I don't own 'Harry Potter'
Harry opened his eyes, exhausted beyond belief. Even fighting and dying in the Battle of Hogwarts hadn't left him in this state, and he moaned a little in pain as he mentally catalogued his surroundings with his eyes closed.
He was laying in a wide, soft bed with his head on a plump pillow as his body throbbed in muted pain. He was warm and he could feel his hair matted to his forehead with sweat. His entire body was thrumming with the dull pain of sore muscles, though his abdomen and pelvic area had clearly taken the brunt of the experience.
Mentally feeling his way around his body he couldn't shake the feeling that his stomach was wrong somehow. It felt empty and barren, and the sensation sent a trill of panic through his system as he suppressed the urge to jump out of bed.
He moaned again, though this time it was in pleasure as a cool rag was pressed to his forehead, gently wiping off the sweat as the person holding it whispered tender words in Harry's ear. He was too light-headed to really understand what was being said, but he could hear the tone and understood the soothing intention. He relaxed at the familiar voice.
"Harry? Are you feeling better?"
Harry willed himself to awareness, taking a few deep breaths to conquer the spacey feeling in his mind. When he calmed down he slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly so that he could adjust to the light in the room.
The room was a pale green accented in cream, decorated with expensive paintings, dark mahogany furniture, and spacious windows that invited plenty of sunlight. It was a beautiful room but Harry didn't notice any of that, as he was too focused on the man smiling down at him as he wiped away the evidence of Harry's exertion.
His husband.
The man was much taller than Harry's measly 5'5'', and the man towered over him at 6'4", though this fact secretly delighted Harry even if he would never admit such a thing out loud. His wavy black hair was delightfully silky, falling thickly until it brushed the man's shoulders and curled at the ends. His face was that of a typical pure-blood, with a well-proportioned bone structure consisting of high cheekbones and a strong jaw, and narrow eyes that gave a piercing gaze to whoever met them. His eyes were mesmerising in Harry's opinion, a molten shade of silver which left him breathless.
Yes, Orion Arcturus Black was certainly a breathtaking man.
If anyone had told Harry when he was younger than he would one day accidentally trip through time, discover a nefarious plot consisting of an illegal marriage, and subsequently marry the victim of said marriage, he would have laughed in their face until he ran out of air, and then laughed some more.
Actually experiencing said adventure was no laughing matter though. One day he'd been clearing out an old Black property when he had come across what he realised was an old Time-Turner, though he didn't get much further that examining a few of the runes before another artefact behind him had blown up, shattering the Time-Turner and knocking him out.
He'd woken up in a muggle park not far from Grimmauld Place and luckily realised that his emergency extendable bag had still been in his pocket – thank you Hermione. He had just started to leave before he spotted a man staggering into the park, looking almost drunk. Though it had been at a distance, his features had seemed rather familiar to the nineteen-year-old.
Harry had walked over to the man, but before he could speak the man had collapsed and would have hit the floor if Harry hadn't caught him. Trying to understand the situation he'd been in would have taken a while, but the option to diagnose the man slowly had been taken away from him when he'd heard an extremely familiar – and unwanted – voice, screeching just around the corner.
"Orion!"
Harry hadn't thought, he'd reacted. A moment later he and his unconscious companion had been in the deserted Forest of Dean. He'd quickly set up his tent, deposited the larger man inside, and set about spelling his surroundings with the same protections he had used while on the run.
He had gone back inside and began diagnosing the man. Harry had been training to be a Healer after the war – screw fighting anymore – and was surprisingly rather good at it.
Discovering that his unwitting patient had been the subject of a modified love potion that contained a poisonous compulsion element had been disgusting to the Healer-to-be. The potion would make the victim easier to manipulate and would eventually kill them if used too much. He'd spent the entire day flushing the vile substance out of the man's system before succumbing to exhaustion.
Waking up to find a very attractive man hovering over him had been disturbing, more so when his first reaction had been to blush of all things. The positively sinful smirk he'd gotten in return hadn't helped, though his … appreciative thoughts had soon been wiped away when he'd discovered that the man in front of him was none other than Orion Black, his godfather's father, and it was apparently the past.
1966 to be exact.
He had been in such a daze that he'd nearly passed out from the shock, and it was this confused mental state which had led to him blurting out his time travel adventure without even considering whether it had been a good idea or not. Orion had been surprisingly open to his explanation, though he had questioned him extensively, and accepted his word rather quickly considering the topic of discussion.
It might have had something to do with saving him from being poisoned by his wife.
When Harry had revealed the truth of the potion's use and what it did to the victim, the glint in Orion's eye had been terrifying – and rather attractive – and soon the two of them had been ensconced in an elegant office with Lord Arcturus Black, where a vindictive Orion had explained the situation to an enraged Arcturus, and the bewildered Harry (who had still been trying to process when he was) sat quietly in the background, only speaking when someone asked him a question.
Harry had no idea how his life attracted such messes, but soon enough his actions had resulted in Walburga's arrest, the annulment of the marriage between her and Orion, and Arcturus repaying Harry by helping him set up a life for himself.
Which meant bribing the goblins into covering up his Potter name and time travel, and allowing him to become Lord Peverell.
The young time traveller had had no clue what was happening in his life, and Orion Black, with all the cunning of a true Slytherin, talked him into staying at Grimmauld Place with him and his children. (Not that Harry had recognised any ulterior motives, still trapped in a state of 'what the fuck?')
Sirius was adorable as a six-year-old, as was a four-year-old Regulus, and within the space of six months Harry had managed to become their second parent without him even realising. Orion had just been grateful that his plan was working, even if the younger man hadn't yet noticed anything.
Between the Wizengamot, helping the children, and working with Orion, another few months passed and Harry had been feeling content. Granted, he'd been living with the child version of his godfather, and Orion was still unfairly attractive in his mid-thirties – and way out of his league – but things were nice.
They were even nicer when Orion started courting him, even though it took a while for Harry to accept that Orion was completely serious about his feelings and not messing around.
A mere four months later saw them wed and they agreed to try for a baby. Because Sirius and Regulus would carry on the Black name, an agreement was made that they would try and have two sons to carry on the Peverell name, though any daughters would be Blacks.
It seemed that despite Harry's childhood malnutrition he was easily able to conceive, though he'd had to be more careful during the pregnancy than others. His body was still smaller and thinner than average, and any damage to his body could cause him to lose the baby.
They'd decided to keep the gender a secret and be surprised after the birth, and they'd spent the pregnancy getting increasingly excited for the arrival of their new family member. Sirius was an excitable boy, and the prospect of another sibling was almost too much for him, and Regulus was happy as well – particularly about not being the youngest anymore.
The birth had started off well even if it was absolute agony, but then he'd realised that something was wrong and the baby wasn't coming out properly. After a gruelling eight hours in labour the Healers decided to give up on a natural birth and go for a caesarean instead, and Harry had been quickly put to sleep for the operation.
Now he was hurting all over but he didn't know where his baby was. Orion didn't seem worried though, and Harry knew that his husband wasn't cruel enough to withhold such information if there was a problem.
"Shh, it's okay Harry … The operation went well, and everyone's okay."
"Orion … Did we have a boy or a girl?"
"We have a son."
Harry smiled tiredly at his husband, though he blinked at his next words.
"Though 'sons' might be more accurate."
Orion smirked and leaned down, kissing Harry gently on his lips while snaking his arms around his waist gently. As they kissed he helped the smaller man into a sitting position, arranging the pillows around him for support. He broke the kiss and looked into the shocked green eyes of his husband, running his hand up and down his arm soothingly.
He stepped back and turned to a small cot that Harry hadn't seen from his previous angle. Orion gently moved it closer to the bed, watching with pride as his small, yet amazingly strong husband gazed down at their new sons in awe. Orion had long since thought himself exceedingly lucky for this man's appearance, and felt a new wave of love as Harry gently stroked his finger over the small faces in front of him, checking under their hats to see messy hair like his own.
Orion cleared his throat catching Harry's attention. "Do you have any ideas for names? They will carry on the Peverell name, after all."
He was rather intrigued when Harry blushed at the question, though he enjoyed the attractive red flush on his cheeks. It always went well with his pale skin.
"They might be Peverells, but they're still your children. If it's okay with you, I'd like to name them Rigel and Alnitak … I mean, they're stars in the constellation Orion, but if you don't want –"
Harry's rambling was cut off with a passionate kiss that curled his toes, and it would have gotten him in the mood if it weren't for his exhaustion. The kiss tapered off into something more chaste, Orion lingering over him and holding him gently. He pulled away and rested his forehead on Harry's, locking silver eyes to green.
"Thank you."
The smaller man's lips curled gently upwards at his husband's tone of voice, happy that the suggestion had gone over well.
"Seeing as I've chose the first names, how about you choose the middle names?"
Orion thought for a moment. Sirius and Regulus had already received his first name and middle name respectively, and it might be nice to keep to Harry's family instead. It was traditional for the oldest son to have the father's name as their middle name, even with twins, so that was fine. For the other … Harry might have had to change some of his background details to not get found out, but his name hadn't changed too much.
"How about Harry and James? Rigel Harry Peverell, and Alnitak James Peverell."
Harry's eyes lit up and Orion knew he'd made the right choice.
A knock at the door interrupted the couple and they called in the visitor. Two pairs of silver eyes peered around the door cautiously, taking note of their surroundings. When they saw Harry they were worried.
"Papa?! Are you okay?! You look so tired!"
The two sets of questions were cut off by Orion. "Boys! Harry's fine, he's just tired from giving birth."
"But is it supposed to be so difficult?" Sirius was gnawing at his lip in worry, Regulus looking just as concerned.
Harry smiled at them. "I'm fine, really. It just took a long time because my body wasn't strong enough to do it the proper way. Anyway, enough about me. Do you two want to meet your brothers?"
"Brothers?"
It was kind of cute how in sync the two boys were, and they were soon directed by Orion over to the small cot where the two newborns were sleeping. Sirius and Regulus stood and looked at their new siblings in awe, stunned into silence at the revelation that there were two new babies, not one.
"Their names are Rigel Harry Peverell and Alnitak James Peverell."
Even the announcement of the names wasn't enough to get the two oldest to make a noise, and they sat on the edge of Harry's bed, leaning into his legs gently as they watched the sleeping babies.
Orion walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed on, putting his arm around Harry's shoulder and pulling him close. He turned his head and pressed his lips to the other man's head gently.
"I love you."
The phrase was so simple yet it held so much weight. This man had literally appeared out of nowhere and saved him without asking for anything in return except for Orion to be more careful in the future. He looked after his sons as his own and he did everything in his power to protect those he considered family. It might sound like a cliché, but Orion felt like the luckiest man on Earth.
Harry turned his head and leaned in, kissing his husband deeply yet chastely. This man had turned his life upside-down, given him a chance to save certain people, and even helped him make a new life for himself where he wasn't revered for a stupid title, he was simply respected for his own skills. It was something he had always wanted, and though he hadn't thought he would ever end up in a situation like this he wouldn't change it for the world.
But the most incredible thing that Orion had given Harry was a family. Sirius and Regulus weren't his by blood but they were his all the same, and they were just as much his sons as Rigel and Alnitak.
His husband was everything he'd ever wanted in a partner; he was caring and attentive, but he wasn't demanding or controlling, and he respected Harry's ability to protect himself. He was possessive, but that was born from a desire to keep those he loved safe rather than a need to be in control.
Looking around at his new family curled around him, Harry realised that the small boy in a cupboard who'd dreamed and dreamed of a family was long gone, and he knew that he would never have to wish for such a thing again.
His wish had come true.