manners and hunger as the adults talked around him.

"Poor child looks dreadfully underfed," commented Dorea shaking her head and scowling.

"I've no doubt he'll fill out with a summer's worth of your cooking in his stomach, darling," Charlus said sipping his wine.

"Nevermind that right now," Violet said prodding her fork in her in-laws' general direction, "Listen closely because after tonight we're never going to speak of it again,"

"I'm quite intrigued, Violet, do tell,"

"Harry is a time traveler,"

Dorea gasped and narrowed her eyes at Harry who tried not to fidget as he politely pretended not to be interested.

"Indeed?" said Charlus raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, accidentally of course,"

"Of course,"

"Suffice it to say, he was a Potter, now he's a Prewett and we're taking him in," said Violet firmly.

"Hn, how to explain...perhaps, a prolonged custody battle after Gregorius' untimely demise?"

"Yes, that's perfect, Charlus, would you?"

"I'll start laying the paper trail tomorrow, first thing," Charlus promised.

"Time travel," said Dorea shaking her head, "We've had a few of those in our day, all executed of course, selfish bastards, the Blacks,"

"Er...yes, well Harry's travelling was ruled accidental so there's no worry of that," Violet said taking a delicate bite of her own meal.

"How are you finding the risotto, Harry?" asked Dorea.

"It's excellent Mrs. Potter,"

"Nonsense, call me Aunt Dorea, please, Mrs. Potter makes me feel old and matronly,"

"Which makes me Uncle Charlus, I get quite enough Mr. Potter-ing at work, besides, you're family,"

"Of course, sir...er...Uncle Charlus," Harry agreed with a small smile.

Charlus smiled back and picked up his wine once more content to lounge and watch the proceedings.

"So Harry, tell us a bit about yourself," Dorea insisted, serving up some salad onto his plate without bothering to ask permission.

Clearly she, like Mrs. Weasley, thought he needed fattening up, as she always did after his return to civilization after his weeks in captivity at the Dursleys.

"Er...well, I like Quidditch," Harry said, it seemed a safe enough topic.

"Really, you and James should get on well then," Dorea said.

"That boy, if he put as much effort into his studies as he did in his Quidditch he'd be Head Boy for sure," Violet lamented.

"James is a Chaser on the Gryffindor Team, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't make Captain in a year or so," Dorea added.

"What position do you play?"

"I'm a Seeker," Harry said.

"Got the build for it," Charlus put in.

"Yes, very light," Dorea agreed and with a frown began buttering him a piece of bread.

"Does me no good during foul weather though," Harry said shaking his head.

"Nothing to keep the wind from blowing you every which way," Violet agreed, "You get the same problem with owls,"

"Owls?" queried Harry glad to change the topic.

"Oh, yes, I breed and train them you know, anyway the problem with a good and fast little owl is that he'll be blown to hell and back in bad weather, but no everyone wants to save space and time so they go with a smaller owl and complain constantly when they get blown off course and lose days," Violet said gesticulating with her fork.

"Wow, you breed and train owls, that is so cool," Harry gushed.

"We'll have to get you a good one for school, Merlin knows James never writes..." Violet started, "Are you alright dear?"

Harry smiled weakly and shook his head.

"Nothing, just thinking about my owl...back home, Hedwig,"

"Oh..."

His vision blurred slightly and he quickly blinked it back to normal.

"It's just, Hedwig was my first real birthday gift, and she was a good friend,"

And now she was gone.

They'd shared confinement at the Dursleys, and she always came to his window in Gryffindor Tower to keep him company on the long nights when he couldn't sleep. Now, he would never see her again. Would she understand? Ron and Hermione would take care of her, of course but...oh Merlin...

Harry must have gone pale or exhibited some other sign of distress because Violet loudly proclaimed that she was quite full, even though she'd only gotten a few bites in, in between the chit chat, and insisted Harry let her show him to his new room, as he was looking most peaky, no doubt from all that time travel, and needed to get some rest.

She led him out into the hall.

"Save me a plate Dorea, poor lad, it's all catching up to him," she murmured into the dining room before calling on Fenn.

Fenn led them up a winding flight of stairs and down a long hall with a line of windows on one wall and a line of doors on the other.

Harry barely paid attention to where he was being led but once Violet and Fenn had bid him a good night he was grateful for the chance to kick off his shoes and flop face down into the large rather plush bed that was tucked into a nook against the far wall.

Ron and Hermione, it hadn't occurred to him until just now that he'd never see them again, nor any of his other friends or the rest of the Weasley Clan. Well that wasn't strictly true, he'd see them as small children who wouldn't even know who he was or would see him as some creepy old coot.

Then there was his Dad, Mum, and Remus and Sirius...Merlin, Wormtail!

Harry shook his head and tugged on his hair brutally. What was he going to do? He was going to have to live in the same dorm as that rat bastard traitor, not to mention his father and godfather and ex-professor who he would have only just met...

"Well, this is a right mess you've gotten yourself into this time, Potter," Harry muttered to himself.

"Shit, can't do that anymore, Prewett, Prewett, Prewett...I need to visit Snape, I'll bet he can make it sound disdainful...Merlin, Snape!"

Harry groaned, he was going to have class with Snape, only as a student now instead of a teacher.

"Just don't think about it, Pot-Bloody Hell! Prewett!"

Harry sighed and stared blankly up at the ceiling. Tears started leaking out the corners of his eyes.

"Shit...shit! Shit! Shit!" he swore emphatically before breaking down into full on sobs, muffled with his pillow with the skill and ease of long practice, and eventually crying himself to sleep.

AN: There we go some nice healthy emotional vulnerability from Harry, and we get to meet the Potters who seem like a very nice bunch for people so blatantly rich and pureblooded. Did anyone catch Charlus' profession? I only gave out hints, so honorable mention in the next chapter for those who guess correctly! As always please review and let me know what you think and what you'd like to see, I'm always looking for ways to improve! Until next time!