Advent's Calendar 2023 - Fate's Fairy Tale
by teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU! Partly OOC, time travel, soul bonds
While Harry was gone, Dorea turned to the others. "Why don't you stay here over the holidays instead of living in a cottage just by yourselves?" she offered.
Hermione exchanged a look with Severus, before she spoke up. "We'd like that, but do you have a potions lab?"
Dorea smiled. "Of course, my dear. I am a potions mistress, and we have a well-equipped lab, which you may use to your hearts' desire."
Ginny laughed out aloud. "Mrs. Potter, please don't tell them such a thing. At the end of the summer, two skeletons will emerge from the lab if you don't restrict their brewing time to day times."
Everyone chuckled, while Severus rolled his eyes at the girl.
"Meal times are also excluded," Dorea added in apparent amusement.
"Well, I lived at Potter manor before, and it's just brilliant here," Sirius spoke up, grinning broadly. "Do you all agree to remain here? Aunt Dorea, are you really sure that you don't mind?"
Everyone agreed, and Dorea instructed Gina to show their guests to their rooms.
HP
By the time Harry returned from the Unspeakables' office, only Dorea and Charlus were waiting for him in front of the fireplace, while his friends were gone. He glanced around in confusion. "Where is everyone?"
"Your friends agreed to remain here at the manor over the summer, and Gina has shown them to their rooms. I hope you don't mind sharing a room with Severus, as James and Sirius decided to share James' room?"
"Of course not. Thank you so much for having us," Harry replied in anticipation. 'I wonder why you all agreed to stay at Potter manor,' he thought to Ginny.
'Well, Sirius was all for it, and we simply agreed. I'm happy to get to know your grandparents, and I thought you might feel the same,' Ginny replied, swiftly. 'Hermione, Luna and I decided to share a room like we do at Hogwarts, by the way.'
Just then Gina returned to the parlour and offered to take Harry to his room. "You just have time to wash up a bit, before dinner will be served in the dining room."
'Yes, I'm really happy to get to know my grandparents, and I hope Croaker will allow them to work together with us in our team,' Harry thought, as he followed Gina upstairs, feeling outright happy at his new situation.
HP
To Harry's delight, Croaker accepted both Charlus and Dorea Potter as Unspeakables and furthermore added them to Team 5. Dorea was over the moon with joy upon hearing that her brother Arcturus was alive, and everyone felt happy at the team's new additions.
Nevertheless, Dorea decided to only begin training and working with the Unspeakables once the children returned to Hogwarts. "They chose to spend their summer at our home, which makes them members of our family, and I want to be there for my son, grandson and their friends," she explained to Croaker and the team.
Unbeknownst to everyone but Hermione, Severus and Damocles, Dorea had decided to assist with their experiments for a possible cure for lycanthropy, and she even invited Hector Dagworth-Granger. Hermione's great grandfather accepted the invitation – much to her delight.
The three young people gratefully accepted the Potions mistress and Potions master into their research group, knowing that they had the experience as potioneers, which the three of them were lacking.
Harry felt more cared for that he had ever felt in his life. "This is the best summer I've ever had," he told his grandparents, much to their obvious delight. 'Thank Merlin I managed to avoid questions about the future and the Dursleys so far,' he thought one day, when everyone but Hermione and Severus readied themselves for a Quidditch match in the huge garden of Potter manor.
HP
Sirius agreed with Harry's feelings, but his opinion changed, after he accompanied Lucius Malfoy to his first Death Eater meeting.
"Voldemort is so full of himself. It's extremely annoying," he told the others. "At least, so far, he mostly seems to be talking and has not actively begun to attack muggles and muggleborns yet."
"He'll begin soon enough," Ginny said, darkly.
Harry nodded. "I wished we could simply kill him somehow, but obviously, that's not possible, as we need to make sure that he doesn't have any Horcruxes left."
"Sirius, do you know when the next meeting is going to take place?" Charlus enquired. "Perhaps, we could send one of our more experienced colleagues to invisibly attend it. Do you know where it took place?"
Sirius shook his head. "Sorry, but I don't have a clue."
HP
When the next meeting took place two weeks later, Arcturus accompanied his grandson hidden under various invisibility and silencing spells, which were only known by the Unspeakables. During Voldemort's speech, he slowly let his eyes wander around the room, making sure to look at each of the faces as closely as he could in the fairly dark room. 'I'll make sure that we can recognise them all, when I put my memory into a Pensieve,' he thought, grimly. Once the meeting was finished and most of the guests left, while others queued in front of Voldemort to speak with their adored leader, he quietly explored the house and cast a spell to check the exact coordinates of its location, memorising them for later research at the Unspeakables' office.
"Thanks Sirius, for taking me with you," he told his grandson, when they met in the team room the following morning. "That was extremely interesting. First of all, we've been able to recognise each of the participants of the meeting and put their names onto a list, and secondly, I've found out that the meeting took place at the old Riddle house in Little Hangleton. I've already spoken to the Aurors among our colleagues, and they promised to officially search the Riddle house for dark items. Of course, they won't mention any of the items you described as the futures' Horcruxes, but they will look out for them."
'Finally, the search for the Horcruxes is making progress, even if too slow for my liking,' Harry thought, letting out a deep sigh.
'Harry, easy,' Ginny thought to him. 'The date, on which he went after your parents in our old time, is still more than ten years into the future. By then, you'll surely have found and destroyed all of his Horcruxes.'
'I hope you're right,' Harry thought back, smiling with a combination of hope and careful anticipation.
HP
Hermione, Severus and Damocles were delighted about Dorea's and Hector's assistance. The two elder potions masters' overflowing experience helped them to come up with valuable ideas, and they decided to produce one promising potion every month, which Remus would then be able to try out during the full moon.
"Don't get your hopes up," Hector warned them. "Potions masters have tried over centuries to invent a cure for lycanthropy without much success."
"If anyone will be able to invent such a cure, it will be the five of you," Harry said, matter-of-factly, when he entered the lab in search for his grandmother.
"Thanks, Harry. I really hope so." Hermione smiled in what seemed to be anticipation of being able to cure Remus.
Nevertheless, it should take them a few more years, before their hard work would bear fruit.
tbc tomorrow...
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