The talk with the Elves went well. They were so happy to hear about Hedwig and her eggs, they just about vibrated in their place. Elves loved having babies around, Harry learned quickly, even if they were owl chicks. He could just imagine them after hearing that Harry himself would have a baby. They would vibrate out of their skin from happiness.
Not that Harry wanted a baby! No, he was not ready for such a thing just yet. He would love to have a family later but now really just wasn't a good time. Also, he didn't have a girlfriend. That might be an important bit of having a baby.
After a delicious dinner made by Kreacher, Harry went to the living room so he could read some more in the books and Grimoires left for him. The Potter family Grimoire told him so much more about his family.
The Potter family had started as a merchant family. They made potions and as you might guess, pottery. They soon started gaining wealth and prominance when even noble daughters were married into the family. The Potters were an ancient family but not a noble one. Yet it was possible for the Potter family to become the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. It would only take one more Order of Merlin first class.
Harry wasn't sure he wanted that to happen. He just wanted to be normal. Just a normal teenager. But he had already three Lordships with the House of Black, House Slytherin and House Peverell.
Tomorrow would be the meeting with Andromeda Tonks nee Black and he wanted to make her the offer to become a Black again to her and to her family. Althought he did want her daughter, Tonks, out of the Order if they accepted his offer. It would be awkward to accept her back in the family only to serve her with a restraining order.
Harry grabbed the book about Wizarding Culture so that he could look up how exactly one brings a blood relative back into the family. He hoped it wasn't too complicated. He wanted to do this the proper way. He also decided to read up on magical restraining orders. Amelia hadn't gotten the chance to tell him much about them.
Harry was pretty sure they weren't an as easy fix as he hoped. If they had been then no criminal could have hurt their intended victim. Reading through the chapter about magical restaining orders he could see that he was right. They only worked if both sides signed the document. Harry wasn't sure how Amelia was planning on getting Dumbledore to sign the restraining order.
The only way he could see working was threatening to go public about the reasons for the restraining order. Dumbledore would have little choice then, Harry hoped. He would have to trust Amelia to get it done. She probably had some experience getting unwilling people sign the thing.
Harry was still reading when he saw from the corner of his eye that Othello was flying through the window with a letter from Hermione.
Harry remembered his promise to Hedwig but he just couldn't help saying, "Well, well, well, who do we have here." Harry used a slightly sing-song tone of voice which he was gratified to see made the owl who got Hedwig pregnant startle.
Othello hooted in question while staring at Harry with wide golden orange eyes in his tilted head.
"No, I will not tell you what is wrong. Hedwig will tell you herself. And you better be kind to her when she does!" Harry quickly took the letter from Othello before the owl could fly to the owlery with the letter he still carried from Hermione.
Honestly, that owl better take good care of his first friend.
Otherwise Harry might have to intervene. If Hedwig had anything left of him after she was done with him anyways. One did not disappoint Hedwig. It might cost you more than you can give. She had claws and a beak and she knew how to use them.
Not that his owl wasn't lovely! No, Hedwig was sweet and so very smart. She just knew what she wanted. That's all. Hedwig had been his first friend and knew what it was like living with the Dursleys. It was not like they were any kinder to her than they were to him. She deserved to be pampert.
But back to what he was doing. Harry opened the letter and read,
Dear Harry,
First of all sorry for the late reply. I was in France with my parents as I told you a while ago. It was beautiful there and the bookshops and the other sights were very interesting. I brought some books for you too.
A few nice Rune books and I found some interesting books on duelling so I hope you will like them.
What do you mean Othello is flirting with Hedwig? The shop owner told us he was uninterested in the other owls there. We all thought that meant he didn't want a mate or chicks which made him perfect for my parents.
Please tell me that Hedwig isn't interested in him? He is a lovely owl and I'm sure he would treat her right but I don't know anything about owl procreation and what would we do with chicks while at school? My parents can't take care of them!
Perhaps we should look up owl birth control? Is that a thing? It should be a thing.
I'm very glad we can meet up soon. I have the feeling you have a lot to tell me. So I will see you on the 24th of August on 3 o'clock in the afternoon in front of Gringotts.
I got a small letter from Ron at the start of summer break asking if I knew where you were and if I had seen the Chudley Cannons play a few days before. Surprise, surprise they lost. Again.
Honestly Harry, I don't know why that boy keeps trying. We got nothing in common except for you. I sent a short reply back and after that he kept silent. Is it bad of me to hope that it will stay that way?
Love,
Hermione
Harry immediately grabbed a quill and some parchment so he could tell Hermione about Hedwig nesting and the three eggs. He also knew why Ron kept trying to contact her, not that he would tell her why.
He and Ron weren't best friends anymore but he wouldn't want to betray him by telling Hermione why. He was still his friend and he deserved to have his crush kept private if he wished. Nobody deserved to be outed without their permission.
Ron had a crush on Hermoine since he noticed that she was a girl back at the Yule ball. Harry felt a bit sorry for Ron since he really didn't see that crush going anywhere any time soon. If ever. Especially with the way he kept treating her.
After grabbing a new bit of parchment and a quil he wrote Hermione a short letter back.
Dear Hermione,
Your parents owl got Hedwig pregnant! She is nesting and has laid three eggs. Hedwig seems to be doing fine for now and now that Othello is back here they can talk about their expectations. Do owls have those, you think?
We do indeed have to get ready about what to do when the school years starts. I have no clue about how long they will stay in the eggs or whether or not they need care from wizards and witches. Hopefully Hedwig and Othello will know what to do.
Thank you for the books you bought for me. I'm sure they will be great. I ordered the schoolbooks again so that I can make the homework assignments for this summer and I'm almost done with it. Do you want to swap essays?
I understand your feelings about Ron and I think you are in the right. He was often not very kind to you and I'm sorry that I never said anything about it to him. Thinking back, I really should have done something. If you want I can tell him to back off?
I got in contact with a few allies. They will help.
I've asked for permission for you to join us. If you want, Dobby can pick you up and pop you back to your parents house again.
Tell you more when we can meet in person.
Love,
Harry
He blushed a bit at the 'love' part but he decided to risk it. She probably wouldn't know what his true feelings were behind that word. Harry would wait for Othello to come back and ask if he wanted to go fly back to Hermione today or wait for a day so he could spent some time with Hedwig. He hoped Othello would be a good father to the chicks, otherwise they would have a problem.
Harry went to the hallway so he could have a talk with Alphard about Andromeda. If he was Sirius favorite uncle growing up he definitely knew Andromeda too. He wanted to be as prepared as possible for the meeting.
Harry walked up to Alphard's portrait and found him reading in one of the books of the library he was painted in, "Good evening, Alphard." Harry said cheerfully.
The man in the painting calmly looked up from his book and said, "Good evening, my Lord."
Harry decided to just ask his question since it was getting late and he knew how people- Hermione- would react when they got disturbed in their reading, "I will be quick so that you can continue reading your book but I had just a question, if you don't mind?" At Alphard's interested look he continued, "Tomorrow is the meeting with Andromeda and I wondered if you could give me any advice about her? What is she like?"
The portrait made of the late Alphard Black looked happy that someone asked for his advice after being frozen for a while and he quickly answered with, "Andromeda is the middle daughter out of that family and the only one with some kindness in her for others outside the family. Narcissa loved her family but greatly distained outsiders and Bellatrix, well she has been troubled since her early childhood. Andy was always a proud but kind girl but when she fell in love with a muggleborn, well, it was not taken kindly by her family."
Alphard continued with a sad look in his eyes, "She was disowned without any hesitation and without anything to take with her. Luckily she was a smart girl and she quickly found a job as a healer and married her love, Ted Tonks. I believe that Sirius told me they had a daughter?"
Harry nodded, "Yes, she is a metamorphmagus and she goes by her surname. Tonks is a Auror and part of the Order."
Alphard was clearly shocked when he heard that Tonks was a metamorphmagus and said, "Merlin, it has been a long time since our family has been blessed with a metamorphmagus! But, you said she's a part of the Order? If you plan on asking Andromeda back in the family perhaps you should tell her about what the Order did to you. I think she will agree with you that it is not a good thing for her daughter to be a part of that organisation."
Harry was hopeful that Andromeda would help him after hearing more about her and perhaps the rest of her family too. She sounded like a good person to have in the Black family again. He would like to have an Aunt he actually liked. That reminded him that he needed to disown Bellatrix from the Black family as soon as possible.
He didn't want that woman anywhere near him. Harry would ask Bloodaxe about it since he was the manager of the Black family. He thanked Alphard for his advice and let him go back to his reading. Which the man quickly did with nary a look at his new nephew.
Bookworms, Harry thought fondly with a shake of his head.
By now it was late in the evening and Othello still hadn't gotten back from the owlery so Harry decided to just go to bed. He was tired. It had been a busy day and tomorrow he would have to get up early to go to Longbottom Manor to see if there was any news about Amelia Bones and for the meeting with Andromeda Tonks.
It was the early next morning, when Harry popped with Dobby to the entrance hall of Longbottom Manor. Dobby looked around himself before he popped away again with a disappointed expression. What was that about, Harry wondered vaguely before walking towards where he knew the rest of the family would be at this time.
It was strange that he already felt so close to both of the Longbottoms. While Neville had been his best friend for a while, he now truly felt more like a brother to Harry. And Augusta like a grandmother.
Harry went to the dining room where he knew the small family would be eating their breakfast at this time. He had even joined them once when Gran asked for an early meeting.
"Good morning Gran, Neville. Is there any news about the attack on Bones Manor?" Harry asked while he took a seat at the dining table.
"Good morning, Harry. Yes, there was a article in the Daily Prophet about the attack. The house was ransacked and the Dark Mark was cast above the Manor but no one was hurt, thank Merlin. They think that the plan was to kill Amelia since she is very much a powerful oppointmen to have and very against their ideas for a 'better' society." Gran said slight sneer while sipping her tea.
Harry could see how Amelia was a danger to the ideals Voldemort pushed for.
"Then it was very lucky indeed that we invited her that day for a meeting here. Who knows what would have happend if she were at home at the time of the attack. Have there been any arrests made by the Aurors?"
Again it was Gran who answered since Neville had his mouth full with toast, "No there have been no arrests made since the attack yesterday as far as we know. The attackers were gone by the time Aurors arrived on the scene. Thought they do know that the werewolf Fenrir Greyback was part of the attack. That was made clear by all the claw marks made at the scene. This is why I have invited Amelia and her niece Susan to stay here for a while since Amelia has promised to help you boys out. They will stay here until the wards of their Manor are safe again."
Gran continued with, "They will arrive later this afternoon. I do hope you boys will make them feel welcome?" She said with a raised eyebrow.
Harry and Neville replied at the same time with, "Of course, Gran." And grinned at each other as their Gran smiled at them.
"Now Harry, as you know in a few short hours it will be time for the meeting with Andromeda Tonks. I feel like I should warn you before hand thougt, Andromeda Tonks looks very much like her horrible sister, Bellatrix Lestrange." Gran said with a look of distaste when she spoke Bellatrix Lestrange's name.
Harry was glad for her warning. He really wouldn't want to start this meeting with pulling his wand on her just for looking like her older sister. It couldn't have made life easy for the woman, to look like her infamously imprisoned sister.
After a nice breakfast with the two people whom really started to feel like family to Harry, he went to practice some magic with Neville in the training room of Longbottom Manor. While Neville wasn't as good as Harry with the power and speed of casting, he was better then Harry in the precision of casting a spell.
Neville took care with each spell he cast and that was very helpful to have at your back, Harry thought.
Neville used one of the other wands Harry had but couldn't use that were without the trace. It was an Elm and Unicorn hair wand that absolutly refused to work for Harry but was a good fit for Neville just not as good as his new Cherry and Unicorn hair wand. Neville couldn't use that one because of the trace.
It felt like only a short time later when the House Elf named Tessy popped in to tell them to go clean up before the guest arrived. She was the cute little Elf with big blue eyes that Harry met that first day here at Longbottom Manor. Harry had noticed that the cute female Elf hadn't gone unnoticed by Dobby. Harry guessed his friend had a crush.
Harry had noticed that it was always Dobby that popped him over to Longbottom Manor and that he had started wearing his best clothes while coming here. Dobby was clearly trying to impress the cute House Elf named Tessy. It was very funny to watch for Harry. He hoped they would get together. Dobby deserved to have someone good in his life after his time with the Malfoys.
Harry and Augusta were once again sitting in the sun room when another Elf led a guarded looking Andromeda Tonk into the sunny room. She was a regal looking woman around forty years old and Harry was very glad for the warning Gran had given him, because Andromeda looked strikingly like her elder sister. The only difference was that she has neat curly brown hair instead of the unkept wild black hair that Bellatrix has.
She looked surprised to see him there. He was pretty sure that she recognised the Black features in his face and that that was what had surprised her and not him being Harry Potter. He hoped so at least. It would be awkward if his possible healer and aunt was a Boy-Who-Lived fan.
Gran stood up from where she sat and introduced him to the other woman, "Andromeda, this is Hadrian James Potter-Black, the Lord of House Black."
Andromeda still looked a bit shocked at the introduction but she quickly cursied to him and he air kissed her hand like the lady she still clearly was. Andromeda looked pleased at that gesture. She probably wasn't greeted like that very often anymore.
She said, "It is very nice to meet you, my Lord. What can I do for you?"
And so Harry told his tale once again. He told her about his life with the Dursley's, about his school years, the Prophecy and about the Horcruxes. And then he asked for her help. Her help as a healer yes, but also as a member of House Black. He needed to have family he could count on around him.
Andromeda looked disbelieving at all that he went through is his short life without much help from the adults around him but that quickly turned to the famous temper of the Black family. She seemed to regain her composure when he asked for her help in this war.
The first thing she told him after everything was, "I will cast a medical spell on you if I have your permission which will scan you to see what you will need to get you as healthy as possible. I see that the blood-adoption already took care of some things as you look a lot less skinny then in the newspaper photo's." And at his nod she took out her wand to perform the health scan.
Harry was surprised at her immediate help. He didn't even have to ask her for a healing session!
He could see her face cloud at whatever she could see on the scan. He had hoped it wouldn't be too bad but now, seeing her face, he was pretty sure there were a few nastly tasting potions in his future.
When the scan was done, it was Healer Tonks who looked at him. She gently asked him to sit down again and said, "It is a miracle that you are even still alive, my Lord. Most of your bones are brittle, you have a few badly healed breaks and are at least twenty pounds underweight which causes distress for your organs. You have also a very deadly venom running through your veins and the only reason you aren't dead from it all is because of the Phoenix Tears in your bloodstream that seem to keep healing you at least a little. There is also a very dark magic in your scar." She said all of this calmly while looking him directly in the eyes.
Harry was shocked to hear all of this. He knew his life wasn't the best of lives but his health being this bad? This was bad. Could this even be fixed?
Gran looked worried and she asked the other woman, "Is there anything you can to to help him?"
Andromeda looked sure of herself as she said, "The Basilisk venom is contained by the Phoenix Tears so the most important thing to take care of are your bones and weight. They need to get stronger as soon as possible. Fixing those will also take care of your organs. I will get you the potions that will take care of that and you will need to take them every day before dinner for at least two weeks. After that I will do another scan to see were you are."
Andromeda continued with, "You will also get nutrition potions for the two weeks you are drinking the other potions. These ones you will drink every day after breakfast and after dinner. Hopefully that is enough to get you to a normal weight. I don't know what to do about the magic in your scar yet. Perhaps the goblins will know what to do about that?"
Harry nodded. He would do as she said. He wanted to be as healthy and strong as possible. Althought he did get a nasty feeling in his stomach when he thought about what the dark magic in his scar could be. It couldn't be good.