Chapter 1: What an interesting surprise

Hello awesome people! This fic is a sequel to 'In Another Time' which I wrote literally years ago - God, I feel old - so check that one out first if you want to read this.

First up, this fic contains both slash and het, relationships with age differences (which are entirely consensual) and various instances of mpreg. If any of this offends you in any way, I respectfully ask that you press the back and go find something better suited to your tastes. I understand that these topics aren't for everyone.

That said, welcome to several chapters of pure fluff! It's literally a combination of familial relationships, romance, and fluff. That's it. If you're looking for a fic with an actual plot, then this isn't it. My inspiration demanded I expand the universe for the old oneshot, and I had a lot of fun diving into the world of mindless fluff.

Also, this fic is entirely complete. I'm uploading the whole thing in one so I don't have to worry about an update schedule. If anyone asks for a continuation, it won't happen. Just getting that out of the way now.

I've mentioned all sorts of characters. Like, loads. I have in fact created a whole folder on my deviantart account for this fic. (My name is anime-otaku20) I know this fic doesn't exactly have a plot, but I would suggest that you refrain from looking at the family trees until you've finished reading because I've added future relationships and children that slowly appear throughout the chapters. I haven't separated them because I've already done the whole story.

The last chapter of this fic will also be a quick little guide to Orion and Harry's family. Only a few basics.

Right, sorry for all this info. I really do go on, don't I?

Hope you guys enjoy the story. Let me know what you think :)

I don't own 'Harry Potter'

Harry blinked his eyes and yawned, guessing it was still ridiculously early seeing as it was pitch-black in his bedroom. He turned his head to the side and squinted through the darkness, just about making out his husband's sleeping face, the usual severe set to his expression absent in sleep. The man was currently wrapped around Harry like an oversized octopus, though he wasn't really complaining; November in London wasn't exactly warm.

He gently extricated himself from the limbs around his body and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and yawning again. He hated having his bladder betray him in the middle of the night. Harry blindly sought out his slippers before settling them on his feet and standing up, turning around to gaze down at the still-sleeping figure. Knowing his luck, Harry was wearing some ridiculously sappy look on his face right about now.

Then again, Orion Black was an extraordinarily wonderful man, and not a day went by that Harry didn't feel the luckiest man on the planet.

Completely unprecedented time travel shenanigans aside, he still considered his life to be a series of rather bizarre and unbelievable events. After his mutual – and very relieving – breakup with Ginny, Harry had come to realise that finding a partner, let alone a future spouse, in the midst of the 'Man-Who-Conquered' bullshit was about as difficult trying to find any redeeming qualities in one Severus Snape. In other words, near impossible. (Also, why on earth was he given the most absurd nicknames by the magical population? It was madness.)

Tripping backwards into another era where every part of his ill-deserved fame was entirely absent was rather therapeutic for Harry. Yes, he did earn a few speculative looks from history buffs whenever they heard the name 'Peverell', but being married to the Heir to the House of Black presented quite a nice shield against the more obsessive theorists.

Nobody wanted to piss off the Blacks.

Harry slowly left his bedroom and closed the door, padding down the hallway to the family bathroom. After doing his business and washing up, he made his way to the twins' room, poking his head inside to check on his youngest sons. Rigel and Alnitak were in their own beds tonight, each curled up under the covers and sleeping peacefully with their respective Kneazles. (Harry had thanked every deity he knew of when the boys had chosen the tiny felines to be their pets, knowing he'd avoided the potential tears when it came to starting Hogwarts and having to leave any other animals behind.)

He walked in silently and ran his hands through Al's long hair, gazing down at the face that was the spitting image of Orion. Harry had no doubt the boys would grow into the Black looks more and more as they aged, except they had Harry's bright green eyes to go with them. He walked over to Ri and did the same routine as before, brushing a few stray strands away from his son's scrunched up nose before he left the room.

The man stopped outside the bedroom and looked further up the hallway, heart clenching as it usually did nowadays whenever he saw Siri and Reg's rooms. It was still strange to think that his own godfather was now his own child, his oldest child, but Harry honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

Siri was a surprisingly sweet boy, making Harry feel vaguely murderous at the thought of Walburga Black and what she must have put him and Reg through to make them so messed up in Harry's past life. Oh well, at least the hag's dead now. (And Harry was forever remaining oblivious as to the truth of Walburga's demise, for no other reason than plausible deniability. Being around the Blacks was bound to leave an impression, one way or another.)

It was definitely a melancholy feeling looking at the name plaques on the doors, though. His oldest two were currently at Hogwarts at the moment, and it was beyond strange thinking that, after this year, Siri only had one year left at Hogwarts before he graduated. Reg was taking his OWLs in the summer, and Ri and Al were going to start school two years from the coming September.

It was going so quickly. Harry still remembered that day when he gave birth, and being confined to bed rest for weeks afterwards, the twins simply lying there as tiny little creatures unable to do anything themselves, Siri and Reg still small with chubby cheeks and wide eyes … Everything's flown past already.

Harry had been in the past for ten years now. Just a decade. One single decade, and he'd gained a title and accompanying family manor, a husband to love, four sons to cherish, and a wide and extended family that were probably clinically insane, but hilarious to be around.

While he might miss some of the people from his old life, he wouldn't deny that he clung to his relative anonymity with a certain ferocity, infinitely relieved not to have to deal with expectations and idiots and supposed 'duties' of his, with next to nobody giving a crap about what 'Harry' wanted or needed.

He'd always wanted a normal life, though he certainly hadn't expected to find normality through accidental time travel.

As he made his way back towards the master bedroom, Harry heard a clatter from downstairs somewhere and immediately drew his wand. The wards on Grimmauld Place were extensive to say the least, so the idea that someone had managed to get past the legendary paranoia of the Black family and inside their home was almost ludicrous.

Almost, but not entirely.

Harry had experienced far too much in his twenty-nine years of life to discard even the most unlikely of scenarios, so he just gripped the warm handle of his faithful holly wand and tiptoed down the stairs, ready to hex the intruder into oblivion before calling Kreacher to warn Orion. If Harry had to deal with the danger so Orion could get their sons to safety, he was all for it. Even if his husband might actually kill him for putting himself in the line of fire.

Harry padded silently towards the kitchen, the low-hanging lamps lit for some reason as the rhythmic noise of what sounded like a mug scraped across the table as it was lifted, then placed back down again as the stranger did … whatever they were doing. Did someone break into our house just to drink tea?

He took a deep breath and poked his head around the doorway, only to slump his shoulders and roll his eyes, wand arm dangling by his side. Harry looked at the odd situation before him and mentally conceded to himself that yes, someone did break into their home just to drink tea. A certain idiot who, despite having been raised around the knowledge that The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black probably guarded their homes more than Azkaban or Hogwarts, and who knew full well that the family was full of dangerous individuals who wouldn't take too nicely to a midnight home invasion, had gone straight ahead and acted like the moron he liked to play far too often.

It was Alphard.

Harry sighed heavily as he took a step forward. "Alphard," he began, somewhat enjoying the man jumping a foot in the air like the proverbial chocolate frog, "what are you doing here? It's … one o'clock in the morning," he said after locating the small hanging clock hidden behind one of the low beams.

The man who resembled his husband a great deal, just with a thinner face and slightly wider eyes to go with his lithe physique, actually flinched and looked away from Harry. The time traveller was immediately wide awake, his green eyes raking over every inch of Alphard looking for some sort of issue that would explain the sudden personality transplant. Alphard was the most laid-back member of the House of Black, but that didn't mean he was soft in any way, shape or form. He could be sly and manipulative, and Harry knew for a fact that the man gleefully took advantage of not being in the line of succession to have as many different lovers as possible.

(He'd tried to shield Siri and Reg from Alphard's exploits for as long as possible, but the two of them now called him 'Uncle Hedge-Creeper' in private. Harry was torn between being entertained or mortified.)

Harry put his wand back in its holster and sat down opposite Alphard, slowly brewing two cups of tea while the older man got his thoughts together. It was clear he was reticent to talk about whatever issue he was having, and Harry pressuring him to speak wouldn't help in any way. The younger man knew that Alphard saw him as an equal, however, so he wouldn't patronise Harry in any discussion they might have. It was relieving, especially because Orion's cousin was a whole twenty years older than Harry, so Alphard treating him like a child could have been an issue between them if the older man hadn't been so mature, despite his cavalier attitude.

He was stirring a little sugar into his cup when he saw Alphard shift in his seat. Harry took a sip of tea and placed his mug back on the table, leaning back into his chair and meeting Alphard's silver eyes head on. It was a little unnerving to see so much indecision in this particular man.

"Alphard," he began carefully, "do you need me to go and get Orion?"

The man shook his head slowly. "No. No … it's not –" he cut off and raked his fingers through his hair. Alphard sighed heavily and looked Harry in the eye.

"I fucked up. Big time."

"What happened?" Harry questioned gently, trying not to set off the obviously temperamental man. It can't be that bad, can it?

(Famous last words, Potter.)

"I'm pregnant."

Harry just blinked rapidly, trying to compute the ideas of 'pregnancy' and 'Alphard' with one another. It wasn't working. Alphard Black was the very definition of 'playboy', and the concept of him actually having a child, let alone carrying them himself, was almost laughable to conceive.

Except the man wasn't laughing or grinning, and the worried set to his face and tense shoulders didn't paint a picture of any scenario where those words could have been misheard or misconstrued. Alphard was almost curled into himself, looking lost and anxious at the situation he was in, and Harry could admit he felt for him. Harry himself had only decided to have children with Orion after careful and thought-out conversations between the two of them. Not to mention they'd been married at that point in time; he didn't think Alphard was even in a relationship at the moment.

Harry hummed quietly. "Well, fuck."

Alphard snorted briefly before seeing the slight amusement in Harry's eyes, after which he broke down laughing, cackling into the table surface from where he was bent double at the waist. Harry chuckled at the sight of the tension leaving the other man's frame, the laughter doing Alphard a world of good. Harry was a Healer, after all; a lack of stress coupled with a more positive mindset did wonders for the human body.

"Alphard? What's going on?"

Harry turned to see his husband blinking sleep out of his eyes, and took Orion's moment of tiredness to appreciate the sight of the fitted t-shirt Orion was wearing for sleepwear. The material highlighted the fact that being in your late forties was no excuse for not being in shape, and Harry lost himself for a second remembering just how well he was acquainted with the body underneath.

(Hey, he was a married man, and if he wanted to eye up his husband, that was well within his rights.)

It seemed that Alphard was in no state to respond, and for some reason just started laughing even harder at his cousin's appearance. All the stress had morphed to hysterical laughter, apparently. As long as it didn't turn into sobbing, Harry was quite content to leave him be for the moment.

He sighed and smirked up at Orion. "It seems your cousin has some … unusual news for us.

"Congratulations, Orion. Alphard's pregnant with your future niece or nephew."

Silver eyes widened slightly at Harry's words, looking into bright green before flitting to his insane cousin and back before he blinked.

Orion cleared his throat. "Right. That's … fuck."

Harry snorted and Alphard started choking into the expensive mahogany at Orion's eloquence.

Long live the House of Black.

A/N: I think I've written so much HP fanfiction that I've half-convinced myself that Alphard Black was a central character at some point lol