Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.

The blood transfusion was a success, and Poppy informed Regina that her magic was still weak, however, clearly present with a percentage of a little over five percent.

"This definitely makes you a witch, as a Squib's magic does not exceed two percent at the most. I am sure that your magic will become stronger over the next months, especially if you train it."

Needless to say, Regina, and in extension Harry, were over the moon with joy.

Later the same day, Severus and Harry were spending a quiet evening in the living room together with a very happy Regina. "What I meant to tell you, when we became distracted by Salazar's idea of the blood transfusion," Severus spoke up, "is that Regina and I have planned to go on a honeymoon right after our wedding. We wish for you and Lucy to accompany us."

Harry's first idea was to loudly protest against the idea of accompanying Severus and Regina to their honeymoon; however, he then decided to solve the matter by a different approach.

'Misty,' he thought to the elf who was closest to a mother figure he had ever experienced. 'You promised to take me to the Isle of Elves during the summer. Can we perhaps go during Severus' and Regina's honeymoon at the beginning of the holidays?'

Misty remained quiet for what seemed a very long time to him; however, it was only a minute later, when she finally replied. 'Harry, Cicero and I are all right with your suggestion, however, I will have to ask Poppy just to be sure that I won't be missed during the week. I shall ask her tomorrow and then contact my mother. She will be very happy to get to know you and Teddy.'

'I can take Lucy with me, can't I?'

'Of course.'

'Thank you, Misty.'

"Harry, is everything all right?" Regina sounded concerned.

"Yes, sorry for that. During that week, Misty and Cicero will probably take Lucy and me to the Isle of Elves. Misty only has to ask Poppy if she can leave at that time."

"The Isle of Elves?" Regina enquired, her voice laced with surprise. "I didn't even know that there was such a place."

Severus sighed. "The elves seem to have adopted Harry as one of their own, and Cicero once told me that he was supposed to take Harry to the Isle of Elves during the summer. He said that Harry would be the first human to ever set foot on the island, however, that the elves deemed him worth the honour." He sounded amused, and Harry smiled, happily, only to sober, when Severus continued. "I am certain that Cicero and Misty would as well be able to take you to the Isle of Elves during the second or third week of the holidays though."

Harry slowly shook his head. "I think you should go on your honeymoon without Lucy and me, just the two of you."

"Oh sweetie, you're much too thoughtful for your age. Please don't ever think that you're in our way. You're our son and as such part of our family. By the way, can't we finalize the adoption now that Harry efficiently managed to give me magic?"

"You can if that's what the two of you wish."

Severus still sounded amused, and Harry quickly confirmed. "Yes please."

"As your guardian, I will put my signature on behalf of you," Severus informed him, and the adults busied themselves for a moment, before Harry could sense the distinctive magic of a parchment being sent to the Ministry of Magic. 'The same sensation that I felt when Severus adopted me,' he recalled, feeling very happy.

HP

Early on Monday morning, the confirmation parchment arrived from the ministry, and Harry was delighted. 'Now, I have two adoptive parents,' he thought. 'I only wished they would marry sooner, so that we could be a proper family having Regina live with us.'

During the following months, however, Harry was so busy with his various classes and studying for his Potions OWL together with the twins that he barely realised how fast time passed. While Severus had originally intended for the three of them to take their OWL at the end of the school year, Regina had talked him out of it, demanding that he should not put the young children under so much stress. Therefore, Harry and the twins knew that they still had most of the summer holidays to study and practise, before they had to take the exam. All three of them appreciated the additional time, especially as it gave the twins the opportunity to at least occasionally entertain the whole school by their pranks, which were mostly based on some kind of transfiguration or charm, such as the Fidelius charm.

Regina and Severus saw to it that they spent most of the weekends together with Harry and even often took him on small trips to interesting sites within the muggle world. Not only Lucy but also Teddy accompanied the small family on a regular basis. Every evening, the professors of the core subjects took turns teaching Regina magic, so that she would be able to take her OWLs sometime in the near future. After her lessons, Regina often joined Severus and Harry to spend the rest of the evening with them, and to Harry's delight, it already felt as if they were a proper family.

One evening, Harry overheard a conversation between Minerva, Regina and Severus, when he was in bed with the door slightly ajar as usual.

"Severus, these twins are a nightmare. Do you ever punish them or take house points from your own house?"

Harry inwardly grinned, as he could imagine Minerva's strict expression.

"Why would I do such a thing?"

Minerva huffed. "Perhaps because they put the toilets near the Gryffindor common room under the Fidelius charm? When I confronted them, they told me that you had instructed them to prank the school using transfigurations or charms."

"Excuse me?" Regina sounded incredulous.

"I merely told them to be more subtle and not use potions, as everyone would immediately know that it was them. They and Harry are the most proficient Potions students at Hogwarts right now. I never instructed them to prank the Gryffindors."

"I am sure that Filius would be happy to know that they manage to cast the Fidelius charm. As far as he told me, it must be one of the most difficult charms."

"Yes Regina, that's correct, perhaps apart from the Patronus charm," Minerva replied, sounding annoyed, as she continued. "Still, I do not condone them pranking my house."

As the months passed, Harry felt more confident and more frequently managed to speak even in front of others than his best friends and family.

HP

It was shortly before the beginning of the summer holidays that Marvolo contacted Harry again.

'Harry?'

'Hi, Marvolo.'

'Sorry for not contacting you sooner. This is such a mess.'

'What is a mess?' Harry asked, passionately.

'I'm trying to get a corporeal body again, but the only thing that comes to mind would be to possess someone and kill them on the way, which is not exactly what I want. I wouldn't want to be someone else but myself anyway.'

'I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue how I could help you. Should I ask one of the adults? Or do you think the elves might be able to do something for you?'

'That might be possible. They'll probably have other rituals than humans. I will think about it and contact you again.'

'Do that. Keep trying. You will manage,' Harry encouraged his friend, recalling how Regina always encouraged him if he felt uncertain about something.

'Thanks Harry.'

'I wished I could ask someone, but they'll probably think that I'm nuts,' Harry thought for the umpteenth time and finally decided against it, at least for the time being.

HP

On the first day of the summer holidays, Severus and Regina travelled to Diagon Alley together with Harry and Lucy. Somehow sensing that Regina seemed strangely excited, Harry wondered where they were heading. Once when they stood in front of the large, white building of Gringotts, the magical bank, Severus explained.

"We shall meet with Buckbean, our account manager, and ask him to investigate if Regina will be able to take over the ladyship of the Lestrange family."

Harry nodded in understanding, smiling at his adoptive mother.

Buckbean was as friendly as when Harry had met him the first time. He patiently listened to Severus' explanation about Regina having been cast out of the family due to being a Squib. "With the help of a ritual brought to our attention by Salazar Slytherin, she managed to gain magic and would like to check if the ring of the Lestrange family will accept her as head of the family."

Buckbean nodded in apparent understanding. "As your parents are dead and your brothers and sister-in-law are in Azkaban, it is highly likely that the ring will accept you."

"My magic is still not very strong," Regina spoke up, seeming unsure.

"But strong enough to attend classes with the professors at Hogwarts," Harry spoke up, before he turned to cuddle with Lucy, uncertain if it had been all right for him to speak up.

"Thank you, Harry," Regina said, warmly, before she turned to Buckbean and confirmed that she wished to try it out.

The goblin rang a small bell on his desk, causing another goblin to stride into the room a mere instant later.

Buckbean said something in a language that Harry could not understand. He could only make out "Ring of House Lestrange."

The other goblin nodded in apparent understanding, before he left and just a mere instant later reappeared placing a small box onto the desk in front of Buckbean.

The goblin gave his colleague a short nod, before he slid the box over to Regina. "Please try to put the ring onto the ring finger or middle finger of either hand."

Harry observed with interest how his adoptive mother carefully slid the ring over her finger, unaware of the implication this matter would have for himself.

All of a sudden, a golden glow engulfed Regina. It was not as bright as it had been when Severus had accepted the lordship over the Prince family; however, it was not weak either.

"Congratulations, Lady Lestrange." Buckbean grinned broadly.

"Congratulations, Regina," Harry spoke up in a small voice, smiling, as he felt very happy for the kind woman. He was startled, when Buckbean unexpectedly addressed him.

"Harry, you are already the heirs to the houses of Potter, Prince, Slytherin and Gryffindor. Would you like to add the name Lestrange to your surname?"

"No." His response was immediate and firm. "I am just Harry Prince."

Buckbean nodded, seeming contented, while his adoptive parents remained quiet. Harry would like to see their reaction to the matter; however, Lucy fully concentrated on the goblin.

"Very well. Please note that nevertheless, you're the heir to the Lestrange family as well now."

Harry inwardly groaned; however, knew better than to contradict and resolved to talk about the matter with his adoptive parents or the elves later on.

HP

The spirit restlessly roamed the old Riddle house. 'This is getting incredulously stupid,' he thought. 'I cannot even peruse the library, which I built up before dying. Worse yet, I can't even ask anyone for help, as I'm not able to communicate with anyone but Harry, who is just a child of nine.'

Multiple times, he had already considered possessing the old muggle, who entered the house at least once a day to check if everything was all right. However, he refused for himself to kill the man.

'I wonder if the old coot is still alive,' he suddenly thought. 'He would deserve it if I possessed him to both take revenge and give myself a new body. On the other hand, who knows what has become of the Rosier family during my absence? Eventually, I'll have to tell Harry the whole story and ask him if there is an offspring of the old coot at Hogwarts. Harry is not even a student yet though and won't be for another year. I just hope that he won't tell Dumbledore about me. He'll never believe me and will try to hunt me down in any case. I'm not even sure about Severus' true allegiances.'

He knew that he had to be patient; however, it was driving him nuts. 'At least, my magic is getting stronger by the day,' he consoled himself. 'Very soon, I should be able to do some research. Perhaps, I should look into the matter with the elves considering that Harry has connections to them.'

HP

The wedding took place on the second day of the summer holidays. While Harry had secretly expected that Remus and Miranda would marry on the same day, his godparents had decided to have a double wedding together with Sirius and Amelia towards the end of the holidays.

With Teddy on his left and Lucy on his right, Harry slowly walked in front of his parents to their destined seats, after Regina, Minerva, Poppy and Misty each had reassured him what felt like a dozen times that he could manage the task of guiding his parents to their seats. He and Teddy were wearing dark green dress robes, which matched Severus'. Regina was dressed in a white wedding dress, which Harry found very beautiful.

'Can you please show me Regina again?' he thought to Lucy, who obediently turned her head to face Regina, who was sitting on Harry's right side between him and Severus. Teddy was quietly sitting on Harry's left with his own parents on his other side, seemingly enjoying being dressed up.

To Harry's surprise, the headmaster led through the wedding, and while Harry had not experienced any other wedding before, he found that the old wizard performed the ceremony really well.

Lucy did well showing Harry the scenes he needed to see. Only when Dumbledore said that Severus was allowed to kiss the bride, she somehow did not understand the implication soon enough to turn her head on time. However, Harry had seen his adoptive parents kiss before – much to his disgust -, so that he did not really mind missing the scene.

HP

"Harry," the twins cornered him once the ceremony was over and everyone enjoyed some delicacies made by the Hogwarts house-elves, "tell us…"

"… why there were elves…"

"… sitting next to you…"

"… during the ceremony?"

"Why not?" Harry shrugged. "Professor McGonagall and their other colleagues were sitting next to Severus, and the elves are our good friends, so why not?"

"That's fine…"

"… It's unusual that's all," the twins assured him.

Harry sighed. "I hope that sometime in the future, it's going to be normal. Will you keep a secret for me?"

"Of course…"

"… Do you even have to ask?"

Harry smiled. "While everyone thinks that I'm going to accompany Severus and Regina on their honeymoon, I won't. Lucy and I will travel to the Isle of Elves together with Misty, Cicero and Teddy.

"The Isle of Elves? Does such a place even exist?"

Harry chuckled, as the twins were surprised enough to speak simultaneously instead of completing their sentences as usual.

"Yes, and I am very much looking forward to go there," he admitted, smiling happily, when Teddy eagerly voiced his consent.

HP

It was in the early evening, when Severus and Regina came over to Harry, Lucy and Teddy.

"Harry, we're going to leave now. Are you absolutely certain that you do not wish to accompany us?"

Harry smiled. "Thank you, Severus, but I'm sure. Please enjoy yourselves. I'll see you next week." He allowed both his adoptive parents to pull him into light hugs, before he reached out for Teddy's hand and Lucy's paw and popped the three of them into the elves' quarters, where Misty and Cicero were already waiting for them. 'Isle of Elves, we're coming,' he thought in expectation.

"Now Harry, you cannot simply pop to the Isle of Elves," Misty warned him. "It affords a lot of magic. Therefore, I will take you, and Cicero will take Teddy and Lucy. Please hold on tightly and do not let go."

"All right." Harry nodded in understanding, trusting Misty and Cicero with his life. "Thank you for taking us with you."

Cicero gently ruffled his hair. "You're welcome, little one. You deserve it, and we will be happy to introduce you to the Elder Elves."

Harry inwardly chuckled. Even if he was relatively small for his age, according to Severus and the other adults in his life, he was at least taller than any of the elves. Bracing himself to not be able to see anything, before Cicero would arrive with Lucy and Teddy, he carefully held on to Misty's hand and, soon afterwards, felt the travel begin.

tbc...

Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. I appreciate it very much, and my muse really needs the feedback. Thank you.