Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Obviously not mine, never will be. Ownership belongs to her ladyship JK Rowling_

* * *

The Moirai Project

"Sister's, it is no use, we need to do something," Atropos, called from the other side of the room, staring intently at the destruction she had tried time and again to prevent.

"We can't," Clotho told her abruptly, "you know the rules."

"The rules are to not get involved unless in dire circumstances, I believe this to be dire," Atropos declared stubbornly.

"We are to guide the threads, not manipulate them," Clotho glared at her sister dangerously.

"All of our work has already gone, all of our other universes are in shambles, we have but three left. Can you not smell the scent of destruction?" Atropos was the oldest, but Clotho was stubborn and considered herself always in the right, plus she was a stickler for the rules.

"I can sister, but what are we to do?" Lachesis asked, being the middle child, she was always coming between her sisters arguments, trying to bring peace between the three of them. She never usually took sides, but she could since the destruction around her without looking towards the shambles of their tapestries, the frays in the tapestry of life they had woven. Ends of the frays continued to burn, causing more destruction in its wake. The world they had lived for and worked so hard to develop would come to an end if they did nothing about it.

"We have two times that we could potentially save, we start with the oldest one, if that fails, we have the last one to fall back on." Atropos stated with certainty, we need to warriors, clever ones, that will prevent the Worlds from destruction."

"We must not mess with the strands of time!" Clotho was furious, how could her sisters be so stupid? The first thing they were taught when they were given this job was not to mess, not to meddle. Guide the strands to their rightful places and when they are finished, sever them.

"We have no choice! There will be nothing left for us to guide." Atropos couldn't believe the stupidity of her sister, the woman was so unmoving, so unbending. "We wouldn't have had to meddle if you hadn't allowed Hermes in here in the first place. We warned you he would be up to something after coming up from taking Persephone from Hades and we were right. Hades loves Persephone, he would never give her up without a fight or something in return," Atropos told her sister, causing the youngest to look down in shame. "

Lachesis stared at her sisters, she didn't know Hermes had been up here, he wasn't supposed to come anywhere near them, let alone their room of tapestries. "You let Hermes up here?" She snarled at her sister, "you let him up here after he had just got Persephone back from Hades? How could you be so stupid! It all makes sense now, why everything went so wrong, Merope's obsession with Tom Riddle, Dumbledore's idiocy, the horcrux attached to Harry, Severus dying," Lachesis shook her head, "I wondered why Hades wasn't overly upset when he lost Persephone for half a year, he's got his own back hasn't he? He get's more souls in the Underworld now than he could ever dream of having."

"There's no point ranting now Lachesis," Atropos told her sister sternly, she could see Clotho was close to tears, something that didn't happen often, "We need to figure out what we need to do to prevent our worlds from ending, once we have one strong one, we can build others from it."

Clotho, seeing that she had no choice in the matter, began helping her sisters. She had a lot to make up for apparently.

* * *

"You're sure those two are appropriate?" Atropos frowned at their plan, she wasn't a hundred percent sure it was a good one, they had chosen her favourite men, but they weren't exactly the most compatible of beings.

"They are the strongest wizards - that aren't corrupt - of their times." Lachesis was sure that the plan would work, that these two wizards were the best. The others available were not suitable, they were too corrupt, too weak or too easily manipulated.

"They are the strongest, but they have never got on, in any timeline that has been created. How will we get them to work together?" Clotho frowned down at the tapestry as Atropos questioned every bit of their plan. There was something she was missing. "He has the mark, he gets the mark in all timelines, he will be beholding to the creature." Something… something they could do… "Not even we know how to get rid of the mark, he would have it on him forever. Hermes made sure of that when he decided to interfere with tapestries."

As though she had been blessed by Athena herself, the idea came to Clotho. "What if we take him from when he hasn't received the mark? If we could get him early enough he wouldn't be too cynical, he would probably be open to the idea of giving the son of his enemy a chance."

"But he won't be as experienced! He won't know what the war is like fully. He'll expect so many to be alive. It will be a major shock to him," Atropos told them timidly, she liked the plan, but this man, him being so young... It didn't settle well with her.

Clotho was nothing but determined, "He will be well looked after. At this stage he had most of his potions experience and defence. He is only missing world experience, his knowledge is fresh not to mention he is quite the powerful wizard. What he fails in the other will make up for," she told them determinedly.

"What stage is our earliest tapestry at? Could we take him from where he is?" Lachesis asked, biting her nails in anxiety, a habit she had stopped a few thousand years ago was creeping up on her again.

Atropos stared at her sisters before quickly turning to the tapestry. "He's nineteen at the moment, just finishing his potions mastery."

"We need to get him out of there quickly then," Clotho told them, her brow furrowing. "We can't provide for them though, they need to provide for themselves somehow."

Lachesis rolled her eyes at her sister, "his grandfather had given him quite the few gold galleons, get him to sell them to a muggle jewellery store."

"The wizards have made it so the coins can't be sold Lachesis, you know that, otherwise the Weasleys would be well off," Clotho frowned at her sister.

"You can't sell the coins, no. But the mortals have their little melting pots and stuff, get him to melt them down, they won't be coins then, the enchantments should wear off and he trade them in. Preferably at a few different stores, we don't want him to draw suspicion." Lachesis looked at her sisters, sometimes they really could be dim for beings that had lived for such a long time.

"And we are definitely taking him from the future?" Clotho asked, she didn't want to remove the strand unless she was certain it was the right thing to do.

"Yes, he will know what he has to save, know what he's working for and not to mention have lots of experience in these matters. Matters that our potions master will have no idea of." Atropos knew this part of the plan was the best by far, "he has been through much and knows what has to be done, what will save them. He will be happy for a small reprieve and thankful that he has more time to achieve his goal. Not to mention he is extremely powerful."

"What if they do not succeed?" Clotho didn't want to ask this question, but saw no other willing to ask, she didn't want it overlooked after all.

"Then that timeline disappears and we hope that we can weave the two of them into the final one. We will interfere if necessary and pull them out before either dies, but I doubt it will come to that." Atropos sounded confident in their plan now, it seemed solid.

"What of their reward? They need something for what they have done," Clotho asked, she really did care about these beings and all they would go through, all one of them had been through.

"How about we talk to Bonifatius, see what he says to granting our two heroes God statuses?" Lachesis asked, "I'm sure if Aphrodite can be made a Goddess just for being beautiful, these two can be made Gods for all that they have and will do."

"We can try," Clothio nodded her head, "I'll go now, while you two work on our men, I'll be back in time to place them."

"Be swift, we have work to do, I'll look after the other, make sure he clears out his vaults. They will probably need more than one type of money, and the books he will be able to lay his ands on will be more than a little bit useful." Lachesis smiled to herself as her sisters began to work, the worlds she had made, had come to adore, were going to be saved. Two of her favourite men were going to see to it.


	2. Chapter 2

Severus hung his head, inhaling deeply as he prepared to knock on his grandfathers door and get thrown into a life he wasn't ready for, that he would never be ready for. Exhaling, he knocked on the door to the ridiculously huge manor before being bowed in by one of the many house elves that kept the house in top shape.

Following the creature, Mipsy, if he remembered correctly, into his Grandfather's study, Severus wished there would be a way out of his doom. "Ah Severus, come, sit." Of course, Severus' luck never really was all that good. "I trust you bring good news."

Severus put on a proud smirk as he looked at the man who had paid for his mastery. "I have finally completed my mastery Grandfather," he announced to the old man, "I receive my diploma tomorrow to make it official."

Septimus Prince's face lit up at the news. "My boy that is brilliant. I have to admit myself unsure when you told me how quick you could complete it, you have proven me quite wrong, I am proud of you." Severus blushed and looked at the floor. "The Dark Lord will be very pleased with you, he was prepared to wait another six months. You, my son, will be valued above all others. You will rise in the ranks quickly, you will earn the power and respect that this family lost when your mother married that muggle." Septimus' face twisted itself into an awful sneer that could sour milk.

There was a very different type of red darkening Severus' features at these words. Pure anger seared through his veins. He knew it was coming, it was why he held off completing his mastery for so long, but it didn't make the blow any easier. "Grandfather, I am nervous." He admitted to the old man, hoping that he would be allowed to wait a small while to before taking the mark, allowing him time to think of a way around it.

"As you should be son," Severus cringed at the endearment, "you will be around others that have purer blood than yourself, others who will look down at you. But you will prove your worth, prove yourself to the Dark Lord and the others will follow."

Severus gulped, "yes Grandfather."

"Now go and prepare yourself my boy. I will contact the Dark Lord and make arrangements for you to be seen tomorrow."

Severus bowed out of the room quickly, deciding to go for a wander around the manor. He had lived here since the death of his mother at the hands of his father, who then went on to kill himself in all his drunken glory. His grandfather had spouted none stop rubbish to him about the purity of blood and how Severus was lucky to have such a chance as to be allowed back in to a pureblood lifestyle, how he was lucky to hold the power he did have, even with his diluted blood.

He knew this was a load of rubbish. He could beat both Lucius Malfoy and James Potter together in a fair fight. He got higher grades than the two of them and magically, he was a lot stronger. Those two were as pure blooded as they came, yet Severus with his dirty blood could beat them both.

Then, of course, there was Lily Evans (maybe Potter by now), who gave Severus a run for his money at school. The girl was at his level with most things, only falling short in potions while beating him in charms, but only marginally. Between the two of them they completely disproved the Dark Lords theory. Really, all people needed to do was drag up school records to show the he was full of utter rubbish, even Severus could tell that Lord Voldemort was none other than Tom Riddle, the half blooded, Slytherin, head boy.

About facing, Severus walked into his Grandmother's room (no she never shared with Septimus, it was an arranged marriage, they slept together until they conceived, then that was the end of it.) She had passed away shortly after Severus had left school and got accepted to train for his mastery. Dying peacefully, she had assumed everything would be ok, now her grandson had left the house and was becoming his own man, she left the world to join her beloved daughter.

The room was the same as it had always been, preserving the memory of his soul protector. Her bed was the same as always, over plumped pillows spread out across the top of the king sized bed, a blue satin sheet draped across the bottom. She never used silk, claiming it made her itch. A huge window showed a view of the immaculate gardens she had created over the year, now preserved by the house elves, but never changing as they once had. A fireplace stood in one corner as a vanity stood in the opposite.

Severus smiled sadly, he had no idea what was going to happen with his life now, it was out of his hands. His grandmother would not have been pleased, it was her that persuaded his grandfather to allow him to go for his mastery before joining the ranks in the first place, asking what use a child would be to the man. Surely he would want someone a little more qualified, and really how many people had a mastery in potions anymore? It was a dying art.

His eyes glanced over the vanity, it was her favourite place to sit him down while she did his hair, he loved her messing with his hair, no matter how mortifying it was. Her jewellery box was still there, probably full of everything that she had ever owned still. Septimus never entered here and the house elves would never touch a thing, their magic cleaned the room not their hands. Shaking slightly, he approached the box, scanning it slowly for and signs of magic. As none seemed to show, he opened it slowly, staring at the jewels inside. They were all beautiful, most of them were hardly ever worn, bought only because they looked pretty with whatever dress she was forced into for the latest ball.

The urge to take the box was astounding, But he couldn't, could he? It was his grandmother's, but it wasn't really doing any good here. Severus could do some good with it, but what he didn't know. Closing his eyes he swept the box quickly into his pocket. Right, now what?

His eyes were drawn to various little trinkets around the room, trinkets that only the elves would know were missing. But how long would it take for them to find out? Would they tell Septimus? Severus hoped not as he began picking up dozens of small items, he needed to get out of there. He needed to go to Gringots, he needed an excuse.

Occluding his mind, (something he had learned to do during his mastery when his ideas kept getting stolen), he approached his grandfather. "Grandfather, I am going out for a while. I want to make the Dark Lord a gift, a show of my talent if you will. I shall be back later tonight or tomorrow if that is ok?" The question was put on the end as a sign of respect, he knew his Grandfather would practically shove him out of the door.

"Yes Severus, yes, of course you may. I never thought of such an idea, are you sure you can create something in such a short amount of time?" At Severus' nod the old man practically practically jumped from his seat, "then go my boy, go!"

And Severus did go. Not as his Grandfather had told him, but to Gringots. For some reason he needed to be there, just like he needed to take the jewellery box and other trinkets.

Withdrawing his money from the bank didn't take long. It was done within twenty minutes, mainly because his was one of the higher level vaults and there really wasn't that much in there, about two thousand galleons, what he had saved to open up his own shop. That wasn't going to happen now.

He walked quickly into Knockturn Alley, entering Borgin and Burkes. There was a few magical items in with what he had found, the rest he would sell in the muggle world where he could no doubt sell the items for a lot more money.

"How much for these?" He asked, slamming his bounty onto the counter.

It had taken a while to bargain with the old man behind the till. The idiot must have thought him incompetent and unknowing of the worth of his items. He still got quite a poor deal, but not as bad as he thought it was going to be.

Not quite sure what he was doing or why Severus apparated to a muggle scrap yard. Looking around carefully, he finally found what he was looking for. Right at the back, by one of many run down buildings was a machine of sorts that looked similar to an upside down cup. He had an idea what it was used for, but had no idea why he wold need to use it, or what had bought him there. Never the less, he allowed his feet to carry him over to the mound of metal.

* * *

Melting down his galleons was hard work, (mainly because he didn't want to do it), for some reason his action seemed to have no logical meaning to them, there seemed no planned route, but it did seem right. It was almost as though someone was guiding him, making him do these strange things, yet telling him it was ok for him to do so. It was not as comforting as it may have sounded, but he continued anyway. Anything had to be better than what he was headed for otherwise, right?

When the galleons were melted down he took of in a rush to various towns and cities, selling his gold, jewellery and trinkets bit by bit. Birmingham, Surrey, London, Bedford, Dover, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. Antique shops and jewellery shops alike paid ridiculous amounts of money for his items and melted gold, not once asking where he had gotten it from. Who would have thought that his family had hold of some of the most famous muggle jewellery in the world. The shop keeper in Birmingham nearly fainted as he pulled out the Darnley Royal pendent. He grinned in satisfaction as he turned on the spot apparating to who knew where?


	3. Chapter 3

Harry let his gaze wander about the room as Poppy Pomfrey, Hogwarts ex-matron fixed him up. All around them there were people with some form of injury, from minor cuts and scrapes to people fighting for their lives. Harry had just nearly lost his arm in a fight with Fenrir Greyback as he tried to wrestle the insane werewolf from a small boy. The boy had been bitten by the creature, but thankfully it wasn't the full moon tonight. The boy should hardly be effected, just turning out like Bill had with cravings for red meats. preferably quite raw.

It was obvious things were dire, hope of a brighter future had soon disappeared when Ronald Weasley had turned his back on the good side. Ron was never much good to the cause anyway, but when he finally did snap (after Harry had asked him to go out to collect a muggleborn witch who had just come into her powers), he had managed to get Hermione and both of his parents killed, taking out his brothers Charlie and Percy when the pair had gone to collect a family in Dawlish when their twins had shown signs of magic. No, now they were fighting for survival, the chance of living.

The groups aims were far from what they used to be. Instead of defeating Voldemort, they now aimed to preserve life where possible. They tried to prevent Voldemort getting his hands on the muggle born witches and wizards, taking them into hiding as soon as possible, raising them underground. They rescued as many as they could when raids were happening. Oh, if they could they would take out a death eater or two, but they were never really lucky. For every one Death Eater that was killed another five would take its place, especially since the fight had now spread over to Europe, France already being taken over and Germany well on it's way.

It all seemed like it was going to end at the Battle of Hogwarts. All of the Horcruxes had been destroyed and it was down to Harry to finish Tom Riddle off. But Riddle wasn't stupid, as the head of his precious snake was removed and Harry reappeared, very much alive, the half blood hypocrite fled the scene, using a portkey that nobody knew he carried. Even his death eaters seemed surprised at the disappearance of their master.

As green eyes scanned the factory they were hidden in, he couldn't help but wonder how things could have gotten so bad. Fate must really have had it in for them to allow such a mess to have occurred.

No, Harry didn't blame himself anymore. How could he? He would have broke and then what chance would they have had? No, the memories Severus Snape had given to him as he took his last breath was enough to see that none of it was his fault. It was a series of unfortunate events that, for what ever reason, had caused the crisis they were in now. It was everyone's fault, but not_ just_ Harry's. Harry held some of the blame, yes. But not all of it, it wasn't only his burden to carry.

The factory was quite nice for what it was. Once used to be used to make and design furniture, not far from where he used to live with his relatives in Privet Drive. It had been transformed, not into anything posh or sophisticated as you would expect would be done with magic, but it was warm and a little inviting. There wasn't much privacy, only if you were ill, and then you would only get a curtain around your bed. Beds, settee's, armchairs, rugs, pillows and bean bags were scattered throughout, the occasional dining table stuck at random intervals, giving it quite an odd feel. Add fire pits stuck out of the floor, warm and inviting. Offices were upstairs where the plans were made, all official business and seriousness was carried out upstairs, never being bought downstairs unless in emergencies. Downstairs in the cellar was where all there stocks were kept. Extra bedding, furniture, clothes, food and money was kept down there.

Minerva was chosen as rightful headmistress after Severus had died, unfortunately the castle would never have been up to housing anybody. Most of the walls were blown to pieces and with giants and acromantula being dragged into the battle, the old building never really stood a chance, it had just continued crumbling since. But since Minerva was headmistress she had control over the many house elves that had managed to survive the battle. She had given them two choices, aid her with looking after the people on the right and good side of the war, or clothes. Most of them had chosen to come and help them, a couple, though not wanting clothes, were very old and very injured, asking the headmistress for peaceful death which Minerva had granted with a sad smile.

The factory was under every protection spell possible, the death eaters knew where it was but couldn't access it, nobody with the dark mark could. The only protection spell that wasn't on it was the fidelius charm, it was too easy to break after all. Even if Harry died, everybody would still be safe here at the factory.

Resting his head in his hands Harry wondered if there would ever be a way out of this. He knew it was unlikely, the best chance anyone had at the minute was moving away, far away, to America or somewhere. Yes America would be nice. Lots of sun if you went to the southern states, or there were forests that could be found, or shopping! Shopping was good everywhere right?

Shaking himself to get rid of the ridiculous thoughts and letting out a huge sigh, the world weary teenager got to his feet. It was no good sitting around brooding all day, or daydreaming as the case may be. He had places to go, errands to run and people to spy on. And so he went to run his first errand of the day at number 12 Grimmauld Place.

* * *

Number twelve Grimmauld Place was the same as ever. Dark, drab, cold and foreboding. They had used Grimmauld Place as a base for little under a year, the place was a haven of sorts, until of course they got sold out. Death eaters had raided the place when Ron had gone over to Voldemort and claimed his loyalty, stating he had seen the error of his ways, realising just how idiotic his family were. It was without reluctance that he gave a way the location of their side away. Apparating Bellatrix Lestrange into the headquarters, where she was able to call for her master.

Most people had managed to portkey out before wards were erected to keep everybody inside. Hermione, Hagrid, Flitwick, Molly and Arthur had died that night. Betrayed by one of there own, the closest of their own.

Both sides could now access Grimmauld place and, as a rule, it was often deserted. Occasionally Harry would come here to make sure the place hadn't been accessed and to talk to Kreacher. The poor elf found it hard to cope without being away from his family home for so long. He insisted on staying as long as he never spoke to anyone who wore the dark mark and didn't obey anyone outside of the family. Kreacher obeyed willingly, with Master Rugulus' locket still around his neck, he was quite fond of the filthy half blood. He also managed to listen in on death eater conversations when they did turn up at Grimmauld, passing all information onto Harry. They didn't know a house elf still lived there.

Most things in the house weren't exactly valuable, but the books were great for learning about what they were going up against. Harry had a feeling he would be needing them soon and swept them all into a seven section trunk. The trunk was in fact Moody's, but since the ex-auror died a few years ago, Harry had 'inherited' quite a few of his belongings, using them mainly for the group.

He found himself at Gringots shortly after ridding Grimmauld Place of all its literature, assuring Kreacher that he would bring them back eventually.

Gringots was a safe haven for most. The bank was like Switzerland in the World Wars. Nobody fought there, nobody spoke to each other, evil walked beside good and nobody asked questions. The goblins after all looked after both sides gold. Both sides, of course, needed gold. This meant that both sides were nice to the goblins and followed their rules. The goblins were probably happier now than they were when everything was 'peaceful' in the wizarding world. They were shown respect in these difficult times, treated as they should have been from the off.

After the long, gut churning ride down to the Potter vaults, Harry realised that he really didn't have a clue what he was doing there. He had made no conscious decision to come to the bank, he had just appeared here. Following his instincts, he started emptying the contents of his vault into his seven compartmental trunk. Books in one compartment, jewels in another, money in another and other miscellaneous objects in the fourth. After about half an hour, he found himself doing the same to the Black vaults, left to him by Sirius.

* * *

No, what he was doing didn't make sense, but he had had this feeling before and it had never lead him wrong. Allowing the hand of fate to guide him, Harry stepped back out onto the streets of Diagon Alley.

His blood ran cold as he looked about him. Ron Weasley stood in the middle of the street, awaiting the arrival of his once best friend. "Harry, it's so good to see you," he snarled, words contradicting the tone.

"Ron," Harry nodded coolly, not wanting to acknowledge his once best friend.

The red head merely smirked, "come now Harry," the name was said with much venom, "I've bought you a present."

In that minute Harry knew that whatever Ronald Weasley was talking about would not be good. He was proved right moments later when the bodies of McGonagall, Slughorn, Bill Fleur, Tonks and Draco were pulled upright behind the ginger one.

Harry stomach churned at the sight, they had obviously been tortured before death, quite badly if the slash and burn marks were anything to go by. How was Harry supposed to continue this on his own?

Turning on the spot, he apparated into oblivion as a jet of green light was shot towards him.


	4. Chapter 4

Severus stirred. His body had a dull ache pulsing through it. _Really? He scolded himself, you had to apparate without knowing where the hell you were going didn't you?_ _You could be anywhere._

Cracking open an eye he noticed he was surrounded by nothing but dull white. He seemed to be in a room of some sorts but couldn't see where the floor ended and the walls began, and he was definitely on a floor. _Maybe I'm dead._ He had to admit, if he was dead this wasn't so bad.

A few feet over from him another body moved. Rolling over, Severus watched as another young man, about the same age as himself, lifted himself cautiously from the floor, crack open an eye and look around before dropping his head to his chest with a groan. "Not again," the other murmured to themselves, unaware of their company.

Unable to help himself Severus asked quietly, "you know where we are?"

The other raised his head to look at Severus, letting out a gasp, eyes widening as Severus did the same. The man looked so much like James Potter! But there were differences, quite a few, the most obvious being the eyes. The eyes of Lily Potter stood out at him, but even those were different than his best friends, they were older, wiser, filled with an ancient sadness and wisdom. And the strangest part… this man had to be about the same age as them.

Other differences were subtle but there none the less. The man had higher cheekbones, a smaller, pointier nose and a stronger jaw line. He was also a lot thinner. He had none of James Potters arrogant posture, there wasn't a relaxed bone on his body and the face hadn't smiled in years, his whole body was tensed, poised as if ready for an attack at any time._Who is this man?_

* * *

Harry looked at his professor. When he had first awoken he had assumed he was dead. This place was so much like where he had the meeting with Dumbledore, where he had chosen to go back and fail the wizarding world again. But no, when he had met Dumbledore he had looked the same as Harry had remembered him Surely that meant that if he was dead this time, Snape would look the same as Harry had remembered him when the man died when he was teaching him potions; older, hook nosed, complete with frown lines and scowling, dead eyes.

This Snape was younger, probably the same age as Harry. He was a little more open in his facial expressions, although still cautious and had a happier air about him. He seemed curious and for once was happy to ask questions to get his answers instead of observing for a while and making his own conclusions.

Realising he had yet to answer the mans question, Harry carefully decided to weigh out his answer. "I have been to a place like this before, but I doubt it is the same."

"Who are you?" Man this Snape was a curious one, well so was the other, but that one was more subtle. This one obviously hadn't learnt that lesson yet.

Severus became unnerved as the other man stared at him with blank eyes. He was so used to seeing those eyes on Lily, seeing them full of life, love, happiness and mischief. It was unnerving to see them on this person. "Tell me about yourself first, I have a lot I could tell you, but I do not know what you could handle."

Cautious and a little annoyed (how dare this man question what he was able to handle!), Severus leapt into a brief description of his life, mentioning briefly about how he was raised by a father who hated him and a mother who was weak. He then explained about his grandfathers expectations and persuading his grandfather to allow him to complete his mastery first. When asked, he revealed that he never had any intention of joining the Dark Lord. The man was all about pure blood and Severus was a half blood, it would have been hypocritical of him to join him.

Happy with the response that Snape had given him, Harry told him a little about his life.

"What I am going to tell you will be unbelievable, but it seems someone has a plan so it won't hurt you to know what has happened to me." Taking a deep breath he started his story, "I am from a different time than you, I am from the future I guess. I am the son of your best friend and worst enemy, my name is Harry Potter."

Severus didn't know whether to believe the man or not, it made sense but somehow, for reasons unknown he didn't want to believe that this man could be the spawn of something so beautiful and something so ugly.

Harry smirked, "I know what your thinking. Don't hate me for what they've done, you have already noticed I am not my mother or father. I know my father picked on you at school along with Sirius Black, I know that you and my mother were once best friends and she decided to hate you because you called her a mudblood. I also know why you called her a mudblood in the first place. She should have forgave you but didn't, my dad shouldn't have done what he did. You created spells while you were in school including sectumsempera, muffliato and langlock, you used sectumsempera on my father the same day you called my mother what you did. Now, get your head out your ass and don't pretend I'm some monster to make yourself feel better."

Severus, speechless, could see blatantly that this guy wasn't James Potter or Lily Evans. This man was something else entirely. Through the whole speech he had never once sounded antagonising or patronising, he just spoke as it was. That deserved a level of respect that Severus had never felt for anyone, he nodded once at the mans half request - half demand.

A clapping came somewhere from behind them. "Good, you two have worked things out, we have need of you and I'm afraid we don't have much time. There is only so long that the threads of life can remain untouched."

Severus and Harry gaped as around them the room morphed itself into a comfortable living area. "Now, we have so much information to get through and so little time." Another voice entered the mix, "I'm Clotho and this is Lachesis," a middle aged women introduced herself as she walked in beside her sister, "over there is Atropos who really needs to remember her manners." Clotho sent a stern gaze to her sister.

"You're fate," Harry told them, he knew something was going to happen, knew there was a reason that what had happened to Severus had happened, what had happened to himself had happened.

Atropos smiled, "we are indeed. We are also in need of help, you see, until recently there were many tapestries of time, yesterday there were three remaining, today there are two."

"Think of the tapestries as alternate universes," Clotho explained for them, "they are your time, your worlds. You two are from two different tapestries. Harry, yours has just disintegrated, we pulled you out just in time to save you and ask for your aid. Severus yours can be saved, but there is one other that we must attempt to save first. A time between both of yours, it is the oldest one of the two now."

Harry and Severus were admittedly gob smacked, but, being as intellectual as they are, kept up pretty well. "If Severus is out of his time then things aren't going to happen as they did in mine or the one you are sending us to," Harry pointed out, not wanting to tell the man next to him that he would be the reason his mother died.

"That is not to be worried about, it will be arranged that someone will take Severus' place," Lachesis assured him and Harry couldn't help but think of Wormtail. "Now, you need to go to the time when you were nine years old Harry. It will give you time to set yourselves up and help little you as much as possible."

"When we send you there, you need will need to change your appearance, especially you Severus, if you run into your older self, he will recognise you. He will be good to have on side, but he's very suspicious. It will be better for you to go to him and explain more than him finding out by bumping into a younger version of himself," Clotho threw in.

Atropos joined in, "try and get little Draco on your side as soon as possible, explain to little Harry what it is like to be a pureblood. Help him to understand as much as possible, tell him how to treat the boy. Draco isn't a bad person. Harry you know who you can trust in this time, help little you to see that, make sure he makes the right connections."

"And don't forget to talk, the both of you," Lachesis gave them a stern look, "you're all each other is going to have. Especially to begin with. You need to know as much as possible about each other. And don't trust Dumbledore, he is a good man but has not got the right perspective to pull this off. Hagrid is also in the headmasters pocket. Do not allow him to find out too much about you."

"Ronald Weasley and Ginivera will be bad for little Harry, keep him away from them. The older Weasley's will be fine. You will be able to influence his friends and the way he sees people, don't let him make the same mistakes you did Harry." Clotho looked at him with sad eyes, knowing how much pain it caused the young man before her to live through what he had, "they weren't your fault, but you can prevent them this time. Make sure he knows that it isn't the type of magic that is used which makes it good or bad, it's the intent."

Confused, Severus just listened, Harry would tell him about it later, he hoped. The bit on magic he understood, but was surprised to find out that others held the same views. It was the only thing he ever agreed with his grandfather on. There was just one thing he was confused about though…

"Here is a book, it will allow you to change your identities. It will explain how to do everything in there, but you will be able to create new birth certificates for yourselves, you will need to go to the address written on the inside cover to get passports and drivers licences if you want them. Are you ready? After we send you back, we can't contact you again unless in emergencies. Their may be windows where we can check up on you, but it is unlikely."

The men nodded, Clotho beamed at them, "one more thing, for doing this you receive a blessing of sorts from the Gods. You will not age and your magic will be easier to manipulate, there may be times when you are without your wands, we need you to be safe, no matter what. We know you can do wandless magic to an extent already, but you need to be able to cast more powerful spells."

"We are also going to put shields around your minds, nobody will be able to break into them unless you want them to, which you may need to do with people such as older Severus. It would not do well to have people know your secrets," Atropos told them sternly, "instead of maing the effort to keep your walls up, you will have to make the effort to take them down."

"Now… off with you!"


	5. Chapter 5

Harry felt himself gradually become more aware. For once in his life he felt peaceful, content. He didn't want to wake up. His dreams were none existent for once, allowing him to feel refreshed and relaxed. For some reason he felt allowing himself to awaken would mean the end of the bliss he was currently experiencing.

Turning over, trying to find a more comfortable position to go back to sleep in, Harry came face to face with none other than the younger version of his old potions professor. Memories from the previous day? Night? Came flooding back to him. How had he forgotten all of that really? Sure he had been through some pretty unbelievable things before, but meeting the fates was never on the extensive list. And really, why was he comfortable waking up next to the man?

Severus' eyes opened slowly, taking in his surroundings before they landed on the man next to him. The man who had a lot of explaining to do and had a lot to tell Severus. The man that was the spawn of his one and only, once best friend and the bane of his existence. The man who had seemingly been through a lot and made surprisingly made Severus quite comfortable. Almost safe.

"Good morning," Severus grumbled into the sheets.

"Good morning," Harry smiled at him. "I'm going to order us breakfast and see how long we can book the room for. I'll be back shortly."

Harry wasn't surprised to find himself fully clothed when he got out of bed. He slept in his clothes often nowadays, especially since there was always the chance that he would have to up and leave with only a moments notice. They really could be a hindrance and running into battle naked would not be the wisest thing to do. Although it would have created quite the distraction in battle.

It took him a few seconds to get his bearings and head downstairs. He spotted the landlord immediately. The man seemed to have recognised him. "Ah, Mr Jones, ye had a good night I 'ope?"

Harry simply nodded his head, unsure why the man seemed to know him but thankful he did. "Yes, thank you," he began a little awkwardly, why had the ended up in Scotland?. "I was just wondering if me and my companion would be able to book our room for another week. The house we wished to buy will not be available until then I'm afraid and we could do with a place to stay."

"Aye, it won't be a problem laddie. We don't get much folk 'round ere and I canny imagine ye get many people a welcomin' the two of ye." Harry furrowed his brow, wondering what the man could possible be talking about. Why would people not be welcoming of him and Severus? "Nope, relationships such as yer's are frowned upon a lot aye laddie. But me, I support ye, yer love who yer love, ye canny help it can ye?"

Harry nodded his head, quickly, not wanting to tell the man he had it completely wrong and explain his way out of it. It was much easier for him to believe what he wanted to believe. He would figure out a way to pay the man later, maybe hit him with a confundus charm?

* * *

Severus got himself up slowly. He couldn't believe how different this Potter was from the other two in his life. This Potter, quite frankly, was a little scary but without meaning to be. There was a quiet confidence about him and power seemed to radiate from every part of him. The most shocking thing of all was that there was no arrogance behind it all. He was relatively good looking, with quite a few scars from battles he had survived giving him a bit of a dark and mysterious vibe. He was strikingly thin, but there was muscle there. Maybe not big muscles, but enough to show that he had quick reflexes.

Now he had finally had a good look at the man he noticed that his initial reaction that he was James Potter was far fetched. The man had basic attributes of him, the hair, jaw line and basic face shape, but he was softer and harder somehow. His body was solid, the softness of his lips, the high cheek bones and of course the eyes. Well, they were all Lily's. Yet he wasn't Lily either. The softness was muted by the premature lines that had been caused by stress or other scars. His eyes, although as vibrant a green, were also dark and haunted. The man had experience of evil, knew how to fight it and knew what to be done. It was obvious why the Moirai had chosen Harry to accomplish this mission, but he had no idea why they had chosen him.

He was curious about his older self. The Moirai spoke fondly of him, but Harry seemed to have some reservations. There was a hint of regret and loss when he was spoke about, not to mention anger and a sort of betrayal. He really wondered what that was all about, wondered how his presence effected Harry. What was the relationship between his older self and this young warrior?

* * *

As Harry walked into the room, noticing Severus deep in thought, he took the opportunity to truely look over the younger version of Severus Snape. The man was enthralling. Innocence seemed to radiate from him, the man knew of the evils out there but had yet to experience them as the older Severus Snape had. This one, although he had lived through hardships, had not faced as much as his counterpart. He was not yet bitter and cold. He did not yet belong to anyone. But the man was still intelligent. If anyone could think logically and outside the box at the same time, it was this man. He could help, he would keep Harry in line, help give his plans form and strengthen them. He could see why the Moirai had chosen this Severus to help Harry.

There were slight differences between this man and the older version. Apart form the obvious, a less lined face and a happier countenance. He held himself better, he wasn't as stiff or uptight. His hair was slightly longer and his nose wasn't half as crooked, although it was still quite big. His mouth was as thin, but not so pinched and his eyes weren't held in a constant glare. He was a lot less intimidating and a lot more approachable.

* * *

Clearing his throat to announce his arrival, Harry told Severus what the man thought about their relationship. To Harry's surprise, the man laughed. Actually laughed! "That's brilliant!" He managed to choke out, "and he might just have a point, we're going to have to tell people something as an excuse for us living together long term, why not let them believe that?"

Shocked at the suggestion, Harry took a moment to think it through, "actually that's not a bad idea. If we were thought to be brothers, people would assume we would move on eventually, have girls around all the time and hold ridiculous parties, the same as if we were room mates. Not to mention the problems we'd have to cover ourselves with friends and that."

Severus smiled, "this way we can look like lovers who have run away together after our families tried to tear us apart. How very Romeo and Juliet, well without the death."

With that decided, they started reading through the books that the Moirai had given to them. The ritual itself didn't look too tricky, most of it was symbolism that could have been guessed in any case. It also seemed that if they altered their appearances magically before the ritual and left them on, their new appearances would become permanent, making life a great deal easier now they didn't have to go under the knife and heal in the muggle way.

* * *

It took two days to collect all of the ingredients as most things were easy to get hold of. A lot of it was retrieved from apothecaries such as lavender sprigs, chameleons tails and caterpillar cocoons. The branch of a pine tree however had to be found in a nearby forest. This was quite difficult as it was a place where the trees were grown to be chopped down for muggles to have in their homes as decorations and Christmas wasn't too far off so the muggles were keeping a close eye on their stocks. The iron fillings were retrieved from a local factory and the limestone was 'borrowed' from Wrens Nest in the West Midlands. Cups were easy enough to get, there were enough, Ikea sold them by the thousands and rods, well, they were a little more tricky, being able to find one or two per shop.

The tricky part of it all was trying to figure out what the were going to look like, what there names were going to be and so on. It really wasn't an easy feat.

In the end they decided on slight alterations to their features. Harry broadened his nose a little, making it more defined instead of the delicate lines that Lily had left him with. He made his cheek bones a little more prominent and thinned his lips just a little, making them less girly than they once were. Removing his scar was a relief and growing his hair to just above his shoulders and lightening it to a dark brown colour made a huge difference to the shape of his face, making it seem longer and older. He didn't know what to do about his eyes though, he always thought of them as his best feature, but knew he couldn't have them exactly the same as his little self or suspicions would be aroused.

Eventually Severus came up with the idea of just making them a couple of shades darker. He wouldn't loose the colour as much, but the slight difference would make him seem different from little Harry. He reluctantly took Severus' advice.

* * *

Severus on the other hand made his nose a lot less pronounced, something he wanted to do for a while, but didn't want to with surgery. He plumped his lips out a little and shrunk his ears slightly. Cheeks become less harsh and the jaw line became softer slightly. Like Harry, he also grew his hair and tinted it red until you could see the colour shine through in the light. He also lightened his eyes very slightly so there were more of a charcoal black than a midnight. Bits of grey could be seen if one was too look closely enough.

They were minor differences for the pair, but the former selves were lost in them somewhat. They wouldn't age so they would be stuck like this for ever. They needed to be happy with their appearances, happy with what they were to become.

* * *

"What do we call ourselves?" Severus asked, nervous yet excited.

"I don't know, we can't really have the same names, gay marriages aren't legal yet," Harry didn't see Severus gape at him in shock and ploughed on, "we will have to have different names until we can get married, that is if you want to. It's a few years from now. I think it would be amusing to be called John Doe, but maybe that's pushing things. I'm sure Dumbledore would figure it out. How about Reece Jones? It a simple enough name and very muggle. How about you?"

Severus shook himself out of his stupor. "Erm…" Harry smirked at seeing his old (young) potions teacher struggling with his words. "Sebasian, Sebastian Hill, Seb for short. Sounds like Sev a little…" He trailed off, he really didn't want to loose himself completely with this spell, he still wanted to be himself.

Sensing Severus' troubles Harry placed a hand on the other mans shoulder. "You'll still be you Severus. You will have a different name and different looks, but you will still be you inside. As long as you hold on to yourself, nothing else matters. We could switch bodies, but we would still be who we are."

Reassured somehow, Severus began to prepare the ingredients for the potion as Harry vanished all of the furniture in the room and set up the circle. Writing their agreed identities onto two pieces of paper.

A circle was formed from six rods and four cups. The ingredients to be added to the cauldron at a later time sat just inside, the pine branch, limestone and iron fillings, symbolising permanence. The potion that Sev was brewing had the other ingredients, (the cocoon, chameleons tail and lavender) to symbolise the change. It would be the fumes that would make it permanent.

Sev put the cauldron in the middle, taking his space in the circle, nodding at Harry to begin.

"Change, cambiar, verander, aldatu, promijeniti, canviar, veranderen, muutma, palitan, muuttaa, chanje." As he chanted, green smoke rose from the cauldron, filling the room, it had no scent.

Harry began adding the ingredients lying around the circle as Severus began to chant. "Same, dieselfde, eyni, berean, isti, mateix, sama nga, samme, zelfde, samajn, pareho."

The room soon cleared and Severus found himself face to face with Harry's wand. "Finite incantatum!" Harry glared at Severus for a while, half expecting something to happen, he soon held out a hand to his startled companion. "Hi Sebastian, my name is Reece, a pleasure to meet you."


	6. Chapter 6

Reece and Sebastian became comfortable with their new lives pretty quickly, neither really missing the old ones. But decisions still needed to be made about this life, what would they do? Where would they live? How would they get to Harry.

The first step however was getting a house. Reece and Sebastian had shared the amounts they had with them, Seb's jaw dropping as he heared the amount that Reece had on his person. Unfortunately though, mass amounts of money or not, to obtain a house, you needed a bank account. Unfortunately, to get a bank account, you needed to have a permanent address.

Sebastian couldn't see why you couldn't just give the muggles the cash and be done with it. Reece had to explain about paperwork and all of the other ridiculousness that came with it. It wasn't like buying sweets from the shop. People liked to keep an eye on you when purchasing big and expensive things.

It was Reece that came up with the perfect plan. It would, however have to be executed quite quickly.

It took them a day to find the perfect house and make an enquiry about it. The retailers were helpful once they found out they had the full amount to hand over to the buyers and quickly gave them their number to get in contact with them.

It was simple enough to get them to agree to sell there house to them indefinitely, especially since they had added another ten thousand pounds onto the asking price. The house was easily secured.

They then went on to set up a joint bank account for the two of them. They received weird looks from the bank staff, obviously wondering why two men, who were apparently unrelated, wanted to set up a joint account. It was unusual for gay couples to be so open about their relationship. Of course, this ended up with them needing to fill out more paperwork than any other person would. Strangely, as soon as they mentioned the amount they wanted to put into the account, they became most accommodating to their needs.

* * *

Phoning up the retailers, Reece soon had them eating out the palm of his hands. The house was practically theirs. They just needed to wait for the small family currently occupying it to move out before they could move in.

Reece and Sebastian decided to use their time wisely, work on a plan for their futures. Seb had a lot to learn about the future. It was with a heavy heart that Reece told Seb all that he knew.

Sitting down by the fire in their rooms, mugs of tea and hot chocolate in hand, Reece began his story. "The beginning is actually quite simple. My parents, Lily and James were targeted by Voldemort because of a prophecy made by Sybil Trelawny and overheard by someone. That someone was a death eater and went straight to Voldemort to tell him all he had heard." Reece took a deep breath, he always found the retelling of his life a tedious task, nobody knew it in his entirety, Seb was about to, even if it was brief.

He took a gulp of his tea and continued. "The prophecy basically said that a child, born at the end of July, whose parents had defied him three times would have the power to defeat him. There could have been two children that this referred to, one being Neville Longbottom, the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom. The other was me." Seb's eyes were wide as he listened to the story, his hot chocolate forgotten in his hand as he hung on to Reece's every word. "Strangely enough he picked me, the half-blood, just like himself.

"My parents went under the Fidelius Charm, Peter Pettigrew was their secret keeper, he was also a death eater and sold them to him. Needless to say Voldemort killed my parents and attempted to kill me, it didn't work. The spell rebounded because my mother died to save me, leaving me with protection through our blood."

Questions whizzed through Seb's mind, there was so much that needed answering, but he knew that Reece would probably explain it later in the story, hopefully. He filed the questions away for later, just in case.

"It was simple from their. Hagrid picked me up and bought me to the Dursley's on Dumbledore's orders where I spent the next ten years of my life being beaten up, bullied and worked like a house elf with no friends and no proper bedroom." Reece didn't look in Seb's direction or he would have seen the man pale and his nostrils flare, he continued talking before he could be stopped. "My letter came from Hogwarts, the stupid school tried to send it me by post. The Dursley's just ripped them up. More and more came until Hagrid ended up coming to get me. Like I could have gone and got my things even if I had managed to open the letter. I'm sure the school forgot I was muggle raised.

"Anyway, I got my things and went to Hogwarts. The first year I faced Voldemort who was stuck out of the back of the Defence teachers head; second year I fought a basilisk; third Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban; fourth was the triwizard tournament which I got entered into; fifth I got sent a vision from Voldemort and break into the department of mysteries where I learn of the prophecy; sixth me and Dumbledore start hunting horcruxes and he gets killed and seventh I spent hunting the rest of the horcruxes and eventually trying to kill Voldemort. However, even after dying and coming back to life, he wouldn't face me and portkeyed away. I don't know if he made more of them, but I was never able to get to him."

Reece took a deep breath, that part was relatively easy. "From then on the Order of the Phoenix went under ground. People were dying quickly, most not even being tortured before hand because most of the time we could get to them and save them, giving us more people. We soon learned to kill just as ruthlessly. The only safe place was Gringots. The goblins soon made their opinions on the war known, anybody causing problems in the bank, from either side, was quickly dealt with.

"One of my closest friends betrayed me and the Order. He managed to kill, whether himself or by association, a good half of his own family as well as many others including my other best friend, Hermione Granger. We need to keep Harry away from him. I'm not sure why we became friends, sometimes I wonder if it was a complete set up, but it can't happen this time…" Reece trailed off, there was more to the stories, but the brief outline was enough, they needed to consider the ways to prevent all of this happening again.

Seb thought over what was said. "Why did you have to die?" He knew that Reece had survived the killing curse before so it wasn't really that surprising he could do it again.

Reece hung his head, "I was a horcrux. I needed to die so someone could finish off Voldemort. I didn't realise I'd come back, but when I found out I could I did, I thought I could kill him. He portkeyed away before I had chance to lift my wand."

Seb didn't know what to say to that exactly so he focused on other little things. "What house where you in?"

Reece's brow furrowed, "Gryffindor, why?"

"You don't seem like a Gryffindor, maybe we could persuade Harry to be in a different house this time around?" It sounded like a lot of Reece's problems were probably because he had been in that house, surrounded by idiots who encouraged him to go on these little escapades. "Maybe this time Harry should be a Slytherin? Could we persuade him to do that?"

"Yes but we need to gain his trust. I think that needs to be our first issue. We need him away from the Dursley's as much as possible. I just have no idea how to do that."

Seb thought it over for a moment. "They worked you a lot?" At Harry's nod he continued, "then why don't we offer him work. He could work for us and we offer him pay. No doubt those relatives of his would be greedy enough to want the money from him. We could save some for him though."

Reece nodded, it wasn't a bad idea. "We should open a pet shop. There's not really a decent one in surrey. We could sell snakes and other exotic animals. We're parselmouthes, he'd love it."

Seb's eyes widened, Reece hadn't mentioned that before. "You're a parselmouth?"

Harry smirked, "is that a problem?"

"Not at all, it's just a rare gift."

Harry smiled, "your older self doesn't like it, makes him grouchy." He got up and headed over to the phone, calling the retailers they had used to purchase their house. "Hi, I'd like to make an enquiry about purchasing commercial properties please."

The shop was almost as easy to get their hands on as the house was and soon their time was filled with decorators and shopping. They would have done it themselves magically, but they were in a muggle neighbourhood and did not want to rouse suspicion.

Harry spend a lot of his time carefully choosing colours for each room and area of the shop, occasionally asking a bemused and exasperated Sev his opinion.

Seb realised that Reece had never had a so much as his own room to decorate before so wasn't too annoyed at watching the man have fun with his freedom. He really couldn't blame him. Trying to remove a crick from his neck, he heard Harry call him.

"Hey Seb, you know what we need to do now right?" At Seb's raised eyebrow, Reece practically screamed, "SHOPPING!"

Oh. Dear. God.


	7. Chapter 7

Ok. So shopping was definitely the worst thing in the world. Sebastian winced as he was dragged into yet another furniture store, his feet were like murder and he really didn't appreciate the stares and glares people were sending there way. Really, were people _that_ homophobic?

Reece looked back at the sulking figure that he was dragging behind him. "Oh come on Seb, we've only got to pick out the kitchen table and chairs and then we're done!"

Seb's eyes softened as they landed on the man who had attached himself to his arm. His entire demeanour had changed in the short time they had been together. The tight lines around his eyes and mouth were slowly disappearing and he walked with less of a slump now. He was still weary, but knew it unlikely he was going to be harmed, at least for the time being. Seb was glad for him. Everyone deserved the chance at a normal life and this was as normal as it was going to get for his accomplice.

Seb rolled his eyes but asked Reece, "what colour did you have it decorated again?"

The smile he received was worth it, "black and silver! It will look beautiful when it's done, you'll love it."

"Well if your not gay, you're really doing a good impression of being it," Seb muttered to himself. The last person he had known to be this exuberant about shopping was Lucius Malfoy and he was as bent as a u turn. Were it not for his father having him married off to Narcissa, he would more than likely still be slobbering over Regulus Black.

"I might be gay, I really don't know," apparently Reece had heard his muttering and decided to comment on it. "Didn't really have time to figure it out with an insane wizard hell bent on killing me."

Sebastian gaped, stopping in his tracks. "Y-you don't know. You- you've never…"

Reece smiled sadly, "nope. Had two girlfriends when I was at Hogwarts, if you can call them that. Neither lasted very long, not that I was bothered, they were nice to have around, it meant someone cared... Dunno how to explain it really, was never overly attracted to them. You know? But I've never felt attraction to man either. Maybe it's because I haven't had the time normal teenagers do to explore my sexuality."

He let Sebastian gape at his back as he browsed the shop he had dragged them into.

* * *

Once all of the items for the house had been bought, the two men wondered into the shop they had purchased. They were told it would be ready in a few days. The shop was in good condition when they had bought it, the walls all smooth and shelves were put in place. It received a touch of paint from the decorators, just to brighten it up, before all of the furnishings were bought in. The tanks, cages and ponds were being set up throughout the store as they spoke and the animals were being bought in tomorrow.

"We're going to need some help to run this place," Reece looked up at Seb who happened to be gazing around the shop in wonder.

The different areas of the shop were bathed in different colours, on the right wall, reptiles where going to be surrounded by a deep forest green, midnight tiles on the floor glittered and danced in the low light. Tanks for the animals were being set up on the walls and occasional tanks scattered the area in the middle.

The sea life area a little further back from the lizards and snakes was coloured with various blues, linoleum covered the floor, tanks had started decorating the walls and ponds stood out at random intervals around the area. The most amazing part though, was the tanks hanging from the ceiling that was soon to be home to the most exotic fish they could find.

To the left there was a wall covered in cages for fury rodents. Normal household pets would mostly stay here, hamsters, rats, guinea pigs, etc… bathed in sandy yellow and chocolate linoleum that covered the floor. The slightly bigger 'cute animals' were kept just next to them, in a slightly darker yellow area. This was going to be for the chinchillas, rabbits, etc…

Never being one to understand the need to put bugs in with reptiles before, Harry had made a separate space for them next to the 'cute creature' as he had taken to calling them. Tarantulas, scorpions, tortoises, giant African land snails and so on would live in this area. It was painted in a deep purple colour with the same coloured floor. It was beautiful, but Sebastian was happy he didn't need to go anywhere near the spiders just yet.

The back was painted a beautiful sky blue with wonderful tiled floors that seemed to have clouds running through them. Cages stood around the outsides, huge and magnificent. For birds, as it turned out. Reece was hoping to have a huge range of them, from budges, to owls, to parrots.

"So Seb, what do you think?" Reece looked at his new friend with wide eyes that made Seb's heart ache. He knew that look, it was a look for approval, a look he had given to his father many times during his youth.

Seb smiled, "It's wonderful, just one thing though."

"Oh," Reece's eyes dropped.

"I'm not handling the spiders."

* * *

It had been a busy day filled with shopping, phone calls and organising. There was going to be an add in tomorrows paper asking for people to apply for a job in their shop. Really, they would need the help. The shops purpose was to lure a little boy to them though, a boy they would more than likely meet tomorrow. _But tonight,_ Seb thought as he lay down for the last time in the b and b bed with Recce, _I think I just need to relax._

The next day started easily enough. Apart from getting out of bed - which was tricky since Reece and Sebastian had seen fit to curl up during the night creating quite the creative knot with their bodies. Not to mention it was comfortable, and Sebastian's legs and feet were still pulsating from the abuse they took yesterday and neither one of them seemed to mind the position in the slightest.

When they did manage to untangle themselves, they set about their morning routine and breakfast. Swiftly settling the debt with the b and b owner, they then took off for their knew home in Little Whinging, Surrey.

* * *

When they arrived at the house, they finally got a good look at what Reece's imagination could create. All of the rooms had character to them, nothing that screamed old or ultra modern, but a little of both, creating a peaceful atmosphere. The living room, halls and bedrooms were made of wooden floors and cream walls. Harry had bought the accessories to bring colour into the rooms. The only thing that Reece seemed to have gone overboard on was the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen was huge, with a top of the range cooker and fridge freezer and a sink you could fit a full grown kneazle into and still have room for its babies. It was black and silver, as Reece had said, and absolutely breath taking.

The bathroom was on the same scale of amazing as the kitchen. A huge bath stood in the corner with a shower hanging over the top of it, nearly triple the size that they had been using in the b and b. It was complete with a full side board and two sinks, mirrors reflecting light around the room and the standard toilet in the corner. The entire room was in a charcoal grey with chrome finishes, it was gorgeous.

By the time they had unpacked everything (which didn't take long as they had used their magic), and got the delivery people to set their larger items down in their house (the things that putting a bit of extra payment into something could do), Sebastian was wondering what Reece had done with the other two bedrooms that were up the stairs.

Reece grinned at Sebastian, knowing how impatient the man would be and realising it wouldn't take long for him to get annoyed. "Come on, I have a surprise for you." Sebastian gaped open mouthed at Reece as he grabbed the mans hand to lead him up the stairs, stopping in front of the closest door. "This isn't your surprise, but I think you should see it anyway."

Reece opened the door and Sebastian was surprised to see the room was, essentially, a library. "I took all of our books out and ordered them the best I could, I hope you don't mind me being presumptuous."

Seb smiled, "not at all." Reece obviously was literally willing to share everything if he had done this for him. He knew some of the books Reece had were worth a lot, a lot more than Seb could ever imagine spending on such items. "You say this isn't my surprise though?"

Reece shook his head and dragged Sebastian down to the next door. Neither paid attention to the fact that neither had let go of the others hand. Reece threw his free hand over Seb's eyes, "no peeking!" He told the man in a sing song voice, Seb had no intention of doing so and was guided into the room by Reece's hand in his. Once the hand from his eyes was removed, he gasped.

The room was amazing, cream walls, just like the rest of the house and a tiled, deep green floor. Cabinets filled the walls with various items that couldn't be seen but having a look around he could guess at. He looked at the four tables place perfectly in the room, a cauldron on each one.

Seb squeezed the hand that was still in his. "Why did you do this for me?"

Reece smiled, "I know you're a potions master. The youngest one in the last few centuries century, I know how much potions mean to you and know you would have never asked for this. So I am giving it to you, I won't enter here without your permission or unless I really need you. You have my word. I just want you to do one thing for me."

Seb looked at Reece, he knew there had to be a catch,"what?"

"I never really got on with your older self, some of that was because of my failure in potions. When we get Harry, will you teach him? Show him the basics. I want his life to be easier than mine was."

Naturally, Seb couldn't refuse.

* * *

After they were finished with the house Seb and Reece decided it was time to visit their neighbours. So they set off down the street at a leisurely pace. Most of the neighbours, surprisingly, where quite happy to have a gay couple in the neighbourhood. Other's were not so welcoming, but it didn't bother them.

After meeting about fifteen different families they finally came to the Dursley's house. Reece froze as he saw Harry take a sip of water from the hosepipe. He remembered this, it was when he had got locked in his cupboard for three days without anything to properly eat or drink.

As he saw Vernon Dursley peer out the window and catch his nephew drinking from the hose, Reece quickly picked up his pace, reaching the bottom of the garden just as Vernon Dursley stepped through the door of his home.

The shout of "BOY!" died on his lips as he caught sight of the two strangers at the bottom of the garden, looking curiously at him. "Do not drink from the hose! I have told you this before, if you need a drink you will come in the house and get one!"

Harry looked so confused at his Uncles sudden change in attitude, but a look of understanding crept it's way onto his face as he caught sight of the two strangers. "Yes Uncle Vernon." Came the little boys reply.

Reece and Sebastian knew what they needed to do to get Harry out of the clutches of the Dursleys. "Hi I'm Reece and this is my partner Sebastian," Reece spoke directly to the obese man in front of him. "Your nephew looked quite thirsty, does he normally drink from the hose?" The stutter from Vernon's mouth as he tried to say that Harry really enjoyed gardening and usually wouldn't come away from it showed the lie for what it really was.

Reece made sure he seemed very interested in what Vernon was saying before smiling at the little boy. "You say you like gardening little man?" Reece asked, he didn't miss the way he looked at his Uncle before nodding his head. "Well then, you should come and work for us. We own a pet shop not far from here and we could use some help looking after all of the animals. What do you say?"

"He will not be going!" Vernon spat out at the two men, at Reece's raised eyebrow Vernon continued, "there are rules against child labour."

Sebastian grinned a feral grin, "you don't seem to have that issue Sir, it's twenty degrees out and that boy his working himself raw."

"My son, my son would be jealous!" Reece could see the excuses mounting up.

"He is free to come along and help as well, both boys would be paid. Although I wonder why he isn't helping the little man here with the gardening," Reece asked innocently.

"He is out the back, and no, Dudley couldn't work even though he will very much want to, he's allergic to animals." Vernon was panicking now.

"Ah well, I guess we will need to find another worker. Come on Seb." Reece turned around and started walking toward home.

"I really think we should contact child services though Reece, just to make sure," Sebastian muttered, just loud enough for Vernon to hear him.

"WAIT! Harry"- the name came out strangled- "Harry has said he would very much like to go- to work for you."


	8. Chapter 8

It was ridiculously easy to get Vernon to agree to allow Harry to work in their shop after their muttered agreements. So the next day found the two men at the front door of Number 4, Privet Drive. As they strode their way up the paths the front door opened and little Harry Potter was practically thrown outside.

Both men appeared not to noticed and stooped down to greet the little version of Reece. "Hey there Harry. You looking forward to your first day with the animals?" The boy simply nodded shyly, "don't worry, you'll get used to us, I'm Reece and this is Sebastian. Call him Seb if you want, he doesn't mind too much."

It took a ten minute walk to get to the shop, Harry hardly spoke along the way, nervous of the two strangers. He didn't know what it was about them, but something told them they were different. He couldn't tell though whether it was good different or bad different.

The day was filled with sorting out the tanks, making them ready for the new animals to be put into. Harry was shown, mainly by Reece, how to set homes for lizards, snakes, spiders, African Snails, frogs and birds. Sebastian took care of the fish and 'cute animals'.

Harry was soon enthralled with how much he was able to do and didn't think of it as work at all. He absolutely adored what he was allowed to do and he was going to get money for it! Of course he realised that his family would take the money off him as quickly as he had it, but they had to give him something from it right? Wouldn't these two men become suspicious if Harry wasn't spending some of his money on himself. Maybe he could get himself some better clothes!

Reece knew Harry would be brilliant with the lizards and snakes in particular, so told the boy that if he would like them to be, they would be his responsibilities, under the condition that if he needed any help, he would come seek aid from himself or Sebastian. Harry eyes soon lit with wonder as he stared at Reece, his new friend. "That would be great!" He told him, jumping up and down. He knew he would be good with the reptiles, the snakes especially since he could talk to them thought he wouldn't tell Reece or Sebastian that he could. They would proabably think him a freak and send him back to his Aunt and Uncle.

Reece saw the furrow in his younger self's brow, "hey, what's up little man?" Harry though, refused to talk but Reece had a good idea what it was about. "Is this because you can understand what the snakes are saying?" The petrified look Harry gave him was enough to confirm his suspicions. "Look, don't worry about that ok? It's a gift after all, I can do it, but Seb can't. Not many people can, but it's a good thing. It's why I asked you to work in this part, yeah? I noticed what you were doing. You have a special gift Harry, don't be worried about it. But we'll keep it to ourselves for now, ok?"

Harry's eyes lit up at the reassurance from his new friend. "Thank you," he whispered, "Uncle Vernon wouldn't like to know I can talk to snakes."

"Then your Uncle's an idiot," Reece told the little boy. It was hard to believe he had once been so vulnerable.

Seb thought the same as he watched the younger version of Reece from the back corner where he was trying to get a box of budges into a cage without letting them out around the shop. There was a lot to Reece, Seb realised that when he had first met him, but some of it he couldn't wait to uncover.

* * *

The shop was quickly sorted out, all the animals were in their rightful positions and all the stock was arranged by area. The place looked magnificent and would be ready to open to the public tomorrow. They had even managed to hire a member of staff. A young girl called Sarah who would be starting college soon and needed the money for her supplies while she was there as she was doing catering. Reece and Seb were more than happy to work around her college hours once she started up and Harry seemed to like her too.

At the end of the day Reece and Sebastian took Harry into the back room, he had been in here earlier when they had given him his dinner and for the occasional break. "If you ever need a break you are to come in here, do you understand?" Sebastian was stern but kind, Harry could see that and knew he must obey this man, he nodded his head quickly. "There is a small kitchen in here that will always be stocked with food, you are to help yourself to however much you want when you are hungry." Again Harry nodded, he didn't understand why the man was being so stern when he was being so nice, it was a little confusing. He received a smile at his second nod of understanding, he knew he wanted to make that smile happen all of the time, "good boy."

The other man stooped down next to him, "Harry, we have something to ask you."

The young boy quickly paled, he was going to be asked about the Dursley's and he didn't really want to lie to these people, but knew he must. Reece saw the colour drain from the young mans face and quickly spoke to ease his nerves. "Now, I know young men like to go off and spend all of there money as quickly as they can on games and things. But we were wondering if you would like to save some of your money here. We have a little box that you could put it in and only you will be able to open it because only you will have the key or know where it is."

Harry looked at Reece as though he was answering all of his prayers at once, "I would like that very much," he told the older man. "But I would like to keep the key here if that's ok, I think I might loose it at home."

* * *

Reece took it upon himself to walk Harry home that evening, leaving Seb to shut up shop and head home. Seb didn't argue, knowing that Reece wanted to talk to the Dursley's alone, not to mention he wanted to get started on a nutrient potion for Harry, he would find out what happened later.

Knocking on the front door of the Dursley's home, Reece was happy to see the startled look on the Dursley's face when they saw him with their nephew. Obviously they expected the boy to return on his own.

"Mr Dursley, I just thought I'd see Harry safely to the door and tell you what a happy little worker he has been today," he felt Harry tense against him as his Vernon looked at him with an uninterested gaze. "I just thought I'd make sure that your son… Dudley was it? Was sure he didn't want to come along and work at the pet shop also?"

Vernon managed to keep his face from working into a sneer at this comment, "no, I'm afraid not, Dudley really doesn't take well to animals, allergies you know? Anyway, I hope you have paid the boy for today"

"Ah, yes, of course. Well, here you go Harry," he talked to the little boy, handing over a ten pound note with a smile and wink.

"Thank you," Harry smiled slightly at the man. He didn't want the man to leave.

"No problem, you have been a pleasure to work with, and your so polite. Anyway, Mr Dursley, as much as the clothes Harry is wearing are suitable for working out in the garden or playing on the streets in, they are really unsuitable for the work he is doing. I was wondering if he has any tighter fitting clothes, some of the animals are a bit wriggly and can scare sometimes. They might end up crawling into his pockets and I'm sure you wouldn't want a snake wondering about your house." Reece knew he had struck home when Vernon paled, Harry was going to get new clothes.

"He will also need a wash kit as he will need to shower before he comes back. Today was just setting up but some of the animals can be extremely messy, I guess you can imagine the state we will be in when we are finished on some days and we have a shower at the shop so he won't have to trail back here smelling like somebody had bathed him in manure. A change of clothes might be nice for him also, we will wash the dirty ones he leaves with us for the next time he will need them of course."

Reece smirked as he saw the blood run from Dursley's face. He wouldn't be able to hit his nephew anymore as it would be likely that the marks would be seen. He would have to buy the boy clothes, treat him well. Or well enough anyway, they didn't have much of a choice now as they knew Harry would be watched very closely.

"Very well," Vernon nodded his understanding, somehow he knew this person knew more than he let on. He had a feeling he was one of those freaks like those who had left the little weirdo on his step in the first place. Vernon shuddered to think about what they would do to him if they found out how the boy was treated.

"One more thing Mr Dursley," Reece spoke out before the door could be slammed in his face.

"Yes?"

"Harry seems to be intimidated by sudden movements, I think you should have that checked out. It could be that he's being bullied at school or something, I've tried to talk to him about it, but he doesn't seem to. " Reece stared at the monstrosity of a man before him, "maybe you, as his family, would be kind enough to do something about it. Talk to the school maybe."

Vernon got the message loud and clear. "Of course, we'll do all we can."


	9. Chapter 9

A month passed by with extraordinary speed. Harry quickly became comfortable with Reece and Sebastian and spent the majority of his time with them. Even his birthday, which had passed about a week after he had been working for them. Harry shed tears of joy at being bought a gift from the two of them. It wasn't much, just a trinket box that he could put his things in, but it was more than he had ever had before. He didn't realise that it was in fact magical, able to withstand most spells and jinxes and only he, Harry would ever be able to open it. Reece and Sebastian figured they would tell him sometime after they told him he was a wizard.

Reece was surprised to find out that even the Dursley's had bought something for Harry, albeit only clothes. It was still the first time they had even bought him anything even if it was more than likely out of his own pay check.

But Harry's birthday was also the signal that it was only a year until the boy got to go to Hogwarts. Meaning that the two men only had a year to go until Harry had to know everything they had planned to teach him.

Reece couldn't think of a better way to get to teach Harry everything than to have him practically live with them, bringing Reece to the front door of Harry's relatives yet again. Only this time it was Petunia who answered the door.

"Mrs Dursley, a pleasant surprise, I have only spoken to your husband before. I am Reece, the owner of the pet shop your nephew comes and works at," Reece gave a small bow, trying to mollify the woman as much as possible. "I'm afraid I've come to ask a bit of a favour."

Reece soon saw the narrowing of the eyes that usually meant Petunia was extremely wound up about something, "and what favour would this be."

Reece noticed that neither of the Dursley's liked to use his name, maybe he reminded them of their nephew, but they could hardly start calling him 'boy' now could they? He wondered deep down if they, or he, had been cursed. "Nothing too drastic, you see one of the animals at the shop has been taken ill. He's well, or should be now, but doesn't seem to be responding to anybody and Harry is usually so good with him."

"The animal will not be staying in my house-"

"No - no, of course not. I am aware that your son is allergic," Petunia continued to glare at the stranger, wondering what the man could possibly want. "No, I was wondering if you would allow us to care for Harry while he cares for the animal. She's a beautiful creature, truly and it would be a shame for her to pass because she is not eating. I just want to try everything Mrs Dursley. I promise we will take good care of your nephew, he can come and see you everyday if you wish. But Aliyah, the Macaw I could need Harry to look after, only seems to respond to him, it really is amazing although a little inconvenient."

Petunia stared at him for a while, obviously weighing up the pro's and con's of having her nephew out of the house. On the one hand, she wouldn't have to have him around, they couldn't really get him to do any of the house work now he was working at the pet shop the entire time. He would be away from her Diddykins, so she wouldn't have to worry about Dudley contracting some of the magic, nor would she have to worry about him blowing up the house or something like it.

On the other hand, Harry would be going with these people. Strange people who seemed to know a lot more than they let on. They would care for the boy, show him love probably and Harry might tell them secrets, secrets about what he could do, what they had done to him, the chores they made him do and then the wizards would come after them. They were meant to be taking care of the boy after all. Not treating him like royalty, no. But not treat him as bad as he had been, it was all in that damn letter.

"He may go with you," she told him.

"Great, would you like me to help pack his things?" Reece saw the panic in Petunia's eyes, so Harry was still sleeping under the stairs then.

"No, no, I'd rather you bought him back with you later, after he has finished work, so we can… say goodbye and he can collect his things, then you may take him." Reece almost rolled his eyes at the idea of this woman saying goodbye to her nephew, let alone her not knowing where his things are, if he had any of course. "How long will he be with you by the way?"

"Hopefully not too long, five days? A week. When will you need him back?"

"He returns to school a week on Wednesday, teachers training or some such nonsense. Bring him back Tuesday night it you would, no later as he needs to be ready for school. There will be no need to bring him back unless he gets upset about not being here of course. We wouldn't want him to be home sick now would we," Petunia's face clearly shown how unlikely she thought it was that her nephew would want to come back, or how annoyed she would be if he did.

"Not a problem milady, we shall be back at around six o'clock. Thank you so very much for this. I'm sure Aliyah will very much appreciate it."

Petunia knew that from then on Harry wouldn't be able to stop in his cupboard. The man… Reece? He seemed a lot like someone she once new, someone who was the same as the little freak she had to have living with her.

No, the boy would have to go in Dudley's second bedroom. Maybe if they gave it to him now he wouldn't mention ever sleeping under the stairs. Even if he did he wouldn't have any proof about it. No, all of his things would be moved upstairs before he returned this evening and the brat would be grateful for it.

* * *

When Harry returned that evening with Reece he was ushered upstairs by Petunia. Reece was left with the company of Vernon Dursley while the mini version of himself confusedly followed his aunt.

It had been ages since he had set foot in the place. He never really realised how much it changed over the years. Petunia must have drove Vernon mad with the amount of redecorating that took place.

In the time it took for Harry and Petunia to 'say goodbye', Reece manage to put Vernon on edge. Deciding to reminisce, Reece decided to tell a few stories about his childhood, changing them slightly, and turning himself into a 'friend'. A 'friend' who had to be taken into care because of the way his parents treated him. Locking him in his room and starving him for days on end, he told about how the little boy used to sneak food out of the fridge at night, how he was caught and hit a few times. Eventually got onto the part of the parents being taken into custody, eventually being jailed. How they got put in certain wings and how they were killed for abusing a child. (This of course was before the Vulnerable People's act came in, segregating child 'vulnerable people' from the other inmates.) He mentioned how of course they were tortured first, whether this be through being hit, snide comments made at them, even down to hearing white noises every night while trying to sleep.

Needless to say, Vernon Dursley went a lovely shade of moss green by the time Harry and Petunia to rejoin them.

* * *

It took ten minutes for Harry to return with a bag (obviously new), full of items the little one had probably never seen before. The look of bewilderment on the his face almost had Reece bursting out in laughter.

The little tyke caught one look at his Uncles face and sent a questioning look at Reece. He hoped that Reece hadn't been too horrible to Uncle Vernon as he would be the one to pay for it after. But then again, somehow Reece had managed to get him new clothes, a new bag and for them to leave him alone. Yeah, he still slept in his cupboard, (well maybe not from now on), but he wasn't locked in there anymore! Did Reece and Sebastian manage to change his relatives?

Petunia merely looked worried, but she had an idea what this was bout. Vernon had been saying for a while that he thought the two strange men were suspicious of them. Obviously this Reece fellow had said something to Vernon, something to upset him , if this man thought he could do any better raising the child then he could do so! He could have him for the week and she would see if he would have him again.

Reece watched the reactions to what he had created with a smug look. "Come then Harry, I want to see if you can get Aliyah to have some fruit before bed and you haven't had time for tea yet either. I think we'll get a take away, does Chinese sound good?" Reece smiled when the young man flashed him a grin, "thank you for this Mr Dursley, Mrs Dursley. Here is my home address and phone number if you need to contact me. The works number's at the bottom as well."

* * *

The October half term was spent mainly in the house or at the shop. Both Reece and Seb loved having Harry around, but they wanted to give the young man more, they wanted to start his training and take him to the wizarding world. Neither of which they could do until Harry showed his powers to them.

The first two days Harry was with them he showed no sign that he was any different to anybody around them. He woke up ridiculously early in the morning and tried to cook breakfast for them. This was until Sebastian found him and told him he could find food to have a light snack on, but he was to wait until Reece or himself was awake to cook breakfast and he had better leave room for it.

Harry had got upset about this, thinking he wouldn't be able to stay with them for the remainder of the week and apologised profusely. This was until Reece came down, calming the quivering child, offering reassurance and care. Sebastian simply gave Reece a look that said 'we need to talk about this.'

And they did. That night when Harry went to bed, Reece and Sebastian spent a few hours, talking about Reece's past. "I was always made to believe that I was an inconvenience for them. And I guess I was, they had their perfect little bubble. Aunt Petunia had forgot about mum and was happily married to her husband. They had a son, who in their eyes was perfect, they were happy.

"Then I got dumped with them and Aunt Petunia had to relive all the jealousy and hatred she felt for my mother. She wanted to be special like her, wrote to Hogwarts to see if she could go too. But she just wasn't magical, Dumbledore wrote to her explaining who she couldn't. But she hated Mum since. Therefore, when i turned up on her doorstep, she hated me."

Seb had looked at Reece, bafflement in his features, "it hardly seems fair to ate a child because of their parents."

The irony of Seb saying this was not lost on Reece, but instead of commenting (he would not blame the younger version for the mistakes of his older self), he ploughed on. "Anyway, they always made me do things, do chores mainly. i can remember doing them since I was three. It started with cleaning and grew from there. By five I could make spaghetti and meatballs.

"When I didn't finish my chores or did something they considered wrong, they would lock me in the cupboard under the stairs and I'd go without food. I was hit by Petunia for as long as I could remember, she always found a reason to smack me. But the first time I got hit by Vernon was when I was seven and I turned my teachers wig blue.

"Seriously, I think she was having an affair with Uncle Vernon 'cause she would always praise him and compare us against each other. I always worked better than him, always got higher marks, my handwriting was neater - even though that is hard to believe. He had never hit me before though, not even when I managed to replace the blackboard rubber of my other teacher with a spider. I'd like to really ind out though..." He trailed off, memories overcoming him.

Seb cleared his throat, "what about after?"

"After?" Reece questioned, almost as though he had forgot what they were talking about, "oh, after was pretty much the same. When I was eleven I got upgraded to a bedroom instead of the cupboard, but I was always made to do chores, always blamed for Dudleys faults, left with the neighbors, hit, locked away. I was told if I didn't do as they asked then I would find myself homeless. I was told I was lucky to be fed and any complaints were treated with a hit and a rant about how ungrateful I was. It wasn't until the summer after first year, when I went to visit the Weasleys did I realise how wrongly I was treated. They welcomed me with open arms, like I was one of the family and all sounded disgusted with how I was treated. I assumed they were right to treat me that way because I wasn't theres, you know? But if the Weasley's could treat me as they did, why didn't my relatives?"

* * *

The second day almost bought the first argument between Seb and Reece. Reece was cooking a beautiful pasta dish for them and had gotten Seb to dish up. Reece had turned around to ask a question about the sauce when he saw the other dripping something into the pasta that was to be Harry's.

"What do you think you're doing?" Reece asked, his voice calm but eyes burning a brilliant Jade.

Seb looked a little guilty, trying to hide the bottle, "No-"

"Don't you dare tell me nothing!" Reece hissed at him, mindful of Harry in the other room.

Seb breathed out a sign, eyes fixed to the floor, he handed Reece the bottle, "it's a nutrient potion. I thought it would help him being at those muggles house. It will make him grow and if he's forced not to eat, it won't effect him as much." Looking at the ground Seb was surprised to find himself with a rather short young man attached to him. It was a weird sensation. Yes they had to share a room together while Harry was here, strangely both men were comfortable with it, and more often than none they would wrapped around each other, but this was in the day, a conscious thought to touch each other. "I had the impression that you weren't fond of being smaller than most, I assumed Harry would feel the same. I…"

"Why did you keep this from me?" Reece asked, his eyes wide, his arms still attached to Seb's waist.

"I don't know."

"How long?"

"Since he started working for us, I laced his favourites with them," Seb rolled his eyes, his hands placed gently over Reece's arms.

Seb received a strange look from Reece and gaped when he heard Reece say to him, "bless you, you idiot," before walking out with his own meal and Harry's.

* * *

The third day finally bought what they had been looking for. Harry had gotten up early, as per usual and headed downstairs. He was comfortable with Seb and Reece now, knowing the two men would never harm him, he had spoken a lot to them, even told them little things about the Dursley's. They seemed to believe everything he had told them, not once telling him he was a liar. They even seemed to try to comfort him about it, without them being overbearing and making him uncomfortable.

Of course he hadn't told them that he had slept under the stairs for all of his life and that, until they came along, all of his clothes were from his cousin. He had a feeling that they would believe him, but he really needed to test the waters first, so he had told them that they didn't like him as much as they liked his cousin. That they made him do a lot of work.

He was wondering if he should mention the hand me down clothes when his stomach started growling at him, informing him he was very much hungry. Reece and Seb weren't up yet and he wasn't allowed to cook breakfast here so he went about searching the kitchen for suitable breakfast food. He knew there was a biscuit tin somewhere.

Getting annoyed when he couldn't find them, he simply asked aloud, "for God's sake, where are they?" Causing a cupboard to open above the cooker. Harry scowled up at them and quickly glanced around him. He knew he could get them if he wanted them, but the nice men he was living with might not want him anymore if they saw him using his freakiness.

He stared up at the digestives, he really was hungry and in a split second, decided to use… whatever it was he could do to pull them down.

Reece caught a glimpse of what Harry had did and entered the kitchen clapping, beaming from ear to ear, causing the young man to pale drastically.

"I'm sorry!" The young man practically sobbed, "I won't do it again, don't hurt me, please."

Reece stopped in his tracks and sat on the floor next to the young man. "Don't worry Harry, I'm not going to hurt you, in fact, I'm very impressed." Reece smiled kindly as Harry looked at him in disbelief, "do you know what it is called that you can do?" He asked, nudging the startled boy with his shoulder, receiving a shake of the head in return. "It's magic and you know what? Me and Seb can do it too. I'll show you some of mine now, but you might need to wait for Seb to have his coffee before he shows you his."

Harry practically bounced in his place as he watched Reece flick his wrist and make the coasters on the table float about. He watched in fascination as balls of light were created and the walls in the kitchen changed colour.

"This means you're part of our world now Harry, you're a wizard, just like me and just like Seb. We'll teach you as much as we can if your ok with that, maybe talk to your aunt and uncle about having you stay here more often, hmmm?"

Seb entered at that moment, raising an eyebrow at all the floating objects. Seb grunted at them, "if were allowed to use magic now, maybe you can flick your wrist at the kettle and make me a coffee," he sat at the kitchen table and summoned the newspaper to himself, before drowning in the stories. He didn't want to make too much of a big deal out of this.

Harry's eyes flitted between Seb and Reece with wide eyed longing, "so… so I- I'm not a fr- freak?"

"No Harry of course not." Seb told him sternly form the table, nose buried in pages of black and white.

"I'm not a freak!" The young man yelled, jumping to his feet, "I'm not a freak, they were wrong!"


	10. Chapter 10

The remainder of the week was spent teaching Harry the basics of magic and assuring him he was not a freak, what he could do was natural and he should be proud of it. Reece and Sebastian gave the child plenty of encouragement when Harry showed them what he could do. Reece almost broke a rib laughing when Harry showed them he could apparate.

"You never told me y-he could do that!" Seb shouted in excitement and shock, "why did you not tell me." Catching Harry's fearful look, Seb rushed to assure the youngster, "Harry, that is very, very good magic. That is better than normal, a lot of adult wizards can't apparate like you just did! I'm so proud of you." The glow in Harry's eyes was worth the little bit of sentimentality.

The two began to explain the workings of the wizarding world in child's terms, explaining about how some children were bought up. Harry soaked up everything they had to offer him and more. He was soon asking questions, eventually bringing up the one they dreaded.

"If I'm a wizard, weren't my parents wizards?" Harry asked curiously, receiving an affirmative from Reece and Seb, "so how did they get killed in a car crash, why didn't they apparate themselves out?"

Reece and Seb had talked about this before but wasn't expecting the question to come so soon. Taking a breath, Reece prepared his answer. "Harry, your aunt and uncle lied when they told you your parents died in a car crash. No, they are not still alive," Reece rushed to tell him as he saw the hope shine in the young mans eyes. "Your parents were good people Harry, but not all people were good. Some people are bad. A few years ago there was a wizard who was as bad as you can get, he was an evil man who liked to kill people. Your parents didn't want to join him, so he killed them."

Harrys eyes were huge as he stared up at Reece, "what about me?"

Reece looked back at him with sad eyes, knowing exactly how this would effect the young man. "Oh, Harry. He tried to kill you too, but because your parents died trying to save you, they build a sort of protection around you. It made the mans curse bounce of you and hit him instead." Reece knew it would be hard to explain this, especially to a ten year old who had only just learnt about the wizarding world.

"So the man's dead now?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No sweety, he's not dead, but he won't be able to harm you either. At the minute he is just a spirit, a spirit in Albania where he can't hurt anybody," Reece rushed to assure the little man. He just hoped he could get to Voldemort and Quirrell before Harry did anything stupid when he got to Hogwarts. They really did need to persuade him to become a Slytherin, at least so they can keep him away from the evil insane one.

Harry simply gulped and gave them a nod, asking if he was allowed to go to his room. They, of course, let him, knowing the boy needed to get the grief out of his system. He obviously wanted to be alone to do so and who were they to refuse his wish?

* * *

Even after that conversation Harry seemed to enjoy the idea of going to the wizarding world and was promised a trip to Diagon Alley at some point in the future. But soon the day for Harry's return to the Dursley's came round and Harry became extremely upset.

Seb smiled down at his little friend, he really did enjoy Harry's company, and set out to reassure him. "Don't worry little one, myself and Reece have a plan I'm sure you will love, now stop fidgeting!"

Harry sulked as he walked between the two men who he had quickly become to see as older brothers. He really liked the two of them, they were cool for grown ups, and didn't want to leave them. He would live with them forever if he could.

As they reached number four, Reece felt Harry tense up beside him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The boy was shivering by the time Seb knocked on the door for it to be answered by the bulky figure of Vernon Dursley.

"Mr Dursley, so good to see you again, I trust you've had a good holiday?" Reece's words left his mouth before the whale of a man before him had time to process them, "we have much to discuss with you Mr. Dursley, none of which would be wise to speak about on your doorstep, would you mind if we came in?"

Vernon was so shocked he moved without thinking, allowing the two strange men entrance before he registered what he was doing. "Erm… right, follow me."

Reece, Seb and Harry followed Vernon in to the sitting room, the former tittering behind his hand at his uncles actions. When they were sat Reece jumped straight to the point. "Mr Dursley, as you may or may not have noticed, your nephew is very capable at doing certain things," Reece took the time to admire how the huge mans face went from red to puce within a two second period. "We have seen the skills he is capable of and assume you have probably had some trouble with keeping such skills under control at times. It wouldn't be surprising at all, we all have trouble keeping our emotions in check, right?" Reece knew mentioning the word magic this early on would be cause for a complete blow up and produce them with a one way ticket out of the house, without Harry.

Reece sat and watched as his uncle processed the information he had been given, just as he registered that Seb and Reece were actually quite used to seeing magic performed, Reece quickly moved on, "well, we have just the solution for you. You see me and Sebastian here have quite a few of the same skills as your nephew. Seb here even has a mastery while I am quite the accomplished duellist, we could both teach little Harry here to control his skills, he spends a lot of time with us anyway. If you would like, he could stop with us on weekends and we could train him to control what he can use." Reece laughed, a fake one that was enough to put Vernon's airs on end. "I mean, the little tyke could probably do anything, he doesn't even need to use a wand which most children do at his age. He could probably blow the house up if he was angry enough!" Reece chortled as Harry paled beside him. His uncle was going to kill him!

Seb smirked at Reece's antics, it may have sounded like over excited babbling to anyone else, but to the well trained ear, it was so much more. In one fell swoop Reece had threatened Dursley and given him a way out. A way out that would be extremely appealing as they wouldn't have to spend as much time with the 'freak' under their roof.

"How would this work?" Vernon eventually asked, obviously picking up on the threats. Reece had cleverly mentioned his expertise at causing pain and not told the man what Severus' mastery was in, potions didn't sound very intimidating after all. People often forgot that potions included poisons as well as antidotes, not to mention he could turn people into things with them… like a whale, Dursley would make a good whale.

"Well, if Harry comes to us straight after school we can teach him little things then," Seb decided to join in on the conversation, knowing this would be his better area, "meditation techniques and such to control his magic. Of course, if he becomes good at this it means he will be able to call on his magic when he wants it. He would be able to use magic whenever he wants instead of when he is feeling very strong emotions. This means you wouldn't find him on top of the school roof, but you might find the bully up there instead, if you know what I mean," here Seb glared at the obese man in front of him, the warning clear, you leave Harry alone and all will be well.

"We could also have him on a weekend to further his training, he could come to us Fridays after school and we could bring him back Sunday evening. Of course he will have all of his homework done by then. He would learn a lot about our world this way and not ask you guys questions you won't be able to answer all of the time." Seb's voice was also hypnotising as he explained everything, making the offer sound a lot better than it was. Reece forgot how much that voice used to terrify him yet make him defiant at the same time. It seemed that Seb's voice wasn't as different from his older counter parts at all. His older counterpart had now decided to use it frequently and with different reasons.

Harry could see the cogs turning in Vernon's mind. It took him a while to process the information and even then he couldn't come to a full decision. "Petunia!" He called, hoping against hope she was in the house, he stood and followed the 'yes dear' he got in return, with a sigh of relief.

Reece and Seb smiled down at Harry, who was looking at them as though they were his saviours. "You really want me with you?" He whispered, hope and awe evident in his voice.

"Yes," Reece rushed to reassure him, brushing fingers through his small counterparts hair, "we would have you all the time, but do you remember me telling you about your mum and dad dying to protect you?" He received a nod, "well by coming here it gives you extra protection. It's like the difference in the three pigs between a house made of straw and a house made of bricks."

Seb's brow furrowed at the reference, he had heard that story somewhere before and wondered where. Just as he was about to ask, Vernon returned with his wife.

"You want to take him," Petunia asked, hands on her hips.

Reece smiled, "not indefinitely, we know of the protections you and he get from being here. We just wish to have him with us as often as possible to help train him up, let him know as much as possible."

"You will have him back by eight every night and take him on weekends. You can also have him on school holidays. It's about time someone from your world decided to step up and tell him what's going on. He's asked us nothing but questions that we can't answer and uses his magic in ways that we can't explain away easily and none of your lot have helped us."

Reece was shocked, he could see now why the family had resented him so much. If muggle born children did accidental magic, the minds of those present were wiped, false images were implanted and the parents were told of their child's gifts. Obviously the Dursley's weren't getting such help. He must have caused a lot of awkward situations when he was younger, not that that made their treatment of him right. But it helped him understand a little.

He had been left here with an insanely jealous aunt and an uncle who didn't have a clue. Neither of them knew how to raise a magical child and neither were getting help either. If he had been doing 'freakish' things since he had been little, then it was no wonder why they tried to 'squash the magic out of him'. They probably saw it as for the best to get rid of the magic that they couldn't cope with.

Reece nodded at Petunia in understanding, "we understand, we shall see you after school tomorrow then Harry."

* * *

That night, found the two men lying in bed together. "Seb?"

"Hmm?"

"I miss Harry."

Seb turned over, a furrow in his brow. "I forgot he wasn't here," he turned to remove himself from the room, going back to his own. He had gotten used to sleeping with a body next to him.

"Where are you going?"

"Back into my room," Seb answered simply.

"Don't," Reece reached out and grabbed Seb's wrist, "I sleep better with you here," he told the baffled potions master as he dragged him into bed. "Less nightmares," he explained as he wrapped his legs up in the others, "plus your comfy." And he was, having Seb stay with him was like when Draco or Hermione used to soothe him during his nightmares. He kept them at bay. Having someone next to him reminded him of where he was. He was always alone in the nightmares.

Seb stared wide eyed at the ceiling before allowing his eyes to fall shut, the warm weight on his chest encouraging sleep. It was the first time they had consciously got into position. It was a little scary, but Seb liked it.


	11. Chapter 11

Reece and Sebastian soon found all of their time taken up by a little tyke called Harry Potter. Neither of them minded as he was a delight to have around, he worked hard on his studies and did the few chores he was asked to do without question.

He was - not happy - but content at the Dursley's. The poor child was practically ignored form the time he walked through the door until the time he left for school. But it was ok with him, because now he had Reece and Seb. The two of them taught him things, made him work hard, but also let him have fun, talked to him and encouraged questions. Harry had never been allowed to ask questions before and he never got answers. Seb and Reece gave him answers, most of the time. When they didn't answer him, they explained that a) they didn't know and then they would work on the answer together, or b) they thought it wasn't a good time for him to know and assured him he would be told when he was older. Which was good, he knew they weren't lying, he knew there were some things children shouldn't know and accepted that.

He enjoyed Christmas with the two men he had soon come to see as a cross between Uncles and older brothers. They had bought him a few books that explained the basics of the wizarding to him, sort of like the … for dummies books. They were for children really, young children that had grown up with wizards that gave really basic information on just about anything. Reece had bought him a fantastic one about magical creatures while Seb had bought him a basic potions set that was to be kept in his room under his bed unless he was using it. He was only to use it with Seb, Reece admitted to not being very good with potions in general, he could only produce healing ones but wouldn't go into detail why.

Harry had read all of his books within a month, which Reece and Sebastian found amusing and amazing. They were also very excited as it meant that Harry would be able to be taught more than they thought. They continued with the basic lessons though, they didn't want to teach him too much of what would be taught at Hogwarts as they didn't want him to become bored and disruptive in lessons. So they taught him on other topics, how to hold a wand, use a quill, occlumency, wandless magic (mainly floating things and summoning things) and wizarding etiquette. They didn't teach the latter the same way a pureblood child would be taught, but just enough so he would know how and why people acted around him, and enough for him to be able to use it himself and be accepted. They also taught him to use his brain in situations and not go and jump head first into situations.

This proved to be quite easy. Reece explained his previous 'saving people thing', Seb had put it down to not having acceptance or love from anyone when he was younger, meaning he craved it when he was older and would do almost anything for it. By saving people, he was trying to get their love, or hold onto it. Reece now had Seb and Harry, so any 'saving people thing' would probably be for them, but that wouldn't happen this time, they had taught him well.

He had been given a few lessons on Hogwarts, where some of the secret passages were and how to get to the kitchens and such. He was also taught how the housing system worked.

"That's stupid!" He told Seb when he explained how he would be sorted when he got there. "They should put the years together! We're split into set's at school so people who are really clever go together for Maths and English and the ones who struggle go together, we're all together for art and stuff. We have a tutor group and have friendly competitions between the houses. Like me and Dudley, we're in the same class, but he's in Sandringham and I'm in Balmoral. There's also Craigowan and Delnadamph houses. On sports days we play against each other and whichever house gets the most house points at the end of the year gets to go on a trip. There's also a school team so we can play against different schools. Anyone can play in those teams. We have a netball team, a football team, a basketball team, a rounder's team…" Harry's rant had continued for a good ten minutes about how good his school was compared to how stupid Hogwarts houses were and how Harry would change the school if he were in charge.

Harry began to make friends at school when Dudley was told to leave him alone by his parents. A shock for both Harry and his over large cousin. He didn't have many friends, but had got know a little boy who had autism and was socially awkward. Reece was both saddened and ecstatic that Harry had got to know the little boy. He really was happy for Harry and was more than happy for him to make friends, but he knew the little boy also had a brain tumour and would die just after Harry would start Hogwarts. It would be a lot for the little man to take.

They had taken to Harry to Diagon Alley a few times, always in disguise. It was always funny to watch Harry when being attacked with makeup and Seb really did feel sorry for him, but transfigurations and charms could be seen through and would draw suspicion to them. They mainly went to hep Harry practice some of what they had taught him on wizarding etiquette and for him to get used to the world. It was good for him to see the workings of the world, not to mention getting used to wearing robes.

The first time they had put Harry in a pair of robes he had fidgeted from the time he had them on till the time he took them off. It amused Reece to no end, he remembered having the same issues, but it annoyed Seb enough for him to walk away from the 'bloody idiots'.

Thanks to Seb's potions and Harry's new eating habits, Harry had continued to grow, faster than most children could manage. There were many night's the young lad was woken up with growing pains, cramp attacking his legs and sometimes his arms. Seb had taught Harry how to massage the muscle to stop the pain from being overbearing and given him some muscle relaxants for when he was at the Dursley's. So they had gone out, yet again, to buy Harry some more robes and muggle clothing. They never got him to many sets at a time, it was pointless.

It was on this journey to Diagon Alley that Harry had his first look at what a pureblood child was made to act like. Harry had entered Madam Malkin's and stood on the stool as he was bid. She was just seeing to another young man with ridiculously bright blonde hair and a pointy face. Seb and Reece had entered the shop with him, but had soon scampered off. Reece to shop and Seb to probably hide, he hated shopping with Reece. Harry thought they were funny.

Harry, busy looking at his two friends? Guardians? Whatever they were, hardly paid any attention to the boy beside him. "Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy, I don't believe I've seen you around before. What's your name?" The blondes voice was a drawl and screamed 'I think your beneath me'.

Harry grinned, it was his first attempt at conversing with people like he had been told about. He knew if he played it right, he would make a new friend. Sticking his nose up a little, still grinning, he simply told the boy, "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

"Really?" The blonde cocked an eyebrow, mildly impressed with how the other lad was talking to him. Most people grovelled at his feet because of who he was, or hated him. This boy did neither, "why don't you try me?"

"Fine," Harry leaned forward on his stool and whispered into the blondes ear, "I'm Harry Potter."

Draco chuckled, "you expect me to believe that? You look nothing like him! I've seen pictures, if you were him, you'd have dark hair and a scar."

Harry smirked, a look that shocked Draco. "It's a wonder what muggle products can do to change your appearance, especially with those two around," he told his new acquaintance. "They really are a force of nature."

"Are they your parents?" Draco asked as Madam Malkin dragged a robe over his head, making the question come out muffled.

"No, they're um… it's complicated. I live with muggles, when my parent's died I was sent to live with my aunt, she doesn't know much about magic. So they help me, they teach me about our world. You wouldn't believe that just three months ago I knew nothing about this world. I thought I was a freak because I could make stuff happen, you know?" Harry didn't realise how much he had opened up to the other until the blonde cleared his throat and looked awkward. "You're feeling awkward because you like me and you've just learned I'm a half blood." Harry stated, startling his companion.

Draco hurried to assure him, "no, no! It's just… I was told you were living somewhere safe and happy. I thought you were living with an old wizarding family, like the Longbottom's or the Bones'."

Harry smiled, he knew most of the world would think this about him, Reece had said so. "I assure you it's nothing like that. I live with my aunt and uncle and spend most of my time with Seb and Reece."

The two boys talked until Draco's clothing was finished and he had to go and find his father.

"You're going on your own? Where are your parent's?"

Draco scowled, "Mother is in the apothecaries, she needs her make up supplies of course. I'll probably have to wait an hour before she's finished. Erm, Harry, would it be ok if I owled you?"

Harry grinned at his new friend. "Sure, erm, you can't send it to my house though, you'll have to send it to Reece and Seb's. Reece, Reece! Come here, I know you were probably listening. I need your address."

Reece came out an unrepentant smile on his face. "Of course I was listening, can't have you telling everyone who you are. What if someone else was about, I'd have had to silence you."

Harry half scowled, half smiled at Reece, "I guess you're right, so can I give your address to Draco?"

"Sure you can! Erm, give me a sec," Harry glanced at Draco, who was staring at Reece with wide eyes. Harry knew why, Reece wasn't exactly the most normal of adults, he had even been open about having to silence Harry. Reece had used magic on Harry a few times, but never anything to harm him, he had stuck him to the ceiling before when Harry was in the way when he was cleaning. Harry had retaliated by turning Reece's clothes pink. Harry then had to walk around with Reece in pink clothes all day, much to his mortification. Seb had stayed away form both of them that day. "Looks like we'll have to get an owl if your going to be sending letters. You can have your own for your birthday though."

Draco had left the shop with a shocked goodbye when he was given the address to contact Harry with. He had always been curious about the boy who lived and he seemed to be nothing like what Draco had expected. He had even managed to shock Draco. But Draco liked him, even if his father wouldn't like the idea, Draco was going to write to Harry Potter, he was going to be his friend.

Reece and Seb ended up buying a sooty eagle owl who Seb immediately name Erebus, assuming that Harry would name him something stupid. Seb was actually mildly impressed when he found out Reece had named his previous owl Hedwig, but had already given Erebus his name by this time and the owl seemed to like it.

* * *

Seb and Reece's relationship was odd to say the least. They found themselves spending a lot of time in each others presence, even when it wasn't needed and not only that enjoying the others company. They both continued to share the same bed, even when Harry was at his aunt and uncles house. Neither mentioned it and continued on with their routine.

Reece spent many nights talking to Seb about all he had been through, about what happened in _his_ past. What could potentially happen in the future. Seb needed to know after all and Seb was a curious one and usually had many questions. Tonight was one of those nights.

"Reece?" Seb's voice penetrated the night as the two got ready for bed.

"Hmm?

"I know why we are trying to keep Harry away from Ronald Weasley, but why are we keeping him from his younger sister as well?"

Reece sighed, he didn't understand it either when fate had first thought about it, but after a bit of time, he believed he had come to the correct answer. "Ron and Ginny were the two youngest siblings in their family, they were close. Ginny was my girlfriend for a little while in school, she was a good woman, a good friend. But if Harry gets close to her, he will get close to Ron. We must keep Harry away from him Seb. I can't have him going through what I did, I can't!"

Reece couldn't believe when his voice caught and he chocked out the last word. It was painful to think that Ron had turned is back on them all, it still hurt like hell. Reece found himself pulled into a strong set of arms, "shhh, come on, it's ok. We'll change it this time," it felt strange to be comforted by someone, but it helped nevertheless. "Harry will be fine, you'll be fine. We can do this."

Reece let Sebastian's babbling wash over him and soothe him. When he had finally calmed down enough, Seb asked the question that had been irritating him for a while now. A question that he was almost afraid to ask. "Reece. What actually happened between you and this Ron fellow?"

Reece sat on the edge of the bed after pulling away from Seb, taking a moment to calm himself. He shook his head, holding up a hand to Seb as the other began to say something, showing he would answer, he just needed to organise his thoughts.

"Ron has always been the jealous sort. He never felt lucky for what he had and he always wanted more..." Reece allowed his voice to trail off for a moment as he thought about how to proceed. "The first time I should have realised what he was like was on the train as we went to Hogwarts. But I was just an eleven year old, emotionally stunted boy who would do anything to get friends. So, instead of telling him he was an idiot, I comforted him. He moaned that he had no money, his things were second hand, but the amount of love he got from his family was immense. But it wasn't enough for him."

Reece let his head fall forwards onto his chest as he began panting slightly. "In second year, his sister had taken a fancy to me. He was jealous of that. He didn't say anything, but I could tell. He pushed her away, couldn't even tell when she was being possessed. Put it down to some cat dying, said she was a cat person.

"Really though, it was fourth year when things fell into place. My name came out of the Triwizard cup and he thought I had done it myself. I mean sure I probably had the power to confund the cup into thinking it had to choose four champions instead of three, but where would I have got the know how from?" Rolling his eyes, Reece seemed to immerse himself into his tail. "He went against me, accused me of ridiculous things, said I was an attention seeker. Yeah right! I hated the attention. All me and Harry will ever want is to be normal. Me and Draco didn't even like each other at the time, but even he never once said anything about me putting my name into the goblet, you'd think my best friend would come to the same conclusion wouldn't you?"

Reece laughed a little Hysterically and continued, almost monotonously, "You'd have thought though, that when he abandoned me and Hermione on our horcrux hunt, I would have realised exactly what kind of person he was. The horcrux liked him more than us, attached itself to him. It enjoyed being around him. It always seemed... happier somehow when it was his turn to have it and disappointed when he took it off.

"It makes sense now of course. He had evil in him, the horcrux liked that. Me and Hermione were too good for it. It didn't want us, didn't effect us."

Reece's shoulders slumped, "he resented me. After the battle, he thought I wasn't strong enough to defeat Voldemort. I didn't even have the chance." He shook his head, looking almost defeated, "everyone came to me for advice, for guidance in what to do next. I was only seventeen! There were adults, loads of them! They all wanted my advice, all wanted me to make up their minds for them. So I took on the responsibility that none others dared to. I took on the role of head of the Order of the Phoenix."

Into his story, Reece hadn't noticed that Seb had leaned in closer, was hanging on his every word. He was lost. Lost to a world that was far beyond Seb. Reece shuddered and continued, "we all moved to Grimmauld place, Hogwarts was in shambles, it was hardly standing. Voldemort had gained the help of giants and acromantula, he blasted the castle. So we moved to Grimmauld. It was big enough to fit everyone at the time and it ws already set p for our uses.

"Shortly after I took over a factory near here, the furniture one a few streets down and began setting up a safe house as such. We had begun taking muggleborns from their homes as soon as they showed any sign of magic and was running out of places to put them quickly. We got the information from a scroll Dumbledore used to have in his office. When a child showed signs of magic, he or she was wrote down on the list. It was ingenious really, but the Death Eaters must have had something similar, they always seemed to be there." Reece began hugging himself as the words sprang from his mouth. "It was only six months after the battle, we lost so many, when Ron decided enough was enough."

"I asked him, well maybe I was a bit commanding, but I had to organise everything! Whatever, I asked him to go and get a family who were probably being targeted. There were so many that day. I was probably a little snappy. He started shouting at me, told me I was demanding, that I thought I was better than everybody else and asked who I thought I was to be giving out orders the way I did. When I told him that I didn't ask to be put in this situation he told me that I hadn't done much to release myself from it either. But what was I supposed to do? Leave them all?"

Reece ran a tired hand over his face, "he left. Hermione and Mrs Weasley trailed after him, begging him not to go. He hit them. Both of them, told them they were walking into a death trap if they stayed here. Hermione asked where else she was meant to go and Mrs Weasley told him that this was the right side. He told them they were both idiots, that they would meet their end and he wouldn't do a thing about it."

Tears began leaking from Reece's face, leaving marks all over his face. Seb knew better in that moment than to disturb him. Eventually he began speaking again, his voice somehow steady. "They begged me to ask him to come back, but I refused. 'It's the last time he walks out on us' I told them, I couldn't take him turning away from us any more. They sobbed but understood.

"I didn't think he would go to Voldemort though. I thought he would go and be on his own for a while, he would maybe come back, just as he always did. But no, my biggest mistake of that time was assuming, assuming he wouldn't go to the people who had killed his friends and family. We were all on guard just in case something happened, but after a few weeks of nothing, we began to relax a little. We continued to plan, continued to get as many people out as we could. We had the factory set up and all our refugees were in the factory.

"He attacked midweek. We were holding a meeting about whether or not it would be forgivable to use the unforgivables in these situations. He came in, he looked nothing like his usual self, god he was so scary. He looked at us all with a dead look and told us he had someone to introduce us to. We knew we were screwed when he ad Bellatrix Lestrange with him. She summoned her Lord.

"Well, that's what we thought she did. Most of the Order apparated out as I told them to. I stayed around, but the house was soon full of death eaters. Instead of coming by himself,he had sent his Death Eaters the directions through the mark. The rest of us tried to make it out, but he managed to keep a few of us. He killed his Flitwick and Hagrid that night along with Hermione and both of his parents.

"Shortly after the death of Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron and the rest of his family were called for a meeting at the Ministry. It's funny to think at such a cruel time the Ministry would think of sorting out Wills. Charlie, George, Bill, Percy and Ginny went to the Ministry to ear the Will of their parents. The official left them in the room for a short time alone and all hell broke loose. I don't know exactly what happened, but Ron managed to kill Charlie and Percy that day.

"Ginny soon committed suicide and Bill was killed just before I was took out of the time along with Draco, McGonagall, Slughorn, Fleur and Tonks. George had died on a mission. Ron managed to kill his whole family, although I'm not sure if he was there for all of it, he at least done it inadvertently." Reece hung his head and gave out a shaky laugh. "I even wondered if he was under the imperious curse you know. I managed to trap him and perform the counter curse, but nothing happened, he just laughed at me. It was then that Ginny killed herself. She held onto the hope that Ron would come back and be the big brother she knew and loved."

Sensing the story was at an end Seb cleared his throat, "It'll work out, you know. Thing will be different this time. You did your best back then, but you will do better now, we have more time and more knowledge than you ever had before."

Reece gave Seb a watery, sleepy smile, "I certainly hope so. Come one, lets go to bed."


	12. Chapter 12

The next day passed without much event, Harry was a little put out that Draco hadn't written to him yet. That was until Reece explained about the so called protocol of waiting three days before writing. He also mentioned that Draco may be trying to keep Harry a secret from his father for the time being as Lucius used to be a Death Eater. It wouldn't do well for the boy for the father to know that he was writing to the reason his master had been vanquished.

Harry had been quiet for the majority of the day, obviously thinking about his new friend and his foray into the wizarding world. He had experienced so much this weekend, he had heard stories, but nothing was like actual experience. It made everything real at last. It was a dream no longer.

"Reece?"

Harry's tiny voice broke the man from his reverie. Startled, he looked down at his little man, it was odd that he was starting to see his younger self as a cross between his son, nephew and brother. "Hey squirt, what can I do for you?"

"I- I was just w-wondering…" Harry's voice trailed off, whatever the little man had on his mind seemed to be a big deal to him. Reece watched as the little tyke took a breath to steady himself and continued speaking, "how much do you know about my parents?"

Giving Seb a cautious look, Reece thought how best to answer that question. It wasn't a case of how well he knew them. It was a case of how he knew them in the first place that was going to be difficult to explain. "I didn't really know them personally," he watched as Harry's eyes dropped to the floor, "but I've heard a few stories about them. Quite a few actually."

Reece knew what it would mean for Harry to know about his parents, it was quite a big deal for an orphan to know where they came from. To him they were once people who had thought had once not cared enough to stay sober whilst driving with him in the car. He of course now knew that this wasn't true. He knew that his parents had died because they loved him. With that knowledge came the craving for more knowledge. The want to know more about the people who had given their last breath for him.

"Would you tell me about them?" The question was hesitant, like he was almost afraid to ask. Sometimes Harry found it hard to remember that he could ask questions without getting yelled at, especially if the question was personal. It was something Reece and Seb had to be patient with.

Reece remembered the photo album he had upstairs of their parents, should he show Harry? What if Hagrid gave him the book again at the end of his first year at Hogwarts? Would it even be possible to explain why Reece had the same book as him, with his parents pictures in too?

"Of course, I'll tell you as much as you want to know. Well, as much as I can tell you anyway." Reece felt guilt about lying to Harry, about not showing him the photo album, but the fact remained he couldn't know too much. The boy would be suspicious of them if he received the album form Hagrid, he would begin to doubt them.

Harry beamed up at him, his face creasing into a wide grin, "what were they like? Were they good people? Did they fight against Voldemort?"

"Yes they were good people and yes they fought against Voldemort. From what I've heard, your father was quite the idiot in school, he was bought up like most purebloods. Do you remember me telling you about the way Draco is probably bought up?" Harry nodded his head, "well your father wasn't bought up much different, except he wasn't taught much about blood superiority."

Harry's brow furrowed as he took in the information, "but he still had to act the same you mean? He was bought up to show he was better than everyone else? To belittle people who he thought beneath him and make allies and stuff?"

Reece nodded his head sadly, "I'm afraid that is exactly how he was bought up and while he was in school he believed it. The only person that bought your father down to earth was your mother. She was possibly one of the only people who didn't bend to his will, go chasing after him, she wasn't even nice to him. Most of the time she called him a stuck up snot and hexed when he came near her."

"Mum hexed Dad?" The shock in Harry's voice almost made Reece laugh.

"Yes, she didn't like him very much at school. He had his friends, close friends, who he would do anything for and treated mostly equally. But he also had people who he didn't feel either way about. He used to play pranks a lot on people, for the most part, he pranked everybody equally.

"He also had people he didn't like. They were usually walking targets for whatever he wanted to do unfortunately. He would hex them and start duels in the corridors with them. Most people would give back as good as they got though so it was fair play."

Reece stalled over the next bit, not particularly wanting to tell Harry this bit of information, but knowing that he would need to hear it all the same. He felt wretched telling Harry this and hoped the little man wouldn't feel horrible about his father, but it was better him finding out the truth this way than finding out through other means as he himself had done all those years ago.

He remembered being told how much like his father he was when he was younger, the pride that filled him at the thought of it. He remembered being told he was a good man, basically that the sun shone from every orifice he had. Then he had looked into the memory of Severus Snape and found out most of it had been a lie. That his father had been a bully and he preyed on Snape, that Snape had been right from the beginning, his father was arrogant and obnoxious.

From that point on it had only hurt when people had told him that he was like his father. His father had reminded him of Dudley and Dudley was someone whom he had never wished to be like. It took him time to realise that people were referring to an older version of his father, something he had only found out when he had exploded at McGonogall after he had managed to rescue a child from Greyback. She had told him that she was proud of him and his father would have been proud of him, that they were so much alike sometimes it was uncanny. Reece had told her that he wished to be nothing like his father, that the man was concieted and arrogant and a bully. She had explained that people mean the older version of James Potter when they referred of him, not the young version. They referred to the man who had finally sorted himself out in the final year at Hogwarts and became a good man, taking care of his wife and child, dying for them. The man who became a true member of The Order of the Phoenix, who risked his life to save others, who fought against Voldemort.

It was better for Harry to learn this way. A softer blow, but a blow none the less.

"He had one person that he wasn't very fond of at all. He picked on this person more than any other. He was your mothers best friend at the time and he did love her, she was his sister in all but blood. Your father didn't like this Harry, he was extremely jealous of their relationship.

"The boy was not the person you would automatically choose to be friends with if you were someone of James' standing, probably a little like you when we first met you in all honesty. Quiet, a little scruffy, very thin and very pale. Just like you he was very clever, top of his class for most things and only ever outsmarted by your mother in charms. Add into this that your mum was his best friend and you have a very jealous James Potter."

Harry looked upset at this, "he would have hated me if he met me?"

"No!" Reece rushed to assure him, "no, your father only decided he didn't like this boy because of Lily. If James had been full of himself in front of you, you would have spoken to him like you had Draco. This boy didn't know to do that, he wasn't bought up to know these things. He hexed your father and since that moment, they hated each other.

"Your father was also friends with a werewolf. He never turned his back on him, he wasn't prejudice, he just didn't like that this boy had something he didn't. He was spoiled by his parents, given whatever he wished. But unlike Draco, he was loved with it. It made him quite arrogant, loud and pig headed and it wasn't an act.

"But Harry, he grew up. He turned into a good man. He had to have changed for Lily to have fell in love with him, right?" Reece hoped he hadn't messed things up, but he also hoped to whatever deity was out there that he would get enough understanding in Harry to realise what Seb and Severus had been put through at the hands of his father. "Eventually, when Lily had hexed him enough times and turned him away even more, he came down to earth. He stopped being such an idiot and changed his ways. He thought he was the most important person at one point Harry. He went from that to laying his life down for you and your mother. He fought against Voldemort, tried to rescue as many people as he could. He was a firm believer in good, never forget that."

Harry still looked troubled, tears forming in his eyes, "why did you tell me that?"

"Would you rather I lied?" Reece asked straight away, already knowing the answer. When Harry shook his head he threw his arm around the smaller figure.

"Look, when you go to school people will tell you what a great man your father was, and he was a great _man_. He, however was not a great _boy_. There are a few people around, those that he bullied, the one boy in particular, that will never see him as anything other than that. You shouldn't be in denial about it, but neither should you be ashamed. When you're told your father was a bully, mean and horrible, you will be able to accept it and say 'yeah, he may have been, but he still died to save me. He was a idiot child, but a great man'. And when people compare you to him, you should know that they are referring to the _man_ that he was, not the boy. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded his head in understanding and grabbed hold of Reece's robes. "Who was the boy?"

Pulling Harry away from him was difficult, but he needed to look into his eyes, emeralds that were teary and heart breaking. "The boy Harry is the same man who will be teaching you potions. He is the head of Slytherin and he holds a lot of grudges. Chances are he will look at you and see your father, but you need to show him that you are not him, do I make myself clear?" Harry nodded and Reece pulled him back in for another hug, turning his eyes onto Seb.

…

Seb for what it was worth, kept quiet throughout the conversation. He had never thought of the reasons behind James Potters actions before. It seemed to slot into place thought, all of the things that were said about him, all the lies and hypocrisy that came from the idiots mouth.

Seb was always accused of stalking Lily, of craving attention, of being arrogant. James Potter was all of these things, Seb wasn't, had never been. Sure he wanted acknowledgement for his achievements, but who wouldn't? He never followed Lily around, it was always mutual agreement that had them meeting up and Seb arrogant? No, he didn't think he was arrogant. Proud, yes; confident, not really, he was aware of what he could do; powerful, quite; but arrogant? No, he wouldn't say he was arrogant. Not at all.

But Seb was clever, he knew he retained details, picked up on things easier than anybody else. He found almost anything easy, well academically anyway. Socially, he was very stunted, hardly knew how to talk to anyone and his emotions were usually under lock and key, until recently, he thought to himself, glancing over at Harry and Reece.

How was it possible that James could be jealous of that? Maybe it was just Lily he was jealous about and the rest just kind of escalated. He couldn't keep up with her on an intellectual basis, couldn't get her attention the way he always could. No, instead he broke them apart.

Seb couldn't worry about that now though, that was in the past now. Lily was dead, James was dead and here he was with their two spawns. Two spawns that, in the short time he had come to know them had buried themselves inside his heart and had welcomed him with open arms.

Lily and James were a different life, a different time. He wouldn't dwell on them. "Hey Harry, I can tell you some stories about your mum if you'd like?" Well, maybe he could a little.

…

When Harry had heard what Reece had to say about his father, it was hard. Everyone expects there parents to be gods or angels sent to protect them from hell and all. Parents were like your own personal superheroes, they were never wrong, never bad, never made mistakes.

To hear what James Potter had been like hurt, hurt more than when he thought they were drunken muggles, dying through their own stupidity. His dad wasn't superman, he wasn't perfect and he wasn't a miracle worker. He was human and wasn't that a humbling thought?

As much as he wanted Reece to stop telling him, he also wanted to listen, he wanted the truth and he wanted to know why Reece was telling him these things.

When Reece had explained it all though, it made sense to him. He understood his dad even though he didn't agree with it. He felt like doing things to Dudley sometimes, when he was younger. When Dudley received presents for his birthday and at Christmas, or even just because and food was always available to him Harry felt like hurting him, after all Dudley had everything he wanted and what did Harry have? A cupboard under the stairs that he got locked into for hours on end, contempt and insults thrown at him, a never ending list of chores and food withheld most of the time. He had never wanted exactly what Dudley had, but he had wanted a little bit. Now he had what he wanted, and so much more, he found that he pitied Dudley. He still resented him a little, but he could still remember the hatred he had once help for his cousin.

Harry didn't think he could hurt Dudley like his dad had hurt this boy though. But then again, Harry had never received attention from his aunt and uncle, not from anybody really, until recently, so he didn't know what he was missing.

He also tried to see why this other man would hate his father enough to potentially take it out on him. Dudley had bullied him for years, had made sure that Harry didn't get anything, but he didn't hate Dudley that much, in fact he was almost over it now. But at the same time, Dudley had never managed to take something he was so close to away. Maybe if he took Reece and Seb from him he would feel the same way?

Looking at the two men he realised that yes, he probably would hate him forever if he took his two best people away form him.

"Hey Harry, I can tell you some stories about your mum if you'd like?"

Breaking from his thoughts Harry looked up at Seb, "I'd like that very much."

…

Harry lay in bed that night, his brain going over everything he had learnt over the weekend. The first being that purebloods really were idiots. The second being that no matter who you were, it was who you are now that matters. His father had been an idiot by the sounds of things, but Reece was right, when he died, he was a good man, protecting his wife and family. He fought for the right side, for the good of the world and he was remembered for that. No matter his past sins, he was good in the end.

His mother was an odd one by the sounds of her. According to Seb, she had quite a temper on her, she was very clever and seemed to want to know things that she shouldn't know, things that weren't really her business. She didn't use that knowledge to her advantage though, she wasn't cruel, she just liked to find things out. She was very kind as well, and loyal and protective. She seemed like a good woman that had a few floors, but doesn't everyone? It was quite a comforting thought, in a way. He wasn't sure if he would have liked having super heroes for parents after all. Would he have been expected to be the same?

He did wonder how Seb and Reece knew so much about them though, almost as if they knew them personally.

But they had said that they only knew them through stories told by others. Something didn't add up, but he did trust them. He also trusted them to tell him everything in their own time. Maybe he needed to prove to them he could be trusted first? Who knows? He had only been with them what? Six months? Seven? It wasn't along time to get to know somebody, not really. And he _was_ only a child.

But he would show them, he would find out what was going on.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry left Sunday night with a pout to melt the most cold hearted of people. The little man was looking forward to Draco's reply and knew that he wouldn't get it as soon as he arrived. No, he would have to wait until he had finished school, wait until he had got to Reece's and Seb's place. Reece had said it would take Draco three days to write back, three whole days due to some pureblood etiquette that Harry understood to an extent but he wanted to be around, just in case.

School went by with extreme slowness. Numeracy was by far the most tedious subject of them all as it was the easiest, leaving Harry with a full half hour of doing as he pleased. He had completed his literacy work he was given earlier and it was Monday so he had no work from other subjects either. No, he was left to get out his golden book and essentially doodle for the remainder of the lesson. Harry resented teachers who only gave enough work for a half of the lesson.

As much as the morning sucked, Harry did have a moment of smugness when Dudley was reprimanded for not managing to complete any of his work. His cousin was busy glaring at Harry as soon as he had finished after spending the first half of the lesson trying to copy from his partner instead of working on his work himself. Unfortunately for Dudley, his partner was a big bulky boy who was more muscle than fat. Said boy wouldn't allow anyone to copy from him, not even his best of friends.

Harry, in a world of his own, didn't realise he was being followed after dinner. He stepped into the playground after finishing his dinner and paced the playground. His friend had been in hospital for the last few days, he had been having headaches and no one knew why so had to go in for tests. Harry had other people he could talk to, but since he had found out about going to Hogwarts, decided that he would be better not having them. It would be no good having to explain what school he was going to, not to mention explaining why he was going to a private school when Dudley wasn't.

In a world of his own, thinking about his two friends, Harry never felt the eyes watching him. As he pondered his two very different friends and the worlds both came from, he was grabbed.

Letting out a slight squeak of surprise, Harry was quickly thrown against a wall, a fist making contact with the side of his jaw as a knee came up to meet his ribs. Crumpling to the floor in a heap, Harry quickly threw up a shield that Reece taught him as Dudley bought his fist down to meet his side yet again. A yelp followed by a sob making a satisfactory sign that the shield worked.

Harry looked up, soon wishing that he hadn't. There were a few people around that were looking on in worry, a couple of feet behind them there were a few children pulling a teacher towards him, talking a mile a minute. Harry found it hard to breathe and put his head back down. He didn't think he had broke anything, but he had a feeling his ribs were a quite bruised. Looking at Dudley, he saw his cousin crying, clutching at his hand and knew that he wouldn't try anything else. He pulled his shield in and waited for the teacher to come and berate him for hurting his cousin.

Both boys were soon hauled into the school, Harry receiving help to walk and their guardians were called.

Harry sat clutching his ribs as he awaited the arrival of Aunt Petunia, dreading the explosion he knew was to come. Harry had told his version of the story to the deputy head and Dudley had told his. Some of the students that were around and also been questioned, but previously when Harry and Dudley had got into a fight, they had always sided with the bigger boy or claimed they hadn't seen anything. His stomach dropped as he realised he was going to get into big trouble for this.

Staring at his shoes, Harry didn't hear the office door open. Nor did he hear the his name called. He nearly jumped out of his skin as his chin was held, his head tilted back until he looked up into the concerned, deep green gaze of Reece. Harry thought he was going delirious from the pain in his ribs until he heard Aunt Petunia's shrill voice echoing around the corridor.

"What happened?" she demanded of the teachers, Dudley was still blubbering over his hand, "what happened to my baby?"

"Mrs. Dursley?" The headmistress approached the almost hysterical woman, "as you were told on the phone, an incident happened during lunch time. It seems that your son took it upon himself to go after your nephew. Students have told us that Harry was minding his own business when your son approached him."

Petunia looked as though she was trying to swallow a melon, "and you have proof of this?" She glared down her nose at the headmistress who looked as though she was barely resisting rolling her eyes at the woman.

"Mrs Dursley," she said with an admirable amount of patience, "if we simply look at the injuries both boys ended up with, you will see that the stories match up. Harry has injuries to his jaw and ribs while Dudley has a potentially broken hand. It simply tells us that Dudley hurt himself while hitting Harry. Harry has no marks on his hands. Other children have admitted to defending Dudley before when he was in the wrong because they were scared of what he would do." Petunia looked to be in a daze as she stared at the woman telling her this news. "I will have to suspend Dudley for two weeks for this behaviour, we shall hold a meeting at the end of his suspension while we talk to the teachers and students about this news. We will send work for him so he won't fall behind."

Petunia could do nothing but stare sullenly at the woman telling her that her son was anything less than perfect. "I would also ask that you let us know about Harry's condition, he may not be up to school the next few days but he won't fall behind. He is in front of most of the other students but we can send him work if you wish."

"No." It was the first time that Reece had spoke since he had arrived, preferring to listen from the shadows, "Harry will spend his time recovering. Petunia me and Seb will take care if him while you take care of your son."

Petunia nodded at him, a small thank you leaving her lips, knowing she would have to make everything look normal. If the headteacher saw anything wrong or odd, she didn't mention it.

Reece looked Harry over, surreptitiously using his magic to make sure there were no internal injuries he would have to fix quickly. He also sent a scanning spell at Dudley, noting with a little vindictive pleasure, that the little idiot had broke about five bones in his hand and two knuckles. Knowing it would pain harry for him to walk, Reece scooped him up into his arms, making sure to keep as much pressure as possible from his ribs.

Once outside he turned to Petunia and Dudley with fire in his eyes. "You will not be burdened with Harry for much longer, as soon as I can I will take full responsibility for him. If you can't look after your son, how are you supposed to look after a boy who saved the world from a source of pure evil? You will be on your own, you will have none of the protection he has offered you for all of these years." Taking a deep breath, deep green eyes looked down at the young man in his arms, at least now he had a reason to take Harry away from that life altogether. "You will need to take him to the hospital," he told her before rounding a corner of the school and apparating home.

* * *

Harry was asleep, rendered unconscious by the potions Seb had forced him to swallow. His ribs had been bruised quite majorly, had he not have grown and gained weight, he would have had them broke. The two men were extremely grateful that Seb had been sneaking the nutrient and growth potions into his meals and drinks. Both of them were grateful that it took such a long time for Dudley to snap. Two things could have happened, either Harry could have had a lot more damage done to him, or Harry could have hurt Dudley at lot more than he did. It really was a good job that he had learned to control his magic.

Reece and Seb spent most of the night discussing ways to get Harry from the house, away from any type of neglect or abuse. It was difficult as they had no idea about the exact enchantments that surrounded the place, let alone if they could be transferred. Reece wasn't even sure if Harry and he would have the same blood.

"We could have different ancestors, you know things happen differently in different time lines. What if, I dunno, my great-great-great-great-whatever-great-grandfather was a different person? It would make our blood different wouldn't it? So then the wards wouldn't work."

Seb furrowed his brow in thought, "you said the enchantments didn't work after your fourth year?"

Reece shook his head, "they just didn't work. He took my blood and the enchantments are made using the blood of my mother. Well, because he had my blood he also had hers, the enchantments wouldn't have kept him out, it was lucky that he didn't try and look for me himself when he was back to himself."

They sat in silence for a moment before Seb cleared his throat and spoke cautiously, "would now be a good time to contact my counterpart?" When Reece looked at him as though he had gone insane he elaborated, "he will be able to find out for us if Dumbledore has any kind of watch on the enchantments, he'll be able to tell us if it will be noticed if we modify them."

Slowly, Reece nodded his head. "I suppose it's the only way."

Seb soon had a quill and parchment summoned to him and began writing a note to Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

* * *

Reece sat in silence as Seb wrote. It had been a different life when he had last saw his potions professor, he had hated the man and watched him die, only to have everything put into perspective for him. The man had hated him, or at the very least seemed to. It had always seemed that he was in love with his mother, but from what Seb had told him, they were just the best of friends. Siblings.

Seb wasn't that difficult to deal with, he never really knew him and he was going to be a completely different person. But this man, this Snape was the man who both terrified and annoyed him in school. He was the man he never understood, he always thought wrong of. Reece knew he would want appologise to the man and beg his forgiveness, say all the things he wished he could say tot he Severus of his time. The things he would never get the chance to say. Ever.

It was a blow to realise it. In some weird and twisted way he hoped that Snape was looking down on him and, somewhere underneath the sarcastic comments and cruel exterior, was actually quite proud of him. He hoped he wasn't hated by the man anymore and that he was at peace. After all, if anyone did deserve peace it was the man that had faced hate from everywhere and had risked his life time and again spying. At least he wasn't around to see what he fought for go to waste.

Reece was bought out of his thoughts by a tapping at the door. Not knowing who could possibly be calling, Reece walked quietly to the door, stunning spell at the ready. He was stunned himself as he opened the door.

"Mr... erm, Reece. Could I have a word?"

Reece gaped, None other than Petunia Dursley was stood at his doorstep hoping to be allowed entrance, wanting to talk.

As he bought himself back to reality, he realised he had been stood staring for a little while. "Follow me," he told her, almost sternly. He lead her into the house and into the living room, shutting the front door and living room door with a wave of his hand. He gestured for her to take a seat on the arm chair while he called through to Seb, "we have a guest, love." He wouldn't usually use terms of endearment on Seb, but he knew it would make Petunia nervous.

"I'll be right through."

It was funny to watch Seb as he caught sight of Petunia. His eyebrow rose and the corner of his mouth twitched as he caught sight of the womans expression. Reece was sure she almost turned green when Seb sat next to him and slipped his arm around his waist.

"So, how can we help you?"


	14. Chapter 14

Petunia sat, wringing her hands in her lap, glancing up at the two men nervously.

"IwanmakethingsrightHarry," she mumbled, barely more than a whisper.

Seb looked at her blankly, "I'm sorry, what was that?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"I- I want to make things up to Harry," she told them, a little louder.

"And you intend to do that how, exactly?" Seb asked, glaring down his nose at the woman.

Petunia shivered under the stare, her slight frame hunched in on itself. "I want to explain to him. Explain what it was like for me. Tell him how sorry I am. I never realised just how bad things were."

Reece almost gasped as Petunia looked up at him, pale blue eyes shone with remorse and regret. Something Reece never thought he would see in those eyes.

"Go on."

The shudder that shot through her body looked most pathetic. "Today... today I realised that... that Dudley. He isn't what I though he was. He isn't my little boy, my little angel. After hearing the headmistress..." Another shudder tore through her body, "I asked him about it. He- he said he's always hurt Harry, said he thought it was ok because we never told him off about it. He told me he was responsible for all the things that went wrong in the house, breaking things, making things dirty. I never knew!" She almost wailed the last at them.

Reece frowned at her, "how could you have not known? It was obvious. You would have Harry cleaning and a mess would appear? Why would he create more work for himself? And breaking things? Why would he do that when he knew you would yell at him, when it would cause you husband to hit him?"

Petunia's eyes widened at this, "Vernon hit him?"

Reece shook his head, "you deluded yourself Petunia. You really never saw any of this?"

She shook her head. "I didn't get him knew clothes because we kept getting bills for damage done to the area. Broken windows, things being broke at the park, even a light once. I didn't think a child would be able to break things like that and assumed it was his... you know... m-magic. But we still had to pay for them, so we spent the money we get off the government for him on the repairs that needed fixing. I never knew it was Dudley."

Seb looked at the women with a look of bewilderment on his face, something that hadn't been seen before. It took him a moment to compose himself. "What about the tantrums your son has, all the time you bend to his wills and wishes? His tantrums on his birthdays when he doesn't get enough presents? Or Christmas? Or when his TV shows are cancelled?"

"I don't know. Vernon never let me punish him. I thought he was just a little spoilt, but nothing that would cause too much damage. As far as I knew they were only tantrums." Petunia looked as though her world was falling to pieces, Reece's heart began to ache for her. "The turtle, the games console, the tv. I never realised he broke them. I thought it was Harry, that he was jealous. It's what Dudley said at the time, I just believed him."

Seb, being the cool and collected person he was, couldn't bring himself to care about what Petunia was feeling. This woman had hurt his Harry and Reece, had allowed them to be harmed in her care. "In that case, you are an idiot," he told her bluntly, "but never mind that, why exactly are you here?"

Petunia cowered at Sebastians harsh words. "I want to make it up to him."

"So you have said, but you have not cared to mention how." Seb scowled deeply at the woman, he didn't take kindly to anyone who neglected another being. "You have come here and given us your sob story, yet you have not yet mentioned how you are going to make it right. Harry has _suffered_ at your hands. He has been degraded and belittled, he was held back in school in fear you would hurt him because he was doing better in school than your son-"

"I would never have hurt him for doing well!" Petunia stated firmly, a fire entering her eyes. She wanted Harry to do well, to be good and not use his magic. How dare they accuse her!

"No?" Seb asked, "how about your husband? Fine man that he is has been hitting Harry for years. Every time he outdone your _precious_ son at something, everytime he so much as got in Dudleys way, everytime Harry didn't do something fast enough, anytime something 'abnormal' happened. You tell me he never got punished! Do you know how long it took us to get him to eat when he was hungry! We had to force him! He tried to cook our breakfast the first time he came here!"

Petunia's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "We didn't feed him because he was stealing food from the fridge. He took everything!" She tried to defend, realising that it obviously wasn't Harry now. "I made him do chores because it was a way for him to repay what I thought he had broken. We've payed out thousands because of broken property."Petunia shook her head, "Vernin was hitting him? I made it clear only I was to do that! I didn't know... I didn't know." She let out a sob, her body shaking as she hugged herself tightly.

Reece had never seen his aunt look so pathetic as then. He did feel for her, but couldn't bring himself to offer any comfort. Her story was interesting though, but there was one thing that wasn't answered. "What about the cupboard? Why did you put him in the cupboard? Why not the bedroom to begin with."

"I-it started when he was y-younger," she hicoughed, "he would always go in there, I didn't know why. I knew it was odd, but I never questioned it, I just assumed he liked enclosed spaces, that it was a comfort thing. When he started sleeping in there, when he was about three, I cleared it out and put his bed in there. His clothes were always kept in my room until he started taking them in the cupboard with him. It was quite roomy for a cupboard, but he seemed content." She shook her head in bewilderment, eyes baffled. "He never seemed to want to come out, when you wanted to come for him I decided to put my foot down and made him take the room upstairs."

There was silence in the room as Reece processed this. Everything he thought about his aunt seemed to be spinning down the drain. She seemed to have cared for him, genuinely cared for him and wasn't that something to think about? He felt Seb caress his side, felt the hand still and squeeze slightly.

"Why did you tell him that his parents died in a car crash, that they were drunk?" Seb asked, still cold.

Petunia looked up, pain in her eyes that seemed to be borne from years of tourment. "I lost Lily," she said simply. "I lost my sister, my best friend to that world! She was my little sister, I was meant to protect her, she was my best friend and I lost her to that world! She got killed because she joined it..." Petunia was panting, it was hard to talk about, she had made so many mistakes.

"You hated Lily." It was a statement, one which Seb never meant to make.

"No! I- I was jealous and scared! She was picked on at school and I stopped the bullies! She was so cleaver, everybody hated it. I didn't want her going anywhere without me! Who would have protected her then? Who would have stopped the bullies, she was such a sweet girl!" Petunia's eyes swam with tears as she looked at Sebs dark eyes, "I thought... I thought if I was horrible to her, told her how wrong it was to go there then she wouldn't. I thought she would stay with me and not g-go." Petunia scrated at her unnaturally thin arms, "but she went. She went with that boy! The boy took her from me, filled her head with how wonderful it would be and she left me. She went with the boy, she went and got married, she had Harry and then she - she was - was - was murdered!

We never lost contact. We always talked. When she finished school we were back on good terms. We spoke every weekend withour fail, we were friends again. I remember sending her this beautiful vase I found, a mint green colour with Lilies covering the surface." Petunia shook her head pulling her from her thoughts, "we just got back to how we were when she got murdered and I got Harry. I knew then..." she nodded her head, more to herself than to the two men she was telling her story to, "I knew then that I couldn't let Harry be apart of that world, I knew that I needed to keep him with me or he would be in the same danger. I tried everything! But he was always using his magic, causing trouble! So I made him do chores, punished him as severely as I could bring myself to.

"Then you two came, you two took him from me with all these promises. I hoped that you would care for him, look after him, keep him safe like I never could, never will be able to. I have no magic, I won't be able to look after him in that world, just like I couldn't look after Lily. The day before you came a car windscreen had been put through, we were punishing Harry for it, that's why he was in the Garden. I knew we couldn't prevent him form going to Hogwarts, his magic was so strong! When you told me you were wizards I couldn't believe it, someone to help Harry, to help him control his magic, someone to keep him safe. It was what I had been hoping for for so long." Dull blue eyes shone with relief, "you taught him and the magic stopped, he stopped coming back bruised, things stopped happening in the neighbourhood."

Reece shook his head. "We spoke to your husband, warned him against harming Harry. We told him that by teaching Harry how to use his magic would make him less likely to find things exploding, but would make it more likely that Harry could actively retaliate against anyone who harmed, hense what happened today. Harry threw up a sheild when your son attacked him."

The blondes brow furrowed, "Vernon never told me this, he just told me that you two were wizards who wanted to teach Harry. He told me it would be good idea because then some the magic might stop."

Seb sighed, _was it possible for someone to be so stupid, _ of course he remembered Petunia as a child, she was stupid then as well. _Insulting someone, pushing them away to keep them around, ridiculous._ "It seems your husband has a lot to answer for," Seb ahd lost the cold and harsh exterior. His expression and voice weren't warm, but it was no longer so harsh. "I think, Mrs Dursley, that you need to look at your child and husband before concerning yourself with Harry any further. You obviously have a lot of issues to sort out." At Petunia's nod of agreement he continued, "it would seem that your husband has been the one to cause a lot of strife in your family, by treating Harry as he has and your son, he has caused a rift in your family."

"I don't know what to do," the woman admitted in a whisper, "I need to change my Dudders, but how can I with Vernon. Why has he done this? To a child, to Harry? Poor Harry..."

Again, Seb was the one to speak, Reece having issues wrapping his head around things. "I think you need to go home and figure things out for yourself, make some decisions. As I see it there are three options for you. You can either continue as you are, allowing your son to become more cruel and grotesque; you can go home, try and make your husband understand and change his ways, begin punishing your son and turn him into a better person; or you can split from your husband and begin a life on your own, raise your son by yourself away from him. Do you really think you can live with a man that has treated children in such a way?"

Instead of answering the blonde woman hung her head. She had gotten with Vernon because, at the time, he was a good looking man with an amazing personality. He was very attractive, standing at five foot eleven and, although he was not overely thin, he wasn't a big man either, he had love handles, but not the HGV tyres he was carrying now. He had been charming, with chocolate hair and green-grey eyes that were fascinating and his personality. He took her out, he made her laugh and he cared. Everything a woman wanted.

But as soon as the ring was on her finger he changed. He let himself go, almost tripling in size, he began to grey and started getting very moody. They had had Dudley and stopped being intimate, Petunia had expected an affair but never found proof. He had made sure she didn't work, didn't have any friends other than who he said she could have, she didn't even have a car even though she could drive. She didn't talk to anyone from school any more, she had no references so chances of her getting a job now would be slim and she would never be able to get her own car because she couldn't afford it. He had her in such a tight spot, she would have nothing if she left him and he knew it.

"We could offer you help," Reece's voice was small and unsure, "if you wanted to get rid of him. It would take nothing to get him out of the house, we could add to the spells that surround your house and deny his entry. You could work for us, work in our shop, you would have the company van at your disposal. Me and Seb won't be around much when Harry starts school as we will be keeping an eye on him. You know how important he is to our world, he will need watching."

Sebastian understood Reece's offer and didn't say anything to contradict him. This conversation had given the green eyed man closure of sorts, he had been given reasons for how he was treated and obviously took comfort in the fact that he wasn't hated by his relative. "You will need to think this through so don't answer hastedly. Go home and see if you still feel the same way about him, see if you think you make change with him. Our offer will stand unitl the begining of August when we will have to look for new staff if you have not decided to take on the position. If you wish it the position is available when you are ready to take it on. Myself and Reece will not say no to an early leave although we shall be keeping an eye on things, naturally."

Petunia nodded and rose. "Thank you for your time."


	15. Chapter 15

The reply from Snape came early the next morning, demanding the mens presence at the leaky cauldron at eight o'clock that evening. They had fed him a story about a child in their care getting hurt because of his magic and being need of some sort of salve for his bruises which seemed to have gone down to the bone. They stated that the child was muggle born, so taking him away from his parents and to St Mungos would not be productive.

It was with trepidation that they prepared for the day and what they would tell the man. Reece had every intention of leaving the speaking to Sebastian, knowing that if he spoke too much before he had time to get used to the man, he would probably find himself appologising for things that hadn't happened yet. Things that - hopefully - weren't going to happen.

They had prepared Harry to te best of their abilities, explaining what to expect from the man, again. Harry understood that Severus would see James Potter in him, that the mans natural reactions would be to hate him and that he had to prove the mans automatic opinion of him wrong. He had no idea how he was going to do that though.

They had booked a room at the Leaky Cauldron where Harry was going to be kept in while Reece and Seb talked to Severus. They were weary about leaving him and not introducing him straight away, but they thought it would be better to keep him hidden than make him wear a disguise that Severus could potentially see through and have the man on edge before they had a chance. It was, however, going to be tricky to get Harry into the room without being spotted.

Bexcause fo this, Reece had spent the afternood at the Leaky, booking a small and comfortable meeting room. Tom the landlord hadn't asked many questions, but was did ask why the man had wanted the key there and then instead of later that night when he needed the room, after all it had over doubled the price he had to pay. Reece had smiled and mentioned something about old friends meeting each other and it being a surprise. He was glad he had thought of the excuse before hand.

They had decided that Harry would wear a hat and they would sandwich him between them. As long as he didn't look up nobody would see his eyes and make the connection, the hat should cover his scar from any prying eyes.

Not knowing how long they were going to spend persuading Severus to listen to them and meet Harry, they deided got Harry to pick a few books to take with him. Naturally, he wanted to take half his book shelf with him. Eventually, they shortened the pile down to seven, something that amused Seb grately. Harry was so like his mother. How the little man expected to get through seven fairly new books was beyond him, especially since he hadn't finished reading them. Seb shook his head and headed downstairs to prepare dinner, he needed something to keep his mind from this upcoming meeting.

* * *

They arrived at seven-thirty, hoping and preying that Snape wasn't there already. The man was renown for being on time, arriving from seemingly nowhere. This put them on edge as he would no doubt see them smuggle Harry into the back, meaning that the man would then make life very difficult for them. Well, more than he probably already would.

Getting Harry settled was easy enough, he was quite an easy going child so as soon as he had his books, parchment, ink and quills, as well as a few snacks just in case, he was quite the happy camper. In fact, the little man practically pushed them from the room, "the sooner you talk to this man, the sooner I can meet him and proove I'm not an idiot. When he realises that, he will be happier to help us and I will be able to live with you instead of at the Dursleys, now go!"

Reece had shook his head as he was forced from the room by petit hands, mumbling moodily about creating a monster. Seb just snickered under his breath, muttering about mini versions not being too far from the bigger versions, earning him a jab in the ribs from Reece. They both headed down the stairs, realising that they had but ten minutes before the imposing form of the potions master was due to be with them.

They found a table at the back of the room after ordering drinks, (a qilly water and lemonade) and kept an eye out for the man they were both excited and nervous about metting.

As expected, the man made his appearance at eight on the dot. Neither Seb nor Reece saw the man enter form the back entrance form the alley, nor the front entrance from muggle London. This made them nervous. They hoped he had arrived by floo and had not been watching them.

Seb stood and headed towards his older counterpart, keeping his walk as casual as possible as to not arouse suspicion. He had already perfected his billowy walk by now and it would not do well to have Snape suspicious of him, or think he was taking the mic out of him. Seb introduced himself with a nod of the head, neither men particularly liking physical contact with anyone, and lead Snape to the table they had commandered.

When the men had sat down, Seb gestured to Reece, "Mr Snape, I would like to intoroduce to my partner, Reece Jones. Reece, this is Severus Snape, the potions master I contacted about our little one."

Reece, thankful for his natural mental sheilds, nodded nervously at the man, "a pleasure to meet you, I am well aquainted with your work."

Snape was shocked at the greeting he recieved from the men but was none the less satisfied with it. They weren't cold with their greeting as most were who refused to shake his hand, but they weren't overly familiar like the damn headmaster. He could feel power about them, but they didn't show it as most did, they were intriguing.

"Master Snape, we have to admit to an alterior motive for asking you to meet us today," the taller of the two told him as the other waved his hand, weaving spells that created an illusion of what they were up to. Severus was a little on edge at first until he realised he could escape at any time. He simply rose his eyebrow, something that almost caused Reece to giggle, and awaited an explaination.

"We have a child with us who was in fact quite bruised and no doubt whatever you could give him would be alot better for him than what we have created and we will of course pay you handsomely for your efforts. The main reason we have asked you hear is beacuse we need your opinion on something." Seb tried not to speak in a rush, holding himself together, despite his nerves.

Snape seemed to look through them for a moment, weighing them up. "I shall hear you out."

Reece relaxed as Sebastian stiffened, wondering if their story was going to be believed. He cleared his throat anyway, "the boys parents died when he was younger so the child was left with his aunt who has no magic. His aunt has spent the last few years of his life trying to prevent the child from doing any magic as she thought he was comminting crimes that were in fact his cousins doing, spurred on by his Uncle. We removed him form the house as much as possible but yesterday there was a run in with his cousin. The cousin decided to beat him up, thankfully, a sheild was put in place but the cousin broke his hand. Our little man ended up with severely bruised ribs from being taken by surprise. We want him away from the house and his relatives but there are spells and enchantments aorund the house. Do you think that we could transfer the spells onto another relatives property without the caster of the spell realising?" Seb was alowed to speak without interference thankfully, but the way Snape's forehead furrowed had them a little anxious.

"There is more to this story," he said at last, it wasn't a question. He recieved a nod from both men in response. "You will tell me everything leaving nothing out."

Seb swallowed, Reece said it was likely that his older counterpart would see through most of what they had to say. He took a breath as he organised his thoughts.

"We need a vow," Reece spoke up, "just a promise that you will hear us out, let us tell and maybe show you the whole story before you make your decision. The story is long and will no doubt be unbelieveable but we shall tell you everything and open our minds as evidence. We shall answer all of your questions and if you want to, we shall introduce you to the boy so he can back up our claims about his home life."

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Snape nodded. "I do swear to hear you both out and to hear all of your evidence before reacting as long as you leave nothing out and, if I deem it necessary, show me your memories of events."

The men nodded, glad they had come to an agreement.

"Okay," Sebastian started, he had oped they would have a little time before getting into the story. "Well, I guess it starts with Moirai."

Snapes brow furrowed, "fait?" he sneered. "You are telling me it started with fait?"

Seb gave the man an annoyed look, "no, not fait. Well, to an extent. I am talking about the three godesses. Antropos, Clotho and Lachesis. Myself and Reece are form different timelines, Reece is from the future, about ten years in the future and me, I am from about ten years in the past." Snape rose an eyebrow but didn't make a comment. He had promised to hear the men out, but he was seriously considering owling St Mungos at the earliest convenience.

"You are an intelligent man, I am sure you know how alternate universes work. Reece was pulled from the last universe to collapse. Many others had fell before his, hundreds from what the Moirai told us, this timeline that we are in now is one of the last two left. Reece was pulled from his timeline as it collapsed and bought here. I was bought from the past as I was due to be bound to someone that would have effected me in any lifetime." Sebastian wasn't sure he was telling the story in the best way, but Reece really didn't want to deal with the man, afraid he would slip up. Sebastian understood, he was quite the intimidating figure.

"So you," Snape looked, almost glared at Reece, "are due to go to Hogwarts this year," he spoke matter of factly, "and you," he nodded towards Sebastian, "were in my year at Hogwarts, assuming you went." They both nodded in response. "So, who are you?"

Reece leaned forwards slightly, taking in the profile of his old potions professor. "Before we tell you, what you must remember is that, all though alternate universes exist, they are not replicas of each other. Something different happened in each one to make them different. Most have a similar story, especially these last ones, but they have come about different ways."

Snape refused to say anything so Sebastian ploughed on. "Reece is Harry Potter."

"What?" Snapes eyes widened as he took in the form of the seemingly shy young man. "Y-you-"

Reece raised an eyebrow and smirked bitterly, "I knew you would react in such a way, it's part of the reason I asked for the promise. I am not my father so don't begin to hate me for who I am. I won't deny the man treated you horribly and I would appologise for that if I thought it would make you feel better. Yes, I am the spawn of the person you loved the most and the person you hated the most, but since I am neither of those people you shouldn't have a problem with me."

Snape looked gobsmacked for a moment, until anger flared in his eyes after being spoken to in such a way. Finally, he settle for sneering at the young man and nodding his head. "How do I know your Harry Potter?"

"How am I supposed to prove that to you short of telling you everything that everybody already knows or think they know about the boy?" Reece asked, no doubt irritating the man in the process. "My name was Harry James Potter, I was born in Godricks Hollow because my family were in hiding because you told a prophecy to Voldemort on Dumbledore's orders. The Prophecy stated that either myself or another could kill Voldemort, Voldemort assumed it was me and went after me and my family. He killed my father, James Potter and then killed my mother. He told her he could have stepped aside and saved herself because you begged for her life. She refused to and he killed her. He turned his wand on me, cast the killing curse but the curse rebounded. He didn't die for reasons you do not know yet. You think that I, or the younger version of myself is treasured and treated like a prince. You think I am stupid and arrogant and just as my father was. You are wrong but wish to hate me so you do. You will be surprised." Reece said all of this without expression or emotion, knowing one ounce of either would cause the man before him to become defensive, or more densive than he was no doubt going to be.

Snape stared at him again, his face a mask of indifference but his eyes were burning. Instead of commenting, he turned to the other man, "so who are you?"

Sebastian smirked, "I am you."

Snape looked the man over cautiously, there was some resemblence. The mans hair was as straight and lank as his but it was a slightly different colour, he had the same skin and the teeth were very similar, althought they seemed whiter. Of course the man would have to change his appearance somewhat, but could it really be him under the layers? He wasn't so sure, especially since there didn't seem to be any appearance altering spells.

Instead of denying the claim completely, he could detect no lies from either of them although, admittedly, they could be using occlumency on him, he asked "how are you so different, there is no magic around you."

Again, the man who called himself Sebastian answered, "we altered our appearences permenantly as well as create us entirely new identities. We got the spell from the Moirai, we simply transfigured our looks, wrote down all that was needed to know about us and cast the spell. We took on our appearances permanantly and had our new identities sorted out for us."

Snape took time to mull this over as Reece and Sebastian shared worried looks. They didn't want to leave Harry too long on his own and this conversation could take forever if they didn't get Snape to believe them. Reece knew the only way to get the man to believe completely would be to allow him entry into their minds, but it would take something before the man would willingly search them. The body, afterall, was basically a shell when someone decided to enter anothers memory. He would at least have to get the man to trust them.

"How do I know for certain that you're me?" Snape asked eventually, this was truely something extraordinary, if it was true.

"Firstly," Reece spoke up as Sebastian was about to open his mouth to tell his past, "you need to remember that not all universes are the same. They all have the same basic storyline, yes, but they don't all go about it the same way. I was severely abused by my uncle and cousin and, to an extent, my aunt. Harry however, was pretty much bullied by his cousin and abused by his uncle, his aunt seemed oblivious to everything and was very remorseful when she found out the truth. You story will vary the same as mine and Harry's, Seb's different may be different to your story, his was different to the Severus in my time."

Snape nodded that he had heard and allowed Sebastian to continue with his story. "I was bought up with my mother and father for a time. When I was at Hogwarts, my father took the physical abuse too far and killed my mother. Afterwards he killed himself in guild and grief. My grandmother persuaded my grandfather to take me in and teach me to act as a pureblood as they weren't going to have any more children, Eileen being their only child. My grandfather did so under pressure. I finished Hogwarts with owls in all my subjects and I was promised to the Dark Lord. My grandmother knew of my love of potions and persuaded my grandfather to pay for me to attain my masters qualification, I would be a most treasured prize to the Dark Lord with a masters degree. While I was away, my grandmother passed, expecting me to be able to look after myself, she stopped holding on to the life she hated. I completed my mastery not long before I turned twenty and my grandfather decided to arrange for me to become a deatheater. I had put off attaining my mastery for a while as I didn't want to join, but I truely had no choice. Thankfully, the Moirai had their arrangements kick in before I could get the mark." Seb talked with no emotion, as though it were all a rather strange dream he had not thought about in some time.

"In my time," Reece cut in before Snape could shoot down Seb's story, "your father didn't kill you mother until you left Hogwarts and was working under a master. Lucius Malfoy funded your mastery and through the debt you you owed him, ended up in the Dark Lord's service. You went to Dumbledore, to see if he would help you out, to see if he could find anyway to help you out of the situation but he asked you to turn spy. Just like we found he would have done if the Moirai hadn't taken Seb out of his time."

After a moment of allowing this to process, Snape let out a sigh, "it seems that no matter what universe I was destined to turn spy.." He let out another spy, "my situation was a little of both, I guess," he admitted but didn't elaborate.

Seb was glad that Snape seemed to be coming round tot hem and continued with the story, "anyway, after we were bought to the Moirai, we were given certain texts to help us out and they sent us here. We built a little life and have taken Harry away from his relatives as much as possible, but his cousin has taken it upon himself to harm him greatly at school. He snook upon Harry and managed to severely bruise him. Thankfully Harry managed to pull up a shield before he got too much damage in. It seems that the uncle had been persuading the cousin to harm Harry for years. Either way, we need Harry out of that house full time. Dumbledore has protections around the house that we either need to transfer or replace. But we don't know whether Dumbledore has a monitor on them."

Snape ran through everything in his mind, the imaginary cogs spinning a mile a minute. "Show me," he said after a while, "show me all of this. I will meet the child after."

Reece nodded and opened his mind up to the older man. "Go ahead."


	16. Chapter 16

Harry watched as Seb and Reece left the room, knowing the two would be putting up a dozen protective spells around the room he was being kept in. Sure enough, moments later, he felt the strength of the spells cast and settled down into a squashy looking chair, piling his books in front of him.

Looking through the books, he wondered what he should read, especially if he was to make a good impression. Green eyes glared at the pile. Potions book? No, he would look like he was trying too hard, Defence? No, that was probably expected of him, he didn't want the Snape to think he was what he had always thought. History? Transfiguration? Wizard genealogy? Herbology? Creatures? Ha! Something he hadn't read in a while. He picked up the rather thick volume and flicked to the last page he had read.

Harry truly found it fascinating to read about creatures, especially now he found out that those that were considered myth in the muggle world were in fact very real. He wondered how many years ago the last unicorn or minotaur was seen by muggles. Shaking his head, he continued to read the text, admiring the pictures that came up from time to time.

After reading about vampires, Harry flipped over the page and stared. A moving picture of a werewolf going through transformation shone from the page. Eyebrows raised, Harry had to admire the person who was brave enough to get close enough to a wolf during transformation to take this picture and hoped whomever it was hadn't ended up with a trip to St Mungo's. The young man remembered what Reece had said about his dad having a friend who was a werewolf and became instantly more interested in the section.

_"The werewolf, or lycanthrope, is a man whom when the full moon rises, changes into the form of a wolf... A werewolf has many differences from the form of the true wolf including snout size... The Ministry of Magic keeps records of all werewolves... These creatures are not harmful when it is not the full moon... They can find it extremely difficult to find work and function in wizarding society... Become infected by being bitten from another werewolf... Highly dangerous when in their wolf form as the beast completely takes over... Wolfsbane potion controls the wolf... not much known about the potion as it is complex..."_

It was an interesting read and had Harry thinking instantly. It didn't seem fair that these people, whom were normal for the majority of the month, were pushed out of society in such a way. Was that the same for his fathers friend? Was this person struggling along alone? It sounded like it. Surely, if certain precautions were taken, they should be allowed to be just like any wizard.

He skimmed over the writing again and saw the bit on wolfsbane potion. He frowned at the name, was the potion named after a plant that was used in it, or was it because it harmed the wolf. Placing the book open on the floor, he picked up his potions book, flicking through it, he looked up anything about the wolfsbane potion.

The book didn't have much information, it was practically a mention of the potion and a brush over of what it does.

_"Unlike many other potions, the wolfsbane potion does in fact work on werewolves. Taken for a week before transformation, the potion prevents the wolf from having control over its own mind, allowing the human mind to keep control. As the potion has only been around for a few year, it is not known the full effects of the potion as many can't afford it, or choose not to take it. It is the belief of some that the potion repressed a lot of the benefits that the wolf brings to the human, such as the heightened sense of smell, ability to sense truth and intentions, to sense their 'packs' and the ability to find a 'mate'._

_Named after it's main ingredient, the wolfsbane potion is extremely difficult to make. Wolfsbane, being as volatile as it is, when added to the potion can cause instant explosion or turn the potion into a deadly poison. Not many will attempt to make such a potion and it has been known for potions masters to shy away from the challenge."_

Green eyes frowned down at the book. So the potion suppressed the wolf completely. It wouldn't have surprised the boy if the potion did have the negative side effect that were listed. He knew enough about wolfsbane to know it was poisonous, even without being in potion form. It sounded as though this potion actually killed the wolf slowly instead of suppressing it as the book exclaimed.

Scratching his chin, Harry rested the potions book next to his creature book and turned to his herbology one. Thankfully, it wasn't the herbology book like the type he would need for school, it was more of a cross between a potions and herbology book. It gave the names of plant, their properties and where they could be found. He quickly turned to the page about wolfsbane or as it was titled in this book, aconite.

He briefly wondered if there was any reference to potions that were used in war that had a base of aconite and made a mental note to check after he had finished scanning through this book. Maybe he could ask Snape or Sebastian later.

* * *

Snape pulled himself from Reece's mind. He looked into the deep green eyes and saw the world of hurt behind them. To have been to hell and back was quite an accomplishment, to have survived it and come out sane was more than anyone could ask for, more than anyone could expect. Severus had seen everything from Reece's point of view, had felt the emotions and opinions in all that he had seen. He had born witness to the future of the wizarding world and it depressed him more than anything. He had seen how Dumbledore's plans had gone to wrack and ruin, saw where the man had gone wrong and saw how Reece and Sebastian intended to change it. How they planned to keep the little boy out of their plans as much as possible until the time was right.

For the first time in years Severus truly looked at someone, observed them properly. According to what he knew, the man in front of him could be no older than twenty, but the face and eyes bore centuries of pain and grief. Severus knew he hadn't seen everything in his mind, just a basic outlook, he knew there were troubles and pain that ran deeper than the Atlantic and he was glad he hadn't been physically there. That his alternate self hadn't bore witness to that existence. Part of him wanted to go outside and make sure that what he had witnessed wasn't happening now. He would have done so were it not for him being sat in the middle of the leaky cauldron, surrounded by happily chattering people who had completed their days work. One thing was for certain though, he would do everything in his power to prevent that existence from happening again.

"I will help you," he told them, glancing around himself again, just to be certain that he was indeed in his own timeline. "I wish to meet Harry now."

Reece led the way up the stairs, head bowed slightly. Having legilimency used against him always left him with a headache. Not a huge, behind the eyes searing kind of pain, more of a consistent, niggling pain, squeezing its way through the temples. Nothing to warrant a pain numbing potion unfortunately though.

As he reached the room and began removing the spells that they had put up, Reece wondered what Harry had been up to all this time. They had been at least an hour and he hoped the little man wouldn't be asleep.

He had slept extremely well last night, probably due to all the potions they had him under. He hadn't awoken until nearly midday, it was going to be a pain to get him back into a routine ready for school on Monday. Especially since they couldn't exactly have him doing anything overly energetic since his ribs would still be sore for a little while.

Reece shook his head, a sad smile tugging at his lips as he took down the last spell. Soon to be followed by befuddlement as he opened the door.

"Erm, Harry? What are you doing?"

Harry was sat on the floor, surrounded by what seemed to be all of his books. Reece watched as he picked up his potions book, flipped through a few pages, before turning to his herbology book and doing the same again. The process was repeated until he had torn through most of his books, his brow furrowed as he muttered to himself about unclear instruction and lack of information.

"Harry!" Sebastian snapped a little loudly, knowing that when the child was in one of these moods he was practically impossible to get through to. "Remove yourself from the floor and get back into the chair. You need to greet our guest."

Harry startled, when had they come in? He turned around and smiled cheekily at them. "Hey, I didn't hear you come in," eh told them raising himself from the floor. "I got a little bit distracted I guess." He turned to the newcomer in the room, "hi, I'm Harry Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you Sir," he said pleasantly, nodding his head at the man.

"The pleasures mine Mr Potter," Snape told him, tilting his head to the side slightly, "may I ask what had you so enthralled?"

Harry blushed a little, "well it started when I was looking at my creatures book," he admitted softly. "I was reading about werewolves and it mentioned something called the wolfsbane potion. I wanted to look it up because I wondered if it was named because it harmed the wolf or whether it was named after an ingredient. Then I decided to look up the ingredient, you know, just out curiosity, to see what it did. Then I decided to read up on the history of it and how it can be used in offensive potions, you know like in battles. I didn't really get much information though to be honest."

The potions master raised both brows in surprise. It wasn't every day that someone had the initiative to search for information such as this, let alone a ten year old boy. Snape was impressed, "you won't get detailed information from anything than newt level texts," he told the child. "You may get something from books that are completely about werewolves. I'm surprised you haven't asked your carers about it though."

Harry smiled up at Snape, "I'm only reading third year texts at the minute, Reece and Seb said they don't want me to get too far ahead because I'll get bored at school. I've only just read about the potion so I haven't really had the time to ask them about it. I'd only got up to minotaurs before I started."

Snape sat down in the chair opposite where Harry was sitting, "well I'm sure I can tell you the basics of the potion if you desire."

Harry and Snape were caught in conversation for about an hour before Reece and Sebastian broke them up. "I'm really sorry to break you up when your so engrossed, but it's ten o'clock Harry, an hour past your bed time." Reece's voice was filled with exhaustion, "come on mini me, get your books together and say goodbye to Professor Snape."

Reece turned to Snape as Harry began pulling all his books together. "Thank you," he said sincerely, "you don't know how much this means to him, to us." He pulled out a slip of paper and handed it over to the potions master, "this is our address. As soon as you find out anything, please come and see us. Also, if you need anything..."

Instead of the sneer that was expected on the older man's face, a small smile tugged at the thin lips. "I will do, thank you. I will try to get the information to you by the end of the week."

Reece nodded as Harry came bounding up to the man, "thank you for talking to me today Sir, you cleared up a lot for me. I hope to see you soon." Harry smiled up shyly at the man.

"The pleasure was mine Mr Potter, I will indeed see you shortly," and with a nod at every person in the room, Severus Snape turned and exited the room in his usual dramatic fashion.

Seb let out a huge sigh, "I was really going to turn out like that?" he asked, a little overwhelmed, forgetting Harry was in the room.

"What do you mean? Are you and Professor Snape the same person?" Harry asked, alarmed.


End file.
