When they arrived back poor Harry was barely keeping his head up. Esme asked if she could carry him for a while, so Severus gave him to her a little grudgingly. They all made their way to the back garden area; there were two natural streams that flowed through the wooded areas that met in the garden where they finally continued to flow until they were off of the cliffs quite the distance away. There were beautiful flowers all around it, so they decided it would be a good place for the channeling stone to be.
The hard part now was getting the stone in the ground. They could only use Harry's magic for this part, so Severus resized the stone to its proper proportions, and placed it on the ground roughly in the area for it since it was a small flower free area. Severus then reached for Harry so that he could help direct the magic if needed, once he had him in his arms he started to explain.
"Harry we need to put this stone in the ground, but it has to be with your magic. Can you first move some of the dirt and grass out of the way for us?" Harry concentrated really hard on just moving the dirt to the shape needed for the cone, it took about twenty minutes but finally he was satisfied with the shape being the same as the cone. "Great job Harry! Now we need you to lift the cone with your magic and put it in there please." Again Harry worked with his magic to do as he was requesting of it and it did, this time significantly quicker. "Wonderful job Harry! Finally can you make the grass and dirt surround it again and maybe make some ivy grow around it so it looks pretty." Harry nodded; pleased he was getting compliments for doing well. He focused hard on what was asked of him and was able to do so in fifteen minutes this time. "Oh, you are a very smart and powerful boy, Harry! Thank you for all your hard work, let's go eat our supper now, as I am sure the elves started cooking something wonderful tasting the second we walked in."
They all sat at the table and Severus was right, it was a wonderful beef roast with potatoes and carrots for himself and Harry along with the customary goblets out for the others at the table as well. Harry smiled all throughout dinner, since he was getting compliments on his magic use and how well he did with everything. All the while his boa was just on his shoulders, which reminded Harry that she needed a name. He turned to his dad and asked, "Daddy I need a name that means rainbow for my snake can you help me?"
Severus turned to his son, "Well even if I cannot I am sure between all of us at the table we can come up with something. You said you wanted a name that means rainbow correct?" At this Harry nodded. "Hmm, what about Keshet, Enfys, or Iris?" At all of those Harry shook his head no.
"What about Ixchel, Itzel, or Jalus?" Asked Carlisle, again Harry shook his head no.
"How about Iradessa or Irisa?" Asked Alice and Harry smiled.
I like Irisssa for your name do you? Harry hissed to the boa. She promptly answered with a quick Yessss, I like it too. Now I must go find food, isss it okay that I eat the ratsss I sssmelled in the garden. Harry hissed a quick yesss and she was slithering to go find food. He then focused on translating all that was said, "She likes the same one I do, Irisa, and now she's going to go eat some rats in the garden."
Rosalie smiled at all this then she asked, "Can I get you ready for bed, so your daddy can have some time to do what he needs to? I will even read you a bedtime story if you want."
"Yes" Harry all but screamed, which made all the table occupants laugh. Rosalie then scooped him up as he was finished eating and promptly went to get him ready for bed, where she even read the book as promised. As Severus was making his way to his room he quietly snuck in and kissed his son's head goodnight.
All the vampires each retired to their suites which were exactly the way they wanted them now, including Emmett with his electronics. Edward started his work of composing so that he would have a whole collection of music for when Harry was ready to be courted. He may play some here and there, but the collection would be a special recorded edition of each song, and he wanted to fill up at least twenty CDs.
The next morning found everyone at the breakfast table at the same time and this time Harry had a specific request. "Can we go down to the place where I saw other animals at yesterday, please?"
"I think that sounds like a splendid idea Harry." Severus said while the others were nodding along, to find out about all the magical creatures down in the stables and around them. When they were finished eating they headed to the stables, noting how far away it was Edward scooped Harry up and put him on his shoulders to walk down there. Severus on the other hand made a mental note to keep a broom up by the house for this trek. After a half hour walk down they reached the stables and Harry couldn't hold in his squeal of delight. All the animals at that moment decided to investigate the noise.
"These are Hippogriffs, you have to make sure you approach them only with an adult, first we will go up to them and bow, but keep our eyes looking at their eyes." Severus was glad to see Harry following his every instruction and was not surprised to see them quickly bow back to them; most of these animals will probably love Harry for the amount of magic that is always radiating off of him. "Now since they have bowed back to us we can step up and pet them." Harry hurried over to them where they actually laid down so that he could pet them better. Slowly the unicorns came over as well. "Look Harry those are unicorns, there are five white and three black ones which are rare." Harry hurried over to the unicorns next, where all of them laid down just like the hippogriffs, for him to be able to pet them.
Severus then pointed out the sphinxes to Harry, "Be sure you always have someone help you with them they ask riddles and you may need help with them, however they aren't really fond of being pet, so we will leave them alone unless they come to us. Over in that field are the Abraxans and Pegasus, which we can see later as they are fun to ride. Let's go look at the other field with another stable a little ways over okay?" Harry nodded, so off they walked to the next field.
The first thing they noticed was the powerful wards around this field and Harry could even see how the magical lines separated the field. Slowly two very powerful looking Griffons came out to see why the wards were disturbed. Severus carefully kept Harry close to him just in case, "These are griffons, Harry, and you are not to even go near this field unless an adult is with you. Is that understood?" Harry nodded, but couldn't help but be amazed with the swirling reds and golds around these powerful animals.
They continued on and the next to come out were two very large Cerberuses, barking and whining just like the dogs that they were, not considering their three heads. Harry laughed, and almost as if on instinct conjured six large rubber balls and tossed them into the field, where each head of the Cerberuses immediately went after them. This caused Harry to laugh especially when they brought the balls to the edge of the wards for Harry to launch again. He did and for the next fifteen minutes had a great game of fetch full of laughter from everyone; the vampires were amazed to see such a powerful and large magical creature doing something so mundane as playing fetch. By the time they were done Harry of course had them named, each head having a different name for the very different personalities they each had.
They went back to walking on, and the next field they came across nothing happened. It was a different type of field too, consisting of rocks, grass, and sand there seemed to be a large den type mound by the stable. Harry walked right up to the colors and called out, "Hello, hello, can anything hear me?"
Finally they all noticed some movement and at that moment Severus grabbed Harry yelling "Turn around." On instinct they all listened and turned around while hearing something moving. Harry then heard something that the others couldn't understand. Yesss I can hear you, but you need not turn around my eyesss do not have the lidssss down for a killing gaze. You shall not be hurt if you look at me, I would greatly love the company even if none of you can understand me.
Harry blinked, and then a smile crept along his face "She says she won't hurt us if we turn around, said something about not having lids down for a killing gaze." Severus let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, and slowly they all turned around to come face to face with a basilisk. Hello, my name isss Harry what isss your name? I have a pet sssnake and her name is Irisssa ssso try not to hurt her pleassse if you sssee her around, she went hunting earlier. Harry watched as the basilisk looked at him directly. My name isss Adalinda meaning noble ssserpent, I do love it so pleassse do not change my name. Harry shook his head, he wouldn't change her name.
"Do you want to stay and talk or keep seeing everything?" Severus decided to ask Harry. He personally wanted to move on, but would stay if Harry wanted to. Harry quickly turned to the snake, I have to go, but I will come back sssoon. Then Harry held up his hands to be picked up, and Severus was happy to oblige. They walked to the field with the Abraxans and Pegasi in it, which Harry loved. "We will come back at another point to go for a ride, right now it is time for lunch."
Rosalie quickly sidled up next to Severus, "Do you want to race everyone Harry, and I think we can win if I run super-fast?" Harry laughed and reached for her, when she had a firm hold one him without hurting him, she took off for the doors to race everyone. Harry laughed the whole way and loved how fast they were going.
Over the course of the next few months everyone settled into a routine; however Edward was struggling with some inner turmoil. Here he was several decades older than Harry and a monster at that he didn't deserve such a wonderful mate as Harry. He would make sure to do everything he could to earn his mate's love, but really didn't think there was much for Harry to love. Harry deserved someone as perfect and innocent as Harry was at heart, and that just wasn't Edward. He started spending more and more time lost in his thoughts in his room, until one day it was surprisingly Harry who came and found him.
He was currently just sitting at his piano staring out of the wall of glass in his music room, when Harry actually snuck up on him. Harry just sat next to him on the bench and curled into his side, Edward instinctively wrapped his arm around Harry in a side one armed hug. Then Edward decided to play his feelings out on the piano, Harry just listened with all his attention, until the song made it feel like his heart was breaking. He didn't know what was wrong, but he could tell this was what Edward was feeling. He started crying without realizing, when the song ended Edward was startled to smell salt water in the air and looked down and saw Harry crying. Edward scooped him up and cuddled him close on his lap and just smelled the scent of Harry, it smelled like white chocolate, honey, sweet mint, all with a hint strawberries.
Edward didn't know how long they sat like that, since at one point Harry fell asleep. It was a while later when Severus came in asking if he knew where Harry was, and Edward gave him a sheepish smile, while slowly turning his body.
At that moment Edward knew he couldn't hide away from everyone anymore, but he wouldn't be able to have a talk with Harry about it until much later. So he would just have to push it out of the way for now and work on being the best he could be for Harry and enjoy the moments like these.
Once Severus found Harry he went back to his study to start figuring out the tutor situation for Harry, they would need to get them all situated now that, the three months passed, he had all the applications for tutors. He had talked to the others a little about it to get their opinions and where they wanted and could help out, because not everything was about magic.
For primary levels, Rosalie would be teaching him all his standard schooling. Edward would start teaching him music and how to play different instruments. Alice would teach him dance, which Severus thought would be an excellent aid when later Harry would learn to duel. Emmet would work on wrestling and karate, again to help with dueling later. Severus himself would be teaching Occlumency just so that Harry could start working towards blocking his mind completely, but the first part of that was meditation which should help with any nightmares he may have growing up. Esme had been painting with Harry and would continue with it and various arts. Severus and Esme would handle working on gardening with Harry, just so he can have a fundamental grasp on herbology before diving into any magical planst, so currently that was planting and taking care of a simple herb garden.
He knew Carlisle wanted to but couldn't help, because he was working on getting his magical medical education so that he could work at the hospital in Seattle. However, he was also working at the Forks hospital, since he didn't need sleep. Severus needed tutors for elemental magics and wandless magic; he would need a total of six tutors right away. The rest of the tutors wouldn't be hired until Harry was ten and at the age where he would normally go to a school. Severus decided last night he would be keeping Harry home and just do a private education, Harry was so powerful and being a male bearer would be highly sought after and he needed to protect him at all costs. So Severus would worry about further muggle education, wizarding education, and elemental education when he reaches the age of ten, to give him a slightly easier time to get hopefully a significant amount in before his creature inheritance.
Now came the tedious task of weeding through these applications. He needed a shadow elemental, air elemental, water elemental, fire elemental, earth elemental, and a wandless magic tutor. When he put the ad up, he stated that they could reside with them if need be, but they would have to sign a magically binding non-disclosure agreement. He wanted someone with experience in the chosen subject of tutoring and also with tutoring at least one child.
The first thing he did was sort them by subject, he had a total of two shadow elementals, sixteen earth elementals, seven water elementals, five air elementals, twelve fire elementals, and finally three wandless magic tutors. Only one of the shadow elementals had any experience, so he chose that one and quickly wrote a letter to the man requesting that he come by tomorrow at 9am, via the letter that will change to a portkey at that time, to answer some questions along with signing the contract and non-discloser. The wandless tutors had a little more interesting aspect to it, one of the applicants was Sam from Bolder Boulders and he had tutored three other children in it. That must be why he was so good at explaining things to Harry for him to get his magic to do what he asked. Again he quickly penned his acceptance letter and requested he come at 11am via the portkey letter to get the paperwork done, he remember vaguely from the sign saying it closed from 11am to 1pm for lunch. At this rate it would be easy to complete the tutor situation.
Ha, he should have never cursed himself, because 2 hours later he had only been able to narrow down the rest to 6 earth elementals, 4 water elementals, 3 air elementals, and 6 fire elementals. For the water elementals he did see that two were a package deal they were Kahdi and Dalis who are mermen that apparently are bored of their seas and want to be on land but near water, they had each taught over 25 merchildren. They apparently have only been on land six months so haven't taught a human, but controlling the element is the same above or beneath the water according to them. He wanted to give them a shot, since his son was a creature too, that way he never felt embarrassed about it. Severus quickly penned them a letter and asked them to come by at 10am via the portkey letter to answer questions and sign the paperwork. As for the air elemental, he decided to go with a female who had tutored 3 other children, and seemed to just need to have a part time job while she worked on her solicitor degree, who knows maybe she will become their solicitor when she is done. Her acceptance letter requested her arrival at 1pm, he would just need to have an early lunch at 12pm.
The fire elementals were interesting two worked on dragon reserves and two others worked in a volcano to work with alchemy, and the last two were pretty lackluster. One of the volcano workers and one of the dragon workers each were available only one day which would work well and give Harry a chance to get two perspectives on his fire element. So he quickly penned their acceptance letters to come at 2 and 2:30pm via portkey letter and he would knock out both at the same time since they would need to coordinate somewhat between them. Lastly the earth elements, nothing very exciting in this bunch, but he did find one woman who seemed to be very straight and to the point. He could appreciate that and she had tutored over ten other children so he wrote the acceptance letter for her to arrive at 8:00am via portkey letter and to answer questions and sign the paperwork.
With that done he quickly wrote up the rejection letters and sealed all of them up. He went up to the owlery and did a sharp short whistle, all the birds responded at once and flew to the bottom perch where it was perfect for tying letters onto their legs. They took off with the letters all of them having a few tied on their legs and he headed for his next task making sure his study was warded properly so that he could host the tutors there, as he had directed all the portkeys to it. He also went through and checked all the wards and runes on the house, just to make sure it was set up properly. Severus also went around checking each of the rooms that he had the house elves set up as a schooling room, one for muggle education and one for magical, and another for elemental, since the warding would have to be significant. They also made it so any extra magical energies from the house was fed to the warding stone in the foundation, so that the extra magic and energy could be used to help protect the property and everyone in it.
With that all done Severus let out a loud sigh, he knew he had a lot of work ahead of him with his son. Anyone with a child as powerful as Harry would have a significant amount of work, between protecting him and making sure he was able to control the magic. Severus was constantly surprised by just how much control Harry already had, it was rare that he couldn't do something with his magic, and it had yet to cause any real damage other than rattling things around. Yes, it was time for a quiet night to get ready for a very busy tomorrow, but it was a very productive day thus far.
