Yay! I'm back already!

You know I don't own Harry Potter. Pretty sure J.K Rowling is sane. I'm not. Key difference.

In the end everyone ended up spending the rest of the day at Paradox's cottage. Barty, Sirius and Severus all wandered around in a daze, thinking that this whole thing must be some bizarre dream. Unfortunately, when they woke up still in the cottage it finally hit home. Sirius was the loudest by far and Paradox wondered if it was possible to shatter windows through shouting.

"SWEET MOTHER OF CIRCE! THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!"

Paradox gingerly touched her ears to check they weren't bleeding then grouched;

"Good morning to you too, Padfoot. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes I did actually but that's besides the point."

Paradox sighed. She'd preferred their shell-shocked attitude from yesterday. Much easier to deal with. With her thoughts somewhat in order she regarded the three men standing in her bedroom doorway. Sirius looked slightly deranged, somewhere between angry and scared. Severus was cool and collected as ever but his jaw was obviously clenched quite tightly and Barty just looked confused as if he wasn't sure why he was there exactly.

"Look, either I stepped in and did what I could or Harry grew up magic hating muggles, Severus was trapped into an agreement with Albus bloody Dumbledore, Sirius ended up in Azkaban, the Longbottoms went mad and Barty suffered through Azkaban and then being kept under the Imperius curse for years by his own father so I really think thanks are in order."

That made them all back down although Barty looked ready to cry. Paradox sighed again, she wasn't getting anything right this morning. At least Death was looking after the twins. He'd mumbled something about the beach and bolted.

"Barty, come here."

She pleaded, holding out her arms to enfold him in a hug as soon as he drew near enough.

"Your father isn't worth your time and you'll never have to put up with him again if you don't want to. I'll be adding in some extra rooms later on today so you'll always have somewhere to call home. That goes for all of you. Even if you only use it once in a blue moon."

Barty nodded from where he had his head hidden against her neck before cuddling closer.

"If I remember correctly, Barty is very close with the Lestranges, how did he end up with you?"

Paradox stared at him for a moment, weighing her options, but before she could say anything Barty spoke up.

"I was very close to the Lestranges. They were all older than me by a couple of years and at Hogwarts friends were a rare thing for me. Father has always expected perfection from me, but everything I did was never enough. I've always been quiet and withdrawn, mainly so that people won't notice me and find me lacking in some way. The Lestranges were everything I wasn't: loud, popular, beautiful and intelligent. And they still made time for me. Seemed to care for me. But there are times when I don't remember what I was doing or why. I just one day found the mark on my arm and they were so happy and proud of me. I was never knowingly a Death Eater, just very heavily manipulated."

Severus merely nodded jerkily and remained silent, Sirius looked slightly sick thinking on what his cousin had done and Barty hid his face in Paradox's shoulder, shaking gently. They remained that way for a while until Sirius seemed to pull himself together.

"So… Can we tell people or if not, what do we tell people?"

"Good question Sirius."

Paradox stated approvingly.

" Hadn't really thought about that myself that much, but for the general public we'll use the excuse I gave you in my letter. For people we need to help us, we'll say that we're time travellers working to change the future for the better. For family, the truth."

"Um… Who counts as family? Would Remus be ok?"

Paradox sighed at that, she really wasn't sure how to answer that one. Remus Lupin was a rather confusing individual.

"It depends on how much trust he has in Dumbledork and whether we could shake that trust with the truth. So I would say not until we know what his response would be."

Sirius seemed pained by the thought that his last remaining brother might not be trustworthy enough for this but still nodded in acceptance, if a little reluctantly.

"Good. Now that you've all calmed down and had your questions answered, we can actually start work on the new bedrooms."

It was the day before Harry and Tom's second birthday and everyone was gathered in the house for the next day. They had all changed, even in less than a year. Barty had grown in confidence and was living in the cottage full time, his bedroom was full of books on time travel and magical anomalies as he would soon be starting his apprenticeship as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries. Sirius had, after much nagging, claimed his Black Lordship after his Grandfathers sudden death and was now capable of acting the part of a proper pureblood. At the moment though he was covered in icing sugar while attempting to help make icing for the birthday cake. Severus showed the greatest change though as he had finally started wearing clothes in colours other than his usual black and had allowed Paradox to fix his nose and teeth. He was also far more relaxed now that he wasn't spying and actually allowed himself to smile every once in a while. Paradox was very satisfied with the changes her interference had caused.

The birthday boys themselves grew closer every day. The blood bond Paradox had created for them had changed their physical appearance slightly. Tom's eyes were a deep blue-green and his hair had darkened to the same black as Harry's. Harry's hair had been tamed and now lay flat on his head. Small changes, but it was enough to make them appear like born twins.

Paradox herself was the happiest she'd been in decades. She had a large, chaotic family to look after and Dumbledore had yet to stick his overly large nose into her business. She knew he would sooner or later but she'd be ready for him.

The Longbottoms would be joining them tomorrow to celebrate all three of the children's' birthdays. Frank and Alice had become firm friends and had been given the simplified time traveller story they'd devised and were very supportive of their goal, especially after hearing about their fate if Paradox hadn't stepped in. Frank had actually stepped into a pseudo-older brother role with Barty, while Paradox was more a mentor and support system and Barty had been named an honorary uncle to Neville. Altogether, Paradox had successfully built a closely knit extended family that would stand together against anything that threatened their happiness. This was the start of the end for Dumbledore as all members were warned against him and his manipulations. He would never gain control over Harry, not this time. Now all that was left was a way to include the Weasley twins…

A/N Next time will be the Weasley twins' inclusion and the beginnings of Dumbledore's manipulations. Still not exactly sure how I'll handle those two events… I'll work it out though!