Upon returning home from Diagon Alley, Harry informed Dudley of the events of the day, before showing him the two wands he had purchased.
"You'll have to wait until we're back at Hogwarts before you can try them out," Dudley pointed out to his cousin, whose facial expression didn't change.
"Ordinarily you would be spot on, however there are a few exceptions to the laws. In this case, if we were under the supervision of a Lord or Lady, and had a tutor, we could definitely use magic in the context of training. I know a handful of Lords who would love to break the rules, and I know a pair of instructors who also would love to break the rules."
"Who are you on about?"
"Sirius would definitely be on board, however I have a second Lord in mind. Theo is claiming his house seat and with it, his Lordship. Now technically neither of them are quite what the lawmakers expected when they were writing it down, but they're still Lords, well Theo will be soon."
"And the instructors?"
"I was thinking about paying for Fred and George to get their instructors licences, who knows, if the oldest Weasleys are back this summer I can maybe drag them into my scheme."
"You are crazy sometimes, Harry." Dudley laughed as the two boys went to go waste time until dinner.
/~~~* *~~~/
Later that night, Harry was sleeping soundly when suddenly, he jolted upright and remembered something sitting inside his school bag. Something that he had forgotten.
He rushed over and pulled open the bag, throwing things out until he found what he was searching for. It was a letter, sent by Lucius Malfoy. It would surely be too late to reply to it now, but Harry had to at least read it.
Mr Potter
I am glad to see your punctual reply to my request. A discussion works perfectly for me, alas I shall not be available for some time. There are many things in motion inside the Ministry that require my full attention. Normally I only advise the Minister, however for this project Cornelius personally requested that I oversee it. All of that being said, I believe that we will be unable to meet until after the Halloween of your fourth year.
I do hope to hear back from you as promptly as before, it is rather refreshing.
Until we meet again
Lucius Malfoy
Harry felt awful with how long it had taken him to even open the letter, let alone answer it, so he sat down and immediately began to compose his response. It wasn't until his owl was out of sight that something strange happened. Harry felt a tingling throughout his body and then he was surrounded by post.
"What the hell?"
/~~~* *~~~\
The summer had been going on for three weeks now before Harry finally managed to find time to contact Elias. Harry had tried the ring previously, but Elias must have taken it off.
Harry had been writing a letter to send to his little brother, and was almost ready to send it, when there was a loud series of knocks at the door. When Harry looked through the peep-hole, he saw two strangers standing there, eyes sweeping all over the house, with matching looks of disdain. He drew his wand, the Holly and Phoenix feather one he had used since first year, and opened the door.
"Is this him?" the strange man demanded.
"Yes, Father," came a quiet voice from behind the couple. By this point Dudley, Petunia, and Sirius had come over to see what was going on. The strange woman noticed Sirius and whispered something about him to the man.
"I hear that you and our Elias are friends, and that you rushed into danger to save his life. Is this true?"
"Yes, but-" Harry went to correct her on the specifics, but the strange man, Elias' father, interrupted him.
"And you are Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter?"
"Yes I am-"
"Good. He's your problem for the rest of the summer. He claims that you would provide a better quality of life for him than we would. Go on, this is your home for the summer," Elias' father added on when the boy didn't move.
When Harry finally saw Elias, he was immediately filled with rage. He had a black eye and looked like he had been beaten up. Harry's eye began to twitch with fury, a rage he hadn't felt in a year began creeping over him.
Seeing how close Harry was to an outburst, and knowing what could happen, Petunia grabbed Elias' things, as his parents left without a second glance. As soon as the door was closed, Elias pulled Harry into a hug, thanking him and apologising in equal measures.
/~~~* *~~~/
Three hours later and Number Four Privet Drive was empty as the occupants had all left to get Elias looked over, despite his insistence that he was fine. They were at St Mungo's, waiting out in the hallway, while Elias was seen. Being warned that he would be in there for an hour or more, Harry and Dudley decided to wander around the hospital.
It was incredibly depressing to see just how occupied the hospital was, they went up a level to level 5 and almost immediately saw a face they recognised. Gilderoy Lockhart was here and the sight of him filled Harry and Dudley with guilt, unfounded as it may be, the man was "teaching a class", but all that came out of his mouth were disjointed words and phrases, the phrase "Witch Weekly" being the most common.
"Professor Lockhart?" Dudley called out, absolutely horrified at the state of their ex-professor.
"Are you students of mine? Ah yes, I remember you, Hibble and Dibble the identical twins." He paused before getting a better look at them. "Blimey Dibble, you look nothing like Hibble anymore, a shame."
"At least you can tell us apart now, sir," Harry responded out of pity, deciding it was best to go along with the man's delusions.
"Right you are, Hibble, right you are. Now who here can tell me the name of the five time Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award winner? Nobody? It was Gilderoy Lockhart of course, my brother and best friend."
The man went on like this for a very long time and one of the nurses told them that it was good for him to get visitors, but that he never did.
Eventually Harry and Dudley felt so depressed by their old professor that they walked away awkwardly. It was while waiting for the elevator that the two saw another face they recognised, or rather three.
Neville, Theo, and Augusta were making their way over to the lift and so Dudley held the door for them.
"Harry, Dudley, what are you two doing here?" Neville asked his friends as soon as they were all in the elevator.
"Elias' parents are abusive, they beat him up and dropped him off at our house. Honestly I could have killed them, but Harry. Harry took it personally," Dudley informed them quietly
"They activated a deal made between Elias and I before they discovered him. If Elias asks for revenge, I'll help him pull it off."
"Well Harry, by this time the day after tomorrow I'll be Lord Nott, maybe having access to those old mage books will help you out. If not, I'm sure you'll find something that will be to your liking. My ancestors liked their tomes on dark magic."
With that the doors opened and Harry left, not before telling Theo that he would like to take him up on that offer.
As the lift descended, Augusta demanded to know why Neville didn't mention his parents, accusing him of being ashamed of them.
The two boys ended up waiting the last ten minutes or so before Elias was done here and they could leave.
/~~~**~~~/
"It appears that young Elias was the victim of regular and repeated acts of abuse. So severe is the case that it is impacting his magical core. We can fix the damage, but it will require him to enter a coma until the start of August at the earliest up to the last week of August at the latest. The procedure isn't free unfortunately, it's not viewed as essential by the Ministry and so you'll have to pay upto 10,000 Galleons in total. I'll leave you to discuss it and return shortly," the doctor informed Elias and the group, before leaving to give them privacy.
"We should probably call him back in here. I can't afford that," Elias whispered dejected, his parents having cut him off for now at least.
"Do you want to?" Harry put his arm around his brother and asked him.
"I may read a lot, but my magic doesn't want to respond to me. I've only cast maybe a few spells successfully. Even asking to learn the Patronus was nothing more than wishful thinking. If this lets me communicate with my magic, let me put all of that theory into practice, then I want to do it. Again though, I can't afford it."
"Nonsense, I'll cover it right now," Harry offered.
"No. It's too much."
"Oh boy, if you knew how much I wasted on furniture and food for the Vipers' Arena, you wouldn't even bat an eyelid at this. I'm kinda rich… well technically everyone in here but you is rich. I've given my Aunt Petunia and Dudley their own minor vaults, and filled them." Harry laughed at Elias' face. "Honestly mate, it's no big deal, and, starting next year, I'm giving you your own vault. Can't have my little brother having nothing."
Hearing this caused two of the people present to begin was Elias, not realising before now that when Harry said they were brothers, he meant it. The other person who began to cry was Petunia, who got up and left the room.
"I'll go after her," Sirius offered and rose before any objections could be raised.
"Thank you Harry. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you."
Once the doctor returned, after Sirius and Petunia had, Elias told him that they wanted to go through with the procedure, and so he said goodbye to his friends. No, his family.
"I hope this helps you, little bro."
/~~~~~~\
When Theo contacted Harry to inform him that he was now the Head of House Nott, it brought Harry out of his ruminating on recent events, most specifically his brother.
Theo had agreed to meet Harry in the Leaky Cauldron and so he had gotten a taxi with his cousin and headed to London.
Once there they met Theo and Neville, greeting them.
"Hello Theo, or should I say Lord Nott," Harry teased his friend gently.
"Either is fine, though I prefer just Theo."
"Well just Theo, shall we get on with it?"
Entering Nott Manor proved to be creepier than expected, for one there was an odd magical signature about the place, but also the paintings followed you with their eyes. The four journeyed in silence to the library and upon entering it, Harry came to truly appreciate the sheer scope of the room.
"They'll be over here, at least if things haven't been moved around since I was here last," Theo told Harry, leading him over to the car side of the room. At the same time, Dudley noticed a book that caught his eye. It was named "Pre-Futhark Runes and their Uses." He pulled the book off the shelf and asked Theo if he could borrow it.
"There are no examples of Pre-Futhark runes left in the world apparently, you're free to keep the book if you want. I hope to clear some space in here, so honestly, take what you want. Unless it's a family book, not that I could see you enjoying the Nott family genealogy tree."
They spent the entire day in the Nott library and hadn't even seen half of it. It was larger, even, than the Hogwarts library. It truly was the most comprehensive dark library in Britain. Dudley had snagged a book on locating magical artifacts, which elicited an eyebrow raise from Harry, but no comment. The group would return another day to obtain more books.
/~~~==~~~\
Meeting Elias' parents was an odd affair. Firstly, the couple greeted Harry as if they were old friends, and secondly, they failed to even mention their son.
"What can we do for you, Harry?" Elias' mother inquired upon his exiting the floor network via their fireplace.
"I've come to make a deal with you, one I think you'll find most favourable. You see, I accepted your dropping Elias off at my home without complaint, however your actions have set a
precedent, after all, what's to stop you doing it every year until he turns seventeen? With this in mind I propose a solution. I will look after Elias until he becomes of age, and all I ask in return is that you resume trading Hawthorn wood with Ollivander. If you do this, I will pay for everything for Elias from now until he turns seventeen. He will retain the Hawthorn family name and all that comes with it, of course."
"You propose to raise our Heir, to provide everything for him, and in return we only have to sell Hawthorn wood? Deal accepted," Elias' father accepted without delay, something that angered Harry even further..
"Pleasure doing business with you," Harry finished coldly, before returning through the fireplace and leaving.
/~~~|||~~~\
July was halfway over and Harry was enjoying his downtime when he got a short letter from Sirius indicating that he would be seeing Harry in two days. He had taken a week away from his godson to reconnect with his best friend.
When Harry next saw Sirius he looked to be doing a lot better, he and Remus had been spending time together just like they had over a decade ago, and he had gained a fair bit of weight.
Sirius wanted to swear Harry in as his heir, something that Harry was ambivalent about. Sirius countered all of Harry's complaints, finally telling him that they are family and that it would help Sirius to know that there was someone out there, ready to inherit the Black family fortune.
"Due to the conflicted status of the Black estate becoming resolved, I now have to fully claim you as my Heir," Sirius has answered his question about his previous claim.
So it was with that news that Harry, Sirius, and Remus went to Diagon Alley, telling Harry he didn't have to act any certain way.
With that declaration Harry decided to, for the first time in a long time, act like a kid for once.
Upon returning home and eating dinner with Dudley, Petunia, Sirius, and Remus, Harry found himself thinking that if Elias was here, his family would be complete.
Thank you all for sticking with me through An Orphans' family, I will be ending it here and beginning the sequel Name TBA. Due to a lack of knowledge around how Fanfiction. Net. Formats text I was only made aware towards the end of the book that what I was using to separate my scenes didn't cross over to here. That and a few articles from the editing process, and a general lack of polish on the first two chapters, have inspired me to split it here and release books 4 and 5 in their own fic, followed by books 6, and 7 in a third fic. The first chapter will be released as usual tomorrow, I hope to see you there.
