The Guise of Family

by berkeleyjake

Thrown out of the Dursleys before his 11th birthday and sent off to places unknown, Harry's journey leads him astray from the path we know and towards learning archaic magics, bonding with strange creatures, and gaining a little sister with a new family. When his past comes looking for him, he will need new allies as he sets out on a hunt for a tyrant. (very slow build/burn)

48. Smoke and Mirrors

Smoke and Mirrors

---

By the time they got done playing with nearly everything in the shop, two hours had passed. Brandt had enjoyed a few more drinks with the clerk of the shop before Harry and Lyra approached the counter pushing two carts, filled with toys, and Whispers nearly passed out on the top of their haul.

"Sorry, we took so long," apologized Lyra.

"Do I look bothered?" Brandt asked. "Don't worry about it. What did you get?"

Harry picked up a wooden easel and a box of paint with brushes, "This is for Teacher, she liked to draw for us."

Lyra opened a book filled with stickers, "This is for Charlie,"

"The rest of it is for everyone else; a lot of stuff that makes noises, has strange textures, or can be used to build things. The kids will love everything, Lyra picked out some stuffed squirrels, frogs, and snakes to teach them about animals."

Lyra let off a big yawn, so Harry paid for everything and Opal took it back to their place while they walked. When they arrived at the Lodge, a light dinner was served; then Harry, Lyra, and Whispers all fell asleep on the same bed, cuddled up together.

---

As they had all fallen asleep immediately after dinner, they also woke up early in the morning. Lyra stretched and walked to the window as Whispers and Harry were groggily fighting over the blanket. Out the window, she could see some of the larger buildings in muggle London with tiny lights on each floor, out in the distance. The sky was beginning to turn purple, signifying the coming sunrise.

After using the bathroom, she returned to the bedroom to see Whispers completely rolled up in the blanket with Harry laying without a cover. She cast a small warming charm on him before putting on a cloak and walking out to the front room. As she got closer, she heard voices and when she got there, Brandt was sitting at the table talking to another man.

The man wore a suit that seemed to make him look like he was a skeleton underneath. His long fingers seemed to make the idea that he was nothing but skin and bones even more prevalent in her mind. On the back of his chair was a hooded cloak and a cane that had a single batwing sticking off the side that appeared to have the underside sharpened into a blade. The man's face had a pointed chin and well-groomed hair. Brandt's beard when he was feeling serious seemed to mimic this man's natural look. He wore small spectacles on his long, thin nose and his eyes were a deep blue. He looked scary, and as she thought about the way he looked, she realized that this was the kind of image that Severus was always trying to achieve.

Her giggle drew the attention of the two men.

"Good morning, Lyra," Brant greeted her. "Come over here, I need to introduce you to someone."

Comparing the man to Severus seemed to make any residual fear of the man's appearance melt away, so she approached without hesitation.

"Good morning," she said to both men.

"Lyra, this is Amicus Slant, he is the solicitor for House Black. You will one day work with him on quite a bit for your family."

Amicus Slant shook Lyra's hand, and with a dark undertone in his voice, "What were you laughing about earlier?"

Lyra's face reddened a bit, "Well… " she trailed off.

"Do not worry yourself, child, even if you insult me, I will not hold it against you."

"You looked scary," she started but hesitated to continue. After biting her lip a bit, "But it seemed like more than was necessary. Your eyes by themselves made me shiver a bit, so the suit, the cloak, the staff, it seemed like theatrics. Like what Severus does, and when I realized that it was like Professor Snape, I giggled." She rushed through all of that as quickly as she could, then her face reddened again.

Both adults stared at Lyra for nearly ten seconds before Mr. Slant burst into laughter. It wasn't high-pitched or sounding like nails on a chalkboard like she would have expected it to be from his appearance. It was just normal… a normal laugh.

Brandt just stared in shock, "What the heck? I don't think I've seen you smile, let alone laugh, in the six years I've known you."

The man shrugged and said, "Maybe you're just not funny."

Brandt just rolled his eyes, "Lyra, we need to finish up some paperwork. Get yourself a snack, but wait for breakfast, your cousin will be coming in a few hours to eat with all of us."

Lyra was a bit nervous about being alone with her cousin and when she got to the kitchen Opal was there making toast, which she ate while she thought about what would happen today. As she was nibbling on her toast, she saw Harry and Whispers sneaking into the kitchen while invisible. She ignored them as they snuck up behind her and just calmly ate her toast as they both made screeching noises as they popped into visibility right next to her.

It did, however, scare Opal, who let out a burst of magic knocking the two of them back into the wall.

"What's going on in there?" Brandt yelled from the front room.

"We're fine!" Harry yelled as he got up off the floor.

Opal was fussing over Whispers and Harry while apologizing to them.

Lyra called out, "Harry and Whispers tried to sneak up on me, but they only scared Opal, who knocked them around. They're OK."

"Harry, Whispers, come into the front room. I need to introduce you to someone."

All three of them went into the front room. All the papers had been put away. Mr. Slant was standing there with his cloak on and holding his staff, the edge of the blade on the top seemed to shine in the light.

Harry and Whispers just walked straight up to the man, "Harry James Potter, pleased to meet you. This is my brother, Whispers." Both he and the Hidden extended their hands.

He reached down to Harry and shook his hand, "Mr. Potter, I am Amicus Slant, Solicitor of Record for your sister's house." Then with a bit of hesitation, he reached to shake Whispers's.

Whispers put his other hand on his chest and said, "Whisssperss… Amm-cuss Slaant."

The man didn't seem to be startled at all, only smiled and said, "You are certainly better behaved than a Jarvey." Then he turned back to Harry, "Do I not frighten you?"

"No, I mean, you look dangerous but not frightening."

The man stood up straight and gripped his staff, "What about now?"

The surrounding light seemed to get absorbed into his cloak as the man's eyes glowed a deep blue, while wisps of blue smoke appeared to waft out of the corners of his eyes. Finally, Harry felt a bit of pressure, similar to what Arcturus, Dumbledore, and the Flamels could do. It felt a bit like when he first met the Flamels but lighter.

"It looks neat," Harry smiled, "I'm still trying to figure out how to do the pressure thing. Severus told me I need to be angry to do it like I was when I first met Arcturus."

Like a switch, the light returned to the room, the glowing of Amicus Slant's eyes returned to normal, and the pressure melted away.

"You are twelve years old, I don't think you'll be able to control that just yet."

"He is Harry Potter," Brandt told the solicitor. "He did it instinctively when I first met him, though he was quite furious at the time."

"That is most impressive, Mr. Potter. I will take my leave now, but I will see you later today." The man threw a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace, igniting it wandlessly. He whispered a location and vanished into the flames.

After he had gone, Brandt turned to the children, "We have almost two hours before your cousin is arriving, so we're going to work up an appetite and wrap all of the presents you purchased yesterday."

He called for Opal to bring everything out and they realized just how much had been purchased. Opal also brought out some magic wrapping paper like they had gotten already for Colin's gift.

"The two of you already have been taught a basic sticking charm for holding onto your wands," Brandt told them, "so when we wrap the presents, put more power into it to keep the paper stuck to itself."

Brandt demonstrated wrapping one of the boxes of gloves that Lyra had purchased. Then let them start working on everything. None of their work was perfect but Brandt told them that it was better to have it known that they did the wrapping themselves than to have it look like it was professionally done.

When Harry started on Hannah's gift, he showed it to Brandt, "Can you teach me how to polish this?"

He seemed to think for a moment before responding, "I haven't used that spell in a while, most magical accessories never need to be polished. This one must be quite old. You know the scouring charm, right?" Harry nodded. "This has the same wand movement, but the incantation is 'Shelacktify - she-lack-ti-fy.' Then, use the scouring charm to clean it and repeat until you are satisfied with the result."

Brandt directed him to attempt it in the kitchen sink and after a couple of minutes of practice, the spell seemed to brighten up the metal but left a sticky substance on the surface. The scouring charm cleaned that up. Harry repeated it a few times until he could see a distorted reflection of his face in it, then brought it back to its box to be wrapped.

The last thing they got to, after the dozens of toys for the hidden, were the books for Jameson and Tristan. Right as they were about to start, there was a knock on the front door.

"Opal, please answer that. If it is Miss Tonks, please bring her in," Brandt spoke to the house.

There was the sound of the door opening and Opal's tiny voice could be heard, "Welcome, Missy Tonks. Everyone bees in the sitting room."

There was the sound of shoes on the wood floor as Opal guided their guest in. Brandt's eyebrows rose dramatically as she came into the room. She was wearing very form-fitting jeans and a t-shirt that revealed her belly button under a black leather jacket with purple under the collar and on the shoulders. There was the word 'blur' written on the shirt for some reason. She had two wristbands that had small metal spikes sticking out from them and her nails were painted orange. She wore black platform heels that added at least three inches to her height, making her just a bit under six feet tall. Her hair was just as wild as Harry's but shaved down almost to the skin on one side of her head. It had bits of purple in it to match her jacket, and her skin was the deeper complexion it was when she showed her 'normal form' the day they met her with Alastor.

She stood poised in the doorway, "Wotcher everyone, so when's breakfast?"

When Brandt got over his shock, he approached the strangely dressed girl, "Miss Tonks, I am the Steward of House Black, you may call me Brandt."

She shook his hand, "I gathered as much… so… breakfast?"

Harry and Lyra waved and stood up to greet her. As they said hello, Whispers jumped up on Harry's shoulders to look this woman in the eyes. As he did, her eyes grew dramatically and turned blue, looking like a mirror of the demiguise. Even her eyebrows started growing a bit and twisting while they turned silver. Whispers chirped and jumped away from her back onto the couch behind Harry, then he slowly climbed back up onto Harry's shoulders and stared at her with his glowing blue eyes. When they faded, he extended his arm and said his name.

Tonks shook her head and her facial features returned to normal, then she reached out to shake Whispers's hand and said, "Wotcher, Whispers. I'm Tonks."

Whispers tilted his head a bit and said, "Tonks." Then repeated it a few more times, "Tonks, tonks, tonks."

Harry and Lyra giggled, "Whispers likes your name," she said.

"I like it too, thanks, little guy." Then she sniffed the air and followed her nose into the dining room where there were plates with Opal's special omelets on each one of them. "Mmm perfect," she sat down in the chair and picked up her fork to start eating.

Brandt gave a slightly disapproving look before guiding the children and Whispers to join her. Whispers ate from a plate of fruit and picked out pieces of smoked salmon, as well.

"So what's on the schedule for today?" Tonks asked the room.

"Well, Harry and I are going to a meeting at ten. I was hoping you could stay and help Lyra prepare for the party, she'll need her hair washed and braided in the morning. It's too long to wait until the evening to start. We should be back by the early afternoon but if you would like to eat before then, just ask Opal."

"The eggs were made by her too?" Brandt nodded. "Opal?" she asked out loud and the elf popped in next to her. "This is delicious, do you think you could make pancakes as well?"

Opal smiled happily, "I's cans be doing pancakes! Would yous be liking cream and fruit?"

"Surprise me," Tonks smiled mischievously as the giddy elf popped off. "Sorry about that, I tend to eat a lot with all the changes to my body; and it's not often I get such good house-elf service."

Harry was trying to figure out if it would be alright to leave Lyra with this woman. She didn't seem like she would be a problem, and Alastor would definitely sort the situation out if she did do anything. Though he didn't even want to get to that point. After she polished off her pancakes, she started tossing around grapes with Whispers, each of them trying to catch the other's tosses in their mouth. Lyra laughed a bit and joined in on the fun. Brandt seemed to be struggling with reprimanding Lyra and staying silent. He ended up choosing silence.

After breakfast, Harry and Lyra went to get dressed while Tonks and Brandt waited in the sitting room.

"It's good to have some time off from getting hexed by Moody," Tonks stretched out like a cat in the overstuffed chair she was sitting in. "So, what does Brandt, Steward of House Black, do with his time off?"

"I don't get time off," he replied. "Being a steward never stops."

"But you're going to the party…"

"To speak with business contacts, watch after the children, and make sure they are not getting into trouble or associating with the wrong people."

She made air quotes, "The wrong people, sure…" Sitting up in the chair, she crossed her legs and asked, "So what's the meeting you and Harry are going to?"

"I'm assisting Mr. Potter on his first business venture. Lyra managed to fall in love with a coat made from aurora sheep wool and trimmed in yeti fur," Tonks let out a low whistle. "So I proposed a venture on his behalf to import demiguise hair into the British market to help pay for the coat, and beyond."

"That is quite a lucrative first business venture," Tonks commented.

"It probably comes with the territory of being Harry Potter," Brandt shrugged. "He actually has a few more things going for him that will also turn into good businesses. Though he's a bit hesitant to start. We're giving him small nudges but waiting for him to make the requests."

"Any hints?" Tonks wiggled her eyebrows.

Brandt reached into his bag and pulled out a pouch of Harry's jerky he had been given a while back, but kept preserved. "Which would you like best; mango, lime, or grapefruit?" Tonks picked the lime and a piece was tossed to her.

She sniffed it and took a bite. It had a bit of a tang to it and a bit of an energy boost. She chewed it slowly, and asked, "What is it?"

Brandt waited for her to swallow before he told her, "It's flobberworm jerky, from demiguise fertilizer, and marinated in lime juice."

She didn't have the usual reaction others had when told it was from flobberworms, she just looked thoughtful, and said, "It's pretty good, though why do you think it would be so lucrative?"

"Did you feel the energy kick?" she nodded. "It seems to help with magical exhaustion, and it could be used for professional dueling between rounds when they can't take potions."

"I bet it would be good for me too when recovering from all the shifting I do at work," Tonks said with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Ask Harry for some samples later, he loves giving them out to people."

Just then, Harry and Lyra came back into the room, dressed in their regular clothes. Brandt took a quick look at Harry and told him, "Harry, please go change into something closer to what you wore to Dumbledore's party. This is an important meeting, I'm sorry for not making that clear. I'm going to go change myself. Lyra, you can stay here with Miss Tonks and get to know each other while I change."

Both Lyra and Tonks were silent as the boys left the room, neither knew what to say. Finally, Tonks broke the silence, "I really like your hair, Lyra."

She smiled, "It just keeps getting longer too, I don't want to ever cut it."

"How long does it get when it's unbraided?"

"Um, maybe three feet past my feet? I keep needing to find different braids to keep it from going below my knees."

"Impressive," Tonks whistled. "I've never tried to make my hair that long, let's see if it's possible."

She stood up and walked over to Lyra, turning sideways when she got there. Suddenly, her hair seemed to explode outwards and purple hair cascaded down her shoulders stretching slowly as it reached her waist, slowly coming to a stop right above her knees.

"Woah, that's the most I've ever done," she swung her head back and forth, letting the hair swing around behind her.

Lyra's eyes were as big as saucers, "That's incredible! I don't think I'd ever want shorter hair but I'd love to make it longer."

"What would you even do with longer hair?"

"I think I'd put more feathers in it, the red hoohoo feathers let me light my hair on fire, and now I can do it without them. So maybe I can learn to do other things with different birds."

Tonks looked curious, "Can you show me?"

Lyra looked around, "Not here, there are too many things that could burn."

"Good point, it seems like you're going to be more of a responsible adult than I am."

They were quiet for a minute, Tonks's hair started creeping up her back until was back to her previous hairstyle.

Lyra looked at Tonks and asked, "On your shirt, what's blur?"

"Oh! It's a Brit Pop band. What music do you listen to?" Tonks answered.

"I haven't listened to a lot, just records that belonged to Harry's parents. I like Led Zeppelin, Guns & Roses, and The Beatles."

"Well that's a great start," Tonks commented, "After Harry and Brandt leave, we can put on some of my music while we get you ready, does that sound good?"

Lyra nodded enthusiastically at the suggestion.

Brandt came out a moment later in a tailored robe with loose sleeves, made of some kind of black leather. He had a grey shirt underneath, and sturdy black boots that made him look like he was going into battle. Tonks smiled and gave him a small nod and then they all just hung around in silence and waited for Harry.

He came out two minutes later, and if Tonks thought that Brandt looked like he was going into battle, Harry looked like he was going on a crusade. He was wearing an outer robe that had two collars on the top, one was high that went all the way around his neck and the other was flat that pointed to his shoulders. It was a midnight blue with silver trim on all the edges. There were no buttons on the front of the robe, which showed the same silver vest with the smoke patterns on it that he wore to Dumbledore's party underneath. He also wore the same belt to keep the robe shut and black pants with shoes were visible where the robe opened on the bottom half. He wore his pouch on the belt on his right hip.

Lyra was smiling at Harry while Tonks just gave a long whistle.

"Bloody hell, Harry. You're looking good," she commented.

Brandt nodded, "Harry, what you're wearing right now are called 'Warmage Robes.' They were very popular before the Statute of Secrecy for wizards who served the various muggle kings. Now they are made for ceremonial occasions and positions."

"They're really warm," Harry mentioned, "I figured it might be cold today." He looked around and asked, "Where's Whispers?"

"He's been stalking Tonks," Lyra replied.

"What?" she yelped, spinning around and seeing nothing.

"He's on the bookcase above you," Lyra pointed to the top of the shelves. Tonks looked but couldn't see the invisible creature. "He'll come out when he feels more comfortable around you."

"Now we really need to go," Brandt said and hurried Harry out the door.

They walked quickly back to the shop where they were yesterday. On their way, Brandt told him, "There are going to be some very serious discussions right now. If you have anything important to say, please ask me before saying it out loud. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded.

They arrived at the shop which Harry did not see the name of before. There was a swinging sign out front with the name Knitter Critter on it, he thought it was a neat name. Amicus Slant was standing near the entrance dressed as he had been before. He nodded briefly at Harry's appearance and the three of them went inside.

The manager greeted them along with a man who was as wide as Mr. Slant was slim. He raised an eyebrow towards Harry, then nodded at Mr. Slant, "Amicus, good to see you."

"Same to you Sasha," he nodded back. "Brandt, Mr. Potter, allow me to introduce to you Sasha Marona, a colleague of mine." The man did not step forward to shake their hands, so Harry followed Brandt's lead with a simple nod of his head.

What followed was Mr. Slant and Mr. Marona both taking out a lot of paper and talking very very fast with each other at the table, occasionally writing something on the papers they brought with them while Brandt was watching the process from a third chair.

Harry stood to the side and looked at the manager who was sitting at the counter and going through some books. With a little hesitation, he said, "Sorry, I didn't get your name yesterday."

"It's ok, Mr. Potter, it's Madison Hodgson. Does Miss Black like the coat?"

"She does, I had a few questions though about the coat." Getting a nod back, he asked, "What is an aurora sheep?"

"I'm guessing it's not covered in a first-year Hogwarts curriculum? There are a few wizard settlements that keep sheep near the north and south pole." She saw Harry's confusion and pulled up a globe from behind the desk and pointed out where the arctic and antarctic circles were. "So, most of the sheep are completely normal but every now and then, one of them is born with hair the colors of the aurora borealis, the northern lights." Seeing Harry's confusion again, she explained about that phenomenon.

"I bought a tapestry with a sky like that for my friends, I think I know what you're talking about."

"So, when the sheep are sheared, they give beautiful wool that we like to use in many sets of winter clothing."

"Does it have any magic?" Harry asked.

"It feels softer than any non-magical fabric, though nothing else that we have observed."

"What about the yeti fur?"

"That does have a bit of magic to it," Madison smiled. "It will make you feel comfortable at any temperature below freezing, and you never seem to get too warm either."

"So Lyra could wear her coat in the snow?"

"Not exactly, you see, it only keeps you comfortable in the areas it covers. Lyra will definitely be able to wear it in the cold but it won't be perfect because it doesn't cover her face or below her knees. Some yeti coats are made specifically for cold-weather adventurers that are one-piece, head to toe, and close completely around the face with goggles built in to see out of. They basically attempt to turn a wizard into a yeti for extremely cold climates."

Harry soaked all of this knowledge in and asked, "What other animals do you work with?"

For the next twenty minutes, Harry was shown around the shop and looked at many different kinds of fabrics from many kinds of animals. When Madison realized he was going to ask questions about everything in her stock, she brought him back to the counter and pulled out a book that contained hundreds of sample pieces and descriptions of what they are and any magical effects they provided.

When they were only a few pages into the book, Brandt called both of them over to the table where the lawyers were sitting. They went over quite a bit of numbers that Harry didn't fully understand but it seemed to boil down to how they would split the profits of each order they received in the shop for any garment made from the demiguise hair. There was also a large deposit that the Knitter Critter needed to keep in a locked vault as insurance for receiving any of the hair in advance.

In the end, Mr. Marona added, "Additionally, Mr. Potter and Miss Black will receive a 20% discount on any items they wish to purchase in the store, with the money saved not exceeding 300 galleons on any one item. Is there anything else you might like to sweeten the pot?"

Harry tugged on Brandt's sleeve, and when he looked down, Harry held up an orange and black feather. Brandt understood and they walked to the corner of the room where Harry pulled out his staff and activated the silencing field of the feather.

"Is there something you wanted to add, Harry?"

"I want two things," Harry said. "I want Madison's sample book, and I want a set of four gloves made from yeti fur for Whispers."

Brandt nodded, "The gloves are a good idea, so he could walk around on the cold ground more easily. Why the book?"

"I want to experiment with the samples. She says some of them don't have magical properties but I'm pretty sure they do. I'm pretty sure the owl this feather is from isn't magical but I can still do magic with it. So, I want her sample book."

Brandt's eyes seemed to be analyzing what Harry said for a few seconds before his eyes widened dramatically. Brandt nodded and Harry tapped his staff to cancel the bubble.

They walked back to the table and Brandt said, "Mr. Potter wants two things, both of which are non-negotiable for us to finish the contract, though I think you will agree with them once I have finished. The first is that he requires a set of custom-made, yeti fur gloves for Miss Black's bonded familiar, a demiguise named Whispers. He is still growing and they will need to be enchanted to grow with him and replaced every time he outgrows the enchantments."

Madison was about to object, the cost of having to do such a thing would be too much to do repeatedly. However, before she could say anything, Mr. Marona held up a hand to her and said, "What is the second thing that Mr. Potter demands?"

Brandt continued, "He also requires your sample book, or another one containing all of the materials you work with." Harry pulled on Brandt's sleeve and whispered in his ear quickly, Brandt continued, "Alternatively, the samples don't need to be in the book but just any scraps you have leftover from other projects. However, he will need to have a book with any information about each material you keep in stock."

"You have yet to get to the 'why' we would do this," Mr. Marona stated.

Brandt whispered to Harry for a moment and received the small orange and black feather from him. Brandt placed the feather on the table. "You may have noticed, Mr. Potter mimicked a privacy charm using this feather earlier. It comes from an owl that lives where he was raised. You can run diagnostic spells on it if you would like, you'll find it is no more magical than a post owl. Mr. Potter and Miss Black have shown an unusual ability, most likely tied to the magic in their staves, that allows them to draw out magic from feathers. Mr. Potter believes that he may be able to determine magical properties from some of the materials you work with that do not currently show any, besides their innate magical resistances or textures. He would be willing to sell you that information, at a discount, when he or Miss Black discover those properties."

"So we would still need to pay for his discoveries?" Madison asked with a touch of sarcasm.

"Yes, you would," Mr. Slant responded, catching on. "However, it would be preferable to us going to another shop and work out the same deal with them. Additionally, we will sign a clause here and now, that any completed sale of knowledge we make with you will be an exclusive deal, not to be made with any other shop."

Mr. Marona picked up the black and orange feather on the table and examined it. Harry raised his staff and his eyebrows, and after getting a nod, tapped his staff on the ground, creating the silencing effect. The solicitor stared at the black glow around the feather and ran a few diagnostic spells on it before motioning to Madison to accompany him to the side of the room.

As they spoke in the corner, Mr. Slant asked Harry, "You created the effect, are you able to hear them right now?" Harry shook his head. "That's a shame, oh well."

They returned to the table and placed the still glowing feather on the table. Harry picked it up and ended the effect.

"My client agrees to provide Mr. Potter with his requests. However, we will put in the contract that when a discovery is made, we will be informed of the magical effect and negotiate the price of the information. If no progress has been made by the end of his current school year, Mr. Potter will be responsible for the full price of the gloves and any further alterations he needs in the future."

Brandt looked to Harry to ask if he was alright with this. Harry just asked, "Do you have any more of the aurora wool right now?"

Madison got up and retrieved a sweater from a rack, handing it to Harry. He played with the fabric for a few moments, rubbed his cheek on it, and felt the softness. Everyone was watching closely. After poking it a few times with his staff, he placed the antler inside the sleeve and activated his light effect.

While Lyra's coat was a deep blue, this sweater was a mix of purples and reds. When Harry activated his light, the colors of the sweater grew brighter and projected themselves around the room, shifting and snaking across the walls. He deactivated the glow and removed his staff from inside the sweater. While the light on the walls had vanished, the swirling colors continued to shift around the fabric of the sweater as everyone stared at the beauty of it for the next three minutes until it slowly changed back to how it was before.

Even the hardened solicitors seemed to admire the grace and elegance of what they had just witnessed. Once they seemed to regain their composure, Harry said, "It might take me a while to figure out exactly how someone else could make that happen. I figured the sheep was the safest test case, more dangerous animals might have more violent reactions."

Madison snapped out of her haze the quickest and asked, "When do you want to bring the demiguise by to measure for the gloves?"

"We can come by Saturday, the 9th of January," Brandt informed her.

"But we are going to see the unicorns that night," Harry protested.

"We can come by in the morning of the 9th," Brandt amended. "We need to be back at Hogwarts before dinner."

"We can do that," Madison smiled.

From there, there was just the signing of all the documents and quite a few handshakes. Everyone commented on Harry's interesting signature.

When it was all done, more handshakes went around and Harry was given the sample book, along with a box of random scraps.

As Harry and Brandt walked to the ice cream shop to get lunch, Brandt patted Harry on the back, "You are going to achieve great things in your life, Harry."

---

Earlier…

The moment Harry and Brandt were out the door, Tonks spun around to face Lyra.

"Ok, where does Brandt keep the record player?" she asked.

"Harry has one in his trunk, we are bringing it home to play music for our family," Lyra responded.

Tonks was a bit curious about what she meant by 'home' and 'family,' but let it slide for now. Lyra ran off and brought back Harry's gramophone and the two of them set it up. Tonks opened the bag she brought with her and pulled out a tiny box. She placed it on the table and tapped it with her wand, and a full box of records grew in front of them.

"Now, you seem to have listened to a lot of good rock music but you need to get up to date on the music of the last ten to fifteen years." Tonks pulled out about a dozen albums and laid them on the table. "We're going to start with one of the older ones, which is probably closest to what you are used to, and go from there." She picked up one with three men standing on it in black and white. "This is The Clash. They have plenty more albums if you like them."

Tonks placed the record on the player and dropped the needle. A quick beat started and was soon backed by guitar but it was different from the guitar in most of the music she had listened to so far. Nevertheless, Lyra found herself nodding along to the quick beat and trying to pay attention to the lyrics as they started up. Tonks was moving a bit more dramatically than just nodding and was moving the rest of her body a bit. Towards the end of the first song, Lyra was swinging back and forth a bit more as Tonks was almost jumping around with her dancing.

When the first song ended, Tonks took the needle off to stop the music, "So, what did you think?"

Lyra smiled, "I liked it, can we listen to more?"

"Of course! I brought this whole box! I'll bring the player to the bathroom and you can wash your hair while the music is playing."

Opal popped into the room at that moment, and said, "I's prepared the master bath fors Missy Lyra, please follow me."

Tonks collected the music and the player and carried them after Lyra and Opal down a long hallway to the master bedroom. It was quite large with a four-poster bed made of rich mahogany. The closet was a walk-in and Tonks peeked inside to find it empty.

"Opal, is Brandt not staying in the master suite?" Tonks asked.

"No, Missy Tonks. The Steward does not sleeps in the master's suite," the little elf replied as she waved open the door to the bathroom.

Any follow-up she wanted to make stopped the moment she saw this bathroom. The entire bathroom was made of what appeared to be a single piece of polished marble. The veins in the marble branched perfectly through all the corners of the room, even across the ceiling. Even the tub seemed to be part of the marble as if someone took a large chunk of the stone and carved out the inside to make a room with the bathtub being part of it. The vessel was enormous, big enough to fit more than ten people comfortably and it was filled with steaming water. Lilies were floating randomly on the surface, and the water smelled of lavender.

Lyra was in shock too at this marvelous bathroom. She put a finger experimentally into the water and squealed, "It's just like back home!" She hurried to the sink and started taking all the feathers out of her hair, putting the red and yellow ones in different piles.

Out of nowhere, Whispers ran into the room, holding a rubber duck, and jumped from the toilet to do a cannonball into the tub, splashing water on the floor. He rose back to the surface and floated on his back as he growled out, "Waaaaarrrrm." The duck bobbed to the surface next to him and floated on its merry way.

Tonks went ahead and set up the record player in the far corner, just in case there was more splashing. and put the needle down on the second song of the album they had been listening to before.

As the song started to play, Lyra asked, "Can you help me with undoing my hair? Whispers is going to be useless for the next hour or so."

Tonks helped Lyra undo all the braids in her hair, marveling at how long it was as each braid came undone. When she was done, Lyra started to get undressed to get in the tub. Tonks had always been very comfortable with her body as she was able to make it anything she wanted it to be, however she had never seen a child Lyra's age not care so little about getting undressed in front of someone she had just met.

As she stood there in mild shock, Lyra realized what she had just done. She grabbed a towel quickly and said, "I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to have done that, right?"

"I don't mind, I was just surprised. Not many children are comfortable with nudity like that."

"I know, right?" Lyra said with a bit of exasperation. "At school, Meli and Daria freaked out during the first week if I went straight from the shower to my wardrobe without a towel. Luna didn't seem to notice or didn't care." With that, she dropped the towel and climbed into the tub, and swam across to the other side, letting all of her hair trail into the water behind her. Whispers floated alongside her as she scratched his head.

"I'll wait in your bedroom," Tonks told Lyra. "Have Opal fetch me when you're done. Enjoy the bath, but don't take too long."

Tonks exited the room and had Opal guide her to Lyra's bedroom. She unpacked a few shrunken packages from her bag with her cloak, dress, and shoes for the party. She smiled at the silk gloves that Charlie had given her, she had bought some fur cuffs to go with them, and now they were now part of a full outfit. She could get used to things like this. The dress was top quality and probably would have cost her a year's salary as an Auror. Looking in the direction of the master bath where Lyra was, she made a vow to herself that when she got her own place, even if she lived in the basement of a pub in Knockturn Alley, it would at least have a bathroom like that.

She flopped down on the bed and just lay there analyzing her previous thoughts. The Blacks were monsters, her aunts were terrible people with even worse husbands, Draco sounded like a real twat, and her favorite uncle turned out to have been the evilest of them all. She didn't know all that much about Arcturus, except that he was the one who decided to disown and eject her mother from the family.

Which made her current situation that much stranger. Brandt seemed like he was nice enough, she didn't know what branch of the family he came from, but it must be distant. She had noted his reaction to her appearance when she first arrived too; he had been shocked, for sure, but he wasn't appalled or scandalized by it, which suggested he had been exposed to something similar in the past.

Her mother was right, Arcturus was plotting something. The man was dying, and if Brandt and Lyra were the next generation of the Blacks, then things were definitely going to change, especially with their close involvement with Harry Potter and the people his parents had been friends with. She would need to figure out what was happening, and fast.

But for now, "Opal!" she called out. The happy little elf popped into the room. "Those pancakes you made this morning were absolutely scrumptious, any chance you could whip me up another stack?"

Opal jittered at the praise, "I's can do that! Would Missy Tonks like cream or fruit again?"

Tonks flopped back down on the bed and smiled towards the ceiling as she said, "Surprise me…"

---

Lyra was enjoying the magnificent tub. It was big enough for her to be at one end, and stretch her hair across the entire surface of the water, without any going over the side. Every time she started to feel the water cooling down a bit, she sunk to the bottom and let her hair heat up until she felt the water was back at the right temperature and she'd surface again. When it had been close to an hour, the last song ended and the needle started to skip.

She looked to Whispers who had his feet out of the tub but his upper body was floating on the water as he slowly moved his arms back and forth. She was going to ask him to reset the needle but he looked too relaxed to be disturbed. So instead she retrieved the shampoo and finally soaped up her hair. When she was done, she called over Whispers, and to have his hair shampooed as well. They used mango-scented shampoo, of course.

When they were done, Lyra dried herself off and then heated her hair, causing it to dry quickly. Before she could even call for Opal, there was a knock on the door.

"Lyra? Opal said you were finished, may I come in?" Tonks called from outside.

Lyra quickly wrapped herself in a towel and said, "Yes, come in!"

Whispers had been still in the tub watching the rest of the water drain out, so he jumped out when Tonks entered. She just burst into laughter at the soaking wet monkey, then levitated a towel to him, casting a warming charm as it floated to him. When it dropped on his head, he made a pleasant-sounding growl and rolled up inside it.

Tonks also levitated Lyra's hanging hair to keep it from dragging on the floor as they walked to the bedroom. Tonks had prepared a chair for Lyra at the foot of the bed, so she could leave her hair all spread out on the bed.

"Now, how did you want to do your hair for the evening?" she asked Lyra.

"Lavender lent me an old Teen Witch Weekly, it's in my trunk over there, next to the jar of lamprey teeth," She gestured towards the trunk. "There's an article in it with the style I like."

Tonks opened her truck and saw a large jar of tiny teeth, next to it was the magazine. As she brought it back, "Why exactly do you have a jar of lamprey teeth?"

"I got them from Severus, I wanted to bring them to my old tutor and see if he could help me complete a recipe for a sticking solution I've been trying to create."

"You're in your first year and you're already inventing potions?" she exclaimed before realizing something even more shocking. "Wait, Severus? Severus Snape? How'd you get that old bat's help with anything? I barely got through my N.E.W.T. potions class without him scaring me to death on a daily basis or failing me out of spite!"

Lyra just smiled as she started flipping through the magazine, "He's not that bad, he's kind of nice most of the time. He seems to like scaring people but it just looks funny when he does it to me."

"What do you mean?" Lyra was talking lightly about the most terrifying teacher at Hogwarts. Everyone hated Snape, what was going on?

"Well he does all these things to look scary; like he does something to hide his face in shadows, and makes his robes and cape move like the wind but there isn't any in the dungeons, and one time I saw him vanish in a puff of smoke but he had just disillusioned himself and hid in the corner."

Tonks stared at this little girl who seemed to have completely taken apart the scare tactics of one of the most terrifying people she'd ever met in her life. She had seen him appear out of thin air to surprise students working on volatile cauldrons and stop a dangerous reaction, speak with an echo to his voice, threaten to feed poisons and untested potions to the pets of his students, and much much more.

However, through all of that, he had never actually cursed a student, not even the Gryffindorks. He had never poisoned someone's pet. He had fed potions to them, sure, but looking back on those incidents, all of the potions worked as they were supposed to and hadn't harmed the animals. He had to have known in advance if the potion would work properly, he was a Potions Master, after all.

He did so much to keep students afraid of him all the time. He was still a horrible teacher that required most of his students to do a large amount of self-study, but he wasn't the evil, demonic, vampire he made himself out to be.

As she came to all these conclusions, the only thing she could think of to say in response was, "Huh, ok."

"I found it!" Lyra held up a page of the magazine, breaking Tonks out of her thoughts. There was a model on the page with silver-white hair, probably a Veela, or made to look like one. She was facing sideways and had an inverted braid that ran from the center of her forehead down one side of her head and in front of her shoulder on that side. It started tight but turned looser above her ear and went down until right before it reached her shoulder.

Tonks examined it, and asked, "That's good for one side, but how about the other? We could do the same thing on the other side, or we can do something down the back as well."

Lyra looked at the picture again, she must have forgotten about the rest of her hair, though how was anyone's guess.

"Let me show you something I like, and you can tell me if you like it too. Ok?" Tonks asked.

Lyra nodded and Tonks's hair flowed outwards again, stopping about halfway down her back. She seemed to stretch her neck, and it changed from purple to the same platinum blonde with bits of silver in it that Lyra had. Then she wiggled her shoulders and her complexion lightened until it matched the young girl's as well. From there, she pulled out her wand and moved it in an intricate pattern that wove her hair together on one side to create a pattern that looked like a quilt running along one side of her neck, to the top of her back. With the remaining hair below that, she performed a twisting motion with her wand which braided the remaining hair below the quilting pattern into a five-strand braid.

"What do you think of this?" She asked Lyra and swung her hair back and forth.

"We can do that AND what's in the magazine?" Lyra asked with wide eyes.

"You certainly have enough hair," Tonks winked at the little girl.

So she started to work on Lyra's hair. It was a lot different doing this kind of magic on someone else, instead of herself, so it took a bit longer than normal, nearly fifteen minutes. When they were done, Lyra examined herself in the mirror, her hair was now down to just below her waist. She turned back and forth to see the different patterns on either side.

"I love it! Can you teach me those charms?"

"Sorry, not as a first-year student," Tonks apologized. "Maybe in your third year when you are able to levitate multiple objects and have mastered the tickling charm. If you try it now, you might hurt yourself."

Lyra nodded and added those missions to her mental to-do list. At least she didn't need to worry about setting her hair on fire when she was casting charms on it.

"Now, you need to avoid messing up your hair for the rest of the day. Luckily, my friend Ricki taught me a neat trick." Tonks reached into her bag and pulled out a pouch like the one Lyra and Harry had. "We're just going to put your hair in this until you need to take it out before the party." Walking around behind Lyra, she put the bottom of her hair in the bag and slowly let it swallow all of it up until it looked like she just had a covered bun on the back of her head. The little bit of braiding on the front and side of her head was the only evidence anything had been done to her hair at all. Tonks pulled the drawstrings on the top of the bag and tied them to hold it all in place.

Lyra shook her head and wiggled her shoulders, "This is sooo weird, It's like I have no hair at all."

"Now that we've got the hard part out of the way, we can just hang out and listen to some music. You might as well change into your pajamas, so we can relax.

---

A little into the afternoon, Harry and Brandt returned to find Lyra and Whispers dancing in the sitting room while Tonks was seated in an overstuffed chair and cheering them on as a very loud song played that Harry had never heard before. Tonks looked up from her chair to see the boys come in and flicked her wand at the record player to stop it.

"Welcome home, boys!" she greeted them.

Harry looked at Lyra in shock, "What happened to your hair?"

Lyra turned around to show her brother, "It's just in a pouch, so I don't mess up the braiding that Tonks did."

"Did you put a mokeskin pouch on Lyra's head?" Brandt asked.

"Would it be a problem if I did? No, it's just a basic extension charm, fully detectable. I don't have the kind of cash to afford genuine mokeskin." Tonks asked, "So, how did your business go?"

"All of it was successful, not to mention, Mr. Potter gained another business venture along the way."

"Bring your coat out and I'll show you!" Harry told Lyra. She quickly scampered off to get her new coat.

When she came back, Harry wrapped up his staff in the coat, so the wool was on top, as Brandt dimmed the light in the room. Harry activated the magical wool and ribbons of blue light snaked their way around the room, as everyone stared at the display coming from the coat. When Harry stopped the effect, lots of blue light continued to ripple through the fabric of the coat for another few minutes.

Seeing the astonished faces of Tonks and Lyra, "It's just like the feathers, I'm going to find out the properties of the other fabrics in the store we were at. We're also going to get yeti gloves for Whispers, to keep his feet warm. Madison at the store is going to keep making them every time he outgrows them."

Brandt then explained the deal in a little more detail, Tonks was even more astonished at the kind of wealth Harry was going to pull in from literally selling the hair off of Whispers's back.

"Did the manager there understand how big Whispers will get?" Lyra asked.

"How big will he get?" Brandt asked.

"Well, his father is about as tall as Tonks, when he stands up straight. His mother is around my height, and his cousin is much taller than Brandt. So, pretty big."

"Nuh-uh," Tonks said with disbelief. "Demiguises don't get that big." Brandt seemed to be agreeing with her on this.

"Really, it's true," Lyra insisted. She turned to Whispers and asked while signing, [How Tall][Teacher]? [How Tall][Chief]?

Whispers tilted his head, and just as Lyra said, he pointed to her first, then to Tonks.

"Ok, I'll guess I will see it for myself soon," Brandt said. "We've got three hours before we port over. How much time do you need to get Lyra's makeup done and dressed?"

"Yeaaaah, about that," Tonks said uneasily. "I don't do makeup. I've never done any makeup in my life." With that said, she changed her entire face so it looked like a shattered stained glass window, then it changed back to normal. "If you want, I can call a friend of mine over who would do an amazing job."

"What are your friend's qualifications?" Brandt asked suspiciously.

"Well, other than doing their own makeup every day since they turned thirteen…" Tonks saw that this didn't sell him yet, so she added, "They do all the makeup for the girls at Club Déviant." She smiled a bit sheepishly.

"It was my understanding that those weren't girls," Brandt said with one raised eyebrow, raising it nearly to his hairline.

Harry and Lyra just watched the exchange with confusion.

"When they're at the club, they are."

Brandt looked very conflicted, but he stated firmly, "I do not want Lyra looking like that."

"Well, not like that, she's eleven years old," Tonks said dismissively. "So you're good with me calling him over?"

Brandt stared. His face was hard but flushed at something Tonks had just said, and Harry and Lyra looked up at their guardian in confusion. However he just took a large breath and said, "Fine."

"Great!" Tonks exclaimed and marched over to the fireplace, taking a pinch of floo as she lit the fire with her wand.

"Château de Ricki!" she called, then got down on her knees and stuck her head into the fire.

Brandt looked like he was about to stop her but instead pressed on a brick in the corner of the fireplace letting them all hear the conversation.

"... here for a job, in an hour, tops," Tonks was saying.

"Last minute like this?" Someone, assumedly Ricki, exclaimed. "How many do I need to do?"

"Just one, it'll be worth it, I swear!" Tonks assured them. "A real posh job, you'll be talking about this for years."

Brandt leaned down to the fire, "No, he won't, he will need to show discretion."

Tonks's hand reach up and pushed Brandt back. "Sorry, that was my boss for the evening. I'm on a bit of an escort and bodyguard job."

"Fine, I'm curious..." the voice Ricki said.

"You've been more than just curious for years," Tonks interrupted.

"Let me just get dressed up for this posh job of yours, and I'll be over in less than an hour."

Tonks popped her head out of the fireplace and extinguished the fire as she stood up to find Brandt looking at her very seriously.

"Lyra's makeup will be appropriate for an eleven-year-old girl," Brandt said with a perfectly even tone.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Tonks said without a care in her voice.

"Also, this is a posh house," Brandt said sarcastically. He reached over the fireplace and slid a panel off a section of the stone above the mantle. There was a small log inside. "We have a special fireplace for floo calling, you don't have to bend over to make a call. Just stand here and put your head in."

---

A little over thirty minutes later, there was a ding from their fireplace, and it roared to life. After a moment, a man stepped out of the fireplace. He was wearing a set of long black robes that were stiff on the sides, but around his neck, there was a strange ringed collar that went all the way around the front, stretching almost halfway down and across his chest in the front with enough space on the inner side to put in a wreath of red roses. His dirty blonde hair looked almost identical to the cut that Tonks sported when she arrived, and around his eyes, he had rubbed dark kohl across his brows. He was also carrying a large leather case with many latches and smaller handles as if someone had stuck several cases of various sizes together to make a single unit.

Ricki took a look around the room, stared right at Harry, and then said, "Nimmie, if you tell me I'm here to do makeup for The Boy-Who-Lived, you can kill me now, I would die happy."

"No, idiot," She gestured towards the platinum blonde child next to her, "you're here for this girl, Lyra."

Ricki sauntered towards Lyra, then looked straight at Tonks, and said with faux outrage, "Did you steal my hairstyle?"

"Of course I did, it rocks," Tonks smiled back. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?"

"Damn straight, I'll keep serving up the styles, you can keep sending me the clients." He looked down at Lyra, "And you've got her wearing one of my hair covers."

"You need to start selling those," Tonks told him. "Let me introduce you around: the tall brooding gentleman who you heard earlier is Brandt, Steward of House Black; next is The Boy-Who-Requires-Discretion, Harry Potter; and last is your canvas for this evening, Lyra Black."

Ricki shook everyone's hands in reverse order from the introduction, then asked Brandt, "Just Brandt? Is that like Cher?"

"No, it is most certainly not like Cher," he replied seriously. "It is like Bono."

Ricki let out a lyrical laugh, "Well met, Brandt, like Bono. Let me go see what the young lady is wearing for the evening, and I'll get to work."

Tonks raised an eyebrow at Brandt who rolled his eyes and nodded back. Tonks walked off with Ricki and Lyra following.

When Harry was alone with Brandt again, he asked, "What's Bono?"

Brandt smiled, "He's in a band, and makes decent music. When we come back here on the 9th of January, we'll try to slip into Muggle London to get you more records, ok?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically. He had already listened to everything they had retrieved from his vault many times. Even though he enjoyed most of it, more music was a great thing.

---

As Ricki got into the bedroom, Tonks shut the door behind them, and he held out the briefcase flat and tapped on the sides. From the corners, four legs shot out and created a small table, a little over waist-high. He opened the lid, to reveal a mirror inside the lid, then flipped two other latches on the bottom of the case and pulled a long shelf out of each side which wrapped around where he was standing on both sides like a large letter C. One side was a color palate of everything in the rainbow, the other was primarily skin tones and sparkles. The setup looked like he was a pianist about to put on a concert of color.

From inside the open case, he pulled out a small wooden cube and placed it on the floor in the center of his setup. Then he drew his wand, which was as much a work of art as the rest of him. It was a yellow birch wand with a purple crystal at the base, below the crystal was carved the face of a woman with braided hair down towards the tip. He tapped the cube and it unfolded and grew into a chair on a tall pole.

Throughout the whole process, Tonks had been lounging on a chair in the corner, growing out her nails, and changing their colors. Lyra on the other hand was watching the entire setup process with wide eyes, trying to figure out what everything was and looking for the magic that was being performed.

When everything had been completed, she asked, "How'd you turn the block into a chair? It didn't look like a transfiguration."

Ricki grinned, "It was actually an un-transfiguration. Have you learned how to transfigure objects into matchboxes yet?"

"We worked on the theory of turning small objects into matchboxes."

"That's the first step," Ricki told her. "Matchboxes are used as a starting point because you've already worked with matches to needles, so the concept is fresh in your head, and it is more complex than a regular box because it needs to include the striking surface on the side... It makes it easier to transfigure more complicated objects in the future. What I did was take the chair and transfigure it into a wooden cube, then when I need it, I can just remove the magic on it."

"But what about the shrinking?"

"I'm sure you've seen shrinking charms before, right?" Lyra nodded her head. "Well, once you learn shrinking and enlarging charms, you'll be able to combine them with other magic, like transfiguration."

That made sense to her. Right now, they were just transfiguring objects to be the same size as the original, but maybe next year they would learn things like this. Shrinking and enlarging charms weren't on this year's charms curriculum.

"Ok, now let's see what you've got to wear tonight," Ricki instructed her.

Lyra went to her closet and pulled out her dress, tights, shoes, and coat then laid them all on the bed and stepped back. Ricki approached the clothes and put a thumb on his chin while looking at the ensemble. He reached down and moved the shoes to the side, then reached for the coat.

"Sweet Merlin's tits!" He exclaimed, "Is this yeti fur?" Lyra just nodded. "A young one too, it's perfectly soft... " He stood back up and examined the dress. "We've got a few colors to work with; greens, blues, white, and black. Do you have a favorite color, sweetie?"

"Orange," Lyra said with certainty.

Ricki's face puckered a bit, "No, that won't work with these colors at all, sorry. Well, go ahead and hop into the chair, and let's get you started."

Lyra climbed into the chair and Ricki spun her around so she was facing the mirror. At that point, he tapped the top of the mirror, and it expanded, wrapping all the way around the edges of the shelves, leaving just the space behind her open. Looking in the mirror, she could only see herself reflected with a sunset beach stretching off into the distance. Her face in the mirror didn't turn when she looked at it, showing the front, sides, or other angles of her face depending on what side of the mirror she looked at. The mirror only reflected her, and she did not see the reflection of the reflection on the opposite side, nor was Ricki reflected. It was just her in the chair. The sight of the sunset beach reminded her of home.

Ricki waved his wand and swirls of skin tones rose from the palates from Lyra's right side. Like an orchestra conductor, he wove his wand through the air and the various skin tones painted her face into stripes. Lyra giggled as she saw her face in the mirror with so many shades of skin. With his hand that didn't contain his wand, Ricki summoned an orb of light which he seemed to use to figure out the best shade of the colors on Lyra's face, then closed his hand and vanished all but one of the shades on her face.

With another flourish of his wand, more of the skin tone already on her face lifted from its spot and decorated her face, then smoothed its way out. A few specks of a darker foundation were applied to her face and mixed into what was already there.

Tonks peeked over the top of the mirror and advised, "Try to go for a little less, Brandt wants her to still look like an eleven-year-old. So keep her under thirteen, ok?"

"You're the boss, boss," Ricki saluted with his wand, then waved it, causing a little of the foundation to vanish, and then evened it out.

From there, he seemed to play around a bit with the foundation, adding some blush and natural colors to accentuate her cheekbones until finally giving a nod and a "Hmmm." Next came the eyes, where he worked with them and vanished that layer five times before finalizing the color, and starting to put on mascara. Tonks had to stop him again and tell him to lighten up there. Then came the final touches and a bit of sparkle in various places.

"Well, boss," Ricki addressed Tonks, "What do you think?" Tonks gave a big smile and a nod. "And you, Miss Black?"

Despite seeing the process from start to finish, she didn't recognize herself, but in a good way. She didn't think she looked older, just brighter and more colorful than before. She looked to the sides of her face and there was even a little trail of tiny snowflakes from the corner of her eyes towards her ears.

Lyra nodded enthusiastically, "It looks amazing! Thank you."

Ricki reached into the case and pulled out a card that had his name and floo address written on it. Turning it over, he scribbled a few weird notes with strange symbols on the back and handed them to Lyra.

"The notes are just my shorthand for your base colors and what we did today. That way if I ever want to recreate it, it will take only a minute or two."

Tonks looked over the top of the mirror again, "I think the snowflakes are toeing the line a bit but everything else looks spectacular." She then adjusted her face so it looked like an exact mirror of Lyra's, with her hair changing from purple to blonde again to complete the effect.

Ricki reached back into the case and pulled out a strange-looking camera, "Let's take a picture so I can keep it in my client records."

"What kind of camera is that?" Lyra asked.

"It's a Polaroid," Ricki saw the confusion on Lyra's face. "It makes instant photos."

Lyra's eyes widened, "Is it magic?"

Tonks and Ricki both started to laugh.

"No, dear," Ricky chided playfully, "it's just one thing that muggles do better than wizards." He held up the camera to Lyra and snapped the photo, the print coming out with a 'zzzzz' sound. He passed it to her, "Shake it, it will appear faster."

Lyra shook the photo back and forth, marveling at the muggle magic that made it show up right away.

Ricky frowned for a moment, "I'd take a magical photo but getting them printed is too expensive, there aren't enough phoenixes that aren't owned by the newspapers to make the ash cheap enough for amateurs."

That was sad that he couldn't take the photos, so she offered, "Would you like some hoohoo feathers? If you light them, they'll make you feel happy and then the ash can be used for photos."

"You would give me firebird feathers?" Ricki asked, astonished.

"Sure! I have them in my pouch if Tonks can get it."

Tonks summoned the pouch and tossed it over the top of the mirror. Lyra reached in and pulled out two red feathers. Ricki handled them carefully, while Lyra pulled her staff out of her pouch as well, and tapped it on the ground. The light from the two feathers covered the room as Tonks and Ricki stared at the light. After nearly a minute, Lyra tapped her staff again and the light went out.

"Woah, that was incredible," Tonks stared at the feathers in Ricki's hands.

"You can also light them with a fire spell," instructed Lyra. "When we do it at school, we collect the ashes so my friend Colin can develop lots of photos."

Ricki was still staring at the two feathers in his hands, but he finally said, "Thank you, sweetie, this is a wonderful gift." Standing up straight, "We've got some more time before you need to be ready, let's do some fun things with your makeup, and we'll put this back when we're ready. What do you say?"

"I guess?" Lyra was unsure, but Tonks was smiling and nodding a lot.

"Let's do it!" Ricki shouted gleefully.

With a wave of his wand, all of the work he had done vanished, leaving Lyra with her plain face. Then, even more dramatically than before, Ricki orchestrated colors and foundation from all over his tables to rise up and swirl around Lyra's head before small lines and shapes started being drawn onto her face. With swishes, flicks, and wipes, in two minutes, Lyra's face had become a beautiful tiger.

She giggled and laughed and roared at the mirrors while Tonks took a couple more Polaroids, then Ricki wiped her face and performed another symphony of color to turn her into a clown. She didn't like that one as much, but Tonks still took a picture. The next one was a huge hit, as after Tonks whispered in his ear, Ricki transformed Lyra's face into a demiguise.

The eyes were painted larger than her actual eyes and had blue irises on the outside of her eyelids. When she winked, she could see them individually. Tonks took a few more photos of this. Ricki got a mysterious look on his face and asked Lyra to close her eyes. Swept up in the fun of it, she closed them and felt the different colors being applied to her face. At one point she heard Tonks gasp, but she kept her eyes shut.

Finally, Ricki said he was done, and she opened her eyes to see Harry looking back at her. A little younger, and with brown eyes, but she looked like Harry, scar and all. She stared at the mirror for about ten seconds before almost collapsing with laughter.

Then there was a knock at the door.

---

Earlier, just as Lyra, Tonks, and Ricki entered their room...

"They're going to be busy for a while, and I'm guessing you don't need much time to get ready, right?" Brandt asked Harry, who nodded in agreement. "Why don't we just go for a walk with Whispers before it gets dark, and see if there is anything else you want to pick up."

Harry just nodded along and reached out a hand to Whispers, who had been hiding behind the couch, and the young demiguise just swung up to hang on Harry's back.

"I can't wait for him to get his gloves," Harry groaned. "He's getting heavy."

"Too much Hogwarts cooking, I suppose," Brandt responded. "At Durmstrang we would occasionally get sent out in hunting parties to bring more meat for the kitchen. It made us appreciate the food a bit more."

As they exited, Harry told Brandt that his diet had consisted primarily of bugs and fruit for over a year. Later on, they added frogs, snakes, and fish to their diet. It all sounded a bit strange to Brandt, but Harry and Lyra were both healthy, and strong, and more importantly, they were becoming a lot more self-assured. There was just something missing from their stories about their life growing up on the island that he couldn't quite figure out.

As he was pondering this, they passed by a shop that had Whispers jump down from Harry's back and press his face against the window. The lettering for the name was in a blocky print on the glass, "The Pointless Hattery."

The window was filled with hats that were more rigid and solid colors than the kind that Dougal wore. There were also absolutely no wizard hats like they wore at school during the feasts that were tall and pointy. Before they could say anything, Whispers scampered inside the shop, leaving Harry and Brandt to run in after.

When they got inside, Whispers had vanished, but the man behind the counter greeted them, "I'm about ten minutes from closing, how may I help you?"

"A demiguise just ran in here, sir," Harry explained. "I think he liked your hats."

The man probably hadn't expected that series of words to ever come out of a customer's mouth. So he just nodded, and said, "Well, carry on then."

Harry and Brandt walked through the aisles looking for Whispers, Harry was squinting to check if his Hidden brother was invisible somewhere. They ended up finding him near the back of the shop next to a pile of hats and a mirror where he would try one on and it would fall over his eyes and then toss it in the pile and try another.

Brandt knelt beside the furry creature and picked up one of the hats. He pointed his wand and the hat shrunk down a few sizes, then handed it back to Whispers. It didn't fall over his eyes this time, though now it was a bit too small. Seeing that it almost fit, Whispers dug through the pile of discarded hats and pulled out a black hat that had the skull of a bird on the side with green and blue feathers sticking out of it. He held it up to Brandt to resize.

After it was the right size, Whispers danced in front of the mirror with it on, then held it up to Harry to take.

"Looks like we got one more present," Harry commented as Brand wove his wand in the air and the pile of discarded hats seemed to float off in random directions, probably to where they came from. He also tapped the hat in Harry's hands and it returned to full size.

When they got back to the front, the owner looked a bit shocked that there actually was a demiguise loose in the store.

Brandt asked the man, "Would you mind resizing this hat to fit Mr. Whispers here?"

After quickly rallying himself, Whispers climbed on the counter and the man pulled out a measuring tape to carefully size his head. As he took the proper measurements, he commented, "A John Bull classic, made from wool felt, two-inch-wide ribbon, leather interior. Adorned with a peacock skull and feathers. Excellent choice. Is the demiguise going to get much larger? We also sell an option to provide resizing for life."

Harry giggled for a moment and pointed at Whispers's hands. Brandt got it immediately, "Yes, he probably will get bigger, we would like to purchase that option as well."

With all the measurements completed, the man spoke a long incantation, the hat shrunk slightly, and he handed it back to Whispers, who placed it on his head and looked into the small mirror on the counter before saying to the man, "Hank yoo."

Harry apologized as the man nearly jumped back into the shelves behind him, "I'm sorry, he is still working on his T-H sounds."

"Yes, that's what startled me," he stared at the furry creature with interest. He then pulled out a photo book, and said, "Would you mind if I took a photo for my customer album?" He opened it to show various wizards and a few witches wearing hats from his shop.

Harry looked to Brandt who nodded and told the man, "Just for the album, not for publication, advertisement, or distribution purposes. The only name that gets put into the book is 'Whispers,' and nothing else."

"What other name would I put in?" he looked at both of them and must not be local as he did not recognize Harry at all. "How about Sir Whispers?"

"That's fine," Harry agreed. "If you see his eyes glow before you take the picture, stop and let him relax first."

It took them only two tries for him to take the photo and told them to come back sometime to see it in the book. The little hat excursion had ended up taking close to an hour, so they headed back to Lodge. When they arrived, Opal informed Brandt that everyone was still in Lyra's bedroom. As they approached the room, Harry heard Lyra's beautiful laugh and smiled. Brandt knocked on the door.

Tonks opened the door a crack and peeked out. Then she quickly jumped out and closed the door behind her.

Seeing Whispers in his top hat, "Oh ho ho, look at this, a proper gentleman has graced us with his presence." She mimed giving the Hidden the tip of her invisible hat. Surprisingly, Whispers repeated the mimicry and actually tipped his hat in return.

"How's Lyra doing? Don't you need to get ready?" Brandt asked, gesturing at her jeans and t-shirt.

"She's fine, Ricki is just letting her try different things. He brought along a Polaroid and is taking pictures to show you later."

"What's a Polaroid?" Harry asked. Brandt also gave her a questioning look.

"So Bono is the limit of your muggle knowledge?" Tonks smiled. "It's a camera that develops photos instantly. No lab needed." Both boys looked astonished at such a thing.

"We need to retrieve Harry's clothes. Can we go into the bedroom?"

"I don't think Ricki wants to be interrupted, give me a moment," Tonks said, before disappearing into the bedroom again. After a minute she popped back out, "You can come in now."

When Harry and Brandt came into the room, Harry stared at Ricki's makeup station in the center of the room for a moment, but most of their attention was drawn to the swirling mass of shadows covering an entire corner of the room. Harry knew what it was, but it took Brandt a second to remember that Lyra had the darkness spell she did with her staff.

From somewhere in the darkness, Ricki said, "This is some freaky stuff going on here. I can't see a thing."

Harry walked over to the shadows and pushed the tip of his staff inside and created a bubble of light inside the shadows for them like he did for their confrontation with Draco.

"That's better, but it might be weirder," Ricki commented from inside the bubble.

Brandt and Harry quickly gathered all of his things from the wardrobe and went to another bedroom across the hall which turned out to be Brandt's room. He went to his own trunk and took out the vest that had been made from the Usurper shed, backed with the mooncalf leather. It was a six-button, asymmetrical vest in deep forest green. Harry ran his fingers over the shed that covered the top of it.

"It's perfect," he commented.

Opal popped in at that moment, "Mr. Potter's bath is ready."

Brandt showed Harry to the bathroom attached to Brandt's bedroom and was left alone while he bathed. When he finished, he came out to find the bedroom empty, so he put on his green-black slacks, the white shirt he had chosen, the vest, and shoes. He attached his pouch to the belt with the buckle that Brandt had given him for the last party and put it on. Then with the final touch, added the leather shoulder harness with the cloak over his left shoulder.

Harry stood and looked at himself in the mirror. He liked this look. He pulled out his staff and held it next to him. He looked like a proper wizard, like what he envisioned in his head. Not like Gandalf or everyone at Hogwarts in their school uniforms. He just thought it fit perfectly. Feeling the pocket on his left side under the cloak, he performed a light sticking charm on the thigh of his pants and stuck his wand there before walking out to the sitting room where Brandt and Tonks were talking.

Brandt's stern face smoothed out a bit and his eyebrows raised to his scalp as he nodded, and said, "Not bad, Mr. Potter, not bad."

Tonks had been facing away from him, and when she turned around she let out a long whistle, "Hey Brandt, you mind if I take Harry as my date? You and Miss Black can stick together instead."

Brandt just rolled his eyes, Harry didn't fully understand the connotations of what she had said, so he just assumed it was a compliment and thanked her.

Brandt stood up, "Miss Tonks, the two of us should probably get ready now. I assume your mighty morphing power changing will save you some time getting ready, but we really shouldn't wait until the last minute. You may use the room across from mine, it has a full ensuite bathroom."

"Like the master?" she asked hopefully.

"No, not like that," he responded.

With a frown, she walked off, leaving Harry alone, though he could see Whispers, invisible, sleeping on the couch near his hat. He walked over to the sleeping demiguise and poked him in the side, getting a growl in return as he returned to being fully visible. Harry dug through the albums that Tonks had brought, he didn't recognize any of them until he found one he recognized, Led Zeppelin IV, and started playing Black Dog.

There was nothing to do now except wait for everyone else to be ready.

---

About halfway through the album, Harry heard a door open in the hallway and he looked around the corner to see a flicker of Tonks, disillusioned, running into Lyra's room. Harry turned around to go back to the sofa, only to hear Ricki call out loudly from inside the room, "Hot damn girl!" Not knowing what to make of it, he just went back to sit down and listen to the music.

Another two songs later, Brandt came out. He was wearing a black shirt with a matching jabot, under a burgundy swallowtail jacket with black ruffled sleeves. There was a black clasp in the middle of the coat that Harry recognized was made with Celtic knots, and three silver buttons on either side below the clasp. On his lower half, he wore rough leather pants and red shoes, slightly darker than the burgundy of his jacket, and made of some kind of reptile skin.

"Where is Miss Tonks?" he asked Harry.

"She ran into Lyra's room a moment ago," he responded. "I guess she's ready?"

Brandt knocked on their door, and Tonks called out, "Go back to the sitting room, we'll be out in a minute!"

Brandt returned to Harry and looked at the clock. Then he went over to a set of drawers and took out an evergreen wreath and placed it on the coffee table, then sat in the big chair. After another two minutes, Brandt looked up at the clock again, and just as he was about to get up, he heard the door to Lyra's room open, so he sat back down.

Ricki came into the room and stared at Brandt for a moment before he quickly shook his head, put down his briefcase, and said, "Just a quick show, and I'll be off." He called back to the room, "Go ahead!"

After he called out, a plume of black smoke poured out into the hallway to the entrance of the sitting room. Ricki stood to the side with his camera raised. After a couple of seconds, Tonks stepped out of the black cloud and into the room, striking a pose. She was wearing a nearly black satin cloak that pooled at her feet but seemed to hover half an inch above the floor. It had an oversized hood at the top of the cloak that was folded back, and a silver clasp with three thin chains connecting it, wide enough to show her figure underneath. The dress itself was a black and silver sheath dress with no discernable pattern like it was made of cracked silver gravel. It went down to her knees, with full sleeves, and had a high neck, about two inches above her collarbone.

She was wearing black gloves with a long furry cuff that almost reached her elbows, black tights, and dark silver, three-inch heels. Her hair was down just past her shoulders, unbraided but wavy, set around her front right shoulder. It was almost entirely black, with a few dark blue highlights. Ricky was observing the boys' reactions.

Harry liked the cloak and thought she looked pretty with the sparkles on the dress. He stared at the furry cuffs on her arms and thought that would be a perfect place for her to hide a wand.

Brandt was definitely staring with more of an interest, but then Ricki snapped a picture of Tonks, and the flash combined with the 'zzzzz' noise of the photo printing snapped him out of his thoughts. Ricki walked around the other side and waited for Tonks to pose before taking another shot.

After that, Tonks stepped out of the way and announced, "Now, the moment you have been waiting for, Miss Lyra Black!" Whispers sat up on the couch and his eyes glowed blue before he sat up even straighter in anticipation.

Lyra stepped out of the smoky hallway and Harry's face lit up with a smile at his little sister. She also had a big grin on her face at his outfit. Ricki got her attention back and made a motion for her to do a spin.

Lyra was wearing her blue and white coat with yeti fur on the trim and hood. When she was done with her spin and Ricki had taken a picture, she took off the coat to reveal the different hairstyles that Tonks had done for her in the morning with the quilting braid on one side with the five strand braid at the bottom and the loose braid along the other side of her head. Her dress was deep forest green with short sleeves. There were more snowflakes towards the bottom of the dress and a bit of white fluff on the bottom which made it look like the snow was settling at the bottom. Around her neck, she wore a silver torque necklace that looked like it was made of leaves. Like Tonks, she wore black tights and shoes to match her dress, but a darker green for her.

Her face though was why she had been locked up for so long. To Harry, her skin seemed smoother and there were thin lines around her eyes. Her eyelids had a gradient of color on each one, starting with light green in the center, then changing to blue, and finally, silver in the corners. The silver on the corners appeared to break up into tiny snowflakes until they reached her hairline.

Brandt seemed accepting of the look but was closely scrutinizing the makeup. He seemed to be having trouble approving it, and Tonks gave a small nod to Ricki who waved his wand and the snowflakes vanished.

Brandt stood up and said, "There was something I didn't like, but I couldn't figure it out, and that was it."

"We were pretty sure we were getting close to the line on that," Tonks explained. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think it is exactly what we needed. Thank you Mr… and I just realized I don't know your full name."

"It's just Ricki, like Cher," he replied and shook Brandt's hand.

Ricki turned to Harry and shook his hand, "It was an honor to meet you, Mr. Potter." For some reason, Harry didn't feel as uncomfortable with Ricki as other people made him feel when they treated him like a celebrity.

He turned to Tonks and kissed her on the back of her hand and passed on the Polaroids he had just taken, then knelt to Lyra and gave her a big hug, which she returned. Then he stood up, grabbed his case, and walked to the fireplace.

Turning back to everyone, "Ask Lyra to show all the pictures we took later, you'll get a kick out of them. I bet there's going to be plenty of pictures of all of you in the gossip pages on Sunday, but try to get some for yourselves too."

He shot a plume of fire onto the logs and tossed in a pinch of floo powder, calling out, "Château de Ricki!" and vanished into the green flames.

A couple of seconds after Ricki vanished, Brandt took a look up at the clock, and said, "We have less than two minutes before our portkey activates." Turning back to the fireplace, he pressed a red gem on the mantle and a steel door slid into place, blocking the floo. Then he picked up the wreath that was on the table and held it out for everyone to take hold of.

Whispers put on his hat and scampered over to Harry and climbed up his side, under the cloak, giving him a death grip around his side. The four humans grasped hold of the wreath and Brandt started the countdown.

When he reached zero, they all felt the hook behind their navel and vanished in a twist and a snap.

---

Author's Note:

This is my first attempt at writing a gay character, other than Dumbledore, though there has been only one mention of his sexuality so far, and it was so subtle, that I barely count it, and no one else commented on it. I've tried to get some feedback from some writers' groups and friends before I published this chapter, so if it still is offensive to anyone, send me a comment and we'll talk about how I can improve it. I want Ricki to be part of Tonks's plan to get Lyra to experience more than the stuffy pure-blood education and traditions she thinks Arcturus is giving her.

The "What's Bono?" line is inspired by a real-life situation where I was on a train and the girl next to me overheard through my headphones when I was listening to "Moves Like Jagger" and started to tell me how much she liked that song, but always wanted to know... "What is Jagger?" My first response was to hit her (Like the "Who's Gandhi?" scene from Zombieland), but then I decided it would be better to teach her a bit of rock and roll history instead.

Oh, and I used Mr. Slant from Discworld. I thought it would be fun to reuse the name of the best lawyer in existence.

For Ricki's outfit, imagine Rami Malek dressed like Ruby Rhod from The Fifth Element during the theatre/fight scenes and that is the kind of image I was going for. Maybe more of a robe than tights, but the same rose wreath collar; and then also the hairstyle Tonks entered with.

Dream Casting:

Ricki: Rami Malek