A sharp staccato echoed across the ministry atrium as a pair of low heels marched purposefully from the floo grates to the lifts at the far side. The witch stood tall as she made her way through the rest of the morning rush, most taking their sweet time, stopping to greet one another or gossip about the latest interdepartmental drama. Her messenger bag was slung across her shoulder and tucked under her left arm, leaving her wand arm completely free at a moment's notice. Her hair was a dark red, gathered into a bun just above the base of her skull. A pair of wooden pins held it in place, though only a few people besides herself knew they were also disposable, generic wands.
Amelia Bones had been promoted to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement just a few months prior. She had just turned thirty in February, and was the youngest head of the department, and the first female head. She had an endless number of detractors, and she needed to be unassailable in the face of their criticisms. Which led to a less functional style of dress for her desk job - which to her dismay, appeared to be mostly functioning as a wall between politicians and her department's ability to work.
Amelia stepped into a lift, and sighed in relief when only her old partner Shacklebolt joined her. As soon as the lift doors closed, she immediately reached down to adjust her heels. Shack chuckled, a deep rumbling sound, and she slapped him in the abdomen as she stood back up.
"Not enjoying your new uniform, ma'am?" Shacklebolt smirked as he looked forward.
"No, I'll have you know I hate these shoes and I take them off the moment I'm at my desk. And you can continue to call me Amelia, at least when not in front of recruits." Shack nodded.
"Yes Ma'am" He replied, with a large, shit-eating grin on his face. It turned into a full laugh as Amelia let out a full body groan and slumped against the back of the lift.
The lift door opened onto the floor dedicated to the DMLE, and both rapidly stood and headed to their offices.
"Shack, come by my office for lunch if you're not otherwise busy." The man nodded, and split off with one last barb.
"Of course, boss." Amelia glared at him, before entering her office. Her secretary was already sitting out front, reading some memos that came in late the previous evening.
"Good morning Edward, anything pressing?" The nineteen year old shook his head.
"No Ma'am. I've added some stuff to the schedule, but you still have the first few hours free. Not many of the other department heads get in before nine thirty in the morning." Amelia shook her head.
"And they'll take an hour and a half for lunch and leave at four." Edward shrugged.
"Can I get you some coffee?" He asked.
"No, That's fine. I'll grab some from the break room pot." She waved him off, already moving into her office, putting her coat on the hanger and moaning in pleasure as she kicked her heels off underneath her desk. She was about to pull the first of a few more important confidences from her inbox, but Edward stuck his head back through the door.
"Professor Dumbledore is here, Ma'am." He explained.
Amelia was a bit confused. Why would Dumbledore be here? There weren't even students to discuss, they had already gone home for the summer. Nevertheless, he would be a much more welcome visit than Bagnold.
"Show him in please." She sat back in her office chair.
Edward came back, standing aside at the door to let Dumbledore through.
"And how are you enjoying the DMLE, Mr. Dunbar?" Ever the teacher, Dumbledore couldn't help himself from catching up with past students.
"Oh I do like working in the office, Madam Bones has said she'll recommend me to the legal services department after I sit my wizarding law mastery exam. Would you like any tea? Coffee?" Dumbledore politely refused, moving in to sit in front of Amelia.
He waited for Edward to shut the door, looking at his hands clasped on his crossed knee.
"Would you mind if I put up some privacy enchantments?" He asked, as the door shut. Amelia's stomach fell, as she realized this would not be an enjoyable conversation. She waved her hand as permission before rubbing the bridge of her nose. The slight bustle audible through the door faded to a white noise, as the headmaster flicked his wand at each of the walls.
"That should do." Dumbledore said to himself as he sat back. "I'm sorry Amelia, but this isn't going to be a fun conversation. Nor a quick one." He sighed. "I suppose I should start at the beginning."
Dora was sitting at the side of Harry's bed, lost in thought. She was quite overwhelmed as well, though also ecstatic. It had been a whirlwind of activity, from the baby she used to play with as a kid coming back in time, to her fun uncle-turned mass murderer being innocent and also coming back in time, and then the now rather attractive teen she had proclaimed as a child that she would marry one day - he turns out to have been a metamorphmagus all this time! She had started to get some unwanted attention this past year at school, her first relationship had gone up in flames when he had asked her to morph into another girl. And while Harry didn't seem to be the kind of guy who would do that, He'd definitely get it now.
She looked over at the sleeping teen. He seemed so peaceful now, like a weight around his shoulders had been lifted. She couldn't imagine what that sort of the block would feel like, but the inability to express herself would have grated on her subconscious, she was sure. She had no idea how most people went through life completely unable to control their body. She reached out and ran her fingers through his mess of hair. Despite his unlocked power now, the Potter's cursed hair continued. She idly wondered if it would still be a thicket when he consciously morphed it.
Her mother walked in, quietly shutting the door behind her. She smiled at the sight of the two, glad - despite the circumstances - for her daughter's fortune. She wasn't unaware of the developing feelings there, and she perfectly understood.
"Nymphadora, breakfast is ready. Do you want me to bring some up for you?"
Dora's head whipped to look at her mother in shock - she had never let her eat anywhere other than the table, except for the one time she had dragon pox when she was twelve and literally confined to her bed as per the healer's orders.
Andromeda shook her head.
"He needs someone to be here when he wakes up, you heard Pomfrey. And you two are far too adorable together for me to split you up" She grinned unrepentantly as Dora's face flamed. It was hard to embarrass your metamorph daughter to the point she blushed, and Andromeda took pride in it.
"Yeah, some breakfast would be great. And some for Harry when he wakes up?" Dora managed to get out, struggling to control her hair, knowing her mom would just enjoy seeing her flustered.
Andromeda left, leaving the door cracked as she did, and Dora heard the tones of her father and Sirius downstairs. She continued gently combing Harry's hair with her fingers.
Harry stirred, and her hand froze.
"Mmm n- dn' stp" Harry mumbled. Dora slowly continued playing with his hair, and he settled back, rolling towards her. She couldn't keep a smile from forming. If Andromeda had come back at that moment, she would have known that she was looking at her future son-in-law. She would have remembered seeing that look in Lily's eyes when directed at James.
"Harry?" Dora asked gently, trying to see if he was actually up. "Are you awake?"
Harry snuggled into her hand. "Noooo." It was more of a groan than a word, but it was a response.
"Mom will be back shortly with food, don't you want breakfast?" She smirked. "Maybe if you're asleep I'll just eat yours." Harry groaned and rolled away from her, covering his head with the pillow. Dora let out a giggle, before reaching over and pulling the covers down. As the cool morning air hit his bare back, Harry whipped his head out from under the pillow and fixed her with a glare.
Dora couldn't contain her mirth, and backed up, laughing, before she snagged her foot on the discarded covers and collapsed into them with a yelp.
Harry sighed, and climbed out of bed before putting on a shirt that had been left out for him.
"Tonks, where are my clothes?" He asked, turning to look at her laying on the ground in his covers.
"Oh those? As we carried you up here, Dad realized you were still wearing what you had fought in the ministry wearing. So we switched them with some of his old pajama pants. I learned last night that my dad doesn't wear pajama tops." She made a disgusted face. "So we didn't have anything. That's one of his old shirts though."
At that moment Andromeda came back into the room, levitating a tray of food behind her.
"Oh good, you're up. Go on, sit down, You need to eat."
Harry smiled as he followed her directions, realizing the similarities between Mrs. Tonks and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Tonks may be more formal in public, but with just the family she was caring, loving, and a bit overbearing.
"You too Nymphadora, and then once you're both done, come down to the kitchen, we need to finish our discussion from last night." She gave Harry a hug around his shoulders before walking back out.
Harry took a bite of his breakfast, and moaned in delight, his hair turning gold, before fading back to black.
"Yeah, mom's cooking is to die for. Usually dad and I make do because she's in the office and doesn't have time when she gets home, but when she gets the chance to, it's amazing." Dora eyed his hair, looking for more change. It seemed that he was at least stable in his base form, except when strong emotions hit. He was lucky he hadn't had to go through puberty as a metamorph, she thought. Then it hit her - He probably didn't know yet.
"I'll be right back, Harry, just going to go grab something from my room." He waved her off, still in his own world enjoying breakfast. She quickly retrieved her old handheld mirror from when she had needed to practice morphing daily. Coming back into the room, he raised an eyebrow at the mirror but continued eating.
"So, Harry, last night… Well, in your panic you broke through a child block. Apparently nobody realized you still had one on you because it's not one that Pomfrey checks for when you first get to Hogwarts." Dora sat back down and set the mirror to the side. She saw him starting to connect the dots, and continued before he could come to any conclusions.
"Madam Pomfrey checked you out after you passed out. She mentioned that the panic attack might have been exacerbated by the block. Anyways after you broke through it, your magic exploded a bit and your hair and skin rapidly changed color before settling back down. So we think it was a child block on a metamorphmagus talent!" She picked up the mirror.
"And so you don't think I'm having you on, here, take a look." She pointed the mirror at him, and he saw that his hair was currently white in shock. It quickly turned to green as he focused on it, and as he watched the color change, his eyes went wide.
Harry mentally focused on a change, and saw his hair turn black again. He tried to make it lie flat, but it refused. Confused, he tried longer and shorter, and both of those worked, but no matter what he couldn't change the style. He looked up at her, with his hair back to normal, before sinking back in his chair and looking to the ceiling.
"Why the hell can't my life just be normal for one second." Dora tried not to let it show, but that hurt a bit. He had just realized he had the same ability as her, and lamented it. Harry looked back and saw the shadow cross her face, and realized what he had said.
"I don't mean it that way, of all the things that could happen to me, realizing I'm a metamorph is pretty damn cool, I just - I don't want even more attention now. I just want to be Harry for once, where people like me for me." Harry looked down at the table.
Dora walked around the table, pulling him into a hug.
"I like you for you, Harry. You're kind, courageous, selfless to a fault, and funny when you want to be. Your biggest fault is that you internalize other people's responsibilities and accept more blame than necessary. Hell, you're pretty cute too!" She pulled back and winked at him with that last point, loving how his hair matched his blush as she did.
"Now let's go downstairs, Mom says you guys need to pick identities so Dumbles and Madam Bones can start getting the legalities sorted. And then you'll have to visit the goblins, I imagine. And get school stuff! Oooh, shopping trip!" She let him go and walked towards the door.
Harry was struck by the differences between the Tonks he knew and this one. She didn't really hate her name yet, he assumed the euphemisms hadn't quite started. She still wore relatively girly clothing, though it was still quite utilitarian. Maybe that had been exacerbated by being an Auror. Dora spun on her heel to look at him, nearly falling over, but smiling with a mischief Harry worried about.
"You'll need clothes! I can help you with that! A whole wardrobe!" Harry sighed as she ran down the stairs in excitement, but ran after her as he heard a crash at the bottom.
Ted looked up from his notes, and looked around the table. Dumbledore wasn't there, he had gone to speak to Amelia, but they had gone over the plan for integrating Harry and Sirius into the wizarding world.
"Okay, so to summarize and check we're all on the same page, Sirius here is the grandson of Marius Black, the disowned squib. His name is Phineas Isla Black, being named after two others blasted off the tapestry. He will register as an animagus, which is possible because he never did so previously, and goes by Snuffles among close friends. Harry here is his son, named Hadrian James Black, but goes by Harry or James. The two of them have been traveling the world, Phineas tutoring Hadrian along the way, but now that Harry here is old enough, they have returned for Hadrian to sit his OWLs over the summer and attend Hogwarts, because Phineas can't teach him enough to pass all his NEWTs, only some of them." Everyone was nodding along, the backstory was believable, and more importantly, incredibly difficult to prove false. Andromeda continued for her husband.
"We are relying a lot on time travel here. The fact that Harry will soon be sixteen while he should just be turning 9 is critical. Nobody will connect the dots between Hadrian James Black and Harry Potter so long as there is a passable backstory." Mrs. Tonks sighed. "Sirius is more difficult because the age difference is less severe, 30 to 38. It's why we can't reuse your name. Plus, you're not a metamorph so we will be relying solely on your age to make you appear different from the younger Sirius." Sirius nodded, annoyed, but at least Phineas sounded similar enough to Sirius that if he responded to the wrong name, excuses could be made.
"And on that topic, Harry will take lessons on being a metamorph from me." Dora interjected. "And Occlumency lessons from Mum. The goal is to have enough control over the talent to prevent it from becoming common knowledge, but if it gets out, it was historically a black family trait and so it's not the end of the world."
Harry nodded. Once it was all laid out for him, it wasn't that overwhelming.
"And I'll be practicing battle magic with Sirius in the meantime." Sirius gave a sharp nod.
"That's right, and I've already got some ideas. We'll be focusing on your breadth of spells first, mostly to impress the examination board. I'll teach you some exotic stuff based on other languages to lend credence to our world travels. After you sit your OWLs, we'll double down on physical fitness and spellcasting speed, eventually getting into spell chains. Once you're at Hogwarts, we'll get Filius to take over that part, and you'll start training with Dumbledore on some really high level stuff."
Harry heaved a sigh. It was still a lot, but there was a plan, and it was manageable. Talking through just how much he needed to learn made it all the more obvious that going back to Hogwarts was the right choice. And frankly, spending more time with Dora would be welcome. Sirius had pointed out that with seven years until things really go sideways, he had more time to learn than he had previously had already finished at Hogwarts, and that time should be substantially less fraught with distractions and peril.
"Okay then. We have a plan. Let's get started." Dora jumped up from her seat, throwing the chair back in her excitement. She was bouncing in place, her hair rapidly cycling through the brighter colors of the rainbow.
"Oh, I can't wait! I always wanted to teach someone all this! C'mon, let's go!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him bodily from the room, rambling all the way about stuff she would teach him.
"First things first I'll show you how to control your hair growth and hold a morph unconsciously - that way you can sleep with a morph, and even more importantly, will never need to shave again!"
Amelia was leaning back in her chair, having just put down her third glass of firewhiskey despite it only being 10:30 in the morning.
"I'm sorry my dear, but at least we have advance warning. Let us know what all you can do to prepare the Auror corps before this all kicks off." Dumbledore stood. "I need to get back to the others, to help put in place whatever identities Mr. Potter and Sirius have decided to don."
Amelia nodded, already exhausted.
"Tell them I'll come by this evening, so we're all on the same piece of parchment." Dumbledore nodded, before taking down his privacy spells and opening the door. Thankfully, it seemed like the world hadn't ended as there was nobody waiting on the other side.
Hadn't ended yet, Amelia corrected herself. This would be a huge uphill battle.