A/N: Good morrow fellow fans. This is the fun filled filler I was talking about. Please note, I will occasionally make use of time skips, sometimes small, sometimes big, like this one. In this case, nothing too serious happens in the time skipped, but there will be mentions of events in minor fashion.
Forgot to mention in the last chapter. The Potter family motto in this story, ex perseverantia, victoria, means 'through perserverance, victory', and hold a lot of value in this story, in various forms.
Without further ado, let us away!
Chapter 4: Harry`s 6th Birthday
Thursday 31/07/1986
The sun rose lazily over a neatly manicured field, surrounded by vast woods on all side. There are no access roads or trails that led to this specific field. Upon this field, sat a very stately manor, consisting of three floors, each floor standing at ten meters in height. This manor was not just stately, but palatial in size and opulency.
Due to the fact that it stood abandoned, until recently, it took quite a task force of House Elves to clean up and repurpose the seemingly endless rooms and halls. Some windows needed replacing, furniture needed repairing or replacing, floors needed buffing, statues needed polishing and, perhaps most dangerous, plantlife needed to be wrangled. All in all, this specific manor is well hidden and not frequently visited, but that matters not, for this is the world of magic!
Two children came running down the great marble staircase, in the center of the entrance hall. They chased each other toward the main dining hall, followed by a big, pitch black dog, sliding around corners and bumping into walls. The dog had very unique grey eyes. The two children had identical hairstyles of long, flowing locks, with orange lengths and crimson tips. Both children were laughing loudly, while running down the halls, until they got to the dining hall, where two adults sat with food in front of them. The black dog overtook the children at this point and started changing into a man with long, shaggy black hair, tied behind his head. The man turned around and scooped up both laughing children as they crashed into him.
"Paddy! Paddy!" came from the children, both of their heads changing to different shades of blue. They lept off and made their way to the table, sitting own and dishing up bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs and toast, before digging in, each with a glass of orange juice in front of them.
"Happy birthday, Harry!" the three adults called out to the smiling boy sitting in front of them. Andi pulled out a package from below the table and put it down in front of Harry. Sirius pulled out a long box from behind the door and put it next to Harry. He smiled brightly, while opening the box from Andi and Ted.
"An Introduction To Magical Creatures," Harry read the title of the thick, leather-bound book in his hands, his face full of awe and wonder, "Thank you so much, this is amazing!"
"We know how much you love animals, Harry, so we thought that might be the ideal gift for you," Ted said when Harry hugged them tightly. He ran back to the gift Sirius got for him, he ripped the paper off and pulled the box open and looked at it in awe, it was a slightly smaller version of a regular broom.
"Wow, this is amazing!" Harry exclaimed loudly, pulling the broom out of the box and looking at it reverently. Sirius started laughing when Harry zipped around the room, with Dora chasing after him, begging for a turn as well.
Harry received a few more gifts and letters from various other parents of children his age, as well as allies of the Houses Black and Potter, hoping to establish future alliances or, at the very least, initiating the start of future friendships. He also received a letter that wishes him well from Narcissa Malfoy, who, after the arrest of her husband, started contacting Sirius in hopes of remaining part of the Black family after he took up Lordship and took away Draco`s Heirship.
Sirius was also busy waging a war on publishing houses across magical Britain over a series of books called 'The Adventures of the Boy-Who-Lived', but it is a very tedious process, as the publishing houses claim that the title is not trademarked and Sirius doesn`t have proof to point that it has any connection to young Harry Potter, but little do they know, that with every statement they make, Ted keeps digging their hole wider and deeper. By Harry`s 11th birthday, he would receive 40% of all proceeds made by the books, 30% will be donated to orphaned children of witches and wizards, while the rest goes to the publishing houses.
At that minute, they heard a woosh coming from the adjacent room and Harry rushed to go greet the guests on his broom, Dora following closely behind him. He came to a halt in front of a timid, chubby boy with short hair, holding onto an elderly woman, dressed in a horrible, off-pink cardigan, with a wide brim hat with a stuffed vulture on it, a fox-fur scarf around her neck. The boy`s face was slightly red, as if he over-exerted himself.
"Hello Neville! Happy birthday for yesterday, I hope you like the gift we got for you," Harry said, looking towards Neville, before turning to Madam Longbottom, "It is good to see you again, Madam Longbottom, everyone will be here soon." He bowed slightly, while Dora gave a small curtsey. Madam Longbottom nodded to them and took her hat off, while the children started talking among themselves.
"Young Mr. Longbottom, Augusta, welcome to my home! Please, make yourselves comfortable. We will leave in a while, there is enough time for a cup of tea, I am sure," Sirius said, making his way over to Madam Longbottom, bowing and gently kissing the back of her hand. After all the pleasantries were exchanged, they made their way to the living room, to drink some tea and talk about various happenings of note.
After a while, Sirius stood up and announced, "Alright kids! Front and center!" The kids came running after a few moments and lined up in front of him, snickering, Harry saying something about 'mutts', "I heard that, young man! Come now children, we will be leaving now and no, I am not telling you. It is a surprise. Harry and Dora is with me, Neville with Madam Longbottom and lastly, Ted and Andi. Now, let`s go," he announced, marching toward the front door, followed closely by the children, then the rest of the adults as they made their way down the stone walkway, past the wards, to apparate away.
Moments later, they appeared a little while away from big wrought-iron gates with gold inlays in the form of various animals in different states of frivolity. They walked through the gates and Sirius handed a man in a booth some tickets, he looked at it, waved a wand over it and handed the tickets back to Sirius. They proceeded down the cobblestone walkway and Harry pulled on Sirius` arm, trying to get his attention.
"Welcome to the Irish National Magical Zoo, there are a massive amount of creatures in this zoo, all of them with their own habitats and environments. The habitats are so big and the animals so well cared for, that most don`t notice the captivity. Also the caretakers here are very talented and gifted. They all have Master qualifications for Care of Magical Creatures. This, Harry, Neville, is our other gift to the two of you," Sirius looked at them with a massive smile on his face. Harry and Dora were bouncing up and down in barely concealed joy. Neville stood next to Harry merely looking around him in awe at his surroundings.
Sirius led them all to the first display, which looks like a bog on top of hot springs. The steam rising through the mud, made it bubble, like a couldron of polyjiuce potion. As they looked on, they saw a two meter long black and red shape move in the mud. The nameplate close to them, informed them that they are looking at different types of Salamanders, the most common being the Fire Salamander, which they saw immediately, judging by the flames being spewed from its mouth. They looked on for a while longer, before moving on through various displays containing Crups, Bowtruckles, pixies and the like. Following the main walkway, they ended up in front of the access route to the massive open-air pens, protected with wards. They had a big surprise waiting for them at the first display.
"Look at this, Harry," Sirius said, pointing to the nearby trees in the one encampment. They looked over and saw two Griffins making their way over to the fences, the bigger one had a rust-brown mane of feathers surrounding its head. As they approached, Dora got excited and ran up to the fence. The bigger Griffin immediately darted in front of the smaller one, rising up and beating its wings, scratching the earth with its claws, screeching loudly. Harry jumped forward, pulled Dora behind himself so hard that she fell on the ground, looking bewildered, tears in her eyes. Harry raised his arms, in protection, and looked the Griffin straight in the eyes.
"No, don`t move a muscle, sir," the approaching caretaker warned, pulling on Sirius` arm, when he tried to go up to Harry.
"He is my godson, I need-" Sirius started.
"No, there are wards, the little one doesn`t know this. The Griffin is testing him. Watch," the caretaker said, pointing toward the Griffins. Harry, in all his 6 year old glory, kept his eye contact with the large Griffin. Said Griffin, stopped scratching, but still had his wings expanded, up high. Harry dropped his arms slowly, maintaining his posture. He started walking toward the fence line, not intimidated by the male in front of him. A few steps away fom the fence, he stopped and bowed slowly at the waist. The Griffin looked at him, pushed one leg forward, bowing his head toward the ground for a few seconds, before turning away and left with the smaller Griffin slightly behind him.
"You see, the kid is a natural! That is amazing. The Alpha male of this pack of Griffins, is a very tempremental piece of work. No one can come close to any of them. We have to contact the owner if they get sick. The owner hand-reared that specific male," the caretaker explained, watching Harry as he helped a teary-eyed and terrified Dora to her feet. Dora clutched him tightly around his arm the whole way back to the adults.
"Are you okay, young lady?" the caretaker asked as he knelt down in front of Harry and Dora. When Dora nodded, he continued, "Young man, you have a gift. I understand it is your birthday? I want to show you and your family something truly amazing, maybe you two can help me with a problem as well. What do you say?" he whispered to them. Harry looked at Dora and she nodded slowly and tentatively. The caretaker stood up and told everyone to follow him. They made their way up to a densely wooded area, a ways off from the path they followed.
"What I am about to show you, is something that only a handful of the employees here, knows about, and nobody else," the gamekeeper told them when they stopped at the edge of a clearing. He took Dora`s and Harry`s hand in his and led them, while speaking to the rest, "Please stay as far back as possible, these creatures are very shy and will run or defend themselves, especially right now." He led them deeper into the clearing. They came upon two beautiful creatures, one lying down and the other standing. As they got closer, the standing one, a beautiful, magestic, silver-white unicorn turned to them and started moving in front of a heavily pregnant female. He started bouncing on his front legs, snorting at them, moving his head up and down, threateningly.
"Harry," the gamekeeper whispered, "remember the Griffin? This is exactly the same, this male is protecting the mother of his foal. You have to be confident and do the same as you did with the Griffin. Don`t worry, I am right here if anything goes wrong." He slowly moved one step backwards, slightly behind Harry.
Harry lifted his arms protectively in front of Dora and the gamekeeper, while looking the male unicorn directly in the eyes, standing tall and proud. The unicorn kept snorting and digging the ground with his hooves, moving one step forward. Harry stepped forward, dropped his arms and bent stiffly at the waist, maintaining eye contact with the male unicorn. The unicorn stopped and looked at him for going on two minutes, before bowing deeply and turning back to the female, still keeping them in his view.
Harry approached them slowly, Dora and the gamekeeper following behind him, both in awe at the six year old in front of them. Harry stepped next to the big male and lifted his hand up, asking permission to touch him. The unicorn dipped his head and Harry placed his hand on his flank, slowly rubbing up his side, to his neck. He stepped toward the female`s head and knelt down, gently putting his hand on her snout, rubbing up and down, comforting her, while the gamekeeper knelt behind her rear, Dora stood a few steps away, watching the sight before her.
After about half an hour, the most beautiful foal stood up on wobbly legs, trying to jump over to his father, while the mare stood up and nuzzled Harry with her wet nose. The foal joined her by Harry`s side, falling against him. When the group moved away, the male unicorn moved up to Harry, pushing the flat of his nose against Harry, his horn over Harry`s shoulder, then turned around, whipping his tail in Harry`s direction, loosening a few strands, that adhered to Harry`s wool jersey.
The gamekeeper gasped and his eyes lit up as he watched the unicorns move away. Moments later they were joined by the rest of their group, while the gamekeeper transferred the hairs into a glass vial he pulled from his jacket.
"This, young man, is a great honor. That male just willingly gave you hairs from his own tail, a sign of immense respect," the gamekeeper told Harry, then explained it all to the others and their faces lit up with wonderment and amusement.
Soon after, they finished up and made their way back home, all of them with various degrees of shock and awe at what they experienced. All in all, they all deemed it a very eventful and happy day. Harry, Dora and Neville spent the rest of the afternoon chasing each other around the property under the bemused supervision of the adults.
A/N: I loved writing this chapter, but it took me a lot longer than I wanted it to. Even though this was meant to be a filler chapter, the interactions with the griffins and unicorns will hold importance soon enough. Please note that some character traits will differ from canon.