Harry and Tonks slowly approached the house. It had been a few hours, and the sun was setting on the horizon. They had been forced back by the grumbling of Harry's stomach.
"And so Andromeda here walked in on us after we came back out of the veil." Harry heard Sirius explain as they walked in the front door.
"Who do you think he's talking to?" Dora asked. Harry shrugged, not sure. They had discussed explaining their arrival to a few people, Harry had assumed it would be Moony first.
"Maybe Remus?" He replied, unsure. The two of them walked through into the kitchen.
"Oh Miss Tonks, it's good to see you again, although I suppose you wish you weren't seeing me again so soon." Dumbledore greeted Dora as she walked in first. Behind her, Harry froze in the doorway, his anger rushing back as he was confronted with the man responsible for so much of his life.
"And Mr. Potter." The headmaster's grin at Dora's appearance faded fast. "I suppose all I can say is that I'm sorry." He looked down at the table as Harry balled his fists and made his way to the counter, fuming silently. The rest of the room was silent, Dora managing to sit at the table without stumbling. Dumbledore heaved a large sigh, seeming to deflate in his chair. "And I don't suppose we can do much about that, either. The time paradox and all." He looked up at Harry, seeing how the young man trembled in restrained furor. "I know this will be of no comfort, but I legitimately did not know what I was consigning you to. And I have been relentless, over the past eight years, in researching ways to rid you of your unwanted passenger. But even as I consulted numerous experts in the arcane and esoteric fringes of magic from all across the world, the closest I could come to a solution was to intentionally have you kissed by a dementor."
Harry turned around, not realizing that Dumbledore had made this effort in the past. He was still frowning, but no longer about to explode. Dumbeldore met his gaze with a solemn look.
"And solving that quandary is no longer necessary, it seems. You need your passenger in order to return from the future, and start the time loop again."
Harry held his gaze for a few more moments. "I can't say I forgive you, professor, though that might come later. I better understand now, and am willing to work with you."
Albus nodded. Harry moved to sit next to Dora, who squeezed his knee under the table in a show of support.
Sirius leaned forward. "Then I think it best we discuss what happens next. We have gained the most precious resource - time - and we must be efficient in how we spend it. However we also must be cautious of what we change. It mustn't be anything that Harry or I were aware of. Thankfully, I was in prison, on the run, or in hiding, and Harry was at Hogwarts. Outside of some larger events, I think we can move fairly freely."
"And even within Hogwarts, you have two years. So long as Harry doesn't make too big a name for himself, he can go back with Nymphadora and finish his schooling." Andromeda chimed in.
Harry jumped forward at that. "You can't reasonably expect me to waste my time at school! We have to find the Horcruxes!"
Ted spoke up, ever the voice of calm reason. He must have developed that as the mediator between mother and daughter, both were extremely stubborn, Sirius thought.
"Harry, we are on a timetable, but we have 8 years. And frankly, I imagine the search for the horcruxes will be pretty uneventful - until it isn't." Dumbledore quirked a smirk at that and nodded while Dora snorted. "We know that this will devolve into an actual war at the end of 1996." That statement sobered the room. "You are, while magically powerful, very untrained. Despite your successes, you've had incredibly inconsistent teachers. And we need to prepare you not for just graduation, but to combat the most capable home-grown dark lord we've had since the 1300s. You need to be a combination of curse breaker, auror, and unspeakable before 1996. Frankly, we need you to become a war mage." Ted gave him an apologetic look.
"And Hogwarts will be the best place to lay that foundation. The next two years there will give you access to not only Professor Dumbledore here -" Dumbledore inclined his head in a slow nod. "But also people like Filius Flitwick, the most successful professional duelist in the last century, and Minerva McGonagall, the most knowledgeable transfiguration mistress that speaks english."
Andromeda nodded curtly. "Harry, while it's not obvious to the students, Hogwarts is considered the premier education in Europe for a reason. Though the history standards have fallen as of late." She gave Dumbledore a hard look. He shrugged.
"You know as well as I do, Mrs Tonks, that the school board has decided to take the history professor's salary and spread it amongst themselves. I have struggled to keep professors like Filius and Septima on staff, despite their accomplishments, because Beauxbatons keeps trying to poach them and I am forced to beg the school board to match their offers."
Dora sat back in her chair. "That explains so much! Why some classes are so good and some are just shite." She went white and her hair spiked up, as she clapped her hand over her mouth and glanced at her mother. Andromeda was distinctly unimpressed.
Dumbledore chucked. "Yes Miss Tonks, it is a problem. But I probably should not be discussing Hogwart's financial situation with one of its current students!" He gave Dora a wink before turning to Harry.
"But yes, Harry, there is so much for you to learn, and I agree that Hogwarts would be the best place for that to happen. Truthfully, these first few years will be far more about research, trying to find information and evidence that Tom has certainly done his best to destroy. I will need to approach - carefully - others who knew him before his rise to power."
"We will also need to shape the wizarding world into something that can defend itself from a second blood war." Sirius added. "While we may not be able to do much for the general population, I think we should approach Amy- Amelia Bones." He blushed and glanced away, but Andromeda noticed. "She is strict but fair, and as head of the DMLE, has the most power inside the ministry day-to-day out of anyone I can think to approach. I also wonder why the DMLE failed to find me during my year on the run, frankly they aren't that incompetent."
Dumbledore smiled, he also had noticed Sirius's stumble. "Yes she would be an excellent ally. Another option is Augusta Longbottom, a very helpful voice on the Wizengamot. Although knowing the whole truth may not be explicitly necessary…"
"No. No, I refuse to work with anyone holding secrets back." Harry pushed back, he was sick of need-to-know. "Secrets are what led to the shitshow that had us sent back in the first place!"
The table was silent, waiting to see if Dumbledore would double down.
"I understand why you feel that way. I can agree to being more open and soliciting more help. But we cannot tell everyone everything - for example, I do think that with the possible exception of Amelia, and maybe a curse breaker we can verify, information of Horcruxes needs to stay within this group. Frankly I don't like the need to inform Miss Tonks about them, but you need a friend you can talk to, Harry."
"And you know there's a snowball's chance in hell that I would let you obliviate my daughter." Andromeda sharply added. Dumbledore winced, but nodded.
"So Dumbledore, you will approach your older colleagues to learn more of Voldemort's early years." Ted cut off that discussion before it could go further. Turning to his wife, he continued. "Andi, you should approach Amelia. And probably Croaker. I will focus on getting the legal side of Harry and Sirius's new identities sorted, which is something we should probably speak about more at length."
"Yes, Harry, Sirius, do you know what you'd like your alternative identities to be?" Dumbledore asked. "I need to also help sort that out. And Amelia might also be helpful."
Harry sat and thought. Who did he want to be?
Sirius, however, already had ideas. "It would make the most sense if I was the grandson of Marius Black, my squib great-uncle. We can bastardize Black into something, maybe Blake? And then Harry would be my son, of course. His mother passed away in childbirth, it's a touchy subject for me and Harry never got to know her."
Harry was amazed - Sirius had fabricated a believable past from whole cloth that would be hard for anyone to investigate. Even the House Black family tapestry wouldn't show them, with Marius having been disowned.
"After my grandfather finally kicks the bucket in a couple years, it will also leave me able to discreetly take up the Black lordship and contribute financially, as well as invite the Tonkses here back into the family."
Harry was overwhelmed. He hadn't put much thought into this, and - wait - Sirius wanted to be his dad? Harry collapsed in on himself, curling into a ball in the chair. Dora quickly responded, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, but he was already unresponsive. It was all catching up to him - the discussion with his parents, the emotional turmoil of watching his godfather die and then not die, The assumption that Sirius would be his dad - Harry had never really developed coping methods for these emotions, nor did he ever get much chance to exercise them in his childhood, either. The reality he wouldn't ever really get to see his friends again, not on the same level at least, that he would have eight more years of experience first - and then, after redoing everything, he would still be doomed to fight this coming war. Despite Dumbledore's apology, nothing had changed - Harry was still trapped. It wasn't the same as being locked in his cupboard, but it felt all the more confining.
The rest at the table watched in horror as Harry rapidly closed himself off and began whimpering in a defensive position. Dora was the first to act but had no idea what to do. Ted was a law-wizard, and a good father, but had no training for this. Andromeda studied esoteric transfiguration, nothing related to this! Dumbledore ostensibly was the most likely to know what to do, having worked with children half his life, but he knew when to delegate the important things and immediately moved to floo for Madam Pomfrey to come immediately. Sirius was locked in position out of fear of doing or saying anything that would make it worse.
As Harry spiraled, a magical pressure formed within the room, pressing the others into their seats and away from the teen. Dora managed to hold onto him, even as the magic manifested and wind began to whip through the room, throwing napkins and pulling pictures from their magnets on the fridge. Pomfrey came through the floo and stumbled to the floor, as Harry's magic destabilized the connection from Hogwarts. Everyone was worried of course, but also awestruck at the power on display.
Finally, a shattering was heard, a tinkling of broken crystal, though no windows were broken. The air suddenly stilled, and contracted, before settling like the quiet after a fresh snowfall. Dora pulled away to look at Harry, but was in for quite a shock. Harry's features and complexion were fluctuating wildly, like hers used to when pushed to accidental magic as a child. They began to slowly settle back down into his original form, though without the light scar on his forehead or those visible on his arms. He settled back into his base form, and immediately slumped forward onto Dora's shoulder, asleep.
Pomfrey, now able to stand, rushed over and began taking diagnostics. "His core is extremely depleted, he'll sleep for at least a couple days. He just broke through a child lock on his metamorph talents." Sirius gave Dumbledore a hard look, who was equally as confused and shrugged in response.
"It must have been an extreme emotional reaction which triggered the panic attack. I highly recommend he not be alone when he wakes up. He needs someone he trusts there." She stood and turned to the group, sending Sirius an askance glance.
Andromeda spoke up, expecting the question. "He's from a squib line, Poppy. Though if you could give him a once over that would be great." Pomfrey's expression cleared up at that explanation, and moved forward despite the man's protests.
Ted stood. "Here, Dora, let me get him up to the guest room." He levitated Harry out of the room, Dora walking alongside him, beset with far more questions than answers.