52Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Harry POV
At first he had been confused when Remus told him the cottage they apparated to was his, then he was angry. How dare the headmaster keep this from him. How dare he keep all of this from him, it wasn't about the houses or the money. It was the photos, heirlooms, the information. Things that connected him to his parents and the world they were part of. Harry know it was about control. Dumbledore had done everything he could to force Harry to rely on him. He kept him ignorant about his magic and heritage. The headmaster had kept him away from the people that would have taught him, cared about him, and he had bound him, all so that Harry knew no better than to seek out and depend on the headmaster.
"Cub?" Remus's voice pulled him out of his head and away from the building anger. He blinked and turned his head to look at the man. "You okay?"
Harry shook his head, "No, but I will be."
He looked back at the cottage. It really was beautiful and the flowers and plants he could see popping up along the front yard, not to mention the greenhouse he could see on the side, would have been enough to make Neville swoon. He smiled, his mother had great taste.
"Come let's get inside," Remus said in a soft voice. He let Remus lead him into the house.
When they entered the living room he froze. Sitting on the couch were Bill and Charlie. The twins on the right whispering to each other. He had been expecting Draco, George, and Fred, maybe Snape if the man had wanted to stay, but not the other two Weasleys. He tried to ignore the fear that he felt coming. The twins wouldn't have brought their brothers here if they didn't trust them, he told himself.
"Harry." His head snapped to Fred, who was slowly moving towards him. "It's okay. We questioned them under veritaserum, they didn't know what Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore, were doing." Harry let out a breath.
"Sorry," he muttered to the two older Weasleys.
"Don't be," Charlie said. "If we were you, we'd be cautious too." The dragon tamer gave him a smile and Harry felt himself return it.
"Where's Draco?" He asked, feeling the urge to be near his mate.
He tried not to blush when the twins' face both broke out into huge grins.
"He wanted to come here-" George started
"But Severus took him-
"Somewhere first-
"They'll be back-
"Soon," they finished together.
It hit him then. He was home. He was finally home. They had done it.
He looked at the people in the room, these weren't the liars and fakes, these were the ones that he could count on and trust. He may have lost Ron and Hermione, but he had gained Draco. Who more than made up for the horrible people he believed to be his closest friends. He moved towards the couch, opposite the one Bill and Charlie were seated. It was only as he dropped himself down onto the soft cushions he realised someone was missing.
He turned and looked over the back of the couch at Remus. "Where's padfoot?"
The werewolf smiled at him but before he could say anything they heard the door open.
"Stupid fucking…" He heard Draco curse but his attention was elsewhere. It was on the large black mass that had shot into the room, jumped over the couch and tackled him. He was too busy laughing to snap at his godfather for licking his face.
"Thought you found that disgusting," he heard Draco say as the blonde came around the couch and into Harry's line of sight. Harry just grinned and buried his face into the fur around Sirius's neck.
"Perfect timing," the twins said with a dramatic sigh. Harry heard more than one person laugh.
There was a few minutes of him hugging and petting his godfather before Remus walked over and grabbed the Grim by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off.
"Okay, enough of that," the sandy haired man said shaking the animal. There was a whine and then Padfoot was gone and Sirius was standing there, Remus's hand still on his neck. Harry laughed at the sheepish look the black haired man sent to his friend.
"I missed you guys," he said grinning at them.
"We missed you too," Remus said.
"You had us worried," Sirius almost spoke over his friend, "don't ever do that again," they finished in a twin like moment.
Harry chuckled, "I can't guarantee that."
"But you'll try," Sirius command.
Harry could see how worried his godfather was, so he nodded, "I'll try."
The room fell silent. No one seemed to want to broach the next subject, even if it was on their minds.
"What happens now?" Draco asked a short time later, moving to sit next to Harry.
It seemed everyone looked at someone else, the whole room was begging someone else to go first. Harry sighed, but it was Bill that spoke first.
"Well you two have been missing for a little over two months. People are suspicious. The Prophet has released a couple of stories asking about what the two of you have been up too and why you both disappeared on family emergencies at the same time, but the stories the headmaster and Lucius Malfoy have released are keeping most of the conspiracy theories at bay."
"For now," the twins said in sync.
"The stories will only get worse when you return at the same time," Remus said.
Harry turned his head and looked at Draco. The blonde looked contemplative.
"What if we have a cover story?" The slytherin asked looking at Remus.
"What kind of cover story?" Fred asked, eyebrow raised.
"Kidnapping," Draco said with a small smirk. "The headmaster doesn't know the truth, if we can come up with a good enough story we may be able to get him to believe it as well. That means he won't be suspicious of you" he looked at Harry, "or me. Plus it will give us time to figure out his plans and work around them."
Harry thought it sounded like a good idea. If they could manage to keep the headmaster from figure out he knew the truth, the old man would never suspect Harry of working against him. Which was good. However…
"What about the bindings?" he asked, "or…" He stopped and looked from Remus to Draco. Remus was the only one in the room knew that him and Draco were mates. The younger version had said his scent had changed and when he removed the glamours, which for some reason him and Draco still wore, it would get more pronounced.
The wolf smiled at him. "We can hide the broken bindings with a spell, as long as you act like he expects you should be fine." He seemed to hesitate for a second, his eyes darting from Harry to Draco before he grinned happily, "As for anything creature related," Draco snorted behind him, "the glamours you wear can be altered to hide that."
"Creature?" Several voices asked at once. Harry blushed and dropped his head.
"Harry came into his inheritance over the summer," Remus told the room.
"Awww," the twins said dramatically, rushing over from where they had been standing by their brothers and wrapped their arms around him.
"What kind?" Fred asked, excitedly.
He wiggled a little seeing if he could get out of the twins arms but they didn't seem to want to let him go, he sighed. "The book my father had called us the Descendants of Bastet. From what I was able to learn, we are fast and great reflexes," he chuckled. "Which is probably why I'm so good at Quidditch. There was something about our family once having an animal form, but it seemed the last few generations haven't been able to, but those who had were immune to most magics in that form. Kinda cool," he finished.
"Awesome."
"Sweet."
He grinned happy that the twins both seemed excited about it.
"As interesting as this is," a cold voice said, causing everyone in the room to look back towards the entrance of the room. "We should be making plans." Snape stood there, looking only slightly irritated.
Harry saw the annoyed look on his godfathers face, he winced thinking about the impending argument between the two.
Instead he was surprised when Sirius stood and spoke calmly, "we are going to come with cover story about them being kidnapped. It would explain their disappearance and reappearance at the same time. Added bonus of keeping the old coot in the dark about what we know. Remus is going to work a way to alter the boys' glamours to hide the lack of bindings and Harry's inheritance." Harry saw Snape's eyebrows raise in surprise, probably from the lack of venom in Sirius's voice. Sirius looked at Harry and Draco a glint in his eyes, Harry felt a small wave of worry about what else the man was planning. "The kidnapping also gives these two an excuse to start a friendship. The experience of being taken and held together for two months would give anyone time to get over childish rivalries ." Everyone chuckled, expect Snape who gave a small snort.
"How did you become friends?" a quiet voice asked. Somehow Harry had missed the olive skinned slytherin standing just off to the side of the Potions Master.
"Blaise right?" Harry asked. The other boy nodded. Harry stood up and walked over, sticking his hand out. Blaise looked surprised but took his hand.
"I think we became friends at first because we only had each other there," Harry said, he dropped the other boys hand and gestured with his head towards the couches. As they walked over and sat down, Harry kept talking. "Then I realized Draco wasn't who I thought he was. He wasn't cold hearted, or cruel. In fact, he was understanding and patient," Draco shot him a glare, Harry just smirked at him, "and without outside pressure we were able to talk and get to know each other."
"Can you tell us what happened pup?" Sirius asked. Harry looked up at his godfather. He took the man in. The messy black hair, dark shadows under pink irritated eyes, and the light pale tone of his skin. He felt guilty knowing that some of that was because of the worry over him, but he also felt angry because some of it was left over from Azkaban and seeing Sirius know after having seen him young, healthy, and happy, made him want to make the headmaster pay.
He let his eyes drift over Snape and Remus too. He compared them to the younger versions he had spent the last few months around and he didn't like what he saw. Both men looked worn out; the years and long war hadn't been good for either of them.
Remus, who had been left alone after his best friends had either been killed or imprisoned. Seemed to have lost himself in his grief and werewolf curse. It had caused the kind hearted and caring sandy haired teen they had meet to become unsure and reserved.
Snape, who had became Severus during his whispered lectures in potions had become standoffish and angry. He went from the young man that had offered Harry his hand when they had collided in a hallway to someone who almost never offered help, even to the students he taught.
The changes caused Harry's chest to hurt and he leaned back, subconsciously moving towards Draco for comfort. He felt Draco's arms wrap around his waist and then he was pulled close against the blonde. He closed his eyes. He wasn't sure he wanted to see the faces on those around him at the moment. He did hear a couple whispers but no one shouted or yelled so that was a good sign.
"We ended up back in your 6th year," Draco said from behind him. "The goblins helped up fake documents and hide our appearances so that we could attend Hogwarts." Harry shifted and tried to bury his face into the blondes chest. He heard a chuckle from someone but ignored it.
"Why go at all?" Blaise asked.
"We had no choice," Draco replied. "The goblins knew about time travel, or at least that it was possible, but they didn't know how to send us back. Our best chance at finding the information we needed was at Hogwarts."
"That must have been weird." Because he wasn't looking at them he couldn't tell which twin had made the comment but he snorted at it anyways. So did Draco.
"Oh yeah, seeing my father young and less intense was strange, but it was-" The blonde sounded amused and Harry got the feeling he was about to say something inappropriate, he blindly reached up his hand and tried to cover the blondes mouth. He hit a cheek first, which got an annoyed sound from Draco before he slid his hand over and covered his mouth.
"Be nice," Harry muttered into the blonde's chest. He heard and felt the breath the blonde took. Then a wet tongue darted out and licked his hand. It startled him enough that he jumped up and glared at the blonde. Who just smirked at him.
"Fine, say whatever you want," Harry said, "but when Snape turns you into potions ingredients it's your own fault." Draco narrowed his eyes at him then looked over Harry's shoulder.
The blonde made unhappy face and muttered, "Whatever."
Harry laughed at his mate's pouting.
"Harry?"
He turned and looked at the twins. Fred had a sad look on his face while George avoided his eyes. It was Fred that spoke or more whispered like he was afraid to ask the question, "Did you get to meet your parents?"
Harry sucked in a breath. The question surprised him when it really shouldn't have. He nodded his head, "Yeah."
Then he smiled, because while it hurt that they were gone. He had gotten to meet them. He knew the sound of his father's voice and mother's laugh. He knew his father favored strawberry jam on his toast while his mom seemed partial to butter. He knew how kind his mother was and that his father had a habit of falling asleep in History of magic. The twins saw his smile and grinned back at him. Looking relieved that he had happy memories.
"Tell us about them?" they said together.
"My mom-" He was caught off by Remus gasping and stumbling forward. Sirius and Severus both reaching for him. Harry was out of Draco's arms and off the couch in a blink of an eye.
"Remus?" He whispered. The wolf raised his head up, eyes wide and amber.
"Evan," the man whispered, his gaze shifting to Draco, "and Luke." He sounded stunned, "I remember." Then Harry was wrapped in the man's arms and held tight enough he thought his ribs might crack.
"What do you mean you remember?" Draco asked from the couch, "How'd could you have forgotten?" Harry pulled away and looked back at his mate, who sounded angry. Then back at Remus, had the man forgotten them? That didn't seem right, he reacted like he knew things that the younger Remus knew. Like his happy grin when Harry almost mentioned him and Draco being mates? But wait, didn't the wolf hesitated before he said anything?
"Your father," the wolf said looking at the blonde, "he was worried we would give into the temptation to change things-"
"Bastard," Snape snapped suddenly. "He made me brew a memory potion. It would have altered their memories. He wouldn't tell me why, but said someday it would make sense. He knew who you were?" The dark haired potion master was glaring at his godson, who just gave a short nod.
"It just wore off?' Harry asked Remus, ignoring the two slytherins. Confused, but not overly worried, it didn't matter if Remus didn't remember anything before, he cleary did now. He saw the sandy haired man nod. "Well, that's goo-" He stopped, "Wait, does that mean it wore off for Mister Malfoy too?" He saw Remus's eyes widen and they both looked over at Snape for an answer.
The man seemed to think about it for a second. Then he sighed, "Probably. I should go speak with him." He went to walk away but Draco shouting,"Wait!" caused him to stop.
"I want to go with you." The blonde jumped off the couch and started to his godfather, who was shaking his head.
"Why not?" Draco asked.
"We can't take the risk of someone seeing you before, your and Potter's miraculous rescue." Snape said.
"Oh," Draco muttered, and Harry moved to stand next to his mate.
"What about a letter?" he asked the potions professor. "Something just to let his father know he is home and okay." Snape nodded his approval and Draco darted across the room towards a desk Harry hadn't noticed before. He tried not to chuckle at the blonde.
Wanting to give Draco a moment to write his letter Harry turned back to his friends and started telling them about his parents and some of the things he had learned while in the past. At some point Draco joined him on the couch and joined in. No one commented when they cuddled close together as they talked nor when they fell asleep in each other's arms.