Chapter 3 A Talk With Friends and More Research

Hydrus invited Ron and Hermione to the house, the week before Hogwarts was to start. He was sitting in the parlor, his face glamored to look like his old self with his glasses in place, waiting for them to Floo in. He made sure to put all of his research in his pocketspace, so Hermione wouldn't ask questions, knowing how inquisitive the bookworm was. The fireplace flashed green and his curly-haired friend came through, followed by the youngest male Weasley.

The former Potter got up and engulfed Hermione in a hug. "It's good to see you, Hermione," he said when he pulled back. He took in her appearance and noted that her eyes were still rimmed with red, but her face looked like she had been resting a little. So he had to wonder if she was still researching or crying. She look like she was taking better care of herself, her hair was styled and she had applied either non-magical make-up or charms.

"It is good to finally see you too, Harry," Hermione said as she looked him over as well. He looked the same, just healthier. "You're looking well. Have you been working out?" she asked, seeing he was a bit more toned. "They've missed at the Burrow, you're making Molly upset. You should at least visit once in a while," she whispered so that Ron wouldn't start a fight.

The dark-haired wizard rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I've done a little exercise. Does it really show?" he asked, ignoring the chastisement for now. He had read that doing even a basic workout program helped to clear the mind and steady your magical core. So he had gone to the nearest gym and got a fitness coach. It was nice to hear it was paying off.

"You do look better," she complimented, letting his evasiveness go for now and with one more roaming look she stepped aside so the two males could acknowledge each other.

"Alright, Harry?" was Ron's standard greeting. He clapped the shorter man on the back as he went past him to sit on one of the chairs. Tension was still tight with these two after the argument they had over Hydrus' money. The younger man didn't understand the redhead's stance; if he offered money to the Weasley he would be ridiculed for think that Weasleys accepted charity. If he kept his wealth to himself; his friend would state that he was being greedy. He just couldn't win.

"Alright," the new Black said, he then guided Hermione to a chair and then took a seat on the sofa.

Kreacher popped in and asked if anyone wanted anything to drink. Hydrus asked for some tea, Ron wanted a butterbeer. Hermione glared at the both of them for making the old house elf work, and declined the offer. The old elf popped away and was back in seconds with the request. He then went back to his cleaning.

"I can't believe you still have Kreacher," the curly-haired girl started, "you should have set him free the second you inherited him." She shot her friend a piercing glare.

"Hermione, at his age if I set him free he'll die from the shock. You really should do more research on the giving of clothes, because to a house elf it is the worst thing you could ever do to them," the young man defended himself. "Let's not argue, you guys are going back to school soon and I want to spend a nice day with my friends."

"Alright, Harry, but we will be talking about this again," Hermione conceded, for the moment.

The immortal shook his head, that girl will always have a blind spot on this subject. He really couldn't blame her it was her upbringing; non-magical history was riddled with people fighting slavery, after all. He took a sip of his tea and looked at his two friends, they seemed to be uncomfortable. "What's got you two so bent out of shape?" he asked.

Hermione sighed and her eyes watered. "I can't find a way to get my parents back. I went to Australia to see how they were doing. They are so happy, I almost want to leave them be," she said and the tears poured down her face.

The younger man set his cup down, got up and sat on the arm of her chair. He pulled her into a tight one armed hug. "Oh, Hermione, I'm so sorry," he commiserated. "What are you going to do now? I mean, are you going to keep researching, or are you going to let it be? Whichever you choose I'll support you," the young man said.

Ron sat back with a huff, he had been listening to his girlfriend go on and on about it since they came back from Australia. She would make plans, research and then suddenly change her mind. The redhead tried to understand, but, it was hard for him, since he had the emotional range of a teaspoon. To his way of thinking if her parents were happy with their new life then the girl should just let it go and spend more time with him. He never understood why she got angry when he said that.

Hermione wiped her tears with a handkerchief she got from her bag, pulled back from the hug and gave her friend a watery smile. "I'm going to put off a decision for a few months. I want my parents back, however, if they are happy then who am I to take that from them. Besides, they might never forgive me for what I did. I just don't know what to do, so I'm going to take some time and think about the pros and cons."

He gave a small chuckle and said, "I'm sure you already have a list started."

"Oh, you," she said as she thumped his arm playfully, causing the young man to laugh and move back to the sofa.

The dark-haired wizard then turned his attention to Ron. "So, what's got you so unhappy?" he asked.

"You," the redhead snapped. "With you gone, Gryffindor might as well just hand the Quidditch Cup over to one of the other Houses and be done with it."

Hydrus sighed; leave it to Ron to only think about the Cup. "So you want me to go back to Hogwarts and face all those people who think I'm the new Dark Lord just so Gryffindor can win at Quidditch?"

"You did it before," came the defensive comeback.

"And I was miserable," he retorted.

"Well, yeah, but you survived."

"Ron, I'm not going back to Hogwarts. Ginny is a good seeker, so you guys will be okay," the dark-haired teen said with a tone of finality.

"Whatever," Ron said with a sulk. If it hadn't been for his mum's and Hermione's nagging he wouldn't be going back.

"Harry, are you sure you won't come back? Education is really important," Hermione asked in a worried tone. She wondered how Harry was going to get a job if he didn't have his school credentials.

"I'm sure," Hydrus said as the glanced her way. "I've already talked to McGonagall and she said as long as I'm of age and I have my OWLs then I don't need to go back." That tidbit of information had been nice to learn. Not that he planned on getting a job, but he didn't want the Ministry breathing down his neck either.

"I could talk to her and see if she can't get everyone else to leave you alo…" Hermione said a determined look in her eye.

"No," the younger wizard interrupted, "that won't work. It'll actually make it worse. Besides, the teachers can't be everywhere." He knew Hogwarts was extremely understaffed compared to other schools. "And even if the students were caught, what would happen? They'd lose points and further blame me for that. No, it is better that I do my own studies."

And awkward silence filled the room as each young adult mulled that over. Hermione, after a few minutes, nodded her head in understanding, while Ron was still lamenting about the Quidditch Cup.

"What are you going to do about your NEWTs?" Hermione questioned, once again.

"I'm planning on self-study. When the time comes I can take the test privately."

"That's wonderful," the curly-haired girl replied. "If you need any help, just owl me and I will do my best," she offered.

"I think I'll be okay. But if I need you I'll let you know, I promise," the dark-haired man said sincerely.

"So, what was in the vaults? And did you ever find out why they left them to you?" Hermione inquired, changing the subject. Not realizing it was a sore topic for the other two in the room, Ron having not told her about the disagreement.

"There were some knick-knacks and gizmos in three of them. The Black vault was filled with Dark stuff, so I had Kreacher get rid of them," Hydrus hedged, he knew if he told her everything she would figure out his plans. "There were some journals in my family vault. I got to read about my parents' hijinks in school. Mum's diary talked a lot about Snape, while Dad's was mostly about the Marauders. They were pretty cool," he said in what he hoped was a casual voice. "I only found out how one of the vaults came to me. The last Frostwell wrote that he wanted me to have his stuff, so it wouldn't be confiscated by the goblins," he lied. He didn't mention the gold, because he didn't want to fight with the still sulking redhead.

"I guess that's understandable, the others probably felt the same way. Can I see some of the devices? There might be something useful," Hermione asked excitedly.

"Sure," he said fondly. "I'll go and get a few. Wait right here, and I'll be back in a minute." With that he rose from his seat and went to the kitchen, once again erecting warning wards. He summoned a few of the lesser inventions out of his pocketspace. These were simple things, like a calculator that worked on magic and a battery operated thingamajig that twirled when there was more magic in the air. He felt that by giving these to his bookworm friend, she might be able to understand them and start her own research. It would keep her mind off her woes and hopefully give her a better perspective on what to do about her parents if she wasn't fretting over the dilemma constantly.

Having done that he pulled down the ward and went back into the parlor, he then handed them over to his ever inquisitive friends.

"Oh, Harry, these are amazing!" she exclaimed when she noted the calculator was charged by magic, there were small grey squares at the top, like tiny solar powered panels. "Think of the things we could do with this. If I can get more to work Arithmancy would be so much easier."

"Well, I'm sure you can understand them better than I can. So they're yours to do with what you want," he said with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, thank you, Harry," the young woman said sincerely, and then she turned her focus back on the items in her hand.

"What'd you go and do that for?" Ron asked. "Now all she's going to be doing is studying," he pouted.

"It's what makes her happy," Hydrus replied with a casual lift of his shoulder. "Don't you want her to be happy?" His piercing eyes looked at his so called best mate, warning him to answer correctly. His thoughts turned to the fact that maybe these two shouldn't be a couple. Hermione will only be repressed by the lazy boy.

"Of course I want her happy, but why can't she be happy with just being with me?" came the wrong answer.

"Honestly, Ronald, I thought you knew me better than that," huffed the girl in question as she put the two trinkets in her expanded purse that she carried with her everywhere. You never know when you need something in that bag, even if it is just a pepper-up potion.

"Yeah, I thought so too," the confused young man replied.

Again an awkward silence filled the room. Hermione broke it with a sigh and said, "I think Ronald and I need to talk, so we'll see you later, Harry." And with that she got up and pulled the pouting boy towards the fireplace.

"Yeah, see ya," the former Potter said to the disappearing couple. He truly hoped that those two came to an understanding, whichever way it went. He still felt Hermione could do better. There were times he didn't even know why he stayed friends with the youngest male Weasley. Maybe it was because he didn't want to let go of his first real friend, who was his age anyway —can't forget Hagrid. He made a mental note to write the gentle half-giant. Well, it was something to think about later; now that they were gone he could remove his glamor and get back to research.

With that thought in mind the dark-haired teen went back into the library and pulled the idiot's guides to electronics from his pocketspace and set about researching. A few hours of that mindboggling subject and he put those books away, it wasn't that he was stupid, it was just his lack of knowledge that made it harder. He then summoned his Rune and Arithmancy books, these particular subjects came easier and with them the inventions would start rolling soon. After a few more hours of studying Hydrus finally put everything away and went to make himself dinner.

He and Kreacher came to an understanding early in their relationship. The former Potter used cooking as a way to wind down after a busy day. However, the human was never allowed to do any cleaning. It worked for both of them.

The new Black went about making a quick chicken stir-fry, which he enjoyed immensely. He put the dirty dishes in the sink for Kreacher, settled at the table with a dish of chocolate ice cream, and brought out his list. He decided that tomorrow he was going to Diagon Alley to visit George; he had been putting it off after that disastrous dinner at the Burrow. He noted the parchment, rinsed his bowl and went to bed.

He woke early the next morning, hoping to avoid the crowds, got dressed and ate. He once again pulled on Sirius' hooded cloak, making a mental note to get some robes of his own. He Disapparated to the same alley by the Cauldron and made his way to the marketplace. In the weeks that he had been avoiding the area, there had been some remarkable changes.

More stores were open and less Muggle-borns were on the cobbled streets. The few that were there looked healthier, like they were getting what they needed to survive. It made him wonder if the Ministry opened a homeless shelter. He was hoping that they had, at least until these poor people could get back on their feet. As he went by he handed out a bit of money to each person he passed. Not much, but enough for a meal and maybe a room at the Cauldron, so they could shower and rest for a night. He did note that very few children were with the beggars, Hogwarts must be footing tuition.

The dark-haired teen made his way to WWW with nobody recognizing him. He did warrant a few wary glances, since he was an unknown wizard, but since he had a casual look about him and was giving to the beggars, those looks went from suspicious to disgust.

Upon entering WWW the young man looked around for his favorite redhead. Spotting him on that weird contraption, which overlooked the store, he waved and motioned for George to join him. The grieving man looked better, he had put back on some of his weight and the bags under his eyes were not as dark. You could still make out the sadness in those eyes, but the smile on his face wasn't as forced.

The single twin nodded and came down. A curious look on his face, since the man waving him down wasn't someone he knew. There was something in the way he moved that George recognized though. The young man in question made his way to the back room and waited by the closed door.

"Hi, George. It's me, Harry," the cloaked man whispered, causing the red head's eyes to widen. "Let's go in the back, I have a business proposition for you."

George nodded and unlocked the door. The two made their way inside and took a chair each. Hydrus put up the Muffliato Charm and George broke the silence. "So, what's with the different look?" he asked as he settled on one of the stools that lined the workbench.

"Something Sirius came up with, I'd rather not go into it," he answered. He then pulled some of his notes from his pocketspace, causing a gasp of surprise from the other man. He handed them to the twin and explained, "These are a few notes on how to make electronics work with magic. I reckoned you could use them for prank items."

George took the notes and looked them over. "Why me? Why not Hermione? She's much better at this kind of thing."

"I love Hermione to death, but I have plans that she'll interfere with. You, on the other hand, won't. Though, I did give her some stuff to get her started, just not any of the notes, so she's going to have to start from scratch. It'll keep her busy," he said with a soft voice as he recalled the excited look on his best friend's face.

"Are you going to tell me what you're planning?" the tall redhead asked with a quirk of his eyebrows.

"Later, when I get more of the wrinkles worked out," the younger man promised. "Anyway, these are just little things I thought you could use."

"So, how did you pull these from the air?" George asked as the peered at the space over Hydrus' left shoulder.

The dark-haired wizard ran his hand through his hair and smiled sheepishly. "Not sure how that happened. I'd explain, but it was a bit of an accident. Misfired spell."

"Alright, Harry, I'll let it go for now. But I'm holding you to your promise, you will tell me everything," the stocky redhead demanded.

"Thanks."

George took a closer look at the notes and you could see his mind working over exactly how they could be useful.

"There's something else," Hydrus said bringing George's attention back to him. "I want to purchase five of every item you have in stock and be put on the list for future things."

"Harry, you know your money is no good here," the twin chastised.

"No," came the semi-harsh reply, "for an order this big, you will be paid. Besides, now that I don't have a vault you can't give it back." He folded his arms defensively.

"Alright, Harry, but anything I come up with from these notes, you get for free, plus, a bit of the profit."

"Fine," he compromised, not really wanting to fight. The two shook on it and the younger boy's face softened. "Sorry about what happened last time we met."

"I understand. Mum's hard to deal with lately. Ginny told us she broke up with you that night, so I kinda get why you didn't stick around and why you haven't been back," George said with a sad shake of his head. Sometime his family was a bit overbearing.

"Yeah, that came as a bit of a shock," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So how are you coping?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Better. The more money the shop brings in, the closer I feel to Fred. It was our dream to bring smiles to children's faces. Every time that happens, my heart heals a bit more," George answered with a brittle, yet fond smile. His brown eyes took on a vacant look, like he was remembering something good.

"I'm glad," Hydrus said sincerely, bringing the redhead's attention back to him. "I only want the best for you. It does me good to see you, well, not happy, but better." He gave a smile of his own.

George nodded and then went to the door. He called one of his employees to get the younger man's order started, handing his helper an extendable bag. When he sat back down the two talked over the notes for a while. Then he had a thought.

"Hey, George, what happened with Bill?" he asked hoping the oldest Weasley had not suffered for what they had done.

"Well, you were right, he got fired, but, Fleur moved them to France and he's now working for the Unspeakables there," George answered with a bright smile. He was happy for his brother. Then a frown marred his brow. "Mum was right gutted when that happened. She complains that she was losing more of her family. She puts all the blame on Fleur, which is stupid, since the goblins made Dad close their vault too."

"Oh, well, I'm glad Bill got away, but saddened that your Mum has more to deal with."

George waved it away. "Not your fault," he said firmly, "Mum has always hated it when one of her chicks flies on their own. She'll always blame someone and usually not the right person."

"Still, if we hadn't stolen from Gringotts your family wouldn't be suffering," he complained.

"Don't be daft, you had no choice. I understand that and so does Bill. Remember, he was there when you made your plans. He's right chuffed that you didn't heed his warning about trusting goblins, still he knew it was something that needed to be done," George said firmly. Bill had told him the whole story before he moved. George was thankful to his older brother for trying to make everyone realize Harry wasn't at fault. Bill couldn't tell them why the Golden Trio had to steal from the goblins, only that it was needed to end the war.

"Fine, I didn't come here to fight. We'll just have to disagree on this," the younger man said, still feeling like he was to blame. Maybe he should look into getting professional help; all these guilty feelings can't be healthy. That and his nightmares about the war were getting worse. He almost hurt Kreacher the one time the old house elf tried to wake him. He was having flashbacks of all the times someone died due to his negligence or the many times his life had been in danger at Hogwarts.

"One of these days, Harry James Potter, you are going to see that you have nothing to feel sorry for, but you're right, so I'll let it go for now." It was about that time that the worker came back with the order and the total. Magic summoning was a wonderful thing, making everything take less time. The employee left and George handed the feather light bag to his friend. "The total comes to 1,565 galleons," he said.

"Okay," Hydrus said with a shrug and called for the money from over his shoulder. "I better go," he said after the transaction was complete. "I've got stuff to do. You get a hold of me when you've got new inventions," he politely reminded the other man, he got up and went to the door.

"Harry," George said, "don't be a stranger, okay?"

"I won't," he promised, "you don't be either. If you need a place to get away, call Kreacher. I'll give him permission to tell you the secret." And with that he made his way out of the shop, feeling a little better about his friend. He did some shopping, getting robes, books and potion ingredients. Not spending too much time in the Alley, since he was still hearing gossip about Harry Potter being a Dark Lord.

Some witches were speculating that since he wasn't returning to Hogwarts it only confirmed their beliefs. The young man had no clue how that information got to the populace, but he knew they were grasping at straws. Anything he did would be seen in a bad light, making the young man more determined to be shot of these stupid people.

Oh, not everyone thought he was the new Voldemort, most of the Muggle-born beggars felt that he was their savior, but since the camps killed a lot of them, they were the minority. Hydrus made a mental note to do what he could for them, before he completed his plans. Maybe offering up one of his houses as a sanctuary, or leaving money to charity in the will he was going to write. Not that he could leave much, as he needed his fortune with him. But he could part with a few thousand galleons.

Shaking himself out of those thoughts, the new Black left the Alley. He made his way back to Grimmauld Place and started his research once again. He was determined that the absurdity of the wizarding world wasn't going to put him off his path.

Hermione and Ron didn't come to see him before they went back to Hogwarts. They did send him a joint letter explaining that they made up and were still together. Hydrus shook his head and washed his hands of that particular bit of news. Hermione was a big girl and could make her own decisions. He did have a feeling that it was Ron's whining that kept the two away. Molly owled him and invited him to the Burrow again, and this time had Arthur state that Harry was welcome anytime. He turned down the offer, stating he needed to keep up with his studies.

George was a constant visitor. He used Grimmauld Place as a refuge from his Mum, who was trying to get him to move back to the Burrow. The two men spent a lot of time on the inventions, going over the notes and getting a better understanding on how it was done. It only took days for them to make a magical joy buzzer that was based off the research. It was a small, yet useful start.

The weeks went by quickly, with the research and the planning. Finally Hydrus got a laptop to work in the house. He hadn't figured out how to upload books into it, but he did get it to work on the Internet, by having the non-magicals come and hook him up. He had had to put illusions all over the house to make it look normal. After they put the lines in, he took it from there, by casting a Confundus charm on them, making them think they had finished the job. Having access to the World Wide Web made his research go much faster, with search engines and mass webpages on theory, he had more information.

It was during those weeks that he decided that he would seek a mental health specialist. The counselor he was seeing diagnosed him with survivor's guilt and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. They were slowly, but surely, making progress on his nightmares and flashbacks. He, of course, didn't tell her everything, just that most of the people he loved died due to a serial killer that was after him and that he had escaped from the man many times.

He told her about the Dursleys and how they blamed everything on him, plus, the abuse they did to him as a child; the isolation, the cupboard, the constant put-downs and the meager food rations. It took a few sessions to make Hydrus understand that it was actual abuse, and that it wasn't his fault. When she asked where the Dursleys were now, he just shrugged and said he didn't know and didn't care as long as they were out of his life.

The counselor made sure the young man knew that it would take years of sessions to get him over his trauma. The young man sighed and made sure he had enough money to pay for them, if he was going to do what he needed to do then he couldn't go off halfcocked.

These sittings also made him do some deep meditation on his past. He came to the conclusion that everything that happened in Hogwarts was a test, maybe not set up for that purpose, after all how would Dumbledore know that Sirius was going to break out of prison. However, the headmaster and the staff, never once stood up for him, letting the then Harry weather the storms with only a few people standing by him. It also made him realize that Dumbledore was working behind the scenes to make those trials harder than they had to be, why else would the staff treat him so different than other students.

Those deep thought sessions did make him appreciate the times Ron and Hermione came to his rescue. He knew that were it not for those two he would have failed any challenge put before him. However, it also made him angrier at the times Ron deserted him or Hermione over petty things. Conflicting emotions of the redhead made sleeping harder, but, he was working his way through them.

The more he went into his past the steadier he came to an understanding with himself. Now the anger could be channeled to more useful things, like his studies. Oh, he was still going to get his revenge, but if he was in control then it would be sweeter.

The counselor suggested that he rid himself of anyone stress inducing and to work on improving himself and let others move on without him. It was a work in progress, because he didn't want to lose Hermione, but he wanted to cut his ties with her boyfriend.

Fletcher had come back during that time and handed his employer the paperwork he ordered. The dark-haired teen had the petty thief do some more running for him in Diagon and Knockturn Alleys, getting the things he ran out of. He didn't want Kreacher to be in those places anymore, for fear the little guy would be hurt. Mundungus was more than happy to take up the errands, since it meant more money for him. He didn't care if Hydrus was the new big bad or not, as long as he got paid.

All in all, the planning going smoothly. The young man was hopeful that he could save all of his loved ones, if he could get the calculations correct and his story straight. Reams and reams of parchment littered the floor as he made plans and discarded them. Everything he read had different points of view, theory after theory was offered, but nothing was concrete.

One idea suggested that if he went back, this timeline would still move forward, but, the new timeline he would create would be a new start. Leaving him and the younger Harry in the new branch, this was what he was hoping for, since his revenge would be felt for years and the new branch would fresh.

Another theory implied that there wouldn't be a new timeline that he would merge with his younger self and change history. This would also work, if his pocketspace came with him, however, the adoption would be undone and he would return to being Harry Potter and have to go through his life again.

Yet another said that he couldn't go into the past of this reality. He had to go to a different one. This one he was unsure of, since everything he knew would be useless, like what the horcruxes were and where they were hidden. A new reality meant the people could be different, Voldemort might be the good guy and Dumbledore could be the evil one, too many possibilities. Hydrus hoped this wasn't the way.

More and more definitions popped up the more he researched and it was confusing to him, so he put those calculations aside, for now, and went back to his basic studies, which were coming along well. He had to make sure what he was doing before he did it. The last thing he wanted to do was go in blind.