Did I just regain an entire family? Nice
"Calm down, Buck," Sirius muttered absentmindedly as he shovelled a spoonful of breakfast waffle, that was too big, into his mouth.
"I still don't understand why you feel the need to call us ridiculous nicknames," Harry replied as he rolled his eyes.
"Ridiculous!? They're not ridiculous! Besides, you're a marauder so you need a marauder-worthy nickname," Sirius refuted with too much seriousness for such a pointless topic.
"I feel the need to point out that I'm not technically a marauder."
"We've been over this, Buck. You're father was a marauder and so was your godfather, which means that you have inherited the title. Plus, your mother was a marauder by marriage. Just accept it, there isn't a way to escape this."
Sirius and Harry had come to an understanding that this Sirius wasn't Harry's godfather. It was painful to come to terms with but it was something that they needed to know. Harry didn't want to replace his godfather with a younger, more mentally-stable version. Sirius was younger than Harry at the moment as well so it would just be awkward. Harry was more than happy for him to act as Jamie's godfather though. They both deserved it.
In fact, they had even made Remus the boy's godfather. Harry realised, from the original marauder's explanations of the war and from what he already knew, that James Potter believed that Remus was a spy for Voldemort when he was born, which is why only Sirius was made to be a godfather. Personally, Harry thought that Remus was too morally good to ever betray his friends but he understood that it had been a time full of fear and paranoia.
Harry wasn't the only one 'blessed' with a Marauder-esque nickname. They all had one. Jamie was 'Fawn' to honour Prongs. He was too little be named anything deer-related, other than 'Prongslet', which, in Sirius' opinion, was boring and unoriginal. Unfortunately for the man, Sirius didn't know much about the others. It had taken days for Harry to crack but eventually, he told Padfoot about what they were like in Harry's future. Frankie had been named after his association with Trevor so his new nickname was 'Tadpole'. Narcisso (Draco's new name) was given a nickname inspired by the ferret incident in Hadrian's fourth year, to his amusement. Despite fake Moody being in the wrong for transfiguring a student, Draco had definitely deserved it. Even Dobby was given a name- Owlet because he is a young elf with big eyes. Dudley, newly renamed to Koru, was called 'Nymph'. Harry chose that one personally. Hadrian had very few positive stories to share with Sirius about young Dudley and he didn't want the man to start hating a little boy for something he hadn't yet been conditioned into. The Dudley that Hadrian had reconciled with had earned Hadrian's forgiveness and it hadn't been easy. Harry used a name associated with butterflies to symbolise the cousins' new beginnings- both in this life and the last.
Hadrian himself was presented with the name Buck. Apparently, Stag sounded wrong so Sirius was left with very little option.
The reason that Sirius was telling him to relax was because today was the day that he took the kids to meet the Weasleys. Him and Molly had been sending letters back and forth, discussing anything and everything. Even though it had only been a few months since they had met at Diagon Alley, they were practically best friends already. It was a weird feeling for Harry: to be friends with a woman who he had always seen as a mother. Harry was quickly learning that he should view the people that he gets to know now, in a different way to his old friends and family from the future. It hurt less that way.
Hadrian ignored Sirius' reassurance though. There were multiple things that were worth stressing about. Most importantly, he would be seeing his family for the first time since he came to the past and it wasn't eventhem. Ginny, the woman who he had fallen in love with and raised children with, didn't exist. Now, all that was left was a young girl who didn't know the true horrors of their world and only loved a fictional character who shared the same name as him. Truly, he didn't mind that. If anything, he was grateful that she would be happier and safer this time around.
The one thing that he was really dreading to see was the Weasley Twins. He didn't think that he could bare to look at them now, after everything that had happened.
It would be strange to see his family again after everything. He would be walking into the house that he spent every Saturday night without fail, along with the rest of the Weasley family. Despite Harry's offers to host the family at Grimmauld Place where there would be more room, they managed to squeeze three generations of Weasleys into the Burrow for family night. It was a tradition that had started when Molly and Arthur Weasley had met their first grandchild. It had only been a few months since the war ended when Harry took Teddy to meet the Weasleys. He had watched as grief, longing and love swirl around in the eyes that had become slightly hardened with loss. The parents of seven looked at a little boy who had lost his and, like with Harry, decided to give him all of their love and then some more. It had created the idea in their mind that they should cherish the family that they still had left and so, they sent letters to their children, hoping to arrange a family dinner. Honestly, they had expected it to take a few weeks for everyone to be able to attend at the same time but the Weasleys were always family-oriented and the war had just solidified that. If their parents wanted them to eat together as a family once more, who were they to say no? The next day, they were all crammed around the table after having helped cook a delicious dinner. Molly and Arthur; Bill and Fleur; Charlie; Percy; George and Angelina; Ron and Hermione; Ginny, Harry and Teddy. Every single one of them had shown up. (It was a unanimous decision to leave a space empty next to George.) As the years progressed, their group only added as Percy met Audrey, and Molly and Arthur gained no-small-number of grandkids. Eventually, there were 25 of them (26 if you counted Harry and Ginny's baby girl). It wasn't only Saturdays that the family spent at the Burrow. Every Christmas, Halloween, Wedding and other special events took place at the family home. Undoubtedly, he was anxious about returning home.
The morning rushed away without warning, spent with Harry making sure that the kids were ready. They were all in matching outfits, with glamours concealing certain attributes (including but not limited to Jamie's scar and the other three boys' hair colour. Though Frankie, Koru and Narcisso all had blond hair, they were various different shades of blond and were obviously not related. A simple colour change charm just slightly altered their appearance.) Soon, they were all stepping through The Burrow's floo, greeted by Molly's welcoming smile.
"Oh Harry, it's wonderful to see you again. How have you been?" she asked as she pulled him into an embrace.
"It nice to see you again too, Molly. I'm good. I've been anxious to see you in person again," he grinned as he pulled away from the hug. It had been months since he had receive one of Molly Weasley's patented hugs and yet it was the first hug that he had ever received from his friend, Molly. It felt different, as if this hug was a special hug reserved for friends and not the familial tight squeeze that he was used to. He didn't know how to feel about that.
"He's not kidding," said Sirius slyly with a mischievous grin, as he bounced Frankie and Koru up and down in his arms. "He's been buzzing around the house all morning. It was starting to get on our nerves. Even Frankie looked put-off."
Harry flushed, grumbling, "Oh, shut up, you." Earning twin laughter from both Molly and Sirius. Traitors.
"So, are these the cuties that I've heard so much about?" she inquired curiously.
"Yeah, the one with the dark hair is Jamie, the one next to him is Narcisso, the one in Sirius's arms that is trying to bite his thumb is Koru and the other is Frankie."
"I see. My own are scattered about. Ginny and Ron are having a nap, as well as the twins. If they don't get their daily nap, Merlin help us. They are very chaotic those two- such little trouble makers. Percy is probably outside exploring and Charlie and Bill will be flying about on their brooms (hopefully outside)."
Sirius laughed, "those twins of your sound like my kind of people, Molly. Fred and George, was it?"
"That's right. Don't you go giving them any more ideas. You don't know how many times I've not known which one is which because they are identical and think that it's oh so funny to lie about which one is which. I've resorted to giving the kids jumpers with their initial on it but I think they're starting to learn how to escape them," she bemoaned jokingly.
"You certainly sound like you've got your hands full. Personally, I'm dreading the day that the kids are walking. With the influence of these two, Merlin knows what will happen." When protests ensued, he replied, "Don't bother denying it. I know what you two are like. I've already seen you trying to get them to crawl with you to sneak food and toys. You are trying to make the boys into the human version of Peeves. I feel sorry for Hogwarts when they finally do attend." Molly and Harry let out twin shivers at the thought of it.
"So," Harry asked curiously. "What should we do first?"
And so, they spent the morning giggling as they experimented with recipes and watching as they blew up in their faces. Honestly, he now understood where the twins got their habits from- Molly was a menace, and a lot more fun to hang out with than he initially expected.
They cooked and baked up until noon, when they herded the kids to the table for lunch time. Ginny, Ron, Narcisso, Jamie, Frankie and Koru were secured in transfigured high chairs in between an adult or an older Weasley. They went around the table introducing themselves, before they spit up to have individual conversations. The twins were no doubt scheming with Sirius- the overgrown child that he was, while Charlie was discussing centaurs with Remus for some reason. Harry himself was talking with Bill about how his owl was doing. According to Bill, Charlie had named the little bird Vipertooth, after his current favourite dragon. While Bill found the act annoying, Harry found it to be endearing. It reminded him so much of Ginny naming Ron's owl Pigwidgeon. Apparently, Charlie had even tried stealing the owl more than once. Young Bill was so cute when he was frustrated and so amusing to watch. Molly seemed to mainly focus on calming down Percy who seemed a little bit overwhelmed by the new people in his house. Percy never did quite deal with other people well but he seemed to get better at coping with it as a teenager and young adult.
After the meal, which lasted for nearly an hour, Sirius and Remus said goodbye and left through the floo. They two hadn't spent much time on their own since that fateful day so this would be a good opportunity for them to deal with whatever they needed to on their own. Dobby arrived in their place and joined them in their afternoon activities.
They started with knitting as Harry had always desired to learn how to knit the special Molly Weasley jumpers. Every time he received one, it was more than just an item of clothing to him. To Harry, it was a package of love and warmth. A reassurance that he was always going to be loved by someone. Now that he was here, he wanted to at least give them to his new wards, if he couldn't them to his long-lost kids. Molly only showed them a basic knitting pattern but it was enough to make a simple jumper for them. Molly made an orange jumper for Ron (at Harry's suggestion), Harry made a green jumper for Frankie, and Dobby made a light blue jumper for Narcisso.
After a few hours of knitting, mixed in with more than a few interruptions from the children, they moved onto Harry's activity. In exchange for the knitting help, Harry promised to teach Molly some protective spells to better protect her kids. It hurt Harry to know that she wanted to learn because of the kidnappings in the Daily Prophet. The Longbottom family and the Malfoy family were well-known members of society so their disappearance was a big deal. It lead to an ongoing investigation to find them. There was a public panic where people feared that their children would be next. Harry couldn't even do anything about it because he couldn't let himself get exposed.
He only taught them some basic spells from auror training but she seemed grateful nonetheless. Even Dobby seemed to be having a good time practicing the spells with Harry's wand. While I'm on the route of law-breaking, I might as well get him a wand. Huh. On my way to being Head Auror to regular offender.
Maybe he should be worried about how blasé he is being about morals.
Maybe losing his family affected him more than he realised.
They ended the day eating freshly baked cookies and gossiping, which is how Arthur found them.
"Oh Arthur, this is my friend that I've been telling you about," Molly exclaimed as she greeted him with a kiss and gently pulled him over to them."
Arthur gave them a tired but friendly smile, "Pleasure to meet you. You can call me Arthur and you must be Hadrian Ebonymarauderé. An interesting name you've got there, I must say."
"I get it," Harry laughed. "I used to hate how people knew me because my name was so distinctive but I quite like it now that I share it with my kids and my wife."
"That's fair. Weasley is well-known as well, though not for the best reasons. Forgive me if I'm mistaken but isn't that the Malfoy's elf?" Arthur asked confused and slightly warily.
"Hmm? Oh, you mean Dobby? He used to be but it was a mistake. You see, after I lost my wife and moved to Britain with my family, I did some research on my family and found that I am actually a descendant of the Potters through one line or another. I can't remember exactly. Anyway, it turns out that Dobby was only being borrowed out to the Malfoys but after the Potters were killed in the attack on Godric's Hollow, they assumed that the elf was theirs by default. Dobby has a magical bond with me, which he couldn't have if he had one with the Malfoys. Therefore, Dobby is a part of the family. He has the last name and everything," Harry said as he pulled the small elf into a hug. Dobby, well-used to Harry's spontaneous affection, just beamed at him. "As lovely as it was meeting you Arthur, and seeing you again Molly, we must be off. I can't leave those two by themselves without something blowing up," Harry joked as he rolled his eyes fondly.
With a hug and a handshake to Molly and Arthur respectively, Harry, Dobby and the kids returned back home.