Chapter 4
"I'm back!" Harry called out opening the door to 12 Grimmauld place and showing Alex inside.
"Do you live with someone Harry?" Alex asked peering around Harry to look in the house. It was a little dark so it was hard for him to see.
"Not quite." Harry admitted as two pops signaled to arrival of his two house-elves. He felt Alex jump behind him.
"What was that?"
"Who is being with Master Harry?" a high voice squeaked out. Alex peaked out and gazed in wonder at the tiny being about the same size as him. Correction, the boy thought, two tiny creatures.
One looked really old and the other was younger he thought. Big round eyes and large floppy ears along with a skinny frame gazed back at the young boy.
"Harry!" Alex cried scared at the new creatures. He clung to the only thing he was familiar with.
Harry bent down and started rubbing Alex's back, comforting the young boy. "Shh, it's alright Alex. Hush now, just let me introduce you alright?"
Alex nodded glancing at the strange creatures while never letting go of Harry.
"Alex these are my house-elves, house-elves are magical creatures that work with wizards and witches. Their job is to take care of us. Some families and places have them to help take care of things for them when they can't." Harry tried to explain.
"We is serving Master Harry. Who is you being?" The old elf asked approaching Alex and Harry.
"Alex this is Kreacher, and the other is Winky. They both work for me. Think of them like servants, okay." Harry explained pointing out each elf to Alex. He didn't want to call them slaves, because that is not how he sees them, and if it ever got back to Hermione that he defined them like that she would kill him.
"Hi." Alex said shyly looking at the elves. "Do you do magic to?"
"What exactly is Master Harry bringing home?" Kreacher asked.
"Kreacher." Harry said sternly. "Alex is four I just adopted him. His mother was a witch and died in the war. His father is muggle and didn't take to magic very well. He was going to send Alex to an orphanage so I offered to take him in. Alex is family now. No bad comments from you Kreacher."
"Winky is so excited to be having a young master around to take care of again!" Winky squealed. Harry was glad for her. She had been having a tough time since losing Dobby but he was glad that being bound to a family had seemed to help her some. Having a child to take care of would help even more. Harry hasn't ever seen her this animated.
"Harry do they do magic too?" Alex asked seeing how the elves had not heard his question.
"They do, its different from ours though." Harry explained. "Kreacher here oversees the upkeep of the house and Winky does other tasks like cooking and reminding me when I need to take a shower."
Alex giggled, he really hoped that he would like staying with Harry. So far things seemed to look good.
"I don't know exactly what kind of magic house-elves have because they like to do their work where no one can see. They pride themselves in making it seem like they were never there. Both Winky and Kreacher are very good at their jobs. But they are powerful, I think it is always a good idea to have a house-elf secretly on our side." Harry added with a wink.
Alex watched the elves as they beamed under Harry's praise. They seemed nice, if not a little strange. But to a little boy like him, they were a great adventure and he immediately wanted to make friends with them.
"Fine but I get Winky." Alex announced.
"What do you mean you get Winky?" Harry asked amused.
"You said have a house-elf on your side. I pick Winky. She looks nice. Besides Kreacher looks old he's perfect for you!" Alex said laughing and running to Winky's side.
The little elf look bewildered at the little boy who was laughing and staying by her. She looked at Harry unsure what to do.
Smiling harry gave a nod. "Well Winky, can I trust you to look after Alex?"
"Winky is doing her best Master Harry! I is being taking care of the little master." She beamed.
"Kreacher you know the house best. Are there any children sets around? I want to get a bedroom set up for Alex." Harry asked. He wanted to get Alex comfortable and set in the house. A big step for that would be setting up a room for him.
"Where is the Master wanting to set up the little Master?" Kreacher asked peering at Alex.
"Across from the master bedroom, I want him close for the moment." Harry answered picking Alex up and smiling when the little boy squealed and hugged him.
"Heirs' is always being on the fourth floor." Kreacher mumbled.
"But I am on the third on the master floor. Alex will be in the other third floor bedroom until he wishes to move to the top floor." Harry ordered. "Now the children set, Kreacher."
"Preserved in the attic. Beautiful Black heirlooms, Kreacher is getting the heir set for the young master." He grumbled.
"Take Winky with you and begin setting up the room." Harry ordered as the two elves popped away.
"How'd they do that Harry?" Alex asked awed.
"They apparated, only elves can do that inside the family or building wards, but outside of the wards I can do that too."
"What are wards?" Alex asked as Harry sat down on the floor, he sat next to him, happy when Harry pulled him close.
"Wards are like big magical fences that protect places like houses or buildings." Harry answered.
"Can I do that? The popping away thing?"
"Not until your older. It's dangerous, if you don't learn right you could hurt yourself." Harry cautioned remembering Ron's attempts the year before.
"When is that?" Alex asked curious.
"Got lots of questions don't you." Harry asked getting up and throwing Alex in the air making him laugh. He brought them upstairs to the second floor where they could relax in the drawing room. "Not until your my age. You must be of age, at 17 first. But you get to practice before that."
"Your only 17 Harry?" Alex asked surprised.
"Yeah. That okay?" Harry asked. It dawned on him that he was really young to be taking care of a kid. A four-year-old child he might be able to survive, a baby like Teddy, unlikely by himself and a few house-elves.
"It's fine, sometimes the way you act makes you seem older." Alex confessed.
"I had to grow up to fast. This is the first real time in my life that I actually get to slow down and relax and see what I want for myself." Harry said glancing at the tapestry on the wall.
Alex nodded trying to understand as best as he could. He looked to where Harry was looking and became curious.
"What's that Harry?"
Harry glanced down and saw that Alex was looking at the tapestry also.
"This used to be my godfather's house. When he died, he gave it to me. This house has been in his family for generations and that tapestry is a large family tree of his family." Harry told him getting up and leading Alex to the wall.
"Right here is where his name was before he ran away."
"He ran away?" Alex asked awed.
"Yep, he never got along with his parents. When he was 16 he had enough and ran away. His mum became so mad that she blasted his name off the tapestry." Harry explained.
"What about the other spots?" Alex asked seeing other marks on the beautiful tapestry.
"His mum wasn't a very nice woman. When she felt that certain members had drifted away from what the family believed to be right she blasted them off casting them out of the family. It was mainly over beliefs. The Black's, my godfather's family, were a very old family of purebloods, which means there had been generations of family members with only magic in their blood. They didn't like it when others associated with muggles, those without magic. When a few married muggles they were blasted off as well." Harry explained pointing to Andromeda's place on the wall.
Alex contemplated the wall trying to understand some of the big things Harry had said to him. He thought he got it. Alex noticed some other places under that name that had also been removed.
"Look Harry there are two more here, one is gone and the other isn't. What does that mean?" Alex asked looking at the pictures. The one that was still there was of a baby.
"That's where Andromeda's daughter's picture was, the woman who was removed in this spot. If you look here it shows who she married and that Tonks had a baby. That's little Teddy your seeing there." Harry answered looking at his godson.
"Do you know them?" Alex asked. He had played with a baby before, maybe he could meet this baby.
"Teddy is my godson, so you will meet him sometime. Tonks married an old friend of my father's, unfortunately they died in the war too. Teddy was only a few weeks old." Harry said sadly. Alex moved over and gave him a hug.
"Who's taking care of Teddy?" Alex asked, sad for the baby, he was like him. Unfortunately, instead of just losing a mother he lost both of his parents.
"His grandma, Andromeda. She didn't think I was ready to raise a baby so that's why he isn't with me. Plus, she lost her husband and daughter in the war. She needs him more than I do at the moment." Harry answered looking at Alex.
"But you have me." Alex said confused.
"You needed me more. Besides, I may not be able to take care of a baby. But you're not a baby, right?" Harry asked tickling the little boy who had found his way into his heart in less than a day. This little boy who was now his son per the adoption paper.
"Ahahaha! Harry stop!" Alex squealed in laughter.
"Come on let's see if Winky and Kreacher have finished setting up your room. And I can show you my room." Harry said picking up the boy and cradling him close. Alex clung to him and sighed contently against him.
"Are we going to put my stuff in my room?"
"Sure thing. As soon as Kreacher tells us that it is ready." Harry answered with a smile.
A/N: right so my bad, I forgot to add the bit about Alex's middle name in this chapter earlier, so if you are reading this chapter again, sorry.
So to reiterate from last chapter I want you opinions on Alex's middle name. Harry will have the opportunity in a few chapters to change Alex's name. he likes the name Sterling, but the name made him think that he wants to use the Black tradition of naming their children after stars. So Harry's idea is going to be keep the S, but make it a star name. my problem is I cant decide what star name I want to give Alex. So that is where you my lovely readers come in. I will give you a few of the names I found and until we get to the chapter I will take your votes and tally them. Whichever names gets the most votes I will use.
Sirius- after his godfather, means scorching
Sarin- could not find a meaning for the star name, but is part of the Hercules constellation. Did find an Indian translation of the name though, means helpful, or hopeful
Saiph- pronounced SAFE, means sword
Scorpius- the scorpion
Tell me which you think sounds good with Alexander Potter.k
Sirius- three votes,
Sarin- two votes
Saiph- two votes
Scorpius- one vote