Another chapter for all you wonderful people. Hope you enjoy it.
Three weeks later Harry stepped off of the Hogwarts Express and unlike the last two years, he was greeted with a warm hug from Hazel and a smiling Sirius and Remus.
"Hey big brother." Hazel grinned at him.
"Hey." Harry greeted her. "You look good. New haircut?"
Hazel nodded. "Yeah, I looked a little wild child. So Remus took me to the hairdressers." She played with her now wavy shoulder length hair. "Do you like it?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah it looks good."
"Thanks." Hazel smiled.
"Right, shall we get going?" Sirius looked around at the three of them. "I'm sick to death of the staring." He quickly shrunk Harry's trunk and put it in his pocket. "Now Hazel you go with Remus and I'll take Harry, you'll have to hold on to Hedwig Harry."
Harry nodded and held onto Hedwig's cage with one hand, gripping Sirius's arm with the other.
Remus and Hazel vanished first and the next minute Harry felt like his whole body was being squeezed through a tiny tube and then he could breath again and he was in the hallway that looked like something out of a gothic novel.
"Welcome home." Hazel grinned at him.
Harry looked around. "Where are we?" He asked.
"My old family home." Sirius looked around. "We've been redecorating but it's been slow progress. We've got the bedrooms done, the kitchen and the living room. I figured we'd start on the hall tomorrow." He clapped his hands together.
Remus nodded. "Hazel why don't you show Harry his room and we'll put together some lunch." He motioned to himself and Sirius.
Hazel nodded. "Sure. Come on Harry."
"Oh Sirius, I need my trunk." Harry remembered Sirius had his trunk in his pocket.
Sirius nodded. "Oh right, right. Wait a second." He took the small trunk out of his pocket, made it the correct size and then tapped it once and the trunk vanish. "It's up in your room."
"Come on Harry." Hazel motioned him up the stairs. "It's still a little dark and gloomy but we're fixing that. Three weeks ago, the halls were decorated with severed house-elf heads. The ones that used to serve the House of Black, then they'd lop off their heads when they got too slow." She explained.
"And rightly so. Nothing worse than a slow house elf. Cannot believe my son has been back home three weeks and is already tearing out tradition left, right and centre."
Harry jumped and turned to look at the picture of a scary looking woman with long black hair and a displeased look on her face.
"Now Grandma, you know I only just managed to keep Sirius from throwing you out with the deal that you would try to work with each other. Now you agreed that it was time that the Black family changed for the better." Hazel crossed her arm over her chest.
Mrs Black sighed. "Yes Hazel, you are correct and I will hold up my end of the bargain. But do try and save the family tree. He can restore it with all the family who were… disinherited but don't let him get rid of it." She pleaded.
Hazel smiled. "I'll do my best Grandma."
Mrs Black turned her attention to Harry. "And who is this?"
"Grandma this is my brother Harry." Hazel motioned to her brother. "Harry this is Wilberga Black but I just call her Grandma. She helped look after me when I was little."
"Nice to meet you Mrs Black." Harry greeted the painting.
"Hmmm, well he has manners at least. Off with you two now." Mrs Black waved them off.
Hazel motioned for Harry to follow her. "She's a bit brash but she's not so bad." Hazel shrugged. "I think she was very sad and lonely for a long time." She explained. "Sirius and her didn't get on. The Black family was kind of into the whole purity thing but they kind of lost everything because of it. They had another son other than Sirius called Regulus and he was a Death Eater and Lord Voldemort killed him because he didn't want to be a Death Eater anymore. I think it kind of destroyed Grandma."
Harry frowned. "Why do you call her Grandma?"
Hazel shrugged. "Well she and Kreacher kind of assumed I was Sirius's illegitimate daughter and so she inisisted I call her Grandma. I know I'm not but it seems silly not to call her Grandma anymore just because she isn't." Hazel led him down the corridor. "So that is Kreacher's room, well it used to be Regulus's but Kreacher won't let us in there to redecorate, so I managed to talk Sirius round to letting it be his room instead of the boiler room." Hazel pointed to a door along the corridor.
The further up they went the brighter the hallways became, the walls painted cream with a dark blue border. On the second landing they came to Hazel motioned to a door. "And this is your room." Hazel pushed open the door and stepped back so Harry could walk inside.
Harry couldn't believe how big the room was. It was twice, maybe even three times the size of his old room at Privet Drive. It had been decorated with three walls a soft gold colour with the fourth wall being a maroon colour. The furniture was a deep chestnut colour and consisted of a double bed, desk, wardrobe, chest of drawers and bedside cabinet. A large Gryffindor banner had been hung above the headboard of the bed and the duvet covers were red with a roaring gold lion on the front.
"Do you like it?" Hazel asked hanging about in the doorway.
Harry gaped at her. "This is really my room?"
"Well it says Harry's Room on the door." Hazel pointed to the handwritten sign on the door in gold letters.
Harry laughed and then some movement on the wall caught his attention and he saw a collage of photographs had been stuck up over the chest of drawers. "What's this?" He asked walking over to the photos.
"Oh, I found this old trunk full of photographs. Turns out Sirius was somewhat of an ameteur photographer back in the day. I'm putting a load of them into albums but I picked out a few you might like and I have some in my room too." Hazel explained.
Harry looked closer and saw pictures of his parents through the ages smiling up at him, along with Sirius and Remus too. "This is amazing. You did this?"
Hazel shrugged. "When you spend all your life indoors, you get kind of good at arts and crafts. I'm a damn good sewer too."
"Oh look, this is for Hedwig. It's a proper owl perch so she doesn't have to spend her time cooped up in her cage." She showed him the special owl perch Sirius had ordered.
Harry let Hedwig out of her cage and she flew up onto the perch, hooting happily about being free.
"Do you want to see my room? It's right at the top?" Hazel asked him with a big smile.
"Sure." Harry nodded and followed her out of his room and up another flight of stairs to the top landing.
There were only two doors on this floor, one which Hazel explained led to the attic and the other a door painted dark red with a small sign with painted gold letters reading 'Hazel's Room'.
Hazel pushed open the door and stepped inside. "This used to be Sirius's room but I've been living in here since I was seven and he said it was ok for me to stay here. But Remus made me take down the posters of the pretty ladies because they were inapropriate." Hazel explained making airquotes with her fingers when she said inapropriate.
The room was a lot tidier than it was before. All the old papers had been swept from the floor. The walls had been repainted a cream colour and on one wall was a painted mural of a silver wolf, a chestnut stag and a black dog starting on the left and the patch that was left cream was filled with photographs.
The rest of the walls were decorated with various Gryffindor banners, flags and posters, drawings which he only assumed Hazel had done herself and magazine pictures of motorcycles and cars.
Hazel's bedding matched his, red with a gold lion and her furniture was the same as Harry's too.
The only difference was Hazel's room looked lived in. Books lay open and bits of scrunched up parchment on the desk. There were clothes on the floor and the bed was unmade.
"What do you think?" Hazel asked. "I did the painting myself." She motioned to the mural.
Harry nodded. "It's really good."
Meanwhile…
Sirius and Remus walked into the kitchen to find Kreacher already working on the roast for dinner.
"Thank you Kreacher." Sirius thanked the house elf. Both man and elf had made an effort to get on with each other for Hazel's sake.
Remus began to make some tea.
"So what should we do this afternoon?" Sirius asked Remus.
"Well I think we should probably take Harry and Hazel out and get them some new muggle clothing. Hazel has been running about in your old things and Harry's clothes are about four sizes too big for him. I also think we should consider getting Hazel some er… women's underwear." Remus cleared his throat. "I think we should take her to the opticians as well. She's squinting something terribly and it would be a good idea to get Harry's eyes checked as well. Lord knows the last time his aunt and uncle got them checked." Remus shook his head.
Sirius nodded. "Yes I suppose you're right. Do you think there's a place we can go that can help Hazel get some…" He motioned with his hands.
Remus nodded. "I'm sure there is. Do you want me to take her?"
Sirius shook his head. "No it's ok. I'll take her."
"All right. And I'll take Harry clothes shopping while you help Hazel. Then we can go to the opticians together. Then perhaps we could take them to see a movie. I bet neither of them have been to see one before." Remus mused.
Sirius nodded. "That's a great idea. It would do us good to get out together for a bit."
"Master Sirius, lunch is ready. Shall I fetch Miss Hazel and Mr Potter?" Kreacher asked.
Remus shook his head. "I'll go get them Kreacher. Why don't you make a plate for yourself and take a break for a bit." He suggested.
Kreacher bowed. "Mr Lupin is too kind." He replied before taking a small plate of the food prepared and vanishing.
"You're too kind to him." Sirius shook his head.
"I know you're finding it hard being back here but…"
Sirius shook his head. "It's not as hard as I thought it would be. But I'll feel better when it's redecorated. Having Hazel and Harry here makes it better." He admitted. "Having you here makes it better."
Remus smiled. "I wouldn't be anywhere else. Not that I have anywhere else to go." He joked. "I'll go get the kids." He placed his hand on Sirius's shoulder before turning and leaving the kitchen. He headed upstairs and checked in Harry's room first to find it empty. Remus walked up to Hazel's room and found the Potter siblings inside.
"There you two are." Remus walked into the room, took in the mess and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hazel Lily Potter, I thought you were going to tidy this room last night?"
Hazel nodded. "I did." She answered.
"So how do you explain this?" Remus motioned to the untidy desk and clothes on the floor.
"It got messy again." Hazel grinned at him cheekily.
Remus chuckled and shook his head. "Well you can tidy it again later. Lunch is ready." He motioned for them to come downstairs.
Hazel turned to Harry. "Race you." She bolted out of the room.
"Hey no fair." Harry raced after her.
Hazel giggled as she slid down the bannister.
"Hazel be careful." Remus called still smiling. It was good to see the two siblings acting so carefree and happy.
Harry jumped down half a flight of stairs after his sister and found himself laughing with her as they raced each other.
Hazel skidded into the kitchen with a huge grin on her face. "I win." She exclaimed punching the air.
Harry appeared in the kitchen a few seconds later. "Only because you cheated." He poked her in the side causing Hazel to squeal and jump back. Harry smirked. "Are you ticklish?"
"No." Hazel said a little too quickly. "Ah. No." She cried out as Harry tackled her and started tickling her. "Sirius help!"
Sirius was too busy laughing.
"Harry stop." Hazel cried between squeeks of laughter and flopped to the floor like a dead weight.
"Ok Harry, I think that's enough." Remus walked into the kitchen.
Harry stopped tickling Hazel and helped her up.
Bright Eyes
After lunch the misfit family left Grimmauld Place and headed into the town centre to look for clothes for the two teenagers. Remus and Harry went off into a clothing shop with clothes specifically for men and young boys while Sirius took Hazel to a store called Marks and Spencers which advertised expert bra fitting.
"Why can't we go with Remus and Harry?" Hazel asked as they approached the shop.
Sirius cleared his throat. "Because… Ok." Sirius sat Hazel down on a bench just outside the shop. "Ok. So girls need slightly different clothes to boys. You see when girls get older their chest grows out and these are called breasts." Sirius rubbed the back of his neck. "So er… The shop we're going to… has a special section with clothes to help support your chest because if you don't you'll get a bad back and none of your clothes will fit right and er…" Sirius shook his head. "Anyway so this shop will measure you so you get the right size and everything."
Hazel frowned. "Will it hurt?"
Sirius shook his head. "No. Not at all. I promise."
"Ok." Hazel nodded.
Red faced, Sirius attempted to explain the situation to a kind faced shop assistant, who seemed to get what he was asking.
"No trouble, we can sort that out. Why don't you come with me Hazel and we'll get you all sorted?" The woman smiled kindly at the young girl.
Hazel frowned. "Sirius?"
"It's ok." Sirius told her. "I can't go in because I'm a boy." He explained to her.
Hazel nodded. "Ok." She followed the lady into the changing room.
Sirius sat down on one of the chairs and clasped his hands in front of him. This was going to be tough, Harry, a boy would be easier to deal with. He could understand and relate to things Harry would go through but how was he going to handle Hazel?
Hazel glanced around the changing room as the woman told her to stand there and she picked up a measuring tape.
"Ok Hazel, my name is Doris. I just need you to raise your arms up and I'm going to measure your chest so we can get an idea of what size bra to fit you with and then we'll find you some nice bras to try on." Doris smiled at her.
Hazel nodded. "Ok." She raised her arms and Doris wrapped the tape measure around her.
Doris measure her chest in a couple of places and wrote down some numbers. "Ok Hazel I think you're about a 32B right now. Why don't you and I go and have a look at some of our bras?"
"Ok." Hazel agreed and followed the lady out of the changing room.
"I'm going to take Hazel to look at some of our bras for her to try on, Mr Black. Would you like to join us?" Doris asked Sirius.
Sirius went a dark shade of red but nodded. "If Hazel wants me to?" He looked at Hazel.
Hazel shook her head. "It's ok Sirius. I get this is a girl thing." She smiled at him.
Sirius chuckled and gave her a hug. "If you want me to come with you, it doesn't matter if it's a girl thing. I'm here for you."
Hazel nodded. "Ok. Will you come with me?"
Sirius nodded. "Of course."
So the three of them walked around the bra section.
"Now Hazel you shouldn't wear the same bra for more than three days before washing it. So I think it would be good to start you off with about four." Doris told her. "I wouldn't recommend padded bras just yet so we'll stick with unpadded. It's best to have two plain coloured ones, will you have to wear white school shirts?"
Hazel glanced at Sirius.
"She will." Sirius nodded.
"Then I recommend a white and flesh coloured set." Doris handed Hazel a bra multipack in the two colours. "Because they won't show under your shirts." Doris explained.
Hazel nodded and took the offered bras.
"Are there any you see that you like Hazel?" Doris asked her.
Hazel looked around feeling very uncomfortable. "Er…" She spotted one bra that looked quite nice. It was white with little bumble bees sewn onto it. "I like this one." She pointed to the bra.
Doris smiled. "Yes, it's quite popular that one. Lets have a look. Ah, here's your size." She handed one to Hazel. "Do you like any others? You can pick more than four." Doris told her.
Hazel looked around and picked out two other bras. One that was black with little red flowers and another that was a baby blue colour with daisies on it.
They went back to the changing room and Doris showed Hazel on a mannequin how to put the bra on. Giving her the option to put the bar on back to front and then twist it around.
Hazel put on the plain white bra first and Doris came back in and showed her how to fit it properly so the straps were the correct tightness and as comfortable as possible. They did this with all five bras which fitted Hazel perfectly.
Bras sorted. Doris then helped Hazel and Sirius with the rest of Hazel's wardrobe.
They collected several t-shirts, two pairs of shorts, a couple of pairs of jeans, some jumpers for when the weather eventually turned colder, two lots of dungerees which Hazel really liked and even a couple of summer dresses. They picked up a couple of swim suits for their holidays, Sirius had made a promise to teach Hazel to swim. And finally some new shoes, a pair of trainers, a pair of flat black ballet pumps and a pair of glittery red wellingtons.
Sirius had had a large sum of his money from Gringotts converted into muggle money, so that he could take Hazel and Harry out to experience muggle activities as well as wizarding ones, and put in a muggle bank account, so he paid for everything with his 'debit card' and they headed back out of the shop to find Harry and Remus sat on the bench waiting for them.
"All sorted?" Remus asked them.
Sirius nodded. "All sorted. Now shall we get the opticians out of the way next."
Remus nodded. "Yes lets go. It's just up this way."
The opticians was a private practise but they were very nice and welcoming and luckily having a slow day so they were able to fit Harry and Hazel in then and there.
It turned out that Hazel was indeed short sighted and Harry's sight had deteriorated since he'd last gotten glasses. So both siblings looked through the frames to find a pair they liked and suited their face.
Harry ended up sticking with a pair of round black frames almost identical to his current ones. Hazel picked out a pair of rather trendy horn-rimmed glasses.
The opticians told them that the glasses would be ready in an hour as they could make them in house, so they all left to get some ice cream.
Harry grinned as the four of them sat outside in the late afternoon sunshine, Sirius telling them a story of an elaborate prank he and James had played once with Remus correcting him and adding dry comments about the whole situation which made it even funnier.
Hazel had gone rather quiet sitting there licking her mint chocolate chip ice cream and staring off into the distance.
"Earth to Hazel you in there?" Harry asked waving his hand in front of her face.
"Huh?" Hazel blinked and looked at him. "What?"
"Where'd you go kid?" Sirius asked sharing a concerned look with Remus. "Somewhere nice?"
Hazel shook her head. "Sorry. I just started thinking about Hogwarts in September and how excited I am about going and then I got a bad feeling." She admitted.
Sirius nodded. "It's ok to feel nervous Hazel. But I promise you're going to love Hogwarts and you'll have Harry there to look out for you." He motioned to her brother.
Hazel nodded. "I know. I don't know, it was just a weird feeling… I suppose it must have been nerves." She said looking a little unsure.
"Hey, you're going to love Hogwarts Hazel and I bet you're already super good at magic because you don't need a wand to do it." Harry tried to cheer her up.
"You really think so?" Hazel asked him.
Harry nodded. "And I can help you with that catch up work you have to do over the summer."
Hazel beamed at him. "Thanks Harry." She hugged him tightly.
"We'll help you too Hazel. Believe it or not but we were quite smart back in the day." Sirius nudged Remus.
Remus nodded. "Well I was. You were kind of questionable."
Sirius gasped in mock shock. "Mooney, you wound me with your words." He shook his head.
Hazel and Harry giggled at the two men and all fears Hazel had disappeared as they finished their ice creams.
Back to the opticians Hazel and Harry were fitted with their new glasses, making sure they were comfortable and wouldn't fall off.
"Wo. Is this the world in focus?" Hazel looked around with her new glasses on. "This is awesome."
Glasses fitted and paid for the group headed for the cinema. There were a couple of films on but they settled for a new flick that the person selling tickets recommended called The Lion King.
"It's just come out a week ago." The lady told them. "It's brilliant."
So they loaded up with popcorn and candy and drinks and headed into the cinema. They sat at the back of the theatre and waited for the movie to start.
Hazel looked around excitedly. Having never been to the cinema before she didn't know what to expect at all. Harry had explained to her the little he knew from when Dudley had bragged about going while he was left with Ms Figg.
"So in a minute it's going to go dark and loads of pictures are going to play on the screen and they're going to move and talk?" Hazel asked. "Like our photographs?"
"Kind of. Except these tell a story." Harry explained.
"Cool." Hazel breathed.
Just then the adverts started to play and they all fell silent.
Remus jumped slightly when something touched his hand and he looked down just in time to see Sirius slip his hand into his. No words were spoken between the two of them but Remus smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the screen.
Hazel couldn't take her eyes off the screen from the second the movie started playing. Harry enjoyed the movie too but every so often he found himself watching Hazel's reactions which were just as entertaining as the movie.
Whilst watching the movie Sirius decided he was going to see about getting something for the house so they could watch more movies together, also noticing Hazel and Harry's enjoyment of the movie.
The movie ended and they left the cinema together heading for home, happily chatting about the movie.
"Okay you two, head upstairs and put your things away. Hazel I want that room tidy when I come up in an hour." Remus told her sternly.
Hazel nodded. "I will." She went to run up the stairs and then turned and hugged each man in turn. "Thank you."
"You're welcome kid." Sirius told her.
Harry nodded and hugged each man in turn as well. "Thank you. Today has been amazing." He admitted.
"Best day ever!" Hazel exclaimed and then hurried up the stairs to her room.
So more of the summer with the Potter/Black/Lupin family to come next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one. Please leave a review if you liked it :D
