Hello lovely Readers,

Here's the next installment to A Shadowed Life!

To my readers,

I apologize that it took so long, a lot has happened over the course of several months and I lost all interest in doing what I love the most. I lost someone who was very dear to me and it about tore me asunder. So I am dedicating this to all the loved ones I lost between May of 2015 and January 2016. I have been trying for the past few months to write something of significance for this final Chapter of, A Shadowed Life and between funerals and my Sister's upcoming wedding it has been rather hectic. None the less, I know you have been waiting eagerly for this installment and I truly do hope you enjoy it.

Without further a due here is the grand finally of A Shadowed Life.

Enjoy!

Things in the story you might want to know.

"Talking/ spells"

'Thinking/ sound affects/ Memories'

§Music Song/ Magic Song§

-Parseltongue-

.:Spells:.

~Dragon Telepathy~

*Dragon Language*

Chapter Thirty-Four- Arise From Ashes

After the battle at Hogwarts things were still not over, not as much as he'd hoped it would be. The battle for the ministry happened within the following days, though, the barriers were strong Harry still tore through them with ease. Lucius at the time was standing in as Mr. Thallorian, pretending to be the man as the ministry was attacked. The whole time this was going on Harry's mind was always somewhere else. Between his offspring and his mate he didn't know which he worried about the most.

Nothing Narcissa said seemed to sway Harry's thoughts and when one truly looked at him they could see the weariness of everything weighing down on him. What weighed him down most were the radicals still out there going strong. These were the people who refused to back down even after they were told that Dumbledore was dead and Harry Potter had betrayed them.

Ronald Weasley and Ginerva Weasley were of the group that they could not seem to locate. Harry had given his once best friend a chance and he'd refused that chance. Many innocent people had been caught in the cross fire because the rebels had no qualms in hurting people. They thought that anyone who didn't stand up and fight was an enemy to them. Children… were no exception. He knew what they were looking for… they were looking for his offspring. They can hurt him the most if they had them within their clutches. Something in him told him it was only a matter of time before they learned of the secret city that held the rest of those that which fled the world long ago and wish to one day return to it.

Harry had stopped hiding his heritage and walked openly in town, practically daring any willing to try, to try and attack him. It had happened quite a few times and they learned quickly just how deadly he could be. When news spread that he was once the famed assassin Phoenix they tried to protest it. Many who personally knew Phoenix from back then had stepped forward and asked for proof and proof they got.

Harry wasn't afraid to show who he played a role as anymore. Phoenix was a part of him and a part of a past that, to many, was very long ago but to him was not more than several weeks ago. No one could dispute Harry's claim as being the women, when his glamour of her matched her down to every facet. What also surprised them all was just how closely to Lilley Potter nee-Evens was to Briar Rose the assassin named Phoenix. Though one's hair was brighter than the others many likened them to being the same blood when Lilly had been brought into the wizarding world. At the time they had no idea how close to that it was. Only that Lilly was the birth mother of the one that would one day become a nightmare to many in the past.

What broke many down, after that was learning that he was not only Phoenix, but he was also Evan Spring and Orion Black. Harry was done with hiding and people would know of everything that transpired under most of their very own noses. Harry had the death eaters whisper into people's ears of things that happened behind closed doors. He had given those that had been suppressed in voicing things free reign.

People that had warned about the decline in magic activity and been silenced by the ministry because they didn't want to believe it. He let rumors of everything he was working for to spread like wild fire as many told his story to those they came in contact with and slowly and with time people started believing them and supporting whatever he was pushing for. Magic had to be saved and a tighter restriction on interaction with the muggle world needed to happen in order to save them all.

Purebloods would have to accept that muggles needed to stay alive and squibs should not be treated poorly. If it wasn't for squibs marrying muggles then there would be no magic. He knew many Pureblood families would reject the idea, but Harry would give them no leeway. The Pureblood families that backed him up were the ones that dissuaded many from apposing him. The families that had supported him were the Malfoys, Blacks, Notts, and Greengrass. All the families that were closely in understanding Harry more than any other either having had known him personally or had worked with him and were able to understand what his motives were.

Many questioned about where Voldemort was and if he'd even had a play in what went on. That question didn't last long however, when rumors spread of Harry being mated to Voldemort and the prophecy was nothing more than a faked memory forged by the man Harry had killed. Many truths were brought to light and disputed, by the time things started to settle down Voldemort started to make appearances, even though Harry was clearly against his mate leaving his quarters when he was still yet fully healed.

"I really wish you wouldn't push yourself," Harry growled.

"And I wish you would stop babying me…it is nothing I can't live through Harry," Tom chastised.

"What if the wound reopens Tom, I do not wish to sit by your bed and worry if you will bleed out on me again!" He hissed his voice laced with anger at the moment.

Tom's eyes narrowed and he stood before Harry, forcing him to lean against the nearby wall as Tom toward over him, "You will not have to worry about that and this unprecedented voice of hostility will stop now."

"Unprecedented?!" Harry nearly growled, "It is not unprecedented when it almost happened once already Tom or do you keep forgetting you were bleeding out on a damned bloody battle field? For someone like I it is nothing I can forget any time soon. I thought I was going to lose you Tom and that scares me half to death every time you do something like this right now that pushes my nerves to the very damn brink of insanity and you should know that I'm not above losing my mind because you saw it happen once already remember?"

Tom looked at him in thought, because he knew Harry was speaking the truth, "I will not sit back and let you take the strain this is already causing you."

"My strain comes from worrying about you and our offspring, which I might add I haven't seen since the day they were born," He hissed agitated beyond belief.

Tom pinched the bridge of his nose, "What if I made a deal with you…hear me out before you speak," Harry clamped his mouth shut to hear his proposal, "If I promise to come out once a week," He quickly covered Harry's mouth because it looked like he was about to protest, "Listen… If I promise to come out at least once a week and do nothing to demanding I will promise to spend the rest of that week at home relaxing until I am completely healed."

He pulled his hand away from Harry's mouth who was mulling over the idea in his head and he sighed having to admit that this was not an unprecedented demand being made so he nodded, "Alright, but you have to promise that this proposal will happen."

Tom chuckled, "You have my word Harry."

With that Tom pulled Harry into a tight embrace, it was one hurdle cleared for the time being. The other hurdle would be worse, considering that that hurdle consisted of old friends now turned rebel and enemy until the day they die. Harry was no fool… Tom would execute the rebels publicly upon their capture to deter any more from joining their ranks. Harry really didn't want it to come to that, but with more and more innocent bystanders getting hurt or worse killed just for their own choices Harry had no choice but to stop it in any means possible if he were to save magic.

The rebels must pay… and in turn Jenny and Ron as well as those at their sides would be made an example of. He knew it would hurt Molly Weasley, but as it was they were given no more choices. He had to visit them, he hadn't done so since Remus and Sirius had pulled them from the bloody battle field before they could end up as what most of the order had been at the end of the fight. When he did eventually visit without Tom, Minerva was there as well as Sirius and Remus. Minerva McGonagall had been upset with Harry over what he'd done and Harry had taken her verbal beating like he had anything else since his time as Phoenix.

"You have no right to tell me right from wrong Minerva…" Harry said lowly and darkly, "When so much wrong was done on Dumbledore's part everyone was ignorant or turned a blind eye to it. I had every right to exact revenge and I had every right to do as magic bid me to do. Yes, lives were lost but they decided their own fate when they believed a lying old man over a child."

Harry was trembling just thinking of the old man. Ever since the battle ended he felt cold inside and rather twitchy. He lifted his hand taking notice of the tremble in his hand as he looked at it and Minerva stayed silent as Molly placed a hand on her shoulder. He clenched his hand and pulled it to his chest briefly closing his eyes and placing his hand over his heart as he took a couple deep breaths to calm his nerves. Those in the Weasley's living room looking on as Harry struggled with himself briefly.

"I had to stop magic from dying… he was killing it… just as he was trying to have me kill my Soul Mate and just as he'd tried to kill my children…just as he'd painted a mark of death on anyone he thought was a threat including my own parents…"

All was silent as he watched them from where he was Molly had already been filled in on everything thanks to Remus and Sirius, but Minerva had not, "What do you mean? Why would he-"

Harry growled and explained everything in detail everything he'd learned and everything he knew about what happened to every one of his personas. He left no detail out about anything they would need to know to know the full extent of the treachery that Dumbledore had wrought. When he finished many of the occupants were pale as emotionless eyes stared back.

"I lost everything the day Dumbledore killed what life I could have had… and if it wasn't for Tom we would both be dead as well as everyone else in time. Because I know full well Dumbledore wouldn't stop after our deaths and in doing so Magic would have died as well as everything else. I… I can no longer be the Harry you all once knew, too much has happened to me and I am just a twisted version of my former self. All I can ask is that you take me as I am now, if you cannot then you will no longer have to see me unless it's completely unavoidable."

Molly was choking on her sobs as Bill held her silently, "Oh Harry, how could we ever turn you away?"

"Because I won't be able to save your son or daughter if they so choose to turn their wands against me or any I hold dear," He whispered, "I am saying this now before you say anything further… they will die Molly… and I cannot stop what is inevitable if they are to be caught because I know Tom will do just that…or myself if given a reason to have my wrath turned on them," He looked at her, "Would you still accept me now knowing that they will die by mine or my mates hand?"

Molly looked torn and she looked at Bill who looked defeated before looking to Harry once more, "I would be devastated Harry, but… they have made their choice as have you and many others. I would mourn them yes, but I cannot blame you or fault you for your coming decision in the days to come. I know my children are putting innocent people into harm's way because of their own decisions."

She got up and Harry tensed right before she enveloped him in a hug, "If this is what needs to be done to stop the bloodshed anymore then do it… I'm sorry this has to fall upon you to do so."

Harry sighed and hugged her back, "And I'm sorry that my decision will hurt you when the time comes. Dumbledore messed him up pretty bad, from what I saw in his mind Molly… If I thought there was a way to save him from this destructive behavior you know, I would have done so and from the reports on Ginny's mind as well we know it is the same."

She nodded and sobbed before she stepped away to go cry into Bill's chest who nodded to Harry. With that Harry left them all with his current bodyguard at his side, which happened to be Theo's father. He paused at the door looking back at them allowing his emotions into his eyes. He was torn that this was happening, but it had too. Ron had been given his chance to change and so had Ginny… it was now too late for them to turn back now.

He and Ron hadn't been friends since he made the conscious decision to be someone else. He had left his old life behind and started another, with people who actually did care about him. He had people he could call his family and he didn't regret any of it. It was then and there that Harry decided he would not regret killing Ron or Ginny. They were just stopping what need to be done and he could not allow this charade to go on any longer. With that he left the house and apperated just outside the ward to the ministry. People paused to stare at him, having stopped hiding what he was.

A couple of Drakes were stationed at the front of the building guarding the building since he and Tom had taken it over. They had revealed to the people that Thallorian was none other than Voldemort himself. It was strange watching the hope drain from people upon the realization that no one would come to save them.

What they knew not was that they were being saved and he knew in time they would see it. He only needed the years ahead to show them that much. The new laws were already being put in place and Magical Orphanages were being built to accommodate their latest plan for their people. Harry wasn't going to allow magic to die and he had to steel himself to what was to come.

{A Shadowed Life}

Tom stood before the people looking out over them as the announcement was made. The new laws had been put in place and if he were honest the people seemed to like the new change. Creatures now had more of a role in society and people like Hermione seemed to be appeased with the new changes, however, still not so much about house elves, but that was unavoidable and the people would be educated on the reasons why. Tom looked over to Harry, he was worried about his young lover. He understood Harry worried and as the days dragged out and weeks turned to months, the worry seemed to grow. The radicals had yet to be found and the fear they would somehow find the place their children were was growing.

It was during another announcement that it happened. There was the sound of a loud crack as a group appeared in the middle of the crowd gathered. Harry who was next to Tom looked on in horror at what he saw. He hadn't seen them since he gave birth to them, but even though they didn't look like they did back when he birthed them, every fiber of his being cried out to protect them.

Tom grabbed Harry's arm and he looked at Tom. Harry's eyes were blow wide and wild looking, he growled at his mate and the answering growl made Harry tremble. Tom's eyes seemed to smolder with anger that they had dared to do what they did. He looked back at the one male Harry had once called friend. He was giving off a smug smirk of triumph as he stared at the two. He pushed the young male he was holding forward and he fell hard on the ground.

"Leon!" Harry cried out and the boy who looked to be about nine in age looked up at the worried voice.

"Mom!?" Leon's eyes brimmed with tears as he looked up at the platform his parents were on before his sister stumble to his side.

"Now your little demon brats can join the evening we have planned," Ron hissed as he looked at them.

"How did you find my children? There is no way for you to have known where they were!" Harry was being held back by Tom, instincts running wild with the thought of protecting his brood.

"It was easy really," He smirked, "We had a spy in your ranks whisper to your allies it was safe. They were making their way here when we ambushed them. That's how we got your children, though I have to say that white dragon was rather furious with us, we lost a few people trying to get to them, but it was worth the risk to bring them here for their final moments as well as your own."

"Damn you Ronald Bilius Weasley! I gave you the chance to keep living…if you so much as harm them, on my life, I swear I will make you suffer… I will tear you limb from limb and drain you dry of the blood which flows through you," Harry growled, his dragon heritage only making his visage all the more dangerous looking and scarier.

"Dumbledore entrusted me with the task of ending you Harry if you wouldn't change. So here I am, I am going to destroy you and Voldemort… your brats will perish because they are as corrupt as he is. He changed you! He made you into a murderer! Now I must end it all for the sake of everyone," He pointed his wand at Harry's children and Harry's blood ran cold at the sight of his children trembling on the ground.

"Lilian…NO!" Harry cried out tears leaping to his eyes and spilling over as he watched a sickly green light flash from the end of Ron's wand to his daughter.

Harry tried to tear out of Tom's grasp, but just as the light was about to hit his children they suddenly vanished and Harry stared unbelieving where they had been. Then all hell broke loose and spells were flying in every direction. People Harry hadn't expected to fight on his behalf suddenly were pointing wands at the rebels, but he couldn't see anything, his mind had yet to catch up with the events. He stared unblinkingly at the spot his children had been, his heart constricting in his chest and his mind not comprehending what exactly was going on.

Tears continued to spill over and he took note that Tom was standing over Harry with him pressed close to his body. He was saying something to him, but it was hard to hear, almost as though he was listening through cotton. His eyes looked up at Tom trying to figure out what was being said he needed to know from him that their children were alright.

Then there were little hands on his clothes, clinging to him in desperation. Harry quickly let go of Tom's arm wrapped around him and immediately encircled his arms around the two crying six year olds clinging to him. He nuzzled the top of each of their heads before raising his head to glare at the now captured group of radicals. Ronald, Ginny, Terry Boot, The Dingles, and several faces he didn't recognize.

Harry slowly stood and gently passed his children to Narcissa, "Watch them please?"

"I will Orion, fear not they will be safe," Harry nodded to her before looking at his kids.

"This is Narcissa Malfoy, my foster mother she will take good care of you," They looked to Narcissa and then back to their birth parent they nodded and went off with her to safety.

Harry's wrath came back with a vengeance when he turned back to the group. Pure hatred was clear upon his visage. His eyes blazing like the curse they represented. He stalked forward with a warning sound from Tom which he ignored with a flick of his tail.

"I gave you a second chance Ronald Bilius Weasley! You squandered that chance in the naïve attempt to hold onto something that needed to change. Do you think I would go to the lengths I did if I did not think it was necessary? Did you know Dumbledore was killing magic as well as our government?" He shouted and all was silent as they listened, "In no time all you knew would be gone, when magic dies that is it, everything dies. We were choking our world to death and we would not have known it if I hadn't found out about it. So I fought tooth and nail to try and correct it and your Light Lord was the root of the problem."

"Liar!" Ronald spat.

"Really now, a liar am I," Harry cast the spell that he had cast on Tom before the battle on everyone there, "Look for yourself! See how pitiful the magic in the air looks? The dismal glow it now has compared to the magic that is around Hogwarts. This is what you were doing, the innocent people you killed who just wanted to not be a part of what you were doing, the people who had their magic stripped before the war for magic began, the Squibs you Purebloods pushed away and the muggles you killed…"

"All of it was killing magic… the world was giving us a gift… to thrive and grow and all we did was kill it," Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Well no more, the government has been purged and new laws put in place. If you haven't noticed people are happier now and magic finally has a chance to thrive more than it ever did. You and your deplorable band of radicals was all that was stopping it from happening and now you will all pay for what you were doing. Those kids you were going to kill weren't demons, they are dragon born… they and myself were the blood children passed on through the years after the great union of dragon and wizard blood, when Morgan Le Fay and Merlin were alive. You almost killed a great legacy that would have saved everyone."

Harry lifted his hand with his wand between his fingers, "I never wanted to end you Ron… not after I found out what Dumbledore had done to your mind as well as your sister's, but you leave me no choice now… and to keep you from harming more innocence I will have to end you here and now… You almost killed my children and as promised this will be painful."

Harry used the spell he'd used in his fight against Bellatrix all that long ago. The acidic spell hit him square in the chest and Ron screamed as it slowly ate through his flesh and Harry just watched silently his eyes cold and uncaring as he looked down on the other male's form. Before long Ron was coughing up blood before his whimpers and pleas for mercy fell silent.

Ginny was screaming as she watched her brother die painfully before her very eyes, before she turned on him, "How could you do that Harry, he was once your friend, he thought of you as a brother!"

Harry's eyes turned distant as he pointed his wand at her and she flinched at the cold stare, "I gave him his chance… actually I gave many and I gave hints as Evan Spring as to who I was he heard none of it and when I needed him most he treated me like I was nothing more than scum before falling victim to that old man's lies. He let them hold me prisoner and he let them not treat my wounds… is that what a friend does? He also actively sought me out at the battle of Hogwarts to try and kill me while I spared his life he still sought out to destroy what little I had. Unlike you Ginny I didn't have a family and that was what I wanted most in life, but it had been taken from me."

"Dumbledore made sure I lost my parents and any chance I had at a family and the people I saw as family only see me now as a cold blooded killer," He paused and glanced to where the Malfoy's were, "Well not all… My children are a part of my blood and though their father is someone you and he deplored he had no reason to seek them out and try and kill them. They were innocent children and in my eyes he was no more a friend then Dumbledore had been. I spared you both at the battle… neither of you took that and now you're paying for your actions. Using the killing curse is more of a mercy killing for you and your little band… even though none of you deserve mercy anymore."

Harry lifted his hand and those with wands out pointed them at one of each person that was a part of the rebels, "Good-bye Ginerva Weasley."

With that he dropped his hand and everyone used the killing curse. His own wand taking Ginny's life he had told everyone that he was the only one to end them, no one else was allowed too. He was the only one who would bear the burden of killing the children of the women who was his first surrogate mother. Harry just stared down at the lifeless bodies as people started to slowly levitate each of them away under orders of Voldemort. Harry was still standing there even after the bodies were gone.

He closed his eyes as he knew this would be a setback in their plans but in due time that would change. He didn't even budge when his mate encircled his arms around him and he heard him sigh. He knew what he would say before he even said it. He'd acted rashly when their children were in danger, though he couldn't fully blame him with his motherly instincts kicked in the way they had.

"You know, putting yourself in danger when our offspring were in danger is a foolish thing to do," Tom murmured in his ear.

"Yes, I am well aware of that…However, you can not entirely blame me when the instinct to protect is rather over powering," Her heard Tom hum and he looked up at him.

"That it is, though you seemed more susceptible to it more so then I was," Tom buried his face into Harry's neck, "More so probably because you bore them?"

"I am guessing so," Harry sighed, "The major conflicts are over now…we can finally build our world."

{A Shadowed Life}

"Mom!" Harry turned just in time to catch his daughter in his arms, "Look, look what I made!"

Harry looked at the item within her grasp, it was a carving of a dragon entwined with another, "It's beautiful, "Lilly."

Lilian giggled and hugged him, "It's supposed to be you and Daddy. Leon's jealous though, he isn't so good at carving things. Great Grandpa Ryu says his talent lies elsewhere and he shouldn't give up just yet and in time he could also grow decent in carving if he puts his mind to it."

Harry chuckled, "Yes, that is true, but your brother is also good at something you aren't as well. Remember how he took care of magical creatures better then you can? See he has a talent right there, he has just yet to see it."

Lilian nodded, "Yeah, I remember…Oh, watch this!"

He motioned for Harry to put her down, which he did. He watched her silently and blinked in surprise as flowers grew around her. She beamed up and Harry felt his heart tighten, from the stories he'd heard of his parents, was exactly how Lily was back when she was young and alive. As he watched his daughter he wondered what his mother would have said had she still been there to witness the lives of her grandchildren.

It was then Harry had an idea pop into his head, "It's beautiful Lilly, let's go see where your Daddy and brother are."

She giggled and raised her arms to him wanting to be picked up. Even though their growth had slowed ever since they reached the physical age of ten they were now growing at a normal human rate. However, since they knew very little about dragon hybrid growth it was possible that when they hit growth spurts it could speed up all over again. Harry sighed internally, but smiled outwardly, 'Guess we'll just have to jump that hurdle when we cross it.'

Harry found Tom easily he was in the study with Leon teaching him a few spells that could help him in his class work. Both Leon and Lilly were highly intelligent, even with their childish antics they were well informed with their lot in life and work hard and with care. Harry put Lilly down and she joined her brother before Harry turned to Tom.

"What's the matter Harry?" Tom asked.

"I was wondering if Narcissa could watch the kids, while we ran sack my vault of things we might need or may find interesting enough to dredge up from the old musty walls," Harry said softly.

"Hmm, I am quite curious about what is in there," Tom closed his book and turned to their children, "Okay you two, you'll be spending some time with the Malfoy's."

Lilly perked up, "We get to see Uncle Dray, Grand-mama Sissa, and Grand-papa Lucy?"

Leon snickered at the nicknames Lilly had given them, something she'd picked up from Harry with his habits of giving people nicknames, "Yes, your mother and I will be gone for a bit and will be back later to collect you."

"Okay Daddy," Lilly giggled.

"Can I bring the books you had me reading father?" Leon asked.

Tom nodded, "Yes you can, but be careful with them."

"Thanks and I will, don't worry," Leon smiled happily as he closed the books he was reading and carefully slipped them into his messenger bag before following Lilly to the floo, so they could go to the Malfoy's.

Once the kids were safe at the Malfoy's Harry talked with Narcissa and told her he was unsure when they'd be back. Narcissa assured him that they would take good care of them before Harry and Tom departed for Gringotts. Once in Diagon Alley he found it bustling with people, several people stopped to stare at him and Tom. He was used to the staring, though Tom seemed greatly annoyed with it which was understandable since he'd only had his followers around him for the longest time.

"How can you stand people starring so much?" Tom asked him once they were in Gringotts.

He shrugged, "Ever since I found out I was The-Boy-who-Lived and had to live a while under the stares after coming from a home that never wanted to see me anyways…You kind of get used to it after a couple of years."

Tom grunted, "Wish I had found a way to bring them back so I could hear their screams under my wand."

Harry chuckled, "I would have loved to see that."

With that said they walked over to a goblin and asked about getting into Harry's vault to have a look around. Taking the railway to his vault was amusing because Tom was so stiff as they road along the rails. Harry had laughed only earning a glare aimed in his direction, which smoothed out at the genuine happy look on Harry's features.

When they finally stopped Harry giggled softly, "That was a lot of fun…I forgot how much fun it was the first time visiting my vault."

Tom smirked, "If you say so Harry."

With that they were let into Harry's Vault with the help of the goblin. Harry looked around at the various items, which were scattered about the room. They ranged from large jade dragons, to books, weapons, cloths, and treasures he never knew existed within his family vault. He pulled his bag he brought with him around to his side and opened the top as he sorted through some things. They both had been looking around for quite some time and Harry still hadn't found what he was looking for. It was when he was going through some things on the far side of the rather huge vault that he heard a surprised gasp.

His eyes quickly snapped to where it came from and froze in place. He had hoped that he would find something of his parents here, like the Malfoy family had of people from their past. Though, now that he was confronted by what he found he didn't know what to think or even say for that matter. Fore there before him was none other than a combined painting of Lily and James Potter. Both looked at him with wide surprised eyes as they took in his for, obviously not recognizing him with not only his black features, but also his dragon heritage. He tucked his wings close to him as James's face turned serious and scrutinized him.

"Who are you? You don't look like a Potter," He said to him, "You look more like a Black, but I don't remember them being a creature similar to that of a demon."

Harry flinched and Lily slapped James for his insensitive words, "James how dare you!" She looked to Harry and sighed, "What is your name dear and who are you related too? I am afraid we lost track of time in here and are unsure what has gone one outside in the real world."

Harry hesitated before he spoke, "I have many names… names and titles given by many and made by me as well. I choose to call myself Orion Black in honor of a Black family member that I care for deeply and is the reason why my appearance looks more to his kin then my own."

"Orion is a lovely name, but it is not your real name is it?" Lily asked noting that he had said he called himself that not that it was his given name.

"That is correct… for my real name holds a past I tried to forget, though my partner would not allow me too and thus continues to call me by my true name while everyone else does not," He stated truthfully know he could not lie to them and if she asked of it he would tell her.

Lily looked to James, "You seem to dance around the question given."

Harry shook his head, "No, I gave her the truth. Nothing was a lie and nothing was left out, to receive the answers one seeks, one has to only ask the right questions."

"Okay then," James started, "What are you?"

Harry smiled slightly, "I am a dragon hybrid, I came into my inheritance at the age of fourteen…it was also the day my inheritance killed what was left of my blood family."

James seemed to bristle at that and Lily calmed him before she asked, "Did we know them?"

"You could say that," Harry said looking away his eyes distant, "But… if you knew what they did to me… you would not dare mourn them."

"Nothing justifies taking a life," James spat.

"Is it taking a life when I had no control over it?" He looked back at James his eyes softly, but his posture was stiff.

"James," Lily warned softly and James relaxed. Lilly looked back at Harry, "You said you had many names, what are they?"

Harry paused before sighing, "From my early days I had been known as Boy, Brat, Demon, Monster, Devil, Freak… by those who dared to call themselves my family… when I turned eleven and found out I was a wizard and moved from the cupboard under the stairs I found out I was The-Boy-Who-Lived, The Savior of the wizarding world," He blatantly skipped over his real name for the time being, "When things changed on my fourteenth birthday after my Uncle beat me again for talking with a snake in his garden he had me weeding… by then I was called a demon and monster by my best friend…even if he didn't realize it was me at the time."

Harry sat down in front of their painting regaling his names to them, "I later became Orion Black, because the black blood put in me, by a ritual from when my parents had still been alive, had been favored by my dragon heritage. I found myself a new family… and it was there I found my mate as well, however it was surprising how that even came to be…even for me. He talked me into going back to school even when I really did not want to do so. Which is how Evan Spring came to being, I changed what I looked and suppressed my heritage to be normal for once… no one looked at me to save them or looked at me in awe over something I had no control over… after a while I was attacked by a man who everyone looked up to… a man who was thought to be so light he wouldn't dare harm others… we were wrong about that…"

Both parents eyes were wide as they understood only one man who could be held so highly, "Dumbledore…" The both whispered in unison before James bellowed out, "No! That's a lie he would never attack a student or anyone without just cause."

Harry snorted and his eyes turned cold, "What would you know… you blindly followed a man who sacrificed you to the wolves."

James eyes went wide and he shut up as Harry spoke and he forcefully relaxed himself and sighed, "If he hadn't attacked me though… I never would have known either of you…"

"What do you mean?" Lilly asked.

Harry took a deep breath and willed his Phoenix persona into existence, both of them gasped and James shook his head, "No, it can't be… you died!"

Harry chuckled, "People have aimed to kill me many times and yet I still breath. I was thrown into the past because of a chemical imbalance between a time turned, the killing curse, and my element ability over electricity. My body had told itself it was in danger and so my elemental ability came to me when I needed it… needlessly the painful experience threw me back so far in time I had to live through a time before the Dark Lord rose to power."

"I can't believe it…yet you're here before me… how?" James asked.

"I grew as Briar Rose in a world I knew little about… an orphan without any place to call home and Tom gave me a home… he gave me hope in the form of the Black and Malfoy families… Then, he started to lose himself…and that was when I became Phoenix the assassin who did his bidding without thought and I slowly started to lose myself," Harry looked off into the distance of the vault, "I helped raise Sirius, Bella, Narcissa, Andromeda and Regulus… I watched Lucius, Severus, James, and you Lily grow… even with all the information I had gathered I knew I could not life a finger to change fixed points in time… such as both of your deaths."

Lily had her hand at her mouth as she watched flickering emotions roll over the male before her, "What is your true name?" She asked, but something inside her told her she already knew. A dreadful feeling welling up inside her when realization that Phoenix had looked too much like her and the boy who had been speaking held her eyes the whole time.

"I had to let my parents die even when I knew the truth of what happened…those parents were none other than James Potter and Lily Potter ne Evans… and their given name for me was Harry James Potter," Harry whispered the last part, but they both still heard it.

It was then Tom came around the corner, "Harry look out!" James yelled looking like he was about to leap forth from the painting.

Harry looked back and smiled, "Hey, was wondering where you had slipped off too. Find anything worthwhile?"

Tom nodded and eyed the painting, "Yes, quite… and I see you have found something worthwhile, or should I say you have found what you were originally here to look for."

"You knew?" He asked.

"I had some form of understanding, yes," Tom said helping him up off the floor.

"Harry… I don't understand," James said looking confused, "What has happened since our death?"

Harry sighed, "That is a long story and I do not wish to recount that here…let us move elsewhere, but until then your painting will be going in here…do not worry it has a very vast extension charm put on it, so things should be okay in there for you."

With that Harry picked up the painting and slowly slid it into his messenger bag which was the same width as the painting if not just a smidge bigger, since the bag was about nineteen inches. He tucked them into a secure area, before looking around a bit more and placing some things they might need within the bag as well. Once finished the left the vault and returned to the cart to go back to the surface.

Harry was nervous… he'd already said some things that was obvious that his father didn't agree with. He wondered if there was a way to rig the spell he used to show people what he saw to project his memories. He was sure if he could show proof through his memories that maybe his father would believe it. The man believed in Dumbledore a little too much, even if Lily seemed to be ready to believe her son at the moment. Throughout the ride back to the main part of the building he thought of how to alter his spell he used to let others see what he saw, but this time involving his memories. Running his hand over his face he took note of Tom watching him silently from the corner of his eye.

Harry looked over at him with a raised brow and Tom chuckled, "You're nervous?"

Harry sighed, "Is it obvious?"

Tom sighed and tugged Harry close to him when they stopped at the front doors to the bank, "I am sure they will understand Harry."

"I guess… I'm actually thinking about way to alter the spell I used to let others see what I see, but this time to allow people to see my memories sort of like a pensive, but you don't have to remove the memories just to put them in a pensive… The issue is finding a way to contain it so it doesn't go beyond a certain person or small area," Harry sighed.

Tom hummed, "Sounds like an interesting idea… after all this time you still haven't lost the desire to create new things have you?"

"No, never…it's calming to create something new," Harry hummed in thought.

Tom chuckled, "I wonder what your parents will think about their son having been a sleeping genius…" He mused as they exited the building and apperated away from Diagon Alley.

They both landed safely at Malfoy Manor where they spent the rest of the day at until after dinner. Leon and Lily had, had a lot of fun spending time with Draco. The young male still couldn't get over how old Harry actually was now and that his children had grown so fast, but had started to slow in their growth. In practically a year they would be joining him at Hogwarts and Harry thought that, maybe that was what threw Draco even more for a loop since he wasn't even done with Hogwarts yet. The children had practically almost caught up to him in age looks. Most people couldn't even believe they weren't even more than several months old when they looked ten.

That was another thing he had to explain to his parents that would seem unbelievable to them. Having been lost in thought all day he practically jumped when Narcissa hugged him and he smiled sheepishly at her and apologized before hugging her back. With that the four of them left the Malfoy home and Harry went off to find a place to put his parents. He thought the best place to put them was in the library or study, since that was where they spent most of their time even as a family. Maybe he could invest someone to make another picture frame that tied to the one they were in so they could travel between the two rooms and would always be around.

Harry actually liked that thought a lot and decided to ask Tom about that at a later time. In the mean time they would be hung up in the study. As he headed that direction he noted Leon and Lily had run off, probably to go find Ryu. He hadn't known how the dragon had done it, but he had given himself a human form just so he could hold his several generation's, great grandchildren.

Harry shook his head at the memory of seeing Ryu in a human form, it had been a huge surprise since all he'd ever seen of the other was his dragon form. Needless to say he was rather awe struck by it. Now that he saw the dragons human form he could see where his mother came from in the old dragon.

Harry pushed open the door to the study and walked over to the fire place before he flipped open the messenger bag and pulled out the picture of them. Looking at the size of it being about eighteen point five inches in width he wondered if he should get their frame enlarged as well. Shrugging it off as he magically stuck them to the wall above the fire place. Both of them looked around at the warm room before landing on him. Harry removed his cloak, revealing his wings to his parents, yes he never hid his heritage, but he still had to wear a cloak so his shirts didn't show too much skin to people. In a fight or at home it didn't matter as much, but normal every day milling about meant it was time to cover up, plus it stopped people from trying to touch his wings to see how soft or sleek the feathers were.

Harry walked over to a chair sitting in front of the fire place, "I have been thinking of a way to show you my memories, since I know you can't use a pensive… I have a spell I use to show people what I see when they ask me about my magic sensitivity…"

James looked at him in surprise, "You're a magic sensitive?"

"Yes, I hadn't always been so mind you… but that is part of what I want to show you as well. However… that spell I use has to be altered and before I create it I need to test it quite often before I can use it on you," He said softly.

"Create a spell? That's dangerous Harry," Lily said.

Harry chuckled, "Believe me mum I know that, but I can handle the consequences better than any other wizard ever could."

Lily worried her lip, "But still…"

"Really mum it's okay…But anyways I won't be telling you anything until the spell, is finished. I need the proof of my memories to get you to see what I have seen and what I have been through, because right now my words would mean little to what you personally remember," He sighed, "And I am doing this because of you dad."

"Me?" He asked confused.

Harry smirked, "Do not be surprised I knew you well back when I was phoenix as well as your father. You were both rather light and even he did not like or agree that what I did was right, but he did trust me to not harm you. Because, in all honesty, I couldn't harm you… no… wouldn't harm you… Without you I would cease to exist and Voldemort would still be lost to the mind numbing madness he had back then. It was also why I never fought you that bloody day when I lost myself to my inner darkness."

James was silent for a moment, "I always wondered what you meant back then… Dumbledore had told me you must have been brainwashed and so I believed him."

Harry chuckled, "Of course he would… he didn't want his perfect image shattered… then again he knew no more then you did back then… as I said I had lost myself to my inner darkness, the thought of blood and watching it run was my melody as Phoenix and I cannot say that even to this day I do not think that same way. My personas have left their marks on my soul in a unique way. Hopefully in time you will see what I mean… anyways I must go and experiment… I will be seeing you around until then."

With that Harry left the room to start on his new appointed experiment. In the days to come, however, Lily and James came to know of their grandchildren and they got to know Tom as well. They didn't talk with him for the longest time, instead opting to observe him and how he interacted with Harry and their children. They had fallen in love with their grandchildren who often asked questions about how they grew up, who their families were, and many more questions that seemed to sate, their curious minds.

Harry watched them silently all the while he was working on his spell, placing it on parchment to get the basic understanding and workings of the spell written out. He had a dictionary out as he thought of the correct wording he would need to make the spell work. So far he had many different variations of the spell and had yet to test them to see the effects. He sighed and Tom came up behind him wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin on Harry's shoulder to look down at the parchment. He looked at the list of spells Harry had placed into wording and wand movements that could possibly work, and he mumbled softly listing off the spells silently.

"Interesting spell… I would very much like to be present when you use these," Tom said to him drawing Lily's and James attention when the children fell silent to listen in.

Harry smiled softly, "Alright, I need to test them out to see how each works. I'm looking for the one that would work on showing a couple of people in a restricted area space… I'm rather nervous on what these spells could do…"

Tom hummed in understanding, working with memory spells or charms was rather a dangerous thing to do. Worse case scenario you could erase everything you remembered of yourself or of your past. There were other possibilities as well, but none of them as damaging as having memories erased, considering a memory could affect both your long term and short term memory. However, Tom was counting on Harry's dragon healing to prevent that if it should ever come to testing the spells. Tom glanced over at the Potter's portrait and took note of the worry on their faces. He understood they worried about him and more or less had grown to accept his and Harry's mated status over the last several days.

Harry tested one spell each day since that day, listing effects that each one did and looked to see if there was any damage within his mind. Tom helped him with that, quizzing him on family things as well as things on magic and educational information as well as political. Only one spell had messed with his memory but he had quickly recovered from it thanks to his dragon healing and his ancestor Ryu's help. He had found one of his spells had worked lovely, creating a cloud that flashed the memories upon its surface like a T.V. screen showing a movie. It could easily be dispersed and rendered useless unless the spell was cast again. He had debated on using it, but wanted to know what his last spell did.

He was a bit nervous about it and wasn't sure why he was so nervous until he cast it. What happened had surprised him and horrified him mostly because it didn't affect a small area, but rather a large one… if you could count all people with magic abilities being affected by the onslaught of his memories worrisome. It was like an long movie playing in their minds and they were helpless to stop it as they watched Harry's earliest memories flash in their minds eye to gruesome memories between then and their current point in time. While Harry had been panicking Tom had started to cast counter spells Harry had come up with to see which ones would work. It was around the memory time frame that he had been captured by Dumbledore and found out he was pregnant, that one of the spells had worked.

By then, however, every witch, wizard, magical witch or wizard portrait, and creature now knew of a great portion of his past. Harry was so shaken up that he looked rather pale and sickly. He hadn't counted on a spell of his doing that it was an entirely invasive spell and he made a mental note discard the spell after that.

It was shortly after the spell had been cut off that his kids came running into the room shaking. Tom waited till Harry's shaking had stopped before telling him the effects the spell had on others. Harry's emotions in the memory made others also experience everything he felt during those moments in his life. Tom was now looking at him with an understanding that hadn't been there before, he now understood the reason why Harry was the way he was now and why somethings affected him so strongly.

Tom looked to the portrait of Harry's parents, James looked pale and Lily was crying. They wanted to see more of what had happened to their little boy since it stopped abruptly in the middle of his memory of Dumbledore at the Weasley home. However, they didn't push Harry who was already shaken up over his last spell work. It was several weeks later before Harry decided to show them the rest of his memories. The mistake he'd made weeks ago had surprising results he hadn't expected. There was more of a hatred for Dumbledore in the people now as well as more of a sympathetic understanding for why Harry acted the way he did.

He used the cloud memory spell and he let it run until the death of the Weasley Families youngest. Both of his parents had a lot more information to digest then they thought was possible since what they knew of a couple weeks ago. James was angry and Harry could see it in his face.

"How dare he endanger my family… I don't agree with what you did Harry, but… I can understand why you did it," James sighed, "And I know now that old man wouldn't have stopped and had to many supporters that would agree with him over you… I am sorry that I was one of them."

"It's okay dad… you couldn't have known and I wasn't very helpful in the matter when I was Briar Rose," Harry sighed, "Now… I just feel tired. Things have finally started to calm down since the Weasley Families youngest deaths. The rebellions seem to have fizzled out after what happened a couple weeks ago as well. I hadn't expected that outcome… I even had an interview with the Daily Prophet to explain what had occurred and it had been a complete accident that it had occurred. I explained it was a spell I was trying to make and was experimenting it on myself when the spell got out of hand and had to have another person intervene on my behalf because I was unable to disperse the spell on my own…"

"I'm sorry you had to go through that sweetie," Lily said to him.

Harry smiled at her, "Its fine…I just didn't want anyone to know all of that, my memories held every emotion I ever held in it. I was surprised that spell could do that and to be honest I hadn't considered it a possibility. My other spells before it had either been failed spells, or ones that had cause harm to the mind a little bit. I had debated on stopping on the cloud spell, but I wanted to see the effects of the last spell… next time I'll follow my gut feeling and not do a spell when my nature tells me not to."

Lily smiled gently, "Well if it wasn't for that then you would still be struggling with having people understand what you know to be truth."

"That is true," Harry sighed, "Thanks mom and dad…"

"For what?" James asked.

"For giving me a chance to explain myself… for letting me show you everything that has happened since your passing… and then some," He chuckled as James face flushed slightly.

"Yes… well I guess that point in your memory couldn't be avoided since it was basically like a movie you can't edit," James half choked over his words, obviously not having wanted to see his son's sex life.

Lily's face too was beat red but she had a gentle smile, "Be that as it may, he would love to spend more time with you and your family."

Harry blinked slowly at first then his face lit up, "Oh, I never told you… I am having a painting made that you can travel between here and the library, since they are the two places we spend the most time at other than the gardens."

James and Lily both looked ecstatic about that idea and Harry simply smiled and for the first time he felt like his family was now whole.

{A Shadowed Life}

The months that followed were filled with, a humbling peace, that neither light nor dark could say was bad. Tom and Harry fought tooth and nail to keep the laws they put in place where they were always reminding people of the precious balance of magic and just how to keep that balance. Creatures were treated fairly and no longer feared over a governments prejudice propaganda and dogma. Tom's first appointed worker was Hermione who worked as the minister's understudy, giving her a lot of power to help make sure creatures were treated fairly.

She may not have been able to help get house elves out of their positions in society, but she did help to keep their treatments from being horrendous. If a house elf was abused their contract would be revoked and they would be given to another wizarding family to live under.

Neville became lead herbologist in the wizarding world and was greatly sought after for teaching people. He eventually became a teacher at Hogwarts working under Severus Snape who had become the new Head Master and McGonagall who was Deputy Head Mistress. Luna was the schools latest teacher in divination, however, the class would be used to find people with potentials to be a seer. If a person did not have the potential they were not penalized for not passing the class.

Neville and Luna also came out as being a couple as did Draco and Hermione. To say Harry was surprised about Draco and Hermione coming together in some form of relationship had greatly surprised him. However, over watching them in the days to come he could tell how fond of each other they were.

The Weasley Twins joke shop had become an all-out famous shop for all wizarding kind and they had branched out to other wizarding countries. Harry, since he helped to get their Joke Shop started also profited from their shop having been an investor in their growing franchise. The rest of the Weasley family slowly got over their grief of losing Ginny and Ron. They knew the reason for their passing and though they knew what the two did was wrong he still had hoped they would have eventually seen reason and stopped their aggression. However, having bared witness to what they had done they knew there was no way to save them when Harry turned his wrath on them and as promised Mr. and Mrs. Weasley still treated Harry as though he was family. They didn't blame him for what happened and what happened was now in the past.

As another year slowly drifted by people started to once again ask Harry to ward their buildings and homes. Harry had done so with joy in his heart, for he oved warding. Having been one of the first jobs he had willingly done without regret. Tom was always busy and so was Lucius Malfoy, both working together to keep the new Ministry on its feet and working properly. Many different sections of the ministry had been upturned in re-organized for more efficient work ethics and some sections got upgrades and more attention to them that never had before. Tom wasted no money on stupid things and it help that Harry donated quite a bit to help out.

Sirius and Remus now lived a cozy life, not being hunted down by Aurors. Sirius had all charges dropped and was now a respectable citizen to the people. Sirius was once again an Auror, more to be specific he was Head Auror now, while Remus worked alongside Hermione to help with creature rights. Peter had been captured shortly after the memory mix up, having been caught scrounging through trash as a rat to find something to eat. He was immediately put to death through the Dementors kiss for all of his crimes against Harry. This also included the one that involved Dumbledore, getting a hold of Harry when he'd been pregnant.

What surprised the Malfoy family was when Narcissa had announced she was pregnant, obviously having assumed Narcissa could not bear children after Draco was born, not to mention Draco had been a miracle on his own. Draco was ecstatic about having a new sibling, possibly a brother. Harry wondered though if it was a girl how Draco would react. Considering how he'd been when Harry had been adopted into their family, he would probably be even more protective of his little sister.

Leon and Lily grew in knowledge and had many other children who wished to be their friends. They were careful with who they let close to them, remembering the betrayal their mother went through with Ron and Ginny. They had started going to Hogwarts before Draco had graduated and they had been on their own since he left there, getting to know the school and its people on their own.

Draco unlike his father became an Auror and worked hard to keep his job just as fiercely as his father worked to keep his. Often Harry and Draco spend their lunch breaks together to catch up on ministry things. Harry found it rather relaxing now that he no longer had to hide who he was or what he was. It also helped that Harry now owned the Daily Prophet and made sure nothing false was printed about news reports that came in. Every now and again a false report slipped in, in which Harry dealt with swiftly. He didn't want another Rita Skeeter to pop up… which everyone now knew her death was because of him since that little memory spell mix up a long while back.

Harry sat at the edge of the lake at Hogwarts, watching his children as they played with their friends, his mind wandering to the years that had passed. His emerald orbs watching them silently. His wings twitched slightly at the feeling of the wind brushing against his feathers. Warm arms wrapped around him and a chin rest on his shoulder.

"You're far away," Tom whispered softly.

"I was thinking of the years that are now behind us," He simply stated, "Do you ever wonder… how it all could have ended if Dumbledore hadn't done what he'd done?"

Tom was quiet for a moment before he spoke, "To be honest… yes I do wonder that… what would our lives had been like if he'd not painted your family as a target… what would have happened if he'd just told the truth…But we will never know."

"Do you regret anything that happened?" Harry asked turning his head slightly to look into crimson eyes.

"There are somethings I regret, but as a whole… no I don't regret anything… I wouldn't have what I have now if it hadn't happened the way it did…Yes maybe it might have been better then now, but…I wouldn't trade anything in the world for what we have right now in the present," Tom answered honestly, "A road paved with battles and scars… still lead to a happier time for the both of us."

Harry smiled softly and kissed his mate, "I wouldn't trade it for the world either… even if my mom and dad aren't alive to hold their grandchildren… I am just glad they know about them even if they are a magical painted portrait of themselves with their memories and feelings. It's soothing to know I still have them even though they are not physical anymore."

Harry leaned back against Tom, who shifted to fit Harry in-between his legs as they watched their children play, "Now our children can live in peace and not have to worry about the rubble and ash of our past."

Harry smiled slightly at that, "We will arise from the ashes of our past and sore towards the sky like the mighty phoenix who brings forth new life in its wake."

The End

≷• ܫ•≶ -Nyan

Well everyone… that's it! A Shadowed Life has come to its close. I hope you all enjoyed it. –winks- Did you all really think I was going to leave Ronald alive? Pfft, nope. Sorry again this took so long I had a real hard time deciding on how I wanted to end this chapter. Meh it might be a lame ending, but I hope it did well all the same. :3 Take care everyone and I'm looking forward to your R&R's.