December 23, 1991

Percy was mildly annoyed. Anyone else would have probably called him extremely agitated, perhaps a little tense, frazzled, flustered, jumpy, anxious… But mildly annoyed, or maybe slightly irritated was all he was willing to admit to. And really, it was fine. It was all fine. He was only about to meet the most talked about wizard in England. And the most notorious one. Completely fine. And he had to make sure his three younger brothers behaved themselves for two whole weeks. Also fine. And for the love of Merlin, didn't twelve year olds know how to speak at a lower volume for even a second?

Ivy watched Percy Weasley yell at a couple of second years who were, admittedly, being a little loud. Still, he looked a little… tense? Flustered, maybe? If that's what being a prefect meant, count her out.

Her attention was involuntarily drawn back to Draco and his rant-about-Weasley part 4087-c.

"And why are they staying at your house? And why can't you come to my Christmas party? I know mother would have sent Lord Peverell an invitation. Surely you can ditch a bunch of Weasleys for one night?"

Ivy decided to have mercy on the compartment's other occupants. "Uncle Henry hates parties, and possibly people, or at least British people. It's hard to say. Plus we won't go to someone's house he hasn't met."

Draco pouted. Ivy knew he would deny that's what it was if she called him out on it, but there was really no other name for it.

"But if you come then he will meet my parents, and then you will be there too, and then I won't be stuck with…" Draco did not finish that sentence, which Ivy was certain was probably for the best. Usually if Draco managed to stop himself from saying something it was safe to assume it was for the best, given the things that tended to come out when he didn't manage to stop in time.

"But I still don't see why Weasley gets to spend Christmas at your house," Draco continued. "You're not even friends!"

Ivy rolled her eyes. "But I'm friends with Fred and George and Percy seems okay." Draco made a face at that. "And I'm sure Ron is nice enough once you get to know him." Draco made another face at that. He clearly did not agree, but Ivy could not quite find it in herself to care.

Deciding that more action was necessary to bring Draco's inevitable rant to a merciful end, Ivy turned to the person seated on Draco's right. "So, Greg. What are you doing for Christmas?"

The boy's short, quiet responses were insufficient for her purposes. Vince yielded mostly the same results, as did Millie. Theo's answers were at least longer than the other three, but were equally quiet. It's like he was still nervous around her or something. Out of all the Slytherin first years, he's the one she had spoken to the least. Unfortunately Tracey wasn't in there compartment. She would have talked enough.

Just then Pansy came back in. She had started in their compartment, but must have gotten bored or something, because she had left over an hour ago. But now she was back, and Ivy had learned that Pansy could outtalk nearly anyone if she set her mind to it.

"Hey Pansy, what are you doing over the holiday?"

An hour later Ivy was rather proud of herself. Pansy's return and Ivy's merciful intervention had been just what was needed. Sure, most everyone had tuned out Pansy about five minutes in, but Draco and Pansy had gotten into a bit of an argument that had proved far more entertaining than Draco's ranting. Even Theo had put down his book in favor of watching the two go at it.

It was dark outside by now, and Ivy was getting excited for the train to reach the station. She hadn't seen Henry in what felt like forever, and she was about to meet her godfather, who Henry had assured her was equally excited to meet her.

The rest of the train ride went by quickly, to Ivy's relief. Just before they reached the station, Tracey and Daphne had come to say bye to Tiger, and they had dragged Theo out with them as they left, saying that he needed to convince Blaise to do something or other.

Not even ten minutes later they arrived at King's Cross.

Ivy said a quick goodbye to her friends and rushed off the train. It took a moment to spot Henry, but when she found him she ran his way, completely ignoring the looks she got or the people she may or may not have sort of run into on her way. Finally, she was home.

Percy honestly wasn't sure what to think. This was the man who some said was the most politically influential wizard in the country? Percy had run multiple scenarios in his mind as to what to expect, but this wasn't one of them. Lord Peverell, for all his name seemed to imply, was…normal. He had smiled widely when Ivy introduced the Weasleys to him and had chatted happily the entire time. They had taken a portkey, and Percy could swear he heard the man mutter something about the devil's creation.

The house too was nothing like what Percy had expected. He had assumed that someone of Peverell's standing would have a large house at the very least, perhaps even a mansion of sorts. But this was…it wasn't small by any means, but it was rather unassuming. Percy decided he actually quite liked it.

Then had come the introductions of one Sirius Black. Lord Black was obviously overcome with emotion at seeing his goddaughter for the first time since she was a baby. Percy felt like an intruder and noticed that his brothers appeared to feel the same. Thankfully, Lord Peverell escorted them inside, saying they'd let Ivy and Sirius have a moment.

Once inside, Percy was left to his thoughts for a moment, ultimately deciding that he wasn't sure what to think. So here he was, standing in Lord Peverell's rather modest living room, reassessing his worldview and wondering what their holiday was going to look like.

Eventually Ivy and Black joined them inside, and it only took a moment before Percy decided Sirius Black resembled an overgrown puppy far more than a stuffy Lord of an Ancient and Noble House.

Sirius, as he insisted he be called, began telling them all about what he had planned for the holiday. He cheerfully showed them the quidditch pitch in the backyard, because, yes there was a regulation size quidditch pitch in the backyard.

Percy had never related to anyone quite as much as he did when he heard Ivy mutter, "Merlin, there's two of them."

Ron was obviously won over by both Black and Peverell at their obvious enthusiasm regarding all things quidditch. The twins quickly joined the quidditch discussion, and Percy and Ivy were left to fend for themselves.

After a few minutes, Ivy rolled her eyes and grabbed Percy's hand, dragging him to another room and explaining that if her uncle had found people to talk quidditch with it might be a while. She showed Percy around the house, ending with a room filled with books and all sorts of little odds and ends.

"I thought if you got bored you could come in here. There's all kinds of exciting things here."

Percy nodded his appreciation and began to look around. There were the usual sorts of books, on a number of topics, but what caught his eye was the large number of books that looked like something Charlie would enjoy if he were here.

He wasn't sure Hogwarts even had quite that many books on both dangerous magical creatures and plants. It was an impressive collection, to be sure.

Ivy showed him a few of her favourites, and he politely indicated that yes, they looked very interesting, and perhaps you can not show those particular books to the twins, please and thank you.

She didn't technically agree, but Percy thought he had made a compelling argument.

After a little while they made their way back to the living room. Quidditch was no longer being discussed, that much was apparent. Instead, Lord Peverell was staring down a rather nervous looking Fred and George, while Ron and Sirius both looked on rather perplexed.

"What's going on?" Ivy asked.

Lord Peverell waved a hand in her direction without turning. "Shh. Just a moment. This is important."

Percy glanced at Ivy, but she just shrugged and plopped down on one of the sofas. No one else said anything for a minute, as Peverell continued to stare down the twins, who, despite their obvious discomfort, managed to maintain eye contact.

Finally, Peverell spoke, breaking the tense silence. "Fred, George, drink the tea, please."

Percy was suddenly filled with a sense of dread mixed with alarm. What exactly was going on?

Peverell continued to stare down the twins, who slowly reached for the tea in front of them. They each took a sip, and Peverell looked triumphant.

"Perfect. Now, I'm going to ask you each a question, and I need you to answer completely honestly. And don't worry, the truth serum in the tea is a fairly mild one."

Percy very nearly groaned out loud. This was unlikely to end well.

Peverell turned towards the twin on his left. "What is your name?"

"Fred Weasley."

Peverell stared at Fred for a moment, then nodded and turned to the twin on his right. "What is your name?"

"George Weasley."

Peverell stared at George for a moment as well, then grinned and said, "Brilliant! Alright, here you go." With that he handed them each something that Percy was fairly confident was the antidote to whatever truth serum Peverell had used.

"That's it?" Fred blurted out.

Peverell actually looked confused at that. "Yes? I had to make sure I knew which one of you was which. How else would I be able to tell you apart? For all I know you would have given me the wrong names or something. No, this way I know for sure."

That gave the twins a moment pause, but then George asked, "Wait so now that you know our names you think you'll be able to tell us apart?"

It did not escape Percy's notice that the incredulous look on Peverell's face was matched closely by one on Ivy's. "Of course. It's not like it's that hard. I just needed to make sure I knew which name to put with which face."

Percy glanced at Ivy again, confirming that she seemed to be of the same opinion as her guardian. To be fair, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to him to see that they were similar in at least some ways.

December 24, 1991

It took Ron less than twenty four hours to decide that this was a brilliant way to spend Christmas. Much better than staying at Hogwarts, for sure. He hadn't initially been of that opinion, but Sirius and Harry (or Henry? It got confusing with people calling him different things) were the best. His opinion of them, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with their enthusiasm for quidditch. Not at all. They were just really cool people. Who also happened to be big quidditch fans. Not to mention they had a quidditch pitch in their backyard. He was pretty sure it was Lord Peverell's house, but Sirius kept calling it his quidditch pitch and no one had corrected him.

Ron's views on Sirius and Harry notwithstanding, he was still a little confused about Potter. Or Ivy, as he was supposed to call her now he supposed. On the one hand, she was a Slytherin. On the other hand, she was pretty nice. She hung out with Malfoy, but he had also heard she yelled at him about the duel. She was friends with the twins, which Ron honestly didn't know should be considered a good thing or not. She was also friends with Neville, and Neville was alright, so chances are she was too. A lot of the other Gryffindors seemed to like her too. Even Wood, who was even more quidditch obsessed than Charlie was about dragons, if that was possible, spent time with her flying and trying to get her to play quidditch. Then again, it was entirely possible he had been hit in the head with a bludger at some point.

Still, Ron resolved to get to know Ivy better. Even if she insisted hanging around Malfoy all the time. He supposed that she might not have much of a choice. Who else would she spend her time with, after all? She was in Slytherin, so there couldn't be that many nice people to hang around. Maybe he could show her that he could be a better friend than that. Maybe then she'd be his friend and stop hanging around Malfoy so much. Yep. Great plan.

Harry had miscalculated. He was excited to see…well, technically "meet" Remus, and Sirius was excited to see Remus again, but he had assumed that Ivy would be excited as well. She had been eager to meet Sirius, after all. Perhaps it was his fault for thinking it would make a great surprise, and for not warning her that someone else was coming, but the meeting between Remus and Ivy had not gone well. Harry wouldn't go quite so far as to say it had been a disaster, but…

Sirius had thankfully whisked Remus off to show him around and no doubt catch up on a decade of missed time, while Harry had taken Ivy aside and asked her what was wrong and what was going on. She had clearly stated that she didn't understand why someone who was supposed to care about her hadn't bothered to check in on her at all until now. Harry had tried to soothe her over a bit, but he knew she had a valid point. Even he had felt that way to an extent, and she did not have nearly the same desperation as he had had to connect with her parents in any way possible.

Another thing that had not escaped Harry's notice (or Sirius or Remus's for that matter), was the way Ivy had stiffened when Remus mentioned Dumbledore. Harry desperately wanted to ask her about that reaction, but she had long since run off with the other kids to play snow quidditch. Harry had no idea what that was, but it sounded either dangerous or fun (or both, most likely). He would have gladly joined in, but he had a bit too much on his mind right now. A little less on his mind and he might have grinned at the fact that Ivy had been convinced to play quidditch (in any variety) without him.

What to do about Remus and Ivy. That was the first question. Harry didn't want to spend the entire Christmas holiday with a guilty feeling Remus and an upset or even shy Ivy. Ivy had been shy at first when they had begun travelling together, but as her confidence grew the shyness quickly left. It had never gone completely away, however, and Harry knew that the fastest way to bring it out in her was with any sort of connection to her life at the Dursleys. He didn't think she would hold Remus's actions (or lack thereof) against him forever, but if she felt that he had anything to do with her being at the Dursleys, it might take a lot more time and effort for her to warm up to him.

Suddenly an epiphany struck Harry. Did Ivy blame Dumbledore for placing her at the Dursleys in the first place? That would explain her reaction to his name. He had long since forgiven his own world's Dumbledore for that and many other things, but this was a different situation. Ivy had not mentioned any interactions with the headmaster aside from the meeting the first night at Hogwarts, and if that had been her only impression of him, and if she had somehow found out that he had placed her at the Dursleys, she would no doubt have taken that information rather poorly. Harry knew the headmaster had his reasons for what he did, but Ivy did not understand those reasons, nor was he inclined to ask her to. It would be her choice whether or not she forgave Dumbledore for that, but Harry hoped it wouldn't stand in the way of her developing a relationship with Remus.

Still uncertain as to what he should do exactly, Harry determined that he ought to ask Sirius. Sirius knew Remus better than perhaps anyone alive, after all, even after a decade apart. Sirius might not know Ivy as well yet, but he seemed to instinctively understand Harry, for which Harry was forever grateful, and he could offer another perspective on the situation. Yes, he would go to Sirius for advice.

Oh, how he loved being able to do that.

Sirius listened to Harry's explanation and rubbed his forehead. He hadn't even thought about how Ivy might react to Remus, and her reactions to Remus's explanation (though rather poorly given, Sirius thought) that he had stayed away because Dumbledore had said it was unsafe for him to contact her had only increased his concerns regarding the headmaster. There was essentially no doubt left in his mind as to why precisely Dumbledore had done as he had. If his apparent plan had succeeded, Ivy's life would most likely resemble Harry's much more closely, complete with yearly trauma and near-death experiences. Sirius shuddered at the thought. No, they wouldn't allow anything of the sort to happen to Ivy. Harry had done an excellent job of raising her so far, and Sirius was determined to help in any way he could.

For all of Harry's admissions about the headmaster, both the one in his original world and the one here, Harry did not seem to regard Dumbledore with any great deal of disdain or anger. If it came down to protecting Ivy or keeping peace with Dumbledore, Sirius had doubts that Harry would do all in his power to keep Ivy safe and far from harm. And Harry's power was nothing if not incredible.

Perhaps Sirius would need a little more evidence of Dumbledore's machinations before he could confront Harry with the prospect that the headmaster might very possibly end up opposing them more directly in the future. A man with such carefully laid plans was unlikely to give them up so easily.

But back to the current matter. Sirius had taken Remus off for a chat after the unfortunate first encounter with Ivy, and was not at all surprised when Remus looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. After enduring about thirty seconds of apology Sirius could not take any more, and had simply told Remus to stop being an idiot before grabbing him into a hug that lasted longer than he bothered to take notice of. He wasn't sure which one of them had held on tighter, but for that moment it felt both as if nothing had happened and as if everything had happened all over. Remus may have been able to grieve in a way that was denied Sirius, but he had also carried that grief alone for a long time. Now they were finally back together, and Sirius was not going to let anything ruin that, least of all a meddling old wizard. As much as he would have loved to curse the man for interfering with what could have been a much earlier relationship between Remus and Ivy, and tell him exactly where he could put his manipulative plans, it was much more important that he think through things first. No more rash actions. He had done that once and he had paid for it dearly.

No, this time he would act another way. He would see about getting Remus on their side, and he would help Harry as much as possible with finishing off Voldemort and protecting Ivy. He would keep his family safe, no matter the cost. It couldn't be anything greater than what he had already paid.

He had been raised a Slytherin, no matter how adamantly he had rejected the path his family intended him to take. Perhaps now it would be good for something after all.

December 25, 1991

Sirius was officially the coolest person after. After Henry, of course. Ivy had been planning for months about how to wake Henry on Christmas morning, and the more people had been added to the list, the more elaborate her plot had become. She was rather proud of it at this point. She knew Henry would be expecting something, so she had been extra careful to make it look like she was going to wake him up one way, while simultaneously preparing to do it another way entirely.

The fact that Henry had warded his bedroom against at least seventeen types of liquids (Ivy didn't no any more revealing charms than that) had proven to her that her bait had been taken. In reality, she had bribed Hedwig with a lot of bacon. Worth it.

Back to Sirius being the coolest person ever. She had gone to cook the bacon, in the middle of the night, of course, so as to not arouse suspicion, and Sirius had walked in on her. At first she was worried that her plan was entirely ruined, but then, before she knew it, she had an accomplice. And not only that, but he had offered to cook the bacon for Hedwig. Yep. Definitely the coolest. He had asked her what her plan was, and, seeing as he was willing to go along with her plan, she shared the details. He had agreed that all of it was rather brilliant (she had preened enough at that statement to make Draco jealous), but he had offered an alternative for the twins. When he showed her the trick he had in mind, she was quick to agree. Besides, if the twins decided to retaliate it wouldn't be against her. It was a win-win situation, really.

Armed with plots, plans, and far less sleep than was probably healthy, the two conspirators tiptoed silently to the first floor bedrooms. Ivy had to admit that Hedwig was probably the most intelligent bird in the world, and she finally relented, giving the owl half the bacon up front. With a satisfied hoot (quietly done), Hedwig flew into the door Ivy and Sirius had so carefully opened. Grinning, they turned towards the other doors.

They passed Ivy's room, and then Sirius's room, and then came to the room the twins were in. With a wink at Ivy, Sirius changed into a large black dog, and happily (though silently) trotted into the room. As soon as he made it past the door Ivy got out the materials needed to wake Remus. She wasn't entirely sure if this was a good idea, but Sirius had assured her that this was, in fact, the best idea of all.

Her supply consisted of several muggle pranking items, including an air horn, which Sirius labelled his favorite. He had warned her that Remus had excellent hearing, and so had advised her to cast a silencing charm with a timer. Technically he had offered to do that, but she asked how it worked, and when she got it on the third try he just looked at her and said, "that'll work."

Once everything was in position, she moved to the final bedroom, where Percy and Ron were asleep. Counting down from thirty in her head, she prepared for the last phase: the awakening. Thanks to Sirius they were going to be able to get everyone at once. It was perfect.

Seconds later that house came awake. Mostly with screams, but definitely awake.

Ivy wasn't sure what Ron was screaming about, since she had jumped on Percy, not him. Percy had yelled out, "knock it off Charlie," before realizing who was actually waking him. He had then caught on to the other screams and had rushed out the door. The twins were screaming, which Ivy thought was hilarious, and Sirius was laughing his head off, having already transformed back into his normal self. Henry had come out of his room shouting about traitors and finally Remus emerged, yelling at "Padfoot."

Ivy knew he was talking about Sirius, but she was surprised when the twins immediately stopped and stared at Remus.

"You know Padfoot," one of them asked. Ivy couldn't see which one had spoken.

Remus just gestured to Sirius. "Padfoot," he grunted. "The bloody menace."

Sirius took a bow.

Fred and George's eyes grew wide. Ivy briefly thought there were little hearts reflected there.

And so began the series of revelations that yes, Sirius was Padfoot. Oh, and Remus was Moony. Prongs was James Potter, and Wormtail shall never be spoken of again. Oh, right, he was that rat you helped catch that got sent to Azkaban and then died. Sirius looked positively gleeful at that last part. Ivy wondered if maybe he should have gotten a little more sleep after all.

The twins were awestruck, Percy looked like his pet had just died, which… Well technically that was kind of true, but Ivy didn't think that was the reason for his current greenness. Ron looked confused, but interested, Remus looked resigned, and Henry looked like he would love nothing more than to go back to sleep. Hedwig chose that particular moment to fly into the hall and land on his shoulder.

"Traitor," he muttered. Ivy giggled, and he sent a half-hearted glare in her direction before laughing himself.

"How did you get her to do that?" he asked.

"Bribery," she stated simply.

Henry rolled his eyes. "Only worked because she loves you."

Ivy grinned. "I know."

Operation wake-everyone-on-Christmas: Success.

Ivy was nervous.

She had laughed when Henry showed her the pensieve that he bought. "Entirely for my own purposes," he had said with a laugh.

He had finally conceded that she could use it too if he got to view everyone's reaction to her sorting. She had readily agreed, and Henry, Sirius, and Remus had all come up laughing their heads off and barely able to put two words together.

But then Sirius and Remus had both given her their present. Together they gave her a large box, in which she discovered dozens of vials containing memories. When she had looked at them for an explanation, they had told her that they were memories of her parents. She didn't even bother wiping the tears away, choosing instead to first launch into Sirius's arms, giving him a huge hug, and then Remus's, who, though taken a little off guard, had caught her and held her close.

They explained that they had plenty more they could share, but they thought these would be a good starting place.

And now she was about to view the first of them.

Henry was going to watch them all with her, for which she was thankful. He had done his best to tell her everything he knew about her parents, and had managed to procure a few pictures of them, but he himself hadn't ever known them either, so there wasn't much more he could tell her.

This though? These were memories from two people who had known them for years. Who had been best friends with them and had loved them.

Ivy couldn't wait, but she was also nervous. What if they weren't like the idea of them she had built up in her head? What if it just made her miss them more? Or at least the idea of them. She didn't have any memories of her own about her parents, so she wasn't sure she actually missed them as much as missed the idea of what could have been.

Henry was, as always, supportive and comforting. She explained her worries as best she could, and he nodded.

"It's up to you," he said. "You can view them now, later, or over time. And maybe they won't be like what you're expecting, but that's okay. This is an opportunity to get to know them a little better. And I'm sure any questions you have…I'm sure Sirius and Remus would love to tell you anything you want to know."

He held onto her for another moment and she leaned into his embrace. She had missed this, the warm reminder that someone cared for her. Finally she nodded and stood. "Okay, I'm ready."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Let's go see my parents."

With that, he took her hand, and together they entered the first of many memories of her parents.

Remus watched as Sirius cast yet another revealing charm on the package.

"Are you sure you need to do that?" he asked. "I think you've covered everything."

Sirius shook his head. "Can't be too careful."

Remus chuckled. "Now you sound like Moody."

Sirius grinned. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE," he boomed.

A small yelp was heard from somewhere down the hall. Remus couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing, and Sirius soon joined him. Oh, how he had missed this.

"Maybe I'll get Harry to check it over too."

"What's he going to do that you haven't already?"

Sirius didn't respond for a moment, instead maintaining an intense focus on the package in front of him.

Suddenly he frowned, then cast one last charm over the package. As he watched the results, his frown deepened, until finally he was scowling.

"What is it, Padfoot?"

Sirius didn't look up. "Compulsion. Subtle, and well hidden, but it's there."

Remus sat up. That wasn't good. "Compulsion for what?"

"I'm not sure," Sirius said slowly. "Hey, go grab Harry, will you? I want him to take a look at this."

A few minutes later Remus returned with Harry in tow.

"What's going on, Sirius?" Harry asked.

Sirius gestured to the package. "It's got a compulsion on it. Took a while to find, and it's devilishly subtle, but… well, just see for yourself."

Harry took his wand out and began casting the same diagnostics as Sirius had. Arriving at the same one that had revealed the charm to Sirius, his eyes narrowed and he began casting spells Remus couldn't identify. Remus looked to Sirius to see his reaction but Sirius was focused solely on Harry.

"Can you tell who cast it?" Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head. "Not exactly. But not many witches or wizards would be strong enough to cast one as complex and well-hidden as this."

Remus noticed how Sirius's eyes narrowed at that. "What are you thinking, Padfoot?"

Sirius seemed to be debating something inside his mind, but he finally grimaced and said, "Dumbledore. Dumbledore could have done this."

"You think Dumbledore would have sent you a compulsion? To do what, exactly? I thought he had dropped the guardianship thing?" Harry seemed perplexed, and Remus could understand.

Sirius shook his head. "It wasn't sent to me. It was addressed to Ivy, with no sender. Hence…" he gestured vaguely, but they all understood what he meant.

A few minutes later, Remus decided that (a), Harry was an incredibly powerful wizard, (b), he never wanted to get on Harry's bad side, and (c), Dumbledore, or whoever had sent this package was going to be deep… he glanced around, just in case one of the kids was nearby and potentially within mid-reading distance. So maybe he was a little paranoid when it came to kids and language habits. Although anyone who had faced Lily Potter's wrath when her sweet little one year old's third word was a four letter word from the no-no list would be equally paranoid.

"Okay, I seem to be missing something here. Why would you think Dumbledore would try to place Ivy under a compulsion? And why here? If he wanted to place one on her wouldn't he just do it at Hogwarts?" Remus didn't think it was actually Dumbledore, but maybe playing devil's advocate a little would help them solve the mystery.

Harry seemed to be on the verge of a crisis (it was understandable, Remus supposed), but Sirius answered after a moment.

"If she was place under a compulsion during the holiday, it would give him an out if it were ever to be discovered. He would be able to shift blame for it onto Harry, which might give him enough evidence to bring up a custody hearing. He's covering all his bases," Sirius practically spit out.

Harry asked Sirius a silent question, and Remus caught the small little shake of Sirius's head in response. Clearly there was something they weren't telling him, but quite frankly he deserved that. Maybe eventually they would trust him, but for now he would do his best to help.

"So what do we do?"