Chapter 128: Another journey[Especial pt 3]
Another journey[Especial]
"So, how did you come to the past?" Sirius asked directly.
They all exchanged glances, but Stephen had the perfect excuse.
"Around this time, I think the Ministry should be experimenting with a special Time-Turner that sent a witch to the past. But when she returned, she aged rapidly, right?" he said, recalling some research that was blocked a while ago. "Well, let's say we discovered a similar way," Stephen said.
"I see. When you go back, you won't age the same way, right?" Sirius asked just in case.
"Of course not. We're professionals," Tony said, a bit annoyed.
"The past?" Petunia asked, not understanding.
Then Sirius calmly explained about Harry and how he knew a secret only he and James knew. He also mentioned how much Harry resembled James when they were young.
"Now that you mention it, his eyes and some features do look like Lily's," Petunia said as she looked at Harry fondly.
"Don't you think you're trusting them too quickly?" Tony asked his siblings in a low voice.
"I think it's thanks to Harry. We should bring him along more often and throw him in front first. Maybe we'll avoid a lot of fights," Stephen quickly replied.
"And if they're Harry's enemies anyway?" Wanda asked.
"We'll use him as a shield."
Harry simply ignored his siblings since he was used to it.
"So, why did you come to the past? And right in the worst possible moment," Sirius asked with interest.
"Well, we practically can't control where we end up," Stephen said casually.
As they talked, Sirius noticed that Harry wanted to ask him something but seemed hesitant.
"It's alright, older Harry, go ahead and ask," Sirius said with a smile, noticing his hesitation.
"Here too... Did my parents... die because of you-know-who?" Harry asked nervously. "And since you're my godfather, did you adopt me?"
"What are you talking about?" Sirius said, confused and a little annoyed. "James and Lily aren't dead. They should be arriving at any moment from the Ministry and St. Mungo's," he said quickly, realizing something. "Wait... Are they going to die?" he asked, quickly standing up in fright.
Just then, several footsteps sounded at the entrance, and the door swung open as a couple hurried in.
"Petunia, we're back! Where's my little Harry?" Lily said as she entered with an excited smile, having missed her beautiful baby during work.
When she entered the dining room, she saw it was full of people and came to a halt, looking at everyone in surprise. Until her gaze landed on Harry.
He also looked at her with surprise, his emotions changing by the second: nostalgia, affection, sadness, excitement.
"Sirius, did you make Harry take that growth potion?" Lily said angrily, glaring at Sirius, as she had treated people as a healer who had accidentally taken expired growth potions and ended up with years added to their age.
"Wow, she recognized you so easily," Wanda said, surprised.
"And that's considering our Harry technically changed his appearance when he evolved," Tony added.
"Evolved? He's not an electric rat," Stephen said, rolling his eyes.
"I didn't give him anything! When I got to the house, that Harry was already like that," Sirius said defensively with a comical smile.
"Then why is he older now? You know how complicated it is to cure growth potion poisoning," Lily said angrily while James entered behind her.
"What's going on?" James asked as he walked in, holding baby Harry and Dudley in his arms, sounding confused.
It seemed the little ones had escaped while everyone was talking and were crawling around the house.
"Harry?" Lily said, surprised, looking at her son in her husband's arms, then turning back confusedly to look at the older Harry. "Then who are you?"
James also saw Harry and stared at him intently.
"James and Lily, I present to you Harry Potter Flamel from the future," Sirius said with a mischievous smile.
"Harry James Potter! Did you use the Ministry's illegal Time-Turner?" James shouted furiously at Harry since, as an Auror working at the Ministry, he was aware of the old experiments, which were now illegal.
"Don't you know that when you return to the present, you'll age hundreds of years in a second?" he said, both angry and worried.
Hearing that, Lily quickly approached Harry angrily and grabbed him by the ear while scolding him for doing something so dangerous.
"Are you crazy? How could you do something so dangerous? Where is my future self?"
Meanwhile, the Flamel siblings just watched with mocking smiles, not interfering. Who wants to mess with a worried mother?
Then, Petunia realized something and stopped Lily.
"Wait, did you say Harry Potter Flamel? Like that legendary alchemist?" she asked quickly.
Lily and James suddenly realized this, and they looked at Harry in confusion.
Meanwhile, the Flamel siblings, who were standing in the back, started talking quietly among themselves.
"Should we tell them?" Wanda asked.
"But that would create another universe, right?" Tony said.
"I don't think another universe matters, honestly. It's not ours anyway, and technically, thousands are created per second," Stephen said.
"As long as there's no entity trying to erase us for creating other timelines, I don't think it matters," Loki added.
They all looked at Natasha, who had been rather quiet this whole time.
"Why are you so silent?" Tony asked with interest.
"I just don't have much to say," Natasha said calmly.
The others looked at her for a second, then decided to leave it for another time.
"Well, Harry technically told Sirius his parents were dead, so he already created another line. So, I don't think it matters," Stephen said.
"That's true. Let's just tell them; we already changed another line before anyway," Tony said, and the others nodded.
"You mean we died, and you were sent to a Petunia who wasn't a witch and had married a man who hated magic and wizards? And because of the mistreatment, the Flamel family ended up adopting you?" Lily said as she listened to what Harry had just told her, while the Flamel siblings held their secret meeting.
Basically, Harry had told them everything while the others hesitated about whether to say it or not.
"Yes. Actually, when I joined the Flamel family, we performed an ancient ritual, so my appearance changed quite a bit. Before, I looked more like him, but then I started to resemble you more," Harry said as he pointed at James and Lily. "I even have to use an aura suppressor, so this isn't my complete appearance."
"I guess Harry would be a terrible spy," Tony quickly said.
"He just spilled all our secrets in less than a minute. Wow," Wanda said.
"Sometimes the worst enemy isn't the opponent, but a pig-headed companion," Loki added.
"What's the point of learning Occlumency if he's just going to tell everything to the captors?" Stephen said.
"Sigh. Leave him alone. They're his parents. Of course, he'd want to tell them everything after so many years," Natasha said, defending Harry.
Meanwhile, Petunia looked confused as she listened to the story.
"I treated Harry badly? Just for not being a witch?"
"Well, Auntie wasn't as bad as Vernon, but she was indifferent. Although you raised me, so I don't blame you," Harry said.
"I'm sorry. If you'll allow me, I'll explain it better. And not as summarized as Harry," Stephen said as he stepped forward.
"He's my older brother. His name is Stephen Flamel, and he knows all kinds of mystical arts and incredible magic. Thanks to him, I met the grandparents and..." Harry was talking, but Stephen stopped him by covering his mouth.
"All right, stop spilling all our secrets for a second, okay?" Stephen said, looking at his younger brother.
Harry nodded, realizing he had just blurted everything out, feeling embarrassed as he sensed his siblings' tired looks behind him.
Lily and James, seeing their interaction, just smiled.
Then Stephen explained everything in detail, obviously summarizing useless parts and what they didn't need to know about the future.
"I see. So, in your time, Petunia raised Harry in the Muggle world. After the Dark Lord killed us and was defeated by Harry, Sirius ended up imprisoned on false charges thanks to a traitor. Then, when Harry joined Hogwarts, he met Stephen, and his life changed for the better," Lily said as she summarized the story she had just heard, naming the parts that interested her the most.
"Well, yes," Stephen replied easily.
Meanwhile, Petunia was crying in Sirius's arms, feeling guilty about how she had behaved in another time just because she didn't have magic, while also mourning the Sirius who had been imprisoned for twelve years.
Sirius, on the other hand, didn't seem too affected. After all, he wasn't the same, and now that he knew, he would do everything he could to change things.
"So, a spy will reveal our location. It's better if we move," James said quickly with concern.
"I said: Why don't we let Petunia be the Secret Keeper if she prefers to stay and take care of the kids anyway? That way, we would never be caught. Dumbledore choosing Wormtail was ridiculous," Lily said angrily.
"Well, Dumbledore said they would suspect him less since we would be the first ones to be caught," James said, conflicted.
"Wait, Dumbledore said Wormtail should be the Secret Keeper?" Stephen asked with interest.
"Yes. Originally, it was supposed to be Sirius, but he works with me as an Auror, so if we were both caught, we could be tortured to find out Harry and Dudley's whereabouts," James explained.
"So, Dumbledore said it was better to choose someone else. In this case, Wormtail. Although I wanted it to be Petunia since she doesn't want to be away from the children. But Dumbledore said Petunia would be the first one searched because she's my sister and a Muggle-born like me," Lily said with annoyance.
"There was also Lupin, but because of his condition as a werewolf, Dumbledore said he could be a spy for them," Sirius added with a bit of anger at them doubting his friend.
"By the way, when you arrived, you said you were supposed to be on guard duty all night, but you had to come because we arrived," Tony quickly said, realizing something.
"Yes. Besides being an Auror, we're also part of the Order of the Phoenix, so Dumbledore sent me to guard the Longbottoms' house. But when the intruder alarm went off, I switched with Moody and came running," Sirius explained.
"What's today's date?" Harry asked quickly.
"October 31st," James replied, confused.
"Of 1981?" Harry asked again.
"Yes, why?"
"It's today," Harry said quickly. Then Stephen and the others realized what he meant.