Chapter 6: A New Life in the New World

Sirius and the Potters explore magickal Boston with Will and Nadia. Lily picks out where to set up her potions shop and everyone helps to pick out a name. William explains the training James and Sirius would be doing.

*disclosure* I do not own Harry Potter. I do however own Eugenia, Max, Gaius, Anna Lee, Matthus, Judith, Rosa, Daniel, Eudora, William, Nadia, and Evie Winthrop.

Reference

Charles Winthrop/James Potter

Lilah Winthrop/Lily E Potter

Sirius Black/Atlas Winthrop

Harry Potter/ Harold (Hank) Winthrop

Will's POV

It fell to Will to introduce his new family members to magickal Boston. After another blood ritual in which the blood of he and Gaius was needed, his cousin Sirius and the Potters along with Hank had changed in appearance. Most of their features were still there. Lily, now Lilah, still had her red hair and emerald green eyes, but her eyes had become larger, the shape of her face rounder and smaller, her body became petite. Sirius, now Atlas, became taller, with more muscle, his eyes a darker shade of silver, his bone structure sharper, and his black hair more of a very dark brown with hints of red. James, now Charles, lost his hazel eyes for dark silver, his nose became a bit more rounded, his need for glasses removed, his bone structure actually also became sharper, he and Atlas now looked like the actual brothers they seemed to act like they already were. Young Hank also took on the dark silver eyes, the sharper bone structure, and would no longer need glasses in the future years, becoming slightly taller than he was. No one who knew them before would even recongnize them now, inspite of all the features that they kept. The added bonus was now in Britain the magick recongonized that the Potters and Sirius Black were no more, saving them from searches and publicity about being missing that could have caused trouble down the line. And their looks were not the only things that had changed. Lilah now walked and held herself much differently from before. Gone was the no mag slouching, her back was now always straight, her gate a cool, controlled, confident stride instead of an excited, hurried gate.

Both Atlas and James had a wider gate, and a physical awareness that had not been there before. Most noteable was their eyes were no longer full of the despair of being war veterans with no hope. There was a new light to them, a hope for a better future, where fear no longer held sway over their lives with a monster in the wings waiting to destroy them all. He was actually quite happy to see it. They all doted on his little cousin Emeri, Atlas in particular extremely attentive. He smiled at the thought. That little girl was going to have him wrapped around her little finger, he was sure of that! He drove towards their home in his new Lexus SUV, Daniel and his dear little Dora nearly bouncing out of their seats in excitement. This would be their first trip into the magickal side of Boston as well. Not for the first time, he thanked Odin for the extended cab of his new vehicle! As he drove up to the new home he remembered so well from his childhood he cracked a grin at the excited looks of his new family members, who had been waiting for him. He couldn't help but roll down the window and honk the horn at them. "Well come on then! Lets get going before the rascals here start having kittens!" he remarked joyfully. Nadia hit him lightly on the arm but gave him a small smirk. "You remembered the car seats for them, right?" she asked. "Oh yeah, Lilah, the car seats are in the back, probably should do that first!" he yelled out. "Got it!" he smirked hearing her mutter something about how all men, Yanks or Brits were the same.

Atlas and Charles were half way in the SUV when Lilah shouted from the back. "Oi! No you don't you two! I didn't teach you how to strap in the children to have you make me do it! Out! And you Sir Attie, come get this second car seat!" Both he and Nadia held back laughs while they both dutifully looked down before getting out and rushing towards Lilah to do her bidding. To tell the truth, in that one moment Lilah reminded him so much of his own mother Geanie it was though she had always been a part of the family. After a highly amusing 5 minutes of their fumbling, finally Hank and Emeri were all strapped in and babbling at Daniel and Dora while Lilah, Charles, and Atlas took the bench seat behind him and Nadia and got strapped in. As they pulled out of the driveway Will pulled out his own blade and traced a rune that began to glow on the dash saying "Ut nos in magicae ex erbe super collis." causing the old visable wave of magick to encircle the vehicle and bring them into the magickal plain of the area, and changing the sights around them entirely. As the wave finished at the tires of the SUV, he could hear all the gasps behind him. "Merlin! Would you look at that! Just like they said, same area and everything! Brilliant!" he heard Charles exclaim. "In spite of all the times I do that, it never gets old, I can tell you that!" Will responded with a grin. From the rear view mirror he watched as Lilah looked out her window in awe of what she was seeing. It was a beautiful day in Boston, something that many of the magickal families were taking advantage of.

The younger children were walking with their parents, many who were floating packages in front of them to be loaded into their vehicles. A motor was heard going over the SUV causing Atlas to stare up through the window on the roof. A Harley that had been enchanted to fly came over them and past them in the air. "Wicked! I want one!" he exclaimed. Will rolled his eyes. The reckless part of his cousin, it appeared, very much remained the same! They move forward, going towards the main part of Boston, where all the shops waited. He hoped Lilah braced herself, Nadia was a shopping machine, and no doubt had plans to drag her all over all the magickal shops of the city! He wasn't looking forward to being the bag holder! "I notice that most of the people here drive muggle vehicles instead of apparating to where they wish to go." Charles commented. "Apparating comes with a certain level of discomfort, of course, but us Americans also have a love of being on the open road, taking in the scenery and enjoying the companionship that taking a trip provides. There is a charm to driving that can not be duplicated, it is a large part of American history. There is a freedom to it, a sense of adventure. Many of us here prefer to drive instead." Nadia replied to him. "It was one of the things I missed the most back in Britain. My parents taught me how to drive in the summer when I was 16. It was such a wonderful way to explore and clear my mind!" Lilah sighed happily. "For the jobs we do, you and Atlas there will need to learn to drive, as our VIPs prefer to travel by vehicle, and it makes our jobs a lot easier to be able to follow behind in such a manner." Will informed them.

Poor Atlas and Charles had no idea what awaited them at Centurian Private Security! While holding bags for their lady folk, he intended on giving them a crash course on what their training would be like, as they had passed their evalutation moderately well. They would have done better, but for the lack of knowledge of technology. He would have to see to it that they learn not only the magick required, but marksmanship with guns and physical combat, something he imagined British wizards had not trained in since the Dark Ages. His clients paid top dollar for the best, and the best is what Will gave them! He brought his focus back, as he was getting close to his preferred parking garage. This was going to be a real treat for them, he was taking them to the magickal side of the famous Faneiul Hall Marketplace, a major hub for all the magickals of the area, and just because he would be guiding them, he would make sure to note places that were important to the Revolution. He was always amused by the fact that all the stores here bared the same names as the no mag counterpart. So once he parked and everyone was out, with no small amount of protesting from Dora, Hank, and Emeri for being put into strollers and strapped in for the sake of their parents collective sanity, He led them towards one of his favorite shops, The Black Dog. As soon as they grew close Atlas gave him a look. "Really?" he asked, sarcastic, but with a amused little smirk on his face. Charles let out a little chuckle and Lilah gave Atlas a down right devilish look. "You need both no mag and regular clothing, cousin! You can't continue to transfigure the same outfit you came here in forever you know! And this is the best place in all of Boston!" he acted as innocent about it as he could.

Atlas mumbled at him underneath his breath. Nadia and Lilah then took the lead, opening up the doors to what was a lovely sports shop. Danny ran in, making a bee-line towards the newest brooms. "What was that about clothes, Will?" Atlas raised an eyebrow at him. "There is a lot of hiking trails, amongst other things that we all do. Not to mention it is always a good thing to have a pair of tennis shoes. Dress shoes are fine, but not for day to day wear! Honestly! Uncomfortable things!" Lilah actually let out a laugh at that. "Ah yes, finally some new tennis shoes! One is not meant to live in dress shoes! I think my toes alone may cry for joy! Come on Nadia, lets go to the child's section first!" she tapped Nadia on the shoulder who smiled at Will and followed the red head towards the other side of the store, towards where Danny headed. "I guess that leaves us with each other gentlemen!" he smirked at them both. He led them over to the men's section and to his amusement they barely even looked at the shoes. Lucky for them that Will was an excellent judge in size and what would be the most comfortable. Taking charge over them, he showed them where the sports robes were, more durable and made from tougher material than the general day to day robes. He also led them down to where there were t-shirts with various bands, sport teams, and logos were and proceeded to pull them down from the racks.

The Black Dog was a quick stop, in spite of all the things purchased there. The store keep had bagged their items and once they left the store Nadia shrunk things down to where they could all fit in one bag that she then proceeded to hand over to Will. The ladies broke a part from them heading towards Nadia's personal favorite clothing store L'Attitude. He silently thanked Odin that he had Atlas and Charles to take around and help shop for, so that he would not be drug around the horrid place for hours on end! But as they all needed to head for the next shop together he found some table for them to sit at. This would be as good of a time as any to tell the two men what they would be in for. "Now as you know, you have to be the best in defensive and offensive magick to be considered for a place at Centurion Security. However, there is far more that is expected of you than your magickal prowless. It is not a good thing, how reliant you two are on your wands. There are multiple stories of those who are left helpless without them. As my agents, this is unacceptable. So you will be taught in no mag weaponry as well as hand to hand combat. I will not let you out into the field until the experts say you are ready. I will have you drilling on your first day, I need to know of your physical condition, to determine what styles of hand to hand work best for you. What guns and other weaponry you would be the most proficent in." he said.

"I understand the marksmanship but do you really see things going hand to hand? I would rather not use a fist in a gunfight, or wand fight for that matter." Charles commented. "You would be surprised about the many ways such training will help you. Such as disarming an opponent in such a manner is not often expected. Learn to move the right way, and you will have them disarmed before they send a spell or get off a shot on you! We believe that one must be an expert in all forms of defense and offense at Centurion, less you find yourself off guard." Will replied. "I am more interested, to be honest, in casting with a blade. I have been since I first learned it was possible when I was 9." Atlas stated. "All in good time. What I would have you learn now is how to stop relying on magick for everything. There is a reason we do things the way we do. Using magick for everything makes one lazy, lax, and more vulnerable than you think. Having magick, in spite of how you both were raised, does not make one better or worse than those who were not. They found ways to do the things we can do, and some things that we would have never dared with no magick at all. They have had their own genius, folks like Tesla, Einstein, DaVinci, Franklin, and a man of both worlds, Galileo. Relying on magick alone can be fatal. You should take that as a lesson, and teach it to your children." Will replied. Charles nodded. "Fair enough, in a fight. I reserve judgement on the rest." causing Will to roll his eyes.

The families that his cousin and Charles came from were steeped in House Elves, amongst other things, who did everything short of wiping their asses for them in Europe. It made them vulnerable in a thousand ways that they did not even realize. It is important to be able to do for oneself, to be able to get along without having to depend on someone else if needed. Which was one of the reasons that Winthrops did not keep house elves, though he knew there were some families that did. "We will save it for another time. That being said, we have modeled our training after the US military. You will be going through bootcamp, where it won't just be your magick that we will be testing. You will be trained in hand to hand combat, marksmanship, and in several other weapons, in runes, shamanism, and also in wandless magick. We will be taking your wands for the first two weeks of your training and you will not get them back till you are either out, or you pass." both Atlas and Charles looked at him in shock. "Yes, that means no wands or magick at home. You are both going to learn from Lilah how to do things the no mag way. You will learn how to cook, clean, grocery shop, and I am most insistant on this, you WILL learn how to drive. There is a reason why my men are the best, gentlemen, they all grow through this, and you will be joining some other recruits. Just remember, This is not Auror training, and you are not in England anymore, everything you are about to learn WILL save lives." call Will crazy, but he saw something harden in Atlas, in a good way.

"I think Moody would love you!" Charles said, nodding in disbelief. Will chuckled. "He does, actually, and has been trying to implement parts of my training into the Auror program for a couple of years now, unfortunately, to many of you Brits are to set in your ways to see the benefits of what we have developed." he saw the looks of concern. "I am aware of how paranoid the man is. Since you were blood adopted, all the documents say that the Potters and Sirius Black are dead! Should you even glimpse each other, even your aura and magick will show you are Winthrop as though you were born into the bloodline. So don't you worry about that. However, I won't let anyone be around you to long from that part of the world. You still act like your old selves, and that could be a dead give-a-way to some." he finished, causing them to sigh in relief. They continued the conversation about what working for him would be like when after who knows how long, the ladies and children joined them at the table. "Come on, it's time to go to Local Charm, Nadia says the muggle side is a jewelery charm store, but that is where we can restore all the supplies we left behind!" Lilah spoke to them in a rush. "FINALLY!" Will thought to himself, taking on more bags from Nadia while Lilah did the nice thing and added them to the back of the dual stroller that held Hank and Emeri. The two tykes had grown on Will, which was one of the reasons he intended on drilling their care takers so hard. They had to be prepared for anything!

They took their places next to them, Will smiling to himself while Lilah and Nadia led the way. It look like the two had become instant friends, something that made him very happy. Nadia was very brash and tempermental, she could judge someone's nature on sight and never cared about letting someone know what she thought of them. He imagined Lilah was more than likely very much the same way. Nadia liked Anna Lee, but the woman could sometimes be annoyingly saint like where it looked like Lilah, like his Nadia, could strike with all the fury of a Valkeryie. "It sounds to me like this Dumbledore is a fool. I always thought it was true. It reminds me of Stalin vs Hitler." he internally cringed. Just because they did not trust the man intirely anymore did not mean they did not think he did not have the greater good in mind. "I actually agree, learning what I have about Dumbledore. Me, poor little muggle-born, learning that he and Grindenwald were the same! I may not remember alot, but that little part from his history rather stuck out to me on the otherside of the Viel!" Lilah said quietly. This was the part that interested him, though he would not push on the matter. He would push about Evelyn though. He DID NOT like what he learned about what happened with her! He wanted to make sure that the Evie to be had all the money at her disposal to fight her illness and be able to know her daughter, even if now she would not be anything more than a cousin.

Local Charm for them was a two storey place. They found all they needed and then some. It was in Copley that Lilah found the place for the shop. With Winthrop power they bought it on the spot. Lilah crafted a playroom for all the children there and her and Nadia decided they would run it together. Lilah named it The Cauldron.