Harry Potter and the Unexpected Heir
I don't usually beg for reviews so i won't, but please if you enjoy the story leave a review, even if it is a small one, as a writer i enjoy getting the feedback from my readers, when you publish a story you too will feel the satisfaction of reading the positive comments about your story. But again its all optional.
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"Thank God you're alright James! Are you hurt?" he shook his head, she turned towards Harry and hugged him too, tears in her eyes. Tonks came in and hugged Remus, the two went over to a quiet corner to talk.
"So Lillian what happened? That was one hell of an explosion!" Sirius said
"I guess that we clashed. By that I mean his power comes from pure Dark magic, which I have no idea how he accessed it, my embryo was fertilised by Light Dark so I get my magic from the heart of Light Magic. Our powers were at its peak tonight so the Dark magic which he has been meddling into and my extreme Light magic just…reacted, like a bomb and created a massive explosion. And by the size of the explosion I'm gonna guess that it is some serious dark stuff" she said
"Are you sure you are alright?" Sirius asked
"I am fine but all of you should get checked out. Hogwarts can't heal internal injuries. Actually Penna I think some tears are in order please" The phoenix nodded and began crying one tear into each person's open mouth. While she was going around the other patients in the Hospital Wing, Harry heard a noise, a hissing noise.
"Masssssster, I have completed my task" the snake said.
"Ah Kanami, you have returned" Lillian said. The others around her bedside were alarmed when she began hissing, all but Harry. Through the door way came the longest snake that they had ever seen. She made her way towards them with another snake wrapped around its body, which was leaving a trail of blood in its wake. It dumped the dead snake by the bed, after the other bystanders took 3 steps back, away from the long, green reptile. As it made its way up the bedpost and nearing Lillian it became smaller and smaller until it was merely 5 inches long. It then went up Lillian's sleeve and disappeared up her arm, out of sight.
She pointed towards the discarded snake "That's Nagini and now that she is dead the Horcrux is gone, which means there is only one more left"
The others celebrated and Harry gave Lillian a hug and a kiss.
"Is the Inner Circle all alive?" Sirius asked on one in particular.
"Penna has already done a body count. No one from the Inner Circle is dead, 24 dead, 200 injured, only 15 are severe. Voldermort however suffered 150 dead out of his 1020 Death Eaters which attacked today, 421 are in Azkaban and only 74 are in St. Mungus, most have already been sent to Azkaban from there. Most likely all of these Death Eaters will receive that Dementors Kiss" Sirius shuddered at the mention "I don't think that he will be attacking anyone any time soon, he will be licking his wounds for some time, literally. Interrogations start tomorrow; see if we can get anything good out of them. Sirius what's behind your back?" Lillian asked
Sirius looked like a deer caught in the headlights "how do you know I have anything behind my back?" Sirius asked.
"I may have a slight headache but I can see a box behind your back" she said
"Fine" he said producing a shoe box.
"A shoe box?" James said
"Peter to be exact, I told you he would fit in a shoe box when I was done with him" he said unashamed.
"Lillian when Voldermort notices his snake is gone he will realise that we are hunting for the Horcruxes and he will probably make more" Remus said
"No he won't. To make a Horcrux you need complete physical, mental and magical balance. Voldermort doesn't have any of those. The blade of my staff makes the wounds on a Dark wizard immune to any healing magic. Voldermort will need to heal the muggle way"
"His probably hating himself by now" Sirius said
"Probably" she responded.
"I bet he wishes for immortality more than ever" Tonks said
"Immortality is overrated, seeing those you love age and die and you can't do anything but live. But then again Voldermort loves only himself so I guess that's ok for him" Lillian said, then she added "Where's Severus?" She asked Tonks.
"His been moved to St. Mungus, the Healers are looking at him" the pink-haired Auror responded.
"Why didn't you tell me about him? Was he the big last secret that you were talking about?" Harry asked his wife mentally.
"Yes" came the answer
"We will talk about this later, it's not a topic to be discussed in front of everyone" he told her
"Ok"
"So he was the spy?" Remus asked
"But he killed Dumbledore!" Arthur said "How can we know he truly is on our side?"
"Dumbledore was dieing long before Severus killed him" When Dumbledore recovered Marvolo's ring last year he did not know the ring contained a deadly course, he was lucky to get to Severus on time, he was able to contain the curse in his left hand, he had little over a year left if Severus had not killed him, a very long and painful year, which would end in an excruciating death. Everything was organised between us. I would get the Order, Minerva would get Hogwarts, Albus would have peace and Severus would be welcomed back into Voldermort's ranks as a hero and as a completely unexpected spy"
"But Phoenix tears, your magic! Couldn't you have done anything?" Ron asked
"No I could not, Albus did not let me, you would find that Albus did not let me use my magic to help in anything personal to him, Phoenix tears would have made no difference, even if they had; Albus was an old man, even in Wizarding standards, he felt like his job here was done and that it was time for the next generation to finish what he started. Besides his death gave people the drive to move forward and the incentive to win this war"
"She kinda has a point" Hermione said
"But still, Severus always loved the Dark Arts, it was him that went to tell Voldermort about the prophesy that got James and Lily killed!" Sirius said, outraged.
"Sirius calm down" Lillian sighed "The reason we can trust Severus is… love. Even though he does not wish you to know I will tell you, he does not deserve this treatment"
"What? We don't love Snape! He-"
"You certainly didn't love him. You Marauders did more damage to the man than you should ever have done, scarred him for life. But there was one thing he held on to. And he despised James for it" Lillian began
"What are you talking about?" James asked
"Lily you must know what I am talking about don't you? You must have had some idea" Lily nodded, Lillian continued "Before coming to Hogwarts Severus and Lily were best friends, it was him that first told Lily she was a witch, he fell in love with her before school even began, but they were put into separate houses. And Severus over the following years found himself losing his best friend and love to his greatest rival; the very person he craved to be; popular, handsome, rich, good at Quidditch, but most important of all, the person that Lily chose to be with and loved above anyone else. So he found comfort in the Dark Arts like so many shunned Slytherins, making friends with junior Death Eaters and eventually becoming one himself"
"Snape loved Lily?" James said, shocked looking at his wife. Lily nodded.
"He could have turned obsessed and insane because of compressed one-sided love, but he cherished the love he had and the young memories helped him to go through the pain of torture at the hands of Voldermort. It's true he did make his share of mistakes, but none of you can throw the first stone, he has made up for his mistakes. When he told Voldermort the prophecy and found out that he was going after Lily, he met with Dumbledore and begged him to save her, and so he became a spy for Dumbledore, at huge personal risk. But his efforts were futile and you two ended up dead, but Harry remained. Severus was distraught but he still held onto his love, from there onwards he had been protecting Harry ever since he came to Hogwarts, even though he was rude and punished Harry, inside he was protecting him, in his first year he tried to get the stone because he knew Harry would get hurt while trying to retrieve it, not to mention saving him from his cursed broom in Quidditch, in his third year he protected Harry from a werewolf Remus and tried to prevent Sirius, who he thought was a murderer, from getting to Harry. And then from fourth year onwards he returned to Voldermort to spy for the Order and report any thing that may lead to Harry being in danger, it was him that warned me to get you early from your uncle's house; he knew Voldermort would be planning an attack. Even today he still loves Lily and when he found out that I had brought her back, he wept in my arms"
The room was quiet for a full five minutes "Have you realised why he is on our side, have I convinced you that he is trustworthy?" All of them nodded.
"I can't believe… Snape… Lily why have you never told me about this?" James asked
"You always hated him James, when he turned to the Dark Arts even I gave up on our friendship… but I would never think after all this time he still…" Lily said
None of them spoke, they were all trying to grasp the events of the past hours, a lot had happened.
"You do realise that if I was a Death Eater you all would be pretty screwed" a voice said from a shadowed corner. The person stepped forward into the light and Harry's eyes opened.
"You!" he said, while the others were gaping at the young woman, recognising her from before.
"Harry do you know her?" Remus asked
"She saved me from a group of Death Eaters, rather strangely actually" he said.
"Who are you?" Ron said, getting his wand out.
"No need to get out your wand Uncle Ron" she said "My name is Serenity Potter. Serenity Elizabeth Merlin Potter to be exact" she said, lightly bowing her head, but still looking at their expressions. Ron mouth was hanging wide open.
"WHAT?!" Sirius said "Harry! Lillian! Have you been doing anything that you shouldn't have?"
Both Lillian and Harry were bright red and were incapable of answering.
"No need to look so shocked, we are in a world of magic after all. I'm from the future, about 24 years in the future actually. My gift is Time Travel so I decided to come back to pay a visit to my lovely parents before they begin to fill the house with kids, surprise surprise I landed right in the middle of a battle " she said smiling.
"I swear you can mess up the future by telling us anything?" Sirius said.
"No, it will only make you follow the things I say, reassuring the future I know remains, besides if I say anything that changes the future I can just erase it. It's pretty complicated, but don't worry everything is fine!" she said very happily.
"Harry you got yourself a live one" Sirius said. Serenity quickly ran and hugged Harry and Lillian at the same time. The two teenagers just froze and remained quiet from shock.
"Is this how you treat your daughter? I was expecting a warmer welcome?"
"Well… its… unexpected" Harry managed to say "Thanks for helping me though"
"No problem dad" she said smiling, Harry nearly fainted at hearing her calling him dad, she looked at Lillian "Wow mum you are really young! I mean you look young in the future for your age but still even now. Even you Uncle Ron and Aunt Mione your hair is so long!" the others just stared "Emily would laugh at just being here"
Before anyone could ask who Emily was the Weasley twins entered the Hospital Wing,
"Lillian I heard you went down, everything alright?" Fred said
She nodded; they noticed the stranger and were given a tight hug out of no where.
"Uncle Fred and George"
"Wow what's going on?" George asked.
"I'm Harry and Lillian's future child I came back in time for a visit"
"Madam Pomfrey I think we need a Mental Stabilising Potion over here" Fred said, he found that his ears were as large as an elephant's.
"HA!" Fred said, trying to change them back "How did you do that? You didn't even take out your wand!"
"I am a Merlin you know" the young woman said.
"I don't think we should discuss anymore here, lets get to Headquarters" Lillian said
"Good idea" Serenity said "Artemis!" she said and the large group where gone in a burst of silver flames.
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They appeared a Headquarters and got themselves comfortable knowing that the next few hours would be far from boring.
"So explain" Sirius said, but he was eyeing the phoenix on Serenity's shoulder rather than her, seeing his focus point she began to speak.
"This is Artemis, my phoenix, each one of us has one. She is the daughter of Penna and William, when I was born Penna hatched an egg for me, we grew up together, she's half fire and half silver phoenix. As you can see she is mostly silver but her eyes are golden and she has some red and gold feathers on her wings and head. She travels through time with me" Serenity explained.
"What do you mean 'each one of us'?" Ron asked
"My brothers and sister" she explained. Everyone looked at Harry and Lillian who blushed profoundly.
"There are four of us. Albus Severus Merlin Potter his the oldest, his 19 and was born in 2002, both of you were 21, then there's me, I'm 15 and I was born in 2006 when you were 25, and then there's the twins James Christopher Merlin Potter and Lily Clare Merlin Potter the pranksters of the family, they are 5 years old" she said, Sirius and James along with the Weasley twins jumped up
"YES! Finally! I was afraid the prankster gene was lost in the family!" James said.
"They got it bad, even Uncle Fred and Uncle George keep their distance"
"Fred we are" George said
"Gonna have" Fred continued
"To get tough"
"In the future!" Fred finished.
"No point saying that, all they have to do puppy eye you and you practically let them dress you up in ballerina clothes and make you dance around the Manor" that shut the twins up.
"Any more kids?" Sirius asked
"Well both mum and dad want to have more kids, because since they had hardly any siblings growing up with they wanted many kids to fill their lives with, and besides in the future families are much larger than they are today, the average number of children per family is 5, after this war people were encouraged to have as many children as they want because many families were completely wiped out. Grandpa did a great job encouraging them"
"Grandpa? What did I do?" James asked
"Well during the war you are elected Minister of Magic, and you remain Minister for some time until dad takes over when he turns 26"
"Who in their right state of mind would put James running a whole population?" Remus asked
"Mum did, she was the Supreme Head of the Wizengamot and a quick choice had to be made, great-grandpa had been Minister so Grandpa had experience with the matter, but I think mum must have had a bump on the head when she told Uncle Sirius that he should be Vice-Minister. No offence mum" the fifteen-year old added.
"Hear that I can be responsible" James and Sirius said at the same time, hugging each other. Lillian looked a bit pale.
"Lillian are you ok, this is a lot to take in" Lily said
"I've been turned into a reproductive factory" she said quietly, to no one in particular, the others laughed when she began hitting Harry's arm.
"Hey what's that for?" Harry asked, defending himself.
"Punishment for future pain during labour" Lillian responded.
"Funny you are exactly the same in the future" Serenity said
"So explain why do you refer to everyone as uncle or auntie? What am I to you in the future?" Sirius asked excitedly
"Well we are like one big family, and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione are Albus' godparents anyway. You're my godfather Sirius along with Tonks as my godmother and Grandpa and Grandma are the twins' godparents. As for everyone else we just call them Uncle and Auntie out of habit, they don't complain"
"How come you are not at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked "Why are you here?"
"Answer to first question: I've been to Hogwarts already, I graduated when I was 9, Albus graduated when he was 8, and the twins are going through fourth year material. And I am here because my time got really boring and I have been using my power to travel through time to the most exciting eras, I've been to the dinosaur age, Bronze age, Ice age, which I never want to visit again even my most powerful warming charms didn't have any effect. I went back to Grandpa Merlin's time, he has one weird sense of humour, I went to Grandpa Godric's time, I've visited Rome during the Gladiator fights, I've taken part in the Crusades, the First World War, the Second World War in which I killed that bastard Hitler but I still made it look like suicide, I've actually been to the time of the Marauder's but seeing as I was in my unicorn form I doubt that you would remember me. Let's see, I've been to the future actually some times, I've met everyone in our family in the next five generations, and I would like to say that the messy black hair is a trait that is here to stay"
James looked down when she said that, his hair was forever giving him troubles; poor Harry had troubles of his own managing his.
"You say that your time is boring. Why?" Ron asked.
"Well thanks to Grandpa and then dad being Ministers peace pretty much reigns, the Order and the Ministry work in partnership and Dark Wizard wannabies are quickly crushed worldwide, England is the leading magical country in 2021 actually, mum is still at Hogwarts and so the young generations are taught to respect each other and about the struggles we went through in the Second Dark War. Mum began a new Squib program at Hogwarts which softened the view on Squibs and so they are not disowned and shunned anymore"
"How does that work?" Hermione asked
"Well not all subjects need massive amounts of magic, so the Squib program includes Divination, Arithmacy, Potions, Care for Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Herbology, Mermish, Fairy, and for those who speak Parseltongue there's a class too" she explained.
"So you are from 2021? That is in a very long time, how old exactly am I in this time of yours?" Harry asked
"Your 44, you haven't changed that much" Serenity explained.
"How do I look in the future?" Harry asked
Serenity changed her appearance using her Metamorphism ability, showing a slightly taller Harry, his hair was a bit shorter which made it messier, his face and eyes showed the wisdom and struggles that had yet to come and his scar was still proudly on his forehead, his entire body radiated power, confidence and knowledge and had a do-not-mess-with-me glow, but you could see that he was a family man and would do anything to protect his family. She then shifted to Lillian's image; she was relatively the same too, except for some worry lines on her forehead and a few wrinkles around her eyes, like Harry she radiated power and the aura of a mother that would protect her children from anything. She shifted into another young man, he was a replica of Harry but his eyes were hazel and the scar was absent, much like his parents, he too radiated power and his hazel eyes showed knowledge and wisdom that many strived their whole life to achieve.
"This is Albus, his the brain of the family, since he graduated when he was 8 he has been helping mum at Hogwarts and dad at the Ministry." She next shifted into a small boy with jet-black hair and green eyes, with a face exactly the same as Harry "This is James, he was born first, two minutes before…" she shifted into the image of a little girl, also with jet-black hair and green eyes "…Lily, she may look cuddly and all but she is an even greater prankster than James and trust me that is saying something" Serenity finished, changing back into her own form "And then there's me, in my opinion I'm the most balanced from the bunch"
"Why?" Sirius asked
"Well Albus may look exactly like dad but his more like mum inside, always plays by the rules and has more knowledge that anyone, even mum and dad put together, his Vice Minister of Magic at 17 for crying out loud! The twins, well the twins are complete dad in the outside and Grandpa James in the inside, cheeky, cheeky, cheeky, smart and fast learners but troublesome anyway, I mean it took mum weeks to figure out a way to take the pink and blue colours off the Hogwarts walls, and the fact that they are always hanging around Uncle Sirius doesn't cut their imagination by one bit either, even Peeves stands far away as possible when their at Hogwarts. But me, I'm balanced. When it comes to rules they don't really affect me much but I can be serious when I want to, I have mums calmness but dad's impulsivity, especially when it comes to friends and family, and out of the four I am the one with the most balanced features, dad's hair and eyes but mum's smile and other facial features, but mum's always saying that she would like a child that looks only like her, she always blames dad for making replicas of himself rather that her"
The whole room burst own laughing and even Lillian and Harry joined in. When they calmed down Lily asked "I heard you mention Emily, who is she?"
"Oh Aunt Emily, she's your daughter, you should be pregnant by now right?" Serenity asked, Lily nodded, "She is 24 in my time and is the Vice Head of the Magical Law Enforcement department"
"So Madam Bones is still there" Sirius said
"Oh no she retired ages ago, Aunt Hermione is the Head" Serenity answered
"Figures, only Hermione to make her living reinforcing laws and rules" Harry said, chuckling.
Hermione shook off his comment, but everyone saw that a satisfied smile remained on her lips.
"But I won't tell you everything that will happen, that will only that the fun out of the future and believe me it is a future fighting for" Serenity said
"So we win the war against Voldermort?" Sirius asked
Serenity nodded "But you must not tell anyone what I told you, you must know something: you have to keep fighting with all your strength because if you get too comfortable you may lose the war and the future I know and the future that is meant to be will be completely changed"
"But didn't you say that if something was changed you could just erase it?" James asked
Serenity nodded but looked down "I could but because it would be such a major change it would cost me my life, I would gladly give it to save everybody else but I would appreciate if you would win"
The room was completely silent, Serenity smiled "Don't worry everything will be ok, I just know it"
Lillian spoke for the first time in a while "How are you possible? How are any of my future children possible? The last time someone in the Merlin family reproduced through natural means the body turned out almost too weak to sustain so much magic"
"Well mum, your future self, actually found a way. She discovered that during the full moon a wizard's and witch's magic are higher than any other day of the month, but still not as much as on Halloween I might add, giving enough power to the embryo to survive, so we were all conceived during the full moon, except Albus, but before she found that out she still had two miscarriages, the embryo couldn't contain so much magic, but it died before suffering any pain"
Lillian covered her face with her hands; Harry laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"But I am hoping that by me telling you now will prevent that from happening and hopefully avoid you the pain"
"You said all of you are full moon children except Albus, what do you mean?" Lily asked
"Well according to mum it was just luck he was conceived during Halloween, you all know how much power boost that means to us, well the rest of the world was waiting. For nine months my parents were watched like hawks, this was the first child of the union of the two most powerful lines ever; Merlin and Gryffindor. They were expecting some super-human child, fruit of the most powerful witch and most powerful wizard ever to walk the Earth, well they got him. But for the people that knew all the facts the worries were of a different kind. Would he miscarry? Or would the magic of Halloween give the embryo enough power to develop? Nine months later out pops Albus and the wizarding world celebrated, he was like a prince, literally. People have been thinking about abolishing the role of Minister and having the King and Queen system back, but mum and dad refuse, in my time everyone loves us and know who we are, we can't go anywhere without being crushed by emotional crowds, the only way we can get around is by using our Metamorphism power"
"And do your parents just tell you all of this? Do they talk to you about reproduction that freely?" Sirius asked, making Lillian and Harry blush.
"No they don't, they don't need to. On the last day of every year, a Merlin must connect with magic and absorb every little detail of what happened in that year, it's part of our History-Recording ability, we are born with all the history in our heads from prior our birth but we must update it yearly, so we absorb everything, anything, everything, about everyone at any time"
"Even the private moments?" Harry asked, blushing.
"E-ve-ry-thing" Serenity smiled slyly. Everyone in the room blushed; they didn't want anyone peaking in their private lives, especially a 15 year-old.
"Does that mean? Lillian...you...you" James began
Lillian blushed, "Just because it is in my head doesn't mean I see it, it's like books in a library, I have them but I don't necessarily read them"
Serenity smiled a cheeky grin.
"So what is Albus' power?" Harry asked, trying to desperately changing the subject.
"Oh his is kind of like a copy cat power, by that I mean he copies other's powers, if he meets a person that has an ability he doesn't he absorbs it and copies it, which he did to me so he may pop in a while. He also absorbed the twins. They are like an exception to the pattern; they got the same power each rather than a different one. They are true shapeshifters, normal shapeshifters like mum, can only shapeshift into living beings, but the twins can shift into everyday objects, big or small, which only helps them in their pranks; people never know if it really is a quill their holding or if it's James. He loves shifting into a pen or quill and then squirting ink into the holders face." The room burst out laughing.
"How about you? Anything interesting about your power other than travelling through time?" Harry asked
"Well now that you have asked, I 100 love my power, I can't only time travel but I can freeze time and speed it up on single objects, if I speed it up too quickly they simply explode which is really useful when it comes to blowing up enemies" The room was silent and she smiled, this era would be by far the most interesting one she had been to.