"You've never been to Gringotts?"

"I've never been to Gringotts."

"You have never been to Gringotts?" asked Lyra again sceptically.

"I have never been to Gringotts," Harry answered again earnestly.

Lyra didn't say anything but she looked weirdly at him. Behind her sceptical gaze, Harry could practically see the cogs turning in her head, trying to figure out how a person raised in the Wizarding world could not have gone to the famous bank.

Her shrewd gaze on Harry didn't falter even as several seconds passed. Harry's discomfort was evident. Despite the girl being almost two years younger than Harry, there were times when he felt intimidated by her. And it seemed as if he was the only one who felt this way because he had asked Viscenya if she thought so too, but her response was disappointing to Harry.

She had laughed at him and waved his concerns away for Lyra followed Viscenya's words as if they were gospel, so much so that her passion for photography stemmed from the fact that Viscenya once fancied herself to be a movie-director after she had seen the second Star Wars film. Even though it was a fleeting fancy at best, that two month period of her yelling 'Action!' and moving around the house with a fake camera pointed at everyone shaped Lyra's mind majorly. That isn't to say that the youngest Black daughter didn't enjoy this passion of hers; she did. Even after Viscenya had grown out of that phase, Lyra continued to pursue this hobby. But everyone knew that in some way or the other, had Viscenya not gone through that period then Lyra may not have discovered her passion at all.

Safe to say, Lyra never felt the need to 'intimidate' her elder sister at any point in her life. Besides, it's not as if she could, the minute someone started overpowering Viscenya she somehow shot the person down a few pegs; effortlessly (Draco Malfoy had tried to do that whenever they crossed paths, needless to say, he was unsuccessful). Sirius put it down to the fact that his daughter was confident in herself, which was never a bad thing. Harry and James, on the other hand, had a theory that everybody in that family was a closeted Slytherin. (Harry had mentioned that to Viscenya once and she had almost pushed him down the stairs for that comment, "Oh bugger off will you?" she had asked him)

"Everything okay here? You're ready Harry?" Viscenya asked as she arrived on the scene. This intrusion broke Lyra's steady speculative gaze on Harry, and also made the boy infinitely more comfortable.

Viscenya had just finished getting ready, well… almost finished getting ready; she had haphazardly put on her shoes and was now close to hopping around to fit her foot's heel in.

She put her hand on Harry's shoulder for support, as the other hand helped her ease her heel inside the stubborn leather of the article. Harry's eyes snapped quickly to where her hand was, distinctly aware of its weight as it pressed down on his shoulder. The palm of her hand was gripping his shoulder tightly and he could practically feel its warmth seep into his body. The barely-there sound of feet tapping on the floor broke Harry's reverie as his gaze snapped just as quickly as before to where the sound was coming from (although a part of his mind remained fixated on the weight that was pressing down on his shoulder).

Leo had come out from his room and was in the process of adjusting the straps on his satchel that he was carrying.

Harry felt Viscenya's hand move away and assumed that she had been successful in trying to nudge her foot in, he was right.

She now stood on her feet, with both their heels tucked inside the shoes. She still looked rather uncomfortable though.

"What's in the bag?" she asked her brother as she shifted from foot to foot.

"Things that I wanted to get repaired, the spells on the alarm clock are weak; not only does it show the wrong time but also starts ringing at odd times during the day. That's just one of the wonky things. I've been meaning to get them sorted out for ages, but nobody could take out the time." He explained.

"So you're carrying garbage?" Lyra put it simply.

"No, I'm not! This is not garbage!" Leo spat back hotly, he got passionate when it came to such things
"They hold emotional value!" he said indignantly.

"A clock holds 'emotional value'?" Lyra asked disbelievingly.

Leo made to reply but his voice died in his throat as Viscenya called out, "Shut it, both of you!"

It was as if her words were a command that they couldn't trespass. Lyra didn't say anything else and Leo also controlled his breathing which had become much laboured during the short argument. Contrary to what everyone thought their relationship would be Leo and Lyra despite being twins didn't see eye to eye on most matters. It would often be Lyra who would point out or mock him for something and Leo who would rise to the bait and seek to defend his honour with facts and statements filled with righteous indignation.

Usually, their parents would jump in and resolve the issues, but whenever they weren't there, the responsibility fell on Viscenya. And just as she had no problem commanding people on the Quidditch pitch, she easily quelled all arguments by using her 'captain voice'.

Right now, there was silence in the living room of the house where the kids had assembled, waiting for their parents to Floo in from the ministry at any moment to take them to Diagon Alley. Well, it would just be Sirius and Marlene who would come in now. James had a meeting with the current head of the department and some other important officials. Sirius bet that it was to do a final check of his character; to see if he would be fit for the role of department head. James knew it deep down as well and that was why he wouldn't dare miss out on this. Lily, on the other hand, had to present a part of her thesis to her supervisor and the board at the Society so that they continued their funding of the project. As a result, they thought it best that Sirius and Marlene take their kids and Harry to the Alley to get his and Viscenya's Hogwarts supplies.

Why would they be going to Diagon Alley all of a sudden you ask? That would be because they had gotten their Hogwarts Acceptance letters. Almost a month after the incident at the Zoo the letters had arrived at the Potter and Black residences. Viscenya had screamed her throat raw and Harry had almost fainted. After they had gotten over their... reactions, they had written to each other and to all the other people who they knew would also get their letters to ask if they had gotten them yet or not.

Needless to say that the two kids were filled to the brim with excitement at the prospect of going to the school they had heard so much about. Though they couldn't go to the school just yet, going to Diagon Alley was the first step in that direction and they wanted to take that step as soon as possible. That was why Harry didn't let the fact that his parents weren't there with him today bother him, because if he was going, to be honest, he couldn't bear to wait a day longer. He would take what he got. Besides, uncle Sirius and Aunt Marlene were very cool and wouldn't let him feel down for even a second.

To pass the time Leo had drifted towards where Harry was standing and started discussing his muggle school with him. Him, Fleamont and Lyra went to a muggle school and would continue doing so till they turned ten. That's what their parents had done with Viscenya and Harry. Lily had been adamant in sending Harry to a school before he went to Hogwarts. She couldn't believe that most kids that were raised in Wizarding families had no former schooling before unless they had enough money to hire private tutors. It was no wonder that most Pureblood kids were brats; they had never learnt how to coexist with others in the first place! Following Lily's example, Marlene sent Viscenya to school too.

The fireplace whooshed suddenly and brilliant green flames erupted, between these green flames stood the figures of Sirius and Marlene Black. They both took a calculated step forward onto the mat that had been laid out in front of the fireplace and half-heartedly brushed the soot off of their robes; they were going to get dirty again anyway.

Sirius looked up the kids who had all drifted to closer to each other and stood in the middle of the living room. His swept over each of the kids and checked if they had all dressed up or not.

"Everybody's ready? Great!"

"Okay then, I'll go first so that I'll know if anyone's lost and then you lot can go one by one, Sirius you'll go at the end," Marlene explained.

"Yes mum," Leo said diligently and received a small smile from his mother in return. He had always been a mummy's boy. Lyra turned towards her sister and imitated Leo in a manner that was not at all flattering. Viscenya snickered under her breath.

Just then, Sirius's head snapped up "Wait! Did everyone go to the bathroom?"

He was met with collective groans of three people and one quiet 'no' from Lyra, who rushed inside to her room.

"Okay so Harry, the first order of business will be to go to Gringotts, we've got to get some money out of your vault. Your parents have given me the key; we'll be in and out like lightning." Sirius said as he held Harry's small hand in his and weaved his way through the crowd in the Alley. There were more people than usual because of the Hogwarts shopping that most had to get done, it also didn't help that almost everyone in the streets stopped to look and stare at Harry, and to occasionally point at his scar in the most non-discreet of ways. His arrival in the Leaky Cauldron had been a preview of what his trip to Diagon Alley would be like. People had practically lined to up to shake his hand. People whom he had never seen before were almost falling at their feet to get a glimpse of him. It wasn't as if Harry wasn't used to this kind of behaviour, because he was. Since before he could remember it had always been this way with the public, they'd go crazy over every miniscule thing he ever did.

These kinds of reactions were part of the reason why his parents didn't make a show of or took him out that often in public. He remembered this one time back when he was just eight when he went to visit his Grandparents house and was spotted near London by a reporter, there had been a whole article dedicated to this excursion by the Wizarding newspaper The Daily Prophet.

While he was a bit angry that he couldn't go out and do the things that Viscenya, Ron, Neville or most other kids could, he had come to realise as he got older that all of it was done to protect him from the evils that media bore. Besides, he could complain all that he wanted about not being able to visit common places that often, but he couldn't deny the fact that it was nice to not have reporters stick their noses in his business and ask him if he remembered what Voldemort looked like. (Yes, that had happened once. And his parents had had a good time shutting that reporter up)

Perhaps the only good thing to come out of his harried interactions with everyone at the pub was that he and Viscenya got to meet their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; Professor Quirinus Quirrel.

The man had a stutter and found it difficult to get through simple sentences, Harry was sure he heard uncle Sirius snort under his breath during the interaction, muttering something about Quirrel, something that Harry was sure wasn't a very good thing to say for his godfather had yelled out in pain just seconds after, probably because aunt Marlene must've punched him lightly in the gut, as she often did whenever her husband forgot that they lived in a society.

Sirius and Harry had quickly made their way towards the bank after the crowd had settled somewhat. They had left behind Viscenya with her mother and siblings at the Pub while they sorted out the money from the bank. After that, they were to rendezvous at Florean Fortescue's and to set off to the different shops to get their supplies.

The trip to the Wizarding bank had been... interesting. Since he had never before gone to the bank, the Goblins had made him very nervous, it was a good thing that uncle Sirius was there because Harry knew that if it had been just him, he wouldn't have had the courage to get a single word out let alone carry out an entire conversation.

But all of that gratitude had vanished the minute the cart ride into the deep tunnels of the bank had started. Why hadn't anyone told him how awful it would be? While he wasn't sick enough to immediately vomit, he really could have done with a fair warning about the ride. Uncle Sirius had been on enough rides to not let the motion sickness get to him, so once they had arrived at the vault he had looked barely any different. The only thing that had lifted his spirits was the fact that uncle Sirius had told him that Viscenya had vomited after her first venture into the bank.

They had taken the appropriate amount of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts from the vault and stored it in a pouch provided by the Goblin in charge of their transaction. The cart ride back to the main section of the bank was slightly less nauseating.

They were now making their way down the marble steps of the bank, on the last step, Harry saw in his periphery a large figure wrapped in thick cloaks move past him. He didn't stop but he did crane his head backwards to try to see who it was. The person was easily the biggest person he had ever seen! His hair was a scraggly mess, full of knots and wild locks and it looked as if he hadn't run a comb through it in a hundred years.

Harry tugged at uncle Sirius's arm to call for his attention.

"Hey, did you see that man who went past us?" he asked still looking back, trying to get a glimpse of the man's face.

'Who?' Sirius asked looking around, scanning the crowd for anything that stood out.

Harry motioned with his head to the man they had left behind. The man in question was almost inside the bank now, so it was a good thing that Harry had pointed him out early.

Sirius looked back at the figure in confusion for a moment before a flash of recognition crossed his face. He smiled.

"Oh- Oh that's Hagrid, he works at Hogwarts; you've met him." He said as he strode forward.

Harry jogged his memory but he came up short, he couldn't remember him at all, he opened his mouth to point that out when he was cut short by Sirius, "Ah well, you won't remember him. You were very young at that point. He'd come by to visit us, we know him from school."

"You went to school with him?" Harry asked incredulously, not being able to process how his parents had gone to school with a guy like that and failed to mention it to him.

Sirius barked out a laugh and shook his head, "No, Merlin no! He's the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. He spent almost half his time trying to keep us from going inside the forest. Claimed that we were a nuisance, but he liked us enough to invite us over for the occasional tea."

Harry nodded his head in understanding.

"He'll probably be the one to fetch the first years from the platforms," Sirius said after a while.

They were making their way towards the ice-cream parlour, and now Harry could make out Viscenya and subsequently the rest of the family in the distance.

His best friend seemed to be running around trying to catch Lyra, while Leo sat in his seat perusing the menu. Aunt Marlene was by the counter; Harry assumed that she was placing orders.

It seemed as if they hadn't noticed the two figures approaching them, because when Harry came into their line of sight, Viscenya let out an audible gasp and ran towards them, completely forgetting about her game of tag with her sister.

"DAD!" she yelled as she ran into her father, burrowing her face into his cloak covered stomach and wrapping her arms around his waist. The people turned around to look at them but quickly lost interest.

Sirius had to abruptly let go of Harry's hand to balance himself and his daughter so that they both didn't fall. He chuckled in amusement as Viscenya gripped his waist tighter, not wanting to end the embrace, he ran his hand over her hair and asked, "Missed me that much pup?"

Viscenya didn't end the hug but nodded her head against him anyway; this caused her father to chuckle harder.

Marlene came up from behind her daughter, an ice-cream cup in her hand, "Don't flatter yourself," she said to her husband, "She just finished the sundae with the five different kinds of ice-cream flavours."

"You mean to say she finished the 'Butter-Liquor-Pumpernickel-Treacle- Chocolate Frog- alicious Sundae' which combines the flavours of Butterbeer, Liquorice wands, pumpernickel bread, treacle tarts and chocolate frogs in one - all by herself?" asked Harry incredulously in one breath, looking at his best friend in equal parts shock and awe.

Marlene looked at him a bit weirdly for his downright creepy knowledge of the sundae, but then brushed it off and simply said, "Yeah she did."

"She's living my dream life," Harry whispered reverently.

Marlene heard this and said, "She's also going through a sugar rush, so good luck trying to get her to calm down for when she goes to Madam Malkin's."

Harry grinned; he was going to the time of his life today.

They went to the Eyelop's Owl Emporium and Menagerie first; Sirius and Marlene figured that at least one of the kids would need an owl if not both of them if they wanted to keep up to date with their families. Leo and Lyra for once in their life were not bickering with each other and were instead observing the animals and birds inside the cages with great interest. Their parents had gone to buy their books and had sent the kids out on their own, trusting them enough to not make a mess of things and to reach a decision on which owl they wanted. Viscenya and Harry were having a great time making that decision. Well, it was mostly just Harry, who seemed content on looking after Viscenya walk around the place animatedly; her sugar high not quite subdued yet.

Viscenya was facing an owl cage which held a large tawny owl with piercing hazel eyes. It was hooting and cocking its head, trying to decipher what she was doing.

Just Harry entered her line of sight she waved her hand and called him over. When he took his time doing that, the urgency in her actions showed and Harry increased his pace.

Viscenya whispered loudly, "Harry! Harry, can you talk to owls?"

Harry desperately tried to stop a smile from overcoming his face "Umm, no I can't." A laugh escaped for a brief second but he reined it down and gave Viscenya his most serious expression "Why did you think that I could?"

She shrugged her shoulders and explained, "Yeah well you know, you can already talk to snakes maybe you could talk to owls too."

"Can't argue with that logic," Harry said seriously.

Viscenya nodded her head before it snapped up and her eyes met his. Something flashed in her eyes and having spent years being on the receiving end of that look Harry knew what it meant.

"I'm going to try talking to it."

Viscenya looked very determined, yet she was shifting around from one foot to another. Harry noticed that. "You sure? You seem pretty nervous." He said as he motioned with his head towards her feet, which could not stand still and gave off the impression that she was not that willing to embark on what she wanted to do.

Viscenya shook her head rapidly, "No, no, no this is nothing. My shoes don't fit that well, I guess that's why I had a problem with them this morning. Shoes are tricky, aren't they? Did you know that when I was a kid, well I'm still a kid, but when I used to be younger than I am now I thought that clothes and shoes just naturally shrunk when people grew up crazy right? Merlin, I was so dumb back then. Anyway, my point is I'm going to talk to the owl." She said all of this very quickly.

Harry nodded along solemnly and tried to hide his smile, "You do whatever you want Viscy. Go talk to the owl if that makes you happy."

"It does make me very happy!" Viscenya said with a smile and faced the owl.

Harry snickered a bit and shook his in amusement when he heard Viscenya let out soft hoots at the owl.

By that time Leo had come up to them and was looking at his sister a bit warily. "Why are you even friends with her?"

Harry just shrugged. He looked back at Viscenya who seemed to be in a staring contest with the owl, and turned towards her brother, "She's fun sometimes I guess."

Viscenya's sugar high had worn off as was evident from her slurred words and blearily opened eyes. They were returning from Madam Malkin's and were now heading towards the leaky Cauldron to Floo back home. Sirius and Marlene had agreed that immediately after the emporium, the kids should be sent to Ollivander's. It wouldn't do well for Viscenya if she was barely able to stand properly enough to get a wand.

The wand that chose her had Willow wood, Dragon heartstring core, 14 ½ inches with slightly yielding flexibility. That was the one box that she refused to be taken away from her and kept in the magically enhanced bag that her parents were carrying, which in turn carried all of their supplies. Since she had made contact with the wand in the shop, there had been a warm feeling in her chest, which she didn't want to be taken away. Similar was the case with Harry, he had gotten a Holly, Phoenix feather core, 11-inch wand which Mr Ollivander called "nice and supple". He had his wand clutched tightly in his hands and would only be taken away when they were to Floo, in case anything happened to it while they were transported back to their home. He had his wand close to him for two reasons, one was obviously because the wand made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. The other was something that was very unlike the first. After the wand had chosen Harry, Mr Ollivander had turned pensive, more so than usual.

He had said that it was "curious" that the wand that chose Harry was the twin of the wand that gave him the scar on his forehead. His wand was twins with that of Voldemort's. Harry hadn't had the time to process all of that then, and as he made his way to the Pub he decided that it was probably for the best that he didn't think about it at all. What good would it do anyway? Besides he was ridiculously tired from the day he had gone through. Don't get him wrong, he had had a lot of fun, and the trip had been pleasant (save for that last bit with Mr Ollivander) but still, it had taken a lot on him. Even though it was just six' o clock in the evening, he couldn't wait to skip dinner and dive straight into his bed.

Even Leo and Lyra, who had just tagged along were sluggish with their movements.

They made their way to the Pub and Floo'd home.

As soon as they were swished into the fireplace of their home, Leo and Lyra went up to their rooms and Viscenya willed her feet to move towards her room.

"'Arry, you stayin' for dinner?" she asked blearily.

Harry who was much better than his best-friend shook his head and spoke clearly, "No, I don't think so. Mum and Dad would be back by now, and I just want to sleep at this point."

Viscenya who would usually argue that he could camp in her bedroom and stay overnight didn't fight to hold the conversation any longer and simply nodded.

Sirius moved to question Harry on that and quite possibly argue that Harry but he saw Marlene shake her head no. And he understood that no matter how comfortable Harry was at his home, the boy would prefer to go back to his after a hectic like this. So he just summoned a glass of water and some biscuits from the kitchen, to offer to Harry as refreshment, which the boy gladly took. He gave parting hugs to his godparents before he stepped into the fire and got whisked away to the Manor.

When Harry reached his house, he was expecting to see his parents waiting for him, if not them then at least one of the house-elves wanting to take his coat and offering something to eat.

What he was not expecting was to see a snowy white owl in a cage, which was kept on a table by the side. As he moved towards the bird, two figures suddenly appeared beside him with a pop.

"SURPRISE!" his parents called out together.

Harry jumped about a foot in the air, as the tiredness from the trip faded away quickly.

"What is going on?" he asked as he looked from his parents to the bird, trying to decipher the connection.

Lily put an arm around his shoulder "We weren't there for you today-,"

"- even though we wished we could have been," James said as he slung an arm around his shoulder from the other side.

"And we'll regret that, forever and ever!" Lily said dramatically.

"- But we thought that we'd regret it less if we bought you something that you could remember us by when you leave us for some stupid school!" James said with mock annoyance.

"So we bought you this magnificent creature that hopefully reminds you of your equally magnificent mother-," she said with a flourish.

"- And of your equally wise father!" James said. Harry's smile increased with that.

"-And of course of your equally sweet sister," Lily said.

"-And of your brother, who doesn't share any qualities with the owl but someone who'll miss you the most." James finished lamely.

They waited with bated breath for Harry's reaction.

"So you tried to buy my love?" he asked bluntly.

James opened and shut his mouth repeatedly, trying to explain himself, when Harry burst out laughing.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I love this, I love this! I don't care if you didn't come with me today, I don't. All I want is to show off the stuff that bought today and tell you what happened. By the way, did you know Viscenya tried to eat the five flavour sundae all by herself and succeeded? It was crazy! Merlin! I have so much to tell you, I can't wait." Harry said excitedly.

James looked at his wife and then back at his son, "Well, what are you waiting for Lilyflower? Get the popcorn, and I'll call the children, its storytime."