Disclaimer: The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling. The Eldar race and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

Chapter 4: Extra Curricular Studies and Family

The next morning saw Harry calling on the Knight Bus in order to get to Diagon Alley for a more intense exploration. Holding his wand up as McGonagall had instructed him, he was startled by a loud bang announcing the arrival of the bus.

Harry was barely able to take in the large, apparently triple decked, purple bus before the conductor stepped out the door.

"Morning, welcome to the Knight Bus, magical transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. Where can we get you to today?" The conductor asked.

"London." Harry replied. "As close as I can get to the Leaky Cauldron." Harry replied.

"We'll stop right outside. That will be eleven Sickles." The conductor gestured for Harry to board, sliding something, most likely the address, to the driver. "Might want to hold on to something."

Before he had a chance to ask why, Harry found himself being thrown about the bus as it lurched from side to side, weaving in and out of traffic as it sped across London.

"No one else on yet, so we should be there right about…. Now." With a flourish, the conductor gestured out a window as the bus came to a sudden stop, right outside the Leaky Cauldron.

"Thanks." Harry said, stepping off the bus and trying not to be sick.

"Until you need us again!" With another loud bang, the Knight Bus disappeared on its rounds and Harry quickly made his way into the Leaky Cauldron, hair changing to blue this time and his scar fading from view.

Harry had managed to find why his scar was so important last night when we has reading through his history texts and found the public story on Voldemort's apparent death. Though Harry did wonder how the authors knew what he looked like, let alone that everyone agreed on the events that lead to Voldemort dying despite Harry being the only one who could actually know and he didn't.

Regardless of that, Harry made his way through the Leaky Cauldron, out into Diagon Ally and finally into Gringotts for his first stop of the day. He easily found an open teller as the bank was fairly empty still.

"How may I help you on this fine morning?" The teller asked.

"I was told yesterday that the Potter account manager wanted to speak to me at some point. I'm here to see him if possible." Harry replied.

"I shall see, I'm not sure if Balgook is in yet." The teller said, swiftly writing and sending off some form of instructions. "If you wouldn't mind waiting here for a few minutes."

Minutes later, Harry was directed into through a door into a meeting room with another goblin waiting with a small stack of papers.

"Good morning Mr. Potter. I'm Balgook, the Potter account manager. As I'm sure you've heard, this isn't anything urgent, just things that should be sorted out." Balgook said.

"No problem. I wasn't sure and felt it best to deal with it now." Harry replied. "Shall we get started?"

"Excellent, first things first, I need to make sure that you are aware that the Potter trust account was setup to see you through your time at Hogwarts. As such, it holds roughly one thousand five hundred Galleons, less your withdrawal yesterday." Balgook said. "This amount ensures that, if needed, you can buy absolutely everything required each year at Hogwarts, including repairing or replacing clothes and equipment. There's a little extra as spending money as well."

Harry nodded to Balgook his understanding.

"Good, the other thing that I need to make you aware of is that you have a second trust account, currently standing at one thousand five hundred Galleons for you as a member of House Black. Looking into this, I discovered that the current Lord Black has named you his heir in his will. This in turn leads to Gringotts' deal with House Black, as with many other wizarding families, which means a trust vault will be opened for those of their family about to attend Hogwarts."

Here Harry blinked.

"You mean that someone I have never meet has named me as their heir?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"No, you would have met him. Sirius Black, your Godfather. And from what the Black account manager has told me, the will doesn't explicitly name you his heir, but he left anything not left to someone else to you." Balgook replied. "Personally, neither the Black account manager nor I think that Lord Black was aware that he holds the Black lordship."

"Does he know now?" Harry asked. "I would assume that you would have told him."

"Unfortunately for Lord Black, we are unable to inform him as he currently resides in Azkaban Prison." Balgook replied. "Though we have been unable to find how long he has been sentenced for."

"What did he do then?" Harry asked. "He's my Godfather, shouldn't he be looking after me?"

"Lord Black was sent to Azkaban for betraying you and your parents, leading to their deaths." Balgook replied, shocking Harry. "He is also responsible for the murder of one Peter Pettigrew alongside roughly a dozen Muggles."

"Would you be able to get me a copy of the trial script?" Harry asked slowly. "I want to know why he did it, good or bad I just want to know."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Balgook said. "Would you prefer that no one was made aware of this? Many people would wonder why you were looking into the trial."

"That would probably be a good idea." Harry agreed. "I would definitely prefer that only those who need to know are aware that I am making this request."

"I will see that it gets done Mr. Potter." Balgook replied. "I shall keep you updated by mail if I run into problems, but I expect to have the script to you by the first week of Hogwarts. That also finishes what I needed to see you about. I will need to see you around your fifteenth birthday so I can give you the necessary information to prepare you for claiming your Lordship when you come of age."

"Until then Mr. Balgook." Harry said, standing to leave.

"May your gold flow freely Mr. Potter." Balgook replied.

"Um, how am I meant to reply to that?" Harry asked awkwardly.

"Ah, sorry about that. You're meant to reply 'Let you enemies fall before you.' I have dealt with many generations of Potters, and they have all known that coming in, so I assumed you would too. My apologies." Balgook replied.

"I have only been in the wizarding world a day, so I have not yet had time to learn. May your enemies fall before you Mr. Balgook." Harry said.

Venturing out into Diagon Alley once more, Harry followed a list set by Shasaya and wandered through several shops, mostly just seeing what they sold and getting a sense for prices as Shasaya planned on comparing them to prices abroad in the coming years. The only stop Harry bought anything was his last stop at Flourish & Blotts.

After getting an idea of the next few year's books and discovering the various elective subjects he could choose from for his third year, Harry went looking for some introductory books about each of the electives as well as some second year and other advanced books on the core subjects.

Skimming through the elective books, Harry immediately put down the Muggle Studies book, struggling not to laugh after seeing that it was a few decades behind what it was actually like. He also put down the Divination book, wondering if witches and wizards really could use such strange forms of foresight effectively.

: Don't worry about Divination too much yet. : Shasaya said. : I would prefer you to do it when you can just so you know how the wizarding world does things, but I believe that the visions and precognition afforded through your psychic abilities are much more effective. :

Harry was much happier reading about Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures, and was extremely interested in Ancient Runes. Arithmancy was all to do with spell matrixes, mostly used for creating new spells and occasionally modifying old ones, while Ancient Runes was concerned with learning to decipher old languages and, in the later years of schooling, setting up and identifying wards. Needless to say, having read a few of the examples of wards that the book gave, Harry added it to his pile, as well as a beginners book for Ancient Runes and a glossary for a large number of frequently used rune languages.

Deciding that he had enough to keep him occupied until he got to Hogwarts and could look for more books in the library if he got bored, Harry paid for his books and an enchanted bag that would allow him to easily carry his new purchases with little effort. He was even more set on learning Ancient Runes when he was told that enchantments partially fell under it.

Going back through the Leaky Cauldron and into Muggle London, Harry set off in search of a store where he could get some decent muggle clothes.

It only took him a few minutes to find a clothing store and half an hour more to find what he liked. Happy with all his purchases for the day, Harry walked back to the Leaky Cauldron and called on the Knight Bus, suffering through a much longer ride before he finally arrived back on Privet Drive.

Changing his hair back to normal after the bus disappeared, Harry quickly took his new books upstairs into his room and added them to his trunk before heading out to do his chores for the day.

That night, as Harry was reading through his years course books, an owl came swooping into his room before perching on the open door of his cupboard and presenting a letter to him. As soon as he'd taken the letter, the owl flew back out the window, leaving Harry to read again.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I have been in touch with Ms. Tonks, your cousin who has the same ability that you do. She is willing, and very insistent, on meeting you as soon as possible. I will leave it to you to contact her in order to setup a meeting, though you should know that her Auror training starts on the 14th of August.

Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall

P.S. Her name is Nymphadora Tonks, though I suggest you avoid using her first name where possible.

P.P.S. I didn't tell her you were a Metamorphmagus, I thought you might like to surprise her with that.

Harry spent a second blinking at his cousin's name, silently offering his apologies to her for the name, before pulling out a piece of paper and writing to her.

Dear Ms. N. Tonks,

As you no doubt have been informed by Professor McGonagall, I have recently re-entered the wizarding world. She was kind enough to inform me of our relation and I wish to meet with you whenever you are able. I currently have nothing that I have to do, so I am free to meet you any time.

I am living at No. 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

Please visit when you are able to.

Sincerely,

Harry Potter.

Putting the letter into an envelope, writing Tonks' name across it and letting Hedwig fly off to deliver it, Harry went back to reading his books.

Hedwig returned an hour later with another letter attached to her leg.

Harry,

I suck at formal letters so I'll make it short and sweet: I should be able to come say hello tomorrow afternoon. I'll see you then.

Tonks

Chuckling at the abruptness of Tonks' letter, Harry decided to turn in for the night.

The next morning saw Harry in a happy mood as he awaited Tonks' arrival, one made even happier by the fact that the Dursley's would be out for most of the day. So, after they left after breakfast to go to the zoo or wherever it was, Harry settled down with his Ancient Runes books and waited.

Any worries Harry might have had about not knowing when Tonks showed up vanished as he heard a thud from outside, followed by a woman cursing something from the Dursley's front yard. Walking over and opening the door, Harry was confronted by the sight of his cousin sprawled out by one of the sprinklers, looking sheepishly towards him as she realised he'd come outside.

"Wotcher." Tonks said. "Nice hair."

Harry barely suppressed a grin at that, he'd purposely coloured his hair a bright blue just to make sure his cousin noticed when it changed later.

"Same to you." Harry replied. "I don't think I've ever see anyone with pink hair that bright before."

Tonks let out a laugh as she hauled herself back to her feet.

"Well then, shall we go inside then?" Harry asked.

"Sure, anyone else in?" Tonks asked, following Harry inside.

"No, they went out for the day. Made it easier to spend some time with you." Harry replied, leading Tonks into the lounge room. "Take a seat."

"So." Tonks said after she'd sat down. "Apparently we're related. Do you know exactly how?"

"Through your mum and my grandma, they were both Blacks." Harry replied.

"Ah, the crazy people in the family, right. Makes sense then." Tonks replied, before both of them started chuckling to themselves.

"Are they really that bad?" Harry eventually managed to ask.

"The Black family was considered a Dark family, and they supported You-Know-Who. Plus, of the four remaining Blacks, half of them are supposed to be proper crazy." Tonks replied.

"Right, avoid most of the family then?" Harry joked.

"Yeah," Tonks said laughing. "Pretty much the best thing to do."

They were talking for a while before Tonks' hair suddenly turned a vibrant green. Pretending to have no idea what she was doing, Harry started playing his part.

"Wow, how did you do that?" He asked.

"Do what?" Tonks asked innocently.

"Your hair just changed colour!" Harry said, point at her hair as she rapidly shifted it through a few dozen colours. "It keeps changing!"

"I'm a Metamorphmagus." Tonks said proudly. "I can change any part of my body at will."

"Really?" Harry asked, bewildered. He knew he could change his hair and eyes, but to be able to change everything? "Can you teach me?"

Tonks' face suddenly went from proud to distressed almost immediately. "Oh, um, not really. It's not something you can learn." She said carefully. "You have to be born able to do it."

"Oh." Harry said. "I knew that."

And before Tonks could say anything else, he copied her trick from earlier and cycled his hair through a few dozen colours.

For several minutes, Tonks simply stared at him, mouth trying desperately to form words. Eventually, she managed to pull herself together.

"You're a Metamorphmagus?" She asked, still in shock.

"Yep." Harry nodded. "Surprised Professor McGonagall when I did it with her too."

Letting Tonks gather herself, Harry changed his hair back to normal, before turning to look at her again.

"So can you teach me?"