A/n: Lionheart, I was wondering if you'd be willing to have an AIM conference, or failing that, discussing my story by email. You seem to be quite well informed, and it would be very useful to me if I could pick your brain for information and ideas.

I hope to make this one over the 3000 mark as well. Happy reading!

P.S. If you are not logged in, or are not a registered person, I can't respond to your review. So, if you insist on being an anonymous reviewer, just remember that I'm not ignoring your comments, I just can't respond unless you give me your email or something. Cheers!

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Nine

Remus did follow up on his promise and moved in over the next few days. He did, however insist that he keep his job. Remus apparently worked at a Muggle lumberyard and got a good bit of pay from it. Sirius agreed on the condition that Remus would not attempt to pay rent of any sort and would not "chip in" for food, drinks or any other expenses the house and those living inside it may have. Remus tried to weasel out of that clause, but Sirius held his ground and finally, he agreed.

The only result of this was Remus was out of the house for most of the day during the week, but was still there on the nights and weekends. Remus sold his Muggle apartment and brought all of his possessions to his new home, and moved in to one of the many vacant upstairs bedrooms.

And so, while Remus was at work, that left Harry and Sirius alone for awhile. And Sirius had plenty of plans. Sirius spent a lot of time educating Harry on everything he knew of the magical world. They set up cauldrons and brought all of their potions ingredients into the basement. Sirius proceeded to tutor Harry in one of the few subjects he was skilled in: Potions. Harry "took to it" fast, although he actually was just remembering things he already knew. Some of the things he got from the margins of Snape's potions book helped a lot.

In addition to that, Sirius did keep his promise and teach him to cast magic with his new and illegal wand. Harry had to promise to keep it secret from Remus, however.

The story they told Remus was that they were learning Herbology, Magical History, Potions, how to cook properly, Quidditch and basic magical theory. While all of those things were completely true, it was not, in fact the whole truth. Harry was moving along nicely and had the basic spells that every wizard needed to learn down pat. Of course, Harry barely put a quarter of his magic into the spells he cast, it was still quite impressive what he could do. Sirius usually said "Down boy!" or "Easy, Harry." about four times a lesson.

The cooking, however was coming along best. Harry knew a few more dishes than Sirius, but none were nearly as good as the Spaghetti that Sirius made.

They learned by way of trial and error... and the fact that between Harry's well invested inheritance, Sirius's well invested inheritance and the money Sirius received as damages from the Ministry they could afford to buy more food if they screwed up badly enough to make something inedible.

They learned that it was like Potions. You had to add things at specific times, with specific temperatures and in a specific order, otherwise it was completely ruined... unless you were so skilled that you knew all the counters to the mistake you made and could fix it by acting quickly, but that was something only true masters should attempt.

Remus's birthday came in mid June, so Harry and Sirius tried to bake their first cake ever. While the cake had the consistency and texture of cottage cheese it was still quite delicious and they ate it anyway. They never figured out what mistake they made, but Harry assumed it had something to do with the amount of flour (Sirius denied this, as he'd been pouring the flour and claimed Harry added too many eggs).

Even with this reckless usage of ingredients, they found out they were spending a good bit less money than if they'd ordered take-out. As a result, Sirius and Harry tried to cook every single meal at the house. By the end of the week, 2/3 of the meals they cooked were edible, so on average they cooked four meals a day so they could safely scrap the botched meal. They took turns suggesting new recipes they'd discovered or just assorted combinations of foods that just sounded like they'd taste good together. Those suggestions were usually where the botched meals came from, but there were a few rare exceptions where they had stumbled onto something that was staggeringly brilliant. Potatoes and peanuts sounded disgusting to everyone except Sirius, yet they were pleasantly surprised when he made a delicious tomato based curry sauce and mixed it together with mashed potatoes and regular salted peanuts. Harry had a similar discovery involving ginger, garlic, tabasco and the preparation of hamburgers before grilling them.

Harry and Sirius worked together on the gifts, just like they had on the cake and got Remus a new pair of shoes, some new socks, two new pairs of pants and new shirts and a gift certificate to a Muggle Clothing store and a second one to a local Wizarding Clothing store. They also picked him up a few interesting books as they couldn't just get clothing.

Hermione, Luna and Ginny were increasingly busy whenever he tried to speak to them and rarely had time to speak to him due to some sort of research, so he spent most of his time with Sirius or reading his newly bought books. Sirius always had some new trick to teach (from either his brief stint as an Auror or from his years as a Marauder) and would always share them accompanied with an amusing story from the past. Usually he'd tell the story first, and then explain how he'd gotten the prank or whatever to work.

After two more weeks, Sirius began to get increasingly nervous about something. Harry confronted him about it quickly.

"What's up Sirius? You're ringing your hands and you didn't contest my unsupervised cooking of lunch with a 'better' idea of what to cook."

"I... Albus said one of the conditions of adopting you was for me to perform a certain blood ritual that makes us of the same blood." Sirius replied, shuffling his feet nervously.

"I wasn't aware that Albus Dumbledore had any say in either of our affairs." Harry snapped coldly. While Harry respected Albus as a powerful wizard and loved him like a grandfather, he had little patience for his manipulations.

Sirius understood Harry's concerns, and responded the only way he could. "I gave him my word... and he helped get me my freedom. I'm not sure who the anonymous tip-off came from, but I'd like to thank him or her personally one day."

Now Harry understood. "I'll do whatever needs to be done. I don't mind giving up blood or if it hurts... just as long as you don't die."

Sirius was thoroughly touched, and firecalled Albus for detailed instructions on how the ritual was performed.

That night at midnight, Harry, Remus and Sirius gathered under the stars in the backyard to perform it. Remus was only there to help if something went wrong. He wasn't required to be there or anything. As if in a trance, Harry and Sirius chanted, their voices almost indistinguishable from eachother's.

"Blood of Father
Blood of Mother

Blood that binds

One to the other

Bend and change

Twist and twine

What is mine is yours

And yours is mine"

Sirius and Harry chanted as one. They slowly circled around a small stone pool on a pedestal. The pool was actually a birdbath, and it was filled with a potion that Dumbledore had provided. Both Harry and Sirius were carrying a knife. They faced each other across the faintly glowing pool and stepped simultaneously. They repeated the chant three times before it was Harry's turn to speak alone.

"Blood of mine

I give to you

Loyalty and honor

Respect when it's due

My blood is forfeit

As is my name

Once we were different

Now, the same" When Harry finished saying the last word, he sliced a diagonal cut across his hand, from the base of his index finger to the far corner of his palm and placed it in the glowing potion, watching the blood billow out from is cut and disperse in the potion like tiny red clouds. Sirius was speaking before Harry's hand was completely cut.

"Blood, respect, honor

Loyalty too

What you gave to me,

I return to you." Sirius cut his hand here and plunged it into the potion. Harry and Sirius's bleeding hands clasped in the glowing birdbath. They spoke together once more.

"Blood is family

What's done is done

Once there were two

Now there is one!"

A crack of thunder boomed across the cloudless sky at the last word of the ritual. The bloody potion swirled in an inverted whirlpool... that is to say the potion defied gravity and the point of the whirlpool was above the surface of the rest of the swirling potion.

The tail end of the whirlpool stretched out further from the potion, like an earthworm emerging from the ground and stretched into words. "Sirius Orion Potter." it spelled. With a second deafening thunderclap, Harry and Sirius were blown away from eachother. The birdbath exploded into dust sized fragments. The knives landed in the open hands of Sirius and Harry. Now, engraved on the handle of Sirius's knife was "Sirius Orion Potter" while Harry's still said "Harry James Potter." The knives vanished in a flash of red smoke and all evidence of the ritual, save a small well-healed diagonal scar on both participants hands remained.

Sirius was now a Potter.

Remus levitated the unconscious forms of Harry and Sirius into their own beds and then went to bed himself. Dumbledore would be there early to help set up wards and he would need his rest.

Dumbledore assembled his blood wards and was perfectly content not to hear from either of the three of them once he was finished.

Harry and Sirius continued their usual schedules as if nothing had happened. Meals were botched, potions were brewed, herbs were studied, books were read, spells were cast and jokes were told.

Harry also learned a great deal of interesting things from Townofaah as well. His Coatl companion had a way of explaining some of the concepts that were too complex for even Harry to grasp from both Muggle and magical books in a way that Harry understood them perfectly. Townofaah had picked up a few personality traits from other members of the house by spending lots of time with them. In particular, he picked up Sirius's sense of mischief. Now, the Coatl spent large amounts of his time attempting to goad Harry into learning and attempting the Animagus transformation.

Harry ignored the temptation and delved into other more obscure areas of magical study that most people hadn't touched in centuries. Evocation and Abjuration were both favorites of his, and Harry had a running ad in the Daily prophet offering to buy books on the subjects. Evocation, Harry learned was the art of makings things do what he wanted... including appear spontaneously. It was about as close to "elemental magic" that you could find outside of magical creatures. Harry found that the portable bluebell flames that Hermione was so fond of were a slightly tweaked and evolved mix of Evocation and Conjuration. Harry particularly liked being to create snowballs out of midair. Sirius was still trying to figure out how to do it... and besides, nobody in the UK expected to be hit by snowballs in the middle of summer.

The relation between Evocation and Abjuration was like the relation between Herbology and potions. They benefit and accent each other, and have a lot of overlap, but hey are not the same field of magic.

Harry still kept up with his "Muggle studies" as he called it and went over his books from time to time.

Harry already knew that summer would be coming to an end shortly. Harry's Birthday was only a few days away and about a month after that, Harry would be headed to meet Hermione for the first time in this life. What if he screwed up? What if he offended her and drove her further away?

'That could have its benefits.' Harry reflected. 'But she'll still be a target. She's still a Muggleborn. It's best to keep her close. Not to mention,I could seriously tamper with that blind obedience of those in powerful positions that wielded authority... if not undermine it completely. She needs friends, and the earlier the better.'

The day before his birthday, he felt the most peculiar thing over his mind link that he'd ever felt... and he thought that it wasn't functioning properly or something. Hermione, Luna and Ginny were in the same place. Not like in the same room... but they were all taking up the same area of space. They were sharing atoms!

'What the-?' Harry thought, before looking in through their eyes. Harry found himself looking at... himself. All three girls were sharing the same body... and were looking at it in the mirror. His body.

"Hermione, you are so brilliant! I can't believe you managed this!" The synthisized Hermione/Ginny/Luna that looked and sounded like Harry squealed in Harry's voice. By watching, he suspected it was the Ginny aspect.

"Well, his worst fear is a superpowered Harry coming back, right?Let's make him realize that fear!" The Hermione aspect stated matter-of-factly.

The Luna aspect just laughed before adding "I believe we're being watched. Like what you see, Harry?"

It was only then that Harry realized what had just happened and his brain actually managed to compute it.

"I only sent my spirit into time. My body must have been left behind right?" Harry asked.

Ginny giggled, and Hermione confirmed his statement.

"Hermione preserved it and kept it alive, in case I needed to use it to return... and I imagine my empty magical core was left behind, as I had taken the magic with me that expanded the younger me's core to fit it all, in addition to what I already had!" Harry exclaimed. "You three merged your bodies in addition to your spirits to my old body... giving me your combined knowledge and the ability to turn into either of you, or even split off into up to three different sentient entities at the same time... Between the three of you and my old power... you have to be pretty tough... Maybe even as tough as Tom himself!"

Hermione took control of the hands and applauded him. "Very astute, Harry."

"You're turning into a bookworm yourself." Ginny added.

"Or, rather, three bookworms are turning into you!" Luna interjected, and everyone laughed.

Harry had to marvel at the brilliance of the idea. He imagined that it only worked because of the link they shared... if Neville and Ron had only still been alive. The six of them together in one being could be unstoppable. But that was no longer possible.

In that life, that is. Harry struggled to keep himself from grinning. He broadcast the idea to his friends, and they enjoyed it immensely, and encouraged Harry to hurry up and save that world so he could turn around and save the one they were in.

Harry leaned back and relaxed... maybe he wouldn't have to watch all his friends die one after the other after all. Even if they didn't quite have the strength to take Voldemort out, they could certainly run around and toss wrenches into his plans.

Harry went to bed late that night. The next morning, Harry woke up to find that he couldn't move. Harry opened his eyes, to find that he could barely see as well.

His room was literally filled with presents. He couldn't see the ceiling, and he couldn't see the door. In fact, from floor to ceiling, almost the entire room was filled.

Harry had been pranked simply by the sheer volume of birthday presents he received.

He couldn't even make it to the bathroom until he unwrapped some and condensed them amongst smaller boxes.

All in all, Harry received a total of: 147 books, a broomstick maintenance kit, his own set of Quidditch balls, a cauldron, Gobstones, five packs of Exploding snap cards, a wizard's chess set, A Zonko's prank Sampler containing the supplies to perform over a hundred pranks as well as a pamphlet titled "how to not get caught", over fifty five pounds of Honeydukes candy, countless blankets, cloaks, scarves, sweaters, robes, pants, underwear and even pairs of socks. Some of these were hand knit. There was a small mountain of gift certificates, and various toys that he'd only even heard of from around the world. There was a pair of Traditional Asian Wizard's robes, (charmed to allow size modifications in case he was bigger or smaller than they'd guessed) and presents that he could trace from the far corners of the world. Russia, India, Brazil, America, Australia... you name it, it was probably there. They had sent Jewelery (usually charmed with something quite useful. There was everything that a guy could ever possibly wear, from pendants and necklaces to bracelets and rings.), hundreds of home-brewed potions (amongst these was a small vial that contained a small amount of Felix Felicius) home-baked cookies, magically preserved entire meals (all of which were still warm due to the impressive charmwork placed on the packaging) soups, cookies, cakes, candies, steaks, entire chickens, sandwiches and more.

And now, with the presents stacked neatly on his bed (a king size, and it was still occasionally dropping something or another off the side) and the boxes and wrapping paper lay shredded on the floor, Harry approached the last package. It was the size of a large refrigerator and wrapped in navy blue paper with little house elves dancing across it. It was too heavy for him to move without magic. Thankfully, some kind soul had provided a small step-ladder for the occasion. Harry opened the top of the box and was and saw that it was full of letters, all the way up to the top. On top was a magically enlarged letter from Sirius on top so he couldn't miss it.. Harry figured he was intended to read that one first.

Harry

There was something that Albus placed on the wards at Privet Drive that kept all Owls that he didn't expressly allow out. It was intended to keep away things like this. When the wards on Privet Drive collapsed a few nights ago (as it was someplace you no longer called home) we received an owl from Gringotts that said Harry Potter had fifteen thousand, nine hundred and fifty-two packages waiting for him.

We arrived and read the first letter we found. Remus figured out what it was... apparently around roughly any holiday, you received thousands of packages from all around the world, from people wanting to find ways to thank you. Crazy, I know but we need to invite some people over for a feast soon. A lot of the packages sent were food, we only set up a sampler of the stuff in your room. The entire pantry is flooded with these packages in the pantry. At least I won't have to pack you lunches for school.

These letters in the box are all the ones that Gringotts had for you. The box is magically enlarged on the inside and has well over 100,000 inside it.

The majority of the presents were baby toys, which are in the basement if you wish to pick a few to keep or something. You can figure out what to do with them. Remus suggests orphanages and St. Mungoes. I agree with him on this.

The two of us were up until 7am hauling around packages, so don't you dare wake us up. Play with your new stuff, read your books and letters and eat your new food. If I'm up any time before three, you will sorely regret it

-Sirius O. Potter

A/n: There! 3,310 words, not including the Author's notes or the title. I hope it's liked. If I'm not clear enough as to why he got the Owls from random people around the globe, I'll put in a bit of a monologue at the beginning of the next Chapter. I hope to have Harry meet Hermione by the end of the next chapter, and I may punch it forward a few years the chapter after that. I hope to have him at Hogwarts on or before Chapter 12. I'd also like to point out that I have well over 30 fics that are WIPS, so complaining about a lack of updates annoys me a good bit. I update fics based on the level of enjoyment I get out of them, how many reviews they get and if I have material written for them in my mind. You don't me to make things up on the spot, it'll be terrible. Let me plan, and I'll try to update around classes and whenever I can. Cheers!

Neopyro