When he was seventeen, James received the worst news of his life.

He was completely sterile, to the point it would take a magic given miracle to give him children. As the Head of the Potter family, that was a devastating blow. Only Sirius was made aware of it, having brought a drunk James home when the muggle doctors gave him the news personally.

This was bad news. As a Pure blood, much less the head of his house, there was nothing more important (once he acquired a suitable wife) than to produce an heir to his house, if only so that the family magics would continue.

If word got out about his condition it would ruin them.

Lily, when she found out, was equally upset. Until James happened to look though his old photo albums and remembered something important.

He wasn't the last Potter. Most people assumed that, considering his older brother never went to Hogwarts (everyone thought the man was a Squib and thus unimportant), but it couldn't be farther from the truth.

The reality was that his older brother had the sense to go to Beauxbatons and had liked living away from the stupidity of England that he never came back. Last he checked, Richard was living in Italy under a new name. James honestly had no idea what his older brother (and some would say rightful heir) did, and he didn't care.

All he cared about was the fact that there was still a chance for the Potter line to continue through his older brother, if the man and Lily were willing to make an unusual compromise.

James pulled out the quill and parchment and wrote an unusual letter... but not before telling his wife his plan.

Sirius was all for it... after all, the kid would still be James' heir because he remembered Richard and knew the man wouldn't want to be tied down with a child. He'd be part of the kid's life, but he wouldn't come back for anything less than a full on emergency if Lily agreed to this. He was a pure blood and knew his duty just as well as James did.

"You want me to what?" said Lily in shock.

"I have an older brother named Richard. We don't speak much because he preferred living outside of England and chose Beauxbatons over Hogwarts. Everyone thinks he's a Squib but that's a lot of dragon dung. He just prefers to live muggle somewhere in Italy."

"Wait, if you have an older brother then why..."

"Richard handed over the titles and everything in exchange for a family vault that is occasionally topped off by the main one. He had no interest in sticking around England once he got a taste of what life was like far from the nonsense that most pure bloods insist on because they were emulating the muggle nobility. He's too much of a free spirit, and it continued the ruse he was a Squib which amused him endlessly."

"In short he had no interest in being stuck dealing with the harpies trying to throw themselves at him just to get in his pants and get knocked up, whereas you fixated on me early enough to chase the rest off," said Lily dryly. "Now what is this insane plan of yours?"

"I highly doubt my brother would ever dare get himself 'fixed' as you've often threatened to do to Sirius. Therefor there's still a chance he might be able to help give us a child," explained James.

Lily stared at him.

"You want me to sleep with your brother in the hopes I get knocked up."

James nodded sheepishly. Lily was a muggleborn... odds were she might take this badly.

Instead she sighed.

"Let me at least meet with him and see if he's agreeable. I'm not saying yes, but at this point I'm desperate enough to humor your usual idiotic ideas."

James brightened.

He sent off the owl, making sure it was blood coded so only a direct match to the Potter bloodline would be able to read the actual missive.

In Sicily...

Renato Sinclair (formerly Richard Potter) looked at the owl with distaste. He recognized his brother's crappy handwriting anywhere.

However it was after he dealt with the minor papercut that his eyebrows raised in shock.

James was sterile (according to the muggle doctors, there was something wrong with his seed...they were too damaged to properly take due to all the rampant inbreeding) and he had only found out after the wedding.

So he had a sister-in-law? That ought to be fun. He knew James had a penchant for the ladies that had fiery tempers and wicked aim. No doubt he had found a nice red head to settle with...though he prayed to Loki that it wasn't a Prewitt or a Weasley.

James was asking something of him as a pure blood wizard. Renato had handed over the titles and the duties as head of house because he had found it too annoying to deal with. Well now James was calling him in as the Head of the Potter family to help him out with this minor issue in the hopes of producing an heir.

Well, he could at least see his new sister and see what he was dealing with first. If nothing else he could find out if the Solar Fire might be able to fix James' little problem.

He wondered how his brother would handle the news that the elder sibling had ended up in organized crime by accident and was now well on the way to becoming the World's Greatest Hit Man.

He was already a Master Arithimancer.

Renato made sure to pack his bags, switch his appearance and slipped back into England. He was very annoyed when he was briefly attacked by Death Eaters his very first three hours after returning home.

"Bloody wankers," he said in annoyance. He took out his gun and shot them all dead before they got a spell off. It turned back into the shapeshifting chameleon he had bonded with by accident.

Leon was a very useful familiar.

Richard was gone before anyone had the sense to question their savior. A man like him worked best in shadows. His mother Dorea always said that he was better at being a Black than a Potter. It was a miracle she had James so late, but he adored his little brother.

James almost hexed him when he apparated to the safe house they were hiding in.

"Dammit Rick, you could have given me some warning!"

"Chaos. Where's the fun in that?" said Richard, pushing his fedora up with a single finger. "Now where's my new sister-in-law? I want to meet the woman insane enough to marry my idiot little brother."

"I resent that remark," said Lily dryly.

Richard immediately poured on the charm. He was far more successful at it than James ever was, as evidenced by the fact she was blushing.

"Now why couldn't you have been like him? At least he knows how to greet a woman properly!" said Lily teasingly.

Richard grinned.

"My dear little brother has always been a little...slow...when it comes to the fairer sex. Not to mention he was stupid enough to go to that dreary old castle. Besides, I had a lot more practice," said Richard smugly.

There was a reason he chose Beauxbatons and it had nothing to do with the fact Hogwarts was in such an isolated spot with nothing to do.

Beauxbatons had a heavy gender bias towards the girls. Any guy with brains, looks and the know-how to charm the ladies would have no lack of potential bed mates. A fact that had Sirius laughing at his little brother more than once, if only because he found the fact Richard had chosen to go French rather than stay in the UK just so he had a better selection of the ladies to woo hilarious.

Lily found her resistance to the idea drying up. Richard was certainly handsome and far more charming than James.

"Now, what exactly did the doctors tell you about the condition? I might be able to do something about it if it's not too serious."

"They said that the 'seeds' I sent in for testing were too damaged...that only one of them would have been viable and that the odds of Lily getting pregnant were very slim. And I know she got checked as well... she's healthy and there's nothing wrong with her," said James nervously.

Richard sighed.

"There's no guarantee using my Solar Fire will actually help. But there is no way I'm letting this issue get out. Not when the solution is simple enough. If nothing else then I'll do it for the family...so long as we make an arrangement regarding custody. My work is somewhat dangerous and not conductive to raising kids."

"That's fine. We were planning on raising him ourselves, with custody going to you immediately upon our death. The goblins have agreed to arrange a special one-time port key that will activate once our death is confirmed to take any child to a certain location for you to pick them up. You'll be given an artifact with a one-time spell so that you'll know they're there."

Richard nodded approvingly.

"So then you're okay with this idea?"

"I... I've always wanted children," said Lily, not looking him in the eye.

Richard wasn't too bad looking...far from it. He was far more handsome and dashing than James. There was this air of mystery and natural seduction about him that would have made any straight woman want to jump him. He also had a lot of real charm and the sort of calm aura that came from a man who knew damn well what he had and knew how to use it to make any woman beg for more.

Richard looked her in the eyes before he smiled with approval.

"Well at least I know my slow and sometimes dimwitted little brother has good taste in women. Honestly, I was afraid mother would have tried to match you up with one of our many, many cousins or something from the letters she kept sending," said Richard.

James shuddered.

"She almost did. I only managed to avoid that when she found out what Aunt Walburga was like after Sirius managed to escape to our house fifth year," said James. "She didn't want to give the old hag more ammo."

"Where is my favorite and considerably less dense little brother?" asked Richard.

Sirius gave the doggy equivalent of a laugh before he gave Richard a bear hug after transforming.

He had always adored Richard, who didn't take shit from anyone and seemed to glorify in pissing off the other pure bloods before the 'assumption' he was a squib came about. He remembered the rows his mother had with Walburga about his behavior...they were always entertaining to listen to.

Richard grinned as he hugged Sirius back.

As annoying as his little brothers could be, he loved them both dearly.

It was confirmed a month later... Lily was pregnant. Richard still had a job to do back in Italy, though they kept him apprised in secret. On July 31rst, his son was born.

Hadrian James Corvus Renato (Richard had accidentally let his 'muggle' identity slip) Potter was adored and loved by his family almost immediately. Richard managed to see him a few times, but never stayed long.

No one in the Order, not even Dumbledore, was aware that the eldest Potter was the father and not James.

Though apparently Richard's Soul Fire did some good... within a year and three months after having Harry it was confirmed she was pregnant again. This time with James' child.

Then the worst happened. Richard woke up one morning in November to find the ring under his shirt glowing an ominous yellow color.

He immediately made his way to one of the safe houses he had set up and never actually used. It was set up and maintained by house elves...it was actually one of the Potter villas in Italy.

There, crying with a fresh scar on his head, was his son.

Richard was pissed and once he was sure little Harry was sleeping properly and cared for by one of the nanny elves he hired just in case, was already putting out feelers to find out what the hell happened to his brothers and his sister.

James and Lily were dead. Sirius was arrested and about to be thrown in jail for his 'betrayal' and Remus was in the wind.

Richard looked over the crime scene photos and knew there was no way Pettigrew was actually dead. The bastard was a rat animagus and no explosion would make such a clean cut on his finger.

He sighed. He would have some work to do, and he had to find someone to take care of his son.

Shamal owed him a few favors. Besides, he wanted to make sure Hadrian came out with a clean bill of health before he took him to the healers to check that scar. No way that came about normally.

Back in England, three days later...

Sirius felt like his life was about to end when he was suddenly attacked by a bucketful of ice cold water delivered to his face. He sputtered before he regained his senses.

"Richard, you bastard that was uncalled for!" he growled.

"You were having a grief induced psychotic break, you twit. Now shut up, the adults are talking and if you're lucky I'll be able to keep you from being sent into a very unpleasant time out for idiots," deadpanned Richard.

Sirius could only think of one kind of "time out" for someone his age and wisely shut up.

He idly noted Dumbledore distinctly did not look happy in the least to see Richard Potter there. Especially with a familiar scroll that Sirius could easily identify as Richard's copy of the will.

Thank Loki Richard insisted on being present when they cast the charm, if only so he could drop in on them later when things calmed down!

"As you can see here by this copy of the will, Sirius is the magically bound godfather of 'Harry', and therefor cannot have sent the Dark Lord to his doorstep. Not if he wanted to live at any rate. There is also the small matter of the fact that none of you blithering idiots have bothered to give him any Veritaserum, if only to find out the names of other 'Death Eaters' since you all clearly expect a man who ran to the Potters to the first chance and was adopted by them just to get away from his mother's ridiculous views of blood purity to be one himself," said Richard snidely.

The Minister sputtered, as did Barty Crouch Sr. from his spot on the bench.

Sirius looked very much like he wanted to laugh his ass off. Richard had always been very Slytherin when it came to delivering his insults. It had baffled him that his older brother had gotten along with Snape of all people, to the point that Snape would actually have long chats with Richard when he could barely tolerate to be in the same vicinity of James.

The insult wars between them were both cringe worthy and well worth watching. He often came away with entire scrolls worth of some very impressive barbs to use on people he didn't like.

"He still killed Pettigrew and twelve muggles!" snapped Crouch.

"While I can believe he would go after Peter for the death of James and Lily, I highly doubt Sirius would go after mundanes, you simpleton."

"Why would Black (she spat out the name like a curse) go after Pettigrew for their deaths?"

"Because Peter was the Secret Keeper, not Sirius," said Richard as if it were obvious. "The idiot suggested it since he was too obvious a target, and to hopefully cheer up Peter because they had unintentionally been excluding him for months. It was a way to show they still trusted him. I've already checked the house and the Fidilius charm is still firmly in effect."

Shocked silence.

"He still blew up the street!" said Crouch.

"Has anyone actually checked to see if his wand was the one that cast it?" asked Richard pointedly.

The Aurors shifted nervously at that.

"For that matter, how do you know for a fact Peter is dead?"

"All that was left was his finger," said one toady, an idiot named Cornelius Fudge, if Richard remembered correctly.

"Then you've all been duped. If Sirius had cast a charm to explode the gas pipes, then there would be more of Peter than simply a finger," said Richard snidely. "If you can produce the actual finger or even a photo of it I can tell you conclusively if he really is dead. If he isn't, then I fully intend to set a bounty on a certain rat."

One rookie Auror, likely from the Bones family, produced a photo. Richard thanked her, and the second he saw the photo he looked at the older Aurors in disgust.

"Are you all really so incompetent that you can't tell the difference between a finger that has been deliberately cut off rather than blown off?" he demanded. "The edges of the wound are far too clean to have been removed by the explosion, and if Peter were near the center of it, then there would be more pieces of him. He clearly intended to frame Sirius for his own crime since everyone would simply look at his last name and not bother to look at the evidence properly."

Several people shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"I believe," began Dumbledore at last, "That we should prove beyond reasonable doubt that Sirius did not in fact kill the Potters."

Within a few moments, Sirius voluntarily took the Veritaserum and proved his innocence. He also revealed pertinent information that could lead to Peter's arrest, namely that he took the form of a particularly fat brown rat...one that was now missing a toe.

Even if he had to register as an Animagus, that was a small price to pay.

The first thing Sirius did once they were out of the Ministry was to hug Richard tightly to the point his bones almost creaked.

"How did you know?"

"I knew something had gone wrong when Mipsy delivered Hadrian to me. I would have been here sooner except it took far too long to track down a certain idiot to babysit with the house elves watching. And when I find that werewolf of yours I am going to give him an earful. He should have been here to support you."

"Dumbledore had him on assignment for the past few months. He's been out of owl contact because he was trying to convince the werewolves not to join him."

"I swear that old fool has gone senile. First we are going to get you cleaned up, then I'm getting you some real clothes and not those ridiculous robes," said Richard. "And I intend to make sure none of the family ends up in Azkaban on a false charge like you almost did. If I saw the listing right, they intend to charge little Barty tomorrow morning."

Sirius cringed.

"I heard he might have been helping the Lestrange trio in what happened to the Longbottoms."

"What happened to Frank and Alice?" demanded Richard.

"It's better if you asked Augusta. Neville survived, but his parents... they were put under the Crucio for hours."

Richard looked pissed. While he could believe Bellatrix was part of something like that, he had great difficulty believing little Barty had a hand in it.

To say that he found it particularly satisfying to see the Wizangamot cringe when he arrived at the trial was an understatement.

Barty looked openly relieved to see his favorite cousin there. Within a few hours, Barty walked somewhat free while the Lestrange trio was thrown into the deepest parts of Azkaban.

"Thank the gods you came. From the way he was looking at me I have the feeling he would have thrown me in with them and locked away the keys!" said Barty with feeling.

Sure, he was banned from being part of the Ministry ever again, and he had to take an oath never to serve the Dark Lord or his forces, but that was a small price to pay.

"You're a bookworm, not someone who could stand to torture someone with a curse that requires you to actually enjoy causing pain to others for several hours without throwing up," deadpanned Richard. "Besides, with how quick that bastard father of yours was to try and throw Sirius in without bothering to examine the evidence, it gave me a chance to really piss him off. Want to be a Potter rather than a Crouch?"

"Let me change my first name too and I'll be a bloody muggle if I have to," said Barty darkly.