Save Yourself

Harry, the Horcrux

It took about an hour before everyone was clam enough to notice both Harrys were missing and another ten minutes to find the boys asleep in the corner. The next twenty minutes were spent reassuring both Lily and Walburga that the children were safe. Finally, after both boys had been moved into a transfigured bed, the meeting was back underway. "So first things first. We need to come up with a different nickname or something for at least one of the boys. Once we've done that we need discuss James confusing the older Harry for his son and how that ended up confusing the older Harry enough that he called Lily mum. Then we need to figure out what the hell the kid is going to call us and finally we will discuss his placement. Sound good?" Sirius asked everyone. They all nodded. "Harry, the older one, has been called Harry his entire life. He did not know that Harry wasn't his actual name until he took his inheritance test." Irongrip informed everyone. "So even if we try and give him a different nickname, he'll still respond to Harry." James said. "Yes, and since your son is still a baby it would be easier to call him something else." Irongrip agreed. "So we'll just call him Henry like I wanted in the first place." Lily said sending James a smug look. "Right so we have our shared little brother Harry and our shared son baby Henry, who are going to end up looking exactly alike." Sirius deadpanned. James groaned. "We're still gonna end up getting confused and I know for a fact I'll end up calling him my son." Walburga giggled making everyone look at her like she was crazy. "What, I can laugh if I want to?" She grumbled making Sirius whisper about some sort of abduction. She slapped him upside the head and gave him a death glare. "Anyway, if you're just going to get it wrong, why don't you call him your son." "WHAT?!" The three cried out, forgetting the boys were asleep until Walburga hushed them and pointed at the boys. "That would solve the problem of confusion and Harry has never had to opportunity to call anyone mum or dad. He has lived with Mr. Sallow since he was one and he called him Uncle." Lily frowned at the teenage boy cradling her son to his chest. "I don't know. I'm not even sure we can take him. With.... well everything." James took her hand in his. "I also don't think I can take him." Walburga said sadly. "Why not?" Sirius asked. "Regulus died. Killed by Death Eaters, I believe. I would love nothing more than to take in Harry, but I fear my mental state isn't what it used to be. More importantly I feel my time is drawing near. I do not wish for him to have watch me die as his last guardian did. I've already put in my last will and testament, so he will inherit once I'm dead. I am currently having the house prepared for when I have passed. It's too grim for a sweet boy like him to live there. My only request is that whoever takes him goes through a complete screening." Sirius stared at the woman before him as if she had grown another head. "Regy's dead?" He whispered. Walburga nodded before bursting into tears. Sirius gently attempted to comfort his mother as he processed what she had said. Irongrip cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for your lose Lady Black, but I'm afraid we must return to the matter at hand. Obviously, Lady Black is in no state to take Harry in. That leaves you three. If you refuse I will be forced to send Harry to a muggle orphanage." Lily and James looked at each other. Sirius couldn't take Harry, he was an active auror, meaning he was always racing off to one battle or another. Lily and James were the only ones who could take Harry in. Despite the dangers, Lily refused to send the boy away after the kind of life he had. "James and I will take him." She said firmly. "Very well, before we fill out the paperwork and figure out what he will call you, you too must go through a complete screening to ensure you are taking him of sound body and mind. If the results don't come back clean, a purifying ritual must be done." Irongrip explained. A good twenty minutes, four complete screenings, and four purifying rituals, later they were ready to begin the paperwork. "We need to have Moony screened when he gets back. Who knows what that old man did to him." Sirius snarled as he paced. When both Lily and James' screening had come back positive for potions and spells placed on them by Albus Dumbledore, both Sirius and Walburga asked to be screened as well. Lily somehow convinced Irongrip to screen both boys while they were asleep. Henry was clean but Harry's came back claiming him to be a horcrux.  Walburga and Sirius were horrified. They ended up having to explain to Lily, and James what that meant. "Is there a way to remove this thing from Harry?" Irongrip shook his head. "It says that Harry has been a horcrux since he was a child. Their souls are now intertwined. The only way to get rid of it is to... kill Harry." Lily gasped and clutched James hand. "Who? Who would do this to a child?" Sirius demanded. Irongrip scanned the paperwork again. "It says right here that Harry was an accidental horcrux. This means that the ritual itself wasn't done, but that when this Tom Riddle was attacked and his body destroyed a piece of his soul naturally broke off and attached itself to Harry. It seems the blocks placed on Harry had been damaging this connection and causing Harry a lot of pain." "Wait, blocks? Accidental horcrux? What are you talking about?" Irongrip sighed. "Before I notified you, Harry had to go through a purifying ritual. He had numerous blocks, spells, and potions corrupting him. He was even placed under a blood glamour. When I told you he was in the care of Admon Sallow for the past fifteen years, I lied. I did not wish for you to... pity the boy. It would seem that after he became an accidental horcrux, Harry was kidnapped. After all the blocks and everything were placed on him, he was left with a magic hating muggle family. It took us six hours to not only perform the purifying ritual, but to heal as much of the damage to his body as we could. You see Harry's magic has been struggling against the blocks since he was a child. This led to him developing certain abilities, like accelerated healing. Suddenly having so much excess magic and this ability unlocked, Harry was able to completely erase all evidence of fifteen years of malnutrition and beatings. I am afraid there will still be mental scars. Here this is Harry's original tests." Irongrip handed them the slightly modified paperwork. The four adults looked it over together. "Irongrip, this shows Albus as the person who.... hurt Harry. It also showed Albus as the one who put potions in our systems. That can't be right." Lily said frowning at the paperwork. "I am sorry Mrs. Potter, but these documents are always accurate and cannot be modified by wizards or the wandless magic we use." "Why, would Dumbledore do this? Any of this?" Irongrip pointed at the name Tom Riddle on the paper that showed who the horcrux belonged to. "I'm quite certain the answer lies here. You see you know Tom Riddle by another name, to you he is The Dark Lord Voldemort."