Every Conversation With Harry Potter Leaves You With More Questions Than Answers
Tuesday, 1 September 1998
Around an hour later, Blaise returned to the compartment from his grand tour of the train to find Theo peacefully reading a book and Harry passed the fuck out using Draco’s cloak as a blanket (Blaise cannot wait for the disgruntled muttering that is going to illicit from its owner) with his head on Theo’s lap. The simple fact that Theo looked as though nothing out of the usual had transpired clued Blaise into the fact that something had absolutely happened. And, if the light bruise on Harry’s neck, visible with his collar unbuttoned, was anything to go by, Blaise knew exactly what that something was.
Now, he just had to get Theo to admit it.
“Hello, Theo dear,” Blaise said with a knowing grin.
Theo took one look at Blaise and knew he’d been found out, “keep it to yourself Zabini.”
Well, Blaise thought, that was easier than I thought it’d be.
“You have my word,” he promised. Then, after a pause where he debated whether to be an ass or ask the real question, he decided -to the shock of everyone – to be mature, “can I ask why?”
Theo sighed, then absent mindedly ran his hand through Harry’s hair. Harry melted into the touch, nuzzling his head against Theo’s hip and letting out a contented hum, but didn’t show any sign of waking up.
When Blaise realized he was going to be getting a real answer, one that his friend probably wouldn’t want everyone and their mom to overhear, he quickly locked the compartment door and threw up a silencing charm.
After a moment’s thought and a nod of thanks, Theo responded, “we haven’t had a lot of time to talk about everything. I mean, we’re in agreement that we want to be together, and we want to be something real but there’s just so many factors and so much has changed in all of our lives recently, most especially in his life. He’s a Lord four times over, we don’t know what exact roles the four of them are going to have to take up this year, he’s finally coming into his power and healing from years of abuse and constant battle, he’s never actually had time to grieve a single person he’s lost, and he’s lost a lot of people, Blaise. I know we all lost people, but I really can’t think of anyone who lost as many people as he did, especially when you include the victims of the first war.”
“You’re right,” Blaise responded, thinking it over for a moment, “I mean, in the first war alone he lost his parents and both sets of grandparents, we both know that Lily’s parents weren’t actually killed in a car crash, then his godfather was shipped off to Azkaban without a second thought, then he suffered for a decade before getting dropped at Hogwarts without any real explanation where he faced seven years of horror. He got his godfather back just to have him ripped away right in front of him, he watched his boyfriend die and then immediately after watched his parents’ murderer rise from the dead then in the battle he lost his last living father figure alongside so many of his friends and then he literally died.”
“Then,” Theo continued, “instead of being allowed time to heal, he got thrust into the chaos of wizarding politics and then stepped up and adopted Teddy. He comes across as incredibly well adjusted, but he’s still got that haunted look in his eyes.”
“Now that you mention healing, how the hell is he so put together? It was like one day he was the scrawny shell-shocked kid we all saw at the final battle and then he spent like a weekend at one of the Potter properties and came back 6 inches taller, jacked, and looking … different. Have any of them offered an explanation for that?” Blaise wondered.
“I asked Neville, and he gave me some half-baked answer about Goblins.” Theo responded with a shake of his head.
“It was Goblins,” Harry muttered.
“Didn’t realize you were awake love,” Theo said, “I’m sorry we were talking about you like you weren’t here.”
“S’alright,” Harry said with a sleepy grin. He then sat up, yawning before saying, “I’m happy to answer your questions. I feel like time really got away from me this summer and I haven’t really gotten a chance to explain all the little stuff. I think you guys know all the big things like our camping trip from hell and my inheritance shit but I’m sure you’ve got other questions.”
“Yeah we’ve got some, but you don’t have to answer anything that makes you uncomfortable.”
“Thanks, Zabini, but I’m pretty much an open book so ask away.”
“What did you mean by it was the Goblins?”
“Well,” Harry started, “when we went in to the bank in mid-July to see what we were gonna have to pay the Goblins to make sure they didn’t kill us for breaking into dear Auntie Bella’s vault and stealing their dragon, we ended up also doing my inheritance test and Teddy’s blood adoption at the same time.”
“I still can’t believe you idiots stole a dragon,” Blaise said, “such fucking Gryffindors.”
“Thanks,” Harry said with a smile, either not noticing or choosing to ignore Blaise’s tone, “anyways, my inheritance test showed all the normal stuff like, you know, what I was inheriting along with my full name, immediate family, and power level, but it also showed potions, binds, glamours, and compulsions I’d been under throughout my life. Some of them were broken when I, you know, died, but others apparently were strong enough to make the trip to the other side of the veil and back which is just fucking ridiculous.” Harry paused, shaking his head, “anyway, I think we’ve mentioned the bind Dumbledore put on me that we think was an attempt to control the fucking Horcrux in my skull, but there were a few other things that raised red flags. I was spelled to inherently trust Dumbledore, compelled to avoid Slytherins, and had bindings on a few specific traits. Specifically, my Parselmagic was bound. I was able to speak Parseltongue but I couldn’t actually do Parselmagic and it also showed that my Parsel gift was passed down through my mother’s side, and not, in fact, a side effect of the connection to Voldy like Dumbledore told me. As it turns out Lily Evans wasn’t a muggleborn but was, in fact, a descendent of a squib member of the Gaunt family. He also bound a Black family gift.”
“I didn’t think you were actually in the Black family,” Blaise said, “I mean, I thought Sirius just named you as his heir.”
“Yeah,” Theo said, “I was sort of wondering how the family magic accepted you.”
“My great aunt, Dorea Potter, was originally a Black and I think that probably would’ve been a close enough connection combined with Sirius naming me as his heir, but it turns out I was actually blood adopted into the Black family as an infant.”
“Really?” Theo asked.
“Yeah, that’s why my full name at birth had middle names from both the Peverell and Black families, I was always meant to be the heir to three families, Slytherin was the fun twist.”
“What is your full name, again? I know you told us but I’ve forgotten,” Blaise wondered.
“Hadrian James Arcturus Igontus Peverell Potter Black Slytherin, I had all of those names from birth except, obviously, Slytherin. But that was added by Magic after Halloween 1981.”
“So, wait,” Theo said, “you technically had three parents?”
“Hold on,” Blaise cut in, “why Arcturus and not Sirius?”
“Cause, it wasn’t Sirius’ blood.”
“What the fuck do you mean it wasn’t Sirius’ blood?” Blaise whisper shouted.
“I mean,” Harry said, as if he were speaking to someone particularly dim, “it wasn’t Sirius’ blood.”
“Whose blood was it, Harry?”
“Glad you asked, Theodore,” Harry said with a cheeky grin, “Regulus Arcturus Black.”