I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter Nine - Forever

They group appeared after a number of 'pops' in the largest hallway Harry had ever seen outside of Hogwarts, and once the nausea of his first apparation had passed, he quickly began to wonder where they actually were, and when they were going to the Black's house.

Thirty seconds later, he realised that this was their house. And, approximately four seconds after that, he wished he could see the look on Aunt Petunia's face if she ever realised this.

Mrs. Black had used words to the effect of 'snug' and 'cosy' to describe it while they were waiting to be collected for the next round of apparition, after Maia and the numerous shopping bags, so he had discounted Black's mention of a 'mansion'.

He supposed, now, that it was a matter of experience and perception.

"So," continued Caroline, and Harry looked up realising that he ought to have been paying attention to her, "I really hope that you'll be happy here, Harry. I do very much want you to look at this as a home, not simply a guest..."

Sirius walked over a messed up his hair, "Oh, Prongslet will be right at home in no time. I needed some male company, I was starting to feel hen-pecked."

Cassiopeia, Caroline and Maia glared at him, and he cringed back.

"Prongslet?" asked Harry.

"You don't like it?"

"I don't mind... I've just never heard it before."

Sirius felt his heart sink, but knew that it shouldn't. Goodness, if Maia couldn't remember ever being Annie, why would Harry remember being Prongslet? They had been little more than babies. But he'd make it up to them now.

"Well, your dad was Prongs, so when you were born, we nicknamed you Prongslet. Well, Moony, your dad and I did." Neither of them mentioned Pettigrew, "Your mum always hated it. She was worried it would stick and she'd end up walking down Diagon Alley calling for 'Prongslet' all the time and being laughed at."

Harry smiled, "So did my mum name me then?"

Sirius felt his heart lurch, and fought back the urge to turn on his heel and go and hex the Dursleys' into oblivion. "Nah, well, Henry's an old Potter name that's been used for centuries. Your dad wanted that one, but your mum liked Harry and they thought that it was a compromise and close enough. If you were a girl they were going to call you Rose."

"Really?"

He nodded, "Your mum liked flowers, and it went with her family traditions."

Maia looked away from the pair of them, glancing at the various statues and portraits. It seemed so easy for them to just slide into friendship and conversation. For her and Sirius, it just felt stilted and formal. Still, she was making an effort to call him Sirius, and think of him as Sirius, rather than Mr. Black. And he really was trying to call her Maia, and she had to give him the credit for that. And that couldn't be easy, when he had always thought of her as Annie before.

And at some point, she thought she ought to apologise for calling it common and vulgar. It wasn't to her taste, but he had clearly liked it, and it wasn't that bad.

She wondered if they found it so easy because they were both Gryffindors, or both men, or just those types of people who could fall into friendships that had seemingly lasted a lifetime in a few minutes.

But today had been good with Sirius. They had had fun choosing things for Pot-Harry, Cousin Harry, and had made conversation, and it had been rather nice overall. And watching Cassiopeia threaten Mr. Dursley...

It was all about taking small steps in the right direction, just as mother had said.

"Right, that's enough. Maia, show Cousin Harry to his room and then put on some proper clothes. That outfit is completely unseemly on you. Show him around and make sure you're both dressed and ready for dinner on time."

Sirius laughed and tried to hide it with a cough, "Is that your idea of a welcome, Cassiopeia?"

She raised an eyebrow, "I have things to do which do not involve standing in the hallway all afternoon. So, run along, children."

They made to leave.

"Wait!"

They paused, mid-step, as Caroline handed over a few of the shopping bags. "I thought these might be of use. I'll have Trixie bring the rest of them along for you." She paused, "And just out of interest, how much did you two spend?"

Maia chewed her lip and Sirius looked away.

"What aren't you two telling me?"

Maia tried not to laugh, "Well, you had to meet the Dursleys and act muggle, and Aunt Cassiopeia insisted on staying to keep an eye on them, and well, neither Sirius nor I really knew the galleon to pound conversion rate, and Aunt Cassiopeia just gave us that plastic thing from Gringotts – the debit card – which was linked to one of the day accounts..."

"So you have absolutely no idea." She finished.

"Not a clue." Said Sirius cheerfully. "I think we did good though."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Very well, off you go. I'm glad you both had fun, at least."

...

Harry found himself sitting on a large bed, laden with cushions and an extra blanket. He had a bookcase, a chest of drawers, a desk, a sofa... This room had to be the same size as the Dursley's living room. He'd always known, on an intellectual level, that Malfoy and Black and their lot were filthy, stinking rich, but seeing it first hand was something else.

For example, he'd been told that if this room didn't fulfil his needs, he was more than welcome to select another.

And Black... Maia, had been completely serious.

He wasn't sure if he should be pleased or worried at this turn of events. He trusted Sirius, and liked him. He was the closest link that he, Harry, had to his father. And just to hear anecdotes about how his parents had named him...

Yet the Blacks had come and decided to take him in? He supposed they were family, which was what had been said. Cousin Harry. And Mrs. Black did, indeed, seem very kind in a fussy, grandmotherly sort of way. And she really had tormented the Dursleys, which had been wonderful to watch. But still... it was odd. He'd gotten used to the knowledge that he was stuck with the Dursleys, and while he didn't mind change... He didn't know how to say it, but it was odd.

And he had gotten used to thinking of the Weasleys as his second family. He didn't want that to change.

But did it have to? He'd spent great swathes of all his holidays with the Weasleys. He could still do that. It might be easier, in fact, given that he had now moved from the muggle world to their magical one. And the Blacks were, apparently, his actual family, however distant that may be. And Sirius was his Godfather, and Harry wanted to stay with him...

And they might be able to find a way to help Remus.

Though the situation with Remus had left him sorely tempted to cancel his Prophet subscription.

He went over to the long mirror and nervously tried to flatten his hair. It made no difference. He jumped when a 'crack' filled the air and a House Elf, another pile of shopping bags, and all his school things from the Dursley's house appeared. Out of instinct, he backed away.

Trixie tilted her head, "Is something being the matter with Master Harry?"

Harry swallowed, "No, no, I'm fine thank you. Thank you for bringing my things... how did you get them?" He pointed at his trunk and broomstick.

"The muggles is not noticing Trixie."

"Your name's Trixie?"

"Yes, Master Harry. And Trixie is pleased to be meeting you. You is more than welcome to be calling me and Twinky whenever you is wanting anything. We is liking to make people happy."

He swallowed again, "There are two of you?"

"Yes, there is being Twinky and me."

Harry looked the Elf up and down, she seemed normal. Not like she was about to try and 'maim or seriously injure' him for his own good. "Well, it's lovely to meet you. And thank you again for my things."

Trixie smiled, "Goodbye Master Harry."

He turned back to the mirror, trying to push his hair down. At least he looked smarter in his new clothes; it was nice not having to wear Dudley's hand-me-downs.

"I think you're fighting a losing battle."

He turned to see Maia standing in the doorway, smirking and dressed in dark green day robes. To a muggle, she looked like something out of the early twentieth century.

He shrugged, "I know. It's never gone flat."

"Don't worry about it, the Potters are infamous for their hair. I've seen the portraits."

"Really? Where?"

She tilted her head, "They're dotted around the properties. My Great Aunt Dorea married Charlus Potter, you see."

He smiled, "I've never heard about them, what were they like?"

She bit her lip, "She was Cassiopeia's younger sister. We don't really talk about her."

"Why?"

"I don't know. She just doesn't come up. I can show you the portraits at some point though, if you like."

He nodded, "Thank you."

She looked around the room, "May I come in?"

"Oh, yes, of course, sorry."

She tried not to stick her nose in the air, and made her way over to the sofa. She sat down, smoothed her skirts, and crossed her ankles over to one side. Harry looked around the room, and went back to his perch on the bed. "This is odd."

She inclined her head, "I agree."

"So we're living together?"

"Yes, and I'm to call you Cousin Harry."

"Am I supposed to call you Cousin Maia?"

"That's the general idea."

"What about Malfoy? I'm not meant to call him Cousin Draco now, am I?"

She raised an eyebrow, "He actually is your fourth cousin, once removed." She paused, "Anyway, as we're meant to live together, I feel we ought to try and make some form of progress towards a civil acquaintance."

Harry very much wished that he could escape, because this was not what he expected. This was far too complicated and convoluted. There was too much scope for interpretation. He wasn't sure if she was actually being nice, or threatening him. The line was too fine. He preferred the Weasleys, and Sirius, where conversations and life felt much simpler and more straight-forward. "Ok?"

She nodded, and actually smiled, "I'm very pleased you agree."

So she was being nice?

"What did you think I was going to do?" he asked.

"I honestly don't know. Gryffindors generally confuse me."

"You get on well with Hermione."

"Hermione's lovely, but she still confuses me most of the time."

"I think you confuse her too."

"Well then, mutual confusion seems to work well for us."

He grinned. He'd been on the receiving end of her quick tongue a number of times, but it was nice to see that she could actually use it to be friendly. It was a bit disconcerting, like everything else that had happened so far that day, but nice. "You know, if you're worried about the Dragon Incident, I'm over it. And we survived the Shack together, so I reckon we'll manage to spend the rest of the summer together just fine." He offered, in the interest of building rather than burning bridges.

She smiled again, although it was a little tight, "That's very sensible."

Harry smoothed out the bed covers in front of him. "So, what are the holidays here like?"

...

And so there it was.

The proverbial olive branch had been extended and accepted.

Not only had the tide changed, but it had changed forever...

...