Chapter 6

Harry busied himself around the kitchen avoiding his grandmother's soft blue eyes that he could feel on him ever since she followed him into the room. He quickly and silently set about preparing a cup of tea for each of them. The seemingly unblinking eyes on him made him extremely nervous and uncomfortable as he swallowed hard trying to remain focused on the task at hand. For a long time he had wondered what it would be like to have a family, or grandparents, and now that he was given a chance to interact with them the moment was too surreal for his mind to register.

Soon Harry found his hands to be shaking from his nerves making it difficult to transfer the tea from the kettle to the cup. Suddenly the kettle floated gently out of his hands, and two cups followed slowly through the air towards the table where Euphemia was smiling and filling them.

Harry steadied himself mentally, and took a seat across from the woman searching for something to say, "Wandless magic. That's impressive. I can do a few combat and summoning spells, but your control is incredible."

The woman smiled at him as she picked up her cup, sipping it slowly, "I was never the most powerful witch in this family of extraordinary witches and wizards, but for some reason, I always had an affinity for wandless magic. It usually only grows in the powerful, but I assure you my power is modest, and humble. I have never raised my wand in combat, and I managed to avoid the Great War by becoming a mediwitch here at the homefront. The most action I saw was treating some of the wounded from Dunkirk. I am sorry I can't quite interest you in war stories like my brother and sister-in-law, but to be honest I am much more interested in you. Tell me, Harry, other than all the fighting and the war, did you have a special woman in your life, a best friend you cared dearly for?"

Harry took a small smile as he thought of Ron and Hermione, "I had two of the most incredibly loyal friends anyone could ask for. One of them…she was killed in the final battle, but there was always something between us. We were never given the opportunity to see if it would be more."

"I can hear the affection you have for the two in your voice. Tell me about them." The woman said, closing her eyes briefly.

Harry looked out the kitchen window towards the grounds to try and remember the better times between the 'Golden Trio' as the DA had affectionately called them, "They were by my side in every difficult crisis I faced at Hogwarts. Hermione was a brilliant Muggleborn girl who was sorted into Gryffindor with me. We met on the first train ride into Hogwarts, and she gave me the first hug I ever remembered."

Euphemia twitched at this, but said nothing as Harry continued to stare out the dark window, "I would've died a hundred times over without her, and her cool use of logic and intelligence was something that kept me alive. We had been on the run together for the last year before we were killed in the final battle at Hogwarts. It was during that year I think I began to fall in love with her."

"What about this Ron?" The woman asked, eyes open once again looking at her grandson.

"Ron and I had more ups and downs than Hermione and I did. While Hermione was my rock, Ron was more like an ocean. Fiercely loyal to me when it counted, but sometimes had a hard time getting past my title as the Boy-Who-Lived when we were younger. Ron and I also met on our first train ride to Hogwarts, and we shared a room in Gryffindor Tower for six years. My best mate. He was a chess master, and quidditch fanatic. He was also incredibly brave, and while his faith in me wavered from time to time I wouldn't replace him for anything."

The woman was smiling now, "Tell me more. Tell me about the great friends you had. I know it must be incredibly difficult to be here without them."

So Harry talked. The woman before him was so easy to talk to, and she was unlike any other he had ever met. The words just kept coming, and he couldn't stop. He talked about Neville, the boy who was nothing but a small chubby child who barely knew which end of his wand was which when they met, and how he grew to be an incredible wizard. He talked about Fred and George, and how they took him under his wing and helped him become a great quidditch player. He found himself bragging for the first time, and told her about the girls on his quidditch team that had grown to be like his family.

He talked about Remus, and what a great mentor he had been to Harry over the final years of the war. He talked about Sirius, and how horrible it was to lose him. Then he came to Ginny. The girl who had stolen his heart in his sixth year, and how he struggled to get his feelings out there to her. He even explained why he had to turn his back on the girl so he could finish the fight with Voldemort.

When Harry finished he felt the weight of his situation set in again. Everyone he cared about, everyone he ever loved had been killed in his timeline. Sure, some he would get a chance to meet again, but they wouldn't be the same people he had grown with, or laughed with, or fought with. He felt a few tears build up in his eyes as the loss began to set in, but then a soft hand touched his shoulder. For the first time, a surprising touch did not make him flinch, but part of it was because of the gentle nature of the act.

Euphemia Potter looked at her Grandson with so much love in her eyes it shocked Harry, "You look very much like my boy, James. My heart hurts at the thought of him losing his life so young, and hurts even more when I think that he may have left behind someone who needed him so desperately. I see the look in your eyes when you talk about this rising Dark Lord. You have the fire in your eyes that Charlus does. I have few doubts the path you seek will be immensely difficult, but we will be there for you every step of the way. If this Dark Lord comes for my son or my Grandson then I will raise my wand to fight. Monty isn't so bad with his wand either, and we will take care of our own in every possible way that we can. We are with you this time, Harry. You are not alone."

Harry felt a tear slide down his face, and his grandmother embraced him softly. He wasn't sure how long the woman held him for, but he heard a soft chuckle, "We leave you alone with the boy for thirty minutes and you make him cry. Come on, Mia, we have to go deliver some news to those troublesome boys of ours."

Fleamont Potter walked over to the woman and watched as she let go of her grandson with a smile, then wiped away a stray tear. "We will be back soon with your fath...With James and Sirius. Stay strong, Harry, and don't bury those emotions."

The boy gave his grandmother a smile, and she stood and began walking back towards the living room, while Fleamont remained behind to look at his grandson, "Your mother...I know James has been quite smitten with her for years, but from the way, I heard things they are nowhere close to the relationship that you spoke of. Be wary of trying to disrupt this timeline with things you know might be bound to happen. As I am sure you know, from the first person you had contact with everything changed. I suppose what I am trying to say is be as open-minded as possible."

Harry nodded and the man gave him a smile and put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "We have a game to play, my dear boy. We will speak again tomorrow."

With this, the man left the room and Harry followed them out just to see them step into the floo and return to Godric's Hollow. On the couches nearby, watching the departures, Arcturus Black looked in deep thought while Charlus spoke to him sitting in the arm chair opposite the man. When Arcturus spotted Harry, Charlus immediately stopped speaking and the Black Patriarch spoke, "My brother in arms tells me you have power, and know something about war."

Harry nodded stiffly. In his time he knew Arcturus had never struck Sirius from the family, like Walburga Black had wanted, but still, he remained wary. Sirius had spoken of his grandfather's power and tenacity a few times, so he spoke carefully, "We fought a guerilla war for basically a year. For half of that year, we were on the run, but then we took the fight to them. Everyone was against us. The goblins, the giants, the werewolves. Only the Centaurs and merpeople remained neutral."

Charlus looked surprised at this, "The goblins sided with this Dark Lord?"

Harry had the gall to look ashamed, "Yeah, that was my fault. I broke into Gringotts and stole a Horcrux out of the Lestrange vault. In turn, the Dark Lord took his anger out on many of the goblins, and what was left of them wanted my head on a platter, so they joined up with him."

Arcturus stared at the boy and then laughed, "Yeah, I bet they did. You broke into Gringotts, and did what they claimed to be impossible. I bet they were right pissed!"

"Stole a dragon while I was at it too." Harry grinned.

Arcturus slapped his hand on the table, "Oh, I like you, my boy. You definitely have some of the Black fire in you, that's for certain. I would give anything to see that memory."

"Do you have a pensieve?" Harry asked with a grin.

Arcturus looked to Charlus who immediately nodded, calling out, "Mipsy."

The little female elf appeared immediately with her head already bowed, "Yes, Master Charlus?"

"Will you bring me the family pensive?" Charlus requested kindly.

In a flash, the elf disappeared and reappeared with a small silver basin. At this time Dorea walked into the room, "What's this?"

Arcturus grinned at his little sister, "Your boy is going to show me his memory of stealing one of Gringotts' dragons. Care to join us?"

Dorea looked interested in an instant, "I suppose it could be useful to see how Harry operates in combat and stressful situations."

Charlus nodded, turning to Harry, "Do you know how this works?"

Understanding the question, Harry pulled his wand out and placed it to his head dropping a silver strand in the basin, "To give you a little background this happens days before the Final Battle at Hogwarts. We had been on the run since August, and things had not been going well for us.

"When we discovered that the cup of Helga Hufflepuff was in the Lestrange Vault we bartered with a Goblin that we had rescued from Malfoy Manor. I had acquired the Sword of Gryffindor and in my time it was impregnated with basilisk venom, which meant it was the only safe way to destroy Horcruxes. Naturally, that also meant that in exchange for Griphook's help, he wanted the sword. We had, of course, intended to give him the sword…after we destroyed all the horcruxes, but it didn't quite work that way. Hermione was polyjuiced as Bellatrix, but it had been ruined by the Thief's Downfall, and our plan was falling apart. I will start this memory in the Lestrange Vault."

The others all nodded and descended into the memory. In no time at all, Harry was identifying Hermione, Ron, and Griphook in the Lestrange Vault. The three war veterans watched in horror as the modified gemino charm nearly killed the three teens, and roared in outrage when Griphook double-crossed the trio.

When the trio escaped successfully a sigh of relief was let out, but it was short-lived as green curses, and blasting hexes began raining down upon them. Dorea grabbed Harry clearly trying to figure out how they would escape despite being so outnumbered.

"Any ideas?" Memory Harry asked.

"One, but it's mad!" Memory Hermione called out and then blasted the railing apart before launching herself onto the dragon that the Aurors were trying to beat into submission,

Arcturus mumbled, "The girl is mad, but I give it to you boys, you have balls of steel to follow her so unquestioningly."

Harry grinned at the man, "She saved our lives enough times that we trusted her implicitly. Besides, as you can see we didn't stand much of a chance against that many Aurors."

The war veterans watched in awe as Hermione struck the dragon on the behind with a spell as if she were spurring on a horse, and outright applauded when the dragon clawed its way out of Gringotts effectively destroying the bank.

Exiting the memory Charlus was grinning ear to ear, "You're an outstanding Wizard in normal situations Harry, but that was something else. In the face of death, you didn't even flinch. Bravo, son. Drop the three of us in that situation even after being in the war together for years, and I am uncertain if we would've survived."

Dorea nodded thoughtfully, "I can't imagine the type of things you endured to prepare you for such a moment, Harry."

This seemed to sober the good mood of the three older war vets, and Harry merely smiled at the woman softly, "We did what we had to do."

"And a damn good job you did too." Arcturus said, pounding Harry on the back.

"It wasn't my first encounter with a dragon, and at least this one didn't want to eat me." Harry said sheepishly.

"My brothers would've loved you, especially Regulus, he loved dragons. Had a big plan to use them in the fight against Grindelwald." The man said with pride, but with grief evident in his eyes, "You said you encountered another? What kind was it?"

"A Hungarian Horntail." Harry said sheepishly, "It was in my 4th year at Hogwarts, and I had been entered into the Triwizard Tournament. My task was to steal an egg from its nest."

Charlus and Arcturus both stared at him with stunned expressions while Dorea put a hand on her chest, "How did you survive?"

"I outflew it." Harry said with a grin.

Three shaking heads made Harry chuckle, "I wasn't very powerful in my 4th year. I didn't really become good with magic or dueling until my year on the run." Turning to Arcturus the young man asked, "What was Regulus' plan with the dragons?"

"I wish I knew." Arcturus answered with a sad smile. Dorea patted him on the shoulder, and excused herself from the room.

Charlus looked after his wife for a moment, but instead of going after her he turned to Harry and offered an explanation, "It's what brought Arcturus to the warfront. Regulus was leading a different unit that was on the same expedition as mine. He was killed by Grindelwald himself. When news made it home, Arcturus showed up at my camp within three days demanding a spot with myself and his sister. I was hesitant at first, but I received a letter from the Ministry shortly after saying that Lord Black was to be allowed to fight in any unit he wanted, and was expected to be given the immediate status of Lieutenant. I was happy for any reinforcements we could get, especially with his kind of power, so we took him in, and taught him our tactics. We were the best damn unit in the whole western front."

"Would've killed Grindelwald ourselves if we had been one day faster. No bigger regret than that one. Would've saved us some huge headaches of declaring Albus Bloody Dumbledore the newest Merlin-level wizard." Arcturus grumbled.

Charlus rolled his eyes, "You see, Harry, this is why I can't stand this old dog. He never let it go about how Dumbledore beat us to the punch in the Great War. Still wants to live the glory days over and over again."

Harry grinned at the camaraderie between the two, "Well, it sounds like more glory can be had in the coming conflict."

Arcturus sighed, "I'm too old for this shit, but I will be happy to ride the curtails of your victory, and make sure you have the house Black behind you on it. If Voldemort wants to come knocking on my door though, I can promise you I will leave him at a point that you should hunt him down immediately after, because I won't go quietly."

Harry respected Lord Black immensely already, but before Harry could voice questions Charlus asked, "Who will be at this meeting tomorrow?"

Arcturus put a leg up on his knee and leaned his head back as if he were looking at the family tree in his mind, "Cassie will be there for sure. Alphard as well. We can expect Orion and Walburga who will surely bring along little Regulus. Pollux, Cygnus, and Druella along with her three daughters. We can probably expect Callidora and Harfang as well."

Harry only recognized a few of the names, and Charlus grinned big at the last one, "Ole Grandpa Longbottom huh? His grandson is around James' age, and I hear the boy is in the makings of being the next Alastor Moody."

Harry's eyes widened as he realized they were talking about Neville's family. Harfang must be Neville's great-grandfather, "If it's the same family of Longbottom's then somewhere along the line they have a boy named Neville. Turned out to be a powerful wizard in the war against Voldemort."

Arcturus nodded approvingly, taking a drink of a brown liquid in his hand that was most likely firewhiskey, "Good. The Longbottoms have always been good Aurors and fighters. Harfang fought with us a few times in France, but he was Head Auror at the time so his duty was maintaining law and order back home. Too bad too. I always thought if we gathered some of the sacred twenty-eight families and threw us all into one unit we would've decimated our way through Europe in months instead of years."

"Their penchant for fighting must have landed the family in a spot of trouble. Neville and his Grandmother Augusta were the last of the Longbottoms in my timeline." Harry said sadly.

Both men looked sharply at Harry when he said this, and Arcturus put his forehead into his glass while Charlus laid back in his chair, "Merlin, Harry. The Longbottom clan is bigger than the Black Clan right now. All of them are excellent people. Friends…"

"Augusta is a hell of a woman. I watched her reject my son Orion probably half a dozen times. The last time she dueled him to get her point across. Orion never spoke of that day again, and never pursued the woman afterward."

Harry blinked, the last memory of Augusta Longbottom flashing through his mind. They were in the midst of the final battle when she blasted Yaxley through a wall while shouting at Harry, then looking for Neville. She looked so proud to know her grandson was still fighting the good fight. He had to assume she would have been killed in the final battle.

The room was silent briefly before Arcturus and Charlus both stood, "I best be going if I am to gather my family up tomorrow. Can I expect you to be in attendance tomorrow, Charlus?"

"Yes, I will be there. I would like to come face to face with this self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort." Charlus said evenly.

Arcturus grinned, "Very good. Potter. Potter."

Arcturus nodded to Charlus first, then Harry, and swept his way towards the Floo, returning to Grimmauld place.

As soon as he left, Dorea came back into the room, "Is the old codger gone? I was trying to spare myself the headache of listening to him and Charlus here drone on about the Great War."

Harry grinned at his adopted mother while Charlus looked a little put out until she kissed him on the cheek. She then turned to Harry, "You best get your rest tonight too. Training again first thing in the morning. I suspect the family will gather tomorrow at 7. We will want to be rested and ready if we are going to come face to face with this Dark Lord. Did I hear you would be attending this Black Family meeting, darling? I don't think you've been to one since right before we got married, and Arcturus embarrassed you by saying you were basically the greatest man alive."

This caused Charlus to chuckle and look at Harry, "We had just gotten back from the war, and I asked Dorea to marry me. Arcturus got pissed and called for a family meeting and thoroughly embarrassed me with how excited he was that I was officially joining the family. It might be a memory worth seeing one day."

"It remains to this day the funniest moment of my life. He had only been the head of the family for a few years, and our father was still alive. I had never seen the man look so amused. Those were good days." Dorea said wistfully.

Charlus softly kissed the woman's hand that rested on his shoulder, and Harry once again felt awed by how in love these two were. When Charlus looked up he grunted out, "Bedtime, Harry. Go get your rest."

The young man bid both his new parents goodnight, and made his way to his room where he tossed and turned for hours thinking of the fate his friends had fallen due to his failure. He also realized when this was all over he wanted what Charlus and Dorea had, and hoped somewhere along the way he would find it.

.o.

"How do we keep this secret from James? What do we tell him?" Euphemia Potter asked in a raised voice as her husband had his face buried in his hands.

The woman had half a mind to not put privacy wards in place, hoping that Sirius or her son might hear their conversation, but she had to protect her grandson. Her grandson, the woman thought painfully. James was too young to have a 17-year-old son, particularly one who had gone through half the things that Harry had. The pain on the boy's face as he told her about his friends was agonizing to witness.

Looking at where her husband was it was clear she was not going to get an answer from the man right away. Instead, she strolled over to the loveseat he was sitting on, and sat beside him, "Monty, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know." The man answered quietly. His hands dragged to just below his mouth where he stared in blank contemplation. He thought of everything he learned tonight, and how awful his grandson might have been treated in his early years. There was so much he wanted to know about the young man, so much he wanted to know about how it all came to be.

"James and Sirius need to be told about Harry as soon as possible. If Harry is to meet the other Blacks tomorrow it is possible someone in Sirius' family will reach out to him about our newest member of the family." Monty said in a near whisper.

"I don't even know what to tell them. We should've discussed this more with your brother. We should've taken Harry with us." The woman said feeling frantic.

"It takes everything in me not to go over there and bring him here. To protect him. Keep him safe from this monster, but we aren't capable of that, Mia. It burns me to say it, because my father raised my brother and I to protect our family, but if this man is truly after Harry, there is nowhere in the world safer for him than with Charlus and Dorea." Monty said, pain etched into his expression.

"They may not even be fit to take care of him!" The woman said back quietly in a hiss, "They've been hiding from our family and the world for over fifteen years. Now they want to waltz back in like nothing happened."

"Everything changed the moment Harry arrived at Potter Manor." The man explained feeling tired, "Charlus is right. Had James or any of us needed him they would've returned. Harry now desperately needs a guide in this world, and my brother needs a reason to fight. A reason to come back to life. If Harry does that for Dorea and Charlus then I will express my gratitude to whatever awaits us in the next life. I've missed my brother and Dory. I want my family back."

Mia's momentary rage subsided in the wake of her husband's words. Her shoulders slumped, and tears began to pool around her eyes, "We can't let Harry suffer here like he did in his world. He deserves a chance to be loved by our family."

"We will do all we can to ensure he is." Monty answered in a voice sounding much more confident, "As for James and Sirius. We will tell them exactly as suggested. Harry was taken away from the family because of dragon pox, and was kept secret from everyone."

"Do we claim to have known of his existence?" Mia asked quietly.

"I don't think we have a choice." Monty explained, "If our family claims that Harry was born in July of 1960 then we will have to choose our words very wisely. Henry became sick in the early Summer, and that will be the excuse of why Dorea had Harry away from the world. When Henry was lost they went into isolation. In a way, it would make sense. Desperate to protect their only son they did what they thought they had to. The only reason they never came back was because they realized Harry was special, and would need extra attention. It is not ironclad, but it will be enough. It has to be."

Euphemia and Fleamont Potter exchanged weary looks, and contemplated the cost their lies could extract. They could only hope that if the truth ever came out, their son would understand why they had lied in the defense of their grandchild. A dark thought crossed through Fleamont's mind as he kissed his wife on the cheek, and began moving towards his bed. Had his father lied to him in a similar way, he was uncertain if he would've ever forgiven him.

(A/N) Another chapter down! If you would like to read through chapter 11 you can follow me on Patr(eon) at OrionB15. If you would like to read through chapter 8 then follow me on discord. Just delete the space out of the link below, and say hello. My paid account is only 1$ so no major commitment. There you can also get a first look at my never before shared HPXAvengers crossover! Cheers everyone, and looking forward to hearing your feedback on this story.

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