Meet the Potters

This is nice...Narcissa thought to herself as she sipped her glass of white wine. Harry had gone all out, she noticed. The restaurant was beautiful, the food fantastic, and best of all, Harry hadn't mentioned either of her sisters once during their date. I take it back, this is heaven...

Narcissa had no problem admitting to herself that she was insecure. Harry, she knew, would have been happy to marry Bellatrix and only Bellatrix. But he'd rescued her from Lucius Malfoy and she didn't have words for how grateful to him she was. "Harry, I have a question...what are your plans once Riddle has been dealt with?"

Harry paused as he cut into his steak to think for a moment, "Well...honestly I hadn't given it any thought, I mean beyond the 'living with my family happily ever after' part of it. I'll probably stay teaching Defense for at least a few years. Why do you ask?"

She shrugged and sipped her wine again, "We are quite wealthy now, but eventually there will be at least a few heirs to our family names. We have to provide for them. Besides that, I wondered if there was something that appealed to you as a job." For Narcissa, it was becoming a medi-witch. She'd always been fascinated by healing magic and how a skilled healer could bring someone back from the brink of death itself. There was power in healing, and being a Slytherin, she liked that aspect. One could call in quite a few favors if the right people were kept alive because of their talents.

"Well," began Harry, "I like teaching, so I could see doing that. When I was younger I wanted to be an Auror, nearly a decade of constant attempts on my life took care of that urge, for a while I wanted to play professional Quidditch, but I think I'm a bit too old for that now." Harry rarely talked about his old life, and Narcissa found that she wanted to know everything she could about it. She wanted to know more about her future husband, especially with their wedding date looming. In roughly six weeks, I'll be Narcissa Fawkes, the Lady Peverell... She thought to herself.

Dinner ended and the two walked out hand in hand. Narcissa leaned in and gave Harry a kiss flavored both with her wine, and the dark chocolate mousse she'd had. "I wish this didn't have to end...do you think we could spend the night at a hotel?" She frowned internally at the pleading she heard in her voice.

He smiled and pulled her into an embrace, "Of course we can. This is your night, after all, whatever you want is what we'll do." Harry meant it too. He had been ignoring Narcissa when they were at Hogwarts. It wasn't fair to her. She deserved an active partner.

The hotel they chose was a comfortably lavish one near the Kings Cross Station. Checking in as Harry and Nancy Potter it was a simple matter of paying in cash and acting appropriately snooty to get past the front desk without being asked too many questions.

Narcissa loved the hotel room. This would be the night Harry would learn a valuable lesson about his fiancee. She quickly became addicted to television. Harry's plans for a night of romance withered in the face of a night watching 'Are you being served?'. I can't imagine the Narcissa Malfoy of my time watching a comedy...or anything really. He thought with a bemused expression as she lay on the bed beside him, giggling at a ribald joke delivered by Mr. Lucas.

Eventually, though, the television was turned off and the pair lay under the sheets together. Sleepily Narcissa looked into his eyes, "Harry," she began, "Do you ever think about the other me...the one you knew before?" Seeing those memories of the broken woman she'd been in his original timeline had filled Narcissa with terror. She never wanted to see herself like that. She was like...I was like a walking corpse...

Harry drew her up against him, "I think I pitied Narcissa Malfoy more than I ever hated her. It's true she allowed horrible things to happen, but she never took part in them. To be honest, I believe she allowed Lucius free reign because she just didn't care anymore." He stroked her cheek gently, "That's not you. The Narcissa Black that I know is brilliant, passionate, and will never have to worry about being a plaything to someone like Lucius Malfoy."

She kissed him then, putting every ounce of passion she had into that kiss. "No more words..." She whispered as he felt her cool hands touch his warm skin, "Lay with me until we cannot stay awake any longer." She pressed a kiss to his chest and then another as she began to tug at his clothes.

Harry had never had many good dreams. Here and there he saw himself with his family, or perhaps having a normal life. This dream was different.

He was with Tonks again. She'd been the second witch he'd ever been with. After Ginny died he'd felt numb and that numbness had nearly gotten him killed more than once. She'd decided that the best way to pull him out of that numbness was to throw him onto the bed.

Afterward, they'd fought. Understandable, he'd lost his wife a few weeks earlier and she had essentially forced him to have sex with her. Her reasoning that he was too important to lose himself to grief fell on deaf ears. Still, she'd stuck with him.

They'd even had a child together. Teddy, named after her father, was the joy of their lives.

Then she'd died in the Battle of St Mungos, cursed by Dolohov.

Now she was back in his arms, kissing him fiercely as if to make up for lost time.

"Make love to me again," She pleaded even as her hands traced his back.

Harry looked into her eyes, "Dora I..."

"What's the matter? Replacing me already 'Daddy'?" With that, Tonks vanished, replaced by Narcissa, "Is this better?"

Harry awoke with a start. Reaching for his glasses, Harry looked at the clock, it was nearly four in the morning. He looked at his side, Narcissa was shaped almost like the letter 'C', as she curled against him, her head resting on his chest. Harry put back his glasses and went back to sleep, trying to put the image of his second love out of his mind.

Scene Break

Sunday at Hogwarts found Sirius Black in a dilemma. He needed help with his Potions homework. James was no help, Remus was busy with his Hufflepuff, Peter was working on his own essay for Charms, he had no other option. He would have to speak to Lily Evans.

He could admit that she was the smartest person in their year when it came to Potions. Peter was a fair hand at them, but Lily seemed to devour everything Slughorn taught when it came to brewing. Problem is, we haven't had a single polite conversation this year...

Still, no one would call Sirius Black a coward. He rose from his bed and made his way down into the empty Common Room. Well, it was supposed to be empty. He found the very witch he was looking for sobbing as she looked miserably at a letter. "Ev- Lily, are you alright?" He asked as he came to her side.

"I'm fine." She said, sniffling and folding the letter quickly before he could look at it. "What do you want to Black?" She asked him, trying to look tough but utterly failing thanks to her red-rimmed eyes and sniffling nose.

"I wanted to ask you a favor." He said, "But you are obviously not alright. Will you please tell me what's wrong?" Sirius didn't know how to explain it, but the look on her eyes made him want to try and comfort her. He decided to try the same thing he'd did with his mother. He put his arm around her.

The dam broke and Lily, in spite of herself began to sob against him. "It's my s-sister P-Petunia..." She managed, "She sent me a letter telling me not to come h-home. She said we're...we're freaks!" She continued to sob as Sirius, at first frozen by shock, managed to slowly pat her back.

"You are not a freak, Lily. You are possibly the smartest witch at our school, and you're the only person I can think of who sees any good in Sniv- in Snape. You are a good person, and if that makes you a freak...then I'd rather be a freak than whatever your sister thinks passes for acceptable." Sirius said quietly, turning the embrace into an actual hug. "I'm sorry for the way I've acted around you..."

Lily drew in a calming breath, "It's...it's alright. I just...everything has been so crazy this year. First, your cousin gets engaged to Professor Fawkes, then you nearly die in an attack at his wedding to your other cousin..." She looked up to him, even now with watery green eyes and skin blotchy from crying, Sirius had to admit she was probably the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

"You know," Sirius said, trying to make her smile, "We could send her a Howler, D'you think your parents would mind her getting shouted at?" The idea of Petunia being screamed at did, in fact, make Lily smile, not only smile but giggle as well. She squeezed Sirius tightly, giving him a strong hug.

That was the moment that James Potter came downstairs.

Damn... Sirius thought as he saw the look in the eyes of his best friend. "Sirius, what's going on?" James asked him, "Why are you hugging Lily?"

"None of your business Potter." Lily managed, wiping her eyes and breaking from the hug, "What Bl- what Sirius and I do is no concern of yours." With that, she walked away leaving the two boys and making her way out of the Common Room.

"What was that Sirius?" James asked, "You know I like her!" Sirius found that he didn't like the whining edge in James' voice.

"I wasn't doing anything! She was crying, so I gave her a hug...it's no big deal." Sirius defended himself, "Besides if we were to like each other, what's the big deal? It's not like we have to get married."

Peter Pettigrew looked up from his work with a smile. He knew that he wasn't the best student when it came to Charms, but he felt like this paper might actually get an Exceeds Expectations, maybe even an Outstanding! He thought to himself. A gurgle in his stomach told him that it was time to go downstairs, James and Sirius are already downstairs, I hope they haven't been waiting for too long...Peter thought as he stood up. He came down to find two of his best friends shouting at one another. Sirius stormed out of the Common Room leaving James panting as the excess adrenaline left his body.

"What happened James?" Peter asked, looking at his red-faced friend with concern,

James took his glasses off and shakily cleaned them on his robes then put them back, "From now on, Sirius and I are not friends. He betrayed me." James never thought Sirius would do something like this. They had been like brothers from the moment they first met.

Peter wrung his hands nervously. This was not his forte. He wasn't the friend who discussed problems, he was the friend who...well...okay, if he was honest with himself, he tended to be more 'lackey' than 'friend' proper, but they were all he had. "What happened though?" He asked again.

James frowned, "I caught him with Lily." He wouldn't go any farther. Just the thought of Sirius hugging Lily made him angry, furious even.

Peter sighed softly and watched as James went back upstairs. Maybe he'll be in a better mood when I come back...Peter thought as he reluctantly left the Common Room on his way to the Great Hall.

Sirius didn't know where he was going, only that he needed to be away from James and the Common Room. He found that he was in the Great Hall and sat down without paying attention to where he was. Being a Sunday, it wasn't mandatory that the students sit with their Houses. So, at the table were a collection of Gryffindors, but also a Hufflepuff and a pair of Slytherins. He finally looked up and noticed that he was sitting beside Remus, who was sitting across from the fifth year Hufflepuff, Jane Thornton who were going over their review work.

Beside Thornton sat her best friend, Alexandra Tate. Tate, a Slytherin ignored the goings on of her friend in favor of thumbing through 'Quidditch Digest' as she lazily spooned eggs into her mouth. Alexandra was by far the tallest one at the table. She had messy white-blonde hair and large blue eyes that devoured the magazine in her hands. Beside her sat another Slytherin, one that Sirius should normally loathe being near.

Severus sat quietly as he and Lily went over their Potions textbooks. Finally, she looked up and noticed him, "Bl- Sirius, you're here without Potter?" She asked quietly, "I hope it wasn't-" She stopped when he held his hand up.

"It wasn't you, Lily. James is just being a prat. Give him a few days and he'll be fine." Sirius said, hoping that he sounded more confident than he felt. He looked over at Lily's book, "Believe it or not," he said quietly, "I was going to ask you about Potions when I came downstairs this morning.."

"Well, you're welcome to study with us, provided you don't harass Severus," Lily said, ignoring the soft scoff from her dark-haired friend.

"I promise," Sirius said, deciding that he could at least try to be polite.

Lily turned then to Snape, "Sev, would you mind helping Sirius and I with the review for last weeks lesson?" She asked him, before turning to Sirius, "The swelling solution was very difficult wasn't it?"

Sirius nodded. Snape, however, looked dubiously to Lily. "How do we know this isn't a trick by Potter?" He wouldn't put it past them. Severus Snape was a relatively sharp young wizard. He knew the foursomes' penchant for trickery. The only reason he had ignored Remus' presence at the table was that he was oblivious to everything except the paper in front of him and the face of the witch across from him.

"I swear, on my magic, that I am not here as a trick, prank, or lie." Sirius said seriously, "Right now I'm not in the mood to work on anything with James, so I especially don't want to join him for any pranks."

Lily beamed and looked at Snape, "See Sev? Now, let's get back to the review..." The trio began to work on their studies, not noticing the small blonde boy who watched them from the entrance. Peter couldn't believe what he was seeing, Sirius, Evans, and Snape sitting together? This had to be what James was talking about. Even Remus is there! Quickly, Peter turned and made his way back up the stairs towards the Common Room, he needed to tell James what was going on.

Scene Break

When Narcissa woke up she found herself greeted by a wondrous sight. Harry had ordered room service for them. The cart by their bed was practically groaning with all sorts of wonderful smelling foods. The man in question, judging by the sounds, was inside the bathroom taking a shower. A naughty thought came to her mind and she slipped out of the bed and made her way into the bathroom.

Harry was washing his hair when he felt a pair of hands snake around his waist. Blinking in surprise, he cursed as the shampoo stung his eyes. He heard a giggle and turned around, squinting at the nude form of his fiancee.

"I hope you're happy. I have shampoo in my eyes." He said sullenly. Narcissa giggled again and turned him back around, nimble fingers working into his hair.

"Just close your eyes and I'll put some water in your face to wash it out." She said leaning into him and kissing his shoulder, "I've enjoyed this, having you all to myself..." She whispered against his ear as she turned to put some water in her hands. She poured it over his face, taking the stinging shampoo from around his eyes.

She turned him around and kissed him deeply, when his arms cupped her bottom she lifted herself, allowing her legs to come around his waist, "We don't have to be back until tomorrow morning," She all but hissed as she felt him rubbing against her, "Let's stay today as well."

She groaned as he moved, she positioned herself better to slide him inside. Task accomplished, she pulled his head down to her breasts, "In any case, we aren't leaving this shower until the hot water runs out, or your legs give out."

The hot water in the luxury hotel they'd chosen lasted the longer of the two. Harry's legs eventually weakened and they were forced to retreat back to the bed. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world... Harry mused if we stayed here another day...