Disclaimer - As of this point of time, the only things that belong to me in this story are Elena and the plot. Any way I can get the rest?

AN - I had originally planned something very different here, but then the new Pottermore was released and I immediately realized I had a lot of changes to make. The Potter family tree is taken from Pottermore, and thus was all J.K. Rowling, not me (though I did omit and change some parts)... Anyways, enjoy!

Love of an Aunt

A Harry Potter Fanfiction


Chapter 5

10:00 am, 16th June 1994

Elena grinned at the look on Harry's face - a look of wonder and astonishment that made her smile. Her godson might have been through a lot, but he remained innocent to many things in the world. Her smile faded a little at that - too many people had taken advantage of that innocence.

Sirius had a look of happiness on his face. Potter Manor had been his home since the summer before his 6th year. He had been as much a part of the family as the rest of them, and had felt the loss of their parents just as keenly as she and James had.

Remus seemed like he was about to say something, most likely something self-deprecating. Sensing this, Elena sent him a stern look that made him click his mouth shut, lest he find himself in mortal danger.

After a few minutes, she lightly placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Let's get inside, shall we?" Once Harry nodded, Elena placed her hand on the large gates that had appeared in front of them. They immediately swung open. The four entered, and once they had passed through, shut behind them with a loud 'clang'. A carriage similar to the ones at Hogwarts immediately materialized in front of them. They climbed in, and Harry admired the sights as they passed through the large grounds - there was grass and flowers everywhere, except one corner where he could see two glass houses. He recognized them as greenhouses and idly thought of Neville, their Herbology expert.

Harry started a little when the carriage came to a stop. He looked up at the towering castle in front of him. They descended and he gazed around as they climbed the front steps, making Elena smile at him. "Harry?" She gestured to the large doors they were standing in front of. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Harry's eyes widened a little and he nodded, and when Elena, Sirius and Remus all grinned at him encouragingly, he took a step forward and put his palms against the doors to push them open. He sucked in a breath as they opened as soon as he made contact. Getting a warm, welcoming feeling, he stepped inside and looked around.

Simply put, the Entrance Hall was long and straight. There were doors everywhere - small ones to his right, and two large sets of double doors on his left, and one set of double doors on the opposite wall. In front of the corner between the left and front walls was a sweeping staircase that narrowed as it went higher. Looking up, he could see all the way to the glass terrace through two rectangles. Sunlight softly poured in, giving the entire Entrance Hall a soft, warm glow. Small tables were casually, but with precision spread around the hall, and all had vases that contained flowers Harry recognized from the grounds.

The youngest Potter could only let out one word. "Wow!"

From behind him, Elena grinned and called out, "Trixy!"

Pop!

A house elf appeared in front of the four, startling Harry into jumping with an alarmed look at his face. Elena bit her tongue to keep from laughing, and addressed her favorite elf, "Trix, you remember Sirius and Remus?"

"Master Black! Master Lupin! Trixy is happy to see you again!" Her squeaky voice sounded surprised, but happy.

Elena grinned, wrapping her arm around Harry's shoulder and bringing him forward, "and this is James' son, Harry."

Trixy's eyes widened considerably. "Master Harry! Master Harry is back!"

Harry blinked, not sure how to react. He looked up at Elena, and receiving a nod from her, put his hand forward. "Hello, Trixy."

Trixy's large eyes widened furthur, but she put her hand forward and shook his. "Trixy is very happy that Master Harry is safe, and home. For many years, Trixy did not know where Master Harry was. Trixy being scared something happened to Master Harry."

Harry looked at Elena with wide eyes. Understanding his panicked look, she turned to Trixy. "Trixy, Harry will need a personal house elf, so I will leave it to you to select someone. Let me know later who- yes, Harry?" Her young godson had tapped her lightly on the shoulder, with a hesitant look on his young face.

"Er...I actually had an elf in mind, but I don't know if he'll be willing to..." Harry looked nervous, sure that Elena would reject his idea. Surprising him, she nodded and asked him to call the elf.

"Dobby!"

Pop!

"The Great Harry Potter Sir is calling for Dobby! Dobby is honored that Mr. Harry Potter Sir is calling for Dobby!"

Harry smiled at his young elfish friend. "Hello Dobby. How are you?" He was startled when Dobby burst into tears.

"The Great Harry Potter Sir is asking how Dobby is! No wizard is ever doing this to Dobby! Not even Dobby's bad masters!"

Alarmed, Harry looked around, only to meet three highly amused faces. He sent a pleading look as he tried to calm Dobby down. Elena, taking pity on him, motioned to be introduced to him. "Dobby," he said, "this is my aunt, Elena Potter, my godfather, Sirius Black and my..." He hesitated, searching for the right word to describe Moony, "uncle, Remus Lupin," he finally settled on. Having his back to the other three, he missed the look of astonishment on Remus' face.

Elena stepped forward a little and got down to her knees next to Harry. "Hello, Dobby," she said warmly, offering her hand to the little creature to shake. Dobby looked at it with wide eyes, before putting his skinny one in hers. She held his little hand with both of hers.

"Dobby, Harry called you here because I wanted to ask you something."

Dobby's eyes widened in anticipation.

"Now that Harry has come home, he will be living here whenever he is not at Hogwarts. And over here, in this house, every Potter has a personal house elf." Dobby looked more excited the more Elena spoke. "And Harry needs one. So, Dobby, will you consent to becoming Harry's personal house elf?"

Dobby was bouncing. "Dobby be honored to be Mr. Harry Potter Sir's house elf."

Harry smiled, relieved. He looked at Elena, "How do we do this?"

Elena told him to just put his right hand on Dobby's head. Harry did so, and then repeated after Elena. "I, Harry James Potter, choose to accept Dobby as my house elf."

Dobby was bouncing happily. "Dobby is now house elf to Master Harry Potter! Dobby be so happy!"

Elena could not help but grin at the enthusiastic elf. "Dobby, now that you are Harry's elf, you are also a Potter elf. So I want you to go with Trixy here, who is Head House Elf of all Potter elves. She'll explain everything to you."

Dobby nodded his head eagerly. "Dobby will go with Trixy, Master Harry Potter's Aunt." Elena chuckled. "Anyways, Trixy, send Affie to the London house to pick up their trunks and my bag, and ask Berry to make sure that the rooms on the family floor and Sirius' and Remus' rooms are in order."

"Yes, Mistress Elena," Trixy bowed her head respectfully.

"Just Elena, Trix," she reminded her fondly.

"Yes, Mistress."

Elena openly laughed as the two elves popped away. Harry was back to looking around the hall. With furrowed eyebrows, Elena suddenly remembered the two pranksters she was standing in front of, and also noticed that they were far to quiet for her liking. Turning around, she raised an eyebrow as she recognised the signs of a Muffliato. Waving her wand, she dispelled the spell just to hear the tail end of the conversation. "...from the chandelier. We could definitely get Sly with that." Raising both eyebrows this time, Elena silently recast the spell, which went up without notice of the two. She turned back to Harry. "So, Harry, how about I show you around?"

Harry nodded, and with a wink, she turned around facing the two men and sent a tickling hex at Sirius. Leaving Remus to deal with the laughing lunatic, she guided Harry to the left side of the hall, pointing towards the small door wedged in the corner.

"This is the cloak room. If we have guests, their cloaks will be stored inside. And this," she motioned to the first set of double doors, "is a…I believe we can call it a… socializing room? There is no official name for it," she shrugged as she opened the door and let them through. It was decorated in a soft off white, set off with peach. "Guests, and here I'm talking about a ball, Harry," she added, "tend to come here in this room when the ballroom gets too crowded. The balcony is right there for a breath of fresh air… Ugh! I sound like an actual boring tour guide!" Elena exclaimed, scrunching up her face. Harry snickered.

Elena narrowed her eyes at him, but amusement was visible all over her face. "Anyways, these over here," she motioned to two sets of smaller double doors inside the room on the right wall, "lead to the ballroom." She opened one of the doors. Harry gasped.

The peach colored quartz floor gleamed in the soft light, with small trickles of green and blue running through. The ceiling was painted a soft cream with quartz candleholders hanging gracefully. The walls were a very light peach, subtly showing off the cream swirls that stood out. Harry softly traced one of them, his face reflecting the wonder in front of him. To his left, the entire wall was made of glass, with glass doors situated in the middle, leading out to a large balcony. He could see straight out to the lake outside, and the green hills in the horizon, and the forest near the bed of the lake, and…

"It looks beautiful, doesn't it?" Elena whispered, almost as if she was afraid of spoiling the moment. He nodded, mesmerized. She smiled, "I'll bring you back here during sunset, Harry. That is when you will see the whole beauty of this amazing room." With difficulty, he tore his eyes from the view and looked at Elena. She smiled, amused and wistful, and nodded.

"Anyways," she continued in a normal tone, gesturing to the doors on the opposite wall. "These lead out to the Entrance Hall, and that," she pointed to the stairs that seemed to start just a few feet below the ceiling, "was so that the guests of honor at a ball, normally a Potter," she winked, "could make a dramatic entrance. On top of the stairs is a small door that can only be opened from the inside. There is a small hidden staircase behind it so that no one sees you beforehand…" Her eyes were suddenly filled with wistfulness and grief.

"What's wrong?" The words slipped out of Harry's mouth before his brain could process it. He didn't know why, but suddenly he wanted to that sadness to leave her eyes.

"My first ball," she answered softly. "Or at least, what should have been my first ball. James would have escorted me down the stairs where mum and dad would be waiting, and I'd dance with dad first, then James…" She trailed off softly, her eyes watery.

A few moments later, she smiled with a touch of bitterness and pointed to another door that was further along the right wall. "That door," she cleared her throat, "goes on to the formal dining room. On a normal basis, we don't use this one – too formal. There is another dining room, an informal one that we use when it is just family, so we will be using that one… And then we go back to the Entrance Hall," she remarked as she led him back out through the other set of double doors located on the right wall of the Formal Dining Room.

Harry gaped a little when he saw that Sirius and Remus were still standing there, whispering to each other. Elena just shook her head and turned to Harry, motioning for him to be silent as Elena silently waltzed towards and up the staircase, Harry following her quietly, though occasionally stealing glances at the two.

When they got to the second floor, Elena turned around and looked at Harry. "Okay, first, you should know – This is the second floor, where the studies and the sitting rooms are located. The third floor is where all the family rooms are, and the fourth has the guest rooms. Since Sirius and Remus are the only ones there, I'm going to just point out their rooms - skip the rest. That way," she turned her head to look at him as she led him through the corridors, "we can spend at least an hour on the fifth floor."

"What's on the fifth floor?" Harry asked.

"Something special," was all Elena said as she stopped in front of a door and turned fully to face him. "This room, Harry, is traditionally the Master's study – where the Head of the family, who is usually the patriarch, does most of his work. For now, I've taken over since all the documents and records I need are in there, but when I leave..."

"You're leaving?"

"Not now, Harry," Elena rushed to reassure her godson, "not for a long time, I think. But I can barely stay here forever, as tempting as the thought is." Elena had a wistful look in her eyes, but before Harry could say anything, she shook her head and turned away, pointing to another room.

"That one is the Mistress's study." She chuckled softly as she looked at Harry. "Potter men have a habit of choosing strong willed, independent women for their wives. It's actually somewhat amusing, but the point is none of them would stand for being relegated to sitting rooms, when their work was pretty much just as important as their husband's. So eventually that room was officially declared as the Mistress' study." The amused look in her eyes made her look like a different person entirely, and Harry was reminded of the moment in the tunnel with Sirius, when even he had looked like a different man.

"Okay now, this is one room you want to be excited about," Elena had a sparkle in her eye that made Harry a little wary about what he was about to see. Nevertheless, he dutifully followed her as she opened and entered a room that was slightly smaller than the Master's study, but looked cozy. There were bookshelves on the wall behind the desk, but it was that desk that stole most of his attention. The room was decorated in soft shades of blue, and he could see the balcony from the doorway where he was standing. Windows were present on both sides of the balcony, which made light flood into the room.

"What do you think?" Elena asked.

"It looks really nice," Harry told her, still a little confused.

Elena grinned. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Because this room is yours." Harry blinked.

"What?"

Elena grinned even wider. He just looked so adorable when he was confused! "This room is the Heir's study, Harry. Heirs are taught how to properly handle the responsibilities that come with the Head of House title. Since the Head usually grooms him, their studies are close enough that they can go between them anytime."

"Oh," was all Harry could say. Elena grinned, but then her face softened. "The last occupant of this room was James."

Harry turned to look at her, and she smiled sadly at him.

After a moment, she cleared her throat and motioned him out. Leading the way back to the stairs, she pointed out the children's study room along with other interesting rooms as they passed, before stopping at a particular door. She turned to smile at him wryly. "In this family of mom, dad, James and I, I was the only one without a study, and of course that did not sit well with me. So I picked this room as my study. Dad, I believe, was humouring me when he agreed to my demands and furnished this room as a study, but eventually even he agreed that it was a good idea." She grinned. "I never let him forget it. Keep in mind, Harry, that I was seven when this happened." She looked quite pleased with herself, her smile having turned smug.

Harry laughed at the tale as he followed his godmother up the stairs to the next room. He blinked, suddenly realizing that even though he didn't know why she was never there, he had already accepted her as his godmother. It was a bit of a shock, but Harry had long ago decided that his family would always be unusual.

Elena was a bit nervous while leading Harry to the second floor. This floor was completely personal considering it was where all the family rooms were located - hers, James', her parents' and now, his own.

"Most of the rooms on this floor are closed, except for three rooms - yours, mine, and one more that I figured you'd like to see. So this, Harry, is my room," she used her best presenter voice as she opened the door to her rooms.

She'd decorated her rooms with a bold purple, black and white, though there was occasionally a hint of red around. "This here is my private sitting room. James and I would spend a lot of time in here, just talking, or playing games... just spending time together." Her smile was genuine, though small. She pointed to a door on the opposite wall. "There is my bedroom, which connects to my wardrobe and bathroom."

Harry looked awed. "Did this room always look like this?"

Elena rolled her eyes, though she wore a fond smile. "It was pink, but then I decided it needed to change when I reopened the house." She led him out of the room, and opened a door diagonal to her own. "This is your room, Harry."

Harry entered, and blinked his eyes. He blinked again.

The room was completely plain. There was some furniture - the couch, a coffee table, a small table...but there was nothing other than that. Elena chuckled, which brought his very confused gaze to her. "Er..."

"The room is blank so that you can decorate it the way you want to, Harry. The choices are all yours. Any colour, any style... play with the room all you want, Harry. It's all yours. Come on, you have to see this - the reason I picked this room for you."

Harry's wide eyes got even wider when Elena dragged us through the bedroom and onto the balcony. He could see past hills and gardens onto the horizon. Looking immediately down, he could see that this was the same view he had seen from the ballroom, just from higher. He could only summon one word. "Wow."

Elena stood by and let him enjoy himself in his own way - alone with his thoughts in a peaceful place he could call his. It was half past eleven when she finally called him back to earth. Harry quietly followed her out of the balcony and back into his bedroom. Sending him a smile over her shoulder, Elena led him out back to the corridor, around the corner and stopped in front of a door with her hand on the doorknob.

"This is a room I think you'll want to see, Harry," she murmured to him softly as she opened the door.

The sitting room was decorated in Gryffindor reds and golds - though Harry could not help but notice that it seemed much less overwhelming than the Gryffindor common room. He turned to Elena. "What..."

"These were James' rooms."

And just like that, Harry started. This was his dad's room? He was standing in the same place as his dad probably once had. Barely knowing what he was doing, he walked around the room, running his hand on the furniture - the red couch where his dad probably would have sat, the table where he maybe stacked his books, the coffee table where he may have put up his feet, the armchair in front of the fireplace where he would probably sit in winter...

Elena could not stop the waterworks when she saw the expressions that circled Harry's face - awe, sadness, wistfulness...

Without prompting, Harry entered the bedroom. His father's bedroom.

"This room was in blue mainly, with some other colors added in. Then James got sorted into Gryffindor, and it became red and gold," Elena rolled her eyes. Harry just smiled weakly and turned back to the room.

On their way to the fifth floor after a few minutes, Elena quickly pointed out Sirius' and Remus' rooms on the fourth floor before moving on to the topmost floor, excluding the turrets.

Harry looked around on the fifth floor curiously. Since it was the highest floor, the ceiling was made of glass, which cast sunlight all over the floor, making the entire floor look airy and bright. Other than some vases with flowers in them, there was nothing else in sight. When he turned around, the wall behind caught his attention. It was covered from top to bottom in a tapestry. Moving closer, he realized that it was actually a family tree. Small circles containing a painted figure of people were connected by either a golden thread, or silver, or bronze threads.

"The Potter Family Tree," Elena announced. "The golden thread represents a blood relation, silver is for marriage, and bronze is if the person in question was blood adopted."

"Blood adopted?"

"There is a ritual, Harry, that can be performed if there is an adopted child in the family that you want to make a blood bond with, because unless you are on this tapestry in golden or bronze, you cannot be truly be a Potter."

"What do you mean?"

"As a blood Potter, you get certain privileges that you can't have otherwise, like access to the family floor of the library, or access to the Potter heirlooms," Elena explained patiently, "to get to them, to know more about them, you need to have Potter blood in you, or you'll be bodily expelled from these particular rooms because they're all warded heavily. In fact," she added, "you can't access these even if you married into the family. This tapestry, Harry," she pointed at the family tree, "is more than just a record of the family tree. It literally tells us if a member of the family can get through the wards of the private rooms or not."

"Oh," Harry responded simply, now looking through the tapestry. Elena grinned and bent down to point at Harry's name. "Here."

Harry looked carefully at the silver thread that connected his parents, and led down in golden to him.

Harry James Potter

(31st July -)

Before Harry could look even futhur, Elena nudged him. "Come on," she nodded to the large double doors he had somehow missed when he first looked around. "I'll tell you more about the Potter family there."

"What's in there?" Harry asked as he followed her.

"Dear," Elena grinned, "while I honestly don't mind the questions, Harry, a little anticipation can be a good thing." Seeing him looked startled, she rushed to reassure him, "I'm not saying don't ask questions, Harry. I'm enjoying answering them. All I'm saying is that you can let your guard down. There is nothing to hurt you here."

Nothing Harry's startled look, she smiled at him reassuringly before walking ahead and opening the doors, disappearing through them.

Harry stared wide eyed, standing stock still for a few minutes before shaking himself and entering the doors as well.

And then he stood stunned again, looking around in wonder.

The room was even bigger than the ballroom, and all four walls were covered in potraits. Harry felt for a moment like he was back at Hogwarts with it's tapestries and it's portraits. He joined Elena where she was standing in front of what was probably the largest potrait in the entire hall. An old jolly looking man was waving at them happily, and Elena followed suit, waving back with a smile on her face. "This is Linfred of Stinchcombe. He was an eccentric, and to his neighbors, a lovable, but vague and absentminded old man who loved pottering around his garden with his odd plants. They called him 'The Potterer', which eventually became 'Potter'."

"So he was the first Potter?" Harry asked, soaking up everything he was being told. He could never find out anything about his family in school beyond his parents, and he didn't know that much about even them!

"Yes. In fact, he wasn't really crazy at all. His reputation helped him when he would experiment with his plants in the hidden safety of his house. His neighbors all would go to him whenever they were sick, because whatever he gave them would cure them instantly. They, of course, didn't know he was a wizard," she shrugged. With a wry smile she continued, "Out of sight of his neighbors, however, he was experimenting to find cures to different ailments. The Skele-Gro Potion, Pepper-Up, and a quite a few others are more developed versions of potions that he originally created."

"Wow!" Harry was stunned. His ancestor had created something this amazing!

"Yeah. Remember him the next time you need a healing potion. Chances are, they are descended from his potions. Anyways, his eldest son Hardwin married a girl by the name of Iolanthe Peverell, who was the eldest daughter of Ignotus Peverell, the original owner of the Invisibility Cloak. Ever since, it's been passed on to the first child of the family, whether daughter or son." She had stopped in front of a woman with dark hair and green eyes.

"I'd always wondered how the Potters had gotten the Cloak ." Harry murmured softly.

Shooting a wry smile in his direction, Elena led him down the hall, occasionally pointing out some ancestors. She stopped in front of of a man with Harry's same messy raven hair, who grinned mischievously at the two remaining Potters. "This is Henry Potter. He was only the second Potter to become a member of the Wizengamot. He'd brought a lot of changes around, the least of which was better treatment of magical creatures, and his continued support for Muggle rights."

"Better treatment?" Harry questioned skeptically, remembering how Hagrid and Professor Lupin were treated in the Wizarding World.

"Believe it or not, Harry, the situation was far worse then. Now, people actually somewhat know what's going on, and they actually accept them somewhat. Back then, they were completely shunned. Can you imagine what that's like, being treated horribly for something you have no control over?"

Harry did not reply, but his mind flew to second year, when the entire school was scared of him because they thought he was the Heir of Slytherin.

"Anyways, as per his mother's last request, he named his son Fleamont Potter."

"Fleamont?" Harry asked with a slight grin.

"Yup. After Henry's mother's maiden name. He would always say that the reason he was such a great dueller was because of the amount of times he'd have to duel someone after they made fun of his name. So after some really good investments, he literally quadrupled the family fortune to what it is today." She was standing on front of a man who had his bird's nest for hair as well. He had green eyes, though not the same as Harry's, which were a bright emerald green. Fleamont Potter's eyes were more of an ocean green.

"The amount in my vault?"

"Harry, that vault is your trust vault. Every Potter is given one the year they enter Hogwarts. The amount has to last them all 7 years. It's mainly to teach them how to properly economize."

Harry shrugged. "I don't really have that problem."

Elena laughed and nodded. "Anyways, he and his wife Euphemia Potter had this large amount of wealth, but they weren't happy the way they wished they could be; the one thing they wanted the most was a child. Which is why they were very pleasantly surprised when they found out that they were expecting a baby. And an even bigger surprise when they found out two years later that they were expecting again. They lived long enough to see their son, James," here, she snuck a look at Harry, who was only now beginning to realize just who's portrait he was standing in front of, " marry a beautiful woman named Lily. They died a month later at Voldrmort's hand."

Harry was now looking between the depictions of his grandparents and parents. After a few moments, though, he realized something was missing.

"Why don't they talk?"

"Because a portrait cannot replace the person you've lost, Harry. And it would be hard to tear yourself away from here if you could pretty much pretend they were still around." Turning him to her, she looked him in the eyes, "Trust me when I say this, Harry. It's always best to let the dead stay dead. This entire hall is nothing more than memories. Don't lose yourself in here."

Harry nodded, a little stunned. A quick beeping sound interrupted the two. Elena stood straight up and sighed.

"What was that?" Harry asked quietly.

"That was the Tempus Charm I set to tell me when it's a quarter to one. Neville and his Gran will be here in fifteen minutes. Come one," she nodded to the doors, but let Harry lead the way this time. However, when he started to go near the stairs, she shook her head and guided him to a small, nearly nondescript door. Harry opened the door to find a large room with shelves on each wall. There was a large table in the centre.

"This is the only floor of the library where the only people allowed are Potters by blood. No one else is allowed entry."

"Why?"

"This floor contains the entire history of the Potter family, Harry. All journals, spells, spell books...anything that any Potter wants to remain a secret, in the family, it all ends up in here. This part of the fifth floor is heavily warded. You try to sneak in even if you're not allowed, you're going to end up in the dungeons," she grinned mischievously. "You can always ask Sirius about it. He's got first hand experience," she laughed.

"What!" Harry gaped. Elena just nodded, still laughing.

xoxo

On their way back down, Elena showed Harry the hidden staircase, the door to which was at the back of every floor of the library. It led them straight down to the ground floor, though Elena did show him the door to the sweeping staircase inside the ballroom. She opened the door on the ground floor to a long, almost empty hall with plenty of windows, and vases with flowers. Between the windows was a large glass double door that Elena told him led to the gardens. She then led led him through a small corridor and back to the Entrance Hall, in a small alcove under the stairs.

Neville and Augusta Longbottom were just being shown in when the two Potters appeared from under the stairs. With some surprise on Neville's part, he greeted his friend, while subtly scrutinizing him. Harry appeared to be relaxed in a way that Neville had rarely seen at Hogwarts. His eyes were brighter, and he seemed to have a content feeling surrounding him. Well, he thought, if Harry can deal with this, then so can I. It had not escaped his notice over three years how Harry always seemed to be even thinner when he'd come back from vacations.

Elena smiled at her other godson, though she could also see that he was deep in thought. She clapped her hands softly, motioning to the Informal Dining Room, "Shall we?"


Elena's story coming up next! Who's as excited as I am?

What do you think? Let me know! You can review or PM me - I'm fine with either (though be warned, I might take a while to reply should you PM me)

:)