A/N: Non-explicit mentions of abuse in this chapter don't like don't read.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or FF7, they are the property of Square Enix and J.K Rowling. The only thing I own is my OC for this story.
Chapter 4: The Familiar Interrogation
Reincarnation Confusion
Aurora was torn.
On the one hand, Voldemort and his closest followers really did need to know about the reincarnates' existence if they were going to work together from now on.
On the other hand, she really didn't want to cause these people pain. She had known them for years, with the exceptions of Fenrir Greyback and The Dark Lord himself.
She especially didn't want to hurt Lucius and Narcissa, but it had to be done. To make matters worse, they'd get a double whammy since both she and Draco were reincarnates.
The only ones who had more reincarnates in their family were the Weasleys, and it was unlikely that Arthur and Molly would ever be told the truth. The only non-reincarnates that could be trusted among the Weasleys were eldest sons Bill and Charlie, and Arthur if they could make him see reason.
The Shinra organization honestly suspected the Weasley patriarch was being dosed with love potion by Molly, but as of yet they had no proof despite their best efforts.
Aurora waited patiently for the assembled Death Eaters to get over their shock at just how many and who the reincarnations were.
When they still hadn't snapped out of it after ten minutes, she politely suggested that perhaps they should meet again tomorrow since she had more to discuss with them than what they had covered today.
They all nodded dazedly, even the Dark Lord looked like he wasn't all there. Aurora sighed before disappearing into the shadows, without even bothering to get up out of the chair she had been sitting in.
That had not gone as she had suspected it would. She honestly thought they would have been able to handle more information than they did.
Now the rest of the meeting had to be postponed, which was a setback no matter how slight.
There were also the actions of the reincarnations' families', once they got over their shock, to deal with.
She had a suspicion that Papa Lucius and Cissa were about to unleash an Inquisition on them once they got them alone later tonight, and she dreaded the thought that Uncle Sev might just join in as well.
She hoped he would be able to control himself and not say something derogatory about Harry for the duration of the conversation/interrogation that was likely to happen this evening.
She was not sure she would be able to control her own formidable temper if he did. She wouldn't hesitate to shock Uncle Sev into unconsciousness with lightning if he decided to go all doom and gloom, woe is me on her.
She shuddered at the mental image, but was determined to warn Draco when she returned.
Aurora was such a good sister, it was a good thing Draco was aware of this fact and was appropriately grateful to her for all the things she did for him.
Had he been otherwise, there would be hell to pay and past or present no one had caught on to the fact that she was a prankster far more devious than any other in Shinra.
The TURKS wearing bright pink versions of their normal uniforms came to mind and she cackled mentally. That had been one of her best pranks and the icing on the cake was that Reno had gotten the blame for it.
It hadn't been easy dyeing all the TURKS uniforms that color without getting caught but it had been so worth it to see Veridot and Tseng lose their cool.
Elsewhere, the current leader of the TURKS shuddered in foreboding and had a thought that someone was planning a nasty surprise for his department. He hoped that his people were vigilant enough to avoid whatever the person had planned. Then he shrugged. If anything happened, it would be good situational awareness training if nothing else. He promptly returned to his work.
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Draco had finished the paperwork he had brought with him about a half hour ago and was now waiting for Aurora to get back from her meeting with the Dark Lord and his Inner Circle. After the first half hour passed and she had not returned, he figured the Dark Lord had summoned her.
He stared pensively into the fireplace thinking about all they needed to tell the Dark Lord and their parent(s)/guardian(s). Then he did something a Malfoy would never be caught dead doing in public, and sighed.
There was so much that they needed to tell them.
Genova/The Calamity, her discovery and the subsequent breaking of the seal the Centra had placed on her.
The Centra themselves and how they played a role in Ghast, Hojo, and Hollinader's amoral experiments.
Meteria and Mako, and how humans had learned to harness their power at the near expense of the Planet itself.
Harry's past insanity thanks to Hojo and his attempts to destroy the planet at the behest of Genova.
Vincent and his role as the vessel of Chaos and Harry's past life's father.
Now that had been an interesting reunion he thought with a chuckle.
Flashback:
They had just finished setting up their new headquarters during the summer after they'd regained their memories. Draco had felt the wards trigger and an alarm sounded throughout the compound. They had all rushed to see what the disturbance was only for them to stop dead in their tracks. Some had their mouths hanging open in shock.
There, in front of them, were Vincent Valentine and, surprisingly enough, Dark Nation and Nanaki. Dark had happily pounced on Draco in her joy at being reunited with her master. He was still trying to figure out how she had recognized him. Nanaki had sniffed disdainfully at the guard-hound and her antics.
After they had gotten over their shock at seeing the former TURK still alive, they had a long conversation. They learned of what Harry's past life's mother had done to save his life, and because of it Vincent was now effectively immortal and served the Planet as one of her WEAPONs. He had been asleep off and on for the past ten millennia and had woken up just recently when he had felt their re-awakening.
He wanted to talk to and get to know his son's reincarnation, as he hadn't been able to in the past. Harry was initially reluctant, but as he'd had so little parental interaction in the past and present, he eventually agreed.
It turned out that they had more in common than they knew, much to the consternation of all of his closest friends and the amusement of every reborn TURK.
Who knew the TURKS sense of snarky witty humor was an inheritable trait?
It had been interesting watching them trade acidic witty barbs at each other that first time. Thereafter, their little verbal spars had become commonplace. He idly wondered what Uncle Sev would think of the father/son duo's banter. He had to refrain himself from laughing until he couldn't breath at the image that popped into his head at that thought.
He imagined that Severus would get along quite well with the duo once he got over his hatred of all things Potter, and then proceed to join in with his own sharp tongued barbs.
He wiped the smile off his face when he noticed movement in the shadows of the corner of the room opposite of where he was sitting, just before Aurora stepped out of them with an annoyed expression on her face.
"I take it they didn't take the revelation very well?"
"That would be a gross understatement." She sighed before flopping down gracelessly onto the chair opposite the settee he was seated on.
"I didn't even get through half of the things we wanted to tell them before they became unresponsive."
He raised an eyebrow at that, having thought that they could handle more than that before it got too much for them.
Apparently they had overestimated the Dark Lord and his Inner Circle, and they had wanted to get everything out of the way in one meeting too. It looked like they were not going to get their wish, unfortunately.
"Oh yeah, we had best prepare for an interrogation when our parents finally manage to process the information dump I just put them through."
He visibly winced at that but nodded in agreement with her assessment.
They could only hide in Aurora's rooms for so long, since they were expected at dinner. The questioning would be even worse if they broke manners to spare themselves a little longer.
"We also might want to prepare for Uncle Sev in case they want to triple team us."
'Shit', he thought.
He hadn't even considered that Severus might team up with their parents to interrogate them. His thoughts must have shown on his face because his sister was giving him a worried look.
"You're right on both counts, Aurora''. And thus began the frantic planning for a conversation that they had managed to put off for two years but hadn't a snowball's chance in hell of postponing any longer.
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Severus was currently in his best friend's study along with said best friend and his wife trying to process what they had just been told by the teenager- 'no, woman'
He thought, as his second godchild had just told them.
His head was in his hands, a large untouched glass of brandy sat in front of him and he knew Lucius was in a similar position on the couch across from him. Narcissa sat next to her husband, hands twisting a handkerchief, tears silently streaming down her face.
She was likely wondering like the rest of them how they had not seen the change in their children.
Hell, Severus spent the entirety of their third and fourth years at school with them and he had not seen this coming. The combination of past and present lives, memories and experiences must have made them exceptional actors.
He couldn't blame them for hiding the truth, even from their own parents until they were ready. Assimilating an entire lifetime of past memories into their current lives could not have been easy. On top of that they had to worry about school, and in the case of some, keeping the old meddler from finding out about them being reincarnations.
He really didn't want to imagine what the Headmaster would do if he gained access to knowledge from Atlantis and shivered at the mere thought. Atlantis wasn't known as one of the greatest civilizations in history for nothing.
He idly wondered just how far the change for the reincarnates went, and he would likely find out later tonight when they could corner the children and question them. Though they would do so as gently as possible, talking about this after nearly two years of silence would likely be hard for his two godchildren; he did not want to make it any harder on them.
He also made the decision to treat them as the adults that they no doubt were now, rather than the children they appeared to be.
The uneasy silence that had fallen over them as soon as they sat down in the study was broken by Narcissa, who said in a distraught near whisper, "I wish they would have told us sooner but, I'm glad they had each other while they were coming to terms with all of that."
Both he and Lucius looked up at her declaration and nodded.
"What's done is done, all we can do is be there for them now." Lucius concluded.
"And we will be. I also suggest that, despite the fact that they still appear to be children, that we treat them like adults." Severus said, putting in his two cents.
Both Malfoys did not look happy about the situation, but they nodded in agreement nonetheless. Severus was right and it would cause more harm than good to keep pretending that their children were still children.
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The Dark Lord sat in pensive silence. He'd dismissed his Inner Circle to reconvene tomorrow and finish the discussion that had started tonight with the reincarnated woman. He knew that the meeting today would be important; he just had not realized how important until reincarnation was mentioned.
And hadn't that been a shock to learn that there were so many reincarnates within Hogwarts' walls, and not just any reincarnations but Atlantean at that.
That must have been hell for them when they realized just how far into the future they had been reborn. Especially with how screwed up the Wizarding World was thanks to the last 300 years worth of its leaders being power hungry idiots and one manipulative, but well meaning old man.
Look at Hogwarts! It used to be the premier school in the world but, now internationally only ranked 32nd. The OWLS and NEWTS were worthless outside of the British Isles.
The International Standard Testing done by the ICW was much more comprehensive and difficult. These were the tests that were given by every other magical school in the world save for those in Britain and parts of Europe.
Not only was Hogwarts Education substandard but, they offered far fewer classes than they had in the past.
Wizarding Culture and Traditions, a class once required for all Muggleborns to take from first year until third, was gone. Was it any wonder that most Muggleborns were clueless to the fact that the Wizarding world had its own separate culture?
Muggle Studies once required all Purebloods to take it so they might understand the mundane world and be able to blend in if necessary, but now it was an elective that most students thought of as a joke.
And unfortunately, it was because the course hadn't been updated for at least a century, if not more. Quite a few advancements had been made by the mundane's since then.
And Wizarding Culture and Traditions wasn't the only class that had been tossed.
Alchemy, Dueling, Healing, Advanced Runes, Warding, Rituals, Blood Magic, Creature Cultures, Advanced Arithmancy, Languages, Music except for Choir, Creature Magics, Magical Inheritance, Magical Law, and Elemental Magic just to name a few.
Is it any wonder that the last few generations of Wizards had been sheep? They had been purposely kept ignorant by those in power.
Which was why very few in the British and European Wizarding world challenged the status quo and why so many Dark Lords, including himself when he was insane, as much as it pained him to admit it, were able to get a foothold.
The Wizarding World needed to change, and fast. He knew that the Mundane would eventually re-discover that magic was real and he knew better than most just how dangerous muggles could be.
He had lived through the Blitz after all, and was well aware of what had happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The poor Japanese in both the Wizarding and mundane worlds were still feeling the effects from the nuclear bombs that the Americans had dropped on them.
He had, of course, shared what he knew with his Inner Circle, who had all been properly horrified at what the mundane people had done (and could still do again). Except for Severus, who had already known since he was a half-blood and had learned about it in muggle primary school.
He would deal with the threat of muggles with their ever advancing technology later. First, he had to ensure that the British Wizarding world didn't tear itself apart.
He couldn't help but think that the additions of the reincarnates to his ranks could only be a blessing in ensuring the Wizarding World's survival. Make no mistake, while it had been quite a shock to find out that there were so many reincarnations, rather than put him off allying himself with them it had only cemented his decision.
He pondered with anticipation what else the woman had to tell him and his Inner Circle, and couldn't wait. He had a feeling that they were not done with their surprises yet. Whilst he normally despised surprises, this was one he was eagerly looking forward to.
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Dinner that night at Malfoy Manor was a tense affair with no one wanting to talk much.
Draco honestly couldn't tell you what they had for dinner that night because he was so tense he couldn't really focus on tasting the food. Which was a crying shame because the house elves had outdone themselves as usual, cooking food that was no doubt fit for a high class restaurant.
The children didn't know what to say without it becoming stilted and the adults weren't much better. Wanting to know but at the same time not wanting to know all that their children had been hiding from them for the last few years. Dreading the extent of the changes that remembering their past lives had caused.
Finally, once the meal was over they retired to the sitting room, where the adults exchanged looks before Lucius began the questioning
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
This had the teens exchanging looks much like the adults had moments ago.
"We didn't tell you at first, mostly because we were all still so confused about what was happening and what we should do."
"Our past and present lives were fighting each other, and forgive me for my vulgar language mother but it was a bloody mess."
The blond haired teenager said quietly in remembrance of that tumultuous time, his eyes slightly unfocused.
"After we realized what was happening, we decided to figure out who else had been reincarnated with us into this era, which didn't take long with the way we all regained our former appearances along with our memories."
"Luckily, the physical changes we had undergone were put down as one the Weasley twins' pranks."
"Yeah it took some really quick thinking on all our parts in order to keep everyone from finding out that the change in appearance we had for about a week was more than just a prank."
Here Aurora shuddered.
"I would hate to find out what the old goat would have done if he had found out that Harry was a reincarnation back then."
Everyone agreed that no one wanted to be the subject of the Headmaster's meddling; they usually ended up burned for it.
"Not that the old goat would be able to do much to Harry now that he has mostly regained all the strength and skill that he had in the past."
"Not to mention the new skills he has gained in our current lives."
Both reincarnated teens shared a near feral look at that, almost as if they were daring the Headmaster to try something to Harry or his friends and see how far that got him.
"Do I even dare ask?"
Severus said sardonically to the two diabolically smirking teens.
"Lets just say there was a very good reason as to why Harry was called the Demon of Wutai in the past."
All three adults started, and wondered just what the Boy Who Lived had done to earn a moniker like that.
"Yeah he was one of the best damn generals Shinra ever had."
"It was such a waste that the greedy, arrogant, stuck up, pompous, bastard that was my past life's father allowed such a good man to be driven mad, despite all that he had been put through."
Here Draco had a bitter angry look on his face. He might not have known Harry all that well in the past but he knew that much about the man. He was sickened and repulsed by what his father and others had allowed to happen to him.
"Potter went mad?"
This from Narcissa who as both a healer and a mother was looking incredibly furious at that. Both Draco and Aurora winced mentally at setting poor Harry up to be mothered by Narcissa. Then they took a moment to think it over mentally and shrugged, it would do him some good to have a female parental figure in his life and Narcissa had done rather well with them.
Anything was better than Molly Weasley and her mollycoddling ways at least.
"Yeah Harry went completely mental, far worse than the Dark Lord at the end of the last war."
The adults present had a hard time picturing that, since they had been present for their lord's descent into madness. Severus' loathing of all things Potter decided to rear its ugly head just then and Lucius and Narcissa just shook their heads at their friend's stubbornness and refusal to see the truth.
"How bad could Potter have truly been? I'll bet he just threw a temper tantrum like he always does when he doesn't get his way, just like his father."
Severus was unprepared when both Draco and Aurora turned venomous glares onto him and hissed simultaneously.
"You better hope that Harry never catches you saying shit like that, and if you are stupid enough to do so in his presence, I know Aurora at least will help him turn you into an popsicle."
Severus eyed his goddaughter warily. Now that he was actually looking he noticed sparks of electricity seemed to be shooting off her fingers, which were twitching like she wanted to direct some of that electricity at him. She also looked about ready to murder him with her bare hands as well.
Aurora began in a quiet deadly voice "You listen well Severus Tobias Snape ''
The dark haired man winced, his goddaughter had never used his actual name before, much less his full name, which showed just how pissed off she was.
She had always called him Uncle Sev, or Severus in private.
"You need to grow up and get over yourself because Harry Potter has never been an arrogant bully like his git of a father was. Sure, he's broken school rules before but what teenage student hasn't broken at least one school rule in their career as a student?"
"Had you looked past your pride and blind hatred for James Potter you would have seen that Harry was, in fact, abused by his own aunt and uncle, something you of all people should have seen but you didn't because of your hatred of James."
"Apparently enough to dismiss any misgivings you might have had about one of your students' home lives."
"And because of your blind prejudice and hatred, one of your students suffered!" She all but roared this last statement.
Severus reeled, she had hit the nail of the head. He suddenly recalled how skinny Potter had always been at the beginning of term and how he subtly flinched away from touch and loud noises.
He also recalled how by the end of the year he seemed to be doing better only to be skin and bones again at the beginning of the next school year. He cursed himself for a fool letting his emotions get the better of him like a child. And as Aurora had pointed out, one of his students had suffered.
Child of James or not, no child deserved to be abused like Potter obviously had been. Although he doubted that Harry tolerated it anymore since he had regained his memories.
Lucius and Narcissa weren't in a much better state than he was judging by their sharply indrawn breaths. And who could blame them? After all child abuse didn't happen very often in the magical world due of how fiercely they treasured their children.
That, and the thought that the savior of the wizarding world had been abused and no one had noticed, especially Poppy Pomfrey, meant that someone had tampered with the Mediwitch, most likely the old meddler himself.
Poppy wasn't stupid. She would have noticed the signs. She had done so easily enough with Severus when he was in school, no thanks to his deadbeat drunkard of a father.
He made a mental note to himself to check Poppy for tampering as soon as he returned to Hogwarts. Poppy was his friend and had been more of a parent to him than either of his own parents had. She did not deserve to have her memories tampered with and her Healer's Oath possibly put in jeopardy because Albus just had to meddle where his little Hero was concerned.
He brought himself out of his self recriminations just in time to see his goddaughter storm out of the room, magical aura whirling around her in her anger. He flinched when she slammed the door to the sitting room with enough force to shatter the door and rip it off its hinges.
All who remained in the room goggled a bit at that and wondered just how strong Aurora was for her to pull off a feat like that. The door was magically reinforced, as were all the doors in the Manor. It would take a great deal of strength indeed to do what Aurora had just done with casual seeming ease.
As soon as they got over their shock they turned to the lone reincarnated teen remaining in the room for an answer as to what had set Aurora's temper off so spectacularly. Draco heaved a sigh, a rarity for the Malfoy heir. He seemed to be doing a lot of sighing today, he thought ruefully, before answering their unspoken request.
"Harry's treatment, past or present, is a rather sore subject for all of us. Aurora, in particular. They were engaged and quite in love in their past lives."
This got rather surprised and thoughtful looks from the adults. Severus now understood how his spiteful, immature, and rather uncalled for words must have burned her up inside. Personally he would have been plotting what unpleasant potion to slip the idiot who had dared insult the one he loved if it had been him in her position.
Especially if she still harbored feelings for Harry in this new life.
After letting them digest that little tidbit of information for a moment, Draco continued the conversation from where they had left off.
"What you have to understand about Harry is that, in both past and present, he was severely abused. For a good part of his past life, he was treated as nothing more than a test subject."
The adults shared horrified and disgusted looks at that.
"Neither my past life's father, nor the scientist who experimented on him throughout his life acknowledged him as a person."
Narcissa and Severus, who were trained in healing, went a little green at the mention of such monstrous actions.
"It wasn't until later when he met his two best friends, now known as Harmione Granger and Neville Longbottom, though back then their names were Genosis Rapsodos and Angeal Howley, that anyone acknowledged him as a person."
My name back then was Rufus Shinra, and Aurora was Elentiya Oakwald. I'm sure you figured that out from the letter that Lord Slytherin showed you."
"Although their friendship was awkward and stilted at first, since Harry was born and raised in a lab with little to no human contact beyond scientists who didn't care whether he lived or died."
"Needless to say he didn't know how to interact with people and had no social skills to speak of. One thing that didn't have to be taught to him in this lifetime thankfully. Although from what I have been told it was a near thing."
They all shuddered at what that must have been like, to have been seen as nothing more than a number at best and a pawn at worst without a personality or will of your own. It must have been maddening.
"Honestly if it hadn't been for his friendships with Granger and Longbottom, and later Aurora and Ronald Weasley, whose name back then was Zackary Fair, although he preferred Zack, then he probably would have cracked a lot earlier."
" As it was, his mental state only took a downward turn when Aurora disappeared and was presumed dead in a supposed terrorist attack, and then Granger and later Longbottom went rogue and were hunted down."
"When you say a supposed terrorist attack. You don't mean…?"
Narcissa said, horror evident in her voice, her voice practically a whisper and face incredibly pale by this point with all the horrifying things revealed thus far. Her son nodded gravely in answer.
"We never had any proof but, I wouldn't have put it past Hojo to have set something up to have her murdered. That's the main scientist who experimented on Harry by the way. She was tainting his perfect experiment, and he couldn't have that."
"This Hojo was truly a monster. I hope he was punished harshly in the afterlife for what he did to all of you."
"Don't worry, I have it on good authority that Hojo will never again be able to harm anyone else."
He said this with a satisfied and somewhat mysterious smile on his face.
Before he sobered once more
"It turns out that both Granger and Longbottom's past selves had also been experimented on by another scientist, which led to Granger's body and mind deteriorating."
" Although Longbottom was killed before his body could truly do the same. All of these things combined were finally too much for Harry's mind, and he snapped."
" Harry, in his insanity, tried to destroy the world on three separate occasions, being revived after every time he was defeated one way or another."
" The second go around he actually almost succeeded in destroying the world, which is a rather terrifying prospect I know. He was finally put to rest for good after the third time."
Draco paused to let that avalanche of information sink in.
"Although, from what Harry has told me, by his third revival he had regained his sanity and let himself be killed rather than live on in a world that had done him no favors."
" By that point, he knew even before we did thanks to the time spent in limbo, that Aurora had survived the attempt on her life and he knew that she would be fine without him. His only regret was not getting the chance to know the twin daughters that he had with her. No one knew, not even her, that she was pregnant when she disappeared."
He looked at his parents and godfather and decided that they had had about all they could take for one night after that last revelation, and ended the conversation there. He got up from the lounge chair he had been seated on and made his way out of the sitting room.
He couldn't resist one last parting comment before he departed to his rooms for the night.
"Uncle Sev, I know it will be hard to let go of your, honestly justified, anger at James Potter but, you really should apologize to Aurora and Harry and take the time to actually get to know him, and not the mask he has created to protect himself."
" I think if you gave him a chance, you would find that you would actually get along quite well."
He barely saw his godfather nod out of the corner of his eye before he headed off to check on his sister. She had probably cooled off enough for him to do so by now.
He left the adults back in the sitting room with much to process.
End Chapter
Next Chapter: the Order's reaction to Aurora's interference and two Order members learn some hard truths about their own family.
