Plans and chaos.
When Arcturus Black returned to France, his cousin Cassiopeia grilled him on what happened and berated him for leaving her behind. Since the death of Melania she was the only crutch keeping Arcturus sane with her sharp and dry wit.
They made a list of objectives as both of them knew in their old bones that they didn't have more than a decade on whole on this plane.
1. free Sirius Black.
2. Educate new heir black in the family business.
3. Find a suitable bride for new heir black , probably his own age or in 5 years bracket.
4. Bring back disowned magical members and make them cadet branches if possible.
5. Search for why an essance of darkness was in the boy's scar and if there are more.
6. Stabilize and built foundations in Wizarding Britain for when their heir would take his seats.
7. Bring Black accounts up to date because walburga had mismanaged them.
Having a clear list of objectives was good for arcturus's health it seemed. He could now plan ahead for a few moves like a chess master he was and Cassiopeia wasn't far behind, being an researcher and inventor had her mind going into various tangents.
"Cousin, if the heir is safe and healthy for the time being than we should focus on freeing our wayward grandchild from that horrible prison." Cassy said
"Yes, but for that we need a new minister, and has to clean atleast half the corrupt people from ministry who are in Crouch's pocket, or we need something on Crouch fast." Arcturus replied thinking, making and discarding plans at lightning speed in his mind.
"British minister elections are next year in March, not even an year away. We need to move fast if we want our vessel on that seat. Britain has forgotten that Blacks were and are kingmakers and breakers." Cassy started noting down list of candidates suitable in her eyes on an parchment.
"We have to move to Britain if we want to move pieces. My old bones can't take international travel on daily bases." Arcturus said dryly and they both laughed.
House elves were instructed to open and get black manor in Newcastle ready for their arrival. It was closed for last 20 years since Arcturus and Melania had shifted to their French villa. Nobody had wanted crazy walburga in that house.
On 20th August, Arcturus and Cassiopeia Black were once more residents of Wizarding great Britain and that sent whispers across the community. Everyone who ever knew a black know what was coming,
Chaos.
A Family reunion
Harrison Harry Potter spent his 2 weeks worth September vacation in Black family manor with his uncle Arty and aunt Cassy,
Aunt Cassy laughed loud everytime he called uncle arty , uncle arty. Her laugh was funny. He liked this holiday break, he was first time with his family members and also it was the biggest house he has ever been to.
It had so so many rooms, there were so many elves who lived there. At home there was just one elf who took care of all of the house and them. He was taught to be always polite to any creature so he asked the name of any elf he came across and introduced himself. Elves were over the moon to serve a new and kind master.
He loved exploring the manor as well. It was so so big that he always got lost. A sweet little elf named pinky always came for him at meal times to take him to the informal dining room where all 3 of them, uncle arty, aunt Cassy and him had meals. They both asked a lot of questions and never got angry when he didn't know the answer.
Aunt Cassy followed same table manners as aunt niramyee and was very impressed with his table manners. When he told her that aunt niramyee taught him, she praised him for learning them so well. She even told him stories about his father and godfather. She was their babysitter frequently and told him that his father and godfather were also pranksters and broom flyer like him.
When he told her about his pranks he pulled with his foster brother she always laughed and praised him on particularly good ones.
On 2nd day of his vacation, uncle arty started teaching him about the black family history and aunt Cassy covered Potter family on alternate days. Aunt Cassy was sister of his grandmother and they were very close even after her marriage to his grandfather Charlus. She told him all about how his grandparents met and how his grandpa courted his grandma. He loved all the stories about them.
She even gave him some old photos and he cried when he saw them in an album. She had hugged him and said to always come to her whenever he needed anything.
One and half week into the vacations, it was decided that he would spend all his future vacations here in the black manor with them, uncle arty has taken his official guardianship via gringotts.
At the end of the vacation he knew a lot more about what it was to be a Potter and a Black than he knew before. He was also taught some goblin language which was very hard to pronounce but he learnt it to make his relatives proud.
He met another uncle and aunt named Andromeda and Theodore few times and he liked them as well. Aunty Andy was a Lawyer and uncle Ted a healer. They told him about their daughter who was at hogwarts in her 4th year now. They all promised to meet him again in winter vacations.
He was going back to the academy and aunt Cassy would come to take him back in winter vacations from the McDougals after he spent some time with them. After a long time he finally had family to spend all his vacations with. He hugged uncle arty and aunt Cassy tightly and they gave him a shrunken trunk which was said to be his grandmother' when she went to the school. It had many important things in it which were related to his family and he was told to keep it safe and only open it in private whenever he needed anything.
Next few months were restless for harry at the academy. He and his partner in crime pulled numerous pranks on everyone more than before and had many detentions because of them. They both were finally allowed to have a wand, it was a training wand but it was still capable of lots and lots of magic.
Aunt niramyee was very hesitant whenever he asked something about the black family, she was never that way with Potter family history. Still she never said anything so he let it go. He was seven but not stupid. He knew aunty missed her old family and they were all British. He stopped asking about black family and focused on Potter family which she knew a bit about from her childhood education.
Soon winter vacations were here and this year McDougal family was hosting him only for a week and then he was going to black family manor for 2 weeks.
Harry had spent his pocket money wisely in the weeks before holiday. He had some money left over from his summer purchases and most of the pocket money he had saved. He had lots of people to buy presents for. His uncle William and aunt niramyee Scott, his best friend Philip, some friends in academy, The whole McDougal family and his Black family relatives.
He bought candy for his school friends and a action figure of a qudditch star that Philip loved for him. A new tie for uncle William and a a fine brush for aunt niramyee who loved painting.
McDougal family was hard to purchase, before this Christmas he wasn't allowed to purchase gifts as he was considered too young but he was a big boy now and could get everyone proper gifts.
He thought new pen or quill set was a way to go for all three male McDougals. He Bought a cute pair of sunglasses for Rosaline which were charmed to be non scratchable. For Madam Enid McDougal he bought a book on gardening as she loved to garden and for Mrs primrose McDougal he bought a magical handbag which could carry more than it looked like. As she was a squib she couldn't charm her stuff small all the time. It even had a notice-me not charm on it which was guarenteed to work for 3 years according to shopkeeper he bought it from. He included the information pamphlet in the purse.
Aunt Cassy and uncle arty were difficult to purchase as he didn't knew them for long. He recieved weekly letters from both of them so he re-read last few letters for hint on what to get for them.
Uncle arty mentioned his aching knees 2 weeks ago while living in black manor where there were tons and tons of stairs and aunt Cassy said the garden was not flourishing in Newcastle like the old times so keeping that in mind he spent most of his remaining money on most expensive gifts for them,
He bought a special enchanted cane for uncle arty, it was made by someone in the academy who sold it via a small shop in nearby market. It was able to take on weight and reduce problem in moving around for elderly. For aunt cassy, a large packet of a special powder which when mixed with water and spread on soil helped in growing plants. It was used in his herbelogy classes and he had asked his teacher for where to get it. It was made from a plant based in Brazil and was specially imported to the academy.
He also got a quill set for aunt Andy and a set of enchanted potion vials he had seen his academy's healer using for uncle teddy. After much thinking he got a pair of sunglasses for his cousin Dora whom he was yet to meet but didn't want to leave off the list.
Harrison Potter was all ready for upcoming vacations after he wrapped and tagged all the gifts with the help of the little house-elf Scott family had.
After seeing Frilly Helping him pack his gifts he bought lots of candy for Frilly and all the Black family manor elves. They already looked like Santa's little helpers and he wanted to give them red and white caps but clothes were not allowed so he bought candy.
23th December 1987
Harry landed on Black manor's foyer with a spin with his trunk, he held on aunt cassy's hand for his dear life.
He had spent last few enjoyable days with McDougals in muggle world and left all the gifts bought for them under their tree. They even went to an amusement park for full day. Rosaline had kissed him on cheek before leaving and now as red as Tomato.
He saw his uncle arty coming towards him and greeted him with a bow and then hugged him. Then he greeted and hugged aunt Andy and uncle teddy. They introduced him to their daughter Nymphadora who had Bright Yellow hair.
Wow he had never seen that shade of yellow in anyone's hair before and he stared for a few seconds dumbly at her.
She picked him up and hugged him and said he was only going to call her Dora or else he won't know what hit him.
He wasn't a baby and jumped off her arms. He was going to prank her so hard for this. At his fuming red face she laughed.
He went to his room and helped pinky in arranging his things there. He gave all the gifts for his relatives and elves to pinky to get them under the tree for later.
Later that night, dinner was very loud. Nymphadora loved to tease him but he wasn't a marauder's son for nothing. He teased her back and even spiked her butter-beer he wasn't allowed to have with a voice changing prank potion.
Dora sounded like a old man after dinner and whole next day. She tried to give him a prank candy but he didn't eat it.
All the adults laughed at children's antics.
Andromeda inquired about harry living arrangements for the next summer as she disagreed with leaving harry at school for summer months.
Arcturus and Cassiopeia were going to be busy and couldn't host an energetic child for the whole time so Andromeda said that harry could come with her to her home but Arcturus declined it.
If Andromeda wanted to host Harry than she would need to live under black family manor wards with them and even her Muggleborn husband and daughter were welcome there.
Andromeda was undecided and asked for time to discuss it with her husband. Arcturus said that Nymphadora already needed to learn about black family and this way both harry and her could learn together under formidable wards and best facilities. They tabled the discussion for later after a few disagreements.
25th December 1987 came with a bang and a loud shout in the manor.
Harry had pranked Dora again, all the adults just rolled their eyes and ignored the children's antics. It was getting too regular and atleast kept children busy.
After a hearty breakfast everyone opened their gifts and everyone praised Harry's gifts and he bashfully blushed red at the excessive praise.
Cassiopeia was especially excited to use the powder after she read the instructions which came with it and Arcturus felt proud that Harry was such a thoughtful child.
Nymphadora loved her new sunglasses as well as Andy and Ted their respective gifts.
Harry received lots and lots of presents from his academy caretakers, his friends there, The McDougal family and his Black family.
He had so much candy that he knew he would need to share it to eat it all. He now had lots of new Clothes, toys and books as well.
Uncle Ted even gifted him a cool pair of glasses which was charmed to show his eyes a different color when he wore them.
He and dora even received black family seal to sign letters with.
The next couple weeks before going back went very fast. He loved playing with his cousin as he never had a proper cousin before. Philip was his best friend and Rosaline didn't play with him too much.
Dora was very fun and told him lots of stories about Hogwarts. She was a chaser in Hufflepuff quidditch team and they played a few chaser and seeker games in the gardens of the manor.
Harry's broom wasn't too fast so they sneaked an adult broom for harry with the help of house elves who loved the messy kids. Dora struggled to keep up with harry.
While children played Andromeda and Ted told Cassiopeia about falling standards of Hogwarts and they even thought about home schooling Dora but couldn't leave their jobs while doing it.
Cassiopeia decided that she would take a seat on Board of governors soon and they would make their Alma matter the best school in Europe again.
Holidays went by and Harry once again took a Portkey to the academy with his trunk full of gifts and heart full of good memories.