Chapter 54
Phoenix sat at the breakfast table with Kayden beside him. He had watched every wizard and witch in this family and noted a slight problem from what he could see, they all only had one wand. This wasn't him alone bring this up at night in their beds either, Kayden was doing the same as well as Harry when he climbed in bed with one of them then back to his room. There was door between their rooms now, their father had put it in when they kept going back and forth so much at night. He had finished his last bite and pushed his plate away, he knew they were going to have to buy school supplies and he read the list. It only listed a wand. But he wanted brother wands. He looked up at his father who was sipping his black tea as he sat by Mum.
"Why do witches and wizards only have one wand?" Phoenix asked. "Gunfighters carried two guns, samurai carried two swords, even medieval knights had two weapons if you count a sword and a shield. Why only one wand?"
He watched as his father furrowed his brow together thinking. "Why do you think you would need more than one? You have to learn to use one first."
He knew he started something as the whispers around the table the started.
"Alright, say I did start using one with my right hand. Will it also work for my left as well?" Phoenix asked.
"That's a good question. I have never thought of that." Driscoll said. "Matter of fact, I don't think I've tried."
"It will but," Phoenix turned to look at Lord Wilkvine Prince as he addressed the issue. "Not to the extinct you have used with your main hand. Your lesser hand can only cast a few spells with it, it is not conditioned for the wand."
Phoenix turned and looked back at his father then. "I want two wands then. One for my right and one for my left. I want to train both of my hands. I can already write with both hands now."
He looked over at his Mum she had a slight grin on her face. "I don't have a problem with it. It makes sense to have both of your hands equally adept at using one."
Phoenix watched as his father looked from him to Kayden.
"I suppose you want this as well, Kayden?" His father asked.
"Yes, sir." Kayden said.
"Why can't we all get two wands?" Harry asked. "I've already started writing with my left hand as well."
Phoenix watched as his father leaned back in his chair as he sipped his tea. He could tell his father was seriously thinking about all of this, then he looked at his Grandfather.
"It's up to you Severus. I would put some stipulations on it though. It is not wise to be known for carrying two wands. You always hide the back up wand. It would also be a lot of hard work, patience, a lot of time and persistence in order to do this. I'm not sure it's been done before at least not while at school. Then you have school to consider as well." Grandfather Wilkvine said.
That wasn't exactly a full blown yes, it was a yes with consequences from Phoenix could understand of it. He watched as his father looked back at all four of them then turned to their mother and whispered something in her ear. Phoenix reasoned, he needed to add lip reading to his skills, they would kind of go with spy genre they had been doing while they played anyway. He watched as his mother nodded then turned and whispered something back to him. This continued on for several minutes this back and forth they were doing. Phoenix found it fascinating, because his memories that he had from Harry had never shown his Mum and Uncle Vernon doing anything of this nature before. Finally his father turned back to them.
"Two wands will be allowed with consequences. 1st rule, you will each require wand holsters for both of your wands. 2nd rule, if I catch you pulling both of these wands out at school together you will forfeit the extra wand for a given length of time to be determined later. 3rd rule, if I find out anyone outside of you four has discovered you have a second wand you will forfeit the extra wand for a given length of time to be determined later. 4th rule, if your studies fall below acceptable you will forfeit the extra wand until you grades are back up to acceptable. I'm lowing my standard to acceptable only for learning with both hands. Should you not be able to obtain an extra wand because that might happen, then your grades have to meet exceeds expectations. Your mother and I agree on the grades, there will be no failing grades gentlemen. Your mother and I will come up with the consequences later for the grades. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir." Phoenix chorused along with his brothers. He couldn't help the grin that was on his face though. Because now they had a way to get brother wands that was all that mattered to him at the moment anyway. He wanted to stay being gray.
"Severus, I need to borrow Brandon after lunch for awhile. I have some things we need to go over in my office." Lord Wilkvine Prince said.
"That's fine Grandfather." His father said. "Dudley if you are through eating you need to head to the kitchen. There is a floor with your name on it. I'll be in there shortly after I escort your mother back to her room."
Phoenix could hear a slight groan from Dudley, "Yes sir."
"Severus, I can watch Dudley this morning. Rosalind and I are going to be working on the kitchen. No need for three adults in there watching one little boy scrub the floor." His Grandmother said.
He watched as his father turned to his mother and she gave a nod. "Alright mother, you can supervise Dudley." He turned to look at him and Kayden. "And you two are with me this morning. Let's go."
Phoenix hadn't really planned on being split up this morning from his brothers but well it couldn't be helped. He looked at Harry who had a slight grin on his face. Now he knew why Harry wanted to go after Dudley on cooking. Phoenix rolled his eyes, but he didn't blame Harry, Harry was just taking advantage of Dudley's misfortune. He and Kayden would do the same thing.
Harry sat in his Great Grandfather's lap behind his desk as he was showing him some of the letters that had been sent to him.
"This my dear boy is a Will. There are five of them with what has been gone through so far. I need you to call Caddy because we need the rest of the stuff out of Potter Manor. I fear there maybe more letters that I need to go through." Lord Wilkvine Prince said.
"Why would someone put me in their Will?" Harry asked as he looked back at his Great Grandfather.
"Because of who you are. You have a lot of letters of people thanking for stopping the Dark Lord that night. That is where all of this stuff has come from, people sending you things for what took place that night." His Great Grandfather put a hand on his chest. "To me and everyone else in the family, you are family. We don't see you as a famous little boy, nor will we treat you like one."
Harry let out a slow long breath, he didn't want to be treated like he was famous. He knew it wasn't him who did anything that night anyway. "I didn't do anything that night. It's stupid."
His Great Grandfather smiled at him. "I agree it is unfortunate that the wizarding community placed this burden upon your shoulders. They shouldn't have, but you are the only one who has survived a killing curse. To some of them, you have untold and limitless magic." He watched as his Great Grandfather shook his head. "They can't expect that from a child. We are not expecting anything from you Harry, other than being a little boy who is inside our family."
Harry gave him a hug because they weren't treating him differently than his brothers. Which was all he wanted in the first place. Besides, he was starting to warm up to the idea of a large family. He didn't have all of that many examples in his young life anyway. But aunts and uncles always seemed to be bad for him. That reminded him of Uncle Leofric. Harry pulled out of the hug and looked back at his Great Grandfather.
"What is wrong with Uncle Leofric?" Harry asked.
His Great Grandfather smiled at him. "Nothing is wrong with him Harry."
Harry furrowed his brow, "he makes me feel like a mouse in a maze and he's the cat inside it chasing me. There is something wrong with him."
Lord Wilkvine Prince laughed. Harry frowned at him and crossed his arms about his chest. He finally stopped and looked at him.
"I'm sorry my dear boy. I've never heard Leofric described as a cat. He'll find it funny as well." His Great Grandfather cupped both of his cheeks with his hands. "Leofric will not hurt you. He'll feel bad about how he is making you feel. He doesn't mean to do this Harry, it is just who he is. Like who you are. Neither one of you can help being who you are."
Harry furrowed his brow still. "No one else makes me feel like a mouse."
His Great Grandfather smiled. "I believe the actual feeling you are experiencing is like you are being hunted yes?"
Harry's eyes widen and he uncrossed his arms. "Yeah, that's it. Why is he hunting me?"
Lord Wilkvine Prince chuckled, "he is not hunting you dear boy. That is just the feeling he gives you. The more you are around him, the more it will go away. Eventually you won't feel it anymore. You are not the only one either. So you are not alone in that feeling. Talk to your father, he can help you. Because Leofric probably makes him feel like a mouse as well."
Harry gave him a nod.
"Good, now call that house elf of yours. We have some things to discuss with him and see if you can get him to follow my orders for awhile at least where Potter Manor is concerned."
Harry nodded, "Caddy."
Caddy popped into Lord Wilkvine Prince's office.
"Master Harry called for Caddy," the house elf said.
Harry smiled at Caddy, he liked his house elf. "Yes, Granddad wants to talk with you Caddy."
Harry and Caddy listened as Lord Wilkvine Prince started explaining what he wanted from Caddy. The Potter Manor was totally secure and wouldn't allow visitors to the Manor. He wanted a total account of the condition of the Manor and everything inside it. He also wanted Caddy to bring the rest of the mail that Harry had received inside the ballroom to Prince Manor. Lord Wilkvine Prince showed him four trunks that were now empty that Caddy could use to place everything inside. He wanted all curses, jinxes, and hexes removed before the contents were placed inside them.
"I need everything gone through as quickly as possible Caddy. As soon as Harry is adopted inside the Prince family, you will no longer have to be held inside Potter Manor. You'll be able to come here like Gisly is here with the twins." Lord Wilkvine Prince told him.
Harry could see Caddy's eyes brighten at the prospect of not having to be alone in the manor anymore.
"Caddy be able to stay with Master Harry?"
"Yes, Caddy. In eight days Harry will be adopted by my Grandson and Heir. I need everything taken care of inside Potter Manor and brought here. You are still a Potter elf. But Harry will be living here till he comes of age and longer if he wishes. By staying here with us and Harry you agree to follow my orders that I have need of where Harry is concerned. Are you agreed to this?"
Harry watched as Caddy's eyes staid bright and started shining with tears. "Caddy is agreed. Caddy will do what Lord Prince asks."
"Good. The ballroom needs to be done first. Then I need the condition of the manor, that shouldn't keep you but for a few days. Then I'll have you going around putting Potter Manor in stasis so it stays how it should. Will have all the mail redirected here in the future."
Caddy gave a nod and popped away with the four trunks that Lord Wilkvine wanted him to take. Lord Wilkvine Prince looked back at Harry.
"Now let me start showing you some of these artifacts. Do you know what a Foe-Glass is?"
Harry shook his head as he looked at the strange mirror his Great Grandfather pulled out of a trunk beside the desk and started describing what it did.
Severus was laughing at the twins, both boys were running around the ballroom with wooden swords he had made to be the same length and weight as the ones they had in their wergild trunk upstairs. He had Apparated out to their play area and brought in the training dummies and geared them up. It was still to wet outside for them to play in the thicket and stay clean. The boys were running from them. He wasn't the only one laughing at them either, Driscoll was beside him.
"How are they going to learn if they keep running away from them?" Driscoll chuckled as he asked.
Granted Severus cheated because he had six of them after his boys, three apiece to deal with. But they needed to be able to handle more than one at a time. He also had made them full adult size and not child size that they should be. The dummies weren't even hurting them, anytime they touched them as a matter of fact the boys would howl with laughter. Which was quite often at the moment, thus the running away from them around the ballroom.
"They'll figure something out. Phoenix is more ticklish than Kayden." Severus told him.
"You should have started them out at one a piece." Driscoll told him.
Severus shook his head. "This is more entertaining. The boys haven't said to stop yet."
"Of course not, they can't reach you. They are blocked every time they even try." Driscoll said shaking his head and laughing.
Severus had given them one rule, they couldn't put on the rings, other than that, he said whatever they could come up with was fair game. This was another reason why he had put three apiece upon them. He was waiting for them to figure out they had an elf at their disposal. So far they hadn't called for her. Just like the other day with the dragons the boys hadn't called for their elfs. He wanted them to figure it out that they had protection and a means of someone who would magically protect them even from being tickled. This was one lesson he wanted them to learn before they went to Hogwarts because if they couldn't get to him, Gisly could get to them. So far it had been thirty minutes and he could see they were getting tired.
"You need to stop Severus, now it's just cruel." Driscoll said.
"No. I'm not stopping it. I want them to learn they have an elf. They need to know that fact and know that she'll help them." Severus said.
Both of his boys were now cornered and he waited. Phoenix was on the floor howling with laughter and he was pretty sure Kayden was going to fall next to the floor if he didn't figure out he was out numbered and out powered at the moment.
"You are so mean." Driscoll said.
"I'll take that as a complement since you are smiling when you said that." Severus said.
He looked back at his twins and finally he saw Gisly pop into the room and stop the dummies. Kayden was talking to her and the next thing he noticed was six dummies heading for him.
"Well now," Severus said as he pulled out his wand.
Driscoll backed away from Severus. "I have a feeling they are all intended for you."
"You think." Severus said as he started sending stunners to the dummies. Only problem was they didn't stop. "I don't know what she did to them."
Driscoll chuckled. "You better figure it out and don't destroy them while you are at it. I don't think they would like it if you destroyed their toys."
Severus sent a freezing charm at one and it took hold, the dummy froze in place, he did it at another and it didn't work on that one. He had to move now because they were to close. Driscoll was laughing at him. He sent a slight tickling hex at his cousin for doing so and went back at the dummies trying to figure out what to do next. He then sent a redirect spell at one and it went back for the boys. He tried it again and nothing. He was at least down to four of the dummies and had to put a shield up as Driscoll was starting to get into the mix of it now. He tried a stunner again and this time it stuck. He was now down to three and saw that the boys finally had their dummy down as well. He sent another redirect and it charged for the boys. So he had to keep the other two busy while the boys were only taking on one dummy at a time now and also defending himself from Driscoll who kept sending spells his way as well.
It was thirty minutes later and the boys finally had all six dummies down. Gisly wouldn't allow him to send more than one at time to them. She was also protecting them anytime he sent a spell towards them. She would shield them and then send anything he sent right back towards him. Finally he laid down in the middle of the ballroom floor breathing hard. Between Gisly and Driscoll they were giving him a work out on spell casting. Then he was accosted by his twins both trying to tickle him.
"You cheated." Phoenix said.
"Not fair. They were adult size." Kayden added.
He pulled Phoenix down and tickled his side as his youngest son cackled with laughter. It was the best sound he had ever heard. "Is that so, I don't cheat."
"Yes you did," Kayden said as he tried to tickle him.
"I taught you lesson. You have an elf. You figured it out finally." Severus grinned over at Kayden as he reached for him to tickle him after he abandoned Phoenix to his laughter.
