– – – – – Rebirth Chapter 26 – – – – –

Sirius Black walked with heavy tired feet, down the stairs, past the foyer and through the hall towards the kitchen. He passed the open door to the living room and heard the quiet voices of Harry and Dominick from within and chuckled tiredly in amusement that the two boys could actually be up so damned early. Freakish morning people. He walked into the kitchen and yawned loudly as he made his way to the coffee pot and tapped his wand on the top, instantly causing it to hiss slightly as hot water began to fill the pot and turn black. He heaved a tired sigh and smiled happily as the smell of coffee filled the room.

He had just come down from a annoyingly short 'nap'. After sunrise he had helped an exhausted Remus up into his own room after yet another rough full-moon, and then had gone into his own room to collapse on his bed. It had only been about two and a half hours since then, but he had known he needed to get out of bed. Remus would be out for most of the day, but he would have to check on him in an hour to make sure all the scratches were healing, and the boys might want to do something for the day, requiring his presence. Maybe he could get some pepper-up potion from the Chemist downtown.

He really needed to get a better stock of potions in the house. At the moment, all he had were a few healing pastes and some pain potions... and a few hangover draughts. He'd only really stocked up on the things he'd need for Remus for the mornings after his monthly trials.

Harry, in his animagus form, had joined Sirius and Remus for about half the night, but had then went off to bed. Which bed... Sirius wasn't sure. He wasn't sure he wanted to know either. It was... very... odd, to think that Harry's... Harry's lover from his previous life was here now.

Sirius could, rationally, get himself to acknowledge that Harry wasn't really eleven years old. The kid certainly acted older. The way he spoke sounded older than any kid. Sirius believed what Harry had told him. That definitely wasn't a problem. The whole story was crazy, but he believed it. Still – rationally accepting that something was the truth was different then looking at someone who looked like a kid and convincing yourself that they weren't really a kid.

Sirius Black had grown up in the magical world; grown up in a world where the impossible was common place. Just the same, he was having a very difficult time wrapping his mind around everything that had been happening to him recently. There were times that he wondered if he was actually still in Azkaban, and he had finally lost his mind and was just living in a delusional world of his own creation.

But he knew that wasn't possible because he was no where creative enough to have thought up something so unbelievable as this.

He'd spoken with Harry and Dominick a bit more the previous night but the two had mostly kept to themselves, and Sirius had needed to put most of his focus on Remus and preparing for the full moon. Remus was obviously nervous about having Dominick in the house during the full moon. He'd been on the brink of Flooing to Hogsmeade and going to the Shrieking Shack, but Sirius had managed to talk him out of it after casting several extra sound silencing wards around the basement and the room that Remus would be spending the night in and adding even more locks.

Sirius didn't know yet if Harry had told Dominick about Remus' Furry Little Problem. It obviously wasn't Harry's secret to tell, but Sirius knew that Harry trusted Dominick and... well, he wouldn't be surprised if Harry had let it slip. Part of Sirius had actually wondered for a moment about the possibility of bringing Dominick in on their full-moon activities, in his own animagus form, but there was really no way to explain it away. It had been difficult enough to buy that one eleven year old could have some how managed such a transformation at such a young age, but two? No way. It was just far too impossible. Remus wasn't that gullible.

Sirius filled his mug with coffee, added a little cream, and sat down at the small round table in the breakfast nook. He sighed heavily as he slowly sipped at his mug.

Remus.

Sirius felt incredibly conflicted about this whole thing. He would stay by Harry's side, like he'd said; there was no question of that; but he hated lying to Remus. He desperately wished that Harry would consider bringing Remus in on the Big Secret.

He was sure that Remus would believe it. He was also fairly sure that Remus would also chose to stand by Harry even after the truth about Harry's whole past life thing was revealed. Remus was still grateful to Dumbledore for the opportunity he'd been given to teach, and for what the man had done for him when he was younger, but he also knew not to trust Dumbledore either. The aging Headmaster clearly had ulterior motives in regards to Harry. This whole mess with some crazy prophecy, the fact that Dumbledore knew all along that Sirius hadn't been the Secret Keeper and yet he had left him to rot in Azkaban... and the very real possibility that he'd done it just so that he could maintain control over Harry's life... well, it left a very very bitter taste in both men's mouths.

And as insane as the truth about Harry's rebirth and the whole past life thing was, Sirius had to admit it was also slightly amusing. Overwhelming and difficult to believe, but definitely amusing. It was like the most outrageous prank ever pulled. Sort of defying death, but... crazy. And no one knew! No one suspected them. Because, honestly? How could someone ever suspect something so unbelievable?

But he supposed that was why Harry was cautious with who he told. No one would ever guess the truth, but once you were told... well it was still unbelievable, but it also explained a lot. All the weird, confusing, and inexplicable things about Harry made a lot more sense if he had the memories and experience of an adult wizard behind him. And if Dumbledore suddenly realized that all this effort he'd gone to, to try and control Harry's life was wasted because Harry wasn't really some naïve child that could be manipulated... well, there was no telling what Dumbledore would do then. He obviously wanted Harry for something – most likely to do with that damned prophecy – and was hoping he could just nudge Harry into what he wanted. But what would he do when he realized that wouldn't work? Sirius really didn't know, and Harry obviously didn't want to risk finding out.

Sirius was pretty good at Occlumency. There were undoubtedly other wizards who were better at it, but Sirius knew he was still better than average. His father never would have allowed him out of the house and into Hogwarts without knowing his son could at least tell if someone was trying to use Legilimency on him. The Black Family valued it's secrets above all else, and paranoia was practically a secondary family motto. Sirius had been tutored in elementary Occlumency starting the summer he turned ten, all the way until the following summer when he left for Hogwarts.

Then he was sorted into Gryffindor.

After that, Sirius' father didn't really care much anymore. He was too disappointed. Sirius rolled his eyes, bitterly.

Sirius had let his studies in the mind arts slack considerably after that, but he never completely forgot what he'd learned and the foundation he had, provided a good starting point for his Auror training when near-mastery of the skill had basically been mandatory.

Remus did not have that advantage. He didn't come from an old pure-blood family that hired expensive specialty tutors for obscure mind arts. Remus' family had been decidedly middle-class. Not wealthy by any means, but they had been comfortable enough... well, they were until Remus had been bitten.

He and James had tried teaching Remus a little Occlumency while they were in Auror training. Remus had wanted to try and learn it since he was joining the Order with them, even though he wasn't going into a career that required a skill like Occlumency. Plus, Remus would never pass up an opportunity to learn. But they'd been rather pressed for time and pressured with everything involved with starting a new life fresh out of school. So much had been going on at the time with the war, the Order, starting new careers, and then Lily had gotten pregnant...

Sirius sighed and ran his hand through his hair as he took another deep gulp of his cooling coffee. He could understand Harry's reluctance to tell Remus. Even if the man did suddenly become good at Occlumency, it didn't change the fact that he would be around Dumbledore on a daily basis for nearly ten months out of the year. It was highly unlikely that Dumbledore would go rooting around the minds of his teachers unless he felt like he had a seriously desperate reason for doing so – they were adults after all, and even without being able to keep Dumbledore out, Remus would know the man had tried to use Legilimency on him, and he could easily press charges for such an attack. Using Legilimency was illegal after all...

Still, the risk existed. And the less sensitive information Remus knew, the less temptation there would be for Dumbledore to do such a thing.

That didn't change the fact that Sirius hated hiding things from Remus. He hated lying to him. Remus was... well, aside from Harry, Remus was all Sirius really had keeping him going. They were like life-lines for him. His motivation to keep himself together. His reason to keep moving forward.

Harry needed him, and he would keep himself together so that he could be there for Harry. He wasn't stupid – he knew that the reason that Harry had gotten him out of Azkaban was because he wanted his help. Needed his help. And Sirius was going to make sure he held up his end. It didn't matter if Harry was the reincarnation of some wizard who died decades ago, Harry was still James' son and his godson. He had promised James and Lily that he would look after their son if anything happened to them, and he meant to keep that promise.

Okay, so the kid wasn't exactly a kid like he'd expected, but it was probably better that way. He was no father figure. He'd never been cut out for something like that, and he honestly wouldn't have known what to do with a kid. He would have felt lost with some kid suddenly totally dependent on him when he was still feeling just barely beyond being lost and desperately trying to pull together some semblance of a life.

So he would hold it together to do what he could for Harry. But he was also holding it together to prove to Remus that he could. That he didn't need to be supported or taken care of. He was a grown man and he could take care of himself. More than that. He could take care of others as well. And he would. He would look after Harry and... and his newly discovered second cousin – a strangely amusing and still very weird thought – and he could look after Remus too. If the damn stubborn fool would just let him.

Because Azkaban had made him realize a great many things.

What's really important. That silly insecurities are a terrible reason to keep things hidden when you care about someone...

Sirius brought his mug up to his lips but found it empty. He blinked down into the stained cup and chuckled weakly at himself before sighing, standing up and placing the cup into the sink. No sooner had it touched the bottom when Dobby appeared looking excited and exceedingly chipper.

The little guy quickly asked if Sirius wanted breakfast started. He honestly wasn't very hungry but decided he'd go ask the 'kids' if they wanted food and told Dobby to wait a minute and he'd go find out.

He wandered out of the kitchen, across the hall and came to an abrupt halt at the entrance to the living room.

On one of the couches further into the room, Dominick was sitting in the center of the couch with Harry straddling his lap, a knee on each side of his hips, sunk into the couch cushions. Dominick's hands were wrapped possessively around Harry with one perched clearly on Harry's rear and the other moving up and down his back, fisting the fabric of Harry's shirt. Harry's hands were in Dominick's previously neat hair, fussing it into an utter disarray with quite a bit of enthusiasm, and the pair were engaged in a rather heavy snogging session.

There was obviously a lot of tongue in that kiss. And heavy rutting. Yup. Lots of rutting. Harry was quite enthusiastically grinding his hips against the other boy beneath him, and the other boy... oh... he's moaning now... and thrusting upwards.

Their lips broke apart and Harry's head fell back on his shoulders with a euphoric expression as Dominick began to attack Harry's neck with his tongue and open-mouthed kisses. Dominick's hand released Harry's shirt and slipped away from his back and snaked in between them and down the front of Harry's pants, and Harry moaned...

Sirius jerked himself away from his position of stunned shock and quickly spun around and left before he could witness anymore. He would ask them about breakfast... um... later. Much later.

He hurried back into the kitchen and told Dobby to hold off on food. They'd probably wait to have a meal until lunch, unless the boys came in and asked for something sooner than that. The elf looked a bit distressed, but Sirius finally managed to get him to scurry off to the cupboard by the pantry. Sirius sat back down into the chair he had occupied earlier and let his head fall into his hands as he hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees.

That had been... bizarre... and intense... and wrong. But maybe not, he thought, correcting himself. Not really. They weren't really eleven and twelve. Not really.

It was another one of those 'rationally knowing they weren't really kids' versus what your brain and eyes naturally thought and saw. Seeing two young boys doing... that... Well, it was blatantly obvious they'd done something like that before. It wasn't the awkward exploration or experimentation of two twelve year old boys. That was intimate and experienced.

They would definitely have to make sure they didn't do that when there was the chance that Remus just could walk in on them. They were lucky that Remus was out for the day thanks to the full moon.

Sirius sighed and shook his head in his hands. It was a lot to take in so suddenly. The introduction of Dominick had added a new level of reality to Harry and his past-life story. And Harry had seemed so legitimately happy about the arrival of the other boy... er... man. They were clearly very happy with each other right now, that was for sure.

Sirius realized that he really needed to get to know this Dominick person more. He didn't even know what his name used to be in his past life. It was also rather insane that he was related to him in this one. Sirius had met the kid's father, his cousin Ignatius, of course. Not many times though. Sirius' father hadn't been terribly close with his sister Lucretia during Sirius' childhood. They'd remained much closer with Sirius' mother's side. His uncle Cygnus and his three daughters. Sirius had always gotten the impression that his father didn't entirely approve of Lucretia's marriage to Ignatius Prewett Sr.

The man wasn't a blood traitor, exactly, but some of his family... And Aunt Lucretia had slowly distanced herself from the rest of the family after her marriage to the man, which meant when she had her son, he'd been distanced from them all as well.

When he was growing up, it had always seemed to Sirius that since Ignatius Jr. was a 'Prewett' and did not carry the 'Black' name, that it wasn't as important to maintain ties with them. Sirius was just as related to Ignatius as he was to Bella, Cissy, and Andy, but he'd seen them almost constantly growing up, while only seeing Ignatius a hand full of times.

So it really wasn't surprising that he'd never known Ignatius had a son. It was strange that the boy would grow up not knowing who his father had been, considering that Ignatius had done the proper ceremonies to name the kid his heir. But according to the family tree Ignatius had died the same year that Dominick had been born. The kid had been about three months old when his father had died.

If Dominick did the same memory ritual that Harry did, wouldn't he remember that time? Wouldn't he have realized that his father was a wizard?

Unless Ignatius was living as a muggle during that time... which seemed unlikely, but it's not like Sirius knew the man very well. He could have been living in hiding. Sirius had no idea if his cousin had had any involvement in the war. Of course, any old pure-blood like Ignatius who would willingly chose to marry a muggle woman would be an instant target. Blood-traitor.

So much to think about. So many questions.

And the only people with answers to any of his questions were in the other room, snogging. His godson and his cousin's son, were snogging.

He wondered for a brief moment if he should talk to them about... stuff... but quickly squashed that thought. They were grown men, right? Grown men in the bodies of young boys, but mentally and emotionally they knew how to... er... not hurt each other. Merlin, this was awkward to even think about, let alone ponder talking to them about it.

He would hold off. If anything, he would talk to them about being discreet, but that was it.

– – –

Harry's second week of summer, and his first week spent with Tom at the house, passed surprisingly quickly. It was a week of transition by nature, and everyone was adjusting to the new arrangement with relative ease, all things considered.

Sirius had engaged the 'boys' with what was obviously an extremely uncomfortable (for him, at least) conversation about discretion that had left Tom mildly annoyed, and Harry very amused. Harry had promised that they would make sure to avoid any public displays of affection if there was any chance of Remus, or anyone else, walking in on them.

They also promised him that they were taking every precaution they felt necessary when they were in either of their rooms together. Each night they would each retreat into their respective rooms, Tom would cast a proximity alarm and lock his door and then cast 'vallumportus' on the wall between their rooms, creating a door there and walk right into Harry's room.

The first night in several decades that the two had spent in the same bed, Harry decided, was the happiest night of his second life. Wrapped up in Tom's arms – even if they were thin, somewhat gangly twelve-year-old arms. It was Tom, and he was sleeping beside him. Things were finally right again.

Not only was this Tom's first week in the house, it was also Remus' first week in the house. Although the first two days were spent mostly resting and recovering from the full moon, which was probably good since it meant he didn't have as much energy to closely scrutinize Harry and 'Dominick' as the pair enjoyed finally being in each other's company again after so many years apart. This lack of attention was also important because Harry had slipped a couple times and called Tom 'Tom'. He had managed to play it off by pretending he'd said 'Dom' instead, and no one questioned it.

Tom was less than thrilled with the nickname, especially when Sirius picked up on it and started using it as well. The only person who had been allowed to use the name 'Tom' during the last... well, forty years, basically – was Harry. Or, rather, Heri. He hadn't allowed anyone else to use his birth name. The only person who had dared use it without his permission had been Dumbledore, and he'd done it with the obvious intention of annoying him.

The opportunity to get a new name with relative ease, had been nice and convenient, and he somewhat liked the name Dominick. He had quickly corrected Sirius, insisting that he greatly disliked the nickname 'Dom' and that Harry only called him that as a tease.

That didn't seem to work in stopping the man's use of it. If anything... it seemed to provide incentive to use it more often since the man seemed to equate bonding with teasing, which only served to significantly annoy Tom. There were a few times that Sirius teased Tom in one way or another and quite clearly using the name 'Dom' with the purposing of 'teasing' and Harry had seen a furious gleam in Tom's eye that gave him worried pause, but each time Tom had managed to reign his temper in within moments and reapply his mask.

While Tom still disapproved of how much information Harry had trusted Sirius with, he was willing to acknowledge that Sirius had his uses and doing anything to the man would be extremely counter productive. Especially since Sirius was already working on the whole adoption thing. Since he already had the experience from his efforts to acquire custody of Harry, Sirius already knew exactly who he needed to contact to get started on the whole process, and so far things were progressing fine. No one really cared if Sirius Black tried to adopt some kid that appeared out of no where, so there wasn't any worry about someone contesting it. The only roadblock was the fundamental tedium of Ministry bureaucracy. They were simply waiting on how long it took for paperwork to make its way through the Ministry.

It was about four days into the week when Remus was finally back up to full working order that he had suggested the group pay a visit to Diagon Alley so that they could get Dominick some new things of his own. No one saw any reason to argue with the suggestion. Harry had no qualms with getting out of the house for a change. He and Tom had basically spent the last few days holed up in Harry's room, or in the house's small library with books that they'd spelled to appear innocuous.

Harry also needed to visit Gringotts, however the thing was that he needed to visit his old vault, not his Potter trust vault. Sirius knew he had another vault, but obviously Remus didn't, and he wasn't about to let the man find out, either. He would only be able to get down to the vault if he could do it without Remus present. He would have to play it by ear.

Tom was more than willing to help though – especially considering that Harry was going down to his old vault so that he could gather up all the old Grimoires he had stored down there, so that Tom could now make use of them. Harry had them all basically memorized, and had seen little point in keeping many of them with him. Now there was a valid reason for digging the out of storage. Tom could finally read the damn things.

After the group arrived at Diagon Alley Harry and Tom suggested the plan of the group splitting in two. Harry and Sirius headed to Gringotts while Tom and Remus went to Madam Malkin's to start fitting Tom for his new wardrobe. When Harry and Sirius entered the bank the two split off going to two separate counters and presenting two different keys. Each was quickly escorted to the carts and taken to their respective vaults.

Harry tried to get his things collected as quickly as possible. He'd brought his space-expanded knapsack with him, shrunk down and tucked into the inner pocket of the light weight outer robe he was wearing over a forest green tunic. He unshrunk the bag and quickly set to stuffing as many of his Necromancer books and supplies as he could find in the few minutes he'd given himself before finally shutting it, re-shrinking it, and stuffing it back in his pocket.

He and the goblin arrived back on ground-level about five minutes later than Sirius, who had only gone down to refill his spending money pouch, but the man didn't mind waiting. Minutes later they were back out on the street and heading towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Tom had always had expensive taste in clothes, and Harry could tell that the man was having difficulty restraining himself. If he'd been using his own money, he wouldn't have restrained himself at all, but there was no easy way to explain away Tom's substantial funds to the two adults. Tom didn't have a vault with the goblins with some special inheritance trickery like Harry did. He'd never trusted the goblin bank with his money. Not specifically because of they were goblins – no, he hadn't trusted the fact that no matter how autonomous the goblins pride themselves in being, they still have to occasionally bow down to the whims of the Ministry.

If the Ministry had gotten wind that the Dark Lord had a vault at Gringotts, they would have no doubt insisted on being allowed to seize the contents. And the goblins would have eventually bowed, albeit bitterly, to the pressure.

No... Tom's money had been hidden in numerous secret caches all over Britain. Some of his funds were still inaccessible to him even now, because he's basically trusted them in the hands of some of his followers. Never anything too substantial, of course. The muggle idiom 'never put all your eggs in one basket' was one that Tom believed in whole-heatedly.

For the sake of his global travels, Tom had collected quite a bit of funds for his use and still had a reasonable amount on him, even now. But he was supposed to be an orphan who had spent the last two and a half years as a ward of the Greek government, being passed around from one foster home to the next. A scenario that did not, in any way, leave his strange surplus of funds reasonably explainable.

So, instead, he was left to rely on the financial backing of his 'second-cousin' and his generosity. Tom had no qualms with this, but he did put on a show of 'not wanting anyone's charity'. This required him to hold back a bit in the quality of his new clothing, which Harry could tell slightly annoyed the man... boy... whatever.

After clothes shopping at Madam Malkin's was done, Sirius dragged them off to Twilfitt and Tatting's because they apparently had a section of muggle-style clothing to choose from. Tom had momentarily sneered at the suggestion but had masked it quickly enough. The group went in and made their way over to the section of the store that had racks of muggle clothes to choose form. Harry and Tom both took one look at the selection and snickered quietly before turning to Sirius and telling him that they were wasting their time in there and if the man honestly wanted muggle clothes they were better off going to an actual muggle store.

Wizards had always been pathetic at understanding muggle fashion, and that clearly hadn't changed at all in the last fifty years.

The two 'boys' dragged the adults out of the store and the group refocused their shopping towards other needs. Sirius dragged the group to Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop and Sugarblum's Sweets Shop, while Harry and Tom both insisted on stops at Obscurus Books and Flourish and Blots. They ended with a visit to Wiseacre's Wizarding Wares where they picked up some things for Tom's bedroom so he could personalize the space some.

Harry could see Tom eyeing the Magical Menagerie every time they'd passed it as they had made their way up and down the alley, and apparently Remus had noticed as well because just before they were preparing to leave the alley for the day, Remus suggested a visit to the pet store by asking Harry if he needed to get any treats or supplies for Hedwig. Of course, if the real reason was just so Harry could get owl treats, they could have just as easily gone to Eyelops Owl Emporium, not the Magical Menagerie.

Tom looked legitimately hesitant with the suggestion and Harry knew why. If Tom got himself a 'pet', he'd be looking for a snake. No question. And Harry knew that Tom probably really missed having a snake, and it was no doubt why he'd been eyeing the store.

But a snake was just... well, it was too obvious. Plain and simple.

The group entered the store and Harry quickly restocked all of the supplies he needed for his owl while Tom casually browsed the numerous animals. Harry walked over to him as the two adults were distracted and they eyed the reptile cages.

"You know you can't," Harry said quietly.

Tom sighed, quite heavily, but nodded his head with a resigned look. "I know," he said back, just as quietly.

He reached into one of the large open tanks and gently ran his fingers over the back of a rather large boa constrictor and smiled softly as the beautiful snake hissed out it's approval. Another quiet sigh escaped Tom's lips before he retracted his head and turned away from the tank.

Harry watched Tom's retreating form with a small, soft smile. Maybe he'd find some way to get Tom a snake when they got to school. Assuming they could get the other boys in their dorm to be okay with that... assuming that Tom got sorted into Ravenclaw.

Harry shook his head and quickly followed Tom to the front of the store. Remus was asking him if he'd seen any animals that caught his fancy and Tom simply gave the man a very small smile and shook his head 'no'.

Harry couldn't help but feel slightly amused at how much effort Remus seemed to be putting into making 'Dominick' feel welcome and accepted in their 'family'. Of course, Remus honestly believed their cover story, and he was a very compassionate man. Sirius knew that Dominick wasn't really a kid, so he was mostly just giving he and Harry their space. Remus was trying to... well, he was sort of taking on the role of pseudo parent.

For as much as it amused Harry, it clearly annoyed Tom. Or at least, it was clear to Harry. Tom had kept his masks in place well enough that Remus hadn't yet picked up on any sense of annoyance. If anything, he probably thought that Tom was just rather anti-social – understandably so, considering his supposed experiences in the foster system.

Finally the group left the store and Floo'd back home via the Leaky Cauldron.

– –

Tom and Harry had escaped to Tom's room with the numerous bags of clothes and books to unload his new things, but it was only about an hour later that they were called downstairs for dinner. Remus had spent almost the entire meal talking with Tom about his life and experiences so far; asking questions about where all he'd lived, things he'd done with his mum, about he and Harry's time in muggle primary school, and his time spent in Greece.

Harry and Tom had adapted some stories from their actual youth to fill in the stories about their fabricated childhood friendship among muggles growing up in the 80's – after all the best lies are half truth – but the stories that Tom told about his childhood as Dominick Parker, and about his mother were surprisingly fleshed out and completely foreign to Harry. They were not adaptions from their youth back in the 30's or any life that Harry was familiar with, and yet they were extremely believable, and Tom almost didn't appear to be lying, which seemed odd because Harry could almost always tell when Tom was lying.

Dinner was finished and the conversations lasted a bit longer while they all sat in the living room for some time before Harry and 'Dominick' excused themselves to go up to Harry's room. The two entered the room and Harry locked the door and set up the standard privacy wards he always cast around the room that would alert him if anyone approached the door and inform him of who it was who approached.

Tom had already climbed onto the bed with his back propped against the headboard and reached for the Grimiore he was currently in the middle of from the bed-side table. Harry climbed into the bed and snuggled up against Tom's side, sighing happily. The bed was full-sized, but the two of them were relatively small still, so it was plenty roomy for the pair. Just the same, Harry had always been rather cuddly and affectionate in bed – something that Tom had always snickered about. Despite his playful teasing, Harry knew Tom liked it and had absolutely no inclination to give the other wizard any space.

Tom had his legs bent up and supporting the book resting there. One hand was free to turn the pages but the other had instantly slid around Harry and was absently carding through Harry's long black tresses. Harry sighed in contentment as Tom's fingers massaged his scalp and was about halfway to slipping into unconsciousness when a thought passed through his mind.

"Hey Tom?" Harry said, opening his eyes and looking up at the other 'boy' who was intently focused on the book in his lap.

"Hmm?" Tom hummed, not looking up from his book.

"Where'd you come up with those stories from 'your' childhood with 'your' mum? They were really well worked out."

Tom seemed to freeze in his reading, frowned slightly and sat up a bit straighter. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it again a moment later and took on a look that seemed to say that he was trying to work out just what to say. Finally he turned entirely towards Harry and Harry scooted himself so that he was now sitting up, back against the headboard.

"I... didn't actually 'come up' with them. They're actually... well, true." Tom said.

Harry blinked at Tom with obvious confusion for a moment before he spoke. "Wait... what?"

Tom chuckled slightly and shrugged. "This requires a bit of explanation, actually," Tom began as he reached over to the bedside table on his side of the bed, picked up a bookmark and slipped it into the book and closed it. "When I took ownership of this body there was nothing left of Dominick. He'd left it an empty shell as far as I could tell. All of my memories from my life had stayed with my disembodied spirit and when I took ownership of this body, my memories filled this mind. However as time passed, I became rather frustrated with some of the limitations of this body. I suppose I would say that this body was probably very average in just about every way. This meant, of course, that it was lacking in comparison to my own former body.

"I... missed the convenience and precision that my old eidetic memory granted me. During my travels across the world, I took a few breaks to do some research into enhancing rituals, and tried to determine what would suit my needs best and what I could actually perform on this body considering it's age. Last Halloween I performed one that would enhance several things I found lacking; my physical memory and recall, being the most prominent improvement."

"Wait, last Halloween?" Harry cut in.

Tom frowned and nodded. "Yes, why?"

Harry snorted. "After last Halloween Lucius sent me a letter informing me that his mark had burned, that's all. I guess it was a result of this ritual you performed."

"Ah. Not terribly surprising," Tom said with a small nod. "Anyway, the ritual had an unexpected side effect. Not only did it give me improved recall and precision of my own memories, I suddenly had access to about nine years worth of memories that weren't mine. I guess that the life experiences of the actual Dominick Parker were still chemically imprinted on my physical mind and the ritual I performed was enough to bring them out." Tom sighed slightly and shrugged.

Harry blinked at him with obvious surprise. "Wait... so you actually remember this kid's life?"

"I remember some of it. I recall my own memories with very sharp precision, but the memories from my body's life before me are a bit patchy in places."

"Why didn't you mention this before?" Harry asked, somewhat incredulously.

"It didn't seem important. They're not my memories. They don't matter."

"That's got to be so weird," Harry murmured as he looked away, slightly unfocused and pondered how odd it might be to suddenly have nine-years worth of someone else's memories suddenly in your head. "I guess it'd probably be like that if you dissolved the memory filter on your astral tether and suddenly remembered all your past lives..."

"What was that?"

"Oh, I was just thinking... well, you remember way back when I first performed the ritual to allow me full access to my astral mind? Where I destroyed the filter on my astral tether?"

"Yes."

"Well, you know how at the time, I didn't know yet if I'd lived previous lives before that. If I had, I very well could have come out of it suddenly remembering countless lives before my present one."

Tom scowled deeply. "Yes... I remember," he said sharply through tightly clenched teeth.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on. Don't be like that. It's been decades."

"Yes, but you never warned me about that particular possible outcome until it was too late to turn back. What would I have done if you'd had all these countless past lives suddenly crammed in your head and had woken up and –" Tom cut off suddenly, looked away and scowled at the wall.

Harry sighed heavily and reached out to rest his hand over Tom's. He'd felt guilty about it for a long time and was currently berating himself for having brought it up again. As much as he'd sort of wished to have memories from some long-ago past lives, in the end he was grateful that he'd been such a young soul just because of how upset Tom had gotten by the whole possible revelation.

But Harry had wanted to do it and wasn't going to let Tom's fears stop him. He'd been convinced that, no matter how many past lives and memories he could have gained, he would still love Tom just the same. Old lives wouldn't negate the importance and power of his current one.

Tom hadn't been quite so convinced. He'd been afraid that Harry would suddenly change. That he would suddenly become someone else entirely by gaining memories of all his past lives. Past lives that, fortunately, hadn't existed.

"But doesn't this prove that you're fears are... well, unwarranted?" Harry asked suddenly, causing Tom to look back and scowl at him.

"Unwarranted?" he hissed out in obvious annoyance at Harry's word choice.

"Well, what I mean is... you suddenly remembered Dominick's life – at least nine years worth of his life – and that didn't change you, did it?"

Tom rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Of course not, but his was nine spotty years of inconsistent memories, versus my entire lifetime worth of crisp, precise, memories. There was no competition. You're situation could have very well been hundreds, if not thousands of years worth of memories, that could have easily overpowered your twenty-five years of memories..." Tom stopped and huffed in annoyance. "This is an obscenely pointless argument."

Harry chuckled weakly and nodded. "Yes, it is."

The pair settled into silence for a while and Tom sighed quietly a few times before Harry spoke again. "So what's it like... remembering Dominick's memories? I mean... I'm guessing you don't remember anything about his father..."

"It's rather... strange. And no, I have no memories at all that pertain to his father. His mother never discussed the man at all. The boy seemed to instinctively realize that it was a tender subject for his mother and never asked either."

Harry nodded his head. "Did he... did he have a happy childhood?" Harry asked quietly as he looked at the wall to his side.

Tom was quiet for a long moment before he nodded his head. "He did. He... he loved his mother, and she loved him. They were very close."

"And you remember all that as if you were him?" Harry asked, looking at Tom now with barely contained curiosity.

"I do," Tom replied very quietly.

– –

During the start of the next week, a letter was finally sent off to Hogwarts to inquire about getting 'Dominick' registered for Hogwarts and what would be needed to get him started straight into second year.

McGonagall replied with some sort of pamphlet that was given out to the very few transfer students that Hogwarts accepted from time to time with information about where a student was expected to be with each of their magical subjects, and informing them that if Dominick wanted to start in second year, he would have to pass some equivalency tests to prove he was up to the task.

This would obviously not be a problem for him, so a reply was sent back asking for a time to be scheduled for Dominick to come and take the tests.

Remus offered to go over some of the textbooks with Dominick to help him prepare, but he had declined as politely as possible and instead Harry and Tom had retreated to 'study' alone. A day later they had retreated down to the basement potions lab with the excuse that they were going to practice potions since it was something they could do without worry of the getting in trouble for underage magic use. Remus actually informed them, as they were about to retreat to the basement, that he'd be gone for most of the day anyway because he was visiting Hogwarts.

Apparently McGonagall had asked each of the teachers to come in for a few hours at some point over the next week to help her put together tests in each of the subjects for Dominick. It was extra convenient because Harry and Tom weren't going to the basement to practice potions.

They got down there, locked an warded the door, and then Harry promptly pulled the Philosopher's Stone out of his pocket and made his way over to the large brewing bench to get things set up. The Stone was placed in a small metal ring that held it about eight inches off the table and below that they put a glass phial.

It took them about fifteen minutes to figure out exactly how to trigger the extraction process for the Elixir of Life, but once they had a steady dripping stream slowly began to trickle from the stone and into the jar.

It started out like beads of condensation on the surface of the stone that collected until they gained enough to start dripping down. It was a slow process, but fortunately the two had brought books to entertain them. Harry had one of the parseltongue books he had retrieved from the Chamber, while Tom was reading one of Harry's Necromancy Grimoires. It was an amusing reversal.

In the end, it took three hours to fill the glass jar to the top. They stopped the Stone's 'perspiring' and Harry slipped it back into his pocket while Tom took the contents of the jar and split it in half, between two bottles, each charmed to be shatter proof. They intended to keep one for their own studies, but the other was prepared and sent off, via Hedwig, to Severus Snape later that afternoon.

– –

"Well, Remus, I must say... that is quite a story," Minerva McGonagall mused as she sat in her straight-backed chair in the office of the Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Remus Lupin was sitting in a chair opposite her desk, hunched over and making a few notes on a piece of parchment in front of him while a stack of notes lay on the desk beside him from the previous years worth of first year classes.

He was writing out some of the fundamental topics introduced during the year so that Minerva could incorporate them into the test she would be giving Dominick to see if he was really ready to start straight into the second year.

"Yes..." Remus said slowly as he finished writing a line and sat back up. "It was really quite a surprise."

"I can only imagine. Having some boy just show up out of nowhere and discover he's Sirius' long lost second cousin..."

"And that he was Harry's friend growing up!" Remus remarked before chuckling weakly and shaking his head. "Quite a shock for all involved. Harry and Dominick most especially I think. I doubt either of them would have ever guessed that they're sort of distantly related. They're obviously very close and have been for quite a while. I think that they really missed each other after Dominick and his mother moved to Greece. I got the impression that Harry had been hoping he would see Dominick when he started Hogwarts and had been quite disappointed when the boy didn't attend last year. I've been watching them over the last week, and I have to say, I don't think I've ever seen Harry smile quite so much."

"They went to the same muggle school, you said?" McGonagall asked as Remus handed over the parchment he'd been preparing.

"Not exactly. They attended different primary schools, initially, however they were both identified as 'gifted' by their schools' staff and each day they'd be bussed away to a separate building where classes were held for exceptional students so that they could be challenged. That was how they met."

"So this Prewett boy is also... 'gifted'?" she clarified, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Yes, I don't doubt it at all. He's clearly a very bright child. A bit cold and stand-offish at times, but given how he's had to live the last two years, I certainly can't blame him."

Minerva nodded her head and sat back in her chair slightly with a pensive look. "A Prewett... Didn't think I'd ever teach another one of those..."

"Yes, that was quite a shock as well," Remus agreed before smiling and chuckling slightly. "You should have seen Caradog's face... you remember Caradog Caedmon of course, don't you?"

"Oh, yes."

"Well, he works for the Magical Historical Society now in their family trees department and he was the one who performed Dominick's test. He was downright ecstatic when he got a look at the tree. You should have seen his face when Dominick agreed to allow him to add it to their collection."

"He always was enthusiastic about history," Minerva mused with a smile smile curving the corners of her lips.

"Yes, he was," Remus chuckled. "We were all pretty shocked, of course. It's still pretty amazing to think that Dominick is related to Gideon and Fabian."

"You know that the Weasley's are Molly's sons, right?" Minerva asked.

"Right, right. They were all listed on the tree as well, of course. I didn't get to know Molly very well, though. Only met her a few times. I suppose the only reason I got close to her brothers was because they were in the Order. Molly was out of Hogwarts before I started my first year, after all, and Gideon and Fabian were four years ahead of me."

"The Prewett twins..." Minerva sighed. "And now we have the Weasley twins... amazing how much they look alike."

Remus chuckled weakly and sighed. "Yes... they remind me a lot of them too. I have to admit that I think it was the antics of Gideon and Fabian that really inspired James and Sirius to..." his voice trailed off and he suddenly cleared his throat and looked away guiltily.

Minerva pierced him with a reprimanding glare for a moment before it broke into a small amused grin. "Yes... I know. Although as much trouble and Gideon and Fabian got into during their years here, I have to say you four got into an awful lot more."

Remus gave her a sheepish grin.

"So, back to our new transfer student... you say he's had no official schooling while he lived in Greece?"

"No, he couldn't afford private tutors, and since the Ministry there had him down as a muggleborn he wasn't granted admission to Durmstrang. Although he says he did a lot of self study and bought a lot of second-hand text books in order to teach himself."

"Self study is well and fine, but it rarely runs equal with directed instruction."

Remus nodded. "I agree, although Dominick seems to be quite a focused and studious type. He and Harry have been spending a lot of time in Harry's room and the house's library with Harry's text books reviewing over things. I think Harry is really hoping to have his friend in the same year as him so they seem to be giving it a lot of effort."

"Well, if anyone can bring him up to speed it's Mr. Potter. I doubt I've ever seen a more studious and talented Ravenclaw than he. And he's such a help with the other students in class."

"Yes, he is," Remus agreed with a proud smile.

"So how long as Mr. Potter known Mr. Prewett?"

"Apparently they met when they were six and seven years old. Harry had some vague memories from his childhood about the magical world, and apparently even at age six he was already experimenting with his accidental magic. He witnessed Dominick perform some accidental magic at some point and approached him. They apparently became fast friends after that."

"Remarkable..." Minerva said with a slightly stunned look to her. "That boy never ceases to amaze me. He's mentioned his intentional practice of his 'accidental' magic before, but I must admit I didn't realize he'd been able to form any semblance of control at such a young age."

"Dominick could as well, apparently. They used to practice making things float, unlocking locked doors, and turning their classmates hair blue," Remus said with a small chuckle.

Minerva's eyes widened quite a bit but her lips remained a rather thin line. "Can they still do it? Wandlessly?" she asked after a minute.

Remus looked curious for a moment. "You know, I'm not sure. I'd go ask them to show me but... would performing wandless magic come up on the Trace?"

Minerva hummed thoughtfully. "I'm not actually sure. Obviously it wouldn't set off their wand Trace, but the Ministry still might pick it up on Harry's personal Trace. I doubt that Mr. Prewett's Trace – if he has one at all – is connected to our Ministry since it was likely applied when he was visited in Greece when he was ten. So he very well might still be able to perform some sort of magic without alerting anyone at the moment. Not that I'm condoning such a thing," she ended with a pointed look.

"Of course," Remus added quickly. "Well, you can always ask him for a demonstration when he comes for his placement test."

"That's true. I know that skill in wandless magic is rare, but it does happen from time to time with children. Of course they usually lose the skill once they become accustomed to relying on a wand," Minerva said.

"Yes... I wonder if Harry has tried to use any of his wandless abilities since he started at Hogwarts..."

"It would be interesting to find out if he still has a talent for it after a year of Hogwarts instruction," Minerva mused. "Something you could ask him about come September, I suppose.

Remus hummed and nodded his head as he looked thoughtful.

Minerva began to skim through the parchment that Remus had handed to her a moment earlier and the room fell into silence. "From what you've seen of Mr. Prewett, what house do you suppose he'll be sorted into?" Minerva asked suddenly, not looking up.

"Oh... I suspect he'll be in Ravenclaw with Harry.

She hummed absently and nodded her head. Finally a moment later she looked up. "Well, I believe that this will do fine. All I'm waiting for now is for Severus to owl me with his questions for Mr. Prewett and I can schedule a time for the test."

"That's great."

"You can tell Mr. Prewett that I'll be sending an owl when everything is ready."

– – –