Hi, here is the next chapter, as far as I could see in the reviews most guessed wrong concerning the place I would send Harry and Sirius on vacation to. Well, here comes the revelation. Thanks for all of your reviews, by now there are over 1.200 for the story which is really great.

The usual disclaimers hold true.

Happy reading.


Holidays

Harry was looking around amazed. He had never imagined that the place they would spend their holidays at would be this splendid. He was standing at the patio of a Mediterranean villa which looked over a little private bay. White marble stairs led down to the white sandy beach. All around him the whole spectrum of south European flora was entrancing the spectator. While back in England they had sub-freezing temperatures, here they had a warm sun smiling down on them, making the proper attire shorts and t-shirt or swimming attire.

Harry couldn't help smiling all the time. This was what he had dreamt of, traveling somewhere, relaxing in the sun and seeing something of the world. Having been forced to stay in the most boring neighbourhood possible for all his childhood, he had wanted to see other parts of the world desperately.

Sirius smiled seeing the wonder on his son's face. This vacation was something they both needed. Getting away from the greyness of England into the colourfulness of Greece. They were staying near a famous tourist resort at the Greece side of Cyprus under some of the strongest muggle repelling charms the Black family had ever built. This way the small bay was theirs alone. But Sirius had the utmost intention of visiting the tourist village during the days.

Being a fully qualified wizard Sirius could apparate everywhere he wanted to be. That meant they could just pop over to the continent and do a little sightseeing there when they felt like it. Greece had a famous magical history. All those ancient gods which the old Greeks had worshipped had been powerful wizards and witches. Aphrodite had been a potions mistress specialized in love potions. The so called messenger of love, her son Amor had just delivered the potions to the recipients. And as some muggles were just too stupid to properly dose their love interest he had taken to covering little darts with the potion and shot it at the intended targets. For an appropriate price of course.

Apollo had been the most accomplished healer of his time. And he had been a great enchanter. His devices for divination had even enabled muggles to see some of the most obvious signs wizards could interpret.

There were many others. From the wizarding point of view it had been hilarious what the muggles were ready to believe, but then again they hadn't been able to understand magic and the technology they had today was nowhere even thinkable for them. He would take Harry to see the Acropolis, the temple of Zeus and if he wanted to see more, the hidden manor at Mount Olympus. Sirius had been there once before when he had been twelve and his parents had wanted to impress into him the superiority of wizards throughout history.

That had been the only vacation with his parents during his time at Hogwarts he had at least enjoyed a bit. Learning about wizarding history was much better than being drilled on etiquette, blood superiority and how to properly curse muggles and muggleborns.


Having got settled in at their villa, Sirius took Harry flying over the ocean, hiding his son and himself with a disillusionment charm. Harry was amazed how deep blue the sea was. They were a few miles out on the open sea and he was seeing shoals of different types of fish, like tunas, sardines and giltheads. He also saw a small whale for the first time in his life.

Racing each other back to the villa on their firebolts, they arrived laughing and Sirius told Harry to change into some light but elegant clothes. Harry raised his eyebrow but was only answered with a sly grin by his father. Shrugging Harry went to his room and took out a light blue, short sleeved silk button up shirt with white shorts. He slipped his bare feet into sandals and then went down into the entrance hall of the villa.

He found his father waiting there, clothed in a similar outfit; just that his shorts were dark blue and he had a silver button up short sleeved shirt on.

"Ready to go exploring the local tourist village a bit?" Sirius asked smiling.

Harry nodded excitedly. Sirius led Harry to a garage where a Porsche 910 Cabriolet waited for them.

"You can drive a car?" Harry asked surprised.

He knew a lot of wizards and witches couldn't drive. The purebloods thought it beneath them to take muggle transportation.

"Of course I do. I took my test for cars and motorbikes at the same time, shortly after graduation from Hogwarts. First it was just to annoy my parents but then I got hooked on fast vehicles. This Porsche has a lot of power in its machine and it is a great feeling driving in it. What are you waiting for? Hop in." Sirius was grinning madly.

Harry did what he was told and soon they sped over the roads of Cyprus heading to the nearest tourist village. Harry looked all around him while Sirius concentrated on the road. The scenery was beautiful.

Finally they reached their destination and Sirius parked the car in the parking area of a five star hotel, giving the key to the employee watching the area. Seeing the appearance of the two, he just nodded and smiled, noting their name and time of arrival for later payment.

"All right, Harry, now it's time for a lesson in blending in with the masses. There are some little useful spells that help if you are on vacation and need to ask locals about something or do some things. The translation spell will allow you to understand and speak the language you want for a limited amount of time. Normally the spell holds for two hours before you have to recast it. It also takes constant powering with your magic so most wizards and witches don't bother learning it. But I know you won't have problems holding the spell. Normally you would only have to think about it once you are allowed to do magic outside of school.

"But as I am with you nobody can tell if it was me casting the spell or you, so I will teach it to you. You have to always remember that the trace isn't invincible and can easily be cheated. It only picks up magic that is done around you. The only exception from the law is using spells in self-defence. Then the Ministry won't punish you. So if you want to do magic outside school, make sure an adult that allows you doing magic is present to take the blame, be under wards that prevent the Ministry from finding out or be in a magical place like Diagon Alley where it is impossible to tell who cast which spell."

"Understood, Pa. I will remember it. Can you show me the spell tonight when we are back, I would like to try it without having to worry about messing up and accidentally making the muggles suspicious." Harry said.

They were both talking with low voices to keep their conversation private.

"Sure thing, Harry. Well, let's look around a bit. Did you apply sun cream to your skin? Otherwise you might want to do so now before you catch a sun burn."

"Yes, I did. I am not stupid enough going into the sun with my fair skin without protection." Harry said.

"Very good. Now we will go and enjoy the pleasures a warm climate has on the clothing habits of beautiful females." Sirius said, making Harry blush heavily.

"Pervert." He replied.

"There is nothing wrong with looking, Harry. If a woman clothes in very little, she wants to be admired. The things you are forbidden to do are staring all the time or touching her inappropriately. I know this is a bit uncomfortable for a teenager your age, but you will learn that I am right on this." Sirius said grinning.

Harry just followed him. He was not convinced that Sirius was right. But he would give him the benefit of doubt.


Harry had enjoyed the trip to the village massively. They had explored the tourist parts and walked into the parts where the natives were living. It was great. The Greek were very friendly and Harry was surprised to find that prices for goods were a lot lower here than at home. Sirius explained to him, that if he ever visited a foreign country, he shouldn't keep to the public tourist areas, but look for areas where the locals shopped and ate. There he would get the best meals and deals ever.

He had tried several Mediterranean fruits and vegetables, some cheese made from goat milk called feta, which he really liked, olives, some fresh fish and Sirius had allowed him to test a glass of wine. He thought he would wait drinking wine for a while.

As they didn't have any swimming clothes with them, they decided to hold off on it until they were back at the villa. Now Harry and Sirius were standing at the beach of their private bay.

"Okay, time to hit the waves, don't you think?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, um, I have a little problem, Pa; I never learned how to swim." Harry admitted embarrassed.

Sirius, again, wanted to hex the Dursleys. They didn't even have the decency to let the boy learn swimming.

"Don't worry, I will teach you. For now we will stay in the shallower parts of the bay. To swim you only need to keep your body on the surface of the water. I will show you the basic technique called breast stroke."

Sirius went a few meters into the water and let himself fall into it. Then he began swimming around, showing Harry the technique.

"The most important thing about swimming is to not fear the water. Panic is the one thing that can be dangerous for you. Keep your calm and breathe regularly. For now keep your head over the water. If you want to dive, inhale and then hold your breath." He lectured.

Harry nodded and went over to copy his father's movements. The first time he accidentally swallowed water he began coughing and immediately stood up. Sirius laughed at that.

"Sorry, I probably should have warned you, sea water is salt water and tastes horrible. Try not to get it in your mouth and breathe through your nose." He said.

Harry glared at Sirius but tried again. It took some hours but when it was time for dinner, Harry had the basics of swimming down. He was sure, once the holidays were over, he would be able to swim without a problem.


Dumbledore sat in the Great Hall and watched over the few students that had remained for Christmas this year. Normally Harry Potter would have been here with them, happy to escape his horrible relatives and massively grateful that he was allowed to stay at school. Now the boy was completely out of his reach. Sirius Black had been exonerated and to add to the problem had blood adopted the boy. This meant Harry had now access to the Black family magic.

That was a problem as one of the main abilities that the Blacks taught all their children was Occlumency. He had used his abilities in Legilimency to find out information from Harry before, but now the boy wouldn't be open to his probes anymore. He knew officially it was illegal to probe the mind of a minor, but how would he be able to prevent students from making trouble if he wasn't forewarned? It was all for the Greater Good.

He needed to find a way to regain control over Harry, but that was easier said than done. Minerva, obviously, was on Harry's side. She had always been fond of Harry's parents, even if James had been a troublemaker like no other, and her protective streak had reached out to Harry. The more pressing problem was to find out if Harry knew about the blocks Albus had placed on him as a baby. It would have been a problem for his plans if the boy had been too strong.

Strong people tended to be too independent and think for themselves. They tended to rely on their own powers instead of taking his counsel. That couldn't be allowed with the prophesied saviour of the wizarding world. If he couldn't be the saviour again, he at least needed to influence the new one massively to follow his ideals. Well, the ideals he projected to the people, that was. He was the only one capable of ruling the country after all. He had defeated Gellert in 1945, which had been the starting point of his impressive career.

He, Albus, had understood what Gellert didn't want to see. You couldn't rule a country by fear. Sure, people would do what you wanted them to do for a while, but there would be someone to stop you at one point in time. Once the pressure got too strong, there would be opposition. And killing your opponents just didn't work. People would hate you and only one of them needed to be lucky to take you down.

No, you needed to make them believe you had their best interests at heart. After all, what you said and what you did, were two different sides. You didn't need to kill your opponents, even if Albus hadn't done anything to prevent the deaths of those who were dangerous to him. It was enough to put them into positions where they were no trouble anymore. Albus Dumbledore was in the opinion of the masses the slightly mad, but genius headmaster of Hogwarts who looked out for the interest of the common people. He was the man who did his best to lead children on their way into a successful future. He was the man who had opposed Voldemort from the start.

Of course he had, Tom had been a danger to his plans after all. He hadn't thought that Tom would become as strong as he did or that he would rival Gellert in his potential as a dark Lord. And he had underestimated his own decreasing strength. He was over one hundred years old and Tom was 50 at the height of his power, for a wizard that was about his prime. Contrary to muggles, wizards had a span of about fifty years normally between their thirtieth and eightieth years where they were their most powerful.

Of course with age came experience and wisdom, but in terms of raw power, things got a bit less fortunate. While he was able to match Tom's power by skill, he had been unable to defeat him like he had been able with Gellert. That was a misconception that he was annoyed of until today.

Harry was nowhere near the power Tom or Albus possessed. But if he was left alone, he would grow into being that strong. That was the reason he had placed the power blocks and blocked his special abilities. He still hadn't figured out how Harry possessed that many special abilities. One was rare enough, but Harry had four. Thankfully only the wandless magic seemed to have broken out of its block. The active part of parseltongue, the metamorph abilities and the animagus ability were still bound as far as he knew. It would be simply problematic if the boy developed the ability to use them properly.


Harry sat in the villa and listened to Sirius while he explained to him the complex process to become an animagus.

"As you know, Harry, you have the ability to become an animagus. It is similar to your metamorph ability, which you, as of now, only use to keep your old appearance."

"Yes, and I can't wait to drop the façade after the holidays. I will tell everybody who asks about it that I took off the glamour I used to keep the fact that you blood adopted me a secret. That is an explanation Dumbledore will believe. I don't see any way for him to find out that the blocks are all gone before the test results are announced. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Vector, Babbling, Hagrid and Moony are all keeping quiet about my marks.

"And Snape hates me so much that he would never tell anybody that I am doing well in his class. Astronomy and Herbology aren't subjects where good marks would matter to Dumbledore. I could even explain the marks in Herbology with hanging out with Neville more than before. The guy is a genius in the subject. And since McGonagall convinced his grandmother that he needed his own wand, his wanded subjects are coming along as well."

"That's very good. The longer we can keep Dumbledore in the dark, the better. With the upcoming vote of no confidence that Fudge will face soon, Amelia and Rufus are simply done with his incompetence and corruption and have mobilized support to bring Fudge down, Dumbledore will be pretty busy at the Wizengamot. Now back to the animagus transformation. It is an ability that has to be trained. Finding out your animal is the easy part."

Harry nodded. They had found out that he was a storm panther months ago when he had taken the potion to reveal his inner animal. But the actual training had been postponed until now as other things had been more important at the time.

"Now, the first thing is to really know the animal you will transform into. Know its natural habitat, know its lifestyle. Is your animal a lone wolf or is it part of a pack? When we were figuring out how to transform, we read as many books about our animals as we could. James even went camping in the woods for a week to watch stags to learn about their habits. Now your animal is a magical cat.

"Additionally it is a predator and uses stealth to hunt its prey. But if forced to fight, it can unleash powerful wind attacks on its enemies. I think your natural talent on a broom is due to your connection with the air. I have got you some books on storm panthers and I want you to read them thoroughly. Once you have done that, we will start with the transformation of single body parts like hands into paws. It will take some time, but I think you will have done it once the summer holidays start. After that you need to analyse the way the panther moves. Imagine how it looks in different positions.

"I have also contacted my cousin Andromeda as her daughter Nymphadora, don't call her that if you like your body like it is by the way, is a metamorphmagus too. She will be able to help you learn to control your abilities. At the moment Nym is attending the auror academy but she has one week off during the Easter holidays. She has agreed to help you with your ability then for two hours each day."

"That's great. I have only got the changing of my hair colour and length down so far." Harry admitted. "The only body change I can do is between my true form and my old form."

"I thought so. I think the hair changing ability is due to you having grown your hair overnight before when you lived with the Dursleys. And the change between those two forms can probably be blamed on you knowing the old form and the true form feels natural to you."

Harry nodded, his face falling at the mention of the Dursleys.

"How far are the solicitors with the evidence against the Dursleys?" Harry asked.

"They are doing a full audit on all Grunnings employees, including their home life. I have got a report about the status quo and so far a lot of things have come together. Their lies about you attending that school for criminal boys are pointed out with statements of the neighbours and the entry list of that school. Then we have the complete reports on Dudley from Smeltings. You wouldn't believe how much trouble that boy has already caused."

"Believe me, I do. Dudley causing trouble and being a bully is nothing new to me." Harry said solemnly.

"Well, obviously he is massively endangered of failing this year. Only bribes from Vernon managed to stop his son from being suspended from school so far. But with the payments from the Potter estate for your lounging stopped, he can't afford them anymore. That abuse of funds that were meant for your upbringing is also noted in the reports. While we can't blame Dumbledore for that, they as your guardians were entitled to a monthly stipend for your expenses; we can get the Dursleys as they never spent more than the absolute minimum on you."

Harry gritted his teeth. They had always told him he was such a burden for them and that he cost them too much. But now it was obvious that the money meant to buy him clothes, toys and food was used to pay for spoiling them and Dudley. Worse, they had him do their work around the house and had him wear Dudley's old clothes, which were several numbers too large for him. He really wanted to see them punished for their crimes.

"Next point is we have found out that Marge Dursley also got some money from her brother to support her bulldog breeding. She didn't know where it came from, but it was also money that came from the Potter estate. Her bulldogs don't sell that well, as they aren't family dogs and with her tendency to get rid of the so called weak ones; she is guilty of animal cruelty. With the statements of her using her dog Ripper to attack you, she will lose her license to breed them. We have statements from a Mr Fubster who managed to save most of those unfortunate puppies and found them good homes."

Harry grinned. If Marge knew that the Colonel saved the dogs she wanted drowned, what would she say?

"That is the current situation. I am sure once the Grunnings audit is done, Vernon will be fired and he will face several years in prison for his crimes. The investigations should be finished when the audit is done. The assumed date is end of February." Sirius informed his son.

"Okay. So my only homework for the holidays is finding out as much as I can about shadow panthers?" He asked smiling.

"Yes. That will be enough, after all, you are meant to enjoy your holidays. Any specific part of Greece you want to visit tomorrow?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, I want to visit Athens. There are so many interesting sights both muggle and wizard. And I always dreamed of sightseeing in foreign countries when I was little." Harry admitted.

"Then we will apparate there tomorrow after breakfast. I happen to know a bit about Athens and can show you the most important historical places as well as the best Greek restaurant I know in the country. The owner is a squib and tends to both kinds of customers."

"Sounds great." Harry answered with a big smile on his face.


Harry was awed seeing the fantastic buildings that were left from the ancient times. Sirius proved to be really knowledgeable about Greece, both muggle and magical and showed him many things. History was mixed with fun, sport activities and a visit to a wizarding adventure park. Harry was surprised that wizards had something like an adventure park, but Sirius simply informed him that Great Britain was a bit behind times in some things. The whole pureblood supremacy movement there had prevented for real progress by looking what the muggles did for fun. Harry also got to visit a JWT shop and was really impressed. He knew that he was the owner of the company, but until now he hadn't really understood just what wizards could achieve with magic. No wonder after growing up in the muggle world.

There were many things that made housework easier than normal spells did. You didn't need to observe the household utensils working the utensils were enchanted to move on their own once activated. There were advertisements for a new product that would be available next year for the Quidditch World Cup, something similar to a muggle TV. Then there were other things for entertainment, like music players working with crystals to store music, some games, though not that many, toys for children and other things.

Sirius told Harry that he was working with JWT to get a store opened in Great Britain, but it was slow going with the purebloods in power. He hoped that his clearing of all charges and current popularity would help with getting the licence to open the shop. He had handed the petition in with the Ministry.

Harry also was taken to a muggle zoo which was totally different than the one he had seen in England before his first year at Hogwarts. The animals were mostly those that lived here in Greece. Of course there were others too. The zoo kept different kinds of animals together that lived in the same area in nature as well. Of course animals like lions or wolves were separated from others to not eat them. Harry had a lot of fun and made a lot of pictures. He wanted to show them to his friends when he returned home.

Harry and Sirius went swimming nearly every day and Harry got better and better at it. He now had no problems diving into the ocean and playing in the water with Sirius. They had great water battles and Harry got to build a fantastic sand castle. Something he had dreamed of doing as a child when he had heard Dudley talking about it after a holiday with his parents. Now he finally could do everything he wanted to do. Well, within certain limits. Sirius took his role as a father really serious. He knew that he and James had been right terrors when they had been Harry's age and he wanted to avoid that his son was that wild. Harry learned to water-ski and had a blast seeing how Sirius had a much harder time learning it. They had seen others do it and Harry had wanted to try his hand at the sport. It was difficult, but after three days he figured out how to keep standing on the two skis under his feet and enjoyed it massively.

Eating was always an experience. As Sirius didn't see the sense in cooking his own meals and Dobby and Kreacher had stayed in England, they went to different restaurants in the area. Sirius was rich enough to easily afford it. Too soon for Harry's liking they had to return to England, but he was happier than ever before. He had spent a great vacation and bonded much more with his father.


That's it for this time. I hope you liked it. Till next time.