The Family of Magic

Chapter One: Summer of Sun Before the Storm

Harry stretched and smiled at the pops that sounded from his joints and back. Humming softly to himself, Harry placed his new glasses, an almost invisible metal square around the lenses that connected to faux wooden arms in a light brown color, and looked around the room he was sharing with Sephiroth.

The Fairs had picked up both him and Sephiroth from King's Cross at the end of Harry's, rather strange and enlightening, Third Year. Zack and Aerith-and the three terrors-had appeared just as excited to see Harry as they had Sephiroth and their assurance that Harry would be coming home with them had made this year's return from Hogwarts one of the best that he had ever had, but he still could not shake the small ball of anxiety in the pit of his stomach that said he would never really be free of the Dursley's control, that they would always be hovering on the edges of his life, a looming shadow ready to snatch him back up and dump him again into a life of pain, hunger, and belittlement.

Aerith, or Zack-the man could be scarily observant when it came to people's emotional reactions, must have sensed his unease, no matter how well he had it hidden, and together they had pulled him aside later that evening. Sitting in the kitchen, Aerith's homemade hot chocolate warming his palms as he clutched it to his chest, Harry listened as Zack and Aerith took turns explaining.

During the school year, Zack and Aerith had apparently convinced the Dursleys to quietly sign guardianship of Harry over to them. They had also visited the goblins and somehow managed to get his magical guardianship as well. Harry was not too clear on how they had managed all of that, both of his new guardians had offered to explain in greater detail, but the borderline fury radiating from both caused Harry to believe he would not enjoy either what they had found, or what they had done. Harry had cautiously asked if they could discuss the circumstances surrounding his change in guardianship at the end of the summer instead of the beginning, at the moment he was content just to know that no one, the great Albus Dumbledore, included could send him back to the Dursleys. Both Zack and Aerith had been happy to comply, promising that the three of them would sit down before the end of the summer and discuss what had been done/found, what was going on, and what would happen in the future.

After that, the first two weeks of summer were spent bringing Harry to the eye doctor, the general practitioner used by the rest of the family, and a nutritionist at the insistence of the general practitioner. Each visit had been a new experience for Harry and he was very glad Aerith had been the one to take him, her fury at the treatment that the Dursleys had given him was much quieter and less overwhelming than Zack's or Sephiroth's would have been. Plus Aerith was very straight forward in her handling of the doctors and Harry-never showing any pity for what Harry had been through or keeping the doctors' findings from him.

Author's Note: For the people following this from "The Magic of Family," sorry it took so long, I have a knitting commission that the finish date snuck up on me on and restarting schools has been an interesting (and exhausting) endeavor. I had planned on making this first chapter a little longer, but I felt it served as a nice bridge between the end of Book Three and the events of Book Four.

Reviews:

buterflypuss: Oh My Goodness, why did I never think to check German, of course that's what it is. I swear, sometimes I thought I was going crazy with that, thanks for knowing what it was. Lol

Jebest4781: See what fun is a FF crossover if you aren't going to include material. *evil cackle*

.With. : Glad you enjoyed the ending, I always getting nervous doing those cause I want them to be satisfying and not rushed. Thanks for the well wishes with school, everyone's nice reviews have been really helpful at keeping going.

SoraSky RoxasWind: Here you go! This is only a snippet to let you know the real story has been posted.

MerelyOneHellOfAButler: First, Nice Black Butler reference. Second, glad you think my writing of Hermione hasn't been too heavy handed or blunt, I don't want to bash her character cause I loved her growing up, but sometimes when I really think about her early reactions/actions it irks me. Hope you followed the story so that you can see it is continuing.

Setokayba2n: Ohhhhh, wish I'd had access to your deviousness before I'd written that last chapter.

Scififan33: Glad you liked the ending. Hope your surgery went as well as if not better than mine, hopefully this is in time to catch the tail-end of your recovery since I missed when you were probably stuck in Purgatory (aka. Post-op)

Guest: ummmmmm…hello little Death Eater…..Voldemort hasn't even entered this story yet

Enjali: The revenge on Hermione took much longer than Ron's, but she is so much of a neat/ocd freak that it kinda hit me out of the blue and felt perfect.