If all else fails, at least you have yourself

"That one!"

"No thank you. What about that one?"

"Absolutely not. What about the white one?"

"No. I refuse to live in a house that looks like it could fall apart at any moment. It wouldn't be good for Harry."

"Don't use Harry as an excuse."

Harry walked into the living room carrying baby Harry to see Remus and Sirius arguing over their new home. They had clearly been discussing this for several hours but were yet to come to a decision. Harry would roll his eyes and just pick one but he thought that they deserved to choose their first real home. At least they were putting effort into it.

He held Harry on his hip as he started getting ready for the day. Since it had been a few days, he had to start doing the important things. Sirius and Remus don't know about them just yet but to be fair they hadn't talked much about anything. They only knew what he had told them that night. They had all unanimously decided to focus on Harry and to talk about emotional stuff later. He was already dressed but he needed to make breakfast for them all. As he made them all a simple breakfast, he made a mental list of things he had to do. The first thing that he needed to do was to prepare a funeral for his parents. His parents didn't have a proper funeral last time. He was dropped off with the Dursleys, Sirius was in Azkaban and a lot of their friends were dead. Remus wasn't able to give them a proper funeral because he was a werewolf and so made little money. Apparently, the few people still alive who knew James and Lily showed up but there weren't many.

Harry placed his mediocre breakfast on the table and forced the pair to take a break from house hunting and eat. As he did that he looked over the properties himself. "What do you want for the new place?" he asked.

Sirius and Remus looked at him but started to consider it.

"I need someone that I can safely transform. Even with the wolfsbane you're offering me, I still need to be away from Harry and the house so I don't hurt anyone or break anything," Remus stated.

"I would rather it was closer to the countryside than the city. I would hate for Harry to grow up cooped up in a house without anything to do. Plus, he would be much safer out here and we could use magic without worrying about muggles finding out," Sirius spoke, his voice growing slightly more excited as he spoke, clearly proud of his answer."

Harry separated the properties into two separate piles; one meeting their criteria and one that they could forget about. There were four left that could work out. To the surprise of all of them when they first saw it, one was a castle. There was a house in the suburbs near a forest, and two cottages. The castle wasn't in the UK so they decided to rule it out and the suburban house was still too close to the city for Sirius' liking. They were stuck trying to decide between the two cottages until Harry spoke up.

"You do realise I own the properties, right? You can just apparate to them. You know the address," Harry said as he rolled his eyes at them.

"Sirius and Remus looked at each other before Remus smacked his forehead with his hands, clearly annoyed that he hadn't thought of something so simple sooner.

"Okay, if we are going to do that, then what are you doing today? And who's getting Harry?" Sirius questioned.

"I've got a few errands to do but I'll take Harry with me. I need to work on a disguise and since people can't find out that Harry is Harry Potter, I need to convince them that I am a widowed father who recently moved back to Britain or something like that," Harry sighed, already exhausted by the conversation.

"Hold on a second. Why can't people know that my godson is a Potter?" Sirius asked irritated and defensive.

Harry sighed again, "Even though I didn't grow up in the Wizarding world, everyone knew who I was. People had already formed opinions of me and that affected basically everything. I didn't get the chance to be a child because I was only ever a slave to my aunt and uncle, a child soldier to Dumbledore, and a saviour to the rest of the Wizarding world. It was pretty shit, to be honest. When I took Harry that night, I made a vow to myself that I would never let this small child grow up in misery as I did."

Remus and Sirius looked at him, conflicted and concerned with questions swimming in their eyes. "You never mentioned... any of that," Sirius told him.

"I know Sirius was in Azkaban and I probably shouldn't be left in the full-time care of a child, but surely there were family friends that would have taken you in. The Longbottoms, Minnie, or the Weasleys. The list goes on," Remus muttered confused.

"Remus, I didn't even know these people existed until I met them. Frank and Alice Longbottom were tortured by Bellatrix, Professor McGonagall was too loyal to Dumbledore to disobey his orders of leaving me with my 'family', and the Weasleys were told that I was happy and loved. Nobody knew any different."

"Why would Dumbledore leave you with someone? That wouldn't be his call to make. The ministry would be the ones who decide who you would go with," Sirius commented.

"He's a manipulative power-hungry bastard who thinks he can do whatever he wishes. Anyway, enough about me, you two go and find the perfect new home for us and us Harrys will go shopping." Without waiting for a response, Harry took little Harry and left, leaving the best friends looking after them in shock.

He really was going shopping. He needed to get them all some things. He cast a few glamours on Harry to cover his Scar and make him look slightly different before apparating them both to The Leaky Cauldron. He soothed Harry as he cried, obviously upset by the apparating, and walked out the back.

He entered Diagon Alley and looked around. There were a few people walking around and there were a few more shops open than before. Clearly, people were still cautious about walking around Diagon Alley even though they all thought Voldemort was gone.

He walked towards Eeylops Owl Emporium on the hunt for Hedwig...or at least another owl. He hoped he could find his dearest companion again but they still needed an owl for convenience. As he walked through the door, he crashed into someone. As he looked around, he was beyond surprised to find that he had knocked into an exciting young redhead. The boy wasn't just any redhead though. Harry had been a part of the Weasley family long enough to see countless pictures of the family, He could easily recognise him as the youngest Weasley child, Bill. He was startled out of his thoughts by Molly Weasley scolding Bill for 'nearly knocking the man and his child over'. He gave her an easy smile and reassured her that they were fine.

"Is Diagon Alley always this chaotic?" he asked, trying to maintain his cover. "I've just moved to Britain from America, you see."

"It used to be way busier, before the war. It should be back to normal soon though, dear," Molly reassured. "Who is this cutie?"

"He's my son. He's keeping me company while I shop, aren't you?" Harry replied as baby Harry smiled up at them.

"I see. This is my eldest son Bill. He's starting Hogwarts soon so we thought we should get a new owl so we can send letters back and forth easier. We could use a school owl but we need one anyway so it just makes more sense to get a family owl."

"Hogwarts? Is that the school for wixen here?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. I forgot you were from America. Why did you move over here? if you don't mind me asking of course."

"After I recently lost my wife, I decided it was time for a change."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry for your loss, dear," she sympathized.

Bill started fidgeting where he stood, clearly anxious to look for an owl. Both adults chuckled and started searching for their owls.

Harry looked at the owls, looking for a snowy owl and almost giving up hope when he saw her. Hidden away in the corner of the emporium was a snowy owlet with two other owlets. They were clearly very young but he would be able to recognise Hedwig anywhere.

He walked up to the counter where the Weasleys were talking to the owner, probably to pay for their owl.

"Are you sure, Ma'am? I'm all for selling the bird but he can be very difficult at times. People have sold him back to me many times," the owner warned the Weasley matriarch.

"This is the owl we want, we don't want any other owls," Mrs Weasley confirmed. Anyone who didn't know about The Weasley's situation would think that the family was taking the poor owl in to give him a home but Harry knew better. The Weasleys loved Errol but they also needed an owl who could deliver letters quickly and efficiently.

"Excuse me," Harry said as he walked to the counter. "I was hoping that I could take the three snowy owlets in the corner."

The owner raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not gonna give you a discount just 'cause they're not fully grown yet."

"I will pay full price for all three. That isn't a problem, sir," Harry reassured the man.

The Weasleys stood to the side awkwardly as the man went to collect the four owls. He came back a few minutes later. As the Weasley duo were purchasing the owl, Harry walked over to the owl items. He picked up an owl cage, some owl food, owl treats, and a few special perches for the babies. He took these back over to the counter where the man was now available. Harry gave the man several galleons for his purchases and walked over to the redheads, who were now leaving the shop.

"Excuse me," the duo looked at him in confusion. "I know I probably should have asked first but I would like to give you something." Before the matriarch could interrupt him he continued on. "I know you already purchased an owl, and I'm sure he will fit in great with your family but I would like to offer you one of my owlets. I didn't want to separate them but I only need two and-" This time, Harry was cut off by Molly who was stammering out a denial.

"Thank you for your generosity but we really don't need another owl."

"I don't mean to be rude but you need an owl who can work well. I wanted to repay you for your kindness earlier. You were the first people I had truly spoken to since moving to the country and you were so nice. It was reassuring. I have way too much money that I have inherited through death. I would much rather it go to someone who can use it well."

"Not that we're ungrateful, it is very nice of you, but you don't have to repay us for being kind."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I have to admit, I wasn't just being totally selfless with my offer. I was hoping that we could maybe stay in touch. From the slight smell of icing sugar and pumpkin on your robes, I assume you are a baker. I thought we could share some recipes...and maybe even be friends."

Molly Weasley became as red as her hair but took the offers. Harry gave them one of the owlets in the cage with some food. "Here," he winked to Bill as he handed him the treats. "The way to an owl's heart is through treats and head strokes."

With that, he said goodbye as he and Harry walked off with Hedwig and her sibling. They then walked past the stand with the newspapers on and Harry stopped in his tracks.

FAMILY TORTURED BY LESTRANGE ONLY DAYS AFTER HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED IS DEFEATED

A son, who won't be named, was taken out of the care of his parents after the cruciatus curse was inflicted upon them. The offender was murderer Bellatrix Lestrange, a supporter of You-Know-Who and Death Eater. Lestrange was taken into custod......

Harry stopped reading, shocked at what he was seeing. He hoped that this wasn't describing Neville's parents but it seemed likely. He was hoping that he could stop them all from suffering but he was clearly wrong. Bellatrix acted a lot sooner than last time. Harry knew that it must have been his fault. He wasn't sure what to do but he wasn't going to let his old friend be raised by his grandmother. Augusta wasn't exactly a nurturing grandmother. She tried to force Neville to be a replica of her son when that isn't who Neville was. She was stuck in the past. Neville almost died multiple times due to her negligence, before Hogwarts no less! He would have to take Neville in. 

He hoped that he wasn't making it a habit of kidnapping children!