Precious little Pup.
“Told you I have to get to him. He has to pay.” A male voice was complaining angrily.
“You are exasperating!” A second voice, that Phil and Clint recognized as Strange’s, was sighing loudly. “I didn’t have a choice, I am not chasing after you all over London.”
“I don’t even know who you are!” the first voice yelled. “You could be a Death Eater.”
“Stop trying to hex me, Black.” Strange snapped at him.
At this point Natasha took the lead and entered the corridor they were in her gun ready as she pointed it directly at the closest man’s head. Clint sighing in relief when it turned out to be Black and not Strange.
“Thank you, Ms. Romanoff.” Strange nodded at her.
In the main room, the noise had woken one curious little man. Harry carefully extricated himself from around Luna turned himself on his stomach, wiggled his bottom in the air until he could crawl, cushions were a hazard on his little legs, too wobbly to walk on, when his feet touch the floor he pushed as hard as he could on his little arms away from the cushions, he really didn’t like cushions they were squishy, once in the right position he stood up on his legs and run, well for him and his diaper it was a run, to where he could hear the voices come from.
“Pa’foo’!” A happy yell startled the adults in the corridor the little boy running pass them right onto the legs of the man Natasha was still holding at gunpoint.
“Oh, Merlin, Pup!” Sirius cried out with a sob before falling on his knees careful of his little godson before he hugged him tightly to himself. It took a few minutes for everyone as Sirius started to smell Harry’s hair then looked at his cut, everyone tensed when he pointed a piece of wood at his head before the blood on the little boy’s head vanished and a bandage appeared neatly put over the cut.
“Black?” Clint asked uncertain about interrupting but they still needed answers they didn’t have.
“I don’t…” Sirius started to say watching around him uncertainly holding Harry as close to himself as he could. “I don’t know any of you? You don’t feel like Wizards. Why do you have him? Who are you? What happened? I don’t…” he said shaking his head. “I had him and Hagrid was there, I… I only remember… I wanted to go after Peter.” He said with a deep sob. “I don’t understand, I left him. I am so sorry Pup.”
“’kay Pa’foo’,” Harry said from where he had his head tucked on Sirius’ shoulder.
“No, it’s not okay,” Sirius said still shaking his head as if he was trying to get read of something, Clint remembered doing something like that when he was on painkillers.
“HI!” Clint said reminding the man of the others around him, getting a piece of wood pointed at him for his efforts.
“No wan’ Pa’foo’,” Harry told him. “They he’p P’ongs’et.”
“You sure?” Sirius asked the little boy who nodded, Sirius let go of his piece of wood which disappeared only to reappear on his wrist, which was a nice trick. “Hi! I am Sirius.” He said nervously looking around himself. “What are we doing here?”
“As I have been trying to tell you for the past half hour I was sent using the ‘walk in the past’ ritual to come and save your Godson, yourself and other, so you can all save the future.” Strange told him in an exasperated tone.
“I never saw you before,” Sirius told him.
“We thought it might happen, you gave him up too easily.” Strange sighed. “I think you might have been confounded. I don’t think it was the imperious curse, from what I learn about it, it wouldn’t matter that we are in the US now you would have killed us all to get back on your task.”
“To go after Peter?” Sirius asked, and Harry started growling at the name. “You know he always did that around him, we should have known something fishy was going on. It’s okay little pup, the bad man is far away now.” Sirius said rubbing Harry’s back gently.
“Can we go back to the living room? I am not okay with leaving Luna alone.” Clint asked them all getting nods from Natasha, Phil and Strange but a startled look from Sirius.
“I don’t…” Sirius looked between Strange and Clint. “Luna? As in Lovegood?” Strange nodded. “Why do you have her? For that matter that Ritual never worked before, Dumbledore talked about using it a few months ago to get back to a time before Voldemort got so much power but he said he was missing keys ingredients that he would never be able to find in time.”
“We found them and with a little help, a lot of patience and a healthy dose of Potter’s Luck we were able to implement it, though we had no guarantees it was well past the time for us to try anyway.” Strange explained.
“How long do you have?” Sirius asked him. “How long does he?” He said looking at Harry still cuddled in his arms.
“We used the full moon, so I have until the moon sets down. We couldn’t figure out how long he would have our best guess was that since he is only one-year-old and his brain isn't fully developed yet he will start forgetting things, but also the more conflicting memories he gets between his new life and the previous one the more he will forget, maybe he’ll remember small things, start getting wary of people he had never met without being able to explain why, but we were not sure.” Strange told them sadly as he sat down on a couch facing Clint and Sirius who had sat on the same couch to look over a still sleeping Luna, the diaper bag between them, Phil and Natasha sitting on armchairs on each side of the couches. “Him remembering wasn’t vital especially since he is too young to help really, I had to bring back someone and since we wanted to change his life and he was the one with the highest chance of succeeding he was the obvious choice.”
“So you meddled with his brain and you don’t even know the effect,” Sirius said angrily.
“It was a risk we had to take,” Strange said sadly. “You have to understand, what was happening at the time was worse than anything either of us had ever lived through and the second coming of Voldemort was a lot worse than the first, from what I was told.” Sirius was about to interrupt him but Strange stopped him. “He came back for about 3 years before Harry killed him once and for all, but those 3 years were worse than the decade you just had, from then they had about 6 months of peace before Harry was betrayed. He and the people who chose to fight on his side went to hide in other countries first, but they had to resort to going into the muggle world after more and more evil plots were unrevealed. They ended up hiding in the mutant community. Harry has the ability to inspire the deepest friendship and the strongest loyalty without even meaning too when they were found he offered to run once more he even offered to give himself up hoping it would appease the people they were running from. Professor Xavier wouldn’t let him he called the different superheroes group existing around the world for support and after meeting with Harry and his group we were all on board with Xavier’s plan to fight for them.”
He stopped for a moment and made a teacup appear in his hand taking a few sips before continuing, not that Clint didn’t catch his little smirk at the dumbfounded look he and Phil had at the casual display of magic, or the giggle it got out of Harry.
“It did not go as we had hopped their enemies had spread lies and rumors in the magical communities and most of the wizards and witches all over the world wanted them extinct, and us too for helping them. The ritual was our last hope, the world I am coming from is dark, full of death and repression, what Voldemort had you all going through in the last decade looked like child play to the ones who were fighting with us and could remember it. After the first attacks on our forces the wizarding communities had come to their senses and realized they had been manipulated but by that time it didn’t matter anymore they had allies among the muggles powerful and dangerous ones they could wipe out everyone who opposed them. We couldn’t protect everyone not that Harry didn’t try.”
At this Strange looked at Harry who seemed to be pouting through the silent tears that were running on his pink cheeks.
“Oh, Pup! Shush!” Sirius said cuddling him tightly and running his hand gently on his back to soothe him. “We’ll fix it I promise.”
“P’ease,” Harry said in a little voice barely a whisper but in the silence of the room, everyone heard him.
“Marauder promise Pup, we’ll save them,” Sirius told him kissing the top of his head softly.
“I really hope. I don’t know if he will remember all this for long, but don’t let him develop his survivor guilt too much.” Strange told them. “It was cultivated into him from a young age. He took every death as being his fault. He almost killed himself by using too much magic so many times we resorted to stunning him when we thought the battle was something we could handle on our own.”
“The saving people thing is in his blood I fear. But we can teach him that he is not responsible for other people’s life.” Sirius told him.
“I have half an hour left before my last stop.” Strange said before adding “I have a wolf to catch and only minutes to do it before my time is out. Thanks for coming here I know the facilities I know where to put him.”
“You’ll get Remi?” Sirius choked out.
“Of course. We couldn’t save James and Lily. Even knowing the exact address, I couldn’t see the house under the Fidelius until it was too late. But I know where to find Remus.” Strange assured him.
“Oh, Merlin! He doesn’t know.” Sirius said tears running down his cheek.
“Holding Harry should help with that.” Strange told him and Sirius nodded.
“What else can you tell us?” Phil asked Strange. Half an hour wasn’t a lot, but it should help.
“We didn’t know if I’d be able to talk to you or not so everything we know is in the journal down to the recipes of potions sometimes or to the names of people, you would do well to send to Siberia for eternity if you can. The Harry Potter books should help you understand what led to the events of the Final War. It focuses mostly on Harry and his best friends and only from the first year to graduation, but it should help. The Prewetts, you might want to save them now like we did Harry and Luna but don’t, the oldest one Bill is only 11 now, and they live pretty happy life for the next 14 years, the older ones grew up to be pretty successful in their field and it helped us find allies later on, they really are happy.” Strange explained, before adding. “One person you will have to save soon is Severus Snape.”
“You want us to save Snivellius?” Sirius growled out, but it was Harry who answered nodding against Sirius' shoulder.
“Shave Ser’vus,” Harry said.
“I can shave Snivellius all you want Pup, but I am not saving him.” Sirius snarled.
“Shave Sev’urs,” Harry repeated louder getting frustrated, his bottom lip started to tremble, a clear sign that he was about to cry, even for Clint who wasn’t used to babies.
“I don’t know who this Severus is, but he seems very important to Harry.” Clint pointed out.
Harry started nodding again trying to wiggle out of Sirius grip.
“Don’t go Pup!” Sirius told him holding him closer. “I promised to save people, I’ll start with Snivellius if you want to.”
“Serve’us,” Harry repeated.
“I can either save him or call him by his name, I can’t do both.” Sirius teased Harry tickling his stomach, getting Harry to giggle though it was clearly against his will.
“Shave.” Harry chose.
“Now that you agreed. Harry left specific instructions as to how and when to retrieve Severus in the journal, I would follow them, he was pretty adamant that Severus was a not negotiable part of our plan.” Strange admitted to them.
“Shave Sevu’s,” Harry said sleepily.
“We’ll get him soon Pup, you can sleep now,” Sirius told the boy though the others could see a hint of jealousy in his eyes.
“I don’t have a lot of time. But you have to understand, from what I read in the books and what others told me, Severus played a major part in Harry’s life all through Hogwarts, not always good but he was his always constant and saved him many times, he made sacrifices at the end of the second war so that Harry could win and he never had the possibility to say thank you, I think out of all the deaths that happened around us, Severus’ is still the one that affected Harry the most.” Strange explained.
“Where were we?” Sirius asked.
“From the parts we already read, jail for killing that Peter guy and then you died not long after escaping,” Clint told him.
“You only saw Harry for a week or two over the summer at the end of his fourth year and a week for Christmas in his fifth year. Severus was a teacher at Hogwarts.” Strange said. “You’ll read more in the books I really don’t have time to explain everything. Do you have any other questions?” He saw Sirius looking down at a sleeping Luna. “Luna chose to come and her parents gave her to me, they were waiting for me to come actually I don’t know anything more and since she doesn’t come from the past she won’t be able to tell you any more.”
Sirius nodded, he had heard about Xenophilius’ and Pandora’s weird behavior since Luna’s birth, he’d investigate later.
“I have a question if no one else is going to ask,” Sirius said. Natasha looked at Clint and then Phil, they had questions but Strange clearly didn’t have the time to give them the long explanation they required, they’d have to do with the journals hoping it would give them everything they needed.
“Go ahead.” Natasha offered.
“Why take us to the US, Dumbledore could have helped us in Britain?” Sirius asked.
Strange became somber and sneered. “Dumbledore isn’t and will never be on Harry’s side. If we knew how we would have made sure he disappeared before Harry had to go to Hogwarts so he would never have to meet him, but Harry needs to go, there are people he needs to meet there, they are important.”
Sirius swallowed heavily he had started having doubts about Dumbledore when he made James and Lily move from Potter Hall and the extensive wards for a simple Fidelius Charm, then for making them choose Wormtail to be the secret keeper but to hear it put so bluntly scared him.
Strange’s hologram started buzzing. “It’s time, I won’t be able to say goodbye I literally am out of time. Don’t try to find me before the journal tells you to. I am not even a Sorcerer yet won’t be for a few more months. Take care of everyone for me, I hope to see you all once more someday.” He said scoped down to kiss Luna’s and Harry’s forehead and disappeared.
“Bye,” Harry said having been woken up by the kiss.
After a few minutes of silence, Sirius looked at the adults around him.
“I know you must have many questions, but it’s been a long night and Remus will be here soon. I don’t know who that man was, but he trusted you with Harry and Luna and he kept me from making the biggest mistake of my life.” He said kissing the top of Harry’s head. “There is something you should know. Remus, he isn’t dangerous in any way, but he is a werewolf. It was the Full Moon last night and he must have had a couple of bad full moons as it’s been months since we last spend it with him, he hurts himself pretty badly when he is alone for the change. You need to trust me, I’ll go see him with the pup, he will never hurt us he never did, once calm down from the change he will pass out. I suggest leaving Harry and Luna with him on a bed so that when he wakes up he doesn’t panic, having his cub with him will keep him calm until I can tell him about the rest of the pack.” Sirius told them looking unsure as if they were going to keep him away from his friend.
“We’ll watch you,” Natasha said and JARVIS helpfully projected the conversation they were having on the flat screen in the wall in front of Sirius.
“Good idea.” Sirius agreed. “You’re not going to ask?”
“We’ll ask. After they are settled you’ll come back here, and we’ll ask. We are agents of a governmental agency we know that sometimes you have to be patient to have the best results.” Phil told him in his usual Agent Coulson voice.
Soon enough JARVIS’ voice was heard around them. “Doctor Strange left your new guest in the upper floor guest bedroom, Miss Romanoff.”
“Thank You JARVIS,” Natasha said. “Can you help Mister Black to there?”
“Of course, Miss Romanoff, it will be my pleasure. Mister Black please follow the green lights on the floor.”