Chapter Text
Harry gave a heartfelt sigh as he looked at Orion Black's picture. In the photo, the handsome man was holding a baby Sirius, and though his expression was stern, there were discreet little peeks being given to a sleeping Sirius and his lips would twitch as he hid a smile.
Next to him was an austere and haughty looking woman who kept glancing at the two males in disgust. Walburga Black would have been a beautiful woman were it not the way that she seemed to be looking down at everything around her.
For the millionth time, Harry thought it a shame that the two had married.
Over the past year - ever since his relationship with Ginny failed because he figured out he was gay - he had been going through the paperwork and albums in the study. Initially it was to take his mind off of his lackluster dating life, then it turned into wanting to know more about Sirius, and finally it turned into a crush on Sirius' father. There was nobody he felt comfortable dating in his age group, and even if there was he didn't want to come out as gay. At the moment, only Ginny, Ron, and Hermione knew.
Besides, who was he going to date anyway?
Nearly everyone had paired off, and those that weren't dating anyone were still grieving and traumatized from the war just like he was. Harry had tried to enter the auror program, but he didn't have the motivation to fight dark wizards. He had needed a break, but all the empty time on his hands had led to depression. And when he decided to do something about it, he ended up with a stupid crush on a man that was old enough to be his grandfather were he even still alive.
Or was he?
In the paperwork Harry had found, there was no death certificate for Orion Black. There was a betrothal contract between Walburga and Orion made while they had still been toddlers, and there was even divorce papers dated to 1962. However after that, there was nothing about Orion Black. The tapestry showed he died in 1979 just after Regulus Black, but after a closer inspection, it looked like it had been hand stitched with a slightly different type of thread. Kreacher refused to say a word about him, and it was all a rather great mystery.
A mystery he finally took to Hermione.
"Well, he obviously faked his death and ordered Kreacher to silence," she said. "It's too bad there is nobody directly related to him anymore. If there were, you could do a bit of blood tracking. Maybe ask at Gringotts?"
And so Harry had.
"We cannot give any information about any of our clients - neither dead nor alive," Bogrod had stated when Harry went to the teller. "Next!"
"As the Black Family lord, I demand this information!" Harry had argued.
The goblin had given him an unimpressed look. "Sirius Black was not Lord Black and neither are you. NEXT!"
Harry had been ushered out of the bank at spear point, and he had gone back to Grimmauld in a very bad mood. When he entered the study, however, there was an unknown owl carrying a letter, and it hooted in greeting before it stuck its leg out to give it to him.
Dear Harry Potter,
You will find your answers in the Censer of Burning Need.
It is a Black Family heirloom that is in a small silver chest
in the attic. The instructions for its use is written in the lid
of the chest, and I would suggest using the resurrection
stone for it. Set your affairs in order and do the Naming
Ritual. You will find the book that contains the ritual in the
family library.
Yours Truly,
A Friend
Harry was wary of the letter, however it also made him very curious. Who would write him the letter? The handwriting also seemed kind of familiar, though Harry couldn't place it.
Harry deliberated on giving the letter to Hermione for a couple days, however his curiousity won out over his wariness. He went to the attic first and found the silver chest the letter mentioned. Inside of it was an elaborate brass incense burner one might find in a church or a temple, and the lid had instructions written out on it.
Censure of Burning Need
Place a powerful magical item within it on a bed of ashwood
coals. Set alight with fiendfyre, then with the need firmly in
mind, breathe in the smoke.
Warning: Should the artifact not be powerful enough for the
need, the fiendfyre will consume the user.
Harry carried the silver box out of the attic while understanding why the author of the letter had suggested the resurrection stone. It would definitely be powerful enough to keep him from being burned to a crisp! Images of Crabbe being burned alive in fiendfyre threatened to overtake his mind for a moment, but he pushed it away with a shudder and entered the library. There he spent a couple more days looking through books until he found one that contained the Renaming Ritual.
This ritual will permanently change the wixen's name on all
official documents. Its use should be reported to the Ministry
of Magic so that there will be no suspicions of illegal activity.
The book then explained how to do it (mostly about the full moon and standing skyclad in a pentagram with an official document at each point) and it seemed simple enough to accomplish. Harry just had to decide on a name - one that was was in his ancestry - and with the mention of the Stone Harry knew what name he would take.
Peverell.
The only question remained was why did he have to take on a new name?
Harry spent the time he searched for the ring in the Forbidden Forest wondering about that. Once he found it, he finally invited Hermione and Ron to his house and laid all of it out for them.
"I've read about that censure, Harry," Hermione worriedly said. "It's a very rare and very powerful artifact! And very dark and illegal to even have."
"Mate, maybe you should just turn it over to the ministry?" Ron suggested.
Harry hesitated, then he shook his head no. "I want to try it," he rushed out. "If Sirius' dad is still alive, I want to know why. This has been the only lead I've had!"
"So anyway, I want to try it," Harry said. "I just don't know why they suggested a Renaming Ritual."
"Well, the censure has been known to send people back in time or even make them disappear altogether," Hermione said. "That's why it's illegal. Well, and it can kill enemies if the need is strong enough. Also, it almost never grants a person exactly what they want. It could send you directly to Orion Black, fill your head with his whereabouts, or who knows what! Harry, using it would be reckless!"
As soon as he heard 'it could send you directly to Orion Black,' Harry stopped listening. What if it could send him back in time to Orion Black? Back in time to his favorite picture of Orion holding a baby Sirius? That would place Orion at 32 years old to Harry's 20... and twelve years wasn't that far apart for wizards. He could seduce Orion and push Walburga out of the picture to give Sirius a better childhood!
"Oh no, he has that look on his face," Ron lamented. "Harry, mate, what are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking I would love to save Sirius," Harry said, a half truth. "I already saved him through time travel once! I could go back and save him again!"
"No, that's too far back, Harry!" Hermione immediately and firmly denied, putting her hands on her hips to dig in for the argument which made Harry cringe a little. "You can't do that! You could destabilize time and cause paradoxes, or even end up in a parallel universe! We would never see you again! I bet that's what happened to the ones that just disappeared."
"Well it's not like I have anything worth living for here besides you two anyway," Harry bitterly countered. "I love you two like family, but I'm just... dragging you both down. I don't work and I just mope around, and I hate being Harry Potter with all my fame and everything! I've been thinking about it a lot over the past week, you know. All I have are the memories of the war that keep replaying in my head over and over, and if it isn't the war then it's my life with the Dursleys! I can't even leave the house without being mobbed by witches wanting to date me or the Prophet wanting an interview! Then there are Kingsley's weekly letters trying to bribe me to work for the aurors except every time I cast expelliarmus or anything else, I keep reliving stuff and... I just can't! This is my chance to start over again!"
"Mate..." Ron trailed off with a look of pity and sadness.
"Why didn't you tell us it's so hard for you, Harry?" Hermione quietly asked. "We could have helped."
"There's nothing you could have done," Harry said, already regretting his outburst. "I want to do this, though. I want to be with Sirius and be happy. I can get rid of Voldemort before he rises to power and keep everyone safe. You two can have a better childhood without the war, too."
Hermione sighed. "Fine, I guess we are doing this," she decided. "Ron?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course I'm coming," Ron agreed giving Harry a lopsided smile. "Wouldn't be a proper adventure without the both of us coming along."
"Er..."
"Nuh uh, you are not talking us out of this Harry Potter," Hermione said, immediately jumping on Harry's attempt to find an excuse as to why they should not join him. "You would go back in the past and end up floundering! I need to do research. Which time period are you thinking of?"
Harry guiltily looked away. "Nineteen sixty-one," he mumbled.
"That far back?!" Ron exclaimed. "Why? We could save everyone in nineteen seventy-eight before this got really bad in the first wizarding world!"
Harry pouted as he debated on how much more to tell them.
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione snapped, then she wagged a finger at him. "Tell us the whole truth!"
Harry pouted harder and fidgeted in place. Hermione's hair started to fluff out in irritation, and Harry panicked and blurted out the whole truth. "I want to Marry Orion Black and give Sirius a better childhood!"
"But he's old," Ron whined, but when Harry shank inwards expecting to be insulted, he changed his tone. "I mean, it's better than Malfoy, I guess. And he was kind of a handsome bloke."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione sighed, then she shook her head. "I suppose I will have to make a couple extendable bags for all of us and research investments and other things for that time. Ron, what about your family?"
"Uhm, I'll tell them something," Ron said with a shrug. "Maybe that we are going on vacation to cheer Harry up?"
"They'll think you died and I don't want them to lose another family member!" Harry protested. "Please, just let me do this on my own. You both have family and careers here. I'll contact you after, okay? I will hopefully be old and happy so you won't have to miss me at all."
Hermione looked very unhappy as she gave a reluctant nod. "Fine, but I'm going to write out instructions for you to follow so that you can have a proper life just in cast your courtship with Orion Black doesn't go well," she decides. "And an extendable bag! You had better take plenty of gold with you!"
When all the preparations were completed, Harry learned several things he hadn't known before. One was that it was exceptionally easy to change one's name without anyone else knowing. Another was that for the right price, the goblins would exchange galleons for uncirculated muggle money from any country and year complete with paperwork that could be presented at a Gringotts counter specifically for time travel.
Apparently Unspeakables made use of that feature the most.
Five hundred thousand pounds in 1960 (the year he was supposed to aim for if possible) was worth over six million pounds in 2000. Harry was only taking a quarter of the month in his vaults, and the rest would be split between Hermione, Ron, and Teddy in case anything went wrong. That was roughly a hundred thousand galleons each with Teddy getting the remaining extra bit along with Harry's trust vault, and the house would go to Hermione and Ron.
With his affairs in order and the cash in the non-detectable extension leather backpack Hermione had made for him along with a notebook filled with investment suggestions for both stock market and properties outside of the UK, the last thing Harry did was the Renaming Ritual and changed his name to Hydrus Peverell. He wouldn't have a birth certificate when he went back and would need to redo his OWLs and NEWTs at the ministry when he got there, but they came up with the excuse of losing everything in a house fire in Australia where he had lived in isolation with his parents and grandparents who had fled Grindelwald and had been in hiding the whole time.
Hermione even gave him a couple small souvenirs she had picked up when she had searched for her parents then hit him with a spell that permanently altered his accent to a British-Australian one. It felt weird to talk since his accent was changed just enough that it almost made him sound like a stranger. At least the words themselves hadn't changed.
On the morning of departure, they took the censure with them to an isolated patch of woods outside of Hogsmeade. "Now don't forget, Harry, as soon as you get there, go to the goblins," Hermione worriedly coached. "They will finish handling the rest of your records, then you will need to go to the ministry for the tests."
"He knows, Hermione," Ron sighed, then he grinned at Harry. "Become a Chudley Cannon player, yeah?"
Harry snorted with amusement, then he had an armful of Hermione who began sobbing on his shoulder. He gave Ron a bewildered look, but his best friend also looked like he was about to cry.
"I'll remember," Harry promised as he hugged Hermione back. He was confused but it was dawning on him that they were worried he would end up one of the 'disappeared' people. "Hey, it's okay. Thank you guys for helping me do this."
"I just want to see you happy!" Hermione wailed. "Harry, promise me you will do your best to be happy!"
"I promise," Harry promised. "I have a husband to seduce after all."
Hermione and Ron wetly laughed, then they separated. Hermione put some chopped up ash wood into the censure, then Harry unceremoniously tossed the ring into it. "If it all goes well, there will be an owl waiting for you two right now at the burrow," Harry reminded them. "I'll tell you everything, okay? I'll even keep a journal for you, Hermione."
"Be careful, Harry," Hermione said with a sad shake of her head. "No matter what, it will be a one way journey for you."
Harry nodded. "Step back then," he gently ordered, then turned to the incense burner. The robes he was wearing was some old ones purchased from a second hand shop that should be fashionable for 1960, and he was wearing the backpack with everything he wanted to take with him including his firebolt. "I love you guys," Harry added, starting to feel choked up as it suddenly hit him that it might really be the last time he would see them. He almost changed his mind right then, but he felt Ron's hand steady on his back.
"We love you too, mate," Ron said. "Now go ahead, go get your husband and save Sirius."
Harry swallowed the lump in his throat down, nodded, then raised his wand. Fiendfyre was a spell that needed no incantation, just intention, and it was surprisingly easy to cast. A small salamander leapt out of the tip of his wand, dove straight for the censure, and then the ring and the wood was burning as the salamander began to feast.
Harry glanced back at his friends to gave them a small smile, and they waved goodbye to him. He stepped towards the smoke the censure was emitting, closed his eyes, then thought about needing to go back to 1960 to get a husband and save his godfather. The world spun like the walls in the Department of Mysteries, the censure disappeared, and then Harry, feeling dizzy stumbled and fell onto his hands and his knees and tried not to vomit.
By the time Harry had his stomach under control, the world had stopped spinning and it was just him in the middle of the woods. He staggered up to his feet, and just as he promised Hermione he would do, he apparated straight to Diagon Alley then walked straight to Gringotts.
Almost everything was the same in the Alley as it had been in his first year. There were a couple different stored, but nothing much had changed. The robes people wore were a lot more colorful - there was even one witch in an eye searing rainbow tie dye - but besides that there was nothing different from 1991.
There was plenty different from 2000. A lot of businesses went out during the second wizarding war and one in every six building or so still remained empty three years after the war ended. There was no WWW, and people here seemed a lot happier. And prices were insanely low.
Harry stopped mentally comparing things from the three different timelines and entered the bank. The inside was exactly the same. It had remained the same even after the goblins had repaired the dragon damage Harry had caused. And there was Bogrod, though he was still so junior that he was working the carts.
Harry went to a senior teller, rummaged in his backpack for the large sheaf of papers Hermione and the goblins from his time had prepared, then presented it when it was his turn. He was led to a private room, and there he was given a new birth certificate (Birth place: Port Essington, Australia. Failed Victorian settlement on the muggle side, however it had turned into a magical settlement since the isolation and the diseases hadn't bothered the wixens), a portfolio with a list of backdated investments he now had courtesy of Hermione, an Australian apparition license which would need to be renewed at the ministry, and a list of apartments he could rent until he decided to buy a house.
Harry picked a furnished two bedroom apartment above a bakery in Diagon Alley, paid the deposit and the first two months of rent, then for the final business he opened up a vault of ten thousand galleons and a muggle checkings account of fifty thousand pounds and accepted a cheque book that could be used in both muggle and magical stores then tucked it into his mokeskin pouch. Then Harry left to go clothes shopping.
Harry hadn't been a fan of clothes shopping before, but Hermione had made many points about how being dressed well attracted people. It was the first line of attack in seduction, and he had long ago decided that he wanted to go for the mysterious look. Since colors were in fashion, especially bright ones, he was thinking he would go with the darker jewel tones like oriental amethyst and dark sapphire blue, however it would be his eyes that would hopefully draw Orion to him.
He told the lady at Twilfitt and Tattings what he was looking for and trusted her to achieve it. She was eager to design something unique for him, and she suggested fur-lined flared and open black robes with underclothes like colorful paisely shirts and ruffled jewel tone silk shirts with tights that would make his legs appear longer and show off his muscular calves and his bubbly arse. Harry was amused as he agreed to it - she was the expert after all - and she measured him before she sent him on his way with promises to return the next day for fittings.
After that, Harry went to the ministry to get a proper apparition license and to book an appointment for OWL and NEWT testing, then he finally went to check out the apartment he had rented.
It was cozy with the lovely scent of the bakery around it, and it made him realize he was very hungry so he left to do some grocery shopping on the muggle side. He didn't have to enter the bakery to get into the apartment since there were stairs on the outside of the building to his door. The back half of the second floor was also an apartment, but it housed the family that ran the bakery and their entrance was at the back of the shop.
Muggle London in 1960 was a lot more polluted than it was in the year 2000. It was also noisier. There were many things that weren't on the shelves yet like Jelly Babies and Curly Wurlies, but things were a lot cheaper so Harry found himself buying a couple things that weren't available in the future.
Dinner that night was a simple roast that Harry planned to eat for the next couple days before turning whatever was left over into a stew or a pie. He went to bed with a full stomach, but he had a hard time falling asleep since he kept worrying about Ron and Hermione. When he woke up the next day, he went to research Tom Riddle first, and he was floored by what he found.
Tom Riddle had been caught killing his father and grandparents during his sixth year and had been expelled and sent to Azkaban where he had died four years ago. Not just that - the school had found an exceptionally foul and dark artifact that Tom Riddle had made which alone would have given him a lifetime sentence. The old Prophet said that it was destroyed, and Tom Riddle had been sentenced to life rather than the Kiss under the argument that he was just a boy that had made terrible mistakes.
Harry had not time traveled. He had dimension traveled, and he realized that he had forever lost his two best friends.
Harry went through the rest of his day in a haze of shock and grief. He did his fitting, but the normally chatty salesperson realized that Harry wanted to be left alone since she kept her comments and questions to the minimum. It wasn't until towards the end that she asked if he was ok.
"My... I learned my whole family died," Harry numbly replied, still cognizant enough to keep to the story that they had decided on. "I lost everything in the fire, but I had hoped at least one of them survived. I just learned this morning that I lost them as well."
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," she sympathetically replied. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No, it's okay," Harry replied with a sad shake of his head no. He needed to snap out of it. He knew it was a possibility, he just... didn't think it would happen. At least he had made sure the remainder of his fortune went to people he loved. "You have done a lot just by listening, actually. Thank you."
"You can come talk to me any time," the witch said with a sympathetic pat on his arm. "My name is Liana Sterling. Maybe we can have some tea after my shift?"
"Sure," Harry agreed. She was maybe a couple years older than him and seemed very nice, and Ron and Hermione had told him to go out and make friends to fit in better. "The bakery under my apartment has a little cafe patio. I could meet you there around five?"
"Okay!" she chirped. "It's a date!"
Harry froze, realizing he had just been asked out on and accepted a date. "Oh, er, I'm gay," he said with an apologetic smile.
Liana pouted. "All the good men are taken or gay," she complained, then gave him a light hearted smile. "It's ok, we can hang out as friends then. Every girl needs a gay best friend."
Harry sagged with relief and nodded. "Just please don't tell anyone?" he asked. "I'm not ready to come out with it, you know?"
"Your secret is safe with me!"
Harry grinned at her and the rest of the fitting went well. Harry left the shop wearing a paisley silk shirt, burgundy tights that matched the color of the shirt pattern, a loose black robe with flared out sleeves, and a black trilby hat with a burgundy ribbon.
From there Harry went home to sulk for a bit, but he was downstairs at the right time and had tea with Liana. They talked about various topics like favorite classes to get to know each other, and at the end of it Harry was satisfied that he made his first friend.