Sirius growled at the mention of Peter, but remained in his seat. "You sent those letters? Damn we should have listened to you. I sent it back with the same owl you sent mine with, just told him to return to sender." He waved it away as unimportant. "What else do I need to know?" he asked, thinking the guy must be barmy.
"My birth name is Harry James Potter."
"What?!" the other man shouted and fell out of his chair, causing little Harry to start crying again.
"Dammit, Sirius, will you stop that?" Hydrus snapped as he got up to calm the toddler.
While Hydrus was rocking Harry, Sirius picked himself up and looked at the other man. He didn't look anything like James; though he had Lily's eyes (Hydrus never used his contacts at home). Looking harder he could see some of his friend's features, he still looked like a Black though. He settled back down in his chair and waited.
Hydrus joined him, with Harry on his lap. "Quit yelling," he said softly, but with a threatening look.
"Sorry," Sirius replied as he looked at young Harry's tear-filled eyes.
Harry was chewing on the ear of a stuffed bear and looking at Sirius like he was going to start using his loud voice again. He burrowed back into Hydrus's chest and kept watching his godfather.
"Now as I was saying, my birth name is Harry James Potter, but I changed it legally and magically. You helped with that, by the way. In order for me to not create a paradox, I had to change who I am," the time traveler explained, keeping his voice normal.
"But… Why did you come back? Was the future so horrible? You mentioned a second war, was that why? Did everyone die?" the rapid fire questions came.
"Not exactly," hedged Hydrus. "Yes, a lot of people died, everyone I called family, but my only reason for this venture is to save Harry. No one should go through what I went through. I did try and save Mum and Dad, but the Fidelius kept me from them. By the time I got there they were gone," he said sadly, stroking the tot's back.
"Alright, tell me everything."
So Hydrus firmed his hold on Harry and started talking. He told about his life with the Dursleys, ignoring the vengeful noises of the other man, but shooting a glare to remind him to be silent. He went on about all of his trials in Hogwarts and how the populace would revere him and then vilify him at the drop of a hat. He went on about all his confrontations with the Dork Lord. The second war and what happened after; Sirius chuckled softly when he got to the revenge bits. He explained all of the preparations that he made to come back and finished with him appearing here and what he had done since he had been back. All this was recanted in monotone as to not wake the child that had fallen asleep partway through.
Not the bedtime story I had planned, Hydrus mentally groaned.
"What I didn't count on is you still being a hotheaded arsehole," he added at the end. When he said "arsehole," the half-awake Harry mimicked him, then the baby snuggled down and went back to sleep. — Oops I'm going to have to stop cussing, Hydrus chuckled to himself. "I guess I should've realized that Azkaban changed you. The Sirius I knew was more serious."
The gobsmacked Sirius didn't even take up the old joke, his mind was reeling with everything he had just been told. He was now starting to doubt people he trusted most of his life. The three sat in silence while Sirius mulled everything over.
"You have Death Eaters in a coma, in crypts, in a Muggle cemetery?" he finally settled on. "So you meant it when you threatened to do the same to me?"
"Yeah," was the cautious answer.
"I'm not sure if that is a great prank or if you're a sadistic bastard," Sirius said just as warily.
"Tell you the truth, I'm not sure either." Hydrus shrugged. He looked at the toddler sleeping in his arms and wondered if he wasn't being a little overzealous in protecting him.
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