Disclaimer if I didn't Harry Potter in Ch 9, What makes you think I own it now?
The days flew by quickly, with Harry alternating between conversing with Ollivander about core use and just simply bonding with his parents. He liked to think they were in a better spot now. They understood that what he needed was not parents to keep him safe or to discipline him, but a kind, listening ear.
They fell into somewhat of a routine, not as parent and child, but more akin to three roommates sharing a living space. Harry was free to come and go as he pleased, and James and Lily got to spend time with Harry, the man he had become, and not the boy who had left.
Many fascinating conversations happened around the dinner table, ranging from the politics of the Wizengamot to questions and discussions about the wider outside world. Harry came off as the more Machiavellian of the three. Other times, dinner was spent outside, just conversing under the blanket of stars, both Lily and James cuddled up under a thick quilt while Harry just sat there in his leather jacket.
Only a week after meeting with Simon Prewett, Harry was summoned to Gringotts to pick up his pallet of ten million 30 millimetre rounds. It was agreed that Harry would get a similar-sized delivery every month, shipped to a warehouse in Gloucester that was purchased for that specific reason. While this worked well for Harry, he was also all too aware that his money wasn't infinite, no matter what David Taylor said. He understood the idea of revenue versus cost better than most. You kind of had to, to be able to be a mercenary, and that was what he was, no matter what anyone else said
It was one night, early in December, after a heavy downpour of snow, and the outside was blanketed. Harry was reading a very interesting book about the American Revolution, James and Lily were in the sitting room playing a game of exploding snap when Lily spoke up.
"Harry, we need to get the kids from King's Cross on Monday, I don't suppose you want to come?" she was quiet for a minute, waiting for him to answer.
"It's fine if you don't, I just thought it might be fun to go together as a family," she said nonchalantly, trying and failing to hide her nervousness.
Harry thought about it for a moment before answering. Thinking about soon meeting his siblings, he asked the question that had been bothering him for some time.
"Have you mentioned me in your letters?" Harry asked, feeling apprehensive. He had known intellectually he had siblings, but having the reality be so close was terrifying"
"Yes, of course, but we understood that you were going through something unprecedented, and throwing siblings into the mix, aside from just parents, might have been a bit overwhelming."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief at the thoughtfulness of his parents, this was probably the best possible outcome. An idea came to him.
"Hey, mum," he said, trying the word out. He had always just called them Lily and James up until now. Deciding he didn't hate it, he decided to keep using it.
"Um Christmas, that's the holiday that's coming up here soon, right?"
"Yes it is," she said, her throat tight with tears.
"That's the one where we all exchange gifts, right?"
"You don't have to get us anything," she said, rushing into the room to give Harry a hug. "Just having you here with us is enough for us" she cried, holding Harry tightly. Harry cringed inwardly, but he tried to suppress his normal instinct to just pummel her right then and there.
"I want to, I need to." Harry said firmly, tears beginning to prickle in his own eyes, "and besides, I need to get something for my siblings, even if I don't get anything for you.
"
"Fair enough," his mother said flatly, "Do you need us to go with you?"
"I think I can find my way around Diagon well enough," Harry said, laughing, trying gently to push his mother off of him, as he was having a harder and harder time keeping his natural impulses in check.
"But I do need to know what my siblings want."
"Your brother, Jack is an absolute Quidditch nut, anything quidditch related and he'll be your best friend. Rose, your sister, is an absolute madwoman when it comes to charms, even better than I am, and I'm pretty good." Lily said modestly,
Of course, she was being modest, she had been working on her Charms mastery when she and James had gone into hiding when Harry was just a baby.
Upon entering Diagon Alley his eyes immediately lit upon Quality Quidditch Supplies. Perfect, his first stop. Walking up to the window he saw a familiar Firebolt sitting in the display window, the price tag read Price Upon Request, pushing his way inside, he was assaulted by the overpowering stench of cleaning products. The walls were piled high with a random assortment of protective gear, with solid, short, and stout bats hung up underneath the protective gear.
He walked up to the sales clerk, who sat behind a counter, reading the magazine Quidditch Quarterly.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" she asked, looking half bored, no doubt thinking that he was merely here to browse.
Harry pointed at the Firebolt in the window, "How much?"
Looking him up and down she shook her head, "I don't think you can afford it."
Harry definitely did not dress the part of a young aristocrat, or someone else who could afford such a broom.
"I said how much?" Harry asked more forcefully this time. Power roiled off him, leaving no one confused about who might be the one in charge.
Taking a step back, she stammered, "Four hundred forty-five galleons, we-we offer payment plans, at this time zero down and zero interest for the first year."
She was now babbling, now worried that he might try to rob her, anti-theft measures be damned.
"No need," Harry said as he handed over the requisite coins. Looking surprised, he saw her go into the back, returning with a long thin box. If Harry hadn't known what he just purchased, he wouldn't have been able to tell what it was. He gave a bright smile to the witch and asked if he could leave it there until he had finished his shopping.
Surprised but pleased, the sales clerk was suddenly much brighter, "Of course! That is standard for our clients, brooms are rather clumsy to keep shopping with. Is there anything else you need from us at this time'' she asked
"No, thank you," Harry said as he walked out of the store.
He began walking down the alleyway waiting for something to call out to him, he found himself drifting towards Ollivander's wand shop. Opening the door, the chime tinkled as Ollivander's now familiar voice called out, "I'll be there in a moment."
Soon enough he saw Ollivander walk out of the back. Upon seeing Harry his face brightened.
"Harry, my boy!" What are you doing here?"
"I was wondering how most witches and wizards carried their wands, I can't seem to find a good position for mine," he said, as he grabbed this wand out of his boot.
Ollivander let out a little chuckle, "a slight oversight on my end, I do apologise, most witches and wizards use a wand holster, it goes on your belt." he said, turning a bit so that his own wand holster was plainly in view, a simple leather thing with the handle of his wand pointed out.
"I'll take one," Harry said quickly,
Ollivander went back to the back and grabbed a simple piece of leather, which with a few wand taps, slowly began to form a holster.
"There you go," Ollivander said as he handed over the new holster, should fit your wand just fine."
Harry placed his wand in the holster and found it to be a perfect fit. Clipping it onto his belt, he tried drawing it, it came out easily. Satisfied, Harry reached for his money pouch.
"How much?"
"Six sickles."
"Have you made any progress on the core repair?" Harry asked, lowering his voice and glancing around to see if anyone else walked in.
"It's all finished," Ollivander said, "now we just need a mech to put it in, but I think I've found a solution to that problem"
Harry raised an eyebrow in an unasked question.
"Goblins, Harry, goblins. Goblins are excellent craftsmen, I'd guess goblin-made mechs, with my cores? They could be the best ever seen either in this world or Kissindra!"
Harry sighed, "How much is it going to cost me?"
"That's the beauty of it. If you buy them straight, it's a hundred thousand galleons for a Mosquito, but if you licence the design, and let them sell to any interested customer, you could get a Mosquito for twenty thousand, or ravager, like yours for a hundred thousand. I already possess the ability to make cores, and a mech without a core is worthless, so we can control the proliferation of the mechs."
"Until someone else figures out how to make cores," Harry said.
"Bah, that will take years from now, I'm absolutely not worried about it," Ollivander said soothingly.
"Very well," Harry said, "do you have the schematics?"
"Maybe not the original from Kissindra, but pretty close I think," Ollivander said flippantly
"Did-did we just go into business together?"
"I-I think we did. How are we going to make money?"
So far the mechs, even with a seventy-thirty split, in the licensing agreement, and core production, chances were good they would go broke within the year, without another source of revenue.
"I own and am the commander of a brand new paramilitary force based out of Switzerland; PanzerFlex, we could become an actual paramilitary fighting force. Every country, both magical and non, use them, there is good money in paramilitary work."
"Why do you command a paramilitary fighting force?"
"Because that was the only way to get enough thirty mm rounds without raising a bunch of red flags, I can have my contact put our name out there and use that to begin funding our little venture/"
"What about the Statute of Secrecy?"
"According to the ICW rep I spoke to about my application, as long as it doesn't look like we're doing magic, we should be fine," Harry said.
"It looks like we have a business set up, I'm thinking of a fifty-fifty split, and I'll fold Ollivanders, the business, under the umbrella of…"
He waited for Harry to come up with a name.
Harry thought about it for a moment. "
Why not something like Dragonfire?"
"I'll have the goblins draw up the paperwork," Ollivander said. A weight he didn't even know he was carrying was lifted from his chest as he made his way down the street again.
Stopping at Flourish and Blotts, he made his way into the store, an old gentleman looked up at Harry entering.
"Hello, my name is Edmund Blotts, Welcome to my shop, how may I help you?"
"I'm looking for your best volume on charms," Harry said, looking up and down the rows of books, stacked together like sardines in a can. The selection was unimpressive; he wanted to get some one-of-a-kind for his sister, and all he could see were mass-oriented spell books.
Seeing the young man's consternation with the current crop, he went out on a limb, oftentimes those who were wealthiest dressed the simplest.
"And what's your budget?" the old man asked.
Harry thought about it for a moment, and making a decision, he nodded his head.
"I'd prefer not to go over two hundred and fifty Galleons."
Looking at this man closer, Edmund Blotts revised his thoughts about the types of books he was willing to share.
"If you'll follow me, this is the bookstore portion, where we sell a lot at a smaller margin, I think you'll be much happier if you follow me."
He led Harry down deeper into the stack next to more and more exotic-looking books.
Stopping finally near the last few rows he smiled as he revealed a huge tome.
"I think I know exactly the book you're looking for," following the man to the back they finally stopped at a huge tome that was placed on a pedestal. The title read The Theory and Practice of the Most Excellent Charms First Edition by Lowenna Flitwick.
"This book was written over the course of Miss Lowenna Flitwick's life over five hundred years ago, it is said to be the finest treatise on charms ever written, explaining not only different charms to use, but also the why of charms and how the magic is called and released. Her great-grandson teaches Charms at Hogwarts, he's said to be the greatest Charms master since Lowenna, but even he can't quite reach her greatness.
"How much?" Harry asked
"For two hundred and sixty Galleons even, I'll throw in the pedestal as well," Edmund said.
"I'll take it," Harry said, eagerly, thinking this would be the perfect present for his sister.
"Would you like this dropped off anywhere? I would not recommend shrinking it, there's an anti-shrinking charm woven into the pages. Free of charge, of course."
"Belladonna House in Gloucestershire, but not the house proper, but a little barn out back
The morning of the Hogwarts Express' return dawned bright and cold. Unable to sleep, Harry woke early. Looking at the wall he smiled, the Firebolt hung over the Charms tome. A necklace with an emerald, the same size, shape, and colour as his eyes, with the words "to Mum, love Harry," engraved around the bezel holding the emerald in place sat on the table. Next to it sat a giant stag carved out of the purest crystal, on its base was carved "to Prongs, love, your son."
He had probably spent way too much money on these gifts, but given the fact that this was his first ever holiday with his family, and he had missed the past sixteen years, he felt justified in the expenditure, in his opinion, they were perfect, and worth every knut.
Harry smiled softly, it was rough going there for a while, but he had finally found a family, his family. That, of course, didn't diminish the threat of Voldemort but it did however, make it more personal for him because his family was in danger.
Harry walked over to the house at one pm ready to go.
"Oh Good, we were just about to come to get you." Lily said
"You know you're not allowed in there." Harry reminded them.
"But I wanna know!" James whined.
"No, you'll find out on Christmas morning with the rest of the family" Harry reprimanded.
"You are such a child." Lily chided her husband
"Am not." James pouted, bottom lip extended in an exaggerated frown.
Harry was amazed at how James could go from solely focused on something ready to pounce the moment something went sideways, to a whiny manchild and back again. Harry saw it often as he would often goad his father into a duel.
Learning to duel with him was eye-opening. The first day Harry thought it would be a joke, he had studied the plethora of defensive texts in the extensive Potter library, and had practised the spell chains within until they were second nature, he figured he would wipe the floor with his father. Even now he was lucky to beat his father one time out of ten. In the arena, James was a terror.
"Don't worry." he had said the first day James had offered to train Harry in wand-to-wand combat.
"You have a blank in your repertoire, while I admire your raw skill, and you're ability strapped into a giant robot of death, you're helpless with just your wand, you're not going to always have your mech with you" He had said
"And what are your qualifications?"
"I placed second in the inter-office duelling tournament this year."
"Who took first?" Harry asked, curious.
"Mad-Eye."
The reply was followed swiftly by a leg locker jinx, thus beginning their third round of the day. When they finished the day, Harry had a new appreciation for his father, making it infinitely easier to endure his more childish episodes.
They arrived on platform nine and three-quarters to a throng of people just milling around all waiting for the train to arrive, some parents speaking to each other, others just simply standing there, still, others looking down at their watches, no doubt cursing the train for being late.
He spotted a familiar-looking man and his wife milling around the outskirts of the crowd, his long, sleek, blonde hair making him an easy mark to remember, nudging his father he pointed the man out.
"Who's that?"
"That is Lucius Malfoy."
"I saw him in the conference room with Lord Voldemort."
James spat in disgust.
"Not one bit surprising. Everyone knows he's in league with the Dark Lord, but he's too good at hiding evidence, rumour has it he put all of his truly dark artefacts in the 'other Manor.' He's far too good at getting out of crimes, of course, it doesn't help that he has the Minister wrapped around his finger."
The train horn blew, and a scarlet steam engine came chugging into the station. The train screeched to a halt, letting a huge belch of smoke, decreasing visibility severely for a few seconds before the smoke magically got sucked out of the station. The doors opened and children began to pour out of the open door, many children sticking close by one another, no doubt to say a final goodbye to friends, or lovers. Harry was almost lost in the moment when he saw a young woman who looked like a spitting image of his mother, only with black instead of red hair looking at him curiously.
"Who are you?" she asked, suspiciously.
"I'm Harry," he said, wondering what to say next.
Lily's voice cut across the awkwardness, "Rose, where's your brother?
Breaking the prolonged eye contact, " I dunno, probably saying bye to Roy."
Just as she finished saying that a boy no older than eleven bounded up.
"You guys said you had a surprise for us mum, where is it?"
"Uh hi," Harry said feeling suddenly awkward.
"Who are you?" the boy asked with all the guile that an eleven-year-old possessed.
"I'm Harry," he said, quietly. He wasn't very talkative at the best of times, and this most certainly wasn't the best of times. He cast his eyes about, looking for a lifeline. Instead, he met Daphne Greengrass' gaze. She gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement and moved on.
"Maybe this would be a better conversation to have elsewhere," James said cautiously, trying to move his family to the giant fireplaces on the side of the station.
Soon enough they were all sitting around the drawing room table.
"This is Harry, your brother," Lily said. Silence abounded as everyone tried to absorb this bombshell.
Rose was the first to speak.
"You said he was dead, but he's not? Colour me confused"
"So long story short," Lily said, trying to decide how much of the story she wanted to reveal at the moment. "As far as we understand it, he was ripped from this world when Voldemort attacked, you know, Halloween 1981, and thrown into another world, where he lived until a month and a half ago when a spell he was working on apparently broke and he found himself in the Department of Mysteries, and helped, us, me, out of a jam."
There was a tense couple of seconds as the children digested this information, the fire crackling merrily in the grate. Harry wished the fire was out, the heat becoming nigh unbearable, as he waited fo he verdict
"So what's he doing now?"Jack broke the silence. It felt as though a dam had burst, as Harry let out a relieved sigh
"That's it?" he asked relieved
"What? did you expect us to say no, you're not my brother Jack asked, sounding confused "Now answer the question, What are your plans now?"
Harry let out a small chuckle, "I hope to get to know you guys during this holiday, then I'm going to go with you guys to Hogwarts with you guys for the winter term. After that?" Harry shrugged. "Who knows?"
"Why are you going to Hogwarts?" Rose asked Harry, her voice sceptical.
"Headmaster Dumbledore asked me too." Harry said, shrugging, "I thought it would be interesting. Is there a problem with that? Harry asked.
"If there is, I can tell the Headmaster, I decline his offer"
"No, no, no, It would be awesome to have an older brother at Hogwarts" Jack exclaimed, his face falling, "But Roy said his older brother is a jerk, are you gonna be a jerk?"
"No, I'm not going to be a jerk," Harry promised
"But why, why are you back?" Rose asked, her lip quivering "why did you leave? Do you know how hard it was to live with a dead brother hanging over you? You were always the perfect one. 'Harry would've done his homework already,' 'Harry would've done what I asked.' Harry this, Harry that.
She broke down, her shoulders heaving as sobs wracked her body.
For some reason, Harry felt the need to comfort this crying girl. Moving quickly he sat down in the chair next to her and began gently rubbing her back.
"I can promise you, I'm not dead, want to check?" he held out his arm, wrist up, allowing her to check his pulse if she so desired. His pulse raced as he waited for her to make his decision. Instead, she threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder, tears pouring from her eyes. He looked at his mother for help only to see "I'll explain later" being mouthed at him. He awkwardly tried to comfort the girl crying on his shoulder.
"P-prom-prise m-m-me you won't leave me again" she sobbed.
Harry felt something break inside him with that request.
"I promise."
The sight of his sister clinging to him, bawling her eyes out, for him, was an experience. He was not unused to crying, but never about him, the towns that he had liberated just saw him as a tool, a means to the end, and even his friends on various squads understood that Harry was a lone wolf. And yet here was a young girl, who he had just barely met, holding on to him for dear life, begging him, not his mech, not his military prowess to not leave her.
Deciding enough was enough, Harry extricated himself from the girl's embrace.
He looked at his younger brother, looking torn between wanting to spend time with Harry, and looking extremely bored. He remembered how excited he had been to even see a mech when he was a young boy. Deciding it was time to help Jack alleviate his boredom, Harry stood up saying, "I have something to show you guys, count to thirty and then come out to the backyard, I promise you're going to love it."
Harry dashed out to his barn and clambered into his mech suit and was just shutting the door behind him as his family all came out the back door. He waved at them with his sword arm before doing a little dance
"Is-is that Harry?" Jack asked, entranced.
"It is indeed," James replied.
"What is it?" Jack asked again. Deciding he could get out and go help his parents answer questions, he climbed out of the mech.
"It's a mech." Harry answered, inwardly smiling at the antics of the young boy.
"What's it used for?" came the next question
"Can I have one, how do you use it? Can I please at least ride?"
Each question was asked the moment the last question finished getting progressively quicker and quicker, until at the end the poor boy was tripping over his own words, trying to get them all out at once.
"To fight bad guys, maybe when you're older, you'd have to ask Mum and Dad, from a very special headpiece. Sadly, no you can't have a ride, there's only room for one person."
His face fell at the answer to the last question before remembering the answer to the first question, "Mum, Dad can I have a mech?"
They looked at Harry confused, he mouthed back, "I'll explain later."
"Maybe when you're older, kid," James said laughing.
"THAT IS SO COOL!" Jack screamed at the top of his lungs, running around in circles screaming his lungs out."
"Safe to say you're probably his favourite person ever now". Lily laughed as she watched her youngest son climb all over the mech.
"Are you sure that's safe?" Lily asked while Harry watched on in silent amusement.
"Oh absolutely, the only piece that can open without me being melded to it is the back flap, which is keyed to not only my DNA but also my magical signature, no one but me is getting in, he's fine." he said with absolute confidence.
A/N Hopefully I did alright rescuing the last chapter, writing a lone wolf who slowly begins to trust, and to open up is pretty damn hard, hopefully I'm doing an ok job? Let me know by reviewing please. Also a big Thank you to ChiaroscuroGirl for Betaing