Chapter Two
"Hey Mione, hey Ron," Harry sighed tiredly as he smiled into the mirror at his best friends.
"What's wrong mate, did it not go well?" Ron asked right away, leaning closer to the mirror, squinting at Harry.
"I knew we should have come with you!" Hermione frowned concernedly at him.
"No you shouldn't have, you're both ridiculously busy and I am a big boy. If I can fight Voldemort I can come to face my dad's one month stand who happens to be my other dad. It's just…."
"What happened Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Was he a dick?" Ron asked more bluntly.
"Ronald!" Hermione scolded before turning back to Harry. "Was he?"
"No, not really," Harry snorted in amusement at his friends. "It's just… this place is messed up! My dad is a fairy tale character. He's THE Rumpelstiltskin," Harry scrubbed his hand down his face.
"Oh we have those stories too!" Ron nodded.
"As in the trickster?" Hermione frowned. "But that is all fictional Harry, they're old fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm and others like them,"
"As best I can work it out they're from another world, or something like that. They existed separately to this world, and somehow their stories came into our world, though not their real story. Rumpelstiltskin he was trying to get into this world to find his son, my half brother,"
"You have a brother?" Ron perked up a little.
"I did, apparently he died recently," Harry sighed.
"Oh Harry, we're sorry," Hermione grimaced.
"To be honest it's not really sunk in on top of everything else," he admitted scrubbing his hands through his hair. His friends knew that he had thought about it, and he was obviously hurt by the loss, but wasn't ready to talk about it.
"So he...travelled into our world?" Ron went back to the conversation.
"Yes, he was trying to find Baelfire and reunite with him after he let him down. He was able to make it into other worlds but he couldn't make it into this one. He finally made it, three times, but he was only able to appear in heavily magic soaked areas. It is how he managed to appear in Godric's Hollow where he met dad," Harry waved his hand indicating the rest.
"So, how is he here now?" Hermione asked, her mind clearly spinning.
"That's where it gets interesting, the town is full of Fairy Tale characters. They are stuck here, if they cross the town line they forget who they are and become their cursed selves apparently. They were brought here by a curse cast by the Evil Queen from Snow White, who is apparently called Regina and who is desperately trying to be better and be good for her adopted son Henry, who is my nephew," Harry waited as they blinked at him.
"So, Snow White's step mum who also tried to poison her is in the town and trying to be good for her adopted son who is your nephew?" Hermione said slowly.
"Yes, and Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter is his biological mother, who is also in town and was the one to break the curse holding back everyone's memories, and who met Baelfire out in the normal world, got pregnant, gave Henry up for adoption and he ended up here in Storybrooke," Harry nodded.
"Wow…"
"Yup, oh and my Father is married to Belle from the Beauty and the Beast. I am fairly sure that he is actually the Beast from their story," Harry sighed.
"Wow…" Hermione shook her head. "So, the curse?"
"The Ev….Regina cast the curse on the Enchanted Forest to bring everyone here, where she thought that she would be able to have her happy ending. No one remembered who they were, and who they were with, families were split up and the things that you cared about were always just beyond your reach. She ruled over the town as the Mayor. But it seems like Snow White and Prince Charming had a baby and managed to get her into the normal world right before the curse happened, with her being destined to come here and break the curse when she was like 27 or 28 or something. She did that, everyone remembers, but they're still stuck here with no way back,"
"Do they want to go back?" Ron asked.
"Not too sure, they seem to have a pretty good setup here and seem happy," Harry shrugged. "Jiminey Cricket gave me directions to my Father's shop guys," He added a little hysterically.
"That is a little weird," Hermione allowed.
"I am staying in the bed and breakfast of the Granny from Little Red Riding Hood, who keeps a crossbow behind the bar and does not seem as though she would very easily be eaten!" Harry dropped back onto the bed, letting the mirror drop down onto the bed next to him.
"The ceiling is really lovely there Harry!" Hermione said sarcastically.
"I am exhausted from the journey here, and finding all this crap out. I didn't really have time to talk to him, with everything, by the time they had laid out the basics to me, I was exhausted. Oh, my Granddad is Peter Pan," He added as an aside.
"Oh wow…"
"Apparently not, turns out he was the bad guy," Harry snorted. "He tried casting a second curse on this place, but they were able to stop him. There was a fight, but they won, obviously, though Baelfire was lost in the fight," Harry frowned to himself.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice was gentle in his ear where the mirror was resting next to him.
"I wasn't sure what, or who I would find here when I got here, but finding and losing a brother in the space of like two minutes," Harry sighed. "I just...I thought I had prepared myself for what I might find here, but that, this,"
"We're sorry Harry," Ron said softly. "I'm sorry that you lost something that you didn't know you had, and that you lost the chance to get to know him,"
"It's just…"
"A mess?" Hermione offered.
"I guess it has been since I found dad's letter explaining about everything," Harry rolled over to look at them. "And not being able to track him down until after the war. I...I guess I am running away a little being here as well,"
"We knew that Harry," Hermione smiled at him.
"Come on, what friends would we be if we didn't know that you were running to get a bit of breathing space as well as genuinely wanting to find Rumpelstiltskin," Ron shrugged.
"You guys know what it is that you want to do, you have it really firmly in your head what it is that you're going to do in the future, Mione you're already cutting your way through the Ministry and Ron you're killing Auror training, I just needed a little time and space to think. And I need to know about this part of myself, where I came from, which is apparently even weirder and bigger than I imagined!" Harry snorted.
"What you mean that a fairy tale character landing in your dad's village, having a whirlwind sex month, knocking your dad up before disappearing, and reappearing through a curse into our world, what is weird about that," Hermione said dryly.
"Makes dentists look super boring huh, even if they have turned out to be expert hikers and explorers after their Australia trip," Harry laughed.
"I hope you know I am super jealous now, I can feel the green eyed monster rearing its head, my dad plays with rubber ducks yours plays with...people," Ron broke into laughter, not able to hold himself back.
"Shut up," Harry huffed out a laugh.
"Feeling better?" Hermione smiled at him.
"A little thank you," Harry sighed.
"What is the plan from here?" Hermione asked.
"You and your plans," Ron snickered.
"I'm going back to the shop tomorrow to speak to him properly, just us,"
"We will get going, but if you need to speak to us just give us a call," Ron said firmly.
"I will, thanks guys," Harry smiled at his friends who waved furiously at him, Hermione blew him a kiss before the mirror went black. Setting it to the side he dropped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for who knew how long until he let out a frustrated noise and grabbed the remote and put the TV on to watch something, his brain spinning way too much to sleep.
"Hey, do you mind if we join you?" Emma asked, appearing at the end of his table making him jump. Clutching his tea close to his chest he blinked up at the blonde who looked like she was attempting to stare him out. It would be more successful if he wasn't blinking at her tiredly.
"We?" He blinked again realised what she had said.
"Hi!" Henry dropped a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee onto the table and waved at Harry.
"Oh hi Henry," Harry yanked himself together and smiled at the young teen, missing the slightly softened look that Emma gave him.
"Hi, are you ok if we join you?" Henry asked.
"Of course," Harry waved to the booth opposite him.
"Late night?" Emma asked.
"Mixture of jet lag and well…"
"Taking in all this madness?" Emma waved her hand around.
"Yup," Harry snorted.
"It's a bit much at first isn't it, and I had a guide through it. This kid managed to figure out who everyone was during the curse," Emma nodded to Henry who grinned brightly back at her.
"It is a bit to take in," Harry admitted.
"Is it easier being a wizard though?" Henry asked curiously as Granny, the Granny, brought over their breakfasts.
"It is because I didn't find out I was a wizard, or about the Wizarding world until I was 11, so it isn't the first time I have had something like this dropped on me,"
"You didn't know?" Emma blinked.
"Nope, I just knew that I did weird things every now and then, odd things happened when I was emotional. Including speaking to snakes in the zoo and making the glass in their cage disappear so that they could go and see Brazil," Harry grinned when Henry gasped.
"You can speak to snakes?!" Emma asked.
"That is so cool!" Henry was wide eyed as he stared at Harry.
"What happened when you were eleven?" Emma asked curiously, trying to calm down a little and not look as eager as her son.
"I went to wizarding school," Harry said.
"Oh you shouldn't have said that," Emma snorted as Henry went even more wide eyed and started firing questions at Harry.
"Come on kid you have school, you can't miss the bus," Emma was practically dragging Henry to the door.
"I will be here for a good while yet, we have plenty of time," Harry smiled at his...well, his nephew.
"Promise?" Henry demanded.
"I promise, I want to hear more about you as well and get to know you properly," Harry promised.
"School now kid!" Emma hefted Henry towards the door.
"Bye!" Harry waved.
"Bye! I will see you later!" Henry waved.
"Bye," Harry chuckled.
"Bye!"
"Yes ok bye, we have all said bye, if you aren't on that school bus I will drive you there, and I will get you there on time!" Emma warned.
"I am on the bus!" Henry gulped practically racing out the door.
"Hi," Belle slipped into the seat opposite him.
"Are you guys taking it in turns?" Harry smiled a little at her.
"We're all just curious about you. Myself, I just want to make sure that Rumple doesn't get hurt. He won't admit it to anyone else, but he is hurting a lot from losing Bae, if he were to gain and lose another child, I'm not sure that even me and Henry could hold him together after that,"
"I don't...I wasn't really sure what to expect to be honest. Coming here was wanting to know more about him and that side of where I come from. I am a little lost right now, and I thought that understanding that would help. I can't tell you what I want from him, because I don't know him and so I don't know what it is that I want from him exactly. But I can promise you that I am here to get to know him and see what relationship I can have with him, if he wants one, and apparently with Henry as well,"
"He's a good boy isn't he," Belle smiled fondly.
"It must be a little odd being his... step grandmother,"
"Beyond odd, and he kept calling me Grandma," Belle laughed into her cup of tea.
"Oh Merlin!" Harry started laughing.
"Yup! That was the moment that it became beyond odd!" Belle chuckled. "Is Merlin real?" She added eagerly before Harry could say anything else. He blinked at her for a second before he started laughing realising she was as eager as Henry had been to learn more about the Wizarding World.
"Rumple?" Belle called into the shop as she and Harry walked in.
"Here Belle," Rumpel poked his head out of the back of the shop before looking more serious when he spotted that Harry was with her. "Harry," He nodded.
"Hi, I hope it is ok I am a little early, Belle was in Granny's and…"
"It is fine, I am glad that you came," Rumpelstiltskin said awkwardly clutching his cane in front of him.
"Why don't you two head to the back, you have things to talk about without the Charmings chaperoning," Belle smiled.
"Are you ok with the shop?" Rumpel asked.
"Yes, I will call if I need you," Belle waved him off, dropping her bag and the four books she had with her onto the counter pointedly, giving Harry an extra little shove to get him moving.
"Tea?" she heard Rumpel ask as they stepped into the back.
Harry looked at the man in front of him, his Father, as he placed the cup of tea in front of him and then perched on the seat opposite him.
"When did you find out about me?" Rumpel asked cautiously.
"When I was fifteen," Harry looked up from his teacup.
"And you are nineteen now?"
"Yes how did you…"
"I remember your dad fondly, he was a good man, and he was interesting, very interesting. His mischief and his quick mind are something that I will always remember. Did he not want to come with you, I mean I understand but I thought he would have wanted to be with you for this, it can't be easy," Rumpel asked but Harry was staring at him with growing horror.
"I thought I had mentioned it yesterday, I thought I had but I guess with everything that happened, and all the revelations, I didn't…"
"Harry, what didn't you tell me?" Rumpel asked when it became apparent that the young man was going to carry on rambling.
"Dad and mum, my step-mum, they died when I was a baby," Harry said slowly.
"What but...who raised you?" Rumpel frowned, shifting closer unconsciously towards him.
"My step-mum's family," Harry said shortly.
"Are they going to come here?" Rumpel asked.
"No, they definitely won't be. I don't even know where they are now," Harry made sure it was clear that that conversation was done with right now.
"How did you find out about me?" Rumpel asked cautiously.
"My dad left me a letter. I wasn't meant to get it until I was older, but I found it in the vault and read it. Sirius and Remus told me about you and what happened and explained the letter," Harry took a big gulp of tea. This was one of the most uncomfortable conversations to have, but it needed to happen as well for them to be able to move forward.
"I remember Sirius and Remus, they were interesting men as well," Rumpel nodded. "What about Peter though?"
"Yeah, Pettrigrew betrayed my parents and sold them out to the man that wanted to murder me," Harry held his hand up when Rumpel stood and opened his mouth. "I need to finish this. He had been spying on them for months, and he betrayed them to the Dark Lord that was trying to take over our world. Voldemort came to kill me, killed my dad and mum, and tried to kill me, but the curse backfired,"
"He actually cast a curse on you?!" Rumpel thundered.
"The killing curse," Harry looked nervously at Rumpel.
"I know what that is," The man nodded even though he was crackling with magical energy.
"He cast it at me, it backfired and threw him out his body. My mum, Lily, her magic, her love for me protected me, even though I wasn't hers she loved me with all her heart. This was what was left," Harry brushed his fringe to the side and showed his lightning bolt scar.
"May I?" Rumpel asked cautiously, stepping around the table.
"I...sure," Harry shrugged and watched interested as magic flowed into his Father's fingers as he reached out and touched Harry's forehead gently.
"This scar was not all he left," Rumpel shook his head.
"You can tell? Even though it is gone?" Harry blinked.
"I am older than I look, and I have a different connection to magic than Wizards or Witches do. I can read magic in a different way, even though it has gone it leaves a trace. We call this Horcrux magic,"
"Us too, he made seven of them. I spent the year I turned seventeen tracking them all down to destroy them before facing him,"
"And how did you get rid of the soul piece in you?" Rumpel asked. "Harry!" He pressed when Harry looked down.
"I let him kill me," Harry muttered.
"Rumpel! What is happening? Everything has just gone mad in the shop with your magic!" Belle raced into the room.
"He killed you?!" Rumpel gripped Harry's shoulders and looked intently at him.
"You were killed?" Belle gasped.
"It didn't take?" Harry offered.
"How..but…"
"Because I sacrificed myself to protect the people that I care about the spell killed the soul piece inside of me, and not me, I came back after visiting with Death,"
"There is something else," Rumpel frowned.
"I am the Master of Death," Harry didn't see any point in lying or hiding it the way that he did in the Wizarding world. If there was anywhere that would accept that part of him it was here, and here was his chance to be understood for that.
"That would do it," Rumple nodded. "You died," he said softly.
"Sorry?" Harry grimaced. Belle hurried over and took Rumpel's arm, squeezing it tightly from the looks of it as the older man stared at Harry.
"I could have lost you, twice, before I even knew you...I...you know about Bae. I made so many mistakes there, so many, I wanted to be a good father for him, but everything that I did was the opposite. I am sorry that I wasn't there for you for all of this, I would like to try and be here for you, to help you if you need me, and to try and make a relationship with you. I lost one son, long ago because I was a fool, I don't want to lose another. I am not good with emotions and with expressing them, I am quite a closed person, and I am prone to try and work situations to my advantage. I am not what can be called a good man. But I would like a chance to get to know you, and to be a parent to you,"
"I just want to know that you aren't doing this just because of Baelfire," Harry felt uncomfortable saying it, but he had to.
"I am not, I want to get to know you and have a relationship with you," Rumpel promised.
"Ok," Harry nodded. Belle squeezed Rumpel's arm again feeling the tension flow out of him.
"Will Sirius and Remus be coming here? That might make things easier for you," Rumpel asked as gently as he could manage.
"Ah fuck," Harry grimaced.
"So you're the Crocodile's son huh?" Harry turned to look at the man who was leaning against the wall of the shop nearby before he carried on walking. "Hey!"
"I'm not interested," Harry dismissed over his shoulder.
"And what do you mean by that?" The man demanded. He broke to a halt when Harry spun, looking down incredulously at the finger that was poking him in his chest.
"Look I know you have a problem with Rumpelstiltskin, and I am sure that your reason is incredibly valid, but I am his son, not him, do not go putting your shit for him on me, I have been there and done that with my other dad and I am not going to go through it again for yet another parent that I haven't known," Harry said furiously before spinning to storm away so quickly that his ponytail hit Killian in the face.
"Hey!" Hook hurried after him.
"Oh, and think about using me to get revenge on him and I will permanently transfigure your hook into a bouquet of flowers! See how much damage you can do with that," Harry glared before carrying on his way to Granny's.
"Don't even think about it, that is a bad idea," Emma snorted stepping up next to him.
"I have no clue what you're talking about," Killian said absently.
"Ah ha, weren't you with Mila?" Emma asked.
"Beauty and fire is all it takes to turn me on," Killian shrugged.
"Oh, you're pansexual?" Emma nodded.
"What did you just call me?" Killian frowned at her.
"I am not sure that that is going to go well," Emma watched Harry walking into Granny's. "It could be good for you though," She hummed.
"No seriously, what did you call me?" Killian scowled at her.
"Let's go and google sexuality and talk this through so that he doesn't turn you into a frog or something," Emma grabbed his arm and tugged him away.
"Are we going to be watching that pronofray?" Killian frowned at her as he was tugged along.
"Pron….pornography?" Emma laughed.
"That is it! That came up on the computer internet thing on my talky phone thing,"
"I...I'm not even touching that, come on, I have beer," Emma shook her blonde head.