Sirius sat frozen, tea halfway to his mouth. Harry was still sprawled out on the kitchen floor, tangled with Dora. Ted was no slouch, and had whipped his wand out to train on Sirius, having recovered the fastest of everyone.
Harry currently had a faceful of pink hair and a knee in his crotch. He was a little afraid to move, both because he didn't want to startle the young woman currently laying over him, groaning, and because he didn't want her to suddenly apply pressure with her knee.
Dora was groaning because she bashed her elbow into the kitchen floor. She slowly rolled to the side in order to lay face up, not really mindful of the wizard she was on top of. Why did this happen Every. Damn. Year?! She asked herself. Or honestly, every bloody day, but for some reason she ended up specifically on the floor of the kitchen, the first time she tripped each summer.
Andromeda Tonks flooed into the house, and bustled into the kitchen behind her husband to find this tableau. Her daughter was predictably on the kitchen floor, though she rolled her eyes at Harry having been taken down with her. Sirius was also comical in his frozen relief. They hadn't had time to mention it when in her office, but both him and Harry were bruised, burnt, and cut, their clothes in a similar state.
No nonsense or pause, she continued into the room to set down her bag on the kitchen table.
"Ted, dear, what are you doing? Come sit down, I'll make some more tea. Nymphadora, please get off the floor, and help Harry up."
Ted slowly lowered his wand, willing to trust his wife on this. She had at least been expecting these two to be present, based on her nonchalance.
"What mum, no welcome home? You've not seen me in months!" Dora slowly lifted herself up before helping Harry to his feet, her brain still not really processing that she had no idea who he was.
Andromeda, having set the kettle again, turned around and swept her now-standing daughter into a crushing hug. "I love you dear, but I'm not getting on the floor to hug you. Welcome home."
Harry righted his chair and sat back down. Sirius had slowly lowered his cup back to the table, holding eye contact with Ted, who had sat down across from him, but still fingering his wand.
"Andi, do you know who these two are, and why they were sitting in our kitchen when we arrived home?"
Andromeda let go of her daughter, who moved to sit down as well, carefully navigating the minefield of chair and table legs.
"Oh this is my cousin, Sirius, and his godson, Harry Potter, and they've traveled back in time about eight years through the veil of death, somehow." Andromeda set about making herself and her husband tea, knowing her daughter would focus on the biscuits. Dora caught on mostly to Harry's name, turning to look at him with wide eyes, while idly nibbling a biscuit.
"Andi, do you mean your cousin Sirius who was convicted of murder and who betrayed the Potters?" Ted was not normally made for this sort of thing, he was a loving husband, doting father, a law-wizard, he enjoyed a good quidditch game and a pint at the pub. It was his wife that came from a high society family despite being thrown out, and was an unspeakable who researched the depths of magic. That said, he had survived the blood war despite being targeted more than once, for his blood status and affiliation with the black sheep of the black family.
"Well I'm presuming that because Sirius here came with Harry out of the veil, that we're at least missing some of the puzzle. But that does sound like a good place to start the conversation, doesn't it?" She sat down with her tea and turned an eye to the pair, inviting an answer.
Harry glanced at his godfather, who still seemed too wary of Ted's wand to speak, and decided that he ought to explain.
"Sirius was framed by Peter Pettigrew, though his idea to use himself as a decoy secret keeper for my parents was a bit poorly thought out. Pettigrew was the actual secret keeper, but also a death eater, branded and everything, and after selling my parents out, was on the run from Sirius here, who never thought to explain any of this to someone, and instead chased Peter down. Peter cut off a finger before blasting the bystanders and transformed into his rat animagus form and escaped. I can only assume at that point, Sirius had a nervous breakdown and that's why he was found laughing." Harry looked to his godfather, who was now looking at the table, his face drawn.
"Sirius, it could have been better, but I don't blame you." Harry reached out to put a hand on his godfather's shoulder. "And we can make a difference now." Harry found himself oddly calm about all of this. Maybe it was the additional time he now had, maybe it was seeing his parents, or possibly the lack of the horcrux, but he was able to think more rationally.
Sirius put his face in his hands. "I'm sorry Prongslet, I know. But if I hadn't then maybe your younger self wouldn't be being abused by the Dursleys at this very moment- We have to get you out of there!" Sirius gave no thought to his own situation, currently languishing in Azkaban.
Andromeda gasped, Ted sat back, eyes wide, and Dora mouthed the word to herself in disbelief, eyes jumping back and forth between Harry and Sirius.
Harry wasn't paying attention to the others. "Sirius, I don't know how we came back, but we have to treat this like a time loop - remember what mum said?" At this the three Tonks realized they were well and truly out of the loop, glancing between each other, Dora mouthing the word "mum" to her own in confusion.
Sirius sighed and looked up to his godson. "I- I know, pup. But we can work in the background, away from our younger selves. We have seven years before you fight Voldemort in the graveyard. We can't finish him then, but we can be ready to storm into the ministry after we fall through the veil."
At the dark lord's name, Dora let out a squeak while her dad started and her mom slumped into her chair, proper posture forgotten in shock.
Harry wasn't distracted. "You're right, we'll need to find the remaining horcruxes. With my scar gone and Riddle's diary in my second year, We'll need to find the remaining pieces before then."
Sirius nodded. "Your mother mentioned that the piece in your scar was only a thirty-second of a soul, so he must have four others before that, including the diary…"
The table was silent. Harry and Sirius in contemplation, Dora literally white with shock, Ted and Andromeda both mirroring her expression if not her coloration.
"Harry…" Sirius continued, "We need to talk to Dumbledore." Harry looked to his godfather, already preparing to yell at him. Dumbledore had done nothing for Harry, leaving him to his relatives with no checkups, admitted he knew beforehand that it would be an unhappy childhood - at best - and then completely failed to protect him or the student body. Lily had been quite vocal in her disapproval of Dumbledore, and after James had walked him through it, Harry was pretty pissed at him too. Sirius knew it would get worse, when Dumbledore finally explained the prophecy to him, but they needed the old man. The only saving grace was that Lily had cast the fidelius, not Dumbledore like most people thought.
Sirius continued before Harry could blow up at him. "Nobody knows Voldemort like Dumbledore, Harry. If anyone is to know where he kept his trinkets, It would be him. Plus you need proper training, and while I can help, he has resources and contacts. The best I can do is lots of gold - which will be useful of course, but it's not the same."
Harry sat, fuming, before he ground out some grunt of acceptance, and stormed out of the room only a small step from smoke actually curling off him in his rage. His newfound clarity of thought cut both ways, it was all too obvious how Dumbledore had moved him about like a chess piece.
Sirius slumped into the chair. Andromeda sat up and looked at the other three who remained. Ted was similarly deflated like Sirius, though in shock instead. Nymphadora was rapidly cycling through a variety of hair colors, and chewing on her nails.
"Nymphadora, can you go after him? Make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid? Let him vent?" Dora looked to her mom, before standing, and following Harry out.
"And stop chewing on your nails!" followed her as she left. Dora rolled her eyes as she walked out the door to find the angsty teen.
Harry stormed down the street, hands in his pockets and a thunderstorm brewing over his head. He made it about a block before he heard footfalls racing to keep up with him. He kept walking, choosing to ignore whoever it was.
"Hey Harry, hold u- EEP!"
He turned back around, and was surprised to see it was Tonks who had followed him. She was currently rolling in pain after having tripped on the uneven ground. Harry might be pissed, but it wasn't at Tonks - he couldn't just leave her there.
"Hey, are you okay? That's twice today that you've taken a bad fall." Harry gave her a hand back up, wondering if her clumsiness was actually worse now than it had been.
"That was the third." Tonks grumbled as she took the offered hand. "I don't know what's wrong, but ever since I turned twelve, I can't walk without eating shit." She smiled at him, her disposition turning on a dime. "Thanks for the hand though!" and transitioned again to worry- "But how are you? I probably only know the tip of the iceberg, but it sounds like you've been through hell and back."
Harry sighed, before turning to continue walking, albeit at more of a trudge than his earlier storming pace. "I don't know, you heard the highlights, I think. The biggest kicker is all my friends are now nine years old, and I can't talk to them, and by the time I can, it'll have been eight years! I'm glad Sirius is with me, I don't know if I could do this without him."
Tonks walked alongside him, carefully watching the ground in front of her. "Did you know me, in the future? Cause, I dunno, we could be friends, at least." She blushed. Why did she feel like she was a firstie again?
Harry smiled. "Yeah, I kinda knew you. Dumbledore reformed the Order of the Phoenix after Voldemort resurrected himself at the end of my fourth year, and you joined up, along with a bunch of people from the first blood war. You were an Auror. We didn't talk much, but you were hilarious, with your metamorph impressions and faces." Harry stopped again, looking at her with a smile. Tonks felt a few butterflies in her stomach at that look, Harry had no idea but frankly, he was pretty damn attractive. "And yeah, I'd like to be friends." He held out his hand to shake, a small smirk on his face. Dora ignored it and gave him a hug, squeezing tightly. Harry froze for a moment before hugging her back.
Tonks drew back and gave him a grin with mischief-filled eyes. "I hope you like hugs then, I give lots of hugs." Harry chuckled, and they kept walking, but now much closer to each other than before, the ice broken.
"By the way, do you hate your name yet? Should I call you Tonks?"
"Eugh. I'm Tonks to most people, but you can call me Dora, if you must."
Sirius sat with the elder Tonkses in silence, nursing a now-cold cup of tea. After a few minutes of contemplation, Andromeda stood and walked over to the floo.
"No time like the present, Dumbledore should be available now - the kids are back home but he's not had time to run off to Geneva for some ICW nonsense." She threw a handful of floo powder in, before calling out for the Hogwart's Headmaster's Office and shoving her head into the flames. After a muffled exchange, she pulled back, followed by a man in pastel yellow robes with garish green and red paisley on them. Sirius idly thought that even in the seventies he hadn't worn anything that offensive. Before he could crack a joke, he found himself cross-eyed at the end of the man's wand. Sirius did idly wonder why Dumbledore's wand had such aggressive nodules on it, frankly it reminded him of some anal beads.
"Now while Andromeda has kindly asked that I not curse her houseguest, I do find myself wondering why Sirius Black is here, and not in Azkaban where he belongs?" Dumbledore was every inch the man who bested Grindlewald right now, there was no mistaking him for a slightly senile grandfather figure.
Andromeda, however, was having none of it and slapped him on the back of his hand, forcing him to drop his wand. Looking at her petulantly, rubbing the offended hand like a scolded schoolboy, Dumbledore reached down to pick up his wand.
"We don't have time for your posturing, Dumbledore. Sirius here arrived with a sixteen-year-old Harry Potter. They tumbled out of the veil of death! And while we can't change the past, at least according to their perception, Hecate's Will be damned I will get Minerva and Poppy to keep you in line. Why the hell is the young Harry Potter with his abusive muggle relatives, with no oversight whatsoever!?"
Dumbledore, usually unflappable, was floored by this information. "Petunia was Harry's only blood relative! Where else should he have gone? The Potters had no wills! At least I was able to tie Lily's protective magic into blood wards for the poor boy, if I placed him there. And Arabella has been giving me monthly updates saying everything is fine!"
Ted, ever the mediator, stepped in. "Let's slow down and cover everything in order. First and foremost, Sirius, why don't you explain to Dumbledore just what happened back in 1981."
Sirius sighed, hoping that this might be the last time he had to explain it.