James took a second before he began, "Morgana, as you know, is a bit different," he started. He paced his words as he thought out how he would explain this. "Morgana's mind is actually from another timeline where she already grew up," the three Blacks looked at him with wide eyes, "This timeline I had died along with Evans and so did Regulus and Orion and Sirius was put into Azkaban because everyone thought he gave away our location and never gave him a trial," he went on. He only paused hearing "WHAT?!" come from Orion and Regulus. Sirius looked at them startled when they both said, "they didn't give you a trial?! Why?!"
"Because Dumbledore ruled over the government at that point. A Black meant no one good," Death spoke up, appearing in the room.
"Alice and Frank had been tortured into insanity, people believe it to be Bellatrix and the Lestranges but I believe it wasn't them," James went on. He could see the relief on the three's faces when he said he thought Bellatrix was innocent.
"But that means Dumbledore had control over where Morgana went. I was to be the godfather and Alice was the godmother," Sirius realized with wide eyes.
James nodded, fists clenched, "Evans has a magic hating sister and Dumbledore had left my daughter on her doorstep and then went to go celebrate the end of Voldemort," he continued. Regulus was thinking about something, now knowing about who Morgana's soulmate was. Orion looked startled while Sirius just looked pissed.
"Mistress had been locked under the staircase and dealt with abuse from her obese uncle and horsy aunt. The cousin apologized to her when he got older and he had that guilt with him for the rest of his life. Come to find out, because I looked them up, Dudley Dursley happens to be a muggleborn," Death mentioned.
James looked up at the being, he didn't know this, "What are they going to do him?"
"Well, Mistress had strong accidental magic like her mate, but it also hid the instances that Dudley's magic showed up. In the previous timeline, he had figured out something had happened and when he moved out, found out something had blocked his magic and it terrified him. He had no way to contact Mistress for help and by the time he was nineteen, he had become an Obscurial and died," Death explained.
"I thought that only happened with children?" Orion asked.
"Why didn't Morgana become one?" Sirius asked the question that had appeared in everyone's head.
Death answered Orion's question first, "Dudley had his magic suppressed for so long that when it finally released, he was scared and he kept it hidden. Mistress wouldn't have been able to do anything to help anyway because I had already taken her out of the timeline," he explained, now turning to Sirius, "I knew who my Mistress was going to be, I am protective over Ignotus Peverell's Line. As soon as I had sensed James had died, I stayed with Mistress and protected her from becoming an obscurial," he finished. He paused, "Mistress is waking up, I'll leave you to finish," he said to James who had sensed his own alarms going off to inform him if his daughter was waking up. They both knew the child just had a nightmare, but they both knew James had to finish explaining and that Death could calm the child just fine.
"Anyway, Morgana had been treated horribly until her Hogwarts letter came. To simplify this as much as possible, it turns out Dumbledore had also stolen my Cloak which is a Deathly Hallow and symbolizes a Line being descended from the Peverells. Dumbledore already had the Elder Wand, that does not stay with a Family Line," James continued.
"Wait," Sirius spoke up, "You said Riddle was a Peverell from a different line. Would Dumbledore have had anything to do with how he became who he is?"
"Tom's a Peverell?" Orion asked.
"He's descended from Cadmus Peverell, the owner of the Resurrection stone. I wouldn't be surprised if the git had something to do with it. His eyes were rather foggy," James muttered the last bit, but the three had heard him and saw the faraway look in his eyes that made him look older than twenty one years old. If Morgana was different, was this the same James?
"Morgana's first year consisted of a Cerberus being placed in a hidden corridor along with a plant that can kill you if don't relax, a giant Wizarding chessboard and then was faced with a stuttering wimpy DADA professor that turned out to have Voldemort on the back of his head. They wanted the sorcerer's stone. Keep in mind this professor also let in a troll at the beginning and a girl that Morgana's male friend had upset just so happen to be in the bathroom the troll just so happened to have entered, and Morgana just so happened to have been compelled to fight the troll. Second year is the reason we need to contact the Malfoys, Tom's diary is a horcrux and it possessed a student and opened the Chamber of Secrets, yes its real, and let out the basilisk. Morgana had been outed as a parseltongue and later was bit by the basilisk while facing the horcrux which I assume will be the age Tom will be when his soul is put back together. Third year, from what I know is her favorite, a supposed murderer escaped Azkaban and it turned out to be her godfather," Sirius smiled, "She met Moony, and found Wormtail sold us out, I also don't think he was in control of what he did, other than being a Death Eater, he could've still kept the location hidden. Fourth year was a Triwizard tournament where Morgana's name had been into the chalice. Had to face a dragon on her own, rescue somebody form underwater, and be in a maze at the end which turned out to lead to a portkey and eventually brought the return of Voldemort, not Tom Riddle. Fifth year was her least favorite, mine to. Dolores Umbridge had been made the DADA professor, we all know who she is, I won't go into detail other than blood quills were used in detention and my daughter, my precious little fawn, had 'I must not tell lies' scarred on her hand," the Blacks looked angry, "and then there was an attack at the mystery as they were all trying to get the prophecy and Bellatrix had sent Sirius through the veil in the Department of Mysteries and killed him," the oldest and youngest Black looked angry while Sirius just looked sad, "Voldemort had possessed Morgana and proved that he was back to the Ministry. Sixth year, Slytherins had been forced to become Death Eaters, still a stupid name, and invaded the Ministry and Draco Malfoy had been forced to bring the Death Eaters in to Hogwarts. Dumbledore had faked his death. Snape took over as Headmaster. Seventh year was the war and Remus died then. Morgana had died again and then came back to life and defeated Voldemort. Some part of her was left empty because she didn't know she lost her soulmate. She lost a good friend in the war too, he was a magical twin. His twin was having a tough time, but stuck by Morgana's side and they helped each other along with a few others that never turned there back on her unlike her supposed best friends. She got the Malfoy's pardoned and they become allies with her. Everything was great until Dumbledore had come back. The twin that had stuck by her warned her what was coming. She appeared at their house and they attacked her, she destroyed their house and killed them all other than the twin. He still had two brothers that were alive that wouldn't hurt Morgana. That was when Death had found her. The emotional toll of what was happening around her made the magical boost she had from becoming Mistress of Death had become too much for her. Then he made it so she could come to a new timeline," James finished explaining. The three sat there trying to process everything.
"How do you know all of this?" Regulus asked.
"Like Death said, they're protective over the Ingotus' Line. Cadmus' Line died out and was known as the Gaunts, but for obvious reasons Ignotus' Line was not going to communicate with them. One descendant had married a Gryffindor, but they kept the Peverell name. When Grindelwald started parading around with the Peverell symbol, the line eventually took on the name of the most recent married in Peverell and they become the Potters. Death has watched this whole Line, when he saw the opportunity to do something good for Morgana, he merged me with the other James," James explained.
"That's why your eyes look older," Sirius notes, "They're still sharp, making me think I'm looking into an empty grave, but they look older. It's because you've died, you remember it," Sirius realized. Orion and Regulus look back at James in surprise and note that he's taken off his glasses. He was wiping the tears that wanted to form in his eyes, all because he never got to protect his daughter the first time. Orion and Regulus also noticed that James' eyes were more noticeable, more like how Sirius had described. The father and son also noticed that James seem to be able to see everything just fine, "Potters wear glasses to hide their eyes, we put glamors on them. Morgana had glasses because her magic worked against her and made her vision blurry until she got glasses," James muttered knowing the three would hear.
"What are we going to do?" Regulus asked quietly, fighting the urge to go over and wrap James in his arms.
"Morgana's going to have a proper childhood this time. She's going to be a little different, but I want her to have a childhood. We're going to collect the horcruxes and we need to do it quickly. I don't know if Dumbledore will have control over Tom at the same time he did before. We need to collect other ingredients so we can make Tom a body out his diary horcrux, which is why I want you three. Most of these are in Knockturn Alley or international, but I can get the international. If Morgana asked something about what we're doing, don't ignore her and just tell her. It involves her mate, and she went so long not knowing things. One thing that made her like Sirius so quick was that you desperately wanted to tell her and she knew that. You're also the one that taught her the darker magic and let her into the Black Library, making an illusion that you were asleep. You must've had that blessing I was telling you about because it was apparently very convincing," James explained. Sirius smiled at the end knowing he made an impression on his goddaughter even if he hadn't seen her for twelve years and she didn't recognize him. James excused the three and they didn't argue, sensing the man needed time alone. Then he sensed Death entering with a sniffling Morgana in his arms.