The Naked Truth

August 22nd, 1977

He brushed a stray golden curl behind her ear and pulled the blanket up, tucking her in: "Is there anything else I can do?"

"You know I'm healing already, Harry." Marlene offered him a soft smile: "By tomorrow, there will be nothing left of those small cuts and bruises."

"That doesn't mean I can't worry." He sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "But you should know that I'm also incredibly proud of you, love. The Unspeakables aren't fighters but holding your own against one of them, especially one like Croaker, requires some serious skill."

"Thank you." Marlene rested against the pillows, closing her eyes and letting out a content sigh. "I've learned from the best..."

"That you have." He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. Pecking her once, then twice, until he felt her lips curl into a smile.

"I've missed you..." Opening her eyes, she studied him for a few seconds, adorably biting her bottom lip before gently tapping the blanket above her lap: "Come here."

He didn't hesitate for a second, having missed her equally as bad over the last two days.

"Anytime." With a small smile, Harry kicked off his shoes and crawled onto the large bed in his room at Potter manor. He lay down on his back, his head resting in her lap, where a pair of delicate, soft fingers immediately started roaming through his hair.

"Are you really going to tell me everything this time?" Marlene broke the silence after a minute: "I don't think I can handle the secrecy anymore. I need you to be mine, my love, completely mine."

"You have every right." Harry swallowed and nodded: "I'm so damn tired of lying and hiding things from you. I promised you no more secrets. Perhaps I should have done so a few months ago already. Instead, I simply delayed the inevitable, and now it all blew up in my face."

"I have so many questions, Harry." Marlene's breath hitched: "This all sounds so outlandish; I don't even know where to begin..."

"You can simply start asking your question; one by one." Harry suggested: "I promise to answer everything truthfully."

"It's all true then? Everything Croaker found out about you?" Marlene's hand stopped playing with his hair and trembled slightly: "You really are a time traveler? You're actually from the future?"

"Yes- " Harry slowly blinked his eyes open, watching her regard him apprehensively: "It's true..."

The blonde sucked in a deep breath and shuddered: "Who- no wait- when is your actual birthday?"

"July 31, 1980," Harry answered truthfully.

Marlene's blue eyes widened in shock: "You've not even been born yet!" The ghost of a smile tugged on the corner of her lips: "I feel like an even bigger cradle snatcher right now..."

"Don't." Harry chuckled: "The year was 2005 and I was actually 25 years old when I was sent back. If anything, I'm the cradle snatcher..."

"So, I was enticed and even lost my innocence to an older man; how scandalous..." A small burst of laughter escaped the blonde's lips.

"That means you've gone back 30 years." She hummed thoughtfully: "Regardless, you definitely looked about my age when we first met; you still do."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, perhaps a bit broader and taller than the average male..." She admitted sheepishly while her hands trailed down his chest: "I'm sure I would've caught it if you'd been wearing some glamor charm all this time. What happened to you?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself." Harry sighed: "I somehow de-aged by a few years when going back, at least physically that is."

"Well, don't try to change a thing." Marlene smiled with a gleam in her eyes. "I prefer you just like this..."

She continued playing with his hair, still biting her lower lip, obviously deep in thought. Finally, she turned to him again, hesitating ever so slightly: "You're a Potter, aren't you?"

He nodded slowly, holding her gaze: "My name, my real name, is Harry James Potter."

"I can't believe I fell in love with a bloody Potter." Marlene groaned, scolding Harry when he buckled with laughter: "Oh, you be quiet, you prat!"

"Okay, okay." He grinned sheepishly.

"But that means- wait a minute..." She brushed a lock of ebony hair from his forehead, her eyes locked with his before they widened in shock: "Morgana's saggy boobs, you really do have her eyes; they look almost exactly like Evans'."

"I've been told I have my mother's eyes all my life." Harry gulped. He held up his hand, flashing the golden ring on his finger: "Even my grandmother, Lily's mom, stated as much when I called them with the stone."

"That's why you were so devastated when they were killed." Marlene's expression fell: "You've never met them in your time, have you? And now they were also taken from you before you even had the chance to get to know them."

Harry closed his eyes and merely nodded slowly, forcing down a sharp stab of pain and guilt.

"I'm so sorry, Harry." A soft pair of lips brushed against his forehead, lingering for a few seconds: "If only you had told me, I might've eased your pain."

"I wish I'd shared it with you sooner." Harry sighed in frustration: "It was unhealthy to bury all those emotions."

"Evans and Potter then..." Marlene shuddered before a series of small chuckles had her buckling: "I can't believe I was jealous of your mother. How ridiculous does that sound?"

"Wait, you were?" Harry laughed.

"Well, of course I was!" Marlene rolled her eyes and pouted: "She's pretty and smart and you got along so well with her and- Oh, Merlin..." A hot blush crept up the blonde's pale cheeks: "Promise me you'll never mention that teasing remark I made in Greece again! You know... the one before we talked about spicing things up with a time turner..."

'Oh, that one.' Harry cringed at the mere thought: "Yeah no worries. We should most definitely forget about that."

"However, I can't believe you played matchmaker for your own parents." Marlene giggled trying to change the subject: "Were you seriously worried that they wouldn't find one another?"

"Oh no, I knew they eventually would, I just wanted to save them both the same pain and heartache by giving them little pushes here and there." Harry grinned.

"Ugh, now I'm thinking about Potter and Evans making a small version of you." Marlene wrinkled her nose: "The thought is almost as adorable as it feels wrong."

"Yeah, I agree," Harry said wholeheartedly before they fell into a content silence once again.

"Assuming you didn't lie to me when you shared that your parents were killed when you were one year old- " Marlene returned to the topic at hand, studying him warily: "Is that why you came back in time then? To kill Voldemort and stop him from murdering your parents in the first place?

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, but as of now it's pretty much the plan," Harry admitted.

"But why go back to 1975 specifically?" He felt her fingers tense in his hair. Looking up, he caught her eyes sparkling heavily with emotion: "And what happens to you once you achieve that? What happens to us? Are you going to leave me and return to where you came from?" Marlene finished almost desperately.

"What- no, no, of course not!" Harry quickly tried to ease her nerves: "I never planned on going back in time, it was more of an accident and I'm pretty sure there's no way back for me anyways."

"And- and what about me- "

"Even if there was a way for me to go back, I wouldn't ever consider it, not even for a second." He gently cupped her hand and brought it lower until it rested over his chest, right above his heart: "This life might not be some utopia, but it's everything I've ever wanted. My family is here; you are here. I won't let either of you be taken from me."

"Good." She nodded slowly, taking a few deep breaths of relief while blinking away a tear that had threatened to spill.

"Wait a second, what do you mean it was an accident?" Marlene cocked a delicate eyebrow: "How does one just travel 30 years back in time by accident?"

"It's a really long story." Harry sighed. A small smile crept onto his lips as he thought back to the beginning: "I was just accepted as a junior Unspeakable and tasked to repair their time turners. You should probably know that a few years earlier I destroyed the entire inventory the British held in the Department of Mysteries while escaping some Death Eaters with my friends..."

"Oh, I can't wait to learn more about that one." Marlene snorted, shaking her head in amusement: "What happened then?"

"I'm not too sure." Harry shrugged: "Something went wrong when I tried to fix a time turner that wasn't completely broken yet. I recharged it with some sand by turning the wheel, but three turns later I suddenly found myself in the same room but with very different furniture."

"How strange... three turns." Marlene hummed: "Each of them for a decade you went back."

"Exactly."

"There is so much more I'd like you to tell me, Harry." She continued roaming through his hair: "I feel like I can finally get to know the person I came to love."

He thought for a few seconds before responding: "I won't hold anything back, however, many of the things will sound unbelievable unless you actually see them for yourself..."

"Oh, please." Marlene huffed, tossing her golden curls over one shoulder: "I've been dating you and putting up with your ridiculous adventures for over a year now. I've seen you do things I'd never considered possible. I doubt you could show me anything that tops that."

"Fine, you asked for it." Harry let out a chuckle: "How about this then... When I was fourteen years old, I won the Triwizard Tournament. In the first task, I outflew a fully grown, nesting Hungarian horntail on my broom and stole one of her eggs."

Marlene gaped at him in shock, unable to say anything for a few seconds: "They actually reintroduced that foolish competition?! And you out flew a dragon on a bloody broom?!"

"Yep..." Harry laughed upon seeing her reaction: "Eternal glory. That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament." He cited Dumbledore's speech from the night of the selection, snorting audibly: "Well, it's not like I needed any additional glory or fame."

"And why is that?" The blonde challenged: "You were fourteen, Morgana's sake! What possible deeds could have granted you glory at that age?"

"You will find out soon." Harry straightened up on the bed and turned towards her: "I think I'll need to start all the way at the beginning for this to make any sense to you."

"I'd like to see it." Marlene nodded her head eagerly: "I tried not to show it, but it always bothered me how much you knew about my past, while I know pretty much nothing about- " She paused and studied him for a few seconds: "If you parents died when you were barely a year old, and you were sent to live with muggle relatives, then you must have lived with Evans' sister and her fat oaf of a fiancé, didn't you?"

Harry felt his mood drop almost instantly at the mere mention of them: "I did, and it was not a pleasanttime."

"What did they do to you?" The blonde's fingertips stopped gently massaging his scalp. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Harry could swear that her ice blue eyes darkened by a few shades.

"It's not something I've ever enjoyed talking about." Harry turned away from her: "I was very different back then, weak, small and naive..."

"You were a child, Harry." Marlene cupped his jaw, gently raising it until he met her gaze: "You're allowed to be all those things at that age; you're supposed to be those things."

"Whatever they did hardly matters anymore." Harry stiffened as a cold ripple of hatred towards his aunt, uncle, and cousin passed through him: "Lily and James' child will never have to see the Dursleys in this time. I'll make sure of that:"

"Will you still show me?" Marlene asked carefully.

"I promised to do so." Harry merely nodded: "It will probably be healthy for us when you know everything as well."

"How will you show me?" Marlene's eyes dipped to the lowest drawer of his closet: "In the Pensieve?"

"It's our best option I suppose." Harry agreed with a nod.

He straightened up and allowed the tip of the Elder Wand to poke out from underneath his sleeve. The click of a lock echoed through the room as the drawer opened. With a second wave of his wand, Harry summoned the Pensieve, leaving it hovering above Marlene's lap: "You won't feel what I felt, merely see what I saw. You'll be a witness, a bystander, but perhaps it can still give you some impressions of what my life was like."

"What will be the first memory?" Marlene watched him curiously as he brought the tip of his wand to his temple and withdrew it soon after.

"One of the happiest days in my life." Harry placed the silvery string onto the surface of the Pensieve and gave it a small stir: "The day I was told that I'm a wizard."

7 Hours Later

Marlene was thrown out of the Pensieve as the memory ended. Panting heavily, she steadied herself on both arms before looking up just in time to catch Harry leave as well.

Hatred bubbled in her stomach when she looked into her boyfriend's eyes. Eyes that looked so much like those of Harry's counterpart they had followed for almost an entire day. If it hadn't been for those eyes, Marlene would have hardly recognized her boyfriend. How could she when he was severely underfed and wore ragged clothes at least three times his size? The mistreatment and abuse had been evident in those green orbs.

"I'm- I'm going to kill them." Marlene managed to hiss through clenched teeth, hurling herself into his arms: "I'm not joking, Harry. Next time I see those muggles I will actually kill them. How dare they treat you that way? How dare they abuse their own blood like that?"

"There's no excuse for what they did," Harry admitted, his thumb trailing soft, soothing circles over her back. "But killing them now won't undo what crimes they didn't even commit in this time."

"How did you attend that funeral and managed to stand their presence?" Her fingernails curled into his robes, clinging on with desperation as if those filthy muggles could take him away at any point: "I would see them dead even if it only granted me the tiniest glimmer of satisfaction."

"Let's not waste any more thought on them." Harry gently took her hands into his, cradling her against his chest: "What else do you think? I know it was a lot."

"It really was." Marlene nodded solemnly. The scenes she had witnessed passed in front of her inner eye like a continuous muggle film. Harry received his letter and is told he was a wizard. Him doing his shopping in Diagon Alley and being reintroduced to a world he had never known existed.

'Still, there was one single scene that stood out.'

"The moment you told me you came back in time, I started wondering what happened to me wherever you came from." She swallowed heavily and searched his gaze. "The Gamekeeper, Hagrid, he mentioned my surname. What did he say again?"

"He referred to Voldemort." Dark shadows hovered in the depths of Harry's eyes when he slowly parted his lips. "No one ever lived after he decided to kill them, and he'd killed some of the best witches and wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts."

"My- my entire family is dead?" Marlene frowned. Coldness seized her heart: "All of us? My parents, my brothers, my uncles, even our cousins?"

"As far as I know, none of your kin was left." Harry swallowed: "But it won't be that way this time around. I promise."

"I don't understand how that's possible." She shook her head: "If it wasn't for you, then my father would have gone along with the courting agreement Lestrange proposed to him." A small shiver ran down her spine and a surge of anger spiked through her: "I would have likely been married off to the pig at this point already."

"I don't think you ever went along with it." Harry shook his head: "Perhaps you ran off, or something else happened, but Rabastan Lestrange never married in the future. I also know that- that- " He swallowed and blinked: " -that you were killed roughly a year after I was born. Your name was still McKinnon at that point. My mother mentioned it in a letter to Sirius that I found."

"If, if I die and we never met- " Worry crept into her mind, poised her thought: " -is that why you singled me out so quickly and why you started dating me in the first case? Did you just pity me?"

"Wait- what? No, of course not!" Harry frowned.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am! Dozens of wizarding families were wiped out during the war, on both sides." He kissed her slowly, his touches lazed with emotion until she felt her own lips curl back into a small smile. "I became interested in you before even knowing your name because you blew my mind the first time we met on the train."

"I remember telling you off and calling you Potter." Marlene chuckled, remembering when they had almost collided: "I guess I wasn't so wrong after all."

They fell into a comfortable silence once more, during which Marlene pondered over what else she had learned. Suddenly she remembered a detail that surprised her. Sliding back onto Harry's lap, she brushed an ebony curl from his forehead to examine the skin.

"It should be barely noticeable by now," Harry said knowingly.

"How can such a scar be completely healed by now, when it looked incredibly recent on your 11-year-old self?" Marlene challenged. She wrinkled her brows in confusion: "What do all these people celebrate you for anyways? Did you actually survive Voldemort's killing curse? How is that possible?"

"It was ancient magic in its most rudimentary state; we used it on a few occasions already," Harry explained patiently. "The magic that made us stronger."

"Abstract blood magic." Marlene gasped in realization: "A sacrifice; a life for a life. She gave her life to save yours. That's why you always admire her whenever you mention her."

"Both my parents paid the ultimate price and gave their lives to save mine." Harry corrected her: "The only difference is that I don't doubt for a second that my mother knew what she was doing. You know Lily Evans; she is a proud witch. My mother would never beg for anything unless it was to trick Voldemort into creating the very protection that will destroy him one day."

"Protection..." Marlene whispered, her eyes darting up to where the scar had been so many years ago: "Her sacrifice was supposed to be permanent."

"The ability to bridge time is the main advantage of sacrificial magic." Harry nodded: "It ended up favorable for me, just not quite the way my mother might have imagined."

"Because he didn't die that night, did he?" Marlene frowned: "I've seen his Horcruxes, I've destroyed one of them. What do you become when your body is destroyed, but your soul is split in fragments?"

"I'll show you," Harry murmured, bringing the tip of the Elder Wand back up to his sleeve and retracting it soon after.

"What memory is this?"

"My first encounter with Voldemort." Harry grimaced: "At the end of my first year."

It was in the early hours of the morning when the couple emerged from the Pensieve again.

"Incredible." Marlene felt out of breath almost as if she had run a marathon: "Absolutely unbelievable... And you were not even 12 years old."

"A lot of it was luck." Harry snorted: "Quirrell was a dumbass and it would not be the first time Voldemort underestimated me."

"When he fled his servant's body- " Marlene whispered: " -he looked like a wraith, without any solid form."

"When the killing curse rebounded off of me and struck him, Voldemort was ripped from his body, he was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost... But still, he was alive." Harry almost sounded like he was quoting someone: "He once told me himself that even he didn't know what he had become, despite dabbling into the deepest secrets of the dark arts."

Marlene hummed thoughtfully. "Something I don't understand yet is that he said your parents didn't need to die that night. He almost made it sound like he came specifically for you. Why would he want to kill a baby?"

"I asked those exact words to the Headmaster as soon as I woke up in the hospital wing a few days later." Harry's expression darkened: "Unlike him, I will share the truth with you. Voldemort came for me because of a prophecy that had been made before my birth. Said prophecy mentioned that when the seventh month dies a child will be born. That child will be the Dark Lord's- "

"Equal," Marlene whispered. Another small riddle, which she had pondered over for months, finally solved itself.

"Exactly..." Harry looked at her in amusement, a small proud smile playing on his lips: "Very impressive... I seriously doubt I would have been able to keep my secrets for another year. You're undoubtedly the smartest pureblood witch of our generation..."

"Knowing what I do now, I will gladly share the number one spot with your mother," Marlene smirked, brushing her lips over his: "When you said those words to Avery in the Chamber, I just knew there was more to it. A real prophecy then..." Marlene's mind traveled back into the high dark hall with shelves stacking up to the ceiling: "Was that all there was to it? Who made the prophecy?"

"I had to wait for five long years to find out." Harry grinned and pecked her right on her pout: "You'll have to be patient for a few more visits to the Pensieve as well. Things will only be more complicated from now on."

"Fine." Marlene kept the pout on her lips and turned her nose up: "But I better not see you starting something with that bushy-haired, know-it-all muggle-born. The way she hugged you seemed a bit too friendly for my liking."

"Hermione and I had always been just friends." Harry shook his head with a chuckle: "Fair warning though, there will be two girls at some point."

Marlene dragged the dark shadow of an unknown girl at Harry's side far away, burying it underneath thick layers of his recently made affirmations.

She tossed her blonde curls over one shoulder: "I doubt they could be prettier or better suited for you than I am. You're forgiven for those slip-ups since I wasn't around to set you straight anyways."

"I thank you for being so generous, my positive little harpy." Harry chuckled in amusement.

She slid back into his lap nestling herself tightly against his warm body: "But now you're mine. Only mine."

"I'm yours, love." Harry kissed her until she felt her toes curl and the feeling of warm butterflies spread from her stomach through her entire body: "And you're mine..."

"You know I am." She sighed contently, resting her head against his while Harry's hands roamed upwards from her back to play with her long curls.

"The Mirror of Erised," Marlene murmured absently, her eyes closed: "What do you think you'd see if you were to stand in front of it right now again?"

"I know exactly what I'd see."

His instant reply had the blonde open her eyes in surprise: "And what is that?"

"My heart's desire hasn't changed since I was an eleven-year-old boy." Harry held her gaze, his green eyes boring into hers with an intensity that had her shudder.

"Just your family then?" Marlene granted him a small smile, trying to stiffen the small stab of frustration that pierced her insides.

"Yes..." Harry's breath hitched: "But there are two new faces now..."

Her eyes snapped back up to him, studying him nervously: "New faces? How?"

"All I used to see were people with ebony or auburn hair. My past family; a family I now had the chance to get to know." Harry swallowed heavily. He absently started playing with a strand of her hair until his eyes focused back on hers: "But the new faces... They're not framed by those colors. The new faces are framed by long golden curls."

Her heart pounded so heavily within her ribcage that she was almost certain Harry could feel it with how tightly they were pressed against another: "And what do they look like; the new people?"

"The first is a young woman." Harry's hand reached in between them and searched for hers: "She's standing right next to me, holding my hand just like this." He intertwined their fingers, squeezing them softly: "She's tall and proud, and the most beautiful person I've ever met..."

Marlene looked down at their intertwined fingers. His simple touch had her skin tingle; she felt like she was on fire: "And what does the second person look like?"

"She- she looks like a miniature version of the woman standing next to me." Harry swallowed: "The only difference is her eyes."

"What about her eyes?" Marlene asked in the faintest whisper.

"Whereas her mother has piercing blue eyes, shimmering like a glacier in the sun, hers look more like mine; like two bright green emeralds that sparkle in the darkness."

"Perfect." She kissed him with everything she had, pouring a multitude of emotions into where their lips were attached, hoping to make him feel exactly what she felt. Harry responded just as eagerly, groaning into her mouth, his fingers digging possessively into the flesh over her hips while she gently rocked in his lap.

"A baby girl then..." Marlene hesitatingly broke the kiss when the need for air became too much. She looked deeply into his eyes, which smoldered with desire. A small smile tugged on her lips: "But why a girl?"

"I'm not too sure." Harry shrugged, merely letting his eyes roam up and down her body, pausing slightly on the swell of her breasts: "I suppose it is easier to imagine. She will undoubtedly be a smaller version of you; as beautiful and smart as her mother."

"A girl sounds nice; I always wanted a younger sister." She batted her eyelashes at him, enjoying the reaction she elicited from such a small gesture. "But I also wish to give you a proper heir one day. A son to carry your name. Our name..."

"It hardly matters whether it'll be a boy or a girl. I don't think either of us would want to stop after the first one, no?" Harry asked, crushing his lips back on hers.

"No, we don't." Marlene replied with ragged breath in between the short breaks she was granted before his lips claimed hers again in heated kisses, full of desire and passion: "We can continue as long as we'd like. If we're blessed enough by Mother Magic, there will be a healthy mix by the time we're content..."

"It will be something we made all by ourselves." Harry pulled her closer to himself, allowing her to feel exactly how his body was reacting to her. His fingers curled underneath the straps of her blouse, shrugging them off: "I know they will be perfect; all of them."

"How could they not be?" Marlene moaned when his lips brushed down her neck, leaving a burning trail of kisses: "Each of them will bear only the best of both of us."