Dear Wizarding Britain

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I probably wouldn't be playing around on fanfiction.

A/N: I haven't decided what I'm going to base this next chapter off of, as I sit here to start it, but I'm leaning towards writing about what's going on in Britain from different POVs.

Ginny Weasley's fifth year did not happen the way she imagined it would. Her fifth year was supposed to have been the year that she was finally going to ensnare Harry Potter with a mild love potion while she dated around to "prove" to Harry that she had gotten over him and that he was going to have to pursue her. That plan was shot to hell when Harry Bloody Potter didn't show up at Hogwarts that year.

So rather than becoming the girlfriend of Harry Potter in her fifth year as she had intended, she became ostracized by her peers when Harry's letter to The Daily Prophet was published and the love potion scheme that her mother, herself, and Ron had been working on was published for the whole wizarding world to see. Even Luna and Neville wouldn't speak to her, granted they'd barely spoken to anyone.

Ginny had never been so happy for the summer holidays to start as she was by the end of fifth year, but life at The Burrow wasn't all it was cracked up to be, even if it was better than being at Hogwarts.

The reputation of the whole Weasley family had plummeted big time from being looked well upon for being close friends of The-Boy-Who-Lived to suddenly being hated for being part of the ones that drove him away.

Probably the only members of the Weasley family that hadn't been affected by the scorn of the wizarding world were the twins and Percy. The twins, because they were no longer around for anyone to bother with; Percy, because it was a known fact that he had distanced himself from the family years ago, who was viewed as an ambitious wizard with unfortunate parentage.

Ginny sighed, as she sat in a chair in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room thinking about her fifth year made her sixth year look like a walk in the park. She had to rely on Ron to escort her everywhere, because she wasn't welcome to walk with any of the remaining Gryffindor girls between classes and meals. She risked assault if she took the chance to walk the halls alone.

She endured the shunning from her house as best as she could, they were still ostracizing her for planning to dose Harry with love potions, though she thought that it was because they hadn't thought of that themselves, rather than any loyalty any of them had actually felt for Harry.

She couldn't go to her teachers for help, because they were all Death Eaters or sympathizers now. No one knows what happened to Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Burbage, or Sprout. Even Madam Pomfrey had been replaced by a scary looking old man. And poor Hagrid was gone too; no one knew if he fled to France to be with Madame Maxime or if he was killed.

She couldn't complain to her parents either, because the owls of certain students were monitored, though how they managed to monitor all the school owls was beyond her understanding. She was seriously contemplating accepting a betrothal from even Crabbe or Goyle, in order to be able to walk these halls without fear of assault, not that anyone was offering for her, being from a family of blood traitors and all.

And, apparently, a rumor had been spread around that she'd spread her legs for anyone, so there wasn't any point in offering a betrothal contract for her.

Ginny's thoughts then went back to Ron. Ron started behaving differently ever since Hermione and Malfoy disappeared in the middle of the night. He still ate like a pig, but he was acting more and more like the death eater spawn that was swarming this place, rather than the pureblood wizard from a light family he was raised to be.

Ginny shuddered, she had heard whispers that Ron was even starting to participate in the assault of some of the young girls that were unable to find groups to walk with, the very thing that he was supposed to be protecting her from when he escorted her through the halls.

As the fire started to die down to indicate the late hour, all Ginny could think about was all her regrets and what she would have done differently, if she were to be given the opportunity to go back in time and make a different choice. She knows for a fact that she would have never tried to betray Harry and would have ran to him with news of her mother's schemes the moment she had been made aware of it.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was finding it more than a little difficult to put together a task force to take on the Death Eaters. It seems that there were fewer muggleborn that returned to the muggle world than was originally thought, or at least fewer that remained in muggle Britain than originally thought.

Kingsley had made contact with the muggle prime minister, who seemed interested in the task force that Kingsley was proposing; however, fewer than 50 muggleborns and squibs responded to the coded message.

It had always been assumed that the muggleborn, who had left the wizarding world, ended up joining the British muggle military, due to lack of a muggle education; however, that obviously wasn't the case at all.

It appeared that either not as many muggleborn were returning to the muggle world as originally thought, or they were being killed before they could return to the muggle world. The only other option was that they were all choosing to leave Britain altogether and were moving to other countries.

Kingsley really hoped it was that they were leaving the country; otherwise, there were hundreds of muggleborn that had disappeared and gone missing over the years - even before the war restarted - and no one had ever noticed or cared before.

Tonks was pacing back and forth in front of the window of the small cottage that she and Remus had found together, as she laid a hand on her very pregnant belly when she felt the baby inside of her give a pretty vicious kick.

"Oh, little one, don't worry so," Tonks said more for herself than she did for her unborn child, "I'm sure your daddy will come back any day now, he's just going through one of his self-loathing stages and he's going to be back any day now." Just then the kettle whistled.

Sighing, Tonks turned away from the window to waddle over to the stove to get herself a nice cup of tea, in order to try to take her mind off of worrying. She stretched a hand up to the cabinet to choose a teacup, the moment she had one in her hand she suddenly groaned in pain, dropping the teacup on the floor, causing it to shatter. The worst pain of her life shot through her abdomen and lasted for several moments.

Finally, after the pains subsided enough for her to think more clearly, she gritted her teeth and flicked out her wand to conjure a patronus. "Remus John Lupin, I'm done waiting for you to get your head out of your arse. I'm in labor with your child. Now GET. YOUR. ARSE. HOME."

Rubbing her belly in a soothing way, Tonks turned her attention back to the broken teacup and cast a quick reparo and accio before pouring herself the cup of tea that the start of her labor interrupted.

She'd just turned with her cup to walk to her rocking chair to sit down when another contraction hit and she spilled her tea on the floor, then her foot slipped in the spilled tea and she went flying backwards, unable to catch herself. She hit her head on the floor, and then everything went black.

Not too much time later, Remus apparated home, feeling quite chastised and hoping to soothe Dora's temper, when he came inside and found her motionless on the floor.

"Dora! Oh, Merlin! What have I done?" Remus exclaimed, upon finding her on the floor in the middle of the spilled tea, with blood surrounding the back of her head. He carefully gathered her in his arms and apparated to the nearest magical hospital.

— sometime later —

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lupin," Remus heard the healer say, albeit it sounded like it was coming from very far away, "we were unable to revive Mrs. Lupin and we had to remove the child before there were any further complications. We were unable to save the mother." Remus was unresponsive as he heard the healer tell him that his son survived.

Remus blinked when he felt his child being placed into his arms. With the healer leaving him to cope with a newborn and a dead wife. All he could think about was that he might still have his Dora, if he hadn't impregnated her. He would still have his Dora, if he hadn't left her alone and pregnant.

He wasn't equipped to take care of this child. Who would take care of him during full moons? He and Dora hadn't managed to save up much money, how was he going to take care of a child and work? How was he going to be able to keep himself from resenting this child for being part of the reason his Dora was dead?

Astoria Greengrass was lying in the bed that she was forced to share with her betrothed while at Hogwarts. While she wasn't suspected of having had anything to do with Daphne's escape, she was barely allowed a moment alone to herself, for fear that she would disappear as well.

So here she was, lying in bed while Nott snored beside her, with a rope connecting the two of them by a wrist, contemplating the life she willingly allowed herself to be sucked into. She had it better than the unbetrothed girls, as she only had to suffer from one entitled prick, rather than multiple ones that the single girls had to suffer through if they were caught alone and unaware.

She rubbed the rope burn that she felt forming on her wrist from where the rope was tied too tight, then she sighed. She was, of course, forced to give up her wand to him at all times when she wasn't in class, so she couldn't even use it to loosen the rope to make it more comfortable. And she was not magically strong enough to accomplish wandless magic. She was tempted to call a house elf to request they loosen it a little, but she was forbidden to do even that.

At least she only had a year or two at most to suffer through before the family curse took her. That wasn't too long to wait in the grand scheme of things. If it was any longer than that, she'd have contemplated brewing a poison for herself, except that Nott would never leave her alone long enough to brew it and drink it.

Voldemort was bored. He had achieved what he wanted; he now ruled Wizarding Britain.

A portion of the mudbloods and blood traitors that rebelled were given to the vampires to keep as a constant blood source. Some of the children of the mudbloods were given to the werewolves, while the rest of them (adults and children) were being held in the dungeons of his followers as their reward for their faithful service. He didn't care what those followers did with the prisoners, they weren't anyone that mattered anyways. Their blood was too dirty to taint the bloodlines with.

So now Voldemort was bored. He'd reached all of his goals. He honestly thought it would take more time to accomplish than it had, but he hadn't counted on Harry Potter washing his hands of the wizarding world.

Not that that meant that Voldemort planned to allow him his freedom for much longer, for as long as the Potter boy remained alive, there was still the possibility that the prophecy would come into play.

No, he was just going to bide his time and allow Potter to settle into a false sense of security, and then he was going to strike when it was least expected. It was unfortunate that he could no longer feel the link he used to have with Potter, because he could have used that to track him, but that would just make it all the more satisfying to sniff him out of hiding without an aide.

Harry and Daphne were on their way back to the house after spending a romantic afternoon at the lagoon, when an unfamiliar owl came flying down to Harry carrying a letter with a Gringotts seal.

When the owl flew off after Harry accepted the letter, he assumed a reply was not needed, so he shrugged and resumed walking with Daphne towards the house, intending to wait until he was back inside before he sat down to read it.

"I thought you wouldn't have business with Gringotts anymore, considering that you emptied your vaults and all," Daphne remarked conversationally.

Harry smirked and said, "I may have twisted the truth about that. Although, technically I did close all of my vaults, then I opened new ones under a new name."

"That sounds almost Slytherin," Daphne said, sounding impressed.

"Well, the Hat did consider putting me in Slytherin," Harry said nonchalantly, and chuckled when Daphne seemed to miss a step in shock.

"You could have been in my house?" Daphne asked.

"I suppose I could have been, if I hadn't met Hagrid and Ron and heard about how all bad wizards were sorted to Slytherin. The fact that Malfoy was sorted there before I was called up to the hat seemed to reinforce that notion that evil or bad wizards were sorted into that house. So I begged the Hat, 'Not Slytherin,' so it sorted me to Gryffindor," Harry shared with a shrug. "I was a vulnerable 11-year-old, muggle-raised wizard that knew nothing about the wizarding world before Hagrid rescued me from my muggle relatives."

Daphne just looked at him incredulously, and then she grumbled under her breath, "Fucking Malfoy ruining every fucking thing."

Harry laughed in amusement, as she continued to grumble under her breath about ferrets and missed opportunities.

Before too long, they'd arrived back at the house, and they parted ways with a brief kiss, as they went their separate ways to shower and change.

— about 30 minutes later —

After having showered and changed, Harry remembered the letter from Gringotts and retrieved it from his desk to read.

Dear Lord Potter-Black:

We have received an extremely important package for you from a Mr. Remus John Lupin, and it is imperative that you come to Gringotts as soon as possible, as this is time sensitive.

We goblins do not normally get involved with the dealings of wizards, but as this involves the life of an innocent child and you are our most important client, we find ourselves reluctantly involved.

This letter is a portkey to a secure room within Gringotts. We guarantee your safety within our walls, and will allow no harm to come to you while you remain within our walls.

To activate the portkey, just say, "Gringotts Safe Room."

Sincerely,

Ragnarok of Gringotts

Harry wondered what the life of an innocent child had to do with Lupin, but he quickly went downstairs to let the others know where he was going, before changing his appearance and activating the portkey.

Moments later, Harry landed in a room decorated in silver and gold. In the middle of the room was a long table and on top of that table was a small bassinet. Harry walked over to the bassinet to inspect it when a goblin walked through the door with a baby bottle.

"Good, you're here," the goblin grunted.

Harry didn't even question how they knew it was him through his disguise, he assumed it had something to do with the magic of the portkey, or they had a device in the room that verifies identity. After a moment, Harry recognized the goblin as Griphook and looked back down at the bassinet before asking, "What's this about, Griphook?"

Because Harry was looking down at the baby in the bassinet, he missed the look of shock that briefly appeared on Griphook's face before he schooled his features and replied, "There's a letter in the basket with the child that explains everything, but suffice it to say, congratulations you have a son."

Harry choked and said, "Excuse me? The last time I checked, one has to have sex with the opposite sex in order to reproduce. As I have not yet done so, I cannot possibly have a son. There must be some mistake."

At that moment, the baby started crying and Griphook grunted and shoved the bottle into Harry's hand. "It's no mistake. The details are in the letter, but the short version is, this is Lupin's child, but he doesn't feel that he can raise him. He's named you as godfather. And as such, the responsibility falls to you. If you don't take him, he won't survive in this farce that magical Britain has turned into." Under his breath, Griphook grumbled, "Fucking wizards ruining the whole magical world."

Harry's eyes widened in shock at each revelation. The baby's cries got louder, reminding him that he was holding a bottle in his hand. "I've never even held a baby or been around a baby before. I don't have any idea what I'm supposed to do with one," Harry said, as he gingerly reached into the bassinet to pick up the baby, lifting him up to cradle him gently in his arms, and cautiously placed the nipple of the bottle to the baby's lips, and smiling when the baby began sucking on it greedily.

"Seems to me, you know enough," Griphook grunted. "Now I've got some paperwork here for you to sign and a birth certificate for you to fill out. The child still needs a name."

"The bastard didn't even name him?" Harry asked, appalled.

Griphook shrugged, as if to say it wasn't worth his time for him to understand the ways and whys of wizards.

Harry sighed and looked down at the baby in wonder, at that moment the baby looked up at him and made eye contact, then promptly changed the color of his eyes and hair to match Harry's current appearance. Harry was stunned, the only other metamorphmagus that he knew of besides himself was Tonks. What was going on?

Before long, the baby had finished the bottle and Harry, still following his instincts, propped the child up on his shoulder and gently patted him on the back until he let out a small burp. Then he gently placed the baby back into the bassinet, and the baby stared back up at Harry in contentment.

Harry smiled down and ran a finger down along the side of the baby's face, knowing that there was no way in hell he wasn't taking this child back home with him, and said, "His legal name is to be James Sirius Potter-Black." He saw Griphook nod and begin filling in the birth certificate.

Harry then added, "I want to blood adopt him as well. So that if for any reason a blood test is done, he will show up biologically as my son."

Griphook nodded in understanding and asked, "Do you need Gringotts to create an alias for him?"

"Yes, until this war is over and it's safe for us to be in Wizarding Britain under our own names, he's going to need an alternate," Harry replied. He was silent for a moment as he thought. "I think I should update my alias as well," Harry said thoughtfully.

Griphook nodded, then produced the correct paperwork that would change the name on all Harry's vaults and accounts, including the accounts in the muggle world.

Harry sighed, "If I use the surname of Black, it's going to be rather obvious that it's me, since I'm the one that inherited the Black estates and titles, let's see…I'll choose Harrison Orion Ford, and James will be Jeremiah Jennings Ford."

Griphook nodded, deciding it was pointless to mention that those last names would not pass for pureblood names.

As if reading Griphook's mind, Harry explained, "Even if I were to choose a pureblood last name, I'd imagine that the most prominent pureblood families have a self-updating family tree that would disprove my relation to them, were I to use their last name."

Griphook nodded in understanding and completed the paperwork, and turned it towards Harry for signature.

Once signatures were completed and new ID's were provided for Harry to use in the muggle world that were charmed to change as his appearance did, Griphook left briefly to retrieve the potion and other supplies needed for the blood adoption.

When Griphook returned, Harry asked if he could be provided with a portkey back out of the bank.

"Unfortunately, we're only able to provide portkeys into the bank," Griphook stated neutrally, for a goblin at least. "The Ministry has not yet seen fit to prevent incoming portkeys, but they are currently set up to prevent all outgoing portkeys."

Harry sighed and said, "I understand. I'll be on my way in a moment then. First I want to complete this blood adoption and then take time to read this letter while I'm here."

Griphook shrugged, "My only job today was to take care of matters while you were here. I was not given a time limit for how long you could stay."

Harry replied, "Thanks." Then he went through the process of the blood adoption, with Griphook's guidance.

Once that was done, Harry carefully picked up the letter from Lupin to see what the bastard had to say about why he would abandon his son.

Dear Harry,

I know I don't have any right to ask this of you, after I failed to take care of you as I should have, but I've named you godfather. Please take care of my son. I can barely bear to look at him, he reminds me too much of his mother.

I married Dora Tonks and she died giving birth to him. I love him, but I can't keep him. If I keep him, I'm worried I'll just ruin him as I've ruined everything else I've ever had that mattered to me.

Plus, I'm a werewolf, I'm not safe to be around a baby. I don't know what I was thinking, agreeing with Dora that we could have children. After Dora died, I realized that I'm not meant to be happy and have a family.

I am hopeful that the child didn't inherit any werewolf characteristics, as he seems to have inherited Dora's metamorphmagus abilities.

I don't know if I'll ever see you again. I don't know if I'm going to live through the next few days as I attempt to get out of Britain all over again.

I'm sorry I didn't do right by you and that I can't do right by my son, but know that I do love you both.

Thank you,

Remus J. Lupin

Harry closed his eyes, trying to calm down his temper. Lupin was a bastard. How could the man claim to love his son, but yet abandon him.

Then Harry looked down at James and thought that at least he's not being abandoned to abusive relatives the way he had been.

Harry then looked at Griphook and decided he could trust the goblins enough to reveal one of his animagus forms.

Harry said, "Thank you for your help, Griphook." And then he shifted into a phoenix, and warbled in amusement at the look of shock on Griphook's face, as he flew up to grab hold of handles of the bassinet and then winked, before flashing himself and James, within the bassinet, out.