"Lower your wand boy, before you take someone's eye out".
Faltering slightly at the sound of the familiar growling voice, Harry almost obeyed it before he remembered who else had that voice, instead concentrating slightly and causing the tip of his wand to glow.
"Maybe that's what I'm going for," Harry bluffed slowly, "Considering how many eyes you've got left".
Dead silence answered him for a moment, Harry beginning to wonder if he'd said the wrong thing before a loud snort filled the air. "Well that's a good thought there, go for where you know your enemy is weakest" Mad-Eye Moody agreed, sounding almost proud as Harry still refused to lower his wand. "Come on then Potter, ask me a question, prove it's really me," the scared man instructed.
"I don't think I know you well enough to tell if you're lying to me Professor," Harry countered, his mind racing.
Silence filled the air once more before Moody snorted again, "Fair 'nough," he agreed, "Lupin. You go instead".
"Professor Lupin?" Harry asked almost instantly his mind darting to the letter safely hidden in his bedside table.
"We're not at Hogwarts now Harry," the werewolf's voice answered, "Just call me Remus".
"Why're we standing about in the dark again?" a third unfamiliar woman's voice asked, before light was illuminating the hall and bedroom, making Harry blink rapidly to clear his eyes.
"My friends called me Moony back in Hogwarts," Professor Lu- Remus said suddenly, a tired smile on his face, "It's me Harry".
Staring for a moment, Harry almost lowered his wand and stepped forward, remembering something with a start and instead deciding to step back as the colourless glow at the end of his wand turned a bright red. "Wormtail," was all he said in response, making a scowl flicker through the werewolf's eyes.
"I had a Grindylow in my office the first time you visited," Remus offered after being on the receiving end of one of Moody's creepy one-eyed glares.
"What are you doing here?" Harry blurted, half-lowering his wand and glancing over the nine witches and wizards (or so he assumed) gathered in his hallway. "And why are you here nine days after I was almost kissed by dementors?" he added coldly, his wandtip flaring darkly.
"Because it took us nine days to beat it into the Headmaster's head that it was for the Greater Good that we get you out of this place, since the Ministry and You-Know-Who obviously know where you live," Remus explained with a snort, "Hardly the 'safest place for you' if the dementors can get to you, after all".
"Now we got an hour to get you back to a secure location," Moody interrupted as Harry opened his mouth to speak, "Get packing. We leave in ten".
"Leave? What do you mean leave?" Harry asked dumbly, to a chorus of groans from the others.
"I mean 'leave', as in we will no longer be here," Moody snapped, both Remus and the purple-haired woman behind the ex-Auror mouthing the words silently. "I saw that," the man added coldly, his electric-blue eye hidden in the back of his head. "Now Potter, nine minutes to pack".
Blinking in shock as Moody pushed past the others and started down the hall to the stairs, Harry saw his chance as the others turned to follow him. "Remus! Do you mind giving me a hand?" he called out quickly, ignoring the way the purple-haired woman raised her hand as he focused his stare on the werewolf, hoping the man would get the hint.
"Of course, Harry," the former Professor agreed slowly, slipping into Harry's room and shutting the door in the woman's face. "Where did you want me to start?"
"Huh? Oh no, I've been packed and ready to go since the dementors attacked," Harry confessed dismissively, "I was just expecting you guys to get here sooner".
Remus paused for a moment before levelling a pointed look at Harry, "What did you want to talk about then?" he asked the raven-haired wizard cautiously, "The locks on the door? The cat-flap? I'm a half-blood Harry, I know what they are even if the others don't".
"Good for you. What am I?" Harry shot back at the werewolf.
"I… what?" Remus said slowly, frowning at Harry who rolled his eyes as he moved over to his bedside table and yanked open the top drawer to pull the letter out.
"What am I Remus?" Harry repeated coldly, turning to glare at the man as he clenched the letter in his fist. "Am I a half-blood? Or am I a muggleborn? I don't know you see, since my magic was given to me by some 'Sorcerer', I'm not entirely sure what I'm classified as," he hissed out.
"What?" was all Remus managed out, the werewolf blinking at Harry as he tilted his head in confusion.
"It says here, in paragraph five," Harry continued as he flattened out the letter and glanced at the words he'd memorised since receiving it. "That my birth parents are not magical, but that my magic was given to me by a powerful sorcerer. I'm not exactly sure what that makes me," he explained calmly, having gone beyond anger long ago.
"You're a wizard, of course," Remus pointed slowly, frowning slightly at him.
"Except I'm not," Harry corrected, "Because, like I said. My wizarding magic? It was given to me, and don't you frown at me, you knew. You may not remember the details, but you remember that I'm not really Harry Potter," he spat.
"Of course you are, Lily and James loved you," Remus argued automatically.
"Oh?" Harry interrupted. "That's lovely, nice to know, especially considering how I never even knew I'm adopted," he yelled, shoving the letter at Remus when the man reached for it.
"You didn't know," Remus realised, staring at him for a moment in shock before dropping his eyes to begin skimming through the letter.
"You did," Harry countered, feeling his hands curling into fists.
"I did," the man confirmed, glancing up at Harry again. "I thought you know," he said softly, "Back in your third year, when you asked about your parents. You specified that you knew they were Gryffindor Head Boy and Girl, that your mother was a prodigy and that your father was a quidditch player. You called them by name," Remus added, "I thought – assumed – that you didn't want to know about your birth parents, you were always very specific when you asked, always about James and Lily, never about them".
"You thought I knew but didn't care," Harry exhaled, staggering back to collapse onto his bed. "You never said anything-"
"Because you didn't," Remus defended, "I thought you didn't want to talk about it. I remember how Lily reacted when she found out that she was adopted, she refused to even say the word, I just assumed you felt the same way".
"Mum was adopted?" Harry blurted in shock.
Remus blinked a couple of times before peering down at the letter again, clearing his throat before beginning to read a section aloud. "'After the way Lily reacted when finding out about her adoption, we both agreed that it would be best to just come clean about it, instead of trying to hide it like her parents did'," he said slowly, looking up at Harry whose mouth had fallen open. "I remember when Lily found out. We were searching through the family records, trying to find an ancestor of hers that might have had magic when she found the adoption papers," the man explained.
"I… I thought that was Dad talking about Mum's reaction when she found out she could adopt me," Harry confessed quietly, mentally kicking himself for missing that.
"Lily grew out of her 'You're not my parents' phase pretty quickly," Remus assured him, "She kicked and screamed for a bit, moved in with me for the last month before Hogwarts started again. Then come the winter holidays she'd cooled down enough that she went home for Christmas and apologised to them all, by the time she came back everything had been mended between her and her parents".
The sound of someone knocking on the door made them both jump, turning to face it as Moody swung it open. "I said 'ten minutes'," the man reminded bluntly, "We're leaving now".
"Actually," Remus corrected, glancing back at Harry before shaking his head. "You go first. Harry and I will wait for a bit before following".
"And when they realise we don't have the lad?" Moody countered.
"Nymphadora can morph into a look-a-like," Remus explained, "Harry's got his father's invisibility cloak, we'll take the longer route as you draw away any ambushers".
"Ambushers?"
"Just in case," Remus mumbled in response to Harry's shocked question, never taking his eyes off Moody.
The ex-Auror stared back with his one good eye, the magical one spinning around wildly before suddenly snapping around to lock onto the letter still in Remus' hand. "Fine," the man finally agreed, nodding curtly as he turned and started out the door again, "Don't take any stupid risks".
"We won't," Remus promised as Moody charged through the house, shouting out orders. "Now we should have some time to talk in private," the tired werewolf promised as he turned back to Harry, moving over to sit on the bed beside him. "What… what do you want to know?"
"How am I a fake wizard?" Harry asked instantly.
"You're not?" Remus said uncertainly, "If anything I'd say you're a muggleborn, but I'm not entirely sure how the sorcerer 'gave' you magic".
"And what how does that even work?" Harry pressed, "My parents weren't magical," he repeated, "How can you just give someone magic?
Remus frowned at him for a moment before shrugging weakly. "I don't know," he confessed, "All I know, all that Lily and James didn't obliviate from Sirius and I was that your birth family couldn't look after you, that they were being hunted," he explained hesitantly, "They went to the sorcerer, who took you to James and Lily, where he gave you magic and gave them you. They came to love you like their own, Harry," Remus finished slowly, "They're your parents in every way that matters, that's it".
"But that's not it, is it?" Harry asked simply, standing up and moving over to his trunk, crouching down to pull out an elegant ornate hand mirror. "You remember something else, don't you?"
"Yeah," Remus admitted slowly, "You smelled like Sirius, like a dog. And the man… the sorcerer was gold – like his skin..." the man continued as he stared down at the floor in pained confusion, "His skin was gold".
"It's not anymore," Harry denied as he turned back to face Remus, "I spoke to him".
The werewolf's head snapped up instantly, eyes flickering amber as the man stood. "You what?" he gasped out, looking panicked, "Harry. I remember him, he was evil, it radiated from him. You can't trust him, Lily and James only did once he swore on his magic that he was being totally honest".
Harry shrugged in response, "I can trust him more than I can trust you," he shot back, "You weren't obliviated. Read the letter, it says I should ask you and Sirius for details, that you two are the only two who know everything".
Remus stiffened at his words, a look of guilt and remorse flashing through his eyes. "Harry, I-".
"Don't," he cut in, shaking his head slowly. "You said enough".
"I can explain".
"You don't need to. Gold already has," Harry murmured, watching as Remus' eyes widened. "He was really angry, when he discovered that Voldemort had come back. He prides himself on coming through on his end of the deal, especially when I was given a home as per his side of the arrangement". Remus didn't speak, instead choosing to watch him silently as Harry sighed and looked around his bedroom for the last time. "He owes me, you know," the raven-haired wizard explained slowly, "He made a deal with my birth parents that he would give me to a loving family to raise, and then he made a deal with Mum and Dad that the weapon he gave them in exchange for taking me in would kill Voldemort. Yet I grew up here, and Voldemort survived".
"Harry".
The boy in question just sighed again, shaking his head slowly. "I was going to give you all another chance," he confessed, "But you lied to me about knowing, and something tells me that not even you know what happened".
"I- What happened?" Remus asked instantly, "And… and I thought it would be easier for you if you didn't know".
"Dumbledore hasn't told you?" Harry questioned in response, "Gold had given Mum and Dad a weapon that didn't work, he took responsibility for that and killed Voldemort himself. The Dark Lord has been dead for nine days, and you didn't even know?"
Ignoring the way Remus paled, Harry just let out a slow chuckle, glancing up at the man as he gestured at him with the mirror in his hands. "This is the weapon, you know," he explained, "The weapon that could kill Voldemort. It was supposed to reflect the killing curse back at him, but for some reason he hadn't died properly. Gold said something about Tom splitting his soul, but I wasn't really listening, not after Gold pulled a shard of his soul from up here," he clarified as he tapped his already fading scar. "But this mirror, it can do more than just reflect the killing curse. It's my way home, a portkey that'll take me to meet my birth parents".
"Harry. No," Remus interrupted, "You've got a family here".
"Family who leave me locked up all summer without even caring when I'm attacked by dementors?" Harry countered with a sneer worthy of Snape, "Yeah. I'm sure I should be so pleased to have two sets of the Dursleys. If things were different, if James and Lily had been alive to raise me then maybe I would stay, but they're not. Good bye Remus".
As the werewolf lunged to his feet and dove at Harry, the boy vanished into a tornado of dark red smoke with a single word.
"Storybrooke".
STORYBROOKE
I have no excuses nor explanations for this chapter. I wanted to do it after reading an awesome HP/OuaT crossover and I did it.
The Undercover Operative cannot claim to own either Harry Potter or Once Upon a Time. (Seriously? What is it with BBC and making awesome TV shows?)