Chapter 2 Forming a Family

Hydrus laughed at Sirius's question, he couldn't help it; it was the exact same one that the younger Black uttered the first time he ever saw him as Hydrus. To the immortal this was funny, though it did make the other man tense. He tried to calm down his chuckling when he saw the affronted face on young Sirius.

"Oi, what the bloody hell is so funny?" Sirius asked, rather confused, yet angry at being mocked by a man he didn't know. It wasn't a stupid question. This guy did look like a Black.

"Nothing, nothing. Sorry, you just reminded me of someone," Hydrus said, waving away Sirius's indignation and motioning the two younger men to follow, James tagged along, wanting to see his friends' faces when Hydrus was done with his tale. "I've got something to tell you. I've already told James and Lily and like them I'll need a vow from you not to tell anyone." He sat in one of the chairs and Sirius took the other, Remus took the sofa. James sat next to the werewolf with a smirk on his face. He couldn't wait to see their reaction. Lily decided she had listened to it all yesterday and took Harry out to the garden; it would be one of the few nice days left in the season.

Remus looked warily at his messy-haired friend's face. He knew that look and knew something was going on. He then looked at the unknown man and noted he had the same look. He had to wonder what could possibly put that expression on those faces, while they smirked like they were going to pull off a great joke, they also looked sage, it was a rather odd combination.

Sirius glared at both Hydrus and James, not liking being left in the dark. "What do you have to tell us?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest and huffed.

"First off, I've already taken a vow that everything I recount is the truth. You can ask James," the time traveller stated, pulling the pensieve from his pocketspace, and like the Potters the two Marauders gasped. James nodded to confirm and looked pensively at the memory bowl.

"That was bloody wicked. What is that spell?" Sirius asked, leaning forward and waving his hand at the empty space above Hydrus left shoulder, "Can you teach me?" He sat back and bounced. He was eager to hear the answer.

"I call it a pocketspace, and, yeah I can teach it to you, but not right now," Hydrus answered, looking at the excited man and smirked. Just like Sirius from both timelines, he thought with a fond smile and then got serious. "What I'm about to impart is a bit more important. This is going to take a while, so why don't we get some tea and snacks." He looked at his father as he put some of his first memories of the two other men in the pensieve.

"Right," James said, getting off the sofa and acting like a good host. He went into the kitchen and gathered tea and lemon cakes.

After everyone was settled with food and drink, Hydrus repeated his story with copious use of the pensieve, these two were harder to convince than the Potters had been. He left out being the Master of Death; they'd have to speculate on their own why he was still so young. It took hours and they had to stop many times for questions, emotional outbursts and nature. The fire whiskey was brought out and Sirius made good use of it, until such time as Hydrus took the bottle from him.

Lily had come back in the house during that time, but decided to take Harry to the nursery and play with him, after making lunch and handing out ham and cheese sandwiches and crisp. She made sure to take the bottle of whiskey away, not wanting a bunch of drunken men in her house.

"So, Reg was a good guy after all," Sirius said sadly, mourning the loss of his brother. If only he had known, he could have prevented Regulus' death. He held his head in his hands and silently cried.

"Yeah, he saw the light, so to speak, and only wanted the downfall of Snake Face," Hydrus said, patting the younger man on the back and then settling back in his chair.

The younger Black looked up and was sad for a few moments and then decided to direct that emotion to anger. He fully blamed his dear hag of a mother for making Reg turn to the Death Eaters, that hateful woman poisoned his brother's mind. He was going to find a way to make her pay, until then there was someone else who needed to be taken down. "I'm going to kill that rat," he raged, standing from his chair, only to be hit with a Petrificus Totalus. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell back stiffly on the chair. He looked like a human board that was resting on a piece of furniture.

"You will not," the immortal snapped and gave the other man a few minutes to calm down a bit and when Sirius got a confused look in his grey eyes, Hydrus let him go.

Both Remus and James looked on, not sure what to do, but they didn't want Padfoot to do anything rash, not with the story they just heard. So they just watched, warily. Their hands on their wands, ready to protect their friend, but right now the petrifying spell was released, so they just stayed alert.

Sirius relaxed in his chair and gave the older man a defiant, questioning look. He sat stiffly and appeared to be ready to jump out of his seat and go rat hunting.

"First off, you'll never find him," Hydrus smirked knowingly, making the three other men exchange looks. "Second off, that's what got you thrown in prison the first time. Haven't you been paying attention?" he asked as he quirked an eyebrow at the hot-headed man.

"But, he betrayed us," Sirius said, still befuddled as to why he couldn't seek revenge. His anger needed an outlet, and since he couldn't go after his mum he felt the rat would do.

"And he will pay, but not by your hand," the time traveller promised softly. "Sirius, you have to understand that you are an important part of Harry's life. If you go off half-cocked then you could disappear from his life and might create a void that can't be filled." While he wasn't completely sure that would happen now that the Potters were safe, he wanted this man to start thinking. Had he known his godfather growing up in his first timeline, things might have played out differently. With someone there to take up his causes, well, he might have never been a time traveller.

"Right, so what can I do?" Sirius sighed in defeat, sagging in his seat. He wanted to stay in Harry's life and would do anything to make it so. Even give up hunting the betrayer.

"I need you to go and talk to your grandfather. In both my timelines, he made you the Head of the House of Black. You need that to get the last two horcruxes. One is at Grimmauld Place; the other is in Bellatrix's vault. Only the Head of the family can get them. Oh, and if he asks about me or Bellatrix, tell him you have no idea," Hydrus said, not wanting a repeat of that confrontation. He knew his name appeared on the Black family tree and he knew he'd have to talk to Arcturus someday, but he was going to hold it off as long as he could. He still needed to get in touch in Marius and set up his past with him.

"You want me to go and talk to Grandfather, but that man scares the pants off me," the younger Black whinged. He knew he would do it, but he would hate it the entire time, so he pouted. "Not only that, but you want me to lie to him?" That frightened him more than talking to the old man. While he had no idea what happened to his cousin, the newspapers only said that she disappeared, he would still have to lie about Hydrus. Maybe his grandfather wouldn't ask, then he would be in the clear. Yeah, right came the sarcastic thought. He knew his grandfather was a wise old man and sharp like a fox.

"It's the only way," reaffirmed Hydrus. "Don't you want the Dork Lord gone?"

"Of course, I want You Know Who gone, but do I really have to talk to Grandfather? You broke into the bank once, can't we do it again?" Sirius asked, almost eager for an alternative.

"No, that little adventure cost me the Potter fortune," Hydrus stated firmly. Besides, he never stepped foot in Gringotts during his last timeline and planned on not going there —ever. He had already opened his accounts at Hellströms.

"Right, sorry, I forgot about that," the dogman said sheepishly, then pulled his Gryffindor courage up and stated, "I'll owl him tomorrow." He would work on his Occlumency tonight and it would help him to pull the wool over his grandfather's eyes. He hoped. "Besides, Mother will be right cuffed if he does hand over the Headship. I'd like to see the look on her face when that happens." He got a vengeful look in his grey eyes. He really hated that vile woman, but knew better than to underestimate her. She was a powerful witch, but if Grandfather turned over the headship, well she would listen to the old man.

"Great," Hydrus said with an encouraging smile and a pat on the back.

"So we died in your first… timeline?" Remus asked, just now coming out of his shock about all that this unknown man had told him. He still was unsure that what he had seen and heard was the truth, but James did confirm the man had taken a vow and the memories didn't look fake, but he was a pessimist at heart, how society treated him because he was a werewolf saw to that. The memories of his other self didn't reflect the man he was now. That man was more mature and less doubtful; maybe it was the death of his friend that twisted those emotions. He didn't know, it was something to look into.

"That's right, but you both were saved in my second one and went on to make great uncles for Harry and fathers for your kids. I never would've been able to raise Harry as well as I did without yours and Sirius' help," Hydrus said with a thankful look to the wary werewolf.

"I see," was all the reply he got. Remus was deep in thought, like Lily he was confused as to why the world hadn't imploded. Everything he had ever read on this subject said that it should have, the second Hydrus stepped into this house. But it didn't, maybe it was because he truly wasn't Harry Potter anymore. He would have to think more on that.

"Now, I need those vows, be warned I can and will wipe your memories of this day," Hydrus stated, looking them square in the face, showing he meant business. It would hurt if he had to, and they would have to keep secrets, but still…

"No need for threats, I believe you," Sirius said, holding up his hands in compliance. He took the vow willingly and they all turned to Remus.

"Your story is a bit hard to swallow," the werewolf said, his voice laced with doubt, "however; you leave me with little choice but to comply." Then he too took the vow, albeit reluctantly. He had no wish to be torn apart from his pack, and the look on the time traveller's face said he would do that in an instant.

"Anyway, let's get to something a bit more enjoyable," Hydrus said, rubbing his hands together, a vengeful look on his face. "I have a way to nullify the Death Eaters. I'm sure you've read the headlines," he added and looked at the faces of the other pranksters. "I'm not going to tell you how, but once they've disappeared, we can get into their houses and steal their gold, though most of it is still in Gringotts. However there may be some Dark artefacts we can pilfer." He looked at the three men as if waiting for their protest, he wasn't wrong.

"But, Dumbledore says…" Remus started, and then trailed off, remembering everything that happened in the first timeline. "I mean, killing and stealing are wrong," he said instead.

"Right, I'm not killing them, I'm hiding them away from the public, people like Lucius and Bellatrix cannot be reformed." He tapped a finger on the arm of his chair in emphasis. "They will always be bad eggs," Hydrus said determined to make them see something drastic had to be done. "As for the gold, we will be using it to better the wizarding world. We'll leave the ones who have a family alone, or just dent their reserves and get the Dark items, and only take from the singles or families like the Lestranges who had no children, but are all nullified."

"I am not sure I want to be a part of that. As a werewolf, if I get caught it is straight to Azkaban for me," Remus stated nothing but the truth.

"We'll leave you behind, not a problem. I do understand that and I don't want you to do anything you don't want to. We'll think of something for you to do," Hydrus answered as kindly as he could.

"Well, I like it. Count me in," Sirius said, clapping his hands together and grinning like there was no tomorrow.

"James?" the immortal asked with a lifting of his eyebrow.

"Lily won't like it, but I'll see if I can help," was the answer as the husband glanced warily at the kitchen door.

"If you're uncomfortable, me and Sirius can pull it off," Hydrus offered. "Besides, it might be easier with just two of us."

"Right, so we're going to stick it to the bad guys," Sirius quipped, a vindictive look in his eyes.

"Yeah, but we'll have to do it at night when the families are asleep," Hydrus said, looking around to see if Lily had come back from her cooking. He gave a sigh of relief when he heard her in the kitchen.

"Great, let's get planning," Sirius said, always eager to bring down Death Eaters, even if it was just taking their treasures.

"Wait, won't the newspaper start reporting the robbers. You're talking about some fairly well known people," James said with a worried look.

"Yeah, but I have a foolproof plan," the immortal smirked. He explained about his blasting gun and how it would help them get through any wards. Just as he finished and they started making plans, Lily called that dinner was done, so the four men went to the dining room and helped set the table. They ate a nice chicken and noodle meal and talked of mundane things. There was chocolate cake for afters and they all enjoyed this time, like they were one big family.

Harry, of course, made a huge mess, but Hydrus knew that that's what babies did. He offered to clean the tot up and Lily gave him a thankful smile. The immortal took the toddler and gave him a bath and dressed him in some warm footie pyjamas. He then told him a bedtime story and soon enough Harry was asleep. He then went down stairs and sat in the same chair. "So are there any more questions about my past or are all of you convinced that I'm telling the truth?" he asked with a small yawn, a bit tired from the wonderful meal and very long two days.

"I know you're being honest, but I do have a few things to ask," Lily said, from her place next to James on the sofa.

"Shoot," Hydrus said, making the pure-bloods look at him funny.

"First off, are you going to get together with Grace?" she asked, being the mother she was and wanting to see her sort-of-child happy, even if he was older than her. She knew that if it was Harry, she would not hesitate in trying to set him up with someone he loved. And from Hydrus' recount, they had had a very good life.

"I loved my Grace, but, no, I'm too old mentally to carry it off again," the immortal said mournfully, hanging his head at the memory of his dead beloved.

"I am so sorry to bring up bad memories, I just want you to be happy. Maybe you'll find someone else," his mum said, getting up and giving him a one-armed hug and thinking maybe she should write the Flamels. They would hopefully know a few immortals.

"Maybe," he answered with a great amount of disbelief that this woman he hardly knew would want to see him married.

Lily got back up and went to her seat. "Another thing I'd like to know is, are you going to do what you did last time? Open the shops and everything?" she asked, wondering if she could help, but wanting to know what he was going to do before she offered.

"I'm not sure, I don't want Pandora mad at me again, so I am weighing my options. I do need to make an income, but I'm trying to think of a way to let her help. Perhaps you can help me with that. I mean, you're a woman and she might be more open to you," Hydrus suggested, glad for the change of subject. "Maybe you can say you have an idea and that you need her help. Offer to make her a partner and open the store for the entertainment stuff, or even the appliances. Somehow I have to be involved, like I said I need to make an income, because until I find a way out …" he trailed off at those thoughts, remembering he hadn't told the other two men he was immortal. "Anyway, I was thinking I could open a mall or something. I have tons of stuff to sell."

"Why don't you let someone else open the stores and you … I don't know… maybe join the Aurors or go into politics with me and Sirius," James offered, going over some things in his mind, bringing Hydrus' attention back to the conversation.

"That's only if Grandfather makes me the Head," Sirius said, which though Hydrus said it would happen he was extremely reluctant about taking the position, except the part about aggravating his mother. Then he remembered that it would help everyone and sighed.

"Not necessarily," the immortal argued, "the Black name carries a lot of weight in the Ministry, just like the Potter name. If we three start making names for ourselves, we can do a lot of damage control." Other plans started forming in his mind. He could use this.

"Right, 'gifts'," Sirius smirked.

"I already have an account set up for that," Hydrus smirked back.

"I don't want to know," Lily said, holding up her hands.

"I have another question," Remus said, looking at the time traveller.

"Okay," Hydrus waved to him in a go ahead manner.

"What are you going to do about Umbridge and Skeeter? Besides Mrs. Lovegood, they were your biggest foes." The things the man did before didn't sit well with the werewolf, and he didn't want any part in killing.

"Well… no, I don't think I'm going to tell you," Hydrus said firmly. "I will tell you that they probably won't be killed, but they will somehow be taken down. Those two are like Lucius; they won't give up on their ideals. Umbridge is a ruthless bigot who has no problem killing the Muggle-borns or the half-breeds. You really should hate that vile woman, it is because of her and people like her that you are repressed. And Skeeter is a vicious reporter, when I found her the last time she had the dirt on everyone important, and I do mean everyone, even baby Harry. I still have those papers in my pocketspace." He ran a hand through his hair, thinking of how to find the elusive bug this time, then he remembered he knew her muggle address. He'd get her and these guys didn't need to ever know. His brain was starting to hurt with all the thoughts and plans that kept running through it.

"I see. So plausible deniability?" the cautious werewolf asked.

"Yes," was all the answer he got. Then Hydrus looked at his watch and stated it was time for him to get home. He shook the men's hands, gave Lily a hug and left.

"Are we sure we can trust him?" Remus voiced his uncertainty. He looked at what he referred to privately as his pack and lifted his eyebrow.

"Merlin, man, he gave his vow and showed us his memories. What more do you need?" Sirius said, not sure why the werewolf was full of doubt.

"Peter also gave a vow and according to Hydrus he would have betrayed us. Vows are not foolproof," Remus rebutted, ignoring the memories he had seen. He didn't understand why his other self was so compliant.

"Yeah, but that vow Wormtail made was to an organization's leader—easily averted. This vow was made directly to James— not so easily overcome," Sirius said a hard note in his voice.

Remus slumped in his seat and he sighed in defeat. He really didn't want to believe that Hydrus came from two different futures. To his scholarly mind it wasn't possible. Everything said that the only possible time travel was the time turners, which only went back an hour or two and there were hundreds of rules you had to follow of which Hydrus had broken all of them. "I know," he conceded, running a hand through his hair.

"I know how you feel, Remus," Lily offered, reaching over her husband and patting the other man's hand. "It took me the better part of a day to reconcile what I knew to what was proven different."

Remus gave her a small smile, if anyone understood then Lily would, she was of like mind to his. "You´re right. Now the question is, what do we do with this knowledge?"

"What do you mean? We took a vow not to reveal Hydrus' secrets," James asked mystified, looking at his friend.

"No, I do not mean to break that vow, but we now have knowledge that could prove to be catastrophic if it got into the wrong hands," Remus back-pedalled, not wanting his friends to think he'd betray anyone.

"Well, we could just keep it to ourselves, shore up our Occlumency and never write it down or speak of anything to do with time travel," Lily answered, then got a thought. "Besides, we have no idea how he did it, just that only he can," she pointed out, Hydrus had taken her and James aside and asked them not to reveal the fact that he was the Master of Death or immortal. They didn't need to know and Hydrus said that something must be kept close to chest. He only told them because they were his sort-of-parents.

"You are correct; I am most likely worrying over nothing. I think I am just worn out from the events of today, so I am going to go home and sleep it off," the werewolf conceded, again. He knew he was a worrywart and tried to not let it affect his friends; however, sometimes he just couldn't help it. This was one of those times. He knew he should go home and drink some Dreamless Sleep or his mind would be a whirlwind of thought the entire night.

"Right, I'm knackered," Sirius said, getting out of his chair and giving Lily a hug. He patted James on the back and said, "And I have a letter to write." He gave a slight shudder at that prospect.

Everyone said their good nights and the group broke up, each going to their own beds, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Meanwhile, Hydrus had made it to his own home and was looking around this living room. He had set it up much like he did last time, with the more modern telly, radio, computer and other sources of entertainment. There was a nice leather sofa, two Lazyboy chairs and a good size coffee table. All the colours were dark brown or black, with an off-white rug to complement. He had pulled out pictures from both timelines and they crowded the walls. He looked over to the empty space where Harry's playpen used to be with a small smile, happy it wasn't needed this time.

The immortal reflected on the last two days and was content about how they turned out. He decided he was going to relax with some video games and spent the better part of the night fighting for his avatar's life. It was the wee hours of the morning before he got to bed.

The next morning the time traveller made a simple breakfast of dry cereal, giving the re-freed Tippy the morning off, and debated on what to tell the others today. He then shrugged his shoulders and figured he'd wing it. After getting showered, dressing in jeans and a T-shirt, and letting Tippy know where he was going to be, he ran a few errands and then made his way to the Potters. This time James answered the door, and with a welcoming smile, waved him in.

"So what wonders are you going to impart to us today?" James asked as he took a seat on the sofa.

Lily put Harry in the playpen and sat next to her husband, eager to see what Hydrus would do now.

"Well, I was going to give Lily a book-reader, but I don't know…" the immortal teased.

"Oh, gimme, gimme," Lily said, making grabbing motions with her hand, which made the men laugh.

Still chuckling, Hydrus called up two book-readers and a futuristic laptop. "These will help you in almost any research you need. I have downloaded all the books I've ever owned on the laptop and the reader has quite a bit of information as well," he said, handing over one of the readers and the laptop. "There is a spell on both, so you can download from the laptop to the reader, and vice-versa. I will warn you however, if you put too much data on the reader it will slow down, I haven't fixed that yet." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"What are they?" James asked with a curious look in his eyes.

Hydrus took up the other reader and motioned James to sit in the chair next to his. He then proceeded to show the pure-blood how to use the instrument; Lily paid attention so she could operate her own. The laptop lay forgotten on the table for now.

James' eyes got a look that said there would be trouble for someone once he understood the device. He and the other Marauders didn't make names for themselves by being stupid, no, they studied hard to get all their pranks and artefacts correct. He knew once Remus got his hands on this, there wouldn't be anything they couldn't do. Hundreds of ideas flooded his mind.

There was a knock on the door and instead of giving up their toys, the two Potters called out, "Come in."

"How did you know it was us?" Sirius asked as he took a seat next to Lily, his eyes on the weird thing in her hand.

"The wards," was the succinct reply. She never took her eyes off the reader. It was an absolute marvel and her mind whirled with the things she could do with all of this data. Right now, she was reading the rune array that made muggle electronics work with magic.

"Right. What are you playing with?" the younger Black asked.

Hydrus smiled at the Potters antics and answered, "That is a book-reader, originally invented in 1995 by a man named Frostwell. In the last timeline we got him to develop it sooner. I'm not sure what I'll do in this one," he said, running a hand down his face. Frostwell was his biggest competition in the last timeline, but it was a friendly one and he didn't want to take that away from the man.

"What does a book-reader do?" Remus asked from his seat next to Sirius.

"Well, like the name suggest it holds books to read," Hydrus said with a playful smirk.

"I see," the werewolf said, nodding his head in understanding. "And that?" he waved to the neglected laptop.

Hydrus chuckled and suggested he trade places with James. After the game of musical chairs was over, he proceeded to show the closet Ravenclaw how to operate the computer. Sirius pouted.

"Now that Remus has a toy, I have something for you, Sirius," the immortal said, pulling out a hand-held game.

"What?" the wary dogman asked, not wanting an educational device. Even though he was far from dumb, he usually let Remus and James do the researching, while he did the planning. He didn't even want to think about Peter right now.

"Switch places with Remus and I'll show you," Hydrus enticed, waving the game around.

"Right, Moony, get up and let me sit there," Sirius all but demanded the enthralled man.

"Oh, sorry," the werewolf said and he traded places with his friend.

Hydrus proceeded to show Sirius how to blow up pixel aliens and left him too it, once he understood. He then got up, handed Harry the baby colour ball and the tot squealed and clapped with glee. The time traveller sat back and watched his new family engrossed in their new toys and smiled. This time was promising to be even better than the last.