Current mood:	calm
Current music:	Omnis Mundi Creatura ~ Helium Vola

FIC: Déguiser -- 07 -- PG13
Title: Déguiser
Author: batsutousai
Beta: magickmaker17
Rating: PG-13 for now
Pairings: Intended - HP/LV, Possible - HP/DM, Possible - NL/HG, SB/RL
Warnings: AU, an attempt to not copy the book, bloody OOC-ness
Summary: When Albus Dumbledore leaves Harry Potter on the doorstep of the Dursleys, the last thing he expected was for an unknown relative to disappear with the boy for ten years. Enter Thomas Potter, a man who intends to change the past, the present, and the future.

Disclaim Her: It's in the first chapter.

A/N: I am undecided as to what to call the Malfoy home. Manor and Mansion seems to be used interchangeably at the Lexicon and I don't remember any particular term used for sure in the books, except in DH where one of the chapters is named after the house. But that's an entirely different can of worms.

I think this chapter's just going to be the summer – I managed to pull enough out of my arse to make a reasonable chapter out of it – so second year and possibly the following summer will be next chapter.

-~/\~-
Chapter Seven - The First Summer
-~\/~-

After the Stone scare, Thomas was determined to keep anything else from harming his nephew. The Friday before the Hogwarts Express was to hand them their children back, everyone but Augusta met at Malfoy Manor for a last dinner together in peace. Afterwards, Thomas asked if he might speak with Lucius in the library.

Once the two were comfortable in the library, Thomas asked bluntly, "Do you happen to have a small black book of Voldemort's?"

Lucius winced at the name, then took a moment to stare at Thomas in shock. When he retrieved his voice again, he said, "No. He gave that to Bellatrix for safe-keeping."

"I see. I'm assuming that she either handed it off to another Death Eater, then, or the Ministry has it." Thomas sighed.

Lucius frowned. "Thomas, you know some very interesting things."

Thomas shrugged. "It comes with having some very interesting secrets, Lucius. And I must say, I'm glad you don't have that book."

"What would you have done if I did?"

Thomas gave Lucius a cold look. "Taken it and destroyed it before someone got killed."

Lucius shivered and the two fell into silence.

-~/^\~-

Augusta met them at the station and the four families stood together with an easy peace that one wouldn't expect, looking at their pasts. Lucius stood quietly with Thomas and Augusta while Narcissa and Elizabeth chattered on about something that Narcissa had heard from Josefina Zabini. Sirius and John stood whispering among themselves with Remus standing next to them and shaking his head.

The train came to a stop and students seemed to fly from the cars. Some of them headed towards the gateway out to the Muggle world where their families would pick them up while others hurried to the gaggle of families that waited on the platform, all leaving a respectable distance between themselves and the group that the Malfoys were a part of.

Thomas heard some people calling his nephew's name and strained to see him. Lucius settled a hand on his shoulder – Sirius had made sure everyone knew what happened that Thursday night when the owl came with the news that the children had gone after the Stone – and said, "I see him. He's fine."

Thomas relaxed. "Thanks."

Lucius nodded. "Nothing's going to happen to him, Thomas. And even if something did, I'm quite sure that Harry's capable of taking care of himself."

"I know," Thomas agreed. "I still worry. He has some very powerful enemies, as you know."

Lucius winced; he was one of those enemies. "Yes."

The group of four children came bouncing over with large smiles on their faces and feather-light trunks trailing behind them. Harry dropped his trunk at Sirius' feet, then hurried past him to his uncle, who swept him up in a desperate hug. Harry hugged him back, then kissed his uncle's cheek and smiled at him. "Alright?"

"Yes." Thomas set the boy on his feet and pushed him towards a pouting Sirius and a laughing Remus. Once rid of the child, Thomas turned to smile at Neville and Draco, who had come over to greet their grandmother and father. "Neville. Draco."

Neville walked over and hugged Thomas with a smile, then moved so Draco could do the same. "Hey, Thomas," they chorused. Then Draco wandered off to greet his mother while Neville let his grandmother fuss over him some.

Hermione nearly brought Thomas to the ground when she tackled him with a hug out of nowhere. "Thomas! My favourite adult wizard! I haven't seen you in almost two weeks!"

Thomas laughed and hugged the girl, then set her back on the ground. "Why, hello, Hermione. How were your last two weeks in that old castle?"

Hermione sighed. "Annoyingly relaxing," she replied, arms crossed over her chest.

"You spent the whole time in the library," Neville said back, rolling his eyes. "I think she's busy studying third year material right now."

"Only third year?" Thomas asked. "I'm surprised. I thought for sure you'd be on fifth year by now."

Hermione, Neville and Thomas all laughed while Lucius and Augusta smiled.

Harry, Thomas suddenly realised, had disappeared alone and then come back with a pile of redheads, two identical ones in the lead. Thomas settled a hand on Lucius' arm, then stepped forward to greet the Weasleys with a smile.

"Uncle Thomas!" Harry smiled as he saw his uncle walking up to where he was introducing the other family to the Grangers, Sirius and Remus. Narcissa had already made a tactical retreat with Draco in tow. "Gred, Forge, this is my Uncle Thomas."

"A pleasure–"

"–to make your most–"

"–excitedly spoken of–"

"–acquaintance," the twin boys traded off saying.

Thomas cocked an eyebrow at Harry. "What hole did you fish them out of?"

"Gryffindor," Harry replied cheerfully.

"Merlin," Thomas replied, giving the twins a worried look. "Are they all like this?"

Harry, Hermione, Neville, John, Remus and Elizabeth all laughed. Sirius looked offended and said, "Now see here, Thomas! I'm nothing like those two!"

Thomas turned to stare at Sirius. "Sirius, I think you're their mentor."

Sirius smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Oh, I certainly hope so."

Everyone laughed at that and the red-headed woman stepped forward to introduce herself to Thomas. "I'm Molly Weasley."

Thomas took her hand, which she'd offered for a shake, and kissed the back of it with a sweeping bow. "Thomas Leland-Potter at your service, Mrs Weasley."

Everyone stared at him in shock, Molly's cheeks turning a bright red.

Harry rolled his eyes and kicked Thomas' ankle. "Knock it off."

Thomas chuckled and winked at the Weasley matriarch. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Molly shook her head. "I– We were under the impression that you were a Muggle!"

Thomas laughed out-right at that and allowed a chuckling Remus to say, "Not at all. Thomas just thought it would be more amusing to not correct the Prophet."

"I've spent most of my life in the Muggle world, so it's not so much of a stretch," Thomas added once he'd managed to control himself. "Honestly, it's like I've played one large joke on the Wizarding world, though Lucius does wish, I believe, that they hadn't decided I was a Muggle."

"Ah," the eldest male Weasley finally spoke up. "So that is Lucius back there."

"Quite," Thomas agreed.

"Forgive me," the man said. "I'm Arthur. You already know Fred and George, after a fashion, but the rest of my children are Percy, Ronald and Ginevra."

Thomas inclined his head. "A pleasure."

Harry tugged on Thomas' arm and Thomas leaned over so the boy could whisper in his ear, "Where are we having dinner tonight?"

"I believe we decided to have dinner separately," he replied softly. "Narcissa said we could eat there, but both Augusta and Elizabeth wanted to spend some time with just the family. I believe we'll do the same. Why?"

"Oh..."

Thomas smiled and kissed Harry's scar, then nodded to the Weasley family, who looked rather like they might like to head home themselves, but didn't wish to be rude. "I believe we shall say good night," he offered.

Arthur looked relieved while Molly nodded. "Of course. Good night." She turned and led her pile away, the twins following last after they said a quick good-bye to their younger friends and waved cheerfully at Sirius, John and Thomas, who they seemed to decide were the three coolest adults.

Lucius, Narcissa and Draco all walked over to the main group while Neville said good-bye to everyone himself. As the two Longbottoms left, Thomas said, "Okay, how're we doing the getting home thing?"

Harry quickly said, "Well, since everyone's supposed to be going to their own homes for dinner and Uncle Thomas says you can Side-Along Apparate both Elizabeth and John together, I suppose Lucius, Narcissa and Draco can just go home and Sirius, Remus and Uncle Thomas can worry about getting Elizabeth, John, Hermione and me home. Right?"

"It sounds fair," Hermione agreed.

"Okay!" Draco decided, then turned to his parents, neither of which seemed to know what to think about the children deciding things. "So, let's head on home and that lot can figure things out without us!"

Lucius gave Thomas a questioning look and the elder Potter laughed. "Go on, Lucius. We'll be fine."

Lucius nodded and the three Malfoys said their good-byes, then left.

Harry nodded decisively. "Alright. So, Remus can take Hermione, Sirius can take Elizabeth and John and Uncle Thomas can take me. Good?" He looked at Hermione for confirmation.

"Perfect!" Hermione turned to Remus. "Let's go."

Thomas chuckled as the startled look on Sirius' face. "Very well. Come here, Harry."

Harry came up to his uncle with his trunk while Remus Apparated with Hermione. As Sirius was just coming back to himself, Thomas hugged Harry to him and Apparated home.

When they arrived at the small house, Harry refused to let go and, honestly, Thomas didn't mind. He was glad to have his nephew safe at home.

The silent moment was broken by the loud arrival of Sirius and the much quieter Remus. Harry almost immediately tugged away to make fun of Sirius for something he'd done in front of the twins and in a moment of pure annoyance, Thomas broke in with, "Sirius, take Harry's trunk upstairs." Then he turned and wandered into the kitchen to make dinner.

-~/^\~-

Weeks went by. Harry could often be found at either Malfoy Manor or the Grangers' home, spending quality time with his three friends. Every other afternoon or so during the week, the group of almost-second years stopped by the book store to offer their help if it was needed and spend lunch with Thomas, who rather appreciated the gesture. The last weekend of June found the group of both children and adults, minus Augusta, plus Hagrid, at the dragon reserve to visit an excited Norbert, who still didn't like Sirius and was wary around Draco too.

After Thomas had gotten Draco to apologize to Norbert, the young dragon decided he liked Draco, especially when Thomas taught the boy where Norbert liked to be scratched. Since none of those who visited during their last exciting visit mentioned the incident with the dragon and the dragons left Thomas alone, Norbert remained the only dragon that the group visited with.

Ansy seemed to like having the children by, though she kept an eagle's eye on them and even brought along two other workers to help her watch out for any trouble – a wise move, with such a large group. However, the one person who Ansy really liked having by was Hagrid, whose love of dragons was on the same level as Ansy's. Thomas commented to Ansy's girlfriend, who was one of the workers that Ansy had asked to come with, that if the two started dating, it wasn't his fault. He got orange hair for his comment, but thought the whole thing was ridiculously funny anyway, especially when Ansy's girlfriend dragged her away from Hagrid.

Between the first trip to the dragon reserve and Harry's birthday, Thomas took Hagrid to the reserve again once and happily joined his nephew, his friends, and Thomas' 'friends' at the Malfoys' or the Grangers' for dinner. Thomas also found himself magically adding another room to his home so Remus could spend the night when it got late; he didn't mention to anyone that the dragon seemed to think that Sirius and Remus were mates – that was their problem – though he did add the room so it was next door to Sirius'.

Harry's birthday, per the boy's request, was a small affair with just Thomas, Sirius and Remus. August first, however, fell on a Saturday and between the Grangers and the Malfoys, an amazing party was thrown for both Harry and Neville at Malfoy Manor. Somehow, Hermione and Draco had managed to talk Lucius into inviting the Weasley twins. When Sirius found out the two were there, he looked like Christmas had come early, so Thomas conjured a collar and leash for him, then handed the free end to a laughing Remus. The rest of the party found Thomas avoiding all of Sirius' pranks with skill and landing a few of his own on the dog Animagus.

At one point, Thomas saw Harry in a corner with Lucius and, curious, cast an Eavesdropping Charm so he could hear what they were saying.

"Lucius, please, it's driving all of us mad – what did Uncle Thomas say that has you so fond of him?" Harry said.

Lucius smirked. "Let's just say that your uncle and I share some political views," he offered then wandered off towards the doors to the dinning room – which was where the party was being held.

Harry looked more confused than ever. Thomas snorted to himself and went back to pranking Sirius. After the party, Lucius could be heard moaning about the state of his home, but the laughter in his eyes lost him any pity he might otherwise have gotten.

The student's letters came on the twelfth of August, so the adults all agreed that the following Saturday would be the best day for a shopping trip, even though neither Augusta nor Remus would be able to attend, due to a previous engagement and the full moon respectively. Therefore, it was decided that they would all Floo into Diagon.

Narcissa went through first with Elizabeth – Muggles often had bad reactions to Flooing, so it was best to send them through with a witch or wizard, which was the same thing that was done with small children – and Sirius followed them with John. Draco, Neville, Harry and Hermione all followed in that order, then Lucius and Thomas took their turns. When Thomas got to the other side, he found the group a mass of concern.

"What's wrong?" he asked Lucius, since the man was right next to him.

Lucius turned to look at him with a frown. "Miss Granger never came through."

Thomas blinked once in surprise, then said, "Shit," and slipped through his group and out the door of the Leaky Cauldron. He moved quickly through the Alley and paused at the head of Knockturn Alley to pull his hood over his face. Once again, he slipped through the crowds of the Alley, but this time he moved a little slower and with a little more care. As he approached Borgin and Burkes, he saw a head of bushy brown hair and let out a sigh of relief.

Another patron got to the scared Hermione first. " 'Ello, pretty," the wizard leered. "Looking for some extra cash?"

Thomas pressed his wand against the back of the man's neck warningly. "If I were you," he commented coldly, "I'd save my money for the whore shops and let little witches wandering around on the street alone."

The man fled.

Hermione let herself be drawn into Thomas' arms, shaking and clutching at him like he was her steady rock in a storm. Thomas hugged her and whispered comforting nonsense in her ear until she calmed down enough to let go. Thomas easily conjured her a cloak and put it on her, pulling the hood down over her face. "Alright?" Hermione nodded. "Next time you decide to make a trip to Knockturn, I'd suggest you bring your cloak," he commented easily as he led her back towards the entrance.

"I didn't mean to," Hermione replied quietly. "I think I stuttered while I was calling out the location and–"

A witch with a tray of what looked like tongues got in front of the two with a leer. "Need some ingredients?" she asked.

Thomas pointed his wand and her and said, quite firmly, "If you don't remove yourself from my path, I will make you regret waking up this morning."

The witch scuttled away with a look of surprise.

Hermione tightened her grip on Thomas' arm. "How'd you find me?" she asked.

"A guess. When I came through and you weren't there, I considered all the other places you might have ended up. If you weren't on Knockturn, I would have tried Leopard, but I really hoped you hadn't ended up there," Thomas replied with a grimace. Leopard Alley was known best for its night-life, but enough of the brothels were open during the day to draw a pretty diverse crowd.

"Thanks."

Thomas smiled and, even after they'd returned to Diagon and lowered their hoods, Hermione held on to his arm.

"Thomas! Did you find her?" Lucius' voice came from near the bank.

Thomas turned them towards the white building. "Yeah. She was in Knockturn," he explained as Hermione let Thomas go so she could find some extra comfort in the arms of her worried parents.

"How'd she end up there?" Narcissa hissed, eyes wide.

"She stuttered," Thomas said with a shrug.

"Thomas got this one man who was leering at me to go away and scared off a witch with a tray of... tongues, I think. It was pretty gross down there," Hermione said to her friends, who were asking.

John came over to where Thomas was standing with the two Malfoys and a frowning Sirius. "Thanks, Thomas."

Thomas shrugged. "Not a problem."

Lucius let out a hum. "It seems you're racking up the life-debts of our children, Thomas," he commented flippantly.

Thomas rolled his eyes, looking amused. "Hardly. As I've said before, I don't think Draco would have been killed. And the most Hermione would have lost was her virginity, and, while a horrible thing to lose, it's not the end of the world, though it may feel like it is at the time."

"Thank you, all the same," John slipped in before Lucius could offer his thoughts. Lucius frowned while Sirius snickered.

Thomas just smiled and herded everyone into the bank.

-~/^\~-

The Grangers, the Potters, Sirius and Remus were all over at the Malfoys' the Wednesday following their shopping trip for dinner when the news got out. Lucius stormed into the dinning room where dinner was already going on. He was late home from a meeting with the governors and in what appeared to be a temper as well. Everyone around the table traded wary looks, none of them quite willing to face down Lucius' anger.

Then Thomas returned from the restroom and slid back into his seat between Harry and Lucius. He took one look at Lucius – who was busy mauling a slice of pork with his fork and knife – and said, "Lucius, what has you in such a temper now?"

Lucius turned to Thomas with his knife in his hand and just barely missed taking off Thomas' nose, which earned him a raised eyebrow. "It's... Dumbledore!" he exploded, then returned to his meat, acting like it was the headmaster's face.

Everyone around the table looked to Thomas to see what he'd do. Thomas rolled his eyes at the others, then said, "And what has the old man done? Hired a leprechaun?"

Lucius sputtered and gave Thomas an incredulous look. "A leprechaun?!"

"No?" Thomas frowned. "A Veela, maybe?"

Lucius stared at him in disbelief. On Harry's other side, Sirius coughed into his napkin while a couple of other people bit their lips.

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know. I'm not particularly fond of the choice either, but there's not much any of us can do about it. It's not like anyone else applied for the position, especially after last year."

Lucius kept staring, this time in shock.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, unable to simply watch any more.

Thomas turned to his nephew and sighed. "Dumbledore hired Gilderoy Lockhart to be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Who?" Elizabeth and John chorused at the same time as Narcissa moaned and Sirius started laughing madly.

Harry blinked. "Is that bad?"

"I've read his books already," Hermione announced to the table, looking pleased. "He doesn't seem too bad."

Thomas smiled at her. "Hermione, the only thing Gilderoy Lockhart is good at is Memory Charms and writing tales. All the things in his books were done by someone else. The man can't even get rid of a pixie."

"Is there any way we can keep Hermione from having to take that class this year?" John asked, looking worried.

"But I want to take Mr Lockhart's class, Dad!" Hermione immediately said.

"No," said Lucius, regaining control of himself, "there's not. Defence is one of the things they're required to take unless they fail their OWLS in fifth year. Then they can drop it in sixth." He gave Thomas a look. "How'd you hear about it?"

"Sirius left the lid off my Baccus flowers and I had to run to Diagon to get some more today. Lockhart was in Flourish and Blotts, signing his books and making sure everyone knew he'd be teaching their children," Thomas replied. "It's not like there's anything anyone can do about it, especially not since the book lists have already gone out."

"I'll have Dumbledore fired," Lucius decided.

Thomas sighed. "Lucius, you know as well as I do that it won't help. And the other governors wouldn't let you, anyway."

"I'll–" Lucius started.

"Don't," Thomas cut in, hazel eyes sharp. "Not here."

Lucius snapped his mouth shut and stared at Thomas for a long moment, then returned to his dinner.

Around him, everyone else followed his lead.

-~/^\~-

"What did you think I was going to say?" Lucius asked after he and Thomas had retired to the man's study for a drink. Harry, his friends, Sirius, Remus and John – the last two acting as guardians – had run off to play hide-and-seek in the mansion while Elizabeth and Narcissa had retired to do some sort of woman thing.

Thomas eyed his glass with a frown. "You were going to blackmail the governors," he said was a shrug. "And if you said that, one of the others would have made sure Dumbledore knew."

Lucius tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair and took a sip of his wine before commenting, "And you won't. How you ended up being the only one in your house with an intense hatred of Albus Dumbledore, I'll never know."

Thomas shrugged again. "My mother didn't like him, and he was going to place Harry with those blasted Muggles; despite James' will. And Sirius didn't get a proper trial. And, of course, the way he doesn't push for non-human rights even though he has the power."

Lucius nodded. "He has things that he could be doing that would push things in his favour and he doesn't. It's a pity Black and Lupin like Dumbledore so much."

"Lucius, we've discussed this," Thomas berated the blond.

Lucius set his glass down and leaned forward slightly. "Yes, and every time you avoid the question of what you'll do when the Dark Lord rises again. You're raising Harry Potter – the bane of his existence – and living with a man who would sooner see Dumbledore's victory."

"My future is my own to make or break as I choose, Lucius, and I'd ask that you stop prying," Thomas replied calmly.

Lucius sat back in his chair with a sneer. "You can't support the Dark Lord while living in the house of a Light wizard."

"You underestimate me."

"You overestimate yourself. Or, at least, you underestimate those you live with."

Thomas looked thoughtfully at the empty fireplace. "Perhaps."

The two men lapsed into silence.

-~/^\~-

The rest of the summer was quiet, especially after Lucius' eruption. Sirius continued to annoy Thomas and Thomas continued to prank the younger man as revenge, often with Harry's help. Harry, Hermione, Neville and Draco would pop by the book store every once in a while. Hermione gushed over Lockhart to her friends, who then complained to Thomas, for some reason which the man had yet to figure out. Lucius spent the rest of the summer being silent and thoughtful, as if making up for his lack of decorum during that stressful dinner. Thomas was of the opinion that Lucius was plotting ways to get Dumbledore fired, while Sirius thought he was looking for Voldemort or throwing Death Eater sex and torture parties on the side. Thomas had pranked Sirius Slytherin-style for that comment while Remus just decided to yell at him.

After dropping their kids off at the platform and finding themselves free for another year, the group decided another trip to Diagon Alley for ice cream was in order, though Augusta waved off the offer herself and left to attend some get-together with some of her elder friends.

After ice cream, Lucius and Thomas waved the others off and wandered off to Knockturn Alley for something that Lucius had apparently been expecting to come in at Borgin and Burkes the day before.

The next morning, Thomas fell out of his chair at the Prophet's article. Apparently, he was a Dark wizard who was a friend of Lucius and Sirius' and they were all planning together to lure the Muggles they were going around with into a false sense of calm before killing them in some dark ritual, which had already taken the life of Augusta Longbottom.

Lucius sent a letter to the Prophet that appeared in the night edition and had Thomas on the floor again, then Flooing Lucius to congratulate him on a masterful job with Sirius right behind him.

-~/^\~-

'Editor of The Daily Prophet,
'While I appreciate your second attempt to understand those I traverse Diagon Alley with – you were closer the first time – I must ask that you start getting your facts from those involved and not your pesky reporters who would sell their mother's soul for a story. So, as to keep another insulting article from making the front page, I shall give in to your curiosity and let you know that my "fellow Dark wizard" is Thomas Leland-Potter, the guardian of Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived. Sirius Black is no more a Dark wizard than Albus Dumbledore. The two Muggles who often enjoy ice cream with myself and my acquaintances are Elizabeth and John Granger, the parents of Harry Potter's friend Hermione Granger and friends of Thomas. Augusta Longbottom declined the offer to enjoy this past visit to Diagon Alley with us as she had a previous engagement and not because she was "killed horrifically in a dark ritual that would strengthen the Dark wizards' powers of evil". If you're still concerned about her health, feel free to send her an owl at her home, if you haven't already received a Howler from her.
'Don't presume or you may find yourself with less standing in our world than you already do, as difficult as that would be to imagine. Oh, and do make sure this letter makes the front page? I'll even let you keep the money you would usually award your star reporter.
'With Much Disgust,
'Lucius Malfoy
'Head of House Malfoy
'Consul of the Minister for Magic
'Member of Hogwarts Board of Governors'

-

-

A/N: That was fun. I'm relatively pleased with this chapter, actually. And Thomas and I have reached an agreement about how Gary-Stu he's going to be from now on. XD

Harry's attempt at getting Lucius to spill what he thought was so great about Thomas as well as the conversation between Thomas and Lucius after the dinner are both for Eaiva le Fay, who asked what exactly Thomas had done to win Lucius' approval, reminding me that I should find a way to get that in somewhere. (Hopefully, it will also stop the people who keep complaining that Lucius is too OOC. Never mind that this is an AU. *mutters*)

Cheers and love and cookies for reviewers!
~Bats

(P.S. - I've created a time line for this fic. Originally, it was to help me get dates in my mind, but I decided to make one for you all as well. I'm the link! I'll put a new link in the most recent chapter when I update it.
Yes, I know James' birth doesn't agree with DH, but I forgot Jo had put his birthday in DH and went straight to the Lexicon when making the time line instead of checking DH, so it's the date that's up on Lexicon. And it's staying that way. XP
Chapter 8 agreed with me in the end, so it'll be up on the 14th.)