Chapter 19 - Blood is Thicker

Family is everything

"Home?" asked Harry.

"Yes Harry, home. There are lots that you have to know. But before we go, I ask you to please listen first before coming to any conclusions. Everything was done for a reason. Please listen first"

Harry simply nodded and followed Hermione out of the hall and then the bank. There was a black car parked right in front of the bank. Harry couldn't see if anyone was inside. When he made to go around it, Hermione grabbed his hand and moved him towards the car. He got in after Hermione and turned his face to the windows.

The car was obviously magical, because one second they were in the crowded Alley and the next they were speeding through a road with tall stone walls on each side. They soon reached a black iron gate with filigree swirls and a rose in the middle. Hermione rolled her window down and immediately the security guard bowed and pressed the button to open the gate. Harry noticed all this but didn't comment on it, because what he saw inside stumped him. It was Buckingham Palace. He had seen pictures of it when he was little. His mind immediately started wondering if Hermione's parents worked for the queen. Maybe there were the queen's dentists? Or could she be related somehow?

The car turned from the road to the palace and forked towards the vast green grounds. Harry decided that her parents worked for the Palace and that's why they lived on the grounds. The car stopped in front of a cottage set afar from the Palace. Hermione got down and held the door for Harry. Once he was out of the car, the car drove away leaving them standing there looking at the cottage. Hermione took Harry's hands and led him to the door. It opened before they could knock and a woman smiled down at them. She pulled Hermione into a hug and surprised Harry by giving him one as well.

"Harry meet my Mum, Helena"

"Nice to meet you " said Harry politely.

Helena however laughed and said, "It's actually. Gosh! It's been so long since people called me . It's quite relieving to be not called 'Your Highness', you know? Anyways come in, come in" she ushered them in.

Harry was still processing what she said about being and called Your highness, he didn't notice the three men who entered the living room they were in.

A rakishly handsome man with dark black hair came over to where he was standing with Hermione and kneeled in front of him. He took Harry's hands in his hands and Harry was surprised when the full grown man started crying aloud. Hermione put a hand on the man's shoulder and that seemed to calm him a little.

"Harry this is my father and your God-Father, Sirius Black" she said, her voice was also thick with emotion. Harry could only stare at her and the man now wiping his tears and blowing his nose on a tissue.

The other two men came forward and knelt on each side of Sirius. They looked at Harry and one of them took his hand. Harry immediately felt calm and safe and surprised himself by jumping to hug the man. Everyone in the room and even the people watching from the shadows were surprised. Harry stepped back embarrassed. However the man he hugged had tears in his eyes and a wide grin on his face making him look quite funny.

"I am Remus Lupin, Harry. I am one of your parents' friends" the man said in a calm voice. He looked down at his hand still being held by both of Harry's and seemed to smile even more.

"Moony, don't keep him to yourself" whined the shorter man. Harry turned to him. The man was short, stocky and had thinning hair. He smiled wide and took one of Harry's hands. "I am Peter Pettigrew, another of your parents' friends. I have missed you so much Harry" he said.

Harry quickly shook his hands and moved to Remus again, almost hugging him.

"So, it's uncle Remus then" said Hermione. No one said anything but they looked happy and nervous at the same time. "Okay, it's time. Harry please sit. There are some more people you need to meet"

Harry looked to Remus and Remus took him to a couch and sat Harry next to him. He kept Harry's hands in his and nodded at a corner of the room. Harry followed his gaze and saw two people, a man and a woman step out of the shadows. The woman seemed to carry something in his hands. He realized it was a child sleeping. The man was tall, thin and had black hair that seemed to have a life of its own. The woman had red hair, a different shade from the Weasleys and her eyes shocked Harry by being the same color as his. He couldn't look at the cild since they were still standing at the far side of the room. Harry already guessed who they were of course, but he waited for someone to confirm it. He looked up at Remus, who nodded.

Harry felt a mixture of emotions. But the one that came over all others was betrayal. He always assumed that his Parents loved him and if they hadn't died, he wouldn't have gone to the Dursleys. But these people knew that Dumbledore intended to leave him there and yet did nothing to stop it from happening. Never once checked on him. Dumbledore did all this for whatever psychopathic reason he had to feel like a god. He was no one to Harry. But these people who were supposedly his parents had abandoned him. Left him somewhere and never looked back. He looked at the girl and felt a sting of betrayal again. They had another child. Maybe that's why. The Dursleys always said that he was a freak and that was why he wasn't allowed to play with other children. That was true then. That's why his parents had left him. To protect their other children. Harry very much wanted to leave the room. He couldn't stand to be in the same room as them. Breathing was becoming difficult. His vision was blurred by tears. He felt a hand squeeze his. When he looked up the room was empty but for Remus and him.

The man seemed to break looking at Harry's tears."Harry, I know what you must be thinking. But that is not true. Your parents didn't abandon you. If you'll let me, I'll explain what happened"

Harry seemed hesitant, but something about the man made him nod. Remus smiled and turned on the couch to face Harry. He easily made Harry sit facing him and took Harry's hand. "Harry, I went to Hogwarts with your parents. Your dad, Sirius, Peter and I were best friends. I never had friends before that, because I was a werewolf. I'm not anymore" he quickly added. But Harry didn't look scared, nor did he try to take his hand away.

Remus took this as encouragement and continued "I finally felt like I belonged. I'm sure you know the feeling from what I've heard from Hermione. Lily joined us when she finally agreed to go out with your Dad. The thing to note here is that Voldemort was gaining followers and power those days. Everyone was scared of him. As soon as we finished school, the real world hit us hard. I was shunned and didn't get any jobs. Your parents did what they could to fight Voldemort by joining Dumbledore's secret group called the order of the phoenix. They soon got married and had you. Harry, when your mom had you I was there outside the room. I heard your cry and then your mom's scream. She was holding you and there was this sort of white haze around her. That's when we knew that she had seer blood in her. A seer is a person who can see the future. Not prophecies Harry. Seers can see with certainty what's going to happen and have the power to change it. Harry, when you were born and your mother touched you, she had her first vision. The things she saw terrified her"

Harry waited with bated breath, hoping against hope that there was a valid reason for what happened. "Harry, I told you she saw the future and can change it as well. She saw you die at the hands of Voldemort. So she started changing the future with her decisions for you. Everyday she would make a decision and then see if the future has changed. They tried every possible scenario Harry. Taking you somewhere, hiding with you, going after Voldermort themselves. But every decision led to the same fate, you dying. Your parents went mad, Harry. Especially your mum. One day she got so frustrated, she contemplated taking her own life. But finally the vision changed. You survived. She was distraught. She couldn't bear leaving you. She knew James would also die if she chose that path. But they loved you so much that they only cared about you living.

So they made the decision and planned everything. They would lure Voldemort to their place through Peter and have him kill them. This is what the world believed happened. Voldemort did come to their place. He did fight with James and thought he killed him and went on to kill your mother for protecting you. However what your parents forgot is that we, Sirius, Peter and I would never allow them to sacrifice themselves. Unbeknownst to them, we performed a ritual on you three by taking your blood. It was easy enough with us practically living in your house. The ritual was old and few people knew about it. Most people think it's a dark ritual since it involves blood. But it's not. It's a protection circle. But the catch is you'll be protected only as long as the person who performed the ritual is alive. We decided that the three of us will do the ritual for each of you. But Peter did not name the blood vials and therefore we didn't know who was doing it for whom.

We could have found out, because the person who is connected through the ritual will feel calm and safe around their protector. Yes, that is what you feel for me. We just figured that I am yours. We couldn't figure it out before because as soon as the killing curse hit your parents, the ritual was evened out. It prevented them from dying but that was all it was strong enough to do. Anyway Harry, please understand that your parents love you and all they did was for you. Before they gained consciousness, you were taken by Hagrid to Dumbledore. We still trusted Dumbledore back then and that's why Sirius let him take you. After that the ministry somehow framed Sirius and threw him in Azkaban, wizard prison. I was not allowed back into the society and Peter was the only one free.

The whole world was celebrating that Voldemort was gone, but we were confused. Peter made his way to your house and that's when Lily realized it was all Dumbledore by touching Voldemort's body and getting a vision of his past. He was the reason behind it all and now he had you. We had to tread carefully. They made it look like Lily and James had died by leaving copies of their bodies and left from there to come find me. We knew he took you to the Dursleys. We sent Peter to check on you the first day you were there. Petunia was crooning over you or that's what Peter saw. We decided to let you be there for a few days while we broke Sirius out of Azkaban. We had some help, you see. Sirius was secretly married to Helena whom you met before. She was then the Princess of England, Grand Daughter of the Queen"

At this Harry's mouth went wide open. Remus continued, "We went to her and told her what happened. Though she's not magical, she had contacts and we broke Sirius out easily. Once we were all together again, we decided to come get you. But everytime we made the decision to come get you, Lily would get a horrible vision and stop us. But she never stopped trying. Peter and Sirius were sent to the Dursleys to check up on you regularly. Everytime they looked, you seemed extremely happy in a loving family. It was hard to convince Lily that her sister who hated magic and hated her had changed. But we convinced her that we should let you grow up there while we focused on all the things that Lily saw in her vision that caused your death. We didn't realize that Dumbledore had placed an illusion on the Dursley house along with the wards to make it look like you were happy there. Harry we are so sorry. If we had had any idea of what was actually going on there, you would have been out of there in a heartbeat. We swear we didn't know anything till Hermione told us about it"

Harry could only stare at the man in front of him with tears in his eyes, begging Harry to believe him. And Harry wanted to. He badly wanted to believe him. That his parents loved him. But hope has only given him disappointment till now. There was an internal struggle going on and Harry didn't know which side would win. His logical mind reasoned that if they hadn't loved him, why would they leave him such a huge amount of money. Money is obviously a big deal from what his relatives have always said. Then he scolded himself for thinking like the Dursleys.

But one nagging question kept popping up, "If Peter and Sirius had come by to check on me, how come I've never seen them?"

"Harry, your father, Peter and Sirius are Animagi. They can turn into animals. Do you remember seeing a rat or a rather shaggy looking black dog around?"

Harry gaped because he did remember. His aunt setting up rat traps all over the house to catch the fat rat that kept showing up. His uncle calling the animal service because a dog likely with rabies was roaming around the neighborhood. He felt a surge of hope despite himself and offered Remus a small smile. Remus looked relieved and started to speak again when Harry felt a tug on his pants. He looked down to see a girl of about five standing there.

She had thick, dark black hair and big eyes. Her eyes were green just like Harry's and he realized with a jolt that this was his sister. He looked between the girl and Remus unsure of what to do. The girl started to climb onto the couch and slipped. Harry caught her and pulled her up, causing the little girl to giggle. Harry smiled himself.

"Harry, are you coming home?" the girl asked him. Her voice was like an Angel's Harry realized with a warm smile. But he didn't answer her and asked her his own question.

"What's your name?"

"Helena Ava Potter. I know yours, Harry James Potter" she giggled.

"How old are you?"

She held up five fingers. Four in one hand and one in another. Harry fell in love immediately. He finally had a sibling. His own. He pulled her into a hug and the girl happily obliged all the while giggling.

They broke apart when they heard a sob and turned to look at their mother standing in the doorway, their father's hand on her shoulder both of them with tears streaming down their faces.