Chapter Four
When James had come by in the middle of the week during his lunch hour to give Harry the book about the family history Harry could tell something was wrong. He hadn’t known what, but something had happened. Then James spoke and Harry could read between the lines.
“Hey so change of plans for this weekend. I’m thinking of just bringing Charlie and Ariel with me instead of everyone all at once. Make small introductions over time rather than one big one. When we’re all together it can be a bit overwhelming.” James told him
“That’s fine I don’t like large crowds anyway especially when I don’t know anyone besides one or two people. So that works out.” Harry said and though that was true, he could tell something was not being said.
“Good. So, any recommendations?”
“Well there are a few places in Ballycastle, but since it’ll be mostly teenagers and you there's a Ballycastle Bats themed pub near the shop and pitch we could go to. They don’t play this weekend so it won’t be as busy as it normally is, you should see it during a game day.”
“Sounds like a plan. Well I need to get back to Hogwarts before classes begin again, but I will see you this Saturday at one okay?”
“Okay.”
When Saturday finally arrived Harry was nervous, but also a little excited. He had always wanted to know his birth family, now that he knew he had a twin brother he was excited to meet him as well as his younger sister. He was only a few minutes late when he entered the pub looking around for James, but before he found him he was met with two different, but complimentary scents that made his inner Omega perk up.
Take a deep breath in he could recognize one scent had the familiar Alpha Musk to it along with a vanilla and woodsy scent combination. There were other underlining to the scent of course, but those three stood out the most. The second scent was empty in a way regular human scents were, but it had a hint of dog to it like an animagus. It also had a muted tobacco and leather scent with something floral.
Looking around the pub for the owners of the scents he found them in the back corner. They both seemed tense, one more so than the other. Then the long haired one stood up and Harry was preparing himself to meet the eyes of one of his mates for the first time. He took just a small step towards the group one for his staring to be interrupted by James suddenly standing there.
“Hey everything okay?” James asked turning to look where Harry was staring, but Harry quickly grabbed his arm and laced it with his.
“Of course I just got distracted. Where are we sitting?” Harry asked
“This way.” James led him to the opposite side of the pub where a teen boy and girl were sitting.
The boy and he shared many similar features, but they were also obviously very different in looks. Charlie’s hair was cut short, barely enough there for his fingers to go through when he ran them through it whereas Harry’s hair fell just above his shoulders in a shaggy style cut that framed his face. Charlie had brown eyes behind full-rimmed square glasses while Harry had green eyes behind rimless round glasses. There were minor differences as well, Charlie had light dusting of freckles over the bridge of his nose and his hair wasn’t as black as Harry’s. Harry had more pronounced bone structure compared to Charlie and he had his lightning strike scar on his forehead whereas Charlie didn’t.
“Definitely Fraternal twins.” Charlie said, making Harry laugh nodding.
“Yeah.”
“You two looked more similar as babies.” James said amused as he looked at the two of them.’
“I’m Charlie and this is Ariel. She’s not allowed to date until she’s twenty.” Charlie said
“I thought we agreed on twenty five.” James said
“Ignore them.” Ariel said, elbowing Charlie in his side.
“Let’s sit.” James said gently pulling Harry to the empty seat that was across from Charlie and beside James.
“So you go here instead of Hogwarts? Why?” Ariel asked, “Do the colors mean anything? Are there houses or anything that you get sorted into? Why are you in school uniform? Is that a requirement? Are you-”
“Ariel, one question at a time.” James said
“The green stands for prosperity or success that’s to represent the success of the past, present, and future students. The blue stands for intelligence which represents the low acceptance rate and Kreasiara Institute graduates have an average of nine NEWTs rather than the average of five other schools like Hogwarts have. The gold stands for wealth which represents the high annual tuition.” Harry explained, “Every other weekend I have classes, this weekend I had a few morning classes I needed to attend so that’s why I’m in uniform.”
“We could have picked a different weekend.” James offered
“No it’s fine I only had a few morning classes. I was finished by ten. I just didn’t change. So…how is Hogwarts? My Papa told me about it before we decided on Kreasiara.”
“It’s great. We’re in Gryffindor house, our whole family has been in Gryffindor House.” Charlie said
“That’s the red one with the Gryffin right? The house of the brave or something.”
“You know about it?” James asked
“Well obviously. Hogwarts is a staple school, it holds a lot more weight in society than it has a right to.”
“What do you mean?” Ariel asked
“What he means is that if one doesn’t go to Hogwarts they’re usually looked at funny or even looked down upon especially around Britain.” James told her
“Kreasiara Institute is a well known rich kid school that has great courses, but isn’t restricted by Ministry Guidelines so it has mixed opinions.” Harry said, “Hogwarts is like a cult.”
“So do you like Kreasiara Institute?” Charlie asked
“I love it. I’m graduating this year. I'm taking some of my NEWTs in April, then the rest in May and early June, then I graduate in July.”
“You graduate this year? How?”
“I started a year early.”
“Lucky.” Harry chuffed, turning away from Charlie to glance in the direction he had seen the men earlier, but the table was empty now. He sagged a little then turned back to his new family putting the incident to the back of his head for now. He would Owl his Papa when lunch was over.
**
James was grinning as he watched his kids stand together in the Ballycastle Bats Merchandise Shop. Harry and Charlie stood beside each other and though they had obvious differences, James could still see so much of their similarities. Especially when they interacted together or with Ariel. Harry had put himself in the missing spot so effortlessly that it almost seemed like he had never been gone. Harry and Ariel seemed to hit it off more than Harry and Charlie did, but James had no doubt Harry and Charlie would grow closer with time.
“We should see a game together some time.” Charlie said as they left the shop an hour or two later. James didn’t really know, he was too happy to really care how much time had passed.
“Yeah for sure. I have a season pass, my Papa gets me one every new season.”
“Lucky.”
“I told you I would get you season passes for Puddlemere United once you graduate, it’d be a waste with the travel restrictions right now.” James quickly cut in.
“You like Puddlemere?” Harry asked Charlie
“Puddlemere and the Canons.”
“The Canons?!” Harry said outraged, “Oh dear brother no.”
“It’s my best mate’s favorite team.”
“Get a new best mate.” Harry said
They walked around Ballycastle until the sun began to set when Harry had to return to the grounds and they had to return to Hogwarts. After their goodbyes James took Charlie and Ariel back to the castle listening as they talked excitedly about the day together.
“When can we see him again?” Charlie asked
“I’m not sure Charlie, but don’t worry it won’t be too long from now.” James told him as they entered the family suite
“Okay well I’m going to go tell Ron and Hermione about Harry. Bye Dad.” Charlie said quickly leaving after tossing his robe into his private room in the suite that he hardly used except to store his non uniform clothes.
“Bye Charlie.” James shouted after him shaking his head amused, “You leaving your old man too Ariel?”
“Love you.” Ariel said, making James roll his eyes with a grin.
“Love you too. Go on.” Ariel was out the door before James had finished talking, “Then there was one.” He said softly as he looked around, finding a roll of parchment on the table. Grabbing it and unfurling it he read the sort message from Lily.
James,
Grabbing dinner with Severus and a few werewolves who are willing to test the new potion when it’s ready. Be back later.
Lily.
James tossed the parchment into the fireplace then grabbed the stack of papers that still needed grading and got to work with nothing else to do.
**********
The next morning Sirius and Remus sat together at their small table nursing their second mug of tea that day.
“Okay. We have a mug of tea in our systems, we had breakfast, now we need to talk about yesterday.” Remus told Sirius.
“Okay. So…let’s talk. James at some point found Harry, met him, and didn’t tell anyone except clearly Charlie and Ariel probably just a few days ago.” Sirius said
“Ballycastle is home to Kreasiara Institute, the school that letter came from with the name Harry at the end.” Remus said, causing Sirius’ eyes to widen.
“That explains things. A little. The day he took off he must have gone to go meet him and that’s when he learned it was his son.”
“His son who is an Omega Werewolf who is also our mate.”
“His underage son who is my godson.” Sirius said
“Well good thing we didn’t raise him, it'd be worse.” Sirius shuddered making a face, “Exactly.”
“Do we tell James? I mean hiding this…we can’t hide this. We don’t hide things from each other.”
“We’re going to have to. It’ll come out eventually and it might as well be from us rather than Harry.”
“Okay. So…then what?”
“I don’t know. Luckily Werewolves don’t need their mate until their seventeen when their magic comes in fully so we have a few months to think of something. Rejecting him isn’t an option obviously, it would cause far too many problems with both of our wolves and our bond and it wouldn’t be right.”
“Right. Not to mention Moony is very obviously against just the implication of that.” Sirius said, watching as Remus blushed.
“I’ve apologized.” Remus said, “Anyway let’s head to Hogwarts and talk to James and Lily about this.”
“Or just James.” Sirius said, getting an amused look from Remus as he stood up and took their mugs to the sink.
**
“James, we need to talk.” Sirius said as they found James in the family suite reading a booklet of some kind.
“What about?” James asked not looking up as turn the page
“We know you went to go meet Harry yesterday with Charlie and Ariel.” Remus told him watching James stiffen for a moment before he relaxed and closed the booklet turning to look at them.
“What?” He asked as they sat on the couch, James seated in a chair across from them.
“We went to the restaurant before you and waited for you to arrive and we saw Harry.” Remus explained
“Of course you did.” James said more amused than he was annoyed as he shook his head, “Honestly I’m not even surprised at that.”
“Well you’re about to be because that’s not all. Our theory about Harry being a werewolf is right. He’s an Omega. Remus could smell it.” Sirius said
James furrowed his eyebrows then tilted his head confused.
“That’s not possible.”
“That’s not all.” Remus told him hesitantly as he rubbed his palms together nervously, “Harry is our Omega mate.” James stared at them for a moment before he laughed.
“Okay you had me in the beginning I’ll admit it. I get it guys I won’t hide anything from you guys again. That was good. Look I promise next time you can come with me to see him okay.” James said chuckling
“No James, we're not joking or pranking you. We’re- Merlin help me, but we’re serious.” Remus said
“I’m always Sirius.” Sirius said, making Remus close his eyes breathing through his nose, “Sorry.”
“Wait…you’re not joking?” James asked
“Trust me I wish this was a prank. It was quite a shock to me when he entered the restaurant.” Remus said
James sat there for a moment frowning then he suddenly stood up and started pacing the space between the coffee table and the chairs.
“James-”
“I- I love you. Both of you. But I want to strangle you right now.” James said, folding his arms across his chest.
“Strangle the wolf, it was his nose.” Sirius said, pointing to Remus as he stood up and moved away.
“Sirius!” Remus shouted
“Don’t make me laugh, I'm mad at you!” James shouted at Sirius, “Both of you.”
“James you know if we had a choice in the matter-”
“I know that, but it doesn’t make me less murdery about you right now. He’s 16! He’s- He’s my son! He’s your godson! I just found him again!” James said looking almost desperate as he sat down in the chair putting his head into his hands. Sirius walked over and sat on the arm of the chair, his hands interlocking as he rested them on his legs.
“We know James. You pointing it out isn’t making us feel any less horrible about it.”
“I know but that is the only argument I have.” James said groaning before he raised his head to look at them, “Okay…tell me again.”
“Harry is our Omega mate, that makes him an Omega Werewolf.” Remus said
“No that didn’t help I still want to murder the both of you.” James said sighing as he stood up again, “Okay moving on from murder. What does this mean? Is rejecting him an option? Or is that going to cause problems?”
“It will definitely cause problems.” Remus said, “Being an Omega Harry needs an Alpha…it’s not that simple. It could cause his wolf to go into a depressive state and eventually he’d die. It may take years, but it'll happen.”
“Okay so no rejecting. And you’re absolutely certain it’s Harry? It’s not someone else?” James asked
“No I smelled him the second he opened the door and no one else was near him and I think he smelled us too.”
“Okay. Well good news is I already like you two and I know I can trust you with everything to do with him. I also know you two will never hurt him and I know when you love him, you’ll do so completely. You won’t-”
“What are you doing?” Sirius asked
“I’m listing the good stuff so I don’t focus on the bad obviously. There’s a lot of good to be seen and we’ll need a long list when we tell Lily so she doesn’t actually murder you two.”
“Good point.” Sirius said, “We are amazing people, make sure to add that to your list.”
“You’re not helping.” James told him, “Okay. So…what does this mean for…everything?”
“We are just as lost as you are Jamie.” Remus said leaning his head back against the couch, “When are you planning on seeing him again?”
“I’m not sure. I need to tell Lily, I can’t hide it from her for too much longer though she isn’t making it easy. Harry is also busy with schoolwork and I don’t want to make him fall behind. I was thinking about inviting him for my birthday dinner and maybe see if he is able to stay here that weekend. But we can stay at the Manor too if it’ll be easier for you.”
“We can’t hide from him, James.” Remus said, “He’ll smell our scents in this room and I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t smelled us on you yet considering we’re always beside each other. We can’t just come out and meet him when he’s seventeen. That'd be weirder.”
“Right. Of course that would be really weird. Okay. So…birthday family dinner. That is the goal for now. The Full Moon is next weekend right?”
“Yes, the 19th. It’s a Saturday..” Remus said
“Perfect so by the following weekend you should be back to your bright happy beautiful self to meet Harry.”
“When are you telling Lily about Harry?” Sirius asked though before James could answer the door opened and Lily walked into the room as if summoned.
“Seriously? Harry again? James-”
‘Lily before you start just listen.” James interrupted her
“Lily I know this has been hard for you, it’s been hard for James and all of us as well, but you really need to listen this time. We saw him too.” Remus said, grabbing Lily’s hand and pulling her to the couch.
“Saw him?” She questioned frowning looking at them all confused, “Like imagined it right?”
“No Lily, he's alive. He goes to Kreasiara Institute, a private boarding school in Ballycastle.” James told her as he grabbed the blood line test from a stack of papers on the coffee table and handed it to her, “He was adopted at some point and was given, from what he has told me, a great childhood. He grew up happy and loved.”
Lily stared down at the test in her hands in shock as she silently took it all in. She read the name and the other details over and over again until it finally sunk in.
“Harry is alive?” She asked looking up at James, her eyes tearing up. James nodded, smiling, “You’ve met him?”
“Twice now and he’s-”
“You’ve met him twice and are just now telling me?” She asked accusingly, “What the hell James!” She shouted, standing up with a look of betrayal in her eyes.
“Excuse me.” James said
“No! You are not excused! Your behavior is inexcusable! You’ve known my son has been alive for how long? And you’re just now telling me! I am your wife, but most importantly I am his mother!”
“I’m sorry, did you suddenly forget what happened Tuesday? I told you then that Harry was alive and you yelled at me then tore up the blood test and his essay he got a perfect score on. I had to repair both of those.” James told her
“Are you saying this is my fault? That me trying to grieve my son somehow prevented you from telling me the truth? Really?”
“I’m not saying that at all I’m just reminding you that I tried to tell you, but you didn’t want to listen to me.”
“How about we all just take a deep breath and take a minute to ourselves.” Sirius suggested standing beside them suddenly, “Lily the important thing is that Harry is alive right? Let’s focus on that.”
“Fine. Harry is alive, you're right Sirius. We need to tell Charlie and Ariel next.”
“They already know and have met him yesterday during lunch.” James told her
“Does everyone know except me?” She asked, slapping her hands down against her legs.
“I tried to tell you.” James told her, “I tried to invite you to lunch Tuesday, but you didn’t want to listen to me.”
“You should have tried harder! You should have shown me the test!” Lily shouted
“I DID!” James shouted suddenly, “I tried to show it to you, but you tore it up and accused me of playing house!”
The room fell into a heavy silence as Sirius and Remus wisely stayed out of it this time knowing better than to try to confront a pissed off James. A pissed off yelling Lily was scary sure, but a yelling James was terrifying.
“So instead of accusing me, how about you look in the mirror.” James said as he took the test from her hand, “Before you rip it up again.” With that James walked out of the family suite slamming the door closed behind him.
“Can you believe him!” Lily shouted, turning to look at them, “The nerve of that man to yell at me and accuse me of- I don’t know what. To try to blame me for him not telling me my son, my baby boy whom I have mourned was actually alive. He knew hiding Harry from me was wrong and he did it anyway.” She ranted
Sirius bit his lip to keep from saying something he may or may not regret while Remus stayed silent.
“I need to leave. I need space and time to think. Tell James we’ll talk about this later.” She told them before she left the room as well.
“We’re on James’ side right?” Sirius asked
“Of course we are.”
“Just checking. I was wondering when he’d finally yell back.”
“About time too. I was getting worried he’d never stand up for himself against her.”
“We will never be like that right?” Sirius asked turning to Remus
“Of course not. We only argue for the make up sex these days anyway.” Sirius laughed, hitting Remus with a throw pillow, “Admit it we are.”
“Obviously.” Sirius said with a grin, “Want to come grade with me?”
“I would love to. Help me up.” Remus said, wiggling his fingers at Sirius making his husband laugh. Sirius helped him stand then they made their way to Remus’ office first so he could grab a few stacks of papers. Then they headed to Sirius’ office where they sat on the couch together and started grading.