The walked towards the streets and Ezekiel signaled a cab. Andi, Dora and Harry got on the back while Ezekiel took the passenger seat.

"Excuse me, you can't take that seat. You need to go to the back." Said the driver, a middle aged man.

For all response Ezekiel took his wand and made a small move before pointing towards the man's head. The man's eyes shined for a moment before looking at Ezekiel.

"Hey mate, thanks for giving us a lift. This tv people are slave drivers, I tell you!" Ezekiel said while ignoring Andi's disapproving face.

"Y-yes, no problem." The man stuttered "Hey, what were you filming?"

"Oh you know, run of the mill TV film, I don't think they'll even air it. Say, could you drop us at Charing Cross Road? We got some errands..."

"Oh sure, hop in" The man said with a smile.

The trip forward was fairly quiet as no one was too eager to speak. Andi kept comforting Harry while Ezekiel and Dora hoped she forgot about them. Their childhood indicated that this wasn't going to happen unless something worst occurred and given the fact that they were currently travelling together... they hope it didn't. Ezekiel passed the time talking to the man, inventing the most outrageous lies he could imagine and enjoying the fact that since the man was confunded, he believed everything. Who said that he couldn't have some fun today?

As they arrived to their destination they bid farewell to the driver who insisted on not charging them the trip (after all, they were his old friends).

"It looks old" Harry noticed "Do all the magical buildings looking like that?"

"Yes" Dora answered "usually they are enchanted so that Muggles ignore them but there've been some exceptions, so it's better if they look like this so they avoid them."

"Dora, no more talking about this on the street" said Andi.

They entered the building, it was very dark and shabby. A group old men were sitting in a corner, playing cards. One of them was smoking a long pipe. Several people were eating their lunch or sitting at the bar drinking. An old barman, who was quite bald and looked like a gummy walnut was washing some glasses. They moved towards the back of the building before the barman spoke to them.

"You can't enter there" He said.

"Why not?" Andi asked.

"You're banned"

"Banned?" Ezekiel chuckled.

"Yes, banned" The barman said.

Nobody dared to move as Ezekiel's face became emotionless. He stood there and had any other attempted to look at the barman the way he did, even with the cat eye sunglasses covering his eyes completely, he would've looked ridiculous, but Harry could swore that every shadow in the room had disappeared behind Ezekiel. He stood there looking at the man, awaiting for him to continue. The entire pub had fallen silent and all sights were set upon Lord Black, awaiting his response. Ezekiel kept his eyes locked upon the bartender for a few moments before speaking in an even tone.

"I must say that I'm a bit surprised, Tom. When were you promoted to gatekeeper of the Alley?"

"I won't allow the Dark to enter this place. This is a neutral zone and it shall be defended!"

"I might be a bit off, but as far as I remember the neutral zones are meant to accept 's part of the point, isn't it?"

"You will not sway me. You have no right of entry here. No right even to walk on this ground without the Light's say!"

"Tom" Ezekiel smiled " How many people are standing behind us? I reckon at least a third of them. If you don't let us come inside, I'll humiliate you so badly that your prestige here – which I imagine is at a delicate stage – will catch cold and die. …" He looked at the man that was sweating bullets at the moment. He nodded towards the door and awaited patiently as Tom left the bar and opened the door for them. Dora, Andi and Harry walked quickly through it, while Ezekiel strolled leisurely towards the door that Tom was holding open for him. He stood in front of it before turning to Tom. "Good lad. Always know your limitations, eh?"

Once they reached the end of the alley, Harry spoke.

"Is it like this all the time, people trying to hurt your?"

"No." Ezekiel said shaking his head "They must've heard that I was injured and hoped it was enough to bring me down. Usually, they just avoid me. This whole Light thing is Dumbledore's getting desperate or cocky."

"Or it could be his followers acting in his name." Added Dora "People doing what they think he might want them to do, it could work against him as well."

"It doesn't matter, we're here now." He nodded towards the wall at the end of the street " They can't attack here, legally we can fight back."

"Here?" Asked a puzzled Harry "There's nothing here"

"First rule of magic, Harry" said Ezekiel smiling "nothing is what it seems"

Dora took out her wand and touched several bricks, which caused the wall to open and reveal a large cobblestoned street, with several different shops at each side. There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon.

"Well, this is definitely not the way I wanted to show you this place but what the hell." Ezekiel shrugged "Harry Potter, welcome to Diagon Alley"

Harry's eyes widened so much that they feared that they'll pop up out of his head. He walked slowly and looked at each and every store with amazement in his face. The group looked at him with a smile as the boy was fascinated by even the smallest things that the Alley had to offer. Luckily for them it wasn't yet time for lunch in the Alley so there weren't many people around. This didn't mean that those who were didn't try to approach Harry but Ezekiel's presence made them scatter.

"Why are people crossing the street when they see us?"

"Me" Ezekiel said dryly. "Okay, Harry. I know that you want to check the street but we haven't got you checked properly" He saw Harry pouting and raised his hands trying to appease him. "I know, I know but this is important. We want to make sure that you're fine. Now, I need you to pay attention to this" Harry nodded seriously. "We're about to enter Gringotts and that place is managed by Goblins, okay? Now, they might look a bit scary but they are one of the most honorable species in the world. I need you to understand that they aren't going to hurt you, okay?"

"Okay"

"Good, now remember to be respectful and this won't take long."

They moved towards the Gringotts's building, where they reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops, with Harry still fascinated with everything he saw. The crossed the threshold when Harry finally saw two goblin guards and it was clear that he was scared of them but to his credit, he didn't downright showed it except for a small tremor in his hands. The guards performed their usual salute, bowing to the newly arrived party and to everyone's surprise, Harry responded in kind as he bowed to them. The guards were barely able to conceal their surprise and Ezekiel thought it to be so funny that he bowed as well, signalling to his aunt and cousin to do so as well. It was no small surprise to them that once they finished their salute they found practically the entire building staring at them in confusion. The average wizard used to ignore Goblins unless he/she needed money, in which case they downright demanded it with a bit of fear in their eyes as they found their appearance to be disturbing. Pure-blood wizards treated them a little better than house elves and in return the goblins charged them for every single thing they could think of. Nothing major, mind you, just enough to annoy them once they read their balance sheets and then charge them for explaining them the first charges. The Black Family, on the other hand, treated them with more respect than other wizards (after all, who would anger the people that handle your money?)

Harry Potter, Scion of The Ancient and Most Noble House Of Potter had just bowed to them. Not a simple and quick one, but one that denoted respect and then Lord Black himself had imitated him. Neither Ezekiel, Dora nor Andi for that matter knew that what Harry had just done had been, while not the first, the most public and perhaps greatest display of respect that a wizard had done towards any of their kind. The goblins knew when someone was lying to them, they had to. While they had powers on their own, they didn't possess wands so theirs were stagnant. They couldn't live on the surface as the sun burned them, yet for some reason they needed vegetables for their nutrition, so in the early ages they had to steal them. Needless to say that didn't made a good impressions on the rest of the species, humans worst of all. It was only with the dawn of civilization that they had managed an opportunity to survive and after that, to take over a different role albeit one that had required them to lie more often than not.

They knew when somebody lied. They had to. Harry Potter was a scared child, of that they were sure. He was also honest and that, at least to them, was the rarest thing of them all.

Seeing the disturbance that they had caused, Ezekiel placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and guided him inside. The boy's eyes couldn't remain in one place even in such a mundane place as a bank. The group reached a desk where a goblin was taking notes in a ledger.

"Good evening, I am Ezekiel Black. We're here to request a physical evaluation of my ward"

"We know why you're here, Lord Black" the goblin interrupted. "We've been waiting for your arrival all morning. Quite frankly we're astonished of how long it took you to be here"

"We were expected, you say?"

"Of course!" the goblin shouted, startling everyone "Our Majesty has already said that Gringotts stands with the Black family. We have an open spot on every service available in case an emergency arises and Mister Potter was to be checked by our Healers. We've been waiting for you... Mister Potter" said as he looked at Harry.

"...Very well, I take it we are to await in my usual room?"

"No, Lord Black, as a matter of fact you'll never have to wait for any of our services, ever again. We've prepared a room specifically for you and your family should the need arise. It's on the seventh level." He motioned to them an elevator on their right "Our Healers are already waiting."

They descended in the elevator that looked to be quite new, which Ezekiel and Dora suspected that it was. As they arrived to their destination they found that there was only one room with no furniture of any kind and a single black door. Once they walked through it they were greeted by a goblin in a business suit and a Healer with white robes.

"Lord Black, we've been expecting you" the goblin said "please allow me to introduce myself, I am Farkas and will be your liaison with Gringotts" he raised his hand when he saw that Ezekiel was going to speak "This won't interfere with your regular activities with our bank, your account manager shall remain the same but if you were to require of our other services then I will handle it." The goblin approached the group with a smile.

"I must say, Lord Black your actions have surprised many of us on the lower levels and if I'm honest our king has found it to be hilarious. The Black family is usually quite subtle regarding their affairs, your display made quite the impression for those who wished to take Mister Potter away from you."

Thank God for Occlumency, Ezekiel thought. And thanks for having the Black family members to be trained in it before they even knew how to read and write. Dora wasn't raised as such, after all her parents loved her in a more traditional way, but the Auror training covered that part. Harry didn't knew how to react but that was fine since he didn't knew much anyway.

"Lord Black, mister Potter" the Healer, a black haired woman in her fifties donning a business suit with a white robes on top spoke "please allow me to introduce myself, I am Gringotts Healer in chief Donna Cohen and with your permission I'd like to be mister Potter's Healer" she said as she looked at both of them "My credentials are at your disposal should you like to verify them."

"I think that it may not come to that after all, the Black family and Gringotts are allies but in the end it's Harry's decision." Ezekiel said.

"Of course, Mister Potter" she said to Harry "if you were to give me a chance, I'd like to perform a physical evaluation on you"

"Can't Andi do it?"

"I'd love to, Harry" Andi said "but I'm specialized in more serious magical injuries, what you need is a pediatrician."

Seeing that Harry was still nervous the Healer spoke again.

"I was informed that Madame Tonks is indeed a medi-witch. If it pleases you, Mister Potter, we could allow her to witness the examination as a second opinion" It was clear that this wasn't something that pleased her, yet it spoke volumes to Andi. Muggle or not, many doctors didn't took kindly to have their opinion questioned. Harry was somewhat relieved to hear this and agreed to it.

They moved to a different room to wait for the results white Harry was examined. While they had set chairs as well as drinks and some food for them, Ezekiel and Dora decided to walk around and stretch for a bit their muscles as the interrogation at Mungo's and the trip in the cab had left them stiff.

It wouldn't be until half an hour later that a somber looking Andi and a very serious Healer Cohen accompanied Harry.

"Harry dear, why don't you go with Dora, eh? We need to talk to Ezekiel"

"Okay"

"Hey, how are you feeling Harry? Everything alright?" Asked Ezekiel

"It was weird, when I went to the doctor before they made me take off my clothes. She just put her hand on my head and started speaking funny."

"Yes, our doctors are different like that." Ezekiel nodded smiling.

"And there was a feather that was writing all the time!"

"...All the time?"

"Yeah, a lot!"

"I see...Hey Dora, how about you and Harry eat something on that table or show him some tricks? I'll go talk to Andi and the Healer."

"Sure" Dora said seriously before turning to Harry and making him laugh with a few changes to her face.

He entered the consulting room and sat in one of the chairs behind the Healer's desk, Healer Cohen sat in front of him and Andi besides him. They sat in silence for a while before Ezekiel finally spoke.

"How bad is it?"

"It's bad"

"Mister Potter showed signs of abuse."

"Wait, Andi examined him." He turned to his aunt "You said he was fine, that there was healing magic in him"

"I said that he was covered in it, enough to cover his wounds to fool a basic check up. It's like painting over a house and claiming that it was new. I didn't saw the damage until I really started looking at it."

"So it's another one of Dumbledore's lies. How bad are his injuries?"

"I had an auto-quill with us to start his medical records, as you can see it's not what it should." Said Healer Cohen while handing Ezekiel a folder.

Sixteen pages, just to list his injuries.

Ezekiel saw red.

"Ezekiel, I know that you're angry, Merlin knows that I am as well but you need to decide about Harry's treatment and you can't do that if you get angry. Harry needs you."

Ezekiel's breath was becoming too rough and the room's temperature was beginning to drop at an alarming rate. Dora knew that unless Ezekiel calmed down the whole room was about to become artic. Then Ezekiel would go on a warpath.

It took him several deep breaths but finally he was able to calm down.

"Send a copy to my law-wizard, Ted Tonks" he said in an low tone.

"As you command, Lord Black. Regarding the treatment for mister Potter's injuries..."

"Whatever it is, whatever it may cost, do it. I'll pay for it."

"I'm afraid that it's not that simple, my Lord, at least from the psychological side."

"What do you mean?"

"What she means" Andi explained" is that Harry's bones were damaged repeatedly and then healed half way. It doesn't matter what we do to him the damage is too deep and that's only for his bones. He's also severely malnourished, he's incredibly small for a child his age."

"His age? I thought he looked fine for a six year old."

"Ezekiel, Harry is eight. " Andi said" You and I believed that because of our upbringing but Harry's body isn't what it should. You saw him walk, right? You noticed he hunches" Ezekiel nodded

"That's the beginning of an actual hunch, apparently the room that those animals gave him is too small. That and a poor diet made the rest."

"I don't get it, if he's that bad then how is he walking and moving around?"

"Magic" Healer Cohen answered "it seems that he used up all his magic on a daily basis for his body to function properly, although most of it seems to be channeled to his scar. It's the worst black magic related injury that I've ever seen in my career"

"Then...what can we do?"

"As we said" Healer Cohen continued" his bones are far too damaged for a conventional treatment. I'd recommend we give him a new skeleton."

"How?" Ezekiel asked dumbfounded.

"It's a completely painless procedure" Andi explained "we simply vanish the bones using magic and then we use Skele-Gro to replace them. We'll give him a full potion treatment while he waits for the new skeleton to make sure he grows up to a more age appropriately height."

"The only downside is that we cannot regrow his cranium, it would be too dangerous" added Healer Cohen "but with the proper potions we can at least reinforce the bones there."

"Very well...I don't like it, but if that's the best choice I'll guess we'll have to take it. How should we tell this to Harry?"

"I'll be the one to do that" said Healer Cohen "but we need you to stay with him while this happens, I think that it will probably take up to three weeks for him to regrow his skeleton. The experience is quite disturbing to most adults, this could be downright terrifying for a boy of his age"

"And it's not like you'll be doing much" Andi added "I spoke with Healer Cohen about your injuries, you'll have to regrow the muscle tissue on your shoulder that was injured in that fight, as well as the scar tissue on your back. You'll be needing some off time as well. Roughly as much as Harry."

"That long?"

"I'm afraid that your...condition, prevents us from using more effective medicine. I've checked your medical records after consulting with your aunt. She said that your magic reacts negatively to magical medicine if it belongs to a certain category, is it true? I must confess that this is the first time I've heard of such a thing" Healer Cohen said.

That's one way to put it, Ezekiel thought. The most accurate version would be that the Black Family Magic that was currently flowing through every cell in his body recognized the magic as alien to the body and destroyed it. While many people believed that potions didn't involve magic, the truth was that without it all you got was a concoction of different ingredients that would definitely kill you should you be stupid enough to drink it. As such, Ezekiel's body would destroy the magic and just leave whatever he had taken unless the amount of magic in the medicine wasn't too strong.

In simple Muggle terms, anything stronger than an aspirin on his system would loose it's magic. And poison him.

Wasn't it fun just being him?

"Yes, I'm afraid that I'm a bit sensitive towards it. As my records show I'll have to take just level one medicine, are you sure that I'll be healed in that time?"

"Yes, Lord Black, unfortunately I can't do much regarding your comfort during the process." The Healer said with a hint of pity on her voice.

"It's fine, I've grown accustomed to those inconveniences." He assured her.

"Very well, in that case I think it's time to call Mister Po"

"Harry" Ezekiel interrupted.

"I'm sorry, my Lord?"

"He's Harry, just Harry. He's no different from any other boy or patient. He's Harry."

"Very well" The Healer nodded "We should bring Harry and explain this to him"

"What about that scar of his? You said that it was a black magic injury" Ezekiel asked.

"Well, that's actually quite interesting in and on itself. The injury is obviously the only of his kind, the Avada leaves no mark on it's receiver but that's not the most interesting part, as one would suppose. While it's indeed Mister Po... Harry's magic the one that it's trying to heal it, it's not his magic the one that is containing it."

"Are you saying he has two kinds of magic in him?"

"Well" Andi said "Three, if we're being accurate. Harry's, The Dark Lord's and one more. Harry has a massive protection spell on him, in normal circumstances it would be a great protection but it's solely focused on his scar. This level of protection requires a sacrifice, an honest act of pure love."

"Love?" Ezekiel deadpanned. If this was one of those lectures about the 'power of love' Ezekiel swore that he'd bring the Black's grimoire and read out loud the first page to them. If they weren't left traumatized by it then they'll probably understood what true power was.

"Self-sacrifice, Lord Black. Most likely by his mother, after all they are the ones closest to their child. A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path*. Everybody knows that, one way or another, my Lord... My Lord?"

"...You're right." Said a distraught Ezekiel, seeing the confused look that the Healer was giving him and the pity in Andi's (Who was very well aware of were she could shove it) rose from the chair and went to the door.

"Very well" He said, his voice sounded not as calm as he'd like to "Let's bring Harry in and give him the good news."

I don't own Harry Potter, all characters except OC belong to J. K. Rowling.

*Agatha Christie, The Hound of Death