Echoes of Time (Harry Potter)

December 21, 1943

Wednesday Morning

Thank Merlin for coffee, house-elves and comfortable bedding - without all three working in tandem, Harry wouldn't have woken up early enough to prepare for his next few days' stay with Sarah's family, which would've been a momentous problem Even now, with where he currently was in terms of getting ready, he'd still be a minute or two past the time that he was told to arrive. He wasn't sure he'd want to offer up the truth to his lateness either, the late talk with Corene's family along with her ability to speak French and the higher level of affection she'd shown had raddled his brain; the two offers they'd given him had furthered that feeling too. An alliance with House Carrow and their promise to support him in getting a seat on the Wizengamot?

It still felt too good to be true! Considering what time he was in and the more political nature of things too, it probably was.

"Laddey!" - As usual, the elf's pop to signify their presence greeted his ears - "I'll be gone for the next three evenings, if you need me for anything, send an owl. I'll try and get the Goldhorns to permit you access too, though I'm not sure if that's entirely too taboo a thing to ask… any questions?"

Laddey shook his head, "No, Master Peverell sir!"

Harry smiled and fondly patted the elf on the top of its head before stepping into the floo.

"Goldhorn Isle."

As before, the whooshing feeling took hold for an almost imperceivable amount of time until it stopped just as easily as it'd come, only this time, he was no longer in his mansion and Laddey had been replaced with a girl.

"Harry!" Sarah shouted in greeting, giving him all of one word as a warning before she barrelled into him, wrapping her arms so tightly around his body that her face was pressed fully against his.

"Hi, Harry!" Three more voices echoed, joining in on the hug that'd enveloped him one step from the Floo.

He hadn't even had the chance to say a word before he was stuck in a mess of limbs and brown, wavy hair!

"This is the boy that's had Sarah going through such a fuss?" - Another female voice, one that sounded similar to the other four but older, commented - "Ease up girls, you can't choke him to death until Mum and Dad have met him."

Sheepish apologies from Sarah's three younger sisters and a bashful look from Sarah herself were the response to this new girl's words; Sarah didn't heed them fully though, she stayed close by and pinched him on his side when the three other girls screened them.

Once they were fully separated and Harry could see the slightly older version of Sarah looking at him as well as the aforementioned girl, he figured this was Sarah's last sister, the oldest of the five. If this wasn't her, Sana, he thought was what Sarah had said her name was, she'd have to be an older cousin or young-looking aunt.

Mercifully, Sarah didn't leave him guessing when she motioned at the older, slightly taller version of herself.

"Harry, this is my sister Sana, she graduated last year" - Sarah then gestured to Harry while looking at Sana - "Sis, this is Harry Peverell, he's a close friend, infrequent study partner and Heir to House Peverell; don't listen to the others, Katie especially, we're not dating."

"Unfortunate that, isn't it girls?" Sana asked in the direction of her younger sisters, their rowdiness making her next words have to be spoken in a raised voice, "Mum'll be disappointed for sure, but why doesn't Harry here tell me a bit about himself? I'm sure we could waste some time considering how long you seemed to book him for - it'll be good practice too, Desmon's going to be grilling him and Webster will do the same, though our baby brother is bound to be far more story-driven."

Desmon was Sarah's older brother, the eldest of all the Goldhorn siblings if he remembered right. Webster, on the other hand, hadn't started Hogwarts yet, he was the only Goldhorn kid that Sarah had told him about that'd not been to the school. Happy as he was that he'd remembered that, he wasn't looking forward to the 'grilling' from either of them, especially if Webster's was more on the history of House Peverell, for he'd only recently found the book with most of the House's chronicles written down.

It still struck him as odd that there was a book that the former Lords or Ladies hadn't even known the location of; yet the house-elves did… just what were they hiding in it?

"Go on then Harry, Morgana knows our big sister won't stop bugging you until you satisfy her curiosity," Sarah's voice was resigned, though he could tell by the gentle if only slightly-annoyed smile on her face that there wasn't all that much of a reason to worry.

"You heard her," Sana said. "Grab yourself a seat, tea and snacks will be here within the next minute, until they arrive you can tell me a few things about you that Sarah hasn't already… maybe starting with your sense of fashion that seems relatively dated."

"Sana that's rude," Sammi, the soft-spoken girl that he remembered had come to his defence before, did so again.

"I didn't say it sucked!" Sana defended, a teasing smile on her face that looked almost identical to the one Sarah's younger sister Katie had given the pair of them back in Hogwarts. "Just that it looks old . It's not like it matters either, he's Heir Peverell, he could go out and get a whole wardrobe that we pick out for him so all the witches that don't already fancy him end up doing so."

"Harry, for the sake of Sana not making anymore a fool of herself or us than she already has, please tell her a bit about yourself," Sarah told him that at the same time she was reaching for a pillow; if he were her, he'd use it to cover his ears from the entirely too energetic room filled with Hogwarts girls that reminded him of a cross between Lavender Brown and Katie Bell.

How Sarah hadn't gone crazy from the rambunxious attitudes her siblings had, he didn't know, but he figured he'd answer now before he was driven off the cliff that his mind seemed to be balancing on.

"I don't know what Sarah's told you, but I suppose I'll start with my 'outdated' fashion as you'd said," - He gestured to the dress robes he was wearing, Sana's eyes following his body the entirety of his gesture until they rose back up to stare into his again - "These are among the highest quality dress robes we have at Peverell Manor or any Peverell holding for that matter, but if you know a place that I could update my clothing at without appearing too gaudy, I'd take your recommendation without a second thought."

Merlin knows I need it, he added internally.

As helpful as the house-elves were with his hair and clothing, their techniques matched exactly what Sana had said; dated. Sure, the Carrows hadn't called him out on it, though they were dressed exactly as he had been. He should've known this too considering the Goldhorns seemed fairly progressive, but style, for obvious reasons, had escaped his mind's eye when mentally preparing for back-to-back meetings with friends' families.

"Oh, you shouldn't have said that," Sarah's younger sister, Kathy, spoke up for what could possibly be the first time she'd directly addressed him.

Based on the way her head fell into her hands and the groan the other girls gave, he'd fallen directly into a style-related trap that Sana had wanted him to - she'd even had all sorts of wizarding articles with horrible photos brought with the tea and snacks when it finally arrived.

Merlin.

How was he so unlucky with topic picking?

He hoped this one wouldn't last nearly as long as Lord Carrow's history lesson had, enjoyable as it was.

As luck would have it, the talk he'd had about fashion led by Sana had lasted all of ten minutes.

So brief was it, that the girl had only gone through one wizarding imitation of a muggle magazine while pointing out the various 'do's' and 'don'ts' of fashion - that was lucky for him too, as, in the brief amount of time, the girls had already picked out nearly a dozen things that'd look good on him, regardless of the galleon cost next to it or where he'd have to go to retrieve it.

Some of the shops had been on the continent, a place he would be actively avoiding until a currently rampaging Dark Lord was dealt with by Dumbledore.

What'd saved him from further conversation on the topic was the arrival of Lady Goldhorn, the mother of the five girls he was spending time with - her appearance and attitude were clearly where her daughters took the majority of their heritage from; wavy-brown hair, tanned skin and the friendliest of attitudes, if a bit mischievous.

Lady Goldhorn, or Allie as she was called, was great.

"Harry?" Sarah's voice roused him from his mindless thinking while they were navigating the halls of the mansion.

"Yeah?" He answered.

Sarah put one hand on her hip while the other pointed at a side hall he'd missed. "You missed the turn while you were watching my mum and Sana walk ahead."

"Oh," He rubbed the back of his neck and snickered. "Sorry, late night."

"What were you doing? Studying to spend time with me and my family?" Sarah said it jokingly as the two of them turned to follow the hall where her family had gotten ahead of them, her voice already halfway to giggling.

His stuttered response of 'No' only served to turn halfway into fully there, Sarah's emphatic giggling echoing through the halls so loudly that Katie (Sana-light as he'd mentally nicknamed her on account of her imitating Sana's personality) had come to find them at the behest of Allie.

Of course, since it was her that'd come, she couldn't help but tease them the whole way during their walk to the garden where Allie had been taking them for mid-morning tea and conversation.

From comments like "You can hold hands instead of arms, I won't tell" to "How many times have you two snogged so far?"

Katie was only getting more and more egregious until, finally, they reached the exit of the main building; the gardens being easily visible as well as the gazebo with a huge dining table under it where the missing women had gotten off to.

Sarah had the two of them sprint to her mother and sisters the moment their feet touched the ground, giggling all the while as she ran from her younger sister who was all too happy to give chase while offering up heckling comments the whole duration of the minute-long jog - she stopped once she got close enough for her mother to hear though, Harry imagined her mother probably wouldn't be too happy hearing crude broom-cupboard comments from one daughter directed towards the other.

"My wayward daughter and our lovely guest have arrived, wonderful." - Allie clasped her hands together and smiled at the pair while winking over his shoulder in the direction of the only now arriving Katie - "Please, take your seats and we'll get to talking about our plans for the few days Harry'll be staying with us, accommodations included considering it wouldn't due to have the such a guest in anything less than the best we can offer."

Harry, Sarah and Katie took their seats at the table, with Harry seated between Sarah and Sana. He had no doubt the seating was strategic considering his placement as well as the proximity to Lady Goldhorn.

"Mum, can't I tell Harry about what we'll be doing? It wouldn't do overloading him either, that'll be the first huge event he goes to!" Sarah rose to his defence right after they were seated, her voice whining and earning her a disapproving glance from her mother.

"We can't have you hogging Heir Peverell here all to yourself - from what your sisters tell me at Hogwarts, you already do that enough for the likes of Marcus Potter to recognise," Allie tutted at her daughter when she finished those words before turning to Harry next. "I don't think poorly of that Potter boy either, he's very kind-hearted and polite like his father, he's just not the sharpest when it comes to noticing things… like how Katie's feet are trying to kick yours under the table but keep coming up short." - Katie squeaked and took a sudden interest in a rather tall set of flowers the opposite direction of her mother, the woman shaking her head with a fond smile - "I'll leave it up to you, Harry. Would you mind amusing an old woman and the rest of her daughters for an hour or so?"

Harry looked from Sarah who looked slightly put out but not entirely unhappy to her sisters around the table, and finally, Lady Goldhorn.

Sammi and Kathy's looks were filled with innocent curiosity considering the lack of interaction he'd had with them; the former of the two had helped a few times now in diverting teasing or other actions while the latter had spoken her first words directed at him only today. Getting to know either of them would likely be fun and beneficial.

Katie and Sana's expressions were far more mischievous, so much so that he could practically hear the teasing tones of their voices in his head without needing any verbal speaking. Not only that but Sana's swiping of her tongue across her lips while appraising him and the winks she was none too secretly sending him were incredibly weird. He couldn't tell if she were simply teasing him for a rise, trying to get at Sarah who could see said expressions next to him, a mixture of both or another reason he was missing altogether.

Finally, Lad- Allie, the mother of the five girls was regarding him from behind a morning wine glass while occasionally nibbling on an assortment of cheeses placed in front of her. From the little of her face he could see from behind those two actions, she had a kind look on her face with open curiosity not too different from Sammi's and Kathy's.

"I'll stay a bit so long as you all don't mind a lot of questions, this is still pretty new to me," Harry said with a smile on his face directed at Lady Goldhorn especially, though he did regard Sammi and Kathy with an equally kind look; Katie and Sana were treated to one too, though theirs had a level of suspicion included that only served to make them look all the more excited.

Truthfully, they reminded him of the Twins, though only in the inherent sense of knowing that something promiscuous was going through their minds that you could only hope to catch before walking straight into it… maybe staying near Lady Goldhorn or the 'good' sisters would be a good idea.

"Questions are wonderful dear! If only Sarah's other friends were half as willing to ask them, maybe then they'd be focused more on studies and their futures instead of Quidditch!" Lady Goldhorn's voice was still teasing, though the look she shot at Sarah, that being triumphant, told him she was likely referencing Marcus again though Veronica Weasley could just as easily fall into that category.

"Quidditch could make them very wealthy mum, Veronica and Indigo especially if they made it on the Harpies."

Sammi, ever the defender, came to the defence of Sarah's friends without glancing once at her sister.

Lady Goldhorn's shrug and switching attention back to him told him there'd be no retort.

"Let's start with today then, do feel free to interrupt me if there's something that catches your interest," Lady Goldhorn said that and got a nod from Harry, so she continued. "No guests or family will be arriving until tomorrow on account of our wanting a day to ourselves with you as well as an extension of time with all of our family together again under one roof. You've already joined us in the gardens which were what we were hoping you'd do too, so that's already handled." - Lady Goldhorn paused to smile widely at him before she carried on - "After this, I imagine Sarah will be wanting to show you the guest wing in addition to the tower we have for our more prestigious visitors; come to think of it, she'll probably show you the whole estate. You can feel free to have any other daughters of mine join you, though I'd ask Webster stays inside. Once you've finished the tour, you'll probably want to settle in until dinner this evening, whereafter you'll have the remainder of the evening to do as you please."

Harry hadn't heard anything that made him want to interrupt the woman, nor had her fast-paced speaking really given him the chance to if he had, thus he went with the option of thanking her and asking a few questions in regards to her family or the property they were currently on so as to put forth some degree of effort instead of being a passive bystander of the conversation.

Needless to say, Lady Goldhorn appreciated the input from him and doubled down on her engaging behaviour until Sarah finally succeeded in pulling him away for a semi-private tour - Sammi and Kathy opted to join in while the other two girls stayed behind with their mother, undoubtedly planning something in his and Sarah's absence.

December 21, 1943

Wednesday Morning

He had to admit that while the Goldhorn's estate was massive, potentially larger overall land wise in comparison to the Carrow's, the latter was far more impressionable. Something about an ancient castle with various empires or governments having added sections to it just captivated his interest more than anything else.

Maybe it was the Roman history, it could've been the reinforced doors and Hogwarts similarities; there was even the possibility it was just the English in him loving a castle for the grand work of art that it was.

With all that said, however, he still found the Goldhorns' holdings very respectable and infinitely more modern in design.

They had a larger garden than he had - which was impressive in and of itself - a library that was half the size of the Hogwarts one, numerous smaller homes built around theirs for squib or muggle-born servants since they almost fully refused the use of house-elves but for two that seemed to run errands rather than roam the lands. He couldn't think of anything that was missing interior-wise of their familial manor either, there were so many rooms that were obscure enough to him in their usage that he figured the Goldhorn family built them just for the sake of extra space or as a way of showing off wealth!

It was after the near hour spent touring the place alongside Sarah and the two sisters who'd joined them that he was finally brought to where he'd be staying for the next few nights, they'd call it 'the tower' for the 'prestigious' guests. One passing look through a hallway window before they made the final turn in the U-shaped building and he could tell exactly why they'd referred to it so respectfully; the thing was absolutely massive! He hadn't realised the true scale of it while looking up at it from the gardens where he'd been, but at the entrance on the first floor and staring up the staircase that led to various offshoot rooms, it had to be the same size as Gryffindor Tower, easily.

"Hey, no peeking Harry, that'll take the fun out of it!" Sarah's voice and poking in his ribs made him stop his upward look with a sheepish smile on his face when he turned towards the girl.

"Alright, alright," He returned with his hands raised, "Lead on then, I'll not spoil it for you."

"Good!" Sarah returned, sticking her tongue out at him.

Kathy giggled in response to Sarah's antics from behind him while Sammi rolled her eyes before pushing to the head of the group, stealing the lead from Sarah with a satisfied look and words directed to him.

"Come on Harry, I'll show you Sarah's favourite room in here - the guests' owlery! It's where she'll rush to get her grades before mum and dad can see them!"

Harry didn't even have one second to respond to the girl before she tore off up the stairs with Sarah hot on her heels.

His tour of the tower had gone well, the rooms given to him for the next few days almost to the quality of Peverell Manor; from a private albeit limited floo access, two parlour rooms, a private bath and the guest owlery that Sarah had her mail sent to, his accommodations were so far from lacking to the point it felt weird laying at the pinnacle of the tower without anyone else in the wing. No doubt the place he'd been given was meant for larger families as the seven guest bedrooms and dining room would suggest, but when he asked if anyone else would be staying in the tower with him, Sarah had assured him that he'd have the entire space to himself.

He appreciated the gesture and level of privacy they were giving him, but it was too much for someone with his personality - Peverell Manor was a separate matter altogether, but at least in that space he knew it wouldn't be put to better use elsewhere with family or friends. Merlin, for all he knew, whatever had sent him back had brought the estates and elves back from the last Lord that'd served, it would certainly explain the dated furniture, styles as well as the missing memories the elves seemed to have.

Then again, magic was magic and as such, guessing from the king-sized bed he was currently laying in would get him nowhere.

Fresh food and meeting more of Sarah's family, however, could. He was due for that dinner in the next thirty minutes and Sammi had told him she'd be the one to get him roughly that amount of time before it began so he needn't rush down to the Goldhorns' dining room.

Harry hadn't bothered saying he couldn't even if he wanted to, one tour wasn't nearly enough to memorise the halls of a building this large - there were still secrets in Peverell Manor as well as areas he could still get lost in as it was!

Before he could further delve into his thoughts or the comfort of the bed he was currently face down on, the bell outside the entrance to the master bedroom rang; he was told earlier the ringing would only happen when a visitor had arrived too, thus he knew he'd better get up from his undignified laying down and straighten his clothing before Sammi likely arrived. During the time it took for the girl to get up in which he used to make sure the creases were gone from his clothing, he wondered for the second time their reluctance to use house-elves.

Laddey was remarkably helpful, all of his house-elves were, but Laddey was more like a friend than Harry would've thought… it felt like he had Dobby again, or at least this era's version of the elf. Thinking along that line brought him a lot of peace whenever he'd get entirely too stressed out about his conditions or work that needed doing.

"Knock knock, can I come in?" Sammi verbalised the two knocks she'd made on his door before asking her question, he could hear a bit of giggling once she'd finished too.

"Yeah," Harry said simply in return.

Sammi flung the door open as soon as his mouth was once again closed and appraised him without an ounce of shame, her eyes tracing the entirety of his figure while she placed both hands on her hips.

Finally, after nearly a minute of silence passing while her eyes darted to various points on his clothing from his buttons to the clothes' trim, she spoke.

"You wore that outfit earlier with mum and my sisters," Sammi's tone was accusatory, her hands not once leaving her hips even as she walked towards the dresser where his clothing was already put away.

"I did," - Harry followed after the girl until he too was standing in front of the dresser - "I was going to change a bit closer to dinner, though I'll admit I lost track of time doing some solo-exploration of the place - your family truly has amazing quarters here, the view from the balcony contests that of the highest points of Hogwarts."

"It does," Sammi agreed. "Marcus doesn't seem to think so though, he always goes on and on about the view from Gryffindor tower," Sammi scoffed, "As if it was any better than this!"

Harry had to bite his tongue lest he sides with his relative because if he had to pick one, the view from Gryffindor Tower would very narrowly edge out that of the Goldhorns tower, though the size was far smaller.

"Sho-"

"Get d-"

Harry and Sammi each tried to fill the lull in the conversation, both succeeded in interrupting one another with that try.

"You go first," Harry said with a smile and gesture towards the slightly younger girl.

"Thank you, Harry. I was thinking you should get dressed and then I'll escort you down to the dining room, fair warning, there's been a slight change of plans… my grandparents from mum's side arrived a bit earlier than we all thought they would." - Sammi paused her speaking to pull open the left drawer of his closet having moved away from his dresser, as soon as it was opened, she went about reviewing the various dress robes until she plucked one, in particular, out - "This has the least amount of influence from muggle culture, I'd suggest wearing this one and then we can discuss your robes more in-depth this evening with Sarah."

Sammi's nose scrunched up when she'd said the word muggle as if she'd bitten into a particularly sour candy and he'd only barely caught it. He wasn't sure why she'd be against them at her age and he wouldn't dare guess, but it was something he'd keep an eye on in case she was a bit too crazy for his liking despite the earlier help; a part of his brain played it off as her looking at the clothes and being put out by those more than anything else.

"I'll go with that one then," Harry said as he took the proffered bundled clothing from the girl. "Are you going to be waiting right outside the door or somewhere else?"

"Right outside your door, and remember not to take too long. Ideally, we'll be arriving ten minutes before dinner officially starts, otherwise, we'll both be getting no dessert and that's truly horrible; you'll come to see that if you visit all that often."

Sammi had started shaking her head about halfway through her speaking and continued doing so until she was out of his room, leaving him alone with the set of robes she'd picked out that were possibly the most egregious pair he could've brought - they looked like something that Dumbledore would wear, only slightly more tolerable considering the lack of non-correlating symbols.

He wasn't sure if he was more thankful for the plain robes with trim that he had, or the dress robes Molly had gotten for him on account of the tournament… goodness that felt like a long time ago!

Harry spent the time getting dressed in nostalgic thoughts across the various years of Hogwarts pre-travel and far too early for his liking, he'd finished before he'd even gotten through his time with Sirius.

Sammi entered a few seconds later when he'd called out for her, and with a brief look that earned him a few nods with a grin on her face, the friendly girl offered her arm in exchange for leading him through the halls. He accepted without hesitation and like that, the two were off, though they only remained two until they'd made it to the bottom of the tower, where once there, they bumped into another of the sisters that'd been waiting for them.

"Hi, Sam! Hi Harry," Kathy greeted warmly. "Sarah figured I better join you while she keeps Sana and Katie distracted, they've been up to something that we've been unable to figure out so it's better safe than sorry!"

"Mum won't be happy if they do anything to Harry…" Sammi thought aloud, her voice vaguely nervous which made him ask the question he almost had earlier in the day regarding the two troublesome sisters.

"What do they usually do? I mean, what would be bad enough that you'd actively worry? It's not like they'll curse me or anything."

Or at least he hoped not, though that would be a very unique way of getting welcomed to a family's home. Ah, who was he kidding, the two seemed like watered-down versions of the twins, it wasn't likely they'd do anything near as complex or awe-worthy.

"Sana loves using her charms affinity for anything she can get away with - as an example, she charmed Sarah's clothes to stick to whatever they touched over summer break," Sammi sighed and shook her head once she'd said that as if she were reliving the memory.

Kathy's giggle and comment of "I remember that, there were clothes everywhere until mum made Sana pick them all up!" only added to the exasperation made clear to see on Sammi's face, but Harry could see the slightest of amused expressions on her face too.

"That wouldn't be very fun… what about Katie?" As much as he'd hate getting his clothes stuck to everything, charms didn't sound too malicious and if they were, the odds he could dispel them were relatively high unless the girl was as magically powerful as he was; the skill gap would only close too now that he'd invested himself in Hogwarts and spent what he thought of as too much time self-studying.

"Katie's usually just a distraction, if you see her and not Sana, that'll spell trouble. Then again, sometimes she just loves hunting people down to tease them mercilessly until she gets the rise out of you that she wanted in the first place," Sammi finished with a tone that implied she was all too familiar with such instances.

Kathy darted forward to turn the corner coming up and looked back towards the two of them once she'd made it.

"No sign of Katie or Sana!"

Harry saw the giddiness on the youngest Goldhorn girl's face and joined with how she was bouncing around on her feet, it was like they were playing a game rather than trying to avoid a nuisance. Sammi looked like she felt the same way based on the glance he sent towards her, but then her smile and pat on the head of Kathy made him wonder where she stood on the antics of her older sisters.

"Only one more turn and we're at the dining room, please do forgive us for the loudness you're bound to hear, our family's never been one for quiet conversations or some of the more obscure traditions," Sammi said with an apologetic tone as she stopped her walking in front of the entrance where, as she'd said, the loudness was easily heard.

Harry shrugged and played it off as if he didn't mind, though her comment about obscure traditions not being followed made him wonder if he'd missed something obvious; if he had, he hadn't a clue as to what it was, nor would he until it was brought up in a conversation.

Kathy didn't wait for Sammi to say anything more, nor did the youngest girl wait for him to ask anything either - she simply flung open the doors and skipped in the direction of two older people, likely her grandparents.

"Well look at that, looks like Sarah had you put between her and me," Sammi commented. "Let me know if you need anything while we're at the table, I'll make sure Katie and Sana don't do anything too crazy either - good luck!"