Title: The Boys Who Lived
Author: Shara Lunison
Beta: Batsutousai
Rating for this Chapter: K+
Pairings: Harry/Henry (OMC), several others—none of them canon
Warnings: SLASH, eventual twincest, slightly manipulative!Dumbledore, grey Harry/Henry, OoC-ness, others as I think of them.
Summary: The Potter twins are attacked by Voldemort and somehow defeat him. Now the Dark Lord has returned and they have to choose between light and dark. SLASH, Twincest, rated M for later chapters.
Disclaim Her: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: So, you'll have to forgive me for starting to gloss over some things towards the end of this chapter. Nothing really happens in third year until around, during, and after Christmas. -_-;;
Chapter Twenty-Four: One Step at a Time
By the end of the week, the third years were bogged down under an unprecedented mountain of homework. Hermione was especially harried; the rest of their group kept finding her in odd places or not at all, and she kept disappearing and reappearing in the middle of conversations without remembering what they had been talking about.
Saturday morning was spent with all of them attempting to catch up on their work in the Room of Requirement. The strange truce that had begun the year before was continued, if only in this space, and everyone was doing better in their coursework because of the extra help.
Ron and Harry were a thrilled by their Care of Magical Creatures class. The first class, they had studied Hippogriffs and even gotten to fly on them. They figured if Hagrid could just curb his habits for dangerous creatures, things would work out fine. Even Draco thought the class had been interesting, especially now that he was casting off his father's expectations.
Henry adored Arithmancy, saying that it was loads more useful than Divination, and much more accurate. The class that he shared with Harry, Ancient Runes, was actually interesting for both of them, and Harry came to appreciate all of the books that were required. Being able to cross reference the rune they wanted to use was immensely helpful.
And Ron was amazed by Muggle Studies. He could barely believe all the things that Muggles had learned how to do without magic. Everyone was amused to note that it was the only textbook that he had read all the way through—period, much less in the first week of classes.
Only Hermione seemed to be straining under the weight of it all. With a little difficulty, they convinced her to drop Divination and Muggle Studies at the end of the first week. The first, Hermione herself thought was useless. And the second, she already knew most of anyway, so what was the point in relearning it?
They were all relieved when she started relaxing and actually attending meals that weekend after meeting with McGonagall to discuss the transition.
After lunch, the twins said goodbye to everyone and said they were going to pick up Gryff before meeting with Professor Lupin to talk about their parents.
The large black dog was waiting for them beside Hagrid's hut and jumped up on both of them to give them sloppy dog kisses. The boys happily rubbed his ears and scratched through the thick fur around his neck before leading him up to the school.
Professor Lupin greeted them warmly until he saw the dog on their heels. Suddenly the door to his office slammed closed as he locked and silenced the room, and the twins were magically thrust into the two chairs in front of his desk.
Henry was strongly reminded of Professor Snape the year before.
"I'm sorry boys, but I think you need to know that…that dog…"
"Is Sirius Black," Harry finished, raising an eyebrow to match those of his professor. "Did you think we brought him here without knowing that? All of us would like to hear his side of the story, so why make him tell it twice?"
Lupin looked like me might argue, but the shifting of the dog from animal back into human distracted his attention.
"They're right, Moony," Sirius told his old friend. The last month of Abe's cooking had done wonders for him, though he was still dirty, gaunt, and unkempt.
"Padfoot," Lupin whispered, lowering his wand. He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, then said, "Was it Peter? Tell me it was Peter."
Sirius nodded. "I was supposed to be the decoy, since everyone expected me to be the Secret Keeper. And I'm ashamed to say that we thought you might be working for the Dark Lord."
"Siri," Lupin cried, rushing forward to hug the other man in a bone crushing hug. They pounded each other on the back for several moments, and the twins pretended that they hadn't seen the tears each man wiped away.
"So, the full story?" Henry asked once they had recovered.
"Well, originally I was going to be your parents Secret Keeper, but then I decided that would be too obvious and convinced James and Lily—secretly—to switch to Peter. I'm afraid that my plan worked entirely too well. I arrived just a few minutes too late, but I went into the wreckage and found you both lying in your crib with those scars on your cheeks. When I came outside, Hagrid was there and said that Dumbledore had asked for you, so I gave you to him and gave him my bike and went off to find Peter.
"The coward had gone into the muggle world, and confronted me in the middle of a street of witnesses. Bastard blew himself up and made it look like I did it. They told me all they could find of him was a finger."
"Then, he's dead?" Lupin asked.
Sirius shrugged. "As far as I know."
"Good riddance," Harry said angrily.
"I couldn't agree more," Sirius said with a grin. He held open his arms suddenly. "Come here, let me hug you both properly!"
The twins stood and were enveloped in the warm arms of their godfather. "The last time I held you both, I could carry one in each arm," he said sadly. "I missed so much of your lives. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too," Lupin admitted to the twins once they were released. "I've been living in the muggle world all these years. It was too painful to stay here after Lily and James died, and Siri…" he gave his friend a regretful look. "It was always easier for me to find work in the muggle world, anyway."
Henry frowned. "Why?"
The two men exchanged a look. "Never mind," Sirius said quickly. "We're here to talk about your parents, anyway. I'll bet you didn't know that me and your dear old dad were two of the greatest pranksters to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts."
And so they sat and listened as the last two Marauders told tales about their school days, and about the botched attempts James made to win Lily's heart. Before any of them realized it, it was dinner time and Sirius decided that he should head back to the Hog's Head before Abe decided he didn't need to be fed.
They walked as far as the Great Hall, with Sirius in dog form, before parting ways. Lupin had agreed to escort Padfoot, as the twins were now calling the dog, to the front doors.
Ron, Hermione, and Draco came down the stairs behind them a moment later and spotted the large dog.
"So this is Gryff?" Ron asked, kneeling down and rubbing the beast's ears. Sirius gave a huge dog grin and head butted Ron's chest when he stopped petting him. Suddenly, he let out a ferocious growl and out of Ron's pocket scrambled Scabbers, who made a break for it and attempted to scuttle across the hallway to get as far from Sirius as he could.
"What? Scabbers!" Ron cried, trying to catch his pet.
Sirius barked loudly and ran forward to grab the rat, none too gently, in his jaws.
"Give him to me, Gryff," Lupin told the dog, holding out his hand. Sirius reluctantly brought the rat over to his old friend and Lupin gripped him by the tail, aiming his wand at him. "He's missing a toe on his right paw," he said, looking meaningfully at Harry and Henry.
"I'll fetch Professor Dumbledore," Harry gasped, running into the Great Hall. Several of the students looked at him in shock and whispered as he ran past, but he ignored them and approached the head table where Dumbledore was looking at him curiously.
"Professor," Harry whispered, "Professor Lupin has just caught Peter Pettigrew."
Hoary white eyebrows shot up into the professor's hairline, and he immediately abandoned his pie and followed the third year at a trot out of the hall.
"What's this about Peter Pettigrew?" he asked in surprise, seeing Professor Lupin holding a rat by the tail while its owner, Ron Weasley, protested the treatment.
"He's just a rat, Professor. I don't understand," Ron was saying.
"On the contrary, Ron. He's an illegal animagus. Ah, Headmaster," Lupin addressed the old professor. "Would you like to cast the spell? I don't know that the Ministry would believe my testimony quite so well as yours."
"Of course," Dumbledore said, pulling out his wand and pointing it at the rat. "Figura reverto."
There was a bright flash of blue-white light and the figure of Scabbers writhed in Lupin's hand. After a moment, he let it go and there was another flash as the rat hit the floor. Even as he tried to scurry away, he was getting bigger. Limbs lengthened and began to bend as a rat's did not. The head became larger and rounder, and the tail disappeared entirely.
Finally, a short and very rat-like man stood before them, wringing his hands. "A-Albus," he whispered, cringing.
"Silencio, incarcerous, wingardium leviosa," Dumbledore cast in quick succession, silencing Peter's bumbling excuses, binding him and levitating him so that he could not get away. He added a charm to prevent the man from transforming for good measure. "Perhaps we should take this to my office, Professor Lupin," he said, leading the way down the hallway.
Gryff whined and looked between Lupin and the Headmaster questioningly.
"Yes, you should probably come with us," Lupin decided. "You lot go on to dinner. I promise we'll handle this to all of our satisfaction."
"He slept in my bed," Ron squeaked, horrified at the knowledge that his rat was in fact a middle-aged man. "H-he watched me change! He saw me naked!" He looked ready to faint at that last admission.
Draco laughed and clapped Ron on the shoulder. "What I would have given to see that scene. Ronald Weasley changing his wide fronts only to turn around and see a middle-aged man leering at him."
Ron blanched and wavered back and forth slightly as they dragged him into the Great Hall. By common consent, they sat at the Slytherin table. They were being much more reasonable about Harry and Henry's Marks.
"I'm not hungry," Ron announced once they had sat.
"Of course you are, you're always hungry," Draco scoffed, piling the things he knew Ron liked onto his plate. "Eat."
Ron shook his head, beginning to look seriously ill.
Draco frowned and leaned over to whisper something in the redhead's ear. Whatever it was, Ron suddenly turned a bright flaming red that clashed horribly with his hair and dug into his food with relish.
The blonde Slytherin just smirked and turned to his own dinner.
Hermione watched this exchange with a knowing smile on her face, and then turned to look questioningly at the twins. "So? What was that all about, anyway?"
"What?" Harry asked. "Oh, well Sirius Black is our godfather and he escaped from Azkaban over the summer. We found out that Peter was really the one who betrayed our parents, but we thought he was dead. We were rather surprised when Gryff attacked Scabbers, but if it means our godfather's name is cleared, then it's all to the good."
"Oh," Hermione said. "Well, I hope that the Ministry actually admits that they imprisoned the wrong man, then."
"Me too," the twins said at the same time, then giggled at one another. They hadn't spoken in unison in quite some time.
The answer to that question came in the Daily Prophet the next morning.
"Harry, Henry, look!" Hermione cried, showing them the front page.
Peter Pettigrew Lives!
Illegal Animagus Confesses to War Crimes
They skimmed over the article until they got to the part about Sirius Black.
The Ministry has pardoned Sirius Black of all charges and would like to make a public apology to Harry and Henry Potter, who were deprived of the care their godfather could provide for the first eleven years of their lives. Albus Dumbledore has already agreed to sign over the magical guardianship of the boys to Black and wishes the new family the best of luck.
"We get to live with Sirius!" Harry crowed, standing and pumping his fist, much to the amusement of the students nearby.
"There's more," Henry said, pointing to the next paragraph.
As Black was also an illegal animagus, he has now been registered with the Department of Transfiguration as a large black dog that has been described as 'Grim-like'. All of the properties belonging to the House of Black have also been returned, as well as the seats on the Wizengamot and in the House of Lords.
"Congratulations," Draco told them warmly. "We might end up third cousins yet!"
"I wouldn't mind that, I hear you've outgrown your parents, Draco," said a voice behind them.
"Sirius!" the twins cried, standing to hug their godfather.
"Do we really get to live with you from now on?" Harry asked.
"Yes, and so can Draco if he wishes it."
Draco's eyes lit up and he smiled brilliantly at his cousin. "Really? I hadn't heard back from Aunt Meda, so I was getting a bit worried."
"I'm sure she's just checking to make sure it's not some kind of trick from Narcissa. They always did explode around one another rather spectacularly. Besides, I can actually protect you from your father, since I'll also have THE Boys-Who-Lived under my roof. Albus is going to help me to renovate the wards on one of the Black properties to suit."
The three boys exchanged glances. "Brilliant."
"I'm actually here to have lunch with Moony, though, so I've got to run," Sirius admitted, rubbing their hair and then dashing out of the room.
"Doth my ears deceive me…" one of the Weasley twins popped up out of nowhere.
"Or did he just say he was going to speak to Moony?" asked the other.
"Er, yeah. Professor Lupin's nickname from when they were in school is Moony. Sirius was Padfoot, our dad was Prongs, and Pettigrew was Wormtail."
Fred and George exchanged glances and then looked after the retreating form of Sirius. "If you will excuse us," they said in unison, and then began to sedately stalk after the twins' godfather.
"What was that about?" Hermione asked Ron.
"Dunno," the redhead said. "I've never seen them act like that before."
"Maybe they've heard of the Marauders?" Harry hazarded a guess.
"Probably." Henry nodded. "That would make sense." The others looked at them questioningly. "Professor Lupin, Sirius, Dad, and the rat were part of a group of pranksters called the Marauders. If the twins got wind of them, they would probably want to meet their heroes or some such nonsense."
The prank war which followed caused the list of banned items on Filch's door to triple in length and required several special dispensations from the Ministry to repair damage done to the third floor hallway. Even still, a corner of swamp remained.
-o-0-o-
Dear Boys,
Glad to hear that you'll be out of my hair next summer. Can't say I won't miss having you around, but I'm glad you'll get to be with your family at last.
Say hello to "Gryff" for me. I always knew he wasn't really a dog…
Abe
-o-0-o-
September bled into October and the small group of friends grew accustomed to their workload. The twins were still having no luck in making friends with Slughorn, which wasn't entirely to their dismay. From the expression of misery that Hermione sported every time she received a Slug Club invitation, they were considerably lucky.
Dumbledore left the school for several weeks towards the end of the month, and returned only for the Halloween feast itself. This year the twins decided to stick close to their friends to prevent any of the trouble that had happened the year before. But that night they snuck down to see Professor Lupin as he was catching up on grading in his office from being sick the day before (with Sirius trying to distract him at every turn) and the four remembered Lily and James together.
At the beginning of November, Dumbledore disappeared again and the twins began to wonder when they would be called for their extra lessons.
To work off some of their excess nerves, they asked Lupin and Sirius to start giving them extra Defense lessons.
"But why?" their professor asked.
"Well, first there was this prophecy hanging over our heads, but now we've got the Dark Lord's mark branded into our faces. We really need to know how to properly defend ourselves," Harry explained.
They had told Sirius and Remus, as they now called him in private, all about the prophecy and Voldemort and Dumbledore. Henry had even revealed the bond that connected them, and didn't miss the sharp glances both men had shown him or the looks they exchanged when he sat too close to his brother or they were too affectionate.
But Remus agreed to at least test them and see what sort of extra lessons he could cobble together in his free time. "You're both really quite advanced for your age," he admitted. "Though Harry is just a touch further than you, Henry. If you can meet me three times a week, I could probably get you up to NEWT level at least on spells by the end of the year."
With the promise of extra lessons in Defense, their normal schoolwork, their constant attempts to flatter Slughorn, and the inevitable waiting for Dumbledore to summon them, Henry found it hard to enact his plan of finding himself and Harry suitable dates for even an hour of the day, much less someone to see regularly.
In the end, he decided that waiting another year could hardly hurt anything. Harry was still too innocent to know where things were going between them.
Henry just hoped he would be able to push his brother away when the time came.
Finally things began to look up just before Christmas. Although Sirius had invited them to see his home, they had decided that it was safer to stay at Hogwarts for holidays and that spending it with Remus and Sirius together at school was just as good as going home.
One week before the holidays were to begin, they received an owl from Madame Bones, inviting them to tea on Christmas Eve. The woman had also extended the same invitation to Sirius and Remus, having known already of their affection for the twins.
After ensuring that they would be allowed to leave the school for a few hours to attend, the boys, Sirius and Remus had owled back with an acceptance of the proposal.
At the same time, a select number of people in the castle were talking about the Slug Club party that was being held in the dungeons, also on Christmas Eve, and who was inviting who to attend. Hermione despaired of finding anyone to take, until both Draco and Ron offered to escort her.
"Well, I can't go with both of you!" she exclaimed as they both made the offer.
"Why not?" Ron asked. "This way you can dance all night long, and whenever one of us gets tired we can switch."
Hermione just sighed with exasperation and promised that they could both come with her. Since the twins were unlikely to be invited and were going to be out of the castle anyway, they asked their friends to see if they couldn't put in a good word for them with Slughorn.
Christmas Eve saw everyone getting ready in the Gryffindor dormitory. Draco had brought his things there to make it easier for both he and Ron to escort Hermione. Even Harry and Henry were getting dressed up, having been assured by Sirius that tea with the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was a Formal Occasion.
They had all had to owl-order dress robes, Draco buying Ron's as a Christmas present. Harry and Henry had opted for simple black robes in a nicer fabric and lined in green to match their eyes. Ron had managed to avoid the dreaded maroon that his mother always forced on him and looked quite nice in his dark blue robes. Draco hardly needed the practice, and had 'simply picked something from his wardrobe that would suit' and that incidentally complemented Ron's robes of choice.
When the four boys emerged from the dormitory, they were all gob smacked at Hermione's appearance. Her hair had been tamed, at long last, and was swept up on top of her head in a cascade of curls that framed her surprisingly long neck. She was wearing a lovely powder blue dress with a light robe over top that was such a pale blue it was nearly white.
Draco, in his element, swept forward with a large square jewelry box and presented the muggleborn with necklace of lapis lazuli stones in a silver setting.
"Oh, Draco, I can't…" she tried to refuse.
"Nonsense. I bought Ron robes as his present, and I bought you this necklace. Happy Christmas, Hermione."
She smiled happily as he put the necklace on her. "Happy Christmas."
"Oi, where're our presents?" Henry asked, raising a sardonic eyebrow at his friend.
"You two will get them tomorrow like everyone else. Tonight is special, so I had to give theirs early," Draco sniffed haughtily and offered Hermione one arm and Ron the other. Together, they made it as far as the portrait hole before dissolving into giggles as they realized they couldn't stalk imperiously from the room since the exit was too small.
Harry and Henry shook their heads and followed behind them, intent on meeting their godfather and honorary Uncle in the entrance hall.
"Boys, you look fantastic," Sirius cried when he saw them.
Having grown used to their godfather's theatrics, they looked to Remus for confirmation.
"You look wonderful," Remus assured them, while Sirius pouted. "Shall we?"
They entered the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them with a pot of floo powder. Each of them took a handful and threw it in the fireplace, calling out, "Bones Manor, Receiving Room," as they went.
The room that Harry stumbled into was more ornate than any home he had seen thus far in the wizarding world. It was clearly much older, with wooden molding around the tops of the room, and warm golden wood panels around the bottom. The wallpaper was tasteful, which was more than he could say for the Dursley residence.
"Messirs Potter, welcome. Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin." Madame Bones entered the room at the sound of the floo and shook everyone's hands before leading them into the adjacent parlor. "Please, pick a chair. I've been looking forward to talking to all of you for the past couple of weeks."
She poured the tea herself, rather than relegating that duty to the house elf who brought it, and fixed everyone's cup to their liking before handing it over.
"I know I had promised you boys that I would keep in touch after meeting you this summer, but then Mr. Black here escaped from prison and I was unfortunately detained in trying to catch him."
Sirius grinned sheepishly. "Good to know you don't hold that against me, Madame," he said.
"Please, call me Amelia, all of you. I have asked you here as friends and I simply can't have you calling me Madame constantly."
The twins sipped their tea and helped themselves to the tray of biscuits on the table in front of them, mostly just listening to the conversation around them.
As Amelia was pouring herself a second cup of tea, she said, "Another reason I had asked you to come here is that I believe we are all of a like mind to help Harry and Henry survive the coming war with Voldemort. It is my understanding that Albus has largely given up on them, believing that they can no longer fulfill a prophecy or some rubbish like that."
"Yes, ma'am," Harry said, nibbling on another biscuit. "Although that changed a bit at the beginning of the year. He decided we might be of some use in dealing with Voldemort's immortality."
"Surely he's not actually…" Amelia trailed off as they shook their heads.
"He is, but we probably shouldn't tell you too much. The less you know, the safer you'll be. Imagine if everyone knew how he managed to survive the killing curse after it rebounded from us. I think he would become extremely paranoid—more so than he already is," Henry said.
"I can understand that. But do you think this is a task that you will be able to handle alone?" she asked them seriously.
The twins exchanged a glance and then Harry spoke. "Probably not. But until we know more, I'm not sure we really know the answer to that question. We've been waiting for Dumbledore to tell us more about it, but he's been busy researching something."
All three adults looked intrigued by this, but didn't comment.
Amelia set down her cup and took a few biscuits on a napkin for herself. "Well, I am ready to give you my support. Some of my sources inside and out of the Ministry are suggesting that Voldemort has some kind of plan that will take place this summer. I haven't been able to get anything more specific. I have also talked to the aurors and many of them said they would be willing to visit the school on occasion and help give you extra lessons."
Remus spoke up at that, "Sirius and I have already begun teaching them advanced Defense, but help from actual aurors would be appreciated. I think with the plan I've made up I'll have them to NEWT level by the end of the year."
Amelia's eyebrows rose. "That far? I had only thought to get them a couple of years ahead!"
"Defense is my best subject, A-Amelia," Harry said, stumbling over her name, making her hide a smile. "And Henry is really good at learning things from books, so he usually can keep up with me."
"Then how about this, I'll send an auror on those days that you have lessons and we can include some of the auror training regimen in their lessons. I suppose you haven't been focusing on including physical fitness in their exercises?"
Remus shook his head, looking a little sheepish, while Sirius hit himself on the forehead.
"I knew Azkaban rattled my brains, but you'd think I'd have remembered the useful things from auror training," he said.
"About that, I would like to offer you the option of becoming an auror again. You would probably have to attend basic training classes until we get you whipped back into shape, but I seem to remember hearing stories about your exceptional promise as a law enforcer."
Sirius gave her a brilliant smile. "That would be great! Although, I have been helping to cover Remus' classes when he gets ill, so as long as I can continue to do that it would be fine by me."
Amelia glanced between the two men and then at the twins and smiled slightly. Judging from the narrowed eyes on the boys they were beginning to question that 'illness'.
"Excellent. So for now we train up you three boys and I'll let you know if I get any more news about Voldemort's plans."
"If we hear anything, we'll let you know as well, Amelia," Henry promised. He figured if they were already reporting to the Order about their visions, they might as well share any news with the DMLE.
Amelia stood and the gentlemen in the room automatically rose as well. "Thank you very much for coming," she said. "I'll be sure to ask you back this summer if things go according to plan."
"Thank you, Amelia," they all said in various ways. Then they each took a handful of floo powder once more and returned to the Great Hall at Hogwarts where dinner was just about to start.
"We're going to go wrack our brains about auror exercises and adjust your training schedule," Remus told them.
Sirius hugged them goodbye and they turned to sit at the Slytherin table alone, since all of their friends were at the Christmas party in the dungeons.
"Well, looks like we're about to become even more busy after the holidays," Harry groaned.
A girl who looked to be Ginny's age with white-blond hair and wearing Ravenclaw robes came over to them then. "Excuse me, I have a message from Professor Dumbledore." Her voice was rather dreamy and vacant as she handed them the slip of parchment before skipping over to take a seat at her house table.
"Who was that?" Harry asked, looking after her.
"No idea," Henry answered. "But I think she's in Ginny's year."
They looked at the note and groaned again. Dumbledore had finally contacted them and had asked for their first meeting to happen on the evening of January third. Now they really would have no time at all to themselves.
-o-0-o-
~Shara
Please read and review!! We're almost to 200!!! Also taking votes for a possible change from DM/RW to DM/RW/HG. This chapter is why.