"Leo, Neville, Louis is here" Ellie called from the entrance hallway
"Come on, Neville, I want you to meet my friend" said Leo enthusiastically
"Wait, I'm coming" said Neville hurrying after Leo
"Hey, Leo" said Louis "and you are Neville, right?"
"Hey, Louis" replied Harry
"Yes" said Neville, and shook Louis's offered hand
"My brother" Leo explained
"I didn't know you had a brother" said Louis
"Umm, I'm adopted" Neville explained, a little embarrassed
"Oh" said Louis, trying to find something to say
"So, are you going to the kindergarten?" asked Leo, changing the subject
"No, your mother wrote to my mother about Mrs. Ruisto" said Louis, disgusted
"What happened?" asked Neville
"She tried to perform legilimency on me" Leo answered
"Mind penetration" Louis explained
"Is that legal?" asked Neville horrified
"Turns out yes" said Leo
"In France it's not" said Louis
"But we are in England" said Leo
"But you never told me you've learned occlumency" Louis told Harry
"I didn't know this would bother you" Leo answered simply
"What about Hermione and the other children?" asked Louis
"Who is Hermione?" asked Neville
"She is our friend, but we couldn't tell her because she is a muggle" Harry answered, and then turned toward Louis to answer his question "About Hermione, she's not going either, my mother had convinced her mother somehow, and about the other kids, there is nothing we can do"
"How did your mother convince her?" asked Louis
"I'm not sure" said Leo "but it's nothing confundus can't do"
"When are you going to move into a new kindergarten?" asked Neville
"I have convinced my mother that I won't need it" said Louis "but she still insisted on me going to elementary school"
"I had tried, but my mother refused" said Leo
"Is it fun there in the kindergarten?" asked Neville
"It depends" said Louis "If you have friends or not"
"I have never had friends" said Neville, looking down
"That's not true" said Harry, placing a hand on his back
"Yes, you have us" said Louis
"and besides, you have never met someone in our age before" said Leo
"I have" said Neville "but he said that he doesn't want to be friends with a squib"
"What?!" Neville's statement made Harry lose control over his temper
"But it really doesn't matter" said Neville "It was a long time ago"
"Who is he?" asked Leo, dangerously and you could feel his magic wavering across the room
"It doesn't matter, I have never met him since then, actually, I had never met anyone my age since then before I came to here" Neville tried to calm his brother
"You know he'll come to Hogwarts, and I'll know, Neville" said Leo
"Leo, he's not comfortable telling now" said Louis "leave him, you'll know later anyway"
Harry threw Louis a venomous look, while Neville a grateful one
"Fine" said Harry
-H-
"Expecto Patronum" Leo shouted, his eyes closed, thinking about his first broom
"Well done" said Remus, who was sitting in the corner of the room now, watching
"But I still didn't get the stag" said Leo, disappointed "It's only igniting the edge of the wand" he said that eying his wand "I can, as well, use lumos for that"
"It's not easy" said Lupin "a lot of grown up wizards can't produce a patronus"
"They can't?" asked Harry
"No, and it's because not every wizard can do this, and a lot of them won't be able to achieve what have you achieved today if they were asked to" Remus told Leo, who was looking very proud of himself now
"Can I try just once more, maybe I need a more powerful and happier memory" said Leo, and he was sure he has a lot
"No, that's enough for today" said Remus "take this" he handed him a chocolate bar "Neville must've finished his lesson with Minerva by now, he's probably waiting for you"
-H-
It was the first of November, Leo's first day at his new kindergarten. Louis, despite his mother's permission not to go, was forced by Leo to do so. The three of them made their way to the front doors, there was a nervous Hermione who waited for them at the door.
"Why are you outside here? It's very cold" asked Louis.
"Good morning" she greeted them all "I was a little nervous, besides I have just arrived" Hermione explained, and then she saw Neville "and you should be Neville, right?" she asked, offering her hand
"Yes" he said nervously, shaking her hand back "and you are Hermione?"
"That's right" she answered "Leo wrote a lot about you to me"
"Yes, Leo and Louis told me a lot about you too" said Neville
"Can we go inside already?" asked Louis and Leo together
"Seriously, it's very cold out here" Louis added
"Oh, yes, let's go" said Hermione, and opened the door, the four of them entered
Mrs. White, a young tall woman, greeted them, introduced herself, and then told them that they can go now and play
Hermione and Neville went to the stories corner, Neville has joined Harry's reading and writing lessons, and Hermione has already learned how to read a year ago, while Leo dragged Louis outside to the playground
"What are you doing Leo? it's freezing outside here" said Louis, after they reached a spot where no one can see them
"I want to show you something" said Leo excitedly
"Why here?" asked Louis, shivering from the cold
"Because it's something magical" said Leo, as the obvious answer
"You could show it to me after school" said Louis "I'm coming to your house today" he reminded Leo
"No, I don't want my mother to know about it" he said, smirking "If you shut up it won't take a lot of time"
"Fine, but hurry up, I'm freezing" said Louis
"But you can't tell anyone" said Leo
"Yes, I won't tell anyone" Louis said, impatiently
a Minute later, in front of Louis, where Leo stood, there was an enormous stag
"Wow" came out of Louis mouth, forgetting how much cold it was
"I know, right?" Leo transformed back
"That's amazing" said Louis "how did you do that"
"It's an Animagus transformation" said Leo, proudly
"I know what it is" said Louis "I mean, how did you become one"
"My great aunt taught me how" said Leo, trying not to expose all, Minerva wasn't his great aunt, but he called her aunt Minnie, and they told everyone that she was
"Can she teach me too?" asked Louis "please!" trying to make a puppy face
"I don't think she will agree" said Leo "but I can ask her for you" he wasn't going to ask her, he knew she wouldn't agree
"Fine" said Louis, a little disappointed "Neville knows, right?"
"Obviously" said Leo, rolling his eyes like Hermione usually does "Now let's go inside, it's freezing here"
-H-
"Wandless magic is a very hard branch of magic" said Minerva "It's also one that requires a lot of work and patience"
"Yes" said Leo, nodding as a sign of understanding
"So the process should be done for each spell and spell that you wish to use" began Minerva "the process requires to be in a meditation state, you should be pushing your magic toward the target, and after mastering the spell meditating you'll try keeping the spell working even after getting out of meditation state and finally, performing the spell without meditating at all"
"But why?" asked Leo after she finished "in wandless magic, I use my hand instead of my wand, right? Then it should be the same as regular magic, but instead of pushing the magic to the wand, I'll be pushing it toward my fingertips"
"But it's not the way to do it, Leo" said Minerva, sternly
"I can try" he said "like this" Leo said, and pointed his finger toward the vase in the corner, and then concentrated so hard, he frowned, and pushed his magic to his fingertip "Wingardium Leviosa" he said, and the vase levitated an inch in the air, but then fell and was broken "Reparo" Leo fixed it using his wand
Minerva was looking at the boy in front of her amazed, it took Albus Dumbledore himself a month to master the levitation charm wandlessly, and here a four years old boy did it even without practicing, using a new method, and she couldn't say anything but "Wow!"
"It still needs some practicing, but I'm sure it's easier and quicker that way" said Leo, proud of his achievement
"Umm, yes, you'll keep practicing like this on your own, I don't think I'll be much help with it" said Minerva still overwhelmed "I didn't prepare anything next, so I'll inform you what will we be beginning next on our next lesson"
"Yes, aunt Minnie" said Leo, and then continued working on his wandless magic
-H-
"He came up with a completely new method" McGonagall told Lily and Sirius, it was a full moon night, so Remus couldn't come "he even did it faster than Dumbledore"
"Faster than Dumbledore?" said Sirius surprised, shocked, disbelievingly
"That's amazing" said Ellie impressed
"I need a report about how he is doing in the other lessons" said Minerva "so, I can decide what to start with next" she explained
"Well, he has a natural talent in potion" said Lily
"Unsurprisingly" said Sirius, smirking at Ellie "he is Lily Evans son, isn't he?"
"How is he doing in dueling lessons?" Minerva asked Sirius, with a stern tone. That he knew better than to defy
"He's a very talented young dueler" said Sirius "he can actually beat a fourth year"
"Remus informed me that his patronus lessons are going well" said McGonagall, answering the unasked question "he expects him to cast a full patronus in a week"
"Is it time for him to start learning parselmagic?" asked Ellie
"Who's going to teach it to him?" asked Sirius
"Yes, a good idea" Minerva first answered Ellie, before turning to Sirius "I can't teach him parselmagic because I'm not a parselmouth, but a book should do"
"Are we sure we want him to learn dark magic from a book without us watching him? No supervision at all?" asked Sirius
"It's not dark magic, Sirius" said Ellie "it's regular magic performed by using parseltongue"
"I'm still not convinced" said Sirius, crossing his arms on his chest
"Anyway, I'll check the book before giving it to him" said McGonagall
"Yes, that's better" said Ellie, and Sirius nodded in agreement
"What about Nev?" asked Sirius "how is he doing?"
"He's indeed a powerful wizard" said Minerva "especially with his new wand, apparently, his father's wand wasn't a good match"
"Why would he use his father's wand?" asked Sirius
"It's Augusta's will" Minerva rolled her eyes "she was obsessed with the family name, and she tried so hard to make Neville like his father, not understanding that he's not Frank"
"So, that's why he's always nervous and not that confident?" asked Lily "he is trying to be like his father but failing?"
"Yes" said Minerva "but he has improved a lot since he came to here, right?" Minerva asked
"Oh yes, he finally started calling me Padfoot" said Sirius
"There is a lot more important things than what he calls you" Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius, and then turned to Minerva "Mrs. White, their teacher, told me he's becoming very social, he's making friends faster, and she also told me he's becoming more interested in books"
"That's good" said Minerva "They need to be ready for Hogwarts and what they could face in the wizarding world"
"They will" Lily promised
-H-
On Christmas eve, Lily, Harry, and Neville, visited Godric Hollow
It was the first time for Harry in the village since he was taken by Hagrid
Lily, of course, had visited her husband's grave several times, but has always been under the invisibility cloak
Neville, on the other hand, visited the place a lot of times with his uncle, he visited the statue of James, Lily and Harry, he as well visited his godmother's grave, though her body wasn't in there
It was snowing, so there was no point in wearing the cloak, and it was Christmas, a lot of people used to visit the cottage, statue and the graves of the Potters
"What do you want to visit first?" Lily asked the boys
"The cottage" Neville answered "I've never visited it before"
Leo was unusually silent, he didn't say anything, he was looking around him, trying to memorize everything around him
"Let's go then" said Ellie "Leo, are you okay?"
"Yes" he simply answered, and stopped looking in all directions
They started walking to the house, they passed a lot of houses, Lily named all the neighbors
"Bathilda Bagshot?" asked Neville "as Bathilda Bagshot of The History of Magic?"
"Yes, the very same" Ellie answered "and she was a friend of the family, she liked Leo a lot, she always baked him cookies" and she turned to look at Harry
Harry wasn't listening, he was staring at the houses they passed, and his face expressions were blank
"Leo, are you okay?" Ellie asked again
"Yes, mum, I'm fine" said Leo, not convincing, Lily looked at him with unbelieving look, but decided to leave it for now
"Here's the cottage where Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter, before being defeated by Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived and Disappeared" Ellie told Harry and Neville
"Can we go inside?" asked Neville
"I don't think we can, Nev" said Ellie
Neville looked disappointed, and he put his hand on the gate, and when he touched it, a sign rose out of the ground and stopped in front of them.
"On this spot, on this night of 31 October 1981, Lily and James Potter lost their lives. Their son, Harry, remains the only wizard ever to have survived the Killing Curse hours before disappearing. This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family." Leo read the sign loudly, while Neville and Ellie read it silently.
"Look, Leo, there are writings on the sign" said Neville, and showed them to Harry.
"Good luck, Harry, wherever you are" Leo read one of them, and he smiled briefly.
"Do you want to go and see the statue?" Lily asked the boys, smiling sadly at Harry, who turned his head to her and nodded.
They made their way back to the statue, a statue of three people, two adults, a man and a woman, and a baby boy, the three of them were smiling happily.
"She doesn't look like you" said Leo quietly to Lily.
"She doesn't look like me, but she does look like Lily" said Ellie, and Leo got what she meant "and you as well weren't born blonde haired."
"Really?" he asked, he knew that Harry Potter is a black-haired boy, but he thought it was only wrong information. After all, his eyes color is still emerald green.
"Yes" said Ellie, and then turned back to the statue, and a single tear made her way out, she didn't want to lose control over her emotions in front of Harry, he needed her to be strong for him.
"They look very happy" said Leo, sadly.
"They were" said Ellie, and then she hugged both Harry and Neville "Like we are now" she added, and Harry smiled.
"Let's go see the graves" said Leo, and they made their way to the grave yard next to the church.