Summary:

Harry, Sirius, and Remus wake up somewhere very different from where they'd last remembered.

Notes:

I was going to hold this chapter back until next week but I have another seven written already for the weekly updates and decided to spoil you lovelies and get the pre-Outbreak plot setup finished. Chapter Two has the Outbreak and Chapter Three is where our favorite Harry collides with the Walking Dead storyline.

Chapter Text

On Whom the Pale Moon Gleams

Chapter One: Strangers in a Strange Land

Harry groaned as he came awake in a tumble of bodies, head thumping and body sore and aching. Nudging and crawling out of the pile up, he cracked his eyes open as the sound of grunts and groans reached his ears, noting that he'd been pinned between Siri and Remy with Siri landing first and taking the brunt of the impact. Once that cleared his mind and he was able to think around the trolls beating on his skull, he jumped to his feet, wobbling a little, and held up the wand still clenched in his bruised hand, searching for the battle and the Death Eaters they'd just been around a few seconds ago as far as he knew.

As his eyes focused on their new surroundings he blinked staring at the tall green trees and the squirrel up on of them at was chattering angrily down at the trio.

"What the fuck…" He gasped, eyes nearly spinning in their sockets in shock as he whirled around to get a better look at where they woke up. "Siri! Remy!" He shouted at the two who after moaning and groaning had snuggled back into each other's arms, the same as they did whenever he would wake them up in their bed at the summer cottage. "Get the fuck up! We have problems!"

The two war veterans came fully awake in an instant at that, springing to their feet and coming to stand back-to-back-to-back with Harry, all three of them with wands out and ready. They'd practiced the move so often with James and then later taught it to Harry that it was like second nature to do so at the code their pup gave. They quickly took in the scene around them as the battle they'd been in before – and the events Remus saw come to pass – flashed through their minds.

Once they'd ascertained they were safe, the elder two wizards turned to their pup and stared him down with calm but serious demeanors.

"Okay, pup." Sirius said blowing out a breath as he sheathed his wand. "I think it's time to share what happened, everything you know, and then we'll do the same, deal?"

Harry nodded, mimicking Siri's movements as he put his holly wand away in the Auror-grade holster on his wrist – a secret gift from his godfathers for his last birthday. The two of them hunkered down on a nearby log while Remus kept watch and paid attention to their conversation, his advanced senses being best suited for standing guard in a strange place. Their godson took a deep breath and began, explaining everything that led to the Department of Mysteries: the visions, the awful Occlumency lessons that had Sirius almost in a fresh rage, Umbridge, Kreacher, the Threstrals, even what Luna said and gave to him before leaving, the Prophecy, everything that he'd not told them that had happened up to their arrival at the Department of Mysteries.

"Okay, let me make sure I understand." Sirius said after he'd risen to his feet and started pacing, muttering under his breath about traitorous House Elves when Harry had gotten to that part. "Snape had tried to teach you to shield you mind using the quick-and-painful method,"

"Likely under Dumbledore's orders." Remus interjected. "Severus is – was –," he corrected himself remembering falling through the Veil. "A good if demanding educator. He would've gone with slow and thorough if he'd been given a choice in the matter. He knows better than anyone just how good Voldemort is at playing with the Mind Arts."

Sirius grumbled but allowed that his mate was right before continuing. "Snape tried to teach you Occlumency but it only made the visions worse. Voldemort found out -," Sirius frowned thinking about all the noise that surrounded Arthur Weasley's snake bite, rightly assuming that was when the Dark Lord started to get suspicious. "And used the link to set a trap with me as fake bait."

"Right." Harry sighed, running one hand through his hair.

"You tried everything you could think of under duress: Flooing, warning Snape, but forgot about the journal or the mirrors."

"I know you guys don't take those outside of your bedroom." Harry admitted, nibbling at his lip. "I didn't want to take the time to go all the way up to Gryffindor Tower, un-ward the box I keep them in to hide them from sneaks." He sneered thinking of Ron and Hermione, and Hermione's rather ironic way of enchanting the DA roster. "When Flooing would be quicker and I was…" he shuffled his feet a bit and blushed. "Panicking." He stared up a Sirius and Remus with big green eyes, unknowingly giving them the worst set of puppy-eyes in history. "I was worried Siri."

Remus and Sirius shared a wordless look as they melted a little bit inside. Their pup was still in trouble for pure recklessness but they couldn't deny his heart was in the right place. And so far it looked like they survived in one piece so…all's well that ends well?

Nah.

He was still going to get the shit pranked out of him once they had whatever-the-fuck-was-going-on figured out.

If nothing else a prank war would help him to learn to think more and react less, like they'd been trying to reinforce the last two years. But a dozen years of ground-in survival instincts and reactions from abuse was hard to overcome. The Headmasters two years of "testing" Harry's abilities hadn't helped their endeavors eithers.

"Fast forward to the Ministry." Sirius said, pinching his nose between his fingers and thumb. He had one hells-of-a-headache which wasn't helping him process what had happened. "Death Eaters, Prophecy, decking Lucy," here he gave a giant smirk. That had felt damned good. "Battle, battle, battle. Bella." He paused, looking down into worried green eyes. "Last thing I remember was that Stunner." He sighed, knowing he wasn't going to like this. "What came next?"

"You fell Siri." Harry whispered, tears gathering in his eyes as he remembered, his godfathers coming to sit next to him and hold him between them like they would when he had nightmares before the Order started keeping him on total lock-down. It was a lot harder to disappear for an entire night when someone was watching you around the clock. "Into the Veil. I couldn't just let you go, I couldn't." He whispered, one hand curled into and holding onto Sirius's shirt with a death grip. "I got to you, grabbed you and held on but…" He looked down, not able to stare into those soft grey eyes anymore as they filled with horrified understanding for the first time.

"You're too heavy Pads." Remus added with a sigh as he linked hands with his mate, keeping one arm wrapped tight around Harry. "And Harry's too fast. I couldn't stop him fast enough from grabbing you and even I'm not strong enough to pull both of you back once the Veil had gotten hold of you. So I…" He sighed and looked away, thinking of a letter he'd gotten just that morning. "I wrapped myself around Harry, buried one of my hands in your belt and held onto both of you for dear life." He growled low, he knew knew just how close he'd come to losing both his mate and his pup. "I wasn't going to lose you both…not again."

"Moons." Sirius whispered, tilting his lover's face up to meet his for-once serious gaze. "Thank you." He let out a shaky breath. "For not leaving us. For not letting us go." Cocking his head, he looked down at a softly crying Harry who had buried his head in his shirt once Remus had picked up where he'd left off. "You said you talked to Xeno's girl before you left?"

"Mhmm." Harry hummed under his breath with a sniffle.

"Pandora." Remus muttered, eyes unfocused. "She's Pandora's girl, Luna, isn't she?"

Sirius furrowed his brow, thinking. Xenophilius was his distant cousin, but then who wasn't related to the Blacks in Wizarding Britain? "Should be." He agreed tracing the lines. "Xeno married a Greek witch he brought back from his travels. He never gave her name but I'm pretty certain Pandora Lovegood was Pandora Delphi before she got married if the Tapestry was right."

Harry looked up confused. He already knew that; Luna had told him. And from knowing Luna he knew the significance.

"Why?" He asked.

Remus answered. "I received a letter this morning." He said meaningfully, looking over at Pads. "One of the things Pandora did before she died was set up a deal with the goblins to send out a few important letters on certain dates." He shrugged. "Neither Voldemort or Dumbledore could get her onside but neither was willing to try and kill her either." He imparted. "Bad things happen to those who try and kill Fate's favored."

"What did the letter say?" Sirius asked, diverted momentarily from the necklace Harry'd been given.

"That before midnight I'd have to make a choice." Remus sighed shaking his head. "To hold on or let go. And that she hoped I'd hold on." He chuckled. "That was Pandora for you, left you in the dark most of the time but for those she liked there was always a warning – and a choice to make."

"Sounds like Luna." Harry agreed. "She said her mother taught her what she could before she died. And that she left her a couple letters and things to give to people at certain times as well."

"Never said any more than that?" Sirius asked.

Harry shrugged, finally letting go of his death-grip on his godfather. "I never wanted to pry. Talking about her mum hurt, no matter how much she pretended otherwise."

"So." Sirius looked around him. "This doesn't look like much of an afterlife." He joked. "What do you think the odds are that the 'Veil of Death' was really a portal somewhere elsewhere or elsewhen?"

"Could be." Remus agreed with a thoughtful hum before tugging the neck of Harry's shirt to one side and tapping a finger against the heavy mithril links resting there. "But before we do anything else, I vote we examine just what a pair of Seers Saw fit to send with us…wherever we are…"

The others agreed, Sirius transfiguring a sturdy table and some cushioned dining chairs for them to use while trying to "crack the code" on the necklace. Once they were situated, Remus as the more medically-inclined of the adults, gave the others a quick going-over to make sure they weren't wounded or cursed. A couple sluggishly-bleeding wounds on Harry's back had been taken care of with the obligatory growls at the scars he had from Vernon – Remus and Sirius were both pissed that they likely weren't going to be able to dish out revenge on that fucking Muggle once Harry was of age – and Pads had the gash on his head wrapped before Remus would let them try and figure out why Pandora had insisted on Harry getting a necklace of all things.

It was a heavy piece, the adult wizards agreed after Harry unclasped it and handed it over for them to see, and handsome in the fashion of a king's or lord's necklace from the Middle Ages. Made of mithril as Remus had smelled, the metal was distinct, and goblin forged and enchanted, none of them could figure out how a Seer who did her best to live a quiet life under the radar had come into possession of it. It wasn't until Harry was rubbing at one of the etched oval links that alternated with diamond-shaped links set with faceted stones that they had an answer – that set off another round of questions.

Harry had gotten a bit of blood on his hands from holding his side during the battle, and with his rubbing some transferred to the mithril necklace.

As the enchanted metal recognized Harry's blood, it glowed gold and silver for a moment before the magic died down, leaving the formerly-obscured markings on the necklace visible and one of the stones had popped open from a hidden hinge, showing a hint of a cavity beneath it.

"Holy fuck." Sirius breathed, his eyes wide. Tapping one finger on the family crest that was now clear on the two "plain" links adjoining the center-most and largest stone. "That's the Peverell Crest." He revealed to the confused pair staring at him. "I recognize it from when I sat in on James's lessons with your grandfather Lord Charlus."

"And…" Harry prompted him. They hadn't gotten into too much of his family history yet, focusing more on the politics and skills he would need to survive the modern Wizarding World. They'd assumed there would be plenty of time to cover his family history once they had him ready to take his place as Lord Potter.

Sirius shook his head in bemusement. The things only the oldest Wizarding Houses knew that others simply didn't never failed to amaze and confuse him. Even Remus, who had a pureblood father, didn't know and the Lupins were an old family in their own rights, if not one of the "Noble" families.

But then…the Lupins came with the Saxons and married into the Roman-lineage wizards and witches of the isles not the old families that had their roots in the pre-Roman Druids and Picts…so no, Remus wouldn't know this either.

"There are seven families that were the oldest of the olde in magical Britain." Sirius lectured both his lover and his pup who paid attention with rapt eyes, both loving when Siri would get into the Olde history of magic and magical origins in Britain. "The Four Founders, the Emrys line that birthed Merlin, the Pendragons who eventually made a treaty with the Roman invaders, and the Peverells." He shook his head. "Even Beadle the Bard used one of their family legends in his compilation of tales. The Tale of the Three Brothers was about three of the Peverells who lived around the same time as the Founding of Hogwarts. Necromancers." He confided. "Who each created an item so powerful that other wizards feared them and later Beedle said they were "gifts" from Death. Only two families in the modern day could trace themselves back to the Peverells: the Gaunts from a bastard line, and the Potters." He smiled at the shock on Harry's face. "Who are descended directly from Ignotus Peverell."

"So…" Harry gestured towards the necklace. "This is really, really old then."

Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes. "That's one way of putting it pup."

"More importantly." Remus pointed out in his quiet way. "How did Pandora get her hands on it? If it's a Peverell heirloom it should have been in either the main Potter Vault or the Peverell Heirloom vault. Not in a box in a schoolgirl's bedroom until Luna gave it to you Harry."

"Seer." Harry shrugged. "I stopped asking questions like that one in Second Year. They know things no one else does and as a result can find things no one else can. That's one of the reasons Luna's things never stayed lost no matter how hard those bitches in her House tried before Nev and I stopped them."

"Point." Remus could accept that reasoning.

"Well." Sirius said, gesturing for Harry to open the hidden cavity in the necklace. "This looks like a Lord's Mantle to me. They were locked to bloodlines and only the Lord was able to open the secret caches they had inside them. Which means it's only safe for you to investigate, pup."

"Okay." Harry took a shaky breath and opened the hinge on the necklace fully. It was the stone that was closest to the left of the latch. Frowning a moment, he asked: "Do the rest of these open too?"

The necklace had a total of over twenty stones and an equal number of alternating mithril ovals, any of which could hide a cache behind them – if they could figure out how to open them.

"Maybe." Sirius told him after studying the necklace a moment more. "The Black necklace that was forged by the goblins had seven or eight caches, this one could have less or more." He shrugged, arching a brow at Harry's stalling. "Only one way to find out."

"Okay, okay." Harry groused good-naturedly, reaching in with his thumb and forefinger to the inky-pocket-of-mystery and hoping the damned thing isn't cursed and snapped his fingers off. Luna was his friend and he trusted her after all…but this was the same girl who thought Acromantulas were "cute".

In some things her judgement was a little…skewed.

He let out a breath in relief when all he found was a shrunken-down trunk the size of a matchbox and with a shrunken scroll attached to it. Setting it in the center of the table and closing the stone, Harry put the necklace back on for safe keeping while Sirius and Remus tested the two items for traps, hexes, and curses before spelling them back to proper size. To their surprise but no one's real shock after the other events of the day/night, the scroll had their names written in an elegant hand just below a wax seal with the imprint of a stylized third eye Harry had seen in his Divination text books on the history of the Oracles of Delphi and their lineage.

Remus reached out and undid the tether holding the scroll to the trunk, breaking the seal with a flick of his wand and setting the opened scroll to hover in the air for them to read. It wasn't too long, but as it hovered, and they read, it extended and duplicated, showing more and more information before their wondering eyes. One of the new scrolls that appeared as they read was titled: Home, another: Studies, and a third simply: Harry.

Puzzled but strangely energized, the trio read the original missive as Remus set the others aside for the moment.

Greetings Lord Potter, Lord and Consort Black:

If you are reading this then things have indeed come to pass as I Saw and my beloved daughter Luna has given Lord Potter his ancestor's necklace as instructed.

I'm so very glad.

You see, there were many futures that I Saw in my last year of life. Many, many futures. Some were vague and ephemeral, others were dark and horrific, and still, a handful of the rest contained joy. I planned for three of the most likely and am rejoicing that you are reading this for this future is the best of the lot that was among the most likely to come to pass.

The future, for all some like to say otherwise, is never set in stone you see.

And someone like me…well…we know that better than anyone.

I won't trouble you with those other futures, for now that you are where you are and reading this, those futures will never come to pass.

But I will thank you from the bottom of my heart Lord Potter for the friend you've been to my Luna and the help you've given her. That friendship was the same in all three of the most likely futures, which is why I've extended my help to you, even if it comes to pass differently in each of the three and at different times. Thanks to you, in this future, my darling girl has a bright future, one free of torture or manipulation. She will have a wonderful, loving husband in Lord Longbottom, and two beautiful sons and a single daughter that they name Lily Hadrianna in your honor.

Your little namesake will have my family's gifts and so our line will continue on.

Do not worry for those left behind on the other side of the Veil. For all that you three are strangers in a strange land, now that they don't have you Lord Potter to pin their hopes on the public will rise up and cast down both Voldemort and Dumbledore. My daughter and Lord Longbottom as well as some others will help reveal the truth behind the lies and Wizarding Britain will recover and renew itself, becoming more and better than it ever was.

And it's all because two roguish rapscallions grew some gonads and disobeyed a certain Headmaster.

You have a grand destiny before you now, and I've given you what help and direction I can to help you on your path. It won't be without hardship. In fact, in a few years you'll be wondering if I'd truly lost my mind when certain things come to pass.

Stay true and strong, read and understand what I have gathered for you, and above all: survive.

A renewal is coming for the world the Veil dropped you in, and no great renewal ever came without hardship as the three of you well know.

Stay the course gentlemen, even the darkest of nights will eventually give way to the dawn.

The Peverell Mantle is spelled to open as things come to pass, the only exception is the center stone and the teardrop stone that hangs from it. Those you should open as soon as you follow the directions in Harry's scroll .

You are in a world without active magical people, though there are some small supernatural things such as a true psychic or two, Voodoo priestesses and native shamans. Nothing like your former home. You'll need to keep your magical abilities close to the chest here, unless you want to wind up in a government lab being experimented on.

Inside the trunk are things to get you started: gold, silver, and other precious stones and metals to sell for currency, a wizarding tent to keep you safe and sheltered until you can follow the "Home" plans, food, clothing to blend in, and more. Much more. Just be cautious and follow the help I've given you.

A Seer can help and guide but I cannot tell you what will happen or what to do. I'm bending the rules beyond recognition as it is. And there will be a price I have to pay for it. But it's one I'm willing to pay to thank the boy who saved my Luna in more ways than even you will ever know.

Thank you Harry.

And blessed be.

Lady Pandora Selene Delphi-Lovegood

P.S. You're in the USA, State of Louisiana, in the National Forest located there. The date is June 12, 2004. You have approximately six years to get ready before the troubles begin. Don't dawdle. Set up the tent and ward the area, get rested, cleaned up and changed, and then apparate to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport to start offloading the gold and silver. Use glamors that match the fake ID's that are in the trunk, you have two more sets of fakes and one that has your real information for when you get settled.

They obeyed what Sirius joked was "The Voice from Beyond."

Waking up the next morning, Remus and Sirius found a quiet Harry pouring over the other three scrolls they'd been left but hadn't opened the night before, breakfast and tea waiting on the small kitchen table inside the tent while Harry had the scrolls and their contents spread out on the massive dining room table.

This Wizarding tent was more lushly appointed than the one Arthur Weasley had used at the World Cup, having a full kitchen and formal dining room, a study, massive library that had stunned them when they were exploring, a common bathroom, two guest rooms, as well as a pair of suites with private bathrooms, one a Lord's suite and the other an Heir's suite. It reminded Harry of the mini-Manor the Malfoys had taken to the Cup but on the outside it looked like a wooden cabin, not the mini-Manor it was inside. The kitchen had been stocked, the preservation charms still working in full-force, though none of them had been up to cooking once the adrenaline wore off and they'd cleaned up before crashing into bed.

Harry had obviously woken first, being an early riser by necessity when he was with the Dursleys and by habit once he'd started Hogwarts.

In this case it worked in his favor as the contents of the "Harry" scroll had most definitely been for his eyes only. If Siri and Remy knew… He shook his head, laughing internally at the thought. It was better they didn't know. Remus could be a stubborn mule, let them find out from experience and he'd not fight it…as hard.

He was looking forward to the day when Siri started to wake up nauseous every morning.

Honestly.

They were grown men and supposed to be responsible…at least Remus.

Having Siri be up the duff on accident was nothing less than they had coming for forgetting to use their contraceptive charms. They'd even given Harry "The Talk" this last summer so it wasn't like it wasn't on their minds. Maybe they thought Remus couldn't have kids or something because of it never happening before… He shrugged, wasn't his problem…and he was kinda looking forward to being a big brother.

"What's the story pup?" Sirius asked after he and Remus sat down and started in on filling their bellies.

"We need to do Harry's healing and correction potions and spells before we do anything else." Remus decreed before Harry could begin. "I didn't like the sound of that renewal Pandora wrote about…we all need to get into peak condition and stay that way." His amber eyes glowed a moment. "We have to be ready. She said six years but she admitted herself that things can change as choices and decisions are made."

"Agreed." Harry said with a sigh. He was looking forward to not being so small and stringy anymore…but even Siri had to admit that some of the correction potions weren't fun after having to take them himself after Azkaban and his own family-induced abuse from his childhood. "I looked through the scrolls and dug around some in the trunk." He swung a hand between the two. "She gave us a fortune – or that was what I thought." He held up the scroll with his name but didn't hand it over due to some of the contents. "It's ours." He finished helpless to understand how it had happened.

"What do you mean, Prongslet?"

"It's ours." He flicked a finger between himself and Sirius. "The total contents of our vaults are contained in that trunk with some of it hidden in the Peverell Mantle. Somehow," he gave them a confused look. "She convinced the goblins to empty the whole of mine and Siri's belongings in the bank into the trunk and Mantle except for a certain amount to supply different contingencies." His voice sped up as he rushed to tell them both what Pandora wrote – and what he'd discern for himself. "If things had gone another way, I would've had just enough to get through school and maybe a year or two after." His voice broke a little. "Unless Siri died…then there would be Grimmauld Place and a little more, maybe enough for me to work and an inheritance for my possible kids…but not the entirety of the Potter/Black wealth…not by a long shot." He looked lost for a moment, Sirius and Remus leaving their plates to cuddle him for a long while before he shooed them back to their breakfast. "I'm fine…" He insisted. "It didn't turn out that way so…I'm fine. And," he gave a bright smile. "We're wealthy beyond what we can spend in a hundred lifetimes. We just have to convert it into American dollars instead of gold and silver."

"We can do that." Remus nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "One of my very short-lived jobs was working for a muggle gold dealer." He shook his head. "I'm not sure how to find one in the States but I've worked a computer before. And pawn brokers are easy to find in any city." He grimaced. "We won't get as much that way but it'll be enough to set us up while I find a reputable dealer to sell a portion of the gold."

"If things really do go to hell." Sirius cautioned the others. "We'll want to have most of the gold and silver on-hand. If this is as bad as Pandora made it sound – and my instincts are screaming at me – governments will collapse and paper money won't be worth anything except to start a fire. We'll need to be careful." His grey eyes were focused elsewhere as he held his warm tea mug between his long fingered hands. "Exchange what we need for the next five or six years – and only that much."

"You're right." Remus sighed, leaning back in his chair. "But it's hard to say how much that'll be. Especially if the pup wants to go and get an education for the world goes to hell."

Harry held up his hands in a stopping gesture before the two of them could delve too deeply into that rather convoluted and thorny subject.

"We're not totally lost." He handed over the "Home" scroll as Remus sent the dishes to wash themselves with a wave of his wand and Sirius poured them all some more tea. "Here." He laid out the instructions and plans. "Two states away – apparently," he drawled, none of them being too terribly familiar with the geography of the southeastern US. "Pandora says is a plot of land that's two square miles large for sale." He tapped the topographic map that the Seer had included, the edges of the property highlighted. "I guess it used to be some kind of protected wildland but the state government is having a budget crises and is trying to sell it – with little effect."

"Why?" That didn't make any sense to Remus from what he knew about the States. "Untouched wildland is like gold nowadays."

"And it would be." Harry nodded, rolling his eyes a moment at the stupidity of people. "If not for the wildland being triangular and wedged between another protected national forest and a prison complex. He gestured to the other highlighted spot on the map. "The national forest surrounds the land on the west and north with the prison land bordering the southern edge. The only free access point to build a road onto the land is where it comes to a point between the forest and the prison to the east. No one wants it." He said with some relish. "No developer wants to build that close to a prison and part of the contract is not logging more than ten percent of the land per the regulations of bordering protected national lands. It's a white elephant no one wants to touch."

"But perfect." Sirius barked a laugh. "When you're talking about a former convict, a werewolf, and three wizards."

"Right." Harry nodded with an eager smile. "Set up the wards Pandora mentions and multiple layers of fencing and access gates and we'll be safe from any mundane threat. We'll just have to find a reputable company to do the build."

The three hunched over the topographic map, discussing fencing possibilities and what type of house they'd like to have – the bones of it anyway. Mundane contractors would do the heavy lifting while they took care of any magical expansion needs. In the end, Remus and Sirius set off to start selling the bulk of the gold for the land, hitting pawn shops first and then a gold broker Remus found using an internet café while Sirius discovered the wonders of the internet and caramel lattes for himself. Harry stayed behind to do more research on security fencing and house layouts, referring frequently to the basic blueprint Pandora had included in the "Home" plans.

It was a massive place, a half-manor and half-fortress. Pandora recommended, and Harry's research backed up, having two levels underground and three above all made of stone. The below-ground levels would include a secured cell for Moony – just in case – and a potions lab and ingredient storage as some could be made with plants and animal parts in their new home while others he'd found in both the tent and the trunk. Also in the basement would be massive amounts of food and item storage areas with preservations charms, and a dueling and magical workroom.

Harry had taken Pandora's warning to heart, anything in-your-face-magical would be in the bottom-most underground level with the one above it mostly storage.

In the upper levels they would have a kitchen/dining room/bathroom/library/common area floor, followed by the second floor with more bedrooms, bathrooms, and a secondary common area/living room. The top floor would have three sets of suites: one for Pads and Moony, one for Harry, and another for the kids Pads and Moony didn't yet know about. All three of the suites were more like self-contained apartments with at least two bedrooms, a study or common area, and a private bath. And if need be since it was a private floor they could always be magically expanded.

He had even more fun with the grounds.

Off the back of the house would be a massive glasshouse/orangery which would grow everything from potions ingredient to food and was just as large square-footage wise as the entire home. He added a barn, stables, animal pens, an orchard and farm land, as well as a couple of smaller cabins. If anyone asked they would say they were for the "farm workers" since they couldn't very well tell them that they were going to use magic for the farm chores and planning on just-in-case the world ended…or something Pandora had been frustratingly vague. All he knew was that it was going to be bad and Pandora wouldn't have included the plans for the smaller homes unless they would be needed.

Basically what they were going to end up building was their own self-contained village, eerily reminiscent of the Potter Estate back in England that Pads and Moony had taken him to the summer between Third and Fourth Year.

Harry estimated that by the time everything was built – and without taking down much of the surrounding forest beyond needing clear line-of-sight and farm land – that they would be able to house over a hundred people…and that was before you added magic into the mix.

Honestly, the new "manor" would be able to house that on its own – or more – once you added magic, never mind the dozen or so smaller homes they were going to build that were all between one and four bedrooms each.

Each of which could be expanded to four times its size inside before causing problems.

Harry sat back, flushed with success at having finished plotting out their new home with help from the spells in the book Pandora had suggested he find in the tent library. In the end he had the manor, glasshouse, barn, stables, tool shed, garage for the main "estate" which was then enclosed in an eight-foot-high stone wall with a single gate made of solid steel – goblin forged though the workers would never see it. Inside that first wall would also be a pair of gardens mainly for animal feed and grain. Between the estate wall and the next fence line would be the dozen houses, the orchard, and several more gardens and fields for animals and crops. Then there would be another stone wall, again eight feet tall with a gate made of reinforced mundane steel. After that was open land for five hundred yards in all directions that they could graze animals on if needed before there was a third fence right before the forest line. This fence would be made out of reinforced steel eight feet high with a honeycomb pattern similar to chicken wire – but much much stronger and another reinforced steel gate. From there would be a series of four fences, each six feet high and made out of reinforced steel that would let wildlife travel freely through the forest lands – but would stymie most people, and all with a single gate.

The beauty of the seven fences and their corresponding gates was that the road that connected the gates wasn't a straight line.

So, if someone, say with a tank, broke through the first gate there was only a space of ten feet between that fence and the next – enough time for a small car, motorcycle, horse, or person on foot to maneuver but not for anything larger to turn and make it to the next gate leaving them with the option of either giving up or breaking through the fencing which with the reinforced steel and the wards the trio of wizards would use the steel to anchor was about as likely as Dumbledore giving up lemon drops or manipulating everyone around him.

The longest distance between the fences was the five hundred yards between the outer stone wall and the third fence.

Azkaban would be easier to break into – or as Siri had proven out of – than their home would be by the time Harry and his godfathers were finished. And Harry found after years of living with the threat of Voldemort and the Death Eaters over his head that that was exactly the way he liked it. He'd designed a fortress, with some suggestions from the late Pandora, and he'd never felt better.

Siri was free. So was he, and Remus would never have to worry about finding a job or being caged because of a disease he can't control. Harry smiled down at the plans he'd sketched out with the tools the trunk and tent provided.

Life was finally good.

Things were a beehive of activity for the trio of wizards as they got the foundation laid for the rest of their lives in Georgia.

Remus had decided after that first trip and seeing the suspicious nature of the pawn shop owners and the gold dealers that he wanted to conduct that first step a little farther afield than two states from their eventual home – and that he and Siri worked better together rather than split up after one brawl on the part of his mercurial other half.

With help from a book on scrying from the tent library and a map of the states and a crystal from the trunk, Remus would find several new sets of coordinates and set off to sell silver, the two adults knowing that it would raise less eyebrows than the gold did after that first day. Sirius handled the bags filled with the precious metals after donning gloves and transfiguring the sickles into plain bars and ingots. But silver was worth a lot less than gold and even with all the coins in the vaults transfigured, by the time a week was out they were forced to start in on the gold, Harry and Remus knowing more about mundane practices and building – and with Harry being dropped off in Atlanta before they set off to sell to do research – and deciding that they were going to need tens of millions of dollars US to make their plans feasible.

Fortunately, while selling the metals was a pain, both the Potters and Blacks had been filthy rich and even once they'd sold all they needed to see them through the next ten years – deciding to go a little above and beyond rather than risk running short – they still had piles and piles of gold left over.

With the papers provided by the goblins via Pandora, they were set up in new identities – and bank accounts that they filled with cash from their flooding of the precious metals markets.

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin became Sirius and Remus Black thanks to a fictitious marriage in New York State and the license provided by the goblins.

And Harry happily left being the Boy-Who-Lived in their old world, taking the name Hadrian James Black who was the son Sirius and adopted after his dad's marriage by Remus.

They moved from the forest in Louisiana to a penthouse hotel suite in Atlanta while their home was built, Sirius easily playing the eccentric English Lord with more money than sense to the Southerners who did the building. All three of them would pile into Remus's new car – a massive diesel truck that seated six between two bench seats and could easily haul several tons…and that was before they tinkered with it… - and would set off to check the project and hammer a few nails in their new home-to-be. Sirius went up more often, riding his new motorcycle that he enchanted for stealth, flying, and invisibility, while Remus would corner Harry at the penthouse and set him to his studies.

That was one thing Harry wasn't quite as happy about.

Beyond the rest of the plans, advice, and flat-out orders their nosy Seer had left them was a study plan for all three of them. Things that while all of them could agree would help them survive any situation, Harry wasn't thrilled with as the bulk of it was necessary for him. Sirius and Remus were already skilled with things like weapons, first aid, and survivalism from Sirius's childhood lessons and Auror training…and what one Marauder knew so did the others…mostly.

One thing he was happy with was the continuance of his magical studies…just with more emphasis on necessary knowledge rather than things that would be of use to pass a test.

Skills like the Animagus transformation and Conjuration were a lot more useful than how to make a pineapple tap-dance.

And with a lack of magical creatures, knowing how to hunt elk with a bow made more sense than how to take care of a niffler.

Though his dads did have some things to learn of their own, like how to tend fields – with and without magic – and take care of and maintain livestock. Sirius knew a lot of theory from his father's lessons on estate management but that was only theory. An idle conversation between the construction foreman and Remus had the two of them signing Harry up for 4-H and saw them tagging along as they learned about agriculture and sustainability. They got a couple of looks for being wealthy and homeschooling Harry, most "rich folk" in the States apparently relied heavily on private schools over private tutoring, but for the most part they left it be after a quick explanation of not wanting him to get comfortable in a school only to have to transfer once their home was finished.

And a year after landing in Louisiana, it was exactly that finished.

Sirius had hired several constructions crews that all worked together simultaneously to make the estate viable. There was still a lot of finish work going on in the "Farm Hand" cabins as the guys had called them after seeing the plans, but the "Big House" was move-in ready. Several of the guys were even interested in moving and settling into the new complex that the rich English Lord had made, an option that Remus and Sirius were heavily discussing between themselves and Harry. It was mostly single guys who were interested, the kind who took to construction because it paid well enough to support them but who weren't 100% sold yet on settling down and starting a family. To them, living out in the woods with a strange rich family and helping them work the land seemed like a pretty good deal.

In the meantime, Harry's healing had gone well, the formerly tiny teen shooting up over a foot in height in a matter of weeks and bulking out considerably. He was still lithe, but now he had a swimmer's build instead of muscle-and-bone. When as best as they could figure his seventeenth birthday had come and gone a year later – complete with a light show in the magical area hidden in the second basement – Remus and Sirius fixed his eyes.

And he'd been right.

Remus's face when Sirius turned up preggers a month after they moved into their new home was priceless.

Pandora provided healing texts along with the massive library, and Harry having known about Siri's eventual condition absorbed them with a fervor.

His little brother – named Rastaban Lionel Black – was delivered safe and sound by his older brother then three months later Harry left for college, pre-med.

No one could say that years of intense tutoring and undivided attention from his dads had gone to waste – he tore through college in two years before starting at medical school in Atlanta.

They'd all spent their time wisely, they'd prepared and stocked up, after the birth of Raz and then his younger sister Jamie Carina a year later, they'd taken on a handful of good men vetted via Veritaserum and bound under blood Oaths to keep their secrets and work the land.

And then, two weeks after Harry returned from his first year at medical school, the Dead began to Walk.

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All Credit is Due to: Sifsshadowheart