Harry Potter groaned as he found himself in a mist shrouded area, "What the hell did that bastard hit me with?"
A voice that sounded suspiciously like his own voice said, "A blasting curse right to the back of the head or at least I think that's what it was. He wasn't speaking all that coherently but he had a lot of rage and jealousy fueling the spell."
Harry looked around wildly to try to figure out where the voice was coming from, "Hermione? Is she? Who are you? Where are we?"
A slightly older looking Harry Potter stepped out of the mist, his midnight black cloak seemed to eat the light the mist was giving off. His emerald eyes weren't hidden behind glasses which made the fact that they were glowing with power even more noticeable. He said, "Look mate, I applaud your choice in sexual partners but next time you decide to fuck your best friend, you might want to lock the door so that your other best friend doesn't barge in and kill you while you're having sex with someone he considered his girl."
Harry sighed, "So I'm dead?"
The dark cloaked Harry shrugged, "It's a bit more complicated than that. You've got a connection that is tethering you to life, chances are that it's not strong enough to fix having your head blown off which is why I'm stepping in and sending your soul through time and space so that you can try again."
Harry asked, "Why me?"
"You remind me of me, I picked Hermione over some of the other choices."
"You mean Ginny?"
"Amongst others. You're Harry James Potter, you could have had a lot of girls and not just because you were famous either."
Harry asked, "Is Hermione?"
The dark cloaked Harry said, "Dead? I'm afraid so, Ron killed you both then blew his own head off because he couldn't live with himself."
Harry felt the world fall out from under him as he realized that Hermione was dead, "Can you save her?"
The dark cloaked Harry held up a small statue carved of amethyst that looked like Hermione. "Something like that."
"What is that?"
"It's an interesting item that I picked up recently, it normally gives you the ability to summon an apprentice, I've fused Hermione's soul to it so it should give you the ability to summon her."
Harry said, "Thank you."
The dark cloaked Harry said, "I figure you'll need the help."
Harry asked, "Where are you sending me?"
The cloaked figured shrugged, "I've set things up so that every time you die or complete various tasks you'll jump to another world that might have been. Typically speaking you'll take your alternate's place when they get their Hogwarts letter."
"What's the catch?"
The dark cloaked stranger said, "The catch is you have to agree, the alternate is death of course."
Harry wasn't ready to die, "In that case, I agree."
The cloaked Harry floated the Hermione statue over to him. "We don't have a lot of time here so focus on the statue and use it."
Harry blinked in surprise as the crystal dissolved and knowledge of how to summon Hermione flooded his mind. "That's new."
The cloaked figure laughed, "Excellent, I'll see you around Harry, enjoy your new perverted life, try not to die because the second world will be as bad as your next world is good."
Harry asked, "What happens if I complete my task?"
"Then your alternate gets to live and gets a nice skill increase, die and they die." He snapped his fingers and the mist ignited with the brightness of a thousand suns.
Harry screamed as he woke up in an unfamiliar room. "What the hell?" The first thing he noticed was that he could see perfectly fine even though he didn't have his glasses on. The next thing he noticed was that the walls were painted a dark blue color. There was a rather large bookcase on the wall filled with various magical books. There was also what looked like a purple glass stool next to a dark blue glass table. He could see a bottle of ink and a fountain pen on the table which meant that he probably wasn't at the Dursleys or anywhere else non magical. He sat up and realized that he wasn't wearing any clothes. He slipped out of bed and walked over to the dresser where a pile of folded clothes was sitting.
He stopped as he caught his reflection in the mirror over the dresser. He looked young though he wasn't all that much shorter than he had been before he died. While he was still skinny he didn't look unhealthy which was a nice change. His hair was perhaps even more wild than before. He reached up and put his fingers through his hair and stopped when he realized that his scar was gone. "That's going to take a bit to get used to."
A faintly familiar and pleasant voice shouted from somewhere downstairs, "Breakfast is ready Harry."
Harry quickly put on the underwear, black pants and black t-shirt that he found on the dresser then headed out of the room and down the hallway past a couple of doors to the spiral stairs that went down.
He froze as he walked down the stairs and saw a cute naked red haired girl that was probably around ten or maybe eleven sitting on the couch with a young naked Ginny Weasley sprawled over her lap. "Ah."
Beth looked over at her brother, "What? Mum, I think Harry hit his head or something, he's giving me a weird look."
Ginny smiled at Harry. "Morning."
Harry managed to say, "Morning..." before his mind sort of glitched as he tried to make sense of the fact that someone that looked a lot like a younger Ginny Weasley was naked and sprawled over another cute naked girl's lap without a care in the world. He glanced over and noticed that they were watching an animated movie on the television.
Lily Potter walked out of the kitchen in a nice short sleeved red dress that barely came down to her knees. "Are you feeling okay Harry? I would have thought you would be excited about getting your wand and hitting the bookstores. It's not like you've talked about much else all summer."
Harry had to clamp down on the temptation to run over and hug the woman with red hair that looked a lot like the pictures of his mother. She was a touch older but not a great deal as far as he could tell. He forced himself to relax as he headed to the kitchen with the person that looked like his mother. 'Maybe I have gone crazy or maybe I'm dead.' He said, "I just had some weird dreams. It feels like I'm still half asleep."
Lily laughed as she stepped over to the stove, "I'm sure some food will fix you right up then."
Harry looked over the kitchen and noticed that it seemed to be a cross between mundane and magical. The kitchen table had five chairs around it and there was an extra chair pushed into a corner that looked like it saw some use. "Thanks."
Lily laughed as she pointed at his plate of waffles and floated it over toward Harry's normal spot, "Careful, the plate is hot."
"Thanks." Harry was rather glad that the silverware drawer had been left open as it let him know where it was. He walked over and grabbed a fork and knife then walked back and sat down after waiting a couple of seconds just in case the woman said something about him grabbing the wrong silverware or something.
"Once you finish eating and Tonks shows up to watch the girls we'll head to the alley for the rest of your school supplies."
Harry finished his bite of delicious strawberry waffles and said, "Sounds good..." Harry trailed off as the fireplace burst into green flame and a purple haired female stepped out of the flames wearing a short black skirt and a sheer black t-shirt that did very little to hide her large breasts.
Tonks smiled at Harry, "Wotcher, Harry." She looked at Lily, "Hi, Lily."
Lily smiled at Tonk's choice of outfits, "Hi Tonks, the girls are in the living room watching television."
It took Harry a couple of seconds to find his voice and say, "Hi Tonks."
Tonks gave Harry a smirk before she headed into the living room.
Harry blushed as he went back to eating his breakfast.
Lily snickered slightly as she worked on cooking the rest of the waffles for the girls so they had something to munch on while they her and Harry were off shopping.
Hermione groaned as she woke up and looked around the abandoned gothic library she found herself in. "I'm going to kill him."
"That's the spirit. Feel the rage and join the Dork-side." A midnight black cloaked Harry smiled slightly as he stepped out from behind a set of stairs.
"Not funny Harry."
The cloaked Harry sighed, "Yeah, I'm not actually laughing."
Hermione frowned as she realized that the only clothing she was wearing was a pair of unfamiliar multicolored socks that went almost to her knees. "What happened?"
"Ron killed you and Harry."
"What are you talking about Harry?"
"I'm not your Harry, I mean I am a Harry James Potter, I'm just not yours."
Hermione glared, "Start talking."
"Ron went crazy when he walked in on you and Harry."
"That part I remember, I'm not sure how he found us considering he left and moved locations."
"Blame Dumbledore, the deluminator allows the user to find people."
"Thanks... that wasn't a stunner then?"
"I'm afraid not."
Hermione asked, "Then how are we here? Where is my Harry?"
"I collected your soul and bound it to a statue that teaches him how to summon a girl, you're here because this is your waiting area."
"So I'm a ghost?" She felt a too solid to be a ghost but maybe she was solid here.
Harry shrugged, "You're more like a genie without the wishes, this is basically your bottle and Harry calls you out when he needs you."
Hermione sighed, "Then why does it look like it needs a really good cleaning?"
Harry shrugged, "I could give you a story about how your mind is a bit cluttered with love potions from that idiot Weasley but I'm not going to lie. The long and short of it is that I used what I had, it was either a fantastic mostly empty library with stairs, old chairs, ancient tables, stained glass windows, secret passages and a fantastic bedroom or a smaller library that was filled with boring books. I picked the 'bottle' that had room for growth, was I mistaken?"
Hermione stood up and looked around the shadowy library, she could see his point, with a bit of work the place could be fantastic. "I'm not afraid of a little work."
Harry smiled, "Excellent, I should be going before I'm missed."
"How do I get out of here?"
"You have to wait for Harry to call you. I'm truly sorry but you were dead, this was the best way I had to bring you back."
"Best or only?"
"Zombies aren't cute."
"Yuck."
"Exactly, Harry's going to need your help if he wants to stay sane on his quest."
Hermione asked, "Quest?"
"I suspect that he'll have to kill Voldemort a couple of times. Maybe some other dark wizards. I only know the details of the first couple of jumps."
"Anything you want to share?"
Harry sighed, "I'm afraid that I'm not permitted to tell you anything else. I should be leaving before the others notice. Take care Hermione." He blew her a kiss then vanished.
Hermione sighed as she realized that cleaning the whole library without her wand was going to take a while. "Maybe there is a supply closest somewhere."
Harry wasn't sure what he had been expecting in Diagon Alley but he wasn't quite prepared for it to be as bustling and as crowded as it was. There were at least five times the number of people that he had seen the first time he had been to the alley with Hagrid. "Where to first?"
Lily said, "Let's get your wand then we can visit the leather shop for a wand holster then the language shop."
"Language shop?"
"Yep, I want to see if they have any good deals." Lily headed off toward Ollivander's shop.
'Language shop?' Harry shook his head and followed Lily into Ollivanders Wand Shop. He stopped as he walked through the door and came face to face with an eleven year old Hermione, "Hello."
Puck smiled at the rather cute boy, "Hi."
McGonagall turned and looked at Lily and Harry with a smile, "How time flies."
Lily smiled at her old professor, "They grow up so fast."
Harry asked, "Hogwarts?"
Puck said, "Yes, I'm still trying to wrap my head around magic being real."
Harry smiled, "I'm sure you'll be brilliant."
McGonagall looked down at her watch and frowned, "I've got to grab another student from the pub soon, I wasn't expecting it to take this long. I don't suppose I can talk you into keeping an eye on Miss Granger while I'm gone?"
Lily said, "I was volunteering tomorrow..." She looked at Harry, "I know this was supposed to be our day but do you mind?"
Harry shook his head, "It will be fun."
Lily said, "In that case, I'll be happy to watch over her or show her around."
McGonagall looked at Puck, "Lily is a muggleborn like yourself so she should be able to answer all your questions."
Puck said, "I've got a list."
"Excellent. Just have her back at the Leaky Cauldron by three." McGonagall handed Lily a piece of paper with contact information for Miss. Granger's parents. "Thanks."
Lily watched her old head of house make a hasty retreat with a smile on her face, "I'm Lily, this is Harry." She held out her hand.
"Puck Hermione Granger. My parents couldn't decide on which Shakespeare character they wanted to name me after so they split the difference." She shook Lily's hand.
Harry made a mental note that even people's names might be different than he was expecting.
Mr. Ollivander said, "Miss Granger, you're up."
Puck let go of Lily's hand, "Excuse me." Then turned and walked up to Mr. Ollivander to get a wand.
Lily whispered, "Very cute, don't you think?"
Harry said, "I'm betting on smart as well."
"In that case we should probably give her the muggleborn survival guide. I'll be right back." She apparated back to the house to grab a copy of the book/pamphlet she was planning on giving all of the muggleborns that she showed around tomorrow.
Harry glanced around and noticed that there were a couple of students waiting for their turn to get their wands unlike the first time he got his wand. Thankfully it didn't take that long for Hermione/Puck to get her wand.
Puck walked back over with her new vine wood wand, "Where did your Mum go?
"She went home to grab a copy of the muggleborn survival guide."
"McGonagall didn't mention a survival guide."
Harry shrugged, "I'm sure she would have." He wasn't actually sure what the standard program was for muggleborns sense all he had for help was Hagrid who hadn't let him get any extra books or much of anything that wasn't on his list. He stepped out of the way as a boy he didn't recognize exited the shop.
"How many spells do you already know?"
Harry wasn't actually sure how to answer that because he wasn't sure how much his other self had already learned. He decided to go with a version of the truth that he hoped wouldn't bite him in the butt, "I've seen a lot of magic, it shouldn't be too hard, I hope."
"I'm just glad that I'll have all summer to look through my books."
Harry smiled, "Same."
"It's nice to find someone that likes books as much as I do."
'I'm fairly sure that's not possible.' Thankfully he was saved from answering by Ollivander calling his name after the last student left the building.
Harry walked over, "Hi."
"Let me see your wand hand Mr. Potter."
Harry held out his right hand.
Ollivander took some measurements then walked over and selected a wand at random from the shelves. "14 inches, nice and supple, apple wood and a phoenix feather core."
Hand knew the second the touched the wand and felt a connection that this was the wand he was meant to have.
"Well give it a wave."
Lily walked back into the wand shop just as Harry waved his wand and conjured purple sparks out of the tip. "Excellent."
Ollivander smiled, "It looks like we have a match, most curious though..."
Lily asked, "Something you want to share?"
He mentally debated saying that the feather in Harry's wand came from the same phoenix that had donated a feather for Tom Riddle's wand then decided that there was no reason to scare the poor child. "I made this wand many years ago, this is the first time anyone has gotten a positive reaction from it. Apple wands are powerful and used by noble people, they don't like the dark arts. Phoenix feather cores are hard to tame and show the most initiative, this should be a very powerful wand. I expect great things from you Mr. Potter."
Lily asked, "How much do I owe you?"
"Fifteen Galleons."
Lily paid Ollivander the coins then lead Harry and Hermione out of the shop, "Let's grab some holsters on our way to the language shop."
Puck asked, "Wand holders? Language shop? I don't remember either of those from the pamphlet."
"Charmed wand holders are a safe place to store your wand. They help keep you from losing your wand or having it damaged or stolen. The language shop sells language candies. Simply eat one and then practice the language for an hour and you'll be able speak it the rest of your days."
Puck asked, "How much do they cost?"
Lily said, "They're not all that expensive considering what they do, they're normally between 5 to 10 galleons depending on the language so about fifty to a hundred pounds depending on the language."
Puck tossed the amount around in her head, "That's actually fairly cheap for what you get."
Lily smiled, "Exactly."
Puck asked, "How come that wasn't in the pamphlet that McGonagall gave me?"
Lily said, "Don't tell her I said this but McGonagall is a bit too focused on Hogwarts. Anything that doesn't directly relate to Hogwarts isn't really covered." She pulled a leather bound journal out of her bag and handed it to Puck, "Here is your muggleborn survival guide. I'd call it a hundred and one things purebloods don't want us to know but there are more than a hundred and one things in there. There are also some basic spells that are extremely useful that they don't bother to teach at Hogwarts until third year even though they're no more difficult than other first year spells and are very helpful for any witch or wizard to know. Picking up a couple of books on wizarding culture might be good if you can afford it."
Puck nodded, "I can afford it."
Harry frowned as Lily led them to the corner of Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley to a leather shop with half dressed female mannequins clearly visible in the display windows, "You might not want to mention to McGonagall that I took you in here as it's technically a Knockturn Alley shop."
Puck said, "She warned me about Knockturn Alley."
"It's got a reputation for dark arts and stuff that's on the edge of being legal. A lot of the shops are dark though a fair number are also here because of the lower restrictions and rent. The wand holsters in here are half the price and twice the quality as the official shop in Diagon Alley." Lily opened the door for Puck and Harry.
Harry tried not to touch anything as Lily led them through the isles with leather dresses, collars, whips and other assorted bondage items. He was a bit startled by the appearance of the shop clerk who looked more like a half naked punk rocker than a witch. Her hair was shaved on the sides and her outfit came rather close to indecent as the thin straps of leather covering her nipples were rather thin.
The clerk smiled as she saw Lily, Harry and a cute girl, "Always a pleasure Lily, what can I help you with today?"
"These two need some wand holsters, normal leather should work."
"I can do that. Come on up to the counter, I don't bite unless you ask me to."
Puck asked, "How much is this going to cost?"
Lily said, "Don't worry about it, consider it a gift for a fellow muggleborn."
The clerk chuckled, "Custom wand holsters are normally two to three galleons but she's a valued customer so she gets them for one."
Puck relaxed once she realized that Lily was really only giving her ten to twenty pounds depending on how you looked at it. Having a holster to hold her wand and keep it safe sounded like a perfectly valid investment to her. She could always have her parents pay Lily back if she needed to but she had only exchanged so much money for school supplies. "Okay."
"I'll be right over here if you need me." Lily chuckled and walked over to the display that had leather collars.
Harry was rather impressed with how quickly the clerk was able to fit them with enchanted wand holsters that looked like a two inch think leather bracer with a raised hard leather bit that let you slip your wand in.
Puck asked, "How does it work?"
"There is an undetectable extension charm on the bracelet that expands the space in the hard leather part so that your wand can fit inside without being awkward. I calibrate it based on wand length."
Puck said, "That's a great idea."
"Thanks."
Harry wished that something like this had existed back in his world, "Wicked."
Lily picked up a cheap yet decent looking collar for Ginny then walked over to the section that had leather book bags.
By the end of the shopping spree Puck was fairly sure that she wouldn't have done half as well for supplies if she had gone with McGonagall. She had splurged a bit on a dragon hide book bag with an undetectable extension charm on it but justified it as it was heavily resistant to all common jinxes and curses that someone might try to use on her stuff. She had mostly made up the cost of the bag by getting most of her books at the used bookstore. She didn't mind used books, most of them were in decent enough condition. Lily had a used a spell to erase the less than useful notes in one of the used books which had saved her a bunch. Between that and getting her robes used and letting Lily tailor them with a spell, she had enough coin to splurge on a mermaid language candy in addition to the French language candy that she wanted for traveling with her parents. Depending on how they worked she was fairly sure that they were going to become one of her favorite types of candy.
She had to force herself to smile as they left the Leaky Cauldron to meet up with her parents. She really hoped that she was sorted into the same house as Harry because he seemed like a really nice person and she figured it would be nice to have a friend.
Lily shook hands with Puck's parents, exchanged pleasantries and handed them a book titled, 'Things a non magic parent should know about raising a magical child by Lily Potter.' "Don't hesitate to call if you have questions. My number is on the bookmark."
Mrs. Granger said, "Thank you."
Harry felt like collapsing by the time they got home. "Puck seemed nice."
Lily grinned as she set the bags she was carrying down on the end table in the living room, "Very cute."
Beth smiled she walked over without a stitch of clothing, "Did you get me anything Mum?"
Harry winced slightly as he tried not to stare at his naked sister now that the cute redhead was positively identified as his sister.
Lily dug through the bags until she found the leather collar and the bag of chocolate bars, "Chocolate and a new collar for your pet."
Ginny looked up over the back of the couch, "Is it black?"
"Yes."
Harry focused on Ginny's naked body rather than his sister. He still wasn't sure what the hell was going on with Ginny but maybe his other self had left a journal or something. Worst case he would try to sneak into his sister's room and read her diary to see what was going on.
Ginny said, "You're the best Lily."
Beth grinned as she took the collar and rushed over to put it on Ginny.
Lily asked, "Is James home?"
Beth said, "Dad's in the study working on something with Sirius."
"Did you have a good time with Tonks?"
"Yep, she's the best babysitter in the world."
Lily smiled, "I'm glad that you behaved yourself. Do I have to go make sure that she's not tied up in your bed or anything?"
"I only did that once..."
Harry pinched himself, 'Yep, still hurts.' He pulled his gaze away from Ginny, "I should go put my stuff away."
Lily said, "Go for it."
Harry rushed upstairs both to get away from the insanity and to see if there was something that might help explain the insanity. He also wanted to try summoning Hermione.
Hermione stumbled slightly as she went from cleaning a shelf with an old rag to standing in the middle of a blue painted room. She blushed as she caught a younger looking Harry staring at her breasts, "Hi Harry."
Harry ignored the rag in Hermione's hands as his gaze jumped to her breasts. "Ah..." He pulled his gaze up to her eyes or at least he tried to, "It's good to see you. I was a bit worried when the other Harry said you were dead..."
Hermione sighed, "Considering I'm not hungry and haven't eaten since I woke up in my library several hours ago I'm fairly sure that I'm not really human anymore..."
Harry said, "At least you're not a zombie..."
Hermione shook her head, "Right, so what do we do now?"
Harry said, "I'm not sure, I've been looking for a journal or something that might explain what the hell is going on with this world."
Hermione asked, "What do you mean?"
Harry said, "For some reason my naked sister had a naked Ginny over her lap earlier in the living room and neither Tonks or my mother cared."
"That's weird... wait, your mother is alive?"
"Yeah, she took me to Diagon Alley to get my school supplies. We met your alternate at the wand shop and McGonagall talked Lily into helping her get the rest of her things so that she could show another muggleborn student around."
"I bet she had a bunch of questions."
"She had a heck of a lot of questions. Her name is Puck Hermione Granger, I think you'd like her." He smirked as he let his gaze run over her body.
Hermione mock glared at it, "I can grab a pillow case or a robe or something if you can't focus on the topic at hand."
"I'm good."
"Good, the name doesn't surprise me, Dad always liked the name. Getting back to the strange differences, any idea why Ginny was in the house?"
"No and they were sort of treating her like a pet, I mean my mother bought a leather pet collar for her and my sister put it on her and she looked happy to get it..."
Hermione frowned, "That seems very odd."
"Tonks's shirt was mostly see through and no one seemed to care."
"Did anything strange happen on the shopping trip?"
Harry held out his hand to show her his new wand holster, "I got a wand holster and a French language candy."
"Language candy?"
"Basically you eat it and you permanently learn a language in an hour."
Hermione said, "I don't recall seeing anything like that before. The wand holster doesn't look like anything we couldn't make but I've got no idea how the language candies are made."
"I'll try to find a book for you at some point."
"Thanks." Hermione sighed, "Do we have a plan?"
Harry said, "I'm planning on reading my sister's diary to see if I can come up with anything that explains things, other than that the plan is to try not to arouse suspicion for the rest of the summer."
"Not a bad plan until we know more."
"What about you?"
"I woke up in an old library filled with all sorts of secret passages. Sadly most of the shelves are empty of books."
Harry asked, "Is that why you were cleaning?"
Hermione blinked as she realized that she still had her cleaning rag, "It was either that or sit there waiting for you to summon me. Tell me about your shopping trip, I'm curious about the details."
Harry started talking about his trip as he put his stuff away.
Sadly for Harry, his plan to remain unnoticed was based on his previous interactions with a family that liked ignoring him when they weren't busy causing him headaches which is how he found himself in the middle of dinner spilling his secrets thanks to the Veritaserum that his mother had slipped into his drink.
By the end of Harry's story James was scowling as he thought about all of the horrible things that had happened to his alternate's child, "Any other questions before we give him the antidote?" He looked at Remus then at Sirius.
Sirius said, "Why didn't you report Umbridge back in your fifth year?"
Harry said, "No one seemed to be able to do anything about it. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction."
Lily said, "How come you didn't flirt with Puck?"
"Because I know her alternate from my world and I figured I'd do better trying to be her friend first."
James said, "He's obviously a Potter so I think we can give him the antidote now."
Harry blinked a couple of times as Lily administered the antidote to his tongue with an eyedropper. "I really hate that stuff."
Lily said, "Sorry about that, you were acting weird."
"Do you always dose your children with truth serum when they're acting weird?"
Lily smirked, "I'm considering making it standard policy now."
Harry asked, "What tipped you off?"
"Your surprise at seeing Ginny and Beth this morning, your lack of flirting with your sister, Ginny and Tonks wasn't normal either. I could mark that down to a weird morning but your lack of excitement when you finally got a wand was way too strange. My Harry has been looking forward to getting his own wand ever since he figured out that wands make magic easier."
Sirius smirked, "In other words you were way too serious today."
James snorted, "Anything else?"
Lily grinned, "That and he didn't flirt with the seriously cute looking girl we showed around the alley."
Harry frowned as something Lily said finally clicked, "Why would I flirt with my sister?"
"Because my Harry has been messing around with her and Ginny for years, that is after all why we bought Ginny from the ministry auction."
Harry felt parts of his world view shatter as he tried to wrap his brain around his mother admitting to buying Ginny and the idea of his alternate being involved with his sister. After half a minute he managed to pull himself together enough to ask, "Ministry auction?"
"Her father Arthur liked to charm muggle things, several years ago he charmed a lawn mower that got loose and ate a person. I'm fairly sure that someone tampered with the charms but either way, certain factions in the ministry that disliked him lobbied hard and the fine was more than he could pay so they took his daughter and put her up for auction as a slave in order to pay the fine."
Harry said, "That's barbaric..."
Lily sighed, "There are a lot of things that are barbaric about the world Harry. That's one of the reason that I wrote the introduction book for muggleborns."
James said, "Rather than let Lucius Malfoy buy her as was his plan we bought her as a companion for Beth and you. It's worked out well for the most part."
"For the most part?"
"We had to block owl access for a few months because of Molly's howlers but eventually she calmed down after Arthur explained that the ministry had every legal right to take her and that her continued harassment might cost them one of their sons."
"How come they didn't take the Burrow?"
Lily snorted, "It has to do with the old laws that prevent the ministry from taking a pureblood family's lands."
Harry asked, "Don't take this the wrong way but how come you aren't dead?"
James said, "I'm not saying that our Peter would have turned traitor but he died back in fifth year so we'll never know."
"What happened?"
Remus said, "He had a fondness for ladies undergarments and used to use his rat form to steal them. He was sneaking around the Ravenclaw seventh year dorm when one of the girls killed him. She was quite mortified when the rat she killed turned into a dead boy."
Sirius sighed, "He really should have been more careful."
Lily snorted, "I remember you sneaking into the girl's dorm a time or two."
"Yeah but my form is a large cute dog not a rat."
James said, "There was a prophecy much like your world. We went into hiding, Voldemort picked the Longbottoms and Augusta Longbottom killed him or at least that's how the story goes."
Harry asked, "You're not buying it?"
"She's an excellent duelist but so were most of the people that Voldemort personally killed."
Lily said, "With him dead we got a little careless."
Harry asked, "Did you drop the Fidelius charm?"
James snorted, "Nah, that would be stupid rather than just careless."
Lily said, "We went to a party at the Longbottoms the next day, Bellatrix and her 'friends' attacked the party."
Harry asked, "Any casualties?"
Sirius said, "None on our side. The ministry took everyone's statements, got confessions out of them all then tossed Crouch Jr. and the Lestrange men through the Veil of Death."
"What about Bellatrix?"
Sirius said, "My uncle used some influence to have her obliviated and sold rather than have her tossed through the veil."
Harry rubbed his face, "What type of a lunatic would buy her?"
Sirius smirked as he raised his hand, "I used her for a breeding experiment with my family's house elf. I got quite a few new house elves out of the deal before the fertility potions caused her to explode."
Harry stared at Sirius, "Is he serious?"
Lily said, "Yeah, they're fairly cute children for half elves."
Harry decided that he should move the conversation away from the horrible mental images of Bellatrix spawning children, "What does everyone do for a living?"
Sirius said, "I own several business and rentals."
James said, "Much the same, we used to be aurors but we quit when the ministry tried to pass some laws that gave the minister way too much control over the people that worked there."
Remus said, "I raise magical creatures for sale, it's about the only thing I'm allowed to do in the magical world."
Lily said, "I write books."
Harry asked, "What type?"
"Potion guides, spell books filled with useful charms and my ever popular muggleborn survival guide. I'll get you a copy."
"How are you so calm about this?"
James said, "We could rant and scream or we can help you complete your mission and we get our son back. If everything goes well he gets a boost to his already impressive magical talents. If it doesn't then we lose our son, I'd rather help you which helps him."
Harry said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not really used to people being willing or able to help. Sirius was willing but not exactly able."
Lily said, "We're family. Speaking of family, you can stop hiding right next to the door Beth."
Beth opened the door, "Okay."
"How much did you hear?"
"My big brother is really my bigger brother from another world only I don't exist because his version of you got killed trusting a rat?"
James chuckled, "Harsh but fair."
Beth asked, "What does your friend look like?"
Harry asked, "Which one?"
"The one you can summon?"
"I'll show you later, I've got to find her some clothes."
Lily said, "I've got a couple of dresses I can alter. We can take care of that as soon as we finish dinner."
