– – – – – Rebirth Chapter 25 – – – – –

The sound of the flames flaring from the fireplace in the foyer, immediately followed by the sound of someone tumbling out of it sent Sirius to his feet and rushing out of the living room. Harry was there, dusting himself off with one hand while the other twisted and his wand suddenly appeared there. A few quick movements and the dust was banished.

"Where the hell have you been! I was worried sick!" Sirius exclaimed.

Harry turned to look at him with an expression somewhere between bewildered confusion and surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?" Harry replied, confusedly.

"You! Here! Late! Where have you been? It's dark out! Remus will be here any minute and I would have had no idea what to tell him when he asked where you were. For all I knew, you got kidnapped by someone and were... were... dead or something!"

Harry blinked at him again, his face remaining blank for a minute longer before his features softened and he looked a bit apologetic. "Ah... right. Er... sorry about that," Harry said as he reached is hand up and rubbed the back of his neck, giving Sirius a weak smile. "I sort of lost track of time. I caught up with an old friend and... yeah. We just got carried away, catching up on old times and stuff..."

"Old times?" Sirius echoed, a tinge of curious suspicion in his voice.

Harry's expression morphed into a huge smile and he nodded his head rather enthusiastically. "Oh, Merlin, Sirius! I'm so bloody excited! I – " Harry's words were suddenly cut off at the sound of the fire flaring behind him and coming to life. He looked back at Sirius, quickly and spoke "I'm going to have to wait to tell you later, okay? Oh, and tomorrow I'm meeting up with this friend, just play along when I bring it up later, okay?"

"Play along? What? I –" but just then, Remus appeared in the fireplace and strode out with relative ease. He blinked and looked around at Harry and Sirius standing there with a slight air of surprise before he began to dust himself off.

"Hey Remus!" Harry exclaimed, turning his attention on the werewolf and smiling at him. "Did you bring your luggage?"

Conversation went smoothly from there, and Harry followed Remus up stairs to his 'temporary' guest room where Remus pulled out a miniaturized trunk from his pocket and then returned it to it's normal size at the foot of his bed. Harry kept up a steady stream of chatter with Remus and Sirius joined in, but he kept shooting questioning glances at Harry.

Remus had already been introduced to Dobby a few days earlier, so he wasn't surprised when the little guy popped in, informing them that dinner was ready. The excuse for Dobby's sudden presence in their home was that Dobby had been left to Sirius in Lucretia's will and Sirius had decided to keep him in order to make sure Harry got food that was actually edible, instead of the mockery of sustenance that he was capable of producing. Harry had actually been a bit shocked when Sirius had used this excuse – not because of the lie itself, but because he hadn't realized Lucretia had died. Apparently it had only happened about a month earlier, and Harry couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that he hadn't bothered to visit her while he'd still had the chance.

Harry had ordered Dobby to play along with the story if he was ever asked about his time with Lucretia, but it hadn't come up.

During the course of the meal, Sirius mentioned that he'd gotten another letter from his cousin Andromeda, and was thinking about inviting her and her family for dinner some time during the summer. Apparently her daughter Nymphadora had just finished her first year of Auror Training and Sirius was interested in speaking with her and swapping stories to see how much it had changed since he had gone through Auror training himself.

About half-way through he meal, Harry spoke up. "I don't know if Sirius told you, Remus, but today I went to Diagon Alley with Terry Boot and his mum," Harry began and both Sirius and Remus looked up at him with mild surprise, "and while I was there I ran into an old friend of mine!" Harry finished, smiling brightly.

"An old friend?" Remus echoed.

"Yes! It was the most shocking thing! I knew him back when I was in muggle primary school. You know how I was in those special classes for gifted students? Well, he was too. We went to different schools, but for the special classes, since there were so few of us, we were all gathered from all over the place and brought into one course. Anyway, it turns out he's a wizard too!"

"Wow, Harry, that's great," Remus said smiling.

Harry continued to smile for a moment before his face turned slightly sullen. "Yeah, but his situation is kind of messed up. He and I... well, we were best friends for years. I sort of knew he was magical back then, but I didn't really know for sure since my memories of magic were restricted to just when I was a baby, and his mum was a muggle – no question about that. But I saw him do some accidental magic a few times, and I showed him some of what I could do. We helped each other out and I think the fact that we both realized we were sort of the same is why we stuck together like we did. But when he was nine, his mum got a job offer in Greece and they moved away. I didn't think I'd ever see him again, really," Harry gave a weak, forced laugh and looked down. "I was sort of a mess after he left, to be honest... I missed him... so much..." He cleared his throat and put on a strong face and a soft smile and then shrugged.

"Anyway, I was so excited to see him today, I practically jumped him. It turns out he's come to London because he plans to visit the Magical Historical Society. Their genealogy department offers a service where you can come in and for a fee they'll generate a detailed family tree from a small sample of blood. They keep all of the supplies necessary to make them, right there! It's a newer service, they've only been doing it for a few years because some new potion was developed that's a lot cheaper than the old way of generating family trees. But, anyway, he's trying to find out if his dad might have been a wizard."

"Does his mother not know?" Remus asked.

"If she did, she never told him. She died in a car accident about two and a half years ago, in Greece. His muggle birth certificate doesn't list a father, and his mum was never married. He's got no family at all, as far as he knows. After his mum died and he was released from the hospital, he ended up a ward of the state and got shuffled around the Greek children services for a while. Foster families and group homes mostly. He... well, none of them were very good, but the last one was sort of the last straw, and he sort of got sick of it. He kind of... ran away," Harry said hesitantly, cringing slightly as the two adult's eyes widened.

Harry cleared his throat and made to look uncomfortable for a moment before continuing. "Yeah... so, he came back here to England – to London, specifically, so he could see if he could find anything on who his father might be. He knows all about the magical world now because the summer when he was ten – just about to turn eleven – he performed some sizable accidental magic trying to protect himself from one of his foster parents, and the Greek Ministry of Magic had to come and talk with him. The told him about the magical world and about the statute of secrecy and all that. Because he's an orphan and he's got no money, he couldn't afford to hire any tutors, and the only sizable magical school with scholarships that considers Greece it's jurisdiction is Durmstrang and they don't accept muggleborns.

"He got some grant money from the Greek Magical Ministry and was able to buy books, so he's sort of been self-educating himself since then, but like I said – it's only enough for books, not for any teachers... but anyway, he took what he knew, and what little money he managed to save up and he came back to England. He's hoping that his father might still be alive and be willing to take him in. I promised him that I'd go with him when he goes to the Magical Historical Society tomorrow, can I please go, Sirius? Please?"

Sirius's jaw floundered for a moment and he looked a bit gobsmacked "Wuah... I... I suppose.."

"Wait, Harry, how old is this friend of yours? You said he ran away?" Remus cut in, looking concerned.

Harry shifted in his seat, looking every bit like a nervous kid. "He's twelve. He turns thirteen in early September."

"And he ran away? Does that mean he's here alone?"

Harry looked down at his lap and nodded his head, not making eye contact.

"Where is he staying, right now?" Remus asked softly, trying not to sound like he was upset.

Harry mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Remus prodded.

"He's staying in an abandoned house he found," Harry huffed out and frowned. "He made me promise not to tell..."

"Oh, Harry..." Remus said with a sigh. "We can't just leave him to sleep in some abandoned house. Anything could happen to him."

Harry shook his head and gave Remus a pleading look. "We can't tell the authorities. He won't go back to child services. It's been horrible. He won't go back!"

Remus held his hands up in a placating gesture. "It's okay, Harry. We'll work something out, you have to know that he can't stay where he is." Remus hesitated and looked over at Sirius who's expression was oddly blank. When Sirius realized that Remus was looking at him, he sort of jerked out of his own inner thoughts and made eye contact. Remus gave him a sort of questioning look, but Sirius didn't seem to get the message and Remus rolled his eyes and huffed. "Maybe Harry's friend could stay here for a few nights?" he offered, aloud.

"Oh! Oh, yes. Of course," Sirius said.

"Really?" Harry said with barely contained excitement.

"Just until we can work out some other arrangements, of course," Remus put in and Harry made his face fall slightly with apparent disappointment.

"Do you know exactly where this friend of yours is right now?" Remus asked and Harry shook his head.

"I don't know where it is, exactly. I just know where I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow to go to the Historical Society."

"Well, hopefully the kid will be alright on his own for tonight," Sirius put in. "How long has he been staying in this abandoned house you mentioned?"

Harry shrugged, looking down. "He only just got into England, so this is only the first night he's been there."

Remus sighed heavily. "Well, I hope he'll be alright..."

"So I can go meet him tomorrow?" Harry put in, with a suddenly hopeful voice.

"Yes. But I think we should come too – don't you, Sirius?"

"Uh..." Sirius eyes went from Remus to Harry and a slight questioning look crossed between the two and Harry gave the other a very slight nod. "Yes. Yes, I think we should go to. So what's this friend's name?"

"Dominick Parker."

– –

Harry's grin grew wide as he rounded the bend and saw Tom standing out front of the Magical Historical Society's building. It was towards the end of Diagon Alley with the professional buildings – solicitors, a few private specialty healers with private practices, a real estate office, etc. – and about a block down from the London Library of Magic.

"Harry! Wait up!" he heard Sirius call from behind him a ways. He looked back at Tom and the two met eyes and shared a quick smirk before the two 'adult' wizards rounded the bend and came up behind Harry.

Tom quickly masked his expression to guarded worry for a moment and looked at Harry with an expression that anyone else would have interpreted as hurt betrayal. Harry ran up and pretended to be placating his worried friend and was reassuring him that Remus and Sirius wouldn't be turning him in to child services and that he could trust them, just as the two adults came up.

Introductions were made and Tom played the role of an overly cautious kid with a well-earned distrust of authority, and what appeared to be a very strong trust in Harry. Harry couldn't help but silently admire Tom's acting. Of course, he'd always been brilliant at it. Harry had expressed his worry the day before about whether Tom would be willing and able to play the role of child again, almost constantly for several years, and Tom had simply scoffed at his worries, pointing out that he'd been in this body for two and a half years while he traveled the bloody world. He was well-practiced as playing innocent child when necessary to get himself what he wanted.

The group went into the building and the witch at the front desk directed them to the second floor for the genealogical department. Up the stairs was another witch sitting at a desk in the middle of a small waiting room that was flanked by two doors, one on each side. The one to the right Harry remembered from his many visits here several years earlier. It led to the rooms where family trees were stored so you could go looking through them. The witch at the desk informed them that the door to the left led to the private offices, which was also where they would go to have the family tree made up. She explained the fees and then told them to wait a moment while she checked to see the wizard who was responsible for that task was available.

She wrote a quick note on some parchment, waved her wand over it, and it folded itself into the shape of an origami bird and flew through a small open window at the top of the door.

They sat down and waited. Sirius sat on one end with Harry beside him, then Tom, or 'Dominick', and then Remus sat down on the other end. Tom frowned slightly and made to appear a bit uncomfortable for a moment. Remus seemed to want to speak with him, but hadn't yet gotten up the nerve. Just as he looked like he was about to speak, a folded paper airplane came through the small window and landed on the witch's desk. She unfolded it, read it and then called to them, informing them that Mr. Caedmon was available and they could go in and see him now.

They got up and as they were about to go through the door, she called out saying it was the third on the left. The group quickly made their way down the hall and Tom knocked on the door with a nameplate on it saying 'Caradog Caedmon'. A voice called out from the other side and Tom pushed the door open and entered a fairly large-sized, but also very cluttered, office. Harry, Sirius, and Remus followed behind him and they paused for a moment as the man at the desk in the center of the room quickly finished scribbling away on a piece of parchment.

Finally he looked up, smiling brightly. "Do forgive me. I was just finishing up. Please sit down, sit down. I'm Caradog Caedmon. What can I help you with today?"

There were only two chars in the office, but Sirius pulled out his wand and conjured two additional chairs that he and Remus sat in. Tom sat in the one closest to the desk, while Harry sat down beside him.

"Hello, Mr. Caedmon. My name is Dominick Parker and I was told to come here for help. You see, I'm trying to learn about my father's side of the family, but I've never been able to find any information on him. My mum was a muggle and she died several years ago without ever telling me anything she might have known about him, and when I was born, she didn't put anything down about my father on my birth records. Since my mum died, I've been on my own. I don't have any family that I know of, and I suppose I was hoping I might track down some information on any living family I might have from my father's side. For all I know, my father could have simply been a muggle, but I realized it's also possible he was a wizard... I was hoping that you could help me."

"Ah, how fascinating. Yes, yes, dear boy. I'd be more than happy to help! How fascinating! I hope you do realize though, that the process we use can only determine magical heritage. If your father is a muggle, the spell won't turn up anything at all."

"I understand, sir," Tom said with a solemn nod.

"There are other spells, of course. Spells that will list your family tree back quite a few generations, even listing the muggles and the squibs, but they require different potions and take a bit longer to prepare... so if we can't turn up anything, don't lose hope because there are still other options!" Mr. Caedmon said, reassuringly.

"Thank you, sir," Tom replied respectfully.

"Good, good," Caedmon said as he pushed off with his feet and wheeled his chair back several feet and twirled around to face a large filing cabinet there. He opened one of the drawers and leafed through the papers until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a crisp, flat, blank, bit of parchment and wheeled back to his desk. He pulled open one of his desk drawers and it pulled out about four feet from his desk. He began to dig around in it and his arm disappeared up to his armpit before he apparently found what he was looking for. He placed the parchment on his desk along with what looked like a normal ink pot, and a strange looking quill. Then he pulled out a small dagger and placed it with the others.

He closed the drawer and looked back up at the group with an eager smile. At that point, his gaze traveled to the two adults and recognition seemed to dawn. "Oh, my! Ha ha, I didn't even recognize... Remus Lupin!"

Remus smiled softly and ducked his head. "Hello, Caradog," he said quietly.

"My, I get so focused, I don't even see the world going on in front of my own nose. And my! Sirius Black too? I read about what's happened in the Prophet!"

Sirius blinked at the man and then looked back at Remus with sort of 'Help me? Who is this?' look in his eyes.

"Sirius, you remember Caradog, don't you? He was in our year at Hogwarts. He was in Hufflepuff."

Sirius still looked confused but turned back and smiled at the man, faking recognition and greeting the man more warmly. Harry heard Tom huff quietly in annoyance, but he still managed to keep his demeanor and behavior consistent with the role he was playing. Finally discussion got back on track and Mr. Caedmon described exactly what was necessary for the construction of the family tree and how it would work.

Tom would pierce his finger with the small dagger and squeeze a drop of blood onto the bottom center of the parchment. They would wait a moment for the parchment, that had been specially prepared, to accept the blood. He was then to dip the quill into the ink pot and then bring it over to the parchment and the quill would apparently do the rest on it's own.

Tom didn't even flinch as he pierced his index finger with the dagger and easily let several drops onto the parchment. He stuck his finger into his mouth and sucked on it for a moment while he picked the quill up with his other hand, dipped it into the ink pot and then brought it over top of the parchment. He felt as if the quill had suddenly been grasped by someone else and released it. It hovered over the parchment of it's own apparent power and slowly lowered.

The quill suddenly started writing out very quickly in a rather fancy sort of cursive, making quick fluid strokes and curvy swishes.

It wrote out one name and then moved to draw a line up from it that branched to draw a few more lines and then began writing names again. It took several minutes before the quill stopped moving and fell down onto the desk.

"Ah! Always such a fun process to watch!" Mr. Caedmon exclaimed excitedly as he bounced in his seat slightly. He pushed the piece of parchment to the end of the desk and everyone crowded around to look.

The first surprise was in the very first name written on the tree. Instead of Dominick Parker, as Tom had known his new body's name be, according to the muggle records, it said "Dominicus Prewett".

"Would you look at that! It would appear that your father performed a proper naming ritual, or else it would have simply written out whatever name you thought you had," Caedmon observed with excited interest in his voice. "Fascinating! You know, young man, that this means you were also deemed as his proper heir! A male heir to the Prewett line! How exciting!"

"Prewett?" Sirius exclaimed with obvious surprise in his voice. Harry and Tom were also looking at it with quite a bit of surprise.

Above the name Dominicus Prewett was the line that went up and forked in two for his parents. His mother's name wasn't even listed. It just said 'Mother (muggle)'. In the spot where the father was listed, it said 'Ignatius Prewett II'. Above him, it forked again and listed Ignatius Prewett I, and Lucretia Prewett (nee Black) as Dominicus' grandparents.

"Bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed, legitimately surprised. "You're grandmum was a Black!"

Tom blinked at it owlishly, and Harry suspected that he didn't have to 'act' surprised at this revelation. He had somehow accidentally stumbled across and started using the body of Lucretia's illegitimate grandson. Or maybe not as 'illegitimate' as they had originally expected, since the heir naming ritual had clearly been performed.

"I take it from the general surprise that this was not expected?" Caedmon said, looking around with a bit amused interest in his eyes.

"No... not expected," Tom said, quietly as he continued to examine the tree.

Harry turned to Sirius, who was also looking stunned. "Lucretia was your aunt, right?"

Sirius nodded his head silently, looking quite surprised.

Harry looked back at the tree. It had drawn up a bit of Lucretia's family above her name, listing her parents Arcturus Black and Melania Black (nee McMillian), as well as her brother, Orion Black, and his wife Walburga. Below that, it listed Sirius and Regulus as their children.

Tom pointed at the spot where it said 'Sirius Black', looked over at Sirius with wide eyes. "Is that you?" he asked with stunned shock in his voice. Sirius continued to nod in shocked silence.

Back on the Family Tree, above Ignatius Prewett, it listed his parents, Antares Prewett and his wife Moira Prewett (nee Gamp). Beside Ignatius and also down from his parents was listed three additional siblings. One brother and two sisters. The brother was Charon Prewett who married Mary Prewett (nee Dagwood), and had three children; Molly, Fabian, and Gideon. Ignatius' two sisters were apparently both old maids because both were still listed as un-married, and childless. Tessie Prewett and Muriel Prewett.

Harry barely swallowed the shocked noise that wanted to escape him when he noticed that the 'Molly' on the tree listed as the daughter of Charon and Mary Prewett had the married name 'Weasley', and then the veritable mountain of children listed under her name. Most notably, one 'Ronald Weasley'.

"Look at that, Sirius!" Remus said, reaching over and pointing at the tree. "He's related to Gideon and Fabian too."

Harry noticed that Gideon and Fabian shared the exact same birth date and the same date of death, back in 1980. Thinking back, he was fairly sure that he'd remembered a pair of red-headed identical twins at one of the few Order meetings that his mum had taken him to that had been referred to as 'Prewett'. He glanced over at Tom at that moment and noticed he was grimacing subtly.

"This is really quite a discovery!" Caedmon exclaimed happily. "We had believed that the Prewett line was extinct in the male line! Very exciting, very exciting! The only Prewetts left were all women, Muriel is unmarried and after Tessie's husband died, she went back to the Prewett name, and she never had children. It was believed that once Muriel and Tessie died, the Prewett line would be gone forever, but not now! How exciting!"

"That is, assuming that he decides to use the name," Remus put in and Caedmon looked up at him with a confused expression. "He's been 'Parker' his whole life. He might not want to start using his father's name." Remus explained.

All eyes turned on Tom who appeared startled by the sudden attention and looked thoughtful. "I... I wouldn't mind using the name Prewett. My mum has been gone for more than two and a half years, and I've never known any other family from her side of the family. I've got very little attachment to the name Parker. Honestly, it might be nice to have a clean start. New name. New life."

Mr. Caedmon smiled widely and clapped his hands. "How exciting!"

Harry nearly rolled his eyes. The man seemed to find a lot of things exciting.

They spent a little more time there before finishing up. Tom received two copies of his family tree and paid the witch at the front desk the small fee for having the tree made in the first place. He even signed over permission for the tree to be added to the Historical Society's records, which seemed to thoroughly thrill Mr. Caedmon. As far as Harry was concerned, the man was far too fascinated and easily excitable when it came to genealogy.

As they were leaving the building, Tom was walking slowly and holding one of the family tree parchments in front of him, and appeared to be reading it with rapt interest.

"So... Dominic," Sirius said awkwardly, "or should I call you Dominicus?" he joked weakly.

Tom looked up at him with a blank face that didn't betray any emotion and Sirius fidgeted for a moment before continuing.

"Right... anyway, we were thinking of going to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch and I'd like to invite you to come with. In fact..." he paused and looked at the others, "in fact, you're welcome to come back home with us, too. To stay."

Tom continued to look at him blankly for a moment with slowly widening eyes before his head turned and he met Harry's eyes with an innocent questioning look. Harry smiled and nodded his head, encouragingly. It was all an incredibly convincing act, over all. Remus would certainly never question it, at least.

"Um... for how long, sir?" Tom asked, Sirius cautiously.

Sirius sighed and looked at Harry with a slightly questioning look. Harry suspected that Sirius realized that a lot of this was being put on for Remus' sake, and he didn't particularly like to be out of the loop while cooperating in pulling the wool over Remus' eyes. Harry knew that Sirius would be confronting him later, insisting on some more legitimate details. "Ah, well, we'll figure that out later, yeah? But for now... let's just say that you can stay. How's that?"

Tom's eyes lit up with surprisingly convincing childish hope and he smiled widely. It was a truly beautiful smile and Harry felt his breath catch for a moment and thanked his lucky stars that Tom had managed to snatch up such an appealing body. He couldn't wait to see what he'd look like with a few more years of age on him. His thoughts danced to the ageing potion stashed away in his room and he had to squash a deviously pleased grin that threatened to appear on his lips.

"Are you sure, sir? I mean... I... I don't want to be a bother," Tom said, suddenly looking hesitant.

"Stop with this sir stuff, already. I've already told you. You can call me Sirius. And besides, it looks like your my 'second-cousin once removed' so... we're family, right?"

Tom gaped at him and it slowly morphed into a wide, excited smile. Harry couldn't help but feel pride that Tom's acting was so remarkably convincing. He hadn't seen Tom really use his acting skills like that during the last few decades of his last life. There really hadn't been any need for it. It was reassuring to see that Tom hadn't lost his touch any.

The group made their way back down the twisting and turning curves of Diagon Alley, to the other far end and went through the archway into the small courtyard to the rear of the Leaky Cauldron and on into the pub. They all ordered their meals and after some awkward silences, the group finally slid into some casual conversation. Mostly it was Sirius and Remus asking Tom questions about his life, and Tom masterfully constructed a fake history to tell them.

He and Harry had done a lot of planning the previous afternoon to make sure their stories would align, but Tom had managed to flesh it out even more on his end and it was remarkably convincing. The things that Tom said about 'his' muggle mother, and the things that he and the woman had done together over the years were very detailed and even Harry would have believed it, had he not known that it had to have been all fabricated.

The four finished their meals and took the floo back to 52 Pentwyn Rd, after telling Tom the address and making plans to add him to the ward book once they got home. As soon as they entered the foyer, Harry dragged 'Dominick' off towards the stairs, stating that he was going to show him his new room, and Sirius and Remus were left downstairs to wonder how exactly such a surprising turn of events had happened so suddenly and unexpectedly.

– –

"A Prewett! Haha!" Harry laughed as soon as he had his door closed and turned to look at Tom. The other 'boy' in question was actually looking a bit stunned. As in, legitimately stunned.

"Yes... it's quite... shocking," Tom admitted slowly. "I'm not... entirely sure how I feel about this."

"There were some Prewetts in the Order of the Phoenix right?"

Tom grimaced again. "Yes... Charon Prewett's twin sons were members. I believe it was Rudolphus who killed them..."

"Well, the last generation of Prewetts may have been more inclined towards Dumbledore's idiocy than remaining loyal to their heritage and blood, but before them the Prewetts were a well respected old pureblood family. Sure, this body's mum was a muggle, but you've got good blood beyond that. Blacks and Prewetts. Not bad. And Merlin! Lucretia's grandson!" Harry barked out a laugh and shook his head. "What are the chances?"

"Yes, precisely!" Tom hissed suddenly. "What are the chances? This is just obscenely coincidental. It bothers me."

"How so?" Harry asked, looking more serious as he went over and sat on the edge of the bed there.

They were in the 'spare bedroom'. It was the smallest of the four bedrooms the house had and Harry knew that Sirius had actually been debating converting it into an office since they hadn't expected to really have need of the extra room. It was very sparsely decorated with a light cream-colored bedspread on a full-sized bed with a dark brown wooden bed frame and headboard. The floor was hardwood with a round cream-colored rug, and a wooden end table, wardrobe, and dresser that matched the bedframe.

"How so?" Tom echoed incredulously. "I don't like coincidences," he said in a quiet, agitated voice. "As far as I'm concerned, overly convenient coincidences are anything but. There is always something deeper going on –"

"And if you don't understand what that something deeper is, it drives you mad. Alright, I get it," Harry finished for him and sighed lightly as he took on a thoughtful expression. "It is pretty crazy... when you think about it."

"You could have been reborn as anyone," Tom said, pinning Harry with his striking pale blue eyes. "You could have been reborn as a shaman's daughter in Paraguay! You could have been born in America, or Asia. But you were born here in Britain. While I can accept that as a fortunate coincidence, the fact that you were born as a blood descendent of a Black? Your grandmother... A Black. Alright... luck? I suppose I could possibly accept that. But what about me? That I would stumble across a remarkably convenient magical body, empty, but alive. Ready for the taking. That it would just, conveniently, be right where I was at just the right moment... but for that body to also be the grandson of a Black? I just happened to stumble across the unknown grandson of a Black while in Greece? It's absurd!"

Tom threw his arms up into the air and growled slightly as he began to pace the room like some sort of menacing feline. It was times such as these that Harry would mentally remark how appropriate Tom's animagus form was, even if the man would eternally deny it.

Harry drew his attention away from that distraction and mulled over Tom's rant. It was... well, he had a point. It was rather bizarre. Just the same, Harry couldn't imagine any explanation at all that could bring sense to it.

A thought suddenly struck Harry and he frowned slightly. "You know..." Harry began and trailed off. Tom stopped his pacing and looked over at Harry with impatient expectance.

"Yes?"

"Remember back... what was it... the summer right before third year... the year we stayed at the Black's house for the last week? And Melania gave me my first Necromancer Grimoire?"

Tom frowned and slowly nodded his head. "Yes... that's right."

"I often wondered why a Necromancer Grimoire was in the Black family library. The only reason for it is if a member of the Black family had been a Necromancer at some point."

"I don't see what this has to do with what we were just discussing," Tom said flatly.

"Well, alright, it's just... it's just one more weird thing that ties us to the Blacks, I guess. But, it actually made me think of something else."

Tom rose a single eyebrow, silently prodding Harry to continue.

Harry stood up suddenly and walked towards the door, "Hang on, I've got to get something... you know what, let's move this to my room."

Harry and Tom quickly left the room and went one door down and entered Harry's bedroom, sealing the door and casting a quick silence ward behind them. Harry went over to his trunk, opened it to the compartment where he stored his books that wouldn't be appropriate to put on a shelf. Tom looked around the room with an impatient huff and pulled the chair out from behind Harry's desk, pointed his wand and transfigured it into something a bit more elegant and comfortable.

Harry turned back from his search through the trunk with a book in his hand, saw Tom perched comfortably in a far more pompous chair than Harry's desk chair had been earlier, rolled his eyes and smiled in amusement before coming over and handing the book to Tom

Tom frowned at it for a moment before a bit of confusion entered his eyes. He looked up at Harry. "And what exactly do you expect me to do with this?" he asked, motioning his hand towards the very old tome in his lap. It was bound in what looked like old leather, but was quite probably skin from something else entirely. It was very thick, but not terribly large length or height wise. It had a thick strap along the open end and a brass buckle with an embossed skull on it.

"See if you can open it," Harry said anxiously and Tom's eyes widened at the look of anxious anticipation he saw enter Harry's verdant eyes.

Tom looked back down at the book dubiously. He knew what it was. It was a Grimoire. One of those frustrating, irritation-causing books that he'd never been able to open or read on his own. Harry always had to open them for him, and even then, the words would either be invisible or appear scrambled to his own eyes. Heri had transcribed some for him over the years, but generally Tom simply scorned the damned books and their stubborn resistance to allowing him access to their knowledge.

And yet, Harry seemed to expect something different...

Tom rest the book on his lap and began to work the buckle loose. He took the strap off and grasped the front cover of the book and slowly opened it.

There was no resistance at all. It just... opened.

He flipped several pages in, and then several more... every page was filled with perfectly legible text. He could read it. He hadn't had to do a thing. No fighting with the book to open for him, no straining or exerting his substantial magical power just to force the book to show him garbled text rather then nothing at all. It had just worked.

He looked up at Harry who was watching him with wide, exited eyes.

"What does this mean? How is this possible?"

"You're a Black now!" Harry exclaimed and actually jumped a bit in his excitement.

"Technically, I'm a Prewett. I don't see how that explains this, though," Tom said, motioning towards the book.

"The Blacks have Necromancer blood in their line! They've got to! But even if they all have the biological potential to control the necromantic arts, most wizards don't possess a powerful enough magical core to truly tap into it! You've always had a powerful enough magical core. It's a part of who you are. You're astral body's magic is incredibly strong! Your old body had a number of advantages because of your Slytherin lineage, but your body didn't have any Necromancer blood in it. I think that, in order to first tape into one's Necromantic abilities, they've got to have both. The physical capability, and the magical capability. Now you do!"

Tom's eyes were wide and he just looked away from Harry, eyes unfocused, for a moment as he considered Harry's revelation.

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Harry asked, confused.

"Does this mean that at some point you could get born into a physical body that isn't compatible with your necromancer powers? The way my first body wasn't compatible with it, but this one is?"

"Ah... very valid question," Harry mused. "But I don't think that will be a problem."

"And why not?" Tom asked, quirking a single curious brow.

"Well, first... say something in Parseltongue," Harry said.

For a brief moment, Tom looked confused by the request, but understanding seemed to dawn upon his face a moment later. :Fine, I'm saying something in Parseltongue: Tom hissed easily.

Harry grinned. "Ah! See! It worked. You can still speak it! But you're current body has no connection to the Slytherin line. You remember the skill. You've retained it because you remember completely how to access that gift. Just because you've lost the physical aspect, you've still retained the gift. I think that, even if I was reborn in a body that wouldn't necessarily be best suited for accessing the Necromantic Arts, the fact that I know how to use them so thoroughly will allow me to force myself to work them out anyway. It's something that the soul can learn and retain, even if placed in a different body."

"But what makes you so sure?"

:Because I can do this now,: Harry hissed with a wide grin.

Tom just looked at him with confusion for a moment before his pale blue eyes widened. "What did you just say?" he whispered.

Harry's grin widened. :I said, I can do this now.:

"You're speaking in parseltongue. That's not possible."

Harry laughed. :It's obviously possible, seeing as how I'm doing it. You say something.:

:Like what?:

:You just said, 'like what?' See, I can understand you now! Isn't this brilliant!:

"How the hell did this happen?" Tom exclaimed. "It can't be biological. The Potters have no connection to the Slytherin line at all! And neither do the Blacks! And it certainly didn't come from your mudblood mother. You cannot be a parselmouth!"

"Hey, Tom. Watch it, alright? It's bad enough you killed her, I won't stand for you calling her a mudblood, you got me?"

Tom blinked at Harry with stunned shock for a moment before he suddenly looked away, frowning. The room remained silent and heavy for several long seconds before Tom's hand came up and he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I apologize. That was very insensitive of me," he said quietly.

Harry nodded his head. "Apology accepted. Let's move on... right. Parseltongue. So the way I look at it, the only reasonable explanation for why I can do this now is because of your horcrux."

Tom looked back up at Harry and his face filled with intrigued understanding.

"My soul remembers the skill, and now that it's in you, you've gained it as well," Tom said.

"Exactly. I'd be willing to bet that now that I've practiced it on my own, my own soul now possesses the knowledge of the skill and in future lives, even without being your horcrux, I'd still retain it. And for you – if you practice this new access to the Necromantic arts you'll be able to retain it in future bodies, just like you've retained your parseltongue ability."

"Fascinating theory..." Tom pondered for a few minutes longer as he aimlessly flipped through the heavy parchment pages of the book on his lap. "Very fascinating... but we've gotten off track."

Harry looked at him blankly for a moment before he seemed to remember what they'd been discussing before they got side-tracked. "Right! The whole weird coincidence thing..."

"Yes, the weird coincidence thing," Tom echoed, rolling his eyes.

"Hmm..." Harry hummed as he walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed. "I can't even imagine any reasonable explanations for it outside of some obscenely ridiculous 'fate' or 'destiny' sort of thing, which is just... ridiculous."

Tom snorted. "Fate and Destiny are explanations used by the simple-minded and those too stupid to understand the truth behind what's really going on."

Harry nodded his head in agreement, looking thoughtful for another minute before sighing. "Well, it's something we'll have to keep in mind. For now, I can't even imagine where to start looking for an explanation. I say we try to tackle more pressing matters."

Tom heaved an annoyed sigh and nodded his head. "I'll concede you're probably right for the time being. I still don't like it."

"Neither do I. I agree that it's probably a bit too much of a coincidence to continue to deny that it's there –"

"But there is little we can do about it now," Tom finished and Harry nodded his head. "Alright. So... well, it would appear that you and I are both about equally related to Sirius Black. I have to admit that out of all of the outcomes I anticipated possibly coming from today's excursion, this was not one of them."

Harry snorted and laughed lightly. "Yeah, I was definitely not expecting this either. But it's undeniably convenient."

Tom made a small scoffing sound as if he found the 'convenience' outweighed by how uneasy he was made by the inexplicable coincidences, but Harry ignored him and pressed on.

"I was hoping that I could convince Sirius to try and gain custody of you anyway and this just makes it that much easier. Seeing as how he's basically your closest living relative anyway... well, I guess Muriel or Tessie Prewett would be technically 'closer', but they're both old and I doubt either would be interested in taking in a halfblood –" Tom scowled at that, "but anyway, Sirius is basically your closest blood relative so the Ministry shouldn't have any reason to contest it. All we'll have to do is file the proper papers and you'll have a legal guardian that we can both trust to work towards our interests and no one else's. It's a hell of a lot better than you becoming a ward of the Ministry, or Merlin-forbid, a ward of Hogwarts."

Tom sneered at that for a moment before sighing and leaning back in his chair some. "I suppose so. I'll just have to accept the 'convenience'. Are we going to move forward with telling Black what we discussed last night?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think we'll have to. He was already giving me questioning looks today. Considering what I've already told him, he's got to be questioning the story we've used about you."

"I still can't believe you told him as much as you did."

"I, personally, find value in allowing myself to occasionally trust a few different people with certain sensitive information," Harry said sarcastically. "Obviously, I'd never tell anyone the whole truth. Aside from you, of course. But I've definitely benefited from entrusting certain information with certain individuals."

"You've benefited so far, but there's no telling how badly things would blow up in your face should you place this idiotic trust of yours in the wrong person," Tom said pointedly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "In the last nearly-twelve-years, I've entrusted limited information to three people. I've been rather cautious as to who I trusted with what. I'm no fool, Tom."

Tom smiled at that and gave Harry a rather endearing smirk. "I will concede that. Generally speaking, at least... you are no fool. You picked me, after all."

Harry rolled his eyes, but smirked back.

The two spoke for a few minutes longer before a knocking came at the door to Harry's bedroom and the two turned to look at it. Harry twisted his wrist, bringing his wand into his hand and, with a few quick flicks, disabled the locks and privacy spells before slipping the wand back into his wrist holster.

"Come in," he called out.

The door opened slowly and Sirius poked his head through looking between the two with cautious curiosity before putting his full attention on Harry.

"Uhm... Hey, Harry. Can I talk with you for a minute?"

"Sure Sirius," Harry said standing up from his bed and glancing over at Tom. "Be back in a few. You'll be alright for a bit?"

Tom rolled his eyes and motioned to the book that was still open in his lap. "Oh yes, I'll be fine."

Harry snorted lightly, grinning before heading over to the door and following Sirius out. Sirius walked over to his own bedroom, leading Harry inside and then closing the door behind him. He stood, still facing the door for a moment before heaving a quick breath and turning to face Harry.

"Do I get to ask what the deal is with your friend?" Sirius asked rather directly.

Harry grinned. "Of course. We intended to tell you, as soon as we got the chance. If you want, we can even go back in there and you can discuss it with him too."

"I think I'd rather hear it from you first."

"Fine. Well, basically most everything we said today is true, although he and I didn't go to muggle primary school together. But the fact that he was born in London; that his mum was a muggle and moved them to Greece and that she died in a car accident and he's spent the last two-plus years in foster care is all true. The fact that he's related to you was just as much a shock to us as it was to you, I assure you. He was honestly expecting to just be a muggleborn, but we figured that if we were going to try and get him into Hogwarts that we should at least check to see if his father was a wizard or not."

"Alright..." Sirius said slowly. "So if you didn't know him from muggle primary school... how...?" his asked, his voice trailing off.

"My previous life," Harry said easily with a small smile. "You know that person I told you about? The one I died for? My lover?"

Sirius' eyes widened slightly and he nodded his head slowly.

"This is him," Harry said, his face brightening with a wide smile. "I finally found him. I've been searching for him for... well, more than half a decade. Basically as soon as I was able to get out of the Dursley's house and started venturing into the magical world again, I was trying to track him down. Not an easy prospect when I had no idea who he might be, let alone where, or how old... hell, I couldn't even necessarily know for sure he'd been reborn. It's a rather tricky business, the whole reincarnation thing..."

"Wait, wait," Sirius said, putting his hands up and cutting Harry off. "Are you saying that he's the same as you? I mean, the whole ritual to keep your memories thing... he did it too?"

"Yes," Harry said with a firm nod of his head and a large smile.

"How many people do you know from your last life who've done this?" Sirius asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Just me and him. We never told anyone else about it. We did it together. It was so that we could always... be together," Harry finished with a shrug and a slightly bashful smile. "I've loved him for... well, forever, really. We grew up together as kids. We were both orphans. We only had each other. We went to Hogwarts together, and it was then that we really... I don't know, realized the full extent to how we felt about each other. That it wasn't a brotherly love. It was more. And after school we traveled together. We worked together. I... the last twelve years without him have been the hardest of my life. I have missed him so much that it hurt."

Sirius gaped at Harry, clearly a bit dumbstruck by Harry's admission. Slowly, he closed his mouth and blinked a few times, mulling over Harry's words. "How... how did you find him?"

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "It's really ridiculous, honestly. All the spells I tried to tack him down... all of the resources I used, and the contacts I made... none of it worked. But yesterday while walking down Diagon Alley I saw him. I just... saw him. Of course, if he had been in his human form I never would have recognized him since he's got a new body, just like I do. But he was in his animagus form, and that didn't change. Just like mine didn't change. I recognized him instantly and that was that."

"He's an animagus too?"

Harry nodded. "Of course. We learned it together."

"What's his form?"

"He's a cat. Just a simple house cat."

"A cat and a bat?"

Harry shrugged, still grinning.

Sirius sighed and ran his hand through his loose wavy hair. "This is... this is a lot to take in... again."

Harry chuckled. "Sorry for making your life so complicated," he apologized, obviously not really meaning it.

Sirius snorted. "I'll take complicated over Dementors any day."

"Glad to know."

"So... what now?"

"Well, I have to admit that part of me would be perfectly happy running off with him and just disappearing off the face of the planet, but we both know that wouldn't go over too well. Being The-Boy-Who-Lived and all that rubbish... And since I can't run off with Dominic, I figured I'd take him with me. We said that he couldn't have afforded magical tutors or to go to any of the schools, but the reality is that he saw absolutely no point in going to a magic school since he obviously already knows everything that they'd teach in some school for children. He was just some nameless muggleborn that no one knew about or cared about. It was perfectly easy for him to just disappear into the background, but not me.

"In any case, he's willing to endure going through the motions of Hogwarts again if it means sticking by me, so we're hoping to get him enrolled. He's twelve right now and still will be on September first, so he can go into the second year with me. Of course, getting him into Hogwarts means he's going to need a legal guardian. Otherwise he'll end up a ward of the Ministry or Hogwarts and we'd obviously rather avoid that."

"So you want me to... adopt him or something?" Sirius asked.

Harry shrugged. "Basically... yes."

Sirius gave a weak little laugh and sighed. "Well, I suppose I can do that."

Harry's grin grew into a beaming smile. "You'll really do it?"

"I'll do it."

"That's fantastic! Thanks Sirius! Really, thank you so much. I can't express how grateful I am that you're willing to help us out like this."

Sirius sighed but smiled. "Yeah, no problem, kiddo. It's the least I can do after what you've done for me."

"Okay... well, I'm gonna head back in. He and I still have loads to catch up on. Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead."

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