Sunday 25th December 1988.
Natalie smiled widely as the sound of children's laughter once more filled their home.
She had been confused and a little scared herself of what this new reality would mean for her daughter. Having long ago come to terms with the idea her daughter was special and assumed her abilities were simply a result of her clearly advanced mind.
But magic had taken a few days to truly sink in, and by the time it had, Richard had soundly put his foot in it.
She adored her husband, but he had been known to act before thinking something all the way through. It often left her wondering where Hermione had gotten her brains from as neither of the adults in the family was anywhere close to her level.
Watching the two children tease her husband by popping about the room as he tried to tag either of them washed away all the negative feelings of the past month though.
Richard's blow-up had lasted for three whole days. It wasn't until the Saturday when he had gone to rouse their daughter, that it had truly sunk in that she was gone. Saturdays were the family cheat day, where Richard would make all those breakfast foods they usually avoided as dentists and they'd enjoy a happy and lethargic family meal. Sharing the little things that hadn't been addressed from the week now passed. Before giving a good scrubbing to their teeth as was proper after such a meal.
Opening the door and finding the room empty during such a traditional family moment had driven the facts into his mind like a nail gun and she'd had to drag his sobbing form downstairs, avoiding the straining kitchen table. Simply holding him on the couch. The number of days she would come downstairs to find him staring at the empty coffee mug in his hands had grown worryingly larger as time went on.
Natalie glanced down at that very mug in her hands now and smiled. Richard hadn't yet noticed that in his haste to apologise to their daughter, he had knocked the mug from the table.
She figured there had to be a fault in the ceramic, given that it had broken almost exactly the same way as it had all those years earlier. She couldn't help but smile at the idea of a broken mug symbolising the togetherness of her family and that broken didn't always mean bad.
Her attention was drawn back to the activity in front of her as her daughter squealed loudly as her father wrapped his arms about her belly and tickled in that spot he'd pinpointed after years of such behaviour.
They both fell backwards together onto the couch as Hermione kicked her legs furiously while her father attacked her weak spots, filling the room with high-pitched laughter. Natalie couldn't resist the smile that spread over her face at the proof that her family was healing once more.
Even the wee boy standing behind the couch occasionally prodded Hermione gently in the belly as she squirmed. A boy who had brought so much change to their lives, yet she knew that she would defend him just as fiercely as she would Hermione these days. Harry Potter had long been an enigma to Natalie. His oddly formal butler was the only contact she'd had with his family until that day.
Now his behaviour around their family made a whole lot more sense. Why he'd always treasured her hugs and a kiss to the forehead anytime he stayed over. The poor boy had spent so long without the physical expressions of motherly affection most children took for granted.
The change that came over him now though was something Natalie had never seen before. His entire body went rigid as he stood bolt upright and his eyes seemed to unfocus for a moment. She was worried at what had triggered the reaction in the boy but his shoulders sagged again almost immediately and a serene calm passed over his expression.
"Finally…" He muttered, drawing the attention of those still squirming on the couch and as Richard reached his arm up to grab the arm Harry had left hanging over the back of the couch, the boy vanished without a sound.
The movement on the couch stopped instantly as Richard stared blankly at the empty air his hand had closed around and Hermione looked slightly worried before she closed her eyes and her face became intensely focused.
"What's going on? Where'd he go?" Richard asked the room, receiving no answer from the females.
Natalie joined the others on the couch and pulled her daughter into her arms. "What's the matter, sweetheart? Where's Harry?" She whispered to the little girl in her arms.
"He's…" Hermione trailed off, her face screwing shut tightly as she focused on something neither adult could see. Her eyes sprang open and a look of surprise covered her face. "Oh!"
Hermione smiled brightly as she sat up in her parents' odd embrace. Turning to face the open corner of the room, both Grangers were surprised to see Harry appear out of nowhere holding a large bag and grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Harry!" Richard called, drawing the boy's eye.
"It's ready." He replied simply, before walking out of the room and heading quickly for the backyard.
Hermione untangled herself from her parents' grip and rushed out of the room after her friend, leaving her parents in a daze for a moment before both moved to follow the pair.
They found them both kneeling beside the reading tree, as it had become known in the house. Both of them using their magic to displace the dirt from around the roots of the old English oak. Within moments they had cleared the dirt right to the base of the taproot, the intricate pattern of wider roots almost guarding the central arm.
Natalie watched closely as Harry glanced at Hermione, getting a nod before continuing. He reached into the bag and withdrew a stone that could not have fit within. She wasn't even sure how he managed to pull the large egg shape out of the bag as once it was free of the confines, its girth was wider than the opening.
The surface was a pale pure green and smooth as she had ever seen. Its surface was covered in tiny markings that she somehow knew were indented in the surface, yet did not affect the smoothness of the shape in any way.
With a loud snap of his fingers, Harry displaced the stone instantly to rest, tip down beneath the thick taproot and returned enough dirt to the hole that it supported itself once more.
"There." Harry breathed, seeming to relax further before turning to Hermione once more. "Remember the array?"
Hermione nodded furiously and the pair began pulling another six much smaller stones, all of which were the blackest black Natalie had ever seen. Perfectly smooth but for the deep grooves that seemed to pulse an even darker shade of black, the elder Grangers watched as the duo carefully spaced the six stones equally around the bigger egg-shaped stone amongst the latticed roots.
Natalie was close enough now that she could hear Hermione whispering as she worked. "Onyx, diamond, sapphire, serendibite, spinel, obsidian." Each name corresponded to a stone being placed and covered over with dirt once more.
Once all seven stones had disappeared into the dirt and roots, the two kids snapped their fingers in unison and the area once more looked as it had two days before when the children had arrived beneath its wide canopy.
Not a blade of grass was out of place and you'd never suspect seven stones of such immense value, if Hermione's whispers were correct, were now entwined within the ancient tree's root structure.
"That was wicked," Richard muttered beside her, and Natalie couldn't help herself as she burst into hysterics.
The man who had momentarily ripped their family apart because of the idea of magic was now in utter awe of it. She soon found herself giggling softly on her back on the grass, two small heads on either side of her own panting gently and looking quite tired. As she finally regained control of herself, avoiding looking at her partner's face so as not to set off laughing once more, Natalie addressed the pair.
"What was that?"
"Runestones," Harry replied simply.
Natalie looked at him curiously but it was her daughter that continued the explanation.
"Six small black stones covered in deep goblin runes. They link to the Heartstone placed at the base of the taproot. Burying it under such an old and established tree increases the power they can draw from natural magic in the area and helps to widen the effect."
"Doesn't hurt that the Heartstone is a three-thousand-year-old petrified dragon egg," Harry added, drawing stunned looks from both adults.
"Dragons?" Richard whispered, awe still palpable in his voice.
"Yeah, some long-extinct species, I can't even pronounce the name of it. The six smaller stones are all minerals that the goblins and dwarves have cultivated underground for millennia. But these six were all taken from some of the thirteen stones anchoring the wards of the Manor."
Harry paused as the two adults looked at him with confusion and Hermione had a glow they had all seen many times before, the look of knowledge to be absorbed.
"Don't worry, it didn't damage them in the slightest. The goblins taught me how to extract these bits and then heal the stones again." He looked back up into the air and took a deep breath before continuing. "Centuries ago my family married in a member of the Peverell family. They're famous in the magical world for some truly insane pieces of magic. Three of which inspired a 'children's story' still told to this day. But in my opinion, the most amazing they ever achieved is one no one outside the Potter family has ever heard of.
"The new bride commissioned thirteen stones of different materials from the dwarves, who hadn't yet fallen into obscurity at that time. Each a different mineral that they can grow in their underground cities, all black as the void of space." He counted them off on his fingers as he spoke. "Agate, diamond, jasper, jet, moonstone, obsidian, onyx, quartz, sapphire, serendibite, spinel, tourmaline and zircon. Each stone is thirteen feet tall and seven feet in circumference at their widest point. All magically powerful substances and numbers.
"She then had them engraved by the goblins. Don't ask what the rune work says as I've no idea. The goblins guard the secrets of their rune work so closely that no one has ever been able to translate and rework them. And the goblins who forged the runes on the original anchor stones have long since died out. Taking their family crafting secrets with them. These runes link them as they came from the source stone, but even the goblins that did them don't know the full magic of those main stones anymore."
The boy paused once more as he looked up into the lightly clouded sky through his raised hands. "Somehow, the thirteen stones folded the space around the Manor so that it exists in its own little world. The only way in and out until today was to arrive through some form of magical teleportation. You can literally walk around the grounds and end up back at the Manor, no matter which way you walk. It is my absolute favourite piece of magic, ever!"
The grin on his face showed the truth of his statement as Natalie lifted her own hand and entwined her fingers with Harry's drawing his eye. She smiled at him and he beamed back, clearly enjoying sharing something he found so fascinating with them all.
"The wards also keep out those who are unwanted or mean my family harm. So, before we came the other night, I took the hearts of six of those stones carefully out and brought them to the goblins. They re-etched the required rune work on the surfaces and provided the Heartstone. I could feel the moment they were ready. It felt like a piece of home suddenly became real here in the world again. It was… beautiful. And now that feeling rests here, over your home."
Natalie smiled as she watched Harry tilt his head back and lock eyes with her daughter. It made her proud to see how much they cared for one another and her heart skipped at the idea that Harry had gone to such trouble for them.
"What will that do?" She asked, distracting the young boy.
"It extends the wards of the Manor over your home, and by the feel of it." Harry closed his eyes and his breathing became steady as he paused for several moments. His eyes remained closed as he began speaking once again. "The oaks in the nearby park have long roots. Long enough that they've grafted onto this one. Which means that the magic covers the park and our school as well." He added, sounding genuinely surprised. "That was unexpected."
"How can you tell?" Hermione asked, her own eyes closed and her face screwed up in concentration. "I can't feel it."
"Practice. I've spent 7 years wrapped in these wards. I can feel their edges for the first time in my life and my magic is playing with it right now. It is the strangest yet coolest thing I've ever felt in my life. With time, you'll come to feel them too. Every time you cross out of them, your magic will resist leaving a little, once it becomes comfortable inside. You don't normally notice when leaving the Manor because your magic is leaving willingly by popping. But if you walked outside them here, you'd feel it. Like a tiny light pinch in your magic."
Hermione did not look pleased that time was required rather than study to become good at this particular aspect of magic. Natalie grabbed the girl's hand and squeezed, drawing her attention away from the clear attempts she was making to force her magic to feel the ward like Harry's could. She couldn't hide her smile as her daughter pouted back at her.
"Patience, Hermione. At least you'll be able to feel them eventually." This thought appeared to settle the girl until Harry stood without warning, grabbing the bag and heading for the back door.
"One last thing we need to do. Is there a door in the house that never gets used?" The Grangers all shot up and quickly followed the lad as he entered the kitchen. "It doesn't need to be big, just out of the way."
"Out of the way? Why would a house have a door that is out of the way?" Richard asked.
"Hmmm, that could be a problem."
"What about the one that broke a decade ago that you have lounging in the shed? The one you were going to fix." Natalie questioned, poking her husband in the side and looking at him mischievously.
"It's a hall door. We never used it… oh."
"Perfect," Harry smiled. "Where exactly is the doorframe?"
Natalie took his hand and walked him upstairs to the bedroom hallway. She could see the moment Harry spotted the frame that he'd passed through dozens of times but never really looked at. It was entirely unremarkable, after all.
"Yes, perfect. What happened to the door?" Harry asked as he reached into the bag again, pulling free a few smaller black stones, these shaped almost like flat discs. They would have been absolutely perfect for skipping.
"The mechanism in the handle locked up and DIY Dick decided he was going to fix it, so hauled the door out to his shed and never looked at it again."
"And being a hallway door that was never closed, you never cared to replace it?" Harry asked as he somehow pushed the solid stones into the doorframe without leaving a mark. One behind the striker plate and the other exactly opposite it on the hinge side. "Um, can you?"
Harry looked at her before holding up the third stone and looking at the top of the door jamb, far beyond his reach. Natalie grinned gently and wrapped her arms around his waist, lifting him up until he could reach the jamb.
Once the third stone was in place, she let him down, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead and getting a bright red face as a reward.
"Uh, thank you." Harry blushed as he popped away, presumably to the shed as he returned a moment later with the door that once rested in the frame she was now standing within. "Pops?"
A fraction of a second later the diminutive form of the 'butler' she'd met many times before appeared before Natalie. "Good morning, Pops. How are you today?"
The elf glanced back and forth from Harry to Natalie before replying. "I am splendid, Mrs Granger. I do hope Harry isn't making a nuisance of himself?"
"Not at all. He's a pleasure to have over. You're welcome to come by anytime yourself, you know."
"Thank you." The elf bowed, then turned to face Harry before speaking again. "You called, Master Harry?"
"Yes. Please stop calling me Master. Can you fix the mechanism in this door, please?"
"Of course." With a quick snap of his fingers, a loud grinding noise came from the stubborn door. It shuddered slightly against the wall before becoming still and silent once more. "Would you like for me to replace it in the frame as well, Master?"
Harry frowned at the elf before holding up one finger and stepping to the door. He pulled another stone from the endless bag and pushed it into the centre of the wood panel. He stepped back and grasped Natalie's hand, gently guiding her out of the frame so that they stood opposite Hermione and Richard on the other side.
"Can you and Richard hold the door in place and touch the handle?" Harry asked.
"Of course," Natalie replied, glancing at her husband as the pair placed the door within the frame and held the handle from opposite sides.
Pops stood by her thigh and with a loud clap of his hands, the door reattached and glowed a bright white before returning to normal. The handle felt warm in her fingers and Natalie turned it slowly, opening the door to see her husband retreating away from it as it moved towards him.
"Well, that's one way to perform home repairs." He joked, bringing smiles to all present.
"Close the door again and open it, but this time think of the Manor," Harry instructed.
Natalie pulled the door closed and focused her mind on the brilliant home she'd only once visited so far. Twisting the handle, she noted it felt warm again and when she pushed it open, she gasped as the room on the other side did not hold her husband and daughter, but a large library instead.
"How?" She asked, twisting to look at the grinning Harry who was now standing there with Hermione and Richard holding his hands and looking into the room dumbfounded.
"Magic!" He replied cheekily before dragging Hermione with him through the door and shouting at the room. "It worked!"
Several cheers coming from the room had her soon following behind and once Richard had joined her, the door slammed behind them, showing a different door occupying a different door frame. The stunned Grangers followed the noise and found the children jumping up and down together in front of the large family portrait that had told her that their daughter was a witch.
"Welcome back to Potter Manor." The red-haired woman in the painting greeted them, smiling at them both with those same cheeky green eyes Harry wielded on her so successfully.
ϟ
Remus Lupin was exhausted.
Tybalt was a slave driver of the worst sort. Though most of the blame for their efforts had to be laid at his own feet. How had he travelled so far and so carelessly in his grief? They had spent about a month eradicating all traces of his former sojourn through the continent.
Tybalt was always intricately thorough, ensuring there wasn't a trace of either the previous trip or this one left to identify either elf or wolf. He'd even had Remus obliviate anyone he had interrogated on his first tracking trip. Remus wasn't the best at the memory charm, but he'd tried his hardest to ensure their safety. Whatever it was that Prongs wanted to keep safe was surely worth the effort.
He'd failed his friend enough for the past seven years, now it was time to make up for that failure. As Tybalt returned him to the room he had not even had a chance to spend the night in on his last journey to the Potter Manor, he looked longingly at the soft bed in front of him as the elf vanished as soon as they landed.
If it hadn't been for the sound of a child's laughter, he'd have face planted on the welcoming surface. But that laughter was a sound he hadn't heard in so long. A sound he longed to hear again. He followed the sounds of laughter and conversation to the same room he had been interrogated in previously and found three elves laughing at the base of the large family portrait.
A pair of strangers occupied the seats facing towards him, both brown of hair and laughing just as hard as the elves. No one seemed to have noticed him yet and he raked his eyes over the portrait as he stepped into the room. He needed to see the little boy he had missed so much in his exile. The child he'd sworn to protect the moment James had laid him in his arms the day he was born, and whom he had failed to do so.
"Moony!" James yelled, drawing his eye and making him the focus of everyone in the room. "Welcome back."
Remus couldn't stop the grin that formed in the presence of his old schoolmate. Dead though he may be, Prongs had managed to find a way to not only find him but pull him out of his self-imposed funk and back into the real world.
"Moony?" A second familiar voice sounded.
Remus's eyes were drawn to the chair facing away from him and leaning around the side was a little girl with wild bushy hair and vibrant brown eyes. Glancing up at the strangers he noticed many similarities between the three and assumed that they must have been the girl's parents.
However, his heart froze as his eyes drifted back to the chair and noticed the eyes peeking over the top. The green of those eyes was extremely familiar, but it had been so long since he'd seen their colour under that black mop of hair that was a Potter family trait.
"Harry…?" Remus choked as he fell to his knees and found himself heaving. His chest refused to cooperate as he tried to take in air, shock keeping him frozen in place.
"MOONY!" Harry yelled as he jumped from the chair and slammed into Remus at full force, knocking the struggling Marauder to his back and further hampering his ability to breathe with a crushing hug. "I've missed you."
Strangled sobs finally lurched free from Remus's throat as his arms enclosed the boy he'd long since thought dead. The family he'd given up on had not only pulled him from his funk but provided an opportunity now in the form of the one he had failed to save once before.
"Harry." Remus sobbed as he stroked the boy's hair and felt tears that were not his own wetting his shirt.
The boy pulled back and looked down at him as he wiped the tears from his face. Those eyes were even harder to look away from at this distance. Remus drank in the sight of the child, every feature an almost perfect match for his father, except the eyes, which were all Lily. And the right ear. It was shaped a little differently to the left, more like his mother than the father. As he looked closer, more of Lily became visible to the Marauder and a smile broke out on his face.
Harry Potter was alive. He was well, by the look of him, and oddly enough, was happy to see him.
A sudden punch to the shoulder made Remus's thoughts halt in shock once more. He looked in surprise at the little fist that had just hit him and then back to the boy perched atop him. "Don't run away again!" Harry demanded as he waved the fist threateningly.
Remus looked at him stunned as laughter broke out in the room once more. He was sure Prongs would remind him of this for months to come. But those green eyes looked into Remus's very soul and he could do nothing but nod his head.
"I promise. I'm never leaving you again, Harry."
"Good." The boy huffed, pulling himself up and giving Remus one more once over. And in that way that only children can, the appraising look was gone and replaced with a smile.
Harry ran over to the sitting area and Remus looked at the painting in confusion. Prongs was doubled over laughing his head off, somehow silently. However, that puzzle was cleared up as he saw Lily standing beside him with her wand drawn. That's odd, he thought, looking at the pair. He'd never seen a painting perform actual magic before unless it was the one spell they were painted performing.
Before he could analyse the idea further though, Harry had returned, hand in hand with the brunette he'd been sitting in the chair with.
"Uncle Moony, this is Hermione Granger. My best friend. And these are her parents, Richard and Natalie." The entire display would have been utterly cute had he not turned that same darkened gaze on Remus once more. "They're as good as my family, so be nice. No pranking."
Remus nodded once more and remained frozen on the floor until Harry's stare softened once more.
The man, Richard, extended his hand to Remus, who accepted it and allowed himself to be dragged to his feet once more with a loud grunt. Harry had hit his exhausted body harder than he had thought. Were he not such a fast healer due to his curse, he'd have been likely to wake tomorrow with bruises. "Pleasure to meet you, ah… Moony is it?"
"Remus. Remus Lupin. Moony is a, er, high school nickname." Remus was uncertain of how much to say, not knowing whether this family knew of the magical world or not.
The girl extended her own hand and when Remus took it, he was shocked once again to find himself across the room. "Hello. We know all about magic." She smirked as she popped away again, leaving his hand empty and his mind swirling with questions.
He glanced blankly up at the portrait and found several of its members now laughing at his expense. It seemed Harry was a lot like his father, forbidding Remus to prank Hermione, but completely at ease with the girl pranking him.
"I think that you broke him," Natalie stated as she walked over and pushed him gently into the seat he was now standing in front of.
He landed heavily in the leather chair and laid his throbbing head back against the headrest. "How?" He finally asked, directed at the painting on the wall.
"Tomorrow, lad." Charlus offered one of the few in the painting who had regained control of themselves. "You're clearly exhausted and this is all a bit much to spring on someone at once."
Remus found himself nodding, his questions could wait a day. Harry was alive, that was the most important thing. He was alive and the Potters were entrusting him with his care. That thought sunk in like a brick hitting him on the head.
This was the secret James had refused to tell him last time. That was not a thought he could have rattling around in his mind while trying to focus on cleaning up his mess. He'd have been distracted the entire time. Especially if he'd not seen the boy, but knew he was alive.
"This is what you weren't telling me?" He growled up at the painting, James locking eyes with him in return.
"Yes." Prongs replied, a broad yet familiar smile on his face. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to pull off a good prank when you're a painting in a place no one can visit?"
Lily quickly slapped James on the shoulder and glared at him furiously. "Do NOT refer to our son as a prank!"
"OUCH!" Prongs replied, clearly not actually harmed or sorry in any way.
Remus drifted his eyes over the others in the room once more. The two younger elves were lying on the floor at the feet of Harry's chair. One he was once again sharing with Hermione. Her parents were once more seated on the wider couch opposite the smaller chair the children were on and Pops was once more on his feet by the painting looking attentive. Though on closer inspection Remus realised the aged elf was watching him closely.
The elf snapped his fingers and Remus found a glass of amber liquid in his hand. He nodded appreciatively to the older elf and took a heavy swig of the liquid. And instantly realised his mistake when he began coughing as the intense burn ravaged his throat.
"Damnit, Prongs!" He coughed out, struggling to regain his composure. "Who teaches their elf to prank? Where the…" Remus paused, glancing at the children. "Where did you find a firewhiskey that strong?"
"That's not firewhiskey. It's muggle alcohol. A friend of mine makes it himself." Richard supplied, clearly suppressing his own laugh and a knowing glance at Pops.
"Alright, fine," Remus said, placing the glass on the side table and standing. "I'm going to bed before one of you does me in with one of these." He jabbed a finger at the painting before continuing. "But tomorrow morning I'm getting some answers, James!"
"Sure thing Moony. Go take a nap, you're always cranky at night." James replied.
Remus bit back a reply as he felt two pairs of arms wrap around his waist. He glanced down to see Harry and Hermione both hugging him tightly and all fire left him.
"Goodnight, Moony. It's so good to have you back." Harry said, before taking Hermione's hand and popping away.
That only raised more questions in Remus's mind, but exhaustion was fast winning out. He nodded as politely as he could to the Grangers and glared at the painting as he walked out the door and quickly returned to his bedroom. This time, he did not resist the call of the mattress.
He smiled at the childish laughter echoing down the hall before Remus Lupin fell asleep happy for the first time in seven long years.