"We're not going back on our word to help get you back home, but you have to consider you may be here for some time. We have not made much progress in opening a portal to another reality."
"How much have you made then?" Harry asked quickly.
Pernelle bit her lip, looked at her husband who nodded, and said, "None. We are continuing to track time distortion theory to see if that brings about anything."
"In any event," Nicholas continued, "if it's okay with you, we'd like for you to become our ward until we can get you home, or until you turn your majority."
"But I'm already old enough," Harry smirked, wondering what he should spend his galleons on first.
"Uh, yes. That. Well, that brings us to an interesting quandary, Harry. We'd like for you to take a youth potion which Pernelle has modified to last seven years. If you take it, you won't look like you are now until you are 17 again. The benefit of this is that you will be back in a smaller body that you are accustomed to and that will age with you."
"This potion also contains a few of our characteristics that will merge with yours so you will not look like an 11-year-old version of Harry Potter. This will give you a chance at a new life. Your name would also be changed to Jimeson Evans," Pernelle added.
"If I became your ward, what would I call you?"
"How about Uncle Nick for me and Auntie Pernelle for my wife?" Nicholas smiled.
"But why do I need a new name?"
"Well, you still need an education and we're thinking of enrolling you in Hogwarts like you should have gone to. That way, you will get to play a hoax on the rest of school by agreeing to be our 'ward'. We know you like to pull pranks and this way, you get a chance to do it."
Harry began to grin, his mind whirling at the possibilities. "… and since I'm a founder's heir, I have total access to the school. Excellent! I'll do it!"
After Harry was dosed and physically changed to that of an 11-year-old boy that he actually was, Nicholas and Pernelle sent their ward to his room to clean up for dinner.
"Now that you've changed Jimmy's face and age, what are you going to do if Harry comes back?" Pernelle said to her husband.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm more concerned on finding out how he knew he was a founder's heir."
...
July at Godric's Hollow was fun and Harry loved every moment with his family. He had found a journal from that universe's Harry Potter and read throughout it to begin understanding his life. There were some interesting things he had not "seen" as he remembered that Harry Potter's life. He knew that if he was reading this journal, his counterpart must be reading his by now. Or would once he was able to open the wards on the trunk around on the necklace. Harry smirked, thinking that kid was in for it now. Nothing would obviously happen to him since he was of Potter blood, but he was going to have his hands full learning spell damage repair until he got the hang of wards down.
Nearing his one-month anniversary, after he was done training early in the morning, he decided to do something nice for his family. He decided to cook breakfast. It was still early when he got started in the kitchen. Working, he quickly got lost in thoughts of doing something like this on a consistent basis when he'd had his own family when he'd married his Ginny. For the past month he noticed he was thinking of her less and less. Smiling, he realized that he was building a set of good memories to put in the same area as having a girlfriend. Namely, that of interacting with his family.
Harry was a great cook thanks to the laziness of the Dursley's, but even with all the exposure he'd had around the stove, he hadn't varied the menu much. During those few brief times he expanded his culinary skills, he'd been rebuffed not to do it again. Those times usually resulted in him having to spend hours in his cupboard trying to heal or shake off the rough punches his uncle had thrown into his gullet.
Tight-lipped, he didn't notice when his mum and sister Shelia walked in on him. He simply concentrated on the pans and fryer. He'd learned early on that Shelia did the majority of the breakfast cooking with her mum pitching in when asked. Usually it was to keep an eye on something or get an object out of the fridge. Harry could tell a few times it was mainly busy work to keep his mum from helping make breakfast. He loved his mum - all the kids did, but her cooking skills… well, that was another story.
Lily and Shelia had come downstairs when they both smelled something that got their mouths watering. Lily got up thinking that Shelia must have gotten up early to make her family something extra special that day. Shelia got up thinking there must have been an intruder because there was no way that was her mum's cooking. She stopped by the kitchen door, next to her mum, seeing that it was Harry doing the cooking. Making a huge spread, and humming while doing it.
Something weird was going on. Had been since Harry returned from his outing that night, Shelia thought. Harry never hummed. He never cooked before either, come to think of it.
Harry was thinking of an odd comment that Mrs. Weasley had once said to him: that he'd make the perfect husband one day as long as he could cook. Smirking at the thought, he turned around the start setting the table only to see it was already occupied. His eyes went big and he quickly stopped, trying to think of a quick cover for why he was up. He hadn't really gotten that far when the notion to make breakfast had taken him.
"Uh… er… um… good morning," he said weakly.
"Morning, dear," his mum replied. She pointed. "Nice apron. Don't I have one just like it?"
"Uh… er… um… this is yours." Harry smiled and removed it.
Lily stood up and broke into an infectious grin. "I'm kidding, Harry. Go ahead and wear it. It helps keep you clean."
Harry retied the apron over his blue jeans and white t-shirt as his sister spoke up. "Wow, big brother, I never knew you could cook." She eyed the food hungrily.
....
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