A/N: Most characters and the main plot belongs to J.K Rowling.
Daphne was really comfortable where she was, she had just woken up, and she had never felt so comfortable, and safe. She didn't even want to open her eyes, scared that this was all just a dream, and that she wasn't at all comfortable when she woke up. But the next second, she felt something on her head move, so her eyes snapped open. When they gained their focus, she noticed Hermione and Neville in front of her, both of them with their noses in the books they were currently reading. She knew those two wouldn't do anything to her, well they wouldn't try waking her up unless they had arrived, but given their positions and their activities, it didn't seem as if they had arrived. At that point she remembered that she was sat between Tracey and Harry, with Harry on her left, and Tracey on her right.
That's when it clicked to her, her head was leaning to the left, and in her left hand, she felt another hand, while in her right hand, she felt an arm. Her eyes opened to their maximum at the realisation, and she jerked her head from where it was, Harry's shoulder she had guessed, removed her hand from his right hand, and also removed her hand on his arm. She did all these at the same time, and at such speed, that she ended up waking Harry, and the rest of the compartment to look at her, both girls with smirks on their faces, and Neville with a confused expression. He was looking at her, then at Harry, and finally looked at the other two girls, trying to decipher what they were smirking at.
She tried putting some space between her and Harry, but Tracey resumed her seat as close to her as possible, so that she couldn't move much. "Are you okay Queenie ?" Harry asked. She couldn't even look the boy in the eyes. She nodded, and excused herself, saying that she needed to use the toilet. She quickly left the compartment without looking st anyone, especially the two girls. Her heart was beating at a speed she didn't believe possible.
'Did Harry know of how they had slept ? Was he awake when she had fallen asleep ?' Were the questions going through her mind. She couldn't remember if Harry was asleep or not at the time, if he wasn't, she hoped that he had at least fallen asleep before she put her head on his shoulder.
She tried to calm down as much as possible. She knew he wouldn't say anything about it, so if she didn't say anything either, than it would all be forgotten, and they would continue as before. Yes, that's what she would do. She went to the toilet just to keep up her appearance, and made her way back.
As she opened the door, she received a smirk from both girls again, a sort of concerned look from Harry, and Longbottom still had a puzzled look. She was thankful boys couldn't piece these things together yet, because no doubt he would have told Harry. She sat down again, but this time Tracey didn't push her towards Harry, she recognised the fact that she was mulling things over, so gave her the space she needed. She still sat closer to Harry than she would usually though. She missed the comfort she had, the warmth and the feeling of safety too.
"Has Malfoy been yet ?" Daphne asked trying to turn everyone's attention away from the events which had occurred earlier.
"Yes," Neville said, "He said something to Harry about getting a girlfriend" when he said this both Harry and Daphne blushed. At that point Daphne knew that Harry was indeed awake when she placed her head on his shoulder. "So we completely ignored him, as was the plan, and he began getting annoyed, he reached for his wand, but Harry, well did a Harry on us, and performed wandless and non-verbal magic, which of course he hadn't done before, but its Harry we're talking about, so no surprise there." Daphne's head snapped towards Harry in shock, and he had a look saying 'I don't know how I did it, I just did'. And she knew he didn't know, but that intrigued her, she had never read about someone who could do magic without ever trying it like Harry could. "He knocked back Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson, closed the door and silenced it. It was really cool" Neville said with a grin looking at his friend.
Daphne had a look of shock mixed with awe plastered on her face. She knew that Harry could learn spells quickly, unnaturally quickly in fact, but she didn't expect him to perform magic on such a scale. She wondered if he knew anything about healing magic, if he knew of a way to heal the blood curse that her sister Astoria had. She had searched for quite a while but hadn't found any solutions. She also knew that she couldn't ask that of Harry, one because she hadn't told him about her sister's curse, and secondly because she knew that he couldn't just know all these things. They came when he needed them.
The only person outside of her family who knew, was Tracey, who was a friend of both hers and Astoria. Astoria hadn't wanted her to tell people that she didn't know, which was very much understandable.
The train was about 20 minutes away from the station at this point, and they had all gotten their things ready. They had decided on a final game of exploding snap. It was a fun ride in Harry's opinion, but he still felt weak from his excessive use of magic earlier. He had spoken a lot to Daphne and Tracey throughout the ride, well when he wasn't sleeping anyway. He was happy that he was going to see Sirius and Remus soon, but he would miss his friends. He knew he would see them during the holidays, well he hoped they would be able to. He wanted Daphne and Tracey to be there too, he wanted Neville and Hermione to get on with them well too.
The train started braking, and they all picked up their trunks. They headed over to the door, and waited there for the train to come to a full stop. Daphne regained her Ice Queen Persona which she had allowed to drop during the train ride, Harry was thankful that she felt comfortable enough around them for that. As soon as the train stopped, the group of five got off the train. They all looked for their families respectively. Harry was the first to notice his, and decided to introduce his friends to them.
"Come on all of you, I'll introduce you to my new family." None of them refused, they knew that his new family made him happy, and they weren't about to reject an offer to meet the people who had decided to help Harry on his path. As soon as they reached the two adults, Harry embraced Sirius with quite some force, the embrace lasted a few seconds, and then he hugged Remus, which held as much force, and lasted as much time. Once they finished, Harry turned to his friends, smiled and looked back at his family.
"Hello Sirius, hello Remus, it's good to see you both again. I'd like to introduce you to my friends. This right here," he said pointing to Neville, "is Neville Longbottom, Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, we met on the first day on the train along with Hermione here" he said pointing to her. Sirius grabbed her hand, and kissed her knuckles as was the way in pure blood families, so it surprised no one except Hermione. Remus did the same. "Don't worry Hermione, Pure-blood traditions." Harry told her seeing her confused look. She nodded her head in understanding.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss Granger, I'm Sirius Black, and this mute here is Remus Lupin, and we insist you all call us by our names."
"Well it's Hermione than" she responded with a smile in their direction. Sirius and Remus then proceeded to shake Neville's hand as they hadn't yet seems Harry had introduced them both at the same time.
"And these two are Tracey Davis, Heiress to the Noble House of Davis" he said pointing to the brunette, leaving enough time for Sirius and Remus time to kiss her knuckles, "and this right here is Daphne Greengrass, Heiress to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Greengrass." Again, the two men kissed her knuckles.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, truly, Harry has spoken about all of you in his letters. I am sorry however, we do not have much time, we have some business to attend to. Why don't you all come over for a couple of days when everything is sorted. I'm sure Harry will send you the location when we are ready. And Hermione, I or Remus will come fetch you, that's if your parents agree to it of course, we will side-along apparate you." Sirius said
"Just one thing Sirius, Neville here has been using his dad's wand since he started at Hogwarts, and so I was wondering if we could take him with us, he can get his wand, then take the floo back, we'll just need to visit a shop in Knockturn Alley if you don't mind, it won't take long." Harry said before Sirius could say goodbye to them.
"Of course, he was a good man your dad, so was your mother, I'm sorry about what happened to them, they deserved much better than that" Sirius said sadly. He turned back to Harry's other friends. "I hope to see you all soon, any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine. Good evening to you all" Sirius said with a smile. Harry and Neville quickly said goodbye to their friends with a quick hug each, Daphne's and Harry's lasting a couple of seconds longer than the rest, which didn't go unnoticed by a certain two girls. With that done, Harry, Neville, Remus and Sirius all apparated to Diagon Alley.
Harry and Sirius were currently in the bank, waiting for Ragnok to join them. Remus had stayed with Neville while he got his wand, and would then take him back to the Leaky Cauldron. A few minutes after the first goblin had left, Ragnok appeared. "Ah Lord Potter, Lord Black, a pleasure." the goblin said.
"Sir Ragnok, may your enemies fall at your feet, their riches along with them" Harry greeted with a short bow. Sirius looked at Harry surprised. Remus had told him that Harry was on good terms with the goblin's, but he hadn't expected something to this level.
"Thank you, Lord Potter, May your gold flow freely" with a bow in return. Sirius knew that Remus must be right, because it was rare to see a goblin bow to someone. James Potter was on good terms with them too, but nowhere near this good. "If you would follow me, we will discuss this in my office." Ragnok said, to which Harry and Sirius nodded.
When they reached the office, that sat down, and the Goblin looked at them, clearly wondering why they were there. So Harry began. "We were wondering if it would be possible to retrieve the address to Potter Manor, we plan on staying there for the summer."
"Ah, yes, I thought that might be the case. I took the liberty of retrieving the address this morning, I had guessed that it would come to this." He opened his drawer, and pulled out a small piece of parchment, and handed it over to Harry.
7 miles north of Nottingham city centre, off the A60
Harry finished reading this, a smile crept on his face as he finally found his home, where he should have been for years. "Thank you Ragnok. Now, I was wondering g whether you had found any other business opportunities ?" Harry asked. He hadn't planned on asking this, but he hadn't really given the matter much thought.
"Well, one thing I did think of, was the fact that the 422nd Quidditch world cup will take place in two years time. And it got me thinking, would it be worth buying a big plot of land, one big enough to hold the stadium, and enough space for people to place their tents ? That way, we would make quite a big profit, sure it would be a big spend to begin with, but I'm sure you can make do with the amounts that would be left."
Harry was liking this idea, but then something else, something on top of that came to mind. "What if we did that, but instead of tents, we build a sort of Muggle hotel, like that, every time there's a World cup in England, there is already a stadium for it, with accommodations too. It would a bit more pricey, but I think it would be worth it in the end. What do you think ?" Harry noticed a grin on the goblin's face, but there was also a look in his eyes that said he was working something out.
"That would be possible," the goblin stated, "it would be genius in fact, however, I don't know how much you would be left with by the end of it, probably not much."
"What if we already signed a contract with the Ministry, they could pass us the amount to build the stadium, and we will offer them a year off, like that we wouldn't build it for nothing, and like that we ensure they use it in the future ?" Harry suggested.
"I think that that would work. Would you like me to see them, or will you do it yourself ? I think it would be better for you to see them, as it would garner the attention of the public, which will attract a larger crowd given it is your name that will be on the Stadium, not that you personally want that, I know, but that fame of yours is very good for business."
Harry had to give this a bit of thought, and Sirius seemed impressed with Harry's skills at business. "I agree, I'll visit them during the first few weeks, and I will either come visit you, or send you a letter with their reply. And what if we were to make this a joint operation ? If Sirius wants to of course." Sirius looked at Harry with shock written all over his face at this announcement, he wasn't expecting that. "It would mean that the Black family was seen working with a grey family, which would help its reputation, your future businesses would also be more popular given the fact that you are both the Lord Black, and you work with Harry Potter, and it would also mean I'd still have some money left in my vault, I mean I know I still have the Peverell one, but I'd rather not clear the Potter one out fully." Sirius and Ragnok couldn't deny that Harry had a keen mind for business, and was very logical in what he did.
"I agree if it remains beneficial to you Harry, it would certainly be good for the Blacks, especially in terms of reputation. What do you think Ragnok ?" Sirius asked, directing his gaze toward the goblin.
"I think we have ourselves a plan. I will pass on the details to your account manager Lord Black. If that is all, I have some business to attend." Harry and Sirius nodded, got up, bowed, and said their goodbyes. They left the bank, both with smiles on their faces.
"That was really good logic from you Harry, you got that part from Lily, James wouldn't have been able to come up with that" Sirius said with a chuckle.
"Thanks, it just seemed logical, it would benefit the both of us then." Harry responded while shrugging his shoulders. Come on, let's go find Moony, he might have left Ollivander's by now." Together the two of them walked up to Ollivander's, and noticed Remus and Neville were still in there. They decided to wait outside for the two of them. Nearly an hour had gone by when they came out, and Harry was Happy to see Neville's smile, a new wand in hand.
"Cherry and Unicorn hair. It feels much better in my hand than my dad's. Thanks !" Neville said sincerely. He handed Harry his wand, a look on his face saying that he didn't want to separate from it on his face.
"Don't worry Neville, I'll send it back to you tomorrow, same with Hermione. Come on, let's get you home." Together, the 4 men walked back up to the Leaky Cauldron. Neville said his goodbye, grabbed a pinch of floo powder, and said 'Longbottom Manor' quickly followed by a blinding green fire.
Their next place to visit was Knockturn Alley, and that was not a pleasant place to visit. They all concealed their faces with hoods, Sirius a bit less covered than the other two, hoping that his status would help them. They walked up to a shop called 'Grahim's Wand Shop'. They walked in, and discovered a dark room, there was enough light in there to see what was happening, but that was about it. A man appeared from the shelves, not like Ollivander did, but he still made them jump.
"What can I do for you today ?" he asked
"We were told that you could remove the Trace from wands. Is this true ?" Sirius asked.
"It depends on who is asking really" then said with a shrug. Not sounding the least bit interested in what Sirius' answer would be, as if he expected someone who wasn't very high in society.
"What about Lord to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black ?" Sirius asked, fake anger pouring from his voice, his magic flowing a bit, just enough for the other man to feel it.
"Apologies my Lord, I did not recognise you, it shall be done immediately my Lord." The man said as if he was going to die refusing that sort of request. He pushed out his hands requesting the wand, so Harry placed both Hermione's and Neville's in the man's hand, who swiftly left to the back of his shop. He came back around twenty minutes later, and gave them back.
"There you are my Lord, no need to pay, it's on the house" the shopkeeper said with a deep bow, as if Sirius was royalty. Harry, Remus and Sirius left the shop, quickly making their way back to Diagon Alley, wanting to get away from such a place. They retransfigured their robes, so they didn't have a hood anymore.
"Do you know where it is ?" Remus asked.
"Yes" Harry said simply, understanding Remus' meaning straight away, handing the man the piece of parchment containing the address. Remus nodded, and they all got up. Sirius grabbed Harry's left shoulder, and they all dissaparated.
A/N: Thank you for the reviews, next chapter will be in Potter Manor, hope you'll like it, but it won't be posted until either Wednesday or Thursday. Sorry...
Replies:
I'm glad you all liked the Harry/Daphne scene in the previous chapter, well there was no negative comment done about it at least, it won't happen to often for now, but will happen more later on.Malfoy will eventually get what he deserves, I just don't think it's the time just yet.Thank you for the information concerning the Fleamont/Charlus Potter thing : )