Warnings: Fem!Harry. Crude language. Will have sexual situations in the future. Rating will most probably go up from a T to an M.

Pairings: Sirius/Fem!Harry. Severus/(?) (Surprise!)

Disclaimer: Duly disclaimed.

Cover image: The cover image is based on a picture called 'Girl Harry Potter' by milky0candy. Used with permission. Check out their profile on DeviantArt . com.

Clarifications: Morgan le Fay, Morgan le Faye, Morgen, Morgaine, Morgain, Morgana, Morganna, Morgant, Morgane, Morgne, Morge and Morgue all refer to the same person. I feel that each character would call her differently. Please don't get confused. :)

THREADS OF TIME

Chapter 4

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

~ Matthew 5:4 ~

OoOoO

There is an impatient tapping on the window, and Remus sighs as he opens it to let the paper-owl in. Even before he spreads out the paper completely, the headlines catch his eye. He stares at it.

The owl nips at his finger, reminding him to pay for the paper. He counts out three Knuts, drops them in the pouch, and loses himself in the article. The owl hoots angrily before flying out, but he doesn't bother.

He gets half-way through the article, when he decides he has to talk to Sirius. He hastily throws on a bathrobe on top of his night clothes before stepping into the Floo. The bathrobe is probably not needed, seeing as his old dormmates have seen him in his boxers before, but he does it anyway.

The sight that meets him when he steps out makes him realise that his bathrobe wasn't at all needed. In fact, it wouldn't even matter if he had come here in the buff.

For Sirius and Bella are both passed out on the couch, and there are five empty bottles of what most definitely seems to be alcohol scattered all around them.

But that's not his first priority. Harry is bawling from his room, and Remus rushes to the baby's room, deciding to yell at the irresponsible idiots once they finally wake up.

OoOoO

Bella doesn't want to open her eyes. There's a pounding in her head. It hurts like someone took a sledgehammer to her skull. She regrets opening her eyes the moment she does so, because the light is so fucking bright. She closes her eyes tightly.

She cringes and sits up, and immediately feels sick.

"Look at who's finally up," booms a voice next to her, and she winces.

"Don't yell so loudly!" she exclaims, before being promptly sick all over the floor. There's a childish giggle somewhere to her right, and she blearily opens one eye to see her younger brother (?) giggling from the arms of an exasperated Lupin.

Remus waves his wand to vanish her vomit and Bella tries to smile at him. But it only makes her head hurt more.

"Bleuugh" she moans, before falling back onto the sofa sideways, when she hears a third voice.

"Quit shoving!"

Something nudges her in the arm, and she grinds back into the warm object with her elbow. The third voice growls. Through the fog in her brain, she recognises it to be Sirius. Bella is about to get up and punch the living daylights out of him, when someone shakes her gently.

She opens her eyes again, and she sees Remus holding out a vial of magenta liquid.

"Potion for hangovers. Drink it."

She blinks at him owlishly, before tipping its contents into her throat, without tasting it. Almost instantly, she feels better.

"Thanks, Remus!" she says, feeling cheerful. Her headache has disappeared!

"Why don't you go freshen up while I try to wake Sirius up?" he says gently, almost as if he's speaking to a kid.

"Where's Harry?" she asks, not seeing him anywhere in the living room. In retrospect, she feels that getting drunk in the presence of a baby was probably a bad idea.

"I just left him in his room."

Bella goes to Harry's room to kiss him hello, and feels indescribably joyful, when he tries to peck at her cheek. She goes to have her bath, grinning.

OoOoO

"You are in charge of a child. And yet, you were both happy, getting drunk. What if one of the remaining Death Eaters had come looking for Harry? What if Harry had got hurt? When I came in, he was crying out of hunger. And you morons were sleeping through it.

"What do you have to say for yourselves?" asks Moony, looking uncharacteristically cold. At least Bella has the decency to look down, ashamed.

Bella and Sirius are seated at the dining table, and Remus has placed five empty bottles of alcohol in front of them. Bella recognises only one of them, the other four seem to be some Muggle brand of cheap tequila.

When Bella looks up, she sees that Remus is still waiting for an answer.

"Umm, I just thought - er, why waste a good bottle of firewhisky?" she finishes, feeling uncertain.

"I would have expected this behaviour of Sirius here, but not of you, Bella."

She feels her jaw drop. Remus thinks she's more responsible? Hell, she's only eighteen. The whole thing seems unfair. But before she can protest, Sirius starts speaking.

"It's not her fault, Moony. She was out after drinking half a bottle of Odgen's."

Bella turns around in her seat to gape at the unshaven man sitting next to her.

"You drank four bottles of tequila and didn't die of alcohol poisoning?" she asks, incredulous.

At the same time, Remus asks, surprised, "You passed out on half a bottle of Firewhisky? What the hell?"

"Muggle alcohol isn't potent enough to get wizards drunk. Large quantities are needed," answers Sirius, before turning to answer Remus. "I believe, Moony, that our dear Prongslette here has never been drunk before," he says, with a smirk.

"Hey! I've had Butterbeer before!"

"Please, most six year olds have drunk Butterbeer," says Sirius, sneering.

Bella knows that this will soon into one of their many pointless arguments, which is why she is glad when Remus interrupts them.

"As much as I'd like to let you both fight once again, I really came over to show you this."

Remus spreads out the Daily Prophet on the table, after making the bottles fly into the trash can.

Bella almost groans out loud when she sees the name of the writer. Will she never get a reprieve from that stupid vapid blonde bint?

BELLATRIX LESTRANGE, YKW'S RIGHT HAND WOMAN, ARRESTED WITH HELP FROM A MYSTERY WOMAN - POSSIBLE SISTER OF THE BWL?

~ By Rita Skeeter ~

It is with the greatest of pleasure that the Daily Prophet wishes to announce that Bellatrix Lestrange née Black was arrested yesterday. Lestrange has been charged with murder and torture. She has killed 23 people (that the Aurors know of) and has also tortured over 70 people using an Unforgivable.

In fact, before being arrested in Diagon Alley's The Leaky Cauldron, Lestrange had broken into Longbottom Manor, and had managed to torture Frank and Alice Longbottom into what the healers at St. Mungo's have decided to be permanent insanity. Lady Augusta Longbottom, the mother of Frank Longbottom, has already pressed charges against Lestrange.

Now, coming to the interesting story of Lestrange's arrest. The Aurors would not have been able to capture her, had it not been for the mysterious help of a Potter. That's right! A Potter! Apparently, our dearest Boy-Who-Lived has a sister!

According to an unnamed source who was at the Leaky Cauldron enjoying an early lunch, loud noises of crashing and a few shouts and screams were heard from the pub's ladies' room. Immediately, within a few seconds, a group of Aurors Apparated directly into the pub. They all rushed into the ladies' room, and a few minutes, a few more loud noises and one loud scream later, a pale girl with long black hair was brought out. A few more minutes later, a screaming, slightly insane looking Bellatrix Lestrange was brought out. Apparently, she had to be dragged, because her leg looked suspiciously limp. The source surmises that she must have broken her leg.

Upon reading the report that the Head Auror Amelia Bones made available to the public late last evening, we found out that an Isobel Potter had defeated Lestrange in a duel. That's right, the Death Eater who had been previously thought of as undefeatable had been defeated by a virtually unknown slip of a girl! And apparently, the girl even snapped Lestrange's wand. Ouch!

In an attempt to get you, dear Reader, the most accurate news possible, this reporter took it upon herself to research this mysterious person. Here are some of the amazing facts that was found in the Ministry's Public Records Department. An Isobel Potter was born on 31st July of 1978. You read that right! 1 9 7 8 ! That's only three years back! How does a three year old have the appearance of an adult?

On the 2nd of May, 1981 (that's this year, if you're confused), Helen Flamel filed for an Adulthood Recognition for her ward Isobel Potter, under the Ancient Bloodline Protection Act. The age for Ms Potter was given as 18, as of July 31st, 1981. Further records pertaining to this have been blocked from public viewing.

The Ancient Bloodline Protection Act has become obsolete in the recent past, due to the rapid advances in the medical field. However, it seems the Potters were right in making use of it. Is it possible that they Saw their early demise? Is it possible that they knew that YKW would come after them? Is that why they had their first born placed under the protection of an Immortal? Why wasn't the same done for young Harry? Were the Potters partial to their daughter?

A lot of details are missing, not letting us see the whole picture. Nevertheless, we should be thanking Ms Potter for helping in the capture of Lestrange. For all we know, Ms Potter could have been taught Ancient Battle Magyks by the Flamels, which would explain her easy win over Bellatrix Lestrange.

Helen Flamel, daughter of Nicholas Flamel of the Philosopher's Stone fame, upon being contacted for further information, declined to comment.

We, at the Prophet, promise to keep investigating, till you, lovely Reader, find out the full truth.

Arrest of Rodulphus & Rabastan Lestrange Page 3

List of Incarcerated Death Eaters Page 7

Where are the Flamels now? Page 12

Bella groans and bangs her head on the table once she finishes reading the article. In fact, she had been tempted to do so even before she read the whole article. The name of the writer had been enough to make her feel that way.

"Hush, it's alright," comes the voice of Sirius from her right side, as he rubs circles onto her back. Bella isn't particularly upset, she's just annoyed. But she's happy to let Sirius be under the impression that she's upset, if it means he'll keep rubbing circles like that. His hand is so delightfully warm, and it makes her feel tingly on the inside.

Remus clears his throat, and Bella looks up to see an amused smile on his face.

Feeling like a fraud, Bella speaks out aloud, "I'm not upset. I'm used to Skeeter and her style of tabloid journalism."

"Oh?" asks Sirius, stopping rubbing her back. She wants to whine in protest.

"Skeeter is a new journalist. She's quite dedicated to making an article gossipy. How can this article even be allowed to make front page news? It would be better suited for Witch Weekly," says Remus darkly.

Bella knows she should probably comment on the Daily Prophet being a lousy paper, but she's just glad that Sirius hasn't moved his hand away from her back. He rests it there, almost casually, and Bella feels so girlish, all of a sudden. She blames the alcohol she had last night for feeling so girly. She's the Mistress of Death. She should be made of sterner stuff!

Her mental chastisement of herself works, because she immediately starts feeling more alert.

"Are there any bugs around?" she asks, and Remus and Sirius both look at her like she's mad. Sirius' hand slips down and rests on the seat of her chair now. She ignores it.

"Did you say bugs? As in insects?" asks Remus, trying to sound polite. Bella almost smirks at how nice he's being. It's pretty apparent that Remus' niceness hasn't changed over the threads.

"In my thread, Skeeter was an unregistered Animagus. She's a beetle. There's a good chance she's somewhere here, seeing as that's how she got news about me in my thread."

"I can check that easily," mutters Sirius, taking his left hand away. Why is she paying so much bloody attention to Sirius and his hand? She has more important things to do.

Sirius brings both his palms in front of his face, almost as if he's about to clap. He stops when his palms are two inches away from each other. He moves his palms away, and brings them forcefully to the same position, a few inches apart. It looks like he's compressing the air in between his palms.

Bella watches, curiously. She can smell the magic. It's Dark Magic, but it doesn't smell rancid, like what she smelt at Godric's Hollow. This smells like chocolate and mint. Was what she smelled on Halloween even Dark Magic? Was it, possibly, Condemned Magic?

"There's no one in this house apart from Harry, you both, and me," he says, and Bella notices that his eyes are once again fully black. There's no pupil, iris, or anything else. The whole thing is pitch black. He blinks twice, and his eyes return to normal.

"You eyes! That happened yesterday as well!" cries Bella. This time, she will not let it go without an explanation.

Remus and Sirius exchange a look.

"I'm going to have a bath. Remus can have the honour of teaching you," says Sirius smugly, before heading towards the bathroom. Bella takes a moment to scowl at him, glad that she finished all the hot water. She knows that he's a wizard and can heat it up with the wave of a wand, but she still feels a vindictive and childish pleasure at the thought of him screaming under cold water.

"How much do you know about Dark and Light Magic?" asks Remus.

Bella quirks an eyebrow and tilts her head. "Sirius told me yesterday about Morgana and Merlin and being Condemned. He explained a little about Magical names and why a Dark Witch can't be called by her first name by a Dark Wizard unless she gives him permission."

Bella waits for Remus to pass a judgemental look the way Sirius had yesterday, but it never comes.

"Right. So let's start with the energy that fuels each type of Magic. Light Magic feeds off your emotions, while Dark Magic feeds off your soul. The soul is such a huge reservoir of energy, that it doesn't matter if you siphon off a little energy off it. That is why Dark wizards can cast a few Light spells easily, like the Patronus charm, while not all Light wizards can cast Dark spells easily. That said, there are quite a few Light spells that Dark wizards and witches have difficulty with."

Bella nods her head, wishing she had a piece of parchment and a quill to take notes with. This takes her back to her Third Year. Remus truly is an amazing teacher.

"So Light Magic is renewable and Dark Magic is... Umm... Non-renewable?"

"Precisely," Remus beams at her, before continuing. "That's why Dark wizards and witches who participate in huge rituals have lower life expectancies. Similarly, that's why a Light wizard who goes numb and becomes depressed is as good as dead. Once his magic uses whatever energy is there in his reservoir, he dies, unless he can renew it again. Dark wizards have exponentially larger reservoirs, to make up for the fact that their energy is not renewable.

"Have you heard of the saying 'The eyes are the windows to the soul'? Well, it's true. You get to see the depths of a Dark wizard's soul when her performs the magic that he has been gifted with."

Bella nods in understanding, before trying to frame the question that's been bugging her since yesterday. She wants to get her doubt across properly.

"What is it about a Dark witch's blood that makes it so potent? It sounds kind of sexist. That the male can use the female's blood, but not the other way about."

Remus grins at that, before answering, "According to the ancient stories and myths, many men tried to control Morganna, as she was the most powerful Sorceress of her time. They usually came to her under the pretext of wanting to learn from her. She finally was so fed up with them trying to fool her into giving them her blood, that she complained to her mentor, Merlin. So she and Merlin came up with the law that only a wizard who had the right to call her by her name had the right to use her blood.

"Over time, it became apparent that Dark wizards were the only ones who could even perform blood magic. And since they needed female blood to finish the Dark ritual, it became obvious that a Dark witch's blood was needed. So Merlin and Morganna amended the law accordingly, so that the witches apprenticed to Morganna were also safe."

"That doesn't explain why a female's blood is so important."

"Patience, Bella. I was coming to that. A blood ritual will never work with a male's blood, for the simple reason that a male's blood isn't conducive to supporting new life. A female's blood, on the other hand, personifies new life. When a woman is pregnant, both she and the foetus share the same blood. So only a woman's blood can be used in a blood ritual."

Bella stares at Remus. If she thought yesterday was an information overload, she was wrong. That simply seems to have been the beginning. She has so much to learn. She feels she has wasted much of the past week. It's exactly a week since she landed in this thread, and she's only been learning since yesterday.

Harry starts crying from his room, and Bella checks the time. It's 11 am, a little past his usual lunch time.

"Can you feed him, Remus? The imprint is such an inconvenient thing when it comes to feeding him."

"Aah, the imprint. I forgot about that. If you have any questions about it, I'm afraid I won't be able to answer them. I've never studied it," he says, as he gets a bowl of baby feed ready with a flick of his wand.

Bella watches in childish fascination as the box comes flying out of the cupboard and pours itself into the Gryffindor red bowl that Sirius has bought for Harry. The water jug next tips the correct amount of water into the bowl. A silver spoon (yes, silver) whizzes from the cutlery draw and starts stirring the mixture.

When she catches Remus' eye, Bella smiles at him, and he smiles back at her, though his eyes seem sad.

"Your smile is just like Lily's," he says, before shaking his head and going into Harry's room with the ruby red bowl.

Bella sighs and leans back in her seat. A furious looking Bellatrix Lestrange is on the front page, hissing and biting at the camera. Bella closes the paper and pushes it away.

There's so much she has to do. She quashes down her urge to get her notepad the Muggle way. She's a witch. She summons it, along with a ball pen. For some reason, she no longer likes using parchment and quills. It just feels wrong.

Harry gurgles from inside, as Remus tells a story about flying dragons and dragon tamers in an attempt to get him to eat. Harry is a fussy eater. He prefers to playfully move his face away from the spoon.

She is almost done penning down a list of all the things that she has to do, when the bathroom door opens and out comes a half naked, wet Sirius with an illegally short towel wrapped around his waist.

Bella just can't stop staring. The water droplets rolling down his chest make her feel breathless. He looks positively delicious. She takes a breath in with difficulty.

"Thanks for finishing all the hot water," he says, scowling, and it only makes Bella shift her attention to his mouth. His pinkish lips are pouting, and he looks absolutely kissable.

Where did that thought come from!

Bella hurriedly thinks of unattractive things such as Filch and his stupid cat, both wearing tutus. That does the trick, and she's back to normal once again.

"Stop dripping water all over the floor. I don't want anyone to slip and fall and have a concussion."

"Where's my breakfast, woman?"

"Why do I have to cook breakfast every day? And if you say it's because I'm a woman, I'll cut your wand with a handsaw."

He apparently gets her innuendo, because he gulps loudly before protesting, "No, but don't you want me to feed Harry tonight?"

"I fed Harry last night, so really, it's your turn."

"But it's my turn at grocery shopping. It's only fair that you make breakfast."

"I don't see why I should make breakfast when I'm not hungry!"

Remus' voice interrupts from the other room, "There's no food in your refrigerator. I already checked. Why don't the two of you go eat something and then get me something as well?"

Remus, the peacekeeper.

Sirius gives Bella a wry smile, and for some reason, their argument is over. For now.

Bella gives him a lopsided smile in return.

OoOoO

It's a nice bright Saturday, and Bella wants to walk, though Sirius wants to Apparate. It's rare to have such a bright November morning, and Bella wants to make the best of it.

The weather's slightly chilly as well, and she's wearing her only pair of jeans. Sirius was nice enough to lend her a leather jacket, though she's carrying it on her arm. It isn't cold enough to wear it. That's just an excuse, though. She doesn't want to wear it. She's wearing a borrowed V-neck sweater that's a bit too loose for her frame, but she likes it when clothes are fashionably loose.

She suppresses a shudder at the memory of wearing Dudley's horrible clothes. She's glad that Harry won't have to go through that, ever.

"I don't see why we have to walk all the way to Cranbourn Street. We're wizards."

"I'm a witch," she says, keeping a blank face.

"Fine. I'm a wizard and you're a witch. We shouldn't have to walk," he complains.

"You might want to become fat and die of obesity some day, but I have no intention of doing that," she says, thinking of her whale of an uncle, Vernon Dursely.

"You'll never get fat. You're literally a sack of bones," he says, seriously. Or rather, as seriously as Sirius can get.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Black."

"So we're back to surnames, huh, Potter?"

"Sirius?" she asks, in a quieter voice.

"Yeah?" he asks in return, turning his face to look at her.

She stares into his blue-grey eyes, and knows that she's doing the right thing. She just knows that she can trust him.

"Call me Isobel."

His eyes widen, before a genuine smile graces his handsome features. He looks so breathtakingly handsome, with the sun shining down on his rather long hair.

"Thanks, love."

For some reason, him calling her 'love' doesn't seem annoying anymore. She turns her face away, blushing.

OoOoO

An hour later, they're walking back home the same way, with Sirius carrying steak done rarely. Bella finds it odd that she's calling apartment '3B' home. The only home she has ever known is Hogwarts.

Home is where the heart lies, she thinks wryly, thinking of Harry. She loves him so much. It's probably unhealthy to love someone this much, but she can't help it. Even if he weren't her brother, she is sure that she would have loved him this much.

Bella thinks of her 'family' that died in her own thread. Hermione. Ron. The Twins. Ginny. Molly. Arthur. Neville. Luna. Remus. Tonks. Teddy. Sirius. Her own parents.

And she can't hold it back anymore. It's such a pretty day. It seems unfair that she gets to live to see such a day. And what makes it worse is that there's no one else who remembers them. There's no one else who will miss them. Sure, Remus and Sirius are alive here, but they're not the same people she loved.

She's probably a masochist, to think of them on such a beautiful day. But don't they deserve the most beautiful of days to be thought of on?

She doesn't realise she's crying till she feels the tears roll off her cheeks. She tries to inconspicuously wipe them off with the sleeve of her sweater.

She isn't sure if Sirius has caught her crying, but a few moments later, he pulls her into a one armed hug with his free right arm. Bella stares at his left hand which is swinging a white bag. For some reason, her vision seems to be clearer, all of a sudden. Everything is in high definition.

Bella wraps her left arm around his waist and rests her head against his shoulder.

It feels selfish to have him support her, when he's probably - no, definitely - still grieving internally about the loss of his bestfriends.

But nevertheless, it feels nice to have someone to lean on.

OoOoO

Remus leans back against the frame of the door of Harry's room, watching his unofficial godson play with toy dragons. Remus feels Harry has it lucky, in a way. He's only a child. He has no idea of what life has thrown at him.

Remus hopes that Harry will remain a child for as long as possible, unaware of the harsh realities of life. He hopes that that innocence that he sees in Harry's green eyes will never die.

Thinking about Harry's green eyes reminds Remus of another person who has the same green eyes that Lily had.

Isobel Potter.

The girl is a mystery. While her story about being from a parallel universe seems farfetched, there's something about her which makes him believe her. It's probably the fact that she looks so much like James and Lily. She looks like a more mature version of James and a more world weary version of Lily.

His prime amusement in these awful days is from Padfoot's reaction to the girl, though. He wonders how James would react if he knew that Sirius was attracted to his daughter.

Remus is pretty sure that someday soon, once things have settled down, Sirius will try hitting on Bella. And it's not like she isn't attracted to Sirius. Remus can literally smell the attraction. His super-sensitive nose can smell the pheromones in the air.

However, there are so many unanswered questions about the girl. If Skeeter is to be believed, then it would mean Lily was pregnant during their last year at Hogwarts. Was that why she and James had got married two weeks after they graduated in June? Why hadn't they told any of them that they'd had a daughter?

And how does Helen Flamel fit into the whole scheme of things? It is all so bloody confusing. The girl also has no idea about the Laws and their importance. There is so much she has to learn.

The door bell rings, and Remus can smell Padfoot and Bella standing outside. The pheromones they're both emitting are so sickly sweet, he feels like gagging.

The bell rings once again. He rolls his eyes, before going to open the door.

His steak better be done rarely.

OoOoO

A.N:

A couple of days late. Sorry?

Thanks for favouriting, following and reviewing. 3 And one more community. Yay! :) Thanks.

Sadie, thanks for your review. :)

Special thanks to Ahryielle for spotting a minor error.

So I got my first flame, of sorts. From an anonymous reviewer. How brave.

Correction wrote:

"Good story I guess...but news flash: Harry is NOT a girl or female or woman and never will be. His name is Harry NOT Harriet or Isobel Potter.

Thanks."

My response:

Thanks, I guess? I have mentioned it's a fem!Harry story not just in the summary, but also in the beginning of the first chapter. Don't like, don't read. You probably won't be reading this response, but thanks for making me laugh. I haven't giggled like that in a long time, so thank you. And it's nice that you've been so polite.

GUESS WHAT?

My Blaise/Parvati story (Counting Stars) won the first place in the Popular pairing vs Rare pairing Challenge on the HPFFC forum. I'm so excited! If you have time, please do read it and leave behind a review. I've written it in a very different style, and I'd like to know your opinion.

Thanks for reading not just this long AN, but also this story. :')

As always, reviews are love.

Next update on: December 27th, 2015, give or take a couple of days.